The Firestorm: A crossover invasion game. Looking for a 40k faction player.

The Great Worm: "But it doesn't look anything like a worm, it's more like some kind of spider cr-URK" were the last words of the first black hand agent on Xaramazdik to lay eyes upon the Great Worm as it was transported from its home universe before being eaten; from a planet of pure corruption fated to be destroyed by the last heir of a dead civilization's warrior culture; to the Black Hand's base of operations for the purposes of enhancing the spread of dark glass on the planet. Already a producer of a foul corruptive substance itself, when subjected to the Black Hand's treatments, the Great Worm grew into something of titanic evil and power that served the Black Hand's purposes of corruption quite well. Usually kept locked deep in the bowels of their crater base, the Great Worm's progeny have become notorious for their accompanying of Black Hand assaults on targets; generally only truly vulnerable to being frozen and shattered and feared for their ability to drain the animating force right out of a creature. The creature seems to be quite content with its new masters; who have allowed it to assimilate a vast and extremely deadly arsenal onto its carapace in addition to regularly feeding it to allow the creature to grow even more; and has worriyingly begun to evolve; at the Black Hand's direction; to manipulate esoterical forces, including Primordia.
 
... riiiiiiiiiiight.

"Hey, scientists!"

"Yes, milady?"

"We do still have infantry-portable nuclear weapons and plasma lances, right?"

"Nukes, yes. The lances we're still working on."

"STEP IT UP."
 
Fae and Mortals: The relation between the Fae and Mortals has always been a complicated one. Conciliatory fae such as the Faeries and the greatly powerful Nymphs try their best to befriend mortals; make them feel more at ease so that they'll be more likely to consider the gentle approach of harmony with the planet they live on. This leads to conciliatory fae shaping their aethery into bodies that mortals find very pleasing to look at and be in the presence of; with the Nymphs being so supernaturally attractive that their appearances are a weapon of diplomacy in and of themselves; with mortal negotiators falling over themselves to try and please the Nymph delegations; usually equal parts male and female to try and ensure no mortals are safe from their wiles. They are certainly not above warring with mortals or underhandedly manipulating them, but generally try to maintain positive relations.

The retributive fae however, make no qualms about their methods of restoring nature's hegemony. Mass destruction and depopulation, the razing of cities and the slaughter or capture of whole populations; with those captured raised to be agents of the fae to spread ruin to other mortals or powers such as the outsiders or the elementals. The retributive fae are reupulsive and frightening to behold, meant to awe mortals with the power of nature and are often nightmarish combinations of many kinds of predators, natural features, and beasts. The conciliatory fae and the retributive fae themselves have very uneasy relations and the older a planet; the deeper the split between them becomes. At its worst, the fae can engage in brutal civil war to definitively settle the matter of how the planet shall treat with intelligent life that lives on it; wars that most mortals generally support the conciliatory fae in for obvious reasons.

Fae Deities: When the Fae first began to interact with mortals, they were intrigued by the concept of religion, and many began making it their own; starting their own faith and calling on their own gods; chosen from the greatest of their number. These beings of aethery and divinia would come to become part of the fae pantheons; and while many localized variations of fae pantheons exist; nearly all fae acknowledge a number of gods above all others. Perhaps chief among them are the triad of Xaranthir, Ahlohnia and Hrankath. Xaranthir the hunter, Ahlohnia the matron, and Hrankath the destroyer.

Ahlohnia: Appearing as a Nymph wearing the garb of forests and mountains, with clothes of leaves, bark, and stone and a crown of branches, Ahlohnia represents nature as the life giver and the healer, the rain and the wind maker, the grower and the forest creator, though in battle she can be as destructive as any other angered major deity. Not often prayed to by the retributive fae for obvious reasons, Ahlohnia came to being in a very early age; not too long after the rise of the eldest species. Older than even the Rune Elven deities, Ahlohnia is a font of great knowledge and the secrets of many worlds, but is generally reluctant to share the moist choice of secrets for fear that such things are better left buried. Instrumental in closing the rifts torn open by the great mistake of the Rune Elves; she was quick to direct her scions to help the shattered remnants of the Rune Elven Empire and the other species recover; reteaching them the secrets of spells to create food and drink so that they would not have to despoil the freshly rewilded areas with farmland.

During the age of strife, she repeatedly tried to call for peace in the heavens and the material realm as the universe tore itself apart in savage violence and extinguished nearly three quarters of all sapient life. She however, found herself forced to pick a side against the Alliance as it became clear that the likes of the Confederacy, the Overlady, the Royarchy of the Giants, the Vizdaki Hegemony, and the scions of Ulzondro were a greater threat to existence itself than the league arrayed against them and when the forces of the Alliance started purposely attacking the fae to pry at their secrets. After the war, many; including Yllireas whom she raised as a surrogate mother when the Elf was still mortal; criticized Ahlohnia for quickly trying to have the Fae secure the newly wilded places of the world from the exhausted and shattered mortals, causing a new friction between the fae and the mortals.

