The Lonely Earth - Earth ISOT into Magitek fantasy

[Anti-No]

not only that the planet is alive, at what point does it respond to nuclear strikes.

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Nuclear war on a living, aware and acting planet that just saved everyone sounds like an exceedingly bad idea, yes. Even more than usual. And the usual is "Everyone dies, and then we get an ice age".

 

[AntiSanity]

The problem is that no one from our Earth knows explicitly about the living planet, no one from the new Earth knows exactly what nuclear weapons do, no one from either Earth knows exactly how the living planet will respond, and quite possibly not everyone from our Earth will believe the planet will respond.

We know from the author telling us outside the story, but do the people inside?

Someone's from our Earth is going to feel that going nuclear is the right option if they're threatened.

Of course, that's assuming limited nuclear strikes (1-5) bother the planet at all. It is a huge massive planet and our limited nuclear testing on our own Earth had only limited impacts. I'm guessing we get a big of a buffer for some strikes before retaliation.

 

[DonutAttack]

Eh, if it comes down to it, I'd rather see a nuke be used than let thousands of people potentially die in a war, at least to see if it's possible. I mean, defending against existential wars of aggression is exactly their purpose.

 

[Cloak&Dagger]

I mean the planet MIGHT complain if you put me in charge and I start throwing around multigigaton landscaping devices, but as far as a few hundred thousand submegaton explosions it shouldn't care much, especially airbursts.

If the planet is intervening on such a small scale, it will probably be more concerned about our gigatons of gas and garbage emissions

Biggest reason not to use nuclear weapons is that there is no reason to think the undead would be bothered by radiation doses that would be crippling to lethal against the living.

As to ways to block it without blocking anything and everything else at the same time? Divine intervention and/or an agreement between pantheons, most probably.

Scrying/summons might work as well. Continually scrying for weapons being readied, and then countering it would be possible. But something that can counter a launch site or two might still do poorly against 700 heavy artillery units.

If it was just shields with limited blocking, one could always send a few artillery shell barages first, then a nuke in among a barrage once the shields are down. Or nuke shield then nuke site. But I still think nukes would be a really bad idea for the living.

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Radiation is almost completely meaningless, unless you're hit by the nuke directly, or in the immediate vicinity soon after, it's not a big deal. Military forces have CBRN gear to go into nuked areas, and with magic cancer isn't even a problem long term.

700 launchers might be better than one, but there's no reason to manufacture 155mm HE shells when 155mm nuclear is an option.

"We were founded by the destruction of the slaver empire that once ruled Joth, and since then we have sworn to ensure that no one else may be in chains." Darastra said, her voice almost making Putin shiver. There was something supernatural about it, a magical pleasantness almost irresistible to mortals. He felt like he had to go and shoot some serf holders. He blinked a few times and pulled over an agent to whisper to them.

"We need to get the FSB on them as quickly as possible. I don't like the way that her voice is affecting my thoughts and I want to know everything we can about it. Including how to replicate it." He said, the agent nodding and then looking back to the Jothii representatives as his eye caught the Halfling and Dwarf sharing a whisper of their own.

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...And no more face to face meetings.

Ever.

Enjoy talking to robot diplomats magic world.

 

[GabeC1997]

I'm honestly hoping that Nukes are still somewhat effective on certain magics. Because they're miniature suns, which should play merry havoc on anything that's weak against sun light like vampires or various other dark things.

Edit: And I guess there could still be some use for Earth!Tech. Since it's all built upon natural processes with no magical effects, it might be less offensive to various Nature Entities than that of other factions. And maybe quantum bullshit, because magic kind of kicks the whole "uncertainty" thing you need for that in the nuts. I don't know, but what I do know is that there is always some benefit to doing things differently, even if it's just causing a (hopefully misplaced) sense of superiority in your enemies...

 

[Cmmdfugal]

I'm honestly hoping that Nukes are still somewhat effective on certain magics. Because they're miniature suns, which should play merry havoc on anything that's weak against sun light like vampires or various other dark things.

Edit: And I guess there could still be some use for Earth!Tech. Since it's all built upon natural processes with no magical effects, it might be less offensive to various Nature Entities than that of other factions. And maybe quantum bullshit, because magic kind of kicks the whole "uncertainty" thing you need for that in the nuts. I don't know, but what I do know is that there is always some benefit to doing things differently, even if it's just causing a (hopefully misplaced) sense of superiority in your enemies...

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i would also like to pose a question of what happens when magic is blocked...not cancelled but muted or the magical power source is removed. tech also has that reliability bonus going for it.

so perhaps later on magitek primary systems with puretech backup could be seen as standard

 

[The Destroyer]

Honestly what I'm seeing so far is that earth has no advantage. Which is very bad and in any realistic scenario results in a bad end with the level of warfare and industry being brought up as normal on this planet. At the end of the day earth looks like a lower middle power next to some larger fish and they have nothing really impressive to offer in return for help besides bodies to fuel the meat grinder. With time there might be improvement to that but Earth is not united and as battles are being shown any direct attention from a peer magitech opponent results in either earth being overrun and conquered before they can do anything about it, or all the nukes forming a shield of miniture suns around its borders.

