• 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.

IDS Yīnghuā - Log 2.0: "If you are far from the enemy..."

In VR, Reina whispers, transmitting her voice in a channel that only Hoshiko can hear, "I probably could neutralize the drug... problem is it wouldn't be inconspicuous, as I'd have to generate a serum and administer it... orally or through injection." Reina blushes, her cheeks getting a deeper blue hue, and she looks nervous. She coughs into her fist and pretends to sip her tea as she continues, "Regardless, I don't think Jun would appreciate it and it would look very strange if I just suddenly did something like that in front of our host."

In meat space, Reina gestures slightly, "If I may answer. Aren't Nodes places where magical energies converge and flow into our reality? They might roam from place to place, but tend to ebb and flow in return to specific areas and seasons. Basically, living places of raw magic." Reina lowers her head and looks shyly, "At least that's what I could gather from my research into the subject."
 
For a good, long moment, Hoshiko listened to Wen before looking back at Oumijia.

"You sure about him?" the tiger princess sarcastically asked the young goat horned man, jabbing a thumb at Wen for emphasis. She did appreciate the innocent naivety though. "You've been drinking too much of Mother-Empress's milk, Wen." Hoshiko enjoyed poking fun at the bull, but there were times that he made her worry. "She's smart enough not to sample her own supply. You're smart too, aren't you? It's not just those options you laid out. What's the worse case scenario when we start exploring space?" The princess hoped it'd get him to get his head out of his ass, but that was unlikely. He was a stubborn bull. Looking at Jun though, Hoshiko sighed. Even Jun was right about Wen in her drugged up, anime-tripping state. Catching Reina's eye, she nodded. "Do it."

"Please excuse my sister-in-law ahead of time," Hoshiko interrupted. "I think she's eaten too many of the 'deviled delights' today and needs to be sobered." The tiger princess settled down in the cushions. "But please continue." Hearing this, the Aos'Si looked rather concerned as she gave Jun the side-eye.

"Yes...well!" Lady Nimue tried to clear her throat. Nodding to Reina, she continued, "That is correct. Mana flows into the world through a Node, but in addition to that, we can enter it ourselves and quickly travel along the Celestial Tree's roots, exiting elsewhere," she informed them. It wasn't something entirely unfamiliar to them given their past experience. "The surrounding area will be addled by the sheer excess of Mana, though we are prepared for that. Rather..." Nimue's voice trailed off. "I'm a little surprised you are not more concerned about the political landscape as well."

"There's always a deadly decadent court filled with political intrigue somewhere," Hoshiko replied. As their massive steed continued to amble forth, the princess realized something else. They didn't feel the rocking motion of its gait, and the platform wasn't gyro-stabilized from the looks of it. Perhaps even more importantly, a forest began to loom off in the horizon as tiny specks circled high over its treetops.
 
When Lady Nimue's attention was back on Hoshiko, Reina gives a long, quiet sigh in both VR and meat space as she considers her options.

In VR, she claps her face on either side with both hands, seemingly coming to a decision and hyping herself up to go through with it. She gets up from the table and meanders to one side of Jun's avatar and places a hand on her shoulder. As Jun reacts to the sudden gesture, Reina slowly leans in close, invading Jun's personal space in an almost intimate manner. Something tickles Jun's ear as Reina says, "... Sorry Hun... Captain's orders."

In meat space, Jun suddenly gets wrapped around the waist and arms, her head held fast in a tight grip, "At least I can promise it won't hurt," Reina says from the opposite side she was in VR. She quickly bites into Jun's exposed neck, expertly making sure that it is as shallow possible as to be safe but still effective. She holds fast for a beat or two, withdraws, and licks the wound. The whole process being short, painless, and only leaving small marks on Jun's neck that would completely heal in a day or two. Very shortly she starts to feel the effects of the serum, a slight, pleasant warmth spreads through her body as her high lessens and her mind becomes quite clear and alert.

She unwraps Jun and backs away, bowing her head slightly looking sheepishly towards her, "I'm sorry Hun... Hoshiko wanted your head here, not in the 'Party'"

"If you want, I'll try to make it up to you when we get back on the ship," Reina says in VR, giving Jun a full prostrate bow on the cafe floor.

To Lady Nimue, Reina does a respectful bow, "I apologize for the break down in decorum. My captain told me to get our geologist focused since this is important to us and I wasn't sure if she'd refuse, so I took my chance. I can make certain chemicals and other substances in my body and produce them through my fangs. I simply gave her a serum to halt the 'deviled-delight' she had earlier... should be effective at least a couple hours incase she tries to sneak another one...," She looks up slightly to see the Aos'si's reaction.
 
