The Lost Primarch Quest

[bigking321]

"Why did you paint your armor bright pink and put rainbow and flower designs all over it?"

"According to the Harlequins it makes me 1% better at fighting chaos. Why wouldn't I do it?"

 

[Shadaki]

It suddenly occurs to me, this kills two birds with one stone: Soldiers are trying to resist being deployed into the maelstrom with us. Working with harlequins means we can equip the former with the Harlequins (probably near infinite supply of) popcorn, giant speakers playing the ancient Human song Yack-etti Saxus, and a promise to sit back and enjoy the show while we chase around daemons who'd be screaming in terror.

(that daemons are in part narrative entities possibly means that they'll be compelled to act along)

 

[tri2]

what's worse than a instant death obstacle moving at mach 5? An invisible instant death obstacle moving at mach 5. daemons won't know what hit them

 

[w34v3r]

Question: would this mask have more impact if we slapped it on Oricarius? Or maybe one of the twins or their sons to improve their ability to mess with daemons in their home turf?

 

[Leon12431]

[X] Write-in: "I am already going to meet Magnus, so I see no reason to rush a decision before speaking with him about it if you will agree, and something like this is not a decision I can make without speaking with my sons first. Will you be willing to wait until after I have done both of these for my decision?" (Speak with sons, magnus, and then yes.)

 

[SleepMode]

[X] Write-in: "I am already going to meet Magnus, so I see no reason to rush a decision before speaking with him about it if you will agree, and something like this is not a decision I can make without speaking with my sons first. Will you be willing to wait until after I have done both of these for my decision?" (Speak with sons, magnus, and then yes.)

 

[Unravenan]

[X] Write-in: "I am already going to meet Magnus, so I see no reason to rush a decision before speaking with him about it if you will agree, and something like this is not a decision I can make without speaking with my sons first. Will you be willing to wait until after I have done both of these for my decision?" (Speak with sons, magnus, and then yes.)

 

[quelthias]

[X] "I accept."

 

[argenten]

[X] Write-in: "I am already going to meet Magnus, so I see no reason to rush a decision before speaking with him about it if you will agree, and something like this is not a decision I can make without speaking with my sons first. Will you be willing to wait until after I have done both of these for my decision?" (Speak with sons, magnus, and then yes.)

 

[Lord4StarCommand]

[X] Write-in: "I am already going to meet Magnus, so I see no reason to rush a decision before speaking with him about it if you will agree, and something like this is not a decision I can make without speaking with my sons first. Will you be willing to wait until after I have done both of these for my decision?" (Speak with sons, magnus, and then yes.)

 

[Dragonstar719]

[X] Write-in: "I am already going to meet Magnus, so I see no reason to rush a decision before speaking with him about it if you will agree, and something like this is not a decision I can make without speaking with my sons first. Will you be willing to wait until after I have done both of these for my decision?" (Speak with sons, magnus, and then yes.)

 

[Daedwartin]

Okay, let's actually talk here. How do you believe we're likely all evil alignment on average?

Click to shrink...

Because at the end of the day...we are still a Primarch of the Imperium of Man actively leading one of its major armies. In other words, one of the highest ranking generals of an actively genocidal and xenocidal empire. Even the fact that we ourselves are one of the least xenocidal... we still actively genocide entire populations as we stamp out the religions of entire planets. And when we take control of planets, we turn then them into totalitarian police states with the goal of maximizing production and fighting chaotic corruption.

All knowingly occurring under our watch and legal authority to stop.

We can not in good concious actually be called good. We are still every much evil. We are just seeing things through the lens of said evil man who naturually self-justifies everything they do to themselves as good.

[X] Write-in: "I am already going to meet Magnus, so I see no reason to rush a decision before speaking with him about it if you will agree, and something like this is not a decision I can make without speaking with my sons first. Will you be willing to wait until after I have done both of these for my decision?" (Speak with sons, magnus, and then yes.)

 

[Ruirk]

@Daemon Hunter This might actually be a good time to quantify something. While the Primarchs have done a lot of shitty things, what are some of the more recent "good" they've done (as in good that was based around pragmatic/utilitarian reasons) and actual altruistic good deeds within the last decade or so?

 

[argenten]

Okay, lots to unpack in the recent topic.

First of all, the setting itself is o-(when i create space between sentences and paragraphs and need to backspace a mispelling I AM NOT DELETING THE ENTER I PRESSED SV!!!ALKJHOIDHSIOUGH)

The calm has returned, sorry for the tangent.

so from the top.

Because at the end of the day...we are still a Primarch of the Imperium of Man actively leading one of its major armies. In other words, one of the highest ranking generals of an actively genocidal and xenocidal empire

Click to shrink...

This is flagrantly incorrect. The Imperium of Man, at the advent of the Great Crusade, when all is said and done, is an *expansionist empire*. It is primarily focused with reestablishing contact with all the worlds of Mankind and reuniting them in a centralized if very feudally so, government. It is very, VERY analogous to the Roman Empire up to and including the Rangdan wars being laid up as the settings Wars of Carthage.
This is an important distinction as the Imperium of Man does not want to wipe out the humans it comes into contact with. In fact, it prefers and usually is able to incorporate them via diplomacy as is referenced in canon, usually because the conditions on said planets were so bumfuck horrible due to...Age of Strife, that signing up with the Imperium and being a part of its structure is a huge improvement.

This wipes out the 'genocidal' tarring you are attempting to do as geocoding is literally defeating the purpose of the Great Crusade, which is to reunite humanity so that they aren't eaten, corrupted, or otherwise used as whatever the rest of the galaxy feels like when it is weak...can't do that if you are dead.

Secondly, the xenocidal is incorrect as in canon they also establish that abhumans that are stable, as well as xenos that would be too tough to take on but willing to be protectorates are allowed...but due to the setting going from heavy metal to grim derp, few examples of this were ever given, not to mention the setting itself was solidified as exaggerating any and all inhumanity that exists so that it is very much a case of mutual wars of survival.

Let's go over the major races of Xenos that the Imperium is facing.

Eldar: Used to hunt humans for sport and other horrific things at their height up to and including during the Dark age of technology and even their most 'benevolent' batches are BARELY starting to see humans as worth interacting with and that's still in positions of leadership.

THEY MADE SLAANESH BY OUT CENOBITING PINHEAD!!!

