BladeofOblivion

Soom-Clan Marauders
Chieftess Varsa Soom
D9 | M10 | E5 | F4 | I2

News and Rumors
- None yet

[Diplomacy] get wasted - ?.

[Diplomacy] bomb arasaka tower - ?.

[Faith] do a thing - ?.

[Faith] do a second thing - ?.

[Military] Raise 1 Ground Unit - .

Non-Actions
-

Embassy Actions
-

So it turns out this has been sitting in a word document unposted for a week because I forgot to post it.

Lyla ("Elder Daughter", Region 106), Veehra

Soom-Clan Marauders
Chieftess Varsa Soom
D7 | M10 | E5 | F4 | I2

News and Rumors
- None yet

[Diplomacy] Sway Government Support in Region 106 - ?.

[Diplomacy] Sway Government Support in Region 55 - ?.

[Diplomacy] Raise Organization Reputation with EMP 0->1 - Apparent revolutionary sentiment on Sansar prompts Varsa Soom, who had not previously considered the possibility that any of her actions might be seen as against Ophon somehow, to affirm that the Soom do not in fact desire to usurp the Emperor.

[Diplomacy] Attend Mageball Event - ?.

- Sub-Action: Donate 1 Treasure to EMP's Extraordinary Research Grants
- Sub-Action: Trade Rayguns to The Iron Masquerade for 1 Treasure
- Sub-Action: Trade Rayguns to the Castaways of the Loop for Hyperlight Transcievers
- Sub-Action: Trade Rayguns to the Eucrus Alliance for Badalian Megadirigibles, Pseudogravity Engineering, Wet Navy Ships, Shrewd Business
- Sub-Action: Trade Rayguns to Cassiope for Android Industrialization
- Sub-Action: Trade Rayguns to the Black Cloud Coalition for E.O.N.S. Projectors. There were some doubts about this one, but Vee Soom insists they're on good terms with the Union and it's probably fine.

[Military 10] Research Military Technology: Soom-Pattern Rayguns - Representing years of research and development and the steady integration of outside technology, some of the Soom-Clan's brightest are finally ready to unveil a clear advance in laser technology - the Soom-Pattern balances a tunable solidstate laser emitter with a high energy yield with a low-energy rangefinding laser in a beamsplitter connected to a complex optical matrix. The rangefinder is calculating optimal range bands at any time the safety is disabled, and when fired the high-yield emitter is tuned automatically to the best frequency determined by the rangefinder. Generally, the tuning is set to a frequency that allows the laser to oscillate "through" atmospheric obstructions such as dust, smoke, or even some types of light armor, dramatically reducing undesirable bloom and beam ablation and rendering this type of weaponry far more effective in-atmosphere than previous models.

- Sub-Action: Claim +2 REN from Wonders of the 99,803rd Era

Non-Actions
-

Embassy Actions
-

Mraza (Region 55), Veehra

Soom-Clan Marauders
Chieftess Varsa Soom
D6 | M9 | E5 | F4 | I2

News and Rumors
- None yet

[Diplomacy] Sway Government Support in Region 106 - It was clear now that they'd taken too distant a hand with Mraza. Let them self-govern while the Soom treated their lands like an extension of their own roam. This was hardly grassroots rebellion, but the ground had to have been fertile nonetheless. Mraza had been watered in blood, but it was urgently clear that a tighter grip was needed - local integration and infiltration.

[Diplomacy] Sway Media Support in Region 75 - This misstep would not be made twice.

[Military] Raise 1 Ground Unit - ?.

[Military] Attack Rebels in Region 55 with 4 Ground Units led by Warlord Sigrid and 1 Space Unit - ?.

[Economy 5] Establish Arcology in Region 55: The Red Station (+1 to Sway actions) - Some would call her mad for trying to construct something like this in what amounted to an Urban Warzone. Maybe Vee Soom was a little mad, but this was her project and she'd do it how she wanted - and right now, the iron was hot. They'd looted millions of Kroesids' worth of broadcasting equipment from the Agnai Incorporated holdings in Farkas, and on her order they'd been taken to the Dome-City of Kazha to be repurposed in a new set of structures, of similar purpose - a vast Broadcasting Center for the people, and not for some Corporate Leech.

