WARHAMMER 40,000: A Thousand Tiny Suns (40k/Exalted Crossover!)

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IA! IA! SHE IS COME! PRAISE THE FIRST TWILIGHT!
  • Informational
    • FORTY ONE TWENTY TWO
    First Natural Magos, the Golden Chemist, Mistress of Gravitics, Herald of the Thousand Starred Sky, Warptamer

    ESSENCE: *
    XP TO ESSENCE **: 24/50

    ATTRIBUTES​
    Strength​
    Dexterity​
    Stamina​
    Perception​
    Intelligence​
    Wits​
    Appearance​
    Charisma​
    Manipulation​
    ***​
    *****​
    *​
    ***​
    *****​
    ***​
    *****​
    *​
    *​

    ABILITIES​
    FAVORED/CASTE?​
    ABILITY​
    LEVEL​
    FAVORED/CASTE?​
    ABILITY​
    LEVEL​
    NOT​
    Archery​
    *​
    FAVORED​
    Melee (Lens Lance)​
    *****(*)​
    FAVORED​
    		Athletics
    **​
    CASTE​
    Occult​
    ***​
    FAVORED​
    		Awareness (Join Battle)
    ***(*)​
    NOT​
    Performance​
    -​
    NOT​
    Brawl​
    -​
    FAVORED​
    Presence​
    *****​
    CASTE​
    		Bureaucracy
    -​
    NOT​
    Resistance​
    -​
    NOT​
    Dodge​
    ***​
    FAVORED​
    		Ride (Gita)
    ****(*)​
    CASTE​
    		Integrity
    **​
    NOT​
    Stealth​
    -​
    NOT​
    		Investigation
    -​
    NOT​
    Sail​
    -​
    NOT​
    Larceny​
    		-
    NOT​
    Socialize​
    -​
    NOT​
    		Linguistics
    *​
    NOT​
    Larceny​
    -​
    CASTE​
    		Lore
    ****​
    NOT​
    Survival​
    -​
    CASTE​
    		Medicine
    ****​
    NOT​
    Thrown​
    -​
    -​
    -​
    -​
    NOT​
    		War
    -​
    SUPERNAL CRAFT FOCUSES​
    CRAFT: Chemistry
    *****​
    		CRAFT: Armorer
    ***​
    		CRAFT: Artifacts
    *****​
    		CRAFT: ???
    -​

    MERITS​
    ARTIFACT (*****) - THE LENS LANCE
    DESCRIPTION: Forged in a heartbeat, lurking within the machine for ten thousand years, the fury and spirit of a barely tamed gravitic imploder lance - long mistaken for and used as an agrav system aboard an orbital habitat - has been once more aroused to the glory of battle. Though her functions are as of yet locked behind codewalls and mystery, she remains a terrifying weapon in the hands of a skilled warrior. Her legend will burn across the galaxy.

    FAMILIAR (**) - GITTA, THE EVER LOYAL
    DESCRIPTION: They say the Kriegers pour their hearts into their horses - but beyond their world, none know their mounts as anything but numbers on an Administratum file. Gitta will change that. Ia! Ia! Praise her! Praise Sainted Gitta, The Ever Loyal! Ia! Ia!

    TEMPERED BY THE ELEMENTS (**) - DAUGHTER OF VATS, BORN OF WAR
    DESCRIPTION: Though fading into seeming insignificance in the glorious dawn of a new age, the first Twilight to walk the galaxy since the fading of the Age of Sorrows was inured to the chaos of a modern battlefield, moving across it as swiftly as open ground.

    SELECTIVE CONCEPTION (*) - SUBDERMAL IMPLANT IN THE THIGH
    DESCRIPTION: ...this is actually just standard issue for Imperial Guardsmen from any world with a Magos Biologis on it.​

    LANGUAGES (*)
    DESCRIPTION: You can speak the ancient tongue of The Old Realm!

    INTIMACIES
    ​










    Defining: The Galaxy is a Body, I will Heal it (Positive)
    Major: Kit (Confused Attraction), Chaos (Hatred), Gitta (Love)
    Minor: Technology (fascination), Xenos (Fear)

    CHARMS​















    IN SUMMATION: Genuis flows, unabated, through the mind of the First Twilight. She is able to hold multiple projects in mind at once, easier than any mortal, while also shifting her focuses - despite not being trained in the crafting of explosives or metallurgy, she could shift her ability to create medical chemicals into that with some effort. She is able to inspire herself to construct even mighty artifacts swifter than any mortal, so long as she crafts projects that aid and help her allies and friends. She can complete mundane and even complex tasks - building a rifle, a suit of armor, or a small vehicle - in literal seconds using nothing but the raw materials and her bare hands. Raw excellence overflows in all her favored and caste abilities, bolstering their dicepools if required.
    ​
    Excellent SOLAR Ability
    Cost: 1m per Die | Type: Supplemental
    Keywords: None | Duration: Instant
    Effect: Adds +1 dice to your dice pool, up to your normal charm limits. You have this ability for any ability that is either CASTE, FAVORED, or has a SINGLE CHARM from it.

