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Sexy Steampunk Babes: Chapter Fifty Six
🕑 Added 2024-12-07 10:17:28 +0000 UTCWilliam shot a quiet glare in Xela’s direction as he felt the sensation of her foot sliding against his leg under the table. It had been three months since their first tryst, and in that time, he had learned one undeniable truth: she was every bit as voracious in her passions as another elf he knew.
And not nearly as inclined to subtlety.
Now, while he might have indulged her flirtatious invitation under different circumstances, such inclinations were at least somewhat stymied in his mind by the fact that said ‘other’ elf was currently sat with them. Nor was she alone. In addition to Griffith, the twins and Verity were also present.
They were ostensibly having a "picnic," though it bore little resemblance to the quaint idea that word typically conjured. Instead of a woven basket and a cozy blanket on soft grass, a full dining setup had been arranged - complete with tables, chairs, and a small army of attendants who rotated between delivering dishes and clearing them away. Guards in the livery of the Academy, Whitemorrow and Redwater hovered at a respectful distance, maintaining a watchful perimeter.
The only discernible difference between this and a formal banquet, as far as William could see, was that it was outdoors.
“Are you all right, William?” Griffith inquired, her head tilting slightly as she observed him.
“Perfectly fine,” he replied, forcing a calm smile and willing himself to ignore the amused smirk tugging at Xela’s lips. “Just a small bug crawling up my leg. I’ve flicked it off now.”
Xela’s smirk soured into a pout at the veiled jab, and she huffed irritably before joining the others in directing her attention to the "battle" overhead.
Above them, a mock skirmish was unfolding. Marline, Olzenya, and Bonnlyn were acting as enemy combatants for his pilots in training in a mock duel.
Now, it wasn’t exactly within the Academy’s regulations to allow cadets to take their shards beyond the bounds of the academy. But rules like that could be made more… flexible with a few whispered words in the right ears.
After all, what was the point in seducing one of your instructors if you didn’t use that connection to bend a few rules to your advantage?
Apparently just sex and companionship, he thought wryly.
Because Griffith had outright refused him. Which really shouldn’t have surprised him.
So, he’d gone to Yelena instead. Though at the time, he’d half-expected her to decline his request, given the tension lingering from their last interaction. Instead though, after yelling at him for wasting her time on such a minor matter, she had either decided the request was minor enough to entertain or she was extending an olive branch in the thin hope he wouldn’t burn this one.
…A thought that, admittedly, made him feel a little guilty.
“I must say, for plebians… they aren’t terrible,” Clarice murmured in a tone that danced on the edge of disinterest as her eyes followed a drake maneuvering into position to take a shot at one of the corsairs.
William followed her gaze and frowned a little. He’d done his best to give his plebeian pilots as much flight time as possible, adhering to the method modeled by the Academy’s own training regime, but at the end of the day there was no denying the stark difference in quality between the pilots overhead.
His program was merely a pale imitation at the end of the day - an "academy-lite," so to speak - and it showed.
Nevertheless, outmatched as they might have been, his people weren’t embarrassing themselves. Gradually inching closer and closer into his own team’s gun sights, but still occasionally throwing out an unexpected reversal. Indeed, as William watched, the second corsair swooped in to cover the first, forcing the drake to abort its run.
A small smile tugged at his lips at the sight.
Would his cadets ever rival the academy's elite? Probably not. But they didn’t need to. If he could knock out one plane of the enemy for every three of his that went down, he’d still be in credit. Which was why William had emphasized teamwork so much to Xela, presenting it as a counterpoint to the individualistic dueling style typically championed by the Academy. Fortunately, said cooperative approach aligned well with the Royal Navy's own methods, which meant it was a system Xela was already familiar with.
Perhaps if he had the time and the inclination, he’d have involved himself by introducing some of earth’s strategies. As it was, he saw little need to. While this world lagged behind on the technological front, he couldn’t strictly say they functioned any worse on a doctrinal level.
The ongoing transition from ships of the line to carriers amongst the new craft the Crown was developing spoke to that.
“The whole program seems like a waste of time and resources to me,” Griffith remarked bluntly, her words cutting through the ambient noise with characteristic directness.
Xela’s scowl deepened, but she refrained from speaking. As much as William knew her natural inclination would be to defend her efforts – even if she had her own issues with the program – the wood elf was also keenly aware of the hierarchy at play here.
