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The Long Night Part Two: Sparks at Midnight: A Planetary Governor Quest (43k)
- Thread starter Durin
- Start date
[X] Rotbart the Princeps
[x]Prepare, Expand and Consolidate.
- Location
- Elsewhere
[X] Because I know I'm right
[X] Rotbart the Adept
[X]Prepare, Expand and Consolidate.
[X] Rotbart the Adept
[X]Prepare, Expand and Consolidate.
sabreFather
Dr Pepper is the flavour that I savour
- Location
- Land of Bears and Loggers AKA Oregon
[X]Prepare, Expand and Consolidate.
Not the vote I expected, but well thought out and not a Space Battles Competency meme vote.
Not the vote I expected, but well thought out and not a Space Battles Competency meme vote.
Shard
One and Many
- Location
- Malaysia
Do it and make it an omake please.
- Location
- Australia
- Location
- madison
I honestly feel like it would be a thing that exists in universe to try and get the incoming government to stop worshiping Rotbart.
- Location
- Earth
Well, the last guy who said it had brainworms at the time, and really did become a god afterwards. It just catastrophically blew up in his face too.
- Location
- parker colorado
[x]Prepare, Expand and Consolidate.
Robinton
Probably petting Schrödinger's cat
- Location
- Scientifically proving a miracle
[X] Anything that is NOT "because I know I'm right", as IC fitting as it is for an Avernite to have a moment of hubris...
[X]Prepare, Expand and Consolidate.
[X] Rotbart for Freedom.
[X] Rotbart the Adept
[X] Rotbart the Princeps
[X] Rotbart for Freedom, Family and Home.
And my own custom Motivation, which will almost certainly not win but voting here anyway:
[X] Primarily, Rotbart will fight for "those he leads," but a close second motivation will be "the galaxy as a whole - to end this long night."
-Reasoning here.
[X]Prepare, Expand and Consolidate.
[X] Rotbart for Freedom.
[X] Rotbart the Adept
[X] Rotbart the Princeps
[X] Rotbart for Freedom, Family and Home.
And my own custom Motivation, which will almost certainly not win but voting here anyway:
[X] Primarily, Rotbart will fight for "those he leads," but a close second motivation will be "the galaxy as a whole - to end this long night."
-Reasoning here.
- Location
- australia
Eh,
The dragon is throwing its tantrum alone (aside from its ai slaves),
And chaos has always been its own worst enemy,
With a (universe's)lifetime subscription to,
And frequent headliner of "from the jaws of victory" (every lover of schadenfreude's favorite weekly magazine)-
Even a bunch of the win-states for the disorder/insane factions had a even chance of being pyrrhic/exploding and screwing them almost as badly as us with how bad their track record was when the chips were down >.<
- Location
- Alice Springs, Australia
also you got very lucky with the orks
both rolling one of the less dangerous powerups from the twins waking, then having the various galaxtic powers preventing the orks growing enough, even chaos cooperating to an extent, then having the twins take the rushed version of the final waaagh, then rolling crap in it
odds were actually notably weighted in favor of an Ork victory
- Location
- Israel
What were the other options?
- Location
- Alice Springs, Australia
I dont remember the whole list
but it also included unlocking Krork Technology for all orks
a major boost for orks leaders (conflagration) with a minor boost for basic boyz (stage 1) which could have lasted for ever
choosing and massively blessing a prophet and making all orks unit under him
I remember that a version of the war of the beast was possible.
Except there will be far more than one out there
Hellstrikers
New
- Location
- madison
Hellstrikers
The deva and deva engines of the Unchained have long been known to resort to artifice and cunning to compensate for their lack of power, and none so clearly exemplifying this as the Hellstrikers. The Dreamwalkers have been some of the Triumvirate's most effective agents. Former slave soldiers of the Forge of Souls, each one is able to command and animate a potent warsuit from the safety of the Warp. However, as the Unchained manifested, their numbers proved insufficient. So Faust turned her efforts to producing her own version of them, a new type of deva or blessed mortal able to manipulate a body from the safety of the Warp.
Her efforts were aided by the Sidil, as both living and dead lent her their magic of connection, and the Aeldari granted her access to the Black Library. It has taken over a century of effort, but her efforts have borne strange fruit. The Hellstrikers are lesser deva, forged from the souls of willing Sidil. While the Hellstrikers ultimately lack many of the advantages of Dreamwalkers, they can be produced in massive numbers and possess their own potent areas of focus. Unlike the Dreamwalkers, they must be fully summoned as they lack the power to command their forms across the veil. Further, their bodies are far too mundane to themselves be summoned. However, they do not suffer from the signal interference that limits Dreamwalker deployment. For all the limitations, their inherent sympathetic magic offers new and immensely useful abilities.
The power of the Sidil is, as always, connection, to connect like to like. This enables them to easily connect to a new shell so long as it is in proximity to the anchor they have been summoned into, but it also makes them natural spotters for all manner of ordnance. Under ideal circumstances, the anchor will be within line of sight of the launching bomber, or firing weapon, while the Hellstriker either invokes a small ritual or deploys a Warp-empowered targeting beacon tuned to the ordinance. This can enable truly impossible feats of accuracy, allowing pin point fire support from even the heaviest ordinance. This accuracy is often dearly needed as the Hellstrikers' uncanny ability to create a connection to fire down is worryingly short-ranged, often leaving them desperately scrambling to safety while the ordnance is en route.
This spotter ability is remarkably versatile, able to enhance bombers, bombardment cannons, artillery, missile strikes, and even ritual strikes. The exact form this takes varies depending on the proximity of the fire support called on to the anchor, the situation at hand, and the strength of the individual Hellstriker. At its basic level, it appears to be a mild fateweaving effect, guiding a shot to its target or letting a bomber slip through a formidable AA network. At higher levels, literally impossible shots become possible, such as calling in an airstrike while underground*.
* Pilots report finding this profoundly unnerving.
In addition to calling in direct fire support, Hellstrikers can also call in additional equipment. By applying the same ability to a type of cannon-fired drop pod*, they can request mission specific equipment, resupply, or the prompt deployment of replacement Hellstrikers to replace losses. Hellstriker equipment tends towards low cost, low endurance, low safety, and high performance. Unstable plasma, unshielded rad weapons, and barely shielded dark matter reactors feature prominently in their more sought after support gear. As of yet, despite a growing request for it from the Hellstrikers, actual suicide charges have not yet been issued, citing fears of encouraging wasteful tactics.
* The acceleration would be lethal for even Astartes, and only the inorganic nature of the Hellstrikers makes this at all practical.
Standard Hellstriker bodies are remarkably cheap, mostly being modified sets of trooper armor*. The space where a human would go has been filled with extra armor, power cells and hydraulics, and the Hellstirkers signature cape has been attached to the back. As a result they are somewhat more durable than they appear, and remarkably swift. Hellstrikers were mostly the most skilled of the Sidil's soldiers, and as such can often match green Astartes in skill, if not durability. Hellstrikers of notable skill are allowed limited use of more expensive bodies, taking to the field in modified suites of advanced armor. Due to this, they are often poorly suited to frontal assaults, instead focusing primarily on pinpoint elimination of key targets via overwhelming firepower.
*Often refurbished by a simple addition of a robotic endoskeleton, this can often result in Hellstrikes seeming to change shape over the course of a mission as not all suites are identical.
In battle Hellstrikers are noted to be surprisingly boisterous when fighting alongside mortals, though far from eloquent. The Hellstrikers' unflagging cheer, as they climb to victory atop a pile of their own shattered forms, has resonated with the Unchained. This has made them immensely popular among the Unchained, with many noticing they occupy a similar cultural niche as Astartes in most other cultures. For their part, the Hellstrikers seem bemused by their status as the most popular of the Triumvirate's servants, and the resulting prominence in Unchained propaganda. How much of their loud patriotism is an act is unclear, though their tendency to adjust it depending on the audience* proves that it is to some extent.
* Among trusted allies such as the Aeldari or Quartus it is toned down significantly, but they push it to the point of obnoxiousness when fighting alongside the forces of the Forge-Empire.
While the doctrine is still evolving, in most cases Hellstrikers are deployed in small fire teams, often with the limiting factor of number deployed being available fire missions to support them rather than the number that can be summoned. When used offensively, Hellstrikers are usually deployed just past the point of contact, seeking out key targets and destroying them. This can be local supply dumps, field commanders, force concentrations or second line enemy assets. While they are sometimes deployed to support astartes or other super elites, Hellstirkers find the presence of allies who can die somewhat stifling, preferring the freedom of truly close air support and reckless use of dangerous weapons to the advantages of combined arms. Unsurprisingly, most deployments will result in the destruction of a notable number of Hellstriker shells. A team of Hellstrikers can prove infuriatingly difficult to eliminate, as replacement shells can simply be called down to replace destroyed ones. A common method of insertion is to simply teleport a single Hellstriker nearby and have them call down their compatriots. This can make elimination of Hellstriker infiltration teams infuriatingly difficult, as they are well aware that if a single squad member escapes the mission will barely be impacted by the rest being pinned down and destroyed.
Defensively, Hellstrikers are more prone to seeing massed deployment, acting as hyper-mobile reserves. Most often they will be tasked with stabilizing a key position, or eliminating a major enemy asset. While not quite as well suited to this as they are to offensive operations, the sudden increase in accuracy of fire support allows for firemissions that would otherwise be unacceptably risky, while at the same time introducing troops who are fine calling in fire on their own position. In general, Hellstrikers will seek to pin the most dangerous foe present in place while calling in the heaviest ordinance available on it. While they often can not stop a breakthrough on their own, they are ideal for covering a retreat as once allies are clear they can call in theater-scale ordnance to blunt the enemy spearhead. Once a given hotspot is considered clear, they can simply abandon their bodies and near-instantly redeploy. The tendency for their discarded shells to be found in various heroic or comical poses by recovery teams has done much to endear them to the Unchained at large.
