metal gear?!

So there's this one alternate continuity which won't leave my head--something like 'the KMV, except with less metaness and breaking of physics, by which we mean 'no more than allowed in the usual space opera', also some character changes such as those important to this scene'--and there isn't really much remarkable about it, apart from the plausible death of the Invincible Halberdier Mercenary, which runs something like:

Alexander: D:
Lowen: Ah, curses. Well, ahem. We're not tools of the government, or anything else! Fighting was the only thing I was good at, but at least I always fought for what I thought right. Farewell, Sna--Alexander!
Alexander: Hang on a second, was Helena's one concession to non-pessimist emotion possibly correct all along? Do you really have the core of a somewhat decent person?
Lowen: Well, not here, I don't. Try the next continuity over. I was just kidding you about that, really. ... ... wait, you stabbed and/or shot me a while ago, shouldn't I be dead by now? Oh yeah. *dies*

...which I probably shouldn't find as amusing as I do, but what do you expect from me, I am only a sonuna.

well this is something new

Three weeks after he'd gotten the news, just barely enough time to react and get any proper papers filed in this particular system, Miles Vandis finally managed to make the long trek over to Galene--longer with the train delays and the constant snowfall, they should have gotten used to it by now, and the other things he would have been commenting on had there been someone else in his compartment.

But there wasn't.

Apparently, Galene wasn't a terribly popular stop.

By the time he had arrived, most of the snow had melted (late it was summer and she hadn't disappeared she was in his mind all along, apparently) leaving him very close to literally all dressed up and nowhere to go. Eventually, he somehow managed to wind up at the outskirts of town staring at a very red front door.

After he had concluded a nice bout of staring intently, Miles was also a second or two away from losing his nerve and leaving when the door suddenly opened, revealing a nineteen-or-so-year-old with red hair and a face which looked quite familiar.

At a loss for words, he grabbed at the first complete thought. "This door..."

"Yes?" she asked, in a vaguely familiar clipped accent.

"You like it, even though it's so red?"

She stared at him for what seemed like quite some time, before smirking. "Yes, I do. It was fine for the past three generations."

"Ah, is that so." He pondered. "And, er, you are? I was under the impression that this house was abandoned."

"Oh. Looking for things of hers to pick over? Burglar, then? Enthusiastic real-estate agent?" Her voice grew sharper and snapped into a staccato rhythm.

Miles twitched, briefly trying to count how long it had been since he heard that sort of comment before reconsidering reality. "No, I'm a family friend here to see what could become of her will or anything of that sort. Why are you here?"

She scoffed, shifting her weight to the opposite leg. "Family friend, eh? I've never met you before."

And he abruptly began giving her the same type of stare she had turned on him earlier. "There are living Trevelyans, then?"

"Doctor Julien U. Trevelyan. IV. Don't ask me why they started the numbering thing. It's not as though we share the same full name."

Sadly, the stare continued. It didn't seem as though he would have reason to end any time soon.

"You're Miles, aren't you." Julien broke the silence. "I believe she said... something about you. I can't remember what. It's not important. It was friendly."

"... Yes. I worked with Darian for a while." He paused. "She never told me that she had a daughter, though."

She sighed, turning on her heel just long enough to close the door and brush down her dark grey dress shirt a little. "I get the impression that happened a lot among her friends."

"Probably. She didn't seem the type to bring it up."

"... I'll walk you back to the station," Julien decided after studying him a bit longer. "I may not be a bureaucrat, but all of the will stuff got taken care of right after the declaration. I have a friend who's much better with that sort of thing."

"Is that so." They started walking. "You were away, then...?"

"Polyscience. Since about fourteen. Finished my doctorate a month before I was forced to return."

"Ah. ... Magometrist."

"If a Doctor Trevelyan wasn't a magometrist," Julien said, crossing her arms, "the world would probably end because of sheer implausibility."