"NOOOOOOOOooooooooo........."

Jun crumpled up into a ball in the virtuality and exploded.

after a few moments she'd return in her maid outfit with all the color drained away from her avatar.

"I had such a good buzz going too... Ugh, what all are we doing in meatspace that's so important anyways? Aren't they just talking about their weird elf stuff? friendship-in-a-popscicle was going to help when they start talking about their own drama."
 
"Stupid cow, if you try to stay sober for once, maybe you could actually learn something." Wen scolded, after which he focused on Hoshiko's words and contemplated, but not for long.

"I'm surprised you speak of the Mother Empress is such a way," Wen commented, "The Princesses are afforded certainly liberties, I suppose. We will have to agree to disagree. It is apparent the way of the Daqinren, in absence of other evidence, is supreme, thus other species and cultures would be making a mistake to not join our cause."

"However," He conceded, "There is much we have to learn about this "magic". If parlaying with the Aos Si is the only way to learn the underlying mechanics, then I will play along, until the Aos Si exhaust their usefulness. As for what lurks beyond the veil, well, we will deal with them the same way we dealt with the Combine: lay low, research, develop countermeasures, then terminate."
 
Oumijia shrugs in VR, "Well, I haven't known you all for that long personally. But I mean, don't the legends say something about the horned animals being the most harmonious?" Oumijia misquotes the story of the Chinese zodiac, conflating the bit about the goat being the most harmonious animal on the raft between the rooster and monkey for a characteristic of all horned animals.

In meat-space Oumijia simply took his position like a typical honor guard close enough to the guest and Hoshiko but not as an actual party to their conversation.
 
Just as Hoshiko had replied to the Aos'Si, Reina struck. The Daqinren could see Lady Nimue reacting quickly. First a twitch in the corner of an eye, a hand briefly tightening, all faster than any human could see. But just as quickly, the dark skinned woman calmly leaned back slightly, a hand gracefully raised to her mouth as she peered at the display with amorously narrowed eyes.

"I see, I see..." the chocolate and gold woman thoughtfully replied. Whether or not she guessed at what was happening in their virtuality or simply feigning so, the Daqinren's own antics within their virtuality were their main focus. It was perhaps only fitting, considering they thought so little of the Aos'Si.

"Duì niú dàn qín (對牛彈琴)," Hoshiko suddenly remarked with a frown of realization. Giving Wen a look of true pity, the princess patted her bodyguard on the shoulder and let the topic go. "Thank you very much Reina. I'll send you a little something for that later," Hoshiko remarked, turning her attention away from Wen "I hope you have more of those popsicles or something," the tiger-princess reminded Jun. "We might be on a road trip to Gondor or something, but it pays to know what we're dealing with ahead of time," she pointed out. Hoshiko couldn't help but give Oumijia a smirk though. "That's when the goat was working with the rooster and the monkey." Taking a sip from her kaiju latte, the smirk only grew. "Wait until you meet our rooster."

"Mayhaps you were correct that talk of our political landscape may wait," Lady Nimue's ears rose. They could all hear laughter in the wind. The Aos'Si guards drew the gazebo closed, rolls of solid wood unfurling until they had become protective walls, the small portholes keeping them dimly lit. With a clap, Lady Nimue wall-sized images of the outside were cast before them from their magics, letting them see. Having drawn much closer to the forest, the tiny specks circling above it had only grown larger and larger. Their chongwu scouts were vectored in. They locked on and acquired image feeds, but only before arcs of lightning brought them down. All the daqinren could see, but Hoshiko brought up a hologram of what they saw to the benefit of the Aos'Si. They were eyeless, avian creatures with broad, wide, grinning beaks that mockingly sneered back. As great wings flapped, a pair of clawed arms clutched onto golden lances.

"Battle stations everyone!"
 
"I've got plenty but if I have to go through this whole thing without something to deal with Wen-" Jun would pull out a bomb vest and blow herself up in the virtuality.


"The princesses should move away from the attackers while we deal with them." Xian stated flatly, already getting ready to run in the direction of the attacking creatures but waiting long enough to determine just how and where they were approaching from.
 
Wen stopped the back and forth in virtual reality immediately. Both his minds focused on the unraveling situation at hand. On a 3D map in the virtual reality, fuzzy dots appeared all around them, with arcs of fire going forward: potential firing solutions, shaky and constantly changing, due to the lack of information.

