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Things might have been peaceful at Bolt's world, but they weren't peaceful elsewhere. One place in particular had a lot of changes happening. The Bright Republic was in a very tight spot, and it was only getting worse. This meant tensions and tempers were rising, and things were starting to come to a head. All of it revolved around one person.
Ves Larkinson was that one person, and his name was considered hot at the moment. He was in fact considered radioactive socially. Ves had already been somewhat famous for having designed several integral mechs in the Sand War. That alone would have made him a central point in his nation. He'd accumulated fame, renown, riches. Then he'd attracted the attention of a Hexxer heiress and had his name become poison in a singular day. Worse, he'd done a design for the Hexxers, and it had proven popular. This had made him an enemy of several states and his newly poisoned reputation had tainted others by proximitiy.
To give some backstory, Ves was a Larkinson. The Larkinsons were an old military family that had served the Bright Republic since its founding. He'd heavily relied on them to help with his company, and in turn funded them significantly. The family was reputable, honorable, dutiful, and humble. They were known inside and outside the nation for being a very solid military family. They weren't unique, but honorable warriors like them were always appreciated in the frequent wars that the galaxy dealt with.
In contrast Ves was basically a product of his nation. He wasn't shy about grabbing an advantage, he had no trouble with corruption, and he could lie as easily as he breathed. The young man would happily reach for any advantage possible without a care for the blood he spilled. The only reasons he was able to work with his family was because he was charismatic, he had money, and his unique design philosophy had enough power that people couldn't disregard him. (He also did have some principles and treated family fairly, he just wasn't particularly shy about burning people unrelated to him.)
A person like Ves was frankly incompatible with many other people. He was especially against those that would try to control him, like the Bright Republic politicians. This was where the conflict started. It was also what drove the nation off the edge and into full decline.
Quickly summarized, in the aftermath of the Sand War, the Friday Coalition had room to pressure Third Rate Nations in a variety of ways. They offered a mix of bribes, threats, and outright blackmail when necessary to outright drain everything they valued out of the lesser nations. Ves was in the way of this. He'd been very reluctantly dealing with the Hexxers as a matter of survival, because a Third Rate man couldn't say no to a Second Rate woman easily, and was considered a valid target by the Fridays.
Pressure had therefore been applied to the Bright Republic. The Republic had capitulated quickly, and attempted to 'deal' with Ves in anyway possible. Ves had pushed back, violently when needed. This had escalated the problem and led to a small war of sorts between Ves and his home nation.
It should have been absurd. A Journeyman Designer had a limited amount of power usually. Ves was far from the standard designer. He gave the nation a black eye and fled while remaining very alive and very free. Part of this was because the Bright Republic was rather weak militarily due to the Sand War. Part of it was because he had a lot of favors to call in.
The actual series of events weren't particularly relevant to Bolt and his family. What was relevant was that the Larkinson Family broke in two over Ves' feud with his home. They'd been slandered in public and persecuted by the same people they'd served for lifetimes simply due to their association with him. This ongoing persecution and uncertain future caused them to flee the nation, and half of them blamed him. The other half aligned with him.
In another world they would both groups have traveled out of the sector. Here Bolt's family learned they were on the outs and offered them a home. It was a fairly safe bet on their end. Lilly could vet them, and their longstanding morality and military tradition would be extremely useful in their budding planetary government. What was even better was that they were familiar with Ves' mechs.
Bolt had cribbed a lot of his initial spiritual ideas off Ves' work. He'd long since gone his own way, but the similarities made things familiar in a way. The Larkinsons had heard of Bolt's Last Prayers as well, so the two groups communicated a fair bit and then an agreement was reached.
By this point Ves was planning his way out of the sector and the galaxy. The split in his family was regrettable in the young designer's eyes. It was not hostile, despite the circumstances. Ves, flaws and all, loved his family, and had a deep admiration for their honorable martial culture. He was the precise opposite of everything they cherished, but he loved them all the same. So upon hearing the news the designer decided to research where they were going, and ran across Bolt.
Now it has to be said that Ves was a tad myopic when it came to other designs. He tended to tunnel vision on his own mechs and ignore mechs everyone else had built. He wasn't tapped into local trends, and trusted his own design sense to prove it's worth over any fad. For the most part he'd been very right. Designers typically had a spectrum of profitability. He was at the top of it.
