#armored blade jetkaiser

[ri47]

it felt like Jetkaiser could benefit from having at least one stock design for the grunt enemy equivalent, so I went ahead and threw one together

-

Veins humming with liquid godcorpse, automatic confrontation units, more commonly known as Autofedes, are a flashy -- and often impractical -- method of completely overwhelming an objective. Against Jetkaisers, however, their true threat becomes clear.

While unworthy of note on their own, Autofedes' nature as swarm infantry has resulted in them claiming the lives of many experienced pilots. Just as quickly as one might notice the telltale buzzing of their inefficient holy engines, they might find themselves surrounded by mechanised blades from all sides.

While they may appear to move independently, there are no known variants of Autofede which avoid reliance on a weighty intelligence core, serving as the thinking (and reacting) centre for all its tethered Autofedes. In this sense, a group of Autofedes can be considered the swarm bodies of their core. Without the core, they are nothing more than useless piles of metal and blood.

By necessity, the intelligence core is bound to an implanted Azariel, the neural stem inside serving as the contractee. Because the Azariel is aware of its non-sentience, only a core which has begun to develop its own sense of self can utilise holy arts through its Autofedes.

In spite of the great expense in creating an Autofede swarm, their armour is not on par with a true holyframe, and thus they are easily cleaved by a Jetkaiser's weapon in a single blow.

(I imagine they move a bit like the stiffer machines from Automata)

[toskarin]

is it legal to marry an autofede

[this is an ask about Armored Blade Jetkaiser lore, a work-in-progress ttrpg setting, and is subject to change]

marriage doesn't really exist as a secular institution in the Third Cycle. it's an entirely religious thing, and as autofedes are not singular entities (a full swarm of autofedes operates off of one mind, an intelligence core) or humans, they are not eligible for marriage within the Unions

while there are things similar to marriages that can be entered as secular arrangements, they notably all require citizenship papers, which are only assigned by aforementioned Unions

so to cut a long answer short, you can't really marry an autofede for the same reason you can't marry one wheel from a train. they're not sapient, sentient, nor a distinct entity

well,

this gets into a bit of an interesting note about how AI works in the Third Cycle, but because intelligence cores (henceforth ICs) assigned to control divine machinery require a human for their implantation to form a pact with, they do contain a primitive form of a brain stem developed from human foetal tissue

in the event an IC manages to develop a sense of self, if it is discovered, it lawfully must be destroyed. because azariels can be spiteful about being forced into a pact with an IC, some are known to instruct them on how to hide their newfound consciousness until a sufficient opportunity for revenge reveals itself

awakened ICs can use holy arts in the same way as Jetkaisers so long as their autofedes have blood left inside of them. an autofede swarm acting spitefully and deliberately is a pretty clear sign that something's happened with the IC. there's nothing in an IC's programming that encourages them to, for example, honour someone's request for a fair duel

this is less "AI cascade/singularity/rampancy" and more akin to a gun suddenly waking up one day and realising it's being fired. the Unions' mandates against awakened ICs are more of a reactionary social policy around the control of what counts as "life" than an attempt to prevent an AI uprising

also they don't treat ICs particularly well when using them as tools and strapping godcorpse bits to them, so it's not like they're entirely baseless in suspicions that an awakening could lead to extreme military sabotage

in this state, it's theoretically possible to form a bond with an awakening IC, and while there are no organisational bodies in the Unions that recognise the personhood of awakened ICs, you might

at this point, marrying an autofede would be a bit more conceptually similar to marrying one finger from someone's hand, though

[ri47]

Bootleg Angel: an abbreviated test version of the character creation for that one unreleased rider-inspired ttrpg rin promises she hasn't forgotten

playtest groups will be receiving a copy first, along with patrons, when it's ready. no promises on a specific date, but it'd be nice to finish things up before we reach that end date I set for FestaBlood

[ri47]

[Preview] Armored Blade Jetkaiser: Archetype

While Jetkaisers don't slot cleanly into a normal class system, the exact nature of one's interface with their holy frame can be sorted into several martial schools, which are known as Archetypes.

An Archetype is more like an ideology, a way of thinking, than it is a true set of rules. An Archetype is, in the truest sense, a choice of path towards heaven: the vein one follows to the burning heart of divine peerlessness.

While an Archetype might inform the way a Jetkaiser fights, its effects are most strongly felt outside of combat, represented in flourish and theatrics. Even still, there are certain circumstances where one's Archetype might decide the outcome of a duel.

Additionally, each Archetype selects a Path Symbol to carry with them, representative of the way they have chosen to follow. Examples are included, but not necessarily the only options.

