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Wearing Power Armor to a Magic School (112/?) WiP 1
🕑 Added 2024-12-21 22:07:39 +0000 UTCHey everyone! Here is the Work in Progress for Chapter 112 I hope you guys enjoy! :D
Dragon’s Heart Tower, Level 23, Residence 30, Thacea and Emma’s Room. Local Time: 2300
Thalmin
Not since childhood had I gazed out at the night sky to consider what could actually lay beyond the tapestry.
Such a notion had already been addressed, both by the Nexus and by age-old Havenbrockian beliefs, the latter holding much more weight than the outsider-enforced dogma of a multi-realm spanning empire.
Though it was by their very reach and power that most amongst the ‘enlightened’ Havenbrockian elite defer objective truths to Nexian conventional wisdom. Relegating Havenbrockian beliefs to just that — beliefs.
It was acceptable to still believe in the light of the ancestors. It was even fashionable within the immediate royal circle for those who wished to pay lip service to our family’s traditional inclinations.
However, it was more accepted that both concepts were distinct yet mutually inclusive, that the stars could be tears in the tapestry, and that there was a sort of miasmic immaterium that lurked beyond the wispy dark.
The ancestors could very well still exist within that sea of light, their memories preserved as the various star-signs and sky-lights, hovering high and prominently over us.
I was warned that my experiences in the Nexus would come to overrule this tentative balance of beliefs however.
I was cautioned against looking too deep into the infinite dark ‘perfection’ of the Nexian tapestry.
It was thus, after the dispelling of the clouds, that I was faced with that very uncomfortable sight.
A sight which shook me to my core, but not enough to cause a crisis of faith.
Strangely, it was Emma of all people who seemed to be most bothered by this sight; as if her very grip on reality had been stripped from her the moment the clouds parted.
I was… genuinely worried at certain points, concerned that her ‘newrealmer’ status was finally catching up to her.
This worry, thankfully, proved to be null and void.
As the earthrelamer promptly went about her own antics, revealing that her anxieties stemmed not from a crisis of belief, but instead… a crisis of curiosity.
She defied any and all newrealmer expectations, deftly avoiding the pitfalls that would entrance and entrap those from lesser realms.
If anything, she pursued a narrative not only unexpected — but entirely blasphemous.
It was… as exciting as it was disturbing to see.
Yet right as we were on the cusp of the divulgence of her understanding, Ilunor once more decided to rear up his ugly head.
The frustrating blue thing blocking a clear trajectory towards the truth the earthrealmer so firmly believed in.
The indoctrinated golem all but reverting back to his old ways, if it wasn’t for certain tells that gave me hope from this momentary lapse in judgement — his acquiescement to the existence of Emma’s drones.
This admission would’ve been otherwise impossible from the Ilunor I met on orientation day.
Such an admission, as much as it was a momentary crutch, was hope that he would not be a stubborn fool for the sake of being stubborn.
The man was not an Auris Ping, by any stretch of the imagination.
Moreover, his doubts and skepticisms were by all measures… reasonable.
Emma was, after all, an enigma.
And the ‘truths’ she spoke of sometimes brought even me to the brink of disbelief.
However, it was her constant ability to prove the impossible that weighted my trust in her just beyond the watershed of disbelief.
Her principled nature and her frankly Havenbrockian stubbornness to the truths she believed in played a huge part in this.
The other part, was played by the objectively-more-vital litany of evidence to support her often outrageous claims.
And it was this latter aspect that she continued to deliver without question.
Yet it was the Vunerian’s insistence that once more brought me to that tipping point.
The point in which my worries for earthrealm’s capabilities were very much brought to the forefront.
I had little doubt that she would be able to show up the blue thing, of course.
But that faith was difficult to maintain especially as the Vunerian came to reinforce the inherent… advantages the Nexus had at their disposal.
This was because as much as the previous ‘presentation’ had demonstrated earthrealm’s capabilities to build and thrive, to match even the grandeur of the crownlands, the question of their ability to match the crownlands’ aerial capabilities was put into question.
And it wasn’t merely the capabilities of reaching the skies which I was worried about, for that topic was addressed through the strange aerial constructs seen populating her realm’s skies.
It was moreso a question of whether or not these aerial constructs — owing to their manaless dispositions — would be able to match the Nexus’ unparalleled mastery over the skies.
It was the Nexus, after all, that held exclusive dominance and superiority in this theatre of war.
Never has there been a single other realm in existence outside of the Nexus that had come close to challenging this primacy.
