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Through the Living Heir

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  1. Through the Living Heir
    Rebus sighed. “I did offer anesthetic.” Meanwhile, the contraption absorbed some of the energy, glowing as it converted the Narration into Chaos and began to react it with the Order. The machine that had extracted her core turned off, the actual procedure finished. “Good - you can recover your core now.” I have a guess as to who this could be. Rebus moved some snow to create a location for their fire, and began setting up his sticks. The leather was grayish, almost blue - it had been made from the skin of a Sky Beast - and was worn mainly around the settings of the gemstones, though there was of course wear where the fingers would bend. The large gems were placed just below the finger tips, off the center of the palm, and on the wrist, with smaller ones between them. They were set with some sort of glue into depressions in the leather, and seemed to have been cut in such a way that they fit together if the wearer made a fist. The leather gloves ended at around the wrist, but had two tassels on either side, as though it was meant to be tied to sleeves. The other pair of gloves went to nearly the elbow, and the palms looked like they were almost woven from the crystals. They also varied in how much they stretched depending upon where Xanther pulled from, and - though it wasn’t obvious from visual inspection - could acquire fashionable ruffles, hide the crystal inside the weave, or both, if given the relevant cues. Rebus smiled. “I can do that, actually. My thoughts on whether he could be resurrected focused mainly on him being exactly as he was at the end - that is easier, and more authentic. He won’t be perfect, though. Memory alteration is hard, and personality alteration is typically even harder.” Rebus stood up, and gathered a ball of Narration in front of him. It drifted away, then began to expand into human shape, turning into Bat in a flash of multicolored light. “Dad? Rebus? Where am I?” the fake Bat asked. “What I believe was an early version of you killed a Machination strike team - the leader may share some things in common with you, though I doubt it will work.” Maybe if he follows Rebus’s advice at least a little that can be his reward. Rebus nodded. “I shall do that. Feel free to reach out to me if you have requests.” I thought it was Tam but it seems like it isn’t. Rebus can take what he asked without giving you your reward for if you break a deal with him, you forfeit any other magical contracts you might have, and you maybe get cursed. The same happens to him, though, if you get him to break a contract or actually lie.
  2. Through the Living Heir
    Rebus smiled, and sent thoughts to the man. Good choice - few people are willing to modify themselves, but the benefit is great. You’ll feel the ability to control utility fog; nanomachines in the air around me - and now you - that lock together and move around while remaining nearly invisible. Rebus gestured to lack of coat and intermittent shivering. “I am very well aware. Could you find tinder - I have some kindling and larger sticks over that way?” Rebus smiled, revealing two pairs of gloves. The first were a strange leather, and had palms studded with crystals the color of the sky, while the second were a much smoother material and shimmered the same sky-blue on the palms. “These are from an old story idea my Author has been considering rewriting - the first pair are authentic to the worldbuilding, while the second pair I made with the crystals from the story.” Rebus sighed. “Sadly, I did cause his death. Part of me wants to bring him back, but Tam disappeared, and Bat was torturing someone with magic and had attempted to kill me - he’d somehow manifested powers, so I think he even could. I understand if you don’t want to continue working for me, but I don’t feel I could have done anything else.” “I do, but considering that you’ve been slapped at least twice and kicked in the groin, I have a feeling that this one might not be good for your health. Also, I believe an early version of you killed her.” That’d be fun. I kinda want to have a vampire or spider-person or siren or something accept his offer and then try to kill him - though he might consider that a success. Rebus’s promises are genuine (and actually magic - he can’t break them), but he usually has people agree to them without knowing the consequences - should someone outwit him somehow he would continue to keep the promise. I shall assume this is to Rebus. “I will be incorporating planets into my empire - unless they are sufficiently unique, this entails converting them into nanomachines which can then form any structure desired, and molecularly assemble nearly any item.” Rebus constructed an apple with his utility fog, tossing it to Taeidin. “Those benefits shall be afforded to many of my citizens, including - potentially - you.” Rebus nodded, and waved a hand, directing a machine to rise from the floor and activate. Fael felt a painful tugging sensation, and her core was pulled from her body. It hovered within the machine, and Rebus placed the wire contraption over it. “Good - let off a pulse of raw Narration, please, so we can check if this works.” Wait a minute… Rebus teleported a spaceship the size of a small moon above the planet a few pages back - though I can understand how it got lost.