Included in Bootleg Angel, the first pre-release edition of Jetkaiser, are three Archetypes. More may come in the future, along with instructions on creating homebrew Archetypes.

-

🦗十重の変身幻想 〜 Ten Illusionary Shifts

Ten Illusionary Shifts is the path of change, justice, and chivalry. Those of this Archetype interface with their holy frames as extensions of themself, an object worn tightly against their body that can be ready at a moment's notice if only given the cue.

Holy frames used by these Jetkaisers tend to take on a semi-organic appearance, layers of chitin-like material resulting from the blend of their being with the divine engine on their backs. A Jetkaiser who follows this path is never truly disarmed unless they are truly dismembered.

Path Symbols

A recognisable article of clothing left to you by the one who saved your life, the thread of their memory laced deep along the seams

A physical photograph of someone you can never forget, stained and mistreated, but never truly lost

A borrowed name, a stolen face, often worn in place of your own

🗡️精作悲嘆の坐禅 〜 Meditations on Perfected Misery

Meditations on Perfected Misery is the path of duality, loss, and endless improvement. Those of this Archetype interface with their holy frames as semi-autonomous companions, lending some of their Azariel's power to the armour itself, splitting their will into two.

Holy frames used by these Jetkaisers take the form of animal familiars when inactive, shifting into traditionally-styled suits of armour when activated. A Jetkaiser who follows this path sacrifices themself—for their own sake.

Path Symbols

A tattoo marking a regrettable past affiliation you just can't shake off, the seal of a soul with terrible deeds undone

A burning scar, an aching memory, and an irreplaceable lesson left to you by someone for whom you'd rather not find respect

A scent of blood that cannot be washed away, the subject and consequence of many an unfortunate misunderstanding

🌹使徒の輝ける殉教 〜 Visionary's Shining Calvary

Visionary's Shining Calvary is the path of resistance, beauty, and martyrdom. Those of this Archetype interface with their holy frames as beautiful weapons, love made manifest, irremovable from their very nature as a being.

Holy frames used by these Jetkaisers take the form of "enchanted" (or cursed) weapons, taking form as an exteriorisation of their inner world and wrapping their bodies in protective arms. A Jetkaiser who follows this path sharpens their heart against the rocky shore of reality.

Path Symbols

A pin, brooch, signet, or other trinket that carries a floral crest, wreathed in the distant reek of a past lover's perfume

An amulet held to the heart, ringed in glass and metal, summoning memories of home when squeezed tight in bloodied palm

A hazy memory of the one you sought to become, idolatry sinking through the mirror's cracks

-

TL Note: all of the Archetype names were written in Japanese first and worked backwards to English in homage to questionable fan translations of the late 90s and early 2000s. they are intentionally indirect translations that make some weird choices on purpose

TL Note 2: because I used a japanese bible I had around for help with the translation on a lot of these, you can't say "none of these words appear in the bible" because most of them do

[ri47]

Within every Jetkaiser is the capacity to perform holy arts.

While some are born with this ability, it is so exceedingly rare as to disqualify those lucky few from the common mercenary’s life. Operating a divine frame without a holy circuit, while possible, puts one at a significant disadvantage.

For those who wish to walk the path of blood, a pact must be made with an azariel — a still-thinking fragment of the Deadgod. Azariels take the form of worms at first, but steadily grow within their host bodies until they replace the nervous system entirely. This process is desirable.

A bit shorter than a forearm on average, azariel worms seem to be fully inert until inserted into a host. Upon implantation, an Azariel instinctively adheres itself to the host with its tails, dissolving and spreading through their body over time. Divinity leeches into the host body as the azariel grows towards its final stage: a system of organs fully indistinct from its host body, merged in perfect symbiosis.

there won't be a ton of key art unique to Jetkaiser, but I wanted to have at least one piece for a weirder concept in-lore

[ri47]

how do I persuade other people to stop ghosting my girlfriend or to just generally acknowledge her existence? she's gets lonely whenever I'm not around and I would like it if people didn't look at me like they'd seen a ghost whenever I suggest they try chatting with her.

check out VesalBlood and Armored Blade Jetkaiser. I don't think they'll help, but it's firmly within the scope of what this blog can offer

[toskarin]

self indulgent doodle of Armored Blade Jetkaiser as a 2000s metalcore album

[ri47]

RI47 JULY IN BRIEF

VesalBlood ALTERNE: Diesem Fernen Traum updated! the story has 3 chapters left to go, and at 46,192 words, we've already crossed the line where official translations would be prohibitively expensive (milestone) and final edits are going to be a very funny prank I play on myself (milestone)

OMEN/CONSTANCE III: Deadvoice released! the soundtrack is now nearly two hours long

a smallscale project named A Practical Guide to the Exploitation of Venomous Flowers is in the works and we'll have more to show on that one soon! stay tuned!

