Forums

kalika hildebrand "House Hildebrand and House Uldwar have always been good friends. Will Lady Varda be willing to set aside her alliance with my husband to keep my children and I safe?" As Lady Uldwar continues her worried spiel, fraying threads at the seams, Kalika’s mind begins to race. As she is not in any position of power to directly grant the noblewoman immediate asylum under the protection of House Hildebrand, she cannot ultimately offer any sort of promise, aside from the ones she and her husband are allowed to provide. However, there is an alternative that Kalika is at least willing to explore. “My Lady, our alliance to House Uldwar concerns the betterment of you and your own, not to any specific individual that may even now seek to harm you. I cannot speak for the Lady Hildebrand, as she has yet to grace the ball with her presence, but my husband and I are very much willing to take you and your children under our wing, and under the protection of House Isidore,” Kalika murmurs under the speculative questions left from Lord Uldwar’s passing, placing a steady hand on the woman’s back as they weave through the crowd, Suri a silent guardian trailing behind them. It has been ages since she has brought up the power she still wields as the headship of a vassal farming house, but Kalika supposes the circumstances deem it necessary to remind herself of her ancestral house once again. “To come against us is to come against House Hildebrand, and that is something only a few can afford to engage in.” They eventually come in sight of the Dali women, accompanied by a few strangers and the proprietor of the Andelusian teahouse. “Whoever you trust to keep you and your family safe, House Hildebrand stands behind you,” Kalika tries her best to smile in a manner that offers warm comfort and quietly deposits the woman in the company of House Dali. She looks across the few paces between herself and her husband, gives him a subtle nod: Suri and I are quite fine. Jasper smiles at her with no small hint of pride, even as he engages with the Duchess Karradeen, and Kalika waits for the women to converse, Lady Uldwar safely nestled in the Dali’s grasp, before returning to her husband’s side with her daughter in tow.     @Grubbistch @LikelyMissFortune @Witches Brew @Ataraxy @Tyler  

emmaline lafiya Emma is in a dream. It must be a dream, with all the rosy swirls curling around Nova’s figure as she leads a bemused Kellen towards the door, the almost-heightened alertness of her senses. She almosts wants to giggle uncontrollably at her male friend’s face: he looks as if he had sucked on a lemon that had suddenly appeared between his teeth. “Emma you want him to go back inside don't you?” No, she wants to say, but what comes out is a long, whiny, “but why? I want him to stay and get acquainted with you more!” Nova does not answer her question, which is confusing enough on its own and leaves a growing pout on her face, but then her childhood friend continues on chattering, asking all these incessant questions. Why is she asking so many things? Emma can hardly keep up at this rate. “You trust me enough to be alone with don't you? In fact we were about to go for a walk weren't we? Just you and me. So we can talk about business.” Emma places both of her hands on her hips and gives Nova a disapproving look. “Yes, but you didn’t have to be so rude to Kellen,” she slurs, raising a hand to her forehead. Why is it so hot? Isn’t it nighttime? Shouldn’t it be cold? As if on cue, shivers break out over his skin, and the pink-haired girl trembles violently. “Can we please go somewhere where the temperature isn’t screwing around with us?” She scowls at the air around her, as if the very atmosphere is at fault for the way her mind is unravelling, twisting outwards like a spinning top set wild and loose.     @Rin  

Linda blinked back the memories that seemed to overwhelm her. She can see so much of him now, the Isaac of the past and the Isaac before her now. But is this the secret he was always guarding? His grand achievement? Linda Linda felt honored that Isaac was willing to share this part of him to her. Somehow she felt that she didn't deserve any of this. But seeing him move her to his lap, Linda's complaints were a loss within the moment.  Her memories melded with his the same way she melded into Isaac's arms. She pulled him back into her embrace then, her hands finding purchase all over him. Soon the memories would once more take over both of them- "So you've come, child. I have been waiting," the woman spoke. "Mother!" Middy roared at the woman, "Your madness has doomed the cartel. You have failed us Lady Blackhead." The Lady giggled. "How observant of you, child. But then again, there's nothing you can do about it." Middy stood his ground. "No, I still have one last resort." "YOU DARE! I RAISED YOU, MIDDY! I-" "I'm sorry mother but as a member of the cartel, I invoke my right to challenge you to the death for the position of the Black Head." "YOU WILL REGRET THIS MIDDY! YOU UNGRATEFUL CUR! YOU-" "Forgive me, mother. But this has to be done."  And so, Middy spoke his last words to her mother with tears streaming down his face. She may not have been a good parent but Middy was grateful to have one. But he too has an obligation to the cartel. Dredge may have corrupted the Lady but Middy will correct this mistake and with her death, he will lead the cartel on a different path.