Meanwhile, in meatspace, for the first time in a while, Wen finally spoke up to the Aos Si. "What do you know of these attackers? What are their capabilities? What are your capabilities?"

Putting aside all prejudice, he disclosed, "Our armor can handle fast projectiles and melee blows of similarly massed humanoids. Our own bodies can take a lethal hit without immediately shutting down. Our weapons can attack any humanoid reliably out to fingernail-thickness."
 
In VR, Reina gets back to her chair and looks to Xian, "Thats all well and good, but the Lady's people just closed us in the gazebo. Not entirely sure running away works all that well with flying creatures... and did they just shoot lightning? Our poor chongwu..."

Worry creeps into her expression, but she composes herself with a little mirth, looking to Wen, "Well, it looks like you got a pep in your step. What did I tell you earlier?"

Back in meat space, Reina readies a small sidearm, moves closer to Lady Nimue protectively and bunches her coils, readying herself to move quickly should she need to.

"I'm not great at this sort of thing, so I'll defer to our experts in battle."
 
"Well, save those pops for the elves, we have a situation here!" Hoshiko hissed at Jun. The slur aside, the tiger princess was already up to something. "I know you two wanna do some body guarding - " she reminded Xian and Wen, " - but we don't know what these are, and it looks somewhat safe in here." Moving up to the cathode ray tube television in the virtuality, she pushed the buttons until the last good camera-frame of the attackers was on display. "Zoom...enhance!" Looking at the creatures in detail, Hoshiko frowned. Their feathered bodies seemed...wrong somehow. She brought out more CRT tvs and set them up too.

"They are unknown to us," Lady Nimue calmly began to reply to Wen, closing her eyes. "But of course, of course," she continued, unsurprised at his words. Hands clasped together, the wood panel behind them retracted like a roll-up door. On the Aos'Si displays, they could see the flying creatures pointing their lances together. "But, horned one," Nimue addressed Wen, "Are you cer - " In a flash of thunder, brilliant lightning bolts combined together into one before arcing down from the heavens! In a blink, the bolt zigged down at them, only to suddenly zag at the last moment into a nearby tree. Bursting into flames and splinters, their steed powered on as the remains pattered against their shelter. " - certain?" Nimue calmly finished asking the bull. "Our wards remain intact, but have been lessened."

"Something isn't right about these things," Hoshiko crossed her arms in meatspace. "Yeah, I'd say they just shot lightning," Hoshiko glanced at Reina. "I suddenly feel like a cat that wants to stay indoors during a thunderstorm now," she admitted with a sarcastic smirk. Despite the temptation to just shoot at the damned things, the princess seemed content to let others leap into action for once as she narrowed her eyes at the images of the creatures. Outside, the Aos'Si riders raised their spears into the air as the creatures kept their distance, circling like vultures leering at some lively prey. Bolts of energy and arcs of thunder leaped up, but these things managed to swiftly evade. At the same time, the Aos'Si on the deck of the howdah flung boxes of black steel bolts open. Loading them into their polybolos, tiny rubies embedded at the tail glinted in the sun before they were cranked out. Arcing up into the sky, the creatures dodged these too, only for the projectiles to erupt into small fireballs, their metal fragments thrown about.

"Doctor, there's something horribly wrong with these things," Hoshiko spoke aloud, her feline eyes resting on Reina. Gesturing at the Aos'Si display in meatspace, and the increasingly large pile of televisions in their virtuality, she pointed at the limbs of the creatures. "The bodies don't have any legs, and are very smooth and refined looking. But here, the arms, the hands..."

Golden lances in hand, pink nailbeds peeked out from under feathers as the creatures circled, bolts of lightning now leaping back and forward between the two bands.
 
From Hoshiko's observations, Reina takes a closer look at their attackers, "... They're like Chongwu," she whispers, both curious and horrified at the same time. "These creatures were crafted... no, shaped! I'd need to get a proper scan of them, but looking at them from the outside its like someone imitated our Chongwu!"

In VR, Reina almost presses her face against the monitors to see better. She flicks the screen and widens a portion around the hands.

"Elegant in a way, but shoddy on the finishing touches... its like someone tried to create them from observing rather than understanding... and it looks as if they might have used people as a base. Can't tell if its Human or Aos'si, but they seemed to have stopped when they got the function they wanted instead of finishing... Couldn't tell you how they did it though... doesn't look gene made, more like grafting and shaping flesh."