Xela might have been an accomplished knight, she was still ultimately only low-nobility. By contrast, Griffith was a countess. And while this picnic was a casual gathering, Griffith had made it clear that she was present in her noble capacity by introducing herself as ‘Countess Joana Griffith’.
Admittedly, William knew that was less an attempt to flex her rank and more one to distance herself from her more contentious role as an ‘Instructor’, given the minor scandal surrounding her relationship with him.
Nonetheless, her aristocratic rank carried weight, even here, and that weight silenced all the dissenting voices present – with one exception.
“Joana,” William interjected smoothly, relishing the subtle twitch of her long ears at his casual use of her first name. “As much as I appreciate your sharp tongue when it’s aimed at my own shortcomings, and I do, I must remind you that the plebian pilot project isn’t entirely a result of my own initiative. Others invested time and energy as well.”
Griffith paused, before realization flashed across her features. “Not to say they aren’t wonderfully trained!” She said, flustered. “What you’ve managed with… limited resources is genuinely impressive, Dame Tern.”
Xela grunted in acknowledgment, her irritation tempered by the near apology but not entirely extinguished. Still, that was the best she was going to get.
Off to the side, the twins were clearly trying to suppress their amusement at the rare sight of Griffith stumbling over her words. William, for his part, found the moment thoroughly enjoyable. While Griffith was a formidable instructor - capable and driven – he’d slowly come to realize that said traits were less an act and more… simply how she was. Blunt.
Which meant that outside of formal situations wherein the roles were clear and the topic obvious, she had an adorable tendency to stumble over her own words. It was an endearingly human trait.
Or elven, he supposed.
“I think the project has some merit,” Marcille chimed in, the more outspoken of the twins turning her attention back to the ongoing aerial duel. “How many times have we heard stories of a mage being incapacitated, leaving their co-pilot to launch without them and their shard left fallow? It’s a rare situation, sure, but having even just one plebian pilot per ship would provide a valuable backup in the event of the unexpected.”
As she spoke, William didn’t miss the way her eyes darted over to him. He suspected the ‘encouragement’ was more influenced by a desire to impress him than any true faith in his plan.
Which was fine. It was a shit plan if you didn’t know about his artificial cores.
Engines, he reiterated at the accidental use of what would no doubt become the local term. They’re engines.
Turning his attention back to the twins, he gave them each a small smile and nod of thanks. A move that visibly pleased them.
Which was good. At this point, a formal betrothal between him and the twins was practically inevitable. Though it had to be said, the arrangement was more a matter of politics and practicality than romance. Each had something the other wanted.
They wanted military support for their bid for the Summerfield duchy – and he wanted an excuse to give said support. And the support of whichever of them became duchess in the aftermath.
Having that would turn him from a bit-player with a lot of leverage into the core of a true power bloc. One that couldn’t be ignored or dismissed.
Plenty of marriages had been built on far less. He’d dare say most were. Given a man would have multiple wives, it was entirely possible in his mind that while he might have a close personal relationship with one or two, the rest would be just… business.
With that said, there was no real reason it had to be, he supposed.
This picnic, then, was an attempt to bridge that gap. Originally, it was supposed to be an intimate outing between William and the twins, but word had spread. First Xela invited herself, then Griffith, and finally… Verity just showed up.
He glanced over to where the orc was watching the overhead duel with rapt interest. She’d not said much, or anything really, since she sat down. Likely she was intimidated by the ranks of the others present. Yet she’d sat down all the same.
It was admirable in a way. Annoying in another.
Mostly because he had a feeling the day he’d need to sit down with her for a difficult conversation was growing ever closer and closer.
Oh, nearly forgot another uninvited guest, he thought.
William’s gaze drifted toward where a "core-less" corsair sat awkwardly on a tarp in the nearby field. Rather than the hangar where it was supposed to be. The change in location was Olivia’s doing, of course. His sister had, over the past two months, developed an uncanny knack for getting her way, leveraging a lethal combination of cuteness, her perceived authority as his sibling, and a level of determination that bordered on the absurd.
One of her latest hobbies was painting art onto the finished corsairs. Of course, she normally did that in the shard hangar. Not outside, perched just close enough to eavesdrop on his meeting with his romantic prospects without appearing too obvious.
As one might expect, Olivia was not a fan of any of his romantic prospects.
Fortunately, the young girl wasn’t alone. A nervous gaggle of aircraft technicians hovered nearby, ostensibly to aid in the painting, but mostly to make sure the girl didn’t break anything in the process of applying her artwork to the shard’s hull.
