u/General_Kenobi18753

Harperium, Element 164 on the United Federation of Orion’s Standard International System Periodic Table, is a superheavy element with atomic symbol Hp. It is exceedingly unique among the superheavy elements due to not only sitting on an island of stability, but also itself being extremely stable even amongst elements that sit on the islands. While Dubnium-270, the longest lived superheavy element besides Harperium, has a half-life of around one hour, Harperium-482 has a half-life of three thousand, four hundred and twenty seven years. Not only that, Harperium-482 mostly endures “relatively” harmless alpha decay, meaning it is one of the safest superheavy elements to be around. It is often dubbed the “Miracle Element”.

This makes it extraordinarily useful, being super dense, physically safe to use, extremely hard and tough, among other qualities. Much Harperium-482 would be made to continue chemical experiments. However, Harperium synthesis would also become one of the Federation’s main Critical Strategic Materials alongside Antimatter, with its synthesis being top priority for hardened defenses on ships and buildings.

Some trace elements of Harperium have been found in nature in areas of high-mass collisions, however the vast majority of it is synthetic. This gives the Federation a significant leg-up over its adversaries, who mostly still use steel, aluminum alloys, and other standard materials.

Meanwhile, Cantorite Humanity understands Harperium as “Magicrystal”, “Starshine Quartz”, or “Catalysos”. It is a magical catalyst that shapes how the world is. They understand it as the thing that gives them magic; by consuming it, your body generates magical energy by which you can move mountains. They have little understanding of its natural chemistry, but it is found all throughout Cantora in surface deposits, mines, and lakebeds.

Eventually, the two meet. And all hell breaks loose.

“What in the absolute fuck do you mean you’ve been consuming superheavy elements for milennia!? That stuff hasn’t been found in nature in this amount ever! And it does alpha decay! It kills you from the inside!”

“You have no magic!? Your world had none of this at all!? How did you survive!? Magic is fundamental to our lives and you just never had it!?”

So yes, Element 164 does give sapient species magic powers. It is also a regular chemical element with symbol Hp. Cantora has a lot of it due to it being the site of a neutron star merger several billion years ago. And Orion loved finding an absolute motherload of one of its most expensive resources.

Meanwhile, Tellurian Humanity would eventually adapt, growing the organs necessary to process Harperium into magic abilities that they never needed evolution-wise. So yeah. Sci-Fi Magical Girls.

And this does explain a lot of things. Like why Cantora has such a high child mortality rate compared to comparable times in Earth’s history—they eat radioactive crystals.

I Ship of Theseus’d the LowTierGod meme, enjoy.

Image is literally just an in-game screenshot from Genshin Impact.

Funny things happen when mortals gain the view of Gods. Sometimes they just die. Sometimes they get fucked and make a demigod, which leads to just… all sorts of problems. And sometimes, they get blessings.

With any luck, you’ll be the latter.

Most gods basically lease out their power, keeping a watch on their blessed to make sure they’re doing it right. This includes beings such as Isțan and his Blessing of Death; Kolna, and his Eye of Heaven; and Illa, and her Blessing of Harmony.

Others keep close watch, and if they see a slip-up, just kill the blessed. This includes Kili and her Blinding Gift; Calurna and her Blessing of Wrathful Seas; and Calszawa, with his Arms of Fire.

Yet more offer a deal: complete this task, and I’ll give you the power no strings attached. For beings like Calor, the God of Thieves, this means stealing something from him without him noticing. Zycie, God of the Forge, wants to see you build something no mortal hand has built before. Dereus, God of the South Wind, wants you to reach the Southern Pole and return alive. Drosus, Goddess of the Earth, wants you to find a valuable gemstone for her crown.

And then there’s Jeldor.

Who gives random orphaned kids their power and tells them to just go fucking nuts. Perhaps that’s to be expected from the God of Vengeance.

The Battle of Nouvelle-Austerlitz was the first battle of the Orionite War for National Rejuvenation. In it, forces of the Austrickan Task Force Austricki Cidicula, helmed by the titular Supercruiser—long regarded as the strongest ship known to the galaxy—would face off against Task Group Three Principles of the People, led by its own Warspite-class Supercruiser, the OFNS Three Principles of the People (SC-8)—although technically led by the OFNS Proxima Centauri (BC-104)—at the fortress world of Nouvelle-Austerlitz.

The Austrickans expected the fight to be easy—they wielded the most famed ship in the galaxy against a border protection fleet, so perhaps it is understandable why they were so confident. However, the battle did not go quite as expected.

The battle was estimated to conclude in less than three hours. The actual battle lasted two weeks. Task Group Three Principles of the People would engage the incoming force tenaciously, fighting with all of their might to ward off the enemy fleet—first from the system, then the orbit, and then the planet.

Famously, Force Admiral Yueyin Qingxao, commander aboard the OFNS Proxima Centauri, would utter these words to Captain Lawrence Jackson, whom was in command of the OFNS Three Principles of the People:

“Your ancestors stood at the Alamo, and mine at Shanghai. We will not dishonor them by breaking, not today!”

Yueyin would pass during the battle due to a shell crippling the Battle Bridge of the Proxima Centauri. Lawrence would survive on the planet despite the Three Principles of the People being scuttled due to a reactor failure.

Another famous event from the battle was when the Cresh-Commander of the Austricki Cidicula, Xindul-Shckcul would contact Yueyin, demanding his surrender. Over the channel, the Cresh-Commander’s words would be drowned out by one word:

“殺手! 殺手!”
Murderer. Murderer.

Cresh-Commander Xindul-Shckcul had taken part in the Destruction of Eisenhower forty-two years earlier, from which Yueyin hailed.

The battle would end with a Pyrrhic victory for the Austrickans. Nouvelle-Austerlitz would be seized two weeks behind schedule, allowing the United Federation of Orion to respond, bringing their full might against the invasion force; the invasion would be blunted at the Battle of Axum.