Forbidden Archive Finale and Turn 28 (Patreon)

[SPOILER]

[X] Plan: Freedom from Chaos

-[X] Gambit: TNDI and her crew will try to deprived the infected AutoBrain of power, doing whatever they can to use up, block, disable, or otherwise destroy any sources of power so that the AutoBrain can no longer carry out the purge. Have the Discovery scan for hidden backup generators, and call anyone who can help for advice if necessary.

-[X] OrphiaTek

-- [X] EMISSARY OF THE OUTER DARK

-- [X] The Evaluator of the Soul

--[X] The Greendoctor

--[X] The House of Devils

[/SPOILER]

VLAAHK IF WE SHUT THE BRAIN OFF WOULD IT STOP THE COUNTDOWN? TNDI asked, checking her internal clock: they were running out of time. They needed to figure something out quick, or else large swathes of the station were getting fried.

"It....should? At the very least, it would stall it," Vlaahk commented. "But unless you cut it and the backup power at the same time, you'd be left with an opening where the CPB would likely retaliate instantly- unless you could figure out a way to distract it. Hold on, let me access your optics-scheissendamnen."

ITS NOT PRETTY, TNDI agreed. ETHN THINKS ITS A PRODUCT OF THE LOGIC VIRUS HAVING MORE BRAIN TO WORK WITH.

"That or attempts to modify itself after infection," Vlaahk observed. "That is horrifying," He mused. "But the good news is, those modifications are probably power intensive: combined with the damage to the Forbidden Archives systems, it probably isn't operating entirely at full capacity to begin with."

HOW DOES THAT HELP US?

"It doesn't, I just needed more time to come up with an actual solution. In that room: do you see any wall panels with a heat signature behind them?"

I AM DETECTING FIVE SUCH PANELS, CAPTAIN, ETHN supplied, and TNDI's AR overlay showed off  five different segments of the wall, all across the chamber.

"That's not good. One of those panels contains a critical heat sink according to schematics. Destroying it will cause the power to shut down for several hours: the others must be dummies," Vlaahk commented. "Hitting them will likely trigger some sort of security reaction."

Okay. According to the scanners, each panel was thick enough that breaching them quickly would either require heavy weapons they did not have, or concentrated fire. That meant that, generously speaking, they should be able to take out...two. OKAY TEAM, WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO TAKE A GAMBLE HERE, BUT WE'RE OUT OF TIME AND OUT OF OPTIONS. She quickly selected two different panels, highlighting one for half her team and one for the other. EVERYBODY HAS A PANEL ASSIGNED: ON MY SIGNAL, CONCENTRATE FIRE.

3...

2...

1...

ZOG EM UP! With that, a storm of plasma and blaster fire filled the air as TNDI's teams turned their guns on the panels, quickly punching through and igniting the substance below. For a brief moment, the lights of the chamber flared on and a roaring noise was heard over the intercomms, the attention of the CPB having been gained, the titanic machine beginning to pulsate rhythmically, like a heart. Beat beat beat beat beat beat, it drummed...

Only to slow, its light dimming, its screeches growing less coherent, less energetic. Beat beat beat. Beat beat. Beat. Beat. Beat...beat...beat...

Until finally, the room was dark. TNDI relaxed. "Marjak?" She asked, looking for confirmation.

"AccordingACCORDING to ALLALLALL diagnosssssstics, the-the-network and most most most security features are downDOWN. The PurgePurePugre is INOPERATIVE."

Ha. "Good job team: mission accomplished!" TNDI cheered. Zog, that had felt like it had taken months. Now all that was left was clean up.

((((()))))

And so, the Captain would call in for a full relief team. OrphiaTek and his team would be discovered in OMEN, delirious and suffering from extreme hallucinations because of an overdose on Sleepwalk Brew. Upon recovery, they would discover significant changes to their psychological state: missing memories, lack of sensation, reduced inhibitions. Two of his team-members were no longer able to see the color green.

Otherwise, more expansive repair proceedures were performed as permitted by each of the facilities AutoBrains: during the exchange with the CPB, Marjak had apparently taken the initiative to attempt to contact and disconnect Itep, where they had apparently discovered a small community of un-infected Autons, who for their own safety were promptly quarantined.

The Kaazin brain, Eiwen, meanwhile, was infected, as expected. Having reprogrammed some of their security to indiscriminately destroy any organics who approached, Byt had to manually shut them off. While they would prove remarkably less hostile on purgation of the logic virus, they would still prove less than friendly, partially because of how severely altered their portion of the complex was.

Once all the AutoFacilities were online, repair would happen quick, starting with the reactivation of HUERCUS, who would begin attempting to organize the various AutoFacilities of the Archive: helping restore power, manufacturing, disabling hostile autons, and furthermore attempting to get even the infected ones to some degree of cooperative ability. He would also serve as a point of contact with Vlaahk and the AutoVessels: not having emotions, HUERCUS lacked the capacity to hold a grudge.

Within a handful of months, the facility would be restored to...general operation. And with the Directorate's commitment having ended, the time came to negotiate over what was discovered.

The following resources have been gained:

+1 BioData: Anti-Aging Serum Data

+1 ART: Organocide Fragment

+1 BioData: New Dawn Research Fragment

+1 Network: Prototype AI Kernal Genesis

+1 ART: Anomalous Artefacts Catalogue

+2 BioData: Collected Wildlife Scans

+1 Warp: Hypothetical Historia Remains

+1 Warp: Dr. OrphiaTek Dream Quest Research

While the Autons are not a particularly united faction, for mechanical purposes I am still using the reputation system. However, it will now be supplemented with an additional feature: influence. Influence is a measure of how indebted a particular faction or ideology in a peer society are to you (or, if they have a particular enmity with you, how intense your rivalry is). Each point of influence can be traded for five points of reputation, or elsewise might be spent on particular concessions.

You have 20 Reputation with the Autons.

Influence:

Forbidden Archive: ++

AutoVessel Trio: ++++

The following concessions and promises can be made.

[ ] Binding CPUMoon Assault Agreement: Vlaahk was still impatient, but all involved parties needed to rest, recover, and prepare: both he, the Directorate, and the Archive had a considerable amount of things they needed to do thanks to the Forbidden Archive. However, he still wanted a guarantee that the Directorate would still proceed on his time table, and not the other way around. In five turns, commit to assaulting CPUMoon. Gain 2 Reputation and AutoVessel influence.

[ ] When Heck Has No More Room: The dead have begun to rise in the Forbidden Archive: this was, obviously, of great concern to various parties, who wanted assistance researching the phenomina to ensure that it wasn't harmful. -10 FTH, study changes to Forbidden Archive and necrotekkian properties, gain Forbidden Archive influence.

[ ] Dead Body Delivery: Marjak wanted corpses: this wouldn't be difficult for the Directorate, there were no doubt plenty who would happily donate their corpse for the sake of improving interstellar relations. It would help secure their loyalty, which would in turn make them more pliable to any requests the Directorate had. -10 CUL, gain Forbidden Archive influence.

[ ] Repaired Manufacturing Complex: The Forbidden Archive had a manufacturing bay, but likely it would prove insufficient. Vlaahk wanted the manufacturing complex the Directorate helped create to be repaired: together, the two facilities should be enough to create an army capable of assaulting the hard-points of CPUMoon. -10 EXP, gain 2 rep.

[ ] Positron Defense Agreement: Something that would likely help Vlaahk feel safer: if the Directorate agreed to ban all unapproved research into Auton positron brain technologies. Gain 6 Reputation, and AutoVessel Influence.

[ ] Gene Key Forgery Project: Koptu believed that with the genekeys recovered from the facility, they should be able to accelerate their own personal project: they wanted to create a universal gene-key capable of bypassing any biolock below a certain degree of security. Must complete in five turns Universal Genekey (0/15 ACD) project.

[ ] Offering to the Ark: This 'Ark' seemed to be connected to the Forbidden Archive: it might be possible to perform an offering to the Watchmaker spirits and the Zombots, though each side will likely require an equal offering. Can sacrifice 1, 2, 4, 6, 8... Warp: each Warp sacrificed grants 5 reputation.

[ ] Trade Route: The Autons would likely require large amounts of material: more than what they could gather just by asteroid salvage. They wanted a trade route: one like what the Khimer had. To trade, they had a high amount of magnetic ore that would prove useful for various industrial purposes, along with their manufacturing capabilities. Must create a trade route with Iron Shores (0/25 CUL) within the next five turns.

Potential Requests:

[ ] Room Contents: The material collected while they were inactive or insane is one thing, but most people look poorly on looters. However, with some plying, they might be willing to trade some items that were missed, so long as they aren't of critical importance to the facility in question. 10 Reputation or 1 Forbidden Archive Influence: select one room you didn't explore. Repeatable.

[ ] Transporter Research Program: With the collected material, it wasn't unlikely that the Directorate would begin developing its own transporter technology. However, with the assistance of OMEN and Koptu, it would be possible to accelerate the development of this program considerably. 10 Reputation. Reduces cost of Transporter technology.

[ ] Watchmaker Historical Records: While they would never exist again, their existence could still be catalogued. It would be fairly trivial to convince the AutoFacilities to release information regarding their creators history and culture: the bad and, hopefully, just as much good. And this would, perhaps, help ensure that their story didn't get forgotten. 5 Reputation, gain CUL.

[ ] Marjak Medical Cooperation: Marjaks AutoZombies were gruesome: but impressive, and almost certainly some of the technologies involved could likely be put to less gruesome ends if the synthetic intelligence was convinced to work alongside Directorate biologists and nekroteks. 10 Reputation or 1 Forbidden Archive influence. Gain ACD and a discount to several projects.

((((()))))

Even as this occurred, elsewhere in Iron Shores, a cloning facility would be created for use by Koptu, who would immediately begin using it to perform research, refusing to disclose information on what he was developing. Elsewise, the Fleet would find little of interest occuring, performing some exploration of the Barren Expanse and finding a few otherwise empty systems consisting of barren worlds and asteroids: the only thing of interest being some tectonic irregularities in a few of these worlds.

The Directorate establishes a few more outposts to study these geological anomalies before moving on.

+1 ACD per turn from Barren Expanse outposts.

[SPOILER=Available Ships and Outposts]

TKK Endeavor [Destroyed]: The pinnacle of Tekketi engineering, the Endeavor is the first real space ship constructed in the aftermath of the Destroyer War, incorporating a variety of technologies to enable it to perform its mission. A hypermodular vessel build from grey dyed ferroplastic bloks, its design consists of a wide, thick disc connected via finned spine to two large nacelles. The majority of the crew and work decks, alongside the main Ship-Shrine, are housed in the disc structure alongside next generation gravity engines, wheras the Nacelles each contain sub-engineering decks, redundant systems, and storage.

