Marca Estrella: A Game of Chivalry in the Time of Archengines
- Thread starter Exhack
- Start date
- Original
Cetashwayo
Lord of Ten Thousand Years
- Location
- Across the Horizon
[X] "Let me go instead."
Appendix A: Society in the HIE I: Escuderos
Exhack
We Won't Build The Plane!
- Location
- Montreal, Canada
Author's Note: No update tonight... this morning. But hey, have some supplemental materials!
There are few institutions in the Holy Ispano Empire as critical to its prosperity as the escudero colleges. Without them, archengines and hidalgos would be unusable, the bureaucracy would wither and society would be left in a greatly diminished state. For no other being in the cosmos truly combines the incredible efficacy of calculation, memorization and thought with the emotions and creativity of a human. Their tremendous efficacy underlines this trait: that no matter how powerful or intelligent, each is fundamentally human and has a human heart with all of the same emotions. The love between an escudero and his hidalgo are the basis of many classic romances, the complex interplay of status, family ties and the bonds shared as the most intimate of comrades.
Becoming an escudero typically involves recruitment at an early age. Children are usually located between the ages of four and seven and are brought to boarding schools in secluded regions with few distractions, allowing them to develop the mental discipline and mnemonic tools necessary to process data faster than even the most powerful modern computers. Training takes between eight to nine years, depending on the preferences of the academy and the potential of the person. Once their training is completed, they are put into apprenticeship arrangements with reputed alumni of their schools until judged ready to live on their own means.
At this point they will find themselves courted by any number of hidalgo, craft guilds and other Imperial associations and are freemen with social status just below that of landed nobility or as befitting their station. They are employed and paid fairly as members of a hidalgo's household or whatever association they choose to join, though the academy typically collects tithe for ten to twenty years thereafter as compensation. Patrons and donors to their academy may have the privilege of 'first choice' or exclusive access to the most elite of a given year's completed escudero, although this practice varies widely and some schools, such as the Imperial Savant Collegiate, ban it entirely.
The system of patronage also has many political ramifications: smaller nations with the wealth to raise a levy of knights and archengines to assert sovereignty are often challenged by the difficulty in sustaining a large academy that can support both their civilian institutions and military. They must often look outwards for escudero of pedigree, requiring they maintain friendly and often subordinate relations with larger nations with more developed educational institutions. For this reason the Holy Ispano Empire, with its enormous population of eclectic origins, is capable of feeding a tremendous number of academies and uses these schools as political capital to hold many minor states and kingdoms firmly in their sphere of influence. Importing foreign nobles to be trained in Ispano academies also creates a system of political hostages, both as the children are raised and later when they are distributed across the Empire at their hiring. Peace treaties between nations typically conclude with an exchange of territories, trophy archengines and high-born escudero hostages to ensure adherence for the span of at least a generation.
The presence of any number of superhuman genetic lineages inherited from the soldiery of bygone empires is highly desirable as these improve the speed, reliability and multitasking ability of the escudero (although even a completely ordinary human can be made into a passable escudero with training and pharmaceutical enhancement). As a consequence, the academies recruit heavily from noble houses with surpluses of young children, as good hidalgo typically have all the necessary qualities to make escudero of merit. Civilized regions almost always have an academy genealogist who offers free services cataloguing marriages in a given area, allowing the academy to keep track of marriages or trysts which have the potential for producing high-quality escudero. Persons of interest are followed and tested, and if revealed to have potential may be recruited from their families in exchange for a generous stipend. For families of lower status, the additional income and the promise of a child ascending to the service nobility is often too sweet a deal to refuse.
Bastard children sired by hidalgo are often traded away like this, but the stigma is often lesser and they are usually treated quite well- a child of brief passion may eventually become a clan's pride and breadwinner, after all.
There exist a number of alternatives to escudero but they are generally unpopular. Thinking-machines are sensitive to the electromagnetic weaponry and countermeasures often carried by archengines in ways that humans are not, and they are often too large, too fragile and too complex to mount in an archengine with modern technology. The next best solution are genetically engineered creatures called cogito, alien anemone-brains around a meter in diameter which are as quick as escudero but dull and uncreative, only useful as processors for archengines of modest quality and intricacy. Fundamentally, it offends the sensibilities of the Ispano and most civilized races to use cogito, for one can never be a companion, ally and confidante as an escudero can. Being reliant on one is a sign of poor means or grievous personality flaws.
