Brockton's Celestial Forge (Worm/Jumpchain)

Aisha nodded as she gave me a contemplative look. "Hey, the call beads? They let you connect to passengers, right? How is that supposed to work?"

I waved a hand, shifting my floating flames into an outline of a call bead. "You break the bead and that opens the link, providing the energy needed for an expression of some ability. Providing you have something to link to, otherwise it's just a source of energy." There was also the question of what exactly March did that somehow inverted the connection. That was so far off the map that I wasn't even sure how it could be possible. There was also the frightening fact that I could try to recreate the effect, but given what it did to the container yard I wasn't inclined to subject any part of my workshop to blind experimentation.

"What if they already had a connection?" Aisha asked. "Like, what if I used one?"

I blinked, considering the proposal. "I'm not sure." I said. "Probably what would happen if someone used a bead to connect to someone they had a very good link with. It might let you manifest a stronger application of your power, or use it without strain, or even allow for other applications of your ability, things you could have triggered with, but didn't."

"So, we're going to test that out, right?" She asked eagerly.

"We… could." I said. "But it's something we need to be really careful with. You already have a global ranged power, and the Protectorate is scared enough of you already. Also, this will probably hit a lot harder than the boost from your striker unit. I'd recommend we wait until we have some more data from passenger space." It was possible that libations could be used to strengthen or stabilize her connection to her passenger, but that was a significantly more nebulous idea than using them for Garment, and uncertain enough that I was reluctant to dive into it.
In the latest chapter Butcher & co talked about how to stack more connections from passengers to themselves and such. In a previous chapter that I have quoted above this is already what Butcher & co are trying to do. So this strategy hasn't been taken from nowhere. It has been set up a long way before this chapter release.
And honestly, they were much more dignified options than swinging around a piece of shiny scrap metal from a mall kiosk. I swear, if I had to kill an Endbringer with March's sword I was giving Aisha enough call beads to erase all memory of the event and blaming it on Scion instead.
In Colins interlude he said to himself that because Apeiron had a cluster trigger it created an impression that an event has been overlooked or forgotten. A cluster with at least seven members, every member has some stranger elements and one of them was a global stranger. If Apeiron would be to give Aisha enough call beads to erase all memory of an event Apeiron shames over then the Protectorate would say 'called it!'
 
She grants regeneration but due to never really appearing in canon we don't know how quick/potent it is and if it can regrow limbs. Beyond that the options are the forge who won't heal them, Amy who won't heal them and might not be thought of due to the whole biomass issue which she may not have revealed she can use external biomass for, possibly Scapegoat who is a ward and will be kept out of the city and Bonesaw who won't reach the city.
We haven't seen it regrow limbs, and we do know that it takes effort to activate and control. Stormtiger took several hours of regeneration to be able to barely walk after being shot in the knees.
 
In the latest chapter Butcher & co talked about how to stack more connections from passengers to themselves and such. In a previous chapter that I have quoted above this is already what Butcher & co are trying to do. So this strategy hasn't been taken from nowhere. It has been set up a long way before this chapter release.

Considering it's March who knows the boosting method and their plan needs the clones it's far more likely they are going to try the draining thing that can be done in clusters see my previous explanation here.

Well that set a lot up and I noticed that comment about normally clusters don't have others who can fight to seize the boost which the Butcher doesn't think will be an issue. It probably won't but not for the reasons she thinks.
...

What's important to note is it isn't a dead parahuman that's important. It's important that it's a clone which had a working power. Shards are that dumb that they basically use dna to lock onto hosts and don't consider things like they have been dead for ages or there are more than one to be odd basically just thinking of them as the same being so gets the same connection. Oni Lee's clone also wouldn't work for this because they turn to ash after a few seconds or when hit.

What I think they are after is the Cluster boost trick where if people from the same cluster are close enough for long enough and one of them is sufficiently covered in the dna of the other they can steal the connection. This is usually done by the one getting the boost covering themselves in the blood of the other and then staying wrapped up together in a bed for a long time.

The effect is that the one boosted gets the associated power hugely boosted while the other is drained to the point of barely having a power albeit with the limit they can't get too far apart or the link breaks and things reset although to re-establish it just needs them getting close again.

