Th3King0fChaos

University Of Magical Aptitude

HELL YEAH! You love to see it.

Photographic Mimicry is one of those skills I love seeing.

University Of Magical Aptitude

I’ll have mine up by tomorrow! It’s been very busy at both of my jobs this week and I don’t appreciate it.

@AardWolf

Hey you good, take your time, no need to burn yourself to do it

University Of Magical Aptitude

Oh that's 100% pure chance

University Of Magical Aptitude

Adrith Carter

Adrith Carter

Age: 20
Birthday: August 21st
Gender: Male
Sexuality: Pansexual
Relationship Status: Single
Work: College Student, Teacher Assistant, & Librarian
Affiliation: Arizona State University & Mac's Boxing Gym

Appearance

Standing at 6'1 and weighing 186 pounds Adrith has a muscular and lean frame. He has a cute/handsome face and a bright smile, yet has a body that looks like a chiseled sculpture. He has scars here and there, the most noticeable being a large scar across his back, on his right eyebrow, and on his left calf.

His left calf will often cramp and start becoming a pain, with the pain becoming much worst when it rains. Normally he will push through it, using mental training and willpower to be able to work through it. However, sometimes the pain is immense enough to make it debilitating and force him to be relegated to walk with a crutch or ane.

Personality

|Goofy| |Dogmatic| |Determined| |Naive| |Compassionate| |Self sacrificial|

Personality: Adrith a nice and genuine guy as he is quite Jovial and happy. He always tries to put a smile on others' faces and tries to help in any way he can as he loves to watch people be happy. He can't be described as a social butterfly, yet he can definitely work his way through conversations and can be charismatic when needed. But, he normally is just an average guy who is slightly goofy, as well as being a big and awkward nerd.

Powers

Magical Aptitude Scale: 2

Magical Aura: Internal Energy Control-

The user is able to create, manipulate, and control the internal energies within a system. Allowing the user to control the sum of the energy within the system the user is able to exert control over.

This allows for a wide variety of effects, such as changing the shape of an object, the form of said object, adding energy within an object or system to strengthen it or destabilize it, or even to take the energy and redirect it. Allowing the user to change the flow of energy within a moving object and allowing the user to change the direction of the energies within to force the object to follow it. It can also allow the user to manipulate energies within a chemical reaction to either excite the energy within to make the chemical reaction happen faster, or manipulate the energies to stablise the chemical reaction to become inert.

This power can even enact control over the human body to manipulate and control functions within and output through out. Allowing the user to turn of certain chemical signals by manipulating the energy within to release chemicals that can be enhanced to make the body much stronger, faster, and the user can even be able to manipulate energies that were to affect the user, such as a punch, to then spread the energy across a large area of the body to reduce the 'damage' it would deal.

Magical Powers: Adrith has be able to manipulate the energies within him at this point, which allows him to do great things, however he has yet to learn how to add energy into his own system to boost himself, nor has he learned to manipulate the energies of things around him.

Full Body Control-

Hider

This power gives him control over his body, may it be how much power his muscles put out, how the blood flows, or even what things about his body prioritize as essential. This gives Adrith a unique ability to selectively turn off certain senses such as the need to see color or feel pain. With this control and selectively turning off other functions, it allows Adrith to prioritizing other things he finds essential, like his kinetic vision or reaction speed.

This skill gives him many neat uses such as the ability to increase his own healing speed by upping his metabolism, stop himself from bleeding out by controlling how the blood flows, and even increasing his power by bypassing his bodies natural inhibitors and using much more of his own strength. This can be a detriment to use constantly as he would then risk injury by breaking his own body by having his muscles go beyond what they are naturally meant to and break bones from the stress he can put them under.

However, doing any of this takes quite a bit of concentration, as it can often strain his mind when he tries to do too much all at once, so often times he will prioritize certain things like if he is bleeding, he won't try to control the muscles in the area because it would require greater control and concentration to make the blood flow to other placed while concentrating on the power output of his muscles, which would often divert his concentration in a fight. But once he prioritizes something like his kinetic vision over colors, it is a one-time thing that will stay until he goes and switches it back, oftentimes he can forget to do this based on how long he keeps it on.

His ability can be detected through 2 different methods, the first is through psychic energy, as his power is partially using his psychic energy to enact his will, and perform his feat. The second way is through a chemical screening/scanning, as when he uses his power, his body will oftentimes create different chemicals for his body to respond to, telling which muscles to do what and how hard, ignoring pain receptors in certain areas, how his blood will flow to certain areas, and many other things. If someone was to concoct a chemical that was able to counteract these chemicals, he would be unable to perform most of his abilities with his Full Body Control, leaving mostly the things he is able to do in his head, which would be changing his perception and eyesight, ignoring all feeling by turning off all his receptors, and lifting his restraint of his all of his muscles, but being unable to control them, so they would fire off at 100% power, which can easily break his bones.

