Academia Nut wrote:Oh dear, I got a review from someone on FF.net that stated that I had made them do a spit take twice already, and I haven't posted chapter 40 there yet. This chapter will probably be highly polarizing between those who think I can pull this off and those who think I can't.
Wait until the next plot twist though.
Hmm......a tiny question only. Lars it's aligned on question to one of the Warp Gods, and if yes, to what one specifically? Why if he is, it will likely give us a slight inkling, at least in part, of some of the primary traits of the In-gestation pseudo-Daemon, along with giving a mark about the route on what Skuld's personality and attitude would shift. At least, i see as unlikely that Lars it's one of Reigle's brood, and he hasn't gone on a rampage like an Asukhon Daemon would have gone to the mere mention of innocent children being massacred, so it makes likely that he was embraced as one of Tzintchi, or one very calm daemon of Mislaato....
Anyway...hoping that you clear that point.
HK
A devoted follower of the Chaos Goddess and her way.....
Buck Murdock: Oh, cut the bleeding heart crap, will ya? We've all got our switches, lights, and knobs to deal with, Striker. I mean, down here there are literally hundreds and thousands of blinking, beeping, and flashing lights, blinking and beeping and flashing - they're *flashing* and they're *beeping*. I can't stand it anymore! They're *blinking* and *beeping* and *flashing*! Why doesn't somebody pull the plug!
Academia Nut wrote:Oh dear, I got a review from someone on FF.net that stated that I had made them do a spit take twice already, and I haven't posted chapter 40 there yet. This chapter will probably be highly polarizing between those who think I can pull this off and those who think I can't.
Wait until the next plot twist though.
Hmm......a tiny question only. Lars it's aligned on question to one of the Warp Gods, and if yes, to what one specifically? Why if he is, it will likely give us a slight inkling, at least in part, of some of the primary traits of the In-gestation pseudo-Daemon, along with giving a mark about the route on what Skuld's personality and attitude would shift. At least, i see as unlikely that Lars it's one of Reigle's brood, and he hasn't gone on a rampage like an Asukhon Daemon would have gone to the mere mention of innocent children being massacred, so it makes likely that he was embraced as one of Tzintchi, or one very calm daemon of Mislaato....
Anyway...hoping that you clear that point.
HK
Tzintchi. It was stated a while back when he was talking about who he made a deal with, the general jist of the deal, and the god who consumed his wifes soul.
This is sickening... You sound like chapters from a self-help booklet! Prepare yourselves!
Actually, the deity Lars serves hasn't been mentioned. I double checked. In any case, his contract of service is actually to the entire pantheon, rather than just one god, even if his wife's soul was eaten by one of them, so technically he serves Chaos Undivided. Or at least, that's what I remember, its entirely possible I forgot something. It is a rather large story at this point.
I love learning. Teach me. I will listen. You know, if Christian dogma included a ten-foot tall Jesus walking around in battle armor and smashing retarded cultists with a gaint mace, I might just convert - Noble Ire on Jesus smashing Scientologists
Yes, yes he has. I've probably got another ten to fifteen pages of Snow to write before I'll be happy with the next chapter of Snow, and he's still working on OMWF, but he's definitely moving towards having a complete chapter, although I continue to maintain that I am not Chris, so the next chapter will be done when its done, so don't bug him about it.
I love learning. Teach me. I will listen. You know, if Christian dogma included a ten-foot tall Jesus walking around in battle armor and smashing retarded cultists with a gaint mace, I might just convert - Noble Ire on Jesus smashing Scientologists
Finally, after what seemed like forever, Skuld stuttered out, “You’re pregnant?”
“Well… technically now that I think about it, ‘pregnant’ is a somewhat inaccurate term but…” Lars began before Skuld interrupted him.
“But that’s impossible!” She cried out.
Lars was quiet for a moment before he shifted into Mihix’s form and looked down, noting, “Oh hey, look, boobs and a twat,” before he shifted back to his male form and said, “No wait, it’s a flat chest and a pecker now.”
Skuld glared at him for a moment before he said, “Sorry. I’m trying to feed the growing daemon some more positive emotions but its thrown my equilibrium off.”
“Wait… don’t tell me that-” Skuld began.
“No. I said that the term ‘pregnant’ is inaccurate. I will not be having mood swings or cravings or anything like that, those are all unconscious, physiological responses. I am in full control over what I am doing; it’s just that by my nature I’m affected by these things. So right now I’ve got a much shorter temper because I’ve been trying to ensure that I don’t feed any more rage into the damn thing, it already has enough of that already. I’m more morose than usual because I’ve been letting a lot of hope flow into the forming entity, but that means I’m also having a hard time seeing the brighter side of life,” Lars explained.
