#godcorpse

[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

[oneirophasia]

Follow-up for anyone interested, here's everything I was consciously taking inspiration from:

Mycelial network: Area X from Annihilation and the Southern Reach trilogy, and more generally the scenic biomass of so much SF body horror. And, of course, the Fungus Humungous.

Clockwork nebula: the smoke monster from Lost; the spiral galaxies in the bonus chapter of Uzumaki; and the eponymous absence from my beloved "The Nothing Equation". (This is the one I voted for, incidentally; I might have picked any of them, but I use this motif a lot in my gender-related art.)

Protoplasmic cave lake: straightforward combination of Abhoth, from the Cthulhu Mythos, with Storm, from the Fallen London games. (The idea of having thoughts made of clouds is something in common with the nebula, too.)

Glitchy ruin: The Stone Tape; Forbidden Planet; and at least a little "no live organism can survive for long under conditions of absolute sanity..."

Junkyard scarecrow: I draw these every October. I think it was originally inspired by Shadowmoor, but I heavily associate it with things like tsukumogami, the Iron Giant, and the Gump.

Utopian zeitgeist: I was imagining a mixture of The Culture and The City of the Saved for what "utopia" looks like, but left it undetailed on purpose. The idea of an incarnate Ghost of Christmas Maybe, on the other hand, was inspired by the Candlemaker from Doom Patrol and the Bardos of Genius: the Transgression. It interests me that it ultimately ended up with the least votes; it's one of the more hopeful options to me, but I wonder if it's because it acknowledges escapism as part of its own concept.

Infectious poem: literally just best girl Triolet from "How To Talk To Girls At Parties". :P (The story, anyway, I don't know anything about the adaptation.)

Mural garden: a little bit Weeping Angels, but substantially more Danny the Street, and a fair amount of Through the Looking Glass and The Secret Garden. And punning on "wallflower", of course.

Helminthic angel: thinking of cliones and bake-kujira, and by extension The Mist, and there's definitely a bit of Awful Hospital anytime I think about otherwormly parasitism. I started with the idea of "the Worm Ouroboros" and ended up trying to imply an entire abyssopelagic Silent Hill-like ecosystem eternally feeding on the godcorpse of Moby Dick.

Labyrinth bees: One part Tardises and Anarchitects, one part the Dionaea House and House of Leaves and The Library of Babel, and one part - initiate Agartha signal - void where prohibited - TRANSMIT! - The Buzzing.

As introduced, the intent was to describe beings and nothingnesses that transcend "conscious" categories (my username remains relevant :P ). I forgot I was going to do one for the commingling of blood and silicon; probably I'd have been thinking of Phyrexia, Serial Experiments Lain, Virus, Videodrome, etc, more than the Borg or Ghost in the Shell.

Combining "human" and "machine" is one of those very well-loved themes in science fiction where collective habit and anthropocentrism makes it easy to fall into either the Tin Man or Pinocchio archetypes - either the human is reduced to an object, or the object ascends to humanity. "Being both" is a liminal state, treated as temporary and transitional to provide the reassurance that, when the universe and humanity don't match, humans need not fear changing because the universe will bend first. Much of the appeal of voidpunk to me is in being a secret third thing, which can be neither caged nor dissected, whose beauty is in being ineffable... which feels harder to evoke when the concepts are themselves as familiar as "humans" and "things humans make".

Okay, my turn to make a voidpunk poll, no more of this "digital and fleshy and eldritch and fay and divine are all mutually exclusive things" nonsense

[goldeyedcircus]

quick guide to the ramblings:

#godcorpse : posts specific to Corpse of Rot lore

#incandescent : posts specific to the Children of Darada, and any notable Godling characters

#ratrambles: nonsense posts, nothing is real or canon

#badend: body horror- focused concepts and lore bits, just a fair warning label

#555: fictional book excerpts and character quotes.

[asimovsideburns]

OH FUCK, GODCORPSE ORE?????

