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The Long Night Part One: Embers in the Dusk: A Planetary Governor Quest (43k) Complete Sequel Up

Investigate the Sea?

  • Yes

    Votes: 593 80.4%

  • No

    Votes: 145 19.6%
  • Total voters
    738
Reader mode
Hey @Durin
I noticed that our current pass rates for Minor Psychers is still at 80%, despite the +2.5% boost to pass rates we got from the Nat 100 on Turn One Hundred and Thirty-Three. Is this because Lin's death dropped the base pass rate as well, and the boost only compensated for it? Because it seems like the pass rate should've already recuperated, by the trends at which it's been improving since the Third Incursion.
 
Eh, it's probably because he passed, or the boost didn't apply to Minor Psykers in the first place.
Whatever the case, welcome to Embers, and thanks for the likes @TheGrape
 
Wait, a week? I assume you skipped a lot of stuff or switched from reading indexed posts/reader mode to regular posts at some point as well, otherwise I am surprised by you finding any of my posts. Took me a few months to manage it myself, but I read from the start.
 
sabreFather said:
Wait, a week? I assume you skipped a lot of stuff or switched from reading indexed posts/reader mode to regular posts at some point as well, otherwise I am surprised by you finding any of my posts. Took me a few months to manage it myself, but I read from the start.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I stuck to the Threadmarks and some must-read Omakes. I'm scared to go looking in the Sidestory or Apocrypha Tabs.
 
and for extra giggles, the new one is a different kind of transcendent. Being a transcendent level psychic multi tool. On top of that, the Ancient one is prolby going to go for some enthusiastic walks soon. So they will get another transcendent who is a fully material combatant one.
 
wait, is Aretha a DIFFERENT transcendent level alpha psyker or the same one as the one in the omake? (different name sure, but people change names sometimes!)
 
Got an idea.

Set up a Trust wide martial tournament using a Diplo action. Jotuns in power armor, Fire giants, Helguard, Trusts heroes, single and team combat... Klovis thinks that it's a good idea (asked Durin on Discord).

As a bonus, Azyr performing well in this would raise public perception of Quartok in the Trust.
 
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Kitty Cat Blues
  • Apocrypha
    • Kitty Cat Blues​

    They called themselves the Empire of Ashes. Vast bone-white ships simply appearing on our telescopes. Visitors from beyond the stars, bearing mighty technology so far beyond us it may as well have been magic. We waited with baited breath for them to tell us why they were here. Unsure if we would receive an arrogant conqueror, a kind uplifter, or merely a concerned neighbor. We could have dealt with that I think, if they had been here for us. But no, we were just in the way. They didn't even land, a simple transmission, to every device in the system, to tell us that we were living on borrowed time.

    Orks, Drukhari, Daemons, Tyranids, Humans - monster after monster, horror after horror. The sky was not empty as we had thought, it was full to bursting with bloody handed madmen. Xenocide it seemed, was an unusually merciful practice in the galaxy. The closest thing to hope was a xenophobic empire of untiring brutes who would make us a well-treated vassal. The only reason they were even here was that the particular threat en route to eat us was on its way to somewhere that matters.

    Any faint hope of gumption or Moxy could see us at least matter died with hundreds of others once the Tyranids showed up. People started to just die, the mere presence of the damn things driving our mages into comas or mad spasms, as thousands of politicians and leaders just dropped dead. It wasn't even aimed at us, hell I'm not even sure if it was an attack. Just the presence of the beasts killing our best and brightest.

    To have anything remotely like a chance we needed to unify, we needed to rip those madmen off Glaeorn and bring their might into ours. Course, the Mraw fucks thought the same thing. The war intensified, the mad emperor determined to bring us to heel, and the Union of Furs determined to end the threat in our own backyard. The war resumed, more desperate and brutal than before.

    After the nids were wiped out, our mages started waking up. It was, not I'm told particularly gentle on the poor bastards. More than a few of em started cracking, and it was worse for the ones who hadn't been trained. All told we lost about a fourth, there were all sorts of rumors about something odd happening, strange things coming through a few hell rifts, and some mages were pointedly vague about what happened. But the real weirdness started when the neophytes started trickling in.

    A lot of folks had their breakthrough all at once, at the exact moment all the teachers were down and out. Damndest thing, almost all of them found their way to the academy in good order, sometimes having to hop borders to make it. Casters are weird, but these ones were weird in a consistent way, talking to something that wasn't there or learning things they couldn't know. Lots of rumors about a change, something about them all being woken by the same event making them the same kind of crazy. That lasted about a year.

    He wasn't crazy. He had to keep repeating that. Fuzzbut knew things he didn't, things he couldn't. She had to be real, and he was going to prove it. Terkan glanced at his teachers, they had agreed to let him try and he was half convinced only had because they were sure he would fail.

    Don't worry about them.

    He took a deep breath. He could do this, he was stronger than most and he'd been preparing for months. Slowly, carefully, he reached out to his friend, feeling her in the Warp. The bond had been growing for over a year, ever since she'd guided him out of that hellhole. Slowly, he poured power into the link, feeling it become more solid, less metaphorical and more real. He could feel his investment matched, some unseen force pushing from the other side as he pulled. The world went silent as his focus became a single point. Then with the sound of tearing fabric, a small hell rift tore open.

    His teachers had only begun to move when a rainbow streak shot out of the swiftly sealing rift, as a long furry shape raced its way up his leg.

    "You did it!"

    It was strange to hear Fuzzbut with his ears, and stranger still to feel her circle his neck.

    "Your the first one too! Congratulations on being the first in the world to have a familiar!"

    His teachers were staring in shock, he was smiling with utter satisfaction, he knew he wasn't     crazy.

    He had just enough time to laugh before a blow from a shock stick rendered him unconscious.


    Turns out, they weren't the same kind of crazy, they were the same kind of noticed. In the wake of the clash, something out beyond the veil had seen us, and it took an interest. When the not so imaginary friends started physically manifesting, the secret got out almost immediately. As one can imagine, creatures crawling out of hell rifts was cause for concern.


    The headmaster was the first to speak."Are we sure it's not a trick?" the question was perhaps the only one worth asking.

    The minister of infernal affairs signed. "There can be no surety in dealing with such things, but so far none of seemed tainted, and all of them match the description of the delivered tome."

    "Are we sure the tome is accurate? We know so little." the headmaster frowned.

    "The aldari transmitted a verification of it to a number of secure sites while they were gathering up their damaged ships. If its a trick, its one that suggests potent enough capabilities that tricky would not be needed." the military liaison bluntly stated.

    The headmaster hmmed thoughtful "Even if its not, that they could compel such a power to deliver it, that has worrying implications about their might."

    The minister snorted. "Oh there was no compulsion. I've interrogated the little monsters myself. They're almost as dwarfed the Empire of Ashes as we are, they can just afford to barter for the occasional favor."

    "What could these imps offer a power like that?" the headmaster nodded along at the officer's question.

    " these imps are nothing to their masters. Cheaply made for simple tasks. Make no mistake, we're a sideshow to them almost as much as we were to the Aldari."

    "Then what does this "Aetheric Concordat" want?"

    "Worship" the minster all put spat. "They want our people to bow down to them."

    "The creatures so far seem to be content to help their masters without asking for anything, and quite frankly after the shadow knocked out so many staff, we are too short-handed handle our students without the help. I don't trust them, but I'm not willing to write off so many promising young mages."

    "They're not asking for anything more, for now." the minister retorted. "How long until we're dependent? And how long after that until they start making demands?"

    "I will not condemn my charges on such flimsy supposition."

    The minister turned the officer, with his support he could overrule the headmaster. "Is it your position there is no risk of taint?"

    He hesitated before answering. "There is little risk of taint. But I must stress they are agents of a foreign power. One with plans for us."

    "Then it is the position of my office that the creatures be tolerated, we cannot afford to lose our mages. Not with the intensifying raids."

    It was wonderous news, at least that's how the propaganda teams spun it. Helpful things from beyond following in the wake of a disaster. They just failed to mention they were here out of anything but altruism. Those in the know? We knew damn well well our leaders were playing with fire. The imps didn't just help our mages pass, they taught them how to be better. Mending flesh, linking minds, titanium melting flames, wonders unasked for plopped down in our laps. We should have been suspicious, but all our leaders saw was an advantage, and one hell of one at that.

    Raid-leader Shkrawwa collapsed. This was impossible, the enemy had been fighting them for over 3 hours. He'd pushed himself well past endurance, and his men had fought until they started dropping from exhaustion. The enemy was still fresh, reduced in number but no less ceaseless. Some new kind of Korratali? Less skilled but more numerous? A cry from his savant, he'd ordered him to find the truth, and it seemed he had. It was too late, the enemy was gathering for a final push, but he would at least know. He could not even crawl, but his men carried him over to the screen, and his blood ran cold. On the fuzzy monitor, a compromised camera showed witch wave its hands over a dozen exhausted rebels, only for them to leap to their feet fresh and furious.