There are few institutions in the Holy Ispano Empire as critical to its prosperity as the escudero colleges. Without them, archengines and hidalgos would be unusable, the bureaucracy would wither and society would be left in a greatly diminished state. For no other being in the cosmos truly combines the incredible efficacy of calculation, memorization and thought with the emotions and creativity of a human. Their tremendous efficacy underlines this trait: that no matter how powerful or intelligent, each is fundamentally human and has a human heart with all of the same emotions. The love between an escudero and his hidalgo are the basis of many classic romances, the complex interplay of status, family ties and the bonds shared as the most intimate of comrades.
Becoming an escudero typically involves recruitment at an early age. Children are usually located between the ages of four and seven and are brought to boarding schools in secluded regions with few distractions, allowing them to develop the mental discipline and mnemonic tools necessary to process data faster than even the most powerful modern computers. Training takes between eight to nine years, depending on the preferences of the academy and the potential of the person. Once their training is completed, they are put into apprenticeship arrangements with reputed alumni of their schools until judged ready to live on their own means.
At this point they will find themselves courted by any number of hidalgo, craft guilds and other Imperial associations and are freemen with social status just below that of landed nobility or as befitting their station. They are employed and paid fairly as members of a hidalgo's household or whatever association they choose to join, though the academy typically collects tithe for ten to twenty years thereafter as compensation. Patrons and donors to their academy may have the privilege of 'first choice' or exclusive access to the most elite of a given year's completed escudero, although this practice varies widely and some schools, such as the Imperial Savant Collegiate, ban it entirely.
The system of patronage also has many political ramifications: smaller nations with the wealth to raise a levy of knights and archengines to assert sovereignty are often challenged by the difficulty in sustaining a large academy that can support both their civilian institutions and military. They must often look outwards for escudero of pedigree, requiring they maintain friendly and often subordinate relations with larger nations with more developed educational institutions. For this reason the Holy Ispano Empire, with its enormous population of eclectic origins, is capable of feeding a tremendous number of academies and uses these schools as political capital to hold many minor states and kingdoms firmly in their sphere of influence. Importing foreign nobles to be trained in Ispano academies also creates a system of political hostages, both as the children are raised and later when they are distributed across the Empire at their hiring. Peace treaties between nations typically conclude with an exchange of territories, trophy archengines and high-born escudero hostages to ensure adherence for the span of at least a generation.
The presence of any number of superhuman genetic lineages inherited from the soldiery of bygone empires is highly desirable as these improve the speed, reliability and multitasking ability of the escudero (although even a completely ordinary human can be made into a passable escudero with training and pharmaceutical enhancement). As a consequence, the academies recruit heavily from noble houses with surpluses of young children, as good hidalgo typically have all the necessary qualities to make escudero of merit. Civilized regions almost always have an academy genealogist who offers free services cataloguing marriages in a given area, allowing the academy to keep track of marriages or trysts which have the potential for producing high-quality escudero. Persons of interest are followed and tested, and if revealed to have potential may be recruited from their families in exchange for a generous stipend. For families of lower status, the additional income and the promise of a child ascending to the service nobility is often too sweet a deal to refuse.
Bastard children sired by hidalgo are often traded away like this, but the stigma is often lesser and they are usually treated quite well- a child of brief passion may eventually become a clan's pride and breadwinner, after all.
There exist a number of alternatives to escudero but they are generally unpopular. Thinking-machines are sensitive to the electromagnetic weaponry and countermeasures often carried by archengines in ways that humans are not, and they are often too large, too fragile and too complex to mount in an archengine with modern technology. The next best solution are genetically engineered creatures called cogito, alien anemone-brains around a meter in diameter which are as quick as escudero but dull and uncreative, only useful as processors for archengines of modest quality and intricacy. Fundamentally, it offends the sensibilities of the Ispano and most civilized races to use cogito, for one can never be a companion, ally and confidante as an escudero can. Being reliant on one is a sign of poor means or grievous personality flaws.
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Part Uno XIV: The Dioscuria
Exhack
We Won't Build The Plane!
- Location
- Montreal, Canada
"Let me go with you."
"Daughter, you…"
"Father, there's no time to argue. Get to your archengine."
Your Father nods, then runs for the Grifon. You can see your mother sprinting towards it from the other direction. Avagis looks at you as you run towards the Michael. The cockpit has been hastily cleaned, the bones removed with as much respect as can be offered in such brutal circumstances.
"You know, I never said that Michael was the greatest archengine of the Empire's legions." Avagis says as you board.
"Are you telling me we'll lose today?"
