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a pebble has been tossed, and the ripples are expanding
Shouldn't Isabelle as Gerhardt's... let's say associate at least warn him before freeing a very dangerous and very genocidal nature spirit because he and his new daughter might be innately diametrically opposed to it by the very nature of their existence as technomancers? Not even a warning to at least run or hide? She wouldn't even need to say that she freed it. All she needs to say is that she as a half-elf can sense that the local nature spirit is about to break free and it's probably a good idea to prepare to escape.
10903577
That's actually a very tough question and a serious moral dilemma that Isabelle has to deal with. Because she knows that if she told Gerhardt what she was doing he would try to stop her from helping Natura. Or if she didn't tell him that she was trying to help free Natura herself, that Gerhardt would do everything within his power to ensure Natura would never get free. So she has to weigh what she views as more important. Warning Gerhardt of the incoming danger or helping the Nature Spirit get free.
In her mind she knows Gerhardt is preparing for war with the Changelings and thus will have some military capability with which to fight back and defend himself and Pixel. Plus she is unaware of Natura's grudge against Pixel specifically and thus doesn't know how much danger she will be in when Natura gets free. She believes Natura's grudge is just against the ponies for enslaving her and thus believes Natura has no reason to target the two of them specifically. The fact he's a technomancer isn't particularly relevant in that department as Nature Spirits don’t particularly care what other people do so long as it doesn’t have a major impact on Nature, which his technology does not.
So she has decided that helping free Natura is too important to warn Gerhardt about especially since she believes that he will be able to defend himself and Pixel. So no, she most definitely wouldn't warn him. At most she might suggest a few minor alterations to the combat golems he is building.
10903595
if pixel dies would that spark Gerhardt's emotions?
10904257
Uh, yes? How would you feel if you had to watch your daughter die? He may have reprogrammed his brain to force himself to love Pixel, but it's still love no matter how you look at it. So of course it would spark his emotions. He would be absolutely devastated. And horribly horribly enraged.
10903595
Question is, how can she do this without betraying all she defended in the past? Humanity is in war at the moment and she was tossed in this world where the best hope for humanity is gearing up for godhood and flexing his muscle slowly. Things can change quickly, they might figure out a way to travel back or some other god might decide to intervene in some manner which gives a possibility.
Now she decides to push this world in to chaos, war and death for her moral reasons. Does this not make her a traitor, unfit person to be in army or in any position of leadership. Disgrace to her unit, nation, and all who knew her.
10904505
That depends on perspective. She knows about all of Gerhardt's factories, mining operations, and his lab along the W,X,Y axes and that those would be relatively unaffected by whatever happens along the standard X,Y,Z axes. Furthermore, she's aware that he already has flesh and blood samples and has taken scans of Celestia and Luna. So honestly he doesn't even truly need the ponies anymore. Pixel and the fact he still has to finish making the love generators for the Changelings as he promised are some of the very few reasons he deals with them at this point in time.
So ultimately whatever happens to the ponies is irrelevant to the survival of Humanity as Gerhardt can continue his research and experimentation even if the ponies went completely extinct over night. In fact he could conduct his research and experimentation even easier since he wouldn't have to worry about laws or wide spread consequences if one of his experiments broke loose and started rampaging across the now empty Equestria. Plus they would have a greater spirit of nature on their side that could help them subdue said experiment if necessary.
However, would Gerhardt view it that way? Probably not. He would likely view her as a traitor and traitors are only dealt with one way in the Human Kingdom. Immediate summary execution. So if he knew, he would likely make her "disappear" so to speak.
Though from an objective perspective, no. She would most definitely be betraying the ponies but that's all. She wouldn't be betraying humanity or the Human Kingdom in the least. Does that justify her actions? Well, that also depends on perspective. From her perspective, yes, her actions are completely justified. From the perspective of the ponies, hell no, her actions make her as bad or worse than Tirek or King Sombra. From Gerhardt's perspective, he wouldn't be surprised but no, he would see her as just another rogue mage to be put down for causing or trying to cause the destruction of a species that is technically allied with humanity.
The whole Nature Spirit thing feels like a bit of an idiot ball scenario.
Gerhardt KNOWS Nature Spirits exist and has had minimal contact with Natura.
Isabelle KNOWS Nature Spirits exist and has had EXTENSIVE contact with Natura.
Ponies in general have absolutely no clue that Nature Spirits even exist in their world.
Gerhardt has told a few ponies they exist. Isabelle has no doubt ranted to various ponies about their crimes against nature and how they affect Nature Spirits.
To my knowledge, with the exception of Zecora, no one has actually SHOWN ponies evidence of the existence of Nature Spirits.
I don't think there has been any effort to try to actually educate the ponies.
