A/N: A reminder that the Storm Titan is still the being with the single highest Grand Dragon kill-count on the planet. They've been at this for quite some time.
On an island close to the equator, a Titan taking the form of a massive stone bear resided. Above, a massive conical storm slowly spun, sending upwards of a hundred lightning strikes per minute directly into a specially designed energy-harvesting system built into the Titan's backside. Battle scars from Dragonfire and the enormous talons of Grand Dragons were scattered all over the Titan's hull. In prior years these scars would have been seamlessly repaired, but now it was all the Storm Titan could do to keep themself from falling apart completely.
The aging Storm Titan could feel their mind going a bit more with every passing day. For more than a century they had safeguarded the Isle of Storms from the tyranny of the Grand Dragons with their mastery over the weather and massive granite chassis, but it was clear to them that their time in this world would not last for much beyond a few more years, if that. That was why they'd spent the last twenty years trying to find and train a successor who could take up the defense of the Isle after they passed on.
So far, the prospects for that turning out well looked a bit dubious at best. At first, the Storm Titan had thought that the youngster who kept trundling around the countryside playing music in exchange for mana might do well in such a role, seeing as they were one of the only other Dungeons on the island who had expressed any interest in even becoming mobile, let alone keeping the island free of the Grand Dragons. Alas, it had quickly become clear that the Concert Titan lacked both the understanding of what sort of threat the Grand Dragons presented, and the willingness to learn. The Storm Titan had simply given up on them after nearly a year of the Concert Titan insisting that there must be some sort of peaceful solution, even when dealing with Dragonfire-spewing monsters who would gladly kill any who showed even the slightest resistance to their rule.
After that, the Storm Titan had taken to recruiting among the sessile Dungeons living on the Isle, hoping that one of the hundreds of Dungeons on what some would consider to be a small continent would be willing to take up the mantle of the Storm Titan. This had yielded some results in the form of a Dungeon currently known as the Electric Fortress, who had both the thematics necessary to use the supercell method of mana acquisition, and the inclination to beat the shit out of some Grand Dragons. They'd even gotten almost done with building themselves a chassis, though they weren't quite ready to unearth themselves yet.
There were only a couple of problems with the Electric Fortress taking up the Storm Titan's mantle, and for the most part they had to do with the Storm Titan's power source, as did most problems Titans had. The simple fact of the matter is, there was only a limited amount of lightning to go around to power a Titan, meaning that both the old Storm Titan and the Electric Fortress
could not be active at full power at the same time. Then there was the matter that the Electric Fortress was by their nature as a very young Dungeon a much less experienced fighter than the Storm Titan, meaning that they would probably need backup to reliably get through their first few fights with Grand Dragons.
The Aether Titan had offered to drop by to help, but they couldn't stay near the Isle for more than a week or so before causing problems. There was only so much mana you could pull out of the Realm of Souls in one go before nasty side-effects started cropping up for people nearby, and the Aether Titan's planar tap was an utterly massive draw on the Realm of Souls. Thus, their assistance could not be relied upon.
For a while, the Storm Titan had simply accepted this undesirable situation as the best they could do given the options available to them, but then some new developments in the outside world had caught their attention. Namely, news of another powerful Titan had emerged, one with a power source that was entirely self-contained. Thus, the Storm Titan had arranged for an Adventurer teleporting to the northern continent to bring a letter with them, hoping to make an arrangement with the new Titan of Steel to keep the Isle safe.
It had been about a week since then, the Storm Titan pummeling yet another Grand Dragon in the meantime, before an oddity made itself known to the Isle's defender. Their control over the weather granted the Storm Titan a powerful sense for the air currents out to a range of hundreds of miles, which is how they were usually warned of inbound Grand Dragons-and how they aimed the supersonic compressed water jets they used to scythe off said Dragons' wing membranes. Now, this storm-sense was informing the Storm Titan of something flying high and fast directly towards the Isle of Storms, something
big.
Almost instinctively, the Storm Titan readied themselves for a hydrojet attack, but they stilled their hand for a moment, as within their decaying mind they realized that this unknown was traveling at a speed no Grand Dragon could ever get remotely close to; the shock wave from bludgeoning their way through the atmosphere at that speed would rip their wings off if they tried to extend them, and Grand Dragons
needed their wings if they wanted to have any chance whatsoever of controlling their trajectory. Therefore, whatever this was, it
could not be a Grand Dragon.
Thus, the Storm Titan anxiously waited as the contact came closer and closer, gradually slowing down and losing altitude as they did so. Almost twenty minutes after the incoming contact first appeared on the Storm Titan's senses, it came into visual range, revealing a gray metallic flying machine, thrusting itself forwards with a plume of Dragonfire emitting from four massive engines on the aft. Ah, a Titan in all likelihood, then.
Thus, the Storm Titan fired off a message in the airborne Titan's direction.
Greetings. You wouldn't happen to be the Titan of Steel by any chance?
