User:Najawin/Sandbox 4

Book Two
Julian White Mammoth Tusk's ship goes dead, diving to the planet. When he comes to, a robot guides him underground to a vast cavern with more robots scurrying around and a giant wall of valves, wires and sockets which he approaches, miles in ever dimension. The wall introduces itself to Julian as the Universal Machine, or UniMac. Julian walks with UniMac, now in the form of an artificial humanoid, and discusses life in the City. While he personally is content, UniMac does point out that many find City life to be dull or flawed in some way. They come to a vast obelisk that resembles the Uptime Gate, as UniMac explains that Cos has sent many colonists to him looking for something different. This is the Downtime Gate. It opens to the next universe.

Mesh Cos remembers her resurrection. As she awoke, a battle-drone of time long past stood over her and told her to be not afraid. In the fading light of humanity, the drone explained, the Universal Machine had wept, and attempted to bring back those who had died but could not. Time passed, and instead the Machine instead decided to reach out and bring back other artificial minds, reaching through time with the gifts that Cos had stolen from the homeworld. Through trial and error, this began to happen, creating a community of machine ancestors. Until one day, the Machine reached out to a mind that could tell it was being observed. Though reticent at first, the two worked out a covenant, creating the City of the Saved, an anthology of all human lives, just as the Machine was all machine life. Thanks to these two gods in machine form, humanity would be given a second, eternal, chance.

Urbanus sat in a cell with three other captured city born, two wounded students, one dead. Soon, the guard came to find him, under a name he had given them, Stupidus Titus, and took him to see Gnas Gortine. An amiable man, slightly smaller than other manfolk, the two chatted about their situation, and about how Gnas intended to make the City listen thanks to the hostages. During the conversation, Gnas let slip a few tidbits of information that Urbanus reacted to, and Gnas pointed out how unlikely it was for his cover story to be true given his reactions. Urbanus admits to his deception, and Gnas is delighted, before pontificating on his own historical accomplishments, something Urbanus finds strange, since he strongly suspected that Gnas was a remake. Upon asking him, Gnas admitted this, and even stated that there never was a historical Gnas, the tale was simply made up, and so Gnas was created to be a revolutionary by one faction in Manfold. Urbanus is returned to his cell, and gunfire starts outside. A group from outside, lead by Clutterbuck, spirits them away quickly as they blow away the cell wall. Gnas leaps after them but is unable to keep up.

Tobin tumbled into an empty tube tunnel, diving around until she was able to close the distance on one of the thugs without them realizing it. His companion shoots him in the confusion, wounding him but he flees, dropping his gun, and she dispatches the remaining assailant with the potent weapon of the first. Wincing, she looks down to see that she's been grazed by a bullet, and limps home for the night.

Little Brother Edward reflects on his early life in the city. On how he was created by a rich woman to be her plaything, and how when his life was found to be a lie he found his way to Faction Paradox, as the thoughts in his head fractured, spun against each other, as he lay weeping. He remembers how he traveled out into the universe to stop her parents from meeting, to erase her from existence, but she still lived as he returned, even though her parents did not know her, and the Faction now wanted him. Struggling, with reverence, he donned the robe of Godfather Avatar.

Kyme Janute, the ambassador from Manfold, stamped through the council house, talking to an image of Alisheer St Marx about how she needed to return because things were going south in Manfold. St Marx agreed, noting that Marrane wouldn't have deserted his post had he not been worried about what was going to happen. Jamute then walks into her chambers to find Councillor Cos rummaging through her things, before telling her that they need to talk, and holding up a dagger that she's found.

Porsena sat in half darkness, bound and gagged, as three men came into the room. Slowly, with lack of practice, and with pain, he set his shadow free, which made decently quick work of the three, before freeing him, and possessing one of the others. Using this, he propped himself up and began to leave down a dingy industrial corridor.

Tobin visits Councillor Cos' apartment in the middle of the night, and Cos immediately welcomes her in, before asking if Tobin has found what she's looking for, and if this is about Mostyn. As Tobin admits this, Cos asks if she'll need a new researcher once again. Tobin goes on to explain that she thinks that St Marx did end up stabbing Mostyn, but didn't intend to kill him, the real murderer was whoever placed the potent knife in his things. And since no potent weapon was found among his possessions, someone early to the scene with motive to remove it must have taken it, and suggests that Cos might have motive to remove it that isn't simply that she's guilty. Cos sighs, stands, and hands her a knife, suggesting it might help with her inquiries.

UniMac explains to Julian that now that he's been brought a dagger in a package from Cos, that he's been able to focus more on a problem he has. One of the colonists from the Downtime Gate has come back into the city, deciding that she wanted out. UniMac allowed this, but apparently something came riding in her memories, in her head, when she did, and has begun to corrupt the operating system of the City. He's figured out, thanks to the dagger, that she's likely in Manfold, and has determined that Manfold is collapsing. During this conversation, Julian realizes that the person is Lon Shel, and that's why Mesh Cos was never worried about her, and becomes worried that he needs to save her.

