Brockton's Celestial Forge (Worm/Jumpchain)

Man I was going to go to bed then I saw the Side Story and realized oh I'm way behind on the main story but I have been waiting for a second chapter of the Side Story of a Girl genius Celestial Forge and thank you very much that was a great chapter and I personally hope that we can have those Side Stories more often than we have just to break it up with the main story. It was interesting seeing him from the outside and see all their theories which are mostly wrong somewhat right and others that are pretty much right if not for the reasons they think. When there is another chapter I hope we have a little bit of action.
 
As I recall, @LordRoustabout's plan was for it to consistently update on the off weeks of the main story. Life just seemingly has not cooperated with that.
It was a pipe dream from time Lord thought that bi-weekly schedule will give him more free time for side projects. Now, with how hectic things can be, it's abundantly clear that the best schedule side-story can receive is the fanfics usual. As in chapters will be ready, when they're ready, no date set.

Back to story itself, someone at AO3 brought up some interesting points:
SLErio said:
Agatha probably convinced that Joe is a Spark. There are possibly other ways to interpret his unfocused state, but it, along with mechanical understanding rivalling that of professors of TPU in his young age and the fact that Agatha, unlike Adam and Lilith, had not seen Joe at work, means she has more evidence for Joe's Sparkines than against it. Wonder if she expects him to have Death Ray in one of his pockets.

Beyond all that, Agatha's and Joe's conversation is just nice. Just two university idiots sharing understanding and advice, probably the first time Agatha finds some understanding in someone who can be considered her peer. Joe once again falling into big brother role with someone. And just like with Taylor and Aisha, he is going to regret it while keep on doing it. Well, at least this one doesn't have propensity for dismemberment. Yet.

First is that we've seen Judy's and Punch's conclusions on Joe, but Agatha's will be entirely different from theirs, as she has seen both more and less of him than her parents. Second is that Joe has a bad habit of adopting insane bespectacled teens. We can start bets on when Jozef will start debating on throwing Agatha in stasis field. My bet on the next two days.

Well, the stasis field thing depends on Joe getting that one Warhammer perk. And now that I think about it, Heterodyne Castle would love the skulls and gothic aesthetics. And Laboratorium's older machine spirits would hate the Castle. Damn, there is some hilarious potential.
 
And Laboratorium's older machine spirits would hate the Castle. Damn, there is some hilarious potential.
I don't know about the machine spirits not liking the Castle; for all that it is homicidally malicious, it is also absolutely not an unrestricted AI: it's a Castle, knows it's a Castle, and doesn't want to be anything more (except maybe a Yurt) and it is absolutely subservient to the Heterodyne Family even if it's not necessarily loyal to any specific member. So it's not going to start supplanting humans or self-replicating or even taking over other devices.
 
I don't know about the machine spirits not liking the Castle; for all that it is homicidally malicious, it is also absolutely not an unrestricted AI: it's a Castle, knows it's a Castle, and doesn't want to be anything more (except maybe a Yurt) and it is absolutely subservient to the Heterodyne Family even if it's not necessarily loyal to any specific member. So it's not going to start supplanting humans or self-replicating or even taking over other devices.
True, that subservience might save it from outright hate of most systems of Laboratorioum, but still it's an unstable and barely controlled AI with an attitude that more fitting for a follower of Khorne than a Castle. There is not much for them to like about it. Plus, it's somewhat supplanted humans of Mechanicsburg (or at least has a habit of taking them hostage a puling some mean pranks) and almost took over whole Paris.

Well, while reaction to the Castle might be debatable, I just remembered one creation of Heterodynes that Laboratorioum will hate without doubt - The Beast. And in contrast, they would love what Brother Ulm have become.

Speaking of AI of Europa - Muses. God dammit, can't wait till Joe meet one of them. They supposed to be the best that Spark are able to achieve in terms of robotic intelligence so far, with no other Spark coming even close to understanding how Van Rijn made them. The closest recreation of them (Lunevka) was capable of becoming God Queen, however briefly. The damn clockwork bots are impressive, and I can't wait for Joe to get impressed by them.

And speaking of Muses reminded me of Tarvek. Tarvek and Joe would not get along. Tarvek and Garment, on the other hand, would be the best friends.
 
Hahaha, no, no, of course no. Three days is a timeframe for Apeiron.

When Sparks are involved, it takes less than a day to make everything flammable.

Oh, true, I should have accounted for the fact that in Sparkworld, things are on fire basically all the time.

Three days to break the causality of time and space then?
 