    "Transmit this now! Maxim power all frequencies. Command must know of this new threat!"

    He was going to die, butchered by a new horror in the rebels arsenal. but he'd be damned if he'd let the next raid be blindsided the same way.

    Any hope of keeping our mages' little upgrade on the down-low died fast, the people noticed our new heroes and demanded to know more. Command did their best to keep the media away from the little imps, at least any reporter who wasn't properly housebroken, citing a rotating list of excuses to a media who wanted to interview our new aces. I'll admit, it worked for a while. Not a single interview without a watchful censor for over a year. But the things were biding their time, never pushing, always asking permission and staying within guidelines. Then someone slipped, and one slip was all it took.

    "Miss! Miss! Do you have a second? Freedom TV, I just have a few questions."

    The young mage looks up from the hospital bed she's standing beside, the once mangled child sleeping upon it now whole and hale, a black serpent coiled around her neck.

    "He was the last one today, but I'm not sure I should give an interview on my own."

    "Freedom to speak is a basic right miss, and the public wants to know about your pet."

    The serpent reared back. "I am no     pet, mortal."

    The reporter started and then smiled. "They do talk! Miss, just a few questions."

    The serpent turned to its master and cocked its head. The young mage sighed. "Alright, just a few."

    The first leak was innocuous. Not a word about where it came from, and barely a word from the imp. A slip by all appearances, a tired mage , and a pushy reporter. It was too perfect. Exactly enough to get the public curious, to hint that there might be more to it without appearing to be deliberate. Of course, "accident" or not, steps were taken. Procedures adjusted. There would not be another slip like that. The mages were put under watch. It seemed to work for a few years, but there were issues. The newly empowered heroes always under guard, not trusted with a moment of privacy, it rubbed some folk the wrong way.

    "Shocking report! The gods walk among us! A bombshell report released just this week explaining the bizarre behavior of the mage academy! The secret they have been keeping; our young champions treated almost like prisoners! While extremely far fetched, it is backed by numerous sources. While unable to reach any mages or their "familiars" for comment, we have confirmed that the purity of theses strange otherworldly creatures has been endorsed by the enigmatic Empire of Ashes. What's more, it seems the makers of these small beings could do far more for our people, for a cost. It seems our strange helpers are scouts of a kind, guides and feelers for creatures that feed on worship. While concerning, all sources have confirmed that-"

    They played us for fools. We'd focused too much on the imps and their patsies. Sentimental idiots had seen nothing but young heroes being mistreated out of petty fears. I don't know if the report was legit, the result of a PR issue ran rampant, of the bastards helped it along. Our media department was on the ball though, managed to spin it as a security issue, or near enough. But we were still a step behind, the issue wasn't the public. The issue was everyone else who'd seen a chance to gain an advantage.

    "You will release my charge at once!" the birdlike creature's tone was imperious, for all that was impotent against the iron bars caging it.

    "Now why would I do such a thing? I would be remiss in my duty to let a witch walk free." Bories's tone was light, and his smile friendly, but his eyes were cold.

    "I know what treaties you have signed. You are obligated to release him to the academies custody."

    "Ah, you are mistaken little bird. I am duty-bound to deliver only safe witches. Your charge is maybe not so safe? After all, he was found in the company of a very suspicious bird! "

    The bird's perch began to glow a dull red, and the air above began to shimmer. "What do you want." its voice simmered with subdued rage.

    Bories laughed. "Why, a show of good faith. Proof that you are indeed a friend and ally to the Iron Lands rather than a foul demon. Anything of use would do."

    "I am bound brute. I cannot give you anything to use against your neighbors."

    "Nor would I want you to little bird. No, for now, we need not weapons. Not in this age of an outward enemy and political maneuvering. Technology, secrets, anything to strengthen our negotiating position."

    It hesitated. "I will need your vow of secrecy mortal. I will not have this used to blackmail my kind going forward."

    "Ah, so you do have something."

    The birds head bobbed in a nod. "A ritual and a name, a way to give your diplomats skill beyond mortal limits."

    Bories smiled, sure he had just secured hit countries future.

    There were always a few loose mages. Spell-slingers who signed up with a specific country, be it out of greed, patriotism, or simple indoctrination. I figure that's where it went wrong. It was a bit less than a year after that damn exposes when things started getting odd. Oh , there were plenty of reasons for it, lots of reasons leaders could change their tune, all at once.

    Orya smiled as she dabbed the rainbow pigment on her face. Eagerly awaiting the completion of the ritual. Boris had truly outdone himself dragging this secret out of the spirit guide, it was a shame what had happened to him after.

    The shamans around her took up the chant, ritual daggers at the ready.

    She had meant every kind word she'd spoken at his funeral, he truly had wanted the best for the Iron Lands. It was such a tragedy he had been so small minded about what that meant.

    Knives came out, as the shamans each offered a few drops of blood into the ritual bowl.

    The revelation had been so obvious, the Iron Land was above all the     people who lived within it, and for them to prosper the world entire must prosper. What fools they had been not to see that.

    Orya pressed her hand forward, pressing cut palm into the pooled blood.

    Orya gasped, as she felt the ritual complete, and a warm presence wrapped itself gently around her soul.

    She watched in fascination as her own mouth spoke "Why have you called me little ones?"

    "An impasse Koh'zekrotai. We seek holy unity among our people, but our neighbors suspect treachery, and to reassure them is beyond our skill."

    Her body hmmed, it was strange seeing her own habit done by another. She opened herself to the soft pressure as the Quetzal gently paged through her memories.

    "You were wise to call me, the rift is deep and overflowing with blood and old pain. I shall do what I can to set it to healing."

    Had she control of her body,Orya would smile. She enjoyed her chances to see Faust's children work. Her performance as a diplomat seemed to increase each time they were called upon. Her people were lucky to have such friends.

    But they were calling for unity, for a strengthening of the union, so our leaders turned a blind eye, or were made to. Everyone said it was the world coming together, to face the Mrraw threat and the horrors beyond. Bullshit. Oh, it made sense in front of the cameras but on the inside? To many skeptics and opponents of closer relations changed their tune too fast. Whispers started up, of kidnapped imps, and strange rituals. The fuckers had made a play for power, messing with things that even the academy was slowly losing its grip on. It was about this time they stopped being subtle.

    High councilor Heezee took a calming breath, glancing down at the five Boessaewth bound in the circle. They'd been marked for death as soon as their shrines where found, but this still felt wrong.

    "This is the last chance to back out sir."

    The mage sounded almost sorrowful, but her damn snake was just looking at him.

    "Proceed"

    She nodded and set about her grim task. He thought she would kill them herself, spill their blood or feed them to her pet. Instead, she simply chanted, until 5 pin pricks opened, one above each hodded head. Slivers of shadow shot to earth and the unconscious prisoners began to convulse. For long seconds their thrashing was the only sound that could be heard until they went still, and their bodies seemed to fall in on themselves. Something dark and hungry eating them from within. Moments later all that was left was a pile of dark sludge, before it whirled and smoothed itself into a pool of utter blackness.

    The mage looked at him expectantly. With a deep breath, he spoke.

    "I seek an audience with Zahhak."

    The pool rippled, and a figure rose from it. A woman, clad in a simple purple dress, her fur an unnatural midnight black, and her eyes simple red circles set in obsidian mirrors.

    "Your request has been granted Councilor."

    "Your Concordat has run rampant over my world, influencing and subverting governments."

    "Yes."

    Heezee paused. He'd been told to expect strangeness, but honesty was not what he thought that had meant.

    "You admit it?"

    The creature shrugged. "I could say we've come only when called, but I'm not going to insult you by pretending we're not building a power base."

    "But you're not going to stop are you?"

    "Not unless we find a better way to see your race unified and our worship allowed."

    Heezee's eyes narrowed. "We could stop you."

    "You could. It would be bloody of course, but you could. However, that would leave our presence on Glaeorn."

    Heezee's blood ran cold. "You have influence among the Mraw?"

    "We've been gentle among your people Councilor. Your governments, while flawed, are basically decent. So you receive offers and subtle prods. The Mraw are an abomination of suffering and horror. Among them, we need not be gentle, and soon we will need not be hidden either."

    A coup, no, a rebellion. He'd read the reports on what they had dangled in front of the various powers - technology, blessings, conjured troops. Could the union stand against the Mraw so enhanced? Maybe, but not after the kind of purge getting rid of the Concordat's presence would take.

    The creature continued. "But I do not feel our aims are in opposition, it is to our benefit that your people prosper."

    "Then why the deception?"

    The thing sighed, it sounded almost regretful. "Time. The region of space you occupy will be reeling in the wake of the Tyranids. You will have a window of time to build up, and we could not win you over honestly in time to reach it."

