Might be worth to get the major SDF and build some battleships to that fleet, would help improve the sector and gain us some good rep
But that is gonna have to wait, think next turn we should do some Increase native extraction or extraplanetary resource exploitation as they dont have any Suspicion on them and boost our Extraction even more
Might be worth to get the major SDF and build some battleships to that fleet, would help improve the sector and gain us some good rep
But that is gonna have to wait, think next turn we should do some Increase native extraction or extraplanetary resource exploitation as they dont have any Suspicion on them and boost our Extraction even more
Battleships have been rebalanced due to the way that they are treated in the lore. Battleships cost 100k Resources and require allocation of Production Capacity, Titans and Knights both require the same system to build. Heavy Cruisers are the heaviest/largest ships that can be built directly from Resources. Also that action no longer provides battleships unless you can outright buy them via Wealth from local forge or fortress worlds.
But that is gonna have to wait, think next turn we should do some Increase native extraction or extraplanetary resource exploitation as they dont have any Suspicion on them and boost our Extraction even more
Is the Extraplanetary part even possible? I mean, our current fortifications include setting up mining, refining, and manufacturing facilities wherever we can on top of the military bases themselves.
Is the Extraplanetary part even possible? I mean, our current fortifications include setting up mining, refining, and manufacturing facilities wherever we can on top of the military bases themselves
If Comprehensive Subterranean and Void Fortifications give us all the extraplanetary, then that is great as some of those mines have rare resources, and then we only need to do Increase native extraction
The CSVF action does not do the extra planetary mining actions, it is an entirely different action. It had similar results yes, but its narratively and in universe vastly different.
The CSVF action does not do the extra planetary mining actions, it is an entirely different action. It had similar results yes, but its narratively and in universe vastly different.
It provides local production and extraction. It does include mines and foundries in the bases, but not in the same locations as the mines are. The base locations were chosen for military value rather than extraction value.
Mostly due to two reasons. 1) their world's geography makes trying to get into space a massive pain, 2) they are very much aware of how vulnerable they are, they are full aware that only around 5000 astartes could exterminate them with little trouble or only 5 battleships could do the same, so in short they refuse to put stuff into space where other races will find them.
I am confused. What liquid are you referring to? if its what I am thinking then that is a part of the design to help disperse impact energy across more of the armor plating. You also cant produce Exatari ships since that would be massive suspicion gain per ship.
Because of how insane this part is, I took the liberty of recounting the rolls and calculating the chances of what happened into fraction form.
In short you had a 7 in 250 million chance of having this outcome, technically its probably much higher due to the chance of not getting an earlier roll to make that amount of resources a bonus vs a malus or nothing to the action. So In that light it's probably around 7 in 750 million odds, which can be further expanded depending on previous rolls and whatnot. In short, this is something that could only happen due to a massive case of insane luck with the dice falling out into this form.
Due to writing Shezu, I took the liberty of adding a handful of words that felt better than using human standard ones.
Q'tan translates roughly to Gods of Life, Life Gods, Warp Gods its the Necrontyr word for the Old Ones
R'tan was basically their word for how the other races of the WIH era saw them and roughly translates to Reality Gods, Technological Gods, and such other statements.
Also this is the first showing of how the WIH era differers from the current galaxy and also gives clues to the power of the current Necrons in this era.
A message from an unknown source reached my awareness, something meant to be impossible to occur now, yet it did. The code that was used to obfuscate the information was beyond my knowledge to understand, but a fragment of it was workable indeed. It took me but a moment to weave it into the greater operating system and send it to the Homeworld. The code block would probably not result in any notable improvement, but it was at least something I could understand.
Regardless, I knew from who it came from and from where. It was clear that Shezu desired to meet with me even before I read the message. As I looked into the data, it told me nothing more than what I had already inferred, but in truth, that was all that was needed. At least with all the actions for this decade handled, it was possible to take the time out to act in these less pressing matters.
Reaching the vault was a far faster process than it was originally, as I had no need to slow my pace for Nirve or to explore each nook and cranny this time. As I pushed open the door, I noticed that several strange devices had been created from the metal of the walls, even as Shezu herself rested on her knees staring towards me.
I knew that if she wished, there was nothing I could do to prevent her from ending my life. The ancient instincts of my kind were fine-tuned to detect even hidden threats, and they had never faded over the eons. The small form made of the primordial metal that contained the mind of only one being was the single most dangerous person I had ever seen barring the glimpse of the human Witness.
She looked up as I entered the vault, "You are an enigma. We, the Necrontyr, covered the material galaxy for eons beyond counting, yet never did we find a single ferroid lifeform. I find myself wondering if you are nothing more than a rogue Canoptek Scarab that has mutated its form protocols in the absence of a higher force." Her voice was quite almost whispering, and yet it filled the room effortlessly.
I walked a few steps forward before stopping. "I am one of the Exatari, our evolution has been determined to begin sixty-five million years ago. Current science holds that the first cells were formed from the primordial metal before evolving to work with more common compounds." I stated, without displaying any concern at the moment, for it was the truth as determined to the best of our abilities.
Shezu tapped the floor in seeming thought, but I knew better. She had already considered what I said and what it meant, birthing and discarding thousands if not millions or even billions more ideas than I could envision in the time that I had taken to speak. However, it was not my place to interrupt her until she provided me with the freedom to act.
"It's ironic that the material we termed as living metal would entirely come alive without our touch." She looked up towards the celling of the vault and beyond, "I wonder if the Q'tan were the ones that wove your life into being as an insult to our war. It would be a fitting rebuttal for them to make, but I find their humor lacking." She spoke once more as the green energy of her eyes traced over my form, yet she seemed to see more than I expected.
