☀️ Arselia and Akonia

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When Amamius in the Moon Park attributed to my virtue the fact that I am not satisfied with little, he was quite mistaken—in this one thing specifically. The truth is that I love being satisfied with little and pride myself on this ability, but I also completely lack the ability to stop—and that is clearly my sin. Every time I succeed at something, I think, "Well, what if I do it like this too, will it work?" Having achieved that, I think, "Hmm, the path to this is also open before me, let me try?", and I try. What my past self would have considered absolutely incredible now became merely a question of the number of steps climbed, and with each time I feared more and more that I would lose my humanity, fearing that on the path to fulfilling my great desires and small whims, I would cease entirely to perceive the world around me as something real, and instead consider it a dream in which one could simply cast aside all morale instantaneously and see what happens. Even more terrible is that I truly seriously consider the unreality of everything happening: it was much easier to believe in the magical distortions of the Dark Lands that block the sun, sucking out life and everything bright, than in such dizzying success on many fronts. And if one delves into the structure of the universe and encounters paradoxes such as wave-particle... Faith diminishes even further. It feels as though anything can be embodied into reality if you can imagine it.



In the old world, I had not seen dreams for many years, and always prided myself on the deep sleep of a warrior who knew how to spend every one of her few minutes of rest usefully. In the new one—despite the fact that I still work myself to exhaustion, nocturnal visions have returned to me. Not a single one of them concerns my life on Anuzish, never... Usually, I see Ertenia. The Darwening estate and my parents, and that door. My father and mother sometimes accuse me of being responsible for their deaths.



In other dreams—I am forging in Master Romsan's smithy, and I hear someone climbing the hill. It seems to me that it is that giant spider from the coliseum, but the master tells me that the Red Fury has come to kill us, and then I truly notice the body of an arachne on the spider—my own body. In the third type of dreams, my Dark Land companions, the Hero of the Source, and everyone else scream at me because I killed them. The most terrible part is that this last one is indeed not a complete lie, but the first two cases are also beginning to raise questions for me. What if I forgot something important about my past? Such a suggestion may seem absurd; I was only a child, but if my memory is in order, then what was I doing from the time of my release from captivity until my arrival in Covellia? I remember very little of that period, which I explained to myself as trauma... Perhaps it was so, but at what exact moment did this gap begin, and what exactly did I forget?

Finally, sometimes I see a completely different world, one I know I have never been to. And yet, I wake up with an awareness of many details about it that barely echo my current experience; I can name enemies from there whom I supposedly defeated, items I created there, artifacts I found... I remember the name of my horse from there. I remember the feeling of a coming cataclysm that only I can prevent—and in the end, I do prevent it, but at the cost of destroying an entire continent. Interesting... Do I have such a rich imagination, or is it actually untrue that my soul has lived through only two lives?

On a rational level, of course, this is all empty; I'm simply living too well, for I am a person of ruins and only among ruins does my spirit work at its maximum, while Anuzish is too prosperous. But still... I wish I could talk to someone; perhaps there are other wonders in the universe. Alas, Stalia is silent, Suzerain is gone, and we are unlikely to meet poor lonely Miss Cosmos again for technical reasons. I know only one thing: no matter what I do, and however hard I try to become a heroine—it is not enough. I do not want to stop or even take pauses; I want to see where my efforts lead if I am truly worthy of changing the world. Something else will happen, for where everything is good and prosperous, what purpose is there for my soul?

***

November 22



The degree to which Amamius trusted his fiancée was certainly enviable. Indeed, what normal person would decide to calmly wait while a crowd of priests in the square tie him to a stake and, standing nearby with torches in hand, force him to renounce and turn into a scryme? But that did not happen; the rishistu and the alien were very lucky that Empress Naria had already returned life to Evgeny Kripov, and they themselves returned from Elysia just in time for hour X. Thus, the issue was resolved as Erephir wanted, as officially as possible, but even more successfully than she had hoped: Amamius was not forced to convert, nor were anathemas or other restrictions imposed, but he was simply given a reprieve. Of course, the patriarch knew of the plans of Akonia's second incarnation to close Anuzish, so it is not surprising that he considered a soft decision acceptable, just as Naria was quite disposed to allow diplomacy on this matter.



^ From the wedding

The story of Ama and Phyr is only beginning here, and despite their sincere longing for each other, there will also be difficulties. For instance, despite the Red Fury's promise to adapt to Ama, in reality, only he adapted and changed, time and again finding no flaws in his fiancée or simply not daring to report them: in the end, in the family, as in life, Erephir took an absolutely dominant position, and it was difficult to imagine this order wavering, given her independent steel character and status as a leader. Perhaps Amamius noticed all this at some point, but upon realizing it—he agreed. Or was he ready for this from the very beginning? After all, his opportunities for self-realization increased significantly due to the multifaceted help of his spouse; this was precisely what he once considered an important reason to unite; but reality gave him manifoldly more, including a level of domestic love and tenderness that a Margelite, accustomed to the predominance of a cold business world over himself, could never have imagined before.



