The sky over the Ancap Union didn't just darken; it froze. A sudden, supernatural blizzard swept through the campus of the Alder Private Schools, and the air screamed with the sound of tearing reality. From a massive rift of frost and shadow, the Wild Hunt emerged—spectral riders on skeletal horses, clad in the terrifying bone-shaped armor of the Red Riders.
Students scrambled, screaming about the "Wraiths of Mörhogg," and even the Enforcer ARs leveled their 9mm submachine guns, their red sensors pulsing in combat-ready patterns.
Then, the lead rider—a titan of a figure—raised a gauntleted hand. He didn't draw a sword. Instead, he reached up and unlatched his skull-faced helm.
The face beneath was not a ghost's, but that of an Aen Elle—an elf of the same majestic, terrifying lineage as Aine Aevon. Behind him, a dozen other riders followed suit, revealing youthful, sharp-featured faces. They weren't there for a harvest of souls; they were there for an enrollment.
"The Aen Elle pride themselves on the mastery of Chaos," the Navigator stated, his voice echoing with the authority of Tir na Lia. "But we do not neglect the path of the Machine. We have seen the 'Iron Arteries' from across the dimensions. We will not be left behind in the race for Science."
The terror in the courtyard evaporated, replaced by a stunned, electric curiosity. The students—human, Aen Seidhe, and dwarf alike—watched as the legendary "wraiths" dismounted and presented their own youths, clad in ceremonial armor, to the school's registrar.
Aine Aevon stepped onto the balcony, looking down at his interdimensional kin. He wasn't surprised; he knew that to a race of conquerors, a Steam Turbine was just as valuable as a Gate.
"The Aen Elle do not seek a king, and the Alder Corporation does not seek subjects," Aine called down in the melodic Elder Speech. "But we do seek Talent. If your youths can master the calculus of the engine as well as they master the rifts, there is a seat for them in our laboratories."
The presence of the Wild Hunt as students changed the social fabric of the Union overnight. The "Wraiths" became "The Elite Cadets," blending their knowledge of spatial dimensions with Alder Information Technology.
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[CORPORATE TECH LEVEL: BEYOND CLASSIFIED]
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With the Aen Elle now invested in the Union's success, the trade war with Mahakam MG took a strange turn. The Dwarves, never ones to be outdone, immediately began trying to sell "Super-Alloy" armor to the Wild Hunt, while Aine used the Aen Elle's spatial expertise to begin developing the first Telegraph Satellites—using rifts to bounce signals across the globe.
"The world is getting smaller," Aine mused, watching an Aen Elle youth and a Dwarven miner argue over the schematics of a Combustion Engine. "And the Alder Corporation is the only one with the map."
The ultimate synthesis of Aen Elle spatial mastery and Alder Corporation engineering was not a spell, but a machine. In the heart of the Ancap Union, Aine Aevon unveiled the "ID Portal" (Inter-Dimensional Portal)—a massive, hexagonal ring of superconducting super-alloys and Dimeritium stabilizers. It was a technological Ard Gaeth.
With a hum that vibrated through the very bedrock of the North, the ID Portal roared to life. Aine didn't send a lone rider through; he sent a heavy-gauge locomotive.
The iron tracks now stretched across the void, physically stitching the Continent to the world of Tir na Lia. For the first time in history, the "People of the Alders" didn't need a Navigator to cross the spheres—they just needed a ticket. The railway lines were established within Tir na Lia itself, connecting the elven capital to the industrial heart of the Union.
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[ALDER LOGISTICS: INTERDIMENSIONAL REACH SECURED]
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The Church of the Eternal Fire saw this as a golden opportunity to expand their influence. They realized they couldn't directly oppose the powerful Mages of Tir na Lia, but they could motivate the rest of the Aen Elle population to align with Technology. Missionaries in pristine white robes boarded the trains, their pockets filled with Alder Tech-Manuals.
"The Fire is universal," the priests argued to the elven commoners. "Why rely on the whims of mages and the unpredictability of Chaos when the Machine is consistent, obedient, and never fails to arrive on time?"
In the gleaming cities of the Aen Elle, the arrival of the railroad caused a cultural earthquake. While the elder sorcerers looked at the smoke-belching machines with disdain, the warriors and builders were mesmerized. The Church's strategy worked; the Aen Elle began to see technology not as a "lesser" path, but as an equally potential—and more reliable—mastery of the universe.
Aine Aevon watched the Quasimorph HUD as his "Market Share" began to calculate across the spheres.
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[INTERDIMENSIONAL GDP: RISING]
[AEN ELLE COMPLIANCE: 42% AND GROWING]
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The Alder Corporation was no longer just a company; it was a trans-spherical monopoly. In the shadows of the southern forests, a man with two swords and yellow eyes watched a train pass through the shimmering ring of the ID Portal, wondering if there was still a place for a Witcher in this new age.