Really enjoyed the chapter I would love to see more maybe alternating between the side story and the main story like ivangood2 suggested. But whatever works best for the author. I really like Joe as a character so seeing him deal with the characters and world of gg is super interesting.
 
Jumpchain abilities this chapter:

Bandit Gunsmith (Borderlands) 100:
You have amazing technical insight and when shown to a pile of broken weapons or energy shields you can use parts from some to reassemble others into decent condition. Don't expect it to be pretty, but you can nail 15 repeater pistols together to make a functional shotgun, or use bits of five shields to make one that works.

Mechanic (Fast and Furious) 100:
Machines, especially ones that go fast, just speak to you. You have no problem fixing up and tuning any motor vehicle, and can rebuild them after the most devastating crashes. You can keep anything in top condition with just a few simple tools. Of course, you also need to understand the electronics, so hotwiring cars (and sometimes, alarm systems) is not a problem either.

Most Holy Order of the Socket Wrench (Fast and Furious) 400:
You are a master mechanic. Repair and upkeep is nice, but you can go beyond the impossible and improve any vehicle. Take a van and make it beat a supercar? Put NOS injectors on a bicycle (and make it work)? How bout something challenging? And anything you can build up you can tear down, too. You're a one-man chop shop and wiring a car to explode takes but a few moments and some chicken wire

I see Forge-chan is still trolling Joe hard.
 
While I've been enjoying the main story for a while, the side story is absolutely a breath of fresh air and probably will deserve its own thread eventually.
 
Nothing beats the first few projects in a Tinker fic. I've recently started comparing Tinker fics to the game franchise "Civilization". The late game is almost always ass.
 
So Celestial Forge: Girl Genius Boogaloo?

You all know we will be on the edge of our seats just awaiting Updates on this, Bother the Author

UPDATE WHEN?!?!

Odds are Canon GG is derailed, the Old Lady Survived. She is Still Alive to get the Headmaster Distracted and give Agatha the Day Off & Stay Home.
 
The Gala Part 1 (Mariadreaming9)
Here is an omake inspired by that line where Garment tries to get Fletchette to agree to an evening wear line based off her costume. It ended up getting a bit away from me, so here's part one. Edit: Part Two is up!

The Gala Part 1

"Joe, you have to do something," Lisa said over the watch-powered call. "Yes, you just killed the Nine, and that is fantastic. But I don't think you understand just how unsettled you've made everything."

"Is it that bad?" I asked.

Lisa rubbed her hand over her face. "It is. Look, I appreciate everything you've done. But you have to understand, you are currently the worse thing the country could face, short of the Endbringers right now: an unpredictable S-rank threat. And Brockton Bay? It can't handle that. Not right now."

"I'm not planning on doing anything," I muttered, weakly.

"You say that," Lisa said. "And the last time you did say that to me you promptly went after ABB's financial center like right afterwards."

She sighed. "Look, I can't believe I'm asking this, but maybe you should do something. Some big, flashy project so that everybody knows what you are working on, and thus they can think that you aren't going to go after them next. Or do something else to destabilize the entire world."

"That's been about the opposite I've what I've been trying to do," I argued. "But fine, I'll try to think of something."

"Please do. Tattletell out."

I leaned back in my chair as the call ended. As soon as the call's ending was confirmed, Survey and one of the duplicates showed up.

"That bad?" the duplicate asked.

Survey simply sent a report on the state of the internet. Most people were still partying, but enough time had gone by that people were now starting to ask what we'd do next and the Protectorate offices were starting to send out increasingly nervous sounding messages trying to figure out what they do now if the Celestial Forge turned hostile.

"Yeah, that bad," the duplicate answered himself.

"And we still have to figure out more about the Passengers, deal with whatever Taylor has going on, and prevent any more stupidity from the Teeth, the Empire, the Merchants, Coil, and the PRT," I added.

"Honestly, if there was a way to do all of that, maybe tie everyone up so they can't be stupid, and do a flashy project at the same time…"

We were interrupted by Garment excitedly entering, waving her sketchbook at us. A quick glance revealed that it was full of evening wear versions of various cape costumes.

I met the duplicate's eyes.

"I mean," he said. "It could work…"



Weld stared at the ornate envelope bearing his name that had appeared outside his door like it was a live bomb. The envelope had come bundled with multiple others, each bearing the name of a heroic cape from Brockton Bay, with the sole exception being Director Piggot.

There was no doubt as to who the sender was.

And as the only one with a confirmed contract with Aperion, it was decided that Weld was the safest one to open his first.

