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Sexy Steampunk Babes: Chapter Fifty One
🕑 Added 2024-11-02 09:06:23 +0000 UTCAbsently, as he clambered off the wing, William glanced at the line of flower shaped wax stains that had been stitched along the side of the Drake heâd just dismounted.
âSâalright kid,â the instructor called from her position in the co-pilot seat. âYou flew as well as you could. Sometimes the odds just arenât in your favor.â
William nodded seriously at the very rare show of encouragement. Instructors, as a rule of thumb, were sparing with praise and generous with criticism. Before he could dwell on it though, he was forced to shuffle out of the way as a small swarm of servants descended on the shard brandishing mops and other tools. Stepping away from them, he started walking towards the hangar.
As he did, he was a little surprised by how frustrated he was with how the last thirty minutes had gone.
Olzenya had gone down to an early head on and heâd been pretty systematically hunted down afterward. Now, if his opponents had been in Drakes, perhaps he might have been able to turn that around. Maybe. Unfortunately, this week marked the start of inter-house matches and as such his opponents were in a Harpy Three and a Firebird.
In short, the kind of high agility craft that were impossible to shake once they got on your tail.
Now, if that added nimbleness was their only advantage, he might have been able to make things work. But it wasnât. They were also lighter, more responsive and retained energy better while climbing and in turns. By contrast, the only thing Drake had going for it was a higher wing tear speed and a higher top speed in a straight line.
Which he could have leveraged to gain some distance to maybe turn things around, if hadnât been forced to keep making course adjustments to avoid long range fire. Which killed his speed and allowed his two pursuers to catch up and riddle him.
Running his hand through his hair as he stepped into the slightly cooler, warmer interior of the hangar, he mused that while this reminder of his own mortality was frustrating, it was hardly the end of the world. After all, you learned more from loss than victory, and while he wasnât entirely sure what he was supposed to learn from this particular lesson, other than the fact that his opponentâs had been flying craft which were infinitely better designed for this kind of small unit engagement than his Drake, he was sure heâd eventually think of something.
âSorry William,â Olzenya called out to him as she jogged over, her flight helmet still on but with her goggles up and mask down. âI swore I had her.â
William shrugged as he grabbed a wooden cup of water from a nearby table of refreshments. âYouâre not wrong. The Drake has better guns and armor. You should have had the advantage.â He sipped his water. âYou just got unlucky.â
The high elfâs expression was still slightly sour, but she at least seemed somewhat mollified by his words. âMy instructor didnât seem to think so. She gave me a right bollocking for pulling off such a âbrain-dead maneuverâ.â
Bollocking?
William smirked a bit at the incredibly un-Olzenya-like language. Maybe sheâd picked it up from Xela or Bonnlyn? He could easily imagine either of the two using it.
âI mean, the Academy has rules against that sort of thing for a reason,â he said carefully. âPlanes crashing into each other in mid-air is bad for their reputation.â
Healing magic could cure a lot of things, but being reduced to a puddle in a high speed aerial collision wasnât one of them.
âI wouldnât have crashed,â Olzenya scoffed in a rare show of rebelliousness.
He shrugged. âOur lessons say that against an aluminium frame, aether cannons are considered effective at three hundred and fifty meters. And while they can be dangerous at over six hundred meters, we only have so much ammo, so itâs best to save our shots until weâre likely to do more than scratch paint.â
Plus, at six hundred meters you really needed to start arcing your shots. And the travel time for said shots would start reaching the point where an enemy pilot could actively dodge the incoming rounds.
Youâd also need to worry about convergence if you were in one of the designs he was making back at Red Water, with the guns in the wings. Which meant youâd only be hitting with half your guns, while the other would be spraying off into the clouds. But given everything here had rear mounted propellers, guns were in the nose so setting a convergence distance wasnât a factor.
He shook his head to dismiss that strange side tangent â even as he made a note to remind Xela of the issue, even if she likely already knew it.
Like she already knew about wax rounds, he thought.
Last heâd checked, the woman had already got a rotation set-up to make enchanted ammo belts for the upcoming practice duels for the plebian pilots.
âYour point?â Olzenya asked, drawing his attention back to the topic at hand.
âMy point.â He coughed. âIs that in real combat, in a head-on-engagement, youâd only realistically start shooting at someone when youâre all of two seconds or so from actually colliding with them - assuming theyâre also engaged in a head on. At that range, even if you kill the pilot, shred the props and dislodge their core, thereâs a decent chance the possibly flaming wreckage of their shard is either going to miss you by the slimmest of margins as it flies past, or itâll slam into you with the force of a vengeful god. At which point, youâre both dead.â
In short, getting used to taking head-on-engagements was not a good practice for anyone.
âIâd dodge.â
He scoffed. âWhat if the enemy has damaged your flight surfaces during the head on youâve just engaged in? Itâs pretty much a given theyâll have clipped you a few times at least. And Iâd wager the first warning youâll get that your plane now turns just that little bit slower would come moments before your opponentâs slammed into you.â
Olzenya grimaced at his words and the image they presented.
He continued. âI wasnât lying before. That head-on might have been a move that advantaged you in your Drake, but head-on engagements still arenât smart. Because theyâre more likely to kill both pilots involved than not.â
Hell, shards here didnât even have the âadvantageâ of having a giant fuck off engine shaped mass of metal to hide behind when taking a foe head on. The shard-core was usually kept just under the pilot seat, so the only thing in the nose was the guns and forward aether ballast. Neither of which were well suited to stopping rounds.
âAlright. I get it,â the high elf grumbled as she turned to look at where the craft theyâd just landed in â now cleaned and with fresh cadets in them â took off again. âMaybe the old bag had a point.â She sighed. âStill, what else are we supposed to do? Canât out-turn a Harpy or Firebird. Definitely canât out climb them. Void, we canât even outpace them unless we stick to a straight line, at which point weâre an easy target even if they have to arc their shots. You proved that.â
William frowned because he didnât have an answer.
âŠOr rather, he did, and he was doing his level best to ignore it even as they ate at his brain like a million adrenaline fueled inchworms.
Detachable rocket boosters.
Turn the aether-cannons into budget spell-bolts by moving the explosion to the back of the round to act as a magical version of a chemical propellent.
Supply the team with handheld radios so we can communicate better.
Those ideas and more started racing through his mind unbidden. Like lightning across the skies of his psyche.
But he resisted all of them.
Because while they were a solution to his problem, they were⊠too much.
Too much.
