User:The Collective Mind/Prototypes

Bidonite Diaspora
considered insignificant - not worth the effort of hunting down

They were hardly strangers, of course. It always made the local news when one of the big hive fleets pulled up -- hundreds of ships all coming in to dock at once, and a thousand more hanging out just a few light-minutes away.

"This is what we desire: a galaxy gnawed to the bone."

a hungry song, it wants to make everything a part of it

the anun-sedim

pantrophs, ontotrophs, aspect-eaters, chanters

you cannot kill me in a way that matters

''They're not alive any more. Not as you understand the word.''

look at sarkicism

To starve yourself until you grow so hungry you devour itself, and to devour yourself and keep living

you're trapped inside yourself, find a way to escape, destroy your prison and liberate yourself and remake yourself anew

it's about achieving your fullest potential and then not stopping

transcendence through overexpression - your body is holding you back, desire exists to be fulfilled

hollow yourself and wear your skin, slip your flesh like a robe

when you eat something you take it into yourself, you take ownership of it. eat yourself and assume control

ran him through with a long spear

BEHOLD, I CANNOT BE KILLED, FOR I HAVE EATEN MY BODY AND MADE IT MY OWN

ALL THAT IS MADE WILL SUFFER, FOR IN SUFFERING SHALL THEY ATTAIN DIVINITY, AND THIS DIVINITY WE SHALL CONSUME

aspect-eaters, eaters of divinity ascendant and descendant, we make this our food

unwind the entrails of the universe

transcend yourself, transcend materiality

I CALL UPON AZZAK, I CALL UPON DIIRGESH WHO IS NURGATH, I CALL UPON THE SIX SCIONS AND THE EIGHTEEN SPIRITS

grant us teeth

Tenet
a psychic weapon of ungodly power: necromancy, enslaved minds, sacrifices
 * Fundamentals
 * Lost
 * Substitute
 * Current

brahmastra

remote slave collars! one guy puppeteers thousands of bodies!

iron rebuke

complex web: titles (signifying office), ranks (signifying position), modifiers (prestige and honorifics)

Sword-Baron of the Third Order, Knight-Marshal Arid of House Anuk, Right Hand of the Archon

Duke of the Third Order, Honored Magister First Class of the Suleysi College, Master of the Devices of Khidar, Left Hand of the Archon, Izesh Vizdar of House Izeroth

Count of the Third Order, Venerable Chamberlain, Grand Admiral Kohm Aqar of House Ashazdes, Honored of the Archon
 * spearman
 * serjeant
 * signifier

Host/Legion/Division/Battalion/Cohort/Maniple/Section
 * host: sum total armed forces of a client, several legions [marshal]
 * theme [strategos]
 * legion [general]
 * division [commandant]
 * battalion [commander] - combined arms begins here
 * cohort [signifer]
 * maniple [captain]
 * column [lieutenant]
 * file [serjeant]
 * spearman

combined arms battlegroup terminology army divided into six primary orders: the arm, the scouts, the knights, the magi, the aerial, the auxiliaries
 * sub-lance
 * lance
 * brigade

four separate but related command structures, all ultimately beneath the knights
 * arm: infantry and war machines
 * scouts: special forces, commandos, reconnaissance, guerilla warfare; recruited from the best of the arm
 * knights: veteran armsmen and scouts, eventually advancing to commissioned officer
 * magi: combat engineers and technicians, parts are attached to other orders, the rest are soldiers of the higher war
 * auxiliaries: formal order for informal slave infantry, war beasts, guardsmen, etc.

armsmen in steel munition armor

magi in titanium magi-variant munition armor with color bands designating type (multiple possible)

skirmishers in steel and camo-wrap

knights in titanium plate

other examples of tenet technology

septentrion fleet

rebellion

grineer fortress

silent guardians?

awake

this one

skeksis funeral

ladies of the woods is an edacity theme but maybe it works for them

sunspot
 * esquire, armiger, duke, count, baron, sable, patrician, consul, groom, lord, dominus, prefect, viceroy

"The Day of Glory approaches. When it comes, we shall not be found lacking."

