User:The Collective Mind/Prototypes

Consanguinuity
The Consanguinuity is a loosely-organized occult criminal/terrorist organization active in Tuuros Galaxy. While extremely few in number, the supernatural weapons wielded by its members, and the supernatural augmentations granted by those weapons, gives the Consanguinuity power and influence well beyond its size. Its name is a reference to the continuity of the weapons they bear, with each successive wielder taking up the legacy of all the previous.

Goad:

What separates the Consanguinuity from other roving pirate bands and criminal syndicates is the unique weapon each member carries. These are the Goads: demonic entities incarnated in metal, masterfully constructed, supernaturally charged, and malevolently sapient. Goads take on a myriad of forms. Many are blades. Some are spears, or axes, or bows, or hammers. None are weapons from past the early Iron Age.

Goads are best understood as spiritual parasites. They feed on bloodshed, suffering, violence, chaos -- and they exist solely to cause such things. In simple terms, their method of operations is to bond themselves to a suitable Bearer, grant them unnatural powers, and set them loose on the unsuspecting galaxy.

Anatomy:

Each Goad has a physical component and a metaphysical component. The physical component is the weapon one can pick up and hold. The metaphysical component is the spirit dwelling within the weapon, giving it its unnatural properties and linking it to its Bearer.

While each Goad is unique, they are uniformly masterpieces of their type. Each one is perfectly balanced, beautifully decorated and engraved, and entirely functional. They also possess unnatural qualities beyond simple construction: Intelligence
 * Goads can change their size. Bearers come in many shapes and sizes, and the Goad they take up automatically alters its size to fit them.
 * Goads are not always present. Once bonded to a Bearer, that Bearer will always be linked to their Goad. That Goad may not always be in their direct possession -- in times where walking around with a huge hammer strapped to one's back is detrimental to one's objective, the Goad may be relegated to the Goad-realm they hail from, effectively vanishing into thin air until summoned once more into the hands.
 * Goads are uniquely empowered. A Goad in the shape of a spear may be able to pierce any armor, regardless of material. A Goad in the shape of a sword may be able to break any weapon used to block or parry it. A Goad in the shape of a bow may generate its own arrows, which fly further than any conventional arrow and may change directions midflight... The type of empowerment is unique to each Goad, and each Goad is itself a unique construction.
 * Goads are hard to destroy. Whatever unearthly metal they're crafted from is far sturdier than any natural steel and capable of regenerating itself from whatever harm it might take. They can be destroyed -- snapping one in half will reliably kill one -- but this typically requires separating it from its Bearer and subjecting it to high explosives or extreme industrial processes. They are very rarely broken in the course of battle.
 * Goads are immortal. Their bodies can be broken, their spirits banished to the Goad-realm, their Bearers slain, but the Goad always survives. How this happens is one of their sacred mysteries. Inevitably, dead Goads return in the hands of new Bearers, wearing the same shape as before (if not the same size), ready to inflict violence upon the galaxy once more. There are anywhere between 36 to 70 Goads physically present in the galaxy at any given time.

Goads are sapient weapons that exist solely to cause violence. Their personalities point in much the same direction. In short, they are spiteful, prideful, and fond of bloodshed.

They are not overtly so. They are also calm and cunning. They are fully capable of planning complex operations and formulating long-term goals. Their minds are not superhuman, but they are unbelievably ancient, with all the wisdom and experience that implies.

However, the Goads are fractious. This is one of their greatest weaknesses. Goads may work together in the short term, but long-term cooperation is impossible, inevitably falling out to self-interest and arguments over what plans to make and what courses of action to take. Long-term cases of the Consanguinuity working together is due much more to the Bearers than to their Goads.

Goad-Realm

The metaphysical aspect of the Goads is rooted in the Goad-Realm. This is an otherworldly space or pocket dimension that links all Goads together, and which may be witnessed by Bearers at will through a ritual sacrifice: killing a sentient being, burning it, and stepping into the smoke.

The Goad-Realm is described as a place of red light and black smoke where the Goads hold absolute power. Through the Goad-Realm, the Goads share knowledge about other Goads and Bearers with their own. In the Goad-Realm, Bearers may communicate across vast distances as if they're standing next to each other. The Goad-Realm may even be used as an alternate form of transportation from world to world, bypassing the usual dangers of Hellspace, though the Realm is itself physically inhospitable and cannot be tolerated for long. Spacecraft are usually more convenient, especially over long distances.

Bearer

The Goads are artifacts of tremendous arcane power, but like any weapon they are little more than inert metal without an agent to wield them. Those selected to carry a Goad are known as Bearers. Uniformly, they are chosen from the downtrodden, the fearful and the disgraced: some trick of causality ensures that, when a prospective Bearer is at their lowest and most desperate, there will be a Goad nearby to manipulate them, promising power and vengeance, preying on their trauma and insecurity to convince them to take it up. The Goad may have been in their possession for years as an interesting curio; they may stumble upon it half-buried in the dust of some forgotten world; in some cases they may even receive one from another Bearer, told to find a Goad from somewhere and seek a certain person out by their master.

Regardless, the outcome is always the same: the Goad finds its way to them in their time of greatest need, and they anoint the Goad with their blood, becoming its next Bearer and forging an unbreakable spiritual bond.

