The Mech Touch

The Xenotechnician accepted the suggestions made by Ves with clear reservations.

Both Zeigra and Helena covered an expansive range of different people and groups. They should be able to provide an accommodating presence to most warfighters.

While Ves could still put forth additional names such as Lufa, Trisk, Respa and so on, the Red Association did not want to go overboard.

"We can revisit the necessity of expanding the range of kinship networks at a later date." The Xenotechnician calmly told Ves. "For now, we intend to treat this as an experimental program. Limiting the number of active kinship networks will make it easier for us to control their operations."

"I see. I hope you will consider the matter of expansion at a later date. I have a large variety of design spirits at my disposal, and each of them can help certain soldiers better than others."

"It is always good to know that there is abundant room for expansion." The Star Designer spoke. "We will need one more kinship network geared towards warlords. We have different demands for them. According to the vision proposed by the Fist of Defiance, red humanity must ultimately be ruled by warlords. Anyone else, no matter whether they are business magnates, heads of state, mech designers or religious authorities, each of them must subordinate themselves to warlords. We intend to impose greater demands on any people who aspire to become a warlord, but they are entitled to greater rewards as long as they succeed. The Mace of Retaliation will elaborate more on topic in your meeting with him. For now, we have a need for a more appropriate kinship network for this leadership class."

Wow. The mechers intended to go really far with this initiative if they dared to put warlords on top of everyone else.

"What exactly defines a warlord?" Ves questioned.

"We are still working on that." The Xenotechnician admitted. "The Fist of Defiance originally wanted to confine it to high-ranking mech pilots and mech commanders who have successfully led troops in battle, but we consider this to be an overly narrow definition. Certain parties wish to expand this definition by any person who is willing to take serious risks and make major commitments to fund and organize a deep strike force. This has predictably led to fierce opposition from our own mech pilots. We will likely come to a compromise where non-pilot warlord candidates have to bear great personal risks themselves. You are actually touted as the archetypical example of such a warlord."

Ves blinked. He probably acquired a lot of fans when he contributed to the downfall of the Unity Plan, so it made sense for people to look closer into his record and accomplishments.

He had a feeling that he may have inadvertently contributed to the effort to save red humanity from completely falling in the hands of mule-headed mech pilots.

This would probably go a long way into preventing red humanity from inheriting all of the flaws of the Garlen Empire.

Ves shrugged, "lam flattered to be used as a standard bearer for this kind of warlord. Personally, 1 think this proposal has a lot of merit. Anyone should have a chance to lead red humanity. It should not be limited to mech pilots, though you could argue that the introduction of the Carmine System makes this distinction a lot less pertinent."

"We are still in the process of testing the viability, properties and implications of your Carmine System. We have plans for that as well, but we require additional time and research results before we make any further decisions."

The mechers clearly valued the Carmine System a lot, which was exactly what Ves wanted to achieve during the conference.

"I understand. It will take time for me to experiment with the Carmine System and develop it further, but I think the experimental models have already shown that it is viable in its current state. I just need to work on creating a universal variation of the Carmine System to make it suitable for mass production."

"Please work on that. There are many interested parties who are waiting for you to make your Carmine System more applicable for their own needs. It is not as good as realizing your design philosophy, but it is a good step towards progress."

Once Ves returned 'home', he needed to take a good look at all of his ongoing design projects and see whether he could squeeze any Carmine mechs in his schedule.

The two eventually returned to the original topic about developing an appropriate kinship network for warlords.

"I think that the specification and configuration of a kinship network for warlords is a politically sensitive subject." Ves carefully spoke. "On the one hand, it has to be effective enough to make a positive impact on our new class of leaders. On the other hand, it has to be inoffensive enough to gain the acceptance of a wide variety of strong personalities."

"We have far more concerns than that, but we are of the opinion that proper oversight and enforcement will be sufficient to allay them. What is more important is that the Fist of Defiance desires to instill all warlords and would-be warlords with a drive to fulfill their ambitions by serving red humanity. Our new leaders must not be passive, but animated and eager to take action. In our ongoing war for survival, too much hesitation and inaction will lead to our slow demise."

Ves understood the overall objectives of the Survivalists, but he was not quite sure how to satisfy their requests.

"If you want to instill more duty in them, then maybe you should look back to the Solemn Guardian."

"No." The older man shook his head. "According to our own examinations, the Solemn Guardian is too passive and reactive. He is good at instilling obedience. He does not excel at promoting proactive behavior. He is suitable for our linefighters because it does not take much initiative to defend our existing territories, but our warlords have different requirements."

"Hmmm..."

That ruled out a lot of possible options. Perhaps Ves should expand his consideration to new creations as well as his third order living mechs.

Though he hadn't properly made use of them in this capacity, theoretically any of his third order living mechs could pull double duty as design spirits. The Quint also worked in this capacity to a degree.

