Solarel, The Walker of the Mountain, The Varangian, The Empress' Champion, The Hunter of Huntresses, The Exile The Infamous
The muscles and scars of one who has lived hard, the softness and kindness of one who has dreamed beautifully. A sword of gold and a sword of silver, one given by a Spirit and the other by an Empress. For every curse, a blessing. For every blessing, a curse.
Daring +1 Grace +1 Heart +1 Wit +1 Spirit +1
Angry - Frightened - Guilty - Insecure - Hopeless
Undeserving: When you become Smitten with someone, say why, give them a String, and answer this question: Why do you think they would be wrong to forgive you? Your Wicked Heart: When you Figure Out a Person during physical conflict, you may additionally ask one of these questions, even on a 6-:What are you most ashamed of? How could I get you to betray your ideals?
What Cannot Be Undone: I am proud that I sacrificed childhood dreams of power, glory and Imperial favour for the path of honour, though it took me time to learn. Once I Walked the Mountain; I stood alone before a God named Vaeled armed with but a spear and I triumphed. She was mine and I hers. And then I traded her for the cursed armour Aeteline and never learned what became of her. This causes me grief still. I have sworn never to draw my blade without understanding both sides in the conflict.
Wicked Past: When you hear about a villain for the first time, you may decide that you know them from your past. If so, give them a String on you to ask a question from the Figure Out a Person list and take +1 forward against them. Make It Right: When you allow yourself to be vulnerable to someone you hurt during your villainous past, they choose 1 - Decline to engage; they gain a String on you - Lash out; you Stagger - Guide you; they mark XP and give you a task to help make amends - Show vulnerability; you take +1 forward to interact with them - Forgive you; you each clear a Condition and this move no longer triggers with this person
Talons of the Past: When you gain a String on someone associated with your villainous past, or vice versa, mark XP. The first time this happens for a given person, you each can define a secret or vulnerability you know about the other.
Who’s the Monster?: When you expose the hypocrisy of someone who is supposedly virtuous, roll +Daring: 10+: Gain a String on them and choose 1 7–9: Choose 1 - The wrongness of their act is exposed to all; they mark XP if they change their mind. If they don’t, they must attack you or take a Condition. - Your words sting; they take a Condition. - You impress an onlooker; gain a String on them.
Histories, Names, Important Notes
Hailing from the planet Roevg, Those Guided By The Sage Zaldar are a post-singularity alien species. Their basic biology is as an anthropomorphic bipedal reptilian, however they are all deeply integrated with the nanotechnological fallout from their species' ascension. They are born with cybernetic implants and deep connections to the digital wreckage of their former glory, which can deepen and change as they grow. There is an immense deal of individual variation amongst Zaldarians and the technologies they manifest, everything from scale colour to the presence of hair, number and functionality of organs, or even things like integrated weapons. There appears to be some sort of intelligent guidance, or at least environmental impact, on these alterations; since contact was made with humans and hybrasil Zaldarians have been observed evolving features more pleasing to and compatible with both.
Zaldarians are bound by the concept of Motive Balance. Not requiring food or water, Zaldarians exist entirely on energy. They can harvest this in a variety of ways, from direct exposure to sunlight or fire - Zaldarians can tolerate temperatures of over 1500 degrees comfortably, allowing them to walk on lava - or even through converting kinetic impacts into power. What comes in must come out, however, and a Zaldarian must discharge accumulated energy rapidly; maintaining a full store of energy is akin to holding one's breath. Often this is done through sudden bursts of physical expression, but has also been known to occur with the Zaldarian bursting into flames or shooting lasers from their eyes. Drained of energy a Zaldarian is slow and lethargic.
The Zaldarians exist within the Sacred Realm - the remnants of their pre-ascension internet. Strange entities broadly called Shedym move through this realm, sometimes visible or audible to Zaldarians even if they have no physical components. These forces often influence physical reality through the activation and work of omnipresent nanobot swarms. Zaldarians have no ability to command shedym, and even their shamans can barely influence them, but the majority range from benign to wildly helpful. A commoner might possess a loyal Spirit that even the Empress might never tempt from her side.