"That depends." The young-looking escudero smiles at you. His teeth are very white. "An archengine is only as good as the spirits that drive it." In suit's entry vestibule, he sits opposite you. In a moment, you'll be boosted to the different parts of the archengine. As you seat yourself he reaches up, takes your face in both hands and looks deep into your eyes. You feel yourself fall into them. Then you feel hot, and cold, a vast eternity of sensations. You barely feel your seat boosted up its entry tube into the archengine's heart. You've felt a shadow of this before when you tested out the Grifon, but the Grifon is nothing to this archengine.
Your mind expands, filling the machine. Its limbs are your limbs, its hands are your hands. You step forward from the scaffold, reaching down to the spezzante on one side. Your father has forgotten it.
<<Synching weapon,>> Avagis's voice says in your head.
<<Don't look too deep into me!>>
<<Milady, these are just the internal comms. I can only hear what you wish me to.>> Avagis replies, feigning offense.
The Murgleys turns, its arms crossed, then it speaks. "So, you come out to confront me Valentin?" His outriders split off, both going left, circling forward towards the Michael. "I wasn't sure you would."
"I'm no coward di Gano. Not like you." Your father's voice rings out in return. He raises his sword.
"Oh please." The Murgleys half turns. "You who are so eager to betray a man's trust when he's safely away, but the moment he is here, you attempt to withdraw. You who'd break your oath for nothing more than the grandeur of his title. You call me a coward?" His voice takes on an edge you haven't heard before. "It was only in respect for your feelings that I delayed even this long. The last pieces of my revenge are finally in place and your consent was never necessary to get them moving, Valentin!"
"Revenge? Is this what this is about?!" Your father sounds confused, and then disturbed. "Is that why you chose to betray your liege to the Gallians?"
"Only a simple man fights for a single reason. There are many injustices that I can only rectify once I have driven the Don and his dogs from this world."
"And what good would that be, to build that on the back of treason? No one would follow such a man." Your father attempts to reason with him, strained. You wonder what his feelings towards Balduino were, such that he was willing to entrust you to him in a marriage. The familiar ache in your stomach pangs again, as you listen to the exchange and stand ready to engage. "You would be despised. The court-"
Balduino interrupts. "-would be irrelevant. I was promised fifty Gallian vassal knights, more than enough to keep a firm hold over things."
"Are you so contemptuous of your own people that you would depend on foreigners?"
"Perhaps I have every right to be, Valentin. But who are you to judge me, who followed me for a pittance of money and a small title?!" His tone rises noticeably as he steps forward, his disdain in evidence.
There's no reply from your father.
"But enough of this. I see you've conscripted your daughter into your schemes again. That's you isn't it Mireia?" Balduino's tone changes as he turns towards you, insolently negligent of your father's presence.
"I am here." You test the spezzante, keeping both him and the outriders in view at all times.
"I should have conspired with you, not your family." His voice is sad. "You are not one who will stand aside from a decision once she has made it."
"I would never have participated in a plot like this." You take a step forward, raising dust. "My parents were foolish to do so."
"You would never participate in a plot for mere money, but then, for me this was never about money."
"Don't think that you can dissuade me di Gano." You spin the spezzante and bring it to fighting position. "This ends here."
Balduino laughs. Even now you're struck by how beautiful his voice is. "It is as I said. I should have conspired with you." He extends an arm, palm out towards you. "Leave the Grifon to me. Keep her busy while I finish up my business with the old man."
The four machines hiss, steam pouring from their whistles as the hydraulics systems on the dolls come up to power, then begin to advance. They're moving together, obviously used to fighting with a partner. The archengines are shorter than Michael, satyrnine, digitigrade engines like armoured fauns. The dolls have their own equine look to them, moving on four legs with ape-like gait, but headless, their frontal limbs massive blades. All four machines bear the hallmarks of Concordian design, gleaming pipes and repetition of curves across their hulls in art deco fashion. Gleaming pistol-sabres of stainless steel are held in the hands of both archengines, paired with cavalry shields bearing the latticework of built-in mantellas.
<<Marking the targets as Cen-1 and Cen-2.>> You hear Avagis' voice and notice labelled highlights on your screen. <<Augurs detect both targets at full hull integrity.>>
You nod, but realize that Avagis can't see you from his cockpit. <<Of course. Any weaknesses?>>
<<Scanning.>> A brief silence. <<They're communicating. Radio.>>
<<And? Can we do anything about that?>>
<<The screamers were mounted in the overarmor, unfortunately. Let me think...>>
The two dolls drop back behind the archengines and with a hiss, their fronts open, clicking into position at the vast machine's waists, forming a centauroid arrangement, bladed arms projected along the lower frontal flanks to protect the legs and threaten you with ride-by strikes. Breaking the pace of the slow approach Cen-1, the left machine, rides towards you at full gallop and feints out at the last minute. Your posture already committed to defend, you find yourself forced into backstepping to avoid a pincer attack. The blade-limbs on Cen-2 bunch in as it drives in from your right side, blades forming a long lance as it dives towards the blind spot in your polearm's defense.