“You know, I never really understood how exactly you work, and now that I’m going to be a mother-” Skuld began.
“Father. You’re going to be a father, in that your contribution was merely inheritable material while I actually gestate the offspring… and don’t give me any ‘seahorse’ crap, cause if you want to get that technical then male/female distinction is determined by gamete size and you would be the male in the relationship again,” Lars explained.
“This is so weird,” Skuld replied.
“Tell me about it. I suppose its time for you to learn about the hawks and the flies,” Lars said with a defeated sigh.
“Hawks… and flies… what the…?” Skuld asked in confusion.
“Birds and the bees only for daemons,” Lars replied dryly.
“Oh. This isn’t going to be fun, is it?” Skuld said with a displeased look on her face.
“Well, sort of. The way my kind makes more is relatively clean in comparison to the more organic methods… except for one method that usually involves a whole lot more spilled bodily fluids, but we’ll get to that. There are four kinds of ways in which new daemons are made, although in this instance it might be considered four and a half… but we’ll get to that in a moment. Anyway, the four methods of daemonic production are natural coalescence, budding, ascension, and sexual recombination. Of those four, one doesn’t involve our gods,” Lars explained.
“I’m guessing natural coalescence, judging by the name,” Skuld noted while sitting on the ground, hugging her knees to her chest.
“Yes, this is what I will be focusing on. The other methods, in short are; budding, which involves one of our gods breaking off a small piece of their essence to make a beast or lesser daemon; ascension, which involves one or more of our gods taking a mortal and remaking them into a daemon, like how I got this job; and sexual recombination which involves two or more of our gods combining their essences into a unique new pattern to create a greater daemon. You will note that the gods are all required for these tasks, as all lesser beings are incapable of such acts,” Lars explained.
“But…” Skuld began, trying to point out the obvious.
“I’m getting there. The fourth method, the natural method, doesn’t require the gods, but that’s not a good thing. You have to understand what exactly a daemon is though. A daemon is essentially a… standing wave of emotion I suppose would be the best descriptor. You get a sufficiently large bundle of psychic energy compacted into a small enough space, and it starts reinforcing its own structure. This obviously isn’t possible where you come from, but where I come from the laws of nature are different,” Lars explained.
“Wait… how does psychic energy accumulate?” Skuld asked.
“You need a lot of it. It’s sort of like a gas in a vacuum. For the most part it will just dissipate out, but occasionally you get enough of it in one place that gravity starts to draw everything together and boom, you get a star or a planet, or in this case a daemon. The problem is that certain emotions have different wavelengths and amplitudes. Emotions that have the same ‘wavelength’ reinforce one another and add to the substance of a growing proto-daemon. Emotions with different wavelengths destructively interfere and cancel each other out. Strong amplitudes have more ‘mass’ than weaker ones, and thus tend to accumulate faster. The whole process favours simple emotions felt in large quantities by a large number of people at once. Things like fear, anger, hope, passion, and despair, these are the most basic fuels for natural daemons,” Lars explained.
“Hope? That-” Skuld began.
Lars gave her a blank look that cut her off and he then said, “Famines, plagues, wars… what do you think the vast majority of people are doing?”
“Praying for salvation… oh dear,” Skuld said, suddenly getting what Lars meant.
“Yeah. The problem isn’t so much the emotions themselves so much as the fact that once critical mass is achieved the first things natural daemons want to do are to start feeding to increase their power and propagate their kind. They do this by manipulating their fuel source: mortals. Your basic natural daemon is a psychotic animal of genius intellect that can only comprehend spreading pain and misery according to its nature. They tempt, corrupt, drive insane, and kill everyone they meet, depending on their mood and how useful a mortal is to them. It’s not a pleasant set up,” Lars explained.
“How come you’re different?” Skuld asked.
“Two things. The first is that I am an ascended daemon; I started out as a human and I retain a piece of my humanity, so I can control my impulses the same as a human can, and must, control instinctive responses. The second is that my people’s origins are rather complicated, but it is safe to say that only the gods have created daemons thus far, and we take a different tack to ensuring our food supply. We prefer healthy human minds to deranged ones, for while the intensity of emotion is much lower, it’s no where near as toxic to our state of mind. And that’s where we return to what exactly has happened with me,” Lars said.
“This has to do with your stay in Hell,” Skuld stated.
