Terminal — Roleplayer Guild

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Old Guild Username: Terminal
Joined: 10 yrs ago
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1. Terminal 10 yrs ago
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Bio

I have been writing as a hobby for longer than you have been alive. I have been a regular member and roleplayer of no less than fourteen different online forums during that time (including the old RPG), five six eight of which no longer exist.

I was previously a regular on the Homestuck forums, but I became so sick of thread turnover there that I asked around and eventually found the Guild. Since joining, I have exclusively only participated in Advanced RPs. Before Mahz gave NRPs their own subforum, I used to be an NRP regular in the Advanced Subforum. I am a Guildfall survivor, and know/regularly write with a few others.

If you ask anybody who has written with me in previous RPs, they should tell you that I have a generally open schedule, I post regularly and in a timely fashion, and I never drop an RP once I join unless the thread dies. Some of them may tell you that I have extensive expertise within the realms of Biology, Psychology, and Physics, which I will make no effort to validate since there is no way I can provide hard proof of aforementioned alleged expertise to anybody over the internet (though I am happy to try and answer any questions you send my way).

My favorite fandom is the Myst franchise, which seemingly nobody other than me has ever heard of.

I was a Contest Moderator for the Writing Contests Subforum for just a little bit over two years. I wrote the Moderation Policy for that subforum and I ran a contest called the Twelve Labours; you can still go there and see all of them and the entries people wrote for them in the Contests Section and the Victory Archives.

I have been quadruple secret banned from the guild discord. That is not a joke.

Most Recent Posts

In The Envenomed → 3 mos ago Forum: Advanced Roleplay

Name : [Redacted]  (Answers to 'King')

Asset Codename : Apocyan King

DoB/Age : Born in 4210. Age 23 years at time of stasis, 27 subjective years presently.

Species : Human/Exotic Artificial Construct

Physical Parameters:
[Apocyan King] is spherical black construct approximately 20 centimeters wide with 26 optical emitters measuring 2 centimeters across studded across the surface. This mechanism is the end-product of the original [Apocyan King] project; an apparatus capable of projecting and maintaining a hard-light photon curtain.

The device is capable of adjusting the projected photon curtain to possess virtually any shape and appearance. Generally, this takes the form of the host process' original Human body: A Caucasian Human male, approximately 23 years old and being of East-Asian Ethno-regional descent. He stands approximately 1.78 meters in height and look like they might weigh approximately 65 kilograms. He has an overall light build with lanky features. He has long auburn-colored hair approximately 45 centimeters in length, worn in a number of different styles. He has somewhat angular facial features and prominent raised cheekbones along with deep-green eye coloration. He possesses a birth mark in the form of a skin impression, running down from the back of the neck and across his left shoulder, thought to be due to a natal cord entanglement in-situ.

Personal History:
[Redacted] was one of many, and also one of relatively very few, to be born aboard a habitation satellite in orbit of Mother Earth. He lived a childhood of obscene privilege, permitted to regularly visit the planet across its few remaining stable ecological zones and preserves while always being able to return to the modern comforts and conveniences of the well-established satellite environment he had grown up in. With a thorough local government-subsidized education, [Redacted] could have chosen to become trained in nearly any field of his choice, to have become anything, and to have gone anywhere. Wanting for almost nothing, one of the few things [Redacted] ever held any genuine interest in was Etherealism and the secrets of the Oneiric Abyss - one of the few fields he was not given to study freely, or easily. In addition to being a subject of great personal and interpersonal power to those who dedicated themselves to it, it was one of the few topics [Redacted] ever experienced difficulty pursuing - the only thing they felt challenged them.

[Redacted] thus dedicated most of their adolescence to studying Etherealism, training and honing their personal capabilities with Ethereal power, and going out of their way to establish Rapport with prominent Ethereal researchers where possible. [Redacted] efforts bore fruit when the Reckoning of Empires began in 4229, and the UCL redoubled its various research ventures into Etherealism. Having become the informal pupil to the established Academician Austan Enlil Aienbek of the UCL's Earth-based Abyssal Research Consortium (ARC), [Redacted] was placed for Ethereal evaluation and placement within the organization. 

Unfortunately for [Redacted], while their knowledge of the history of Etherealism and its practices was exemplary, as suited their obsession with it, their personal capacity for harnessing the power of the Abyssal plane proved midling at best. Still, as close associate of Academician Aienbek, [Redacted] was nonetheless flagged for qualification as a pilot candidate for an ongoing research venture investigating technological solutions to mediating the use of Ethereal powers. [Redacted] was entered into project [Apocyan King], an experiment testing one of several different theoretical methods for wielding Ethereal abilities without accreting Qillatu or otherwise suffering detrimental effects from interaction with the Abyss by transferring the mind of the wielder from their native body into a different one - in the case of [Apocyan King], an artificial construct that utilized an exotic hard-light projection system as additional Ethereal insulation. As a test subject along with twelve others, [Redacted] was the only one amongst them who could both survive the mind-transference procedure both ways and had sufficient practical knowledge of Etherealism despite their limited talent to successfully utilize it even while relegated to an artificial body with no organic components. Being the only test subject to produce reliable results - and promising results at that - [Redacted] was then elevated to become the primary subject and end-product of [Apocyan King]. For a few moments in time, it seemed as though [Redacted] had been placed on a fast-lane to lifelong success, fame, wealth, and admiration as an aspiring Ethereal researcher and pioneer of the next paradigm shift in Etherealism.

It was not to be - for the Oneiric Chasm is chaotic, unpredictable, and defies attempts to comprehend, shackle, or exploit it freely. Although [Redacted] proved capable of projecting Etherealism through the medium of the [Apocyan King] prototype, the Abyss seemingly traced a conduit of cause and effect between the construct and [Redacted] original body. The initial symptoms of this unseen connection remained hidden for a time, dismissed simply as the residual and ongoing effects of [Redacted] continued practice of Etherealism when still occupying their native body. The full consequences of the overlooked bond manifested all at once, during an experiment meant to stress-test the Ethereal capabilities of a mind within the [Apocyan King] construct over an extended period of time. Detecting the rapidly accumulating Qillatu around [Redacted] host body too late to abort the experiment safely - as the mind transference method itself required Etherealism in addition to a minimal safety threshold of Qillatu aggregation to function - [Redacted] mind became trapped in the [Apocyan King] construct as his native body's empty mind cocooned itself in inert Qillatu.

To make matters worse, it was then that the Reckoning of Empires drew to a close. The UCL began to step-down its immense wartime expenditures on research, and project [Apocyan King] was defunded as an 'embarrassing failed venture.' What little research had been conducted into safely returning [Redacted] to their body was halted, with all assets ordered to be placed in stasis for long-term storage. When [Redacted] objected to this and threatened to make a nuisance of themselves, they were labeled a 'subversive element,' and the [Apocyan King] construct was scheduled to be dismantled. Only Academician Aienbek's sympathy and close relationship with [Redacted] saved them. Making contact with fringe-world traders, Aienbek arranged for [Apocyan King] to be smuggled to frontier space, far away from where the Earth-based ARC would ever take notice of them, and then deleted all digital references and traces of [Redacted] and the project logs in order to protect [Redacted] host body from retaliatory destruction.

Academician Aienbek's ultimate fate remained and remains unknown to [Redacted] - awakening once again stranded in a distant port of far-off space, with no legal identity and all evidence of their existence back at home having been erased, was forced to accept and become the [Apocyan King] itself. Left only with a cryptic message from Aienbek warning them that their original body would potentially be placed 'at risk' if they ever returned, [Apocyan King] has been working ever since to establish funds, contacts, and a plan to try and recover their body without ever returning to the Solar System.

Barred the benefits and advantages of a UCL citizen, it was almost inevitable that [Apocyan King] would align themselves with their enemies - those who would not balk or scoff at the notion of intruding into distant UCL databases, and had the resources and talent needed to do it. Joining the Intransigence at the lowest levels as little more than a somewhat less-than-common thug, [Apocyan King] was quickly elevated as an important asset due to the unique resilience and capabilities of their hard-light body.

For a brief period of time, [Apocyan King] was utilized as an assassin, targeting prominent Ethereals known for their power and who were otherwise difficult to approach or kill. While [Apocyan King] had their successes due to their near-immunity to Ethereal powers and influence, they ultimately proved too indiscrete and messy of an operative to remain useful - and so [Apocyan King] was then relegated to a deniable black-ops group known as the Envenomed...

Psyche Assessment:
[Apocyan King] has a perpetually calm, relaxed demeanor. He is known to remain steady under pressure, when surprised, and in combat conditions, though this often also results in a perceived lack of urgency on his part. He maintains an air of urbane wit in most social circumstances, but has a tendency to fade into the background or abandon most conversations due to a combination of a lack of social confidence and an ingrained, personal sensation of alienation. King harbors an intense inferiority complex borne of his complete lack of a body - not being known for his tactical experience or as an expert in any particular field, and only having psychologically impressed desires rather than true bodily needs, he views himself as having no inherent value beyond being an advanced, living weapon.

Although he suffers from difficulty in informal social situations, when engaged King is prone to getting into trouble over an absence of appropriate decorum, open disrespect, and unnecessary criticism of operational parameters - disciplinary action against a being with no true body proving to be all but impossible even when utilizing the Ethereal punitively. Even solitary confinement and temporarily disabling King's core mechanism have vanishingly little efficacy as disciplinary actions. King thus has a reputation as a troublemaker and as something of a masochist.

On the battlefield however, King is known to obey all orders without question, albeit at his own and somewhat lethargic pace. He has a tendency to take unnecessary risks for the purposes of shielding allies from incoming fire or as a distraction ploy, which has led some to believe his behavior is indicative of suicidal ideation.

Skillsets & Utility:
Limited infiltration & scouting capabilities, via optical mimicry and sizing down to access secure areas.

Durable with effective active suppression capabilities, not reliant on ammunition.

Highly mobile personal flight capabilities with stellar motion control, in and out of vacuum.

Wide range of viable environmental theaters - has no issue operating in vacuum, oceanic, and hazardous atmospheric conditions of a broad number of chemical compositions.

Highly effective anti-Ethereal combatant - virtually immune to Ethereal phenomenon.

Limited, strategic-elimination capabilities with their Graser weapon.

History with Ethereal study & research - mostly familiar with it academically, rather than practically. Personally aware of or otherwise familiar with several prominent Ethereal researchers and ongoing ventures.

Ethereal Capabilities:
The [Apocyan King] project was originally intended as an experiment to discern whether transplanting a host mind capable of Etherealism into an artificial construct could allow for free, or at least less onerous use of Ethereal power with diminished risk to the host body. In theory, an EM-hardened core mechanism shielded by a hard-light photon curtain with extreme low-temperature operating conditions would be more or less impervious to exotic Ethereal attacks and the build-up of hazardous Qillatu.

The project was ultimately a failure, as the power drawn from the Abyssal Chasm, although successfully projected from the the [Apocyan King] construct, would then ground all attendant Qillatu through the original host body the construct's mind had been transplanted from. This resulted in the host body becoming cocooned in inert Qillatu, effectively rendering it Ethereally inert and preventing further use of Etherealism by the construct. The host body was then placed in stasis for unspecified future research purposes.

Presently, the [Apocyan King] construct is incapable of utilizing Etherealism of any sort. To its benefit however, the combination of its hard-light photon curtain and its host body being both Ethereally cloistered and kept in stasis renders the construct nearly impervious to unconventional Ethereal attacks and Abyssal energy.

Ethereal phenomenon that directly convert Abyssal energy into ordinary high-energy phenomenon such as electricity or plasma remain indirectly effective at inflicting damage to the construct's photon curtain.

Munitions & Armaments:
Hard-Light Lasing Medium:
 The [Apocyan King] interior photon matrix is an ideal lasing environment due to its capability of guiding concentrated light along high-gain, super-cooled channels. [Apocyan King] can build-up and emit pulsed lasers, including Microwave and X-Ray lasers, from any point of its body. These can range from non-lethal thermo-electrical ablative-shock pulses capable of stunning unarmored combatants, to suppressive bloom-fire, to highly penetrating anti-shielding and anti-armor plasma-vacuum gradient bursts. Unfortunately, weapons of this nature are very well-documented, with effective armor and shielding for each being widespread and readily available to most polities. Moreover, as with most lase weapons, this capability suffers immensely in environments with thick atmospheres or heavy particulate content.

Anti-Ballistic & Ethereal Photon Curtain:
 [Apocyan King] is highly resistant, if not quite entirely immune, to conventional ballistic, explosives, and Ethereal mediums of attack. Standard ballistic impacts, thermal and kinetic shock, and various forms of exotic Etheralism or Qillatu radiation are generally incapable of deforming the [Apocyan King] external photon curtain. However, due to the nature of hard-light photons having low relative energy and actual mass, physical attacks are still capable of displacing the hard-light projection itself, meaning ballistics with particularly high stopping power or powerful explosions can still fling [Apocyan King] around. Additionally, the photon-curtain remains susceptible to energy-based munitions or phenomenon, including but not limited to particle-based weapons, plasma, electrical discharges, and so forth. Attacks of this nature are capable of disrupting the photon curtain and causing instantaneous reactive loss of coherence within the hard-light construct's internal super-cooled photon matrix.

Regenerative Hard-light Matrix:
 The [Apocyan King] interior photon matrix requires super-cool environmental parameters to maintain stability. When the construct's external photon-curtain is breached by an energy attack, this results in the surrounding area of the matrix decohering from the abrupt increase in temperature. The construct's photo-curtain can reactively reshape itself to seal off the exposed partition of the interior matrix, but some loss of overall mass is inevitable with every breach. To compensate for this, the central mechanism gradually manipulates and modulates photons within its core, super-cooling and eventually emitting and integrating them with the interior photon matrix in order to expand its volume. This process is slow, making it ineffective at replenishing lost mass during pitched combat encounters, though it allows [Apocyan King] to retain combat-effective levels of mass across more protracted campaigns.

Photon-Curtain Mimicry:
 When provided with an adequate sample reference, [Apocyan King] can alter the appearance of its photon curtain to become a perfect optical replica of a given individual or object. If provided with corresponding information, the photon-curtain can even mimic certain IFF transponder signals, allowing for a more convincing facsimile. Despite the fidelity of the mimicry, this is almost never useful for long-term or deep-cover infiltration due to the existence of sophisticated security scanning and the inability of [Apocyan King] to mimic voices or other personal identifiers. At best, this form of mimicry allows [Apocyan King] to approach or fall in-line with enemy combatants for the purposes of launching a close-range surprise attack.

Modular Photon-Curtain Hardpoints:
 Since [Apocyan King] can reshape its exterior photon-curtain at will, it can create modular hard-points capable of mounting virtually any infantry-grade weapon, regardless of shape or weight (for the most part). [Apocyan King] can even supplement weaponry by acting as a power-supply or by helping to channel energy.

