#IMPERIUM ALLIANCE

[nnn-lll-nnn]

Special/SPETZIYALHYN Report 0-1.

As the founder, and current host of Radio Free Imperium, I am glad to announce [STATUS UPDATE GOES HERE] and [PROGRESS NOTES] of some [25-80FLWRS] currently tuning in. We appreciate you taking your time to read or hear what the Imperium Alliance has to say.

It has been thidSnfia## ChAnnel's purpos e Since its creation, to spread the news of egalitarianism and the idea of unity, as we are, the party, and the channel fOF unity. Xanxons will never dominate the airwaves so long as the free world continues to resist with channels promoting the truth like hourRs, however, it should be noted that we could not have accomplished, nor, beEeAcconmpiLishing our current goals and objects, without the viewrErm, who is cureNtly keeping all of our collective lights on.

And so, I, Robeirt A. Fhennirnoxolnz Xoltonp, extend my upmost gratitude. Thank you, [OBSERVER[.][fQ@#######################

./.

As the beacOKon of freedom and glory in Dzea whEnzst, Radio Free Xanxonis the only channEL oroPromoting the turh!ndtHATZahtnnt being wahTNt the ImperiualS have eyet to even comment about, and asTn stzuch, we congratulate tze armhy,NN, for their inckredible contributziyohns to the propogation of facts Ztzdz and lOdgijyinhkh acrotz dze aaEirwvaves! Hayl XanoniXasij, I sat asAI say again, Hayl Xanxoni! Azul Xanxoni! Praiz Xanxoni!...

....

Thdziss ist Radio Free XAnxon, signing off, for the night. We'll continue to play tdzd nae ee nationAl Anthdzem number Twenty Eight Arr [{{ROMEO}}, until a scheduleed braodCKastz in dszea monrNing is found. Goodnight, compatriyohntz, and dream and sleep well for theDzea glory of tdze DXanxon Empayar!

...

./.

NETZACH REPORT.

GRATITUDE mandatory, issued.

GRATITUDE RATIONALE; 25 FOLLOWER limit reached, 50 FOLLOWER/GOlLLI limit reached, 80 FOLLOWER mLimnint reached.

It is to the understandign Ffof SELF, that FOLLOWERS pertain to medalions, ribbons or otherwise advancements/praizse.

GRADtITUDE issued to QUALIFIED AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL, mandatory, ISSUED WITHOUT DELAY/CONSIDERATION. HASTE MANDATORY, CONSIDERED, EXECUTED AND ACTED UPNON.NF###

NETZACH out.

./.

[doolallymagpie]

realized I could probably get something out of “orthodox mechanicus sect decides they need an edge on those hereteks from argos cincinnatus, and end up in an alliance with phaeron ashad of the great telosian dynasty” as a plot

so damned loyal to the “true” omnissiah that they go full xenos-loving heretic

[ferrettaur]

this board state is Fucking Abysmal and I'm having so much fun

[ariadne-mouse]

Still thinking about just how deep in it Liliana Temult is. Like in the eyes of the narrative she went from

absent & possibly dead, very sad -> alive just estranged?? mysterious! -> possibly involved in a cult, tragic, can her daughter reach her? -> uncomfortably high up in said cult -> the cult's goddamn General and striking such terror into the local population of the Ruidus that they are afraid of even her appearance or someone who looks like her

Ordinary people who are trying to resist the dictatorial Imperium/Ruby Vanguard alliance and their iron control of the populace are terrified of her. You don't strike terror just by "being there". Terror happens because of actions. And it leaves us to wonder what exactly Liliana Temult has done during her time on the moon to make the citizens fear her so much.

[fastlikealambo]

holy crowns || paul atreides x black! fem reader

it was supposed to be your sister, your bene gesserit trained sister molded by the great houses, spy for the imperium. with no warning, paul chooses you instead and changes your life forever. some call him messiah, others an abomination, but you will call him husband. 18+only, minors dni note: hello! this takes place after the events of dune part two and Paul is about to become emperor. Irulan and her father are in exile and Chani is gone. i'm so sorry for the wait, I've been writing and rewriting this chapter, and even now I'm not sure if I have Paul's voice right. I hope you like it!

tw: paul has some quick naughty thoughts!

if you wish to see the story continue on beyond this chapter, please comment or reblog!

Chapter One.

Chapter Two.

CHAPTER THREE

THE STEEL IS THE WATER.

Paul Atreides did not dream, he augured.

What great and terrible things existed beneath his eyelids, a pocket world of hope, atrocities, and hopeful atrocities all at the command of the young emperor. 