  3. Through the Living Heir
    Basically, some words seemed to appear in the air asking him how he wanted to use Rebus’s network going forwards. He can use verbal or typed commands, more exotic methods, or even do what Rebus does and control the network mentally (though this requires letting nanomachines into your brain). Similarly, he can continue reading and hearing inputs through projection to his eyes and nanomachine bone conduction speakers (which seem to be in the real world, but are pretty much unnoticed by everyone but the person using them), have a physical screen or hologram display, get information projected directly into his brain, or something weirder. Asharak was given a lot of raw data about planets and their independence status, conversion status (whatever that meant), population, traffic data, and raw materials, as well as Rebus’s current teleportation network. He also had a search engine, it seemed, and options to control a bunch of nanomachines and their functions.
  4. Through the Living Heir
    I’ll take one, though I was satisfied with my random red dwarf.
  5. Through the Living Heir
    Rebus held up a contraption of silvery wire. “This stabilizes the second core, but in order for the Chaotic Order core to function it needs input of Chaotic Light from your actual core. And Nullite - though that gets converted quickly enough there should be no side effects, and can be stored as time-frozen Order.”
  6. Through the Living Heir
    That’d be good, actually - I think that is what I shall do. For the time being, I suppose I’ll take my red dwarf.
  7. Through the Living Heir
    Yeah - Virtuosity in the case, and Odium and Ruin from pure Intent, are more likely to destroy things, but Whimsy and Invention seem likely to break everything by accident. Google says you’d get a big explosion (the debris of which could end up clumping into planets) and a slightly bigger star - which is probably still a red dwarf. So yeah, I’m going to need a lot more stars if I want to make anything significant from scratch. Maybe I can get something from the nebula…
  8. Through the Living Heir
    Do you really want to give Invention, whose “what does this button do?” attitude is exceeded only by Whimsy’s, access to a black hole? Hmm. I guess I can take a red dwarf for the time being - good luck finding a new way to pick these. Hmm, I wonder if I can stellar engine a couple red dwarf stars into each other for a better star…
  9. Through the Living Heir
    My intent was that Layke had selected this star before ascending, having seen it in the night sky of Yolen. But I suppose you had no way to know that, since I only implied it in my post. I just learned about hypergiants, though I assume I don’t get one.
  10. Through the Living Heir
    I was thinking a selection bias towards actually visible distant stars would mean something more luminous - a giant is far more visible than a dwarf, and also more interesting for my ideas.
  11. Through the Living Heir
    Yup - that’s how Rebus killed Atrediesthe first time; healing from being stabbed in the chest until Atredies gave up. As for Cursed Treasure, I shall wait for your plan. Rebus struck it against the rock, throwing off sparks. In real life, that only worked with high-carbon steel, but plot convenience was a powerful force (and anyway, sure one of those keys would be the right kind of metal). “Now we just need to start a small fire - any particular reason you want to burn this tree?” Rebau nodded. “Understood - ideas are one of the best currencies. Allow me to think…” “I’m not sure he’s never coming back - there are a lot of strange things to be found in the world, some of which could very well bring back the dead - but he is certainly gone.” Rebus made a remorseful face, which was actually rather genuine. “He seemed drunk with power at the end - not himself. He attacked me, magically tortured my closest friend, then turned himself into a cloud of disintegrating fireflies when I attempted to immobilize him - seemingly out of spite. I myself might be able to bring him back, but he seems to have become something comparable to a Narrator of the worst kind.” And all that Rebus had said was true, though it was certainly not a very accurate representation of events. “And you are entitled to that opinion, though I continue to endorse my proposal.” I kinda want to play someone who is having none of his nonsense. As I said earlier, I should really have more female characters, and this seems a good opportunity for a new character who won’t immediately fizzle out.
  12. Through the Living Heir
    Layke went really really far away - he wants nothing to do with the only other significantly unpredictable things in the universe. That would be funny, actually. I may or may not spin it until it turns into a magnetar and then throw it at you.
  13. Through the Living Heir
    I cough back, being already sick. “Are we supposed to be sacrificing people?”
  14. Through the Living Heir
    Could I get a star system? I don’t especially care what it looks like (in fact, the weirder it is the better), though it would have to be a fairly bright star to be visible with the naked eye from so far away.