And while it was rare for the Nexus to deploy said vessels in acts of war, given battle and planar mages alike rarely needed such conventional forces, it was still an aspect of war that could never be understated.
For it added a dimensionality of war that superseded the four cardinal directions of the land, bringing with it a fifth confounding dimension of verticality that almost every other realm lacked an equivalent to, let alone significant counters to match it.
It was thus, in the pitch darkness of this manaless sight-seer, that the truth behind Emma’s claims would be revealed.
I knew not what awaited me, especially given the scarcity of Aethran knowledge Havenbrock held both prior and following the Nexian reformations.
But this ignorance served only to fuel the flames of excitement welling within me, as my mind attempted to wrap itself around this most novel of concepts — manaless flight.
Or more accurately, manaless flight on a truly epic scale.
=====
Dragon’s Heart Tower, Level 23, Residence 30, Thacea and Emma’s Room. Local Time: 2300
Thacea
“You really must stop bookending your statements with such bizarre and flighty proclamations, earthrealmer.” The Vunerian began with a dismissive slight, just as our surroundings started to shift. The darkness of the tarp quickly turned into a blinding light courtesy of the spinning obelisks, entrapping us within a world of featureless white.
Following which, a new world was summoned piecemeal.
As block by geometric block, through mannaless means as impressive as it was enigmatic — was this impossible world conjured up once more.
In a surprising parallel to the Vunerian’s sight-seer, we found ourselves standing in the midst of a sea of grassy sand-dunes, poised atop of a hill overlooking what seemed to be two modestly dressed humans, both of whom held nothing in their hands but a few stray pieces of paper and two leather-bound notebooks.
“That’s because it’s true, Ilunor.” Emma began, gesturing towards what was ostensibly an unimpressive sight amidst an equally unimpressive setting.
“We both seem to possess the same knowledge of worldly principles, of rules and axioms which govern the way things work.” She continued, as our point of reference soon moved closer towards the two humans, allowing us a glimpse inside of their furious notetaking.
Comments
Vagner
True, but she will omit the very real and powerful motivation that caused the technological boom, during and after the wars.
ANTIcarrot
You don't need to. Just show the Wright flyer, then a spitfire, then an me262, and a 747. Put the power plants side by side. The piston engines ate similar enough to the steam engines they've already accepted. The jet is a bit more complicated, but spraying atomising light oil into a combustion chamber should be understandable to them in the context of flour dust explosions. "Those can scatter a mill over a wide area yes? Well here the metal tube stops the force of the explosion from going sideways, and the high pressure air in the compressor stops it going forwards, so it can only go backwards - and in the process pushes the aircraft forwards." And yes, all horribly antique for Emma. But modern for her will be something like shrouded electric props with nanotube-batteries. Which would lead to an endless list of even more complicated explanations. Besides which, this is just a minor side quest on the way to demonstrating what stars actually are, and that humans have interstellar travel. Speaking of which, can we avoid the Saturn V? Most people today view it favourably, but from Emma's perspective, it's a big a dead end as the Hindenberg was, if not more so.
UC-79
I've been up for a long while, got some errands done earlier around the usual drop time. Boy was I wrong lol. I probably will call out tonight, zombie-ing my job on minimal sleep sucks.
Duplicitous Michael
Your reply notification made me click in so fast thinking the new chapter was up 😂 I need help. You should call off, usually when I get to work the new chapter goes up so I will sit in the bathroom for minutes speed reading to get my fix. I hope it gets uploaded before you gotta clock in 👌🏾
UC-79
I'm gonna have to call out of work lmao, I'm supposed to show up in like 4 hours and I haven't slept yet.
Duplicitous Michael
This story makes me turn into crack fiend when it comes to a plot progression. And like a crack fiend, I now sit violently scratching my arms in anticipation of the newest chapter.
Alistershade
I was making fun of my dogs for sitting at the door yesterday, waiting for my dad to get home. Oh how the turntables.
UC-79
I refresh and refresh but it's just not here 😞
UC-79
Dr.Agon :^)
Michael Halpern
maybe someone else will get First today
Jaime Fabricio
First time seeing the release being so late
erickjosemolina
Mm
LumiOak
Didn't we see a balloon like vehicle earlier?
T_witch21
Warefare, not spatial.
Brachy LP
If One broke the Tapestry You think they Could use the Teleportarum Network to Teleport Meteors from their Own Realm to Rain down on the Nexus?
