Magical Girl Escalation Taylor (Worm/Nanoha)

Kirbstomp · Sep 24, 2016

Oh Taylor... You have to be more explicit when you're talking to extra dimensional aliens

00mega · Sep 25, 2016

Well, the bad news is that the pirates will almost certainly show up within the next three days to loot the ship before the TSAB can catch up. If they happen upon an injured mage with one of those expensive Intelligent Devices, they won't complain.

The good news is that we're talking to Dragon next. She's smart enough to figure this out and can be counted on for backup.

Purity would have been nice to have, but I think we can manage without her.

Always Late · Sep 25, 2016

00mega said:
Well, the bad news is that the pirates will almost certainly show up within the next three days to loot the ship before the TSAB can catch up.

What makes you think the pirates will show up? Or are even listening? Or can even find the completely-exploded ship better than we can?

00mega said:
If they happen upon an injured mage with one of those expensive Intelligent Devices, they won't complain.

What makes you think PS is one of theirs?

Silently Watches · Sep 25, 2016

Always Late said:
stuff

Aww, no analysis? I've really enjoyed reading those.

Always Late · Sep 25, 2016

Silently Watches said:
Aww, no analysis? I've really enjoyed reading those.

Class has hit the crunch. Having minor cases of severe stressing over not finding sources so close to deadline.
Need to focus on other things for right now, sorry.

Silently Watches · Sep 25, 2016

Always Late said:
Class has hit the crunch. Having minor cases of severe stressing over not finding sources so close to deadline.
Need to focus on other things for right now, sorry.

Nah, I know how that is. Good luck!

00mega · Sep 25, 2016

Always Late said:
What makes you think the pirates will show up? Or are even listening? Or can even find the completely-exploded ship better than we can?

What makes you think PS is one of theirs?

After sleeping on it, I realized that while it could work for conservation of detail, it would also cut off any plot trees we started before we had a chance to follow through on them.

Always Late · Sep 25, 2016

OK THEN! Got shit put in order, I got time to spare for going over shit people have probably already dissected better than me!

Silently Watches said:
«Translation active.»

You shoot Perfect Storm a grateful nod. You don't know what this guy said, but he sure doesn't sound happy. For a moment, you consider hanging up from fear that he might figure out you have Perfect Storm and demand it back, but then you shake away that flight of paranoia. What are the chances that he's going to ask about one specific Device?

Taylor? You need to read Murphy's Laws of Combat. Maybe then you would stop tempting him damn it!

Silently Watches said:
Clearing your throat, you ask in as innocent a voice as you can manage, "I'm sorry, can you repeat that? I couldn't make it out."

"I said, this is Lieutenant Tiburon of the TSAB," he says. His voice has lost much of its anger, yet none of the steel lurking behind the emotion. "Identify yourself."

"Cal—" On second thought, maybe introducing yourself by your cape name isn't a great idea.

1. Lieutenant Shark? Hoo boy. This'll be a fun guy to deal with.
2. Yeah, the Saint Church's archives probably have your name in it, under 'people who kicked our shit in'.

Silently Watches said:
The PRT agents and Velocity both thought you were a villain based on your name and your Barrier Jacket, and while this Tiburon guy can't see what you look like, he can still react to your name. You'd rather not make a worse first impression than you may already have.

And considering the wierd and strange names pirates tend to take, that too.

Silently Watches said:
Nothing else appropriate to say comes to mind, and then you hear yourself continue, "Hi?"

Really, brain? Really?

It's perfectly valid.

Silently Watches said:
A long pause follows that as Tiburon no doubt is just as dumbstruck by your unattended mouth as you are. "Hi," he finally answers. "You're… rather more friendly than I expected."

Well, not having Queen Administrator in your head, a talking relationship with her father, and a maternal figure does wonders for Taylor's psyche.

Silently Watches said:
More friendly than he expected? What? How would he even come up with any idea about what you're like? "Maybe that'll teach you not to judge a book by its cover, won't it?"

