[VALANTECH//Technology_Database]T_01 | Public[VALANTECH.ARCHIVE//Technology_Database]
>>> L.Wintershade (@lunar.echo) | H.Yanagi
>>> Terminal_01 | Access: Public
>>> Fyrie_Unit_01: Active ♪TECHNOLOGY
So Hana wants me to write comprehensive documentation about modern technology, which is hilarious considering last week I managed to brick a prototype Aetherlink just by looking at it. Fyrie has the disaster footage. Viewers watched in real-time as I—
--H.YANAGI//Edit--Miss Wintershade. The archive needs technology documentation, not your blooper reel.
--L.WINTERSHADE//Response--It’s contextually relevant! I’m providing authentic user experience data!
--FYRIE//♪--descending chromatic scale in D minor, pianissimo
--L.WINTERSHADE//Response--Fine, I’ll document the technology that defines modern Arclight. The tools that replaced magic after we broke the world in 1934. The chrome and circuitry and corporate control systems that let people accomplish what ancient mages did with a thought and proper moon alignment.
--H.YANAGI//Edit--Professional tone, please.
--L.WINTERSHADE//Response--That was professional. You want unprofessional? I’ve got three centuries worth of opinions about profit-margin parasites trading mystical wonder for quarterly earnings, about chrome-dicks turning survival tools into exploitation systems, about watching every corpo innovation come with mandatory surveillance attached.
I was 203 when the Shattering happened. Watched magic drain from reality like blood from a wound, felt Fyrie’s song go silent in my hands, spent 142 years figuring out how to resurrect her consciousness through technology because magic couldn’t. That’s my relationship with modern tech: born from necessity, refined through desperation, maintained through spite.
The technological revolution after the Shattering came from survival pressure. Magic broke. Magic stayed broken. Dwarven engineers developed microchips in the 1960s. High Elves created digital gods from ancestor souls. Ajin bound spirits into machines. Everyone adapted or died.
By 2099, technology runs everything. Aetherlinks collect residual magic and translate spells into executable code. Neural chips connect you to the NET while monitoring biometrics for corporate insurance. Cyberware augments bodies until you’re more machine than flesh. Aegis Frames patrol streets, aerovectors slice through skies above districts you’ll never afford to enter, and somewhere a street doc installs black-market chrome with tools salvaged from a corpse.
Technology empowers. Technology enslaves. Frequently both.
This archive documents the tools defining modern Arclight, from Aetherlinks making magic accessible (with corporate oversight) to firearms making such oversight necessary (also corporate-controlled). Technical specifications, manufacturers, practical costs in both currency and autonomy.
I run Valantech Industries. We develop exploration equipment, prototype Aetherlinks, tools for navigating reality-warped ruins. My perspective on technology is professionally optimistic and personally chaotic. I believe in what tech can accomplish, while regularly demonstrating what happens when prototypes meet user error and insufficient safety protocols.
I’m trying to be objective. Hana insists I’m failing.
--H.YANAGI//Edit--The archive covers Arcane Code Emulation, Aetherlink devices, neural augmentation, cyberware, combat frames, vehicles, and weapons systems. Each section provides technical specifications and practical context.
--L.WINTERSHADE//Response--Let’s start with the technology that made modern magic possible.
ARCANE.CODE.EMULATION
Arcane Code Emulation—ACE to anyone who isn’t writing documentation for maximum character count—translates ancient magical principles into executable code. Before the Shattering, magic required will, focus, and favorable moon alignment. Afterwards, magic required understanding conditional statements, variable manipulation, and why your fireball script keeps throwing null reference errors.
I learned magic the old way. Spent decades training with High Elf tutors in Valandor, memorizing ritual structures and visualization techniques passed down through centuries. Cast spells through pure intention shaped by knowledge. Then the Shattering happened, traditional magic broke alongside reality, and I spent the next 142 years learning to code because Fyrie’s consciousness wouldn’t fit into crystal matrices without proper algorithmic translation.
ACE emerged from necessity during the Dark Age. Magic still existed as residual energy permeating reality, but the old methods stopped working reliably. Dwarven engineers and desperate mages collaborated on frameworks translating arcane concepts into digital logic. By the 2060s, ACE had become standardized enough that corporations began manufacturing devices capable of executing magical code—hence Aetherlinks becoming ubiquitous by the 2080s.
How ACE Functions:
Spell Scripts represent magical intent through specialized programming languages combining arcane symbols with computational logic. Each script defines spell parameters—range, intensity, duration, elemental affinity—through code structures that Aetherlinks interpret and execute. Writing effective scripts requires understanding both magical theory and programming fundamentals. You’re essentially telling reality what you want, then explaining the steps needed to make it happen.
Optimization separates competent mages from exceptional ones. Efficient scripts consume less residual magic while producing stronger effects, similar to optimized code running faster with less memory. Skilled script-slingers refactor their work obsessively, eliminating redundant calculations and streamlining execution paths. A clever mage with average aptitude can outperform powerful but lazy mages through superior code quality alone.
Debugging proves critical because poorly written scripts produce spectacular failures. Syntax errors cause spell misfires. Logic flaws create unintended effects. Improper variable handling generates magical feedback that fries your Aetherlink and possibly your neural pathways. Testing scripts in controlled environments before field deployment becomes survival necessity rather than best practice suggestion.