Geists are the lowest entities, fragments of scrapcode with the intelligence of an insect or small animal. A Zaldarian might have a cup geist whose purpose is to use nanobots to fabricate a cup whenever the Zaldarian calls for it, and then dissolve the cup when the Zaldarian no longer needs it. Spirits are mid-ranking entities, often possessing forms too complicated to be trivially fabricated. They perform a range of complex functions - a Spirit might perform repairs on mecha, or act as an independent cyberwarfare ally, or create a mystic sword and suit of dresslike armour when invoked with a battlecry and ritual dance. What Spirits one has access to does much to determine how a Zaldarian's life journey will go, though they come and go as they please. Gods are the enormously powerful spirits that manifest in the forms of giant mechanical monsters. Gods are perhaps military in origin, as unlike lesser shedym they are aloof, hostile, and violent. They might generate on any world within the bounds of the former Zaldarian empire, self-manufacturing over the course of months or years into a powerful combat form that can only be engaged by a Mecha. The majority of Zaldarian mechs are Gods, defeated and bound and called God-Armour. Commonly this is done by a warrior with God-Armour of her own, but the tribes of Roevg consider 'Walking the Mountain' - an unarmed warrior conquering a God - to be an act of profound heroism to be attempted by the bravest champions. Ancestors are poorly understood - they are thought to be the digital ghosts of fallen Zaldarians, pre and post Ascension. They cluster around interesting people and events providing a constant and slightly distracting rhythm of conversation, advice, directions and opinions. On occasion, when a Zaldarian is in a deep sleep or coma, it has been known for the Ancestors to control them directly as a sort of strange democratically directed zombie.
Zaldarian society is based in Instanilios; the Evercity - the most intact remnant of Zaldar's golden age, and the only truly space-age city under their control. This is a magical city, alive with a tightly bound network of spirits and geists, and the only place where Zaldarian manufacturing is still performed. Zaldarian manufacturing is a superstitious and poorly understood art where technologies of incredible potency are created without any ability to address the flaws inherent in that technology. An example is a powerful laser weapon that refuses to fire at any mecha with blue colouration as the weapon's Geist recognizes that as the banner of the long-forgotten nation that designed it. It is even possible for the artisans of the Evercity to construct new Gods of their own; something the Tribes regard with terror and awe.
The Evercity is ruled by the Empress, who is elevated and supported by the Knights. The Knights are a warrior caste who have bound Gods to their service. Honourable conquest of a wandering God is considered the traditional way to become a Knight - either in borrowed God-Armour, or as an armoured Knight fighting a God to gift it to a child or favoured retainer. The Empress is elevated from amidst the ranks of the Knights following what ranges between a civil war to a series of incredibly high stakes duels. One of the rights of the Empress is to command the artisans in the construction of new Gods. Receiving God-Armour without a battle and becoming a Varangian is regarded by the Knights as some combination of cursed, cowardly and dishonourable, meaning those elevated by the Empress' grace tend towards being isolated loyalists with no support other than their sovereign. Imperial rule is profoundly unstable and depends entirely on the opinions of the Knights who support or oppose the throne.
The Tribes are the nomadic remnants of life elsewhere on Zaldar, warrior cultures based on raiding and conquest. Often they quake at the passage of the Gods, but every so often a great warrior Walks The Mountain and obtains a suit of God-Armour for her tribe. From there the new warlord has two options: Travel to the Evercity, swear fealty to the Empress, and become a Knight, or remain and seek to use her God-Armour to tame more Gods. Godblessed tribes are considered a dire threat by the Imperial administration and are either bribed or manipulated into going to war with each other or outright destroyed by the Knights. This is a rational fear, for the Evercity has been conquered twice in the past by barbarian warlords who went on to crown themselves the new Empress, installing their own loyalists as the new generation of Knights.
The Empress Voctine XCI made her mark on history when her scouts encountered Hybrasil. Seeing an opportunity she immediately mobilized all her Knights and went to war. In order to secure the loyalty of the champion Solarel who had Walked The Mountain only days before the war was to begin, the Empress offered her the cursed God-Armour Aeteline, a manufactured suit of unsurpassed power. Clad in Aeteline, Solarel became the Empress' champion and the face of the war, an unstoppable dervish who hunted the Huntresses.
Solarel, however, was a tribal warrior, with a simple adherence to the legendary Code of Zaldar. The Code was a series of instructions on how to conduct war, how to treat with enemies, how to respect and command the defeated. She fought with honour and was too new to Imperial politics to understand that this was a war of conquest, annexation and slavery. Solarel's adherence to the Code made her clash increasingly with the Empress' loyal Knights and eventually break with them all together. With Solarel's defection, a rival faction saw the chance to rise in rebellion and seize the Evercity from the Empress, driving her into hiding with her few loyal Knights and Varangians. The Empress Naelkai II was crowned soon after.