Basically this is interesting and all but is there really any reason to include earth at all? They dont seem to bring anything to the table besides trump twitter rants and reddit.

 

[Spartakrod]

Honestly what I'm seeing so far is that earth has no advantage. Which is very bad and in any realistic scenario results in a bad end with the level of warfare and industry being brought up as normal on this planet. At the end of the day earth looks like a lower middle power next to some larger fish and they have nothing really impressive to offer in return for help besides bodies to fuel the meat grinder. With time there might be improvement to that but Earth is not united and as battles are being shown any direct attention from a peer magitech opponent results in either earth being overrun and conquered before they can do anything about it, or all the nukes forming a shield of miniture suns around its borders.

Basically this is interesting and all but is there really any reason to include earth at all? They dont seem to bring anything to the table besides trump twitter rants and reddit.

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There are other things to do with a story than have Earth uber alles and as oft mentioned, technology is extremely schizophrenic. Some areas have not even figured out metal working. There'll be room for empire building later, and the current conflicts with the benefits of allies can almost be thought of as having a gentler entry into the world than having to go it alone. I'm also well aware of how often the ISOT genre tends to have vaguely pro-imperialism messaging and kind of want to not tread that exact same ground.

Beyond that, this is not a purely milwank work because I'm not in the mindset to write Salvation War 2. Culture, religion, and politics will all be examined; and part of countries like America being in a decidedly inferior position is born out of a personal wanting to reverse the usual ISOT tropes. We have thousands of ISOTs where the ISOTed polity is only restrained by sheer logistics from dominating the entire world and the assorted primitives being in rapt awe of what the uptimers can do. And while there's some very good works in that (Golden Island to the west by @Instant Sunrise for one) category it's not really what I want to make because I don't think I can say much of anything new there. I just don't feel like I have anything to add that others can't do better.

Also like, there's already GATE. I don't want to write GATE 2. Earth's countries being regional or secondary powers that find themselves caught in the games of the great powers and swept up in a new and foreign geopolitical system is kind of the whole point. There's a lot of interesting things to say using that framework, but it's usually only said through the lens of SciFi where superior elements interact with familiar ones instead of Fantasy. Earth's countries will be important, but they don't need to be world dominating superpowers to be important.

 

[The Destroyer]

There are other things to do with a story than have Earth uber alles and as oft mentioned, technology is extremely schizophrenic. Some areas have not even figured out metal working. There'll be room for empire building later, and the current conflicts with the benefits of allies can almost be thought of as having a gentler entry into the world than having to go it alone. I'm also well aware of how often the ISOT genre tends to have vaguely pro-imperialism messaging and kind of want to not tread that exact same ground.

Beyond that, this is not a purely milwank work because I'm not in the mindset to write Salvation War 2. Culture, religion, and politics will all be examined; and part of countries like America being in a decidedly inferior position is born out of a personal wanting to reverse the usual ISOT tropes. We have thousands of ISOTs where the ISOTed polity is only restrained by sheer logistics from dominating the entire world and the assorted primitives being in rapt awe of what the uptimers can do. And while there's some very good works in that (Golden Island to the west by @Instant Sunrise for one) category it's not really what I want to make because I don't think I can say much of anything new there. I just don't feel like I have anything to add that others can't do better.

Also like, there's already GATE. I don't want to write GATE 2. Earth's countries being regional or secondary powers that find themselves caught in the games of the great powers and swept up in a new and foreign geopolitical system is kind of the whole point. There's a lot of interesting things to say using that framework, but it's usually only said through the lens of SciFi where superior elements interact with familiar ones instead of Fantasy. Earth's countries will be important, but they don't need to be world dominating superpowers to be important.

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Oh I'm not saying that I disagree with the general idea of Earth being on the back foot or weaker. They would and should have problems afterevent this momentous, least of all because nobody ever works together outside of close NATO allies. It just seems like they have absolutely nothing going for them in a military sense and have at least two borders with expansionist powers. From whats been written so far there is no way that a modern America and Canada could hold off the skeleton hordes without the use of instant sunshine, even if our transistors are better by lightyears or something. It doesnt matter if they cant make a microwave if everyone is dead. America should be recalling its overseas forces for the most part and hey, trump may finally get his wall, just on the other side, I'm just not sure it's going to help. Turning the modern US to a war economy based on a new techbase, even with help from the magical superpowers should realistically take years.

To summarize I don't really think Earth needs to be stronger to tell a good story, it's just as described you've kind of gone in the opposite direction where we are the puny heathens getting ground under foot until our glorious saviors can bring us up to snuff, I don't mind reading that story but from what I've seen its not the story you're planning to tell? Were at best Zimbabwe in this example so far, if everyone else was the united states set on skeleton genocide.