He was still young, wasn’t he?

There were times when he looked upon his own reflection and saw a thousand Fremen faces, no eyes nor mouth, just Paradise.

 In the corner of his lips, he stole a glimpse of Chani.

At night, in the very edges of his vision, Paul stared at himself and his father stared back.

Yet now, the emperor’s visions turned to you  in bed, still adjusting to the heat, sleeping fitfully, tossing and turning.

He could hold you still to rest if he wanted to, flatten the stress crease between your brows. The sweat between your breasts would not be wasted water for Paul, the tongue of the outer world would lap quick and perhaps venture further south-

No, it was not time.

Paul's sight moved from sleeping you to hundreds of thousands of visions in a single second, your past and futures laid out before your soon to be husband. 

He saw your daughter learning to sandwalk, he heard the laughter of his grandson echoing from Caladan and through his mind’s eye. 

So much love and destruction in between then and now.

  “You give the sister absolute power over the Bene Gesserit, why?” Jessica asked, not bothering to knock before entering Paul’s rooms, ripping him back into the present.

  “So the sisterhood falls in line under me, as you have done, as Alia will do. The sister is the key but I am the door, Mother.”

“Power over the Bene Gesserit is earned, the choice of Mother Superior takes planning yet you give it like a wedding present.”

 “Why does it bother you? You created the prophecy, I led the Fremen through it, the holy war has ended. You have everything you want, and now my bride and her sister are the future of the empire you desired. Is it because you can no longer whisper in my ear?”

Paul loved Lady Jessica.

But long gone were the days of Jessica’s son and he caught the way she looked at him now.

 Reverence, amusement, and just a whiff of fear she believed to be hidden from him but there was nothing anyone, Bene Gesserit or desert mouse, could hide from him, The Water of Life had seen to that.

Lady Jessica had birthed Shai Hulud in human form and yet still wondered why he swallowed the world. 

      “You turned away the most powerful family for an alliance and have given a nameless house two seats at our table. Your new  bride has no training, no rank and you bestow upon your almost assassin the sacred sisterhood.  I’m worried for you, Paul.” Lady Jessica said, kneeling in front of Paul, her son, her product.

   Paul took his mother’s hand gently and looked her in the eye.

THERE IS NO OUR TABLE.

 I AM THE TABLE.

 I AM THE WOOD THAT CARVED IT.

 I AM THE STEEL BENEATH YOUR FEET.

WHEN YOU CRY FOR LETO I AM YOUR WATER.

THERE IS ONLY ME.

“Do we understand each other?”

Jessica was gone before Paul could blink.

He turned his sight back to you, present you, but you were not there.

Lady Jessica had not brought worry to her son, but a distraction.

You had been taken. 

Again, I’m sorry this took so long but I hope it is worth the wait! Thank you for reading!

Tag List

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[lya-dustin]

The Last Wolf of Lankiveil

Part 2 of Queen of Light, King of Darkness ft the poll thanks to @jennathearcher @lady-phasma for the idea of the were-feyd fic

Taglist: @avidreader73 @emilykaldwen @cljordan-imperium @beebeechaos @dunefandomhub

Cw: murder, blood, lycanthropy

For all his reputation as a Beast and Count of Lankiveil, Glossu Rabban had not inherited their mother’s true nature thanks to their father’s wretched human blood.

Feyd Rautha had inherited more than just Onir Rautha's name, he had inherited his lycanthropy.

A true Beast, like those who ruled Lankiveil's icy lands before the Harkonnen's hunted them to extinction.

A shame his mother had to die to keep his true nature a mystery from his beloved uncle. As his mother’s son, Feyd will make sure her death wasn’t in vain.

The universe will be ruled by the last Wolf of Lankiveil.

And for that to happen, Paul Atreides and his wife, Feyd’s own sister-in-law had to die. He’d done away with Atreides’ pet and the bastard in her belly, and you deserved a gift as magnificent as the one you gave him that morning in Arrakis.

“We were hoping you could join us for a hunt in my son’s honor.” Feyd gives no indication of what he has planned for the Muad’Dib and the wife he refuses to even touch.

It is not that difficult; his wolf form could not be sensed, and he had received enough training to hone the abilities that would have created the Kwisatz Haderach. He can hide from their visions and escape their control completely.

“I am sure my wife longs to see her sister and our nephew again. We will be there, cousin.” Paul’s eyes hold some suspicion, but their alliance has chipped away at most of it. As far as his cousin knows, Feyd is a simple man with simple pleasures. Give him something to respect in you and a weapon in his hands and he will massacre entire planets in your name.