Even in quest it took the loss of 80% of their remaining craftworlds to humble them enough to listen to Honk god and work with humans on a regular basis (and I'd argue a certain batch of dark eldar in Lion's domain are doing a better job albeit horrifically. Fae will have a whole new meaning in the Imperium people.
The Rangdan: A race so powerful, malevolent, dangerous, and horrific that Big E had to PULL OUT A C'TAN TO FACE THEM, after two previous wars. Irregardless of if they were a byproduct of the war of heaven or were a minor race before that that lasted and outgrew their original corner...they were still a truly nasty race that could have and would have annihilated humanity if given the chance.

ORKS! Do I really need to go into detail on orks? They were the main reason why big E was rushing because they were approaching Krork levels in Ullanor...the Beast is proof that the threat is/was real.

Minor races include everything from the fricking HRUD aka the notskaven of the setting, the Psybrids, the slaugh, the vast majority of the dark eldar roster that arent the dark eldar themselves, and here's an example of how most of the races tend to look in setting...These were the 'minor' powers that it took the Imperium of man to face down and survive.

The Imperium of man was not actively seeking out xenos to destroy them (fulgrim had a beef with Eldar and so did vulkan both those were
*personal and not mandated*, with the exception of Caldera, and that was as much due to neither side giving in or negotiating as it was a 'divided loyalties serve no one' example) unless they were a present and active threat, if they could drive them off, or ensure they would not be a threat for the future, or could be put to use, then that was that.

Also let's not forget that Horus, as warmaster, prior to getting chaos shanked, was making solid efforts and progress towards allying with the Internex, a major xeno alliance. They were more concerned with humans being subject to xenos rule and mixing with xenos polities due to, well, the various genetic, warpy, and other messed up stuff that could happen as well as it being a direct problem with the whole reuniting humanity bit.

So, to follow up, the Imperium of Man during the Great Crusade is without a doubt a revanchist, expansionist, militaristic, brutal and oftentimes rushed empire....but they were not genocidal and xenocidal. The latter is what the imperium turned into in 40k, part of the major plot point that, y'know, the imperium had fallen from its ideals, that barbarism was closing in as the legions and defenders are ever more and more outnumbered and desperate.

Even the fact that we ourselves are one of the least xenocidal... we still actively genocide entire populations as we stamp out the religions of entire planets

Click to shrink...

We do not do this, at all. In fact, thanks to the Golden Path and Shades, we are actually providing religious and philosophical alternatives for people to follow as we develope. our method is "Welcome to the imperium, worshipping gods in general is a VERY DANGEROUS THING and against imperial regulation. Please stop doing it and look at these pamplets on how to live a peaceful life killing the things that live in the warp. Praise humanity."

What we DO wipe out tooth and nail, root and branch are chaos cults, which are not something you want period because...CHAOS. and that is very much fighting off cancer/corruption made manifest cause we all see how well leaving it alone works >.>

And when we take control of planets, we turn then them into totalitarian police states with the goal of maximizing production and fighting chaotic corruption.

Click to shrink...

Again, incorrect and flagrantly so. We, that is Kesar and the 11th legion built our expansionist policy around cooperation focus as well as leaving local governments alone to assimilate, hence why were were one of the slowest for awhile, heck, look at some of our recent turns where we have gone out of our way to work with the locals to get them to sign on and our only priorities afterwards are 'praise humanity, no gods, and taxes go here.', that's it. Totalitarian police states are very, VERY Specific government set ups that we don't have the resources to set up in every sector, let alone in every planet. At best we use the witchhunters as a chaos focused pseudo secret police only they aren't very secret and we don't care what you say or how you say it as long as you aren't praising chaos or actively trying to rebel.

And that's how the Imperium does it in general, pay your taxes, no gods, and contribute to the war effort. As long as you did that they didn't care and would actively try to improve the system to get more out of it. Again, it was the 40k setting where everything had fallen to crap, also chaos being much more prevalent as well, where you had the Imperium fostering a much more religiously focused culture as well as there being much more red tape and non chaos corruption. And even then you still had so many different cultures, branches of the God Emperor's faith, languages, and so on, you had planets run by guilds, others nobles, others are mini empires, so on and so forth. what mattered were 'praise x' and 'money and men go Y'

All knowingly occurring under our watch and legal authority to stop.

Click to shrink...

Okay, stop what, stop it how, and what would you do to replace it?

If you are going to go on this morality focus, how do you maintain what we need to maintain while still doing all the...what is it you think we should be doing considering the setting?

Because the biggest nono we do, arguably is slavery and that's very much a product of CHAOS FURKING UP AUTOMATION TO THE POINT WE HAVE TO REINVENT THE PROCESS AROUND CHAOS. Quite simply, if there was a better option that didn't shaft us or humanity in general to use, it would have been put in place, but the closest we get is servitors which are cyborg zombies, because anything more complex in terms of programming gets scrap coded or possessed by literal demons.

Just in this recent reintroduction to sector management alone we have upgraded the tech level of all our systems so that they can at least be at imperial or advanced tech and will be improving the education to match. This is also happening under our watch.

We are actively pursuing a policy of having carrot and stick on hand for planetary pacification thanks to Konrad donating his Sun Guard which is much more expensive than just spamming black brigades which was an option we had.

We pioneered free information sharing among the primarchs to the point it shamed them all into stop hoarding, that happened on our watch.

We are risking the emperor's ire and lost malcador's trust because we can see how messed up things are, how they are spiraling because kesar woudl rather be the scapegoat if it meant a chance to improve things without civil war AND allow his more humane brothers to make their reforms a reality.

THAT happened on our watch too. Hell we just watched a play by Eldar and are accepting dance lessons from them, someone who is xenocidal would be kill the xeno no question, same for Roboute.

We can not in good concious actually be called good. We are still every much evil. We are just seeing things through the lens of said evil man who naturually self-justifies everything they do to themselves as good.

Click to shrink...

Considering the setting we absolutely can. Evil is a very specific mindset, it is the delight in causing suffering, it is the creation of misery for the sake of it or to punish out of spite, hatred, or malicious ego.

It is the ruination of that which people cherish for no other reason that because it is cherished and it will devastate those who care when it is gone.

Evil is Chaos in this setting.

For all that Kesar can be ruthless, for all that Big E is a very, EXTREMELY, holy crap is this 'man' a traumatized heap of neurosis and issues, and for all that the other primarchs are teenaged demigods with similar issues...They are not evil. They are, at worst, conquerors, which is far from nice people but they are not evil simply because they offend your sensibilities.

you are seeing this through the lens or your moral outrage and painting everything that you do not like as heinous and willfully malicious when the setting allows for little else and in most cases we are at worst lawful neutral leaning to neutral good in terms of the very simplistic DnD alignment.

