Node 3, with its sky-piercing mountains, was slowly being tamed. With the importation of Eunomian techniques, more and more people had the means to brave its heights and explore the unique riches it contained. At the same time, beneath their feet, the promised tunnel that went from the frontier with node 2 to the frontier with node 4 had been completed. The route was made connecting the many breaches to the sea or opening in the midst of the mountains, people often built villages in these which in the past would often get called "hold outs" for the fact they life was quite miserable comparable to others and even the most fanatical dusklander didn't see much hope in small fishing and mining villages deep in Node 3.

Then came the Alchemists, the farms of Kollore, the council's workforce and the full tunnel, and now these villages after so much struggle were starting to brim with life and prosperity, yet the name 'hold' for the mountain villages persisted in the folk culture.

Since lamps across all of its lenghts was always impossible, the dusklanders had painted art and symbols on the walls of the deeper, darker bits of the road in the luminescent wax of the local magical bees, it did not provide light but did mark the walls and avoid total darkness. With time, however, these started to be taken over by alchemist-made magma-crystal infused clay and glass, the "everglow" as it was often called, made for more aesthetically pleasing low light environments, with the clay having a softer glow often in pastel colours while the glass was much like illuminated stained glass.

And yet, neither the improvement of the villages nor the tunnel project had been what had drawn the alchemists in droves to the area, the truth lay beneath the infamous quicksilver lake of the region, deep in the ravines of cinnabar rock. The production of synthetic cinnabar had been one of the first acts of the alchemists, pure like a red jade and made from mercury sulphides, and initially, this unique zone had been home to small research on the topic. Now it housed the single largest forge and metallurgic complex in the crucible.

This came about with the discovery of Cinnabar-Orichalk, or Nyartzurkortze. The process of the creation of the metal had always been complex, involving acid baths in a very specific area of Node 7, alchemists had first tried to make Orichalk straight from copper and gold, but after many failures, the focus became what elements in the acid seemed to make it work. That worked, and synthesis of the acid became possible, alchemists all over started to synthesise orichalk in their labs just to show they could, including one studying mercury in the caves. By complete accident, some of their mercury salts and whatnots were mixed with the process, and yet the result was not a useless slag.

Lighter yet as sturdy and reliable, Cinnabar-Orichalk was easily seen in its colour, the turquoise of orichalk remained, but instead of being matte it had a slight orange-red shine. It had greater flexibility to disperse blunt damage, and best of all, it was extremely easy to make compared to old orichalk, especially when both auri-chalkum and an entire supply of mercury were so easily available.

The only issue was the heat so deep down a mountain, but once again the alchemists found a way with the help of Xavior-made materials and the ever-so-useful Umbrium from the Maelite. Infusing Umbrium and a magma crystal and bathing it in the absurdly cold liquid nitrogen lakes of Node 9 had synthesised a new crystal, the alchemists called it Heat Killer, the public thought that was a bad name and called it Monica's Tear. Nevertheless, what was important was that the gemstone was a bottomless pit, it consumed energy and heat from its surroundings, and with a barrier of these, the alchemists were free to operate in the volcanic heat of their new forge.

The goddess had seen potential but took the chance to create something far beyond just a factory of one type of metal. The Deep Forge, The Magma Flow, The Cinnabar Workshop, it gained many names, and most people thought it was merely a rumour. Yet it was not, deep in the mountain of Node 3, a massive facility was crafted, along with a whole village to support it. Cauldrons of absurd sizes, vats of molten metals and alloys, bubbling pits of all types of acids, natural and synthetic, gigantic presses and hammers and coils that harnessed the telluric energy from the depths of the earth and fed it to all of the machines. Furnaces powered by magma, electricity and magnetism, most of which even the alchemists did not understand.

Yet the results spoke for themselves, outside of Cinnabar-Orichalk, the forge had been the discovery site of new metals with key applications, like titanium and palladium, they experimented with alchemy and plant and other types of organic matter and discovered how to isolate its carbon and condense it, creating new materials, graphite, the gemstone jet, and the quite miraculous "coal" a rock that could be burned to generate a flame, and which would become very popular among rich people all over the crucible as an alternative to the magical, magmatic and electric furnaces of the commoners.

Aiming to emulate the Eclipse blade of Umbrium, the alchemists tried everything they could to produce its metallic form, and got one success, with infusions of osmium and platinum. Nothing in the forge was able to produce a blade as sharp and as impossibly thin and the life-sapping nature of Umbrium remained in the metal, yet holding a dagger of Umbrium Alloy felt like holding a two-handed sword, only a few small blades of it were made before the project was put to rest. 