Armed with advanced shieldtek, heavy fusion torpedos and comm-jammers, the Endeavor is not intended to win a stand up fight, and though its armaments have increased in recent years, it's purpose is purely exploratory. It also comes equipped with an experimental Warp Drive and particle barrier, allowing it to enter, at fairly substantial risk, a dimension that allows for faster than light transportation. In order to offset the risks of the Warp Drive, the Endeavor has recently been expanded, upgraded with both an Academy attachment providing a great deal of technical support and scientific expertise alongside a Mystek Deck where the ships occultists performed protective rituals and strengthening rites alongside esoteric lore to be used at the Captain's behest. Further, it contains a Frontier Explorer compartment, host to several hundred civilians, members of the Frontier Society, civilians who have agreed to join the fleets pioneering expeditions, establishing small observation outposts on worlds the Endeavor visits and providing a number of useful services to the Endeavor such as expanded medical stores and agridecks to produce food. It was also the home of Stizlak the Grot until in-depth biological examinations had been performed. Destroyed.

TKK Accomplishment: The second pride of the fleet, the Accomplishment was designed around much of the same principles as the Endeavor, for much of the same purpose. In many ways, it was essentially a second Endeavor in its entirety, though that was still an accomplishment in and of itself. Recently upgraded to bring it back to parity, the Accomplishment had a full suite of upgrades. Recently, it has been improved by augmenting several key support systems: new engines for improved speed, as well as advanced revelation class science scanners, as well as experimental holo-shields, warp-space topographical mapping systems, and even a shiny new Laser Battery. Moderate Structural and Crew Damage

TKK Valiant: The first and only warship constructed by the Directorate, the Valiant has stripped out every single civilian or exploratory system that doesn't contribute to it's primary role. Instead, it has far, far more armaments, including a full compliment of superheavy perpetunite torpedos, several point defense laser batteries, a full accompaniment of Commander-Machina, and, critically, a relic grade Teeth model super fusion cannon designed using advanced and very singular GodTek components. Recently provided improved scanners and engines as well as shields. It also had its own Battlebot League.

TKK Delivery: The first Endeavor created for purely transport purposes, the Emissary moves between Teklia and Sandscorn, carrying vast amounts of water, soil, and a much more modest compliment of useful minerals and small amounts of plutonium, platinum, and other stratigically important elements. Locked to Ruinate trade route. Can be reassigned, but doing so breaks the trade route and will cost points to re-establish. Current value: 2 Khimer Respect Per Turn, +0 Points in all categories.

TKK Emissary: The second endeavor created for transport purposes, the Emissary ran the Trove-Teklia-Naklis circuit, helping supply the Directorates first out of system colony. Locked to Trove Trade Route. +1 EXP, discount to Trove projects.

TKK Discovery: The fourth endeavor created overall, it has a standard loadout with no special features.

Red Sun Monitors: A collection of remote long term observation outposts intended to study solar activity and various tectonic anomalies in the Barren Expanse for use in advancing Directorate scientific knowledge. Each platform was home to roughly fifty or so people, with supplies to last them a good long while before they'd need relief. Collects 3 ACD every turn for 10 turns max that can be harvested by sending a ship in for resupply.

[/SPOILER]

[SPOILER="Diplomatic Ledger"]

Imperium of Man: A highly xenophobic genocidal space empire consisting primarily of the species known as humanity. Their government consists of a theofascist dictatorship led by a figure they call the God-Emperor, who obviously going by the title seems to occupy the position of both Monarch and Diety, and have a highly authoritarian, reactionary culture where religion and government occupy the same location. Reputation: -200 (Will likely attempt to kill us on sight)

Chaos: A conglomerate of different human factions that are united only by what can be described as a campist hatred of the Imperium despite largely having the same code of ethics and religious practices. Most (but not all) seem to worship one or more of a series of malevolent dieties known as the Chaos Gods. Reputation: -190 (When it comes to ideology these guys are basically the Imperium with a different coat of paint on their human skin banners topped with skulls)

Autons: A collection of different robots manufactured by the same extinct race, currently the majority of the Auton civilization was enslaved by an alien logic-virus that drove them into an organocidal frenzy. The friendly ones consist of the AutoVessels Ijin, Vlahk, and Koptu, along with their crews, each a few hundred strong. In possession of both an advanced mega-decoder array used for decrypting adaptive code and an advanced AutoLab facility, the Autonites have begun preparing for the assault on CPUMoon: Koptu by supplying its peers with Lifeforce Drums filled by the Autonite Temple and pursuing mystical research, Vlahk by using the decoder and lab you provided him to steal your technology, and Ijin by building a manufacturing complex that was then destroyed. Reputation: Pending

Khimer: The enigmatic remnants of a once vibrant civilization, the Khimer have been reduced to a handful of military bases on a dying world, and a small fleet they had no means to repair or expand. While their exact social structure is unknown, the War-Brain seems to operate in a position of prominence in it. Technologically, the Khimer are adept with biotech manipulation and have access to weaponry designed to petrify organic material, and in theory have all the requisite knowledge and technology for space and even warp travel, but no industry capable of supporting it. They had been given access to a cloning facility, some resource donations, an early warning deep space monitoring array, and an expanded heatshield to cool their planet and keep it from warming up. They were also receiving regular shipments of useful materials for rebuilding purposes, largely ice, soil, and a handful of useful metals. Recently had been gifted several glacier-ranges. Reputation: 102- Reliable Allies. Provides 1 CUL and 1 ACD.

Yr Albain: An exodite world owned by members of the Aeldari species, Yr Albain was a very recently acquired ally. Deliberately living simple lives in harmony with their world, the otherwise peaceful residents of Yr Albain are currently recovering from the genocide enacted on them by the Imperium and Chaos, a process sped up by its World Spirit awakening as the diety Dhia'Albain and the variety of mystical tools provided to them by the Directorate to complement their own considerable abilities. Reputation: 40- Healthy respect. Provides 1 FTH and 1 CUL.

Winterspite Kabal: An organization of Dark Eldar that make their coin acting as pirates and mercenaries. Formerly led by Lord Nisraen, its current archon is the Banefrost, the former flagship turned demigod. Currently has a contract with the Directorate allowing them to purchase their services and stopping them from being raided by the organization. Reputation: 15- Just another client.

[/SPOILER]

[SPOILER="Available Assignments"]

[ ] Survey Mongus: The largest gas giant in your system, Mongus has a green atmosphere, the result of several rare-teklia gases according to probe and scan data, alongside a great deal of hydrogen, methane, and electrical storms. SCAN LEVEL: 1

[ ] Survey Meeklak: The second largest gas giant, but the one with the largest ring (consisting of ice, mostly), Meeklak was too far for casual probe use, and had proven annoyingly resistant to even advanced probe and exploration due to its crushing atmosphere (comprised of caustic chemicals and gasses of, admittedly, extreme rarity) capable of popping your vehicles like aluminum cans. Deep below, several ships are crashlanded, still intact, floating in the hyperdense sea of liquid gas. SCAN LEVEL: MAX.

[ ] Erichtheo: Named after an old goddess from Classical Myth, Erichtheo, a moon of Mongus, is host to a number of creatures that exist primarily in its subcontinental abyssal zone, some of which can grow to titanic size, and in the magmafields, home to a number of extremophile sea-life and valuable minerals. SCAN LEVEL: MAX

[ ] Spraa'ng: The furthest planet in your solar system, Spraa'ng had high quantities of precious metals in its crust, seas full of ammonia, an argon atmosphere, and fairly hostile planets. SCAN LEVEL: MAX

[ ] Drydock: With the construction of the Shipyard, the Endeavor could finally come in for repairs, maintenance, and upgrades. Upgrades ships with all existing Compartments and Components. Repairs most damage.

The following require a Warp capable ship. Note that travel to them is not without risk, either during the journey or at the destination: your world is ringed in by many warp storms.

[ ] Explore Galactic North: It was time for Tekket to begin exploring the galaxy! This direction had been where the Destroyers had emerged from: with luck, perhaps you would finally get awnsers. The closest Sky-Storm in this direction was the Mawket Voidstar, which was a great distance away. Requires Warp Capable Ship.

[ ] Explore Voidmarches: The most immediate region in the galactic north, the Void Marches so far consisted of a trio of stars known as the Three Brothers System. Recently source to a number of extremely concerning astronomical events. Locations Found: 2. Outpost Level: 1

[ ] Three Brothers Xenoscience Monitors: A proposal by some xenologists in the Directorate was establishing monitoring platforms in the region to help study the developing cultures of the Three Brothers. Much like the Red Sun Monitors, they would require regular supply runs, but the data this would produce would be fascinating. 10 EXP, creates Xenoscience Monitor Outposts, generating collectable CUL per turn.

[ ] Explore Galactic South: In this direction lie the Grimket Astrolabe, a Sky-Storm that was only rarely visible on Teklia. It was also the direction of a variety of smaller systems as seen by your sky-mapping programs, some of which had shown some stellar oddities that led to many believing that there existed in this direction, such as the Reach, potential alien civilizations that weren't destroyers.

[ ] Explore Galactic West: In this direction was the Infernaket Blazestorm, the new closest Sky-Storm to Teklia: it had seemed small in the sky next to the Malket Configuration, but it was, according to astronomers, likely several orders of magnitude larger. In this direction there existed a cluster of aged stars, black holes, and dead planets known as the Barren Expanse, but additional exploration could potentially reveal other regions. After all, space was big.

[ ] Black Hole Study Duty: The Directorate wanted to use the opportunity presented by the Expanse to study one of the Black Holes of the region. There were three of note in the region: Martellus, Gigant, and SBH-134, and the Academy was salivating for more close range study of the stellar bodies, especially with more advanced technology. Gain variable amount of bonus ACD.

[ ] Red Sun Security: Directorate Fleet wanted to start equipping the observation outposts with a few bases for security purposes. Against essentially any foe, they'd fold like wet paper, but as time went on, these bases would be expanded alongside the Outposts. Costs 15 EXP. Increases Regional Defenses alongside Outpost Level. Increases region Outpost Level.

[ ] Red Sun Extraction: Meanwhile, some Frontier Explorers wanted to set up a few mining outposts in the Expanse: this would allow for the outposts to expand somewhat, and the...very LARGE amount of surplus could be shipped back to Teklia. Cost 15 EXP. Red Sun Outposts generate 1 extractable EXP per turn to a max of 5 EXP.

[ ] Survey Broken Edge Ship Graveyard: The remnants of a massive battle. Surprisingly, the ships weren't the same as the Destroyers so much as the remains of ships designed along the same general principles of largesse. The other ships meanwhile had proved incredibly, incredibly crude. Directorate scientists wanted to conduct more surveys. Scan Level: 6

[ ] Survey Broken Edge Eco-Station: Most curiously, the Eco-Station, which consisted of multiple hemispheres attached via central section, seemed to be a giant hunting preserve, specifically for hunting sentients. The primary ecosystem simulated seemed to be a jungle. Scan level: MAX.

[ ] Broken Edge Monitoring: If the Orks were right, the current caretakers of the Eco-Dome were due for a visit. With this in mind, the Directorate wanted to station a monitor ship in the hopes of gaining potentially valuable intel about an unknown transtellar polity with access to advanced metallurgy, space flight, and enough other indicators towards a peer society. Requires Endeavor Class.

