"millimax" by millimax @millimax@high.cat

i feel i should explain the look of my legs in my user photo here because i'm not a "robot" pony or a "cyborg" or any sort of machine or portion of

i am a living sculpture and i will resculpt myself in copper and porcelain until i am whole even if i have to get there one piece at a time

the big difference here is that the first is a mind-meltingly complicated system of logic circuits and actuators and code

the second is just me haunting a pony-shaped teapot

if you're interested in the whole "destiny crusade" story

the official site of the campaign is here:
https://www.worldanvil.com/w/the-destiny-crusade-literorrery

my full profile (well, partial for now) is here:
https://www.worldanvil.com/hero/40f92760-ec9b-45fb-ba31-8c9cc0112693

my full journal starts here:
https://www.worldanvil.com/hero/journal/2247a60c-e6bc-4ecd-84e9-727ec2a4cec0/view

but i'll still post and respond to folks here because you're all wonderful!

alright this gets meta but hear me out

[dc] means 'destiny crusade' because that's the title
[ooc] means 'out of character' because it's complicated

i'm still gonna be lovable old me but i'm getting the chance to show up in a game @orrery is running for my friends @mawr and @kelseyhusky and @IceWeasel and @kobunny

if you see [dc] but not [ooc] then it's my game-me's journal

if you don't see those it's just me being stoned

amongst all this i'm learning new ways to make pretty things!

since nebik is set up in middle tavick's for the summer it's convenient (and fun!) to visit them for lessons on how to work with all this quartz from the blackcaps

most of it is deeply wine-colored and perfect for medya but some of it doesn't match so i'm using that to practice on

i'll make jewelry with the best of those pieces as a sort of warm-up before i start on medya's new arms

less peril – more art

medya and i are visitors from elsewhere so we won't be voting

but it's a process our friends and their community are entitled to and it's very important to them so we want to see it done right

this includes helping them rebuild the single slapdash polling station in the cogs – the place was only ready for a twelfth of what it should be!

i'll be inside as a poll worker while the rest of our group stand guard

toranak wanted these folks not to vote

but they will

then there's sharn politics

grenda tordannon turned nolan toranak's accounting ledgers over to us so we could help expose everyone involved in the less reputable side of his business

today the breland ledger reports that the watch has warrants out for over half of the city council and they've already arrested the lord mayor

for everyone who just learned that the people they trusted as advocates were actually no-good crooks i have some good news

elections happen tomorrow

also wrugar has recalled most of breland's soldiers to wroat

this leaves major cities mostly defenseless and aejar is worried that this is a recipe for violent rebellion led by the swords of breland

especially since the front page of yesterday's "korranberg chronicle" had the news about the titansuit project and how breland did something forbidden by the treaty that ended the war

it's understandable that people are a little uneasy about their country's leadership

gryphons and pegasi have a unique word for the feeling of the air around clouds that are charged with lightning

medya used that word to describe the city streets

king boranel is theoretically returning from a diplomatic visit to flamekeep ... but he and his entourage haven't been seen or heard from since departing vathirond

prince "wrugar" – aejar's older brother and next in line for the crown – has refused all outside help in finding the king

that's a little odd

sykes also had a enchanted silver ring to enhance his speed and focus when casting

it's on my horn now

i promise to make much better use of it

mainly in defending the friends who've been so patient and supportive these last three days

and especially medya

she wasn't physically hurt and she's cheerful as ever and as for remaking her arms she reminds me of what my dad always says about having to redo ruined work

make the new a tribute to the lost

on the subject of secrets i plan to dig through the tome sykes was carrying

a quick glance shows nothing fiendish so it should be safe to study ... though it does detail his research on the "rust" spell and the "rust plague" that caused so much harm to so many forged during the war

bell refuses to have anything to do with it – she doesn't want that spell in her head and i respect that

but zer' and i hope to learn enough to come up with a way to undo that damage

on our last evening in the blackcaps we met a couple of krayg's associates who'd also been mining

i recognized one of them from the distant exchange in fairhaven where we shared a bit of reedpaste so we repeated that indulgence while we chatted

we had a great time until they spoke of finding the church of inspiration then sang a hymn ... in perfect unison

the worst part is that i couldn't even warn them of the danger they're in

i don't like secrets but here we are

the first day of mining didn't net me much quartz – i kept thinking about medya's arms then having to take a break to regain composure

the next day i made up the difference and then some in large part by channeling my frustration and anger into getting the materials to not just remake but improve and refine those arms

the physical and emotional hard work burned away the worst of the doubt and shame

there's plenty i could have done better but i didn't do anything wrong

now that we're headed back to sharn i feel like journaling

we stopped emmer sykes from hurting anyone ever again

we did a good thing and i no longer feel conflicted about my part in it

but it's still hard to let go of just how out of control i felt

the last time i screamed like that was when i was foaled but all it took to console me then was a warm meal

after sykes i pushed through the rest of the mission but then i was a shaky mess for the rest of that night

i saw emmer sykes destroyed

i'm not proud of what i did but everyone else feels it was justified and i'm not sure they understand why i'm so troubled

i practiced so hard for so long learning to contain and carefully use my magic and then i lost control

after letting that evil person hurt medya because i was too distracted with my own words

he built weapons using my work and i'm still so angry at him

i feel ashamed and i have a lot to think about

it tried to attack us

spark climbed into another titansuit and i've never seen anything that large move that quickly

she set half of the fiend-piloted titansuit on fire and pounded on it until relic could smash the pilot's chamber open

the green flame dissipated

all was quiet

bell went to sykes' corpse and drew her hammer and made certain he was inert but recognizable ... if only from the shoulders down

the sight should have turned my stomach but instead i just felt numb

bell stripped him of all his artifacts but one was an amulet that captured his essence

before she could destroy it a ball of green flame burst out and raced toward a titansuit

it delivered sykes' naked soul into a terrible new body ... but through a control rig partly based on fiendish magical research

for a few seconds he gloated at us about how he'd made it work but there was a bright flash in the chamber then lots of screaming and blind flailing

only a fiend remained in there

i screamed something about the "weight of the world" in sylvan and then i ...

i was so angry i couldn't see anything around me but him

i lost control of myself

according to the team i flared with more magical energy than they'd ever seen come out of me and i used it to pin sykes painfully to the floor

i just ... kept casting that while they fought him

i didn't come back to my senses until i was sure he was dead

spark and bell agree that i was what they call a "hot mess"

i was so stunned i think i cast something that halted everyone while i checked on medya

she was physically unharmed but in shock

i told emmer sykes i would see him destroyed but not before i made him carry his share of the weight his deeds added to my heart

the weight he forced the world to carry

i'd prepared a new spell that combined "force trap" and "push" and my plan was to cast it while using that recursion effect to intensify the effect

but i don't remember casting it

sykes made himself known and invited us to the observation deck that looked out over a huge boxy cavern

i started in on the speech i'd planned but when i got to the part about his misuse of my work on harmonization he interrupted – somehow he hadn't even recognized my brand despite obviously reading my paper

then he asked if medya's gauntlets were my work

then he said something about an experiment and aimed a "wand of rust" at her

and the new arms she loved so much

...

crumbled

stealth was of top importance so the first thing i did was knock something over to alert some soldiers so we had combat right away and then more combat

then we found the titansuits

they weren't built to look hostile so much as they were shaped with hostile intent – even the curves were angular as though formed by shearing away solid metal

perhaps a d'cannith merrix 2 design?

also they're controlled using a mix of the puppetry rig and ... the mesh spell

that's not what it's for!