In terms of quirks, aside from their boisterous personality, Hellstrikers like the Dreamwalkers before them seem to suffer from kleptomania, often taking trinkets and trophies from battle and going to significant lengths to ensure they are recovered with their shells. Oddly, while there seems to be no pattern with what they consider worth taking, Hellstrikers have near-perfect agreement on what should be picked up. While command initially discouraged the practice, it was noticed that there was a significant link between successfully extracted trophies and a Hellstriker's growth. Between the demonstrated value to the Hellstrikers themselves, and the fact that these trophies are sometimes useful for intelligence gathering purposes, command has approved the practice. As such all Hellstriker bodies have a small easily extracted cargo compartment, enabling them to swiftly recover their trophies from downed shells.
@Durin another weapon in the arsnel of freedom! let me know if anything needs to be tweaked to fit. Many thanks to @Andres @StormySky @Dynamesmouse and @Execute/Dumbo for helping pitch ideas and the spelling. Also, I hihgly recomend playing helldivers.
The deva and deva engines of the Unchained have long been known to resort to artifice and cunning to compensate for their lack of power, and none so clearly exemplifying this as the Hellstrikers. The Dreamwalkers have been some of the Triumvirate's most effective agents. Former slave soldiers of the Forge of Souls, each one is able to command and animate a potent warsuit from the safety of the Warp. However, as the Unchained manifested, their numbers proved insufficient. So Faust turned her efforts to producing her own version of them, a new type of deva or blessed mortal able to manipulate a body from the safety of the Warp.
Her efforts were aided by the Sidil, as both living and dead lent her their magic of connection, and the Aeldari granted her access to the Black Library. It has taken over a century of effort, but her efforts have borne strange fruit. The Hellstrikers are lesser deva, forged from the souls of willing Sidil. While the Hellstrikers ultimately lack many of the advantages of Dreamwalkers, they can be produced in massive numbers and possess their own potent areas of focus. Unlike the Dreamwalkers, they must be fully summoned as they lack the power to command their forms across the veil. Further, their bodies are far too mundane to themselves be summoned. However, they do not suffer from the signal interference that limits Dreamwalker deployment. For all the limitations, their inherent sympathetic magic offers new and immensely useful abilities.
The power of the Sidil is, as always, connection, to connect like to like. This enables them to easily connect to a new shell so long as it is in proximity to the anchor they have been summoned into, but it also makes them natural spotters for all manner of ordnance. Under ideal circumstances, the anchor will be within line of sight of the launching bomber, or firing weapon, while the Hellstriker either invokes a small ritual or deploys a Warp-empowered targeting beacon tuned to the ordinance. This can enable truly impossible feats of accuracy, allowing pin point fire support from even the heaviest ordinance. This accuracy is often dearly needed as the Hellstrikers' uncanny ability to create a connection to fire down is worryingly short-ranged, often leaving them desperately scrambling to safety while the ordnance is en route.
This spotter ability is remarkably versatile, able to enhance bombers, bombardment cannons, artillery, missile strikes, and even ritual strikes. The exact form this takes varies depending on the proximity of the fire support called on to the anchor, the situation at hand, and the strength of the individual Hellstriker. At its basic level, it appears to be a mild fateweaving effect, guiding a shot to its target or letting a bomber slip through a formidable AA network. At higher levels, literally impossible shots become possible, such as calling in an airstrike while underground*.
* Pilots report finding this profoundly unnerving.
In addition to calling in direct fire support, Hellstrikers can also call in additional equipment. By applying the same ability to a type of cannon-fired drop pod*, they can request mission specific equipment, resupply, or the prompt deployment of replacement Hellstrikers to replace losses. Hellstriker equipment tends towards low cost, low endurance, low safety, and high performance. Unstable plasma, unshielded rad weapons, and barely shielded dark matter reactors feature prominently in their more sought after support gear. As of yet, despite a growing request for it from the Hellstrikers, actual suicide charges have not yet been issued, citing fears of encouraging wasteful tactics.
* The acceleration would be lethal for even Astartes, and only the inorganic nature of the Hellstrikers makes this at all practical.
Standard Hellstriker bodies are remarkably cheap, mostly being modified sets of trooper armor*. The space where a human would go has been filled with extra armor, power cells and hydraulics, and the Hellstirkers signature cape has been attached to the back. As a result they are somewhat more durable than they appear, and remarkably swift. Hellstrikers were mostly the most skilled of the Sidil's soldiers, and as such can often match green Astartes in skill, if not durability. Hellstrikers of notable skill are allowed limited use of more expensive bodies, taking to the field in modified suites of advanced armor. Due to this, they are often poorly suited to frontal assaults, instead focusing primarily on pinpoint elimination of key targets via overwhelming firepower.
*Often refurbished by a simple addition of a robotic endoskeleton, this can often result in Hellstrikes seeming to change shape over the course of a mission as not all suites are identical.
In battle Hellstrikers are noted to be surprisingly boisterous when fighting alongside mortals, though far from eloquent. The Hellstrikers' unflagging cheer, as they climb to victory atop a pile of their own shattered forms, has resonated with the Unchained. This has made them immensely popular among the Unchained, with many noticing they occupy a similar cultural niche as Astartes in most other cultures. For their part, the Hellstrikers seem bemused by their status as the most popular of the Triumvirate's servants, and the resulting prominence in Unchained propaganda. How much of their loud patriotism is an act is unclear, though their tendency to adjust it depending on the audience* proves that it is to some extent.
* Among trusted allies such as the Aeldari or Quartus it is toned down significantly, but they push it to the point of obnoxiousness when fighting alongside the forces of the Forge-Empire.
While the doctrine is still evolving, in most cases Hellstrikers are deployed in small fire teams, often with the limiting factor of number deployed being available fire missions to support them rather than the number that can be summoned. When used offensively, Hellstrikers are usually deployed just past the point of contact, seeking out key targets and destroying them. This can be local supply dumps, field commanders, force concentrations or second line enemy assets. While they are sometimes deployed to support astartes or other super elites, Hellstirkers find the presence of allies who can die somewhat stifling, preferring the freedom of truly close air support and reckless use of dangerous weapons to the advantages of combined arms. Unsurprisingly, most deployments will result in the destruction of a notable number of Hellstriker shells. A team of Hellstrikers can prove infuriatingly difficult to eliminate, as replacement shells can simply be called down to replace destroyed ones. A common method of insertion is to simply teleport a single Hellstriker nearby and have them call down their compatriots. This can make elimination of Hellstriker infiltration teams infuriatingly difficult, as they are well aware that if a single squad member escapes the mission will barely be impacted by the rest being pinned down and destroyed.
Defensively, Hellstrikers are more prone to seeing massed deployment, acting as hyper-mobile reserves. Most often they will be tasked with stabilizing a key position, or eliminating a major enemy asset. While not quite as well suited to this as they are to offensive operations, the sudden increase in accuracy of fire support allows for firemissions that would otherwise be unacceptably risky, while at the same time introducing troops who are fine calling in fire on their own position. In general, Hellstrikers will seek to pin the most dangerous foe present in place while calling in the heaviest ordinance available on it. While they often can not stop a breakthrough on their own, they are ideal for covering a retreat as once allies are clear they can call in theater-scale ordnance to blunt the enemy spearhead. Once a given hotspot is considered clear, they can simply abandon their bodies and near-instantly redeploy. The tendency for their discarded shells to be found in various heroic or comical poses by recovery teams has done much to endear them to the Unchained at large.
In terms of quirks, aside from their boisterous personality, Hellstrikers like the Dreamwalkers before them seem to suffer from kleptomania, often taking trinkets and trophies from battle and going to significant lengths to ensure they are recovered with their shells. Oddly, while there seems to be no pattern with what they consider worth taking, Hellstrikers have near-perfect agreement on what should be picked up. While command initially discouraged the practice, it was noticed that there was a significant link between successfully extracted trophies and a Hellstriker's growth. Between the demonstrated value to the Hellstrikers themselves, and the fact that these trophies are sometimes useful for intelligence gathering purposes, command has approved the practice. As such all Hellstriker bodies have a small easily extracted cargo compartment, enabling them to swiftly recover their trophies from downed shells.
One of the first major deployments of Hellstrikers was against the dreaded Imperator-class Titan Glory Eternal. The angyl engine leading its Titan Legion to lay waste to over a dozen Unchained worlds in as many years. Twenty Hellstrikers were tasked with its destruction, given a mere hour-long window before the vessel providing support fire would be forced to retreat. The attempt at a covert approach failed while they were still kilometers away from their target, resulting in a running battle with the Legion's lesser engines and supporting infantry that saw the stores of bodies all but depleted. However, through reckless use of orbital bombardment and deathstrikes, the last Hellstriker was able to board Glory Eternal, and call in a neutron lance strike directly into its accursed heart. Miraculously, their shell survived and was recovered along with a significant number of trophies. These twenty Hellstrikers have gone on to become some of the most respected and effective of their number.
When the Bleeding Nails Warband assaulted an isolated band of agriworlds known as the Green Stretch Salient, it was the Hellstrikers who made the difference. The arrival of a breeding population of warbeasts provoked a major assault upon the beasts, with their leader seeking to finally ascend to daemonhood by sacrificing these living weapons. Unaware that the shipment had been noticed, the Unchained were caught off-guard by the sudden assault. Lacking a counter to a spearhead made of hundreds of Khornate berzerkers, every Hellstriker available was deployed in a desperate attempt to blunt the spearhead. Massively outnumbered, the Hellstrikers fought with grim determination as they became an ever-replenishing distraction. However, as the battle raged on, the invaders invoked a dark blessing that enabled them to strike at the Hellstrikers through their shell, inflicting agonizing wounds upon the Deva. Nevertheless, they pressed on even as their numbers shrunk from banishment or death. Shortly before a ritual could be completed at the eighth hour of the engagement, Unchained voidsmen were able to de-orbit a crippled defense station on top of the swirling melee, tearing the heart out of the assault and ending the Bleeding Nails as a coherent force.