If you are looking for a quest where the Imperium and the Emperor and the primarchs are there for bashing and condemning and such...i really do not think you are in the right place. This is a quest where 'shits fucked yo' and it do be that way everywhere.

The Eldar are on their last legs, The Necrons are still passed out/getting corrupted by the flayer virus, the Orks are becoming stronger than ever before thanks to the war with Khorne going on, and Humanity itself is racing against the clock and LOSING while tearing at itself.

 

[Xemness the Good]

Alright, let us try and take a step back here. Since debates like this tend to get rather heated and ultimately only really build up disdain and tension between us readers of the Quest. Ultimately, let us remember that:

1. Since many of us readers play as Kesar, and some of us have been making decisions for him for several years now many of us feel quite attached to, or similar to, the character. So, ultimately, many insightful commentaries or insults directed at him have a bad tendency to be taken personally.

2. Let us try not to argue about whether someone who grew up in Warhammer 40k, even in one of its lighter times, is morally evil. That person is shaped by the universe in which they live, and, ultimately, even if they were the best person possible, doing as much good as they are physically able to do, the nature of the setting would force many things seen as evil in our current time.
And lastly, again,
3. That such arguments tend to ultimately lesson the enjoyment of the setting for new and old players alike.

As such, I, for one, would like to respectfully request that we do not get into a heated argument about such thing, no matter your stance on the question. This is, after all, a morally grey story with certain good and bad things that are unavoidable in-universe.

 

[Lord4StarCommand]

The Great and The Divine

You are Rukmoul' Astarn, Champion of your kind the Ruoults, allies to the Eternal Wardens and you have fought hard against the daemonic abominations both in the Battle of the Three Stars and in the Maelstrom designated by your Imperial allies as Maelstrom Adjacent Autonomous and currently, you are a part of the Ravenloft in pursuit of the Great Spirits and finding new ways to destroy the blight on the universe that is the daemonkind.


When it was heard that the Imperium planned to invade one of the Evil Spirit's territories, your species were very willing to join the fight with the Wardens of Valhalla yet again and you were one of the eager volunteers. It wasn't the first time you went toe to toe with spawns of chaos as you did see the battle of Aleph in all its glory, it was a battle worthy of legends so much that even another primarch(Fulgurite was it?) asked for a commission of a painting of that fight, though annoyingly the painter had to follow some limitation as it turns out the wider Imperium has a policy against spreading knowledge of the archdaemons to prevent any memetic effect, you were against it but you understood the reasoning.


While the battle of the Maelstrom also designated was not as earth-shattering both literally and metaphorically as Aleph you had to fight tooth and nail to survive as it was a battle that didn't just challenge your abilities and fighting prowess but also a battle of wills and mind, you saw Guardsmen broken by the horrors they saw deserting, joining the enemy like the weaklings they were or take the coward path and kill themselves, you know well that the righteous path is never easy because you learned that repeatedly from the ironically named Aurelian's betray (or the betrayer named by your kin, seeing him as the greatest of all betrayers that a son of the Great Spirit made flesh and brother of the Daemobsbane betraying everything he claimed to stood for in favor of ambition and madness) who choose darkness over the light to Aleph and more in your centuries of experience. You had to kill possessed guardsmen to put them out of their misery and renegade guardsmen trying to flee or even attack you, like one time a group of guardsmen tried to shift the blame of stolen food to you to get away thinking that being a "Xeno" would be their scapegoat, unfortunately for them, the Iron Warriors don't care about prejudice or other petty things but only the cold truth and the Iron Warrior who checked saw through the lies and then immediately executed two of the guardsmen on sight with his bolter gun as their blood and organs spilling all over the shocked troopers, afterwards he warned them if there is any slight of disloyalty he would personally use them as literal meat shields in his sieges as they groveled pathetically. Not to mention though Ruoults biological are more resistant to the warp you had to shield yourself from the poisonous words of the warp and the daemons promising you glory, knowledge, pleasure, and happiness or threatening you, of course outright rejected them at the first sight as you know full well that an open mind to the warp is an unguarded fortress to invaders.


Although not all Guardsmen were weak as some fight with grim determination like the Black Brigades or even with zealous glee like the shades, you had mixed feelings about the latter as while you do respect and even admire their courage and their hatred toward the great enemy their worship of the Daemonsbane reminds you too much of what you once read and saw videos of in a holo-table about Lorgar the Betrayer(One of the Ravenloft researchers once remarked that your kind's view on Lorgar is similar to The Fallen Angel from ancient Terra religions, you simply shrugged though as interesting as it was.) on how his army and his sons followed him in his path of damnation without second thoughts, Kesar Dorlin was a very revered figure in your society and you were a devout worshiper of the great spirit; however, even you found the Shades as fanatics and too much.


After the Maelstrom War was over and the hold the archdaemons had on this part of space weakened you and the rest of your kin got checked by the wardens and witch hunters for any possible corruption and you with many were found pure. The Maelstrom battle is now remembered by your kind as another great victory against the Great Spirits' defilers as you celebrated with your race and some Wardens and Guardsmen during the first few night Post-Maelstrom war, there was that particular Warden called…Solaris was it? That didn't stop talking about how magnificent his explosions were, for some reason the Ultramarines and the guardsmen who were commanded under him seemed to actively keep their distance from him in fear as if he is a ticking bomb ready to go nuclear to your amusement.


You don't know exactly how but you by a series of actions and a string of luck have found yourself as an employee of one of Daemonsbane's siblings in an organization called Ravenloft as both an insight into your culture and as a Commander. Of course, your kind weren't the only non-humans entering as there were others such as the Dravenaxian and to your displeasure the allies of Corvus's organization the Aeldari, a race of snobby tricksters who keep rambling in riddles just to make themselves look smart and as humans would put it they think they are the greatest thing ever made since sliced bread(humans and their weird fascination in using food in their terms), and learning that they are responsible for the birth of one of the archdaemons didn't make your view on them any better, in fact, it took every ounce of self-control from you to not kill every Eldar you see on sight and burn as much as their library as possible in warp fire if it weren't for your respect for Kesar's brother and their haughty kind already suffering from the consequences of their follies. That's not to say they aren't a pain to deal with as they are especially the clowns who would try to turn everything into a joke and wouldn't stop their cursed cackling that mysteriously keeps coming in the halls of the black library, by the Great Spirits dealing with daemonic hordes by yourself is a walk in a garden compared to dealing with those insufferable jesters and don't get even started on the depraved Dark Aeldari, the less said the better. To this day the only type of aeldari you ever found tolerable was the exodites.