[morsking]

when lucilius turns all fucked up and eldritch halfway through the raid i like to think that he’s not being enveloped by dark energy or whatever his body really just does that and mutates turning him into a godcorpse because that’s metal as fuck

[queen-susans-revenge]

went to clean out the stoned_thoughts.txt file and it looks like we’ve got: we are meaning-making worms writhing narratively through a timeless godcorpse vampire generation ship if memes are viruses, what if spiritual influences are [gut-dwelling] bacterial gods? They claim food offerings and become the spirit of a people or an age A novel will never be true unless it has recipes

[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.

[goldeyedcircus]

curdled shadows stuck together in empty soup cans, huddled in masses that blot out candle, lamp, and bulb.

teeth protrude garishly from trees made out of paint and tallow, snapping at passerby who lack eyes and noses.

angels passing through skylights and cell phone signals, blazing down city wires to deliver a maddening chorus to their lords.

stairs that lead into stairs that lead into more stairs upon which you rest and walk, bumping into yourself constantly with muttered apologies and awkward eye contact.

planets torn from the same godcorpse they now listlessly trail behind across the starlit dark of the abyss.

a legion innumerable, spawned from the golden-eyed singularity that abandoned them in realms uncounted and timelines unrecorded, heralded by a choir of beautiful incandescence.

Monoliths of ash and stardust, bleeding monotonous omens into the forsaken air they choke from the world around them.

A circus of sorts, each piece carefully moving to play out stories untold for a creator who has long since walked off from the bright lights and intricate tents.

[toskarin]

this post is an abbreviated excerpt from Bootleg Angel: Jetkaiser, a playtest edition of a tokusatsu-inspired sci-fi tabletop

before continuing, make the following rolls and hold onto the results on a piece of paper. there's some reading before they come up again.

1d6

2d6

if the first roll did not result in 6 and the second roll resulted in 12, roll 1d4

Foreword

It should be stated in advance that mansions are not part of a player's "build" and serve solely to provide prompting for visual descriptions of characters, along with possible avenues of roleplay. As all non-holy frame combat is carried out entirely in roleplay, a character's mansion provides no statistical modifiers.

In general, think of this as more of setting flavour that helps to force visual variation into an otherwise human cast. It's less Star Trek, more Arknights. You can imagine each mansion coming with its relevant animal ears, if you want

Information about mansions is left intentionally vague and will likely not be elaborated in later editions of Jetkaiser. Additionally, there are several rarer mansions which are not included in this edition.

Intro: Hegemon

The mansions are a concept originally found in the Hegemon Cycle, a sort of state religion that was once imposed by the Principal Imperial House of Sharl.

When the House of Sharl gave way to the corporate unions, Hegemon remained a de facto imperial cult. As Hegemon's core principles were based on observations made about the nature of the godcorpse and its residual effects, its teachings were all but elevated to the status of a domain of science and embraced as simple fact under union curriculum

The mansions were an attempt to describe the ways in which humanity changed from exposure to the divine aura of the godcorpse. Originally named such for the belief that they were somehow connected to the passing of the stars, or maybe even time, the expansion of interplanetary colonies made it clear that this was not the case.

Even still, the usage of "mansion" remains mostly unchanged. The basic principles at the core of the cycle, variously interpreted, have been used to justify any number of policies.

Contrary to popular belief, no meaningful differences have ever been recorded in the aptitude of any given mansion for performing holy arts.

Intro: Mansions

The mansions in brief: Kinoe, Kinoto, Hinoe, Hinoto, Tsuchinoe, Tsuchinoto, Kanoe, Kanoto, Mizunoe, Mizunoto, and then back to Kinoe.

outside of these lies an additional mansion, Shikyou, which is traditionally not included in the cycle.

Clonestock Shikyou are incredibly uncommon due to a highly restrictive set of soft bans imposed by Enco Logistics and New Imperial Trust, the union conglomerates which operate the vast majority of cloning facilities.

When a child is born, their mansion is determined by their parents. If you were to chart out the ten possible mansions, the child would most commonly be one of the mansions contained in the shortest distance between their parents’ mansions, with about 25% of children being the mansion on the outward side of either parent.

