Heronstar was, for all intents and purposes, a model leader. In the easy era before the birth of the heir, she was Glowclan’s stability, the rock which made up its foundation. Sharpened by age, she was stern, measured, and intensely composed. She intimidated Glowclan’s apprentices, but the weight that her rare praise carried saw them coming back to tell her of their accomplishments anyways. She may not have been affectionate, but then again, she didn’t need to be.
Her reign came under question following the prophecy. Though she had shared Starclan’s words with only a few cats in confidence, the news escaped. Soon all of Glowclan was whispering the phrase to one another: The power of the Pale will consume you. When her son was born, a perfectly white kit, the chaos came to a head. Some suggested he ought to be killed. Others suggested that Heronstar should be chased out of the territory, taking her kit with her. Her authority was threatened — there was little she could do to maintain the peace.
Her status is unknown. Much like her son, she hasn’t been seen since before the Flash.
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Well before the explosion of technomancy in the witching world, corporate empires towered in the sky. Their power fell over people in waves, with once-in-a-lifetime opportunities plucking young people out of the gutter and bankruptcies sending them straight back. As their long fingers of influence spread across the continent and the world, fueled by the electricity of technomancy’s birth, there emerged three leading cities in the UK: London, Manchester, and Glasgow. The strong devoured the weak, until a few frontrunners found themselves sitting at the very top of the peak, whispering in the ears of politicians and throwing gold (and a quiet ruin) at any problem that might stand in their way.
Continue reading below the cut!
With Britain suddenly a home to new innovation, with new jobs emerging by the day, immigration skyrocketed. Those seeking opportunity flooded into the cities, and housing became a dire issue. With scarcity of most everything, the people living on the streets soon found themselves living off the ground, higher and higher until the sway of the buildings could be seen with the blustery winds of rainy days. Communities have sprung up all over, winding round the city like weeds choked of sunlight.
MANCHESTER’S BIG HITTER: BLISHEN METALWORKS
They began their life right in Manchester, founded by Chistopher Blishen in 1851. The silent cofounder, Xurl, was a highly skilled goblin; when he is mentioned at all, it is said that he is nowhere in the paperwork because the laws at the time prohibited him from business ownership. From humble beginnings in repair work and watchmaking, they made enhancements and innovations that put them - and Manchester - on the map. A longstanding tradition of pocket watch gifting as a witch comes of age has been cemented by their craftsmanship, only made possible by Xurg’s lifetime of study in metal-charming.
After Christopher’s death in 1880, Goblins were no longer welcome to apply to work with them. As one of the few businesses to welcome creatures into their ranks, it was taken as a blow to the wider community. This caused a great deal of tension in Manchester, and it wasn’t until the advent of Tickers, technomancy-infused pocket watches, that they changed this policy again. It is a tense proposition for these Goblins who work within Blishen’s walls; working in the business built on the back of their ancestors’ knowledge, many feeling it has been every bit stolen from them, it is a powderkeg.
This company is widely rumoured to spy on users of Tickers.
One of the few corporations to provide allocated housing, a towering megastructure that was stark white when it first sprang up, Blishen sees witches and Goblins living side by side. The party line is that they do so in harmony, but the reality is much more fraught.
GLASGOW’S BIG HITTER: PROTEGO INC
Though they have been around for a long time and under many names, first conceptualised by Artair McLean sometime in the 1890s, their real start wasn’t until 1920. It was well known that one could barter protective magics and wards from this business, even for a time specialising in bodyguards, but it was Grindelwald’s cut across Europe that saw business booming.
The next witching war brought further business, and the model changed altogether. Sewing discord and damaging competition was more lucrative for them than investing in innovation, and so it was by consuming other businesses that they became the main interest in Glasgow - and across the country.
Technomancy saw further changes to their business, with the PearlDust virus offering a great bright window of opportunity. Their work in wartime defenses is all but forgotten, traditional magical research at a near standstill, as they funnel their time and workforce into securing technomancy’s many conduits.
This company strongly lobbies against legislation regarding technomancy and conduits.
It is telling that many of Protego Inc’s highest paid employees specialise in proprietary law. With their research departments going wildly underfunded as they cannibalise and buy out other companies left, right, and centre, their focus has shifted almost entirely to locking down the products they’ve made or obtained. It is a sad truth then that there is a trickle of skilled programmers and inventors leaving the business - with little to turn to but the many hacker collectives springing up around Glasgow.
