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Kaladesh 2.0 Lore: A Harsh Welcome
Just some more Kaladesh 2.0 stuff floating around in my mind. Again, wanted to make sure I pushed out some crude version of it before I forgot.
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Ever since returning to Kaladesh and overthrowing the Consulate, Chandra had never been able to shove the thought of home out of her mind. It had been—what?—three years since those events? She had left Kaladesh shortly after that with the Gatewatch to try to stop Nicol Bolas on Amonkhet, which of course went great. Thanks to all the events that had followed that turn, she hadn’t been home since. Man… time really flew, didn’t it? The picture of her reuniting with her mother were still fresh in her mind…
She had always prayed things turned out well on Kaladesh after she left, that once she returned she would not be branded a criminal, her mother was safe, and Saheeli and Rashmi had come across good fortunes after the Consulate’s overthrow. Now would be the ultimate test of that. After the beating she took, she was now badly injured and needed someplace safe. The thought of home was an enticing one, so she had planeswalked to Kaladesh to recover.
She arrived on the plane in the night, nearly unconscious, so much so that she almost didn’t realize this place she had arrived on was not Kaladesh. At least, it certainly didn’t look that way. It seemed as though the common golden metals used in cogwork contraptions from a few years ago had been replaced with smooth white panels, sleeker and lighter to be sure, heavy steel plating, and dark panels with little blinking lights of various colors on them. Overall, this made the general colors of the place were much, much darker than she recalled and all the lights around her were unnatural neon shades of hot pink and yellows, with some aetheric blue being the only familiar color. Though, the dark of the night didn’t last long as suddenly a spotlight was shone right on her, causing her to squint and adjust to the light. She looked up to the source of the light, struggling in pain to her feat in case she needed to find. What she saw was a gearhulk, but the only indicator it was a gearhulk was by its size and general shape. This construct looked nothing like the gearhulks the consulate had used to fend off attacks during the coup. The one had the sleek white plating she had noted before and little tubes of Aether, that looked almost like what the Izzet on Ravnica called wires, could be faintly seen between gaps in the plating.
“Unknown citizen detected. Please identify yourself,” a deep, inhuman voice demanded from the machine.
“M-My name is Chandra… N… Nalaar,” she grunted out. Normally she would’ve been much more aggravated by the sudden demands, but at this point she was keeping her temper just to keep herself alive.
“Searching Aethernet database…” it spoke. “No data of Chandra Nalaar in system.”
The Pyromancer glared. What was it talking about? The general message was clear, though, she was an outsider.
“Running no identity protocol…” it ponders for a second. “Criminal, please do not resist,” it suddenly said, a cannon with the blue glow of Aether pointed right at her, “any actions you make may be cause for execution. You will be returned to Dhund immediately.”
With what little strength she had, Chandra’s hair flared up in anger. She was not a criminal. She had been a freedom fighter and she still was. If this was Kaladesh, then the Consulate or some similar organization had clearly regained its power. She would have to fight another battle now so that she may be able to nurse her wounds and take back Kaladesh once again—if this even was Kaladesh…
She let loose a blast of fire at the gearhulk, which did throw it off balance enough to make it miss her with a blast from its cannon, but the gearhulk was otherwise surprisingly unaffected by the attack. Maybe it was just because of her weakened state, but fire hardly seemed to have an effect on the construct. Though maybe…
She quickly launched another blast at the gearhulk, this time aiming for the cracks between the plating, this does seem to have an effect, but she was right in the line of fire of the gearhulk’s cannon. She flinched, ready to dodge the blast, but it never came. The gearhulk suddenly reported “system overheating. Aborting apprehension task. Calling in Widget Security force,” then began to sunder away.
Though, Chandra got hardly a moment of pause. She was gripping her arm and wincing, not in the shape to fight when a group of what looked to almost be servos approached her. They looked to have slightly varying forms, the tallest ones only being half her height, as well as a cube on their back that had the glow of aether within it. These too had a few aether wires visible. “Criminal, stand down or risk further harm,” the frontmost one said in a similar robotic voice, though this one’s was much higher. Chandra laughed a little. These were supposed to be the Widget backup a gearhulk had called? They hardly even seemed equipped to fight! At least she wouldn’t have to pain herself much further with this confrontation. Though, one in the center of the group raised its robotic hand to reveal it to actually be a particularly sharp looking blade. Then, the cubes on the back of all the other—she was thinking they were called Widgets shifted slightly, becoming smaller. It was then she realized these cubes appeared to be comprised small, arrangeable metal sections, some of which had formed into identical blades on every other Widget.
