Strange Blooms (Warhammer 40k Tyranid Quest)

I'm not sure how much we should tell him, but we could frame the Tyrant thing in a positive light. Or at least in such a way that might make them less likely to freak out.

That the Hive Tyrant attacked him with it's psychic powers, and that Cyrus could somehow fight back. That he battled it, and defeated it. With human concepts and experiences that were alien and impossible for a Tyranid. That now it's gone, but the flesh remains under our control. As if it were an extension of his own body.

This is just my first take on it. Maybe my mind will change as it goes on, but I'm unsure about how the Mechanicus would react to this. Even if we framed it in a way that would eliminate doubt.
I'm leaning towards the same take myself, with a sort of emotional context in terms of Cyrus's Drives. He's got low Duty, he doesn't follow or respect or love Hakor because he's his father who raised him and he's a dutiful son. In fact his arrangement of Drives tells me him and Hakor probably butt heads more often than not and Cyrus is not exactly inclined to follow Hakor without question, but they still have a functional relationship.

In support of that I'm thinking that regardless of the exact form the tale takes, whether All or Some, Cyrus will be doing it because Hakor is his dad, he genuinely does love Hakor in some way, and robo-dad deserves at least some kind of explanation that isn't total bullshit because that's the right thing to do (i.e Justice).

E: Plus, it seems he intends to talk his son through the fact that "Yeah, you're a psyker". Which is its own bigass can of worms.
 
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I'm leaning towards the same take myself, with a sort of emotional context in terms of Cyrus's Drives. He's got low Duty, he doesn't follow or respect or love Hakor because he's his father who raised him and he's a dutiful son. In fact his arrangement of Drives tells me him and Hakor probably butt heads more often than not and Cyrus is not exactly inclined to follow Hakor without question, but they still have a functional relationship.

In support of that I'm thinking that regardless of the exact form the tale takes, whether All or Some, Cyrus will be doing it because Hakor is his dad, he genuinely does love Hakor in some way, and robo-dad deserves at least some kind of explanation that isn't total bullshit because that's the right thing to do (i.e Justice).

E: Plus, it seems he intends to talk his son through the fact that "Yeah, you're a psyker". Which is its own bigass can of worms.
I'd like to say that I think bungie makes a good point here, which I should have brought up in my A/N: Consider your Drives when you make your choice.
 
We could admit to psykery, but just handwave the details. It's something that isn't really understood by anyone, and it'd certainly go better than lying to them if the know Cyrus is a Psyker.

So, how does his Drives play into it?

Justice->Faith->Power->Truth->Duty



Justice: Justice is a your dedication to fairness, balance, the punishment of evil and the righting of wrongs.
Faith: Faith is the degree to which you dedicate yourself to and draw strength from a higher power or principle, whether the Emperor, the betterment of humankind or something else.
Power: Power represents your drive towards influence and authority, as well as you internal self-confidence and strength of ego.
Truth: Truth represents the importance you place places upon the pursuit of knowledge, your abiding curiosity and drive to understand the universe and others, even if those truths would be terrible.
Duty: Duty is the degree to which you feel bound to honor your place in society, pay respect to your superiors and inferiors, as well as the importance you place on obligations and personal responsibilities.

Okay…

I don't really know where to start, so I'll just start rambling.

Justice and Faith might be problematic, depending on how Cyrus views Psykers and the reactions of his superiors here. If he can be convinced that he is a danger, and that he's 'wrong', then I can see him going along any restrictions they may place on him.

Though his boost to Power, and his low Duty, maybe mitigates that?

Truth doesn't seem like it should be something we should put heavy emphasis on. Discovery for the sake of discovery. The Hive Tyrant's body could be used to learn things, and it's ability to 'taste' things as well.

Our choice that got us Rho-Eta 9 as an Asset was also a boost to Understand, which seems to be along the lines of Truth.

The Mantras from Magos Hakor are Discipline right? Which has skills like Composure, Concentration, and Endure. That doesn't really give us any Drives, though I would say that it's a safe bet that Cyrus is an exception with how low his Truth is.

So do we focus on the mysteries? Cyrus' battle with it, his relationship with the body, and it's capabilities?

