[center][img]https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/7f28c785-bb7c-4826-8dbd-4f45a4e28f0c.png[/img]
[color=Peru][b]The Great Artisan, Divine Mason, Builder of Civilisations
Level 5 God of Crafting (Masonry, Carpentry, Smithing, Alchemy, Armaments)[/b]
31.5 Might & 2 Free Points[/color][/center]

The whir of servo motors. The buzz of saws and drills. The heat of forges. The crackle of electricity. The rumble of excavations. The clanking of wheels on rails. And the invisible light show of radio and microwave communications. These were the sensations Teknall felt as he walked between the rows of Promethean Processors, arranged like houses along a street. Promethean Manipulators scurried around and over their larger cousins like ants, assisting in the perpetual tasks of upgrades, re-purposing and maintenance. One could almost be forgiven for thinking the Processors to be static buildings, except they would get up and crawl to some other destination whenever the Nexus readjusted its priorities or otherwise deemed a rearrangement of the colony necessary.

The Processors were connected to the supply network by a system of motorised trolleys on rails. Via this railway minerals were brought in from the mines, intermediate parts were moved along the supply chain, and finished components were sent to the Nexus to be assembled into more Prometheans, or sent to the other colonies to supply their needs.

And many Prometheans had been made. Thanks to the kick-start to their population provided by the Workshop, the Prometheans now numbered in their millions, and their population was growing exponentially. One thing that helped to maintain that exponential growth was some more advanced chemical synthesis techniques provided by Teknall. On planets like Galbar, life performs a lot of the work in making complex molecules, and the work of the synthetic chemist would generally involve manipulating these preexisting molecules. However, on this lifeless rock, short-chain hydrocarbons was the most complicated naturally occurring chemical. In order to access advanced chemicals such as functional polymers, plastics, carbon fibre, and metal-organic semiconductors, as well as creating advanced materials such as superconductors, far more sophisticated synthetic methods would be required. So Teknall provided such methods, which saw extensive use within his Workshop, allowing the Prometheans to synthesise materials from the raw elements if absolutely necessary.

Teknall came to a clearing among the Processors, where there was a new type of Promethean he had built earlier. Its chassis was a large box, 40 meters long, 15 meters wide and 15 meters tall, covered in lightweight composite materials in an aerodynamic form. Wings 40 meters wide swept back from the top of the Promethean and shaded the clearing. The sides of the chassis were opened to reveal a hollow interior, with robotic arms moving cargo in and out of the hold. An Energiser was nearby charging this Promethean.

This new Promethean was a Carrier. Their size would vary significantly depending on their intended cargo and means of locomotion, but their primary purpose was transportation. Gifted with the ability of powered flight, Carriers could rapidly transport resources, equipment and other Prometheans between colonies.

Teknall stepped into the Carrier's cargo hold.

[color=Peru] >new_task(Type="move",Destination=[21.50 -15.11])[/color]
[code]promethean.C000073: New Task received from "Teknall" (Task No. 089102)[/code]
[code]promethean.C000073: Completing loading/unloading Sub-Tasks[/code]
[code]promethean.C000073: Loading/unloading Sub-Tasks completed[/code]
[code]promethean.C000073: Processing Task No. 089102[/code]
[code]promethean.C000073: Running launch sequence[/code]

The Energiser disconnected from the Carrier and withdrew as the Carrier's jets roared to life and vectored their thrust downwards, lifting the Carrier into the air.

As the ground dropped away, the colony came into view. In the center towered the Nexus, now over a hundred meters tall and surrounded by scaffolding and ramps, providing a continuous flow of components to be assembled into new Prometheans. Radiating outwards were roads and rails, and between those were grids of Processors, arranged like an organised city and stretching outwards for many kilometers. Manipulators traversed the colony, swarming around and being busy. A few Energisers, distinguishable by their large roundish forms, dotted the colony, connected to vast webs of conductive cables. Other Carriers could be seen landing and taking off from various places in the colony like great metal birds. In a few places, in pits breaking up the otherwise continuous cityscape, Harvesters worked, extracting every bit of useful ore from underneath the colony.

However, the majority of resource collection was now being performed in the other colonies. Larger railways connected this central colony to the others, shipping in raw materials and shipping out fresh Prometheans in cargo trains stretching for hundreds of meters. The Carriers, as far as terrestrial applications went, were good for rapid deliveries and transportation to and from newer colonies which did not yet have the rail infrastructure.

While the interior of the colony was relatively static in layout, the outer fringes were in constant motion. Processors were moving into place. Harvesters were clearing stone and levelling ground. Manipulators were building infrastructure. Nearby a new railway hub was being constructed, a logistical center for more efficiently distributing deliveries, for efficiency was vital if exponential growth was to be maintained.

Yet Teknall hadn't come here today to marvel at the efficiency. Today Teknall was troubleshooting. One of the mining colonies was reporting some quite strange errors. And considering the robustness of everything Teknall made, that any errors at all were being reported was troubling.

When the Carrier arrived at its destination, Teknall disembarked and walked down the road. Around him hummed the Processors as they did their work, and to the side was a slightly different Energiser. Rather than have a nuclear fusion core fueled by water, this Energiser operated on the principle of nuclear fission. Several of its side ports were dedicated to moving parts associated with control and fuel rods. At one point a Manipulator came up to the Energiser as it ejected one of the spent nuclear fuel rods. The Manipulator removed from a lead box a fresh fuel rod, which it inserted into the Energiser, and placed the spent fuel rod into that lead box. The lead box was carried away for its contents to be safely processed. While Prometheans might not contain any biomatter to be mutated, sensitive electronics could still be harmed by radiation, so care had to be taken when dealing with these hazardous materials.

