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Wearing Power Armor to a Magic School (113/?) WiP 1
🕑 Added 2025-01-11 18:07:24 +0000 UTCDragon’s Heart Tower, Level 23, Residence 30, Thacea and Emma’s Room.
Thacea
This was it.
The promised revelation.
The hopes and dreams of empiricalists long dead and forgotten, brought to fruition within the confines of this impossible construct.
An impossible sight, brought about by impossible means, at the hands of an impossible entity.
What was once a dream snubbed at by the arcanists, and snuffed out by the mages, was now proving to be anything but a long dead concept.
Standing in front of me, not unlike artifacts in a museum, were constructs bordering on the absurd. Windowless towers of questionable aesthetics, and grand spires unsuitable for anything but grandiose monumentality. These shrines to height, dedicated seemingly only to ego and hubris, served a far greater purpose than any house or clan however.
For they served a purpose once thought impossible.
A means of conveyance from the dirt through the tapestry.
Their size — proportional to the immensity of such a task.
Their design — thematically poignant. Resembling needles meant to pierce straight through the fabric of tapestries.
Their underlying mechanisms, however, remained vague despite Emma’s grandiose descriptions.
The energy harnessed from merely caging explosions inside of our engines was no longer enough. Instead, we skipped straight past the middle man — propelling ourselves atop of the raw and unmitigated power of combustion itself.
The logical conclusion to such a statement… couldn’t have been that straightforward.
Indeed, if the caging of explosions within those combustion-based artifices was of any indication, then there must be some form of enigmatic manaless means of harnessing the pure power of combustion; one powerful enough to propel these towers of iron and steel through the heavens.
The visualization of which… proved nigh-impossible to manifest. As imagining one of these monoliths attempting flight as they were… was not just ludicrous, but an exercise in insanity.
At which point, did I finally realize the leypull of the situation.
I was actively considering, through no uncertain terms, the flight of literal towers.
Towers the size of those found in Aetheron’s capital, lifted not through some Nexian planar magics fueled by its boundless streams of mana, but by manaless means.
I awaited my disbelief to settle, and for doubt to slowly precipitate, amidst the brisk yet meandering carousel of towers slowly diminishing in size.
But it never did.
Or at least, not in any significant quantity to quash the impossible conclusions my heart and mind had already since reached.
I understood, in no uncertain terms, the sorts of impossibilities Emma was capable of.
Moreover, our discussions on… the void, and the expanse beyond the tapestry, had instilled within me a firm acceptance of earthrealm's seemingly impossible reach.
It stood to reason then, given my certainty of earthrealm’s foregone destination, that the manner in which said destination was reached was a more palatable point of contention.
But this clearly wasn’t the case for all present, as Ilunor and Thalmin were quick to demonstrate.
“Towers.” Ilunor began indignantly. “I’m assuming you wish to proclaim these towers as somehow key to your claims of piercing through the tapestry?” The Vunerian spoke with as much skeptical bluster as he could muster.
“I, for one, believe it to be a novel endeavor.” Thalmin interjected atop a more confident cadence. “There have been a great many stories of impossibly tall towers in old Havenbrockian tales. Towers that reach for the heavens, and some which dare to reach beyond it. I believe it to be a logical conclusion then, given the sheer height of the towers seen in earthrealm’s grand cities, that there exist towers tall enough and grand enough to pierce through the tapestry.”
Ilunor’s features remained surprisingly unfazed by that statement, refusing to hint at his acknowledgement or dismissal at the prince’s assertions.
Though it would be Emma, who would respond not with a firm or definitive answer, but instead… a sheepish insistence on moving past Thalmin’s points altogether.
“I mean… you’re not wrong, Thalmin.” Emma began through what I could only describe as a reluctant admission. “But I’d prefer we start at the beginning, rather than skipping right through to the end.”
This… outright admission through omission stoked the flames of curiosity welling within me, as memories of that private sight-seer, of that… impossible construct floating above Acela once more came into my mind’s eye.
“Then let us begin, Emma.” I spoke eagerly, watching as we arrived at what was quite possibly one of the smallest towers yet.
One that barely reached the height of an outer-ring townhouse in the Isle of Towers.