    "Damn you. Why are you doing this? Why do you care about us?"

    "Because you're in the right place, at the right time. I'm sorry Councilor, but that's all I can tell you."

    It sounded remorseful. It had fallen out of the sky and twisted his people to its will, and it had the gall to sound remorseful. "You said you merely wanted your worship allowed? Not encouraged?"

    It nodded. "Coerced worship is toxic in the long term. It eats away at the mind. Aside from that, I don't care about how you rule yourselves, so long as it works."

    This was a surrender negotiation he realized. The damn thing already had what it wanted, isolated cults were already springing up and they still had no idea how much influence they had. His only advantage was its lack of interest in what he wanted. The arrogance of it galled him, but he had no reason to suspect it was unjustified. He would see what he could salvage from this.

    Ten years. With our leaders doing everything they could, it took ten years for the bastards to get their hooks in. The religious freedoms act made suppressing the concordats worship illegal, union wide. Churches and cults came out of the woodwork the world over, proper temples started going up near overnight. Word started trickling in about boons and gifts, of technology and aid beyond anything we've seen. The Hierarchy noticed too, they would have been blind not to. I don't know if it was panic or a clear eyed assessment of the threat the concordat posed, but they came at us hard. The largest assault of the war, orbital strikes, heavy assets, more troops than we thought they had, and then our leaders showed who was really running the show.

    The glass crinkled under the treads of the assault transport as the spearhead raced over the crater that was once the final defensive line. Unity, the nominal capital of the union of furs was ahead, with the leaders of the traitors in attendance. The scheming head of the treacherous snake.

    "Flyboys are confirming they are maintaining air supremacy, enemy reinforcements are days out by land"

    Sharoww smiled. This was it, the war would end today. They would take a foothold and shatter the rebels unity in one stroke.

    "Sir! I think you need to hear this."

    Sharoww frowned, and nodded. The radio crackled to life, and the voice of a traitor came on.

    "- and I call upon you, brave soldiers of the union to make this sacrifice. I do not do this lightly, but this is our darkest hour. They caught our forces off guard and out of position, but they have exposed their heart, your sacrifice would save not only a city full of innocents, but shatter the might of the hierarchy for a generation. It shames me to ask you to forsake your rest, but should you swear your afterlife to zareed, he will save our people. I ask you once mor-"

    Sharoww turned off the radio, and felt his blood turn to ice.

    They sold our souls. Oh they made a show of asking, but that doesn't change a damn thing. To save their own skins they begged the soldiers to swear their souls to the concordat. I felt it, in the back of my mind. An awareness of exactly what my soul would buy. I don't know if I should be offended or flattered about what I was worth. I told em to go fuck themselves, most did. But a bit north of two million didn't, and then we got to see what kind of monsters we were dealing with.

    Strike fighters fell like Burning stars trailing smoke and glittering shards, burning tanks litted the plains, plumes of smoke rising like burnt offerings, the bark of weapons and the cries of soldiers echoed across the hellscape as the gods made known their wraith.

    A screaming soldier emptied his clip into a hulking demonic skeleton, only to be consumed in flame for drawing its attention. An alien warmachine laughed as its hypersonic fire tore open a mraw tank. Immortal soldiers charged over a corpse stewen killing field in pursuit of their fleeing foe, lithe figures frolicked and danced through desperate fire, ending lives by the dozen with casual playful ease. An empty eyed raid leader tasted gunmetal, and pulled the trigger one last time.

    There had been over a million soldiers, aircraft and warmachines in unprecedented numbers, carefully hoarded and painstakingly built up over decades. The heart of The Hierarchy of Mraw's might rallied for a grand assault. It was to be the last strike, the grand blow to end a generations long war. It had lasted three hours as a combat effective force, and six as a band of desperate fleeing soldiers. By the time the sun fell below the horizon, the might of the mraw hierarchy lay dead or dying on the field. The clink of coin and laughter echoing across the world as the Boessaewth bore witness to the power of their new gods.

    They'd crossed a line and their new masters just reached out and snapped the mraw over their knee. I'm a soldier, and about the most dedicated ancestor worshiper you're ever going to meet. Seeing that assault burn, just for a second I wondered if it was worth it. That's when I knew that was it. You don't come back from that kind of line, or from experiencing that kind of power. Our leaders were lost, they were never going to give up the power being offered. They belonged to the concordat now, and sooner or later so would anyone following them. So me and my buddies? we got out.

    "What do you mean gone!?!" the general demanded.

    The officer before her fidged as his ears shrunk into his fur. "Their not in their bunk sir, and no ones seen them."

    The general growled. She'd known some of the Korratali had been uneasy about the new changes, hell she wasn't thrilled about them either. But desertion? Running wasn't in their character. No sooner had that thought crossed her mind then her stomach fell.

    "Check the armory, right now."

    "Sir?"

    "You head me soldier! Take a full inventory now!"

    We took a few party favors with us, enough to get us started. Oh sure, out new missions ain't exactly popular.

    Dozens dead today as a terrorist bombing strikes a new church of zaeed. A new extremist organization calling themselves the Fist of the ancestors has taken responsibility. They claim the concordant are leading us astray, and that saving our souls justifies any collateral damage. The group has been condiment by all record keepers of note, with some going so far as to-

    But well, good medicine rarely tastes sweet. We will cut out the rot that has infected our people souls. No matter how long it takes, no matter how hard they search, no matter what form of devilry they send against us, WE WILL PREVAIL!

    The attack has drawn a response from the concordat itself. A unit of summoned mercenaries manifesting and swearing to bring the cowardly perpetrators to justice.

    hey! remember the Boessaewth? maybe not, but someone did.
     
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  • Apocrypha
    • The Fall of the Mrawn
  • Apocrypha
    • The Fall of the Mrawn

    She remembered the day they came, even though she had been little more than a child. The day the Aldari, came and shattered their innocence about the galaxy. She had always looked to the stars with wonder, with joy. Hoping that out there amongst the stars there were peaceful, prosperous peoples who could show her people, her father the way. That they did not have to build their success on the suffering and moans of the downtrodden that haunted her dreams.

    She knew that such feelings would have her father cast her out in disgrace if he ever learned of them. She was a Mrawn, the ancient rulers of their people, not some simpering kitten who begged for scraps. So instead she buried her head in her studies and books, looking to the stars to keep her hope alight.

    She was one of the small group of people to have seen the starfarers with her own two eyes, the telescope she had constructed letting her peer through the heavens to behold the wondrous sight.

    The majesty, the craftsmanship she could feel the emotion that had gone into the craftsmanship, a glorious harmony that forced tears to well from her.

    She knew that it was an all too likely prospect that these arrivals would be vicious. Conquerors, barbarians, destroyers, but she prayed that they would not be, that they would be all that she hoped they could be…

    But the truth she found was stranger than and more terrifying than either of those explanations.

    The being that appeared projected onto every screen on Gaelorn, told them of a galaxy aflame. Of a Grand Devourer that they had come to swat away, only because they needed to prevent it from growing out of control, not because they were important. As it spoke the visions of what it told wormed their way into her mind, of orks and the annihilator, of humans and all the other monsters that drowned the universe in blood.

    She looked to her father, hoping to find comfort, to draw from him a constant pillar of strength throughout all the conflicts with the Union, yet saw instead something that made her recoil in horror.

    A slightly deranged fear had leaked its way into his features, but behind his eyes she could see the true depths of that stinking terror that lurked beneath his veneer.

    The broadcast cut off with an apology, a heartfelt one, but utterly unable to atone for the magnitude of the revelation it had emparted, returning to their fleet leaving her confused and listless, but not her father.

    She watched him rise, on the surface the calm emperor taking command of the situation, but beneath she could see that something within him had shattered. That the revelation of his insignificance had caused a change within him, as he demanded that the armies be expanded and production increased, so that the Mrawn could at last retake their birth right and take their rightful rulership to the stars.

    She simply returned to her quarters, staring blankly through her telescope at the stary sky, her waking moments and nightmares filled with images of monsters and stars awash with blood.

    Slowly, though her nightmares changed. They became concrete and constant, a chattering horde of flesh, driven by a hunger that could never be sated even if all that was, were to be placed within their singular belly and a desperation that born of fear. Fear of extinction, of ending and the absolute refusal to die, the terrors growing every day until her waking hours were indistinguishable from her sleeping, the entire system feeling the effects of the shadow in the warp, the mages stripped of their powers by the approach of the Great Devourer.

    Within her chambers, she cried out listening with a mind asleep to the great sea, yet sensitive to it as the Aeldari clashed with the Swarm, the roar and screams of the Tyranids growing louder and more frantic, lashing out against their slayers, but weakening with every ship destroyed, until at last there was quiet.

    Silence at last.