Specifically they know that's a clone of Trickster so I think they are wanting to use the unknown method (Noelle/Echidna) the Traveller's have to clone themselves and them use that trick to boost their own powers by draining the clones due to Chariot being dumb enough to agree to be a double agent giving them a link and Coil being dumb enough to try it.

Fortunately, this plan is never going to work because even if Joe doesn't crush Coil in those 3 or 4 days until they move he earlier on predicted 3 until he had the location of Bakuda's base. That should happen first especially with the perks that have been gained since then like the sectional time speeding things up which takes out the ABB part and the Teeth don't know the message and may just back off especially after things like Joe crushes the nine.

Even if somehow they get to go through with it the cloning method is Noelle/Echidna. In order to clone someone she has to touch them at which point they are absorbed into her lower half and made to hallucinate. The clones are also twisted ones which hate the original and all they treasure which combined with the numbers they come out in and Echidna being unstable means the idea is unfeasible especially with March's lag issues from being remotely controlled which Alchemy will not be able to fix. In the extremely unlikely event they somehow manage to try and know and get past Coil and the Travelers all they'll do is set Echidna off which the forge will notice so they wouldn't get time to do the drain.
Their plan is based on the logic in New York the Travelers encountered a cloner that caused a ton of casualties -> that cloner may be a member -> break into their base and clone themselves to do the cluster bleed trick on.

There are a ton of assumptions and problems there including that they didn't explain why or how they'd connected the Travelers to Coil, they are assuming Chariot is working for Coil, they are going to have to fight through Coil and the Travelers, they are relying on Uber being able to somehow use alchemy in a few days to heal March without actually knowing what it is capable of, they are assuming the cluster bleed trick works on clones, they have no idea how the cloning happened, works or it's limits which is a huge issue when it's Noelle's cloning, they are assuming they can do it unnoticed since the draining takes ages which is a bold choice when they are hiding in their base for fear of being noticed if they step out of it, they don't even know everything about the draining just that it worked for Goddess but have no-idea about limitations such as how it breaks if they get too far apart and they are assuming it'll put them on Apeiron's lv despite assuming it to be his tinker specialty and his head start especially since he hasn't been seen fighting for 6 days now.

tldr their plan is stupid, relies on a ton of assumptions and things miraculously going their way but doesn't matter because on top of having basically no chance to work Joe should have the location of their pocket dimension before they are ready to try.
 
Thirty Xanatos Pileup option: Uber/March launch Plan Auto-Butcher, while Leet rolls out the Game Grid and Bakuda is threatening to blow up all the hostages (again) while on video with the Governor, as Team Iron Ape busts into their hidey-hole through the back wall….
 
tldr their plan is stupid, relies on a ton of assumptions and things miraculously going their way but doesn't matter because on top of having basically no chance to work Joe should have the location of their pocket dimension before they are ready to try.
They have just the right amount information and knowledge of real life examples e.g. Apeiron (Not legible), Butcher (legible) and Fairy Queen (legible) to place a sure bet that its works. What I'm talking about is that despite Apeiron's theoretical way to boost Lethe is VERY DIFFERENT, doesn't mean that Butcher & co's theory hasn't been hinted to be possible if everything goes 100% right.

Hey! You don't get to answer my reply with 'it doesn't matter. Ape iron will solve everything by then.' If so then we can just shut up stop commenting funny and interesting in this thread. Whatever its to support Roust or share our joy with this fic. Maybe I'm reading too much into this and you didn't mean it like that. It just felt like a dismissal. I apologize in any case.
 
You know I think Joe should just give Dr. Campbell aura.

Considering his will is strong enough and that aura is practically unnoticeable in terms of powers, yes low lvl brute but let's be honest that is easy enough to cover up with let's say padding under his clothes or thin Kevlar like Batman's suit
 
Thirty Xanatos Pileup option: Uber/March launch Plan Auto-Butcher, while Leet rolls out the Game Grid and Bakuda is threatening to blow up all the hostages (again) while on video with the Governor, as Team Iron Ape busts into their hidey-hole through the back wall….

Three crises at a time?

Hold my beer.

Let's add a series of battles throughout the city in which the E88 attack multiple "fallback points" of the Teeth while the Teeth are actually attacking something important to the Empire (Medhall? Aster?).