“Oh yeah. The emotional content there was… not good for me. If I had just drunk it all in I would have lost my mind and developed a ‘burn, maim, kill’ attitude towards life, something that while perhaps cathartic while dealing with some people, is not exactly the way I wanted my life to go. So I took all of that emotion pouring into me and I bound it all up so I could take my time processing it. I would turn blind rage into righteous anger, turn lust into love, turn despair into tolerance, and turn avarice into hope. Unfortunately, by shoving all of that emotion into a tight little package within me without absorbing it into my self, I created the conditions for the creation of a natural daemon. There wasn’t quite enough there to achieve critical mass, but…” Lars trailed off.
“Then a little piece of me got in you and reached the undigested stuff. I see what you’re talking about now,” Skuld said.
“Makes sense? Yeah, and now the little bastard has started to try and feed on me, but I’m controlling what it gets… except for the souls of the kids. Oh gods…” Lars said, his morose mood returning. “For the most part when I eat a soul I rip it apart into its constituent components and memories and then integrate into my total identity. All individuality is lost, although I can bring the pieces back together as easily as a human can hold their breath… easier in fact. I didn’t want to do that to… unfortunately the growing creature inside me wasn’t so picky; hence I get a double dose of guilt.”
“And if you hadn’t done anything?” Skuld asked.
“They would have been butchered anyway. I still don’t have to like it, and in fact I’m glad I don’t like it. If I liked it then I truly would be damned. As it is, I can probably argue my way into a couple millennia stuck in a toilet scrubber rather than eternity stuck in the Halls of Torment,” Lars replied.
“Well, yeah, but… well, what exactly is going to happen next? When will the new daemon be born?” Skuld asked.
Shrugging, Lars said, “It’s achieved semi-sentience already at this point, but in order to survive out in the open it needs more energy. About a hundred adult human souls are required to make a minor daemon, but as it is I’m not going to be feeding it any more souls if I can help it. Child souls don’t have the memories and emotional content of an adult, so two or three magnitudes more children would need to be fed to it. Which I’m not doing. And if I fed an adult soul into the developing daemon then the first personality would become dominant, and I’m not unleashing a daemonic drow on the world, nor am I eaten a good person. So its just going to get raw emotion until such point as it is self-sufficient, so that its own identity can be developed.”
“Do you need me to do anything?” Skuld asked.
“Not until after the birth, at which point I probably will need your help handling the ‘little darling’. It picked up a lot of negative emotion, so it’s going to be pretty evil at first, but if it follows the pattern of the children of the gods, then it will show fanatical devotion to both parents, at least for the first couple of years,” Lars explained.
“How ‘evil’ are we talking here?” Skuld asked.
“If I give it the right diet during gestation… oh… it’ll probably bring you ‘bad’ people’s heads to try and make you happy,” Lars stated.
“That bad huh?” Skuld asked.
“Yeah,” Lars deadpanned before going silent again.
There was a quiet pause between them before Skuld asked, “So how long will this take?”
“At least I year I think, if not more. It’s a slow process,” Lars said.
“Is the waiting going to drive me nuts?” Skuld asked.
Lars paused for a moment before his features changed into those of a middle aged human woman who said, “Dear, take it from me, the waiting will drive you both nuts.”
Skuld blinked a few times before Lars shifted back and then she asked, “Who was that?”
Smiling faintly, Lars said, “My wife. She died twenty-five years ago when the gods ascended, her soul claimed as part of the sacrifice to fuel their launch into divinity, while I was spared. We actually have a rather sombre holiday on that anniversary, Passover- although it’s nowhere near the old Jewish version- where those of us who were there remember what it was like.”
Skuld was quiet while Lars was lost in thought before she asked, “What exactly was your wife talking about there?”
A pained look crossed Lars’ face before he sighed and said, “Back before an event called Second Impact, our Earth was much like yours: relatively prosperous and peaceful. Oh, there was crime and poverty and conflict, but in general you could probably take a map and a dart and if you hit land the place wouldn’t be consumed in destruction. Then Antarctica blew up and everything went to hell. My wife was six months pregnant with our first child when that happened. The stress… I don’t want to talk about it, okay?”
Skuld nodded. A puzzled look then crossed her face and she asked, “Wait… why don’t you separate your wife into the new daemon?”
Lars looked at her and asked, “Would you enjoy giving yourself an at home lobotomy? It doesn’t work like that now. My wife is an integral part of me now. Sure, I can draw together the pieces, I usually do when it’s quiet, but who she was is part of who I am. It’s actually kind of masochistic, in that all I can talk to her about are her memories, because anything beyond the day she died are my memories. Trying to talk about current events with her is just talking to myself with a different voice.”
“Wow,” Skuld noted.