People would see them and theyâd develop their own. Either by themselves or by stealing the designs. Sure, theyâd not be able to use them either way without running afoul of the stigma against stealing family-magecraft, but theyâd still develop them in private. Then use them in the upcoming civil war.
âŠAnd part of him didnât care.
It just wanted to win.
âI donât know,â he said.
Olzenya groaned.
âSo, to avoid thinking about our likely to become ongoing pasting during inter-house practice bouts, what kind of food do you think Verityâs family would like?â
âFood?â she squawked. âYou just admitted to the fact that weâre likely to keep losing and youâre thinking about food?â
William shrugged. âBetter than driving ourselves nutty thinking about a problem without easy answers. Besides, theyâre just academy rankings.â
âJust academy rankings!?â
--------------------
William had a feeling Olzenya still hadnât forgiven him for that comment even four days on.
âHuh, this is actually quite nice,â William opined as he stepped out of the carriage and into the morning sunlight.
Behind him, Olzenya and Verity made noises of disagreement and agreement respectively. Neither of which surprised him.
Located barely a few miles outside the capital walls, the land in front of him was little more than cottages and farms for as far as the eye could see.
Small farms, he noted as the trio started to walk the stone road. Just big enough for a family to support themselves while garnering a small profit each season.
Perfectly sized for retiring royal knights and their families. Or, in Verityâs case, a place to put the families of knight-trainees for the duration of their service term. Assuming she both graduated and survived the entirety of her service, the land given to her family on a temporary basis would become hers in full.
It was a very Roman approach to military service and compensation, but with a few unpleasant caveats.
For one thing, the land wouldnât be Verityâs permanently. It would belong to her family for no more than three generations, at which point said family better have produced another mage capable of garnering a knighthood or they were out on their ass.
A condition William couldnât help but note advantaged elves tremendously given that the timescale was in âgenerationsâ rather than âyearsâ. Three generations of elves could span three to five hundred years. Three generations of orcs, humans or dwarves might only take less than a hundred. And half-elves varied depending on which direction their blood was thickest.
In short, this system, while ostensibly a form of social mobility, served to favor the nationâs ruling caste most of all. Just one structural issue amongst many William intended to solve once he had enough power to do so.
âI know, right?â Verity opined loudly as she practically jogged in place. âThough, uh, Iâm sure the spot youâve picked out for my family will be just as nice, William.â
He smiled. âNicer.â
Or at least, bigger. He could do bigger. Nicer was subjective.
For one thing, the land around Redwater wasnât too kind to crops. The ground was too tough. Hence why most of the industry prior to his arrival had been in mining, hunting and sheep.
âŠHe could provide sheep. And if Verityâs family were farmers, then surely theyâd be able to figure out sheep.
âNicer, eh?â Olzenya murmured as she came up behind them. âIs that a promise youâre making to everyone who enters your service?â
Ah, heâd been somewhat curious as to why Olzenya had offered to come along. If he hadnât offered to pick up her contract, sheâd have been set to inherit a plot of land around her just the same as Verity.
And while said land was definitely a step up for a former slave, it was something of a step down for a noble daughter â even if she was something like sixth in the line of succession.
âIt is,â he assured the elf. âWe can discuss it in more detail once we get back to my estate if you want? Maybe tour around the territory to find something that appeals to you both?â
Both girls nodded with varying levels of eagerness.
William made a mental note to speak with Xela on the subject, given she had a similar deal with him. He had no idea where it was, but he knew she owned a plot of land on his territory, given to her when she was installed as interim governess. Technically, he could revoke it at some point, given said land was granted by the crown rather than him prior to his instatement as count.
At which point the Crown would be obligated to reimburse her said land from an estate here. Ironically, she and Verity could end up switching places.
Not that that would ever happen. Xela was simply too competent for him to lose, and regardless of her former affiliations, Xela had made it clear through her actions and words that she was loyal to the Redwater â and by extension him â beyond them.
Loyalty he was hoping to strengthen before long. Heâd had an idea in that direction, but he needed to air it out with Griffith first.
And the twins, he supposed.
Walking down the road, the trio passed workers laboring in the fields as Verity led them in the direction of her home. They didnât garner much interest as they walked, said workers likely used to the coming and going of Academy students. Indeed, it wasnât impossible some of the older women William could see might well have been academy students once upon a time.
To that end, it wasnât long before they found themselves before a set of otherwise nondescript wooden doors â the noise from within giving no doubt as to the presence of occupants.
âUh,â Verity said hesitantly, a feeling that had only grown the closer and closer they got to her home. âI, uh, Iâm sorry if my family is⊠uhâŠâ
It was clear she was searching for something to describe them with and coming up short.
âItâs fine, Verity.â He patted her on the arm. âIâm sure if theyâre anything like you, Iâll love them.â
He knew those were the wrong words to use the moment they left his mouth, given the way the orc flushed deeply.
Ah well, there was nothing he could do about it now. Instead of clearing up the subtle misunderstanding, he turned to wrap three times against the wooden door. It didnât take long for someone to answer, the sound of his knocking translating beyond whatever bedlam was occurring within the small cottage.
Though itâs not really that small is it, he thought as someone started to open the door. Huge families in this world means big houses.
The cottage was only small by the standards of this world, and that couldnât have been made more evident as the door opened and William came face to face with no less than four sets of eyes.
âVerity?â the slightly frazzled orcish woman standing there said, the three green-skinned children literally gripping her skirts remaining silent. âWhat are you? Oh-â
âHey Ma,â Verity said sheepishly. âIâm back for the weekend. And I brought friends. This is Olzenya and William.â
The first syllable of his name had barely left the girlâs mouth before Verityâs mother â though clearly not biologically given the older womanâs short stature for an orc â was taking a knee, her other hand forcing her children to do likewise, her flour coated brown dress brushing across the floor.
âMy lord, my, uh, greatest apologies for not saying hello with all the, uh, proper courtesies and⊠stuff.â She was clearly floundering in both surprise and attempt to speak âproperlyâ.
And if William hadnât already spent nineteen years in this world, that might have discomfited him. As it was, he was used to it.
âItâs not a problem at all, maâam,â he said softly, making sure to smile. âPlease donât feel the need to stand on the usual courtesies. Iâm not here today as Lord Redwater, but as a student and friend of your daughter.â
He knew better than to try and throw out social convention. Instead, he found it was usually better to reframe his position when talking to his social lesser.
