Mechborn

[Heir of the Void]

So, I got tired of waiting for the Future Mistborn Trilogy, so I decided to write it on my own. Also, Robots.

 

Have fun!

 

Mechborn: The Final Frontier

 

Kelwin Atheme felt the shift as the USS Weathering dropped out of FTL. The scientist swore that there was nothing to feel, but all Allomancers swore they could sense something.

The Allomancy Drive that propelled the heavy cruiser was a miracle of modern science, and one that Kelwin had absolutely no understanding of. He knew that it worked by allowing a ship to move along lines traced between stars, like the canals between cities in the Age of ash. However, the lines between stars were a natural phenomena, and impossible to reshape.

They were certainly convenient, though.

“Attention all crew.” Captain Erikeller said, his voice echoing from the ship’s PA system. “We have arrived in the Survivor’s Hope system. ETA three days to arrival at Kelsierport. All crew, be on your guard. Captain out.”

Kelwin sighed, then turned back to his Cuirassier. There were a dozen ‘ports’ named after the Lord of the Mists throughout the Frontier, none of them much more than small towns. Few of them even boasted space stations, let alone enough traffic to be consider ports. The major population center on this planet was large than most, a few million people, but still small by core world standards.

As Kelwin looked up at his Cuirassier, it took his breath away, as always. Six yards tall, the humanoid war machine was painted in an white-and-silver color scheme. It was impossible to hide something the size of Cuirassier from the Mk. 1 eyeball under most circumstances,  so the Scadrial Republic Special Forces didn’t even try. Instead, they colored their machines so that squad members could easily identify one another.

Several panels on Kelwin’s Cuirassier, a Mk. 7 Ascendant Warrior were open, exposing the inner workings of the machine. Wires, bundles of synthetic muscle, servomotors, I-field generators, Allomantic amplifiers, and all the other components needed to operate the mighty engine of war were exposed to plain sight.

Kelwin knelt down next to a leg panel and held up a OmniTesTer. A member of Special Forces, particularly MistOpps, would have mechanics for this, but it was a poor warrior who left the care of his gear to another man. There was too much Cuirassier for him to check it all, but he could spot check, and make small mods.

“Hey, that are you doing, Kelwin?”

Kelvin turned. It was Rayid, another member of his MistOpps squad. While Kelwin was tall and lithe, Rayid was short and compact. Rayid’s hair was brown to Kelwin’s black, and the jovial expression and laugh lines on his face were almost exactly opposite the serious cast of Kelwin’s features.

“Just doing some last minute tune-ups.” Kelwin said. “I figured I could get some more yield out of the legs if I improved the synchronization between the servos and the muscles.”

“Whatever works for you.” Rayid said. “Me? I’d spend the time in the simulators.”

“Fair enough.” Kelwin said.

“I can’t believe they deployed us for this, though. I mean, aren’t Cults generally something that local governments can put down?”

“Not when they infiltrate the local government and subvert a large portion of the PDF.” Kelwin said. “That’s when you send in MistOpps.”

Rayid shook his head. “But how did that happen at all? I mean, it just seems so...”

“We aren’t the Final Empire.” Kelwin said, not looking up from his work. “Outside the Core Worlds, we leave the colonies well enough alone. Otherwise, the sort of people who sign up to from colonies would rebel. This is the drawback, but I think its the only way the system holds together without stagnating.”  

“Seems kinda stupid if you ask me.” Rayid said.

Kelwin put down his tool turned to face Rayid, giving him a blank state. “Seriously, how are you still part of MistOpps? I thought you had to be at least somewhat smart to be in here.”

“They just want me for my allomancy.” Rayid said.

“As long as you know that.”

“Anyway, the briefing is in like five minutes. The Major told me to come get you.” Rayid said.

The Major, Athren Marell, was the commander of the MistOpps squad. His rank was really only Captain, but he received a temporary promotion to Major while shipboard. He was a hard man, but a good commander for the six-man MistOpps squad.

Kelwin put dropped his tool and closed the hatch on his Cuirassier. “Let’s go.”

[x]

The four men and one woman of the MistOpps squad sat at a long table, facing ‘Major’ Athren, who stood in front of a holoboard, which displayed the layout of the major city of Kelsierport.

