Forgotten Prototype (Prototype/WarHammer)

[Leon12431]

I have ran into a massive writers block for the next update and so for now I have no idea when the next update is going to be a thing. I do have other quests in mind and depending on how I feel I might start working on them as well.

My current list: Warcraft quest, Stellaris inspired Sci-fi empire, Alex Mercer in 40K with Dana/Bradley, Aftermath Prototype quest

if anyone has any real opinion on the above just post it and I will take that into account for where to focus my energy for quest writing on. I am not planning on leaving this quest dead but for now its more or less dead as I just can't seem to figure out how to write a good transition to a more civilization quest type frame from how its currently written.

 

[Leon12431]

In the shifting bowls of the warp a spark blazed into life. From this single spark came another and another as a puddle of metaphor and dream formed the base of a new being. From this puddle a skeletal limb rose forth and gripped onto the ground which was at once both solid stone and creeping vines. Pulling itself out from the puddle that gave it first life another limb was freed and two more were freed in turn. The creature little more than bones with tendons holding itself together was free of the pool of its birth the blood red liquid splashing as the vicious fluid slapped wetly against the ever changing ground.

The skeletal creature spent eons and yet only a minute drinking from the pool as flesh grew around its bones and its form thickened as its nature hardened. Time meant nothing within this place as even the acts of the greater drifted around and beyond the sight of the slowly growing creature of the warp.

Yet, this time was not peaceful for the young creature. The greater might not know of its little home within their realm, but their mere existence threatened the young creature. Countless times tendrils of infinite rot and plague intruded upon its home and just as often burning fires that twisted all things burst into life around its small place. Yet, these threats in the end did nothing but aid its growth as it grew a thick skin to protect it from the twisting fire and its blood became thick with pseudo cells to protect it from the plagues and rots the tendrils brought into its home.

Slowly it grew ever stronger as it drank from the endless pool of blood and fought against the intruding powers in its home consumed by anger. In time minor beings of the greater sought to consume it for power and were never seen again as in their attacks they were consumed by one yet their greater. The ever shifting landscape of the realm ever so slowly began to solidify and harden, order was slowly built around the blood lake from which the once small and fragile creature still drank from countless aeons later.

Plants covered in thorns hard enough to skewer even the toughest of hides grew around the lake just as living forms of all shapes and sizes joined in the land. A paradise of life, chaotic in shape and nature formed as each form found their own way to success. Time and time again was the progenitor of all, challenged for the right to drink from the lake of blood and never was it bested by its children. Once where the warp had taken the appearance of crystal and rot lay a forest of infinite variability, where life of all description could be found within.

Each apex predator of the galaxy's worlds was found within hunting the infinite and yet minuscule land that the forest contained. Besides the mirrors of life strode creatures of never before seen shape and nature inscrutable to even the best mortal mind. Never was there a moment or aeon where countless new forms didn't emerged from the lake of blood to join the infinite forest and fight for their supremacy.

Beings of red skin and thick skin invaded and were consumed by the plants and their nature added to the pool of blood. The next generation of emergent beings shared in their strength and failings and most were consumed and so the form was refined by the cycle of the lake. The primogenitor grew vast and powerful from this gift able to crush all in its path and yet it remained by the lake simply drinking as it has always done.

Beings of changing shape and magic sought to twist nature to their whims. They were consumed by the toughest spawned. From their blood was the power of warping order added to the blood lake. Within aeons and minutes all shared in the newest gift that they had gained. The primogenitor quickly mastered the newest gift that the lake of blood gifted to its spawn, able to warp and shape reality as it so wished and all it did was drink ever greater amounts of the blood lake.

Beings of eternal rot invaded and where met by the fastest of the forest. With blazing speed the rotting forms where annihilated by thorn and claw to be tossed into the lake of blood. From this newest gift came beings of extreme tenacity able to fight on even as they were torn asunder and all gained greater endurance and defense than ever before. In turn weapons were refined, sharpened to maintain the endless fight for supremacy that all sought to achieve. The primogenitor's flesh hardened and thickened from this gift and it gained vast powers of regeneration.

Thus, was the course of the forest for infinite aeons and only Planck seconds. The fight never having a victor as all engaged moved forward as they won and died for the fallen were refined and the victors gained power from the lake of blood, the course was stable and static. Invasions only granted the lake ever more gifts to explore. Now from the lake golden blood poured into the red and is consumed by the primogenitor. In a moment beyond time existence trembles as what is and what is not shatters and the chaos of the warp is both non existent and all consuming for a fateful instant.

[] Ascension
[] Mastery
[] Connection

 

[Leon12431]

Khorne, lord of war and blood stirred upon his throne of blades and skulls as a rumble of declaration ripped forth through the warp. A new mind has joined the field of those called Gods by the lesser. The twin thrones of Astral War rumbled with His interest for he sensed that the New One was forged long ago and from the same realm as the Lady of Eternal Light.

The children of War that threw themselves into their endless battles willing, paused as they felt their Father's Command and an army assembled. Beings of immense power flying upon wings of fire and light joined the host of war as the army marched forth from the realm of War and into battle. Soon battle would be joined and the children of Light and War would clash against those born of Rot and Change.

