#Magos Kari Sulyvahn

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Horizon: Ad Victoriam Machina - Chapter 4

To the amazement of all I still manage to write new chapters. Chapter 4 of my long fic is now live:

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"There is steel in that girl, she just doesn't always see it" - Magos Kari Sulyvahn

Aloy: Beta is a wimp

Beta: *cuts her own implant out of her skull*

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Horizon: Ad Victoriam Machina - Chapter 2

Ikrie has found her life in the Sundom grown stale. The pull of adventure, and the push of her past, drive her onwards, to the Forbidden West.

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Horizontober Day 2: Scientific

Few would describe the Oseram as scientists. They are not a people with the temperament to sit down and solve problems with the scientific method of hypothesis testing. No Oseram would spend years in a laboratory developing something before setting out to build it. No, Oseram are smiths and tinkerers to their very souls. If an Oseram has an idea for something they will set out to build it and see how it works. Through this process of ideation and creation, they forge works of metal, wood, stone, leather, and rope. They create these works in the same way that a beaver makes a dam. They start with a general idea of the goal but as they work they refine and modify until the work, at last, takes a final shape. Once the work is created and functions the Oseram urge to tinker takes over. They may make dozens if not hundreds of improvements, modifications, additions, and changes to the work. This can either refine and improve its function, or change it into something entirely novel. An example of the former is the Boltblaster, refined over the years from the flimsier Rattler still used by Carja forces. An example of the latter is the powered bellows.  This tool was originally made to increase the efficiency of hammer forging but has since been repurposed for use in mine ventilation.

 

In the rough and sooty hands of an Oseram tools become weapons, forges become small factories, armor of surprising durability is perfectly fit to its wearer, and simple javelins become plasma or explosive missiles shot from powered launchers. All this is achieved through trial and error, tinkering, and testing. Though their methods are not without risk (sometimes explosive and deadly risk) they are still scientific at their core.

A History of the World of Horizon After the Faro Plague - Volume 3: On The Tribes of the West - Chapter 4 The Oseram of The Claim - by Magos Explorator Kari Sulyvahn

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Horizontober Day 28 - Shock

Galvanic discharge or, "shock" as it is colloquially called, is one of many elements that form the basis of weaponry used by locals of Horizon.  Like all elements, shock must be harvested from machines. However, as it is not a liquid like chillwater or metalburn, its containers are not vessels but capacitance coils called "sparkers". Though superficially similar to the perma-capacitors utilized in Mechanicus arc weaponry, they require recharge and store only a limited amount of galvanic energy.

Because of the nature of galvanic energy, shock cannot be subdivided into smaller containers in the way that blaze can. One would expect this to limit the use of shock to applications where the size of a sparker is not an issue such as traps. However, the locals have learned to construct smaller capacitors from machine parts. These are then charged directly from the larger sparkers, allowing "shock" to be added to small weapons such as arrows or boltcaster quarrels.

Unique among the elements shock is also added to melee weapons, particularly hammers.  This is done by using the same smaller capacitors which are used in arrows and hooking them up to the striking end of the weapon. They are activated upon striking by means of a trigger, allowing for the element to be held back until a critical time.  The effect is not unlike the arc maul used by our own Skitarii, though it has noticeably less output and the capacitor must be replaced after each use. However, given the ingenuity displaced by the locals, it is only a matter of time before this design is further refined and multiple charges can be drawn from the same capacitor.

From: A History of the World of Horizon After the Faro Plague - Volume 3: On The Tribes of the West - Chapter 9: Repurposed Weaponry - by Magos Explorator Kari Sulyvahn

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Horizontober 2022 Day 24 - Spirit

A single command shouted in sacred binharic was enough to make the Clawstrider stop dead in its tracks. Its eyes flicker between red and blue, confused and searching for something it couldn't see. Kari quickly linked into its communication net with a data tether. It took two attempts. Even cowed by holy command these machines have strong spirits, aggressive and independent. Once the data tether was established she used the Faro override code to gain access to the Clawstriders core programming.

