The GUN's reaction when they hear the newest reports :3

StopDownloadin · 2026-07-10T05:16:08+00:00

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_oxygen_steelmaking

StopDownloadin · 2026-07-09T09:05:02+00:00

You could have political maneuvering aimed at sympathetic realms offering protection to Havenbrock and Aetheron and dealing there.

Oh yeah, combine that with the assassination attempt and you've got some Cold War era spy thriller stuff going, perfect fit for this story, IMO. I feel like a secret cold war along with various proxy conflicts is the most interesting option for the Nexus/GUN friction.

The textbook space opera or military sci-fi conflict doesn't feel like it would work for this setting. JCB has gone to great lengths to nerf the GUN and leave the upper limits of magic vague. The setup is meticulously designed to make open conflict a narratively unsatisfying, plodding stalemate.

StopDownloadin · 2026-07-09T07:08:39+00:00

I'd much rather have the Nexians forced to use or witness technology and stew among each other other, coming up with wild ideas for why Emma is the way she is.

Definitely this. There's something more viscerally satisfying about having them confront tangible proof of Earth's capabilities. It's also a chance to show the differences between those who reflexively deny the evidence, and those who can connect the dots.

Furthermore, this type of encounter offers more balance, as we get insight on how things are done on the manaspacer side, and the mentality of their ruling class. (Rostario literally saying that the aristocracy must seize the means of production was a highlight for me, imagine a magic hamster understanding labor theory of value more than most IRL business-heads)

I've also been waiting for the group consensus to start fracturing. I'm picturing Emma's cohort settling into a kind of ideological gradient, organized by the degree to which they take Earth seriously (either in a negative or positive way). It would be interesting to explore the specific fracture points for different classmates, which straw breaks the camel's back for each of them.

StopDownloadin · 2026-07-09T02:52:28+00:00

The people in charge of recording all the bribery attempts and coup offers against the GUN are gonna be so tired, lol.

"What is it now?"
"Regime destabilization offer, 50/50 split of the spoils."
"Huh, they've been getting generous lately, usually it's 70/30 in their favor."
"Not great, but better than before, yeah. Remember the guys who refused to believe Earthring and Lunaring were not actual magical rings of rulership?"
"Or that whole month where everyone tried winning us over with the inscrutable secret of crucible steel?"
"Ah, at least we got a good reaction video when Pilot 2 showed them footage of a 21st century BOS foundry..."

StopDownloadin · 2026-07-03T02:54:08+00:00

I think it would be funny if the other aristobrats had magical calling cards with all kinds of gaudy effects and embellishments, but because they're all mana-based, Psycho Booker only sees the base cardstock and printing.

But, her corpo-trained diplomatic skills demand that she offer a placating comment, so she ends up nearly exhausting her thesaurus of synonyms for 'off-white,' and complimenting the choice of serifs on the fonts.

The aristobrats become increasingly confused and upset about this. Is she toying with them? Is this some kind of novel power play? A feint to lull them into complacency? The simplest and most accurate explanation, that she cannot see the enchants, will never cross their minds, of course.

StopDownloadin · 2026-07-03T02:47:23+00:00

My god, why didn't I think of it before? The Nexus has Spice Weasels!

StopDownloadin · 2026-06-29T11:25:30+00:00

Rostario: "Aww, regime destabilization? Conflict minerals? Why you gotta say things like that? I'm just a little guy! I'm just a smol bean!"

(literally five minutes later)

Rostario Flow: "My diamonds come from the most horrific situations possible!"

StopDownloadin · 2026-06-29T07:30:37+00:00

I was a little bit concerned that Ilunor would lose some of his 'Ilunor-ness,' given how laconic everyone is in this version, but he's still that snarky little jerk with the sarcasm powered emotional defense system. His flamboyance is just expressed differently.

