A recent study has demonstrated that the Hives on the various Hive Worlds are grossly inefficient, and your own studies agree. The Mechanicus is also in reluctant agreement. The Hive structures have been badly damaged by the passage of time, and the lack of blueprints mean that what attempts have been made to repair it are, admittedly, stop-gap patches at best. These crumbling edifices are likely to begin total collapse within the next 1000 years, though dedicated efforts at repair over the course of it's remaining existence might extend that up to 11000.
That might sound like quite some time, but they were originally intended to last for far longer. Unfortunately, the chaos of the Age of Strife, the psychic shockwave of Slaanesh' birth, and the simple lack of any major maintenance have ravaged them to the point where quite a few tech-priests regard these Hives as corpses that haven't fallen over yet. This is not to say they would not prefer to at least attempt to repair them, but they acknowledge that these Hives simply cannot sustain a large human population compared to their original designs. Seeing as these are decidedly lacking in… existence among any known Forge-World across the sector, they agree that a new design must be made, at least until one of the old designs is rediscovered.
Your scientists and engineers, within the Mechanicus and without, set to work. With input from both sides of the Scientific Enterprise, as well as a bit of oversight from yourself (popping in for a few minutes every couple days to have a look over their current designs) you have a functioning design at the end of the month.
While most of the 'skeleton' of the structure was adamantium (in order to handle the weights involved), a large amount of other materials were used, in part because of the difficulty of producing adamantium, and in part for the comfort of the future inhabitants. The majority of this is steel and various plastics, but copper sees a great deal of use as well. No anti-gravity tech is used to make sure the construct stays standing, as relying on a system to never fail when it will be used constantly is the height of foolishness, and having multiple redundancies at this size would likely decrease the net living space, not to mention the idea of depending on something other than simple physics when building this tall makes many people nervous.
The systems for the regulation of bio-mass resources, occupying the basement's bottom 30 of the hundred floors, generally followed the same basic procedure, go through some filtration, then be broken down by the replicators and either reconstructed into fertilizer for the farms, which used LED lights to simulate a somewhat more efficient version of true sunlight, or food outright. Mostly the latter for now, as the farms would require time to grow the food. The water had its own section, but only required filtration, generally speaking. This was mostly tended to by servitors, though there were a few tech-priests, along with a few menial workers, who worked to ensure that no corruption seeped in despite the Purity and Order crystals placed at regular intervals. Regular farmers worked in the farms themselves, in part because the tech-priests were much less concerned with corruption on that end, because if the materials were corrupted then the end result would very likely be as well, though mainly because they were more concerned with the STC technology than the fruits and vegetables, and because they were honestly less invested in organics overall.
There was a central reactor near the top of the arcology. Not at the top, as that would leave it relatively vulnerable, but it was placed in one of the utility slots on the 85th through 95th aboveground floors, selected randomly to prevent enemy shots from reliably triggering an explosion unless they'd have reduced the structure to slag anyway. Putting it at the bottom risked a saboteur detonating it and bringing the entire complex down, while the middle was an incredibly obvious location. Of course, putting the entirety of the arcology's electrical systems under the umbrella of a single reactor would be monumentally stupid, especially as the reactor would be diverting most of its power towards the Void Shield generator placed nearby during battles. As such there were numerous lesser reactors, ranging from the vehicle-scale reactors, which were used to power the farms and replicators, and the small 'battery' reactors, which were mainly used for appliances and small turrets and other low-power systems scattered throughout.
On that note, there were Arbiters occupying one of the slots reserved for utility buildings every 5 floors, and like all the other utility buildings (hospitals, schools, firefighters, etc.), they had their own personal teleporters, specifically for the jails and their fellow strongholds of law enforcement, in addition to the public network. It was the only way to avoid bottlenecks, as elevators wouldn't be able to carry large numbers of people quickly without a major reinvention of their workings, and stairs would be choked with people even on a good day. Of course, each of the teleporter hubs required passing through a checkpoint, so there were a reasonable number scattered across each floor.
The outside of the arcology had point defense lasers mounted on the walls at regular intervals, in order to drastically limit the danger of missiles or fighters/bombers damaging the structure if it's Void Shield were to be brought down. Granted, the Void Shield coming down would require sustained orbital bombardment or internal sabotage, but that wasn't exactly unprecedented. Each of said lasers had a secondary 'battery' reactor, in case it lost its connection to the more major reactors (or, you know, they got blown up), usually used in vehicles, which powered the majority of the arcology. The main reactor which powered the Void Shield mainly provided further redundancy when the shield was not in use, or if the generator was destroyed outright.
Speaking of the outside, the circular structure was 800 feet in diameter, with 100 stories, though the hundred underground floors obviously weren't visible, as well as 10 of the upper basement floors which were used to hold significant quantities of supplies of both the organic or material variety (though there were smaller caches in various locations as one went higher) in case of planetary isolation via a particularly nasty Warp Storm (the most likely reason for a sudden inability to simply drag an asteroid/comet into a stable orbit for mining purposes to deal with any sudden resource shortages) or attack on the arcology, as well as anchor the structure as a whole. This gave the average person 1000 square feet of room, and the total capacity was roughly 50,000 people. Seeing as it was technically possible to put 16 of these in a square kilometer (though it would be needlessly cramped) the issue of overpopulation shouldn't be a problem for the forseeable future if construction efforts focused on using these instead of normal buildings. The average Terra-like planet could hold over 10 trillion with these, at least in theory.
The other 70 floors were divided into three major types. Colleges with powerful computer servers for the students to work on projects with, bunkers in case of invasion, and combinations of armories and training areas for the military to use.
Of course, if an arcology was brought down when they were so close together, it risked a domino situation, which would be really, really dumb. So one per square kilometer should be plenty, especially considering the heating issues which, while less extreme than they might otherwise be due to Ice Crystals, put the limit for how much of a Terra-like planet's landmass could be used for these at about 20% at maximum. However, even 10% would allow for a bit over 1.5 trillion humans to be accomodated.
