After a teary reunion with lots of hugs - which involved an awkward moment where you both realize that your standards of strength have drifted over the years and you both have to mutually adjust how hard you squeeze - you are given a robe and brought a bit up to speed on current events. The first part is that when they first found you they couldn't really move your limbs and while you had originally been in a less public place there had been "incidents" that had eventually caused your body to be moved to display. You're honestly not sure that you will be able to catch up with all of the various crazy details, but it is definite that you have been made a figure in the cult around Grave Keeper, a subject of veneration. Most of it relating to just how screwed up things got in the aftermath and shortly after.
Someone - almost certainly Mag - used the Authority satellite phone to call for help. While it was primarily Ukko dropped scouts at first, allowing for the recovery of your petrified body and Memento Mori from the half disintegrated remains of your construct, other scouting got into the area. Your mother also cleaned up and interrogated the remnants of the raider band, and people put together what pieces they had and figured that the Ordained One had somehow created some sort of monstrous biological construct that you had fought to the death, at the cost of being put into some sort of weird coma. Unfortunately while you had killed the Progenitor, from its corpse had come the dragons.
It was a general consensus that the only good thing about the dragons was that they had a strong preference for killing Eldar, which meant that when they wanted to raid they couldn't use the forest to operate out of and thus were a bit easier to deal with. Of course the flip side to that was the reason that the dragons went after the Eldar with such gusto: reproduction. While the common person wasn't aware of exactly how the dragons reproduced, Anna sure as hell did as Duchess of the Green Owl Nation: the dragons spun cocoons around victims that would eventually grow and undergo metamorphosis to become the "hearts" of new dragons. Most humans produced dragons that were "merely" dangerous apex predators, but Eldar and human psykers could give birth to phenomenally dangerous specimens capable of outlandish feats like breath fire or lightning or fly with too small wings or any number of other things that are recognizable as having psychic origins.
As for the people used as Warp energy taps... well, unless the process could be interrupted early enough, there was rarely much of anything left of them. At least, nothing worth calling a person.
In considering it all, while you have accidentally unleashed a new apex predator upon the world that has by all accounts inflicted a horrifically torturous death upon thousands and killed tens of thousands more, you also know that the scales are still heavily weighted against your guilt. You feel bad for the loss of life, but the consequences of anything less than what you did would have killed everyone on the planet and condemned them to an eternity of torment in the Plague God's realm, to suffer from every affliction ever brewed up as a twisted "kindness". Still, considering the logical if wrong story that people have built up around you and the general hatred you are getting from Anna about the dragons and the damage they do, you should probably keep your precise role in their origin close to your chest.
Speaking of psykers, while the repeated outpourings of Warp energy a few decades ago has taken a bat to the human genome, the number of mutants and psykers has not grown out of control... mostly due to the fact outside of all their other problems they tend to be dragon bait and thus most of the surviving settlements will kill or drive them out on their own initiative if they encounter them.
Oh, and there was also an incursion by a new alien species. Looking like giant specimens of a variety of insects from pre-Spaceflight Terra, the "Mantis" had been fighting with the remnants of the old Starcom people. While there had only ever been one major push for a ground campaign that had ended with the Mantis army scattered and a some half-hearted orbital bombardment, the orbits had been too hotly contested by the "Belters" for them to line up to do real damage, although they had made things miserable for a few years. Still, they would occasionally come down for raids where they would abduct people for mysterious purposes. The Belters were also a rather big nuisance in Anna's opinion because they tended to "play games" on the surface. They had been kicked away from the asteroid mines and habitats for the most part, but they retained their technological and manufacturing capacity, so they would trade tech for resources from the surface, often intentionally playing various factions against each other to maintain a balance of power. The Green Owl space program had been put on the back burner for the most part to keep the Belters from deciding that they were too dangerous and dropping bombs from orbit. By all accounts the Belters had deliberately spread aerospace fighter manufacturing expertise across Dandriss just to ensure that there would be competitors in the skies for you.
This got into politics, and how the Era of Anarchy was generally over, having given way to a feudal system. While Dandriss had had a system of peerage from the beginning modelled on ancient nobility, it had since become more solidified and real. The post-Starfall status quo of there being small patches of survivors scattered in the smaller settlements had given way to concentration in the major settlements. Only big players like Green Owl, Indigo Hammer, the Black Thorn Regulars, or the Authority Remnant could reliably maintain multiple settlements in the face of the numerous dangers. Trade between settlements within the same nation was difficult, and international trade was a dangerous affair, with only big groups like the South Woods Company that had ties to government and whose caravans were practically military expeditions of their own.
Incidentally, your shares have been held in trust for the past thirty-five years - mostly as a marketing gimmick - so according to Anna you are currently worth more than Greengraft was when you were both ten.
