- Location
- Alice Springs, Australia
-
Going forward, links to content from Twitter (now X) will no longer be embedded. Pre-existing links should not be affected.
The Long Night Part One: Embers in the Dusk: A Planetary Governor Quest (43k) Complete Sequel Up
- Thread starter Durin
- Start date
John Masaki
The Guy With the Lightsaber
- Location
- Atlantis
So he'll be Doctor Tormod Rothbart by the time he leaves university? Not quite Indiana Jones, but I can dig it.
Ah, the Yamato problem. Or the current F-22/35 problem. So powerful, so glorious, that they're effectively drama queens.
- Location
- Leicester UK
This is why I want to buy him relic gear asap.
John Masaki
The Guy With the Lightsaber
- Location
- Atlantis
Meh. So long as he manages to find time for girlfriends, I wouldn't be too worried. Statistics say that at least one of them would bear his child and we can at least acknowledge a couple of them as heirs if need be.
Avernus is so dangerous that I feel confident in having absolutely zero issue with having bastard kids running around. All to help the population grow!
For The Governor
- Location
- In The Shadowbear Slave Camp
After some effort trying to find when this happened, I couldn't find the actual post, so I'm quoting this instead for the following omake. It's probably not amazing or anything, but eh.
@Durin
Takes place before turn 109 and after turn 96 or so.
Takes place before turn 109 and after turn 96 or so.
For The Governor
Alexandros had been recruited by a Chaos cult of Slaanesh, one of many that wished to convert the Governor, before he figured out that he was a Beta Psyker. He struck out on his own--shortly before they got found by the Arbites, in fact. It hadn't been because he didn't agree with them, but because he felt he had a better chance of achieving it--and managed to steal one of the new foci that were being made. It was a close thing, but still, he had it. Now he just needed to figure out what it did.
A rift opened behind him and he was pulled through it shortly before the Arbites busted in, having tracked his theft back to him.
Alexandros turned around, to find a massive Daemon behind him, along with a small group of daemons.
"Greetings," it hissed, "I am the Dark Whisper of Tzeen--"
Alexandros had been willing to give it a minute, thinking that it was possibly a Daemon aligned with his own master, but the moment he heard the Daemon Lord speak the name of the Changer, he knew that it wasn't. And so, there was only one logical decision.
"FOR THE GOVERNOR!" The Daemon blinked and then its eyes widened as he began to channel his power through the Focus.
The Focus with a rune of Banishment.
The Daemon fled as a massive shockwave erupted from the focus,obliterating the psyker holding it and all of the lesser daemons around it. Even the Dark Whisper was seriously wounded, though not killed.
"Perhaps from now on, we should be a bit more....selective about those we remove." Tzeench mused from far away.
- Location
- UK
I'm fairly certain that it was an answer from the QM to a question asked in the thread, if that helps. Certainly, I do recall reading something to that effect.
- Location
- In The Shadowbear Slave Camp
I tried both the search function and the threadmarks around that quote. *shrug*
- Location
- To the left. No, not there, the other left.
It happened fairly early on IIRC, before Emperor's Death even.
I love this line. The way it calls out the usual "FOR THE EMPEROR!"
I find the idea of inspiring that sort of loyalty/fanaticism nice.
- Location
- Berkeley
So, taking some time to look at our strategic situation and my god it's a mess. Not our fault either—guess that's 40k for ya.
First, there's the Splinter Fleet we're fighting. An obvious issue, given that we're, you know, fighting it. So far we've been throwing everything we can afford to at it and have basically managed to do nothing more than keep it static in size. Which, to be honest, is fucking impressive, but it just plain isn't enough long term. Now, on the bright side, since we are wiping out battle fleets our actions are knocking it's potential growth rate down hard—it can hit fewer systems at once, and while each fleet is getting bigger (making them harder to wipe out) the percentage mass gain per system for each given fleet is dropping too.
Alone I doubt this is catastrophe level. Our progress so far hasn't been amazing, but reduced logistical issues, better intel, and hopefully new and relevant technology (either in general or specialized counters) should make things easier as they get closer to us. A few of the ships that can disrupt the hivemind would be godsends, as would improved Grav sensors. I do worry though that the rapid biomass gain they can get as they start hitting Ork worlds after they finish passing through Amir-Ka will counterbalance these, but I have hope.
The next issue is the t3 Ork Waaagh. Local Chaos might have a handle on it. If so, that's just groovy—local Chaos gets wrecked enough that short of massive military weaknesses on our part they can't make issues for us with raiding and the like and the Ork threat is handled. What worries me, though, is what happens if local Chaos doesn't handle it successfully. It might go elsewhere. It might fight the Nids. Or, worst case, it might hit us at the same time as we're dealing with the Nids.
Honestly if it ends up looking like it's going to come for us I'd probably see if Ridcully could divert it towards Abbadon or some suitable evil power capable of crushing it. However, I'm uncertain as to how well it would work. Failing that, steer it towards the Nids or see if we can cash in a major favor for the Eldar to handle it. Fighting it ourselves is right out—even if we didn't have the Nids on our plate a t3 Waaagh would be an extremely challenging foe, and this one would be after claiming a couple hundred extra worlds from Chaos. If we set it against the Nids, though, it would be an extremely dangerous balancing act—as foes they're perfectly set up to actually both grow quickly in strength fighting the other, and either side winning convincingly would emerge an order of magnitude stronger.