Bolt's designs therefore came as a shock. "What is this?" The young designer breathed out as he evaluated the designs and projected performance. "That thief!"
For a moment the man panicked. Ves had built his fortune and everything else on the back of spiritual power. He'd forged spirits from exotic materials, some sacrifices, and chance. That someone was copying his work was a serious problem. It meant he was less valuable, and several of his personal defenses hinged on it.
Then his mind caught up with his emotions. "Wait." Ves pulled up the designs and cursed mildly. "I need a physical copy of one of them." He muttered. Evaluating with just videos and reports felt like a mistake.
Fortunately for him, it wasn't hard to get a copy of Bolt's mechs. The Last Prayers were everywhere and were rather cheap to boot. Ves was mildly annoyed that the other designer had cornered a market, but comforted himself with the fact that Bolt was almost selling them at a loss.
"The mechs are alive." Ves concluded after he looked over one of them. "He did it differently though."
Ves did his work by visualization during the designing process. That was the framework and what he meant when he called a mech alive. He then used a spirit to back the mech and project power. To put it in simpler terms, he made mirrors (Mechs) that reflected light (Spirits.) It gave him unparalleled power and control over his designs, and resulted in something that was called a glow. The glows gave various mental effects.
Bolt in contrast was using spirit to sort of reinforce a concept without the spirit. It required some very fine control, but not much power. It was actually a lot more efficient in many ways, but also flawed as well. The effects would always be limited to the mech design, the construction itself was rather delicate, and the power one could push through the mech was limited by necessity. Pulling from Spirits meant that there was a large pool and so long as the mech was relatively intact, the effects would happen. Bolt's mechs were vulnerable to damage and very limited power wise. Hence the relatively anemic effect the Last Prayers tended to display.
"How should I feel about this?" Ves asked out loud. "He was inspired by my work, but he did something new with it."
He would have to re-evaluate several plans at least. He no longer had an absolute monopoly. Furthermore, could others reverse engineer his creations? If so, how easy was it? Ves spent a few minutes pondering that before deciding that he should see about adding some sort of security eventually. He would think up something later. Right now he should finish the evaluation.
Eventually Ves reached the center point of the mech. "This Heart System."
He had very mixed feelings about this component. On the face of it, it was very useful. He could tell that the thing had accumulated spiritual power. Ves could do a lot with that sort of raw power. It also fixed one of the flaws with the construction. The delicate spiritual backing was reinforced and enforced by this system. Yet it might not be compatible with his work.
Spirits powered mechs and then were powered in turn. All of Ves mechs worked this way. Spirits got stronger with more pilots. The Heart System interrupted that cycle. Mechs with this would starve the spirits.
"I could probably shift the ratio if I worked on understanding the programming." Ves mused to himself as he pulled everything apart. "This system doesn't seem to be designed to stop spirits, it's to do something else."
It was actually quite strange. It cycled the spiritual power around the mech like a circulatory system. When the mech shut down the power was pulled into the crystal. Ves felt himself becoming genuinely impressed the more he looked into it. It was novel! This was the first time he'd found someone do spiritual work with mechs, and it was completely different!
Ves didn't think it fit what he was doing though. If you removed the crystal you killed the mech. The mechanical aspect wasn't particularly useful to him either. If anything it was a negative, because it gave a physical point where the spirit would interact with. Part of Ves' strength was the fact he controlled the spirits behind the mechs, and that meant no one could use his own tools against him.
With a chuckle at himself the designer put the Last Prayer back together. "Your creator is an interesting person." Ves said to the mech. "I'd love to talk with him in person, but I don't think that will happen."
The FTL paths he'd have to take to get to the MTA portal out of the galaxy didn't bring him close to where Bolt lived. While a conversation would be productive, Ves was also loathe to give up more secrets. He didn't even know how the other designer was still alive! Ves was constantly wondering when the next assassination group was coming and he wasn't being nearly as open as the other designer. Yes, it was best to keep from meeting and perhaps steal some inspiration back if Bolt found something interesting. Turnabout was fair play after all.
Ultimately Ves found himself with mixed feelings on Bolt at the moment. He'd spend a few days pondering what the man had done, and perhaps look over the other mechs. While he resented the fact that the other man had essentially stolen his work, the new path could prove inspiring later. It was probably the first time he'd had someone that could be considered a rival maybe? Ves found himself loving that idea the more he thought of it. He'd lacked a proper whetstone to sharpen his designs on. Would Bolt be that one? Who knew?