Defunct Infantry-Grade Graser Emitter Frame, 'Just a Kiss':
 Originally envisioned as a next-generation alternative form of infantry-grade anti-armor and surface-to-air weapon to replace modern explosives, infantry-grade Graser Emitters just like this one were discontinued due to their tendency to kill their users and everybody around them. Many of the parts and integral components for these weapons are no longer produced anywhere, requiring partial mounting and integration with the [Apocyan King] photon-curtain in order to function. It uses a mass of isometric nuclear fuel to channel amplified light through an ideal hard-light, super-cooled matrix, allowing for efficient gain along with minimal loss of coherence and radiation. The resulting coherent Gamma Rays are then channeled back out of [Apocyan King] and through the emitter aperture as a sustained beam capable of obliterating heavy-armored vehicles, gunships, bunkers, citadel-class shield emplacements, and overwhelming the shielding and armor of corvette ships. The beam is typically coherent and energetic enough that no form of modern, conventional shielding or armor is wholly effective at deterring it, and it will completely atomize any heavy-particulate atmosphere it passes through without loss of coherence. As a side effect, the weapon heavily and lethally irradiates everything in proximity to the user, in proximity to the path of the beam, and around the contact area, penetrating through most known forms of shielding and insulation. While the [Apocyan King] construct can survive this exposure, thorough decontamination of the weapon is absolutely required prior to maintenance. Due to the immense expenditure of its solid-state nuclear fuel, the weapon can only fire either two short bursts, or one longer sustained pulse.

Stains & Infamy
During their brief tenure as an Intransigence Assassin of prominent and powerful Ethereals, [Apocyan King]'s shortcomings in regards to the practicalities of living outside coreworld space and their lack of expertise in nearly any field other than Etherealism became apparent. These shortcomings, combined with immense personal dissatisfaction and frustration over their predicament and what they were being forced to do, resulted in a notably catastrophic incident during an operation where [EXPUNGED]

In The Court of the Gods → 2 yrs ago Forum: Advanced Roleplay

@Zyx, just giving you a download since you are not on the discord - everybody is still presently preoccupied with Part 2 of the big Olympus meeting which is evidently lasting a few days, and also with a number of adjacent schemes and collabs going on around it in the meantime. If Isaac has anything else he would like to do, now would be the time to do it before the party at Olympus gets out (also because it may be some time before any of the gods are freed up to react to him).

Alternatively: Perhaps consider interaction with some of the lesser members of the cast not presently at Mt. Olympus? Abduction perhaps or something along those lines, I do not know.

In The Court of the Gods → 2 yrs ago Forum: Advanced Roleplay

I have put together a quick roster of all the current approved characters who were original members of the ship's crew.

Typhon
Hermes
Hades
Demeter
Hephaestus

(Add Eros if they are approved)

Presumably, GULA will be requiring a majority vote to elect a new Acting Captain, so Zeus will need either three or four votes respectively to become the Acting Captain.

Isaac will be abstaining due to being absent, which means Zeus either needs 3/4 or 4/5 votes in order to secure the Captaincy.

Easy enough, one thinks.

Or is it...?

In The Court of the Gods → 2 yrs ago Forum: Advanced Roleplay

@Zyx, as you are not available to corner on the Discord, I am letting you know that I have sent you a super secret conspiratorial private message here on the guild. Tell no-one, and ensure you are not followed!

In The Court of the Gods → 2 yrs ago Forum: Advanced Roleplay

A work-in-progress character sheet just to get it cemented in place. I will have something more polished soon.Terminal

Hermes
Herald & Messenger of the Gods
Former Ship Telecommunications & SIGINT Officer

Divine Artifacts:

The Kerykeion
The official badge of Hermes' office as the Herald of the Gods, typically depicted as a Spear entwined with Serpents. Sufficiently important and ceremonial that Hermes is only observed to bear it during formal high ceremonies involving multiple deities. Iconography and depictions of Hermes almost universally depict him bearing the Kerykeion. Curiously, there are few myths or tales involving it, leaving its status as a divine artifact relatively obscure. So little is known of it beyond its appearance that even many priests of Hermes are prone to base speculation and rumor as to its supposed powers, if any.
>IRIS Administrative Function Remote_

>I caught Alejas with his pants down during the mutiny. Hard to say whether or not he actually meant to side with the others or it was just a case of bad luck and timing. Either way, he came quietly and convinced his support staff to be cooperative. As much as I hate to admit it, his expertise would be difficult to replace.

>I think I am going to leave him mostly where he is, but I will be taking the Remote, and I will be reviewing the full capabilities of IRIS sooner rather than later. Nobody can match Alejas' technical knowledge when it comes to IRIS or telecomms, but he's no engineer. Breaking his toys and keeping the bits that make them dangerous will keep him useful without the threat of becoming dangerous.

The Aenirdyas
Hermes' feather-patterned cloak, which doubles as a satchel. The cloak can separate at its hem, revealing a vast interior space within which Hermes may secrete numerous items for travel. It is the Aenirdyas which has enabled Hermes to personally hand-deliver vital parcels and items between the gods in various mythos and tales.
...a matrix of stabilized exotic matter crisscrosses the interior of the folder, causing a geodesic distortion that alters the bend of spacetime inside. A common misconception is that the folder can fit any object of any size inside itself; this is patently false. The spacetime distortion does not create more volume, but instead bends space to allow for various objects to be stored more efficiently. The folder is capable of storing approximately two meters cubed of solid matter, but may store objects taller or wider than this measurement by bending the space they occupy, allowing a three-meter long rod to be stored with room to spare. A Human passenger would find the interior incredibly cramped and distressing, all the moreso given that their anatomy would be spatially distorted, rendering them nearly flat across one side. The interior of the folder is also airtight and, due to safety reasons, kept filled with a diffuse atmosphere of cooled nitrogen. For this reason, living organisms should never be transported inside the folder except in their own secured containers with an intravenous supply of oxygen.

The Dianmakos
Hermes' distinctive broad-brimmed helmet, rimmed with a solid band of luminous obsidian and wholly encompassing the god's head. A solid lump of polished, faceted diamond obscures his face. Said to grant Hermes his incredible travel capabilities, allowing him both to fly and move with such speed as to be invisible to the Human eye.
Although Subspace is regularly used as a transfer medium by information technology, it remains highly inimical to conventional matter. Subspace is completely barren of most physical laws, to the point where quantum fluctuations do not occur therein. Conventional matter that transitions into Subspace will rapidly disintegrate at the subatomic level, radiating all of its composite energy which then decays on increasingly minute levels until nothing observable remains. This is a full violation of the first law of thermodynamics, as the energy does not radiate according to principles of entropy but instead vanishes entirely.

Ginsberg field theory allows for the generation of volume where artificially induced quantum fluctuations allow conventional matter to temporarily exist in Subspace. The associated cost in exotic matter generation necessary to sustain Ginsberg fields is exorbitant enough to prevent their widespread use except on extremely small scales to protect infinitesimal measurements of quantifiable information - quite literally, in the case of information technology, where most of the [Data Expunged: Order 5.A.II, Ship Captain Authorization] and networking.

The use of [Data Expunged: Order 5.A.II, Ship Captain Authorization] on a scale sufficient to allow a person to transition in and out of subspace is exorbitant to the point where militarized Ginsberg suits are considered to be strategic-level assets, though increasingly Alpha-grade telecommunications and SIGINT operations are having Gamma-grade Ginsberg suits made available for counter-intelligence purposes.

Gamma-grade Ginsberg suits are capable of transitioning in and out of Subspace when allineated with a suitable subspace-capable telecommunications system (typically an I.R.I.S.). Within gravity wells, this allows for extremely rapid transit between any two coordinate points through Subspace almost instantaneously. Due to Subspace curvature this same principle renders Ginsberg suits ineffective in microgravity environments, though artificial gravity fields can be used to remedy this issue in station environs. . .

. . .despite being able to draw power directly from any compatible subspace-capable telecommunications system, a Gamma-grade Ginsberg suit can only generate a Ginsberg field for a fraction of a second at most. While this is typically more than enough time for a full transition across any planetary environment, [Data Redacted: Order 24.A.I, Ship Telecommunications Officer Authorization].

The Iridyon Oikima
Hermes' mythical residence, mobile and aflight as necessitated by his occupation. His most revered followers are rumored to dwell therein as servants. The location of the Iridyon Oikima is unknown, being even more fabled in its seclusion than Olympus.
The I.R.I.S. (Instantaneous Remote Intercommunications System) manifold is a telecommunications platform with a wide array of server-mediated features for client-side users.

I.R.I.S., as well as all supported handheld devices, cybernetics, and nanites, feature hard-coded safety interlocks intended to protect individual client-side users from deleterious effects, either accidental or malicious, occurring due either to malfunction or subversive use.

In the event safety interlocks fail or are disabled server-side or client-side, as long as one side's safety interlocks are functional the client is protected. Server-side safety interlocks cannot be disabled or fail without I.R.I.S. following suite due to them being hard-coded. Bypassing server-side safety interlocks by [Data Expunged: Order 5.A.II, Ship Captain Authorization] punishable by up to 15 years of penal correction.

The absence or failure of safety interlocks between the server and client triggers an automatic warning that is logged by both with each use.

In addition to standard safety interlocks, all supported client-side handheld devices, cybernetics, and nanites allow clients to personalize user settings and preferences to handle automatic and/or manual permissions of all I.R.I.S. features.

Signals received from supported or unsupported sources with absent or failing safety interlocks by an attached bus mainframe are [Data Expunged: Order 12.D.II, Ship Captain Authorization]

The I.R.I.S. can mediate point-to-point and group communication instantaneously within an effective range of [Data Expunged: Order 12.B.IV, Ship Captain Authorization], ignoring all intervening matter, signal interference, and shielding. All communication utilizing I.R.I.S. is subspace-contained and quantum encrypted, being impossible to detect, intercept, or decrypt without using the built-in design exception of [Data Expunged: Order 12.D.II, Ship Captain Authorization]. Otherwise, all messages sent and received by I.R.I.S. are automatically logged in the manifold's archive and logged where possible and authorized by client-side mediums.

All signals sent by I.R.I.S. self-modulate in and out of subspace using only SSCP (source-signal-configuration-parameters). I.R.I.S. cannot send non-subspace mediated signals except through the use of an external bus mainframe and its ancillary or attached devices.

With the exception of [Data Expunged: Order 12.D.II, Ship Captain Authorization], all signals sent by I.R.I.S. self-decrypt on valid receipt. All signals sent to I.R.I.S. using supported and registered mediums are encrypted client-side by a server-side provided encryption packet prior to transmission. Due to safety interlocks, I.R.I.S. will not transmit unencrypted signals either server or client-side.

Due to safety interlocks, I.R.I.S. will not receive signals from unsupported sources except through an external bus mainframe.

I.R.I.S. is capable of one-way server-to-client messaging only if the client does not possess any supported handheld devices, cybernetics, or nanites.

I.R.I.S. is capable of tracking the exact coordinate positions of all registered clients utilizing supported cybernetics or nanites, in addition to monitoring biometric and system configuration data where allowed by client-side preferences and restrictions (some features may require biometric sharing in order to be used). In the case of supported hand-held devices tracking as well as biometric and system configuration data monitoring may be limited depending upon the device.

Due to safety interlocks, I.R.I.S. coordinate position and system configuration data cannot be tracked or monitored client-side except by [Data Expunged: Order 12.D.II, Ship Captain Authorization]

I.R.I.S. is not capable of coordinate tracking or biometric and system configuration data if the client does not possess any supported handheld devices, cybernetics, or nanites. Coordinate tracking as well as biometric and system configuration data from unsupported sources may be processed for use by I.R.I.S. through an external bus mainframe.

I.R.I.S. can host a complete network of standalone subspace sites, boards, and forums for various purposes. These can be freely configured and personalized for a vast number of purposes and functions. This network functionality features integration with all of I.R.I.S. standard features.

I.R.I.S. is capable of projecting holograms with up to 95% optical coherence and fidelity and up to 80% auditory coherence and fidelity in the Human-sensory-bandwidth. These limits cannot be exceeded due to safety interlocks.

In-Personam hologram projection where the hologram performs the movements and sounds of a linked client are possible. In-Personam hologram motion and sound are normally server-mediated, but can be client-mediated using supported handheld devices, cybernetics, or nanites.

Due to safety interlocks, server-mediated In-Personam hologram motion and sound cannot utilize immersive realtime sensory integration. Caution should be exhibited while employing client-mediated In-Personam holograms in order to avoid accidents and injury.

I.R.I.S. cannot mediate In-Personam holograms unless the client has supported handheld devices, cybernetics, or nanites.

I.R.I.S. can induce perception of various sensations in clients with supported cybernetics or nanites (no supported handheld devices for this features are listed at this time). This feature includes but is not limited to: Scent, Sight, Sound, Taste, and Touch. 

Safety interlocks prevent the nonstandard use of this feature in ways that would potentially harmfully disorient the client, such as inducing an illusory sensation of imbalance. However, safety interlocks will not prevent inducement of illusory blindness, deafness, or the illusory loss of any primary sensation due to well-established use.

This feature remains available for clients without supported cybernetics or nanites as long as their coordinate location is known, but sensory coherence and fidelity may suffer from degradation.

When used by a client with supported cybernetics or nanites (no supported handheld devices for this features are listed at this time), I.R.I.S. can slow an individual's perception of time with stabilization effective to a full 60/1 second ratio. Safety interlocks prohibit steeper ratios. Exceeding this ratios by a significant margin can result in neural degradation and the occurrence of spongiform encephalitis exceeding the ability of most forms of medical intervention to prevent.

Standard Gamma-grade medical devices and systems are typically ineffective at treating these symptoms, leading to rapid onset of severe dementia and cognitive disassociation.

Alpha-grade medical devices and systems can treat all associated symptoms with the exception of permanent short and long-term memory loss due to destruction of genetic memory structures. The use of cybernetic or nanite-mediated memory storage and backups can mitigate these symptoms.

Safety interlocks prevent the use of this feature to speed up a client's perception of time.

I.R.I.S. can, in an emergency, slow a client's perception of time with an unstabilized 10/1 second ratio even if they do not possess supported cybernetics or nanites. Safety interlocks will fully suspend sensory time dilation that exceeds this ratio, which may result in erratic perception and disorientation.

When used by a client with supported cybernetics or nanites (no supported handheld devices for this features are listed at this time), I.R.I.S. can be used to direct and control the contents of dreams experienced by the client while asleep. Dreams may be unconscious or lucid based on client-side preferences and settings, and may also be either server-to-client or client-to-client mediated. Depending on client settings, all I.R.I.S. features including messaging and sensory time dilation may be utilized while dreaming.

This feature can be used even by clients without supported cybernetics or nanites, as long as their exact coordinate data is provided to I.R.I.S. via other means. Only server-mediated direction and control of dreams is available without supported cybernetics or nanites due to the absence of integrated biometric data monitoring.

I.R.I.S. can induce and prolong sleep and dream sessions in clients with supported cybernetics or nanites, depending on their client-side preferences and settings.

Due to safety interlocks, I.R.I.S. cannot induce or prolong sleep or dream sessions in clients without supported cybernetics or nanites. In the event of a medical emergency, please use [Data Expunged: Order 12.D.II, Ship Captain Authorization].

[Data Expunged: Order 12.D.II, Ship Captain Authorization]

>Captain's Note:

>In the event I die, no matter what else happens, ensure that whoever is in charge of Telecomms does not - repeat, emphasis - DOES NOT - wind up with the Remote. It should always be in the hands of another member of Command staff, ideally the Head of Security or the Head of Personnel._

[Data Expunged: Order 12.D.II, Ship Captain Authorization]

>Captain's Note:

>The bus mainframe was too much of an X-factor. I had it dismantled and its components recycled, which should keep IRIS effectively standalone. Combined with me having the Remote, this should make the whole system reliable and trustworthy no matter who is using it or for what - just so long as they do not forget that I am King._

Persona:

Hermes is typically characterized as dutiful and punctual, but with a mischievous streak. He has personally hand-delivered the mail and parcels of the gods for centuries with peerless speed and courtesy, but has been known to inconvenience those who are rude to him by dictating the contents of their mail aloud in an obnoxious manner. The patron god of travelers, he is known to occasionally provide lifts, although often only to amuse himself by stranding his passenger in unlikely locations such as atop stylite pillars, at the bottom of ravines, surrounded by lions, or within the covers of somebody else's bedding. Also the patron god of thieves, he is known to steal items and objects from people who do not present him with a token offering for his services, thus giving rise to the traditional custom of presenting all Heralds and footmen with ceremonial obols.