Now sufficiently angered and not in the mood to wait any longer, she let loose another blast of fire at the small robotic army, easily incinerating dozens beyond repair. Though, it seemed that more had come in the time she had focused on the initial bath, way more, actually. Now she was surrounded by them and making steady progress and her body was killing her. She was in no shape to fight. She looked around herself. The Widget army surrounding her was making steady progress inward, they’d be on top of her seconds. With a painful grunt she conjured another blast of fire around her, agonizingly spinning to let the blast hit every Widget around her. Though, as she was incinerating the metallic forces, one seemed to have not been destroyed. She paused and realized this one had a barrier around it that looked as if it blocked it from the magic.
She groaned, realizing what this meant as a look around her confirmed it. Every Widget had this same barrier. In fact, she realized every Widget had every adaptation the others had. There were blades and armor and shields. She sighed angrily. On any normal day this shouldn’t have been a problem for her, heck she could’ve even just ran if the circumstances had gotten this bleak. However right now she was too weak to even dare try moving any more and accepted her fate as a forceful tackle from one of the Widgets brought her to the ground. A scream of pain arose from her as she was overrun.
If this was Kaladesh, what had become of her world? Sure the consolate had been bad before, but was this what the current government was capable of? A seemingly infinite adaptable force meant to bring in anybody they saw as a criminal, even if that individual was innocent?
Though, in one quick motion, all of the Widgets that had piled onto her left her. “Program overridden, returning to base…” they all collectively said at varying times. Unconsciousness came to the pyromancer, though, right before she passed out she heard a faint voice.
“Chandra…?”
---
Ever since returning to Kaladesh and overthrowing the Consulate, Chandra had never been able to shove the thought of home out of her mind. It had been—what?—three years since those events? She had left Kaladesh shortly after that with the Gatewatch to try to stop Nicol Bolas on Amonkhet, which of course went great. Thanks to all the events that had followed that turn, she hadn’t been home since. Man… time really flew, didn’t it? The picture of her reuniting with her mother were still fresh in her mind…
She had always prayed things turned out well on Kaladesh after she left, that once she returned she would not be branded a criminal, her mother was safe, and Saheeli and Rashmi had come across good fortunes after the Consulate’s overthrow. Now would be the ultimate test of that. After the beating she took, she was now badly injured and needed someplace safe. The thought of home was an enticing one, so she had planeswalked to Kaladesh to recover.
She arrived on the plane in the night, nearly unconscious, so much so that she almost didn’t realize this place she had arrived on was not Kaladesh. At least, it certainly didn’t look that way. It seemed as though the common golden metals used in cogwork contraptions from a few years ago had been replaced with smooth white panels, sleeker and lighter to be sure, heavy steel plating, and dark panels with little blinking lights of various colors on them. Overall, this made the general colors of the place were much, much darker than she recalled and all the lights around her were unnatural neon shades of hot pink and yellows, with some aetheric blue being the only familiar color. Though, the dark of the night didn’t last long as suddenly a spotlight was shone right on her, causing her to squint and adjust to the light. She looked up to the source of the light, struggling in pain to her feat in case she needed to find. What she saw was a gearhulk, but the only indicator it was a gearhulk was by its size and general shape. This construct looked nothing like the gearhulks the consulate had used to fend off attacks during the coup. The one had the sleek white plating she had noted before and little tubes of Aether, that looked almost like what the Izzet on Ravnica called wires, could be faintly seen between gaps in the plating.
“Unknown citizen detected. Please identify yourself,” a deep, inhuman voice demanded from the machine.
“M-My name is Chandra… N… Nalaar,” she grunted out. Normally she would’ve been much more aggravated by the sudden demands, but at this point she was keeping her temper just to keep herself alive.