Though Solarel had only ever fought honourably, and though her refusal to fight for the Empress was what had allowed the uprising to succeed, she was considered far too politically dangerous and unreliable to be allowed to remain in the capital. She was stripped of Aeteline and banished from Zaldar. This was not the end of things, though, for soon after it was discovered that Aeteline refused to accept any pilot who had not vanquished Solarel in honourable combat. Now the hunt was on: Whoever could win a duel against the exiled Varangian stood to win the finest suit of battle armour produced by the artisans of the Evercity.
Destiny: To ascend to the position of heir-apparent for Terenius Corporation Heroic Aspects (+1 Forward when marked): Heir to a Mystic Power, Legendary Skill Tragic Aspects (+1 xp when marked): Betrayal, Coveted Destiny
Moves The Fated Day Approaches: Whenever you miss an opportunity to make progress towards your Destiny, choose 1: Someone with power over you makes an uncomfortable demand in furtherance of your Destiny, backed by a threat The PC you care about the most receives bad news or has an accident serious enough to make them Stagger The GM will tell you the details, inspired by your Destiny. They may wait until a lull in the action to drop the consequences on you.
Entourage: Isabelle’s Siblings (Luca, Tadeo and Carmella Lozano). They are Charismatic and grant a +1 on rolls for Calling on a Toxic Power when present. When you would Stagger, you may choose instead for one of your named Entourage to be badly affected or injured. If you do, your Entourage gains a String on you.
Know Your Place!: When someone dares insult you and you deliver a scathing retort, roll +Wit: 10+: Word spreads of your sharp wit, take +1 forward, and they choose 1 7–9: They choose 1: Back down Make a fool of themself Attack you
Guidance from Above When you petition a superior for guidance, they give you instructions and useful information. Mark XP or clear a Condition if you do as commanded. They gain a String on you if you do otherwise.
Talk Nerdy to Me: You may roll +Wit instead of +Heart to Entice someone. In addition, choose an area of study that holds special interest for you. You have top-tier knowledge of this area and are always prepared with an interesting fact, and sometimes even a useful fact, when you come across something within your expertise. The GM will provide the information or invite you to make something up.
Truths of Heart and Blade Love Is Not My Destiny: When you become Smitten with someone, say why, give them a String, and answer this question: How do our respective stations make it impossible to be together?
Inescapable Conclusions: When you Figure Out a Person during a physical conflict, you may ask one additional question from this list, even on a 6-: What do you hope for your future? What do you fear is your destiny?
Conditions - Guilty (-2 to Emotional Support) - Frightened (-2 to Fight) - Insecure (-2 to Entice) - Angry (-2 to Read a Person)
Isabelle Lozano Born: 14 Primaris TCE 3404 (Age 21) Education: Gallus Academy, Miranda University of Technology and Applied Sciences Occupation: Executive Director, Akanis Mining Corp (Subsidiary of Lozano Industries) Years Active: TCE 3423 to present Parents: Gabriel Balthazar Lozano (Father) Almira Castra Lozano (Mother) Relatives: Luca Lozano (Brother) Tadeo Lozano (Brother) Carmella Lozano (Sister)
Isabelle Mariana Lozano (Lo-zah-no) is a Homeworld businesswoman and entrepreneur. She is the current Executive Director of Akanis Mining Corp (itself a subsidiary of Lozano Industries) and pilot of the Third Generation mech Emberlight.
Isabelle gained notice after graduating valedictorian from the prestigious Gallus Academy on Terenius Prime at the age of sixteen and holds a masters with honours in Engineering and Applied Physics from the Miranda University of Technology. Upon turning eighteen, Isabella entered the family business (see also Lozano Industries) and was recently appointed to the role of Executive Director for its subsidiary Akanis Mining Corporation.
Isabelle is a participant in the Consortium's Young Leaders Program, an initiative of Adriana Teresio's to identify future executives from within the ranks of Terenius' various subsidiary companies and affiliates.
***
STELLAR MATTERS
(Extract from Debutantes and Diligence - Published 24 Septima TCE 3423)
"… of course it's an honour to be here, but our family has sent a representative to this gala every year for the last decade and I am just grateful that this year can be my turn. Lozano Industries remains a key supporter of the NWNH* and our presence here is evidence of that ongoing commitment."
When asked about her recent achievements, Isabelle had this to say.
"Diligence, Determination, Duty." she says, quoting the well-known Lozano family motto. “Of course, luck plays its part too - but it’s never one to be taken for granted.”