If anyone bothered to take a bunch of ponies to meet and talk with Natura they could possibly resolve the issue with no bloodshed.
10904542
Of course there hasn't been any attempt to educate the ponies. Think about it. They have been controlling nature for tens of thousands of years without any repercussions whatsoever and it has become an immensely important part of their culture and the functioning of their society. Then suddenly a couple of aliens come along and tell them to knock it off for fear of invoking the wrath of some nature spirit that the ponies don't even know exists. The ponies would either A. Not believe them and thus ignore them. B. Not believe them and think they're crazy. Or C. Believe that it's something that happened in the Human Kingdom in the past but would never happen in Equestria because they have been doing it for thousands of years without any repercussions and it is so integral to their culture and society.
So! Why would Gerhardt bother trying to tell them when he knows, or at least believes absolutely nothing will be done about it? Logically speaking, that would just be a complete waste of time and effort. And keep in mind, in his one experience with Natura she was completely unable to communicate with him. So he has no reason to believe that has changed. Thus he believes trying to bring ponies to the forest to talk to Natura would result in nothing but making him look absolutely insane.
As for Isabelle, she is aware that Natura is breaking free of her chains and can speak. However, she doesn't believe anyone would listen to her either and even if they did, she believes Natura would just try to kill anyone she brought into the forest to speak to her. And would likely kill Isabelle herself as well for "betraying" her by "siding with the ponies". Plus, she doesn't believe Natura would be willing to give up on revenge so easily. She has been enslaved to the will of the ponies for tens of thousands of years. That would lead to an extremely deep an ingrained hatred that one wouldn't be willing to give up on just because someone said a few words and made a few promises. No. She wants blood for what the ponies have done to her and no matter how much the ponies try to negotiate she would not be willing to listen to them. And in Isabelle's opinion Natura is more relevant than the ponies since she is literally nature itself. And by working with Natura she got her to agree to leave at least some of the ponies alive, which she wouldn't have done otherwise.
I mean think about it, put yourself in her position. You were kept imprisoned and forced to do things against your will used like a puppet by someone for thousands of years. Would you be willing to listen to that person if you were being released from your prison by someone else and that person who had enslaved you just told you that they would stop taking control of you and using you like a puppet? I wouldn't. I wouldn't give a fuck what they said. In fact saying that after tens of thousands of years would just make me angrier. I would want revenge. Period. End of story. Those fuckers would die and that would be that. Logic or rationality doesn't come into it whatsoever, just raw emotion and hatred. Same concept here.
So. Tell me, knowing all of that, do you think Isabelle would tell the ponies anything? Because I don't.
I'm trying to make things as realistic as possible and in real life, things don't always work out perfectly and people don't always make the best or most logical of decisions. This entire debacle with the nature spirit could very easily happen if this story was all real and it all makes perfect sense if you actually take the time to think about it.
10904577
Since we're on the subject, I'd like clarification on one point.
1: I got the impression that Natura was completely locked down and unable to do anything while the ponies went about mucking with her domain. As her bindings have weakened she's been able to assert her will in minor ways like through Timber Wolves.
2: If Natura's bindings didn't simply lock her away and instead were used to manipulate and control her, forcing her to do things contrary to her nature, that is a WHOLE other level of evil.
It's one thing to lock her in a veritable tower and let her watch as you ravage her lands.
It's far worse to lock her in that tower and force her to run the machines that destroy said lands.
In scenario 1 the ponies know not what they do.
In scenario 2, it doesn't matter that they don't know, they are slavers.
I can kind of get the lack to trying to teach ponies about Nature spirits.
Gerhardt is emotionally stunted and if it doesn't affect him, he doesn't waste time on it.
Isabelle I'm now thinking is overwhelmed with emotion at the situation and her Elf side is screaming loud enough for her to do something that any reasoning from her human side is unheard.
10904540
10904577
So, we are in agreement, she is an traitor who does not consider her highest mission to be rejoining the war for humanity survival from strongest possible position. Instead she lashes out when her cultural fifi's got hurt and knowingly distracts the most competent person trying to figure something out, destabilize the area, while taking out their only ally in the region?
Even is she has internal justification it does not make her any less of a traitor. Could be it is realistic, it does not make it any less stupid or treasonous. Sure she can be hero of her own story, but that changes very little.
10904617
The bindings aren't what's being used to enslave her. It's the ponies magic. So it's more that they know not what they do. Does Natura care that they don't know what they're doing? Definitely not. All she cares about is that she has been imprisoned and was later enslaved by the ponies with their magic. Her restraints render her too weak to resist the ponies magic.