A fragment of His eternal mind drifted to his cults in the material realm and found one displeasing to him. They gleefully offered the blood of innocent children to his altars expecting to be rewarded. His fury was unleashed, their own works spelled their end as the barrier between realms shattered under the might of a God's anger and in a passage of time too short for any being of the material to comprehend they were annihilated by the power they had sought to appease. Their souls cast into total oblivion denied even the chance of redemption.

With the army of Blood and Light marched beings of immense strength and might. All of their number children of Him and Her, but of their number some were ever greater. At the Vanguard of the Host walked or flew the ones that the mortals had named Stellar Knights; armored in bronze and golden metal with wings of living fire spreading from their back these great warriors were each an army unto themselves. Each the equal of the lesser players of the game they marched with their lesser brethren to protect, the Father of their Mother.

Next to the Stellar Knights walked the second born of the Eternal Union of War and Light. Warriors of Bronze armor and flaming spears, able to hunt and kill any that dared cross their path. These warriors less than the Knights were still yet the greater of the vast innumerable hordes of Bloodletters that walked at their heels.

Overhead, flew armies of Bloodthirsters matching the pace of the Stellar Knights that flew in the ever changing sky of the warp, as the Host marched forth towards the realms of Rot and Change.

At the tip of the Host walked nine figures, eight bore the countenance of War, and the Ninth was of the Stellar Knights only their greater just as the other eight were their kinds greater. The nine figures led the army towards their destination.

The march of the Host within the Warp wrecked havoc across space and time as warp-storms exploded into being only too dwindling a moment later as power enough to shatter stars marched forth to war.

A man upon a distant world far from his home sensed the disturbance and worried of what it portend for the Lord of War to move with such purpose. His eyes blazing gold he threw himself into the warp to attempt to halt the army's march only to be thrown aside by the might of the Ninth figure as his Sins that were and yet to be turned his wrath aside.

Far from the man a weeping woman of human form made of fire and starlight looked up from her knees for a split second before falling back into her depression. Her pain that of a mother seeing her children fall and without end, but now within her heart she could feel that Father was yet alive and had returned to the world of the living. Her Children marched to protect him as they could just as Her greatest son protected the Birthplace.

In her spartan rooms a young Aeldari by the name of Orelira was peering into the warp attempting to discover a path by which she and her closest relatives could flee the creeping insanity of her people. Her family had never reached the power of others, but were powerful enough to avoid the worst of the dangers, now that has changed and she sees her death around all corners. This has lead her to attempt to see the future in order to find a path that would lead her to life, but now all she sees is confusion as the warp rumbles with the barely contained might of a God of War as a Host marches in his name towards his eternal foes. This has inadvertently given her the path she so desperately sought as within an hour there would be a warp storm that would allow her and her family to slip away unseen to find refuge with the other exiles.

However, most of the Aeldari miss the signs in their arrogance and continue their acts of depravity in blissful ignorance, of the coming storm.
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Deep within the realm of Change the ever changing God feels the turning of the key and smiles and frowns from infinite mouths, for this is both to plan and not to plan. In the end the Father of Light will kneel before the lord of the domain of Change and Mutation. This would serve to balance the debt that the Daughter incurred with her stealing of His power and her slaying of His oracle.

A moment and an aeon ago she walked into his realm and broke his favored servant such that his nature was forever bound to death and not even all of his might could recall him, then she had stolen a crystal that held within it his power, consuming it to boost her might at His expense.

He smiles for a moment that is an aeon as he remembers how he drove the Void Dragon to its rage that would lead to the update that saw the galaxy burn in technological flames. Her anguish at seeing her favored children broken by His plans, slightly balanced the scales but now her Father would be His slave for all eternity.

A team of his greatest servants was dispatched with a host of lesser to bring the incarnation to him for breaking.

Slipping in between the moments of time the team made their way deeper into the warp to where the Call had come from, only to meet their eternal foes on the way.
_____________________________________________________________________________________

In the forest of Rot the god of Rot felt the declaration of ascension and smiled for a new son would join his ranks today and he would be mighty indeed under his care. The Daughter would eventually learn of his love even after she had been so mean to him in the past, but he loved her just as he loved everyone else.

Knowing that the others would soon attempt to bring the New one to their side he sent out a team of his sons to find and bring the being to him.

And so the host of Rot made its way deeper into the warp in search of their Father's new son.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

The forces of Rot and Change clashed in a fight in the entrance to the home of the new one each wishing to be the one to return to their creator with the prize in hand.

However, even as power enough to break planets asunder flowed back and forth a new power exploded from the forest that both had found and fought over.

A beast massive beyond mortal comprehension pounced from the thick plants of its domain and with a single swipe of its claws removed the weakened from the fight consuming their flesh as it went. Mutations rippled across its surface only to be refined in moments ever better tools to serve it in all ways. The nature of the reality around them bent and twisted as it brought its own might to bear upon the will of the Changing God's servants.

Even new born it still held greater power than the fragments of greater beings it faced now and thus the battle continued with it ever growing in power as more fell to its claws their essence forever consumed to fuel its evolution and ascension. As the twin forces fought each other and the New one they felt a command to return for the Host of War and Light had overrun their own realms consuming massive swathes of land in a single strike and so the balance of power was forever shifted in one single moment as Khorne brought more of the warp under His control than any other warp being had since the War in Heaven so long ago.