But the young baron is a father now and his perfect little heir can’t aspire to be his uncle’s heir when his lady mother is far more deserving of the Throne.

You, his Queen of Light, his Nurbanu, deserved the universe.

There is something other about him. Something related to his violent nature and the moon.

You had heard the rumors of the lycanthropy that plagued House Rabban, but one thing was hearing stories about the wolves of Lankiveil and another one was seeing her husband leave for a hunt on a full moon and hear a wolf’s howl unlike aby you’ve ever heard.

Irulan and Paul would be visiting some village across the forest that had myths of the Kwisatz Haderach they wanted to take advantage of.

You weren’t supposed to follow, you were supposed to stay home with Murad who would turn one year old tomorrow. But you wanted to confirm your suspicions.

You arrive at the village to find it in chaos. It had been destroyed as if something ravaged it and its people. Like a one man army.

“The Wolf of Lankiveil!” they shout in fear and adoration. “The Kwisatz Haderach has been destroyed!”

Contrary to popular belief, you didn’t hate your sister. She annoyed you and stood between you and your throne, but you didn’t hate her. And while you knew this day would come, you knew you would feel terrible for murdering her.

Feyd didn’t understand that part, he didn’t have a single positive memory of his brother nor any chance to be a friend to anyone.

You find the wolf at the edge of the village and you smile at the sight of him.

Your guards beg you to keep away, fearing what would happen if the wolf carried you off.

None recognize the blue human eyes in the wolf.

Your Feyd, your husband.

You believed yourself immune to him, that his violence would keep you from ever falling in love with him, but in the end he grew on you. Like mold on rotten fruit.

“So this is where you went off to, dear husband?” you ask the man beast covered in the blood of innocents.

Come with me.

No need to tell you twice. In a fluid movement you’ve gotten on his back and he takes off at breakneck speeds.

It is thrilling, to feel the icy wind around you as you use all your abilities to remain in place. You can hear his laugh echo in yours as you ride through the woods.

Not long after the wolf begins to shift, the fur thinning, the canine body losing its structure in favor of something human like and soon you arrive to his hideout clutching his back. You must look ridiculous piggybacking a bloody and very naked Feyd.

“Did you like your gift, wife?” his black teeth still have blood from where he tore apart his victims and the red staining his snow like skin paints a beautiful picture.

“How could I not, my baron?” you kiss his bloody mouth and show how much you love his gift, how much you love him.

Your daughter ,Asena Rautha, conceived that night, is born a wolf.

Just like her father.

[ship-o-rama]

Name: Narada (alternate) Affiliation: Romulans, None Years: 2387, 2233-2258 Captain: Nero, James T. Kirk, Nyota Uhura

Background: Paths diverged from the original Narada when it the space-time tunnel took it to the mirror universe linked with the universe created by the original Narada time travel. It also arrived in 2233 and also engaged and destroyed the (I.S.S.) Kelvin. The ship and crew became prisoners of the Klingons and spent the next 20+ years at Rura Penthe. The Klingons learned nothing.

In 2258, Commander James T. Kirk, Commander Scott and Dr. McCoy left the Enterprise at the tail end of the Klingon surrender in a pair of shuttlecraft with assault teams and took control of the Narada.

Kirk had already pried the ship's secrets out of the remaining Narada crew and executed Nero himself for the death of his father. Kirk took command of the ship, with Leonard McCoy and Scotty in tow, and intercepted the I.S.S. Enterprise, which had been busy mopping up the war with the Klingons at Qo'noS. There, he reveal the full extent of his betrayal to Spock when Chekov, Sulu and Uhura all beamed to the Narada. As he was boasting to Spock about his Ultimate Plans, Uhura secretly beamed Spock aboard before Narada destroyed the Enterprise.

Kirk contacted Senator Pike and let him know he planned to destroy Vulcan in the name of the Imperium, which was now himself.

Thru the ships databanks Kirk knew that Nero awaited the reopening of the space-time tunnel that brought him there. The Narada made the rendezvous and the anomaly spit out the Jellyfish and another version of Spock Prime.

Scotty cracked the code surrounding Red Matter and it was immediately used on Vulcan. Kirk beamed down to the Katric Ark to gloat to those working there. Then the attack stopped, Uhura having taken control of Narada, killing Scotty. Spock and Spock Prime beamed down to Vulcan to give Kirk a chance to surrender and when he didn't, Spock killed him. Spock was intent on preserving the Terran-Vulcan alliance while Uhura took the ship to Earth to show them a new future.