    TIRELESS WORKHROSE METHOD
    Cost: - | Type: Permanent
    Keyword: None | Duration: Permanent
    Effect: Gain +2 Major slots per Essence.

    EFFICENT CRAFTSMAN TECHNIQUE
    Cost: - | Type: Permanent
    Keyword: None | Duration: Permanent
    Effect: You may buy new Major slots for 3 SXP rather than 5.

    ARETE SHIFTING PRANA
    Cost: 4m, 1sxp, 1wp | Type: Simple
    Keywords: None | Duration: Instant
    Effect: Roll Int+Craft, convert 1 dot of a Craft skill into a different but related Craft skill - nearly impossible rationales can be allowed with a sufficiently good explanation. These dots last for one minor or major project.

    SUPREME CELESTIAL FOCUS
    Cost: - | Type: Permanent
    Keywords: None | Duration: Permanent
    Effect: You may expend GXP to buy Craft skills, up to a number of times equal to [Essence]. Any past that cost x2 GXP.

    SUBLIME TRANSFERRENCE
    Cost: 6m | Type: Simple
    Keyword: Mute | Duration: Instant
    Effect: By meditating for five minuets, you may arrange your crafting XP at a 2 to 1 ratio up each level: 2 silver becomes 1 gold, 2 gold becomes 1 white, and the reverse. You may use this while unconscious or asleep.

    AGES ECHOING WISDOM
    Cost: - | Type: Permeant
    Keyword: None | Duration: Permanent
    Effect: At the beginning of each Story (every 20 updates), gain GXP equal to your permanent Major Project Slots. For free!

    BRASS SCALES FALLING - REPURCHASED
    Cost: - | Type: Permanent
    Keyword: None | Duration: Permanent
    Effect: For each 10 rolled on a craft roll without an Excellency, gain 1 SXP up to [Essence x3].

    RED ANVILS RISING
    Cost: - | Type: Permanent
    Keyword: None | Duration: Permanent
    Effect: You gain +1 SXP per each basic objective.

    CHAINS FALL AWAY
    Cost: - | Type: Permanent
    Keywords: None | Duration: Permanent
    Effect: You gain 1 GXP if you complete all three basic objectives on a craft project.

    CRAFTSMEN NEED NO TOOLS
    Cost: 6m | Type: Simple
    Keyword: Mute | Duration: One Task
    Effect: You may complete a Basic or Major Project (either crafting or repairing) within seconds, using naught but your bare hands and sheer creative will.

    THOUSAND-FORGE HAND
    Cost: 10m, 1wp | Type: Reflexive
    Keyword: None | Duration: Instant
    Effect: Reduce artifact crafting time to (6-Essence) weeks for 1-4 dot artifacts, (6-Essence) months for 5+ dot artifacts.

    PEERLESS PERFECTION OF CRAFT
    Cost: - | Type: Permanent
    Keyword: None | Duration: Permanent
    Effect: At the end of each story (every 20 updates), roll a free full Intelligence+Craft+Full Excellency dice pool. Every success is 1 SXP, and every 10 is 1 GXP.

    FLAWLESS HANDIWORK METHOD - REPURCHASED
    Cost: 6m | Type: Supplemental
    Keywords: None | Duration: Instant
    Effect: Re-roll 10s until 10s fail to appear, counting each as a success. Re-roll 6s until 6s fail to appear.

    SUPREME MASTERWORK FOCUS
    Cost: 6m | Type: Supplemental
    Keywords: None | Duration: Instant
    Effect: Supplements any Craft roll for Major or Minor projects with Double 9s. Can be improved further with later Charm Purchases.

    EXPERIENTIAL CONJURING OF THE VOID
    Cost: 4m, 4s/g/wxp | Type: Reflexive
    Keyword: Salient | Duration: Instant
    Effect: Can be used after a Craft roll, and adds +1 non-charm success, +[Essence] non-Charm dice. Cannot be used on basic projects.

