Construction

I Warp back to the house, my chest aching. No, I'm not going to gift magic to some greedy government goon. As I remove the invisibility from my friends, I ask, “So… know anyone who likely survived… or is willing to come back… worthy of magic?”

Alice gives me a name and some facts about a man, and I quickly make a body, call his soul, and revive him… then yes, stick his lips on my taps. He drinks, it feels as amazing as ever, and as I'm coming down off of the multiple orgasm high and he's sleeping off the milk, I frown, “Ah… why's he growing fur?”

Adam shrugs, “Oh, Frank was one of the guys who got a first dose on the **** case.”

I take a slow deep breath, “Ah. Well… fine.” I shake my head, “At least he gets to live now.” The man also grows… grows some wicked teeth, some wicked claws, some insane muscle, and grows to like ten feet tall. When he's done, I recognize his new form:

He's a weretiger… or more accurately, a were DIRE tiger. A natural lycanthrope, capable of spreading the disease to others. At least he's going to be in control of it… and as a Conscript//Incanter… wisdom based for both, I notice… he's not going to have a shortage of effects he can use: A little healing magic, little ranged destruction, and he's a literal melee monster when he wants to be.

Eh, whatever. “Fine. You can induct him into the secrets of magic. I have some construction work to do.”

“Sure,” Alice chuckles.

I Warp off to my new property and get to work. I go for a few different kinds of minions, but all have the same base: The Mindless archetype with the Gift of Mind buff and Capable Companion for feats… which I use to give them casting, powered by the Magic Vessel talent. I'm almost at the point where a Mage Archetype is better for this, but not quite. Several are Nature sphere focused, with a job of turning the crater into a garden: Nature Lord, Create Nature, and the Plant package to make berry bushes; Expanded Geomancing(Earth) and Purify Nature to turn the bare rocks into good soil.

I also set several Creation Sphere companions running: Object of ****, Create Materials, Exquisite Detail Fabricate, Larger Creation, and Expanded Materials; I also give them the Surreinforcement feat and the required talents, so the stuff they make is self-maintaining. Object of **** allows them to build arbitrarily, without worrying much about physics, as **** can be anchored in place and doesn't need support…or it can NOT be anchored, and be weightless.

So I have them build a palace next to a giant platform (for landing starships, of course)… both of which are ten feet over the walls of the giant hole, and not supported by anything, at the dead center. I make sure to have them use luxury materials for anything that isn't simple **** (marble for flooring, mahogany desks, gold trim, silk curtains, and so on). I also have them build a small parking lot, and some roads that run to where the darkness cut into major roads, plus a nice sixty foot high wall of slightly-colored **** all around the perimeter (and I have them also reinforce the dirt and rocks of the wall down to the still-existent ground: Can't have it collapsing, after all).

Power, water, and sewage I also handle with magic: The Weather Sphere and Climactic Shift gets a small area with permanent heavy rain (cold, but not quite freezing). The Creation Sphere gives me a funnel to collect the rain, distribute some into the plumbing, and the rest through a small set of water turbines and electrical generators. The excess water and all sewage is piped into a container where we have a small Gloom with Permanent Darkness and - yes, the same Consuming Star Augmentation that made the crater in the first place (just on a smaller scale) to get rid of the created matter.

I even get a Personal Starship from the Pilot sphere just to have something to land on my ‘starport’. It doesn't need to be particularly combat worthy, so I go with a Heavy Freighter with the Colony Ship Framework, a Fuel Synthesizer, luxury accommodations, and whatever else I feel like… including Biometric Locks. The point is showing space travel and alien tech: I fill out my build point budget with shields and stuff, sure, and even get a nice orbital weapon… but fundamentally, it's for diplomacy, not war (of course, the ability to drop orbital fire on someone does help with diplomacy).

The ‘host country’ is responsible for the border… and yes, the feds send troopers to patrol that forty seven miles (and change) of semi-transparent wall. The governor collects payment, of course. I have my summons handle patrolling inside… also staffing, manning the ship, and basically everything else. I invite Alice, Adam, Tina, and Frank over to live with me: Most don’t natively look human anymore (Frank does, but he can also switch out for a giant saber-toothed tiger or a man-beast with a few seconds’ notice), “alien” is a great cover, I have servants and luxury accommodations, and I can now get them diplomatic passports.

Unfortunately, nothing is without cost….