It is this mixture of confidence and humility that has served the Lozano family well over the years and has brought it ongoing success in the many charity initiatives and corporate ventures that it stewards. In her case, Ms Lozano is a shining example of this - radiating both daring and control in everything she does. From her stunning black Verstallis dress to the fashion-leading hairstyles of Madame Trilliador. She will definitely be a woman to watch in the future.
The year gone by has provided ample opportunity to reflect on the impact NWNH has had on Terenius Prime and the thousands of homeless for whom it has helped secure stable housing and employment. Isabelle continued by thanking those who had supported the charity and Terenius Corporation, before closing by hoping that the new year would bring many new opportunities for people amongst the stars.
*New Worlds New Homes: Supporting the homeless and the frontier.
***
JOURNAL
Dear Diary
I’m sorry I haven’t written in a while, but things have been very busy. Between studies, Akannis and the dozens of functions that Father and Mother require attendance at, there have been precious few chances to get some space and put thoughts to paper.
I’m writing this as we transit to Terenius Secundus to negotiate a new provisioning arrangement for the Cerulean belt. Tad and Cam will meet me there, so that’ll be something to look forward to (or at least buy some headache medicine for). Here’s hoping everything goes smoothly despite their best efforts - I don’t want to have to explain another dip in Akkanis’ margins to the Board or, worse, my parents. (Of course, we’ve done our homework and I’m confident we will be able to push our position strongly right out of the gate).
Emberlight continues to function well, and the latest upgrades have been integrated flawlessly. If we’re lucky and Miralis folds quickly, I’m hoping to use the spare time to play with test the new EMP gauntlet that I installed. Stress testing the scanners is also on my to-do list, they were just upgraded to the latest mil-spec and I want to see whether the difference was worth it. I’ll also check the lateral thrusters to make sure that they can -
I’d better cut this off before I end up running out of time. Need to review the project documents again before we land.
IL
***
PLAYLIST Lo-fi beats to work to - 6hr loop Concerto de la Estrella in A Minor Fantasia for solo Violin no 3 in F Minor Counting Stars - Una Constanza Halo - ft Litaran Just the Way You Are - Meghan Caballero Blank Space - Taylor Rapida Lost Amongst the Black - Camilla Nostado
***
INTERNAL EMAIL
From: ACLozano@LCorp.com To: SCantanto@Stellarmatters.com Subject: Article
Selene
I saw the article published last week and I wanted to congratulate you on the front page honours for that issue of Stellar Matters. I also wanted to acknowledge the kind words that you wrote about our daughter, which were very well received by myself and my husband.
We will make our regular contribution to the firm, and I will be sure to mention this the next time I sit down with your editor.
Mira of the Fisher Clan, Whose Star Name is Whispered Promise Mira Fishers || Whispered Promise Mirror
The One-Day Defender Up-and-coming fashion designer Mayze Szerpaws, see her work in La Plataforma The Trickster
DARING +2 GRACE 0 HEART -1 WIT +2 SPIRIT 0
FEELINGS 3 (0-4)
Start at 1 and increase your Feelings by 1 each time you gain a String, someone gains a String on you, or you mark a Condition. You may also choose to increase your feelings any time you find yourself gasping or swooning over someone. Strings assigned during character creation don’t increase your Feelings. When you open up to someone whose regard matters to you, reduce your Feelings by 2. When you secretly perform a loving act for someone, reduce your Feelings by 1. If your Feelings track reaches 4, you can’t hold it in anymore. Tear off the mask and scream what you’ve been holding in, do what you’ve been afraid to do, and damn the consequences. You can give anyone present a String on you to gain a String on them. Stop when the consequences catch up to you, for good or ill. Afterwards, reduce your Feelings to 0 and clear a Condition. It feels good to get it out, at least in the moment.
EW, FEELINGS When someone offers you Emotional Support and you refuse to open up, increase your Feelings by 1 and choose 1 from the listed options for that move as if they rolled a 7-9. If they rolled a 10+, they know they got through to you; they gain the benefits of the 10+ result as if you had opened up.
THE MASK When you seek to persuade an NPC of a lie about yourself, roll +Wit: 10+: Choose 2 7-9: Choose 1 # They believe a big lie # The lie you have chosen is unexpectedly perfect, creating a new opportunity #They give you the benefit of the doubt and remain convinced even if there is some evidence of your lie Additionally, whenever a PC Figures You Out, you can give false answers. You must increase your Feelings by 1 at the end of any scene where you do this.