[ ] Exploring the Expanse: A region located to the Galactic West of Teklia. Mostly dead, but perhaps additional focused exploration of the region might reveal some manner of secret. Locations of Interest found: 2/???. Outpost Level: 5 (MAX): region requires additional investment.

[ ] Assisting the Khimer: Technology couldn't be shared, but there were a variety of helpful things the Directorate could do without that. Assists the Khimer on a random minor project, generating 2 Reputation. Required for any Biosphere Repair Project.

[-] Survey Ruinate Battlefield: The location of the last fight between the apparently barely victorious defenders of this system and their attackers, a field of dormant but still functional marble coffin-ships containing Khimer naval specialists and fossilized space-beasts. Requires 25 Rep w/ Khimer.

[-] Survey Bioship: A massive formerly organic vessel located in orbit around Sandscorn. Whatever it was, its now dead, but the Academy still wanted to explore it: prior data had shown a handful of (incredibly small, mostly bacterial) living organisms on the ship, likely remains of the bioships 'gut flora' so to speak that had avoided dying when it was petrified. However, additional study would require Khimer permission, first. Requires 50 Rep w/ Khimer.

[ ] Warp Route R-19: The first of the Khimers leads, this Warp Route apparently lead to a desert world that the Khimer had intended to colonize before their civilizational collapse. While long term they still planned to do so, they were willing to let the Directorate take the first shot at it, especially since they currently lack the means.

[ ] Warp Route R-20: The second lead, this Warp Route led to a location in the expanse that could be summed up as 'a massive, system-wide debris field stuck in a black holes orbit'. Plenty of useful minerals, if one was willing to set up shop next to spaces ORIGINAL great devourer.

[ ] Warp Route R21: The third, this system had a planet with a high amount of surface nuclear deposits. They warned, however, that they had sighted the Phasmid many times in this direction, and as such, they advised bringing a great deal of nuclear weapons to drive it off or at least temporarily kill it if need be.

[ ] Warp Route R22: The fourth world, a pristine garden world according to what little data the Khimer had acquired. If it still existed, it would be a massive prize to be sure, though, if it still existed and hadn't been claimed.

[ ] Exploring the Reach: A region located to the galactic south of Teklia. Exploration was extremely preliminary, but you had managed to find at least one world capable of sustaining life. Locations of Interest found: 1/???. Outpost Level: 1

[ ] Explore Galactic East: The direction facing the galactic edge. The Sky-Storm in this direction was the Horizons End, a colorless scar that bled silver, and a small nebula that existed slightly before the hole in the sky.

[ ] Explore Horizon: A great number of Neutron Stars dotted this region of space, and it was the location of at least one AI controlled system. Perhaps more locations of note could be discovered. Location of Interest found: 2/???. Outpost Level: 2

[ ] Liberate CPUMoon: According to the AutoVessels, the CPUMoon contains several million Autonites, general purpose sentient labour robots created by the AutoVessels creator, as well as several AutoNodes, higher order AI meant to act as high level managers. They were all extremely corrupted by the Logic Virus, and unfortunately, their systems were likely to be more robust than that of the ships, meaning freeing them was likely to be far more difficult.

[ ] Assisting the AutoVessels: The alien machine-ships known as Ijin, Vlahk, and Khoptu had not come out of their long derangement unscathed, and had requested the Directorates aid both in repairing themselves and designing preventative measures to ensure they can deal with the logic virus going forward. Required to perform AutoVessel related projects during the same turn: not taking any AutoVessel projects alongside this action will still grant positive reputation with the AutoVessels as you help them with more minor or esoteric problems. Repeatable.

[ ] Moby Monstro: The Academy wanted a ship to hunt down Monstro immediately: it was no longer in Broken Giant, but they theorized it was somewhere in the Reach still. If a ship could find it and scan it and perform bio-studies WITHOUT crashing, it could prove immensely valuable data.

[ ] Hunting the Phasmid: The Khimer didn't know what it was, only that it was possessed of immortality. With that in mind, perhaps it would be prudent to send some combat ships to collect data and study the Scourer-Phasmid in order to help design methods to repel it from Directorate ships and colonies.

[/SPOILER]

((((()))))

And meanwhile, in the Ruinate System, the Khimer would be gifted with a collection of 48 glaciers. Placed all across the planet, some were hauled to the arctic, used to help repair the planets albedo. Some would be clumped together in locations where the water-table had finally begun to restore itself in order to slowly help create more large bodies of water. A few would be placed in areas that were too hot, in order to reduce the temperature to more withstandable levels.

Five of them would find themselves placed in the center of the surfaces slowly growing population centers: with the planet able to support a higher population, more and more Khimer would immigrate to the surface, joining the reconstruction process either by aiding in ecological restoration programs such as oasis manufacturing, or else aiding in recreating various surface defenses: with the water drop came a trade deal, one that found the Khimer being given access to various strategic metals that would find themselves used to build weapons, vehicles, machinery, and other items. Each of these cities would use the glaciers not only as a source of agricultural and drinking water, but would also use them as heat sinks to keep their technology from overheating, allowing them to build larger, more powerful reactors and computers in these urban centers.

And, as these cities grew, in the sky, the heat shield would find itself expanded: the generous assistance of a private citizen donating resources to what they saw as a good cause, the Heat Shield would go from a mere few hundred satellites to several thousand, covering several hundred miles of space: still small, but combined with the water drop, temperatures would begin to drop over the course of years, growing colder and colder: still hotter than it should be, but xenoclimatologists estimated that Ruinate should reach garden world temperatures within a century.

It isn't long before Sandscorn finally has its first rain in centuries: light, brief, brisk, and located nowhere of importance, but when the Khimer gain news, they would hold a festival that lasted an entire week. To a world that has for so long been dry, to have rain once more: it was nothing short of a miracle.

The road to true recovery would still take, likely, centuries. Terraformation was a titanic task, even with part of the work already done. But now, the Khimer could see light at the end of the tunnel.

And, in the home system, a handful of other private citizens would help fund the beginnings of the fourth Teklian Industrial Revolution, with a trio of major pieces of infrastructure.

On Teklia, the same individual who funded the Heat Shield, an enigmatic figure known as the Great Clockmaker, would help provide the resources to overhaul the planets Recyclers. Long a major hub of manufacturing, decade after decade the autorecyclers had become more and more obsolete as Naklis expanded and easy sources of scrap ran out. All over the planet, these complexes would be upgraded to help increase their output as well as help enrich more nuclear materials using advanced perpetunite technology. With these overhauls, the spirits of these fiery cauldron would receive more offerings, causing fire fairies to dance over them, along with other, stranger pyrovita, like MagmaTek Kraboids, crustacean creatures descended from royal firebugs that trawl the edges of these facilities to steal bits and pieces of metal to craft their shells, or Nuclear Vampires, vita consisting of clouds of sentient, radiation draining gas. Year by year the Recyclers would process more and more material, slowly ramping up until they once more had reached the historic levels of productivity they had once been famed for: still no candle to Naklis, but they could at least once more with pride reclaim their title as a major organ of Directorate industry.

On Naklis, meanwhile, the Unknown Workers, a guild of anonymous pro-labour anarchists, would fund the Union Hall: intended as a forum of sorts where the various laborers of the planet, whether geologists, miners, factory technicians could gather, settle disputes, and conduct trades. An extension of the Elemental Spire, the Union hall consisted of three rings of concentric columns, erected around an open air garden designed to use shield technology to maintain a liveable, if hot, temperature. Within each column was a workspace for a different guild, union, or alliance, all paying heed to a different patron spirit. As one rose, each column joined into a singular structure: the great hall. A self-contained temple complex shaped like an upside down pyramid, containing a central chamber several miles in diameter, this facility would be used to conduct offerings, rituals, negotiations, and important ceremonies. The wall of this facility would have, arranged around its walls, twelve shrines dedicated to the Great Union Spirits: folk-heroes like Crups Boggan, who (according to legend) organized the factory workers of Teklia during the Destroyer War. Great philosophers of ages past, like the esteemed (and, according to most historians, likely fictional) Kraz Mazov. Venerable machine spirits like the centuries old autologger Big Blue Chopper. And even old, once forgotten minor gods, such as Aegus, a peerless smith according to the ancient religions of the equatorial region that spawned them.

The organizational benefits of the facility were nothing to be sneezed at: serving any and all bureacratic functions the guilds of Naklis required, on top of dedicated research, ritual, and computational requirements, as well as serving as a meeting grounds for the various factions of note to mingle and negotiate, the Union Hall would see productivity on Naklis gradually rise year by year. And while this occured, the Union Spirits grew, fed by every worker on Teklia, causing them to swell, providing these guilds and alliances great mystic benefits as well as their patrons grew stronger. Mining Unit 001 would bless those on extraction teams with greater fortune, allowing them to find more veins of ore or crystal. The Legend of Crups Boggan would find recitations bringing focus and order. The Mazovists would dream of being visited and yelled at by the ghost of their patron, which for some reason also seemed to be haunting the dreams of the temperate continent located on the north-eastern hemisphere of Teklia.

For the latter, many of these dream meetings would consist mostly of ranting about someone known as 'Styrnyr'. Others would be highly thoughtful discussions on the nature of states and workers rights in a utopianist society. A few supposedly ended in fist-fights between the Mazovist and their patron.

And as the guilds of Naklis and their patron spirits grew, so too did the steady stream of resources of the planet, especially as the final and greatest piece of the third piece of the industrial revolution completed: the Great Void Rail. Funded by an individual from Erichtheo by the name of Seth, this construct, spanning several billion miles, was larger than could rationally be comprehended. Erected by swarms of advanced customized blokbots numbering in the trillions, this massive edifice consisted of a series of transit lines stretching from planet to planet, a great stellar highway that used embedded magnetic accelerators to increase the speed of vessels to near impossible speeds, turning voyages that would take days or weeks to mere hours if you used the rail.

With an easy flow of goods and convenient means to traverse the void of space, settlements would quickly spring up across the system: some would station themselves along the rails, rest stops for longer extended trips, or else hubs by which other, smaller communities in the darkness of deep space could resupply. Others would form on the planets scattered around the system, on Spra'ang, on Mongus, on Meeklak: Hobbgrot communities that wanted to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city, Tekket mystics looking for places to erect HazardLabs, Cloud Harvesters looking to make it big in the gas trade.

[SPOILER="Available Planets and Special Infrastructure"]

Teklia: Teklia, oh Teklia. The second planet from your star, and your homeworld. A variety of mostly hospitable climates of variable comfortability, it is covered in what can only be described as space garbage: the ecosystem has largely adapted to it and millenia of exploitation has done much to clear it away, but its undeniably a very garbage covered planet. The past few centuries had seen incredibly VAST amounts of garbage cleared away, however, and a complete revitalization of the Teklian biosphere and explosions in biological diversity as the Autorecyclers turn ecosystem choking garbage into useable materials, freeing large amounts of space for habitation, agriculture, parks and forests, the material repurposed into into the Teklian orbital space, its off world colonies, and the Arcolocubes, giant cubic self contained ecofriendly metropolis. At this point, it was estimated that 79% of the world was scrap free: at this point, most remaining scrapzones are being treated as preserves for the species who are so thoroughly adapted to garbage that removing it would neccessitate their extinction.