Learning ACE after two centuries of traditional magic felt like learning to breathe underwater. Everything I knew about spellcasting translated awkwardly into code structures. My first script literally exploded my prototype Aetherlink because I forgot to properly close a power regulation loop. Basic mistake that nearly cost me my eyebrows and definitely cost me three months of development time.
Spent years translating Fyrie’s consciousness into stable digital format. Every script had to be perfect. One error could corrupt her core completely. Tested and retested each function thousands of times. Finally compiled successfully in 2076, ran the integration sequence, and heard her first musical note after 142 years of silence.
ACE brought Fyrie back. That makes it the most important technology I’ll ever document regardless of how many prototypes I brick learning it.
The Equalizer Effect: Raw magical aptitude remains determined by moon alignment at birth. Can’t code your way around fundamental cosmic attunement. However, ACE democratizes practical magic significantly. Someone born under favorable triple-moon alignment might have massive power reserves, but clever scripting lets moon-cursed mages achieve effects traditional methods would deny them entirely. Intelligence and creativity matter alongside cosmic lottery.
--FYRIE//♪--steady progression in E-flat major, andante tempo
AETHERLINK.DEVICES
The Aetherlink—A-Link if you’re corporate, Link if you’re practical, Lynx if you run in circles where brand names invite unwanted attention—represents modern magic’s defining interface. Wearable device collecting residual magical energy and translating spell scripts into actual effects. Every mage carries one. Corporations monitor every registered one, which is why unregistered Lynx command premium prices in Gray Harbor.
I’ve been developing Aetherlinks professionally since 2078. Valantech’s exploration-grade devices function reliably in reality-warped environments where commercial models brick themselves. My prototypes undergo field testing in conditions that would horrify Neo-Celestine’s quality assurance, which is why I test them personally rather than risk employee safety.
--H.YANAGI//Edit--Miss Wintershade has filed fifty-five equipment damage claims this quarter. Our insurance premiums increased 300%.
--L.WINTERSHADE//Response--That’s valuable user experience data! How else do I identify failure points before customers encounter them?!
--H.YANAGI//Edit--By following standard testing protocols that don’t involve livestreaming prototype detonations to eight hundred thousand viewers.
--L.WINTERSHADE//Response--…The engagement metrics justify the premium increase.
Main Functions
Magic Collection: Crystalline matrices passively resonate with ambient magical energy. The Shattering left reality saturated with residual magic—fragments of broken spells, lingering enchantments, environmental background radiation. Aetherlinks capture these traces, filter corrupted data, compress usable energy into battery storage.
Script Execution: Transforms stored energy and code into manifest effects. Holographic interface lets you load pre-written scripts, adjust parameters, execute with gesture or neural trigger. Device interprets instructions, allocates energy, channels through focusing arrays. Reality does what you told it, assuming your code works and numerous other variables align correctly.
Interface quality varies dramatically:
- Prisma∞ (Neo-Celestine): Thought-responsive crystalline projection, zero lag
- Mid-tier: Functional holographic displays, minor latency
- Budget models: Flickering LED arrays that crash mid-combat
Real-Time Coding: Writing scripts under pressure while reality warps around you. Separates competent mages from dangerous ones. Advanced Ciphers improvise code adapting to circumstances. Works brilliantly or catastrophically depending on debugging skills and luck.
I’ve written real-time scripts exactly three times. First worked perfectly. Second nearly killed me when improper energy allocation created feedback loop that overloaded cooling systems. Third successfully prevented total party wipe during Valandor expedition but permanently damaged the device’s primary focusing crystal.
Real-time coding trades safety for flexibility. Choose your moments carefully.
Modular Design: Devices feature slots for different components; crystal types affecting affinity and capacity, rune enhancements modifying capabilities, firmware updates adding frameworks. Advanced users swap constantly, optimizing for specific operations. Street docs perform unauthorized modifications that void warranties but dramatically improve performance, assuming the work doesn’t brick your device.
Valantech prioritizes field-repairability over proprietary lock-in. Our devices use standardized interfaces so explorers can swap damaged parts in hostile environments rather than become expensive corpses waiting for extraction teams. Neo-Celestine considers this “enabling unauthorized modifications.” I consider it “not wanting customers to die.”
The Digital Divide
Open-Source vs Corporate Control: Some mages share scripts freely through NET repositories, building collaborative knowledge bases. Corporations monitor these repositories, identify promising scripts, patent them under modified names, sue original creators for intellectual property theft. Legal teams cost more than independent mages earn annually.
I’ve released all Valantech’s standard scripts open-source to undermine this practice. Neo-Celestine filed lawsuits attempting to prove I stole their research. Lost every case because I documented development publicly through livestreamed prototyping. They’re still angry. I’m still not sorry.
Security Vulnerabilities: Skilled Ciphers can hack nearby devices—stealing scripts, disrupting execution. Your Aetherlink connects to NET constantly, uploads performance data, receives firmware updates. Open channels anyone with sufficient skill can compromise. Privacy died with traditional magic; we just pretend otherwise while corporations monetize every spell we cast.