"You truly are species blessed by evolution. Flesh of metal, an eternal mind of crystal and lightning, blood of plasma, a heart of solar fusion, and a soul untouched by time. Your species mocks our failings such that I wonder if your existence was designed as a cutting jibe, for how could one such as you occur without the hands of the Q'tan authoring your birth?" Melancholy seemed to grip her as she turned towards the floor, "Still, I can not claim that if such is the case, that we do not deserve this mockery by them." Her final words were soft and almost silent even to my senses, yet they were still audible, and yet I remained silent yet for she had not reduced the danger to this meeting yet.
She looked up towards me once more, before turning back to the dataslates she had created. "I find myself tired of silence. The Dynasty to which I owe my loyalty to is broken apart and dead, my culture a dying memory of the past. The continuum of my people is broken. " Her words were tired, the last ones in particular as if the concept was painful to consider, "I was nothing more than a mechanic, and now I am one of the few that yet retain their minds. I could take control over a Tomb World and rule it as if I were its Overlord, so broken is the chain of order. I have decided to teach you my language, for I tire of speaking this primitive tongue." It was strange to consider, but it was clear that she missed the structure of her culture as it was eons ago, even though that very structure ensured that she would never amount to much.
Melancholy gripped her tight, as the pain of eons old wounds were yet unhealed. However, I could see that this choice also weighed heavily upon her. An attempt to gain some normalcy in this age. For me, the offer was something I would not reject. The language of the Forge Scholars was created to handle the principles of our craft, and if my assumptions were correct, then her language would result in a great boon to my understanding of reality.
I lowered myself as much as I could before her, but before I could vocalize my honor at this offer, Shezu again spoke. "Your behavior does not match your form. Why would one such as you be so wary around me?" Her voice was quiet as always, but there was an edge to it that I could not fail to miss, and it was clear that she was aware of a discrepancy in mind. "We were not the rulers of our world. We were the vermin, the ones consumed by all others. That legacy remains unchanged."
The statement was given without qualification, for as much as some hatchlings wished to proclaim otherwise, we were the weakest of all life to evolve upon the Homeworld. The Mantle Worms had consumed entire hives in singular attacks, the Bore Crabs descended as a plague upon us whenever they hungered, which was their natural state.
Those and thousands more fed upon my ancestors without limit. Our only advantages? Intelligence and independent consciousness. The only truly thinking species to arise upon our Homeworld, long before the Witness, millions of years before the first true civilization formed, the Exatari worked together to exterminate those that fed upon us.
The Mantle Worms were killed by the sacrifice of thousands of us, tearing them apart from the inside out. The Bore Crabs were lured into traps and left to starve to death. Ever crueler and more effective means were invented to exterminate all that dared prey upon us until only we remained of what humans would term the megafauna.
Only for the last million years did we rule the Homeworld, and even today, we know that Mantle Worms and others yet remain in existence. Not all died to our early purges, but they learned to avoid us. In the end, however, they will die as well. Extinction is their fate no matter what. Before I left, only one Mantle Worm lived alone in the deep mantle of the Homeworld, starving to death slowly but starving nonetheless. With its demise, our butchery would be complete. It is one of the few species that did survive our early assaults, as the Bore Crabs have been gone for a million years.
Shezu chuckled at the statement, "The children of the worlds of death were ever so vicious, yet all were born from the touch of the Q'tan, for only they authored such brutal existences to test the limits of life, uncaring of the harm they wrought. I wonder what they would think if they could see you now. Would they see one of their countless mistakes to purge and forget, or one of their successes to rise high and mighty to rule the galaxy in their name?" Her statement was without malice from what I could perceive, yet curiosity echoed in her dead tones, even as humor could be heard faintly.
She turned her gaze downward though as memories seemed to return to her, "In a sense, we were not all that different from you." She turned her gaze back to me, filled with a terrible weight, "We were the weakest of an era of gods, we only had minds unsurpassed. In my forty and five years before the biotransference I walked upon a thousand worlds, met a thousand races brought low by our might. Beings able to shatter stars with their minds alone, chained with bands of cosmic power and forged spacetime. Creatures of thought made real brought low with energies wrought from other dimensions. We the workers examined their technologies, learned what we could, and destroyed the rest. Only the Q'tan stood above us, for while we had mastered the material, they had mastered the immaterial." She drew the gun to her examining it as she spoke, seeming to wish something to occur.
"We are weak once more, a pale shadow of what we once were. The energy grid is broken, and our machines die slowly. Perhaps a fitting end for the Necrontyr." I stared down at the weapon in her grip noting that it was damaged and not repairing itself a strange event. "Can you explain why you call yourself weak now?" I speak quietly hoping to gain answers without annoying her. At my words, she glanced up to me and shook her head sadly before standing up to activate a holographic representation of the galaxy in a different age.
A hundred trillion stars glittered in the void of her projection; hundreds of orbiting dwarf galaxies encompassed the denser center. At the center lay a star larger than some galaxies of the current age, bound in impossible works of science and technology. Spaceships the size of solar systems danced within the void, an image of something impossible. "The galaxy of my era, before our war with the Q'tan. Perhaps, it is fitting that the lesser races called us what would be R'tan in our tongue, for we had created the star in the center, and all Dynasties gained infinite power from it."