“This was the first.” Emma began, gesturing towards this four-finned oblong tower. “The first to breach the tapestry, that is.” She continued. “But before I show you that fateful flight, and the successive flights that took place in the years and decades since, I’d first like to show you the basics of how all this works.”
The carousel of monuments shifted leftwards, passing by stranger and smaller objects, before arriving at an innocuous item that shifted the entire formula of this demonstration.
A humble fire-spear.
My features immediately darkened, as I shifted my gaze back towards the endless row of towers that stretched on into the artificial horizon.
Their shape, their function, all of them couldn’t have possibly just been based on the simple fundamentals of an alchemist’s toy—
“No.” Ilunor began, voicing what felt like our collective disbelief as he took a step back. “You can’t possibly have us believe that you’ve iterated… that you’ve adopted the primitive principles of what is at worst a toy and at best a primitive attempt at shimmer-stars.” The Vunerian’s voice shook, not so much out of fear as it was out of sheer disbelief.
“Yes.” Emma began through a cocksure cadence. “That’s precisely what I’m getting at.” The earthrealmer continued, under what I could only imagine was a growing grin upon her enigmatic face. “I’m glad you recognize what it is since this makes things so much easier to explain—”
“It’s a toy, Emma Booker!” Ilunor reiterated through a hiss. “How can you have us believe—”
The carousel moved once more, as we were introduced to what appeared to be a chair… with a disconcertingly large number of fire-spears strapped beneath it.
“We’ve been toying with the idea for literal millenia before we finally got it right.” Emma interjected. “I won’t have you believe that a simple shimmerstar firespear is what got us beyond the tapestry. That’s just absurd. However, it’s the fundamental basic principles that I’m trying to get at here. As in a similar story to the aerial craft, we started from what was ostensibly the right idea, but executed in a way that just didn’t quite cut it. Take for example Wan Hu over here, a civil servant back in one of our ancient civilizations. We know little about him, heck, some people dispute he even existed. But it’s his story that tells so much about our desire, our dreams of breaching the tapestry.”
“A dream that involves strapping about fifty firespears to the bottom of a chair, Emma?” Thalmin interjected with a cock of his head.
“Well like I said, we had to start from somewhere. And whether or not this did or didn’t happen, it shows just how long we’ve had this dream, and the trial by fire by which we would eventually reach it.”
The scene quickly demonstrated the… catastrophic results of the fire-spear-chair, which was then quickly followed up by countless more similar demonstrations. Of fire-spears of varying forms and shapes reaching for the heavens only to reach their expectant demise, or barely even lifting off the dirt at that…
This eventually culminated in what appeared to be a spindly, innocuous, utilitarian metal rack; holding within it yet another fire-spear.
Yet there was something different about this one.
As unlike the rest of the abject failures thus far, Emma’s sight-seer seemed to place an inordinate amount of focus on it, showing what appeared to just be nothing but a static fire-spear burning through its fuel in about half a minute.
“Nineteen-twenty-five, twenty-two years after the first Wright Brothers flight. What seems innocuous and rather underwhelming is actually a critical point in rocketry. As this was the point that Robert H. Goddard proved without a shadow of a doubt — that liquid fuel rockets were possible.”
The scene quickly shifted, progressing rightwards through the carousel as similarly ramshackled fire-spears were shown launching… and failing, over and over again. This was interspersed with successful launches, though few ever reached the heights that that Emma’s flying constructs had formerly reached.
Though this trend too quickly took a turn, as each increase in these fire-spear’s sizes brought with it an improvement in both altitude and successful launches.
“So after centuries or millennia of trial and error, suddenly using liquid fuel somehow fixes all of your problems?” Ilunor spoke up, crossing his arms in a look of blatant skepticism.
“Not exactly. It’s one of the components to it. I’m skipping over a lot of minor details here, Ilunor. But suffice it to say, this century was an era of immense technological progress. Lessons learned in other fields, from aviation to flight mechanics to communications and beyond all managed to translate into improvements in rocketry. In short, with every passing year, our increased understanding of the natural forces allowed us to iterate and improve. The advent of liquid fuel was simply a major milestone that unlocked an entirely new era in rocketry. It provided us a far more reliable means of controlling what was previously uncontrollable, giving us the reins to better tame and command the very heart of this beast — combustion itself.”
