Chapter 1: Origin Story
So this is the rewrite to my first story. Given how much I've improved and how much I've looked back and wanted to change stuff, I think that this is in order.
Chapter's been edited and updated. Expect every chapter to be revised to a certain extent. There are actually a few inconsistencies when I reread. Stuff like how there were multiple security teams hired outside of Argentum only for them to never be mentioned again. There are some other elements I've added to make the story better which means I'm going to have to fix the inconsistencies it creates in later chapters as well.
…
A young salvager, a little over thirteen, clad from head to toe in a brand new set of bright blue salvager gear, swam down through the Cloud Sea.
He kept on glancing around nervously despite the lack of vision inside the scuba helmet. It was his first solo salvaging run after all and no amount of practicing with others could build up enough confidence for him to not have some level of anxiety.
Even through his nervousness, he was still enraptured by the sights below the clouds. The sea was teeming with life that was illuminated by his headlamp, from all sorts of aquatic plants and creatures to massive Titans that live under the clouds. While these continent sized Titans normally floated on the surface of the clouds, serving as land for humans, the ones under were the subjects of interest to the salvager as they were the ones who held all sorts of crates and relics from ancient civilizations.
It was a salvagers job to collect these ancient materials to provide resources to Alrest. Their salvage was the basis of most metal and reverse engineered technology that ran each of the nations of the world.
The salvager shook his head and refocused as a ping showed up on his depth probe to indicate where the crate he was tracking was. He swam towards the location and fired off his salvager's anchor when he got into range. The grappling hook-like device hooked into the dirt and rock that had built up on the Titan and pulled the salvager close. As he approached, he reorientated himself so that his feet faced towards the Titan and activated the spikes on the bottom of his boots so when he slammed into the floor, he sunk in and had solid footing.
He started moving towards the crate slowly. Once he reached it, he took time to study it as it was half buried under dirt, sand, and sea plants.
A quick look told him that the crate wasn't too old and didn't need any real structural reinforcement to bring it up but paranoia had him still meticulously go over the old box as he unearthed it. Once he had it free of its old home and sure that it wouldn't fall apart as he sent it up to the surface, he attached a flotation device to it. He hit the button on top, causing a chemical reaction that made the device inflate with low density gas that slowly lifted the crate up.
He was about to sheath the spikes on his boots to kick up and follow his prize but stopped at the last moment as a metallic glint caught his eye from the spot he had just dug up.
He made his way down to the hole to see what the metal was and assess its value. He knelt down and brushed some dirt and sand away only for his eyes to widen as more and more sleek and polished metal revealed itself to him. He continued to dig up the metal monolith, though this time a little less care was put into studying the structure since it was all metal.
He gaped slightly when he was done. It was a massive metal cylinder. What it was used for, the salvager had no idea, but he could only guess that it could be sold for a small fortune for the quality metal component alone.
He looked over it for a moment longer before deciding that it had to be for storage. While there were no seams that he could see to verify his thoughts, there was realistically nothing else it could be. Well, whatever was inside would also probably be worth a lot. He doubted anyone would take the time and materials to craft something so durable if it wasn't.
He hooked up his spare floatation device to the cylinder and was pleasantly surprised to see it float up despite the cylinders size. Well there was confirmation that it was hollow at the very least.
Now he retracted the spikes and kicked off the submerged Titan. He swam up to meet the crate, the floatation device already adjusted to have it floating beside the crane he had waiting to bring up salvaged goods.
The salvager blinked before facepalming. He couldn't bring up two things at the same time. Deciding that the metal cylinder took priority, he hooked it up, then set the crate to come up and wait just below the surface. He then swam up to the platform and flicked his lamp off before hitting the button to bring the crane up. He fidgeted nervously as he felt the crane strain slightly and fumbled with the controls as he broke the surface of the Cloud Sea. He swung the crane back onto the small island and lowered the cylinder to the floor before jumping off the little platform. He unhooked the cylinder before clambering back onto the platform to go down for a second time to retrieve the crate.
Once he had it on dry land, he jumped back off the platform and onto land. He took in a deep breath of fresh air as he disconnected the oxygen tube and unsealed his helmet, swinging it back on its hinge to rest on his back, revealing a young face with large golden eyes and almost spiky brown hair. He stripped off the heavier parts of the suit, leaving him in what was essentially a blue onesie that acted as a pair of shorts and a t-shirt.