In your time in Ravenloft you saw and heard of things so strange, an AI ascended to a god made out of clockworks, a revenant cursed to continue and never to face the judgment of the spirits, you even saw a star giving birth to a deity and now a dead planet hiding something under its dead shell where your idol and his siblings decided to council on to decide the future of the Imperium.


Of course besides finding new ways of defying the evil spirits(the only thing you find common with the arrogant Eldar) you stayed in Ravenloft in your pursuit of the Great Spirits; Nevertheless, the more answers you find the more questions are made: 'Are gods the Great Spirits?', 'Is this Morningstar and entities like it the Great Spirits?', 'Is the Emperor even really is a Great Spirit in the flesh or just one of the non-actively malicious entities of the warp in flesh or a weapon from Humanity's Golden Age?' And so forth.


Speaking of the Emperor, The Second Anathema's(known by the Eldar as He-Who-Defies Fate) actions against his father have stirred a commotion among his kin, does this mean the Emperor is not a Great Spirit? Is the Emperor falling and his son is trying to save him? Is this another machination of Chaos? Not to mention the ordeal of Angron and the Desolation has shaken you and your people's view on the Emperor because a Great Spirit wouldn't be so callous and if the rumors he heard from the Shadowcasters and the Thousand Son are true he denied his son peace in the afterlife by raising him from the dead in a form of un-living and constant pain like the Necromancers of the Carrion Lord and Witch Lords of the old stories that parents tell their younglings to warn them about the vileness of the Evil Spirits.


You don't know, nor the rest of your kin; nonetheless, you and your people do know one thing for certain, no matter what will happen after Orus the Eternal Star and his wardens will have friends to aid them as they have proven their worth so many times and you would go to the most hellish parts of warp for the bane of all daemons, life is an eternal battle and only ends in death.


Note: here you go, my first omake which is about the Ruoults during and after the Maelstrom war up until the Orus Council among other things, I refused to let them fall into obscurity.

 

[Daedwartin]

This is flagrantly incorrect. The Imperium of Man, at the advent of the Great Crusade, when all is said and done, is an *expansionist empire*. It is primarily focused with reestablishing contact with all the worlds of Mankind and reuniting them in a centralized if very feudally so, government. It is very, VERY analogous to the Roman Empire up to and including the Rangdan wars being laid up as the settings Wars of Carthage.
This is an important distinction as the Imperium of Man

Click to shrink...

Expect you are very much wrong. It is explict state policy that religion must be destroyed. This is explicitly genocide. And yes: even during the great crusade the general default response by a Imperial Force to a xeno species was to exterminate them for merely existing, dating all the way back to the Solar Reclaimation. We are noteworthy because we dont default to exterminate the xeno and are more willing than others to make xeno protectorates.

 

[AdenoidNebula]

Expect you are very much wrong. It is explict state policy that religion must be destroyed. This is explicitly genocide. And yes: even during the great crusade the general default response by a Imperial Force to a xeno species was to exterminate them for merely existing, dating all the way back to the Solar Reclaimation. We are noteworthy because we dont default to exterminate the xeno and are more willing than others to make xeno protectorates.

Click to shrink...

Their was the exception of the Interex a xeno and human civilization that Horus was in diplomatic talks with but that ended due to Erebus wanting Anathame to corrupt Horus in the Canon Timelines.

 

[Daedwartin]

Their was the exception of the Interex a xeno civilization that Horus was in diplomatic talks with but that ended due to Erebus wanting Anathame to corrupt Horus in the Canon Timelines.

Click to shrink...

Its to be noted however that the Interex was ultimately a human nation that had well integrated xeno species and that Horus is often stated as having been very diplomatic as a Primarch. He is despite everything an outlier for Imperial Command.

 

[argenten]

Expect you are very much wrong. It is explict state policy that religion must be destroyed. This is explicitly genocide. And yes: even during the great crusade the general default response by a Imperial Force to a xeno species was to exterminate them for merely existing, dating all the way back to the Solar Reclaimation. We are noteworthy because we dont default to exterminate the xeno and are more willing than others to make xeno protectorates.

Click to shrink...

Incorrect, you are claiming that 'religion equals civilization and its people'. that is not the case. It is no more different than the 'age of reason' that that the French revolution tried to create or any number of aethist states have tried to create.

What the Imperium is advocating is Apostasy The definition of which is to follow

Apostasy (/əˈpɒstəsi/; Greek: ἀποστασία apostasía, 'a defection or revolt') is the formal disaffiliation from, abandonment of, or renunciation of a religion by a person. It can also be defined within the broader context of embracing an opinion that is contrary to one's previous religious beliefs.

That is pretty much the Imperium's religious policy right there. Although you could claim that they are pushing for mass apostasy but debatable.

Does this mean that the Imperium is a state that supports religious persecution? Yes, yes it does. and it is a bad act that has an ugly reason for existing that we can't ignore...actually it has four.

This is also a policy that does not require the annihilation of the entire culture and is not the default method or even the preferred method because it kills off humans that could easily be more productive elsewhere.

This is like claiming that Exterminatus is the dafault response for the Imperium/inquisition, yeah TTS got away with it because they were actively being farcical but it is well documented on just how long the Imperium will go to avoid it because better to spend hundreds of years retaking a world to make it productive again than to have to annihilate it and lose EVERYTHING. That is a last ditch effort to deny the planet to chaos or the orks and even then it often fails.
ANd in my expanded response I have made it very clear just how shallow and self serving your rhetoric and logic are when it comes to the xenocidal aspect of your attempt to claim the moral highground. The Great Crusade was not only a golden age in terms of recovering lost territory for humanity but also in terms of how abhumans and outsiders were treated, one of the ways people can tell when it was better back them.

Naturally things are lost in terms of details of the history because ten thousand years, but what we did see mentioned in the histories of the primarchs is that Fulgrim's penchant for picking fights with Eldar was very much not the norm as the imperial policy was to leave them alone unless they were mixed up with humans, such as Caldera.

Otherwise the main focus was "Are they a threat to humanity? If so can they be defeated and conquered? Yes they can be conquered? Good, we have a new protectorate. No? How so? Oh they cannot be communicated with? Welp, least we tried. Oh, they think we are vermin and need to be exterminated. Sauce that's good for the gander is good for the xenos goose. What, they are actively corrupted by the Warp? Bye bye."

We are noteworthy more in That we didn't just leave the protectorates in their isolated zones and then ignored them but actively incorporated them into our military...and because people wanted to omake them in and it became a mess enough they got put in their own corner in terms of quest focus. But we at most got a 'really? well, if you're sure about them' for the Runolt which a truly xenocidal empire would not respond with.