 

[Spartakrod]

Oh I'm not saying that I disagree with the general idea of Earth being on the back foot for a while. They would and should have problems after an event this momentous. It just seems like the have absolutely nothing going for them in a military sense and have at least two borders with expansionist powers. From whats been written so far there is no way that a modern America and Canada could hold off the skeleton hordes without the use of instant sunshine, even if our transistors are better by lightyears or something. It doesnt matter if they cant make a microwave if everyone is dead. America should be recalling its overseas forces for the most part and hey, trump may finally get his wall, just on the other side.

To summarize I don't really think Earth needs to be stronger to tell a good story, it's just as described you've kind of gone in the opposite direction where we are the puny heathens getting ground under foot until our glorious saviors can bring us up to snuff, I don't mind reading that story but from what I've seen its not the story you're planning to tell?

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Issues of serial posting I'm afraid.

There will be good news soon though.

 

[Spartakrod]

Won't be an update today but will be working hard on making up for it tomorrow.

 

[GabeC1997]

And here's to hope that they don't consider the use of livestock as slavery...

 

[Vanigo]

Issues of serial posting I'm afraid.

There will be good news soon though.

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I don't believe you. You've clearly established that RL military forces are Zulu-war-level outmatched in the following areas:

• Naval
• Airpower
• Artillery
• Industrial productivity
• Exotic effects

With nothing in the sea or air that's even relevant, let alone competitive, it seems safe to assume the same is true of ground vehicles as well, so we can add armored forces to the list. That leaves infantry and, uh, nothing else? I guess US Army soldiers can probably wipe the floor with skeleton chaff, but at that point, does it really matter?

 

[GabeC1997]

Maybe we could just wait and see before bitching about everything?

 

[Spartakrod]

I don't believe you. You've clearly established that RL military forces are Zulu-war-level outmatched in the following areas:

• Naval
• Airpower
• Artillery
• Industrial productivity
• Exotic effects

With nothing in the sea or air that's even relevant, let alone competitive, it seems safe to assume the same is true of ground vehicles as well, so we can add armored forces to the list. That leaves infantry and, uh, nothing else? I guess US Army soldiers can probably wipe the floor with skeleton chaff, but at that point, does it really matter?

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The Earth is more in a pre-Meiji Japan sort of position and the UCA's trip over the northern hemisphere is the commodore perry moment. There's also plenty of patrons willing to help with development, especially to contain the forces of Druzh. Including the UCA's own patron.

 

[Cloak&Dagger]

I'm not really seeing that the Earth is really that far behind.

There are things they lack, like magic and all its parts, but once the Earth gets that they should easily be able to outclass the rest of the planet, because most of the advantages of magic are technical rather than brute force.

Modern tech vs Magic Precog boosted magic-rockets? Bad for Modern tech.

Modern tech + Magic Precog vs Magic Precog boosted magic-rockets? Horrific slaughter for the Modern tech.

If the manufacturing difference is as large as the natives seem to imply, I'd expect the Earth to colonize the solar system within 50 years. If you can easily manufacture massive amounts of equipment there's no reason not to get space colonies for the entire species.

Oh I'm not saying that I disagree with the general idea of Earth being on the back foot or weaker. They would and should have problems afterevent this momentous, least of all because nobody ever works together outside of close NATO allies.

Click to shrink...

The UN works often, and in this scenario it would see a lot more cooperation. Having all of Earth go out on its own wouldn't make sense, and the UNSC would and should invade dissident nations if they try to split Earth.

It just seems like they have absolutely nothing going for them in a military sense and have at least two borders with expansionist powers. From whats been written so far there is no way that a modern America and Canada could hold off the skeleton hordes without the use of instant sunshine, even if our transistors are better by lightyears or something.

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'Except for the most powerful weapon ever invented in human history, humanity is grossly inferior militarily.'

Well you don't say? If California didn't exist, the Republicans would win every federal election too, but California does exist, and so do nukes.

 

[The Destroyer]

I'm not really seeing that the Earth is really that far behind.

There are things they lack, like magic and all its parts, but once the Earth gets that they should easily be able to outclass the rest of the planet, because most of the advantages of magic are technical rather than brute force.

Modern tech vs Magic Precog boosted magic-rockets? Bad for Modern tech.

Modern tech + Magic Precog vs Magic Precog boosted magic-rockets? Horrific slaughter for the Modern tech.

If the manufacturing difference is as large as the natives seem to imply, I'd expect the Earth to colonize the solar system within 50 years. If you can easily manufacture massive amounts of equipment there's no reason not to get space colonies for the entire species.



The UN works often, and in this scenario it would see a lot more cooperation. Having all of Earth go out on its own wouldn't make sense, and the UNSC would and should invade dissident nations if they try to split Earth.



'Except for the most powerful weapon ever invented in human history, humanity is grossly inferior militarily.'