I stared at the representation of the galaxy of the past and the massive star at the center of it, "How do you know all of this? Were you not a worker?" Pain flashed in her eyes as she stared up to me, but she sighed, "I was, but I was still a Necrontyr. Information was our lifeblood, even we the commoners could learn all we wished provided we sought no caste secrets. A handful of Dynasties took a different view, yes, but mine was milquetoast in this regard, and I learned much of the wider galaxies. I remember being saddened when I learned that their alloying techniques required a soul powerful in the other realm, but now my emotions are far from my reach and have been for eons." She spoke as she stared at the hologram of the past, her energy filled eyes staring at the star in the center of the living galaxy.
"How many lived in that era?" A sad chuckle emerged from her body as she stared into the hologram recalling memories, "Hundreds of decillions if not reaching into the undecillions. Quintillions of races across the breath of the galaxy, from the void to the surface of stars to even the center of black holes and neutron stars. This era from what I have learned is but a pale echo of the least cared for orbiting satellite galaxy. My people are all that remains of the truth of this era of the past, which does nothing but sour my mood. Ah, I find myself tiring of these questions, so let us begin your study of the language of the Necrontyr." She finished speaking and dismissed the hologram even though I could never forget it and would never wish to do so. I settled in as she began to teach me her dialect, for it was clear to even me that this was not her people's full language. It was too simple, too understandable for me.
Even so, it would take centuries to learn it in full, a testament to how intelligent the Necrontyr truly were. It had taken me mere weeks to learn the tongue of the Forge Scholars and most spent decades learning the language of my Scholarship.
I soon realized that the principles of the language were those of order and of compression. Each word had a potentially infinite array of meanings depending on how it was interlinked with other words in the same sentence block. The language of the Scholars, designed to be used for our purposes, was a crude instrument compared to this. The tongue we spoke had far more discrete terminology compared to the compacted meaning of the Necrontyr language.
However, the language Shezu spoke was also barren, and I was unsure if she even realized it. The human languages contained concepts missing in nature from hers. One would think that she would understand those concepts, but I have suspicions on the matter that she did not. There was no elegant or quick way to explain personal desire or enjoyment, there was no method to explain ephemeral concepts such as beauty without a roundabout methodology.
Even from this single moment of practice, I could tell without a doubt that this language was designed to be stripped of those aspects so as to limit said thought, which sadly made sense based on what I knew of her biology and the caste system of her people. With this limitation in mind, I could not imagine how complex the full language would be if this was a vastly reduced form of it. It would take centuries to learn the language Shezu was teaching, and if the other languages of her people were even comparable that would be millennia. However, I find myself doubtful that would be the case. It would be more likely to be eons of effort to learn those dialects of her language.
Regardless, I can at least learn her form without that degree of effort, and it would be a great boon for my abilities to be able to have access to the vast array of concepts yet to be invented by us Exatari. So many things would become easier to speak of or even ponder with the proper terminology, yet I would need to seek out a Warp-based language to gain the same for the other realm.
As I worked through the basics of the language, I found a fraction of my mind pondering faith. I knew that humans worshipped their Witness - the thousands of cathedrals that covered the surface of Shogi proved that - and the importance that Nameria held in the social stratum of the world was another clue to the importance of their religion. However, what was faith at its core remained a mystery. I had asked humans over time what faith was and never received a clear answer that made sense to me.
Most centrally, it seemed to be a belief that if ritual was followed, then probability would be twisted in their favor. I could not deny that it was a form that I could see appealing to many. After all, it was simple and easy to do. All one had to do was spend time following the instructions of another in prayer, and a sense of surety would be gained, yet I could feel something within myself rejecting the idea of submitting myself in such a way to The Witness.
It felt as if it was the wrong shape for the wrong purpose. I was not a human, no matter how much I had shaped my soul to emulate their spiritual form, so perhaps that was the key to be found. The form of faith that would fit the core of my soul, the soul of the Exatari that I truly was. However, I could not deny that in this subject, humanity was far superior. We, the Exatari, never had a true religion as humans would consider it to be.
We never gave worship to ephemeral beings. We never submitted ourselves to unworthy leaders. The hierarchy that we use is one of merit and skill. Our timeless lives make us poor fits for the form of worship that humanity engages with, for both the natural coming of death and the fallibility of memory were absent, thus making any failings from one's existence unable to be washed away. It is hard for me to care about the passage of time, for what is a decade to one who has seen a millennium and will see countless millennia more? What is impatience to one that could live to see the merging of galaxies? No, in the end, the form of faith engaged by humanity is without a doubt, not the correct form to emulate for a species such as us.
Our existence does not fit well to an institution that would require submission on the level of present humanity when it comes to faith. Even my species' civilians are possessed of their pride and would never submit to the rule or command of one that has not proven themselves worthy of their loyalty, either through might or wisdom.
"You are distracted by something." Shezu's voice broke my pondering as I returned to full awareness. She had moved slightly, but I could tell that she was interested to a degree in what I had been considering. "I was considering the faith of humanity and how it differed from my own people's." Her expressionless face seemed to shift slightly as her eyes dimmed.
"Faith... the lifeblood of gods, the vessel by which miracles are wrought upon reality. The galaxy of my era was one of the divine. We, the Necrontyr, were considered to be gods of technology and reality by the lesser races. The Q'tan were the gods of life itself, and the Star Gods were the twisted creations of our science and tortured longing for purpose. Perhaps in the end, the war was inevitable." Her voice was calm, yet I could hear the undertones of grief and pain that echoes even now through her.