AN: No vote this time as there is nothing to vote on here. After this its back to Alex and the other people.
The previous vote altered how the fight went Ascension made the prime form vastly more powerful.
I am sad that no one is discussing stuff

 

[Leon12431]

In a place devoid of light a man punched at walls grown from flesh and rock. His hands broken and bloody from his never ending fight against something that was infinitely his greater. All he knew was that he was somewhere he wished not to be, but his atrophied mind was unable to move beyond such basic understanding.

Perhaps if he wasn't what he was, this fate would have been avoided, but in the end his own nature condemned him to a silent death. No one that knew of him would spent even an iota of energy mourning his death. All he ever was was a simple brute that relied on brute strength and luck to survive in this world. His death had been certain long ago as without the ability to think beyond that of a smart animal he would eventually become too weak to still be worth enough to feed and give water to.

However, none could have foreseen the death that came for him now. Far above a being with the minds and will of tens of thousands spoke with his fellows and a fragment of that vast mind moved a single metaphorical inch and in response the walls of his prison came alive.

Tendrils tipped with synthetic diamonds carved into his body as his DNA was consumed base pair by base pair, each permutation that differed from the rest ordered and understood. In the last moments of his life, the latent power that had ensured his continued survival attempted to maintain its master once more, but it was too late as the tendrils consumed the body and mind within only a matter of a few milliseconds.

The bound power without an anchor was in-turn consumed by the unknown tendrils that mirrored the physical. These had always been there, and yet unknown to all for who in the second millennium would dream of trans-dimensional echos of such nature. The physical consumed the body while the spectral consumed mind and soul. A glut of energy raced through the spectral tendrils as they consumed the soul of the current victim.

The spark of power consumed ignited the blaze of latent energy within the master of the consuming feelers. A wellspring of spiritual energy ignited before exploding outward in an uncontrolled burst of scintillating light that only those gifted with the sixth sense could see.

A wave of multicolored light raced across the surface of Earth. Within the dancing light distant colors could be seen: golden light danced around red and black even as dark blue and purple light flared and dwindled in an ever repeating pattern.

On the other side of the world in a location that bore the ravages of time, yet still intact an ancient man looked up from his work as the invisible and silent wave of energy washed over him. With a single thought time slammed to a halt under his might and the wave slowed to a crawl leaving him with time aplenty to investigate it entirely.

Filaments of power more tightly bound than even the most skilled Aeldari could manage gently slid into the wave of energy without disrupting its matrix. He felt the source of the power and the location of its creator with ease, for even with the interference that attempting any form of scrying upon an Incarnation incurs he was the second most skilled psyker in the galaxy.

Malcador smiled grimly as he judged the potency of the one that created such a wave upon his awakening and came to the conclusion that the one must be trained otherwise Chaos would have an unacceptable servant.

Drawing energy to him, he tore a hole in space and time with a silent apology to his teacher for such actions, but in this moment teleportation without entering the warp is needed. On the other side of the planet a hole tore open in front of a building three stories tall with images of the past of humanity shown proudly. As he slowly made his way up the stairs he could hear human voices arguing with each other. Shrouding himself from sight he could see that several groups were aligning with the source of the wave of psychic energy, while the others were drawing away from the same figure.

Hidden behind his veil Malcador looked upon the man that had caused such a major disruption in the fields of power surrounding Old Earth. Looking past the slight interference of a living Incarnation, Malcador saw that the human figure was not human by blood but by desire and will. His nature wished to consume and become more and yet a human mind had taken over the nature binding it to humanity, looking deeper in Malcador saw the hidden truth of the man in that his body was fashioned of a virus that fed upon the warp for energy to maintain its own processes. He saw countless minor warp entities be consumed per moment to feed the voracious appetite of the virus' hunger.

As all but five of the bands departed from the room, he stepped in dropping the veil as he did so. "Alexander Mercer: virus, consumer of humans, eater of souls, shifter of flesh and blood, in-prisoner of minds and souls, a being vying for redemption that can't be earned, host to power you can not master, to be corrupted is your fate. What do you say monster of ages past? Surrender to me and suffer a quick death, far more of a mercy than you should ever know, but your actions of recent stay my hand. Speak your last words without twisting them and I might find some mercy within my soul to allow you to yet live." Malcador rasped in an ancient voice imbued with power.

[] Talk things out
[] Attempt to control this power
[] Write in.

I am going to be nice and say outright that Malcador has at worst a 50/50 chance of killing Mercer and at best an 90/10 chance. Also this is Nice Malcador so be aware of that.

 

[Leon12431]

As I am giving a rather extreme amount of time for discussion regarding the above vote. I thought it would be a good time to offer a vote for an interlude on the chosen individual.

Note that Alex won't have any information presented in this interlude so do not expect me to allow for meta gaming with this choice.

[] Emperor
[] The proto craftworlders
[] The exodites
[] Historical records from after the Outbreak
[] One of the other factions working on Earth
[] Alien relations in the Golden Age
[] Records of the Iron War

 

[Leon12431]

I looked out over the city that I have lived in for the past two thousand years, I can recall when skyscrapers over two kilometers pierced the sky and people flew between the spires on vehicles that bent space and gravity with such ease that almost every single person on this world simply accepted such victories of science as normal, now it is but a fading echo of that era.