Ilunor had been quiet throughout a major portion of that explanation, though it was the latter part that truly gave him pause for thought.
Something had clearly shaken him to his core.
A certain understanding that I too had garnered.
“Magic solved this issue.” I began plainly, garnering the attention of all present. “The reason why fire-spears are relegated to a trivial amusement, is simply because there are far more means by which its ends can be accomplished. The lack of control of a fire-spear, the lack of consistency and reliability, the volatility of it — all of it and more can be addressed through magical equivalents.”
“A mage could simply adjust his manipulation of leypull itself, for one.” Thalmin acknowledged warily.
“Control and mastery over flight, is thus almost second-nature to the mages that seek it.” I quickly added, nodding in Thalmin’s direction.
“And would this… control involve the change and mixture of alchemical solutions and reagents? Of when one is added and one is removed, or how much is aerated and what quantities to add when?” Ilunor suddenly inquired, his eyes narrowing and his voice wavering.
“Precisely, Ilunor.” Emma nodded sincerely. “That’s… more or less it. I mean, there’s a lot more that goes into it but—”
“Just get on with it, earthrealmer.”
Emma nodded, pressing onwards as the titular tower-like design of these fire-spears started coming into its own.
This eventually culminated in that first four-story tall fire-spear we’d started off on, standing atop of a platform in the midst of a clearing within a wooded forest.
Suddenly, and without warning, this building-sized fire-spear lifted off. Under its own power, through… controlled combustion, it ascended. Story by story, it barreled higher and higher, until it barely registered to those watching on the ground below.
“Nineteen forty-four. Forty-one years after the first Wright Brothers flight. The launch of an A-4 test rocket dubbed the MW18014. They didn’t know it at the time, since… well… we hadn’t yet established the boundary between the skies and space — the Karman line. But this launch marked the first man-made object to reach outer space. The first object to breach the tapestry.”
“And do you have proof of this? Images, sight-seers, shards—”
“There was instrument data. But if it’s images you want, then let’s keep moving forward.” Emma announced plainly.
The scene quickly shifted once more to a desert in the middle of nowhere.
A fire-spear of similar dimensions, but additional improvements sat on its platform, before launching without incident.
It was only after the roar of its fire was over did Emma materialize a series of static images, each of which of… questionable quality — black and white with barely any landmarks by which to identify them.
“Nineteen forty-six. Forty-three years after our first flight. The white sands missile range, New Mexico. The launch of yet another man-made object into space, but this time… it had memory-shards. Albeit primitive ones by today’s standards.”
All three of us took steps towards these floating images, of what appeared to be—
=====
Dragon’s Heart Tower, Level 23, Residence 30, Thacea and Emma’s Room.
Thalmin
A dark sky, and… something resembling a grainy soupy-mess of a terrain as seen from above.
This… wasn’t what I at all expected.
Moreover, this wasn’t what I wanted.
Throughout it all, the growth of these fire-spears beckoned a disconcerting question that grew to rival Emma’s claims of breaching the tapestry.
Because if her claims were to be believed, these fire-spears of immense size with actual controllability… could serve not only as toys nor tools of exploration.
But tools of war.
=====
Dragon’s Heart Tower, Level 23, Residence 30, Thacea and Emma’s Room.
Ilunor
The image made no sense.
Nor did I try to make sense of it.
It was merely a dark sky and some indistinguishable blur.
There was nothing to be garnered from this.
The tapestry had yet to have been torn.
This was an exercise in futility.
This… had to be.
What else could this be but—
=====
Dragon’s Heart Tower, Level 23, Residence 30, Thacea and Emma’s Room.
Thacea
—the curvature of a realm.
This was… the curvature of a realm.
Tales from high-soaring flocks have consistently reported seeing a curve to our world, even after the Nexian Reformations.
It was just an undeniable part of reality.
And yet this… was fundamentally different.
The curvature was far, far too pronounced.
The result of flying higher than even the high-soarers, of ascending far beyond the flight-limit, which meant that this image, this shard, could’ve only been captured at heights beyond the tapestry.