“I know. Sucks to be me, huh? But still, I love my wife and I’m not going to part with her. It’s why I got so pissed at you for trying to interfere with your sister and Keiichi. You love your sister, but you’ve never felt what its like between lovers like them, and you can’t comprehend the pain of not being with them. You haven’t lived half a century in a little shack on the Baltic knowing that the guys who took the person most precious to you in the world have taken over. You never had to work your fingers to the bone supporting the monsters in charge until finally deciding to throw in with them. And… I’m sorry, do I sound bitter?” Lars said, the last bit coming out sarcastic rather than apologetic, and as he continued to rant his features aged considerably, until he was a sea tanned, wrinkled old man.
Skuld’s eyes went very, very wide as she watched Lars’ mood darken considerably. Finally she decided to ask quietly, “Do you want to make some ice cream?”
Getting up, Lars said, “Fuck it, I do want to make some ice cream. Enough moping around, I need to balance my diet and some joy and laughter, even if it's just from you Skuld, would be greatly appreciated.”
And so they made ice cream.
---
Alternate chapter name: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Daemons But Were Afraid to Ask
I love learning. Teach me. I will listen. You know, if Christian dogma included a ten-foot tall Jesus walking around in battle armor and smashing retarded cultists with a gaint mace, I might just convert - Noble Ire on Jesus smashing Scientologists
While looks like a obvious follow-up of the anterior chapter, its a DARN well made follow up of it.
On the other side, i would be an hypocrite if i don't say that i'm not dying for seeing more bits of the TSAB, and Alicia, and the evolution of Vita.....
A devoted follower of the Chaos Goddess and her way.....
Buck Murdock: Oh, cut the bleeding heart crap, will ya? We've all got our switches, lights, and knobs to deal with, Striker. I mean, down here there are literally hundreds and thousands of blinking, beeping, and flashing lights, blinking and beeping and flashing - they're *flashing* and they're *beeping*. I can't stand it anymore! They're *blinking* and *beeping* and *flashing*! Why doesn't somebody pull the plug!
I just re-read the fanfic and now I'm wondering what you plan to do with Jenny Calendar when you get back to writing Sunnyhell.
Be nice if she doesn't die by plot induced stupidity.
EDIT: I also re-read thousand shinji, and noted a reference to a fic where "gendo wasn't such an asshole". Spare me a link, by any chance?
Given the respective degrees of vulnerability to mental and physical force, annoying the powers of chaos to the point where they try openly to kill them all rather than subvert them is probably a sound survival strategy under the circumstances. -Eleventh Century Remnant
It's a reference to that alternate reality in episode 25 (26? those were very confusing episodes) of Evangelion where instead of the regular descent into insanity and depression we were used to, the series was presented as a high school drama with Asuka as the girl next door and Rei as the perky new transfer student. It was very odd.
And yes, this chapter did end up with a happier ending than I expected.
I love learning. Teach me. I will listen. You know, if Christian dogma included a ten-foot tall Jesus walking around in battle armor and smashing retarded cultists with a gaint mace, I might just convert - Noble Ire on Jesus smashing Scientologists
It's okay. Knowing you, a happy high-point only exists to get your butt sufficiently elevated to shit all over the characters in the next chapter.
Chronological Incontinence: Time warps around the poster. The thread topic winks out of existence and reappears in 1d10 posts.
Out of Context Theatre, this week starring Darth Nostril.
-'If you really want to fuck with these idiots tell them that there is a vaccine for chemtrails.'
Then again, considering how much of a Cosmic Plaything Lars is, he's probably going to start making back up plans. I expect by the end of this he's going to be a little closer to Tzintchi than the other gods.
"Wait... how come you've got exactly what we need for this incredibly specific situation?"
"When you've lived through what I've lived through, you learn it pays to carry stuff like this just in case. Now hand me the weasel on the stick, this is going to get interesting in a second."
I love learning. Teach me. I will listen. You know, if Christian dogma included a ten-foot tall Jesus walking around in battle armor and smashing retarded cultists with a gaint mace, I might just convert - Noble Ire on Jesus smashing Scientologists
Well, when you've got the idea of a daemon existing as a communications antenna, the idea of a daemonic equivalent of Batman's utility belt isn't too far-fetched. Not to say that Batman should wear that, because bound demonic entities worn around the hips may attempt wearer-rape, but the analogy holds.
Chronological Incontinence: Time warps around the poster. The thread topic winks out of existence and reappears in 1d10 posts.
Out of Context Theatre, this week starring Darth Nostril.
-'If you really want to fuck with these idiots tell them that there is a vaccine for chemtrails.'
That would involve Lars ending up in the un-Eva'd 40k universe, which would probably require Lars to possess something first, and would then involve something like this:
Skuld: "He's just been pacing back and forth swearing for the past hour"
Considering the oddballs in FWGttG though, a reasonable daemon and a displaced goddess would fit right in with that adventuring party.