Luna: A trash filled wreck, unlike Teklia Luna didn't have pesky things like an atmosphere or ecology to degrade its debris, meaning it had very well preserved trash. It was also the site of a modest metropolis consisting of a single CityBlok supplied by lunar spire allowing a high amount of traffic too and from the lunar city, as well as several AutoRecyclers absorbing large quantities of material. It would likely take many, many lifetimes to clean Luna of trash, but the AutoRecyclers had already begun to pay off thanks to the massive amount of material Luna and its colonists now had to play with, as well as the space, largely used for perpetunite and soil manufacturing. It was also the home of Mt. Wander, may he forever sleep above us and never stir, and a small sea formed from the blood of the titan.

Orbital City One: An Orbital Metropolis, this space station consisted primarily of its orbital docks and a handful of city-bloks, making it a vibrant and bustling mid-point between Teklia, the Moon, and the rest of Directorate Space, frequented by a variety of residents, travellers looking to visit Wonderpark or the Orbital Parks, and asteroid miners looking to deposit their hauls and get some well deserved shore leave. It was also the location of the Fleet MegaDocks, a semi-cubic structure dedicated to manufacture of ships.

Deep Space Monitoring System: A Fleet initiative that utilizes a great deal of surplus processing power to scan the sky both to map it out as well as detect incoming threats before they arrive, giving early warning to the Directorate against hostile threats, recently expanded and upgraded to improve efficiency.

Nuclear Stockpiles: The defensive nuclear warhead stockpile, consisting of advanced perpetunite warheads, weapons capable of releasing a near-apocalyptic nuclear reaction the size of a city capable of lasting over half an hour. Most were assigned to homeworld defense, but a few had seen their way onto the ships of the Directorate and even the educational system.

Naklis: Home to an extremely extensive mining operation in the Geode Canyons near the poles, this firey planet had two cities: a massive Spire that doubled as a space elevator and Comm-Hub, host to several hundred thousand residents, primarily mining and industrial engineers, who produced vast quantities of material, primarily Rare-Teklian-Minerals and nuclear materials, and the Mega-Harvester, a mobile burrowing city-machine that extracted minerals and living metal from below the crust, as well as four Elemental Master Control Shrines dedicated to the spirits of fire, earth, metal, and gems. As of late, the Elemental Spire, a vast facility equipped with a massive perpetunite reactor that, through GodTek holy-engineering, converted nuclear energy to arcane power, strengthening all manner of elemental manifestation on the planet. It was also home to a Wonderpark outlet.

Erichtheo: The third genuine colony of the Directorate, Erichtheo is an incredibly frigid ocean moon that was covered in a thick sheet of ice, one particular part of which was thick enough to serve as a continent of sorts. Currently, on the surface it home to one city located on the floating continent-berg as well as numerous smaller settlements dotted across the mile thick ice layer stretching over the planet, and one major orbital docking station used to transport material too and from the planet. Underwater, it had numerous cities built out of cultivated coral located in what had prior been the planets dead zones, alongside numerous artificial reefs constructed to house and be art as well as habitats for various flora and fauna.

Trove: The first real extrasolar colony of the Directorate, Trove was a planet covered in gems, a quirk of its somewhat undeveloped ecology. Biomes of interest include a series of mountains formed out of gigantic mega-gems, a large set of grasslands near the equator, and a single ocean, upon the coast of which was the first city of the planet, Gleam.

Tacchis: A frozen iceball that was stuck in a state of either night or perpetual evening broken up by the occasional Aurora Umbrealis caused by what little light reached the planet hitting the planets thin atmosphere. Most outposts on it either gather ice or diamonds, doing their best to avoid the numerous underground destroyer ruins on the planet.

[/SPOILER]

EXPansion Points (EXP Points): 118

Nuclear Material: 5

New Actions:

MegaMausoleum: The Directorate was growing large enough that more advanced facilities for the care of the dead were required. To that end, a series of orbital tekmausoleums were planned: facilities intended to handle, store, and record the remains, physical and intangible, of millions upon millions. 0/25, gain MegaMausoleum facilities in orbit, increasing FTH

Perpetunite Cauldrons: The Autorecyclers were impressive, but their output could be expanded further: it would require installing advanced shield technology to manage the heat, and likely considerable amounts of power, but with those Teklia should be able to match Naklis, at least when it comes to manufacturing. 0/50, gain Perpetunite Caulrons, increasing EXP by 2. Cost 1 NK.

Sandscorn Defensive Array: With the erection of the Heat Shield, it might be time to start pursuing the possibility of modifying the shielding to work on more than just heat. A bit more power intensive, it would allow the Defensive Array to work as a theater shield against invaders looking to bomb them from the sky. 0/50, gain Sandscorn Defensive Array, increase Khimer Rep by 5. Cost 1 NK.

Sandscorn Combat Array: Alternatively, each satellite could be upgraded to include a few weapons: by converting them into weapons platform, they would be more better able to take out enemy vessels BEFORE they reached the planet. This would also likely require depleting part of the nuclear stockpile. 0/50, gain Sandscorn Combat Array, increase Khimer Rep by 5. Cost 1 NK.

Mongus Gas Harvesters: Mongus had, to put it mildly, a lot of air. Most of it wasn't breathable, but it WAS useful for industrial purposes such as manufacturing fuel, creating aerosols, and even powering pneumatics. While there was some gas harvesting going on already, it could be massively expanded, ensuring that the Directorate would have all the hot air they needed. 0/10, increases EXP from Industrial and Medical Gas. Increases NK by 1.

Mongus Air Refineries: Mongus had a lot of air, but none of it was breathable. However, it had several core components of breathable air: with the erection of a few facilities in its cloud banks, the vast clouds of poison gas could be processed into a less toxic form for shipping across the Directorate and for use in terraforming projects. 0/10, increases EXP from Terraforming and Breathing Gas.

Mongus Storm-Kite: Mongus, as a gas giant, constantly had electrical storms that, if they happened on an inhabited planet, would likely qualify as apocalyptic. This meant they would likely be a fantastic power source: to that end, a mobile power plant could in theory be created. This platform would float somewhat deeper in the atmosphere than other planned installations in order to allow it to drain more electricity from the superstorms, which would then be used to manufacture batteries. 0/10, increases EXP from Mongus Storm-Kite.

Meeklak Gas Harvesters: Meeklak meanwhile was proving to be a valuable source of caustic and volatile chemicals, and already, there were burgeoning Hobbgrott populations on it using it to develop ever more impressive kabooms and sizzly-shooters for shipping back to Battlezone, and, ah, more peaceful applications in medicine and research. 0/10, increases ACD from Caustic and Volatile Gas.

Meeklak Air Refineries: Meeklak was also a place that had in extreme abundance several gasses that were incredibly valuable and rare. A refinery would be able to sift this gas out and refine it for transport to the rest of the Directorate for use in labs, special computers, and experimental compounds. 0/10, increases ACD from Precious Gasses. Gain 1 NK.

Meeklak Mega-Salvage: Meeklak had several wrecked ships crash landed. It might be useful to haul them up: a specially constructed sky-hook should be able to do the trick. And afterwards, the Sky-Hook could serve as an interesting landmark! 0/10, gain 1 ART from salvage.

Spra'ang Minerological Survey: Inhabitation of Spra'ang was sparse: even now, it had dark connotations. Most mining operations only stuck around for a handful of years, content to collect their clutch of minerals and be on their way. A mineralogical survey would go a great way to making this more efficient, allowing operations to skip having to do their own mineralogical survey. 0/10, increases EXP. Increases NK.

Spra'ang Ammonia-Megaslurp: The ammonia sea was the largest source in the Directorate. As a substance, it could be used to manufacture fertilizer, embalming fluid, and cleaning solution. To aid in the mass harvest of the sea, a siphon could be created in order to pump the material for processing. 0/10, Spra'ang Megaslurp constructed, granting EXP.

Great Grave of Spra'ang: An alternative to the MegaMausoleum proposal would be creating on Spra'ang a gigantic graveyard. This would require a great deal of construction, but it would ensure that every citizen would be alloted forever their own patch of dirt for death. It would also allow the NekroTeks to create a temple dedicated to the dead. 0/10, gain Great Grave holy site, increasing FTH

Spra'ang Embassies: The ambassadors of the Outer Dark had begun to stalk more and more dreams, but they were unable to do more than advise and observe. More tangible means of interaction would require special spaces, consecrated and equipped with special WarpTek Altars in order to allow these spaces a degree of liminality that would allow them to host the ambassadors in real-space. 0/15, create Spra'ang Embassies, increasing CUL.

Union Wayside Caravanserai: The Union Spirits of Shipping and Cargo had a strong following among those who specialized in the transport of goods. They wanted more rest stops established throughout the system: travel might have been quick and easy off the rails, but once you got beyond it it was still long, arduous work to make deliveries across the system. These facilities would serve multiple roles: allowing Unionists and others more places to rest between and during delivery jobs, cargo hubs that could be used to store vast amounts of material for later shipping and transport, maintenance facilities to repair damaged ships, and, of course, temples to the Union Spirits. 0/25, increases EXP from Caravanserai being established.

Fleet Railfort: The Great Void Rail was indisputably invaluable for industry. However, it was poorly defended. One suggestion was to utilize the Rail's unique properties to create what is, in essence, a mobile, rail-bound fortification armed with ship-scale weaponry. In moments of invasion, this structure could respond in moments: its only weakness would be that it would rely on the rails remaining functional to rapidly respond. 0/25, create Fleet Railfort.

Railbatteries: Alternatively, a more expensive venture would be to provide the rail line its own defensive laser batteries positioned at key locations: it wouldn't stop hostile ships, but it would ensure that the entire rail has at least some protection against attackers. 0/50, cost 1 NK

Intersystem Titan Rail: The amount of resources it would take to build a rail-line going to another system is likely to be excruciatingly resource intensive and likely not particularly helpful without far more advanced technology, but in theory it was possible to create a rail-line between the stars if one was willing to accept spending a genuinely absurd amount of material for an STL transit route that went between stars. 1,000 per link, may link any two systems adjacent to Teklia or systems adjacent to an existing system.

((((()))))

Claudette glanced around as she stepped into the room, fidgetting as she walked to her seat. Classroom 20A. Consisting of three rings, at the center below the teacher, the classroom was currently filled. It was mostly humans. A few Tekket: the children of teachers or staff members. A few hobbgrot ankle-bitaz, the orange students chatting with one another, one of them chewing on a pencil. Both of the latter had few humans sitting next to them: despite the amount of people, the aliens had a gap separating them.

"Howdy, Claw-det," Said Kynna, the tekket giving a wave as the human found her seat. "Hows things going?"