“Alright, men, I won’t lie. We’ve got a tough mission ahead of us. A large portion of the Planetary Defense Force has defected to this cult. They’ve got at least a hundred tanks, and at least as many Cuirassiers. The legislature doesn’t want the collateral damage that the regular army tends to cause, so they sent us in.”

“What’s our objective?” Theria asked. The sole woman in the MistOpps squad, she was exactly as lethal as she looked. She was short, but the legends said the ascendant warrior was also vertically challenged. She had brown hair, dark eyes, and high cheekbones, but her features came together to give her a predatory beauty.

Kelwin was terrified of her.

“We need to move in an eliminate the upper leadership of the cult, and destroy as much of there military equipment and war making ability as possible. Fairly straightforward, if challenging. However, there is another item to consider.”

Athren tapped the holoboard, and it shifted to show an image of a gunmetal grey briefcase. “Recovering this is our second objective. I’m told that none of the weapons we’ve been issued can scratch the thing, so destroying it apparently isn’t a concern. However, we are to secure it at all reasonable costs if we have the opportunity, even if it means letting some of the cult leaders get away. Am I understood?”

“Yes sir!” The MistOpps squad coursed.

“Now, I assume you’ve all heard this, but since some of you have no brains to listen, I’ll go over it one more time. We will be approaching via orbital insertion, and landing just outside the city. From there, we will make our way in while the ship supplies us with air cover. Fourtanly, loyalist maintenance personable sabotaged upwards of ninety percent of the enemy air assets, so there is no real concern that they’ll be able to deny us air superiority. From there, we proceed to this compound in a park in the center of the city, where we eliminate the enemy leadership. After the cult refuses to surrender, the regular army comes in and mops them up. Are there any questions?”

No one said anything.

“Good. Now get to the simulators. There’s nothing like last minute preparation to get you ready for a combat drop.

[x]

Kelwin looked up at his Cuirassier. He was already wearing his pilot suit, complete with neural interface needles and Allomantic amplifiers, not to mention other... sundry... systems. Putting it on was an interesting experience, but one that all MistOpps soldiers learned to tolerate early in their training. By the time he turned twelve, Kelwin wore it like a second skin. He had swallowed metals until a lesser man would have felt sick, enough for hours of combat.

“Looks like its you and me, girl.” He said, laying a hand on the machine’s lower leg armor. “Let’s go kick some chull.”

He began to climb up into to the entry point on the Cuirassier. It was mounted behind the cockpit, with a single plate which swung upwards, allowing the control chair to slide out. The cockpit was already open, with the chair out. As Kelwin sat down, he tried really hard not to think about how crazy the action he was about to take was. He was going to drop several hundred miles from a warship, into the teeth of enemy anti-air defenses, with his only real defense against attacks being the hundreds of decoys and thousands of ECM ghosts dropped with the six man squad.

Kelwin settled into his seat, and as his suit began to interface with the systems of the machine, the seat slid into the cockpit of the Cuirassier, the hatch closing behind him. He was plunged into darkness for a moment, which was quickly dispelled as the controls and panoramic monitors lit up, showing a dull grey. He took a deep breath as he tapped into the squad communication network.

No one said anything for a few minutes. Kelwin took a brief moment to mutter a short prayer to the Survivor.

I'm asking You Survivor, Kelwin began, to give me what You have left. Give me those things which others never ask of You. I don't ask You for rest, or tranquility. Not that of the spirit, the body, or the mind. I don't ask You for wealth, or success, or even health. All those things are asked of You so much, Lord of the Mists, that you can't have any left to give.

Kelwin smiled.

Give me instead Lord what You have left. Give me what others don't want. I want uncertainty and doubt. I want torment and battle. And I ask that You give them to me now and forever Lord, so I can be sure to always have them, because I won't always have the strength to ask again.

Kelwin took a deep breath.

But give me also the courage, the energy, and the spirit to face them. I ask You these things Lord, because I can't ask them of myself.

Just as Kelwin finished, Athren began to speak over the intercom. “We’re coming up on the drop point in thirty seconds. I won’t count down, because none of you are newbies, but its almost time. Remember the plan, stick together, and watch your backs. Sliver be with you.”

