"Listen well, children, for I tell you this story so it may bring you peace one day," Caretaker Helioa spoke, curved lines of Thules sitting on the ground before them, ears sharp and eyes attentive. "For this is a story how Thules die," Caretaker continued, a book on their lap open and ready to read from, yet ignored as the story had been told so many times it had become ingrained, in both Caretaker and Thule.
"It was before the Great Storm when people yet slumbered and feasted and prayed in safety when they had no fear of the dark and eyes did not watch from shadowed places," Caretaker spoke, weaving the tale in mist and word, a thousand stars flickering into existence between outstretched hands and dancing fingers. "It was on an eve before a rightful night of sleep that a herd of Thules found themselves at the mercy of the N'Nomitron, her strict and exacting eyes piercing through veil and helmet to see all the wrongs and all the mistakes of the young Thules not yet bloodied." As they spoke, the stars changed to an image of 36 saluting Thules, clad in full pilot suits, a N'Nomitron stalking their ranks with slitted eyes of sacred gold and lithe limbs, no mistake uncorrected, and no fault hidden.
Huh.... how long is this set after the battle? for it to become a children's tale I think the details are washed down but the fact this is a story that they have been told and listened to many times... I'll just guess the standard 10 years or a little more for the turn.
Also I did NOT expect this to become a children's tale but I guess it does point to the Thules for what they are trained for and what it means to be one. pffft Herd of Thules? yah that's close enough to how cats would be. Holy shit, maybe a few centuries into the future because what the hell is she using to show this tale? hardlight or projections?
Ah neat, N'Nomitron shown as gold and perfect due to the position itself in the eyes of Thules and with the tech she had. very blessed tech.
"Under her order, they boarded their craft, deadly and pale, armed and hale, 36 Thules for 18 Fighters, each a duet of souls forged in blood, sweat, tears, and time," the N'Nomitron stretched out an arm, and the 36 turned around, filing into their strike fighters in synchronized unison. "Some entered their fighters with their sibling-sisters dear and precious," two Thules, an arm locked around the other's shoulder, as they joked and smiled. "Some with those they worked with, respect and dedication fueling each other endlessly," and two Thules stood, side by side, proudly saluting the symbol of the Star Child, itself inscribed and waving on the flag of the Glimmering Federation. "Others...with those they loved," Caretaker spoke with mirth, a ripple of pre-teen disgust at the mention of love sparking from the sight of two Thules kissing, hands entwined. "But all thinking they would return one by one."
"They left their hangar, joyfully, and greeted the Lamenting Ones, those who weep for the lives they could not save and the lives that may yet be lost, who would be there for them to test themselves against." A scene of 19 fighters against five, one of Gold hanging back with the eyes of the N'Nomitron visible through the cockpit, with a bleeding heart on checker-boards proudly standing before them. "They thought to fight and win, take to home and bunk glory and glee...they would find neither."
Oh neat and very storybook like with the relations there sibling, blood-sisters, and then the lovers, I love the children's disgust at romance and such... that's going to be what little comedy in this isn't it? the use of Lamenting ones and other naming schemes is in line of how it would change to this, alos 'weep for the lives they could not save' yup sums up the Lamenters well.
The scene shifted. A dark mass ruptured through reality, and the Heavy Monitor found itself engulfed by a maw of eyes and tentacles, sharp teeth digging deep kilometers before it closed and swallowed the over two hundred thousand souls aboard with ease, already moving away for new pray even as it left behind bleeding fighters and raging hearts.
"A Warp Titan had wrought itself free of the Immaterium at the dawn of the Great Storm, and it had feasted well in its first moment of existence," Caretaker spoke, the Thules arrayed before her terrified and scared, tiny and weeping in fright. "We can only pray for those lost aboard the ship...but the 36 would not find themselves with the time for such. Duty called, imperious and raging."
Ah, that heavy Monitor DID get swallowed whole. Those poor crew onboard. And holy fuck really? Two Hundred Thousand? and that's with automation and other things meaning we don't need as much crew for ships unlike the Imperium. Damn.
poor thules but it is important to learn and take heart the lesson and duty.