"You have a point."

alternative title: "In Regards to the Execution of the Will of Dr. D. Trevelyan III"
Just a scene that wound up in my head.
Probably about seven years before Prismatic because all timejumps of any sort in the KMV are seven years long. Apart from the Five-Year War in between Aphelion and Perihelion.
Miles Vandis; because the apparent proto-Mikkau needs the same first initial, and only certain names matter for Shout Outs anyhow, just ask Lowen or Sterling (or any of the Costley-Donovans, really.) Don't look now, miniJulien, but I think you're becoming a bit more human than you seem to aim for generally speaking.
I don't think that Miles is the original accept-no-substitutes library guy (;_;) but he certainly ended up in a similar position.
"you like it, even though it's so red" is a reference to Azumanga Daioh. Miles is not a government-sponsored Santa. Nor can he fly at Mach 100. His powers are limited to mild regeneration, grappling-hook pistols, and fieldskill lockpicking. Also gather information checks. Possibly use device.
...
I can't help but think this is mildly pointless, though. It's not as though Darian is actually dead I'd imagine (no missing presumed dead character ever seems to be in fiction...) Julien's impossible resistance to ever dying, ever, no matter how many times the world is arrayed against her (with active intent a lot of the time, as opposed to Lowen. Lowen's just selfregulation and balancing mechanisms raaaarh) is almost certainly genetic.
OoooOOoOOOoOoOoo plothooooook I am incoherent now and thus ending. Look, one scene gets tons of notes! How perfectly in character for me, really.

our robot overlords did I say overlords I meant protectors

Orbital Research Lagrange Station Chiron β - December 25, 310 XGY

"Don't blame me about this one," Sterling finally said from the other side of the enclave constructed from a couple of barely sufficiently thick force fields. "I did my best to try to teach them about life and what it's worth."

"Doesn't matter much if they're all trying to kill us..." Julien was examining the ruined bits of about half of her dematerialization gun in a way which was about half detached and half impatient. "Incidentally, if you could explain the whole warrior robot race thing to us--"

"I'm a mad scientist!" he replied, defensively. "Logic doesn't really figure into the whole affair, apart from a few glancing blows in a back alley somewhere."

From somewhere around the corner, a piercingly intense flicker of blue light and an electrical crackle gave the others enough of a warning to deactivate part of the force field still undergoing fire as Mikkau ducked under its shielding. Immediately afterwards a number of bullets slammed back into the floor behind him as the shield went back up, vaporizing the rest of the latest volley.

After snatching his staff focuser from where it had landed beside him, the newest arrival began blasting over his shoulder through the shield as best he could, despite the energy dispersion due to that sort of thing. "Right then! Can we move this thing towards the exit?"

"No," both of the others said in more or less unison.

"Explain why not." Mikkau turned around, in order to better handle what recoil there was.

Julien sort of stared off into space in a somewhat innocent manner. "I didn't design it to be moved, you know."

The staff clattered to the ground as its wielder focused one of his better irritated piercing stares at her. "And you built a non-movable, immensely powerful force-shield generator in the middle of a robot war uprising far away from any entrances or other safe spots why?..."

"Madness tends to imply a lack of logical forethought."

"Riiiight." Mikkau was quite clearly considering the many pleasant possibilities offered in the way of hitting his head against solid objects nearby. "I forgot about that. While working with the Bureau my mind must have been rewired to expect scientific advances to make any sort of sense. I should really get that fixed." His facial expression reset to a vaguely stony silence as he picked up the staff again and continued a largely vain attempt to clear the area around them.

Sterling gestured at the staff in his hands by way of making a point. "You build that, put in the extra work to go back and power it down to become a powerful stun versus a kill setting, and then criticize our logic?"

"That should be self-evident," Mikkau said between gritting his teeth, "as it's what I'm in the process of doing."

Part of the shield near them began unexpectedly collapsing, forcing Julien to give part of the generator yet another kick. Even the boundless applications of Kicking Technology were beginning to die down due to the extended miniature siege situation they had recently found themselves in; the kitchen had gone out of their reach a few hours earlier, and at this point the trail mix bars and dark chocolate were wearing a bit thin.