âI, uh,â the woman said as she glanced over at her daughter, who looked faintly mortified. âIf thatâs so, then please let me welcome you to our home. We donât have much, but anything you might wish to have that is ours we can offer. Itâs only suitable repayment for the kindness youâve shown our daughter.â She paused as she carefully clambered to her feet, pulling up the youngest child with her, before hastily adding. âAnd to you as well, young lady.â
Olzenya, whoâd been slightly annoyed at being ignored in favor of him, nodded. Not that she could complain. Theoretically, she held the same rank as Verity right now â though only in theory - whereas he was a titled lord.
Sighing, Verity stepped forward, absently ruffling one of the younger girlâs hair as she did so. âWell, you heard Aunt Franny, please come in. Grab a seat at the table in the room on the left and Iâll start gathering the family.â
The older woman, caught somewhere between wanting to reprimand her daughter and glancing nervously at him, had her eyes widen at her law-daughterâs words.
âFamily?â
Smiling as comfortingly as he could, William refused to take the final step across the houseâs threshold quite yet. âJust so. While Iâd normally need no excuse to want to visit a teammateâs lovely family, on this occasion thereâs a topic Iâd like to discuss with the clan as a whole.â
The woman started to pale, who knew what kind of scenarios flashing across her mind, before Verity took pity on her and gently grabbed her arm. âItâs fine, maâ. Itâs a good thing, I promise.â
That at least, seemed to calm the woman some, trust in her daughter finally making headway against her panic at the thought of hosting a ranking noble. âI, uh, if you say so, your, uh, lordship.â
Amused a little at the way the youngest child was gazing at him with wide eyes, William just nodded as he turned to the woman.
âLordship is fine, but Count William or Lord Redwater or also perfectly acceptable.â He gestured to the room Verity had indicated. âWith your permission, may my teammate and I make use of your dining room?â
âOf course! Of course!â Franny said eagerly as she stepped back, allowing him proper entry.
Nodding in thanks, William and Olzenya stepped inside.
The interior of Verityâs home was⊠homely, or at least, those were Williamâs thoughts as he strode towards the dining room. For all that theyâd not been here long, theyâd clearly made it their own. Various knickknacks, tools and rustic toys were strewn about the place, but not in a way that suggested untidiness, merely a result of the place being lived in.
Everything seemed both worn but well cared for in a way he respected. In short, it was exactly the sort of home he imagined a girl like Verity growing up in.
âA lot of chairs,â Olzenya noted idly as she took a seat at the frankly massive table dominating the center of the room.
âYouâre an elf and a noble besides,â William said back quietly, more than aware of the curious eyes even now gathering in the doorway â more young and older kids.
The elf considered her words for a moment, before nodding as if that was a sufficient explanation. Which, admittedly, it was.
William didnât know whether there was magic involved, a lack of interest on the part of elven males, or just low fertility on the part of the elven race, but by and large elves didnât reproduce all that fast.
Not like humans, dwarves and orcs who inevitably ended up as huge clans as multiple women gathered around the few available men.
Despite that, it wasnât long before the adult members of Verityâs family were all gathered up. Sweaty from the fields and looking keenly aware of it as they sat across from him, each and every one of them looked nervous as they regarded him. A sentiment that clearly wasnât shared by the multitude of girls peeking through the doors of the dining room, whispering loudly back and forth while occasionally giggling.
âAlright, your lordship,â a woman whoâd introduced herself as Deadra said as she sat at the head of the table. âVerity says youâd like to speak to us.â
Despite being inwardly pleased at the fact the head of the family seemed less terrified than her law-sister, William would admit to being a little distracted by the man sitting next to her.
And he was a man. No doubt about that.
During his time in this world, heâd gotten if not comfortable with, then accustomed to men being less⊠manly. Not effeminate, per se, just less classically masculine. The builds were typically slimmer. Boys took less risks. Men didnât have scars.
Just⊠less manly. It wasnât like they were wearing dresses or anything.
Clearly though, Verityâs father didnât get that message.
Regarding scars and muscle, not dresses, William thought as he blanched a little at the mental image of the massive man in a dress. Is this what a man looks like who grew up without the protection of nobility in a slave pen?
Belatedly, he realized he was staring, a frown passing over his face as the behemoth of muscle opposite him deferentially lowered his gaze.
That just felt⊠wrong.
Not least of all because said deference wasnât born of cowardice. Just good sense.
Determinedly keeping his feelings off his face, he smiled lightly as he turned to the clan matriarch. âI do actually, though nothing onerous I assure. And this is an offer, not a demand or anything like that.â
Some of the tension seemed to bleed out of the room at his words, but that wasnât to say Deadra or her sister wives relaxed fully. âWe understand.â
âRight, well, I suppose Iâll just come out and say it. I was hoping to buy out Verityâs contract with the crown,â he said simply. âIn doing so, Iâd be obligated to provide her with an estate of similar quality to this or better somewhere within my own territory. And I can assure you, it will be better. In return, once she graduated she would come to serve me in a similar capacity to what she would have done the crown. Something sheâs assured me is not abhorrent to her.â
Practically enveloped at the back of the room amongst her relatives, his teammate nodded eagerly. âIt wouldnât be. Assuming abhorrent means what I think it means.â
âIt does,â Olzenya drawled absently.
Ignoring the two, Willliam continued. âTo further sweeten the deal, Iâd also be willing to extend the three generation leasing of the land chosen for your new home into outright ownership â not to be voided or interfered with by me or any of my descendants.â
Which he could see being a problem for someone in his line a few generations distant, but to be frank, he didnât give a shit. Hell, ideally his descendants wouldnât even have a claim to the land by that point, given his end goal was a democratic society.
His bit said, he waited patiently for a response.
One that wasnât forthcoming. There was nothing but silence in the room. Even the girls in the doorway had ceased their whispered gossiping.
Which was when he heard it. Growing in volume at the barest edge of his hearing.
A low whistle, one which didnât take him too long to pinpoint the origins of.
Huh, he thought. Turns out itâs her dadâs side of the family she gets the whole⊠whistling thing from.
That was⊠surprising.
âPerhaps you should pull out that cake you brought?â Olzenya whispered. âWhile Verityâs family⊠think over your proposal.â
He glanced down at the box heâd brought with him.
âOk.â
Though heâd barely reached for the clasps before a number of people started shouting at once, all thoughts of decorum forgotten.
âWe accept!â âPlease!â âThank you!â âAncestors be praised!â âPlease take care of Verity!â
-------------------
Yotul scowled as she awoke to the familiar sight of her cabinâs ceiling. Climbing out of her bed, she cursed the sticky heat that made the sheets attempt to stick to her skin.
âThis continent is no place for a free orc,â she muttered as she started throwing on her clothes for the day.