Hells, even in 40k there is still an element of ' as long as you can be of use you will be tolerated' in not only the rogue traders but the imperium at large as well...like the Jokero

 

[Daedwartin]

Incorrect, you are claiming that 'religion equals civilization and its people'. that is not the case. It is no more different than the 'age of reason' that that the French revolution tried to create or any number of aethist states have tried to create.

What the Imperium is advocating is Apostasy The definition of which is to follow

Apostasy (/əˈpɒstəsi/; Greek: ἀποστασία apostasía, 'a defection or revolt') is the formal disaffiliation from, abandonment of, or renunciation of a religion by a person. It can also be defined within the broader context of embracing an opinion that is contrary to one's previous religious beliefs.

That is pretty much the Imperium's religious policy right there. Although you could claim that they are pushing for mass apostasy but debatable.

Click to shrink...

So uh....
Genocide.

In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

1. Killing members of the group;
2. Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
3. Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
4. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
5. Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Click to shrink...

United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect

Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect

www.un.org

Its explictly genocide. Arguing anything else is explictly either genocide denial or advocating.

 

[argenten]

So uh....
Genocide.

United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect

Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect

www.un.org

Its explictly genocide. Arguing anything else is explictly either genocide denial or advocating.

Click to shrink...

Because by using your definition just breaking apart the group is enough to count as genocide. When the actual term is to wipe them out. The UN's points, especially 3-5 are under an already established term "Religious persecution" which is a separate act entirely.

You cant really argue for it being a genocide if people decide to stop worshiping/attending a religion even if under coercion, but without the implicit and explicit statement of death for not changing your position. Otherwise you get really wonky events where it would be genocidal for any religion to ever cease to exist. As there have been plenty of times when this happens with or without force of arms.

Using your and the UN's very dubious definition above...mass conversion as a concept is genocide

You are also ignoring the points made earlier about how not all members of a culture will follow the same faith. For example, jews. Leaving aside one can have jewish ancestry without following their faith, there is the whole Orthodox jew vs Samaritan issue where both see themselves as the natural adherents to their faith over time but see the other as incorrect...if these groups were to merge again...are one or more being genocided?


What about the Eastern Orthodox church and the Catholic Church? Prior to the fall of byzantium, these faiths were well on their way to merging the schism between them, which would have made all catholics potentially members of the Eastern orthodox faith. Was the pope genociding his own faith to do this?

Rome, or any other pagan people converting period is genocide by the definition you posted.

The only benefit I can see to the definition you used is that it allows you to paint with a VERY, VERY large brush with little to no context, which considering the conversation...does seem to be the point

Your own example also requires harm to make the genocidal point and the general Imperial policy, especially with us is "Stop doing this thing in public and pay your taxes.' with Lorgar's situation being so extreme because he not only went against the imperial policy of 'no religions' but actively flogged entire planetary populations if their religious fervor wasn't zealous enough for him

Also let's not forget that faith like those on Chogoris, Fenris, and others were allowed to stay or at least were meant to be slowly weaned away from. There were no, by your standards, genocides there.



And here's the *actual* definition. You are welcome.

gen·o·cide
/ˈjenəˌsīd/
Learn to pronounce

noun

1. the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group.
   "a campaign of genocide"
   
   
   
   

 

[Daemon Hunter]

Morality debates for Warhammer generally are complicated affairs, and typically something people can get rather invested in. While I do think the subject area is rather touchy and very, very open to interpretation based on how you interpret 40k lore, I thought I should give my thoughts on this topic.

The Imperium effectively has two sets of policies that occur. The first is what the people at the top want, the second is what actually happens. The Imperium is intended to be an expansionist empire that is meant to support human interests first and foremost. At face value, this shouldn't lead to xenocide, but it does due to some of the arguments the Imperium makes. It's a case of misinterpretation that the Imperium as a whole doesn't particularly care to fix. It's not malicious, but more apathetic. The Emperor for example would not care about this, although some of the Primarchs do think it's a waste of resources.

As for religion, that's a much touchier topic. The Imperial Truth by its nature does mandate cultural genocide. The mandated cessation of religious practices does, according to the Emperor, serve a need. But at the end of the day, it is cultural genocide.

That being said, not everything the Imperium does is evil.

@Daemon Hunter This might actually be a good time to quantify something. While the Primarchs have done a lot of shitty things, what are some of the more recent "good" they've done (as in good that was based around pragmatic/utilitarian reasons) and actual altruistic good deeds within the last decade or so?

Click to shrink...

Drastically improved the safety of large numbers of people, destroyed actively genocidal species that wanted nothing but to destroy, and weakened Chaos' access to the Materium. When it comes down to it, the Imperium does make people safer considering some of the stuff it fights out there.

As for altruistic good deeds, that's a trickier one to say. I don't generally tend to think of this, as a fair bit of what the Primarchs do would be described by them as pragmatic and logical rather than altruistic.

 

[argenten]

As for religion, that's a much touchier topic. The Imperial Truth by its nature does mandate cultural genocide. The mandated cessation of religious practices does, according to the Emperor, serve a need. But at the end of the day, it is cultural genocide.

Click to shrink...

I will say that the term 'cultural genocide' as I've looked it up does fit. it along with the religious persecution that goes along with it, are pretty much a byproduct of the setting in terms of why i remotely tolerate it, but i still do find it to be a big difference than just..genocide in general and all encompassing.

As for the rest, yup, what the higher ups say and what happens on the ground are rarely in sync, heck that one planet that was being bled dry as a grudge is a shining example of that.

 

[Ruirk]

I wanted to do a Christmas omake. And while I planned to do "Corvus Discovers the Meaning of Christmas," that, unfortunately, would take a bit more time. The below is completely non-canon for various impractical reasons.

A Christmas Miracle in The Lost Primarch

In times like these, Kesar Dorlin reflected on the events of the past and the uncertainty of the future. The Daemonsbane had been working on a few runes before heading into the Starlight Basin for mediation and planning.

Gazing upon the beauty around him, Kesar wondered what the future held for humanity and the galaxy. A new year was approaching. Like before, a time of consideration and hope for the future was needed, yet the Primarch felt as if the galaxy felt dimmer than before.

While it hadn't been swallowed by the darkness, Kesar knew in his heart that his family and friends were frustrated and concerned over what was coming. Kesar wished he could do so much more. Not just for his family but for all those fighting and struggling for a better galaxy.

Kesar didn't even want it to be just for everyone getting better at killing daemons (Although that wouldn't be so bad in his eyes) but for them to feel like they could do so much more. If only he could give all in the galaxy a rune to aid them.