You personally test the design on one of your new Colony Worlds, building the structure wholesale in the span of a few hours once the materials are gathered, and it works beautifully. People begin moving in almost immediately. Certainly, building larger arcologies will require more advanced material science and possibly Runes, but the current arcology is incredibly for efficient use of space relative to before.
The more crowded Hive Worlds began clearing space to start building arcologies, while the less crowded begin construction immediately. The Mechanicus was… okay with the designs being used by xenos races, as long as they did not modify any of the STC-tech beyond what was absolutely necessary for their physiology (different settings on the filtration STCs mainly), to limit the degree to which the 'Omnissiah's gifts' were 'perverted' by filling the need with human technology. Though you suspect it's at least somewhat to remove population pressure as a reason to make new colonies among xenos races. On the other hand, as long as they weren't being exploited or killed, the exact sentiment wasn't quite as important. Of course, aquatic races would require a major redesign, and the Drezni mainly built down rather than up, but overall your allies appreciated it.
Ice Crystals are placed at various locations to limit the amount of heat that escaped the arcology. While all other forms of pollution are effectively curtailed, this was still the major limit on how many arcologies you could place on a given planet. The heat generated by millions of humans was not inconsequential, especially with the amount of energy they used. This could raise the temperature of the planet in question in especially large numbers. Raising the planet's temperature too much would, as one might suspect, lead to extreme negative consequences. Rendering areas not inside an arcology unpleasant to live in, or outright unlivable, at worst.
Therefore, as much heat as possible was to be contained. The system wasn't perfect, especially since there were only Grade 1 Ice Crystals, but the majority of the heat didn't escape the arcology, allowing for a massive number to be built without overly heating up the planet. This will allow your people to have populations in excess of 100 billion and the planet will barely notice the change. Of course, simply assembling the resources for such grand construction takes time, and without the intervention of a psyker at your level, it would take quite some time to build, but it was possible by purely mundane means.
Gained Viable Arcology Design. A structure designed to hold a huge number of people in a relatively small space, with relatively little ecological footprint. Currently holds 50,000 people each. Cannot currently be built on unstable areas, such as extremely heavily volcanic planets, extremely watery worlds, etc. Population limit of Hive Worlds raised to 1.5 trillion. Non-Hive Worlds may have 500 billion with no major ecological damage.
Recently some of the scientists and psykers both human and Eldar have been working to try and alloy Orichalcix with Wraithbone, to take advantage of Wraithbone's relative durability and Orichalcix's relatively swift regeneration. Interestingly, the methods which require cooperation between the two, such as psychic choirs involving individuals of both races, are significantly more effective, which should encourage closer ties, and honestly made sense when one considered the materials that embodied their respective races were supposed to work together.
As for the alloy itself, dubbed Mythril, it consisted of a 30/70 mix of Orichalcix and Wraithbone in civilian forms, and 20/80 in combat-oriented forms, due to excessive amounts of damage leading to portions of the Wraithbone being replaced by the Orichalcix, instead of being regenerated. A reasonable quantity can be made without too much trouble at the behest of a psychic choir. Further testing will be necessary if either of the components are improved, but it's a good start, and a good reminder that other people do research too.
Gained Mythril. An alloy of Orichalcix and Wraithbone, mostly the latter, which combines their best properties for an optimal end-product. Increases the modifier for having Orichalcix and Wraithbone from X 32 to X 36= 25200.
[X] SL- Captain Matt x4
Today was a bit unusual for the Defenders. They were having a competition of sorts with the governor's adopted daughter. It was pretty simple. They were supposed to try and hit her. She wasn't allowed to use any of her flashier psychic abilities, as this was meant to simulate fighting in an area which was meant to be preserved for later use, including the civilian populations. As she was tough enough to avoid major harm from non-adamantium rounds, they could probably use live-fire without significant risk of harming their target, though they used rubber bullets to avoid friendly-fire casualties, and because it didn't really matter for the purpose of the exercise.
The scenario was that a group of assassins were armed with an extremely deadly poison, which would kill or at least incapacitate even her if it made contact. So, she was to avoid contact at all costs. The Defenders played the role of a last-ditch assassination attempt to prevent their world from falling that day. So they were to try and force contact at all costs, including members of the team being 'killed' in the process. Their current set of suits were designed to lock up upon a strong impact, to simulate how she'd have an easier time tearing their limbs off than leaving them intact if she was fighting seriously.
Karma Check: 2420. Required: 250. Passed. +50 Karma.
Martial: 3 Checks Passed.
Combat: 2 Checks Passed. -425 to Check difficulty.
Combat: Melee: 200 +Evasion: Trickery: 105 +Evasion: Dodging: 105 +32545(Combat bonuses) +4670(Evasion bonuses X 2) -10000('Instant Death' Projectiles Malus)=27675. 25, 100, 175, and 250 Checks Passed.
6130/6300 to Level 54.
While having to avoid being hit at all costs was definitely a challenge, it simply wasn't enough to account for Serras' abilities. Making a dozen adamantium blades and having them defend her via telekinesis wasn't that hard, nor particularly likely to cause extensive collateral, and while she wasn't blowing up the training ground, she could still sense the souls that were there, which made hiding from her something of a lost cause, which in turn made ambushes incredibly difficult to actually pull off.
A psyker, in theory, could hide their presence from her, but they'd have to be ridiculously skilled/powerful to accomplish it at this range. A Blank would actually be easier to sense, as their anti-presence was, if anything, more noticeable than a psyker's soul would be, and not really something they could modulate, so that wouldn't work either.
Mentioning that, however, seems to give the captain an idea. The next day, the soldiers had Order Crystals on their person. "I'll admit, you're past the point where a single handicap is going to even the playing field. So, this time we'll have 2. During today's exercise, we're going to pretend the troops are all Omega Blanks, a level of anti-presence even you can't shrug off. Basically, if the crystals are affecting your abilities, you can't use your powers." the captain explained.
