That is quote a good point, especially with her being less experienced. I will revamp her accordingly.
Villamvihar
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Here I go! Backstory is still in the works, but it should be nothing too out of the ordinary.
Awesome! It shall be done.
Silent Cathedral
Systems Controlled: 7
Government: Hive Consensus
Nation Size: Medium
Nation Specialty: Stellar Devourers
A specialisation that is focused on dismantling stellar objects and turning them into raw materials, these nations are industrial powerhouses that can shift their might towards military, economy or population growth fluidly. As such, once they have established a proper infrastructure in a system, they are almost impossible to oust.
However, with so much dedicated to industry, it is no surprise that their technology advances at a glacial pace. At the same time, not only does their infrastructure take a significant time to set up, they also have little incentive to develop FTL technologies beyond the basics, which results in a much slowed speed of expansion.
Species
Flock: In layman's terms, a Flock is sapient consciousness equivalent housed inside a skull-sized sphere of metal and circuitry, capable of controlling purpose-built equipment in a bubble of eight metres in diamater, centered on the device itself. In more complicated terms, a single Flock is a positronic brain capable of replicating sapient decision-making processes and is equipped with a command emitter that can connect to any machine built with Silent Cathedral technology within four metres of itself. Like in sapient creatures, there are significant mental deviations between each Flock. This is inherent to their method of creation and while alternates exist, they produce less than desirable results.
Prophet: A scaled-up version of Flock technology that includes antiprotonic and quantum processing elements in its structure, Prophets are the pinnacle of Silent Cathedral technology. With a calculating and broadcast capacity far beyond that of any Flock, it is no stretch to say that they hold far greater power at their disposal, but at the same time, they are more limited in other aspects. For instance, while a Prophet's control extends to sixteen thousand kilometres (roughly 0.53 light-seconds) in radius, they are also incredibly difficult to manufacture. Each Prophet consciousness takes years upon years of work to assemble and the process may not be sped up due to the delicate procedures required.
They also exhibit less distinct personalities than the Flock, with their creativity especially lacking. Therefore, experience is an essential factor for how well a Prophet may perform at any given task, with a role far greater than what it might ordinarily play in the case of other sapients.
Scepter: Swarms upon swarms of biological, mechanical or electrical sub-sapient intelligences purpose-built to perform certain functions within society, including war. To cover their sheer variance along with their numbers is impossible, as each Prophet creates their own personal variant on the standard template so they might better suit their preferences. Perhaps it is erroneous to even classify them as a species, however, their numbers along with their prevalence in all aspects of Cathedral society necessitates their mention.
Culture
Notable Technologies
Artificial Consciousness Creation: This label covers the many technologies and methods that serve as the cornerstone of Silent Cathedral life, as nearly every mind that interacts with their society is assembled rather than created through a natural progression of their life-cycle. Given their experience with the subject, it is no surprise that they can create sub-sapient minds to meet precise specifications. However, while they possess the means to create sapient intelligences, that process is much less controlled.
Life-form Alteration: The expertise of Cathedral scientists also extends to genetic manipulation, modular components and biological integration of machinery, all of which they use on a daily basis to create new Scepter or modify existing ones to better suit their purpose. It is safe to say that with proper study, they are able to alter any life-form - biological, mechanical or otherwise - to suit their purposes, though significantly complex life would take decades of research.
Esoteric Energy Harvesters: One of the least understood pieces of technology the Cathedral possesses, this device enables them to rapidly gather energy from all nearby sources. To use a poor explanation, these devices act as vacuums for various forms of energy in a given radius, usually collecting them at a rate that exceeds their natural accumulation. Certain variants are even capable of absorbing gravitational potential energy, slowly weakening a stellar body's gravity.
Due to their complexity and difficult manufacturing process, these devices are almost never seen in military use.
Perimeter Shield: Yet another piece of barely-understood technology, this is a two-way defensive bubble that can protect its charge from anything the universe can throw at it. During the extensive testing carried out by the Silent Cathedral, nothing has been able to penetrate it for as long as it is up, though this goes both from the inside and the outside. Therefore, any weapon protected by a Perimeter Shield is as good as useless and there is also the massive energy requirement to consider.
To put it simply, it is literally impossible to make a Perimeter Shield that could encompass a volume large enough to support its continuous existence. Not even the largest generator and battery complexes can generate a Perimeter Shield that lasts beyond a couple of minutes; the duration only gets worse on installations or spaceships that make use of the technology.