The Captain of the squad was a Sliverist. It was a bit odd, but worshipers of the Sliver of Infinity made up a sizeable portion of the population, though not nearly as large a percentage as Survivorists, and also made up a disproportionate portion of the military. Kelwin had no problem with them, despite the long history of rivalry between Survivorists and Sliverists.

As Kelwin’s mental countdown reached five, the ship began to shudder. It was deploying decoys. This continued for endless seconds, then the Captain's voice came over the intercom. “Centerline tube, automatic fire!”

Kelwin felt himself slide downward, then he was slammed against his restraints as his tube shot out of the belly of the USS Weathering and into space. He struck atmosphere almost immediately, his pod rocking as it peeled apart in the air, slowing him down as it slough off burning-hot strips of thermal cermaic.

One of the things that helps a drop pilot to live long enough to draw a pension is that the skins peeling off his capsule not only slow him down, they also fill the sky over the target area with so much junk that radar picks up reflections from dozens of targets from each man in the drop, any one of which could be a man, or a bomb, or anything. It's enough to give a ballistic computer a nervous breakdown - and does.

To add to the fun your ship lays a series of dummy eggs in the seconds immediately before and after  your drop, not to mention a few in the middle, some of which will fall faster because they don't slough. The get under you, explode, throw out chaff, even operate as transponders, rocket sideways, and do other things to add to the confusion of your reception committee on the ground.

As Kelwin shot downward, he resisted the urge to burn copper. It would cause him to disappear from enemy radar detectors, but would no nothing to hide his thermal signature. If the enemy had Infrared systems looking upwards as well as radar, it would be as good as giving them a neon sign saying ‘SMOKER INCOMING’.

That, in turn, would make him a primary target, and get him shot out of the sky. Kelwin watched his display as, one by one, decoys dropped off his screen. You could tell the difference between a hit on a decoy egg and an ECM ghost by looking at what happened next. A hit on a decoy would throw off a cloud of chaff; when ghosts were hit, they simply vanished.

The shaking intensified as Kelwin hit the lower atmosphere. Some of the bombs dropped with the MistOpps squad were hitting the ground, destroying enemy anti-air guns with lethal accuracy. Missiles rocketed down from the Weathering, smashing into major enemy radar installations and blowing back to the World of Ash.

As Kelwin reached the troposphere, his pod opened, releasing his Cuirassier into the atmosphere. He squinted for a moment as his eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness on his panoramic displays, which showed the battle raging in the surrounding skies in brilliant augmented HD.

His Cuirassier dropped, the path of his squadmates traced on his monitor. The mission called for them to be scattered over a one-hundred-square-mile area on the edge of the city, meaning that the MistOpps squad would be scattered over at least four hundred square miles, ranging from the city center to the suburbs. This was Kelwin’s third mission, and that was how the first two hand gone. If one listened to the veterans in the squad, that was how every mission went.

Kelwin had no reason to disbelieve them.

As Kelwin reached a mile above the surface, he burned copper and opened his parachute. Immediately, he blinked off of enemy radar. He fired his thrusters, pushing himself to the sided, just in case some sharp-eyed enemy radar operator noticed one of the thousands of radar contacts falling to their planet disappear, and decided to throw a missile at where it had been.

Anti-grav would have been better than a parachute, but would have given off emanations that the enemy could have detected. Therefore, MistOpps went old-fashioned.

At a hundred feet up, Kelwin detached from his parachute and burned steel. Immediately, the location and rough size of sources of metal on the ground appeared his mind. He pushed on one of the sources of metal, slowing the fall of his massive Cuirassier.

Gently, Kelwin touched down. He looked around, the cranial sensor cluster that made up the ‘head’ of his Cuirassier swiveling in accordance with his wishes. That was the power of the Neural Interface Control.

Kelwin had landed on a suburban street on the edge of the city. One of the nearby buildings was partially crushed from being used as an anchor for his Allomancy, and several plumes of smoke rose in the distance from bombs dropped by the Weathering.

After a brief pause, Kelwin drew his weapon from his back-lock. It was a 1.75 inch autocannon, firing mass-reactive explosive slugs at a high velocity and rate of fire. The autocannon was a powerful weapon, made even more devastating when enhanced with Allomancy.  

Once it became clear that there were no enemies presently in the area, Kelwin pushed against a large source of metal in the ground, probably a water main or power line, and sent his Cuirassier surging into the sky.