I don't think that should be the main thrust of what he says though.

I'm thinking we basically tell them everything. How Cyrus is a bit lost, and has moments where his new reality intrudes in his daily life. But I don't think it's a good idea to make these people doubt Cyrus. So we should pivot to making it about Cyrus wanting to get use out of this change. Gaining a new understanding of their enemy and the life of Covyria. Using the Hive Tyrant as an asset in their struggle against the invasion. For the good of the planet.

That could backfire, but I feel like it'd at least be true to Cyrus. Maybe it'd help with rolls, if it's important to stick to Drives?

That's all I have for tonight. The only thing I have to comment on is this:
5 successes, 4 spent towards friendlier relations with Ymedall (4/8).
It would make sense to me that this will play a part in getting a Medicae Kit. Or at least having her as an Asset like Rho-Eta 9, which may open up the door to getting the Kit.
 
Justice and Faith might be problematic, depending on how Cyrus views Psykers and the reactions of his superiors here. If he can be convinced that he is a danger, and that he's 'wrong', then I can see him going along any restrictions they may place on him.

Though his boost to Power, and his low Duty, maybe mitigates that?
I think it does. His Duty is his lowest Drive; he just flatly does not do things because some higher power tells him he is supposed to. He is imbued into the culture of the Imperium as one of its citizens but Covyria frankly seems like a bit of a backwater, and its pretty obvious that they both know he's a psyker and want to talk to him about it what with Hakor being pretty clear about secondary concerns and the implications there. Both of these people also care for Cyrus, and are essentially his dad and his funny doctor uncle.

Justice has to do with what's right, an idea of fairness or balance in the universe, and Faith in the context of Cyrus is the sort of in a sense emotionally simple quest for knowledge of the Mechanicus. The skills aren't really tied to the Drives, that's simply not how the system works, and as we know his Power Drive is based on the idea that he wants to survive to do and see more. To grow as a person. His Truth just ended up where it was because Truth is a means for him to decompress without stress and just tinker with things.

So I think in some sense he believes that rightness can be found in the Quest for Knowledge, but also that it is right to protect his friends, to help people, and to give some kind of information to his robo-dad not because its what he's supposed to but because Hakor is someone he cares about and who deserves to know. There's also the consideration of, why these two put in the cranial implants: they've been in Cyrus for a long time IIRC so this has probably been a thing Hakor and Rho-Eta knew about for a while and the both of them do genuinely seem happy he's not a drooling vegetable or otherwise seriously harmed which is a point in their favor given they seem to know he's a psyker when he doesn't.

Plus, this is the mechanicus, and there's actually very little lore that I can recall on them being explicitly harmful to Psykers (other than being the folks who maintain the apparati of the Golden Throne and other technical devices of the imperium which make use of psykers), to psykers in and of themselves in the same way the Ecclesiarchal dogma proclaims.

-[] All. He would reveal everything that had happened to him, and his new state of existence.
--[] Write in: Start at the beginning, be factual, be truthful. When it comes to the battle with the Tyrant, he's pretty sure that was a psychic duel of some kind and that he beat it with memories of human experience, need, and the doctrine of the God-Machine. How its mind is gone, and the flesh now under his control like some servitor or similar device. He's probably some kind of psyker, and he's not ignorant to the fact they probably knew that, but an opportunity to do the right thing, to protect Covyria, his friends, and to advance the Quest for Knowledge has effectively landed in his lap and he needs help to make use of it. Present this as an opportunity, if a terrifying and disturbing one.

Basically, I think we can trust these two. They could have killed Cyrus when they realized he was a mutant or abused him, and crucially they don't seem to have, and more than indifference seem to actually care about his well being. If nothing else I think Rho-Eta will be on his side and Hakor seems to respect Rho-Eta.

E: To be clear, I'm basically aiming for using Justice or Faith here if we need to roll something.
 
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-[X] All. He would reveal everything that had happened to him, and his new state of existence.
--[X] Write in: Start at the beginning, be factual, be truthful. When it comes to the battle with the Tyrant, he's pretty sure that was a psychic duel of some kind and that he beat it with memories of human experience, need, and the doctrine of the God-Machine. How its mind is gone, and the flesh now under his control like some servitor or similar device. He's probably some kind of psyker, and he's not ignorant to the fact they probably knew that, but an opportunity to do the right thing, to protect Covyria, his friends, and to advance the Quest for Knowledge has effectively landed in his lap and he needs help to make use of it. Present this as an opportunity, if a terrifying and disturbing one.
Don't vote yet, please.
 