She shouldn't need to do any of this. Binharic, the sacred language of the Machine God, his children, and servants, should allow direct access to the programming of all machines no matter their origin. Yet the terraforming machines of Horizon have an unusual, imperfect relationship to the sacred tongue. In their natural state, for reasons unknown, they responded only to the bluntest of commands. Kari's suspicion was that the machines were unable to process the sounds of binharic commands into something their programming could understand. And yet, the language was known to them on a primal level. Their spirits heard the commands and struggled to make their bodies obey. It was a fascinating dissonance and she would have to investigate further.

Thankfully the Faro override code provided by Beta gave her a shortcut around this problem. Though written in primitive hex code, this little program served as a sadly necessary bridge between the divine and the earthly. It allowed her access to the machine's central programming and once in she could adjust it as she pleased.

The Clawstrider's programming was spread out before her mind's eye, and Magos Kari Sulyvahn got to work. She removed whole parts and rewrote others in key places. Her work brought the Clawstrider's body and spirit into closer harmony and encoded an understanding of binharic directly into its programming. Paradoxically, this would make it more independent even as it became fully susceptible to her control. Yet it was not really her control, only her guidance, given from one servant of the Machine God to another.

In the physical realm, Kari placed a hand on the Clawstriders snout. Its eyes went dark and then lit up bright, radium green. She named her new companion Cobalt.

Ave Deus Mechanicus

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Horizontober Day 7 - Mighty

Previous chapters of this volume have covered Recon, Acquisition, Transport, and Combat Classes terraforming machines. Though all are deadly when provoked, it is only the Combat Class of machines that go out of their way to attack humans on site. A sub-classification of Combat Class machines are the incredibly deadly Titan Class machines. These are differentiated from the regular Combat Class machines (even large ones such as Scorchers) by their great size and numerous offensive weapons. It is not uncommon for Titan Class machines to carry a weapon loadout that rivals that of the Warhounds and Reavers of the Collegia Titanica in destructive potential. The Tremortusk, as an example, mounts a total of six ranged weapons in addition to the impressive melee capabilities of its trunk, tusks, and massive bulk.

Titan Class machines are something of an anomaly among the terraforming machines found on Horizon. Their combat capabilities and size are far beyond the level necessary to protect other machines from human hunters. They are truly mighty machines, capable of wiping out hunting parties, destroying whole villages, and laying siege to cities and towns. Indeed, they appear to be designed specifically to wage a war of extermination on the human population as a whole. They also show a level of persistent aggression not seen in any other Class of machine. Once provoked a Titan Class machine may stay aggressive for hours or days, attacking any humans or settlements within several kilometers of the location where combat began. This behavior might be intended and designed into the machines, or it could be due to the sheer volume of weaponry installed making their machine spirits particularly bellicose.

Regardless of their deadly capabilities, or perhaps because of them, several human tribes (particularly the Carja and Tenakth) have made a regular practice of hunting Titan Class Machines. These hunts may be undertaken for parts, prestige, or as a show of skill and bravery among a tribe's hunters. They can involve up to a dozen hunters who attack the machine with a high level of coordination and planning. The goal is to distract the machine with attacks from many angles, drive it into traps, and remove its deadlier weapons.

Though very rare, it is not unheard of for solo hunters of surpassing skill and bravery to take down Titan Class machines alone. Such individuals are exceptional and need the skill, strategic thinking, equipment, and endurance to survive hours of grueling combat against a foe many times their size. More detail on these remarkable individuals may be found in Volume 3: On the Tribes of the West - Chapter 7: Apex Hunters.

From: A History of the World of Horizon After the Faro Plague - Volume 2: Terraforming Machines - Chapter 5: Titan Class Machines - by Magos Explorator Kari Sulyvahn

Man, Kari Sulyvahn sure knows a lot about this world. Wonder why?