Politics turns to darker places too. Elsa and Andraste... mom had gone into hibernation a year before the Mantis arrived, having no idea what was coming, and without her or you there, Anna had floundered in trying to rein in their Eldar inspired bad behaviour. Filled with a lust for life and ambitions that could not be cooled, they had both spent much of their early adulthoods either plotting against the rest of the family or gathering resources for what they had done in their early adulthoods, which was to go conquer their own territories. While theoretically allies and even eligible for election, each now basically ruled as queen of their own nation. By all accounts Andraste was attempting to produce her own subspecies of giants personally and via her children, while Elsa had been causing problems with allowing generally antisocial behaviour to flourish in her territory.
In better news Victoria was currently Prime Minister of Green Owl and Rowena had found a calling in the Diplomatic Corps and they both had happy, healthy family lives. Anna was rather more circumspect about her own family life, but she assured you that she had plenty of children who she couldn't wait for you to meet... eventually.
The political and family talk has now lead you to the question of "Now what?" You're a religious icon for the most part, not a member of the clergy - although there are a few people who remember working with you all those years ago in senior positions now - and that puts you in an awkward position since there is a very real possibility of accidentally sparking a religious schism and civil war if you just come out and say "Hey guys, I'm awake now!" While you obviously can't be hidden away, Anna suggests possibly taking up a role where you will not necessarily be around any of the central cities all the time. She knows about your psychic abilities, and while she will post whatever forces are needed to keep you safe from dragons, she also wonders if you might possibly have any input on how to deal with the other psykers that pop up.
Your plans...
[] Take up an advisory role (Become Anna's Psychic Adviser)
[] "You said I had enough money to buy a settlement..." (Become Baroness of a new settlement)
[] "No, I should work to deal with the religious issues first and foremost" (Personal action type turns)
Also, XP expenditure
Last encounter earned you 20 XP to be spent on powers and traits
Time spent thinking as a statue has also earned you 4 XP to be used on traits only
Least powers cost 1 XP
Lesser cost 2 XP
Standard cost 4 XP
Advanced cost 8 XP
Greater cost 12 XP
Biomancy Alter Genetics - Can grant or remove genetic traits. Lower levels improve the odds for unborn children, high levels allow the alteration of even full grown adults. Enervation - Channel biokinetic energy. Lower levels can stun and fatigue foes, higher levels allow for the generation of psychokinetic lightning storms Harden Flesh - Increase the density of flesh to improve armour or even allow bare limbs to parry. Higher levels also improve damage from melee attacks. Invigoration - Enhances the physical body, improving function. Lower levels can improve combat ability, higher levels can improve mental ability. Rejuvenation - Repairs physical damage and removes physical and mental fatigue, can eventually lead to constant repair and even regeneration of lost limbs/organs. Can be applied to the self or others.
Divination Clairvoyance - Extend your senses beyond the confines of your body, with higher levels offering greater range, detail, and channels (sight, hearing, etc.) Fortune - Alter fate to your favour, gaining bonuses to a single roll at first, but growing into scene longs and rerolls Future Telling - Predict the future via ritual, higher levels giving more detail over longer periods Precognition - Scene long bonuses to combat and eventually diplomacy to represent being able to predict actions before they are taken Psychometry - Scan objects, places, and people for information about their past. Higher levels gain more detail and range of time back. Also allows for the detection and eventual quantification of corruption
Pyromancy Agitation - Increase heat directly via molecular agitation rather than applying flame. Starts at inflicting fatigue, eventually becomes like a melta beam. Sustainable Control Flame - Manipulate pre-existing flames and can prevent damage to self from heat. Eventually can form semi-physical objects like barriers or blades of fire. Directly synergetic with Enhance and Produce Flame Enhance Flame - Makes already existing flames more potent. Increases damage from energy sources, and can have the mundane use of improving engine or reactor performance. Directly synergetic with Enhance and Produce Flame Produce Flame - Allows for the production of fire from pure warp energy. Starts as a torch but eventually levels to allow for gigantic fireballs and the like Soul Burn - Energy damage inflicted can burn the soul directly. Starts by improving energy weapon penetration but can improve to deal extra damage and over an area
Telekinesis Barrier - Improves armour, with higher levels improving how much damage can be mitigated and creating larger barriers rather than personal ones Blade - Creates a telekinetic blade of extraordinary sharpness. Early levels enhance pre-existing blades, while higher levels can produce multiple dancing blades of pure telekinetic force Crush - Semi-fine manipulation of matter. Gross force is applied precisely to inflict damage. Low levels can choke a target, high levels can implode them into degenerate matter Hurl - Gross manipulation of matter. Lower levels can knock human sized targets over. Higher levels can juggle vehicles or launch projectiles at hypersonic velocities. Manipulate - Fine manipulation of objects telekinetically. Can start with things like lockpicking or pulling grenade pins, higher levels increase ability to multitask and the resolution of objects manipulated
Telepathy Mind Edit - Alter the minds of others. Starts with making them forget you, ends with the ability to completely rewrite a person's personality. Mind Reading - Read the thoughts of others, with increasing skill allowing for combat and diplomatic bonuses. Can also dig out deeper thoughts at higher levels, including repressed or suppressed memories. Psychic Shriek - Area affecting psychic stun effect that can be focused to do psychic damage against a smaller number of targets at higher levels. Uplink - Allows for telepathic communication, with higher levels improving range towards astrotelepathy Warp Whisper - A contest of minds, with higher levels inflicting more grievous conditions, including brain implosion/explosion. Can backlash on user.