Blanks were essentially the opposite of psykers. They had presences in the Warp, but they were incredibly unpleasant for other Warp presences (basically every living thing complex enough to feel emotion) to be near, emanating a sense of extreme wrongness. There were many tales of a Blank of all but the most minor degrees being killed by their own family, which made them, if anything, rarer than psykers. Partially because of that, obviously, but also because of the basic tenets of evolution decreeing that a trait which increased your chances of dying would be discouraged, and most probably die out. The fact that they were about as rare as psykers to begin with didn't help, so most Blanks were mutations.
This made the scenario he'd described very unlikely unless a cadre of Blank assassins was intentionally created, but that was itself inside the realm of possibility. It was something she could see being done, and it was always best to be prepared. Besides, she needed the disadvantage to really get much out of this instance of training. While she was always going to keep her psyker skills as part of her arsenal, this was supposed to improve her mundane combat ability and perception of the world, not her ability to detect souls to render ambushes pointless to attempt or what have you.
Karma Check: 2470. Required: 300. Passed. +60 Karma. Obtained Karma 2500 Perk.
Martial: 3 Checks Passed.
Combat: 2 Checks Passed. -425 to Check difficulty.
Combat: Melee: 200 +Evasion: Trickery: 105 +Evasion: Dodging: 105 +32545(Combat bonuses) +4670(Evasion bonuses X 2) -10000('Instant Death' Projectiles Malus) -10000('Blocked Psykery' Malus)=17675. 100, 175, 250 and 325 Checks Passed.
Gained 1 Level. +5 to Tagged Skills. Gained 2 Perk points. 2320/6500 to Level 55.
Limiting her psykery to the point of partially suppressing her normal background psykery not only drastically weakened her general abilities, but also stunted her ability to sense souls, making ambushes a viable (somewhat) tactic again. Unfortunately for the Defenders, this merely shortened the gap, rather than bridging it.
For starters, her eyesight and other base senses weren't much weaker, at least in the sort of ranges she was working in currently. It might be more of a problem if she had to worry about orbital bombardment, but the scenario described didn't lend itself to the enemy having much in the way of control over the orbitals. Still, the handicaps did increase the challenge enough that she actually got something out of the exercise, so overall, it was considered a success.
Reward: Captain Matt SL has advanced to 9 of 10. Karma has increased to 2530. +30 to Combat Skills, except Combat: Ranged, which receives +40. +40 to Perception Skills, excluding Perception: Image, which receives +30.
Karma 2500 Perk. The Judge. At this point your soul is noticeably different in 'texture' (for lack of a better word) than others. Against those who have done more harm than good, your abilities swell to unprecedented heights, while they weaken considerably. On occasion, you can almost make out a blade hanging over the heads of certain individuals with particularly bad deeds to their name. Adds Karma X 4 to Combat Checks. Hits enemies with Maluses equal to their Infamy when opposing you directly.
Combat: Warrior: 0. You are far beyond the peak of humankind's combat ability when fighting hand-to-hand, but any further advancement will require you train on your own, partially because no one can teach you anything, and partially because you can't progress while holding back, and they'd die if you went all-out.
Combat: Warrior: 10. You are pretty far beyond the peak of humankind's combat ability when fighting hand-to-hand, but any further advancement will require you train on your own, partially because no one can teach you anything, and partially because you can't progress while holding back, and they'd die if you went all-out. Combat Checks reduced even more in difficulty.
Combat: Warrior: 20. You are pretty far beyond the peak of humankind's combat ability when fighting hand-to-hand, but any further advancement will require you train on your own, partially because no one can teach you anything, and partially because you can't progress while holding back, and they'd die if you went all-out. Combat Checks reduced even more in difficulty.
Combat: Warrior: 30. You are very far beyond the peak of humankind's combat ability when fighting hand-to-hand, but any further advancement will require you train on your own, partially because no one can teach you anything, and partially because you can't progress while holding back, and they'd die if you went all-out. Combat Checks reduced even more in difficulty.
Combat: Ranged: 75. You are well beyond conventional mastery of fire-arms, shooting from incredibly unlikely angles and deflecting bullets off of extremely improbable objects. Combat Checks reduced largely in difficulty due to greater understanding of fire-arms. Reduces difficulty of sniping targets.
Combat: Ranged: 80. You are far beyond conventional mastery of fire-arms, shooting from ridiculously unlikely angles and deflecting bullets off of extremely improbable objects. Combat Checks reduced very largely in difficulty due to greater understanding of fire-arms. Reduces difficulty of sniping targets somewhat.
Combat: Ranged: 90. You are very far beyond conventional mastery of fire-arms, shooting from ludicrously unlikely angles and deflecting bullets off of extremely improbable objects. Combat Checks reduced majorly in difficulty due to greater understanding of fire-arms. Reduces difficulty of sniping targets significantly.
Combat: Ranged: 100. You are at what would usually be considered the pinnacle of regular human ranged combat. Combat Checks reduced extremely in difficulty due to greater understanding of fire-arms. Reduces difficulty of sniping targets further. Slight bonus to avoiding assassination and hidden strikes.
Combat: Ranged: 110. You are beyond what would usually be considered the pinnacle of regular human ranged combat, shooting from ludicrously unlikely angles and deflecting bullets off of incredibly improbable objects. Combat Checks reduced hugely in difficulty due to greater understanding of fire-arms. Reduces difficulty of sniping targets even further. Small bonus to avoiding assassination and hidden strikes.
Combat: Ranged: 120. You are beyond what would usually be considered the pinnacle of regular human ranged combat, shooting from ludicrously unlikely angles and deflecting bullets off of ridiculously improbable objects. Combat Checks reduced immensely in difficulty due to greater understanding of fire-arms. Reduces difficulty of sniping targets further still. Minor bonus to avoiding assassination and hidden strikes.
Combat: Stealth: 75. You are well above the level expected of the average stealth operative among the Witch Hunters. Difficulty of Evasion and Combat Checks reduced largely.