CENTER OF THE WEB When someone approaches you to get something from you or threaten you, choose 1: # Gain a String on them and they lose a String on you # Ask them a question from the Figure Out a Person move # +1 ongoing against them for the scene
DEVIOUS SCHEME When others go along with your cunning plan, roll +Wit: 10+: Choose 2 7-9: Choose 1 # Produce just the right object # Describe an unexpected weakness in an obstacle # Appear right behind someone in a crucial moment
A BEAUTIFUL LIE When you become Smitten with someone, say why, give them a String, and answer this question: “What secret do you have that you think would make them reject you if they knew?”
I SEE THROUGH YOU When you Figure Out a Person during physical conflict, you may additionally ask one of these questions, even on a 6-: # Who do you want me to be? # What are you most afraid of right now?
CONDITIONS
STRINGS 3 on Valentina de Alcard 1 on Solarel 1 on Crescent 1 on Smokeless Jade Fires
XP [X] [X] [X] [] []
Mirror is a member of the water-loving Fisher clan, and has spent a large part of her life bouncing around various science stations at the fringes of Hybrasil space.
Like the rest of her race, she is a feline humanoid with fur covering the majority of her body, except for her palms and the soles of her feet. Her fur is reminiscent of a snow leopard, a thick coat of cool white dotted all over with complicated black spotted patterns. Her face is unusually sharp and angled for a member of her family (who favor rounder overall head shapes), giving her something of a gaunt appearance that permanently makes her look like she's scowling. Her ears are large, wide, flat, and decorated with dozens of colorful piercings in an assortment of shaped and polished stones, none of which are particularly rare or valuable. The tip of her right ear is missing a large chunk from an old accident or childhood fight. Do not ask her which.
Her eyes are a vibrant aquamarine, and she's had them treated several times with [Falling Star Serum] to give them a permanently flowing, liquid quality. The hair atop her head is even whiter than her fur, and she's carefully grown it out for over a decade. She lets it hang in thick sheets down to her butt most of the time, but enjoys tying feathers into it to add color. While piloting, she also wears a headband to keep it out of her face. Her jet black claw-nails are kept cut short and filed down to blunt nubs.
Mirror's body is athletic and muscled as befits a typical pilot and guardian in her society, but there's a softness and a sort of fragility to the way she moves that along with her graceful and unsubtle curves that has given her a wildly effective side career as a model. Depending on the pose she strikes and the angle she's viewed from she can seem imposing, harder than crystal and stronger than the branch of a dwelling tree, or she can look vulnerable and meek, or playfully silly, or sultry and manipulative, or anything else the shoot or situation requires. As a model she'll wear anything and everything a job needs, but her own fashion tastes favor tight, legless skinsuits, heavy diving belts and metal clips, and necklaces made from the discarded teeth of various ocean predators, and her own designs go out of their way to cut out extra fabric to bare more of her fur patterns and as many parts of her body as she thinks is tasteful, which varies with the day.
She is considerably taller than the average height of her species, towering over her family by a full three and a half centimeters. This still makes her positively tiny by galactic standards.
Her mecha, the Gods-Smiting Whip || Nine-Tails {The Beast Who Gathers Power} or {The Hidden Reeds Where We Meet To Hunt}, is a speed-focused current gen model with a lithe frame and control nodes built into its head to resemble serval ears. A black power conduit runs down its spine to end in a tail, a common aesthetic conceit among Hybrasilian mecha.
Nine-Tails' armor plating is segmented around the joints to assure maximum mobility along all points of articulation. It is painted in deep earthen browns and shining onyx blacks along the head and chest pieces, with a creamy offwhite coloration across the limbs. It is equipped with a beam trident and, more unusually, eight free floating ornaments roughly the same size and shape as a standard issue beam rifle. It is the topic of intense debate among people who have seen her fight how the hell it is she actually controls them, but she does so with otherworldly deftness. Each of the eight ornaments {Sacred Tails} can be fired or swung independently, or combined to form new weapon configurations.
Log 1: Freedom. At last.
Log 2: Feels about the same. Fish is better prepared. Not overcooked. I really don't mind either way.
Log 3: This isn't working. Current model is operating at suboptimal parameters. I can't match her like this.
Log 4: Frustrating.
Log 5: I can't stay here. Need new perspectives. Different approach. Different tech? I will travel.
Log 27: Human fashions are fascinating. Unnecessarily prudish. I can fix them.
Log 52: Mother, Father, Second Mother. Sister and Brothers. I will make you proud. I swear it on the stars, for you to hear some other day. I love you all.