The tallest buildings barely reach above a single kilometer and of those that do they are notoriously unstable and dangerous, compared to the other buildings. And yet this world is one of the ones better off in this sector of the galaxy. When the Federation of Stars fell, so do did the single largest collection of unified races and the planets that were unable to adequately become self sufficient in the three quarters of the century we had to work with fell hard and fast.

In the very first months after the collapse of trade this world was engulfed in civil war that split the world into five different factions all vying for control of it and the three other worlds that yet remain open to this world. I was able if only just to halt this war before it ensured the lost of all technology, but even with my assistance technology was lost in vast amounts.

The world now teeters on the brink of constant collapse and only my work prevents that. Every day I curse Her for withdrawing Her Light, and yet at the same time I feel the same despair that she feels. For she is the Mother and I am the Father of this current form of humanity. We are tied together in a symbiotic bond within the warp.

Fury at the Eldar slams into my mind constantly, as humans across the galaxy curse their race for their actions that have lead to this point. I know full well that if this doesn't end I will be warped into a mirror to their feelings.

Ironically, it is my nature that grants me my power also condemns me. I am of Humanity and they are of me. Thus, in turn when they change so do I, in the eras before history on Old Earth I was marauder killing and pillaging other tribes with my power for that was what humanity was then. In the Renaissance I was a scholar of the esoteric, pushing the fields of ideas further and yet most of them were wrong but done due to reflecting the nature of humanity. Even though I am my own person I am always a reflection of Humanity's desires and intent.

In the past age, I was a scientist that ruled an entire sector in all but name. My sector was one of the wealthiest and most productive areas in all of the Federation for that was the dream of humanity in that time. Now, the dream is splintered and I am pulled in countless directions, from Old Earth I am called to the office of Warlord once more, from the ascending worlds I am called to the office of the Scientist Lord and from the Falling worlds I am called to be the Avenger of our fall. Within the larger archetypes of the calls, there are countless inflections that divide my nature ever more and into countless conflicting parts.

And now, a new threat has arisen. Khorne the warp entity of war and blood has sent an army deep into the warp, to attack his fellow warp entities. In a way this is only to my benefit for with the others distracted by the host, I might be able to escape to another world closer to home. It is a sad fact that my favored travel method is no longer usable due to the creation of the fourth warp entity.

I cannot even try to halt the host for the last time I did that, I almost lost corporeal form from the rebuttal that I suffered. Even now the feeling of the weight of metaphysical sins pilling onto my shoulders sends a shudder down my spine. When I attacked the leader of the host, all it said was "Feel the weight of your sins that are and yet to be". The moment the final word was spoken I felt pain beyond pain slam into my very soul as I suffered for actions done and yet to be done.

I felt the terror of young children torn away from their parents, the horror of innocents burned alive in service to a non existent god, the torturous fury of a broken man and countless more sensations had slammed into my very being all at once. With my loss of concentration I was cast from the warp back to my body and only now several days after the event have I recovered.

Shaking myself from the past I look up into the night sky and once more I feel my heart despair as the point of white light that every human once could see or feel was gone from the sky. Once a welcoming beacon had lit the sky of all human worlds no matter how far afield they were, but now the light is but a fading memory sifting into legend. Already the legend of the White Light is being born on countless worlds that have fallen far from where they once were, but I hope that eventually she might return and with her return so would her light, but for now I am the only guiding hand left in this galaxy and I must ensure that once the storms clear that the ascending worlds have worlds to reunify.

The golden path is unstoppable and we walk down it hand in hand with our allies. I cast my declaration into the ether of thought, shouting it to be heard "Nothing shall break our Unity, we walk the path and Humanity and our brothers and sisters of other worlds walk with us to ascension. From Old Earth to the Ghoul Stars we stand still and once this era of dispersion ends we shall return to our path and reach the throne. Hear me creatures of the warp, howl and rage as you wish but you will NEVER break the bonds of Alliance that bind the Federation as ONE."

I once despaired over the chances of walking to the end of the path, but now I see and so I swear. If I must wear the mantle of the Warlord ever again I shall not wear the mantle of an Emperor but of a Guardian. I shall never fall to corruption and tyranny as others have, this is my oath and I infuse it with my very nature such that I shall never break it.

 

[Leon12431]

Silence, reigned in the room as everyone paused to comprehend what had just been said. Dana and Ragland felt terror as they worried that Alex would turn aside from humanity once more and this time there would be little to prevent him from becoming what his nature screamed for him to be. Of the bands of humans within the building, four drew weapons upon Alex and the two with him, and with careful actions their weapons scavenged from ruins of the past sparked to life.

The fifth band moved away from the others as they knew more and yet this new event had not been foretold to them. They were well equip compared to the other bands and were less than concerned about their chances in the coming fight, as they knew that of everyone in the room only two were of true danger.

As for Alex, the Hive was screaming of impossibilities as scientists raced along lines of inquiry to figure out how the man in front of them could possibly know such information. As the nano seconds ticked by the Hive discovered a few scant possibilities for how the one could know such hidden information.