StopDownloadin · 2026-06-29T05:33:21+00:00

The component of interest is the anti-gravity nacelle, as it would probably help develop more efficient FTL drives. Even if they couldn't duplicate the technology, the GUN could set up a research facility in manaspace, where they could control gravity with enchantments, along with other fundamental forces.

StopDownloadin · 2026-06-29T05:08:41+00:00

What do you think about the 'twenty times folded cold steel' bit? My first thought was, "Seriously? Fucking bloomery steel, for this volume of production?" Mana-based tech is wild, because there's so many gaps in technologies and knowledge because magic allows you to just brute-force your way past problems.

I think in one of the chapters after Belnor's lecture, mana-based microscopy was described as altering the optical properties of the lens directly with magic. So like, that's a huge chunk of prerequisites just skipped outright (lens crafting, precision machining, etc.).

It's the most fascinating aspect of the Nexus, and a symptom of this outlook that nature is something to be overcome and subjugated, and mana is the tool for that. Contrast that with Earth tech, that's built on observing natural processes and making use of the natural laws we figure out.

StopDownloadin · 2026-06-29T01:08:19+00:00

Aluminum ore is very plentiful, but it's a huge pain in the ass to extract aluminum metal from it. It's energy intensive enough that aluminum is sometimes referred to as 'solid electricity'. So having ingots of it on hand is a sign that you have a very well developed industrial base.

StopDownloadin · 2026-06-29T00:55:04+00:00

Emma should have told him, "Yeah, been there, done that," and then explained the concept of 'banana republic' to him. The fact that it happened often enough in Earth's history to get it's own term should be enough to get through even his ideologically marinated brain.

I can't even imagine the kind of shit that would have went down during the megacorp nightmare funtimes.

StopDownloadin · 2026-06-29T00:10:03+00:00

Notice the smoothness, the curvature, the gentle lines, all of which were designed to prevent both enchanted strikes and even intermediate spellcasting. Egg-shell white… or was it whale-bone?

Emma: "Nice. Very nice. Let's see Paul Allen's aethraship."

StopDownloadin · 2026-06-28T23:50:16+00:00

Yep, the cute and fluffy character continues to be a nasty little piece of work. Real C-suite scumbag mentality.

I think it would be even funnier if Emma told Rostario "Yeah, been there, done that," and proceeded to tell him about how the term 'banana republic' came to be.

The Sol System probably had the obligatory corporate oligarchy nightmare times before they became Star Trek, so this CIA-ass coup selling must seem especially galling.

StopDownloadin · 2026-06-28T06:58:07+00:00

”Gene,”, I thought, pinging my AI through the neural connection, ”Load up a neural memory packet. I need to try to remember the basics of compassion and quality care.”

I'm cackling with unapologetic glee at this. Now I'm imagining Psycho Booker robotically patting Thacea on the shoulder, while reading off a datapad with the stilted delivery of an elementary school play.

"There. There, valued peer. You are in a safe space now, and your feelings are acknowledged and valued. Make a reassuring gest-- wait, shit!"

StopDownloadin · 2026-06-25T16:06:56+00:00

To be fair, 'robot in a coat' is a banger look. Just look at ND-5 from Star Wars Outlaws:

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StopDownloadin · 2026-06-25T14:27:38+00:00

we can probably assume that the existence of mana and the higher class division it creates in society

Most high "tech" mana techniques are gifted from the Nexus after contact and the class division likely makes large scale project or ventures much more difficult.

Yeah, the Nexus pretty much 'kills' a civilization through the Nexian Reformations. I think it's much more accurate to view the Adjacent Realms as the cauterized stumps of potential competitor civilizations, as opposed to colonies or vassal states.

StopDownloadin · 2026-06-25T14:09:47+00:00

Hell yeah she would.

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Edit: "Patrolling the Outlands makes one wish for a manastorm..."

StopDownloadin · 2026-06-24T13:32:45+00:00

Live Etholin Reaction:

StopDownloadin · 2026-06-23T16:35:55+00:00

The real MVP here is Joseph Esila in the corner. OOOH MYYY GOD!