The days after his return to the union were busy indeed. Joseph Tynes had to sign off on several requisition orders, approve numerous ordinances, and catch up on any bill passages from the Norkotian Council. But while some of the aspects of his job were tedious and dull, there were other parts he thoroughly enjoyed. One of such part was what was to occur today. After having spent a few hours of the morning in his office, Tynes took a lift to the ground level, where he was joined by Field Marshal Dareth Vander, as well as the Director of InterSec, Edger Von Himmel. Together, the three men were bused to the corporate headquarters of Schmidt Arms Company, the largest weapon manufacturer in Norkotia, and the biggest supplier for the defense forces. “Welcome gentlemen! Welcome, yes! Welcome!” they were greeted by the nervous, eccentric, but brilliant owner and CEO of the company, Stephan Schmidt. Schmidt was the latest in a long, proud family lineage of owners, who had passed Norkotia’s oldest arms builder down from generation to generation. Not every Schmidt had been an brilliant inventory or a mechanical genius, but many were, and it could certainly be said that Stephan was among them. Indeed, the man had already contributed an impressive collection of corrections in his relatively short life. “Mr. Schmidt, a pleasure to see you again.” Tynes greeted the man. “The honor is all my mine, Grand Executor! Yes, very much mine!” Schmidt chirped giddily, “You don’t know how excited I am to show you what I have for you today, yes indeed!” “You’ve met Director Von Himmel and Marshal Vander before, so I suppose we can skip the formalities and proceed directly to your little exposition.” Tynes suggested. “Yes, wonderful!” Schmidt cackled, “Right this way!” Schmidt led them through the office section of the building and into one of the large, well-supplied workshops. There were several shooting ranges within the workshop, permitting a controlled environment for testing new weapon designs and ammunition loadouts. No weapons were being fired at the moment, but if Schmidt had his way, that wouldn’t be the case for long. “So, first of all, you are all acquainted with this particular beauty, yes?” Schmidt displayed a front-heavy automatic pistol to the assembly, prompting the men to nod, “The Model 590, it’s a fine weapon, yes it is, one of my father’s last designs, actually. However, I have taken his design and made a few modifications… yes I have…” He showed them another pistol, of similar design but with very small, particular alterations. “I have altered the barrel and chamber to fit the popular thirty-five pistol cartridge, which should reduce production costs without sacrificing a hint of firepower! But, that is not all, yes… I have also replaced the original stripper-clip loading mechanism with a spring-loaded clip, permitting quicker and simpler reloads.” he explained, “I call it the 590c, c standing for clip of course. Clever, yes?” “Sure.” Tynes humored him. “I have an even better design in the sketching phase, but with your permission, I’ll send the schematics for the 590c directly to the ordinance department for production. I’ll have every man in your army equipped with one of these in two months! Yes sir!” Schmidt rambled. “Fine by me.” Tynes agreed, though his eye had already moved on to the next item on Schmidt’s display table. “Oh, you see it, don’t you?” Schmidt grinned, setting aside the pistol and picking up the weapon Tynes was examining, “Yes, this baby was a project of mine even before you took office.” The weapon was constructed primarily of steel, with only simple plastic plates secured to the pistol grip, and a fold-out stock instead of a bulky wooden one. Judging by the barrel length, the long clip and size of the barrel, one could accurately conclude it was a submachinegun. “I’m sure you are all familiar with the Jorgerson, yes. A venerable firearm, but wasteful and inaccurate if I do say so myself, not to mention heavy.” Schmidt explained, then offered the weapons for Tynes to handle. The executor found it decently light and compact, making it easy to handle. He would have liked to fire it himself, but with his arms in their current state he elected instead to allow the Field Marshal and the Director to examine it first-hand instead. “The rate-of-fire has been reduced, and I have fitted it for thirty-five pistol ammunition as well, which means greater accuracy and penetration power over medium distances. The clip is not as large as the Jorgerson, yes, but it will be considerably easier to carry more total ammunition in the clip form rather than those clunky drums! Ah, yes, and did I mention it will be far easier to produce en mass?” “Perhaps we should see it in action.” Marshal Vander suggested. “Yes, yes! Of course, please do!” Schmidt