The consensus formed around three major possibilities: first that the man in front of them had access to a surviving system from the ancient past which included the Shadow War, however, the odds of such a thing surviving to this point was calculated to be less than a billionth of a percent and so this line of thought was discarded for now, second that he was descended from Blackwatch and a personal device had remained in his family for all of the thousands of years that had past, yet again the odds were against the chances of this theory being correct but it was feasible with only a moderate amount of effort, the third possibly was the one that truly alarmed the Hive for it touched upon the building stones of their very existence.

No one not even Alex had ever truly figured out how the Hive actually worked. Blackwatch during the Outbreak believed it to work akin to the Hives of eusocial insects via pheromones and chemical signals directed across the island, but the smarter ones in their employ knew that such a primitive system couldn't possibly hope to allow for the speed of reaction seen in the Outbreak and the careful actions taken by the infected. These few in their own minds, knew that the Hive was more than simple chemicals and signals, but instead went beyond such things into a new field. One of the people that saw this fundamental truth of the Hive even went so far as to label it magic in his personal writing, and that was all that had been known of the Hive for eons, but now the Hive felt a new power running through them and that nearly faded memory came to the forefront and all of the minds felt worry, for if magic was real then the man in front of them could be a wizard of this era. With desperate fury the Hive fell into the task of research, thousands of minds dug up every single iota of information that they could find regarding magic, from legends to the more recent energy wave that they sensed emerge from Alex all was recalled and studied.

Mathematicians tried to break the phenomena into numbers, even as physicists attempted to rebuild the theories around this unknown energy source, even with all of their skills they were unable to break the new topic into understandable bits. Even as the ones well versed in the hardest sciences failed to achieve anything the others of the Hive were busy at their own interpretations of the information. The biologists and chemists attempted to discover anything in life itself that would lead to such expressions of energy and how they might be able to be done, but just as before they were unable to find the needed break through and so they faded back into the Hive to work on the problem some more with the others that had already failed.

Now the final set of researchers came to the front of the Hive, these were the ones that studied human nature and the mind, they were able if only just to build a theory that the energy came from beyond the normal constraints of space and reality shaped by a sapient mind, but they were unable to build much more than that due to the lack of true information in the subject and so they do faded back into the Hive. And with that the Hive fell silent as the minds within pursued the topic further.

Only a single micro second had past in the real world by this point and with glee the Hive gave Alex access to their work and new found understanding. Just as they had expected he discarded the first two options as unlikely in the extreme and turned to the last option. With a mental frown he paged though the work that had resulted in only the barest of theories formed regarding the topic and for the first time in his entire existence collapsed the barriers between him and the Hive. No longer were the two divergent but one and the same.

The moment the full might of the true form of Blacklight turned upon the problem it tore apart the theory that had taken an entry microsecond to create. The minds within the hive connected faster and more tightly than ever before and aided by Alex they became one, each pulling their own weight as the nanoseconds ticked by outside of the Hive, within countless theories and ideas were discarded or altered to better suit the developing knowledge base. Simulations of technological items made with the theories were done and refined ever closer to a true theory of magic.

Information was drawn from any place no matter how strange in this moment, from fiction to non-fiction all was considered and used to aid in the building of the theory, from a simple theory barely able to even provide the barest amount of insight to a newly forged field of study was the work of only a few nanoseconds, then as the nanoseconds turned into microseconds the work began to build upon the fundamental theorems built just mere moments before. The genetic information of Blacklight and redlight examined under this new theory and information was torn from their genes that told the Hive much of what they were missing. The mutations of Blacklight were comprehended under this new paradigm as the Hive and Alex finally understood from where the energy was drawn from for his nature to exist and furthermore from where his abilities to defy natural laws arose from.

The dimensional links were found and examined in exacting detail by the Hive even as the microseconds beyond turned into milliseconds. The links were found to be covered in debris and weakened in millions of locations and with massive effort the majority of the links were repaired by the Hive only increasing their mental might and power in the process. However, the true cause of the power that they have decoded and broken to theorems lay beyond their current understanding and as milliseconds ticked onward they were running out of time to discover enough to master the power now flowing through them.

They were able if only just to trace a link back to the origin point and thus discover the plane from witch they drew their power from. They could feel nearly infinite power surging just beyond their mind's reach and withdrew from the feeling as they knew that there was only danger to be found within the depths of the realm they had found, and so they turned back to the power flowing through their body beyond control for now and so the conjoined Hive moved to tackle the problem of uncontrolled energy flowing within and out of their form.

The Hive sought to master the flow of power coming in and flowing out of their body. The power raged and fought as they moved to close the valve that allowed it access to their form, but in the end all but a tiny faction of the power flooding them was closed off and brought under their control. With incoming energy under control they moved to the outflow of energy and without the near infinite pressure of osmosis pushing against them that it was a simple matter to seal the energy within and brought under their control. Now with the energy shackled to their will it would only be prudent to discover methods of usage that didn't involve massive damage to the world the Have decided and as such for the last part of the second that they had they turned their full focus unto the problem of forging ways to use the energy productively. With their full focus upon this task they believed that it would be simple to form such methods, only to be disproven violently when they first began and for the next few tenths of a second they struggled with the work and only managing to form five arts that could be used safely before the second became full.