Claudette didn't answer, remaining silent. Her eyes flicked to the side: Nestin and his crew was seated by the wall far from any xenos, watching like a hawk, the older childs face set into a scowl. Giving a dry swallow, Claudette simply removed from her bag her data slate. After a moment, her neighbors face dropped. "Alright, sorry for bothering you, I guess," Kynna said, returning to her own data sheet.

"Hello children!" Came a voice from below, and flicking her eyes up, Claudette saw her teacher enter the room. A muse: a type of tech-daemon, according to her father, a malefic thing sent to test and corrupt her morals. Painted a bright pink, the tech-daemon floated to the front of the class, summoning a screen: "Today, we're going to talk about feelings!"

((((()))))

It was the yard. Another child was on the ground, being kicked. Claudette watched from the bench as she read her book, doing her best to ignore what was going on: from over the lip of the page, she saw the on-duty teacher sprinted to break it up. No doubt later the culprits would be subject to some sort of penalty, though they likely wouldn't care. It didn't matter though.

As she watched the crowd sprint and the child standing, a defiant look in their eye, she figured he wasn't going to be in this facility much longer. "Serves 'im right," Nestin said, and Claudette glanced to the side to see the child leaning against a tree, a grim look on their face. "Saw the kid being friendly with one of the rats: was asking for a beating."

And that was why Claudette didn't think he was long for the facility. Every few months, another child graduated, moving to a lower security Academy. Ones with more aliens, more amenities. The one she was at, Craxn, was probably the worst. It was where they sent humans they didn't think would ever be able to rejoin society.

"Hey, what's wrong? You ignorin' me?" Nestin growled, and Claudette closed her eyes.

"No, just lost in thought," She said quietly. "Do you mind, Nestin? I need to raise my grade in geology or they'll throttle my extranet to edutainment sites." The child huffed, rolling their eyes.

"That stuff rots your brain: half of it is nukerat propaganda," He drawled, shrugging. "The other half is degenerate propaganda."

Says the person who always goofs off to play video games during VR Lab... Instead of vocalizing this, Claudette hummed, giving a shrug, causing Nestin to roll his eyes.

"Whatever, not worth it," They said, walking off. "Have a good one, Claudette."

((((()))))

It was after school. Claudette needed something to do. She couldn't go home for another hour. Walking the campus, the human breathed into her mitts, attempting to warm them. Here and there, she saw humans and aliens. The former were always watched whenever more than three gathered. It wasn't subtle: within minutes of a group congregating, a spy drone would be floating above, waiting to deploy foam-guns or tranquilizers at the first sign of violence.

Eventually, she saw the library. Walking up the stone steps, she walked through the revolving doors, feeling a wave of warmpth as she entered the facility. The Librarian, a Hobbgrot, waved at her lazily from their desk at the front of the book stacks. "'Owdy 'owdy 'owdy," They said, not looking up from their komic books. "Science n' math is that'a way," they said, pointing at one isle. "And if you're lookin' for humie books, they're that way," He said, pointing at another isle.

Looking around, Claudette noted there were no others in the library. "Could you," she said, hesitantly. "Could you point me to the komic books?" She asked, giving a dry swallowed. "Um. Hobbgrot Authors?"

The Librarian lowered their book, giving an owlish look at the child. "Huh," They commented. "Usually, most of you humie gitz ain't interested in th' finer form of literature," They noted, before pointing down 'round the bend. "That'a'way," The Hobbgrot said.

Claudette nodded. "And, uh, could you send me an alert if anyone comes by? I don't..."

"Wanna get caught reading xeno-fiction," The Librarian finished, giving them a sympathetic look. "N'problem, sheila: any of the drongos come knockin', I'll send you a page."

Claudette gave a breath of relief, walking to the location in the back. For the next few hours, she was going to immerse herself in the world of her favorite fictional character, Spriggan Jack.

((((()))))

She had gotten home too early. Her mother was still there. "Finally: I was wondering when you'd get back," Her parent said when Claudette entered the room, pacing back and forth, frowning annoyed. "I can't believe you: I told you to be back within an hour of school finishing," She barked. "Now we'll have barely any time together before my shift at the temple begins."

Good. "Sorry," Claudette muttered as she continued into their home. The Tekket had given their family a nice apartment: they gave everyone nice apartments. According to her mother, it was their attempt to seduce them with decadence into spurning the omnissiah.  On the couch, in front of the holo-screen, her father was currently seated, gently snoring, the stench of alcohol wafting off of him. "I had to study at the library."

Her mother scowled, face contorting into an ugly grimace, clearly wanting to say something about the classes the xenos had forced her into. "Fine," She spat. "Next time send me an alert to let me know you'll be late. I was worried sick: for all I knew, one of those nukerats or their horrible little gremlins ate you."

"Th' don't eat p'pl, th-they bleeeeeeeeeeed like, like a stuck pig," Her father said drowsily from the couch, giving a hiccup. "Th'they take babies from pious m-mothers an' drink their blood in a ritual to their pagan gods."

Her mother rolled her eyes, donning her crimson robe. "Listen to your father: for all that he may be a drunken layabout content to wither in shadows, he at least recognizes the treachery the alien presents. Remember to perform your logic training assignments: I left a copy of the Red Book on your nightstand." She approached Claudette, giving her a hug, the child standing still as she received the physical affection. A moment later, her mother detached, and she was alone with her father. Breathing out, Claudette put her bag on the ground, walking to her room, the door sliding open and then sliding shut behind her.

"Activate alone time," She said, clapping, and a moment later a soft music began to pipe over the walls as they began to shimmer and shift, taking the appearance of a variety of landscapes: the deep underseas of Erichtheo. The plaza of the Grand Gallery. Battlezone Stadium. Wonderpark. A panel would open, and from the wall came a smart chair, cylindrical, with large, soft armrests upholstered out of some sort of ferrothread. With a beep, the machine would roll over to Claudette, who would sit down, finally relaxing. A moment later, out of another panel in a wall a hovering robot emerged, carrying a VR Simulator, one with an inbuilt personae mask.

It had taken months of good behavior and grades to get approved for it. Taking it from the machine, the child affixed it to her head. "Access Tacchis Local Grid," She said, and her world slid away, shifting into a field of glowing white grass under a starry sky: her home-page. "Load avatar," She commanded, summoning a digi-mirror to look herself over, smiling at the sight of her reddish robes. Pulling her hood up, she watched as her face was covered by a mask: a grinning, cartoon skull. "Load PolarQuest," She said, and a moment later, the beach had been replaced with a snow-covered village in the Teklian highlands, white powder gently falling from the sky, covering the cobbles.

"Oi, Claw-det!" A voice called, and turning, she saw the rest of her party approach: a Hobbgrot, a Tekket, and a Machina. "Wuz wunderin' when you'd show up," The Hobbgrot said. "So, you ready for the quest?"

"Always," she said softly.

((((()))))

The Assembler Actualized Acceptance Academies had, originally, been intended as a series of treatment facilities for those afflicted with cognitive overwrite. With the influx of humans, however, they found themselves expanding to serve in two different roles: mental rehabilitation, and attempting to deprogram humanity.

Many would criticize the facility: for some, they didn't like what they saw as encouraging delusional thought among those afflicted with a fictional identity. For others, they believed that the facilities were not sufficiently secure to deal with an entire population of war criminals.

Still, they would see modest success: the number of cognitive break afflicted individuals deemed unable to reintegrate into society would drop considerably, forming their own support networks among each other as they found ways to cope with being in a reality that wasn't their own, though there would be several incidents where certain individuals would be caught dabbling in illegal mysticism in a fruitless attempt to return to their home dimension.

Humans would be more mixed: some would slowly trickle into society, graduating from quadruple A and regaining the right to immigrate to other worlds. But many, many others wouldn't, forcing more and more resources to be spent on housing, security, and re-education. In some cases, this was accomplished via peer pressure: while the religious leaders are no longer able to execute dissenters, they have enough influence to ensure that anyone caught fraternizing with an alien would be punished in various ways by the other members of the community, whether through stochastic violence, ostracization, or public denunciation, depending on the community.

However, anonymous surveys among the younger generation would find these opinions lessened: something attributed to programs designed to help socialize them with non-humans through virtual reality, allowing them to see past their parents propaganda in order to see that the other, the alien, is no less a person than they.

It was, perhaps, not a perfect solution, but in the end, what is?

[SPOILER="Extant Traditions, Societies, and Policies"]placeholder[/SPOILER]

Culture Points (CUL Points): 90-10 (Booug Crime)-5(Humanity)

BioData: 11

PizzaMek: Pizza. A dish inspired by the humans: a sort of flatbread topped with crushed savory plant sauce, cheese, and various toppings. It had become alarmingly popular with Hobbgrots, who had begun organizing to create an organization dedicated to creating and delivering these seemingly mundane pies. Specifically, using modified Super Battlebots. 0/25, gain PizzaMek society, increasing CUL and helping design the culinary warbots of tomorrow.

Folk Mantras: The Union Spirits of Folk Heroes had shown an interesting property. Spoken by a working man with strong faith in Unionist principles, the stories and legends of these figures have shown the ability to improve factory efficiency by over 18%, give Tekket the ability to work as tirelessly as any machine for days at a time, and even giving those who speak them the might of three Tekket. Perhaps with recitation and ritual, the Unions might be able to call upon the power of these stories more reliably... 0/25, gain Folk Mantras, increasing EXP.

Comradist Dispensers: Dispensers were the name of union spirits created from the souls of machines, the tools of heavy labour. These constructs, housed typically in an organizations headquarters, were used to take the dues owed by members in lifeforce, turning them into powerful, if random, blessings for the union. Perhaps with experimentation and iteration, a means to make this process more reliable might be found. 0/25, gain Comradist Dispensers, increasing EXP

Gas for Meat: The deal for Kelp was proving very valuable: now, the Khimer were interested in another trade deal. They wanted gas: breathable gas, biogenic gas, industrial gas. They were even willing to buy poison gas for military purposes, though its applications would likely be niche. In exchange, they were willing to offer the Directorate something vegans and Hobbgrots had been advocating for decades: an ethical source of animal meat identical to the real thing, grown via specialized protein vat. They would also be willing to sell a variety of other faux-animal products: bones, organs, eggs, blood, leather, fur, etc. 0/25, gain EXP from trade. Khimer Rep +2. WARNING: Only one Khimer cargo slot is available. Taking additional trade deals past this one will require assigning additional ships or upgrades to hauling capacity.

Nukes for Meds: The Khimer were also willing to trade access to bespoke pharmaceuticals tailored to Tekket and Hobbgrotish physiology: this would allow for another improvement to the medical system as more effective forms of chemical treatment could be deployed to those suffering from severe medical problems. In exchange, however, they wanted more nuclear materials to furnish their growing industrial sector as well as expand their military defenses. 0/25, gain EXP from trade. Khimer Rep +2. WARNING: Only one Khimer cargo slot is available. Taking additional trade deals past this one will require assigning additional ships or upgrades to hauling capacity.