Coping with that failure, the alchemist-forgers made sure their improved steel using the newly discovered and isolated carbonite materials was of a dark colour and having no sense of shame, they named it Maelite Steel. It did help to create a certain mythic feel to it, as Maelite Steel became the default material of new dusklander weaponry, as most other materials, including orichalk, still lagged behind well-made steel when it came to having a reliable edge in weaponry.

[hr]

[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/h3mgsFyl.jpg[/img][/center]

"And that is the gist of what we have going in the Cinnabar Forge, my dear." Nyoriko said, with her usual smirk. "Looking at that, looking at this city. It almost makes me feel like we could make it without any gods around."

Kiri Tzur was on the verge of being finished, most of the city was already there, but the fortress while mostly erected still needed its defensive systems, while the shipyard and dry docks were still shaping up. From a look, the dusklander stained glass and metallic frames did not lie about who held the city, on the other, despite being entirely magistrate planned, a core of Tellum'Velik's style was also present in much of the materials and practical design.

"Feels like Tsorovah's younger, more desirable city. And what a message it sends! A reminder that all are welcome to become 'dusklanders', and also that if you don't here is a massive warship factory to remind you we own the place." Nyoriko snickered. "Anyway, my goddess, how did the battle go."

"You know the answer, even if you didn't, you would be able to guess it anyway." Dzallitsunya said in a distant tone, not even reacting to all of the master engineer's teasing.

"Mean. But I guess also valid. Sorry for that. But yes. We all know how it went." she stretched. "Sooooo. What now?"

"I will take the time I have to do other things. Kiri Tzur should help to take off the urgency from our defence. So I plan to attend the rest of the realm."

"I imagine this has to do with Monica? What a situation, and it was Eleanna as well..."

"We don't know about that, it could have been..."

"My sweet, beloved goddess. It's not anyone else. Our scouts saw the carriages entering Maelite. As for the winter god, we have not a single thermometers registering unusual coldness. Now now..."

"Yes. I get it." she bit her lips in frustration.

"Ah. What a thing you gods are. So emotional too. Tsunya, you can understand how frustrating it can be for us mortals to see gods acting in such an irrational and emotional way?"

The dusk goddess stared at the engineer and then sighed. "I can. I am sorry. I did not put a whole system in place just to ignore it if the results are not of my liking. About why I need to leave the province, well, it has to do with Monica in a way, there is a matter I must attend to in a far-off land. Yet, it is also because I am tired. I have been tired for a while. I... want to visit my family, and forget godhood for a while. I hope this concept does not offend you, Nyoriko. I know you are growing to be frustrated at the gods and how chaotic we are."

"If it was a serious concern I would have not told you, silly bird. And no offence taken, it's normal to want to be around those you care about, not the fields of death and intrigue. I would be more worried about my husband going after you, after you gave me the tools to mess around with ultra-projects all over the dusklands." the engineer looked to the side, observing a fish that swam in the canals of the ocean facility they were in. "Isn't it, hmm, Kroll who said, that we would do all we can so you don't have to worry yourself over mortal matters? I think that spirit holds true to all dusklanders to this day."

"And, of course, there are things only you can do, Tsunya. You keep the foreign gods at bay. You will be an eternal ageless ruler that will outlive every little power player like me, by millennia. You control the nodes. And... despite the devices of the Deep Forge, and the upcoming Celestial Forge, I don't think I will ever be equal to what you can do. Ex Nihilo. To create from nothing. What a power it is."

Tsunya laughed. "I like your giant hammer machine though, more stylish than willing metal into existence. Now. Speaking of that. How does our magic studies fare?"

The mortal shrugged. "Fora finally reported progress. Thanks our dark goddess for that. On our side, well, alchemy is evolving, slowly, we have been trying to replace the mechanisms of ambrosia. Palladium-Mercury tattoos seem like viable conductors, but are complicated to use. Of course... there are also our researches into uhh... what is the euphemism for it? Life dust? Soul glass is promising, but supply is low..."

"I cannot help with that. It's not like I can start ordering more assassinations just so we use the silicification poison more. I already gave you the right to execution using the method too. What else is there to give."

The scientist's colourful glasses gained a reluctant shine. "Now. I have been thinking. Death is a tragedy, also a tragedy is to just allow our bodies to rot on the earth, as we have been doing. Now... if our funeral rites were to change? Becoming a pretty little crystal of glass is a better fate than letting your body become a worm's feast. We'd put those crystals in a table, and inscribe their names too! That will generate a small tickle of dusk which can then be... you know. Used."

The goddess looked at Nyoriko with wide eyes. "It is disgusting that you suggested that, and disgusting... that I cannot quite disagree. I will think about it, but it's hard to do such a thing without feeling guilty."