Reina looks a little queasy in meat space and in VR she looks away from the screens.

"Empress above! That is horrifying to think about... Can magic do this? Science could, but who would go out of their way to Frankenstein creatures like that?" Reina rambles, seemingly getting stuck in her thoughts despite the ongoing battle.
 
"Frankenstein creatures? Really, doctor? Do you think we are so different, with sculpting of the Chongwu? An artificial creature is an artificial creature. Our current glory is atop a mountain of atrocities." As if the surprises didn't stop coming from Wen, he offered a rare hint of self-criticism in virtual space as he attempted to formulate a battle plan.

He quickly analyzed the velocity of the Aos Si projectiles. Even the fastest energy bolts that reached light speed were ineffective. The fact of the matter was, the flying creatures had air superiority at the moment, and had more room to maneuver, see the attacks coming from below, and react more nimbly and flexibly than the current friendly forces. In this kind of situation, guided anti-air missiles and lasers were the answer, but they lacked that on the ground.

On the ground.

Wen checked his sensors and communication equipment. Everything was still working properly, showing their exact coordinates: latitude, longitude, and altitude. Perfect. He dialed a number in virtual reality.

"This is Captain Sun Wen, contacting Low Tiantang Orbital Defense Platform 302. This is an emergency. Imperial Royalty are currently attacked by alien aerial forces. Requesting kinetic support 2000 meters above my exact coordinates: airburst warhead, 1000 meter blast radius. I repeat..."

At the same time, he informed the Aos Si leader. "I have no idea how your magic works, but intensify your warding. I just called for bombardment from orb-- space, above, where we come from."
 
An agonizing few seconds passed before Wen received a response. Because the connection extended from surface to orbit, the individual who answered the call could not fully manifest in the surface group's VR space. Therefore, they only appeared as a floating symbol: an insignia which would be worn by the defense platform's commanding officer.

A calm, feminine voice emanated from the insignia, which floated next to Wen. "Captain Sun, this is Commander Aitana del Valle aboard ODP-302. An orbital strike has been prepared and is launching now, stand by. Please shield yourselves."

A moment later, the clouds above the strange creatures parted, as a high velocity projectile passed through them. They couldn't see the kinetic round from the surface, but it made its presence known when it detonated right on target. A flash and a fireball filled the air between the circling monsters, and the group aboard the howdah were subjected to a deafening roar and harsh winds when the shockwave reached them.

After a brief pause, del Valle spoke up again through the insignia, maintaining a pleasant tone. "Detonation confirmed, what is your status?"
 
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Hoshiko did not like what she was hearing from Reina.

"That means we're dealing with someone, or something, that's very capable," the tiger princess realized aloud. In their virtuality she turned a feline ear towards Wen for a moment as she tried to discern some weakness of the creatures. However, it was his call for orbital support that had her bolt upright in their cafe.

"We were spacefaring," Lady Nimue reminded Wen. Drawing forth and unfurling a smaller scroll, she tapped the four circles at the corners and closed her eyes again. With a chant, the polybolos fell silent as Hoshiko blinked once, twice, and wanted to rub her eyes. She and those that were in Viz Istennoje's chamber during that one incident swore they saw the smallest, dusty specks of crimson light at the edges of their vision. The massive testudine-like creature they were on ceased walking and drew into its shell as the howdah crew grabbed their spears and formed a phalanx around the gazebo the Daqin and Lady Nimue were in.

Something clicked into place.

"The cavalry! Disperse them!" Hoshiko yelled in a panic! Golden eyes wide with surprise, the dark skinned Aos'Si quickly touched the center circle of script and urgently chanted. A horn at the top of their gazebo sounded, and the cavalry around them ceased their fire and fled as quickly as their steeds could carry them. Hoshiko looked out the open back of the gazebo they were in. As the impact timer rapidly counted down in their heads, she watched as the Aos'Si riders turned and fled as swift as the wind on the backs of - "Wait, they're riding those unicorn-bug-things? I thought those were hostile?!" she blurted out loud.

"They don't like evil," Lady Nimue matter-of-factly remarked. "You see, thei - " Thunder blasted above them, instantly crashing around them as every square inch of soil was upturned by a hail of reentry heated metal. A storm of dust churned and billowed, but turned away as it all struck an invisible wall where the gazebo was open. Hoshiko quickly switched to infrared and hissed. "What does your gaze see?" Nimue asked.

