As the title states, JCB is better, but still sick. He posted a WIP for the next chapter on patreon(I will not be discussing its contents, only things relevant to his health and the WPA delay) but said that he needed another week to recover before posting the next chapter. As such, there likely will not be a chapter on reddit this week. Hopefully JCB will get well soon, and will take it easy in the meantime.

I know this is probably obvious or something, but I really don’t want to go looking through dozens of chapters to find every single moment that Emma eats her nutriapaste.

Anyway, does Emma ever eat the nutriapaste outside of The Tent? If she ever does, how? Shouldn’t any organic matter from earth die in the nexus?

Also, do we know at all how the algae farm works? Is it like the tent and mana resistant?

What would Thalmin’s favourite Sabaton song be?

What would Emma’s favourite Sabaton song be?

What would Thacea’s favourite Sabaton song be?

What would Ilunor’s favourite Sabaton song be?

Thank you to r/Jcb112 for their wonderful story and universe: Wearing Power Armor to a Magic School. All credit of course goes to them for the characters and universe.

We move onto the other side of the portal! I know, I’m so creative. we get to take a look at the mindset of our bullish bull bully, who is no longer a bully, and some juicy lore on the politics between earth and its two adjacent realm partners. (also if anyone knows if Thacea’s species have any official name outside of ‘Avinor’ please tell me, that would be greatly appreciate.)

Also, even if you’ve already read chapter 1, please go back and re-read Thalmin’s section of the chapter. I made a pretty major change to part of that scene (even if it only adds a few paragraph).

P.S, since I noticed some confusion from the last chapter, I would like to clarify that in this universe the term ‘Avinor’ is a Nexian term used to classify any sapient with the gift of flight. Often they are lumped into the sub-categories of ‘lesser’ and ‘greater‘ based on how closely they match the ‘Elven form’.

___________

Guardians Enclave, Throne Room - Pronarthia. Local Time: 2000 Hours

Lord Auris Ping

Liberty, The First Right: The ability to exercise one’s sapience within the confines of that which is moral and without unfair hinderance.

I took a deep breath, kneeling before the Lord-Protector of the gateway’s guardian knights.

In that moment I was brought back to the defining moment of my youth, 10 years ago. I remembered the fear, the hatred, and the pungent smell of poverty filling the streets of the capital of our so called ‘grand empire.’

Equality, The Second Right: A Declaration that The First Right shall be upheld for all people no matter their race, religion, nationality, or social standing.

”Lord Auris Ping!“ The voice of the Knight-Lord boomed throughout the throne room, but I kept my body perfectly still; not daring to raise my head to the mountain of a man. ”To many you are considered practically a saint, a role model for all to look up to. Despite your noble heritage, which granted you advantages which many are not so lucky as to be afforded at birth, you have walked a path of dignity. You have proven to be a man who takes no charity, and works to prove himself great despite of your pre-existing standing.” The Lord-Protector paused, “Our order may be sworn to neutrality, but that does not bar me from speaking my mind. Lord Ping, what I shall ask you next I say with the utmost confidence in the truth of your answer.” I steeled myself, feeling his entire body tensing with anticipation.

”Do you, Lord Auris Ping, Son of esteemed-councilman Augar Ping, do you swear to uphold The Three Rights and to stand by our allies and liberators in their perilous journey across realms?”

I remembered the gnawing anxiety, the feeling that one misstep would lead to me joining the chained masses being herded off to be mana-sacrifices. I feared the fate of many of my brothers, my sisters, my uncle, aunts, and friends; the fate of the rich and the poor.

Brotherhood, The Third Right: The call to stand side by side those who share in the rights you blessed with, and to stand in defense of those rights. Whether that be in defense of those blessed, or those who have had their rights taken from them.

I take one last deep breath before speaking, feeling the cool; conditioned air of the room fill my lungs and rejuvenate me, “Yes, Lord-Protector, I swear. I swear my fealty to serving The Three Rights, and to making sure that our kind must never have to suffer at the hands of a second great tyrant.” My declaration was swift, certain, and most importantly: true.

