Recaps

Theus consulted Chloe about the forgotten Sea God Church and learned that memories lost unconsciously could be sunken memories, recoverable only under the right circumstances or by engraving them deeply into the soul. With little information about the Fishmen and the polluted deep sea, Theus decided to send a team to investigate their settlement.

• Chloe identified the Sea God Church and explained how willpower could engrave memories upon the soul so they would resist being forgotten.
• Theus wondered whether Mind Link could store and share sunken memories, while Chloe said written records might help but would not reliably preserve them.
• Chloe warned Theus that the deep sea was dangerous for Transcendents and said she knew little about Fishmen because the churches had withdrawn from the coast.
• Theus asked Ash whether a team could approach the Fishmen settlement, contact the polluted long snake, and withdraw safely.
• Ash said about twenty Banshees with two support teams could manage the mission, and Theus ordered them to prepare.

Theus watched Ash organize a Banshee assault to investigate the Pollution serpent and test the Fishmen’s hidden forces. After assigning roles and making Nini her backup commander, Ash led the Banshees through their Mind Synchronization ritual and declared the battle underway.

• Theus left operational command to Ash after observing how quickly the Banshees planned and prepared the assault.
• Ash assigned Una to collect a sample from the Pollution serpent, with Nini supporting her and researching the creature.
• Ash tasked five Banshees with drawing out the Fishmen’s hidden strength while the remaining squad members protected Una and covered the retreat.
• Ash named Nini as the successor to command if Ash became unable to lead, explaining that Nini’s flexible thinking could solve problems strength could not.
• The Banshees performed Mind Synchronization, and Theus joined them through the Symbiotic Pact.
• Ash and the Banshees declared that the battle had begun.

Ash led the Banshees in a surprise assault on the Fishmen mining near the pollution serpents, while Una collected a sample of the black flesh. The Banshees then spotted massive masses of Pollution expanding nearby and prepared to retreat.

• Ash and Nini watched the Fishmen mine and located pollution serpents buried beneath the seabed.
• Ash ordered the Banshees to attack the Fishmen guarding and working at the nearby mine.
• The Banshees charged down from the coral reef, slaughtered the Fishmen, and overwhelmed their camp.
• Una tried to cut into a pollution serpent, then Ash and the Banshees opened it so she could collect a lump of black flesh.
• Una and the Banshees saw huge masses of Pollution expanding nearby, and Ash ordered everyone to fall back and prepare to break out.

The Banshees struggled to escape a swarm of fast pollution sea urchins while protecting Una and the box she carried. Nini sacrificed the box to lure several sea urchins into a trap and detonated its explosives, leaving the blast’s aftermath unresolved.

• Ash drew three pollution sea urchins away from the squad while Nini took command and led the others toward Second Team.
• Five new sea urchins joined the pursuit, overwhelming the squad and injuring several Banshees.
• Nini ordered Una to throw away the box, and the sea urchins swarmed after it.
• Nini told the Banshees to activate Flesh Magic and take cover as three sea urchins struck the box.
• The box broke open to reveal snake flesh and metal spheres containing sea snakes and nitroglycerin, and Nini triggered their explosion.

The Banshees’ attack on the Fishman settlement failed after Pollution sea urchins trapped them, and a nitroglycerin blast caused heavy damage but no decisive victory. Back at Castel, Theus reassured the injured team and declared that they would eventually have to fight the Fishmen to defend their home.

• The Banshees witnessed the blast create a towering Water Tomb, while the Symbiotic Pact drained their life force to spread the damage among them.
• Nini found that the explosion had killed the nearby Fishmen and left her fellow Banshees alive, but dazed and injured.
• Nini ordered a retreat, and the Banshees returned to Castel while Ash escaped the pursuing sea urchins and came back by a different route.
• Nini told Theus that the mission had failed to recover flesh from the Pollution Serpent, and he said their reconnaissance had still revealed the enemy’s strength.
• Theus told the Banshees that Castel was their home and rallied them to fight the Fishmen and defend it.