He used his Allomancy and thrusters to maneuver in midair, intentional setting a course that would be difficult to manually target. His thrusters fired metallic plasma, like some energy weapons, allowing him to use steel to enhance their thrust.

Kelwin covered several hundred feet on his first jump. As he lept through the neighborhood, he searched for transistor beacons that would give him the location of his squadmates. Radio communications were no good in the area of a coppercloud, so Cuirassier squads communicated with each other via ultrasound pulses and laser comms. Of course, ultrasound had a short range, and you needed to see someone to use laser comms, so coded beacons were left by MistOpps soldiers to allow their squadmates to find each other. Kelwin had just spotted a beacon broadcasting Rayid’s code when the fist tank shell split the air next to him.

Immediately, Kelwin burned Iron and Pulled himself toward the ground, avoiding the next shell. His Cuirassier landed in a crouch, autocannon ready. Kelwin burned tin, and the clattering of the treads of the enemy tank became clearly audible to him. There were two of them, a few hundred feet to the west.

Taking off at a run, Kelwin moved in the direction of the enemy tanks. He was outwitted at least ten to one, but two last-gen tanks were no match for an Ascendant Warrior piloted by a Mistborn.

Instead of rounding the corner to meet the tanks, he launched himself into the air, flying over the two houses separating him from the enemy tanks. He leveled his autocannon as he fell, and fired a burst at the first tank, burning steel and Pushing on the rounds as they left his weapon.

The shells sparked off the top of the tank, tearing gouges in its armor. It didn’t have an external I-field; meaning that the shells were able to impact it directly. Kelwin landed on the top of the tank, his Cuirassier mourning the turret like a surfboard, and burned Bendalloy.

As the world around the eighteen yard diameter bubble slowed to a crawl, Kelwin emptied his magazine into the barrel of the tank’s cannon, then stowed his autocannon and drew his blade, three yards of ultradense, superhard, invested metal. He activated the power field surrounding the blade, a mechanical Automatic device that disrupted material around the balade. He stabbed downward into the turret, sparks flying as his blade ground into the armor of the tank.

A tank shell struck the edge of the time bubble and exploded. It had too much mass-energy to pass through without triggering its detonation mechanism. Solid slugs were better for penetrating time bubbles.  

Smoke rose from the breach in the tank’s armor as Kelwin withdrew his sword, then jumped off the tank and fired a projectile from his right-shoulder Pile Driver into the side of the tank.

The Pile Driver was an Allomaticlly enhanced hypervelocity short-range slug thrower mounted on the shoulder of  MistOpps Cuirassiers. It fired a spike a high velocities, capable of penetrating take armor with a direct hit. However, given its bizarre ballistics, it was effective at about the same range as Kelwin’s sword.

Dropping his time bubble, Kelwin sprinted away from from the stricken tank. Secondary weapons fire from the second tank sparked against his I-field, and he retaliated with a missile from his left-shoulder ordnance pod.

As the warhead blasted into the armor of the tank, silencing the machine gun, Kelwin sprang into the air and swung his sword, slicing through the barrel of the main cannon of the tank. He Pushed the severed barrel to the side and jumped, thrusters flaring, clearing the main turret the tank.

Kelwin landed on the rear side of the vehicle, sword out, and was cutting at its weak rear armor before the vehicle could even begin to turn around. He cut several gashes in the armor, then fired his Pile Driver into one of them.

Jumping away as the tank exploded, Kelwin resumed his search for beacons. The enemy would register the loss of their tanks soon, and send reinforcements. He needed to get clear before that happened.

CODEX:

Cuirassier: A humanoid war machine, it can be linked into the spinal cord of an Allomancer to benefit from their Allomancy as if it were there own body. It was first developed and deployed in the late stages of the Succession Wars, as the numerically inferior but Allomanctically superior Republican forces desperately sought an advantage over their Collectivist opponents. The Cuirassier gave the Allomancer Special Forces a decisive advantage, leading to a series of decisive victories, contributing to the survival of the Union. Given the nature of the I-Field offsetting its disadvantage in armor, it became popular among both the regular army and Special Forces.

Allomancy Drive: A system using both mechanical Allomancy and feruchemy to allow faster-than-light travel. Details are classified.