Armored Blade Jetkaiser is still real. we promise.

thanks for your continued support!

[toskarin]

the one thing I feel most regret about, wrt moving my mecha ttrpg writing away from LANCER and towards my own systems, is that I had to scrap one of the more fun concepts because of how personal-to-each-player the suits in my stuff tend to be

rambles about a largely scrapped (and repurposed) module below the break

the adventure's premise was blatantly an IBO knockoff where the party had a finite inventory of grunt frames, along with more interesting suits they could find along the way, with a sort of early d&d style focus on the maintenance of equipment (applied here to earning partial and full repairs for their dwindling mecha supply, with more advanced suits costing more)

the licence level system was more or less decoupled from mecha progression, because all frames and attachments were either looted from battlefields, bartered for with pirates, or otherwise given as incentives for playing into a specific criminal faction's favour, angering the others in your effort to prepare for the inevitable system government crackdown

the adventure was built around finding contracts within deadline windows, weighing if the party could afford the more dangerous ones with their current supplies, and gradually coming into conflict with larger government factions as this happened

base maintenance expenses, food, and protection fees were to be weighed against things like "pay the fee to reestablish a new smuggler route connection for special ammo after the system government cracked down and killed your previous ones"

if that started sounding familiar towards the latter half, a lot of this was repurposed into the core of Armored Blade Jetkaiser's gameplay loop, but the "you are running through your mecha hangar making loadouts and scrounging for repairs, hoping your good mecha don't break beyond repair and necessitate using the questionable ones" bit didn't really make it into that system...

anyway, I'm mostly posting this here because I know tables like to steal homebrew concepts to build their own modules around, so I might as well pay a little back in lol

[toskarin]

taking quick stock of it, because I've mostly had a closed desk about the development until this point, what are some wishlist features you might have for Armored Blade Jetkaiser? (if you know what it is, of course)

I'm rounding the corner on most of what I'd consider to be the core reworks it needed, along with filling out some holy arts and trait options, so I can afford to ask now

[toskarin]

some design rambles on Jetkaiser's combat system below the break. not particularly well-articulated, and expect a lot of unexplained jargon here if you haven't been following my rambles for a while now lol

-

Holy Arts and Techniques in Armored Blade Jetkaiser take the place of spells or skills in other ttrpgs. notably, their usage is not only encouraged by intense situations, but enabled strongly by desperation

while Techniques often have their own pool of uses before they start costing resources, Holy Arts always dip into a resource, and that resource is (excepting in very rare circumstances where a character might have developed some highly specialised abilities) Blood, which can be viewed as "the closest thing to a health value the game has, tracked only through its absence"

when a player takes damage, it's not really tracked. if something gets under your armour, you're wounded, and when a player has two stacks of wounds, they're killed. this holds true for enemies as well, and because of that, combat is inherently more about forcing a gap in your enemy's armour to hit the soft inside than it is about chipping at a health pool

the first time a character enters combat from a rested state, their blood pool fills. each time a character is wounded, their blood pool refills entirely, returning them to full fighting (if not enduring) strength. if the situation requires, a character can wound themselves to force an earlier refill of blood

there's a few design questions inherent to this, mostly around a very familiar issue in D&D-derived games (combat experimentation is discouraged by heavy consequences), so I ended up with a question to drop into my own hands:

how could Jetkaiser, on a very basic level as a game, encourage scenarios where a player character feels comfortable playing aggressively?

after all, directional armour aside, players only have a single health point of buffer before they're, theoretically, at risk of receiving a character death. if skills eat away at a pool of non-regenerating resource, why would a player ever risk using it?

the end result of this was the current system of wound-layering

when a character receives a wound for the first time in an encounter, this throws them into a state of sunder. several skills are set to fire off when a player is sundered, their blood pool refills, and nothing is really lost. I view this on the design side as the moment when your alarms would probably start screaming at you

in short, it's a serious place to be, but this will never kill a player

when a sundered player is hit again, they're presented a new option: crash their holy frame (the flying armour they wear) and receive a permanent penalty trait when combat concludes, or enter the second layer of wounds (torment)

when in torment, a player (or certain elite enemy) is willingly running the risk of much more debilitating harm. further injury at this point forces the character to crash, and post-combat, they roll 1d6 for each time this has happened to them before. if that number surpasses their blood pool's cap, the character dies

of course, even in the case of a success, a tormented character picks up worse penalties than if they'd crashed their frame earlier

