Weave and Warfare

A doc that addresses the most well-understood language to all that lives and breathes; violence.

Strider Combat

In addition to how Striders move, is how Striders fight. Here, we look over the mechanics of Strider Combat. Strider Combat relies heavily on the concept of Chalk Ribbons and the Weave Protocol discussed in The Hands as Chalk.

The Theory of Damage

At the heart of combat is dealing damage, and the nature of calcic reality has defined the nature of calcic damage-dealing. Deep discussion into the nature of damage in the Switchboard is contained in SB_Physiology.

The Flash Protocol

“And so did the First Dancers of the Great Sky grasp that for a brief moment, they too could shine like the life-giving armillary stars, and within those windows of cosmic divinity, they could take hold of the Current, and wrench from it a tomorrow skewed to their ideals.”

The true power of the stride-dedicom in advanced chalkweaving, however, is the Flash Protocol, the pinnacle chalkstrider technique and the realization of their true capabilities as weavers of chalk and the bearers of wings made of it. By clearing the entire queue and dedicating the whole bandwidth of the stride-dedicom to a single pattern - much like when striding - a chalkstrider is able to fold immensely complex weave in a second and output it with legendary force. However, when doing this, the sheer complexity and output with which the pattern is woven and the speed at which it is done results in the stride-dedicom become scrambled and disorganized - unraveled - and it needs time for the passive reverse-unraveling of the Strider’s lattice to reorganize it, inflicting a sort of ‘cooldown’ period before it can be used again.

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The sixth strait conferred upon Striders via the Strider Protocol - the stride-dedicom - is capable of performances of truly fearsome feats of chalkweaving. This is due to the ‘dedicom’ component of the stride-dedicom; a contraction of dedicated computing. By loading the equations of even complex patterns into the dedicom strait, in an eyeblink - or a flash, as it were - a Strider can fold and deploy them to their fullest extent, with often devastating results - made even more powerful by the Astrolabe’s protocol elevation of doing this very thing. Performing the Flash Protocol is a ledgerial action, in that every instance of it has reshaped the path taken by the Switchboard far more greatly than anything else.

Because the Flash Protocol often takes the majority or even all of the stride-dedicom’s ‘width’ to perform, executing the Flash burns out the strait (this burnout being more technically, unravelling), and the Strider must wait for their passive unravelling to heal the strait before their flash can be used again. This imposed cooldown cannot reasonably be bypassed with the exception of using reverse unravelling techniques, extension techniques (such as from a Tek) or praximechanical means (such as a vow). Attempting to use a burned-out stride-dedicom strait to cast might work, but it could also outrightly destroy the strait beyond repair, yielding catastrophic consequences.

The stride-dedicom’s cooldown does also mean that Striders are immensely vulnerable after it is used. For one, they cannot stride for some time after using it, meaning that anyone firing the Flash Protocol off must be categorically sure they won’t have to beat a hasty retreat afterwards. For another, most Striders load their T2 techniques - their most high-uptime and available ones - into the stride-dedicom, meaning that in events of burnout, a solid fraction of a Strider’s arsenal is either far slower to deploy and weaker when it eventually is - or cannot function at all. In the most literal sense, the Flash protocol is an all-or-nothing gambit, staking everything on a final, decisive strike to secure a victory.

Primarily, the Flash Protocol is used in combat; few other scenarios demand so cataclysmic a display of power. The nuances of this usage are seen in three major forms, depending on the pattern of the Flash the Strider means to execute;

• Flash Output: Lattice; a massive numerical augmentation of the Strider’s base physical abilities, allowing them to vastly exceed the constraints of their physical form. In addition to buffing more crude physical metrics such as speed and strength, it enhances finer skills such as dexterity and agility, and other lattice-dependent features such as eyesight. In addition to the above, it further accelerates the operation of the Five Straits, granting cross-board enhancements to any and all things that depend on them. Latflashing leads to a general enhancement in the usage of mundane weapons - martial and firearms - as well as enhancements to durability and regeneration.

Various brands of RUtek or Reverse Unravelling Technique require subjects sufficient in flashing the lattice.

• Flash Output: Weave; a means of utilizing the Flash Protocol that allows a caster to perform a complicated bit of chalkweaving nigh effortlessly. Erecting the parameters of an equation and compelling it to evolve via copious suffusions of chalk allows for shaping chalk into complex weave in an instant. Typically however, in exchange for realizing a complex feat of chalkweaving, the result of the weaving bears considerable strength, but lacks stability, and thus dissipates after a time or a number of uses. This is typically described as flashweaving, describing the means of using the Flash Protocol to use it, the speed at which it is done, and the quickness with which the result resolves itself.

• Flash Output: Charge; the power of the Flash Protocol is output into a target that isn’t the subject themselves, such as a weapon or Tek of theirs, with the aim of making a single, decisive action. It allows for massively increasing the effectiveness of the target; a Tek, relic, ritual, titular power, esoterica power, the like. To receive the overwhelming power of the Flash Protocol - or to be able to be flashcharged as one might put it - requires a level of ‘soundness’ of the target itself, as well as a predetermined manner by which the power of the Flash Protocol will be used. In a sense, an outlet for the Flash’s power must exist before the subject undergoes the flashcharging, otherwise one runs the risk of uncorking raw calcic force.

As a flavor note, many high-level fighters in the Switchboard primarily make use of their Flash Protocol through flashcharging some other component of their arsenal, as this yields far more raw benefit than enhancing physical form or weave capabilities. Additionally, one can have multiple ways they can flashcharge one component of their arsenal, or multiple components, each with different ways of being flashcharged.

Adding to Latflashing and Flashweaving above, they can also expend the Flash through burning or bursting. Burst-flashes expend the entirety of the Flash Protocol’s power in one fell swoop, surging mightily forward, glowing like a star, and then cooling off as fast as it began. Burn-flashes expend the power of the Flash over a longer duration, granting one greater control over the efficacy of the Flash, serving as a long-term boost to the caster’s abilities. The ‘Burn’ modes of the abilities allow for entering a ‘flash state’, which denotes the time period that a flash is burning.

Linguistically, any kind of usage of the Flash Protocol whatsoever is commonly described as simply ‘using the/their flash’ by the Switchboard’s many denizens.

With that outlined, the means of using the Flash Protocol are;

• Lattice Burst
• Lattice Burn
• Weave Burst
• Weave Burn
• Flashcharge

Further notes on inspiration; The Flash Protocol, going full mask-off, is effectively a super ability. An ultimate move, z-move, final smash, whatever you want to call it. Primarily it is inspired by Destiny 2’s super abilities, of which there are primarily two types; burst supers and ‘roaming’ supers.

Burst supers function by burning your ‘supercharge’ in one fell swoop. You cast the ability and it resolves, such as throwing a black hole (Nova Bomb) or a freezing tornado (Silence & Squall). Roaming supers place the caster in a ‘state’ in which they obtain a ‘super shield’ (functionally an increase to damage resistance) and empower their attacks often by summoning a weapon (Arcstaff summons a quarterstaff made of lightning, Daybreak summons a flaming sword, Sentinel Shield summons an enemy-devouring shield etc.)

How this transitions to Samsara is that roaming supers take the form of Latflash Burn and Flashweave Burn abilities. In this, a Strider expends their flashcharge on a sustained cast, which by design, summons something that persists for an amount of time that the caster is able to use. A Flashweave Burn could be summoning a powerful weapon to make devastating attacks, while a Latflash Burn, which empowers physical abilities, would see exponential boosts to those.

Latflash Bursts and Flashweave Bursts are the burst super equivalents. All the power of the Flash Protocol is expended in a single strike or a very brief moment. Flashweave Bursts often involves spinning a weapon from ribbon that is immensely powerful, but only persists for a single, or a couple of actions. Similar for a Latflash Burst. That isn’t to say that the effects of these casts do not linger in the environment for an amount of time.

Flashcharging a part of the arsenal is a fairly more original idea. The power of the flashcharge is expended in a weapon, power, rituals etc.

There is a fair amount of debate among field Striders on what is the most effective way to expend a flashcharge once one is ready. Most of the discourse results from the fact most field Striders cultivate fighting styles that naturally include how they use the flashcharge, and so are naturally inclined towards declaring their methods as superior. The more nuanced take however, is that it is fairly dependent on target and caster.

For one, many feel that the LT-Burn and LT-Burst are the weakest means of utilizing the flashcharge. Unless you are fighting The Shattered, in which case calcic alternatives and abilities would be useless. The LT-Burn as well does present the problem of a target having to engage with an opponent that is moving faster, hitting harder, and taking more hits… at absolute minimum. So long as it is a physical ability - or better put, dependent on the baseline functions of the lattice, the LT-Burn can rapidly enhance it, meaning a caster of it could improve hand-eye coordination to enhance firearm accuracy, or reflexes to dodge fast-moving projectiles. The fact it can enhance or accelerate the functions of the Five Straits provides a litany of benefits for the caster, and those who bear Reverse Unravelling Techniques can recover rapidly from damaged sustained before flashing and become nigh-unkillable during it.

That all being said, the sheer versatility and power output of calcic powers ensures that they remain steadily on top, and all Striders of some repute make it a point to have some means of expending their flashcharge towards calcic ends. Striders able to constantly maintain a ‘low power’ version of the Flash State typically do so in WV-Burn ‘mode’, and have all their calcic abilities (weave powers et al.) empowered while partnered with new ones. This is particularly made possible by those who are proficient with the fundamentals of Flashing in general; that being the dumping of chalk down the stride strait. More efficiently doing so translates to more cost-effective usage of chalk and thus a longer time spent in the flash state.

Expending the Flash Protocol to ‘flashcharge’ a component of the Strider’s arsenal, however, is preferred and practiced by veteran Striders with fighting styles honed over dozens of processions and hundred of sojourns. It comes down to a simple logic; that a fighting style should have a singular or couple of ways to achieve a ‘win condition’, and that the flashcharge should be used to expedite the process of getting to it. Likewise with Striders who wield relic weapons; a weapon powerful enough to fell most things is usually only a flashcharge away from felling all things.

Such is the way Strider veterans utilize the flashcharge; utilize abilities that create vulnerabilities - these are the win conditions - then exploit the vulnerabilities maximally to reap maximum rewards.

Depthstrider Combat

Void_5 is greatly encouraged reading for this section.

The primary core of Depthstrider combat is similar to the mechanics of the Depthstride; inducing localized instances of curvature and anti-curvature. Inducing these instances at points causes information - and by extension, things in general - to be drawn or repelled from that point. Put most simply, the first aspect of Depthstrider combat is effectively gravity manipulation. Discussion on how this will be creatively used in combat is done later.

The secondary core is the Void’s power to ‘pull’ information as means to cause damage. It is the inverse of armillary stars method of causing damage by constantly outputting intense waves of Chalk. Armillary Stars would take your shirt off by blowing on you until it flies off your back, while the Void would grab your collar and rip it off you from the front. It behaves similarly towards Lattices, aiming to undo them by pulling on the weakest threads so the rest comes apart.

Because of this, the second aspect of Depthstrider Combat is disruption; aiming to interfere all Chalk-reliant systems. The apparent pull of the Void induces pressure on Chalk, weakening it, producing inaccuracy and inconsistency, which can be exploited by the rest of a Depthstrider’s arsenal. Typically, undoing a Chalk ritual using Chalk requires complex and delicate manipulation; doing so with Void is holding candle flame to paper.

Particularly proficient use of this pull can allow Depthstriders to steal secrets and information from their opponents, and due to Information Tangibility principles, it results in the weakening of the one taken from, and increased strength for the Depthstrider. Protracted matches favor Depthstriders, who continuously adapt in their fight against an opponent, as more and more of their nature is Learned by the Depthstrider.

Tools and Weapons from the Void

An idea worth exploring is the Void counterpart of Chalk Relics, that being weapons granted their power by exposure to, or imbibing them with, Void.

Acquisition of a Void weapon uses Giving, Taking, or - exclusive to the most powerful of Void Wielders - the Drifters - Shaping. Being Given a Void weapon is how most Depthstriders acquire a weapon with which to combine with their Void powers. However, what is Given is lacking in power and specificity; you are forced to settle with what you acquire. Taking a void weapon is far more ideal, as it carries more of your intent with it. Shaping a weapon from the Void creates the most powerful implements, as it is made of pure will, desire and intent.

Additionally, a fourth method exists, similar to the making of artificial relics - that being Forging. A mundane/conventional weapon can be allowed to marinate in the Void and gain some inclination towards the Void and it’s nature. The strength of these weapons vary, but they are never more powerful than a void weapon acquired by shaping, and rarely more powerful than one acquired by giving or taking. Much of their power stems from not needing Void powers or alignment to fabricate them, giving elementary depth-based powers to anyone who seeks it.

The advantage presented by void weaponry are their increased proficiency in anti-lattice combat methods, and how they interact with induced localized curvature and anti-curvature, described more in detail in the next section that theory-crafts the practical elements of Depthstrider combat.

Void Combat Tactics

The core of Depthstrider combat being gravity manipulation presents a selection of abilities that appear constrained at first, but with creativity, can demonstrate considerable variation and power.

Point attraction and point repulsion are the basics, and functionally give a Depthstrider spatial control of a battlefield. Offensively, placing attraction and repulsion points allows forcefully moving combatants and objects in any direction the void-wielder chooses. Defensively, projectiles can be deflected off-course by interfering gravitational fields, or locked in place by the resultant of counteracting gravitational forces.

It presents brute force methods of engagement. An opponent can be flattened under immense repulsive force acting above them, or flung repeatedly into objects or have objects flung repeatedly into them.

As a utility power, gravity manipulation can allow for flight and moving large objects, as well as dexterous movement at high speeds (think gravity slingshot maneuvers but for someone running on the ground). Fine application of gravitational force - such as extremely minute, immensely weak forces of attraction and repulsion - can be used for far more delicate work, such as moving cylinders to pick a lock, or opposing forces producing spin, allowing removal of screws in watches, as an example.

Currently, gravity manipulation works as a very ranged power, allowing exerting considerable lethality from afar. Close range applications exist as well, when it is considered that a brief moment - a ‘pulse’ - of immense attraction or repulsion, can rapidly accelerate anything in the vicinity, allowing adding more force to certain actions.

A bladed weapon could have a point of immense attraction tethered to its cutting edge, effectively pulling it along as the user moves for a swing, manufacturing additional force behind each attack. Similarly, a blunt weapon such as a hammer can be propelled from rest to immense velocity by ‘pulsing’ a repulsive force behind it, amplifying its destructive power. Projectiles - both thrown and propelled - can be accelerated similarly.

We can got yet further.

An example is ‘paired’ points of attraction and repulsion; instead of indiscriminately attracting or repelling everything in the vicinity, pairs or sets of points can only act on each other, similar to two-way radios. Additionally, an attraction or repulsion point could be modified to only attract or repel designated objects. A Depthstrider could tether an attraction point to an opponent, and fling projectiles attuned to that point, causing them to ‘home in’ on the target.

Also to consider is that with enough gravity, light itself can be dragged towards a point and consumed. An intense point of gravitational attraction could produce a region of impenetrable shadow, while one of immense repulsion would be awash with blinding light. Pulsing the latter could serve as a ‘gravity flashbang’, the brightness disorienting targets.

Strider Vs. Non-Strider Combat

Vitric Warfare

Weave and Warfare is recommended reading for this section.

An altercation between a wielder of the Strider and Weave Protocols, and a Grounded (one who lacks such power) would be terribly one-sided. As detailed, the Weave Protocol allows for the manipulation of quite literally the stuff of local reality, and Weave and Warfare outlines extensively just how weaponizable local reality is. Lacking the necessary modification to the interface strait to output chalk, the Grounded thus cannot weave chalk, use higher-level teks, perform rituals or perform the Flash Protocol. While they can use a relic that operates off of its own internal calcic supply, they will only be able to perform the absolute baseline of the functions it has, while being subject to a non-trivial salvo of restrictions and impediments. Even ignoring the school of white, lacking any conviction in the things of the Void means they cannot manipulate curvature, depthstride, requisition boons from the Void, weave spatial barriers or expand hollows.

Performing a fairly cursory examination, one would readily conclude that the Grounded have no true means of opposing those who can utilize either the powers of white or black. The discrepancy in power is simply far too great as to be utterly unbridgeable. However, the Grounded - by not having the Striders’ and Weavers’ strengths - do not have their weaknesses, most foremost of this being a greatly reduced vulnerability to the perfecting influence of Glass.

Striders and Weavers - who possess an immense vulnerability to both - are thus at immense risk of coming up against a weapon that harnesses glass in some way. Even just a lucky strike from a crude dagger is more than enough to dispatch an otherwise phenomenally powerful denizen of the Switchboard. The Grounded - who can even take cuts from glass and survive long enough for their own innate reverse unravelling, even though slower relative to the other families - thus extensively make use of glass in various weapons and weapon systems, as a means to equalize them and wielders of higher powers. The power presented by glass makes it both a powerful offensive and defensive tool, as it abhors and shreds chalkweave with little effort, this meaning it shreds even the techniques used by calcic fighter as they deploy them.

For this reason alone, even those unable to use the more supernatural of powers used by the Third Kin are able to fight on equal footing with them. Coupled with all manners of other enhancements such as G1 teks, Chromegrafts and more, the Esomechanist superclass under Weave and Warfare is born, an esoteric superclass that breaks the mold of all other superclasses, and specializes in drawing powers from elsewhere other than the schools of white and black. While it is very uncommon for an Esomechanist - even empowered with glass weaponry - to measure up to even the shadow of a decent wielder of either white or black, underestimating them is done at one’s own peril, and the arrogance and pride born from superiority of powers has led many to cheap, unfortunate deaths.

The Lancasters in particular are very fond of glass weaponry, and even as they are mostly looked down upon - even actively despised - by members of the other Families, very few Lancasters are ever caught without some glass on their person, and a strike from a perceived inferior is often the least expected of all kinds.

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Elaborating on this, Glass serves an equalizer between Chalkweavers and Grounded in combat encounters. The caedometricity of glass allows for almost outrightly defeating any and all calcic measures. Weave comes undone, rituals collapse, even the resultant of a cast (such as phenomena-based attacks) can be defeated by glass. And with the lethality of glass against Striders and Weavers, a fairly skilled Grounded is very capable of defeating a Strider should they find themselves caught in the midst of a particularly fatal miscalculation.

That being said, the Grounded still lack a litany of advantages granted to Striders, such as physical enhancements granted by the Flash Protocol, relics that are able to maintain their effectiveness even with glass in the vicinity (such as firearms), and attacks that can’t necessarily be blocked due to not being calcic in nature (such as explosions). While glass does allow for ‘one-shotting’ a Strider, a Strider can get away with far more mistakes and still possesses a non-trivial amount of options up their sleeves.

The Superclasses

Previous sections and other docs have worked to establish the various power systems that denizens of the Switchboard use for utility and combat purposes. The distinctions between individual wieldable systems and powers allows for categorization of their wielders into various super-classes; neatly defined boxes of powers and qualities, which allow us to understand what a subject who bears the title the boxes describe is capable of.

There are thus four super-classes;

• Chalkweavers
• Depthstrider
• Pale Amaran
• Esomechanists (tackled in a separate document)

Chalkweavers

Exhaustively defined elsewhere (such as The Hands as Chalk and The Strider Protocol), Chalkweavers in the context of Switchboard Combat are those who wield the Weave Protocol to manipulate chalk. Chalkstriders also fall under this category.

Wielding chalk under the Switchboard’s combat systems entails a number of things; weaving chalk to use the core five weaving powers of Strike, Charge, Shield, Dash and Armament. Additionally is the usage of Teks and Rituals, including both Quis and full rituals. Particularly skilled Weavers can also cast Grand Rituals using their Flash Protocol, but only Chalkstriders can use the Flash Protocol’s additional powers of Physical and Weave Overclocks and the Flashcharge.

Arsenal (Chalkweaver)

T1 - Relic Armaments Chalkweaver arsenals begin with their relic weapons; weapons inculcated with rituals and chalk to see their functionality enhanced beyond the mundane qualities of their construction. Chalkweavers and Striders especially have a primary weapon that serves as their ‘signature’; a weapon they are most proficient with and thus are most recognizable by. While Chalkweavers may not necessarily wield a relic weapon, the full potential of their arsenal demands one.

• Relic Martial Arm
  A melee relic. Chalkweavers tend to favor weapons on higher or middling on the edge spectrum and middling or lower on the weight spectrum, thus opting for swords of various classes and daggers, with more skilled wielders taking glaives. The praxlance is an uncommon, high level weapon used by the most skilled of Weavers.

• Relic Firearm
  A ranged relic, often a firearm of sorts. Long range engagement of targets is valuable in most circumstances, and ranged relics see plenty of use among Weavers. Chalk serves to enhance their various qualities - range and destructiveness - and mitigate their drawbacks, such as accuracy and recoil.

Weavers overwhelmingly prefer caster class weapons, as they greatly aid a Weaver in their casting of weave powers.

T2 - Elementary Calcic - The Hands as Chalk In which we get to the first of the subject’s calcic abilities (if present). These abilities are the most elementary, but their versatility aids in their ability in creating a distinct combat identity for a subject. The elementary calcic are the weave abilities, granted differentiation through usage and interwoven equations within their executions.

• Weave Strike The most elementary of Chalkweaver powers. Defined by low complexity, high uptime, varying damage and plenty of avenues for additional versatility and power, every Weaver’s weave strike is an ability that serves as the baseline for their weaving powers. As regards the forms it takes, the most elementary forms it takes is chalk ribbon wound around a body part, used to enhance the effectiveness of a physical strike or add additional quirks or properties to it. More advanced weave strikes are hurled abilities such as woven projectiles.

  • What is most important about a weave strike ultimately, is the ability to deploy it in the space of a finger snap. Even with additional properties appended to it via the addition of equations or the utilization of other powers a Weaver may possess, the success of the weave strike lies in its ability to be used quickly, frequently, as effectively as possible, and with minimal drawbacks in the form of induced unravelling.

  • Because the weave strike is often a Weaver’s most frequently used ability short of their weaponry, Weavers are often identified and known for the ability they use, contributing to their repute.

• Woven Charge A more complex calcic ability, defined by needing more ‘preparation’ for its casting. The woven charge evolves in complexity from the weave strike, this upscaled complexity allowing for more damage, additional quirks in its casting, additional properties in its resolution, and ultimately more utility spawned from additional versatility.

  • Preparing a charge is done by weaving ribbon into the pattern of what is desired to cast, equations being woven in as well to grant the additional casting and resolution parameters.

  • The most common forms it takes are ‘blast’, ‘grenade’ and ‘imbue’ configurations. Blasts emanate usually from the hands, and resolve as the effects of the charge in an area in front of the caster, such as a cone shape. Grenades become projectiles, and can be thrown to resolve their effects over an area. Grenades are also able to be woven with casting parameters, such as being able to be stuck to a wall and only resolve (detonate) when a potential target comes near. Imbues are usually effects that are cast over the self or a target, and instead of being fired or tossed outwards, they are prepared and resolved within the same context. They often provide effects to the caster of the imbue.

• Knit-Shield The logic of the knit-shield is how weave interacts and interferes with other weave, the optimization of destructive interactions manifesting as the design of counterweave. Imagining the knit-shield as similar to actual knitting - a weave of large, thick fibers - and then envisioning what it’s like to try to punch through, slash or rip said knitting gives a fairly elementary, but functional understanding of how the knit-shield functions.

  • The knit-shield serves as a defensive measure, protecting the caster by creating a secondary lattice to protect the primary, main lattice of their bodies. knit-shields also vary in forms, with some being shields that a caster deploys in front of them - such as from the hands - in anticipation of attack, or function as second skin covering their entire frame, passively protecting from attack. These are active and passive shielding techniques.

  • Additional properties are added to shields through equations, allowing for inducing weave more resilient to certain forms of attack, or regenerating faster, or doing certain thins when struck. Often, a Weaver’s knit-shield also serves as a weapon, punishing attacks for as long as it stays up. Utility features can be woven into it as well, such as repulsion to elements.

  • Breaking the knit-shield is usually a prerequisite to doing any real damage to a Weaver.

• Weft Dash Serving as a secondary defensive ability, the weft dash is a mobility technique employed by Weavers using their command of chalk. The Strider Protocol at its core allows for weaving chalk into pure velocity with marvelous efficiency. The weft dash works off of that in its most elementary forms, allowing Weavers to flare chalk - even if momentarily - to gain a powerful momentum boost, allowing them to dodge an oncoming attack or reposition to a more favorable position.

  • While called ‘dash’, it isn’t limited to conventional understanding of that word; it instead covers a wide variety of movement techniques devised by Weavers, often the only commonality shared between them being the employment of calcic methods, and the ends of instantaneous movement being realized.

• Woven Armament One of the more complex ways to use weave, a layer of ribbon can be would around a mundane weapon, enhancing it with calcic powers in a move that allows for it to function as a proto relic. Weaving equations into a layer of weave and wrapping a weapon with it grants it additional powers and utility; weapons can become lighter to wield, but strike harder and cut deeper when swung or impart effects on hit, firearms can become more accurate and impart less recoil on firing, and more.

  • Taken to another step though, it is possible to weave weapons entirely out of chalk and fight with them as one would normally. While particularly skilled Weavers can do so and have the weapons persist for long periods of times, more often than not a woven weapon is used much the same way as an ability is; casted and resolved fairly quickly, imparting its effects. Woven armaments are thus often used in a sequence of attacks; woven into much larger combos, or deployed only when the specific, unique function they serve is needed.

  • In the case of woven armaments that originate from equations, they can be used persistently and like any other weapon, and folded into being if they are lost or destroyed.

  • Arsenal Cards will indicate whether a woven weapon was truly woven or spawned from an equation.

T3 - Advanced Calcic Into the advanced calcic do we see Teks and chalk rituals make an appearance. Despite the fact that Teks do not particularly require all that much skill to simply use, obtaining them is a sign of a fairly skilled subject. The fact that any two Teks being even remotely similar is an extreme rarity means that Teks are a massive contributor to a subject’s recognizability, so much so that Teks can be the basis for forming somewhat cult-like followings. Rituals make an appearance here in the form of Quis or quikasts, which are learnable and executable by virtually anyone half decent at weaving chalk. Often, Quis only contribute to a subject’s notoriety if they were the first person to utilize them (i.e., the drafter of the schema).

• Teks - Teks Truly stretching the limits of what chalk is capable of, Teks are inconceivably complex calcic equations that fold chalk to perform incredible feats. Whereas weaving the chalk necessary to simulate the effects of a Tek would be wholly undoable by even the most skilled Weavers, Teks emerge from the nearly unknowable mechanics of the Astrolabe, and manifest as abilities Weavers can cast without having to weave themselves, or even understand how they work.

• Quis - Chalk Ritualism Quis or quikast rituals make their appearance in a Weaver’s arsenal here. Using a spynjack, Weavers are able to quickly deploy even powerful and complex rituals on the battlefield to considerable effect, and it is widely argued that quis are the most dangerous part of engaging with Weavers.

T4 - Grand Calcic The arsenal of Chalkweavers end here, but the power of grand ritual is nothing to scoff at. Expending components, chalk and time allows the strongest Weavers to cast complex rituals, performing feats in the Switchboard of immense power. The sheer versatility of the calcic ritualism comes down to the diversity of ritual schema that exists, and a Weaver giving their all can enhance even mundane, simple rituals to lofty heights. Coupled with this are the chalkweavers extended disciplines, in which the entirety of their arsenal can be further empowered by skillful applications of chalkweaving and employment of various verse mechanics.

• Grand Ritualism - Chalk Ritualism Rituals boast incredible power, and Weavers can expend immense amounts of accumulated chalk to cast grand rituals. While they often require being stationary and take time to deploy, they come close to rivalling the power of the Flash Protocol, and often overtake it in versatility, as Striders usually only have a few ways they use the Flash. Grand rituals are cast with schema, and a Weaver who knows hundreds - thousands even - of rituals will prove to be an immensely formidable fighter.

  Rituals in this manner can either be a cast or a channel. Casted rituals are casted and resolved immediately upon the completion of the cast. Channeled rituals need the caster to maintain the ritual geometry, and the channel ends when this maintenance ends.

• Extended Disciplines - Advanced White Techniques True proficiency with chalk allows for making use of techniques that grant new powers and empower existing ones. While not frequently a major gamechanger in any loadout, it does often give one an edge over a closely-matched opponent, and provides new avenues for victory to the wielders of white. More details await under the advanced playbook.

T5 - The Flash Protocol The domain of the highest calcic ability; true power is found here in the shape of the Flash Protocol, able to unlock the ultimate potential of previous weapons and abilities in the arsenal. Striders are known often by their Flash - the moment when they shine as bright as stars. The Flash is the ability they use to rescue losing situations, secure an edge over an equally matched opponent, or add flair to a victory already secured. Even when faced with darkest, mightiest terrors of the Switchboard, the Flash is able to shine through, piercing all with its unrivalled light.

• Flash Protocol Only able to be casted by Striders, the Flash Protocol stands at the pinnacle of a chalk arsenal. Overclocks and expending the Flashcharge on other parts of the arsenal have the ability to end fights before they begin, or wrench victory from the jaws of defeat. Striders are often known for the weakest and the strongest parts of their arsenal, and no ability builds more repute than a Strider’s Flash.