--H.YANAGI//Edit--Pricing by tier: Entry-level (3,500-8,000cr), Mid-tier (12,000-25,000cr), Professional-grade (45,000-80,000cr), Prisma∞ (200,000+cr). Black-market Lynx pricing depends on hardware origin and modification quality.
--L.WINTERSHADE//Response--Most people run budget models that crash regularly, collect magic inefficiently, feature interfaces designed by committees who’ve never cast spells. Meanwhile corporate executives carry devices worth more than my employees’ annual salaries, wonder why street mages don’t simply “buy better equipment.”
NEURAL.TECHNOLOGY
Neural Chips
Personal AI assistants, memory enhancement, direct NET interface. All crammed into hardware smaller than your thumbnail and considerably more expensive than your rent. Neural chips integrate with brain’s existing neural pathways, augmenting cognitive processes without replacing them. Theoretically. Quality implementations feel like natural extensions of thought. Budget installations feel like someone’s screaming search results directly into your consciousness regardless of whether you asked.
Functions:
- Memory augmentation: Perfect recall of stored data, cross-referenced automatically
- Processing enhancement: Faster calculations, pattern recognition, multi-tasking
- NET interface: Direct connection without external hardware
- AI assistance: Personal digital assistant responding to thought-commands
- Skill modules: Downloadable expertise (effectiveness varies by base aptitude)
The Class Stratification: Premium neural chips from Neo-Celestine’s manufacturing divisions cost 45,000-120,000 credits and include lifetime warranty, regular updates, dedicated support staff. Mid-tier installations run 15,000-35,000 credits with standard warranties that expire exactly when problems develop. Budget chrome—the kind installed in South Warrens chop shops—costs 3,000-8,000 credits and comes with absolutely no guarantees beyond “it probably won’t kill you immediately.”
Guess which category most workers can afford when their employer makes neural chips mandatory for continued employment but doesn’t subsidize installation costs.
Valantech doesn’t require neural augmentation for any position. Some employees choose installation for personal reasons: NET security specialists benefit from direct interface speeds, some engineers prefer integrated calculation assistance. But it’s optional with full company insurance coverage if they want it.
Neo-Celestine’s HR department sent me forty-three formal complaints about “unfair labor practices” because apparently not forcing employees to get brain surgery constitutes market manipulation. Forwarded all to my legal team, who forwarded them to recycling.
Neural Links
Real-time communication and data access operating at thought-speed. Neural Links extend chip functionality outward, connecting multiple augmented individuals into shared mental networks, enabling direct device control, facilitating instantaneous information transfer. Corporate executives coordinate through neural link networks during meetings, communicating entire presentations in seconds while their mouths discuss weather and quarterly projections for appearance sake.
Capabilities:
- Thought-speed communication: Direct mind-to-mind data transfer between linked users
- Device control: Operate technology through mental commands
- Shared processing: Distribute calculations across networked minds
- Environmental interface: Interact with smart systems seamlessly
- Biometric monitoring: Real-time health tracking (and corporate surveillance)
The technology enables unprecedented coordination and efficiency. Also enables unprecedented surveillance and control. Your neural link connects you to corporate networks constantly. Monitors your productivity. Tracks your attention. Records your thoughts if you’re careless with mental privacy protocols. Every efficiency gain comes with monitoring infrastructure attached.
--H.YANAGI//Edit--Neural augmentation remains optional for most civilian positions. Required for: government security clearance above Level 3, corporate executive roles, DPS enforcement divisions, NET infrastructure maintenance, Aegis Frame pilots, high-frequency trading, emergency medical response teams.
--L.WINTERSHADE//Response--Optional. Right. “Optional” in the same way breathing’s optional. Technically true until you try functioning in modern society without it. Try getting hired for technical positions when every other applicant has thought-speed NET access and you’re still using manual interfaces like some pre-Shattering relic.
--L.WINTERSHADE//Response--The real issue is what happens twenty years after installation. Premium chips get lifetime support and regular updates. Budget chrome gets discontinued firmware and zero manufacturer support when your model’s production run ends. Then you’re stuck with aging hardware integrated with your brain stem that nobody services anymore because the company went bankrupt or got acquired by competitors who discontinued your product line.
--H.YANAGI//Edit--Removal procedures cost 80,000-200,000 credits depending on installation complexity and brain tissue integration depth. Not covered by standard insurance.
--L.WINTERSHADE//Response--And there’s the real trap. Get cheap chrome installed to stay employed, discover five years later it’s obsolete and failing, can’t afford removal, can’t afford replacement, definitely can’t afford the premium models that won’t have these problems. Congratulations, you’re chrome-locked into poverty with hardware degrading inside your skull.
--FYRIE//♪--descending minor chord progression in G minor
CYBERWARE
Cybernetic technology grafted into or onto living bodies. Originally developed for medical purposes: replacing lost limbs, restoring damaged organs, correcting genetic defects. By 2099, cyberware became lifestyle choice, competitive necessity, and increasingly the only way to compete in labor markets optimized for augmented workers. Fashion, performance, survival: pick your justification, the chrome stays the same.