Also known as the God of prophecies and visions, Hermes is known to deliver warnings and omens, as well as to induce both inspiration and madness in others. He can visit dreams to instill either bliss or horrific nightmares, and can alter the senses similarly. His temperament in these ways, as before, is decidedly mischievous. Hermes is generally considered benign, but is not above punishing or humiliating those who make light of him or his prognostications. 

Hermes is also one of the most wayward and informal of the gods, known to appear in public at mortal gatherings without warning or ceremony. He is infamously storied to have once appeared at a royal wedding just to tell the bride how utterly foolish she looked in her dress, amongst many other divine gaffes. He is also one of the gods most likely to intervene if prayed to - as long as whatever you want can be accomplished immediately. He is known to spirit thieves or victims away from pursuers and to prevent accidents before they transpire, though likewise he is known to guide lawmen directly to outlaw hideouts and to occasionally cause accidents.

All in all, Hermes is the embodiment of the overly-talented tradesman. He will perform miraculous and professional work - but is just as prone to dalliance when it suits him.

Relationships:

Zeus:
One of the many claims as to Zeus' power and influence was thus: Even whimsical Hermes never once made light of him. The Herald of the Gods has been known to formally announce Zeus' arrival and to prepare the site for the countenance of the King of the Gods, and is even stated to have assisted Zeus in many of his more risque escapades. Tellingly, in many depictions of Zeus and Hermes, Zeus is depicted as presenting the Kerykeion to a kneeling Hermes - implicitly conveying that Hermes' station is granted and permitted only by the will of the King of the Gods. Those who have observed the two deities together have observed that Hermes almost seems almost rigidly formal in Zeus' presence.

In The Court of the Gods → 2 yrs ago Forum: Advanced Interest Checks

A work-in-progress character sheet just to get it cemented in place. I will have something more polished once the IC is posted.Terminal

Hermes
Herald & Messenger of the Gods
Former Ship Telecommunications & SIGINT Officer

Divine Artifacts:

The Kerykeion
The official badge of Hermes' office as the Herald of the Gods, typically depicted as a Spear entwined with Serpents. Sufficiently important and ceremonial that Hermes is only observed to bear it during formal high ceremonies involving multiple deities. Iconography and depictions of Hermes almost universally depict him bearing the Kerykeion. Curiously, there are few myths or tales involving it, leaving its status as a divine artifact relatively obscure. So little is known of it beyond its appearance that even many priests of Hermes are prone to base speculation and rumor as to its supposed powers, if any.
>IRIS Administrative Function Remote_

>I caught Alejas with his pants down during the mutiny. Hard to say whether or not he actually meant to side with the others or it was just a case of bad luck and timing. Either way, he came quietly and convinced his support staff to be cooperative. As much as I hate to admit it, his expertise would be difficult to replace.

>I think I am going to leave him mostly where he is, but I will be taking the Remote, and I will be reviewing the full capabilities of IRIS sooner rather than later. Nobody can match Alejas' technical knowledge when it comes to IRIS or telecomms, but he's no engineer. Breaking his toys and keeping the bits that make them dangerous will keep him useful without the threat of becoming dangerous.

The Aenirdyas
Hermes' feather-patterned cloak, which doubles as a satchel. The cloak can separate at its hem, revealing a vast interior space within which Hermes may secrete numerous items for travel. It is the Aenirdyas which has enabled Hermes to personally hand-deliver vital parcels and items between the gods in various mythos and tales.
...a matrix of stabilized exotic matter crisscrosses the interior of the folder, causing a geodesic distortion that alters the bend of spacetime inside. A common misconception is that the folder can fit any object of any size inside itself; this is patently false. The spacetime distortion does not create more volume, but instead bends space to allow for various objects to be stored more efficiently. The folder is capable of storing approximately two meters cubed of solid matter, but may store objects taller or wider than this measurement by bending the space they occupy, allowing a three-meter long rod to be stored with room to spare. A Human passenger would find the interior incredibly cramped and distressing, all the moreso given that their anatomy would be spatially distorted, rendering them nearly flat across one side. The interior of the folder is also airtight and, due to safety reasons, kept filled with a diffuse atmosphere of cooled nitrogen. For this reason, living organisms should never be transported inside the folder except in their own secured containers with an intravenous supply of oxygen.

The Dianmakos
Hermes' distinctive broad-brimmed helmet, rimmed with a solid band of luminous obsidian and wholly encompassing the god's head. A solid lump of polished, faceted diamond obscures his face. Said to grant Hermes his incredible travel capabilities, allowing him both to fly and move with such speed as to be invisible to the Human eye.
Although Subspace is regularly used as a transfer medium by information technology, it remains highly inimical to conventional matter. Subspace is completely barren of most physical laws, to the point where quantum fluctuations do not occur therein. Conventional matter that transitions into Subspace will rapidly disintegrate at the subatomic level, radiating all of its composite energy which then decays on increasingly minute levels until nothing observable remains. This is a full violation of the first law of thermodynamics, as the energy does not radiate according to principles of entropy but instead vanishes entirely.

Ginsberg field theory allows for the generation of volume where artificially induced quantum fluctuations allow conventional matter to temporarily exist in Subspace. The associated cost in exotic matter generation necessary to sustain Ginsberg fields is exorbitant enough to prevent their widespread use except on extremely small scales to protect infinitesimal measurements of quantifiable information - quite literally, in the case of information technology, where most of the [Data Expunged: Order 5.A.II, Ship Captain Authorization] and networking.

The use of [Data Expunged: Order 5.A.II, Ship Captain Authorization] on a scale sufficient to allow a person to transition in and out of subspace is exorbitant to the point where militarized Ginsberg suits are considered to be strategic-level assets, though increasingly Alpha-grade telecommunications and SIGINT operations are having Gamma-grade Ginsberg suits made available for counter-intelligence purposes.

Gamma-grade Ginsberg suits are capable of transitioning in and out of Subspace when allineated with a suitable subspace-capable telecommunications system (typically an I.R.I.S.). Within gravity wells, this allows for extremely rapid transit between any two coordinate points through Subspace almost instantaneously. Due to Subspace curvature this same principle renders Ginsberg suits ineffective in microgravity environments, though artificial gravity fields can be used to remedy this issue in station environs. . .

. . .despite being able to draw power directly from any compatible subspace-capable telecommunications system, a Gamma-grade Ginsberg suit can only generate a Ginsberg field for a fraction of a second at most. While this is typically more than enough time for a full transition across any planetary environment, [Data Redacted: Order 24.A.I, Ship Telecommunications Officer Authorization].

The Iridyon Oikima
Hermes' mythical residence, mobile and aflight as necessitated by his occupation. His most revered followers are rumored to dwell therein as servants. The location of the Iridyon Oikima is unknown, being even more fabled in its seclusion than Olympus.
The I.R.I.S. (Instantaneous Remote Intercommunications System) manifold is a telecommunications platform with a wide array of server-mediated features for client-side users.

I.R.I.S., as well as all supported handheld devices, cybernetics, and nanites, feature hard-coded safety interlocks intended to protect individual client-side users from deleterious effects, either accidental or malicious, occurring due either to malfunction or subversive use.

In the event safety interlocks fail or are disabled server-side or client-side, as long as one side's safety interlocks are functional the client is protected. Server-side safety interlocks cannot be disabled or fail without I.R.I.S. following suite due to them being hard-coded. Bypassing server-side safety interlocks by [Data Expunged: Order 5.A.II, Ship Captain Authorization] punishable by up to 15 years of penal correction.

The absence or failure of safety interlocks between the server and client triggers an automatic warning that is logged by both with each use.

In addition to standard safety interlocks, all supported client-side handheld devices, cybernetics, and nanites allow clients to personalize user settings and preferences to handle automatic and/or manual permissions of all I.R.I.S. features.

Signals received from supported or unsupported sources with absent or failing safety interlocks by an attached bus mainframe are [Data Expunged: Order 12.D.II, Ship Captain Authorization]

The I.R.I.S. can mediate point-to-point and group communication instantaneously within an effective range of [Data Expunged: Order 12.B.IV, Ship Captain Authorization], ignoring all intervening matter, signal interference, and shielding. All communication utilizing I.R.I.S. is subspace-contained and quantum encrypted, being impossible to detect, intercept, or decrypt without using the built-in design exception of [Data Expunged: Order 12.D.II, Ship Captain Authorization]. Otherwise, all messages sent and received by I.R.I.S. are automatically logged in the manifold's archive and logged where possible and authorized by client-side mediums.

All signals sent by I.R.I.S. self-modulate in and out of subspace using only SSCP (source-signal-configuration-parameters). I.R.I.S. cannot send non-subspace mediated signals except through the use of an external bus mainframe and its ancillary or attached devices.

With the exception of [Data Expunged: Order 12.D.II, Ship Captain Authorization], all signals sent by I.R.I.S. self-decrypt on valid receipt. All signals sent to I.R.I.S. using supported and registered mediums are encrypted client-side by a server-side provided encryption packet prior to transmission. Due to safety interlocks, I.R.I.S. will not transmit unencrypted signals either server or client-side.

Due to safety interlocks, I.R.I.S. will not receive signals from unsupported sources except through an external bus mainframe.

I.R.I.S. is capable of one-way server-to-client messaging only if the client does not possess any supported handheld devices, cybernetics, or nanites.

I.R.I.S. is capable of tracking the exact coordinate positions of all registered clients utilizing supported cybernetics or nanites, in addition to monitoring biometric and system configuration data where allowed by client-side preferences and restrictions (some features may require biometric sharing in order to be used). In the case of supported hand-held devices tracking as well as biometric and system configuration data monitoring may be limited depending upon the device.

Due to safety interlocks, I.R.I.S. coordinate position and system configuration data cannot be tracked or monitored client-side except by [Data Expunged: Order 12.D.II, Ship Captain Authorization]

I.R.I.S. is not capable of coordinate tracking or biometric and system configuration data if the client does not possess any supported handheld devices, cybernetics, or nanites. Coordinate tracking as well as biometric and system configuration data from unsupported sources may be processed for use by I.R.I.S. through an external bus mainframe.

I.R.I.S. can host a complete network of standalone subspace sites, boards, and forums for various purposes. These can be freely configured and personalized for a vast number of purposes and functions. This network functionality features integration with all of I.R.I.S. standard features.

I.R.I.S. is capable of projecting holograms with up to 95% optical coherence and fidelity and up to 80% auditory coherence and fidelity in the Human-sensory-bandwidth. These limits cannot be exceeded due to safety interlocks.

In-Personam hologram projection where the hologram performs the movements and sounds of a linked client are possible. In-Personam hologram motion and sound are normally server-mediated, but can be client-mediated using supported handheld devices, cybernetics, or nanites.

Due to safety interlocks, server-mediated In-Personam hologram motion and sound cannot utilize immersive realtime sensory integration. Caution should be exhibited while employing client-mediated In-Personam holograms in order to avoid accidents and injury.

I.R.I.S. cannot mediate In-Personam holograms unless the client has supported handheld devices, cybernetics, or nanites.

I.R.I.S. can induce perception of various sensations in clients with supported cybernetics or nanites (no supported handheld devices for this features are listed at this time). This feature includes but is not limited to: Scent, Sight, Sound, Taste, and Touch. 

Safety interlocks prevent the nonstandard use of this feature in ways that would potentially harmfully disorient the client, such as inducing an illusory sensation of imbalance. However, safety interlocks will not prevent inducement of illusory blindness, deafness, or the illusory loss of any primary sensation due to well-established use.

This feature remains available for clients without supported cybernetics or nanites as long as their coordinate location is known, but sensory coherence and fidelity may suffer from degradation.

When used by a client with supported cybernetics or nanites (no supported handheld devices for this features are listed at this time), I.R.I.S. can slow an individual's perception of time with stabilization effective to a full 60/1 second ratio. Safety interlocks prohibit steeper ratios. Exceeding this ratios by a significant margin can result in neural degradation and the occurrence of spongiform encephalitis exceeding the ability of most forms of medical intervention to prevent.

Standard Gamma-grade medical devices and systems are typically ineffective at treating these symptoms, leading to rapid onset of severe dementia and cognitive disassociation.

Alpha-grade medical devices and systems can treat all associated symptoms with the exception of permanent short and long-term memory loss due to destruction of genetic memory structures. The use of cybernetic or nanite-mediated memory storage and backups can mitigate these symptoms.

Safety interlocks prevent the use of this feature to speed up a client's perception of time.

I.R.I.S. can, in an emergency, slow a client's perception of time with an unstabilized 10/1 second ratio even if they do not possess supported cybernetics or nanites. Safety interlocks will fully suspend sensory time dilation that exceeds this ratio, which may result in erratic perception and disorientation.

When used by a client with supported cybernetics or nanites (no supported handheld devices for this features are listed at this time), I.R.I.S. can be used to direct and control the contents of dreams experienced by the client while asleep. Dreams may be unconscious or lucid based on client-side preferences and settings, and may also be either server-to-client or client-to-client mediated. Depending on client settings, all I.R.I.S. features including messaging and sensory time dilation may be utilized while dreaming.

This feature can be used even by clients without supported cybernetics or nanites, as long as their exact coordinate data is provided to I.R.I.S. via other means. Only server-mediated direction and control of dreams is available without supported cybernetics or nanites due to the absence of integrated biometric data monitoring.

I.R.I.S. can induce and prolong sleep and dream sessions in clients with supported cybernetics or nanites, depending on their client-side preferences and settings.

Due to safety interlocks, I.R.I.S. cannot induce or prolong sleep or dream sessions in clients without supported cybernetics or nanites. In the event of a medical emergency, please use [Data Expunged: Order 12.D.II, Ship Captain Authorization].

[Data Expunged: Order 12.D.II, Ship Captain Authorization]

>Captain's Note:

>In the event I die, no matter what else happens, ensure that whoever is in charge of Telecomms does not - repeat, emphasis - DOES NOT - wind up with the Remote. It should always be in the hands of another member of Command staff, ideally the Head of Security or the Head of Personnel._

[Data Expunged: Order 12.D.II, Ship Captain Authorization]

>Captain's Note:

>The bus mainframe was too much of an X-factor. I had it dismantled and its components recycled, which should keep IRIS effectively standalone. Combined with me having the Remote, this should make the whole system reliable and trustworthy no matter who is using it or for what - just so long as they do not forget that I am King._

Persona:

Hermes is typically characterized as dutiful and punctual, but with a mischievous streak. He has personally hand-delivered the mail and parcels of the gods for centuries with peerless speed and courtesy, but has been known to inconvenience those who are rude to him by dictating the contents of their mail aloud in an obnoxious manner. The patron god of travelers, he is known to occasionally provide lifts, although often only to amuse himself by stranding his passenger in unlikely locations such as atop stylite pillars, at the bottom of ravines, surrounded by lions, or within the covers of somebody else's bedding. Also the patron god of thieves, he is known to steal items and objects from people who do not present him with a token offering for his services, thus giving rise to the traditional custom of presenting all Heralds and footmen with ceremonial obols.

