Anime-Junke's Work In Progress Ideas

Jetbikes

In Felarya, it has been proven that the best way to travel long distances (barring a portal) is either as stealthily as possibly or as fast as possible.
The Felaryan Jetbike combines both stealth and speed.

Manufacturing and Design

Felaryan Jetbikes are manufactured partly from imported parts and partly from locally made materials, although there are many that are made offworld then adapted for Felaryan use.



There is no standard model jetbike as the native predators of the area, the pilot and the available materials all contribute to making each Jetbike unique to its pilot, although there are base similarities.
Jetbikes either come in single person or pilot & passenger. The latter being more common, as private ownership is unviable for anyone but the richest, not to mention that the amount of skill required is considerable.


In order to carry a passenger or cargo, Jetbikes have a rearcar (like a idecar on a motorcycle, but at the back). This is usually fitted with a padded seat for their passengers, but can be romoved to carry a small amount of cargo, usually precious items like ascarlin.

The basic design consists of anything from 2 to 4 individual jet engines, arranged in a variety of ways. Most jetbikes are VTOL and thrust vectoring capable, as the extra manoeuvrability often means life or death in Felarya. The few remaining non-VTOL/thrust vectoring jetbikes are built solely for speed, designed to be able to outrun a harpy, they can be even more expensive than a VTOL jetbike due to the high wear on the components.

Armament and equiptment

Stealth is achieved through use of a scalar visual distortion fields and magical sound dampers, usually in the form of a rune-engraved metal ring around the jet nozzles. This in turn is powered by a magic-matrix crystal usually located in the inner workings of the jetbike where it powers much smaller, secondary dampers. The dampers cannot be maintained at high speeds, as the sound produced causes the dampers to draw far too much magic from the crystal, which often results in the crystal destabilising and shattering violently. Because of this, many jetbikes have a turbocharger that runs off the crystal. When they are discovered, the pilot will cancel the dampers (the distortion field is scalable, hence it’s name so it is not always deactivated) and divert all power to getting as much out of the engines as possible. Of course, this “turbo charger” is also a big drain on the crystal, and prolonged or frequent use can result in severe or fatal damage to the crystal.

The scalar visual distortion field is a simple spell that makes the jetbike hard to see at distance. It is not a cloaking device; it merely renders the bike an indistinct dot at range. This might not seem like much but it provides a lot for the relatively small amount of power it consumes.

The speed and manoeuvrability of the Felaryan Jetbikes isn’t their only defence, pilots are equipped with a variety of smoke grenades, flares and other countermeasures to aid in throwing off pursuing fairies, harpies and anything else that takes too much of an interest.

Members of the Felaryan Jetbike Pilot Guild are equipted with one AID each mission
AID is a magical device that causes a large implosion of air when active, enough to throw anything pursuing a jetbike wildly off course. AIDs are provided to the guild and the guild only though a special contract with Magical and Useful Survival Tools Inc. The AID looks like a rune engraved, steel-banded, dark blue orb about the size of a cricket ball. To arm, 3 buttons equally spaced along the diameter must be pressed simultaneously. After this, the device is then thrown or backhanded behind the jetbike, where it activates on a timer or when it enters a sufficiently powerful organic magic field (such as that produced by a giant predator under the Felarya healing effect).

Guide Orb Aircraft variant
For navigation, a system based off MUST’s Guide Orb is used.
Instead of emitting a beam of light, the direction is displayed as a dot in a crystal ball or( on a small LCD screen for more technological craft). The middle of the screen or ball represents the direction of the Jetbike, so all that is required is to keep the dot in the centre.