- Sub-Action: Claim 1 Treasure from Project Sunrise

- Sub-Action: Claim 1 Renown from Built to Last

Non-Actions
- Support ISH buyout of TP 74.3 Energized Chrysoberyls

Embassy Actions
-

Soom-Clan Marauders
Chieftess Varsa Soom
D5 | M9 | E4 | F4 | I2

News and Rumors
- None yet

[Diplomacy] Sway Region 75 Government Support [Roll 13, TN 12, Success] - ?.

[Diplomacy] Sway Region 106 Government Support [Roll 8, TN 12, Failure] - ?.

[Military] Invade Region 75 with 2 Ground Units led by Warlord Sigrid and 1 Space Unit - ?.

[Economy] Impress Mercantile Support in Region 73, spending 1 treasure [Roll 13, TN 12, Success] - Levers of power are complex, and Kildora has neglected to keep its merchants in line. Vee sees an opening - It'll distract from the mess in Mraza, hopefully, and better secure the flow of raw material and food from Kildora.

[Economy] Buyout Region 56 Gene Samples TP1 with WTU Support from WTU Rep 2 [Roll 11, TN 12, Failure] - ?.

Non-Actions
- Invite WTU to unionize labor in Mraza (Region 55).

Embassy Actions
-

Snakest Snense Snews?

"What reason would I have to hide it?", he replies. "Basu-Rahman signals go everywhere, wanted or otherwise. You would hear of it - and the wretched villainy of the Soom-Clan, of course - within days regardless. You have engendered trust enough not to slit my throat where I stand - it would ruin the tile, I expect."

Despite his words, he turns his back to gesture at one of the art displays - a great torch held by a hand upon a trail of light.

"Basu-Rahman is corporate rot. They would tell you it is the honed craft of a corporation's history that gives it strength, but it is little more than the shambling husk of an institution driven by the fungus of wealth. No humanity guides it anymore. The creature disgusts my mother because she sees them as offworlders; I see something far more insidious. Offworlders can learn and be learned from, just as anyone. But a corporation is not flesh or will. It is the invasive species of ideals."

Inside the Gala, the Venn Diagram of Dashers and Nobles

Alud laughed with his friend's delivery. There would likely be more Khylokians to dust in the future, it was true. They didn't seem to mind. He teased and interjected in the following exchanges, before Tuahine eventually asked him bluntly what he was doing here.

"Good Wine.", he lied with a modest hum of amusement. "No. I suppose it can't hurt to tell you. I am learning." He glanced away, gesturing to the grand hall as he continued to speak, champagne flute-hand shimmering in the light. "I love my homeworld, but it is a slice of the whole of Tekhum. Where my mother sees only outsiders and exploiters, I know there is far more here to see. To learn. I may be a Prince of Veehra, but I have seen how outsiders and greenlanders speak of the Clans. We must change that. And it's going to become worse before it gets better. The Crater's Basu-Rahman affiliates are burning as we speak; we are about to be the greatest villains Tekhum has ever seen in the eyes of those who believe what they see."

There's a sense that he's smiling under the mask, though no clear way to see that.

"So it is good to show another face."

Inside the Gala, Tiyansi and the Witches

Later in the Gala, after disentangling himself from his previous conversation, Alud Soom stepped into the fray with Princess Tiyansi - who he recognized, even if he'd never spoken to her directly - and a pair of newcomers he did not. From their bearing (and presence) though it was clear they were persons of importance, so it couldn't hurt to say hello.

"Truly.", he added to the Princess' words. "There has been talk of the Peludo making strides in antigravity back home, but they're a practical people and have been using it primarily for railwork - this is the first I've seen of such principles applied to tailoring."

Inside the Gala

Alud nods along amusedly at the antics of others and at responses to his gentle boasting, following along with sparse remarks and acknowledgement until accepting the champagne flute from Naqi'a - perhaps corroborating some part of his stories, without even looking at it. He only chuckles at Naqi'a's implication at first, though when Antonius appears to take it seriously his body language stills. "Tells? No.", he begins to play it off. "Such a thing is far better shown."

Over any protests, he lifts his head slightly and sticks his tongue out under the mask, maneuvering it to a hidden catch - there's a soft click, barely audible in the thronging party, and a tiny metal straw flicks out of a hidden panel in his mask. He proceeds to take a sip of champagne without lifting the face covering, much less removing it.