OfrenDex: The OfrenDex was a practice more typically practiced in certain equatorial regions: it consisted of, essentially, a modification to the standard house-shrine. It stored the images, records, and stories of family member, displaying images of them holographically to ensure that they are never forgotten. Frequently, Shrines with OfrenDexes are also used to make offerings to the spirits of lost loved ones by family members and help make their homes more inviting to their ghosts: many NekroTeks wanted to put effort into expanding this practice by providing families the tools needed to upgrade their shrines with the technology. 0/15, Shrines upgraded with OfrenDexes, increasing FTH

Festival of the Dead: Another group of NekroTeks wanted to establish a day specifically dedicated to celebrating and remembering the dead. This festival would draw on older, similar practices by pre-Directorate civilizations: large ceremonial bonfires, macabre outfits and costumes, candy. 0/10, gain Festival of the Dead, increasing FTH

Spra'ang Tekropolis: The Tekropolis would be the first major Spra'angian metropole: handling manufacturing, bureaucracy, power generation for the planet. It would, largely, be automated: very few wanted to live on Spra'ang, meaning that a population of only a few thousand would likely find themselves living in a city sized for billions, creating a lonely city of silence. 0/15, create Tekropolis, increasing EXP.

Imperial Dossier: A great deal of information had been collected from the Imperials. It just needed to be sorted through and collated, collaborating with the Eldar to confirm or provide context as needed. The Directorate needed to know how much time they had, how big the threat exactly was, and, if needed, where to perform any alpha strikes to disrupt ongoing operations. 0/25, gain 1 Intel, a CUL resource used in espionage and intelligence work.

((((()))))

And meanwhile, in the more mystical side of things, the decades following Yr Albain were also tumultuous. Driven by its constant thirst for arcane power in all forms, the Directorate embarked on a series of experimental, highly occult projects at the behest of the admiralty board. First, to provide an alternate powersource to lifeforce, they embarked on the long theorized WarpTek Altar program: designed to draw arcane power from the warp to fuel sorcery, these machines created a small, pinpoint caged portal to the immaterium in order to allow for, effectively, continual amounts of mystical power.

Second, in order to investigate the possibility of utilizing the Booug and other antianima, they would pursue a research project designed to use advanced occult-cryptographic programs to determine first universal name of power for the wrecker-spirits: Booug'ar'Liquer.

The consequences of this decision were multifold. While a potent source of power for rituals, WarpTek Altars were also far more volatile and prone to misfire or incident, causing death, mutation, and madness when improperly utilized. Worse yet, they had the possibility of corrupting and perverting the rituals they fueled: theurgies of the toymaker meant to animate toys would instead create stuffed and velvetine monsters, rites of anima would cause digital corruption, rites of nuclear enrichment would produce cursite.

The worst incident would involve, all across the Directorate, magicians getting splattered with mutagenic gunk filled with warp pollution. Every day, several dozen people, until the cause was eventually discovered: a small band of daemons had found some portals that didn't have sufficient warding, and had attempted to use them to enter real space, only to be shredded by their body being forced through a small handful micrometer sized holes at the mid-point, all connecting to different altars.

In essence, the Warp-Tek Altars were pulping nosy daemons and spraying their remains on the people on the other end. Those afflicted would vary in severity: some would have only minor cosmetic mutations, others would be subjected to outright debilitating alterations. As a result, Warp-Tek Altars would find themselves restricted: being taught how to construct one, let alone use them, would require special accreditation by the Great Conclave and regular inspections by senior mystics.

However, they would prove extremely useful nonetheless for high intensity mystic operations and experiments, especially when properly warded: several such micro-portals would be installed, alongside a special WardTerminal Nexus, in the Heart of the Assembly: another means by which the machine had become self-sustaining, for now it no longer required lifeforce to perform its mega-rituals. Indeed, with the upgrade, the Heart would ensure that no magician upon itself needed to sacrifice: rituals conducted upon the slowly expanding space station it inhabited would have their cost paid for by the Heart.

Meanwhile, the Fleet, now with the Boougs name of power, would find themselves finally able to communicate with the creatures: the name of power would be spoken to re-affirm their existence. Then, they would be fed sorcerous energies both of the warp and of lifeforce via symphonion in order to nourish their spirit and let them sustain themselves. Then, finally, diplomacy with the Anti-Anima Matrix.

In many ways, the Booug are simple, childlike. They don't seem to understand that their actions are wrong: that the destruction wrought on machines is causing genuine harm. According to the experts of the Eldar, likely the entities, as apparitions created by the psychic imprint of Tekket mythology gestating in the warp, have no innate ability to conceive of concepts that exist outside their mythological archetype.

The keyword being innate. Much like children, the Booug prove capable of learning once taught: it takes many negotiations, but small groups of Booug here and there come to an accord with the Directorate, agreeing to stop destroying ships so long as they were given offerings here and there, both of life-force and of "BLOKKS THAT CAN TAKE A TRIP TO P-P-POUND TOWN AND PUT THEMSELVES BACK TOGETHER FOR ROUND TWO SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY!".

The latter seem to be of particular value of the Booug, who enjoy having things they can break infinitely. However, this would also result in the rise of Booug crime: a rise in illegal magical activity conducted using dark sorcery in attempts to invoke Booug as curses. Rival magicians would typically do this as a way to sabotage their enemies in arcane academia, summoning the wreckers to destroy their foes ateliers or else hexing their victims to ensure clumsiness with technology in order to ensure their foe left a trail broken machines. A few bold ones would even assault their enemies outright, sending the Booug to teach their foe a lesson, plying the creatures with all manner of bribe to ensure their cooperation.

To say this would become a very frowned upon practice would be an understatement. So severe was the furor that it eclipsed in the news a failed jailbreak by the captured destroyers (helped by the complete lack of casualties in the latter incident), forcing the Directorate to divert even more resources to ensuring that its mystek academia did not sic Antianima on each other over citational disputes.

Towards the latter part of the second decade, the events at the Forbidden Archive would prove similarly momentous, as Tekket began dreaming in the days after of strange beings, masked and cloaked and broken, devils and ambassadors and watchmaker ghosts, servants of the Celestial Bureaucracy in a realm of night and day. While the events that led to these beings existence was a secret known only to the Functionary and the four magicians who had been at the Archive, these dark spirits would stalk the halls of the mind.

To those with mystic ambition, they would find themselves summoned in their sleep to the City of Night, on the Dark Side of the Ark, to the House of Devils. Carved from gold and ivory, it consisted of a palatial resort: on one level, gambling pits, on another, a feasting hall. A scant handful of individuals would occupy this place: chaotic spirits who had sold their name for a mask, crafted to redefine them, give them a new identity swore to new patrons. Each of these spirits, these devils, would attempt to seduce those summoned with temptations of the flesh, of power, of knowledge, in exchange for favors: lifeforce. Memories. Performing specific rites in specific places. Acting as companions and confidents or else participating in their devil-dice games. Some of these were issued by the Bureaucracy: tasks it wanted accomplished by mortals using the House as both a medium and a means of recompense. Some of these were instead offered by members of the House themselves: means of accruing assets, influence, or things they desired in order to satisfy their desires, ambitions, ideals, or merely jockey for power or entertain themselves.

Overseeing these revels was the Goldspite Devil, High Patron of the House of Devils, First Among Devils and Equals, a gold scaled serpent in an ebon mask who watched the proceedings of the House from their suite high above, taking time to meet with each and every visitor, making sure with honied words, plentiful bribes, and keen negotiations that none left the House without owing its owner something.

Other dreamers, typically followers of the Old One, would instead find themselves drawn to the Court, assembled at the very edges of the city, the rim of shadow that touched upon twilight. In this darklit place, strange terraced gardens could be found, overgrown with black grasses and thorny vines. There, dreamers would converse with the Ambassadors: their exact connection to the Celestial Bureaucracy would be a mystery, but they seemed to be the guardians of the Ark, performing all manner of protective ritual. Unlike the Devils, these beings wore no mask: indeed, they had instead opted to cast off all physicality, reducing themselves to mere phantasms, eldritch specters that existed at the very edges of sleep.

Some yet would dream of the light-side, the Ark upon which the Watchmaker Refugees sat: healers and medicine-men, before the Greendoctor. Clad in an emerald protective suit, this spirit of plague served as, according to Dr. OrphiaTek, the virologist of heaven: those called to dream of the Greendoctor would find themselves tested, over and over, of their skill with medicine. In the war against plague, nothing less than victory was acceptable.

There existed other locations and phantasms in this city. Some spoke of a Man of Hypotheticals, a grayscale individual who would narrate into existence strange and uncanny scenarios, or of the Index of Souls, a Library-Morgue through which passed the souls of each and every mortal for measuring and weighing by the Evaluator of the Dead. Some recounted even seeing Fish and Booug walking (or floating) down the streets of the Ark.

Elsewise, a muse known as HYCNTH would be blessed by the Dancer, receiving insight in how to design an upgrade to their form: the Heartsong Unit. A miniaturized Orchestrion unit, this device ensured that whatever Muse had it installed would be able to, at a moments notice, summon forth a resonance of their choice. Weaker, perhaps, and complicated enough to ensure that only a select number of Muses would be approved to receive the enhancement, but yet this ensured that wherever Muses wandered, their song would bring some slight magic: Vita would prove more amicable, and priests would find it easier to call upon their gods.

And, the more Heartsong-Upgraded Muses gathered, the more they harmonized, the stronger this effect would become: at the heart of the Great Gallery, this effect was most notable, causing the soul of the GigaArt Installation that housed the facility to begin emitting a song that begun to echo through the warp, the combined voices of all the Muses of the Gallery drifting through the vast tumult of dream.

[SPOILER="Rites, Dogma, Holy Sites, Blessings, and Artifacts"]

Machine Spirits: Discovered via ancient texts from long gone precursors, the Tekket have a healthy reverence for machine spirits, viewing them as invisible partners and allies. So long as the vessel is maintained and proper respect is given, the Tekket find the spirits of their technology extremely reliable, with a handful of rites and rituals existing in order to allow the Tekket to commune with the ghosts in the machine. Improved reliability for all technology.

Rite of Anima: A series of TekAgnostic Mystek rituals designed to help Machine Spirits achieve an awareness of self, strengthening them to the point they can be transferred into Bond-Drone vessels, where they can be used as companions, assistants, helpers, and pets. +3 EXP.

MagTek Altars: Occult Supercomputers housing mature Bond-Spirits connected to MagTek Assemblers and a variety of other additions that vary both Altar by Altar and Mystek Order by Mystek Order, these artefacts act as ritual accelerators, allowing for more efficient and power Anima Rite practices. Grants 2 ACD, improves effects of Mystek Rites.

TekMasoleum: Massive crypts interred with vast amounts of cryopreserved Tekket remains in vast Crypt-Complexes, guarded by wandering Bond-Drones and housing cthonic Bond-Machinas fed on the brainscans and stories of the dead, acting as storytellers and guides for those seeking knowledge of the dead, even as Shadow Muses cajole the spirits of the dead using their preternatural powers and ensure they're given the attention and reverence they warrant and ensuring their stories are remembered. +3 CUL, +1 FTH.