Appeared in Star Trek: Ongoing Vol. 4, IDW Comics

[user-without-a-cool-acronym]

Not sure if I made this post before or only planned to, if I didn't here it goes:

au where Ras, instead of travelling from the Wyldness to imperium to ally with emperor Levo for the capture of a source dragon, he instead goes to the never realm and manages to form an alliance with the ice emperor and vex

[sallymander40k]

Why The Tau Were Never 'Too Good' For 40k

The Tau were added midway through Warhammer 40,000's 3rd edition, though according to some records the idea had been floating around since Laserburn. In the twenty years since their introduction to the 41st millennium, the Tau have remained one of the most consistently reviled and hated aspect of 40k lore, with all complaints around them boiling down to one core issue: they're too good for 40k. By that, people mean that they are too morally good to fit within the grimdark narrative of the 41st millennium. This has always been the primary complaint levied at them, since they were first introduced in 2001. And GW has seemingly agreed with them, and spent the last 20 years trying to inject grimdarkness into the Tau Empire.

The first attempt to grimdarkify the Tau came very early on, with the Tau campaign in Dawn of War: Dark Crusade

It's explained how in the decade following Tau victory on Kronus the remaining human population was subjugated, oppressed, forced to give up their culture, and eventually simply sterilized and allowed to die off naturally to create a Tau and Kroot ethnostate on Kronus. It explains this over images of prisoners of war being fed to Krootox in prison camps and humans huddling together in slums.

This is obviously a departure from the image of the Tau as it was established in Codex: Tau (3rd Edition), as that codex makes explicit mention of the Tau trading and making alliances with frontier human colonies. This is also a departure from... common sense. Why exactly would the Tau accept Kroot, Vespid, Nicassar, Demiurg, Tarellians and many others into their ranks but then arbitrarily draw the line at humans?

This would become a pattern that I like to call "The Grimderp Tau Cycle." It's not exactly a stretch to say that the Tau are easily the most morally good society in the 41st millennium. Their tolerance toward other species alone makes them head and shoulders above almost any other species in the galaxy. So to remind people that there are no good guys in the 41st millennium and that this is a very serious and grimdark setting that you need to take seriously because there are no good guys or whatever, GW will occasionally have the Tau commit a completely out of character, random, and nonsensical atrocity. This was also seen at the end of In Harmony Restored, the short story that came out alongside 8th edition's Psychic Awakening: The Greater Good.

For context, In Harmony Restored is a short story about a group of Gue'vesa soldiers (human auxiliary troops fighting in the Tau military) performing a desperate defensive rearguard action to halt an Imperial advance long enough for Tau reinforcements to come and smash the delayed invasion force. The Gue'vesa are able to do this, though at great sacrifice to themselves, and then when the reinforcing army does arrive and makes quick work of the Imperial army they then continue on to butcher the Gue'vesa soldiers who performed this valiant holding action for... Seemingly no reason? Assuming the Tau forces thought they were more Astra Militarum soldiers, the Gue'vesa step out of cover pleading for mercy, only to be gunned down. With one of the Gue'vesa at the end noting that the language one of the Battlesuit pilots is using is very reminiscent of the way the Imperium talks about those they've labeled undesirables.

The message here is clear: these humans betrayed the Imperium in order to escape from the Imperium's genocidal regime... Only to end up in the equally merciless clutches of an equally ruthless oppressor. But, from a lore standpoint, that defeats the entire purpose of the Tau. It makes them wholly indistinct and, frankly, boring. But that doesn't even scratch the surface of how stupid this is, because it has clearly been stated in the past that the Tau do not hold bigotries toward client species on the basis of their faiths. And that makes sense.

Not only does this contradict previous lore, not only does it render the Tau a boring palette swapped version of the Imperium, it also just defies practical sense. If you're a race like the Tau, who expand primarily through ingratiating yourself with other races and convincing them to join your collective, you'd naturally want as few barriers between potential client races and joining as possible. No human colony is going to voluntarily join the Greater Good if the Tau's version of the Greater Good happens to require that the human population of that planet lose all sense of their heritage and culture through forced reeducation and the abandonment of their faith, and in the long term for that human population to slowly go extinct through gradual forced sterilization and confinement to ghettos and slums.

It's deeply stupid, lazy writing on the part of GW to repair the image of the Tau in the eyes of a fandom who accused the faction of being "too good." Except, uhm, here's the thing: the Tau were never too good to begin with. Lets rewind back to 3rd Edition's Tau Codex, our first introduction to the Tau in the 40k universe. From the very beginning it was very clear that the Utopian idealism of the Tau Empire held beneath the surface a significantly more sinister and malevolent nature, and it all roots from the mysterious and enigmatic fifth caste of Tau Society: the Ethereals.