Xaranthir: The hunter and Ahlohnia's first spouse, Xaranthir appears as *the* wild hunter. An armored figure with the horns of a stag and a deer's skull on his helmet, Xaranthir would appear as a male nymph outside of his ornate bone and scale armour, but such is a rare occurance. Xaranthir hunts with lance or bow, and those he marks are almost always caught; though he thankfully practices catch and release in most cases unless he feels the target deserves to die. Mortals are generally beneath his notice as prey; and he instead focuses his hunts on great assaults on the universe itself; most notably in the age of the great mistake when he methodically hunted down the despoiling invaders; fighting their hordes day in and day out, chasing fractal beasts across the stars, hunting Kroatanga warlords the size of skyscrapers, and doing battle with the most vicious of tendriculous fiends as well as chasing opportunistic demon and elemental lords back to where they came from. When fae organize wild hunts, it is to him that they offer to for good fortune, and both the retributive and conciliatory fae regard him equally well, though he prefers the conciliatory Fae's approach to mortals, believing that the retributive fae's way will ultimately only lead to the ruination of the cosmos.

Xaranthir not only embodies the hunt, but also the plains, the seasons, and the selective power of lightning. Xaranthir is the layer of paths and fortune, and of balance. For a good predator does not kill more than it needs to to live, a trait that makes Xaranthir useful in mediating the disputes between the varieties of fae. Xaranthir thus also gets along quite poorly with those who destroy indiscriminately, and yet also often subscribes to the idea that periodic cleansings in times of strife and suffering are needed to encourage stability in population. Lest we be like the lemmings of tundra and spread so prolifically as to leave nothing behind for posterity.

Hrankath: The embodiment of nature as a senseless destroyer, Hrankath is a nightmare made real. A great musular shaggy beast with claws like the greatest talons one has ever beheld, wings like an eagle, the downy legs of a predatory dinosaur, a head wreathed in the shadow of its mane of moss that shows only piercing white eyes and horns like a water buffalo, while a crocodilian tail emerges from behind and branches protrude from many odd places on its mane; Hrankath is as indiscriminate as a wildfire. And like a wildfire, civilization provides great fuel for the worshippers of Hrankath. While even conciliatory fae may pray to Hrankath in times of war, it is usually the monstrous retributive fae that pray to it; particularly when they wage war on the mortals. It was Hrankath who created Therothropes as a means of making mortals suffer, and when the age of strife occured, Hrankath at first did its best to prolong and heighten the war by any means possible; though even it saw the folly in allowing the likes of the Overlady run free in time. And yet, there are times when Hrankath had proven useful to civilized life, helping to contain the madness of the great mistake in that great conflict with all and sundry. Though to call Hrankath a net positive for civilization would be a mistake.
 
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The Great Worm: "But it doesn't look anything like a worm, it's more like some kind of spider cr-URK" were the last words of the first black hand agent on Xaramazdik to lay eyes upon the Great Worm as it was transported from its home universe before being eaten; from a planet of pure corruption fated to be destroyed by the last heir of a dead civilization's warrior culture; to the Black Hand's base of operations for the purposes of enhancing the spread of dark glass on the planet. Already a producer of a foul corruptive substance itself, when subjected to the Black Hand's treatments, the Great Worm grew into something of titanic evil and power that served the Black Hand's purposes of corruption quite well. Usually kept locked deep in the bowels of their crater base, the Great Worm's progeny have become notorious for their accompanying of Black Hand assaults on targets; generally only truly vulnerable to being frozen and shattered and feared for their ability to drain the animating force right out of a creature. The creature seems to be quite content with its new masters; who have allowed it to assimilate a vast and extremely deadly arsenal onto its carapace in addition to regularly feeding it to allow the creature to grow even more; and has worriyingly begun to evolve; at the Black Hand's direction; to manipulate esoterical forces, including Primordia.
Why hello, Metroid Prime.
Fae and Mortals: The relation between the Fae and Mortals has always been a complicated one. Conciliatory fae such as the Faeries and the greatly powerful Nymphs try their best to befriend mortals; make them feel more at ease so that they'll be more likely to consider the gentle approach of harmony with the planet they live on. This leads to conciliatory fae shaping their aethery into bodies that mortals find very pleasing to look at and be in the presence of; with the Nymphs being so supernaturally attractive that their appearances are a weapon of diplomacy in and of themselves; with mortal negotiators falling over themselves to try and please the Nymph delegations; usually equal parts male and female to try and ensure no mortals are safe from their wiles. They are certainly not above warring with mortals or underhandedly manipulating them, but generally try to maintain positive relations.
And they don't get hated for their prettin--DnD base. Right. I assume attractiveness varies among those who feel a need for subtlety?
Hrankath: The embodiment of nature as a senseless destroyer, Hrankath is a nightmare made real. A great musular shaggy beast with claws like the greatest talons one has ever beheld, wings like an eagle, the downy legs of a predatory dinosaur, a head wreathed in the shadow of its mane of moss that shows only piercing white eyes and horns like a water buffalo, while a crocodilian tail emerges from behind and branches protrude from many odd places on its mane; Hrankath is as indiscriminate as a wildfire. And like a wildfire, civilization provides great fuel for the worshippers of Hrankath. While even conciliatory fae may pray to Hrankath in times of war, it is usually the monstrous retributive fae that pray to it; particularly when they wage war on the mortals. It was Hrankath who created Therothropes as a means of making mortals suffer, and when the age of strife occured, Hrankath at first did its best to prolong and heighten the war by any means possible; though even it saw the folly in allowing the likes of the Overlady run free in time. And yet, there are times when Hrankath had proven useful to civilized life, helping to contain the madness of the great mistake in that great conflict with all and sundry. Though to call Hrankath a net positive for civilization would be a mistake.
Y'know, I wonder why it didn't want to let the Overlady destroy everything. Apparently I misread its inspiration; it seemed like a personification of "nature does not care, even for the fittest; only the most fortunate and adaptable survive".
 
