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1x Laugh Laugh
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Hang on I think I might end up using this one too for something

ndhill.deviantart.com/art/Strider-red…

ed: ndhill.deviantart.com/art/ArrowHead-2…
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1- Pronobii
2- Voids
3- Voids
4- Voids
5- Voidsketchers
10- Urtelem martial art

6- Filter Cities
7- Dwarfsynth
8- Dwarfcastes
9- Gryphons & co.

11- VotP economics
12- VotP divinity
13- VotP empathy
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8 + 8 = 16

3 + 5 = 8

8 + 16 = 24

seems right

AMBIENT

1- Pronobii
2- Voidsketchers
3- Voids
4- Voids
5- Voids
6- Filter Cities
7- Dwarfsynth
8- Dwarfcastes
9- VotP
10- VotP
11- VotP
12-
13-
14-
15-
16-

OVAEDIS

1- Urtelem Martial Art
2- Metera
3-
4-
5-
6-
7-
8-
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The Marquisate

Metera

The Distant Dance

Filter Cities

Diaphane Sorority

Cult of the Blowfly

Submaterial Laboratory of Mirus
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Just bumping because it'll be relevant again soon and it's easier to find on the front page of the test forum.
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~GOSH I SURE HOPE NOBODY LOOKS THROUGH THESE REFERENCE IMAGES AND INTERPRETS THEM AS A TEASER~


termit pls

Also, some of our reference images are overlapping. I mean, not that I have a story idea to use them right now or anything. But, you know, I naturally looked through some of the internet for all things pretty porcelain.

Whoever uses them first wins?

I can totally match your writing rate, yeah. Totally.
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@Muttonhawk

i knew this day would come

It's Remph, isn't it? I'm planning to play that off as a modified form of hiveminded Pronobis Sculptor y thing

If it takes too long for that to happen and you really want the ref though hit me up with your idea and I'll probably pass it on! The only thing here that I really want to call dibs on is Invasion Moderator.
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Remph is one of them, yeah. I have a few pieces from angelarium stocked away. I think I saw invasion moderator before but decided that it wasn't quite at the style I would use Toun's stuff, even if it was close, so you're fine there.

It's no big deal, though. Just use what you want as you need them and I won't mind.
1x Thank Thank
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GOOD HECKING LORD.

AMBIENT

1-Voids
2-Voids
3-Voids
4-Transgenesis
5-Pronobii
6-Filter Cities
7-Level
8-Level
9-Level
10-Level
11-Level
12-Level
13-BURN THE BRIDGE
14-Receivers
15-
16-
17-Metera tech
18-Marquisate tech

OVAEDAL

1-Isonymph
2-Isonymph
3-Isonymph
4-Isonymph
5-Recombinance
6-Voidsketchers
7-Metera
8-Urtelem Martial Art?
9-Detection?
10-Level
11-Level
12-Level
13-Level

Flesh
Geometry
Voids

Horror - Sculptors, Voidsketchers, Fiberlings?
Performance - Sculptors, Receivers, Lexite Melee
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It's gone.

Osveril found Transgenesis on the beach where I left it and set off into the world. I could follow it, but I didn't try. Let the Hollow have its freedom. It is beyond my control.

Birthing Osveril was not as taxing as I expected it to be. I ran a scan of my resources following its departure and the results are better than expected. Beneath the carbon tomb of my former skin, I've reconstructed at least 87% of my mass, give or take some anomalous digits. Most of it is in hyperbolic storage, ready to burst free when it is needed.

I am no longer a corpse. I am a chrysalis.

Yet I see no reason to rush to the conclusion of my feigned coma. There are certain aspects of advantage that my 'death' has left me. I can operate unseen. If Toun keeps his silence- And, I think he will- Then no one will expect me to embark on a large-scale project. I have an opportunity here.

And as I have so recently learned, absence has its own kind of power. I do not deal in true voids, but in negatives; and right now my body and my surroundings are nought but waste.

Such beautiful, beautiful waste. It's been a while since I really looked at my abyss. Everything is still, quiet. Dark. I'm home.

...I'm wasting time. Until I regenerate my energy is largely inaccessible. I'll turn these thoughts into a journal of my activity before I wake up. This will be the first entry.





0re-24l-64-m


Accessing the Sculptor network is a surprisingly strong drain. More than that, it leaves a trail. If someone were to investigate the students I've been chatting with, Dabbles and Longfellow and the like, they'd very quickly come to suspect my strength.

I do have other agents, though.

Scarlet is the only surviving Optic Fiberling other than Amber, who is in Tauga's possession. Mauve was burned somewhere near Rulanah. The rest all died long ago. There's a wild population on Julia, and I keep myself in the company of my Silvers, but for now Scarlet will do.

I just accessed its memories. It looks like Scarlet's had an encounter with someone very dear to me.