Perhaps the most famous victory of the Hellstrikers was the Hell on Krieg. The Tyrant has long been enraged by the rise of New Krieg, spending oceans of blood to try and stomp them out. One of the earliest deployments of Hellstrikers on a truly massive scale, the invading Tjapals had mustered a truly overwhelming force at great cost across the entire sector. The looming defeat was turned into an overwhelming victory through valor, faith and the skill of the Hellstrikers. As the enemy commander readied his final assault, the Hellstirkers were sent forth. Even as the Unchained's lines crumbled as their artillery was retasked, the Hellstrikers guided shell after shell upon the beating heart of the enemy's brewing assault. Force concentrations, ritual sites, carefully hoarded superheavies and more died under the supernaturally accurate guns of Krieg. Dozens of shells were left shattered after every battle, yet this did nothing but convince the Invading lord that the the infiltrators had died with their targets, and further reported sightings where trickery and misdirection. By the time the assault was launched, instead of a strictly choreographed steamroller assault, it was a disorganized mess of unsupported armor and shell-shocked infantry. It was this high profile victory over the forces of Tyranny that thrust the hellstrikers into the public eye.
When the Bleeding Nails Warband assaulted an isolated band of agriworlds known as the Green Stretch Salient, it was the Hellstrikers who made the difference. The arrival of a breeding population of warbeasts provoked a major assault upon the beasts, with their leader seeking to finally ascend to daemonhood by sacrificing these living weapons. Unaware that the shipment had been noticed, the Unchained were caught off-guard by the sudden assault. Lacking a counter to a spearhead made of hundreds of Khornate berzerkers, every Hellstriker available was deployed in a desperate attempt to blunt the spearhead. Massively outnumbered, the Hellstrikers fought with grim determination as they became an ever-replenishing distraction. However, as the battle raged on, the invaders invoked a dark blessing that enabled them to strike at the Hellstrikers through their shell, inflicting agonizing wounds upon the Deva. Nevertheless, they pressed on even as their numbers shrunk from banishment or death. Shortly before a ritual could be completed at the eighth hour of the engagement, Unchained voidsmen were able to de-orbit a crippled defense station on top of the swirling melee, tearing the heart out of the assault and ending the Bleeding Nails as a coherent force.
Perhaps the most famous victory of the Hellstrikers was the Hell on Krieg. The Tyrant has long been enraged by the rise of New Krieg, spending oceans of blood to try and stomp them out. One of the earliest deployments of Hellstrikers on a truly massive scale, the invading Tjapals had mustered a truly overwhelming force at great cost across the entire sector. The looming defeat was turned into an overwhelming victory through valor, faith and the skill of the Hellstrikers. As the enemy commander readied his final assault, the Hellstirkers were sent forth. Even as the Unchained's lines crumbled as their artillery was retasked, the Hellstrikers guided shell after shell upon the beating heart of the enemy's brewing assault. Force concentrations, ritual sites, carefully hoarded superheavies and more died under the supernaturally accurate guns of Krieg. Dozens of shells were left shattered after every battle, yet this did nothing but convince the Invading lord that the the infiltrators had died with their targets, and further reported sightings where trickery and misdirection. By the time the assault was launched, instead of a strictly choreographed steamroller assault, it was a disorganized mess of unsupported armor and shell-shocked infantry. It was this high profile victory over the forces of Tyranny that thrust the hellstrikers into the public eye.
@Durin another weapon in the arsnel of freedom! let me know if anything needs to be tweaked to fit. Many thanks to @Andres @StormySky @Dynamesmouse and @Execute/Dumbo for helping pitch ideas and the spelling. Also, I hihgly recomend playing helldivers.
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New questions and answers.
1) Do the (non-Ethereal) Tau castes actually have biological differences, or are the caste divisions a purely social thing? What about the Ethereals themselves?
1) there are notable biological differences
2) How many more "It is what it is" does Belakor have left in him?
2) not much
4) what should we vote for if we want incremental movements but when available take a risk? Or that be a write in?
4) write in
1) Can Tau from different castes have kids with each other? If so, is the child just the same caste as one of their parents, with a possibility of the other parent's caste surfacing in their descendents?
1) yes
nah hybrid betweent he two
2)can we have Rotbart move in incidentals movements unless the Governor of Avernus gives him a compelling argument?
2) no
1) Is it fair to say castes are like the Tau equivalent to human races and ethnicities, and while there's a bunch of mixed-caste Tau running around, the majority of the population are single-caste due to the social tradition of marrying in-caste?
1) yes
though closer to dog breeds in how different they are
1) What social role do mixed-race Tau play in Tau society? Do they just pick one of their parents' jobs to follow, or are they more outcasts who need to get by with the help of friends and family because they can't get a normal job?
1) they choose one of their parents castes in their teens
as a note, Tau dont have to follow their parents jobs just work within the caste
which is a massive range of jobs
1) What sort of jobs are there for Fire Caste who aren't good at fighting?
1) the military admin jobs
Fire Caste is basicly War (excluding naval)
and there are a massive number of miltiary non-combat jobs
also childrearing
every caste has its own in house childcare
1) What is the heart of the Black Imperium? I know it used to be Cadia but that was destroyed.
1) Medusa
1) Any repair work on Telstarax?
1)yes
1) Does it have shipbuilding capacity? If so, how much?
1) yes, less then mars
more then most places
2) So does Abaddon have a thing for squatting on big name Imperial worlds or what?
2) he does
a symbol of his victory
1) yes, less then mars more then most places: Is that current restored capacity?
1) it is
funn capacity is uniekly to be ever restored
to much damage
to little knowledge
1) Would the arts be a Water Caste thing for the Tau, or is it more universal?
1) different forms of art are different cast
archetectual art would be earth
most would be water
some forms fire or air
1) Would the Fire Caste cover dance as well as martial arts? What about acrobatics?
1) dance would be Fire
acrobatics air
1) If Granny Weatherwax had survived and thrived here on Avernus, what might been a reasonable high-end outcome of that?
1) new eraserch hero
1) Do the daemons of gods have heartsblood or their own version of it?
1) yes
2) How about independent warp entities?
2) sometimes
forums.sufficientvelocity.com
3) Who would win in a fight between the Black Library's organisational state and the Living Library's sanity?
3) could go either way
4) Does the Black Library have a Machine Spirit?
4) sort of, its more a Deva of Haoth then a proper machine spirit
5) What about Craftworlds generally?
a) Commoragh?
5) no, that space is filled by the infinity circut
a) probebly
1) Is replicating the Delta Vee's vector manipulation with psychic creator tech worth a feasibility, or is it too complicated?
1) viable
2) What is the Witch archetype?
2) unknown
3) Did we ever ask where the metal moons came from? Doubt there were enough Moi?
3) they were the core of a few planets
1) Since the Cloak of Saint Aspira is associated with the Bloody Rose and Martyred Lady, and both of them were Convent Sanctorum, did the Unchained manage to grab it?
1) they did
2) unknown
1) Once atemporal manifestations of a not-yet-born god have started showing up, is it still possible to prevent the god from being born, or do these things only happen when it's too late?
1) it is still possible
but very hard
2) With Granny Weatherwax as a researcher, is there anything she might have developed faster than Tamia? Like maybe she made our first rituals due to being the Witch. Would the Winds have been a possibility with her?
2) winds probebly no
she would have gone heavily into rituals and telepathy
3) I think do to them being locked to Forgeworld only unit from a Forgeworld book, you may not have considered that lascutters would be an acceptable Tau Battlesuit melee weapon, as using it remains "point and shoot". Popout forearm laser and such. Probably not relevant now, but a realization I had.
3) I would say they are
1) if max got help how much time could he cut off finding a way to make the thunder warriors stable?
1) half it maybe
2) is there any way we could put Ka technology into the thunder warriors?
2) invent ka technology and I might tell you
3) Does Hekarti have a mode of dress associated with her, and if so, what? Robes? Plate armour? IIRC dark elf sorceress attire is because they also associate with Atharti
3) a certain type of robes
1) Wait a moment. Don't tell me. Does it come with a pointy, wide-brimmed hat? And a broomstick perhaps?
1) how did you guass
4) Is it narratively easier to cleanse someone who willingly swore themselves to Chaos if they knew less about what Chaos was when they did it?
4) no
1) who should we talk to who could help the most for max to bring the time doing the thunder warrior action?
1) Crawl
1) crawl doing anything important or interesting?
1) you dont know
2) could crawl help with inventing biological Ka technology?
2) unknown
3) who we got studying the Slaugh technology?
3) there is a group within your biologis that is doing it
4) since we are going to a new thread have you thought about out possible rewarding the player base?
4) in what way?
wh40k.lexicanum.com
1) eldar not divine
1) How exactly did he betray Vaul in Embers?
1) betrayed his actions to Khaine, leding to the events that lead capture
1) So basically he told Khaine that the thousandth sword was not in fact a divine weapon
1) yep
2) Are Lileath and Ladrielle separate gods in Embers?
2) yes
3) Are Attack Moon shipyards the size above Planetary Ring?
3) no
same size
different purpose
Dark Heresy 1e: Daemon Hunter, page 78, Anointed Weapon Appearance table
1) vaul can
2) Does Tzeentch have as total control over the fates of gods as he does every being in the galaxy?
2) no
2) Is it feasible that, with a powerful enough temporal relic - a chrono-displacer, moment shackle, or something stronger - you can revert soul damage?
2) yes
3) How conscious were the Avatars of Khaine? Like, did they have the same issue as C'tan shards where they weren't all there, mentally?
3) they diud
and most of them only represented some of khaines aspects
not all of them
1) Out of curiosity did the 'holiness' rating of the MoI STC change any from the revelation that Emps made it? Like from turbo unholy work of satan to... idk... something else?
1) not really
2) Do Machine Spirits 'feed on' faith? Like, the faith and worship of the Mechanicus
2) no
3) Does Atharti have anything to do with Astarte like how Hekarti has something to do with Hecate? I do recall she resorted to violence when trying to get Khaine's rings and actually managed to get them off his hands
3) a minor amount
4) What role did Atharti have in the War in Heaven?
4) morale
like Leoc
1) Are there any plans for Hekarti?
1) not really
1) would AO or someone else. Be willing to say if immortal termites/stored termites are part of lab part of the caves?
1) they are not
2) Are lasguns the best weapon for debuffing Border Lions?
2) no
red dots dont work on border lions
they can catch them
3) Do ensouled mortals also have true names, just ones that have significantly less power over them than those for Warp entities?
3) yes
4) is there a black market in avernus? If so how big it is and how much of it do we control.
4) there is
its relitivly small
and around 25% by membership security forces agents
5% inquisition agents
70% everyone else
1) Are lasers a popular training tool for Border Lions?