"Only the most intimate parties expect hosts or guests to eat or drink in front of one another, in my homeland - it is taboo to appear unmasked to strangers.", he adds with a chuckle, eyes flicking between the other nobles and Ani-Quin - he had strategically chosen to ignore Vile and Velocipede's...whatever they had. "Fortunately, I came prepared. Thank you, Lady Naqi'a, this is an excellent wine indeed."

Inside the Gala

Alud drops the act in reply, crossing his arms behind his back and bowing shallowly, seemingly pleased that his attempt at satire has communicated something. "It is good to meet you as well, Tuahine Roa and and Antonius Console-Elect. Truly."

For the first time tonight, the angle allows a glimpse of his real eyes under the mask, unobscured by the layers of trickery and internal lighting. Just whites and two circles of brown. Just a man. They're able to chat a bit: Alud's stories of driving have more to do with crossing the desert than the death-defying stunts on the piloting circuit that made him a name in Mekhala, but he has stories from that too. "...interference at the Mouth threw the instruments awry, and Iris could not navigate the mirrored passages, so...I actually closed my eyes and navigated by feel. It sounds mad to say aloud, but it worked. Not well enough to catch up with Vile or the Dwarf, but it worked."

Everyone should see this.

The Red Carpet

Alud Soom struck a pose but strode past the news reporters at first, casually evading questions about the Dash - though when asked about his clothes, he confidently declared that the artisan work was done by Hila-Soom of his own clan, a distant cousin, but the skull and hide displayed had been struck down by his own hand: An Arvax soldier that had been part of an attempted ambush on his warwheels, on the backlines of the Mraza campaign. It was Soom tradition never to wear a part of a beast one had not hunted themselves. But even that explanation came to an abrupt end as some of the more invasive questions came to be asked.

He parted the crowd quickly as Ani-Quin swooped in, who he quickly moved to embrace with surprising candor. "Ah-ha, you live after all! I had not been so sure when I did not see your ship at the finish line!"

Inside the Gala

"Not yet.", Alud answered Ani-Quin dryly. It wasn't possible to be sure if he was grinning beneath that mask, but it sure sounded like he might be. "A pleasure to meet you both", he followed more loudly, addressing the newcomers with a sudden put-upon bravado. "You seem well aware, but I am Alud Soom of the Soom-Clan!" He laughed. "You know, mighty Conqueror of the Forgotten Deserts!" He laughed louder, before he quieted himself. "Forgive me. I am aware my people are seen primarily as...violent and exotic, and I must amuse myself somehow. I appreciate Snake News' coverage more than Basu-Rahman's tripe but it does paint a sensational picture nevertheless."

Though fiercely Veehran and rarely seen away from its homeworld, the Soom-Clan is no longer a complete unknown in the world of politics - and it thus may come as little surprise when Alud Soom steps from the speeder onto the Red Carpet.

Despite his personal apparent fascination with the cultures of Mekhala, he has chosen to come as a representative of Veehra first and foremost - or, that's what he'd say: His ensemble for the night is done up in the style of a Nadiratnan Gladiator albeit sensationalized, romanticized, dramatized, and frankly inauthentic considering Nadiratna's Gladiatorial traditions are reserved for a form of execution. It's clear his ideas about what a Gladiator is are much more influenced by the celebrity combatants of the House of Fire. Either way, his dress includes iron bracers and greaves decorated with images of serpents beaten into the metal by hand, a headdress of real white hair braided with catseyes, and a geometrically-sculpted fired clay mask polished to a mirror sheen that shines with internal light. He wears no shirt but for a harness of leather from a mammal of uncertain origin, bound together by a circular miniature "buckler" medallion at the center of his chest with a skull (again, mammalian, but hard to be sure what kind - some kind of giant rat?) placed on one shoulder as a sort of pauldron - the lower jaw is missing. His legs are also protected by a red kama that extends down to the knee, with an uneven gradient of red to darker red that invokes a low flame.

Soom-Clan Marauders
Chieftess Varsa Soom
D5 | M7 | E4 | F4 | I2

News and Rumors
- None yet

[Diplomacy 5] Establish Cultural Identity: Desert's Edge (2d8 to Conversions), claiming 1 Renown - The Clans are old, some would say ancient. They have a long history of cultural integration, desert hospitality that inducts others into the family. And the Soom - they've always been at the edge of the Greenlands. They've always had contact with outsiders, and standing ground until others see things their way is a skill their negotiators learned a long time ago.