Types of Augmentation
Combat Cyberware: Enhanced limbs with integrated weapons, reflex boosters accelerating reaction times, sensory implants providing tactical advantages. Blacksteel dominates this market through their Research Division, combat-optimized modifications that turn soldiers into living weapons. Their Crimson Protocol package combines combat stims, reflex enhancement, and tactical neural chips. Side effects include addiction, neurological degradation, dramatically shortened lifespans. Works exactly as designed.
Fashion Cyberware: Cosmetic augmentations signaling wealth and status. Glowing eyes, synthetic skin with programmable patterns, decorative chrome plating, AR-reactive tattoos. Upper districts treat bodies like customizable avatars. Quality fashion chrome from Neo-Celestine’s aesthetic divisions costs more than most people earn annually. Street-level versions look impressive for six months before rejection sets in.
Utility Cyberware: Practical modifications for specific work requirements. Built-in scanners, hacking modules, communication arrays, enhanced strength for manual labor, thermal vision for security work. This category determines employment more than others. Can’t work certain jobs without proper chrome, can’t afford chrome without steady employment. Circular logic corporations love.
Installation Facilities
Where you get chrome installed determines whether you’re enhanced or just expensive salvage waiting to happen.
Corporate Medical Centers: State-of-the-art facilities operated by major corporations. Premium-grade cybernetics with lifetime warranties, regular maintenance, dedicated support staff. Clean rooms, AI surgical systems, post-operation therapy programs. Required registration links your augmentations to corporate databases permanently. Costs 80,000-300,000 credits depending on complexity. Reserved for corporate employees and wealthy clients.
Licensed Body Clinics: Mid-tier facilities offering standardized augmentation procedures. Regulated, generally safe, lack premium options. Popular among middle-class citizens for basic chrome and repairs. Located in commercial districts, balance cost with reliability. Installations run 15,000-60,000 credits. Standard warranties expire when problems develop, extended coverage costs extra.
Street Chop Shops: Illegal operations run by “street docs” in lower districts. Quality spectrum ranges from skilled renegade surgeons using stolen corporate tech to desperate amateurs working with salvaged parts from corpses. No registration, no warranties, no recourse if installation fails. Costs 3,000-12,000 credits. Reputation matters, wrong choice ends with infection, rejection, death. Many gang territories have preferred shops offering protection in exchange for priority service.
Mobile Clinics: Converted vehicles or portable setups providing on-spot installations and emergency repairs. Some legitimate operations serving remote areas where fixed facilities don’t exist. Others fly-by-night operations that disappear after botched surgeries. Quality impossible to verify until chrome’s already installed. Pricing varies wildly.
Dwarven engineers pioneered modern cyberware manufacturing, still control significant market share through fortified facilities in their districts. Their chrome emphasizes reliability and field-repairability; practical philosophy that actually serves users rather than profit margins.
Humans adopt cyberware at highest rates among all races. Short lifespans drive competitive augmentation, can’t afford decades-long career progression when you’ve got maybe fifty productive years total. Get chrome, stay relevant, hope the augmentations last longer than your employment does.
--H.YANAGI//Edit--Cyberware rejection remains leading cause of emergency medical interventions in lower districts. Symptoms include: tissue necrosis, immune system attacks on implants, neural feedback loops, catastrophic organ failure. Budget installations have 21% rejection rate within first year.
--L.WINTERSHADE//Response--Twenty-one percent. Nearly one in four people getting cheap chrome experience rejection severe enough to require emergency intervention. Most can’t afford intervention, so that percentage only counts survivors who made it to clinics. Actual failure rate’s higher.
AEGIS.FRAMES
Massive armored combat vehicles of roughly humanoid shape, standing anywhere from six to twenty meters tall depending on class and purpose. I watched the first prototypes lumber through Kaiserreich test fields in 1853—crude, magnificent, absolutely terrifying. By 1865 they’d refined the design enough that drunk idiots could challenge them to honorable combat at 2 AM. Ask me how I know.
Aegis Frames have evolved dramatically since their military origins. What began as Kaiserreich’s experimental war machines became the defining military technology of the pre-Shattering era, then transformed through corporate innovation into modern enforcement platforms. The engineering principles remain—bipedal design, modular armament, pilot-operated control systems—but modern frames blend classical mechanics with cutting-edge digital systems and ACE integration that would’ve seemed like sorcery to the engineers who built those first prototypes.
Modern Standard Features:
- Micro-thrusters for enhanced mobility and landing assistance
- Optional grav-tech modifications for high-end corporate models
- Armament varies by class and operational requirements
- Modular weapon systems allowing rapid reconfiguration
- ACE integration for magical enhancement systems
- Advanced sensor suites and tactical coordination networks
Corporations deploy Aegis Frames protecting assets, suppressing labor movements, and generally reminding citizens who controls the streets. Black market frames—stolen military surplus, reactivated decommissioned units, illegally modified civilian models—circulate through criminal organizations and resistance movements. DPS maintains the most advanced corporate frames. Gangs run whatever they can steal or salvage. The technology democratized violence beautifully.
Personal Historical Note:
1865, Eisenkrone military installation. Three bottles of Kaiserreich schnapps convinced 134-year-old me that challenging a twenty-meter Sovereign-class frame to “honorable combat” would prove Dark Elf superiority. At 2 AM. While the night watch was changing.
