On the Nature of Souls, Mutations, and Corruption within the Framework of this Quest
In 40k, there exist the Materium, our physical world, and the Immaterium, the psychic world (also called Warp, Sea of Souls, etc.). A dimension of matter and one of thought and emotions. What happens in one has an effect on the other. A Sororitas Covenant will have their faith reflected in the Warp, while violent clashes in the Warp will result in Warp Storms in the Materium. Two sides of the same coin.
However, one side is heavily influenced by these things called "Stories and Narratives." It is why a bow is superior to a gun within the Warp, as there is a give and pull within its use. The drawing of the string, the time to aim, the faith in the arrows path, and the hit and impact of it upon your foe, all possible by imbuing your weapon with a bit of your strength and power. Guns do not have that give and take. You insert a magazine filled with bullets manufactured somewhere else. You aim, press a trigger, and repeat. There is nothing interesting going on for a realm composed of emotion and narrative within that gun. In you, maybe, but not your weapon. And that interest in you is well deserved, for there is something that contains a story seldom surpassed within nearly all beings.
Souls. Souls are narratives and stories, one encompassing the whole entire of one's flesh, even as the flesh encompasses the soul as its perfect vessel with no drop spilled, each akin to the Materium and Immaterium and each influencing the other. Yet, souls can have their story altered and changed. By simply living one's life, deliberate action by yourself or those around you, or hostile intent by darker things still. Souls inherently resist any hostile change by outside forces with great vigour, yet some are not so fortunate to have a single narrative to fight back. Some are born with a multitude by happenstance and bad luck. Those born when the Immaterium bumps or rubs against the Materium and things buried and forgotten are brought back from ancient genetic memories.
Mutants. Bnuy is one such being. Had she not been born on that Dark Mechanicum Outpost, she would never have known the genes slumbering within her. A distant experiment in Daemon summoning upon the station was all it took for reality to slack enough to allow long forgotten genes to activate. Genes that carried with them stories well-remembered by the Warp. Stories that did not mesh well with the story of a human girl born healthy and hale, able to touch and draw upon the Sea of Souls. Those able to see into the beyond could have seen the clash of those three stories within her as she grew into her own.
The story of a human psyker. The story of a gene soldier crafted by a Dark Age of Technology Sorcerer-King desperate to shield his people from horrors beyond counting. And the story of a fecund Pleasure-Slave to an indulgent and decadent part of Golden Age Humanity fighting against their chains.
Those three stories make up her whole, Soul twisting Body to resemble what it hadn't originally been. They clash against each other, seeking to become her whole instead of merely a part, and thus they cannot fight back against the nails and hooks of chaos sent against her as easily as one story could. Soul and Body, Immaterium and Materium, both influencing each other, yet warring too. That allows for something to happen.
Corruption. Chaos wins a soul by pieces, discord introduced into their narrative as the body is twisted to accommodate its new story. Like an infection, corruption slowly grows within its host before racing to complete its task all at once. Chaos chips piece by piece off of souls and replaces those with stories and narratives of its own design, each piece accelerating the process until only Chaos remains.
Yet, Mutants have a singular advantage over other humans and abhumans: they take longer to corrupt if they are unwilling and resist. They have more stories and narratives to resist such an act, and though it takes shorter for each individual story, they have more they can lose than a normal persons singular one.
Bnuy had three of them.
Chaos took the human psyker as she grew, a desperate girl growing up between the soul forges and the chanting of foul tongues a target quickly taken.
They could not take the Gene-Soldier fighting for those who couldn't, nor the slave raging against their shackles. Because she was given the means to resist.
Resisting Corruption. Corruption, all corruption, is a taking of a story and narrative, and the imposing of another upon the hole left. There are many ways to resist such, but the most well known, and effective, means known to humanity are corrupting the corruptor back (overpowering their story with your own), and burning it with the faith of
GOLD.
Bnuy was given faith in something greater than herself. She was given hope for a future without pain. She was given a glimpse at humanity peeking through the prison bars of an inhumane universe.
Bnuy now had people that watched out for her. She had food to eat without fearing it would be taken. She had safety where none existed before. She had peers who were like her.
Bnuy was offered a hand to raise her up so she may stand herself and raise others. She was offered everything freely by a preacher that the voices promised for service. And it meant everything.
Chaos wins by pieces and thrives in secrecy. Bnuy was given an answer and a candle. She turned it into a rallying cry and lit her soul ablaze, screaming a new story into the Warp as she banished the corruption within.
No longer a Human Psyker, Gene-Soldier of a Sorceror-King, and Pleasure-Slave of Humanity, but Bnuy. Hymnal of the Celestial Choir. Guardian of the Faithful.
Three pieces into one, one Narrative against all.