Clarice’s voice pulled him back to the table. “So, when are you finally planning to sell off that stockpile you’ve been hoarding?”
William winced. Despite his best efforts to keep it under wraps, news of his workshops producing shard-frames had spread like wildfire. It was inevitable, really, but it still irked him how quickly the secret had leaked.
People were interested in any source of shard frames and as such he’d been receiving a lot of quiet expressions of interest. Quiet expressions that only continued to grow in volume the longer he continued to stockpile new frames rather than sell them.
“The Basilisk might be taking up Whitemorrow’s shard-core capacity for now,” Clarice continued, “but having a few additional frames ready to swap in for it if anything were to happen couldn’t hurt.”
“It’d also be a show of support,” Marcille added.
William shook his head with a slight smile. “When the time comes, I think we both know I’ll be able to provide a far more substantial show of support than a few replacement frames sitting in your hangar. As for when I plan to sell? Well, I want to wait until the price peaks before I part with them.”
Marcille nodded, though he could sense her disappointment. Still, her curiosity won out as she changed the subject. “I’m sure they’ll be a lot of interest. If nothing else, the novelty of the wing shape will draw buyers. Though the name…”
William grimaced. Naming shard-lines after magical beasts was the norm here - particularly flight-capable creatures. His decision to buck tradition by naming his line after a ‘pirate’ ship had raised more than a few eyebrows.
It was considered bad luck apparently. That, combined with the peculiar shape of the wings, front mounted propellers and lack of manufacturing history meant that, under normal circumstances, he might well have struggled to give the design away had he meant to proliferate it.
Which would have been ideal as it would have meant a lot less eyes on his work.
Unfortunately, in this regard, he was a victim of his own success. The ‘market’ was flush with mithril and with the brewing civil war, people were desperate for just about any frame they could get their hands on – regardless of its pedigree.
Hence the interest in his slowly growing ‘stockpile’.
“Olivia’s skill with the paintwork is undeniable though,” Clarice said quickly, sending her twin a dirty look. “I dare say that alone might draw some buyers. It certainly gives the craft a rather striking appearance.”
William once more resisted the urge to frown as he regarded the paintwork in question. He’d wanted to use camouflage initially, but the cultural expectations for shard-frames leaned heavily on bold, identifiable iconography. Like knights.
Something his sister well understood – and so did he, grudgingly. To that end, she’d been allowed to go with a rather bold red, silver, and blue kraken themed paint job that looked, to his Earth-born sensibilities, more like the handiwork of graffiti artists inspired by questionable anime tropes than a proper military design.
“It’s good branding,” Marcille said. “Still, if you want to push demand higher, why not display one at the academy? Right now, you’re just getting lowball offers because no one knows what these new designs are worth. At the very least, they seem to be the equal of the Royal Drake line.”
William laughed softly, shaking his head. “Perhaps in time.”
Though in his head he couldn’t help but wonder if he was being damned with faint praise here. The Drake was fine, but as a standardized design in a world of bespoke machines, it lagged behind in many key areas. As proven by his team’s continual loss streak against the other houses proved.
Of course, that was the Corsair-M they were observing up above. Same shape as the regular corsair. Same weight. Less guns. Less powerful guns. And a significantly less powerful engine.
Nothing like the beasts currently sitting in the Jellyfish’s hangar bays – even if they held the same outward appearance.
A ruse he wasn’t too worried about being discovered. The technology behind his designs was so advanced compared to local standards that even if a spy managed to open up a completed shard, they’d have no idea what they were looking at. At best, they might assume the engine was a device intended to enhance mithril core aether output or was some kind of offensive mechanism. A theory supported by the ‘napalm’ that was being stockpiled nearby.
He made a mental note to make sure the machine Olivia was working on was returned to the others before the day was through. The last thing he needed was for something to be overlooked and for it to be delivered to the Jellyfish without an engine.
Of course, if that did happen, it wouldn’t take him long to notice once he began performing his nightly final checks.
Checks that were most definitely needed.
Despite Piper’s team of geased alchemists improving steadily in the installation process for the engines and new guns, his final checks were still finding errors in about half of the finished designs that made it onto the Jellyfish. Luckily, his magic allowed him to correct those faults during his visits without too much trouble, but even with his "cheats," the process was proving rather exhausting.
Here's hoping it’ll be worth it in the end, he thought as one of his corsairs was ‘shot down’ overhead.
