• Nobles of Null is a forum based roleplay site where sci-fi and magic collide. Here, Earth remains fractured and divided despite humanity reaching out to the stars. Worse still, the trans-human slaves of one major power have escaped, only to establish their own Empire, seething with resentment at abuses of the past. Even the discovery of aliens, though medieval in development, has failed to rally these squabbling children of Earth together with its far darker implications. Worse still, is the discovery of the impossible - magic. Practiced by the alien locals, nearly depleted and therefore rare, its reality warping abilities remains abstract and distant to the general populace. All the while, unseen in the darkness of space, forces from without threaten to press in. For those with eyes opened by insight, it is clear that an era is about to end, and that a new age will dawn.

Day in the Life: Assault on the Heavenly State

Koyama sucked at her teeth in a rather un-princess-like fashion as Hoshiko decided to dive headfirst into Wen's brainspace. While she methodically went about things. Strapping him down, arms and legs, cinched them tight, then another set of straps to be certain. Clipping her deck to a forearm, the princess dialed her ICE up to eleven. As she went about these things, her tail swished, flicked, twitched, still irritated.

"I could make him bark like a dog and sit on command if I had half a mind," she muttered, a growl rising in her throat. "Burn him out. Put him in a trauma loop until he starves or dehydrates." This was said with some relish. The thought had crossed her mind that he deserved only the finest of torturing.

"No idea if this numptie turdlet likes the porn we can spin up back home. Or if he has a history, to begin with." The tigress did however lift her forearm, the cyberdeck as Hoshiko called it had several options ready to deploy if whatever lurked in his gut-brain decided to get mouthy or violent.

But unlike her sister, instead of hooking herself directly to the downed bull via a cable, a little dispenser on the deck popped out a thin, almost translucent wafer crawling with vermillion lines pulsing along whatever circuitry was embedded within it.

It adhered to his chest, where the other brain would be located, and suppressed the urge to punch him in the balls before standing back.

Her deck bleeped, pinged, and lines of code flitted across its screen the connection forming between her, the deck, and the little wafer acting as a remote link. Muttering to herself, Koyama took the plunge with Hoshiko.
 
Jun quickly got her cable ready and held it on Wen's chest... it wasn't connected to anything but everyone else was getting connected. No way she was going to look like an amateur in front of the princesses. She would wait until both seemed like they were connected, her eyes looking over for a free port for her to connect to.

Once she found one, she'd move her hand over to it and finally get connected.
 
In meatspace, they all clustered around a single body, cold blood now circulating through its veins as the heart continued its endless labor from where it left off. In virtual space though, the bright and optimistic interior of the space opera medbay held a dour mood as they all loomed around the 'patient' laying on the autodoc.

"Geeze, you're making me feel like I gotta be the responsible one," Hoshiko griped at her sister. "Normally I'd be all worked up like you are, but since you're pissed, I'm like...can't be. Somehow." It put a damper on her feelings, and felt like someone had poured a bucket of cold water on her. Except, she didn't feel like getting angry over said bucket being poured on her. She couldn't put her finger on it, and that in and of itself bothered the princess. But it had to wait. "Alright, our own ICE is up and the ICE-picks are ready. I'm linking the bridge." At that, Hoshiko glanced to the nearby wall in their virtuality as seams began to appear, the panels sliding away and folding out of sight to reveal the way into Wen's ravaged mind.

"Not all of his ICE is in good shape, which is to be expected. But still..." Hoshiko's voice trailed off. Glancing at Koyama, she watched as their dedicated netrunner pierced layer after layer of reinforced anti-intrusion exe's. It took time, but as secure as a Daqinren's mind was, it wasn't impenetrable.
 
Daqinren virtual technology gave them a distinct, per capita advantage over humans, more than any other physical augmentation: the ability to work with two minds at once. However, making the mind, part of it, into a reproduceable, electronic form made the Daqinren also uniquely vulnerable. As such, they spent many resources building these great walls of "ICE" to protect their minds from foreign intrusion.

Wen's ICE wall was a crumbled mess, rubble taking up the space where there should've been solid barrier, allowing for relatively easy bypass after some poking and prodding. Beyond the wall was Wen's conscience, available for the world to see.

