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>>5662729
Blink, You feel your knees weak. Test #107 has ended it failure. You bang your head on the table, it seem that unlike last time where the negatively charged threads short-circuited the machine, this time they outright passed through the Eudaimonic Transformator without even interacting with it. Possibly the greatest invention in Acadian history and everything after the math part seems to do everything in it’s power to spite you. Maybe you are looking at this the wrong way, you’ve manipulated the positive charged threads in every way known to Acadian sciences and yet nothing came out of it… You look at the clock, tomorrow mom should be exiling that one magi for conspiracy and magical malpractice, it shouldn’t hurt to review his thesis on the use of NCTs.

Blink, Your ears won’t stop ringing. There was nothing wrong, there had to be something wrong with the observatory but no, not even the fifth check uncover any errors. Magical scans of the cosmos have revealed a very simple and intuitive result, that PCTs are found around stars and the more habitable a system is the higher its PCT concentration is, that NCTs are much rarer than PCTs, being only found in systems though to contain complex lifeforms, and that the interstellar space is filled with inert, simple and neutral threads of magic. All of this results in a magical foundation of the cosmos being akin to a Ч shape where magic begins as inert threads which become more and more potent PCTs as life develops and, at some point in the said development, NCTs appear as a deviation from the neutral-to-positively charged trajectory. By current observations and the latest developments in magical theory however, this is false. The Extended Magical System proposes the existence of nodes of magical threads that, unlike the normal nodes which exist for a variable amount of time and their untying gives out the effects commonly known as spells, these new types of supernodes are so stable that they have no output, remaining tied together theoretically forever. To prove this model new, a new type of observatory probe was built and send beyond the Hippolitan Asteroid Belt, it’s findings being yours to curate. While the concentration of PCTs around stars have remained the same baring a new outliers that probably are Garden Worlds, the it’s the space between the stars that is most shocking, for instead of simple, neutral threads, the square light-years worth of void are filled with Negatively Charged Threads unlike anything you’ve seen, unlike anything on the Anima Spectrum.

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>>5662734
Blink, Your lungs ache as you struggle to breath. The Pioneer was ready, the new pride of the research fleet, christened by Her Majesty, designed by the Prince and with its ensign drawn by the everjoyful Princess, the ship was of royal quality as the crew said. Stella finally let’s go of you after you promise to get her a souvenir and you shared one last meaningful look with your mother, her gaze, more serious than ever, making you gulp before steeling yourself and bowing before your most august patron. You sigh as you embark on The Pioneer, it will be at least 3 long years before you’ll get to see them again.

Blink, The world spins around you. Both Rutherford and Aloysius were locked up in their cabins, the former for his utterly irresponsible handling of stored NCTs and general research malpractice, and the latter for his conspiracy to mutiny after your decision to approach the NCT structure for direct sampling. You will not allow foolish dreams and premonitions to impede the voyage.

Blink, the floor feels cold. What beautiful stars….W̴̧̤̥̞͎̗̽͊ḧ̴̻́̑y̶̤̏͝ ̶͇͔̆͐̆̀͠d̸̯̈́͝͝ǫ̸̦̪͑̑͝ ̶̢̨̘̹̾͊̉̐͝ť̵̡̧̮͍̔h̶̦̠̝̟̟̓e̸̝͍̯̱̫̋͝ị̷̘̰̹̠̼̋r̶̝̟̮̗̰͛͂̌̂ ̵̡͇͌̆̍̈͝l̵̡̙͕̣͉͕̉i̴̫̼̱͛̾͝ǵ̷̱̻̜̯̓͋͘͜h̶̡͓̤̗͍̦̓̋̌̈́̈ṱ̵̛̂͜͝ ̸̛͚̝͈͍̫͈͆͗̾h̶̦͔͈̥̝͓̊u̵̼̱͈̽̀̂̽̓̏r̷̛͓̹̖͊̏͐ț̶̢̠̻͎̋̽̓̃̕ ̵̨̢̗̩̻̈͠s̸̯̀̈́o̴̺͘͜ ̴̽̆̓̐̂̚͜m̷̮̜̯̬͓̱̈́̿̄̕͝ȕ̵̡̙̻̀ͅc̶̠̱̥̯̳͒̓̊͘͘̕h̸̤̜̖̟̆͗̓̓?


Blink, you feel your knees weak and your ears won’t stop ringing. Your lungs ache as you struggle to breath and the world spins around you… The floor is cold… The last things you fell before you lose consciousness are the wound in your chest hurting less and less and Stella’s tears falling on your face though your broken mask. You have failed.

>>5662736
You don’t remember how much time had passed, you’re pretty sure your wounds were treated but you don’t remember when. Stella visited you once, by the looks of it she wasn’t crowned yet, that’s good you suppose, it means that you weren’t locked for a long time, a part of you is also happy for her, maybe she could give Acadia a couple more decades of prosperity before it all burns down. You do not care what she has to say, you do not humor her with your words, you do not dare to speak.

The capital is still under repairs from your failed, impromptu coup. You are dragged to the Purgative Terminal, to be exiled like a common criminal. The thought sends a ripple of anger through your body and you look up, staring into the eyes of the new queen. You wonder if this is how the warlocks and other pariahs felt as they too were being doomed to die on that cold rock, their souls forever trapped in the planet’s dark clouds. No, it was the warlocks who were flinching before queen, while Stella’s eyes betrayed nervousness. She was a princess, not a queen.

“For the crimes of magical malpractice, manslaughter and regicide, you are hereby exiled to Terminus, may you find pace in its dark corners.” With that, you ever engulfed in light, and gone from Acadia.

>>5662737
Terminus.

A formerly rogue planet that got itself trapped in the gravity well of Acadia’s sun, a world wrapped in dark threads of magic. Magical flora and fauna inhabit these shadowy lands, and even long abandoned ruins if drunk star-sailor are to be belived.

Long ago, to prevent it’s negative magic from influencing Acadia, the Queen placed a magical girdle around it, trapping the darkness inside. Soon enough, the threads of magic concentrated into every element of that empty rock, combining with the rocks and natural chemicals to create magical beasts, entire ecosystems, even an atmosphere for that malevolent spot in the sky.

With life seemingly prospering beneath her girdle, the Queen made use of the planet. Acadia was for a long time terrorized by the darkness of former tyrants and monsters, for while their souls went on in the reincarnation cycle, their darkness followed and poured into other souls and places. To prevent further pollution of Acadia’s magosphere, the wise Queen decided to exile the worst of the worst unto Terminus, where their darkness would remain trapped on the planet by her girdle. Thus the Acadian system entered into a new era of prosperity and benevolence.

…

You breath in the almost electric air, it reinvigorates you. You rise to on your feet, and underneath the heavy clouds of your new home, you begin to laugh. You laugh at the pain and sorrow and misery of the last few days, nay, of the last year. You laugh at your mother, who wasn’t able to stop you, let alone the nature of the cosmos. You laugh at Acadia itself, land of the plenty and good, living on an island of stability, not knowing how one large wave could destroy all. You laugh at Stella, poor Stella, her crown shall lay at your feet, alongside the rest of that accursed star system.

You know you are watched, but you expected that. The kind of people who would dabble in malefic magic would either perish immediately or thrive in such an environment.

The laughter dies down into a simple smirk. Tonight, Terminus gained itself a new ruler.

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>>5662738
>Terminus has 4 stats you need to develop in order to actually have a power base:
>Society represents the degree of organization the termians have. As of now, anarchy reigns as there are only a couple of actual settlements inbetween deadly flora and fauna, nomads and many warlords and roaming bands. Its development will yield either NCTs, which will act as fuel for your projects, or a bonus to every action other than personal one since having a functioning society tends to help a lot with delegating tasks.
>Industry represents the mechanical capabilities of your realm. The more developed it is, the more options you will get regarding making stuff that doesn’t require souls. Automaton armies, spaceships, ice cream, it’s all tied to industry.
>Biosphere. Terminus is alive, some of its flora and fauna are even stable enough to operate outside of an environment soaked in negativity. Develop this in order to gain greater control over the appliance of magic and technology in living beings, get dragons.
>Magic, it all goes back to it. Spearhead the research of NCTs, develop magical theory and the means to apply it, create a ghost army. It’s all expensive thread-wise and oherwise, but Terminus is rich in manpower and darkness.

>With that done, please choose what field to develop first and, if you would be so kind, a title for our protagonist, be as chuuni as you want.

Terminus:
Society: 1 [Scattered settlements and warlords](unite the major settlements)
Industry: 1 [Everything from small witch ateliers to inefficient automaton factories](evaluate and standardize)
Biosphere: 1 [Hostile and untamed](Operation: Abiogenesis)
Magic: 1 [No overseeing body, diverse and decentralized methodology](Organize the witches, warlocks and scientists)

>>5662740
>unite the major settlements
>Terminal

>>5662740
>Society - unite the major settlements
Is this what we're supposed to pick?
>Title: Star Bane / Star Scourge / King of the Dark / Terminal Emperor
Take your pick. I am unoriginal.
Also I didn't quite get the magical theory here >>5662734. First you tell us scans of the cosmos revealed that it's filled with neutral threads, then later it's said that recent observations have proven this false and it's actually filled with negative threads. So the previous scans were false due to technology being not advanced enough? Did I get it right?
Also regarding the progression of threads depending on life development: which direction does the Ч shape go? Does it begin in the top right and then either continues growing in power (positive - downwards line) or loop back (negative - left and upwards line)? Or does it begin on the bottom and just branch out into one positive and one negative line? Or am I reading it all wrong?

>>5662740
>Society
The Terminus Tyrant

>>5662740
>Title: Anon
>Biosphere

Let's get this place livable before worrying about anything else.
We first have to make this place livable

>>5662740
>unite the major settlements
>Title: The Terminus Tyrant

>>5662768
>So the previous scans were false due to technology being not advanced enough? Did I get it right?
Yes, MC and some other nerds made a new telescope to search for highly advanced magic and found out that the universe hates them.

As for your other question, that can be called the Old Model of Magic, which said that magic starts low-energy, neutral, down, and starts becoming more high-energy, up, PCTs, as life develops. It also assumed that NCT's split from the nromal neutral-to-PCTs path due to unknown reasons. The problem is that in such a system the interstellar void should be filled with neutral, low-energy threads, and yet your observations found high-energy NCTs nodes that are really stable, complex, and far, far away from life. You can guess how that is a problem.

Anyway, calling the votes now, The Terminus Tyrant's trajectory targets the trails towards the tall towers that tag the trifling taskmasters of Terminus. Writing.

>>5662879
You have no need for maps as you trek across roads battered into the ground by the walks of megafauna. It was of no surprised that the denizens of Terminus would find ways make use of their less sentient neighbours, they would have to be inventive to survive such conditions. Speaking of, you can’t help but feel a paradoxical sense of contentment as you walk, which you presume that it is of intellectual nature as your emotional side wasn’t in the most productive moods, you dare think in this moment of lucidity. Regardless, you go on.

The air is the best and worst thing about Terminus so far. It felt both heavy and rarefied, electric and a bit nauseous, and it also reveals many things to you. A fully realized magus, even one trained solely in the manipulation of positive threads like the fools of the Grand Academy, should be more than capable of finding the major settlements this side of the planet, you however, you might as well behold Terminus like it was globe in your hand, so potent is the magic and so majestic is your mastery of it. It was thus that you have no problem navigating the marred surface and no concern of the fools who gaze at you from the foliage, thinking themselves masters of the jungle. Even without your omniscience, no noteworthy pretender would send meager scouts against a presence such as yours.

You’ve maid your way to the biggest city on the planet with little difficulty, willing the land and flora to take you on the shortest route. You gaze at the city from the high point of a mountain, unimpressed. You had no hopes of finding a city you would deem suitable to your standards on Terminus, and even then the sight of shacks and huts stacked one on top of the other like a crude mockery of the towns of Acadia made your blood simmer. The lack of any noteworthy presence also made you sigh in disgust of the Termians, it was to be expected that, on a world such as this one, magic users would either be the leaders in the areas of high population density due to their powers, or social pariahs unable to control their own potential. It seems that you have found the latter situation in this case as while you can see high caliber armaments on the walls, you feel no magus inside. What a shame, to be left alone on a sandbox and be too stupid to make anything interesting. You refuse to allow such insults at your own person continue.

>>5663015
“Name an’ business.” one of the guradsmen barked as you approached the gate of the conglomerate of ghettos, suppressing your presence in an act of pragmatism to flattering for the decorum. “You ain’t wearin’ them merchant’s garb.” The guardsmen and his odious speech made you quietly frown underneath your mask.

“Those are for the rulers of this citadel to hear.” You responded, your voice sounding less refined than you remember, lack of speech being the most probable cause.

The kid wearing scrap armor sneered at your answer. “Hehe, you with the gray dogs then?” He asked, chuckling alongside the rest of his patrol as if you were the idiot in this conversation. “Why so quiet? You one of the dogs who lost their tongues to Black Mountain?” Another guard, an older one, commented before breaking into an even louder laughter.

He laughed, and laughed, and then fell down and he continued even though his companions stopped laughing and begun to look concerned for their fellow. But he continued laughing even as he struggled to breath, writhing on the ground, his bloodshot eyes begging for help. None of the other guardsmen were vigil enough to saw you unclasp your fist and the threads of magic in it, releasing the old fool from his laughing fit and his soul from his body. “I see that courteous conduct bears no value here.” Your voice breaks the guards out of their shock. “Need I send you with the old man?” You question stopped them just as they seemed ready to jump at you.

“Y-You a witchman?” One of the boys asked.

“Do you feel like I have to answer that?” He looked down, shook his head and backed away.

“What do you want?” The first guard asked, his voice much more pleasant now with a little more fear in it.

“Take me to your leader.” You answered and felt satisfied as the patrol quietly escorted you into the city.

>>5663019
You refuse to comment on the state of things inside the walls for they are a mockery to all things effective and efficient and will not survive your reign. Suffice to say that, while an insult at your person, the structure of this piece of civilization can still be useful to you. The city is divide into two sections, the center where the real attempts at architecture and governing are and the outskirts, which seem to make up more than three quarters of the actual city. All-in-all, you could gain a fair amount of labour by killing the ruling class and secure the loyalty of the middle management by keeping them safe from the labour.

Resolved to make the first step in restructuring, you thank your loyal escorts by kindly releasing their souls from their bodies and make your way inside the capitol building, letting a bit of your presence escape your grasp to get everybody’s attention. “Gentlemen!” Your voice boomed in the busy square. Everybody, from the slaves to the officials felt a shivering down their spines. “By the orders of your august overlord, you are hereby ordered to vacate the square, failure to do so may prove lethal.” There, short and concise, with enough insult in it to provoke their actual overlords and yet refined as to differentiate yourself the common ilk of these land. You stood silently and watched as some actually heed your words, be it because they are malleable enough to be influenced by your mere presence or smart enough to see a conflict where it’s brewing, while most ignore you or even seem to call for the guardsmen present to take you, how foolish of them, though you suppose you can’t fault the plebs for not seeing the ethereal nooses tied underneath the scrap they made to serve as armor.

“You aren’t from around here, are you?” A mechanical voice gained your attention from behind. A mountain of a man wearing dressed, no, entombed in steel stood at the gate from where you came, a great axe in his metal hands. “New to Terminus or defector?”

>>5663021
“The former.” I answered and observed how the square quickly became devoid of men, it seems that this mechanical warrior has quite the reputation than.