Also known as the God of prophecies and visions, Hermes is known to deliver warnings and omens, as well as to induce both inspiration and madness in others. He can visit dreams to instill either bliss or horrific nightmares, and can alter the senses similarly. His temperament in these ways, as before, is decidedly mischievous. Hermes is generally considered benign, but is not above punishing or humiliating those who make light of him or his prognostications. 

Hermes is also one of the most wayward and informal of the gods, known to appear in public at mortal gatherings without warning or ceremony. He is infamously storied to have once appeared at a royal wedding just to tell the bride how utterly foolish she looked in her dress, amongst many other divine gaffes. He is also one of the gods most likely to intervene if prayed to - as long as whatever you want can be accomplished immediately. He is known to spirit thieves or victims away from pursuers and to prevent accidents before they transpire, though likewise he is known to guide lawmen directly to outlaw hideouts and to occasionally cause accidents.

All in all, Hermes is the embodiment of the overly-talented tradesman. He will perform miraculous and professional work - but is just as prone to dalliance when it suits him.

Relationships:

Zeus:
One of the many claims as to Zeus' power and influence was thus: Even whimsical Hermes never once made light of him. The Herald of the Gods has been known to formally announce Zeus' arrival and to prepare the site for the countenance of the King of the Gods, and is even stated to have assisted Zeus in many of his more risque escapades. Tellingly, in many depictions of Zeus and Hermes, Zeus is depicted as presenting the Kerykeion to a kneeling Hermes - implicitly conveying that Hermes' station is granted and permitted only by the will of the King of the Gods. Those who have observed the two deities together have observed that Hermes almost seems almost rigidly formal in Zeus' presence.

In Through the Gateways: Humanity [Closed] [Soon to be Concluded] → 3 yrs ago Forum: Nation Roleplay

- .... . / --. .-. . .- - . .-. / ..-. .-. . . / -... . -. . ..-. .- -.-. - .. --- -. / --- ..-. / -.-. .... .- -. - .-. -.--

The Iugulum system is a dark and largesly featureless expanse of empty space located in a regional void, with low concentrations of interstellar plasma. The system comprises only a single celestial body, the Rogue Planet originally designated Letona. 

Letona, otherwise known as Chantry by the native population, is a barren and rocky planet with an atmosphere with a >98% composition of cooled Nitrogen. It has an inactive core, stable mantle, and no volcanic activity to speak of. There are no oceans or lakes save for somewhat homogenous patches and chunks of frozen water and other compounds littered across the surface. Letona's surface is completely pitch black and frigid beyond measure. Letona's surface composition is noteworthy for containing regular concentrations of high-purity quartz and silicate minerals that occasionally extend from the surface as spires or monoliths.

Letona 'orbits' a compact celestial radio source codenamed Anomaly R3.D12. Originally mistaken for a gravitational singularity, Anomaly R3.D12 has no evident mass and nothing appears to occupy the physical space at its coordinate location except briefly during periods of manifestation. R3.D12 irregularly manifests and broadcasts a series of unidentified signals at Letona's surface. The nature of these signals and of the Anomaly itself were to be the subject of the scientific investigations of the colony ship The Stir of Dawn as well as the Science Vessel Mesektet. Letona's true orbital characteristics are thought to be due wholly to its relative angular momentum but generally remain a mystery.
The Iugulum system and the rogue planet Letona, although exceeding hostile to Human life and posing difficult challenges to any colonization effort, nonetheless were afforded a Colony Ship (The Stir of Dawn) with an accompanying Science Vessel (the Mesektet) during the last expansion efforts by Old Earth. Letona itself was originally declared to be a lifeless planet on initial survey, and thus held nominal value for a mining venture that would harvest its vast atmosphere of cooled Nitrogen and the rare, high-purity minerals from its crust. The true focus of the colonization effort was naturally the study and exploitation of Anomaly R3.D12. Having been the subject of an intensive primary analysis by the survey group that originally explored the system, the Anomaly was assigned a strategic priority grade of ALBU. The Stir of Dawn carried within one of its vast cargo decks (due to insufficient space aboard the Mesektet) a custom-designed device intended to stabilize and possibly even control the manifestations of Anomaly. The colony itself was intended to serve as the staging and support facility for a signal array that would interface with the Anomaly and beam resulting information from the colony and through the gateway network for unknown purposes that have since been lost to history due to the collapse of the gateway network and old Terra.

These designs would ultimately never come to fruition. Due to minor technical issues with its propulsion systems, The Stir of Dawn was delayed by two hours on its passage through the gateway. The Science Vessel Mesektet passed through on its own rather than simultaneously accompanying the colony ship. The Mesektet's passage into the system caused an irregular manifestation of the R3.D12 Anomaly, which then emitted a series of unknown signals directly at the Gateway. When The Stir of Dawn entered the gateway network two hours later, it mysteriously vanished and failed to reappear elsewhere. The Mesektet received the colony ship's departure signal confirming successful passage into the gateway network only moments before the Iugulum system gateway connection failed and closed, stranding the Mesektet.

Not all hope was lost for the Science Vessel however. Although not fully equipped and unsuited for long-term colonization, it nonetheless possessed a number of sophisticated industrial-grade printing manifolds as well as its own DNA vault which was rated to support a surrogacy scheme in spite of the Science Vessel's relatively small crew. With no other viable recourse, the crew of the Mesektet prepared for a roughshod colonization effort while resuming analysis and scientific study of the R3.D12 Anomaly.

The beginning of the Mesektet's efforts hit a snag when they discovered what the original survey team had overlooked: The Planet Letona bore life. It, in fact, bore a complex ecosystem of hybrid Silicon-Carbon based organisms the likes of which had never been documented before. Undeterred and reinvigorated by the prospect of now needing to tame an alien frontier, the crew of the Mesektet boldly set down upon the planet to begin their colonization efforts in earnest.

This proved to be a mistake.

Upon Letona was a single species of sentient organisms called the .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . (it does not translate well outside of the native signage). Having dwelt upon -.-. .... .- -. - .-. -.-- (it translates slightly better) for hundreds of thousands of years trapped in primitive stasis for the failing of dwelling in an atmosphere that could not support flame, the .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . found themselves playing host to travelers unfortunate in circumstances. Compounding the natives' innate and somewhat hostile curiosity was the failure of the Mesektet's crew to realize the .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . were sentient. Live specimens were procured and interred only for them to escape, followed by a series of assaults that for want of numbers eventually saw the crew of the Mesektet succumb, the survivors barricaded and trapped within the shipboard dormitories while the alien natives seized the ship. What followed was a slow surrender, paced out across decades as the captors and captives came to understand each other only for the hosts to decide they valued knowledge more than comradery. 

By the time the last of the Mesektet's crew died, an ample number of the natives had determined how to use the ship's automated systems and had since become familiar with the steps necessary to keep the craft operational. In the next two centuries that would pass, this understanding would transform into mastery, replication, and proliferation, causing the equivalent of a renaissance period that would lead to the rise of technologically advanced culture upon Chantry.

Perhaps more valuable than the technological and industrial knowledge the .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . gained from studying the Mesektet and its crew was the conceptual and practical application of altruistic behavior. The otherwise instinctively solitary and independent individuals who banded together to capture the Mesektet had to work in tandem, however unwillingly or coincidentally, in order to achieve victory. Interrogation of the surviving crew and analysis of the ship's systems likewise were not endeavors that any single individual could reliably undertake effectively. Moreover, the experience of fighting the Mesektet's crew had exposed the .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . to the practical utility of Human altruism, ultimately resulting in the formulation of the first .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . warrior clades. From these clades would emerge the first widespread form of .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . cultural philosophy, known as -.. .-. --- ...- .. -. --.  . In time, this martial philosophy would split into distinct schools of thought reflected across the different aspects of .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . life, leading to the eventual establishment of - .... . / --. .-. . .- - . .-. / ..-. .-. . . / -... . -. . ..-. .- -.-. - .. --- -. / --- ..-. / -.-. .... .- -. - .-. -.-- . 

Over decades, the - .... . / --. .-. . .- - . .-. / ..-. .-. . . / -... . -. . ..-. .- -.-. - .. --- -. / --- ..-. / -.-. .... .- -. - .-. -.-- would itself split several times, resulting in the formulation of cooperative bodies such as the ... -.-. .. --- -. ... / --- ..-. / - .... . / -- .- -.-. ..- .-.. .- - . and the ...- . .-.. .-.. . .. - -.--  .

Modern-day Chantry exists within the confines of a limited number of sprawling, subterranean .- .-.. .-.. --- -.-- / .-. . . ..-. ... with populations in the hundreds of thousands, and attendant ..-. .-. .. -. --. . / .-. . . ..-. ... covering and surrounding them with populations in the millions. Specific reefs and fringe reefs are usually communally controlled by different cooperative bodies either vying for or exploiting control of industrial printing capabilities and refineries for raw elemental fuel or to establish rapport and to proselytize with third-parties wishing to make use of them.
The planet Chantry is a rogue celestial body with 88% Earth gravity, no parent star, no volcanic activity to speak of, no oceans, an atmosphere with >98% composition of supercooled and inert Nitrogen, and little in the way of exposure to cosmic radiation. Completely dark and with no conventional energy gradients to speak of, in the unlikely circumstances that resulted in the emergence of life it was uniquely alien in nature.

Due to the planet being irregularly bombarded by signals from a compact celestial radio source and the abundance of high-purity quartz upon Chantry's surface, when simple biomolecular life first occurred it was Silicon-based and utilized simple piezoelectrical principles to convert radio-waves into mechanical and chemical energy for metabolic functions. Over the eons, these simple lifeforms would diverge and evolve into a complex ecosystem of hybrid Silicon and Carbon based organisms which harvest sound to produce low amounts of bioelectrical and biochemical energy, and which otherwise subsist by feeding or harvesting minerals and materials from the terrain. Life on Chantry is centralized around several niche reef-tending species that till and alter the terrain of the planet, creating high biodiversity zones. 

The .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . are one of these reef-tending species. Their main body is a bulbous core somewhat wider than the Human torso, with a single orifice used for ingestion. From this core extends four long, prehensile appendages across the body's tetrahedral axis which act as hydraulic muscular chambers, each one tipped with ridges of calloused dermis and a spicule that give ways to the interior, fluid-filled hollow of each appendage. Contained in the hollow of each appendage are a series of muscles and silicon fibers woven into spine-like filaments that can extend from each appendage, each one laced with small high-traction barbs. These hairlike protrusions serve as dexterous manipulators good for digging through loose particulates and probing into narrow spots. .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . ambulate on these four limbs, and most individual specimens are capable of balancing and moving on two or all four limbs. Stretched between each limb is a membrane with a band of muscle running down the middle, allowing for the membrane to extend and retract away from the main body. These membranes act as tympanic tissues with complex clusters of piezoelectrical structures that convert acoustic waves within a certain range of frequencies into electrical and chemical energy before redistributing it across the rest of the body. When these membranes are all extended, they form a concave, hollow space between the extended limbs and the core body, forming an optimal channel for acoustic reception. Depending on personal age, .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . will range between the size of a closed Human fist and growing to be as large as three meters in diameter at three centuries in age.

.- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . do not breath, are completely blind, and have no olfactory sense. They do not have a true sense of hearing akin to what Humanoid species are accustomed to, but are highly sensitive to vibrations, tremors, and atmospheric shockwaves. This sense is so refined, that a .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . can 'hear' a conversation carried out between individuals who are behind windows, walls, below them through a floor, or above them through a ceiling (depending on density). Individuals lack vocal cords and do not speak, and communicate via whip-lash like, patterned motions with their manipulators often described as a form of dance, or else through direct physical contact between individuals and their manipulators.

The most prominent element in the .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . physiology is Silicon. Carbon is the third most prominent. .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . do not qualify as true Silicon-based lifeforms categorically due to having a hybrid morphology exploiting both Silicon and Carbon, but it would be misleading to label them as Carbon-based - illustrating their novel classification as a novel, Hybrid-Basis species. This odd biological profile has been borne out from the first days when simple molecular life first emerged upon Chantry, which were wholly Silicon based due in part to the proliferation of high-purity Quartz upon Chantry's surface.

The outer .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . dermis is primarily comprised of a durable and flexible bionmineralized Silicon fiber. This dermis is both surprisingly resilient and tolerant of a wide range of atmospheric conditions, in spite of also possessing remarkable durability. In practical layman's terms, it has often been described as 'if tortoise shells were like normal skin.' 

The preferred temperature range for .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . is between -110° and -50° Celsius (their 'room temperature' is -80°). Due to the robust thermal tolerance of Silicon they have a theoretical upper livable temperature range between -130° and 30° Celsius. As temperature rises, .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . will slow down and instinctively enter first a state of torpor, then a period of hibernation before eventually falling utterly comatose. During these states, .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . biological processes grind to a halt in an effort by the body to prevent the build-up of insoluble metabolic toxins due to drastic changes in temperature rendering increasingly impure reaction products of their organic chemistry. With training and sufficient focus, a .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . can defer loss of consciousness at 20° (described as being akin to resisting the impulse to fall asleep when exhausted), but they will begin to die of chemical toxicity and massive organ failure within two hours on average. If a .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . enters a comatose state, returning them to their preferred livable range will eventually revive them. Depending on how much time was spent outside their livable range in a comatose state and the build-up of toxic insolubles in the body, a .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . may suffer from 'Exile Syndrome' and slowly die due to gradual organ failure regardless. 

.- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . originate from a planet with an atmosphere similar in density to Old Earth's, comprised largely of cool elemental Nitrogen. Their Silicon-based morphology affords them a greater tolerance for pressure gradients and G-force and they are even capable of surviving for limited spans of time in hard vacuum (they will 'starve' to death from the absence of acoustic stimuli within two hours, long before the conditions of vacuum actually kill them). Likewise, they have a remarkable tolerance for acidic and basic chemical exposure. They can be safely submerged for short periods of time in hydrochloric acid as long as it is not ingested, though it will begin to erode through their dermis after several minutes. .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . possess a similar tolerance for ionizing radiation as Humans, but suffer acute structural faults in their body as a result rather than the occurrence of chronic deterioration. Harmful doses of ionizing radiation are known to cause prominent shifts in coloration and hue in .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . ' Silicon-rich bodies, occasionally even producing low levels of phosphorescence, and sufficient cross-section exposure of a given body part or organ will cause it to grow brittle and crack apart like plaster.

.- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . do not possess a conventional XNA-patterned genetic template, storing physiological and nervous information in Silicate structures often compared to circuitry. While this affords them extreme resilience to conventional diseases and viruses, the process by which information is permanently transcribed and stored within their tissues is much slower than with Humans. Significant structural damage, particularly due to Ionizing radiation, can severely impact an individual's memory and sense of self as a result. .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . are generally also characterized for having relatively idiosyncratic short-term memory. On average, individuals without training or experience can only retain memory of five to six discrete aspects of information at a time, and require half an hour or longer for ingrained information to transition to long-term memory. When placed under pressure and time constraints, this can lead to .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . forgetting important information.

.- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . have no known natural upper life span and do not suffer from traditional hereditary illness with the passage of time, and additionally never stop growing in size. However, beyond three centuries in age, .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . begin to grow too large for their own physiology to support, resulting in gradual deterioration and death due to malnutrition and eventual organ failure. Hypothetically an individual can be kept alive on life support indefinitely, but the degree and extent of invasive methods necessary to do so would be galling to the extreme.

.- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . do not reproduce sexually, but instead 'bud' every few years, excreting a complex neonascent cluster of materials encased in a shell of mineral quartz when they reach physical maturity, usually around 75 Terran years of age. These buds are known to hatch and then opportunistically seek out and cannibalize other buds before then entering a state of chrysalis and developing into a physiologically distinct .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - .. Buds that cannot cannibalize another one effectively develop to become clones of the parent individual.

Due to numerous factors across their evolutionary history, .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . are either devoid of or possess weakly intrinsic altruistic instincts. Natural resource competition on the individual level and the aggressive nature of reproduction divorced from reliance on a partner have, over the span of millions of years, weeded the instinct out of the species' behavioral profile. .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . are capable of exhibiting altruistic behavior as a rationalized strategy but suffer from a severe disinclination to do so - individuals typically require extensive training and practice to rationally accept altruistic modes of thought and to work together reliable. Contrary to expectation, a lack of altruism does not render the species more aggressive on the individual level, as individuals are not inherently malign in disposition. It does, however, render them far more standoffish, brusque, and apathetic as to the circumstances of others. This has given rise to the stereotypical .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . mode of translated speech, which is characterized as being curt, terse, suspicious, and defensive.
The planet of Chantry has no central or controlling government due to the inherently temperamental behavior of its natives. The .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . as a whole distrust each other on an individual level and barely tolerate each others' existence. The closest thing to a governing body that exists is the so-called --. .-. . .- - . .-. / ..-. .-. . . / -... . -. . ..-. .- -.-. - .. --- -. / --- ..-. / -.-. .... .- -. - .-. -.--, a loosely aligned but large clade of influential figures who advocate the adoption of altruistic thoughtform and who charitably distribute resources, technology, land, expertise, and public works to the remaining native population such as will accept such charity. There is very little contact between individuals relative to Human forms of governance, and what bureaucracy exists is highly informal, being rooted more in tradition than in regulation. There exists no true standing army, merely a militia of martially-inclined figures who train to fight and who are often compensated or otherwise motivated on the personal level by nonstandardized contracts. Most of the native population continue to live as primitives in undeveloped, rural regions.
.- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . Demographics are inordinately diverse to the point of the number of independent nation-states upon Chantry being undocumented in number. In undeveloped rural regions of the world, entire primitive civilizations are speculated to exist, either having rejected or remaining unaware of the convenience of modern technology. Travel by individuals between these states is unregulated beyond the unspoken threat of retaliation for trespass. Alongside these countless, ununified cultures exist nearly as many religions and traditions - all complicated by the fact that no reliable census is kept by the Greater Free Benefaction.

The native population of Chantry numbers a speculative four billion. The number of individuals with modern standards of living and advanced technological amenities likely only numbers in the hundreds of millions.

No Human lifesigns have been detected on Chantry. The entire crew of the Mesektet is considered lost.
Traditionally, .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . dwell in massive, partially subterranean reefs that are dug and arranged on an individual basis. Due to their native distrust of each other, individuals live alone and, by preference, as far away from each other as possible while staking out large territorial tracts to themselves. The emergence of alloy reefs has changed this trend however, as individuals desiring access and use of industrial printing facilities now often live in dormitories in relatively close proximity with each other. This in turn has given rise to a relatively primitive trade and barter economy, with artisans and technicians of different leanings dedicating themselves to their particular callings to procure the privilege to make use of printing mechanisms or else for raw materials necessary for smaller-scaled personal printers. There exists no widely accepted fiat currency or form of legal tender, trade occurs almost wholly on the individual level and via inscribed contracts enforced either by warrior clades more reliably by the cooperatives controlling the printing facilities themselves. The cooperatives tallying and tracking credi for hours of use with their printing facilities between individuals is the closet the .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . come to conventional modern economic practices.

By Human standards, most individual .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . would be considered eccentric in temperament. Left to their own devices they focus on personal interests or subsistence, and even within the span of alloy reefs they trend towards solitary rather than confrontational, making each individual something of an island of insular culture all their own. 

Having become more popularized, divergent sects of -... . -. . ..-. .- -.-. - .. --- -. and -.. .-. --- ...- .. -. --. philosophy have gained enough amateur practitioners that attempts at convergent behavior are becoming frequent, resulting in informal hobbyist clades and the occasional conspiratorial cult. These are typically prone to internal strife but serve as gateway clades to the larger more formalized warrior and religious clades, if not - .... . / --. .-. . .- - . .-. / ..-. .-. . . / -... . -. . ..-. .- -.-. - .. --- -. / --- ..-. / -.-. .... .- -. - .-. -.-- itself.

Religious clades upon Chantry are commonplace, and the ... -.-. .. --- -. ... / --- ..-. / - .... . / -- .- -.-. ..- .-.. .- - . in particular is one of the few philosophical bodies with inroads into the primitive, rural regions of Chantry due to their worship of the R3.D12 Anomaly, which has been informally worshipped for tens of thousands of years in Chantryst culture even before the emergence of -... . -. . ..-. .- -.-. - .. --- -..

---

Most of the technology used by the Chantrysts falls into two categories: Letona and Chantry Format, so-named in unspoken acknowledgement for the Human designation of Chantry. As all of the technology on Chantry was developed and designed using Human knowledge taken from study of the Mesektet and its databases, the vast majority of all technology on Chantry is Letona Formatted, using conventional operational and engineering principles as utilized throughout Human space. Letona Format technology is distinct from pre-collapse Human hardware only in the occasional improvement or update that have been made to their designs using nonstandard methodology.

Chantry Format technology is an entirely different beast, made entirely from scratch almost for the sole purpose of proving that it could be done. Chantry Format devices include extensive biotechnical components and many piezoelectrical aspects, almost in imitation of .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . physiology. Intentionally, Chantry Format technology is designed to be compatible with Letona Format technology, but usually requires format mediation by specialized interface mechanisms and devices that translate between the different forms of programming and information storage formats. Tellingly, Letona Format technology uses binary machine language and executes base ten mathematical computation by default, whereas Chantry Format technology uses balanced ternary machine language and executes base four mathematical computation by default.

As the Meseket was a science vessel, most of the technology on Chantry reflects that original purpose. An immense number of Letona Format laboratory equipment has been mass produced and repurposed as common reefware dormitory appliances. Bulky and sometimes ineffective laboratory equipment repurposed for menial tasks and labor, often unsuited for more practical labor, are slowly but surely finding themselves replaced by Chantry Format domestic alternatives.

The Mesektet originally had onboard multiple industrial grade printing manifolds, capable of producing or replicating complex electronics and mechanical components. Also onboard were a series of specialized arc furnaces and stability-matrices for the isolation and safe processing, refinement, and storage of raw elemental fuel used by the printers for raw materials. One of the most important technological breakthroughs for the .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . was simply the discovery of how to replicate the original printers and associated mechanisms, and thus printing itself as a precept has an almost romanticized cultural significance. The use of small domestic-grade printers is almost omnipresent amongst alloy reef populations.

Likewise, since the Mesektet was not a military vessel, .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . military hardware and weaponry is somewhat roundabout and inefficient in design where they are not stolen wholesale from the parameters of the few self-defense weapons present aboard the vessel. By prevalence, single-shot explosive munitions and ordinance are by far the most common and popular weapons employed on Chantry due to the uncomplicated and straightforward chemical and mechanical aspects of their design. Pneumatic and Hydraulic melee weapons are more commonplace than other designs upon Chantry, often valued more for their reliability and quietly precise lethality in comparison. 

In terms of shipboard weaponry, repurposed particle-accelerator technology and high-powered communications lasers have been reconfigured, improved, and redesigned to suit the preferences of the warrior clades who originally designed them. .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . warships have more in common with intelligence satellites than they do with the battleships and carriers favored by Humanity, and are often distinguished by their characteristic fore-mounted rectenna dishes which pull triple-duty as weapons, sensors, and signaling equipment. Consequentially, .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . warships are exceedingly specialized for signal-oriented and electronic warfare paradigms and are noted for being difficult to effectively precisely locate or target, as well as for their expansive capabilities to cripple the functionality of other ships and to interfere with target systems at extreme ranges.

The .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . have broken little ground into the foray of weapons of mass destructive. Knowledge of such instruments of war are relegated to only a comparatively small handful of individuals who have dismissed them as either meaningless or have failed to grasp the full ramifications of such weapons. As such, the .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . possess no nuclear weapons, nor any significant explosive ordinance with a yield of more than five megatons. The only weapon of mass destruction the .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . possess was developed by accident and is rarely employed as such in the form of the hallmark .- ... - .-. .- .-.. / .-.. .- -. -.-. . array. The array, derived from Human particle accelerator and signal technology, is restricted to a limited number of flagships and is mounted within the rectenna dish. It is typically employed for FTL signaling, scanning, and communications purposes. When sufficiently pressed, it may also be used as a weapon, capable of generating a high-energy FTL wavefront that aggregates charged particles in a 'crown' of supercharged plasma that then begins to undergo a stellar fusion reaction that grows in size and power the further its containment beam travels until impact. The weapon is limited in range by sensor accuracy and beam diffusion to approximately 12 AU, beyond which the containment beam either fails, terminating the FTL wavefront or else deviates too significantly to reliable hit its target. The upper threshold of damage the .- ... - .-. .- .-.. / .-.. .- -. -.-. . is capable of inflicting cannot be understated, perhaps being limited only by the mercy of weapons control and their decision to deliberately restrain the upper boundaries of the FTL wavefront.
The .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . possess a disorganized armada of under two-hundred vessels, operated in turn by the separate factions of the -.. .-. --- ...- .. -. --. warrior clades, the ... -.-. .. --- -. ... / --- ..-. / - .... . / -- .- -.-. ..- .-.. .- - . religious sect, the ...- . .-.. .-.. . .. - -.-- religious cult, and a smattering of privately operated vessels. On average, .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . ships are smaller than the nearest Human equivalent, with few vessels amongst their number actually possessing offensive weaponry. There are no standardized ship templates amongst the .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . fleets, nearly all of them being different sizes with different hull configurations, crew complements, technical specifications and roles.

The most common shared feature of .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . ships is that they resemble oddly roughshod communications satellites, possessing large and prominent fore-mounted signal rectenna that usually comprise upwards of 30% of each craft's entire mass. These dishes typically possess signaling, communication, sensor, weapons, and even shielding functionality all in one, making them powerful and versatile. The obvious drawback is that these fore-mounted dishes are often the most frequently and easily damaged segment of each vessel, and when destroyed completely cripple each craft. .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . militia vessels are most dangerous when confronted head-on or within the expansive cone of their fore-mounted rectenna, but they are typically defenseless from all other angles.

Space ventures and craft in the Iugulum system have developed mainly in accordance with the agendas of the particular groups who have designed them. The -.. .-. --- ...- .. -. --. warrior clades possess a large number of warrior transports that also serve as space and atmosphere capable close-support gunships or artillery for the purposes of enforcing the will of the other factions, aggressive peacekeeping, or simply fighting for its own sake. The ... -.-. .. --- -. ... / --- ..-. / - .... . / -- .- -.-. ..- .-.. .- - . possess a smaller but still sizable fleet of comparatively massive and elegantly designed vessels with sophisticated analysis and communications systems used to aggressively hijack remote communications systems for the purposes of proselytizing. The ...- . .-.. .-.. . .. - -.-- possess the smallest fleet of organized vessels, which mainly consists of single-crew ships with a design emphasis on destructive weapons capabilities and suicide tactics. Finally, a sizable number of independently operated craft exist with no governing design principles, where in some cases even the standard fore-mounted rectenna dish may be entirely absent.

In Through the Gateways: Humanity [Closed] [Soon to be Concluded] → 3 yrs ago Forum: Nation Roleplay

- .... . / --. .-. . .- - . .-. / ..-. .-. . . / -... . -. . ..-. .- -.-. - .. --- -. / --- ..-. / -.-. .... .- -. - .-. -.--

The Iugulum system is a dark and largesly featureless expanse of empty space located in a regional void, with low concentrations of interstellar plasma. The system comprises only a single celestial body, the Rogue Planet originally designated Letona. 

Letona, otherwise known as Chantry by the native population, is a barren and rocky planet with an atmosphere with a >98% composition of cooled Nitrogen. It has an inactive core, stable mantle, and no volcanic activity to speak of. There are no oceans or lakes save for somewhat homogenous patches and chunks of frozen water and other compounds littered across the surface. Letona's surface is completely pitch black and frigid beyond measure. Letona's surface composition is noteworthy for containing regular concentrations of high-purity quartz and silicate minerals that occasionally extend from the surface as spires or monoliths.

Letona 'orbits' a compact celestial radio source codenamed Anomaly R3.D12. Originally mistaken for a gravitational singularity, Anomaly R3.D12 has no evident mass and nothing appears to occupy the physical space at its coordinate location except briefly during periods of manifestation. R3.D12 irregularly manifests and broadcasts a series of unidentified signals at Letona's surface. The nature of these signals and of the Anomaly itself were to be the subject of the scientific investigations of the colony ship The Stir of Dawn as well as the Science Vessel Mesektet. Letona's true orbital characteristics are thought to be due wholly to its relative angular momentum but generally remain a mystery.
The Iugulum system and the rogue planet Letona, although exceeding hostile to Human life and posing difficult challenges to any colonization effort, nonetheless were afforded a Colony Ship (The Stir of Dawn) with an accompanying Science Vessel (the Mesektet) during the last expansion efforts by Old Earth. Letona itself was originally declared to be a lifeless planet on initial survey, and thus held nominal value for a mining venture that would harvest its vast atmosphere of cooled Nitrogen and the rare, high-purity minerals from its crust. The true focus of the colonization effort was naturally the study and exploitation of Anomaly R3.D12. Having been the subject of an intensive primary analysis by the survey group that originally explored the system, the Anomaly was assigned a strategic priority grade of ALBU. The Stir of Dawn carried within one of its vast cargo decks (due to insufficient space aboard the Mesektet) a custom-designed device intended to stabilize and possibly even control the manifestations of Anomaly. The colony itself was intended to serve as the staging and support facility for a signal array that would interface with the Anomaly and beam resulting information from the colony and through the gateway network for unknown purposes that have since been lost to history due to the collapse of the gateway network and old Terra.

These designs would ultimately never come to fruition. Due to minor technical issues with its propulsion systems, The Stir of Dawn was delayed by two hours on its passage through the gateway. The Science Vessel Mesektet passed through on its own rather than simultaneously accompanying the colony ship. The Mesektet's passage into the system caused an irregular manifestation of the R3.D12 Anomaly, which then emitted a series of unknown signals directly at the Gateway. When The Stir of Dawn entered the gateway network two hours later, it mysteriously vanished and failed to reappear elsewhere. The Mesektet received the colony ship's departure signal confirming successful passage into the gateway network only moments before the Iugulum system gateway connection failed and closed, stranding the Mesektet.

Not all hope was lost for the Science Vessel however. Although not fully equipped and unsuited for long-term colonization, it nonetheless possessed a number of sophisticated industrial-grade printing manifolds as well as its own DNA vault which was rated to support a surrogacy scheme in spite of the Science Vessel's relatively small crew. With no other viable recourse, the crew of the Mesektet prepared for a roughshod colonization effort while resuming analysis and scientific study of the R3.D12 Anomaly.

The beginning of the Mesektet's efforts hit a snag when they discovered what the original survey team had overlooked: The Planet Letona bore life. It, in fact, bore a complex ecosystem of hybrid Silicon-Carbon based organisms the likes of which had never been documented before. Undeterred and reinvigorated by the prospect of now needing to tame an alien frontier, the crew of the Mesektet boldly set down upon the planet to begin their colonization efforts in earnest.