SpaceFan839
Or a blooper real of failed rocket launchs
Michael Halpern
with the teleportation barrier the Nexus has no orbit, its the other realms where it'd be a factor though.
Ragnar Pendon
Time for Thalmin to realize the 6th direction ORBITAL SUPERIORITY
niraqw
That also confused me for a second. He is thinking of the four points on a compass: north, south, west, and east.
Pete Magnuson
"...the four cardinal directions of the land, bringing with it a fifth confounding dimension of verticality..." Am I being a big dumb rn, or should that be 2 dimensions and a 3rd confounding dimension?
Michael Halpern
that's where Emma's jetpack will come in.
Rust
Wooo yeaaah science babeeeeee
tripkt
While the balloon is an example of taking to the skies. The Wright brothers are the first to utilize a heavier-than-air vehicle.
Lion3125
Was already asked earlier. Still like previously. I assume that Thacea just sees beings with a similar body shape as Emma and has seen them before, meaning it's obviously humans. Not that she can see how exactly humans look. I think I read that it'll get clearer phrasing in the full chapter
John the Gamer
Question: are the figures actually visible as humans, or are they still just silhouettes as in the previous VR outing? Since the group still has not been introduced to the human appearance (it being so similar to elves), but Thacea now says they see "two modestly dressed humans".
Matthew Bright
Part of me thinks Ilunor is simply going to refuse to believe what Emma is saying and showing. We know that he's already seen and chosen to deny the existence of planes in the last chapter. Given that the 'illusions' Emma creates are manaless, he would (from his perspective) be entirely justified in denying their veracity. To be clear, based on the story so far, him denying it would be a smokescreen for the raw amount of cope he's reckoning with; but that itself would be very on brand for the little purple people eater.
Anders Mostue
Ah yes, the Wright brothers. They are immortalized by their invention. But you forget the baloon
Michael Halpern
Airships are plenty good, on dense atmosphere planets like Venus, not so much elsewhere.
Michael Halpern
No one ever told humans these things were impossible, so we did them anyways, and eventually all the things we thought were impossible were taken as challenges,
Michael Halpern
there's no avoiding it, hell there's no avoiding E=MC² when talking about rockets and what stars are
MaybeASquid
I am excited to see the gangs reaction to a cape canavral launch
Vagner
On a more curious note, i wonder how she will introduce jet power without addressing the world wars.
Vagner
Another weekend, another two notifications fill my phone, happy days :D
Nul Atlas
Man I hope this leads to them seeing thr Saturn 5 or smth to show them how we can leave our realm
crown01
I think it makes sense to leave out airships since covering them would mean spending a bunch of time and confusing the narrative around the airplane to tell the gang about a technological dead end that killed a lot of people before everyone realized they weren’t actually any good. She could go over gliders but again it would make the narrative confusing since different people from all over the planet had been making gliders for centuries. By starting with powered flight she can give a neat and streamlined history of humanities aerospace endeavours.
Michael Halpern
The fundamental problem is that no one else figured out an inorganic means of producing practical portable power that didn't involve magic. the Kitty Hawk had a measly 4hp motor iirc, the absolute minimum they calculated that would be necessary to achieve flight.
Skrzynek
Being able to see Thacea's perspective on the first manaless, powered flight of humanity is gonna be juuuuicy! The ONLY person here that can natively fly, now seeing humans reproduce with magic what her people can only do with innate mana manipulation! In that way, humans are greater than avinors - to not need mana for this at all. Or at least - more stubborn.
UC-79
The peer group perspectives are already going hard 🔥 thank you!
Michael Dale Vereen
So we're jumping straight to the wright flyer? The various gliders before that aren't very impressive, but small airships had been around for about 50 years at that point.
Jcb112
Correct! :D I'll make that clearer in the full release! :D
Ultimatecalibur
The Wright brothers are the ghostly figures like the last show Emma did rather than their full human depictions, right?
Jcb112
Yes that's correct! :D I'll make that clearer in the full chapter release tomorrow! :D
John the Gamer
I don't know if king kobold's sanity would survive seeing supersonic yet aircraft doing a flyby.
Jake
Oooh, are the humans going to be obscured/shadow still?
Gabu
Guessing the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk?
Conviviacr
... I hope it then goes through the world war 2 dog fights and the hilarious exploding rocket experiments. Maybe move up to some "modern" dog fights before hitting space.
Archiyte
ooooo the gang's gonna meet the wright brothers