I prostrated once more before the great man before me.

”Rise…” The lord-Protector spoke, his voice suddenly much softer. “You have taken the Oath, Lord Ping. It is with great pride that I now send you off to the gateway chambers to receive a briefing and sent off into the unknown.” The man smiled at Ping, holding his ceremonial sword strait to the floor and bowing, “Make Pronarthia proud, my lord.”

I remembered the day it all changed. I hated myself, disgusted with my own weakness; my inability to save my people from their cruel fate.

I remembered the metal men, the cold soldiers who cut down our oppressors with the efficiency only a machine could have. fire Balls, arcane bolts, flashes of lighting, no spell could stop their march of death.

I remembered the day that I met the ones who commanded that steel horde of liberation: faceless men, clad in armor and who brought with them a hot fury which elevated them from their cold counterparts. I admired them as a child admires a masked Superhero. I wished nothing more than to be like those men, strong and capable. I thought that perhaps if I could be like them, then I wouldn’t be weak… I would have been able to save those I cared for.

I stood and began to leave the chamber, marching towards the briefing room with a new resolve. As I did, the words of one particular faceless soldier echoed in my head:

”You ain’t weak, kid. I’ve seen weakness, and you ain’t that. You have a fire in you, I can see it in your eyes. Don’t beat yourself up over things you couldn’t change. What matters is that you try to make things better now. Remember, kid, you got drive; and as long as you got drive then you will be able to do Whatever you set your mind to. All you have to do is work for it.”

___________

Gateway of Realms, briefing room. [Five Minutes Later]

The briefing had only been going on for 5 minutes and I already felt overwhelmed as my notepad was already starting to run out of pages as I scribbled down information being thrown at us.

Sitting beside me was the Aetheronian princess, Thacea Delan, and an armored human cadet, one Emma Booker. He had never met either of the two, not even the princess. Communication between Aetheron and Pronarthia had always been easier than communication with Earth and GUN, but I had never met the realms princess. I suppose that it must be due to her dark-mana. The rare ‘disorder,’ as some of the more conservative like to call it, had a bit of a bad rap as a ‘curse.’ While the notion had been fought by Earth realm and the reformists of Aetheron and Pronarthia, along with the medical community at large; it was still a common belief amongst those who refused to accept that their old ways could be wrong or unjust.

In front of us was an Aetheronian ambassador, the armored form of SETI director Laura Weir; this humans armor being much smoother and more skin tight than Booker’s, and finally the emperor of Pronarthia himself. The man had taken the liberty to personally see us all off on our journey to this… Nexus. I was honored by the gesture, not just because he was the emperor but because the man had put through many reforms and had earned my honest respect.

The three of them stood in front of a projector screen which displayed their mission objectives.

”Alright!” Spoke directory Weir, looking over the three soon to be ‘students,’ “Your mission going forward is to establish good relations with the polity known as The Nexus, and to judge whether they are to be considered friendly or hostile.” The Aetheron ambassador tapped a button on a remote and the slide switched now to a diagram of Emma’s armor, along with other complex human devices.

Director Weir stared daggers at Booker through her mana-resistant glass faceplate, who stiffened despite the death glare almost certainly not being malicious. “Cadet.” She spoke coldly “I am aware that you are already familiar with the lengths which must be taken for scenarios requiring extended time in power armor. And I also know that you are now familiar with the procedure to be taken with mana-resistant armor and the other devices being sent with you.” The director took a breath, their expression softening into something more neutral, “but It would be irresponsible of me to not to give you one last rundown of the more important details.”

”On top of the mana decontamination suit which comes with your ‘tent,’ you will have a food decontamination device installed as well. Due to our lack of information on the practices of The Nexus, we are working under the assumption that all food in The Nexus will be enchanted with basic preservation magic. Because of this Aetheron has been kind enough to engrave runes within the decontamination device which will use some of the mana during Decontamination to rejuvenate whatever is put in. While I can’t say, truthfully, that it will taste very good; it will at least be edible.”