I-field: Investiture Field: This system exists in two flavors, fitting giving its mechanical Allomantic origins. External fields function like the ‘Force Fields’ of science fiction, deflecting projectiles and energy blasts away from the protected object. However, high mass and low velocity objects are unaffected. Internal fields increase the structural integrity of a material, causing it to survive attacks it otherwise couldn’t. Internal Fields are generally stronger than external fields, and protect from all attacks, but lack the regenerative properties of external fields, given that some damage is usually sustained by the protected material. I-fields are easier to generate with an Allomancer connected to the generating system, but the details of this are classified.

 

[king of nowhere]

just a question: the ship is called USS weathering. In real world, USS means united states ship. what does it have to do with scadrial?

[Heir of the Void]

just a question: the ship is called USS weathering. In real world, USS means united states ship. what does it have to do with scadrial?

It either stands for United Scadrial Ship or Union Star Ship. I haven't decided which sounds better. What do you think?

And what did you think of the story so far?

[Lightsworn Panda]

Really good story, Heir. You're one of the best fanfic writers I know.  I like the I-Field and other interesting ideas you came up with. The Cuirasseir reminds me of the Titans in Titanfall. 

 

“Looks like its you and me, girl.” He said, laying a hand on the machine’s lower leg armor. “Let’s go kick some chull.”

 

...

 

Chull. Hmm... Think of the implications of that statement. 

Edited October 15, 2014 by Lightsworn Panda

[Heir of the Void]

Really good story, Heir. You're one of the best fanfic writers I know.  I like the I-Field and other interesting ideas you came up with. The Cuirasseir reminds me of the Titans in Titanfall. 

 

 

...

 

Chull. Hmm... Think of the implications of that statement. 

 

Thanks. I'm really flattered. Like, seriously. I'm glad you like the stuff I came up with rather than recognizing it for a blatant attempt to cramp Cosmre principles into generic Sci-Fi tropes disliking them. As for the Cuirasseir and its relation to the Titanfall titans... I'm not going to say its a blanant rip-off, but its pretty much a rip off.

 

Basiclly, they look like a combination of an Ogre from Titanfall and a KG-6 Slepneir from Aldnoah.Zero.

 

The story behind this particular story goes something like this. I was playing Titanfall, disarming people in my Ogre, and generally being frustrated at my lack of Titan-mobility. Then I thought: You know, Heir, if your Titan was a Mistborn, the amount badass it would be would increase by at least a factor of sixteen. Then, I was browsing the internet, and remembered that Brandon planed a future Mistborn trilogy, with allomantic FTL.

 

And If you can make a Allomantic FTL drive, you can build an Allomantic Robot.

 

Then I decided to ruin Mistborn by turning it into a mecha anime or something.

 

I really am sorry.

 

Also, Chull is the fourm's replacement for a particular word that means donkey. The Mistborn people haven't discovered Roshar (yet)

Edited October 15, 2014 by Heir of the Void

[Lightsworn Panda]

No need to apologize, Heir. That was truly a brilliant idea to combine the two ideas together. It was a perfect blend.   Is there a part 2 coming? 

 

And finally, someone else who also plays Titanfall! 

[Heir of the Void]

No need to apologize, Heir. That was truly a brilliant idea to combine the two ideas together. It was a perfect blend. Is there a part 2 coming?

And finally, someone else who also plays Titanfall!

Thanks, I'm glad you like it. I'm glad you think the fusion went well, they don't always.

As for part II? Please. This isn't even all of chapter I. I juat wabted to post it here to see if the idea was stupid, which apparently it isn't.

As for the large plot, I have a vauge idea of the MistOpps squad chasing a case of leasuriumm around the frontier. That, or figuring out what the deal with these cults is...

I'm always glad to see someone who plays a game I like. Titanfall is awesome (smiley face)

[A Joe in the Bush]

How is this story not Popular yet?

 

Only question is, What happens if a Iron Ferring Stores weight while hooked up to a Cuirassier?

[Heir of the Void]

How is this story not Popular yet?

Only question is, What happens if a Iron Ferring Stores weight while hooked up to a Cuirassier?

I don't know. Maybe it's because there are enough people on this site who read fanfiction to give the upvotes needed for a popular tag?