Third is that we're expecting the Abomination to do something to try to get at Lin. Time is running out pretty quick for it to get a chance, and we're pretty sure it has to know that. An Incursion, a Crusade, or even both are quite likely, and at our current level of distraction even a thrown together force has a real chance of doing major damage. Which also means we need to keep our house in order defensively, despite the bulk of our major psykers being deployed and population pressure forcing us to expand our cities.
Finally, there's the strike force Abbadon's going to be sending in about fifty years. If we get the Nids cleared out before then said force should probably be sent elsewhere—they're in full Black Crusade mode, and they've got much better things to do with a mobilized fleet at least nominally following Abbadon's targeting priorities than sending it to find out why an expected problem suffered a critical existential failure. And if they are curious about why said Nids failed to become a problem, they should have a readymade explanation in a t3 Waaagh and Eldar activity. But if that fleet does end up coming here, even our best case scenario involves getting on the Black Imperium's radar and it is far too easy to imagine the commander taking the initiative to preemptively handle us before we can grow into a threat to anything other than tiny Chaos polities (while coincidentally looting us for our tech).
So, yeah. All sorts of ways for things to go to shit for us, and that's entirely outside of any plot-based climatic event to herald in the next phase of the quest. This is just RNG deciding that now is the time to fuck with us. And while none of these things involve a guaranteed fight against a foe that outmatches us, there are a lot of needles we're going to need to thread to avoid facing at least one unless we get lucky on some very important rolls.
First, there's the Splinter Fleet we're fighting. An obvious issue, given that we're, you know, fighting it. So far we've been throwing everything we can afford to at it and have basically managed to do nothing more than keep it static in size. Which, to be honest, is fucking impressive, but it just plain isn't enough long term. Now, on the bright side, since we are wiping out battle fleets our actions are knocking it's potential growth rate down hard—it can hit fewer systems at once, and while each fleet is getting bigger (making them harder to wipe out) the percentage mass gain per system for each given fleet is dropping too.
Alone I doubt this is catastrophe level. Our progress so far hasn't been amazing, but reduced logistical issues, better intel, and hopefully new and relevant technology (either in general or specialized counters) should make things easier as they get closer to us. A few of the ships that can disrupt the hivemind would be godsends, as would improved Grav sensors. I do worry though that the rapid biomass gain they can get as they start hitting Ork worlds after they finish passing through Amir-Ka will counterbalance these, but I have hope.
The next issue is the t3 Ork Waaagh. Local Chaos might have a handle on it. If so, that's just groovy—local Chaos gets wrecked enough that short of massive military weaknesses on our part they can't make issues for us with raiding and the like and the Ork threat is handled. What worries me, though, is what happens if local Chaos doesn't handle it successfully. It might go elsewhere. It might fight the Nids. Or, worst case, it might hit us at the same time as we're dealing with the Nids.
Honestly if it ends up looking like it's going to come for us I'd probably see if Ridcully could divert it towards Abbadon or some suitable evil power capable of crushing it. However, I'm uncertain as to how well it would work. Failing that, steer it towards the Nids or see if we can cash in a major favor for the Eldar to handle it. Fighting it ourselves is right out—even if we didn't have the Nids on our plate a t3 Waaagh would be an extremely challenging foe, and this one would be after claiming a couple hundred extra worlds from Chaos. If we set it against the Nids, though, it would be an extremely dangerous balancing act—as foes they're perfectly set up to actually both grow quickly in strength fighting the other, and either side winning convincingly would emerge an order of magnitude stronger.
Third is that we're expecting the Abomination to do something to try to get at Lin. Time is running out pretty quick for it to get a chance, and we're pretty sure it has to know that. An Incursion, a Crusade, or even both are quite likely, and at our current level of distraction even a thrown together force has a real chance of doing major damage. Which also means we need to keep our house in order defensively, despite the bulk of our major psykers being deployed and population pressure forcing us to expand our cities.
Finally, there's the strike force Abbadon's going to be sending in about fifty years. If we get the Nids cleared out before then said force should probably be sent elsewhere—they're in full Black Crusade mode, and they've got much better things to do with a mobilized fleet at least nominally following Abbadon's targeting priorities than sending it to find out why an expected problem suffered a critical existential failure. And if they are curious about why said Nids failed to become a problem, they should have a readymade explanation in a t3 Waaagh and Eldar activity. But if that fleet does end up coming here, even our best case scenario involves getting on the Black Imperium's radar and it is far too easy to imagine the commander taking the initiative to preemptively handle us before we can grow into a threat to anything other than tiny Chaos polities (while coincidentally looting us for our tech).
So, yeah. All sorts of ways for things to go to shit for us, and that's entirely outside of any plot-based climatic event to herald in the next phase of the quest. This is just RNG deciding that now is the time to fuck with us. And while none of these things involve a guaranteed fight against a foe that outmatches us, there are a lot of needles we're going to need to thread to avoid facing at least one unless we get lucky on some very important rolls.
You got one thing wrong. The possible task force from the Black Imperium can leave anywhere from 5-50years from now, not just in 50 years.
Speaking of which, here is a potential idea for how to handle that.
Have Ridcully Divine what situations would cause the strike force to diverted and focus on making that happen. Its a fairly Eldar way to go about it, but why knock it if it works?
- Location
- Earth
Also, we still need to be careful to not let the Alpha Legion or any of the other spies on their level mentioned by Klovis-Ultan take advantage of our distraction and steal our tech, or (worst case scenario) get a bit talkative in front of one of Abbadon's lieutenants or something.
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- Location
- The internet
Fortunately Alpha Legion just tried to burn a Segmentum fortress to the ground. Abbadon probably isn't very happy with them right now.