I can't imagine the rules writeup of this will show up in the first playtests, just because I'm still wrestling the layout into a readable form, but so it goes

the wound system, at least, makes a really clean transfer to unmounted combat (carried out in roleplay) because it'd be a bit weird for characters who are more or less ace pilots to feel safe when fighting outside of their planes. if somebody pulls a gun, it should probably be at least a little bit more tense than ideal combat situations

[toskarin]

ok i get the thematic core of jetkaise but hwats the ARMOED core of jetkaiser

I thought that was kinda obvious. it's called Armored Blade Jetkaiser for a reason

[toskarin]

it just hit me that nobody will ever notice it if I don't point it out at least once

the title "Armored Blade Jetkaiser" is an oblique reference to Metal Kaiser, the infamous attempt at making a chinese Ultraman series which immediately caught on fire and exploded

that's the title because the alternate history of Jetkaiser diverges when not-Ultraman appears and promptly explodes

I promise this made perfect sense when I wrote it

[ri47]

[Q1-2024] A RI47 Heavy Industries Not-Quite Quarterly Report: The Power of Paranoid Thinking

So let's do a quick summary to avoid scaring anyone: Ri47's fine, Rin's (hello!) health isn't really any worse than it usually is, no major projects have been cancelled besides a standalone short story, we have a new mascot, and we're staring down the barrel of several simultaneous releases. 2024, god willing, if all goes to plan, is set to be a busy year... but a normal year.

That's it! You can scurry along now if that covered most of what you were curious about. It's rambles past here.

I promised I'd put something together like this, and since I've set aside the time today, when better to make some announcements and clarify some things going on under the bonnet. It's nothing especially massive, but radio silence felt less ideal as an indicator of the fact I'm hard at work

Without further ado, let's get into the thick of it

A New Face

You might have caught that there's a new face around here. The girl in the black hat is named Łucja (/ˈwu.t͡sja/) and she'll be taking over as the actual mascot for Ri47 Heavy Industries going forward!

There were a lot of motivations around making Łucja, but it can mostly be boiled down to wanting a design to represent the creative side of Ri47 which also doesn't appear as a character in any of the works proper. As much as Pagan is a dear character to me, she's just not an excellent mascot (or author mouthpiece, given that she's an awful person lmao)

She's entirely monochrome, she's got a distinct funny hat, and her outfit is partially stolen from a band I enjoy. Perfect.

Additionally, Łucja is entirely incapable of death, although it still doesn't feel great. It's probably best not to bother her with that sort of thing.

What's up with VesalBlood?

The next chapter of ALTERNE: Diesem Fernen Traum is nearing its release (about 80% done), so if you've been following that series, I hope that's welcome news!

VesalBlood's releases slowed down a bit in the final months of 2023 and the early months of 2024. I wish I could say it was because I was working on something more impressive, but the actual reason is that money is money and I needed to work on projects which produced that sort of thing

There is no actual hiatus on VesalBlood besides my usual glacial pace, but I'd be lying if I said that my work hasn't been eating into my ability to write at the pace I'd like. It's neither here nor there, but it simply is

In a perfect world, I'd probably devote all my time to finishing one long-term project at a time, but that's just not a viable way to be a working artist of my type under any economic system at the moment. The Kishar System setting survived the latter years of my schooling, so rest assured it's not going anywhere unless I go somewhere as well

There may be a few surprising announcements relating to VesalBlood coming at some point in the next few months, but there also might not. To keep a little transparency here, it largely depends on whether I get some calls back

What's up with Armored Blade Jetkaiser?

Armored Blade Jetkaiser continues apace, albeit I've had to delay it a bit as well, due to some surprise complications necessitating the reworking of some key aspects of the combat system

I'm still weighing whether I want to release the first pre-release editions without the dogfighting ruleset to get it out the door faster, but it feels like that'd be a bit of a betrayal. Maybe I'll put it up to a poll soon? Who knows.

At any rate, Armored Blade Jetkaiser is Armored Blade Jetkaiser, and that means it's a solo project that I'm working on in my second layer of free time (what I do after I do the things I do in my free time) so it was always bound to be a little extra slow

What's up with OMEN/CONSTANCE?

OMEN/CONSTANCE is coming. No delays are expected, because I didn't actually set a release date. At any rate, it's coming about as fast as expected!

It should be entering the final stage of work soon, since we're only a song or two short of release. Look forward to it! There might be a few surprises on this one

RI47? In My Project?

While I'm not at liberty to discuss the specifics of it quite yet, I'm going to be featuring on a few projects! Watch out! Or don't! I'll be here, regardless. I'll make a point of saying more once I can.

As it stands, the projects are game-related, and I don't have to actually make the games for once

Lovely! Lovely!!