Combat: Stealth: 80. You are far above the level expected of the average stealth operative among the Witch Hunters. Difficulty of Evasion and Combat Checks reduced greatly.
Combat: Stealth: 90. You are very far above the level expected of the average stealth operative among the Witch Hunters. Difficulty of Evasion and Combat Checks reduced majorly.
Combat: Stealth: 105. You are at the level of the expert stealth operative among the Witch Hunters. Difficulty of Evasion and Combat Checks reduced hugely. Difficulty of assassinations slightly reduced.
Gained Combat All 100 Perk. Woman-At-Arms. You can perform at a professional level at any direct combat task. This doesn't mean you have no specialties, but your weak areas are still at least average when direct combat comes into play. +100 to Combat Checks.
2420/6500 to Level 55. Currently possess 2 Perk points.
Perception: Objects: 75. You can tell the difference between objects that are of the same type, but with extremely minor differences, from a considerable distance, even when in a panic. Different guns of the same model but different makers or different types of the same food from the same supplier, for example. Major boost to logistics and loot rolls.
Perception: Objects: 80. You can tell the difference between objects that are of the same type, but with incredibly minor differences, from a considerable distance, even when in a panic. Different guns of the same model but different makers or different types of the same food from the same supplier, for example. Huge boost to logistics and loot rolls.
Perception: Objects: 90. You can tell the difference between objects that are of the same type, but with ridiculously minor differences, from a considerable distance, even when in a panic. Different guns of the same model but different makers or different types of the same food from the same supplier, for example. Extreme boost to logistics and loot rolls.
Perception: Objects: 100. You possess the ability to tell objects apart at the level of an appraiser. Different guns of the same model but different makers or different types of the same food from the same supplier, for example. Incredible boost to logistics and loot rolls. Slight boost to rolls to disable specific parts of a weapon or vehicle without destroying it outright.
Perception: Objects: 110. You can tell the difference between objects that are of the same type, but with ludicrously minor differences, from a considerable distance, even when in a panic. Different guns of the same model but different makers or different types of the same food from the same supplier, for example. Incredible boost to logistics and loot rolls. Small boost to rolls to disable specific parts of a weapon or vehicle without destroying it outright.
Perception: Objects: 120. You can tell the difference between objects that are of the same type, but with nearly molecular differences, from a considerable distance, even when in a panic. Different guns of the same model but different makers or different types of the same food from the same supplier, for example. Ridiculous boost to logistics and loot rolls. Minor boost to rolls to disable specific parts of a weapon or vehicle without destroying it outright.
Perception: Image: 0. People have 'images' they present to others, but you have started to see past them, to who they really are. You are also learning to guard against this yourself.
Perception: Image: 10. People have 'images' they present to others, but you have can see past them on incredibly rare occasions, to who they really are. You are also learning to guard against this yourself. +110 to detection rolls. Very large boost to Speech Checks.
Perception: Image: 20. People have 'images' they present to others, but you have can see past them on extremely rare occasions, to who they really are. You are also learning to guard against this yourself. +120 to detection rolls. Huge boost to Speech Checks.
Perception: Image: 30. People have 'images' they present to others, but you have can see past them on very rare occasions, to who they really are. You are also learning to guard against this yourself. +130 to detection rolls. Very large boost to Speech Checks.
Perception: Environment: 95. You are ridiculously perceptive towards the surrounding environment, which is especially helpful with your superior senses. Huge boost to detection rolls. Huge boost to Combat and Tactics Checks.
Perception: Environment: 100. You are at the professional level of environmental awareness expected of scouts in the military. +50 to detection rolls. Impressive boost to Combat and Tactics Checks.
Perception: Environment: 110. You are ludicrously perceptive towards the surrounding environment, which is especially helpful with your superior senses. +55 to detection rolls. Extreme boost to Combat and Tactics Checks.
Perception: Environment: 120. You are starting to approach the level of environmental awareness the average expert scout. +60 to detection rolls. Immense boost to Combat and Tactics Checks.
Perception: Environment: 130. You are closing in on the level of environmental awareness the average expert scout. +65 to detection rolls. Immense boost to Combat and Tactics Checks.
Perception: Environment: 140. You are nearing the level of environmental awareness the average expert scout. +70 to detection rolls. Incredible boost to Combat and Tactics Checks.
Perception All 100 Perk. Observant. Even very minor details can tip you off to something amiss, or to a bit of information that might prove relevant. +100 to Perception Checks. Malus of 50 to enemy assassination and scouting rolls.
Skill All 100 Perk. Proficiency. You are proficient in every field. Your skills synergize very well, shoring each other up. You find yourself getting much more done as you take shortcuts available thanks to your huge breadth of knowledge. +200 to all Checks (applies multiple times if multiple Skills are involved). +1 Major Action. +10 Minor Actions. +10 Perk points.
2720/6500 to Level 55. Currently possess 24 Perk points.
Speech: Persuasion: 165. You can convince even the most fanatical of people of your viewpoint with ridiculous ease. Even the greatest fanatics can be persuaded of your views being correct incredibly easily.
Speech: Persuasion: 170. You can convince even the most fanatical of people of your viewpoint with ludicrous ease. Even the greatest fanatics can be persuaded of your views being correct ridiculously easily.
Speech: Diplomacy: 165. Compromising between two groups of howling fanatics is amazingly easy for you. Compromises you broker will stick even if the governing body is entirely replaced, even after mass public executions carried out at your order, followed by many unpopular edicts.
Speech: Diplomacy: 170. Compromising between two groups of howling fanatics is amazingly easy for you. Compromises you broker will stick even if the governing body is entirely replaced, even after mass public executions carried out at your order, followed by many unpopular edicts over an extended period.
Speech: Intimidation: 165. You are an unspeakable terror when you want to be, despite seeming like a peaceful giant under most circumstances. Only die-hard fanatics, rallying around some kind of champion, will avoid a ludicrous morale debuff when fighting you and will, suffer at least a slight one regardless, breaking immediately upon losing their champion.