  The subclasses for the Flash Protocol are described in the identically-named heading.

Depthstriders

Defined more thoroughly in Void_5, Depthstriders utilize their powers born from the Amaranth in combat. This manifests as the Void powers of Giving, Taking, wielding amara-forged weaponry from Forging and Curvature Manipulation. Stronger Depthstriders - the Void Drifters - are able to use Shaping.

Depthstrider powers work fairly differently from Chalkstrider ones; their dependency on Giving and Taking sees that their fighting makes greater use of physical implements gifted or taken from the Void, rather than phenomena-based abilities woven from chalk. The result of this is Depthstrider’s inherent reliance on weaponry acquired from the Void, seen as many Depthstriders wield Void-enhanced weaponry in even their base kits.

Depthstrider abilities arise when Curvature Manipulation comes into play. Induction of information and negative information (chalk and a hypothetical ‘negative chalk’) allows for creation curvature and anti-curvature along the fourth spatial dimension. This manifests as Depthstriders being able to control gravity. Their ability to control gravity is used mainly through creating points of attraction and repulsion to obtain spatial control of the battlefield. These powers also have considerable utilitarian applications, such as flight and moving large objects in large scale cases, or even moving pins in a lock or applying counter-acting forces on something to induce spin, such as to remove a screw.

Curvature manipulation works as a very ranged power, allowing applying considerable lethality from afar.

The other more esoteric powers of the Void come in the form of Gifts of the Void, a large grab-bag of tools, skills, powers and phenomena dredged from the depths of the Void, called upon when needed. While Giving normally has some issues with reliability, Depthstrider gifts suffer from these less so, instead seeing Skews in their gifts each time they are asked from the Void. These Skews are a result of the Void’s inherent mathematics as presided over by the first Amaranth Sultan; Brother Vahn, and in particular the Void’s Anchor Variables. The Skews slightly modify the Gift in question, and while these modifications can sometimes be interpreted as positive or negative, by and large they are random, and it is up to a skilled and creative Depthstrider to make use of Gifts as effectively as possible.

In addition to the Gifts of the Void are the Possessions from the Void. These are almost entirely similar to Gifts, except that they can be retrieved from the Void with total reliability, and suffer no Skews when they are. Possessions from the Void are Taken, and they are wielded by Depthstriders as a bit of determinability in the randomness of their arsenals.

As a noteworthy feature, Gifts and Possessions can transition between these states via the formshift. Returning something to the Void can allow for a Depthstrider to ask for it back as a Gift, or Take it as a possession. Thus this particular section of a Depthstrider’s arsenal - collectively called Draws from the Void - are subject to a sort of ‘gambling’ mechanic; draw with certainty by Taking, or ask to be Given and possibly reap greater rewards or suffer drawbacks.

While Depthstriders lack the Flash Protocol, what they have in place of it - somewhat - is the Drift Protocol. Depthstriders who undergo the pilgrimage to become Void Drifters obtain their final powers, the ability to Shape from the Void and access to the highest echelons of depthstrider powers; the Crescent Hollow. Most wielders of the Void will never attain this lofty height of strength, but those that due fear almost nothing from their chalkweaver counterparts.

Arsenal (Depthstrider)

T1 - Void Armament Core to every Depthstrider’s arsenal is their Void-enhanced armament, weaponry that is attuned with the depths of Isalveh, the Challenger Dark. They reap boons for their weapon class by drinking of the nature of all similar weapons in the Void; blades are made sharper by all blades in the Void, and guns shoot truer due to all guns present in the Void. Stardrip sees all information dissolve into it, and flow into all that is inculcated with it. Common to all Void weapons is the additional power to induce great depth - rifts - to the Challenger Dark, allowing transit to and from, and acts of Giving and Taking. While Depthstriders can perform this inherently, with Void weapons they can focus their power allowing summoning and maintenance of the rift with greater ease.

• Given/Taken Armament Armament Given by or Taken from the Void. Taken armament are generally preferred over Given ones, as Taken ones are obtained with some amount of specificity. Void armament benefit in ways not too dissimilar from Chalk and Relic armaments, with a difference in that Void armament can ‘siphon’ chalk into the Challenger Dark, inducing local depth that often benefits the depthstrider.

• Forged Armament A weapon crafted and then left to marinate in stardrip, taking on the power of the Void. In some manners it serves as an improvement over Given or Taken weaponry, such as not needing to be stored in the Void (and thus is always available) as well as total control over the nature of the weapon itself, built to the demands of the wielder rather than the best-fitting implement salvaged from the depths of the Amaranth. It however loses out on the depth-leeching effect of Given/Taken weapons that make them grow stronger as they engage with calcic opposition. Amara-forged weapons require a core of amaranthite in their construction, as a note.

• Shaped Armament - Advanced Black Techniques A walking stick fit for an accomplished pilgrim, one who has gone to see the final resting place of the dead-yet-living Brother in the Amaranth; the First Amaranth Sultan of the Void. Unique insight gives birth to unique capabilities, and the offering of negative information to the depths of the Void yields a mirror that reflects the one who gives. Shaped armament in the hand facilitates storied dominance over space, and the power to rip through its fabric will little thought.

T2 - Curvature Manipulation Depthstriders boast dominance over information curvature, the changes in fourth-dimensional altitude induced by the presence of information or the lack thereof. Their powers of information and anti-information produce curvature and anti-curvature in a localized space, and thus allow for the control of gravity. Weaponization of this power sees the beginning of the Depthstrider’s abilities.

• Space Manipulation Forces of attraction are created by concentrating information at a point and inducing local curvature. Like pushing down a film held taut, local space is stretched downwards, and untethered objects are pulled towards it. Should the depth be great enough, objects can be shunted into the depths of the Dark.

  Conversely, repulsion operates via anti-curvature, which is caused by the gathering of anti-information, creating a mountain-like peak in the fourth dimension of local space. Like objects dropped on a wide cone, they race away from the center to areas of lower elevation.

• Selective Action Constraining forces of attraction and repulsion, using points of each to cancel out the force exerted by the other, allows for fine control of what is attracted and repelled. Large feats such as flying or moving heavy objects can be achieved with immense dexterity, as well as smaller feats such as picking locks or disassembling intricate machinery.

• Paired Points The forces of attraction and repulsion can see themselves constrained to act only on each other, seeing the ability for Depthstriders to mark targets with differing points, and have them inexplicably drawn to each other. The usefulness of this power are constrained only by imagination.

T3 - Treasures of the Void Perhaps the power that separates Depthstriders from others the most is their ability to draw from the depths of the Void. Asking the depths to be Given a shard of their bounty, or Taking it through finely-honed will, only those who are either true or adopted kin of the first Amaranth Sultan Vahn are able to reach into the Deep and drink of its bottomless riches.

• Gifts of the Void Various boons granted to those who ask of the Void. Considering that what can be Given is only what is available, and what is available is all that has found its way into the Challenger Dark over the thousands of precessions that it has existed, what can be Given is nearly anything. Powers, skills, weapons, armor, information; anything a kin of Vahn may need, the Sultan generously bestows, and asking for these same things sees them become attuned to the one who is Given, allowing them to call upon their Gifts with regularity and greater strength, the Skews imparted on it being slanted in their favor.

• Possessions from the Void Like the Gifts, but often, what can’t be Given must be Taken. Depthstriders strong in will reach into the Dark and wrench from it their exact demands, inheriting boons from ancestor-kin and unfortunate victims long ago. When pulled with the specificity of a directed mind, it lacks any Skews that might’ve been conferred by Vahnic calculus.

• Draw Strike In communing with the Void, one sees their full minds focused on the depths. Opportunistic foes of Vahn’s kin believe they can exploit these moments for lucky strikes, but find soon that anything pulled from the Void is followed - always - with more than just what was asked for.

• Formshift A Gift can be returned and then Taken instead, and something Taken can be returned and asked for as a Gift. This transiting of forms allows for a power of the Void to return with predictability and specificity, or with random boons from Skews. Skilled Depthstriders perform this frequently - often even in the heat of battle - to reap benefits of both, fighting with predictability and consistency when needed, or leaving the Switchboard’s dangers in the hands of their ancestor-kin Vahn.

T4 - Amaranth Upheaval The upper limits of many who subscribe to the school of black’s powers. These are all feats of immense curvature manipulation born out of deep attunement with, and conviction of, the things of the Void. Only those who become drifters can go any further, but even those who have come this far and go no further are still forces to be reckoned with. Now, they can excavate the Void itself and bring it into full view of the Great Sky, and call forth entities and treasures from the Dancirah’s grave to visit wrath upon it once again. These powers allow the depthstrider to truly visit the Void upon the Sky, an inversion of status quo that tells of the limitless audacity of the Amaranth Sultan.

The Deep Hollow Deep Hollows, are a standardized ledgerial space technique, functioning through the declaration of a boundary via the erection of spatial barriers, and the suffusion of that boundary with ledgerial writ fabricated by the Amaranth Sultan, made possible by the depthstrider-caster of the boundary channeling the power of a praxis imposition. It is one of the most powerful techniques in the Switchboard.

The Pact of the Star-Scorned Sultan granted Sultan Vahn power through ascetism; by denying himself the birthright of all Third Kin; the lengths and breadth of the Switchboard and the star-dotted skies they fought for, Vahn is granted power beyond compare, this power being the backbone of the capabilities afforded to the Vahnkin, Vahnic faithful and depthstriders every where. By taking on this restriction, Vahn makes his own kin free, giving them the Depthstride and the ability to be Given and Take.

However, should a depthstrider take on the mantle of ascetism and deny themselves this birthright as well - even if only for a little while - they too can tap into the power of this pact. This is done by using a spatial barrier to cordon off a space in Switchboard locale, creating an environment where the stars of the Switchboard no longer shine. By restricting oneself to this boundary-space and denying oneself the right to traverse the Great Sky, depthstriders consecrate the very air of the boundary, and can thus invite the Amaranth Sultan himself into the space, to weave ledgers, exert the influence of those ledgers throughout the boundary, and convert it into a ledgerial space. Doing this grants the caster of the space nigh complete control of the totality of its on-goings.

Because this bounded space is shielded from the stars of the Switchboard, and because those within the boundary cannot escape, once the Amaranth Sultan enters the space, the tenets of his pact are still in effect, and thus the full depths of his powers can be used. This manifests as his ability to rapidly write and deploy calcic ledgers using immensely-honed chalkweaving skill throughout the ledgerial space.

Because Deep Hollows are personalized to individual depthstriders, the space created when a Hollow is formed is reflective of the Depthstrider that cast it, and the primary way that it is, is the fact that the hollows themselves are hallowed grounds, consecrated to the Amaranth Sultan. In the most literal sense, Deep Hollows are cathedrals, excavated from fourth-dimensional space and imposed into three dimensions, allowed to occupy the realm of heretics, and serve as a throne for a being of the Under to dwell Above. It is a truly divine technique.

As these spaces are personalized, based on the conviction one has in the Amaranth Sultan, the various techniques that a depthstrider are capable of - when within the ledgerial space - are elevated to the status of ‘sultanic strike’. By writing in the parameters of the technique into the ledgers of the Hollow, depthstriders can deploy those techniques throughout the entire space, and strike guaranteed hits against all caught within its confines; attacks that are impossible to dodge and incredibly difficult to mitigate.

Considering the difficulty of breaking spatial barriers, and the added complications of being under constant fire passively and actively by the erector of the Hollow, being caught within a depthstrider’s Deep Hollow is one of the worst fates to befall even powerful denizens of the Switchboard, and the last thing that many hear as they are sundered by the power of the Void, is the riotous laughter of the Amaranth Sultan; the one who gave up everything, and his overwhelming intensity.

When used offensively, the Deep Hollow manifests in three stages, they being grand cathedral-like structures that grow in splendor and morph in decoration based on the nature of the caster - and later - based on which kin of Vahn they call upon to further escalate the Hollow to its final state.

Deep Hollows have a number of means by which they engage a victim caught within the confines of the cast;

• Environmental Hazards; these being physical manifestations of the caster’s nature and motifs, often doubling as the adornment of the Hollow.
• The Cathedral Ledger; a ledger written by Sultan Vahn, containing effects imposed upon victims of the Hollow that escalate in severity based on the conviction of the caster in the things of the Void. Additionally, more minor boons are conferred to the caster and their allies in the space, such as general enhancements to physicality, unravelling reversal, and reduced effort needed to deploy Void-reliant techniques.
• Ascended/Sultanic Strike Techniques; though constrained to Basilica-level Hollows and higher, this is a technique crafted by the depthstrider created by the Hollow, and elevated beyond its base capabilities by the Amaranth Sultan to strike with the wrath and certainty of his sultanic office, guaranteeing a hit.

These cathedrals in the Dancirah occupy physical space, and cannot be breached from the outside except through particularly esoteric means. They persist until the Hollow is dismissed by the caster within, or the cast is broken through some means.

• Deep Hollow A Depthstrider utters the verbal component of summoning the Hollow, then performs a gesture similar to a Chalkweaver, reaching into a rift into the Void placed upon their forehead, mouth, chest or stomach. To those observing, they pull out pure scintillating night, and the physical structure of the Hollow assembles around them by prenatural hands, erupting from a tear in the ground - from the Void - sheets and blocks and pillars of amaranthite and depthstone assembling the structure and its contents. Those caught within the effective range of the spatial barrier at the time of the cast are trapped within, and those on the outside may not breach the Hollow’s walls except through esoteric means.

  The power of a summoned Hollow depends on the conviction of the caster, and thus these hollows come in three tiers, escalating in power, splendor and gaining new functions as they grow, inheriting the powers of previous states.

  • Hollow Edicula: The first tier, small but with great room to grow. This space is formed from a maturing acolyte of the depth’s conviction, and within this space they reap the rewards of their conviction and the Amaranth Sultan’s favor. Within the Edicula they see a buff to their pure physicality, enabling them to move more gracefully and strike with greater power - as well as their curvature manipulation techniques. From the Cathedral Ledger concocted by the Amaranth Sultan as they dwell within the space, comes the first of the many burdens; the Forbid of the Faithful. Those burdened with this Forbid see a gradual draining of their chalk into the spatial barrier that makes up the Hollow, inducing further localized curvature, accelerating the drain, and strengthening the Hollow and the depthstrider within it.

  • Hollow Basilica: The second tier of Deep Hollow, summoned with the conviction of matured kin of Vahn, drawing additionally from the latent power gained from the fellowship with fellow kin, and the evangelical conversion of those untouched by the depths to their ranks. Within the Basilica, the caster sees buffs to their Void-reliant techniques, these being their Give, Take, Formshift and Draw Strike. Additionally, they are conferred with active reverse unravelling within the Hollow, healing the wounds of its caster and their allies, though this is conditional on there being a target within the Hollow, as the calcic draining effect inflicted upon them is used to power the unravelling reversal. The Basilica is the most widespread tier of Hollow used by Depthstriders in active conflict, and this is due to the second of the burdens inflicted by the Cathedral Ledger; the Binding of the Acolyte. The Binding of the Acolyte is the means by which a depthstrider accesses the power to ascend techniques, transforming them into sultanic strikes.

    • There is, however, an additional bit of nuance one can employ in the workings of the Basilica. By suspending the ‘sultanic strike’ nature of the technique and instead working it behind the fulfillment of further criteria, the technique can be further empowered when it is actually allowed to strike. The means of doing this is by imposing a second binding - a binding that compels worshipping the Amaranth Sultan through deed - upon the occupants of the Hollow. This Binding of Deed compels them to act in certain manners under a set of ledger-imposed rules nature, these rules demanding the completion of some task or fulfillment of some requirement, and there are either ‘win’ or ‘fail’ verdicts issued depending on whether one satisfies the parameters of this binding or not.
    • Consider this hypothetical; a depthstrider summons their Hollow Basilica, catching both them and an attacking chalkweaver in it. Once the Basilica is formed, the ledgers defining the space immediately take hold, the the depthstrider-built Binding of Deed comes into effect. The parameters of this binding are simple; all occupants of the Hollow are provided a piece of fruit, and the task is to consume it as quickly as possible, this action - this deed - serving as worship to the Amaranth Sultan offered in the hall of his cathedral. Based on who meets this Binding’s requirements and who fails, various effects are applied to the appropriate parties as sultanic strikes.
    • There are elements of customization to the concoction of the Binding of Deed, as the depthstrider working alongside the Amaranth Sultan craft the ledgerial entry to the depthstrider’s specifications. By imposing greater penalties for failing the binding upon the depthstrider themselves, they can conversely reap greater boons for succeeding at the binding. Many depthstriders make it such that upon failing their Binding of Deed, the Hollow collapses entirely, losing the depthstrider the litany of boons it provides - but in return, fulfilling the binding allows them to wreak catastrophic havoc against their targets in the Hollow.

  • Hollow Cathedra: The final tier of the Deep Hollow, formed by an acolyte that joins their conviction to the conviction of a direct descendant of Vahn, a progeny-apostolic who leads sects of their own. Within the Cathedra, the depths of the Void are made sharp by the powers of vows. The ascendance to a Cathedral-level Hollow grants two final boons to the depthstrider; the first being the suffusion of an unconditional active reverse unravelling technique in the space of the Hollow, healing the depthstrider and those they target of damage - and the second, a final entry into the Cathedral Ledger in the form of the Curse of the Sultan. Should a target be felled in the galley of the Cathedra, they are branded as a true heretic, and dragged down to the depths they so clearly scorn, banished from the sky above to be scorched by the violet flames of the deep.

    • Via the imposition of criteria, it is possible to banish a target caught within the Hollow Cathedra, sending them into the depths of the Challenger Dark. The traditional means of doing this is via a Binding of Deed, but the calculating and crafty will always find a means to trigger this ledgerial power.

  • Environmental Hazards In addition to the conventional powers of the Deep Hollow, each is outfitted with a litany of environmental hazards that serve as manifestations of the depthstrider’s own nature and motifs as pure offensive potential. The sheer diversity of what fits under here is as varied as depthstrider themselves, as all serve the Amaranth Sultan in manners unique to them.

Grand Summon Depthstriders differ considerably from their chalkweaver siblings in the first principles of their power. The School of White is known for creating, in that their powers are poised to facilitate bringing forth the conceptualizations of the subject into tangible reality. The School of Black, however, calls. Rather than building things themselves, the powers of black facilitate reaching into times and spaces, and calling forth whatever lays there to serve the one who reaches out. The endless graveyard-depths of the Challenger Dark serve as the final resting place of all manners of things that have fallen from the Dancirah above - from odd socks to entire stars - and it is thus a veritable trove of strength for those with the mind to reach in.

The curvature of space allows for attraction and repulsion. But it in turn allows for bridging; bridging the gap between Sky and Dark, opening a rift in the fabric like a whirlpool in a cataclysmic sea. But this whirlpool is reversed; something in the Void rather than the Dancirah gets caught in it, in a bid to answer a call sent forth by a voice that knows a language it thought time had forgot. It is dragged through this rift from the Challenger Dark to the Great Sky, and this rude awakening cannot possibly go unpunished. Fury emanates from it in star-shaking waves. This is the depthstrider’s power of Grand Summon.

A grand summoning calls forth an ancient, slumbering beast from the Void. Often - when invoked by the storied Drifters - it is one of the Challenger Dark’s great races of amaranthine drake; one of either the horizon drake that feeds on two spatial planes, the drip leviathan that sprays vioflame from geysers in the Amaranthine Sea, the crysdrake that stalks the violet-scarred earth, or the whytewyrm that burrows and feeds on the tail-end of the Stardrip Cycle. When called, they are made subjugate to the will and command of the Void Drifter, and can join them in battle if desired.

Amaranth drakes are capable of curvature and reverse-curvature feats, possess chalk-ripping talons, spines and teeth of anti-information, are armored with immensely durable scaled skin, breathe lattice-sapping vioflame from the combustion of stardrip, wield incredible physical strength and speed, and are downright colossal. Their mere appearance represents an escalation of affairs that demand unilateral focus upon the one who summoned them, to either placate them so they might dismiss the terrible creature, or defeat them and send beast and tamer down into the Void.

Depthstriders who have not yet begun to drift are able to summon a variety of lesser beasts from the depths of the Void as well, each empowered by domiciliation in the Challenger Dark, and the honing of strength and refining of function it inflicts on its denizens. The upper echelons of grand summons posses additional useful powers that serve the depthstrider inside and out of battle.

Yet another application of the grand summoning is a different kind of summoning, in which the aspects and powers of a summoned beast are placed in a treasure instead. Much like implements given, taken or shaped from the Void, grand treasures take on the powers of Void denizens and brings them to bear as weapons or tools, in manner not dissimilar to woven or void armaments. They differ, however, in that their calcic weightiness means that a depthstrider must actively maintain their presence in the Dancirah with curvature manipulation, otherwise they return to the Void. Effectively, they have a loose time limit with regards to their deployment.

With regards to whether it is preferable to call a beast or treasure, it much comes down to the situational assessment of the depthstrider, and their familiarity with either or both.

• Grand Summon: Beast Summoning Calling in lost tongues and providing a path allows for awakening beasts from the Void; where they first arose. Each comes empowered with unique aspects and abilities, and will fight alongside the kin of Vahn that called them until dismissed or destroyed. Additional limits are placed upon class, number, and frequency of summoning - all of which can be stretched and exceeded by greater devotion to the Dark.

• Grand Summon: Treasure Summoning Incarnating the power of a beast of the Void into an adequate vessel allows for wielding that strength in one’s own arm. Sacred Treasures from the Void are bound to their summoners, and the power they possess comes with a weightiness that sees them desire to return to Dark. Nonetheless, for their brief stint under unfiltered starlight, they are bringers of a violent brand of Vahnic evangelism.

T5 - The Crescent Hollow The Crescent Hollow is a pinnacle barrier, ledgerial and spatial manipulation technique, combining these disciplines and mechanics to yield a truly monstrous ability. Only those who’ve invoked the Drift Protocol, undergone pilgrimage to see the tomb of Vahn, and emerged on the other side as Void Drifters can utilize this power.

Mechanically, a Deep Hollow is a four-spatial-dimensional boundary cordoned off by an erected spatial barrier that is made a ledgerial space via the suffusion of ledgers written by the Amaranth Sultan. The viability - particularly the combative viability - of the Deep Hollow is that it is immensely easy to be caught within it, immensely difficult to escape it, and the ledgerial principles in effect within the space are offensive poised against the targets of it, in a manner that is impossible to evade and difficult to mitigate. The victim of the Hollow is at the total mercy of the depthstrider caster to do as they see fit.

What facilitates this primarily is the mechanics of praxis via the employment of impositions. Satisfying the bottomless desires of the Amaranth Sultan and demonstrating one’s conviction in the doctrine of the Void is paramount for elevating the strength of one’s Hollow when it is finally used. But the Deep Hollow boiled down to first principles is remarkably simple; build the Amaranth Sultan a place of worship, and he will come to inhabit it and confer the builder power beyond their own. This is the most fundamental imposition that enables the Deep Hollow to function, and it is the imposition made by all depthstriders and Vahnic faithful seeking to build Hollows of their own.

It follows then, that there should be a means to satisfy this imposition even more thoroughly, to empower the boons reaped from it by fulfilling its criteria to even greater degrees. When theorizers considered the fact that the Hollow is in the literal sense, a consecrated worship ground, it followed then that to reap further power from building a cathedral for the Amaranth Sultan, one must go the length to build grander cathedrals.

The metrics of ‘grandness’ were determined to be very straightforward; size and adornment. By building a bigger cathedral and adorning it more ornately, one could channel greater power via the foundational imposition that serves as the cornerstone of the Hollow. The first problem arose in the form of adornment not being something that could be consciously made greater; the Hollow is adorned with the physical manifestation of the caster’s doctrinal conviction in the things of the Void, and as such, beyond further immersing one in the things of the Void, one cannot consciously decorate their Hollow any more than the mechanics of praxis state it should be.

But size on the other hand, could be physically manipulated, as the size of a Hollow is a direct product of the size of the boundary cordoned off by the spatial barrier. This meant that larger Hollows were automatically more powerful, and there was thus a means to very easily scale one’s own Hollow power. The problem with this arose in the question of skill; spatial barriers grow more difficult to expand and maintain the larger they are, as they require more control and output from the caster in terms of their proficiency with curvature manipulation. As such, it isn’t very possible for a depthstrider to simply expand a massively large spatial barrier for their Hollow, as much like larger soap bubbles being more liable to bursting, the barrier is guaranteed to fail and the Hollow collapse.

For this reason, many chose to simply cultivate more ornate Hollows; immersing themselves in the doctrines of the Void and the worship of Vahn, and grow their Hollow’s power in that manner. After all, the Sultan did indeed value more beautiful places of worship over merely large, empty ones. But the fact remained that, should one be able to declare a massive region of space as their Hollow, their Hollow and the techniques written within would be proportionally empowered.

It was then many decided to look for a means to cheat, and one was - eventually - found.

By using wickedly advanced spatial manipulation, depthstriders postulated that it would be possible to take hold of the four-dimensional sphere that is the Deep Hollow, and turn it inside out, having the Vahn-written Cathedral Ledgers on the inside - rather than saturate a bounded space - instead be suffused into, and thus saturate, local reality, the impositions in play believing everything on the outside of the inverted boundary to be inside it instead. The result of this is that a colossal amount of local space is believed to be the boundary under the imposition’s jurisdiction, and as such, the Hollow is empowered massively.

The inversion of the Hollow structure causes the adornments on the inside of the Hollow to be turned on an axis and face outside instead, with some of the resulting structure dipping below the Challenger Horizon and thus, out of view. The final structure takes the shape of a sphere with material carved from it - a crescent, sickle shape - stemming from its straddling the Sky and the Deep, earning this technique the name of Crescent Hollow.

Were the power reaped from doing this not enough already, the Amaranth Sultan in turn follows the warping of the Hollow behind its inverted skin, now occupying the space that was once outside flipped to become inside. Slipping behind this veil yields a domain of perfect, infinite occlusion from the rest of the Switchboard, further fulfilling the imposition of the Star-Scorned Sultan, and empowering Sultan Vahn to even greater heights.

Summoning a Crescentic Hollow is no mean feat, as it requires excavating a Deep Hollow, and then manipulating space to tear open the sphere, stretch it flat, and wrap it back in back upon itself, stitching it back together almost, such that the once-hidden inside is now the outside ‘skin’ of the structure. This act convinces the ledgers that alter the space that the region outside the sphere is actually inside it, and thus subjects a relatively colossal region of space to the effects of the various impositions that make up the Hollow. This act of stitching the torn Deep Hollow perfectly back together, however, while greatly empowering to the final effects of the Crescent Hollow, is a skill left only to the absolute strongest and most deeply convicted of Vahnic faithful. Most choose simply to close the structure as much as possible, even if not fully, further giving it its characteristic crescent shape.

The offensive potential of the Crescent Hollow comes in the form of its ledgerial writ applying over a colossal region of space, including any of the depthstrider caster of the Hollow’s techniques that have been ascended into sultanic strikes, these techniques being under the Binding of the Acolyte, which is now applied over all of local space. The final range of a Crescent Hollow is determined by the sheer volume of chalk one can channel through it - powering the exertion of ledgerial effects - and as such one must obtain considerable calcic supply to power the Crescent Hollow, often through impositions or directing the Forbid of the Faithful to apply throughout the Hollow as well.

When cast, a Crescent Hollow inherits the properties of the highest tier of Deep Hollow that the depthstrider is capable of - these properties being the contents of the Cathedral Writ, both the benefits granted to the caster and the burden place on their targets. This is the case because the Crescent Hollow is an inversion of the depthstrider’s regular Deep Hollow. Crescent Hollows also inherit the Environmental Hazards inherent to a Hollow, and can exert them over the entire range of the Crescent Hollow.

• Crescent Hollow By taking grips of space itself, a faithful kin of Vahn is able to excavate a locale across dimensions and form hallowed ground wherever they please. By taking grips of the distorted space of a Deep Hollow however, and turning it in upon itself through truly magnificent proficiency with curvature manipulation, a Vahnic faithful becomes an evangelist, and the binding of their conviction becomes a will exerted upon all. To summon the Deep Hollow is to erect a canvas, and paint one’s power upon it. But the Crescent Hollow is akin to painting a masterpiece upon the the very air itself. It is a truly, divine technique.

Pale Amaran

By design, there is a duality of opposing motifs in the Switchboard. White and black, light and dark, Sky and Deep, the Dancirah and the Challenger Dark. Chalk and the Void. These concepts from the very onset were built to occupy opposing yet harmonic ends, in that the totality of the Switchboard is predicated upon both of their existence, irrespective of the dispositions held towards one facet or the other by the various factions that occupy the Switchboard. Also by design, there exist various boundaries between the facets of both concepts, such as the Challenger Horizon that separates the Sky and the Deep, and how a denizen of the Switchboard cannot possess both the Strider Protocol and the Depthstride.

However, there are those who have chosen to be audacious, defying convention and achieving power as a result. Surpassing and eliminating the boundaries between light and dark, they have come to wield both dizzying alacrity. Straddling the very knife edge, these are the Pale Amarans.