Bleeding eyes of Gold stared out, cogs whirling within cogs as mechadendrites snapped into the minds of all Thules, a banner of pious hatred unfurled by the five, and a wedge formed with Golden Might at its tip. "The N'Nomitron knew the Titan sought prey, and prey it had found. Even as she bled from soul and mind, as her Sister-Siblings trashed and screamed in fear and from the touch of Ruin, she cast her gaze upon its bulk, a thousand sacred rites whispered by her machine, a thousand sacred rights imposed upon her sister-siblings, and a thousand sacred rites screamed into Void and Abyss."
"And thus they fought, though there was only death to be found, for even though the 36 had been granted mighty weapons and many missiles, they were but 18 armed fighters against a herald of Ruin made manifest," Caretaker spoke, stars twinkling between their hands, now but a hundred bleeding orifices of realspace offering glimpses into madness eternal. 18 Defiant Lights racing against the Titan, its bulk squirming and Not Quite Right to look upon. "They sent what they could under the N'Nomitrons shattering mind's direction, her lips never ceasing prayer and her fingers never ceasing corrections for those under her command, minds linked and souls intertwined by holy mathematics in the Noosphere of their time."
"72 missiles streaked from their bays and wings, ethereal munitions escorted by Bleeding Hearts, for they had not taken weapons with them in a fight with allies and friends, and 72 missiles struck against corrupted flesh and twisting will."
Holy shit cool image with the gold and the meshing of it with everything as a presentation with the blessed equipment linking to the rest of them. Really great part.
Ohhh boy, and yah its was only 18 fighters against something that large sooo there was always going to need something done. Surprised the are showing the image of it or even a crude one of the Warp Titan.
Sadly going to take more than that to even slow it down.
Flowers bloomed against a mass of Wrong Things, their might ripping out chunks weighing tons upon tons upon tons...and doing little but shift some eyes and tentacles to swat the annoying pests.
"They fought, they screamed, they fired all they had and more, but the Titan barely noticed their numbers, barely slowing in its path to eat three million innocents seeking shelter before the Great Storm, their souls now praying for deliverance against Evil as the mighty engines of their ships could not escape the Titan's sprint."
A desperate battle. A shrinking distance.
"But in the darkest night, a candle shines like a star, and eight among the 36 burned fierce. They could give no more munitions, no more shells, nothing within their fighters that could be used...except their souls."
Eight lights shine against a maw made of abyssal darkness, horrors beyond sight screaming into their defiant charge.
Ohhh shit that is a lot of civilians and a lot of souls for that damn warp titan to eat. Oh? is this because of the prayer and faith boosting the Thules who crash into the Warp Titan? It certainly makes the most sense as to why crashing the fighters would distract or move the Warp Titan enough.
"See brave Chikian, 789789th birth of her home, the station of N, who felt regret at having never found her One Love, never having worn the Veil of Binding with them, yet see her rage against the Titan, screaming defiance as she prepares to ram its soul into oblivion once more."
"See Alicia Lillywood, daughter of a Thule and one not, and know her soul wrote words upon parchments to delight and fright, incite and inspire. Know she left her last story unfinished, but she did not charge defiantly with regrets."
I swear that name, Chikian. Gotta slip in some humor there and that is some regret a more romantic Thule would feel and appropriately tragic
Lillywood, the fanfic writer Thule who was a natural birth and not vat grown, I find it funny how they never tell what fanfic she was writing. I do like how its that 'oh I left it unfinished but oh well' since she makes the decision to ram anyways.
"See Raefa-11055, of the Line of Y, created by one out of love, and born with blessed machinery at the age of 2. See her heart bleed with those whose Heart Bleeds, for a debt once incurred made her scream their words of glory and cherished doom in the face of death."
