Design: Barricade Coral
So, here's something we learned from Muu: Coral, those colorful branching sea-rocks? They're alive! And what's more than that, they aren't even plants, they're animals! Fun-facts out of the way, Muu has delivered an ingenious way to make use of these fascinating creatures. The Barricade Coral comes in the form of small "Polyps", which can take root under the water. These polyps feed on Good, when Good is actively fed to them(generally only possible with direct infusion from our spellcasters and Muu) they will begin to grow their coral shell rapidly, forming a smooth wall on the outward facing side, which slopes downwards and grows craggier toward the 'inward' side, meaning the side it was fed from.
This, in essence, allows us to create walls rapidly in preparation for battle, which we can then climb over with comparative ease while our opponents will be forced to break through or go around entirely. And without being regularly maintained with further Good, these walls will starve and crumble, which does distract our spellcasters somewhat, but also means our enemies will not be able to take these fortifications for themselves.
Design: Trapper Worm
When Muu showed us the ten foot long, burrowing, chitinous death-worm with razor jaws capable of biting smaller creatures clean in half and with a venom that causes the location of the bite to be numb for the rest of your life, we were impressed. When she informed us they were naturally occurring, we were terrified.
The Trapper Worm mutation actually makes very little change to the... horrifying, abominable creature that we have discovered. The four core differences are thus: 1. They are now able to survive and function just as well on land, 2. They are far bulkier, making them substantially harder to kill, though still quite easy compared to something like a person, 3. Their jaws now bite far harder, upgraded from dicing small fish to chopping human bone, and 4. even if their body is bisected along its width, they will be able to live on and regrow, albeit slowly...
Wait what do you mean they already could do that last one?... Sweet Muu...
Ahem, so! The way these worms are used is fairly simple really. Holes are dug around our fortifications, and the worms are placed inside. From there as enemies pass by the Worms lash out and begin attacking, providing a brief but deadly surprise to our foes. With this, they act as living traps, deadly defenses give our enemies pause that we can then capitalize on.
The primary weakness of these creatures however, is rarity. While it takes little effort to change the original worms into Trappers, it takes far more effort to find the creatures, limiting the number of them we can deploy.
Design: Mindlink Star
Here's an interesting fact, did you know that if you cut the limbs off of some kinds of starfish, those limbs will grow into new starfish? We didn't before, but now we do. Combine this with the work we have done in interconnected minds via the Sea Servants and you have the project we now present; the Mindlink Star.
The Mindlink Star is a mutated form of Starfish. Its limbs are easy to pluck directly off, and will regrow into entire new starfish, albeit lesser ones. These lesser stars do not possess the ability to grow new starfish from their limbs, but will quickly regrow the limbs that they lose instead. The Core Star however, will never regrow its lost limbs.
This is merely the cost to the ability that makes the Mindlink Star a project worth investing in: The five sub-stars grown from the Core Star's limbs have a direct mental connection to each-other, and the Core Star possesses a dominant mental connection to the sub-stars. Of course if this was the entirety of it, then it wouldn't be worth the effort we're putting in. The big thing is that, when a Core or Sub star is stuck to the body somewhere along the skull or spine, it connects that mind into the link as well.
In essence, this means that we can link six-man squads of soldiers together, where they can directly share thoughts and communicate at the speed of thought. This allows vastly heightened degrees of coordination between small groups, provided the clash of personalities isn't too bad. The Core Star in specific meanwhile, essentially designates a "squad leader", as the member with the Core Star is capable of exerting a more direct influence on the other members when needed, carrying a greater mental weight.
It is, as many things are, not perfect of course. While there is no direct sub-conscious memory leakage, stray thoughts can occasionally lead to slight identity confusion off the battlefield. Not only that but, as we mentioned, clashing personalities is a notable issue. While it's something we will work to mitigate by aiming to pick Star Squads based on compatibility, it can cause the direct opposite of the intended coordination effects if these clashes do occur. Thirdly, the Sub-stars can only be so far from the Core before they lose the connection, about a couple dozen meters. And finally, which isn't so much an issue with the Stars as it is the rest of our forces, we have no real leaders who can properly make full use of the Core Stars, limiting their effectiveness.
The next designs lore doesn't quite work yet, it's meant to be something we work on a bit later, but it felt poignant to know how hard it would be to try while we still have the chance to learn such a thing. But first, a story:
A little girl holds tight to her father's arm, tears streaming down her face. "Please don't go daddy!"
The man kneels, placing a hand upon her head. "I have to, little star." He responds. "They need me out there."
This man was a soldier. Once a militiaman for the village after a pirate raid, now one for the cult of Muu. He remembered the monsters who took the life of his wife, his darling little Cassandra's mother. He didn't want to see anyone suffer like that again, and yet now there was an army raising in the south, an army of monsters in human skin lead by a devil. If they reached their home...