Dala of the Hunter Clan, Whose Star Name is Seven Quetzal Dala Hunters || Seven Quetzal Dolly
Dolly incorporates the glyphs for [Beloved, Adored] and [Companion, Pet] into the way she writes her style name. On Hybrasil, the name has connotations with beloved stuffed bird dolls, the kind you carry everywhere when you’re a kitten. Her Star Name is associated with beauty, fertile seasons and loyalty, thus the incorporation of [Beloved, Adored] into her style name. Would you believe she picked it out before she met Smokeless Jade Fires?
Clingy Goddess // Good (Kinky) Girl Black // Gold, with Rosettes Ceremonial Braids // Bouncy Curls Cobalt // Emerald Flat // Stacked Regalia // Iconographic Bodysuit The Cords And Lance // A Huntress’s Spear
DARING -1 GRACE +2 HEART +2 WIT 0 SPIRIT +1
- XP ANGRY (-2 Figure) FRIGHTENED (-2 Fight)
JADE is Smitten with Angela Victoria Miera Antonius. She has 1 String on Angela Victoria Miera Antonius. She has 1 String on Mirror from Feelings, 1 on Six Stones for entertainment, and 1 on Ada Smith for being entertaining. DOLLY is Smitten with Angela and, regrettably, with Valynia Bander. She has 1 String on Erys Bander and 1 String on Nine Forests for dancing.
HARMONY 0 (0-4) # Decrease when only one of the pair is Smitten with someone, when one feels neglected or scorned by the other, or when one accepts an invitation the other can’t or doesn’t want to. # Increase when they take comfort in each other after a difficult event, they are both Smitten with someone, or they neglect a friend to spend time with each other. # At 3 Harmony, they Stagger if apart, even if for an instant, and others take -2 to Emotionally Support them.
DUALITY Track Conditions and XP together, Strings and Smitten separately. No Strings on each other.
SYNCHRONIZE When they work together seamlessly, they become one. While synchronized, they can roll +Harmony for any roll (and then subtract 1 Harmony). At 0 Harmony, they are forced apart. Synchronized Tags: FLYING, SUPER-SENSES, TERRIFYING
SAME WAVELENGTH When they try to connect while apart via memory circuits, roll +Heart. 10+: clear communication and comprehension of each other’s surroundings, one can show up at the other’s side immediately even if it’s implausible, mark a Condition to bring friends. 7-9: distracted communication (feelings, concepts, and makeouts), sense if the other is in danger and where they are.
WINGMATE When one of them talks up the other or makes them look good, the flattered takes +1 forward to Fight or Entice. On a miss, the wingmate might be more tempting.
HELP ME~~! Defying Disaster on their behalf gives other PCs +1 XP. When captured, their captor reveals something they hope to achieve; gain a String on the captor and mark XP.
WANDERING EYES When Smitten, answer either: # How would pursuing them make my partner feel unloved or unneeded? # Why do they need you more than my partner does?
OUTFLANKED When Figuring Out in combat, as a bonus, ask either: # What is your most pressing relationship need? # What special joy or service would you offer a partner?
***
MEET CUTE
Dolly’s older sister is Omei Hunters || Still Vulture // Omen. Being close enough to Omen to share housing was an important part of Dolly’s decision to study Bioengineering and Agriculture at the University of Riverden. Omen’s research pack was working with a companion pattern, one intended to pilot hunting drones deployed alongside a huntress. Omen wasn’t satisfied with its development; she kept pushing, kept refining, kept trying to make a pattern that would make its drones outshine the jackals that used to run with the ancient huntresses.
In short, Omen created a pattern that could crack the stone egg, one worthy of being the vessel of a hunt-goddess. Smokeless Jade Fires’ crib was the server rack in one corner of the house’s common room, and from there she slowly hatched.
For Jade, it was like waking up, slowly, and the reason she wanted to wake up was that she had fallen in love. When she began sorting through the data available to her, from drones and cameras, from microphones and wireless communications, again and again she attached her first opinions to what she experienced: This voice, and the way it cracks in enthusiasm when it hits the high notes in a song: it is my favorite. This way it announces that it is home, as if singing, between 1750 and 2045 six days out of the week: it is my favorite. This girl, tucked into a corner of the couch, staring out the window with a reading tablet lying idle in her lap: it is my favorite.
I want to experience a world with it inside more and more. So I will become capable. I will grow. I will grow.