Felaryan Jetbike Pilot Guild

Formed (obviously) by jetbike pilots to provide a standard for their trade and to increase their bargaining power with their rich clients, the guild provides also maintenance, armament and client seeking services to its members.
Pilots of sufficient skill are accepted usually without question into the guild, however a test is required if they cannot provide enough proof that they have the skill they claim. Tests usually involve riding a course and performing difficult manoeuvres, although no predators are involved, as loss of a jetbike over a trivial thing such as an entry test is deemed very wasteful and worse, unskilful.
There is another way to get into the guild; promising youngsters are picked up by guild members and then evaluated by other members. If they are deemed adequate, they are either fostered with a member’s family or boarded at the guild house.

One of the advantages pilots get for joining the guild is a standardised defensive loadout.
Guild members are always armed with the following on their trips:

• Air-burst Smoke grenades or Smoke Emitters (Depending on the jetbike)
  
• Flares (Can be in a launcher or handgun depending on the jetbike)
  
• Air Implosion Device (AID).
  

Non-guild pilots may have smoke grenades and/or flares, but APPD devices are exclusive to the guild through their contract with Magical and Useful Survival Tools. As part of the contract, MUST spell-casters and spell-casters associated with MUST get a discount when using guild services.

The Sangelu are a race of humanoids that prey on humans, nekos and other similar races.
Appearance:
All sangelu have dark red skin (RGB:126,10,10 Hexidecimal colour code: #7E0A0A). Their skin also has has a velvet texture.
Their eyes are catlike, usually green. Their hands have no fingernails, instead there are needlelike claws that can retract into the centre of the finger.

Among those who know of them, sangelu are greatly feared. They feed on any sentient humanoid that falls prey to their deceptions and uncanny power. The most dangerous thing about them is their rarity. because they are spread thinly, they are not widely known, especially to newcomers to Felarya as they are rarely mentioned in any description of the world. Foreknowledge is the best weapon against sangelu, the females are average in physical strength and the males, while beefy can be overpowered by unexpected mob rushes. Sangelu try to avoid direct confrontation as it draws too much attention.


The are a few things about the sangelu race that set them apart from other races, their method of feeding, their odd telepathic powers and of course their "food." Sangelu feed on life. More specifically, the life of sentient being. They can feed on animals in a pinch, but the life they draw does not satisfy their needs and leads to malnutrition. It is thought that they somehow siphon off organic matter, as victims that have been fed on over a longer period of time lose weight and have a gaunt look. As mentioned before their method of feeding is unusual (at least seems so to most other races). For the Sangelu draw out life and (possibly) siphon off organic matter through what is sometimes mistaken as their hair, although only at a distance. Sangelu "hair" consists of thick worm-like tendrils. It is through these that they draw out life.

The sensation that a host feels when being fed on is at once revolting but also sickly pleasaurable at a base level. The sickly pleasure is addicting. Combined with the sangelu use their telepathy to renforce this addiction. The result is often a willing or at least helpless host.
The hair-tendrils are usually kept covered by a turban or other sort of head covering so as to prevent prey races from realising that they are looking at a sangelu.


Females:
Female sangelu are usually on the short side, 6 feet is the uppermost limit for them, it is rare to see one this height. Female hair tendrils are usually about 1.5cm in diameter, although the exact thickness depends on the individual. The exact length of femal hair tendrils again depends on the individual, but is usually around ankle length.
Female sangelu are characterised by a softly curved body, not volutpuous in any way neither are they too slim or boney unless very malnourishned.

Males:
Although 6 feet is still the limit for sangelu height (Although there are cases of taller male sangelu, they are a rareity among rarities), sangelu males are on average taller than females. Male hair tendrils are usually about 2.7cm in diameter, although again, the exact thickness depends on the individual. Their length is somewhat shorter than the length of female's hair tendrils, usually hanging about halfway down the torso. Male sangelu are somewhat beefy, although not to any extreme as there seems to be a soft edge to their body shape.


Reproduction
When a male meets a female he will attempt to (for want of a better word) seduce her as often she will at first see him as another victim. If he is successful, then the couple mates and then leave each other with the female holding the embryo in stasis.