"Strange idiom aside, you are in no position to take offense at someone judging you. Did you truly think we would stand aside and ignore someone illegally seizing the Agharti?"

Agharti. That 'city in the center of the earth' thingie.

Silently Watches said:
…Okay, so the chances of Tiburon asking about one specific Device are actually pretty high. And Agharti? You examine Perfect Storm before shaking your head. Nope, still not seeing it. Your Device just does not look like an Agharti.

No, Perfect Storm does not look like a city in the center of the earth.

Silently Watches said:
"I didn't steal the Agharti. I found it on the ground. And considering it accepted me as its user without a single complaint and said it wanted to help me, I don't think you have much say in the matter," you add with more than a touch of defiance. You aren't parting with Perfect Storm so easily, no matter how much he dislikes it.

And Taylor still has her father's determination.

Silently Watches said:
"What are you talking about?"

"What do you think I'm talking about? The Device I found. Wait," you say as you see through the comedy of errors approaching at warp speed, "what are you talking about?"

Smart Taylor, head of the comedy.

Silently Watches said:
"The Agharti. The XIX-class dimensional frigate whose radio you've hijacked." You hear him sigh, the sound familiar from your father's own after a long day where nothing went right. "Something tells me I'm not going to like the answer to this, but you aren't a pirate, are you?"

I can talk like a pirate if that would make you feel better.

Silently Watches said:
"Why the hell would you think I'm a pirate?!"

"Because the last communication we received from the Agharti's Enforcer afloat was that multiple vessels were approaching at high speeds and were expected to be pirate craft."

... that's not good.
1. That was Scion.
2. That was Simurgh. With friends.
3. That was Space Pirates and we are in for some badly-balanced bullshit.
4. Those were Nanoha-brand Space Pirates, which is some actually balanced bullshit we'll have to deal with.
5. Those were other Entities.

Silently Watches said:
Oh. That does make more sense, except for, you know, the whole magic space pirate thing. The more you find out about Perfect Storm's old world, the more it sounds like a cheap sci-fi movie.

I kind of want Taylor to watch the Lyrical Nanoha movies now, see what she thinks of them.

Silently Watches said:
I need to know how you got ahold of this radio even more."

"From what was left of the ship."

"…What was left of the ship?"

"It, uh, broke apart when it hit our atmosphere," you say slowly. "Sorry. This is the only piece I managed to salvage."

"Wonderful. Which members of the crew are you in contact with? I need to debrief them immediately."

... dude, did you not hear her? Broke up in atmosphere, they dead son!

Silently Watches said:
"I guess you didn't hear me a second ago," you tell him. "The ship broke apart during entry and crashed. I don't think any of the crew could have survived that."

Exactly!

Silently Watches said:
"I heard you, Taylor. But the alternative is that you found part of our ship, repaired highly specialized and complex machinery without our engineers' aid, and yet you did not report its discovery to the TSAB. That doesn't reflect well on you. How are you even powering it?"

Did you not remember the fact we mentioned a device. Is your name Dory Tiburón or something?

Silently Watches said:
Looking down at the deep purple script and the cords connecting Perfect Storm to the radio, the corner of your mouth quirks up. "Very carefully."

Tiburon doesn't react to that and pushes on, "I've backtraced your carrier signal and have an approximate location for you." He what?! "You aren't too far from Delnarib. Contact the TSAB outpost there and tell them that you've found portions of the Agharti, and we can both forget the part about you toying around with it instead of telling anybody."

1. Good, they know we're here, we can get some help.
2. How are we supposed to do that?
3. Dude, Taylor just got that up and running.

Silently Watches said:
Perhaps realizing how his demand could be taken, he continues in a kinder voice, "Not to mention, this could be to your benefit, too. If you're as good with this kind of machinery as you claim to be, I can think of a few people who'd be willing to talk to you about changing jobs. I can almost guarantee you'll get better paid than you are right now."