1) yes
2) Can mortal true names change over time if the person undergoes significant personality development, as in a name obtained from too long ago not working anymore?
2) they can
1) As far as we can tell, are the Caverns in like, an artificial warp subrealm thing to help contain it from everyone else? Like, can we see the warp boundaries or something like that?
1) sort of
2) Do archetype bearers count as completely mortal in regards to true name stuff, or is there some weirdness there such as name shifting (aside from directly archetype-induced stuff) being harder or name-based bindings having a greater effect on them?
2) completly mortal
3) is stygia still around?
3) no
1) what happened to Stygia?
1) undead horde
Led by a mummy with bad knees
1) What really happened there?
1) a swarm of skeletons and mummies riding skeleton steeds and chariots just overwhelmed the defenders with numbers, tactics and magic
1) Did one of the undead start reading an obnoxiously long list of titles that was still going by the time the battle ended?
1) Yes
1) Why are the Hekatarii, the Wych Cults, called such?
1) athiest Dark Eldar being bad at religin
and getting the two goddesses mixed up
1) If souls get power over sufficiently long periods of time, could Champion Surt have, like, minor psyker level psychic power by now?
1) not all of them gain psychic power
3) What if anything do souls that don't get psychic power get over the course of deep time?
3) you dont know
2) Why can't nonpsykers who get an archetype learn psychic powers?
2) lack the required senses
3) What did the first generation Saurus have as psychic effects? Iirc they lacked the artefact Imbuement, but did they have the rest of their abilities?
3) just self buffing
1) Just self buffing, not even the psy resist?
1) yep
1st gen was barebones
1) Also they were made to fight ka using robots. Psy resistance wasn't really needed 😄
1) basicly
it was introduced when they were moved into more olice roles
1) I know the AO's sometimes called firstborn, but was he literally a member of the first spawning of the first generation?
1) yes
one of several trillion
2) Was the AO (and his surviving then-peers) updated with the new patches despite having existed earlier when those patches were put on spawning pools?
2) some of them yes
other no
1) How come the eldar didn't restore Khaine through bloodshed and worship like the Daughters of Khaine in AoS (would've worked if Morathi wasn't stealing it)? Does it just not work like that, or did they instead decide against resurrecting him?
1) it does notr eally work lke that
not with the level and type of wounds he suffered
1) How exactly did the Drukhari's soul debt work? Slaanesh draining their souls and the drulhari transmuting pain into soulstuff?
1) pretty much
2) If someone is worshipped as a saint rather than a god, would a god seed still form?
2) yes
3) Do god seeds have heartsblood?
3) no
4) Do god seeds count as divine?
4) yes
6) What happens to a person's soul if they use Ghur to turn into a dragon?
5) it remains unchanged
6) ditto
1) (be free to ignore this, it just because it first of abril^^) how many Arhra, doing what he did in that ritual, you would need to kill Abaddon by his own blood pressure?'
1) 11
2) How many Tzeentchians does it take to change a lightbulb, by which I mean replace it with a completely identical model whose only difference is that it's functional (and not make it flash rainbow lights, or grow extra eyes and tentacles, or make weird noises that drive people insane, or send everything within ten kilometers into the Warp, or whatever else is responsible for the local overlord's headache this time)?
2) Does Not Compete
3) what is the strangest thing that Rotbart has cooked and prepared for his friends and family?
3) next years wine
4) Given it's possibly the most dangerous thing in the galaxy, curled up for a nap in a warm light(star) for millions of years, and thinks of humans as amusing pets to toy with and swat occasionally, is Avernus the Planetmind technically a cat?
4) yes
5) If a god gets put inside a daemonhost, artefact, or daemon engine, do their blessings stop working or are they "separate" like the god's daemons?
5) most keep working
the few that need active connections stop
6) Does Khorne have exclusive rights to the IP of witch-hunting dogs?
6) yes
7) what is the absolute stupidest thing avernus has tried to make that actually worked
7) Termites
8) What were Asuryan's steed and Morai-heg's ravens? Mortal animals? Warp entities? IIRC eldar gods don't have daemons
8) warp entities
9) Does Hekarti's expertise extent to technology made for magic like witchblades and ghosthelms? If not, is that Vaul's or Hoeth's area of expertise?
9) Vaul domain
10) Does Perturabo's Iron Circle, his robot bodyguards, collectively count as a relic, or do bodyguards not count?
10) bodyguards dont count
1) What's the scariest thing on Avernus that was not directly made by Avernus/Old Ones?
1) the termites by far
1) Wait I thought you just said that Avernus made them? 😄
1) somehow I missed Avernus
most dangerous not made directly...
Areatha
1) Surprising, + wasn't she made with at least some indirect help from Avernus?
1) if you dont count indrect
jane
2) Is your answer including things the OO/Avernus hasn't already done? So stuff like inscribed true runes don't count?
2) it is not
and yeah they dont count
1) Nah more just surprised that it'd be individuals that would be considered the greatest non Avernus successes as opposed to something like the siren runic tradition, but I guess they're all too bound up in Avernus itself.
1) theya re all to bound up in avernus
2) Anyway, is there much going on with Areatha on a technical level I suppose? I've never really contextualised that beyond it was advanced for the dark age, and its big benefit is a sorta neutral-positive psychic affinity.
2) the big thing is that she has a psychic affinity of Yes
most poeple are good at some things not so good at others
and just plain cant learn some things
she is gifted at everything
1) What I meant was more is that a complex technical feat to do by Avernus's standards?
1) it's Somthing avernus would need to try to replicate
2) Do the Eldar gods get benefits from their narrative basically not letting them have Devas ever?
2) yes
makes it easier to bless eldar
2) its a message that at a certain level of nonsense deva ain't very cost effective 😛 Especially if you ain't a great god with several domains.
2) more the eldar go all in on "reduce blessing cost"
until they reduce the cost of basic blessings to exactly 0
1) Do you ever feel an encroaching sense of loss that, in five or so years time, a decade and a half of worldbuilding will be stored away forever with the completion of TLN, never to be used again?
1) occasionly
1) there are notable biological differences
2) How many more "It is what it is" does Belakor have left in him?
2) not much
4) what should we vote for if we want incremental movements but when available take a risk? Or that be a write in?
4) write in
1) Can Tau from different castes have kids with each other? If so, is the child just the same caste as one of their parents, with a possibility of the other parent's caste surfacing in their descendents?
1) yes
nah hybrid betweent he two
2)can we have Rotbart move in incidentals movements unless the Governor of Avernus gives him a compelling argument?
2) no
1) Is it fair to say castes are like the Tau equivalent to human races and ethnicities, and while there's a bunch of mixed-caste Tau running around, the majority of the population are single-caste due to the social tradition of marrying in-caste?
1) yes
though closer to dog breeds in how different they are
1) What social role do mixed-race Tau play in Tau society? Do they just pick one of their parents' jobs to follow, or are they more outcasts who need to get by with the help of friends and family because they can't get a normal job?
1) they choose one of their parents castes in their teens
as a note, Tau dont have to follow their parents jobs just work within the caste
which is a massive range of jobs
1) What sort of jobs are there for Fire Caste who aren't good at fighting?
1) the military admin jobs
Fire Caste is basicly War (excluding naval)
and there are a massive number of miltiary non-combat jobs
also childrearing
every caste has its own in house childcare
1) What is the heart of the Black Imperium? I know it used to be Cadia but that was destroyed.
1) Medusa
1) Any repair work on Telstarax?
1)yes
1) Does it have shipbuilding capacity? If so, how much?
1) yes, less then mars
more then most places
2) So does Abaddon have a thing for squatting on big name Imperial worlds or what?
2) he does
a symbol of his victory
1) yes, less then mars more then most places: Is that current restored capacity?
1) it is
funn capacity is uniekly to be ever restored
to much damage
to little knowledge
1) Would the arts be a Water Caste thing for the Tau, or is it more universal?
1) different forms of art are different cast
archetectual art would be earth
most would be water
some forms fire or air
1) Would the Fire Caste cover dance as well as martial arts? What about acrobatics?
1) dance would be Fire
acrobatics air
1) If Granny Weatherwax had survived and thrived here on Avernus, what might been a reasonable high-end outcome of that?
1) new eraserch hero
1) Do the daemons of gods have heartsblood or their own version of it?
1) yes
2) How about independent warp entities?
2) sometimes
The Long Night Part Two: Sparks at Midnight: A Planetary Governor Quest (43k)
The Living Library Archmagos Intendant Osard 83/2 Osmol M: 15+4=19 I: 9+7=16 A: 10+38=48 L: 12+36=48 W: 13+15=28 D: 13+2=15 C: 15-all=0 Alnurner (+1L, +1D, +1C) Comely (+1D, slightly more attractive) - Osard is pleasant to look at. Organicist (+1D, -1C) - Osard is a member of the...
forums.sufficientvelocity.com
3) could go either way
4) Does the Black Library have a Machine Spirit?
4) sort of, its more a Deva of Haoth then a proper machine spirit
5) What about Craftworlds generally?
a) Commoragh?
5) no, that space is filled by the infinity circut
a) probebly
1) Is replicating the Delta Vee's vector manipulation with psychic creator tech worth a feasibility, or is it too complicated?
1) viable
2) What is the Witch archetype?
2) unknown
3) Did we ever ask where the metal moons came from? Doubt there were enough Moi?
3) they were the core of a few planets
1) Since the Cloak of Saint Aspira is associated with the Bloody Rose and Martyred Lady, and both of them were Convent Sanctorum, did the Unchained manage to grab it?
1) they did
2) What were these Tears of the Emperor?Adepta Sororitas 10th edition said:
2) unknown
1) Once atemporal manifestations of a not-yet-born god have started showing up, is it still possible to prevent the god from being born, or do these things only happen when it's too late?
1) it is still possible
but very hard
2) With Granny Weatherwax as a researcher, is there anything she might have developed faster than Tamia? Like maybe she made our first rituals due to being the Witch. Would the Winds have been a possibility with her?
