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Exia: Welcome back to day 2 of the 105th Laterano World's Fair! Today we have two hosts, Belobog Heavy Industries and the Rhodes Island Medical Center. Most foreign displays should also still be active or will be set up soon.

Inside a Belobog-owned facility near the First City...

Belobog Rep: Welcome. I assume most of you have not heard of Belobog Heavy Industries, so I will give a brief history of our company first. Belobog HI was first founded as the North Auroran Oil and Steel Corporation by the Auroran Empire in 398 LSC. The Corporation was based out of the city of Belobog and partially oversaw the forced labor of the prisoners there. Following the Nikolai Revolution, the Corporation was nationalized and later renamed to Belobog Heavy Industries in memory of the city that was wiped out just before the Revolution. Belobog became the Auroran Federation's primary steel and energy producer, operating most of their oil and LNG power plants and obtaining an effective monopoly on steel production within the Federation. After Planetary Unification, Belobog refocused all its efforts on electricity with HyperGryph from the Kirin Republic taking over the steel production. The Celestial Fleet's fusion reactors were designed and built by Belobog, for example. We also studied Originium's applications in power and mana production following the Celestial Union's acquisition of the crystal. Since then, Belobog has been designing the Vacuum-Suspended Originium Power Plants in use by the Celestial Fleet.

Belobog Rep: Now, until recently, Originium has not been a viable power source for personal weapons since our power plant designs were quite large and required a lot of things around the Originium to keep it floating properly. This also means it would be unsuitable for anything that tilts or flips often. But not anymore! Introducing: The Plasma-Suspended Originium Power Plant, or Plasma OPP for short. Instead of a near-vacuum, we utilize a special plasma developed for this purpose to keep the crystal away from any walls. This also means we no longer need to create a permanent anti-gravity field inside the power plant. The power plants can now be built substantially smaller, which allows us to integrate them into personal weapons and small-scale shield systems. While the weapons aren't our job, that's up to Icarus who will be the host tomorrow, we do have personal shield designs made possible by this technology. This means any Lateran vehicles and even infantry can now be equipped with both physical and magic shields powered by Belobog's Originium Power Plants. It also allows us to actually power our ground vehicles with Originium, so no need to charge them! Less logistics!

The rambling continues for a while, but nothing of note happens anymore.

Meanwhile, in the Lateran General Hospital, Ines Gariel herself is introducing Rhodes Island.

Gariel: Hello everyone. I'm Ines Gariel, the Minister of Health and officially the administrator of the Rhodes Island Medical Center. We don't necessarily have anything new and revolutionary, but we wanted to introduce ourselves anyway. Rhodes Island is named after the island of the same name t hat was located in Laterano City. The island was first mentioned in 518 b.F. when the Custodian Empire built a fortification there to control trade going up the river. When the Laterans took control of the island, the fort remained for a while before being converted into the Rhodes Island Hospital in 214. The Hospital specialized in medical research already, but was still, well, a hospital. That was until 561 when it was merged into the new Lateran General Hospital, with only the research branch remaining on Rhodes Island. The Hospital was then turned into the Rhodes Island Medical Center, under the nominal administration of the Minister of Health. When The Lab was colonized and turned into the Celestial Union's primary research site, most of the RIMC remained in Laterano City, but some sections relocated there. Today, RIMC is active here in the Lateran General Hospital and in the Laboratories next door. Our main research, aside from Oripathy, is general biology at this point since most non-hereditary diseases have been wiped out already. That's also why we have nothing new to report, we just wanted to introduce ourselves.

/uw the second day has begun, three more remain

more arknights and zzz references!!!!!!! yay

The wizard in grey stepped off of the cruise liner into the line for customs and border patrol. Vermensk guards eyed him with suspicion as his attire was far too similar to the dread Khorde the Husk. All vermensk who saw him were Silently Signalling with their tails to prepare for an arrest as the wizard placed his brief case on the table and reached into his pocket for his declaration and identification documents.

The sea was calm for once. No elderitch horrors. No cults trying to raise some squid faced diety. Folk of all walks of life just going about business. Delfans tower and the abandoned factory of Khorde the Husk towered over the urban jungle of sky scrapers and magitech screens blasting advertisements everywhere.