Coil is still Coil. Given that in canon he released the E88's identities to elimate some of the competition after the ABB were defeated, he still might do something similar. Chaos is a ladder, after all. Doing so would allow the Teeth and the Heroes to remove more of the E88 capes (possibly allowing Coil to snatch up a couple to add to his personal stable). Given Apeiron's demonstrated dislike of the Teeth, Coil would then expect the Enigmatic Artificer to chase the Teeth out of town.

Blasto and Lost Garden are about to attack the remnants of the ABB and their parahuman bodyguards. In grimderp Earth-bet, something could easily go wrong.

Transmutation Shenanigans. Homonculi and chimera, WoG? I'm guessing that Uber and Marche have begun experimentation into chimera creation by now in preparation for merging multiple capes together. Any bets on Bakuda and/or Oni Lee becoming some of their test subjects? (I don't know why but I keep imagining Bakuda as a trash panda Furry. And Oni needs some stealth abilities to become a true ninja.)

Jack's shard collects info via backdoor access into other shards. Once the fun begins, Jack will direct the S9 to infiltrate the city at the worst possible time (or would if the S9 weren't being constantly monitored by Survey).

Noelle is still in the city. Tattletale keeps insisting the Joe ignore Noelle rather than investigate, study, and develop counter-measures. Because it's best to ignore s-class threats.:jackiechan: Especially when they are surrounded by calm and rational people like Trickster.

The Merchants are doing something big. Apparently they are throwing recruitment parties nearly every night and the gang members feel confident enough to paint their tags over the other gangs' tags.

Dragonslayers are being Dragonslayers in BB.

Dragon's still hardwired to capture/eliminate Apeiron. Joe still hasn't clued in that she is an AI.

Worst of all, Taylor is free and getting ideas. :mob:

Ungodly Hour had Joe performing a blitzkrieg race across BB trying to put out dozens of fires at the same time. Thankfully he now has a team so he can slow down enough to allow everyone to admire his new outfit as he saves the day.
 
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I went through the wogs on TVTropers and I saw that there was one PHO topic Roust was prepared to canonize. It's Earth Bet's Avalon: Web of Magic. It would be sometimes after Joe & co have learned that his powers have fictitious sources. So Survey would post a question on PHO asking about the magic system of Avalon: Web of Magic. Survey intended to learn more about Joe's abilities but the thread evolves into a mess you would find in any Fate forum.

Personally I would love to create this however I don't believe I have enough knowledge about Fate nor how it could have shifted in Earth Bet. It was posted Oct 4, 2022 so its also fitting to bring it up again.

The link to the post is here.
And here is the whole quote from the post. I just wrote the most minimal about it in my post so I recommend to check either the quote or the link out.
Thanks for the PHO omakes. Always great to see these come together.

I remembered someone had asked about canon PHO omakes. While many of these have been phenomenal, there is usually at least a couple of points that jump out as not quite fitting into the story. The creativity on display is great to see, so I never want to go in policing details on works people have devoted themselves to. However, there is one PHO topic that I'd like to suggest that I am prepared to canonize.

Through the story there have been numerous references to the series Avalon: Web of Magic as a replacement for the Nasuverse (which would not exist on Earth Bet due to the collapse of Japan). The rough idea was that the series Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders was much bigger on Earth Bet, leading to its sequel series Avalon: Web of Magic becoming a long-running animated series rather than a series of young adult novels. The project was handed to Kinoko Nasu who basically turned it into Fate with the serial numbers filed off. The production team included a lot of Japanese animators who had immigrated to America. They were throwing everything they had at the project to try to make a name for themselves, leading to a high quality and massively popular series.

The idea for the PHO thread is that, after learning the origin of Joe's powers, Survey post a question on the PHO media section asking about the magic system of Avalon: Web of Magic, since it's is about as difficult to understand as Fate's is. Her intention is to learn more about Joe's abilities, but the thread quickly devolves into the kind of discussion you would find on any Fate board.

Basically, what I'm proposing is a reader-driven project to plot out the details of this story's version of Fate, which I'm prepared to treat as canon within the context of this fic. I think the medium of a forum argument would be a fun way of filling out those details.

The only thing I ask is that the suggested details fall in line with what had already been established in the story, and that they be reasonable for the work in question. The series would have run on cable on Saturday nights, so would have been less restricted than a lot of other children's shows. It would have been known for pushing the boundaries of Standards and Practices on occasions, but everything would still have needed to be fit for US broadcast.