[Military] Raise 1 Ground Unit - More bodies, more battles to come, more warwheels. The storms continue to roll in. Some of Mraza's old army is reinstated to keep the peace - even if not motivated to fight for the Soom, they would be motivated to protect their own people. Loyalty could come in time. Until then, fewer Soom Partisans would be needed to remain occupying the region.

[Military] Sack Region 70 TP2 [Roll 9, Failure] - Word of strange ships arriving in the north to take people from the surface of the planet off to some distant work colony spreads like wildfire - and that these thieves of flesh were enemies of the Emperor. Seeking glory and backing, Warlord Hur rides off with intent to lay an ambush and put an end to this threat. Unfortunately, the omens are poor and they go home unsatisfied.

[Military] Invade Region 106 with 2 units led by Warlord Sigrid - They crept up in their transports, vacuum suits and bubble-helmets on. They opted for a quiet insertion - no fleet, just a quiet docking to open the door for the main force. The mercenaries of this Moon were numerous and well-equipped - bringing a fleet would only warn them and give them time to prepare. No, Sigrid wanted to catch them with their pants down, and for that a subtler touch would be required: Tactics borrowed from pirate holovids and entry codes acquired with bribery. Against superior numbers, superior tactics would bring victory - and how glorious would this victory be?

[Military] Destroy Basu-Rahman Group Conglomerate Holdings in Region 55, spending 1 treasure and 1 renown (Scum and Villainy)[Roll 15, Success?] - Varsa Soom leaned upon her staff, setting foot in the Greenlands at long last - this moment had been promised for generations, and she lived to see it. Her eldest daughter had done well in this conquest, and now the moment she had planned was at hand. Offworlders had set deep roots here - and now that the power to remove them was in reach, she would not squander it. Her coterie bore torches, and a long night of silence would follow - a silence that would have more to say than any amount of vapid broadcasting.

Non-Actions
- Accept Weak Marriage Claim to region 56 - In the aftermath of the Crater Lake war, though the surprising ferocity of the Agbadan offensive had caught Yaki Soom entirely off guard and Agbadan grip on the Turk's former land strengthened by the day, there was a silver lining: Her secondary goal in the region, unraveling the mystery of Count Federico's broadcasts and achieving an adventurous rescue, had proven entirely successful. Even Warlord Sigrid had been modestly shocked to find out Federico and his family were real people and not some strange attempt at a scam. Even so, with the Agbadan victory to the south the choice is made - as a temporary measure - to provide a plot of land in Mraza "liberated" from its former rulers to the Count and his family. Further, Yaki Soom was seeking a husband, and Federico's offer came at a fortuitous time - she accepted Leopoldo's offer. Unspoken was a wonder that they too might someday reclaim the Count's Ancestral Homeland.

- Pay 4 Treasure to WTU to Repay Loan - Varsa Soom had not realized at first that the suspiciously easy "bank robbery" one of her raiding groups had gone on was, in fact, a completely legitimate loan application process with surprisingly generous terms. Those terms had come due, in time, but the coffers were overflowing and despite everything, Vee had pushed strongly for healthy relations with the Union. Life and politics push one in stranger directions by the day.

- In response to WTU's demands for Input, emphasize Egalitarian Policy - Vee Soom's outspoken support of the Union was well established at this point, but her response to their seeking her input was somewhat confused at first. After all, she'd been seeking their advice regarding labor reform during the ongoing inspections, and to have them ask HER for advice on labor reform shook her faith, just a bit. She wasn't sure. She didn't know. The abduction of people to take offworld as thralls in such a permanent, inescapable sense surely wasn't right, but there was a difference between voluntary attempts at reform and the sort of mercantile coup that WTU proposed within the Demigod's Lands. Vee stepped back from commenting on whether it was right or wrong to forcefully reform Corvee Labor, but instead emphasized consistency - that the WTU should only top-down impose rules that it was willing to apply in an egalitarian fashion. Petty Tyrants like the Demigod might be more vulnerable to such things, but the Union should not impose forcible reform in any way they wouldn't be willing to enforce on a giant like Basu-Rahman.

Embassy Actions
- Loan 1 TP of Energized Chrysoberyl to New Kildora via Trade Route to fulfill SNK's "Crystals" DI.