"We're circled by fourteen heat signatures," Hoshiko replied. However the Daqinren could all see the same thing as a lead weight fell in her stomach. "And they're moving." Hearing this, the Aos'Si noblewoman touched the central constellation of script again. The horn called, and with a chant, the dust parted. They could all see the twitching, flak-riddled remains. White feathers splashed with red, the garbled mess of blood and guts suddenly stopped their writhing as the tatterd remains of their smiling heads all turned to look back. Like men pulling themselves out of mud, they all began rising at once, the great wings and sleek, plane-like bodies discarding as flesh shifted, moved and coaleced.

Like men clad in white featheres splattered red, their avian legs extricatd themselves out from the piles of ruined, useless flesh as they kept only the best, whole bits of meat for their bodies. Coming to stand, their bulbous, eyeless heads stayed locked towards the Daqin and their Aos'Si companions, their unnaturally wide beaks continued to smile. Silence reined, but soon, the sound of Calvary thundering back to meet them shatterd it as every other abomination about faced in unison and rushed to meet the riders.

"Zhōngxiào Valle, we are under attack," Hoshiko replied in their virtuality.

The remaining seven charged at their royal howdah.
 
"Don't we Frankenstein creatures?" Jun asked, still slightly slurring her words as the effects of the first set of drugs were counter acted by the second set of drugs. Currently it wasn't the flying creatures that were making her afraid: There were soldiery types here for that. What scared her is that the virtuality was showing 'There location' as the 'place where the orbital weapon was going to land.'

"Uh, yeah caprisun or whatever. Isn't that where WE are?"

--

Xian was quite happy to see this turn of events, and was already repositioning. Her targets were no longer airborne, and no longer far away. They seemed focused on attacking the Aoi Si, letting Xian slip away to the side and take a flanking position in the forest.

Her opponents were only willing to die slowly as parts were carved from them, but she suspected that death could come all at once.

She'd close to short range, and let the Aoi Si charge past her. She put her focus into aiming, her smart rifle putting rounds into the nearest target's face as a distraction followed by a smart-grenade being guided right into the center of its chest with the explosive delay set for a negative fraction of a second.


The plan this time: Airburst inside of the creature.

"Like Kongjian, we must render them to meat."
 
Now that they were grounded, Wen had more reliable targeting solutions, though their rifles are obviously inadequate for dealing with the threats at hand. Still, Wen devoted some of his spare mental bandwidth to fire his rifle at the alien avians. He stepped out of the safety of the gazebo, dropping down onto the ground, intending to draw attention away from the Princess, Jun, and Reina.

All the while, he was coordinating a proper response in virtual. "Regeneration seems to be a common feature amongst the magically inclined," He observed, "Our spies in the HFR also reported fauna with similarly powerful regenerative capabilities. Princess Hoshiko, I advise close range bombardment, incineration payload. Friendly Aos Si and Daqinren forces need to pull back, but we need someone to keep the hostiles pinned in position. I volunteer for that role. Xian, your assistance is not required, but welcome." Wen commented, while in meatspace, he marked the positions of the hostiles with his rifle as he fired at them.
 
Reina snaps out of it, her avatar in the VR space suddenly putting her hands on her 'hips,' turning to the group and sighing, "That's not what I mean. The processes by which we were altered and augmented and the creation of our Chongwu is refined! Virtually painless, with little waste in resources and, most importantly, with defined purpose. This is like if a butcher learned surgery by reading about it or seeing it a few times. Maybe they are a master of their craft and it looks fine on the outside, but it doesn't change the fact that what they are doing is a poor imitation!"

Reina puts her hand to her face, sitting back at the cafe table, "And no, I don't forget our origins, I'm a little offended that you would think that of me," giving an even look and gesturing at herself, flicking her tail for emphasis, "I'm probably the most altered one here. No, the reason why I said they were 'Frankensteined' was both because it looked like multiple beings were used in their creation and the small imperfections of the imitation. If my theory is correct, you know what that means?" She pauses and almost gets lost in thought again at the implications, but shakes her head and continues, "That multiple LIVE subjects were used to make one being!" She looks a little sick in the face again, "You know how torturous that would be? The madness? Even our science didn't go that far. We didn't have to to get what we wanted..."

-------

Seeing the creatures regenerate, Reina nods in understanding and agreement with Wen, "Unless my understanding of physics is flawed, its very clear that magic caused this."

In meat space, Reina looks to Lady Nimue, "Do you have a theory on what those things are after seeing that? Can magic combine beings and make them regenerate like that? From my understanding, that would take a lot of energy."
 
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