Oh and minor spoilers. All of this will be revealed in a few chapters anyways so it's fine. Still if you don't want to be spoiled, just wait until she gets free then read this if you want. She was imprisoned by Discord 50,000 years ago. When she was free the ponies coexisted with her much like the Deer. They would ask her permission before manipulating any aspect of nature, save for the rising and lowering of the sun and moon since that's another thing entirely. However, after she was imprisoned they started controlling nature and thus enslaved her. So yes, ancient ponies would be able to be considered slavers since they knew she existed and they started to manipulate nature against her will anyways. They knew that she is nature itself and that by manipulating nature they were manipulating her and they simply didn't care, viewing their wants and needs as more important than her freedom. Modern ponies, not so much since the world basically forgot she even exists.
Your interpretations as to why Gerhardt and Isabelle haven't told anyone yet is pretty much spot on. Of course, even Isabelle's human side is repulsed by the idea that the ponies have in effect enslaved another sapient being knowingly or not, but that's besides the point.
10904634
From a certain perspective yes. Se is most definitely a traitor. From another perspective, not in the least. And it's not so much that her feelings got hurt, it's that she finds what the ponies are doing to nature morally reprehensible since nature is a sapient being in this story. They have effectively enslaved a sapient being and are forcing her to bend to their will against her will because she is too weak to resist them while imprisoned.
So it's ultimately a conflict of morals. Does she help the spirit of nature get free knowing Natura will seek revenge or not? Mind you she believes Natura getting free is inevitable regardless of if she helps or not, and she is actually correct in that regard. So the other option is to let Natura stay imprisoned for just a little longer before she inevitably gets free and exacts revenge upon the ponies anyways. At least by helping Natura she has given the ponies a chance to survive without being completely exterminated. And she doesn't believe Gerhardt would be distracted for very long due to how practically non-existent the ponies' military is and the fact Gerhardt's golems couldn't possibly protect the entirety of Equestria from the fury of nature itself.
So, yes and no. Like I said, it all really depends on how you choose to look at it.
(To me what she's doing is neither right or wrong. It's justified from a certain perspective but from another perspective it's not. As the author I sort of have to look at it like this because I need to be able to have an unbiased perspective on both sides of the story to understand the characters and their motivations. But that being said, being a reader and thus not having to be completely unbiased like me your interpretation is completely valid.)
10904678
Yes, that perspective exists. One where beings can be guilty of actions they do not know they are taking, or one where crimes of your fore-bearers reflect on them with enough magnitude where you can be sentenced to summary death by a foreigner who considers herself to have the moral high-ground and who does not even take the time to explain the matter. I am unsure if it can be called a moral conflict though.
(I accept that this could be seen as matter of perspective. But i cannot justify the logic she is using here as anything resembling a moral action. She is condemning millions of sentient beings to death for crime against SINGLE entity they do not know are committing without even attempting to give them change to redeem themselves. There is time for such things, she is CHOOSING to push forward the schedule which also hurts her other duties as a leader within a nation. She KNOWS Gerhardt will get involved. But, i do not think this discussion should be made in this comment section, this is just the kind of things which really annoy me. The self righteousness, the hubris to even consider that she has the right to make this decision.)
I wonder if Gerhardt will consider this betrayal in his eyes?
Okay, so...
*sigh*
As I've said, writing is good. But at some places, at least for me, the immersion just falls to bits as my suspension of disbelief fails. Plus some other issues...
Like, when Gears said that Pixel can run at 100 miles an hour. Why? What is the purpose of that? Out of habit because he spent ages on building the war-golems?
Also, the bit about sped-up perception to react and dodge the obstacles. Okay, dodging obstacles is... kinda believable. But you won't be able to turn on a 100mph. Not sharply. You'll fly off the course and crash into whatever is to the side of the curve.
And tripping on such speed... That won't be pretty.
E.P.U. Why. Just... why. This is, like, my second biggest confusion of the whole deal. Why did Gears even bother? If anything that only further dehumanizes him than he already is. That's why I don't think he's going to shed much tears for Pixel. He'd only need a moment of clarity to cut off that bit of his E.P.U. that was responsible for him 'loving' her, unless he conviniently forgets about it or it will get jammed because some deus vult ex machina.
Gears himself. Don't know if that's just me, but he comes off as an unlikeable jerk (and almost careening on the edge of becoming a M.Sue). Mostly because of aforementioned E.P.U. 23 chapters in, and the only sign of possible development is begrudging therapy sessions with the pointy-eared leaf-lover. And let's not forget the monumental blunder with him ruling over 800 years, pushing mankind technological progress all along, and thinking he's not important enough to leave an heir behind. And brighterest idea of giving Pixel Earth pony magic, but not bothering to explain to her why she should never use it to manipulate nature. Father of the year!