---------------------
Jonah had once dreamed of becoming a shard pilot. What child hadn’t? The idea of soaring through the skies as a mage-knight, wielding magic and steel, was the ultimate fantasy for any kid.
But for most, that was all it ever would be – a fantasy. Even if someone had the spark of magic required to become a knight, they were far more likely to end up as a mage-smith instead. A respectable life, no doubt, but it lacked the thrill and glory of piloting a shard. And even for those lucky enough to train as mage-knights and make it to the academy, there was no guarantee they’d ever take the skies. Most would end up as defenders or saboteurs. A feat to be sure, but it wasn’t… being a pilot.
For commoners, becoming that was supposed to be impossible.
Yet here he was, standing on the ground, watching as his sister soared through the air. Her metal steed roared with blue-green aether as she darted and weaved in mock combat with the lord’s academy-trained comrades.
She was doing it - actually doing it. She might not earn the formal title of ‘knight’, once she graduated Lady Xela’s program, but she would be paid a sergeant’s wage while piloting a shard.
Compared to that, what did the title matter?
Admittedly, Jonah had felt a twinge of disappointment when he learned that, as a man, he was disqualified from even applying for said program. But he wasn’t surprised. Besides, at the end of the day, it didn’t matter. His sister’s success was enough for him. Watching her live the dream was worth it. For that alone, the lord had Jonah’s unwavering loyalty—and that of almost the entire county.
“Pass me that paintbrush.”
Jonah snapped out of his reverie, handing the brush to the lord’s little sister.
As he did, he couldn’t help but marvel as she added another sweeping red-and-blue tentacle to the shard’s hull. Her artistry was impressive—the tentacles looked so lifelike that he half-expected them to slither off the metal and wrap around him.
He shivered at the notion. He knew it was a silly thought, but with mages, well, who knew?
He glanced at her as she worked. It was strange to think that this girl, who looked so much like his young cousins, could wield lightning and fire. Yet here she was, paint on her nose while she eavesdropped on her older brother and his suitors.
Jonah’s amusement only grew as he watched her huff at the conversation happening a few meters away. Despite the gap between nobles and common folk, it was comforting to see that some things were universal.
The lord, for example, was deep in negotiation with his prospective wives - discussing who got which days and what land would go to which child. The weary tone in his voice was all too familiar to the commoner, as Jonah himself had been in a similar discussion just days ago with his own suitors.
Granted, his disputes had been over sheep and chickens rather than airships and estates, but the principle was the same.
Still, as he listened, he found himself wishing the lord well - not just as a fellow man burdened with familial negotiations, but as someone who had turned the dreams of the common folk into a reality. The man had given Jonah’s sister, and countless other commoners, a chance to achieve the impossible.
To that end, he only hoped the lord would survive the storm brewing on the horizon.
And it would be a storm, given that rumors of war with the northern heathens were spreading like wildfire. No one seemed to know the exact cause, only that the Queen’s rules had been defied and retribution was coming.
…Jonah didn’t like to think about it. War was unpredictable, and while he might not see combat himself, no one was truly safe when conflict erupted.
“Pass the brush—the blue one this time,” the lord’s sister called, pulling him from his thoughts once more.
He handed it to her, trying not to let his worries linger. Hopefully, if war did come, it would be swift. Hopefully now his own sister could contribute to the end of that war. If nothing else, he hoped she’d be safer in the cockpit of a shard than stuck playing garrison duty in some castle.
“The red one this time.”
Hopefully, whatever conflict came, it would be over quickly – lest others seek to take advantage.
---------------
Kanna Velinsky, pirate queen and a woman riding the high tide of satisfaction, slipped out of her bed with the fluid ease of someone accustomed to navigating chaos. The humid air of her cabin clung to her sun-bronzed skin, her robe barely sticking to her shapely form as a result of the thin sheen of sweat from the previous few hours’ activities. Around her, the deep, steady breaths of her four lovers filled the room, each tangled in the rumpled sheets like a tableau of passion spent. The moonlight spilling through the porthole painted them in shades of silver, their dusky limbs a stark contrast against the faded white linen.
Smirking, Kanna padded across the cabin floor, the wood cool beneath her bare feet, each step a practiced silence honed from years of repeating them. Her fingers brushed the polished brass handle of the door, her voice dropping to a whisper as she cracked it open just enough to see who had just knocked.