“You can guess that every new exile does the same thing as you, right?” He asked, a synthetic sound which you guess it’s his laughter accompanying his words. “You seemed to have got the short end of the stick though, some exiles are lucky enough to get stumble upon savages first.” A click and his great axe sparked to life, electricity dripping from it’s edge. “They only cannibalize them.” You don’t see it but know that you opponent has a sadistic grin beneath the sensors and iron plates on his face.

You keep your calm despite the anger bubbling underneath it. You have already guessed that these people had to have a way to counter magical users, probably technological since warlocks are bound to make intolerable mistakes in populated areas as such it’s safe to reason you are dealing with the city’s finest here. Alas, they haven’t dealt with anything like you, so you should still have the element of supprise. You can’t sense technology as good as magic, but you still feel the old body beneath the armor, the wards meant to protect it lacking the complexities of the ones on Acadia. You could stop his heart right now, but the question is, would you want to?

>Kill him now, this arrogant worm is beneath your notice. You’ve come here to relive the city from its rulers and so you shall do. [kill the ruling class and its enforcers; least bloody option; will create a power vacuum the moment the moment you are out of the city]
>A corpse still has its uses, perhaps an indirect rule would be better in the early stages. [limit your purge; the ruling council will answer to you; they will not be humbled]
>If the fools around here like laughing so much, why not make this play-worthy? [devastate the center; inspire the outskirts to rise up; total restructuring of the society, with all of its costs]

>>5663022
>A corpse still has its uses, perhaps an indirect rule would be better in the early stages. [limit your purge; the ruling council will answer to you; they will not be humbled]
Leave them be until we find worthy administrators to rule in our name.

>>5663022
>If the fools around here like laughing so much, why not make this play-worthy? [devastate the center; inspire the outskirts to rise up; total restructuring of the society, with all of its costs]
A tyrant we our and will be.

>>5663022
>A corpse still has its uses, perhaps an indirect rule would be better in the early stages. [limit your purge; the ruling council will answer to you; they will not be humbled]

As long as our will is carried out it does not matter. Their heads will roll in the end.

>>5663022
>Kill him now, this arrogant worm is beneath your notice. You’ve come here to relive the city from its rulers and so you shall do. [kill the ruling class and its enforcers; least bloody option; will create a power vacuum the moment the moment you are out of the city]

>>5663022
Calling the votes to squeeze in a third update before bed. Not taking direct control has won, surprisingly.

>>5663199
Klaus never liked the council meetings. He could count on one hand what will be the usual topics and the jokes about the last Lykenian attack have gone stale faster than the ‘food’ the merchants sold at overprice near the gate. Some slaves were talking about a new exile claiming to be their lord or something like that in the square, he’ll send his secretary to get his things after the Wardens crack his spine.

“Sir Klaus.” A familiar metallic voice spoke from behind him, he turned and greeted the star of the week with the same trained smile he always had on his face.

“Black Mountain!” He greeted the tin soldier. “How can this old man help you my dear?”

“There is somebody who claims to be a supporter of your… restructuring plan.” Klaus’ eyes couldn’t help but widen in surprise. He gulped and instinctively looked around them, but the hallway was empty, conveniently so.

Never in his entire life did he though the Black Mountain, one of Leopolds’ tin soldiers, would be the one to betray his master like that. No, this has to be a setup. “Well, I’m afraid that this mysterious patron should commit his support through the official channels.” He gulped as he talked, no longer feeling safe in the Parliament. “And I’m sure it wouldn’t bode well for a Warden such as yourself to be here, talking politics with an old men.” He slowly took a step back. “I’ve hear that there was some commotion in the public square, has that been taken care of?” Klaus quickly changed the subject.

The Warden’s voice sounded strained to Klaus even through its synthesizer. “The situation was handled properly… and I insist Klaus.” The walking tomb took a step forward and Klaus contemplated running away before acknowledging that his shins wouldn’t take him far. “The man made it quite clear that it would be in your best interest to go talk with him.”

They were alone, he couldn’t refuse even though he would be signing his own execution order, Klaus though as he slowly nodded. “Lead the way.” He murmured and the two of them set out. “You...you know that I have your best interests in mind,, yes? Yours and Leopold’s.” He pleaded, receiving only only silence in turn.

>>5663233
The worm sat down in his seat, looking a little better than during your discussion. You were disgusted by him the moment you pried his name and career from that stale vegetable which made up the best of the best in term of this city’s forces. Your mouth curl in disgust, all it took was a little thread tied around his heart and the tin man was yours to command.

You see the worm trading knowing looks with some of the other politicians you so generously supported before his gaze fell on the significant number of empty seats between them. As expected, political assassinations and purges aren’t that uncommon around these parts, the current ruling class itself came from former slaves who backstabbed their masters during some war a couple of decades ago, but the good thing about threat of death is that one rarely gets used to it.

Taking his place on the podium, and beneath your shadow, Klaus did what would have surely been political and literal suicide without your help. “I propose a vote of no confidence against the rule of First Lord Leopold Cain.” You felt a little bit of amusement in the sea of disgust you feel at this whole vaudeville as the man in question immediately raised protests, only to be send into a coughing fit with a blink of an eye and taken out of the room by some of the attendents.

>>5663239
“Are the conditions here suitable, my lord?” Asked one of the secretaries send by Klaus to deal with you while he and his new allies did the usual politicking, only worse since you now have to be near it rather than simply read about it from history books. You wonder for a brief moment if so were the things for the new queen of Acadia too.

You clench your fist in anger, and suppressed those thoughts. You turn to see your attendant pale and with his mouth agape and realize you let your control over your presence go for a moment. You take a deep breath and put everything back in its place, stable and effecitve.

“You may tell Mr. Klaus that this tower should suffice for the time being, now leave.” You didn’t have to tell the man twice as he took ever quickening steps down the stairs. In truth, this wouldn’t be enough to house the large devices customary to your laboratories, but it should suffice for until you deal with the leadership permanently, which by your estimates should have already happened by the end of the next two weeks.

Despite being in higher gravity, you draw the sigils with the same ease as always, the NCTs concentrating around its geometry almost sparkle visible light, that’s their potency on this accursed world. With everything set in place, you now only have to decide on how you should present yourself to the other worms on this planet.

>>You are about to beam your presence in the minds of the leaders of the other settlements, how do you tailor it?
>Messianic being which will set the Termians free.
>Malefic spirit looking to make a faustian bargain, their servitude for untold powers.
>Great and terrible god who’s waking is inevitable.
>Write in.

>>5663240
>Messianic being which will set the Termians free.
>Great and terrible god who’s waking is inevitable.
Mix both. We are the prophet of darkness, we have seem the truth, and it's time to share it with the universe.

>>5663240
>Malefic spirit looking to make a faustian bargain, their servitude for untold powers.

This ones probably closest to the truth. Their all exiled fucks anyways, they'll do anything for power.

>>5663305
Support

>>5663305
+1

>>5663240
>>5663305
support

>>5663240
Calling the votes, a mix of messianic and eldrich approach has been chosen. Roll me 5d2

Rolled 2, 1, 1, 1, 2 = 7 (5d2)

>>5663993

Rolled 1, 1, 2, 2, 2 = 8 (5d2)

>>5663993
Watch this

>>5664002
First come, first served.
Also, since it wouldn't be something that would surprise our dear Tyrant, I'll tell you that the coinflips were to see how many cities will actually be loyal.
Back to writting.

>>5664011
The greatest gift a person has is its self-regulating abilities. When the body is sick, the mind and souls act together to get it fixed, though that can be called the easiest part to heal in the Body-Mind-Soul trichotomy. The souls seeps, that magnet which bends magic around itself, can become a far more insidious threat if left unguarded, the pioneers in the study of NCTs being clear examples, but perhaps a better one would be this city itself. You acquainted yourself with its history, founded by novice warlock who thought themselves great magi, then they were overthrown by their slaves whom in turn lost their rule to their own. You will perhaps come back to the details of this story when they are needed for an archaeological expedition or two.

Regardless, this paints a very telling story, one that you believe applies to the other settlements as well, that on Terminus it is not the greats that found cities. It is evident that one has to be inventive to survive the hostile environment, but your reasoning had one significant error, that many can pool together their abilities and copy what the truly inventive and powerful would be capable of. Following such ideas, one would think that the more social elements would dominate Terminus, this thinking contains 2 wrong suppositions, the first one being that Terminus can be dominated by anyone other than yourself, and that this world would reward the weak for their weakness.

You pause your inscribing for a moment to look out the window of your tower. 23.719 souls in this city, not one more noteworthy than the other. You contain your disgust and move your gaze to the lands beyond the walls, where souls terrible, grotesque and great reside, beyond the puny walls, forests and mountains. But you can’t be to picky, you remind yourself as you draw away from the window and back to your work, The cosmos isn’t made out of isolated systems and if you ought to dominate it, you will have to do it whole, just like you will dominate Terminus whole, from the hives of labourers to the lonely ateliers of the truly great artisans and dark weavers.

Enough rambling, the eternal right awaits your command.

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>>5664059
Puppets drift aimlessly in the black void, each just as ignorant as the other. They continue to drift, pushed by forces too small and too great to bee seen and they would have continued to do so until their atoms would have decayed had something not brushed against their wooden eyelids. Little by little, they opened their eyes and though they could not move or make any audible sounds, they at least could see the world. And yet the world lacks any light and they are left in the darkness. A million years seem to pass before one of them opens its mouth in a silent wonder, soon to be joined by the others as their eyes finally become accustomed to the dark to see the ropes wrapped around and inside them. And as their eyes follow the ropes ‘til they can’t see them for how far they go, they look at the sky around them and the many patches which adorn it, far away for them to understand their size but close enough to observe them in wonderment. Another million years seem to pass and another astute puppet calls out his fellows to ask if one of the patches had somehow moved from its original position. “Of course it has moved, are we not tied to them? It’s clear that our weight has moved it.” the others answered, and yet there were some who felt nervous, and for good reason too. Less than what felt like a thousand years, and another puppet called out. “Weren’t the strings around us more loose a long time ago?” He asked, but received no answer, for his companions already had their mouths tied and could no longer speak, merely follow that little patch continue in its movements, and as it moved, so did the threads wrapped around and within them become tighter, and none could do anything as their flesh and bones snapped under the stress and the patch continued to move, sometimes closer, sometimes farther, but move it did and some could even swear that it smiled as they contorted more and more until they snapped.

They opened their eyes and though they had forgotten how to speak in their long bondage, their lips could still silently utter the name of their homeland, which they now stood above. They felt a new presence, greater than everything they had felt, and rose their heads to marvel at the new figure, masked in cold steel and dressed in darkest robes, it stepped upon the girdle of their accuser and their home was a prison no more as the girdle shattered. They fell upwards, though the asteroids and left them ships and factories with their passing, through the planets and left them adorned in with the flag of one lone and dark star, though the sun and left its rays coalesced into fueling their great empire, and at the helm of their armies stood one Tyrant, his dark cape patched.

>>5664063
>You have chosen to wear the velvet glove over your iron fist, and though you know you will have to take it off, you have ensured that the cities will listen to you, some even with religious zeal.

>It's time to develop something else:

Terminus:
Society: 2 [Iron Fist in Velvet Glove, the population centers of Terminus follow you, even though they do not know it yet.](Restructuring and other such pains)
Industry: 1 [Everything from small witch ateliers to inefficient automaton factories](evaluate and standardize)
Biosphere: 1 [Hostile and untamed](Operation: Abiogenesis)
Magic: 1 [No overseeing body, diverse and decentralized methodology](Organize the witches, warlocks and scientists)

>>5664068
>Magic
If we get a magocracy up and running, fixing the biosphere and organizing the industry should be easier

>>5664068
>Magic
Get a cabal of mages and start doing some experiments

>>5664068
>Biosphere

We need to make this place more liveable before we start going into other things. Society and Biosphere is really the basics in my opinion,

>>5664068
>Magic

>>5664068
>Magic

>>5664068
Calling the votes, Magical development has won.
Writting.

>>5664618
Terminus hates you. It hates everybody on it and wants everybody to suffer, maybe to grow its own potency, maybe due to simple sadism ingrained into its magosphere. That is why it kills the weak when they are alone but lets them band together and hide behind stone wall to die and rot just a bit slower, just a little more despair than it would have gained otherwise. You however doubt that such actions have a will behind them, they are probably the results of mechanisms too large and too small for you to understand yet, but you are quite certain there is no will operating behind them it lacks the malice you’ve learned from experience.

For a brief second, your body is shocked by emotions you would rather not describe before you regain your composure and greedily force that negativity back into yourself. You will not allow this world to feast upon your soul.

The labyrinthine jungle trembles before letting you pass through it with a whimper. Yet another reason for Terminus to abhor you, you do not bend to it. The flora and fauna are certainly unique, you think to yourself, Carbon interwoven with NCTs, presences great and animalistic, you would like to stop and study it, this unnaturally natural ecosystem, see how you can replicate the process, how far you can apply it before upgrading it, but you are busy with things of greater priority. In your path lay the 3 greatest presences you feel upon Terminus’ sour faced surface, and you will not let them wait for much longer.

>>5664716
The Mooncub

The dark foliage and shifting soil gives way to splashes of colour and checkered tiles, before you stands a large spiked fence, its style not unlike what one would see in the historical houses on Acadia or perhaps on a more civilized Garden World. you feel your target before you see it, dark strings flowing freely in tides invisible to normal eyes.

“Finally came to play?” A boy looking not a day older than 8 asks, his green eyes sparkling, his lips curled into a cat’s smile. “I was waiting for you ever since the sky shook.” With that, he jumped down from the fence and your surroundings twist and warp like a pull book until the fence was behind you and a stone table with two likewise chairs appeared. “You can’t hide from the wind, hehe.” He sat at the table, beckoning you to do the same.

“I wouldn’t have expected anything else.” You comment as you take your designated seat. “You have quite the reputation among the children of the masses, Mooncub.”

His smile widened into a grin. “You’ve gone after the card houses!” He exclaimed and pulled a chess table out of the sleev of his too-large-for-himself uniform. “You’re already much more funny than the usual players.” The pieces were set, each resembling malnourished boys and girls. The Mooncub moved first.

You bring your pawn forward. “That was merely the beginning, I require much more than just labour to achieve my goals.”

He takes the pawn, his gaze losing a bit of mirth as he considered your answer. “Many tried before, you know… And yet the Girdle still stands.” He seemed to think some more, before adding with more enthusiasm “I don’t even know why you would want to leave, this place is great!”

Take. “You could say that I enjoy games larger in scope.” Move. Move. “But even those are more fun with good company besides.”

“Playing in tournaments?” A bishop is traded for a horse. “I don’t even know the name of my teammate.” The Mooncub makes his price is clear.

Another pawn is moved up. “The Terminus Tyrant.” You answer curtly.

“That’s not the name I expect.” A horse advances forward, the brat has the gal to chuckle.

You castle short. “We’re not playing monopoly.” A silver of anger escapes through your voice.

He frowned at that and you feel the air tension for a long moment, before his eyes light up again and his smile resumes its carefree stance. “I see, I then ask for Acadia’s moon as payment, that or every child born the day the Girdle shook.” You get forked.

>>5664717
The Dabber

“Wipe your boots before you enter.” A loud voice booms from deeper inside the observatory. Suppressing your annoyance, you slam the door behind you, the handle slightly bent, and make your way after the voice.

“Would it kill you to not be such a brute?” A man so old his white beard reaches his ankles complains, sparing you a side glance from behind his large glasses before continuing to scribble in a book.

“I would imagine you would show more courtesy to the one who made you use your observatory.” You glance at his telescopes, only the largest not coated in dust.