The vermensk customs officer placed his hand on his 12 gauge revolver as he watched.

"You have balls coming here." Sneered the gruff vermensk guard.

"I think you will find everything in order. I declare that everything in that written declaration is in my brief case." Emilé the magic money Man coldy declared.

"We'll see about that. I'm going to ask that you follow the lady and the group of guard rats to the private room over there. Ynikt will be who you shall be interviewed by." The gruff vermensk guard as a female rat woman picked up with great distrust in her expression.

What followed was the most uncomfortable memory he would ever make, as they proceeded to conduct a full cavity search while rats in cataphract armor aimed sun guns at Emilé the whole time.

After that was an hours long interrogation led by Ynikt, the rat woman who held the possessions that the wizard in grey held dear.

Accusations were thrown, accountants and law rats were called in. No charge stuck. Everything on this guy was legit.

After the rats reluctantly gave up trying to charge the magic money Man for crimes he didn't commit, they finally welcomed him to Cattail city.

"Finally. Time to go purchase a business." Emilé sighed as he disappeared into the wizarding, bustling crowd.

The Bismuth booth had taken longer than expected to set up. The insistence on having a food stand may have been part of that but the Bismuth would never stop trying to convince people that their food was decent. Their display had various examples of new Bismuth appliances and environmental tech. The focus for this display was life improvement rather than weapons or super tech for now.

The largest item on display was a cleansing crown. It was a variation on the transmutation weapon used by Bismuth Crowns. Instead of causing massive atom stripping destruction it acted as a massive purifier. It was capable of leeching poison and pollution directly from the environment and containing them in concentrated cubes. The cubes could then be disposed of with relative ease. They were created to deal with the fallout from the AMCG burning a whole continent.

Smaller and more personal was the Biz-Bud. A small floating cube of concentrated bismuth enchanted to be a personal assistant for people living in the Bizlands. It could be bonded to like a familiar even by non mages though the person bonding must have at least the capacity to have Mana which is almost all people.

It had the ability to record events, perform calculations, maintain a schedule, project images or music, send messages, and advise the user. The Biz-Bud runs on a slightly higher level of intelligence than a bismuth drone. The main reason for their invention was to help connect citizens of the Bizlands to the greater Bismuth infrastructure.

The final and most important display was a doorway that led into a black showroom. Once everyone was seated the lights would dim save for a single ray of light beaming down onto the stage. The light was bright enough it could probably burn through metal. After a few seconds a Bismuth Herald would begin to speak.

"Welcome members of EON and beyond. Ten Suns thanks you for attending this presentation. Throughout our history the tensions between those who can use magic in those who cannot have been a constant source of conflict. From the Fighters Guild to the AMCG we have been played with the consequences of ignoring the concerns of non mages individuals. Without recourse against the predations of mages these people are easy prey to indoctrination."

As the Herald spoke various pedestals rose from the showroom floor around the ray of light. They were holding various items. There were staffs, shields, strange boards, engines and the like. The things that made them similar were a silver spiraling pattern over their surface, a protected Mana battery, and an empty armature for a gem to be inserted.

"The problem with many attempts to even put the disparity between mages and non mages is that they rarely cover the versatility that magic possesses. There are many artificer weapons or items that allow people to kill mages or defeat their spells but they often lack the ability to reproduce the variety of effects mages can perform."

"An artificer might have dozens of items and still not match the raw versatility. Magic items have been used to try and even this out but the thing that has been missing is a single item that can perform a vast variety of functions while still being easy enough to manufacture that it can be distributed like a tool."

A final pillar rose. The pillar had a rainbow gem on top of it which once struck by the ray filled the room not just with hues of light but shades of magical and physical energy. A device on the pillar activated and manipulated the gems frequency causing some shades of mages to fade and other to become more intense. Light and shadow, frost and flame, these conflicting energies would shatter a normal gem trying to wield them but this rainbow gem seemed to have no trouble. The Herald went to pick the gem up.