“Searching Aethernet database…” it spoke. “No data of Chandra Nalaar in system.”
The Pyromancer glared. What was it talking about? The general message was clear, though, she was an outsider.
“Running no identity protocol…” it ponders for a second. “Criminal, please do not resist,” it suddenly said, a cannon with the blue glow of Aether pointed right at her, “any actions you make may be cause for execution. You will be returned to Dhund immediately.”
With what little strength she had, Chandra’s hair flared up in anger. She was not a criminal. She had been a freedom fighter and she still was. If this was Kaladesh, then the Consulate or some similar organization had clearly regained its power. She would have to fight another battle now so that she may be able to nurse her wounds and take back Kaladesh once again—if this even was Kaladesh…
She let loose a blast of fire at the gearhulk, which did throw it off balance enough to make it miss her with a blast from its cannon, but the gearhulk was otherwise surprisingly unaffected by the attack. Maybe it was just because of her weakened state, but fire hardly seemed to have an effect on the construct. Though maybe…
She quickly launched another blast at the gearhulk, this time aiming for the cracks between the plating, this does seem to have an effect, but she was right in the line of fire of the gearhulk’s cannon. She flinched, ready to dodge the blast, but it never came. The gearhulk suddenly reported “system overheating. Aborting apprehension task. Calling in Widget Security force,” then began to sunder away.
Though, Chandra got hardly a moment of pause. She was gripping her arm and wincing, not in the shape to fight when a group of what looked to almost be servos approached her. They looked to have slightly varying forms, the tallest ones only being half her height, as well as a cube on their back that had the glow of aether within it. These too had a few aether wires visible. “Criminal, stand down or risk further harm,” the frontmost one said in a similar robotic voice, though this one’s was much higher. Chandra laughed a little. These were supposed to be the Widget backup a gearhulk had called? They hardly even seemed equipped to fight! At least she wouldn’t have to pain herself much further with this confrontation. Though, one in the center of the group raised its robotic hand to reveal it to actually be a particularly sharp looking blade. Then, the cubes on the back of all the other—she was thinking they were called Widgets shifted slightly, becoming smaller. It was then she realized these cubes appeared to be comprised small, arrangeable metal sections, some of which had formed into identical blades on every other Widget.
Now sufficiently angered and not in the mood to wait any longer, she let loose another blast of fire at the small robotic army, easily incinerating dozens beyond repair. Though, it seemed that more had come in the time she had focused on the initial bath, way more, actually. Now she was surrounded by them and making steady progress and her body was killing her. She was in no shape to fight. She looked around herself. The Widget army surrounding her was making steady progress inward, they’d be on top of her seconds. With a painful grunt she conjured another blast of fire around her, agonizingly spinning to let the blast hit every Widget around her. Though, as she was incinerating the metallic forces, one seemed to have not been destroyed. She paused and realized this one had a barrier around it that looked as if it blocked it from the magic.
She groaned, realizing what this meant as a look around her confirmed it. Every Widget had this same barrier. In fact, she realized every Widget had every adaptation the others had. There were blades and armor and shields. She sighed angrily. On any normal day this shouldn’t have been a problem for her, heck she could’ve even just ran if the circumstances had gotten this bleak. However right now she was too weak to even dare try moving any more and accepted her fate as a forceful tackle from one of the Widgets brought her to the ground. A scream of pain arose from her as she was overrun.
If this was Kaladesh, what had become of her world? Sure the consolate had been bad before, but was this what the current government was capable of? A seemingly infinite adaptable force meant to bring in anybody they saw as a criminal, even if that individual was innocent?
Though, in one quick motion, all of the Widgets that had piled onto her left her. “Program overridden, returning to base…” they all collectively said at varying times. Unconsciousness came to the pyromancer, though, right before she passed out she heard a faint voice.
“Chandra…?”
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Comments
So, Kaladesh 100 years later after Chandra's last departure then (You can't just change the WHOLE tech level to an extent of a world within a few days unless there is an intervention from a truly Godlike being. Or very tech advanced aliens.)
It's closer to 3 years. I always imagined everything needed to have the revolution was at Kaladeshi fingertips, but without unrestricted Aether access, no real progress could be made.