The Pale Amarans are so called due to the earliest means of obtaining elementary power over curvature; the usage of grafted pale amara crystal on the lattice, which could be harnessed by more plastic computational straits in the induction of spatial distortion. As such, it was a scene defined primarily by chalkweavers who sought even more power with little regard for method or cost. Over time however, it modernized with wielders of the weave protocol having the opportunity to either specialize wholly in the school of white, or invest into black and see where walking the knife’s edge could take them.

Pale Amarans are subject to a number of unique mechanics and clauses to the usage of their abilities. The first of these is the Nephaelym Shape, a somewhat intangible measure of the polar alignment of their lattice and straits to either the powers of white, or black. The state of the Nephaelym Spectra is determined by a baseline alignment which is a product of how they became a Pale Amaran, which is in turn a product of the lattice and straits.

More simply put, all Pale Amarans begin with the Weave Protocol and thus alignment with the facets of white. Obtaining the powers of black requires consorting with the Amaranth Sultan and the things of the dark. As such;

• If the subject additionally possesses the Strider Protocol, and then consorts with the things of the Void, they are a Sky/Star Nephyl and aligned with White. These striders stride with the Strider Protocol.
• If the subject instead lacks the Strider Protocol, and consorts with the things of the Void, they are a Deep/Dark Nephyl and aligned with Black. These striders stride with the Depthstride.

This alignment is a state of the Nephaelym Spectra, and in turn determines some of the powers that Pale Amarans have at their disposal.

The second of these unique mechanics is a derivative of the function of depthstrider’s black boxes, though functioning independent of them. The Nephaelym’s Polarity is clause in the Pale Amaran such that the usage of white discipline powers pushes them towards black alignment, and the usage of black alignment powers pushes them towards white. The state of this - most elegantly put - ‘polarity gauge’ is also employed in the powers available to them.

The third of the mechanics available to the Pale Amaran is the Nephaelym’s Duality. By virtue of their twin-alignment nature, they are able to augment the powers of one alignment using the mechanics of the other; their powers of white hone their powers of black, and their powers of black in turn hone their powers of white.

White, Aided by Black

• Their command over curvature allows them to tap into the tail-end of the Stardrip Cycle, a virtually limitless reservoir of pure chalk that flows at the very depths of the Challenger Dark. Excavating a spatial bridge down to these depths lets them drink from this endless supply, and allows for extensive chalkweaving with little downtime.

• The employment of immense curvature can collapse pattern down to a point and allow for the reliable - nigh on-demand - production of hyperweave. This immensely powerful, incredibly destructive form of chalk can be flung even in raw form to wreak havoc on the unlucky, or utilized in chalkweaving to devastating effect.

• Chalkweave constructs created by Pale Amarans are bestowed with a passive siphon component, which sees them draw chalk from the environment, repairing themselves, powering functions, and growing stronger as a result.

Black, Aided by White

• Chalk ritualism can elevate the usefulness of Void components into the horizon ritualism, which allow for feats of curvature control, summoning, bestowing void powers on elementary implements, addition of complex clauses to otherwise simple spatial barriers and boundaries, and more.

• Implements they acquire from the Void often come with skews, which are alterations to their nature and function that are sometimes positive or negative, but often mostly random. Chalkweaving allows for modifying and harnessing these skews, turning negative ones positive, harnessing positive ones, and determining which are even bestowed to begin with.

Both, Aided by the Other

• Pale Amarans possess unique proficiency with barrier techniques, able to harness the strengths of spatial and weft barriers to cover for their opposing weaknesses, creating barriers of both robust defensive stats and relative impassibility, as well as being governed by complex operational logics. They are additionally self-sustaining, able to take nearly any shape, and more. This proficiency further manifests as a heightened ability to erect barriers rather than expand them, which can be done more rapidly, and is more difficult to interfere with or counter.

The powers of the Pale Amaran aren’t without various limits, however. They cannot use the Flash Protocol or any powers dependent on the Amaranth Sultan, these being the Deep Hollow, Crescent Hollow, Shaping. They also cannot utilize the Grand Summon, and their Teks are ‘tainted’ to have have differing function from baseline. While Pale Amarans can use both the white and black advanced playbooks, these aren’t without additional limitations; Pale Amarans who lack the Strider Protocol additionally lack the stride-dedicom strait, and thus cannot load baseline weft abilities into the dedicom as efficiently to allow faster utilization, and Pale Amarans who lack the black box cannot use anti-information, curvature reversal, and a variety of complex barrier techniques by extension. Pale Amarans irrespective of alignment can also not write or wield ledgers, those being concepts requiring a purity of form and purpose. More direly, the contradictions and exemptions inherent to pale amaran lattices have added a layer of obtuse complexity to them, and thus repair of that lattice is made more difficult. Passive and active reverse unravelling takes far longer to function on pale amarans.

In place of these, they are able to combine both white and dark by achieving a state of perfect balance between polarities, realized fully as a transformation to a higher iteration of the self.

Arsenal (Pale Amaran)

As a preliminary not before further sections, Pale Amaran’s T2, T3, and T4 powers are determined by their baseline alignment. White Nephyls have T2-level black powers and T3-level white powers. Black Nephyls have the reverse; T2-level white powers and T3-level black powers. Depending on their baseline alignment, they also have access to differing T4s, which are dependent on whether they have a stride-dedicom strait or a black box.

T1 - Nephaelym’s Armaments Command over white and black manifests in the engineering of weapons for the pale amaran. Combining the design doctrines of both woven and forged armaments, coupled with the calcic ritualism from the side of white, and curvature manipulation from the side of black, yields supremely capable weaponry for a variety of applications.

• Drinker Armament Pale Amarans wield weaponry with the unique intrinsic ability to siphon chalk from local calcic reality and rapidly empower both weapon and wielder. Ritualism inscribed in the weapon benefit greatly from this, and in protracted engagements, drinker armaments only get more powerful with time. From the side of black they gain the ability to induce curvature, which alters local space in the favor of the pale amaran, while additionally granting the weapon additional durability from holding it together. In practice, they can be viewed as a combination of woven and forged armaments, their makeup often being amaranth parts (handles, hilts and staffs) that remain always tangible, edged with calcic business-ends (blades, points, hammer-heads) that can be summoned and dismissed at will.

T2/3 - White Spectra The white Nephyl pale amarans possess the Strider Protocol, and thus see their baseline alignment shifted towards white. As such, they benefit from enhanced proficiency in chalkweaving and similar matters, and can additionally wield teks. However, the influence of the Void and the school of dark upon their powers has tainted them somewhat, giving old blades new edges. While the Void has caused their stride to be somewhat dulled, and thus they cannot use the stride-dedicom to its fullest extent, the power to induce curvature allows for tapping into the Stardrip Cycle, a limitless reserve of the Switchboard’s purest chalk. Responding accordingly, pale amarans trade speed of deployment for raw potency, and make up for the deficits in initiation and reaction via movement between planes. Combining curvature with chalkweaving additionally allows for the production of hyperweave, which is fuel and media for immensely robust attacks.

• T2 - Spectrum Charge Similar to the Weave Strike in intent, but to the Weave Charge in execution. The inaccessibility of dedicom loading to pale amarans mean they must endure the full brunt of weaving offensive calcic constructs, but in turn, it has prompted them to adapt, and utilize access to the Stardrip Cycle to greatly empower their techniques further.

• T2 - Spectrum Collapse The Weave Charge but torqued beyond the pale, massively empowered by the inculcation of hyperweave in the mix. Used either as fuel for the technique, or the media that does the damage, the collapsing of pattern down to a point and then utilizing it opens up a branch of highly destructive chalkweaving.

• T3 - Nephyl Step The loss of efficient dedicom loading means that pale amarans are slower to both initiate with their baseline weaponry and abilities, as well as react to the skillsets of others. Normally, pale amarans would thus be fairly easy to defeat as they are boggled down by having to charge and wait to deploy their techniques. They make up for this however, with the ability to step nigh effortlessly from Dancirah to Challenger Dark at will. In a manner that almost resembles teleportation, they can dive into the thickness of the Challenger Horizon, swim through its roiling spatial depths, and emerge once again in a different location.

  The nuances of this power is that it is optimally used to dive from the Dancirah, into the Horizon and then back into the Dancirah, though it is possible to dive further down into the Void. Exploiting the roiling sea of distorted space that is the Challenger Horizon allows for near-instantaneous movement through it as well, meaning plane stepping can be done immensely quickly, both as an initiation and a reaction. It is thus common pale amaran battle doctrine to begin charging an attack, delve into the Horizon and out of the reach of an opponent, and reemerge, ready to fire.

• T3 - Tainted Tek White Nephyls with their dedicom strait are able to wield teks above the first generation, and their weft capabilities are empowered by access to the stardrip cycle its deep reservoir of chalk.

  Where the tainted teks differ from regular teks is by origin and capabilities. Teks become tainted by being subject to the Stardrip Cycle or interaction with stardrip, yet remaining mostly intact instead of dissolving into the violet caustic. This tainting confers upon them novel function, via compelling the tek to somewhat reverse the spontaneous evolution that spawned it, and undergo it once again in a wholly new, ontologically hostile environment. As a result, the tek that emerges is uniquely honed in some manner that raises its efficacy, but often at some sort of cost. These tainted teks are frequently swept into the Stardrip Cycle and return to the Dancirah, or are plundered from the Void by discerning shoppers.

  In practice, tainted teks are very similar to fourth generation conventional teks, and they gain further capabilities in the form of curvature manipulation, summoning and controlling entities, siphoning chalk, opposing and countering other chalkweave, robust anti-lattice competencies and barrier techniques. Tainted teks are additionally predisposed to coming bundled with blank ledgers, which can be used for the concoction of ledgerial techniques.

T2/3 - Black Spectra The black Nephyl pale amarans are wielders of the Weave Protocol who choose to align with the things of the Void, go under the Sultan’s Ablation, and acquire a black box. This grants them increased proficiency in the fields of black; reverse-curvature, advanced spatial manipulation, summoning and barrier techniques. Coupled with their powers of white however, chalk and the manipulation of writ and information allows for sacrificing some of the brutal edge of black powers for the complexity that comes with chalkweave. Chalk facilitates the usage of the horizon ritualism, and harnessing the intricacies of things plundered from the Void. The black box possessed by black Nephyls is somewhat weakened however, by the presence of the weave protocol, and as such, they are fairly unable to use more advanced spatial boundary techniques, and unable to use ledgerial ones entirely. All the same, ingenuity proves to be the hallmark of the pale amaran’s strength, and curvature manipulation under the toolbelt is no small positive.

• T2 - Spectrum Ward Combining the Weave Shield with curvature manipulation creates the Spectrum Ward, a lower complexity barrier technique that combines the strengths of spatial and weft barriers into one. The usage of chalkweave grants finer control over the projected spatial barriers, and allows for enhanced function via conditionals and reactions to circumstance.

• T2 - Force Imposition Trading elegance for pure force, the base curvature manipulation powers of pale amarans are oriented towards maximization of efficacy, using curvature and reverse curvature to violently dent and bend space. Their reduced command over reverse curvature however, means they often resort to a workaround; macroscopic manipulation of chalk to artificially induce reverse-curvature by greatly diminishing the chalk in a locale, and allowing the Void’s natural spatial turbulence take hold. As such, their command over space - once wielded more aggressively - is aggressively indelicate. But it does mean that the approaches of repositioning targets via attraction, or crushing them with repulsion, are all the more effective.

• T3 - Nephyl Summoning In not being full kin of the Amaranth Sultan, pale amarans are somewhat denied in what they can call from the Void. But they can call all the same, and while the slumbering great beasts of the Challenger Dark will never hear their tongue, ancient treasures swept by the rivers of time and settled on the seafloor of Isalveh are more than able to be wrenched from their no-longer-final resting places and wielded to catastrophic effect.

• T3 - Nephaelym’s Grotto The Hollow is perhaps the most storied of depthstrider powers and among the most widely lauded powers wielded by denizens of the Switchboard. It is this no surprise then that many sought a means to copy it without pledging total allegiance to the Amaranth Sultan. Far weaker than a Hollow, but still considerably potent, the Nephyl’s Grotto is much like the Deep Hollow, but lacking in command over ledgers and thus the sultanic strike. Instead, pale amaran Grottos are as such;

  • Confer considerable boons to physicality and baseline powers of white and black (T2 abilities) upon the creator of the Grotto.
  • Make extensive usage of the environmental hazards to fight and crush opponents caught in the boundary.
  • Utilize the passive calcic drain effect that affects the entire boundary to fuel the pale amaran’s reverse unravelling, as a means to recover from damage while still in battle.

  The ability to weave chalk allows for building immensely potent environmental hazards and commanding them to attack or defend, and the employment of weft and spatial barriers creates a robust boundary that benefits from raw impermeability and complexity of function. However, nothing the pale amaran does can be distributed throughout the boundary as a guaranteed hit, due to the absence of the Amaranth Sultan and cathedral ledgers in the space.

T4 - Conjoined Polarity Combining white and black grants the pale amaran their powers. But their overall theme is eliminating these distinctions all together. Growing in strength for them is indeed a gradual escalation in skill and degree of output for both white and black powers, but their true power is found in dissolving the lines that cordon one from the other, instead using both as merely power, and means to an end.

• Horizon Ritualism The horizon ritualism is hardly exclusively to pale amarans. If anything the pioneers of the field were the chalkweavers; members of the great families who were not kin of Vahn, seeking a means by which to safely traverse the depths of the Challenger Dark. The employment of things of the Void yielded a new discipline of ritualism specialized in harnessing chalk, its complexities, and interaction with local reality, as well as facets of the void ranging from curvature manipulation, summoning, barrier techniques and control over space. In battle, the different Nephyls benefit based on their alignment;

  • White Nephyls can quikast horizon rituals.
  • Black Nephyls can summon forth needed components from the Void, and thus do not need to carry them.

• Phase Transition This ability axles upon the Plane Shift ability that pale amaran’s posses. In a manner similar to the depthstriders’ Draw Strike, the Horizon Strike can be performed when a pale amaran emerges from a dive into the depths. When transiting from the Sky to the Dark, residual chalk shrouds their person like a star’s corona, and when transiting from the Dark to the Sky, ambulatory space clings to them like a mantle. Both of these clinging residues can be immediately woven into devastating attacks or powerful casts to empower their person. Malicious tidings are brought from the otherwhere, visited upon those too comfortable on one side, or the other.

• Differential Surge Though the strength of the pale amaran is predicated upon command of both schools, there are times when a lock can take a key with only one shape. In these occasions, the pale amaran is able to instead empower the barriers between white and black, elevating one at the expense of the other. By virtue of their duality, the emergent contradictions of their reality negatively affects the stride-dedicom in the case of white nephyls, and the black box in the case of black nephyls, reducing in reduced output for each. However, the surge allows for attaining a ”tempered flash’, or a ‘gray box open’, where the powers of one polarity are massively enhanced, while the pale amaran is temporarily locked out of using the powers of the other. White Nephyls can utilize this tempered flash, while Black Nephyls can open the gray box.

T5 - Final Dissolution The horizon is no longer there. Sky and deep have melded into one, and what emerges from the mix is something akin to an oncoming storm. The very essence of opposing the status quo of the Switchboard is brought to bear and fully realized as a nigh-perfect dissolution of the barriers between applying the facets of light and dark. Only the pale amaran - the Nephaelym - can attain these heights, and they have come to view this end of the path as the reward for ever having the audacity to walk it. Utilizing the powers of dissolution are conditional upon achieving true balance between white and black in one’s lattice - and then shattering the bounds between them via the sheerness of will. This maximal balance is attained via performing and witnessing feats of both schools; only after learning can one act.

• Full Spectra Supreme command over light and dark allows for the harmonic merging of the two into a perfect storm. The cataclysm birthed from the balancing of contradictions is further empowered by intrinsic praximechanics, a praxis of the strive to attain this very thing throughout the Switchboard; the strive to reconcile diametrically opposed extremes and achieve a final state of universally agreed-upon optimality. The Full Spectra techniques are thus emblematic of conflict itself - and yet also the desire for its cessation - and so long as beings war in the Switchboard, there will be a power born from harnessing the desire for reconciliation.

• Transcendence Chalkweavers of old sought to realize a being that could exist and persist in a manner akin to the Switchboard itself. Something that could command and subjugate - yet also abide with and live within - time and space. This theorized being - this nephaelym - would be capable of a manner of striding that allowed transiting across all three planes, the four dimensions of space, and the final frontier of time, allowing it to functionally escape death. They never attained it. The pale amaran are not nephaelym. But they approximate them. They are the embryo that shows the nubs of unformed limbs and the dark bulges of emerging eyes. And when bounds are broken, and light and dark surge through them like binary suns, they are made transcendent. In place of uniting white and black in a singular technique, they unite them into singular power within themselves, enabling the utilization of both to maximal efficacy.

Esomechanists

Preamble

Old writ from the main doc subject to revision.

This super-‘class’ isn’t so much a class, and is rather a means of describing a wide range of abilities and combat styles that may not explicitly have a Chalk or Void backbone. This ‘dump’ category sees all kinds of fighting styles developed by those unable or unwilling to use the more formal powers to fight, and Esomechanists instead build their arsenals around other things, such as Slates, Chromegrafts and even Glass.

As such, it is hard to define the powers of Esomechanists as a category, though the more common bases upon which Esomechanists majorly operate can be defined.

• Slate Esos boast considerable power over all things technological and digital, and the ability of Slates to interfere with the Calcic grants them a degree of control over that as well. Their control over machines sees them fight effectively by taking control of Chromelings or self-built mechanical constructs, while interfering with the abilities of opponents (especially chalk-reliant ones) with their Slates. Particularly advanced Slate Esos can perform a very elementary form of chalk weaving as well.

• Chromegraft Esos are immensely varied, relying on various grafts installed into their lattices for their means of combat. Wrist-mounted machine guns, self-replenishing missile back-mounts, spring-loaded joints for mobility, rocket assemblies built into the legs for flight, chest-mounted laser cannons; chromegrafts boast considerable variety and versatility.

• Glass Esos are particularly esoteric in nature, as the crux of their power is are Glass jaws; rifts between the Dancirah and the Vitric Shelf through which beings can move between each, and Glass finds its way into the Great Sky below. There are… methods to have these Jaws become actual jaws, and Glass Esos are defined primarily by a mouthful of jagged, translucent daggers, with a scintillating kaleidoscopic maw behind them. This passageway to the Vitric Shelf allows from drawing Glass when needed, and glass teeth are used to hone and shape it down to forms required by the subject. At higher levels of strength and skill, the power to open temporary maws in space is obtained, and summoning jagged protrusions of Glass in space sees the possibilities available to them widen considerably.

Esos can use G1 Teks, as they do not ‘output’ chalk.

Link to original

The Relics of New

The Relics, Thy Mettle 2.0, updated with the new name, in-line with the fresh canon, and taking on the new name and lore of CARP - the Collaborative Artificial Relics Project.

The Natural Relics

Happening on a much smaller scale, a spontaneous equation can evolve using some object or concept as a ‘seed’, which dictates the outcome. Around objects, the results are Relics, items granted additional power from equations encased within them. Objects already containing considerable amounts of information act as sinks, more information pooling into them, subsequently resulting in spontaneous equations. This is further elaborated upon in relics.

Link to original

Natural Relics in the Switchboard arise through the mechanics of spontaneous equations; chalk gathers and accumulates around something - a concept, object, something that can serve as a ‘seed’ for something grander - and it takes on patterns that grant it powers beyond its mundane nature.

These patterns often are drawn from the surroundings or produced by the implements own weave (such as a sword producing the pattern for sharpness). While they lack the versatility and direction in purpose possessed by the artificial relics, their creation from the raw stuff of the Switchboard seeping into them over eons makes them immensely powerful.

The Artificial Relics

Chalk Ritualism is recommended reading before this section.

As a matter of necessity, the earliest Chalkstriders learned to make Artificial Relics. Originally this was done by simply letting mundane implements marinate in chalk-dense environments, but the practice was refined by the usage of rituals to fold patterns that produced the desired changes into mundane implements. The use of these early artificial relics was in casting more advanced rituals, combat and utility, and opposing the various problematic equations existing in the Switchboard.

As such, relics were a means to direct a Strider’s power. Often, a Strider ‘casts’ their various powers with their relic in hand, serving as an inlet and outlet, a bridge between them and the Switchboard. With natural relics being too rare, artificial relics provided on-demand power for Striders in need.

pNarrat: The Collaborative Artificial Rituals Project (CARP)

It became a problem for the early Chalkstriders that in the making of artificial relics, they would have to subject them to an extensive list of rituals that were time-consuming, expensive and risky to perform. As they journeyed further into the Switchboard, they faced new challenges and needed to either create new tools or modify old ones to keep their arsenal up-to-date. The craft of creating relics became convoluted, overly fragmented and fraught with additional problems. It was agreed upon that a central body that coordinated and created a standardized model for all relics in the Switchboard would be optimal.

This task was lain at the feet of the newly budding Academy, which plumbed through many iterations before finally reaching the Collaborative Artificial Relics Project, shortened to CARP. CARP was basically a collaborative of Striders dedicated to producing standardized ritual schema that when cast upon a mundane implement, would convert it to a ‘CARP relic’ that would have immense power and versatility right from the get-go, usable immediately as a tool for tackling the various dangers and challenges of the Switchboard.

As Striders traverse the Switchboard and encounter new frontiers and all that they bring, this information is taken back to the CARP and its subdivision’s development teams, analyzed and assessed, with conclusions drawn on how to improve the next iteration of the CARP ritual schema. As with any on-going collaborative endeavor, frequent checks are made to trim away accumulated fat and rot, keeping the entire project streamlined and potent.

Of particular note is the schema produced by the Modular Offensives Division under CARP, responsible for the creation of the Academy’s weaponry used by their various actors, particularly their Operators. The ‘MOD’ schema, as it’s shortened to, confers mundane weaponry with considerable power and - most importantly - modularity, allowing individual Striders to ‘mod’ the resulting relic as they saw fit, ensuring it fills a niche no other could in their repertoire.

Each iteration of CARP and their subdivision’s ritual schema would be denoted by ‘AAAA-XXX’ where ‘AAAA’ was the subdivision that handled the particular schema in question - or CARP themselves, and the ‘XXX’ being the ‘iteration number’ of the schema - how many versions of has passed since the initial. It became common for Academy Striders to make personal ‘forks’ of the root CARP ritual schema, often to make them more compatible with other powers the Strider possesses, or to grant it powers and capabilities either not yet implemented in the root schema or removed from newer iterations of it. These forks would typically be denoted by ‘CARP-XXX-F#YYYY’, the ‘F#’ (pronounced ‘F Sharp’) indicating the fork of the CARP or subdivision schema version mentioned, and the ‘YYYY’ being an alphanumeric string that refers to who crafted the fork.

In the canon, the latest iteration of the MOD schema is #046, making all relics that use it have a preceding denotation of ‘MOD-046’, followed by the relic’s name. As a better example, Adven Ventura, the Strider-Sojourner wields a pair of relic revolvers bearing the denotation ‘MOD-046-F#VEN4: Sojourner’s Tale’.

Relic Forging

The mundane component that becomes any kind of artificial relic benefits greatly from it’s own construction and functionality as well, as many benefits added by the ritual applied primarily enhance the pre-existing nature of the subject implement. As a clarification, however, a ritual will not typically grant powers to a relics that are too far a stretch of the imagination for it to have.

A relic that is a sword or similar, will not gain the ability to function like a firearm, nor will a relic based on a firearm function as a sword. Striders craft their pre-relics to exacting specifications before imbuing them with the power of a ritual to complete them as relics.

As mentioned earlier, these relics benefit from their construction. The usage of high-quality materials and craftsmanship go a long way to improving the final relic product. More subjectively, the care put by a Strider in the crafting process and how well it relates to the Strider making it also affect the information tangible qualities of the relic, and serve to enhance its power and deepen the unity between it and the Strider that made it.

Prime Relics

Prime Relics are a subdivision of natural relics, forming only under extreme circumstances. These circumstances vary, but in the canon so far, the only means of forming a Prime Relic are using a collapsed planet’s Gravity Axle, or via a Structural Cast. When wielded by a Strider, they read their lattice and refold themselves to be best suited to be wielded by that Strider and reflect the doctrine that guides them. Their power is unmatched in the ability to cause vast, sweeping change to the Switchboard.

Further Notes

Terminology

Differentiating between a relic and an artifact.

• Relics are used to describe calcic-enhanced weaponry. As a term, it’s used almost exclusively to refer to calcic weaponry enhanced by means of weave or a ritual baked into it.
• Artifacts refer to nearly everything non-offensive or combative that has been enhanced by chalk.

Further Notes

Additional notes on the topic of Weave and Warfare.

Damage Types

Various kinds of weapons and threats in the Switchboard do damage to both structures and persons within it, and the nature of the Switchboard makes it such that different concepts do different kinds of damages in different ways, just as different things sustain damage in different ways. Quantification of these various damage types is useful to understand how to mitigate them. Damage in the Switchboard is divided into four superclasses; true, resource, mathematical/stat and praxis/meta.

SB_Physiology is encouraged reading for this section.

True Damage

This is damage as we understand it; physical harm inflicted upon the physical makeup of a thing. It is the most common and thus the easiest to inflict, achieved through the usage of weapons and powers, and is often a component in the delivery of other kinds of damage.

• Caedometric Damage Source: Sharp weaponry. Things that slash and cut. Mitigation: Dense weaving, counter-weaving. Shorthand: Caedo, Cado, C Macroscopic damage to weft done by slashing, cutting and lacerating weaponry is denoted ‘caedometric’. From simple blades to complex Teks to even more complex ritualism and more, various things inflict caedometric damage to the lattice, and it is widely regarded as the most common form of damage done in the Switchboard. Its commonality does mean the means of mitigation are widely known and thus employed, with it being common knowledge that densely-woven targets are harder to cut, and employing counterweave and manufacturing techniques for armor and similar further mitigates the damage done by caedometric sources.

• Perforant Damage Source: Piercing weaponry. Things that strike through layers. Mitigation: Immensely dense weft. Shorthand: Perf, P Damage done by knives, spears and bullets, perforant damage sources are oriented towards defeating armors with concentrated delivery of force, and dealing damage to many, many layers underneath. Much debate exists on the value of perforants over other weaponry, as many targets in the Switchboard - particularly Striders - are very capable at reversing damage done to them, and piercing wounds may not be enough damage over a large enough area to meaningfully hamper a target. However, well-aimed perforant attacks can cause nettare bleeding and damage motive centers on the lattice, and particularly brutal attacks can cut deep into the straits, dealing critical harm.

• Breach Damage Source: Blunt weaponry. Things that bludgeon, smash and break. Mitigation: Elastic, ‘springy’ weave. Shorthand: Breach, Brch, B An interesting form of damage in the Switchboard dealt by blunt instruments and weaponry. While cutting and piercing weapons are vastly preferred in the Switchboard due to the nature of chalk ribbon, and the utility present in even weak bladed weapons in their ability to cut weave, breach damage inflicting weapons still have a place, in that they ‘breach’ various forms of defenses, calcic or otherwise, and are particularly effective against complex, densely woven weave, treating it instead as a solid, tightly-wound singular mass and then shattering it to pieces. Bypassing armor by crushing it, breach damage stands as a wildcard to most Striders and Weavers, who typically only prepare defenses against caedometric damage sources. Vahnkin and other wielders of the void are fond of breach-inflicting implements, heightening their crushing power with their power over gravity.

• Induction/Inductive Damage Source: Various phenomena. Mitigation: Specific to individual subtypes, general protection against offensive weave. Shorthand: Induc, I Inductive damage is done by inductive weave; weave phenomena that propagates in subject by inducing themselves on contact. When something is set on fire in the switchboard, for example, temperature is induced in it, and this invasive weave causes damage to the subject lattice. Attacks that cause damage over time such as poisons, burns and bleeds work by inducing continual damage to weave, while effects like stuns, blinds, freezes and paralysis continually re-manifest themselves in a targets lattice, inflicting their effects on a victim.

Inductive Damage and Inductive Effects are dependent on the mechanics of Inductive Weave; rogue patterns so-wound as to propagate themselves almost parasitically through the lattice structure of another pattern.

Resource Damage

Damage that is inflicted against ‘resources’, or more simply put, the ability to use certain powers. Chalk and the calcic in particular are vulnerable to resource damage forms, either through physical, numerical depletion of the chalk available for use, or damage inflicted on a system to prevent its usage.

• Unravelling Source: Weavers as they use weaving abilities, various abilities and phenomena in the Switchboard. Mitigation: Avoiding weave. Shorthand: Unrav, U Unravelling is inflicted by causing a lattice to undo itself, pattern spontaneously resolving back into ribbon. This is most commonly a self-inflicted form of damage, done by chalkweavers as they weave abilities - particularly in combat. Combat-weaving needs to be done fast, and thus can be done carelessly, and as a Weaver weaves chalk into various casts and abilities, it is possible that they weave the looser, fraying ends of their lattice into them as well. Pulling at these fraying cords damages the Weaver’s own lattice, and if not provided time without any weaving to allow the lattice to repair, it is possible to ‘unravel’ oneself, and for a Weaver to become merely a discordant pile of chalk ribbon.

Some abilities in the Switchboard also inflict unravelling against targets, either by creating more of these frayed ends on contact or pulling at ones already present. These are of considerable concern to Weavers, as it is a direct attack upon their ability to fight an enemy. Heavily unraveled targets sustain damage to their potential and interface Five Straits, resulting in an ability to accumulate and weave chalk. Forcing through this causes considerable harm, possibly leading up the the total unravelling mentioned earlier.