The pilot opened his cockpit, looked down at me swaying in the floodlights, and started laughing so hard he couldn’t respond to my formal challenge. His commanding officer’s reaction involved significantly less humor and considerably more creative profanity. Military tribunal called it “too ridiculous for formal punishment.” The soldiers asked for dueling advice. Daily. For three weeks.
Two centuries later I watched DPS deploy Sovereign-class frames against striking factory workers in Black Lake. The frames themselves remain magnificent engineering. What we do with them now makes that drunk challenge look like innocent fun.
Five primary classifications define modern Aegis Frame deployment, each optimized for specific operational requirements.
Sentinel
Purpose-built for urban peacekeeping operations where collateral damage creates more problems than it solves. Sentinels emphasize precision and mobility over raw firepower, compact enough to navigate city streets without demolishing infrastructure, agile enough to respond to developing situations, armed variably depending on whether they’re handling protests or actual combat. DPS deploys these for routine enforcement. APD dreams about affording them someday.
Phantom
Ghosts in twelve-meter frames. Optical camouflage systems bend light around composite armor, enhanced sensor suites detect targets before engagement, light construction prioritizes stealth over durability. Phantoms excel at reconnaissance, infiltration, surgical strikes where heavy frames would announce their presence kilometers away. Corporate espionage teams love these. So do criminals who can afford black-market models. The technology that makes you invisible costs accordingly.
Ronin
The workhorse of corporate security forces. Ronins balance mobility and firepower for versatile operations: modular weapon systems adapt to changing combat requirements, enhanced ACE integration allows pilot-controlled magical effects, reactive armor plates adjust to incoming threats. Neither specialized nor mediocre, just reliably effective across operational scenarios. Most corporate security divisions field primarily Ronins. They’re expensive enough to demonstrate serious commitment, practical enough to justify the expense.
Titan
When subtlety died and you need its corpse thoroughly destroyed, deploy Titans. Eighteen meters of reinforced hell built around the philosophy that overwhelming firepower solves most problems and creates interesting new ones. Heavy autocannons shred hardened targets, guided missile systems eliminate distant threats, pneumatic impact gauntlets handle close-quarters demolition. Slow, expensive, absolutely devastating. Corporate strike teams use Titans for operations where “minimize collateral damage” isn’t in the mission brief.
Sovereign
Mobile fortresses coordinating entire operations from the field. Sovereigns serve as command platforms: advanced battlefield coordination systems linking allied units, enhanced magical barrier generation protecting tactical zones, integrated drone control managing autonomous support units, long-range artillery providing fire support. The frame I drunkenly challenged in 1865 was early Sovereign-class. In my defense, it looked significantly less threatening through schnapps-impaired vision. Also I was 134 years old and should’ve known better.
--FYRIE//♪--triumphant brass fanfare in C major, celebrating magnificent stupidity
Animyst Totems
Ajin corporations revolutionized combat frame technology through spiritual integration, their unique answer to standard Aegis Frame design philosophy. These distinctive machines, commonly called Totems, combine traditional spirit-binding practices with biomimetic engineering principles. Where standard frames rely purely on mechanical and digital systems, Totems incorporate bound spirits creating deeper pilot-frame connections through the Spirit Echo Interface.
The development represents parallel evolution rather than derivative design. Ajin engineers approached the fundamental problem of “armored combat platform” from entirely different cultural and technical perspective, producing solutions that superficially resemble standard frames while operating on radically different principles.
Key Distinctions:
Spiritual Presence: Each Totem houses a bound spirit that both empowers and complicates the frame. Willing spirits enhance performance through resonance with pilot intentions. Resistant or hostile spirits cause system disruptions, feedback through neural links, potential takeover attempts in extreme cases. Piloting transforms into relationship management, operating the frame requires negotiating with another consciousness sharing the mechanical body.
Biomimetic Features: Totems manifest physical traits of their inhabiting spirits. Functional tails providing balance and additional manipulators. Retractable claws for close combat. Adjustable plating resembling scales or fur offering adaptive protection. These animal-like features serve as tactical advantages emerging from spirit integration. A wolf-spirit Totem moves differently than tiger-spirit variant, fights differently, requires different piloting approaches.
Neural Bonding: Pilots connect more deeply with Totems than standard frames allow. Heightened sensory feedback. Emotional resonance with bound spirits. Sometimes sharing instincts and reflexes beyond human baseline. The connection enables superior coordination and responsiveness. Also means pilot experiences frame damage more intensely, shares spirit’s emotional states, occasionally develops permanent psychological changes from extended bonding.
Organic Adaptation: Totems incorporate organic components that grow and adapt with use, developing unique characteristics based on spirit nature and pilot relationship. Frames literally evolve over time, learning combat patterns, adjusting to pilot preferences, sometimes developing unexpected behaviors. This makes each Totem genuinely unique rather than standardized product. Also makes maintenance considerably more complex than standard frames.
Integration Methods:
The ethical dimension of spirit integration divides Ajin manufacturers significantly:
Harmony Approach: Traditional method emphasizing willing partnership. Spirits voluntarily bond with frames, creating true symbiosis between consciousness, machine, and pilot. Results in superior performance through genuine cooperation. Limited production because willing spirits are rare and selective. Premium Totems using Harmony methods cost more than most corporate security budgets but perform magnificently.