Soom-Clan Marauders
Chieftess Varsa Soom
D4 | M6 | E4 | F4 | I2

News and Rumors
- None yet

[Diplomacy] Mytho-Historical Data Gathering - Collections of oral histories, what census records are available, poetry. There is a desire in some quarters to be known, to be 'legitimate', whatever that may mean.

[Diplomacy] Raise Reputation with WTU [TN 10, Roll 12, Success] - Alongside the inspection, the Soom-Clan invites consultants from the Union, from Narsai, even from the Ishtahn since they seem to have strong opinions on the matter. Some of the more forward-thinking planners among the Soom ask, now that the promised revanche against the Greenlands is in progress, what next? Simply killing all of the Greenlanders would be madness, and the traditions of thralldom become inapplicable so far from the worst of the deep dustlands. The Soom have traditionally treated one another as a very large family, but the Greenlanders are not part of that family, nor are they of the clans, beholden to clan traditions. New bureaucracy will be necessary, new law. Law and Labor. Friendship with the Union would be an ideal point to begin from - a group already used to both the vagaries of desert life and the needs of offworlders and greenlanders alike.

[Military] Raise 1 Ground Unit - As the warfront over and around the Crater Lake at the center of the Greenland continues to warm, more warwheels are pressed into service, crewed by Soom-Clan partisans and recruits from tributary clans alike.

[Military] Invade Region 55 with 3 Ground Units and 1 Space Unit, spending 1 Treasure - Warlord Sigrid found her campaign much more complicated than the seasons before: Newfound enemies among the Elect had joined the fray as tensions continued to rise, while the surprising presence of reinforcements from Ishtahnos of all places threatened infighting in her ranks - they meant well, sort of, but there were matters her people and theirs simply did not see eye to eye on. A bloody campaign stretched before her eyes, the icy death promised by the Antithotron somehow the least of her concerns.

[Military] Invade Region 56 with 2 Ground Units and the same Space Unit, spending 1 Treasure - Feeling a touch overshadowed and undercut by Warlord Sigrid's competence and suspecting she has the front against this "Antithotron" creature well in hand, Yaki Soom's attention is drawn elsewhere, to an anomalous call for help on the airwaves. With a grin, she announces a change of campaign plans - where Warlord Sigrid and the bulk of the main forces would continue pressing in from the East, she would take a column of warwheels and infantry upon Palu Soom's carrier for insertion further west, to attack the south Greenlands - this Thotron may have been prepared for an incursion from the east, but would these deeper greenlands be remotely prepared for the wrath of the Red? Perhaps. But her curiosity about this so-called Count Federico tempted her to adventure, and her mother had placed her in charge of this operation - though at the time she made this decision, there were fewer Agbadans and warships in her path. No matter - she was hardly going to back out now.

Non-Actions
- Subscribe to Snake News
- Welcome WTU inspection - The Soom-Clan is, broadly speaking, on a war footing. This does not mean there isn't conventional labor happening; Crystal Mining remains a major industry, as do vehicle maintenance and moisture collection. With the current war footing, the number of raids has gone down drastically and the thrall presence in the mines is at a record low, so technologies from across the stars have increasingly begun to fill the gap - automating the most dangerous processes, improved filtration technology for managing the threat of toxic or radiological hazards, and so on. The Youngest of the Soom Heirs, introducing themselves as Vee Soom, is happy to provide a tour of Shaft T7; she explains that this is the most active of the mining concerns and is eager to take input from the proud Veehran Union. She wears her heart on her sleeve and while her planetary-nationalistic fervor shows - even by Soom standards - she's greatly interested in any insight the inspectors have to offer in methods or means for improving overall safety and working conditions.

Embassy Actions
- Loan 1 TP of Energized Chrysoberyl to New Kildora via Trade Route to fulfill SNK's "Crystals" DI.
- Gift Vacuum Adaptation and Nuclear Fusion Technologies to the Sorcerers of New Kildora

During the Race -- The Long Straightaway, or the first Warzone (depending on who you ask)

"Oh? Perhaps you are more familiar with these pirates than I, as a local.", Alud replied over comms. "I had thought they might be a worthy challenge akin to the warriors of my people. Disappointing."