• Siphon Damage Source: The Void and void-based weapons, abilities and phenomena; other similar phenomena Mitigation: Counter-depth shielding, large chalk reservoirs. Shorthand: Siph, S A specific kind of damage dealt by the Void and attacks drawing upon it and using it as their basis for attack. Void attacks against calcic lattices siphon chalk away from them, inducing depth, which empowers Void weapons to siphon away more chalk, thus granting Void weapons a sort of vampirism. This presents a tangible threat to the many calcic entities in the Switchboard, particularly weavers who use it for their casts. Mitigating this siphon effect is difficult, as Void weapons and powers even do so passively, and thus Weavers and others who depend on chalk are incentivized to get rid of void-wielding targets as quickly as possible, lest all their available chalk reserves and chalk in the vicinity be dried up.

Mathematical/Stat Damage

A far more esoteric damage type that attacks something deeper; innate mechanics upon which many other systems hinge. Mathematical damage is so called as it attacks at the ribbon and equation level, damaging calcic enginery to cause cascading effects throughout a system. Glass in particular is notorious for this, inflicting havoc on those unlucky enough to be subject to it. Computational is fairly new but distinctly deadly, in that it can attack the Five Straits directly and curtail various essential functions.

• Negentropic Damage Source: Glass and some calcic abilites. Mitigation: Anti-vitric protections, such as the blessings of Skydancer Ryjik. Shorthand: Neg, N Negentropic damage is done primarily by Glass, though its effects can be somewhat replicated by some calcic techniques - as an example, rituals that use Glass as a component. Negentropic damage describes an irreversible reduction of the target’s complexity, this being catastrophic to calcic systems as complex weaves of chalk are reduced down to meaningless ribbon.

• Computational/Tech Damage Source: Slates majorly, and other digital weaponry. Mitigation: Cyberwarfare protections, lattice protections. Shorthand: Comp, T Damage that is done to a subject’s computational Five Strait, inhibiting their ability to process and calculate. Damage to this line interferes with various calcic abilities, such as casting rituals, using Teks and performing complex weaves, as well as inhibits mental functions. Typically, this damage is inflicted by Chromelings controlled by Vault Minds, or Slates designed to attack the lattices of Striders in the vicinity, due to Slates’ own ability to manipulate chalk. Glass - or more commonly, scintillate - can also do damage to the strait as well.

Praxis/Meta Damage

Further reading can be found discussing the Praxis Protocol under the Blank-Slate Mind.

A form of damage that transcends the Switchboard’s normal functioning, operating instead at the level where doctrine meets doctrine. Praxis damage done is inflicted not just against a target, but on the entirety of what they represent - quite literally an attack on their core principles which rebounds to others who share those principles. Praxis powers can oppose mundane ones by design; a praxis sword can never be blocked, and a praxis shield can never be pierced, except if opposed by other praxis phenomena.

Praxis damage is dealt and received constantly, occurring at minute and imperceptible levels as adherents of any principle prove the strength and veracity of one principle over the other. Only on rare occasions can praxis coalesce and swirl, coming to bear as a something levied against someone or something in the Switchboard. These moments reverberate through the Great Sky, and inscribe themselves into the history books for all time to come.

• Praxis/Doctrinal Damage Source: Praxis attacks, events upon computation by the Astrolabe Mitigation: Feats, doctrinal differential. Shorthand: Prax, X Praxis damage is strange in the Switchboard, as praxis damage dealt or received is a result of doctrinal clashes, and manifests majorly but fairly imperceptibly as a fluctuation of invisible scales. These scales however, have tangible results in that the represent the strength of the Switchboard’s various doctrines in relation to one another, and the actions of all who hold a doctrine alter the balance of the scales.

Praxis damage is thus dealt by a holder of one doctrine against a holder or another, and this results in a tipping of the scales in the attacker’s favor relative to the sufferer of the blow. The tipping of a doctrine affects all who hold that doctrine, and while to individuals it manifests as an ultimately minute loss in raw strength, it does have tangible effect of doctrine-dependent abilities as well as the operation of that doctrine within the Switchboard and all that hinges upon it. Praxis damage dealt against the doctrine of an institution, for example, is a tangible weakening of that institution, in a manner that sees their actions less effective and their goals made harder to achieve.

Weapons of the Switchboard

Weapons in the Switchboard are broadly classifiable into martial and ranged weaponry. Ranged weapons encompass majorly different forms of firearms, further classified by damage methodology and effective range. Melee or martial weapons encompass collections of piercing and bludgeoning weapons designed for use in close ranges. further classified according to their weight and own damage methodology in the form of ‘edge’, ranging from high edge piercing weapons to low edge bludgeoning weapons.

Ranged Weapons

Damage Methodology describes how the weapon does damage, with Effective Range describing the distance between the user and a target at which the weapon is most effective. With that explained, we can use the Grid Methodology to create an ensemble of weapon types used in the Switchboard.

	Close Quarters	Medium Range	Long Range/Marksman
Driven Ballistics	Submachine Guns/PDWs Hand cannons   Sidearms   Shotguns Phase Rifles	Combat Rifles   Marksman Rifles   Combat Bows   Machine Guns/SAWs Accelerator Rifles	Sniper Rifles   Linecharge Weapon Systems Precision Accelerator Rifles
Energy & Esoterica	Shatter Compressors	Focus/Beam Rifles Compressor Rifles	Bolt Compressors
Ordnance & Media	Breech-loaded Shell Launchers	Rotary/Drum Shell Launchers	Rocket/Missile Delivery Platforms

Hand cannons, Sidearms, Combat Rifles, Marksman Rifles A series of driven ballistic weaponry, serving as analogues to real-world weapons.

• Hand cannons are massively upscaled revolver-style handguns, characterized by high caliber rounds and unrivalled precision for their formfactor. Greatly beloved by Striders, especially the Academy’s Operators due to their relatively small size, ease of handling, and their use as relics in casting due to various actions performed in their operation (chambering rounds, spinning the cylinder, slapping the cylinder back into position, cocking the hammer, ‘fanning’ the hammer) are very usable as the Seal in a ritual cast or the trigger condition for another calcic power.
• Sidearms are the hand cannon’s smaller cousins, resembling more conventional pistol-style handguns fed with magazines. By virtue of their lower caliber rounds they get more per magazine and benefit from higher fire rates and lower recoil. Typically, they are used as their name implies; a ‘side’ weapon to a more powerful main weapon.
• Combat Rifles describes an absolutely massive selection of weapons, ranging from rifles to carbines to assault rifles, modified by variant such as bullpup configurations, fully and semi automatic variants and more. Most weapons imaginable go under this category. Operators typically use them in high-intensity situations, and are still very capable of casting calcic powers with them. A unique property of theirs is select-fire switches, allowing single, burst, and fully automatic fire.
• Marksman Rifles are better seen as a fork of combat rifles, occupying an intersection of combat rifles and sniper rifles. They exist primarily to provide high power, highly accurate fire in mobile formfactors, achieving so through using more powerful rounds than combat rifles, more exacting construction, but done so with an insistence that they are kept lighter than their sniper rifle older brothers. Marksman Rifles are a preferred choice among high-level Striders who find themselves wanting a caster-class weapon with far more combative power and effectiveness over long ranges. Their increased size, larger calibers and reliability born out of precision and more exacting design makes them ideal platforms for delivering devastating calcic-enhanced attacks.

Phase Rifles

• Additionally called phase guns, shifters, phaseshifters and phasers.
• A void-based weapons category designed for close range engagements, operating off of the manipulation of space to fire conventional ballistics.
• Their potency comes from the combination of their configurable firing systems and ammunition; via very minute space manipulation, projectiles fired by phase weaponry are able to ‘drop’ momentarily into the Challenger Horizon - moving along the fourth spatial dimension - and reemerging at a calculated location.
• Based on the firing parameters of the weapon and ammunition used, the exact distance from the weapon and location at which the fired rounds emerged can be determined. Onboard computers for the weapon do the heavy computational lifting.
• Executed properly, they can effectively fire ‘through’ solid objects and strike targets on the other side, making them immensely deadly in various applications, especially tactical incursions.
• However they are heavily subject to spatial conditions. They suffer reduced accuracy at longer ranges due to the relative unevenness of local space, and the complexity of the firing apparatus makes them unusable in certain conditions.
• Using only curvature to accelerate projectiles, they have no need for propellant. However, this does mean that projectiles do have less effective range and damage. A somewhat welcome tradeoff for the ability to shoot through walls.

Combat Bows A medieval staple finds its way to a modern battlefront.

• The trope of archers in a world of guns continues into the Switchboard.
• The major reasoning for the usage of bows in the Switchboard revolves around their utility as ‘caster’ weapons; weapons that function well with calcic abilities. The tactility, interactivity, how involved they are in their operation, presents multiple nodes of action that can serve as the seals and trigger points for rituals and other calcic powers. Similar to hand cannons, combat bows excel at being used as the backbone of a very calcic style of fighting employed by powerful Operators, whose damage potential relies primarily on their calcic abilities.
• On the actual weapon itself, modifications made to its construction and operation escalates to a formidable weapon. Above all, the inculcation of the MOD ritual already bestows it with a litany of buffs to it’s efficacy, but deliberate construction choices such as usage of advanced and metamaterials considerably increases the power of overall weapon. Arrows being a limited resource typically is circumvented by the fact most archer-Striders simply weave their arrows from ribbon chalk, granting the ability to imbue them with powerful properties, granting them considerable versatility.

Sniper Rifles

• A somewhat umbrella term for high power, immensely precise rifle-style weapons. Beginning just above the threshold for marksman rifles, sniper rifles see the end of their category around the mark at which they become capable of defeating heavily armored targets and throwing rounds multiple kilometers downrange. Enhanced by the MOD rituals, they become truly fearsome weapons.
• The higher calibers used by sniper-class weapons in the Switchboard make them far more suitable for enhancing with caedometric or anti-lattice properties, making them a weapon class almost specifically designed for killing Striders.

Linecharge Weapons Systems

• A broad category of weapons defined by usage of ‘linecharge’ systems in their operation. Linecharge enabled weapons in the Switchboard typically feature a pair or more parallel rails in their assembly, as well as powerful hyperweave capacitors. These capacitors are able to store considerable amounts of hyperweave provided by a source such as an entropic weft compressor; a device designed to create maximally chaotic servings of hyperweave. In addition to storing hyperweave, the main advantage of these capacitors is that they are able to dump massive amounts of hyperweave in fractions of a second once triggered.
• This hyperweave is dumped along the rail assembly, these rails being essential as they are in fact, artificial relics, inscribed with the Jaunteer Equation; a chalk equation that serves as a considerably low-power analogue to the Strider Protocol, used primarily in spacecraft enginery. In a linecharge weapon, it is able to fire a projectile with ludicrous velocity, by charging hyperweave in the capacitors and dumping them down the rails.
• Because they need to charge before every shot, they are thus fairly slow, and because they deal with hyperweave, they are particularly dangerous to operate. For this reason, line arms see much of their usage in ultra-long range precision applications, where the linecharge weapon is additionally supplemented by Slate guidance apparatus and elaborate firing rigs.
• The Spyndl Academy in particular is known for their Star Snipers; specialized operators who operate linecharge firing apparatus from low orbit. Whereas firing pure weave would be disrupted by a planet’s calcic climate, a solid projectile can be ritually and machine-honed to exacting specifications, granting it unrivalled performance for the task at hand. Spyndl’s star snipers can thus annihilate a target wholly undetected and unchallenged, allowing the exertion and projection of force in a manner resembling the tyrannical divine.

Accelerator and Precision Accelerator Rifles

• A weapons platform that also bears the names disk rifles, thermovitrics, thermoglass rifles, axxel and praxxel rifles.
• This is in particular due to their unique firing system, comprising of thermal capacitors, a disk-shaped circular track, and a minute quantity of glass.
• The disk-shaped track is either wholly removable, or comes in two parts; the track itself and a circular removable magazine. Thermal capacitors in the weapon heat the entire track up, and then glass apparatus in the firing system begins winding the heat into pure motion via the negentropic powers of glass.
• Projectiles within the weapon are accelerated along the track, and so long as they are provided heat, they will continue to accelerate, becoming faster and faster.
• At trigger pull, a trapdoor of sorts is opened and the projectiles are allowed to fly, taking all supplied heat and motion with them.
• Their assembly grants them a number of unique viabilities. Their disk magazines allow for storing larger quantities of ammunition, and the fact projectiles can be ‘charged’ in the track means they can passively accumulate destructive potential, and can be dispensed at ludicrous fire-rates when ready.
• Much of their drawbacks are from concerns surrounding heat and the fact glass is used in their assembly. These are generally mitigated in models with superior construction however, such as utilizing highly insulative metamaterials. In some cases, cooling systems are used to keep the weapon firing for longer and maintaining uptime. Considering ‘cycling’ the rounds in the track in the disk effective cools the weapon down, any further ammunition added when the weapon is already cool won’t be accelerated, and thus they must be kept hot so there is heat to unwind into motion for the projectiles, but not too hot to damage the weapon systems or harm the wielder

Compressor Weapons

• A weapon category featuring compressor rifles as well as shatter compressors and bolt compressors.
• These weapons primarily harness hyperweave itself as the means by which they do damage, firing errant bolts of it that rip through targets, but suffer from considerable inaccuracy problems at longer ranges.
• They earn their name from the fact they make use of degenerative pattern compression to create hyperweave, and this is achieved primarily via harnessing spatial distortion to cause pattern to collapse to an increasingly small point.
• Giving hyperweave an aperture allows it to come streaking out of the weapon’s firing system. However, released hyperweave is dangerous to target and wielder alike, and thus these weapons aren’t particular popular, and thus relegated to very few applications.
• Shatter compressors operate much like shotguns, firing immensely destructive hyperweave that devastates at close range, but immediately re-differentiates into chalk dust once far out. Bolt compressors are something of a longer range, almost-precision application, using finer apertures and a more robust firing system to send bolts over longer distances. The standard compressor weaponry are semi-automatic or full auto, but possess somewhat mediocre firing rates.
• They do benefit from little by way of ammo consumption, but suffer due to their considerable complexity, and function is dependent on the conditions of local space.
• Some controversy existed around their designation as ‘rifles’, though much of it was dismissed as a result of studies demonstrating that hyperweave was still material enough to benefit from rifling when being fired through aperture-ended barrels.

Focus/Beam Rifles

• A weapon system that functions by firing a constant, honed stream of hyperweave, made possible with constraint apertures that contain the wild bolts to a single, condensed beam.
• Because of the fact forming and firing hyperweave is a function that consumes a massive amount of chalk even with the highest efficiency tier of entropic weft compressors, certain compromises must be made depending on the minimum threshold of power required for the task at hand.
• This class of ‘weapons’ sees far more usage in the industrial space, as a means of cutting ultra-hard materials or fusing similar. This is due to the calcic supply for these devices often needing to be massive, and thus necessarily stationary. If mobile, they are attached to some necessarily large system, such as armored vehicles and ships.
• They can still be used on the battlefield nonetheless, though charge remains an issue. However, the destructive power of a beam of hyperweave is nothing to scoff at, and with disposable hyperweave batteries they are able to saw through armored ground vehicles and cripple starships.

Ordnance & Media Weapons

• A broad term describing all manners of self-propelled shell-firing weapons, ranging from single-shot and rotary grenade launchers, to rocket launchers, to multi-shot rocket launchers to special ordnance deployment weapons such as for tracking-enabled weapons.
• Many are outfitted with apparatus to launch projectiles via curvature reversal, allowing for propellant-less launch systems that grant advantages in reloading, weight and transport.

Further Notes

• Regarding ammunition; Striders typically weave ammunition as needed, meaning reloading is often a case of removing a magazine, weaving rounds into it, then returning the magazine to resume firing. Skilled Striders are able to fold equations into their rounds, bestowing them with additional properties such as better range, explosive payloads, caedometricity or more esoteric properties such as the ability to rebound, incendiary or cryogenic properties, homing capabilities, corrosivity - virtually anything a Strider can conceive, up to binding rituals into rounds themselves.
• That being said, Striders still carry some amount of ammunition to account for combat in locales with low latent chalk, planetary equations suppressing calcic powers, or their own fatigue caused by unravelling in extended combat.
• Far more esoteric weapons exist in the Switchboard, and while some may fit in the categories above, just as many break the mold, and are deserving of entire categories of their own. Instead, they are categorized simply as ‘Esoteric’ followed by the weapon they most resemble, such as ‘Esoteric Marksman Rifle’.

Martial Weapons

Classed according to their weight and edge, the martial weapons of the Switchboard remain ever relevant as the premier means of doing battle in close quarters. Proficiency with martial weapons is essential for all who wish to traverse the Switchboard, as their simpler natures and lack of reliance on ammunition allow them to cover for some of the weaknesses of firearm-class weapons. Additionally, martial weapons are far more suited to weaving and casting.

Using the Grid, we can classify an ensemble of weapons according to weight and edge as mentioned earlier.

	High Edge (Pierce)	Medium Edge (Slash)	Low Edge (Bludgeon)
Heavyweight	Glaives	Scythe (War-) ‘Great’ Swords Halberds	Warhammers
Mediumweight	Spears/Lances ’Thin’ Swords	‘Long’ Swords ’Curved’ Swords Axes (Battle-)	Quarterstaffs Clubs/Batons Maces/Flails/Morningstars
Lightweight	Daggers	’Paired Arms’ Felkrams/Felkraves	‘Glove’ Weapons

Elaboration

On Weight

• Weight somewhat correlates with both the effective range and damage of the weapon.

Sword Subclasses

• Swords in the Switchboard occupy four subclasses; the long, thin, curved and great sword classes.
• Longswords are a one and two-handed sword subclass defined by straight edges of which both are sharp and evoking what comes to mind when ‘sword’ is mentioned. Under here do you find European-style longswords, arming swords, ‘bastard’ swords - and as a more ‘exotic’ pick - the ‘ninjato’, so placed due to its straight edge, though possessing only one.

  In narrative practice, the ‘longsword’ simply describes the simplistic, familiar longsword, capable of one and two-handed wielding. To avoid using a term with very distinct cultural origin, the ‘ninjato’ is replaced with the ‘straightsword’, describing a longsword-style weapon with no guard and only one sharp edge.

• Thinswords are a one-handed sword subclass defined by being lightweight and far more suited to piercing attacks, though some do possess edges capable of slashing attacks. Under here do we find picks such as the epee, a thin, almost wire-like sword lacking in edge but possessing plenty of point; the sabre, a weapon suited for fencing, differing from the epee in being more rigid and possessing a slashing edge; the rapier being a sort of upscaled sabre more suited for non-sports combat, further differentiated due to its ornate hilt; and the estoc, just about bordering on the longsword class with its high slashing potential and cruciform hilt construction.

  Due to the immense similarity across the weapon classes in thinswords, some modification is made in the literal meanings of weapon names; ‘saber’ is used to describe a rigid blade lacking in edge, only capable of piercing attacks, and ‘rapier’ describes what the estoc is, though maintaining the ornate design of the hilt implicit in the name.

• Curved Swords are a one and two-handed weapon class defined by single-edge, curved blade weapons. Under here do we find a variety of weapons from different cultures, such as the katana, khopesh and cutlass, possessing of high slashing power but considerably lessened piercing power compared to their longsword cousins.

  Due to their also culturally distinct names, in the Switchboard they are all consolidated and denoted as ‘curveswords’, ‘recurve swords’, ‘recurve blades’ or ‘recurves’, describing the nature of their blades to bend backwards. Differences in construction are specific to individual narrative instances of a weapon and mentioned when necessary.

• Great Swords describe an exclusively two-handed weapon class defined by immense size. They posses nearly zero utility as piercing weapons, better suited for wide, sweeping slash attacks against colossal targets, almost like axes. Under this category do we find our claymores, zweihänders and flamberges. This category sees very little usage in the Switchboard, except in particularly fringe cases.

Spears/Lances

• This class would normally possess a considerable amount of overlap with Glaives and Halberds, except that they are separated from them by virtue of being throwable.
• Striders wielding spears and lances by necessity have some means to return the weapon to their hands, either by some weave technique that allows for projecting a rope or chain that the weapon is bound to, or inculcating a ritual that recalls the weapon back to the hand upon fulfilling a trigger.

‘Paired Arms’

• This describes a category of weapons that usually come and are wielded in pairs.
• Here do we find weapons such as ‘kama’, short swords and sais.
• They are not particular loved by fighters in the Switchboard who make extensive use of calcic abilities as they don’t leave a hand free for weaving.

‘Glove’ Weapons

• A weapon class of weapons that fit closely around the hands, such as knuckle dusters or ‘brass knuckles’, though some additional variants exist under this category such as studded gloves.
• Very favored by calcic ability-heavy Switchboard fighters, as they leave the hands free for casting. Often, they are paired with a dagger.

Felkrams/Felkraves

• A somewhat newer class of weapons, developed by the Fel-Arcad for elaborate displays of martial arts prowess, more ceremonial and theatrical than combative.
• Felkrams follow a core design philosophy of being dual-bladed pole-arm mockeries. The first felkrams could be viewed as single-edged scimitar-style weapons, merged at the hilts in opposing directions, such that the sharp edges faced opposite directions.
• As such, depending on size, they can be wielded in different manners. The original felkrams were made to have one pair of blades carried in both hands, granting the wielder four blades total. Their younger brother felkraves are designated such due to their arising later, and not accounting for their typically larger size, having being made of often full-size swords.
• The actual usage of felkrams requires considerable acrobatics, balance and spinning of the weapon as opposed to slashes and thrusts, and this has earned them a reputation for being some of the hardest weapons to use and master in the Dancirah, able to be mastered - perhaps - only be the Fel-Arcad whose almost post-scarcity living conditions allows for studying and practicing one thing for procession after procession.
• In ceremonies they are frequently in the hands of Fel-Arcad heroes, and covered in scarfs and the like that twirl and spin as the felkrams are wielded.
• In battle, they are used for high-mobility, rapidly dispatching targets, though their prowess in dueling can’t be understated as most don’t know how to even counter them. The Fel-Arcad keep few secrets, but the felkram is one of them.
• Felkraves bear additional power as a caster-class weapon, and allows potent ritualism to be woven into them, both empowering the weapon itself and being triggered by the involved steps in its usage.
• Elaborating on the point above, felkraves are designed to have their constituent blades split during operation, giving the wielder a more traditional two-blade option. Alternating between dual-wielding blades form and the felkrave form can trigger inbuilt ritualism, as well as provide additional combat versatility.
• Inspiration;
  • Faeblades | Amalur Wiki | Fandom
  • The FFXIV Viper is the first new Dawntrail job, and it looks killer | PCGamesN

Further Notes

• Caster-Class Weapons refer to weapons that due to their tactility, interactivity, and the generally highly involved nature of their operation, serve as excellent bases for calcic abilities. The numerous unique actions performed in their operation allows for deep ritual-crafting, with each action able to be tied to a function baked into a ritual that transforms the weapon into an artificial relic. Hand cannons, combat bows and marksman rifles are the preferred caster weapons, and they are frequently seen in the hands of powerful Striders.
• Many martial weapons are well suited as caster-class weapons, finding themselves as able to be used in combat as means to cast calcic abilities. Differing from the requirement of involved operation and interactivity in firearms, caster-class martial weapons are made so by how they can be used to ‘channel’ chalk. In this do we see glaives, halberds and quarterstaffs seeing utility in casting, as their straight length (and to be pretty damn honest, resemblance to staffs) allows for channeling and disseminating calcic power. After them, longswords and thinswords see proficiency in calcic ability fighting styles as well, due to their ability to be wielded in one hand, leaving the other free for casting. Thinswords in particular are popular among ritualists as their pointed ends are very suited for Point Propagation of chalk ribbon.
• Curveswords and greatswords are better suited for dispelling rituals and chalk abilities due to their enhanced edges and therefore caedometric potentials. Thinswords also have the ability to dispel calcic abilities, but require immensely precise strikes at exact locations in cast. As mentioned above, they are particularly favored by ritualists.
• Blunt weapons in the Switchboard are somewhat of a rarity among chalk-wielding fighters, as the nature of lattice and weave makes it so most persons who fight with weave are kitted to fight against it as well. Weavers, more simply put, are geared to fight other Weavers, and thus prefer weapons that slash and pierce. Blunt weapons however, are something of a wildcard, as the breaching damage they inflict is very capable of smashing weave, and blunt weapons often find themselves in the hand of Vahnkin and other wielders of the Void, who are perhaps even more suited for fighting Weavers than they are.
• Some Flash Protocol: Weave Overclock utilizations allow for weaving a calcic analogue of a martial weapon and using it to fight, or a Supercharge utilization that uses a weapon as part of a cast. A Weave Overclock can have a Strider weave twin axes and do battle with them, or their Supercharge ability could be throwing a woven lance at a target that explodes into spikes or fire or whatever else a Strider may choose.
• As a flavor note, depthstriders are fond of the Switchboard’s blunt, heavy martial weapons whereas chalkweavers prefer blades and weapons that keep the hands unencumbered. This differentiation stems from the fact that Curvature Manipulation and thus gravity control eliminates most of the drawbacks that class of martial weapon has, and even enhances it by boosting their destructiveness through gravitational acceleration. Something can only be so cut, but the pulverizing force of a gravity-assisted hammer swing, performed with little or no cost to the wielder is nothing to scoff at. On the chalkweaver side, sharp, bladed weapons have an intrinsic utility against calcic measures by virtue of their literal shape, and unravelling a target is much easier to do with weapons that peel rather than pulverize.

Super-Class Esoteric Arms

In addition to the various weapons wielded by denizens of the Switchboard, there is an additional class of weapons - Esoteric Arms - wielded by the individual super-classes. These are weapons with a fair bit of history behind them, and are designed to synergize maximally with the superclass they are tied to. Super-class Esoteric Arms are found most commonly in the hands of those who have reached the pinnacle of execution of their chosen combat schools. Necessarily, they are also immensely powerful, difficult to create and even harder to wield to their utmost potential.

Chalkweavers: Praxlances

Necessity indeed is the mother of invention and at the intersection of the unique necessities of the Switchboard and that of Striders, and the means of addressing those necessities, spawns a hybrid martial-firearm weapon that is frequently found in the hands of the highest echelons of Chalkstriders and Weavers. These are the lancerifle and the praxlance.

Answering the question of ‘what if we put a gun in a melee weapon?’, the lancerifle was formed. Consisting of a marksman or sniper rifle built into the shaft of a glaive or halberd, the lancerifle was purpose built for Academy Operators as a weapon to address the needs of the greatest challenges of the Switchboard, as well as the powers of those most suited to face them. Primarily, their power lies in their dual-purpose function and their utility as caster-class weapons, adding a sort of third, final ability as weapons for advanced chalk weaving and calcic casting.

Speaking on their construction and operation, the lancerifle was built almost entirely out of metal, the handle of the polearm hollowed out to function as the barrel for the precision firearm built inside. They were magazine fed, taking custom built, high caliber offerings, and possessed either bolt-action or semi-automatic operation. As polearms, they took primarily the shape of halberds, possessing two to three distinct ‘business ends’; a concave axe head for cleaving attached to the side of the polearm handle, a long ‘apical spike’ at the end of the shaft, resembling a spearhead, utilized for piercing attacks, and a ‘beak’ opposing the axe head, a dagger-like blade that saw much use in certain fighting styles that made use of return swings after an initial swing. Two-blade configurations omitted the beak. The shaft typically had two major gripping points, one being a pistol grip mounted perpendicular to the polearm shafted, housing the trigger. The second point was a section wrapped in simple material such as leather or plastic to prevent having to grip raw metal. A third point along the shaft was a projection of material also perpendicular to the shaft, that was braced against the shoulder and served as a stock for recoil mitigation.

In operation, two major kinds of lancerifle existed, based on the end that the projectile from the in-built firearm fired from. The first iterations had the gun barrel terminate at the butt of the polearm, such that a melee fighter aiming to deploy the gun would have to flip the weapon around, point it at their target, and then shoot. Later developments used a clockwork mechanism that allowed the various blades of the polearm section to ‘fold’ and be tucked away, revealing the rifle barrel, allowing firing out of the same end that bore the blade components. While this was obviously more popular due to being less cumbersome to utilize in combat, it presented additional problems implicit to complexity, such as more points of failure, additional fragility, and being harder to repair.

That being said, the lancerifle was a success, made particularly so by the Academy only providing them to distinguished operators, and the creation of the ‘MOD-XXX-LR’ fork of the Modular Offensive Division’s artificial ritual, specifically designed for calcic lancerifle applications.

As a digression, a new school of thought formed in the martial-firearm hybrid weapon school of study - this school being defined by seeking to replace the precision weapons that lancerifles were built with… with shotguns or other pellet firing weapons instead. Their argument was that the destructiveness of a shotgun in the range where a polearm was used outmatched that of a precision round, and that the original philosophy of a weapon that was a polearm until you suddenly needed to engage a distant target was a poor one. They argued that instead of creating a weapon 100% effective in melee range and ~80% or so effective at marksman weapon ranges, they should instead craft a tool that would dominate melee range, and leave marksman workloads to marksman weapons. They garnered considerable support among manufacturers and Striders alike, and alongside the lancerifle, many ‘shotlances’ or ‘spreadlances’ were developed, to considerable success.