2) winds probebly no
she would have gone heavily into rituals and telepathy
3) I think do to them being locked to Forgeworld only unit from a Forgeworld book, you may not have considered that lascutters would be an acceptable Tau Battlesuit melee weapon, as using it remains "point and shoot". Popout forearm laser and such. Probably not relevant now, but a realization I had.
3) I would say they are
1) if max got help how much time could he cut off finding a way to make the thunder warriors stable?
1) half it maybe
2) is there any way we could put Ka technology into the thunder warriors?
2) invent ka technology and I might tell you
3) Does Hekarti have a mode of dress associated with her, and if so, what? Robes? Plate armour? IIRC dark elf sorceress attire is because they also associate with Atharti
3) a certain type of robes
1) Wait a moment. Don't tell me. Does it come with a pointy, wide-brimmed hat? And a broomstick perhaps?
1) how did you guass
4) Is it narratively easier to cleanse someone who willingly swore themselves to Chaos if they knew less about what Chaos was when they did it?
4) no
1) who should we talk to who could help the most for max to bring the time doing the thunder warrior action?
1) Crawl
1) crawl doing anything important or interesting?
1) you dont know
2) could crawl help with inventing biological Ka technology?
2) unknown
3) who we got studying the Slaugh technology?
3) there is a group within your biologis that is doing it
4) since we are going to a new thread have you thought about out possible rewarding the player base?
4) in what way?
Starmist Raiment - Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum
1) Was Ghaevyll, Vaul's treacherous assistant, a mortal or a god?
1) eldar not divine
1) How exactly did he betray Vaul in Embers?
1) betrayed his actions to Khaine, leding to the events that lead capture
1) So basically he told Khaine that the thousandth sword was not in fact a divine weapon
1) yep
2) Are Lileath and Ladrielle separate gods in Embers?
2) yes
3) Are Attack Moon shipyards the size above Planetary Ring?
3) no
same size
different purpose
Dark Heresy 1e: Daemon Hunter, page 78, Anointed Weapon Appearance table
1) Can Vaul make especially real weapons or is that an Emperor-only thing because of his ka magic?
1) vaul can
2) Does Tzeentch have as total control over the fates of gods as he does every being in the galaxy?
2) no
2) Is it feasible that, with a powerful enough temporal relic - a chrono-displacer, moment shackle, or something stronger - you can revert soul damage?
2) yes
3) How conscious were the Avatars of Khaine? Like, did they have the same issue as C'tan shards where they weren't all there, mentally?
3) they diud
and most of them only represented some of khaines aspects
not all of them
1) Out of curiosity did the 'holiness' rating of the MoI STC change any from the revelation that Emps made it? Like from turbo unholy work of satan to... idk... something else?
1) not really
2) Do Machine Spirits 'feed on' faith? Like, the faith and worship of the Mechanicus
2) no
3) Does Atharti have anything to do with Astarte like how Hekarti has something to do with Hecate? I do recall she resorted to violence when trying to get Khaine's rings and actually managed to get them off his hands
3) a minor amount
4) What role did Atharti have in the War in Heaven?
4) morale
like Leoc
1) Are there any plans for Hekarti?
1) not really
1) would AO or someone else. Be willing to say if immortal termites/stored termites are part of lab part of the caves?
1) they are not
2) Are lasguns the best weapon for debuffing Border Lions?
2) no
red dots dont work on border lions
they can catch them
3) Do ensouled mortals also have true names, just ones that have significantly less power over them than those for Warp entities?
3) yes
4) is there a black market in avernus? If so how big it is and how much of it do we control.
4) there is
its relitivly small
and around 25% by membership security forces agents
5% inquisition agents
70% everyone else
1) Are lasers a popular training tool for Border Lions?
1) yes
2) Can mortal true names change over time if the person undergoes significant personality development, as in a name obtained from too long ago not working anymore?
2) they can
1) As far as we can tell, are the Caverns in like, an artificial warp subrealm thing to help contain it from everyone else? Like, can we see the warp boundaries or something like that?
1) sort of
2) Do archetype bearers count as completely mortal in regards to true name stuff, or is there some weirdness there such as name shifting (aside from directly archetype-induced stuff) being harder or name-based bindings having a greater effect on them?
2) completly mortal
3) is stygia still around?
3) no
1) what happened to Stygia?
1) undead horde
Led by a mummy with bad knees
1) What really happened there?
1) a swarm of skeletons and mummies riding skeleton steeds and chariots just overwhelmed the defenders with numbers, tactics and magic
1) Did one of the undead start reading an obnoxiously long list of titles that was still going by the time the battle ended?
1) Yes
1) Why are the Hekatarii, the Wych Cults, called such?
1) athiest Dark Eldar being bad at religin
and getting the two goddesses mixed up
1) If souls get power over sufficiently long periods of time, could Champion Surt have, like, minor psyker level psychic power by now?
1) not all of them gain psychic power
3) What if anything do souls that don't get psychic power get over the course of deep time?
3) you dont know
2) Why can't nonpsykers who get an archetype learn psychic powers?
2) lack the required senses
3) What did the first generation Saurus have as psychic effects? Iirc they lacked the artefact Imbuement, but did they have the rest of their abilities?
3) just self buffing
1) Just self buffing, not even the psy resist?
1) yep
1st gen was barebones
1) Also they were made to fight ka using robots. Psy resistance wasn't really needed 😄
1) basicly
it was introduced when they were moved into more olice roles
1) I know the AO's sometimes called firstborn, but was he literally a member of the first spawning of the first generation?
1) yes
one of several trillion
2) Was the AO (and his surviving then-peers) updated with the new patches despite having existed earlier when those patches were put on spawning pools?
2) some of them yes
other no
1) How come the eldar didn't restore Khaine through bloodshed and worship like the Daughters of Khaine in AoS (would've worked if Morathi wasn't stealing it)? Does it just not work like that, or did they instead decide against resurrecting him?
1) it does notr eally work lke that
not with the level and type of wounds he suffered
1) How exactly did the Drukhari's soul debt work? Slaanesh draining their souls and the drulhari transmuting pain into soulstuff?
1) pretty much
2) If someone is worshipped as a saint rather than a god, would a god seed still form?
2) yes
3) Do god seeds have heartsblood?
3) no
4) Do god seeds count as divine?
4) yes
5) What happens to a person's ka if they use Ghur to turn into a dragon?
6) What happens to a person's soul if they use Ghur to turn into a dragon?
5) it remains unchanged
6) ditto
1) (be free to ignore this, it just because it first of abril^^) how many Arhra, doing what he did in that ritual, you would need to kill Abaddon by his own blood pressure?'
1) 11
2) How many Tzeentchians does it take to change a lightbulb, by which I mean replace it with a completely identical model whose only difference is that it's functional (and not make it flash rainbow lights, or grow extra eyes and tentacles, or make weird noises that drive people insane, or send everything within ten kilometers into the Warp, or whatever else is responsible for the local overlord's headache this time)?
2) Does Not Compete
3) what is the strangest thing that Rotbart has cooked and prepared for his friends and family?
3) next years wine
4) Given it's possibly the most dangerous thing in the galaxy, curled up for a nap in a warm light(star) for millions of years, and thinks of humans as amusing pets to toy with and swat occasionally, is Avernus the Planetmind technically a cat?
4) yes
5) If a god gets put inside a daemonhost, artefact, or daemon engine, do their blessings stop working or are they "separate" like the god's daemons?
5) most keep working
the few that need active connections stop
6) Does Khorne have exclusive rights to the IP of witch-hunting dogs?
6) yes
7) what is the absolute stupidest thing avernus has tried to make that actually worked
7) Termites
8) What were Asuryan's steed and Morai-heg's ravens? Mortal animals? Warp entities? IIRC eldar gods don't have daemons
8) warp entities
9) Does Hekarti's expertise extent to technology made for magic like witchblades and ghosthelms? If not, is that Vaul's or Hoeth's area of expertise?
9) Vaul domain
10) Does Perturabo's Iron Circle, his robot bodyguards, collectively count as a relic, or do bodyguards not count?
10) bodyguards dont count
1) What's the scariest thing on Avernus that was not directly made by Avernus/Old Ones?
1) the termites by far
1) Wait I thought you just said that Avernus made them? 😄
1) somehow I missed Avernus
most dangerous not made directly...
Areatha
1) Surprising, + wasn't she made with at least some indirect help from Avernus?
1) if you dont count indrect
jane
2) Is your answer including things the OO/Avernus hasn't already done? So stuff like inscribed true runes don't count?
2) it is not
and yeah they dont count
1) Nah more just surprised that it'd be individuals that would be considered the greatest non Avernus successes as opposed to something like the siren runic tradition, but I guess they're all too bound up in Avernus itself.
1) theya re all to bound up in avernus
2) Anyway, is there much going on with Areatha on a technical level I suppose? I've never really contextualised that beyond it was advanced for the dark age, and its big benefit is a sorta neutral-positive psychic affinity.
2) the big thing is that she has a psychic affinity of Yes
most poeple are good at some things not so good at others
and just plain cant learn some things
she is gifted at everything
1) What I meant was more is that a complex technical feat to do by Avernus's standards?
1) it's Somthing avernus would need to try to replicate
2) Do the Eldar gods get benefits from their narrative basically not letting them have Devas ever?
2) yes
makes it easier to bless eldar
2) its a message that at a certain level of nonsense deva ain't very cost effective 😛 Especially if you ain't a great god with several domains.
2) more the eldar go all in on "reduce blessing cost"
until they reduce the cost of basic blessings to exactly 0
1) Do you ever feel an encroaching sense of loss that, in five or so years time, a decade and a half of worldbuilding will be stored away forever with the completion of TLN, never to be used again?
1) occasionly
Disinheritance
New
Doomed Wombat
Let's go Darling!
- Location
- Dancing on wires!
Disinheritance
A space marines trudged across the pockmarked desert, dragging his cargo behind him. He hauled a large coffin, reinforced with adamantine and blasphemous runes with little care almost seeming to smirk as it crashed into rocks and bounced along the burning sands. His destination was clear, a vast fortress, its defences nigh impregnable, a stronghold of the Silver Skulls at the front lines of their eternal war.
He could have simply left the teleported close to the fortress, but not today. He couldn't risk exposing his cargo to the warp, he had to approach the old-fashioned way. On foot after taking an antique Thunderhawk down to the planet.
