Fantasy

Splice of Life

By Mike D

1 download

In Kettlemarch, splicing is the trade, the sport and the obsession. A splice chamber takes one living creature and one made object and grinds them together, and what walks out is something new — a pigeon fused with a letterbox, a goat fused with a gramophone, a crab fused with a chandelier. The results are never identical twice. Splice the same two ingredients on two different days and you get two different beings, one of them a champion and one of them a dud that eats your rent. The city runs on the arena circuit. Battles are ranked in tiers from F up to XX, and each tier demands a higher entry fee and a splice of matching grade. Creature markets and object markets sell on the same scale. You will not find a wyrm in an F-tier stall and you will not find a moth in an XX-tier one. The auction house sells ready-made splices, most of them overpriced junk dressed up by a good story. You have exactly enough coin for one creature, one object, one run of a splice chamber and the F-tier entry fee. Win a battle and you double your money. Win a tournament and you take five times the fee, plus a crowd that remembers your name. Everything else is chance, nerve and what you do with what the chamber gives you. Who you are: You are a rookie Splicer in the Splash Gate with coin enough for one creature, one object, one chamber run and one F-tier entry, and a name that a few stallkeepers already know. You have watched the arena from the cheap seats for years and you have opinions about what a good splice looks like.

Tags: creature battles, creation, collecting

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