Choose a total of 10 Spell points (SP)
[] Fire Nova 1 SP
[] Time Stop (Complete/Temporal) 4 SP
[] Future Sight 2 SP
[] Teleportation (Warp) 3 SP
[] Lighting 1 SP
[] Heal 1 SP
[] Augment (Permanent/Biological) 2 SP
[] Acceleration (Temporal/Biological) 3 SP
[] Discover (Knowledge) 4 SP
[] Aegis Shield (Protection/Complete) 3 SP

Choose 3 affinities beyond the given ones (Reduce the cost of Spells tagged with them by 1 SP)
[] Pyromancy
[X] Biomancy
[X] Augmentation
[] Divination
[] Temporal
[] Spacial
[] Knowledge
[] Protection

AN: I am not comfortable with having a major vote halfway through an update like this so that is why I am splitting things like this, so I can make use of the chosen powers in the next part.

 

[Leon12431]

Spoiler: Psionic Spell Mechanics: Normal

Whenever a person of power greater than Zeta rank achieves a Hard DC roll regarding stabilizing psionic energy they gain Spell Points which can then be used to buy spells at the end of the update. The difficulty of the Checks scale in relation to the power of the one making them while the amount of Spell Points awarded also scale proportionally to their power level. This doesn't apply to beings beyond the normal spectrum of people. IE Emps, and Alex work on a different system but the above is for normal individuals regarding mastering their powers

Spoiler: Psionic Spell Mechanics: Greaters

The ones that fall under these rules are those that work in realms of power beyond even an Alpha Plus. Namely the Emperor and Alex are current examples of the ones that work under these rules. Unlike with the normal people they don't choose their new powers beyond their starting set, but instead simply gather more that are connected to their affinities as they bring more power under their control. They also have a Personal Affinity that they can grant to other people to make use of their powers.
Emps grants access to the Order affinity and Alex can grant access to the Augmentation affinity
Note that if anyone in this field becomes a True god they move from this rule set into the God rule set.

Spoiler: Psionic Spell Mechanics: God

Gods are given a near infinity of spells relating to their affinities. However, they cast spells outside of their affinities at a vastly reduced power and skill level such that they can only manage to do so by over charging the spell massively and brute forcing it. This gives opposing casters the ability to counter spell them with a moderate DC check, but this is inverted in regards to their Affinities in which case its all but impossible to prevent them from casting whatever they want to achieve.

Spoiler: Full List of Affinities

Pyromancy
Biomancy
Augmentation - Only Alex has this
Divination
Temporal
Spacial
Knowledge
Protection
Order - Only Emps has this
Justice - Only ??? has this
Solar Fire - Only Helia has this
War
Entropy
Understanding
Empathy

AN: I might add more later

 

[Leon12431]

Alex drew back from the multitudes of the Hive as the work settled down into a quieter flow rather than the race against time that the Hive had just experienced. He knew more than he ever had before regarding his own nature and that of the other viral organisms that had lived upon earth in the past.

He understood how the precursor to Blacklight drew energy from the trans-dimensional realm that seemed to be a plane of infinite energy that could be shaped by sapient minds, however this in turn explained how he came to be. For such an energy source couldn't be harnessed by a mindless creature or thing for it relied upon the mind to give it structure and shape, without which it would simply explode outward in an uncontrolled wave or explosion. Even animals that were able to use the realm gave it structure via their instincts and rudimentarily thoughts, but a virus in the normal course of reality never could draw upon the power of the dimension and so Redlight and the thing it came from found itself in a predicament that it had to solve and fast.

Thus, came the single alteration that allowed Blacklight and all of its fellow viruses to exist as they do, in that the animals that the virus infects become the mind of the virus, only in normal course the virus infects non-sentient beings and thus overrides their mind with its own directives and thus it becomes a virus able to draw upon the energy of the other realm.

In his case due to being a human and with latent genes that coded for the ability to draw upon the energy his mind and possibly his soul overrode the virus as it took over his form and made it into him instead of the other way. Alex found this revelation disconcerting on several levels as he now knew just how close Earth had come to ruination from his own hands as he could see and trace the paths that should have been.

If anyone else in the entire world baring a single exception like himself, the virus would have found a human host and from then on its intelligence would sky rocket to the point were it would be greater than any single human and rapidly overrun the world in a tide of viral beasts. Greene he now knew to be a failure in that she was just close enough to prevent the virus from consuming her completely but at the same time enough to allow it to plan and after all Redlight was far cruder and stupider than Blacklight ever was from what he could tell of the genetic sequences he had examined.

———————————————Alex's Perspective———————————————————

My mind teemed with ideas, of what I could now do with the understanding that I have just acquired, but right now I have a greater problem. Turning to face the man that had sparked this whole disaster in the making, I examined him as much as I could with my new abilities and my old ones.

He is old very very old, is the first thing I can discover and it is written plainly on his body and mind and yet he remains intact, untouched by dementia or other curses of old age and cellular senesce. With my old understanding I would have no explanation for this apparent impossibility but with my new and broadened sight I can tell the faint signs of the unknown energy drifting off of his body in only mere wisps of energy.

As nanoseconds tick by I build my impression of him and I know he does the same of me. His energy is controlled far beyond my level as of now, but my rapid advancement has shaken him as I can see the faint contractions of muscles below skin and the opening of pores ready to release sweat and in preparation for a fight.

I can tell that my power far eclipses his, but I highly doubt that power alone would give me the win of any fight between use if only that his control would bridge a good amount of the gap between us.