- Location
- Berkeley
That is both correct and horrifying. Rather than a 'and sort shit out in the next couple decades or your big problem will be a bigger problem' it becomes 'and unless you get lucky and have everything sorted fast here's another major problem to go with your others'.
The Lustrous Seven
- Location
- Australia
Thank you to @random_npc for helping with this omake
@Durin
----------
The Lustrous Seven are the first seven (and so far only) Quetzals created by Faust, the Goddess of Friendship. Formed in the aura of Qhaysh, they were born in the holy waters of the Realm of Souls rather than the tainted madness of the Warp. As a result, they are flawless examples of their kind, perfect in form and will, and they exude a purity of spirit that surpasses even the divine benevolence of their progenitor. And with the death of the Goddess of Harmony, they will forever be the apex of their kind.
The Lustrous Seven are the most privileged of all of Faust's servants, because at all times at least one of them accompanies their god. When a Quetzal accompanies Faust, they advise her and provide her with a conversation partner, bringing felicity to both parties and strengthening their bond. They also provide general assistance, which improves Faust's ability to do just about anything, as the mere act of working with someone close to her feeds her power. But most of all, the company of the member of the Lustrous Seven multiplies Faust's effective battle power several times over by giving her someone to protect, greatly improving the goddess's survivability, and by extension those of her children.
As Quetzals, the taken names of the Lustrous Seven reflect those whom they most interact with.
Amatroz the Avenger: Early on in his life, Amatroz lost a dear friend to the Ruinous Powers and swore to avenge him. Since then he has become the most combative of Faust's children. Called forth in the direst of times, Amatroz fights directly, protecting his friends with vengeful blasts of light and fury.
Koh'zekrotai: While all of Faust's children have the power to forge and wield bonds as Great Unclean Ones do disease, Koh'zekrotai is by far the most skilled at it amongst his siblings, capable of working bonafide miracles of diplomancy. With kindness and warm words, he has brought countless orphaned warpspawn into Faust's loving embrace.
Syhio: The youngest of the Lustrous Seven, Syhio is a Greater Divine Servitor of Faust and Qhaysh both, and her form reflects this as, uniquely among Quetzals (if she can even be considered to be one), her body is humanoid rather than serpentine. She sees herself as her slain mother's successor and now seeks to ascend as the goddess of Friendship and Harmony, forming large cults around herself with Faust's blessing. Though she lacks Qhaysh's Warp-healing aura and calming nature, she has inherited much of her breadth and depth of skill in the magical arts and can more easily work with non-friends than any of her siblings. Syhio's harmonising nature has allowed her to, with the aid of the eldar, fashion the shell of a defeated C'tan shard into her own personal divine engine.
Dal'yth Ramus: Dal'yth Ramus is the oldest Quetzal and, in terms of raw spiritual force, is easily the most powerful of his siblings. While his offensive strength is weak for a being of his might, his presence and psychic abilities have allowed his allies to win several major victories in their war against the Destroyer.
Yo'cranada: Yo'cranada primarily acts as Faust's messenger, moving between the gods and servants of the Aetheric Concordat to spread news, circulate information, and deliver messages. That's not all he does though. As someone with access to a large amounts of information spanning the entire Concordat, Yo'cranada has a high degree of understanding of the problems facing the Concordat, putting him in a great position to solve the alliance's issues or direct others to do so in his stead, as the situation requires.
Celasa: Whatever their specific duties or personal projects, all of the Lustrous Seven perform the general duties of the Quetzals, except for Celasa, who has permanently seconded herself to the Empire of Ashes. Her psychic abilities make her invaluable whenever a team effort is required, though her own weak combat abilities have relegated her to rear-line or off-battlefield assignments, which is just how she and Faust like it. So far she has been attempting to befriend the Queen of Knives, and though she has yet to succeed she remains hopeful.
"Auntie"
@Durin
----------
The Lustrous Seven
The Lustrous Seven are the first seven (and so far only) Quetzals created by Faust, the Goddess of Friendship. Formed in the aura of Qhaysh, they were born in the holy waters of the Realm of Souls rather than the tainted madness of the Warp. As a result, they are flawless examples of their kind, perfect in form and will, and they exude a purity of spirit that surpasses even the divine benevolence of their progenitor. And with the death of the Goddess of Harmony, they will forever be the apex of their kind.
The Lustrous Seven are the most privileged of all of Faust's servants, because at all times at least one of them accompanies their god. When a Quetzal accompanies Faust, they advise her and provide her with a conversation partner, bringing felicity to both parties and strengthening their bond. They also provide general assistance, which improves Faust's ability to do just about anything, as the mere act of working with someone close to her feeds her power. But most of all, the company of the member of the Lustrous Seven multiplies Faust's effective battle power several times over by giving her someone to protect, greatly improving the goddess's survivability, and by extension those of her children.
As Quetzals, the taken names of the Lustrous Seven reflect those whom they most interact with.
Amatroz the Avenger: Early on in his life, Amatroz lost a dear friend to the Ruinous Powers and swore to avenge him. Since then he has become the most combative of Faust's children. Called forth in the direst of times, Amatroz fights directly, protecting his friends with vengeful blasts of light and fury.
Koh'zekrotai: While all of Faust's children have the power to forge and wield bonds as Great Unclean Ones do disease, Koh'zekrotai is by far the most skilled at it amongst his siblings, capable of working bonafide miracles of diplomancy. With kindness and warm words, he has brought countless orphaned warpspawn into Faust's loving embrace.