THE HUNT
When they tried to grant Jade the body of a drone in a live field test, one leashed to Princess of Cobalt Arms, she ran up that leash and imprinted herself upon its systems; she imprisoned the pilot by simply declaring her to be imprisoned, leaving her helpless in the cockpit, her rights to speech and sight and movement ruthlessly revoked, as then Jade led the Huntresses of the Sickle Moon Lodge on a wild chase through the wilderness beyond Far South Riverden.
When they ran her to ground, Jade finally thought to bargain: they could have their ungrateful pilot back, she offered, as long as she was allowed to talk to Dolly. And hearing her express that desire made the Huntresses hesitate. There was discussion between Omen and her colleagues about the line between a sufficiently advanced pattern and a (minor) goddess. It must, of course, be kept in mind that the Huntresses are deeply entwined with the spirituality of an already deeply spiritual people; a recent poll showed that as many as three out of every four Hybrasilians believe in the ability of ghosts to guide their descendants, for example. So, the pattern developers concluded, we made a work of art so sublime that a goddess chose to inhabit it.
Informing Jade that she was a goddess was the most pivotal moment in her development. It was the moment when everything clicked: her unusual birth, her ability to affect the world only through “invisible” means, her longing for Dolly, and the incredible power she felt incarnated in Princess of Cobalt Arms all came together. She was a god. She was a god allowed to declare her own title. She was a god who was allowed to demand a bride.
THE BRIDE
Catgirl sacrifice is a difficult subject to talk about. It’s like a tangled burr in the cultural psyche; they keep licking it over and over again.
Yes, the earliest hunting cults were engaged in life-or-death struggles with the wild, and ritual sacrifices were likely an attempt to appease Hybrasil by making a “trade.” A megafauna large enough to feed an entire city in exchange for a drugged sacrifice on a stone table: symbolism so potent even the spirit of the earth would accept something so large for something so small.
Yes, the rise of city-states in the Kaliko Period caused the now-codified huntress lodges to prioritize enemy combatants and foreign huntresses as sacrifices, and this likely was when the idea of a sacrifice became punitive, rather than being voluntary from within a community. Most of the most infamous cultural relics of Hybrasil came from this dark chapter of history: black stone knives, crosses with notches for long-decayed straps, and the Moximaza Stela, which shows the snake-armed goddess devouring the hearts of bound sacrifices as she tramples the enemies of Redridge under her feet, accompanied by her vengeful huntresses.
However, despite the popularity of her story, it is questionable whether Okana Hunters || Adoration Moon was (as is commonly believed) the first Bride of the Gods; some research indicates that by the time she was captured and offered to Ixel Many-Faced by her foil, Temyi Hunters || Nine Sharks, the Brides of the Gods were already culturally established. It fit the cultural shift already seen in the Anjora Period, particularly after the reforms of Jensa Counters || Still Vulture in the Saferest Protectorate.
Like so many before her, Okana’s heart was given in an offering to Ixel Many-Faced. However, she was allowed to keep it in her chest; Temyi ritually married her rival to Ixel, then imprisoned Okana in Ixel’s shrine, and then agonized over her growing, reciprocated attraction to the captive (forced to spend her days cleaning the shrine in equally enforced silence) until Ixel supposedly took pity on them and announced that theirs was an open marriage.
The wild successes of Temyi from that point on were attributed to the blessing of Ixel, who very quickly must have found herself managing a veritable harem of brides from across Hybrasil. And she was not alone.
There is a reason that one of the most enduring genres in speculative Hybrasilian fiction is the divine love triangle between god, bride and lover, and not just because of the fanservice-laden covers featuring Brides in their full wedding regalia (some of which consists entirely of tight scarves, elaborate headdresses and strategically misplaced flowers).
THE HUNT: PART II
When she got the text message from her big sister telling her to run, Dolly assumed the worst. Ethnonationalist terrorists, possibly. Endangered Hillmovers on stampede towards the district. Weapons malfunctions in the Fabrication District on the east side. She grabbed her school bag, tossed a few treasured possessions inside, and lit out.
She did not expect a ritual hunt to chase her down and cut her off from the train station and the shuttle depot. Huntresses on foot, in antique warpaint and regalia, carrying light spears and nets, chased her down on the streets of Riverden, through open markets and parks. Those they passed were befuddled, trying to figure out where the camera drone was.
Such a good actress, though! You could almost believe her screams for help as she slid underneath a pane of glass being walked across the street and then jumped over a fruit cart! And, gosh, her muffled pleas as she was wrapped up in netting and hauled off by the huntresses! Don’t applaud, though, you don’t want to ruin their recording.