The broad summary of the details of the show, as established so far in the story and WoG posts:
The series followed from Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders with Kinoko Nasu making several massive retcons:
-All the magic jewels in the original series (including the Sun Stone, the Heart Stone, and the Moon Stone) trace their origin to Kischur Zelretch.
-Princess Gwenevere was revealed to be a True Ancestor (His way of backdooring in a version of Arcueid Brunestud)
-Tamara was actually a homunculus
-Fallon (Aisha's favorite character) was killed by an Irish Lancer and later became a counter-guradian before being summoned as a servant
The characters from Web of Magic (Emily Fletcher, Adriane Charday, and Kara Davies) were used as stand-ins for Fate characters Nasu had already planned out (Rin Tohsaka, Sakura Matou, Illyasviel von Einzbern).
Shirou Emiya's character still existed relatively intact in personality and abilities, but with the name changed to Shawn Emiya (Causing Nasu to die a little inside). You also had an Archer equivalent.
Artoria was included with largely the same abilities, origin, and characterization.
Gilgamesh was also present as an antagonist in the series.
The Grail war existed as a major plot in the series, though Masters were referred to as Summoners and Servants were called Heroic Spirits.
Servants still had skills and abilities with letter ranks.
At least one film for Web of Magic: Apocrypha was released.
Web of Magic: Extra existed as a gacha mobile game with different plots (conflicting) depending on the region it was released in.

I'm not sure if PHO Blacksmithery is the best place for an idea like this, or if it's better to start it in a new thread. Mostly I'm suggesting it as a fun side project for anyone interested in filling the absurdities of Earth Bet's version of the Nasuverse through the context of a forum argument (I feel like I should make some comment about this being the natural habitat of Fate discussions) with one of Survey's alternate PHO handles as the original poster desperately trying to get the discussion back on the original topic of the magic system. Probably the best thing is that with all the alternate versions, side media, video games, and regional differences, basically anything suggested can be considered canon somewhere in the lore. Even so, if consistent plot and character elements do come out of this, I'd be happy to canonize them and even include some of them in the story.
 
I've been reading the perk list for a while and I noticed this among the divine blessings:
"DEMETER: Hardest to nail down something applicable to the forge, probably something involving biology or life."
Here is my idea - Natural Order.
Gives understanding of the forces enforcing or breaking the natural order. In practice helps moderate or enhance the unnatural skills as well as giving some insight into wide range of topics, probably help when healing the case 53s and helps understand the danger the Cycle poses to the Earths.
 
In the latest chapter Butcher & co talked about how to stack more connections from passengers to themselves and such. In a previous chapter that I have quoted above this is already what Butcher & co are trying to do. So this strategy hasn't been taken from nowhere. It has been set up a long way before this chapter release.

In Colins interlude he said to himself that because Apeiron had a cluster trigger it created an impression that an event has been overlooked or forgotten. A cluster with at least seven members, every member has some stranger elements and one of them was a global stranger. If Apeiron would be to give Aisha enough call beads to erase all memory of an event Apeiron shames over then the Protectorate would say 'called it!'

This is all very interesting… but I cannot get over Lord's running gag about how much Apeiron hates March's sword. It just gives me warm fuzzies every time I remember how much he hates that glorified prop sword.
 
This is all very interesting… but I cannot get over Lord's running gag about how much Apeiron hates March's sword. It just gives me warm fuzzies every time I remember how much he hates that glorified prop sword.

I want to see a tech version of Hell's Kitchen hosted by Survey. That would be some brutal analysis.

Plus, the merchandise would probably be fairly successful.
 
The dust isn't self replicating though. All the dust from Joe's costume vanished when the repair occurred. What is left is plain normal dust spawned from the dust veins caused by Heretical Adaptation which is no different than what you see in rwby and so isn't self replicating or anywhere near as energy efficient. Due to this they are limited to the scraps they can pick up without turning to any heavy methods that Joe will stomp out. Those methods are also mostly Gully using her power so when she leaves the tiny amounts they are getting will shrink further. Combine that with how many different places are clamouring for it while all starting from scratch, lack aura and it being consumable so what they have will quickly run out and they shouldn't get anywhere worth mentioning.



Their plan is based on the logic in New York the Travelers encountered a cloner that caused a ton of casualties -> that cloner may be a member -> break into their base and clone themselves to do the cluster bleed trick on.