Syhio: The youngest of the Lustrous Seven, Syhio is a Greater Divine Servitor of Faust and Qhaysh both, and her form reflects this as, uniquely among Quetzals (if she can even be considered to be one), her body is humanoid rather than serpentine. She sees herself as her slain mother's successor and now seeks to ascend as the goddess of Friendship and Harmony, forming large cults around herself with Faust's blessing. Though she lacks Qhaysh's Warp-healing aura and calming nature, she has inherited much of her breadth and depth of skill in the magical arts and can more easily work with non-friends than any of her siblings. Syhio's harmonising nature has allowed her to, with the aid of the eldar, fashion the shell of a defeated C'tan shard into her own personal divine engine.
Dal'yth Ramus: Dal'yth Ramus is the oldest Quetzal and, in terms of raw spiritual force, is easily the most powerful of his siblings. While his offensive strength is weak for a being of his might, his presence and psychic abilities have allowed his allies to win several major victories in their war against the Destroyer.
Yo'cranada: Yo'cranada primarily acts as Faust's messenger, moving between the gods and servants of the Aetheric Concordat to spread news, circulate information, and deliver messages. That's not all he does though. As someone with access to a large amounts of information spanning the entire Concordat, Yo'cranada has a high degree of understanding of the problems facing the Concordat, putting him in a great position to solve the alliance's issues or direct others to do so in his stead, as the situation requires.
Celasa: Whatever their specific duties or personal projects, all of the Lustrous Seven perform the general duties of the Quetzals, except for Celasa, who has permanently seconded herself to the Empire of Ashes. Her psychic abilities make her invaluable whenever a team effort is required, though her own weak combat abilities have relegated her to rear-line or off-battlefield assignments, which is just how she and Faust like it. So far she has been attempting to befriend the Queen of Knives, and though she has yet to succeed she remains hopeful.
"Auntie"
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Excerpts from the Caverner's Gazette, Resource Bounty Board: Bel-778's Climb
Omake: Excerpts from the Caverner's Gazette, Resource Bounty Board: Bel-778's Climb
Sponsor: Mechanicus
Depth: Underdark
Access:
-Labrynthian: Hessian, Hierophant, Jubilation.
-Judgment: Fifth Eye (annex 9, 14).
-Well: Bloody Tears (grandmaster, exemplar), Pardoner's Rest (master, grandmaster, exemplar), Azure (novice, exemplar).
Risks: Extreme temperature (cold), Sharp environment, unsteady footing, regular spatial distortion, deep orks, greenwald longfingers.
Resources: Brandt/Jude-87 crystal formations.
Renewable: Yes
-Renewal Period: 22 days
Description: Bel-788's Climb is a naturally occurring 10000-32-44/22 Brandt/Jude-87 precipitation chamber.
For those who are not archmagos-cogboys: Bel-788's Climb is a cylindrical chamber that experiences a cyclical spatial distortion: during its rest state the cavern is 2.718 km high with a diameter of 0.141 km. Note: ambient temperatures in Bel-778 remains constant at 3.1 K during rest.
The baseline spatial distortion that defines the crawl is a geometric shear lattice. The pattern of these shear lattices causes the smooth stone of the cavern wall to jut out in bands of spikes: each band is .27 m wide. Each band contains 1408 spikes, evenly divided into 32 groups with a 0.5 meter radius groove of undistorted space between each group. The rotation offset between each band creates a helical path of normal space that one could theoretically climb safely.
The ascent suffers from a few complications. The first would be the liquid helium-3 waterfalls that terminate each path at the cavern's top. Spatial bleed action draws the helium down the channels while siphoning off a portion at each band, evenly coating the spikes. Where the helium contacts the spikes the spatial warp causes it to transition from liquid to metallic states. The flow of the heliumfalls is calibrated such that there is exactly enough to coat all spikes without any waste reaching the bottom of the chamber.
At intervals of 22 seconds, a .27 meter wide spatial distortion zone will travel from the chamber's top to its bottom at 0.25c. Within this distortion zone the chamber's perpendicular axis (horizontal dimensions) experiences a compression factor 1.1e5, while the parallel dimension (vertical axis) experiences an expansion factor of 8.8e15: this causes metallic helium-3 coating the spikes to sublimate and undergo exotic subatomic transmutation. As the distortion wave passes, this exotic gas coalesces around spatial distortion points just beyond the tips of each spike. Over the course of 22 days this produces a P1-grade Brandt/Jude-87 crystal, compared to the 388 days required to produce an equivalent crystal in the 2-2-3/388 chambers used in Mechanicus forges.
It is estimated that if it were possible to reliably exploit the bottom 11 bands of Bel-788's Climb it would increase the Trust's production of Brandt/Jude-87 crystals to the point where equipping Midgard's militia with neutron weapons would be feasible.
Unfortunately the natural perils of harvesting from an active Brandt/Jude-87 precipitation chamber and the unreliability of the paths leading to it are not the only things that limit our ability to exploit Bel-788's Climb. The site is currently a three way battleground between two deep ork tribes and a greenwald longfingers raiding party. It should be noted that both tribes have made use of what they have been able to claim from the site: neutra-shokk shootas are standard armaments, as are shred-belcher squigs. This makes them almost as much as a threat as the longfingers.
@Durin
Sponsor: Mechanicus
Depth: Underdark
Access:
-Labrynthian: Hessian, Hierophant, Jubilation.
-Judgment: Fifth Eye (annex 9, 14).
-Well: Bloody Tears (grandmaster, exemplar), Pardoner's Rest (master, grandmaster, exemplar), Azure (novice, exemplar).