Scarlet clung to the surface of the Leviathan like a fungus, a tiny red stain on the smooth skin of a titan. Its light flashed far through the grand rock formations of the Fractal Abyss, nourishing the red algae that now made up Scarlet's body as it performed the singular task to which it had been assigned aeons before: Observe the Vast Soul.

And so it did. Year upon year, Scarlet watched the Leviathan, Jvan's big fish, until it almost became one with the being. Its breath was Scarlet's life, its hunger Scarlet's own.

But now a soul yet greater was approaching.

Scarlet felt the Leviathan halt in the water, flicking in a way that it never had before. Had never needed to.

For never before had it met its creator.

Slough looked up with wooden face and considered her accidental work of art. A moment of tension passed- Fear in a grand creature, yet power in a small one.

Then the cyan light escaped its caster, and the Rottenbone recalled what it had lost, and the ancient soul returned to she who had called it from the mists of the past...

The body of the Leviathan hung limp in the water as the Life Deer departed. For the first time in eternal nights, Scarlet was alone.




8fs-029-k7-l


I'm not sure why Slough Rottenbone saw fit to destroy the Leviathan I so loved to see in my waters, nor the great Writhe whose fragrance blessed the Venomweald. I can only assume it was part of Vowzra's corruption. Fortunately, the slaughter has gone no further. It was only those two entities... Which were, indeed, handled curiously...

What do you know, sister dear? To where have you spirited these souls? Shine they still in the worlds beyond, which I cannot see?

I do not know. But I trust her. My sister now travels the world, breathing and creating, as was her way. She is strong. She is wise. And she is at peace.

I'm reaffirmed, at least, that my destruction of the Riddler was justified. I only wish I didn't have to see these marvels consumed for it to happen. I will reuse their designs in due time.

...And perhaps other designs, too. I think I know where to send Scarlet.

How did I learn of the Writhe's passing? There are still many Jvanic Eyes on Galbar, thousands of them, large and small. Mortals trip over them or sell them as oddities. Even more orbit the forests of Lex. Ovaedis has fulfilled that purpose marvelously, and I am reasonably well-informed of events in Galbar.
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[color=9e0b0f][center][b]883-b57-0s-q[/b][/center][/color]

[color=9e0b0f][center][b]7r3-20m-gg-z[/b][/center][/color]

[color=9e0b0f][center][b]0pw-lso-h8-w[/b][/center][/color]

[color=9e0b0f][center][b]4cu-929-jj-t[/b][/center][/color]

[color=9e0b0f][center][b]11y-du8-94-b[/b][/center][/color]
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045-sde-nn-h


As I send Scarlet south, I make a discovery. I've been seeing my own art exercised without my knowledge a lot lately.

I knew that something must have saved Galbar from the fallout of Logos's assault on my body, but I assumed it was magic, or else some quirk of the Codex. I was not expecting it to be Heartworm.

I should have, though. In retrospect it seems so obvious. Who else would understand the risks so clearly?

Five massive bioconstructs now stand in a close semi-circle not far north of my remains. ('My remains.' Odd concept. Hah! It's a lucky girl that gets to use those words.) They are flexible towers, kilometres tall yet maybe twenty metres thick at their widest, riddled with tunnels and mechanisms and capped by a larger platform at sea level. Their construction is largely anomalous in nature, and their roots stretch deep into the crust, possibly encircling the entire planet.

Each of the five towers dealt with a certain kind of contaminant that would, in high enough levels, have pose fatal risk to the Galbaric biosphere. Though they are now largely inactive, having restored the planet to a stable state and spent most of their power in the process, I'll detail them anyway.



Playing with the towers and their various quirks is an exciting prospect, but they leave me worried. Even depleted, they are structures of tremendous grandeur. And it was Heartworm that built them.

I never gave it that kind of power.

How long has it been capable of this? How much energy did it leech from me while I slept? Much? Some? None? Was all of this its own doing? How powerful has it grown, in the time since I lost it?

Does it even
know?


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51r-fi0-0o-a


Further south. More Heartworm.

The Dwarves have been touched by numerous deities. Scarlet's eye is archaic by my latest standards, but it can still scent Teknall's handiwork. That other entity, Lazarus, has also been... Busy.

Vestec's constant interference at last does me some good. With the Legates scattered, it will be difficult for the Empress to resume control of those assets. In the meanwhile there are plenty of ways to make sure she does not abuse them.

If only they were less... Decidedly
mortal in form and thought...

Yet once again the Emaciator manoeuvres in ways I did not expect. The Dwarven people have fallen into its territorial sphere, partially through its proxy, Tauga. I like that girl, but I'm not sure if I'm willing to entrust her with the duty of bringing down Lazarus if she gets... Uppity.