Well you don't say? If California didn't exist, the Republicans would win every federal election too, but California does exist, and so do nukes.

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It's been implied that the magitech nations have WMD's as well in addition to WMD shields. Now these shields may not stop our delivery methods but id put good odds on us having no way to stop theirs either, and earth just lost our GPS network, there's no real way to easily deploy nuclear ordinace on a strategic level if that would even work.

Also a nuke isn't a military. US military strength is judged independently of our strategic deterant.

Out of story the author has confirmed that Earth is the weaker power here. Apparently we have something or other keeping us somewhat in the game, but the factions displayed so far appear superior on a pound for pound basis.

 

[Spartakrod]

Next post is coming tomorrow (to my perspective here in Australia, probably will still be Sunday to people not in the arse end of the earth.)

Gonna be a big mostly culture and politics focused post.

It'll also answer some questions about magic.

Strakhul and the Conclave of Shadows are currently engaged in war with a very large coalition of enemies so there's time to think of a response regarding that.

As for Trump, my read of him is that his foreign policy is basically whatever the person who has his ear can convince him into following based on his rather tendency for extreme flip flops after actually meeting the people he rants about. He went from a nuclear war scare with Kim Jong Un to being his biggest fanboy breath-takingly quickly after all.

The democratic primaries are also going to be very important as this is going to be a big, Meiji restoration level sweeping change to America and the world.

 

[Cloak&Dagger]

It's been implied that the magitech nations have WMD's as well in additipn to WMD shields. Now these shields may not stop our delivery methods but id put good odds on us having no way to stop theirs either, and earth just lost our GPS network, there's no real way to easily deploy nuclear ordinace on a strategic level if that would even work.

Click to shrink...

The question then becomes if they have WMDs then why are they shooting each other with regular rockets?

Certainly there are questions about delivery (though GPS is obviously not one of them, ballistic missiles are in no way reliant on them), but as long as there's no mass intercontinental exchange within the first year or two those should be sorted out and countered appropriately.

 

[Spartakrod]

This post is so large I'll have to split it into two. Possibly three. Have part one.


Office of the Executive Council of the Coronia, 30 hours since translocation

Saerana sat at her desk in a fairly cozy office, eyeing some papers handed to her before her focus was interrupted by the buzzer.

"Yes?" She asked, she was testy and on edge. The previous wave of people seeking to interview her frayed at her patience.

"We have Ravi Ahmad here to see you, from the DSA." The voice on the other end said before Saerana had an image displayed. Well, she didn't look like someone here to ask her to do some pose that showed off her legs for some magazine. She figured she could spare a few moments for her.

"Let them through. But if they ask me inane beauty questions I'm sending them back down to you Zera."

"That's an improvement, last time you were threatening to throw them out the window." Saerana made a face and Zera laughed as he cut the feed.

The doors slid open for the dark haired woman and let her through to where a sweat was already being indicated by the ash blonde elf while she sorted through a heap of papers.

"Good day and well met, herserum." She said, standing up to offer a handshake; a gesture that was shared between the two worlds.

"I'd just like to say that I have a million and one questions for you." She said once the two had their meeting of hands.

"Everyone of who's come through those doors as of late has questions for me. With any luck you won't be asking me about what I eat, what I drink, what I wear, whom I date, or even what bra I use." She said, counting off her nuisances of the day on her fingers.

"God they put you through the paparazzi ringer didn't they?"

"Does your press not know how to control itself when met with an elven woman or werman?"

"...Werman?"

"...Males." She said, realising rather quickly that the term was unfamiliar to the American.

"So men is?"

"Gender neutral." She said

"So I'm sure you aren't just here to ask me about vocabulary." She said, rapping her fingers against her desk.

"Oh sorry I'm just...not exactly sure what to say to an Elf. How are we speaking together anyway?" She said, trying her best to seem confident.

"A tongues spell. Refined over generations until it was simple and easy to cast." She said.

"How is that not making for weird lip syncing?" She asked.

"Minor illusion magic that comes with it. It's not really hard to guise lip movement."

"I know at least a dozen animators who would want to murder you for that." She said with a grin.

"So I had some questions about how you organised your society." She asked, opening a notebook and taking a look at some of her notes written down as the first bit of information about the UCA filtered down to the USA.

"You say that you're a council based democracy yes?"

"Every hundred to five hundred persons on the Coronia elects a delegate that sits in the district council. The district councils send their own delegates to the ship council. And the ship councils send delegates to the fleet council, who send delegates to the Armada council. If either the constituents or lower councils are dissatisfied with the performance of the higher councils, they can be recalled immediately by vote." She said, her eyes slowly drawing back to her papers.

"Doesn't that put you in permanent campaign season?"

"If you mean that I always have to do right by my peers; yes. I am here to serve, not to lead." She explained as she signed off on a paper sent to her from Verdacora.

"What are taxes like here?"