Ves Larkinson was that one person, and his name was considered hot at the moment. He was in fact considered radioactive socially. Ves had already been somewhat famous for having designed several integral mechs in the Sand War. That alone would have made him a central point in his nation. He'd accumulated fame, renown, riches. Then he'd attracted the attention of a Hexxer heiress and had his name become poison in a singular day. Worse, he'd done a design for the Hexxers, and it had proven popular. This had made him an enemy of several states and his newly poisoned reputation had tainted others by proximitiy.
To give some backstory, Ves was a Larkinson. The Larkinsons were an old military family that had served the Bright Republic since its founding. He'd heavily relied on them to help with his company, and in turn funded them significantly. The family was reputable, honorable, dutiful, and humble. They were known inside and outside the nation for being a very solid military family. They weren't unique, but honorable warriors like them were always appreciated in the frequent wars that the galaxy dealt with.
In contrast Ves was basically a product of his nation. He wasn't shy about grabbing an advantage, he had no trouble with corruption, and he could lie as easily as he breathed. The young man would happily reach for any advantage possible without a care for the blood he spilled. The only reasons he was able to work with his family was because he was charismatic, he had money, and his unique design philosophy had enough power that people couldn't disregard him. (He also did have some principles and treated family fairly, he just wasn't particularly shy about burning people unrelated to him.)
A person like Ves was frankly incompatible with many other people. He was especially against those that would try to control him, like the Bright Republic politicians. This was where the conflict started. It was also what drove the nation off the edge and into full decline.
Quickly summarized, in the aftermath of the Sand War, the Friday Coalition had room to pressure Third Rate Nations in a variety of ways. They offered a mix of bribes, threats, and outright blackmail when necessary to outright drain everything they valued out of the lesser nations. Ves was in the way of this. He'd been very reluctantly dealing with the Hexxers as a matter of survival, because a Third Rate man couldn't say no to a Second Rate woman easily, and was considered a valid target by the Fridays.
Pressure had therefore been applied to the Bright Republic. The Republic had capitulated quickly, and attempted to 'deal' with Ves in anyway possible. Ves had pushed back, violently when needed. This had escalated the problem and led to a small war of sorts between Ves and his home nation.
It should have been absurd. A Journeyman Designer had a limited amount of power usually. Ves was far from the standard designer. He gave the nation a black eye and fled while remaining very alive and very free. Part of this was because the Bright Republic was rather weak militarily due to the Sand War. Part of it was because he had a lot of favors to call in.
The actual series of events weren't particularly relevant to Bolt and his family. What was relevant was that the Larkinson Family broke in two over Ves' feud with his home. They'd been slandered in public and persecuted by the same people they'd served for lifetimes simply due to their association with him. This ongoing persecution and uncertain future caused them to flee the nation, and half of them blamed him. The other half aligned with him.
In another world they would both groups have traveled out of the sector. Here Bolt's family learned they were on the outs and offered them a home. It was a fairly safe bet on their end. Lilly could vet them, and their longstanding morality and military tradition would be extremely useful in their budding planetary government. What was even better was that they were familiar with Ves' mechs.
Bolt had cribbed a lot of his initial spiritual ideas off Ves' work. He'd long since gone his own way, but the similarities made things familiar in a way. The Larkinsons had heard of Bolt's Last Prayers as well, so the two groups communicated a fair bit and then an agreement was reached.
By this point Ves was planning his way out of the sector and the galaxy. The split in his family was regrettable in the young designer's eyes. It was not hostile, despite the circumstances. Ves, flaws and all, loved his family, and had a deep admiration for their honorable martial culture. He was the precise opposite of everything they cherished, but he loved them all the same. So upon hearing the news the designer decided to research where they were going, and ran across Bolt.
Now it has to be said that Ves was a tad myopic when it came to other designs. He tended to tunnel vision on his own mechs and ignore mechs everyone else had built. He wasn't tapped into local trends, and trusted his own design sense to prove it's worth over any fad. For the most part he'd been very right. Designers typically had a spectrum of profitability. He was at the top of it.
Bolt's designs therefore came as a shock. "What is this?" The young designer breathed out as he evaluated the designs and projected performance. "That thief!"