During the Race -- The Second Straightaway, or the Second Warzone, or even the Third Warzone (depending on who you ask), AKA Et Cetera HQ

Alud Soom knew in the back of his mind that the Kildoran had likely already reached the Mouth, but he could still see the flying battering ram up ahead on long-range sensors. He grimaced too as the strange woman from before screamed past him, and even that Velocipede character was gaining from behind. Bah. He needed an edge. Fortunately, he had one in mind - the locals of this segment of Mekhala were strange to him but he had done some reading on the InterplaNET before entering, and he knew this segment would take the racers around Et Cetera HQ, who had largely cut contact and defended their airspace from the living, the vicious ghouls.

But he had read that there was something precious to them and in short supply - Star Sand. Concentrated space dust, tricky to gather en masse. He breached their airspace with aplomb, happily taking this risky shortcut over Iris' protests. When the first warning shots whizzed by, he opened communications, leaning on the translation suite that had been installed - there was a use for it after all!

There was an easy deal to make there - they would want valuable Star Sand more than they particularly wanted him to BE dust. And he'd been gathering space dust for weeks: His ship's cabin dust filters alone had needed replacing twice, with the old ones sitting in the increasingly light cargo space where he kept food and water.

"Et Cetera," he said, "I am looking for somewhere to offload a crate of concentrated star sand. Is this the place?"

The shooting stopped, and he followed the helpdesk flowchart for a bit...until he zoomed past the landing point. Immediately the tone of the call became much more hostile, and two ships began to tail him - though they weren't shooting. Did they plan to board?

"Apologies, friends. I'll jettison it for you, no payment necessary. A pleasure doing business."

The airlocked crate of used filters shot off to the side, and just as he'd hoped the tailing ships chased that instead...though the shooting resumed. Too little, too late, though; he was already outside the effective range of the station's weapons, and the stunt had shaved off some time as he progressed toward Al-Miraiya once more. The finish line awaited ahead.

The so-called Ring of Blood lay ahead. Alud Soom's mining laser had already run largely dry, no more than a shot or two left. The mass driver still had a few shots, at least. He'd have to make them count, which was easier said than done while moving in a serpentine formation to avoid his thrusters getting clipped by Khylokian fire. It had become increasingly clear to Alud, throughout this race, that he had an experience gap in three-dimensional movement: This might get him killed here - those utterly fearsome contenders with the Ram had already punched a hole through the worst of the raider presence moments before (and passed him, to his chagrin), but still one dogged pursuer remained on his tail.

"Iris. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I require your assistance with a targeting solution. We have a tail and the mass driver is front-mounted. I...am going to attempt what the youth call a 'backflip'."
"...Please do not say it like that. Fine."

He pulled up on the wheel hard and cut his thrust, sending blood rushing to his head as the already fast-moving vehicle inverted itself to pass through the barrier of viscous fluid. It was good that he had asked Iris to get a lock - he wasn't sure he could have aimed through the haze of red and the momentary dizziness. An electrical crack rang out as the mass driver fired, and the pursuing ship too wounded to continue. The checkpoint passed, Alud righted his vessel and set off once more into the next stretch.

During the Race -- The Long Straightaway, or the first Warzone (depending on who you ask)

His banter with Ani-Quin tabled for now, Alud Soom considered the Lady of Fire's offer of a safe frequency. Could it be trusted? A matter of honor, he supposed. Not wanting her own people to accidentally interfere. Did offworlders have Honor? Perhaps.

"Iris. Duplicate the frequency." She obliged. The Long Straightaway was ahead, the longest burn of the race - a place to catch up if you could, or be left behind if you could not. Days, maybe weeks, of uninterrupted travel. Hopefully he'd spend less of it arguing with his copilot than he had so far. Either way, this was the place to use the supplementary nuclear fuel his mechanics had strapped to his engine at the last minute - dearly hoping the power surge didn't make anything overload - he'd already burned more of his fuel tank than he'd like, and he needed to budget what he had left effectively. Would be far better to be shot down by the Khylokians on the next segment than be left drifting until his water supplies ran out.

"Oh good, you're being sensible for once, budgeting your supplies and trying to make it to the end with us both alive. First time for everything."

"Shut up, machine."

Time passed. He kept an eye on progress - he was catching up quickly with the Glix racer, who had initially seemed to have a commanding lead, and even the fearsome Naqi'a was still within sensors, not disappearing so far ahead he couldn't catch up with a little fortune. Ani-Quin, to his surprising dismay, had dropped off his radar, somewhere in his trail. Perhaps they'd return. Oh well. The Ring of Blood was approaching, and he couldn't waste much of his attention on sentimentality. For now, he got some rest.