"How was your first expedition, Rex? Did everything go as planned?" An elderly voice asked, seemingly coming from nowhere.
"Kind of," the young salvager, Rex, responded, "I got lucky and found two things today."
"Two?" The voice showed interest and the island Rex was on started rumbling as a massive head rose from below, revealing that the small island that Rex was on was in fact a massive Titan.
"Yeah, though I've never seen anything like this before," Rex walked a circle around the thing to see if he could find anything but to no avail.
"Be careful," the Titan warned.
"Oh come off it Gramps!" Rex whined, "I'm not a child anymore."
"You will always be a child to me," Gramps chuckled.
"That's not fair Gramps," Rex grouched as he felt around the cylinder, looking for something he could use to get it open. He growled in frustration when he couldn't find anything. He angrily took off his gloves to see if he could feel a seam or fault in the metal.
"Human life detected," a mechanical voice declared as a light started blinking on the center of the cylinder, "beginning decompression and defrosting sequence."
Rex jumped back at the sudden declaration of the bodiless voice. The blinking light started to travel outwards in lines until it resembled a rectangle on the side of the cylinder. That section then hissed as steam flew out. A line cut across the middle of the rectangle as the section rose out of the cylinder. The rectangle split in half, opening up like some futuristic door. Rex heard a soft groan come from the life pod, what else could it be if it had a human inside of it, as an armored figure stumbled out of the pod.
The person fell to his hands and knees as they coughed and wretched. Rex stepped forward hesitantly, wanting to help but uncertain of what to do. The person then gasped for breath as they slammed a fist into their chest before waving a hand around in the air in a way that made him look like he was pushing invisible buttons.
The suit whirred as hydraulic systems moved and the armor retracted its helmet, revealing the head of a young man with jet black hair and wearing big round glasses. He made a few more movements and the front of the suit split open to deposit the man unceremoniously onto the ground. Behind him, the armor collapsed itself into a fetal position and formed itself into almost a box. He was wearing strange and foreign clothes to Rex but without the armor to intimidate him, he now moved forward and helped the man to a sitting position.
"Are you okay?" He asked.
"Yeah," the man responded, "just… give me a moment." He was shivering hard despite the warm summer day. Rex quickly moved to the side and ducked into a little metal shack that he used as shelter to sleep in. He grabbed as many blankets as he could find and brought them over to the shivering person.
"Thanks," he mumbled as he was handed the blankets by Rex and huddled up, wrapping them around himself.
"I um, my name's Rex, and if you're able to answer," Rex said, "who are you exactly?"
"I…" He seemed hesitant before blinking and looking around him, "my name is Brandon Hunter." Brandon then shakily stood up to look around himself. "W-where am I?"
"Uh…" Rex paused, "Gramps?"
"I believe we are half a day away from Uraya."
"Gramps?" Brandon looked confused before he looked up, then went pale. It was now that he realized that he was sitting on the back of a massive dragon-like Titan.
"W-w-w-" Brandon scrambled backwards only for him to get tangled up in the blankets that were coating him, causing him to trip and fall down.
"Are you okay?" Rex asked as he hurriedly rushed over, oblivious to the reason why Brandon was panicking.
Brandon pointed up at the Titan, his hand shaking, though he seemed to be calming down as nothing was actually happening to him.
"Huh? Gramps?" Rex scratched his head in confusion as he looked back and forth between Brandon and Gramps.
"Hmm, my appearance may have frightened our new friend," Gramps said sagely.
Rex coughed, "I knew that." He turned back towards Brandon, "what's so frightening about him though. There are plenty of other Titans way scarier looking than old Gramps here."
"Titans?" Brandon tilted his head inquisitively as he sat back up cross legged, the shock of fear that had paralized him momentarily was completely gone by this point.
"Yeah," Rex gave him a strange look, "have you lived under a rock your whole life?"
Brandon looked confused, "no. I was fighting in a war…" he looked around again, this time truly processing what the world looked like around him. Nothing but an endless sea of clouds with only a single massive tree to interrupt it.
"A war? The last war to occur was the Gormotti wars a few decades ago," Gramps mused, "hm. What was that device that you stepped out of."
"I… it's a cryostasis pod. It keeps a human body in stasis, essentially keeping the body frozen in time while asleep in the pod." He explained with his eyes firmly locked onto the Tree. It was strange seeing it again but from this perspective. He had only ever seen it from the ground, towering up, or from above in space.