Archon of Khidar, Prima of the Third Order, Keeper of the Inner Temple of the Northern Sky Fraternity, the Blind Seer of Talannar, Wearer of the Green, Beloved by All, Fehari Deshanir of House Ashazdes Fehari Ashazdes. Viscount of Talannar. The Blind Seer. The Green Lady. My master.
 * wears a veil, top half of her face is horribly burned
 * personality marked by love
 * "Give me your will, o children. Give over your burdens, your pain and your suffering. There is peace in subjugation, and comfort in my thrall."
 * gathering power in preparation to challenge the viceroy of khidar

What can I say about her that you don't already know? She is a magus of unprecedented power for her rank. Her name is whispered across Khidar in fear and reverence. She wraps herself in glamours and enchantments as naturally as they are impenetrable. She commands not through power, the iron fist, but through love and outstretched arms. They say her ambitions are spoken of in the High Court. The Grand Duke of Khidar fears her rising star.

He is right to fear. The Blind Seer's love is a terrible thing.

She is blind because she lost her eyes in one of her first usurpations, when she became Baroness of Divsara. The baron of that title burned them out of her skull even as she hollowed out his mind like a parasite wasp. She made do.

In another duel, the Baron of Sanit Lam cursed her with barrenness. He did it out of spite, for he died seconds later, his body crumbling to ashes. Fehari Ashazdes, only child of Ashazdes, was now the last of her line.

This and a dozen other wounds she took over her rise. She could have repaired them with her own power, as most do. She did not. "They are lessons," she once told me. "To heal them would be to forget."

And then she laughed, and said, "And it shames my enemies to heap curse after curse upon a poor cripple, and it shames them worse to fear her."

My lady understands the value of perceptions.

Throughout all this, she gathered allies. The magus Izeroth she teased with her power, and then wrapped him in a net of his own ambitions. He will follow her to the grave because he cannot see past his dreams of usurping her. The Fleetmaster, Aqar, acts like he is her grandfather. He is proud of her, and eager to see how much higher she will climb. The spymaster, Zduda, she entranced with sympathy and compassion. The Eyes of Zeyyd are solitary, often outcasts. It was easy to inspire her loyalty. And there are others, dozens of others, charmed by her wit and beauty and power, all across Khidar.

And there was me. The ex-slave she protected and nurtured like her own child. Like the son she will never have.

Arid Anuk of the Khidar Court, Knight-Commandant of the Emerald Host, Baron of the Third Order, Right Hand of the Viscountess, the Black Hand, the Honor-Bound What a tiresome man. To think someone like him stands at the Baroness's right hand... surely she knows how that reflects on her?
 * thrice-warded plate armor: once for physical shielding, once for thermal shielding, once for magical
 * "It is not my place to question the will of my master."
 * honorable man, ex-slave, quiet, obedient, follows orders because that's all he can do
 * slave who slew his master, and was protected from retribution by the viscountess
 * don't forget -- he's much stronger and faster than he should be, thanks to the ritual of slaughter
 * vampire blade -- blade itself enchanted to unmake matter, then draws blood down its fullers lined with runes to invoke sympathetic magic and spells of ruin
 * "Honestly, it's only good he hasn't taken a wife. The last thing we need is more of his kind polluting our families."

His heritage is hardly a secret. Everyone knows he's Da'mir stock. An ex-slave. He came to the attention of his betters after he killed his master, the Esquire of Dein, and fortunately for him, one of those betters was the Viscount.

To think he was freed for it! It wasn't remotely a lawful killing. No challenge was invoked. No duel was fought. Just one man bashing in the skull of another man by surprise in some dirty field. Like an animal. But the word of the Viscount was respected beyond her rank, and she wasn't even a viscount back then. She ordered him freed, and gifted him the Esquire's title and lands.

Of course this angered the Khidar Court. Some of them, anyways. The rest were too busy laughing at what happened to the old Esquire. But the Esquire had friends in the court, and other allies besides, who saw the slave's elevation as nothing but the most flagrant disrespect for our laws and traditions, not to mention common decency. They sent assassins, maledictions.

Unfortunately, so did the Viscount. The new Esquire was under her personal protection, and she made it known in the most direct manner possible. And so, one or two of the titles of Khidar found themselves suddenly without a bearer. Esquire Anuk was safe for the time being. And under the Viscount's wing, he learned he had a supreme talent for violence. This surprised nobody.

Esquire he was, but Anuk knew he would never have the intelligence or the blood for Court politics. So he sidestepped them by turning his attention and his talent towards the military.

Nemesh Izeroth of Khidar, Magister Lord of the Emerald Host, Left Hand of the Viscountess, Knight of the Inner Temple of the Northern Sky Fraternity, Sorcerer Supreme, Lord of Devices, the Clever "He is smug, entitled, and repulsive. But I find his open contempt more tolerable than the glances and little slights of his peers. It is honesty, in its own way." -anuk
 * artifice armor, self-enchanted, stuffed with all sorts of weird extras
 * schemer, sly and sarcastic, unruly, arrogant
 * "Insolent upstart children. Give them the least room to quarrel and carve out space for themselves, and they suddenly think themselves mighty."

