[color=9e0b0f][h3][b]Pentious[/b][/h3][/color]


Rik had always been intelligent. Even in the early days when he had been little more then a burned, mangled babe he had always been a quick leaner. Concepts and ideas that would have taken a normal person decades to properly understand, he seemed to get instinctively. In the event he didn't, he was a remarkably quick study. When his adopted mother had taken the time to sit down and talk to him about it, Rik's description of what he experienced with these 'flashes' of knowledge pointed to a method of information imprinting of a scale as legendary as the genetic engineering that had been employed in his creation.

It was not, however, perfect. The information was present in Rik's mind to be drawn upon but that didn't bring understanding; The information was more or less in a vacuum without context. It was honestly one of the reasons why he valued the teachings of his mentors and teachers so much because while the information might not have been new, the [i]understanding[/i] of it and the context in which it could be employed was of vital importance to him. 

It was something of fair exchange, since where Rik gained better understanding of himself, his mentors and homeworld gained access to the knowledge stored inside of him. While historically such prized knowledge would have been horded by the higher ranked members of the Pentious, their near destruction at the hands of the orks and Rik's own habit of freely sharing the knowledge he could access to just about anyone who wanted it had caused something of a cultural shift. 

The risk of knowledge or know how being lost due to a single specialist dying had been judged too great in the years before Rik's arrival, but the sudden flood he caused of new information and knowledge had cemented the shift. There were still restrictions in place; Secrets that needed to be kept because to properly appreciate and respect the dangers and methods of those rites and practices required a strong foundation of understanding and study of the topic. The lack of which would almost certainly result in a lot of needless death and destruction.

But with the exception of the restrictions put in place for experience and understanding of the subject, everyone more or less had access to everything that wasn't restricted for one reason or another. Anyone who wished to gain access to a restricted topic could study and prove themselves trustworthy not to kill themselves and everyone around them to be granted access to their respective field. It also had an interesting side effect in that, by granting everyone access to all the information they needed those more driven, talented or insightful tended to stand out among their peers and rise up in the ranks. 

Outright physical experimentation was restricted, but theoretical experimentation wasn't: Anyone of any level of rank or experience could work on developing theoretical adjustments to existing blueprints or designs in order to make them work more efficiently or better suited to certain tasks or conditions and submit them for review. If the idea is not on record for having been attempted before and was found to be theoretically sound by several more experienced members of the machine cult, the new design would be physically constructed and tested by the recently created Experimental Development Department. 

The EDD was vital in its testing of the theoretical in order to see if it could translate into the practically physical. Most ideas that made it to the Department fail to leave it for one of three reasons:

1. The new design, for whatever reason, simply doesn't operate or suffers a flaw that makes it worse then the original. Several items of the new design are built for the purpose of making sure a failure to operate isn't just a fault in the construction of the prototype and is purely an issue with the design itself.

2. The new design doesn't outperform the original in the manner that it was theorized to.  

3. The new design is simply to expensive for the benefit it might give. This category covers times and resources used in not only construction, but repair and maintenance as well. 

Despite the fact that most of the experiments fail, having an idea reach that stage in the first place is considered something of a feather in the cap of those Mechanicum members who do so. Even a failed idea furthered the quest for knowledge because it helps give a greater understanding as to [i]why[/i] the original designs are the way they are. It also served as an unofficial way for lower ranked members of the cult to showcase that their knowledge and talents were at a point where they would benefit from having access to a higher tier of information and resources. 

Everyone had to submit their ideas for review and all the prototypes needed to be made within the Experimental Development Department... through exactly [i]who[/i] was making the prototypes was a bit more open to interpretation.

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GC-118's appointment as a Magos had always had a degree of friction to it among the more elder members of Pentious, largely because of how young she was when she was granted the rank. For the most part she didn't really mind since her observations and calculations both rational and emotional she dedicated on the matter revealed that the majority of their disquiet about her appointment had nothing to do with her personally at all; They were remembering the peers, friends and sometimes more that had been been torn out of the orderly mechanism of their lives by the uncaring, easily entertained hands of the greenskin tides and finding the replacement to not to live up to their nostalgia of what once was. 

Well, apart from Magos YS-530. She was just a bitch to everyone. 

Still, she rather enjoyed her work in the Experimental Development Department. In her mind she couldn't help but picture herself akin to the Explorators who had originally set out from Mars, striving to uncover the lost knowledge of mankind! In fact, it made her feel closer to those who came before during the height of Humanity, before the Age of Strife and the loss of so much in its chaos. With each project she got to work on, success or failure... she could better understand why they made the decisions they did and thus, better understand the nature of the machine spirits and their physical shells.

It also had the wonderful benefit that she got to work alongside Myrmidon Uixien occasionally. For example, the two of them were currently working on two different parts of a pair of experiments that he had put forward himself: Designs that would, in theory at least, alter the armor and implants of the various Vanguard units so that they would be better suited to protecting their wearers from the side effects of the radiation of their own Rad weapons by a considerable degree and giving the average Vanguard additional years, if not decades of life to live.      