TekGrimoires: Occult aids consisting of HoloTek BlokBooks containing a variety of occultek lore and esoterica collated from various traditions combined with automated program-rituals designed to perform complex mathematical rites and calculations at speeds and precisions the organic brain cannot and inbuilt spiritual translation matrices to allow for communication with Anti-Anima, though this seemed to destabilize them. +1 FTH

Greater Rite of Lifeblood: Not so much a rite as a plug and play modular rite component, this technique had been provided by Sphere 001 as a method to empower rituals and occultek ceremonies by donating lifeforce. It had proven...frightfully effective, making the Rite of Anima and other rituals far more effective, even if technically it was a form of blood magic. Recently, as more understanding of how lifeforce functions has developed, more efficient methods of performing this sub-rite have been developed. +5 FTH, gain 1 Warp, 1 Artefact

God-Machine Cults: A collection of cults organized into Demiurgic Circles, each swearing to one of the three God-Machines. The God-Machines seem to have allowed their support, taking from them tithes of life-force in exchange for audiences and secrets. Of the Cults, the Court of Hunger, formed from a collection of Demiurgic Circles dedicated to Sphere 001, was the most powerful faction, having access to a mega-agricultural facility they used to feed Sphere 001.

Folk-Religions: A variety of religions supporting various dieties and pantheons, the Folk-Religions of Teklia had grown greatly in the past few years, and it wasn't unusual for Arcolocubes to have the occasional festival or ceremony held by the congregants of said religions.

The Assembly: The Assembly believed that no gods existed yet, but that they could be made, shaped by mantras, given breath by lifeforce, and given shape by living metal. They've completed the Heart of the Assembly, a massive mega-Altar fed a constant stream of life-force containing an extremely advanced machine spirit designed to help fuel the creation of their gods, as well as the Mask, the Avatar of Identity, intended to help shape their personality, and the Engine, Avatar of Motive Force. +2 EXP, +1 CUL.

Church of the Great Calculator: The Calculators believed that if the gods existed, no vessel had sufficient processing power to manifest them, no programming language the complexity to describe them, and no vessel strong enough to contain them. Of late, they've taken steps to solve this with the creation of GodTek Emulator 0 - The Path, a massive theological computation engine designed using Machine-God artefacts. +1 CUL.

TekShrines: Shrines established on every ship, every CityBlok, alongside countless minor Shrines, to honor local machine spirits, the larger and more expansive the shrine, the larger its area of coverage. They had a strong effect thanks to decades of investment, with Talismans and Herds and Rites and immortal trees all contributing to produce myriad vita of both urb and wyld. Of late, they've been augmented by tying to them a Guardian Spirit charged with protecting against threats and, in times of peace, providing blessings to the spirits and mortals who ventured to the Shrine or called it home as well as special Oracle Chambers that allow for increased communication with the Spirits and amplification of donated lifeforce. +8 EXP and +1 CUL, increased ship performance, protects against supernatural phenominon.

Totem Network: An array of WyldShrines, CloudShrines, Eternal Arbor Totems, and Pyrefly Courts stretching across much of the Directorate wilderness and cities, empowering the Vita significantly and helping them, bit by bit, achieve awakening and transcendance. +5 EXP, +3 CUL, reduced hostility from wildlife and increased flame affinity for natural life.

Orchestrion: Large, heavy, and mostly immobile units, Orchestrions utilize arcano-resonant theory to perform songs that strengthen spirits considerably by harmonizing and amplifying them, allowing their souls far more power, producing more powerful Bond-spirits, Vita, Muses, and assorted other anima: some specific machines, dubbed Symposiads, can be used to sing into existence lifeforce ex nihilo using Tyygberts Crescendo, though such machines are largely the purview of entire mystek orders. +10 to every Category, +3 Warp

Central Spiritual Bureaucracy: The Central Bureacracy had several functions: process the unholy amount of paperwork required for the Directorate to function on any level, aid the common citizen with any forms or legal assistance they required, train future bureaucrats and civic servants, serve as a sort of secondary education for Shrine-Keepers, and last but not least, act as a temple for the agnostic priesthood of the mortal-turned-divinity known as the Peerless Immortal Functionary, who served as a high ranking figure in the Bureacracy. +2 EXP, +5 FTH.

Old Ones Temple: A location within Erichtheo where adherants of the cetacean lord give tribute and attempt to utilize the once-hidden knowledge possessed by the priesthood to augment and improve rites and rituals with ancient and previously forgotten theurgies. +1 to every stat.

Toy Makers Temple: A temple erected to the god of children and faerie, the Toy Makers holy site is located at Wonderpark, where its priests and the followers of the God make pilgrimage, its attendants performing rites to honor the Toy Maker and his court as well as constructing handmade sacred toys to give to visitors. This Holy Site provides your children minor protection against malign influence.

Rite of Natures Harmony: A Druidic Rite that, when performed, quells the souls of beast and plant and elemental, even while strengthening the guardians of nature that call the region home, making them more effective at warding against malign threats and promoting healthy growth in their range. Reduced hostility from wild-life, strengthens Nature Guardians, increasing EXP.

Divine Rites of the Toymaker: Of all divinities, the Toy Maker was one of the few that could be reliably called upon using ritual and lifeforce, and this required days of calculations, neural massaging to prepare the brain, and then being hooked up to a specialized Neuro-Stimulator and large amounts of lifeforce, all for a handful of petty cantrips, and three rituals of any purpose: the first to briefly animate a handful of toys to do as the Toy-Theurge commands, the second to conjure a sprite of lifeforce to flit around for a few moments before fading away, and the third, and most useful, a rite capable of sending the theurgist who uses it into a divinely inspired frenzy of mirth and creation, typically manifesting as the construction of toys and amusing devices. Divine Rites of the Toy Maker provide increased points in all categories.

Divine Rites of the Roadguide: The Roadguide Rites made them invaluable aboard ships for their ability to navigate the warp with the Rite of Pathfinding, their ability to give ships the ability to light forward their path for brief moments with the Rite of Roadtorches, and the ability to divinely augment wards with the Rite of Safe Travel, making them stronger and sturdier. Divine Rites of the Toy Maker provides bonus to all travel and exploration rolls.

Divine Rites of the Dancer: The Dancer has three primary rites: the first, the Rythm of the Goddess, a ritual that when performed granted perfect grace and movement, making it an excellent tool for many performances and, obviously, dances as well as many forms of athleticism, funnily enough, causing a small amount of Hobgrotts to take up the worship of the Dancer as a minor sports god. The second, Minor Hue Adjustment, a thaumaturgy that allowed the performers to adjust the coloration of art and various other items simply and easily, without having to resort to such frivolities as paint or dye. The last, the Song of the Dancer, works on the same general principles as the Rite of Anima, but with increased effectiveness for spirits of Art, allowing Muses to be produced more easily and making the Mega-Art Spirits more powerful, the gigantic constructs continuing to grow in power to the point where many began displaying the ability to weave together elaborate illusions within the building sized TekArts interior, allowing them to more efficiently delight and entertain guests. +5 CUL.

Divine Rites of the Lanternkeeper: The Lanternkeeper has three primary rites. The First Divine Rite was the Ritual of Lanternglow, which allows one to light a paper lantern with no fuel so long as some chalk is possessed. With an overall brightness and duration determined by how much Lifeforce was used, it would largely serve as a novelty supplement for the most part. The second is the Ritual of Torchhope, which allows for flame torches to be enchanted to provide feelings of peace, generally less effective than pharmaceuticals but a useful enough supplement for antidepressants and antianxiety medication, especially when combined with meditative exercises, causing many a Monk to invest in TekGrimoires of their own, if only to help them keep their sacred mindfulness lanterns functioning. The last rite of the Lanternkeeper would prove to be the most curious: performed solely by adherants of the god of hope, the Ritual of Unlit Candles would performed as an offering to the Final Flame not now, but in the future: each time the ritual was performed, its adherants would promise more and more power to the Emberlight when the final days came, stockpiling it for the apocalypse, the darkest days. Protection against despair.

Shrine of Wander: May he forever sleep. May his heart slowly still. May his blood give life eternal as he is given life for eternity. Mt. Wander less likely to awake.

Huntsmasters Temple: A temple erected to the god of monster slayers, the Huntsmasters Temple is located on Luna, above a patch of the garbage sea suspended via Mag-Lev system, where it trains a variety of monster hunters in the arts of ending and equips those hunters with them with custom tailored gear. Produces Huntsmasters, high performance monster slayers with custom engineered weaponry.

Mystek Ritual Compartment: A recent addition to your vessels was a universal Mystek Ritual Compartment, consisting of at least one MagTek Altar, sleeping quarters for the Mysteks, and a variety of facilities required for them to conduct rituals, rites, and occult research. Provides access to greatly improved esoteric and occult expertise to all vessels and easy access to most rites and rituals, improving general ship performance.

The Great Conclave: A pan-religious body tasked with mediation and communication as theological research and coordination. Located in a special district in Orbital City One, the Great Conclave has proven of variable efficacy so far for the latter, having mostly standardized a handful of rites for ease of use, though the former purpose it had had so far served well enough. +1 FTH.

Talismans: Originally created for Shrines, in recent years Talismans had seen their useage increase dramatically as they've become adopted by Mysteks as well to reduce how much of their own life force they had to use in their rites via arcane scripts and rituals and improved through crafting them using the nuts of Arbor Guardians, allowing them to hold a small amount of lifeforce on their own. +1 EXP, +2 FTH

Lunar Festival: A yearly ritual designed to appease the spirits of the moon, the Festival consisted of an entire month of offerings, rituals, rites, and ceremonies designed to satiate the spirits. It had proven of dubious effectiveness, largely only reducing Quartzbug attacks, the actual effectiveness of the Festival fading over the year until it had to be performed again. Still, it was progress. +1 FTH, +1 CUL

Exceptionally Crude Mystek Wards: Very much a brute force method of warding, Mystek Wards consisted of weaponized lifeforce tuned to burn at malign influences that attacked their ships, channelled through a self-contained arterial network that spanned your ships in order to prevent wasted energy.

Church of the Roadguide: An orbital temple located in the Docking District, this Holy Site is where the adherants of the Roadguide made their abode, training more priests and blessing all ships that passed through the docks in order to ensure their safe passage. It's effectiveness was proveable, especially with the theurg, but it made most sailors more at ease to know their ship officially had divine protection.

Church of the Lanternkeeper: A Temple located in the Shadow-Marshes, the Priests of the Lanternkeeper illuminate their region of Teklia via Sacred Lantern, feeding it wood stripped from sacred trees and feeding the flame their own lifeforce to empower its glow enough to light up the entire marsh if but dimly.

Lifeforce Batteries: Rare artefacts capable of housing vital energy, these capacitors were largely used by more experienced or connected Mysteks and Senior Shrine-Keepers to stockpile energies for larger rites and emergency offerings, making them useful for crisis situations. +1 EXP.