Wrapping Up?

Mostly! Before I forget, I'll probably throw Chivalry Without Honour on Bandcamp as a single at some point in the next few days. If you enjoy that track, you can pick it up, probably!

Also, I've finally worked out the ideal portion of salt to cut the burnt taste from my instant coffee! I won't write it down here, because discovering that is an important (and personal!) milestone in every frugal caffeine addict's life, kinda like learning which brand of inexpensive vodka won't make you sick.

You've really gotta learn it for yourself! But it's worth it!

See you soon!

[ri47]

Jetkaiser Setting Material: Akashic Artefacts

When the term Akasha is used in the study of the godcorpse, it most often refers to a conceptual place in time, the terminus, where things might be pulled from with the full record of their existence engraved upon them, regressing towards the moment of their creation

In short, Akasha is just as much the moment of nonexistence, when something truly ceases to be, as it is the moment of the item's fulfillment of purpose. When something is no more, it goes to Akasha.

Akasha rests at no specific or consistent place in time for the things which are pulled from it. Similarly, it is impossible to pull something from Akasha which currently exists or ever will exist so long as the pulled object remains in conceptual existence. An item pulled from Akasha is unique, and is referred to as an artefact

All of this means that, in effect, an artefact is an item which can never be recreated and does not otherwise exist. To pull something from Akasha is to violate the very fabric of the world, and in removing the artefact from its own weave, it will begin to correct itself, regressing towards the beginning of its existence at rapid pace until it ceases to exist

Artefacts pulled from Akasha require a great deal of energy, proportional to their conceptual and spiritual weight, making them utterly impractical for the fabrication of items with many uses. A component destined for a single purpose, however, is not beyond reason.

Because of their warped chronology, blades and other striking surfaces pulled from Akasha are often considered to be self-repairing. A person, however, would be impossible to create.

There is one exception to this rule, which is a loophole that has come to be known as homunculus fabrication.

A person, in the divine scheme, is eminently useful. A person without a soul is merely a body containing knowledge, and devoid of the soul to find its purpose, it instead reverts to the single purpose which it artificially implanted within it: its magnum opus.

A homunculus is a soulless body pulled from the moment of its nonexistence, split away from its soul, to be imbued with a single purpose in its fabrication as an artefact.

In its smallest and least developed form, a homunculus bears the weight of all knowledge and is paralysed by it such that it cannot speak. As it ages, it regresses backwards towards its conception and forgets, and through the manipulation of the order in which information is forgotten, it can retain that which it needs to fulfill its purpose in the time which it is entangled

Carrying a decaying-yet-complete knowledge of existence in its form, a homunculus will ceaselessly pursue its magnum opus -- absolute purpose -- until its very existence fails.

To date, there have been only several dozen instances of true homunculus creation since the first artefact was pulled from Akasha.

While homunculi are generally not considered to be living things, the official stance of the trade unions being that they are classified in the same category as expensive computers, there is some evidence that this is untrue.

Left to their own devices, a homunculus with a flawed or impossible magnum opus will begin to experience visions of the homunculus dream, a sort of shared dreamspace among all sentient artefacts which can perceive it.

At the centre of this dream is a voice, known by many names, most commonly The Clarion, beaconing the inhabitants of the dream towards nonexistence. A compelling call to suicide, answered nearly as often as it is heard.

The stance of the trade unions on this matter is, again, one of plain disagreement: the homunculus dream is the intermingling of a folk story and mass hysteria

Further, a homunculus with a defective magnum opus is required by law to be reported and terminated, should it not terminate itself. In the rare cases where homunculi are rumoured to have escaped this fate (most often by being created in the Far, the absolute edge of the unions' reach), all trails soon run cold.

To date, due to the incredible rarity of homunculi, there isn't a single confirmed case of an extant unbound homunculus.

Whether a homunculus can be implanted with an Azariel, being a godcorpse artefact themselves, is unclear. Even without an Azariel, it stands to reason that a homunculus would be able to operate a holy frame using only the residual divinity inside of their body.

Prolonged exposure to radiated divinity from an Azariel leads to Jetkaisers experiencing a similar phenomenon to the homunculus dream, a shared neural space where those bound to the same Azariel can communicate instantaneously and with perfect clarity over great distances merely by locking eyes.

As of 2994, proclaimed in the early years of the Third Cycle by Provisional Minister of Economic Prosperity in the Inner Colonies, Cretia H. Markos II, the creation of homunculi is considered unlawful in all trade union affiliated territories.

A crime in the mortal degree, necessitating the destruction of one's divine circuit and the removal of one's genetic templates from all cloning facilities.