Class Schedule

Class Schedule

Monday-

Breakfast

Counseling- Not exactly a class, but at some point your character will get PTSD from something and this is where they go

Technomancy- You'll learn to use electronics and magic together, the nerds in the school love this class

Lunch

Artificing Workshop- Here you will make objects of power, want to make a flaming sword that when you cut your opponent you cut their soul? You can. You want to make an armor that absorbs magical energy? You can. There are no limits so long as it doesn’t break the game or the story

Alchemy- Potions and other magical brews that enhance your abilities

Dinner

Tuesday-

Breakfast

Ancestral History- This is like a world history class, but it’s going to be more about the history of magic and each character’s lineage

Magical Civilization History- Every civilization in history has some kind of magical idolitry, and we can make other stuff up too

Lunch

Evolution Of Magic- Magic is always evolving in a fluid like state, this class teaches you the ways you can currently use your magic, as well as ideas for future use

Magic Of The Green- You will learn to connect and strengthen your bond with the world around you, spread your aura to every bit of plant-life that you can

Dinner

Wednesday-

Breakfast

Enochian Language and Literature- This is basically like language arts class, but for the origins of magic where you will learn to speak and read magical words

Conjuration- In this class you’ll learn to create anything from a grain of sand to a loyal follower, or maybe an entire cosmos if you get powerful enough

Lunch

Musical Magic- If you saw Doctor Strange 2’s music fight scene, that’s example of this class’s applications but it is also like the school band

The Art Of Illusions- This class is about learning to identify, cast, and protect against illusions while also doubling as an art class because they are considered works of art

Dinner

Thursday-

The First Response- This class is about emergency and field battle medical care, not everyone might be gung ho about fighting so we need some medics in this world

Defense Against Eldritch Horrors- The eldritch gods exist in this story and it is this class’s responsibility to teach you not how to fight Cthulu, but survive

Monster Study- Like Care Of Magical Creatures minus Hagrid but you’ll be going on field trips like a safari across The Immortal Hills with it’s different biomes

Occultism- Because this is a land outside of time and space, the barrier between the living and the dead, destiny readings and other divination like practices is pretty thin.

Friday-

Breakfast

Anti-Dark Magic Defense- It's like Defense Against The Dark Arts, but harder and deadlier and you even learn about dark magic

Clubs

Dueling Club- A combat focused club that allows students to participate in sanctioned duels to test themselves and learn how to improve themselves among their peers and more combat focused mages.

Scholar's Corner- A book club that focuses on literature with parallels to one in the outside world.

Polyglot League- A club dedicated to those wishing to learn more languages, Adrith knows: German, Spanish, English, French, Tagalog, and Russian.

Sample Post

The smell of old paper and perfumed air fresheners hang in the air. The quiet shuffling of people, papers, and the solid thumps of books landing upon desks. It was a normal day within the library, Adrith Carter has lived in this monotony, and he was content. The smell of the hot summer desert snuck into the library every couple minutes when someone entered or exited the building. For Adrith, this was nostalgia, it was until a smell got to his nose that changed his entire demenor. His leg began to cramp as he turned towards his desk that faced the door most had to enter to enter the library. 3 individuals began to enter the building, Adrith knew them from scent alone, each of them were ones he knew well enough.

Adrith kept cool, as the individuals entered they began to make their way to the front desk. The one leading the group was a man who stood well above most men, built like a brick, and looked like he could crush one too. The man's eyes landed onto Adrith as a dead-set staring contest began. The two looked to each other as if waiting for the other to make the first move. The air was tense, as for those who could sense the energy, a class of auras began. A low level clash, as neither budged until Adrith's demenor changed, "What can I help you with?". The man across from Adrith looked astonished, caught off guard as he noticed to his ight an older woman making her way over. "Where's the books on the war of 1812?"

The talk became cordial for a moment as both men let the other pass while who seemed to be the director of the university made their over to the desk. The woman then dropped a stack of papers in front of Adrith before she said, "I need these papers faxed to your director". Adrith gave a light nod as he said, "Of course ma'am". While Adrith stood up, he took the stack of papers while the director turned to begin talking to the other man in a much more happier and delighted fashion. To Adrith it made sense, among the 2 other them, it was night and day. He shook his head as he took a step away towards the printer, yet the moment he tried to press the button to power it on, the button wouldn't budge.

Adrith became confused until he realized, the world was quiet, Adrith turned to see all the people talking seems to be frozen, "What in the good lord?" Before Adrith was given a chance to investigate, he heard the sound of the printer break the silence. He was startled as he nearly jumped out of his own skin turning towards it. Seeing something is being printed out, a manila-colored envelope was being printed, with words being addressed directly towards him. Adrith lightly plucked the letter from the printer before inspecting it, he was confused, yet he took a deep breath, and then opened the letter, to see it says:

Dear Adrith Carter, Congratulations you have been pre-approved for selection into The Clockmaster’s University For Magical Aptitude. Upon completion of reading this letter you shall be transported to a land beyond time and space known as The Immortal Hills. There you shall be joined by others with similar auras as yourself and go through our rigorous interview process before you are to be greeted by The Grandfather of Time, The Clockmaster himself Alus Arador. This is a boarding school, where you will learn and live and create a life for eight years in the Immortal Hills, but in reality, only five minutes shall pass upon your transportation, and all educational materials will be provided for you. Once more, congratulations on your selection as only eight million people have any sort of magical aptitude. See you in a moment.