[A/N: For some reason, too much music. Another vignette. If I keep making these up out of nowhere, I can completely avoid actually finishing my novel...]

omnibus?

In the back of the shop, amidst a couple of intellectual thrillers, operations manuals, and books which happen to be on no technology you're familiar with, you end up finding what looks like a manual on introductory category theory. It's printed on an unrecognizable almost plastic-like material and seems to be bound in an unusual, iridescent black metal with an almost waxy texture. Embossed on its cover in large, silvery letters are the words 'don't panic', which seem like... odd things to put on the cover of a category theory book.

In the end, it proves seemingly interesting enough--along with one or two of the technical manuals--to purchase. On the way back via EM lev, something ends up slipping from between two pages in the near back of the book; it resembles a small, two inches at the most, dumbbell-shaped object which appears to be built of the same black metal in which the book is bound. This object appears to be connected with a half-translucent white bookmark ... thing by some sort of fiber-optic fishing line.

As you touch the bookmark-thing, the dumbbell-thing appears to start glowing faintly in a dark bluish color, and begins hovering near your ear. The bookmark blinks slightly and a holographic overlay seems to appear, unfolding into a projector which displays an image of a woman with red, graying hair sitting in front of what looks like a banner with the symbol on it of a dragon biting its own tail. She wears sunglasses and a holographic projection earpiece which seem to conspire to cover much of her face, although you can tell that her eyes are a yellowish-green, and she wears what looks like a red satin coat with a tall band collar and laced cuffs.

"Hello," she says, with a slightly unfamiliar accent.

"Hello...?"

"Oh, you're not who I expected. Hmm. Ah well." She shrugs. "I'm Doctor Julien Trevelyan, before you can ask. And if you're also seeing me, as I assume you are, considering you just looked at me in a puzzled manner, this means that my theory has worked. And they laughed at me at the academy! And I will..." Julien pauses to emit a low, near-menacing chuckle. "...show them all." After a few seconds, she smiles again, and continues as though totally ignoring the entire last two sentences. "Regardless! This is the test of the Eye of Discord Lagrange Station Localization Transmitter. Please state your year after the tone and we will get back to you around..." She consults her watch. "Around 316 XGY, actually."

[A/N:

Uh... I don't know. Wrote this this morning longhand. I don't even like second-person, usually. But I'm still counting it for nanocount because it was written in November.

316 XGY is about ten to fifteen years in the future from Apocynthion, I estimate--most things in the KMV have this habit of not getting actual dates, so everything's in practice a bit vague. Evidently they have time travel then. Ooookay. Just don't go killing grandfathers and everything should work out.

I qualify this as one of the cases of something major coming about for the multiverse by total accident, but it could provide an interesting framework for stories if I can codify a time travel ruleset. I have a couple of ideas, a lot of which are fairly 'meta' and thus, hopefully, at least somewhat unique.

Yes, Julien has a doctorate. So does Sterling. Mikkau probably is about 90% finished with one, as is evidenced by his comment about studying under Colver for about eight years, but I don't get the impression he ever finished--the MRA probably recruited him before he got the chance to finish a thesis paper or anything.

These relatively minor character details come about in somewhat odd ways.

The idea of a category theory book with 'don't panic' embossed on its cover in Big Friendly Letters is a bit of a father-daughter injoke. I had to put it in something...]

i can has nano posting zone

CBN - Alexander

Alexander X. Kuiper
Age: 17-25 (multiple story, timeline divergence focus, cover IDs...)
Psuedoclass: Water OS, Head of Central Administration Bureau of Interdimensional Communications and Research [Lawful Good]
Homeworld: Sigeki, numerous others

History: Most of it has been pretty fragmented, quite on purpose. The backstory everyone considers him having and the backstory he seems to actually possess are... unidentifiable in relation to eachother.

