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[DragonRage]

Vi-Ra-Nor, Sister Rachel

"To fully explain the Imperial Creed would be an extensive undertaking, due to the long millennia of history involved, but I will do my best to summarize it.  In short, the gods of your world are largely benevolent...  By my standards.  The self-proclaimed 'Chaos Gods' of my world are not.

"Out of the chaos of the Dark Age of Technology and the Fall of the Eldar, in which mankind's mechanical servitors rebelled against them for reasons long lost and the Eldar, once-rulers of the galaxy, brought about the ascension of the fourth of the Ruinous Powers in a reality-sundering heretical orgy of indulgence, one man rose from the ashes of Holy Terra's civilizations.  With His faithful companion Malcador, He conquered Terra and set his sights upon the stars, where the scattered and divided remnants of mankind's holdings lay vulnerable to the xenos, the heretic, and the predations of chaos.  He would not stand by for this, and so the Great Crusade began.  The Ruinous Powers scattered His sons, the Primarchs, among the stars in an attempt to stop Him, but He found them regardless, and in unity they forged the Imperium of Man.  But chaos is not so easily defeated, and their lies turned half the Primarchs against the Emperor.  In striking down the leader of the traitors, Horus, once the greatest and most-beloved among the Emperor's sons, the Emperor was mortally wounded and Malcador the Hero sacrificed his life.

"Now the God-Emperor sits upon his Golden Throne, unable to leave it.  He projects the great beacon of the Astronomicon, giving our starships a guiding light as they travel between worlds.  He sanctifies our psykers, so that they may manipulate the warp without being corrupted or destroyed by the daemons of chaos.  He safeguards the souls of our fallen so that the Ruinous Powers may not claim them.  He blesses our champions, that humanity might endure the predations of the countless terrors that seek to destroy us all.  In our universe, there are no gods worthy of worship save Him, for all others will deceive you and devour all that is good within you, that you may serve their ruinous designs.  The Imperium of Man has flaws, and in the ten thousand years since the Emperor was interred upon the Golden Throne I have come to suspect there have been unfortunate... doctrinal shifts, but it is the only reason that humanity has not gone extinct.  And at its heart is the God-Emperor, for when you have faith, and act in the defense of humanity..."  As Rachel speaks, her voice gets louder, faint, golden light beginning to radiate from her skin, suffusing her face with warm light.

"You will feel His blessings within you, and know that as you stand between the innocent and the daemon, the heretic, and the malevolent xenos, the God-Emperor stands beside you.  And the Emperor Protects."  A halo of light forms around Rachel's head, the area around her somehow appearing more solid, indefinably more real than the rest of this interstitial space.  The effect slowly fades as Rachel takes a deep breath, staring down at her gauntleted hands, apparently entirely unaware of its presence. "Even in worlds so far from my own, the Emperor Protects.  I know not why He sent me to this gathering of warriors, scientists, and engineers displaced from their own worlds, but He must have had a reason.  I have felt His presence, but His intentions have proven... challenging to divine.  Doctrine has shifted, but He has not.  I can only pray that I will soon comprehend His purpose, and that I will be worthy of it, for if He had not chosen me to join this group... I would surely be by his side in spirit, and my body fodder for the foul xenos that slew the rest of my unit... and very nearly myself"

[Chevaleresse]

Vi-Ra-Nor, Sister Rachel

"I see." She elected not to comment on the glow for the moment. At the very least, it lent some credence to her words. "I'm not sure what saved me. I don't think it was Layla, but I can't think of anything else in my world that could." And if it was, she wouldn't have sent me so far away. She also declined to elaborate on what exactly she'd been saved from; the memory was painful, to say the least. "Whatever the reason, I know why I'm here. I'm going to find her again and get back to keeping her safe. If your Emperor is willing and able to help, I'm not going to complain." Vi-Ra-Nor didn't exactly plan on sitting around and becoming a practicing. . . Emperor-ist, or something, but the rules were different here; maybe her mind would change.

"You mentioned being part of a particular religious order earlier, right? Given what you've said, something tells me you don't split up the lines of belief the way they do in my world." Another question that'd been nagging at the back of her mind bubbled to the surface, and she finally decided to actually ask it. "And. . . Him? The God-Emperor is a man?" Given what she'd already been told, it wasn't as surprising as it could have been, but she figured at least some worlds would be closer to her own. So far, that didn't seem to be the case. Vi-Ra-Nor wasn't sure if that was a good or a bad thing.