"This man has done more to test my patience than any battle I've been in." -aqar

"No." -zduda

Kohm Aqar of Khidar, Fleetmaster of the Emerald Host, Chariot of the Viscountess, Chief Strategist of Air and Darkness, the Bone-Burner, the Devout, Word-eater "I find much to respect about him -- his calm, his dependability. But he is too close to the Viscountess to be trustworthy."
 * mediates between anuk and izeroth, easygoing in all things, contrast between izeroth's scorn and anuk's coldness
 * even in battle he can't be ruffled, but that's mostly because he enters a zen state - "battle meditation"
 * oldest of the three, remembers when the baroness was just a calf
 * reads a lot
 * religiously inclined, likes to quote scripture
 * sea captain kind of guy. probably used to be a sea captain
 * "There's no use in worrying about everything. It's easier to move with the waves and the wind than against them."

Meyian Zduda of Khidar, Eye of Zeyyd, Queen of Lies and Secrets, Watchful Blade of the Viscountess, the Eyes and Ears "What does it say about me that the only member of the Court who I trust is not actually part of the Court, is in fact a spy who deals in trust like currency?"
 * Intelligence officer and assassin
 * introverted and thoughtful, never acts impulsively
 * Uses perception alteration and sympathetic magic to infiltrate and assassinate - better at real-time combat ritual than izeroth, who mostly uses an arsenal of enchanted weaponry
 * an ex-slave herself, close to anuk with shared history and sympathy
 * "Deception is the highest form of war."

link to the Emerald Host page, a contemporary Tenet military

legion of bitter steel

personality-appearance-history-armament

divisions:
 * elite aphor core: armsmen, scouts, knights
 * slave shock infantry, war beasts & terror weapons (one term)
 * war machines
 * ritual weapons

their strength is in their ritual weaponry, everything else exists to defend their superweapons as they're being set up

 Baron Arid Anuk=

"It is not my place to question the will of my master."
 * Name: Arid of House Anuk
 * Titles: Knight-Marshal of the Emerald Host, Baron of the Third Order, Right Hand of the Archon, the Black Hand
 * Role: Supreme general of the Emerald Host's ground forces, appointed champion of the Archon

Baron Anuk's personality can be defined by two constants: his honor, which has remained stubbornly entrenched across the many centuries of his life, and his bitterness, which has only ever grown deeper. Once a mere labor-slave at the bottom of Tenet's hierarchy, he has risen to the rank of Baron by being more dangerous and more competent than any of his superiors, and by the support of the Viscountess, who sees great things in him. Duke Izesh Izeroth= "Insolent upstart children. Give them the least room to quarrel and carve out space for themselves, and they suddenly think themselves mighty."
 * Name: Izesh of House Izeroth
 * Titles: Grand Magister, Duke of the Third Order, Left Hand of the Baroness
 * Role: High priest/chief engineer of Khidar, deputy of the Archon

Noble by birth and magi-trained, Baron Izeroth was born with an ambition to rule and an understanding of his self-evident superiority. His arrogance and insufferability are infuriatingly compounded by genius: as Grand Magister, his thaumaturgical skills have proven to be among the most advanced and comprehensive within all of Khidar. Count Kohm Aqar= "As the Scrolls say: to overreach and fail in glory is still to fail."
 * Name: Kohm of House Aqar
 * Titles: Fleetmaster of the Emerald Host, Count of the Third Order
 * Role: Supreme admiral of the Emerald Host's space fleet

Old, easygoing, and devout, Count Kohm remembers when the Archon was still a calf at her mother's side. His House has long been closely tied to the Ashazdes, and he has watched Fehari's rise to power with pride as if she were his own daughter. He has no official function within the Court, but the Archon respects his age, experience, and advice, trusting him like her own uncle.

Anungim and Adigartu, Elu-Ashak

Durgesh and Azak, the Uludalgeh

who become niirkesh and zahak, Udarala

footnotes?