Stellar Dismantling:
ARK-Drive: Interstellar travelling method that generates wormholes between two points of space. It is capable of transmitting extreme amounts of mass, not to mention connecting two planets with each other, however, it is incredibly slow when compared to other methods of FTL.
Economy
Military
My character is complete! Submitting her for review.
Magical Girls? An implied focus on the importance of narrative and story? Hell yes. I am definitely interested.
Hideous, evil, straight-up maniacal laughter rung in the chambers. It was of such quality, that if one were forced to write it using onomatopoeia, it could only me rendered as "MWHAHAHAHAhahahahahahahahahaha!" with extra emphasis added on the first two syllables. Clearly, whoever had performed it, they put in a great deal of practice into the Art of Evil Laughter and most Demon Lords would no doubt weep with joy if they heard it. Then again, they would probably be much less joyful if they learned that a human was the one who produced such a hideously evil laughter. And as if to add insult to injury, a former hero, to boot! Seriously, why did those pricks always have to overshadow perfectly responsible and hard-working overlords?!
Regardless of their concerns, the voice continued.
"IT'S ALIVE! IT'S ALIIIIIIIIIVE!" These words were accompanied by dramatic thunder and wind, as demanded by the rules of villainy. Or perhaps because there were massive, metal boxes set up in the room, from which the sound of heavy rain and thunder came forth in an unusually life-like and loud fashion. Not that many would see them, because they were shrouded in almost total darkness, with only a few strategically placed lights so that the venue's contents would be cast in an sinister light, calculated to such precision, efficiency and Absolute Evilness (trademarked and copyrighted!) that the aforementioned Demon Lords would be forced to weep at seeing how much a former hero had outdone them in their area of expertise.
Then the lights came back on and the sounds stopped with an abrupt record needle scratch.
"No reaction in the subject," Ithel Jernigan summarised as he looked down at the - predictably - still dead mouse in front of him. Continuing from the perspective of our beloved - behated? - Demon Lords, they would have surely been confused and perhaps even enraged at the man's appearance, for he dared to defy the stereotypes of both heroes and villains. In fact, most inhabitants of this world would be hard-pressed to recognise his mode of dress, as they never heard of such things as white suits and blue ties. At least not yet if this blue-haired, turquise-eyed, sharp-faced, glasses-wearing man had anything to say about it.
And he did. Several of those words included phrases that only existed in his language and conveyed supreme dissatisfaction with the state of affairs, but he did have lots of things to say. Most of which would be probably not well received by anyone who was born in this world, which is why he chose not to share them with many others. By the way, this tangent is only here because the author felt like it and it may or may not have relevance in the future. The author has not decided yet, because there is no way they can foretell the future and they are unwilling to revise or read their writing again.
Moving on ever so swiftly, Ithel took out a thick notepad with more pages than it should have been possible for a notepad to have.
"Situation #13 is also ineffective, which suggests that the hypothesis is baseless. Therefore, the 'Investigation of Possibilities Regarding Villainous and Heroic Speeches' project is temporarily suspended. The project will only be resumed in circumstances that replicate the required variables perfectly," he spoke out loud, which, while unnecessary, made him look cool let his assistant know what he wrote down, as she watched his every step.
"I attempt to express my regret at the failure of your experiment and the fact that I suggested it," she spoke, her voice coming across as... not quite human. Not quite demonic either, nor evil minion, which surely went against the rules of evil. But at least they went against the rules of good taste as defined by the rules of evil. Hierarchy was complicated like that.
"You do not have to worry about it, Fourzero," he responded to her with a slight smile. "It was worth a try. Given the rules of this world, I would not have been surprised if it did end up working." Ithel spoke to her in a calm, reasonable manner; quite an unusual thing for a force of evil to do and lead to a perfectly reasonable question: was he truly evil? Incidentally, this question did have an answer in the form of a quite thick document written by the Church of Clionism.
"Now then, we really should get going. Let us not leave lord Ahriman waiting for us."
"In the case we evacuate our laboratory in the present, our arrival will be scheduled two mi... a little eary," Fourzero spoke as she followed Ithel to the reception room.
"That is most acceptable."
Not long afterwards, the doors to Lord Ahriman's definitely most evil, sinful and unforgivable chambers opened and in stepped the aforementioned two individuals: Ithel Jernigan and Fourzero. While they lacked in presence compared to some of the individuals within the room, the way they held themselves held some gravitas. Not gravity. That is a different thing. Gravitas is an air of importance, not a force of attraction, though if one stretched the definition far enough, they would no doubt find some sort of irrelevant similarity between the two words, which would inevitably force an investigation from the department of science or the department of literature, if such things existed.