Gramps made a sound of understanding, "the last country to have such technology was Judicium which was wiped out in war over five hundred years ago."
"Judicium?"
"And I believe that confirms my other theory. I have heard of such a feat of engineering but as I recall, it was quite experimental. I suspect that the people of Judicium attempted to save themselves through any means possible when their home became a warzone."
"So you don't remember anything?" Rex asked.
"I don't know what Titans are or any countries here… whatever it's called." Brandon said intentionally vaguely.
"You don't know anything about Alrest?"
"I didn't even know it was called Alrest."
"So it appears we have a traveler through time," Gramps declared.
"I guess so," Brandon responded. That probably wasn't entirely inaccurate. It felt more like he was a traveler through universes though, the only thing that anchored him to Earth was the presence of the giant tree in the distance. The tree being the Beanstalk, the space elevator that led up to the First Low Orbit Station Rhadamanthus, where his final battle as a Saviorite Rebel occurred. Everything else though… it felt alien. This 'Gramps' shouldn't even exist. No creature that can go above the surface of water could ever grow to that size. He didn't even know if these clouds were water vapor judging by how Gramps was seemingly floating on it.
If he had to say, the clouds acted more like just water than water vapor.
"It also seems that you are now homeless."
"It seems so," Brandon agreed. Now that he thought about it, yeah, he was homeless. It also seems like the war he was fighting in was rendered moot a long time ago.
"Hey!" Rex chimed in, "why don't you stay here with us? We could help you onto your feet and maybe get your memories back!"
"Shouldn't your Gramps be the one making that decision?" Brandon raised an eyebrow, "you look like you're barely thirteen."
"And a half!" Rex declared proudly in the way that only a young kid could.
Brandon rolled his eyes, "thirteen and a half," he amended, "either way."
Rex shrugged, "well it's not like you're going to steal from me since you can't exactly go anywhere from here. And if you try to kill me, Gramps will incinerate you first."
Brandon blinked. That was surprisingly logical… and morbid. "Good point. I'd still rather ask your Gramps."
"I suppose it couldn't hurt. Once Rex has it in his head to help someone, there's no stopping him."
"You don't owe me anything," Brandon pointed out, "nor do I think I can offer you anything of value."
"No," Rex agreed cheerfully, "but I like helping people."
Brandon gave a rueful chuckle, "you like helping people huh? Not a bad trait to have, kid."
"Hmph, it's certainly gotten us into our fair share of trouble," Gramps said.
"Oh come off it Gramps!" Rex complained, "I fell for a bandit's sob story once!"
"And I'll never let you forget it," he said.
Brandon snorted, "so your generosity's been taken advantage of before and you still help people? I'm impressed you're able to trust people after that."
"Everyone deserves the benefit of the doubt. Otherwise I would have just tossed you back into the Cloud Sea."
"Lucky for me then."
"Indeed," Gramps said, "you are quite fortunate."
Brandon chuckled nervously, "uh, okay then. Can I get some help putting this away?" He gestured to the folded up armor still laying on the ground.
"Huh?" Rex glanced in the direction Brandon was pointing, "oh, yeah!"
Brandon nodded as Rex padded over. Maybe things would be alright after all.
It took the pair over an hour to get the armor stored away. While putting it back into the life pod wasn't too difficult as Brandon simply reactivated the suit and walked into the container, figuring out how to store the life pod was more difficult. Brandon tried to reduce weight where he could, though that was little more than just taking out a backpack along with some other gear. Eventually they figured out a way to sling it onto Gramps' side and hook it on with some of Rex's tools, which he learned was for an occupation known as salvaging. Rex drew up his actual piece of salvage once that was done.
During that time, Rex and Gramps filled Brandon in on what was going on in the world and how it functioned.
People lived on massive creatures known as Titans. The Titans carried entire civilizations on their backs, housing millions of people each with hundreds of cities and towns. These Titans made up the land, the continents, of their world which was known as Alrest. At the center of it all, where the Titans orbited, was the World Tree, the birthplace of humanity and the home of the Architect, an all powerful god that created their world.
Brandon almost laughed when he heard that one. It seemed like religion always sprouted up whenever there was something humans couldn't explain. Apparently, the people believed that they lived with the Architect in Elysium, eons ago. However, the people did something to anger the Architect and he cast them out to the Cloud Sea in a fit of rage. At the last minute, he took pity and sent down his servants known as the Titans to house the people. And that was how Alrest came to be.
