The Xenotechnician epted 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 amodating 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 kinshipworks at ater date." The Xenotechnician calmly told Ves. "For now, we intend to treat this as an experimental program. Limiting the number of active kinshipworks will make it easier for us to control their operations."


    "I see. I hope you will consider the matter of expansion at ater date. I have arge 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 kinshipwork geared towards warlords. We have different demands for them. ording 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 be a warlord, but they are entitled to greater rewards as long as they seed. The Mace of Retaliation will borate more on topic in your meeting with him. For now, we have a need for a more appropriate kinshipwork for this leadership ss."


    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 mechmanders who have sessfully 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 majormitments to fund and organize a deep strike force. This has predictably led to fierce opposition from our own mech pilots. We will likelye to apromise 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 n, so it made sense for people to look closer into his record and aplishments.


    He had a feeling that he may have inadvertently contributed to the effort to save red humanity frompletely 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 ws of the Garlen Empire.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Ves shrugged, m ttered 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 ns 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 kinshipwork for warlords.


    "I think that the specification and configuration of a kinshipwork 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 ss of leaders. On the other hand, it has to be inoffensive enough to gain the eptance 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 ay 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. "ording 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 rightbination 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 particrly favored by many of our mech pilots who are involved in the nning and execution of the Deep Strike n."


    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 particr 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 kinshipwork, the effects were not that big of a deal.


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


    "Bravo is... never meant toplement leaders and battlefieldmanders." Ves warned. "Titania is a lot more suitable for that role."


    "If the warlords arepetent 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 kinshipworks 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 kinshipworks."


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


    The specifications weren''t too unreasonable at first nce. 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 ept his kinshipworks.


    "In summary, the four new kinshipworks in consideration shall be exclusive to the New Elites." The Xenotechnician exined. "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 kinshipwork, but will have to give up their titles and all of the rights and privileges that they bestow. Removal from a kinshipwork should be painless and without cost."


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


    "Kinshipworks 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 kinshipworks 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 kinshipworks 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 kinshipworks had to make a pledge of loyalty towards red humanity. They also had to agree to a contract thatpelled them to remain neutral and avoid showing unwarranted favoritism towards any individuals.


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


    The mechers wanted to treat the kinshipwork 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 kinshipwork 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'' tond 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!