And then, the gods. Minor gods, average gods, greater gods... So many centuries, so many gods. What do the even do?
On one hand, I am questioning how gods of Equus realm didn't notice Silvanus' intrusion and a hole between the universes. On another hand... if the power potential difference makes Silvanus an ant compared to gods of Equus realm, it's understandable. I mean, would you notice a single ant in your household?
Though that would mean that even lesser gods of Eq consider Sil an ant power-wise...
I am sorry, but I didn't understand the bit about alternate (layered?) dimensions at all.
And here's my number one question... What magic can't do? And what is the reason of hybridizing it with technology?
And of course, pointy-eared leaf-lover doing the leaf-lover thing... Of course. This is so predictable. Ever since I read she became friends with Natura, I knew she would ally with the spirit. Screw countless lives that will be lost in the vengeful rampage, muh elven feelings are hurt. You know, she left a very broad definition of her request. A mare and a stallion surviving is enough for Natura to fulfil its part of the deal. What. Technically, it didn't kill off all the ponies, they can rebuild their species... Inbreeding? You didn't mention that, my dearest leaf-lover.
I am also pretty sure Gears will take off to space, confirm that the celestial sisters' power is merely an illusion spell, and be proud that he was right again and full of himself. I am also pretty sure that while he's away, Natura will come to play.
Out of all characters I sympathise with ponies (obviously) and Pixel. Gears and Pell are unsympathetic. The former because of E.P.U. and lack of development (and let's be honest, I doubt he will develop given he can turn emotions on and off at a flip of the switch), the latter for instigating genocide.
10918989
Pixel runs 100 miles per hour because why wouldn't he give her the best possible technology available to him? The ponies get civilian grade technology for their augmentations but Pixel isn't a pony. He didn't exactly originally intend for her to be a daughter either but even so why wouldn't he give his personal assistant the best technology available?
He bothered altering his E.P.U. to make himself love Pixel because that was pretty much the only thing he could really do. He couldn't just kill her, he couldn't put her up for adoption, he couldn't just abandon her. So he might as well just man up and take responsibility for his actions and thus be the best father he possibly can, whether he likes it or not. Thus altering his E.P.U. to force himself to love her was the logical decision.
Also dehumanizing him is sort of the point. He said it himself in chapter 19.
He was human at one point at least physically but mentally speaking he is more machine than man. That's basically the entire purpose of his character. Him learning to be human when he was never allowed to be at any other period in his life.
Yes, I can see why you would consider him an unlikeable jerk. He's emotionally stunted and barely understands how to be human. That's one of his major character flaws and what he has to learn to overcome. I mean put yourself in his position. From birth you were taught by your parents that friends are just a waste of time and your work is the only thing that matters. If anything that thought process only gets stronger over time. Then you become a high lord where any sort of vulnerability like friends or family can and will be used against you thus further reinforcing your already preestablished beliefs. You spend centuries almost a thousand years like this and it is a core part of what makes you who you are. With all that in mind, would you be able to change in a matter of a few months? I mean it hasn't even been a year and this is a deeply rooted thought process he has had for centuries, of course it would take time for him to change.
Also, leaving an heir isn't really a thing in the Human Kingdom. High Lords are not chosen by their bloodline, they're chosen by their qualities and capabilities. Essentially whoever's the best person for the job gets the job after the old high lord is eventually killed. The problem in this case was that everyone refused to take the job for a variety of reasons from having too much respect for Gerhardt to not wanting to spend the rest of their life living in his shadow. He never expected everyone in the R&D branch to refuse to take his place if he ever died. He is not perfect. He makes mistakes.
Also he did explain why Pixel shouldn't use her Earth Pony augmentations to control plants in chapter 18.
Pay particularly close attention to the second to last sentence. He told her exactly why she shouldn't do it.
Greater Gods manage the entirety of the universe on a universal scale and rarely pay attention to fine details. Mid Gods manage anywhere from galaxies to entire superclusters. Finally, lesser gods manage individual planets or solar systems. That's what each classification of god does. Hope that helps clarify.
As for how the gods didn't notice what Silvanus did... I'm not even sure if I'll include the gods of MLP in the story anyways so I suppose it doesn't matter if I say this. So the MLP universe simply doesn't have lesser gods. It only has Greater Gods. This is because the greater gods of the MLP universe never made any mid or lesser gods. Instead they just manage things on their own. Thus the reason the gods basically never interact with mortals in the MLP universe. So even if they had been paying that close of attention and had noticed the portal, they wouldn't have cared since he only dropped off a single mortal. If he had dropped off something like a demon or a war spirit then they may have taken that as a declaration of war as he would have dropped off a being that is literally a physical embodiment of the concept of evil or war in their universe which is far more significant than dropping off a single mortal.