Theus learned that Pollution Serpents might be creating Sea Urchin Monsters and could be spreading north from the south toward Castel. He ordered Ash to scout their reach and the Banshees to prepare for total war.

• Nini and Ash told Theus how they lost the serpent flesh sample while fighting Fishmen and Sea Urchin Monsters, and Theus praised them for bringing the first squad back alive.
• Theus realized that Sea Urchin Monsters appeared where Pollution Serpents had passed, suggesting the serpents were used to create them.
• Nini and Ash suspected the Pollution Serpents might extend from the south near the Masha Archipelago and the Pirate King's Court.
• Ash told Theus he could evade the Sea Urchin Monsters alone, so Theus ordered him to scout the serpents' territory after resting and told Nini to prepare bombs to cover his retreat.
• Theus ordered the Banshees to halt the Pollution Serpents at Castel and mobilize for total war.

Theus demonstrated a steam engine to Castel’s workers and promised new factory jobs, mechanic training, and higher wages as steam power expanded production. He revealed that war was coming, forcing the island to shift its productive capacity from peaceful development to heavy industry.

• Theus showed Castel’s workers how a steam engine worked and warned that they would need to pass an exam to qualify for factory work.
• Theus offered mechanic apprentices an extra one Leo per day and promised that qualified mechanics would earn eight Leo daily.
• Theus explained that steam engines would power the island’s factories and increase production, making goods more plentiful.
• Theus told the islanders that war was coming and that Castel would have to redirect its industry toward war.

Theus rallied Castel’s people against the sea monsters and asked Zoe to write a story about an advanced-class student working with a banshee. Zoe realized his proposed reading exercise might reveal the Banshees’ existence to the public.

• Theus told Castel’s workers that enormous sea monsters were advancing toward the island and promised to lead them to victory.
• Gaia and Monica watched Theus’s speech, and Gaia described how helping make the nitroglycerin bombs had made her feel like a hero.
• Theus asked Zoe to write a story about a student researching alongside a banshee and have literacy-class students read it.
• Zoe asked Theus whether he intended to make the Banshee matter public.

Theus explained to Zoe how hope sustained Castel’s poorest residents and admitted that he would use any means necessary to keep their hope alive. He asked her to use her writing to guide his subjects, leaving Zoe to consider whether she would help him despite the moral cost.

• Theus told Zoe that the Banshees’ existence was known to students in the advanced class and urged her to understand the poor through direct contact.
• Theus described how Gaia found happiness in studying and being rewarded for hard work, showing Zoe that hope mattered beyond money or food.
• Theus said workers had chosen school even at the cost of becoming poor again, and that Connor’s report found every student who met the Banshees remained steadfast in supporting Castel.
• Theus admitted that he exploited the people’s suffering and would continue doing so to preserve their hope, then asked Zoe to guide his subjects with her writing.
• Zoe asked why Theus had told her the truth and why he cared so much about hope, and he answered that he could not let down the people who had sacrificed alongside him.

Chloe questioned Kyle and Hodge about stories told by the dead worker Theus, then explained how Castel’s factories would make steel and cement for coastal fortresses. She left the workers facing an unfamiliar production process as the Lord prepared to convert Castel’s factories to steam power.

• Kyle and Hodge remembered Theus, the worker who had told them interesting stories before the Candlelight Society called him a cultist and he died.
• Chloe overheard them discussing Theus and asked Hodge to recount the story he remembered about a merchant and overflowing water.
• Chloe let Kyle and Hodge go without punishment and invited them to ask questions about the factory.
• Chloe explained that the factory produced steel, sulfuric acid, and slag, and that steel and concrete would be used to build fortresses along Castel’s coast.
• Chloe said Castel’s factories would switch to steam power and some workers might be assigned to the understaffed cement factory; Hodge recalled hearing that cement production had once been troublesome and produced poor results.

Chloe explained how Theus’s improved cement made concrete, while Kyle and Hodge marveled at the knowledge freely shared in Castel compared with Rhine. She then found Monica conducting an experiment with a Steam Engine and Silly.