It was an apocalyptic disaster, as if two continents were violently thrust into each other. Scattered debris and landmass floated in the endless void. On one side, there was expansive, arid desert dotted with alien architecture, broken ruins and sand spilling into the void, like the contents of a broken hourglass. On the other side, was the Earthly, Mongolian steppes, green pastures and blue mountains in the distance, except that some of those mountains were crumbling away, and corpses of herd animals spun lifelessly in the empty space.

Far off to these mountains, a small cave entrance was visible, with light pouring out of it.

But then there was low rumble; something was alive in this mindscape. Hailing from the sands, a great, worm-like form emerged, armored with chitin, tumors growing and leaking from the cracks in between. Its mandibles clicked, as it flung itself into the void, blindly looking for something, someone.
 
-POP!-

Jun loaded in first, their avatar being a 2d artistic representation of their face that floated around in the 3d space.

Junface.png


She would take a look around the area and confirm she absolutely did not know what she was supposed to do here. She could confirm that geologically, there probably shouldn't be such an instant switch from the more durable plant-covered terrain of a steppe to a sandy desert. The abrupt change in soil conditions would be signaling something weird was going on under the surface if this was reality.

Wen was in here somewhere though.... Jun considered the need to be ready to deal with him.



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"Not in good shape is a severe understatement." Koyama's expression turned sour as she took this all in. The princess tipped her chin, "Fucked is more like it."

With a small gesture, she shared a sidelong glance with her sister. "It was falling apart, and what we're seeing is the wreck that is part of his mind." That glance stayed firmly in place even as uncertainty started to show.

"And frankly this part is a whole new experience." Openly admitting it didn't come easily. They didn't exactly teach deep diving into another Daqin's mind that had become some amalgamation of a hellscape.
 
Hoshiko stared at the chaotic landscape before her, feeling a mixture of concern and determination. She knew that this wasn't going to be a simple task, but she couldn't let her fear or uncertainty hold her back. Wen needed their help, and peasant-soldier or not, he was a citizen of the empire! Plus, they had come this far already. Turning to her sister and Jun, Hoshiko took a deep breath and straightened her posture.

"Alright, let's not waste any more time. We need to find Wen and figure out what's going on in here." Her voice was firm, but the trepidation was evident beneath the surface. As they ventured further into the shattered mindscape, Hoshiko couldn't help but feel an eerie sense of disorientation. The abrupt changes in the landscape and the monstrous creature lurking nearby were both unsettling and unnerving. However, she tried to keep her focus on the task at hand. Jun's observation about the odd geological changes and the cave entrance in the distance caught Hoshiko's attention. "We should check out that cave," she suggested, her gaze fixed on the light pouring out of it. "It might be our best chance to find Wen or some clues about what happened here." She couldn't shake the feeling that the worm-like creature was searching for them, and she knew that staying out in the open for too long could be dangerous. "Let's keep moving and stay on our guard. We don't know what else might be lurking in this place." With that, Hoshiko led the way towards the cave, her nerves on edge. Something was horribly, horribly wrong, and they needed to ge -

A giant worm, smaller than the one off in the distance, thrust its maw out of the cave and screeched, tendrils of mucus flying out at them from its toothy maw.
 
"Isn't THIS Wen?" Jun asked, firing her gun at the ground and letting the bullet embed itself in what Jun was pretty sure was Wen. Right? Just where were they if not inside of Wen already?

She was pretty sure she could have made a joke at Wen's expense there.

She was ALSO pretty sure that if she had just said nothing she wouldn't have given away just how little she knew about this whole process.
 
Koyama swept her gaze across the broken landscape again while on the move. "I don't have to tell you twice that some of the pastoral lands are part of the Wen we... well, thought we knew. The rest I'm still trying to fi-"

What came next was enough expletives to make even a human flush. Her arm came up, a small display latched to her forearm as the worm thing screeched at them from the cave's entrance.
 
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"I think it's technically part of Wen? Sort of like if we hosted a VR lobby ourselves," Hoshiko pointed out, more concerned with the giant worm that was screeching at them. VR was usually their safe haven, and even then, the most they usually had to worry about was malicious code and insults. Shrinking back a bit from the grossness of the thing, she took a step back, "Yeah, I thought the same about the pastoral stuff, but I guess Wen's got worms? I'm not sure if this is just part of his VUI or if we should worr - " Lunging forward, the worm snapped at Hoshiko. Leaping back, its powerful mandibles crunched down on the tigress's leg.