The old man grumbles and closes his notebook. “How would you if you were in the middle of your observations, only for your idiotic cadre of useless assistants to immediately call you to brag about seeing the very same phenomenon you and everybody else was seeing?” You could see a vein throbbing on his forehead. “Speak now, I have neither the time nor the patients to deal with demagogues.”

You inhale deeply, lowering the temperature of the room as your hands already curl into a fist. “I will break the Girdle.” The though relaxes you a little. “And I presume you would like to have front row seats when that happens.”

The pseudo-magus remains silent for a short time, studying you. “You would have no need to come here if that was your purpose, and I have no need to share my skills with those who pay for them with empty promises like some parasite!” He bellows indignantly.

You immediately close the distance between the two of you, stopping until you are at a saber’s length from his fat belly. You feel him pull a the magic and become acutely aware of just how many triggers there are in the observatory. You also make sure he is aware of how costly that maneuver would be for him by ever-so-slightly cracking the floor beneath your feet. The two of you stand in standstill, your anger diminishes slightly as you feel the Dabber carefully pick his next words.

“I want a drop of your blood.” His demand is met with another crack beneath his feet.

“Try again.” Your eyes bore into his skull from behind your mask.

“I want my observatory alongside with many others in the cosmos.” Silence. “…I request to be made overseer over the Magi and their academies.”

>>5664718
The Amalgam-Mother

The air was much different in this valley, much lighter, less electric. You look up, even the dark and heavy clouds seem farther away… You do not like being here. Steeling your nerves, you continue your trek down in the valley, your path already determined by the cleared vegetation. The forest is silent, not even the leaves under your feet make any noise as you step on them. Soon enough, the path ends in an opened burrow, your course of action clear.

You blast the entrance, making it large enough so you could enter it standing to your full height, you will not lower yourself for the whims of any witch. The underground is just as eerie as the surface, lacking any crawler or likewise being, its sterileness making your instincts flare yell at you to be battle-ready. You find another reason to be vigilant, resting with her head on a root, a young girls sleeps unperturbed. Sparing her not but a glance, you continue forward. Soon enough, another sleeping girl appears in your way, the same blonde hair, fair skin, bare feet and colourful clothes like the last one, the only difference being that this one’s breathing seems to be lighter. You continue downwards.

More and more girls appear as you descend, their appearance the same, their conditions worsening by the couple of meters. The third one didn’t breath at all, the sixth sprouted leaves from her skin, the tenth had her hands and feet joined with the roots, the sixteenth was more wood than flesh. Regradless, you marched on.

“Welcome.” A choir of voices erupted from your surroundings as your descent ends with a large chamber. Inside, a reverse tree lacking any leaves stands before you, silhouettes of girls sticking out of its trunk and a lone eyeless face at it’s tip. “You have been expected.”
Unflinching, you regale at the being with disgust. “I trust that you already know my reason for being here.” You stop yourself before you address this thing as what it is, an abomination.

The choir of voices giggles softly, like asbestos. “We have and debated for long, o dear Tyrant.” The face smiles. “Bring one of our daughters to your homeland, she will serve you without fault and when the time comes, let her sleep in the garden of your youth.” The request stirs something inside of you, the idea of this thing marring fair Acadia…

“Of course, we know better than to be to stiff with our demands, we also know that the flora of this world can be bothersome, free us from this valley and let us take care of it with you if you desire our cooperation” It smiled at the word desire and you suppressed the disgust swelling inside of you, you will burn her later. “Of course, if neither are to your licking we still have a third, hehe.” The thing giggled again. “Come closer, dear Tyrant, let us kiss.”

>>5664719
>>You have met the 3 greatest magic users on Terminus, barring yourself, what do?

>>the Mooncub
>Reveal to him your true name
>Promise him Acadia’s moon
>Promise him the souls of those born on the day of your greatest crime.

>>The Dabber
>Grant him a sample of your blood
>Promise him space-faring rights
>Promise him rulership over the Magi and their academies

>>The Amalgam-Mother
>Promise to take her girl to Acadia
>Let her “help” you in managing the ecosystem of Terminus
>Kiss her you poor, poor man.

>>5664723
>Promise him the souls of those born on the day of your greatest crime.
>Promise him space-faring rights
>Promise to take her girl to Acadia

>>5664723
>Promise him Acadia’s moon
>Promise him space-faring rights
>Promise to take her girl to Acadia

>>5664723
>Promise him the souls of those born on the day of your greatest crime
Rule number 1 of dealing with another mage: Don't give away your true name, ever. Regardless, we sought him out for a reason, and Acadia will be ours and no one else's. A couple hundreds of thousands of babies shouldn't be too high of a price
>Promise him rulership over the Magi and their academies
Dude's obviously some sort of mad scientist, but I see some potential in him. Better than giving him a drop of our blood and possibly having that bite us in the ass later on.
>Let her "help" you in managing the ecosystem of Terminus.
Fuck her kiss, and fuck her girl, this is the least horrible option. We DO need to do something about the biosphere, and she can help with that. We can always burn her later but we have to keep this thing away from Acadia or from our face.

>>5664723
>Promise him the souls of those born on the day of your greatest crime.
>Promise him space-faring rights
>Let her “help” you in managing the ecosystem of Terminus
QM, I'd like to know what would happen if we gave them the options making us more vulnerable (true name, drop of blood, kiss). I think the latter we may not know, but the consequences to former and middle should be known to us.

>>5664723
>The Mooncub
Giving him the souls has won.

>The Dabber
Giving him space-rights has won

>The Amalgam-Mother
Tie between taking her "girl" to Acadia and letting her "help" with the local flora.

You have 1 hour to swing the vote one side of the other, I'll flip a coin if you don't.

>Take her girl to Acadia
OR
>Let her help with the fauna.

>>5665172
>what would happen if we gave them the options making us more vulnerable (true name, drop of blood, kiss).
To be honest, I intendet to include the Tyrant's thoughs on the options but it was already quite late for me and I though you can assess the risks involved in giving a childish space-warper your name, a mad scientist a sample of your blood, and whatever that other thing is your first kiss.

>>5665288
>Let her help with the fauna.
Seems like the least bad option.
Our first kiss belongs to the Princess who exiled us here.

>>5665328
And the abomination has her deal, writting.
Also
>Our first kiss belongs to the Princess who exiled us here. Who's going to tell him.

>>5665328
I think the princess is our sister

>>5665339
>>5665365
Oh shit, we're the Prince? I completely missed that.

>>5665365
Hot

>>5665365
Not a problem in my book.
Alright, let's not take the quest in that direction.

>>5665411
I regret bringing that up now

>>5665375
I got it mainly from the opening, we held the princess as she was born, it said our mother was exiling some practitioners, and then when Stella sent us to Terminus, it said the queen is the one that does it personally.

>>5665416
Yeah, it makes sense on a reread, but I thought we were her childhood friend or something.

>>5665420
It can give that impression, since it was mostly implied instead of directly stated.

>>5665288
Hands are shaken, deals are agreed upon.

Three hundred eighty-five thousand souls are sold.

Stars cold and dark coquette themselves to be gazed at by a new fleet of pioneers.

The leaves contort in anticipation, the jungle will not bow down to mere pretenders so easily.

And under the heavy clouds, beyond heavy doors in a city without a noteworthy name, the shadows of a tyrant, of a child, of an old astronomer and of a well-behaved girl are seated at a table.

“My assistants and I measured an interval of about one minute when the Girdle was weakened, than another fluctuation 36 hours later.” He ended his report, closing his notebook. Your gaze turned towards the Mooncub, the brat was making shadow puppets without a care in the world.

“It was quite fun seeing how much some of my toys were freaking out.” His hands bend unnaturally, the silhouettes of shaking man appear in the shadows by the candlelight. “Most of them were old meanies who thought themselves better at playing than me, some were begging, some were pleading, some were saying how fun it would be to play out there.” His expression soured, in the shadows, a large hand picks up one man. “A tin soldier swore he knew how to make the portal here a two way gate.” Another hand appeared and grabbed his legs, breaking the silhouette in two. “He was lying, he knew nothing.” With that, the Mooncub turned his eyes back at you. “But the old fool might have had a good idea at least, if you want to get out, that portal is your best bet.”

“I myself have little to say about the barrier itself.” The girl said with an air of nonchalance. “But I once met an old lady who claimed to have known a witch from before Terminus was populated with our ilk.” You choose to not respond to its provocation. “The witch said that in order to forever keep this realm locked, her Majesty ordered machinery unlike anything else to be build to maintain the Girdle should she be not able.” The corners of its mouth twist a little upward, as if it was reliving a nice memory. “She said that the key to those machines was placed inside her Majesty’s diadem.” It then remained silent.

“Anything else?” You ask, feeling both irritated and intrigued by her.

“The old lady told me that the witch ended her tale and went into the forest to never return, the End.” It replied with the same air of ease as she told her tale. You glare at her from beneath your mask, a small feeling of schadenfreude in your chest as you taste a sliver of discomfort emanating from its form, before being sucked back in by a force beyond this body’s.

>>5665447
“I see.” You leave it at that and turn your gaze gain, into the flickering flame of the candle before you. You weren’t expecting much when you asked about the Girdle, if anybody could have gotten past it or even broke it, that thing wouldn’t still be in the orbit. Overall, you have to give credit to the Dabber, his acumen will be scientific tendencies will do well when you will have the resources to make use of it, and these assistants of his could work as Magi for the masses of Terminus until proper institutions are put in place to train actual Magi, you dare hope not everyone has the same antisocial tendencies as their teacher. Of the Mooncub, you had little assumptions. Despite being the fourth in line by presence, underneath the Dabber, the Mother-Amalgam and you, his carefree attitude paint him as an underachiever, perhaps you could find a way to use his love of games to mold him into something more useful. As for the Mother-Amalgam, it is the wildcard. You do not trust it to not have a motive that can’t be aligned to yours, and its tale paint an even greater picture, you will kill it when the need comes, and you don’t dare delude yourself that the abomination won’t make a mistake that warrants her death before you could squeeze every advantage you could get out of her. Until than however, you will humor her and your deal, if her story points to what you think, she has a lot of knowledge that you have to exploit.

“Gentleman.” You voice booms in the formerly quiet room. “You are but three, the greatest three, but three nonetheless.” You raise from the table in a grandstanding manner. “Go out or lure the knowledgeable if you so need, but bring me an army of witches and warlock the likes of which Terminus has never seen! The likes of which will pave our way into the cosmos!” The candlelight flickered and gave out, through the darkness, you could see sparkles of excitement, determination and ambition in their eyes.

A lighting flashed through the window and three shadows were gone.

>You begun the formation of your army/officer cadre/academia, let’s just hope that you have what it takes to also control them.
>Choose your next target

Terminus:
Society: 2 [Iron Fist in Velvet Glove, the population centers of Terminus follow you, even though they do not know it yet.](Restructuring)
Industry: 1 [Everything from small witch ateliers to inefficient automaton factories](evaluate and standardize)
Biosphere: 1 [Hostile and untamed](Operation: Abiogenesis)
Magic: 2 [The beginning of something both glorious and terrible](New Terminal Traditions)

>>5665452
>Industry: 1 [Everything from small witch ateliers to inefficient automaton factories](evaluate and standardize)

>>5665411
>Alright, let's not take the quest in that direction.
Don't worry, the only thing that you will put in her are NCTs.
On a more serious note, I have a pretty good grasp on what I want this quest to be and it will take a long, long while and specific options before romance is feasible for you if ever. For the record, you have been on Terminus for 5 days.

>>5665472
>We're gonna fill little sis with our evil cosmic juice.
I'm not sure I feel very comfortable with this, boss.
It's very good to know you have a solid plan though.

>>5665452
>Biosphere: 1 [Hostile and untamed](Operation: Abiogenesis)
Ok, now it's time

>>5665501
>We're gonna fill little sis with our evil cosmic juice.
I walked into that one myself, hadn't I? I'll go sit in the corner until the votes are cast.

>>5665452
>Biosphere
Time to use our new sentient abomination to help tame the biosphere. We sought it for a reason, let's use it before it turns on us.

>>5665452
>Biosphere

>>5665452
Calling the votes now to crank out another update before bed. Biosphere wins.

>>5665705
It has been stated many times just how hellish Terminus is, or would be had you been any lesser. The truth of the matter is that you yourself aren’t that bothered by the oppressive clouds and their lightning, or by the flora who would lead travelers astray to devour on their corpses after they die of thirst, hunger, or diseases. Speaking of diseases, those are plenty yet much more different, different in an expected way that is.

While a normal disease is the byproduct of microorganisms living their life inside the body of another other, said person being merely the medium in which the organism acts, diseases on Terminus act in a much more insidious way, by feasting on its victim’s suffering. As records and personal observation has showed, the sick of Terminus do not die off easily, on the contrary, there have been reports of sick men, women and children enduring in horrible conditions in “sickness ghettos”, always suffering from malnutrition, exposure and untreated wounds yet never dying. All because Terminus hates them, it hates them and it loves the taste of their suffering.

Thus also act other other elements of the ecosystem, barring the example of the travelers misguided by the fauna, there have been tales of man kidnapped by beasts only to be eaten slowly, over the course of entire days, or of birds imitating the call of other humans to lure their victims deeper into the jungle, where they peck their eyes out and force them to navigate helped only by the birds themselves with their cries, all to savour that pitch black negativity.

In an abandoned warehouse, you inspect the seeds of different species of plants with your new magoscop, a gift from a faithfull of the “Coming Lord” to the next. Prior attempts at using a microscope have resulted in incomplete results, the NCTs being too ingrained in the structure of the seed’s cells. Terminus was once a rogue, lifeless planet drifting through the cosmos, it was only through the anomalous amounts of negativity on it that simulacrums of actual organic matter persisted on the world, and it was only through her late majesty’s decision to quarantine and later transform the world into a prison colony that the biosphere exploded in scale and complexity. What were once icy craters filled with worms made out of magical threads and some atoms of carbon to give it shape is how a verdant jungle hungering for more flesh and despair. It was created by darkness, grown by it and maintained by it.

>>5665757
Comparing the samples taken from the valley of the Mother-Amalgam and the ones taken from the surrounding jungle gives you another reason to distrust the abomination. While one may expect the thing to be brimming with NGTs, the concentration of actual matter is much higher than that of the jungle, or to be more clear, the closer one gets its core, the underground eyeless face, the more real wood surrounds him.

Moving over to the rudimentary computer you set up to examine your lattes projects, your eyebrows furrow as you look over the mixed results. Test #3 for the Transmutation of NGTs into Matter has rendered results that, while positive, leave much to be desired. The tree stump you cut down has been reduced over a period of an hour and a half into about 34 grams of carbon and 2 grams of water. While the idea of turning the abomination’s entire valley into one chair seems enticing, the energy costs and overall inefficiency makes this process useless for anything other than spiteful warfare. You’ll assemble a team of warlocks to research this in your stead once the three stooges are done recruiting.

Test #2 for the Modification of the Properties of the Fauna has rendered better results. By manipulating the structure of the NCTs and atoms, you could turn the crops cultivated by the Termians into something worth more than half their weight in caloric intake. You still wouldn’t eat any or that, you’ve subsisted quite nicely on surrounding negativity, but it is a step in the right direction, especially considering the labour intensive work that will have to be done once you take over overtly too.

Test #1 for the Infusion of Programmable Intent into Matter is where you find yourself smiling behind your mask. Before you stands, at 60 centimeters tall, wobbles a stone construct, animated by your own power. You reach out and the construct immediately steadies itself on its legs, more like stumps to be quite honest, and stands at attention. It will be some time before these constructs become widespread and developed enough to matter, but it’s a start.