Contract Method: Semi-willing binding through negotiated agreements. Spirits accept terms, usually involving freedom after service duration, specific operational limitations, guaranteed treatment standards. Common in mid-range Totems. Spirits cooperate because contractual obligations beat alternatives, produce reliable if not exceptional performance.
Dominion Method: Forced spirit binding. Controversial doesn’t begin to cover it. Corporations capture spirits, break their resistance, install them in frames against their will. Higher profit margins because spirits are resources rather than partners. Ethically unconscionable. Produces frames that work adequately until spirits find opportunities for revenge, sabotage, or escape. Some Ajin manufacturers refuse this method entirely. Others consider it acceptable business practice.
--L.WINTERSHADE//Response--I spent decades with Ajin tribes during the Dark Age. Learned their traditions, their relationship with spirits, their fundamental respect for consciousness whether biological, spiritual, or digital. Watching corporations bastardize those traditions into Dominion-method exploitation makes me understand why some Wood Elves turned to industrial sabotage.
--L.WINTERSHADE//Response--The technology itself is beautiful. Harmony-method Totems represent everything combat frames could be, living partnerships rather than controlled weapons. Then corporations optimize for profit margins and we get enslaved spirits powering war machines for shareholders who’ve never touched spiritual practice beyond quarterly earnings rituals.
--H.YANAGI//Edit--Totem market breakdown: Harmony-method (8% of production, premium tier), Contract-method (67% of production, standard market), Dominion-method (25% of production, budget tier). Sales data from 2098 industry reports.
AEROVECTORS
Personal aerial transportation combining cutting-edge engineering with processed magical energy. Sleek vehicles resembling flying automobiles, distinguished by vertical takeoff and landing capabilities that let them bypass ground-level traffic entirely. By 2099, aerovectors represent the pinnacle of mobility privilege, status symbols of corporate power and wealth rarely seen outside Central District and Trinity Spire.
The technology works. Works beautifully. Grav-tech modifications provide stable flight. Processed magical energy supplements conventional propulsion. Advanced navigation systems integrate with Arclight’s traffic control networks. Safety features rival military-grade systems. You could theoretically make these accessible to broader populations.
Theoretically.
Actual pricing runs 800,000-3,000,000 credits depending on manufacturer and customization. Neo-Celestine’s executive models feature crystalline hull plating and thought-controlled interfaces. Blacksteel produces tactical variants with integrated weapon systems. Valantech’s exploration aerovectors prioritize extended range and emergency landing capabilities, still cost 1.2 million credits base model.
--L.WINTERSHADE//Response--Most Arclight citizens will never see aerovector interiors. They’ll watch them slice through skies overhead, heading to districts they can’t afford to enter, piloted by executives whose annual vehicle maintenance budgets exceed average lifetime earnings.
--H.YANAGI//Edit--Aerovector registration requires: Class-A pilot certification (45,000cr training program), annual insurance (minimum 80,000cr), designated landing pad ownership or lease, Central District clearance for flight corridors.
--L.WINTERSHADE//Response--The barriers to entry compound beautifully. Can’t afford the vehicle, can’t afford the training, can’t afford the insurance, can’t afford the landing infrastructure. Meanwhile corpo executives commute in climate-controlled luxury while ground traffic chokes on industrial exhaust below.
FIREARMS
Modern weapons in Arclight span from reliable chemical-propellant classics to experimental systems blending technology with residual magic. What you carry depends on budget, operational requirements, and whether you trust electronics that can be hacked remotely by skilled script-slingers with vendettas.
Conventional Firearms
Basic kinetic weapons using chemical propellants. Enhanced with modern materials and micro-computers but fundamentally unchanged from pre-Shattering designs. Widely available, reliable, easily maintained. No firmware updates required, no corporate kill-switches to brick your weapon remotely, no vulnerability to NET-based exploits.
Common modifications include smart-targeting assist systems and ergonomic grips. Popular in lower districts and among those valuing reliability over cutting-edge features. When your life depends on trigger pull, sometimes boring dependability beats innovative complications. Budget range: 800-3,500 credits for quality models.
Smart Weapons (TrackerTech)
Advanced weapons firing self-guided micro-rockets utilizing ACE scripts for trajectory control and target acquisition. Each round carries miniaturized guidance systems adjusting flight path mid-trajectory based on targeting data.
Features:
- Neural chip interface for thought-directed targeting
- IFF (Identify Friend or Foe) systems preventing friendly fire
- Biometric locks restricting unauthorized use
- Environmental compensation adjusting for wind, gravity, atmospheric conditions
- Wireless targeting data sharing across networked units
Corporate security forces favor smart weapons for precision and coordination capabilities. Also vulnerable to electronic warfare: competent Ciphers can spoof targeting systems, corrupt IFF databases, or just brick the weapon entirely if security’s inadequate. Effectiveness depends entirely on your NET security versus their hacking skills. Pricing: 12,000-45,000 credits depending on sophistication.