Your Homeroom Teacher, Ms. Monik Maglon

When he finished reading, Adrith began to hear waves crashing. The world around him washed away in the roar of waves, something that made Adrith's skin crawl. Something deep in his bones screamed out as he began to see dark waves began to crash away the world around him. Yet in this fearful moment, the glow of celestial objects lit a way to safety. A staircase made of solid and clean stone lead up to a hill, these held above it all, 2 celestial bodies, a sun of gold and one of blue. AS Adrith began to climb the stairs, he felt the waves wash away, leading to the brilliant land, and more, to those who began to appear just like him.

University Of Magical Aptitude

Awesome! I hope we can get more character submissions soon

University Of Magical Aptitude

Adrith Carter

Adrith Carter

Age: 20
Birthday: August 21st
Gender: Male
Sexuality: Pansexual
Relationship Status: Single
Work: College Student, Teacher Assistant, & Librarian
Affiliation: Arizona State University & Mac's Boxing Gym

Appearance

Standing at 6'1 and weighing 186 pounds Adrith has a muscular and lean frame. He has a cute/handsome face and a bright smile, yet has a body that looks like a chiseled sculpture. He has scars here and there, the most noticeable being a large scar across his back, on his right eyebrow, and on his left calf.

His left calf will often cramp and start becoming a pain, with the pain becoming much worst when it rains. Normally he will push through it, using mental training and willpower to be able to work through it. However, sometimes the pain is immense enough to make it debilitating and force him to be relegated to walk with a crutch or ane.

Personality

|Goofy| |Dogmatic| |Determined| |Naive| |Compassionate| |Self sacrificial|

Personality: Adrith a nice and genuine guy as he is quite Jovial and happy. He always tries to put a smile on others' faces and tries to help in any way he can as he loves to watch people be happy. He can't be described as a social butterfly, yet he can definitely work his way through conversations and can be charismatic when needed. But, he normally is just an average guy who is slightly goofy, as well as being a big and awkward nerd.

Powers

Magical Aptitude Scale: 2

Magical Aura: Internal Energy Control-

The user is able to create, manipulate, and control the internal energies within a system. Allowing the user to control the sum of the energy within the system the user is able to exert control over.

This allows for a wide variety of effects, such as changing the shape of an object, the form of said object, adding energy within an object or system to strengthen it or destabilize it, or even to take the energy and redirect it. Allowing the user to change the flow of energy within a moving object and allowing the user to change the direction of the energies within to force the object to follow it. It can also allow the user to manipulate energies within a chemical reaction to either excite the energy within to make the chemical reaction happen faster, or manipulate the energies to stablise the chemical reaction to become inert.

This power can even enact control over the human body to manipulate and control functions within and output through out. Allowing the user to turn of certain chemical signals by manipulating the energy within to release chemicals that can be enhanced to make the body much stronger, faster, and the user can even be able to manipulate energies that were to affect the user, such as a punch, to then spread the energy across a large area of the body to reduce the 'damage' it would deal.

Magical Powers: Adrith has be able to manipulate the energies within him at this point, which allows him to do great things, however he has yet to learn how to add energy into his own system to boost himself, nor has he learned to manipulate the energies of things around him.

Full Body Control-

Hider

This power gives him control over his body, may it be how much power his muscles put out, how the blood flows, or even what things about his body prioritize as essential. This gives Adrith a unique ability to selectively turn off certain senses such as the need to see color or feel pain. With this control and selectively turning off other functions, it allows Adrith to prioritizing other things he finds essential, like his kinetic vision or reaction speed.

This skill gives him many neat uses such as the ability to increase his own healing speed by upping his metabolism, stop himself from bleeding out by controlling how the blood flows, and even increasing his power by bypassing his bodies natural inhibitors and using much more of his own strength. This can be a detriment to use constantly as he would then risk injury by breaking his own body by having his muscles go beyond what they are naturally meant to and break bones from the stress he can put them under.

However, doing any of this takes quite a bit of concentration, as it can often strain his mind when he tries to do too much all at once, so often times he will prioritize certain things like if he is bleeding, he won't try to control the muscles in the area because it would require greater control and concentration to make the blood flow to other placed while concentrating on the power output of his muscles, which would often divert his concentration in a fight. But once he prioritizes something like his kinetic vision over colors, it is a one-time thing that will stay until he goes and switches it back, oftentimes he can forget to do this based on how long he keeps it on.