Stasis. bubbles of frozen time, thaumaturgically complicated and expensive to maintain but worth it -- food never spoils, wounded can receive medical attention "immediately",

fleshcrafting and thoughtbinding

Fleshcrafting. One of the two "Holy Arts" said to have been taught to Tenet magi directly through divine correspondence. It is believed to be one of the most difficult schools of thaumaturgy to learn [requiring a comprehensive understanding of all fields of biology], and its practice is both prestigious and applicable. Not only is it useful medically, it is also how Tenet constructs its biological servitors. Fleshcrafting is a vital part of Tenet society, and its control is part of how Tenet magi ensure their social dominance.

a page for eyes of zeyyd? shapeshifters, mind readers, exist to stir up trouble in outlying systems for a raider fleet to take advantage of

Servitors are autonomous

Ghuruk are considerably more dangerous than conventional fleshcrafted servitors and are capable of operating independently of a handler. As with all Tenet bio-servitors, ghuruk demonstrate exceptional speed, strength, and regenerative ability. However, ghuruk are uniquely able to channel Essence, thereby enhancing their lethality through paracausal means.

All understanding of Ghuruk biology is speculative, as dead Ghuruk rapidly disintegrate. Tenet is believed to be incapable of replacing lost Ghuruk [being too advanced for its current level of thaumaturgy to replicate]; thus, their deployment is reserved for emergencies and operations of extreme significance.

The following target profiles are written in the context of Tenet bio-servitors. See SI:C1 for their context within the Prime Criterion.

Tenet servitor type E/B-A [ghuruk ammur]

Height: 11 ft

Length: ?

Mass: 14,000 lbs

Function: Shock trooper/tank destroyer/terror weapon

Incredibly resilient servitor type. Regenerates from injury at greater speed than conventional servitors and will continue to fight following catastrophic injury [such as bisection, dismemberment, and decapitation]. Only total destruction of both cranium and center of mass has been observed to reliably kill an Ammur.

Essence capabilities: Advisory: Notes:
 * Pyrokinesis: Ammur may generate and hurl projectiles composed of Cryptic plasma. This plasma is hyper-oxidizing and is known to cause incombustible materials to ignite, in most cases explosively.
 * Aciukinesis: When attacking, Ammur focus Cryptic energy into their claws and teeth, imposing an artificial and exceptional degree of sharpness capable of cutting through superhard materials.
 * Wallcrawling: Despite their size and weight, ammur are capable of scaling sheer, vertical surfaces.
 * When orbital bombardment is impossible, air or artillery strikes are recommended, ideally multiple passes. Do not assume an ammur is dead until it has disintegrated.
 * Tenet scripture describes Ghuruk Ammur as being raised in armies of billions during the 'War in Heaven'. As Tenet has only a limited supply of Ammur, it must be much more selective in their deployment.

Serafhan

Horrible ant-things

Horrible flying things

Horrible carnivore thing

Horrible small but poisonous thing (living mushroom?)

Horrible herbivore (needs to be horrible to fight horrible plants)

Horrible herbivore 2

Horrible ambush thing that lives in mud


 * Naturally-occurring andasium crystals, often found in the wake of blowouts
 * thing that puts out more heat than you put in
 * thing that absorbs heat but remains cold
 * mirror panes that reflect your thoughts
 * floater - hovers in the air wherever you let it go, casts too many shadows
 * thing that neutralizes momentum in a small radius -- takes more effort

 Andasium= Flect= Floater= Cooler= Heater= Slower=

Motive
doctrine -- interchangeability and redundancy, fortifications everywhere, defeat is worse than death organization --
 * generally, inferior armor combined with superior weapons and plenty of support
 * everyone is a combat engineer, combined with motive construction technology means fortifications get erected stupidly fast
 * noncom equivalents called "conductors", ranging from GDC:1 to GDC:12


 * commissioned officer and enlisted equivalents called "operators", ranging from GDO:1 to GDO:10 with specialist qualifiers as necessary


 * Garrison infantry
 * Shock infantry

Hubs:
 * Mechs: biped/quadruped/hexapod/scout
 * modular weapons mounts
 * Land carrier
 * 1) Triumphator -- the first, and biggest
 * 2) Alliance
 * 3) Keyport
 * 4) Axis
 * 5) Reliance
 * 6) Stronghold
 * 7) Colossus
 * 8) Hallowed
 * 9) Virtue
 * 10) Imperial
 * 11) Crossroads
 * 12) Helicon
 * 13) Phalanx
 * 14) Regime





