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Sexy Steampunk Babes: Chapter Forty Six
🕑 Added 2024-09-30 08:58:04 +0000 UTC“It’s so smooth!” William’s muffled voice came from within the confines of the Basilisk’s rear-gunnery position, the bulbous pod twisting back and forth in time with his manipulation of the foot pedal controls. “And responsive.”
Twenty minutes or so ago, that kind of praise would have filled Clarice with pride. And to an extent, it still did, but said swelling only served to equal that lost by her feminine ego.
“What gave you the idea for a pneumatic control scheme over hand power?” The second year continued.
“Landing gear,” Clarice said. “Marcille was complaining about how difficult it was to move the guns about in our original design, and how limited the firing-arcs were.”
Marcille chimed in, her own voice barely audible from outside the Basilisk, standing as she was, just behind William as he manipulated the controls. “At which point one of our law-mothers started complaining about how soft our generation was and how hers had to hand-crank their landing gear up and down while trying to land.”
“Which got us thinking about how we now had pneumatic systems for that – and if they might be applicable in other circumstances,” Clarice finished.
At this point, neither twin much cared that, in showing their guest all this, they were essentially giving away the ‘secrets’ of the Basilisk’s design. Over the past few minutes they’d come to realize that William Redwater’s reputation as some kind of scientific savant wasn’t just hype. As evidenced by the way he’d been correctly able to guess at pretty much all of the methodology behind each aspect of the design just by laying eyes on them.
It was… pretty intimidating in a way. Given their role in designing the Basilisk, neither sister could be considered ‘unintelligent’, but seeing William in action has served to remind them how wide the gulf between merely ‘gifted’ and true ‘genius’ really was.
Which only made it all the more imperative that they secure his support before the Summerfield Succession Crisis truly kicked off. Never mind his cruiser, having someone of his insight aid with further development of the Basilisk design would be worth the cost of admission.
Of course, before any of that happens we kind of need him to stop focusing on the Shard for a second and notice the two hot girls all but draped over him, Clarice thought heatedly.
Unfortunately, despite the ‘show’ she and her sister were putting on for the second year’s benefit – they’d both already lost their jackets and were each down a button or two on their shirts, exposing an immodest amount of cleavage – their paramour for the evening only seemed to have eyes for their ride.
It was… mildly infuriating.
Not least of all because both sisters took some not insignificant pride in their respective abilities where the opposite sex was concerned. They weren’t first or second years. This was their fourth year in the Academy and the capital and as such were no longer blushing virgins.
Because for all that many of the noble boys around the academy were watched like a hawk by their paramours, the same was less true for those of the more common variants of masculinity one might find on a brief tour around the city.
Indeed, it was an open secret that a number of ‘establishments of ill-repute’ formed an almost perfect ring around the academy itself – catering to the many cadets who were both flush with coin and enjoying their first taste of life without the parental oversight of their family’s estates.
Fortunately for their own pockets, neither Clarice nor her sister cared much to patronize said establishments.
More than once at least, she thought with a frown as she recalled her first and last visit to one such locale last year.
Sure, she was as randy as the next woman, but all said visit had done was leave her feeling distinctly in need of a shower. A sentiment awkwardly echoed by her sister the morning after said visit.
To that end, while Clarice had nothing against the practice of prostitution in and of itself - and had never gainsaid those of her year who flocked to the places as frequently as a horse to water – she was of the opinion that the transactional nature of the thing was a poor facsimile of a proper night of passion with a truly willing body.
She smiled at the thought, even as William shifted the guns again over, requiring a bit of strategic reorientation on her part to keep her tits in his sightline.
Yes, a truly willing body was significantly more difficult to come by for even a woman of her stature, and usually involved roughly the same amount of coin, but in her opinion it was all the sweeter for the very real possibility of failure. As any woman worth her salt would tell you, a buck you hunted yourself was infinitely sweeter than any one might purchase from a vendor.
To that end, over the years she’d wooed many a man while prowling the nearby drinking establishments for lonely souls looking to indulge in a bit of whirlwind romance with an attractive noble girl with coin to spare.
Sailors. Farm boys. Serving staff. She’d carved more than a few notches into her bedpost.
In short, seduction was a skillset she’d honed.
She took some pride in that.
And she knew the same was true for her sister – though they’d long since come to the unspoken agreement to avoid whichever hunting ground the other happened to be frequenting on any given evening.
Indeed, now that she thought about it, she realized she’d never actually seen her sister ‘attempting to put the moves on a guy before’ and was more than a little surprised by how different they were in their approach.
Where she’d been all subtle comments and eyeline direction, Marcille seemed more focused on ‘casual’ brushes and brazen innuendo.
…Not that either end of the spectrum seems to be availing us with this target, she thought.
“Well, you’ve done an incredible job with it. Honestly, the Basilisk has none of the jank you’d normally expect from the first iteration of a design like this”, William continued happily.
Indeed, Clarice had a feeling her twin’s tits would be smushed against the back of the boy’s head by now if the movements of the turret didn’t make such an action foolhardy at best. She knew that, because, despite her best attempts at giving him an equally spectacular view of her own assets from his raised position, she couldn’t actually get close enough to do so without fear of being smacked by the turret’s guns.
“I’ve just one question, if you don’t mind?” he asked as the whirring of the turret’s pneumatics finally stopped.
“Just the one?” Marcille teased as she leaned forward, draping her arms over him as she pressed her assets against his back.
…Which was perhaps a bit more of an escalation than Clarice herself would have engaged in, but at this point she could hardly hold it against her sister.
“This thing is supposed to take hits, right?” he asked, seemingly utterly unbothered by the fact an older girl had practically draped herself over him.
Ignoring the hint of irritation, that flitted across Marcille’s features, Clarice nodded. “That’s the idea. Not for long mind you, just long enough to get the payload off before returning to land.”
“Aren’t you a little worried, Marcille?” he asked, turning to gaze up at the surprised girl. “I mean, as the two of us are demonstrating, it’s pretty cramped in here. A round punching through would struggle not to hit you. And with the turret positioned where it is, you’re right in the firing line.”
Marcille’s face went through a series of emotions, before she leaned forward – seduction momentarily forgotten – to tap the reinforced armored plate that protected most of the enclosure from the chest down.
“That’s what this is for,” she said.
It was a weak defense – in more ways than one – and neither twin expected the boy to buy it after the insights he’d shown already. The fact of the matter was that while said armor offered some protection, it wouldn’t stand up to sustained fire. More to the point, even if it did, any round that went through the glass above it, even if it missed Marcille’s head, had a decent chance of catching her with a ricochet.
In short, the turret was vulnerable. A fact that had kept Clarice herself up a night or two.
“Plus, it’s the most efficient spot to shoot back at an attacker,” her sister continued. “The fact of the matter is that the Basilisk can’t out-turn planes, so unless we give them a reason to break off, once they get on our tail they’ll be able to stick there indefinitely.”
Clarice expected a few responses to that statement. None of which he actually gave.
“Sure, if your sister flies like a moron.”
Both twins froze at those words, unsure if they’d just head the second year correctly.
“I’m sorry,” Clarice said, struggling not to let her irritation show. “Could you expand on that a bit?”
Uncaring or unbothered by the sudden shift in mood, the boy continued on blithely. “I mean, I’m not wrong. Am I? You said this thing isn’t supposed to dog-fight because it can’t turn. So don’t dogfight and you won’t have the issue of things sticking on your tail.”
Marcille’s eyes caught Clarice’s as the twins stared in incomprehension. Something – miracle of miracles – their guest actually seemed to pick up on.
As opposed to the hints they’d been shoving his way for the past twenty minutes…
“Look,” he said, voice still muffled by the pane of glass between them. “You said this thing is heavy. Which is why you have two cores to give it enough power to carry its payload, armor and turret. Unfortunately, more power or not, all that extra weight means it shits away energy in a turn?”
“…Yeah?” Marcille said hesitantly.
“So don't turn,” he said. “Put this thing into a dive, even a shallow one and it won't take long to reach top speed. Then just don't lose it.”
He eyed Clarice through the glass. “You just have to fly straight. Sure, some shards might catch you with a few rounds as you go past, but they wouldn’t be able to catch you.” He shrugged, tapping the armored plate. “And that would be what all the armor on this thing is for. To let it absorb a few rounds as you fly past enemy escorts.”
Clarice wet her lips as she considered his words. “So you’re saying…”
“Climb on approach. Enter a shallow dive towards our target. Make minimal adjustments on approach to maintain speed. Drop the bomb. Then just… keep going,” Marcille breathed, glazed eyes clearly imagining it. “This thing can reach, like, six hundred kilometers an hour in a dive. And it can maintain it pretty decently. Our issue was that we always lost it all the moment we started trying to fight. S'not a problem if we just... don't fight."