That being said, there are cases where a child is born to a mansion that, following this formula, should be impossible. These are rarely documented.

Mansions seemingly exist independent to traditional genetics, most notably manifesting in cases where grafted limbs begin to take on the traits of their recipients' mansions. With a few exceptions, children tend to inherit their parents’ hair, skin, and eye colours as normal.

First Roll

if the results of your first roll (1d6) were 6, you are creating a clonestock character. This has no direct impact on gameplay and may never come up, but also may change how certain characters view you if they are in possession of this information.

Additionally, because of the soft bans on cloning of Shikyou, your character will not be of that mansion.

Second Roll and Third Roll

Taking your results from the second roll (2d6), receive your character's mansion. If you rolled a third time (1d4), consult the second table before proceeding.

Mansion Descriptions

[KINOE] are characterised by their bright eyes, bearing pupils with a vertical slit. They tend to be taller than the superficially similar Kinoto, but tend to be slighter of frame. Kinoe tend to show some superficial traits of their parents' mansions.

[KINOTO] are often mistaken for the Kinoe, but can easily be told apart by their distinct pupils, vertical beaded rather than slit. Inside their mouths, their lower canines are a bit longer than their top ones. Usually shorter than Kinoe.

[HINOE] are notable for their fang-like canine teeth. Not so long as to stick out from their mouths, they still manage to convey a certain wolfish aspect. Hinoe often tend to be stockier, with skin that scars rather easily.

[HINOTO] are universally dark-haired, owing to their hair's structure rather than any sort of pigment. Like Hinoe, they have slightly extended canine teeth. Hinoto were once considered by the House of Sharl to be the “primary” form of mankind, an opinion echoed (albeit less explicitly) by those who would claim Sharl's legacy.

[TSUCHINOE] are distinguished by their long digits and pointed ears, the most pronounced of which tend to buckle under the own weight and droop at the tips. It’s not uncommon for their ears to be slightly asymmetrical, but beauty standards make it seem so. Their skin often bruises easily.

[TSUCHINOTO] are often mistaken for Tsuchinoe, but much unlike Tsuchinoe, they possess four digits on each hand. Tsuchinoto find themselves the subject of many warrior mythologies, but take no quicker to the blade than anyone else.

[KANOE] are occasionally mistaken for Shikyou due to the single horn-like protrusion atop their forehead, roughly proportional to the distance between their thumb and forefinger’s tips. Notably, this trait has never been documented to manifest in Shikyou.

[KANOTO] are slight, a trait exaggerated by their height skewing taller than average. Their willowy forms are either taken as ethereal or sickly. Similarly to Kanoe, they possess two horn-like protrusions atop their forehead, although they tend to be a bit longer. About half of Kanoto are born with four digits on each hand, which seems to be somewhat hereditary.

[MIZUNOE] are distinguished by the faint ring of light which bleeds away from their limbal rings. In fair lighting, this glow isn’t especially pronounced, but it becomes obvious in even slight darkness. When Mizunoe experience intense emotion, an additional mote of light begins to form in their pupils. Like Mizunoto, Mizunoe often have weak stomachs around unfamiliar food.

[MIZUNOTO] are notable for their W-shape pupils, their hair growing a bit faster than average and settling at greater lengths due to its lightweight composition. Additionally, this makes it highly prone to fluttering in wind. Like Mizunoe, Mizunoto often have weak stomachs around unfamiliar food.

[SHIKYOU] are perhaps the most often scorned of the mansions, only recently having been considered human at all. Shikyou can be born of any parentage. Although much progress has been made, all major corporate cloning facilities still refuse to create clonestock from Shikyou donors. In truth, Shikyou might be considered four distinct mansions that exist outside of the traditional Hegemon cycle.

[Preview End]

Bootleg Angel's coming along. I'll have more to show soon, but in the meantime, I'm gonna post the basic rules of how you assign your character to one of the astral mansions, for fun

avoid the next post if you want to stay unspoiled and only play with the character creation once it's done