“What is it?” she murmured, her tone sharp and commanding despite its quietness.
Her second-in-command stood rigid on the other side, her gaze immediately flicking past Kanna to the bed where the curves and angles of the captain’s lovers lay bathed in the moonlight, but she quickly snapped her attention back to the human woman. To her credit, she said nothing about the tableau, though the faint flicker of envy in her eyes was hard to miss.
“There’s been a message from the command ship overhead,” the muscle bound woman whispered, leaning in slightly. “It’s time, ma’am.”
Kanna clicked her teeth in irritation, the sharp sound slicing through the quiet. “Of course, it is,” she muttered under her breath. “Give me a few minutes. I’ll be ready.”
The door shut with a soft thud as Kanna leaned back against it, exhaling slowly. They’d been idling for days, pirates of varying ilks reduced to glaring at one another across the railings of their ships like wolves circling for dominance. With nothing to do but wait - and now, just when she’d coaxed her delectable elven ‘liaison’ into her bed, the call to action had finally come.
Her gaze returned to the bed, where the dark-skinned elf in question rolled onto her side, the soft curve of her body highlighted by the gentle spill of moonlight. Across from her, the woman’s husband stirred, his angular features relaxing as he let out a sigh that seemed designed to lure Kanna back to their tangled sheets. As did the sight of his member, still slick with her juices. A feature shared by the plush kissable lips of all three of his wives.
She groaned softly, rubbing her temple.
Later. Maybe.
If the battle went well, there’d be plenty of time to celebrate. If it didn’t? Kanna smirked at the thought. She was already wanted for kidnapping, so what were a few more numbers added to that tally?
…Assuming she could escape the watchers overhead.
Her mood darkened as her eyes found the porthole, and the distant shapes of ships hovering against the starry backdrop of the skies.
Whatever colors they might have been wearing, they weren’t pirates’ vessels, not truly. The slapdash red-and-black paint was a thin disguise. No pirate fleet - no matter how ambitious - boasted sixteen ships. Red Mary, the most infamous pirate captain in the known world waters, had only five airships under her command.
And, last Kanna had heard, the woman was on the other side of the continent.
Kanna’s lips thinned as her gaze settled on the sharp silhouette of a Lunite Courser as it swung overhead, its sleek design and angular profile impossible to mistake.
Her thoughts wandered to the possibility of things going poorly. She didn’t like her odds of outrunning a Lunite Courser if it came to it, especially with a ship loaded down with plunder - and ‘passengers’.
Meh, she’d make her decision when the time came.
“Anaria,” she said as she leaned down to shake the dark elf awake. “I think it’s time you filled me in on why exactly your employers need my ship.”
The generous pay had been enough to lure her out here, but she’d been promised the specifics of the coming operation when the fleet was ready to make the final approach, and one way or another she intended to get them now.
Comments
Marius Petrauskas
nice
Trevayne
I disagree. IMHO William doesn't have much fuel now because he has been trying to conceal his entire operation. Once he goes public he doesn't have to hide and can try to get his fuel openly. The only other known uses are for some munitions. Given that e will have royal backing and he owns the guild that produces it, I expect he can get enough fuel, or at the very least expand fuel production to meet his needs. The regular shards are hard limited by the number of mithril shards available. At a guess, they get one new core every five-ten years and that means one new airship or maybe 10-15 new shards. Yelena certainly didn't think she was going to get any new cores soon until William used the Krakenslayer to get some. William can build that many IC shards every 5-7 weeks. While it may take him a while to build up fuel to operate all of them, he is also going to be building up his pilot cadre. Assuming, he can only use half his time in shard manufacturing, that is still about 50 shards a year (2 per week for 26 weeks). In a decade where the conventional production has created 1-2 new airships or 20-30 shards, he will have 500+ IC shards.