For a moment the man panicked. Ves had built his fortune and everything else on the back of spiritual power. He'd forged spirits from exotic materials, some sacrifices, and chance. That someone was copying his work was a serious problem. It meant he was less valuable, and several of his personal defenses hinged on it.
Then his mind caught up with his emotions. "Wait." Ves pulled up the designs and cursed mildly. "I need a physical copy of one of them." He muttered. Evaluating with just videos and reports felt like a mistake.
Fortunately for him, it wasn't hard to get a copy of Bolt's mechs. The Last Prayers were everywhere and were rather cheap to boot. Ves was mildly annoyed that the other designer had cornered a market, but comforted himself with the fact that Bolt was almost selling them at a loss.
"The mechs are alive." Ves concluded after he looked over one of them. "He did it differently though."
Ves did his work by visualization during the designing process. That was the framework and what he meant when he called a mech alive. He then used a spirit to back the mech and project power. To put it in simpler terms, he made mirrors (Mechs) that reflected light (Spirits.) It gave him unparalleled power and control over his designs, and resulted in something that was called a glow. The glows gave various mental effects.
Bolt in contrast was using spirit to sort of reinforce a concept without the spirit. It required some very fine control, but not much power. It was actually a lot more efficient in many ways, but also flawed as well. The effects would always be limited to the mech design, the construction itself was rather delicate, and the power one could push through the mech was limited by necessity. Pulling from Spirits meant that there was a large pool and so long as the mech was relatively intact, the effects would happen. Bolt's mechs were vulnerable to damage and very limited power wise. Hence the relatively anemic effect the Last Prayers tended to display.
"How should I feel about this?" Ves asked out loud. "He was inspired by my work, but he did something new with it."
He would have to re-evaluate several plans at least. He no longer had an absolute monopoly. Furthermore, could others reverse engineer his creations? If so, how easy was it? Ves spent a few minutes pondering that before deciding that he should see about adding some sort of security eventually. He would think up something later. Right now he should finish the evaluation.
Eventually Ves reached the center point of the mech. "This Heart System."
He had very mixed feelings about this component. On the face of it, it was very useful. He could tell that the thing had accumulated spiritual power. Ves could do a lot with that sort of raw power. It also fixed one of the flaws with the construction. The delicate spiritual backing was reinforced and enforced by this system. Yet it might not be compatible with his work.
Spirits powered mechs and then were powered in turn. All of Ves mechs worked this way. Spirits got stronger with more pilots. The Heart System interrupted that cycle. Mechs with this would starve the spirits.
"I could probably shift the ratio if I worked on understanding the programming." Ves mused to himself as he pulled everything apart. "This system doesn't seem to be designed to stop spirits, it's to do something else."
It was actually quite strange. It cycled the spiritual power around the mech like a circulatory system. When the mech shut down the power was pulled into the crystal. Ves felt himself becoming genuinely impressed the more he looked into it. It was novel! This was the first time he'd found someone do spiritual work with mechs, and it was completely different!
Ves didn't think it fit what he was doing though. If you removed the crystal you killed the mech. The mechanical aspect wasn't particularly useful to him either. If anything it was a negative, because it gave a physical point where the spirit would interact with. Part of Ves' strength was the fact he controlled the spirits behind the mechs, and that meant no one could use his own tools against him.
With a chuckle at himself the designer put the Last Prayer back together. "Your creator is an interesting person." Ves said to the mech. "I'd love to talk with him in person, but I don't think that will happen."
The FTL paths he'd have to take to get to the MTA portal out of the galaxy didn't bring him close to where Bolt lived. While a conversation would be productive, Ves was also loathe to give up more secrets. He didn't even know how the other designer was still alive! Ves was constantly wondering when the next assassination group was coming and he wasn't being nearly as open as the other designer. Yes, it was best to keep from meeting and perhaps steal some inspiration back if Bolt found something interesting. Turnabout was fair play after all.
Ultimately Ves found himself with mixed feelings on Bolt at the moment. He'd spend a few days pondering what the man had done, and perhaps look over the other mechs. While he resented the fact that the other man had essentially stolen his work, the new path could prove inspiring later. It was probably the first time he'd had someone that could be considered a rival maybe? Ves found himself loving that idea the more he thought of it. He'd lacked a proper whetstone to sharpen his designs on. Would Bolt be that one? Who knew?