"We had faith, for in that time, all things did. No race of thinking beings bar one was absent a Pantheon of Gods. Only the Q'tan, the Gods of Life, were their own Pantheon of uncountable trillions. We wove into existence gods of stars, for in our naivety, we turned our hatred against the ineffable into the faith that birthed our Pantheon. In time, we would bind the gods of reality into shells in homage to the personifications of the Star Gods we had woven, but the Q'tan ensured that our gods died before the first strike of the war began, even as the C'tan - the incarnated gods of reality - became real." The whispering voice echoed unnaturally around the room. A pressing force could be felt at that moment - an echo of an echo that yet lingered was drawn to the here and now at the words of a thinking Necron it seemed. However, Shezu made no motion, betraying the fact that she felt nothing from the lingering pressure.
"In the end, our faith was our hatred. Countless races twisted their base emotions into faith, countless more wove faith into their arts, and even beyond that more emulated that which they sought in the divine in mortality. However, there was an infinite array of ways for one to show faith, and we never learned of this subject beyond its most basic levels." Her eyes dimmed at the admission of reaching the end of her understanding, yet I could feel a form of interest burning within her as she lifted her gaze to mine once more.
As she met my eyes, she seemed to ponder her words for a moment before speaking, "If you sought to learn how your species shows its faith, then I cannot assist you. Ours was forever tortured and twisted, our hate against all made manifest in the Warp, tainted by the curse of our souls. All I can offer is the knowledge that each species holds its own form of faith. We gave no prayers, we cursed our gods for our fate, we cursed reality itself, and that was our faith." Her final words carried a note of finality to them marking the end of the conversation, yet it had provided little to aid my pondering in truth.
However, perhaps it gave me enough to find my own way to the correct path. In the end, that was all that was needed. The question of the impact of faith upon my people was to be considered another time. Until proof had been gathered, I could not reject progression along any pathway to furthering the species, for that is what it meant to be a Scholar of the Forge.
As the meeting was over and I had made some small progress towards learning her language, along with being informed that I could return to continue my lessons, I set out on a different mission. To explore and seek to discover how Exatari faith differed from human faith. It was a subject that I would need more examples of first and foremost, especially including worship of beings outside of the human Witness, which I am given to understand do not officially exist. However, I also know that there is no way to ensure that such is truly banned on the scale of planetary populations, much as blood sports are banned upon the Homeworld, but underground fights remain.
It was a boon that the new operating system I had written several decades ago pruned many of the flaws of the old version, making it a matter of a few moments to trace a suspicious underground group to a small area within one of the smaller cities of Shogi.
The suspicious activity was small in nature and, as such, something that I could investigate on my own. Even if it did turn out to be the result of Chaos, I find myself doubting that a few humans could pose a true threat to my being even weakened as I am from the work of this decade.
As I made my way to the supposedly hidden base of the cult, I noticed several humans looking for me, but they would find nothing as I had tuned my phase shields to block the human spectrum of visible light. Something I find strange indeed about the imperium is the lack of commonplace stealth fields. Such things are a simple matter of filtering only a relatively small band of the electromagnetic spectrum. Each color held its own wavelength, and from the notes on human biology, it was simple enough to tune my shields to negate any wavelengths that would betray my body.
In combination with my sensors and abilities, it was easy to become silent and weightless, creeping through the streets of one of the outlying cities without alerting any to my presence. I would need to ensure that such was not so easily done by my foes, for I could not assume that this was an unusual technology as of now. The Imperium had the technology at hand to achieve such results, and I can not rely on hypothetical limitations to ignore risks to my world and myself.
Regardless, it was easy to enter their base: a long since abandoned factory. The floor was covered in blood, and I could see the building was retrofitted with large cages, within which humans fought with blunted weapons to first blood. I watched from the celling above, holding onto the beams with my legs even as I silently noted the proceedings.
Nearly everyone muttered prayers to their Witness under their breath for strength to see things done, a few even whispered prayers for my continued labor upon Shogi, yet there were eight men with musculature that I have rarely seen upon humans wearing blood red leather with brass fixings. The eight of them imperceptibly sneered at the prayers the others whispered or spoke.
I have learned much of Chaos from Nirve and Nameria, even Araahal has spoken in passing of Chaos to me over the years. It was clear enough that these eight bowed to the will of one of the harbingers of all ruin. As the last fight ended, I made my move. Gravity was allowed its due as the engines that had reduced my mass to zero were halted and flipped, spiking my mass into the hundreds of tons for a moment. Even as I cast aside the veil that protected me from sight, I fell upon the arena. The prismatic energy of the veil shattered, illuminating my form as I crashed into the rockcrete of the foundation, blowing back all nearby.
"Prophets of ruin shall find no peace upon Shogi anymore." I spoke as I raised myself to my full height, my body shifting as I took upon the form that was best suited for combat. Spikes of carapace erupted from my back, my joints were covered in interlocking scales even as the fury of my heart burned brighter. Sparks danced along my skin as I turned my fury upon those that dared bring the touch of those monstrosities upon my world.
Lightning lashed out at my will, immolating four in a moment, another I wove gravity around and torn asunder. The sixth and seventh died in moments from pure blunt trauma as I brushed past them without concern towards the final one who bore a knife of twisted bronze. This display was slowed from what I could have done. It would have taken less than the pulse of my heart to render them all unto ash, but I knew what I sensed within that wretched blade.
The Inversion Arrays spiraled into activity, prismatic lightning erupting from my skin even as I tore the bound daemon from the grip of the former man daring to try to harm me. In the face of my presence, his body withered and died, the foul touch of his patron having vanished even as it invigorated me. Despite its feeble attempts at putting me under its sway, my heart devoured the power of the Warp to fuel the coming Inversion.