rd Terminal
Welcome to Concord Terminal, our foremost intergalactic diplomatic nexus! If you're reading this, then you are either a traveler on a long journey, a foreign dignitary on a mission, or some other valued client of our services. Whoever you are, you've come to the right place. Motive knows your needs and is ready to serve! WARNING TO PSYCHICALLY SENSITIVE INDIVIDUALS: while staying at Concord Terminal, you may experience feelings of dysphoria, subjective blindness, and the sensation of being watched. This is normal.
 * About Concord Terminal -- history, significance
 * Accommodations -- whether you're here to make use of one of our channel gates, seeking to negotiate a trade deal, or something else entirely -- atmosphere and gravity habitable for most forms of organic carbon-based life, notify within 24 hours if you have any requirements significantly different from the norm
 * Layout: production lines, habitats, wormhole gates, defenses
 * Quotes -- "customer reviews"
 * Great accomodations and wonderful staff. Felt like I was being watched the whole time. 5/5
 * The rooms are lovely but the food is awful. 3/5
 * Definitely go for the guided tour if you have the time! I thought I'd seen big, then I saw the assembly line for spaceships.
 * Went to the bathroom. When I came out the way back wasn't the same as the way to. Wandered around for 20 minutes before I found a concierge to ask for directions. 2/5

Prime Solar Republic
The Prime Solar Rebellion is the name for a series of conflicts in the Trans-Western Territory between Motive and rebellious elements of the Prime Solar Republic. Following years of increasing Motive influence within the economy and politics of the Prime Solar Republic to the detriment of civil rights and freedoms, multiple rebel cells began to form within the Republic, all with the ultimate goal of expelling Motive interests from Republic space. These cells were highly variable in size and social class, ranging from secret partisan movements to renegade military formations. After a time, they became collectively known as the Solar Resistance.

These rebellions both slowed and accelerated the process of assimilation. On one hand, Motive experienced setbacks as the Solar Resistance broke supply lines and bombed vital installations. On the other, Motive suffered no significant losses outside of its interests in Republic space, and furthermore began instating martial law across broad regions of space to "ensure the peace and security of Republic citizens", supplanting Republic governance entirely.

As Motive consolidated its control of the Republic, the Solar Resistance similarly began to centralize as the various rebel cells united, adopting that collective moniker as their own. With their various assets pooled together and with popular support from the people of the Republic, the Resistance escalated the conflict to open warfare.

1
Andres!

Far-flung outpost of the Prime Solar Republic. City of brick and stone and glass, built with muscle and pioneer spirit beneath a red sun, on the edge of a brown dry plain. Its people: plain, rustic, honest.

Andres has new tenants now.

They brought concrete, steel, smoke, noise. The low buildings of Andres (built low and tough to withstand tornadoes and dust storms) are dwarfed and humbled by their new neighbors: ugly gray compounds and complexes, monolithic and sprawling, edged with foglights and razor wire. Tall spikes pierce the sky, vent greasy fumes into the air. Nature is adjourned. These new structures stand immobile, heedless of wind and weather. Quiet Andres now rattles with the sound of machines and brutal industry -- the song of Motive.

Descend into the smog-shrouded streets, down between the high gray tenements and apartments onto ash-stained pavement. Dawn is approaching, a lightening in the smoky sky. A new day begins. Loudspeakers chime, awakening people from their beds: time for work.

2
Kar Zeil slams his back into the wall, panting. The barrel of his blaster pistol is glowing cherry red with heat but he doesn't have a spare to replace it with. This is not going to plan.

The plan: infiltrate Andres. Create a loud, flashy distraction. Plant bombs in Motive's factories and production lines while their forces are all rushing the other way. Cripple their industry in the Dryden region, clearing a way for a major Resistance push.

Their successes: infiltrated Andres without incident.

Then some Motive patrol had caught the distraction team in the middle of wiring that chimney up. No way to pass it off as an accident. They'd made a big bang all right, but hours too early -- and now, alert to insurgents in their midst, Motive has flooded the whole city with troops. The sheer bad luck of it all makes Kar seethe.

"Take mine," says Beck. He hefts a stolen Motive rifle. Kar drops his pistol -- heat degradation would steal most of its potency, and he doesn't have the means to cool it -- and takes the proffered weapon gratefully. The gun's workings are complex (Motive loves complexity) but he's used enemy weapons before. He cycles its firing mechanism and takes stock of his forces.

Right now, it's just him, Beck, and Trenn. Every man of them carries a demo charge, but unless they can link up with other Resistance fighters along the way (not likely, given the fight raging all over the city) they'll have to reach Target 2 by themselves. Not good odds. But the Resistance needs this break, and Kar refuses to fail it.

A platoon of gas-masked Motive soldiers tromps past the alley they're sheltering in, all boot-stomps and rattling gear. Kar waits for them to pass, then darts across the street. Beck and Trenn follow.