Lurkemancer
For a shard, a mithril core is the engine; It's fuel is aether. For a plane, an engine is the engine; The fuel source is oil (or at least an equivalent). The former's hard limit is the engine equivalent, but there is no logistical drain for it's fuel requirement (besides limiting the potential pilots, at least). The latter's hard limit is the fuel production; And William has spent a solid 6 months so far stockpiling it just to not get caught with his pants down; That means that William KNOWS he doesn't have the industrial output to fuel even his planned 40 Corsairs through prolonged conflict. Now, we haven't been told how long his supplies can last by his estimations, but overall, I don't think it would last half a year. And it wouldn't last three months if he tried to fuel 80 Corsairs - Just to match your "5-to-1" ratio against a single Blackstone carrier. If they have even just one more carrier than we know about, that's two months of operational time tops for that ratio. And that is of course assuming that William somehow conjures up enough carriers to go toe-to-toe against that. Now, sure, he can potentially up his industrial output, but that sort of thing takes years to spool up to speeds where they make a difference; Meaning that for the time being, his best hope is that his stockpiles and meager production lines last. Also, losses. Any loss on William's part is him losing fuel permanently. Any loss on a regular shard user's part is the airframe and nothing else, assuming they can recover the shard; Which, given the Ashfields' innovation from his shenanigans, is going to be every instance where a pilot manages to survive getting shot down. So no, I don't think William will have some sort of unsourmountable numbers advantage. Now, his range and penetration advantages on the other hand will matter more; But it won't be the cakewalk you seem to think it would be.
Blue Fishcake
An hour or three?
JackPlague
later tonight or tomorrow?
Blue Fishcake
Beta readers have it :D
Trevayne
So what? There is a hard limit on the number of mithril core shards and airships set by the amount of mithril available at any given time. It is much rarer than earthblood. It doesn't matter if mithril shards can operate for decades if they are all shot down in a few months because they were outnumbered 5 or 10 to 1. They might console themselves that William will run out of fuel in a few years, except that he doesn't have to use all of his conventional shards once they are the only shards.
Conrad34xdsa
Great chapter My question is, has the queen been making innovations Since the end of book 1? The only thing so far has been making explosive canon rounds. Considering she now will be stockpiling those instead of needing to do magic to create similar effects. Where has the extra man hours gone? Has she (or her engineers) created a bigger spell Bolt? One that’s used to replace cannons as the ability to out shoot Your opponents ships at greater range would be a logical step from the initial hand portable model. Considering she complains that a lot of counties still use wooden ships, this could be a short term solution when the day comes for her to outfit Those counties with something more useful so they don’t have to be in the line of battle, but still participate.
mike wade
Earthbound is still a consumable and still requires some magical bullshit to make it work. It will limit the fielding of his artificial core planes depending on how fast they can produce it. A mithril run fighter core works indefinitely once installed.
Blue Fishcake
Saturday again :D
MillionLittleE
Because she invited herself to Williams harem’s date
O
I'm pretty sure in one of the chapters, it was mentioned that mithril came from meteors. So my money is on core sized lumps
CW
Something tells me that the Queen is about to have a very busy coast line.
Trevayne
At a guess, because there were only three Corsair-Ms and everyone recognized that going 4 cadets to 3 plebian pilots was unfair. I am mildly surprised there are 3 Corsair-Ms.
DMR1
Why wasn't Verity in a shard?
Trevayne
Another interesting question, is mithril mining more like gold mining or diamond mining? By that I mean does mithril get found in small bits that are melted into a mass to form a core or is it found in core seized lumps? If the former, the expected production should be known by the miners.
Trevayne
Err no. The fuel source can be expanded to the limits of the earthblood supply which is a lot more common than mithril. Also, William could eventually build to a force of a few thousand IC shards. The mithril-powered versions can not reach those numbers in anything less than several centuries, due to mithril's rarity. Any attempt to make more mithril shards quickly means taking airships out of commission and breaking up their cores.
MillionLittleE
You are forgetting the fact that the fuel source for Williams aircrafts is in fact limited, while the number of mithril is limited it last forever.
Trevayne
Thinking some more about this, William's innovations are going to dominate because the supply of conventional airships and shards is seriously limited by the supply of mithril cores. William can produce two IC Corsairs every week forever. The rest of Lindholm and the mainland are limited by how many cores they can find. It gets even worse once other mages become familiar enough with his tech to build their own engines, or at least to build 90%+ versions that William can finish at the rate of 4-8 a week, thus doubling or quadrupling his output. The rest of the world is stuck and limited by the amount of mithril they can obtain. If they want to try to match his numbers, they will have to decommission airships to break their cores up to make shard cores. Interesting question, how many shard cores can you get from a typical airship core. I suspect it is around 10-15. We know that William expected to get a shard core by taking scrapings from his airship's core and thought he could get at least 1-2 without rendering it unfit for airship use.