"We don't use money here." She said without even really paying her interviewer much mind. Perhaps rude to the Earther but it was expected within the UCA.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me. What can be produced within the fleet with our machine labour and summonings is provided freely. What has to be traded for is distributed via vouchers obtained for work credit. One time use only." She said, looking up at the woman now.

"How many immigrants do you get if you're offering a home, food, water, electricity and the whole nine yards for free?"

"Varies depending on where we are. Here? We're still working with your government on a system for exchange so zero."

"Trump giving you any trouble?" Saerana made a "so-so" gesture.

"I've had worse for sure but I don't enjoy talking to him. I'd be more careful about the company he keeps."

"I think you won't find too much disagreement on that from my colleagues."

"I have a question for you though." She said, putting away her pen and laying her hands on the table and looking at her dead in the eyes.

"Oh?"

"What do you think of the view?" She said, turning her chair around and gesturing for her to follow her eyes as she looked out over the skies.

"It's nice. It's easier to take in everything than on an airplane." She said.

"This office used to be a lot bigger you know; before we turned it into multiple rooms. The bed chambers of the Sky Lord Urthis." She said.

"Oh I heard you used to be run very...differently." Ahmad said as she stood up and looked out the window to see the endless white of the clouds below as the Coronia approached California on a slower; scenic route.

"The Atericil fleet was first established the the Mage-Priests of Atericil before the aeon of strife; twelve thousand years ago. You wouldn't recognise those ships or their crew now though. Then the priests were killed in the aeon of strife and the iron masters who commanded the golems took over. Then the iron masters were also killed and left the war-captains to take over. The sky lords grew wealthy enough to resent the war-captains and overthrew them. Then the Cyneria crashed with all hands on deck near the poles due to cheap parts and overstressed technicians and we tried to campaign for change."

"What happened?"

"We succeeded, but some decided to stop us violently. See this door?" She said, tapping on the transparent material of the exit which made a metallic knocking sound.

"Urthis was thrown through this window and the observatory windows over there after his hands and tongue were cut off to stop him from casting spells." She said pointing to the exact window in the observatory, a transparent sort of bubble around a path to walk down behind her office.

Ahmad flinched at the thought of that and shook her head. "Well I don't think that will be necessary." She said, putting her hand over her mouth and turning back to Saerana.

"But if you really want help, speak to the people of Verdacora." She said, offering Ahmad a sort of card made of some sort of thin metal whose etchings formed a sort of three dimensional map and instruction sets that shifted around as she turned the silvery material. One for how to reach Verdacora and one for how to communicate with them.

"Verdacora?"

"The Federal Commonwealth of Verdacora. It's one of the Fae Red Courts. Some of their islands aren't too far away from the countries you call New Zealand and Chile. They'll help you as they did us, I'm sure." She said with a smile.

Transcript of Adam Savage Tested: How Magic works


ADAM SAVAGE: "Hey everyone, I'm here with some of the most exciting news you'll ever hear. Because today we're here with a real life wizard and actual beetle person Coluron Zerkug"

ZOOM OUT TO SHOW COLORUN

COLORUN: "Thank you Adam."

ADAM SAVAGE: "Now first thing's first, how does a man sized beetle stand and breathe? Your exoskeleton must be under enormous pressures."

COLORUN: "It is simple enough, we are made of sterner stuff than your beetles and we have true lungs."

ADAM SAVAGE: "Oh I'm definitely going to have to grill you for more than that but I'm afraid that might be a whole video unto itself."

COLORUN: "Mmmh, biology is a fascinating subject isn't it?"

ADAM SAVAGE: "Yes it is, but what I want to know is magic. Where I come from, it doesn't exist and now it's everywhere and powers everything."

COLORUN: "There are in essence, twelve types of magic. Technically thirteen but the thirteenth is theoretical."

ADAM SAVAGE: "Mind listing them for me?"

COLORUN: "Gladly. Arcanum, Lyrr,, Divinia, Psionis, Aethyry, Lex, Mistrum, Empora, Zarith, Kaet, Yratum, and Ozrith. The thirteenth; Aeonia; is something beyond the means of even the creators of the universe."

COLORUN: "Arcane magic, Light Magic, Divine magic, Mind magic, Nature magic, True speech, Mysticism, Empowerment, Wild Magic, Runic Magic, Superscience, and Inherent abilities. "

CUT TO THE WHEEL OF MAGICS, EACH ENGLISH LABEL BEING MATCHED TO THEIR CORRESPONDING NATIVE LABELS.

ADAM SAVAGE: "So explain the Superscience to me, since I think that's what I'd be able to grasp the fastest."

COLORUN: "In essence it is technology built in such a way that it does something that should be undoable. Such as a perpetual motion machine. The machine is built in such a way that it draws in Yratum and performs a task that is otherwise in defiance of normalcy. You can almost think of it as impressing the universe enough that it gives you a pass. It's really quite different from what you would normally call science; far more one off."