urged, guiding them to the nearest targeting range, “Do you need me to sho--” “No, I believe I’ve got it.” Vander replied, priming the weapon and flipping the safety. Taking aim, he opened fire on the target, emptying the complete thirty-round clip. “It is certainly easier to keep on target than the Jorgerson.” he remarked. The Jorgerson was an older SMG that for all its faults, was incredibly powerful in short range situations. Unfortunately, the type of ammunition it took, combined with its excessive rate-of-fire, meant it suffered in accuracy and lacked range. This new weapon, which fired the much higher velocity thirty-five pistol, would be just the thing security forces needed for close and medium-ranged encounters. And of course, the promise of cheap production costs was appealing in and of itself. “I want full specifications on that submitted to the ordinance department as well.” Tynes instructed Schmidt, “Then I want all my guards armed with those by the end of the month.” “Yes, of course! I will do so as soon as we are done, yes.” Schmidt squealed. “What else do you have for us?” “Oh, you’ll like this. Actually, I believe the director will be the most pleased, yes he will.” Schmidt guided them to a different work bench, upon which sat the disassembled components of a what appeared to be a suit of armor. But this suit of armor was constructed from plastic. “Garrison Outfitters may have gotten the early lead on us when it came to plastic armor, but I am proud to say we ultimately won the race. Introducing “Petrosteel”, a petroleum alloy capable of sustaining attacks from low-velocity projectiles while being a fraction of the weight as metallic armors! Allow me to demonstrate!” Schmidt proclaimed, scooping up the chestplate and hauling it over to a target dummy in one of the shooting ranges, “As you can see, this dummy is constructed with rubber, simulating the fleshy skin of a human.” Taking a few steps back, he drew out a revolver he had holstered at his side, and fired several shots into the plastic armor. The assembled officials leaned closer, clearly intrigued. Schmidt then removed the plate, revealing the test dummy had suffered little in the way of damage, then bring it over for Tynes and company to examine. “As you can see, the armor prevented all the bullets from reaching the target, yes sir!” Schmidt proudly declared. Indeed, the armor had been cracked in a couple of spots, with bullets embedded within, with a couple other spots where the bullets didn’t even crack the armor but managed to dent it. Not a single bullet had penetrated, however. “Very nice.” Tynes remarked. “Impressive, most impressive.” Vander agreed. Even the normally tight-lipped Von Himmel nodded and uttered a soft agreement. “Yes yes, we will continue to improve its characteristics, as it is not strong enough to resist high-powered rounds yet, but in the meantime, it should help protect our people from the likes of pistols, crossbows, hurled objects and melee attacks!” “This armor is promising. I want to see the results of more detailed trials when it is submitted for approval.” Tynes stated, “It could be the difference between life and death for many of our men in the future, but want to make sure our forces are made aware of the limits of its effectiveness.” “Yes, splendid! I shall submit a full report for your review!” Schmidt whooped, “Now gentlemen, on to the next one…” The tour continued, with Schmidt displaying several more inventions, as well as new configurations and accessories for existing weapon platforms, but it would be the N90c Pistol, the N97 SMG and the Petrosteel Armor that become three of the most martial inventions in Norkotia for many years to come...

November 24 | 29 AO Do we have a deal, Mistress?” A deal? The Mistress licked her lips. Oh, the Mistress will deal with this vixen alright. Once she is done having this lady all to herself all alone- no wait. The lady was mentioning some kind of deal. The Mistress' eyes lit up as realization finally dawned on her. Right they were kind of negotiating and the Mistress was supposed to accept the lady's proposal. She must have been mesmerized by the lady's grace and charm and...uh..assets.  The Mistress cleared her throat to hide her embarrassment, "I guess, it's a deal." With that done the white-haired woman leaned back on her chair while producing a cigar from her coat pocket. All she needs to do now is enjoy the company of this delectable lady. The Mistress brought a lighted cigar to her lips, eyes briefly closing as if relishing the cigar's lucrative taste. Such exquisite taste. The Mistress's gaze shifted toward Dahlia's, the yellow eyes seemed to go from top to bottom then top again. Her assessment was correct, this lady is quite exquisite. "On that note, Lady Chamelis. Now I have a proposal to you."