  15. Through the Living Heir
    I found a sci-fi worldbuilding blog one time with some habitable tidal locking configurations - though none were binary. I can look for it again. *reads spoiler* …if it’s needed.
  16. Through the Living Heir
  17. Through the Living Heir
    Layke ascended to Invention and was glad to find that at least some of it was familiar. The world looked the way it did when he used Microkinesis, but far more detailed. Odd, that becoming a god could feel some familiar. And the foresight he had! Layke had always worried about the future, wanted to prepare for every possibility, and now he could! He looked at his fellow Shards and felt sick to his nonexistent stomach. He was wrong - that made him feel even worse, that his third thought with supposed omniscience could be so wrong. They were incomprehensibly shifting messes of possibilities, far too many of them catastrophic. And so, as his first real act as a god, Layke fled. He passed all the worlds he had discussed with the others, and went to a star he had seen in the sky, had chosen specifically because it was uninteresting and presumably distant. He didn’t know anything about it, but that was acceptable - for it would be far, far away from these other Shards and the daunting potential they had.
  18. Through the Living Heir
    Xanthar beat up Cricket and Rose at the top of the page, but I see your point. Sadly, combat is generally won by whichever Author is more stubborn - only occasionally does other things apply. Cursed Treasure’s priorities were in that order as well, though it didn’t tell Lezterp that. Meanwhile, Rebus was getting ready to deal with Rebel. This was perhaps significant.
  19. Through the Living Heir
    Note: Xanther might be an actual Author Avatar. So yeah… Understood - I will follow your directions. “It is a pleasure doing business with you, Asharak.” Rebus said, smiling. Asharak’s newfound position gave him limited authority over Rebus’s nanomachines. Consequently, a number of them lit up in front of his eye, forming a heads-up display that asked for further interface decisions.
  20. Through the Living Heir
    “Alright… this will require physical manipulation of your core, either inside or outside your body.” “Someone to run the public transportation network, with general efficiency and good public image - though of course you don’t need to actually live up to it - and a cut of the more eclectic payments going to me.” “That, I can try,” Rebus said, somehow making a small white rock appear in his hand. It was quartz, and he’d found it on the ground a few minutes earlier, slight-of-handing it to add unnecessary flair. “If you have something metal - or I suppose I could try the hinges of my glasses - this will spark.” Rebus nodded thoughtfully. “Gloves representative of me, or of you? For the former, I have some consideration to do - lasers and lightning do not provide the elegance I believe you desire.” Rebus took mental notes, realizing once again what a genius this man was. “You have done incredibly well, Mr. Whitlock. I’m glad to have had you in my employ. But that isn’t the whole reason I came to visit you - I’m still not entirely sure how I should tell you this, but Bat is dead.” “It is,” Rebus said, “but if you pick the right person and the right hobby, you’ll enjoy it and actually succeed.” “I assume literal corners as well, but you are right.” “Exactly? Answering that question would never end. But generally, Fate used a favor I owed him to have me read his book - specifically the messed up page you have.” Traps, mostly. There’s not a ton you could do to avoid hurting yourself, though you can restructure the maze.
  21. Through the Living Heir
    Rebus smiled, having pulled the same sort of trade before. Actually, he’d been running a teleportation network when he’d done it - great minds thought alike, he supposed. “I have plenty of things of that sort, though few were originally mine.” Rebus used his nanomachines to check Bacon’s pockets and hat, though he had already seen the Lost Page before. Yup. If he’s declared himself emperor, something big has happened. “Total loyalty is not my goal at the moment. I can end disease, hunger, and scarcity, and that gains far more loyalty than any threat. Except the threat of bringing it back, of course.” Rebus grinned at the Author (assuming it was the Author, that is - Heir was pretty sure the Scribe was italicized). “I’ve succeeded.” “Would you desire expanding your business? I have antiteleportation fields, which would grant you a near-monopoly.” Rebus’s hearing was technologically enhanced, and even if it wasn’t he could read the posts. Rebus led her through the portal, the lab reconfiguring as he walked. “Now, would you rather be conscious or sedated for this?” “That is quite understandable - the number of things I myself am doing is large.” Rebus, though he had thought exaggerating the infighting would be enough to succeed, decided further measures would be necessary. The tide all over the planet changed as a massive geodesic dome of nanomachines appeared in the sky, glowing with purple lines. Rebus had arrived. “Actually, if I had a lab I could make it. I’m a metaphysicist, among other things.” “I do thank you for your help - other than that final plotline with Bacon, I believe we have interacted with them all.” And man is it giving me a lot of notifications. Rebus smiled back at him, following the man and taking not of what had been done. “I do, but you won’t succeed in what you’re trying to do by simply demanding someone court you. I would find someone with a common interest, spend a little time together doing that, and then ask.” “It is one of my goals, yes, but asking for tribute without knowing what tribute is needed is a good way to end up in a metaphorical corner.”
