άꓲ
+++Personal
Encrypted Journal+++
The
relationship between the founding line of house Le Roche and the venerable
Horst is a carefully hidden secret. To
put it bluntly, Eliza Le Roche wiped all family records and I ensured that
there was none ever stored.
The transference of genetic code by
source code is an interesting concept. The bond that was created between the
machine spirit and Horst is akin to the ancient Solarian
condition or mental aberration known as Stockholm syndrome.
Data: “Stockholm
syndrome is a condition that causes hostages to develop a psychological
alliance with their captors as a survival strategy during captivity. These
alliances, resulting from a bond formed between captor and captives during
intimate time spent together, are generally considered irrational in light of
the danger or risk endured by the victims.”
I spent what
little time Horst would allow me attempting to psychoanalyze his condition, any
attempt I made with Eliza generally resulted in a slap in the face or the
threat of physical violence at worse. My
attempt then to determine who the true captor in their relationship is I am yet
to determine?
+++End
Encrypted Journal+++
The journey through the endless
passages of the webway is dull and tedious.
Francine and I are at least able to pass the time in ME Space
engaging in complex mind games, or as is more the case I explored the expansion
of her consciousness and AI.
While the
other babbled about nothing meaningful, Lady B moaned about no succulent
victuals to gorge her appetites on; Elvis had no booty to grasp; Elsie no booty
(though in this case loot) to grab; and Horst spent the time bringing Eliza up
to speed on the Imperium (nothing more boring than explaining how a rotting
xenophobic empire functions).
As things were going from dull to
dreadfully dull, things perked up for all of a few moments. A group of the Lost and Damned had the misfortune
to stumble into our path. For once they
did not act out aggressively! An attempt
at a parlay was made, until Horst asked them whether they worshipped the one god. I guess the reply of all four, of which the
leader of the group named all four known major primordial ones set Horst
of. I then found out that Elsie had a
Rad grenade…
Sigh, the Rad grenade was tossed
with excellent aim and achieved a more than predictable result. The horde that was there was mightly reduced
to a mass of fleshy gloop, though some troops were “lucky” enough to be spared
the effects. These then braved the
closed quarter’s fury of Francine who shredded and pulped her targets with
ease. During the battle Francine was
engulfed in promethium fuel, which damaged her slightly. Once she doused the flames I attended her
“wounds” and with the aid of herself repairing nano-techology restored her to
full functioning status. I really am
brilliant. The problem of crossing the
radiated one now presented itself…
Francine came to the rescue. Scans of the tunnel and the radiation zone
revealed that there was a space sufficient for transport at the top of the
tunnel. With the aid of Francine’s
flight mode and jump capability she was able to ferry us one at a time across
the radiated zone safely. I chose to go
first in case of any catastrophic perils, and our journey was successful! Everyone else was successfully carried across
except Elvis who squirmed and fell into the zone. I blame Elvis for the amount of makeup he
applies to himself, he reminds me of our departed Fabio. Oddly enough I miss that deviant, wait what
am I saying, that’s a lie. I miss taking
the micky out of him, that’s what I miss.
I now have a radiation warning pinging every time Elvis comes within 3
meters of me. Tedious and annoying, just
like this endless webway. Mind you Elvis
is now on point, our scout and sacrificial lamb. Admittedly radiated lamb, but
maybe some entities like their meat cooked that way?
With the brief encounter but a
brief memory the ennui of the existence in the webway continues. Horst’s constant prayers to the god emperor were starting to
irritate the mutants, though it soothed Eliza who looked upon Horst with
growing attention and devotion. I had a
growing sense of déjà vu; my memory core was insisting that I had stored
sensitive gene data. Ah, now I remember, now I know why I have to do what has
to be done – for the greater good of course! My work is never done; it’s just
as well I have so many allies to support me in my tireless efforts.
I noticed in time that the webway
did react to intrusions by foreign bodies that it deemed foreign to its “natural”
fabric. For instance the chaos cultists
had raised an un-harmonic discord that at first I had not discerned in the
background. With the bickering of the
company it was very easy to miss. The
group of slavers that next encountered us gave little un-harmonic discord –
certainly they were vile creatures but they were certainly not of the nature of
the empyrean.