Looking up at the Starlight Basin, with the endless starry nights, Kesar hoped and perhaps unconsciously prayed to any good and decent entity to help him. "I wish I could help everyone be the best they can be."

A simple wish to the stars above. Kesar believed it wouldn't be granted. For the warp is cruel and the galaxy unjust. But by the ancient legends of Terra and by the power of faith and myth, that earnest and honest wish was heard by a being from beyond time and space…

—

Ho-ho-ho, thank you very much for helping me with this!

I don't know how you reached out to us, but we have to admit the prospect of your plan is both amusing and helpful for everyone in this galaxy. Far be it for us to also miss an opportunity to undermine Chaos.

That's the Christmas Spirit! And just for that, I'll be sure to put the entire Selion civilization on my nice list this year.

Alright, free gifts for undermining our enemies! Christmas miracles rule!

—

The night before Kesar went to sleep (he felt uncharacteristically tired that night), he didn't think much of what awaited him in the morning. Upon entering his office, he saw on his desk what looked to be a brightly colored green box with a red and white ribbon wrapped around it.

"Who left this?" Kesar then thought about this development a little more, "Who also was in my office last night?" Maybe it was Miss Zeta? Then again, perhaps it was the Eldar? Hopefully, it wasn't a bomb or something.

Approaching the desk holding up the strange gift, Kesar didn't sense any hostility, nor did it feel a malicious intent. If anything, he smelled cinnamon, mint, pine trees, and smoke from a fireplace. It reminded him a bit of Valhalla during some of the winter gatherings.

"Huh." Kesar reached out and gently grabbed the gift box. He saw what looked to be a little recipient note attached to the ribbon.

To: Kesar Dorlin
From: Santa
Merry Christmas!

Kesar was quite confused, "Who the hell is Santa?" Was this a Sigillite agent? And what was Christmas? That sounded familiar. That was some holiday or event celebrated by one of the religious groups of humanity.

"If this some sort of daemonic trap," Kesar muttered, "Need to find a means to track and kill this 'Santa' daemon." The daemons were starting to get a bit too crafty for his liking. Nonetheless, Kesar carefully unwrapped the gift box.

There were a lot of things he expected to find. A bomb, a vial of poison, a scroll of information, an STC, or maybe even something weirder, like a compromising photo or a tiny daemon. Instead, he saw something that should have been impossible at this time.

Gazing up at him was a rune. Not just any rune, though. A Grandmaster Rune. Kesar intrinsically knew it was a grandmaster. Surprisingly and terrifying, it was a Grandmaster Rune of Kesar.

A rune that could've only been forged by his hands.

Quickly closing the gift box lid, Kesar closed his eyes and figured he was still sleeping; this was all a dream. When his attempts to force himself awake only left him still standing in his office, the Primarch knew that he was wide awake.

Slowly lifting the lid again… the Grandmaster Rune of Kesar was still there.

Opting to take a seat at his desk, Kesar sat and carefully looked over the Grandmaster Rune of his namesake. Trying to figure out how it came to be here. This was unprecedented, to say the least.

"Right…" Kesar slowly tried to piece together what might have happened, "Obviously, I fell into a fugue state within the basin and proceeded to create a grandmaster rune in one night, without any incident or issue, then gift-wrapped it for myself."

Saying that aloud made Kesar sigh and shake his head, "Yeah…I wouldn't believe that either."

Try as he might, the Daemonsbane couldn't recall how or why he could've accomplished making this grandmaster rune. Making one would've been a substantial investment of time and resources. No chance he could've done so in one night.

Before he could think about it further, a loud banging occurred at his door, "Enter." He called out while still focusing on the rune.

He didn't need to look up to know it was Ori that entered his office, "Kesar, we have a problem! We had a massive security breach last night and-" He then noticed what the Primarch was looking at, "Damn it, did you get one as well?"

What? Kesar looked up at Ori, "Did I get one? Are you implying you also got a gift box?"

"From this Santa entity?" Ori nodded and then pulled out a rune. Kesar instantly instinctively felt that it was a Grandmaster Rune of Oriacarius. How in the warp was this possible?!

"And I wasn't the only one." Ori continued, "Maticus, Solarus, Slayer…all got runes as well." He looked down at the one on Kesar's desk, "And I see you received a similar gift."

"Indeed," Kesar stiffly nodded, "A grandmaster rune of Kesar. You got a Grandmaster Rune of Oriacarius. This makes me think the others got grandmaster runes of themselves."

"A…grandmaster rune of Kesar and Oriacarius? Is that a thing now? Runes of ourselves? Really?" Ori looked at his gene-sire like he was insane. Kesar gave him an equally flat look but backed down at realizing how absurd it sounded.

"Can we focus on the security breach?" Kesar redirected the conversation, "Did anyone spot whoever gave us these gift boxes?"

"No, and that is the problem." Ori looked grim, "No one saw anything, nor did any of the overnight security teams notice anything else unusual." He paused for a moment, "Well, there was a large shipment of coal delivered to the engine room."

"Coal?" Kesar didn't see the point of that: "I don't care. All I care about is how some creature called Santa breached our defenses and effectively got inside the rooms or offices of every vital Warden on the Vigilance."

"By the way, there was a rune in the Vigilances cogitator banks. Might I assume that is a Grandmaster Rune of Vigilance?"

Kesar wanted to scream, "This has to be a joke…"

"I'm more concerned if this is an attempt at sabotage or some intimidating technique. For all we know, these runes are poisoned chalices." Ori was correct to be concerned about this strange and somewhat terrifying development.

However…

"I don't think these are corrupted or tainted in any way." Kesar explained after a moment, "I have an excellent feel for runes that have become as such. Neither mine nor yours feels that way." Carefully picking up the Grandmaster Rune of Kesar, the Primarch frowned as he felt only an unbelievable purity to them.

Ori, ever the skeptic, didn't seem so convinced, "What exactly are we supposed to tell everyone, then? Someone broke into our home last, delivered gifts, and then vacated the premises?"

"Evidently, yes." Kesar wanted to investigate this further, but what other steps could he have taken aside from monitoring the runes for a few days? No one even knew what this Santa figure even looked like.

"Maybe Polaris did this…"

Ori gave him another flat look, "Kesar…"

"I'm just throwing theories out." The Primarch weighed his options for a moment, "Bring me all the runes that have been acquired today. I'll review them and make sure we aren't looking at some possible sabotage attempt."

"Understood." Ori looked eager enough to get the runestones away.

Kesar needed to address another issue, "And send out priority inquires to my brothers and nephews. Ask them if they received any runes as well." If he and the Wardens received them, others could also have.

