- Location
- College Station, Texas
[X] Just No. You made a deal, a truce for a mortal lifetime, no 'precision' gigaton antimatter strikes or murder robot invasions to breach that. Also why did they not deploy the murder drones previously? You are rather sceptical how they will fair against dragons in practise.
Forgothrax
Not Going Gently
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Propose Another Target.
- Location
- Anchorage, Alaska
[X] Just No.
-[x] explain clearly why this is a VERY bad idea, also the fact that the dragons here don't eat humans for magic...there's literally allot of them hidden also they can and will draw upon their hoards to empower themselves in a emergency this also says that your going to destroy entire places with antimatter not a good idea for the benefactor mission's reputation. Also considering the less dragons there are the more powerful they may end up becoming, as well as you also will be under the examination of reputation as well...not the best idea to alienate your allies is it?
(Bloody war-hawks, might be a good idea...but they should have waited rather then risk their remaining warships...are we sure he isn't a spy for the other space dragons?)
-[x] explain clearly why this is a VERY bad idea, also the fact that the dragons here don't eat humans for magic...there's literally allot of them hidden also they can and will draw upon their hoards to empower themselves in a emergency this also says that your going to destroy entire places with antimatter not a good idea for the benefactor mission's reputation. Also considering the less dragons there are the more powerful they may end up becoming, as well as you also will be under the examination of reputation as well...not the best idea to alienate your allies is it?
(Bloody war-hawks, might be a good idea...but they should have waited rather then risk their remaining warships...are we sure he isn't a spy for the other space dragons?)
- Location
- Leeds
Be mistakenly accused of attempting to exterminate your species. I'd hate for them to be liars, lets do it. 
[X] Just No. You made a deal, a truce for a mortal lifetime, no 'precision' gigaton antimatter strikes or murder robot invasions to breach that. Also why did they not deploy the murder drones previously? You are rather sceptical how they will fair against dragons in practise.
[X] Just No. You made a deal, a truce for a mortal lifetime, no 'precision' gigaton antimatter strikes or murder robot invasions to breach that. Also why did they not deploy the murder drones previously? You are rather sceptical how they will fair against dragons in practise.
Umi-san
Procrastinating.
- Location
- ꙮ
[X] Just No. You made a deal, a truce for a mortal lifetime, no 'precision' gigaton antimatter strikes or murder robot invasions to breach that. Also why did they not deploy the murder drones previously? You are rather sceptical how they will fair against dragons in practise.
Bad PR for us and the lack of alternate threats means they could just kill us.
Bad PR for us and the lack of alternate threats means they could just kill us.
One thing to remember is that you have... mind influenced the senior members of the Benefaction Mission leadership. The rank and file population have not been so influenced but many of the the top ten thousand odd people are mostly unable to try to murder you regardless of any provocation or opportunity you grant them.
Update 21 - Council Decisions
[X] Just No. You made a deal, a truce for a mortal lifetime, no 'precision' gigaton antimatter strikes or murder robot invasions to breach that. Also why did they not deploy the murder drones previously? You are rather skeptical how they will fair against dragons in practice.
The overwhelming choice, I cannot see it being beaten realistically so here is a prompt update.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You clear your throat, pointedly., then straighten whilst intensifying your glow and also the mental pressure on the humans in the room. "My previous statement regarding numbers of dragons was not any kind of understatement. Additionally I only included my peers, I did not mention the dozen or so dragons millenia older and situationally more potent than myself. Committing to total war in violation of treaties is to invite merciless destruction in future. If your plan, Admiral Whyte, was carried through? A dragon such as Sulqeum might choose to forgo survival in favour of arriving in the Ark and destroying it. You simply have no way to stop her."
As soon as you pause Avelina Beauchamp abuses (it is quite unfair) her implants to apply for and be granted the floor.
"As our chairwoman mentioned earlier we find ourselves requiring your assistance. Is it not true that with your guidance we could war the ark and improve our technology with magical integration and become significantly less vulnerable? Right now we are manufacture using century old designs from the homeworld using molecular printing. If you cooperate with my engineering staff we could both leap said designs forward a generation and begin to incorporate magic in our products, industrial, commercial and military."