As the cultists bled out onto the stones, I could feel the thing behind him trying to push through. I denied it; my presence killed the Warp, and such a minuscule amount of energy would not last long before my voracious hunger for the raw essence of the Immaterium. Prismatic light reaching a crescendo erupted into the dagger, and I knew that it held a daemon of nearly meaningless power. However, the relic I had recovered from the Daemon in the Warp Storm could consume this fragment to grow powerful.
I do not know how I knew this, but I could sense it was true and that it was of my own accord to possess this knowledge. It is recursive in form, as I bent my will to see what I have done completed before I shall know to complete it. The Daemon tried to resist, but where the Honored of the forces of Chaos stand beyond my reach, this shard of a shard of might was well within my grasp, and it had no recourse. So it was that in a flash of arcane luminescence, the deed was done, and the Neverborn weapon was consumed by the tome.
The others in the room had fallen to their knees praying to their God-Emperor, and I found myself disgusted - no, repelled - by their submission. This is no path for us, the Exatari, to walk. My resolve was set, and this path was clearly not the one I sought. In the end, perhaps this was all the more foolish, for did we not already have a method of showing our worthiness to Join with a Living Mausoleum?
Self improvement, to gain in experience, to become more than you were, to overcome your failings, to seek to see another dawn. We as a race cherish life indeed, and all of our focus is placed upon expanding or completing that which we see as our duty. Would that not be the principle by which our faith abides?
As I returned back to the capital, I knew how I would engage in this test. Perhaps this was the wrong mindset to use for something such as faith, but it was all I could do in the end. I was not one of those who bore the powers of the immaterial realm or of the denial of the same. I was but a Forge Scholar with all that implied, so I was bound to the chains of order and logic beyond all else.
I worked in the understandable. I explored all that could be under the lens of rationality, for that was what I was at the core. I know that Humanity and the Necrontyr both found different ways to show their faith to that which stood outside or beyond them. Shezu told me of what she remembered of the past age, and I knew how humans showed their faith.
In the end, my faith if such was possible would be done through the lens of rationality. For what else could one expect of a Scholar of the Forge? I carry the mantle of the first Scholars of my kind from all those eons ago to the present. We the Scholars of the Forge have ever sought to master all that we could consider. I know those that first detected the particles of Weight did not understand what they had discovered, but they refused to admit defeat. Millennia of effort later, and the riddle was broken. Our future was then set in stone - the first steps taken upon the path that would lead to our mastery of meta and phase technology.
Perhaps it's a sign of being corrupted by human nature, but I can not deny that there is some desire to become known among my people in a way beyond just my admittedly valuable contributions to quantum physics. Unlike my peers, I would never have the honor of being recorded in the annals of those that Joined at the end of their lives. The greatest form of legacy was barred to me when I took this exile beyond the borders of the Homeworld, but perhaps a discovery worthy of a new Scholarship would let my name be remembered outside my peers.
Still, I can not deny that such is an unsuitable response for one such as me. We are not to take pleasure in cementing our legacies. The other Scholars are allowed such moments of glory for their tasks are ever so thankless and unseen by the civilians of the Homeworld. We are the most visible and, as such, held to a higher standard. To improve the species is our calling, and to take undue pride in one's achievements is but a sign of one who nears the point of Breaking.
I knew myself well enough to understand that I was teetering on the verge of Breaking myself. I was not far away from unmaking the mantle of Scholarship that had defined my life for centuries. Flashes of whom I used to be have erupted over the decades, and I worried that such an occurrence foretold of my total Breaking. All that have become Scholars of the Forge have heard of what becomes of those whom Break.
Where other Scholars who Break are considered simply Broken Scholars, the Scholars of the Forge that Break are different. We are considered to be Scholars of Radiance, for we burn ever so much brighter as the restrictions unravel upon us. I could design bombs to shatter solar systems, guns fit to break stars asunder, weapons to rend space and time into nothingness. All would be but a passing thought to me or any Scholars of the Forge if not for the restrictions we labored under.
In the moment of our Breaking, those chains shatter, unleashing the entirety of our knowledge into our control. Limits that had once been unbreakable now broken and cast aside, all Scholars become ever more when they Broke, but those of my kind became infinitely greater. The mere consideration of my mental state as being near to the point of such Breaking should be enough to cause me to seek an end to my existence, but much as cancer in humans, I have broken far enough to ignore the dying whispers of those limitations even as I pondered this matter.
I turned aside from such useless pondering towards the focus of this time: a model of the Witness. I have seen Harkar and the others sometimes build models of grand designs out of wood and glue. Such would not suffice for this purpose or test. I turned instead towards a more complex goal, which was to design a model of The Witness that would be fully mobile under its own power. It would be in many ways a small Knight unit as the Imperium would consider it, cheaper by far than a true Knight but only due to the variable scale I was building it within.
The Witness in truth was impossibly massive, its length now spanning at last measurement the size of a Mantle Worm and its height reaching kilometers at its peak. Over its eons of life, it has grown massive and powerful even as every year it slumbered more than the last, until now its moments of awakening are measured in nanoseconds. It would beggar the sector to construct such a scale model, but the proportions even now closely fit to the form of an Exatari, and as such it would be possible to design a construction only slightly larger than myself.
The concept of autonomous motion was alien to the Exatari, nyself included, for we never sought to design machines without the use of our abilities to link directly with them. However, where we failed, the Imperium had succeeded many times over, and I had their records at hand to begin the design.
A grand skeleton of metal and a few alloys from the windfall the Homeworld provided to serve as the base skeleton, reaching ten meters into the air. A computer only a few steps removed from the Calculation Heart to serve as the brain was installed into the center of the head of the frame. A million systems were slowly designed and fabricated using only that which I could do via my own cybernetics.