His ability can be detected through 2 different methods, the first is through psychic energy, as his power is partially using his psychic energy to enact his will, and perform his feat. The second way is through a chemical screening/scanning, as when he uses his power, his body will oftentimes create different chemicals for his body to respond to, telling which muscles to do what and how hard, ignoring pain receptors in certain areas, how his blood will flow to certain areas, and many other things. If someone was to concoct a chemical that was able to counteract these chemicals, he would be unable to perform most of his abilities with his Full Body Control, leaving mostly the things he is able to do in his head, which would be changing his perception and eyesight, ignoring all feeling by turning off all his receptors, and lifting his restraint of his all of his muscles, but being unable to control them, so they would fire off at 100% power, which can easily break his bones.

Class Schedule

Class Schedule

Monday-

Breakfast

Counseling- Not exactly a class, but at some point your character will get PTSD from something and this is where they go

Technomancy- You'll learn to use electronics and magic together, the nerds in the school love this class

Lunch

Artificing Workshop- Here you will make objects of power, want to make a flaming sword that when you cut your opponent you cut their soul? You can. You want to make an armor that absorbs magical energy? You can. There are no limits so long as it doesn’t break the game or the story

Alchemy- Potions and other magical brews that enhance your abilities

Dinner

Tuesday-

Breakfast

Ancestral History- This is like a world history class, but it’s going to be more about the history of magic and each character’s lineage

Magical Civilization History- Every civilization in history has some kind of magical idolitry, and we can make other stuff up too

Lunch

Evolution Of Magic- Magic is always evolving in a fluid like state, this class teaches you the ways you can currently use your magic, as well as ideas for future use

Magic Of The Green- You will learn to connect and strengthen your bond with the world around you, spread your aura to every bit of plant-life that you can

Dinner

Wednesday-

Breakfast

Enochian Language and Literature- This is basically like language arts class, but for the origins of magic where you will learn to speak and read magical words

Conjuration- In this class you’ll learn to create anything from a grain of sand to a loyal follower, or maybe an entire cosmos if you get powerful enough

Lunch

Musical Magic- If you saw Doctor Strange 2’s music fight scene, that’s example of this class’s applications but it is also like the school band

The Art Of Illusions- This class is about learning to identify, cast, and protect against illusions while also doubling as an art class because they are considered works of art

Dinner

Thursday-

The First Response- This class is about emergency and field battle medical care, not everyone might be gung ho about fighting so we need some medics in this world

Defense Against Eldritch Horrors- The eldritch gods exist in this story and it is this class’s responsibility to teach you not how to fight Cthulu, but survive

Monster Study- Like Care Of Magical Creatures minus Hagrid but you’ll be going on field trips like a safari across The Immortal Hills with it’s different biomes

Occultism- Because this is a land outside of time and space, the barrier between the living and the dead, destiny readings and other divination like practices is pretty thin.

Friday-

Breakfast

Anti-Dark Magic Defense- It's like Defense Against The Dark Arts, but harder and deadlier and you even learn about dark magic

Clubs

Dueling Club- A combat focused club that allows students to participate in sanctioned duels to test themselves and learn how to improve themselves among their peers and more combat focused mages.

Scholar's Corner- A book club that focuses on literature with parallels to one in the outside world.

Polyglot League- A club dedicated to those wishing to learn more languages, Adrith knows: German, Spanish, English, French, Tagalog, and Russian.

Sample Post

The smell of old paper and perfumed air fresheners hang in the air. The quiet shuffling of people, papers, and the solid thumps of books landing upon desks. It was a normal day within the library, Adrith Carter has lived in this monotony, and he was content. The smell of the hot summer desert snuck into the library every couple minutes when someone entered or exited the building. For Adrith, this was nostalgia, it was until a smell got to his nose that changed his entire demenor. His leg began to cramp as he turned towards his desk that faced the door most had to enter to enter the library. 3 individuals began to enter the building, Adrith knew them from scent alone, each of them were ones he knew well enough.

Adrith kept cool, as the individuals entered they began to make their way to the front desk. The one leading the group was a man who stood well above most men, built like a brick, and looked like he could crush one too. The man's eyes landed onto Adrith as a dead-set staring contest began. The two looked to each other as if waiting for the other to make the first move. The air was tense, as for those who could sense the energy, a class of auras began. A low level clash, as neither budged until Adrith's demenor changed, "What can I help you with?". The man across from Adrith looked astonished, caught off guard as he noticed to his ight an older woman making her way over. "Where's the books on the war of 1812?"

The talk became cordial for a moment as both men let the other pass while who seemed to be the director of the university made their over to the desk. The woman then dropped a stack of papers in front of Adrith before she said, "I need these papers faxed to your director". Adrith gave a light nod as he said, "Of course ma'am". While Adrith stood up, he took the stack of papers while the director turned to begin talking to the other man in a much more happier and delighted fashion. To Adrith it made sense, among the 2 other them, it was night and day. He shook his head as he took a step away towards the printer, yet the moment he tried to press the button to power it on, the button wouldn't budge.