Clarice could see it too. And William wasn’t wrong. They'd already noted that other Shards couldn't keep pace with the Basilisk in a straight. Even when they dove with him, those other shards couldn’t retain their speed for long once they leveled out - while the Basilisk just needed to open up his two massive engines."
Absently, she heard William speaking, a wide grin on his face. “Exactly. Then you just keep going straight until you’re outside of any pursuer’s weapons range – and only then do you start pitching up again. Rinse and repeat.”
“That’s…” Marcille’s muffled voice murmured.
It went against doctrine. Shards were to either secure aerial superiority before bombing airships or make a bombing run before turning back to rearm and repair at their airship before relaunching to secure aerial supremacy.
A strategy like this? It was new. More than that, many would decry it as cowardice. Not insofar that engaging in such a way left a foe no real means to meaningfully fight back, but that in order to fight effectively with such a doctrine a shard would need to, in effect, abandon its airship while it fled the combat area.
It’d be a hard sell. Assuming said strategy even worked in practice. Because if nothing else, her time spent working on the Basilisk had shown her that theory and reality were two very different beasts.
Still… the idea wouldn’t leave her – no matter how politically unpalatable it was.
“So you think we should do away with the turret entirely?” Marcille said, drawing Clarice from her thoughts as her twin and the second year clambered out of the Basilisk. “Maybe use the spared weight to increase the bomb payload?”
For all that the girl was trying to sound analytical, Clarice knew her sister well enough to pick on the faint hints of bitterness she was trying to hide.
Bitterness that was all too understandable. The pair of them may have been twins, but it wasn’t hard to remember that Clarice was the heir. All as a result of being born but a few minutes earlier. Certainly, Marcille handled that reality with aplomb, but Clarice knew it ate at her sister sometimes.
Indeed, part of the reason the pair were aiming for the Summerfield seat was that it provided an opportunity to… rectify that issue on some level. It was far from the only reason, and Clarice knew House Whitemorrow would be pressing their blood-claim regardless of the existence of her or her sister, but it was a factor in the decision.
“Well, no,” William said, once more surprising the pair – Marcille’s downcast expression shifting to surprise. “Because battles tend to be messy and there’s no guarantee you’ll always have an altitude advantage at the start of an engagement.”
Glancing back at the machine, he continued. “As your sister said, the Basilisk can’t turn for shit. Which means that it’d be a sitting duck if you were ever caught low to the ground and slow. Sure, the double engines means you’ve got more power, and you’ll pull away from any other craft eventually so long as you fly straight, but that’ll take time. Time in which they’ll be able to cut you to pieces if you don’t have some means of keeping them honest. And all of this is only compounded if your enemy is the one to start with an altitude advantage.”
“On top,” Marcille muttered in realization. “It’d mess with the aerodynamics a bit, but I’d have a lot more metal between me and any attackers.”
Clarice’s eyes widened. “You’d also have a three sixty degree view.”
“Albeit with two blind spots where the two vertical stablizers sit,” William pointed out, his own enthusiasm rising to meet theirs. “But they’re already off center, so you could still shoot directly behind you. Just wouldn’t be able to shoot down. Which, as stated, is less of an issue for you because if someone’s below you then you already have the means to escape them.”
Clarice stared. First at the Basilisk as her mind whirred with possible changes she could make, before flitting back to William. Then to her Sister. Who was staring back at her.
And while the idea that twins had some kind of magical link was as bogus as much of the other superstitions that seemed to float around her and her sibling, the fact was that they didn’t need to speak to know what the other was thinking.
If they’d wanted William for his resources before, they needed him for his mind now.
Well, that and the cruiser, she thought.
That thought in mind, she was about to do something… reckless, when a small noise had her pause. Turning quickly, a rebuke on her tongue for whoever dared to enter her House’s private hangars at this hour, she qualled when she saw now just one of the Academy’s Instructors, but an entire squad of the Academy’s guards.
Said rebuke died on her tongue as her heart skipped a beat.
What were they doing here!? Sure, technically neither none of them were supposed to be in here after lights out, but people broke that rule all the time! Even when they got caught, most just a small smack on the wrist.
They certainly didn’t get entire squad’s sicced on them.
“Ah, Instructor Griffith,” William said, entirely too relaxed for a second year staring down an angry Instructor. “I assume ‘she’ wants to speak with me?”
Instructor Griffith, that was the woman’s name. And she more than lived up to her reputation as her scowl somehow deepened. “You’d be correct, cadet. Urgently. To that end, I’ve been sent to collect you.”
Wait, so this wasn’t about them breaking curfew?
“Well, I won’t argue, ma’am,” the boy said, taking on a more serious tone before he turned to Clarice and her sister. “Ladies, it’s been a pleasure. And I really do mean that. Alas, it seems that I’m needed elsewhere.”
Stepping in the direction of the Instructor, he paused just short. “Oh, and before I forget. I’d love to meet again to speak about the Summerfield issue. I remember you raising it before I got… distracted. Needless to say, it’s a topic of some interest to me as well.”
“Of course,” Clarice nodded nervously, glancing in the direction of the Instructor’s party. “We’d be happy to. Whatever time is convenient for you.”
“Delightful,” he said before he left, the Instructor’s and guards leaving with him.
Clarice and her sister stared after them, realization dawning that the woman had really come just for William and wasn’t sticking around to give them shit for being out past lights out.
That was… worrying. Not least of all because it suggested that whatever William was being called away for, it was above the usual rulings of the Academy.
“I don’t know about you, but I’m a little worried about who ‘she’ is,” Marcille said quietly from her right.
“Yeah,” Clarice breathed.
Because whoever ‘she’ was ‘she’ had the authority or connections to have an Instructor sent to collect William.
After hours.
…Hopefully he’d be ok, though given how relaxed he’d been about the whole thing, she couldn’t imagine he wouldn’t be.
Either way, it was time for them to skulk back to the dorms themselves given that their bribe to the door-guards was apparently now moot.
Though even as the pair of twins made to do that, both of them found their thoughts whirling with ideas and designs for the Basilisk. Nothing concrete, yet, just ideas that needed to be tested. After all, William’s thoughts, while interesting, required testing.
To that end, Clarice made a mental note to request some free flight time for the weekend.
…Maybe if they were lucky, they’d be able to entice William to come along.
And next time, Marcille and I are going to make sure that his attention is on something other than the Basilisk’s flight profile, she thought firmly.
----------------------
William looked through the window of the carriage he’d been stuffed into as it trundled through the moonlit city streets. He was idly aware that he was missing out on valued sleep right now, but there wasn’t much to be done about it. Hopefully this would prove to be a short meeting.
Fortunately, the palace wasn’t far from the academy and soon enough he was being escorted through the halls of the massive building by Griffith and a quartet of palace guardswomen.
“So, the Whitemorrow twins?” Griffith said idly as they maintained their pace. “They seemed interested.
“Jealous?” he asked.
The woman scoffed. Truth be told, she was probably a little jealous, but it wouldn’t be outstated. In this world there were always going to be other women. More to the point, their relationship, such as it was, was of the more nebulous variety.
Indeed, if one were to call it friends with benefits at this point, William wasn’t entirely sure he’d have been able to argue.
“Aren’t they a little young for your tastes?” she said.
He laughed, amused that his predictions were known to the woman even if he’d never actually spoken of them.
“Perhaps,” he admitted.
Twenty-three was on the absolute lower end of his personal spectrum after all. Still, it wasn’t as if he found young women repulsive or anything. He just hated how it made him feel like a creeper to be around them.
“Did you know they designed the ball-turret themselves,” he said, changing the subject. “Sure, it was the aid from a few other scholars in their estate, but it was mostly their own work.”
He’d been impressed by that. No doubt. Prior to that discovery he’d thought of the two young women as essentially just… tools for him to get an in with a future duchy. But their enthusiasm for Shard design had been… infectious. So much so that it was hard to see them as just tools.
It certainly made the thought of forming some kind of marriage alliance more tolerable than it might have been otherwise. Say whatever else one wanted about the two, he’d not do them the disservice of thinking of them as ‘just’ kids.
“Hmmm.” Griffith hummed thoughtfully. “That’s not totally surprising. Whitemorrow is a small house but they also have their name on a shard workshop here in the city as well as one on their estate. They’d have been all-but raised on the workshop floor.”