Quori: To psychic energy as the elementals are to Arcane power and the Outsiders are to divinia; the Quori are beings of thought and dreams. As such they tend to look bizarre and nightmarish to normal sapient beings; one could even say lovecraftian. Primarily inhabiting the planes of dreams, the Quori are bizarre in the extreme and rarely interact with mortals in a manner that could be construed as bilateral; frequently operating on bizarre dream logic as much as they will anything that actually makes any sense. In the space between the spheres in which dreams are given space in their home they exist, some seeming innocuous, others being absolutely frightful and stupendously huge. A major motivation to take up a religion or make pacts with the fae, the elementals, fractals, or other esoterical beings is to keep the Quori out of one's dreams, as they can twist a dream into a mind numbing nightmare through simply floating into a dream sphere if one is not under something's protection. Now, not all are quite so incomprehensible, with many taking on forms and mannerisms that mortals can easily identify with; but many others, such as many of the more infamous members of a category of Quori known as the Ancient Things and their masters the Crawlers Beyond; are intristically horrific to mortal thought. Many of course; still seek pacts with the Quori, even if others can remember the hastily scribed scenes of horror written by the Rune Elves who were dying as the Quori poured in from the realm of dreams as their empire collapsed. However in more recent and unusual interactions; when the Overlady was slaughtering many of their number to pry the secrets of the dream realm out from them; leading the targeted Quori populations to influence a number of animators to create a show to portray them as cute and friendly creatures mortals could relate to as a plea for help. The show is widely regarded as "insipid and disturbing saccharine garbage made to push out cheap merchandise" by all but a handful of strife time media enthusiasts.
 
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However in more recent and unusual interactions; when the Overlady was slaughtering many of their number to pry the secrets of the dream realm out from them; leading the targeted Quori populations to influence a number of animators to create a show to portray them as cute and friendly creatures mortals could relate to as a plea for help. The show is widely regarded as "insipid and disturbing saccharine garbage made to push out cheap merchandise" by all but a handful of strife time media enthusiasts.
...The Care Bears? Maybe?
 
By the Seven Star Spirits, how horrifying.

L̶̵̲͇̺̜͎̲̳̯̹͇̭̩̣͇̜͘͝͠ẹ̟͉̙̰͎̘̯͖͚͚͇̦͎͉̜̀͜ͅt̨̗̜̙̬̠̩̻̬̪̝̪̳̕͝'̢̗̞͔̩̫̯̭̩̗͎͝s̨̨̟͈̙͚̦͍ ̸̶͎̥͉̰̠̼̦̳̞̟b̷̴̢̛̛̦͙̹̟̱̬͚͇̱̞̤̖͖̬̘̗̦̲e̸͈̰̰̩͙͓̘͔̖̱͜c̤͓̼̝̰̗͓̤͎̯̙̠̰͝͡ͅo̶̢̢̻͓͎̱̮̭̗̫̮̖͕͙̱̬͞ͅͅm̨̥̖̬̬̟͢è̸̵̱̝̙̯͜ͅ ̛͕͕̲̞͝͞t̶̨̠̩̰̦̩̤̞̻̤͘a̛͏̴͏̠̖̳̣͕͍͉̗̻̲̜̥̞ǹ͏̭͕̻̥̫̼̞̣͖̬̹͎g̷̶͜͝҉̘̺̲̙̹̮l͏̞͓̜̖̝̣̲̞̺͉͖͔̠͠ͅe͏̮̜̪̳̹͕̬̤̭̻̹̭̥͚̹͎̗̞̙͟͜͡ ͙̠̪̮͙̣̼͖͉͙̭̲̳͓̝͕͚͝ͅb̧͇̯̫̥̫͡ͅͅų͞҉̳͔̱̙̟͚̜̝̦̱̰͖̠͞d̴̶͍͓̰̣̥̘̱͖̀͢͝d̸̸͖̳͇̘͚̤̹͕̼̫̺̭̮͝í̡̫͙̠̺̘͉̝͕̲̦̟̮͕̠͙͈͡͠è̴̵̛̞̞̼̙̲̱͇̟͠ͅş̡̼̼̲̻͇̺͉̙͎̜̹̫̩̞͉̗̠͠ͅ
 
