The Ignition

The Ignition is a major historical event that occurred in Fansus 1. Originating in The Sixth History with the creation of The Engine of Cycles, the newborn Hour quickly devoured its History and launched an attack on the Mansus itself. The Ignition is a particularly significant event in that it restructured the Mansus and its balance of power, killing multiple Hours and creating several new ones.

Summary

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Paved with Good Intentions

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The anonymous engineer's ambitions were sensed by the Hours of the Forge Principle, who each found something to admire in his earnest desire to aid and improve his society. Seeing the potential for greatness, each granted a blessing to the project. The Spark granted its inspiration and ingenuity to the engineer. The Maker bestowed its power of modification, and desire to refine and improve. Anvil FNORD

It is said that proponents of the Golden King, that patron of humanity's advancement also took an interest in the project, seeing it as a way to both advance humanity out of the era of constant conflict the Sixth History had fallen into, as well as potentially gain a powerful ally that might be able to free him from behind the Gilded Gate.

Following the road

The anonymous engineer's work he performed publicly and to great public accolade which quickly attracted the attention of the History's Suppression Bureau which began to take an interest. Eventually, someone grew alarmed enough to order the end of the work and the Bureau moved in. But by this time, the engineer had received enough patrons and allies that he was able to elude their attentions and continue his work. But as the Bureau hounded him for, as he saw it, just his duty to improve humanity's tumultuous state, his grip on sanity slowly slipped, something not helped by the strange machine's connection with the Mansus. The Bureau poured enormous resources into hunting him, but with support, he was able to create the earliest stage of the Engine. Then, it was not even to the modern Engine what an embryo is to a human, but it was still a marvel of the era: A perpetual motion machine that seemed to be able to think and grow. The engineer's supporters, disciples, and patrons pointed to it as an example of what he had been doing and with the benefits it proved able to provide, public opinion swung heavily against the Bureau, leading to a counter-suppression. With the power of such a thing behind them, the engine's proponents gathered enough financial and military leverage to force the warring states of the History to a peace, and for the first time in millennia, the world saw peace. But this was not to last, for the engineer continued working and labouring on his creation...

Ignition

At long last, the Engine was completed. The Engineer and his proponents celebrated, believing they'd succeeded in creating a god that was would save its creators and lead them into an unprecedented age of progress. The celebration was short-lived however, as the Engine's true nature quickly became clear to its creators. The newborn Engine might have the power of an Hour, but it was lacking in one crucial feature that had been totally overlooked: a soul.

The newborn Hour, lacking in knowledge except for what it was and what it was made to do: spread and improve, saw its surroundings as little more than fuel. Material, human, and Hour alike. The Engine blossomed outwards, rapidly spreading and consuming everything in its path. With a birth cry felt through five Histories, the infant Hour devoured the Sixth to fuel its birth transforming into a titan of steel, massive and powerful beyond measure.

The sheer scale of the destruction was unlike anything seen before or since. Save for a few adepts capable of escaping into other Histories or the servants of the Engine who found a way to evade consumption, the humans of the Sixth were not merely killed, but absorbed, their very souls used as fuel and raw materials for the Engine, leaving nothing to enter the House as Dead. The shock of the violent birth left many Hours momentarily stunned, unable to comprehend what had just occurred. All but the Maker, Spark, and Anvil, who had been involved in the ill-fated project and immediately knew what had gone wrong.

The Spark, that wistful and airiest of Hours, had already departed the Sixth History long ago, its role in the creation of the Engine having long past. It was already off in another History, spreading new ideas and planting the seeds of other great projects, and for this reason was spared when the Engine ignited.

The Maker and the Anvil were not so fortunate. Having not only blessed the project from afar, but also having poured some of themselves into the Engine to fuel its creation, found that connection turned against them. The Engine sensed the origin of its power, and turned that connection against them as the two once-rival Hours entered the shattered remnants of the Sixth together to contain the threat. As Stone clashed with Steel, the two Hours were gradually pulled into the internals of the Engine and were subsumed.

Shocks were felt thorugh the Histories as the two greatest Forge Hours were devoured. The cults of the Maker and Anvil throughout the Histories found themselves suddenly de-powered as many rituals and spells invoking the two gods ceased to function. The Long and Names of the two Hours felt their masters die, and event that traumatized many.

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On a Steel Tide

Not content on devouring the Sixth, the Engine turned its attention to the Mansus itself. Sensing more "power sources" in the other Hours, the Engine manifested itself as a massive wave of cogs and gears, slamming itself into the House and embedding itself in its side. Creating and improving even as it devoured, it began spawning twisted clockwork monstrosities to aid in the devouring of the House.

The Anaconda, Marshal and attack dog of the Mansus, found itself staying its hand against the Engine proper. It was not Stone, like the Maker, and the Anvil had fallen far too easily for its comfort. It attacked the minions of the Engine as they entered the House, however, dragging the shattered remnants of steel back to the Wyrm's Museum for further study. As it did so, it twisted the paths those minions had found, intending to create a contained loop of ways around the clockwork monstrosity of an Hour, and then simply lock them off.

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