    UNBROKEN IMAGE FOCUS
    Cost: 3m+1s/g/wxp | Type: Reflexive
    Keyword: Salient | Duration: Instant
    Effect: After making a Craft roll, you may purchase non-charm successes up to the number of successes rolled + your [Essence]. These do not count double successes for the purposes of how many successes you can buy.

    SEASONED BEAST-RIDER APPROACH
    Cost: 1m, 1wp | Type: Supplemental
    Keywords: None | Duration: Instant
    Effect: Used when rolling join battle, Gitta (or other mounts) gains an imitative track equal to 41-22's - the mount can move and attack without taking up 41's actions.

    EVOCATIONS​
    LINE OF OBLITERATION SHAFT
    Cost: 2m, 2ini | Type: Reflexive
    Keywords: Withering-Only, Perilous | Duration: Instant
    Effect: Due to the peerless efficaciously of the Lens Lance at battering large masses of men in formation, any withering damage inflicted on a Battle Group increases the wielder's initiative as if they had attacked a worthy foe. This effect also reduces the Difficulty of the Unhorse and Disarm gambit by 1.​

    GEAR​

    The Lens Lance
    Accuracy: 12 | Damage: 17 | Defense: 6 | Overwhelming: 5 | Attunement: 5​
    Lethal: Does lethal damage when used with a decisive attack.
    Melee: Uses the melee skill
    Piercing: You may reduce your Defense by 1 and spend 1 Initiative to reduce enemy Soak by 4.
    Reaching: Negates any mounted combat penalties when used on foot
    Mounted: Can be used on horseback without penalty.
    Two Handed: Requires 2 hands to be held. Provides +2 to clash attacks.
    ​
    Laspistol
    Accuracy (melee, short, medium, long, extreme): 4/10/8/6/4 | Damage: 11 | Overwhelming: 1​
    Lethal: Does lethal damage
    Archery: Uses the archery skill
    Lasgun: Does +4 damage rather than adding your strength.
    Mounted: Can be used mounted.
    One Handed: Requires one hand to use.
    Concealable: Can be easily concealed, requiring only a Diff 1 Larceny roll.
    ​
    Flak Armor
    Soak: 6 | Mobility: -1 | Hardness: 0
    ​
     
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  • Informational
    • Adhoc vote count started by DragonCobolt on Jul 5, 2024 at 9:57 AM, finished with 29 posts and 18 votes.
    • [X] Plan Let The Thoughts Win
      -[X] "I'm sorry, this is driving me crazy. I just—could I please take a look at your equipment for a short minute? Thank you!"
      - [X] Call a council of everyone together to debate what must be done. You're not the Emperor, you can't give orders to his Angels!
      [X] "T-Thanks. I...are all Ultramarines like you?"
      [X] Plan Distraction Lunar
      - [X] "This is Kit! He's my husband. He's also Exalted." (Use Kit to distract the Ultramarine from you)
      - [X] Call a council of everyone together to debate what must be done. You're not the Emperor, you can't give orders to his Angels!
      [X] Call a council of everyone together to debate what must be done. You're not the Emperor, you can't give orders to his Angels!
      [x] make Amberley bigger shoes
      [X] Leave Cartheniax to run - you need to head to a proper industrial central so you can build proper starship weaponry!
    Click to expand...


    "Wow, Dragon, what the fuck happened to you?"

    I genuinely don't know? I just got hit with a massive wave of being weirdly like, "I should update my quests? Or...I could lay face first on the ground!" then I just did that for 34 days straight?

    Anyway, can someone roll me Cha+Pre+3, with a bonus of 3 ontop of the stunt bonus (which, as a reminder, is +2 dice, +2 automatic successes), difficulty 2!

    "Why are you asking for a roll?"

    I like rolling dice!

    EDIT: Wait...the vote tally did a fuck up! Do not roll dice!

    Adhoc vote count started by DragonCobolt on Aug 10, 2024 at 7:33 PM, finished with 27 posts and 14 votes.
    Click to expand...
     
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    Hammer of Jove (4.0)
  • Threadmarks
    • You considered your options - mind whirling - and then...slowly...you looked at Brutus. Through pitted glass, you considered his offer. His idea. The lessons you had learned in the schola. Of how Eldar were perfidious liars and tricksters, mercurial xenos that would stab a human in the back for the slightest of gain. But there were other memories. Deeper ones. Sad ones. Angry ones. Ones that wished to...to...

    The desire was lost on your tongue.