This proved to be a mistake.

Upon Letona was a single species of sentient organisms called the .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . (it does not translate well outside of the native signage). Having dwelt upon -.-. .... .- -. - .-. -.-- (it translates slightly better) for hundreds of thousands of years trapped in primitive stasis for the failing of dwelling in an atmosphere that could not support flame, the .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . found themselves playing host to travelers unfortunate in circumstances. Compounding the natives' innate and somewhat hostile curiosity was the failure of the Mesektet's crew to realize the .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . were sentient. Live specimens were procured and interred only for them to escape, followed by a series of assaults that for want of numbers eventually saw the crew of the Mesektet succumb, the survivors barricaded and trapped within the shipboard dormitories while the alien natives seized the ship. What followed was a slow surrender, paced out across decades as the captors and captives came to understand each other only for the hosts to decide they valued knowledge more than comradery. 

By the time the last of the Mesektet's crew died, an ample number of the natives had determined how to use the ship's automated systems and had since become familiar with the steps necessary to keep the craft operational. In the next two centuries that would pass, this understanding would transform into mastery, replication, and proliferation, causing the equivalent of a renaissance period that would lead to the rise of technologically advanced culture upon Chantry.

Perhaps more valuable than the technological and industrial knowledge the .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . gained from studying the Mesektet and its crew was the conceptual and practical application of altruistic behavior. The otherwise instinctively solitary and independent individuals who banded together to capture the Mesektet had to work in tandem, however unwillingly or coincidentally, in order to achieve victory. Interrogation of the surviving crew and analysis of the ship's systems likewise were not endeavors that any single individual could reliably undertake effectively. Moreover, the experience of fighting the Mesektet's crew had exposed the .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . to the practical utility of Human altruism, ultimately resulting in the formulation of the first .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . warrior clades. From these clades would emerge the first widespread form of .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . cultural philosophy, known as -.. .-. --- ...- .. -. --.  . In time, this martial philosophy would split into distinct schools of thought reflected across the different aspects of .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . life, leading to the eventual establishment of - .... . / --. .-. . .- - . .-. / ..-. .-. . . / -... . -. . ..-. .- -.-. - .. --- -. / --- ..-. / -.-. .... .- -. - .-. -.-- . 

Over decades, the - .... . / --. .-. . .- - . .-. / ..-. .-. . . / -... . -. . ..-. .- -.-. - .. --- -. / --- ..-. / -.-. .... .- -. - .-. -.-- would itself split several times, resulting in the formulation of cooperative bodies such as the ... -.-. .. --- -. ... / --- ..-. / - .... . / -- .- -.-. ..- .-.. .- - . and the ...- . .-.. .-.. . .. - -.--  .

Modern-day Chantry exists within the confines of a limited number of sprawling, subterranean .- .-.. .-.. --- -.-- / .-. . . ..-. ... with populations in the hundreds of thousands, and attendant ..-. .-. .. -. --. . / .-. . . ..-. ... covering and surrounding them with populations in the millions. Specific reefs and fringe reefs are usually communally controlled by different cooperative bodies either vying for or exploiting control of industrial printing capabilities and refineries for raw elemental fuel or to establish rapport and to proselytize with third-parties wishing to make use of them.
The planet Chantry is a rogue celestial body with 88% Earth gravity, no parent star, no volcanic activity to speak of, no oceans, an atmosphere with >98% composition of supercooled and inert Nitrogen, and little in the way of exposure to cosmic radiation. Completely dark and with no conventional energy gradients to speak of, in the unlikely circumstances that resulted in the emergence of life it was uniquely alien in nature.

Due to the planet being irregularly bombarded by signals from a compact celestial radio source and the abundance of high-purity quartz upon Chantry's surface, when simple biomolecular life first occurred it was Silicon-based and utilized simple piezoelectrical principles to convert radio-waves into mechanical and chemical energy for metabolic functions. Over the eons, these simple lifeforms would diverge and evolve into a complex ecosystem of hybrid Silicon and Carbon based organisms which harvest sound to produce low amounts of bioelectrical and biochemical energy, and which otherwise subsist by feeding or harvesting minerals and materials from the terrain. Life on Chantry is centralized around several niche reef-tending species that till and alter the terrain of the planet, creating high biodiversity zones. 

The .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . are one of these reef-tending species. Their main body is a bulbous core somewhat wider than the Human torso, with a single orifice used for ingestion. From this core extends four long, prehensile appendages across the body's tetrahedral axis which act as hydraulic muscular chambers, each one tipped with ridges of calloused dermis and a spicule that give ways to the interior, fluid-filled hollow of each appendage. Contained in the hollow of each appendage are a series of muscles and silicon fibers woven into spine-like filaments that can extend from each appendage, each one laced with small high-traction barbs. These hairlike protrusions serve as dexterous manipulators good for digging through loose particulates and probing into narrow spots. .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . ambulate on these four limbs, and most individual specimens are capable of balancing and moving on two or all four limbs. Stretched between each limb is a membrane with a band of muscle running down the middle, allowing for the membrane to extend and retract away from the main body. These membranes act as tympanic tissues with complex clusters of piezoelectrical structures that convert acoustic waves within a certain range of frequencies into electrical and chemical energy before redistributing it across the rest of the body. When these membranes are all extended, they form a concave, hollow space between the extended limbs and the core body, forming an optimal channel for acoustic reception. Depending on personal age, .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . will range between the size of a closed Human fist and growing to be as large as three meters in diameter at three centuries in age.

.- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . do not breath, are completely blind, and have no olfactory sense. They do not have a true sense of hearing akin to what Humanoid species are accustomed to, but are highly sensitive to vibrations, tremors, and atmospheric shockwaves. This sense is so refined, that a .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . can 'hear' a conversation carried out between individuals who are behind windows, walls, below them through a floor, or above them through a ceiling (depending on density). Individuals lack vocal cords and do not speak, and communicate via whip-lash like, patterned motions with their manipulators often described as a form of dance, or else through direct physical contact between individuals and their manipulators.

The most prominent element in the .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . physiology is Silicon. Carbon is the third most prominent. .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . do not qualify as true Silicon-based lifeforms categorically due to having a hybrid morphology exploiting both Silicon and Carbon, but it would be misleading to label them as Carbon-based - illustrating their novel classification as a novel, Hybrid-Basis species. This odd biological profile has been borne out from the first days when simple molecular life first emerged upon Chantry, which were wholly Silicon based due in part to the proliferation of high-purity Quartz upon Chantry's surface.

The outer .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . dermis is primarily comprised of a durable and flexible bionmineralized Silicon fiber. This dermis is both surprisingly resilient and tolerant of a wide range of atmospheric conditions, in spite of also possessing remarkable durability. In practical layman's terms, it has often been described as 'if tortoise shells were like normal skin.' 

The preferred temperature range for .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . is between -110° and -50° Celsius (their 'room temperature' is -80°). Due to the robust thermal tolerance of Silicon they have a theoretical upper livable temperature range between -130° and 30° Celsius. As temperature rises, .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . will slow down and instinctively enter first a state of torpor, then a period of hibernation before eventually falling utterly comatose. During these states, .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . biological processes grind to a halt in an effort by the body to prevent the build-up of insoluble metabolic toxins due to drastic changes in temperature rendering increasingly impure reaction products of their organic chemistry. With training and sufficient focus, a .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . can defer loss of consciousness at 20° (described as being akin to resisting the impulse to fall asleep when exhausted), but they will begin to die of chemical toxicity and massive organ failure within two hours on average. If a .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . enters a comatose state, returning them to their preferred livable range will eventually revive them. Depending on how much time was spent outside their livable range in a comatose state and the build-up of toxic insolubles in the body, a .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . may suffer from 'Exile Syndrome' and slowly die due to gradual organ failure regardless. 

.- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . originate from a planet with an atmosphere similar in density to Old Earth's, comprised largely of cool elemental Nitrogen. Their Silicon-based morphology affords them a greater tolerance for pressure gradients and G-force and they are even capable of surviving for limited spans of time in hard vacuum (they will 'starve' to death from the absence of acoustic stimuli within two hours, long before the conditions of vacuum actually kill them). Likewise, they have a remarkable tolerance for acidic and basic chemical exposure. They can be safely submerged for short periods of time in hydrochloric acid as long as it is not ingested, though it will begin to erode through their dermis after several minutes. .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . possess a similar tolerance for ionizing radiation as Humans, but suffer acute structural faults in their body as a result rather than the occurrence of chronic deterioration. Harmful doses of ionizing radiation are known to cause prominent shifts in coloration and hue in .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . ' Silicon-rich bodies, occasionally even producing low levels of phosphorescence, and sufficient cross-section exposure of a given body part or organ will cause it to grow brittle and crack apart like plaster.

.- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . do not possess a conventional XNA-patterned genetic template, storing physiological and nervous information in Silicate structures often compared to circuitry. While this affords them extreme resilience to conventional diseases and viruses, the process by which information is permanently transcribed and stored within their tissues is much slower than with Humans. Significant structural damage, particularly due to Ionizing radiation, can severely impact an individual's memory and sense of self as a result. .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . are generally also characterized for having relatively idiosyncratic short-term memory. On average, individuals without training or experience can only retain memory of five to six discrete aspects of information at a time, and require half an hour or longer for ingrained information to transition to long-term memory. When placed under pressure and time constraints, this can lead to .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . forgetting important information.

.- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . have no known natural upper life span and do not suffer from traditional hereditary illness with the passage of time, and additionally never stop growing in size. However, beyond three centuries in age, .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . begin to grow too large for their own physiology to support, resulting in gradual deterioration and death due to malnutrition and eventual organ failure. Hypothetically an individual can be kept alive on life support indefinitely, but the degree and extent of invasive methods necessary to do so would be galling to the extreme.

.- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . do not reproduce sexually, but instead 'bud' every few years, excreting a complex neonascent cluster of materials encased in a shell of mineral quartz when they reach physical maturity, usually around 75 Terran years of age. These buds are known to hatch and then opportunistically seek out and cannibalize other buds before then entering a state of chrysalis and developing into a physiologically distinct .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - .. Buds that cannot cannibalize another one effectively develop to become clones of the parent individual.

Due to numerous factors across their evolutionary history, .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . are either devoid of or possess weakly intrinsic altruistic instincts. Natural resource competition on the individual level and the aggressive nature of reproduction divorced from reliance on a partner have, over the span of millions of years, weeded the instinct out of the species' behavioral profile. .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . are capable of exhibiting altruistic behavior as a rationalized strategy but suffer from a severe disinclination to do so - individuals typically require extensive training and practice to rationally accept altruistic modes of thought and to work together reliable. Contrary to expectation, a lack of altruism does not render the species more aggressive on the individual level, as individuals are not inherently malign in disposition. It does, however, render them far more standoffish, brusque, and apathetic as to the circumstances of others. This has given rise to the stereotypical .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . mode of translated speech, which is characterized as being curt, terse, suspicious, and defensive.
The planet of Chantry has no central or controlling government due to the inherently temperamental behavior of its natives. The .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . as a whole distrust each other on an individual level and barely tolerate each others' existence. The closest thing to a governing body that exists is the so-called --. .-. . .- - . .-. / ..-. .-. . . / -... . -. . ..-. .- -.-. - .. --- -. / --- ..-. / -.-. .... .- -. - .-. -.--, a loosely aligned but large clade of influential figures who advocate the adoption of altruistic thoughtform and who charitably distribute resources, technology, land, expertise, and public works to the remaining native population such as will accept such charity. There is very little contact between individuals relative to Human forms of governance, and what bureaucracy exists is highly informal, being rooted more in tradition than in regulation. There exists no true standing army, merely a militia of martially-inclined figures who train to fight and who are often compensated or otherwise motivated on the personal level by nonstandardized contracts. Most of the native population continue to live as primitives in undeveloped, rural regions.
.- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . Demographics are inordinately diverse to the point of the number of independent nation-states upon Chantry being undocumented in number. In undeveloped rural regions of the world, entire primitive civilizations are speculated to exist, either having rejected or remaining unaware of the convenience of modern technology. Travel by individuals between these states is unregulated beyond the unspoken threat of retaliation for trespass. Alongside these countless, ununified cultures exist nearly as many religions and traditions - all complicated by the fact that no reliable census is kept by the Greater Free Benefaction.

The native population of Chantry numbers a speculative four billion. The number of individuals with modern standards of living and advanced technological amenities likely only numbers in the hundreds of millions.

No Human lifesigns have been detected on Chantry. The entire crew of the Mesektet is considered lost.
Traditionally, .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . dwell in massive, partially subterranean reefs that are dug and arranged on an individual basis. Due to their native distrust of each other, individuals live alone and, by preference, as far away from each other as possible while staking out large territorial tracts to themselves. The emergence of alloy reefs has changed this trend however, as individuals desiring access and use of industrial printing facilities now often live in dormitories in relatively close proximity with each other. This in turn has given rise to a relatively primitive trade and barter economy, with artisans and technicians of different leanings dedicating themselves to their particular callings to procure the privilege to make use of printing mechanisms or else for raw materials necessary for smaller-scaled personal printers. There exists no widely accepted fiat currency or form of legal tender, trade occurs almost wholly on the individual level and via inscribed contracts enforced either by warrior clades more reliably by the cooperatives controlling the printing facilities themselves. The cooperatives tallying and tracking credi for hours of use with their printing facilities between individuals is the closet the .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . come to conventional modern economic practices.

By Human standards, most individual .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . would be considered eccentric in temperament. Left to their own devices they focus on personal interests or subsistence, and even within the span of alloy reefs they trend towards solitary rather than confrontational, making each individual something of an island of insular culture all their own. 

Having become more popularized, divergent sects of -... . -. . ..-. .- -.-. - .. --- -. and -.. .-. --- ...- .. -. --. philosophy have gained enough amateur practitioners that attempts at convergent behavior are becoming frequent, resulting in informal hobbyist clades and the occasional conspiratorial cult. These are typically prone to internal strife but serve as gateway clades to the larger more formalized warrior and religious clades, if not - .... . / --. .-. . .- - . .-. / ..-. .-. . . / -... . -. . ..-. .- -.-. - .. --- -. / --- ..-. / -.-. .... .- -. - .-. -.-- itself.

Religious clades upon Chantry are commonplace, and the ... -.-. .. --- -. ... / --- ..-. / - .... . / -- .- -.-. ..- .-.. .- - . in particular is one of the few philosophical bodies with inroads into the primitive, rural regions of Chantry due to their worship of the R3.D12 Anomaly, which has been informally worshipped for tens of thousands of years in Chantryst culture even before the emergence of -... . -. . ..-. .- -.-. - .. --- -..

---

Most of the technology used by the Chantrysts falls into two categories: Letona and Chantry Format, so-named in unspoken acknowledgement for the Human designation of Chantry. As all of the technology on Chantry was developed and designed using Human knowledge taken from study of the Mesektet and its databases, the vast majority of all technology on Chantry is Letona Formatted, using conventional operational and engineering principles as utilized throughout Human space. Letona Format technology is distinct from pre-collapse Human hardware only in the occasional improvement or update that have been made to their designs using nonstandard methodology.

Chantry Format technology is an entirely different beast, made entirely from scratch almost for the sole purpose of proving that it could be done. Chantry Format devices include extensive biotechnical components and many piezoelectrical aspects, almost in imitation of .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . physiology. Intentionally, Chantry Format technology is designed to be compatible with Letona Format technology, but usually requires format mediation by specialized interface mechanisms and devices that translate between the different forms of programming and information storage formats. Tellingly, Letona Format technology uses binary machine language and executes base ten mathematical computation by default, whereas Chantry Format technology uses balanced ternary machine language and executes base four mathematical computation by default.