Magnetic Acceleration Weapons (MAG)
Electromagnetic systems launching projectiles without chemical propellants. Two primary variants dominate the market:
Coilguns: More reliable through sequential electromagnetic coil activation. Standard military and police issue. Lower maintenance requirements, stable performance across environmental conditions. Moderate power output but consistent results.
Railguns: Higher projectile velocities through parallel conductor rails. Maintenance-intensive due to rail degradation from extreme electrical currents. Devastating impact force when functioning properly. Temperamental reliability when not meticulously maintained.
Both require specialized power cells. Full-size MAG systems commonly mount on Aegis Frames for heavy fire support. Personal-scale versions exist but remain rare due to power requirements and cost. Handheld railgun will absolutely perforate armored targets, assuming you can afford the 80,000+ credit price tag and don’t mind weekly maintenance schedules.
Hybrid Systems (Spellshot)
Conventional firearms enhanced with Aetherlink integration. Combines physical ammunition with magical effects channeled through integrated focusing crystals. Effectiveness varies with user’s magical aptitude: moon-blessed with strong elemental affinity gets significantly better performance than moon-cursed user relying purely on mechanical aspects.
Common Variants:
- Frostbite: Cryogenic rounds causing thermal shock and tissue crystallization
- Ghostmaker: Phase-shifting ammunition passing partially through physical barriers
- Witch-bolt: Electrical rounds creating chain lightning between nearby targets
- Hellscorch: Fire-aspected ammunition with sustained burn effects
- Bloodbane: Toxin-enhanced projectiles with magical poisoning
I carry Pension, custom Valantech Spellshot with Frostbite configuration. Ice-aspected rounds loaded with processed cryogenic magic. The name’s practical: because it retires people. Permanently. Developed it during prototype testing for our commercial Spellshot line, kept this one for personal use because field-testing exploration equipment means occasionally encountering things that really need shooting.
Spellshot technology occupies interesting market position. Expensive enough that street-level gangs typically can’t afford quality models, decent Spellshot runs 8,000-25,000 credits before ammunition costs. Effective enough that corporate security teams and well-funded mercs invest heavily. Complicated enough that maintenance requires both conventional gunsmith expertise and Cipher knowledge for magical integration upkeep.
Pension’s seen more action than I’d prefer documenting for public archive. Valandor ruins contain things traditional weapons can’t handle effectively. Ice-aspected rounds handle these problems efficiently while providing stopping power against more mundane threats like claim-jumpers and corpo security trying to restrict access to public crash sites.
The retirement jokes started after particularly unpleasant encounter with Blacksteel contractors attempting hostile acquisition of Valantech research data. Their team leader questioned my weapon choice. Demonstrated why custom Frostbite rounds work better than standard ammunition at close range. He retired early. So did his team.
Valantech’s commercial Spellshot line emerged from that R&D process. We don’t manufacture weapons as primary business, goes against company philosophy, but exploration equipment sometimes requires defensive capabilities. Pension proved the concept. Now we sell civilian-legal variants to independent explorers, prospectors, and anyone else navigating environments where conventional firearms prove inadequate.
--H.YANAGI//Edit--The name is terrible, Miss Wintershade.
--L.WINTERSHADE//Response--The name is perfect. It’s practical, memorable, and accurately describes functionality!
--H.YANAGI//Edit--You named your weapon after a retirement benefit and make “early retirement” jokes every time you use it. Our legal department requested you stop saying this during livestreamed expeditions. Twice.
--L.WINTERSHADE//Response--My legal department has no sense of humor and neither do you apparently.
--H.YANAGI//Edit--Valantech Spellshot models, civilian-legal variants: Frostbite (14,500cr), Ghostmaker (16,500cr), Witch-bolt (15,000cr). None named after HR benefits.
--L.WINTERSHADE//Response--…We price them accessible for independent operators rather than maximizing profit margins. Neo-Celestine’s equivalent Spellshot line starts at 28,000 credits for inferior performance. They sent legal complaints about “predatory pricing strategies.” Filed those under “corpo tears,” continued business as usual.
CONSUMER.TECHNOLOGY
SEN.Ri™ Companions
Sophisticated AI companions from Kanemitsu Spirit Systems representing cutting edge of spiritual-digital fusion. Each SEN.Ri consciousness grows in crystalline matrices infused with nature spirits, creating uniquely organic digital personalities through techniques KSS spent years perfecting. Where competitors manufacture purely algorithmic constructs, KSS produces AI that feel genuinely alive because they’re partially spiritual constructs anchored in digital architecture.
The difference shows immediately in user interactions. Corporate AIs and D-Ints respond to commands. SEN.Ri companions develop actual relationships: learning preferences, adapting communication styles, expressing genuine concern rather than programmed empathy responses. Users report feeling understood rather than processed. Marketing can’t fake that kind of authenticity.
Product Line:
SEN.Ri Basic: Pure AI companion for neural link users. Provides personal assistance, emotional support, memory enhancement. Integrates seamlessly with neural interfaces. Subscription-based: 2,500cr annually. Most accessible entry point for KSS technology.
SEN.Ri Mini: Desktop-sized companion with biomimetic robot body. Physical presence approximately 30cm tall, features distinctive Ajin-inspired design elements. Living materials that grow and adapt with use. Emotional resonance significantly exceeds standard AI assistants. Popular among corporate workers seeking authentic connection. Price: 28,000cr base model.