ADAM SAVAGE: "The thought that the laws of physics are just something you can impress enough to get away with the impossible is blowing my mind. But you said you were an Arcanist right? How does that work?"

COLORUN: "Years of research and theory lead to our formation of the Elemental theory."

ADAM SAVAGE: "And I take it you and I are using the same definition of theory right; it's not just a guess?"

COLORUN: "Correct. In essence, Arcane Magic pulls from the Arcane planes; where the elements and energies rage unabated and in a very pure form. There you can find the Elementals and Energons. And there you can find countless resource extraction efforts by the societies able to reach them."

ADAM SAVAGE: "So in essence, when you cast a fireball you're pulling energy and mass out of these...pocket universes I'd guess is what I'd call it and use that energy here right?"

CUT TO ANIMATION OF ARCANE ENERGY BEING DRAWN FROM ARCANE PLANES.

COLORUN: "That is a good analogy yes. It still requires some effort on our part. Think of it as a spiritual sort of fatigue."

ADAM SAVAGE: "Yeah I've played enough video games to know what mana is."

BOTH LAUGH

CUT TO ANIMATION OF SOMEONE GETTING MORE TIRED AS THEY CAST MORE SPELLS

COLORUN: "Not what I'd call it but close enough."

ADAM SAVAGE: "Can machines do it?"

COLORUN: "Yes and no. Arcanum responds best to sentience. Without sentience you get spell echoes rather than a proper spell. Less flexible, less scaleable, preprogrammed, quite frankly less powerful too. The difference between an artist and a photocopier. But a sentient machine can learn it, some can even be created with it; just as how some living beings are simply born with arcane power."

CUT TO A GRAPHIC SHOWING A VISUALISATION OF THE FLOW OF ARCANUM AND HOW IT RESPONDS BETTER TO SOMETHING CAPABLE OF ABSTRACT THOUGHT AT THE WHEEL, THE BRAIN GIVING DIRECTS AND ALTERATIONS ON THE FLY TO ADJUST A SPELL AS NEEDED.

ADAM SAVAGE: "Is it possible to learn of this power?"

ADAM SAVAGE GRINS AT HIS JOKE

COLORUN: "Of course. I'm a teacher on the Coronia."

ADAM SAVAGE: "So you're telling me, that if I take your course I can shoot fireballs?"

COLORUN: "And much else besides, if you have the time to learn."

ADAM SAVAGE: "I would love nothing more than to become a master wizard. I will make all my friends jealous and be amazing at parties."

ADAM SAVAGE: "One more thing, would you call yourself a scientist or an engineer?"

COLORUN: "Something of that, perhaps also an artist or philosopher. I study my craft, but a lot of my experiences are personal to me or are quite abstract. Enchantment is more where you go for that sort of factory magic."

ADAM SAVAGE: "Can you give us a lightning bolt though?"

COLORUN: "A tad basic for my abilities and somewhat limited in value compared to other spells, but certainly. Do you have a target?"

ADAM SAVAGE JUMPS UP GIGGLING WITH GLEE

CUT TO EVERYONE OUTSIDE

ADAM SAVAGE: "Now I've set up this equipment to try and measure the electricity you're about to produce, and hopefully get us some very important data."

CUT TO ADAM AND TEAM STANDING IN A BUNKER FOR MAXIMUM SAFETY

COLORUN STANDS BEFORE A LARGE TRUCK, ALL FOUR ARMS FOLDED IN FRONT OF THEM

ADAM SAVAGE: "Ready to make a truck disappear?"

CUT TO COLORUN

COLORUN: "Let forth the spark of lightning!"

COLORUN MAKES SOME HAND GESTURES WITH THEIR FOUR ARMS

COLORUN CASTS FORTH THEIR HANDS SUMMONS A MASSIVE LIGHTNING BOLT ABOUT AS THICK AS THEIR BODY

THE TRUCK EXPLODES FROM EXTREMELY RAPID SUPERHEATING

FRAGMENTS RAIN DOWN FOR A FEW SECONDS, A MELTED HALF OF A TIRE HITS THE GROUND BEHIND COLORUN AND STEAMS

THE LIGHTNING HAS GOUGED OUT PART OF THE HILLS BEHIND THE TESTING RANGE

CUT TO ADAM LAUGHING AND CLAPPING

ADAM SAVAGE: "Hahahah! Wow that's a kick!"

CUT TO ADAM AND COLORUN SHAKING HANDS

COLORUN: "I figured you'd want a show. Though it's not something most can do straight out of training. It took me a while to make lightning that strong."

ADAM SAVAGE: "Man, it could take me a decade to only learn how to shoot that one spell and I'd still want to put in the time to learn how to do that."

COLORUN: "Well, with luck my colleagues will be opening schools within this country shortly."

ADAM SAVAGE: "Well, tell me when the first one starts up and I'll be glad to sign up."

ADAM SAVAGE: "Also since it's topical, how do you kill a vampire?"