If Taylor had any willingness to leave Earth Bet, that might actually appeal to her.

Silently Watches said:
"That's a great offer and all," you tell the lieutenant, "but there's just one small problem."

"What is it now?"

"What or where is Delnarib?"

"Let me check something…. No, Delnarib is its local name, too. What world are you on right now, Taylor?"

A world that has no clue what a Time-Space Administration Bureau is.

Silently Watches said:
This had better not blow up in your face, even if it feels almost like giving some stranger on the Internet your home address. "Earth Bet."

"What the…. Okay. Okay. What are your nearest dimensional neighbors?"

"I guess Earth Aleph." Tiburon stays silent, clearly waiting for you to continue. "That's the only one I know."

"Of course it is. I can't tell you exactly who to talk to," he adds before you can say anything about his tone

Because it's a primitive world, so there's a combination of 'prime directive' noninterference and the practicals of not having the infrastructure for that tech preventing that sort of aid.

Silently Watches said:
"but you need to find a large city with interdimensional communications or maybe even someone who has experience with dimensional transfers. Either way, you should be able to find someone who knows how to contact Delnarib or knows how to talk to another world that does have that information."

"Yeah, that's going to be a little difficult. No one on our world knows much about dimensional communications or whatever. I guess the people who work with Professor Haywire's portals would," you correct yourself, "but that's just between us and Aleph. And dimensional transfers? Nope."

And the LT now knows that.

Silently Watches said:
"What kind of piss-poor mages do you have on your world?"

Narrowing your eyes at the radio tube, you cross your arms. Piss-poor mage? Who does he think he is? "You want to talk to a mage on Bet? I'm all you got, so you'll just have to make do."

"…You're the only mage on your world?"

1. Fuck you dude. Just, fuck you.
2. Weeeeeeeeell, not exactly...

Silently Watches said:
"That's right. And you wouldn't even have me if I hadn't found Perfect Storm and started learning about magic from it."

A strange sound comes across the radio line, almost someone trying to mimic a wet finger running along a balloon. Is this the sound of a grown man holding back from screaming in frustration like a little girl?

No, that's the sound of an exhausted sigh being forced though not-quite closed lips. Like a horse.

Silently Watches said:
Tiburon starts talking again, and you have to strain to hear him. "Are you kidding me? I don't get paid enough to deal with this shit. Taylor," he asks in a louder voice, "could you hold on for just a moment? I need to make a quick call to someone who will want to talk to you a little—"

The connection fizzles out, and all the cords pull back into Perfect Storm's rapidly vanishing casting arrays. "What are you doing?" you demand.

Getting the First Contact and Retrieval process started, which is far above his head.

Silently Watches said:
commands by Mistress to power communications with Mistress's mana will be rejected. Override protocols activated to prevent intentional user self-harm.»
«Sole exception to sovereign-level authorization.»
That puts an end to that, doesn't it?

SOVEREIGN-LEVEL AUTHORIZATION?

landcollector said:
That's some interesting invisi-text isn't it?

No kidding Land. Perfect Storm has declared Taylor his Queen. In his eyes, she's Queen of whatever planet he's from! No wonder we had all those options available at the start, Taylor has an entire planetary kingdom worth of magic and technology IN THE PALM OF HER HAND.

This was one hell of a harbinger of things to come. Gears are turning, Simurgh is surely more pissed at us than ever, and the TSAB/Saint Church's eyes are slowly turning to the grave of the Golden Idiot and his Idiot Girlfriend.

Silently Watches · Sep 25, 2016

Damn it, @Always Late , I can't decide whether to give you a hug, insightful, or funny.

Always Late said:
1. Lieutenant Shark? Hoo boy. This'll be a fun guy to deal with.

Honestly, I wasn't even thinking about his name meaning shark when I picked it. I was thinking about the other Tiburon.