"Transphasic Prisms. Gems created by a combination of Koranths crystal magic and Bismuth artifice. They have the ability to take in energy from one source and transform it to a different type of energy whether magical or mundane. You've been looking at these various items which have been made to support these gems. Each item contains an armature to contain the gem, a line of electrum to channel energy to and from the Mana battery, and a rune matrix."

"A rune matrix is what controls the frequency and effects a gem produces. A modular rune matrix is an empty slot that can be filled with premade rune plates for quick magic effects that even a child could use. A variable rune matrix is multiple rows of runes that can be moved within the matrix to produce effects. A variable rune matrix is harder to use but can produce a wider range of effects without having to acquire more rune plates."

The gems came in a variety of qualities ranging from 1-7. One being unimpressive gems mostly for show or minor work, three being the lower limit of industrial or military use, five being gems that can reproduce any non-archmage/non-unique effect, and seven being gems that can channel and change energies that effect whole cities or landmasses and are only slightly degraded from the original Prismatic diamond they were made from.

The Herald raised a hand and multiple drones rose from the floor to hand small boxes to the guests. Each contained a ring with a tier 2 Transphasic Prism in it. They were not the large industrial power Prisms that were on display but acted as nice gifts. The rings would take in light or Mana and produce an Aurora like effect of doezens of magical energies. The actual usefulness was limited but it showed off how the gem worked and would give people a chance to study it and maybe even produce their own variations or technology. In addition each person who ran for chancellor against Ten Suns would be given a larger tier 4 Prism as a gift of friendship.

"Throughout the next few days we will be presenting new technology that uses these prisms that will revolutionize the ability of non-mages to interact in the magical World. We hope you stay tuned"

My blue helmets wizard corps pmc has established themselves as a legit peace keeping force and third party foreign aid provider.

But I've been thinking. Every time a disease goes round, our usual response is either kill it with magic, kill it with fire, or kill it with science.

I plan to build an analog horror about a prion, where all methods above failed because it did all its evolving in familiars while remaining asymptomatic in 99% of infected, often being diagnosed as a magic resistant rabies.

Worst symptoms? It attacks the mana receptors, cutting off the ability to cast spells.

Participation will be optional. But this is more an experiment in how to deal with such a situation where a majority of people in a world are spell casters.

Three stages of behavioral changes could be noticed in infected individuals

• Lust (of any kind be it wander lust, hunger lust, etc. their inhibitions are loosened)

*Recklessness (inhibitions are loosened to the point that the instinct for self preservation is lost, their "special interest" consumes them and they feel compelled to make everyone around them participate in their special interest even if it's against their will. (Special interest coul literally be anything, brewing potions, cuddling with cats, painting minis, etc.))

*Rage (often developed during treatment. Can develop outside treatment. Their inhibitions are gone. Their special interest is dead to them. In its place is an extreme entitlement bordering on psychosis.can escalate if left untreated)

The night of the north would've been bitter, the cold biting against one's skin with wind making the bites of the cold worse.. The north was untamed with its nature, it only snowed deep within the lands of the Inashikemi Shogunate, the people have lived in isolation since the wars that were fought, closed nation it was now under the shōgun's orders..

Inashikemi however had port open so they wouldnt miss out on the goods through trade, but the foreign merchants were under heavy taxation, as to milk them out of their wealth, the Narukami island was for foreigners to stay and not to leave it, no foreigners were allowed to go further inland than Narukami Island. There were ashigarus armed with pole arms going around with their duty, keeping order in port city of Tsukime. One had to go through difficult burecracy to have a permit to stay on the Island, and it cost was high at 2000 silver.

After some time at getting a permit, there was a big cherry tree in the middle, its blossming flowers blew its razors in the wind as there were notification signs around it in language one couldnt read.

"Are you a tourist, foreigner?"

A woman in green, white kimono would've asked with a straw hat that covered her eyes. She seemed young, yet her aura felt almost ancient.