I might have to cooperate with my avatar. The thought is disturbing. I should be in
control.

Ugh.

In any case, I am finally homing in on the Wraith Stone. Here I sense still more disturbance by my most reckless brother. The cycle of reincarnation seems to be largely intact, though the same cannot be said of those tasked by Reathos to guard it. It's probably too much to hope that I might find some monument to their memory.





9ff-801-sp-e


Damn you, Vestec.
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110-3m2-u9-f


Resurrecting the Pronobii will not be a simple task.

Every gene of that species is designed not to violate the natural lifespan that Reathos allocated them. Vestec's magic vaults past barriers I cannot overcome. If I am to adapt the Pronobii to my purposes, I am to do it the hard way. Manually.

The body of a Pronobis turns to ice upon a natural passing. Their architecture was based on recrystallized snow. A powerful spell protected them from divine alteration. A thousand years of decay has claimed their bodies and since then an ocean has been conjured over the lands where they once dwelt, with all the tectonic chaos that implies. I have very little to work with.

Let's call Reathos's original Pronobii the R-type. None remain. The only bodies will be those slain prematurely. If I'm extremely lucky I might find some aluminium scraps of their siphons, or even bone. Fortunately, I know how to make my own luck.

I have some Sculptor records of them as well. Mostly memories from... Walker...

...

(I hope they're okay.)

Death's Guardians, as reimagined by Vestec, I'll label V-type. They are not genetically or thaumaturgically identical to the ancient model,
but their genes will contain data I can't pass up, and there are plenty of them in that vault. They're not meant to leave until someone completes Vestec's stupid treasure hunt, but that doesn't mean I can't show myself in.

I'll need a better agent than Scarlet, though. Come to think of it, I might need many. Hm. Priority, then.

There are other specimens, that
are genetically identical to the R-type. I saw them in person, in Old Chronos. There are many of them among the Victors; It seems the Riddler was drawn to their impending doom. These are the C-type.

It's easy enough to send probes into New Chronos. I don't think it will be easy to get them out. Still, their immortality makes them priceless. They are my best link to Pronobis culture. Good luck, Jvan.

There were no Sculptors directly derived from R-types, which is... Regrettable. Reathos's influence was too strong for that. None of them would have survived until now, anyway.

There's only so long a Sculptor can cheat death, and they were still a fledgling race, back then. Flux is the oldest one alive, being a Djinni of almost a thousand years before he ascended. The only other Sculptor of comparable age would be Walker.

(...)

I need to see to those probes- Agents? Scribes? Scribes will do.

(...)

(Walker...)
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Battle Brother Yiftakh stood on a low hill with the goats, watching the thing that had found its way into the sacred meadows of Chronos. A shadowless glow illuminated the scene, though it was night; For since the thievery of the Jvanic Entity, Chronos had no moon, nor any sun, and it was the many-folded walls of that world that brightened and dimmed according to the passage of Time, as the Timeless One had ordained.

Yiftakh sat down on a rock. He reached under a nanny-goat's chin and ran a finger through her beard. The thing before him, which he supposed was some kind of animal, was most plainly a work of that same Jvanic Entity.

Yet though his sword shone brilliant at his side, the Victor was patient and by no means keen to fall into the Pride of his fallen brothers and sisters. If it was Fated, then so it should be. Let the creature live until its Time.

And so the Scribe struggled on its way over the earth, as no humble goat had ever done. For Chronos has its own means of testing the worth of an interloper, and each step the skeletal quadruped took was a pitfall, each stone a spike, and the air chill and harsh.

But Chronos is not cruel and an animal mustn't be punished for the sins of its owner. In time the Scribe found its way, and the faint blue light of its framework body came closer and closer to Yiftakh.

He raised his hand to the animal. It bolted. Sleek as a greyhound and light as a dove it fled back over the stones, and keeping a gentle pace, Yiftakh followed.

And followed.

And followed. For he was patient.

In time it grew comfortable with his presence, and the faint rents that trailed after the Scribe's pointed snout and from mantid-like arms upon its chest were put into use. He watched as, little by little, those rents were stretched, bent and woven into a familiar shape upon the ground. And when the Scribe departed, that shape stood.

Yiftakh gazed upon his own face.



Yiftakh slid his sword from his scabbard. His Invert gazed into its own twisted hands and inclined its head, feet still yet knees shaking.

"That's enough," said Yiftakh, and cut himself in two.
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24s-e79-vh-d


I don't intend the J-type Pronobii to be identical to what they were. Duplication is boring. They will come in a variety of morphs and phenotypes, none of which will be quite like their models.

Some of this is by necessity. There are various functions that I want to add to my Pronobii, and others that I will be unable to restore.

