Thor

Vandrende is built straight into the heart of the Tempest Spire and thus its culture has been utterly consumed and molded by the lightning dragon's inherent need to tinker and wield their natural element. Most, if not all, new developments in materials or ideas are instantly caught up and devoured by the ever evolving engineers and electricians in their race of machines and wire. It is unsurprising then that the city sits on a large surplus of alloys and metals for its materials, though what may stand out is how the city uses said metals in their daily chaos.

A newcomer being told Vandrende has one of the largest gold deposits in the area wouldn't be shocked, seeing as gold is a versatile conductor and the city's location entrenched deep in the earth. Many denizens wear this gold as part of their daily attire. It may not catch the eye at first as the various braces, wires, gloves, etc aren't the most gaudy or fashionable assets and are often bound up in cloth or over heavy duty gloves, but one will come to notice every worker in the city wields at least some metal on their claws. Gold, silver, copper, and many others are drawn out and processed into delicate wiring and chips for anything from palm sized motherboards to prosthetic wings to the massive generators powering the city. Some of these wires however, are twisted back into themselves and reworked in the city's few forges to create a thicker wire, not unlike a small 'tube', that are then strung along an engineers body. These wires are inserted or strung along gloves and clips to keep the wire steady. Another common method of attachment is to encase the wire itself in compatible alloys for maximum conductivity. This bracing is seen on both hand and foot (sometimes tail) and interconnected with the hip store and wing wiring.

The purpose of this bracing is to allow Vandrende lightning engineers to channel their magic into electrical energy that can be applied directly to anything from wiring and machinery to handling massive burst charges in plants to electrical engineers bent over desks and tables with ease. (As per typical Expanse residents, the majority of Vandrende has surprisingly overall low magic potential.) They are also useful for moving currents in a situation where energy needs to be temporarily redirected without the hassle of tangled wires: simply connecting the desired leg or arm bracing with the needed outlets will form a complete circuit from the selected limb through the shortest path of wiring on the engineer (most commonly through the wing wiring if done with two arm braces, the hip store will be activated should a leg brace be used) to the opposite limb docked with the target plug and seamlessly transfers the electric charge. Experienced engineers can do this procedure in a matter of seconds. To 'palm the lightning' is a common mistake many novice engineers make where instead of moving the current along the bracing, they loop the charge in the 'palm' wires which can result in a dangerous burst of energy. It is a fairly common idiom among workers to refer to squandered or wasted potential. (Wow, ya really palmed the lightning on that one Steve.)


Natural lightning workers can usually be identified from the style and design of their bracing, which are simple wires and clips, and (less accurately) lack of hip stores. This difference should be noted because a second type of bracing exists for non-lightning dragons. It has a more complicated setup that relies on the fluid and precise movements of the individual to move the energy in the lack of lightning magic. Non-lightning individuals will always possess a hip store: a series of heavy duty wires attached at the waist that loop into one another and connect to leg bracing, wing wiring, and tail bracing should the worker possess one. Their purpose is to store live currents that can then be transported and used by the wearer effortlessly. It also has the double function of amplifying the current stored. Typically, a Tempest native will have little need for this as they can produce their own lightning and thus currents at will but might have a store equipped to connect bracing or for amplification. The process begins when the current is connected to an arm or leg bracing by either a lightning dragon or powered generator. The current then travels down the bracing or wires to the store; the loop is then closed and the inherent magical qualities of the lightning given keep the energy circulating and active. An open loop means one or more of the loops have been connected to form a circuit and energy is actively being used. Due to the nature of the current the store is made up of several large and heavy wires surrounded by smaller wire to keep various circulations running. Buildup of energy is possible and thus one should always be cautious when handling stores. Should several of the wires be damaged at once it could burst, causing painful and severe damage to the worker and surrounding environment. (All stores are required to be encased in appropriate alloys for the purpose of protection.)


Wiring is commonly seen on the wings of workers and serve various functions. The most notable is connecting the hip store to the front bracing and vice versa, as well as connecting the front braces together. The wires secondary ability is supporting mechanical extensions. Most, if not all, Vandrende produced prosthetics have some form of wiring running along the wings adjacent to the prosthetic itself that can be connected to bracing or plugs to recharge energy. Other mechanics such as drills or bolt guns can also be attached and powered through these wires. Wing wiring, similar to hip stores, are also constantly moving live currents, albeit in a much smaller capacity. The twisted wires at the ends of the wings are thicker and inserted with rods to attract and collect energy from the charged air of the Tempest Spire and surrounding farms. These small collections will move down the wires and aid in charging machinery. While they should be relatively harmless, if a blocking occurs somewhere along the wire and the current begins to loop it could potentially build, in which cutting the wire would result in a burst that could leave the worker's wings in tatters, or even fatal injury to the spinal cord. One should always be mindful that all wiring and bracing is connected and that a simple burst or break in the store could very well effect the wings or arms, causing more damage than either piece could do on its own.