Risks: Extreme temperature (cold), Sharp environment, unsteady footing, regular spatial distortion, deep orks, greenwald longfingers.
Resources: Brandt/Jude-87 crystal formations.
Renewable: Yes
-Renewal Period: 22 days
Description: Bel-788's Climb is a naturally occurring 10000-32-44/22 Brandt/Jude-87 precipitation chamber.
For those who are not archmagos-cogboys: Bel-788's Climb is a cylindrical chamber that experiences a cyclical spatial distortion: during its rest state the cavern is 2.718 km high with a diameter of 0.141 km. Note: ambient temperatures in Bel-778 remains constant at 3.1 K during rest.
The baseline spatial distortion that defines the crawl is a geometric shear lattice. The pattern of these shear lattices causes the smooth stone of the cavern wall to jut out in bands of spikes: each band is .27 m wide. Each band contains 1408 spikes, evenly divided into 32 groups with a 0.5 meter radius groove of undistorted space between each group. The rotation offset between each band creates a helical path of normal space that one could theoretically climb safely.
The ascent suffers from a few complications. The first would be the liquid helium-3 waterfalls that terminate each path at the cavern's top. Spatial bleed action draws the helium down the channels while siphoning off a portion at each band, evenly coating the spikes. Where the helium contacts the spikes the spatial warp causes it to transition from liquid to metallic states. The flow of the heliumfalls is calibrated such that there is exactly enough to coat all spikes without any waste reaching the bottom of the chamber.
At intervals of 22 seconds, a .27 meter wide spatial distortion zone will travel from the chamber's top to its bottom at 0.25c. Within this distortion zone the chamber's perpendicular axis (horizontal dimensions) experiences a compression factor 1.1e5, while the parallel dimension (vertical axis) experiences an expansion factor of 8.8e15: this causes metallic helium-3 coating the spikes to sublimate and undergo exotic subatomic transmutation. As the distortion wave passes, this exotic gas coalesces around spatial distortion points just beyond the tips of each spike. Over the course of 22 days this produces a P1-grade Brandt/Jude-87 crystal, compared to the 388 days required to produce an equivalent crystal in the 2-2-3/388 chambers used in Mechanicus forges.
It is estimated that if it were possible to reliably exploit the bottom 11 bands of Bel-788's Climb it would increase the Trust's production of Brandt/Jude-87 crystals to the point where equipping Midgard's militia with neutron weapons would be feasible.
Unfortunately the natural perils of harvesting from an active Brandt/Jude-87 precipitation chamber and the unreliability of the paths leading to it are not the only things that limit our ability to exploit Bel-788's Climb. The site is currently a three way battleground between two deep ork tribes and a greenwald longfingers raiding party. It should be noted that both tribes have made use of what they have been able to claim from the site: neutra-shokk shootas are standard armaments, as are shred-belcher squigs. This makes them almost as much as a threat as the longfingers.
@Durin
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Spero
Nianque
Verified Dragon
OMAKE
@Durin
Spero
Threnody Dragon
Age: 88
Martial: 14=14 - Due to their own amazing power, threnody dragons often have no need to lead others in battle and Spero is no exception.
Intrigue: 14=14 - Threnody dragons often have no talent at subterfuge due to their size and power, though Spero is better at than others his age.
Administration: 12=4 - Spero has never seen much need for the typical facets of administration and would much rather wander around looking for new people and new sights instead.
Learning: 15=26 - Spero is a very intelligent individual and it shows particularly in the sheer speed at which he can learn new skills.
Piety: 15=31 - As an Avernus native, Spero has a strong will and a resistance to the temptations of chaos.
Diplomacy: 16=18 - When talking with Spero it has been found that he has an understanding of humans and of Avernite culture that is unnerving to see in a dragon.
Combat: 22=42 - Due to his own luck and talent at learning, Spyro has become a formidable fighter which has helped to keep alive as he wanders further and further away from Tarascon.
Power: 32=38 - Like other threnody dragons, Spero has a staggering amount of power and has been forced to draw on even more power to remain alive.
Control: 19=38 - Spero has had to develop extraordinary control for his age in order to survive the myriad of threats that try to kill him.
Threnody Dragon (-5I, -8A, +5L, +10P, +8C, 32 Power, +10 Control, *50 power multiplier, massive resistance to warp effects, resistant to chaos) - As a threnody dragon, Spero was born with immense power, a massive resistance to the warp, and an innate talent with words of power.
Words of Power Expert (+3 Power, +3 Control, +30 to Words of Power rolls) - As a threnody dragon Spero has an innate gift for using words of power and he has trained this talent to the level of an expert.
Diminutive (+3I, -3C, size is 2 levels lower) - Spero seems to have stopped growing at around half the size as other members of his species.
Lucky (+2C, far less likely to die) - Since the day he was born, Spero has been extraordinarily lucky, surviving situations that he should have died to.
Fast Learner (+4L, more likely to gain traits) - Spero has always been a fast learner and it was this trait that together with his incredible luck managed to keep him alive during the crimson skies invasion.
Crimson Skies Youth (+3P, +3 Control, +3 Combat, +5 to rolls against daemons) - When the skies turned crimson and Khornate daemons poured forth onto Avernus, Spero was only thirteen years of age. He survived due to luck, older threnody dragons, and being an exceptionally fast learner.
Heroic Tendencies (+2C, more likely to get in dangerous situations) - Spero has found himself in an increasingly deadly number of situations, most of which has been a result of trying to help others.
Avernus Wanderer (+2I, +2L, +3P, +2D, +5C, +3 Power, +3 Control, less likely to die to wildlife) - Spero seems ill-content toward staying in one spot for very long and is always on the move,meeting new people and seeing new things.
