Hypatia

Hypatia was born among the astronomers of the Arcane flight, but her eyes were always turned more to the land around her. Specifically, how she could improve it. Unable to follow her dreams among her own people, Hypatia moved to the Shifting Expanse, where she quickly learned to mimic the drive to work that characterized her new neighbors. Meshing arcane knowledge with mechanical engineering, she soon learned that that particular skill would be what got her noticed.

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Hypatia's days fell into a soothing routine after her hiring. Work all day, every day figuring out wiring problems, new schematics, program testing - whatever the boss wanted. And then, at night, hang out near the makeshift bar for a drink. The sporadic chaos was a different environment than Hypatia was used to, but by the Eleven she loved it!

Hypatia had started out as that one Tempest Flat-worker wannabe ("come and look at the weird Arcane dragon, everyone!") but felt that she was finally starting to prove her worth. Her coworkers were listening to her, for one thing. For another, she'd received a message from an anonymous interested party about her prototype mana converters. These, she currently wore at all times, if only because they came in handy when dealing with haywire automatons. Send a little bit of arcane current through them, and they converted the current into the same type of mana as whatever mana crystal was currently placed inside them - right now, lightning.

And a little lightning was just what she needed, Hypatia thought, as she sat up from her work on the automaton in front of her. It was a small, draconoform robot, barely an eighth of her size. The batteries she'd been given earlier weren't enough - it kept trying to start, Hypatia could tell, but couldn't quite activate. "Just a little current," she murmured to herself. Breathe in, breathe out slowly. Draw on the mana within ever so slightly, the tiniest little thread, and pull that thread through to a wingtip... A spark transferred between the steel constructs on Hypatia's wings and the robot!

Hypatia leaned in close. "Come on, come on," she whispered. "Please work." The robot flickered to life, raising it's head. Cameras focused on Hypatia's face. "Yess!" she hissed. "Alright, now to see if you can access the mana crystal inside you..." Hypatia moved quickly through her workshop, placing the target in front of the creature. It's crude programming should tell it to fire. She moved to the side, watching the robot with bated breath.

The robot lifted it's head, focusing on the target. Blue lights became suffused with pink. "Come on, come on, come on," Hypatia chanted, bobbing her head. "You can do it. You've got this. Just fire. Just-"

KKZAT! A short laser of pink light erupted from the robot's mouth, striking the target left of center. Hypatia stuck her head out to look, heedless of any further shots from the robot. "YES!" she crowed.

"Go to sleep!" someone else roared back.

Hypatia ignored them. The robot was smoking, and not in any way that could be construed good. She pulled apart plates, frowning as the problem became clear: the robot couldn't handle the power spark from the mana conversion. She was so close; she could feel it in her bones. And yet, the moon hung high in the sky, shining silver rays through her window. Best to leave the problem until the next day.

- - - - - -

The sun brought with it a reluctant waking, and the sound of claws banging on the scrap metal door. Hypatia threw it open. "What?"

Two other dragons stood in the bright sunlight, looking her up and down. An Imperial and a Nocturne. "You're Hypatia, yes?"

"Yes..."

"They say you're creating robotics that merge magic and technology," the Imperial stated.

"Y-Yes, I am." Hypatia drew herself up proudly. "Would you like to see? I have my wing augments right over here, and I've been working on a prototype security droid, but it's not quite working yet." As she spoke, she stepped back, allowing the visitors entry.

They listened as she explained how the wing augments worked, even demonstrated them on the fused android. "And why haven't you been successful with the security droid?"

"Problem one: I have to scavenge materials to get it," Hypatia stated. "Problem two: I don't have a proper lab dedicated for it. The boss sees it as 'a flighty fancy befitting of an arcane dragon, not a true follower of the Stormlord.'" She hoped she wasn't mimicking the bogsneak's haughty nasal.

"I see," her visitor noted dryly. Whoops. "How would you feel about being part of a team where the fusion of magic and technology was the goal?"

"C-come again?" Hypatia stammered.

"You heard me."

"I-I would... Oh Eleven, I would love that!" Hypatia burst out.

"I thought you might." The Imperial placed a card on her crooked desk and swept outside. "You'll have three days to pack up here and move on-location. Don't be late to work."

"W-Wait!" Hypatia hurried after them. "W-were you here to hire me? What about my boss? He'll throw a fit if I'm-"

"We'll take care of Daedalus. You show up." With that, the two dragons were off.

Hypatia slipped back inside, crouching in front of the robot's empty eyes. She grinned. "You and I are gonna go places, aren't we?" The fused android was the first thing she packed.

(becomes part of the Lightningbound)