Of course, unless Rogue 11 comes up to me and says, "Hey, want to collaborate?" (why does that line sound dirty in my mind?) I wouldn't step on his toes. Besides, I have more grimdark ideas in mind for 40k
I love learning. Teach me. I will listen. You know, if Christian dogma included a ten-foot tall Jesus walking around in battle armor and smashing retarded cultists with a gaint mace, I might just convert - Noble Ire on Jesus smashing Scientologists
Academia Nut wrote:It's a reference to that alternate reality in episode 25 (26? those were very confusing episodes) of Evangelion where instead of the regular descent into insanity and depression we were used to, the series was presented as a high school drama with Asuka as the girl next door and Rei as the perky new transfer student. It was very odd.
And yes, this chapter did end up with a happier ending than I expected.
You Tell Me?
The first time that i saw the chapters 25 and 26, i thought that the writer and the animation studio had to be both seriously stoned on some funny stuff. Also, i remember that i had one heck of a odd dream on the following night. Don't ask, that's will say about it.
Skuld will likely adopt also the custom of holding all kinds of odd stuff and weaponry for the unexpected.
One thing that NOW i fell on, its the following. WHAT Happened to the Chaos Bug that was enveloped by Lars as he protected Skuld?
Methinks that that little gal must have also fallen into the mix that it's on gestation right now, no?
And on the absolutely interesting, yet useless fact, Vita's Armored Device, has a name that's pretty odd......."Graf Eisen".........Graf means "Count" and Eisen "Iron".......so Vita's Device it's the "Iron Count"............it will be interesting to see if she changes the name and form of it after her conversion to Chaos....
A devoted follower of the Chaos Goddess and her way.....
Buck Murdock: Oh, cut the bleeding heart crap, will ya? We've all got our switches, lights, and knobs to deal with, Striker. I mean, down here there are literally hundreds and thousands of blinking, beeping, and flashing lights, blinking and beeping and flashing - they're *flashing* and they're *beeping*. I can't stand it anymore! They're *blinking* and *beeping* and *flashing*! Why doesn't somebody pull the plug!
The Roreril family fortress rang out with the sounds of growing industry, disturbing the quietly treacherous nature of the city of Menzoberranzan, while the stink of brewing organic chemicals and molten metals permeated the air. The neighbours were growing anxious, but the destruction wrought already was enough to keep them from challenging the suddenly upstart minor house without risking enough damage to make themselves vulnerable to other houses. A coalition could take them down, but first a coalition had to be made amongst the treacherous drow.
And every day Roreril was left alone, they grew stronger, making an alliance harder to forge. The ruling houses had yet to have the new weapons and horrors of the Warp turned upon, and just considered it all some form of magic, something they felt confident they could deal with. After all, you couldn’t stockpile magic in a meaningful way.
The production rate was painfully slow, but when they had the resources, Roreril could make about one shell a day, although resource supply was often restricted. Of course, when not making high explosives, propellants, or other such sundry materials, they were making high quality trade goods. A gallon of fresh ice cream in Menzoberranzan could get you the supplies to build a dozen high explosive shells, which was enough to destroy the majority of the fortifications in a house… including the top eight houses.
Hells, Roreril didn’t even need to do a direct assault. If they blew up the walls of a fortress from long range natural drow behaviour would take over as the opportunists would be all over the stricken house like rats on a corpse.
Quite simply put, the city’s days were numbered, and only Lars and Skuld knew it was coming. Aruvixa was drunk on power, she could taste the way here little empire was growing, the way her two acquisitions were giving her power overwhelming. Lars had become the topping rather than the cake with Skuld running around, turning her genius and divine catalogue of technology towards the task of making it easier for drow to kill each other. They had quite literally jumped hundreds of years, bypassing enormous theoretical and developmental hurdles. Oh, they were still many, many years away from building the tools that could build the tools that could build the really nasty weapons in mass quantities, but there were all sorts of little examples.
Like steel production. It had been quite amusing to watch Skuld verbally berate, in Danish, centuries old drow smiths with millennia of traditions backing them up for their incompetence at working with iron and even more amusing when she showed them just how bad they truly were. Oh, they were skilled at what they did, do be sure, but their methods had nothing on what sound theoretical background on mixtures of iron and carbon could give rise to.
But the drow just didn’t understand what they beheld. To them it was all just another form of magic, another tool to be used against the enemy, another method of showing individual superiority. For such a long lived species, they could be remarkably short sighted. Like how their constant internal competition would always keep them under the earth, away from the power of the sun.
Like how their infighting was making them weaker with each passing year, consuming their energies pointlessly and killing off the masses of the average in favour of the few excellent.
