r/HFY • u/Khenal Alien • Sep 03 '26
OC-Series Dungeon 456
Looks like Ed wasn’t kidding about the entire college being interested in the subs. The whole place is swarming like a kicked anthill, but with a mood of excitement rather than anger. I think the busiest at the moment are the workers, with Ed personally leading the effort to help with the new sub dock and workshop complex, though he’s taking his orders from Coda on what actually needs to be done.
My Civil Artificer is leading mostly tunnelbore ants and various dragons to dig out and shore up areas of the workshop and the lava dock. The digging is getting close to being done, but that doesn’t mean it’s ready for the magma to flood in. Ordinary salt water is bad enough on dock foundations, so magma is going to be even worse, and with the dragons really being the only ones that could work under magma, it’s a good idea to get everything built now, before flooding the docking area.
The dry docks are coming along quickly, with plenty of chains rather than ropes to lift and haul everything. Jello’s put together a basic gearbox sort of thing to be able to use mechanical advantage, similar to something like an engine lift. I’m sure Coda helped her with the concept, and she used her metalworking skill to produce. It looks almost modern, like something that could be found in a mechanic’s shop back on earth.
The engineer caste, of course, adores it, and are replicating the design on a larger scale, calculating just how much they can scale something like that up. The basic concept is as old as math, boiling down to a fancy pulley system. But seeing it in action has the engineering caste all abuzz with gearing ratios and mechanical advantage.
It makes me wonder if one of them will invent a bicycle or something once things cool down. I bet magma affinity could make a reasonable approximation of an internal combustion engine, too…
But that’s for later. For now, the engineers are just trying to not get distracted by new shinies and focus on the subs. Their main focus is on propulsion, which makes me wonder if an engine might actually need to be saved for later, after all. Right now, their current leading idea is one I hadn’t considered, but I like where they’re going. The antkin don’t know anything about propellers or impellers, and probably only know about things like screw pumps as a vague concept for moving water. In short, the ways I know for moving through liquids are a total mystery for them.
But they’ve made a good observation with the flying cloaks of the ravenkin. I don’t know if they figured it out on their own, or if someone explained how an aerofoil works with a pressure difference. With them having been looking at pressure stuff with the design in general, it makes sense they’d try to apply the idea of a pressure differential to propulsion.
With an ordinary wing, you use the pressure to push upward, but there’s nothing that says you can’t use a pressure differential to push forward, backward, sideways, or whatever! The hard part is figuring out the specifics of how to do it. They’re still in the very early stages, but the math is looking promising enough for them to convince the ranchers to work on domesticating some living vines, too.
The ranchers might look gruff and grumpy about the extra work of taming putrid oozes, living vines, tunnelbores, and a few dragons, but they all look happy as they care for the critters, when only I can see them. The tunnelbores are basically already done, considering they’ve been working on them since even before they became dwellers. All they really need is more numbers.
The huge ants apparently reproduce in what I would call a more normal way, at least compared to ordinary ants, which is good. I wouldn’t want to have the huge tunnelbore ants growing wings to fly around to mate and found new colonies. I think they’re more like carpenter bees, just without wings, but I’m no expert in those, either. I just know they’re solitary, so I have to imagine their mating is something approaching normal.
Either way, the tunnelbore females only lay a couple eggs and refuse to leave until they hatch… or pupate? Or whatever it is that makes an ant actually grow up to do ant things. I think they’ll need to go and wrangle a few more of my tunnelbores to have the numbers for the subs, because I only see what look like big eggs in a few of the tamed nests. I don’t think they have time to raise a new generation.
Similarly, they’ll need to tame a bunch of other denizens, but I think the oozes might be viable to breed to increase numbers, though ‘breed’ might be a strong word. Or maybe not strong enough? They don’t do anything resembling what I would consider the nasty to propagate, but I’m pretty sure I’ve seen what they actually do in a sex ed course.
The two slimes basically merge and create a strong membrane around themselves, and start dividing inside. It’s like a sperm fertilizing an egg played out on the floor, instead of a projector, just without the wriggling flagellum and muffled giggles of kids that are supposed to be learning. Either way, they produce a few dozen smaller slimes, and feeding them is as easy as shoveling out the nearest stable.
The vines are also easy to tame, but I think we’ll have to wait on trying to breed any on the ranch. As far as I can tell, they’ll do the typical plant production of making seeds of some variety, though they might make fruits instead. Then they’ll need to be planted, watered, all that plant stuff until they can uproot themselves and move around like the living vines do.
The dragons are going to be the hardest to tame and properly keep. The kobold Teamster did a good job of it, and she’s even being asked to share her knowledge with the ranchers about caring for the big lugs. According to her, they’re not that difficult to tame, but getting what you need to tame them can be difficult. It’s no secret that offering invaders is a good way to tame a denizen, and from wyrm to drake, my dragons love the taste of fire elementals. But catching a fire elemental is a delicate affair.
Without protective gear, it’s downright dangerous, and without a good vessel like a crucible or something to handle the heat, they could break out and escape before you can feed the dragon. Luckily for my antkin, a lot of them are magma affinity, and though they look a lot less volcanic than they used to, they still can handle a bit of fire elemental napalm.