COLORUN: "Stakes, garlic, religious symbols, sunlight, running water, homes they aren't invited into, decapitation and stuffing their mouths with holy objects, destroying them too far away from their coffins for them to return, Lyrric magic...quite a long list really."

ADAM SAVAGE: "And they don't have reflections right?"

COLORUN: "Correct."

ADAM SAVAGE TURNS TO THE CAMERA AND LEANS INTO IT

ADAM SAVAGE: "And that's how you stay safe kids."

ADAM SAVAGE: "Now what I really, really want to do is review the data we've collected and process it as soon as possible because wow."

COLORUN: "Of course, go ahead."

Rome 2 hours and 20 minutes after the cracks, 10 minutes before translocation.

"In this dark hour, I ask for calm and introspection. Though the prognosis given to us is grim and the signs in the sky are frightening, we must remember that we are the Lord's children and that he shall keep us in his grace." Pope Francis said to the gathered crowds before him.

"Though you may be frightened, though you may be confused, though perhaps you are questioning your faith. Remember, that the direst times bring not the worst in us, but our best. I have seen people wishing to help and care for each other. I have seen people put aside their differences and enjoy the time we have together. I have seen hands offered in friendship far more than I have seen hands raised in anger." He said, convinced that there was a light at the end.

"I know that there is fear in our hearts. But whether this be the end or not, we should face it with dignity and grace. Even if this is the end, we should strive to follow the virtues of christ in our every action. But I believe that this is not the end. I believe that the signs do not point to an apocalypse. The antichrist is not risen and the apocalypse has not arrived." He proclaimed with firmness and certainty.

"I believe that this is a sign from God almighty, to show us the path to righteousness by reminding us of His power and His Glory. We must strive not to waste this opportunity and shall take the chance to cast aside the heavy weight of sin and the shackles of wrong doing." He said with the conviction of a true believer.

"We must cast aside any belief that this is the work of the Devil who has no power to bring about such things, or of any force of darkness for that matter. This is a sign of the majesty of the Holy Light of Christ, the Spirit, and the Father who art in Heaven, make no mistake." He said, his eyes briefly looking up into the yawning fissures in the sky and the visions they brought. The image of a man made of shadow with robes of darkness and what seemed to be a top hat with dead white glowing pupilless eyes troubled him the most, but he put aside that troubling and steeled himself in the armour of faith.

"Whatever comes, we shall persevere." He said as the canyons in reality began to widen as they started the final process of devouring the universe itself.

"Stand firm and be strong. God shall keep us." Space and time would tear themselves apart shortly after as the cosmos shattered.

Rome 3 Hours after Translocation

The initial reaction from the faithful was confusion, panic, relief, and disarray. The world had not ended per se, but what had come after was stranger than anyone had dared imagine. It seemed that for lack of a better phrase, Earth was no longer on Earth.

"It seems impossible, but surely this is the Lord's work." Francis mused to himself, his chin in his hand as he pondered the meaning of this sign. What did God want out of him? What could the Catholic Faith do in Christ's name?

He received the news around the world of contact with strange foreign polities, some of whom were at war with one another with interest and trepidation. He made his contacts with the news agencies covering the incidents and asked them to peer into religious affairs.

"What is your religion exactly?" The reporter on the news asked of the feathery raptor like resident of Atericil as they clacked their jaw open and shut, large pupils focusing upon the human rather intently.

"I am a believer in the faith of Xethaquazotl." They said in a strange, sort of crackling voice as they rubbed the claws on their finger tips together, their tail slowly moving back and forth while the maniraptorian individual tapped their sickle claws on their toes against the floor.

"How does that differ from Yntanae? I've heard a lot about that faith but not so much about yours." The reporter asked, lowering a microphone in front of the raptor.

"The chief god of Yntanae is Ytaliana; the Ascended and Unconquerable Sun and bringer of mercy. Our greatest deity is Kxithinti, the master of death and science." They said as the reporter briefly went silent and blinked at the raptorid as if there was something even stranger than talking to what looked like a man sized feathered raptor wearing people clothes and shoes. They recovered remarkably quickly however.

"What does worshipping a God of Death entail?"

"It means opposition to the undead who defy the natural order of death through the perverse usage of dark magic to force the dead into an obscene mockery. We are accepting of resurrections, life extensions, and healing of course, but the undead defile the body and the soul. We also oppose all those who would steal or destroy souls." They said, explaining as if they had to do this whole song and dance at least a thousand times before.

"Souls can die?"

"Indeed. Through certain magics it is possible to destroy the soul to ensure a far more permanent form of death. This is an obscenity, rare is the person who deserves true oblivion and that should be left to the Gods and the Soulborn. Not to us mortals. The afterlives should be open to us all." They said.

The idea that the Soul was not immortal, that it was something destrutctible was a blasphemy against the Christian faith. It went against the doctrine of most other religions he was aware of as well. The idea that someone could make someone cease any further experience and die for good...very troubling indeed. He could only surmise that what they called a Soul then, could not be the true Soul given by God, just as their Gods were surely lesser than the one, true God. God did not need to act in such visible means to affirm belief in him, that these deities did so was a clear sign of their inferiority. He would need to write a papal bull on this...he would need to write so many bulls on this all.