Adrith became confused until he realized, the world was quiet, Adrith turned to see all the people talking seems to be frozen, "What in the good lord?" Before Adrith was given a chance to investigate, he heard the sound of the printer break the silence. He was startled as he nearly jumped out of his own skin turning towards it. Seeing something is being printed out, a manila-colored envelope was being printed, with words being addressed directly towards him. Adrith lightly plucked the letter from the printer before inspecting it, he was confused, yet he took a deep breath, and then opened the letter, to see it says:

Dear Adrith Carter, Congratulations you have been pre-approved for selection into The Clockmaster’s University For Magical Aptitude. Upon completion of reading this letter you shall be transported to a land beyond time and space known as The Immortal Hills. There you shall be joined by others with similar auras as yourself and go through our rigorous interview process before you are to be greeted by The Grandfather of Time, The Clockmaster himself Alus Arador. This is a boarding school, where you will learn and live and create a life for eight years in the Immortal Hills, but in reality, only five minutes shall pass upon your transportation, and all educational materials will be provided for you. Once more, congratulations on your selection as only eight million people have any sort of magical aptitude. See you in a moment.

Your Homeroom Teacher, Ms. Monik Maglon

When he finished reading, Adrith began to hear waves crashing. The world around him washed away in the roar of waves, something that made Adrith's skin crawl. Something deep in his bones screamed out as he began to see dark waves began to crash away the world around him. Yet in this fearful moment, the glow of celestial objects lit a way to safety. A staircase made of solid and clean stone lead up to a hill, these held above it all, 2 celestial bodies, a sun of gold and one of blue. AS Adrith began to climb the stairs, he felt the waves wash away, leading to the brilliant land, and more, to those who began to appear just like him.

Sorry I would have posted sooner but I needed to catch up in an RP that was getting moving again.

Fallout: The Vegas Affair

---

Desmond had made a far rock toss across the Mojave, going from one outpost to the next. He moved from the outpost he had assisted in the maintenance of one of their technicals, then to the next outpost where he heard they needed a technician to repair the electrical in their med bay. A constant string of work and leads, taking jobs that would give him food, supplies, fuel, and information. This was the life of a wanderer, wandering from place to place, doing work to live. Yet being skilled like Desmond was one thing that made him special. It allowed him to work among many groups, interact with many people, and learn many things most would never even know about.

Like the fact that something had gone down at Ranger Camp Foxtrot. Legion had attacked and was repelled, leaving Desmond to believe that whatever there was minorly important. Yet, still important enough for the legion to attack it, even in its weakened state. Which in its own right could give some leads and information. So, as his nature dictates, Desmond let the wind take him to the camp and into the unknown, as no matter how one wanders, the wind will blow them as it pleases.

Mechwarrior: Disposable Heroes

---

In collaberation with: @Abstract Proxy

---

Clearing hundreds of kilometers was not an easy task, less of one for those within a mech slow enough to be caught by a child throwing a beach ball. However, for Alleycat and Desperado, they were in mechs fast enough to clear swaths of the area in moments. Desperado called out to Alleycat for simple idle chatter, they had plenty of travel left and little to do. Talking and chattering were fun, yet they were both people of action and a simple question sparked an entire event that would probably go down in Espian history.

"Wanna race?"

“Do you even need to ask?” Ziska replied, managing a smile despite the strips of fabric she had wrapped over her newly split brow. Speed was their best defense from any pursuit. A reason to push herself through the night was what she needed. And having survived yet another encounter with the Firewitch, Ziska simply felt like rolling the dice again.

The roaring of thunder could be heard from miles away, yet the night sky was clear. Leaving 2 Espian guards confused, "Did you hear that?".

"Yeah, what do you think it is?" The taller of the 2 guards seemed to almost look at their compatriot with confusion as they began to look around as what seemed to be a cloud off in the distance seemed to be forming.

"Maybe it's one of those Green Knights. I heard they have devolved into psychos after being forced from our cities". The other guard grabbed a pair of binoculars and began to look in the distance of the cloud.

"I think I see something in the smoke". The man began to squint and try to see into the night, yet all he could see was the cloud growing.

"What the fu-" The guard was about to speak, but it was already too late, a mech was hurdling at them at speeds unheard of. The only warning they had was that thunderous sound, all of which was too late as they saw a battlemech’s foot falling onto them, turning the men into paste.

”Did you hear that?” Desperado pinged off to the Raven, as he thought he heard the sounds of metal being crushed and flattened.

Cackling and laughing resounded the cockpits of the 2 mechs moving at full speed. They knew their destination, the only problem is that between them and their home base is a few hundred kilometers of tunnels, a few enemy bases, and plenty of open fields that are most likely being monitored by aerial support. Nothing much to 2 of the best pilots the Green Knights have ever seen.