Moving through the halls of the Blood-Oath, she tried not to wrinkle her nose at the smell of passing tribeswomen. Even after being here for weeks, it seemed that not a member of the crew was adapting well to the heat. Not after a lifetime in the soothing chill of the Razorbacks.
Stepping onto the bridge, she noted the relief in her secondâs eyes at the thought of being relieved of watch.
âHow many attempts during the night?â Yotul asked without preamble.
âJust the one,â Olga responded. âThe invisible ones again, presumably, given Arkaâs claims of something trying to get into the screamer-room despite there being two orcs on the door. Two orcs who corroborate that something they couldnât see was pulling at the handle.â
âAnyone hurt?â
âNo,â the orc shook her head. âAt least, not from our side. Kraka claims she felt something when she lashed out with her spear, but no amount of shuffling found blood or an invisible body, so clearly said strike hit armor and the invisible spy got away.â The former navy woman chuffed.
Yotul shivered at the thought of what such a foe could do if they chose to stop playing âniceâ. Rumors had always persisted of invisible assassins back in the Razobacks, but most considered them tall tales used to scare young pups.
Now it seemed, they were real â albeit, not in service to humans.
âThey know the price of truly testing us,â Olga said, seeing her discomfort. âThey need the screamer for their scheme.â
Yotul nodded as she slipped into the captainâs chair. âWe can only then hope that their interest in the Kraken Slayer remains higher than that of our Screamer.â
More to the point, she hoped that their âhostsâ continued to believe that she would destroy the screamer before allowing it to fall into their hands.
Unfortunately, such a threat was rather all or nothing â and thus why their hosts continued to test her through their attempts to gain access to the device.
Though as attempts went, this one was rather clumsy. The one involving the wood elf stuck to the outer hull had been far more inventive. It was almost enough to make her believe their liaisonâs paper-thin excuse that these attempts came from a multitude of rogue elements within the royal court seeking an advantage.
The end result was that Yotul and her crew of free orcs were in a ship essentially under siege. And that would remain the case for months more.
Naturally, tempers were running high as a result of that, the heat and being so far from home.
Fortunately, while Yotul couldnât leave the ship unguarded or even undermanned, she had managed to negotiate the possibility for limited shore leave for the crew. They just needed to go in shifts.
Unfortunately, allowing her people some freedom from the Blood-Oath had helped less than sheâd hoped.
Because the Blackstones took slaves but didnât keep them. Nor did New Haven. There was too much risk.
No, they sold them.
To places like here, Yotul thought as she glanced out the recently restored bridge windows.
Outside, through the blinding sun, she could see the city of Mirahesh, westernmost city of the Lunite Khanate and gateway to the New World. Gleaming towers and sleek looking airships dominated the skies, while the city below was a riot of different colors as traders from across the known and unknown world plied their trade. Humans. Elves. Dwarves. Some manner of fish people sheâd since been informed werenât wood elves but were from some land across the sea â or under it, according to some of her other crew members whoâd crossed paths with the strange scaley people.
It was fascinating. It was beautiful. And it was horrifying. Because even from here she could see them. Orcish slaves working the docks in place of their elven masters. Loading and unloading ships. And more still would be manning the many shops and taverns that made up the trade district.
It was a stark reminder of the kind of wyvern sheâd lashed herself and the Blood-Oath too.
Needless to say, enthusiasm for her plan dipped considerably since her people had also been given that reminder. That just because these new elves werenât their usual oppressors did not mean their hands were free of orc blood.
Unfortunately, weâve little choice now, Yotul thought as she reclined in her command throne. The Empress wonât let us leave. Even if we gave her the Screamer, sheâd kill us all to keep us from spreading it to her enemies.
For better and worse, they were stuck on this path. Her only consolation was that at the end of it lay a poisoned chalice.
Until then, she still needed to work with people sheâd sooner have stabbed through the guts.
âGet some rest, Olga,â Yotul said. âJust be ready to take over command again when our liaison deigns to show himself.â
âAs you command, my chieftess,â her second said before leaving the bridge.
Watching her go, Yotul wanted to sigh. She hoped Olga got a long rest, because that would mean her own âtourâ of the refit yards would be put off that much longer. And in turn meant she could avoid having to hear her liaisonâs snide remarks as she was forced to watch orcish work gangs being whipped by uncaring elven masters as they worked on designs created by free orcs.
âFreedom. From the Blackstones. From Lindholm. From Lunites and Solites,â she murmured to herself.
Comments
Jamie Willetts
It's on reddit if you want to read it now. I think Blue needs to unlock it for tier 1 patrons.
Thomas Carr
Did we skip chapter 50?
MarakEvans
I suspect someone is whispering girl math into Blue's ear; trying to convince him that doing extra work doesn't take extra time. Kinda weird. :P
Vonbaron
Fuck yeah let the scene breathe!
The Fire Piper
Hooray for the double!
Blue Fishcake
Welp, chapter is now looking like it's going to be double length at 6k because this scene refuses to end. If I don't get it finished tonight, it'll be Sunday. Which I'd feel guilty about given I've already said Saturday... but double length chapter. Plus, I think it's a pretty fun one. As ever, thanks for your patience :D
Admiralthrawnbar
Does that make it the designated sex chapter of this book?
Borisoff72
Probably something that sounds like one of the monstrous "Deep Ones" that were mentioned in an earlier chapter.
John
huzzah!
Blue Fishcake
You're entirely correct! It's Saturday - for me at least, theoretically it might be Friday for my US readership but I wouldn't count on it. With that said, it's shaping up to be about 5k, which I think makes up for it somewhat :D
John
it's finally friday, the day we get the announcement date for the next chapter!
Blue Fishcake
'Flexibility is nice, but fuck me that's a long nose' and 'Tonight we hunt the most dangerous game of all'
O
Whoops. May bad. Yeah kracken
Trevayne
Kraken not brackets
O
The screamer is the thing keeping the brackets away from the airship while it is submerged. To do this I would assume it needs to be on the airship but it wasn't specified. It was mentioned in earlier chapters when the works of the airship help a meeting and decided to go to the empire
oichhemnie
What is the Screamer being kept in the airship? Was there mention of it before and I've missed it?
Conrad34xdsa
So Blue what is the one word hint for the themes of this next Chapter?
