The galaxy is ruled by the powerful and overwhelming Aeldari, who reach ever greater heights. So grand, their dominion over all things, that some begin a path of debauchery in order to find meaning in a galaxy without wants.
The orks continue to devolve without a mighty threat to face them, growing smaller and less intelligent whilst kept corralled by the Aeldari.
The Necrons rest in their great sleep and will continue to do so for thousands of years, however that is but a blip when compared to the millions of years they have already spent dormant.
The chaos gods are not yet fully awakened, RAGE and SCHEMES and PESTILENCE slumbering, with EXCESS even further behind.
This however is not the story of any of these powers, it is a story of something that doesn't truly exist yet.
This is the story of you.
Humankind is primitive and ignorant of the horrors beyond its cradle, a race barely scratching at the surface of civilization or it's potential. They herd sheep and goats, collect harvests of grain from their primitive farms, while using tools of stone.
Yet a select few of these primitive people have vast power, Shamans that guide their people away from the traps that would seek to corrupt them. Mankind, however, in its beauty is inherently complicated and has acces to the full range of emotions.
Chaos would grow in power no matter what the Shamans did, which meant there would come a day when their power to reincarnate would be stripped from them and their souls would be consumed by the churning energies of the warp.
Humanity, as it tends to do, fought against fate. The Shamans gathered as one, hoping to die all at once as to create a protector for their people, a New Man. They together poisoned themselves, thousands of powerful psykers joining their energy together into one being.
Except, this was not the case. Some energy is always lost in transference, even that of pyskic energy. Most of the Shamans sought a sword and a shield of a being, one that would protect mankind like a stalwart warrior. Yet a minority wanted a different kind of protector, a warm blanket in the cold, a caretaker that would gently hold their peoples hands as they walked the right path.
Most of their souls meshed into one, a bright flare that burned in the warp and sundered any Daemon that sought to claim it.
Yet a second light existed, hidden behind the first. It was not a sprawling sun, but instead a beacon, a lighthouse in the middle of a dark ocean.
1 Terran year later a child would be born, an immortal pysker of incomprehensible power that would over time grow into their role. He was a mountain, powerful from the beginning and with the strength to crush evil where it stood.
Yet the other remained weak and in an odd void, half-formed thoughts not truly coming together. It would not be until it heard a small voice calling out to it that it would turn its gaze onto the world, concepts and knowledge from past lives finally filtering in.
It saw a small child, crying on sandy dirt in front of a body. It looked and it saw a corpse, a father struck dead before his time. It looked and it saw nothing else, nobody to comfort the child in need.
A deep sense of pain came to it at the sight, instincts arising for the first time. It searched within itself and gave unto them-
[ ] Love - Pure love is the comfort one draws on in times like these, for to grieve deeply, is to have loved fully.
[ ] Endurance - Loss is a part of life, to accept this and to live even with that fact is what strength truly is. Memento mori.
[ ] Hope - When it seems that all is lost, that there's nothing left to even bother going on for, there is still hope. It will end better then it began.
[ ] Determination - Spite is a powerful thing, sometimes the only thing keeping you going is your own refusal to quit.
[X] Hope - When it seems that all is lost, that there's nothing left to even bother going on for, there is still hope. It will end better then it began.
[X] Hope - When it seems that all is lost, that there's nothing left to even bother going on for, there is still hope. It will end better then it began.
[X] Hope - When it seems that all is lost, that there's nothing left to even bother going on for, there is still hope. It will end better then it began.
[X] Hope - When it seems that all is lost, that there's nothing left to even bother going on for, there is still hope. It will end better then it began.
I'm taking bets on what kind of warp entity tries to eat us first.
[X] Hope - When it seems that all is lost, that there's nothing left to even bother going on for, there is still hope. It will end better then it began.
[X] Hope - When it seems that all is lost, that there's nothing left to even bother going on for, there is still hope. It will end better then it began.
[X] Hope - When it seems that all is lost, that there's nothing left to even bother going on for, there is still hope. It will end better then it began.
[X] Hope - When it seems that all is lost, that there's nothing left to even bother going on for, there is still hope. It will end better then it began.
As it looked upon the child, it reached within itself before giving out a small part of its being. The child, a girl it now understood, paused in her weeping, confused and uncertain as they suddenly felt an odd sense of...comfort? The child looked around, partially out of curiosity and partially to avoid looking at the body of her father. Yet nobody was around her as she expected, nothing to be found until she looked within. There she felt a connection, just as it now did as well.
It-or...hmmm.
...
Introspection came for the first time, as it pondered its own existence. It felt dissatisfied, until it felt that it was HE. Identity felt important to him, if he couldn't understand himself then how could he understand this sudden influx of ideas and information? He was sent out of his reflection by a sudden influx of energy, causing him to look upon the world yet again. The girl was kneeling again, thought it felt different this time.
Instead of sorrow there was more of a look of concentration upon her face, as she gazed at the sky with a quiver in her lip. "Please keep my father safe in your arms, for I have failed to do so..."
He felt a mixture of deep sadness at her state, followed by confusion. Her father was clearly dead, so what could she be talking about? A click in his mind brought new information, as he gazed at the world in a different way. There he saw the soul of her father, clinging to the materium in some last act of paternal instinct, yet still beginning to slip away. Something in his mind told him that allowing for the soul to go would not end well, so he did as asked and grasped at it.
He suddenly felt a wierd sensation as bits of memories entered his mind, the life of the soul he just plucked. There came an odd satisfaction as well, as though some unknown purpose was being fulfilled. All he could understand for now, was that he could not let souls slip into the dark ocean, where foul beasts would rip them into shreds to consume for power.