    But, quietly, you said: "We will heed your council, honorable Ultramarine. We shall go to the Craftworld Eldar. Agreed?" You glanced around yourself. Kit gave a nod. Amberly, who still seemed quite smug about her ability to intercept non-psychic messages with sword and sheer elan, nodded and smirked.

    "A-A...All right! H...how, uh...how do we get there?" you asked.

    Captain Brutus stood and bowed his head low. "We will gladly take you. Though, ahem, I do still wish to learn more of your unique condition. Aurora is the wisest woman I know, and she can surely divine much about your abilities and origin." Right. You had been a bit...evasive about the full extent of your abilities and their origins and the unsettling amount you had learned about them in your time on this world. You nodded, your hand going to your mask straps to make sure they were laying flush. Kit smiled slightly.

    "I, uh, wasn't aware that the Space Marines accepted women," he said.

    Brutus chuckled. "A common misconception," he said, with the jovial attitude of someone who was ever pleased to dispel confusion, or someone who had made a hobby of a subject and wanted very badly to lay out everything he had studied with such meticulous eagerness. "You see, the art of turning man to astartes begins with the implantation of the geneseed. However, it's not entirely clear the...precise...ahem...process that that entails. Many of the records have been lost, and our traditions vary wildly from other chapters. Some believe that only men can accept a geneseed. Some believe that only a woman. Some believe only man who is born as woman can. Some believe only woman who is born as man can. Some believe that anyone who accepts a geneseed must be willing to undergo chemical castration and survive a year and a day in that state, to properly balance their humors. For every chapter, there is a different method, a different tradition...and...well, I've never managed to aquire an actual series of success rates - all are kept so bloody secret, you'd imagine we're all competing or something." He frowned. "The Codex Astartes says that our brothers in arms remain brothers in truth, be they clad in red, blue, or any other heraldic you can imagine...but many marines have turned away from the Codex, have found new paths. Some to good ends, like our brothers in the Salamanders-"

    You had been so rapt, so attentive, so interested in what he was saying, that you barely noticed the straps being fixed around you by Kit. You blinked, realizing you had walked onto the Thunderbolt without noticing.

    "-or the Space Wolves, but others have been taken to dark, unsettling places." Brutus shook his head. "Remind me some day to tell you of my century serving as an attaché to the Marines Malevolent. If anything could have turned my heart against the Emperor, it would be those dark days."

    "...h-how did they pick people for geneseeds?" You asked.

    Brutus frowned. "The ones that screamed the least when the metal flower was inserted, I'm afraid."

    You remembered vivid depictions of the Ecclesiastical interrogation tool in your schola days. Your thighs snapped together despite yourself and your flinch was clear enough to be visible through the mask.

    Kit cocked his head.

    His words, somewhat lost in the din of the thunderhawk screaming into the air on a plume of plasma flame and smoke, were quite treasonous. Fortunately, you were fairly sure no one else in the cabin could read lips as well as you could.

    ***
    ​

    The shuddering and shaking and noise dropped off swiftly as you entered orbit. Through the thin, narrow portholes - visible by craning your head around in the massive seat you were strapped into - you could see the sleekness of the Hammer of Jove hanging in orbit. The chair you were in was clearly made to carry a fully armored Astartes warrior, and the sensation of being a child stuck into an adult's chair through an excessive use of adjuctive tape was...unsettling. Then the unsettling sensation of bigness got enhanced and underlined as the sleekness you had imagined transfigured, moment by moment, to complexity and vastness. You had...not realized quite how large a Battle Barge was until the thunderhawk finally came within the mouth of one of the cavernous shuttlebays. Gold and blue and white paint by the kilometer sprawled along fiercely gothic butresses, while macro-weaponry the size of an entire hab block jutted from the spine and the hammerhead shaped prow. Hundred of men and women in blue robes that harkened to the slick, skintight jumpsuits of the average voidworker were waiting for the landing, and as the restraints released you and you were able to skid off the chair, they hurried forward.

    When the gangplank lowered, you saw that the chapter serfs were already at working seeing to every pore of the vehicle that had carried you to orbit. There was no other sign of a single other space marine in the entire cavernous bay, while three chapter serfs in gold trimmed robes hurried to prostrate themselves before Brutus.

    "Captain Brutus," one said. "Librarian Aurora, we are honored to once more have you return to our blessed vehicle."

    "The honor is mine, Ship-Commander Thule," Brutus said. "41-22, this is Ship-Commander Thule. Ship-Commander Thule, this is 41-22."

    The Ship-Commander bowed to you as well.