Conrad34xdsa
Also, I donât think it will go the way of the French revolution as that had a lot of other issues, such as mass famine, religious and moral decay leading up to the revolution. What might happen is something closer to the Chinese revolution. One where the original revolutionary wanted a American-ish style republic, but died early and all the factions started fighting causing warlords to spring up and two main factions (communist versus nationalist) to start competing. While all this goes on a imperial power invades and weakens the lesser evil and allows the villain faction to win. This does have similar possibilities for the future.
Conrad34xdsa
That, and only one of our states was founded as a prison colony,(specifically a debtors prison) unlike Australia being entirely a prison colony
Trevayne
Thinking some more about the Queen's alleged assistance on absolute power, I doubt it. I think the Queen is open to change, especially necessity-driven change. She is facing a civil war because she saw the necessity of involving all aspects of Lindholm society in building strength and the folly of ignoring orc potential by keeping them all as rebels in the wilderness or slaves on farms. The northern duchies disagreed and wanted to keep things the same. They did recognise technological change (their crystal commentators and the first purpose-built shard carrier). That said, they try hard to avoid any social change that does not involve continuing slavery. The Queen, on the other hand, was persuaded that Lindholm society needed to change and that slavery wasted too much human potential. Orc mages were working in fields or dead, when they could have been mage-craftsmen or mage-knights. An interesting question is just why the Queen decided she needed to do this. Did she come up with abolitionism as a policy by herself or did she read a book or listen to a speech by an abolitionist?
Trevayne
Err, maybe the monarch is successfully opposed, or maybe they get crushed by the secret police. For that matter, what happens if the monarch is a puppet of the senior nobles? That lets them get away with what ever they want. I think you have a rose-colored glasses view of monarchy. There are reasons why there are none remaining with real power in the developed world. While a monarchy with a good monarch can have an effective government and a good place to live, there is no way to guarantee the next monarch is a good one. Over time, they all get replaced by forms of government that are not stuck with poor leadership for the life of the monarch. At least with a democracy, you can yote idiots out.
Trevayne
The queen is currently preparing for a civil war due to (in her view) the idiocy of the northern duchies. Their embrace of slavery prevents the orcish mages from contributing as mages and keeps them condemned to slavery. This foolishness is going to render Lindholm easier to conquer by the Solites or Lunites. I do not recall any political discussions with the Queen about the benefits of other government types at all. We have no evidence that she would not be willing to accept some limits on her power as in a constitutional monarchy. AFIAK it has never been discussed. Also given the shortsighted approach of the northern duchies, giving them more power seems like a bad idea. She may well be adamantly opposed to diluting her power. She definitely wants to win the civil war first. After that is time to discuss governmental changes and we can find out if she insists on holding onto absolute power.
Scott Mitchell
I donât know guys, the Queen seems dead set on holding absolute power. Some promise of atrocity may be needed to keep her in line. That aside William we need to unlock an entire tech tree of information technology before anything like a large scale democracy will be possible. (Anything larger than a city-state) if you look at our history it wasnât until newspaper and telegraph that democracy started to occur naturally in the world. (Yes they have the orb but it will need to be scaled up massively!)
Trevayne
I agree that it is interesting and I wonder just what other secret magical capabilities exist. It looks like the Solites, Lunites, and Lindholm's royalists all have access to invisibility potions, and the northern duchies and now the free orcs are aware that invisibility is possible. Given that example of a secret capability, I wonder what other things are possible?
Trevayne
I agree that he certainly should try talking first. I think that Yelena can be reasoned with and I expect she would consider a constitutional monarchy to get more out of the citizens and to strengthen the realm. I think she would also accept that while she has been a pretty good ruler, a monarchy only provides rules for determining the next ruler. It can not ensure that the next ruler is competent. At least with a democracy, they can get rid of an incompetent ruler without having to kill them. I disagree about the harrowing pushing him towards conflict. I think his upbringing is a better explanation for his preference for action over talking.
Krzychu0304
You say that if the monarch made some unpopular decree, he would be opposed by several individual nobles, whom he could easily just kill? That's not how it works. A dissatisfied noble will hatch conspiracies, sow unrest and use passive resistance according to various royal initiatives, at the same time in such a way that it is not possible to draw direct consequences against him. At the same time, waiting for a good opportunity to stab the disliked monarch in the back, such as an ambitious royal relative or an invasion by a neighboring country. To paraphrase, a good monarch does not do such things because he knows they weaken his power, while a bad one who commits such stupidities does not rule for long. However, in a democracy, such a tug-of-war of the type "can the king tell the nobles what they can and cannot do with their men" does not occur. Being replaced by "should men hold important positions" when one part of society says "yes", the other "no" and the government sides with the larger half. To repeat this again so that it rings true; in a monarchy the issue is whether the state should regulate X, while in a democracy the issue is how the state should regulate X. This leads to democracies having a much greater tendency to extend their control over every sphere of life, compared to monarchies. Can you explain why a democratic government could not write down on the cards the will of the larger half of the people? Because honestly, I have never come across a good argument explaining it. P.S. I just now noticed that the mechanism I am trying to describe is one of the main plot lines of Steampunk Babes.
Gregory Sampson
Given the circumstances, William should probably rethink his apparent desire to eventually overthrow the monarchy. Monarchies can be democratized through reform, and it's been established that the harrowing is pushing him towards armed conflict.
Trevayne
IIRC the 3rd and 4th years deal with airship operations. I don't think the academy has any operational airships assigned, so I expect they combine classes in airship topics combined with cruises as additional crew on operational RN airships. Assuming that is true, their class rankings will only be dominated by shard battles for the second year.
Seriously
With a monarchy or dictatorship it's the luck of the draw. It is either great or terrible depending on the person. Democracy on the other hand is neither terrible nor great. It is the Prozac of governance, which is OK I guess. but this is a fantasy world with magic, he doesn't have to be bound by the 'least bad' system of governance that has worked in real life...
Seriously
Yes. even if he started out well, you know the saying. 'power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.'
Jacob
On a further note: I do like the idea that no one has come up with a successful pass-through-walls potion to get through locked doors because whoever tries just disappears through the floor and is never seen again.
Jacob
Interesting to note that the other Elf kingdoms also have invisibility potion capabilities.
Trevayne
And if the monarch just executed the rebellious nobles? It depends a lot on the relative power of the monarch. Pretty sure Louis XIV or Ivan the terrible would not be opposed by their nobles, at least those interested in their own continued existence. As for your example, while that is technically true for a parliamentary democracy without a constitution, like the British version, no the people can't just immediately change everything.