TacDoc Proposal: Rust, Dust, and Guts

On Successful Maneuvering in a Ground Battle, +4 to Battle and +20% own casualties.

1 hour ago, EmBark said:

During the Race -- Parrot's Perch

Quote

Ani-Quin entered Glix space calmly at regulation speeds, their ship almost parallel to Nsott'Blihg of the Glix Combine. Of course he would do well here, in native space. Ani-Quin thought they had nothing to worry about. They soared gently through the region, opening a channel to drink in the crowd's reaction and giving them a little show by making a barrel roll and a double loop in the air. Then they noticed a burst of energy on their screens. They tried to look closer, turning around in their cockpit, to notice Alud space-damned Soom hot on their tail and shooting past well before they could gather their bearings.

"Frak! Frak frell cruk kriff!" Their foot slipped off the pedal and the ship had an unfortunate spin before Ani-Quin got a handle on the steering wheel and righted the ship before it crashed straight into the ground. The ship passed through the blue shimmer of the barrier and then they slammed their foot down again. They got closer again to Alud Soom, though they had lost sight of Nsott. They opened comms, hailing Alud Soom's ship.

"Pardon my Sansarian, but gorram, that was quite a stunt there, Alud Soom! If you have more tricks up your engine like that, I should start being careful."

A hearty laugh emerges across comms from Alud's vessel:

"It seems we shall be racing alongside one another for a bit longer after all! Perhaps you'll get to see my remaining tricks firsthand."

During the Race -- The Parrot's Perch

"You'll have to slow down through those shields.", Iris observed, to Alud's annoyance. "You'll flatten yourself into them otherwise, and even if your ship survived the impact, the resulting contact with the atmosphere will instantly turn the space dust that has accumulated on your vessel into a cloud of ash that will, I assume, make the locals extremely unhappy."

He fired his mass driver at the shield, and did not slow down nearly enough to pass through without disruption. The barrier tensed ahead. "Are you crazy? That's a civilian sector!", Iris shouted with alarm. "I know. I just needed it to be solid enough for the laser to excite the barrier," he replied as he engaged the mining laser once more. "That's not kelp, you can't just cut i-"

Iris' protests were cut short an instant before impact, as the vessel...wasn't. The runes painted along the wings shone bright for an instant and the racing ship momentarily became a torrent of surging energy, conducted across the excited energy barrier in that instant before reconstituting itself at speed within the barrier! As Iris predicted the stardust gathering upon the front of the ship was burned away on reentry, creating a massive ash cloud that would either force the engagement of atmospheric scrubbers or worsen the local air pollution for a time. The locals, indeed, probably would not be happy. But there was little argument that the ship had entered the atmosphere intact. That they'd lost enough speed to exit again without exploding was a happy accident, and they did so in a hurry.

"...What just happened, exactly? I was expecting more of an impact."
"We phased out momentarily. There's no way you predicted that."
"I freely admit I did not. I was expecting to batter through a weakened point on the barrier."
"You're insane. We're going to die if you're going to drive this recklessly!"

But while they weren't in the lead, they'd made up for lost time a bit.

During the Race -- The Space-Kelp Cluster

The first great challenge of the race arrived before Alud Soom's eyes, and while he had known it was coming long enough in advance to slow to a velocity he could do maneuvering at, the scale of the maze still seemed daunting. Iris reported incoming transmissions containing something akin to directions, and he allowed her to calculate and relay a path. For a few steps, anyway.

"Now angle up.", Iris said cheerily.

"Up." He could feel his mouth dry. Races didn't go up. That was silly. He'd never practiced a tight up. Why did he not see that coming? "No. This is absurd. Warm up the mining lasers."

"...What?" Iris replied, with some sort of simulated dread entering her tone. He didn't let it get to him, and started cutting a path through. It'd be painfully slow, but he refused to submit to something as ridiculous as a maze. When a tugboat arrived looking for 'lost' racers, he lanced a warning shot past their bow, and they seemed uninterested in pressing the issue, to Iris' exasperation. By the time he'd made it to the other side, he was no longer sure how he was doing in the race - there were definitely still people behind him, but couldn't be sure how many had navigated the maze and left him in the dust. He engaged the engine again: He just had to do better.

