The Mech Touch

The Larkinson Clan!

No matter what a family member thought about the separation, many of them became excited when Ves finally announced the founding of a new entity of Larkinsons!

Adopting the guise of a clan represented a clear and significant departure from their old ways!

Taking on this new identity definitely transformed the so-called 'new family' into a group that could stand on its own!

The change came with many implications. Though most of them were symbolic or implied, each of them mattered to Ves and those who wanted the Larkinson Clan to prosper.

In legal terms, a family was not that different from a clan. There was no law or rule that governed the usage of these terms.

However, over the course of human history, an informal distinction emerged between families, clans, dynasties, houses, tribes and so on. Each of these words came to describe a different structure with common customs.

A family was the most basic form. There was nothing inherently wrong with that, as a family organization was fairly flexible up to a certain scale.

Compared to the flexibility of a family, a clan organization was a lot together and more cohesive.

The interests of the clan came first. That was the general rule when it came to clan organizations. Bloodline was important, but clans sometimes adopted talented outsiders in order to maintain some dynamism within their ranks.

To be honest, both families and clans came in so many variants that they could practically be intermingled.

There was one part about clans that set them apart.

Many clans were nomadic, and considered the sea of stars to be their home!

This implication currently dominated every Larkinson's mind!

As the initial burst of energy from announcing the formation of the Larkinson Clan subsided, Ves resumed his speech.

"We Larkinsons have done our duty to the Bright Republic. We have sacrificed so much of our blood to our former home that we do not owe anything to it anymore. Rather than see ourselves as exiles, we should embrace this turning point and unshackle ourselves from the bonds that tie us down to individual states!"

The emblem of the Larkinson Clan that Ves designed spun over his head like a spinning coin. Though the animal it depicted was just a stylized cat head, its ferocity made it as formidable as one of the huge cats of Felixia!

"With this Golden Cat, our Larkinson Clan shall set forth under a new emblem! No longer will we be content to linger in a single frontier star sector. Human civilization is much vaster than the small corner of the galaxy that we have grown too familiar with. Not only can we find prosperity and accumulate more power in the rest of the Milky Way, an entirely new dwarf galaxy is ripe for exploration! The Red Ocean shall be our first true baptism of fire that will make or break our clan!"

Both dread and excitement welled in the minds of the audience. The thought of leaving the Milky Way and traveling all the way to the Red Ocean was a huge step for many Larkinsons, but those who followed Ves this far had already accepted the risks!

Within their hearts, ambition welled. Some of them were not content to live the rest of their lives as cogs in the Bright Republic's machine. The Larkinsons not only desired greatness, but also possessed the confidence to reach this height!

No Larkinson was average! Time and time again, the way the original Larkinson Family raised its family members resulted in entire generations of talented and capable professionals.

What if the Larkinsons utilized all of their prowess to their own ends instead of a state?

As Ves had already proven, the support of a state and its rulers was fairly fickle. When a state was divided and when its leaders pursued benefits over principle, the Larkinsons could no longer afford to remain vulnerable to their predations.

Though there were upsides and downsides to forming a nomadic clan, it was the most suitable way to organize the Larkinsons to Ves. After all, he intended to explore the entire breadth of the Red Ocean, and to do so he needed a strong and loyal cadre in place. His fellow Larkinsons were the most suitable people to secure his control over his expeditionary fleet!

"I do not know what the future holds." Ves said in a gentler tone. "As I've mentioned before, reality is cold and full of danger. Yet danger often coexists with opportunity. The chance to propel our clan to greatness and reach a level of power and influence that is countless times greater than the Larkinson Family lies elsewhere! We only have to venture out of our comfort zone and fight for our benefits! We must do this not just to benefit ourselves, but also our children and their children! This is what it means to fight for our clan!"

His words along with the projection of the Larkinson Clan Emblem both caused the Larkinsons sitting in front of him to identify with the new clan.

Excitement and ambition sparked in the minds of many Larkinsons, particularly the younger and more energetic ones who yearned to be the protagonists of their action dramas!

Naturally, the risks were plenty and dangerous. Ves only emphasized the rewards so far. He deliberately mentioned little of the price they might have to pay in order to reach greatness!

There was a very good reason why the hierarchy of both human and alien civilizations were shaped like pyramids!

Only a handful of winners got to enjoy the benefits after stepping over the corpses of the losers!

Ves could tell that the older and wiser Larkinsons who already fulfilled their initial ambitions understood this truth as well.

Though it seemed reckless for them to go along with this risky new direction, in fact they all made a careful consideration beforehand.

First, they believed in Ves. He was an exceptional mech designer who had already reached Journeyman at a relatively young age. He had proven his competence in his profession over and over again. Anyone could tell that Ves was bound for greatness!