Admiralthrawnbar
Ok, but in this setting the radio also has both of those advantages. He's only used a radio once so the only people aware of its existence are his teammates, and no one can eavdrop on it because no one understands the principle behind it. That might die away in time, but short-term at least there is no benefit to the orb over the radio
Krzychu0304
Monarchy has a different power dynamic than democracy; in monarchy, the monarch imposes his will on everyone else, whereas a democratic government is the representative of the will of the people. Moving on to our example, if a monarch tried to eliminate male independence, the noble families would reject it as a scandalous and oppressive attempt to interfere in their own internal affairs. Which in extreme cases could even result in a rebellion. However, for a democratic government, it is simply Tuesday, when they write the will of the people on the pages of the law.
Trevayne
âFood?â she squawked. âYou just admitted to the fact that weâre likely to keep losing and youâre thinking about food?â William shrugged. âBetter than driving ourselves nutty thinking about a problem without easy answers. Besides, theyâre just academy rankings.â âJust academy rankings!?â How far into the semester are they? Early rankings can be compensated for and improved on by later efforts. Still, this suggests that William really needs to have a sit down with his team and discuss their goals. In their first year, he was driven to be the best because he had to get the team duel with Tala and had to win it to get out of his betrothal. What does Team 7 (presumably 7-2 now) want now and why? He can explain that he really needed them to be the best last year to get out of his betrothal. However, he is now a count and no longer has that problem. What do they want and what is needed to achieve it? Marline has already achieved her life goal with William's help by restoring her family's mithril core and landed status. She is probably still trying to figure out what she wants now. Verity wanted to improve her family's situation and William has just done that. She is also trying to figure out what her next goal is. Bonnlyn is well on her way to securing her family's future noble status. She really just needs to succeed as a marine-knight and get the associated noble status. She has also significantly contributed to her family's wealth just by being William's friend and teammate. Olzenya is the one who would probably benefit the most from Team 7-2 being at the top of the leaderboard. I think she is trying to follow William's path and earn her own title because she is sixth in line for her family's title. All in all, to misquote Mr. Morden, "What do they want?" The nice thing is that this will help William improve because he is asking them what they want before just assuming he knows and acting to make it happen. It will also get the rest of the team to think about what they really want going forwards, instead of just being dragged in William's wake. The cherry on top is that William doesn't have to ask for a geas before this discussion. He doesn't have to talk about his long-range goals at all. All he has to do is point out that while he was driven last year, he is under less stress (at the academy at least). He is certainly willing to lead the team if they want to try for the top of the rankings, but unlike last year, he doesn't desperately need them. Do they need them and if so, why? While I would love to see this discussion directly, I could deal with it happening off screen. I just think it needs to happen. For that matter, maybe Olzenya can push for it and get some character growth that way. Edit: Note, the discussion should point out that trying to get to the top of the rankings will be harder. The first year was all about individual and team combat on the floats. The equipment mattered, but it was stuff they could afford. Can they afford better shards? Even if they use better tactics with their existing Drakes, those tactics can be countered. Especially if the other team has faster and more maneuverable shards.
Trevayne
What prevents a monarchy or dictatorship from eliminating male independence either? At best, all they can do is to try to get it into law and hope future rulers will respect the law. For democracies, it depends on the government. If it is a constitutional republic, write the constitution so that it states explicitly that discrimination by gender is forbidden. Do it like the US constitutions provision on two senators power state. It is explicit in the text that even though there rules for amending the constitution, to change the senate so that states are no longer equally represented required replacing the entire constitution. That part is specifically exempted from amendment. Aside from that, given the population imbalance, there is literally nothing that could be done to guarantee that men will retain their status as citizens. The government could be overthrown or they could decide to have a constitutional convention to replace the current one and eliminate male independence.
Trevayne
In theory, the best government is absolute monarchy/dictatorship by an enlightened philosopher king who does everything right. In practice, such individuals are extremely rare. Even if you find one, at some point they expire of old age and the state now faces a succession problem. Monarchies are preferable to dictatorships because they at least have a means of dealing with the succession issue without a high probability of civil war. This is why democracies are the best real-world system because they can cope with average-quality governmental leaders and generally handle succession well. That doesn't mean they are perfect, far from it, but they are better than all of the alternatives.
John
more likely than not, whatever system william sets up will go the way of the french republics, which is now on its fifth iteration, because all the previous ones failed lol
Harrison F
Parliamentary democracy might be a better bet given the existence of an powerful aristocratic class
MarakEvans
Still, some theoretical tech could now be possible, due to the fae and aether.
MarakEvans
Nah, mate. Americans and Australians are both British Rejects. We just got a lucky spawn.
O
Gotta agree. I really enjoyed the characters reactions to things aswell as the small details in William's overall plan. Really brings us into the mind of William and those around him.
Blue Fishcake
Yep, each of the title holders remains an individual with that title - they don't suddenly become a singular entity, they just have a marriage alliance. As for the duchy, an individual cannot hold two titles of the same rank. One twin gets the duchy title and summerfield county, while the other retains the Whitemorrow county title. As far as inheritance, it'd be easy to just have the titles go down through matrilineal lines, excepting William's. His would default to his first child who would not otherwise inherit a title from their mother.
Blue Fishcake
Without getting too political, fuck the electoral college. With that said, I'm Australian. My opinion doesn't really matter :D
Art238
âŠa constitutional republic is a form of democracy. It cannot be instituted without the latter
Conrad34xdsa
I agree with and earlier statement that democracy is overrated (flawed). A Constitutional Republic would probably be the best case for William. The Ducal lands are converted into states that form their own constitution but with a supreme constitution that acts as the law of the land. He can add other things to improve the system like having a electoral college for the states so one powerful highly populated county can not solely dictate what happens throughout the state. Overall, democracy has the ability to override the Rights and Liberties of the minority. This is a massive problem if he plans on enshrining the Men with Liberty, equal rights under the law, etc⊠If William wants change to be permanent after he dies, a Constitutional Federal Republic with enshrined Rights, Liberties, with an emphasis on Clear government limitations of how to operate and what it can and cannot do. If William institutes a democracy of any form, whatâd stop the majority (women) from removing male independence after his death?
Trevayne
Assuming, for argument's sake, that William has discussed things with Griffith and the Whitemorrow twins, and Xela, so that they all agree to marry him. That would combine two counties (Redwater and Griffith) and the Whitemorrow (county, barony, not sure) in one family. That is not even counting the potential of adding the Summerfield duchy to the mix. Is that allowed and how would it work?