There are a ton of assumptions and problems there including that they didn't explain why or how they'd connected the Travelers to Coil, they are assuming Chariot is working for Coil, they are going to have to fight through Coil and the Travelers, they are relying on Uber being able to somehow use alchemy in a few days to heal March without actually knowing what it is capable of, they are assuming the cluster bleed trick works on clones, they have no idea how the cloning happened, works or it's limits which is a huge issue when it's Noelle's cloning, they are assuming they can do it unnoticed since the draining takes ages which is a bold choice when they are hiding in their base for fear of being noticed if they step out of it, they don't even know everything about the draining just that it worked for Goddess but have no-idea about limitations such as how it breaks if they get too far apart and they are assuming it'll put them on Apeiron's lv despite assuming it to be his tinker specialty and his head start especially since he hasn't been seen fighting for 6 days now.

Any plan with that many gaps in knowledge and assumptions doesn't deserve to be called a plan.
Yes, I bet they don't even have any contingencies either.
Everything Joe makes great quality and aesthetic. But it doesn't have to be dangerous.
Exactly, see Tetra, in which he made her cute, but not "Helen of Troy" beautiful like Survey. He could limit his crafting using nano technician and ask the Matrix, and use his skills to help with the transfer
You know I think Joe should just give Dr. Campbell aura.

Considering his will is strong enough and that aura is practically unnoticeable in terms of powers, yes low lvl brute but let's be honest that is easy enough to cover up with let's say padding under his clothes or thin Kevlar like Batman's suit
He did give him a divine object of concealment, subversion and insignificance, prevention is better than cure you know.

I guess in this case, preventing damage is more important than just nullifying it.



In this case, other possible reasonable allies other than Uppercrust, Undersiders are even more unequal and unstable. C53, Faultline or international groups similar to the Guild.
 
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Out of curiosity?

Will the likes of Heartbreaker show up? And try to grab the female members of CF.

I am sure nothing will go wrong! Survey is Hot! Aperion can understand and forgive a mans need to NTR a bro!
 
He did give him a divine object of concealment, subversion and insignificance, prevention is better than cure you know.

I guess in this case, preventing damage is more important than just nullifying it.



In this case, other possible reasonable allies other than Uppercrust, Undersiders are even more unequal and unstable. C53, Faultline or international groups similar to the Guild.
The survivability onion already exists; I'd say that one or two of something to represent each layer would be a not unreasonable level of coverage for Joe to provide for people he wants kept alive.
 
Have a WOG on this question from Discord WOG channel

"How likely is it for Heartbreaker to try and make a move on Survey if he sees a picture of her? Plus one of his runaway kids is in the city and another one will be there probably soon-ish.":

Heartbreaker hasn't gone after any major capes. Pretty much the moment he did epidemic protocols would be triggered and they would send in the response teams. Heartbreaker is powerful, but he's only tough as a normal human. As soon as people are willing to accept collateral damage he is dead. If Heartbreaker wanted to go after Survey it would be a project that would require multiple members of his family to set up. Assuming he heard about Survey's ability to detect power use most of his options would be off the table. Additionally, Survey was completely unaffected by Victor's power, meaning chances are good that she's highly master resistant or immune. If the initial team found that she couldn't be affected or that their powers were spotted before they got a chance they would call things off before they could go any further. Of course, that would still mean the Celestial Forge coming down on them, including a very strong thinker power from Survey herself. Generally, it's not the kind of thing Heartbreaker is likely to risk.Heartbreaker's most ambitious attempt was trying to kidnap an actress from across the country. That brought heroes down on him, cost the family half their resources, and resulted in Cherish leaving. Right now, he can't afford to take another chance like that, and the rest of his kids would probably rebel if he tried to send them against Apeiron.
 
The survivability onion already exists; I'd say that one or two of something to represent each layer would be a not unreasonable level of coverage for Joe to provide for people he wants kept alive.
Then maybe something between Chen and Khepri levels of work would be sufficient, he coud resmelt the divine enchantments and use his new Magecraft C skills to include a reinforement effect and minaturise the white noise generator he gifted him.
 
What is the situation with Chen? He is independent but has a connection with Aperion.

As in, did he go to Garment's gathering at the fashion show as a customer?
 
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