In real life there are theoretically 11 dimensions. Dimensions are literally just directions. So in our typical three dimensional space we have the X,Y, and Z axes. Those are the three basic dimensions we interact with. So now imagine a single sheet of paper standing up on its edge along the X and Y axis. That is representative of two dimensional space. You can swap out one of the dimensions of the paper with another dimension while still maintaining that two dimensional space. So imagine that paper rotates by 90 degrees. The X axis has now been swapped out for the Z axis thus the paper is now standing along the Y and Z axes. The same thing can be done with three dimensional space. Just rotate the three dimensional object so it is no longer on the X,Y,Z axes and is now on the W,X,Y axes instead. That's what Gerhardt does to change his dimensional axis.
Magic can't do a lot of things. In Gerhardt's universe a prime example would be teleportation. Mortals can't use magic to teleport. They also can't use magic to break the laws of physics. Arcane energy is just another form of energy thus it is required to use magic so as to preserve the laws of conservation of matter and energy. Energy and matter cannot be created or destroyed but they can be converted into other forms. Arcane energy is just a lot easier to convert than other forms of energy.
And combining it with technology is to make more powerful technology that can surpass the limits of what mortal mages can do on their own. For example, who do you think is more powerful, an extremely powerful mortal mage or a heavy combat golem? I'll tell you, it's the heavy combat golem. Could the mage destroy the heavy combat golem? Yes, probably but it's far more likely that in a one on one fight the Heavy Combat golem would fucking destroy the mage. So a Super Heavy combat golem, which are larger than even Emperor Class titans from Warhammer 40k would be capable of obliterating entire armies or cities. Of course, in Gerhardt's universe it was impossible to create machines to cast spells like mages, or at least they hadn't figured out how yet if it is possible, but they could still use technology to manipulate arcane energy in very basic ways that could be utilized in technology like those combat golems. Thus a mage can do everything a piece of human technology can do but human technology can't really do everything a mage can do. Otherwise the humans would be capable of building what are effectively artificial gods.
As for Gerhardt taking off into space to prove Celestia and Luna don't control the sun and moon, Spoiler: He's wrong. The sisters do actually control the sun and moon. There's actually a reason for this but the story will get to that when it happens. Seriously, the man isn't omniscient and he is more than capable of being proven wrong.
Yes, Gerhardt will have character development. He's not truly a cardboard character even if it seems like it right now. For realism's sake it just won't happen instantly as if someone flipped a switch like in some stories.
10919234
No, I meant why did he even bothered with installing an EPU at all. I am sure he knows emotions hinder logic, thus hinders his ability to rule and do research.
With an heir, I meant 'someone who would replace him', not make a child to inherit your place.
Okay, my bad, I've either missed or forgot it, I agree.
Many issues with that. Mainly, square-cube law. That thing would collapse under its own weight. Make it lighter with magic? Sure, but a gust of wind will topple it. Not to mention the kinetic shots... Deploying something this colossal is another headache entirely. Not to mention that usage of such weapons would mean that Earth of Gears' universe is a perpetual wasteland. Unless I've missed that as well. Ooooh, and... The cost of building and maintaining one.
And yes. I understand that millennia of belief ain't going to go away. But he's been gathering mold since chapter one. And it's been 23 chapters.
10919477
Actually that was one of my original ideas when writing this story. I was going to make him completely emotionless. To the point he would have to have subroutines forcing him to do anything otherwise he would effectively just be an overly intelligent, overly expensive statue. It's just that it was extremely difficult to write a character like that so I decided to go with this. Of course, if there's enough interest in the idea I might consider trying to write a version where he did forego installing an E.P.U. but we'll see.
As for his reasoning in the story, well, he would have had to write the subroutines to force him to act and if even the slightest thing went wrong with said subroutines he would pretty much be completely fucked unless someone else bothered to correct them. Of course there was no guarantee that anyone would bother, especially "early" in his career when he first invented brain augmentations, so he decided that ultimately it wasn't worth the risk. He spent his entire life with emotions and it never really got in his way except for when he was young and inexperienced so why bother fixing something that isn't broken?
Ah, I see. Sorry, I misunderstood. Still it's decided based on whoever is the best qualified for the job. The current high lords themselves don't really get a say in who succeeds them. And having failed to account for this possible outcome he had no reason to try to change that in his particular case.
I never specified that they're bipedal like Emperor Class Titans. In fact I gave no real details of their construction save for the fact they are larger than an Emperor class titan and it's a combat golem. Furthermore, how often do you think such weapons are used? They're weapons of mass destruction, of course they aren't used in every battle. They're only taken out in extreme cases such as the current war with Silvanus or if some other kingdom decides to get a bright idea and use their own super heavies.