Trevayne
Possible, but IIRC there was an Elven Empire that ruled everything until it broke up in a civil war a couple of centuries ago. I would have expected such an empire would import lots of non-elven slaves so the elves wouldn't have to do manual labor and can use their magical talents. They should have been able to get all the slaves they wanted, of any races they wanted. Presumably, that is every race except elves. I suppose it could just come down to the orcs regarded as better for agricultural labor, and the elves use magic for everything else.
Trevayne
I agree he needs more shards and more pilots, but remember, this is not an industrial-scale war. There aren't going to be thousands of shards the way there were thousands or tens of thousands of aircraft fielded in WW2 At a guess, there are around 150-200 total combat airships on Lindholm. IIRC the RN has 36 and the northern duchies have around 60-70. Given that the normal load is about 2 shards per airship, except for dedicated carriers, there should be around 300-400 shards. The forty shards William is starting with represent around 10% of the total Lindholm shard force on both sides. If William just keeps producing more shards and training more pilots, he could have a shard force in a year or two that is superior to any individual ducal fleet and a year or so later, he could have more shards than all of the other players on Lindholm (500 or so).
Blue Fishcake
Alas, it doesn't extend to fiction. And even if it did, pretty sure a lot of Star Wars tech requires materials that don't exist in our or his current reality. E.G. Kyber Crystals.
Jon Thorn
Same. Actually said to myself, "But... cake?" as the scene ended.
Krzychu0304
A horrible thought came to me; what if William/George had a TV in his previous life? To emphasize my point; from what I understand from Harrowing, he knows the smallest details of not only the weapons he's touched or used, but every weapon he's seen, heard, or read about. And that means if he's watched Star Wars, he should know how lightsabers, X-wings, and Death Stars are built along with all the rest of that space crap...
Vonbaron
I'm glad because it's giving the story time to breath some allowing us to get more familiar with the characters. Personally I felt like the pacing of the story has been a bit rushed up to this point. Never really getting a chance to see characters interacting as people.
Krzychu0304
I come from Central and Eastern Europe (Poland) and I dare say that American democracy is generally doing much better than European democracy. In fact, the only country where democracy has turned out better than in the US that I can name is Switzerland. And if we look at history, democracy achieves fairly decent results where it has developed organically, while where it has been introduced by force, it usually results in a huge mess, corruption and some form of dictatorship, which won in democratic elections...
Blue Fishcake
I'm definitely aware of that :D With that said, we're now reaching the final section of the book, so things are coming to a head. It just so happens that this has been a long ass book so the middle has dragged a bit. I'm hoping these issues are mitigated somewhat by the book being read as a whole rather than week to week.
Blue Fishcake
As other poster stated: âDemocracy is the worst system of government, except all others that have been tried.â
Moonlightwind
I agree with you to some degree, Iâm from America so that is certainly true from my perspective, but that is not true of many democratic countries. Itâs just that these countries do more to protect their democratic process, and are not beholden to corporations who have massive sway. âDemocracy is the worst system of government, except all others that have been tried.â We are speaking from a place of privilege being so far separated from absolute monarchies and dictators, but if we look at other countries in our world that have absolute leaders, they are not good countries, so Iâd much rather live in democratic nation, even a corrupt one.
Seriously
Democracy is overrated. The most popular thing is seldem the best thing. The most popular person is *never* the best person. I don't have a better solution but smh. No one wants to hear hard truths and will not vote for things they don't want to hear. The system directly incentivizes lying, and so we have nothing but liars as politicians. Never EVER do we have our best and brightest.
MaybeASquid
Yeah! And he didn't even name the dish he served at the end of last chapter too!
O
It's not that the orcs can help them get the kracken slayer, but that it takes higher priority and thus makes the Screamer less important and not worth more effort
Jason Dortch
I need to know more about how things worked out with the whitemarrow twins. Also, William had expressed attraction to Xela in an earlier chapter. It is a smart move and would cement his rule there.
Lawrence Christian
When Will and Xela were discussing pilot training, he mentioned the Lunites and Solites are all elves, with only small human and dwarven enclaves. So my guess is that human and dwarf traders traveled from Lindholm, and brought orc slaves with them. Then started importing them once it was clear there was a market. So they've never been slaves themselves, because they're more valuable as suppliers. Or maybe some of them are, but they're used for more technical tasks and thus wouldn't be seen out on the docks. Orcs do seem to be naturally stronger, physically, than most everyone else.
Trevayne
I agree that it sounds like William is interested, otherwise why involve Griffith and the twins? They are the other candidates for marriage, Griffith because he is attracted to her and is a Countess in her own right, and the twins because of their potential to resolve Summerfield. They will be interesting because he would normally regard them as too young, but politics and their engineering abilities offset that. Most men would be ecstatic at the thought of a couple of hot twins being interested in him, but William is definitely not most men.
aj0413
What. No! You cut off the scene right when weâd get to see their reactions to the cake! I need more fluff y Verity and family time!
22junk
The legal union of racism and slavery didnât occur in America until the African slave trade was already flourishing and such laws were convenient. It could be that there are too many humans and other races in the West to make general slavery worth it but singling out orcs had public support, and the warring in Lindholmâs northern region made it convenient.
Borisoff72
âWe can only then hope that their interest in the Kraken Slayer remains higher than that of our Screamer.â How can the Orcs help them get that anyway?
Morpheus
Its Oz who is acting like she is unfamiliar. Being surprised by the table and the like. And if they knew one another I'd think there'd be some sort of 'nice to see you again' between her and verity's mom.
MikoĆaj
William needs to build industry if he wants to survive coming wars. He needs hundreds of pilots not just 40. He will lose all his 40 pilots in 3 battles and then what? Plus the moment civil war ends the queen will try to take total control.
Trevayne
Interesting society question, are orcs the only race used as slaves? It seems that most of the nations on this world use slaves, but so far we have only seen orc slaves. Lindholm is understandable because it has human aristocrats that might object, but I was mildly surprised by the description of the Lunite city where the only slaves appeared to be orcs. Maybe the orcs were upset about their enslaved people and didn't notice slaves of other races, or are only orcs seen as candidates for slavery?
Trevayne
Yes, it does look like a gambit pileup of glorious proportions. Everybody has plans. The queen is preparing for a civil war between her southern abolitionist faction and the two northern duchies of Blackstone and New Haven. They are preparing for the war as well, with New Haven also preparing to stab Blackstone in the back with the aid of the Solites. Meanwhile, the free orc rebels are trying to get aid from the Lunites which will bring them in once they have built a fleet of flying submarines.
Andrew
Thank you!