There was no fear in his step, the Skulls knew he was coming. He'd made no effort to mask his approach from their seers and so as the hours dragged on turning day to night, he finally made it to their slightly open gates.
Senses honed by thousands of years quickly spied the weapons tracking his every motion, the tense fingers hovering over triggers. They were ready to perforate him at the slightest need. Good. Paranoia would serve them well.
Still, their gate was slightly ajar, just enough for him to squeeze his armour-clad bulk through, along with his cargo, within, the aperture sealing itself the moment he did so. Trapped, willingly so, but trapped nonetheless.
His welcoming committee was a squad of legion breakers surrounding one of the Skull's Prognosticars, as lesser marines and mortal soldiers crowded around none of them relaxing for a single instant. He couldn't help but let out a slight smirk. That he could still create this reaction was gratifying, in a small way. Recognition.
Slowly and deliberately he raised his hands to his wrists and very obviously twisted the release on his power claws, the connectors falling away as with two heavy thuds they landed on the ground. He was still far from harmless, he knew that, they knew that, but it was a symbol.
"Why have you come here, traitor." The Prognosticar spoke evenly, but he could feel the frustration behind the words. That was no fault of his own in truth, he had not hidden his arrival, but he had to conceal why he departed in the first place or risk death.
"To ensure an end" he replied "and perhaps to bargain for my own life."
The Silver Skull's eyes slid over to the coffin, curiosity warring with suspicion. One hand still raised in the air for peace, his other slunk down an array of controls and pressed one, a panel sliding away to reveal the face of the occupant.
It was bruised and broken, covered in blood, one eye had burst from the immense pressures exerted on the owner's skull and yet the entombed was still unmistakable.
Kor Phaeron.
"You expect us to believe" the Prognisticar's words were tinged with disbelief "that you came all the way here to buy your life for his?"
He laughed, shaking his head. "No, ensuring he dies and bargaining for my life are two different things. If you think you know what it is to hate" his still-armoured fist slammed into the wall, the warriors an instant away from firing as the sonorous ringing spread from the impact "this worm, you cannot even comprehend, the depths of my grudge."
He was breathing heavily, fury that had only recently been expended surging once again, but this time he forced it back down, sealing the coffin completely, standing still and looking at the Skulls.
"I surrender to you, and await" he let out a rueful chuckle "judgement."
The Prognosticar waited for a moment, considering or scrying, then nodded to the Legion Breakers. Several walked forward and took the coffin from his hands as one stepped behind him.
"We accept" the Prognosticar said "but judgement is not mine to give Eliphas."
He felt a blinding pain and a crack as darkness fell. It was an impressive strike, to knock him out in a single blow.
======================================================================
He awoke with a pounding headache to the rattling of chains as he scrambled to his feet. His terminator armour was gone, he was dressed only in simple clothes made for a Space Marine's stature.
Relaxing momentarily he took in the room. A prison cell, with no visible entrance or exit, with silver walls, silver floors and a silver roof. A washroom to one side, a bed and an appropriately sized table with a pair of chairs. No doubt he was being monitored even now, privacy is reserved for the trusted and he was certainly not in that camp.
Still, he was calm, a sort of acceptance had come over him as he'd made his plans over the broken body of Kor Pharon. It had been strange. Peaceful, a sensation he'd experienced little in his long, frustrated life.
He closed his eyes and slumped against the wall of his cell, sitting on the bed and letting his muscles relax. He was alive for now. Maybe he would be in the future as well. He would have to see and somehow, he was less afraid now than when he had the certainty and assurances of Chaos that his death would be impermanent.
"Strange you let your guard down in such a manner."
His eyes flung open as he heard the softly murmured utterance, his gaze darting around the cell as he searched for any sign of who had spoken. There were no speakers he could see, his senses found nothing nor could he discern where the speech had originated from.
"Over here."
Then he could. There was no discernable change, he could just…notice the massive figure brooding by the table.
A pale visage in sable black armour, significantly more wearied and lined than when he had first glimpsed the speaker 15,000 years ago, at a triumph of the great work they had built.
He felt ice enter his veins, forcing himself to stand against the immense weight of the chains that bound him, but he staggered forward nonetheless until he could sit in the chair opposite to the Primarch of the Raven Guard, whose void black eyes gazed at him with vorpal edge.
"To what do I owe the honour?"
The Primarch sneered, fingers twitching, before a smirk appeared on his face.
"Tell me, Eliphas how many Word Bearers remain who were there during the Great Crusade?"
He frowned, shaking his head. "There not many that I'm sure of. The majority were on Sicarius and died there. Depending on the definition there may only be two. Or one."
"Correct." Corvus's words dripped with satisfaction, the kind achieved after a task long begun has come to an end. Or is about to.
"You are the last of Lorgar's brood, Kor Phareon, is another matter. When I had time I intended to hunt him down myself, you have saved me that effort. You said you did not wish to buy your life with his, but it has secured you a stay of execution nonetheless."
The Raven Lord stood, and although one of the shorter primarchs he still towered over Eliphas, who felt the ice in his veins start to pierce his will.
"You will show me why you came and then I will render long overdue judgement on your legion."
A hand that could still cradle his entire head was placed atop his own, his breathing becoming strained.
The Primarch's gaze bore down on him as he spoke inside his mind. "Do not resist."
Not that he would if he could.
All he could do was think back to the day, however long ago it was.
He'd been drinking. Drowning his sorrows, gazing blankly into the middle distance…trying to forget. He was no fool, he'd been a dark apostate. He'd forgotten more about Chaos than most could even begin to learn, so when Be'lakor had struck, bound a God, broken unity…
He knew it was over.
He'd been a victim of Chaos long enough to realise what this meant. He'd lost enough to know when fracture points appeared in the power of Chaos, so strong until the moment they turned on each other like wolves. Not that he was different. He'd done it many a time, he'd exploited it to his benefit.
And now it would doom them all.
What had been the point…to any of it?
He was roused from his stupor by a portal opening, long-honed instincts forcing him to rise, to confront the interloper, as a wisened, hideous face grinned back at him.
"Peace, peace my dear grandson, no…Inheritor of my child's legacy."
Kor Phareon. The father of the Primarch, First Captain, Dark Cardinal, Keeper of the Faith…the start to darkness. They all knew it. They could see how he had treated Lorgar, even as he pretended to serve him, the small abuses that were still heaped on the one he claimed as his son.
How many had his honied words destroyed? How many had he twisted amongst his own "grandchildren." And in the end, where had he been when his son died? He'd fled. As always he only cared for himself.
Now he was here, speaking those twisted words. Praise for him, for the foresight of Lorgar, whispering of the opportunity they had to raise themselves again, to create a legion reborn. How he would give him power unimaginable.
He could barely hear the words. There was a ringing in his ears. His vision was tinged with black as long constrained, burrowed fury started to burst forth, screams echoing within his mind, as he thought to what this man's words had wrought.
Kor Phaeron was standing close, dressed in Terminator armour, boiling with the favour of Chaos…but he was no true Astartes or warrior.
Eliphas let the black claim him, his mind went dark with anger, not the rage of Khorne, but his own seemingly bottomless well of vitriol. He saw himself plunge his power claws through the back of Kor Pharon, flinging him through objects smashing his face into the wall of his quarters again and again and again until it was little more than a bloody wreckage.
He came to screaming and crying. Hot tears pouring from his eyes, as he stood over the broken body of Kor Pharon, moments from death. He raised his foot over his head to deliver the final blow, only to stop. One so favoured by chaos was unlikely to die to this and he wouldn't trust his own methods, steeped as they were in chaos weighed against Kor Pharon's favour…
His mind whirled, as he forced the broken sorcerer into a specifically modified dreadnought sarcophagus that he'd commissioned thousands of years ago to contain prisoners.
He had an idea. Maybe it would work, maybe not. But, he was doomed regardless.
With a gasp he fell bonelessly to the table, the Primarch dropping him unceremoniously, gazing at him with suspicious eyes, taking his seat once again.
"Sufficient?" He hissed. His entire skull felt like it had been probed through with needles, then sealed with adhesive, thinking itself hurt.
"Not entirely." Corvus Corax was frowning, maybe perturbed more likely annoyed. "You have a strong mind. Seeing your memories is easy, determining through actual thoughts in the instant is much harder. I think you do it entirely subconsciously."
Eliphas could offer no response, opting simply to lie on the table and moan as the pain slowly faded away.
"Tell me then. What caused this change? You have served chaos for 15,000 years and done so with glee. What possible reason could there be to turn your back on it now? Hate for Kor Pharon is unlikely to be sufficient."
Gulping, he turned watery eyes to the Primarch before pulling himself back into a sitting position, mustering what dignity he could, blinking the last remnants of pain from his mind.
"Do you know…how I was given my title?"
"No."
"A joke, from Lorgar. I had risen to command of the forces on Kronus after my superior was killed. After my failure, he mocked that I would only inherit my authority." His fingers curled into a fist.
"For a very long time, it is as you say Primarch, I served Chaos with all the fanaticism that only a Word Bearer can display. I drenched worlds in blood and served willingly and loyally."
As he spoke a tightness sized his throat, his words difficult to speak as he practically choked on them. "And yet, what was the reward for that loyalty? For me and my kin!?"
"I was condemned to thousands of years within the Basilica of Torment, for the amusement of my Father, and when at last I earned my freedom, what then? Nothing. Chaos has never granted me or my kin victory. This is our legacy, our inheritance."
He couldn't help himself as tears began to flow, his breathing fast, chest convulsing either from laughter or sobbing he could not even tell. "We sacrificed everything. Because we BELIEVED! And it was for nothing, worse than nothing. That is the legacy we leave behind. My…inheritance.
Corvus Corax looked upon him, a mixture of disgust and surprise clear on his face.
Gasping for air, he locked eyes with the Primarch the black voids looking unafraid into his own his tear-stained, bloodshot orbs. "If it is true that I am the last then, yes it is my inheritance…and I will stomach it no longer. I will cut myself from it, from what I was."