It was all a load of bullshit of course. The 'World Tree' was nothing but a holographic projection put up onto the Beanstalk by the Coalition government because the rich people who lived in the city thought it was an eyesore.
Of course, he had no better explanation for the Cloud Sea or the Titans that swam in it so he didn't have all the answers. As for where they were, they were definitely high up. Maybe five or six kilometers in the sky. What was odd about that was that he didn't feel like there was any less oxygen here than at sea level. He couldn't even ask about it since it seemed like the Cloud Sea was the only thing the people of Alrest knew.
There were other oddities as well. The beings that lived in Alrest were apparently humans who also spoke English. Though Rex spoke with a northern English accent while Brandon spoke with what was very much an American accent. A lot of objects as well looked very familiar but just slightly off. Rex's salvager suit was very reminiscent of an old scuba suit used hundreds of years before his time. The thing was that despite the primitive design, it was surprisingly advanced. It had no oxygen lines connected to the surface like those old suits required. It used a small oxygen tank like modern Earth scuba divers, but these Alrest versions were smaller and could somehow sustain the diver for far longer.
Once he had all that information, he decided it would be best to continue to play the part of an amnesiac, letting Rex and Gramps lead themselves to their own conclusion since anything they came up with would probably be more believable than the truth. Not to mention if they knew the truth, they'd probably want to seal him back into the pod and chuck him into the Cloud Sea as they had mentioned before.
"By the way," Rex said as he covered the shiny metal pod with a tarp, "what's going to be your story?"
"My story?" Brandon asked in confusion. He sat down cross legged on the ground as Rex walked over and opened a compartment on the metal house he slept in. Well… calling it a house was being generous. It was more of a little metal shack that had a bed and some drawer space.
"Well, we can't just go around telling people I fished you out of the sea and that you were a soldier from Judicium, can we?" Rex asked rhetorically as he pulled out a grill and started to set it up. "Don't answer that. We can't."
When Brandon gave him an inquisitive look, Rex shrugged, "it would draw all kinds of unwanted attention to us. Gramps said there's war brewing between Mor Ardain and Uraya. Even if I don't see it," he gave Gramps a pointed look but the Titan continued to swim without looking back.
"But if there is really a war coming, the people of each country would try to seize you, either for the manpower or the technology."
Brandon winced and Rex nodded, noticing the small expression. "I'm assuming by that you know how to make more of those," he gestured to the pod that was now covered by the tarp.
"Even more than that," Brandon answered.
"Case in point," Rex shrugged.
"Well… you haven't told me anything about yourself really," Brandon pointed out as Rex lit the grill up and started to set up a fishing rod.
"I grew up in Aunt Corinne's orphanage. Apparently my parents died when I was young so she took me in. Gramps here also helped out there and he offered to give me a rent free area to live once I got a salvaging license."
"You can get a salvaging license at thirteen?"
"You can get one at ten if you pass the exam," Rex said as if there was nothing wrong with it.
Brandon coughed, "what age are you able to drink?"
"Age?"
"Alcohol," he clarified.
"Age?" Rex asked again.
Brandon blinked. "Ah," he said, understanding dawning. Rex had explained to him that Titans were their only source of land and the Titans were starting to die off in alarming numbers. Given that and how resource starved Alrest must be, little things like drinking laws must have been seen as irrelevant.
"Well, either way. You could say that you picked me up from the orphanage. I'm not sure what I can do for work but I have had a formal, higher level education. I'm sure I can find something."
"That sounds good to me. Aunt Corinne's really nice so I don't think she would have a problem agreeing with that," Rex cast his fishing rod out into the Cloud Sea. Brandon looked on with mild interest, the sight of someone fishing in clouds being markedly surreal to him. "If you want, I could say that you're an adoptive brother."
"Wouldn't that be weird if you've never talked about me before and then I suddenly show up?"
Rex shrugged, "I don't really talk about home with other people. The only thing they know about me is that I send money back home to fund other kid's education. You could just be one of them."
"Sure. I guess that's worked out then."
"What did you study anyways?" Rex asked as he propped the rod up and relaxed.
"Engineering physics a…" actually were computers a thing in Alrest? "Well… engineering and physics. No recollection of a school or professors, just the material." Better start keeping track of what he should and shouldn't know. He did remember exactly what school he went to, though not all of his professors.