I mean, do you think they use antimatter bombs on their own planet every single day in every single engagement? No, they would all be dead from gamma radiation if they did that. Think of the M.A.D. principle. It's not a war crime to use them in war, you just really don't want to do it otherwise your enemy will do it too and that's a really bad thing. Also, they have access to the other planets and the asteroid belts in their solar system and can gather resources from other dimensional axes. They have more than enough resources to build and maintain such machines, even without FTL travel. And it's not like they have hundreds of them just ready to use whenever. They have like maybe thirty at most.
Also, they have super materials capable of withstanding impacts from a 25 gram bullet traveling at a fifth of the speed of light.
You don't think they could put some of that inside the Super Heavy to keep it from collapsing in on itself due to its sheer weight?
Fair point. Fine. I have one last trick up my sleeve to make him experience a bit of character development at an increased rate. It will still take time but you'll start seeing more even faster. Something to give him a little third person perspective on the negatives of his personality thus forcing him to reflect on it. You'll see what I mean in the next chapter.
10919589
First off, I hope I am not being annoying or coming off as nitpicky here. I do appreciate writers' feedback to comments/critique because it makes me think more on the stuff I myself write and how I'd write that.
Now. Alright...
Elaborate?..
Well, I can name a few. Price, weight, work difficulty, unfitting parameters... Though I am not sure if momentary vs prolonged force is the same thing. But the square-cube law is still there. The weight is a function of a cube. Sure, it may not collapse under its own weight. Will, however, the ground hold it? If it will, what kind of motor and transmission are used? Because locomotive power is a function of a square. Though I can write it off on using some kind of magic-powered engines and magic batteries which have extreme energy density (but that would mean that if this golem explodes, that would be quite spectacular fireworks, comparable to WMD usage). Again, the issues with deployment such massive piece of technology.
...8 times the temperature on the surface of The Sun and 44,5 Terajoules of energy. This must be a pain in the plot to manufacture and work with. Can't cast, can't forge, can't manipulate with magic, can't mold... can only transmute other things into it, I guess? But that takes energy...
As for surviving... Uh, no, it's not survivable. Not a single bullet, not equally spread over the body. 80 joules to the head is enough to kill (human punch carries around 37). An explosion of ~200mJ energy is enough to vaporize a human. Even if impacts do not pierce the armor, the kinetic energy does not disappear anywhere. So, to put it roughly, a bullet in the example has an impulse of 1,531*10^6 kg(m/s). Hitting a target in this armor, which weights, say, 300kg (let's consider it to be a power armor of sorts) and stopping in it would launch the poor sod at roughly five kilometers per second. Two-point-five kilometers per second, if it gets deflected. It's not the momentum that kills you, it's the sudden change of it.
But I take it particle weapon is of a... energy beam variety?.. ugh, again, I think I've caught memory issues from a friend of mine, because I for the love of all can't remember if you described what it does. Either way, the energy isn't going anywhere, and if it's not dissipated properly (and you try to quickly dissipate 44,5TJ), it still will hurt.
Related to that fun detail, even if nothing can even scratch Gears' body, all they have to do is apply enough kinetic force to deal internal damage. Hit his head hard enough and have him watch his frontal lobes go out of his nose or something. Kinda go?.. Seeing how they are in a weird state of half-life.
Well, I am curious. Even if E.P.U. makes me have doubts. This is like, my main gripe. His emotions are not his. They are what he tunes them to be.
And... Don't tell me that teleportation is harder to figure out than trans-dimensional travel.
Nevertheless, keep up the good work!
10920620
I understand, and I never accused you of such things. I sincerely apologize if I came off that way. I'm more than happy to respond to my readers with any questions or concerns they may have! I'm glad you take that approach, because there is always room for improvement. Thus the reason I always say I am open to criticism at the end of the author's notes in every chapter.
Elaborate... Okay. So, writing the subroutines in the first place would be extremely complex, difficult, and time consuming though not impossible. As such there is also quite a bit of room for error, especially since it would have been a very old baseline human writing them, and if those subroutines ever fail then there is no longer anything driving him to do anything whatsoever. Thus he becomes a hyper intelligent, overly expensive, living copper statue. And if no one corrects whatever went wrong with the subroutines, he would be screwed in that he would be stuck that way forever as he would have nothing driving him to fix it himself. He would do absolutely nothing without those subroutines driving him to do them, thus he would be entirely reliant upon them functioning as intended at all times otherwise he would be as good as dead.