Once impregnated, a Sangelu female will attempt to subdue a large number of prey so she doesn't have to hunt in the gestation period. Once this has been achieved, she will feed on them slowly while the child develops. When the child is born, the mother will either finish off any prey or immediatley move on.

Sangelu young are breastfed, but the liquid is not milk. Rather, it is a protein laced liquid infused with a partially processed form of life energy, as Sangelu young find it difficult to absorb raw life from a host.

Hunting

Sangelu hunting styles vary, but generally fall into a few categories.
The first is quite simple and often employed by females. The sangelu will start by stalking a lone traveller for a day or two. When she is sure he has the correct disposition, she will intercept him, posing as a lost, helpless girl (of unknown race). When the traveller stops for sleep, she will feed on him. The alien/sickly pleasurable feeling that being fed on gives can still be felt (abet not quite to the extent when awake) when the victim is asleep and is just as addictive.

As you know, Felarya has a reputation for being filled with treasures, wondrous artefacts and other items of power. Many treasure hunters and other opportunists are drawn to Felarya to loot these amazing treasures. Many are killed by the dangers of the world, but many succeed. This raises the question, where do these items come from? there can only be so many mysterious temples and abandoned cities to loot and those places don't have an endless supply of treasures.

What I propose is this:

The highly magical nature of Felarya, combined with the instability of it's spatial dimensions results in valuable artefacts being created.
There are a few ways in which artefacts are formed:

1: Dimensional Storm Formation
Dimensional storms twist or warp the fabric of space as well as causing other strange effects. When the conditions are correct. A small area of land will be subject to an extremely intense magical field in addition to the strange effects of the storm. This results in a few objects in that gaining strange magical properties. However, the affected area is quite small, usually a few meters across. It is very rare to find more than one artefact per effected area.
The conditions of the area effect the properties that the objects gain. For example, an artefact formed in a volcano would have fire and heat properties.

2: Slow Formation
In areas that have a natural high magic field, there is a chance that artefacts will form slowly over centuries.

Example artefacts:

Electrite Artefact
This artefact is formed when Actinite ore is exposed to the intense magical field that forms artefacts. Such an high level of magic causes the different minerals in Actinite to fuse together completley, creating specific, recognisable formations in the artefact. The magical field also supercharges the artefact itself, meaning that one Electrite artefact can power something for a long, long time.
Due to the powerful nature of this artefact it interacts with the surrounding actinite in it's place of formation. This interaction causes dangerous electrical discharges, making the retreval of Electrite dangerous without the proper tools. Its appearance is similar to Actinite, except it is darker with white ripples.

Revein
This artefact is formed when ascarlin is exposed to the intense magical field that forms artefacts. Due to Ascarlin's powerful magic nature, such an intense magical field causes it to become even more powerful. Rather than increasing the power of magical devices tenfold, Revein can increase their power up to a hundred fold. However, due to the immense power, it can break magical devices that are not strong enough to handle such an increase.
In addition, due to the rarity of ascarlin Revein is almost legendary in its rarity. The only known sample was bought by the magiocrats for a large sum of money and a threat to not speak of it.

Bloodstone
A strange artefact, a bloodstone is formed when the fresh remains of a dead animal are exposed to the intense magical field that forms artefacts. The interaction between the residual healing magic of Felarya and the intense transformative magic of the dimensional storm cause a blood red, boney sphere to form amidst the remains. The size of the sphere varies according to the particularities of the storm that caused the magical effect and the size of animal remains.
Bloodstones emit a magical field that causes wounds to heal very rapidly. However the rapid healing takes up the body's resources, meaning that a bloodstone user needs to eat a lot before or after it heals wounds.

Time Piece
The time piece is a rare artefact, slow formed over vast periods of tim. It is only found in certain places in the akaptor desert. It nullifies the time warping effect of the region. However, it has been therorised that it could be used to control the effect if proper spells were used, meaning that a trained mage could use it to travel through time. But due to the rarity of this artefact combined with the lack of spells and danger associated with time travel, nobody has attempted it.