^ Meeting



^ Also a meeting, he cannot escape



^ But should he?

At home, the Red Fury sincerely cared for her Amchik, acting according to those courtship rituals she saw with her own parents and drew from classical books... True, due to certain peculiarities of perception, she sometimes behaved more like a handsome prince than a beautiful princess. In turn, she was happy to have a herald by her side who always exalted her, admired her, backed her up in things, participated in long pleasant conversations in the evenings, and once melted his heart enough to confess his love.

Let us return to the past, to November 23

Waking up at 4 AM... Carefully slipping past Amchik, who is peacefully snoring on the neighboring bed—yes, to make room for a new recruit, it was necessary to move from noble etiquette to camp-life etiquette; it was the same for them on Tais. Next, the redhead headed to the forge—starting from this day, she vowed to limit the number of action points spent on nonsense, and her ~20 current points now awaited spending in the style of Crag-style blitz-forging. The approach also became much more comprehensive and consisted of several components:

1. A special smithing song for maximum inspiration
2. Starting by creating tools of exceptional quality, so that with their help she could not only have better capabilities but also find challenges, and even become stronger overall with each forging.



"Other Dimension" microscope-points with magnification up to ~100 times, different magnification for the two eyes, and built-in lighting.



Weeping Statue—heavy armor created not for battle, but for forging, which significantly improves precision of movement (built-in gyroscopes and various locks), at the cost of any movement in it being a serious exercise (but in reality, for the smith, this was only good, since replacing physical and book training with something actively useful was also a goal)

3. Of course, two schools of Baldur, one fully studied, the other started, to better manage metal and heat, creating forms and composites that hardly anyone else on Anuzish was capable of

As a result, she creates many interesting and amazing things, some successful, some not so much, but the main thing is that toward the end, she held in her hands that item, the start of a future huge project, to which Thursday morning was dedicated.



Protective Circle. That was the simple name given to the amulet that bound the owner's soul to Anuzish; now, after one or two short prayers, one could not so easily become a victim of banishment. For inspiration, Erephir could thank Crag, who showed that metal, if one tries hard enough, can protect against anything; a helmet of white light could equally save her from Valis or an evil priest. Seeing such an amazing example, the redhead completely discarded any timidity in her projects; she became convinced that with the proper level of persistence, she could achieve anything.

Consequently, today she will go and, without excessive secrecy (though with necessary modesty), answer Nadia's questions in an interview, inspiring people with her story. In the end, on no front will she fear a foolish end to her life due to the interference of an enemy chaplain, and she will protect her subordinates from the same. Ultimately, this and many other projects of hers will over time become part of a magnum opus.



Yuni. Liquid metal armor that Erephir had long dreamed of. With one sole idea: it absorbed other types of armor, various enhancing and protective gear, in order to become more powerful and universal. Very soon Yuni became a kind of singularity, meaning a device so complex that even the creator barely understood how this multitude of properties was achieved. The armor absorbed both the Protective Circle, and Erephir's old armor, and many other projects, analyzing and reprocessing everything, turning into something that seemed to possess consciousness itself, for it sometimes provided immunity even to things the smith could not possibly know in advance and therefore provide for. Yuni was something more than the sum of the individual parts it consisted of... Separately worth mentioning is its ability to adapt to the owner's desire, transforming externally into any outfit desired—this property flowed naturally from its structure and combat functions, allowing Erephir to never be unprotected.

***

Thus, just a few days, as well as the providential 20th, became the beginning of many events and things. There are moments in history that seem to spawn branches of time extending into years, into centuries...

In the year 976, there was a war that Phyr remembered as numerous events on tiles and fast, boring battles... After that historical lecture from Stalia, everything else didn't really warm the soul; whether it was a hundred people, or a thousand, or tens of thousands didn't matter, as the scale of that feeling of overcoming someone beyond human nature could not be topped. She heard that on the Farellian front it was apparently more interesting, but all she managed to do for it was urge whoever needed to place a large order for the production of suitable machinery. When the order is ready, the Farellian flyers will face a completely different threat, incomparable to expensive and senseless airships: endless clouds of exploding drones could hardly instill in them anything but despair. Had Chronos finished the order before the start of the war—perhaps the situation would have been completely different; in fact, patriotically minded Lunarians with magic and rifles had already determined the outcome anyway... But demonstrating to the enemies once more that for every clever fruit there is an uncompromising city-exploding chest—did not hurt.