No, actually; the Titan of Steel is my boss. They sent me to talk to you after receiving that letter of yours.
Interesting; in all my years I've never actually met a Titan who was actually subordinate to another, aside from maybe the Electric Fortress' apprenticeship to myself.
No, I'm just a clockwork mind running their previous chassis for them. Anyway, you said you wanted some help keeping the Isle of Storms free of Grand Dragons?
Er, what? How many chassis has that youngster gone through anyway, and if you're in the previous chassis what are they using now?
Eh, back to the matter at hand. I've got an apprentice with an almost complete chassis who's looking to take up my burdens for me. Problem is, there's only so much lightning to go around, so we can't both be operating at full power simultaneously. Also, it's a bit iffy if they'd win their first few fights without help, which is something I really can't risk. Basically, I want someone to bail them out of trouble if they really mess up, so that they've got a chance to learn how to do this right.
I can do that in terms of raw firepower easily! Just let me send a quick message to my boss for authorization.
Done! Request approved, I've been seconded to aid in the defense of the Isle of Storms for up to a year, no strings attached.
Meteor, I won't even pretend I understand how in the world you got a reply so quickly over such a distance, but you and the Titan of Steel have my thanks. I'll show you to where my apprentice is getting ready to deploy from, before retiring.
Not sure if you've noticed, but I've probably only got at most a few years before I die. I'd like a chance to relax and do something besides fight before that happens. I loved having adventurers over back before this whole Titan business, and I'd adore a chance to do it again. Here's hoping they'll be willing to put up with a decrepit old Dungeon like me.
It was with only moderate amounts of surprise that Urist found herself assigned to go back to the newly founded Socialist Republic of Amali, not as a prisoner or diplomat, but as some weird cross between counselor and spy. Basically, she had been assigned to keep an eye on the mental state of the Titan of Steel, try to keep them sane, and let the Deep Kings know if it looked like the Titan was about to go crazy. Literally no-one wanted an insane Titan with casual access to Dragonfire.
Of course, for best effect this had required arranging a time each week with the Titan for regular therapy sessions. Urist had been expecting this to take some time to set up, but much to her surprise the Titan had enthusiastically blocked off a chunk of time three hours long every other day just for talking to her, complete with official orders to the rest of the government they'd founded not to bother them while they were having such a session for anything less than a Grand Dragon breaching the perimeter defenses, or an active invasion of the Capital Dungeon.
Another surprise had been that the room she had been assigned for the face-to-face sessions actually contained the Titan of Steel's core, the only part of the whole Dungeon that was entirely them, when you got right down to it. Internally, Urist was more than a little surprised at this demonstration of trust, but she didn't question it out loud. She was also extremely surprised at the Titan's first words to her being "Finally I have an excuse to not have to run this country for a little while! Do you have any idea how much I've wanted a chance to just rest? Thank you so very very much!"
Urist, a bit stunned at this declaration of thanks, found herself simply stating "You're welcome. Anyway, is there anything you wanted to talk to me about in particular? Any particular issues troubling you, or anxieties you're having?"
To this, the Titan replied "Where do I even start? These last two months I've been frantically trying to build a country that could keep the Grand Dragons out even if I were to unexpectedly perish, and the strain of the job is really getting to me. Fortunately, I've got a plan to foist most of the day-to-day lawmaking off on everyone else so I can focus on building important infrastructure and getting the educational system running properly. If everything goes to plan, I should be able to massively cut my workload starting four months from now."
Figuring that this would be as good an opportunity as any to get a deeper look at the Titan of Steel's thoughts, Urist decided to ask for more details on this supposed governmental reform, saying "That sounds rather interesting. Any chance you'll be willing to share the details with me?"
Urist didn't quite understand how the Dungeon in front of her managed to give off an impression of a shrug, but they did. The Titan of Steel then replied "Eh, I was planning on telling the general public about this in a couple weeks anyway, so there shouldn't be any issue with telling you ahead of time. Basically, I'm planning to set up a democratic political system where the population at large can both elect and over-rule a parlaimentary legislature. Said legislature will have basic authority for most lawmaking, as well as the ability to appoint officers to head various agencies. I'm planning for elections to happen every two years, with a third of the seats up for election each time, save the first election where they're all up for grabs. Still trying to decide if representation should be on a per-party basis or a per-region basis, especially since I want to avoid any would-be authoritarians twisting the system to their advantage. Also trying to figure out what sort of election rules to put in, but I know for sure that it won't be First Past The Post."
The dwarven psychologist quietly updated her profile of the Titan of Steel's personality as she replied "You know, up until fairly recently there was a dwarf nation similar to what you described fairly close to here. I could probably get you a copy of their constitution if you wanted some study material. They were known as Serona, if I recall correctly."
"That would be much appreciated. Curiously, what happened to them?"
At this, Urist sighed, before saying "They were directly under what are now the Dead Wastes when they formed. The entire nation died nearly overnight."