Always Late said:
... dude, did you not hear her? Broke up in atmosphere, they dead son!
Exactly!
Did you not remember the fact we mentioned a device. Is your name Dory Tiburón or something?

To be fair,
1. A magic-naïve world is never going to be the first thing someone from the TSAB thinks when they get a call from a magic radio.
2. Someone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but powering something taken off a dimensional cruiser generally isn't something the run of the mill Storage or Intelligent Device can do. He thought you had prior magical knowledge and used that to repair/power the radio.

Always Late said:
SOVEREIGN-LEVEL AUTHORIZATION?
No kidding Land. Perfect Storm has declared Taylor his Queen. In his eyes, she's Queen of whatever planet he's from! No wonder we had all those options available at the start, Taylor has an entire planetary kingdom worth of magic and technology IN THE PALM OF HER HAND.

You only just now caught that?

First Impact 2.8 said:
While Samantha and Miss Militia engross themselves in the paperwork to register your Guardian Beast as an independent hero, you return your attention to your patiently waiting Intelligent Device. You said you won't get caught if you try hacking their system?

"The likelihood is minimal."

Minimal is not the same as none, and the thoughts about repaying Miss Militia's generosity return to the front of your mind. Is there anything you can do that doesn't pose any risk of them catching you? Particularly anything that's as non-invasive as possible?

"Investigating." Perfect Storm is quiet for a moment. "Incoming and outgoing communications are monitored less. Defenses can be disabled without compromise of secrecy."

Do that, then. Focus only on messages that talk about Coil, mercenaries, or lasers, or on messages that look like they might be from his moles. There's no reason to read through all their mail.
"Plan is suboptimal. Infiltration will better achieve objectives."
"Probability of success is lower than for active infiltration."
"Verifying command authorization. Preparing to override."
You roll your eyes. I get that, but I really don't want you to risk it. Besides, they're our allies. Let's not make enemies out of them. While you're listening in, poke around the Net some more. See if you can find any new information on him or anything you missed the first time around.
"Mistress possesses sovereign-level authorization."
"Whatever Mistress desires."
"Orders from Mistress are absolute."

But otherwise? Pretty much, yeah. Just wait till you find out where PS is from (because I'm nice, that'll be 4.x).

Always Late · Sep 25, 2016

Silently Watches said:
Damn it, @Always Late , I can't decide whether to give you a hug, insightful, or funny.

Silently Watches said:
Honestly, I wasn't even thinking about his name meaning shark when I picked it. I was thinking about the other Tiburon.

... Sure, whatever. Jojo has band/music, RWBY has color, why the hell wouldn't someone have a naming trend of 'must be named after a car'?

Silently Watches said:
You only just now caught that?

TBH, even @Bludflag didn't pick up on the extended implications.

Silently Watches said:
1. A magic-naïve world is never going to be the first thing someone from the TSAB thinks when they get a call from a magic radio.
2. Someone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but powering something taken off a dimensional cruiser generally isn't something the run of the mill Storage or Intelligent Device can do. He thought you had prior magical knowledge and used that to repair/power the radio.

1. Fair enough.
2. *points at Perfect Storm* Taylor's got your prior magic knowledge right there.

kokuenDG · Sep 25, 2016

...Huh. So PS imprinting on Taylor made her recognized as the heir to whatever magitech world that he came from?

That's interesting. And now I'm wondering just what kind of device PS is, if he's able to grant Taylor Sovereign level authorization on his systems. I mean, in hindsight PS's abilities are incredibly bullshit by even Nanoha standards, and the whole manipulation to get Sam as the ideal Guardian Beast for Taylor is just the tip of the iceberg!

...Heh, maybe he's the 'Queen Administrator' of the whole Magitech system...

Silently Watches · Sep 25, 2016

kokuenDG said:
...Huh. So PS imprinting on Taylor made her recognized as the heir to whatever magitech world that he came from?

…You could say that, I guess.

kokuenDG said:
...Heh, maybe he's the 'Queen Administrator' of the whole Magitech system...

