#magi-tech

HALLOWS : PART ONE

Thanks to @crymsyy for the amazing video and allowing me to use it in writing this! Now I have a whole fic in process based off this video! Future parts are being outlined and will be posted as they are finished!

Mistakes are my own! I may clean this up in the future to post on AO3 but, for now, this is what we have :)

I love being able to piece together from table scraps how what happened affected the now!

I love the descriptions on how a certain event triggered the collapse of society!

I love how the society in question bounces back and rebuilds!

I love the lingering remnants of what was still having a very faint grasp on the world!

And Guilty Gear tics all of those boxes! Mostly in a anime fighting game lore wise kind of way but still…

I love the details of the Gear Project being an indirect cause of the downfall of society by being on the main causes of a horrible one-hundred year war!

I love the rough and tumble horror that occurred during The Crusades and how it affects our cast!

I love how the horrors of the past change and develop the characters and setting in the world!

I love how the banning of tech introduced the common world to magic and magi-tech!

I love how the Gear Project made an entire race of being that humanity fought in the Crusades now wish for peace!

I love the passing of the torch and moving on from the horrors of the past is symbolized in Sin taking Ky’s duties as a king of Illyria as a half-gear!

Okay, shot in the dark here: does anyone write modern magi-tech or have resources for it? I’m trying to rename shit because there are magical cars and cellphones except they’re not like any cellphone you’ve seen (a palm-sized crystalline rod) and not like any car you’ve ever driven (they’re fully autonomous, intelligent constructs that have union wages and opinions).

“Alright. We’ll find a more elegant way f’r this later, but take this lil’ disc. ‘S a button ‘ere on th’ side. Press it, an’ then walk outside.” Mathaes folded his arms over his chest and watched as the petite dancer inspected the construct control disc. Fianel pushed the button as instructed, then took the disc with him as he stepped out through the open garage bay door of Silverdew Servitors.

They’d been at this for several hours now, refining the operations of the last piece of the security system he’d designed for the Red Moon Cabaret. The modified S.E.L.F.I.E cameras were ready, their operations retooled for consistent and subtle recording. Each could be hidden with an eye no larger than a fingernail visible. The crystalline-based comm system was ready - simplistic voice transmitters which could be worn as jewelry and more complex playing-card-sized slabs of draenei holographic refractor crystals which could accept text messages, pictures, and other more complicated transmissions than just voice. (He was exceptionally proud of those; Mat had never made such a robust crystalline comm before.) Several small patrol constructs had been reprogrammed to perform mundane guard functions inside the bordello; each was about the size of an imp and a hundred times less obnoxious.

But the last piece was being finicky.

Fianel stepped outside and nothing at all happened. The Tauren-sized construct beside Mat didn’t move. “Finally,” he muttered. “A’ight, come back inside.” He waved Fia back in. “Last check an’ I think it’s set.” He took the control disc from the dancer and rewarded him with a slow, languid kiss while his hands worked the reset sequence without looking.

“‘Ere, take it out, but don’t press th’ deactivator.”

With an enticing little hip sway, Fia took the control disc back outside the perimeter of the building. The construct beside Mat whirred to life. “Retrieval mode engaged. Commencing rescue operation.” Inexorably, the arcane golem stomped out through the garage bay door towards Fia - who was ready for such a sight. “Departure not authorized. Stand back from the host.” The life-force check found no one else in reach of Fia, so the construct reached out and wrapped both lithoformed arms around the dancer and picked him straight up. “Harmonic Ubiquitous Geolocating Servitor returning to base with host.”

The construct - powered with crystal technology and location harmonics borrowed straight from the Vindicaar research papers - turned with Fia in its grasp and marched back into the shop. Mat laughed as he reached out and helped Fia swing down from the construct. “Seems pretty solid, aye? Didn’t squeeze too hard? We’ll have t’ get it set t’ read each host an’ anyone else worried about gettin’ taken off premises ‘gainst their will, but I think we’ve got it.” The construct mechanic turned his perpetually tired gaze on Fia and gave him one of those rare smiles, the ones that crinkled the corners of his eyes and brought creases to his cheeks. “Let me take y’ out f’r celebratory dinner?”