"There's probably some job out there that requires you to be able to build stuff," Rex said optimistically, "at worst you can make your own stuff. Maybe make it a business."
"Maybe," Brandon rubbed his chin in thought, "it could work."
He smiled as Rex started talking about all the different things Brandon could work on. He hadn't talked to someone so casually like this in a long time. He could get used to it.
Rex had caught a ridiculously massive fish. Or at least ridiculously massive for him. Rex drew it up and started cleaning it without batting an eye which showed that either Rex had an insanely good poker face, or he was used to fish of this size. He somehow doubted it was the first one.
So that meant that the animals in Alrest were different to their Earth equivalents. Then why were humans the same?
Ugh. No point in giving himself a headache now.
As Rex was scaling and gutting the fish, a Titan carrying a gigantic building underneath it came into view.
"That's the Argentum Trade Guild. Impressive huh?" Rex said, "it gets bigger every time I see it."
"Bigger?" Brandon was confused as to the meaning when applied to a building. Did he mean the Titan?
"Yup. As the guild grows economically, it grows physically as well as they add more shops and floorspace," Rex explained, "you could wander around for days in there and still not see every shop and vendor in the place."
"Huh. That's interesting. I don't know anything about buildings that grow organically."
"They normally don't," Rex laughed, "it's really cool. It's like a completely different place every time I visit it."
"I'm assuming you'll show me around then."
"Yeah!" Rex grinned, "it'll blow your socks off!" He put the fish onto the grill to let it cook as he fished around in the container he pulled the grill out of for plates and utensils.
"By the way. If this building grows with time, does the Titan it's on grow with it or something?"
"This one, yes," Gramps chimed in, "and before you ask, I've reached my maximum size. It takes hundreds of years for Titans of even my size to fully mature. However, larger Titans can take millenia to reach their full size."
"How loud are their voices?" Brandon mused to himself aloud.
Gramps chuckled, "unfortunately, most Titans cannot speak. None of the original few at least, though I imagine if they could, their voices would be heard from thousands of kilometers away. There are few Titans left that have more than basic animal instincts and intelligence."
"What happened to them?" Brandon asked, his curiosity piqued.
"Some passed on from old age. Most died during the Aegis war," Gramps gave him a pointed look, "though I cannot blame them. The foe humanity faced during that war was tremendous after all. Even I served during those dark times."
"You really sound like an old man now!" Rex laughed.
Gramps harrumphed, "you should respect your elders."
Rex just laughed.
The Argentum Trade Guild's main building was certainly impressive. Apparently the Titan carrying the structure is called Goldmouth but few actually referred to it as such. Now that Gramps was docking, he could see exactly what Rex meant by the building growing.
It was definitely professionally done and still looked consistent and aesthetically pleasing, but it was also asymmetrical. If he didn't know that the building was constantly being added onto, he would have thought the architect was on crack.
"Hey Rex! How's it going?" A dockhand waved and tucked a clipboard under his arm as Rex stepped off of Gramps' back with Brandon following behind. "Who's that?"
"Hi Hirkham!" Rex chirped, "this is Brandon. We grew up together and he just graduated from school."
"Ah I see. Brothers then. Nice to meet you," he extended a hand which Brandon grabbed and shook while he half bowed politely.
"Well then," Hirkham said, "mooring's fifteen gold per half day as usual."
Rex's eyes widened, "uh… one moment." He rushed back onto Gramps' back and quickly rummaged through his storage as he searched for the machine piece he found earlier. He found it quickly enough and then chose to book it across the docks, avoiding Hirkham.
"Sorry!" He yelled, "I'll pay you back once I get this sold!"
"Rex! You know I can't do credit!" The dockhand futilely yelled back. He sighed, "he's docked here three times so far and he hasn't had the gold to pay every time." He glanced up at Brandon hopefully.
"Sorry man," Brandon shrugged helplessly, "I'm kind of the broke student right now. Don't have any money on me."
"Of course not…" He looked up at the Titan as a last resort, "Azurda?"
Brandon noted Azurda as the name of the old Titan mentally.
"No wallet, I'm afraid." Gramps said.
"Figures," Hirkham chuckled, "well. I guess I'll have to wait for-"
"I'm back!" Rex called as he sprinted over and handed Hirkham a few coins as he gasped for breath.
"That was fast. Don't you usually take longer to haggle over the price?" He asked as he put the coins away without bothering to count them since he knew Rex was as good as his word.