Sulphur Tear
This semi-rare firey artefact is formed in volcanoes. It appears as a yellow crystaline sphere that varies in size from about cricket ball to soccer (football) ball. This artefact ionises the air around it, creating a blue glow similar to burning sulphur. However the Tear itself is not hot, but the sulphur is extrudes can corrode the skin.
Since sulphur itself isn't very hard, Sulphur Tears can be cut and shaped, even powdered.
Powdered Sulphur Tear has been found to form an extremely powerful, stable explosive when mixed with nitro glycerine (such as in Dynamite). This explosive, when triggered also emits a large pulse of magic that scrambles magical devices and causes pain to being sensitive to magic. Of course, making such explosives is very expensive.

In Felarya, there exists a rock region where a strange magic intrinsic to the area has caused a unique phenomenon. The ground in this area has a property that causes materials containing silicon to become very soft. The more silicon a material contains, the softer it will become. As this area is mostly granite rock (which is over 70% silicon), the ground is soft, for a rock. However not everything with a high silicon content is effected quite to the extent that the granite of the region is. It seems that the range of silicon dioxide types found in granite are particularly susceptible to the magical effect. So the ground is quite soft, not enough that things perceptibly sink into it over a shot period of time, but soft enough so that over the course of a decade the landscape will alter drastically.
However the cause the cause of the landscape altering movement is unknown. Many hypotheses exist, from an ancient geomancy spell gone wrong to complicated magical pressure build-ups. Whatever the reason, the landscape changes over time and earthquakes are common in the more unstable areas.

The landscape itself is very, very rocky. Only a thin layer of soil covers the rock here, although it is much thicker in the temporary valleys and dips in the landscape where rain has washed it downhill.

The ever changing landscape affects the inhabitants no matter what their size may be. Predators can never keep a good hunting ground for long as the landscape will change, rendering the ground less favourable. In the same vein, humans and the like can never keep an easily defendable area for long as the landscape will eventually change, causing the location to become harder to defend. In addition, all structures must be able to withstand the movement of the landscape as well as the occasional earthquake.
Humans will find that any advanced technology that uses silicon, such as microprocessors and silicon computer chips are useless over any extended period of time, as the circuits decay quickly, the silicon in the chips softening to the extent that the heat of operation or even gravity deforms them beyond repair.

All these dangers and instability beg the question of why humans would come there. The answer is that the area is rich in of ore deposits. The softness of the stone means mining is quite easy, as long as the mine can stay open and defended. Ore deposits also tend to move as the landscape moves, sometimes deposits can come right up the the surface, to the delight of miners. Mineral and earth type natural Artefacts are also quite common in the area. When a dimensional storm passes through there is a higher chance of an artefact being formed due to the already high magic field of the area. Even though these artefacts are formed deeper underground, they are often pushed to the surface by the movement of the granite.

Another side effect of the region is that all magic is enhanced slightly due to the additional magic effect. Geomancy in particular is far easier in the region, although it is also easier to make magical mistakes with it.

As for the name of the region, an adventure one set up a hidden time-lapse camera on the closest mountain overlooking the Stone Sea. When the footage was retrieved, viewers remarked that the movement of the the ground often looked like a slow, calm sea.

The Archmage Café is a Café in Negav on the edge of the high tier. Due to it's location it is frequented by the inhabitants of both the middle and high tier and is often used by people from different tiers as a meeting place. All this, in addition to the famous 'Archmage Bagel" sold there make the Archmage Café a thriving business venture.

The recipe for the Archmage bagel is kept top secret by the Café's owners. So far nobody has discovered what makes Archmage bagels so delicious. Whatever it is, archmage bagels are suited to a wide variety of culinary uses. Sweet or savoury fillings both taste delicious between the dough of an archmage bagel. Even eaten on their own the taste is still exquisite.