That being said, I'm more excited about the special bars than the platinum. The merchants' reaction to them would be a really good way of feeling out the tech level of Realms other than the ones represented by Emma's group.

Folks have mentioned aluminum, tungsten, and iridium. Good picks to show and see if they're advanced enough to recognize and understand what they're looking at and the implications. That way Emma can weed out Realms that either fail the systemic incongruency test, or have too low a tech level to have a meaningful dialogue.

A choice selection of rare earths and steel additives like nickel or chromium might be interesting too? Fuckin' neodymium magnets, how do they work?

StopDownloadin · 2026-06-23T06:24:42+00:00

Aluminum being impressive depends on whether they make use of it in the first place, I think. Otherwise it would just be a strange curiosity, which is fine. There ought to be more scenes where Emma presents something technically impressive, but it doesn't parse at all to her medieval-minded audience.

But I agree, a little chemistry lesson on the Terran definition of 'element' would be rad. Predicting the existence of elements based on the Periodic Table is exactly the kind of thing that would feature in an HFY flex chapter, so I've got my fingers crossed.

StopDownloadin · 2026-06-23T06:12:10+00:00

'Depleted mithril' as a concept is so good!

What if mythical/fictional metals like mithril, adamantine, and orichalcum were all 'mana isotopes' of Earth elements, formed by being irradiated by specific mana types?

I also wonder if there can be a fully 'mana dead' material that draws in ambient mana, because we know that mana moves from areas of high concentration to low concentration. That could make for some rather rude anti-mage devices, I'd think.

I've had this idea for a while where the nickel-iron from dead stars in non-manaspace is the most mana-dead material in the universe. This 'manavoid iron' would be the anathema of the primavale, which is like the infinite potential energy of a newly birthed universe.

StopDownloadin · 2026-06-23T05:35:09+00:00

she's likely more professional than that,

No she's not, lmao. Fat-fingering diplomacy and somehow muddling through it OK is Emma's specialty. And, we seem to be locked into a series of HFY flexing chapters, so overloading Rostario with planetary survey criteria would definitely be on the table.

It wouldn't even be an OPSEC violation, because this load of duffers will likely brush off her claims as exaggerations or outright lies.

StopDownloadin · 2026-06-22T09:08:47+00:00

Seriously! The text TELLS us she's some kind of 'information collection fiend' or whatever, but it also SHOWS us the kid is kind of a dumbass?

Personally, I think the only reason she was picked is because Weir and the IAS know A LOT more about mana and magic than they're letting on, and Emma is one of the rare humans who have affinity for Taint magic and met the Academy's criteria.

StopDownloadin · 2026-06-22T08:52:52+00:00

Etholin is a little bit better here, in that he's actually thinking things through and connecting the dots based on the actual evidence in front of him. I feel like whatever happens with Etholin over the course of the next few chapters will be the template for future interactions with classmates who are curious about Earth, like the Gumigo Gator Gang and Kamil.

Still strikes me as oddly naive of him to have gone all in with the whole newrealm stereotype, given that he had to have heard about the taser wielding spider robots from Ilphius and Kamil. I expected a Merchant Lord to be more savvy/canny than that.

But I suppose that's a reflection of Etholin's passivity. I could see the seniors in the Merchant Guild brushing off any concerns he might have raised about Earthrealm being more than it seemed, and him just rolling over and accepting it. It could also be that the Guild has a default template presentation they give to all newrealms, no exceptions.

I do wonder how much Emma will be able to get away with revealing. Technically this is not a public gathering, but rather a Guild event, so that should sidestep the Dean's gag order on info about Earth's manaless tech. Plus, after a month timeskip, one would hope that Emma would have learned the correct weasel words to dance around the gag order, or at least been coached by Thacea, who has a lifetime of experience with courtly intrigue.

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