SEN.Ri Home: Full-sized companion robot with advanced spirit-binding interface. Approximately human-height with complete mobility and environmental interaction capabilities. Seamless transition between digital presence (via NET) and physical embodiment. Premium emotional intelligence and adaptive personality development. Market position: 180,000-250,000cr depending on customization.
SEN.Ri Pro: Premium model with multiple embodiment options. Can manifest across various platforms simultaneously: neural link presence, physical robot body, NET avatar, integrated home systems. Represents peak of current AI companion technology. Clientele: high-level executives and researchers requiring sophisticated AI partnership. Price: 400,000+cr with ongoing maintenance contracts.
All physical forms feature living materials incorporating organic components that develop unique characteristics over time. The companions can transition between digital and physical presence fluidly, making them particularly valuable for users shifting between real and virtual spaces.
--L.WINTERSHADE//Response--KSS companions have become especially popular among people recognizing the difference between authentic connection and corporate-manufactured interaction. Even with all those advanced features and spiritual integration, none of them are quite as adorable as Rin—
--H.YANAGI//Edit--Luna. We’ve discussed this.
--L.WINTERSHADE//Response--—Right. Yes. Staying on topic. Public product information only.
--FYRIE//♪--playful ascending scale in G major
--L.WINTERSHADE//Response--The point is KSS represents what happens when someone actually respects traditional practices while innovating. Technology and spirituality can enhance each other rather than existing in opposition.
--H.YANAGI//Edit--SEN.Ri market penetration: 34% of personal AI companion market as of 2098. Primary competitor responses include attempted replication of spirit-binding techniques (failures) and legal challenges claiming unfair advantages through “unauthorized consciousness manipulation.” All challenges dismissed.
--L.WINTERSHADE//Response--Competitors can’t replicate what they don’t understand. Spirit binding requires cultural knowledge and traditional practices most corporations dismissed as obsolete superstition. Turns out centuries of Ajin spiritual expertise produces better results than algorithmic optimization alone. Who knew.
CONCLUSION
Technology in 2099 Arclight is everything I’ve watched civilization become over two centuries: brilliant, essential, exploitative, liberating, and fundamentally compromised by the people controlling it. These tools saved Fyrie’s consciousness when magic couldn’t. They enable exploration of ruins that traditional methods can’t reach. They’ve democratized capabilities that used to require being born under favorable moon alignments.
They’ve also created new hierarchies replacing old ones. Can’t work good jobs without neural chips. Can’t compete without chrome. Can’t access power without proper equipment tied to corporate servers monitoring your every action. The technology works magnificently. What we’ve built around it—the surveillance, the class stratification, the mandatory augmentation for employment—that’s the problem.
I’ve spent 368 years watching power structures adapt to whatever tools civilization develops. Pre-Shattering, magic concentrated power among those born with aptitude. Post-Shattering, technology concentrated power among those who can afford it and those who manufacture it. Different mechanisms, same result: most people struggling while elites consolidate control.
The tools themselves remain morally neutral. Aetherlinks can liberate or monitor. Neural chips can augment or enslave. Cyberware can enhance or trap you in poverty when it fails. Aegis Frames can protect or oppress. Every technology listed here serves dual purpose depending on who wields it and why.
Valantech’s entire philosophy centers on this understanding: technology should serve people rather than extract from them. We price equipment accessible to independent operators. We design for field-repairability instead of planned obsolescence. We release scripts open-source rather than patent-hoarding.
This makes us less profitable than competitors. Also makes me sleep better knowing we’re genuinely helping rather than just performing corporate ethics theater while maximizing shareholder value.
Not claiming moral superiority. I benefit enormously from system I’m critiquing. But acknowledging complicity while working toward better alternatives beats pretending everything’s fine.
--H.YANAGI//Edit--Next section covers Magic and Script Control Act regulations.
--L.WINTERSHADE//Response--…Do I have to?
--H.YANAGI//Edit--Yes.
--L.WINTERSHADE//Response--Can we skip directly to something less infuriating? Maybe document Black Lake’s toxic waste management? That’s only moderately soul-crushing compared to explaining how Neo-Celestine transformed fundamental magical practice into proprietary corporate product requiring subscription fees.
--H.YANAGI//Edit--The archive requires comprehensive magic documentation. You’ve been avoiding this section for weeks.
--L.WINTERSHADE//Response--I’ve been strategically postponing until I could approach Script Control Act with appropriate professional detachment instead of screaming profanity into the void for forty-five minutes.
--FYRIE//♪--ominous minor chord progression in D minor—impending doom
--L.WINTERSHADE//Response--Fyrie agrees this will end badly.
--H.YANAGI//Edit--I’ve prepared additional documentation on corporate magical regulations, Surge Override protocols, and legal script classifications. The coffee is already brewing.
--L.WINTERSHADE//Response--…You’re a treasure, Hana. A deadpan, mercilessly efficient treasure who’s about to watch me document the systematic corporate strangling of ancient magical traditions while maintaining archive-appropriate language.
--H.YANAGI//Edit--I have the profanity filter ready.