Unlike Farellia, the war in Harran and Calcite did not become purely defensive, which, frankly, seemed promising to Erephir in a way, since knights without their own allotment could hardly fully correspond to traditions, and their own land was clearly more useful for peace of mind regarding one's lineage than dozens of titles and regalia. Since time immemorial, in all cultures, conquests were a way of giving birth to new feudals, but whether the subordinates of the right pillar received their blood-earned brand new castles in the desert, with adjacent territories—that is probably a question for the universe and for them themselves. Erephir herself, leaving behind seas of blood that didn't fit into HP bonuses and the material component of the new armor, was rather disappointed by the results of this war (meanwhile, somewhere in Nephiria, Sonata is disappointed by the duel with Ruby). But these feelings were not significant, and the reward, as always, was beyond all expectations: upon returning to Margel, Suzerain will paint Lady Darwening's soul in a new color, and besides that, bring news about the fortress, thus the nozenrotka will now be able to say without doubt that she has found on Anuzish a home long lost on all planets.

***

Over the years, the right pillar of Margel turned into what she had always secretly feared, but for which she was effectively given the green light: a person who tirelessly changes the world, interfering simultaneously in many spheres of life in Anuzish. Thus, her scientific design bureau Source, named after the hero of the past world, gradually became one of the substantial reasons for the kingdom's technological superiority. She provided the image, the best personnel, and international cooperation in this field, getting other provinces hooked on her solutions, tying everything into a single network and providing powerful economic and diplomatic levers of influence. Chain swords, which after rethinking became saws, were a symbol of a new agricultural era along with many other wonders, small and great. In her time, she strove to be one of the flagships of the transition to new types of engines, using her connections in intelligence and the fact that the newly discovered fuel, unlike precious stones, could be used with a broader imagination (internal combustion engines alone were classified as piston, rotary-piston, carbureted or injected, etc.; there was plenty of room to roam and claim advantage in various fields). Invariably, cooperation proved beneficial for the regions, far more beneficial and simpler than conducting developments themselves, especially since their own best personnel likewise leaked in a steady stream to Margel, and all this allowed the former capital to earn influence points and conclude new cooperation agreements.

Those outside Velfern were not cut off from this horn of plenty; iron ships of Margel production began to sail the seas under various flags, showing unprecedented independence from the weather; tracked transport penetrated equally into the sands of the southern continent and into the northern snowy deserts. The formation of the latter was greatly influenced by Azarina Eisenbach, who, in breaks between secret necromancy rituals, quite openly shared concepts of tanks known to her from her own planet within the framework of her work at the bureau, and whatever she did not know or had not studied—she mastered and caught up on.

Around when precious stones stopped working in the year 81, Kanchan Kizdam joined the Source, wishing, among other things, to create a working alternative to the lightsaber. This work actually evolved into something larger, namely a large group that began developing new means of long-distance communication to replace the failed sapphire towers, and for this purpose, it was decided to use the new discoverable wave properties of light. It seems that in the end, Anuzish gained more from its closure than it lost, for in the course of scientific thought, something similar to fiber optics was created... For the first time over a distance of 10 kilometers, without the use of magic, another employee of the bureau named Arivell transmitted the word "Carneol," and it was successfully received. But this was only the beginning, for new discoveries soon followed, and long-distance communication became more and more real and accessible, and by the end of the millennium, it was already possible to communicate with each other using reliable electrical signals traveling along copper wires.

Many achievements would not have been possible without cooperation with Chronos, so when Quentin Quant hit hard times, the bureau (which conversely was bursting with tasks related to changing the energy source) tried to help him, whether it was just advice or even a profitable new joint venture in a risky, little-studied, but promising field... Amirega, healed from the negative consequences of his curse, became a valuable external specialist; in cooperation with him and his institute, one could deal with health, biocompatibility of certain technological solutions and devices. And Sima Yun was simply a universal specialist of the bureau; with his intellect, he changed departments and projects he worked on like gloves. Suyen Vanderlast was also invited to work because of his good spatial imagination and knowledge of the secrets of polymer clay—both found wide application in prototyping.

Amamius Okikot was an indispensable man when it came to the specific application of inventions (after all, he was the first to think of using chain swords as saws), searching for economic niches, concluding contracts, commercialization, patenting, and other related issues. He successfully combined his activities at the bureau with a shoe workshop; he came to understand leather so well that he competed with the best of the best. At the same time, according to some internal principle, Amamius walked this path himself, by trial and error, learning from no one, thus developing unique techniques and methods of processing for the profession.

{Insert here any other achievement of any player characters who could all work at the Source bureau and engage in something cool if they wanted, since we have no one without potential :cool:}

***

Fortress of the Carneol Order



Carneol himself gradually increased his influence, becoming like the great orders of the past, penetrating here and there, for many wanted to have his military power, equipped with the latest technology, on their side. It was a supranational entity that had to be reckoned with due to its prevalence and power... Despite this, the order earned a reputation as benefactors and peacemakers, readily helping not only the crown but also the civilian population.