Trevayne
An interesting point is that William seems to have three of his plebian pilots taking on his teammates in their Academy issue Drakes. Has he actually built three Corsair-Ms so that he has three for use or are the other two plebians using regular shards? I assume that he has some of his crafts-mages filling their aether reservoirs so they can fly for 7-8 minutes. More interestingly, I wonder how easy is it to convert a Corsair-M to IC operation or vice-versa. I expect he uses the aether piping for fuel, but would have to remove all the reaction jets or shut them off. They should be removed on an IC Corsair because they are useless extra weight.
Trevayne
Err, what? I said they didn't build up their pipeline. You said that is wrong and then agreed they didn't build it up. Are you agreeing or disagreeing with my statement? I suppose you could be disgreeing by saying what they did was worse than failing to build it up. arguably they actively took it apart. Fair enough, if that is what you meant.
Atom
Technically it's not that they didn't build up a training pipeline - it's just outright wrong lol. The trainers pre-1941 are the same post-1941, and there's less of them post-1941 too. None of the veterans get rotated out to become trainers.
Trevayne
As for the production rate, since William has to do the finishing on every engine, he is limited to two IC Corsairs a week. It will take him 4-5 months to finish 40 Corsairs. He can get that many pilots in the same time, especially if he hires more mage pilots and then uses some of the first class as instructors.
Trevayne
I agree that 40 pilots isn't enough, especially if he is anticipating casualties. I expect he told Xela 40 and didn't tell her that that was just the first class. We know from multiple references that William is familiar with the WW2 Pacific theater. Anyone who studies it knows about how the IJN went from having the best pilots to cannon fodder because they failed to build up their training pipeline.
Trevayne
As for parachutes, he mentioned those to Xela in Chapter 40 when he told her he wanted her to train plan I an pilots. Pretty sure they do use them and probably everyone does. The airship crews aren't all mages capable of using flight suits, so parachutes are the only way for the vast majority of the crew to escape if there is an accident or battle damage like an uncontrollable fire.
Trevayne
The academy as a whole may have hundreds of students,but how many in each year? My guess is each year has about 1-2 hundred. All of them get basic flight training, but only about 40-80 per year become shard pilots.
MaybeASquid
The mithril corsairs and underpowered compared to what the gas corsairs are, so they are comparably trained with better equipment
MaybeASquid
Sexy steampunk is really the propeller Strangreal story we've always wanted
Luke Payne
AWACS SkyEye: AWACS here. Callsign SkyEye. Do you read? AWACS SkyEye: Your callsign is Mobius 1. We'll refer to you by this name at all times. AWACS SkyEye: You are now under my command. AWACS SkyEye: Six bombers on vector 360 confirmed. Continue north to intercept. AWACS SkyEye: Today's my birthday! A victory sure would be nice. AWACS SkyEye: Mobius 1, engage.
Mikołaj
Academy has hundreds of students. Blackstones and that other duchy get around half of that. It will be experienced pilots with slower shards vs barely trained plebian pilots with faster planes and better guns. Did William even supply parachutes or will damage to the plane be instant death sentence? He has no way of replenishing his losses because there is no training pipeline in place. How can he consider 3 to 1 acceptable losses? He should think about his pilots as irreplacable. He can produce planes faster than train pilots.
Prometheus
That's the number of pilots for the Entire Kingdom. Will is basically the owner of a fleet of 40 while being a tiny county of a freshly promoted noble. On top of that, he spun up that number in a couple months vs The several Years it takes the academy to spin up mage-knights. Altogether, the moment will pulls back the curtain is the moment every power on the continent looks at him like the Eye of Sauron turning to Frodo.
Mikołaj
I still dont understand why William thinks that 40 pilots of his is big number. Isn't Royal Academy producing more than 40 pilots each year? Even if most of them are saboteurs or have other main functions pilot skills are taught to every student. And they will still be better than his plebian pilots. Plus he needs to give at least few weeks of training on shards with engines to his pilots or it will be a disaster in battle.
Skonnchy
Airship AWACS :D
Gjim
You tease me so Blue, and now I must wait for next week.
Dancingrage
There will be a clusterfuck. Those who know Wil well enough are going to understand EXACTLY what he means when he brings that word to this world. Let the ultra trainwreck begin!