In theory, Alexander Kuiper is the child of Dale Kuiper and Serena, whose former name seems to have gotten lost somewhere in the paperwork, although most people could swear it started with a T. This family lived in a fairly large city, befitting Dale's position as a fairly renowned navigator, in the southern hemisphere and to the west of the subcapital on Sigeki-the-planet. At about 19 he began working for the Central Administration in an office at the subcapital itself.

In practice, Alexander Kuiper is still the child of Dale and Serena (Trevelyan, this time). Although they tended to live in the same city, certain circumstances (i.e. this whole renowned navigator idea and the other whole renowned interuniversal personable rogue idea) tended to prevent any of the three from actually living in the same general area at the same general time. Overall he spent more time with his mother than his father, and is thus significantly more accustomed to the idea of a multiverse than anyone else in Sigeki-the-world-as-a-whole, leading them in knowledge by about ten years. At about 17 he began working for the Central Administration in a fairly minor desk job, aiding with supply routing, in an office at the subcapital itself.

After the first few battles in the Origin War's first half, before it suddenly adopted a mildly cosmic scale, he decided to wander out and save at least a few cities from being totally sacked. Within about six months he was commanding a fairly large base. Within another two, he was presumed dead and not exactly welcomed back with open arms by the Administration, which had hung up Under New Management signs in a way which was a bit too forceful.

For about another six months he adopted another pretense of working for a mercenary interested third-party group, until his former boss decided to go all-out and attempt to capture the author herself. They got the wrong person, of course, and he ended up inextricably part of the main character party and with certain overly-destructive elemental abilities that he didn't end up using much, because... overly destructive.

Less than a year after that, he was finding himself a minor hero, and the Administration had firmly kicked out the scraps of the New Management signs. One of its first new acts was to conclude quite reasonably that having a staff of people to prevent people from doing that sort of thing again was a good idea, and having quite noticed this minor hero viewpoint they decided that someone with military experience and a bit of an edge in experience would be helpful. The PR advantage of picking him in particular was, of course, overlooked entirely and not really noticed until after they'd appointed him head. At nineteen. Or twenty-one. Take your pick.

Since then much of his work is still back to being a desk job, with the occasional specific conflict with the CMD or IEC or an unaffiliated madman deciding to be nihilistic, or a survey mission when nobody else manages to show up. He also devotes thought as to gaining a three-letter acronym for his organization. Maybe later.

Ability Diagnostic Data: As hinted, he doesn't end up using the inbuilt elemental function he possesses much. For what it's worth he has the ability to telekinetically control water, which can be utilized as with most for both offensive and defensive functions. He is certainly in the class of being one of the Nice Ones that you should Beware; although it may not be as targetable as some of the OS abilities, it has some of the largest potential for region-wide destruction.

He also appears to have immensely high (relative) intelligence, being the son of someone who had a pre-exceptional magometrist strength, although his thinking patterns are certainly more logically grounded than magometrists. Er, of the Trevelyan type in particular. What Spherian-styled abilities he exhibits beyond this are limited to a minor-level empathy, which he uses to his advantage. It is plausible that he could weaponize this ability to influence the emotions of others, but it's never been tested because it would be immensely out-of-character for him to do so.

Other Notes: Despite being young to the point of total implausibility and having two distinct sets of abilities, he seems to only hover somewhere near Level 8 on mary sue litmus tests. Well, other gender. Still.

This is most likely because he's also nice and thinks well of others to the point of total implausibility, although since the Origin War the disadvantageous side effects have been considerably tempered. One of the advantages to this is that he does seem to have people behave to his expectations, although whether this is actually him or a subconscious bit of well-placed, empathic arm-twisting is just a bit vague.

He seems to have a bit of natural aptitude for higher-class CAS ships, not least the one that the Bureau has appropriated and refitted as its designated flagship.

And should really be getting a higher score on MSLTs, but I've already mentioned that.