Damien Stockton, the Ark Ship administrator, then takes the floor to assert. "The priority must be securing the Ark. Not only is the Ark the largest locus of industrial power for the Mission and host to much of our population but this is our only luminal vessel and host to our strategic arsenal. Preventing another, hostile, dragon from simply teleporting inside is key even if we have been reinforcing our defenses. The latest debacle." He glares to the admiral. "Has demonstrated that we need your magical expertise. Loathe as I am to ask this of a dragon, teach us."
You do know that Damien is ambitious and on a gut level hates you thanks to the damage your initial arrival inflicted and his near immunity to your mental influence, he is also one of the most innately capable mages out of a population of tens of millions and if you really put in the effort you could probably educate him to where he could magically match some juvenile dragons.
At this point Edelmira Hanes interjects, the head of the uplift program and probably your most feverant follower on the council.
"The mission takes priority!" They insist. "Etorix has already agreed to further the uplift program as first priority, the faster we elevate the technological and civilisational advancement of the surface the closer we are to our goal. Yes, it will take decades, but we have already been working for seventy years. Ultimately, in century perhaps, a population of billions with equal technology to our own will make our direct contribution irrelevant and resistance to any threat possible!"
Now you take the floor again, dramatically of course, a pulse of mental presence to ensure you are paid full attention to.
"Most of you seem to have a surfeit of concepts for how I can assist you, which I welcome, but despite being both dragon and god I can be in only one place at a time, doing one thing at a time. It has also become obvious that I require a degree of autonomy and trust to fully succeed rather than having my peaceful goals thrown into chaos by unplanned interruption. Needless to say I want authority over the uplift program, not just the religious part of it, I am quiet sure that Edelmira will confirm that I am best suited to take overall charge of the process."
They do in fact enthusiastically nod, not to mention smile, also signalling the conference suite to indicate their approval without taking the floor. You continue.
"I will of course follow the will of the council, but consider I have literal millennia of experience with this and the track record when it comes to clumsily interfering with my efforts toward peaceful mediation."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Regardless of choice you are going to find yourself probably the second most powerful person on the Benefaction Mission council, even openly and publicly. Where do you want to focus though?
[] Let The Council Decide. Yes you are very, very influential, but let them vote and follow that decision as to your next course of action, cementing their trust.
[] Return To The Surface. Distractions are over, return to Arafan and continue your plan of uplift and spreading the faith.
[] Uplift the Uplifters. The sooner you can have their advanced industry and installations 'upgraded' to incorporate magic the better, start enhancing the Mission to use magitech and training their mages.
[] Throw The Admiral A Bone. Offer the admiral assistance in his dragon hunt, no treaty breaking, but if you can locate and slay even one hibernating dragon then claim their hoard? That could be a great deal of magic and treasure along with a rival eliminated.
[] Temporal Power. You can advance things faster if instead of relying purely on religion, you take a more direct hand. With Benefaction Mission backup, take over administration of the (Not dragon controlled) major nation least far ahead in adoption of your faith and uplift progress.
(Fixed, because I mangled the end of the update and had a few typos!)
The overwhelming choice, I cannot see it being beaten realistically so here is a prompt update.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You clear your throat, pointedly., then straighten whilst intensifying your glow and also the mental pressure on the humans in the room. "My previous statement regarding numbers of dragons was not any kind of understatement. Additionally I only included my peers, I did not mention the dozen or so dragons millenia older and situationally more potent than myself. Committing to total war in violation of treaties is to invite merciless destruction in future. If your plan, Admiral Whyte, was carried through? A dragon such as Sulqeum might choose to forgo survival in favour of arriving in the Ark and destroying it. You simply have no way to stop her."
As soon as you pause Avelina Beauchamp abuses (it is quite unfair) her implants to apply for and be granted the floor.
"As our chairwoman mentioned earlier we find ourselves requiring your assistance. Is it not true that with your guidance we could war the ark and improve our technology with magical integration and become significantly less vulnerable? Right now we are manufacture using century old designs from the homeworld using molecular printing. If you cooperate with my engineering staff we could both leap said designs forward a generation and begin to incorporate magic in our products, industrial, commercial and military."