He stood, leaning forward with both his hands on the table, hunched over like a beast, speaking with desperate fervour. "I don't want to die, but neither do I want to continue like…this. The executor of an accursed, pointless misery that binds and torments me and all others." His horse voice collapsed, straining to continue speaking as thoughts and emotions long buried, building up were finally expressed. Aeons of resentment animating his own spiteful misdeeds finally came crashing forth.
"And you think you deserve it?"
His response came as a parched, desperate whisper. "I don't even know. Only that I don't want to die…not now."
The Primarch's lips thinned, as he scowled, before vanishing as if he was never there.
Eliphas rested. He was exhausted. More so than he'd ever imagined possible. He'd fought entire wars that had taxed him less…
He waited, he rested, he meditated and ate food that seemed to simply materialise from nowhere.
Perhaps he'd been forgotten. Maybe this was the Primarch's twisted punishment. He'd live, but be trapped, forever.
Then, suddenly a wall opened. A hidden door that he'd never even imagined was there swung open, a scarred visage entering the room.
Jaghati Khan.
"Eliphas the Inheritor, you are called for final judgment. Come."
Without a single backward glance, the Warhawk spun on his heel marching from the cell, Eliphas following, looking at his chains in surprise. Somehow they were not as heavy as before.
Unable to puzzle out this mystery he followed, still barely keeping up with the Primarch's longer stride and breakneck pace. Now he was outside of his prison he still was in the dark as to where he was. The Imperium Quartus, the Silver Skulls? It was advanced that all he could discern, but there were no windows or identifying symbols he could use.
He was just about to try and ask the Primarch where they were going when they arrived at a pair of detailed and engraved doors that opened soundlessly.
Looking within he felt his mouth drop.
Sitting on a dias rising from the floor were five thrones, each one personalised and intricate in their ways, and sitting upon them with graven expressions were four of the five remaining loyalists.
Jaghati Khan swiftly joined them, as Roboute Gulimann spoke with an undeniable and overwhelming dignity. "Long has it been since I judged a Word Bearer. You were there when I did so were you not."
He grimaced. He could remember it still, the taste of ashes in his mouth, the indignation and humiliation as he knelt in the dust of their greatest work, the blank expression on the Primarch's face then seemed mocking beyond all words…now he didn't know. Perhaps he was simply hiding his self-hatred.
"Then let us begin, our decision is made. You will find it fair I hope."
"We have heard the testimony of our brother and listened to your words for ourselves" Leman Russ spoke. "Your actions are undeniable, and whether bound to our Kin or no you still acted of your own free will, for the most part." He sniffed the air, giving Eliphas a toothy grin.
"Some of us decided that was sufficient to demand your death regardless, others argued for clemency. Forgiveness is something that must be earned, and sometimes that can only occur in a new dawn." Vulkan spoke, the imposing Primarch's voice echoed through the hall, his expression impossible to read. Perhaps glowering, or merely contemplative, his voice seemed to assign no judgement.
"In the end, we agreed on one thing. To sever the legacy of Lorgar. Whatever our thoughts on you, if you shall squander this chance, or rise to it does not matter. We are unified in this decision." Jaghati Khan spoke, a softly contented smile etched into his mutilated face, as the sole silent Primarch stood.
He stood, picking up a dark spear that he had laid across his lap walking down to him, weapon at the ready, before proffering it to him.
Questions were on his lips, but he held them back and took the spear as Corvus pointed to what lay before the Primarchs, that he somehow had not noticed until just then, so distracted had he been.
The coffin that contained Kor Pharon.
"You wish to live? You wish to sever yourself from Lorgar's legacy, from Chaos itself? Very well" Corvus Corax spoke behind him as he began to take halting steps towards the coffin.
"Before you is the last Priest of Colchis, the one who began our brother's slide into madness, when he took from a group of desert nomads a child they named Rain Caller. The heart of darkness, the source of your inheritance."
He stood over the coffin and pressed the sequence of buttons required to unlock it, the stasis locks disengaging, as he held the spear tight in his hand.
"Take the weapon of Chaos's eternal enemy. And sever that legacy."
He looked down at the still-broken face of Kor Pharon. He could hear the blood pounding in his ears, see every twitch as the man's consciousness gradually returned."
He felt as though he was standing on the edge of a bottomless cliff, overlooking an endless sea, as nausea and fear tore through him…
He took a breath.
Kor Pharon's one remaining eye opened and took him in, standing there spear poised above his blackened heart.
Eliphas held his breath. The lapping waves of the ocean in his mind faded away. He brought down the spear.
Kor Pharon jerked, trembling reaching for power that suddenly was gone, as in a few seconds he died, as simple and perfunctory as turning off a light.
Eliphas let out the breath, he felt weightless. Like he'd been trapped, crushed tight by some invisible bond.
He withdrew the spear, red with Kor Pharon's blood, the Primarchs looking at him, their expressions still mostly uncertain, but satisfaction obvious within their gazes.
=================================================================================================================================================================
Thanks @Durin
This one's been on the brain for a while, a final send off to Lorgar's legacy. And fulfilment of a promise I made
A space marines trudged across the pockmarked desert, dragging his cargo behind him. He hauled a large coffin, reinforced with adamantine and blasphemous runes with little care almost seeming to smirk as it crashed into rocks and bounced along the burning sands. His destination was clear, a vast fortress, its defences nigh impregnable, a stronghold of the Silver Skulls at the front lines of their eternal war.
He could have simply left the teleported close to the fortress, but not today. He couldn't risk exposing his cargo to the warp, he had to approach the old-fashioned way. On foot after taking an antique Thunderhawk down to the planet.
There was no fear in his step, the Skulls knew he was coming. He'd made no effort to mask his approach from their seers and so as the hours dragged on turning day to night, he finally made it to their slightly open gates.
Senses honed by thousands of years quickly spied the weapons tracking his every motion, the tense fingers hovering over triggers. They were ready to perforate him at the slightest need. Good. Paranoia would serve them well.
Still, their gate was slightly ajar, just enough for him to squeeze his armour-clad bulk through, along with his cargo, within, the aperture sealing itself the moment he did so. Trapped, willingly so, but trapped nonetheless.
His welcoming committee was a squad of legion breakers surrounding one of the Skull's Prognosticars, as lesser marines and mortal soldiers crowded around none of them relaxing for a single instant. He couldn't help but let out a slight smirk. That he could still create this reaction was gratifying, in a small way. Recognition.
Slowly and deliberately he raised his hands to his wrists and very obviously twisted the release on his power claws, the connectors falling away as with two heavy thuds they landed on the ground. He was still far from harmless, he knew that, they knew that, but it was a symbol.
"Why have you come here, traitor." The Prognosticar spoke evenly, but he could feel the frustration behind the words. That was no fault of his own in truth, he had not hidden his arrival, but he had to conceal why he departed in the first place or risk death.
"To ensure an end" he replied "and perhaps to bargain for my own life."
The Silver Skull's eyes slid over to the coffin, curiosity warring with suspicion. One hand still raised in the air for peace, his other slunk down an array of controls and pressed one, a panel sliding away to reveal the face of the occupant.
It was bruised and broken, covered in blood, one eye had burst from the immense pressures exerted on the owner's skull and yet the entombed was still unmistakable.
Kor Phaeron.
"You expect us to believe" the Prognisticar's words were tinged with disbelief "that you came all the way here to buy your life for his?"
He laughed, shaking his head. "No, ensuring he dies and bargaining for my life are two different things. If you think you know what it is to hate" his still-armoured fist slammed into the wall, the warriors an instant away from firing as the sonorous ringing spread from the impact "this worm, you cannot even comprehend, the depths of my grudge."
He was breathing heavily, fury that had only recently been expended surging once again, but this time he forced it back down, sealing the coffin completely, standing still and looking at the Skulls.
"I surrender to you, and await" he let out a rueful chuckle "judgement."
The Prognosticar waited for a moment, considering or scrying, then nodded to the Legion Breakers. Several walked forward and took the coffin from his hands as one stepped behind him.
"We accept" the Prognosticar said "but judgement is not mine to give Eliphas."
He felt a blinding pain and a crack as darkness fell. It was an impressive strike, to knock him out in a single blow.
======================================================================
He awoke with a pounding headache to the rattling of chains as he scrambled to his feet. His terminator armour was gone, he was dressed only in simple clothes made for a Space Marine's stature.
Relaxing momentarily he took in the room. A prison cell, with no visible entrance or exit, with silver walls, silver floors and a silver roof. A washroom to one side, a bed and an appropriately sized table with a pair of chairs. No doubt he was being monitored even now, privacy is reserved for the trusted and he was certainly not in that camp.
Still, he was calm, a sort of acceptance had come over him as he'd made his plans over the broken body of Kor Pharon. It had been strange. Peaceful, a sensation he'd experienced little in his long, frustrated life.
He closed his eyes and slumped against the wall of his cell, sitting on the bed and letting his muscles relax. He was alive for now. Maybe he would be in the future as well. He would have to see and somehow, he was less afraid now than when he had the certainty and assurances of Chaos that his death would be impermanent.
"Strange you let your guard down in such a manner."
His eyes flung open as he heard the softly murmured utterance, his gaze darting around the cell as he searched for any sign of who had spoken. There were no speakers he could see, his senses found nothing nor could he discern where the speech had originated from.
"Over here."
Then he could. There was no discernable change, he could just…notice the massive figure brooding by the table.
A pale visage in sable black armour, significantly more wearied and lined than when he had first glimpsed the speaker 15,000 years ago, at a triumph of the great work they had built.
He felt ice enter his veins, forcing himself to stand against the immense weight of the chains that bound him, but he staggered forward nonetheless until he could sit in the chair opposite to the Primarch of the Raven Guard, whose void black eyes gazed at him with vorpal edge.
"To what do I owe the honour?"
The Primarch sneered, fingers twitching, before a smirk appeared on his face.
"Tell me, Eliphas how many Word Bearers remain who were there during the Great Crusade?"
He frowned, shaking his head. "There not many that I'm sure of. The majority were on Sicarius and died there. Depending on the definition there may only be two. Or one."
"Correct." Corvus's words dripped with satisfaction, the kind achieved after a task long begun has come to an end. Or is about to.
"You are the last of Lorgar's brood, Kor Phareon, is another matter. When I had time I intended to hunt him down myself, you have saved me that effort. You said you did not wish to buy your life with his, but it has secured you a stay of execution nonetheless."