As the Meseket was a science vessel, most of the technology on Chantry reflects that original purpose. An immense number of Letona Format laboratory equipment has been mass produced and repurposed as common reefware dormitory appliances. Bulky and sometimes ineffective laboratory equipment repurposed for menial tasks and labor, often unsuited for more practical labor, are slowly but surely finding themselves replaced by Chantry Format domestic alternatives.

The Mesektet originally had onboard multiple industrial grade printing manifolds, capable of producing or replicating complex electronics and mechanical components. Also onboard were a series of specialized arc furnaces and stability-matrices for the isolation and safe processing, refinement, and storage of raw elemental fuel used by the printers for raw materials. One of the most important technological breakthroughs for the .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . was simply the discovery of how to replicate the original printers and associated mechanisms, and thus printing itself as a precept has an almost romanticized cultural significance. The use of small domestic-grade printers is almost omnipresent amongst alloy reef populations.

Likewise, since the Mesektet was not a military vessel, .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . military hardware and weaponry is somewhat roundabout and inefficient in design where they are not stolen wholesale from the parameters of the few self-defense weapons present aboard the vessel. By prevalence, single-shot explosive munitions and ordinance are by far the most common and popular weapons employed on Chantry due to the uncomplicated and straightforward chemical and mechanical aspects of their design. Pneumatic and Hydraulic melee weapons are more commonplace than other designs upon Chantry, often valued more for their reliability and quietly precise lethality in comparison. 

In terms of shipboard weaponry, repurposed particle-accelerator technology and high-powered communications lasers have been reconfigured, improved, and redesigned to suit the preferences of the warrior clades who originally designed them. .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . warships have more in common with intelligence satellites than they do with the battleships and carriers favored by Humanity, and are often distinguished by their characteristic fore-mounted rectenna dishes which pull triple-duty as weapons, sensors, and signaling equipment. Consequentially, .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . warships are exceedingly specialized for signal-oriented and electronic warfare paradigms and are noted for being difficult to effectively precisely locate or target, as well as for their expansive capabilities to cripple the functionality of other ships and to interfere with target systems at extreme ranges.

The .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . have broken little ground into the foray of weapons of mass destructive. Knowledge of such instruments of war are relegated to only a comparatively small handful of individuals who have dismissed them as either meaningless or have failed to grasp the full ramifications of such weapons. As such, the .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . possess no nuclear weapons, nor any significant explosive ordinance with a yield of more than five megatons. The only weapon of mass destruction the .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . possess was developed by accident and is rarely employed as such in the form of the hallmark .- ... - .-. .- .-.. / .-.. .- -. -.-. . array. The array, derived from Human particle accelerator and signal technology, is restricted to a limited number of flagships and is mounted within the rectenna dish. It is typically employed for FTL signaling, scanning, and communications purposes. When sufficiently pressed, it may also be used as a weapon, capable of generating a high-energy FTL wavefront that aggregates charged particles in a 'crown' of supercharged plasma that then begins to undergo a stellar fusion reaction that grows in size and power the further its containment beam travels until impact. The weapon is limited in range by sensor accuracy and beam diffusion to approximately 12 AU, beyond which the containment beam either fails, terminating the FTL wavefront or else deviates too significantly to reliable hit its target. The upper threshold of damage the .- ... - .-. .- .-.. / .-.. .- -. -.-. . is capable of inflicting cannot be understated, perhaps being limited only by the mercy of weapons control and their decision to deliberately restrain the upper boundaries of the FTL wavefront.
The .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . possess a disorganized armada of under two-hundred vessels, operated in turn by the separate factions of the -.. .-. --- ...- .. -. --. warrior clades, the ... -.-. .. --- -. ... / --- ..-. / - .... . / -- .- -.-. ..- .-.. .- - . religious sect, the ...- . .-.. .-.. . .. - -.-- religious cult, and a smattering of privately operated vessels. On average, .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . ships are smaller than the nearest Human equivalent, with few vessels amongst their number actually possessing offensive weaponry. There are no standardized ship templates amongst the .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . fleets, nearly all of them being different sizes with different hull configurations, crew complements, technical specifications and roles.

The most common shared feature of .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . ships is that they resemble oddly roughshod communications satellites, possessing large and prominent fore-mounted signal rectenna that usually comprise upwards of 30% of each craft's entire mass. These dishes typically possess signaling, communication, sensor, weapons, and even shielding functionality all in one, making them powerful and versatile. The obvious drawback is that these fore-mounted dishes are often the most frequently and easily damaged segment of each vessel, and when destroyed completely cripple each craft. .- .-.. .-.. .. -. . .- - . militia vessels are most dangerous when confronted head-on or within the expansive cone of their fore-mounted rectenna, but they are typically defenseless from all other angles.

Space ventures and craft in the Iugulum system have developed mainly in accordance with the agendas of the particular groups who have designed them. The -.. .-. --- ...- .. -. --. warrior clades possess a large number of warrior transports that also serve as space and atmosphere capable close-support gunships or artillery for the purposes of enforcing the will of the other factions, aggressive peacekeeping, or simply fighting for its own sake. The ... -.-. .. --- -. ... / --- ..-. / - .... . / -- .- -.-. ..- .-.. .- - . possess a smaller but still sizable fleet of comparatively massive and elegantly designed vessels with sophisticated analysis and communications systems used to aggressively hijack remote communications systems for the purposes of proselytizing. The ...- . .-.. .-.. . .. - -.-- possess the smallest fleet of organized vessels, which mainly consists of single-crew ships with a design emphasis on destructive weapons capabilities and suicide tactics. Finally, a sizable number of independently operated craft exist with no governing design principles, where in some cases even the standard fore-mounted rectenna dish may be entirely absent.

In The Grim Crusade - A Warhammer 30000 RP → 3 yrs ago Forum: Advanced Roleplay

Year: 001.M31

Before the Triumph of Ullanor

During the Meeting of the Primarchs and Representatives

Aboard the Ark Mechanicum Ineffable Artifice...

It was not commonly known by the people of the Imperium whether or not the Emperor's Astartes slept or not. The truth of the matter was that they did and that it remained necessary, albeit an Astartes could go for prolonged periods of time without sleep to no observable ill effect, and required little of it whenever they did. Different legions engaged in different practices and regimes, all accounting for this lingering Human need in their own way.

Amongst the Stargazers, the standard shift of duty for the rank Marine was one-hundred and forty-four hours long between active campaigns, with six hours of mandated sleep at the end of each shift. Upon awakening, every marine spent three hours in concerted prayer and meditation at the Mechanicum shrine of their preference. After this period of worship, the Marine would head to the nearest quartermaster and procure their entire proceeding shift's worth of rations, medicinals, and miscellaneous personal materials. The marine would then head to their personal shrine and tend to it for an hour. These could be located anywhere within a ship. Inside of a maintenance duct, a random corridor, by the savior pods, within an engine bay, or in any other conceivable spot where room had been allocated for one. The sight of a personal shrine belonging to a marine of the Stargazers was a common sight aboard the Ordo Astranoma's void craft, and were often utilized for prayer and devotionals by chapter serfs and Tech-Priests alike as they went about their own duties.

Having tended to their personal shrine, the marine would then head directly to the forge. There, they would either study the mysteries of the Omnissiah with the direction and guidance of senior marines, or else modify or build upon their armor, weaponry, or personal bionics. Four hours was dedicated for this purpose, and thereafter another four hours was designated exclusively for testing, calibrating, and fine-tuning those modifications - all for the express purpose of facilitating the high degree of sophisticated and highly personalized bionics, armor, weaponry, and devices present amongst the Stargazers marines. Any time during that period not devoted to technical development and modification was instead focused on combat training and readiness exercises, often to ensure the various devices and technical modifications to them remained viable in various battlefield conditions.

The three hours afterwards was a mandated 'break' period, with the unstated expectation that most marines would spend their time uplinked with cogitator banks, delving into and researching the secrets of the Omnissiah - though the actual activities pursued by the individual marine during this period were neither strictly defined nor stringently enforced beyond that suggested course of activity.

At the conclusion of that period, the marine would then spend another mandated hour tending to their personal shrine once more. Thereafter, they would begin a four-hour long regime of patrols across their assigned ship, during which time they would assist the chapter-serfs, servitors, and Tech-Priests of the Ordo Astranoma with basic, routine, and essential maintenance and repair routines across the breadth of their ship. The marine would then convene with between four and six others of their brothers, usually accommodating one or two superior officers, and they would engage in a two-hour long, cogitator assisted devotional. At the devotional's conclusion, the marine would dedicate another two hours to combat drills and exercises, typically with the same group of marines in order to foster personal relationships and to form strong personal bonds between the marines of the legion.

This cycle of activities would then repeat anew from the beginning with another three hours of prayer and meditation, with six cycles in total comprising the standard shift, broken up by the mandated six hours of sleep. 

A more frequently speculated-upon topic amongst Imperial citizens was whether the Primarchs themselves, slept. If, indeed, there was any mortal foible or failing exhibited by their flesh and faculties. Augor Asten, Primarch of the twelfth legion of the Emperor's Space Marines, did not know if the other Primarchs slept. What he imagined was that for them, it was likely wholly unnecessary, and for him at least the practice was a difficult one. His mind, much like the minds of all the other Primarchs as he imagined they all must have been made, operated tens of thousands of times more swiftly than even the most heavily augmented Human brain. Even a Tech-Priest that had crossed the Crux Mechanicum and had replaced significant chunks of their cerebrum with bionics could not think so quickly and across such a breadth of topics as a Primarch. Even a vat-grown Sicarian Praetor, perhaps the equal of an Astartes in most ways and with their very brain-matter being designed from their conception to grow as patterned neuronal circuitry, was utterly eclipsed in its otherwise nearly peerless cognitive capabilities by the immaculate genius embodied in the potency of the minds of the Primarchs.

The very notion of sleep was therefore a curious one to even contemplate, let alone practice. How did one willfully stop, cease all conscious thought, when the body did not tire as a normal Human might? The brain of a Primarch did not even excrete the same hormones and proteins necessary to induce a natural sleep cycle, and the brain structures that modulated such a process were either absent or had been replaced. It was, simply, something they had not been made to do. If anything, it was a function that had been largely excised from their capabilities. 

Augor Astren, however, differed from many of the other Primarchs. Being a member of the Mechanicum, he had necessarily indulged in a great breadth of heavily invasive bionic augmentation. His mind, designed by the Omnissiah himself, was far too empyrean and ineffable in its superiority to dare to blemish with anything save the most cursory and externalized of augmentations that would augment or amplify its potency without interfering with it. With other aspects of his body, Augor had more freely cut away his god-given flesh to replace with the cold and adamant perfection of adamantium alloy. For though even his flesh itself was harder and more resilient than battle-steel, even it had limits. The Emperor, knowing this well, had intended the bodies of the Primarchs to act in concert and be augmented with personalized armor rather than relying wholly on the sheer, divine resilience he had infused within their skin. So it was only logical to replace parts of even that hallowed flesh with the strongest of substances ever forged by man, to make the flesh itself an armor beyond reckoning.

Amongst the many benefits Augor Asten derived from the invasive modifications and bionics that wound throughout his body was the ability to focus and canalize the body itself to serve a single thought, a single route of contemplation. The mind of a Primarch could already focus down and unto a single line of thought with conscious effort, capable of obliterating tangled knots of the paradoxical and impossible that would occupy the greatest minds of Humanity for decades in a mere instant, so long as the Primarch in question had the requisite knowledge and temperament to examine the problem creatively. Yet even such focus had its limits. A Primarch had to consciously direct such focus, mentally constrain the flow of thought in their minds to think this way. Some would even shut down the functions of their own bodies to facilitate such focus, and that as well took conscious effort to keep the body in a perfect state of equilibrium while the mind honed and narrowed itself down to a perfect immaculate point, a single epiphanic star of rationality and perfect clarity, only lightly fettered by the penumbral veil of the subconscious mind and the need to continue living. Hypothetically, the Primarchs could cast aside even those limits, and willfully lobotomize themselves and abandon the static equilibrium of the body to attain an even more perfect and singularly brilliant instant of transcendental thought - but it would be just and only that. A moment, followed immediately thereafter by deterioration, entropy, perhaps even death depending on how far they attempted to take that single moment.

Augor Asten had sidestepped this necessity by externalizing the need to maintain the equilibrium of his body into surgically installed bionic devices, mediated by cogitator cores with their own neuronal circuitry to take up the reins, if only for a time, of the subconscious effort needed to do so and to act as a guide for the focused mind. 

Such a method was not perfect and did not work for long. Even the most sophisticated cogitator cores and bionics could not hold aloft the might of a Primarch's physiology utterly abandoned by the mind on their own, such was the immaculate genius of the Omnissiah's design that no form of artifice yet devised was sufficient to sustain it. They could allow Augor Astren to step beyond the pall of death and deterioration to achieve, if only for a few fleeting seconds, a state of truly unbound mental clarity and comprehension condensed into a single channel of raw and unfettered veracity. Augor imagined it to be a fractional glimpse of what the Omnissiah himself was capable of.

Such a state was not lightly entered, however. To do so always entailed the risk of the bionics failing, or of some other unforeseen complication emerging. It was a practice he approached methodically and carefully, always setting aside several hours that afforded him the ability to slowly and thoroughly shut down and redirect every fiber of his being, one sinew at a time, to that state of elevated thought. It was almost like dying, so he imagined - and so Mercaerath had commented during the few times he had been permitted to watch over the Primarch as he underwent the process. Mercaerath even referred to it outright as a death trance. Its uses were also limited - there were few actual practical problems that necessitated such a drastic exercise to unravel, and few philosophical notions or ideals with speculative answers worth the effort. Likewise, while in the trance, it was only possible to think of a single thing at once. Rather than accessing the knowledge of the mind as necessary to consider the topic, it was more as if all facets and motes of the being were considered simultaneously in reflection of that solitary subject. 

In more than a century of having practiced the technique, Augor Astren had discovered only a few objects of interest worth entering the trance to contemplate. Fewer still, that merited repeat visitation. Some of them had been unraveled and mastered immediately. Some, though, had proven to remain beyond even the outermost boundaries of comprehension by a Primarch in such a mental state. They required repeated trances, the Primarch accumulating additional insight into the object each time, the trance always rebuilding upon the knowledge gained from previous attempts to eventually pierce through all barriers to true comprehension. Only two objects of thought remained that Augor Astren deigned to still be worth the practice.

The Barrier, and The Cube.

Neither of which Augor had revisited in some time. In the wake of the conquest of the Ullanor System and in the days preceding the Triumph itself however, he found himself with little else to devote his time to. The Campaigns in the near future he already intended to wage were planned. The artifice of his armor, his weapons, and his bionics already incorporated his own latest improvements upon the latest of innovations to have been relayed through the Great Transmat Link of the High Altar of Technology. In his own judgement, he had already dealt with all the matters concerning the management of the legion that would benefit most from his personal involvement - leaving the rest to his most trusted senior aides and staff. To interfere further would cause their own gradual growth and improvement to stagnate, however slightly. Though there were a number of administrative and formal matters he could have hypothetically attended to upon Ullanor Prime - such as the meeting of the Primarchs that had been convened at the request of Micholi Vakrain - Augor Asten could not be bothered. The matters that would be discussed there had little if anything to do with the Ordo Astranoma and he imagined the other Primarchs and agents of the Omnissiah's Imperium could manage well enough on their own1.