For someone like him to lead the Larkinson Clan meant that he was willing to share some of his gains. This furthered the interests of other Larkinsons, especially those who wished their children and grandchildren to live more meaningful lives!

Second, the Larkinson heritage was not at risk. No matter what kind of calamity might strike the clan in the future, at least the old Larkinson Family in the remote Komodo Star Sector would still continue their original legacy!

To the members of both the Larkinson Family and the Larkinson Clan, the separation between the two groups was not as total as it seemed.

Even when brothers who grew up under the same roof had separated and embarked on their own lives, they still shared a strong familial connection with each other!

It was due to this that the Larkinsons present in the auditorium adopted a devil-may-care attitude.

No matter what ills they suffered, the Larkinson name would still continue!

"Founding a clan is a significant event." Ves resumed after no objections came from the crowd. "Since we are splintering from the Larkinson Family we grew up in for our entire lives, we must take advantage of this opportunity to implement a changed regime! Old traditions which have held us back for all these centuries must go! If we are to propel our clan to a greater height, then we must not blindly follow our old ways. Questioning every assumption is the first step to reform the very structure in which we govern our clan!"

Ves raised his arm and snapped his fingers.

The snap exaggeratingly rang throughout the entire hall!

A bot appeared from behind the throne. The hovering contraption held a single object the size of Lucky if he was squished in a uniform rectangular shape.

It was a book. A hardcover book.

He designed and created it himself. Its ornate, eye-catching metallic cover depicted both humans and mechs, each of them impressive in their own way.

The entire cover was made out of Breyer alloy mixed with other metallic exotics for the embellishments!

No words marked the cover, but Ves embedded its center with a solid medallion depicting the Larkinson Clan Emblem in full glory!

The emblem was made of the same valuable materials as the rest of the cover, but Ves made an interesting adaptation for the eyes. Instead of inserting synthetic or exotic gems in the eye sockets of the Golden Cat, Ves placed two identical gems produced by Lucky in their places!

Their effects were fairly poor since these gems were one of Lucky's earlier products. Rather than waste them on a mech, he might as well apply them to the medallion as their appearance possessed a subtle charm despite their weak effects!

All in all, the book was a labor of love to Ves. He spent days fine-tuning its design! For a small object that was much smaller than mech, that was a significant time investment!

Ves picked up the heavy tome without a problem. Due to thick application of materials that made up the cover, the book possessed a considerable mass.

Fortunately, its weight was well within his tolerance.

Once he held the book, he raised it up and displayed its ornate front cover to his audience!

Every Larkinson became fascinated by this ancient book! Many Larkinsons never even encounter a physical book in their entire lives!

Ves had to thank Aisling Curver for giving him the inspiration to employ a physical tome as a prop. To modern humans, the appearance of such an object made a very great impact!

"This is the Larkinson Mandate." He revealed. His grave tone mainly conveyed the symbolic weight of the book as opposed to its physical weight. "Its contents are split up in three parts. The first part contains the annals of the Larkinson Ancestor as well as the deeds and honors of the original Larkinson Family from which we came from. This is a written record of our glorious heritage!"

Though Ves already expounded on the heritage of the Larkinsons many times, it was never enough!

If the Larkinsons forgot their past, then how could they maintain the essence of their character in the future?

Though Ves despised the traditionalists for stubbornly sticking to the old ways, their behavior also taught him the power of heritage!

Ves did not wish for his newfound clan to go off the rails. Remembering the past and glorifying parts of it was a way to steer the development of the Larkinson Clan!

However, simply harping on about the past was not enough to achieve meaningful change. That was the main reason why the Larkinson Family never developed after a certain point!

"The second part of this Larkinson Mandate contains all of the original rules and strictures that define the governance of our clan. Only by establishing a robust and well-thought-out structure will our Larkinson Clan be able to grow and expand in power without tearing ourselves apart!"

The bulk of the paper-like material contained printed words that neatly described all of the laws of the Larkinson Clan. While it was already assured that the rules of the Larkinson Clan would change over time, the original rules would always be immortalized in the pages of the book without change!

The Larkinson Mandate was not a book of laws. Ves designed it to be the defining heirloom of the Larkinson Clan.

The Larkinson Family had the Valiant, the ancient, heavily-damaged mech of the Larkinson Ancestor.

Ves did not insist on claiming this exceedingly precious relic. It was truly too fragile to endure frequent movement. Even if the clan did its best to shield the Valiant from shocks and other environmental changes, only one mistake could lead to irreparable damage!

In lieu of such a powerful heirloom that could unify the Larkinsons, Ves simply decided to make his own version.

The Larkinson Mandate was the product of his ideas! There was more to it than met the eye!