[DragonRage]

Vi-Ra-Nor, Sister Rachel

"I have been part of the Holy Ordos of the Ecclesiarchy my entire life, for as long as I can remember.  I served with the Order of the Red Lily as a Sister Hospitaller, and when the ravages of war brought that order's end, the Order of the Argent Shroud as a field medic, and later as warrior, when...  There were not so many of us left that we needed so many medics.  There are many orders under the authority of the church, each with different mission statements and responsibilities, but no gods are worshipped other than the Emperor, for there are no others worthy of worship.  Other beings are given their due respect, the loyal Primarchs, the Saints, the Custodians...  But they are not gods, only men and women, if extraordinary and powerful ones.  ...I suppose that some of the xenos may worship other gods aside from the Ruinous Powers.  They would have as little use for the God-Emperor of Mankind as we would for their alien deities.

"Yes, the God-Emperor is male.  When He walked among us and wished to go unseen, it is said that He could take any human form He wished, man or woman, but when He wished to be recognized His form was always male.  Many of the genetic wonders He crafted from His own divine genes and that of His Primarchs have a rejection rate in female subjects of one hundred percent, which further supports that He was male, despite the unfortunately unreliable nature of descriptions of Him by His contemporaries."

[Chevaleresse]

Vi-Ra-Nor, Sister Rachel

Weird. There wasn't anything that strictly said a figure like this ought to be a woman, but the Sister's overall appearance had led her to assume she was high-ranking, and thus that her world followed similar lines to Vi-Ra-Nor's own. You know what they say about assumptions. "Makes sense, I suppose. I guess it's my turn to explain where I fit into things. Which is, as I said. . . complicated. Officially I'm a non-practicing Nayrist; I value Reason and Ego, but don't actually offer prayers to Nayru. In practice, I serve Layla directly. Or, at least, I have for the parts of my life I actually care about."

[Powder Miner]

Stretch, Arminius, IP, Ehto

The arrival of the new person brightened Stretch up some more after the previous incident with Aquila - not least of all because what Arminius was saying was something that was genuinely interesting to Stretch. "Well, hello then, mister Arminius dude. I'm Stretch Armstrong! You say guys can have their souls make magic juice where you're from? I've never met anyone who eats magic juice, but my soul makes magic juice! I've only ever seen my soul make it, though, at least all directly like this. I think maybe some of the dance-fu battle masters might have been able to do it on that one super-ship back home, but I didn't see that quite long enough to know. But anyway, watch this, here's some of my magic juice, do you want to try using it?" A colorless tube extruded out from Stretch's bizarre tube-top, and extended outwards towards his wrist in a flash - and out from that tube came a glob of a sparkling, bright cyan substance, which Stretch kind of hovered in the air above his hand proudly. "Diamond Magic Juice, fresh from the soul!"

[kj1225]

Stretch, Arminius, IP, Ehto

Arminius steps forwards, planting his hands on IP's shoulders, before pausing to look curiously at Stretch's offered "magic juice". He stares for a few moments, humming to himself before shaking his head. "I don't know how that'd interact with my powers, but I'm very curious if you could just hold that for a bit... Or like, suck it back in? I've only just recently got as good at manipulating mana as I am so I don't know if that's hard...." Finishing his thought he looks back to IP, giving her an optimistic smile. "Ah, don't worry, the process is entirely safe, I actually have to work to make it dangerous. Obviously I won't because that's stupid, but you get the point. Any damage would purely be on a spiritual level, which is the most resilient part of any being. If something did happen you'd recover within a week, but again, the process is perfectly safe for your soul.... You do have a soul right...?" Arminius looks somewhat serious for a moment before shrugging, silently mouthing "It doesn't matter" as he once again firmly plants his hands on the robot. His skin lights up as pink runes and scientific formulas appear his face turning much more concentrated. IP would feel a sensation almost like a component being disconnected for a second, but something takes it's place, a warmth spreading through her. Arminius removes his hands as the areas where he'd been touching first seem to gain orange lines, not in great number but thick to make up for them. Quickly it spreads and the metal of IP's body turns red hot though this doesn't cause any discomfort to her. As the lines end towards her extremities, something like lava flowing in them and her previous expressionless face gains two burning "eyes" she'd feel something like a loading bar had just finished.

[AzyWng]

Stretch, Arminius, IP, Ehto

IP took several seconds to consider Arminius' question before saying, "I... do not believe I have a-" when Arminius placed his hands on her. IP did her best to hold still, but it was obvious that she was overwhelmed by the sudden sensations. Once the process was finished, IP asked, "Is it done?" She gave the others a curious look.

[kj1225]

Stretch, Arminius, IP, Ehto

Arminius lets out a little breath before nodding. "I'd say so. Looking rather hot there, if you don't mind me saying." Arminius giggles at his joke for a second before clearing his throat. "Anyway, I imagine that the increase in heat would make your attack more... burny in combat. At least until your soul normalizes at any rate."