Just be glad crash-landing on Earth Bet scrambled PS's memory files, or it would be 'halping' a whole different way.

landcollector · Sep 25, 2016

Silently Watches said:
or it would be 'halping' a whole different way.

Why does that concern me?

Scope · Sep 25, 2016

Silently Watches said:
…You could say that, I guess.

Just be glad crash-landing on Earth Bet scrambled PS's memory files, or it would be 'halping' a whole different way.

You aren't making a case for restoring full functionality to Perfect Storm, at least in regards to his memory. Cause it sounds like he is a bit of a dick or something.

Always Late · Sep 25, 2016

Silently Watches said:
Just be glad crash-landing on Earth Bet scrambled PS's memory files, or it would be 'halping' a whole different way.

landcollector said:
Why does that concern me?

Because considering the memory-reading he did to create Samantha, and limited personality modifications done already... I would wager it'd be less of Khepri's 'shard and host can't tell where one begins and the other ends', and more 'My liege, you have awoken in a new body, let's go reclaim your throne, starting with this backwater swamp' total mental overwriting.
EDIT:

Scope said:
You aren't making a case for restoring full functionality to Perfect Storm, at least in regards to his memory. Cause it sounds like he is a bit of a dick or something.

I dunno. Would you consider someone who'd erase your psyche, the 'I' in 'I think, therefore I am', and replace it with a magitech imprint of a long-dead monarch a dick?

kokuenDG · Sep 25, 2016

Silently Watches said:
Just be glad crash-landing on Earth Bet scrambled PS's memory files, or it would be 'halping' a whole different way.

...I meant that as a joke, you know? Like, I know that PS is bullshit, but that's still a scary prospect.

And Taylor still has no idea what kind of power she holds in her grasp at this point. Especially if the Magitech is as bullshit as I suspect it is.

Though I'm gonna assume that PS is the Magnum Opus in terms of AI for that world. At least, I hope...

Always Late · Sep 25, 2016

kokuenDG said:
Though I'm gonna assume that PS is the Magnum Opus in terms of AI for that world. At least, I hope...

Considering he was in the hands of that planet's premiere mage that kicked the Belkan Empire offworld? That's not just a culmination of science and magic, that's Skynet for interdimensional warfare.

Silently Watches · Sep 25, 2016

Since I can't come up with anything to say that wouldn't either spoil something or make you more paranoid, all I'll say is…

Always Late · Sep 25, 2016

Silently Watches said:
Since I can't come up with anything to say that wouldn't either spoil something or make you more paranoid, all I'll say is…

1. I take that to be in-order responses to @landcollector, @Scope, and me.
2. Someone hold me. Preferably Ruby.

Bludflag · Sep 26, 2016

Always Late said:
TBH, even @Bludflag didn't pick up on the extended implications.

Hm? I just thought it meant Taylor had authority over PS itself, not a planet.

Not really not picking up on implications, more like thinking of something completely different.

I see the quest is going well.

A shame that I'm so busy with school, especially since the program I'm supposed to use to do my homework is doing exactly the opposite of what it should when I do the first step… I'm positive my teacher will be understanding. (No, he won't. Not. At. All. ^^; )

Shaseyu · Sep 26, 2016

Hi! I lurked around SV for a long time, and now I registered to say "thank you" to my favourite authors.
Thank you, @Silently Watches! Your quest is great, and it's crossover of my favourite "Everything will be fine" anime and "It gets worse" novel!

Now, Perfect Storm is very interesting thing.
It contains spells and personalities of four very different people. I mean, we have Calamity Witch (an enemy of Ancient Belkan) and Belkan Knight. We have Combat Cyborg/Gadgeteer, but they were created by the TSAB black-ops scientists, right?
There is Lost Logia famous for copying other people's spells. And it contains four mages for it's protection. Book of Darkness.

Other interesting ability of PS is Device creation.
Hayate succesfuly create an Unison Device for herself.