>You’ve broadened the understanding of Terminus’s magical ecosystem, while there is still a long way until your studies can be applied at a large scale, but long is better than never.

>It’s been a week since you’ve been exiled to Terminus.
>Choose what to develop next.

Terminus:
Society: 2 [Iron Fist in Velvet Glove, the population centers of Terminus follow you, even though they do not know it yet.](Restructuring and other such pains)
Industry: 1 [Everything from small witch ateliers to inefficient automaton factories](evaluate and standardize)
Biosphere: 2 [Knowing is half the battle, and you’ve done your studies](Man’s best friend)
Magic: 2 [The beginning of something both glorious and terrible](New Terminal Traditions)

Good night, I'll be seeing you tomorrow.

>>5665759
>Industry
Ok, let's see the state that the industry is in so we get a full scope of the situation.

>>5665759
>Industry: 1 [Everything from small witch ateliers to inefficient automaton factories](evaluate and standardize)

>>5665759
>Industry
I'm REALLY interested in those golems we can make, and also the crops. That's going to be really important for our nascent empire going forward. Regardless once we get all our bases covered we can start specializing.

>>5665759
Biosphere: 2 [Knowing is half the battle, and you’ve done your studies](Man’s best friend)

>>5665759
>Industry

>>5665759
Calling the vote, industry wins. Writting.

>>5666364
ID: M-31-04
Location: 45.13°N 27.32°E
Priority: C2
Uptime: 57 years, 11 months, 13 days, 6 hours, 34 minutes
Status: DefenceMode - INSUFFICIENT MATERIALS – F-02-01 UNRESPONSIVE

OSeer: ~$ sudo iw dev wlan0 scan
TON: M-31-01 - OFFLINE
M-31-02 - ONLINE
M-31-03 – OFFLINE
M-31-05 – OFFLINE
M-31-06 – OFFLINE
M-31-07 – ONLINE
F-02-01 – OFFLINE
F-02-02 – OFFLINE
F-02-03 – OFFLINE
O-02 – OFFLINE

OSeer: ~$ reset

>>5666473
ID: M-31-04
Location: 45.13°N 27.32°E
Priority: C2
Uptime: 57 years, 11 months, 13 days, 6 hours, 35 minutes
Status: Dormant - INSUFFICIENT MATERIALS – F-02-01 UNRESPONSIVE

OSeer: ~$ sudo iw dev wlan0 scan
TON: M-31-01 - OFFLINE
M-31-02 - ONLINE
M-31-03 – OFFLINE
M-31-05 – OFFLINE
M-31-06 – OFFLINE
M-31-07 – ONLINE
F-02-01 – OFFLINE
F-02-02 – OFFLINE
F-02-03 – OFFLINE
O-02 – OFFLINE
T-01 – ONLINE
OSeer: ~$ wget T-01/Mentainance_Feropod_1.0.zip
WARNING! - HIGH POSSIBILITY OF NCT INTERFERANCE

[SHUT-DOWN PROTOCOL] … … … 47%
ERROR – REBOOTING SYSTEM


OSeer: ~$ wget T-01/Maintenance_Feropod_1.0.zip
…

OSeer: ~$ unzip Maintenance_Feropod_1.0.zip
…

OSeer: ~$ sudo dpkg Maintenance_Feropod_1.0.bp
…

>>5666476
You continue to scrape through the manufactory’s data, sending the blueprints for the new type of feropod designed to maintain them to the other online manufactories and taking notes on the locations of various foundries and the Overseeing Unit in charge of this part of the network.

It amused you quite greatly to learn that the closest someone other than you got to conquering Terminus achieved his successes through the use of technology rather than magic. Of course, the madman had in his service disgraced Magi who would make sure his creations were capable of contesting other magical users and the planet itself, thought it was clear that his efforts did not bear fruit.

Regardless of his history, the madman’s legacy interested you most. Scattered across half of Terminus lay empty gigantic facilities meant to procure prime resources from deep inside the planet, too deep for the NCTs to have any meaningful effect, refine them into something useful and produce armies of walking machines to unleash upon the land.

While most of those facilities are offline and most likely too broken to just restart, your new feropodes should repair the ones that can operate enough to receive more of your blueprints. You’ve already designed new models of feropods based on the carcasses you’ve analysed already, a new model meant to automate the extraction of prime material, another one meant to be a General-Purpose-Construction-FeroPod meant to built small scale foundries in the manufactory facility to make up for its isolation from the actual network and a third model meant to be a guided probe which will restart the rest of the facilities.

An interesting thing you’ve noted is how the timeline of the production of this facility. Its earliest production record shows near uniform batches of attack Feropods, then they begin to diversify and specialize until a significant part of the material budget went into absurd designs. It’s also worth notting that the facility has only produced Feropods, there is nothing to suggest the existence of a normal army or civilian population.

>>5666477
You entered the abandoned temple the Mooncub had directed you to to report his findings. You slowly open the doors to the inner sanctuary and stare dumbfounded at the scene before you. The Mooncub on one side of the table, a witch of middle age with trinkets hanging from her dress on the other, a Jenga tower on the table between them. You slowly take more of the room in, behind the witch is a large congregation of magical users holding their breaths as the witch slowly takes a block out. On the floor next to them is the body of an old man, you suppose he tried to cheat. “Mooncub” You voice cuts through the silence and the witch twitches, the tower falls. A pale visage of terror spreads on the face of the witch, yet the Mooncub only giggles at her, a smug smirk on his face. “Whom owes the pleasure?” You ask the warlock, turning your head to the nervous crowd.

“These, my dear team leader, are the greatest artisans this side of Terminus.” He points to the motley crew. “Barring yourself and your company, that is.” He adds, his smug smirk persisting through your annoyed glare.

You scoff and rise your hand. Some of the craftsmages predict what you will do and try to run or shield themselves. They fail. In an instant their minds are assailed by your magic, your tendrils digging deep into their psyche, a single sentence inscribed in their skulls, bend or be broken. Dazed as they might be from your firm approach, their knees give out instantly and they fall to the floor, you decide to accept this as prostrating before you.

The Mooncub sighs. “Could have been more dramatic about it.” He mumbles to himself as he puts the Jenga pieces back in his sleeve.

“You still have work to do.” You remind him curtly and leave the temple. This ‘report’ of his could have been summarized in a letter.

>>5666503
>>You have begun the industrialization of Terminus and acquainted yourself with some mages. Progress.

>>You still have some time while you fiddle with the Mnaufactory’s computer system…
>The madman’s supply chain rested on a number of deep underground tunnels, most of whom have collapsed by now. A new boring automaton can resolve that issue and even accelerate the extending of the network.
>Even upgraded by yourself, the scientific equipment you took from the locals is well bellow your standard, it is time to design some devices worth your time.
>The situation in the cities is still stable enough to not warrant your focused attention, but that doesn’t meant it is efficient, even if you factor in the massive amount of negativity permeating through them. You decide to start shipping some much needed consumer goods to your loyal follower, and only them.

>>And as for that rag-tag group…
>Set up the Ministry of Procurement. They will answer directly to you and be responsible for the industrialization of Terminus in your name.
>The Dabbler’s new Academia is in much need of teachers other than him and you just got a large supply of able minds, you’re sure the old man will appreciate the gesture.
>Send them to the cities to aid your most loyal subjects and prepare for you coming to visible power.

Terminus:
Society: 2 [Iron Fist in Velvet Glove, the population centers of Terminus follow you, even though they do not know it yet.](Restructuring and other such pains)
Industry: 2 [The Mago-Industrial Revolution](Forced industrialization)
Biosphere: 2 [Knowing is half the battle, and you’ve done your studies](Man’s best friend)
Magic: 2 [The beginning of something both glorious and terrible](New Terminal Traditions)

My sincere apologies to anyone who actually knows how terminals work.

>>5666508
>The situation in the cities is still stable enough to not warrant your focused attention, but that doesn’t meant it is efficient, even if you factor in the massive amount of negativity permeating through them. You decide to start shipping some much needed consumer goods to your loyal follower, and only them.
>Set up the Ministry of Procurement. They will answer directly to you and be responsible for the industrialization of Terminus in your name.

>Biosphere

>>5666508
Also, for anybody interested, here's the current timeline:

>Day -7: Regicide Day
>Day 1: You've met the ruling class of your first conquered city and decided to not murder them yet
>Day 2-3: You've begun your cult and took over the rest of the population centers via indirect means
>Day 5: You meet with the Mooncub, the Dabber and the Mother-Amalgam and made deals with them
>Day 7: You started your study of the biosphere.
>Day 9: You took over the factory of the last guy who tried to conquer Terminus and begun to infect the rest of his system, you've also got about 200-300 DIY-oriented magical users to follow you.

Do note that The more developed Terminus becomes, the more time it will take to actually develop it as you add more and more moving parts to it so to speak.

>>5666508
>Even upgraded by yourself, the scientific equipment you took from the locals is well bellow your standard, it is time to design some devices worth your time.
Science!
>>Set up the Ministry of Procurement. They will answer directly to you and be responsible for the industrialization of Terminus in your name.
Industry!
>Magic: 2 [The beginning of something both glorious and terrible](New Terminal Traditions)
And Magic!

>>5666508
>Even upgraded by yourself, the scientific equipment you took from the locals is well bellow your standard, it is time to design some devices worth your time.
>The Dabbler’s new Academia is in much need of teachers other than him and you just got a large supply of able minds, you’re sure the old man will appreciate the gesture.
>Magic 2
Out of our gang of autists I'd say the Dabbler is the least likely to betray us if he can just keep doing his experiments. Besides, getting a proper ally and appearing as more than a demagogue would probably be good.

>>5666533
>*Kendal from Succesion teleports behind you holding a Katana*
>"Heh,it appears I have acquired The Master Emralds"
>*Kendall proceeds to kill all of you are Soldiers using drug enduced anger and claims said city as a subsidy of his father's company*

>>5666920
What

>>5666508
>The madman’s supply chain rested on a number of deep underground tunnels, most of whom have collapsed by now. A new boring automaton can resolve that issue and even accelerate the extending of the network.
>Set up the Ministry of Procurement. They will answer directly to you and be responsible for the industrialization of Terminus in your name.
>Biosphere

>>5666508
Getting new devices and the MInistry of Procurement have won, as for the next field to advance...

>Bioshphere
OR
>Magic

Break the tie.

>>5666508
>magic

>>5667515
>>5667407

Writting

>>5667547
Qm u good?

>>5668166
...Yes, just some technical problems and a busier day than expected and tomorrow not boding any better. It shouldn't be too much of a hastle after that I hope, even in the worst case scenario where my laptop bricks the worst loss would be an interlude I was planning to drop in cases like this.
Regardless, sorry for the radio silence.

>>5667547
The feropods skitter quickly from one side of the facility to the other, their light frame and powerful motors offering them great lot of mobility despite the large number of tools on their mechanical arm. A metal click later and the metal on its feet shifts to form a sigil who’s effects are quite clear as the feropode took to walk on the wall, unbothered by the change in plane. It will soon reach its target and begin mending the faulty conveyor hook chain meant to bring in the shoulder support frames for the attack feropods from an earlier section of the rapidly reviving manufactory.

Dedal allowed himself these brief breaks to relax after the earlier incidents involving the inhospitable facility. Barring said earlier issues, he and his team are well withing schedule to restore the facility to 90% efficacy, after which it will no longer be his problem to comb through its electric grid and its many, many rapidly moving devices.

His gazed turned from the feropods and back to the interface. On it, he could see the two lovebirds struggling through the myriad of wires inside the walls of the facility, a place too electrified to be intimate, he’ll send one of his assistants to collect them after they finish their task, the fact that there are kids born here at all is a monstrosity to him. Changing the camera, he looked at the two unfortunate sods as they adjusted to their new mechanical limbs. Another channel, he was viewing the team who was assisting the feropods in disassembling the broken frames of the larger machines with their magic before he received a ping in his brain, the last team has finished drawing the schematics for the assembly belt. Another ping later, this time a normal, material one, and he send the factory layout to his juniors and to the Bureau of Construction. With his current duties done, Dedal went back to watching the feropods move around.

>>5670019
Urgent and Important tasks ought to be the first done. You repeat that in your head as you trek towards the Mother-Amalgam’s valley. You had little time to actually use your new tools before receiving the message that the Trio of Terminus have finished their mass recruitment campaign. This report too could have been a simple telepathic message but you suppose a face-to-face meeting with the new will-be elite of Terminus would prove its worth in time.

You enter the abomination’s domain and a path is immediately created for you, not that you would need it since it’s hard to miss a couple thousand magic users huddled together. You march up to a clearing which wasn’t there before and observe from the shadows the mass of witches and warlocks, disgraced Acadians and Terminus-born fools. While most of them bear no accessory to tag them to a specific group or culture, dressed in clothes made with survivability and magical proficiency in mind, you can still spot differences in accessories and equipment, differences that will either fit a niche or be standardized. The Dabber, the only lieutenant of yours which you is in the crowd, is surrounded by a group of older looking men in clothes similar to his, garments like those worn by the Magi yet with their colors modeled after the Termian cloudy sky, these are his assistants no doubt. Other noteworthy patterns are found in practitioners tattooed from head to toe in sigils, or in those wearing and using bones from the local fauna, or in those armed with ceremonial blades which would be impractical for anything other than the manipulation of NCTs. You could keep going a while longer but you already have enough to contemplate.

The magical practitioners have neither culture nor methodology, they instead have traditions, and so did the ones on Acadia.

Acadian magic, the manipulation of PCTs, has developed in tandem with its societies for its millenniums long history, the many academies that have sprung up at one point or another being the product of their cultural environments, their Magi perfecting their craft over generations for their own reasons until the methodology was fit to be united by her late benevolence, alongside their states. This however was the product of a very long process that still did not result in a perfected magical system, you yourself playing a part in its development and look where it got you. Here however, where the planet itself punishes large collectives, the magical knowledge is still in an early stage of development. You had entire libraries in your youth, they had to have got their knowledge through trial and error and the occasional apprenticeship or written word, a process you could map out.

>>5670021
This however begs the question, where does the process start? The people of Terminus and their knowledge are an extension of Acadia, each exile bringing in something new, but then how did dark magic begin on Acadia? It is inherently self-harming, you aren’t so far gone as to claim otherwise, so it would be logical to think its users would be isolated incidents, and even if they would pass on their knowledge through hidden scrolls or some malefic texts, there were plenty of investigations throughout Acadia’s history to destroy said knowledge, her clean magosphere being proof of their success.

You know that there are t̷̮͇̺̩̠̥͕̐̆́͠h̶̛͕̺̰̦̞̗̹̎͐͗̐̿͘͝i̶̡̝̬̼͚͉̬̾͛͒͊̋́̋͘̕n̴̩͆̀͐̓̆g̴̢̠̟͗̓͒͋̀͝͠͠s̴̪̾̎̍̍̊͝ out there, but those are blind and idiot and still far away... and they have made you, Acadia wouldn’t have survived another.

You’ve talked with her about the exiles she forsook, she told you they gave in to the natural follies of man and their dark magic followed through. You never asked her for more details.

Magic was though to have originated through life, you now know better, but does that mean that life exists to develop magic?

You are brought back from your thoughts by two new presences at your flanks, a fist you did not know you had clenched relaxes. You acknowledge them with nothing more than a slight shift in the threads around you before you walk forward to greet your new subjects.

>>Skip the pleasantries, you are already in a bad mood.
>>Your voice still fells better since your first week here, time to address the new troops.(make a speech) Make it or give me general points and I’ll see what I can do.