Powers and abilities:

Once bonded to a Bearer, the Goad grants them a broad spectrum of powers to better carry out the chaos and destruction the Goads feed on.


 * Goad
 * Best understood as spiritual parasites
 * Goad-Realm
 * Bearer
 * Goads manipulate their Bearers into taking them up. Some trick of causality ensures that, when a prospective Bearer is at their lowest and most desperate, there will be a Goad nearby to manipulate them, preying on their trauma and insecurity to convince them to become its Bearer.
 * Powers and abilities
 * the "standard package": enhanced strength, enhanced speed and reflexes, enhanced senses, enhanced healing, enhanced survivability (they can live just fine anywhere with an atmosphere, don't get sick, and can go much longer than normal without food or water)
 * the Vicissitude
 * Relationship
 * Organization - both large scale and small scale
 * List of Bearers
 * Name, image(s), Goad, additional powers, origins
 * a disgraced Vranntan Warlord who took up a Goad to survive a succession duel, muscle
 * an abused Saviki Scullion who wanted revenge
 * an aphor, the leader of the gang
 * ???, mostly behind-the-scenes facilitator, raises funds via unsavory means
 * ???, directs cult forces
 * Relationships
 * Depends entirely on individual bearers and current circumstances -- a Bearer may be an ally one moment and an enemy the next, depending on their own motives
 * Quotes, etc.

Tenet
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, Magister First Class, Master of Devices Nemesh Izeroth, Left Hand of the Archon

Count of the Third Order, Venerable Chamberlain, Grand Admiral Kohm Aqar, Honored of the Archon

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

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

Archontissa of the Khidar Court, Archduchess of the Third Order, Keeper of the Inner Temple of the Northern Sky Fraternity, the Blind Seer of Talannar, Beloved by All, Fehari 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



!!ALERT!!
PRIORITY RED MESSAGE

FROM: Prime Analyst (11:18): Travat Petrushov, Asken [Legions: Intelligence/Alien]

TO: Sector 11 Intelligence Director: Anaya Kiril, Toboloi [Legions: Intelligence/Alien]

SUBJECT: IRON AXIS threat capacity review

TAGS: IRON AXIS, threat level, allies...

MESSAGE BEGINS.

Sir Kiril, I fear we have severely underestimated the threat capacity of IRON AXIS.

Earlier today (cycle 05-12), reconnaissance fleet T490-11:18 clandestinely entered IRON AXIS space outside Sector 11 to observe Channel operations and IRON AXIS activities in and around system AY/1787. AY/1787 was believed to be a major IRON AXIS population center based on intercepted comms traffic and hyperspace activity (attached: AY/1787, Stellar Activity, 599 03-01).

It appears that most of what we know about IRON AXIS is built on faulty evidence.

The asteroid habitats within joint Imperial-IRON AXIS space seem to be no more than a manned perimeter, a buffer zone for potential threats. What the recon fleet discovered was an actual IRON AXIS city. Look at this:

This is AY/1787:08, the smallest of the eight planets in the system. All of them were like this. This represents an astral engineering capacity millennia beyond our capabilities. They're taking the whole planet apart.

Attached is a full report on IRON AXIS activities and construction within the AY/1787 system. To summarize: From the scale of this project, the sheer amount of resources involved, and the fact that no Monitors are present, we must assume that the AY/1787 project is not unusual for IRON AXIS. It may even be routine. Espionage Officer (11:18) Kol is organizing another reconnaissance operation to probe deeper into IRON AXIS space to confirm. Target stars are UY/2410, UD/0122, and AY/4415.
 * AY/1787 is covered by an incomplete stellar shell, made up of an estimated 72576 solar collection satellites.
 * Extensive celestial demolition in progress; AY/1787:03 estimated to be fully dismantled within 4 years.
 * No fewer than five Channel nodes present. Channel activity 864% greater than previously estimated average.
 * Orbital habitats:
 * 3 confirmed Class 4 (metropolis+), 1 unconfirmed
 * 33 confirmed Class 3 (metropolis-scale), 58 unconfirmed.
 * 70 confirmed Class 2 (city-scale), 119 unconfirmed.
 * 284 confirmed Class 1 (colony-scale), 537 unconfirmed.
 * 8 new IRON AXIS starship types, apparently specialized for planet-dismantling/megastructure-construction purposes.
 * No Monitors detected.

Based on the findings of T490-11:18, I humbly submit that IRON AXIS should be reclassified to Threat Level 2. I await your response, Sir Kiril.

Prime Analyst Asken Travat Petrushov

MESSAGE ENDS.

GLORY TO THE EMPIRE - LONG LIVE THE TETRARCHS

Quote
"Motive is the most thoroughly joyless society I have ever had the dubious pleasure of studying."

- Oraxes Merl, Necrox Commonwealth (Biotic Catalogue)

"One of my friends heard from a Motivator that the Monitors get weirder the deeper inside you go. Things like the corridors changing when you aren't looking, weird sounds, rooms that don't make sense... he heard the pipes and the wires start looking like writing, when you get far enough."

"Don't be fooled by all the gears and pistons - Motive builds for function, not aesthetics. Their tech's at least as advanced as anything you've got. Probably more."

- Analyst Shuykim Auv, Imperial Intelligence

Concord 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