• Chloe told Kyle and Hodge that volcanic ash improved Rhine cement so it could set underwater, and explained how cement, sand, gravel, blast-furnace slag, and rebar made concrete.
• Kyle and Hodge discussed how Castel openly taught industrial processes, unlike Rhine, where workers were told to memorize procedures and pray at the Mechanical Cathedral.
• Chloe reflected on managing the Eastern Experimental Field and on Theus’s remarkable inventions as she walked through the factory grounds.
• Chloe entered a secluded factory guarded by banshees and found Monica conducting an experiment.
• Monica insisted she had permission and pointed to the Steam Engine, saying she was with Silly.

Chloe and Monica tried the Mechanical Cathedral’s ritual to communicate with the Type II Engine’s Machine Soul, with Gaia reluctantly joining them. As the ritual drew a growing crowd, Chloe called on the soul within the steel to awaken.

• Chloe told Monica about the Mechanical Cathedral, an organization that worshipped machinery and performed elaborate rituals.
• Chloe and Monica dragged Gaia to the Type II Engine and persuaded her to take part in their ritual.
• Banshees and Moth Chasing Flame members gathered outside the room, and the guards sent word to the lord.
• Gaia greased the engine’s bearings while Monica performed ritual gestures and Chloe recited a prayer before the watching crowd.
• Chloe raised her voice and called for the Machine Soul to awaken.

Chloe, Monica, and Gaia successfully communicated with the steam engine’s machine soul, Silly, using a Mechanical Cathedral ritual. Theus congratulated them, warned them to report future experiments, and they proposed testing how Silly reacted to Pollution.

• Chloe used a Mechanical Cathedral prayer while Monica shielded Gaia from coals, and the steam engine started as Silly responded to them.
• Monica clung to the boiler and cried with joy, while Gaia, Chloe, Theus, and the gathered spectators celebrated their success.
• Theus asked about the ritual, and Chloe explained the Mechanical Cathedral’s ties to her group and the royal family.
• Theus reprimanded Monica, Gaia, and Chloe for their dangerous experiments and told them to report future tests to him or the banshee on duty.
• Chloe said the Mechanical Cathedral had no Machine Souls of its own, then suggested giving Silly Pollution to burn.

Theus and the Banshees tested using solid Pollution as fuel, with Monica guiding it into a Steam Engine through her connection to its Machine Soul. The engine burned Pollution successfully, but Theus realized the presence inside it was not Silly.

• Theus learned that the coal shipment had fallen through and considered Pollution as an alternative fuel.
• The Banshees brought Pollution to the testing grounds, and Monica prepared to communicate with the Steam Engine's Machine Soul.
• Monica poured Pollution into the boiler, where it entered the flames without resisting and made the Steam Engine run far more powerfully than before.
• Theus tried to contact the Machine Soul and sensed an unfamiliar presence instead of Silly.
• Theus demanded to know who the presence was and declared that it was not Silly.

Theus and Chloe realized the Steam Engine had answered their ritual with the endless whispers of an evil god rather than the quiet Machine Soul Silly. They suspected the entity was controlled and possibly not physically present, but the chapter left them questioning whether the Mechanical Cathedral’s prayer had unknowingly summoned it.

• Theus sensed that the Steam Engine’s voice was unlike Silly’s and questioned Monica about how she had communicated with it.
• Monica described hearing an unclear whisper from the moment she touched the machine, and Chloe concluded that it sounded like an evil god.
• Chloe argued that the entity was likely controlled because the Steam Engine had operated steadily, and she reassured the others that it was probably not too dangerous.
• Theus’s reinforcements arrived and watched Monica, Gaia, and Chloe warily as the group considered whether the evil god had been summoned into the machine.
• Theus questioned the wording of the Mechanical Cathedral’s prayer, and Chloe explained that a true summoning ritual required a vessel, a Transcendent sacrifice, a directed prayer, and enough people.

Chloe’s improvised Mechanical Cathedral ritual summoned a hostile presence into the steam engine, but Theus purified it and Silly’s Machine Soul returned. Chloe then wondered whether the Cathedral’s steam engines burned something other than mortal fire.