CBN whatever: Mikkau Demark (I)

Mikkau Demark (Present)
Psuedoclass: Science Ninja [True Neutral, generally swayed towards Lawful Good - simply not enough to shift alignment]
300/300 PT

ST : 8 [-20]
DX : 12 [20]
IQ : 14 [45]
HT : 11 [10]
--
WIL: 19 [25]
PER: 15 [5]
SPD: 5.75
HI : 6'0.5''
WT : 150 lb.
Appearance: Average
Wealth Modifier: Average
Reputation: N/A
Right-handed [0]

Advantages:
Absolute Direction 3D [10]
Combat Reflexes [15]
Damage Resistance L3 (Rare - Sonic elements, bone structure) [3]
Eidetic Memory [5]
Enhanced Move (Air) [20]
Flight [40]
Gadgeteer [25]
Talent (Mathematical Ability, L2) [20]
Unfazeable [15]

Disadvantages:
Addiction (somewhat devout cigarette smoker) [-5]
Callous [-5]
Guilt Complex [-5]
Insomniac [-10]
Loner [-5]
Post-Combat Trauma [-5]
Trickster [-15]
Unique [-5]
Weirdness Magnet [-15]
Wounded (left ankle) [-5]
Workaholic [-5]

Skills:
KMV Common (English, presumably) [0]
Acting (18) [16]
Aerobatics (13) [8]
Connoiseur (Music, 10) [0]
Current Affairs (Politics/TL5(+3), 14) [1]
Cryptography (12/TL5(+3)) [1]
Cryptography (10/TL8) [0]
Diplomacy (16) [12]
Expert Skill (Conspiracy Theory, 11) [0]
Fast-Talk (18) [16]
Filch (13) [4]
First Aid (12) [0]
Flight (13) [8]
Forgery (13/TL8) [2]
Gambling (15) [4]
Holdout (14) [2]
Hypnotism (Will-based, 14) [0]
Intelligence Analysis (14/TL5(+3)) [4]
Lockpicking (13/TL5(+3)) [1]
Merchant (12) [0]
Mind Block (17) [0]
Naturalist (Earthlike, 9) [0]
Observation (14) [4]
Persuade (17) [0]
>Suggest (15) [0]
>Sway Emotions (11) [0]
Pickpocket (13) [8]
Psychology (11) [0]
Running (11) [2]
Savoir-Faire (High Society, 15) [2]
Shadowing (13) [1]
Sleight of Hand (12) [4]
Spear (12) [0]
Staff (14) [8]
Stealth (14) [8]
Streetwise (16) [8]
Survival (11) [0]
Urban Survival (15) [2]
Weird Science (12) [2]
Wildcard (Science!, 13) [12]
Writing (15) [4]

Science Ninja. Like Gadgeteer Genius, but more neutral.
... I really want to know what exactly happened between the end of Prismatic proper and the now, considering.
I also have a pre-Prismatic variant sheet, who has 100% less Weirdness Magnet and with the flyings and 100% more irritating Duty and Security Clearance! Gasp. Amazing.

IH: Perihelion - Day 1

Chapter 01 - Exodus

She tapped her fingers against the mildly chilly external window idly, staring out of it at the black void as far as she could before it faded out into a vague grey. "I'm not going to ask you anymore... why is the Central Administration so interested in me? What have I done?"

The single red eye stared serenely back. "That is not your business. ... Yet. The local commander will alert you to your purpose at earliest convenience."

"You do know that I have a legal basis for complai--" she began in turn, before a large explosion stopped her voice mid-sentence, throwing her abruptly into the window as opposed to being cliche-edly thrown into the other side of the room due to the seatbelts present in the majority of Berdit-class ships.

Lasers or plasma bolts or whatever they were flew by her window. She had already become rather possessive of the window, for that matter, as she pushed away the android who had attempted to get a better look in favor of leaning closer to the glass surface herself. After a few seconds of what passed for a glare on that particular mode of unfeeling metallic head, the robot rushed back out into the hallway.

She simply ended up staring out of the window once more, this time at the opposing ship. It seemed to predominantly be painted green and a vague dark grey shade which almost matched the faded aether surrounding it—not a scheme she was immediately familiar with. Another set of beam... objects flew past the window, this time finding impact on the end of the engine room. The response from the ship's autonomics was a predictable and immensely loud click, instantly followed by a loud whining alarm burst.