“I know you probably still don’t believe me.” Emma continued. “So let’s skip a few years so we can get a better view~”
The scene once more shifted, still in the desert, but with a wildly different fire-spear. For this one was… much more refined. It was spindly, tall, yet smaller than what clearly was ahead.
Its launch soon followed, as it pierced through the skies faster and more aggressively than the previous fire-spear.
“Nineteen fifty-four. Fifty-one years after our first flight. The Aerobee. Nothing too exciting about it, except that on a few of its missions, it managed to snap enough images for us to form a photomosaic of this~” Emma paused, revealing an image that prompted my eyes to grow wide.
Gone was the grainy black and white image.
In its place was a color-image of—
“Is that… a globe?” Thalmin uttered under a shaky breath. “How… where was that taken?”
“That has to be manufactured.” Ilunor managed out suddenly. “Globes of adjacent realms are made through careful cartography and assembled through countless hours of—”
“This wasn’t a work of cartography from the surface or even from the sky Ilunor.” Emma interjected. “This… was taken high above the clouds, high above a realm, so high that you can actually see massive chunks of a realm from above.”
“This image was captured… beyond the tapestry.” I managed out under a hushed breath.
Comments
Michael Halpern
i know
Ragnar Pendon
I'm panting like Thalmin with a bone over here waiting for the full chapter hopefully in an hour 😅
Ferr
He dit question it in the beginning.
Michael Halpern
Now if it was an OG Atlas ..
Jacob
Valid point
Michael Halpern
The Koreliev cross is VERY distinctive, and pretty obviously intentional due to the timing
Jacob
I think they're more likely to think the rocket is breaking apart rather than it being purposeful, but I like that as a follow-on
A B
Ummmm lithium 6 deuteride. Though starfish prime stands out more in my mind
Michael Halpern
what will be interesting is when he realizes we fight with a proverbial hand tied behind our backs, unless faced with an existential threat.
Michael Halpern
optional extra: "How not to land an orbital class rocket booster"
Michael Halpern
one Anti matter warhead in the crown lands close enough to where the currency attunement is done, and the entire Nexian civilization collapses
Michael Halpern
i get that, it's just i have a grudge of sorts against hydrolox sustainer core architectures (STS, SLS, Ariane 5, Ariane 6) they basically exist to require the use of large solids.
Willow Arkan
She should tell them about the time a dominos pizza guy walked right into a nuclear missile silo, or that missile control vault door painted with the domino's logo, or the requirement by domino to keep the door open when a delivery is placed so that they could uphold their 30 min or free policy. Just all the wildly irresponsible wackiness.
Benjamin Lamb
Can’t wait for them to watch and experience the liftoff of a Saturn V…
Michael Halpern
Ilunor will be reassured in Earthrealm lunacy when he learns how much we did with fully expendable rockets. and when he learns about staging. "so instead of accepting the futility you stuck additional rockets around and/or on top of each other?" I'm betting Emma has a 2x2 pod that attaches to her armor or can fab one.
Bogdan Gabriel Onete
Not only strike back, but strike down
Ragnar Pendon
Red...... rocket?
Michael Halpern
what it's likely the first would be a koreliev cross, if we are going chronological. "did those parts just fall off and crash?" "lunacy, surely that cost a lot to make and for what? a few minutes of flight?" "well we didn't really have the capability to practically reuse them till much later, but yes during that era of spaceflight it was mostly limited to governments and wealthy businesses."
Steve
Then I’ll put my faith in Thalmin
A B
Oh. I was talking about the personal stories (less the technical). It was a straight first hand account of things like Apollo 13, challenger, hints at the icbm programs…. People with clearance not with nasa showing up and asking engineers to change x on project y….
Michael Halpern
The shuttle derived launchers (Aries V became SLS) all suffered one critical flaw, they carried over the mistakes of shuttle, like segmented SRBs and using hydrogen on the first stage. you want high Thrust to Weight ratio on your first stage to minimize gravity losses, Hydrogen just lacks the density to achieve that. your second stage can be hydrogen, depending on your staging velocity, and mission profile, but keep it away from the first stage.