Further innovation upon the lancerifle however, inevitably led to the abandonment of the usage of driven ballistics entirely. The Precision Accelerator Rifle or the ‘Praxxel Rifle’ was seen as the next logical step for integration into a polearm, and the praxlance was born. Using accelerated particles - turning it into an ‘energy’ weapon - instead of traditional ballistics created a weapon that was far more accurate, just as effective (if not more so) in the ranges where lancerifles were typically deployed, able to utilize different firing patterns based on on-the-fly configurability of its internal enginery, and most importantly, resulted in massively improved destructive power.

The main operating difference in praxlances was a novel approach to firing, in which the blades of the polearm were used to emit the hyper-accelerated particles, allowing the polearm to discharge shaped ‘blasts’ of concentrated energy. The apical spike atop the polearm was used for typical firing applications; pointing it at a target, charging and firing could discharge a hyper-compressed, immensely accurate bolt of energy able to travel long distances and rip through armor and targets alike. The axe head saw a massive upgrade in its destructive potential due to the ability to have a charged ‘package’ of energy ready, discharged right after the axe cleaves into a target, adding a ‘phantom’ second swing to every attack. In a sense, it became an ‘energy melee weapon’, and while it was absolutely capable of engaging at distances suited for a precision rifle weapon, Striders found overwhelmingly more utility in their ability to add glowing-hot destructive energy to their every melee swing.

Their construction is all metal, alloy, fiber and calcic enhancement. In their shaft is the particle accelerating components as well as the enginery and onboard computing necessary for control of discharge and firing patterns. The shaft is built of ultra-tough alloy with shock-dampening properties, preventing the rattling of the sensitive internal components. Preserving the three-blade configuration of their lancerifle ancestors, many add a fourth blade at the butt of the weapon - a ‘nadirical spike’ if you will - that saw usage in return swing or ‘weapon spinning’ fighting styles, or most commonly, as a means to anchor the weapon - standing upright - into the ground, something that saw use in ritual casting and other calcic applications.

And it is in its calcic potential that the praxlance truly solidifies itself as the final Strider weapon. From its shape as a staff to the litany of ‘steps’ in its operation, praxlance-modified MOD rituals contain a litany of actuation points for aspects of the ritual to ‘hook’ on to, allowing Striders to engage calcic abilities and actions on almost every action taken in the operation of the praxlance. Spooling the accelerator, pulling the triggers, spins, swings, thrusts, cleaves - all can have steps in a ritual bound to them, such that the praxlance exists almost in a state of endless chalkweaving. It can be rooted in the ground and used to prepare a much larger cast with it as the focal point. It can enhance a Strider’s ‘handweaving’ of woven charges and other implements. With the MOD ritual it can synergize with Teks, modified on a per-user basis. It can receive massive empowerments through the Flash Protocol. Striders even weave connections between it and their Slate if it is outfitted for combat, and use the onboard computational power to further accentuate the praxlance’s capabilities.

Most of the praxlance’s ‘weaknesses’ are mainly the fact that few but the absolute best of Striders can utilize it to its full potential. The problem of weight of the weapon, heat from its internal enginery, and more problems that would have plagued a conventional imagining of it are solved by the MOD equation baked into it as a matter of necessity. Even in contexts where calcic ability usage is suppressed, the martial aspects of its construction and the inbuilt praxxel weapon systems function entirely without calcic input.

It is, by all metrics, a Strider superweapon.

Depthstriders: Gravity Axles

When planets collapse, their planetary equations are usually the last to resolve, ceasing their calculus and collapsing in upon themselves. The result is an ultra-dense, immensely complex core of woven chalk known as a Gravity Axle. This immensely rare construct is valued by various parties for various reasons; Psychitects covet it as it an essential component for creating planets, chalk Ritualists desire merely flakes of it for casting powerful rituals all the way to the ledgerial cast tier. Flakes of it are built into relic weapons to grant them immense power.

But those who desire it the most - and perhaps have the most ready access to them - are the Vahnkin dwelling in the Challenger Dark.

planets or leftovers from a planet’s collapse can get caught in powerful flux storms, resulting in their being dragged to the depths of the Challenger Dark. Crossing the Challenger Horizon sees a majority of the their calcic mass become stardrip, and fall to the Amaranth Seas below. Some powerful objects with considerable calcic mass and complexity survive, and one such thing as this is the Gravity Axle. Instead it is tainted by the stardrip, and as it dwells in the Challenger Dark, the taint of the stardrip permeates through it more deeply, until its structure transmutes into a crystalline alloy of chalk and depthstone.

This resulting core of crystal alloy is peculiar in that it induces persistent passive curvature around it, concentrated at both ends. Where it is more calcic in structure, it induces curvature, and anti-curvature at the opposite end where depthstone is concentrated.

It thus sees major usage as an immensely powerful Depthstrider weapon, in particular due to what can be accomplished with the ‘pull’ on opposite ends of the Axle. Because they are opposing forces, much of the destructive application of the Gravity Axle comes from spinning it. Left to wind up, it can reach absolutely incredible speeds and deliver criminally crushing blows against a target.

Taken further, it can be used to create flux storms. Rapid changeovers of resultant spatial fourth-dimensional depth causes considerable localized instability, resulting in a warping of the effective altitude of the Void. The resulting flux storms can turn previously-believed safe ground to just inches above the Challenger Horizon, and while the rapidly changing depth is very useful to Depthstriders who can use their powers with lessened difficulty due to the nearness of the Void, others find themselves far less fortunate as the flux storm begins devouring everything nearby, including latent chalk.

As an actual weapon, it functions much like a quarterstaff, and sees various manners of use in skilled hands. Control of the curvature around it allows it to ‘fly’, and some Depthstriders fight with it autonomously; that being that instead of wielding the Axle, they puppeteer it from afar to deliver crushing blows after every moment it has to wind up. Others use it more conventionally, swinging it and using the power of curvature to accelerate their swings and deliver heavier blows. The passive curvature induced by it sees Depthstriders requiring less effort to use their curvature reliant powers, as well as when Taking and being Given from the Void.

Pale Amarans: Antamaran Felkrivfts

A weapon with a storied history.

In a time the Antamaran Fel-Arcad had begun to accumulate a fair bit of political muscle among the wider Fel-Arcad, the first talks of seriously finding a means to close the Challenger Horizon and seal the Void for good began. In a move utterly uncharacteristic of the Fel-Arcad, they allowed their worries to take hold of their reason and thus consider an all out elimination of the Challenger Dark, irrespective of all who dwell within it.

This, naturally, could not be done on a whim, and first a means to possibly close the Horizon had to be found. This led to incursions into the Void by Antamaran Fel, who set up forward bases, outposts and routes between them, generally allowing them to establish a tangible presence in the Void. When the Vahnkin learned of why they were there, and thus their larger plans to eliminate the Void from existence, thereby possibly reducing the calculative load on the Astrolabe and then possibly stopping or postponing a second Refrain, open hostilities between the two factions began, destabilizing the general climate of the Void, creating enmity between the Fel-Arcad and the Vahnkin, and generally creating far-reaching social consequences that led to the souring of the relationship between dwellers of the Dancirah and the dwellers in Isalveh.

But before all that, the Antamaran Fel fought in skirmishes across the Challenger Dark against the children of Vahn and the Daughters of the Deep. The Antamaran Fel believed that the secrets of altering the boundary between the Void and the Dancirah lay in the Void itself, and thus they waged overt and covert warfare in the form of open campaigns and clandestine operations, sneaking in through the backdoors to plunder the fiefdoms of the Void Daughters, or storming their walls and castles to take whatever they felt would be useful by force.

These campaigns weren’t without considerable cost and losses however; the Antamaran fought on unfamiliar turf against an unfamiliar enemy, and even with the considerable power chalkweaving granted and the Fel-Arcad’s superior technology, it was difficult opposing the numbers and righteous fervor possessed by the children of Vahn, as well as their superior knowledge and experience, not to even begin to talk of the non-kin threats presented by the Void itself.

For these reasons and many others, including dwindling popularity, the apathy emerging from protracted conflict, and the general souring disposition towards their cause - stemming in no small part from their response to most of their actions producing no tangible results and plenty of widespread death and destruction being “Surely the next!” - the Antamaran knew they would need to develop a new strategy; find some magic bullet that would turn tides in their favor. Some device or tactic or power that would nullify all the advantages the Vahnkin possessed.

No such thing ever came, however, and after drying up all fund and resolve, the Antamaran Fel were pushed back, and then out of the Challenger Dark, leaving only scorched battlegrounds and soured feelings. It was by all metrics, an inarguable loss; a catastrophe of storybook proportions.

But not entirely.

Sensing their relegation to obscurity - or worse, total annihilation - the Antamaran brokered with Spyndl Academy, aiming to tap into their extensive knowledge of both the Void, calcodynamics and weapons development, the former achieved through the Academy’s somewhat covert flux diving operations, both to rescue those who had fallen into the Challenger Dark, and the Academy’s own study of the Void and Vahnkin in the spirit of due diligence. This weapons development was done covertly to shield the truth of their activities away from the Vahnkin, though many came to speculate that Academy involvement was present once the weapon emerged.

Dubbed the ‘Felkrivft’, it became the answer to how one might wield the power of both the Sky and Deep, chalk and the Void, polar white and polar black. The ramifications of its creation were so great that many tie it to creation of what would come to be the entire Pale Amaran discipline. While many had dabbled in harnessing both alignments before, it was this final, concerted effort between Spyndl and the Antamaran that broke the final barriers and wrote the first rulebooks on the new discipline.

The weapon in make is classed under the Fel-Arcad’s ‘felkr weapons’; weapons defined by their dual-bladed assembly and the immense difficulty required to effectively wield them. The first Felkrivfts followed this design language to an extent, before forking off slightly. For one, they were more like polearms, the foundational felkrivfts being dual-bladed scythes, blades at both ends and facing opposing directions, creating an already imposing silhouette for a weapon designed to break boundaries of thought itself.

It then became a matter of determining what design doctrines would become the baseline; felkrivfts inherited their older brother’s - the felkrave - ability to spilt into individual weapons, the dual-scythe becoming a pair of kama. Taking inspiration from the equipment used by flux divers, chains were integrated into the assembly, vastly changing how the weapon was built, looked, and functioned. For a while, a number of designs resembled kurisigama, deviating entirely from the polearm design to have scythe blades on chains with heavy weights at the end. This design was particularly favored by the Spyndl Academy, and in fact they armed many of their flux divers and depthstriders with it, dubbing it the ‘Spyndl Felkr’, ‘chain felkr’ or the ‘Chandlkr’ (PHldr.). It did not satisfy the Antamaran Fel, however, who saw it as too great a deviation from the design of the existing Felkr weapons.

The solution to this was, incredibly, a compromise. The felkrivft that the Antamaran finally accepted as a workable base design was a three-segment-staff design, each segment joined to the other by a short but extensible length of chain. The two farthest ends would typically have blades, often a long scythe blade, though some models had more axe-like blades and others had weights at an end. But the true power of the weapon was its dynamic reach, made possible by the chain within and it’s more esoteric construction choices, particularly materials-wise.

At the core of the felkrivft’s construction and what facilitates its additional abilities is pale amaranthite, a stable crystalline alloy of pure chalk and amaranthite, manifesting as purple glass inlaid with streaks of white and black. When pale amara is integrated into a design, it attunes its functionality with both chalk and the depths, allowing it to act as a conduit and staging ground for constructive interactions between aspects of both, instead of destructive ‘cancelling out’. In a sense, it is a catalyst for reactions that were possible between aspects of the Void and the depths, but required conditions that were too specific to naturally occur. Pale amara bridges this gap.

In the physical make of the felkrivft, made possible by pale amara, is a constant rift to the opposing plane of where the felkrivft is currently present. Should it be in the Dancirah, the felkrivft’s internal rift will be a gateway to Isalveh, and vice versa. In this rift are stored additional components of the felkrivfts construction, most particularly its chain. By using curvature manipulation also made possible by the pale amara in the construction, the felkrivft can extend and retract the chain and by proxy its staff sections, allowing for a considerable attack radius, unorthodox offensive and defensive tactics and any number of utility functions that one can deduce from ‘having a very long chain on demand’, such as binding targets or increased mobility. The rift on some models even allows for dynamic switching of weapon heads, changing blades to weights or one make of blade for another as the situation demands. The additional power of curvature manipulation also makes the weight far more devastating, as it can have its weight preternaturally and disproportionately increased for truly devastating damage.

With those being its polar black powers, its polar white ones allow the felkrivft to be used in chalkweaving and as a caster-class weapon, though this is taken one step further in the form of the horizon ritualism; chalk ritualism that can make use of components native to the Void and thus interact with Void-tied subject matter. This grants it powers in an expansion upon the already versatile discipline of chalk ritualism. With the felkrivft being capable of horizon ritualism, it can interface with the wielder’s Teks, be subject to Void-inflicted Skews that grant it longer-lasting-though-removable modifications to its functionality, and can even - with some makes - cast the Pale Amaran’s powerful Full Spectra techniques, drawing upon both chalk and the depths to perform truly fearsome feats.

And by such, the felkrivft took a hallowed position in the Dancirah’s canon. Though it did not arrive on time to save those who desired it from destruction, perhaps that is for the best, as it has been pondered by many whether the Vahnkin of Isalveh would have been able to defeat an enemy infringing on their turf… if that enemy was wielding their own turf against them.

Esomechanists: The Teeth of Ryjik

Superclass Esoteric Arms

Old writ from the main doc subject to revision.

An excerpt from Glass;

But the most storied bit of knowledge acquired from the inquiry of Ryjik was in the making of weaponry. Before the attack on the Trinary Complex in the Vitric Shelf, Skydancers Onuris, The Hammer, and Ryjik, the Eater, collaborated in shaping a weapon. A weapon that harnessed chalk, glass, their stable crystalline-complex and the scintillate glass-inversion. It was called the PRISMpick, and it had power that spanned the DevitNet and the Dancirah. With it, with a single strike, it could breach and seize control of any network, any computational device, carve a path into any Vault, sunder any weave, and contend even with - admittedly - lesser ritualism. Within it was the power of Skydancer Ryjik; the power to eat, and render impotent.

Link to original

The PRISMpick was the first of the weapons that would come to be known as the Teeth of Ryjik. With their power and nature known and yet not fully explored, they became incredibly coveted. Forging them is no easy task, as glass is a material that actively opposes being worked upon. As such, so few of them exist that they have attained the status of myth, the PRISMpick itself being lost during the Refrain. This has only cultivated more interest in forging more of them, by any means possible, as those who wield them are believed to be able to defeat any obstacle to their aims, be it chalkweaver or construct.

Link to original

The Esomechanist superclass suffers - primarily - from a solid foundation upon which to develop and utilize powers. The Chalkweaver and the Depthstrider have chalk and the depths, and the Pale Amaran has both even, but the Esomechanist has none.

Thus, it is necessary for an aspiring Esomechanist to level the playing field though any means possible. One such means is learning to harness glass, the great equalizer, that which shreds complexity down to tatters. The Teeth of Ryjik are thus a major interest of all who fall under the Esomechanist domain, and though their weapons are scarce, those that come to wield them wield power in the Switchboard few can rival.

As such, there is no definite ‘shape’ for the Esomechanist’s super-class weapons, merely a boundary that something can grow and fill to become it. Working backwards from this however, has led many to adopt the usage of glass in their weaponry.

Combat Grafts

It is required that you have read The Lattice as a Canvas before this.

Striders may choose to get various grafts installed on their person that grant combat abilities, particularly in the case of chrome-based grafts. These grafts somewhat interface with a Strider’s calcic powers, but generally they must be designed to do so. In some cases, the Flash Protocol: Flashcharge can be used to supercharge a graft.

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Relic Arms & Weapon Abilities

The most powerful weapons in the Switchboard are relics; weapons that have had their mundane properties enhanced as well as new ones conferred upon them through calcic enhancement. While relics can be found naturally in the Switchboard (often encased as the final plunder in Vaults), most wielders of relics crafted them themselves, and this done through the usage of rituals.

The most infamous of these of course being the Modular Offensives Division’s ritual, developed under the authority of the Academy’s CARP - Collaborative Artificial Rituals Project. The continually iterated-upon MOD ritual serves as a powerful, highly configurable baseplate for Striders and Weavers crafting a relic-weapon for themselves. Of particular utility is the ability to create weapon abilities.

While weapon abilities are arguably a part of a subject’s kit and fighting style, they are far more accurately a component or part of the weapon that bears the ritual that enables their usage. Additionally, being a part of the weapon and not the Strider themselves, they are not bound by certain limitations that abilities tied to or dependent on the Strider are;

• Weapon abilities are ‘cast’ from the weapon’s own internal chalk reserve, meaning that if the subject is unable to use calcic abilities, or is unraveled, they are still able to use weapon abilities.
• Subjects can use the weapon abilities in weapons that aren’t necessarily theirs.
• Weapon abilities do not inflict unraveling on the subject using them, meaning they can be cast fairly infinitely.

Relic weapons have a Relic Skillset, which is a series of powers a relic weapon possesses due to the ritualism inculcated in its makeup. These powers can be offensive, defensive or utility powers, with some relics having a burst that can expend a massive amount of chalk to perform a greatly empowered cast.

Martial Arts in the Switchboard

There is an art to combat in the Switchboard, and schools for teaching those arts. Merely swinging a weapon will get you nowhere, and thus it is essential that one learns the formal disciplines of combat, as outlined in the Martial Disciplines.

As a note, a T0 category of ‘Martial Disciplines’ is added to all of the Arsenals outlined under ‘The Super Classes’, and the Arsenal Cards elaborated upon under ‘pNarrat Concept: Character Arsenals’. Proficiency in each discipline is given in three rankings; Innate, Practiced and Novice.

• Innate: Perhaps even born with it; a level of proficiency that comes close to those of masters. Even with weaker techniques you keep opponents kissing the floor, and with strong ones you are whirlwind of effective violence.

• Practiced: Clearly you’ve done the homework; caught between the beginning and the end, a level of proficiency is on display here that shows having learned plenty.

• Novice: Ah, you’ve tripped over yourself; newness stinks like dried sweat from old clothes, and perhaps you shouldn’t preform these techniques in front of more critical masters, lest you insult them and earn a broken nose for your time.

Armor of the Switchboard

Passive defense remains an essential component of engagements in the Switchboard. The ability to passively mitigate damage allows for fighting longer and surviving engagements with minimal injury. In our world, armor follows a very elementary ruleset of physics; armor is ultimately a task of mitigating incident forces, distributing the energy in a manner that prevents it from dissipating into the subject of armoring. In the Switchboard, this interaction is tackled at the macro level, but at the micro level - the ribbon level - more specialized armor is capable of mitigating damage by calcic means.

Counter-Weft

The most elementary armors in the Switchboard operate using the macroscopic principles that govern calcic interactions, which function fairly inline with our own real-world physics. Incident force - motive weft - strikes a hypothetical armor piece, and that weft is distributed around the armor in optimal conditions, preventing that motive weft from being absorbed by whatever the armor is protecting, and subsequently damaging it. In this case, armor construction follows very elementary principles outlined further on with regards to construction.

Armor that operates alongside the micro calcic principles, however, is a little different. Hypothetically, if a piece of armor could unravel incident motive weft as it strikes, it would utterly negate it, and thus be the theoretical - and in most cases, the ultimate - defensive measure, in that it shields against the most common form of damage. Doing this, however, would require armor that possesses a ‘reverse equation’ on it. The workings of this is very easy to outline; should armor that possess the equation for unravelling a certain kind of weft be struck by that weft, it can unravel it into chalk ribbon, nullifying it and whatever danger it poses.

Unfortunately, the equation to unravel motion into nothing in the Switchboard is unknown to the entirety of the Switchboard’s peoples. At absolute best, armor can be designed to stomach an impact by slowing it, but then that armor is forced to confront the fact that motive weft within an object transmutes into thermal weft when the moving object is slowed. A bullet that hits armor may be absorbed, but then the armor must contend with the fact the bullet heats up as well, and armor resistant to force may not necessarily be resistant to heat. While fabricating materials that can fit both bills is possible - the Fel-Arcad are particularly adept at the fabrication of metamaterials - there still arises the problem of cost and availability. In theory, armor that makes use of the fact glass can spin heat into motion could distribute that heat into making the armor vibrate, but using glass in general is avoided wherever possible, especially in cases where the device will be struck repeatedly with the intent to destroy it.

The imagined recourse was then to make armor that was able to unravel target objects, such as incident bullets and blades. But this too was mostly undoable. In theory, if a bullet spun into being by an equation struck armor that possessed the reversal of that bullet’s equation, that bullet would be summarily unraveled on impact, and thus pose little by way of threat to the person struck. The problem with this is that one must then account for every single kind of bullet used in the Switchboard. And even then, even if one could fit the writ necessary to unravel every kind of bullet on a piece of armor, it still would not be maximally effective if those bullets were not perfectly spun by their equations to begin with. There is a degree of inaccuracy to chalkweaving that means that the product of an equation might not necessarily be perfectly unwound by the corresponding reverse equation. The bullet problem in particular is greatly troublesome as most chalkweavers spin their own bullets into being as needed, meaning chalkweaver opponents all have their own unique ammunition that cannot possibly be accounted for by counter weft armor.

If the reverse equation for a threat is known, armor can specifically be built to mitigate against it. This is useful for armor meant to counter the caustic effects of stardrip, for example, or armor used to counteract known offensive measures employed by Vault Minds. That being said, acquisition of a reverse equation is ultimately the product of luck; there is no real way to obtain one under the conventional mechanics of the verse.

As such, most advanced armor in the Switchboard makes use of the calcic ritualism instead. Rather than aiming to counter a specific threat - such as a specific class of projectile - ritualism armor aims to mitigate the broader class that threat belongs to, such as fast-moving projectiles. In this manner, the ritual writ on the armor can - less efficiently than a reverse equation would - mitigate incident damage.

Construction

Armor in the Switchboard broadly only needs to deal with two things; motive weft and thermal weft, or motion and heat. In turn, armor generally needs to be capable of dealing with both, as incident motive weft can become thermal weft under suitable conditions. Thermal weft only ever becomes motive weft via negentropic action.

The motion to heat conversion problem is a particularly poignant one. If struck by a projectile, armor that deflects that projectile is generally quite safe, as very little slowing - and thus motion to heat conversion - occurs. If the armor stomachs the hit however, slowing that projectile from immense velocities down to a hard stop generates a considerable amount of localized heating. Armor ill-suited to absorbing thermal weft can have this inductive weave breach the armor down to the lattice underneath, causing a rather expected slew of problems. If the armor is very good at absorbing it however, but suffers material degradation by doing so, the armor is then subject to limits of time and frequency; struck in the same place frequently enough - and struck frequently enough in general - it will eventually fail.

The recourse - then - is to find a means to oppose inductive weft.

One such solution is an analogue for explosive reactive armor or ERA as we see in our world. It is terribly simple; when struck, armor plating explodes outwards, counteracting the incident motive weft by never letting it be absorbed by the larger armor body. In some cases, the armor can even regenerate the material that’s blown outwards, meaning that fast-regenerating armor or infrequently-occurring attacks allows for virtually unlimited protection from attack.

The limitations of this, however, are that the inductive motive weft produced by the explosive reaction must be less than the inductive motive weft that would have been sustained by simply taking the projectile. This means that in the vast majority of cases, ERA in the Switchboard works in the exact use cases that it does in our own world; counteracting explosive weaponry such as rocket-propelled grenades and similar. ERA armor is thus wholly unusable on personnel, as using a close-proximity explosion to counter a small projectile is decidedly unwise. It instead sees widespread application on vehicles, such as the ubiquitous personal jumpships that crisscross the Dancirah.

Armor more suited for personnel must thus function by either sustaining the damage in a manner that - as much as is materially possible - does not compromise the armor’s integrity over an amount of time, or uses some kind of trick, technique or likewise to dissipate motive and thermal inductive weft. The former category are passive armors, and their effectiveness is entirely dependent on their material makeup. Combinations of alloys and metamaterials are used in these armor assemblies to give them their varying degrees of protection, but they in turn suffer any drawback that comes from the specific materials used in their make, the most common being weight.

The latter category - armor that utilizes some trick or technique - are the active personnel armors, and exploit calcic mechanics to provide the protection that they do. The general idea of these active armors is to, by some means, sustain, move and then expel inductive weft in some manner. Primarily, they do so via a combination of mechanical construction and calcic ritualism.

The broad forms of this armor are as such;

• Vibration distribution armor, that sustains motive weft and rapidly dissipates it throughout the armor structure before it can become heat, resulting in the armor intensely vibrating when heavily struck. This is accomplished via combination of material makeup and the calcic ritualism but to varying degrees, such that armor that favors material assembly to reach the same level of damage mitigation will be heavier, but armor that favors the calcic ritualism will lose the weight at the expense of more complexity - and thus - points of failure.

  • A more robust form of this armor is armor that allows the incident inductive motive weft to become heat, but utilizes glass material built into the armor to spin that motion into heat via glass’ negentropic action, and distribute that motion around the armor’s bulk. This armor is considerably more effective - the above being subject to conditions such as the material properties and the speed of the ritualism’s action to mitigate as much of the impact as possible - such that it does indeed see utilization in the Switchboard. That being said, the employment of glass makes it immensely dangerous and subject to strict regulation, and in some cases not worth the risk.

• Vent armor, which functions by ‘gathering’ either thermal or motive weft in some way, and ‘venting’ it out of the armor assembly. Doing so for thermal weft is fairly popular, as the armor assembly will simply constitute a layer that conducts heat rapidly, linked to some external venting mechanism on the armor, such as thermal exhausts on the back. Accumulated heat from the slowing of a projectile is rapidly conducted away from the site of incidence to where it is vented. The limitations of this are expectedly the speed at which heat is vented, the thermal uptake rate of the material, and its heat capacity - that being how much heat it can take before catastrophic failure.

  • Venting armor does benefit from being able to be outfitted with a number of auxiliary functions, however. Thermal capacitors on the armor assembly can grant a reservoir of thermal weft for utilization, and with - again, at considerable risk - glass convertors can effectively create a form of armor that can be ‘charged’ with motive potential, that can then be expended on powerful movement. This application is particularly useful in building robust armored suits that must overcome their own weight to move around.
  • Additionally, this armor can benefit from using glass. Rather than venting heat, it is faster to collect the heat and vent it as motion after negentropic conversion, the venting being accomplished by forcing something on the armor assembly to move - such as rapidly oscillating heavy pistons.

Going beyond the mere defensive potential of armor, it serves as a useful mounting point for a number of auxiliary devices for additional functions, such as slates and other communications and compute devices, Jaunteer enginery for flight both on-planet and beyond it, weftloaders to enable elementary chalkweaving for those that don’t have the protocol, and all manners of weaponry for added potential upon the person wearing.

The Armor Conundrum

Despite armor’s obvious and less so benefits, its usage isn’t ubiquitous throughout the Switchboard, and - more surprisingly so - is hardly used in the highest levels of play; the strongest Striders versus the strongest dangers the Switchboard has to offer. Why is this the case?

Most swiftly put; the Strider Protocol. Armor adds considerable weight to the launch overhead, and as such, wearing decent armor by any metric greatly curtails or even outrightly prevents the ability for the wearer to stride. Armor reducing regular mobility is already generally seen as a solid argument against it, but outrightly preventing one of the more defining powers the Third Kin possess was seen as too great a tradeoff for much of those who - ironically - are in need of the utility armor presents in the first place.

For the upper echelon of fighters in the Switchboard - Spyndl Academy’s Operators in most cases - much of their utility as assets comes from their rapid deployment speed. Spyndl Operators can be nearly anywhere in the Switchboard within mere seconds, and it is this nigh-omnipresence that makes them as fearsome as they are. Achieving this, however, requires a very literal doctrine of ‘travelling light’, where Operators really only ever carry the carefully chosen clothes on their back, their weapons, and a small cache of only the most necessary tools. Anything extraneous needs to be delivered after the Operators, or brought in alongside them via jumpship.

This does present an interesting operating landscape for Spyndl’s Operators in particular; in situations where time isn’t of the essence, they can afford to use slower transport methods such as jumpships, which also allow for carrying more equipment - such as armor - meaning they are more prepared for the task at hand and any that might arise. But in circumstances where an Operator’s rapid deployment speed is necessary - something often proportional to the scale of what needs dealing with - Operators arrive far less geared up than they might have liked, or might be truly optimal. In a sense, dangerous situations are met with worse preparedness, because the cost of getting and being prepared is an exacerbation of the situation under consideration.

It is a problem that plagues Spyndl’s masters of operations, who’ve coined up everything from exotic super-metamaterials to Dancirah-wide supply launch depots as a means of solving this problem, but Spyndl’s Operators have come to pursue a completely different path; ‘getting good’. The solution, as it were, was to simply not need armor. Become skilled enough to not get hit, to mitigate damage using other means, and to regenerate from whatever damage that is taken as quickly and optimally as possible. The problem is then turned on its head almost, in that the situations and circumstances which demand armored response passively and actively select for response personnel who don’t need it. Particularly capable Striders do wear light armor made of materials that define the absolute highest echelons of metamaterial engineering, but many simply go without, relying solely on their powers to protect themselves as they operate within the Dancirah.

