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===The Attention of the Serpents===
While the Engine was at first grateful for the aid, it quickly grew angry as it realized the truth of the situation. The elder Hours did not take it seriously, seeing it and its conflict as just another piece in their long game against each other. Enraged, the Engine suddenly turned on the Snake-Tail, devouring it while its guard was down. While the Snake-Tail proved more difficult to kill due to its unique abilities and its status as a Nowhere, the sudden defeat of one of the most powerful Keys drew the attention of numerous Hours, who sought to use the conflict to their own ends.
===Escalation===
When news of the Engine's campaign to devour an entire history's worth of Forge Loyalists reached the Mansus, the numerous surviving Long now aligned with other Hours were distraught. They begged their new liege lords' permission to fight the Engine and rescue their faithful. Eager for a casus belli against the Engine, the Hours consented as they considered how best to take advantage of the situation.
For the first time since their Hours' glory days, the forces of the Maker and the Anvil fought side by side. The flames of progress seared the forces of the Engine, and melted together its machines of war. The ground trembled with the thundering of metal, as the golems of the Maker marched inexorably against the tide of gears and whirring contraptions the Driver-Forth set against them. For the first time since the start of the conflict, the Engine's advance was halted. Not reversed, but it was at least given pause.
United in force with their congregations for the first in a long time, certain dissenting elements among the Long began to consider their situation, and how they would soon once again be divided between their "patrons" once again. It was at this time the Snake-Tail re-emerged from the depths of the Engine, shocking the Long and "proving" in their minds that which the machine has devoured could one day be restored.
===Secession===
It is unknown who exactly it was who Why did they need to be bound to other Hours "Look how mighty we are", they said. "See how mighty we could be ''again''. Why should we be bound to the will of those who do not truly care for our worshipers? Let us return our Lords
==Full Description==
The Noble and Ancient Guild, devotees of [[the Anvil]], who were among the first to feel the impact of the Hour's demise (aside from the unfortunate souls in [[the Sixth History]], of course). The tragedy caused a deep schism in the society, splitting it into two factions. The Guild Reforged has pledged its allegiance to [[the Engine of Cycles]], seeing the events of the Sixth History (or as much as they could glean of them from second-hand accounts) as a natural course of things, the new supplanting the old. Their devotion borders on fanatical - where the old Guild prioritised prioritized the well-being of its members first and foremost, along with steady progress towards ascension, the Reforged have no qualms about feeding themselves to the Engine, trusting it to transform them into either something new and greater or perhaps a part of itself.
The split between the Guild Reforged and the old guard drew in the attention of the Hours. The Engine was young, but that also made it vital and ambitious. Eager to stake its place among the greatest of Hours, it was quick to intervene on behalf of the Guild Reforged. And it was an Hour of many things, but subtlety was not among them. The Engine’s gifts come in different forms, no conjurings, no summonings, but inspiration, unusual tools unearthed and built. As the last of the old Guild conjured their master’s old Names in a desperate struggle, the Engine came up with a host of new weapons and creations to mop up the final loyalists of its victim. Intrigued by the young upstart who had broken, opened so much, the [[Snake Tail with Appendages]] descended from its lairs in the dark corners and shattered doors and walls of the Mansus and devoted its aid to the Engine’s cause. This drew in the attention of [[the Anaconda]], who continuing its war with the Tail, offered its aid to the old-guard of the Guild. Two Hours against one meant that initially, the Engine made great strides forward in the war, but soon, it became angry. The war it had begun to make its name as a great power and elevate the people of the Fifth History had become just another skirmish in the proxy war between the Tail and the Anaconda. It turned suddenly on its nominal ally, devouring it as it had two other Hours. But the Tail is a curious entity. Its ending was far less final than that of [[the Maker]] and Anvil. It emerged from Nowhere mere minutes later, furious at its former ally, and cracking, veritably emanating fissures in reality itself. This sudden defeat of one of the Mansus’s foremost Hours accomplished what the Engine hoped its war would have. It established its position as a powerful Hour. It also elicited the interest of many Hours, and they descended, to stake their interest.