>>As for their role…(choose 2)
>Increase the size of the Ministry of Procurement
>Found the Ministry of Magic (Is the Dabber’s Academia equal to or under it?(Will have to make the Dabber the head of the ministry if the latter, he will not like it.))
>Create the Army of Terminus and its first units (What is their name?)
>Write in other things you could put wizards into and not explode...

I'm back! Ask if the rambling wasn't clear enough. I do not know how to word it better and it is something important that the MC understood, so the players should too.

>>5670029
I take it we've been "enlightened" to the true nature of the universe by the eldritch abominations that made it or something?
>>Your voice still fells better since your first week here, time to address the new troops.(make a speech)
"Witches and Warlocks of Terminus, for so long you have been shunned and persecuted for both your knowledge and what you are. The Acadians, in their self-righteous arrogance have banished and imprisoned your souls here because you contradict their own view of the Universe. They believe that if they punish you so that the world will be clean of malice, negativity and darkness, they believe that negativity is unnatural and must be purged. They are wrong, I've seen the truth, and I'm here to teach you the TRUE magic of this wretched cosmos. With it, we'll break the girdle. With it we'll take the stars for our own and prove to the Acadians of how wrong they are. But first, we must start with this humble Deathtrap we call Terminus."


>Found the Ministry of Magic (The academia should be equal, we can't really piss off our lieutenants just yet)
>Create the Army of Terminus and its first units
The army, specifically the magic division, could be called The Terminus Occult Forces(TOF) or The Odium Guard(OG)

Also, if the other anons are up for it, we could also instead get our warlocks to research that thing about transmuting NCTs into Matter. There must be some practical applications to basically making matter out of magic.

Feel free to edit or add anything to the speech to make it more in character, I'm not good at them. Also QM, is it a good idea to specialize in one type of upgrade for Terminus or to spread it out a bit? Considering you mentioned how it would take longer to improve Terminus the more we do it?

>>5670108
>I take it we've been "enlightened" to the true nature of the universe by the eldritch abominations that made it or something?
That's a bit of an exaggeration. While you could say you have experienced some sort of "enlightment" at some point cough, the backstory, cough, it's less that you have experienced that again and more that you have gone from "magic comes from life" to "there is magic outaide of life" to "does life come from magic?" You have questions and no answer.

>is it a good idea to specialize in one type of upgrade for Terminus or to spread it out a bit?
I am looking into how I could make your progress more visible, so to speak. As fun as having this quest be purely narration, I consider dice rolling and the randomness added by it to be a benefit, the problem being on how to implement it here. I'm thinking of giving you more options and something special to help you clear more said additional options.
To summarize my sleep-deprived tangent into an actual answer, do whatever upgrade you want while I still fret over how to add rolls.

>>5670029
>>Your voice still fells better since your first week here, time to address the new troops.(make a speech)
Support the general gist of that speech. We will reach new heights of magic, great and terrible, together.
>Found the Ministry of Magic (Dabbler's Academia should be equal, though I wonder why he wouldn't like becoming Minister of Magic)
>Create the Army of Terminus and its first units
The Tyrant's Own

>Changing the camera, he looked at the two unfortunate sods as they adjusted to their new mechanical limbs
Wait, are these feropods made by chopping off human limbs and replacing them with cybernetics? And we did it to these two "lovebirds"?

>>5670029
>Your voice still fells better since your first week here, time to address the new troops.(make a speech)
>>5670108 sounds good
>Found the Ministry of Magic (Dabber's Academia under it)
>Create the Army of Terminus and its first units (Terminus Occult Forces)

>>5670029
>Skip the pleasantries, you are already in a bad mood.
>Found the Ministry of Magic (Equal)
>Create the Army of Terminus and its first units
Tyrant's Fists

>>5670029
Calling the votes, The MoM and AoT have won with the Academia being equal to the MoM.
Also this >>5670108 speech will be used as it is since its good.

>>5670392
>Wait, are these feropods made by chopping off human limbs and replacing them with cybernetics? And we did it to these two "lovebirds"?
Feropods are what their name implies, walking robots. The guys who got maimed aren't the couple and they got their limbs choped due to the manufactory being 11 chinese steel mills on the liveleak scale in terms of OSHA violations.

Will write the update sometime later since its past midnight where I am.

>>5670729
You still alive man?

>>5670729
‘I’ve got to say, the old man seems sharper than ever, he managed to answer Gilbert’s questions even vaguer than he usually does, seems in a fouler mood too.’ An annoying voice rang in Zair’s head.

‘His disposition is of no concern right now, if he wanted us dead he would have acted sooner.’

Another wizard shrugged from the other side of the gathering of practitioners. ‘I don’t know about that, maybe he is letting the kid play with us, you never know about the crazier ones.”

‘No.’ The possibility is judged and found wanting. ‘I’ll burn down my observatory before our dear teacher humors someone else.’ A feeling of understanding rang between the two silent interlocutors, memories of fellow scholars left brain dead escape in the stream of thought binding the two. ‘And I doubt the 3 greatest mages on Terminus would just decide one day to join forces and gather everybody in one spot, if they wanted us dead they could have done so more simply.’

‘You’re thinking like an Acadian again.’ The other mage retorted. ‘These guys have been here longer than any city or merchant family, who knows what kind of rituals they devised in all of that time.’

‘Again, there are has to have been easier ways to achieve whatever they are trying to do.’ The exile replied. ‘Perhaps this whole mess has something to do with that unknown patron our teacher complained about?’

‘You think whoever that is could strong-arm not only the Dabber, but the Mooncub and the Mother too?’ A sliver of skepticism traveled alongside the question to his co-conspirator.

‘There are too many happenings that hint towards the existence of such a being, it’s been a little over a week since the last exile and the Girdle fluctuated in its potency, there were momentary surges in negativity exceeding that of the Megabeasts, The memories of my latest test subjects showed the appearance of a new cult in not one but all major settlements, I’ve came across a concerning number of abandoned ateliers and the three oldest Termians, who never did anything in their known history other than be stay in their corners on the world and mess with the people less powerful than them, suddenly begun working together.’

‘And you think that that last exile was the one who caused all of this.’

Zair resisted the urge to scoff. ‘Terminus was lifeless until the Queen started exiling people here. No matter the rumors, the Dabber and other had to have been Acadians at one point, so who is to say that another very, very powerful Acadian can’t be send here again?’

>>5672518
His breathing became laborious and his heart quickened its beat before he could realize it. The mage quickly darted his eyes around him, searching for the source of his sudden anxiety, but whatever that was it seemed to afflict everybody else too. His eyes came upon the edge of the clearing, he knew the tales of this valley, of how man and beasts alike do not return once they cross its boundary, and he knew of the witch who inhabited it, but it made no sense to act against the them now, even is it was the Dabber for whom the trick was intended, the Mooncub and Mother-Amalgam cooperating was something too outlandish to believe. His gaze remained locked looking at one particularly shadowy area and Zair felt the air leave his lungs as he could have sworn that the shadows were staring back at him.

A second later and the feeling of terror lessened, his breath returning to normal. ‘Zair…’ His partner called out mentally.

‘Yes, I’ve felt it too, it was like my mind was submerged underwater for a moment.’ The mage replied, forcing himself to relieve the experience, to let no detail be forgotten.

“Not that.” The assistant flinched as his companion came from behind him. He was about to scold him for not maintaining secrecy but his words never escaped his throat as his companion’s pale face left him speechless, only now did he perceive the feeling of perturbation overflowing into their telepathic connection. Zair’s eyes followed his upwards, and his mind drew blank as he, like everybody else, stared not at the heavy clouds of their prison, but at the starry sky

>>5672519
“You have done well, my lieutenants.” A voice broke the stillness of the gathering. In the middle of the congregation, the Mooncub, the Dabber and the avatar of the Mother-Amalgam nodded at a fourth figure. Standing on a stone podium, The newcomer was dressed from head to toe in what looked like dark synthetic fabrics with sigils unknown to Zair upon them and a cape similar to the hide of the Megabeasts over them. He felt his gaze wonder over the crowd, and even though his eyes stood behind that reflective helmet of his, the mage felt the same dread he felt earlier wash over him as they locked eyes for a brief second.

"Witches and Warlocks of Terminus!” His voice boomed in the clearing, even the clouds shook, the assistant considered for a brief moment the possibility of illusionary magic being used, but his every sense screamed at him that no, everything from the light of the stars above to the dreadful being before him were indeed real.

“For so long you have been shunned and persecuted for both your knowledge and what you are. The Acadians, in their self-righteous arrogance have banished and imprisoned your souls here because you contradict their own view of the Universe. They believe that if they punish you so that the world will be clean of malice, negativity and darkness, they believe that negativity is unnatural and must be purged.” Through the silence after his words, Zair could almost taste the feelings of anger emanating from the crowd, no, from the crowd and himself.

Memories of a clearer sky, of accusations and investigations, of the same unflinching eyes staring down at them before they were swallowed by the light and spit in their new tomb, everything again at once.

“They are wrong.” The words cut through them. Unbenounced to perhaps all but the 3 and their new leader, Terminus was seething as their dismay was focused and concentrated into orderly patterns.

“I've seen the truth, and I'm here to teach you the TRUE magic of this wretched cosmos.” The clouds parted further, thunder and lightning threatened to pour into the valley yet it dared not, it could not. “With it, we'll break the girdle” For the first time in his life, the Termians could see the thin threads of pure white light that kept them confined. “With it we'll take the stars for our own and prove to the Acadians of how wrong they are.” And beyond those threads, they could see the dark sky filled with stars, and around the brightest star they knew without needing sight that Acadia was staring back at them.

“But first, we must start with this humble Deathtrap we call Terminus." And with that the sky closed again, tempest and thunder flooded the valley but each and every single one of them stood strong against Terminus and around its new ruler.

>>5672521
Test

>>5672521
“Yes, I know the castle, some necromancers used it as a base of operation 100 years ago before they were trampled when the feropods invaded. The top floors won’t be too much of a challenge, just the chemical remains from the bombing and maybe some beasts, the underground however…” The Mooncub turned his eyes at the sleeping sorcerers, a fiendish smile on his face.

You loom over the brat, a frown on your face. “I expect them to be combat ready regardless of what happens after this initiation. I will not tolerate combat losses higher than 66%.”

He gulped comically. “Yes sir.” A hand is raised in salute and the Mooncub disappeared from your view not a moment later.

>>5672578
With that sorted, you turn to the two other thirds of your court. “Dabber, with this phase done, you now have the duty of organizing the Termnus’ Academia, you are dismissed until further notice.” You ignore the glint in the man’s eyes at your new order for him level your stare at the girl-shaped monster remaining. “Show me the promising candidates.” You order curtly.

>>Make yourself some acolytes
>Name
>Description
>Backstory(Why he/she got send to Terminus/How was life before being forcibly recruited into a government)(optional, it’s for flavour more than anything else)(100 words or less)
>You have the following skills: char, int, gt(green-thumb), mag and str. Assign them in order from the first, your strongest, a +25, to the last, your weakest, a +5.

>>5672579
>>NEW MECHANICS:

>You have hit your first level 3 in development, this means that from now on you have to complete multiple things to develop Terminus enough to contest Acadia. The more you continue, the more options to shape the society, industry, ecosystem and magical capabilities of the world and its denizens, but be warned, there are multiple ways to grow your state, both good and bad.
>Because the number of things to do will increase over time, you may now delegate and have other roll the dice to develop Terminus with you. You will auto-succeed regardless of DC.
>Acadia is no longer stunned by your actions, and while it isn’t as powerful as it was before, it is still the crown of the system and you of all people know not to underestimate Stella. Certain actions will draw more attention from Acadia and it will star preparing its forces once it learns of your shenanigans.
>The Army of Terminus is your invasion force, get it big enough to threaten multiple planets at once or powerful enough to contest the might of Acadia head-on.


[b]Terminus[/b]:

[i]Society[/i]: 2 [Iron Fist in Velvet Glove, the population centers of Terminus follow you, even though they do not know it yet.][+5 to all rolls] (Restructuring and other such pains) {DC: 200}

[red]Industry[/red]: 2 [The Mago-Industrial Revolution](Forced industrialization) {DC: 150}

[green]Biosphere[/green]: 2 [Knowing is half the battle, and you’ve done your studies](Man’s best friend){DC: 100}

[blue]Magic[/blue]: 3 [Glory to the Tyrant]
>[]The New Magocratic Order. (Will also lead to the direct control of the cities/[b]Society 3[/b]) {DC: 200}
>[]Magna Novus Academia. {DC: 100}

[b]Army of Termius[/b]:
>Terminus Occult Forces(TOF) – roll1d6 to see how many units you have

Acadian awareness: 1/100 (Has finally managed to contain the negativity caused by the Regicide)

>>5672487
Yes, I am alive and really bad at managing my time, that's all.

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>5672601
How many acolytes do we need? And what kind of dice are we rolling? Those seem like some high DCs

>>5672620
>How many acolytes do we need?
For now, the first 4 get in.

>rolls
forgot to mention that, 1d100 + the bonus from the acolytes + the bonus from the society level (currently +5) + whatever bonus you get from previous developments(e.g: you will get a +50 for your first few research projects due to the tools you voted to make here >>5666508 ) The more you develop stuff the more bonuses you get.

>>5672579
Name: Constantine Chevilly
Description: Looks like a musketeer, Van Dyke mustache and beard included. He is an arrogant glory hound. Wine connoisseur.
Backstory: An Acadian army officer and part of a noble family, being trained in combat, strategy and leadership. He was exiled after killing a rival in an unofficial duel, resulting in a political scandal.
Skills: 25 Strength; 20 Charm; 15 Intelligence; 10 Magic; 5 Green Thumb

More of a soldier then a magical acolyte, but hopefully he would be useful in organizing the army or society. He may also be too much of french stereotype, I don't know why I kept leaning on that when thinking about the character.

>Biosphere

>>5672723
>Biosphere
was supposed to be a reply to this post
>>5672587

>>5672587
Name: Joseph Ducharme
Description: Under average heigh, no hair at all on the body. Has a face resembling a caveman and has literally been compared to a neanderthal. Obsessed with plants as a coping mechanism for CPTSD
Backstory: A distinguished Acadian botanist and chemist despite being lowborn, Joseph became a recluse and submerged himself in his work after both of his daughters died in a terrorist attack. He was exiled after he created a sentient, hateful plant monster that ripped apart five people in the local town square.
Skills: 25 Magic, 20 Green Thumb, 15 Intelligence, 10 Strength, 5 Charm

Have this dude work on the biosphere while we do
>[]The New Magocratic Order. (Will also lead to the direct control of the cities/[b]Society 3[/b]) {DC: 200}
Since none of our acolytes, even with the bonuses, will even remotely be able to pass that DC. Send somebody else with more magic on the Magna Novus Academia.

>>5672587
>[]The New Magocratic Order. (Will also lead to the direct control of the cities/[b]Society 3[/b]) {DC: 200}

Name: Asoma Zalamoxes
Description: A young woman with hair that is the color of the Void, eyes of Static and skin that is translucent.
Backstory: A gifted magus that had a bright future ahead of her, she decided to ignore practically every warning about why you dont fuck with time magic. After casting a ritual fucking it up so bad she killed 100 people that ripped out her soul and rendered her functionally immune to the ravages of time, she was banished to Terminus.
Skills: Magic 25, Intelligence 20, Charm 15, Strength 10, Green Thumb 5.

This was a boss in a recent GURPS game i played. Was pretty fucking wild. i understand if its too radical for what you want tho.