For those without the need to stride particularly long distances or at all, armor’s utility expectedly shines through.

Limits

Armor in the Switchboard has some hard limitations with regards to what it can defend against.

• Various kinds of inductive weft that aren’t thermal and motive are fairly capable of bypassing armor and reaching the lattice beneath, as countering this weave actively would require the usage of reverse equations.

• The two major forms of damage inherent to the Void - raw spatial damage and siphon damage - operate fairly differently. Spatial damage comes with an intrinsic armor bypass, in the sense that it outrightly overwhelms the vast majority of all motive weave mitigation methods, resulting in the armor itself compounding the damage taken by the lattice below. Siphon damage is fairly worse, caustically peeling away the chalk weft of the armor and thus destroying it. Armor that cannot regenerate through any means will need repair.

• Armor abjectly fails against glass. It really only serves to give the wearer a bit of insulation against incident glass - and thus precious seconds to react by disrobing as fast as possible. In most cases however, armor being an extra layer of material really only serves to give glass more time and matter with which to build vitric momentum, and thus wearing armor can actually make glass more difficult to recover from. Some armor is outfitted with ERA systems - even personnel armor - to explode when glass incidence is detected. Physical removal of glass remains the most effective way of countering it, and many will gladly take the injury of pointblank explosions on their person over the uniquely dreadful fate that is glass’ unwanted perfection.

Inductive Debuffs

An expansion upon inductive damage described above. SB_Physiology is recommended reading for this section.

In fashion not too dissimilar from various interactive media, certain abilities and techniques in the Switchboard can inflict inductive effects in the form of debuffs. These debuffs are inductive weave that attack either the lattice, straits or both and cause temporarily lasting effects that may impair the targets functions or even harm them outrightly.

Below is a collated list, featuring various named debuffs and how they affect the subject.

Category One - Damage-Over-Times

These are effects defined primarily by causing very direct harm to the lattice of the subject.

• Burns
  • Inductive weave that damages the outermost layers of the lattice, primarily the apical hardshell and superficial crown. While burns does visually inspire fire, it more generally refers to inductive weave effects that are outwardly visible.
• Blights
  • Inductive weave that damages the innermost layers of the lattice, more specifically the basal hardshell. Blights operate more like poisons and disease, slowly, gradually, but catastrophically wreaking havoc as they pass through a lattice. Blights often describe less visible inductive weave phenomena, though damage from blights can show on the topmost layers as a second-order consequence.

Both burns and blights additional inflict damage on the interface recesses, which cause feelings of pain and/or ill-health in the subject. Deeply-penetrating burns and blights can indeed make it the ender fossa and damage the straits, though this layer is heavily insulated and thus considerably less vulnerable to suffering from this occurring.

Category Two - Impairs

These effects cause little to no damage, and are instead defined by how they obstruct or disrupt the normal functioning of the lattice or - more commonly - the straits. For the latter point in particular, they are further classified by what specifically they impair, be it a layer of the lattice or an individual strait.

Motive Framework Impairs These impairs affect the motive framework layer of the lattice, a structure mechanically responsible for movement, agility, strength and dexterity; the overall physicality of a subject outside of passive qualities such as constitution and endurance.

• Slow
  • Inductive weave that attacks the motive framework’s equations, starving them of the chalk required to function. This inductive effect particularly targets the motive framework of the legs, making one immensely slow to move.
• Encase
  • An exaggerated form of Slow that is additionally paired with material manifestation. Effects such as freezing a target or crystallizing parts of their body manifest as inductive weave creating material deposits within the cavities of the motive framework, directly impairing the effectiveness of the elastic substructures. Encase effects are often additionally paired with inflicting brittleness on the hardshell plating, making them subject to being shattered along with the accumulated material upon sufficient incident force.
• Weak
  • Inductive weave that targets the parts of the motive framework that governs the arms, making one far less capable of feats of strength. Carrying objects such as weapons and cargo becomes far more difficult, even impossible, and offensive actions such as striking are consequently more difficult as well.

Interface Strait Impairs These impairs affect the ability to take in information from the environment, as well as release information back into it. Considering that the interface strait is necessary for perceiving the environment and performing chalkweaving, inductive effects targeting the interface strait are of considerable concern.

• Blind/Deafen
  • These are treated simultaneously due to their relative similarity; disruption in the intake capabilities of localized nexuses of purpose-specific interface weft in turn curtails their ability to function. Targeting the interface strait in the eyes impairs the ability to take in color information, and the strait in the ears results in similar; reduced proficiency in hearing, as well as detecting spatial distortion, making deafened subjects vulnerable to the Void.
• Silence
  • A disruption in the interface strait that prevents the subject from speaking. This is particularly hazardous in that it prevents the subject from using any ability or technique that has a verbal component, ruling out nearly the entirety of calcic ritualism. Additionally, many in the Switchboard use impositions to empower their relatively weaker (effective T1-T3 Arsenal Card entries) techniques, these impositions operating by verbally pronouncing the name of the technique as it is used, the delay in saying the name before using the technique - as well as purposefully divulging its name and thus information on its workings to an enemy - being the maluses one endures in exchange for pure potency. Being silenced prevents making use of such mechanics.

Computational Strait Impairs Perhaps the most dire of them all, impairs that affect the computational strait directly affect the ability for the subject to perform computation - thinking - and thus result in a litany of cross-board impairments that greatly incapacitate the functioning of a target.

• Stun
  • The most common of the bunch, a stun is merely a blip in the smooth running of the computational strait, causing the cessation of nearly all functions momentarily. That being said, disrupting smooth thinking can still be majorly consequential, such as prematurely terminating channeled rituals, to preventing a target from fully weaving chalk construct, causing it to collapse. Even the briefest of stuns is still enough to interrupt regular calcic function, and create a window of vulnerability against a subject.
• Confuse
  • A direct attack on the equations present in the computational strait, skewing their functionality and causing misbehaviors. Considering the equations of the computational strait parse all information entering and leaving the subject, for as long they are under the confusion effect, they are unable to make sense of anything going on within or outside of them. Attempting execution of techniques while confused can cause them to fail, or miscast, which can have catastrophic effects.

Strider Combat

A section to talk about Strider combat in practice; less so the mere listing of everything that contributes to a Strider’s arsenal and rather how these components are utilized in actual combat engagements.

The Strider’s arsenal can somewhat be grouped into martial weaponry, ranged weaponry, and calcic abilities - which then means that the skills a Strider needs to cultivate to be effective in combat are melee fighting, marksmanship and weaving/casting. Development of these skills is as imaginable; practice and study.

Enemy classes are broadly classifiable into two; humanoid and non-humanoid. Humanoid foes are most commonly other Striders, Weavers, Grounded and some more esoterica. Non-humanoid foes are described in Switchboard Fauna. A better way to classify might be along the lines of intelligence; thinker-fighters like other Striders are dangerous in ways that demand careful approach, but true proficiency in combat comes from approaching all combat in this manner; as a series of complex puzzles that must be solved, a set of locks for which there are many keys.

In which we then talk about how do Striders learn to fight. The sheer diversity of threats in the Switchboard means it is reasonably impossible to equip any one subject for every single one. A more rational approach is taken; teaching and training to use all the components of their arsenal as effectively as possible - to hit hard, shoot straight and weave true under pressure - and then provide information available on certain common targets, but most of all teaching adaptability. The difference in efficacy between two relatively equally equipped Striders comes down to who can respond best and fastest to dynamically changing challenges tabled before them. It is why versatility is so important; you can prepare for a lot of it, but not all of it, and you must be able to cover for what you can’t prepare for with what you can do in a given moment to steer an engagement to success.

As such, experience goes a long way. Frequent sojourners face more, and if they survive, learn more. As they survive, they get better at doing it, as experimentation continually yields rewards in the form of strategies and weaponry to be deployed against future examples of the same combat engagement. It raises the question of whether Strider Combat at its highest levels can be taught, and the answer to that is somewhat split; you can teach methods of fighting high-level Striders, but not how to fight every high-level Strider.

Speaking more on the combat practice, the nature of the Theory of Damage means that weapons and weave that sufficiently damage a target will eventually be able to fell it. Combat is a damage race; use all methods available to you to defeat a target, either by death, incapacitation or forcing surrender. Skillful application of these methods will counteract the same methods being applied against you. Victory is found at the intersection.

On Strider Combat: Power Progression

Power Progression by Striders in particular is a fairly linear path walked from simpler, less specialized combat methods to complex, powerful and unique ones that form a part of a Strider’s overall combat ‘style’. Progression along this line is done through cultivation of skill, acquisition of knowledge, and tangible, physical rewards for pursuits and adventuring through the Switchboard.

Newborn Striders begin with only their Strider and Weave Protocols. The Weave Protocol grants elementary means of attack and defense, and the Strider Protocol remains the premier method of escape from overly dangerous engagements. The Weave Strike is the first weave power learned by subjects in this category, and further offensive ability is obtained through acquiring a mundane weapon. Having a solid doctrine - and thus doctrinal power - grants an edge over those at your tier, as there is so little differentiation in methods that often mere raw strength can cover for calcic insufficiency.

Practice and instruction in the Weave Protocol translates to acquisition of the remaining weave powers - the charge, shield, dash and woven weapon - and the woven weapon in particular is a considerable jump in offensive capability, as chalk-augmented weapons are far more effective than mundane ones.

The next major leaps in strength comes in deliberate pursuit of certain schools of practice in the Switchboard. Striders and Weavers with proficiency in the Weave Protocol can immediately begin their study and practice of rituals, providing a rapid acceleration of their ‘power level’ as they gain access to the swathe of abilities presented by rituals. For exclusive Chalkweavers, this is typically where their power progression ends.

Striders on the other hand have the ability to launch out into the Switchboard and gain more power in the form of tangible boons reaped from exploration. Striders in the Academy are granted access to the MOD ritual schema, transforming their mundane weapons into formidable calcic implements - artificial relics - capable of considerable damage. Exploration of the Switchboard’s Wellsprings can yield a Strider’s first Tek, a defining element of a Strider’s gradually cultivated fighting style. Striders learn quis - quikasts - around this time as well out of necessity due to the nature of their preoccupations, especially if they serve the Academy. Ritual schema are plundered from the Great Sky’s bounty as well.

The acquisition of weave powers, relic weapons, Tek, quis, rituals and additional odds and ends obtained from exploration and plundering the Great Sky allows for a Strider to begin crafting a unique fighting style by which they will be known to other denizens of the Switchboard. This particular step attained on the progression ladder is a significant one, as a Strider outfitted in such a manner is more than ready to take on most challenges that exist in the Switchboard.

But of course, further progression is possible through deeper exploration. Striders that have obtained a distinct fighting style are often ready to begin Kache Krashing operations into the Switchboard’s Vaults, where they can retrieve all manners of boons that serve as direct upgrades to their preexisting powers.

Drinking of the ancient chalk in Vaults much like drinking of the chalk of wellsprings serves to ‘age’ or mature a Strider’s lattice, empowering their weave powers. Esoteric Teks modify existing Teks a Strider possesses, serving as either buffs, side-grades or even complete overhauls to how the Tek functions. Vaults may contain relic weapons or other artifacts - natural relics with spontaneously evolved equations baked with them, which can boast unparalleled power and often demand a revision to a Strider’s fighting style to accommodate them. Ritual schema are a common content of Vaults as well, granting Striders new quis and rituals to cast alongside their more in-built powers.

As the Strider grows more skilled and powerful, they may be able to utilize a second Tek - even a third - and modify any or all with multiple esoteric Teks. But true command over the Weave and the Strider Protocols is displayed using the Flash Protocol. Just as the pyramid narrows significantly moving from Weavers to Striders, it narrows even further going from Striders incapable of using the Flash to Striders who can. Flash Protocols define Striders, and crown their fighting styles with completion.

From here on out, the only way a Strider can become more powerful via things they acquire rather than develop is through prime relics and titles. Prime relics are so incalculably rare as to be nearly impossible to actively pursue, and titles are obtained through continuous practice and earning repute across the Switchboard. Prime relics in particular push Striders into all-new heights of strength, and often after acquiring one do they obtain a title. Striders at this tier are immortalized in the tapestry of the Switchboard.

The progression ladder can also be imagined as having other, smaller ladders running parallel to it. Various other means of obtaining strength exist, ranging from Striders who obtain chromegrafts to grant mechanical augments to their powers, and Striders who obtain powerful slates and become Glassbreakers capable of speaking to and controlling machines - to Depthstriders who forego chalk entirely and seek power from the Amaranth, granting the ability to be Given and to Take from the Void, empower weapons with anti-calcic properties, and perfect fighting styles revolving around altering the local curvature of space to manipulate gravity. Each of these paths - parallel ladders - can be pursued to considerable ends of their own, and those who sit at the highest in each of them are nothing to be scoffed at.

Because above all else, knowledge and experience can go a distance that no blade, bullet or weave can. Even more important than having a diverse and powerful kit is knowing how to most effectively wield it, and that isn’t something that can be taught in most cases. The real most powerful members of the Switchboard are those who have made jaunt after jaunt and obtained victory after victory and have sustained - but survived - numerous failures, because of what they have seen. Veteran Striders, absolute paragons of Striders, are seen using arguably simpler kits because they have cultivated fighting styles in which they can always reach their win condition. Their power comes from versatility and adaptability that comes from openness in their fighting style designed. Knowledge of a vast swathe of threats naturally allows them to design their fighting style to be prepared for as many as possible, and that is how they appear to the uninitiated as outrightly undefeatable.

On Strider Combat: Cross-Arsenal Interplay

The cultivation of a fighting style in the Switchboard requires the accumulation of various forms of power, and their amalgamation into a final, cohesive unit, wieldable by a denizen of the Switchboard. This cohesion may need to be created, and one such way this is done is by seeing what parts of a subject’s arsenal can enhance with other parts of it.

A Strider’s Tek for example, could be woven into their elementary weave powers, allowing for it to be used in various ways. Rituals can be encased in woven grenades and thrown to increase their effective range and quis can empower the woven abilities to give them powers beyond regular equations. More such interactions exist. It is particularly exhibited in how Weavers use their Teks, as Teks are ultimately abilites that expedite the execution of certain feats which - done through weaving chalk, attempted even - would prove incredibly difficult when not outrightly impossible.

There is plenty of cross-arsenal interplay seen in how devices like chromegrafts and Slates interact with the rest of the subject’s arsenal.

As a case study of how Teks are used in an arsenal, we can consider legendary Strider Adven Ventura and his Trajectory Calculator Tek, a modification Tek that allows him to draw parabolic slide rules and calculate the path of any freely moving object in space. His Trajectory Calculator allows him to ensure his Priming Bolt weave strike always strikes its target. His Saboteur’s Charge and Interceptor Flechette also benefit from the additional accuracy granted to his throwing from calculating their paths, and the Interceptor Flechette in particular is wholly reliant on his Tek to function. His Projectile Net knit-shield uses his Tek to calculate where oncoming barrages of projectiles will strike, allowing him to only allocate as much thickness to the knit of his shield as needed, allowing for minimal chalk expenditure and unravel accumulation. Finally, his Calculated Leap allows for highly precise repositioning even through dangerous environments.

On Strider Combat: Active Draw Vulnerability

The Hands as Chalk is recommended reading for this section.

One significant vulnerability in Striders and Weavers is during the moments when they switch from passive to active accumulation of chalk, much like taking in a huge breath to perform a task that will require the oxygen. As Weavers weave chalk and deplete their readily-accessible reserves, they may need to draw chalk from the environment to replenish these reserves and keep fighting.

The risk of this is in how the lattice interacts with incoming attacks. Suppose and attacking chalkweaver fires a calcic attack; a chalk-spun salvo of sharp bolts for example. The default state of the lattice while in combat is to reject foreign weave bombarding it, as it almost certainly an attack. This passive change to the lattice raises a Weaver’s passive defenses, and reduces the potency of attacks.

Should the attack strike a Weaver while they are actively drawing in chalk, however, it can be likened to flinging an handful of sand into the face of someone taking a large breath, as opposed to one actively bracing for it, hand over their eyes and orifices. Even if the foreign weave isn’t designed to do damage in this manner, it is absorbed into the straits where the interpreter line must unspool the weave into chalk before it can be absorbed. The consequence of doing this is two fold; one, unspooling weave is a computational strait process, which wastes compute resources and delays them from getting back into the fight, and can even suspend the maintenance of ‘channeled’ abilities, such as active rituals or passive shields. Two, it clogs up the interpreter strait. Whereas ordinary unharnessed chalk would glide through and fill the reservoir of the potential strait, the interpreter strait must detangle the weave of an absorbed attack first before it can continue absorbing chalk.

And it is even worse if the attack has inductive, negentropic or unravelling properties to its damage. All of these acting at the strait level as opposed to merely the outside lattice makes them considerably more dangerous. Negentropic sources absorbed into the straits are almost guaranteed to be fatal. Inductive damage can use the targets own computational straits to multiply, spread and retrigger their effects, making them harder to purge. And unravelling damage done directly to the straits can be permanent, leading to a skewing of the functionality of the Five Straits entirely. In rare cases, it can result in a loss of the ability to weave chalk.

On Strider Combat: Choosing Weapons

Some further notes on Strider Combat, particularly ones that aid in defining the narrative.

Let us discuss weapon choices in the Switchboard.

The nature of anti-lattice warfare makes it such that all categories of weapons in the Switchboard are viable. Granted, a railgun will hurt far more than a compound bow, and in most scenarios a gun will put down a Strider far more reliably than a sword, but the nature of chalk and Strider Combat is that so narrow a perspective of ‘what hits harder’ in the sense of per-action damage (firing an arrow versus firing a supersonic projectile) is a surefire way to lose an engagement against an even mildly competent weaver. Your railgun is effective right up until the opponent weaves an electromagnetic pulse grenade or deploys a ritual that places a hard limit on the speed of all projectiles in a space.

The result of this is a series of unofficial ‘rules’ or guidelines for Strider Combat, as developed by those who win engagements. Generally, more complex weapons have more ways to be countered - more points of failure, as it were - but also require more complex counters. A sword can really only be countered by a shield, for example, with a shield being an immensely simple construct. Weapons further right on the complexity-counters curve will find that they have more counters, but these counters necessarily are as complex as they are. As such, any weapon you use needs to occupy a space on the spectrum that you know you can maintain its viability.

Ultimately, the winner is who ever can reconcile all the variables and compute a path to victory. The winner is often the smarter, more creative combatant, who uses all of their arsenal to cover for their weaknesses and counter an enemy’s strengths. Taking a narrow perspective of ‘using the most powerful weapon in a weapon vs. weapon’ matchup is a surefire way to be killed.

Generally, Striders choose to fight with a mix of fairly current and past weaponry; Striders carry ‘conventional’ firearms and then are usually skilled in combat with one martial weapon, or in unarmed combat. Naturally, these implements are granted enhanced potential via calcic modifications such as rituals; ranged weapons shoot truer and don’t jam, bladed weapons keep their edge and cut cleaner. Far more advanced modifications come down to individual Striders’ choices in how their choice of weapons mesh into how they fight; how weapons mesh with their power to weave, their teks, and additional powers such as titular powers or the Flash Protocol.

The particular fighting style of gun + melee weapon was majorly popularized by the Academy’s Operators, who often patrolled with longswords and revolver-style firearms, both granted considerable power by the Modular Offensives Division’s ritual schema. Most Operators built their combat styles around these two elements, as the versatility they offered was easily utilized by those creative enough and possessing the manners of thinking and weaving chalk necessary to become Operators.

As a point on combat weaving, I decided to describe the actual process as it would actually be described in narrative. Weaving a construct generally begins with a ‘cat’s cradle’ of ribbon chalk strung between the fingers, with which the Weaver would then twist and ‘knit’ the construct they seek together, using various patterns to achieve the desired results. During the process, they work in ribbon that contains the effects they want, such as in the making of woven grenades. Particularly skilled Weavers are able to simply use Linear Dynamism and command chalk to coil and weave itself into what they desire, wherever they need it, a skill that can be performed often with a single hand or even less, something very valuable in a fight.

If I were to describe the combat in the Switchboard using fairly recognizable terms to those familiar with fantasy fiction, Striders and Chalkweavers can be thought of as ‘artificer-spellblade’ hybrids.

Damage Recovery

Recovering from damage in the Switchboard is done primarily via reversing unravelling. This is a process that has to deal with the physiology of denizens of the Switchboard, as well as being an extended discipline that goes beyond the traditional usage of the verse’s mechanics. Damage recovery and Reverse Unravelling Techniques are greatly encouraged reading on the topic.

Just as important as dealing damage under Switchboard combat is recovering from damage taken. Considering all damage done in the Switchboard manifests as various forms of unravelling, it is thus worth considering how each superclass deals with sustained damage.

Chalkweavers and chalkstriders have markedly the most robust reverse unravelling across board, a result of their ‘untainted’, wholly calcic lattices. They have the highest floor for passive reverse unravelling, and access to the calcic ritualism and extended disciplines gives them access to a variety of chalk-exclusive reverse unravelling techniques. Working particularly in their favor is the flashcharge, which can be partially or wholly expended for rapid repair of superficial and even deep unravelling damage, including even the total restoration of maimed limbs. It is thus very much a problem in the Switchboard for many that adherents to the school of white are immensely difficult to cripplingly injure or kill, as they are very capable of reversing all damage done. In a pure attrition match between chalkstrider and depthstrider, the school of white wins every time via the reality of immensely accessible regeneration.

Conversely, depthstriders have much weaker passive unravelling reversal compared to their chalkstrider cousins, born out of lattices that have been touched by the Void. The inability to weave chalk also means that they are incapable of utilizing unravelling reversal except as a product of some other component in their arsenal, such as a summoned implement or beast. However, depthstriders are able to heal via the usage of their Deep Hollow technique, which can drain the calcic material from a captured entity and use it to gradually heal the caster. Additionally, this technique can be used to heal allies with ease, unlike adherents to the school of white, who have difficulty healing others.

Pale Amarans somewhat straddle the divides of both good and bad. Their contradictory lattices actually make them worse at passive reverse unravelling than even the depthstriders, however their ability to weave chalk and use spatial techniques means they can tap into both major in-combat disciplines of unravelling reversal.

pNarrat: The ‘True’ Damage Conundrum & Other Things

A good grasp on this document is recommended for this section, as is an equally - perhaps more - solid grasp on SB_Physiology, particularly the Theory of Damage.

This section tackles primarily the true damage types of caedometric, perforant, breach and inductive, though inductive is treated to a lesser extent. The aim is to discuss how the workings of damage sources versus damage mitigation informs weapon choices in the Switchboard.

It’s worth mentioning that many of the rulebooks on Switchboard combat where written by two closely related factions. The first was the Old Danseers, who penned much of the earliest combative doctrines as they waged war against the Minds in the Second Praxis Conflict. The second would be the Spyndl Academy itself, which would come to formalize the methods of the Old Danseers while expanding the entire discipline of using weft to fight in a more robust and well organized manner.

The gradual demographic and thus ideological capture of the Spyndl, however, by the Danseers and Arcad and later Sil’khan and Fel-Arcad resulted in their affairs taking prominence in the Spyndl, and thus a gradual divide of formal practice of Switchboard into two schools; the School of White - encompassing weft-based techniques and powers reliant on the Weave Protocol, Strider Protocol, calcic ritualism and more, and the School of Black - encompassing powers obtained from the Void, in the form of Giving, Taking, curvature manipulation, and the infamous depthstrider barrier techniques and Deep Hollows.

Much of the formal discussion on Switchboard combat is thus divided across these lines, the Schools of White and Dark and their practitioners, and the culmination of the methodologies they’ve evolved over many processions of Switchboard combat. One such discussion is on what kinds of weapons are maximally effective in Switchboard combat - not just in the context of a physical altercation, but with reference to a number of factors not immediately obvious, such as effectiveness against a broader range of targets, carrying the weapon, how it is employed in ritualism and more.

The Theory of Damage outlined in SB_Physiology gives details on the nature of persons in the Switchboard with regards to the structural quirks of their anatomy. Much of the Switchboard’s denizens are made of flesh virtually identical to ours in macroscopic properties, though differing at the microscopic level due to us being made of atoms, and the denizens of the Switchboard being made of chalk. Being made of flesh in this manner thus presents an argument for slashing and piercing weapons, and an argument against bludgeoning or blunt weapons, though those do remain effective options. Coupled with the fact that the old doctrines of the war-making Danseers were inclined towards carrying sharp weapons like their emblematic glaives, and the Spyndl’s agents favoring swords all these processions later, it is thus no surprise that the School of White’s weapon doctrine favors sharp slashing and piercing weapons to inflict caedometric and perforant damage against lattices.

At the microscopic it only makes sense; the thread-like nature of chalk ribbon makes it incredibly more vulnerable to cuts and piercing, as these methods either sever the thread, ignore it entirely, and generally cause breaks in continuity of the thread, which at its core is how damage is inflicted to lattices in the Switchboard. Blunt attacks merely compact the soft material, and while such attacks are effective against us in our world because we have bones, they are considerably less effective against those in the Switchboard as rather than having skeletons and muscles working in tandem to produce motion, the denizens of the Switchboard have highly elastic, liquid-filled motive layers under their lattice’s armor plating, making blunt strikes against a denizen of the Switchboard equivalent to hammering a balloon full of water; mostly it deforms rather easily, absorbing the blow and nullifying all damage it would’ve otherwise inflicted.

It also doesn’t help that when opposing Striders in particular, you must account for the fact many striding denizens of the Switchboard are capable of explosive regeneration. This stems from the fact bearers of the Strider Protocol also have the stride-dedicom strait, and this enables them to expend a secondary chalk reservoir towards complex ends in mere moments, allowing them to rapidly restore even lost limbs via unravelling reversal. Depleting the stride-dedicom or interfering with higher-level calcic and weaving function is the only way to counteract this, meaning that you can only do truly lethal damage to a Strider combatant once you’ve greatly reduced their stride-dedicom’s reserves. The best way to do this is by forcing them to do numerous calcically-expensive feats of regeneration to deplete the dedicom strait, which is achieved in practice by severing the target’s limbs, forcing them to repair them or fight with a disability. Caedometric and perforant damage sources are far more capable of this than breaching blunt weapons, and thus many in the Switchboard favor slashing weapons. This one reality is why the Spyndl Academy’s operators and other personnel favor carrying swords, particularly fairly heavy straight swords that invest their heft behind every cut to dish out powerful cleaving attacks, sure to split limb from torso.

The fact that much of the Switchboard also doesn’t wear heavy armor, favoring light armor or none at all, further leads to a weapons doctrine that favors slashing and piercing weapons - slashing weapons especially - to the continued chagrin of blunt weapon methodologies. Their not being much armor to breach means that blunt weapon’s intrinsic armor bypass is less relevant. And that sharp weapons have somewhat of an interaction with chalk at the ribbon level, thus enabling them to even inelegantly sever active chalk ritualism by merely cutting at the visible chalk ribbon in its workings adds yet another colorful feather to the hat of caedometric and perforant damage options.

With all that said, then, it more or less explicitly states that carrying a blunt weapon in the Switchboard is akin to self-sabotage. However, the above isn’t the full picture, and the weapons doctrine of the Switchboard is flipped - almost on its head - almost instantly by the phenomenon of calcification.

‘Flesh’ and Calcification

The superficial crown and apical hardshell layers of the lattice constitute what could be called the ‘flesh’ of a subject within the Switchboard. This flesh - particularly the crown layer - is very analogous to our own, bearing much of the same qualities of being elastic, supple and tender; entirely identical to how one would expect flesh to be and behave. Despite being made of chalk, it is chalk woven to be so, and should one wish, they can alter the physical properties of their lattice as they see fit.

Alterations to the lattice may not entirely be voluntary, however. A conditions suffered by many in the Switchboard who actively travel its lengths and weave chalk for a litany of reasons may suffer from calcification, a condition caused by the inundation of the limbs in immensely pure chalk, causing the memory strait’s record of the lattice to become skewed over time, and resulting in the limbs become hard, wiry chalk ribbon, as though the subject were becoming a marble statue.

Weaving chalk, performing rituals, using the Strider Protocol, drinking from wellsprings, frequently taking superficial damage and healing it; over time, the extremities of the body slowly transmute to pure chalkweave, and the subject seems to be taken over by encroaching whiteness on their limbs. Besides this aesthetic change, it constitutes no threat or harm to the subject, and for many it has become a mark of age and even accomplishment.

This calcified flesh also responds differently to physical damage, elaborated upon later.

Calcifying Striders do have some complaints in the form of their original skin hues and modified ones being overwritten by the pure white of chalk, but for many, it has become a welcome canvass for even further modification; particularly the inscrit practiced by the Sil’khan.

Link to original

Calcification is a physiological process undergone by denizens of the Switchboard whereby the soft material of flesh gradually loses its color and hardens, becoming thick, dense, pure chalk like chalk in crystalline form. This transformation stems from continued interaction with very pure chalk over long periods of time, and thus most commonly afflicts much older denizens of the Switchboard, particularly those who are striders in more than just bearing the power, but also in journeying across the expanse of the Dancirah. Relevant to this discussion, however, is that calcification changes the structural makeup of a lattice in the Switchboard, making the flesh more akin to a hard mineral like stone. This radically changes the approach with regards to weaponry.