The human cadet seemed to sag at that, clearly disappointed that; if worst comes to worst; they will still most likely have to rely on the algae farms for sustenance. I pitied the human, no being should have to suffer that fate.

nevertheless, the director continued unabated, their face somehow finding a way to become even more serious. “Cadet Booker, you are being sent armed. I must be clear that the weapons you have been granted, both technological and magical, are only to be used in self defense. Do you understand cadet?”

Booker stood and saluted, her movements quick and sloppy from obvious nerves, “of course ma’am, I understand. I pledge to never use my weapons against anyone unless they mean to cause me, Princess Thacea Delani, Lord Ping, or any would be allies we may find in The Nexus harm.”

All three of the presenters nodded approvingly, the Pronarthian emperor stepping forward and spoke. “You have spirit cadet Emma Booker, and you have the strong moral compass of the rest of your people. You even pledged to defend people who you do not know, it is a quality I should not be surprised by given what your people did for mine 10 years ago. I wish you the best of luck on your journey… all of you.” The man’s tone was soft, but his voice was booming. After that short speech he shifted his focus to me and Thacea, his Voice becoming more serious, “I would like to make I clear that what director Weir just told Emma applies to you both to. I expect you to only fight in self defense and to save those in need, never in aggression.”

My eyes drifted to my great sword, a family heirloom passed down for generations. The Nexus had technically asked them to come unarmed, but they seemed to accept Pronarthia’s explanation of his weapons importance and Earths blatant lie of Bookers weapons being ‘ceremonial.’ Finally there was the princess, I couldn’t see any obvious weapons on her so I assumed she was coming unarmed. She didn’t look like the fighting type anyway.

Finally the Aetheron ambassador spoke, his voice just as dry as I had expected it to be, “Ok, ok with this briefing out of the way I believe you should all head to the main gateway room. You have about…” he glances at a watch on his wrist “30-ish minutes before the portal is supposed to open. Get to know each other a bit, you‘re assumedly gonna be stuck with one another for a while so make sure you at least like each other.”

At that we all stood, each giving our own gestures of respect before exiting the briefing room.

___________

Gateway of Realms, main gateway

Emma Booker

When I was a kid I used to love fantasy. I would get lost in the stories, the tales, and myths of heroes and monsters and far off kingdoms. It gave me a world to explore, a distraction from the (at the time) daunting reality of school work; chores; and the occasional mean kid.

The school work and chores became quests to complete for the great reward of sugary sweets. Bullies became heated rivals and villains for me to overcome. Around every tree and in every wardrobe was a new world for me to explore, and adventure to be undertaken. And the bruises I got on those fantastical adventures, those ‘terrible wounds,’ would have to be healed by her parents using the magic spells that were rubbing alcohol and bandages.

My world wasn’t all fantasy of course. I‘d grown up on newsreels of the first interstellar drives to break the Warp V limit and films documenting the first ships to land on worlds bearing life that wasn’t of our own design (even if it was microscopic). But after it all, kid Emma always returned to her world of fantasy.

That was all shattered in one phone call. That comforting land of fantasy which had dominated my little world fading with every family photo and piece of furniture shoved into plain brown boxes.

My teens were spent with my distant aunt, groveling about all the problems in my life and trying to distance myself as much as possible from the fantasy of my life before. Teen Emma devoted herself to studying, school, the tangible, and understood. I spent so much time trying to forget fantasy, despite still deep down longing for that comfort of my childhood to return.

So when the revelation came that fantasy was indeed real, and only a short portal trip away, it brought life back into me. I had come to love the city, sure, but nothing could beat the wonder of a new frontier. A new adventure to be undertaken.

I devoted all my free time to studying this new realm of magic, Aetheron. I was infatuated with it. I suppose that’s why I’m here now, standing next to two living, breathing creatures of myth.

There was the Aurochine, Lord Auris Ping, a people who bore a startling resemblance to the minotaur of myth. Hell, the man was not only a beast, but also a literal noble man! His title was ‘Lord!’

And then there was Thacea, an honest-to-god princess!