Trevayne
Another interersting question is what is the local calendar like? We see there has been a three month time-skip between the chapters. I assume that a month is like an earthly one, about 4.5 weeks. Three months should be about 13 weeks. At two IC Corsair shards a week, William should have about 26 for his carrier and backups. That is probably one of the most powerful carriers on Lindholm, depending on just how good his IC powered Corsairs are. At a guess, they are faster than regular shards and have a higher rate of climb, but they can not turn as tightly and are less maneuverable. They also have less experienced pilots, but that is mitigated by William stressing team tactics and the lower egos by not using noble mage pilots that think piloting is their right. The other big question is how are they armed? Is he actually using an engine driven compressor to produce the gas for standard shard aether autocannons, or can he adapt his spellbolt design? He would probably need to arrange a means of storing spellbolt shots so they can be triggered mechanically by plebian pilots who are not mages.
Trevayne
Interesting question, just how big are the Solite and Lunite fleets? We see the Lunites have committed at least 15 ships to this gambit. My guess is that is about 10-15% of their fleet, so they have about 100-150 ships. That is much larger than the Lindholm Royal Navy, but they can't commit it all against Lindholm because the main threat to the Lunites are their opponents, the Solites. Presumably, they also have at least 100-150 ships, or the Lunites would have won by now. The reason I am curious is to get an idea of just how much force the Lunites and Solites can spare against Lindholm. If their actual forces are 300-500 ships, they can easily back up this 15 with another 50. We know at least one of the factions sent 50-plus ships a decade or two ago and was barely beaten back by the Northern Duchies and the Royal Navy working together.
Baron Von Mott
Oh yeah, the Duchess of New Haven is on the Solite side, I'd forgetten about that. We could end up with a three or even four way fight! 😂
Trevayne
Good question. I wonder if it is just a first wave designed to throw Lindholm into chaos while another, larger Lunite fleet comes in to grab the actual foothold that the Lunites expect to use to take all of Lindholm. If chaos is the immediate objective, I expect it will achieve spectacular success.
Trevayne
I expect he might add, not only are you too young, you are my teammate. We have been so close for the last year and a half and I think of you as my second sister, an older and more adult (thankfully) version of Olivia. Edit: Thinking about it, he can expand this to the entire team. It lets Bonnlyn down easily as well as Verity, as well as Marline and Olzenya if they are ever tempted to change their minds.
Trevayne
The game is afoot. As Yoda would say, "The gambit pileup begun has." Assuming the Lunites are really going for it, the reactions of everyone else will be fascinating. The Queen's side will fight the Lunites. However, what will the Northerners do? Will they side with the Queen to defend Lindholm, or will they try to stab the Royal faction to ensure they win the civil war? For that matter, they might even split, since I doubt New Haven would want to risk the Lunites getting a foothold since the Duchess of New Haven is secretly loyal to the Solites. What a glorious mess. On top of that, it has only been three months, so things are kicking off probably a year or so earlier than the worst case estimates.
Andrew
Thank you!
Business Casual
Especially when he is going after the twins who are only something like two years older.
Isak Mark
Happy Friday everyone!
Lawrence Christian
I feel so bad for Verity. That conversation is going to be hard on them both, I think. Plus even if she knows William very well, it's going to be hard not to think that her race and rank are a factor in why he's not interested. After all, those make the most sense, in this world at least. And looking back at history, abolitionist≠not racist. Will she really accept "you're too young and I literally can't see you that way?"
Batou
As a kid i always dreamed of being a "air Pirate" after watching tresure planet. Now the only thing i battle is Excel😂 So thanks for the story
Colt Parris
*chuckles in adjacent time zone*
MaybeASquid
I can't wait for the corsairs to get some action. I wonder if William has had enough time to add radar to the Jellyfish?
22junk
Will’s team can’t perfectly replicate the engines because they don’t have his Harrowed understanding of them, and he can’t just give them a specific question to ask their Fae because he doesn’t know how to replicate his own “gentle” Harrowing. So he has a monopoly on efficient production of engines at least. Could, theoretically, someone who understood the functions of the engines create a near perfect replica through sheer persistence? If they constantly compare their own to the original and tweak it closer and closer? If not, how far from regulation can you get before things start exploding mid flight? If that’s not the case Will could decide to let this technology die with him. If he introduces the engineering advancements necessary to produce engines without mages mentally “eyeballing” it the situation will be out of his hands sooner or later.
Baron Von Mott
Damn, the Lunites are moving even before the civil war starts?! What exactly is this little "false flag" operation going to attempt, I wonder?
Baron Von Mott
* laughs in opposite time zone *
Keenan Acosta
The chapter is here. This is the reason why I stay up on Friday night.
Found&Lost
Woohoo new chapter