LONDON’S BIG HITTER: CHIRON
The youngest of the corporations listed by far, but perhaps the most insidious and streamlined. So named for a renowned healer, established in 1965, this corporation has never strayed from their sleek centaur branding. They have a team hard at work developing new augmentations, and a fleet of technomancy healers, often called Renders, who install them.
With a lack of competition, prices have surged. This has led to a surge of unlicensed Renders, sometimes leading to unforeseen side effects or complete rejection.
Those who take advantage of the services they offer have the choice of opting into a payment plan, with interest. These plans are subject to steep consequences, including but not limited to forceful surrender of the augmentation and loss of any equity offered. For all that people fear losing their homes and their valuables, there is nothing quite like the fear that runs cold across a person when a Collector comes knocking. The augment is claimed back with no replacement offered, and the client is often left with the outstanding balance of this butchery.
Despite this, the company emphasises their healing influence, and makes great efforts to appear charitable. They also heavily lobby for longer sentences for people supplying and receiving unlicensed augmentations based on Chiron technology, and worse for backalley Renders.
The landscape of London has changed drastically for their presence, with the housing situation reaching critical levels and many living in houses shared between several families. Those who seek privacy must seek it above the smog line, in high rises that seem to creak from a breath pulled in too sharply.
Preview - First - Next
So I’m starting a new book called Akrasia! And this will be the preview for both my writing and the book so stick around! 🤩
He turned to face her lying there on the snowy ground. Broken and bleeding, tears pricking at the edges of her bloodshot eyes. Yet despite how torn she looked lying there in the snow he stared blankly at her. Not a bit of guilt or sympathy in his eyes.
“Ya’ know if ya think about it everybody’s hiding something, Some of us just got more ta hide then others.” He turned now looking to the left, “Aren’t I right Lilac?” Not moving his head but looking her in the eyes. After meeting eyes he disappeared turning to dust.
Lilac shifted leaning toward. Icy wind blowing into her face speckling her blood on the snow dying it a crimson red. She sniffed thinking back to what he had said ‘ Everybody does have something to hide he was correct, but to her it’s not based around how much they were hiding like he said. More on what they were hiding.
Like someone could be hiding so much. But it could all be minor things like forgetting to brush their teeth or stealing a cookie fron the cookie jar. While another person could be hiding but one thing. Depression. Hiding something as big as that is not good for their mental health. Hiding anything at all is not good for your mental health. But hiding minor things such as forgetting to brush your teeth or stealing a cookie form the cookie jar. Could such small things but so many of them possibly add up to the others depression? Of course not! Lilac shook her head at her stupidity, Right?
Okie that is it for my preview for the book and for my writing skills! I hope it made sense to read and if there is any grammar mistakes please point them out! I will accept helpful criticism! 😁
...Viscount Pearson, member of a long-established family of sorcerers in Narrowsgate, built a sprawling manor right at the edge of the Narrows sometime in the 17th century. Since then, the manor and its grounds have been handed down through the ages.
For some time, the manor and its grounds stood empty but guarded, until finally in 2018, it was reclaimed by its most recent heir: one secretive Stell Pearson, who, since her inheritance in 2019, converted the grounds into a place for an artist collective now dubbed "the Saints"...
...The Institute is infamous for its secretive program, which trains human hunters to target the supernatural. To better equip them for this fight, select members are trained frequently within the Narrows Mist, with the goal of developing Mist-Touched abilities to leverage as a weapon, though not every member achieves this...
...While there is limited habitation in the Narrows, there are frequent scientific expeditions to the area. Humans who have ventured far into its depths have reported the experience of feeling watched, while others have insisted on seeing silhouettes and movements through its veil. Scholars of the Mist suggest these effects are due - aside from simple paranoia - to the unique geology of the region, as well as unusually high electric and magnetic fields...
...To locals and NGU students, Solis is simply a whispered rumor of a secret scholarly society, but traces of their existence are present throughout the campus - symbols and markers used throughout their combined histories. There are even some books about their existence, although most of them are treated as forms of entertainment rather than general history...