How will you respond?
[ ] Charge to meet it, use the spezzante to knock it backwards
[ ] Stand your ground and try to trip it with the Spezzante as it passes, accepting or dodging the slash
[ ] Use the reflected sun from Michael's ultra shiny armour to blind the pilot.
[ ] Stand your ground and set to receive the charge.
What is your plan of battle?
[ ] Fight defensively, using the spezzante's reach to your advantage
[ ] Feint and draw one of the enemies into a charge and bring it down in the hanger
[ ] (x1.2) Aggressively attack one of the archengines and try to even the odds
[ ] Try to force them into a line with quick attacks with the spezzante, and diffuse their numbers
[ ] (x0.8) Ask Avagis to do something, you can't handle this level of coordination while outnumbered!
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[X] Charge to meet it, use the spezzante to knock it backwards
[X] (x1.2) Aggressively attack one of the archengines and try to even the odds
We have a high damage close combat weapon and we purged our armor. Basic tactics suggest that the best way out of this is to take out their numerical superiority fast as we're not suited to a drawn out combat
[X] (x1.2) Aggressively attack one of the archengines and try to even the odds
We have a high damage close combat weapon and we purged our armor. Basic tactics suggest that the best way out of this is to take out their numerical superiority fast as we're not suited to a drawn out combat
- Location
- The Hague
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Charge to meet it, use the spezzante to knock it backwards
[X] (x1.2) Aggressively attack one of the archengines and try to even the odds
The spezzante is also a pretty strong defensive weapon, and our speed should be pretty high due to the armour purge.
[X] (x1.2) Aggressively attack one of the archengines and try to even the odds
The spezzante is also a pretty strong defensive weapon, and our speed should be pretty high due to the armour purge.
Alectai
Speaks Words of Wisdom... On occasion
First rule when fighting multiple opponents is always to change that fact.
Since we don't have any alleyways that would survive combat with us, the best we can do is CHARGE and CLEAVE and SMITE.
[X] Charge to meet it, use the spezzante to knock it backwards
[X] (x1.2) Aggressively attack one of the archengines and try to even the odds
Since we don't have any alleyways that would survive combat with us, the best we can do is CHARGE and CLEAVE and SMITE.
[X] Charge to meet it, use the spezzante to knock it backwards
[X] (x1.2) Aggressively attack one of the archengines and try to even the odds
Cetashwayo
Lord of Ten Thousand Years
- Location
- Across the Horizon
[X] Charge to meet it, use the spezzante to knock it backwards
[X] (x1.2) Aggressively attack one of the archengines and try to even the odds
[X] (x1.2) Aggressively attack one of the archengines and try to even the odds
Part Uno XV: A Thundering Blow
- Pronouns
- She/Her
[X] Charge to meet it, use the spezzante to knock it backwards.
[X] (x1.2) Aggressively attack one of the archengines and try to even the odds.
You bring the spezzante to bear and push your archengine into a full charge, holding the tip low as you meet Cen-2's challenge head-on. It lunges with both lance and sword but you have the advantage of reach and flexibility, striking first and stepping out of the way with only a graze across the shoulder. The steel is cool across Michael's hull, sharp and uncomfortable, but you've nonetheless escaped being struck. The spezzante hits the lower torso and shatters as you draw it upwards, splashing it with a coruscating cloud of glittering blue-white dust that catches the sunlight in ways you'd find beautiful if you weren't in a life-and-death situation.
<<No damage to us!>> Avagis advises. <<Press the attack!>>
You snort and give a wordless yell, not needing incentive to follow-up.
It rears on hindlegs, wobbling as the front has been ripped to shreds by the force of the blow, but you follow-up with a second blow with the glassy counterweight on the other end of the spear. It attempts to defend with the shield and succeeds in fending you off, but the force of the impact shatters the emblem housing the mantella and with it- any chance of ranged defense.
But now you're disarmed, with just the pole of the spezzante and a half-formed hunk of crystal on either end. A cloud of fragments drifts towards it, as it takes on its previous shape.
<<Reformation in four seconds!>>
Cen-1 is half as many away. You roar again to motivate yourself and tighten your grip on the controls, releasing Michael's off-hand from the spezzante's grip and winding it back.
