[hider=Jonathan, close to the Capital of Orngat, Mechanolia, Province #56]“Phew! I got one!” Jonathan said, looking very pleased with himself as he came into his teacher’s chemistry lab.

“Hm? Got a what?” Penokio turned his head from the gunpowder mixture he was working on, mixing it with different things in order to change its properties for Orngat’s use, when he flinched seeing what Jonathan had brought in. In the boy’s hand was a small bottle of water, and in it a tiny shining something. That something was one of those spirits that had awakened by the mages of New Engelica upon arrival…!

“L-LET THAT OUT RIGHT NOW!” Penokio commanded with a startled voice, staring in fear at the really pleased Jonathan.  The boy’s expression changed in surprise at the older and somewhat overweight teacher’s command.

“Eh? Why?” He asked, sounding innocent. Penokio answered while waving a terrified finger.

“B-BECAUSE! That’s the spirits the mages of New Engelica have been using as of late! It’s probably deeply sacrilegious of us to capture one, they could declare war on us for this! A-and, maybe others of its kind senses this one’s captivity, and will be coming here in force to save their friend…!” The engineer explained his fears of what they didn’t know, but Jonathan simply laughed.

“Oh, c’mon, nothing like that’s going to happen. Instead, let’s think of what we can do with this!” The boy said, bringing the bottle with the little spirit onto the table, staring at it in amazement. “I had it checked with some instruments. It contains some kind of energy. What if we’d be able to harness it for our own…?” 

“… They’re magical creatures, Jonathan.” Penokio grumbled, troubled by how Jonathan never shared his fears. “We should let magical research be done by mages. We’re engineers. We deal with machines and real things.”

“But why is that?” Jonathan asked, turning his head to stare questioningly at Penokio. “Why would we have to be mages to use magical power-sources?” The young human turned his face back to the little glowing thing, smiling as he mused. “If we can find a way to stimulate the power of this little fellow by natural means, then the awesome power of magic could be indirectly harnessed, couldn’t it…?” Penokio shuddered at the thoughts which Jonathan was thinking. Those were dangerous thoughts. What would the mages of New Engelica think?

“I… really think you shouldn’t…” Penokio was about to…

“I wonder if they have genders? What do they eat? I’ll need to test things. If I figure out how they breed, I might be able to farm them. If I get them in greater numbers, I could perhaps get more of a result. Just imagine, ten thousand of these locked into a container, powering an engine… ‘Spirit Engine’. I wonder, will we be able to make something to have them shoot out their power? Then we could device ‘Spirit Cannons’, haha. Maybe I should go and ask the New Engelicans what they think of my theories?”

“Jonathan!” Penokio called out loudly with a frown at the young engineer, causing Jonathan to look at him with surprised eyes. “Be very wary with the line of thoughts you’re going through right now. Even if it would be successful, there is nothing telling that it would be more effective than the cannons and engines we already have. In addition, the mages might not take too kindly to what you’re doing to those which they might be considering their friends. You should focus on what we know we need. Orngat is under attack from the Darkness, the Order has not been able to hide that from us.” Indeed, the howling harpies and the sudden theft of privately owned ships at the ports had done that. But, Anton Evald had thoroughly explained the reason why those ships had been taken and told the public that the underwater enemy had been defeated for now.

“Although they’ve been very persuasive in telling us that they’re capable of keeping us safe, YOU, young engineer, should be doing everything in your power to come up with dependable methods of destroying the enemy. There will be a time for magical fantasy theories, but now is not the time. Now c’mon. We’re trying to develop bombs that will work underwater against the enemy fishes here.” Penokio grunted, turning back to the gunpowder he was working on. His strategy for discouraging the boy turned somewhat effective, as Jonathan felt doubt fill him, looking at the back of his teacher. He threw a sad glance at the glowing little spirit in the bottle, and sighed. Guess Orngat did need him.

… Though, the kid smirked. That didn’t mean he couldn’t have a pet project on his freetime…[/hider]

[hider=Zuth Falmal, By the ports of Oreino, Province #57]They had been able to take out multiple of the enemy underwater monstrosities. They were huge, though apparently quite stupid. They had attacked anything right above them, meaning that by stealing all available civilian ships and making countless rafts out of left-over barrels and making the sea a garbage-dump of floating debris the enemy had attacked essentially nothing. Praise be the scouts that noticed this before the enemy had reached the shores, or the battle had been far more costly. Not a single Ironclad had been lost in the battle thanks to this strategy. They had to make the most of this. 