Personally, I don't think I'm in favor of openly expressing the Tyranid thing. Justice doesn't seem to apply, but Faith in the Imperium and the Mechanicus centers in part around abhorring the Xenos, and claiming such a close connection with a Xenos monster known, in particular, for seeding cults which believe they can influence them seems like it's as likely to be grounds for imprisonment and aggressive testing as anything else. Better to just stick to the psyker thing, which at least has established non-dissection protocols for interaction.
 
-[X] All. He would reveal everything that had happened to him, and his new state of existence.
--[X] Write in: Start at the beginning, be factual, be truthful. When it comes to the battle with the Tyrant, he's pretty sure that was a psychic duel of some kind and that he beat it with memories of human experience, need, and the doctrine of the God-Machine. How its mind is gone, and the flesh now under his control like some servitor or similar device. He's probably some kind of psyker, and he's not ignorant to the fact they probably knew that, but an opportunity to do the right thing, to protect Covyria, his friends, and to advance the Quest for Knowledge has effectively landed in his lap and he needs help to make use of it. Present this as an opportunity, if a terrifying and disturbing one.
 
-[X] All. He would reveal everything that had happened to him, and his new state of existence.
--[X] Write in: Start at the beginning, be factual, be truthful. When it comes to the battle with the Tyrant, he's pretty sure that was a psychic duel of some kind and that he beat it with memories of human experience, need, and the doctrine of the God-Machine. How its mind is gone, and the flesh now under his control like some servitor or similar device. He's probably some kind of psyker, and he's not ignorant to the fact they probably knew that, but an opportunity to do the right thing, to protect Covyria, his friends, and to advance the Quest for Knowledge has effectively landed in his lap and he needs help to make use of it. Present this as an opportunity, if a terrifying and disturbing one.
 
-[X] All. He would reveal everything that had happened to him, and his new state of existence.
--[X] Write in: Start at the beginning, be factual, be truthful. When it comes to the battle with the Tyrant, he's pretty sure that was a psychic duel of some kind and that he beat it with memories of human experience, need, and the doctrine of the God-Machine. How its mind is gone, and the flesh now under his control like some servitor or similar device. He's probably some kind of psyker, and he's not ignorant to the fact they probably knew that, but an opportunity to do the right thing, to protect Covyria, his friends, and to advance the Quest for Knowledge has effectively landed in his lap and he needs help to make use of it. Present this as an opportunity, if a terrifying and disturbing one.
 
-[X] All. He would reveal everything that had happened to him, and his new state of existence.
--[X] Write in: Start at the beginning, be factual, be truthful. When it comes to the battle with the Tyrant, he's pretty sure that was a psychic duel of some kind and that he beat it with memories of human experience, need, and the doctrine of the God-Machine. How its mind is gone, and the flesh now under his control like some servitor or similar device. He's probably some kind of psyker, and he's not ignorant to the fact they probably knew that, but an opportunity to do the right thing, to protect Covyria, his friends, and to advance the Quest for Knowledge has effectively landed in his lap and he needs help to make use of it. Present this as an opportunity, if a terrifying and disturbing one.
 
-[X] All. He would reveal everything that had happened to him, and his new state of existence.
--[X] Write in: Start at the beginning, be factual, be truthful. When it comes to the battle with the Tyrant, he's pretty sure that was a psychic duel of some kind and that he beat it with memories of human experience, need, and the doctrine of the God-Machine. How its mind is gone, and the flesh now under his control like some servitor or similar device. He's probably some kind of psyker, and he's not ignorant to the fact they probably knew that, but an opportunity to do the right thing, to protect Covyria, his friends, and to advance the Quest for Knowledge has effectively landed in his lap and he needs help to make use of it. Present this as an opportunity, if a terrifying and disturbing one.
 