>>5672587
>[]The New Magocratic Order. (Will also lead to the direct control of the cities/[b]Society 3[/b]) {DC: 200}

Basil Tzimiskes
Description: A gray-haired man with a stern face, perpetually grim, staunchly a disciplinarian. Surprisingly high-pitched voice. A painter in his spare time.
Backstory: A noble-born Acadian. Was a longtime officer for the army. He was exiled for going too far in punishing his subordinates both nobleborn and commonborn, resulting in deaths.
Skills: 25 Intelligence, 20 Strength, 15 Magic, 10 Charm, 5 Green Thumb,

>>5672579
>[]The New Magocratic Order. (Will also lead to the direct control of the cities/[b]Society 3[/b]) {DC: 200}

Name: Lena Madani
Description: A beautiful young woman with blonde, wavy hair and blue eyes
Backstory: Grew up poor and without parents, taking care of her little brother. Her admittance into the Academy seemed like the ticket for a better life for the both of them. Her brother's untimely demise sent her to a dark path when, grief-stricken, she used her charm and talent for magic to gain access to forbidden lore with the goal of bringing back the only family she had. Her necromantic ritual succeeded only in creating a rampaging abomination. She was exiled for that transgression.
Skills: 25 Charm, 20 Magic, 15 Intelligence, 10 Green Thumb, 5 Strength

>>5672587
Voting time is over, NMO has won and these shall be your first 4 acolytes:
>>5672723
>>5672949
>>5673031
>>5673041
Writing.

>>5673391
All things considered, the four aren’t unacceptable, at least they know how to stand at attention. You only recognize some of them, and that because the Magi kept using them as examples of what not to do as a mage.

While the Ducharme’s was quite the sad tale in the Academia, some of your own colleagues even feeling sorry for the man in question, his case was far from an interesting one. A scientist of clear potential who lost himself after tragedy struck, dime a dozen in the long process of perfecting magic. However, you will give credit where it is due, the man holds better than most as you analyze him, locking eyes with you for a mere moment before turning his sight towards the anomalous flora of the valley. He will do good to keep that focus in his eyes.

The person next to him, one Constantine Chevilly as the Mother-Amalgam told you, couldn’t look more Fransic even if he tried, he looked like someone was exiled when they were in the middle of a play, or would have looked like that if your eyes didn’t see the imperfections in his costume, signs of wear and repair beyond what would have been practical. You will keep a close eye on the Fransman.

Of the other man you at least knew his name from before. Tzimiskes was the focus of much gossip and vitriol back on Acadia, he has a long list of deeds damning him to Terminus all revolving around his punitive projections of authority over his subordinates. You feel unimpressed by the man, the best of Terminus as he may be, his conduct denotes weakness. He will either strip himself of that or you will do him the favour and take a bit of his frontal cortex as well.

Your little preview of the best-of-the-best in term of quote-unquote normal Termians ends with the most interesting member of the troupe, Asoma Zalamoxes, looking just as transparent as the records portrayed her. You’ve read her thesis on magic and temporality, erroneous as she herself has proved it to be. Out of all present, it is she whom you consider the most valuable out of them, not for her abilities, not yet, but for the side-effects of such usage of magic. You know it’s possible to do, but whether or not temporal manipulation can be applied on a large scale remains to be seen.

“Gentlemen.” They each tried to straighten their poses even more, Tzimiskes’s military experience shining through. “We leave for the nearest settlement in one hour.”

Will post the rest towmorrow since it didn't turn out quite the way I would have liked and it's too late for me to rewrite it.
Also, I the gap between the bonuses and the DCs are indeed too large, so henceforth the bonuses are doubled, AKA, +50 instead of +25, +40 instead of +20 and so on and so forth.
And since I am already talking about mechanics I might as well say this now, acolytes increase their skills after they complete their developments. Yes that does encourage specialization.

>>5673629
Hopefully Madani will have a chance to be recruited later.

>>5673648
Just you wait until you get to governing Acadia.

>>5673629
>He actually went with the timeless one.
Ok was not expecting that. Well just so you know, she is not immortal. She just doesnt age or get worn down by time. She still needs to eat, drink, sleep, and the rest. She also cannot speak. In the game we ran, she literally had to write down everything she told us. Including evil villian monolouges. Like i said, it was a wild ride at the end of that game.

>>5673629
Blood coloured the sands of the arena red. Surrounded by armored warriors, two slaves realistically reenacted a scene from their masters’ own liberation. The crowd erupts in jubilation, yet the number of eager onlookers is drastically smaller than last year’, and even those who organized the spectacle have spared little time from their machinations to enjoy it. In a private balcony, a familiar politician and his entourage are contemplating the latest known actions of their benefactor.

Unknown to them, it was their cupbearer’s only son who was selected to play the role of the felled master. He wasn’t able to find poison in such a short time, or maybe he didn’t truly cared to, perhaps he just wanted to see his son again as quickly as possible.

He slowly loosened the dagger from his sleeve into his palm as he approached the table of the men, it didn’t mattered who or even if he would manage to kill, he just wanted this to be done. But that wish would go unfulfilled, for just as he took the bloodied knife out of the First Lord’s neck, the sky broke, and as witness to this miracle, a single wish resonated through the cupbearer’s body, that his son could be at his side again.

>>5674332
Across the continent and carved into the circumference of a crater perhaps even older than life on Terminus, kin slayed itself. Emboldened by the promise of change, a princes and princesses of the ever-dying King of the Mountain have finally enacted their schemes to deliver death to their patriarch, and as the talks of inheritance turned deadly, someone struck the first blow and the city turned into a caged fight.

A little lady, not even worthy of being called a princess, did not even try to get up after falling in her escape, instead cradling close to her heart the knife that drew the first blood. She deserved it, the little lady thought, they all deserve it! A giggle escaped her lips even if she knew that somebody had to have seen her run, it then turned into maniacal laughter as sounds of steps proved her right. It didn’t matter though, she couldn’t care less if they killed her, she couldn’t care less if she won’t see the ‘Coming Lord’ as her more zealous big brother called it, she today was the first time she was truly living, her first two breaths of life, first when she drove her little knife deep in her father and the second when she did the same to her big sis.

But just as a hand pulled her from her hole, her eyes came upon the most beautiful sight of her life. The hand let go of her and whomever it belonged to fell to their knees, but the little lady couldn’t care less, a whispered prayer escaping her cold heart, a prayer that she could leave a little longer so she could see the stars a little bit more.

>>5674333
A melody of screams livened the streets of another forgettable city. The labyrinthine paths stretching in all three directions led to as many deaths as the combat itself, many civilians fleeing from crossfire into crossfire as the overseeing council of the city opened and closed pathways all to push their favoured squads to their breaking limit and to solve some other societal problems such as dissident clubs or that new cult which gained notoriety after some ex-councilors shared their anomalous experience with some proles who have reported having the same dreams.

A young soldier let his training carry him through the motions of combat against a rival squad. He has resigned himself to whatever fate he was due, his heavy conscience already calling for his death. Such was the fate of those who betray their betters, and no matter what the worms infesting the corpse of his home’s ruling said, his mentor was not a traitor of the people, no, it was the soldier who was the traitor.

A sniper shot shattered the agravitational mechanism on his armor and the young soldier plummeted down the shaft his squad were quickly loosing. A moment that felt like an eternity later and the mechanisms meant to preserve his body started pumping large amounts of chemicals into his bloodstream, but those were of no effect. A lone metal wire was just in the right position to fit through one of the many vulnerable angles in his armor. The machine intelligence who was supposed to assist him failed too as it was unable to detect the blood loss, deeming the changes of percentages in his circulatory system of being caused by the intake of medicine.

It was all fine, the young soldier said to himself. An undignified death like this was what he deserved, the old man might have been a loon when it came to his dreams, but he was the closest thing to a father the boy ever had, and he betrayed him. His eyes widened as his eyes came upon the sight of many little lights on unusually calm clouds. This must be how the sky actually looks like, an artistic side of him said. No way, you are just hallucinating from a mix of blood loss and mind altering chemicals, a skeptical side of his countered. This could be his primordial Acadian psyche showing him symbols ingrained in his brain, an intellectual side replied. But contrary to all of them, the young soldier did not question what was before his eyes, he merely let a breath out and a wish alongside it, that he could atone for what he did.

>>5674334
...
[spoiler}>Hey QM, why don't you flesh out the cities and their culture and gimmicks just as you are about to have the players bulldozer all over that as if they were Mao on crack.[/spoiler]
>Great idea, overambitious side of me, this surely won't lead to even more waiting for the bloody update.
There are two more cities to go through before you get to do some actual restructuring but a PC crash ate them, will finish this tomorrow, good night.

I might actually ask you to go GURPS level of insanity if/when you go beyond Acadia, just saying.

>>5674336
>a PC crash ate them
Please tell me you're not writing directly on the 4chan reply window.

>I might actually ask you to go GURPS level of insanity if/when you go beyond Acadia, just saying.
This for you >>5674064

>>5674338
Not anymore, I've learned not to do that the first time I tried to make a quest.

>>5674341
My god QM, you are unlucky, hope things go smoother tomorrow

>>5674351
>>hope things go smoother tomorrow
>"lol." said real life. "lmao."
No update today.

The curse is strong with this one

>>5674334
Life marches on in between deep pits and abandoned machinery for those who have found their sanctuary in the corpse of a once sleepless giant. Deep underneath the foundry-turned city and underneath the knowledge of the worms inhabiting it, in the necropolis of an ancient empire, deathless minds continue their duty, one without end, one perhaps born as a punishment.

A century ago there was a brilliant scholar who tried to bind the physical and the magic in ways unheard of before, such ambitions slowly darkened the light in his life and before he knew it, the scholar was exiled from his home. Lost within the hungry jungle, he drew like a moth to the fire of civilization, yet the one he found was of no jolly children or breathing men, it was a civilization of iron led by a heartless king. But though the king lacked a heart, his brain was no less sharp, and he quickly took the scholar in his court. There, the scholar met others like him and their created many wonders, iron was woven together with magic and the world trembled. But the scholar and his fellows were led astray, and in their ambition they tried to take the kingdom over, but they had forgotten it wasn’t magic to whom the iron was bound, but the reverse.

The scholar still remembers in his endless work how the steel quickly purged itself from his threads, how they were drowned in a sea of lightning and red hot iron, and how he and the others who survived were brought before their king. Another exile was enforced, this time it was his mind who was exiled and put in eternal bindings. Fed and shielded, his brain would continue to calculate like the machines he once designed, for that was his duty, for that is how he once lied before the chemicals keeping them compliant run dry long ago, but not before the rest of the network had collapsed.

Left only to view the ruins of the foundry and the worms eating it from the inside, the scholar has resigned to his fate, but as madness begun encroaching on his sleepless mind, as Terminus finally came to take its due forevermore, his artificial eyes saw a miracle befit only to a god, and witness to the clear sky and stars, the scholar made a wish, he wished for nothing else than to be saved from his fate and granted freedom.

>>5676052
Empty branches behold blood shed in the name of gods false and uncaring. Chaos climbs from the base of the city carved in the insides of an ancient tree. The many prophets in the overcrowded bazaars within the trunk have roused the masses into another revolt. Again they try to climb to the top, again they shall fail said some of the priests at the top, sacrifices for Terminus if what they will end up as, they murmured as they tried to steel their nerves, for this time was different. It wasn’t just the masses who got drunk on their own fervor, not even some heresiarchs from the middling or top temples. No, this time a cult has infiltrated every level of the city, from the charlatans at the base to even some of their own fellow priests, and this developments made them afraid, and fear feed their own delusions.

A priestess awaits in her makeshift temple. She escaped death after many chosen brothers and sisters gave their life for her during their flight from the grand temple. She and many others have been chosen to see the truth, to see Terminus slain, to see themselves conquering the world beyond. The priesthood panicked after that, those who named their faith as the delusion it was were persecuted without rest, the inquisitors were summoned and when some of them too confessed witnessing the revelation they too were decimated alongside the priesthood. The days after that continued to be a total pandemonium as accusations were thrown and punishments were enacted without care or reason, if one did not proclaim the other a deceiver than he or she herself was guilty. The heresiarchs came next as the maddened cliques called for purification of the people, but with the inquisition thinned and their own numbers lacking, all they did was loudly proclaim their weakness.
[cont.]

>>5676054
The priestess and her brothers and sisters chose to continue hiding as the priests and heresiarchs bleed themselves dry in their impotent struggle to claim ministry, but she forgot to account for one thing, that the blood spilled on top would rain down too. An Ascend was started and chaos engulfed the great tree. But the priestess was calm, this had to be the moment they were all waiting, it just had to.

She finished her sermon just some minutes ago, reminding her fellows of their destiny and chose to retire on her quarter as the masses begun their climb. She did all she could to sooth the worries of the more craven and to temper the eagerness of the more hawkish. This had to be the moment, this had to be it.

No, this altar was good enough, we don’t need to leave.

The priests? Let them send their dogs against us if they dare, ours is the strongest god.

The masses? Sister, the chosen are together now, that the masses do is unimportant.

Come brothers and sisters, barricade the doors and join in joyful adoration!

Burn the gliders, we are right where we need to be, they can serve us no longer.

Brother, the children will become conquerors in this life or the next, neither you nor them have reason to fear martyrdom.

This was it, this had to be it, The priestess though as she gazed at the dark clouds above. The sound of screams fighting was starting to get on her nerves but it did not matter, don’t they know that the dead do not rest on Terminus? Don’t they realize that if that blind, idiot god has such mastery over their existence, then there is nothing to fear as chosen of a lord greater than that?

Hushed whispers sounded around her, a dagger is raised by a panicking mother as the ascending masses threaten to break their meager fortifications. The priestess smiles as the dagger is brought down upon her back, but that does not matter, for the sky just broke. A whispered prayer came as she fell of the floor, one for godliness.

>[cupbearer, little lady, soldier, scholar, priestess]
>Who’s request do you answer?

>>5676056
You are shacking, not because of bodily or mental stress, but out of rage, pure and unadulterated rage. You open your eyes and feel everything, every soul, every moment of despair, every hope and nightmare, single negatively charge thread upon the Stillborn, it disgusts you. It disgusts you to have to be confined to this rotting world with these witless worms. They know nothing of the universe, nothing of what is out there, do they think they know true darkness? The Stillborn is not dark, it’s beaming with light, the shadow it casts from Acadia’s light is no shadow, it’s just light of a different lenght-wave and they are crying because of it. It makes you want to show them what is truly out there. You raise your now adjusted eyes to the sky, the girdle sits obscured by the clouds. The Stillborn seethes impotently as you break the clouds to get a better view.

You can see her care put into this, the girdle itself doesn’t keep the NCTs at bay, it instead maintains a layer of neutral threads which prevent the threads from the Stillborn from spilling over into the wider cosmos. You concentrate a bit more and are able to see how the girdle neutralizes any thread which seems to become an NCT, the negativity coalescing with the positivity from the girdle and keeping the thread neutral. Curiously, the girdle doesn’t seem any weaker from the action… perhaps it is a magical mechanism from the outside which keeps it from becoming inert itself.

The air shakes, the plebs must have finally noticed you. You glance down at your acolytes whom have abandoned the waking from exhaustion as soon as the ritual was finished. Lazy bones, there is much. work to be done.