With the right tools, it is more than possible to cut or pierce a stone, but very few of the ‘right tools’ are actually applicable in a combat scenario. The result is that the common martial weapons that boast swift delivery of caedometric and perforant punishment quickly lose relevance, in favor of the crushing, shattering power of breach options, which the calcified lattice is disproportionately vulnerable to. The School of Black seizes its own spotlight late in the game, with blunt weapons now being the ideal pick for opposing older denizens of the Switchboard.

The School of Black’s affinity for blunt weaponry stems from the fact they turn many of their weaknesses into strengths. For one, their unwieldy nature - both to carry and use - is entirely circumvented by curvature manipulation as practiced by the school’s depthstriders, allowing for fine control of their weapon’s effective mass. This means that, while being carried, their weapons can be effectively weightless, but their effective weight can be increased one hundred fold at the moment of an attack, allowing them to strike targets with truly crushing blows. Even more skilled depthstriders need not even carry their weapon, instead summoning them from the Void as needed.

The power of calling things from the Void gives depthstriders a very non-trivial edge. Chalkstriders face an inescapable frustration in terms of the fact carrying too much equipment curtails their ability to stride. This means that they must carry only what they truly know they’re going to use, and make up for any gaps in what is chosen through ingenuity and resourcefulness, or suffering the consequences. Depthstriders don’t have this problem as they use the depthstride rather than the Strider Protocol, which is slower in terms of pure velocity but also isn’t constrained by information mass. The White School thus carries swords primarily because swords cover enough workshopped scenarios compared to other weapons, while generally presenting the least amount of information mass and thus the least amount of adverse effects on the ability to stride. In practice, many a strider does occasionally find themselves in situations where a different weapon would be preferable, but not frequently enough to ever justify using a different weapon. Those in the White School that do carry a non-sword weapon usually do so as a product of something quite removed from this, such as the nature of their tek, where they’re operating primarily, or purely from experience with some weapons over others.

The Dark School doesn’t have this problem, and depthstriders thus typically wield weapons that provide access to all three damage types to varying degrees. On top of that however, the Dark School greatly favors using armor as well, presenting another dimension of problems for the White School. Caedometric weapons are far less effective against armor, meaning that swords swiftly lose their relevance in such engagements. The White School does answer this with the fact many of its adherents carry firearms, but the Dark School’s actors also carry firearms, and awareness of the fact that firearms are the primary countermeasure against them has somewhat accelerated the innovation and proliferation of armor that mitigates conventional and even esoteric ballistics among them. The White School cannot employ armor for the same reason they don’t carry plenty of weapons, and thus the Dark School gets yet another edge over them.

Blunt or breach weapons being increasingly more effective against older denizens of the Switchboard has thus created two weapons paradigms of sorts, summarized rather succinctly by the Dark School’s concocted mantra of “Break elder dancers with a hammer, and youth with a sword.”

The White School does somewhat alleviate their many problems with woven armaments in the damage type they can afford to use. This means that chalkstriders typically carry one or two always-available weapons - such as the Spyndl Academy’s HALOS doctrine - and then have a couple more woven weapons concocted by fold equations inscribed on their straits that they can summon at will. However, the effectiveness of this option is somewhat impaired by the fact many of the Dark School’s practitioners have access to siphon damage that actively disintegrates chalk constructs, making woven weapons perhaps less viable a solution that one would assume.

This is all well and good in discussions where combatants are kin-shaped however, and doesn’t explicitly account for the other dimension of Switchboard threats; the Switchboard’s many dangerous fauna, particularly the Ever-Present Intelligent Threats. Many of the more bestial EPITs present themselves with limbs that are difficult to sever, while boasting considerable protective armor over a majority of their bodies. Only piercing weapons against known vulnerable spots are a surefire way to counter EPITs, but after that, breach weapons wielded by depthstriders are the simplest means in theory to oppose them, another point atop the pile for the School of Dark.

Perhaps everyone but the White School’s theorists are unsurprised that Old Danseer and early Switchboard combat doctrines haven’t held well against the passage of time. The Danseers and the then-kin fought minds and their robotic swarms after all, which differ considerably from the kin and the various EPITs that do the modern Switchboard. The Danseers old glaive-based aerial combat doctrine - preserved in the Divine Zahflir martial discipline - carries over poorly to fighting singular, kin-shaped targets, and the Danseers could only carry heavy glaives due to the overwhelming power bound in their lattices.

As such, the Dark School takes many victories over the School of White with regards to weaponry, and the White School is forced to tell its adherents, rather simply, that the greatest thing they can do to equalize this edge the Dark School has over them is to ‘get good’. The weapon and damage type conundrum, they feel, ultimately stems from a pursuit of efficiency; do as much with as little as possible. Withdrawing from the situation of martial weapon versus martial weapon, or never winding up in such a situation altogether, remains the most common advice issued by the White School’s theorycrafters to its adherents.

pNarrat: Limbs Must Fly

The Theory of Damage and Unravelling Reversal are recommended reading for this section.

Strider combat - Switchboard combat in general - is a fairly complicated affair, in that there are quite a few hurdles one must jump through before doing lasting damage to an opponent. The methods, for one, are plentiful; martial weapons, firearms, elementary chalkweaving, teks, rituals, various powers, curvature manipulation, list continues. All of these must contend with an inescapable reality, however, that being the denizens of the Switchboard have nontrivial regenerative ability as a result of unravelling reversal.

Even an amateur Strider can burn flashcharge to regenerate even considerable damage in a short period of time. Talented Striders - so long as the head and torso are mostly intact - can regenerate from virtually any damage by expending flashcharge and chalk. Blades, bullets - all can do considerable damage, but rarely ever does it last. Denizens of the Switchboard are fairly hard to kill outrightly without fatal damage to the head and torso, and these parts tend to be very well defended.

At first glance, a denizen of the Switchboard appears to be terribly hardy. Perhaps even unkillable.

This is not the case.

Unravelling reversal is a double-edged sword. The lattice performs it instinctively, and using flashcharge to regenerate faster can be triggered much like flexing a muscle. However, healing in this manner is incredibly calcically expensive. Fine control of reverse unravelling is incredibly difficult, optimizing the process all the more so, and as such, many unskilled combatants in the Switchboard heal by ‘dumping’ chalk to brute force regeneration, to considerable effect but at far greater a cost than is necessary. It is entirely possible for one to burn out their calcic reserves from simply healing damage, leaving them with no resource with which to actually fight.

And it is possible to force someone into this position, where all readily available chalk within their person is expended from recovering from damage, leaving the subject unable to fight.

Healing from cuts, bruises, burns - even punctures and bullet wounds - is a fairly trivial task for the lattice and a skilled combatant. Replacing a lost limb however, expends exponentially more calcic resource. So much so that doing it multiple times in a single engagement is incredibly taxing for most. Once a subject can no longer heal - either from fully depleting their calcic reserves, or from them actively suppressing their healing so as to reserve chalk for other purposes, Switchboard combat can truly begin.

As such, Switchboard combat typically goes one of two ways; preventing a target from being able to weave chalk (which in turn prevents them from healing) or pushing them into a position where they either cannot heal due to depleted reserves, or actively refuse to heal so as to preserve chalk for usage offensively or defensively.

The easiest way to deplete an opponents calcic reserves, as such, is by maiming limbs. Severing an arm - beyond just disabling a target temporarily - forces them to make a choice; expend considerable resource regenerating that arm, or going without it, limiting their ability to fight. Skilled users of Raveling can partially regenerate a lost limb, creating a skeletonized limb that lacks much of its mass and integrity, but retains as much function as possible, thus being cheaper to create, but this is a technique reserved for only the most skilled, and even for them it can be hard to perform under the pressure of combat.

Once a subject can no longer heal, attacks that connect begin to accumulate damage, and can soon begin penetrating into the lower layers of the lattice. Most damage sustained by denizens of the Switchboard is taken by the superficial crown and the apical hardshell, and reverse unravelling works to preserve the apical hardshell in particular as it is the penultimate line of defense that protects a subject’s straits from harm. Damage to the motive framework begins hampering the subject’s ability to move, and further damage to the basal hardshell may result in the straits being exposed. At this point, further damage is fatal. If the subject does not surrender or employ defensive or evasive measures, they may very well be killed.

Of course, this reality begs the question of how one goes about optimizing for the removal of limbs, and the answers to this question are fairly extensive. Much of the Switchboard - particularly chalkstriders - favor weapons that cut. The Spyndl Academy in particular outfits their various personnel with blades designed to cleave targets in twain, bearing sharp single-edges and considerable heft which they invest in every swing. Polearms such as glaives see use among many as well, allowing for attacking at range and employing leverage inherent to the weapon’s build to make less mass do more work.

On the firearm side, high caliber precision weaponry is capable of outrightly blowing off limbs should repeated strikes hit a singular locale. Some choose to employ explosive ammunition that detonates upon penetration, causing massive expansion within the lattice can blow off and vaporize bodily material. Ultimately, ammunition that can deliver considerable force behind its impact can blow off material from the lattice, which accumulates over time.

And of course, chalkweaving is a domain with a litany of answers to this question, ranging from launching severing projectiles to employing inductive effects that can hamper or outrightly prevent local regeneration. The ritualism, teks and more in this department all present varying methods that a combatant can employ to gradually wear down a target’s options.

In a sense, much of Switchboard combat is attrition warfare, where exhausting all of an opponents options for opposing you is a far more effective strategy than searching for a means to kill them outrightly. Of course, there is still always an argument for acquiring and exercising overwhelming force where possible, but rarely are Switchboard engagements ever so cut and dry.

pNarrat: Weftcrash

Cultivating strength in the Switchboard is primarily a task of reaching various realizations about what can be done with the self. As one - such as the common Chalkstrider - trains in martial disciplines and grows more proficient, begins with elementary weave and transitions to more advanced weave, obtains a Tek and learns the means to wield it, casts rituals and creates them to, up until the point of firing their strait in the Flash Protocol, the many realizations they obtain are answers to questions, and the mechanics of information sees to it that understanding power yields further, greater power in and of itself.

As such, there is a sort of ‘feats yield understanding’ doctrine that exists around Switchboard combat; the idea that doing mighty things serve to shape one’s grasp of mightier things. Necessarily, the complexity of what is done facilitates the understanding of more complex things, and perhaps the most complex of these things that occur in combat, is the means and manner by which weave collides with weave in Switchboard altercations.

When weave interacts with weave, it does so in accordance with principles both ancient and novel, especially ever-evolving, arcane mechanics the depths of which are nigh impossible to grasp. But there are moments when weave concocted by a denizen of the Switchboard is able to strike in just the right manner - as a key fitting snugly into a lock - that this incident weft meshes with weft already present to result in a magnified realization of the subject’s intent.

This is described as a moment - an incidence - of Weftcrash. Accompanying the flood of grand realization of the nature of calcic reality that comes with this event, is the visual flair of burnished gold bolts and flames, reminiscent of the barristeel clockwork of the Astrolabe.

It occurs primarily in Switchboard combat, where the tense, ever-changing conditions are ripe for the explosive evolution of all who are involved. Even a mere physical strike, empowered by weave, striking at the perfect point and time where it meshes with deep mechanics, is enough to prompt the astrolabic flames to roar to being, and the power of the blow to be multiplied many-fold. The backdraft of achieving this feat ripples through the subject’s straits, and they are granted greater understanding of calcic reality, so much so that there is tangible difference between those that have experienced the Weftcrash, and the rest.

And hitting the Weftcrash makes one far more capable of doing it once again. Once one can grasp even the ghost of the shape of the arcane mechanics, they can tailor their weave to mesh with them, inserting key into lock and bringing forth the flames again and again. Even when one has grasped the understanding the first time, further understanding lies for those who prove themselves worthy time and time again, and many denizens of the Switchboard have taken on impositions that the understanding gleaned from Weftcrash is passed in part to their doctrine, and they in turn reap boons via the praximechanics.

But in the heat of battle, the Weftcrash takes on a far simpler form; a masterfully struck, massively destructive hit, and the rejuvenating exhilaration that comes with one’s straits singing in response. It is often the case that landing the Weftcrash is enough to push one over the brink of epiphany, propelling them into the breakthrough state, where they - awash with the radiance of understanding - may elevate their entire arsenal to new heights.

As an additional clause, the superclasses react differently to landing Weftcrash;

• Chalkstriders benefit the most directly, reaping a direct empowerment that courses through their lattice. Many consider the Weftcrash and the mystic flames of gold to be solely their domain, as the first few instances of the Weftcrash phenomena are told in the annals of the Old Danseers. Particularly, chalkstriders that tap into the power gleaned from gold gain temporary power to weave ledgers, a feat of chalkweaving that traditionally escapes even the highest echelons of wielders of white. While this power is typically only temporary and lasts until the heightened state granted by Weftcrash wears off, further instances of flashing gold grants ledger ‘slots’, and multiple hits in succession allow access to multiple ledgerial effects. Frequent tasters of gold are rarely able to acquire permanent ledgers that are imprinted upon their straits, allowing them to perform ledgerial functions as need be.

• Depthstriders benefit somewhat differently. For one, they have an intrinsic decreased propensity to trigger the explosion of gold weft, by virtue of the ontology of their lattices that stems from alignment with the things of the dark and the taint it brings. While the physiological response of landing a Weftcrash goes to the depthstrider, the actual power gleaned is actually transferred to the Amaranth Sultan. The Sultan Vahn reaps the power gleaned from gold to empower the kin of Vahn all the more, while the depthstrider obtains a protracted period of enhanced physicality and cognitive processing, fueled by tainted gold. This causes them to ‘go berserk’ - taking on the Violet Fever - manifesting as supreme command over the depths.

• Pale Amarans suffer from contradictory lattices that earnestly yearn for harmony. While Weftcrash and the cascading gold does not rectify this, it does trigger something else - a violent burst of potential in unraveling reversal, rapidly healing them of damage they’ve suffered. However, some pale amarans have learned to harness the power obtained from Weftcrash by ‘passing’ part of that power into the Weave Protocol and the rest to the Amaranth Sultan. Empowering the aspects within and without, they embody the dream of the nephaelym, and can burst forth in the state of Transcendence (their T5).

The more technical mechanics of the Weftcrash phenomenon is one that, as it stands now, may not be wholly compatible with Samsara’s mechanics. The idea I have that’s more in line with what exists is that the feedback from the Weftcrash courses through the Five Straits and the lattice, and this manifests as immense unravelling reversal as well as a moment of greatly enhanced function, followed by a permanent enhancement to the function of the entire ensemble of lattice and straits in general. This heightened state would, theoretically, be enough to grasp an epiphany, and thus allow one to become capable of doing something significant that they couldn’t do before - such as making use of the ‘T6 slot’ afforded to worthy denizens of the Switchboard.

The second idea of the mechanics behind Weftcrash is built on some shaky writ outlined Glass; that being of ‘reverse negentropy’ and how you could - in theory and practice - obtain categorical truth from virtually nothing. This is - considering the praximechanics and meta-mechanics of Samsara in general, unfathomably verse-breaking, but I still cannot shake the sheer lyrical flavor that would be landing a truly flawless, spectacular, divine hit, and for a brief moment afterwards, you can query the cosmos for an answer and obtain it, no strings attached, delivered straight from the ontological ledgers of the Astrolabe. The sheer narrative power behind this implementation is immense, but it is still built on thoroughly problematic mechanics. As such, it remains to be seen what the final verdict is.

A third idea too; that landing a Weftcrash and the flares of burnished gold, give a brief window, through which one can obtain a minuscule glimpse of the Star Corridor. Not enough to obtain the full answer and reap the power thereof, but enough that praximechanics bestows one with permanent power, having been marked with having seen the Switchboard’s final secret.

A fourth idea that Weftcrash is a product of channeling praximechanics through an attack, and making a doctrinal attack against a target, triggering a ‘localized resolution’ of sorts with regards to doctrinal standing.

I also like the idea of a permanent, visual flair added to those who have evoked the burnished gold, like a tattoo on their lattice or a streak in their hair.

pNarrat: Epiphanic Breakthroughs

Combat in the Switchboard takes many forms, but irrespective of context and form, there are common lines that can drawn through every instance of it. That is the factor of ‘stress’. Combat is highly intense, taxing, fast and dynamic. It demands - greedily - all that its participants have to offer, taking it all and then some. All of the faculties available to a subject are stretched to their very limits, and while this may not be a comfortable experience for the individual, it does create interesting conditions for certain phenomena under information dynamics to occur.

As denizens of the Switchboard dwell within it, they grow and mature, both they and their straits. As one engages in combat, it compels the straits to function in manners demanded by the subject’s combat methodology, and in time they grow accustomed to the subject. In time they can perform the various techniques with greater proficiency, and this proficiency only grows with time and utilization, reaching a cap that is decided by various amorphous mechanics ranging from the subject’s own general proficiency to the nature of the technique in question. To surpass this cap on evolution, something must be introduced into the straits that causes them to formulate new theorems that in turn create new methodology.

And the perfect time for this ‘something’ to be introduced into the straits is often the stressful context of combat. Reminiscent of the environments that caused the evolution of intelligence from mindless chalk substrate to begin with, the Five Straits find themselves in the furnace of survival, and must either devise a means to survive, or see themselves be destroyed. They must function in some new way, using old methods skewed slightly. It in these circumstances that a ‘something’ can be introduced.

This ‘something’ is always information, where it is gleaned from being the true question. From something in the mind and brought to the forefront without explanation, from something tried in the heat of battle that paid off more than was expected, from something an opponent is able to do, dropped into the straits from the Current; it can come from nearly anywhere. And once it is introduced into the furnace where the straits broil wickedly, an epiphany is obtained, and should the straits grasp it, even just a little, it is possible for the evolutionary cap on a technique to be utterly shattered, a subject going through multiple seasons or even processions of otherwise slow growth in mere moments.

This manifests - mid battle - as the power to use a new power, deployed as though it had been known and practiced for ages. And with this, it can be enough to turn the tide of battle. This, is an Epiphanic Breakthrough.

Elsewhere, for brevity reasons, this is referred to as an ‘E-Break’ or ‘Epi-Break’.

A technique enhanced or formulated by the E-Break occupies an imaginary T6 ‘slot’ that is present in all Arsenal Cards, and as thus can be regarded as a ‘T6 technique’.

Generally, T6s are my own flavor of justifiable asspull. Based on the technique being enhanced and the source of the epiphany, the T6 is realized, and as such, there’s no fixed T6, and actors can have a considerable number of them, even if unable to realize them on demand or simultaneously.

pNarrat: Superclass Versus Superclass

Compared to many other documents in the Samsara canon, Weave and Warfare is absolutely colossal. When the subject matter is contrasted against many other worldbuilding docs of half its stature, it can be argued that perhaps far more investment has been put into it than is necessary when compared to other more ‘relevant’ documents that more directly tie to the construction of the world. I disagree. Weave and Warfare’s primary appeal is that it is the mechanics of the verse applied at their finest, and it is plain fun to see how the elements of the sandbox clash with each other. All ‘Switchboard Power’ documents are recommended reading before this section, including the various example arsenal cards that exist for each superclass.

A very easy take-away from the totality of this document’s subject matter is a question oft asked under lesser, greater and similar systems; who or what is the strongest? The question in the context of Samsara is effectively asking what the strongest superclass is; chalkstrider, depthstrider or pale amaran?

Perhaps the best approach vector for this is the original design motifs for the classes.

Chalkstriders from the get-go were designed to focus on - and thus benefit from - a very visible directness to their power. The Strike is fast, Charge is strong, Shield is defense, Dash is evasion, and the Armament is a bit of a wild-card, failsafe, if-all-goes-wrong ‘Plan C’ in the back pocket. It was very videogame-y and by design too. Teks are perhaps the linchpin of chalkstrider arsenals, as they are the ability to do just about anything that can be believably realized under the calcic mechanics. Anyone could indeed do what a tek allows (in most cases) but the point of the tek is that they make a prohibitively difficult thing immensely easy, and are designed to either be integrated into existing chalkstrider arsenals, or have arsenals built around them. The ritualism is a more technical power, used for doing esoteric things as well as adding some narrative character. Their power comes from the fact they directly interface with the mechanical language of the universe, and thus have virtually no ceiling to their potency. And the flash protocol is a super ability; a z-move, an ultimate, designed solely to bring about victory.

Depthstriders are a major contrast to this philosophy. The integral difference between the schools of white and black is the Weave Protocol, which allows for direct manipulation of the stuff of the universe. Depthstriders lack this, and so instead of harnessing raw stuff to make refined stuff, they must instead take what already exists and wield it to their own ends. Workshopping them was very fun; the motif of ‘calling’ rather than ‘creating’ compelled an amount of creativity in their design that I hope shows. Having their power hinge off of using curvature manipulation, pulling things from the Void and returning them, playing by the rules of the Amaranth Sultan, and buttressing all that with spatial techniques and anti-information means that depthstrider arsenals have a lot more moving parts, compared to chalkstriders who effectively have mana bars and spell lists. But depthstriders’ complexities are very much their strength as well, as their summoning things from the Void gives them access to a veritable vault of tools and powers to wield, and access to the ledgerial techniques of the Deep Hollow gives them a very non trivial edge in battle.

The white versus black design philosophy was thus a toss up between;

Chalkstriders

• Simple powers and thus execution
• High floor, high ceiling (at max potential, this being all powers up until T5)
• Damage types more direct (Cado, Brch, Induc)
• Powers subject to far less conditions

Depthstriders

• Complex powers and thus execution
• Lower floor, but higher ceiling than chalkstriders
• Damage types more strategic (Brch, Siph, Induc, Unrav, Comp)
• Powers far more conditional in employment

A fun exercise is to go tier by tier. T0 can be functionally ignored as the difference between martial fighting styles - though they exist - are ultimately of reduced consequence when compared to all the other tiers that feature far more effective means of wielding power. T1 is, as a result, the first immediately relevant tier. Chalkweaver relic armaments have a virtually sky’s-the-limit reality to their construction, and weaponry such as vault relics or those built out of personalized rituals upon the weapon. That chalkweavers also benefit from the inculcation of equations upon their weaponry means they are uniquely outfitted for even further command of calcic reality. They are formidable weapons by default. The depthstriders’ void armament however, are decidedly more robust, in that Given and Taken armaments are effectively calcic relics stripped of their complexity and given raw brutality as a result. Chalkweavers favor rapiers, but depthstriders opt for hammers. That depthstrider weaponry is far more accessible too means that on a narrative level, depthstriders are far better outfitted for combat than chalkstriders, averages versus averages. The potency of these two classes ultimately though, is far more subject to narrative play.

Referencing the existing ACs, Ventura and Cendyr have decidedly powerful relic weapons. However, especially in Ventura’s case, this is almost exclusively because of narrative. For Ventura, his praxlance is a product of unholy matrimony between multiple disassembled vault relics, and the fact that Ventura - as a Spyndl Operator - is just damn powerful. His hand cannon is not a vault relic, but instead enhanced by incredibly powerful ritual writ upon it, coupled with its construction, giving it a plethora of additional functions. Cendyr is even worse by some metrics comparatively; he just happens to have a vault relic capable of a ferociously powerful ability to deflect just about any attack. In stark contrast, the depthstrider Blakk has immensely modest abilities with her weapons, with four out of five of them being fundamentally different kinds of direct physical strikes, and the last being a passive ability that empowers one of them. However, this is wholly because on the narrative step-ladder, Ventura and Cendyr are up some rungs than Blakk. Another way of expressing this is that, statistically, more nomadic peoples in the Switchboard are generally more powerful, and as such, Sil’khan and Feljourn tend to be better outfitted than Vahnkin when considering this point alone.

T2s are less so. Now we get into the much larger differentiations between the superclasses. Chalkstriders immediately charge ahead with five valuably varied abilities including additional weaponry and defensive options, upon which the limits of their make are very loose. Depthstriders instead get valuably brutal but inelegant abilities that are far more difficult to apply. Chalkweavers have to only read the name on the tin - the Weave Shield shields and the Weave Strike strikes - but depthstriders have to be a little creative with how they apply their baseline abilities of curving space. The edge here goes to chalkstriders, as a result of their floor and ceiling being much higher.

Referencing the existing ACs, the chalkstriders Adven Ventura and Wyldsman Cendyr get immediate access to a variety of directly effective offensive and defensive skills, all of them decidedly powerful within and even beyond their utilization contexts. They run considerably ahead of depthstriders ahead in this department; Ventura has eight entries in this section, and Cendyr has four. Blakk by comparison has four and they are decidedly non-combative abilities except in extremely niche circumstances, such as suddenly needing to dismantle a jumpship or similar. While depthstriders generally use repulsion as an overall defensive ability, Ventura’s shields and dash ability come bundled with valuable additional clauses to their operation that make them far more useful in the long run than merely pushing things away.

T3s get complex. Chalkstriders get the ability with the maximal interception of uptime and potency, their teks. They additionally get access to quis - quikasts - which expand their potency even more via harnessing the near bottomless bag of tricks that is the chalk ritualism with none of the downsides, particularly that of speed of deployment. Depthstriders get their Given and Taken gear and boons from the Void, their Draw Strike, and Formshift. This one is a toss up. Gifts and Possessions from the Void are generally just more weapons at absolute baseline and continue to be so even when tending far from that baseline. Effectively, they can summon chalkstrider relics but with fairly randomized additional perks added on top of them. This randomness means they can have immensely high ceilings, but also very low floors for their powerbands, and this can change rapidly with context. While depthstriders are indeed capable of adapting, they are subjected to additional ‘jank’ in doing so.

Blakk’s T3’s totality is a very good sign of this. While Ventura’s and Cendyr’s are fairly simple powers - preternatural weapons accuracy and command over flames - Blakk’s T3 is an extensive epistle on summoning, de-summoning, re-summoning, accumulating counters and charges, every step able to be chained into one of twenty others, with the - at least - guarantee that something powerful awaits at the end of the tunnel. However, white and black T3s do see something of a flip in how they are written when going from T2 to T3. Black T2s are very open-ended; with applications of curvature manipulation having the primary way they are used listed in the AC, but it is also the case that curvature manipulation is still a power the school of black has outside of the entries in the AC. Similar for white T2s, but they are more specific, as white T2 entries are narratively interpreted as the fastest-to-deploy or most emblematic powers at the chalkstrider’s disposal. Effectively, signature moves.

With their T3s however, the true limits of calculating rebounds with bullets or commanding fire are extensive, but also somewhat amorphous, which is why most chalkweaver loadouts hinge upon their tek (check how many abilities in Ventura’s and Cendyr’s loadouts ‘Axle’ upon their Tek). Blakk’s T3s are far more explicit. What they can do is very, very extensively outlined. While this can absolutely be a product of how I choose to write out every AC, I’d argue it’s more so a product of how the ACs contents are designed. Gifts and Possessions are explicit, so is what arises from pulling them from the Void or transiting one or the others. But teks are more so a sandbox. The former are tools. The latter are clay. It is easier to define what you can do with a hammer than with a lump of material. You can make a hammer, but also a screwdriver or saw. This versatility afforded to chalkstriders in this regard is particularly valuable, but a wielder of a weak tek suffers greatly to depthstriders in general, who have access to the entirety of the Void’s contents at base, as well as the passive, innate ability to enhance them even further.

Chalkweavers make up for this with their Quis however. Ventura and Cendyr make robust usage of their Quis, with Ventura having custom ammunition for nearly every situation, while Cendyr has made extensive usage of his tek to cast a variety of offensive attacks not dependent of having a weapon. Both additionally have reverse unravelling techniques - Ventura’s even working on others - and Cendyr gains access to siphon damage as well as a way to buff the weaponry of his allies. Ventura gets access to hyperweave and the ability to counter spatial techniques by shooting them. The calcic ritualism is voraciously powerful, and gives chalkweavers even with a weak tek an instant edge in battle. But the sheer depths of the Void still gives depthstriders so much value. Blakk’s Radial Blast Shield is a nonsensically powerful defensive item and perhaps the strongest of all existing ACs. So strong that it can effectively nullify their T3s across board, especially Ventura’s in that his are immensely conditional on the ability to hit the target. Cendyr fares better, but not by much. As such, I am somewhat inclined to give T3s to depthstriders, while stressing it is a very, very close win. Really it’s a tossup between the most extreme thing justifiable via the calcic mechanics, and that same thing after being skewed by the Void.

T4 sees the appearance of truly powerful abilities, but also less of them. Chalkweavers suffer somewhat considerably here, as although the Grand Ritualism is their Quis but on steroids, the clumsiness of deploying a ritual circle in a battlefield and having to remain focused to cast it is incredibly easy to punish. They are boosted somewhat by their extended disciplines, which grant some valuable boons such as barrier techniques, ledgerial techs, hyperweave casting and impositions, but these by design are more so means of augmenting what they can already do rather than conferring truly new powers. This is in contrast to the depthstriders, who gain perhaps the strongest ability up to this point, the Deep Hollow. Without mincing words, the Deep Hollow is one of the most terrifying abilities in the entire system, as by design it has virtually no counter-play. Spatial barriers are virtually inescapable, chalkweaving is immensely difficult due to the passive calcic drain, the depthstrider has control over the entirety of space, including shape, gravity, environmental conditions and hazards, and finally, one technique of their choice is elevated to strike with ledgerial logic; wholly unavoidable. If not for the fact that narratively, the Deep Hollow is very difficult to acquire, they would simply crush chalkstriders at this tier. They still do. They even regenerate damage while doing it. It doesn’t help that the Hollow is immensely plastic too, with its operating parameters very subject to the depthstrider’s willingness to bother running it any differently. Impositions, altering the shape, suspending some effects to empower others, the Deep Hollow can shift and adapt on the fly to deal with just about everything.