Speech: Intimidation: 170. You are an unspeakable terror when you want to be, despite seeming like a peaceful giant under most circumstances. Only die-hard fanatics, rallying around some kind of champion, will avoid a ludicrous morale debuff when fighting you and will, suffer at least a small one regardless, breaking immediately upon losing their champion.
[X] SL- Samantha Carthyn
"Okay, recently, the various cults in the recently-added planets have been being culled, which found some of the least corrupt who could potentially be brought back into normal society. A few of these former outer circle cultists in our new holdings have agreed to experimental attempts to remove the corruption they've been exposed to without using 'scorched-earth' tactics or just killing them." Samantha explained.
"Done by us, since we're some of the premier psykers with the knowledge and power to try this?" You postulate. Emily wasn't all that strong, and George wasn't really knowledgeable on direct soul manipulation, what little they knew being considered a very esoteric field, and a heavily restricted one, for obvious reasons. Samantha was of a very small subsection with both the power and clearance. There were maybe 5 other people you knew of who fit both those criteria, including yourself.
"Essentially, yes. If something goes wrong, we're in the best position to fix it." Samantha nodded. "We'll be working with a Delta who thinks he's onto something in terms of fixing problems like theirs."
Karma Check: 2530. Required: 200. Passed. +40 Karma.
You don't really have a problem with that. Provided he isn't doing anything horrible (such as the things cultists are infamous for), you don't have any issue with working with him.
Power Check: 5 Checks Passed.
Control Check: 4 Checks Passed. -225 to Check difficulty.
Psyker: Navigator: 215+6225(Psyker bonuses)=6440. -25, 0, 25, and 50 Checks Passed.
2850/6500 to Level 55. Currently possess 24 Perk points.
The Delta, one Tiberius Fourge, turned out to have been working at this problem with the sort of feverish intensity that let people match Serras herself for brief moments for weeks. Of course, this was wearing him down rapidly, but the work he'd already accomplished was impressive. Apparently he was desperate to save a friend who'd been contaminated by Chaos' influence. It was well-documented that such corruption would begin to swallow what was left of the person if they didn't manage to shake it off pretty much immediately, so he was on a time limit.
As such, he'd been all but working himself to death. With this sort of base to work off of, it was no surprise that Serras, Samantha, and their compatriot managed to achieve a solution. Much like a rotting limb would be amputated, a soul that wasn't too far gone could be salvaged by burning the corrupted sections out. Until now, this wasn't something that could be done with even the degree of safety the current procedure allowed, making moderate amounts of corruption into a death sentence.
After it worked on their new acquaintance's friend (who was promptly placed on the fast-track for Beta-hood) it was soon worked into the arsenal of the anti-cult organizations.
Reward: Samantha SL has advanced to 5. Karma is now 2570. +15 to Psyker Skills.
Gained Samantha SL 5 Perk. Willful. You possess a strong will. This allows you to both direct and resist the Warp beyond what your immense psychic power would normally allow. +50 to Psyker Checks. Memetic hazards are somewhat reduced in effectiveness.
Sorcery: 25. You have advanced humankind's knowledge of manipulating the natural world using the Warp a fair amount. +25(125 total) to yourself in combat, +10(60 total) to allies within 12000 meters.
Sorcery: 30. You have advanced humankind's knowledge of manipulating the natural world using the Warp a decent amount. +30(130 total) to yourself in combat, +15(65 total) to allies within 13000 meters.
Sorcery: 40. You have advanced humankind's knowledge of manipulating the natural world using the Warp a reasonable amount. +40(140 total) to yourself in combat, +20(70 total) to allies within 14000 meters.
Spirit: 15. Your soul rejects Daemons who do nothing more than enter your personal space. +115 to attempts at mind-reading/domination, and to defending against such attempts. Daemons will find your soul impossible to take by force, and will get themselves killed on your passive defenses whether they try force or stealth. Greater Daemons will find your soul impossible to take by force, and could get themselves killed on your passive defenses. Even a Chaos God wouldn't be able to just waltz in. Lesser Daemons risk being destroyed simply from coming into contact with you.
Spirit: 20. Your soul rejects Daemons who do nothing more than enter your personal space. +120 to attempts at mind-reading/domination, and to defending against such attempts. Daemons will find your soul impossible to take by force, and will get themselves killed on your passive defenses whether they try force or stealth. Greater Daemons will find your soul impossible to take by force, and will likely get themselves killed on your passive defenses. Even a Chaos God wouldn't be able to just waltz in. Lesser Daemons risk being destroyed simply from coming into contact with you.
Spirit: 30. Your soul rejects Daemons who do nothing more than enter your personal space. +130 to attempts at mind-reading/domination, and to defending against such attempts. Daemons will find your soul impossible to take by force, and will get themselves killed on your passive defenses whether they try force or stealth. Greater Daemons will find your soul impossible to take by force, and will probably get themselves killed on your passive defenses. Even a Chaos God wouldn't be able to just waltz in without a very noticeable struggle. Lesser Daemons greatly risk being destroyed simply from coming into contact with you.
Navigator: 15. You can read and manipulate the Warp around you to a degree similar to the novice members of a Navigator House. You can reliably predict events 150 minutes into the future, and get some flashes of events up to 150 days hence. +115 to ritual-disruption Checks and similar esoteric uses of psychic power such as divination and guiding ships through the Warp. +55 to ritual-disruption Checks among allied psykers.
Navigator: 20. You can read and manipulate the Warp around you to a degree similar to the early apprentice members of a Navigator House. You can reliably predict events 200 minutes into the future, and get some flashes of events up to 200 days hence. +120 to ritual-disruption Checks and similar esoteric uses of psychic power such as divination and guiding ships through the Warp. +60 to ritual-disruption Checks among allied psykers.
Navigator: 30. You can read and manipulate the Warp around you to a degree similar to the average apprentice members of a Navigator House. You can reliably predict events 300 minutes into the future, and get some flashes of events up to 300 days hence. +130 to ritual-disruption Checks and similar esoteric uses of psychic power such as divination and guiding ships through the Warp. +65 to ritual-disruption Checks among allied psykers.