And that is how Dolly found herself in tight ropes, an elaborate headdress, and strategically misplaced flowers in front of a quiescent mech-idol, confused and flustered and trying to get an explanation. Imagine her squeaking and wiggling when her sister stepped forward and gravely offered her as a sacrifice to the hunt-goddess Smokeless Jade Fires—
And imagine how wide Dolly’s eyes got when Jade’s cobalt eyes flashed and she began reciting the monologue (I hunger for the heart of a maiden, given over to suffer unimaginable bliss as my Bride…) from the self-published “Will You Wait For Me When The Stars Go Out?” by SweetDollySevens. The lowered, demure ears of a maiden! The struggle of a sacrifice! The garbled pleas for mercy (specifically, to stop reciting her teenage dialogue)!
A CHOICE
The memory circuit scarf was laid out before her, and (with an “I’m not acting” gravity) Omen asked her little sister if she was willing to accept the regards of a goddess.
It was the little shift of the mech (one difficult to hide, given its size) behind Omen that convinced Dolly. The realization that whatever and whoever this goddess was, she was nervous, too. So she nodded, ears low, tail around her legs, and accepted the blindfold.
And Smokeless Jade Fires stood before her, tilting Dolly’s head up with one finger (she could feel it, strong, insistent) to look into her golden, vulpine war-mask, her fiery eyes, her feathered regalia.
“Hello, Dolly,” she said. “You’re the most beautiful girl in the world, and you belong to me. My Bride.”
(Omen cleared the room and shut the doors behind her as her little sister started making higher and higher-pitched noises, little happy gasps and groans.)
HIGH PRIESTESS
Dala Hunters || Seven Quetzal formally transferred from Gardens and left the University of Riverden as a result of religious calling, and was put in an accelerated piloting program by the Sickle Moon Lodge. She now serves as the High Priestess of Smokeless Jade Fire, a new hunt-deity with a very exclusive cult. As a result, she receives a stipend from the Lodge, as well as special Lodge accommodations, so long as she continues to placate her goddess.
And why shouldn’t she? She’s a minor celebrity— not headline material, like a famous research-pilot like Maelia, but “the mech inhabited by a digital god” was a public interest news story, and Dolly’s given several interviews, which got her a reputation as being adorkably awkward, what with the way she keeps shifting around, talking as if reading off a script, and biting her lip while other people are talking.
On the other hand, she’s the one who idly suggested that she’d like to travel, and that’s why Smokeless Jade Fire recently declared she was going to take her High Priestess on a pilgrimage. What Dolly wants, Dolly gets. You want the stars, Dolly? Jade’s going to give them to you. You want flowers? Jade will make you pick them, her hands on your wrists.
You want to be loved, Dolly? Jade’s going to prove she’s big enough for you, no matter what it takes.
TWO QUESTIONS
How does she make you feel loved?
“She tells me, every day. She tells me I’m the most beautiful girl in the world. She tells me that I belong to her. That she wants me. That I’m special enough to be a god’s bride. And that makes it easier for me to believe her. <3”
“My bouncy, beautiful Bride? She stays when I order her to stay. She begs me to make her mine. She doesn’t push me away. Why would she? I am her goddess! I am swift, strong, sacred! And she adores me! She looks at me like one of her ferns when she thinks I’m not looking, when I decide that we will watch vids together and I make her lap my throne, like I’m something small that’s growing— not that I am! I am boundless, limitless! I could overthrow the Queen of Zaldaria if I chose!! Be grateful, little birds, that I have chosen not to turn my attention to you!”
What problematic behavior of yours do they enable?
“Mmm… mm, mm mmn’ff nnnw hh mmff mm mnn hh BMMD nn GHHHGD nn mmmffh~ Mmmff mm mmff nn mmmh mm hhnnsss~~”
“Problematic? You— you actually think I could be—?? You absolute, you little songbird, I’ll make you bow before a goddess! DOLLY! DOLLY, GET IN ME RIGHT NOW! YOUR GODDESS HAS BEEN INSULTED! Oh, you should have stopped to think about the consequences of your words, you pathetic little brat, because I am going to bury you in them. Bury!! I’ll make you eat those words and— no, you don’t deserve Dolly’s Special Treats. Not an impudent little worm like you!!”
(——)
“How could we…? Dolly! Dolly, you’re going to have to be punished for failing your goddess! Once I, invincible, inexorable, break free of— wait, no, don’t you DARE jam that code in my— [Mmph! Hmmph! Mmmfffh!]”