Their ocular apparatus poses a serious problem. The original R-types used blood from Death's Witnesses as a biochemical model- They were more crow than ape, and more statue than crow, and held Lesser Eyes of Reathos. This enabled them to see the True Name of a soul, the script of which formed the basis for their own written language. More importantly, it allowed Reathos himself to look through their eyes.

Death's Witnesses are, of course, extant. More valuable genes for me to work with. They've helped me make an unfortunate discovery.

Reathos is dead, but the link is still intact. With the god of death reduced to chaos, so is the telepathy.

All the eyes I've built so far release a heavily distorted psychic signal in no particular direction, without lull. Eye contact results in mental scrambling that other mortals would find painful.

I'd rather not pass on these devices- They featured too heavily in Pronobis culture and identity. Instead I've opted to seal them away within the skull, while strengthening them enough to see through the hardened tissue. Other morphs, with exposed eyes, will simply have to wear blindfolds.

Ironic that the one feature meant to make a Pronobis palatable is now its most fearsome.
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392-kdx-46-x


Cryomancy, as the R-types called it, is a form of pure magic. I cannot truly reconstruct it, but I will do my best. It's too perfect to pass up.

What the R-types were capable of doing was control proton bonds in crystallised matter- The force that binds water molecules together and arranges them into the glassy material we call ice. I've been testing what cryomancy I can mimic using machines and captive souls, and it turns out that the same power can be applied to water that is sufficiently cold and under sufficient pressure.

In other words, abyss water!

With some other modifications, cryomancy can also interact with ammonia and hydrogen fluoride, which have similar chemistry. That'll be useful when I send the J-types into space.

Speaking of.

I didn't choose to bring back the Pronobii just because they were gone. (Or to spite Vestec for getting there first.)

(...Not entirely, anyway.)

(I mean, yes, maybe.)

(But he'll never read this so it doesn't matter.)

(Where was I? Oh. Space.)

All Pronobii are fuelled by a siphon derived from the White Giants. Their bodies are made of nothing more than ice, some silicates, and aluminium. A trickle of organics is needed to form their blood, and no other nourishment. They are resistant to cold and do not breathe. If I want intelligent life to help me colonise the stars, they're an excellent way to start.

I still need to perfect that siphon, though. Mine keep overloading and setting things on fire.



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90d-b3w-7t-f


...You know what? I'm not going to finish that siphon. It's better this way.

For one thing, even negative fifty is a far cry from the subzero temperatures in space. I'll need a lot of energy output to keep these J-types going. And there's not much magic around to be siphoned anymore- With Reathos gone, the energy in his Witnesses' blood has gone down significantly.

Fortunately, I've found another source. The Pronobii were always a crusader race, and one of the weapons in their arsenal was the ability to leech 'life' from the creatures around them via a siphon. Well, I've finally found out what 'life energy' is.

There's a form of magic in the Codex we all overlooked: Slough's.

Every rock in this universe is humming with the potential to produce and harbour life. It's not so much magic as it is... Divine residue, I guess. If we look far enough into the universe we'll inevitably find points where it interacted with the physical substrate to produce life spontaneously.

That's probably what Chiral Phi was trying to calculate when she had her hands on the Codex. 'But I don't have hands...' Don't kid me, Phi. I know what you are.

Whatever Slough's legacy is, exactly, it's strong enough to fill the siphons. In fact, it's strong enough to make them overflow. The J-types will be fine in space or the cardioid or the poles, but in warm weather, well. My prototypes use pipes and radiating vanes to shed the excess heat, and most have several smaller siphons in the joints rather than a single one in the core. Even then...

Heheh.

I've turned the children of ice into a people of fire. And I don't regret it one bit.



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883-b57-0s-q


The humanoid R-type body isn't particularly well suited to swimming. I've modified some Heraktati to be amphibious and capable of abyssal dives; If my estimates are correct, and they sometimes are, they should instinctively take to their kin. They'll be able to perform draught work.

...Yes sometimes. I'm not Phi. I'm not going to abuse my ability to skip to the end using numbers. I have a sense of fun that doesn't involve micromanaging an entire civilisation.

I've taken some inspiration from the weaponry Teknall used to deal with the Realta. By running a current between two magnetic rails through a mobile, conductive intermediate- in his case, an adamantium bullet- it's possible to generate a lot of force.

Well, seawater is mobile, and conductive, so I've decided to fix two-pronged 'wings' to some of the morphs. These can be magnetised, and the siphon can be used to produce electricity, resulting in a magnetohydrodynamic engine for easier movement through water.

I've also sharpened them, in case my J-types ever need to shank something with a few thousand volts.

Heartworm's filters will make for convenient habitation, with plenty of natural advantages. I've drained them of some energy via the roots to make them less hazardous. Still, if the J-types can't handle high radiation or the occasional explosion, then I've definitely made a mistake somewhere.

...

I think we're ready to go.



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