Re-entry! (usagipost)
*During the rampage of Craterus, when it assumed the form of the heat death of the universe, a special task force, named N.A.I.L, was assembled to confront Craterus for the final time. The Yabounousagi Empire’s contribution to this task force was a powerful weapon. A hexagonal satellite that contain 258 smaller trigram furnaces, 25x25x50 cm in size, magical items that endlessly produce heat when operational, working in unison to produce a beam potent enough to destroy an Earth-sized planet. It was named the Trigram Furnace Array.*
*Normally, a trigram furnace produces a stable amount of heat, far too low to be projected beyond the furnace. However, imperial engineers had discovered that overloading a trigram furnace with magical energy can cause the generated heat to stream out of the furnace. A rudimentary laser can be constructed by attaching a mana battery and optics system to the furnace. Many of such furnace laser modules fed their beam of heat through several focusing lenses, increasing the end power output to levels sufficient to destroy a planet. The weapon system’s power output could be controlled by controlling the number of trigram furnace lasers firing at a certain instance through a complex network of electro-mechanical switches. A radio receiver received firing instructions from a ground station and a mechanical computer interpreted the instructions to allow which trigram furnaces to activate.*
*While a potentially powerful superweapon, its operational capabilities were limited by both its extremely potent laser, making it impractical to use it to destroy earth-based targets, and was placed in a geostationary orbit, essentially keeping the satellite in one location. The Trigram Furnace Array also lacked venier thrusters or retro-rockets and any guidance systems, making it impossible to correct the satellite’s course, should it be altered in any capacity. These limitations, while a non-factor in its use against Craterus, led the empire to terminate the Trigram Furnace Array program and quit keeping the only ground station operating the Trigram Furnace Array operational, essentially abandoning the satellite in space.*
*It remained in orbit, pointing towards the darkness of space, without any incident since its abandonment, until the minute deviations in orbital path caused by the numerous instances of Atriox’s reckless and indiscriminate use of gravity manipulating magic finally added up. With each orbit, the Trigram Furnace Array inched closer and closer towards the planet. The Yabounousagi Empire was unaware and uncaring of this satellite’s fate, thus it went untracked.*
*The Trigram Furnace Array had recently orbited the planet at such a low and ever-decreasing altitude, that it started re-entry into the atmosphere. The curved underside of the satellite started to heat up and glow red due to its high speed and friction with the air. The temperature rose to the level that the sensitive electro-mechanical switches fried and failed. The radio receiver and mechanical computer failed shortly thereafter, the metal of their components formed a molten mess of mass.*
*The heat spread towards the left side of the Trigram Furnace Array, slightly warping and distorting the satellite’s frame. The optical systems of the individual trigram furnaces at this side of the satellite expanded, cracked and their surfaces partial liquefied, rendering them unusable. Then the external heat was sufficient enough that, combine with their internal heat, started to distort the shape and softened the trigram furnaces. Due to the trigrams being engraved into the furnace’s metal frames, any significant distortion to the frame will distort the trigrams themselves, ceasing them to function at all. As the satellite passed through the upper layers of the atmosphere, the satellite was exposed to more extremely high temperatures, damaging more trigram furnaces. When the satellite reached the lower atmosphere, 43% of the Trigram Furnace Array’s trigram furnaces had been damaged beyond repair, while another 7% was partial damaged.*
*During the Trigram Furnace Array’s descent, it became clear that its point of impact would be in Ithacar. Any observers of the sky there would notice the falling satellite as a bright orb, passing across the clouds within a blink of an eye.*