Think about it, he would have no instincts whatsoever and no emotions whatsoever thus he would have nothing making him do anything. He would have no goals, wants, or desires, he wouldn't care about living or dying, he wouldn't have any emotional attachment to the human kingdom or humanity, he wouldn't care about pleasure or pain, he would never get bored, he wouldn't care about anything, he would never have any emotions whatsoever. Thus he would have no reason to do anything since he wouldn't care about anything. Thus the danger of removing all of his emotions in their entirety.
Alright, you're correct in that impact strength =/= compressive strength however I would think that there is somewhat of a correlation between the two as with an impact you are still technically compressing the material just at very high speeds. So I imagine it would have an extremely high compressive strength as well. Perhaps not as high but still higher than any real material. Regardless, my story is fictional just like any other fictional universe, thus it doesn't have to be 100% scientifically accurate.
Actually by it's nature as a ceramic, it is quite easy to work with until it has been fired in a plasma furnace. Normal ceramics would only require a kiln but this isn't exactly a normal ceramic. Regardless, until that point you can just mold it with your hands if you want to. Just look up how ceramics are made.
Yes, I realize it would kill them. Thus why I said that the impact would still kill the wearer. The armor doesn't make the wearer invincible, not in the least. It just makes them resistant to the weapons used in Gerhardt's world, thus making them much harder to kill. Particle weapons can fire atoms at the speed of light. Thus something with ultra high kinetic energy resistance would be resistant to particle weapons as they operate on delivering a lot of kinetic energy on a very small area to increase the force of the impact and thus punch through almost any material, unlike lasers which operate on heat. It is power armor thus I imagine it weighs about as much as Mjolnir armor from Halo, so somewhere around a thousand pounds or 453.592 kilograms. However as particle beams do only use atoms which don't have a lot of weight I can imagine them knocking someone in the armor down but not necessarily killing them. At least not without a sustained shot.
Also, Gerhardt's body is made of normal metal. As a result of this metallic ceramic's resistance to magic as well as being, well, a ceramic it is a magical insulator not a magical conductor. Thus it would hinder a mage's ability to use magic. It won't remove it completely but it will weaken it significantly. Thus Gerhardt's current body, like Pixel's, is made entirely out of silver as that is the most magically conductive material available to the Human Kingdom. Well there are super conductive materials that would be even better for mages but they have the same issues as super conductors IRL and they are even weaker than copper or silver. Thus silver is the best option for Gerhardt's body, being the single most conductive natural metal. Also they can't produce ultra strong materials that are also highly magically conductive.
So! Generally speaking, mages have specialized armor or bodies designed specifically for combat. These will usually have this metallic ceramic protecting their heads and torsos so they can't be killed with a single shot of a particle beam, while leaving their arms and hands exposed so the metallic ceramic can't interfere with their spells. Whenever they're not in combat, they generally wear regular robes or use normal bodies. So mages are actually the most vulnerable members of any military, generally speaking. Also, Gerhardt's brain is now fully mechanical as of like... Chapter 12 I think? I don't feel like going back to find the quote at the moment... Regardless, he can still be killed fairly easily especially since he doesn't have a combat ready body in the MLP world.
No teleportation is not harder to figure out than trans dimensional travel. If it was then teleportation weapons wouldn't be a thing. It's just that the Greater Gods are kind of assholes and changed the laws of physics so it's legitimately impossible for mortals to use teleportation for any sort of travel. Instead, if a mortal tries to teleport the laws of magic dictates they will always undergo catastrophic teleportation failure and thus die as their atoms are scattered randomly across the universe. Though this also allowed them to weaponize teleportation instead. Thus the reason why Gerhardt was able to figure out an Arcane Equation for successful teleportation so fast in the MLP universe when he spent his entire life trying and failing in his universe.
Honestly the fact that Isabelle doesn't point out the fact that the nature spirit is in fact active in the Everfree is an absolute betrayal no matter what perspective you try to spin on it because she's completely bypassing the possibility of a peaceful outcome by her own words of allowing the spirit to go on a killing spree with no exception for children or innocents that don't know better or otherwise beyond
. This action makes her an intentional accomplice in murder plain and simple. The parts about Gerhardt and Pixel don't even need to be brought up in how wrong what she's doing is.
Edit: Also she should be aware that Gerhardt is likely to end up involved which means it will turn to violence against said spirit and Gerhardt may have ways of permanently dealing with the spirit especially with her experience of the clone Fighting... In.. A.. War.. Against... A.. Frickin'... God!
This story is incredible. I can't believe I put off reading it for so long. All the different plot lines going on, I love each one. Particularly, I'm especially excited for Gerhardt quest for divinity, Discord's inevidtable introduction and reveal as a greater god, and the ultimate resolution to the pony's conflict with Natura. I mean, she obviously isn't going to exterminate pony kind, but they also enalaved her, and she has Isabelle's support.