    Emerging tentatively, she found that nothing was the same. The madness and fear that had infected her father had spread to so many of the high ranking members, spurred on by the deaths of dozens of highly placed nobles and overseers, all seemingly dropping dead one by one causing yet more paranoia and chaos as the war with the Union was spurred to yet greater heights, their elite soldiers slamming into their masses of ill disciplined fodder, supported by their Korratali.

    Yet, amidst the chaos and confusion of these events, a new threat emerged. The slave mages had died, to the last, the already unstable men and women dying as their powers flooded back to them with the death of the Great Devourer, unable to cope with the strength suddenly after being relieved from their burden. Yet with their deaths there were none to monitor the population for more of their kind, for preemptive...disposal.

    Three new mages emerged from the slave pens.

    The first was called Utlitarsha, a hydroponics worker, who awakened to their powers and began to breed subversion within the slaves, breeding ideas of splitting away from the Mrawn, building their own dome where they could be safe and free.

    The Janassaires discovered the plot and brutally cracked down upon them at the order of her father, eventually killing Ultlitarsha and massacering the slaves as a warning to all who would challenge their place under the Mrawn.

    Yet as one died another was found, this time a mortuary worker, who spoke of fire and death, leading a small, yet remarkably successful revolution that took control of an entire dome. The reaction was swift and predictable, as elite soldiers were dispatched to crush the rebellion, cutting down rebels by the dozen and slaying the rebel leader.

    But instead of dying instead they rose again. Ash fell from their body, their head held on by merely a scrap of flesh, as their powers seemed to grow ten fold, once again pushing back the soldiers of Mrawn. And so her father did something she did not think he would do, something that no Mrawn had done in the 200 years they had ruled this world.

    Using the master control, her father breached the dome, venting the soldiers, the slaves and the mage into the cold deadly air of Gaelorn.

    In that instant she knew that her father had been lost. All sense of kindness, what little had been there before at least, was gone from him, she could sense only the desperate desire to survive that had characterised the tyranids. She knew that she must remove him, to save their people both from him and from the madness from the stars for her father was not fit to rule.

    Then to her surprise, the third of the first guided arrived.

    A small child, crawling desperately through the ventilation system to hide, the daughter of one of the servant girls, the same age as her. Scared, confused as they all were in these times.

    The differences was that she had a friend. An ally.

    The princess saw this creature, a pitch black unearthly Mingbah Serpent, as the both stared at her, and she stared back.

    A message came to her from her guards, the systems embedded in her room informing them of a malfunction in the environmental system, giving them full permission to enter and ensure that she was safe.

    She had to make a decision. To yell, to let the guards come and kill this being, or to act. To stand against tradition and the mellennia of her family and move onto a new path.

    Quickly she tugged her erstwhile guest from the shaft and moved them into her closet, telling them to hide beneath the cloths until the danger had passed.

    And this was the first meeting between Princess Rasharnra Mrawn and the Serpent Guided Jarstiva ended, shifting the fate of the Mrawn with its occurrence.

    The room flashed with sparks as the sound of steel on steel echoed throughout the hall, as brother and sister clashed the first a calm island within the storm battered and chipped, but unbowed, the second a furious onslaught of strength and power, yet undone so easily with, the proper application of skill.

    For all his superior size and strength, greater skill and a tactical mind carried the day, as her blade passed through a hole in his defences, striking a vital artery that had this been real, would have killed him through blood loss in under a minute.

    "Match, the Princess wins."

    The instant her training blade grazed her brother Gharistarza's fur their nameless honoured trainer declared the match over, his sightless eyes and scar covered face glaring down at the pair of them, promising swift retribution upon them if they dared to step out of line.

    Banishing the aches and pains that echoed within her body she turned to her sibling and bowed then to their teacher and bowed again, in thanks and gratitude for his service, while far slower her brother did the same, tense and obviously furious.

    With a flick of his ears they were dismissed, her brother turning away with a snarl and storming from the room as she tiredly walked towards the exit, mind awash with thoughts.

    He was getting better, she would have to step up her training if she were to ensure she remained uncontested, but that would cut into her studies, she had already shaved as much time away from her traditional royal duties and her father would not accept any more, she would have to review her schedule to see if she could squeeze any more time from it than she already…

    "Your highness."

    She looked up suddenly, seeing the black fur of her handmaid, friend and secret co conspirator smiling back at her with a teasing expression, pulling a small first aid kit suggestively from her bag.

    "Do you wish me to tend to your wounds."

    As imperiously as she could muster she shook her head, striding towards her chambers, Jarstiva stepping into line behind her, a few pace behind her as was appropriate for a person of her status raised so high, given the incredible "honour" of serving her.

    She was just glad that her father had bought her speech about how it would serve to help pacify the slaves, she was just upset that it had worked.

    As princess she was allowed access to the royal ways, the semi secret pathways utilised by important officials and the royal family to go about their duties without needing to fraternise with the lower born, but even here the hololiths of her father glared down at her, as she blocked up the propaganda spewing from their speakers before finally arriving at her quarters, the guards opening the door calmly to allow her entrance.

    As the doors sealed shut she let loose a groan of pain within the safety of her room and slumped in her chair, allowing the pains and aches that her damn brother had inflicted upon her to rush through, hearing Jarstiva tutting.

    "I take it your darling brother did a little better than he normally did?"

    "It was a fluke."

    "The only fluke was that you stayed awake last night studying until third cycle. I told you it's bad for your health."

    She felt the painkiller soaked bandages wrap around her bruises, hissing slightly as the pain started to subside beneath her friend's rough fingers.

    Reaching out she grabbed at a data pad on theoretical plasmatic physics only for her to have it ripped from her hands.

    "No. No more studying, you are taking a break." Jarstiva stood there with her hands on her hips, shaking her head as she raised her eyebrow in disbelief.

    "For a start you have no legs to stand on, are you not supposed to be studying as much as is safe for you to do so?" She suppressed a smirk at the embarrassed twitch in her friends ears. "Second, where is your little friend actually?"

    "He's sleeping. I...nearly made a mistake and it was."

    She could see Jarstiva was starting to tremble. She always did when these mistakes happened, although mistake was never the proper word for it. She'd come so close to death every time, either by one of these "Daemons" or just the raw insanity of the other place, dragged away from death only by her companion and teacher.

    Without a word she stood and drew her friend into a deep embrace, letting her shivers pass through her as she tried her best to comfort her. No words passed between them, but she could remember the first time it happened, crystal clear even amongst her perfect memory, as she screamed, purple lightning dancing over her frame as the guide desperately funneled it away. That day she had held her friend close and just let her cry into her shoulder as she whispered words of comfort to her, trying to keep her spirits high. At least as high as they could be given the circumstances.

    Parting she gave her a small smile as she just laughed wetly.

    "How adorable."

    With a sigh she heard the words that foretold of the return of the third member their little conspiracy, The Hidden Guide.

    "Guide, you're back!" At least Jarstiva seemed elated at seeing the little snake slithering up her leg and arm, but she always held herself slightly tense around the thing. At least it did care for Jarstiva as near as she could tell as it gave a small burp.

    "Sorry I was out of commission, took a nice chunk out of our latest visitor and had to digest it a little, and...oh my who took a swing at you?"

    Eyes rolling she replied exasperatedly. "My brother. I told you this before I left for training so you two could get in some of your own, were you" with that she pointed at the reptile "not paying any attention at all."

    She must be growing insane, but the expression on the creature's face seemed remarkably contemplative. "Nopppppe."

    Rolling her eyes yet again she sighed in acceptance. "Of course not. So aside from the accident how fared your training?"

    Jarstiva grinned, excitedly her hair standing on end to the point she looked like a kitten on a sugar rush.

    "Can I show her Guide? Can I?"

    With slight trepidation the snake nodded, as she raised up her hand before snapping her fingers producing dancing sparks of electricity between her hands in an entrancing light show. Only for a few seconds before stopping, but enough to demonstrate that she had advanced in her mastery.

    "That was...very impressive." Jarstiva preened beneath her praise, Guide bobbing along on her shoulders.

    "Isn't she just. But even so..." Instantly a chill seemed to work its way into his voice, the snake adopting its 'serious face.'

    "There's a limit to what I can do with such vulnerable facilities and limited time. We need somewhere secure Princess and you have to provide it."

    They'd had this discussion before, many times before in fact, but her answer remained the same.

    "I'm working on it, but unlike her" she raised a single claw to point in her friend's direction, left quite out of the conversation where her closest friends and allies were arguing "I cannot click my claws and change reality, certainly not enough to hide the construction of a secure area within a dome. And if you mention that "build a new dome idea" then you're even more insane."

    Reaching over and grabbing her schedule she whipped it away from Jarstiva as she reached over to grab it, "I've got make room for additional swordsmanship training. It's not studying."

    "It may as well be, put it down."

    "Guide tell her to stop trying to mother me."

    "Nope."

    "Worthless thing. Jarstiva, have you at least gotten everything ready if you do intend to force me to...relax."