1 An assessment that proved to be tremendously wrong.

So as the Primarchs met upon Ullanor Prime, Augor Asten remained aboard his personal flagship, the Ark Mechanicum Ineffable Artifice, at the periphery of the Ullanor System near the edges of the original wall of battle the Ordo Astranoma's macroclade fleets had formed upon arriving in the system. He had shut himself within his personal quarters with orders not to be disturbed under any circumstance, with Mercaerath standing by to handle any matters that would otherwise have demanded Augor's personal attention. Under the Primarch's personnel schedule, the four-hour span of time had been marked off simply with 'sleeping.'

It had seemed as good a label as anything else.

Nearly three hours had passed, and Augor was preparing to enter the deepest possible state of the trance. The Primarch sat stiffly upon his control-throne, adorned only in simple Martian robes, foregoing his power armor and servo-harness for the sake of the trance. His blind, empty eye-sockets gazed into oblivion as his breathing continued to gradually slow. The myriad cogitator banks Augor had linked himself with via a wreath of cabling hanging about his chest all began to shine with a dazzling constellation of lights, their frames already insulated so as to reduce their sound emission as much as possible. They, the rest of the room, and the entirety of the material plane began to fall away.

Now came the moment, in the space between the self and unfettered epiphany, to decide what he would be thinking about.

The Barrier stood as the single greatest mystery Augor had ever contemplated. He had discovered it within the depths of his thoughts more than a hundred and fifty years ago, when contemplating the defeat he and his legion had suffered during the Rangdan Campaign. He had spent decades compiling the raw data that had been recovered from the numerous pict-recordings and cogitator-archived machine spirit whispers. Decades spent questioning members of the IA who had participated and survived, examining shipping records and manifests, the logs and reported minutes of various staff meetings. All for the purpose of attempting to divine - something. Anything. Whether such an end could have been averted. Whether it meant anything. Whether anything would come of the losses and shame suffered that day.

Whether anything would come of more than a hundred thousand Astartes cast like dice into the uncaring jaws of a ravenous beast.

The trance had its limitations. He could not unravel a mystery that had no answer due to insufficient data, or in which he did not understand the subject being contemplated. After several fearsome and accomplished campaigns and the gathering of sufficient information, he was convinced he had everything he needed. Year after year this deeply-held conviction redoubled, but every time he attempted to contemplate the matter, he was stopped just short at the final threshold before the unclouded truth.

Barred from absolution, vindication, by the Barrier.

A Barrier thrown across not only his mind, but seemingly space itself as well - crossing, as far as he could tell, the full breadth of the galaxy. From the heart of Terra and far beyond the reach of the Astronomican, which had been when Augor had realized it was not a construct of his father's making. This was something else. Something primordial. Whenever he touched upon the force that obstructed him, it pulsed with evident pangs of resonance. Four distinct timbres of power and flowing current that threw themselves across his vision like bars across the stars. Even with repeated visitations and trances, comprehension of the Barrier's true nature eluded him. It seemed to defy the unsullied clarity of thought the trance bestowed - in fact, it always seemed to evoke a wellspring of emotional upheaval within Augor that he scarcely experienced otherwise. Rage. Hunger. Euphoria. Doubt. Some sensations he was already intimately familiar with - others which were completely foreign until that moment. Always, they seemed to call to something within Augor himself. Something unrealized or forgotten, thought the notion was absurd in light of the comprehension embodied in the trance. A Primarch could not forget anything.

Augor had last contemplated that turbulent and mysterious force more than a year ago, and he suspected he had not encompassed enough experience and knowledge to make any substantial progress on that front. Instead, he turned his mind to the Cube. As that decision was reached, the world dropped away, and Augor was left in the veracious void of his own mind, lain barren and refracted through a fractal, infinite palace of mirrors, all that he was turned inwards and upon the object of his contemplation. 

The Black Cube was over somewhat under a third of a meter in length across each axis. Large and cumbersome to a baseline Human, but the perfect size for him or another Primarch to grip in a single hand. Its body was wrought from a glassy black stone that shimmered with a dusken, iridescent sheen in a lit environment. The corners of the cube were capped with prong-shaped triangular points of pure, pitch-stained adamantium. One face of the cube was engraved with the cut of an eight-pointed star, its four cardinal extremities extending across the edges of the cube and running along the four adjacent faces, all terminating and leaving the single blank face upon the rear. The cube was denser than it appeared, weighing four fifths of a ton.  

It has been recovered during the Nurthene Campaign. It had been in the possession of Human Cultists who refused to submit to the Imperial Truth. They had been so desperate to resist the forced Compliance of their people that they had unveiled the weapon in a final bid of desperation. Intercepted communications and orders between their command elements revealed that it was a weapon of untold, portentous destructive might. One that operated upon curious principles. There were no mechanisms, no spirits, no circuitry or compartments within it - it was solid, seamless stone throughout. 

The Nurthene had believed that had they activated it, the entire planet would have been destroyed, and that he, the Primarch and his Legion alike, would have perished in untold anguish. They had also believed that the only fashion in which the cube could be activated was through blood sacrifice. Their final gambit had been an attempt to bait the Stargazers into a full-out assault on the last bastion of the Nurthene rebels, and to use the ensuing slaughter to awaken the forces within the esoteric artifact. A gambit which, due to intercepted intelligence, the Stargazers had not entertained. A cordon had been established around the bastion to prevent the rebels from escaping, and the site had then been stasis-bombed from orbit. Though the fighting that had transpired up until that point had been cursory, the limited augur readings of the interior of the fortress had shown a mounting surge in ambient radiation, and when the cube had been retrieved from within the stasis field the surrounding atmosphere had been suffused with anomalous and exotic, diffuse energies. There had been nothing else within its secure chamber to explain how it might have been powered. No control throne, no cogitators or activation runes, scarcely any devices save the lighting. Yet somehow, it had been beginning to do...something.

With every contemplation of the Cube Augor had indulged in, the more he became certain the Nurthene Rebels had been correct in their beliefs, sick and twisted as they had been. The Cube was a weapon. Some arcane, alien weapon of unknown function. Moreover, the rebels had also been correct in their belief that the cube would have destroyed the planet - and of more imperative interest, they had also been correct that it would have killed even him. Heretech, that was rightly sealed away within the depths of the Ineffable Artifice's black vaults. To study Heretech with the desire to replicate it was heresy, but Augor hoped that the underlying principles themselves, once understood, could be achieved through more mundane and cleaner methods that would be approved of by the Synod of Mars. Abstract, scientific principles divorced wholly from unclear xenos form. 

All of his being collapsed inwards upon the contemplation of the Cube. All that was within him considered it. The latest discoveries and reports from dark and void regions of space the Stargazers explored, the most recent imagery and depictions of cultist iconography from myriad worlds, the templates and secrets of recovered archeotech and heretech alike compared and considered.

And there, the first glimmering of insight bloomed. The Three Swords of Laer. Entrusted to the Macroclade Fleets and Malagra Dinwright by the Night Watch. The sickening forms of the xenos weapons had seethed with barely contained warp energies that Augor could sense from the moment they had been brought aboard the Ineffable Artifice. He had personally overseen the interment of the sickening Heretech within the Black Vaults, and all that his mind had perceived of the blades then turned what he could discern of them to the purpose of contemplating the Cube.

The Blades had whispered to him. According to reports, any Adept who lay hand upon the blades were overcome with violent and indiscriminate fugue, attacking friend and foe alike and becoming overborne with inhuman vigor and monstrous strength. Weapons of this nature had been found before, and though the Mechanicum and the Ordo Astranoma's reports on them were light on descriptive details for fear of perpetrating Techno-Heresy, enough had been observed simply by frequency of encounters for observers to determine that such weaponry was commonly aspected in some fashion, with common themes and perils shared between them - and generally, the cultists and traitors who wielded the weapons when finally lain low and interrogated claimed that the implements spoke to them.

And somehow, the murmurs that had emanated from the blades when Augor had gazed upon them with his sightless hollows had revealed a new facet of the Black Cube's true nature.

The Cube had not always been as it was now. It had originally been made as a weapon of war by an ancient, now extinct xenos species, and from there it had then been tainted, corrupted, and altered through deliberate exposure to the energies and vagaries of the warp. Much like the three Laeran Blades themselves had been. The Blades also reacted to each other with a resonance, a resonance that within certain distances could be used to locate more of them. Useless at interstellar ranges, but might have proven useful on Laer itself hd the Prefecture Magisterium not ordered the Exterminatus of the planet.

This knowledge, turned and refocused upon the Cube, revealed a similar quality. The Black Cube bore a resonant form of energy. Unlike the Laeran Blades however, the Cube pulsed with an eminent intensity that held true across immense distances. It was then that Augor knew: The Black Cube was not unique. There were more of them...

Augor sucked in a breath reflexively as the trance ended and his bionics mediated control over his bodily functions back to his unconscious mind. Slowly, he turned his sightless gaze towards the floor and looked blindly down, down - into the belly of the ship, at the exact spot where the Black Cube was contained inside a Null Box within the Black Vaults. It was impossible to discern what form of resonance the Cube had without removing it...

Just as soon as the thought came, Augor dismissed it. Down that road lay only madness and betrayal. The Black Cube would never know the outside of the vaults again.

...And that beside, even without knowing the exact characteristics of the Black Cube's resonant energies, he had witnessed it before and contemplated it long and often enough to be able to at least formulate a number of guesses. Augor rose from his dais and made for his chamber's foyers, his purpose now clear. However many more of the Cubes existed in the galaxy, they could not be permitted to remain outside of Imperial control. Locating and containing them would be added to the Ordo Astranoma's foremost priorities. His honor guard fell into step behind him as he left his chambers and made way for the nearest conveyor shaft, already sending advance notice of his intent via vox after a brief instruction Augor wordlessly conveyed to them with his impulse unit. 

Twenty minutes of navigating the interior of the massive Ark Mechanicum later, Augor and his guards arrived at an area of the ship that might have been considered unusual aboard any Voidship outside of the Mechanicum: The Extreme Range Deep Space Augur Manifold. A rare instance of a passive augur system tasked with the singularly challenging task of passively listening for distant places and objects of note, rather than most of the warfare-oriented active augur systems that screamed high-powered energy emissions in every direction to forcibly reveal everything nearby. The Manifold was colloquially referred to as 'The Lump' by the crew, as the device itself was little more than a solid block of exotic alloy with delicate interlaced relays, which acted as the primary receptor for the augur's passive scanning array. The Lump was larger than most Imperial Knights, suspended in the midst of a massive hangar dedicated solely to its maintenance and servicing. The crew charged with servicing it had been momentarily dismissed from the chamber to convene in a nearby shrine for an unscheduled devotional while their seneschal and overseeing Tech-Priest waited to address the Primarch personally.

It was a practice Augor had grown to prefer when it came to dealing with the Legion Serfs and Mechanicum personnel who crewed the ship. It was inefficient and time-intensive for them all to break from their tasks to offer distracting praise and worship to him wherever he went, but would have been improper decorum and upset most of them to insist on more subdued behavior. The obvious compromise being to clear the paths and chambers the Primarch moved through aboard the ship in advance of his arrival, usually in the form of the impromptu and unscheduled devotional, breakfast, inspection, and even the occasional outright early break.

Which still left their superiors to contend with.

"Glory and reverence unto you, hallowed and honored child of the Omnissiah. To be blessed by the unmatched joy of your presence in our humble shrine of knowledge is a most divine endowment beyond what we deserve-" The Tech-Priest, a junior Magos by the name of Mykidrios who had likely cursed their assignment to the augur manifold as a punishment in the first place, went on, bowing deeply and repeatly, raising and lowering their arms as they went. Besides them, the seneschal for the legion serfs who worked alongside the minor Tech-Priests within the section was prostrate on the floor, audibly chanting a semi-incoherent canticle to serve as a backdrop to the Magos' praise.

Augor entertained the lavish exultations of the Tech-Priest for nearly a minute and a half before identifying what was (probably) a full grammatical stop in their speech to raise a single hand in a placatory gesture and bring the Magos to a halt, even as the seneschal continued to chant aloud beside them.

"Magos, a new priority task for you and your staff has been divined." Augor began with a practiced, cultivated intonation acquired over a century of talking graciously down to people. "This matter is, in fact, to be listed amongst the greatest priorities your staff are to be entrusted with. It is of such import that I will be tasking a number of other Ark Mechanicums in other Macroclade Fleets to assist in the endeavor. I will hereby be charging you with not only overseeing this task, but with coordinating the Magos serving as your counterparts aboard these other vessels. You shall be their direct superior in this matter, and I will arrange for a new cogitator archive to be assigned to your staff for the purposes of facilitating this project."

The Magos' reaction was nothing short of rapturous, falling to their knees beside the seneschal and launching into a full-blown sermon of adulation vocalized entirely in the sharp, static hiss of Lingua-Technis. Augor carried on, gauging that the tech-priest was now sufficiently overwhelmed with adoration to feel any ire at being interrupted.

"The task is of a particularly sensitive nature, and as such I will be assigning additional permanent guards to your section. Members of the Prefecture Magisterium will also be making regular check-ins with you and your staff - this is not a punitive, and merely a precautionary measure due to the risks that will be entailed."

The Magos seemed to deflate at that, finally breaking off their sermonizing to stare blankly up at Augor. The seneschal had likewise stopped canting and was aiming a conflicted, confused expression up at the Primarch.

"Risks, most righteous champion?" The Magos inquired. "May I beseech you to impart upon this humble servant what sort of risks my staff and I might expect to encounter in performing this task?"

"None that you are not already aware of. The same variety of risks that come from monitoring warp storms and the furthest reaches of void regions beyond the light of the Astronomican." Augor offered in a conciliatory tone. "I have every confidence that your usual precautions and measures against the adverse effects of monitoring such realms will serve you ably in the performance of this task as well. Consider the additional security of an honorary nature, for rest assured, you and yours will be performing the work of the Omnissiah."

That endorsement caused the Magos to swell in confidence once more. "A most vaunted benefaction, oh beneficent Primarch! Pray tell, if it pleases you to say, what task do you require of us, and what other Arks shall I be coordinating with?"

"As to your second question, I am not certain offhand. I am not personally familiar with the specifications of every Ark Mechanicum within the Ordo Astranoma's Macroclade Fleets." Augor indicated with a genial wave. "Likely they will be whichever vessels possess manifolds or augur systems equivalent or similar to this one here. I have seen enough of them to know they are not as common as one would think. As to your first question," He gestured for the Magos and the seneschal to rise as he walked around them. "Come. I will be personally configuring signature parameters. You will be looking for geodesic perturbations coinciding with the presence of ambient exotic radiation..."

Several hours of discussion later, Augor left the manifold chamber and abruptly stopped in his tracks as he received a priority alert via vox. Communications had received a priority message directly from the Fearful Symmetry, the Ark Mechanicum of Archmagos Rarnet - the seniormost Tech-Priest presently within the Ullanor system short of Augor and Mercaerath. Though unexpectedly, the message was not from the Archmagos.

It was from none other than Usriel - the Primarch of the Nineteenth Legion.

In Empire of the Dead → 3 yrs ago Forum: Advanced Roleplay

@Flagg, due to illusory chicanery by Arane in Nergthron, outrageous rumors of Callidus appearing in Nergthron and kicking up a fuss are going to start circulating around. They may take a while to actually spread very far, but I imagine the Pale King has ears in far places.

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