At a distance the purplish skinned
humanoids seemed akin to the natives of the planet Sel Delmas (or Salmonella
by Imperial Code.)
Elsie always colour
blind to the point of stupidity mistook the aliens as relatives and advanced
forward calling out for “Uncle Louis” (pronounced Louie with a very thick Cajun
accent).
Sadly “Uncle Louis” shot back
with a webgun.
This engagement was
particularly sticky and everyone was trapped to the point of almost being
impotent.
Elvis though was able to
activate his armour mounted railgun, scoring a devastating hit on the robot
carrying the captured slaves – not that we actively knew this at the time… well
maybe he did, maybe he didn’t.
The
resultant explosion devastated the slavers and all but one of the slaves.
The warp is again exposed and Elvis loses a
little more of his precious mind to the corrupting influence that lurks
there.
+++Personal
Journal Update+++
+++Reference:
Study – Y87/638-NS-Zeta7: Salmonella Project
The Inquisitions
theory that the mutants from this planet would be resilient or useful in war
against the denizens of the warp I believe is a doubtful one. My exposure to the few mutants in my company
to date has proven that they are extremely corruptible and more than likely to
be more a threat to the continued stability of the universe than bringing the
war against the primordial ones to a known outcome favourable to those who
fielded these creatures. Clearly the
truesilver is the only known component that is of any value. It should be the
primary focus to extract this element and harvest it at speed. Once completed, all native inhabitants will
be conscripted to penal legions and expended in service to the greater protection
and service of humanity. I think to have
the planet virus bombed is a poor choice now, with a cyclonic bombardment being
a more effective option. This way no
further mutation could be bred from the planet and the warp should not be able
to claim the planet with the sacrifice of souls with a cleansing or destruction. What started as noble sentiment millennia
past has been corrupted by the primordial agents. My task is to see that the
experiment is ended, what good is to be salvaged and that the mistakes –
hopefully we learn from them. Ha, fat chance of that. Humanity is too stupid to ever do that. Me on the other hand…
+++End
Journal+++
The captured slave proved to be a
valuable asset. What I had taken for a
husk of a woman of advanced age proved to be that of a navigator in her mid
twenties who named herself Motto, an indentured servant to an Inquisitorial
team of the Ordos Xenos. She told us
that she and her team had entered the webway with a goal to reach a location
known as the Black Library. Alas they
were attacked and many of her company were slain or captured. Actually the last
were slain in the very encounter. She
enquired who it was that caused such destruction. Elvis rather proudly boasted of his
exploits. Motto wept for the lost souls,
Elvis showed no contrition.
I appear to have been given the
title of diplomat and leader of the company now, with none of the others
wishing to take upon themselves the role.
Motto was confused at the symbols that decorated the power armour that
each of those in our company wore.
I
explained that the company operated under the protection of the Inquisition and
that we were of the Ordos Prime
,
hence the archaic symbol which she saw.
The other symbol on the armour (
άꓲ ) was that of the maker who stood before
her.
To say that Motto was overwhelmed
by such greatness was an understatement.
However the fickle mind of S.I.M.O.N. seeing that power may corrupt
absolutely placed the navigator under the “guidance” of Elvis.
I saw this as no inconvenience, I now had
access to a navigator, I had ANGUS my ships AI all I needed now was access to
my ship and I was free to pursue my destiny…
After all, these blue mutants what do they
factor in the greater scheme of things.
With the newly discovered
navigator in tow the company continued its deadly exploration of webway in
search of Commorragh and Sec Maegra. The ripples in the harmonics this time
were truly appalling as we encountered the nightmare xenos breed known as the
Slaugth. There was no attempt at parlay
the obvious alieness of these xenos clearly indicated no ability to
empathise. That and the fact Francine
took an immediate dislike to them.
“There is no order or structure
in these creatures My Love. They must be destroyed!”
Whereupon she then launched herself
into the midst of the enemy creatures, targeting the mighty construct creature
that lead from the front. I will now
take some time to explain these vile creatures that we had come upon.