    Sighing she nodded. "Everything needed for a several week journey to this ultrasecret mega secure lab...Why by the long haired ancestors would they put a base on Orrahil of all places? Didn't you tell me it was incredibly dangerous."

    Placing the pad down she rubbed her eyes, reviewing the list of natural risks the moon held, from frequent meteor strikes, micro volcanoes and strange gravetic anomalies.

    "Because it's far enough away from Gaelorn to not damage it, if the experiments they're running end up destroying the moon, but close enough that we can keep it resupplied regularly. Best of both worlds really."

    Jarstiva nodded in understanding, before looking up pondering. "So what could be so dangerous that they have to experiment with it all the way up there I wonder?"

    "Must be a new line of..."

    "The development of FTL technology."

    She cut off Guide before he could say something inappropriate like he had in the past. "In the aftermath of the Revelation father reinvested all the spare resources he could into the project and they're apparently making progress utilising the same dimension your powers come from and where they developed the barrier technology."

    Despite Jarstiva blanching Guide seemed to grin in amusement. "Ah figuring out the warp drive, good going my little primitives."

    Ignoring the slight at her species's understanding she affixed the warp being with a glare. "You know what this is? How it works?"

    "I understand the underlying principles, but certainly not how they work. For me navigating the warp is as easy as...well it isn't, but that's mostly because of the more disagreeable locals trying to eat me."

    "You will explain everything you know about this...warp drive to me as we travel there."

    Instead of responding with a snide remark as it usually did, Guide simply nodded apparently deciding that teasing her was not worth testing her patience this time, as she turned herself towards creating just that tiny bit extra time she needed for more training, reshuffling her time in the library slightly and forcing her to cut meeting with the plasmatic specialists daringly short.

    Placing down the pad she stood and stretched, letting the tiredness into her bones.

    "Very well Jarstiva I will relax, but only" cutting off her friend's triumphant smirk "because we're going to be doing a fair amount of space travel tomorrow, where I know I can catch up on it."

    The next day came, as she was escorted to the Royal Families Spaceship. A surprisingly utilitarian vessel, but given the limitations of the craft a necessary thing. It was still far more spacious and had many more amenities than was what given to the raid ships, never mind the holds where slaves and raw materials were kept side by side.


    As they approached the moon, Jarvestia both looking from the windows in awe at space passing by, and practising her magic, she listened to Guide as he told her of Warp Drives, Geller Fields, Mandeville Points and other unfamiliar terminology from one of the species mentioned by the Eldar, Humans. And for all that the creature did not have a full understanding of what these things were, she had far more luck.

    Her passion had always been for the sciences, while her tutors and father rightly or wrongly praised her as a genius. From his vague descriptions she was able to draw forth calculations and conclusions, to hopefully accelerate the time table of the project, and thus armed she armoured herself in the persona of the royal princess.

    It was a mentality she had to adopt regularly, to keep suspicion away from her true motivations, to let her suss out those who followed her father out of genuine patriotism and those who did because of fear, because they had no where else to go.

    It was through this that she had started to build allies and influence among the people that mattered, planning for the inevitable showdown that would come, and thus she stepped into the Besseeker research base, ready to meet the...surprisingly erratic scientists.

    Perhaps she should not have been surprised in truth, these men and women studied the plain of madness, a place that a native said repeatedly was insane. Yet for all that she found they were remarkably friendly, glad even to see a new face, after so many years of isolation within a relatively small base, in incredibly dangerous environs, forced to work at breakneck, unsafe speeds on an incredibly complex topic.

    It did not take her long to determine that they held little love for her father after that.

    She started small, poking at them with the information she had plied from Guide, making certain to not insult them or decry one of their theories as incorrect. Then she had them hooked and began to expand her reach into them, ensuring that she was seen as an intellect to rival theirs despite her young age, at the same time noticing that Jarstiva had vanished, but electing to trust her and Guide.

    By the time she was forced to call it a night, she had not finished converting them to her side, but she had made very significant progress, which was when she was yanked into a side corridor.

    "Come on, you have to see this come on!" Jarstiva was bouncing happily as she pulled her towards a dusty storage closet in an isolated part of the facility.

    "Jarstiva stop, please."

    Planting her feet on the ground, she used her larger and stronger build to halt her friend in her tracks, spinning her around to face her.

    "Calm down and don't rush in. Now what is it."

    Breathing a few times, the dark furred girl pointed at the closet. "Guide remembered something he was told before he came here, about a conspiracy the Eldar wiped out."

    She felt her blood run cold. It didn't take a genius to connect the dots, even if Jarstiva didn't seem concerned by it, but the deaths in the aftermath of the Eldar's arrival. That was them. Why by the long haired ancestors had they felt it necessary to do that?

    "I see...and you think that you could hide here?"

    "Oh yes, just needs a bit of cleaning to get out all of the nasty daemon gunk."

    "WHAT!"

    Quieting herself after her involuntary outburst she felt her fur bristle at the irritating creature, feeling a strong urge to wring its little neck, as Jarstiva flinched backwards like she always did when she got angry.

    "Its ok its ok I promise."

    "Talk now. Because everything you've told us says that these daemons are monsters who cannot be trusted whose mere influence marrs everything they touch nigh on irredeemably with corruption. And you want her to hide in the ex den of some of those that worshipped them!"

    She felt her voice growing higher, as she was almost spitting with rage, the snake slinking backwards, and rearing upwards in indignation. "Now, now I planned for this. My speciality is eating Daemon nastiness. One of the first things I taught her was a ritual to get rid of all this never had reason to do it before. It'll take some time to set up to be sure, but I'll get her there."

    "I guess I will have to ask my father to come here more often then, if we're going to be doing this that is. For now..." She turned away glancing back at Jarvestia "We're leaving."

    While the trip back to Gaelorn was calm for the most part, Jarvestiva seemed even more energetic now than she had on the trip up, constantly talking over the details of the ritual with Guide using terminology that made little sense to her, but seeming eager to get to it, a sentiment guide echoed.

    It seemed its masters were getting irritated. Apparently they had made speedy work with the Furs, but progress with her people had been stifled. While appreciative of their situation they would appreciate if things were hurried up so they could start sending more beings like Guide, get into more young power users, laying the foundations of the faith they needed and the support she required to overthrow her parent.

    So as Jarvestia chatted with Guide she planned, how best to manipulate her father, before deciding on what she hoped was an elegant solution.

    Instead of criticising the researchers, she praised them. She emphasised the massive progress they had made, but that now they were searching for things beyond the realm of the normal senses. They required advanced resources and equipment if they were to make any additional progress.

    "And if their...theories bare true, how soon will we be able to utilise this...warp?"

    Her father's voice boomed down at her from the raised dias, glaring down at her kneeling form with suspicion while retainers and her siblings looked on from the sides. For all that he trusted her, trusted her judgement as the first among her siblings and his anointed heir he was always cautious around his books. Not because he had true respect for them, he could care less about mismanagement, but because it would detract from his eternal war effort.

    "At their worst predictions at present maybe 40-60 years. Maybe even worse as new variables present themselves your highness."

    She did not need to look at his face to see that this was unacceptable. "And to weaponize it even longer I take it. We need advantages against the Furs Rasharnra, their damnable abominations are growing more skilled by the day."

    She bit back a remark. Weapons, weapons that was all he thought of! Where was the father who had commissioned shields for his people, where was the man who had taken them through the first steps in dueling with a smile…

    Where was the father who had read them stories at night?

    "Yes, your highness. At present they have determined three devices they believe is needed for an FTL drive and have several theories of how to go about creating them. With additional funding and resources they think they could cut the predicted time in half, maybe even more."

    "Give me an itemised list of what they believe they require."

    With permission she raised her head and began reading off the data pad, thankfully one they themselves had presented to her, saving her the problem of making up one, every item present one that was incredibly valuable and dangerous, until her father cut her off with a hand.

    "I see...very well. Leave the list with my majordomo, he shall see to their procurement. But you shall shepherd them. These are my resources they are taking. You shall deal with any who waste them."

    She rose and bowed, handing the list into the simpering hands of Kasssi, the toad who truly ran the kingdom in the name of her father. A corrupt imbecile, kept alive by his nature as an unquestioning sycophant. His mere presence set her fur bristling, but she suppressed it through an act of will.

    As she began to leave her father spoke again. "I hear from your honoured tutor that Gharistarza has been falling behind in his training."

    At that her blood turned to ice. Gharistarza had always been prideful and stubborn. He'd wanted to make father proud and envied the position she held as his favourite. Before father had tried to steer him away from foolishness, but after the Aeldari came he encouraged his rivalry with her, seeking to use him as a whet stone against her.

    And now it seemed he decided he had lived his purpose.

    Thinking quickly she turned bowing, seeing immediately her brother's stunned and betrayed expression in the crowd.