-[X] All. He would reveal everything that had happened to him, and his new state of existence.
--[X] Write in: Start at the beginning, be factual, be truthful. When it comes to the battle with the Tyrant, he's pretty sure that was a psychic duel of some kind and that he beat it with memories of human experience, need, and the doctrine of the God-Machine. How its mind is gone, and the flesh now under his control like some servitor or similar device. He's probably some kind of psyker, and he's not ignorant to the fact they probably knew that, but an opportunity to do the right thing, to protect Covyria, his friends, and to advance the Quest for Knowledge has effectively landed in his lap and he needs help to make use of it. Present this as an opportunity, if a terrifying and disturbing one.
 
-[X] All. He would reveal everything that had happened to him, and his new state of existence.
--[X] Write in: Start at the beginning, be factual, be truthful. When it comes to the battle with the Tyrant, he's pretty sure that was a psychic duel of some kind and that he beat it with memories of human experience, need, and the doctrine of the God-Machine. How its mind is gone, and the flesh now under his control like some servitor or similar device. He's probably some kind of psyker, and he's not ignorant to the fact they probably knew that, but an opportunity to do the right thing, to protect Covyria, his friends, and to advance the Quest for Knowledge has effectively landed in his lap and he needs help to make use of it. Present this as an opportunity, if a terrifying and disturbing one.
 
-[X] All. He would reveal everything that had happened to him, and his new state of existence.
--[X] Write in: Start at the beginning, be factual, be truthful. When it comes to the battle with the Tyrant, he's pretty sure that was a psychic duel of some kind and that he beat it with memories of human experience, need, and the doctrine of the God-Machine. How its mind is gone, and the flesh now under his control like some servitor or similar device. He's probably some kind of psyker, and he's not ignorant to the fact they probably knew that, but an opportunity to do the right thing, to protect Covyria, his friends, and to advance the Quest for Knowledge has effectively landed in his lap and he needs help to make use of it. Present this as an opportunity, if a terrifying and disturbing one.
 
-[X] All. He would reveal everything that had happened to him, and his new state of existence.
--[X] Write in: Start at the beginning, be factual, be truthful. When it comes to the battle with the Tyrant, he's pretty sure that was a psychic duel of some kind and that he beat it with memories of human experience, need, and the doctrine of the God-Machine. How its mind is gone, and the flesh now under his control like some servitor or similar device. He's probably some kind of psyker, and he's not ignorant to the fact they probably knew that, but an opportunity to do the right thing, to protect Covyria, his friends, and to advance the Quest for Knowledge has effectively landed in his lap and he needs help to make use of it. Present this as an opportunity, if a terrifying and disturbing one.

Yer a psyker, Cyrus.
 
-[X] All. He would reveal everything that had happened to him, and his new state of existence.
--[X] Write in: Start at the beginning, be factual, be truthful. When it comes to the battle with the Tyrant, he's pretty sure that was a psychic duel of some kind and that he beat it with memories of human experience, need, and the doctrine of the God-Machine. How its mind is gone, and the flesh now under his control like some servitor or similar device. He's probably some kind of psyker, and he's not ignorant to the fact they probably knew that, but an opportunity to do the right thing, to protect Covyria, his friends, and to advance the Quest for Knowledge has effectively landed in his lap and he needs help to make use of it. Present this as an opportunity, if a terrifying and disturbing one.

Let's see how these fun consequences go.
 
1.2 Vote Tally
Adhoc vote count started by QafianSage on Jun 9, 2021 at 3:32 PM, finished with 22 posts and 10 votes.

  • -[X] All. He would reveal everything that had happened to him, and his new state of existence.
    --[X] Write in: Start at the beginning, be factual, be truthful. When it comes to the battle with the Tyrant, he's pretty sure that was a psychic duel of some kind and that he beat it with memories of human experience, need, and the doctrine of the God-Machine. How its mind is gone, and the flesh now under his control like some servitor or similar device. He's probably some kind of psyker, and he's not ignorant to the fact they probably knew that, but an opportunity to do the right thing, to protect Covyria, his friends, and to advance the Quest for Knowledge has effectively landed in his lap and he needs help to make use of it. Present this as an opportunity, if a terrifying and disturbing one.

Another unanimous result for trusting robo-dad!
 
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