>>Because you have chosen to do the New Magrocratic Order, the cities will be governed by your cadre of magical followers, with everybody else under them. This however still leaves the plebs unsorted…
>Worms worth only for labour, they are all slaves to you.(bonus to industry development once you reach industry 3)
>You will not micromanage their lives and neither will your army demean itself and you by doing so. You will let them sort themselves.(+5 for all dev rolls)
>The mages and witches are your mouth and face for the plebs and will be your vanguard in future conquests, they better learn now how to rule in your name(+1d20 bonus for social dev)

>>Now, unto the new cult…
>You are the god of Terminus and Beyond, be they prince or pauper, they shall worship you.(support the cult and enforce it within your magical cadre too)
>Faith often fuels man for things great and terrible, perhaps you could harness such power.
>False gods are dime a dozen as history has showed, you will not lower yourself to that level(ignore the cult)

>>And finally, their culture.
>Let them keep their customs
>Escalate the Cultural Revolution.

>>5676061
Terminus:

Society: 3 [New Termian Man.][+15 to all rolls]
>[]Et in Termina ego {DC:100}

>[]State Apparatus and other such engineering hurdles.
Industry: 2 [The Mago-Industrial Revolution](Forced industrialization) {DC: 150}

Biosphere: 2 [Knowing is half the battle, and you’ve done your studies](Man’s best friend){DC: 100}

Magic: 3 [Glory to the Tyrant]
>[x]The New Magocratic Order. (Will also lead to the direct control of the cities/[b]Society 3[/b]) {DC: 200}
>[]Magna Novus Academia. {DC: 100}

Army of Termius:
>Terminus Occult Forces(TOF) – 5 units

Acadian awareness: 5/100 (Waiting to reestablish contact with probes beyond Terminus)

And of course I forget the trip the time I actually finish the update.

>>5676056
>priestess
>>5676061
>The mages and witches are your mouth and face for the plebs and will be your vanguard in future conquests, they better learn now how to rule in your name
>You are the god of Terminus and Beyond, be they prince or pauper, they shall worship you.(support the cult and enforce it within your magical cadre too)
>Escalate the Cultural Revolution.
Going all in on the evil mage cult

>>5676056
>Answer the Priestess
>>5676061
>The mages and witches are your mouth and face for the plebs and will be your vanguard in future conquests, they better learn now how to rule in your name(+1d20 bonus for social dev)
>You are the god of Terminus and Beyond, be they prince or pauper, they shall worship you.(support the cult and enforce it within your magical cadre too)
>Escalate the Cultural Revolution.
We must reshape this desiccated hellhole in our own image. Only then will we have strenght enough to avenge ourselves on our sister and her ilk.

>>5676066
The DC for State Apparatus is 80.

>>5676031
I have reasons, not good reasons but reasons nonetheless.

>>5676066
Either
>[]Et in Termina ego {DC:100}
or
>[]Magna Novus Academia. {DC: 100}

>>5676071
>>5676069
>>5676068
Don't forget to assign your acolytes to other dev projects.

>>5676070
I somehow didn't even see State Apparatus
>>5676071
Changing to
>[]State Apparatus and other such engineering hurdles.
Next turn we create the academy, and then I think our society would be stable enough to start large scale scale project like reshaping the land or getting the robot army going.

>>5676073
Oh yeah, the acolytes
>>5676074
Put Constantine on Et in Arcadia Ego
Basil on State Apparatus
Asoma on Magna Novus Academia
Joseph on Man's best Friend
And we focus on The Mago-Industrial Revolution

>>5676066
>[]Et in Termina ego {DC:100}
Assign ourselves (if possible), and Joseph Ducharme
>[x]The New Magocratic Order. (Will also lead to the direct control of the cities/[b]Society 3[/b]) {DC: 200}
Assign Asoma Zalamoxes
>Terminus Occult Forces(TOF) – 5 units
Assign Constantine Chevilly and Basil Tzimiskes

We shall focus on the NWO evil mage society, and we shall have Ducharme assits us. Zalamoxes is a great mage inspite of her previous failures. She shall lead the magic research in our absence. We may reassign ourselves here later if the need arises. Tzimiskes and Chevilly are the closest thing to miltary commanders we have, we need to whip the troops into shape And be prepared for when the three we strongarmed into serving us decide to betray us for REASONS.

>>5676056
>Who’s request do you answer?
>The Scholar

>>5676061
>The mages and witches are your mouth and face for the plebs and will be your vanguard in future conquests, they better learn now how to rule in your name(+1d20 bonus for social dev)

>>5676066
>[]Magna Novus Academia. {DC: 100}
I really want to start gathering Warbeasts, I really want them badly. I want to slap on welded armor and cannons on these Megabeasts that we've heard our mages followers talk about and march them over Arcadia's cities. But we can't do that yet. First we need to find a way to hide our actions on Terminus from the prying eyes of Acadia. We need a Magicollage, and we need them to figure out a way to fool Acadia into believing that nothing is happening on Terminus. After that we can begin taming the land and forming large scale manufactorums to prepare for the war. The earlier and the longer we keep fooling Acadia, the more time we have to build up before an armed response is formed against us.

Put Asoma on Novus Academia with us, maybe her time magicks can be used on a larger scale to help fool the Girdle and Acadia.

Chevilly and Basil can begin forming a larger force for our Army, >Terminus Occult Forces(TOF), focusing on forming fanatical non-magical infantry units from those that have seen our vision but aren't magically inclined.

>>5676090
>>5676061
Forgot two options
>Faith often fuels man for things great and terrible, perhaps you could harness such power
>Escalate the Cultural Revolution.

>>5676086
I we already got the NMO, since we received society 3
That does make me think, does that mean that anything we personally automatically succeed, and the DC is only for the acolytes to roll?

>>5676086
The New Magocratic Order is already done as the "x" indicates.
The TOF are there to show you what troops you have, but I guess I can add some stats to them that you can level up by assigning acolytes to them.
Also, you have done something very clever with your assignments and I hope you guys will figure out what it is.

>>5676094
Fine Reassigning Zalamoxes to
>[]Magna Novus Academia. {DC: 100}

Also request to put complete stuff into a COMPLETED tab.

>>5676094
The Et in Termina ego is a based on Et in Arcadia ego, from Arcadism, and he assigned the guy that is good with plants on that?

>>5676056
>Scholar
>>5676061
>The mages and witches are your mouth and face for the plebs and will be your vanguard in future conquests, they better learn now how to rule in your name(+1d20 bonus for social dev)
>You are the god of Terminus and Beyond, be they prince or pauper, they shall worship you.(support the cult and enforce it within your magical cadre too)
>Escalate the Cultural Revolution.

>Terminus:

Joseph: Man's Best Friend
Asoma: Magna Novus Academia
Basil: State Apparatus
Constantine: Et in Arcadia Ego
Tyrant: Forced Industrialization

>>5676099
I think he means putting multiple characters on the same assignments.

>>5676101
If that's the case, then I definitely overthought what he meant.

>>5676103
Or maybe he means having both ourselves and an acolyte on the same assignment? I assume if we do that we basically get the occasion to teach them shit and level them up faster

>>5676099
I read the stats and i put the ones that are best suited for the roles into those roles, and since i double focused stuff, i add the Mods together the make No-Fail situations, we can focus on Industry and the Biosphere next/later. For now we NEED a unified society that we can get to do to the horrific labor and shit that is DEFINITELY going to happen before we assault Arcadia.
>>5676104
I didnt actually think of that but FUCK YES!

>>5676092
Answering my own question, QM said this here
>>5672587
>Because the number of things to do will increase over time, you may now delegate and have other roll the dice to develop Terminus with you. You will auto-succeed regardless of DC.
I must have forgot that.
>>5676104
Oh, that sounds interesting. Sacrificing the chance to develop something for a bigger bonus later.

>>5676105
Well with Biosphere we can apparently get golems, which can be used as free labor. More importantly we can turn magic into food, and the best way to control a man is through his stomach. A steady supply of grain from our mages should ensure some type of stability

>>5676108
Wouldn't golems be with industry? Although I suppose we could create some servitor species with biosphere too.

>>5676113
Well, Test #1 at >>5665759 seems to very much be about making golems, or generally animating matter with intent.

>>5676069
>>5676086
+1
>Putting Chevilly and Tzimiskes in the same command
Heh, I feel like somehow one of them is going to end up killing the other.

>>5676117
Interesting.
I wonder if we could mix what we learn from the feropods and the golems into a single unit.

>>5676120
>Basil keeps trying to order Constantine to be flogged and Constantine keep challenging Basil to duels
Either that or they end up becoming some sort of evil wizard version of a buddy cop movie.

>>5676120
I did read their personality files and yes that is INDEED a risk, but if we need to shift our focus To the army to stop the retarded Buddy Cop movie that would ensue, we can do so.

So IF i did my math right, we should only have to make 1 50/50 roll on these DCs.
>SOCIETY
Us plus Ducharme PLUS 15 bonus mean no roll required. This will allow us to reshape our society to our specifications.
>INDUSTRY
Skipped for now.
>BIOSPHERE
Skipped for now.
>Magic
This is the 50/50. HOPEFULLY Zalamoxes doesn't blow herself up AGAIN. I would like to believe that she is wiser than to be so reckless a second time, but i have been wrong before.
>ARMY
Technically there is no roll here BUT as long as retarded buddy cop movie doesn't happen we should get improved troops and maybe a recruitment drive out of it. Implementing a martial culture early on is a good idea what with us being an Evil Wizard Cult hellbent on genocide after all.

>>5676139
Calm down anon, QM changed how the bonuses worked some days ago, and we also have a +50 for our first few research projects thanks to the tools we made for ourselves. I think the acolytes can handle things on their own. Also, the Tyrant auto-succeeds on anything.

>>5676139
If you move Ducharme to help Zalamoxes, it would be complete success.
Whatever we work on is also an auto success, so maybe we work on Et in Termina ego?
If we put both Chevilly and Tzimiskes on State Apparatus, it should be a success.

>>5676141
Oh, and that is assuming that only the highest stat counts, if multiple stats work together, then every acolyte would have a bigger chance alone.

So for example, Zalamoxes works on the academy. Would only her Magic count, so she would have a +50, or would her intelligence and charm also play a part?
And there's also the +15 from our society.

>>5676140
>We auto-succeed on anything.
FUCK! That means i fucked up bad. FUCK, FUCK!!!!!

>>5676148
Don't worry anon, I also had forgotten that.
>>5676106
So you aren't alone.

>>5676056
>little lady

I'm lost with the assignments, just count my vote as a +1 on whatever the majority agreed

>>5676141
>>5676476
I still maintain Ducharme should be put on Biosphere. We've got two devs still at 3 and QM has stated that acolytes increase their skills with devs they accomplish. It's a relatively easy DC with our equipment bonus and he's got the highest green thumb skill

>>5676061
>You will not micromanage their lives and neither will your army demean itself and you by doing so. You will let them sort themselves.(+5 for all dev rolls)
>Faith often fuels man for things great and terrible, perhaps you could harness such power.
>Escalate the Cultural Revolution.
Forgot to vote on these.

>>5676530
That is a very convincing point and I would support it if someone doesn't convince me otherwise, but as I said, I'm completely lost with the assignments. I can't tell what we have, what we don't have, what options there are and what would be better to send each of our dudes on.

Sorry QM, but I may be too much of a brainlet to decipher the way you present that stuff..

>>5676536
Long story short,>>5676066 shows what we can develop(notice that the magocracy had an x, since it's just been done). We can assign anybody amongst our acolytes to develop these in our stead, though they'll have to roll. Anything we do ourselves,as the tyrant, is an auto-success. >>5673391 lists all the acolytes so you can check their stats.

>>5676066
Attempting to call the vote:

>There is a tie between the scholar and the priestess, so both will have their wishes answered. I'm surprised nobody tried to be crafty and vote to answer everybody's request.

>Enforcing the cult has won
>Letting your magical cadre have their own curts has won(+1d20 bonus)
>Escalating the Cultural Revolution has won

>>DEVELOPMENT ASSIGNMENTS:
There seems to be a lack of consensus so I will make a few things clear:

>Nr. 1 - What stat helps with what
Char - society
int - industry
gt - biosphere
mag - magic
str - will be applied when directing units
Roll 1d100+the bonus

>Nr. 2 - Multiple acolytes on the same project/ doing projects with the Tyrant
In the case of multiple acolytes, their rolls add up.
In the case of T+acolytes, the previous statement of auto-completing a dev project is valid, as is the statement on how acolytes will level up as they finish projects. Yes, it is an exploit. Yes, I want you to exploit the mechanics and narative of this quest.

>Nr. 3 - how to help your QM see your vote

>[The vote within the update. Ex: the little lady]
>[The other vote(s) within the update. Ex: Escalating the Cultural Revolution]

>[name(s) of the acolyte +/ the Tyrant]
Dev project
>[name(s) of the acolyte +/the Tyrant]
Dev project

Writting tomorrow, now in the meantime...

>>5676756
INTERLUDE - REGICIDE

The streets of Providence were busier than usual, no without good reason, yes, but that still made Mathias worry. With so many people on the streets from Heroes’ Square and all the way to the Starpad, his instincts couldn’t help but push him to look for everything that could go wrong. The streets were already near full capacity, perhaps more officers in the crowd could prevent a rush but that would mean taking some off monitor duty which would decrease their info-gathering effectiveness in case something did go wrong, maybe they could…

A hand on his shoulder pulled him from his focus, the plate of cake accompanying it made it impossible for him to not roll his eyes and accept it. “Come on, say it.” He welcomed his fate with bites of sugary delights.

“Nah.” The young man simply grinned and slapped him on the back. “This is your big day, captain, just don’t forget that you have the day off for a reason. Luca wouldn’t want to find you still hunched over monitors, directing traffic lights, now would he?”

The man scoffed. “I’ve told you you can call me Matt when we are off duty.” He mumbled in between bites. “And you don’t become top of PubSec without a bit of vigilance.” He finished his plate and turned away from the balcony. “Don’t expect to get ‘Captain Simon Tofft’s’ written on your mug without understanding that first.”

They rested against the railing, their eyes setting on a trio of women by a table, a giddy redhead is suddenly assailed by questions from a little girl while the third lady quietly laughs at the scene. “Looks like you got yourself a new flower girl.” Matt teased Simon. The man in question looked away bashfully.

“Thanks again for the help with the wedding.” The lucky man voiced to his superior. “You and Elisa have been a godsend.”

>>5676757
“You’re a good man Simon, and you and Lyanna make a good couple, the honor is ours.” The two men continued to gaze at the ladies, both of them happy for their own shared reasons.

“Thanks Matt, I mean it.” Simon shared one last meaningful look with his friend, before he spot something high in the distance and smiled. “Looks like our pioneers have begun their descend.” He said before beckoning the girls to come closer.

It was true, Matt looked up in the sky to see The Pioneer, the pride of their kingdom’s science and manufacture grow from a tiny dot in the sky as it approached Acadia surface. “Do you think Henry got me anything?” The voice of daughter brought Matt back on earth.

“I’m sure he got plenty of tales.” Elisa said and Matt nodded at that. He remembered it like yesterday, the day Henry application for the space mission got approved. The initial shock, the party, the talk between the two of them, he missed him these three years, he knew he would, but the boy was bright, much brighter than him, he deserved to prove himself.

“Do you think they found aliens? Do you they got me a souvenir? Maybe a pet alien? I’ve heard from Vanessa that everybody on the crew will get knighted for their service, do you think the Prince made Henry a noble? Am I a princess now?” His daughter’s many questions went in one ear and went out the other as he followed the spaceship, his smile slowly thinning, until a revelation shook him to his very core.

The Pioneer, the pride of Acadia, the ship bearing his son, the Prince and many others, wasn’t slowing dawn in it’s descend, on the contrary, it was speeding up.