Their main headquarters in Folkvang fully corresponded to this. It was a large fortress on the shore of a local reservoir, looking slightly old-fashioned from the outside, but only until an external observer noticed the howitzers bristling around the entire perimeter, and numerous compartments for other weaponry, taking into account the history of recent conflicts and anticipating new challenges. All the sadder its mistress became knowing that all this splendor was never used for its intended purpose...






On the other hand, the place of residence for the knights was simply excellent, both rich and austere. Adjacent to a beautiful church, a gorgeous botanical garden, an extensive library, and a common kitchen full of aromas were numerous training classes and halls, passing through which was harder than passing through the sands of Calcite or the snows of Granhildr. Theory, physical training on the best steel machines, constant sparring—both novices and veterans endured this for one and only one reason: that the opportunity to serve in the order and correspond to the level expected of everyone completely outweighed the associated difficulties. Distinguished recruits were sent for internships in Cridear to Count Chegver, who was an honorary knight, and quite possibly with his beautiful title...

Since the two-handed chain sword also became a mass phenomenon in its own way, a special combat style was developed for this modern weapon, taking into account the experience of classical nozenrot-kalevrit knightly techniques (which had to be partially recalled, partially reconstructed). The unique balance of chain saws, the presence of moving parts, their gyroscopic nature, and large surface area allowed for a rethink of much in fencing, and the pleasant hum of the motor allowed their owners to enter a state of special combat trance.




The local forge and foundry were true technological wonders, and even they could be called ritual structures in a sense. In addition to other things, there were necessary special communications here, and the rooms of the inner circle knights had individual layouts. For example, the Grandmaster of Carneol preferred to spend her relatively rare nights in the fortress under a waterfall of molten metal, strengthening body and spirit in the style of island samurai, but more harshly than just with cold water.

***

Finally, there was the aspect of cultural influence. Erephir's metal works were not mass-produced, but on the contrary, stood out for their uniqueness, and books and music completed the picture. Together with Knight Arivell, many concerts were organized, and the redhead constantly experimented, which often meant she didn't fit into trends: but this simple fact turned out to be more of a plus than a minus, for in the end, she set the trends. When the time came, the ballad of the rulers of Margel received its continuation, in honor of the twentieth queen, although it was a small part of all the creative work on the theme.

Naria carries Akonia's soul in her heart,
That soul desires many wonders.
Bright heroes among the stars she shall find,
And save the planet from threats from the skies.

This and other music sounded far beyond the borders of the Margel kingdom, for as soon as she obtained the necessary capabilities, the right pillar did not cease her constant travels, relying on the reliability of her assistants in the order and the means of communication she was promoting for that very purpose... She covered vast distances without any transport, strove to be a heroine wherever she was, helping in both trifles and real crises, and then checked how things were with Carneol and Margel, keeping her finger on the pulse of events. Sometimes she searched for antiquities and artifacts, especially striving in the search for meteorites... Thinned out the monster threat. Found many friends among those she benefited via "quests," essentially continuing what she had started back in Margel. She visited Kumari particularly often, where she earned a special degree of love from the lizardfolk. Whether they admired the Fury's valor and the ease with which dinosaurs were split in half by her, or the fact that she did not shy away from bringing the fire of civilization to the Kumarians, or some other fire reminding them of Stalia, who was revered here. There was hope that all this would not remain only a manifestation of the spirit of adventure, but would ultimately give Margel more plusses in its image bank.

These actions would have little meaning without the help of those who are near, and therefore during the Heless catastrophe, the nozenrotka tried to apply all her 100+ charisma, not so much to encourage Kilika, for that was impossible, but to share even a small portion of her grief. Of course, this was partly justified by Erephir's confusion, who sincerely considered the tragedy her failure, for for some reason the battle with the singularity was not entrusted to the order, either due to lack of strength or distrust, and in the end, the fight between two saints predictably turned out to be more large-scale and catastrophic than previous fights between saints and mortals... Be that as it may, the Knight of Serenity was released from Carneol not empty-handed and not silently, but on the contrary, it was decided that this was the only correct course of action in the given situation; Erephir wanted Kilika to become a reliable support for her people in their hardships, and if she needed any help... Whether to pile up a new island in the sea, or to win back existing territory used by unworthy people, as the Mindjins were once saved... And perhaps by that time some land was already owned by the order. Alas, it is far from a fact that the initiative to help refugees could lead anywhere; Phyr deluded herself not about whether the inhabitants of a closed country were ready to accept anything from foreigners, moreover subjects of the very power that caused the destruction of a once beautiful land, the abode of air and freedom; but the departed knight will undoubtedly be able to determine how best to act in such a situation; faith in her was absolute.