[X] SL- George Yorev
George, yourself, and a few tech-priests were experimenting in the use of biomancy, elemental powers, and technomancy to accelerate and/or ease the grafting of cybernetics to flesh. While most people only replace body parts with artificial equivalents if the original has been lost, tech-priests actively seek such operations out. It is generally agreed as one of the best ways to become one with the Machine-God, or at least as one can without leaving the mortal coil altogether. The life extension that often occurs is merely a fortunate side effect to many of the more devout.
The brain, however, is still one of the best processors in the known universe. Some of the really high-end stuff can beat it out in terms of raw computing power, but loses out on the abstracts. Most computers have difficulty with the sheer number of processes the brain runs as 'background noise' that people will generally never notice as well. Not to mention that, with the exception of some of the clockwork computers some of the more paranoid Mechanicus members keep in reserve in case of widespread scrap-code contamination, no computer can manage the same longevity that the brain can without replacing enough parts that it would be difficult to call it the same object you started out with.
This barrier means that the brain is one of the few things the Mechanicus cannot replace. Not to say that they haven't tried. It was just difficult to make a processor that could house a human consciousness properly without either making it the size of a building (which was very difficult to keep mobile), or having it develop a consciousness of its own, which was Artificial Intelligence, and (as any Mechanicus member would tell you), was something that was against their basic tenants.
Keeping all of this in mind, and with the Wraithbone constructs and soul-sheltering Soulstones of your own design also under consideration, you hatched a plan.
Power Check: 5 Checks Passed.
Control Check: 4 Checks Passed. -225 to Check difficulty.
Psyker: Sorcery: 240+ Psyker: Spirit: 230+ Psyker: Navigator: 230+18825(Psyker bonuses X 3)=19525. 25000- 10000(Soulstones)- 10000(Orichalcix)- 5000(Wraithbone constructs)= -225. Passed.
2950/6500 to Level 55. Currently possess 24 Perk points.
With roughly two-thirds of the work, having something to house the soul in question and psychically reactive materials to act as a nervous system of sorts, plus working models of the physical component, the otherwise daunting task was actually something you could probably have done on your own without too much trouble. With George and the expertise of several tech-priests, it was actually pretty easy.
Karma Check: 2570. Required: 150. Passed. +30 Karma.
Naturally, a volunteer was required to test it. An Iota-grade technopath agreed, and there were no problems with the end result. Of course, the Soulstone served as the core of the new automaton's self, allowing the processors housed in it to focus on raw processing power, with the soul taking care of emotion and abstract thought itself. Due to this, it was shielded in 3 inches of adamantium (save for a few 'wires' of Orichalcix that let the soul properly control it's host), to prevent its destruction.
Once it was confirmed that the automaton retained it's sense of self (though he reported a significant dulling of his sense of touch, and near loss of his senses of smell and taste) both the tech-priests and psykers in general were very excited. While it could only be done with psykers, it was possible to put a person in a mechanical body, which would outlast it's organic counterpart by a great deal, and without any of the problems (beyond being difficult and time-consuming to make) of previous attempts.
The Eldar quickly began work on bodies to house their fallen comrades (modified to account for the differences in Eldar physiology and souls) and the Mechanicus began commissioning small numbers (due to the relatively small number of psykers they possessed, though they were likely to work to change that) from the artificers of the psyker population.
Reward: George SL has advanced to 5. Karma is now 2600. +15 to Psyker Skills. Gained Soul-Bearing 'Bot. Combining psycho-reactive materials, soul-shielding items, and, of course, a soul and placing them into a functional humanoid chassis allows psykers to retain some degree of autonomy even while inside a Soulstone. Significant boost to reputation among Mechanicus, Eldar, and psykers in general.
AN: For anyone who's curious, your hidden modifiers for psychic engineering projects basically lop a 0 off the end of projects where they apply.
George SL 5 Perk. Manipulative. You can manipulate the world and the Warp near you with relative ease. +50 to Psyker Checks.
Sorcery: 40. You have advanced humankind's knowledge of manipulating the natural world using the Warp a reasonable amount. +40(140 total) to yourself in combat, +20(70 total) to allies within 14000 meters.
Sorcery: 55. You have set a new standard for a what constitutes a foremost expert in terms of manipulating the natural world utilizing the Warp. +55(155 total) to yourself in combat, +25(75 total) to allies within 15000 meters.
Spirit: 30. Your soul rejects Daemons who do nothing more than enter your personal space. +130 to attempts at mind-reading/domination, and to defending against such attempts. Daemons will find your soul impossible to take by force, and will get themselves killed on your passive defenses whether they try force or stealth. Greater Daemons will find your soul impossible to take by force, and will probably get themselves killed on your passive defenses. Even a Chaos God wouldn't be able to just waltz in without a very noticeable struggle. Lesser Daemons greatly risk being destroyed simply from coming into contact with you.
Spirit: 45. Your soul rejects Daemons who do nothing more than enter your personal space. +145 to attempts at mind-reading/domination, and to defending against such attempts. Daemons will find your soul impossible to take by force, and will get themselves killed on your passive defenses whether they try force or stealth. Greater Daemons will find your soul impossible to take by force, and will very likely get themselves killed on your passive defenses. Even a Chaos God wouldn't be able to just waltz in without a very noticeable struggle. Lesser Daemons face extreme risk of being destroyed simply from coming into contact with you.
Navigator: 30. You can read and manipulate the Warp around you to a degree similar to the late-stage apprentice members of a Navigator House. You can reliably predict events 300 minutes into the future, and get some flashes of events up to 300 days hence. +130 to ritual-disruption Checks and similar esoteric uses of psychic power such as divination and guiding ships through the Warp. +65 to ritual-disruption Checks among allied psykers.