    "Y-You don't need to-"

    "You are Kreig, my lady," he said.

    "D-D-Does everyone in Ultrimar do that!?" You stammered, lifting your hands up to ward it off.

    "Any in my presence do," Brutus said, his voice stern and frowning. With Kit emerging and Amberly behind him, Brutus introduced them as well, with just as much seriousness and honor. The Ship-COmmander bowed to each. Then, politely, he said.

    "Do you wish a place to store your...um...hunting lance?" he asked, regarding the Lens-Lance you clutched to your chest like it was your lifeline. The weapon did look rather scrap built and you could tell he didn't think much of it.

    "It's very deadly!" you stammered. "I mean, uh...uh..."

    ---
    [ ] Store the Lens Lance. Why'd you need it?
    [ ] Keep the Lens Lance. Just in case.

    Also!

    [ ] Go with Aurora to have her divine at you immediately.
    [ ] Bring everyone, even Amberly, to have Aurora divine at each of you!
    [ ] Decline to let Aurora study any of you - you don't need to reveal every secret you have, right?


    Health: Fine
    Anima: Glowing
    Willpower: 5/5
    Personal Motes: 13/13 | Peripheral Motes: 28/28 (Committed Motes: 5)
    Limit: 1/10 (Trigger: Being stymied by indulges around her)
    XP: 5 | Solar XP: 6
    Major Projects: 0/5
    SXP: 19 | GXP: 21 | WXP: 6
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • Testing
    T_of_A threw 20 10-faced dice. Reason: 20d10 as asked Total: 118
    8 8 4 4 7 7 5 5 4 4 1 1 10 10 7 7 7 7 1 1 8 8 1 1 10 10 9 9 5 5 7 7 10 10 10 10 1 1 3 3
     
    [X] Keep the Lens Lance. Just in case.
    [X] Bring everyone, even Amberly, to have Aurora divine at each of you!
     
    [X] Keep the Lens Lance. Just in case.
    [X] Bring everyone, even Amberly, to have Aurora divine at each of you!

    The Ultramarines seem to have taken several levels of sanity over the average so why not. The lance is in case shit goes down from other sources and also because I want to see the Tech marine reaction to a man portable weaponized flexible gravity manipulator.
     
    [X] Keep the Lens Lance. Just in case.
    [X] Bring everyone, even Amberly, to have Aurora divine at each of you!

    Makes the most sense, though something tells me that poor seer is going to struggle to divine Exalts whose very nature flexes against the dictates of Fate.
     
    [X] Store the Lens Lance. Why'd you need it?
    [X] Bring everyone, even Amberly, to have Aurora divine at each of you!
     
    [X] Keep the Lens Lance. Just in case.
    [X] Bring everyone, even Amberly, to have Aurora divine at each of you!

    Glad to have you back.
     
    [X] Keep the Lens Lance. Just in case.
    [X] Bring everyone, even Amberly, to have Aurora divine at each of you!

    Hey,so soulsones are tier 3 artifacts? We can make at least one to demonstrate,right?

    Not sure about the wxp cost per artifact dot. I mean, i think its 10xp per roll, but what successesare needed per dot in artifact?

    Anyway, what would it take to built something capable of making soulstones? 5 dot artifact? More?

    If its too much, canonically,the soulstones are made from a material that cannot be sythezised by the leftovers of the aeldari.
    Can we built an artifact capable of doing so ? With access to soulstone precurser,they can probably handle the rest.
    What tier of artifact would this be?


    Or,worst case, how much xp to built a factory that can produce worse but functional soulstone knock offs?

    I want to supply the craftworlds with soulstones, for diplomatic and moral reasons.
    I also dont want to be stuck for years making the things.
     
    DragonCobolt said:
    "Wow, Dragon, what the fuck happened to you?"

    I genuinely don't know? I just got hit with a massive wave of being weirdly like, "I should update my quests? Or...I could lay face first on the ground!" then I just did that for 34 days straight?
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    Sometimes, being a functional adult is difficult, and pretendy-fun-time games on the internet have to take a back seat for a while.
    Very nice to have you back 👍

    Not sure if this is going to be a "good" or "bad" option. But I think it will be very interesting.
    [X] Bring everyone, even Amberly, to have Aurora divine at each of you!
     
    [X] Keep the Lens Lance. Just in case.
    [X] Bring everyone, even Amberly, to have Aurora divine at each of you!
     
    Narasan said:
    Hey,so soulsones are tier 3 artifacts? We can make at least one to demonstrate,right?