Whatever else William might have said to that became moot as their party came to a stop in front of a pair of imposing double doors.
“Try not to get into any more trouble,” Griffith whispered as the doors started to open. “And… good luck.”
Then he was through, the doors closing behind him as he strode toward the throne – and the woman sat atop it.
And she looked pissed.
“Do you have any idea why I’m annoyed?” the elven queen asked as he sketched a quick bow.
Yes. Definitely.
“Nope,” he lied, head still bowed. “If anything, I’d have thought you pleased. After all, the problem presented by my family is now resolved. Bloodlessly I might add. And much quicker than the two year deadline you presented.”
Which still somewhat surprised him. The bloodless bit, that is.
“Possibly,” Yelena allowed. “Or perhaps, now that they’ve been tipped off, the problem of your family has now escalated beyond my or your ability to resolve. Indeed, there’s a decent chance that, as we speak, your sister is being placed into a two-seater shard along with one of your treacherous aunts and will soon be headed North. Beyond your reach and mine.”
…That was entirely possible. After all, just because he hadn’t thought his mother was lying when she claimed to believe his threats of what would happen if she attempted such, didn’t mean she actually did. Given they were talking via orb, she’d have known the Queen was listening so it was entirely possible she was lying to buy time.
Not that it would help. After all, his last visit home had shown Olivia’s future betrothal to be an imminent threat to the queen’s rule. And while there weren’t so many invisible agents that she could have positioned one everywhere, she certainly had enough to place at least one near his sister.
“All because you went over my head and risked the fate of our entire nation to warn your family of a threat they themselves created through their treasonous actions,” Yelena finished.
He nodded, acknowledging the point. “Except we both know there’s no way your people would let my sister board a shard unexpectedly. Unless you think that your invisible watchers in Ashfield territory are so incompetent that they’d not consider my sister being bustled into a shard in the middle of the night sufficient criteria to fulfill whatever contingency plan you have for her.”
Yelena stilled at the rather unsubtle accusation there.
“You don’t know that I have people watching your sibling.”
He nodded again, head still down. “No, but given the threat she presents, if you didn’t have people in place to watch her, I’d say you kind of deserved to fail. And so would I for trusting you.”
“Have a care for your tone, William. Greater men and women have been beheaded in this hall for less than you’ve done today.”
Finally he raised his head, regarding the queen dispassionately. “If that is your decision, then I implore you, bring out the headswoman’s block. I’ll wait.”
Yelena said nothing, regarding him coolly. When she spoke, it was less angry and more… calculating. “And the possibility that I might do that very thing does not worry you?”
He had no idea what she was getting at, but he answered all the same. “It’s more that I know that the contingency I put in place to keep such a thing from happening is still a factor in our ‘negotiations’.”
Yelena blinked slowly. “The recipe for explosive powder? The one I already have? As a result of the last time I chose to spare your sister’s life?”
He acknowledged the point, before continuing. “And your enemies don’t. Something I imagine you’d prefer to keep that way.”
Again, the monarch seemed to regard him. “Very well. Since threats are pointless, I will speak plainly. Do you know why I am annoyed?”
He did. “I went over your head to warn my family of your knowledge of their plans. In so doing, I undermined your authority and might possibly have given them cause to transport my sister north, where you will be unable to reach her and thus will have no means of keeping her from seizing the Summerfield duchy in time.”
“Yes,” Yelena said. “So, given you understand that much, why didn’t you speak to me or Griffith about this plan before you undertook it?”
He cocked his head. “Because you’d have said no if I asked? And you’d have been right to. As I said, from your perspective, warning my family is an unnecessary risk. Hells, the only reason she’s still breathing is her importance to me – and my role as a strategic asset to the crown. If it weren’t for that, she’d already be dead.”
The queen hissed as she massaged her temples. “And here I was somewhat hoping that I’d have an opportunity to dress you down for being a short-sighted fool. But no, the reality is worse.” She eyed him. “Do you even realize how much worse it is that you understand all that and did it anyway?”
He shrugged. He’d given his reasoning.
The queen actually groaned. “What am I to do with you William? Brilliant inventor or not, I can’t have a subordinate who undermines me, blackmails me, and shifts the balance of power in the realm on a whim.”
Once more he shrugged, though his tone was at least apologetic. “With all due respect, your majesty, I don’t really see what choice you have. You need me. Or at least, what’s in my brain.”
She laughed humorlessly. “I can’t argue that. We finally finished installing your ‘radios’ onto those royal ships chosen for them, and the captains and admirals that have been sworn in on them can’t praise them enough. My daughter included.”
There was a hint there, but given his lack of reaction, she moved on. “Between that and the Kraken Slayer enhanced munitions we’re now churning out, the war situation is looking a lot less dire.”
William resisted the urge to snort. Less dire wasn’t the same as ‘good’. It was just that.
Less dire.
And perhaps that was good for him because if the Queen didn’t need him he had little doubt she’d have done away with him. Perhaps not in the biblical sense, but a shotgun wedding and house-arrest was amongst the kinder possibilities.
Fortunately for him, while explosive shells were useful, it wasn’t like the locals didn’t have them already. One just needed to enchant a cannonball with fireball or lightning spells. Sure, said enchantment would initially be one third as potent as said spells, but that just meant you needed to layer the enchantment three times for the same effect.
Then repeat that a dozen more times and soon enough you’d have a shell capable of blowing holes in the armored hull of even a steel framed ship.
…Of course, even a single layering of enchantments would take up the spell casting capability of a mage for a few days – just to make just one cannonball with that capability.
Which was exactly what most ‘combat’ mages spent their days doing when they weren’t using said spell slots to train. No, most combat mages spent their time enchanting munitions for the next war.
Indeed, while not quite on the level of their airship or shards, a house’s stockpile of enchanted munitions was usually its next most valuable asset. Which made sense, given that it was oftentimes the result of generations of work.
He frowned as he recalled his own house’s stockpile. Hundreds of rounds. More than enough to see the Indomitable up-armed for at least a few battles.
The sad fact was that while his gunpowder munitions did away with the ‘mage’ bottleneck and would theoretically allow the queen to keep lobbing explosive shells long after the other houses were reduced back to solid shot, that advantage didn’t mean much if she lost the war before things even reached that stage.
All it would take would be a few good battles and the North would be able to reach the capital.
And while that dynamic might change if he raised the idea of using said explosive powder to propel munitions further than compressed aether could, he really wanted to keep that in his back pocket for the day when the Queen was less an ally against slavery and more of an obstacle to democracy.
“I’m glad to hear it,” he said finally.
Yelena continued to stare before she sighed. “It’s late. I’m tired. Consider this your last warning William. I can tolerate some degree of rebelliousness in return for a talented subject, but there is a limit. Pray you do not find it.”
It was a non-threat and they both knew it. Still, William said nothing, as he stood up and turned to leave, the dismissal obvious.
Still, as he stepped through the outer doors, a thought did occur to him.
If his mother had been truthful when she agreed to send Olivia to him and not North, would she know to do so via ship or carriage rather than something more… alarming?
Like a shard.
…He should probably get to an orb to make sure she knew that. He’d hate to have to commit regicide because of something as silly as a mistake.
Fuck me, I’m never going to get to sleep tonight, am I? He thought as he resisted the urge to break into a jog.
Comments
MarakEvans
Sorry, Blue. Too sleepy. Will catch the post later...
Ohmps
As the story has established though, he isn't quite doing the realistic thing. As seen with his plan for his sister and what actually worked out.
MarakEvans
She laughed humorlessly. “I can’t argue that. We finally finished installing your ‘radios’ onto those royal ships chosen for them, and the captains and admirals that have been sworn in on them can’t praise them enough. My daughter[s?] included.” *unsure if only one singular daughter of the queen is working with the radios*
Bunten44
there goes my lint I guess
MarakEvans
“Did you know they designed the ball-turret themselves,” he said, changing the subject. “Sure, it was [with] the aid from a few other scholars in their estate, but it was mostly their own work.”
MarakEvans
He laughed, amused that his [predilections] were known to the woman even if he’d never actually spoken of them.
MarakEvans
Rereading this chapter again. That thought in mind, she was about to do something… reckless, when a small noise had her pause. Turning quickly, a rebuke on her tongue for whoever dared to enter her House’s private hangars at this hour, she qualled when she saw [not] just one of the Academy’s Instructors, but an entire squad of the Academy’s guards.
MarakEvans
*is refreshing*
MarakEvans
!