The drow were doomed as a civilization. The addition of high explosives was just going to accelerate the process.
While contemplating such things, looking down at the industrious courtyard while leaning on a parapet, Lars glanced over at Skuld devouring her ice cream and asked, “How can you stomach to eat that with the fumes around here?”
“I get one bowl a week and not enough time to eat it elsewhere,” Skuld replied in annoyance while hugging the bowl protectively against her chest.
Once she had finished up, she glanced over at Lars and asked, “So what are you being all silent about?”
“Oh, just contemplating life, the universe, and everything,” Lars replied.
“It’s a number. I checked. I have to maintain the program,” Skuld replied.
“Where you’re from maybe, but I was thinking in great, overarching terms. For example, how utterly fucked the drow are,” Lars said.
“I give it a year before they realize that slave hands can fire a howitzer as easily as a drow hands… which will also be the point where the slaves rebel and everything blows up,” Skuld said dryly, switching to Russian from Danish in case any of the people who had picked up some the language working with her were listening.
Snorting, Lars said, “They’re teaching the human slaves, with drow oversight of course, to fire the cannons because they’ve spent centuries learning to fight in single combat and they find the guns… unfair, if useful. We’re industrializing a slave holding society… they won’t survive the process. Guns and explosives are too much of an equalizing force and slavery is too inefficient of a system to keep up with industrialization. They also need the population granted by industrialized agriculture, unavailable down here away from the sun, to make any significant gains in the long run.”
“Want to lead a communist revolution?” Skuld asked.
“Nah, I grew up just as the Cold War was ending, so communism still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Then again, I’m also from Europe, so a little socialism doesn’t frighten me. Of course, any sort of bloody, violent revolution would be nice so long as it’s successful. What do you say? You start penning the book as theoretician and I can be the charismatic leader and future dictator for life. Skuldist-Larsism they’ll call it,” Lars replied, sweeping his hand out as if trying to dramatically picture the future.
“Will I get to complain about how you’ve altered all of my ideas and say, ‘I don’t know what I am, just that I’m not a Skuldist?’” Skuld asked.
“Of course, because where would we be if poorly thought out ideas were not abused and made even worse after being thought up?” Lars asked.
“I don’t know. But who gets to play Mao?” Skuld asked.
“Oh, probably a surface nation with plenty of agriculture but little industry,” Lars replied.
“Will there be awesome hats?” Skuld asked cheekily.
Lars was very quiet for a moment before he cried out, “De hats! How could Hy hef forgot de sveet hats after all des veeks? Quickly, ve musht hef sveet hats!”
“Can’t you just alter your form so that you have a hat?” Skuld asked.
“Yes… but you can’t. Come now, we have enough resources and pull that I think we can pester someone into making what we need,” Lars said.
Half an hour later the best transmuter in the house, who had already been placed under Skuld’s supervision because of his ability to rapidly fabricate items with his magic, had created what Lars wanted.
“I’ve got to admit the hat is really sweet,” Skuld noted as she adjusted the hat. “But doesn’t this send the wrong message?”
“Nah, no one would get it,” Lars replied. “We’d have to invent Russian style communism first. Now all we need are bolters and chainswords and the look will be complete.”
“I think if I took a month I could maybe make a crude, inefficient approximation of that monstrosity you described,” Skuld said in annoyance while checking out her new greatcoat. “The chainsword though? Not in this world any time soon.”
“Don’t bother, until you can start making at least Semtex it wouldn’t be worth it,” Lars replied in a blasé tone before he thought for a moment and said, “And now I do believe it is time for me to go blow up another hedge wizard for the matron mother’s amusement.”
“I’ll go see if we got another load of hydrocarbons I can crack with the crude distillation rigs I’ve built so far. We should be able to start making incendiary shells with the flammable liquids we get out of that,” Skuld said.
“Mmmm… napalm, it’s what’s for breakfast,” Lars said before leaving for the ritual chamber where Aruvixa ran her experiments with Lars.
Within was a small, tightly sealed and warded chamber where Aruvixa brought young, promising mages before Lars to see what he could do with his ability to directly manipulate the weave. Today she had a fresh faced new recruit looking to join up with the rising star of Roreril… and probably also get some revenge in on some other drow. Their stories were all the same in the end.
Not that they lasted long anyway.
Looking over the mage with his other senses, Lars contemplated what he would do to this one before he paused and noted that Aruvixa was looking at him. He asked somewhat cheekily, “You like the new look, highest?”
“It is less… brash, I must admit,” Aruvixa noted.