Avagis takes notice, his voice assuming alarm. <<...wait, are you?>>
Your posture shifts, stepping into Cent-2, one leg forward for stability like a Concordian fencer. Cen-1 accelerates, attempting to corral you before you can strike its wounded friend, it but it's too slow, still an eternal two seconds away.
In a split second, you jab with your left arm while Cen-2 is still reeling, catching the machine's fluted helmet on the underside. Even as you strike you're astounded by the sheer power of the hit. Connective pipes and struts bend and buckle as the entire head lifts off the shoulders and bends to an angle while the shoulder and collar bends hideously around your fist, now held only by the opposite side supports. The force of the blow throws the unit away from you, kicking up dust as it skids across the arid fields, digging up grasses and scattering scrap in every direction.
You gape for a split-second, the carnage beyond anything you've ever seen before. <<What obscene power>>
<<Michael's output is rated- behind you!>> Avagis interrupts himself and flashes a warning on your vision.
You have a split-second to evade Cen-1 as it comes up behind you, kicking off with all your strength. The pistol-saber drags across the ground as it fails to connect. You find yourself hurtling through the air, a hundred meters away from your original place as you land on your knees and free hand. The spezzante has reformed.
Cen-1 gallops towards you but keeps a distance of a hundred meters, firing opportunistically with the pistol saber while maintaining guard with the cavalry shield. You raise the spezzante to defend yourself and stand back up, causing the shots to streak around Michael's frame and impact near the workshop's walls.
Your opponent moves, aims and fires again, the angle of deflection launching a shell directly into the walls this time. It holds against the hit, the thick ferracrete withstanding the shock… but you nonetheless feel your stomach tighten with worry.
There's a pause as Cen-1 reloads its pistol saber, giving you a chance to examine your surroundings. The estate and workshop are behind you and to the South, and the wreck of Cen-2 is a hundred meter North. Cen-1 is pacing back and forth, keeping the remain of its compatriot just out of your reach. A kilometer North and East into the wastes you can catch the outline of Grifon managing, just barely, to hold his own against the wiry frame of Murgleys, fighting on the defensive. If you can finish this one quickly you may have a chance to rescue him and drive your assailant back.
What do you do?
[ ] (x1.2) Finish this decisively, attacking head on.
[ ] Defend in place until Cen-1 has to reload and strike decisively in the next gap.
[ ] Defend using your superior agility until Cen-1 has to reload and strike decisively in the next gap.
[ ] (x0.8) Play cautiously and ask Avagis to scan for more hostiles.
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Alectai
Speaks Words of Wisdom... On occasion
[X] (x1.2) Finish this decisively, attacking head on.
We're down to one enemy target, in this group, and my impression is that Archengines aren't so common that he'd bring more than he has to take down a single one.
Fighting defensively is a losing choice when we don't have our primary armor belt, our best chance is to end the fight before he gets lucky. Fortunately, a spezzante seems to be an excellent weapon to help mitigate this weakness.
We're down to one enemy target, in this group, and my impression is that Archengines aren't so common that he'd bring more than he has to take down a single one.
Fighting defensively is a losing choice when we don't have our primary armor belt, our best chance is to end the fight before he gets lucky. Fortunately, a spezzante seems to be an excellent weapon to help mitigate this weakness.
- Location
- The Hague
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] (x0.8) Play cautiously and ask Avagis to scan for more hostiles.
My danger sense is tingling.
My danger sense is tingling.
Cetashwayo
Lord of Ten Thousand Years
- Location
- Across the Horizon
[X] (x0.8) Play cautiously and ask Avagis to scan for more hostiles.
DON'T TRUST DECISIVE OPTIONS
DON'T TRUST DECISIVE OPTIONS
Sirrocco
Pedantic
[x] (x1.2) Finish this decisively, attacking head on.
Genre savvy says there is obviously some hot-blooded shounen thing going on, and we need to save Mom and Dad. Also, the spezzante pretty much protects us from ranged fire. Basically, if we do act decisively, we might get blindsided. If we don't act decisively, Mom and Dad are going to be in serious trouble.
Time to be a dutiful daughter. For the honor of the house!
Genre savvy says there is obviously some hot-blooded shounen thing going on, and we need to save Mom and Dad. Also, the spezzante pretty much protects us from ranged fire. Basically, if we do act decisively, we might get blindsided. If we don't act decisively, Mom and Dad are going to be in serious trouble.
Time to be a dutiful daughter. For the honor of the house!