Blue Fishcake
Beta readers have it :D
Random Information
22junk - Your analogy with parents is interesting because absolute monarchs often described themselves as the father or mother of the nation. But this is a feudal monarchy, which is much more like a dysfunctional family with a nominal head of the family and lots of squabbling children. And my point is that he is really not breaking the rules. The main rule of feudal systems (I think) is to support your liege when he (or in this case she) calls for it in time of war. Every thing else is negotiable, often coming down to customs or personal relationships. That's why it is such a bad system. The thing I like about Blue Fishcake's writing is exploring different civilizations but gender-reversed. But it is always difficult though to break out of our present-day mindset in evaluating scenarios. Yes, William's actions may be wrong to our viewpoint, but I don't think anyone would even blink in a feudal world.
MarakEvans
3kWords/7days= 428.57 words/day At the old rate, you should take 11.66 days to write 5k words. Consider yourself overworked... by +66% of your old 7 day writing work. Edit: We appreciate it, but don't burn out for it.
Drunk Pop-Tart
I thought it was longer when i read too! I read this chapter and thought i was reaching the end like 3 times and it kept going, in a good way.
Trevayne
Interesting question, what is the status of literacy and printing in Lindholm? Do printing presses exist and how literate is the population? My guess is they do exist and despite the medieval aspects, I expect literacy resembles late 18th century or early 19th century Britain. While ignorant on lots of topics, I don't think they had to teach Verity to read and her family were slaves. In addition, in one of the early chapters William mentioned reading a student handbook or pamphlet that was in each of their desks. I doubt they would exist if they had to be hand-copied.
Trevayne
Aside from just shooting the saboteurs using flight suits and shard pilots, how do you concentrate the casualties among the mages? An airship could have several hundred in its crwew of which maybe 10 or so are mages. If it is shot down, most of the casualties will be non-mages. Aetherconnon balls enchanted with lightning and/or fireballs will those they hit or who are within the blast radius. If anything, a mage's defensive spells like stoneskin might give them a better chance to survive than a non-mage.
Trevayne
Good point. On the one hand, subordinates/allies that can think and use their own initiative are a treasure, but if they don't tell you what is going on, it may interfere with your own plans and actions. In the worst case, you can wind up working at cross purposes and doing the enemy's work for them.
Blue Fishcake
I can do this :D Next week I might just do a shorter chapter so I can get back to standard. (The last two have been a bit over 5k, when the old 'standard' was 3k)
MarakEvans
Or... hear me out... 8 day release schedule. Eventually you will get to a Friday release AND less stress. Sound good?
Vonbaron
Legit my main concern
22junk
I would think that “don’t reveal valuable info to my enemies” would be understood. My parents never told me not to secretly drive their car to my friend’s house when I was 14 but they still punished me for it. The fact of the matter is William is not the ruler of the nation, but he is making decisions that can impact the whole country and he knows the queen won’t like. Not to mention he’s only getting away with it by threatening to arm traitors who would usurp the queen and butcher her family, which is in of itself treason. You can argue about the ethics of having a monarchy or being born into fealty without your own consent, but this is the system he’s in and he’s breaking the rules. I’m sure ego is part of her anger, but so is fear of what he’ll do next. And given what we know of his state of mind and future plans she’s not wrong to be. Everyone loves the movie’s rogue hero who has no time for paperwork and plays by his own rules because we can see into their head and know what they’re about. In real life those people are a nightmare to work with, and doubly so to be responsible for.
Jacob
Yeah, but they've shown they're willing to betray the queen in the first place, so.......
Isak Mark
I have a similar pet peeve, full democracy doesn't make sence as a goal. Democratic monarchy like the one which was established in England with a house of lords is more realistic
andreas
Well as long as we know you have pulse we will manage to entertain ourselves till the next chapter;-)
Blue Fishcake
Sorry if I've not been particularly active in the comments this week :D Chapter should be out on Sunday - with us slowly clawing back to Friday!
Blue Fishcake
Chapter should be out tomorrow, putting us one day closer to clawing back Friday. As for my health, I'm surviving :D
Random Information
I still don't like the explanation for the Queen's anger at William's diplomacy with his family. A key line is this:- "I can tolerate some degree of rebelliousness in return for a talented subject..." But William isn't a subject is he? I'm not an expert on feudal systems, but William is a Count, which makes him a vassal not a subject I think. He has his own private army and ships, and can engage in limited diplomacy so isn't he well within his rights? I have a fix for this. If William had been ordered not to tell his family by Yelena, or this [not telling] was part of their prior agreement to spare his sister's life, then Yelena's actions would sense.
Borisoff72
Fortunately, given the specific roles that Mages play in combat, it would be possible to concentrate casualties among them.
andreas
Regardless of the pressing question of release date: How is your health doing? Still bad/better/all good?
Trevayne
I doubt that, not because he isn't ruthless enough, but that level of casualties would ensure the Solites or Lunites just roll over Lindholm at their leisure. Pretty sure he isn't doing what he is doing just so he can try it again on a higher difficulty setting.
JR9364
I'm slowly beginning to suspect that Williams plan is to ensure that the civil war has ww1 level casualties, so that there isn't enough nobles to fight back against any reforms he wants to push.
Carl Philip Steuch
Education and civic engagement is the name of the game when it comes to introducing democracy. Imposing it on a population that have no connection to those ideas have rarely gone well. Maybe he could ask for leadership of the Blackstone’s territory and the orcish after the war as a protectorate under the crown, then implement an advisory assembly of elected representatives of the groups of interests under him. Gradually increase that assembly’s responsibilities while he focuses on industrialization and spread the word of the benefits of the system to the country at large, buy off or convert other territories, then start putting the vice on the queen; become a constitutional monarchy, and be remembered as the leader who willingly gave the people freedom and democracy, or begin a civil war against someone with a major technological edge. Honestly, he could probably do a lot now by introducing a better printing press, making it easier and cheaper to make books, and therefore incentivizing higher literacy rates and all that follows from that.
Trevayne
That is an interesting idea. I wonder if he could set up a deal where the orcs join Lindholm as a democracy run by an elected duke-equivalent. That would let the orcs be the testbed, work out some bugs, and let the rest of Lindholm get used to the concept without a French Revolution style reign of terror.
Vlad Cold
Overall, giving democracy to people who don't know HOW to live without nobles is generally a bad idea, historically... So it won't fly in the queendom without a LOT of education and propaganda. Among free orcs, though...
Bunten44
I bet my best lint on monday
Trevayne
I agree that they are sen as traitors now. That said, Yelena might let the Ashfields rise further in the future, once the Blackstones have been dealt with. The Ashfields are a threat because of what they can do for the Blackstones. By themselves, they are a dime-a-dozen county with one airship and two shards.
Jay
The Ashfields are traitors, that includes Olivia. Yelena will never trust them, nor will she ever allow them to gain more power than they currently have. There's too much risk that the Ashfields will decide to side with the Blackstones to gain even more power and favor.
The Fire Piper
It's hype time! It's hype time! Will Williams sister be dragged kicking and screaming from her comfortable home to Williams man cave? How about those twins eh? Will they fall head over heels for William because he's smart and sexy? Are we gonna see a Corsair soon? How about flying lessons? Are there flying combat drills coming? We will find out maybe soon? Could be Sunday!? Monday!? Who knows?!?!?!?!? On SEXY STEAMPUNK BABES!
The Fire Piper
Good point!
Brandon
I might be missing something, but is anything stopping William from pressing the Summerfield claim on his sister's behalf instead of marrying another claimant? After she is under his protection?
Trevayne
Thinking some more about William's solution for his Olivia problem, has he thought it through? What keeps Blackstone from trying to kidnap Olivia from Redwater? Especially since they might even spin it to Olivia as a rescue to foil her brother's interference with her chance to be a duchess. I expect the Queen will need to beef up the agents keeping an eye on William at his estate. After discussing it with William, she could send over some guards openly under the guise of instructors for the household troops William is raising. I expect William would be OK with that, as long as it was prearranged and they are significantly outnumbered by his own people.
Trevayne
…Did it really matter who won the Summerfield Ducal Seat at this point? Of course it did! The thought was like lightning through his brain. Sure, he couldn’t fight the Blackstone fleet over the seat now, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t an opportunity here. An opportunity to both gain an ally and place them into a position of considerable power. All he had to do was help his chosen candidate beat out the other contenders – of which his sister now wasn’t. Assuming William's ploy to get his sister away from the Blackstones works, how can the Blackstones continue to involve themselves in the Summerfield succession? IIRC to be involved, a house either has to have a claimant or needs a marital tie to the claimant. Unless they have a claimant, the Blackstones can not openly interfere with their fleet, unless they want to annoy all the other nobles who get upset at someone interfering in their successions. This suggests that Blackstone either continues to try to get Olivia, probably by kidnapping her, or they try for one of the others, either by offering a lot to Morrowfield or Plumgarden. They might conceivably have a claimant of their own, probably a male bastard. The heir would have a weaker claim than any of the others, but a stronger claim if married to Olivia. On the other hand, a weak claim can be the strongest if all the other candidates are dead.