This is well reflected in Ventura and Cendyr versus Blakk. Ventura does get access to a powerful support buff and glass weaponry - the latter being an extreme rarity, and Cendyr’s ashflame tornado can operate independently of him and really frustrate his opponents on a battlefield - but that matters little when Blakk can deploy her Hollow and simply deny the ability to use the calcic ritualism. Blakk’s guaranteed-hit sultanic does inductive poison, computational damage and heavy unravelling, three things that are massively disadvantageous to a chalkstrider. Cendyr’s highly accessible T3 reverse unravelling is utterly unusable if too much computational damage is sustained, as is any other complex power in their loadout. Really, the only way to counter a Hollow is trying to deduce the logics of its operation, finding the holes, and exploiting them maximally to either escape or collapse the spatial barrier, forcing the depthstrider to eat the spatial backlash as recoil. What is problematic however, is that often these holes are a product of deliberate design rather than shoddy construction. They are quite literally a feature rather than bug, and exist due to impositions with the Amaranth Sultan that empower the Hollow in exchange for providing a means to escape it, as is the case for Blakk’s Ill-Fitted Workshop. It doesn’t help that the Deep Hollow gives depthstriders access to ledgerial techniques at very little effort, compared to chalkstriders who either get ledger ‘slots’ built into a tek, or have to weave them themselves as an extended discipline, something so prohibitively difficult that it is far more realistic and useful to simply not treat it as something they can do. And even after the ferocity of the Deep Hollow, the depthstriders can still use the Grand Summon. They can call forth dragons. The school of black takes T4 with decisive ease.

Bringing us at last to the T5s. It is worth mentioning first and foremost, accessibility. The Crescent Hollow is a pinnacle technique and so prohibitively difficult to execute that in the initial drafts of the depthstrider arsenal, they didn’t even really exist. Even though they now do, narratively-speaking only Void Drifters - ones who’ve made the pilgrimage to Vahn’s tomb - can cast it. Conversely, the Flash Protocol is biological; quite literally innate. Much of its difficulty in usage comes from just controlling the output to not wound the caster in the process, but the fact that the Flash Protocol is intrinsic to Striders while things like teks and rituals are not means that there are denizens of the Switchboard with T0 to T2 and then T5 powers. Comparing raw effectiveness, the Crescent Hollow is the single most powerful technique in the entire system with regards to how many cubic meters of stuff it can atomize if applied maximally. It is functionally a nuke with the caster as ground zero, and under certain parameters it can detonate over and over again. Comparatively, the Flash Protocol is far less destructive, but it generally doesn’t need to be. Both the Flash Protocol and the Crescent Hollow can wipe out a single target, but the Flash does it far more efficiently. The real power of the Flash comes in how versatile it is. For one, the Flash Protocol is more so the stride-dedicom strait, and this doubles as something of a secondary mana bar that’s filled with overcharged resource. This can be expended in a variety of ways, such as empowering baseline components of the chalkstrider’s arsenal to the level of a Flash, or expended for rapid reverse unravelling and damage recovery. Striders can also have multiple flashes, while the Crescent Hollow - as a product of the Deep Hollow - is a reflection of the self and thus can only take one shape. The Flash Protocol also benefits from being a protocol, meaning that it takes on an astrolabic component to its nature, and thus can interface with the latent mechanics more powerfully, such as the praximechanics.

How this manifests in the existing ACs is Ventura having three Flashes - all immensely powerful - featuring a barrage of raw force via hyperweave, a transformation and full-arsenal-enhancement of his powers, and an all-or-nothing gambit that can hit for cataclysmic damage. Cendyr is no slouch too, wielding a Flash that benefits from a praximechanical power to hit harder against stronger targets, and a second Flash that refreshes the resource of his tek, which conveniently can be used to refresh the resource of his Flash. Blakk rebuts with the ability to order a literal saturation bombardment over a wide area, and keep it going until the bottom of the craters formed exceeds the effective range of the Crescent, and thus can no longer siphon material to form missiles.

While this comes out looking like something off a toss-up, I am more inclined to give the edge to chalkstriders. A Crescent Hollow could wreak havoc on a planetary scale or vaporize a starfleet, but most combat engagements are not that, and chalkstriders are still able to respond in these scenarios, even if to reduced effect. The versatility of the Flash remains an indubitably strong argument for it, and how early its available - outrightly breaking progression - makes it all the more so.

The verdict then is;

• T1 - Draw
• T2 - Chalkstriders
• T3 - Depthstriders
• T4 - Depthstriders
• T5 - Chalkstriders

An equal verdict, with depthstriders occupying the middles, and chalkstriders the extremes. Adding the numerical values of the tiers (T2 and T5, and T3 and T4) even gives seven points to both. A very interesting result. It is deliberate that pale amarans haven’t been mentioned until this point, and there’s no better time to introduce them than now.

Pale Amarans were not in the initial draft for Weave and Warfare, but the temptation of a wielder of white and black was too interesting to resist not trying to realize in some manner. Much of their design philosophy is stealing powers from both schools, having those powers be somewhat weakened, but also having quirks from one school cover for the weaknesses of the other, and perhaps even grant new abilities. They can never achieve the absolute heights of either superclass, getting instead powers that are truly theirs.

With regards to a tier versus tier comparison of each, I’d rather leave that to you to imagine. They do indeed however, have some decidedly robust abilities. The Nephyl Step is a major upgrade from the Weave Dash, and the Nephaelym’s Hollow - while nerfed from the Deep Hollow in potency - is also greatly reduced in difficulty to execute and benefit from. The Horizon Ritualism is an entire discipline that can be tapped to great effect, and the Differential Surge allows for eliminating generalization in favor of specialization at will. Their T5s see them just about approximate the final forms of the other superclasses, but their ceilings are much higher than even that. Are pale amarans the strongest? Hardly. They miss out on much of the things that make either superclass truly powerful, even if they are replaced in one way or another. Their much weaker intrinsic reverse unravelling is of considerable concern too. But they bloom from a powerful complexity; true command over verse mechanics.

So in a toss up between chalkstrider, depthstrider and pale amaran, who would win? It’s too hard to say. Too many cards are at play to reliably give an answer. Even if all had ACs on the table, it is far more productive to discuss win conditions rather than winning itself. Should the stars align, in most cases, just about any AC designed up to T5 potency has the power to eke out victory. But the fun is in the uncertainty. We could discuss how chalkstriders benefit more from Weftcrash hits, or how depthstrider and pale amaran siphon abilities can turn chalkweavers’ own strengths against them, but I reckon we’d circle back to much the same conclusion.

This is - of course - by design. Again, the fun is in the uncertainty, and additionally in the exercise of crafting narrative. Weave and Warfare is as robust as it is for those reasons and little else; the cultivation of a sandbox where everything is possible. Where every victory is secured on a knife’s edge, and thoroughly deserved.

pNarrat: Character Arsenals

A distinct character trait of Striders especially in the Switchboard is their desire for and active cultivation of notoriety and infamy. Striders actively pursue a name for themselves through any means possible, and one of the most effective means of doing so is the cultivation of an identity through consistent practice of recognizable, unique quirks. One such thing as this is the cultivation of signature combat styles that are unique to a Strider, these being cultivated as that Strider fights using their signature techniques and as people see them do so.

The narrative result of this is ‘character arsenals’; the total sum of all the offensive, defensive and utility powers at an actor’s disposal in the Switchboard. All these things outlined in a singular document - particularly in an individual character’s profile, creates an arsenal card.

We have an example of one such arsenal card in the form of Fyre_AC.

Live Arsenal Card Draft

Fyre_AC

Arsenal Card: Wydlsman Cendyr

Scorning the arcology of their birth in favor of the vast challenge of the Starwylds, once Fel-Arcad - now Feljourn - Cendyr wears the mantle of a wyldsman, and walks the Dancirah in search of plunder and foes. Their many sojourns has placed them on both sides of the Spyndl Academy, and its Operators have come to know him as a shadowed figure of varying repute. His wyld-forged swordplay is cited as second to none, and his dual-form flames has ended many fights before they’ve even began.

T0 - Martial Disciplines

Experience in the Wylds has taught Cendyr a number of martial disciplines, which they use to great effect in battle. Their travels in the Starwylds has exposed them to many disciplines and just as many masters, and has led to a formation of a doctrine of swordplay that sees them wrench victory in even the most dire straits time and time again.

Innate

• Wyldsman Cyrculian - Wyrlian “Castle Wyrlian takes all the fun out of being better.”

• Starwyld’s Bladeworks - Threwfair-Fam “With a specialty in everything that cuts.”

Practiced

• Of the Ashfelds and the Wylds - Ashb’aiz “I never imagined they would let a Feljourn take part in the Fires of Zahir. I imagined that the Skydancer zealotry on display would mean only the Sil’khan would be welcome, but I learned quickly where I was wrong; Zahir is an avatar of war, and war shows no prejudice.”

• Sanscryvan Knife and Sword Disciplinary Standard - Skidis “We all have our humble beginnings.”

Novice

• Rosenthalist Clandestine Blade Arts - The Roslette Style “It would be terribly useful if I had anyone to teach it to me. Unfortunately the Rosenthal court-warmers remember my face better than I imagined, and I reckon they really want their belongings back.”

T1 - Relic Armaments

Relic Arm 1

1530 Centigrade - CINDER-031-F#DAYSTAR - Longsword “I don’t remember a time I didn’t carry it.” The work awaiting a once Fel-Arcad - now Feljourn - outside the arcologies is thankfully, somewhat varied. Varied in the sense of places to go, people to meet, and lessons to learn. But hardly ever in the actual task at hand, that often entails some manner of visiting violence upon those who - under some upright yardstick, you hope - somewhat earned. For this task, it is essential that one has reliable hardware, and the metamaterial alloy blade wielded by Cendyr is one that only grows harder and sharper under heat and pressure. Stone-black metal mates with grip-shaped polymer hilt, a robust, ornate cross-guard depicting pointed-eared nomads wielding telescopes, maps and banners, pursuing a day star.

• Offensive Echostrikes - Cado, Induc “I can do twice the swordplay with half the effort.” When swinging the Centigrade, a flaming phantom twin of the blade follows it. Consisting entirely of weave, this phantom twin will mirror actions made with the main blade, adding a burn inductive component to attacks made with it and allowing for passive follow-up strikes on attacks. Deflecting the phantom blade requires calcic measures to be taken, allowing it to cut what the main blade cannot.

• Defensive Stardance - Induc “Lol.” Turning the Centigrade’s flat side towards a target will - if they are capable of using it - parry their weavesight or other calcic-reliant sight abilities back at them, coupled with weave baked into the weapon, inflicting a blind induction that lingers momentarily.

• Utility (N/A)

• Feat (N/A)

Relic Arm 2

Plan C - Vault Relic - Club “I wouldn’t recommend it; it’s gotten too easy to not feel.” Cendyr is no vault raider. The sheer human, resource and logistical capital required to even pitch a Kache Krash operation - much less undertake one - puts it far out of reach of anyone other than aged, coordinated conclaves of kin. But even when a vault has seemingly been picked clean, the logics that make it what it is still linger like fine ash over scorched field, merely awaiting errant wind to be tossed up again. And so picking through the scraps when the first sons had eaten, the second find their own power. Pulled from an alcove, rough red kacherock has refined itself over time, becoming hexagonal and blood orange. Born perhaps from an Interdiction Mind that lost its charge, it was socketed in hilt and cross guard, and wielded as a wall of grating stillness against the fervor of the Sky.

• Offensive (N/A)

• Defensive Guntrigger Parry “Immensely cool.” The Plan C is holstered in an specially-engineered sheath that is mounted to the non-dominant arm. Tied to this sheath’s engineering is a trigger that can be engaged by a single finger of the non-dominant hand. When engaged, renewable gas-firing mechanisms at the bottom of the sheath fire, launching the Plan C until it comes to a harsh stop at the end of the sheath, exposing inches of the weapon’s blade. Any calcic attack that strikes the blade will complete a ritual in the blade’s inner workings, and be summarily redirected.

• Utility (N/A)

• Feat Sun-smitten Apathy - Prax Axle: Flashcharge, Relic Defensive | Gun-trigger Parry “They asked how I could keep fighting. Now that I’ve told them, they’ve asked whether I’ll know when to stop.” When enough flashcharge is available, Gun-trigger Parry is upgraded into Sun-smitten Apathy. When an event is occurring in the vicinity in a manner that can be interpreted as ‘occurring to the caster’, the flashcharge can be expended to parry it at the doctrinal level, eliminating whatever effects it would have had on the caster. This power can be used to parry nearly anything, from the flashes of other Striders to the emotional response upon hearing bad news.

T2 - Elementary Calcic

Weave Strike

Underhand - Bolt - Induc. “Heh.” Particulate matter is spun with chalk and flung in the direction of an attacker. Latent guidance-weave sees it target moisture; the mouth, nose and - most annoyingly - the eyes. It inflicts an inductive blind that lingers momentarily.

Weave Charge

Sunlight Spear - Blast - Perf, Induc Axle: Tek | Starfire Conduit “I keep a free hand for this very reason.” Chalk is woven into a defense-piercing bolt, then suffused with equations that fold chalk into searing heat, allowing for inflicting heavy caedometric damage and a burn effect. It can be further empowered by Tek, allowing for inflicting starfire flames against targets.

Weave Shield

Fencer’s Offhand - Passive - Cado, Brch, Perf “Shields just slow you down.” The entire non-dominant hand from shoulder to fingertips is covered in densely woven chalk that protects it from various true damage forms. The bindings of weave on the hands allows for catching enemy weapons, gaining control and allowing for various counter-attacks.

Weave Dash

Dodgeroll “Deceptively effective when not spammed.” A short roll performed on the ground, the athleticism of the move enhanced by weave. Lowering the size of the effective profile allows for meandering past attacks, especially from larger targets with equally larger weapons.

Weave Armament

(N/A)

T3 - Advanced Calcic

Tek

Starfire Conduit “It burns a little sometimes.”

Accumulators, reservoirs and conduits built into the local lattice allows for the synthesis and dissemination of Starfire, chalk woven into matter that embodies the ferocity of stellar cores. The starfire can be casted normally in various offensive and defensive forms, augment other abilities, and be expended in rituals. Where starfire is used, it creates starfire flames, white-gold fire that burns incredibly hot and inflicts considerable amounts of induction damage.

Utilizing the starfire is done by opening pathways to relevant parts of the body, achieved through ‘popping’ the joints at those regions. Beginning the flow of starfire throughout the local lattice is done by cracking the neck, which opens a computational strait pathway that awakens the sub-lattice systems. Conduction of starfire to the fingers is achieved by cracking the knuckles, and to the legs by doing similar for the ankles. Massaging the temple opens channels to the eyes, doing similar for the hinge of jaw opens channels to the mouth, and various other stretches and massaging motions opens channels to the rest of the body.

When the first conduit is opened, the subjects reserves of starfire begin depleting. Starfire accumulates passively so long as the subject is in the Dancirah, and accumulates more quickly based on nearness to stars of the Switchboard. Fully depleting the starfire reserves renders the Tek unusable. Slate integration allows for measuring and thus tracking the amount of starfire left, as well as additional functions such as electrical triggers for conduits and flow-rate monitoring. In the absence of this, the subject must rely on an internal sense of temperature; starfire keeps the body at well above normal levels, and a descent to below normal bodily temperatures is often the sign the starfire wells have run dry.

When starfire is depleted, starfire flames in the environment can be re-absorbed, filling the starfire reservoirs with ashflame. This ashflame burns black and cold, and inflicts inductive and siphon damage on targets, depleting their chalk reserves. The presence of ashflame in the conduits prevents passive accumulation of starfire, however, and slows down the functions of the subject, reducing their combat prowess. Ashflame that burns chalk however, will gradually transmute back into starfire, which can be reabsorbed into the conduits and used again.

• Offensive Immolated Ground - Induc “They see you with a sword and think ‘there’s no way’ and it catches them. Every time.” Slamming the ground with a foot allows for sending out spirals of starfire flame, immolating the surface on which they are deployed. Additional chalkweaving can be used to control their speed and direction, as well as allowing the spirals to seek out targets in the vicinity.

• Defensive Honorshield - Cado, Brch “I like to see the whites of their eyes.” A passive ability that when activated, draws on the computational line to initialize two intangible spheres in space, centered on the head of the caster. One sphere - the boundary - is large and stationary, moving in line with the caster. The second sphere - the marker - is smaller and moves along the surface of the former, its movement tied to the direction the caster is looking in. When a projectile attack enters the marker, it is struck heavily by starfire flames in an attempt to destroy it. This measure can only be used against projectiles within the boundary confines of the boundary sphere. Projectiles are selected for elimination based on the computations of the computational strait, and this cast inflicts heavy unravelling on the caster.

• Utility Nightmist - Induc “Sometimes you just gotta get out of there.” When ashflame is available, it can be expelled from the mouth as a dense, choking cloud of black fume. Targets who inhale it have their chalk siphoned, their lattices chilled by inductive damage, and are at risk of starfire flame erupting in their bodies. Weavesight and other sight abilities are unable to pierce the dense cloud.

• Burst Starsurge - Induc, Siph “Everything, everyone, is a resource out here.” Axle: Flashcharge By expending an amount of starfire and ashflame, Cendyr is able to replenish his flashcharge. This conversion isn’t massively efficient, but it restores flashcharge energy immediately, bypassing the need to accumulate it over time.

  • When Starsurge is cast, Cendyr unleashes a corona of twin starfire and ashflame around him, incinerating nearby targets and applying their relevant effects.

Quis

Cendyr’s arsenal of quikasts relies heavily on their Tek, and clever usage of both starfire and ashflame along with the employment of ritual components, allowing for devastating attacks and helpful utility casts, all acquired over many processions out in the Starwylds.

Stars, Cleanse Me Axle: Tek | Starfire Conduit “Were I one for drink, I would get far more mileage out of it than I do now. Fortunately, I am often in the company of those who are far fonder of the Cyrculian spirits.” Cendyr summons forth a spynjack, filling it with components and measures of starfire, powering it with chalk and then issuing the verbal command of the cast’s name. Upon performing the somatic component of beating the chest with a balled fist, all inductive effects on Cendyr are instantly cleansed.

Flame, Surge Forth - Induc Axle: Tek | Starfire Conduit “For campfires, and the things campfires attract.” Cendyr summons forth a spynjack, filling it with components and measures of starfire, powering it with chalk and then issuing the verbal command of the cast’s name. Upon snapping the fingers, a river of starfire flames surge from his hand, arcing downwards and spilling like napalm.

Zahir, Fall Upon Them - Induc, Brch Axle: Tek | Starfire Conduit “The Sil’khan own the wilds. Raised in the arcologies, I didn’t really believe in the divinity of the Skydancers. Out in the Wylds, I still don’t, but I understand now those who do.” Cendyr summons forth a spynjack, filling it with components and measures of starfire, powering it with chalk and then issuing the verbal command of the cast’s name. By performing a great swing of the arm, Cendyr is able to release devastating shotgun-like sprays of starfire fireballs, flying forward in flat arcs that give them considerable travel distance. Upon landing, they explode and spread starfire flames even further.

Frost, Hone You - Siph, Induc Axle: Tek | Starfire Conduit “In my time, I have thrown many punches, but few slaps. There is a message behind a slap, one of disapproval, and I remember each one. Many were for those who regarded their weapons and equipment as merely tools.” Cendyr summons forth a spynjack, filling it with components and measures of ashflame, powering it with chalk and then issuing the verbal command of the cast’s name. Upon running the fingers on a weapon, it is coated in chilling ashflame for an extended period of time. Attacks with ashflame-coated weaponry siphon strength from their targets to Cendyr, as well as set them alight while cutting harsher than normal.

Ashfire, Wither Them - Siph, Induc, Unrav Axle: Tek | Starfire Conduit “Anger can burn either hot or cold. Fear cold.” Cendyr summons forth a spynjack, filling it with components and measures of ashflame, powering it with chalk and then issuing the verbal command of the cast’s name. By flicking the fingers, Cendyr can hurl a colossal sphere of ashflame in a direction, exploding upon hitting a solid object, or upon command by Cendyr. Empowered by calcic ritualism, this ritual ashflame will burn on a target until there is nothing left to consume.

Chaos, Take The World - Siph, Induc, Perf Axle: Tek | Starfire Conduit “I believe the Soleri fear and hate us Feljourn because they see what we - what Fel-Arcad - become, once we have dwelt in the Wylds. You can never return to who you were before, once you are opportune to look at them from afar.” Cendyr summons forth a spynjack, filling it with components and measures of ashflame, powering it with chalk and then issuing the verbal command of the cast’s name. With a palm-strike on the ground, Cendyr summons forth colossal pillars of ashflame, screaming into being from the ground below, cascading outwards in expanding waves from where Cendyr struck. If a pillar strikes a target, all other pillars of ashflame will converge upon them, spawning forcefully beneath their feet.

T4 - Grand Calcic

Rituals

• Arcology Ritualism: Leyndell Squall - Channeled - Induc, Siph Axle: Tek | Starfire Conduit “I hate to see what Spyndl has become, but perhaps it is what we deserve. Perhaps something will rise from this ash, but I am not hopeful.” The caster creates a site of ritual geometry and expends components, including a considerable amount of ashflame. The ritual resolves as a bottled tempest in the chest of caster, which can then be blown into the world as a tumultuous tornado of burning cold and chalk-siphoning blackness. Weave integrated into the cast allows it to mark and pursue targets, aiming to consume their chalk. As it consumes, the ashflame becomes starfire and the tornado grows more intense, burning everything in its path. The tornado ends when dismissed by the caster, or after reaching a size at which it can no longer maintain structural soundness.

Extended Disciplines

(N/A)

T5 - Flash Protocol

Crownsplitter - Lattice Burst - Cado, Brch, Unrav, Prax “This is the power to fell kings.” The caster burns the entirety of their flash, and performs a nigh-unblockable downward strike with a weapon in hand, dealing absolutely massive damage, shattering all defenses, and rendering the target nearly unable to use chalk dependent powers. The attack has a praxis component to it, and will do additional damage if the target; - Is a Strider or Weaver - Is an Operator - Is a leader of some regard in a litany of Switchboard organizations - Bears a Title - Wields multiple Teks - Has performed or been a part of a structural or ledgerial cast

Encendyr’s Flare - Weft Burst - Induc, Perf, Brch, Unrav, Siph Axle: Tek | Starfire Conduit “Name something after yourself, so they’ll know who to say did them in.” Cendyr forms hand-seals and mocks drawing a bow, feeding it the power of the flash, and starfire and ashflame from his Tek. This technique will use a third of the Flash Protocol’s charge by default, but can be charged up until the entirety of the Flash Protocol is suffused into the flash-woven bow. Once sufficiently charged, the bow fires a colossal arrow of starfire and ashflame, spiraling in upon itself, travelling at wicked speed to strike a target, inflicting both classes of burn, breaching defenses, heavily unravelling the target and siphoning chalk from them back to Cendyr. - The siphoning effect of the Encendyr’s Flare siphons charge directly into the starfire reservoirs present in the body, allowing for offensively expending flashcharge to replenish the power of his Tek.

Link to original

pNarrat: Shape Through Strife

“I am thrilled… by my own talent!!” A solid grasp of Samsara’s mechanics is recommended before reading this section.

If you get the reference you’re a real one.

And you might glean what this section is about.

The Switchboard’s praximechanics adds an additional layer to narrative, in which altercations between various factions is realized both in physical conflicts in canon and ideological conflicts both in canon and outside of it. Of course, to say that a story makes commentary on ideas outside of it - manners of being, ideologies, the like - is hardly an astute observation, but the praximechanics physically realizes that in the canon, not as an emergent property of what is ongoing, but rather an inherent rule to the entire system that its participants are subject to. More succinctly put, the ramifications of the ideological component of altercations in the Switchboard don’t stop merely at its narrative being pushed in certain directions, and commentary made on real-world parallels, but it also exists as a mechanical rule that the denizens of the Switchboard are subject to.

There are consequences beyond the ‘social’, as it were, for one’s convictions. In the case of the Rosenthalists, there is the ever-present fact that they incur a fair amount of distaste from others around them as a product of their supremacist doctrine, but there is also the fact that holding that doctrine translates to literal, actual strength both in pure physicality, calcic proficiency and mental fortitude. The question of “How much?” is realized through the praximechanical clashes - where doctrine is levied against doctrine in a grand game of ‘idea chess’, facilitated and overseen by the Astrolabe. Each doctrine in the Switchboard obtains power both by it’s bayesian truthfulness (it’s objective alignment with reality and the purity of methodology used to obtain that), the strength of all who adhere to it, the conviction of that ‘all’ in it, and a number of other factors that manifests as a perpetual tug-of-war throughout the stars that sees the lowly elevated and the high, deposed.

Survival in this game is predicated upon a maximal understanding of one’s own shape. One must not just have convictions, but a means of acquiring them, and a means of testing them. It is the testing in particular that is the subject of this section, as testing one’s praxis and taking the answer that emerges is the first step in strengthening the entire self.

This ‘testing’ is particularly achieved through combat.

The first and second praxis conflicts laid the groundwork for a Switchboard in which the foremost beings are the ones who can assert their right to exist over all others, and the strength that comes from doing so emerges in part from how exactly one’s own convictions are aligned with the actual nature of the verse. This didn’t work out for the Vermeil, as irrespective of the praxis they manifested, they could not contend with the First Thinkers’ glass-weaponry; something that abjectly ignores the manifestations of praximechanical prowess as that too is ultimately chalk. But the Third Thinkers had a much greater praxis in the form of the weave protocol, which was categorically a reflection of the nature of the verse as comparatively plastic to our own, and when this was tested against the First Thinkers - even with their glass weaponry - they were wiped out.

This rule carries forward into the modern Switchboard, where the foremost representations of various praxis are tested constantly by emerging ones, which all seek to assert their own worldviews as - first - higher than the ones immediately around it - and then - higher than all that exist in the Switchboard. The greatest soldiers of this fight are the ones who have grasped an understanding of their shape and the shape of their praxis through pure inquiry and acceptance of what that inquiry yields. And the form that inquiry takes is often the tessellation of one’s own pattern - the perpetuation of one’s own manner of thinking over and over - and seeing how frequently it reconciles - or doesn’t - with the shadowy shape of objective reality, and the patterns of others in the Switchboard. Like feeling around in the dark, there is a eureka moment where one grasps that what they are blindly holding is what it is, and from that eureka moment stems literal, actual power.

The irreconcilability of tessellating patterns - both between the self and the Switchboard and the self and others - is not necessarily a catalyst for changing the fundamentals of one’s praxis; one may not necessarily be pushed to truth merely by encountering a shrouded bit of it, but it is consistently a means for understanding one’s own shape. Like confronting someone who thinks in a manner diametrically opposed to one’s own, the introspection into one’s own thought processes that is evoked is a product of the computational strait ‘coiling in’ upon itself and refining it’s own methodology, the ramifications of that being a wholistic strengthening of the straits and lattice. How effective this is - how much the material present can improve - is necessarily a product of the material that was already present, and as such this truth-seeking empowers truth-seekers more greatly the more this is done.

Weftcrash is the literal manifestation of this; when incident weft collides with target weft perfectly, the one striking earns favor with the Astrolabe, and what is gleaned is a heightened understanding of shape - both the shape of the self and others - that manifests in the strengthening of the flesh and the cognition and the ability to utilize all-new powers - quite literally called ‘epiphany’. In some mechanical propositions for the foundational mechanics of Weftcrash, it is possible to glean objective truth from literal nothing by means of negentropy reversal, allowing the one who struck to query the cosmos and obtain a perfect answer as a result.

This section was inspired primarily from a scene I witnessed from what was referenced in the quote above, in which a villainous character perfectly displayed the essence of their villainy, and was rewarded with a path to even loftier heights of villainy. I felt it translates just about perfectly to Samsara, in which testing one’s praxis, obtaining understanding of the conviction foundation of that praxis, and refining and reinforcing the nature of that conviction, was a means to achieving a more perfect, powerful, final shape.

The denizens of the Switchboard are shaped through strife; compelled to a realization of function via constant testing of one’s own self against others. That this testing takes the form of pitched combat means that an essential component of it is one’s own proficiency in combat; a product of cultivated skill and innate talent. Seeing one’s own work pay off in this manner - effort expended in strengthening one’s self rewarded with a path to loftier heights - is perhaps the greatest blessing to come from Switchboard combat. So great is it, in fact, that it is realized as true, perfect euphoria even on the battlefield, a temporal snapshot of a moment where everything feels just right, and an opportunity to realize a new power in practice that once dwelt only in theory or even less than that. Those who achieve those heights report it to be ‘positively thrilling’.

For those who are shaped in strife, the Switchboard’s battlegrounds serve as the foremost sculptors.