Spero is a purple threnody dragon whose parents were killed shortly after he was born. The newborn whelp was lucky enough to survive until he was found by another threnody dragon and his early life was categorized by a rather unhealthy interest in exploring which his adoptive parent tried to dissuade him from to no avail. A life of staying in one general area was rather boring for Spero and he was constantly sneaking away from his adoptive mother to wander around and trying new things. This interest in exploring forced him to develop his combat skills more than other whelps of his age and as such he was better prepared for when the skies turned crimson. When the Khornate daemon invasion happened, Spero had been away at the time and it was only luck that enabled him to escape from a daemon which had cornered him. When he rushed back to the nest, it was to find his adoptive mother dead and a powerful daemon cutting her apart to take the skull.
It was only due to surprise that Spero was able to kill the daemon, finding to his dismay that his budding power was next to useless against the Khornate warpspawn. His small stature and considerable luck allowed him to move to the next closest nest and it was to his relief that the old male that claimed it was still alive. As the daemon invasion continued, Spero found himself moving from nest to nest as dragons began grouping together in order to survive. It was thanks to his remarkable luck and ability to learn that he had managed to survive the daemonic hordes even as both older and younger dragons fell around him. When the invasion had finally ended nine days later, Spero was exhausted and barely managing to keep himself going as he was reacting more on reflex than anything else at that point. After the invasion had ended, Spero found his way to the abandoned human fort of Lonely Mountain and it was there that he first encountered humanity. He became intensely curious about the strange tools that they used and their impressive combat abilities with few natural advantages.
In the years following the invasions Spero has been sighted wandering the entirety of Tarascon, always looking for new people to meet, new places to visit, and new things to learn. Recently he has began travelling outside of the region and has come into contact with more and more peoples and their unique cultures, knowledge, and powers. One such excursion led to him running into the human prince, Tormod who had once again wound up separated from his guards. The two of them became fast friends and traded stories concerning their respective peoples and lifestyles, something which fascinated Spero.
@Durin
Spero
Threnody Dragon
Age: 88
Martial: 14=14 - Due to their own amazing power, threnody dragons often have no need to lead others in battle and Spero is no exception.
Intrigue: 14=14 - Threnody dragons often have no talent at subterfuge due to their size and power, though Spero is better at than others his age.
Administration: 12=4 - Spero has never seen much need for the typical facets of administration and would much rather wander around looking for new people and new sights instead.
Learning: 15=26 - Spero is a very intelligent individual and it shows particularly in the sheer speed at which he can learn new skills.
Piety: 15=31 - As an Avernus native, Spero has a strong will and a resistance to the temptations of chaos.
Diplomacy: 16=18 - When talking with Spero it has been found that he has an understanding of humans and of Avernite culture that is unnerving to see in a dragon.
Combat: 22=42 - Due to his own luck and talent at learning, Spyro has become a formidable fighter which has helped to keep alive as he wanders further and further away from Tarascon.
Power: 32=38 - Like other threnody dragons, Spero has a staggering amount of power and has been forced to draw on even more power to remain alive.
Control: 19=38 - Spero has had to develop extraordinary control for his age in order to survive the myriad of threats that try to kill him.
Threnody Dragon (-5I, -8A, +5L, +10P, +8C, 32 Power, +10 Control, *50 power multiplier, massive resistance to warp effects, resistant to chaos) - As a threnody dragon, Spero was born with immense power, a massive resistance to the warp, and an innate talent with words of power.
Words of Power Expert (+3 Power, +3 Control, +30 to Words of Power rolls) - As a threnody dragon Spero has an innate gift for using words of power and he has trained this talent to the level of an expert.
Diminutive (+3I, -3C, size is 2 levels lower) - Spero seems to have stopped growing at around half the size as other members of his species.
Lucky (+2C, far less likely to die) - Since the day he was born, Spero has been extraordinarily lucky, surviving situations that he should have died to.
Fast Learner (+4L, more likely to gain traits) - Spero has always been a fast learner and it was this trait that together with his incredible luck managed to keep him alive during the crimson skies invasion.
Crimson Skies Youth (+3P, +3 Control, +3 Combat, +5 to rolls against daemons) - When the skies turned crimson and Khornate daemons poured forth onto Avernus, Spero was only thirteen years of age. He survived due to luck, older threnody dragons, and being an exceptionally fast learner.
Heroic Tendencies (+2C, more likely to get in dangerous situations) - Spero has found himself in an increasingly deadly number of situations, most of which has been a result of trying to help others.
Avernus Wanderer (+2I, +2L, +3P, +2D, +5C, +3 Power, +3 Control, less likely to die to wildlife) - Spero seems ill-content toward staying in one spot for very long and is always on the move,meeting new people and seeing new things.
Spero is a purple threnody dragon whose parents were killed shortly after he was born. The newborn whelp was lucky enough to survive until he was found by another threnody dragon and his early life was categorized by a rather unhealthy interest in exploring which his adoptive parent tried to dissuade him from to no avail. A life of staying in one general area was rather boring for Spero and he was constantly sneaking away from his adoptive mother to wander around and trying new things. This interest in exploring forced him to develop his combat skills more than other whelps of his age and as such he was better prepared for when the skies turned crimson. When the Khornate daemon invasion happened, Spero had been away at the time and it was only luck that enabled him to escape from a daemon which had cornered him. When he rushed back to the nest, it was to find his adoptive mother dead and a powerful daemon cutting her apart to take the skull.