The mechers already had another possible candidate in mind.

"We believe Bravo can serve as an adequate choice for the time being." The Xenotechnician spoke. "He possesses the right combination of positive traits that are fairly pronounced but not excessive. Though he is strongly masculine in nature, this should not be a hindrance. He is particularly favored by many of our mech pilots who are involved in the planning and execution of the Deep Strike Plan."

What?!

Of all of the design spirits that Ves could choose from, he never seriously considered Bravo of all spirits.

His association with Venerable Vincent Ricklin was so strong that Ves found it hard to take this particular design spirit seriously.

Yet that did not diminish his more positive and admirable traits.

Bravo inspired ambition.

Bravo instilled courage.

Bravo exerting a motivating force.

Few people who became subjected to Bravo's glow wanted to remain passive.

Though Bravo had his fair share of negative traits that might pass on to the warlords connected to his kinship network, the effects were not that big of a deal.

The more he thought about it, the more it made sense.

"Bravo is... never meant to complement leaders and battlefield commanders." Ves warned. "Titania is a lot more suitable for that role."

"If the warlords are competent enough, they should not require additional assistance. What we are mainly concerned about is to instill them with the proper values while also enacting enough supervision over them. Bravo is a fitting choice as he can fulfill most of our requirements while also remaining fairly simple and understandable."

Bravo was not the most sophisticated design spirit. It was strange to consider this to be an advantage.

Seeing that the mechers had settled on a choice, Ves did not object to pushing Bravo to the forefront.

"I will make sure that Bravo will be able to adjust to his new responsibilities."

"That is good to hear. We will not be relying on your efforts alone. One of our concerns is that your kinship networks have a single point of failure, namely you. In order to address this problem, we would like to discuss the specifications that we wish for you to implement in your new kinship networks."

The Xenotechnician transferred another document that contained a relatively long and exhaustive list.

The specifications weren't too unreasonable at first glance. Though Ves would have to hand over a lot of control to the mechers and other important stakeholders, this was the only way for them to accept his kinship networks.

"In summary, the four new kinship networks in consideration shall be exclusive to the New Elites." The Xenotechnician explained. "Every active warlord, warfighter and linefighter must be connected to at least one of them while they hold their current titles. They may apply to withdraw from a kinship network, but will have to give up their titles and all of the rights and privileges that they bestow. Removal from a kinship network should be painless and without cost."

Ves slowly nodded. "That won't be a problem."

"Kinship networks must supervise and monitor the New Elites who are connected to them to a limited degree. They must pay attention to any serious thoughts or actions that falls under the definition of treason and other crimes that pose serious harm towards red humanity. We understand the need to rely on the spirits to undertake this duty, but we would like to appoint inspectors that can supervise this process in order to prevent any abuse or overreach."

That sounded a lot trickier to Ves.

"I haven't implemented anything like this before. 1 will need to work on it, but it sounds doable." Ves reluctantly replied.

"Furthermore, these kinship networks must also be open to further changes. Our god pilots, Star Designers and potentially other top leaders must be able to gain administrator rights over them. They should have the power to suggest changes and additions as long as they can form a consensus on their proposals."

Ves did not like this at all, but he knew that this was an essential requirement. The mechers essentially wanted to treat the new kinship networks like they did with the Kingdom of Mechs!

"We can do this as well, but I hope that the proposals do not go too far." He cautiously responded. "It is best to keep their functions simple and manageable. There is no need to turn them into pale imitations of the Kingdom of Mechs."

"There is no need for concern, Professor Larkinson. The Red Kingdom already serves that need."

The Xenotechnician subsequently mentioned a host of other demands.

The mechers wanted to control who could get in or out. They wanted to rule out any possibility of connecting them to alien minds. The design spirits responsible for administering their new kinship networks had to make a pledge of loyalty towards red humanity. They also had to agree to a contract that compelled them to remain neutral and avoid showing unwarranted favoritism towards any individuals.

All of these rules abided by common sense. Ves only had to suggest alternative solutions a couple of times.

The mechers wanted to treat the kinship network as a conventional technological system. That meant that they treated it as a static, lifeless and rigid tool that remained constant over time.

The reality was quite different, however. Ves had the idea that too few people truly understood the implications of how much a kinship network could grow over time.

They also did not have a clear understanding of how connecting to more and more strong people could drastically increase the quantity but especially the quality of spiritual feedback!

This was why Ves tried hard to push for the inclusion of Zeigra and Helena. Out of all of the possible design spirits that could serve in this capacity, Ves was happy that he could get his 'father' and 'sister' to land these profitable jobs!

Still, if Zeigra and Helena wanted to gain a huge amount of influence over red humanity, they had to pass a review conducted by the Fist of Defiance or another god pilot. That was a major requirement and a serious point of concern!