Michael Halpern
Saturn V wouldn't be beat in overall size for about 50 years after the end of the program
Michael Halpern
bird and reptile anatomy is different,
Bogdan Gabriel Onete
With Thalmin at least its no surprise. He is a warrior, and he can immediatly see the war potential Earth's discoveries and achievements have. He knows enough to realise Earth isn't naive in the ways of war. I just cant wait for the moment of realization when he learns just how terrifing war can be when humans wage it.
Steve
I’m surprised none of the gang saw the very phallic visage of the rockets and how they *thrust* towards the stars
NOPisprettycool123!
Would make sense to save the big reactions for that one pivotal moment. The Apollo rockets were massive compared to the other examples Emma showed.
Dillon
Apollo will be the big one the author has already made the wand joke. I hope the crew gets to experience the roar of the launch as well. I got a feeling her appearance will be brought up soon once the crew starts to grasp how advance humanity is it’s going to raise suspicions.
Jacob
I'm looking forward to the groups reaction when they first see rocket staging
NOPisprettycool123!
Oh for sure. I just meant the description of the rockets launching. The plumes of smoke, the roar of the engines, the brutality of this tower taking flight. Those things felt glossed over a bit. I felt the gang might have more of a pause just taking in that first sight. But again it might be underplayed for what I assume will be either yuri’s flight or the Apollo landings in the second half of the chapter.
Michael Halpern
"flaws in the tapestry"
Ebondragon
At the very least I expect he’ll end up writing a letter back home that can be best summed up as “Dad, Mom, stay on the good side of the newrealmers. If you’re thinking about doing anything unfriendly JUST DON’T!”
ANTIcarrot
Not sure how they can explain away the sun, or orbits, or basic concepts like parallax. (Line two objects up and move your head side to side.) Illunor knows what planets are. He was just talking about how difficult it us to photograph them.
Michael Halpern
yes that would answer the question, but it would require a lot more math and context as to what they'd be looking at. and that's likely something the Nexus has "mansplained" away
Michael Halpern
They take it as true, because there is no possible motive to put that much effort into a lie.
eskrelli
what's funny is that he takes everything he see in the holo projection as true, I guess they don't have mana based generative AI lol
Michael Halpern
just found that again their realization that she wasn't bluffing..
Andrew Geiger
The gradual shift of perspective is great. I really appreciate how you're showing Illunor intelligently grappling with coming to terms. It's so easy to portray a character spoil as a stupid fool, but it's so much better when they're intelligent and simply taking the long way 'round. Which makes so much more sense, as you've emphasized by Emma's training on dealing with just that! Thanks for taking the time to share such a long WIP segment despite the stresses in your life; hopefully it helps a little, too.
Michael Halpern
Sol has a "partial" swarm and there are planet scale rings. both Venus and Mars are inhabited,
The Dark Lord 4416
Love the series! Have started reading about a week ago and positively teared through it. Can't wait for the next part and Ilunor's dumb face. It probably won't happen for now but I'm just too excited for Thacea to finally meet or get shown the flesh beneath the suit. Excited to see the extent of humanities achievement and how far the go. Ringworlds? Terraforming efforts? The occasional dyson swarm? All in all thank you for creating such an amazing world for us to lose ourselves in. Hope you're ok and my condolences for your grandmother. May she rest in peace
Michael Halpern
he'll either become a pacifist or be emboldened by a potential ally that can not only survive, but strike back
Michael Halpern
they lack the social context
Steve Desamos
That’s the day he becomes a pacifist
NOPisprettycool123!
Loving the chapter so far but I feel the description of the gang watching the rockets was a bit underwhelming. Unless you are saving the big details and the “oh my emperor” moment for either Yuri or the moon landing.
A B
So. One of the most amazing conversations I’ve had was being stuck in the last row of a plane with the Aries 5 project manager. This man worked under Von Braun as part of the Apollo program @jcb. The dual nature of their work and the stories he told stick in my mind 20 years later. I have a feeling they may slot in right here. It’s a story I know he would want me to share.