It was only due to surprise that Spero was able to kill the daemon, finding to his dismay that his budding power was next to useless against the Khornate warpspawn. His small stature and considerable luck allowed him to move to the next closest nest and it was to his relief that the old male that claimed it was still alive. As the daemon invasion continued, Spero found himself moving from nest to nest as dragons began grouping together in order to survive. It was thanks to his remarkable luck and ability to learn that he had managed to survive the daemonic hordes even as both older and younger dragons fell around him. When the invasion had finally ended nine days later, Spero was exhausted and barely managing to keep himself going as he was reacting more on reflex than anything else at that point. After the invasion had ended, Spero found his way to the abandoned human fort of Lonely Mountain and it was there that he first encountered humanity. He became intensely curious about the strange tools that they used and their impressive combat abilities with few natural advantages.
In the years following the invasions Spero has been sighted wandering the entirety of Tarascon, always looking for new people to meet, new places to visit, and new things to learn. Recently he has began travelling outside of the region and has come into contact with more and more peoples and their unique cultures, knowledge, and powers. One such excursion led to him running into the human prince, Tormod who had once again wound up separated from his guards. The two of them became fast friends and traded stories concerning their respective peoples and lifestyles, something which fascinated Spero.
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The Ivory Carnation.
- Location
- madison
The Ivory Carnation.
A weapon-goddess made for a dark purpose the Ivory Carnation's life was defined by her struggle to overcome her masters. Originally a goddess of lost things, she was captured long ago by one of the masters of the forge of souls. Instead of corrupting her however, they had a different purpose for the enslaved goddess. Chaos banes have long since become common, heroes and artifacts antithetical to the tainted litter the galaxy, most densely around those who have remained pure. An indirect approach was needed, a weapon a step removed from the slaves of chaos.
The Ivory carnation was the center of this plan. Her nature made her isolated, and more importantly poorly suited to direct conflict. She would be bound and enslaved, and though her servants would be crafted to do the dark will of her hated master. The first step was to cast the souls of countless children into her domain. Children beyond counting, of dozens of species were cast into the warp, lost utterly. Until some small fraction of them fell into the domain of the goddess of the lost. Whether the poor tormented creatures that clung to her were conglomerates of shattered egos or strong souls, the forgemasters neither knew nor cared. But they were not yet done.
They were twisted, mutilated, cut and shaped, with those that could not survive the process being used as raw material for those that could. Their souls where winnowed down to a single point. The vast ways and means power and will of psykers could be expressed where brutally trimmed down to one, when the forgemastesr were done all the lost could do was channel power into vessels. 39 anchors were made, puppets of flesh and metal. Each a concept congealed, each painstakingly left pure, for to taint the tools would defeat the purpose of the endeavor, each the first of many.
The result was beyond expectations. Puppets moved by unseen will, powered by a hidden rift deep within their workings. Man-sized, sleek suits of armor and synthskin able to dance though blood and fire. Each bearing 4 powers, the expression of the story and concept bound up in their anchors, each greedily swallowing the souls of the slain. Potent, but ultimately disposable. The flesh and metal could be replaced, so long as the Lost remained safe and hidden at their goddess' side.
The Lost dreamed, and they dreamed of death. Of sleek forms and mighty powers cutting through armies of cowering prey. Those who hesitated, who did not kill without thought, found themselves trapped in unending nightmares of pain and isolation. It took centuries, but in time the lost were stripped of their last bleeding fragments of sanity. Falling into a fugue state, all but their mother and siblings becoming unreal to them. It was here that things started to go wrong.
The world of the Lost shrunk, and above them stood The Ivory Carnation. She alone was kind, she alone guided them, she alone fit the idea of mother they all longed for. Belief in the warp is a strange thing, for so many Lost believed that they were the children of The Ivory carnation, that it became true, and the goddess grew. The domain of motherhood was new and her bindings made no accounting of it. For an age she bided her time, until she learned of the concordat and its defiance of the dark, seizing on this desperate hope she acted.
The forgemasters had in truth known of this. They had sensed the bindings beginning to strain and suspected something was wrong. Unable to see without risking tainting their slave they instead set a trap: A subtle binding, to grant the illusion of freedom. She would break free, until they pulled the string and forced her to deliver to them the concordat itself. Confident that such a betrayal would break her will, they watched her rebellion with hidden smiles. Yet, they had not understood just what she had become. Empathy and love had simply not entered their calculations.
With her domain-born skill at hiding, and her many potent servants at her side The Ivory Carnation swiftly made her way to the concordat. While initially suspicious, her lack of obvious taint and the Concordat's desperation saw her accepted with unwise haste. Once she had been accepted, the forgemasters began preparing for her betrayal, slowly picking their moment. While her masters schemed, the Carnation acted. She knew she was doomed, she did not trust her freedom and the thought of being used against her children horrified her. Within days of joining the concordat, she began constructing a grand ritual.
Exactly a day and a year past her escape, well before her masters were ready to act, The Ivory Carnation died at her own hand. Unwilling to accept the chance of being used against her children, she ensured they would be safe. Through her death, she made for them a home, a place where they could dream of peace, where they could be together without needing to dream of blood and fire. Where they could be people. Her children still dreamed, seeing the world through clouded eyes, but now they could see more than death and pain. 39 however, stirred. The first of each anchor, those bound more tightly to them than any, began to wake.