"B-but I don't want to be alone!" Cassandra sobbed. And he held her close.
"You won't be. You'll be here with friends. Curt and Merry, they'll watch out for you, and you'll be able to play with your friend Mikey whenever you want. Isn't that nice?"
"But why do you have to go? Why can't you stay?"
"They're hurting people out there. The bad guys. I won't let them reach us, I won't let them hurt you too."
The girls grip loosened, she sniffles. "P-promise you'll come back. Promise you won't let them hurt you!" She cried out.
The man's breath hitched. He hesitated... then nodded. "Okay, I won't let them. And I'll always come back to you. Now go on, I have to get going."
Slowly, steadily, the girl let go, and she ran over to the two waiting a short distance away.
"I'll come back." The man muttered to himself, as he turned away, to step onto the ship.
Some time laterIt was raining. It often rained, but today it felt all the heavier. Cassandra sprinted through the rain, her body soaking wet, down to the shore. She had to see the ships, she had to see her dad.
She watched as they pulled in to dock. Soldiers and Servants alike streamed out. She waited, she waited. She didn't see his face. They started wheeling out the bodies. He was just one of the people moving the carts right? That's why he was behind the others right?
... but it was only Sea Servants pulling the carts.
The Sea Servant ritualThe bodies were arrayed along the shore, Muu presiding over the ritual. These souls had offered their very bodies and minds for the service of the village. She bent down towards the final body, a gruff man, his heart had been pierced clean through. She prepared the flesh...
And a voice interrupted. Not in words, but wails. The cries of a child, running out onto the beach. The girl dropped to her knees, in front of the body. She grip its hand, and cried.
"You said they wouldn't hurt you! You said you'd come back!"
The crowd looked on in shock. None wanted to doubt the benevolence of their Angel, but none knew how she would react. As Muu paused, several closed their eyes. She reached towards the girl, took her in her hands... and cradled her close. Muu finished the ritual with her remaining arm and, as the bodies were sent out to their burial at sea, Muu sunk into the water as well, the girl held close. Those present waited for some time, but when neither surfaced, they gradually moved on.
Muu would not surface for some time, indeed, there were those who had worried they'd offended their Angel in some way, that she had left them. But then, as the new Sea Servants emerged, so too did Muu, and she was not alone. Behind her the sea swelled, as a massive shape pushed up from the water, like an enormous sea rock uprooted from its resting place below. And from a large opening on the stone-like object, a figure emerged...
Champion Design: Children of Muu- The Abyssal Witch, Chasm
Chasm, or some say Cas, is the first of what would come to be known as the Children of Muu. Those selected by Muu directly, raised up and remade by her very own hands into something greater than what they once were. Chasm is a massive humanoid snail, rivaling Muu in size even excluding her enormous shell. Her body is soft, smooth, and with shapes lacking in definition from additional layers of blubbery flesh, her 'hair' being a similar, off-color substance. A coating of rock and various corals covers her shell that covers most of her lower half, with vents and gaps across its surface that aid in her methods.
As her title states, Chasm is a witch, but she is not just any ordinary witch. Indeed she knows all the(very few) spells we have access to and we doubt she will have any difficulty mastering those we teach in the future, but that is not what makes her the Abyssal Witch. Chasm can control sea creatures. Or, more accurately, those which lack internal bones. Indeed, large, vicious worms dwell within the vents upon her carapace ready to lash out. Barnacles that can fire jets of forceful but otherwise harmless water launch sharp urchins at great distances. Diligent, armored isopods reposition to block incoming attacks. And atop her large stone staff sits a crown of toxic, stinging anemones that cause great pain with a brush.
In a way, Chasm has become a living siege weapon, mobile artillery that defends itself from close range assault just as well. Yet she does have her weaknesses. As would be expected, Chasm is slow. While she can keep pace with our soldiers at a brisk walk, proper marching speeds rapidly outpace her. Her reflexes are dulled, not through idiocy, but through the clouds of arcane and aquatic knowledge fogging her mind. And her body outside of the shell is fragile. The isopods do what they can, but they are limited in number and their claws can dig into the vulnerable flesh they protect when under stress.
Any army that would fight alongside Chasm will need to either slow their pace to match hers or hold out until her arrival, as no cart we could make is large or sturdy enough to carry her to battle. If caught within the enemy army, she must shelter down within her shell, relying on her deadly accompaniment of creatures to fend off foes while our army makes a return push. All that said, she is a beloved and important part of our family under Muu.
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Topic: Angel Team - Chiaroscuro 2 | Design Phase T6 (Read 23475 times)