OPEN: We Vow To Keep Pressing Forward

[hextechhead]

WHO: Jayce Talis and you
WHAT: Jayce is new, come meet him!
WHERE: Cadens and the Horizon
WHEN: April, will add event stuff later





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[hextechhead]

Piltover isn't at war but in a way it has been for almost all of its existence. They simply ignored what was right in front of them in exchange for this image of it as a perfect city of progress. And Jayce was guilty of seeing it that way too, of not noticing the rot as he was absorbed in his own life and plans. Now it's all he can see. He should have listened to Mel. He didn't know war and now he nearly started one. He thought he was doing the right thing, and no matter who makes the first move here, they'll all have convinced themselves they were doing the same.

But that's the thing about the Summoned. They're all bringing their own baggage and priorities from home here, and it informs their actions. In Jayce's case, it makes him back away from what he might have been more invested in a week ago. The only thing that really matters is Viktor.

"It's an understatement to say that politics are complicated anywhere you go. If there is a perfect society out there, I'd love to see it." Jayce used to think he knew how everything worked and he was terribly wrong. It's funny that despite his back and forth about his role, he does consider himself a politician. It's not been very long, but he's been playing the game for years before the title was his.

"Viktor arrested me." It's a fun story and not one Jayce minds repeating, they often tease each other about it. "Our mentor was the head of the council, Viktor was his assistant at the time so he sent him." Heimerdinger was mentor to both of them, although he always favored Jayce shamelessly. "I was doing illegal experimentation on arcane crystals to prove my Hextech theory, that magic and technology could be combined for the greater good." He's not sure if it was clear before now that Hextech was Jayce's brainchild first, although it wouldn't exist without Viktor's help.

"Viktor was at my trial when I got kicked out of the academy and he was intrigued by my idea so he helped me complete it. We ended up changing the entire trajectory of technology in our world, seven years later the advancements branched from Hextech are many." Not all are as obvious as Hexgates, and it's all carefully controlled by the Council, but it's clear that they only got to where they were because of their work. More trade, more money, more tech. "We're opposites in a lot of ways, but not when it comes to the things we value most."

[fourarmedandangerous]

Goro listens to the story, and it's clear from the way Jayce tells it he's had practice doing so. Apparently he and Viktor's partnership is something of a novelty to most people. But what the Shokan finds more interesting is that it involves the two of them thumbing their noses at the dominant power in their city, and being rewarded for doing so.

"Curious that your city would fear what the Free Cities had already managed, to a certain degree." Goro replies, stroking his chin. "Why did your rulers fear it so?" In Goro's eyes, the merging of technology and magic is the only way magic should be harnessed, when it is made to obey the rules imposed upon it by technology. "I'm surprised there wasn't more backlash when you proved them all wrong. Most rulers in Outworld would not care to be so publicly shown up." Ah, but it sounds as though once perfected, Hextech increased the flow of money into the city's coffers. That would be a sufficient explanation.

Many advancements from Hextech, is it? "If we can achieve even a fraction of what Hex-Tech did for your city here, then we will all still reap great benefits." He muses. "No one ever tried to copy your success for their own homes?" Once Viktor and Jayce had proven it was possible, surely there must have been others who set out to try and replicate their journey, know that it was known to be possible. The pride of any ruler would certainly take a beating if they had to rely on an outside nation for their continued prosperity, regardless of the benefits. In Outworld, that sort of weakness could, and often did, get you killed.

[hextechhead]

"There were wars against and using magic in the past, in other places. A member of the Council said his entire race was nearly destroyed by it, and our mentor had witnessed enough of it to be fearful of what it could do." And Jayce is understanding, to a point. Those are logical reasons to fear something, but not logical reasons to refuse to ever revisit the idea again. "But progress requires pushing against what you fear." That's true of him. He may be more cautious now than ever before, but he still thinks Hextech was the right thing. He can't regret it just because it was misused (by him).

"No, they wanted it for themselves, once they saw the benefit. And they can't exactly punish the creators of what they coveted." They could, sure, but it wasn't a smart idea. So instead it was spun around, that these prize students of Heimerdinger made something incredible, and the Council could give them the funding and space and power to use it. "The benefit of it was obvious once it was proven and not a theory. Everyone agreed on that." It was stretching the mind to the possibility that was the hard part.

"They wouldn't be able to. I had gathered all known crystals at that point, and you can't work any of it without them. Which I'm guessing is true here of the New Magic, it's a natural safeguard." Jayce will have to learn more by going to the academy, but it makes sense to him. If he wants to replicate Hextech or learn what New Magic is, it'd have to be through academia and that route. Honestly, that may be one of the things Heimerdinger was correct about. Safeguards over something that powerful are necessary. "I'm sure it's the type of thing they've already thought through here, since they're ahead of us that way."