Evacuate immediately... 00. 05. 58 estimated until main reentry begins.

She leapt from the seat as the door of the cell room clanged open with a ... clang, followed by the noise of about five more troop robots rushing down the hall outdoors. Rapidly she followed them in turn, glancing at the signs posted on each hatch she passed.

A female, perfectly and oddly calm voice echoed across the PA system: "We have a little problem with our entry sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence... and then explode..."

She finally found what she was seeking, a single hatch prominently labeled something along the lines of 'emergency' and 'pod hold usable'. As she was in what was evidently classed as a science fiction story, aboard a mildly exploding space ship, anything involving an emergency escape pod seemed preferable to staying aboard said space ship. A few seconds' worth of twisting a strangely intricate series of knobs and so on later, the door opened, revealing an evidently equally intricate series of mostly-blinking lights in the midst of a cone-like pod. In a flying leap she cleared the back of the one chair in the craft, landing somewhat awkwardly before straightening her posture and breaking a typical guard of unusually thin glass above a fairly large red button, which she promptly slammed the side of her fist down upon to send the pod flying safely away from the actual craft, as it began plummeting towards another part of the planet below ...

--

The blunt-bodied cone managed a bit more epic firey descent before it finally corkscrewed into the scattered patches of sand and grass beneath, leaving a trail of upturned dirt mixing sand and topsoil behind it. Its one seat gyrated in place as rapidly as possible, which happened to be not quite rapidly enough, leaving her just un-dizzy enough to slam down another green button (matching the red one previously mentioned in a general sort of way) and open the door before quite effectively collapsing out of the door in a state describable at best as semi-conscious.

Beyond that point, the next few... units of time sort of blurred in much the same manner that sleep did, absent closed eyes for the majority and with closed eyes for a minor period of time towards the end. Upon reopening them, she concluded that this period of time had been for the most part just long enough for a fighter to somehow have landed within ten yards without reawakening her.

Also, long enough for a gun barrel to be pointed at her head, currently within about ten inches of her face, also without awakening her. It was almost perfectly utilitarian, entirely of the typical matte gray plastic-metal combination of which Central Administration firearms had been made until about three months ago. Only its handle seemed to have changed, evidently modified to have a better-looking and evidently well-varnished grip made of a dark red wood. On this grip rested a gloved left hand.

... which belonged to a (vaguely familiar) figure leaning against a rock, his right hand supporting his head in a way which suggested he would have gone to sleep if she had just waited for about five more minutes. She would have muttered something sufficiently disparaging if she had not felt threatened enough by the gun barrel to remain silent.

The figure sighed, shifting back onto his feet while keeping the gun leveled at her in a predictably experienced manner. "Soooo here we are then, and I'm not even sure why everyone is so deeply intrigued by your existence but they are, and so if you would just come with me without actually doing anything as deeply stupid as I get the impression you would given half a chance..." He paused. "Oh. The name's Lowen, lady. Sarisa Zoness, I presume."

"I knew I recognized you from somewhere." Sarisa said.

"Purple hair, red eyes, yeah. It's pretty distinctive." He nodded, evidently deciding she was nonthreatening for the moment and lowering the gun. "So, coming?"

"Out of curiosity, how would I have gotten off this particular rock without aid?"

"That would have been your problem." Lowen said, turning to the fighter and beginning to walk. Sarisa followed at a medium level of distance.

[a/n] Yes, I did name a ship class the Berdit. I should give it a design. Eventually.

sigeki / spherian power exposition thingy

Most of the population of Sigeki and the Sphere have at least lower-key special abilities, which often take strictly utilitarian forms, with the Sphere tending more towards psychic-based capacity in general (minor memory expansions, occasional hovering if not actual flight, low-level technomancy and so on). A fairly large subset of NPCs have power which is useful for actual battle conditions. Sigeki overall seems to have a better 'anchoring' in the storyspace continuum, if only because so much weirdness has taken place there in the past five years, but overall the inhabitants of both worlds are roughly genetically identical. I'ma glare at Julien for a few more seconds, here.