As for ferrings storing weight while conneceted to a Cuirassier, I haven't fully ironed it out yet, but what I'm thinking is that the Cuirassier gets lighters, as does the pilot. He can then tap weight to make his machine heavier, but only using weight stored while in the Cuirassier. That covers Feruchmey for most metals, but I'm not sure how gold would work.

What do you think?

[king of nowhere]

It either stands for United Scadrial Ship or Union Star Ship. I haven't decided which sounds better. What do you think?

And what did you think of the story so far?

I really liked the feeling of the first quarter of it, but could not bring myself to read further. because i know that it is not the real mistborn. I know it's difficult to explain. I just... feel... wrong. reading it. Not because it's bad, as I said I was liking it. That kind of reaction is quite common in me and one of the reasons I never read fanfiction. in this case I was just curious enough to break the rule for a few minutes.

[Heir of the Void]

If I do Omakes for this story, which of these crossovers would you like to see?

1) Pacific Rim

 

2) Evangelion

 

3) Something else

 

Obviously, for the first two, I'd the Cuirassiers would be magically scaled up a bit. What do you think?

[Lightsworn Panda]

If I do Omakes for this story, which of these crossovers would you like to see?

1) Pacific Rim

 

2) Evangelion

 

3) Something else

 

Obviously, for the first two, I'd the Cuirassiers would be magically scaled up a bit. What do you think?

 

I dunno, both are good ideas... 

 

Personally, I'd chose Pacific Rim, since I haven't really watched Evangelion.

[Curious Anamaximder]

Pacific Rim!!!!!!!!!

[Bort]

There you go Void. I upvoted you, and you finally got that Popular rating

 

I think this could be quite good as a sort of Space Marine crossover. Scale the suits down slightly (since i got the impression they were pretty massive) into more power armour, then add allomancy, and some kind of deserted spaceship/planet-based complex that turns out to be infested with horrors. Lifeless perhaps?

[Heir of the Void]

There you go Void. I upvoted you, and you finally got that Popular rating

 

I think this could be quite good as a sort of Space Marine crossover. Scale the suits down slightly (since i got the impression they were pretty massive) into more power armour, then add allomancy, and some kind of deserted spaceship/planet-based complex that turns out to be infested with horrors. Lifeless perhaps?

 

Thanks! I'm glad someone reminded me this story existed I can get back to this without breaking my word or something.

Quick Question; which Space Marine are you refering too? Is it Warhammer 40,000 (awesome), or something related to Aliens (also awesome), or am I completly off base?

 

As for the suits, I mention that they are six yards tall, though it was pretty offhanded.

 

In 40k terms, a Cuirassier is about the size of Riptide Battlesuit.

 

 

The riptide is the small one on the bottom left.

 

I could make them more like Power Armor, though then I'd probably have to throw out this opening. I'm okay with that, however.

How big a power armor suit are we talking? Like, Iron Man or like a Centurian Warsuit (the second one from the left).

 

[Bort]

Somewhere in between the two - 40K style power armour, with an Aliens type atmosphere.

 

I'm glad you pointed out which one the Riptide was, otherwise I'd still be pretty clueless. I see you're working on the titan scale, from your writing, other posts, and your picture above.

 

I was thinking more along the size of a terminator, so, bottom middle for those that don't know 40K (the ones in the top picture are massively larger than those in the bottom picture). They are large enough that they would probably survive being dropped from orbit (That's how they do it in 40K) but still small enough that a single person's allomancy can support it.

 

Unless you've got some way of expanding allomancy to handle something so much bigger than a person (possible with your I-Fields I guess, if you are using the same technology to power your ships and FTL), I just think having something that big would be more likely to interfere with allomancy than use it.

 

That said, if you've got an idea, run with it. Don't let a little criticism stop you. It could even be that both our ideas exist in your Cosmere, both larger mechs and smaller powersuits. 

Edited May 13, 2015 by Bort

[Heir of the Void]

Somewhere in between the two - 40K style power armour, with an Aliens type atmosphere.

 

I'm glad you pointed out which one the Riptide was, otherwise I'd still be pretty clueless. I see you're working on the titan scale, from your writing, other posts, and your picture above.

 

I was thinking more along the size of a terminator, so, bottom middle for those that don't know 40K (the ones in the top picture are massively larger than those in the bottom picture). They are large enough that they would probably survive being dropped from orbit (That's how they do it in 40K) but still small enough that a single person's allomancy can support it.