[The info of how this battle was won would most likely have been shared with any ally reading this. The underwater creatures attack anything above them, so by filling the sea with wood, the monsters attacked these ships harmlessly allowing the Ironclads to target them without coming to harm themselves. 
The New Engelican mages summoned underwater familiars that engaged the enemy underwater too, so they were a great help. Haha.]

Now, they had dragged the corpses of the enemy monsters to shore. One would have been provided to the New Engelican mages if they wanted one to research on. All but one of the rest had been frozen, to be maintained and researched. The remaining one after that was now lying on a giant operating table in front of Zuth, the representative of health, as she glared at the giant corpse. She put on gloves, surrounded by countless others medical personnel, staring down at it.

“Alright. Let’s begin the operation. We need to learn how these things function.” And so it took place, a giant autopsy to learn about their new enemies. How their senses worked, what it had recently eaten, how its stomach worked, everything… everything they could possibly learn from these carcasses by delving deeper in them. As much as they could before it had completely rotted to pieces…![/hider]

[hider=Belden Drunarum, east city of Orngat, Endorum, Province #54]Belden, Master Builder of the Order of Orngat, breathed out happily as he looked over the gathered machines east of Endorum. Yupp. This would go absolutely fine. As per the deal with the Broken Empire, in exchange for their assistance with defending the provinces of Orngat so would Orngat assist with the defense of the coast-line provinces of the Broken Empire. That was provinces #50 and #49. Now, the Empire would not be under attack from this direction quite yet, but those who are ready gain the benefits. Orngats were masters of Dwarven Defenses (the racial trait, that is). 

No offense to the defense of the Broken Empire, as fellow dwarves Belden was sure they were excellent, but the Master Builder would take every chance he got to improve upon the constructions he could find. Maybe, possibly, he could even borrow the ports of the Broken Empire to bolster their navy, as he knew that the Broken Empire’s lack of navy could leave them exposed from the seas. “Heh-heh.” Belden smirked in front of his gathering of machines and workers. “C’mon, lads! We’ve got a coast to keep safe!” He turned and headed east for the Broken Empire, intending to honor the agreement which they had.[/hider]

[hider=Recruitment]Each province, 1 Walker, 1 Ironclad, 1 Interceptor.[/hider]
[hider=Research]Against the Dark, step 3/3, operated on actual corpses of the Darkness and discovered their patterns in combat. Trait research “complete”? Haha.[/hider]
[hider=Movement]Let’s go keep our allies safe! Spread the defenses! Haha!

Let’s see. 

[hider=Ideal Garrison, that I’m aiming for]
Disregarding that I’ll get 3 extra of each per turn…

Total 148 M-Warriors units, 56 M-Walkers, 56 Ironclads, 66 Interceptors
#57 has 30 M-Warrior units, 12 M-Walkers, 12 Ironclads, 14 Interceptors.
#56 has 30 M-Warrior units, 11 M-Walkers, 11 Ironclads, 13 Interceptors. 
#54 has 30 M-Warrior units, 11 M-Walkers, 11 Ironclads, 13 Interceptors. 
#50 has 29 M-Warrior units, 11 M-Walkers, 11 Ironclads, 13 Interceptors.
#49 has 29 M-Warrior units, 11 M-Walkers, 11 Ironclads, 13 Interceptors.[/hider]

8 M-Warrior units, 4 M-Walkers, 4 Ironclads and 4 Interceptors from #57 to #56
33 M-Warrior units, 14 M-Walkers, 14 Ironclads , 16 Interceptors from #56 to #54
29 M-Warrior units, 11 M-Walkers, 11 Ironclads, 13 Interceptors from #54 to #50. Reinforcements.

That’ll keep it equal for now! I’ll send a new 29 M-Warrior units, 11 M-Walkers, 11 Ironclads, 13 Interceptors into #50 next turn, while those that are there now move to #49![/hider]

[hider=Total Garrison]
Total 148 M-Warrior units, 56 M-Walkers, 56 Ironclads, 66 Interceptors.
#57 has 40 M-Warrior units, 15 M-Walkers, 15 Ironclads, 18 Interceptors.
#56 has 40 M-Warrior units, 15 M-Walkers, 15 Ironclads, 18 Interceptors. 
#54 has 39 M-Warrior units, 15 M-Walkers, 15 Ironclads, 17 Interceptors. 
#50 has 29 M-Warrior units, 11 M-Walkers, 11 Ironclads, 13 Interceptors (Broken Empire, reinforcing the coastline)[/hider]