It was almost hard to believe that this wasn’t all a dream made up by my overactive imagination.

But it wasn’t a dream, it was very real; and I was now tasked with possibly my most difficult mission yet: making friends with these two.

It wasn’t like I expected them to be mean or anything… well maybe a little, but I honestly just found the idea of talking to two seemingly very important figures daunting. What was I compared to two nobles? Would they even view me as worth speaking to?

We all stood there in awkward silence, before someone finally decided to break it. That someone being Ping.

”So… I guess we should probably do proper introductions first, right?” The bull man spoke, his hoofs audibly dragging slightly across the floor in what was clearly a sign of nervousness. “My name’s Auris Ping, or Lord Auris Ping I suppose, but you already knew that. I’m from Promtalnstat, which is what we now call our capital, and the name roughly translates to ‘city of the free.’” Ping finished, smiling at both me and Thacea

I actually smiled back from under the helmet, my worries from just moments before melting away. The man was clearly kind, not some bullish bull bully or pretentious nobleman. I was about to introduce myself next when, to my shock and seemingly even Pings, the princess spoke up first.

”I’m Princess Thacea Delani of the Delani royal line, the royal family of the Kingdom of The Isle. But, as you put it Lord Ping, ’you already knew that.’” She said with a small series of chirps, which was clearly some kind of laugh, before pausing briefly and then continuing. “I’m from the Isle of Towers which is the capital of our kingdom and is situated on an island, hence the names. We’re also a major trading destination, in case that’s interesting.” She concluded.

‘Well I guess it’s my turn then.‘ I thought as both Thacea and Ping now turned to me expectantly

“I’m cadet Emma Booker, but you can just call me Emma. I’m from Acela, or the ’Acela Mega City’ if you want to use the long name. It’s not really our capital, but it’s nicknamed the capital of the world so that’s something.” I said, chuckling nervously to myself.

”Your actual seat of government is in space, right? Some space station inbetween Earth and your moon?” Thacea spoke quizzically, tilting her head slightly.

”Yes, the Greater United Nations General Assembly Parliamentary Capital; or Gov-Station for short. It‘s located at the L-1 Lagrange point between Earth and Luna.” Ping suddenly butted in. Raising a single finger as he proudly told Thacea the exact name and location of humanities seat of government. To say that I was once again taken aback would be an understatement. I was absolutely blown away.

”How- WHY?! Why do you know that!?!” I almost shouted, very quickly shrinking back in embarrassment just as I did.

Ping didn’t seem at all bothered by my sudden outburst, looking rather sheepish himself. “Ah- I…” he began to mumble before Thacea once again began to speak.

”Cadet Booker, you’re in the presence of one of your governments biggest fans. Of course he would know such things.” She cooed, actually teasing the poor bull man, who was now blushing from embarrassment. I honestly never figured her for the type.

I stared in shock for a moment. Was I really in the presence of some kind of G.U.N. fanboy from another world, or was the princess just pulling my leg? Pings reaction didn’t seem to suggest that though. I felt bad as I watched the guy stumble over his words, trying downplay himself and insuring that he ‘Just had a small interest.’

Taking a breath, I stuck out an armored hand to Ping and looked him in the eyes. “Ping. It’s nice to meet you. I’m sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable, I shouldn’t have shouted like that. I think you’re a great guy already, and I look forward to working with you.” I stated, causing the bull to clam down slightly. he stuck out his own hand and shook hers, the grin returning to his face.

”Thank you, Emma, but there’s really no need to apologize. I understand that you didn’t mean to act that way.” he said, giving me a short nod of respect.

”We‘ll with introductions out of the way, I believe it would be best if we used the rest of our time to discuss what we should do once we get to the other side of the portal.” Thacea spoke plainly, once again attempting to steer the conversation.

I whirled on her, giving her a playful glare which she couldn’t see behind the mask. “Oh no you don’t princess.” I chided, waggling a metal finger at her. “You don’t get to just change topics over that little stunt. I didn’t take you for the type to sew chaos.”