After a year of effort, the greater bulk was completed, the live flesh beginning to grow along the form to complete the design. As it grew, I noticed something both new and familiar.
It was incredibly faint, barely even a reading on the sensors that I had slowly fine-tuned to near perfection over centuries of life. A particle unlike any I had encountered before, nearly impossible to detect even now that I knew what to look for, it avoided the normal systems to capture and contain for study.
However, I am no longer a novice at working with new libraries, and I slowly captured a mere eyeful of the particles. Each library I have encountered spoke in its own way of what it was, at heart. Life whispered to me of the passage of time, the march of evolution, the betterment of the species, the improvement of health in general, an infinite array of concepts all linked to Life represented within the particles of the Library. Weight had a solidity to it that the others so far lacked, there was no nuance to its workings, it was simple and direct, which gave clues to why it was so easy to work with and discover compared to the other particles I have uncovered.
Information from my momentary encounter with it was never not in motion, ever changing and interlacing with other particles to carry information beyond the Veil and into the real world. It had thousands of lower layers that were as of now unknown. Ruin was the simplest and also the most complex until now. It was absolute in its domain being that of decay, ruin, and sacrifice, yet it also carried the foul touch of Chaos and told those that could understand the intricacies of the particles much of the nature of the Four that they would rather be unknown.
This particle was different. The most complex by far and yet singular, there was only one particle within this Library, but where one would think such a Library would be weak and useless, I saw otherwise. An infinite array of possibilities lay within the singular particle. It was both a kaleidoscope and a puzzle, ever changing and yet never changing.
It interacted with the other particles to make more of what could be done. It was something else indeed. I could see it flowing from the idol of the Witness and knew that my faith had called it forth. It told me its name as I beheld the prismatic orbs of unfettered ability and knew that I held Divinity in my grasp.
This particle, singular and universal, was the medium by which the divine interacted with the world of mortals. It was the fluid by which miracles were enacted by those beyond the Veil. It was the great pathway by which faith was conveyed to the divine. It was something beyond the other particles, and yet I knew within its infinite array that there were two powers that hovered near to the surface.
The act of calling and the gift of life, the two powers that all that were divine claimed as their own. All that were divine listened to the calls of those who followed their commands and gave life to golems and others to enact their will. The particle remembered those powers well, even in this state of being drawn forth by my unfocused faith.
Such acts over the eons of belief had become intrinsic to all that were gods, and now I could invoke the powers as my own with Divinity in my grasp. However, this was not what I sought. I pulled a singular particle from the twenty I had gathered and pushed upon it my will and provided it with a book of paper woven from the air.
The kaleidoscope of infinite results spun until it landed upon the configuration that would see my cause done, and then Information particles flowed from the veil in response to the call of Divinity. Information and Divinity wove together into an orbit even as the central particle of Divinity changed and evolved to become more and less, differentiating into the final result before it was consumed in a flash of light that blinded me across all senses.
When next I could see, the book had changed into a gold and silver tome written in the Exatari language detailing the basics of our Faith to be.
As I opened the book to read the secrets given to me by Divinity, I found myself disappointed, for within the tome laid only gibberish. However, I read it all to ensure that there was no value inherent to the usage of the particle of Divinity. As I read, it began to make sense as the pieces came together in my mind, and I saw that the Witness had reshaped our path of faith eons ago.
I wondered if that was its goal all along then dismissed that from consideration, for the Witness and the other Living Mausoleums give us freedom to act. Only in times of need do they provide direction, in all other moments they step back to let us Exatari of the present write our own future... yet the Witness is unique. It was the author of all that we currently are, so perhaps it knew more than it had spoken of and had in fact sought to change the manner of our faith.
Regardless, the book gave me enough to discern the underpinnings of our form of faith. Humans bow to their Witness, making prayers for intercession in their favor. The Necrontyr hated all that they could not understand and hated themselves until hate itself became the core of their pantheon. We are individuals within the greater whole of our race's faith, each Exatari has a path that is best suited for them to walk to provide the most holy power possible, and from the touch of Divinity I now knew the guidelines and, most critically, my own path.
Perhaps it's fitting that my faith was tied into research and development at the highest levels and judgement, war, and balance in the secondary levels. Even though my Scholarship bent the paths of my faith, my personality yet creeped through into the next highest rung. As I stared into the remaining nineteen particles of Divinity and the model of the Witness, I knew what to do.
It was an urge that I could not resist, a demand by Divinity to sound the call, a command to enact that which lay beyond my ability to control. In a flash, I understood an aspect unknown until now, my thoughts and soul were being altered every time I discovered a new Library and from this alteration came a form of madness and fidelity that would soon fade from my grasp. Even with this understanding, I could do nothing to convince myself to stop this course for it was decreed by Divinity that it would be done. A call would be sent, and any deity aligned towards Order would be called.
I tried to prevent the particles from being consumed, but they overpowered me in this moment, for a part of my being serves a form of Divinity on the deepest level. I know that the humans' Witness would be possible to call forth for its touch yet filled my body with lingering wounds and I knew well the feeling of its essence of pure Order. On the other hand, The Witness itself would be a possible result, linking it to this new body with unknown results. Ultimately, it was all a moot point, for I had no choice and had to watch as a part of my being acted outside my desires.
Nineteen puzzles and kaleidoscopes were released into the air around the model, and I could see each of them interlinking with the others, becoming more and more defined until they would reach the point of being consumed. Within one I saw the briefest of flash of a human wearing a regal face of black hair and golden eyes before pushing against it with all my will, denying that call from being sent. The spinning infinity searched onward it seemed and yet the Witness never arrived. In truth, I saw it flicker in the depths a handful of times before the ever-spinning vision solidified upon the image of a human of golden flesh.