Lars smirked at the thought of a ‘commissar’ being called ‘less brash’. Last bastard with the kick ass hat he had met had been back in the early days when the planet was being militarized and he was forced to attend militia training. Ah, good old Commissar Hugger, only one person had to ever question the intimidation factor of his name before everyone else fell in line quite nicely.
“Mostly it’s for the hat, because you can’t have the hat without the accompanying uniform, and people dig the hat, highest,” Lars replied.
Aruvixa considered the hat for a moment before she nodded and said, “You’re right, the hat is worth it. A wardrobe change may be in order.”
Lars considered a female drow priestess in a commissar’s uniform and laughed for quite some time inside his head before he said, “In any case, shall we proceed with the experiment for today, highest? I believe we agreed that the subject should not have any spells prepared at all this time.” Lars also conspicuously changed his uniform out to his rain coat, something that was actually mirrored by the other drow in the room as they put on oilskins, except for the test subject.
They had learned their lesson.
“Yes, it has already been made apparent that having no spells currently prepared is essential to the continued wellbeing of our new wizard,” Aruvixa said, glaring at the wizard, who had a stoic expression on his elven face.
Selecting a tiny strand of the Weave with a psychic claw, Lars noted, “Trust me on this one, kid, you had better not have anything in your head when I do this. Everything in here is non-stick cookware for a reason.”
Lars then cut the strand and shoved the raw end into the mage’s soul. The other end was quickly grounded in the wards and quickly repaired itself, but as for the mage, something different happened.
For one, he did not exploded, unlike the last seven weeks worth of experimentation.
Unfortunately, the second bit was that he promptly started screaming and dropped to the ground, frothing at the mouth.
“What went wrong that time?” Aruvixa asked dryly.
“My bad, highest,” Lars said with a shrug. “I was trying to avoid doing something I would rather not do and I think he got a glimpse of my mind during the process. I think it drove him a little mad.”
“Will he recover?” Aruvixa asked her advisors.
There was a collective shrug and Lars said, “He might be able to block it out and forget what he saw.”
“What did he see?” Aruvixa asked.
“My homeworld,” Lars replied. He looked down at the twitching wizard. He had seen were cities of glass and steel on the surface filled with millions of humans, all wielding casual abilities of unimaginable power… before the addition of the Warp. A single regiment of such humans could destroy the entire drow civilization without much effort. It had shattered the elf’s arrogant ego.
Aruvixa looked down at the twitching mage and said, “I really must visit one day.”
“Oh, I would love for you to come over, highest,” Lars replied with the utmost sincerity. He knew that whatever happened to him when he got home, he would at least be allowed to see her punishment given out first if she came with him.
Oghma had felt a strange stirring somewhere in the Underdark, in that someone was involved in a great deal of invention down there, a fact confirmed by his subordinates. He would have to take a closer look at what was going on, as there was a strange slipperiness to the situation that kept him and his underlings from making a casual observation.
Maybe he would also ask Mystra about the rumours of strange things happening with the Weave down there after the big meeting of the gods Ao had just called.
---
Anyone who can get me a picture of Skuld or a female drow in a commissar's uniform will be greatly rewarded. Also, props if you can name the accent and find the related picture.
I love learning. Teach me. I will listen. You know, if Christian dogma included a ten-foot tall Jesus walking around in battle armor and smashing retarded cultists with a gaint mace, I might just convert - Noble Ire on Jesus smashing Scientologists
Academia Nut wrote:The ruling houses had yet to have the new weapons and horrors of the Warp turned upon, and just considered it all some form of magic, something they felt confident they could deal with.
"Turn upon" needs to be "turned upon them".
Academia Nut wrote:Aruvixa was drunk on power, she could taste the way here little empire was growing, the way her two acquisitions were giving her power overwhelming.
"The way here" needs to be "the way her".
Academia Nut wrote:They had quite literally jumped hundreds of years, bypassing enormous theoretical and developmental hurdles.
"They had" should be "The Drow had", and you should probably throw in the word "technologically" after the word "years".
Academia Nut wrote:Oh, they were skilled at what they did, do be sure, but their methods had nothing on what sound theoretical background on mixtures of iron and carbon could give rise to.
"Do be sure" needs to be "to be sure".
Academia Nut wrote:“It’s a number. I checked. I have to maintain the program,” Skuld replied.
Would that number happen to be 42 perhaps?
Academia Nut wrote:“I think if I took a month I could maybe make a crude, inefficient approximation of that monstrosity you described,” Skuld said in annoyance while checking out her new greatcoat. “The chainsword though? Not in this world any time soon.”
Hmm, does D&D magic allow people to bind a great deal of lightning to a small object like a stone or pebble? Because if it does, all you need then it some copper wiring to make the motor, attach some chains and whatnot, and you would have a working chainsword with D&D 'tech'.