The Raven Lord stood, and although one of the shorter primarchs he still towered over Eliphas, who felt the ice in his veins start to pierce his will.
"You will show me why you came and then I will render long overdue judgement on your legion."
A hand that could still cradle his entire head was placed atop his own, his breathing becoming strained.
The Primarch's gaze bore down on him as he spoke inside his mind. "Do not resist."
Not that he would if he could.
All he could do was think back to the day, however long ago it was.
He'd been drinking. Drowning his sorrows, gazing blankly into the middle distance…trying to forget. He was no fool, he'd been a dark apostate. He'd forgotten more about Chaos than most could even begin to learn, so when Be'lakor had struck, bound a God, broken unity…
He knew it was over.
He'd been a victim of Chaos long enough to realise what this meant. He'd lost enough to know when fracture points appeared in the power of Chaos, so strong until the moment they turned on each other like wolves. Not that he was different. He'd done it many a time, he'd exploited it to his benefit.
And now it would doom them all.
What had been the point…to any of it?
He was roused from his stupor by a portal opening, long-honed instincts forcing him to rise, to confront the interloper, as a wisened, hideous face grinned back at him.
"Peace, peace my dear grandson, no…Inheritor of my child's legacy."
Kor Phareon. The father of the Primarch, First Captain, Dark Cardinal, Keeper of the Faith…the start to darkness. They all knew it. They could see how he had treated Lorgar, even as he pretended to serve him, the small abuses that were still heaped on the one he claimed as his son.
How many had his honied words destroyed? How many had he twisted amongst his own "grandchildren." And in the end, where had he been when his son died? He'd fled. As always he only cared for himself.
Now he was here, speaking those twisted words. Praise for him, for the foresight of Lorgar, whispering of the opportunity they had to raise themselves again, to create a legion reborn. How he would give him power unimaginable.
He could barely hear the words. There was a ringing in his ears. His vision was tinged with black as long constrained, burrowed fury started to burst forth, screams echoing within his mind, as he thought to what this man's words had wrought.
Kor Phaeron was standing close, dressed in Terminator armour, boiling with the favour of Chaos…but he was no true Astartes or warrior.
Eliphas let the black claim him, his mind went dark with anger, not the rage of Khorne, but his own seemingly bottomless well of vitriol. He saw himself plunge his power claws through the back of Kor Pharon, flinging him through objects smashing his face into the wall of his quarters again and again and again until it was little more than a bloody wreckage.
He came to screaming and crying. Hot tears pouring from his eyes, as he stood over the broken body of Kor Pharon, moments from death. He raised his foot over his head to deliver the final blow, only to stop. One so favoured by chaos was unlikely to die to this and he wouldn't trust his own methods, steeped as they were in chaos weighed against Kor Pharon's favour…
His mind whirled, as he forced the broken sorcerer into a specifically modified dreadnought sarcophagus that he'd commissioned thousands of years ago to contain prisoners.
He had an idea. Maybe it would work, maybe not. But, he was doomed regardless.
With a gasp he fell bonelessly to the table, the Primarch dropping him unceremoniously, gazing at him with suspicious eyes, taking his seat once again.
"Sufficient?" He hissed. His entire skull felt like it had been probed through with needles, then sealed with adhesive, thinking itself hurt.
"Not entirely." Corvus Corax was frowning, maybe perturbed more likely annoyed. "You have a strong mind. Seeing your memories is easy, determining through actual thoughts in the instant is much harder. I think you do it entirely subconsciously."
Eliphas could offer no response, opting simply to lie on the table and moan as the pain slowly faded away.
"Tell me then. What caused this change? You have served chaos for 15,000 years and done so with glee. What possible reason could there be to turn your back on it now? Hate for Kor Pharon is unlikely to be sufficient."
Gulping, he turned watery eyes to the Primarch before pulling himself back into a sitting position, mustering what dignity he could, blinking the last remnants of pain from his mind.
"Do you know…how I was given my title?"
"No."
"A joke, from Lorgar. I had risen to command of the forces on Kronus after my superior was killed. After my failure, he mocked that I would only inherit my authority." His fingers curled into a fist.
"For a very long time, it is as you say Primarch, I served Chaos with all the fanaticism that only a Word Bearer can display. I drenched worlds in blood and served willingly and loyally."
As he spoke a tightness sized his throat, his words difficult to speak as he practically choked on them. "And yet, what was the reward for that loyalty? For me and my kin!?"
"I was condemned to thousands of years within the Basilica of Torment, for the amusement of my Father, and when at last I earned my freedom, what then? Nothing. Chaos has never granted me or my kin victory. This is our legacy, our inheritance."
He couldn't help himself as tears began to flow, his breathing fast, chest convulsing either from laughter or sobbing he could not even tell. "We sacrificed everything. Because we BELIEVED! And it was for nothing, worse than nothing. That is the legacy we leave behind. My…inheritance.
Corvus Corax looked upon him, a mixture of disgust and surprise clear on his face.
Gasping for air, he locked eyes with the Primarch the black voids looking unafraid into his own his tear-stained, bloodshot orbs. "If it is true that I am the last then, yes it is my inheritance…and I will stomach it no longer. I will cut myself from it, from what I was."
He stood, leaning forward with both his hands on the table, hunched over like a beast, speaking with desperate fervour. "I don't want to die, but neither do I want to continue like…this. The executor of an accursed, pointless misery that binds and torments me and all others." His horse voice collapsed, straining to continue speaking as thoughts and emotions long buried, building up were finally expressed. Aeons of resentment animating his own spiteful misdeeds finally came crashing forth.
"And you think you deserve it?"
His response came as a parched, desperate whisper. "I don't even know. Only that I don't want to die…not now."
The Primarch's lips thinned, as he scowled, before vanishing as if he was never there.
Eliphas rested. He was exhausted. More so than he'd ever imagined possible. He'd fought entire wars that had taxed him less…
He waited, he rested, he meditated and ate food that seemed to simply materialise from nowhere.
Perhaps he'd been forgotten. Maybe this was the Primarch's twisted punishment. He'd live, but be trapped, forever.
Then, suddenly a wall opened. A hidden door that he'd never even imagined was there swung open, a scarred visage entering the room.
Jaghati Khan.
"Eliphas the Inheritor, you are called for final judgment. Come."
Without a single backward glance, the Warhawk spun on his heel marching from the cell, Eliphas following, looking at his chains in surprise. Somehow they were not as heavy as before.
Unable to puzzle out this mystery he followed, still barely keeping up with the Primarch's longer stride and breakneck pace. Now he was outside of his prison he still was in the dark as to where he was. The Imperium Quartus, the Silver Skulls? It was advanced that all he could discern, but there were no windows or identifying symbols he could use.
He was just about to try and ask the Primarch where they were going when they arrived at a pair of detailed and engraved doors that opened soundlessly.
Looking within he felt his mouth drop.
Sitting on a dias rising from the floor were five thrones, each one personalised and intricate in their ways, and sitting upon them with graven expressions were four of the five remaining loyalists.
Jaghati Khan swiftly joined them, as Roboute Gulimann spoke with an undeniable and overwhelming dignity. "Long has it been since I judged a Word Bearer. You were there when I did so were you not."
He grimaced. He could remember it still, the taste of ashes in his mouth, the indignation and humiliation as he knelt in the dust of their greatest work, the blank expression on the Primarch's face then seemed mocking beyond all words…now he didn't know. Perhaps he was simply hiding his self-hatred.
"Then let us begin, our decision is made. You will find it fair I hope."
"We have heard the testimony of our brother and listened to your words for ourselves" Leman Russ spoke. "Your actions are undeniable, and whether bound to our Kin or no you still acted of your own free will, for the most part." He sniffed the air, giving Eliphas a toothy grin.
"Some of us decided that was sufficient to demand your death regardless, others argued for clemency. Forgiveness is something that must be earned, and sometimes that can only occur in a new dawn." Vulkan spoke, the imposing Primarch's voice echoed through the hall, his expression impossible to read. Perhaps glowering, or merely contemplative, his voice seemed to assign no judgement.
"In the end, we agreed on one thing. To sever the legacy of Lorgar. Whatever our thoughts on you, if you shall squander this chance, or rise to it does not matter. We are unified in this decision." Jaghati Khan spoke, a softly contented smile etched into his mutilated face, as the sole silent Primarch stood.
He stood, picking up a dark spear that he had laid across his lap walking down to him, weapon at the ready, before proffering it to him.
Questions were on his lips, but he held them back and took the spear as Corvus pointed to what lay before the Primarchs, that he somehow had not noticed until just then, so distracted had he been.
The coffin that contained Kor Pharon.
"You wish to live? You wish to sever yourself from Lorgar's legacy, from Chaos itself? Very well" Corvus Corax spoke behind him as he began to take halting steps towards the coffin.
"Before you is the last Priest of Colchis, the one who began our brother's slide into madness, when he took from a group of desert nomads a child they named Rain Caller. The heart of darkness, the source of your inheritance."
He stood over the coffin and pressed the sequence of buttons required to unlock it, the stasis locks disengaging, as he held the spear tight in his hand.
"Take the weapon of Chaos's eternal enemy. And sever that legacy."
He looked down at the still-broken face of Kor Pharon. He could hear the blood pounding in his ears, see every twitch as the man's consciousness gradually returned."
He felt as though he was standing on the edge of a bottomless cliff, overlooking an endless sea, as nausea and fear tore through him…
He took a breath.
Kor Pharon's one remaining eye opened and took him in, standing there spear poised above his blackened heart.
Eliphas held his breath. The lapping waves of the ocean in his mind faded away. He brought down the spear.
Kor Pharon jerked, trembling reaching for power that suddenly was gone, as in a few seconds he died, as simple and perfunctory as turning off a light.
Eliphas let out the breath, he felt weightless. Like he'd been trapped, crushed tight by some invisible bond.
He withdrew the spear, red with Kor Pharon's blood, the Primarchs looking at him, their expressions still mostly uncertain, but satisfaction obvious within their gazes.
=================================================================================================================================================================
Thanks @Durin
This one's been on the brain for a while, a final send off to Lorgar's legacy. And fulfilment of a promise I made
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