Trevayne
I agree that the Crown is not supposed to interfere with the succession of noble titles. That said, the Crown is not supposed to openly interfere with the succession. I am pretty sure that assassinating Olivia would be an example of covert interference. However, William telling the Queen that he has his own plan to ensure the next Duchess of Summerfield is not a Blackstone ally would help. He isn't asking her to interfere, he is asking her to let him handle it. The only assistance I think he wants is any information the Queen has on the players.
Lurkemancer
The Royal Crown in general has no business poking around the succession processes of it's subjects (unless requested by all parties to act as a mediator), as that would very quickly undermine the authority of the Crown on the grounds that it has discarded the autonomy it promises to it's nobility. Because while the nobles serve the crown, they have near complete autonomy within their own borders. To the point where they could arrest royalty within their own lands; Now, sure, it would come with trouble later on, but they do have that right. And the Crown messing around with that autonomy would be seen as them curtailing that, which would lose them basically any and all support for the upcoming war (in this instance). The only times the Crown has the authority to intervene is if there are absolutely no successors or when the succession struggle deadlocks the nation too much and/or too long, resulting in long term stability issues.
mike wade
She can't legally interfere with the succession. I'm pretty certain if she tried, the blackstones would immediately take advantage
Conrad34xdsa
One thing that I’m surprised hasn’t come up would be informing the Queen his current plan to remove his sisters claim by installing someone else. I think if she knew that she would be more forgiving of his behavior
Trevayne
I don't think Will can mage-smith his way to an ICBM. Heck, I am not sure the maps are accurate enough to target it, even if he could build it. I doubt he is going for nukes anytime soon either. Does anyone even know about Uranium's existence yet? Assuming he can get his hands on some, how does he enrich it without killing himself?
Conrad34xdsa
Doesn’t mean you have to introduce one long-term. Just do one like what you did with the POV chapter of the palace guard. Quick reflection of the world at large, reflection of other characters, introduce a few plot hooks and a revelation that she is the spy in the palace.
Lurkemancer
"He laughed, amused that his predictions were known to the woman even if he’d never actually spoken of them." This has a bit of a continuity error to it, as back in chapter 16, he all but confirmed to Griffith that he's into "women" and didn't bother to deny being a "cougar-chaser".
Dancingrage
And Will wakes up and chooses technology and violence. Sex might be in there somewhere with the violence, but nothing like the hyper fixation on finding an excuse to bring out a bigger gun. I mean, he's got the Fat Man in there somewhere, maybe some of the more recent ICBM or cruise missile versions.
Ollie Fairweather
The magna carta was imposed by nobles so you can build levels of democracy top down it just takes longer. A parliamentary system makes more sense in this story, you aren't going to strip the nobles of their power without it being a very bloody affair.
Andrew Lechner
That's fair, maybe have the youngest one start attending the academy? Unless they are all adults already?
Blue Fishcake
It's been on my mind for a while, but I'm worried about bloating the cast too much.
9 o’clock
When will we get to see one of the queen’s daughters?
Blue Fishcake
I too remember the trailer for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare :D (Not that I disagree... but I'm just the author.)
Spintool
You can’t force democracy on a population that doesn’t understand its significance, democracy was only achieved in the west because of the enlightenment. Without that important step where the people start to understand the importance of human rights and liberal ideals like tolerance than democracy would be impossible. America has been trying to shove democracy in cultures that don’t understand those ideals and it hasn’t been working
Allen Mainville
> “It’s all coming together!” And if the sisters get their way, so will they.
Borisoff72
MAges, though, are in positions where mage craft has nothing to do with qualifications for the position. Remember that stupid elf sea captain from the first few chapters? Clearly, some sailor pleb could have done that job better.
Baron Von Mott
> shares mutual interests/talents with the twins > fully recognises the value of having them as allies > most importantly, they're just about old enough for him to actually be interested phsyically *Oh Yeah, It's All Coming Together!*
Trevayne
I suspect they do have some refined petroleum products in the form of their alchemical version of Greek Fire. I think that is crude oil alchemically treated to be even more flamable. I don't think they use refining and distillation the way we do.
MASC
Due to culture clash and magic along with the amount of bloodshed that would occur, wouldn’t it be more feasible for Will to try to implement a constitutional monarchy with figurehead nobility as the best approach towards developing democracy? A pure democracy doesn’t seem possible or sustainable in the current time period of the world. Depending on the popularity of the current regime he may get little to no support from the masses if he tries to launch a violent revolution. (That will get the ones he loves killed) Also if he removes the monarchy and he eventually dies a Napoleon, Cromwell or Stalin situation would likely occur due to how long lived the elves are who would likely have older generations of elves with greater motives to sabotage any fledgling democratic system. A good amount of the population of the world are elves/half elves with long lifespans who seem to get set in their ways & would see no semblance of a monarchy as a travesty; plus they are very proud of their magical bloodlines & linages so they would oppose to the bitter end over centuries the idea of no nobility. People don’t realise how much death, destruction and chaos occurred in the French revolution. He would be more likely to get himself killed if he goes down the French revolution route. Lastly a majority of the people he knows or have some form of relationship with are part of the establishment and would have a hard time agreeing with his radical ideas of a pure democracy.
MarakEvans
Kraken scales have anti magic properties. Partially why they nest near aether Cores. Tingly scale scratches. Likely, most "magical" methods were thought moot and labeled deadends.
costochondritis
hmm, so this chapter really made me think of a possible plothole - if things can be enchanted to explode, then why did nobody else think of making a "kraken slaying" enchanted weapon by dropping a big thunder enchanted rock or whatever in the water before Will did it with blackpowder?
Blue Fishcake
Fixed, thanks :D
Redacted
He wouldn't even need to do that, if he can prove that she did it, the nobility would depose her right then and there. No civil war needed.
Isak Mark
@Trevayne true, but it's hard to put what technologies already exist we know they have advanced piping and knowledge for pressure systems but not much else is known. Like they have aluminium through some mage, other random 'advanced' technology through harrowing. But we don't really get a full picture of what is available. Like they have refined petrol products to some extent.
Trevayne
Here is the section. It is mostly talking about shards and personal combat. “Since the first magical contract positioned the mage as the queen of the battlefield, the defensive capability of combatants has consistently been outpaced by that of their offense. Certainly, some breakthroughs like that of Kraken scale armor championed by Houses like New Haven have made to shorten the gap between the shield and the spear, but that is all they’ve achieved. A shortening. And rarely for long.” The woman’s hand came down to the side-arm at her hip. “As evidenced by the invention of the bolt-bow as a direct counter to anti-magic. A weapon which, as I’m sure you all well know by now, is perfectly capable of piercing anything short of plate armour at under a hundred meters. And at ranges far beyond that with the newly developed Spell-Bolt.” More than a few eyes made to turn in his direction at the dark elf’s words, but they didn’t linger long as Griffith roared. “Eyes front!” Every head present snapped back to the front with enough force to give the owners whiplash as their instructor continued. “This universal truth of offense being more potent than defense is even more true for shards. " The problem with all of this is airships are described as ironclads with thousands of tons of armor. Even just an inch or so is going to be hard to defeat with shells fired by giant airguns. They actually built some in OTL, but conventional guns tended to hit harder and had three times the range. I expect they have to get in close and batter their opponents into submission. Ships aren't killed by single lucky hits, but just cumulative damage, unless the saboteur gets to the core. So far, the ship-to-ship combat sounds like the age of sail in 3D. Hits going through gunports or jamming shutters shut will slowly impair the target ship's ability to fight. IIRC the last big battle against the Solites only took out about six ships from each side, but the Solites were unwilling to risk heavy, apparently permanent, losses.
22junk
It was mentioned 2 chapters ago that weapons have always outpaced armor. Maybe enchanting a cannonball with lightning propels it, and it’s the fire spells that make it explode. Or maybe it’s just easier to compromise the armor by aiming for gaps like the gunnports? Would a manufactured hole in a wall of metal be enough of a weak spot to overcome the speed issue? I don’t actually know if aiming for that small a target with a canon is feasible. Or maybe the answer is simply “air soft guns can’t crack steel, but this is aether, bitch.” If they have jet packs and can float ships it must be a hardcore gas. I’m a bit out of my depth with these physics discussions, but sinking ships must be possible or there wouldn’t be a graveyard out in the middle of the ocean.