"Yeah, but I needed to pay you so I rushed it. Besides, I still got a good enough deal."
He whacked Rex on top of his head with his clipboard. "Don't be an idiot next time and keep some money on you. I know you want to send it home…" he glanced at Brandon, "especially since you've gotten a result now. But you have to be smart about it. Don't be so selfless you leave yourself vulnerable."
"Got it."
"Keep an eye on him," Hirkham asked Brandon.
He laughed, "that's what I'm here for."
Hirkham nodded, satisfied, before he walked over to a different Titan ship docking as he scribbled away on his clipboard.
"Alright," Rex gestured, "let's go!"
"And this…" Rex trailed off as his enthusiasm died out near the end of his tour. "Well… this is the black market section of the guild. They sell some things that aren't super legal but the guild ignores it since it only involves item goods and not services."
"Like?" Brandon wondered what could be sold in a black market here. Judging by Rex's nervousness, he doubted it would be something as benign as pirated dvds… if those even existed here.
"Well… it's core crystal sales."
Brandon immediately froze. Did he hear that right? Core Crystals? As in the technology born of human hubris in their eternal quest for eternal life? "Say that again."
"Illegal core crystal sales. It's not morally great since the Blades are mostly chosen for… physical appearance but it's better than them falling into the hands of bandits or pirates."
Brandon shook himself out of his stupor. "Wouldn't black market vendors want to sell to bandits or pirates?"
Rex gave him a sympathetic look for the wrong reason. He had no idea what a Blade was, nor whatever implications he was talking about. He hoped that whatever a Blade was, wasn't what the Core Crystal was originally intended for.
"Well no," Rex said, "banditry and piracy are bad for business, no matter how legal or illegal. If they attack shipping convoys or scare away customers, it means losing money. They're usually sold to mercenaries."
Brandon blinked in confusion, "sorry… what are Blades exactly?"
"You don't know what Blades are?" Rex looked confused since he definitely noticed Brandon's reaction. "Well… Blades are like living weapons. They're a living being that's created by the Core Crystal when bonded with a Driver. The Blades have a weapon that's associated with them that they summon that their Driver wields."
"So Drivers are just people?"
"Yeah. Gramps says you have to be compatible though, otherwise the strain kills you."
"They don't absorb the crystal?"
Rex's eyebrows furrowed and his head tilted slightly, "what? No. That's just weird."
Brandon almost sighed in relief. "I see," he laughed unconvincingly, "I guess I just thought that some kind of magic crystal would work like that."
"Hm," Rex was clearly still doubtful but decided to drop it. "Anyways, Drivers and Blades are bad news. They're way stronger than regular people so whenever they show up, it's always to fight. Whether they're good guys or bad guys."
"Alright, I got the message. Avoid big shiny crystals."
"Yeah. Anyways, got any ideas on what you want to do?" Rex asked, rocking back and forth on his feet in anticipation.
"I dunno. There are a few options I'm considering."
"Well no need to rush," Rex shrugged as he started heading back to the docks. "I can give you plenty of time."
"I appreciate it," Brandon smiled. Well then, this was his second chance at life. Now that his world was gone, replaced by Alrest, there was no way to atone for the bloodshed and violence that came as a result of his actions. He clenched a determined fist. Nothing to do now, but to see where the flow of time would take him.
…
I more or less just patched up a few things and added a little more content. I'm not sure why I had Brandon in the pod without armor before. He was literally in combat and retreated to the pod. Even if he discarded his weapon before getting in, he wouldn't have had the time to strip his armor off.
Of course, this is meant to be the exposition chapter as well as the setup to the world and the story. The problem I had with it before was mostly how little exposition I actually did. It's probably because I normally really dislike purely expositional content unless it's done well (which this chapter is not) so I assumed that since everyone here's played Xenoblade, I could get away with not explaining anything. The problem with that is that I also applied that train of thought to Brandon and his introduction to the world of Alrest.
Also Rex was fast to just accept Brandon but I think that's perfectly in character. He has the tendency to reach out a helping hand naively, even to people who don't deserve it. It makes him a good person, a bit dumb, but a good person nonetheless.
I have taken a few more liberties with Argentum. Though honestly this makes in my mind since they can't expand outwards without being kind of patchwork since the actual building is being held up by a Titan instead of the building being on top of or inside the Titan like most others.