Damien Stockton, the Ark Ship administrator, then takes the floor to assert. "The priority must be securing the Ark. Not only is the Ark the largest locus of industrial power for the Mission and host to much of our population but this is our only luminal vessel and host to our strategic arsenal. Preventing another, hostile, dragon from simply teleporting inside is key even if we have been reinforcing our defenses. The latest debacle." He glares to the admiral. "Has demonstrated that we need your magical expertise. Loathe as I am to ask this of a dragon, teach us."
You do know that Damien is ambitious and on a gut level hates you thanks to the damage your initial arrival inflicted and his near immunity to your mental influence, he is also one of the most innately capable mages out of a population of tens of millions and if you really put in the effort you could probably educate him to where he could magically match some juvenile dragons.
At this point Edelmira Hanes interjects, the head of the uplift program and probably your most feverant follower on the council.
"The mission takes priority!" They insist. "Etorix has already agreed to further the uplift program as first priority, the faster we elevate the technological and civilisational advancement of the surface the closer we are to our goal. Yes, it will take decades, but we have already been working for seventy years. Ultimately, in century perhaps, a population of billions with equal technology to our own will make our direct contribution irrelevant and resistance to any threat possible!"
Now you take the floor again, dramatically of course, a pulse of mental presence to ensure you are paid full attention to.
"Most of you seem to have a surfeit of concepts for how I can assist you, which I welcome, but despite being both dragon and god I can be in only one place at a time, doing one thing at a time. It has also become obvious that I require a degree of autonomy and trust to fully succeed rather than having my peaceful goals thrown into chaos by unplanned interruption. Needless to say I want authority over the uplift program, not just the religious part of it, I am quiet sure that Edelmira will confirm that I am best suited to take overall charge of the process."
They do in fact enthusiastically nod, not to mention smile, also signalling the conference suite to indicate their approval without taking the floor. You continue.
"I will of course follow the will of the council, but consider I have literal millennia of experience with this and the track record when it comes to clumsily interfering with my efforts toward peaceful mediation."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Regardless of choice you are going to find yourself probably the second most powerful person on the Benefaction Mission council, even openly and publicly. Where do you want to focus though?
[] Let The Council Decide. Yes you are very, very influential, but let them vote and follow that decision as to your next course of action, cementing their trust.
[] Return To The Surface. Distractions are over, return to Arafan and continue your plan of uplift and spreading the faith.
[] Uplift the Uplifters. The sooner you can have their advanced industry and installations 'upgraded' to incorporate magic the better, start enhancing the Mission to use magitech and training their mages.
[] Throw The Admiral A Bone. Offer the admiral assistance in his dragon hunt, no treaty breaking, but if you can locate and slay even one hibernating dragon then claim their hoard? That could be a great deal of magic and treasure along with a rival eliminated.
[] Temporal Power. You can advance things faster if instead of relying purely on religion, you take a more direct hand. With Benefaction Mission backup, take over administration of the (Not dragon controlled) major nation least far ahead in adoption of your faith and uplift progress.
(Fixed, because I mangled the end of the update and had a few typos!)
Last edited:
- Location
- PA
[X] Uplift the Uplifters.
Frankly I want to increase the total amount of power availible on this planet, not ding said power level for consolidating it. Frankly I don't trust the Benediction mission to have the power to STAND against the Dragon Empire to begin with, and while Etorix nicely mulitplies his powers with more followers I don't think he can quite snowball hard enough to make the Etorix alone option work...Though that's just me.
Frankly I want to increase the total amount of power availible on this planet, not ding said power level for consolidating it. Frankly I don't trust the Benediction mission to have the power to STAND against the Dragon Empire to begin with, and while Etorix nicely mulitplies his powers with more followers I don't think he can quite snowball hard enough to make the Etorix alone option work...Though that's just me.
[x] Let The Council Decide. Yes you are very, very influential, but let them vote and follow that decision as to your next course of action, cementing their trust.
Let them keep thinking that they are in charge.