One side-effect of this universal power aspect is that just about everyone, if IH were actually an RPG, would get at least a slightly unique character sprite (and often be recruitable, if not for active battle then as something else, with difficulty proportional to overall uniqueness). This can be blamed on a wide variety of things. Such as one of the main components in Sigeki's origin having at least 700 or so named characters.

"If my destiny is to be destroyed, then I will simply laugh! ... Then stab it a few times, until it's either dead or incapacitated enough to quit following me for another five years or so."

character profile v2 - julien trevelyan

Age: ???
Psuedoclass: Worldwalker / Gadgeteer Genius [Chaotic Good]
Homeworld: The Sphere

History: Generally speaking, Julien was among the first (if not the first) main characters present in the KMV after it reset. Perhaps because of this, not much in the way of a family history exists for her; for all practical purposes she began existing when she first arrived at Polyscience as a student, where after about six years she entered into competition for a faculty position at the same with one Sterling Donovan. In the end, she exposed a past epic research-stealing incident, after which her position was duly cemented. Around five years' worth of research later, Julien abruptly resigned to move up north into the middle of nowhere, holing up in a familiar dark red front door-ed mansion.

A year after this, the Magometry Research Agency dispatched a field agent to locate her and monitor unusual behavior. Several months later that agent's cover was debunked, and both the MRA and Julien became aware of Sterling's return. At the end of the parallel file known as Prismatic, she was simply left at the edge of the world, watching the remnants of his plan dissipate into the void between universes...

Yet another year later, she vanished with her mansion overnight in what seemed like a soundless explosion which released several unidentified forms of energy.

Since this, among other things, Julien manufactured a one-off method for copying character data (creating Serena Kuiper) and began refining the world-walking engine prototype responsible for her earlier disappearance. Presently, she is traveling the KMV at semirandom, seeking two other 'uniques'...

Ability Diagnostic Data: Julien is one of the scant few able to traverse the KMV without technological assistance; this innate version consumes large amounts of energy, however (one of the reasons for her relatively rapid innovations in the field). With the use of the energy source known only as The Pencil, this ability enlarges to allow a limited form of time travel. (All uses of this jury-rigged time machine is carefully watched by the author. Neither potential time paradox result would be good.)

Other Notes: In Sigeki, several limited variants of the Trevelyan/Donovan-model transworld engine are sold by a single company founded some time ago. Serena generally takes over its running in the absence of the original, and both work with the Central Administration reasonably often (although rarely in person, for obvious reasons...)
Serena tends to wear blue and grey, while Julien wears red and white; both also tend to use different hairstyles, for the same reason that identical twins tend to.
The new glider she uses appears to be 30% Unit Zero, 30% 'Goblin Glider', 30% Mehve and 10% Fenrir/TARDIS/Other. She seems to be capable of summoning and controlling it mentallly, and can stand on it through turns and so on with minimal visible attachment, possibly through the use of magnetic force.

flavor text

The Pencil wasn't destroyed at the end of Prismatic, just lost; hence, it still exists as a massive energy source.
For some reason, Spherians seem to have a particularly large attachment to the resulting energy, and can sort of use it to overclock given abilities to a large extent (Mikkau's flight goes up almost to continuous warp speed, the limits on Elliot's shapeshifting are done away with almost entirely, Sterling can rip apart an entire battleship and throw pieces about a mile away, Julien for once might actually be able to time travel without abusing relative universe timeframes, Tobias goes from being a technophile to having full technomancy... and so on.)
Basically the only downside this seems to have is an effective massive-speed 'MP' drain, and various aftereffects normally experienced with losing all your stamina that quickly. At some point, I should add some sort of worse effect, but considering it'd only be hanging around in the hands of a Spherian for a rather short amount of time... maybe it wouldn't need one.
Also for some reason, among aforementioned Spherians, telekinesis or some variant seems to be quite popular. I don't know why. ... Very likely the Astronomer Royal.