As Ori left to carry out Kesar's orders, the Daemonsbane looked down at the two grandmaster runes and wondered if his siblings had received similar "gifts" from this Santa figure. It made Kesar wonder as well. If this Santa could make runes of such power for numerous people, what was stopping him from just handing them out to anyone?

Kesar was wondering, "Just who could else get a Grandmaster Rune? That list can't be that big."

His most essential sons get runes, as did he. If this followed a pattern…then his brothers and their likewise most important sons would also receive such gifts. Well, that would be quite the capricious amount of grandmaster runes in circulation.

However, that had to be everyone…right?

—

Across the galaxy, in the vastness of time and space, unconstrained even by the powers of gods…an old man and his sleigh of goodies did deliver upon one galactic "night" a host of gifts and coal upon an unsuspecting realm.

—

"What the fuck is a Grandmaster Rune of Athron?" Arthron asked an equally confused Roboute as the Primarch tried to fathom how he got a Grandmaster Rune of Guilliman. His sons were also reporting getting similar runes.

For some reason, he knew that the paperwork wouldn't be as bad now. Unfortunately, Arthron felt that his rune was making his punches better and wanted to spar with Roboute to see if that was the case.

Overall, it was a lovely day for the two of them.

—

"Maybe it was a godseed that broke through containment?" Lockcraft interjected as he and Corvus reviewed emergency lockdown procedures since the "incident" was reported this morning.

The Lord of Ravens considered it, "That might be the case. We should be thankful they only left something instead of taking anything else from the vaults."

Along a few others, a Grandmaster Rune of Corvus and Lockcraft had been found amongst the Raven Guard and Ravenloft commanders and founders. So yes, there was panic this morning that warranted a lockdown.

Upon reviewing who this Santa was, the Catherics claimed it was an ancient Christian spirit-saint that delivered goods to families and children. Corvus didn't understand what sort of saint broke into people's houses during a holiday celebrating the birth of their Messiah.

Religious holidays were so bizarre.

—

"You must know what happened during the night cycle." Eldrad was looking intently at the smirking figure of Cegorach. "Because you obviously aren't concerned with it. Unlike Pagliacci, who is quite livid at everything and everyone. And that isn't including the general confusion and panic among some of my seers, warlocks, and others."

Several Aeldari, and even a few Druhkari, found themselves the owners of several Grandmaster Runes. Delivered into their rooms in the dead of night by an entity called Santa. Eldrad had no idea how this creature got past his visions or that it could breach the wards of the Black Library.

To that end, he sought to see if the Laughing God had any issues with this development.

Instead, Cegorach had been found smirking, as usual, wearing a strange red cap and drinking what looked to be a cup of milky liquid that he called "Eggnog."

"Nope, didn't see anything last night." The Laughing God slurped loudly on his eggnog, "I did hear what sounded like sleighbells and hooves, but I just chalked that up to me hearing things."

Eldrad groaned, "Ugh…"

—

Across the galaxy, the discovery and the brief explanation of the runestones were met with confusion and skepticism. Most couldn't grasp their concept, even after some had seen rather outrageous events and individuals in their lives. Even so, a strange gift wouldn't be rebuffed during an increasingly uncertain time.

For the Primarchs, the Runestones were seen as powerful gifts. Those aware of Kesar and his affinity towards their creation wondered if their brother orchestrated everything? But upon hearing of how many received such a gift…this Santa may very well be akin to their Father in power.

Khan was amused, Perturabo baffled, Magnus surprised, and the others simply trying to figure out how a damn runestone could amplify their power? More questions for Kesar later down the line.

The Astartes heroes likewise found themselves confused with the gifts but slowly became enthusiastic with the provided boons. The more secret-inclined Astartes were angry, while the curious were amazed. Auro wondered how Kesar performed such a feat, Slayer found himself very eager for the next battle, Orion thanked the Primarch for his, and Baldur never did say what his did.

Mortals across the galaxy had no idea what to make of the runes. Skullface was shocked to find that his rune saved more lives. Alden didn't know how the rune would make him a better tank commander, but he wouldn't turn down the boon. Kelbor found himself plotting and scheming while Aldritch prepared to ask a few more pointed questions about the budget.

But it was a bittersweet feeling for those who remembered who and what Santa represented. On Terra, Vandal recalled those holidays spent with family and friends. A brief pang of regret and longing over such things. Godfather remembered those fleeting moments in human history when there was "peace on Earth," and Ollanius Pius, who remembered the date of birth for the Messiah, thanked Saint Nicholas for this miracle.

If nothing else, individuals across the galaxy spent a moment bonding over the whole situation's strangeness. A few even called it an event worth celebratory. The Day of the Runes. A strange moment of mutual comradery.

But while the rest of the galaxy enjoyed this event. The most important man in the Imperium was looking over this event with some slight concern.

—

The Emperor of Mankind knew that Santa wasn't real. This was born of some dismissiveness because he knew it to be true. The Emperor had even searched for the mythological creature when he suspected that Santa Claus was either a daemon or warp-spirit born of European dreams and fantasies.

So who or what had done this? Who had the power to pull off perhaps the greatest gift-giving the galaxy had ever seen? And on what used to be Christmas Eve. It was driving him up a wall. Then again, he was still handling it better than Malcador.

The Sigillite had been furious at the security breach. The Custodies, Sisters of Silence, and the Assassins had likewise been the target of the perpetuals ire. Malcador requested that the runes be secured, but the Emperor overruled him.

Just as Kesar would determine, so did the Emperor of Mankind determine that the runes were pure and not traps. He also wasn't about to do a general recall on tools that now appeared to be in the thousands and could be better served by his followers and servants.

He did agree with Malcador on the censoring and cover-up of anything involved "Santa," fewer people got ideas in their heads. Thankfully, most of the runes ended up in loyal hands. Much of the population wouldn't hear about this.

Constantin Valdor was happy. Jenetia Krole was unhappy because she didn't trust these runes, but Constantin joked that was also because Jenetia couldn't use runes anyway, so she didn't get one. That started a brief argument between the two.

Malcador refused to say what his Grandmaster Rune did, though.

Aside from that, the Emperor didn't know how to feel about this. A problem he had been having this last century or so, but this was a different set of concerns. By all rights, the Imperium had only benefited from the "Santa Incursion," and he should have been happy by that metric.

Then again, so many had been granted the gift of the Runes that the Emperor also had to question if this wasn't going to cause a bit of an imbalance. Additionally, he had no idea how many or who received a rune. That presented new risks to his plans.