• Chloe insisted her prayers and procedures could not have summoned an evil god, but the steam engine roared and shrieked in response.
• Monica panicked over Silly’s disappearance, and Theus approached the engine under Flesh Magic protection to investigate.
• Theus connected with the presence inside the engine and purified it, after which Silly’s Machine Soul regained control of the boiler.
• Monica hugged the steam engine and apologized to Silly, while Chloe cautiously sensed the Machine Soul beneath its steel casing.
• Chloe recalled the Mechanical Cathedral’s question, “How could steam be profaned by mortal fire?” and asked what its engines were burning.

Theus learned that Chloe had joined the Mechanical Society, an academic organization that had grown into the conservative Mechanical Cathedral, whose Transcendent members worshipped machines. Gaia proposed testing whether a summoned Machine Soul had caused the Cathedral’s ritual to mutate, and Theus asked if that was her theory.

• Theus questioned whether the Mechanical Cathedral had Transcendents, and Chloe revealed that she was one of them.
• Chloe explained that the Mechanical Cathedral was originally the open, knowledge-sharing Mechanical Society, which had become increasingly conservative after the Great Sage Bruno disappeared.
• Chloe said the Cathedral’s strict rules and opposition to interpreting technology had developed over time, while its older members avoided Transcendence in their technology.
• Gaia suggested repeating the Cathedral’s ritual with an ordinary Steam Engine that had never summoned a Machine Soul.
• Theus and Chloe realized Gaia suspected the Machine Soul had caused the ritual to mutate, and Theus asked if that was her theory.

Theus tested whether the Mechanical Cathedral’s ritual required a Machine Soul, and the ritual succeeded when Monica summoned one into a steam engine. Theus decided to observe the engine, hoping it could burn pollution and help Castel’s fuel shortage.

• Gaia reluctantly joined Chloe and Monica in repeating the Mechanical Cathedral’s ritual on a new Type II Engine, but the engine did not ignite.
• Theus asked Monica to summon a Machine Soul into the engine, and she agreed eagerly.
• After Monica summoned the Machine Soul, Chloe, Gaia, and Monica performed the ritual again, and the engine ignited and formed a connection with them.
• Chloe sensed that the presence was only a projection dwelling through the Machine Soul, not a fully descended evil god, and said its whispers caused no pollution.
• Monica poured pollution into the burning engine, and Theus decided to leave it under observation because Castel needed fuel.

Theus named the pollution-burning steam engine the Clamorer and organized Castel’s war preparations against the sea urchins and polluted long serpent. Chloe then reported that Castel had lost contact with the outside world through the Candlelight Society’s channel.

• Theus and the banshees agreed to test the Clamorer on pollution, while Moth Chasing Flame supported the experiment and suggested giving the machine a new name.
• Theus planned an underground tunnel network called the Webway Plan to connect Castel’s defenses and prepare for battle on land.
• Theus accelerated Castel’s mobilization, recruiting and training soldiers while factories converted to steam power and fortifications began rising.
• Una led the banshees in building strong fortifications at the Eastern Test Site using Turn Stone to Mud and rebar.
• Chloe visited Theus and told him that the Candlelight Society’s contact channel had stopped responding and Castel had lost contact with the outside world.

Beatrice asked a Candlelight Society priest to explain why Castel’s beacon had disappeared into the Sea of Unconsciousness. The priest revealed that the Sea and the Corridor of Truth were different ways of perceiving the same place, then began explaining why anchors were needed to navigate it.

• Beatrice waited while a priest searched the Sea of Unconsciousness for Castel’s anchor, but he reported that Castel’s beacon had vanished.
• The priest explained that secret knowledge caused Pollution and described the Candlelight Society’s belief that it would one day cast all Pollution into the Sea.
• Beatrice asked whether she could explore the Sea, and the priest said that different churches called the same place the Sea of Unconsciousness, the Corridor of Truth, the Land of Eternal Sleep, or Night Country.
• Beatrice connected the Sea’s shifting forms to Cognitive Interference and asked whether it caused Pollution to flood into reality, but the priest said its cause was a taboo.
• The priest began explaining that explorers needed anchors because the Sea of Unconsciousness had no fixed form or direction.