I should probably stop writing fiction in history class. The 'six-day war' is not part of Sigeki's timeline.

prototypical bio, number ... n

[x3-by-now :O]

Ignatius
Male Gifted, 24
Unemployed (former Library of Congress archivist)
103 / 103 Pt

ST : 10 [0]
DX : 12 [20]
IQ : 13 [30]
HT : 10 [0]
Hand: Right
Speed: 6.00 [10]
Appearance: Average
Height: 6'6"
Weight: 160
Wealth: Average (declining steadily with no permanent income source)
Status/Rank: N/A

Advantages:
Dark Vision (Colorblind) [25]
Less Sleep [2]
Unfazeable [15]
Honest Face [1]

Disadvantages:
Colorblindness [-10]
Disturbing Voice (nigh-monotone) [-10]
Nightmares [-5]
Silent (Shyness, Severe) [-10]
Workaholic [-5]

Quirks:
Prefers to work alone if within reason [-1]
Overly careful [-1]
Tendency to suffer random, distracting pain in right arm [-1]

Skills:
English (Native) [0]
French (Written, Native) [3]
Latin (Written, Semiliterate) [2]
Artist (Calligraphy, 13) [4]
Cartography (12) [1]
Computer Operation (14) [2]
Driving (Automobile, 14) [8]
Driving (Motorcycle, 12) [2]
Linguistics (11) [1]
Observation (14) [4]
Professional Skill (Library Sciences, Document Preservation - 15) [8]
Research (14) [4]
Stealth (13) [4]

so in other words this is one of those things I will post that one person will know what it is?!

random useless comment:
the problem with having widescreen computer is that you have to make most wallpapers yourself.

on further thought, the unnamed winged race of UZcollabverse probably has a familiar legend regarding saber-wielding white-coated yellow-scarved psuedo-creator
Mind you, I never thought of Nightmare / Tian as really 'Gehn types'... but if they insist on turning out that way that's up to them.

(need to determine further details about winged race, not least their name. gah.)

so I just pretty much self-destructed in calculus because of my procrastination habits
huzzah

i'ma go emit academic angst now

Current SF07 project listing:
- Unnamed RPG (psuedosequel to Prismatic, considering main characters)
- Sarai Collaboration (retroactive continuity?)
- UZ Collaboration (ABANDONED PIE FACTORY)

Although these still don't make a NaNo on their own... HEY ELF WANT TO WRITE A SOMETHING TOGETHER

Collected Untitled Reports 1

The crisis began on that day...

That fool, thinking she could change something, changed nothing and brought chaos to the world.

We waited for so long after that, waiting for a sign of some kind or some way to reconstruct. But we found none... In our insufficience, we merely tried. And made things worse.

She reappeared once, but only once, and somehow she seemed different.

How was she different? Did I do something wrong again?

Please, tell me...

...

The multiversal flux has been increasing so much lately. I believe this is a result of interaction between two distinctly different multiverses. I recognize this other energy, but from where... I am not sure. Further research is necessary.

--

On that day, ... something changed ...

--

Disorientation. "It's unsurprising, really. Such a risky op... tio-- ..." The sentence is spoken through transmission static and half-finished.

My eyes opened slowly, accompanied by a pounding headache. The light faded...

... The floor in this place is certainly dirty. Far too dirty. I stood unsteadily, wiping one of my hands on the white coat I evidently wore. Plain, but serviceable. Somehow seemed familiar, like deja vu, except it wasn't in this location... that location had... I can't remember what it had, but I should.

Except... why should I?

Irritating...

Sounds came from further down the hall. The diagnostic would have corrupted at that point, probably. They wouldn't be happy about me messing with their experiment. I couldn't think of a way to break that person out of the stasis mode in which she evidently was quickly enough...

The only solution was to run; I ran.

[HV: Random ... complete chaos.]

nanomar commentary: 1

After a few moments, a quiet blinking noise appeared in my ear...
Elsinore, seriously, what--that's almost worse than webs of letters...