Trevayne
Possible, but I thought they were all supposed to be 18, and Verity's sections don't mention much about a prep school. The team sections do mention having to bring Verity up to speed on some things, but IIRC they were mostly things about the school and noble background stuff.
Trevayne
The problem with this interpretation is that there are elements that can rise. Mages that do we;ll can rise from peasant to noble. Merchants whpo do well can become wealthy enough to effectively be nobles. Lindholm is not nearly as stagnant as pre-Revolutionary France.
Morpheus
"a quarter of palace guardswomen." should that be "quartet"?
Trevayne
I still think he would back the Queen over Blackstone because she opposes slavery, but as soon as the war was won she would be a dead woman walking.
Trevayne
I don't think he is there yet. The only technologies he has used IIRC are gunpowder bombs/mines, radio, gramophone, spell-bolt guns (rifles with a magical firing system), and the interruptor gear. More has been implied in his thoughts, but these are the only technology items that have seen use. Edit: I fully expect him to introduce high explosives, but the only one we have seen used so far is gunpowder. For that matter, he might start by introducing a smokeless powder-style propellant. That would let him send shells using gunpowder farther without introducing true high explosives like TNT or RDX.
Vlad Cold
TBH, heavier planes generally gain speed faster/higher in a dive than lighter of similar geometry, because of square-cube law in conjunction with aerodynamics. Also, they HAVE to go faster, having generally higher stall speed.
Trevayne
I have seen a lot of speculation about his being a fighter pilot, but no evidence. There is a reference to previous experience as a pilot on Earth, but that could have been military, civilian, or commercial. As for WW2, that is unlikely. He apparently died at 78 and if his death was in 2024, he would have been born in 1946, so way too late for WW2. Even if we assume a cumulative age of 96 (18+78), that still means he was born in 1928 and would still be too young for WW2.
Luke Payne
It would be the death nail of her chances of winning against black stone. As soon as his sister dies, all of William's support for the Queen dies. He allows Blackstone to win the civil war, and figures things out from there. Or alternitively, says fuck it, brings all of his knowladge to bear and takes the whole continent for himself.
Luke Payne
rule britannia intensifies
Luke Payne
Become? Our man is already ungovernable.
Luke Payne
Likely the latter. Especally with a slave, they need only be litterate enough to follow instructions.
PalindromeJoe
William has always had all of George's ideals (that being an American WW2 veteran pilots memories) but he mentioned that it would be easier starting off with the issue of slavery, before moving onto bigger tasks such as the institution of democracy, or getting rid of elf-privilege.
Floplays
dam, i kind of expected a "and u dont want me to maybe stay for a little longer..." line, but he seems to need sleep
notreal name
I really hope the queen survives, he could perhaps convince her to shed some of her power and set up a parliament. This place could really use a parlament. Get the nobles looking at each other and the PM spot, rather than looking at her head.
Trevayne
There is a mention in chapter 43 that he can't take over a country with a single county's troops and one ship. "Now that Tala wasn’t leaning over his shoulder, he actually had an opportunity to make some inroads with the other nobles here. Which was good, because his eventual plans would require at least some degree of support from others. Because like it or not, he couldn’t conquer an entire country with a single county’s worth of troops and a single airship." It doesn't say why he would be doing this so it could have been to him thinking he would need to do it to get rid of slavery. We now know it looks like a contingency to install democracy, but it could have been to defeat the Blackstones after a Royalist defeat. I don't think there was any previous mention of democracy.
Trevayne
Thinking about it, I wonder if that would be an amusing justification for William to take up the Queen's offer and marry into the Royal family. That way he has plenty of time to convince them that his point of view on democracy being a better system is correct. A monarchy with a good ruler can be a good system. The problem is that there is no way to ensure the follow-up rulers will be good ones. I would love to see a political discussion between William and the Queen regarding the merits of the two governmental types and how she thinks she can avoid the consequences of a bad heir.
Trevayne
The thing is the Blackstones can counter the Queen's invisible agents and may also have their own. If they have their own invisible assassins, why can't they kill 2-3 heirs? For that matter, why are the Blackstones on a timer? They don't know that the Crown is getting stronger beyond the ability to commission a few new ships based on the recovered cores. They could have moved already except that William's defeat of Tala cast some doubt on their competency. I expect they will move in about two years, whether or not they can get Summerfield on their side. They will certainly be encouraged to go by New Haven, because they are hoping for costly battles between Blackstone and the Crown's forces that weaken both sides. This serves New Haven because they are actually working for the Solite Empress.
Isak Mark
Is William using nitrogen based explosives? If so making feralizer and selling that as well is the logical thing to do.
22junk
Killing every single candidate secretly from across the map would be challenging, and now that Ashfield is (supposedly) abandoning the cause there’s no point. As for marrying into another family and trying the same strategy, it may be that other contenders for the seat aren’t as flexible with their honor. Perhaps house Ashfield originally approached them and offered them some sort of insurance. The Blackstones approaching an unknown with threats and promises this close to the finish line might be too risky. Plus now that the conspiracy is blown open the Queen will be trying to counter every move they make, and she’s a lot closer.
Business Casual
It was stated to be an infant William that asked the question, so I'm sure it was a straightforward/simple question not necessarily about slavery. Also, I think democracy, or at least a change of system, has been mentioned before. He said something about having to focus on other changes first because trying to totally upend the way the world worked wouldn't go well for him.
Trevayne
One thing I missed from the description of William's visit with the twins and his subsequent conversation with Griffith is any sense he was aware of just how hard they were trying to flirt. Was he really oblivious until Griffith mentioned it? It seems unlikely, but it also seems unlikely that William did not experience a couple of inner chuckles at how hard the twins were trying to get a response from him while he was not reacting. Especially since he had announced a previous plan to interfere with the Blackstone's plan to get Summerfield by going after it himself. To do that he needs to be betrothed or married to a claimant. Now maybe he has decided to listen to Marline's advice and not do it, but while his discussion with his mother has taken his sister mostly out of the firing line. It still doesn't prevent the Blackstones from making another try for Summerfield. They just need another candidate and could try to get Plumgarden or the twins. For that matter, what stops Blackstone from just killing the twins and Plumgarden? That makes Olivia the heir by default. If they think she will side with them anyway, what does William do now? Lots of potential drama here.
Trevayne
"Fortunately for him, while explosive shells were useful, it wasn’t like the locals didn’t have them already. One just needed to enchant a cannonball with fireball or lightning spells. Sure, said enchantment would initially be one third as potent as said spells, but that just meant you needed to layer the enchantment three times for the same effect. Then repeat that a dozen more times and soon enough you’d have a shell capable of blowing holes in the armored hull of even a steel framed ship." Rereading this, that isn't how explosive shells work against armor (unless you are talking about shaped charges). They don't just explode against armor, damage it, and eventually get through. To be effective, they have to be fired at sufficient velocity, the shell hits the armor and penetrates it, and the explosive goes off inside the armor. Just look at the first battle between ironclads. Both sides fired lots of shells at each other and accomplished nothing much, aside from one shell from the Virginia that exploded against the Monitor's conning tower and temporarily blinded its commander. Given the aethercannon (giant air gun) technology, I doubt they can fire shells at sufficient velocity to actually penetrate significant armor. That suggests that William's idle musing about taking his cruiser against several Blackstone ships is not that unrealistic. There are two innovations he could use that would make his ship much more effective. The first and most obvious is to install improved guns using gunpowder or other chemical propellants. These could fire explosive shells at higher velocities where they would actually penetrate the armor. That could be done with something like a Parrott or Dhalgren gun using black powder. Shifting to smokeless powder could allow similar armor penetration at even greater ranges, beyond those where an aethercannon can hit. If he also invents telescopic sights and improved fire control, he could hit the Blackstone ships outside their own range and slaughter them. The other innovation he could introduce is a shaped charge. That would allow explosive shells fired from aethercannon to readily penetrate the armor on other airships. It probably would not kill a target, immediately, because the shaped charge jet would just ignite flamables inside the armor, but the fires could be fought. If he could come up with a tandem charge where the initial charge blows a hole in the armor for the second charge to go through and explode inside, he might be able to kill an opposing ship with a few hits.
Borisoff72
On the other hand, you could just say that this world operates on Aristotelian physics.