Porsena limped through the factory, before finding below him the large work-floor. Dilapidated machines were in service, workmen using them to make a human. Porsena thought back, and recalled dimly that he had been made in the same way. His shadow gestured to him, pointed towards a nearby room, and he moved in, meeting Lon Shel. She explains to him that, no, this isn't hell, it's Manfold, and she's been killed twice already, but is unable to escape from her current confines. If he can get out and tell her mother what's going on, she'll know what to do. Porsena staggers out of the door.

Clutterbuck explains to Urbanus that his family has been made aware of his safety and expects him to return, but Urbanus wishes to stay, to look for Tiresias. After he's been described to her, she tells Urbanus that Tiresias' real name is Keth Marrane, he was part of the rescue team, and was shot by Gnas. He's dead. Clutterbuck explains the history of the situation, female Manfolk getting pregnant, and then other Manfolk undergoing hermapause, there seems to be an area of Manfold where the City's protocols were disabled, and the situation slowly spiraled out of control.

Compassion III sits in her flat in the Teletopia District as two thugs come to see her. She threatens them, bluffing that she too is a timeship, before grabbing one of their weapons and shooting one. She drops 50 feet from her flat to the ground and starts to run upon hitting the ground.

Tobin talks to Anthony Fisher, suggesting that he was the one who placed the dagger in Mostyn's bedchamber, intending for St Marx to use it and kill Mostyn, but during the discussion it becomes painfully clear that he was unaware that his wife was having an affair becoming quite distressed at the thought. After leaving the tube station on her way back to the Council House, Godfather Avatar steps in front of her, asking how her work is proceeding. She explains her believe that neither Cos nor Fisher is guilty, but then also threatens Avatar, convinced that he's not real, merely a mask put on by the Faction to scare the residents of the City into compliance. Avatar laughs, admitting that he's a Loa, and so while he is indeed a mask worn by various individuals at various times, that doesn't make him any less real, just as someone behind him shot him in the back of the spine.

Notes for pages
Julian White Mammoth Tusk is a Neanderthal who used to date Lon Shel and hired the GDA under false pretenses to find her. Was sent on a mission by Mesh Cos to find the lost planet of Erath, bringing a potent weapon to UniMac.

The Romuline District is an area of the city run by the Romans, specifically the Ignotian family and Cassius Ignotus. As nobody can be harmed in the city, they sell violence, through spectator sports, veerees, XP simulations, and even cloned bodies which they will pilot to dismember other cloned bodies.

Mesh Cos is a Councillor, described as heartmurmuringly beautiful, a member of the last human species. Mother of Lon Shel, had her through parthenogenesis, "a perfectly valid lifestyle choice". Created the Universal Machine through stealing Great House technology and as a result doomed humanity to extinction.

Erath The lost planet of Erath inside the Great Park RealSpace was [insert more here, something about tourist attraction?] - only exists if you approach it from a specific string of hyperjumps, has very strong defenses. Has a colony of robots inside that are aspects of the Universal Machine. Inside it also includes the Downtime Gate.

Kempes District -Borders Manfold, Urbanus goes here on behalf of his g.grandfather and finds some ruffians who get into a bar fight, one of them actually gets hurt, he thinks this means it's damageable homunculi.

Keth Marrane is a menfolk hermaphrodite who went by the name Tiresias and worked as a spy in the Ignotian family, having minor precog abilities which they found useful for a time before becoming a tutor. He later defects back to Manfold because he worries about what's coming. Joins a rescue team to save Urbanus, gets shot by Gnas.

Gnas Gortine-

Little Brother Edward - remake created by Nina Gutierrez from fantasies, a personality from a legend, based on an actor, created as the plaything for a rich woman. Her younger sister ended up breaking the illusion of who he was, his false memories, leading to him having a fragile sense of self. He took a trip out into the universe, and broke apart their parents before they ever met, intending to erase his creator from existence, but when he returned, found her to still exist, and found the Rump Parliament to be interested in him.

Melicia Clutterbuck - Dr. Melicia Clutterbuck, the City's most distinguished student of comparative humanology, city born, has gone out into the universe on research expeditions. While at the University of Manfolk she and some students were attacked, leading her to take command and launch a counter offensive, including raiding Gnas Gortine's base of operations to free some students.

Epicentre - An abandoned industrial complex in Manfold where the breakdown of the City's defense protocols started. Place where Lon Shel was kept, as was Porsena, and those who died from potent weapons were resurrected.

Onesia - Location, ostensibly a planet, Handramit teaches at a university there, Allisheer St Marx grew up there.