Data: “In appearance, the
Slaugth are truly horrific to look upon, taking the form of a vague humanoid
shape composed of seemingly hundreds of writhing, half-melded maggot-like worms
covered in viscous, necrotic mucus. Capable of stretching and reforming their
body-mass at will, they move with an obscene, boneless fluidity and are capable
of regenerating injury with startling speed. They are impervious to age,
poison, diseases, and all but the most extreme injury. Their minds are as alien
as any encountered by mankind -- coldly savage, psychic voids filled with a
monstrous hunger for the dead.”
The battle was horrific and
terrible.
The weapons that these aliens
brought to bear was as bad as the nature of the creatures we faced.
The major casualty was Francine whose armour
was breached and her internals damaged.
The fact that the truesilver armour was “rusted” from the weapons was my
greatest concern.
I have no access to a
workshop, so my running repairs will be patchwork
,
though I pull off my exceptionally gifted handy work and “heal” Francine to
combat readiness. I think someone in the group is going to need to donate their
suit of armour to the greater good soon… I believe that volunteer will be “Return
to Sender
”
Elvis!
Excitement of sorts evolved over
the alien tech discovered. I was
intrigued, but could not see a way for it to be carried without it being a
contamination risk (primarily to myself and Francine). The guns they used were useless to the
company as they needed the Slaugth themselves to be fired – requiring a piece
of themselves as living ammunition. The grenades though provided more useful,
being of a dark matter variety. What
caused a rift in the group was the Necrotic Sceptres that were acquired. My examination of these devices was, while an
exciting discovery and one which I catalogued and stored, appalling. The device was a blend of living biomechanics
and elemental physics, the results were truly destructive to the point of
disintegration. Horst found that the
living element of the weapon unacceptable and consequently “confiscated” the
scepters from certain parties, or more precisely one individual. Horst intends to perform a cleansing ritual
once outside the corrupting influence of the webway and warp to destroy these
unnatural devices, hoping to free whatever life force that may have been bound
within the creation of this nightmare technology. No one, least of all, objected to Horsts
demands – this time…
Following the encounter with the
Slaugth the company was in much need of rest and recuperation. While the Francine and I required little
need for such respite the lesser being was waning, especially the newly
acquired navigator. Food (of such worth)
necessary to keep Motto going was lacking.
It was then that our luck turned for the better. For the first time in ages we met a group of
aliens that did not kill us on sight.
Mind you I was “leading” the company and I was the primary speaker of
High Gothic (thank goodness of language cores).
We met the Tau!
Our contact was cautious. The Tau group was large, considerably larger
than our little band of desperadoes and unless some quick thinking was
forthcoming, bloodshed was the most likely outcome. There were a number of battlesuits, drones
and warriors among those we could see at what we had hoped was a safe refuge
from the open tunnels.
Data: “The Tau is humanoid in shape, although they have hoofed feet and
four-digit hands (three fingers and one thumb). Their skin is grey-blue
(although this can vary in pigmentation between Tau colony worlds), rough in
texture, leathery, and exudes almost no moisture. Their faces are flat, wide
around the eyes, with an "I"-shaped slit running from the center of
the forehead to where a human's nose would be. Tau vision is considered slightly
superior to that of humans - their visual spectrum extends a little more into
the ultraviolet and infrared wavelengths. However their pupils do not dilate,
giving poorer depth perception and providing slower vision focusing reflexes
than humans. The olfactory organs of a Tau are inside the mouth. Physical
strength and size varies between the Tau castes with the Fire Caste being the
strongest of their kind, roughly the size and slightly weaker than an average
baseline human because the Tau homeworld has gravity slightly weaker than that
of Terra.”
“I am T’chala of Por, who has the
authority to treat with me?”
This was spoken to the company in
High Gothic. I could see from the blank looks on most that I would need to lead
the negotiations in this situation. I
later learnt that Eliza was fluent in the tongue and passed on all I spoke to
Horst, who in turn gossiped like an old woman to the rest.
“I do.”
My reply seemed to register
surprise with the Tau leader. He
whispered some words with his underlings before continuing his parlay.
“You are of the Imperium of Man
are you not?”