Traits
A fourth discipline costs 4 XP (gives one free least power from the discipline)
The fifth costs an additional 5 XP (gives one free least power from the discipline)
For the psychic disciplines (also give a free power each)
<Discipline> II costs 2 XP
<Discipline> III costs 5 XP
<Discipline> IV costs 9 XP
Favoured by the Warp (may reroll Psychic Phenomenon and choose the result so long as it is not Perils of the Warp) 4 XP
Exemplar of Stability (req. Favoured by the Warp; Psychic Phenomenon reroll now includes Perils of the Warp result) 6 XP
Consistent Phenomenon (choose one of Hoarfrost, Haunting Breeze, Distorted Reflections, Spoilage, or Bloody Tears; the chosen Phenomenon can be substituted for any other Phenomenon rolled [not Perils] if the psyker so chooses) 2 XP
Chaste, 2 XP
Ascetic (req. Chaste), 4 XP
Paragon of Virtue, 8 XP
As with last time, figure out a plan as a whole for XP expenditure and then vote on that rather than piecemeal. Also, this will probably cook for a good week while I take a bit of a break and figure some things out
Well that's actually considerably better than anticipated, though I had hopes we'd be more closely tied to Indigo Hammer.
Such incredibly diverse options demand some extended examination...
We have 4 free 'trait' exp to go with our 20 exp in general. I'm tempted to basically give us immunity to bad warp shit, but that's a combined 10 of our 24, and obviously getting ascetic/paragon right out the gates is a tempting proposition. The potential to unlock pyromancy at least is also tempting, since there's no logical way to practice it with the paradox cube unlike telekinesis.
There's a few basic plans we can go with in terms of trait development:
Psychic powers and Disciplines, either just getting favored or consistant phenoms and pouring the other 22 xp directly into powers and disciplines, preferably pyromancy(Exemplar would be nice, but with deadened, I don't think we can even cause an incursion should a peril come up from phenoms). We can also maybe try to risk destabilizing lustful with chaste attached with this plan, but that's all number crunch efficiency crap at that point.
Trait development, ensuring ascetic and paragon, which is a hefty 14 points, but significantly eases our temper/synth trait plan. It is also prudent to pick up favored by the warp(to hopefully pick up exemplar sometime later, as cockblocking those rare peril rolls is still pretty crucial even with our deadened trait, which we plan on weakening).
There are some possible hybridized exp combos, and with a little more time I might come up with one, but the two extreme paths are laid out fairly well.
In terms of our new goals...
Becoming Anna's adviser has it's perks, it gives us tons of dedicated psychic actions to restore ourselves and help develop our psyker traditions(hopefully those bratty sisters of ours still have some respect for mommy). Unfortunately, we're likely to be the only possible adviser for this and won't be able to easily abdicate for a while, and may be called in to do annoying things that waste our actions since we're subordinate to Anna.
-Other note: Most likely to lead to a militarized handling of psykers as 'strategic assets'
Picking up our own barony has it's perks, in that we could potentially build our psyker traditions without interference from the potential superiors of the other options. Of course, that just makes the family all the more fractal and trickier to put back together under one banner without unsavory means, not to mention we'd only have a barony with people who have at least developed their own culture over the years. It may be difficult to break them in.
-Other note: Probably easiest to make a jedi temple this way, though the dragons would see it as a giant cattle farm
Handling things ourselves gives us more freedom to choose how we act, and given we still have a good chunk of actions, that's a lot of free power to throw in different directions. Of course, we'd still have to spend some time managing the religious aspects of the gravetender religion as a whole, which may have gained a LOT of power even outside of... Green Owl.
-Other note: Become the psychic plant pope of Dandriss, could alter moral values towards psykers very strongly, even outside of our borders. Can give Green Owl a lot of political clout as a living holy icon of one of the predominant religions of the area. Probably gives us the power to toss out Holy War CB's
Also, having a back-from-the-dead religious figure spiriting away kids with special powers for training? Mad cool.
[X] Take up an advisory role (Become Anna's Psychic Adviser)
[X] Take up an advisory role (Become Anna's Psychic Adviser)
This for sure. Gives us the most psyker-related actions, lets us consolidate things while we focus on rebuilding, and lets us keep problems with psykers and dragons from getting out of hand.
Maybe lets us do Dragon Research too, which is probably going to be pretty important. What did we DO?
We already dumped 32 XP on corruption. I think we're good.
But yeah, we should definitely pick up Paragon Of Virtue (because it's amazing) and Chaste at the very least. I want to counteract what the Dark Seer did to us when we ate it.
Remember my theory about how the planet might attempt to eat the emperor or magnus if they ever came here? I guess we can check that off as confirmed. Also I pray to all that is holy and not of the chaos gods that they don't ever come to our planet. Or if they do they don't come planet side. Cause the dragon that could be created from them makes me want to crap my self.