Ork and Zerg responses are up. Though with Zerg there's probably gonna be some diplomacy stuff and the battle at the Canceri territory.
 
Sorry for being a bit inactive.

Honestly given the stuff going on in my life, I've been stretched a bit thin between all my games and IRL. This game sort of fell by the wayside.
 
Dashing through the plains
With a rifle in my hands
I go out to drive
The giants from our lands!

A couple hours passed
I am hauling ass
The giants tossed us about
Fuck this shit, I'm out!
 
Okay, I edited my Watermelon Steven's for the last time, making it so they only had three traits while also remaining quite balanced.
 
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NPC Great Nation: The Celestial Empire of Hi-Ko-Po, ruled by a Dragon since its inception, the Celestial Empire counts itself as one of the greatest of nations; though so far it considers itself an ally of the Federation, distrusting the naked reactionary malice of the Dominion and skeptical of the "way for humanity" of the Ostereik (not to mention the Emperor's regarding of Sturmhund as a tyrannical despot leading a nation of brainwashed meat robots) while the wise Dragon Emperor has misgivings about the often Imperialistic nature of the Dual Monarchy and has some issues with the Imperium yet to be resolved. Though majority human, the Empire is overall highly cosmopolitan and has one of the highest elder species populations of any major nation state. The great empire is an old nation; perhaps the oldest major human majority country in the world, having been founded long in the ancient past by a dynasty of dragons who sought to carve out something new from the long dark age following the end of the Rune Elves.

This long; continuous culture has bred a certain patience within its society, as time has frequently been on its side throughout the years and the dragon lead bureaucracy prefers to defer to the experienced and the learned over the radical and the untried; though it is believed that looking always to the past for guidance is folly. Such would have made them natural allies of the Dwarves and Elves; had the state not had many reasons to distrust the "international order" the dual monarchy proposes and had the Kobolds not been so generous with their alliance and trade. During the age of strife, the Empire sided with the league; believing the humano-supremacist message of the Confederacy to be insane; and hypocritical at that given the Confederacy's many non-human allies.

Bitter battles were fought for untold years, blood colouring the oceans red, planets shattering, stars snuffed out; and at the darkest hour, the armies of the hatemongering human nation of Ithaca were at the gates of the Celestial palace itself and fighting was taking place in the emperor's very halls. But the dragon emperor refused to allow the genocidal armies of the league any further; and personally lead a vicious mystical counterattack that caused enough disarray in Ithaca's fleet and armies to give the Grand Army the chance it needed to splinter the offensive.

Never again would Ithaca threaten the capital of the empire so closely; and in the war's last years, the Dragon Emperor fought the Tyrant of Ithaca on the plains of Xaramazdik personally; their spells tearing apart the lifeless moons of the world (thankfully sparing the lifebearing ones) and creating Xaramazdik's ring system. They fought for a year and a day in a battle that shook the heavens and went from world to world and plane to plane before fnally returning to Xaramazdik before the emperor at last found his opening as the automaton body Iskander had transferred his consciousness into at the war's beginning and let loose a stream of water like flame hotter than the stars; making Iskander stumble. Then he crushed the life out of Iskander the Great's Adamantine Colossus body with his talons; causing disarray in Iskander's wretched nation as his generals warred to take his place that Hi-Ko-Po exploited to forever shatter Ithaca, ending the evil of that nation of Pedarasts and Xenophobes. Hi-Ko-Po continues to maintain missions on Xaramazdik, educating the newer generations and younger nations on the evils of humanosupremacy and the folly of Ithaca; as well as offering trade links to the great Empire.
 
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In context of Xarmarazdik Agelessness, this seems weird. If Ithaca needed soldiers urgently, couldn't they have just used cloning? Or did they all just marry young, as part of their culture? And why does the record mention it in the first place? It seems a little strange.
Pedarastry refers to an old greek habit of grown men taking young boys (10-15) as lovers and students. Ancient Greece was a fucking terrible place of slave holders, pedophiles, misogyny, and xenophobia.
 
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