“Yes they are,” was my reply.
“It is perplexing that you have
not immediately fired upon us like so many of your fellow Imperials. Why is this so?”
I laughed, which prompted T’chala
to step back. “I am not typical of the rest of the Imperium. I work for the
greater good of the universe, and for my own purposes.”
This response elicited excitement
from T’chala and there was much animated conversation amongst his fellow
Tau. This conversation and gesturing
appeared to be causing some unrest amongst the company but they accepted that I
was negotiating in good faith and in a diplomatic matter, so while on guard,
they took no action.
“You say you work for the Greater
Good, what is your name? We have
encountered Imperials of similar fashion before and they have been anything but
favourable. Your symbols, what do they
represent? Please explain?”
I could see this was going to
take some time and I saw that my company would need some assurances as to their
safety.
“T’chala of Por, I am Alpharius
once known as Alpha Capharius of Ordos Prime.
I am a being of science and knowledge who with the aid of allies seek to
do the greater good where it is best delivered.
I beg that we move out of the webway tunnel and discuss matters. I can offer you assistance in the form of a
limited map of the webway tunnel as a sign of my good will in the opening of
negotiations. Do you accept these terms
noble T’chala?”
T’chala was clearly stunned with
an offer of free information without asking for an exchange of equivalent
value. I could see that my offer had
triggered a series of questions within the aliens mind, and I was pleased to
see that I had clearly rattled it from its perceived notion of what we were
like – well what I was like to say the least.
While those within this company would more than likely follow the blind
dictates of the Imperium without question, they could and would be a problem
once they learnt the “heresy” I have conducted with the aliens. I care not, I’ve done worse – I’m sure of it.
“Alpharius you are truly an
enigma of your species. Especially of
those who wear the siglum of the Inquisition. Let us take shelter and continue
our discourse without unfriendly intervention.”
This was an interesting response. Clearly T’chala picked up on the tension
within my company and it would appear that he had detractors within his own
camp as well. I can only guess from the
many clashes with Imperial agencies the Tau would have lost comrades or those
things most precious to them, I’m sure there would have been some among them
who harboured ill will towards us.
Once out of the webway tunnel and
in the relative safety of the bubble waystation both parties “relaxed” to a
degree, though the Tau took the more aggressive role of defender. T’chala and I continued our discussions and I
obtained some precious additional data relating to the webway tunnels his cadre
had explored. He indicated the point
which located his “homeworld” on the map.
This piqued my interest as it provided me with an option for a place of
asylum should things go sour. The Tau
were certainly a more open society than the closed and repressive Imperial
regime, or was it. I sensed that there
was still an overriding hidden guideline with this “empire”. Still both T’chala and I were pleased with
the exchange of information, I was happy to give more than I received. I am not greedy (and I wish that certain
parties would not try to see that this is my overriding parameters).
At the end of our negotiations
T’chala gifted me with a talisman of Tau friendship, and a gun drone gene
locked to my service. Our negotiations
were successful, I learnt much about the Tau and the Tau in return learnt a
great deal about the primordial ones, the empyrean and the dangers that it
represents. The fact that they have no
capacity to navigate the warp, still limits their expansion. Though T’chala was interested in the human
navigator Motto and asked a number of details about their functions. I was more than happy to provide that
information to such a friendly and nonthreatening race.
What was everyone else doing
while I was negotiating? Well Francine
was keeping a close watch on them all.
Eliza was keeping Horst informed of all I said, she knew High Gothic. Elsie was on his best behavior – I
think? Certainly I’m not aware of any
uproar of reported missing belongings among the Tau, time will tell if he pulls
out any specialist items to reveal his theft!
Lady B fell into a lethargic stupor.
Elvis decided to try his charms with what he thought was the female of
the species, emphasis on “thought”. The
alien who struck up a “relationship” with Elvis was more curious than amorous,
much to poor Elvis’s broken libido. All
he got out of the tryst was a “trinket” and the words “I shall treasure
this”. Dear old Horst attempted to
convert the “heathen” and failed, they were polite though and thanked him for
his time and effort. Horst was pleasantly
surprised with this response as normally a failed attempt to convert meant
running at speed from a lynch mob.