There were two different experiments put forward because they were designed around different ideas: The one she was currently working on bringing to life was a serious of redesigns on the currently active Vanguard technology, improving the systems and designs currently in use and allowing active Vanguards to be cycled off of combat duty for a time to be upgraded. 

The one Uixien was working on was a complete redesign from the ground up. 

Where GC-118's work might, if the prototypes proved promising and the engineering, construction and logistical challenges didn't doom it to be lesser then the original design, be used to upgrade the hardware and implants of the currently serving Vanguards of Pentious, the Myrmdon was actively working on a design that would replace them in generations to come. 

Taking the lessons and knowledge of the original Vanguard armor and implant designs, the battlefield data connected to them for good and ill... and designing something without having to worry about upgrading or working around what was already in place in order to create something that would give the average Vanguard solder a fighting chance of dying of natural causes unrelated to radiation poisoning. It would be an absolute evolution of the technology and would cement its creators place in history... but knowing Uixien like she did, that wasn't why he was doing it.    

GC-118 wasn't the sort to let her thoughts distract her from her professionalism or her work, but she was a girl of simple pleasures and the means to achieve them. There was a mental vault that she kept separate from her primary one that was linked up to the optic sensor that she was using to observe Myrmdon Uixien as he worked while also containing the various emotions the sight made her experience. It also allowed her to see the interesting servo-skull that was hovering about him, seemingly made of a broken skull that had been put back together with... gold? It was strangely beautiful, through she was sure that there were those who would consider it wasteful. 

When she finally decided to speak up, her emotions were easy to read, despite her instinctive desire to hide them. "[color=00aeef][Bashful Query:] Myrmdon Uixien, may I make an attempt at understanding the circuity of your brain and how it processes thought?[/color]" 

Neither of them stopped working: They were both professional and rather talented at multitasking when it was called for after all, but GC-118 couldn't help but notice that it took Uixien an extra moment to respond to her when he answered "[color=00a651]If you wish to make a hypothesis about how my mind works, you are welcome to try. I will respond with total honesty.[/color]"

The ball now back firmly in her court, GC-118 took a few seconds to review what she wanted to say in order to see if it needed to be corrected or refined in any way before being put out into the world. "[color=00aeef][Probing statement:]You could have very easily turned all your attention towards the prototype you are working on... yet you still made the point of putting together something to upgrade the current generation of Vanguards in order to reduce the upon of damage that their own weapons cause them, despite the fact that future Vanguards would be equipped with greater resistance to radiation from the start then the current generation will ever have.[/color]"

"[color=00aeef][Questioning confession:]Some of my processes and calculations suggest that the reason behind this is that you are not blind to the suffering of others and you are actively trying to reduce it to a level you find closer to acceptable. [Tentative Admiration:] I believe there is truth to this... but that it is not your only driving motive.[/color]" Something happened that GC-118 had not been expecting to happen: She saw Uixien pause in his work when she concluded that he had more motives to his work. She had never seen him pause like this before.

"[color=00a651]The acceptable level of suffering, despite what some of our peers might believe Magos GC-118, is suffering = 0. However, since we do not live in a perfect world, we can only get as close as we can. You are correct in that assessment... but I admit I am curious as to what other motive you believe my work has.[/color]" Turning from the processing machines he had been working on, GC-118 saw a biological eye focused on her as he waited with curiosity, giving her a great deal of his undivided attention.

Ignoring the way that her heart was beating... and the machinery around it was working slightly overtime to regulate it, GC-118 took a deep, multi-filtered breath. "[color=00aeef][Deductive Reasoning:] Two grander motives come to mind. The first is that you simply wished for the fame and recognition that would come with submitting two designs at once and having them be successful... [Dismissal:] However, from what I have observed of you, political ambition and fame are not primary driving forces for any of your actions.[/color]"

"[color=00aeef][Deeper Deduction:] The second option is that you are planning for a time post-orks on Pentious. Something to trade with other Forge Worlds we might come across in the galaxy. [Reconsideration:] No... You wouldn't trade something like the upgrades for the base Vanguard design because hording it to yourself would cause needless suffering. [Realization:] You would give that information for free in order to develop good will with other Forge Worlds... while keeping the more advanced Vanguard designs as an ace if the Forge World proved untrustworthy and to have something to offer them in the future if relations improve.[/color]" There was a moment of silence as she watched him watching her... and a small smile starting to dawn on his face that made her feel warm.

"[color=00a651]It would appear that my machinations are transparent to you, Magos GC-118. I admit that I have always found your habit of trying to understand how I think and see the world rather then just asking me to be rather quaint.[/color]" He paused... before he asked a question that would change the course of history. "[color=00a651]Maybe we could spend some time together when we both have a free meal time and talk in a slightly less professional manner then normal?[/color]"

"[color=00aeef][EMOTIONAL PROCESSING ERROR! EMO5$*%AL PRO&#SS*ING ERR#R! Emotional Reboot in 3... 2...1...][/color]" GC-118 stood stock still as the glow of her optics flared bright, then suddenly dimmed before her body seemed to relax a little. "[color=00aeef][Completely Normal & Calm Response:] I would like that very much. We can compare schedules after we are done here Myrmdon Uixien.[/color]" 

"[color=00a651]Wonderful. And please, call me Rik.[/color]"