"We're close," says Kar. "Hear that?"

A slow clunk, clunk, clunk above the din of combat, interspersed with mechanical whirring. Target 2 is a facility that manufactures payload-less artillery shells, to be armed elsewhere, and the clunking is the noise of shells being loaded onto racks by heavy lifting arms.

They run towards the noise, passing intersections and alleyways. A squad of Motive troops pops around a corner and Kar shoots on instinct, flinging one bewildered Crewman backwards in a spray of armor shards and sending the rest scurrying back for cover. Kar and his team dart into a side street as the other Crewman return fire. No point in shooting back -- they can't beat Motive in a open fight, on its own turf. Speed is of the essence.

The walls of the narrow street are a blur. The noise is getting louder. Kar can hear other notes in its rhythm now, following their own individual beats. A kliklikliklik and a buzzzzz and a ''stomp - stomp - stomp. ''Engine-song, he's heard it described. The song of Motive. In fact, that stomping sound seems to be getting louder faster than the others --

Kar and his team burst out of the street and into a concrete courtyard. At the same moment, golden sunlight breaks through the oppressive cloud cover behind them, illuminating the brutal industrial mass of Target 2 --

-- and framing the towering tripod scout walker patrolling it with a stomp - stomp - stomp.

The walker halts. Atop the three pillars of its legs a cylindrical head rotates towards them, its searchlight pinning them in horrified place, its autocannons leveling downwards towards them. Even blinded by the searchlight Kar reckons he can see the Crewmen operating the thing behind the narrow viewslit on its head, see the shells loading into the barrels of its cannons that, for the moment, take up his entire world and doesn't this planet have a red sun --

Something person-sized, sun-bright and golden, smashes into the scout walker's head and obliterates it in a brilliant magnesium flash. Kar shields his eyes just in time (fragments of metal bounce off his head and elbow), and when he looks up, he sees that armored cockpit transformed into a shattered, scorched shell like a broken wineglass. And he sees that glowing person-shape perched atop it, and sees the whole broken contraption (knocked off-balance by the blow) slowly topple to the ground with a metallic groan. When it hits, it hits with a colossal crash, throwing up a cloud of dust and soot.

Kar rushes into it, but all thoughts of Target 2 are forgotten. The light was so beautiful. He needs to see it again, almost physically needs it.

A gust of wind blows the dust aside. And kneeling atop the ruin of the fallen scout walker is a woman.

She is radiant, beautiful. She glows with inner light. Wisps of it rise from her limbs like tiny solar prominences. Gossamer insectoid wings twice as long as she is tall trail from her back, her waist, drifting weightlessly around her. She stares at her own hands as if awed by her own power.

Kar stumbles and sinks to his knees. Behind him, Beck and Trenn do the same, each similarly enraptured. None of them are suspicious enough or resistant enough to wonder how natural their reactions are.

Slowly, she looks up at them. Her eyes are white on white. Slowly, joyously, she smiles.

"Are you with the Resistance?" she asks.

Kar stands. Her attention on him feels like warmth and light. "Y-yes, ma'am," he stammers, then almost chokes with embarrassment at how childish he sounds in front of her.

"You're here to free us."

Not trusting his voice, Kar nods.

"I have... power, now. I can help you fight them. But I need to know how." Her wings flare outwards like fans. Her smile turns fierce. "Tell me what to do."

Kar suddenly remembers he has a mission to accomplish, and he smiles too. His heart lifts with rare hope. The mission has just become a lot more possible.

3
VL: I'm not casting doubt on what she's accomplished. I'm just saying.

MO: And I say it doesn't matter. She hates Motive; she fights for us; good enough for me.

VL: But who is she? Where did she come from? How did she Ascend? As far as I know there are only three ways for that to happen, and none of them are plausible here. When someone Ascends there are galactic consequences. Is nobody else suspicious?

MO: You're out of line, Vic.

ND: You wouldn't be talking like this if you'd seen her. With your own eyes, not the picts and recordings.

VL: No. I wouldn't.

ND: ...what do you mean?

VL: I haven't seen her with my own eyes and I intend to stay that way. Keep her away from me. I'm done here.

for the crimes of arrogance, and hubris, and for thinking you could ever fight us

we'll send you four plagues. one upon your minds, one upon your flesh, one upon your stars, one upon your souls. each one is a lesson. we hope you learn something

it's already begun.

and at the end, when we raise the axe before your neck, you will beg us to swing it