"Why! The solution to that is simple. The same way you are fine having us fight in a war because you too are willing to fight and die for us, well, if you are to request materials for magic from the people, you could make it fair by offering some materials from you too~" she smirked, playfully but with a clear deviant joy at it. "A bit of blood. For a start. Would, oh be so helpful. And once you are free, maybe a little visit to Badja Kiri, so we can study you a bit more and see how that can help. You-know-who will be excited, but I am no sadist, there is potential in this. I guarantee" 

Tsunya forced Nyoriko back a few steps. "Come on now, this is improper interest in my body, I am married and so are you Nyoriko." Tsunya sighed. "But you do have a point, if you think you can make use of my blood, sure, do you want a leeching or would a small wound suffice?"

"Why, haven't you been away for a while? Dear love! Leeches? No no, we have syringes now."

[hr]

The battle for node 35 took a long time, the chaos guardian of the final node was no joke, a true beast of immense power, but after hours, one well-placed shot from Dzallitsunya's Daman Style wrist ballista fell the beast. A tired Dzallitsunya looked at it one last time, with white fur and floppy ears, she did not know how the hell a little horned rabbit could have been so powerful.

The rush of power from the node was as addicting as ever, Node 35 had a particularly enticing aftertaste, it was, on the list of the nodes, the last. There was a sense of divine comedy in the first node being Benea and the last being her, the light and the dark.

Once again, she had found ways to stop the sunrise, this time with a new technique, the dawn would start giving the night sky its lighter tones of cyan and pink, yet, just before the sunrise proper, it would stop changing, stay like that, until it was time for the sunset, with the fading gold and darkness of night taking over.

The land in which this long twilight existed was a desert, with sand dunes and rocky hills, a subtropical coast on the north made by humidity held by mountains, a good harbour point once Kiri Tzur was finished and Dusklander ships spread all over the world. Large rainbow-coloured crystals grew among the sand, especially around the centre, life was tame, with little foxes scurrying by and gentle manta rays floating in the sky. Low humidity was made on purpose, as she desired a good observation place for her inquiries onto the stars and the moon.

Dzalli had been so tired, that she found herself falling on the sand and staying there,she gave up completely on trying to catch up with Xavior and Benea, if they were still in the region, the invite had taken a while to reach her, she did not want intrigues or revelations, she just wanted to look up and see the clear starry sky. How could such beauty exist in such a horrible world? It was cruel, Peninal was cruel as well, the fool desired a world of peace, yet had created a crucible that was crumbling quickly, three gods had fallen, when it was the ones she did not know or care about it was fine, but Monica? The more she stood still, the more she could feel the weight of it all, and in this sunless land, she could not just point her sword to the sky and yell away her anguish.

[hider=summary]
This story takes place a bit after an upcoming battle post.

Node 3 continues to be colonized, with dusklanders going full dorf over it.

A massive metallurgical complex is created deep in the mountain of Node 3, making use of the magma beneath and the lake of mercury above, it's called the Cinnabar Forge or the Deep Forge. It produces better orichalk in more quantity, cutting-edge metals and metal alloys, it straight up brings carbon minerals like jet, graphite and coal, into the setting, and creates weird materials like Umbrium-Alloy, an ultra-heavy ultra-sharp metal, and can create something called "soul glass" from the dustified remains of people the dusklanders killed with petrification (or silicification, as they said it) poison, which is a good conductor for magic. The dusklanders also invent a bottomless version of the magma gemstone by infusing it with umbrium, it eats the heat away from a room and they use it to survive in this absurd forge.

The story resumes when Dzalli is talking with Nyoriko about plans in the almost ready port metropolis of Kiri Tzur. Nyoriko muses about how gods are somewhat becoming unnecessary, but she likes Dzalli so its okay. The conversation derails somewhat, ultimately, she asks the goddess for some blood.

Finally, after I just assume Xavior would tell Tsunya that she can now use the portal, Tsunya uses the portal and makes node 35 into a desert after killing a killer rabbit. She then collapses into the ground and is just having a bad time, again. She doesn't even try to catch up with Benea and Xav, she just wants to see the sky and then go home to her family.[/hider]

[hider=might usage]
Initial: 5
Bonus: + 3 + 1

4 might: The Cinnabar Forge
A massive semi-automated forge of unmatched quality and productivity, able to store many metals and chemicals and help with the alchemical process for the creation of unusual alloys and the work of exotic metals. It also comes with the Heat Killer gemstones that stop the heat from the forge from being fatal to humans, as much of what it does makes use of extreme conditions.

5 might: (Tier six)Raise a civilization to the steam age or middle fantasy industrial age (clockwork and steam engines, guns and fixed bayonets)
[/hider]