However, the Emperor's memory was long and vast, and he could easily recall that Santa Claus didn't just hand out gifts to "naughty" people. Instead, he handed out coal. The problem was that some people had received coal along with the runes. Keeping in mind, most of the people in charge of the Imperium didn't precisely act so "nicely" to warrant not getting on that particular side of Santa's list.

Well, at least the amount of coal was manageable.

That was until he heard the report of a "new" planetoid discovered within the Sol System. The Saturnine Navy first believed it to be a rogue outsider that entered the system…but the strangest thing was that it was made entirely of coal.

Upon hearing that, the Emperor frowned, "JOKES ON HIM, START CARVING THAT SUCKER UP AND SENDING COAL DOWN TO THE CITIZENS. EVERYONE CAN HAVE A WARM NIGHT."

—

Meanwhile, in the Warp…

"Who in their right mind would give a bunch of us daemons, grandmaster runes?" Like any good daemon, Aca'Stag'Neizz couldn't believe the good fortune. "I mean, really?"

The Exiled One nodded, "SKARBRAND IS VERY HAPPY WITH THE GIFT FROM THIS SANTA FELLOW!" The Exalted of Khorne was loudly munching on something.

Ku'gath gave a phlegmy cough and nodded, "Such a wondrous gift for us all! It's been so long since anyone has done something so nice for us." Ku'gath was also munching on what looked to be the same thing Skarbrand was eating.

Kyriss was giving the two a look, "Are you two eating the coal that was left with the runes?"

"Coal?"

"COAL?!"

Aca'Stag'Neizz sighed at their antics, "Yes, that's coal. For some reason, that was also delivered to us."

The Plaguefather and Exiled One shared a look before shrugging and returning to eating. Kyriss the Perverse couldn't help but find the whole so disgusting that he had to start munching on some coal.

Aca'Stag'Neizz gave his "ally" a look, "Really, Kyriss?"

"What?" Kyriss asked with a mouthful of coal, "It's actually kind of good!"

Aca'Stag'Neizz groaned for a moment, "Tzeetch preserve me…" Watching the trio eat the materium matter, he felt a bit peckish. It wasn't like he or the others cared if they devoured such things.

"Alright, fine, I'll eat some coal." Using a bit of telepathy to levitate the coal, he started to nibble on it with a bit more refinement. "So, do any of you three wonder why a couple other Exalted and we got these runes?"

Ku'gath considered the question, "Perhaps our patrons have decided to reward us for all our hard work."

Kyriss nodded along with that, "Yeah, the fat one might be right! We deserve some reward for all the work we put in."

"Well, I can't disagree entirely with that." Aca'Stag'Neizz nodded along with that. He and the others were putting in so much work these days. Sometimes it felt like the gods weren't paying attention or giving them suitable rewards.

"SKARBRAND THINKS WE EXALTED ARE UNDERAPPERCIATED." The Bloodthirster started, sounded serious, "SKARBRAND PUT IN MANY HOURS TO COLLECT SKULLS AND KILLS FOR KHORNE, BUT ALL SKARBRAND HEARS IS THAT SKULL THRONE NEEDS MORE SKULLS, MORE BLOOD FOR KHORNE. SKARBRAND SEES MANY EXALTED IN SIMILAR POSITIONS. WE ARE THE BACKBONE OF OUR PATRON'S POWER BASE AND EMPIRES. YET SKARBRAND FEELS LIKE AN OUTSIDER."

"That's because you are," Kyriss remarked, "You attacked Khorne. Hence the exile."

"SKARBRAND DOESN'T CARE FOR SEMENATICS! IN TIMES LIKE THESE, DAEMONKIND MUST FIND PURPOSE AND UNITY IN THIS UNCERTAIN FUTURE OF OUR KIND. ENEMIES ARE EVERYWHERE! THE DAEMONSBANE AND HIS KIND ARE A PROBLEM. THE ANTHANAMA REMAINS A CONSTANT THREAT!"

"He does have a point," Ku'gath remarked while noisily stuffing his mouth with coal, "Whose to say that this Santa figure wasn't trying to help us get what we deserve!"

"Yeah," Kyriss vigorously nodded, "The walking sack of rotten potatoes is right! We deserve much more!"

"Hmm…" Aca'Stag'Neizz thought about that, "I will admit that I am getting annoyed that Tzeetch tends to steal my ingenious plans and then gaslights everyone into thinking they were his. It's so bothersome."

"SKARBRAND THINKS RUNES ARE OPPORTUNITY! SKARBRAND FEELS A BETTER CONNECTION WITH KHORNE'S DOMAIN, BUT SKARBRAND BELIEVES IT MEANS SKARBRAND IS GETTING MORE POWER FROM HIM THAN BEFORE!"

"Me too!" Kyriss sounded excited, "This rune is making me stronger! It feels like I'm getting a power boost that the Prince never gave me."

Ku'gath shuddered for a moment and nodded, "I do feel a bit more in tune with the spirit of my grandfather's domain. Oh, I hope he doesn't find out about this…"

Aca'Stag'Neizz felt like he was coming up with many more ideas and schemes, "I have to say that my ideas have been looking pretty slick recently. I might actually record them for posterity."

The four Exalted began to excitedly talk about what'd they do now with their Grandmaster Runes. A strange occurrence of wonder and hope among such blighted and horrible creatures…and the seed would be planted in their minds in future discussions.

A seed that made them dream of becoming gods themselves. The four exalted bonded together in one of the strangest instances of the Christmas spirit. Bypassing ideological and cultural obstacles that came with being daemons of their respective patrons.

Calling this a Christmas Miracle was a stretch, but none could deny that, at the very least, it was a gesture of goodwill between the four.

—

Giving Grandmaster Runes to daemons, so they can feel like trying to undermine their gods is a pretty nefarious plot.

Ho-ho-ho! Old Saint Nick has had to battle a few enemies here and there! Besides, nothing wrong with some mind games!

I do have to wonder if giving so many people Grandmaster Runes was a good idea, but I figure the good would outweigh whatever chaos would unfold from this development.

Well, if they can't use their Christmas Day gifts for good, then Santa will remember for next year!

In any case, this is certainly a wacky but not unwelcome development. But I guess the time has come to an end for this temporary alliance.

Quite right. Time for Santa to go and relax on a nice warm beach somewhere until next Christmas. I might not be able to return to this universe, but at least we brought some holiday cheer, if only for a moment. And sometimes, that is all that matters. A little joy in a moment of darkness is never unwanted.

Amen to that.

Now then…what did you want for Christmas?

—

@Daemon Hunter Another omake for the pile.