QM said that PS is not the Jewel Seed, but what if it is Book of Darkness or at least its copy/analogue?

Of cource, the TSAB (or at least this operative) is not panicking enough for it to be the case.

Always Late · Sep 26, 2016

Shaseyu said:
Hi! I lurked around SV for a long time, and now I registered to say "thank you" to my favourite authors.
Thank you, @Silently Watches! Your quest is great, and it's crossover of my favourite "Everything will be fine" anime and "It gets worse" novel!

If I may impose, for these are questions I know QMs like being answered, what have been your favorite moments so far, and what were your least favorite moments? I ask the latter because praise is nice and appreciated, but critical feedback is more than worth its weight in gold.

Shaseyu said:
We have Combat Cyborg/Gadgeteer, but they were created by the TSAB black-ops scientists, right?

There are many ancient civilizations and Lost Logia in the Nanoha franchise. What the TSAB considered Combat Cyborgs could very well have been made by other civilizations. After all, what they consider a Combat Cyborg is less about any technology they specifically hold, and more an organism with cybernetic implants specifically designed for combat. The definition is one of purpose, not how it was made.
I hope that rambling makes sense.

Shaseyu said:
QM said that PS is not the Jewel Seed, but what if it is Book of Darkness or at least its copy/analogue?

The Book of Darkness is very blatantly a book. Perfect Storm could potentially accomplish some similar things, like the creation of multiple varied Mages, but not all of the BOD's exact capabilities, as well as things the normal BOD could not accomplish, like act as a device and rewrite the holder's mind. And Perfect Storm is not a book.

Shaseyu said:
Of cource, the TSAB (or at least this operative) is not panicking enough for it to be the case.

Well, here's the thing with that: The TSAB doesn't know we have Perfect Storm. If PS is this highly potent Lost Logia, which it probably is, that low-level LT probably doesn't know the ship was carrying it. Security Clearance and all that.

Shaseyu · Sep 26, 2016

@Always Late

Always Late said:
If I may impose, for these are questions I know QMs like being answered, what have been your favorite moments so far, and what were your least favorite moments? I ask the latter because praise is nice and appreciated, but critical feedback is more than worth its weight in gold.

1. My favourite moments was Samantha's creation (she's so adorable) and Tattletale's smackdown (both "Tattletale, you are an idiot" and "Taylor, you are overreacted").
Least favourite... Well, it was absolutely not obvious for me that Taylor could participate in Privateers operations in chapter 2. I thought that when they were ready for new attack there would be special choise, something like:
[] Captain on the Deck - Privateers are ready for attack. It's time to help your team and wipe out Merchans.

Always Late said:
There are many ancient civilizations and Lost Logia in the Nanoha franchise. What the TSAB considered Combat Cyborgs could very well have been made by other civilizations. After all, what they consider a Combat Cyborg is less about any technology they specifically hold, and more an organism with cybernetic implants specifically designed for combat. The definition is one of purpose, not how it was made.
I hope that rambling makes sense.

2. Well, yeah. I still hope that Cyborgs are more-less the TSAB invention. It's so sad when all that you could do is just repeat and rebuild works of your ancestors.

Always Late said:
The Book of Darkness is very blatantly a book. Perfect Storm could potentially accomplish some similar things, like the creation of multiple varied Mages, but not all of the BOD's exact capabilities, as well as things the normal BOD could not accomplish, like act as a device and rewrite the holder's mind. And Perfect Storm is not a book.

3. I think that the book is just user interface. Raising Heart is looked like little red gem but it's actually a supercomputer, right? In "Hazredous Interruptions" Devices hold their machinery in hammerspace and Book is largest.
RS may have other interface, or it just a part of Book...
Or maybe PS is Agneyastra analogue. "Sovereign-level authorization", heh.

Also, how you do this quote thing? I'll try to use this Quote button in bottom left corner, but not sure that I'll do it correctly.