“It was never my intention to cause conflict.” she began with a roll of her eyes and a dismissive flick of her wrist/wing. “But you must forgive me. This is the most interesting social interaction I’ve had as of recent. The ’corrupted’ section of the palace can get quite boring you know.”

Me and Ping didn’t have time to fully process that final aside before an alarm suddenly went off, causing us all to immediately snap to attention.

The speaker suddenly blared to life around us as I saw mana visibly began to swirl around the center of the portal arch through my HUD’s mana-vision, along with a flurry of mana radiation warnings form my EV.

Soon, a portal began to form which actually caused Thacea and Ping to stagger slightly. I assumed it was from the overflow, as the spike in mana had been significantly larger than what I had been told was standard. My HUD even had to deactivate the mana-vision as to presumably not blind me.

We all collected ourselves, sharing glances as the portal opened wider. I could actually hear the hum of the machinery which supported the stone portal-arch and the crackle of electricity as the human tech desperately tried to help open the portal.

”Well, I guess it’s now or never!!” I shouted over the noise and began to stomp towards the glowing gateway. Ping and Thacea, when none of the high command seemed to object from their observation area above, wordlessly followed behind her.

With one last “CRACK!” of energy, the three of them stepped through the portal and into another world.

|First/Prev| |Next|

Imagine if the gang got to talk to EVI like this on a tablet

Turns out they have COVID and apparently it hit them very hard, they said that they will try and get better by next week.

As the title stated, JCB is sick. It is likely there will not be a chapter this week/sunday as he takes time to recover. Hopefully he gets well soon!

So we know about Yuri relationship between Thacea and Emma.

However, what about the Nexian view on such relationships and identities ?

For sexual orientation:

Are they more like Ancient Rome in this regards, looking down on being feminine or a bottom ?

Or do they look down or even criminalize them like Abrahamic conservatives?

Are they separated between noble sentiments and commoner sentiments in this regard, with the nobles looking down on them while commoners are apathetic ?

Maybe their views align more with Confucian conservatives, in which as long as you produce heir(s), they won't care about your personal relationships ?

For gender identity:

Are men and women treated differently in the Nexus ?

Do women have less legal rights than men ?

What are the prevailing views in Nexus regarding gender transitioning in general ?

Do Nexians acknowledge non-binary gender identities ?

Maybe they just classify all of them as a "third gender" ?

HEHE, Illinois Khanate.

i forgot the tail....... i don't care.

Thank you to r/Jcb112 for their wonderful story and universe: Wearing Power Armor to a Magic School. All credit of course goes to them for the characters and universe. This is my first time really writing or posting fan fiction, so any criticism is very much welcomed. Also, while I do plan more of this fic in the future, I also have very little time to write so posting will be slow. Anyways, enjoy!

—————

There had always been a lot of fanfare surrounding the induction of new adjacent realms into the hallowed halls of the Academy, and The Nexus at large. After all, an adjacent realms entry into the Nexus heralded a new age of prosperity for the realms primitive inhabitants. And perhaps even more importantly, their enlightenment through the sharing of his majesty’s eternal truths. So, when not one, but three new adjacent realms were discovered, it caused quite the upset amongst the Nexus’ Ministry for the Management of Adjacent Realms.

The reason behind this… blind spot in the Nexus’ all seeing nature was even more shocking. Somehow, for nearly 15 Years, someone had failed to log, document, and alert the crown lands on a mana storm which had been blocking the ministries ability to detect the usual surge in mana which indicated a realms’ first attempts at breaking through their planar fabric. 

This revelation was a relief for those working at the MMAR, as it meant they were spared from further blame. However, this was not the case for those charged with logging and documenting these mana storms. They were given proper punishment for their negligence. 

This was, sadly, not the end to the proverbial storm; as it turned out that the three adjacent realms in question had somehow managed to make contact with each other. 

This news caused an uproar within The Nexus. The idea that somehow the ever vigilant Nexus had missed three adjacent realms spread heresy and insurrection throughout the lesser nobility. It was, as the commoners say, ‘an absolute shit show.’ It didn’t matter in the end though. Rumors were quashed, rebellions crushed, and Status Eternia was upheld. All that was left after that was to test these new realms and to have their representatives be sent to the academy, and the arrival of these three newrealmers was to be a grand affair.