    "Not at all your highness. In fact he pushed me extremely hard in our last session. I have been made to schedule sparing time and wished to ask him to join me as an opponent." A half truth, but it would save his life and maybe start to heal the rift that had grown between them.

    Her considered then flicked an ear dismissing her at least, as her heart began to relax from its tempestuous beat.

    After that she waited with baited breath for the first shipment as she continued her life, learning from tutors, studying the crafts of war, combat diplomacy, music, art and administration while fulfilling her obligation, Gharistarza becoming her frequent sparring partner, Jarvestiva watching on the side, eager to bandage the wounds they inevitably inflicted upon one another.

    They both thought they did not notice how...close they were slowly becoming her sibling opening up to her maid in a way that she'd never seen before, as she seemed able to soften even his heart, moving through his arrogance and aggressive persona to a side of him that she so rarely saw. A thoughtful, kind and caring soul.

    Guide of course teased his student incessantly about it, but continued his teachings, although seemingly he was running out of things to instruct her in their current environs. Eventually he was just drilling her over and over in the ritual he would have her perform.

    At last after months of waiting Kasssi it seemed had finally gotten together the material and they reboarded the transport returning to the grateful doctors and scientists, and as she continued to work her charms upon them Jarvestiva slunk away to the hidden area.

    When she was free she came to them, walking through the hidden door into a place that made her fur writhe and skin crawl. It was filled with dust, far more than should be present given when she estimated it was abandoned, hinting at the fate that had befallen those who had been here, but it was the aura. A dark commanding presence that washed upon her senses that truely bothered her.

    "You can sense it can't you."

    Guide appeared, slithering up her leg, until she grabbed him and let him wrap around her arm, the serpent unprotesting of her actions.

    "What was it...what could have done this?"

    "My, guess...I won't speak its name, not here, but I'd say a relatively powerful daemon was summoned here. When the eldar massacred the conspiracy they either banished it or it moved on on its own. Either way it's left its mark here."

    "Is she…"

    "My connection to her lets me shield her from the influence of this place, while you're not so sensitive that you would be at risk...just be extremely careful."

    Together they began to walk through the dusty halls, as she looked at the rune spattered floors, various sealed doorways leading throughout the structure, until at last she arrived in a grandhall, where in the centre was Jarstevia, standing in a large chalk drawing, emblazoned with dozens of symbols she recognised as belonging to the beings Guide served.

    "You're here! Excellent, stand in here please and I'll get to it."

    Jarvestiva herself was buzzing maneuvering her into position within a facet of the circle and drawings, standing in the centre herself, Guide coiling from her body wrapping around her shoulders, tongue flickering out to taste the air as she began to chant.

    The effect was immediate, the darkness of the room deepening, as the old light sources dimmed.

    Then from all around the circle the shadows rushed unnaturally to her friend, rising up around her until they enveloped Guide, whose formed seemed to grow and grow expanding so much that eventually he eventually burst into a thousand smaller serpents.

    It was all she could do to remain in the circle as they cascaded down around her, the air quivering, lighting up in golden hues as the snakes started to devour and consume them, until eventually nothing was left.

    Only darkness and chanting.

    As the shadows retreated, Guide reappeared on Jarvestiva's shoulder, seemingly larger than he was before, her friend breathing heavily, but looking up at her beaming with pride, the ominous air and scent gone completely.

    Rasharnra barely paid attention, looking conceredly at her friend, as her sclera bled back to white where before they had vanished completely into void black, panting happily and beaming at her, before rushing forward to hug her babbling happily about how the experience felt.

    With a smacking of lips Guide also appeared, the serpent now grown to an even larger size. "Ahh a good meal and spring cleaning." Guide belched loudly as Rasharnra gently pulled her friend off of her examining her closely.

    "Are you alright?" She tried to be casual, hiding her worry away behind the mask she typically used to fool her father and be the presentable princess. She knew Jarvestiva would likely see through it with ease, thanks to Guide's teachings, but she also knew Jarvestiva would never use her powers on her. For better or worse, her friend and handmaiden was unflinchingly loyal.

    "Absolutely!" She paused slightly sagging as if at a realisation "Well a little drained, but that was the biggest use of my powers I've ever managed!"

    Nodding Rasharnra looked at Guide, slouched heavily over his students shoulders. "Are the wards you claimed are so useful intact?

    Guide looked up, forked tongue darting out as it usually did when sensing things, before nodding. "Yes. Me and her will probably have to touch them up a bit, but it'll be good training for her."

    Closing her eyes, she nodded reading herself to sell her own soul and those of her people for a future.

    "Inform the Concordant that more Spirit Guides can begin work. Have their charges get in contact with me through you and I'll have them moved up here."
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Mere weeks after returning to Gaelorn after cleansing the hideout the first of the new Guided emerged, a young boy working within a mining dome. His guided was the canine creature that had been amongst the first Guides to appear and despite requiring some severe wrangling of time and reasoning she had been able to go to the dome where his slave clan lived and smuggled him away with the silence and blessings of his family.

    The young man Urriash it seemed had rapidly become a believer in the God his Guide, Cerabrous, had been created from, Zaghash and was smuggled to the hidden base alongside Jarvestiva at the first opportunity, becoming the first permanent residents there since the Eldar slaughtered the original inhabitants.

    This somewhat set the theme of the next five years as Rasharrana continued her work of growing her skills and influence within the empire, while also moving as many power users there as she could. In fact her influence up there was strong enough that the scientists there supported her whole heartedly and even knew that she was moving people there, although not what they were.

    As it turned out mistreating highly intelligent scientists by demanding immediate results under terrible conditions was a good way of losing their loyalty. And when a different person came along and treated them well it also tended to buy said loyalty.

    This was the case with so many of the scientists that her father had working at extreme paces, with harsh penalties imposed for falling behind projected schedule even slightly, especially when the information provided by the Concordant allowed her to help them stay ahead of those deadlines.

    However, support from the academics was one thing, but she needed the administration, the military and the slaves behind her.

    The administration was easy enough, it was a corrupt, bulbous thing grown fat on the misery of the slaves. As such her subversion there was mostly looking for those who were not steeped in the filth. The sparks of promise from whom she could rebuild a proper bureaucracy and help them move into positions of power. Royal privilege had its uses in that way, although it was slow going. The rest...well she knew that some of the Concordant were accepting of sacrifices. Maybe they would be interested in some of these disgusting creatures.

    At the same time her efforts among the military were stymied, primarily because they were so rarely on Gaelorn. Her father had it in near constant mobilisation, constantly attacking the Furs and having less success than ever due to the effects of the Concordant making things ever harder for their ground forces to achieve decisive victories. When the troops and officers were not doing that all too regularly they would spend all their time with her father, performing exercises and strategizing.

    Finally the slaves...her hands were unfortunately tied in that regard. Her father would be furious if she "wasted" resources upon them, and she could not risk damaging her position close to him. If she did she would be in major danger.

    But, what small things she could do she did, coaching improvements to her father in the guise of improving productivity. Increasing safety within the mines and factories, making work schedules more effient to give them proper rest, raising their rations to improve their health, or more accurately give them something to eat in the first place. Perhaps more importantly, and although it made her sick to her stomach to think about this, she ensured that it was her influence that made it happen and that they knew this. From her spies in the guards they spoke her name with actual reverence, and that was merely amongst those that were not being converted.

    Many of the older Guided, those who had come into their powers later in life, had offered to return to Gaelorn and begin the process of spreading the faiths of the God's that they worshipped.

    In secret places, tiny shrines were erected to Faust, Zaghash, Illifare and the other divine's of the Concordant as prayers were whispered in reverence to them, while much to her concern she found herself in the strange position of being revered as a prophet. The one who brought the Gods to them. This wasn't true, but there wasn't much she could do about it either.

    However, as the faith of the Concordant grew there was one God amongst them who remained resolutely not worshipped, despite being the first God Rasharnra had heard of. One of the first mentioned within the book of the divine the Concordant had given her.

    Zahhak of Choice.

    Thus when she was told that Zahhak had asked for an audience with her she was surprised to say the least.

    Returning to the hideout she stood again in its central area, the entire place strangely quiet compared to the low level bustle of Guided of all ages talking to their Guides. Instead they were silently watching her and Jarvestiva standing in front of a large mirror and lead lined, ward encrusted box.

    "Well...there's no point waiting around. Open it Guide."

    Although she tried to hide it she was nervous and very concerned. It was one thing to be told about these gods and read about them, but to meet one in person.

    It made the choice she made half a decade ago much more real than it had been.

    Guide was almost vibrating with the excitement of getting to see their creator again, and slithered down towards the box, opening it as every other Spirit Guide within the room went into overdrive protecting their students from the malign influence of what was inside.