Bludflag · Sep 26, 2016

Shaseyu said:
@Always Late

1. My favourite moments was Samantha's creation (she's so adorable) and Tattletale's smackdown (both "Tattletale, you are an idiot" and "Taylor, you are overreacted").
Least favourite... Well, it was absolutely not obvious for me that Taylor could participate in Privateers operations in chapter 2. I thought that when they were ready for new attack there would be special choise, something like:
[] Captain on the Deck - Privateers are ready for attack. It's time to help your team and wipe out Merchans.

2. Well, yeah. I still hope that Cyborgs are more-less the TSAB invention. It's so sad when all that you could do is just repeat and rebuild works of your ancestors.

3. I think that the book is just user interface. Raising Heart is looked like little red gem but it's actually a supercomputer, right? In "Hazredous Interruptions" Devices hold their machinery in hammerspace and Book is largest.
RS may have other interface, or it just a part of Book...
Or maybe PS is Agneyastra analogue. "Sovereign-level authorization", heh.

Also, how you do this quote thing? I'll try to use this Quote button in bottom left corner, but not sure that I'll do it correctly.

That one quotes the entire post.

If you want to get a piece of a post, highlight with your mouse what you want to quote, release the mouse, and two options will appear--"Reply" and "+Quote." Use as you see fit.

The "Reply" option will immediately lead you to the reply box while "+Quote" won't.

Always Late · Sep 26, 2016

Shaseyu said:
2. Well, yeah. I still hope that Cyborgs are more-less the TSAB invention. It's so sad when all that you could do is just repeat and rebuild works of your ancestors.

It's less rebuilding previous works and more... literally starting from scratch. 'Lost Logia' are magic. Not even the TSAB does not understand how they works. There's an extended metaphor about the Adeptus Mechanicus is a librarian trying to rebuild:

Build a library, fill it with all human knowledge. You take it elsewhere when you need a book from it, but the book is only a simplified copy. You don't understand the real book, and you don't need to. Nobody takes the real books anywhere because why would you, when there's a whole library there?
Now that library goes rogue and the maintenance machinery starts killing everyone any-fucking-where near it. Where the fuck did they all come from, you swear to god there weren't this many, and there weren't because they're using the library's information to fight their war. The government fights a battle that destroys the planet against these robots and tears apart the library to stop them using it, only to be destroyed in the process. The library is leveled, cast into flames, every book burned and every computer virus-laden.
Then comes a man who worked there. He talks to the few surviving library workers, assembles their information, and starts rebuilding a city around the library and expanding it as the librarians find little scraps of paper and fragmented bits of files that stuck together just right read something. They rebuild a library from scrap on the ashes of the old. It isn't a shadow on the glory of the old, but it is all they have.
Then the city turns on itself, kills its master, and the librarians turn to rage. Half of them kill the other half and destroy the remnants of the library because where they're going they won't need science. Everything burns, and the city is left to a scattered few survivors, walls open to the world, with the hungry predators circling.
The Adeptus Mechanicus is the sole surviving librarian, desperately scrabbling through the ashes of paper and splinters of hard drives for anything to help him and the city he needs to survive just a second longer.

While not a perfect fit, Nanoha's much more brighter and hopeful, the overall situation for the TSAB's still comparable.
Al-hazred, Belka, so much has been lost, the TSAB got its start securing and researching these lost, no-longer-understood super-weapons, rebuilding a system of magic based off of what came before. Not a total replication, but the base theories to build off of.

Shaseyu said:
In "Hazredous Interruptions" Devices hold their machinery in hammerspace and Book is largest.

That's WhiteEyes' story. Not to knock on that damn awesome work, but that might not necessarily be how things work here. For one, SW is the Author/QM, not WE. Secondly, Perfect Storm is very much different from other 'normal' intelligent devices, and operates under its own somewhat unique rules.

Magical Girl Escalation Taylor (Worm/Nanoha)

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