Beatrice learned that the Church’s Mind Whisperers used anchor points to navigate and communicate through the Sea of Unconsciousness, and that an anchor could vanish if an existence swallowed it. After returning to Rhine, she sought refuge in a hidden apartment where she could briefly relax away from the pressures of her new life.

• The priest explained that a powerful belief could serve as an Anchor in the Sea of Unconsciousness, and Beatrice considered her own belief.
• The priest described how Church anchor points let Mind Whisperers travel between churches, despite the dangerous journeys that shortened their lives.
• Beatrice asked what could make an anchor point unreachable, and the priest said an existence could swallow it.
• Beatrice returned to Rhine and reflected on how she was learning to navigate the city’s competing interests and upper circles.
• Beatrice entered a secluded Joan Family apartment, drew the curtains, and relaxed on its sofa.

Beatrice tried to contact Castel and learned that it had lost contact, then decided to search for its beacon in the Corridor of Truth. She entered the Corridor and found herself in a long passage lined with doors.

• Beatrice wrote a letter about Rhine and her soap, but the Church could not deliver it to remote Castel.
• Beatrice learned that Castel had lost contact and persuaded the Church to help her enter the Sea of Unconsciousness, though it would not send Investigators.
• Beatrice thanked the priest Michel, told him to call her Joan, and resolved to look for Castel's beacon and speak with Count Theus.
• Beatrice used her Investigator ability and heard that reality had no high walls, then felt Pollution spread through her body.
• Beatrice found herself standing in a long corridor lined with countless doors.

Chloe revealed that the church on Castel Island contained a Guardian Inscription and proposed modifying it to protect the entire island. Theus learned that it could strengthen structures and block Pollution, and he considered the inscription a valuable addition to their defenses.

• Chloe showed Theus the Guardian Inscription she had discovered inside the old church.
• Theus questioned its usefulness, and Chloe explained that she could modify it and expand its protection across Castel Island if they supplied additional power.
• Chloe said the inscription could strengthen buildings against impacts and block Pollution.
• Theus recognized that the inscription could help protect their fortifications from the sea urchins and agreed it was useful.
• Theus wondered why the Candlelight Society had placed Guardian Inscriptions in every church and whether people had once needed them as shelters.

Theus and Chloe planned to expand Castel’s church and power its protective inscriptions with burning pollution, but Theus raised concerns about cooling the underground furnace. As Chloe warned that altering the inscriptions could attract the Candlelight Society’s attention, Theus asked what the rebuilt church would worship.

• Chloe explained that the protective inscriptions needed fuel and might help purify pollution, while Theus planned an underground furnace to power them.
• Theus pointed out that the furnace would be difficult to cool underground and proposed redesigning its materials and cooling system, possibly with underground waterways.
• Chloe warned that modifying the inscriptions would disturb the Sea of Unconsciousness and might alert the Candlelight Society, whose anchor had been cut off from outside contact.
• Theus ordered construction crews to prioritize rebuilding the church and expanding its coastal defenses, while Chloe agreed to modify the inscriptions and send him the furnace design.
• Theus asked Chloe whether the new church would still worship the Candlelight Society, and Chloe wondered if he wanted to found a new church.

Theus and Chloe discussed expanding a church across Castel while avoiding the Candlelight Society’s notice and limiting the influence of traditional faith. Theus named his planned academic organization Empire Truth, while the modified anchor point could later help Castel explore the Sea of Unconsciousness.

• Theus rejected establishing a new church because he feared faith could encourage blind obedience and extremism.
• Chloe explained that the expanded church had to remain recognizable as a church so its protective inscriptions and Cognitive Interference would continue to work.
• Chloe said her modifications had altered the Candlelight Society’s anchor point, making it unrecognizable to them, and suggested they could keep it for future exploration of the Sea of Unconsciousness.
• Theus proposed turning the church into an academic organization that spread knowledge under the guise of teaching scripture and doctrine.
• Theus named the planned faith Empire Truth.