"See Aynia, cursed to be born as the 69th of her pod, and as the 420th iteration, numbers of fortune and illness alike, casting shadows of excellence and dependency unto her soul that she rejected with her whole, cursing the Magos that did not skip her designation even as she spat words against the Titan; words to see her defiance bright and glorious."
"See Asteria-905G, who held in her heart the guilt and regret of never having apologized to an old friend over a minor thing, even as she always meant to do so. And know that she flew into the Abyss without fear of evil, for she was Thule, and her steed was mighty."
Oh so this is how its interpreted the regrets and last words. Still interesting mini-stories that are implied by it and what exactly the last thoughts are. Love Raefa being a Lamenter in spirit with her wanting to repay the debt to recuse someone else.
Did not expect Aynia's to come out like that at all. Much more sorrowful and really gives a reason to WHY the expectations placed on her and always fell short. any Thule with the number 69 would feel the need or be seen as needing to match Thule 69 that is their current trainer. That would weight on all 69's and why her last words were like that as just a defiance against everything.
I do like Asteria's being so mundane as it is the sort of thing that just seems so random and its the little things that mean so much. I do see her last words were changed a bit from the crude one but feeling is the same.
"See Valen Curium, an experiment to better your lives, variation 244891A performed and implemented across the generations to come, and whose mind could only wonder what that datapict a sister-sibling had given her contained, even as she screamed prayers of devotion to the Coming Salvation; the Star Child."
"See Shiori Shiratori, born from hallowed machines and consecrated with sacred oils alongside her beloved, dreaming of the lapping ocean waves and the scream of water-birds she had only heard in pict-recordings from worlds her feet had never known. Weep as she wept, for her beloved would stand in those lapping waves without her hand in theirs."
"See Hermanus Beta-8524, born as Thule, lived as Thule, and would now die as Thule, but whose soul was ordained to be no woman's but a man's, his journey one undertaken in his time by means far more arduous than today. Do not pity him his circumstance, but cry Rage like he did at the Titan, yet at the time robbed from him, for he would not graduate to become a pilot in full with his charge, like all eight would."
once again the small things in it of wondering what was on the dataslate and maybe one last joke with a her sister, interesting little bit about her being an experiment to better future thules, either way great way of getting the intent of Curium's last words.
Shiori really is the most 'normal' tragic of them and the one that does not have a resounding 'damn you!' kind of last words. unable to keep the promise of visiting the ocean with her wife and tying the sadness and terror to tears and ocean Good on that.
we see the rare male pilot raised by and lived as Thule like his parents and being a exception to being among the rare-non Thules in the group. and his training turned into his final mission and the last words of rage against the Warp Titan and fate.
"See them all...and know that Duty is more than word and conviction to Those Whose Hearts Bleed," Caretaker spoke, shifting the scene to show five streaking comets racing ahead of the eight, their mighty souls blaring utter defiance and righteous hatred into the Warp, their lights piercing Immaterial Flesh and sundering Immaterial Soul.
"See their charge, see their cries, and weep. Weep in joy, for they chose the Final Sacrifice so that others may yet live. Weep in anger, for they had to die before a monster beyond nightmares could be banished. Weep...because there is nothing else to do but weep as Five Heroes charged to death in Glory. Yet...weep gladly, for the eyes of their Primarch smiled upon their charge, his children fighting unto the last for what was right and what is good."
Ah so we also had the Lamenters doing what they normally do and I REALLY hope Brother Fren wasn't among them. Well shit they actually managed to damage the Warp Titan meaningfully to stall it long enough to banish it or maybe doing that is what banished it.
That he does, caretaker, that he does.
"And dry your tears as the Titan now lays slain," Caretaker finished their story, the scenes shifting from the charge of the Five to show a sundered broken corpse drifting lifelessly in the void.
And dry their tears the Thules did...yet one glared, defiant and angry. A hand was raised, and they asked: "But did they die?"
Caretaker smiled, a sadness around their eyes.
And they said one word.