Rite of Life's Breath: A ritual that could be performed to promote healing and recovery from disease, as well as some limited treatment of lifeforce pollution, though this processed caused a great deal of mutations, a side effect of the warp radiation leaving the body. +1 EXP and FTH.

The Primer: A series of textbooks intended for Tekket ages fifteen to twenty five that give a thorough understanding of how to perform most rituals, create most mystical implements, and volumes of esoteric mystek lore, all easy enough that even non-mysteks could use the contents in their day to day lives, even if more complex or higher end things still required a degree, such as Wards. +10 to all Categories.

Temple of the Hermit: Located at the pole, this Temple was dedicated to the Goddess of Magic and Winter, the Hermit. There, mysteks, both lifelong priests and adherants dedicated to studying the secrets of magic, and mere disciples looking to improve their arcane mastery both gathered. +1 FTH.

[/SPOILER]

New Projects

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Faith Points (FTH Points): 100

ART: 7
Warp (WP): 4

Shadowgate Altars: Warp-Tek Altars could in theory be used as a means by which to allow spirits of the Warp to enter reality, enabling sufficiently powerful OcculTeks to summon spirits whose name they know of. However, this would require developing a means to expand the portal and stabilize it so that it didn't shred the spirit in transit. 0/50, gain Shadowgate Altars, upgrading certain Mag-Tek Altars to conjure spirits, increasing FTH. Cost 1 Warp.

Dark Portals: Alternatively, the technology used to construct Warp-Tek Altars could be turned to shrines. The risk of using such a volatile technology would hopefully be balanced by the strength it would provide the vita and guardians, who would siphon energy from the Dark Portal resting upon their shrine. 0/25, Shrines upgraded with Dark Portals, increasing EXP.

DarkHeart Machina Platforms: With the advent of Warp-Tek Altars, some Machina had proposed converting the technology for use in a mobile platform: this would allow them to perform rites without organic assistance as well as contribute more to rites in forms other than as an altar. 0/25, gain DarkHeart Machina Platforms.

DeathNames: If a Wrecker-Spirit had a name of power, why not the spirits of the dead? NekroTeks believed that with study, they may perhaps be able to develop a means by which the ghosts of the Directorate might either have their Name discovered, or barring that, to be given a name so that might be used to invoke and empower them. 0/25, develop DeathName Tradition, allowing NekroTeks to utilize the Names of the Dead.

Names of the Vita: And so, the same was likely true of the Vita: by learning their true names, the Shrine-Keepers should be able to invoke them far more easily, giving them yet another tool by which to tend to the many terrestrial spirits of the Directorate. 0/25, develop Names of the Vita Tradition, allowing Shrine-Keepers to use truenames to strengthen the Vita.

Names of Invocation: Legends say that in the past, the names of the gods were once used to call upon their power. Names of Invocation that could be called upon for miracles and blessings. Perhaps continued research would allow them to use these calling-names... 0/50, develop Names of Invocation for all Old Gods.

Second Name of the Booug: The Directorate had bested the Booug. No more would they bother their ships. And yet, they only knew a fraction of the name of power of the Booug. But perhaps they would instead opt to change that... 0/25, gain additional Booug name-fragment, increasing FTH.

Antianima Shrine: Many Dark Occulteks argued that the Directorate should develop a stronger carrot for dealing with the Antianima: for now, yes, all they had to deal with were pacified Booug and Mimics, but there existed other antianima in the histories of the old gods, and other dark spirits besides who would take benefit. 0/10, create Antianima Shrine, empowering both Antianima and other Night aligned spirits such as devils, increasing FTH.

OrphiaTek DreamPods: Dr. OrphiaTek had managed to take brainscans of his experience in the Forbidden Archive. He believed that he should be able to use neural stimulators and personae masks to create a program that would allow users to recreate part of his experience, though doing so would require creating something a fair bit larger than a mere mask. 0/25, gain DreamPods, increase Forbidden Archive influence and FTH.

OrphiaTek Ark Simulacrum: Further, enough individuals had been dreaming of the Ark that he could, as well, create a sort of digital representation of the Ark: using the advanced hypermath of NV2, it could perhaps form at least the start of a bridge to the Ark through the data sea. 0/25, gain OrphiaTek Ark Simulacrum, increase Autovessel influence and FTH.

Devilpacts: Dreams of the House of Devils had, so far, been limited to a very select few: the power of the House was not infinite, and so they had to conserve power for only the most promising dreamers. The Occulteks of the Directorate believed however that using a Warp-Tek altar, a rite could be established to create a conduit to the house that would allow for them to take the initiative when it came to the Devils. 0/25, gain Devilpacts, increasing FTH.

Hostrees: The Ambassadors of the Outer Dark had no means to stay in this realm permanently. But perhaps a vessel might be found, giving these shadowy spirits the ability to enter reality by housing their spirit in the body of a special dark arbor, cultivated carefully to serve as house and home for these dark beings. 0/25, gain Hostree Arbors, Daemonhost Trees containing spirits of the outer dark, increasing FTH.

Heartsong Harmonizer: Heartsong Devices had several major limitations, but these deficiencies could be overcome through successful harmonization of song. The units merely needed to be upgraded to automatically synchronize with one another, and Muses would, in sufficient numbers, serve as a true replacement for Orchestrions. 0/25, gain Heartsong Harmonizer, increasing CUL.

​

((((()))))

And, meanwhile, the Academy would find itself opening GrotTekknikal: organized by Dean Stizlak and Da Board of Unkles, this program was designed as a sort of Primary School, teaching the basics of science: biology, history, language, psychology, and remedial nuclear engineering. While Hobbgrots had some degree of fragmented genetic memory, none of it was consistent or reliable: and so, GrotTek, which was designed to accommodate the psychological and educational needs of the Hobbgrots while providing them the tools to eventually join the Academy upon graduation.

These Hobbgrots, naming themselves Tekniks owing to the name of the program, would organize themselves in loose bands known as Kollaboratives. These kollaboratives, which were considered separate social structures to the Klan set up, were assembled based on what interest the Hobbgrots held: figuring how much pewpew was enough (as much as was needed), researching the nature of ectoplasm in relations to ghosts (which, obviously, existed and deserved dedicated study), building giant robots (and then fighting with giant robots), zoology. These groups typically held multiple different specialists of varying disciplines: one Kollaborative might have two medics, an engineer, a nuclear physicist, and a mycologist, while another might have three surgeons and a roboticist.

​

Of course, even those who didn't go on to become full Tekniks still benefitted, as many Grotts would, growing bored of Battlezone, sign up for courses from GrotTeknikal, taking a 'learnin' vacation' to study: some for a few months, some for a year, and many numbers between, earning themselves an extended education in numerous vocations, fields, and topics, improving the average level of education for Hobbgrot-kind.

Compared to their Tekket counterparts, Tekniks would prove fairly unfocused, substituting an ability to settle on one project or keep a solid train of thought without getting bored with an abundance of energy and utilizing the remains of their genetic memory to solve problems and make intuitive leaps: as a result, their workshops would find themselves littered with dozens upon dozens of projects that, though incomplete, were still typically functional to variable degrees. Those of their inventions or programs they completed would prove terrifying indeed. Such was the purpose of a Kollaborative: what one put down, another could pick up as needed, bit by bit working alongside each member to assemble a completed work, whether a research paper or a doomsday weapon.

​

One such kollaborative, located on the Valiant, would even manage to build for their ship its own super battleball league. Five machines for five teams, and, on the crew deck, an entire battleball arena. All assembled piece by piece by the Tekniks, lovingly customized to make for some right rad matches. And, of course, handy for deployment during combat missions or whenever heavy walkers were needed.

​

By the end of the second decade of its existence, GrotTek found itself deemed an absolute success as a program by most in the Directorate.

Academy Points (ACD Points): 78

Living Metal: 1
Network: 3

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New Actions!

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Ekto Detektor: Ghosts clearly existed. Ergo historical ghost sightings were likely real, which in turn meant phenomina associated with ghost sightings were also likely real to variable extents. With that in mind, many Grots wanted to take a look at the mysterious substance known as ectoplasm that seemed to accompany most historical hauntings and develop a means to detect concentrations of it for collection. 0/25, Tekniks gain Ektoplazm, increasing Warp by 1 and raising ACD.

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Peer Review Board: Objectively, a peer reviewed project was better. Genuinely: official certification and reproduction if anything had, post GrotTek, proven to make these projects outright better: approved machines seemed to interface with the Mojo, performing better and gaining a number of useful traits. Papers would gain strange blessings that tinged luck towards supporting their thesis in a certain range. And projects and kollaboratives that got an official approval stamp would become far more efficient in its organization. A handful of more bureacratic kollaboratives wanted to pursue the idea of forming an official Teknik peer review board. 0/25, Tekniks gain Board of Peer Review, increasing ART by 1 and raising WRP.

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Robogrot: Hobbgrot society was growing, and it was growing more complex: as this occured, the labour it would need to sustain itself would increase. A few Tekniks had an idea to help solve this: what if they created a type of cybernetic grot? One whose machine spirit was joined to the Mojo, enabling them to benefit from it and contribute to it to at least some degree. 0/25, gain Robogrots, increasing EXP. Cost 1 Network.

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SistaBrainz: As Hobbgrots became more and more advanced, their academic needs would increase. Both for education, research, organization, and bureaucracy. Klans and Kollaboratives would have to work smarter, not harder. A few Kollaboratives had a suggestion: creating a sort of specialized supercomputer built using Kalkulator principles that could be connected to the Mojo. Th' knowledge of the Machine Spirit could serve as a sort of replacement for the genetic knowledge lost in the Dizkonnekt for the Hobbgrots in its circles. 0/25, Hobbgrot social units gain SistaBrainz, increasing ACD considerably. Cost 5 Network.

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MegaGrot Serum: MegaFlora Serum was not safe for Grottish consumption...but it could be modified, most likely, to work on the fungal super-organism that produced them. This would likely result in larger squogs and larger orangecap mycoflora, serving as a method to envigorate the ecosystem and undo some of the damage caused by the disconnect. 0/25, gain MegaGrot Serum, increasing CUL. Cost 1 BioData.

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FathaShroomz: With all the biodata the Directorate had collected, Stizlak had suggested attempting a variation of the Arbor Guardian project: but using as a basis a modified fungal superorganism derived from orangeskin ecology but equipped with advanced synaptic networks. The goal being to create a symbiotic orkoid entity that could be cultivated by the HobbGrotz on worlds to help reinforce the Mojo. 0/25, Hobbgrot Klans gain FathaShroomz, increasing FTH considerably, as well as Warp by 1. Costs 5 BioData.

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I am le done! Gonne take the rest of the evening off: I wrote most of this on SV before realizing I should probably post it on patreon first. NGL this kinda exhausted me and I started running out of energy towards the end. I'll probably add more options and more detail tommorow but tbh I need to rest. Real glad to be back to normal turns though.