Mathias felt his colleague’s hand on his shoulder and he finally took his eyes from the falling starship. Simon’s face was as pale as his, they looked around and saw the same dreadful realization beginning to hit others as well. A nod is shared between the two officers. The lieutenant moves with the walking stereotypical of his job, both calm and alert, and begins to sooth the worries of the people and direct them outside in an orderly manner.

>>5676758
The captain takes his wife and daughter by hand and moves with the crowd towards the nearest exit The confused questions of his daughter are addressed by his wife as the officer activates his commpiece.

“We do not know what is happening up there.” Came not a second later the report of his team. “Ground Control’s signals aren’t answered and there are no signs of external accidents, the order to announce emergency is waiting approval.”

A million thoughts minced and mingled in the captain’s mind as he, for the first time in his whole career as a Public Safety officer, and in his life as a father, felt powerless. Elisa tugged at him and he realized they were now outside. He looked around and saw people beginning to panic, the reason why clear to his view. The Pioneer was lit alight from the friction with the air, and even then was he able to see the blue light from its engines.

Mathias picked Helena up and the three barely begun making their way to the Providence Metro, but a deafening sound stunned them and everybody in the street. Instantly did he and everyone else fell electricity course through the air as a beam of light rose from Her Majesty’s Crystal Tower and hit the Pioneer.

The whole world seemed still as the light of the explosion nearly blinded Mathias. A cloud of debris in place where his son would have been, but the cloud did not scatter, it instead turned into itself and grew larger and larger. Confusion and fear wrapped around Mathias’ heart like barbed wire as the cloud begun to slowly lower itself towards the earth, and as if to mock Her Majesty’s attempt to destroy it, he begun to drain all light from the sky as it descended.

A loud boom turned everybody’s eyes towards the far end of the street, where a piece of the actual wreckage fell, bringing up dust and deafening thunder. What started as an orderly walk turned into a panicked flight as everybody rushed to escape their pending doom, as a father and his family rushed where, unknown to them, another piece of the ship bearing their son was due to fall.

>>5676759
End of [Regicide - I]
>>5676097
Request approved.

>>5676756
>That spoiler
I thought we were only able to save one, but I realize you never specified that. Fuck, that would've been more fitting of our new role as "god" of Terminus.
>Yes, it is an exploit. Yes, I want you to exploit the mechanics and narative of this quest.
Very, very based. I'll remember that.

File: The Tyrant overlooking Te(...).png (221 KB, 512x510)

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>>5676783

>>5676756
Ok, I'm putting all the info on a single post

Char - society
int - industry
gt - biosphere
mag - magic
str - will be applied when directing units

Constantine Chevilly
50 Strength; 40 Charm; 30 Intelligence; 20 Magic; 10 Green Thumb

Joseph Ducharme
50 Magic, 40 Green Thumb, 30 Intelligence, 20 Strength, 10 Charm

Asoma Zalamoxes
50 Magic, 40 Intelligence, 30 Charm, 20 Strength, 10 Green Thumb

Basil Tzimiskes
50 Intelligence, 40 Strength, 30 Magic, 20 Charm, 10 Green Thumb

Acolytes level up by completing projects

Tyrant always succeed

>>5672625
>you will get a +50 for your first few research projects due to the tools you voted to make here (?)

+15 Bonus from society

Society:
[]Et in Termina ego {DC:100}
[]State Apparatus and other such engineering hurdles. {DC:80}

Industry:
[The Mago-Industrial Revolution](Forced industrialization) {DC: 150}

Biosphere: 2
[Knowing is half the battle, and you’ve done your studies](Man’s best friend){DC: 100}

Magic: 3
[]Magna Novus Academia. {DC: 100}

>>5676844
Right, so with all that information, what's the consensus? I'd say:
>[Constantine Chevilly]
Et in Termina ego
>[Basil Tzimiskes + Tyrant]
Forced Industrialization
>[Joseph Ducharme]
Man's best friend
>[Asoma Zalamoxes]
Magna Novus Academia.

We already got the max amount of units we could get from the roll for the army, and Stella-chan isn't really ready to send dreadnoughts to Terminus just yet so I think the TOF can wait slightly longer. Forced industrialization is the hardest DC here, so putting the Tyrant + Basil on it will be an auto-success and provide Basil with more intelligence XP. everybody else shouldn't have too much problems with their own tasks.

>>5676844
So with this info, I'm thinking we can do it either like this

Tyrant
[]Et in Termina ego {DC:100}

Constantine Chevilly
[]State Apparatus and other such engineering hurdles. {DC:80}

Joseph Ducharme
[]Magna Novus Academia. {DC: 100}

Asoma Zalamoxes
[]State Apparatus and other such engineering hurdles. {DC:80}

Basil Tzimiskes
[]Magna Novus Academia. {DC: 100}

To have basically a guarantee of upgrading our society (with the academy needing to roll 5 or higher)

Or this for a near coin flip strategy

Tyrant
[The Mago-Industrial Revolution](Forced industrialization) {DC: 150}

Constantine Chevilly
[]Et in Termina ego {DC:100}
Need to roll 45 or higher

Joseph Ducharme
[]Man’s best friend. {DC: 100}
Need to roll 45 or higher

Asoma Zalamoxes
[]Magna Novus Academia. {DC: 100}
Need to roll 45 or higher

Basil Tzimiskes
[]State Apparatus and other such engineering hurdles. {DC:80}
Need to roll 45 or higher

>>5676875
+1, sure I'll support this.

>>5676875
This one wins, writing.

File: Perturbing_Construct.jpg (117 KB, 1000x868)

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>>5677202
Alarms flared within it’s ancient prison but the scholar cared not, too captivated was he watching the sky above. Vestigial neurons fired instinctively, pushing a phantom hand outwards as if to grab those little lights above. Somewhere out there, beyond where those faulty cameras of his could reach, was his home, his true home.

Memories long thought to be forgotten came flooding in. Was this his true punishment? He silently asked. To be assailed not by the madness of his solitude, but by the mistakes of the past? His answer never came as his artificial eyes caught sight of something descending from the wound in the sky. A figure which made his magical monitors, degraded as they were, break. It was as if someone gathered all NCTs from Terminus into a single point and then forced it into material reality.

Of the people above, some were cheering, many were kneeling, most were too petrified to act even as the figure touched upon the ground and begun talking. Whatever he was saying, the scholar did not catch as he felt the presence of the thing continue reaching downward. He felt it reach into the artificial extensions of his mind and panic spread through his brain.

The scholar was unable to do anything other than beg in his mind as tendrils of malevolence slowly spread through the the network’s circuits. He himself did not know what he was begging for, wash he begging for mercy? Did he wish to die? Was he thinking whatever was now piercing his brain would be merciful enough to do that?

It was as if a hand forced itself inside the skin of his nape, cracked open his skull and was now taking its time to poke and fiddle with every neuron its digits came upon. The scholar couldn’t think straight, he was overwhelmed by phantom pains, by memories and by whatever demon was currently preying on his mind.

"Ask and you shall recive." The scholar heard whispered in his ear, and then the presence retreated. In its stead, he felt his mind expand, like metal melted to fit within a cast. He felt every transistor as if his synapses were mingling with it. He felt the terminals of his fellow traitors, each without any sign of life, he was the only one remaining. And when he felt his mind reach the end of his prison, a shock brought back his cognition. He was now aware of how metal frames and circuits were bending, pushed by a force beyond everything he has ever seen to form a humanoid figure.

Iron eyelids opened, his eyelids opened. He opened his mouth but only the shrieking of metal came out. He couldn’t breath, he did not need to. The scholar looked downwards and he realized he was kneeling. Quickly he rose his head and saw himself in the shadowy visor of his savior, a mangled mass of sharp metal folded into a walking body. His eyes came down to an extended hand, sigils unlike any he has seen shifting around, forming and detaching.

Silently, the scholar took the hand.

You have gained 1 Perturbing Construct.

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>>5677278
Most of the congregation of men, women and children all fell to their knees and bowed down, those who did not tackled the woman responsible for the murder of their leader. Regardless, they were all still and silent when their god descended down to them.

The whole city was silent, the chaos of the Ascent froze into lowly murmurs. On the ground, prophets and followers alike cast down their old faith in favour of the divinity walking with them. Most of the heresiarchs and priests and their armies too paused their conflict to observe the newcomer.

Sounds drowned by blood left the rosy lips of the dying priestess. The dagger left a wound right in her lungs, but the woman still smiled despite that, a manic look in her eyes which only grew in intensity as her god came down to her ad-hoc temple. He spared a glance at the woman guilty of the crime, not one they could see but one they felt, but their lord said nothing and the man holding her let her go to instead fall to the floor in reverence.

The priestess smiled weakly and closed her eyes and his hand reached down upon her face, and her whole body combusted into flames. The priestess rose in the air, her flesh burning into a smokeless blaze, feeding a pale and darkening flame. Threads of magic wrapped around the flame, puling it in many directions and into mystical patterns.

She felt her soul transforming, it was as if she was threw into a deep sea, the water filling her lungs and veins and pushing into her very being. She felt magic piercing her, threads of arcane power weaving into her soul. She wanted to cry out in pain and ecstasy but had no mouth to.

The people marveled as the magic pulled her soul into a new form, into an existence beyond their comprehension, until the flame was pushed to its very limits and broke. The threads of magic fell into themselves and the fire, coalescing into something new. The reaction drew to a close, and where the priestess once laid dying, a shadowy fire opened its eyes, turned to face its creator, and bowed to him.

Unknown to all present, a frown formed beneath a mask.

You have gained 1 Malformed Neophyte.

>>5677285
“The executions have finished sir.” Tzimiskes brings to your attention. “As per my counting, this leaves us with 687 prisoners on top of the mobilized labour. Permission to voice a suggestion, sir?” The old soldier asked, old habits heard In his voice.

“Permission granted.” You answered. It it best you shape him into a worthwhile asset as fast as possible, and to do that you would need to stamp out any mistakes he makes early.

“I suggest to use the POWs outside the cities walls, or perhaps beneath it by expanding the sewer system outside the city center.”

It wasn’t a bad idea, but you want to know how he thought of that. “State your reasoning.” You beckon him to continue.

The man straightened his back even more and spoke with an even and loud voice. “I believe that the mobilized labour, especially that from the former slaves, will be more intent on tormenting the POWs than working with them, thus both loosing effectiveness.”

“Hmm…motion approved.” You expect the former slaves to kill their former masters even after their trials were done, but you do not care enough about that to invest the time to coordinate them separately, but you could send them to dig underneath the city. “Forward the order to use POW labour for digging underneath the city to the overseeing council.” You told Tzimiskes who salutes and immediately send magical signals.

A loud explosion brings your attention to another part of the newly-named City-1. The infrastructural development program was still in its early stages of demolition and making space for new facilities to be build. Contrary to the previous urban plan, which didn’t exist, the settlement will be divided into a number of self contained sectors where housing, work, healthcare and education will not need require significant commuting. All these units will be of equal population and governed by your loyal followers from one “central sector” in which they will hold their courts. Other than that, the CS will be where the food, energy and water producing facilities will be located as to ensure an easy way to starve out non-compliant sectors. You haven’t told the residents the last part but considering how eager they were to be ruled by you, you don’t think it would have mattered.

>>5677288
City-1 was the one most eager to comply to your rule. The slaves and the poor were quick to take actions against their former masters when you let them and since then they themselves were your most fervent enforcers. The merchants and rulers had to either give up their possessions for a “common developmental fund” or risk the ire of most of the city, those who did not comply, such as those hiding food or precious goods, were quickly accused of sedation, treason and heresy and killed.

You will discourage the killings since more forced labour is better anyways, why have just their corpses when you can get their work, negativity and corpses anyway? Speaking of forced labour and enforcing policies…

“Tzimiskes.” You suddenly call out and take a step towards the man.

The man turned from the dust cloud and back towards you. “Yes sir.” He managed to hit a higher octave with that, for which he compensated with an even grimmer scowl.

“Inform the overseers to increase the pace of the demolitions, the MoP’s deliveries will be ready in a week.” Truth to be told, a couple of feropods could finish their work in a quarter of that time and your followers could ship them faster, but it’s the social engineering that is most important at this stage. Give the worms something to feel proud about by having them contribute to their own home, show them just how little they are worth as individuals by subjecting them to long and hazardous work, steps towards reaching your goal of having a population of ready to deploy workers for your future projects.

“Sir, yes sir.” He saluted and again reached for the magic permeating the surroundings.

“Also.” You motion for him to wait. “We will be leaving for City-2 in 2 hour, I want a review on the hitherto effectiveness of the overseers in managing their allotted sectors. You ought to include a ranking of them and suggestions on how to increase their effectiveness.”

A bit of nervousness and schadenfreude mix in the old officer’s heart but he maintains his professional exterior, no doubt he was acquainted with some of the mages. “It will be done, sir.”

“You are dismissed.” He saluted one last time before turning to leave, leaving you alone to loom over the seeds of your empire and contemplate it’s glorious and terrible fate.

>>Roll for the other acolytes
>1d100+40 for Constantine
>1d100+40 for Joseph
>1d100+50 for Asoma

Rolled 43 + 40 (1d100 + 40)

>>5677292
Rolling for Constantine

Rolled 5 + 40 (1d100 + 40)

>>5677292
Rolling for Joseph, come on dice.

>>5677322
Oh god oh fuck

>>5677304
>>5677322
Asoma better roll 45 or higher, or all the acolytes will have failed.
I think I'm going to vote for the guaranteed upgrade plan again next turn

Rolled 91 + 50 (1d100 + 50)

>>5677292

>>5677413
Zalamoxes carrying the team

And this is why i focused our efforts into specifics. Wunderbar.

>>5677413
Looks like she learned from her spectacularly failed ritual.
>>5677478
I hope the +50 from equipment will apply alongside the society bonus. Regardless, yes I think we'll have to set them in teams on developments.

>>5677482
Constantine will fail even with the +15. Final tally 93. Joseph straight ate shit.

Guess we'll get to see how the Tyrant handles his acolytes' failures.

>>5677483
I'm talking about this >>5672625, though I don't know if QM changed his mind on that.

>>5677478
Your plan had inspired me to suggest another guaranteed here
>>5676878

Rolled 16 (1d20)

Wait hold on, we have a 1d20 to add to society rolls.

>>5677292
Busy day, will write when able.

>>5677799
I was going to roll for that myself but might as well use your roll.

>>5678491
What exactly are the servants we just earned? Are they kind of like our bodyguards or personnal attack dogs?

>>5678491
Op?

>>5680795
To summarize what originally threatened to be a blogpost and perhaps give some closure, a combination of home stuff, work stuff and family stuff aligned themselves to deprive me of both time and the drive to continue at a pace and quality acceptable to myself. As much as I would like to continue, I fear this might stop being fun for me to write while dealing with everything else and I would hate to string you all along for a few updates per week while I slowly lose interest.
Considering all of that, I think it would be better to stop here and deal with things on my end before I try my hand again at QMing.
I thank you all for your time and for making this my most interacted-with quest. I wish you all a good time and a see you later.

>>5680936
That's alright man, sometimes life happens. Wish you luck in your endeavors and I'll look out for anything from you in the future.

>>5680936
Unfortunate, but real life comes first. The curse claims one more. I hope everything gets resolved to your satisfaction.

>>5680936
RIP. Wish you the very best man. Good Luck.

>>5680936
Good luck with your life Magus.

Thread has been archived in case the QM ever wants to return to it one day... once he feels his things have been taken care of.
https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2023/5662729/