Meeting a civilized people who respected another’s faith but chose not
to burn you for not agreeing to it was rather refreshing. Poor Horst, he seems to have forgotten that
the god emperor is only
for mankind, He has no
place in His heart for
the alien – or is Horst going to change the dogma of the Ecclisarchy? Oh this
could be very interesting!
I managed to obtain some limited
rations for Motto, which saved her life – clearly Elvis was not going to do
it. Still she saw more favour in him
than me – oddly though she clung to me like a limpet when battle raged for the
protection I provided. The sooner I can
find her a safe astrogation chamber onboard my ship the better.
+++Fate of
Water Caste Diplomat T’chala+++
To: Aun’Va
From: Jyn’Un
Situation:
An alien energy source was detected at our northern pole and a force was
quickly dispatched to investigate. A
brief battle was engaged after the aliens failed to negotiate, in fact they
acted aggressively at first sight of our initial deployments. I directed additional resources to the
situation and the aggressive aliens were dealt with. They have since been identified as being of
the elder species. With the alien portal
being open and given the opportunity to explore a potential new mode of travel
and expansion I authorized a small cadre of troops with the assistance of
T’Chala of the Por Caste to enter and report back. No sooner had they entered the portal than it
had sealed up. Nothing we did could open
it. Nothing among the fallen elder had
the power to open the portal. I fear
that I have lost this cadre to a fate unknown.
Update: I
had thought I had lost the cadre I had sent into the alien portal. It has been several cycles now and the alien
energy source has again been detected. Forewarned
now that these architectural structures are now portals for the elder I have
directed defense fortifications to be erected in future preparation. Expecting another incursion, the cadre on
station instead was greeted with the remaining members of the cadre that went
into the portal all those cycles ago.
None of the battle suits were present, less than one in ten of the
warriors had returned. Only one drone
remained operational. Those who exited
were stricken with a madness of the mind some showed relief at being out of the
portal and they cried with joy, others wept. The survivors were brought to a
medical facility to be treated and I went to personally investigate. They were a sorry sight to behold, emaciated
from deprivation, madness – the look in their eyes, it seemed as if they had
looked into their worst nightmare and it had come and claimed their very
lives. Among the survivors I found T’chala,
he was worse of those afflicted. When he
saw me his screamed “they are coming, we can’t stop them, the walls, the
walls…”. The staff had to sedate him to a level that I could talk with
him. It took a while, but I was not able
to get much sense out of him. The only
thing I could get was his emphatic trust of someone called Alpharius. A catalogue of the items the cadre brought
back yielded little value, though some was disturbing. Odd maps which mean little and have no
reference are in the core data, when I show them to the survivors they respond
with manic episodes. I have decided to
seal away the data. Much of the data has
been corrupted and useless. Images have
been stored and attempts have been made to have the survivors detail the
encounters, again with the expected results – with one exception. One image shown to T’chala brought him out of
his madness for just a moment. He
actually smiled, he pointed at the image and said “friend of the greater
good”. I was shocked at the image he
pointed at. Great Aun’Va I have enclosed
all materials under seal for your investigation.
+++End+++
Continuing our journey through
the tedium of the webway is tedious. The
only way to break that tedium is to encounter and encounter! This time we came across the dreaded Yu’Vath.
To date I have never known of a
battle I have had to knowingly declare a tactical retreat. This was one of those occasions. These deadly opponents were anathema to me
and Francine in particular and I was loath for her to engage them. The insane psyker Elvis dashed ahead casting
his power of Smite and realized he did little effect, it was then that he began
to realize the situation. When Elsie was
cut from chest to groin and laid low, when I discovered that the Yu’Vath had
their own version of a warp smith in their ranks, when the warp smith activated
a power field along with the remaining hulking war machines, when I saw the
smaller machines regenerating. I knew
then it was time to withdraw; fighting a useless battle was not worth hoping
for a lucky shot. I ordered Francine to
grab the “dying” Elsie and leg it – though in this case she ignited her jump
pack and left at speed.