This particular colony had been set up as a uranium mine. While nuclear fusion provided more energy, nuclear fission was a lot cheaper to manufacture, and cheap energy led to more rapid expansion. Many of the Processors here worked on isotopic enrichment, converting pitchblende into fissile fuel. This was then used in nuclear fission reactors, both here and in other colonies as a cheaper power source for the earlier stages of development. The fission byproducts were also being processed into radioisotope thermal generators, to provide more power options for the Prometheans.

Yet the mines had hit a problem.

[code]promethean.N000028: Error: Survey data corrupted [21.502 -15.129][/code]
[code]promethean.N000028: Error: Unable to continue part of Task No. 069738 (Type="harvest",Target="Uranium"): Unable to access location [21.502 -15.129][/code]
[code]promethean.N000028: Error: Communication failure with H100298. Last known location: [21.502 -15.129][/code]
[code]promethean.N000028: Access to [21.502 -15.129] restricted.[/code]

When Teknall's Perception reached the site of the problem, in the mining trenches, he understood why the Prometheans were having problems. Teknall walked on into the mines and approached the scene. An exclusion zone had been set up around this trench. While the Prometheans outside that zone carried on with their work, busy as always, all activity stopped abruptly at the border of the exclusion zone, into which no Prometheans entered.

Teknall strode in. In the bottom of the trench was a Harvester, which seemed strangely inert. One might have assumed it had succumbed to radiation, frying its electronics, except that would not have caused such a fuss. As Teknall approached, though, the continuous radio chatter which normally filled the air became distorted, muffled with white noise and interspersed with strange chirps. When Teknall got close enough to touch the Harvester, he was able to hear its weak radio signal.

[code]proṃethe̎an.H1͇͞002̗9᷊̾͒8: Runn͛ing reboot seq̽uencė[/code]
[code]prome͙the̱͊a᷃n.H100298: Sys̃tems scan: ͯTel̀eco̙mmunic̖atio᷀n̮s͇ ̸̞̥̕f̣ail̂ure[/code]
[code]p̯rom̒etheaṅ̯ͨ.H100298ͧ:̹ Sỷst̥ems sca᷅̌n̻̅: Hard drỉve̩ corrup᷿ted[/code]
[code]promethean᷾.͊H1002͚98: Syst̨͉͕̍eṃ̱᷃̿s scan failed͡[/code]
[code]p̄̿romethe͗ȁ̭n.̦H100298:̶ Assisẗ́ance ̾ͩcall̄ f̋ailed[/code]
[code]promethea̱n.H̩10͊02͇9ͦ8:̤᷾ Re̗ͫboo̾tͧing͐[/code]

Teknall walked around to the Harvester's hopper. The gauntlet of his Mirror Armour covered his hand as he reached in, and pulled out a rock. Yet this rock writhed against Teknall's gaze. Nearby shadows seemed to lurch and stretch, and a low buzz rose on the edge of Teknall's hearing. He had seen an artefact similar to this before, way back in the cave from which Lazarus had been born. This rock carried traces of the Gap in it, and was interfering with nearby telecommunications and electronics as well as slightly warping reality.

Teknall waved his other hand and the pitchblende ore vein glowed incandescent. From it flowed forth molten lead, and this molten lead wrapped around the Relic of Perfectus and sealed it away from the world. The distortions faded and radio chatter was heard clearly again. Teknall slipped the object into his satchel and tapped the Harvester.

[code]promethean.H100298: Running reboot sequence[/code]
[code]promethean.H100298: Systems scan: All systems optimal[/code]
[code]promethean.H100298: Reboot complete[/code]
[code]promethean.H100298: Synchronising task list[/code]

The problem removed, Teknall headed out of the trench. The Prometheans proceeded with their regular activities. Teknall informed the Nexus what to do if it encountered a similar error again- quarantine the area and contact him. It seemed very odd that such a Relic would be found all the way over here, in this far corner of the Universe. He had not sensed any divine trails other than his own when he scouted out this region of space, and in such an isolated area even the faintest divine trails should be noticeable. Based what he knew of the last Relic, it was probably Vowzra's doing, but why he would have sent a Relic way out here was a mystery.

Perhaps he'd find a use for these Relics some day.

[hider=Von Neumann]
The Promethean colonies have expanded considerably, industrialising huge swaths of the planet they were placed on. Their population continues to grow exponentially.

Teknall's also been busy working with them. He has granted them even more advanced chemical synthesis (1 MP, enhanced by Alchemy), railway (0.25 MP), powered atmospheric flight (0.25 MP), isotopic enrichment (0.25 MP, enhanced by Alchemy), nuclear power (0.25 MP) and hazardous materials handling skills (0.25 MP).

Nuclear (fission) power is used because such power plants are cheaper to build than the nuclear fusion cores, so its good for smaller colonies.

Teknall has also built a new Promethean sub-type: the Carrier (0.25 MP). It's job is to fly around transporting stuff, and currently they look a bit like blocky cargo planes. (I note that the thrust for atmospheric Carriers is provided by electric engines, because there's no oxygen here to burn fuel.)

Teknall goes to one of the mines, because the Prometheans have encountered an unexpected issue that has been interfering with their electronics and communications. Teknall inspects the issue, and the cause was a Relic of Perfectus a Harvester had inadvertently dug up. Gap and radio doesn't mix too well, it seems.

Teknall pockets the Relic and leaves, pondering why this Relic was left here and what to do with the Relics.

[b]Might Summary[/b]
[i]Before:[/i] 31.5 MP and 2 FP (12.5 MP reserved by Workshop)
[i]Spent:[/i] 2.5 MP
[i]After:[/i] 29 MP and 2 FP (12.5 MP reserved by Workshop)
[/hider]