He gave unto the girl the hope needed to keep moving, to push on despite the loss of such a key part of her life. She saw visions of her older self, all the things she would do to make her father proud, the things she would have to keep going in order to do. A smaller instinct within him then sent her a feeling of love, the love of her father who now rested with him. Images flashed through her mind, hugs, words of praise, bad jokes, hair being ruffled. The girl broke into tears again, however these ones were formed through happiness as much as they were from loss.
No further words were spoken, instead the girl slowly got up before heading into her nearby hut before he felt himself growing tired again. His awareness shut down, as darkness came.
He woke up minutes/hours/days later, greeted with a familiar yet different view. The body of the father had been recently buried, while he felt new connections and strengths not there before. He flicked his gaze over to a small village, where the girl now stood preaching to the small trickle of peasants passing by to or from their work. So far he sensed he had aquired a couple of those like the girl, however their connection was tenuous. He could not speak to them as they could, as he had no true body.
More startlingly he realized that he also lacked a name, a critical aspect of ones self. How could you talk or pray to someone with no name? He felt oddly distressed, feeling a need to correct this deep within himself.
In the end he chose to be-
[ ] Tukai
[ ] Kaharr
[ ] Mephinux
[ ] Write in:
As time went on, he began to gain more of his previous lives memories. This helped him to learn his purpose, or at least why he was made. He was to be the shepard of mankind's souls, their shroud so they would not be consumed by the predators of the warp. Awareness brought with it new fears and new bits of anger, the dark ocean that he felt he was now somehow a part of was rife with terror that would love nothing more then to turn the vulnerable people of mankind into ash.
If he was to save as many souls as possible, he would need to spread his influence across the earth, as he sensed those without his protection would easily be prayed upon by darker entities. Right now though his following was limited to a handful of peasants within a small farming village, for a diety he imagined he was rather pathetic.
He would need to do something to show his abilities, a way to spur the growth of his...cult? Hmmm, no, cult had an off feeling to it. He needed to show his devoted that he cared for them in a more obvious way, a symbol of what he wished to grant them in exchange for their belief.
A miracle must be made, but what?
[ ] Bless fertility - This one seemed easy enough? Just make the animals and maybe the people more uh...productive?
[ ] Create spring - The village is in the middle of a rather arid area it seems, it should be simple enough to flick something until water from underground pops up.
[ ] Cure illness - Mankind is lacking in effective medicine besides primitive herbs, maybe one of the shamans had some knowledge you could use to fix these people?
Finally came the most interesting bit of knowledge you gained from the shamans, in that you were an accident.
Ouch...turns out god's can feel kicks to their ego. Nevertheless, it certainly explained the feeling you'd gotten in the back of your mind, that presence of order that seemed so familiar. You had a brother, though it seemed like an odd sort of relationship in that he was currently a rather large 3 year old. You had to admit that being weak in comparison to a larger then average toddler stung, but you wouldn't question the shamans judgement, seeing as that was technically your judgment.
One question remained, how would you interact with your little-big brother if at all? You could feel that his psykic power was already great enough to communicate with you, though you didn't know how he would react. His mind probably wasn't fully developed, not to mention the fact that you well...aren't supposed to exist technically. It was a scary prospect either way, though the choice needed to be made.
[ ] Speak to your brother - You were starting to feel whatever the god equivalent of loneliness was, plus he was...kind of adorable.
[ ] Try to hide your presence - Your brother could end up trying to destroy you due to your existence, with him being the only thing on earth that could actually do it. It's best to hide, at least until you were strong enough to stand on equal footing with an infant.
AN: Did not expect that many votes! Thanks so much gang, gave me the motivation to pump this out right before bed.
Now some quick things, most importantly make your votes in plan format.
Secondly, I am *going* to make mistakes, I haven't read a bunch of books or gone through everything, so please don't throw stuff at me for not remembering all the details right or getting the lore wonky.
[X] The birth of the Christening
-[X] Yahweh
-[X] Cure illness - Mankind is lacking in effective medicine besides primitive herbs, maybe one of the shamans had some knowledge you could use to fix these people?
-[X] Speak to your brother - You were starting to feel whatever the god equivalent of loneliness was, plus he was...kind of adorable.
[X] Plan Spring Time
- [X] Hagal
- [X] Create spring - The village is in the middle of a rather arid area it seems, it should be simple enough to flick something until water from underground pops up.
- [X] Speak to your brother - You were starting to feel whatever the god equivalent of loneliness was, plus he was...kind of adorable.
We seem to have devoured or absorbed the soul rather than sheltered it which is about what I'd expect for such a weak god, and it's better than the alternative anyway so I grabbed the name of a little-known deity from elsewhere that did the same before its demise.
[X] The birth of the Christening
-[X] Yahweh
-[X] Cure illness - Mankind is lacking in effective medicine besides primitive herbs, maybe one of the shamans had some knowledge you could use to fix these people?
-[X] Speak to your brother - You were starting to feel whatever the god equivalent of loneliness was, plus he was...kind of adorable.
on one hand if we go talk to him, if it goes well, we should have a significant enough impact on him that he does not turn into the god king of militant atheists.
on the other hand, if it doesn't, we could just get instantly destroyed, get turned into some kind of familiar and/or servant for him or get hunted by big g until the end of time or humanity.
so, uh take your bets people and pray the meeting goes swell if we do that.
[X] The birth of the Christening
-[X] Yahweh
-[X] Cure illness - Mankind is lacking in effective medicine besides primitive herbs, maybe one of the shamans had some knowledge you could use to fix these people?
-[X] Speak to your brother - You were starting to feel whatever the god equivalent of loneliness was, plus he was...kind of adorable.