In fact, all non-lightning workers are required to be trained with an expert for, at MINIMUM, one full internship before handling live currents in any regular capacity and must be skilled in their field of electrical work. Fooling around or loss of focus at any time when conducting a current can result in severe injuries such as third-degree burns, severe nerve damage, possible loss of limb(s), and other potentially fatal injuries. An exploding worker also has the potential to set off an entire plant or factory, ruining everyone's day, especially poor Steve's. Looking past these dangers, dragons of any elemental alignment are now capable of holding all the power and strength of the storm in their claws and this has not gone unnoticed by the population at large. Most denizens have some technical know-how and have easily repurposed braces with slight modifications to produce more refined (and deadly) electric bursts. Or, to put it plainly, to shoot direct lightning. Visitors and newcomers unfortunate enough to get in a brawl may find themselves the victim of a nasty shock that could leave them on the ground from an off hours worker wearing bracing that may have not been clearly visible from under heavy (or neon bright) attire.

Not all alloys are made equal, and even less price tags are written up equally. There's plenty of wire to go around the city but some find themselves under regulation, as do those who use it or wish to contract out. These can be based on anything from the inquirer's breed size to availability of the material and plant status.



Status: COMMON, UNREGULATED
Gold and copper are the most common wiring materials one can find in Vandrende. Used in both commercial and personal facilities as well as electronic chips and even the namesake spires used on the surface farms. Gold is favored over copper for its durability and quantity, as Vandrende was built into several large veins and ore deposits. Wires and other such items can be found freely throughout the markets and stores as well as smaller companies and prosthetic manufacturers. Other alloys like aluminum and and steel are sold alongside them and often combined for cost efficiency.

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Status: UNCOMMON, REGULATED
Silver is the superior conductor to gold and copper but at the cost of accessibility. Where gold is generally mined and drawn in the city (refinement is done by Vandrende's Ashfall branch) most silver must be found elsewhere in the Tempest Spire. Silver is also more difficult to work with and suffers from oxidation and other degradation only aided by Vandrende's underground climate. These are some of the reasons silver is significantly more regulated than other alloys, often the only ones to use them are higher-end commercial companies that specialize in vehicles and machines or areas like the generators and spires where heat from the lightning is immense. Silver bracing also has a presence in wielding where practiced users will concentrate their current into a razor fine stream, not meant for circuits but cutting and melting. Not surprisingly the cults scattered across the city also have an interest in silver for purposes of the magical variety. Silver foot/tail bracing and hip stores are rarely seen due to the difficulty in making and acquiring. When stores and extra bracing are seen they are typically on the larger breeds such as guardians, ridgebacks, and imperials, who function as a kind of hulking, massive generator that can deal with the heat and stress of higher currents and their environments. These silver giants use their bulk to act as living cuffs and breakers during construction, sitting in miles of metal and heat to connect, redirect, and break currents from one system to another as both they and their engineers work out optimal flow and path.

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Status: SCARCE, RESTRICTED
No one is quite sure how the city first got its claws on this alloy. Maybe an old pack member had given it up, maybe a foreigner with better things to do had sold it, maybe it was pure, dumb luck. The metal first found its way into the paws of Storm, one of Vandrende's head engineers who noted its strange kinetic properties and requested proper testing be conducted. The findings resulted in nothing short of chaos among the engineers. Nigh indestructible, it absorbed little, if any, energy; instead fully and flawlessly redirecting and amplifying it. It was almost a godsend. It was also, rather unfortunately, obscenely rare and entirely foreign to lightning and the Spire, which meant there was a *very* limited supply. This triggered an event only seen a handful of times in the city's history when the Council ordered a city wide sweep for any and all possible blacksteel components, no matter how small or trivial. Then, unprecedented, they took to most of the Expanse in search of whatever they could find, some claiming they would offer an imperial's weight in gold for a single arm band (this was never clarified). At the end of the movement success was uncertain and all known blacksteel was sent to the Ashfall branch (who first identified the metal's true name and origin) to be rolled and drawn into thin wire and stored under heavy lock and key. To get one's hands on blacksteel wire for a project or machine is a difficult and impossible task buried under piles of paper and scrutiny. All requests are cycled through all heads of engineering, relevant Council members and the sibling primal magistrates Sunoko and Raito. Few see approval.

Small fragments are often used for cuffs to block and redirect currents. Other pieces are mixed with other alloys (primarily silver wire) to give the other alloy a higher performance rate. Blacksteel bracing is a kind of myth, as a blacksteel hip store could hypothetically keep a live current cycling almost indefinitely compared to copper and gold, which eventually lose their currents, and the power that could come from a master lightning dragon's talons wielding precisely crafted braces is, quite frankly, a terrifying thought to some, and also actually exists. Before realizing just how scarce the metal was at least one nearly full set of blacksteel bracing was completed and is currently worn by Magistrate Sunoko. Currently there are only three major machines or systems that are publicly known to have pure blacksteel wire/pieces: the Black Snake, one of Vandrende's largest and most powerful drills used for mining and expansion, the main power generators connecting to the Tempest Spire itself that support and give most of Vandrende its energy, and thin patches of the underwater lines linking to main island farms that run through the most volatile parts of the ocean floor, where most silver, gold, and copper would suffer and erode. Between just these three, even if only the smallest wire or bits were used, there is barely any left. The city is not in a state to spend their fortune on hunting further pieces, especially with no accessible mines but nonetheless, they and their smaller branches have their ears to the ground always in regards to the precious metal in hopes of intercepting any potential buyers and traders.