    It seemed when the Eldar were sweeping this place they had missed a hidden alcove which contained a tome of chaotic lore that Guide had not managed to eat. Or perhaps they'd intentionally missed it, but left it there for when this happened. As the diviners among the Guided liked to prove, the ability to see the future caused headaches.

    Raising her hand, and looking towards the mirror, Rasharnra calmed herself and focused, even as the darkness that characterised magics descended from Zahhak began to rise around the box.

    Instead she consciously and slowly raised her hand and slit her palm, wincing at the pain. A visible and painful show of her choice. Her choice to support the Concordant and protect her people, even if it was a terrifying decision, sealing it with her own blood.

    And as the drops of her blood impacted the darkness Jarvestiva had created, it bloomed outwards, coiling and writhing. A keening wail emanated from the book as the smoke like substance retreated from it revealing naught, but ash remaining. First it rushed up Rasharnra's own body centered around her cut, before jumping to Guide and finally Jarvestiva, where it connected to her body and spread out deeper and deeper, spreading across the ground.

    It rose up to the mirror, covering it entirely in inky blackness as a figure faded into view within it.

    A female Boessaewth that was for certain, carrying herself in a relaxed manner, but she did not need to look closely to see just how unnatural she was. The fangs that were just too long, claws jutting unnaturally from the hands, the fur that was darker than even artificial dyes could produce.

    But, worst of all was the eyes. Irises of an eternal calculating blackness, concealing a madness and intelligence that made her skin crawl.

    "My my I like what you've done with the place. Very impressive given the circumstances."

    But, despite the God's appearance instead of menacing laughter, instead she seemed far more interested in examining the sanctum, looking at the Guided watching her with open curiosity and reverence until she spotted Jarvestiva slowly bending at the waist to bow.

    "Oh don't you start, I get enough of that nonsense as is."

    She was even wagging a finger reprovingly. It was such an odd contrast to her appearance and powers that it almost sent Rasharnra for a loop. Almost.

    Stepping in front of the mirror fully she started at the Goddess and nodded to her in greeting.

    "Greetings Zahhak of the Concordant. Now we're here, what do you want?"

    Zahhak raised an eyebrow sardonically looking at her with undisguised amusement. "Oh? No formal greetings between important personages?"

    "My family doesn't have many of those. Too full of themselves to admit that others are as important as them. Regardless we're both busy, you perhaps more so than I."

    Zahhak shrugged and nodded. "Fair enough, straight down to business....alright how do I put this?" Rubbing her chin for a moment, Zahhak nodded almost to herself more than her and started speaking.

    "Right I've been meaning to talk to you for a while about creating some kind of Covenant with your people for a while on behalf of the Concordant, but recent events are going to have to put that on the back burner."

    "I get the feeling that I'm not going to like what I'm about to hear am I?" The light and easy tone of the Goddess was instantly suspicious to her ears, the obvious sign of someone trying to soften the blow.

    "Ouch...not subtle I admit, but still...yeah we fucked your schedule plain and simple. What happened was that your father launched a big assault on the Furs, they panicked and summoned a large defence force from Zaeed, who proceeded to slaughter them. In the aftermath we put out some feelers and well...your dad's not taken it well. In fact he plans to plasma bomb most of the major centres of the Furs in retribution."

    Her blood turned to ice. She'd heard rumours that there had been a major push on the Furs, but there had been nothing from them so she assumed the operation was still on going.

    "How many?"

    Compared to the more casual tone Zahhak had assumed before this now it was the cold tones of a business woman.

    "Around a million went in, Zaeed's people killed almost all of them."

    "That was a very large part of my people's military."

    Their population always had been one of their greatest deficiencies, trapped by growth within the Domes as they were. To know that so many of her people had just...died...she breathed deeply, forcing down the despair she felt coiling within her stomach. That way lay the touch of the plague one she knew that.

    She looked up at Zahhak hardening her soul as best as she could and nodded. "It seems I have no choice...I'm going to have to step up my schedule."

    Zahhak looked down momentarily, before glancing at her. "You don't have to do this you know. Personally, I mean."

    From the shadows covering the mirror a token was pushed forth, bearing the symbol of a flower engraved upon the strange metal.

    "A carnation charm. Break it and it'll summon a force of. dreamwalkers. They'll do the deed before you realise it."

    Rasharnra stared at the metal, at the token before pushing it away. "No...I have to do this myself. I maybe selling myself to you, but I refuse to become dependent upon your succor. Nor will my species. Even if I have to commit this act to save my people it will be because I decided to do it and carry it out...even if I hate every moment of it."

    "You don't have to kill your father."

    "My father died years ago. He died when he saw the grandeur of the universe and realised just how small he was in it and could not handle the revelation. If I keep him alive then I'll just be torturing him more. No this has to end."

    Despite how selfish it was she'd hoped to have at least a few more years to try and see if there was any hope for recovery within her father, but as every year passed with more insecurity and ruthlessness she had slowly begun to lose hope entirely.

    The Goddess in the mirror nodded slowly, but she thought with a modicum of respect within those mad eyes. "I understand." Pausing for a second the figure nodded to her and gave a strange smile, one that was she thought heartfelt, albeit not designed for the face of a Boessaewth.

    "Good luck."
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    With that final utterance the darkness that shrouded the mirror and connected to Jarvestiva evaporated Rasharnra turning to look at the assembled Guided.

    "Are you willing to follow me?"

    As one they nodded and left to prepare for what was to come, leaving behind only those too young to fight while Rasharnra left to tell the scientists of the base to ready themselves and to use their advanced communications technology to contact her supporters.

    When she at last boarded her shuttle to return to Gaelorn surrounded with 30 guided Mages and Jarvestiva at her side, Guide currently hidden, but ready to strike at a moment's notice and made for the royal dome, demanding an audience with her father as soon as she landed.

    What she was met with was the implacable masks of the royal guard, the creme of the crop equipped in the prototype carapace armour that had only just gone into production, wielding the electromagnetic guns that she had helped unravel.

    With dreadful slowness she was brought into the throne room and beheld her father for perhaps the last time, as he sat slumped in the throne of the Mrawn, his fur matted with sweat and fear.

    At his slight movement of claw he dismissed everyone from the room, her companions following suit, filling out silently as she remained kneeling upon the marble floor, at last looking up at him when he cleared his throat.

    "Rasharnra there have been...developments"

    "I know."

    She interrupted him, an offence that within the Mrawn was punishable by death even for her. None were to interrupt the Emperor and the magnitude of what she, his eternally loyal heir, had done stunned him into silence, allowing her to continue speaking.

    "A million of our people dead prosecuting this worthless war. Little compared to the tens of million who languish in despair within the domes. But, unable to accept the loss you've decided to lash out, to attack them with plasma from the stars. I won't allow it father. I won't allow you kill us all on the guns of the Furs, I won't allow you and the spirits of our ancestors to destroy this family and those who have followed us for generations. It ends with you."

    She rose to her feet, drawing from its sheath her sword, fashioned with the power technology imparted to her by the Concordant, as her father staggered to his feet bringing forth the sword of the Mrawn, the ancient blade that was said to be forged from star metal in the primordial days of their house.

    With a roar of fury he swung his blade towards her, and seemingly in his mentally deficient and furious state had triggered his adrenaline immediately, hoping to overwhelm her.

    Stepping backwards she dodged his wild swing, activating the power function of the blade, blocking him, surprised that her sword did not cut through the ancient metal of his blade, and moving onto the defensive. Her father had been many things, but a poor fighter was not one of them, and even addled as he was he was her superior in skill, worse his body remained stronger giving him an edge in speed and strength as well.. But, she was in control of herself, and his edge was slight. Thus she led him in a deadly dance, always on the defencive, riposting his strikes and accepting the scratches she received in return with grace as his strikes gradually weakened and his feet slowed down.

    At last she saw her opening, as he lunged forward overextending himself, and activated her own burst feeling the rush of strength flow through her as she pushed his arm aside, and rammed her sword through his gut smelling and feeling as he gasped in shock.

    Holding him close she lowered him to the ground, watching as he died as she felt a dam break inside her.

    Despite herself she started to sob, a bitter sound as she cried feeling the blood of her father matting her fur as it intermingled with her tears.

    Within her own mind she cursed. Cursed this hateful universe that had brought her to this. That had turned her father into this, which had brought her to kill her parent.

    She felt a small tightening around her as she forced her eyes open to stare into her father's the light within draining away, his arms wrapped around her, like he had when she was a child. Within she saw not the caricature that she had known for most of her life, instead she saw the man who had tucked her siblings in at night and read them stories about life amongst the stars.

    And then the last of that light drained away, his arms dropping to his sides as Emperor Kissratn Second of his name died, his daughter and killer laying over him, distraught with grief.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    It had taken her a while to regain her composure, but eventually she forced herself away from the body to begin solidifying what she had just gained. Despite the panic from the Royal Guard when she emerged drenched in both her own blood and that of her father she announced as calmly as she could that she had claimed the position of Empress through right of combat, as ordained by their families ancient traditions.

