User blog:Axis of Destruction/Chaos Engines - Power Balance and Significance

So I felt like addressing some points about Chaos Engines because I feel like there's been points where people don't really look into Chaos Engines any further than the skin deep level that Phoenix projects compared to the actual entities. I'm making this article because these are points that have been uttered in my direction enough times to the point I want my own argument readily available because I'm tired of discussing it when this will save future me many hours of debates.

Chaos Engines and their Power Level
Despite what people have claimed and probably believe, Chaos Engines are not nation destroyers in of themselves. Most Etas could destroy a city or a mountain, if they possess the right set of skills. However, this is only a certain number of them, and to some extents, unless they use their Chaos Drive (which naturally born Chaos Engines or Chaos Engines freed from the system don't have, theoretically taking away some of their bite), there are a good number of Chaos Engines that completely lack the destructive feats people fear.

It is true that a large enough group of Etas could destroy a single nation, but notice I said group. A good part of this firepower is merely in the Chaos Drive, and nothing else. The actual ability of an Eta being able to destory an entire nation is unheard of. If you're speaking of Lambdas, this is completely more within their probable range of abilities, but it bears repeating that only a certain number of Lambda Chaos Engines even have the ability to destroy cities and mountains, and even fewer can claim to be threats to worlds. (You can count them on a single hand).

To give you an idea of what an actual Chaos Engine of the average variety and capacity is like, look at Kanashimi for the Etas, and Silent Angel and Ikania as to Lambdas. You'll notice their actual abilities aren't too far from the realm of the heroes as of their current power scale. Indeed, you'd be hard pressed to say any of them are nation destroyers.

The only recorded instance of a nation actually being destroyed could be argued to be Upnation, but this is grossly inaccurate considering the only raw physical destruction unleashed in this argument was enough to obliterate the nation's capital. The rest of the country was spared, outside of whatever blasts radiated out from the battlefield to the Gate in the first place.

You could also argue that Gurin's creation of a planet could be destructive - if it happened next to say, Earth. But it hasn't, and so the only truly massive scale of destruction recorded being caused by a Chaos Engine was only City if not Mountain Buster. Far cry from an entire nation. As for how this competes with the heroes? They themselves have been credited with similar scales of damage, so at the very least, they should be able to compete with someone like Azula, provided they have backup for her most powerful forms.

So if this didn't make it clear, Chaos Engines do have a high capacity of destructive and just general power, but the actual threat they have as individuals is far lesser than people give them credit for. As a collective you have a better argument, but it's not like there are competent individuals who can rise to the challenge and have demonstrated the CEs are infallible. Challenging, deadly, and requiring your respect if you want to live? Yes. Insurmountable? No.

Capacity vs Actual Strength
Chaos Engines were tooled for a simple function - provide an outlet for extremely diverse and unique builds for some truly creative character types. People have also interpreted their many outlets for creative design as a threat, so I'll gently debunk this.

While it's true that they have many physiologies to their name, and many perks that are a result of said physiologies, giving rise to the illusion of endless power and possibility, this is only marginally true. While the CEs have a theoretical endless power cap, the actual number capable of transcending their limits is basically nill. In general only 3/4 Chaos Engines could be described as godlike in any stretch, and that is the original four Lambdas, who by the way, were specifically designed to be the paragons of their kind, and not naturally created and allowed to develop purely by their own merits.

There was a complaint that Chaos Engines were being designed to surpass Angels, and I think there was a critical miscommunication on one aspect. Angels and Chaos Engines are not meant to be equals. Some of the weakest CEs could be taken to be even less than angels, while some only the strongest Archangels would have a chance of standing up to, while some rise into Demi God and even Godlike power. Their motiff is the surpassing of mortal limits into divinity, though the means by which they were born is anything but pure or holy, some of the most vile tragedies went into the birth of this species.

In a sense, they are living travesties built upon a mountain of corpses to get to their height.

In general though, most Chaos Engines are not as powerful as you'd imagine, and few can even reach the full pinnacle of power that in theory could be obtained by the most unreasonably rare of specimens imaginable. They really don't deserve some of the flakk they've gotten. But if you want to contest their actual purpose, I'll tell you why they are the way they are.

Purpose in the World of Transcending Zenith
Balancing the scales. You heard me. They're a balancing agent. Don't believe me? In a world where beings like Aeon exist as neutral bystanders, and where cosmic horrors silently wait to bring ruin upon the world, how is the cast that currently have to pull all the stops, to level a city or mountain supposed to fight against such insurmountable odds?

Well, their strength is suplemented by the unlikely aid of Chaos Engines. Given that most are more or less the equals of the protagonists at their start and can only go up from there, they're a perfect fit to help expand the narrative in a way that lends aid to the other cast members, especially now that the old guard is going away (Kado, Drake...).

Most of the most powerful members can go on to deal with threats greater than even they can handle, or become teachers that enlighten and add to the strength of the current cast, without resorting to deus ex machina weapons, armor, and gimmic powers from gods (again, what deus ex machina literally come from).

They can also be used as tools to connect with the greater mythology of the series in a way that isn't obtuse and awkward. You only have to look at Nanashi and how he contributes to the expansion of the story to realize the benefit the Chaos Engines will in the long term, provide the series.

As a final note, Chaos Engines have won some battles, but have notably not managed to win a good number of their other battles, and a good number have even been freed. The conflict is hardly a one sided affair and in the future, I hope this article helps you better understand how I operate, so you can better appreciate my world building skills from a new perspective.