Upon entering the tunnels, the Raven with its lower profile used its full speed to its advantage as it made short work of the 50-kilometer tunnel. Yet the Phoenix Hawk was not allowing itself to be beaten. Desperado called out to the Raven as it began to pull ahead, ”No you don't!”. Using its hand actuators and arms to keep itself upright, the Battlemech seemed to almost tip forward and nearly fall over, yet this allowed itself to move through the tunnels more easily and keep up in speed enough to not lose sight of the Raven.

The exit of the tunnel opened up into a large area, filled with jutting rocks, steep slopes, and many places to fall. The Raven exited first, cutting over a rock formation without slipping as Ziska shifted her controls at the last second to keep the Raven moving without any loss of speed. The Phoenix Hawk decided to take the dangerous route, using many of the skills learned within the Gladiator Games on Solaris IIV, the Phoenix Hawk launched itself out of the tunnel like a bat out of hell. The Phoenix Hawk used its boosters before leaving the tunnel to send it out like a bullet. Desperado called out to the Raven, ”Let’s see which bird can fly the fastest!”. Right before landing, the Phoenix Hawk adjusted its arc mid-air to allow it to aim its booster down at the face of the slope, softening its landing and allowing the Phoenix Hawk to slide for moments before it began to run again, gaining upon the Raven that was once taking a substantial lead.

The Raven seemed to almost take offense to this showmanship as once it landed it began to use its forward momentum, leaping and bounding off of rocks like an only modestly earthbound bird while the Phoenix Hawk seemed to treat this area like a snowboarding slope, constantly launching itself in small bursts and using it’s already generated momentum to continue down the rocky slope. The two mechs consistently pulled the lead from each other, using much different forms of speed to keep up with the other down this constant slope. Once they made contact with grassland again, they began their sprint once more, neck and neck once more as the thunderous roar of Mechs moving at their top speeds filled the air. The night gave them cover from direct sight, yet it did not stop those on the ground to feel what seemed to be a small earthquake approaching.

The local comms net broke out into panicked cries as unprepared Espian Guard soldiers tried to figure out what was going on. Left in the dark as comms came crashing down under the burning chrome of the Raven’s souped up Electronic Warfare system. Garbled reports began to ring out as confusion set in. The unlucky had less than a minute to react before they found themselves silenced as a dark cloud of dust swept over them.

Accompanied by thunder and what felt like sudden earthquakes, the dark cloud stayed only briefly, splitting into two, and then vanishing into the night like some mystical force. Fearful guards suspected a major attack and false reports began to fly out over the restored comms, some far beyond any possible range for the pair of Green Knights to have been involved. Madness took hold over some of the less experienced soldiers as combat with a lance of BattleMechs seemed imminent.

In the center of this cloud were two cackling madmen who seemed to have no care for the direness of their situation. They seemed to let everything go and enjoyed the moment, there was no war to them, there was no Crimson Fist, there were no feelings of being stranded, there was only the wish to win this simple race. As when the sun rose all they could see was their new home, it wasn’t much, but it was home. In this simple race, of two pilots each of whom are able enough to face down any opposition, they found themselves unable to determine a winner. Leaving themselves in a draw.

“Tie then,” Ziska huffed, seeing the Phoenix Hawk pull into the junkyard at neck to neck with her Raven.

Desperado let out a laugh as the race finally ended, "A tie again. One of us is gonna win one of these days". The Phoenix Hawk gave a thumbs up to the Raven as they entered their new home, the Junkyard.

The Hourglass Order

---

Cold Comfort: Two Birds in a Cage

---

Sleep, the most important function of any living being, one that determines the productivity of any person. Within stone walls that reverberate any sound made and a man who snores like a knife scraping across slate, having a restful sleep was difficult. Marz thankfully had been through similar situation, so having any bit of sleep was good enough in his mind. What Marz was upset about was the fact that they were awoken in a very abrupt way, a loud bell began to ring throughout the halls which reverberated through the ears and directly to the bones.

The monks began to walk through the halls, making sure each cell was awake and were then ordered into different lines. Each line being assigned different tasks for the day, Marz was ordered into one group, one that was filled with many different craftsmen of different crafts. Men and women with larger builds, smaller builds, burns and calluses in different locations of the hands, even tan marks around the face in specific locations for different eye wear and face wear associated with different crafts. Among the group of people Marz noticed a very particular person, Choran, in a small moment their eyes met a flash of hostility was felt from both of them. Marz heard multiple monks notice and yelled at them to stay away from each other. After which, the group began to head off to the manufacturing floor.

Marz felt the eyes of everyone around him laid down onto his movements. They were watching his every move, wondering if he would make a slip up, one false move that would give him away as some kind of rat in their midst. Soon enough this deep stare from all directions faded away once they entered a set of 2 large doors, each with enough width to allow multiple grown to pass by each other with ease. The doors themselves seem to be made of a thick wood with much wear and damage across the door similar to the damage a cart would deal when hit against an object.