((OOC for sake of reference - the Red Moon Cabaret and Bordello is outfitted with: 

two small patrol constructs which respond to simple guard and standby requests, as well as a fetch help command

a closed-loop system of monitoring cameras which automatically purge recordings after three days

thumbnail-sized jewelry stone comms which respond to a specific activation phrase before transmitting voice to others holding comms on the network - these do not have a single link-to-link capability - think of these like sophisticated walkie-talkies

playing-card-sized holographic crystal comms which do have single link-to-link ability and can transmit text, voice, and photo (but no video) - think of these like an iPhone

high-powered electro-magnetic door locks in addition to magically warded standard locks which resist lockpicking and disenchanting

one large HUGS construct which is programmed to search for and peacefully retrieve any on-duty host who leaves the premises without pressing the deactivation button on their holo-comm (i.e. presumably unwilling) - this construct comes equipped with heavy armor plating, in case the person who took the host from the building tries to fight it

I had a great deal of fun brainstorming for this and I hope the use of Silvermoon arcane construct lore and draenei holographic crystal lore, along with gnomish camera technology feels creatively appropriate to my fellow Moonies. Your comms will be handed out at the next guild meeting and the constructs explained and programmed to recognize you. If you have more ideas of things you’d like to see as far as magi-tech construction and large-scale engineering, please come talk with me! I love this stuff!))

“Mechanical Marvels within The Legend”

The Legend of Zelda series has featured several large automatons and mechanical beasts in its day, and here I’ve gathered the most notable, to showcase the similarities and differences of each. Let’s begin!

First, we have 古代巨岩兵 オーイス (Kodai Kyoganbei Ōisu), Ancient Giant Rock Soldier: Ōisu, known in English localization as Eox. This behemoth of a living structure was built by the ancient and premonitious Cobble Race of the World of the Ocean King, and were his servants — much akin to the Sheikah being the devout servants of the Goddess Hylia. Curiously, the Cobble Knights and King share their names and, vaguely, the appearances of, the carpenters of earlier games: Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, Oracle of Ages, and The Minish Cap. Carpentry and masonry (the occupation of stone work) ties an interesting link between these incarnations of the characters.

There’s オーイス (Ōisu), Ōisu, known by the name Mazaal in English localizations of the game, The Minish Cap, was a large and colourful automaton built by the Minish as a gift for the Wind Tribe. Small ports are accessible to one of Minish stature, to get inside and perform maintenance (or attack) on the automaton.

裁定者ゴードン (Saiteisha Gōdon), The Judging One: Gōdon, or simply Godhan, is a massive artificial construct built for the sole purpose of testing the mettle of would-be heroes within the ancient Tower of the Gods — built, most likely, by their devout sages and servants, the Sheikah race. Godhan resembles Mazaal in appearance, function, and form in all but colour and the presence/absence of Minish doorways. This judge was the boss of the Tower of the Gods, in The Wind Waker.

We have ゴーリガン (Gōrigan), known in English as “Ramrock”, was another massive stone automaton from Oracle of Ages, which was the boss housed within the Ancient Tomb. Not only was this a terribly powerful boss, but it was the last of the eight who kept guard on the Essences of Time. Note the similar katakana is quite similar to Godhan’s name, ゴードン; only the middle syllable has been replaced. Curious, very curious…

Last but certainly not least, we have the latest additions to the franchise: the Divine Beasts of Breath of the Wild! Built by the Sheikah tribe (well known now for building advanced machinery), these hulking behemoths put every other automaton on this list to shame! We have four of these, each roughly located in the four corners of the world. While we have yet to have been revealled their true names, we can name them based on their appearances to realworld animals: the Eagle, of the Skies above Hebra; the Salamander, of Death Mountain in Eldin; the Elephant, of the Zora’s seas; and the Camel, of the Gerudo Desert. Each of these is piloted by a “commander”: another artificial intelligence which has been “blighted” by Ganon’s Malice. And these four commanders, well, they “command” the machines they inhabit, as well as the massive army of mobile cephalopod-like mechanical marvels known as the Guardians (ガーディアン (Gādian)).

I posted this a week ago on instagram (which is my primary social media). Would recommend following me on there if you want more timely updates.