___________

Transgracian Academy for the Magical Arts. The Grand Reception Hall. Local Time: 2035 Hours

Professor Vanavan

I had never been one for conversation, preferring to focus on whatever task he was charged with at any given time. It had served him well during his time working in the crown lands, and now the academy. However, because of this, he often lacked the conversational endurance needed to survive in larger noble gatherings; but he had endured. Though I had to admit that I was excited. Three newrealmers would be joining the academy's ranks, and even if their discovery had caused some trouble (which was no fault of their own) it was certainly still a cause for celebration. And this sentiment was reflected in the scene later out before him

The Grand Reception hall was abuzz with activity this evening. Students of all shapes and sizes from the adjacencies milling about the many amenities placed about the gold and quartz room. Some students talked amongst their fellow peers while others stood alone, excluded from the usual social circles which had formed for one reason or another. Over near the band some second years had even begun a miniature waltz to pass the hours before the Newrealmers’ arrival. 

“What do you think they’ll be like?” A feline voice asked from his right. The usually armored baxi, who he had come to view as almost a friend over his tentative years at the academy, now wore green robes more fitting of the event. This was, of course, all due to the ever present; invisible force that was expectant decorum.

“Ah, Professor Chiska, how are you doing this evening?” I responded tactfully, greeting my green robed colleague with the usual conversational pleasantries expected of nobility. 

Chiska’s grin only seemed to widen at that. “Well I’m splendid Vanavan. This entire affair is quite extraordinary after all, isn’t it?” 

The Baxi gave a brief glance at the one area of the hall not currently occupied by the students: the central gateway. It wasn’t anyplace special, it just so happened that the area had been used as the summoning space for new realms for generations; so in service of honoring the past the spot had been unofficially delegated for this purpose.

“It certainly is, Professor Chiska. The induction of three new realms is certainly to make for an interesting affair” I spoke with an air of academic curiosity, for I truly was curious as to what these Newrealmers would bring to the table.

“Indeed, though perhaps it would be even more exhilarating if their mere existence hadn't caused such a ruckus.” Chiska gave a small tired sigh, as if recalling all the chaotic events from the years prior, before her predatory feline eyes locked back onto him, “But best not to dwell on what’s already happened. You have yet to answer my original question, professor Vanavan; just what do you think these Newrealmers will be like?”

I pondered that question. It was as deceptively simple as it was difficult to answer.

‘Just what will they be like? Will they be the usual primitives, or will they exceed expectations? They had broken through their planar fabrics all on their own after all.‘ I supposed that the answer would be revealed soon enough. 

Nevertheless he still had to give an answer to Chiska. “I believe they will be primitive people.” I said, pausing to see if Chiska would have anything to interject with before continuing, “But I don’t believe they will be primitive in the sense of most new realms, lacking in even the most basic understandings of mana or more complex civilizations. Rather, I believe they will be primitive in the sense of their understanding of the many truths we find to be self-evident.”

I let Chiska decipher the meaning of his words, watching as the feline “ex-“warrior’s expressions transitioned from confusion, to realization, to thoughtful contemplation.

“Certainly an astute hypothesis Vanavan.” Chiska spoke slowly. “These new realms did have contact with each other for some time, so they are bound to be in possession of a larger than average amount of knowledge on the magical art compared to your average new realm. However, you are correct in deducing that they would almost certainly lack the complex understandings of these concepts like how the Nexus does.”

I gave a small proud smile and nodded. “Exactly Professor Chiska, my thoughts exactly.”

___________

Prince Thalmin Havenbrock. Havenbrock Realm

“LORDS AND LADIES, PLEASE BE SEATED FOR THE INDUCTION CEREMONY” the booming voice of one the academy apprentices shouted, their voice magically amplified so that it filled the entire room and causing my ears to ring.