Once the group entered the manufacturing floor Marz was able to see the working conditions of these smiths, and all he could think is how awful these were. Smelly and damp air filled the nostrils as it smelt as if this place was only sweat. The heat in the manufacture floor assaulted the body and mouth, making the body heat up quickly and dry the mouth. The forges seemed well made but any good smith would know that they would bleed heat and making forging much harder to even work. The anvils were solid metal, yet the face of them seemed scaled over with many imperfections that would transfer to the metal and make any product rough and require countless hours of sanding and polishing to make it remotely smooth.

Marz' face looked at the tools, the work stations, the material, all of it being completely unacceptable in Marz' mind. Noticing Marz' face, a monk comes over to scold him, "What? Is something wrong?"

Marz looked to the man and was about to berate the man and the many others here about these conditions, but he noticed something from the corner of his eye, it seemed some of the other Hegelans looked to him, pleading silently to not say anything. Marz wasn't sure why, he would expect craftsmen of high caliber to wish for adequate working conditions, yet they seemed to try and tell him this is the conditions they wanted. Marz knew something was going on with the other Hegelans, with a mole involved, they may have a plan that required these harsher conditions. Marz answered the monk who has now gotten into his face and began to tower over Marz, "The smell of some of these pigs is awful".

Like the many others here, Marz was set to work, because of the little information the monks had on his skill, they tasked him with gunsmithing to test his skill. Forming a barrel, the firing mechanism, working wood, forming and making the tools needed, much of the work expected to prove oneself as a competent smith. Yet as Marz felt stares fall upon him, he began to stares and watch back. Paying attention to the many people working within this dark, hot, and difficult enviroment. Everyone's work here seemed sloppy, slow, and all around inadequate for even an adept to even be able to call these things of any quality. Marz decided to match the pace, of all his work he learned when he was younger, the faster you work, the more work you do.

Half way through the day, Marz has made some progress on the tools he would eventually use to form the firing mechanism. Yet his flow was interrupted by the ringing of a bell, a bell that signaled everything within these prison walls. When to sleep, when to eat, when to leave, and many more things. This time thankfully it was signaling the meal time where Marz was able to meet with Venna. Again, the food is quite drab, soup and bread, the soup should be called 'Flavor' as it was the only way Marz could think of this food being able to taste like anything. Once he sat down, Venna found him quickly enough by seeing his large size and sitting across from him as she was the first to spark conversation, "So how were things?"

Marz shrugged as he spoke before putting a spoon full of soup into his mouth, "Eh, its work, it felt annoyin' with ev'rything there, it seems ev'ryone else has some alternative motive".

Venna nodded as she spoke in more hushed tones, "I know, they are definitly up to somethin'. I can 'ell whit what I see, and it is good, it means they aren't buying things 'ere". Venna sighs as she takes a spoon full of soup and seems to grumble quietly. Something akin to her knowing nothing and being left out of the loop. Among the grumbling, Marz ate his food, wondering, as eyes continued to look at him, what the other Hegelans here were doing.

Back on the manufacturing floor, Marz returned to his work with making tools for gunsmithing. It came to a shock to him when he saw Venna come over to him with a large cart, "'Ello, can I get ya anythin'?"

Marz said quizzically, "What'd ya got?"

Venna lightly gestured to the cart, "Water, flux, files, whetstones, and a whole assortment of tings".

Marz nodded his head as he wiped some of the sweat off of his head, "Uhm, ya, some water".

Venna nodded as she took out this small metal cup that she ladled water into. Marz took hold of it and quickly downed the water before Venna took it back and made some more conversation with Marz before she moved on, where she began asking them much the same. Venna's job seemed much more like an apprentice's when working in a large shop. Marz was curious when he saw this, he was wondering if she did this work in one of the areas. This had to be something Marz needed to ask her later, as it might give him an idea of what kind of other work is done here.

Marz continued to work and watch everyone, and began to notice soemthing perculiar about the amount of bathroom breaks taken. There was a highly unusual amount of bathroom breaks being taken in a very set interval. Marz began counting the time inbetween each break by the beat of his hammer hitting the metal and when he was not hitting it, the anvil. This was something every smith knew would keep themselves in motion and keeping their own time when forging. Marz noticed that with every 5 minute bathroom break, another person clocked out to use the restroom 2 minutes after the person returned. Marz continued to watch and count, as once he noticed most others were looking away and focusing on their work, Marz left his station to clock out at the exact moment the person had to return, breaking the cycle the others had made.

Once Marz began to leave, he was looked at with scorn, yet none of them could mess with him, as he was the only one allowed to be gone at the moment. Feeling satisfied, Marz began to make his way to the directed bathroom where he ran into one of his cellmates, Choran. When their eyes met they both stared at the other as if they were about to brawl, yet Choran looked around and realized it was only Marz. Marz threw a thumb behind him as he said, "Move, I need to shit". Choran begrudgingly left, bumping shoulders into Marz before he left.

