When Castles Fly

[Persell]

I've decided I'd like to make the Invisible Fortress capable of flight. It's been alluded to a couple of times but never said outright. I want it to be a powerful mobile weapon but not a match for the Five Metal Shrike.


I'm thinking retractable essence cannons, some powered armor in storage (enough suits for all the original solars), and controls in a room in the underground area (which will be in Elsewhere instead of actually underground, but that won't be apparent until they're flying and realize they didn't bring the ground with them.


I'm also thinking that the hearthstone hide the fortress from the Sidereals. The mansion itself won't show up on the Loom, although it's effects still could. So floating over the ocean somewhere would be relatively safe, but a plan to storm the Blessed Isle would show a snarl with an unknown cause.


Any other ideas, concerns, etc.?

 

[memesis]

Any other ideas' date=' concerns, etc.?[/quote']
If the Invisible Fortress is going to function as a Manse, having it fly will break the geomantic connection it has to Creation.  Do you have a workaround?

 

[Persell]

Any other ideas' date=' concerns, etc.?[/quote']
If the Invisible Fortress is going to function as a Manse, having it fly will break the geomantic connection it has to Creation.  Do you have a workaround?

Do you have any proof at all that it is working the way you say? ^^


There are moving manses in canon. According to page 70 and 78 of oadenol's codex manses still draw essence from the demesne they cap when they are at their alternate location or moving.


This is was somewhat more common for manses in the first age than it is in the second age.

 

[Haku1]

Well... a work-around is that -part- of the manse is flying... but back at the original location... the demense loci is still being capped by the reset of the manse.

 

[illenvillen23]

If there is a manse wouldn't one attuned to Air be more than capable of retaining a connection to creation?

 

[Haku1]

Not necessarily, illenvillen23.


While the aspect might make things more likely to happen, a celestial manse might also be capable of doing the same as well.

 

[wordman]

Any other ideas' date=' concerns, etc.?[/quote']
You'll need to sacrifice nearly all of the back story about the manse from Time of Tummult. Not  that this is much of a sacrifice, really.


If the manse can move around, none of the history section, for example, really makes any sense, and the basic theme of "stranded, inescapable isolation" is destroyed. Since this back story (in canon, anyway) ultimately gives rise to two Deathlords (Walker in Darkness and Mask of Winters), you'll need to have some alternate explanation.


None of this is difficult, of course, just something you'll need to think about.

 

[The zombie cat]

If the chunk f land flying with the mans was large enough it could have independent geomancy, including a demesin to power the manse.


Edward

 

[Fruan]

If the chunk f land flying with the mans was large enough it could have independent geomancy, including a demesin to power the manse.
Edward

I'm not entirely sure geomancy works that way...


Actually, never mind. Having checked what the Autochonian's book has to say about dragon lines and demesne in creation viz gaia, I'm reminded that geomancy never works the way I think it does, and this is a recursive rule.

 

[Flagg]

Not exactly a manse, but it's a flying castle.

 

[Haku1]

ooooh... looks nice. Very nice.

 

[Jukashi]

I imagine that, just as there are Demenses under the Earth, there are probably Demenses up in the air as well- focal points where wind currents concentrate Air-Aspected (Or possibly Solar-, Lunar- or Sidereal-aspected, as all of these are things which fly around in the sky and could possibly affect the tides of power up there) into a powerful location. As winds shift with the seasons (and the celestial bodies move around through the day/month/astral cycle), this Demense would itself move around.


That's the way I've done the (ex-)flying Manse in my comic, anyway. It might not work so much for you, since in that case, the shifting of the Manse isn't controlled; it's just dragged along where the Demense goes.

 

[memesis]

Do you have any proof at all that it is working the way you say? ^^
There are moving manses in canon. According to page 70 and 78 of oadenol's codex manses still draw essence from the demesne they cap when they are at their alternate location or moving.

Given this, apparently I got nothing.  But I don't own the Codex yet, sorry.

 

[Persell]

I was going to allow it to cap any demesnes with a good enough intelligence + occult roll to find the center and wits + sail roll to land directly on it. The chaotic nature of the current esence flows are because of geomantic shifts over the centuries. While it was originally placed directly on the center of this demesnes that center has drifted twenty feet into the mountain. The gaurdian tried to perform the minor shifts necessary but ended up burying part of the manse in the rock wall.


The chaotic nature of the essence is also what drove the guardian mad. Depending on how they defeat it, they may either destroy him or make it so that a little time spent on top of a stable connection can repair the guardian and make it useful again.