    Not sure about the wxp cost per artifact dot. I mean, i think its 10xp per roll, but what successesare needed per dot in artifact?
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    a soulstone is a First Age artifact (autocthon is just...advanced like that)

    Thus it takes white XP, despite being a 3 dot artifact, and needs 50 successes (with a diff of 5 for each roll)

    Now if you convert all your crafting XP into white XP, you'd have 21 white XP, giving you two rolls - unlikely to get you all the way there. But it does mean that the rewards will also be as if it were a legendary task! So, like, you're actually closer to being able to make a soulstone than any human in the history of the galaxy since the Emperor himself. But not quite there.

    ALso, first age artifacts require "something more" that the GM must decide - in your case, I'd say it'd require either sorcery (to understand and see the flow of souls through the warp) or taking a functional soulstone apart to learn how it works.
     
    [X] Keep the Lens Lance. Just in case.
    [X] Bring everyone, even Amberly, to have Aurora divine at each of you!

    "You get a reading, you get a reading! Everybody gets a reading!"
     
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    [X] Keep the Lens Lance. Just in case.
    [X] Bring everyone, even Amberly, to have Aurora divine at each of you!
     
    [X] Keep the Lens Lance. Just in case.
    [X] Bring everyone, even Amberly, to have Aurora divine at each of you!

    DragonCobolt said:
    Now if you convert all your crafting XP into white XP, you'd have 21 white XP, giving you two rolls - unlikely to get you all the way there. But it does mean that the rewards will also be as if it were a legendary task! So, like, you're actually closer to being able to make a soulstone than any human in the history of the galaxy since the Emperor himself. But not quite there.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Are there 'story' ways to constantly generate free crafting exp (access to a manse with proper logistics) or is our crafting 'restricted' via inspiration (restricted in that we can easily beat a team of the best magos in the galaxy who are somehow cooperating with eachother without subterfuge or holding back of info, but not infinite)?
     
    Mailstrome said:
    Are there 'story' ways to constantly generate free crafting exp (access to a manse with proper logistics) or is our crafting 'restricted' via inspiration (restricted in that we can easily beat a team of the best magos in the galaxy who are somehow cooperating with eachother without subterfuge or holding back of info, but not infinite)?
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    Making stuff for people! Make dinner, build gizmos, fix broken doors, think up ways to write in crafting if you want more crafting xp!
     
    Adhoc vote count started by DragonCobolt on Aug 13, 2024 at 12:00 AM, finished with 18 posts and 13 votes.
    Click to expand...


    Been replaying Rogue Trader - Owlcat has really polished it up and it was already great - and I forgot Aurora was also the name of a space marine in that...hmm...

    OH! midway through writing, I realized, I need an Int+Occult, diff 6 roll! I'm gonna give you a +3 stunt cause I'm writing this story and I'm just so fucking good at describing things

    I'm 1.3k through the update no one is reading these edits I'LL THOW THE DICE MYSELF

    5s! You can pass it with a WP!
    DragonCobolt threw 9 10-faced dice. Reason: Occultz Total: 42
    2 2 7 7 9 9 5 5 8 8 2 2 2 2 2 2 5 5
     
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    Divinations (4.1)
  • Threadmarks
    • "Oh, no, uh, I need this!" you said, hurriedly clutching the Lens Lance to your chest. The serfs blinked and exchanged glances with one another, but the Ship-Commander bowed low.

    "Of course, honorable guest," he said.

    You gulped behind your resperator - and then walked with Kit and Amberly, who apparently seemed downright eager to see what a diviner Librarian could accomplish - away from Captain Brutus and the Ship-Commander. You just barely heard the Ship-Commander, speaking to one of his serfs.

    "Tag 41-22 for alerts if she gets near the outer hull," he said, dryly. "That's a hunting lance."

    Behind you, the serfs all looked significantly more constipated.

    ***
    ​
    "So, is it...Battle-Sister Aurora?" Amberly asked, curiously, as you followed after the Librarian.

    "No," she said. "I am Battle Brother Aurora. Battle Brother is a Low Gothic corruption and enrichment of Battlebra, an Old Gothic shorthand slang for Battlefield Bolter Action Team. The original Legionaries who served the Emperor would operate in teams armed with volkite weapons, with heavy bolters being used for secondary and tertiary fronts. Since those fronts primarily faced human and human descended foes, our enemies called us Battlebras, which over time shifted to Battle Brothers, and, thus, stuck." She sighed, quietly. "Do you know what the curse of being a Librarian is?"