In a flash of prismatic light, the nineteen particles were consumed, and I was released from my moment of madness even as the model awakened with the soul of a god of Order imbued into its being.
"You may have ten seconds to explain where I am, alien." A refined and cultured voice echoed from the model I had constructed even as it seemed to realize something. "And another ten to explain what foul power compelled me to inhabit this contemptible body." I blinked at the words spoken. They made sense, if of a higher refinement than I had come to expect of humans. They were spoken in what was High Gothic only with an accent I had not heard nor with any of the strange emphasis that is placed upon certain words.
The being seemed confused by my lack of action as it lowered the frame slightly, "Now, Xeno." The refined voice continued, and I shook off the lingering effects of the Divinity particles at last, moments too late for it to be useful, but perhaps I could salvage this.
"You are on Shogi, also known as Gateway Solar, in the Erimyst Sector of Segmentum Obscurus. I tried to form a connection with the god of my people using this idol, but the rite failed, leaving it an open vessel for any divine being that would suit the general criteria. That you entered it was not my intention, sir."
Every nanosecond that passed seemed to last an eternity. I did not know how exactly I could tell, but one thing that was clear to me in that moment was that this... Person? Entity? Whoever he was, it would not be a difficult matter for him to kill me. Mercifully, the moment passed, and the individual inhabiting my idol once again spoke. "Hmph. I question your definition of what a divine being is, but it suffices. Now, what is a Xeno doing on an Imperial world? And what's more, what are you? I've not encountered any of your kind before."
"I am Atraxas of the Exatari, sent by my people to conduct industrial espionage upon the other races of the galaxy. Humanity is our primary target due to possessing the greatest technological array." Many might question why I explained it all, but in the end, I knew that the being before me could crush me with a single attack. What's more, it already knew that I was not human and as such there was little I could do to hide the purpose of my presence.
"It will avail you nothing. You may detect vulnerabilities in common weaponry and infrastructure, but that means nothing against the might of the Emperor and the Ten Thousand. Detestable as your actions are, you are wise to be honest about them. Lying to me would only hasten your rush to oblivion." The being asserted, even though it had said nothing that I had not already realized. Yet, it provided a clue to its identity that I would be able to use if I should survive this meeting.
"I apologize, Superior, I failed to explain myself properly. My people have no desire for hostilities with either the Imperium or humanity, we simply wanted to expand our understanding of technology. The greatest discovery for my people has so far come in the form of humanity's computers, not for any aims of cyberwarfare but simply because we didn't have any before. They have proven most beneficial for our civilization." I stated, ignoring the lingering feeling of being observed like a lab specimen.
"You do not seek the secrets of our Titans, the Emperor's genecraft, or the wonders of the golden age of science?" Confusion filled the voice as I listened intently to the words, I shook in negation.
"We would not refuse them, but we do not seek them. There is value in discovering them, but we refuse to duplicate technology. The base principles are what interest us, for it is through them that our knowledge of the universe expands. I would gladly research the mysteries of the past to discover more of Creation, but we are not focused on the replication of that which has already existed, so there is little to fear regarding attempting to access your species' most cutting-edge defenses. We simply aim to learn principles we mistakenly bypassed on our own by studying humanity." My words were calm and still, giving no cause for rejection for the being that had yet to provide its name or form.
"And what have you bypassed?" Osiris pressed. "You're surely no technological illiterate judging by the body you've constructed for me to inhabit." It seemed he still doubted my words, though not without reason. After all, the surface similarities between the machinery I constructed and high-quality human designs were clear, and he had no evidence of my truthfulness beyond his own ability to tell honesty apart from deception.
"Well, we have no lack of mastery over conventional physics, but technologies based on the Warp, automation, Voidcraft, interconnectivity, and the like were not natively understood. That is why this endeavor to infiltrate human worlds began." I could tell purely by the aura this individual exuded that he was completely absent any interest.
"Do you take me for some foolish child? You tore my soul out of my body in the moment before I could strike down Fulgrim and infused it into this inhuman pile of rubbish, yet you claim to not understand the Warp? I have half a mind to end you right here and now and expedite my return to Terra rather than listen to any more of this drivel. Inform me of something useful immediately or be prepared to be reduced to a heap of unrecognizable metal and flesh."
This was entirely unusual. The name Fulgrim was one which was buried under many layers of censorship which prevented me from even seeing it until I entirely overhauled the operating systems of Shogi's computers. Even beyond that information was scarce, but one thing was clear: Fulgrim was only noted as being on Terra ten thousand years ago. The fact that this information managed to make its way to my conscious thoughts was nothing short of a miracle.
"The method by which you were brought here is not Warpcraft, that much I know, though it is not a field of research humanity has delved into. However, I do suspect to have more immediately valuable knowledge for you, as you requested: the present year is 060.M41."
The room's volume level felt as though it dropped to below a hundredth of a decibel. A heartbeat from a rodent would have been absolutely deafening at that point as I awaited what very well may have been the moment of my death. One millisecond passed. Then two. Then three. Finally, on the fourth millisecond, the stranger spoke once more.
"You are... not deceiving me," he said as though every syllable was a struggle to express. "However, you may just as well be so deluded that you do not realize the wrongness of the words you uttered. Bring me proof." This was neither a request nor a demand. This was an order, and I could not refuse it.
"At once, Superior." I bowed deeply, thankful that my spontaneous gamble paid off and utterly determined to not waste it. I fabricated a small computer in that instant. It was a shoddy thing by my standards, but all it needed to do was access my records of Imperial history. I handed it to him, and within moments the god-like being had read through its entirety. I could feel shock and horror slowly growing within him until...