The Dreamwalkers
Twice-orphaned children of the Ivory Carnation, sleepwalking warriors, the Dreamwalkers are among the most effective soldiers of the Aetheric Concordat. In truth a Dreamwalkers is made of two parts. The distant, dreaming Lost One, and the anchor that channels their power. The Lost blur the line between mortal and warpspawn, being mortal psykers twisted by cruel hands. The anchors blur the line between daemon engine and focus, moving through a mix of instilled instinct and distant will.
Dreamwalkers were entrusted by their mother into the care of Faust and the employ of Zaeed. Faust and her children act as handlers and guardians, ensuring they are not exploited. Zaeed ensures they can find work, ensuring they can find their way into realspace to hunt and play. While potent combatants and skilled infiltrators, Dreamwalkers are in a sense asleep, deep in a dreamlike fugue state.
This makes them somewhat unpredictable, as to most little besides their kin and handles appears to truly matter. Faust has slowly been teaching them to care about their mission or comrades, but so far such concerns remain mostly abstract to the Dreamwalkers . Still, while they may be uncaring for the losses of their allies, they can be trusted to stick to their objectives in at least general terms.
As they are not fully adapted to the warp, to remain active they need a steady trickle of power, in addition, to exist in real space they need material and reagents to construct anchors. They get what they need by accepting payment as mercenaries and looting their fallen foes. Dreamwalkers are able to pass small objects, and free souls into a small pocket realm linked to their anchors. Per their contract, such battlefield salvage belongs to the Dreamwalkers who gather it. While unable to devours souls themselves, they are able to trade them with the many gods who can. similarly, physical reagents are traded to the slave servants of Valanar, typically a third again as many materials for the production of any given weapon or anchor. It should be noted that while Dreamwalkers need this salvage to improve their equipment and stay active, the focus they put on acquiring loot is somewhat excessive. If left to their own devices a team of Dreamwalkers will strip a site to an almost comical degree, going so far as to search individual footlockers and corpses.
Dreamwalkers are summoned like any warpspawn, though their distant and vaguely mortal mind makes bindings difficult. In truth, they will stick to their mission more out of habit and respect for their handler than anything. This fact is by design, not widely advertised. While the power varies wildly, typically they are between a lesser and greater demon in might. Each being a superhumanly skilled soldier and infiltrator, and possess a few potent powers depending on which anchor they are using. Most Dreamwalkers are in the mid Delta-Level range of power, with a few outliers in each direction. Typically no more than 5 will appear on the same battlefield, as past that the multiple links to the lost begin to interfere with each other. However, in battle, the remote nature means death is at times temporary. Should an anchor be left somewhat intact, a fellow Dreamwalker may be able to repair it with a flood of power, bringing it back online and restoring the connection. This can give them a surprising amount of endurance on the unit level.
Exemplars
While most Dreamwalkers can use any anchors they wish, the Exemplars are locked into a single form. They are far more entwined with their anchors, and thus less estranged from reality. As such they can be relied upon to a far greater extent. While still prone to strange behavior, such as standing on tables, random acrobatics, or randomly changing weapon loadouts, they can be trusted to stay on task and safeguard allies without being prompted. There is a single Exemplar for each anchor, and they take the name of the form they wear. Aside from being more reliable, they are also significantly more skilled and powerful than typical Dreamwalkers. Often exhibiting power in the low to mid-Gamma range
The Awoken.
When the Ivory carnation died, one of her children awoke fully. Her most loyal and devout son, who had become the Exemplar of Harrow, the suffragan, somehow moved beyond his broken dreaming state. He is fully awake and has escaped the fugue state that still clings to his siblings. Gruff and abrasive, he has found himself falling into the role of the responsible older sibling. Working to shepherd his unaware kin away from true danger and trying to keep them pointed in the right direction. While harsh, he truly loves his strange family, and has vowed to find a way to wake them fully from their dreaming state. The full awaking of one of his siblings in the wake of the final assault has given him great hope. However, He knows the path they trod to wakefulness, the crystallization of their soul, is too arduous a challenge to expect all of his siblings to follow. Thus he searches endlessly for another way to help his family.
The Rogue.
A seemingly rogue Dreamwalker, the rogue appears to be fully awake. Bearing a unique anchor, little of his nature is known. What is known is his actions, the rogue will often ambush lone or poorly equipped Dreamwalkers and attempt to destroy their anchors, using weapons designed to inflict pain on the Lost. His professed motive is an attempt to shock them awake. While Harrow appreciates his wayward kin's goals, he finds his methods unacceptable. Not only does it not seem to work, but it can endanger allies of the concordat by disrupting the Dreamwalkers missions. Thus far, efforts to curtail his efforts have failed, though his sleeping kin have begun adapting to his MO, becoming less willing to operate alone, and always carrying at least one effective weapon.
Auntie.
While the Quetzal assigned to act as a dispatcher and nanny does have a name, she has long since given up on getting her charges to use it. Chosen for her unique ability to split her focus, allowing her to coordinate countless Dreamwalkers at once, she was able to nigh instantly forge strong bonds with her charges. While Auntie dearly loves The lost, she finds them thoroughly exasperating and often appears haggard. While she spends most of the time in the warp acting as a dispatcher, should she take to the field she can act as a relay, allowing a great number Dreamwalkers to function without signal interference. In such numbers, and focused by a threat to one they see as real, her charges are a potent force. the few times this tactic has been used have been devastatingly effective.
@Durin, another one for the pile. let me know if it needs any tweaks. thanks to stormgear, for editing help.
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- Location
- Australia
I didn't do any editing help. Or really help at all.
Doomed Wombat
Let's go Darling!
- Location
- Dancing on wires!
Same from me I fear.
- Location
- madison
Then I have no idea who did, cause g docs displays actual names