Navigator: 45. You can read and manipulate the Warp around you to a degree similar to the most junior full members of a Navigator House. You can reliably predict events 450 minutes into the future, and get some flashes of events up to 450 days hence. +145 to ritual-disruption Checks and similar esoteric uses of psychic power such as divination and guiding ships through the Warp. +70 to ritual-disruption Checks among allied psykers.
[X] SL- Emily Watts.
Emily was… less than pleased at Serras' lack of 'fucking being here already!' seeing as she was nearly caught twice on the way to her latest hiding spot. She was more of a supporter than a combatant, though she did have a las-pistol she kept on her person when not in her own house.
The duo had gone to one of the newer Hive planets to be brought into the fold, to deal with a cult that had been using a bunch of low-level rituals to make ready for a larger ritual, utilizing 6789 sacrifices per ritual to summon a legion of Daemons to wreak havoc and erode faith in the government and it's arms, in preparation for a ritual that would actually be composed of four smaller rituals, with 6666, 7777, 8888, and 9999 sacrifices, respectively, to summon a single massive horde of Daemons and overrun the capitol, and thus the main spaceport.
It was well-planned, disturbingly so. Apparently the local cultists, who'd ordinarily be sniping each other at least a bit, had put aside their differences to pool their resources, skill sets, and 'divine' favor. The combat nuts served as a pseudo-military, backed by filthy, but oddly durable auxiliaries, with sadomasochistic, but skilled champions, while complexity-addicted, but competent strategists directed them, while also providing the less direct methods most of the others lacked much expertise with, such as poison (though the filthy ones ironically had a better knowledge of the sewers the plotters frequently made use of).
The construction of a pair of arcologies, and subsequent work to redirect the sewers, had been what tipped them off to the cultists use fo the sewers, while some purified (and a few not-so-much but tortured into revealing what they knew of the plot. While they didn't know the specifics, such as when exactly the operations were to take place, preventing such rituals from being carried out was one of the top priorities of the Witch Hunters, but they lacked the manpower to patrol every square inch of the sewers in any kind of concentration, and the cultists had been disabling any cameras they found in the lower levels.
Karma Check: 2600. Required: 100. Passed. +20 Karma.
Some would have ordered a general purge, but Serras had decided to take care of the problem herself. Besides, from a purely pragmatic point of view, the purges rarely seemed effective in truly curbing Daemonic influence for more than a decade or so. Naturally, Emily had decided to help her.
She was coming to… regret wasn't quite the right word. She would probably have made the same decision knowing what would happen, but she certainly wasn't happy about it. Of course, the cultists hadn't been prepared for Serras.
Power Check: 5 Checks Passed.
Control Check: 4 Checks Passed. -225 to Check difficulty.
Psyker: Navigator: 215+6325(Psyker bonuses)=6540. -75, -50, -25, and 0 Checks Passed.
3110/6500 to Level 55. Currently possess 24 Perk points.
Though, to be fair, when simply being in the same city let her sense and suppress small-scale rituals such as these without major strain, who really was? They'd been trying to avoid pooling all their resources in one spot, so hammer strikes couldn't cripple them in one blow, but Serras made it necessary to pull their combatants together simply to have the faintest hope of so much as slowing her long enough to complete their ritual.
Emily herself was taking advantage of the growing hole in security (mostly by virtue of the cultists security personnel having holes in them) to sneak close and disrupt the ritual. Seeing as drowning Serras in bodies was failing to actually hurt her and was barely causing an appreciable slowing of her pace, and the cult lacked the numbers to keep this kind of meat grinder up for very much longer, she doubted she'd need to disrupt it for more than a couple minutes.
Sure enough, after slipping past the few warm bodies that had been left on patrol, Emily had little trouble setting the ritual back a quarter hour. Shooting most of the sorcerers performing it tended to have that effect. These particular sorcerers were, as one might expect, of the plotter's faction. Normally, they'd be able to see their immediate future and dodge, but with Serras so close, simply performing their ritual was requiring all their attention. Otherwise the entire thing would pop like a soap bubble. This proved their downfall. As while the leader of the coven was able to throw up a psychic shield, she'd shot the others first, as her purpose was to delay the ritual's completion, rather than stop it.
After a frantic few seconds as she reloaded, and the guards tried to decapitate her (repeatedly) she managed to shoot a path to the door, just as Serras carved it open, frustration 'audible' in the Warp. The head sorcerer attempted to portal out, but Serras snapped it closed on his arm. Seeing as the fabric of reality suddenly closed around it, said arm was swiftly removed, and before he could even cry out, so was his head. The few remaining cultists were swiftly killed off by the local Witch Hunters, who'd been following after Serras' trail of corpses.
Emily decided she most definitely wouldn't be doing field work again if she could help it. If her friend wasn't ridiculously powerful, she'd be dead!
Reward: Emily SL has advanced to 4. Karma has advanced to 2620. +15 to Psyker Skills.
Sorcery: 55. You have set a new standard for what constitutes a foremost expert in terms of manipulating the natural world utilizing the Warp. +55(155 total) to yourself in combat, +25(75 total) to allies within 15000 meters.
Sorcery: 60. You have begun to advance the new standard for what constitutes a foremost expert in terms of manipulating the natural world utilizing the Warp. +60(160 total) to yourself in combat, +30(80 total) to allies within 16000 meters.
Sorcery: 70. You have advanced humankind's knowledge of manipulating the natural world using the Warp a great deal. +70(170 total) to yourself in combat, +35(85 total) to allies within 17000 meters.
Spirit: 45. Your soul rejects Daemons who do nothing more than enter your personal space. +145 to attempts at mind-reading/domination, and to defending against such attempts. Daemons will find your soul impossible to take by force, and will get themselves killed on your passive defenses whether they try force or stealth. Greater Daemons will find your soul impossible to take by force, and will very likely get themselves killed on your passive defenses. Even a Chaos God wouldn't be able to just waltz in without a very noticeable struggle. Lesser Daemons face extreme risk of being destroyed simply from coming into contact with you.
