Thursday, June 26, 2014

"Misael and Xiviel, Official Beholders for the Department of Witnesses." (Binding Universe)

Misael and Xiviel are the two Machine Kings that have been produced since the Machine King Incident, or at least the two publicly known. As with all Beholders, both are remarkably dangerous, and both can match or defeat most veteran combat mages in a fair fight at least four times out of ten.

Now for Character Bios!

Character Bio: Xiviel Rammond
Full Name: Xiviel Golf Two Mike Kilo Zero Zero Two Rammond
Height: 5ft 4in(1.6256m) Exactly.
Weight: 140lb(63502.93g)(usually)
Strength: 4.8 on the Corvon Scale (able to flip most cars sideways unassisted)
Fuel Capacity: 8.6Ms(stored) 26.8Ms(channeling)
Species: Artificial Nephilim (Machine King)
Known Abilities: Turboforge
Personal Affinities: Springs, Recording Devices, Shotguns
Spell Arsenal: Ground Zero, Ray Armor, Splinter Round, Spark Chain
Occupation: Beholder, Department of Witnesses
Personal Equipment: Shotgun w. underslung Taser/Grappling Hook, Beholder Standard Uniform(male), Beholder Issue 45mm Revolver, 6.5Ms Fuel Capacitor(Qty:8)

Character Notes: Loves his job, including the paperwork, but prefers the bits where he's allowed to blow things up. Good natured, enthusiastic, slightly crazy. Acts as a foil to Misael, and vice versa. His combat strategy is to dodge anything he thinks he can and block only when he thinks he has to, shooting every time he gets the chance. Uses his custom shotgun like most people would use a handgun.


Character Bio: Misael Krine
Full Name: Misael Golf Two Mike Kilo Zero Zero One Krine
Height: 5ft 3in(1.6002m) Exactly.
Weight: 130lb(58967g)(usually)
Strength: 4.6 on the Corvon Scale (able to flip most cars sideways unassisted)
Fuel Capacity: 8.6Ms(stored) 26.8Ms(channeling)
Species: Artificial Nephilim (Machine King)
Known Abilities: Turboforge
Personal Affinities: Traps, Shields, Optics, Recording Devices
Spell Arsenal: Ground Zero, Laser Wire, Counterforce, Sky Chaser, Blast Shield, Electric Moment, Optical Lance, Ray Armor
Occupation: Beholder, Department of Witnesses
Personal Equipment: Beholder Standard Uniform(female), Beholder Issue 45mm Revolver, 6.5Ms Fuel Capacitor(Qty:8)

Character Notes: Much less enthusiastically destructive than Xiviel, but no less dangerous. Prefers sitting down and reading a book to shooting things or blowing them up, but is nearly unstoppable if angered. Her combat strategy is to observe an opponent and consider best way to counter them, and to only dodge when she believes she cannot block effectively. Pragmatic and effective, both in combat and out.

Thursday, June 19, 2014

Spike Cannon concept text (Awesome Normal Universe)

The subject today is the Experimental Nail Propulsion Mechanism, usually shortened to XNP4, and colloquially known as the Spike Cannon.
It is in its prototype stage, but after the Type Five Forward Engineer Incident (where it was employed by said improperly programmed android to great effect), it will probably be either pushed into large scale production or scrapped.
It resembles a cross between an oversized sleeve cuff and a rotary cannon, and has nearly no barrel besides the cartridge chambers themselves, which are rifled. Because of this, accuracy is somewhat limited at medium and long ranges.
The cartridges are 25x1.5 cm cylinders, roughly a third of which is high explosive and the rest of which is a high tensile steel spike, causing great difficulty in suppressing the recoil, and earlier models showed a serious risk of broken or dislocated arms.
Its stated purpose was nailing armor plates to each other for rapid fortification deployment and repair, although the offensive uses are obvious.

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Eidolon, Nephilim, Affinities, Archetype Pieces, and a cool side note about funerals. (Binding Universe)

Once again, I apologize for the late update. I will make it longer than I had planned to. Anyway, on to the story.

Eidolon is the term for any spirit that is not a live human or Nephilim. While the term initially applied only to sentient beings, years of use as a catchall term for anything with a fixed powerset has made this the common meaning.
Eidolon are almost always created partially from materials in the environment they appear in, and natural eidolon are either born or created by a combination of the expectations and beliefs of humans and Nephilim, with the level of effect being based on proximity.
All timelines excepting parts of the Fourth have had magic for long enough that any area with a significant concentration of Fuel will also be a spawning ground for eidolon appropriate to said area.
Most sentient eidolon can reproduce with each other, and most non-sentient eidolon can reproduce with each other if sufficiently similar.
All Eidolon capable of producing Nephilim are sentient, and very rarely have no human form.

Nephilim are the offspring of humans and eidolon, eidolon and nephilim, or nephilim and other nephilim.
They share the magical attributes of both parents, and often have a unique powerset that combines said attributes. Physical attributes default to the human side, but magical attributes can modify appearance, most commonly the eyes. While some types of nonsentient Eidolon can reproduce with similar animals, the offspring are considered new Eidolons.

Affinities are the result of a mage focusing on a specific type of effects, and make similar spells become easier to cast and require less Fuel for the same effect. Affinities are a combination of the soul naturally adapting to new ideas and the archetype that sprung up around that effect. An archetype is the difference between an Engram and a spell; a spell is any Engram established enough to have it's own archetype.

Archetype Pieces are devices, often weapons, often already magical, that have become well enough known for a specific set of attributes that they develop a powerset based on them. They are usually quite useful, but the same effect can make badly designed or merely not well liked items worse.

Incidentally, in this world, a standard burial practice is to bury the primary tool of the deceased (or a replica, if the original is unavailable), piercing the chest cavity. While this discouraged heirlooms, it did encourage new development, apprenticeship from an early age, and the creation of minor Archetype Pieces. It is thought to have originally have been a practice for soldiers, allowing their spears to double as gravestones when there was no time to carve one properly.

Thursday, June 5, 2014

Engrams, Binding, and the Afterlife (Binding Universe)

Author's Note: First off, Apologies for the late update. I will try not to make a habit of it.

An Engram is a concept of an event or an effect, or more accurately the portion of a soul based around that specific concept.

Fuel is ubiquitous, intangible, has several names, and cannot be seen or sensed without some form of magic. Any living being can sense Fuel, and most can be trained to recognize it in different concentrations

Magic is the term for the action of Binding an Engram to an object or place, Manifesting it by using Fuel, and the effects doing this has on the world. All sentient beings on record can use magic to some degree.

Death Magic is the name for the adapted form of Fuel that is created as any living being dies. Has some interesting effects, and is especially notable because it is the only thing that can allow the spirits of the dead to manifest, barring special circumstances*.

Ghosts are one term for the spirits of the dead, but are sometimes confused with death spirits in general. They can manifest anywhere there is death magic to fuel them, and they can collect death magic for later use. They can and will show up whenever they decide to, but it is draining on their collected power.
They cannot Manifest conceptual Engrams, but they can manifest physical objects, such as bodies, clothes, weapons, and fire. The power drain to manifest an object is dependent on both mass and energy.
As the objects resemble extraordinarily precise and complex telekinetic constructs more than actual matter, it requires only slightly more power to produce a two ton weight than to produce an explosion of the same force.

*If two souls have a strong, direct, link. Marriage, for example.