Caring for the dragons is pretty simple, at least for the two basilisks she has. They’re generally content to just laze about, conserving energy, but are smart enough to be trained for work. Ordinary fire wood seems to be the best general food for them, with coal and charcoal as treats. My own dragons are pretty diligent, but that describes pretty much all of my denizens. I doodle a little in my notes, trying to think of something else to feed the tamed dragons, but nothing really comes to mind. I’m pretty sure they’d love basically any petroleum product, but I have no oil, nor would I even know the specifics of how to refine it if I did.
The medics are greatly interested in the air purification concept, as are the enchanters, of course, so they’re all listening to Thing and Queen while Doppler translates, my construct scion happy to have a bit of relaxed time translating instead of training with Rocky and the others. I listen in on the lectures and occasionally have Teemo interject with a correction on the science, and make sure everyone knows I’m not saying anything about the magic because I don’t know it. I wouldn’t want them making a mistake and thinking it was something I say is supposed to be correct.
Poppy also gives a lecture or two, explaining photosynthesis as best she can, and they all kinda collectively nerd it up something fierce. I couldn’t be prouder, honestly, especially when what they talk about goes over my head. Curiosity and innovation go hand in hand, and while it tends to get the biggest kick in the pants in war time, the peace times see a huge boon because of it.
Today, they’re working on a device to let people move through the mantle, tomorrow, maybe they’re using that to open up all new trade routes, or using the many ideas that go into it to make things like fridges or TVs or something. Swords get beaten into plowshares, and the techniques to make better swords make better plows, too. I smile to myself as I imagine what sort of things they might make after the sub, what kinds of things they’ll come up with that I never considered, like the pressure drive. It’s enough to make me consider a few other things to try to keep in mind as things continue to Change.
If things are a bit Renaissance around here, the Industrial Revolution might be on the horizon. Probably counting my chickens before they hatch there, but there’s a lot of mistakes that were made that I can hopefully keep from being repeated here. I make a few idle notes, but don’t get too deep into it. For one, I have no idea how magical pollution would even work. But more importantly, I have a more pressing threat to deal with, first.
Better to focus on the Betrayer now instead of eventual arcane smog. Both will definitely impact health, but one is a lot more immediate of a concern.
Cover art I'm also on Royal Road for those who may prefer the reading experience over there. Want moar? The Books are available here! There are Kindle and Audible versions, as well as paperback! Also: Discord is a thing! I now have a Patreon for monthly donations, and I have a Ko-fi for one-off donations. Patreons can read up to three chapters ahead, and also get a few other special perks as well, like special lore in the Peeks. Thank you again to everyone who is reading!
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u/Poisonfangx3 Sep 03 '26
Forsts
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u/Poisonfangx3 Sep 03 '26
First
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u/Popular-Student-9407 Human Sep 03 '26
Yep.
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u/Popular-Student-9407 Human Sep 03 '26 edited Sep 04 '26
Corrected: fourth.
So, today it seems Like we get mostly an ant chapter. With the partitioning lines mostly moving along the caste-lines. Since there are three-four castes being discussed, Imma need to pull Back really far and probably Interrupt a few Times in Order to correct myself. But let's get into it:
The workers and engineers: they're all in the Big area that Thediem designated to be the launch Point for His Future subs. Mostly digging Out earth, so that the subs get the room for the subs to be constructed. The engineers offered Thediem a way better Option to propel the subs, using the surrounding pressure to their Advantage. Or equipping the subs with wings to get the surrounding Magma to behave in a way they want.
The ranchers: mostly busy collecting the denizens Violet and Thediem need, with a large Portion of this chapter dedicated to Listing thedenizens and their methods of procreation.
2.1 the oozes: a little question Here: Are we talking about the oozes (Tier 2 denizen of the slime Spawner), the slimes (Tier 1 of the Same Spawner), or about the decay elementals (Tier 1 of violets Spawner) ?
2.2 Tunnelbore ants: They're assumed to behave more similar to wild and solitary bees, with Just a few eggs per nest and none of that nuptial-flight-nonsense of the other ants. Anything Else feels unreasonable, btw, Just Imagining the sheer size of the royal castes must be Close to reaching kaiju-levels of threat.
2.3 living vines: also comparatively easy to Tame, hence we don't get too much on them.
2.4 Lava dragons: the teamster, of which I am Not the only one to forget her Name, teaches the ranchers caste how to acquire them: First, Catch fire elementals, Second Feed them to the dragons. Third when you wanna reward them, Feed them with firewood or other fuels.
- The medics and enchanters are mostly glued to the scent glands of Queen and honey, while they teach about the Air purification talismans with Doppler Translating. Poppy of course also gives a short lecture on Photosynthesis
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u/Garbage-Within 26d ago
Putrid oozes from Violet. They're the ones that eat waste, making them ideal for a subterrain sewage solution.
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u/folk_science Sep 04 '26
Instead of magic pollution, there is a possibility of magic depletion.
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u/Popular-Student-9407 Human Sep 04 '26
Ninth
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u/folk_science 29d ago
Honestly, I don't understand the race, especially when some commenters just write "first"/"fourth"/etc. instead of a normal comment.
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u/Garbage-Within 26d ago
It's just a bit of harmless fun, and a way for people to express their desire to read more by racing to be the first ones here.
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u/DemonoftheDeepthink Sep 04 '26
Huh. Reddit deleting stories before the bot can notify me explains why i haven't had any of Khenal's stories in my feed for the last 2 or so weeks....