The map of 21 manses is actually a map of 21 demesneses that the fortress has sat upon. Of course, most of those will have been found and occupied within the last several centuries. One of them, the one that inspired Bax to create this manse, circles the Blessed Isle as an eternal stormcloud. It has not been discovered, and could make a good staging ground if the circle decides to try and get their young charge close to the throne.


Careful study can show that the manse itself is not sitting directly on the glowing point that denotes the current one.

 

[Persell]

Do you have any proof at all that it is working the way you say? ^^
There are moving manses in canon. According to page 70 and 78 of oadenol's codex manses still draw essence from the demesne they cap when they are at their alternate location or moving.

Given this, apparently I got nothing.  But I don't own the Codex yet, sorry.

Meh, that was not really meant as an attack ^^

 

[Cthulhu_Wakes]

Makes me wonder if the Titan vessels were floating manses as well, given their size.

 

[Sherwood]

One fix you can use is to say that the castle leaves something behind to continue channeling the Essence flow to its current location.  That can lead to lots of fun in the category of "what if someone finds the start location and tinkers around with the Manse?"

 

[Cthulhu_Wakes]

I did this once a long while ago in a short lived Exalted game. A floating island really. Huge thing. Had a rather large city on top of it with a few smaller townships. Completely self-sufficient. The PCs found it because it touched down in the West, it looked like another island Though it sucked when they woke up in the morning and found themselves almost a mile in the air.

 

[Sherwood]

There are floating islands like that described in the Fair Folk book.  I'm sure that the COCD: The Wyld has it also.

 

[Cthulhu_Wakes]

Huh, neat. Never read too much of the Fair Folk book aside the Mountain Folk. Wait- scratch that,  I do remember that now. They're in the North aren't there? Like a continent the size of Creation shattered into thousands of smaller islands.

 

[Haku1]

Yeap... there are islands and continents up north with flying islands and sky whales... all kinds of fun there.


Also... mount magalopia? the flying mountain in the Hundred Kingdoms with their Hawk-riders? ^_-


Flying land-masses is something... not unheard of in Exalted... just PRAY that they don't stop flying while above you. ^_-

 

[Persell]

What's a good speed for a flying vessel that should be catchable by the faster airships (assuming they can see it)? I want other aerial vessels to be a threat, but for them to be able to outrun the bulk of a chasing fleet, and don't have my WotLA handy to look up the speeds.

 

[Ledaal Kajiri]

Hmmm.


Skyship speeds:


Kireeki Class Skyreme 68/140 MPH i.e. cruising speed 68, Max 140...


Traveling Pagoda (not really a military vessel, but...) 20/40 MPH


Mobile Repair and Fabrication Platform 7/15 MPH


Manta (an actual military vessel of some power) 49/100 MPH


Indomitable Conquest Platform (usually unarmed, but not impossible to arm)


29/60 MPH


Warbird (Fighter craft/scouts) 60/120 MPH


Chariot of the Infinate Heavens 39/80 MPH, 29/60 for armed variants


Wingblade Personal Transport 34/70 MPH


Swift Rider (scout bikes ) 40/80 MPH, though expensive to close, as actual true flight costs motes/tic


I suppose you can add the Excellent Air Boats...but considering a mortal with a bow has a good chance of taking one down pretty easilly...I didn't bother. I inculded the Mobile Repair and Fabrication Platform due to its military applications, and the possibillity it might limit the speed of a larger fleet it was included with...or at least limiting the range from which they might leave a base.

 

[Torak]

If the manse can move around, none of the history section, for example, really makes any sense, and the basic theme of "stranded, inescapable isolation" is destroyed.


None of this is difficult, of course, just something you'll need to think about.

IIRC, there are hundreds of demons bound to the fortress... If it moves, i guess they'd have to follow around...


And you don't want a horde of mad demons following you around wherever you go... for the sake of the rest of creation and, more directly, for you own...


Could have been a good reason not to use this flying ability...


So. Get rid of the demons and go ahead and fly all you want... or crash in a fair flok zone or a shadowland...eh eh eh


Schadenfreude...  :twisted:


-Torak

 

[Ledaal Kajiri]

You mean they haven't already enslaved the entirety of the demons to serve as the nucleus of their Creation Conquering Army? And they call themselves Exalts.


More seriously, aye, those demons can prove...problematic. Though if someone's good at banishment and determined, with a bit of time (say a year or three), the problem can be solved permanently...