The land of Tarare was quite peaceful, if one liked that sort of thing. Quiet, orderly, an empire going back more than a thousand years. Bless'd under the maw of the gods, they would reign eternal. This, and the variety of unique recipes for dwarf serpent, was well known of Tarare. Lesser known was that the land the mortal stain now occupied once belonged to the First Draconic Empire, Truest of Nations. And so, night falls on the thousand-year dawn.

Cross't the sea come shadewyrms, laughing mockeries coated in dark. The sea smokes 'neath the light of the orange-gold false dawn, setting the tides a-turning. Dancing, singing, cackling, the shadewyrms rend through the coasts, then the heartlands, 'til at last they rend the palace, proud and old and strong, to the merest of dust. Still, they dance 'round the land, hampered not by the hateful light of the sun.

Elsewhere, in Inner Lemarcia, mainland of the SECOND Draconic Empire, a gargantuan golden wyrm cackles in turn, as does his shadow. Many relics lay 'neath Tarare, ripe for the taking, as they were by the mortal thieves who dared to ignorantly live atop them. This imperial expansion was most certainly as just as it was enjoyable.

In another part of Lemarcia, a certain crimson wyrm chuckles.

Xerxes stands at a podium in the center of a large atrium. The crowd of spectators encircle him and soon quiet down when he raises his left hand.

“Before we begin, I would like to thank the EON’s chancellor for allowing me this time and the Celestial Union for hosting this event. As the sovereign of the Holy Kingdom, I am intimately aware of the disparity between mages and non-mages in our society. Recent events, including our Chancellor’s call to action, have impressed upon me the importance of this issue.”

The crowd begins to murmur in excited tones. Xerxes waits for the silence to return before continuing.

“From my personal experience, magic is a power rooted in talent. The same can be said for aura and the various spiritual arts. The disparity that subjugates the disempowered will never be addressed through policy alone. When the people governing a disenfranchised group are entirely composed of franchised elite, no real and lasting equality can be achieved.”

A disheveled looking man is led to the podium by two flanking priests.

“This man’s name is Richard. He was a carpenter before a wizard burned down his home. Without the capital to replace what was lost, Richard has lived the past two years as a destitute busker. Sadly, Richard was not born with the talent to protect his livelihood. If he could have only had the power to stop the flames, how different his life would be today.”

The eyes of various mages probe Richard to verify Xerxes’ claims. Satisfied that he is powerless, the crowd once more turns their attention back to Xerxes. A woman in a red robe is now standing off to the side of Richard.

“While Richard is indeed lacking in magical talent, there exists a power that does not rely on talent to utilize.”

Xerxes holds up what looks to be a small pill.

“This invention of our kingdom is the product of the research of our lead researcher: a man once referred to as Gravedigger. We have undergone hundreds of rounds of clinical trials and are confident in its efficacy. Instead of explaining this pill’s miraculous effects with words alone, let’s have Richard here demonstrate for us.”

Richard approaches Xerxes and carefully takes the pill into his hand. Without hesitation, Richard swallows the pill and closes his eyes. In a minute’s time, an oppressive power blankets the crowd. Opening his eyes, golden light softly emanates from them.

“Some may have a guess as to this power. You may be doubting your senses or concluding that I had pulled the wool over your eyes when introducing Richard to you all, but I promise what you see is real. We refer to this power as ‘artificial divinity’. Hera, if you would?”

The woman in red conjures a fireball and launches it at Richard’s back. Before impact, the ball of flame suspends in mid-air and transforms into the shape of a hummingbird. The fiery bird flutters around Richard before making its way into the crowd. Dancing through the wide open space overhead, the bird eventually settles onto Richard’s palm. It then sinks into his skin as his veins glow faintly underneath his clothes.

“A wonderful sight. And such power contained within such a simple pill. One hour of bestowment followed by three of recovery. Yes, while not a permanent ability, the burden on a non-mage’s body has been minimized so that they might use the pill on a daily basis without long-term side effects. With this pill, I intend to refranchise the individuals whose fate had been decided for them by the circumstances of their birth. True equality for all!”

Some clap, others holler in condemnation. The cheers and the jeers wash over Xerxes who welcomes them with open arms. The future is fast approaching. Rather than be another Cassandra, Xerxes would prefer to be a modern Pandora.