[Sutoratosu Akira]

Stretch, Arminius, IP, Ehto

Ehto had watched the proceedings quietly until she first noticed the aforementioned glyphs and formulas begin to manifest. Unable to contain herself, she pulled a rather hefty leather bound journal from her shadow and immediately began scribbling down everything she could observe. She circled both Arminius and IP eagerly, shifting and turning in order to see the ongoing phenomenon from every possible angle as she did so. And perhaps getting a bit too close for comfort without even realizing it.
     "This is amazing!" She proclaimed, tail practically beating arminius like a fluffy bat as she examined the burning lines etched onto his test subject, "I've never seen soul sorcery do such a thing before. Do you know how long this will last? And are there any other ways to manipulate this Mana you mentioned? You said monsters absorb it right, so how do they accomplish that?"

[AzyWng]

Stretch, Arminius, IP, Ehto

IP raised an 'eyebrow', confused. "I... Thank you. I'm afraid Kaida frowns upon such... relationships. How long will this modification last, exactly? And are there any side effects?" IP moved her arms and legs around experimentally, trying to sense what else had changed.

[kj1225]

Stretch, Arminius, IP, Ehto

IP would note that nothing really seems to have changed when she moves around, besides the fact that moving around produces little trails of fire similar to her "eyes" and the already obvious heat affecting her chasis but not her internals oddly enough. Arminius responds to the curious pup first, thinking for a few moments before answering the initial question both her and the robot had had. "Well, it takes a little bit for the soul to absorb the mana and assimilate it.... So I'd guess it lasts a few minutes at most? Probably would last longer with more mana, or if I used a proper soul but uh... I'm sure you can guess why I don't wanna do that just yet." Arminius grimaces at the thought before moving on. "Well, Manipulating mana is just using magic in essence. Wizards from what I know will use artificial monsters, golems if you're familiar with the term, to harvest mana for example. And the way monsters typically interact with humans in the wild is the main method, before the new demon king they'd draw sustenance from normal food supplemented by lingering mana from victims of there's if they needed it, usually with the amount of mana needed dependent on how mundane they are. Elves, Dwarves, and Orcs, being near human get by easily enough with just food while monsters like Zombies, Golems, and Automata like our friend here subsist entirely on mana. And of course there's special exceptions for certain monsters such as Demons who gain mana directly through contracts, Ghouls who gained it directly through consumption, and Wraiths who use their touch to absorb it."

Finishing his spiel Arminius takes a moment to consider IP's concerns before finally shaking his head. "Not unless it goes the other way and you start monsterizing more. But the chances of that are astronomically low because I don't know how to do that."

[AzyWng]

Stretch, Arminius, IP, Ehto

IP nodded. "Then it seems you may make a very valuable asset to the team indeed - though I must correct you on one point. I am not an Automata. I'm a Kaida Corporation Prototype Android. Though I must ask... You mentioned victims and a 'demon king'? I'd like to know more about them." Though still calm, the authoritative tone of voice and the way IP's new eyes narrowed suggested she wouldn't be satisfied with a deflection.

[Sutoratosu Akira]

Stretch, Arminius, IP, Ehto
"Actually, yeah," Ehto nodded, "I was wondering something about that too. You say most monsters get it from a combination of food and their victims, but you also mention that ghouls have a special method that involves consumption... so uh, if most monsters aren't outright consuming their victims, what are they doing to them, exactly?"

[kj1225]

Stretch, Arminius, IP, Ehto

Arminius shakes his head. "I said ghouls used to have special a special method. Namely eating flesh, which is out of the ordinary for undead as they typically have some method for taking in mana as their main method of sustaining themselves." After a moment to let it sink in, Arminius continues on. "As for the demon king, a long time ago the old demon king, no idea what he was exactly but it was presumably some kind of capital D Demon, was usurped and the new Demon King took over. She's a type of succubus, they're demons that absorb men's spirit energy through...." Arminius proceeds to explain the process in excruciating detail, leaving out no details about the typical process and giving examples of some unique methods of finding donor's employed by monsters even in more civilized society. He even gets into a small tangent about something called "Wonderland", the details of which are sparse but from the way he talks about it is a place he both fears and loathes in equal measure.

[Sutoratosu Akira]

Stretch, Arminius, IP, Ehto

Ehto blushed and her eyes widened as she listened to the explanation, morbidly enraptured by the sheer depravity being described to her. Her hand practically flew across the pages of her research journal with a life of it's own, struggling to document it all quick enough. Quick enough to prevent her better judgement from kicking back in and stopping her.
   "That's um... ok then." she finally said after several minutes spent scribbling silence. At long last the book clapped shut, dropping from her hand and being banished back into the shadows from whence it came, and where the debauchery now recorded between it's covers belonged. "I'm not sure if I should be afraid or amazed of everything I just heard. All this type of stuff is really normal in your world? How long has the succubus reigned? And what role does the demon king play in your cosmology; obviously they're more than just a leader of monsters if their influence is so great that they can um...forcibly change the very methods by which their subjects draw sustenance."

Yeh let's leave it at that. Haylyne's Grace, all of that just now was too much information even for me...