  22. Through the Living Heir
    Rebus raised his eyebrow higher and teleported one of the Ceps into a magnetar, which results in instantaneous failure of chemistry for several simultaneous reasons. “I do like your business sense, though I need no help in this case - what manner of pay do you desire?” Alright, I’m going to sleep.
  23. Through the Living Heir
    Why not, I’ll try this. It may not all work, though - some of these things are speculation. Build 1: Alright, this is a fairly ridiculous strategy. To start, using my prep time (with bendalloy, I may not even need it, in which case I shall buy a Larkin, fifth Heightening, the second Elsecaller Ideal, and only 20 points of random stuff), I open a Perpendicularity and Soulcast an immense quantity of various metals. I can now use bendalloy and duralumin Allomancy, and nicrosil Feruchemy to speed up time to a ridiculous extent. To avoid running out of air, I can compound bendalloy to power Aetherbinding, giving me more matter to soulcast. If Aetherbinding Investiture can be used to power other things, all the better. Anyway, with Compounding, Soulcasting, Perpendicularities, and Aetherbinding, I have a closed loop that acquires Investiture with no physical resources expended (other than from the spiritual realm, which won’t run out any time soon). Even Stormlight capacity can be increased (even without nicrosil speculation), as Sleepless can breed their hoardlings - which hold stormlight, since I am Radiant. Once I consider myself ready, I can drop the time bubble and wreak havoc suitable for an Aetherbound Radiant Fullborn Sleepless; individual hoardlings Steelrunning around Soulcasting people into air. If I somehow have problems, I can return to my supercharged time bubble or - should I have lost all my reserves and lack the time to soulcast more into my stomach - flee to the Cognitive Realm. There are of course more shenanigans I could use - cadmium Feruchemy to avoid the consequences of soulcasting the air to poisonous gasses, Connection manipulation as a Bondsmith and supercharged emotional Allomancy (potentially talking people into giving me Breath), any combat tactic that could be used by a component skillset, stealing someone’s Larkin (by feeding it Perpendicularity Stormlight until it cannot eat any more) and crossbreeding it with my hoardlings in a supercharged time bubble (this sounds like it would take a very long time, and it would, but supercharged time bubbles are very very sped up), stealing someone’s Atium for future sight, Steelpushing myself into the stratosphere, soulcasting a hot air balloon to stay in the stratosphere (or somewhere else in the air, but stratosphere is fun to say), supercharging cadmium so everyone else ages to death, stealing allomantic grenades to trap people in cadmium time bubbles I then pour acid into, making antimatter if I’m allowed to know what that is (and I only need one hoardling to do it, so every bug you encounter may be able to nuke you while most of me stays safe and far away), producing so many vines and Soulcasted other stuff the planet collapses into a star, doing a lot of thinking in a time bubble to I can reach Shardplate (electrum compounding may help, actually), healing from anything in three different ways (gold, Stormlight, and hoardling repopulation), and probably even more things I haven’t thought of. Anyway, that was a really long list - let’s see if someone thinks their build can beat mine (I have read them, but I think I’d win - even if @CoderDrag0n8’s aluminum shenanigans work, there is a WoB somewhere that says a spiked hoardling separates from the hive mind, and everyone else seems to be counterable, or even replicable by my build). I may make something even worse later (or perhaps something a bit more balanced).
  24. Through the Living Heir
    It’s alright, though I’d like his reaction. Rebus raised an eyebrow. “I would say the same to you, though perhaps in different words. You are outclassed.” Rebus knew the value of a smile to disconcert others - evidently this man knew what he was doing. Or was simply weirdly happy about going into battle.
  25. Through the Living Heir
    Rebus was talking to that person, not Cep. “What do you expect to be able to do, Cep?” Rebus grinned, and his crown grew darker still.
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