"GYAAAAAAAHHH! WHAT THE FUCK?!" she screamed in meatspace, falling over and rolling on her back as she desperately clutched her leg.

"KILLITKILLITKILLIT!!!!" Hoshiko screamed in VR, the creature shaking her around like a doggie treat.
 
PEW PEW PEW PEW PEW PEW PEW PEW PEW PEW PEW PEW THUNK

Jun unloaded her virtual pistol as the worm hoping that would work, and once it ran out of ammo she threw the pistol at it and summoned another loaded one.

PEW PEW PEW PEW PEW PEW PEW PEW PEW PEW PEW PEW THUNK

"Isn't there software you run for this?" Jun asked while she was shooting, figuring some 'actual software' would be more effective than her toy VR-chat gun.

PEW PEW PEW PEW PEW PEW PEW PEW PEW PEW PEW PEW THUNK

Not that being entirely ineffective would stop her from using the gun anyways.
 
The worm was reminiscent of a large creature native to Wu Zetian, called the Desert Empress. They were documented to be unusually large for something that resembled annelids back on Earth, and equipped with chitin for protection. Most notably, they were filter feeders, content on slowly moving through the sands for decades, if not centuries, on end, nourishing themselves via what little organic matter and water the soil beneath the sands had to offer. They were slow and gentle.

This worm shaking around Hoshiko into submission was anything but that, mutated, tumors seeping out between its segments, and baring mangled, carnivorous teeth. It threw her into the air, intending on biting down on her abdomen, before it was sprayed by a hail of bullets coming from Jun's direction. It recoiled, sending the Tiger-form pummeling onto the ground, instead lunging at Jun to bite down at her instead.
 
Jun had to act FAST

Or at least she thought she had to act fast. She didn't really know what would happen if the thing caught her? Regardless she instinctually tried to start running away from the thing... of course that required legs so while she was running her higher poly body model was loaded in, starting with some blocky shapes, then a more higher resolution wireframe, then her body would T-pose before snapping into a run animation.

She also summoned the next weapon in Hoshiko's Wold War 1 file and ended up with some kind of rifle attached to the end of a parascope?

THUNK

She threw it at the worm and continued running towards Koyama, "SHE'S DEAD LEAVE HER!"
 
Koyama had been busy running through the various programs. Files, daemons, virii, all of the WMDs one could bring to bear in the virtual space. Or instead what she'd brought with her. The deck that was attached to her arm in meatspace manifested as a vambrace in this place—no need to push virtual keys when you simply had to point and shoot payloads of digital destruction.

As Jun went for the archaic option, Hoshiko's sister opted for the more futuristic.

"Down!" Koyama yelled, what looked like a rocket streaking from the vambrace not wanting it to hit Jun by mistake. Its warhead a miniaturized tandem rocket. Crack the armor, the secondary charge going off inside. A program acted as that secondary charge and its intended purpose was to kill the cancer worm. Consume it from within akin to a fast-acting flesh-eating viral weapon no doubt some Humans would gleefully use against her kind against the meat sacks that were the Daqin physical form.
 
"AAAAH!!!!" Hoshiko screamed in meatspace, uncharacteristically rolling about on the medbay floor, clutching her leg.

"AAAAH!!!!" Hoshiko screamed in the virtuality, flailing through the air as the monster tossed her up for a finishing crunch. Bullets whizzed through the air as Jun let loose with whatevert she could get her hands on, thick, green goop spurting out of its thick trunk as she fired. The creature screeched in pain as the tiger princess pancaked on the floor, putrid blood splattering out onto her and the ground as the worm was riddled with bullets. But the worm didn't stop. Turning its attention to Jun, bullet fell out of its wounds as it healed, a screech of bloodthirsty defiance before it lunged after the fleeing cow. Bashing the thrown contraption aside, it leaped, only for the wrist-rocket to fly straight down its maw! A burst of goopy blood and gore splattered over them as it was blasted in half, the two sections writhing as the decompiler.exe ran, eaten disintegrating into grey ash in the wind. But with all said and done, Hoshiko lay still on the ground, eyes wide and emotionless.