The moment Marz entered the privy, his eyes darted around as he began to look around the enclosed space. There had to be a reason they constantly came here, as it was in that moment Marz' eyes landed on in. He dropped to one knee as he thought for a moment where could only a Hegelan could reach, Marz took a deep breath as he stuck his arm into the toilet hole where he reach behind where the hole is, he could feel an empty space where there would be a vent to allow the smell to leave, it was a space impossible to reach, well impossible for those with long arms. For Hegelans, they had arms short enough to allow them to hook their arm into the space without falling in, as Marz found some strange object. He pulled it out and stepped away from the toilet, beginning to inspect it. The object seemed intricate, yet also makeshift and crude. Marz was about to begin his inspection more thoroughly, however he heard a slamming at the door and the door was nearly thrown open.

Marz turned to see Choran had returned, and the man seemed furious, "What are you doin' in 'ere? Yer sure as shit ain't takin one!"

Marz was about to rebuttal yet he saw from the corner of his eye a shadow turning the corner. He stood up and put the device behind his back, using his back loop to hang it off of precariously as the monk called out, "What are you two doing?" The monk turned to Choran as he said, "You, why are you out here, you are supposed to be back on the floor".

Choran seemed to be almost dumbfounded while the monk got closer, Marz quickly came up with a quick cover before the monk forced a search, "Choran here was helpin' me find the privy, am not too good wit directions an the dark is hard on me eyes". The monk looked to Marz for a moment and then to Choran, Choran nodded in agreement as the monk looked to Marz and waved his hand, "Finish then". Marz nodded as he grabbed the handle of the door and he backed up into the privy, where when he closed the door, he did so with a solid thud and then set his knees down onto it hard, making it where is sounded like he sat back. There he leaned in and put the device back into the little hidden hole, and then let out a fart into the toilet.

Once Marz left the toilet, he and Choran were escorted back to the manufacturing floor, there Choran and Marz' eyes met, and Choran nodded to Marz. Once they returned they were both told to return to their work stations.

Once the work day finished the bell that controlled the flow of life within these tunnels rung, informing everyone that it is time for supper. The same motions as the day before, all the Hegelans were put into a flowing line that travelled to the dinning hall. Everyone collected their tasteless stew and bread. Marz found a place where he sat across from Venna, and the two of them started talking about the day's gossip. However the strange thing was that other Hegelans came and sat around them. They all came and nodded to him, with the one to sit next to him was the charismatic Hegelan who seemed to try and interrogate him the previous night, "Thanks fella". Nothing more, leaving Venna in the dark, as many look to her with wary looks. Leaving Venna confused why they looked to her and speaking in secrets, but for Marz, he knew they were thanking him for keeping the secret of the device.

Once dinner was done, Marz returned to his cell, and the mood within seemed much more calm. Hostilities within seemed to have lifted as Khalud seeming to be acting like a much more livelier friend who even welcomed Marz into the cell, "Marz! How was your first day!" They seemed much friendlier, each of them regarding him in their own way. Choran opened up from their originally hostile relationship, Khalud was very friendly and wishing to make conversation. Even Mazan, the old silent man even opened up as he regarded Marz with a nod.

Choran was the first one to break the silence as he said, "Thanks again".

Marz did a nod then a light head toss while he said, "What's going on here?" Marz being one who always is to the point didn't want to play around the issues.

Choran chuckled to himself as he said, "A man to the point I see. One after my own heart".

Marz looked to him with a face that showed disgust, "What does that mean?"

Choran continued as if he never heard Marz, "So, the monks here, we believe they aren't real. They're too worried about certain things, not much about the religious, more about the profit. This entire situation might be us being trapped in this confined hole till they are done with us".

Khalud the chimed in, "So instead of being some cog in their machine, we have been stallin' on their magic dampenin' work and have been doin' our own than'. You know, the one ye found".

Choran spoke up once more, "However, we ran into some snags, things we haven't been able to figure out".

Mazen then interjected, "So the problem we have been running into is…" Mazen then began to talk for nearly an hour about the many technical difficulties they have ran into.

Marz nodded once Mazen finished, "I'll be honest old man, I don't know a damn thing you said. I work better with my hands".

Choran then promised, "Tomorrow we will bring you in on it, it'll require some time, but having your eyes might be the thing we need".

Once it came time for everyone to sleep, things ended quite normally. Mazan began to snore like a half clockwork engine, yet Marz had slightly became more accustomed to it. Which made it all the more strange when he thought he heard a scratching sound. Marz began to listen to the scratching as it continued inbetween Mazan's snoring, telling him it was something else. Marz turned to listen as he thought he could hear the sound coming from Choran and Khalud's side of the room.

Marz began to turn and sit up, yet the moment he sat up to try and investigate, it stopped, and never returned for that night.

University Of Magical Aptitude

This looks interesting, I'll bite