Otherwise I think returning to the surface would be the best way of action.
Let them keep thinking that they are in charge.
Otherwise I think returning to the surface would be the best way of action.
Last edited:
Did an angry dragon swallow the tail end of this sentence?
Anyways,
[X] Let The Council Decide. Yes you are very, very influential, but let them vote and follow that decision as to your next course of action, cementing their trust.
Umi-san
Procrastinating.
- Location
- ꙮ
Is it not true
both dragon and god I can
as PrimalShadow said: ???
[X] Throw The Admiral A Bone
I'm honestly more inclined toward the return to the surface and trust-building choices. However, the latter suffers from the ambiguity of the choice (I don't trust them tbh even if we semi-control them) & the former apparently has no support from other voters. Throwing the Admiral A Bone gives us more wealth, more magic to throw around later, and removes a lamprey from the pool.
Ultramandalore
Errant Quester
- Location
- just south of Parts Unknown
[X] Uplift the Uplifters.
Pandemonious Ivy
Panties, Revolution. Big Drawers. Parachute.
[X] Temporal Power.
Is the ouroboros not the sign of both greed and infinity?
Is the ouroboros not the sign of both greed and infinity?
New
[X] Uplift the Uplifters.
[X] Uplift the Uplifters.
- Location
- Europe
[X] Let The Council Decide. Yes you are very, very influential, but let them vote and follow that decision as to your next course of action, cementing their trust.
Damnit, again with the tough decisions. The way I see it, we should be searching for Gergag. However, with a moniker like 'Taker of Life' and the fact that he is an ancient I doubt his lair isn't even better hidden than our own. Not to mention that even in case we succeed I really don't want to know what other ancients might think of the fact that not only did we cut the juveline dragon population to seize, we were also hunting for ancients. (Although that might be a moot point since the Benefactors already killed an ancient.)
I like the idea of letting the council think that they are in control, though, so let them decide. I doubt they aren't going to ask for an uplift of their own. They can still help the human population of Arafan with what they got, but they are a bit powerless in the face of magic (Admittedly, I'm a bit uneasy with uplifting them. Still, they can already blow up the planet, so it's not like the danger for Etorix can get a lot worse.)
Damnit, again with the tough decisions. The way I see it, we should be searching for Gergag. However, with a moniker like 'Taker of Life' and the fact that he is an ancient I doubt his lair isn't even better hidden than our own. Not to mention that even in case we succeed I really don't want to know what other ancients might think of the fact that not only did we cut the juveline dragon population to seize, we were also hunting for ancients. (Although that might be a moot point since the Benefactors already killed an ancient.)
I like the idea of letting the council think that they are in control, though, so let them decide. I doubt they aren't going to ask for an uplift of their own. They can still help the human population of Arafan with what they got, but they are a bit powerless in the face of magic (Admittedly, I'm a bit uneasy with uplifting them. Still, they can already blow up the planet, so it's not like the danger for Etorix can get a lot worse.)
Rambling About Dragons, Tech and Magic
@Thyreus To clarify the Benefaction Mission's current capabilities, they do actually have more advanced magic than any humans on the surface and their technology is fully capable of killing juvenile dragons reliably though the odd exceptionally capable, prepared or lucky juvenile will hurt them back in the process (see Jandeiss who is probably the best living dragon mage in his age bracket, who took out an orbital weapons platform via burning magic from his hoard). If the battle recently had been just their corvette against the four juveniles in a straight fight without stored magic as a factor? It would probably have killed all of them or driven them fleeing with grievous injuries, without being harmed in the process.
The issue is that dragons can cheat by 1) Knowing magical techniques that took centuries or millennia to develop and are far more efficient than those developed by humans over the course of a few decades 2) Drawing upon stored magic to do things that would be otherwise impossible and 3) Just plain cheating, like with Sulqeum and her hatchling dragon piloted magitech fighters. That was basically like somebody showing up in late WW1 with a squadron of Apache gunships to have their back.