UC-79
Thalmin buddy... buckle up. Illunor should get his fainting couch ready too, come to think of it. Thalmin is piecing it together pretty quick all things considered. Between the small glimpses Emma's showing, and his knowledge of warfare, he knows the things she's showing off have reality altering implications if applied properly. Can't wait till Emma shows him/Illunor that splitting continent sized chunks of rock into innumerable tiny fragments is considered a peaceful mining venture by earthrealm standards. I don't think they're gonna take it quite as well as Thacea, at least not at first. I wonder if either of them will recall what emma said to illunor that first night when she grabbed him... Also, take all the time you need. You can't rush art, especially not when you're hurting.
ANTIcarrot
While this is fun and all... A simple photographic plate taken of (say) the pole star, at opposite sides of Earth's orbit, will show parallax effects that can only be explained by the stars existing at different distances. That is the actual answer to Illunor's original question. From there you can zoom out from Earth, to the solar system, to out local stellar neighbourhood, the extent of human star travel, the orion arm, and the galaxy.
Google Google
That wolf boy has no idea what we're capable of, one day he has to learn the truth.
Google Google
I love the story . My advice to you, please do not burn yourself out I know the story is important but I know it's hard for you so please don't burn yourself.
Marsy
It is well known that it is not the fall that kills you, but the sudden stop at the end. The solution, therefore, is to simply fall without stopping.
Michael Halpern
little boy and fat man will probably get the point across a bit better
Pierre laplant
Moar
PrivatePershing
Nuke
SoylentPudding
I went with Castle Bravo because showing bikini atoll split in half gives a sense of scale without having to show that they were used on cities.
Willow Arkan
Thacea is reaching ecstasy, Thalmin a mix of terrible excitement and trepidations for the military aspects of it all and Illunor is working on another existential crisis. I really hope Thacea gets to wear a space suit and experience a space walk, or flight as it were.
Willow Arkan
Beep Beep Beep, indeed
Willow Arkan
good old orbits, the ultimate in eternal falling
Willow Arkan
or the firs mars landing either robotic or human, hell let them see the probes we sent to observe as they burned through venus' atmosphere. the images of the voyager probes. the great red spot of Jupiter
Andres Ramirez
Wonder how they will react when Emma starts to show them the first moon landing?
Michael Halpern
she'll reiterate the question she used as a hypothetical when she first visited the Library.
Ragnar Pendon
Fairly sure Emma will try to placate with plane launched missiles hoping the concept of ICBMS aren't brought up
Michael Halpern
i would have started with Trinity
Michael Halpern
and taken before Blue Marble
Ciberj1
Absolutely amazing chapter for now. No worries for the next part. Everyone here understands that you need time.
Ciberj1
Earth rise was taken from lunar orbit. Not trying to be mean but I'm a space nerd
SoylentPudding
Thalmin is going to ask what sort of destructive artifices the rockets can throw, and Emma is just going to jump cut to Castle Bravo.
Rust
Fantastic chapter! Take your time to focus on your own life before you come back to finish the chapter :) Btw maybe consider the EarthRise photo from Apollo 8 in 1968, great photo:))
Bonester
That's another good one but I feel like Emma will start with the blue marble for context
Michael Halpern
no The A-4 is the V-2. the Allies called it the V-2
Michael Halpern
nah Earthrise, because part of the lunar surface is in the shot.
tom
skipping over the V2, I see.
Michael Halpern
Thalmin, do you REALLY want to know the answer to that question? for the answer is a threat in its very existence. at least for the dual use era of rockets.
Bonester
Hell yeah, I can't wait to get their reaction to the blue marble
Michael Halpern
There's an art, or rather a nack to flying. The nack lies in learning to throw yourself at the ground and miss. ... Clearly it is this second part, the missing, which presents the difficulties.
David Zadro
IN THRUST WE TRUST
architectural engineer
absolutely beautiful work like always, had to stop what i was doing to read this chapter! good work!
Kirk Childers
Eta til sputnik: 🔜
Michael Halpern
i predict Earthrise coming up
Generationslayer
Glad to see your back! New subscriber and just in time to see the squad deal with space! Fun thought for a metaphor, The towers/rockets could be comparable to arrows being launched the pierce the tapestry.
Ragnar Pendon
YAAAAAY SPAAAACE!!! and what a way to get me hella excited for next week! Welcome back but don't push yourself too much