Trevayne
It will take time but it is doable. Once they capture an IC shard and observe it operating, they can figure out the general principles. For that matter, they could have someone harrow themselves with the specific questions of how does this work and how can we make more?
Larynx Punchworthy
So when William has the harrowed thoughts kicking around his brain, is it akin to hyper-fixation, where the thoughts donât go away and become somewhat obsessive, or is it more like âhey, I could fix this problem this way,â and then the thoughts go away? I know it was mentioned that the knowledge wants to be used, but I presumed it was a âwhen all you have is a hammer everything looks like a nail,â situation vs a slightly magical compulsion.
Trevayne
Err, yes and no. I agree that William's version of "radio" has more raw utility than Tala's version and is cheaper. That said, Tala's version has the advantages of being apparently point to point and thus hard to eavesdrop on and the bigger advantage of being unknown. William runs the risk of being badly surprised in the future is he assumes that his opponents can't have "radio" style communications when at least some of them do. Note, I use "radio" because it is a magical gadget and we don't know if it actually works like a conventional radio employing readily detectable electromagnetic waves to communicate. For all we know, the process of creating William's radio creates a set of point to point magical communicators that can't be eavesdropped on or direction found and do not use electromagnetic waves at all.
Lawrence Christian
"Xela had made it clear...she was loyal to the Redwater â and by extension him... Loyalty he was hoping to strengthen before long. Heâd had an idea in that direction, but he needed to air it out with Griffith first. And the twins, he supposed." Interested to see where that goes. It almost sounds like he's considering making Xela a wife? I know it's been established that the "sister wives" are generally made up of the primary's retainers, so I don't know if there's precedent for a man to add someone in of his own choosing. Not like he cares much for precedent, of course...
MarakEvans
Did her family explicitly indicate their unfamiliarity or not having met Olzenya? I figured she was so frightened by a count showing up that her brain stopped and had a hard time fully starting again.
Admiralthrawnbar
Well, Tala's version requires shaving down a communication orb (very expensive) and can only connect 2 people at a time (less capable). A radio is infinitely more useful than Tala's method, and that gap only widens as the scale of the conflict increases
Admiralthrawnbar
I'm not sure stealing the tech is even feasible. He had some of the smartest minds in the country trying to piece it together from parts for months before he showed them how it fit together, and anyone trying to steal the tech wouldn't even have that kind of advantage, they'd probably at best steal 1 finished version, and imagine trying to reverse engineer something like that when the very concept of a combustion engine doesn't exist.
Morpheus
exactly. She and the orc family should know each other.
22junk
âQuiet, tall and thick!â Bonnlyn shot back playfully. âBecause youâre as much a rival as these two. For much the same reason I know there was definitely some other reason he begged off hanging out with us last week.â âAnd that is?â Olzenya deadpanned, just wanting to get this bit over with â even if she was a little curious. âVerity asked us all to meet her family. And William over here is powerless to refuse her for anything. If whatever he was doing last weekend wasnât urgent â like satisfying the rapacious desires of a hungry dark elf.â
Morpheus
I could be misremembering. But hasn't Ozlenya been there before? I seem to remember Verity inviting the whole team to meet her family, but William couldn't go as he was gallivanting off to the bottom of the ocean with Marlene.
Kaywye
Lmao. Yes...but is it weird to think that the harem ending isn't in the cards for poor George?
BelligerentGnu
Hopefully constructive criticism, the pace of book 2 is feeling notably slower than book 1. I can't help but feel like this section of story would benefit from a few week-or-three time skips. Lots of preparation but little action. Still enjoying the story, but it's definitely lost a certain amount of page-turnerness.
Julien Fellegara
3 generations are not that bad i feel. Elf will work longer and they produce less offsprings by years. And, so, when they die in war, each death count more. So a Elf family sacrify more in the military.
BelligerentGnu
.....I mean, you do know what author you're subscribed too, yes?
22junk
OK. Fuck. So the Free Orcs traveled East to make it to Mirahesh, the Western city of the Lunites, to offer their fleets safe passage into Lindholm. The submarines mean that the most significant military power in the world, airships, can now engage in guerilla warfare along the Eastern coast of Lindholm, where before any decently protected border would have seen them coming literally a hundred miles off. The second epilogue of Book 1 showed us the Solite Empress, who revealed conquering Lindholm is part 1 of her plan to crush the âdesert ratsâ AKA the Lunites, which I assume means these are two different invasion plans and the rival powers are not cooperating even temporarily. The Solites will have the cover of the Blackstones and New Haven rebelling to attack the Western coast without any battles over open water. New Haven is theoretically loyal to the idea of rejoining the Solite empire, while the Blackstones will need to be crushed after they topple Lindholmâs monarchy, but are suspicious enough of their âalliesâ they might turn their guns around sooner. And finally, William is attempting to train a fleet of plebs to drown his enemies in shardless planes. A strategy which, even if the technology is stolen like the Spell-Bolt or the Kraken Slayer, would take way too much time due to needing a fresh batch of commoners to fill them and the pushback from more elitist nations and houses. Solites. Lunites. Lindholm Loyalists. New Haven. Blackstone. Redwater. Free Orcs. Potentially 7 distinct factions of various power duking it out at the same time depending on who learns what in time to save themselves, who changes their goals, and how seriously people take their own promises. Maybe building a nuke isnât such a bad idea after all.
Kaywye
Not to be a dunce here, but if William keeps up with the interpersonal misunderstandings he will either have a totally unwanted harem, or (more likely) a small army of reaaaaallly pissed women out to beat his ass.
Marius Petrauskas
great update, thx.
Baron Von Mott
Hooray! More goofy wholesomeness with Verity! đ And the free orcs are stuck between a rock and a hard place, running out of options... I wonder if some form of drastic action may soon be on the cards for them...
Vonbaron
Yup time to start using some WW2 era tactics.
MarakEvans
How poetic. Framing William's Offer to Verity's family directly against the situation the "Free Orcs" find themselves in. I salute you, good sir.
Skonnchy
I can tell you're a warthunder player just by the way you describe the planes attributes haha
Blue Fishcake
No.
Lei Fu
Sounds like William needs to learn the Thach Weave to overcome the Drake's issues.
Ohmps
So we have the US. I guess.
Trevayne
Another very interesting update with lots of food for thought. However, since it is 0520 here, I am only going to make one question. William mentions that handheld radios are one of the tools he could use to give his team a chance, but he doesn't want to introduce more new tech so that his side can win the civil war when he does introduce it. Did he ever realize that Tala's team had their own version?
Skonnchy
Frick yeah we love SSB đ€
MarakEvans
!