1 hour ago, EmBark said:

Quote

During the Race -- at the Starting Line

Lumaeus - Velocipede

"You're on!" says Velocipede with a wide grin. "But I better warn you, I've been training hard! I know all the techniques, like pushing down on the pedal harder to go faster by force of will, leaning in the direction of a turn as though that affects anything, and believing in myself, which is the most powerful technique of all! After I take the belt, you can come visit it in the Arkhive which I have explicitly been instructed to note is not sponsoring my participation in this race!"

He lays one hand on the door of the open-topped car and leaps over it into the driver's seat.

"I'll see you when you reach the finish line!"

Ani-Quin grin faded to a smile as Velocipede walked off. They turned back to Alud Soom.

"Alright, I should get into my ride. It's been good to meet you, Alud Soom. I hope to see you after the race."

They gave a little salute-like wave.

"Don't die."

And they ran back and quickly got into their ship.

 

---

 

During the Race -- at the Starting Line... Starting!

The announcer took position in the platform of their lightning dome. Their sunglasses gleamed in the light of the first rays of Ophon rising over the horizon of Al-Miraiya. Their voice came through to the audience loudly and more softly to any racers who decided to set their channels to receive it.

"It is that time again, lords, ladies and gentlethem! People across the spectrum and from every gene pool and arcane persuasion! It is here! It is now! It is the MEKHALA MAD DASH 2037!"

A horn blared. The lights went on.

 

"On your marks!"

Red One

"Ready?"

Red Two

"Get set!"

Red THREE

"GO!"

GREEN!

During the Race -- at the Starting Line

If Alud Soom had any reaction to the newcomer his iron mask did not betray it, but his eyes watched the pair with a bit of mirth. He rumbled, chuckling beneath the barrier. "Well. It seems I shall have my work cut out for me to match both experience and enthusiasm. May her embrace be gentle this day, and your paths clear."

During the Race -- at the Starting Line... Starting!

He strapped into his cockpit, running secondary diagnostics; everything seemed fine, but for the soft blue glow of his new "Assistant". She didn't have control of the wheel, so it would be fine. Probably. He revved up the afterburners.

"You are wasting fuel," the machine to his right informed him. "I am doing no such thing," he replied.

The green flag dropped. He engaged the engine.

Alud Soom looked over the deathtrap he would be racing in today: Even now his mechanics were adding last-minute touches and additions they hoped might give him an edge - a supplementary fusion device they hoped might help his fuel reserves last, a thinking machine copilot named "Iris" whose sensor analysis suite they hoped might assist during some of the more complex obstacle courses or even tactical engagements, some sort of translator system (why? To taunt other racers?), and...was one of them painting runes on the wings? 'For an arcane boost to hull integrity?' They must have made that up. A prank on his mechanics. It couldn't hurt, he supposed, and it wasn't terrible as decorations went.

He snorted. Satisfactory. The stranger's arrival soon caught his attention, though, and he took a moment to size up the competing racer - only for his eyes to fall on the removed sun-goggles. Had the other racer unmasked specifically to speak with him? How forward. He had to remind himself that he was the offworlder here, not them, and refrained from commenting on this strange behavior.

"...In an R8 frame," he admitted slowly, "But few things are intact for long in the Dustlands. Many of the internals have been replaced, and sacred techniques have been used to protect from dust and electrical interference. I am Alud of the Soom-Clan, hailing from the Red Soil of Veehra, and I heard there were people here who sought to drive." His eyes flicked to the clock, then to his cockpit. He still had a minute, while his mechanics were finalizing their upgrades and "upgrades."

A group of masked men in sealed, clear bodysuits arrived in a small carrier, made to support only one racing vehicle - something reconfigured from an old Syvine model and fitted with a smaller imperial engine. Spaceships might be new to the Soom-Clan, but driving was in the blood. It was unusual to see a member of the Clans so far from Veehra, but here they were: Alud Soom, second-eldest of Varsa Soom's Brood, a Prince of the Wastes, and his half-dozen attendants and mechanics. He was broadly-built and wore fewer of the traditional wrappings than most, likely having chosen the translucent bodysuit in part to show off his physique without leaving himself exposed to the hazards of vacuum. His dark hair was pinned in the style reserved for the Heirs of a Clan's Chief, and his mask was decorated with red stripes.