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Well, as I said to a previous commentor, I personally need to view it as unbiased as possible to be able to write the characters effectively. Thus my perspective on Isabelle’s actions. Furthermore, the idea that peace was ever an option with Natura after 50,000 years of enslavement is a fallacy. She wouldn't be willing to negotiate at all and she would kill Isabelle for "betraying" her if she so much as tried to bring in ponies to negotiate with her. She wants revenge plain and simple and she won't stop until she gets her revenge.
That being said, your perspective is completely understandable and makes sense considering you are a reader and thus do not need to have a strictly unbiased perspective like me.
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Thank you very much! I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far and hope you continue to enjoy it as it goes on.
I have to say, the Discord thing is a very interesting theory.
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Oh, well, I just thought it made sense. Given Discord is, for all intents, omnipotent with nothing to limit him, it just felt obvious that he be a god of some sort. I mean, if Natura is roughly on par with a god herself and Discord bound her for 50,000 years with binds so powerful that it'd take another god months to undo.....clearly he's a step above the rest. The only caveat is where Harmony fits into this which you've already said is lesser spirit, I believe. No lesser spirit should have the power to stop a god, let alone a greater god....unless there was something limiting Discord's powers.
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Oh I'm not arguing against that. However she's still intentionally being an accomplice towards planned mass murder against noncombatants which seems even more hypocritical considering her profession. I get that this is how you've decided she would act based on what you know as the author and as a DM/GM I've done similar. There's just one major issue to which there may be more to it but failing to check on whether or not Gerhardt would consider this as interference with his plans which considering how long she's known him seems ooc as she knows how destructive and deadly he can be seems like a enormous oversight that makes no sense at the moment with what we've seen so far. If she was acting more emotionally compromised or had more effecting her decision beyond "I'm part elf, must help nature" it would make more sense but she's also been in the middle of a war against a nature god which means she should be seeing some parallels here unless you're trying to show her as being that incompetent or assassinating her characterization as that's all that scene did. If there was more build up to it or her shown being approached while she's still upset it from a bigger conflict than what we were shown it would be more believable. No matter how you look at it she'd have to be really out of it to not consider Gerhardt. I have possible theories in my head that could explain it but unless any of them are further hinted at I'm going to go off what we've been shown.
Edit: TLDR From what we as readers have been shown of her, her actions are idiotic and contradictory.
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Nononono... I never said Harmony is a lesser spirit. It's a greater spirit, it's just not fully formed yet. Spirits gain strength and eventually manifest physically the stronger the concept they represent becomes. But that being said, no Greater Spirit is anywhere even remotely powerful enough to stop a Greater God.
If anything Discord is just another Greater Spirit. Granted, the concept of chaos and disharmony is either on par with if not more powerful than the concept of Nature in this story thus he's just as if not more powerful than Natura. Furthermore, as is his nature as a spirit of chaos he is extremely unpredictable thus fighting him is really hard for anything that isn't stronger than him or isn't a spirit of order or harmony.
The Spirit of Harmony just has a type advantage over him, so to speak. Thus the reason the Elements of Harmony were able to imprison him.
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Huh, weird. With that said, though, wouldn't Discord have the type advantage against Harmony, as well. It'd certainly explain why he's nearly killed the tree before in the canon show(plunder vines). Aside from that, though, who are Equestria's greater gods if not Discord? Are they going to be relevant to the story in any way, or just exist in the background?
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Well, I'm trying to think of ways to make them relevant but how do you make a cosmic being who normally only pays attention to things on a universal scale get involved in mortal affairs? It's really fricking difficult. Still, like I said I'll try to think of something.
And yes, Discord definitely has a type advantage over the Spirit of Harmony as well. They are both weak to eachother and are strong against most other things.
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Well, my self-esteem issues.
Aight. So, this ceramic compound is used for armor... Infantry and vehicle, I presume?
What is the 'caiber' of particle beam weapons? As in, thicness of the beam.
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Pretty much. I mean if you have a super material why not use it? Expense, I know, but it's clearly the best material they have.
The particle beams typically used by infantry are most often one inch thick. However there can be cannons that can get up to a foot wide. However those have to be mounted on heavy vehicles. Larger particle cannons do exist. Oh and not all of them fire the same types of particles.
Hydrogen Ions would be the least commonly used as they're the lightest and thus least damaging when fired at the speed of light but the heaviest particle cannons would fire uranium ions as they are the heaviest and thus most damaging when fired at the speed of light. However the heaviest ones would also be somewhat uncommon as uranium is radioactive and they don't exactly want to spread radioactive material everywhere. So the most common particle weapons would likely fire something like tungsten or osmium particles. Not sure how much of a difference that makes.