Data: The second major
blasphemy of Yu’Vath technology is that much of it incorporates synthetically
constructed spirits. Unlike the blessed machine spirits that dwell within all
sanctified Imperial technology, these entities are unliving creations of the
extinct xenos. Those few Tech-Priests who willingly speak of these devices
mention that the spirits may be daemonic essences captured from the warp or
simply unholy creations that have grown more malicious over the millennia since
their creation. The fools who dare to tamper with these artefacts are often
influenced by the dark spirits to perform actions that could damn their minds
and souls. Some may unwillingly establish a close relationship with the Ruinous
Powers, while others might simply destroy themselves and all they hold dear as
the devices subsume their minds for their own dark purposes.
Eliza damn her soul had entered
frenzy and Horst had joined her with the hope of extracting her from a hopeless
situation. I could do very little but
push Motto and Lady B away from the confrontation using the protection of my
power shield to protect us from the worse effects that the warp smith was
hurling in our direction. Horst urged
Eliza to leave and his words slowly penetrated her battle crazed mind and she
understood the odds, she understood that I’d buggered off (again according to
her later on). She and Horst fled,
dodging the graviton blasts from the warp smith!
Eventually we found the safety of
the endless corridors of the webway.
+++Encrypted
Personal Journal+++
During the
strategic withdrawal I gave Francine the directions to collect the dying Elsie
and extract his body from the battle. I
had hoped to take him to a location where I could administer one of the nano
healing balls to restore him or apply my growing and extensive medical training
in repairing him.
To my
surprise Francine advised me as we withdrew that Elsie was not leaking humanoid
fluids. I transferred a portion of my
consciousness to her senses to review the situation. It was an interesting situation, Elsie truly
was no longer biological, he or should I refer to the person as it is now a
thing! The internals are now of a
biomechanical nature, with the blood being replaced with a white synthetic
fluid, more a “fuel” type than blood. A
closer inspection discovered that the biomechanical structures were teeming
with nano-organisms.
When we
reached the safety, oh what is safety in this endless corridor of death? I took advantage of the “inactive” Elsie to
properly analyse the suit and his internals.
The shock I got from what I downloaded was hardly surprising; I
suspected it for some time. The makers
mark was there. The prototype suits two
of two annotations. That left me with no
doubt as to where the first prototype suit was.
There I found the encoded suit protocols, the makers safety
switches. After all the paranoid bastard
would never have created anything that would have turned on the creator,
NEVER! Oh things were just getting
interesting.
+++End
Journal+++
Inventory
|
Jakaero
Database Material
|
Successful
|
Access
|
|
Cloning
|
Ongoing
|
n/a
|
|
Nanotechology
|
Accessed
|
Yes
|
|
Artificial Intelligence
|
Accessed
|
Partial
|
|
Classified (S.I.M.O.N.)
|
Unknown
|
Unknown
|
|
Armour
|
Accessed
|
Yes
|
|
Power Source
|
Accessed
|
Yes
|
|
Power Fields
|
Accessed
|
Yes
|
Rad Grenade
1d10 dam; Blast 5, 2d10 dam -20 T test each round.
Virus Grenade
3d10 dam; Blast 8, T & A do not reduce damage, any
survivor is a carrier and spreads from 5m, lasts 1d5+5 rounds.
Sealed armour is not a guarantee of protection.
Necrotic Sceptre
Ranged
100m, S/-/-, 2d10+8 E, Pen 6, Disintegrate
(Critical Hit results in completely destroyed), Recharge
Melee
1d10+15 E, Pen 4, Disintegrate
Dark Matter Grenades x 8 (now expended)
3d10+8, Pen 8, Blast 2
Slaugth guns
1d10+6, Pen 6, Corrosion, effects mechanical and
ignores mechanical toughness.
Tau Gun Drone
WS:20, BS:20, S:20, T:40, Ag:40, Int:15, Per:25,
WP:20, Fel:10
Plasma guns
150m, S/2/4, 2d10+2 E, Pen 4, Twin-linked
Fearless. Slaved Devotion (Alpharius) 2m.
Wounds (15)
Rail Gun Rounds Left
Elvis (2), Alpharius (4), Francine (4)