Academia Nut wrote:He had seen were cities of glass and steel on the surface filled with millions of humans, all wielding casual abilities of unimaginable power… before the addition of the Warp.
"He had seen" would be better off as "What he had seen".
Academia Nut wrote:Anyone who can get me a picture of Skuld or a female drow in a commissar's uniform will be greatly rewarded. Also, props if you can name the accent and find the related picture.
Once agian, I'll see if I can spread the word.
This is sickening... You sound like chapters from a self-help booklet! Prepare yourselves!
Academia Nut wrote:“I think if I took a month I could maybe make a crude, inefficient approximation of that monstrosity you described,” Skuld said in annoyance while checking out her new greatcoat. “The chainsword though? Not in this world any time soon.”
Hmm, does D&D magic allow people to bind a great deal of lightning to a small object like a stone or pebble? Because if it does, all you need then it some copper wiring to make the motor, attach some chains and whatnot, and you would have a working chainsword with D&D 'tech'.
Yes they can bind magic to an item, ioun stones, rods, wands, rings etc.
Hell in D&D open worlds places like Dragon Star they bind teleport spells to crystals that allow ships to travel between the stars. A rod of lightning holds something like 50 charges if I rember, granted been a while I've played as there's no one to play with around here.
Academia Nut wrote:Anyone who can get me a picture of Skuld or a female drow in a commissar's uniform will be greatly rewarded. Also, props if you can name the accent and find the related picture.
Once agian, I'll see if I can spread the word. [/quote]
Now that would be a cool pic.
But for the language wouldn't the spell comprehend language take care of that issue.
Also can't wait to see what the gods are going to make out of this pair. Especially Oghma
"There are very few problems that cannot be solved by the suitable application of photon torpedoes
Academia Nut wrote:
Lars then cut the strand and shoved the raw end into the mage’s soul. The other end was quickly grounded in the wards and quickly repaired itself, but as for the mage, something different happened.
For one, he did not exploded, unlike the last seven weeks worth of experimentation.
Unfortunately, the second bit was that he promptly started screaming and dropped to the ground, frothing at the mouth.
“What went wrong that time?” Aruvixa asked dryly.
“My bad, highest,” Lars said with a shrug. “I was trying to avoid doing something I would rather not do and I think he got a glimpse of my mind during the process. I think it drove him a little mad.”
“Will he recover?” Aruvixa asked her advisors.
There was a collective shrug and Lars said, “He might be able to block it out and forget what he saw.”
“What did he see?” Aruvixa asked.
“My homeworld,” Lars replied. He looked down at the twitching wizard. He had seen were cities of glass and steel on the surface filled with millions of humans, all wielding casual abilities of unimaginable power… before the addition of the Warp. A single regiment of such humans could destroy the entire drow civilization without much effort. It had shattered the elf’s arrogant ego.
Hmmm.....any revolution, like the russian one...needs at least...a "Lenin"....one what can fit the "Trotsky" role, and finally, but no less important, a "Stalin"...........
Methinks that THAT mage, will be moved by what he saw, goaded into a new direction, to "save" his race..........that or get thoroughly butchered, but who knows with Chaos....
A devoted follower of the Chaos Goddess and her way.....
Buck Murdock: Oh, cut the bleeding heart crap, will ya? We've all got our switches, lights, and knobs to deal with, Striker. I mean, down here there are literally hundreds and thousands of blinking, beeping, and flashing lights, blinking and beeping and flashing - they're *flashing* and they're *beeping*. I can't stand it anymore! They're *blinking* and *beeping* and *flashing*! Why doesn't somebody pull the plug!
Skuldist-Larsism was obviously a play on Marxist-Leninism.
Also, I really need to get some more sleep as I was apparently more tired than I thought I was if I made that many mistakes while writing.
Also technically Skuld was talking about making a chainsword on her own with technology. Since she's missing most of her magical reserves and she wasn't that great with her own universe's magic, she isn't thinking of what magic can do for her here, probably to her own detriment, but the fact that they do have a guy who can cast fabricate two or three times a day has greatly sped up the industrialization process for certain things.
Would that number happen to be 42 perhaps?
I dunno. What's the number for this chapter?
And yes, that was a Jaeger accent there. Haven't seen that image before, since I was thinking of this one at the time. I dare anyone who knows about 40k commissars and Girl Genius Jaegermonsters to look at that picture and not laugh at least a little.
I love learning. Teach me. I will listen. You know, if Christian dogma included a ten-foot tall Jesus walking around in battle armor and smashing retarded cultists with a gaint mace, I might just convert - Noble Ire on Jesus smashing Scientologists