Trevayne
Thanks. Is it more like Iceland or more like Athens? I am interested because I am trying to figure out what kind of existing democratic concepts he has to work from and how much he has to build from scratch. From a meta-perspective, William's anti-slavery attitude has been there from chapter one. Was creating a democracy there too, or did you and thus William decide to add it later? I can understand William adding it to ensure slavery stays dead and doesn't re-emerge after he is gone.
Blue Fishcake
Dwarven Homeland(s) have a 'citizen' democracy.
JaxonJak
Queen: Stop being so unruly, it's harder for me. William: BECOME UNGOVERNABLE!
Trevayne
Question, does this world have any democratic traditions? We know the eleven empires do not have plebians, since everybody is a mage, but I expect they are still monarchies. Are there any places like Iceland, which had a democracy for several hundred years before the US? Are there any historical examples like Athens or the Roman Republic? I appreciate that neither of them was a democracy, they both came closer than feudalism.
Trevayne
Since this was the first mention that William wants democracy in addition to ending slavery, I hope he has given it some more thought. Ending slavery is much simpler since it can be imposed by force from above. Democracy is much harder, although I expect that the freed slaves will be very interested in William's political ideas. One selling point he could use with the Queen is that it is even harder to waste human potential in a democracy. This means a Lindholm that is a democracy has a better chance of resisting the continental empires like the Solites and Lunites.
Borisoff72
I think you misunderstand the implication of the post. Like Will, Napoleon hated the monarchy not because of democratic principles (though his brother Lucien did), but because it was run by an outmoded, inbred, arrogant elite that believed that its devinely ordained birthright trumped ability and merit. (Though Lindholm's dynasty isn't as degenerate as the Bourbons were, yet.) As very capable people, neither Will nor Napoleon can/could abide this state of affairs (recall William's snide thoughts about elves in the first few chapters). It means that Will absolutely can never be reconciled to heriditary monarchy. However, it also means that even if he can't admit it to himself, he probably has no intention of allowing his grand vision to be compromised by squabling democratic politics.
Trevayne
It will be interesting to see what he comes up with. I doubt there will be a Senate, because there are no pre-existing state/colonial governments. However, there probably will be something like a House of Lords, because there certainly are pre-existing feudal structures. For that matter, we have very little information about how the non-nobles feel about their society. I would expect cruel and/or uncaring aristocrats are despised by their subjects and the ones who do a better job for their populations might be liked. We just haven't seen that many characters from the peasantry. I do think things are going to be different than OTL historical attitudes because there is more built-in social mobility. If one is a mage born as a serf/peasant, they don't have to stay a peasant. They automatically become a yeoman/free townsman equivalent and can rise into the nobility.
BeanerOO
Remember the Hollow stuff? He's driven to specifically *use* his knowledge. He'll get to use a lot more if he has to fight the Queen. If he can become a true friend to the Queen and get her behind the idea, she would be an invaluable asset in affecting that kind of change. I mean one of the most central tenants is the peaceful transfer of power. Having the Queen onboard would be a symbolic win to say the least...
BeanerOO
It would fill me with a certain grim, if doomed, hope if this democracy put in place managed to correct some of the mistakes the USA's founding fathers made in their designs. Forget the Senate, only proportionate representation in some equivalent of the House in which districting is done away with in favor of a popular vote with the # of winners proportionate to the region's population? Builds space for more than 2 parties and incentives for representatives who actually try to do their damn jobs lol
Trevayne
That is a really good question. Thinking about it, I expect it was still more getting rid of slavery. I don't see how a toddler could ask a question that would get a Fae to think that the memories of a democracy-supporting weapons engineer were the best answer. Although, from the Fawe perspective it might have been the most entertaining answer. For that matter, given that we have seen William's perspective on eliminating slavery several times over the course of the story and this is the first mention of democracy, I wonder if the priority is still eliminating slavery and democracy is being put in place to prevent backsliding. That way no future Blackstone can try to reverse things.
mike wade
I love will, but damn doesn't he wake up and choose violence. You got be certain kind of special to reference the French revolution as your future prospects.
Blue Fishcake
Ha. Haha. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. :D
mike wade
Will should really use his talk no jutsu on the queen to convince her of the merits of democracy. The woman genuinely dislikes her job, she'd probably be thrilled to set up a monarchy/ democratic system. Or maybe he just wakes up with revolution on his hyper-fixative mind, and nothing will even cross the narrow tunnel that is his vision.
Andrew Lechner
Iraq, Afghanistan, the 1st couple French republics, much of Latin America and Africa. In these countries, democracy was imposed either through conquest or through an revolution originating from a counter-elite. This resulted in a lack of buy-in from the general population, which deeply hurts their legitimacy and allows for non-democratc transfers of power to be more acceptable for the populace.
Lanze
I think you have "predictions" instead of "predilections". An easy mistake to make!
Jonathan Gibbons
Galileo had to actually do more to factor air resistance out of his experiment design than just "same shape"; he needed two objects heavy enough to not get close to terminal velocity but of sufficiently dissimilar weight to show the relative lack of effect. It's not that heavier things always fall faster, it's that being heavier gets you closer to the acceleration of gravity without air resistance and substantially increases your _terminal_ velocity. The tower drop experiment was not measuring terminal velocity, it was measuring acceleration over a distance - terminal velocity for those objects would have taken something like a kilometer of fall distance to achieve. A plane, on the other hand, is starting much closer to it's terminal velocity and brings much of that speed into it's dive. Added to that, a shard can be lighter-than-air depending on it's ballast tank fill level - if the other shard's doctrine is suboptimal, it could weigh the same as a feather in air and not get anything at all from a dive. On the other hand, a much heavier airframe and deliberately emptying the ballast tank before the dive could be very effective.
mike wade
She can still threaten to assassinate her. She still has some fuck of invisible assassins. Though that would end poorly for her.
O
I also enjoy that you didn’t jump straight into the fact that the basilisk is a great in a dive, but hinted at that a few chapters earlier.
Jonathan Gibbons
Mass absolutely factors into freefall speed, the important number is the weight to drag ratio. A spherical balloon and a cannonball of the same geometry fall at different rates in an atmosphere, to get to the "gravity makes things fall the same" you have to take two kinda-heavy things where one is much heavier than the other and observe that they are fall very similarly. Mass doesn't have much impact on level flight, though, because _that's_ the drag to engine thrust ratio.
O
I appreciate you keeping things within the realm of possibility. So few people do that.
Mikołaj
Now after we learned that William wants to introduce democracy I wonder what wish was the harrowing starting point. To make the world a better and more equal place? To give power to the weak?
Horan
France, only until the tird republic started to educated its youth into the "roman national" that the regime stabilised. The first and especially the second failed because of it wasn't from the bottom. Even if the second also failed because it immediately alienate part of the population (city wirking class and socialiste) as soon as the power was overthrown.
Jonathan Gibbons
I mean, honestly, if he takes the _sane_ route from here rather than the "all the guns" route, he convinces the queen under not overt military threat to institute effective (but not necessarily official) limits on her own power and pass most of the effective ruling to a more democratic body while remaining the ceremonial-and-arguably-real head of state. Keeps the royalists happy enough, makes the non-royalists happier, and if he can be okay with it himself, removes most of his impediments to banging the queen.
Jonathan Gibbons
Air drag's impact on the final speed of the aircraft does depend on the mass, though - higher mass with the same surface properties means higher terminal velocity, because while the mass factors out of the kinetic and potential energies it doesn't factor into the air drag. Double the mass of the shard and _in a dive_ you halve the air resistance per unit mass.
Andrew Lechner
Wouldn't the aether gas make this less of a factor? It's naturally buoyant, so shards would weigh much less than an equivalent conventional aircraft. Do they weigh shards down with water ballasts as they do airships?
Jacob
To take the sting out of all this William might try to molify the Queen a bit by gifting her a gramophone and perhaps a few records of Mozart and Beethoven? (Plus the Queen showing it off is good advertising)
Jacob
Given the lack of other ways the Queen can reprimand William, she might "suggest" to Griffith that Team 7's training regimen be a bit more... intensive for the next few months.
Apeoflight
You are right but you're assuming a few things. First off does the Basilisk actually have a slower acceleration or do its twin engines/mithril cores mean it has a comparable or even faster acceleration? We don't know which it is just that it can't turn because of its weight and seize. We also have to consider that anyone tailing them is also going to be shot at so they will most likely have to be maneuvering and losing speed to that as well.