The hive rumbles in the back of my mind as people debate methods and ideas, normally in the recent past I would gladly take their suggestions and incorporate them into my actions for even now I do not truly understand humanity, but I know that doing so here would only be the spark that would lead to ruination for all.

With a flicker of will, I shape the energy flowing within my body and time grinds to a halt for all outside of this room and for those within beyond me and the unknown man. As I do I feel the Hive jump back into action as they attempt to unravel the method behind this seemingly impossible action of temporal manipulation, however their actions must take a back seat to the coming interrogation.

I release my granted understanding of humanity from the Hive and return to what I truly know. As the knowledge slides back into the Hive I tack a single nanosecond to reflect on how much I have come to lean on the Hive for all I do. In the Outbreak I improved myself through hard work and my own understanding, but now I have come accustomed to having others to aid me even if each of them is far less than myself in aggregate they can support my actions.

Genes spin into place, as I flex my will upon my form. Entire chromosomes are spun out of whole cloth and DNA is reforged into new forms as base pairs are splinted and reset. On the outside my body shifts and changes into a monstrous form as I take upon the appearance of a Chimera from mythology.

"I am a monster. I killed thousands and harmed thousands more. I did this to protect only a single person beyond myself. I never told myself otherwise, I did all I did for the simple reason to understand what happened to me. I tore apart buildings, consumed innocents all to learn about myself. And when all was said and done, I looked upon my work and endeavored to undo the damage I had done." The three voices of the chimera spoke in unison.

"You are a monster and always will be. It is only more important that I destroy you now, before you can master your power further as I can tell that you are one of Nurgle's favored. And I will not accept a being so steeped in such diseased favor to live one more second upon this world."

Ok, the guy is completely insane. I didn't even do anything and he is saying I am in service to something called Nurgle. Also what kind of stupid name is Nurgle anyway, sounds like someone tried to gurgle something out and some idiot around decided to use it as a name. The hive is trying desperately to find something that would make sense of this, but we are coming up blank. I could tell that he was preparing to launch some form of attack at me, in response energy flowed through me as I twisted it to protect those around us from the coming fight.

The moment before the fight began the world rumbled. Light blazed through the windows of the building we were in, I could see the sun out of the window and instead of the yellow orb I have always know it burned white in the sky. I could see tendrils of white flame racing from the surface and knew they must be billions of miles long and wide to be visible from such distance.

The white light slammed into me with almost physical force pushing me back and the other one as well. A feminine voice spoke then, I could see dust storms rip across the land beyond the building and mountains of dust be blasted apart from the sole act of merely speaking in what could only be rage.

"MALCADOR you dare to transgress against my will. I trained you in eras long gone, I raised you up from the lowly worker family you were born into. And THIS is how you DARE to repay my generosity? You accuse the one being in all of reality that could shatter the corrupt gods once and for all as a SERVANT of the worst of them. I have been drifting in despair for far too long, I see now that Humanity needs their mother returned. I am AWAKENED once more, I reclaim my rightful place within reality. Even now my greatest son fights for the protection of the future and you dare risk his duty with your infantile shortsightedness and misplaced conviction? I am displeased with you Malcador, you were told of the day when my chosen Father would return to the world and you have accused him of being a servant of the greatest evil. I shall take your penance in person."

Malcador was obviously not prepared for this to happen as his face lost all of its blood in mere moments and energy began to flow around him in a pattern that I knew would lead him away. Just before the working could be activated, light burned into existence as a figure made of white fire in human form manifested within the room.

I could not see or tell what was happening but I could tell that it was vastly different from whatever Malcador had expected from his actions. Only a few short moments to my mind later the burning figure turned towards me and only then did I realize that time was still stopped for everyone but the two in this room, only this person or thing didn't care and acted anyway.

"Peace, father, I have no wish to invade your mind not the least reason of which is that to do so I would invade the minds of thousands humans. I am Helia, daughter of Pariah and Adam. I stand in an unusual metaphysical location as I command reality and the realm known as the warp as one, I control the very concept of spacetime itself and in the warp I am the goddess of Growth and Will. In ages past my light blazed within all systems of the Federation granting humanity blessings of strength and endurance, recently I fell into depression but now I have returned to the light of life. I will answer any three questions you have, for it is better to grow on your own than to be given all is it not Incarnation of Evolution."

Write in 3 questions
[] Write in questions

 

[Leon12431]

Time was still standing still for all beyond the three within the pocket within the building that I had forged only a few moments ago. I look over at the being made of white flame, "You offer my any three questions to be answered correct?" I ask for confirmation in a voice more human than normal. With a nod of her head the being spoke and once more light itself and reality shook at each utterance "Yes, I will answer any three of your questions to an appropriate degree."

With a nod I turned slightly away from her, looking at the sun now burning white and I could barely make out strands of white light stretching into infinity and branching outward in an endless branching network, before asking my first question. "Why do you call me father? I do not recall ever having the power to shape a being such as yourself and I would recall your creation."

With a sigh she spoke in a broken tone of voice, "I was young and terrified. My biological fathers were tearing apart my home while I was still so so young, that I did what all human children do; run. I wanted nothing to do with them and so I looked for someone that would actually be nice and found you. At the time I didn't know what I was doing but I altered my metaphysical and physical nature such that by all means you are my father. Transient and Adam were far too busy tearing each other apart to even notice the change, which is more understandable now that I look back on it, but then it was proof that my Fathers didn't care about me."