"What the fuck is this!?" she yelled in meatspace. 'AFK' from their virtuality, she detached the seal for her leg and pulled the boot off. A crimson bite mark could be seen across her light, delicate skin, and Hoshiko could only stare in wide eyed horror.
 
As the cancerous worm disintegrated in front of the three Daqinren, a path further into the cave laid open. The walls were a mix of sandstone and cold, mountainous rock, an unholy amalgamation of two separate biomes. Further in, Chinese could be heard.

"You have my body... you have my knowledge and experience... what else do you want from me?" A weak, garbled tone asked.

"Well your damn friends shot this body of yours, and I can't understand all this alien information simultaneously, so speak, invader, what do I do?" An angry, similarly garbled tone answered.

"Bold of you to assume that they're my friends. That soldier-wannabe princess literally killed me. How a dead Aos Si managed to take over my body, I do not know."
 
Jun opened her mouth to shout to Wen... then realized she probably shouldn't do that. It was probably better to be sneaky right?

She would look over at Koyama for confirmation, pointing to the cave opening and then covering her lips with one finger to....

Oh right, this was digital. She could just send a direct message. Jun quickly created a group chat with Hoshiko, Koyama, and herself named 'Polar Expedition Six'

"Sounds like we have an invasion of the body snatchers situation right? Do you have something that can can make sure Wen isn't a The Thing?"
 
Koyama's free hand, the real one drummed her fingers on her thigh as her avatar came within listening distance. "I did say they don't exactly teach this sort of thing in training right?" muttered over Jun's chat while staring a moment at the bull's corpse. "One voice claiming to be Aos Si and the other... sounds like Wen." her real body then moved toward Hoshiko to help inspect the wound.

"Apparently he thinks a 'soldier wannabe princess' killed him." quoting who she felt was Wen. It sounded near enough at least.
 
"Wannabe princess!?" Hoshiko grumbled over their private channel. Her previously floating, t-posing likeness springing to life as she tried to regain some, but not all of her composure or dignity. "I'm in line for the throne! He should know that!" she indignantly added, an angry stare shot off into the darkness
komm46a5.png

Meanwhile in meatspace, Koyama could see that her sister's flesh had turned crimson red where she was bitten. It clearly didn't penetrate, but the polyarmor plates of her suit were crushed with enough force that the young dragon princess was sure Hoshiko wouldn't be able to easily walk. At least for a while."Cāo nǐ mā," the princess grumbled in anger at Wen. "I'm having trouble moving my foot and toes," she looked at Koyama. They both knew what it meant, and what needed to be done.

"So if getting bit hurt me this much, you guys think shooting mister pointy ears further down in that cave will kill Wen's body?" she asked in their virtuality. "Not that it's a concern." Shockingly enough, the calf of her armor was appeared slightly crushed, a sharp chunk of insectoid chitin stuck to the exterior as she limped. "I can't get my avatar to stop limping or reset the mobility options back to normal," Hoshiko added with concern. "Floating and flying is out the window too."
 
Koyama's physical and virtual forms went about different tasks. Her meatbag body tending to Hoshiko, she began playing what she was hearing in Jun's chat, and the version of herself listening at the cave was readying itself for combat.

"And you have every brother and sister above me to get through to sit the throne." came her actual voice. "The Aos'Si knows what Wen knows." cool hands turned Hoshiko's leg this way and that. "But it isn't exactly accustomed to... being us I guess." the urge to smack the bite mark on Hoshiko was palpable. Purely for science's sake. Maybe later.

"You may need to run diagnostics on your suit's software integrity and look for anything out of place. However small even a hiccup or glitch. The devil is in the details as some stupid human once said. Isolate your core if needed."

She frowned in meatspace pausing a moment at her work, "Since you're older," her free hand came up in a placating gesture at just calling Hoshiko old, "You may know more, but, Aos'Si, can their dead do anything..." waving her hand at the crushed plating. "I can throw down with the elf in virtual space. But Wen's pretty much shot to shit, sis. So my turning what's left of his head into a PvP warzone may or may not end well."

"Best case scenario, the body lives, fifty-fifty on Wen's persona surviving at the moment. But Pointy is pretty much torturing the bull right now. So we need to act."
 
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