The way I am modelling it is that juvenile dragons mostly have a single pick from the positive traits that you chose from in character generation, but some do not, some have no positive picks and also a negative one because they kind of suck for a dragon and barely made it to (young) adulthood. They are still dragons who survived 1,400 years of activity though and will have something going for them along with plans and ambitions of their own plus a keen survival instinct. Adult dragons such as yourself will always have at least one positive pick and will have as much as possible for me to work out, been clever with it.
Etorix has his godhood and human manipulation, Sulqeum has (had) absolutely ridiculous wealth but perhaps more importantly she is very very good at obtaining wealth. Her personal empire is in fact extremely well managed and she has been indirectly ruling it for centuries, with an inhumanly expert balance between economic growth and dragon hoarding. The fact she has had to parcel off cities and regions to vassal juvenile dragons has been spoiling this somewhat of course and she is balancing a snake (dragon?) pit of internal politics because there are over a dozen juveniles any three of whom could probably kill her in a direct fight. The four she brought to meet with you were the male dragons most infatuated with her who she could rely upon to not want to kill her.
The youngest and weakest 'Ancient' is a dragon who has gotten to Etorix or Sulqeum's current state, then survived a millennia of activity during an era of magic with a sufficiently large hoard to live through to the next. They are not actually any bigger, Etorix is fully grown, but very few dragons do make it through the threshold winnowing process and so they tend to be the meanest, most capable and with the keenest self preservation instincts. More importantly they learn things, secrets, powers, tricks, additionally it is a well known fact that a dragon who successfully does dragon things like being ludicrously wealthy, being in utter control and power, knowing no peers, etc will become more durable and stronger over time even without a being a god. Bones grow denser, scales harden, one's internal fire grows hotter.
So any ancient will be supremely dangerous and capable but they also accumulate ludicrously huge hoards, it would not be unknown for an ancient to both waken 'early' (for an ancient) and still have a hundred or more stored magic if they have been successfully avaricious, magic that they could likely spend almost as well as you can in your divine portfolio fields on literally anything. Or just as well, if they are an ancient who is good with magic.
Which has gotten way off the original topic. Basically even an ancient will die if the Benefaction Mission manage to find their hibernation spot then hammer it with a really large antimatter bomb but right now any adult dragon such as yourself who is willing to expend a whole lot of magic could just teleport into the ark and ruin them. An 'average' dragon might have to spend 3-4 magic rather than the 2 you did, due to not being a god, but they could do that right from awakening if they kept a reserve. If the Benefaction Mission tried to hit you with an antimatter missile then you are paranoid and powerful enough to have constantly running 'danger sense' magic and would be able to teleport out before it hit but would spend magic doing so and that would not help if they decided to destroy the entire planet. The same can probably be said of any awake and active fully adult dragon and certainly of any ancient. (Though the ancient might be paranoid enough to have a cave on a moon they can hide in or something similarly ludicrous).
Even though the Benefaction Mission has had over 60 years to deal with the return of magic they do not have the population to really improve upon or maintain their own tech base, they are an expedition from a much larger society with the billions of humans needed to actually advance a near plateau level of tech. They rely upon (extremely good) designs produced by that home culture that they then essentially 3-D print. Whilst they do have a population of a few tens of millions all with superb education that is mostly required to maintain and give slight tweaks at their level of advancement, even with extensive automation.
Being a dragon who has lived through (and helped uplift to) a near peak civilisation you basically have in your head all pertinent information of plateau level technology along with knowing exactly how to fully incorporate magic to best effect, you can also eloquently explain this or even telepathically push it into people's heads (carefully).
They cannot just start turning out something as good at Sulqeum's magitech fighters on a production line but if you train their mages and update their designs then they can likely start manufacturing something a generation less sophisticated with only a few years of build up. Of course those things are freakishly dangerous, if all six of the G75 had been focused on you in the battle then you would have been forced to flee or die, at this level of ambient magic at least (they can only operate right now with dragon pilots).
The issue is that dragons can cheat by 1) Knowing magical techniques that took centuries or millennia to develop and are far more efficient than those developed by humans over the course of a few decades 2) Drawing upon stored magic to do things that would be otherwise impossible and 3) Just plain cheating, like with Sulqeum and her hatchling dragon piloted magitech fighters. That was basically like somebody showing up in late WW1 with a squadron of Apache gunships to have their back.