There were no announcements of their presence, nor did they introduce themselves in a grandiose manner, for such things were deemed unnecessary. Rather, they made their way casually towards one of the many banquet tables, deliberately selecting one that was A.) Empty, B.) Suited for only two people, C.) Had a white tablecloth and most importantly, D.), had been specifically requested by Ithel to accommodate them. For this first foray into this world of villainy service to Lord Ahriman, he wished to put a little bit of distance between him and his fellow Heartbreakers, just in case.
Regardless of their concerns, the voice continued.
"IT'S ALIVE! IT'S ALIIIIIIIIIVE!" These words were accompanied by dramatic thunder and wind, as demanded by the rules of villainy. Or perhaps because there were massive, metal boxes set up in the room, from which the sound of heavy rain and thunder came forth in an unusually life-like and loud fashion. Not that many would see them, because they were shrouded in almost total darkness, with only a few strategically placed lights so that the venue's contents would be cast in an sinister light, calculated to such precision, efficiency and Absolute Evilness (trademarked and copyrighted!) that the aforementioned Demon Lords would be forced to weep at seeing how much a former hero had outdone them in their area of expertise.
Then the lights came back on and the sounds stopped with an abrupt record needle scratch.
"No reaction in the subject," Ithel Jernigan summarised as he looked down at the - predictably - still dead mouse in front of him. Continuing from the perspective of our beloved - behated? - Demon Lords, they would have surely been confused and perhaps even enraged at the man's appearance, for he dared to defy the stereotypes of both heroes and villains. In fact, most inhabitants of this world would be hard-pressed to recognise his mode of dress, as they never heard of such things as white suits and blue ties. At least not yet if this blue-haired, turquise-eyed, sharp-faced, glasses-wearing man had anything to say about it.
And he did. Several of those words included phrases that only existed in his language and conveyed supreme dissatisfaction with the state of affairs, but he did have lots of things to say. Most of which would be probably not well received by anyone who was born in this world, which is why he chose not to share them with many others. By the way, this tangent is only here because the author felt like it and it may or may not have relevance in the future. The author has not decided yet, because there is no way they can foretell the future and they are unwilling to revise or read their writing again.
Moving on ever so swiftly, Ithel took out a thick notepad with more pages than it should have been possible for a notepad to have.
"Situation #13 is also ineffective, which suggests that the hypothesis is baseless. Therefore, the 'Investigation of Possibilities Regarding Villainous and Heroic Speeches' project is temporarily suspended. The project will only be resumed in circumstances that replicate the required variables perfectly," he spoke out loud, which, while unnecessary, made him look cool let his assistant know what he wrote down, as she watched his every step.
"I attempt to express my regret at the failure of your experiment and the fact that I suggested it," she spoke, her voice coming across as... not quite human. Not quite demonic either, nor evil minion, which surely went against the rules of evil. But at least they went against the rules of good taste as defined by the rules of evil. Hierarchy was complicated like that.
"You do not have to worry about it, Fourzero," he responded to her with a slight smile. "It was worth a try. Given the rules of this world, I would not have been surprised if it did end up working." Ithel spoke to her in a calm, reasonable manner; quite an unusual thing for a force of evil to do and lead to a perfectly reasonable question: was he truly evil? Incidentally, this question did have an answer in the form of a quite thick document written by the Church of Clionism.
"Now then, we really should get going. Let us not leave lord Ahriman waiting for us."
"In the case we evacuate our laboratory in the present, our arrival will be scheduled two mi... a little eary," Fourzero spoke as she followed Ithel to the reception room.
"That is most acceptable."
Not long afterwards, the doors to Lord Ahriman's definitely most evil, sinful and unforgivable chambers opened and in stepped the aforementioned two individuals: Ithel Jernigan and Fourzero. While they lacked in presence compared to some of the individuals within the room, the way they held themselves held some gravitas. Not gravity. That is a different thing. Gravitas is an air of importance, not a force of attraction, though if one stretched the definition far enough, they would no doubt find some sort of irrelevant similarity between the two words, which would inevitably force an investigation from the department of science or the department of literature, if such things existed.
There were no announcements of their presence, nor did they introduce themselves in a grandiose manner, for such things were deemed unnecessary. Rather, they made their way casually towards one of the many banquet tables, deliberately selecting one that was A.) Empty, B.) Suited for only two people, C.) Had a white tablecloth and most importantly, D.), had been specifically requested by Ithel to accommodate them. For this first foray into this world of villainy service to Lord Ahriman, he wished to put a little bit of distance between him and his fellow Heartbreakers, just in case.
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