    "Being...ps...psychic?" you asked, hesitantly. Kit shot you a warning look.

    Aurora paused, and turned to look down her nose at you.

    "No," she said. "We read too much and are, thus, painfully aware of how profoundly stupid the universe is."

    She had stopped before a large rectangular door which hissed and clunked open behind her. Amberly took a step forward, but Aurora held out her palm.

    "Stay yourself, Commissar," she said, her voice short. "This is a disrobing chamber, not my sanctum."

    "Oh," Amberly said.

    The door shut with a hissing squeal of pistons and clunking metal. As the three of you waited out there, Amberly fidgeted. She turned to face Kit. "Kit, I think she doesn't like me," she said.

    "No, no, she likes you fine," Kit said, nodding and reaching over to ruffle Amberly's blond locks - which had been painfully straight despite her hat and the ride up into orbit.

    "Hey!" she hurriedly combed her hair back into something approaching order. "A-And she can't stop calling 41 here honorable this and honorable that, and bold Krieger. I'm just...Commissar."

    You bit your lip. It was not very Krieg to say yes, well, but they've met you.

    "Commissars do important duties!" she said.

    "Maybe she's more brusque than Captain Brutus," Kit said. "She does read a lot."

    The door opened and Aurora emerged. She was just as impressive in a simple blue and white tunic and leggings, towering over the three of you as easily as she had in her powered armor - though now, you could at least see her neck, and the almost ridged layers of her black carapace. It gave her clothing an odd almost bell shape, like she was wearing some kind of bone coreset, and when she moved, you could hear the servo whirring had been replaced with a grinding sound of carapace touching carapace.

    "Come," she said. "So, you three have some...unusual abilities. I'm not sure what to believe, exactly."

    "It's not psychic powers!" you added, quickly.

    "Would it be so bad if it were?" Aurora asked, arching an eyebrow.

    "...n...no..y...y..k...bu...uh..." you stammered.

    Kit chuckled. "Uh, did you know that on Krieg, an entire infantry platoon is able to subsist entirely on boiled shoeleather. 41-22 is just keeping herself in practice."

    "W...What?" you asked.

    "Foot in mouth," Amberly hissed.

    "But..ghtum..." You spluttered.

    Aurora let out the deepest booming belly laugh you'd ever heard from a woman. "Ahaha!" She laughed, clapping her hand on your shoulder so hard you were almost flipped onto the deck plating. "You three have the camaraderie we love to see in the Guard," she said, her voice amused. "I do wish that we could still maintain the Solar Auxilaria's standards - if only because I think you'd look amazing in their uniforms."

    You were scarlet behind your mask, which made it very easy to keep your dignity as you arrived in the sanctum. The doors opened to reveal an austere library, with vaulted ceilings and countless stacks spread across what seemed to be a quarter of a deck's worth of space. Candles on servo skulls drifted by, but while there was a small shrine to Ultimar dominating a few dozen meters in the back and a few Ultramarine pennants up on the wall, the place seemed shockingly undecorated to your eyes. Instead, more space was taken up by books - stacked, racked, placed hither and yon, spread throughout this space. Many of them were solid manuscripts, but there were also data slates and some data-crypts that were scattered here and there. You saw a few chapter serfs walking amongst the books, but there was one other space marine, several hundred meters away and only visible thanks to being on the second level.

    "T-There are so few space marines aboard," you whispered.

    "There are only a thousand in the chapter," Aurora said. "Now, let us begin. I wish to probe your fates, and we shall use my preferred method."

    She walked you to a reading niche. There were what appeared to be a hexagonal board covered with pieces.

    "It's regicide," Kit said, quietly.

    "What is it?" you asked.

    "A...a game," he said, quietly.

    "What does it...do?" you asked.

    "Entertain. Pass the hours. Uh, it also teaches some basic fundamentals of tactics, I think," he said, producing a faint 'ah' from you.

    "I see, I see. For a second, I thought it was just...something that had no purpose," you said, producing an arched eyebrow from Aurora.

    "I beat my father nine times out of ten," Amberly said, her voice deeply smug as she took the seat across from the regicide board before anyone could stop her. "I'm ready."

    "We're...not going to play the game, Commissar," Aurora said.

    "...oh," Amberly said. She coughed. "I knew that."

    "Close your eyes," Aurora said, her hands clasped behind her back. You felt her attentive focus grow upon you - as if the whole room was growing closer and tighter. The wood creaked around you and you fidgeted as Amberly closed her eyes. "Now, reach out."