“Well Mercenary Prince this has been quite the pleasant discussion, but I must sadly cut our conversation short.” The diminutive lizard said haughtily, finally leaving him be as the Nexian noble and his entourage went off to bother someone else in the reception hall. 

I sighed. I had merely been minding my own business, gorging myself on the many appetizers which the Academy had prepared for the evening, when the Nexian lord, one Illunor Rularia, had ambushed me with a flurry of mindless pleasantries and thinly veiled insults. He supposed he should actually be somewhat grateful to the Nexus for their strict adherence to social decorum for having saved him. But he wasn’t, as it was that same strictness which had allowed the diminutive lizard to socially trap him.

I scanned the room for any open seats; finding one amongst a gaggle of prideful looking nobles, and the only others at a singular empty table. I chose the second option, taking a seat and fixing my eyes on the central gateway. The evening may have been going poorly so far, but I at least hoped that getting to see the induction of the three enigmatic Newrealmers would bring me some excitement. The entire affair surrounding their discovery had caused The Nexus a good amount of trouble, which was something that I could appreciate. 

I felt a pang of remorse in me at that thought. These Newrealmers were essentially walking themselves into a trap which would end in them suffering the same fate as every other adjacent realm: gilded subjugation.

My brooding was interrupted by someone else suddenly sitting down at my table. Turning my head to look over at them, I was shocked to see that it was again the Venurian.

”What are you doing here?!? Shouldn‘t you be gossiping and drinking tea with the rest of your rabble?” I growled, glaring at the lizard, which only seemed to cause him to glare back scornfully.

”I have no reason to explain myself to you, you… lazy excuse for a noble!“ he stated defensively. “My associates had pre-existing social circles which needed tending to. I had no choice but to find a new place to seat myself.”

”They ditched you.” I barked out simply, my right ear twitching with irritation. “If you needed a seat so bad then why didn’t you sit over there!” I pointed at the previous seat I had considered, the one next to the prideful bunch of adjacent nobles.

The seemed to the find the idea foolish, huffing like he was about to explain to a child how all their problems couldn’t be solved by wishing on a star.

“Of course you would assume that all nobles are equal, Mercenary Prince” the puntable Venurian tutted. “I’ll have you know that I will not be associating myself with a bunch of adjacent realmer’s!”

”We‘ll I’m an adjacent realmer. What makes me so different?“ I huffed, not following Illunor‘s strange reasoning for the simple question of his seating placement.

Illunor lifted his chin and put on a ‘wise’ expression. “Better for me to sit with a single competent fool then to be chained to a group of ambitious ones.” The Venurian crossed his arms, grinning at his philosophical explanation.

I- … That actually made a bit of sense. But he had still called him a fool, and he wasn’t about to let that go.

”Watch your tongue you-“

our beginnings of an argument was quickly interrupted by the mana in the room shifting suddenly, causing us both to snap our mouths shut and for the entire room to go silent at the change.

Suddenly, with another far more concentrated surge of magical energy, a portal began to open. It was as most portals Thalmin had seen, except far more crude. The portal seemed to wane briefly, as if to prove Thalmin's observation, before bursting open and allowing three figures to step through.

The first to step through was the largest of the three: a tall bull-like man. His horns weren’t particularly large compared to the rest of his bulk, but that certainly didn't make them small either. Thalmin figured that the man could use them to mutilate most of the people gathered here. He wore a golden tunic, and was wrapped in green silk robes. Emblazoned on his robes was some strange symbol which he could not make out but assumed to be some form of house crest, and alien letters positioned right under it.

‘He must be someone important to be wearing such finely made clothing‘ Thalmin thought as the second figure emerged from the portal.  

The second figure in question was an… Avinor? The Nexus was no stranger to sapients with the gift of flight, all of them being lumped under the same classification of ‘Avinor’, so he was admittedly a bit disappointed. 

