"Just stick to the plan," Teo's calm, authoritative voice assured Chachi. Don't antagonize, don't act dumb or desperate. Seek out existing connections and strengthen them, which in this public forum will show less friendly parties that you do, in fact, still have allies. Chachi thought it was a good plan, if a bit tepid, like most of Teo's plans. She nearly veered off when she heard about the Saint, but there's no guarantee they were even here, rumors about Saints appearing in the oddest places were ubiquitous and rarely panned out. Besides, everyone and their dog would be looking to get some tidbit of cultivation advice out of them. It must be exhausting.
She walked with purpose through the arterial corridors. She passed a wall of Glorious Pineapple Sage and fought back a pang of grief. The smell reminded her of when her father first brought her to Court at twelve. The crowds overwhelmed her with anxiety, so he told her to imagine the corridors as rivers, the people as rushing and whirling water, and the flowers as the bank. When that didn't help, he sat her on a patch of Sage. Everyone instinctively slid around the delicate flowers, and the child plopped among them. He told her the Court, the Land, and the Lord were all reflections of each other. If you could learn to navigate the riverways, you could learn to navigate the dynamics of the Court, and to navigate the Lord's heart. It was a calming thing to hear at the time, that her father had such magical insight. Now, Chachi still wished she had half his wisdom. Well, if she couldn't navigate this place like a master, she could at least pretend.
She emerged on a small balcony, one of hundreds, and took in a spectacular view of the capital. Her eyes drifted to construction on the Blue Confluence: "Sky-Raisers" a new design that used ambient Teotle to partially float the weight of the upper floors so the absurdly tall towers didn't collapse. It was breathtakingly ambitious.
"Foolish," a short, long-bearded man with an alarming lined face tsked next to her, "One disruption in the Teotle and those eyesores will fall back to earth. Gotta have solid bones. You can't rely on Teotle to do your engineering for you."
"I don't know. If the Lord wills them to stay up, then up they stay" Chachi countered, "I can disrupt Teotle, but I can't counter even his passive protections in his capital.
"We've been at peace too long," the man shook his head and looked like he wanted to elaborate, but stopped himself.
This is Zhezhurani of the Kalchiuani, by adoption. He's their chief materials engineer. Nearly a mortal in cultivation, flawed foundation, but brilliant in his specialty. Act humble, flatter him, get him talking about what he loves.
"What do you mean? I'm afraid I don't know much about buildings, or war for that matter." Chachi gave him an earnest smile, and was rewarded with a softening of his aged face into something almost grandfatherly.
"The Lord's passive protection weaken if he must actively use a non-trivial amount of his power. If he's forced to fight with all his strength, he will drain the land and everyone in it, as if we were his Teotle reserves. That on its own will disrupt the ambient Teotle flows. So now, if he ever goes to war, those silly buildings will fall first thing, crushing everyone inside and around them. That damages the capital, which will wound him. Utter madness. He has not lifted his hand in anger for centuries, we are well positioned here in the interior of the Empire, but we still have Abyssals to the West, great beasts to the South and Infernal beings hiding among us. And what if a Demigod attacks the Empire? The Emperor will be forced to draw deeply from all of civilization, and then…" he mimics a building falling over with his arm.
Chachi nodded appreciatively, and didn't have to fake it. She'd only known peace, she wasn't alone in that. But to build something that would only stand in peace time? She took another, more critical look at the new buildings, "they all want to be as close to the Court as possible. Now there's nowhere left to build but up," she mused, "how would you solve that?"
"Use Teotle in the materials stage," his answer was instant, eager, "forge a proper alloy with the strength and flexibility to withstand the forces on its own. Hyper-compress if you have to. That's your skeleton. Use light materials for the 'flesh'. Heavy Teotle use in the construction phase, or for luxuries like those fancy "elevators" they're putting in the new towers now. You can even put a minor ambient imbuement in the materials to prevent degradation, but never rely on it for structural integrity.
"The Walking Fortresses stop walking without Teotle, but they're still fortresses."
"Exactly! That was a good project. Even the imbued weapons are operated by personal Teotle," he smiled nostalgically, "I wasn't the lead on that, but I designed your armor. Fine materials there.
"So if your way is better," Chachi asked, "why are those being built the way they are?"
He sighed, "cost, 90% of it is cost. It's easy enough to carve a simple repeated rune-pattern on cheap materials, unskilled mortals can do it with a template. Much pricier to engineer it proper and forge the right materials. We barely bother to bid on those jobs anymore, everyone wants it done for half price when you're selling space, not quality, and who cares if it falls over in a mortal generation? You've already sold it."
Chachi was momentarily confused by the term 'rune-pattern,' Zhezhurani wasn't from the Thousand Rivers, so he must have fallen into an unfamiliar metaphor for Teotle flow. Waterways were the best way to think about them, but people less familiar with those patterns sometimes used weaving, or writing, or mechanics as their language of choice. Or maybe it was construction specific jargon? When she produced an object's waterways in the Cosmic Forge, she integrated them much deeper than 'carving' implied, they were part of the… She didn't have a word for it. Huh. Spiritual fiber maybe?
She reigned herself in, she'd think about waterways on her own time, "so, what's the other 10%?"
"Eh?"
"The other 10% of it, if 90% is cost."
"Oh, right, right. Aesthetics. I'm afraid they have us there. The thin floating effect, the inverted pyramid thing they have going on, or see those spindly bridges? Just can't do it with materials alone, or at least I haven't found a way. Our designs would be a bit boxy and same-looking. If you want to make something that will stand, you have to pay attention to mundane physics."
Chachi nodded, and figured this was a good time to steer things in a more profitable direction, "so, if you're not winning bids on sky risers, what are you working on now? Anything?"
He grinned, "looking to get us working for cheap, eh? Well, sorry to say we might have some real construction work. Not that the Walking Fortresses weren't a fun project… Anyway, we're bidding on some major canal work."
Canals! Teo sounded excited. Chachi might not have known why a few months ago, but she'd poured over their distribution maps long enough to know that a few canals, the right canals, would seriously help their local distribution, which still relied on river boats.
"But, uh, now that I think of it, maybe we'll end up hiring you this time," he sounded more hesitant, now that he was talking business. But his clan sent him here, so they must trust his judgement enough to negotiate in their name.
"It's a massive amount of earth to move, do you need Morning Dew? Or maybe Ox Breath?"
"No, ah, not your clan. You, personally. Your Mastery made those Teotle engines for the Fortresses, right? They're a real work of art. We're sure one clan will have a plan based on mortal labor, another with coordinated techniques. We can beat them both out with specialized machinery. If we design a fortress scale digging machine, can you make the engine?
"Yes!" Chachi nodded, designs already flying through her mind.
But…
"But, the personal attention of a Transforming Matriarch doesn't come cheap…"
[] Money
You want a one-time payment for your work, you settle on $15 after some negotiation (with Teo's help)
[] Labor
In addition to their big contract, you want them to dig some private canals for your clan. This should increase your profits in the Thousand Rivers. It's hard to say by how much, and depends on your continued reliance on river trade and this region.
[] Write in