    Amberly's brow furrowed. You swore you could hear her brain flexing. She actually gritted her teeth.

    Aurora sighed, then reached down, taking hold of Amberly's entire arm with her massive palm. She hefted Amberly's arm up. "With your hand."

    "...oh..." Amberly's face was as red as your hair was now.

    "Let your hand relax," Aurora said. Her voice was soft. Amberly's fingers started to go limp. The board seemed to twinkle as you cocked your head slowly to the side. "Touch the piece that calls to you." Aurora's quiet voice seemed to buzz in your bones. Deep, lulling. Amberly's fingers drifted down, touching the Primarch. She shifted it forward, bumping aside two of the Guardsmen. The Primarch skidded forward across the board. Amberly's voice was soft.

    "Bronze..." she whispered. "Bronze. Beats Gold."

    She knocked over the Emperor on the far side of the board with the Primarch.

    Everyone was very still. Aurora rubbed her chin. "That's...not the future," she said, cocking her head. "That's strange. That's very...very strange." She cocked her head, then held out her hand. For just a moment, you saw crackling witchfire tingling along her fingers.

    Then she was picked bodily up by some invisible force and thrown against the wall.

    Amberly jerked upwards, yelping, as she opened her eyes. The regicide table went skidding as Aurora wheezed, sitting up and rubbing at her nose - her lip was split and she was bleeding. You hefted your Lens Lance, aiming it around wildly, while Aurora slammed her palm against the wall-vox. "Bridge!" she barked. "Are we in translation!?"

    "uh...n-no, Battle Brother," a rumbly voice came through. "We're still two days from the red line."

    "What the fuck was that then?" Aurora asked, rubbing her jaw as she took her hand from the vox. "I felt a presence slap me in the face, as if we were in the midst of a Geller breach. It was furious. Incensed. Frustrated. It tasted of...blue..." She frowned.

    "...Tzneetch?" you asked.

    Everyone looked at you.

    "You got that from blue?" Aurora asked.

    "What's a Tzneetch?" Amberly hissed.

    "I...uh, changer of the ways," you said, blushing. "I've...got some basic, uh...I've been studying the occult. A little. So I know how to, to, to, you know...so, anyway, they were mad? Frustrated?" You asked, hurriedly.

    "Yeah. Frustrated. And taking it out on the only...thing they can get their talons on..." Aurora said. She reached into one of her pockets and you tensed, not quite not readying your lance. Instead, she withdrew a single throne coin. The golden coin winked as she flicked it to Kit. "Flip that, tell me, skull or throne."

    Kit, his spine tensed and his tigerishness on full readiness, frowned. He flipped it, caught it, slapped it against his knuckles. "Throne," he said.

    "Again," Aurora said, her voice intent.

    Flip. Catch.

    "Skull."

    "Again."

    Aurora had him do it six times - and each time, Amberly fidgeted and squirmed and clearly wanted to ask what was going on - but the Librarian was so intense, so focused, that you shushed her each time. Finally, Aurora lowered her hand and breathed out a slow sigh. "Well, my specialization won't help here," she said, quietly. "You cannot be divined. You have no fate."

    "...beg pardon?" Kit asked.

    "I was practicing the simplest of all auguries. I should have been able to call each flip, every single time - but instead, I only called it roughly the same number of times that a human would have with mere luck. My divination isn't bringing back wrong results, as it might if you were blocking me with a psy power of your own. No. It is bringing back no results, which is impossible unless there's no fate to be divined."

    "W...What does that mean?" you asked.

    "It means that you are outside of the grand tapestry of potentiality that exists before us," Aurora said, quietly. "No wonder the Enemy of Sanity himself hates you so much."

    ---
    You can do literally anything, without ordainment or prediction...what do you do?

    [ ] Stand perfectly still in a moment of complete panicked realization of the enormity of existential freedom
    [ ] Write in

    Health: Fine
    Anima: Glowing
    Willpower: 4/5
    Personal Motes: 13/13 | Peripheral Motes: 28/28 (Committed Motes: 5)
    Limit: 1/10 (Trigger: Being stymied by indulges around her)
    XP: 5 | Solar XP: 6
    Major Projects: 0/5
    SXP: 19 | GXP: 21 | WXP: 6
     
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    • [X]so,could i, theoretically, if given authority, give orders through astropath relay to the entire sector,and just throw a wrench in a lot of plans? Something simple, like check all officers for corruption, change all guard rotations, change all security codes, or deploy one day later?-not that i want to-but there is a possibility for much more security from this.!
     
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