Oh no that did kill it from that suicide rams into it and was able to protect the Convoy. Of course the question is who the Care taker is and what they know. And the answer can be taken either way in they did or not. Could be the 'dies twice, once the physical and second when they are forgotten' or just with how often it means to 'die' near Warp creatures and the likes.
The Great Storm passed. For some planets, it was but a few days. For most, a week. One unlucky system had to endure for 36 years under its bleeding wails and creeping eyes stretching in the abyssal skies.
But all systems of the Glimmering Federation, one after the other, found contact with each other again, and life...resumed.
Except in Quintura Diablo, for there, the Warp Storm had left...not a tear in the Veil. Not yet.
But it would likely become a Warp Rift in due time if not counteracted swiftly.
Okay, panicked earlier so looking at it again now with that past me. So it wasn't as bad as we thought with the Temporal shit except for one system for 36 years, so that one was a bit is good to have included that for contingencies and that life returned to normal and seemed to whether it well.
Current Warp Tremors: [Still].
I would HOPE its still after the damn Warp Storm. Still it means we can do Cry for the Future if need be but I'd hold off on it until we check the Warp Rift and make sure it won't get worst from the using the Symphony.
The Talon - Qo
Suspected Subversion Time: ~120 Years
Modifiers: Extreme Anti-Subversion Tactics +~250 Years, Focused Infiltration -~100 Years
Oq Jubilia - Oq
Suspected Subversion Time: ~120 Years
Modifiers: Extreme Anti-Subversion Tactics +~250 Years, Focused Infiltration -~100 Years
Okay, can we PLEASE stop this now? we can confirmation we can buy out the Mercs and it'd be better to do those. I'd rather not do the 'wait until the last minute to stop' again.
Van Zandt Free Duchy
Current Relations: Awkward Silence
Trend: Steady
Modifiers: Warp Storm Warning
HAHAHAHAHA, ohhh that awkwardness about something you dislike or hate gives you information that saves you and helps you out a lot and there's that awkwardness about how to deal with that or the relation between them. Before something happens and it goes back to normal. I think we should do Cry for the Future Symphony next turn and try to do a lot of diplomacy to take advantage of this since I think everyone around has a modifier due to the Warp Storm warning and its now or never to take advantage.
Shipwright's Grove
Current Relations: Eternally Bound
Trend: Steady
Modifiers: Warp Storm Warning
Case in point, that massive boost there with the Shipwrights and hopefully the same with the Lords of Eternity and some big boost with the Black Ash Clan, Black Cat Mercs, and Watchtower Confederacy. We want to try take advantage of this modifier as much as possible but I'm hoping next turn to speedrush using Cry for the Future to do more Diplomacy actions for Black Cat Mercs to buy them out and try to intergrate the Shipwright Grove, we still need military X or the other Patterns for the Knights to make sure we win the Duel. Maybe an action for the WatchTower Confederacy to get our foot in the door more?
[] [Knightly Orders] Expand A Little. As A Treat. (0/2)
Back to the training yards...ugh...
(Gain: Knight Orders gain +5 Warp-Packs.)
Hah, it never stops and in this case its only until we finish the other patterns of the Questoris Knights and then they have to build even more.
Also I think you meant War-Packs. Not warp packs.... unless?
[] [Chapter] A New Fleet (0/2)
New fleets are required, and old ships need replacing. 3000 Brothers are enough for now.
(Gain: New Lamenter Ships.)
Ah right they were in the process of developing more tech for the ramming psy tech and normal ramming tech before building the new fleet. now the ramming that the new ships will be even more destructive! adding in the Space Marine Librarians and what they can do.
Yahhhh something is up there considering this.
[] [Faith] The Penitentia Rite
It was JUST the Penitentia rite, not the 6th. Soooo yah that is going to be a problem and nasty surprise. Doubly so considering we didn't vote or write anything from it so I think that's being hidden for right now.
1. Also because of course I have to ask. QM how is the landscape post-warpstorm in terms of Hetalia version of relations with the Glim Fed Nun and her totally not smug expression and totally not expecting to be showered in praise and how awesome she is?