Weight analysis suggested that it didn't contain any of Garment's works, now that she had been confirmed to be working with the Celestial Forge, so Weld didn't tip his out. Instead, he pulled out a beautifully decorated card, bearing exquisite calligraphy that was at the same time perfectly readable.

Dear Weld, it read.

It is with great pleasure that the Celestial Forge is inviting you to a celebration of the ending of the Nine, henceforth known as The Hellfire Gala, to be held in one week's time.



"Look," said the duplicate. "We need to be flashy, tie up as many parahumans as we can, and try to connect as many parahumans to specific passengers as possible. And what better way to do that then to throw a massive event that shoves as many parahumans as possible in a non-violent setting near us to scan at our leisure."

"You want to pack multiple conflict-driven capes, many with active grudges against each other, into a confined space," I said slowly.

"After what we just did, and if we provide outlets? I think it would work." The duplicate shrugged. "Also, if they're all preparing for a party, then they aren't preparing to do something that would qualify them for a Darwin Award."

Garment suggested that if the clothing was good enough, then the sheer social pressure would ensure that disputes stayed non-violent. Also that this would absolutely make high-end cape fashion evening wear a thing.



As invited capes include those from all sides, the Hellfire Gala will be held under Truce, with infractions being dealt with by the Celestial Forge as needed.

Lisa stared at her invitation in despair. This was not what she was thinking of when she suggested that Joe publicly take on a major project.

"So does this mean we're getting new costumes?" Alec asked as he munched his cereal.



"Where could we even hold it? Because none of those people are getting access to the Workshop," I said.

"I mean, there kinda are a lot of empty and half destroyed buildings around here," the duplicate said.

Survey agreed, and provided a thorough analysis of where the theoretical party could be held, how much it would cost, and the basics of what it would take to construct an appropriate venue there.

The overall price was nowhere near as high as it should be, given that I had access to both the rewards from the Nine's kill order and Build Rome.



"We have confirmed payment from the accounts created by the Celestial Forge regarding a plot of land in the area of Brockton Bay known as the South Docks, Director," one of her assistants told Rebecca. She nodded as she glanced over her invitation.

Well, one of her invitations. Rebecca had been given two, one for Alexandria, and one for Director Costa-Brown, sent through Director Armstrong.

She'd need to make sure her double was well briefed on what to do. Although it was a pity she wouldn't be getting two complete outfits.

As we are aware this is short notice, Garment has offered to make appropriate and themed clothing for all invitees. If you wish to take advantage of this offer, please submit your measurements to the Celestial Forge's website within the next two days.



"Garment, what do you mean Director Costa-Brown's sent in measurements don't match her actual measurements?" I asked. "Do you think we might have an infiltrator?"

Garment shook her head, then wrote out two identical measurements, each with a different name at the top.

I glanced at it, then reeled back in shock.

"Garment, are you suggesting that Director Costa-Brown is Alexandria?"

Garment emphatically agreed, and then commented that it meant that the outfit for the Director would have to be adjusted for her body double's fashion sensibilities even if it meant it couldn't quite meet Alexandria's sensibilities.

"Nope," I declared as I turned around. "Not dealing with this. Garment, I'm leaving this up to you. Survey! How are we doing?"

"Construction is continuing on schedule. Fleet is requesting that we add a racing track to the venue," Survey replied.

"You know what? Sure!" Building that sounded like a great distraction from what I just learned.



The Celestial Forge will be providing activities and entertainment. In order to prevent unnecessary conflict, all confirmed groups will be provided with individual and personalized group resting rooms.

Accord steepled his fingers as he reread that section. He had admittedly been worried when he first received his invitation that he would be bothered by the chaotic masses at the party. But a personalized resting room? If it was as calming as the Sea Meditation Chamber, the gala would be a breeze.



"Are you ready?" I asked Tetra as we did a final outfit check before heading out.

"Ready!" she declared with a smile.

"Alright then."

I took a deep breath, and tried to relax as much as Classy Contortionist would allow.

Showtime.
 
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That's neat. Brockton is becoming the party capital of the USA it seems. Especially if the Forge donates the venue to the city afterwards…

Also, I just realised something; Survey claimed the Library, which makes her the Librarian. Don't let the internet find out!
 
So the Sidestory & Duris helping Frau Gruber with the Cart to get it running again, to show the Family & end up invited to the Home with an Attached Garage/ Workshop.

Frau Gruber is Confident & Supportive of him getting into the Mechanics Guild.

She needs to get Legalese done so she can drive her cart.

Will he end up Rebuilding it Completely?

SuperCharger Engine Block?

What MONSTROSITY will Agatha Rebuild from the notes supplied by the Nice Young Man?
 
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