    She spun the narrative that her father had no longer considered himself fit to lead after the disastrous battle and had set this as her final test to see if she were truly worthy to succeed him. Those that knew differently would either never say, or were about to be arrested.

    Postponing the coronation she set to work fixing the Empire from the decades of mismanagement and perhaps more importantly stopping a war with the Furs that in their current state they certainly would not be able to win.

    That at least had an easy solution.

    An announcement to the Furs stating both her ascendency over her father, but carried the far glader news that she was releasing all the slaves who had been captured by the Mrawn over the last few decades and before the month was out the first ships were lifting off from Gaelorn carrying their cargo of bewildered and joyous Boessaewth back home.

    While there was little communication from Ruhmorrr the lack of a sudden invasion force put her mind at ease for now, and let her refocus upon what was truly important.

    Without an overly expensive war constantly raging and sucking away resources and the complete purging and reorganisation of the imperial Bureaucracy and the ending of the slave system in favour of one of actual citizenships with rights, good conditions and payment Rasharanra was able to improve productivity staggeringly, especially when the scientists that had for so long focused on military inventions were at last allowed to create medicines, industrial equipment and improved domes.

    Already the improved network was spreading across the surface of Gaelorn, shepherded by one final thing that she had decided at last to let loose in full.

    She had officially enshrined the worship of the Concordant as the state religion, working extensively with the Guided and their communions with their respective deities to create as streamlined a faith as could be possible under the circumstances.

    So faith in the Faust the Goddess of Friendship and creator of the Guides spread throughout Gaelorn, easing the pain of long struggle and confusion, the belief in Ruick spreading rapidly as the expeditions to create new domes found record breaking deposits of metals and ore, trade easing and improving under the watches of Urghr the dead watched by stoic Zaghash.

    It was two years from the day of her father's death that she was finally coronated, her ascension witnessed by Guided of all of the Concordant's deities and supported by her people overwhelmingly out of genuine adoration, as opposed to suppression and fear. The sight of the crowds during the coronation as Jarvestiva placed the crown upon her brow, along with the knowledge that this image was being projected across Gaelorn to every dome was almost enough to make her forget about what she had done, both to her people and her own sins.

    At last after five years since her fratricide two precipitous events began.

    First was the construction and maiden voyage of the Shaaarstraaa the Forward Star. The first vessel of its kind to be constructed by the Boessaewth, it was far more than a normal ship. Although smaller than the largest constructions the Mrawn were capable of, it held the components necessary to travel the empyrean. A warp drive and a geller field.

    Using designs gifted from Illifare the star matter fueled engine sprang into action, breaching reality at the Mandiville point, speeding the Forward Star in a bumpy, but successful ride to a star system ten light years away.

    There for the first time Boessaewth saw another solar system, and felt warmth under the light of an unfamiliar star.

    Yet that mystical moment was tarnished by what they saw there as well.

    A few decades earlier this system had been host to a Chaos World that had been burned first by the Imperial Trust and then its carcass was picked clean by the Tyranids. Little remained of the now nameless planet. A ball of waste rock, from which little to no use could be drawn.

    A sad reminder of the state of the galaxy.

    When the Star returned, confirming the success of their mission the Empress set into motion the second stage of her plan, and through the servants of the Goddess Faust requested that the Union of Furs meet with her in bare hopes that their new friends could be made to stop.

    At long last they would bring an end to their centuries of conflict.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Rasharnra was clad in her full regalia. Specifically that in fact, for the regalia off the Mrawn was not only well known, but carried with it very...specific connotations for the furs and her own people. Instead she wore armour and trinkets crafted by the priests of Valanar, inscribed with the symbols of all the gods of the Concordant to emphasise that she was more than just the successor of her father. That she brought the Gods the Furs now worshipped to her people as well.

    With luck it would be enough to redirect their focus to what united their peoples rather than divided them...In her mind she laughed at herself, for hoping that this could be the case, 200 years of bloodshed and slavery was not forgotten so quickly, but the "gods" worked in mysterious ways. She, could but hope.

    Jarvestiva stood to her right, clad in black and red robes to indicate her connection to Zahhak, while her new visir Karshar stood to her left in the colours of the Frontier's man as their shuttle descended towards the Conclave of nations. The centre of the Union's government, where its squabbling politicians came to waste time and so often not even come to a conclusion.

    A sad, but inevitable truth. One she was willing to accept, if it meant an ending to this chapter of their history.

    Touching down in the vast mall that ran up to the capitol building the doors of the lander opened with a pressurised hiss, as Rasharana breathed her first breath of planetary air, tasting the scents of pollen and millions of angry and confused Bossewearth. And millions was the right word, a living sea of them stretching out in all directions in utter silence, all bearing the mark of one God or another, it did not take a genius to tell that they were furious.

    The idea that she, a Mrawn would be allowed back onto their world after everything they had done was repulsive to them…and with good reason as well.

    And so she walked down the path created by blockades of lesser mercenaries of Zaeed she watched them and tried to guess what they saw.

    Tyrannical Empress...or benevolent Prophet.

    Only a small fraction could see her in person as she began her walk, most having to look at the massive vid screens where her and her entourage's image was broadcast from the small drones that soared around them, but she guessed whatever they had been expecting to see, she was not it.

    Murmurs broke out amongst them, many still angry, but far more pointing at her as if saying "let us see."

    That she was not being attacked by an angry mob meant that this was going well so far at least.

    And so she moved on past them, accepting their judgement as necessary to make the future she saw reality. To finally put behind them the sins of the past and unite the people long since divided.

    The walk itself took far less time than passing through the ludicrous amount of security procedures, apparently due to terrorists fighting against the open worship of the Concordant...nothing that managed to threaten this meeting, but she could only imagine how many attempts they had made.

    At last they arrived in the grand central chamber of the Union, standing on a podium with the Mrawn's politicians and high priests looking upon them with suspicion, others with open hope.

    Forcing her fears down, she began her speech, as the eyes of an entire world were glued to her, watching her every word.

    "People of the Boesswaeth...two hundred years ago my family were forced from this world. And thus we descended into two hundred years of war, barbarity and chaos. A vicious cycle I fear I too would have perpetuated were it not for the arrival of the Eldar, and of the Gods. They opened my eyes to the truth that we were not so different. That the idea of my family as infallible and perfect was simply foolish pride."

    She paused, watching the delegates, who muttered to each other in confusion, some with happiness others with clear suspicion. She'd made the first step, now she needed to capitalise upon it.

    "I do not come here seeking to reclaim my families throne, I come here as a messenger of the Gods, to heal a people long divided against one another. Yet also I come as a barer of dark news."

    "The scourge that the Eldar shielded from us, has passed through our space and left it barren. A few days ago the first Boesswaeth ship to ever leave our solar system returned, bearing news that the next closest star system has been devoured, there is nothing left...and so I come here asking, begging for unity. To let reparations be paid for the sins of the past and for them to be at last put to rest. For if we do not then we are doomed."

    She braced herself, but was still nearly overwhelmed by the utterly overwhelming wave of sound that hit her, contrasting strongly against the oppressive silence that had dominated the visit so far, as it seemed like every person within and without the room started to bellow at once.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    And so at last the long war finally came to an end, not with the bombardment of plasma munitions, or the storming of Gaelorn's domes, but through diplomacy...peace.

    It was not an easy solution, or even a wildly popular one initially, but the conclusion satisfied enough war weary people that those left warmed to the idea shortly.

    The Mrawn would never again rule as a dynastic power, instead they were now one family amongst many, yet they would also not be exterminated which many felt was more than generous considering their actions. Gaelorn would pay reparations in technology to the rest of the Boesswaeth, the thousands of technological secrets that had kept them a head of the Union, at last delivered peacefully to them.

    The priesthoods of both worlds met and easily joined into one under the careful tending of the priests of Faust, while the spirit bonded of the Union joined their brethren upon the luna facility of Orrahil, where it is rapidly becoming the centre of their burgeoning psycic research center.

    But Rasharna Mrawn did not simply fade away, for while the Mrawn may not rule that does not mean that she did not secure power for them.

    As Gaelorn joined the Union, she argued successfully that there must be a high commander of the armies and resources of the Union, to fight against the indomitable threats of the galaxy. To seek allies and advantages for their people, to act as the voice of the Gods in times of crisis and sheppard their resources when there was plenty.

    And who better to fill that position than her?
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    random_npc said:
    hey! remember the Boessaewth? maybe not, but someone did.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    And I am very glad you did, for you got me to do stuff for them as well, and for that I am eternally grateful.

    @Durin
     
  • Apocrypha
    • ah...I see DW is doing his divine dutys again......

    how much more do you have in you and what has you going right now? I recall last time was in reaction to a very important upcoming event (although I can't remember)
     
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