The way I am modelling it is that juvenile dragons mostly have a single pick from the positive traits that you chose from in character generation, but some do not, some have no positive picks and also a negative one because they kind of suck for a dragon and barely made it to (young) adulthood. They are still dragons who survived 1,400 years of activity though and will have something going for them along with plans and ambitions of their own plus a keen survival instinct. Adult dragons such as yourself will always have at least one positive pick and will have as much as possible for me to work out, been clever with it.
Etorix has his godhood and human manipulation, Sulqeum has (had) absolutely ridiculous wealth but perhaps more importantly she is very very good at obtaining wealth. Her personal empire is in fact extremely well managed and she has been indirectly ruling it for centuries, with an inhumanly expert balance between economic growth and dragon hoarding. The fact she has had to parcel off cities and regions to vassal juvenile dragons has been spoiling this somewhat of course and she is balancing a snake (dragon?) pit of internal politics because there are over a dozen juveniles any three of whom could probably kill her in a direct fight. The four she brought to meet with you were the male dragons most infatuated with her who she could rely upon to not want to kill her.
The youngest and weakest 'Ancient' is a dragon who has gotten to Etorix or Sulqeum's current state, then survived a millennia of activity during an era of magic with a sufficiently large hoard to live through to the next. They are not actually any bigger, Etorix is fully grown, but very few dragons do make it through the threshold winnowing process and so they tend to be the meanest, most capable and with the keenest self preservation instincts. More importantly they learn things, secrets, powers, tricks, additionally it is a well known fact that a dragon who successfully does dragon things like being ludicrously wealthy, being in utter control and power, knowing no peers, etc will become more durable and stronger over time even without a being a god. Bones grow denser, scales harden, one's internal fire grows hotter.
So any ancient will be supremely dangerous and capable but they also accumulate ludicrously huge hoards, it would not be unknown for an ancient to both waken 'early' (for an ancient) and still have a hundred or more stored magic if they have been successfully avaricious, magic that they could likely spend almost as well as you can in your divine portfolio fields on literally anything. Or just as well, if they are an ancient who is good with magic.
Which has gotten way off the original topic. Basically even an ancient will die if the Benefaction Mission manage to find their hibernation spot then hammer it with a really large antimatter bomb but right now any adult dragon such as yourself who is willing to expend a whole lot of magic could just teleport into the ark and ruin them. An 'average' dragon might have to spend 3-4 magic rather than the 2 you did, due to not being a god, but they could do that right from awakening if they kept a reserve. If the Benefaction Mission tried to hit you with an antimatter missile then you are paranoid and powerful enough to have constantly running 'danger sense' magic and would be able to teleport out before it hit but would spend magic doing so and that would not help if they decided to destroy the entire planet. The same can probably be said of any awake and active fully adult dragon and certainly of any ancient. (Though the ancient might be paranoid enough to have a cave on a moon they can hide in or something similarly ludicrous).
Even though the Benefaction Mission has had over 60 years to deal with the return of magic they do not have the population to really improve upon or maintain their own tech base, they are an expedition from a much larger society with the billions of humans needed to actually advance a near plateau level of tech. They rely upon (extremely good) designs produced by that home culture that they then essentially 3-D print. Whilst they do have a population of a few tens of millions all with superb education that is mostly required to maintain and give slight tweaks at their level of advancement, even with extensive automation.
Being a dragon who has lived through (and helped uplift to) a near peak civilisation you basically have in your head all pertinent information of plateau level technology along with knowing exactly how to fully incorporate magic to best effect, you can also eloquently explain this or even telepathically push it into people's heads (carefully).
They cannot just start turning out something as good at Sulqeum's magitech fighters on a production line but if you train their mages and update their designs then they can likely start manufacturing something a generation less sophisticated with only a few years of build up. Of course those things are freakishly dangerous, if all six of the G75 had been focused on you in the battle then you would have been forced to flee or die, at this level of ambient magic at least (they can only operate right now with dragon pilots).