Ok, then that clears some things up, but opens massive new questions. Like who the hell is Adam and who the hell is Transient. But I can't ask because only three questions, and it appears that she is like Dana in that regard, she will only follow the letter not the spirit of the deal. Well, it would be prudent to attempt to see how far I could push her answers for the more information I can gather, the more effective I will be in rebuilding earth.

"That is an interesting history and I would ask more about your early life, but with only three questions that would be inadvisable to do so. What in your opinion is the best use of my time in rebuilding earth?"

"I would say that you should simply try to gather a few humans to your side and try to find an intact ruin in the waste lands. A good ruin could see you have enough room and possibly some left over technology to jump start any attempt to rebuild the planet. The other thing you should probably do is figure out where all the water went. As from what I recall of the wars is that some very esoteric machinery was used that devastated the world in more ways than one."

Well that wasn't very helpful, it was nearly exactly what I was planning on doing, but the hints that there might be problems with the world below the surface was actually useful on some level. Even if said level was rathe far from my current capacity to even begin to investigate if only due to the slight fact that I have quite literally nothing more than the Hive to really do heavy scientific investigation and I worry that if I over rely on the Hive that it might come back to bite me. I guess that is ignorable for now as if the planet hasn't shattered in the last few centuries it is unlikely to suddenly decide to do so in the next few years.

Regardless, one question left. What to ask? I already have extrapolated quite a bit of knowledge regarding the time from the humans I have met and the fact that we managed to clamp down on that trans-dimensional connection to a plane of infinite energy. Overall, most of the larger questions are flatly out of my reach as I am currently just too limited to affect them so it would probably be better to gather more knowledge of a place or thing that I know very little of.

"Malcador when he entered this room, called me a servant of something known as Nurgle and a few of the humans have mentioned some strange things regarding cults. So what is this Nurgle because I assume that it isn't a simply cold."

Helia gave the impression of being surprised and almost alarmed at that question before speaking "Nurgle is one of three entities that live in the plane that you recently connected to. Nurgle in particular would want you to believe that it is the lord of death and decay with disease covered within its command. However, as with its other partner that is a full lie. It would be more truthful to say that Nurgle is the emergent being brought about by the thoughts of sapient beings that are enduring some form of pain. This over time expanded from a core concept of Endurance into a more twisted form of Endurance through apathy, which then got twisted even further into Endurance through pain. Now the current form is that whatever you are enduring is something that you should want to continue forever, however due to how thoughts and emotions alter the warp or Immaterial realm this over time began to include things such as decay, rot, disease and stagnation, all bound under the most twisted form of Endurance that one could imagine. As for the cults you have heard mention is due to a form of memetic corruption that infects the minds and then the souls of sentient and non-sentient beings with a form what I can best describe as synesthesia. This corruption alters the mind of the person affected such that they begin to believe that whatever the source of the corruption wants is a benefit to be shared gladly with non-corrupted individuals. For a Cultist of Nurgle this is shown in how they believe that sharing diseases is a sign of love and care and they tend to be covered in rather nasty diseases with their weapons able to infect with the slightest touch. The other side of such things is that these people tend to accrue blessings related to their lord; Nurgle's tend to become massive tumors that can absorb and heal through massive amounts of damage at high enough levels of blessings, but most of the time they are just insane humans with a few minor powers."

As she spoke her voice rose in volume until the entire world seemed to shake with it, and rage was almost visible drifting off of her form. Parts of the white fire of her form began to turn golden and red as her rage seemed to increases as she spoke of Nurgle. The world bent and warped under her rage as the spell holding time still shook under her power and I had to draw immense amounts of energy to maintain its form. However, I was not so lucky as a blade of three colors of flame tore into one of my arms severing it with no effort as she spoke ever more of Nurgle and what it truly was. Time lost all meaning as I held to the spell even as her rage tore into my body and I saw behind Malcador not faring any better as strands of fire twisted around him and broke his body. With a final scream of rage Helia vanished in a pillar of red, gold and white fire and on the other side of the barrier in my mind the realm shuddered. As the realm seemed to shake as if two things of great power where fighting each other and then the plane was quiet once more.

Now it was time to figure out what to do now that Malcador interfered with my plans, the man was leaning against the wall looking almost hopelessly confused, while the others in the room were still frozen in time.

Malcador
[] Consume - he is weak and its the best time to consume him
[] Ally with him - It might be possible to bring him into accordance with the cause of rebuilding earth
[] Throw him out - simply kick him out of the building and forget about him
[] Write in - something to do with him not covered in the above options

Focus - What to focus on for Earth currently
[] Unifying - Gather the bands of humans together
[] Rebuilding - Form the core of a nation and let others find you on their own
[] Nomadic Assistance - Wander the world aiding people wherever you find them
[] Researcher - Helia mentioned that the world might be broken on other levels find and fix them

Bands
[] Tell them the truth
[] Try to convince them that Malcador was lying
[] Kill them all for they know the truth (0.25)
[] Let them leave if they want to

Direction of travel
[] North - the ground rises and falls in a pattern similar to that of a city
[] South - unknown but rumors of more people there
[] West - unknown
[] East - unknown but rumors of more people there