Jacob
I'd be curious to know which historical examples you're thinking of when you say democracy fails when imposed from above. I'm not arguing with the point I'm just curious to know more
Jacob
Kerbal Space Program is a great game to use to test these theories :-D
Jacob
With Olivia on William's estate he's effectively shielding her from being used against him by the Blackstones or the Queen. But I can definitely see the Queen trying that if she has a son available. She needs to put a leash on him and if she can't marry a daughter to him then marrying a son to Olivia might be the next best option in her mind, and he'd have very little leverage against such a move if Olivia was amenable to the match.
Jacob
As well as Marline, given her last conversation with him on the topic
Blue Fishcake
As it turns out, I was just plain wrong. My high school science teachers would be most disappointed :D Made a few changes. Now William's basically just talking about the basics of boom and zoom. Fly straight; don't turn.
Blue Fishcake
Welp, as some people pointed out my theories on mass and drag weren't quite held together by science after researching the topic some more. To that end, I've made a few small adjustments to the text so that William isn't casually suggesting the shard should be capable of violating the laws of gravity :D
Andrew Lechner
So, William really does intend to go against and overthrow the Queen in favor of a democracy. That would probably be best accomplished by the way Ceasar and Napoleon did, by leading an army in service to the current State so well that his personal acclaim and loyalty from the troops eclipses that of the status quo. Even better if the queen recognizes the threat William poses too late and issues him an ultimatum that forces him to cross the Rubicon as Ceasar once did. The tricky part comes once he's actually in power. William wants to create a democracy, but as history shows, it is near impossible to create a stable, functioning democracy when it's imposed from on high on a population with little to no prior want for it. As such, William should probably retain full dictatorial power to start, before gradually delegating power to newly created democratic institutions. If all goes well, he'll be able to live out the final years of his riegn as the figurehead of a constitutional monarchy, which he may pass on to his kids, or establish a republic before he passes.
k
I think what bluefishcake is describing is that when you go into a dive the induced drag https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lift-induced_drag is removed. Which is more of a benefit for the heavier plane.
Oreo-belt25
Ooh~ this was indeed a fun chapter!
Blue Fishcake
I'll go back and clarify things somewhat.
Amit Gupta
The understanding here seems to be a bit incorrect. When Potential Energy ( m * g * h ) and kinetic energy ( 0.5 * m * v² ) are converted between each other, since mass does not change, and gravity is somewhat constant, only the height matters. So, all that matters is the design of the ship. (Air drag also does not depend on mass, rather it depends on surface area, shape and velocity). Ofcourse you can just say that this world has different rules, but then the understanding William has should be based on earth laws.
Redacted
I think what the queen is really annoyed about is that she's lost a method of control over Will. With his sister living in his estate, she won't be able to threaten her to get what she wants out of Will as easily anymore.
NobleBoy24 .
Wait… democracy? Nooooooooooooooooooo!!!
CW
I do hope the twins help play a part in getting more Will and less George out of our mc
Borisoff72
"Obstacle to Democracy?" Sure, and Napoleon was a loyal general of the Republic.
Cormac
Galileo demonstrated that mass does not affect acceleration due to gravity centuries ago. The forces in level flight are gravity (which is the same for both planes), thrust from the engines and aero drag. Gravity and drag are working against the planes in this condition. In a dive, gravity (which affects everything equally) is now working with the planes, but the other forces are the same. So the aircraft that is quicker-accelerating in level flight is still quicker. If you were to take a Spitfire and Lancaster in level flight at say 200 knots, then pitch both into a 20° dive and go to full throttle, the Spitfire would hit the ground first.
Phlojem
They know it's someone who has the pull to order around academy guards and an instructor. A House Royal instructor Given the rumors around Williams creation of the Kraken Slayer and the fact the girls view him as an inventing genius, I'm sure they'll be able to put two and two together
Blue Fishcake
A heavier plane is less affected by wind resistance. Whether the increased drag from the increased size nullifies that is relative. Plus a heavier plane typically has more powerful engines, but in a dive it’s no longer fighting the increased weight. At least, that's my understanding.
MarakEvans
So... what option does Yelena have as counterweight to William's schemes? Clearly, Olivia is the pressure point to influence William. Maybe betrothing one of her sons to Olivia? Enticing Olivia to leave Redwater and live in the royal palace? Also... Who is this mysterious spy reporting to the "old oppressors?" What options do they have to influence or... otherwise... Shit. William might get himself summarily executed like a lootbox piñata...
Cormac
Why would a Basilisk being heavier than all other shards make it quicker in a dive? Mass has no bearing on freefall speed: the critical factor is aero drag. And the much bigger aircraft is much more draggy than the smaller aircraft.
Bas van Lissum
Ohhhh run william! Ruuun!!
werotan
Damned if you do...
Trevayne
I agree that both sisters should be named there. I also wonder if the sisters will bother to do more research into who "she" is or might be. After all, if they are looking for a political ally, they should do some research and try to figure out who his patron(s) might be. They already know he doesn't like the Blackstones.
The Fire Piper
Oooh! I like the twins! Collaborations are exciting, and having them fall head over heels for William for beyond just ambition would be fun to watch!
Blue Fishcake
Fixed, thanks :D
Trevayne
I think both sides would prefer to win without it going hot. Neither (except New Haven) wants to really damage the kingdom because that would create an opening for the Solites and/or Lunites to come in and try to take over. The whole Blackstone plan was to win without fighting by ensuring the Crown would lose. The problem is they would rather a hot war than give up slavery.
Marius Petrauskas
great update, thx.
Trevayne
How rare is literacy? I know the society is a mix of medieval with magicpunk elements, but Verity's family were slaves and she at least is literate enough to attend the academy. Or did she get put through a prep school before attending?
Phlojem
Great chapter, as always. Minor thing, not long after Griffith leaves with William, you have the twins say this: “I don’t know about you, but I’m a little worried about who ‘she’ is,” Marcille said quietly from her right. “Yeah,” Marcille breathed.
Blue Fishcake
Fixed, thanks :D
22junk
Maybe they’re both hoping to win the cold war before it becomes officially hot. The queen mentioned earlier that the Western rhetoric about wayward territories concerns her. Better to show the North that she’s got the bigger tits and have them fall back in line than waste blood and resources fighting it out.
Random Information
predictions -> predilections
Ohmps
Basically on time still
22junk
Thanks for the chapter. It occurs to me that William should fix the “literacy is a rare privilege” problem at least a few years before he touches anything democracy related. Step 1: Invent printing press Step 2: Privately fund public schools Step 3: Slowly introduce pro-democracy ideas through anonymously authored pamphlets. Steps 4: Fuck it all up and fall back on violent revolution.
Trevayne
If he isn't going to try that, then what stops the Blackstones from leaning on and "backing" Plumgarden, for example. For that matter, I thought the Blackstones had to have a claimant to back. If they don't have his sister or Plumgarden, what is their justification for getting involved, if he has a claim from one of the twins?
Trevayne
It is also interesting to see that William does have plans and goals beyond ending slavery. The mention that he wants to keep chemical propellants in reserve is an indication. The problem with this is that the spell-bolt guns already show how chemical explosives can be used to power a projectile. Extrapolating it to artillery is straightforward. That cat is already out of the bag. If he really wants a hole card, I would suggest actual high explosives like TNT.
Blue Fishcake
Fixed thanks :D
Blue Fishcake
What follow on plan? The one in which he'd form an alliance with the other candidates and take his cruiser plus up to two other airships against somewhere between a third and a a half of the Blackstone fleet? That plan? :D https://youtu.be/XC8qrH3Zwog
Trevayne
Great update, but I have to ask, why wouldn't William ask the Queen about his follow on plan to neutralize the threat posed by the Summerfield duchy falling into Blackstone control? His sister is a potential threat to the crown because she could be used to get a claim on the duchy. With Blackstone backing that could lead to the Crown losing a civil war before fighting it. However, if William can marry one of the other claimants and successfully press their claim, then the Duchy stays loyal to the Crown. Given the discussion he just had, why wouldn't he be interested in discussing the other claimants with Yelena? She probably has information and insights that he doesn't have access to. In addition, just disclosing the idea to Yelena, will help remind her that he is on her side (at least until slavery has been ended).
Skulldragon7
because her best attempts at giving him an -> because despite her best attempts at giving him an
Carlos Torres
William / George does not see the queen as an overlord or an equal. He's put her in the to be determined pile before placing her in the tool or obstacle pile. That's kind of the sociopathic shit that I'm here for.
Andrew
Thank you!
Stormtrooper
Too sleep or too read Blue Fishcake's next chapter. I bet you can guess the answer....
Blue Fishcake
Welp at chapter sixteen of book two, we're now officially just over the halfway mark of the second book :D
Skonnchy
Hell yeah