 

Unless you've got some way of expanding allomancy to handle something so much bigger than a person (possible with your I-Fields I guess, if you are using the same technology to power your ships and FTL), I just think having something that big would be more likely to interfere with allomancy than use it.

 

That said, if you've got an idea, run with it. Don't let a little criticism stop you. It could even be that both our ideas exist in your Cosmere, both larger mechs and smaller powersuits. 

 

Okay, that makes sense.

The problem, of course, is that I had no idea where to go with this. Less than no idea; that's how I got distracted and wound up working on this (That story, Olympus Knights, is a Warhammer 40,000 crossover with Muv Luv, a cliche, over the top harem comedy LOLNOPE its a Grimdark Mecha War Story with something that resembles romance right up until every gets to traumatized for healthy interaction, though in either case, its awesome, but you don't need to know anything about Muv Luv to read it, just 40,000).

 

The idea of doing something like Aliens with Power Armor is an intresting idea. Its certinly a start, though I feel I would need to grow it into something bigger to do Mistborn justice. Plus, I'm crap at writing horror.

[The Honey Badger]

Man, That was awesome. That story was so good. If I could upvote twenty times I would. You seriously have a great idea, and the means to deliver it, wow. (Walks off dazed)

[Heir of the Void]

Man, That was awesome. That story was so good. If I could upvote twenty times I would. You seriously have a great idea, and the means to deliver it, wow. (Walks off dazed)

 

I am deeply, greatly, and enduringly flattered by your generous praise.

I think I'm going to continue this story with the mini-mechs (6 yrds) as the prime combat platform for MistOpps soliders, with smaller Powered Combat Suits for work in confined spaces (Boarding actions, large urban structures, the undergroubnd bunker complexes popular with every degenerate malcontent in human space and, obviously, creepy amalgamations of abandoned spacecraft) where something less than three times the height of a man is required.

 

The two big hangups I'm having are these:

One is a genre. I need to pick one. I'd be willing to try just about anything, except pure romance, because that seems like a waste of a cool Super Fighting Robot story. I could do straight pulp action, military stuff, political intrigue, whatever you guys think would be best.

 

The second one is a Massive Super Powerful Mavolent Force Of Doom. Like Ruin, or Shai'tan, or Odium, or Chaos. Something to provide a nice, big existential treat to a fairly stable hegomonic interstellar government in the absence of rival polities.

 

Any ideas?

[Bort]

I dunno Void. A full on romance with giant mechs could be just the thing. It would certainly be different.

[phattemer]

This was really good, are you planning to continue?

[Heir of the Void]

This was really good, are you planning to continue?

 

I WANT TO!

But the problem is I just can't think of a Plot. Ruin is dead, so there isn't really anyone who can provide a comprable threat, and with human space more or less united, there isn't really anyone with the resources for a conventional war.

I NEEDS IDEAS!

[A Joe in the Bush]

They encounter other Shardworlds.

 

Or a new shard moves in. Brandon has mentioned that there's a shard that's just traveling through Space.

 

Or a Hemalurgy Cult assassinates the current ruler and starts infiltrating the highest levels of government.

 

Or the main character finds information in the rebel base that shows the rebels are in the right, and the Military is in the wrong.

 

Or due to <Random Science> The star of the original world goes supernova and the original world is destroyed, leaving only the colonies.

 

Or the Rebels manage to shoot down the Ship, stranding the MistOpps on the ground without support.

[The Honey Badger]

Do the ye old, "Hydra" like group infiltrating MistOpps, and the team needs to defend the MistOpps head quarters or something' like that

[Heir of the Void]

Alright, so after some drunken brainstorming careful consideration, I have decided on a direction for Mechborn. There will be a new Shard showing up, and she is a complete jerk, and some lots of other stuff will be hapening.

 

For the new shard, The name/Intent will be either Degeneracy or Perversion (not in the BAKA HENTAI! sense, the much more archaic denotation). If anyone has a preference, post or shoot me a PM or whatever. As for its Granted Investature... I'm still working out the details, but I'm open to sugestions. But if you people though Hemalurgy was bad...

 

In other news, I've brought on Micheal Bay as a creative consulant!

 

TL;DR: Updates will be resuming soon. Bring your Purity Seals.