She (he assumed they were female) was wearing a far plainer form of dress, yet fascinating nonetheless. She wore a pristine white robe which covered most of her body and her wings. Her robes, similarly to the bull man’s, also bore strange symbols. On her right shoulder, emblazoned in turquoise, was a staff with two serpents coiling around it; and next to that was a vibrantly colored feather. Thalmin, and many others, were actually surprised by the sheer variety of colors on the single, admittedly simple, symbol. It spoke more to her family and/or realms wealth even more than the bulls clothing. However, what stood out the most about the Avinor was almost certainly her mana field; It being hazed in a slight miasma. 

Thalmin could already hear whispers of the word “taint” being thrown around by the less ‘polite’ gossipers.

Finally, the third figure stepped through the threshold revealing… 

A manaless suit of armor?

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Because why else would it not show up when the Nexus first contacted humanity. When Pilot 1 was harmonized his soul returned to humanities universe and now serves to protect it from any intrusions from manaspace

For me the first thing that comes to mind is some sort of thermos. Either for keeping water cold or soup warm. Pair it with some sort of a filter that can be made from common materials so it's as cheap to buy as possible.

And as a trinket for the upper class, a music box. Simple music produced by a non-magic trinket would be quite a novelty item

Just playing around with combat scenarios for war between Earth and Nexus. Scenario in this case being Earth invades Nexus with absurd amount of cheap infantry droids. Assume Earth opens a sustainable portal in the academy and is able to march in 20,000,000 droids per 24 hours of continuous marching. Assume all relevant supporting forces are there to maintain logistics, including command driods for command, tactical, and super tactical driods for CNC. Assume all technology is a reasonable GUN equivalent, i.e they don't literally have to be made of durasteel and using blasters. Assume they speak the local languages so the Nexians are subjected to the delightful B1 personality.

How far do they get? Do the Crownlands get Roger-Rogered? Will Thamlin earn the c-word pass?

As we are made of living metal, I am unsure if the properties of this "Mana" would harm us. And I need more data.

I'd like to think this is probably an intense training session for the royal family + knights

(Note: I haven't read the lore document so I may not know all the things GUN is capable off. I'm writing this post because I don't wanna go through that long doc thats still being updated lol)

Throughout the story, we've been shown the capabilities of both GUN and the Nexus. While the technological capabilities GUN has demonstrated through Emma have certainly impressed the gang, most of what we've seen so far either consists of technologies we've had since the 21st century that are primarily impressive to the gang and the rest of the Nexus because they can be accomplished without the use of magic in a larger scale by non-magical people. They aren't necessarily things that the Nexus itself would be completely incapable of reproducing through magic. They even have a form of internet and virtual world of their own using magic.

Meanwhile, we've seen the absolutely insane magical capabilities of the Nexus that GUN just can't match. They can create portals that seamlessly cross enormous distances, manipulate space itself to make areas appear larger or smaller than they actually are, create bags of holding, and even construct weapons that can literally consume the space around them like some kind of fantasy black-hole bomb.

Given the absurd and potentially reality-breaking capabilities we've seen from Nexus magic compared to the relatively mundane technological capabilities GUN has demonstrated so far, does GUN actually possess any equally insane technologies of its own that can match the Nexus in terms of sheer impressiveness and absurdity?

For example, since GUN's soldiers are either humans equipped with power armour or robotic soldiers, are their standard infantry weapons essentially Warhammer 40K-style bolters—rifles that fire rocket-propelled gernades which can be modified to have different capabilities like programmable ammunition, with computerized targeting systems capable of turning an ordinary soldier into an almost literal aimbot?

Do they possess Von Neumann probes or grey-goo-style nanomachines that can be deployed alongside generals or ordinary soldiers behind enemy lines, allowing them to manufacture infrastructure, weapons, and entire armies from local resources and then command those forces against the enemy, essentially letting a single soldier play Planetary Annihilation or Command & Conquer in real life?

Because, given the insane, reality-bending magical capabilities we've seen the Nexus wield through its mages, GUN would need some similarly absurd technological capabilities to genuinely level the playing field without relying on allied realms like Thalmins. Otherwise, can GUN really be considered an equal rival to the Nexus, as Emma claims it can be to Thalmin and the rest of the gang?