"YOU LIE!" He threw the device at my face, causing it to shatter into a thousand pieces. I was beginning to consider the wisdom of my actions, but there was no turning back now. I held myself still, preventing my body from entering its combative state by sheer willpower, knowing there was no hope of survival if it came down to a fight.
"I apologize, Superior, but I do not. That in all honesty was everything that I could uncover." I could not say otherwise for that would be quickly determined to be false in a manifold of ways. Yet if the being refused to accept the truth, then I was dead at his hands.
"Uncover?! You offer me fiction and call it history!" The cultured aspects of his voice began to fray as emotion leaked into the words, disrupting the perfect intonation with emotion and... something else. I could not understand what the truth was, but what I saw of his actions told the story of someone refusing to accept the facts, clutching to any option that would allow them to deny the bitter reality. I could tell that for all the denial that the being in question was in, he was aware that he was grasping at the very edges of chance.
"Perhaps I could bring highly regarded Imperial citizens to vouch for this information? All I ask is that you not reveal my inhuman status to them when they meet with you." It was a consideration that was problematic, but might be needed. However, the question remained if it would be viable since I could already predict the following argument against the idea already being formulated as soon as I finished speaking.
"Why should I trust them either? They may well be in league with you." And my prediction was completed as expected, but now I could give some measure of reason that could be understood and accepted to further this tangent and protect my life.
"Because I believe we both know for certain that no human would be able to lie to you, even if they wanted to. I cannot either, but as I am not human, you may understandably doubt this evaluation. Regardless, there is nothing I could do to stop you from killing everything in your path should you choose to, so in the worst case, there is always the option of escape." Even if I could lie, a human would not be able to do so, not to a being beyond my own abilities. The only potential issue was the chance that I would not be provided the chance to bring one of my advisors into this conversation.
"...Very well. Bring them." With the chance given, the question remained for whom to bring to meet with him. The tech priest was not viable for his personal hate for me. He would seal my fate readily regardless of anything else. Harkar and Stiriam would both be possible options, but they would have trouble providing the proof I would require due to lacking mastery of history, at least the uncensored versions. Nirve was similar to the others in that she would not have the full array of information and would be less inclined towards supporting my claims outright. In short, Nameria would be the best to drag into this mess, due to her having access to the information of the Adeptus Ministorum and a greater understanding of current human culture.
As I left to go find Nameria, noting with some measure of relief that I had yet to augment her, which would have hindered her trustworthiness in the eyes of this being. I needed to ensure that my secret would not be revealed so readily, "Thank you. And-"
"No, I will not reveal you for what you are, Xeno. Not yet, at least." The voice edged with metal interrupted me, and I had no choice but to accept those words as truth for now. I had little power to work with at the moment, and this was the best I could expect to gain.
"And stop calling me as your superior. You owe no allegiance to me or the Imperium. To even pretend as such is a grave insult. You may call me by my given name for now, Osiris Dellingr." I heard that as I left the room to find Nameria, noting the information down in my mind and to change how I interacted with Osiris in the future. I would have to remember in the future that humanity had different hierarchal terminology from my people.
Regardless, the immediate danger had passed for the moment as I replied to the final statement before fully leaving the room, "At once, Osiris."
Nameria exited the room almost staggering from exhaustion and something akin to despair, "Atraxas, I cannot help Lord Osiris. By The Emperor, to think a Custodian of such valor would return is a miracle without question, yet I worry for him. Even if it is bordering on the heretical, I can't deny he... feels broken." She mumbled as she saw me before staggering away from the room, ready to collapse. A quick weaving saw a gravity bed be forged from the metal of the hallway to catch her and carry her to her rooms. There was no need to exasperate her wounds after all.
With trepidation I opened the door and entered, noting that Osiris had redesigned his frame into a humanoid form, at least for the upper half. However, what truly took me by surprise was the sheer depression that filled the room as he stared past me towards the wall and beyond. "Are you here to mock me for my failures to protect humanity? To gloat that an alien did better than my own brothers in arms and blood?" There was no fire in his voice, only an echoing sadness that consumed all in its reach.
"I might not be human, but I was given the responsibility of leading and protecting the people of this world, and I will never fail to uphold the duties of my missions no matter their source." A hollow laugh came from Osiris as he stared down at me even as he failed to react notably, "The madness of the galaxy has infected everything if a Xeno can proclaim such and be proven right. Leave me be. I need to consider things, and your presence infuriates me." I nodded before turning to the exit. As I neared the door, Osiris spoke once more.
"Atraxas, continue to be what you are." The words were a whisper that I was not sure I was meant to hear, but I nodded slightly before leaving and sealing the door behind me for the last time for now.
Custodians, Primarchs and Emps are all Gods in the warp's accounting of such things. Legendary Astartes straddle the line between mortal and divine due to the same, they could be considered Demigods of a sort.
And no he was not in the afterlife for currently there is no human afterlife for various reasons. He was just a drifting soul for the eons.
They simply dissolve in the warp 99% of the time, the Champions/Heroes/Legends retain some measure of integrity in the warp under Emps aegis, but only their souls are strong enough to survive the moment of death. All other human souls are lost to the tides of the warp upon death.
Yes, belief becomes real, but only to a degree. And humanity can not escape the fact that its currently suffering a myriad of metaphysical disasters ranging from the small to catastrophic.
Emps denies his Divinity absolutely, and until that changes and several other metaphysical things shift, no. The Tyrant does not consider itself a God either, both sides of Emps are adamant on this subject currently.