"Was your God once a mortal like Ytaliana?" The reporter asked, more curious than anything now. They must not have been too religious, Francis thought as he tapped his chin and considered what to write into his bull. A more religious person would have been more shaken by the revelations being uttered by the raptor.

"They descended from the skies and were revealed to us in glorious battle against the Kroatangans who besieged our cities during the great sundering of the Kemendi long ago. Were it not for them, we may not have pushed back the fungal horde."

"Kroatangans?"

"When the Kemendi; the ancestors of the elves, of humans, of dwarfs, giants and the like; collapsed as their efforts to study realities beyond our worlds aflame brought invasion and planar strife; the Kroatangans came in a great tide."

"That doesn't answer what they are though.

"We don't truly know their origins, beyond that they were made in a distant cosmos for the purposes of fighting a war they long outlived. Each spore containing all the knowledge to wage eternal war against all other things and programmed to lust for conflict with all other life."

"Wow that sounds awful! Are there any near here?"

"None as far as I know. Atericil takes great pains to avoid any infestations. I personally vote to eradicate them when possible in petitions." They said before turning their head and then advancing towards the reporter and staring them in the eyes before stepping back.

"What about you, what is your religion? I am curious to know of your faith if you are not a Ynatanaer."

"I'm personally an Atheist." That'd explain it, Pope Francis thought, though the interviewee cocked their head as if they had said something strange, like a dog does at a human speaking directly to them.

"But I was raised by Buddhists. Most of the people in the country are at least nominally Christian." They said, the raptor clacking their jaws a few times as they thought about it.

"Why an atheist? You seem to be of reasonable intelligence." They said, clearly finding something objectionable about the proposition of someone not believing in a deity as many other citizens of Atericil stopped and glared at the reporter, many clearly talking amongst each other. Some gave a look of pity or scorn and the reporter clearly started to feel exceedingly uncomfortable exceedingly quickly.

"I don't believe strong enough evidence has been provided for the existence of gods. Now I see that your religions have strange magical powers and you say you have strong evidence that they come from your gods so I may have to rethink that." The reporter said, trying to avoid starting an incident here.

"So the problem then, was that the gods of your world were false? I suppose it is because you are from a land without magic." The interviewee said and Francis nearly choked on the drink he was going through at the time, waving off one of his aides when they rushed towards him.

"I wouldn't say that." The reporter said, trying to be diplomatic for the sake of viewers back home.

"I pity a culture that cannot see and touch its Gods even more than I pity a society that only has one to believe in." They said. But a noise in the distance followed by a pinging on some square device they extracted them about blinking a few times as they raised their head and sniffed the air. They let out a sharp barking sound and a bird like cry before turning back to the human and wagging their tail behind them while many of their feathers stood up on their ends, their nostrils now flared as they read through the message before putting the device away and looking at the human.

"What was that all about?" The reporter seemed to be more than a bit taken aback by the display.

"I am being called elsewhere. We're having a direct vote on building a new livefleet."

 

[AKuz]

*God Enters the room and raises a hand*

"Hey guys, I'm Capital G god, the big guy, YHWH. You may have heard of me. I created everything. I'm kind of a big deal."

"Yeaaaaaah. There's at least three or four other gods in this very room that created the entire universe at one point or another. Good for you though. That's a real go getter attitude."

"Ok. Yeah. But here's my problem. My thing is that I'm sort of a Monotheistic god? So like, this whole business with Earth is kinda undermining me and the boy."

"I mean, it's none of my business but you gotta get out and do some more flashy miracles there tetragrammeton bro."

"Right. But, you know, at that point it's not really faith if belief is a practical matte-"

"OH MY US! NO. THIS IS A SAFE SPACE FOR JUST HANGING OUT AND BEING DIVINE IN PEACE. WE DONT WANT TO KEEP HAVING THE FAITH ARGUEMENT HERE."

 

[GabeC1997]

"I pity a culture that cannot see and touch its Gods even more than I pity a society that only has one to believe in."

Click to shrink...

Well they certainly did a much better job than any of your gods, Undead can't even exist on Earth! You're gods might act all big and flashy but they only do that because they've failed!

...though given that the entire universe collapsed maybe it was just near the end of it's lifespan and there just wasn't any more magic to go around?

Edit: Or I guess it could be something like this?

 

[Alane1]

I sort of suddenly suspect some Neo-Nazis and other antisemitics are going to be in for a bad time given how creative the judo-christian god could get with dealing out punishments.

 

[Spartakrod]

Next up, the miracle commission of the Catholic Church is very busy indeed.

 

[Aperture lemon]

Wait is the wafer and wine thing going to turn into flesh and blood like its supposed too if I'm not mistaken?