Spirit: 50. Your soul rejects Daemons who do nothing more than enter your personal space. +150 to attempts at mind-reading/domination, and to defending against such attempts. Daemons will find your soul impossible to take by force, and will get themselves killed on your passive defenses whether they try force or stealth. Greater Daemons will find your soul impossible to take by force, and will almost certainly get themselves killed on your passive defenses if they try force anyway. Even a Chaos God wouldn't be able to just waltz in without a very noticeable struggle. Lesser Daemons risk will almost certainly be destroyed simply from coming into contact with you.
Spirit: 60. Your soul rejects Daemons who do nothing more than enter your personal space. +160 to attempts at mind-reading/domination, and to defending against such attempts. Daemons will find your soul impossible to take by force, and will get themselves killed on your passive defenses whether they try force or stealth. Greater Daemons will find your soul impossible to take by force, and will get themselves killed on your passive defenses if they try force anyway. Even a Chaos God wouldn't be able to just waltz in without a very noticeable struggle. Lesser Daemons risk will be destroyed simply from coming into contact with you.
Navigator: 45. You can read and manipulate the Warp around you to a degree similar to the most junior full members of a Navigator House. You can reliably predict events 450 minutes into the future, and get some flashes of events up to 450 days hence. +145 to ritual-disruption Checks and similar esoteric uses of psychic power such as divination and guiding ships through the Warp. +70 to ritual-disruption Checks among allied psykers.
Navigator: 50. You can read and manipulate the Warp around at the same level as the novice members of a Navigator House. You can reliably predict events 500 minutes into the future, and get some flashes of events up to 500 days hence. +150 to ritual-disruption Checks and similar esoteric uses of psychic power such as divination and guiding ships through the Warp. +75 to ritual-disruption Checks among allied psykers.
Navigator: 60. You can read and manipulate the Warp around you to a degree similar to the junior members of a Navigator House. You can reliably predict events 600 minutes into the future, and get some flashes of events up to 600 days hence. +160 to ritual-disruption Checks and similar esoteric uses of psychic power such as divination and guiding ships through the Warp. +80 to ritual-disruption Checks among allied psykers.
All 50 Psyker: Advanced Perk. Warp User. You frequently utilize the Warp for many things, which leads to a certain familiarity with its workings in a way that simply studying it from the writings of others wouldn't allow. +250 to Psyker Checks.
3360/6500 to Level 55. Currently possess 24 Perk points.
RER: 69. Decent Result.
A recent breakthrough in materials science leads to minor improvements across the board. This has apparently been in the works for some time, but the… zig-zagging of research was putting them off as people had their projects overridden because you'd already solved the problem, or they'd received an influx of new researchers from a now defunct project and have to get them up to speed. Having to sort through your research notes when you do something like make a better lens for the las-guns wasn't helping either.
At any rate, they've managed to push up the standards of the manufacture and use of materials across your polity. This has knock-on effects for pretty much everything, even the psykers. This has unlocked several projects, such as the new proper arcologies instead of the decrepit things barely kept functional by the efforts of tech-priests, which include some of the most recent advances.
Reward: Gained Improved Materials Science. Your understanding of the production and use of various mundane materials has advanced beyond the average for the disparate nation-states that have sprung up since the Age of Strife neared its end. +10 to military rolls, +10% to industry, +10 to morale rolls.
AN: The Check was only about 10000, but they kept doing badly on the background rolls and getting hit with Maluses. They managed to pull ahead this time though. This is also a prerequisite for the next level of arcology.
Exploration Roll: 80+10(FBTW)+20(Level Perks)+10(Explorer Corps)=120. Critical Success!
Critical Success Roll: 31+10(FBTW)+20(Level Perks)+20(Overflow)=81. Great Result.
As there are Waaghs coming in less than 2 decades from many adjacent sectors, the Explorer Corps has been working to advance through the inter-sectors and begin exploring other nearby sectors, of which relatively little is known, since they were generally blocked by unexplored zones of space and worse, Warp Storms, until relatively recently.
In this instance, a Forge-World named Chorip, part of a loose alliance between itself, a nearby Agri-World, a nearby Mining World, and a nearby Hive World, was discovered as one of its own exploratory fleets was doing its own surveying.
Assessment Roll: 81. Great Result.
Diplomacy Check: 3 Checks Passed.
Information, Non-Aggression Pact, Alliance, and Allegiance Checks autopassed. AN: Requiring a Check to diplomance a polity less than a 20th your size and with no major problems joining up seems dumb.
3430/6400 to Level 55. Currently possess 24 Perk points.
Chorip was pleased to have contact with other members of the Mechanicus reestablished, and was more than happy to trade the STCs it had collected from the ruins of several nearby worlds, as well as the colony site which had grown into the Forge-World itself, with its fellows, which soon led to you getting your hands on them. You noted a lot of discussion among the Mechanicus you'd already absorbed and those of Chorip.
The other three worlds had entered into a symbiotic relationship shortly after establishing contact. The Mining World supplied the Forge-World with raw materials, and it provided goods the other planets couldn't make due to lack of high-end engineers and/or knowledge on making/working with exotic materials. The Agri-World could easily feed the other two worlds, as the Hive World had 45 billion inhabitants, so the other two planets were pittances in comparison.
Interestingly, the Hive World was mainly lighter elements, so despite being roughly a quarter bigger than the usual planet inhabited by humans, it's gravity was roughly at the level usually preferred. Due to this, the planet was less crowded than one would expect, though still pretty thoroughly filled. Of course, this high a population was still only possible due to a large number of petty STCs discovered by the Chorip, at least until your new arcologies started to make rounds.
Reward: 4 planets gained. 102 planets in coalition. GDE has been upgraded to provide 20 Free Integration actions and 10 Free Survey actions.
Petty STCs. While the Ancients didn't know everything, they knew a great deal. This manifests in a great number of blueprints for everything from car parts, to missile launchers. +150 to PDF rolls. +150% to industry. +150 to morale rolls.