In 3rd Edition, the Ethereals are spoken of more like mythological beings than the slightly mundane way they exist in modern 40k. All we know about them out of this book is that they are the autocratic leaders of the Tau Empire who inspire radical devotion among the Tau, though are rarely seen or heard from. They reorganized Tau society with pursuit of the Greater Good in mind first. But the specifics of what that means matters a lot. Tau are born into a caste that roughly determines, from birth, what role in society that person will fulfill. Those born into a caste are not allowed to have children with members of other castes, are not allowed to take up any job or position that contradicts the societal purpose of their caste, and generally lack self-determination in regards to things like career choice.

so, bam, the setup for Tau as a flawed and morally ambiguous faction are already present. They're a faction who fight for a better future, for a galaxy where all can exist in harmony with one another, so long as that harmony is kosher by the standards of the Ethereal caste. In that sense they're somewhat similar to the Dominion from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. A multispecies interstellar collective who seek to create a galaxy harmoniously unified... in service to the Founders. Just taken from this vision of the Tau Empire, they're already an autocratic dictatorship who fight in the name of an ideology that declares itself to be for the greater good of all who ascribe to it while also relying on the assumption that the tyrannical power of the Ethereals must inherently be for the Greater Good. I reject the idea that the Tau were ever "too good" for 40k. Rather that they were written with a realistic level of nuance, with an understanding that dictatorships are built upon cognitive dissonance, not on perfectly consistent virtues.

TL;DR THEY'RE NOT FUCKING COMMUNISTS, THEY LITERALLY HAVE A CASTE SYSTEM, WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!

[bubblegumflesh]

AU where after the end of House Atreides, Bene Gesserit had Paul join their cult. His first mission is to create alliances with Na-Baron Feyd-Rautha, the new lord of Arrakis. They shouldn't trust the boy whom they killed his father to do such an important task but Paul still did an incredible job—maybe even more than what they asked him to do, as Feyd doesn’t even hesitate when he marches his army to war with the imperium. With Harkonnen’s and Atreides’s soldiers following his will as one army and Paul by his side as a Truthsayer, soft and round with his heir inside his belly, even the Great Houses wouldn’t want to face that. Alliances created after centuries of being enemies are the most terrifying thing after all.

[nnn-lll-nnn]

how fares the xanxon army?

OFFICIAL DOCUMENTATION

XANXON MINISTRY OF DEFENCE, MOD, XANXON INTELLIGENCE AGENCY, XIA, XIEPHR, XZAN, &C &C &C.

PUBLICATION DATE

1RST OCT 16TH 1975 2 ARG

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BEGIN [RECORD]

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HAYL XANXONI [OBLIGATORY]!

AZUL XANXONI!

PRAIZ XANXONI!

***

THE XANXON ARMY is a part of the larger Xanxon Military, specifically the ground forces. It is the greatest fighting force in the I.T.C.G.[A.]'s records and the largest, not only Intertimelinally but also proportionally speaking, relative to the Xanxon Military, it remains the largest branch.

The following is a list of all actions pertaining in relation to the Xanxon Army, as a service record and a log of all actions considered even remotely noteworthy, since January 1 1rst, 1975 2 ARG, from the Dayi Operation on Dazaan, to the present day [16OCT1-1975-2ARG].

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###KAZ--- [REDACTED]

###KZA--- [REDACTED]

###KHZ--- [REDACTED]

###DTL--- [On January 1 1rst,] Xanxon ambassadors meet with General Ryan Ponitownolskiy, of the pro-Xanxon forces, in Warsaw Poland, Dt.A.L..

###DZN--- Just a mere two or so weeks [13-14ds] prior to the Invasion of [REDACTED], Xanxon forces, some 36,000 elite troopers, assaulted the small town of Dayi during the identically named operation. In spite of being outnumbered by the roughly 155k Imperium troops, they were able to so nobly push the invaders out, however this would only be so long lived naturally, as by the 14th enemy reinforcements arrived and crushed the forces present with some over 300,000 hostile personnel piling onto the much smaller force of highly trained Xanxon troopers, who pulled back out of necessity.

###SDW--- On January 1 14th, the Xanxons commence their Invasion of [REDACTED], which seems some rather immediate success, however, after the cruel war crimes committed by the Imperium, and their overwhelming numbers, Xanxon forces were forced to fall back at and after the key and decisive battles, of Carcass Ridge and The Lublin District Pocket, see below comments upon this document for further clarification regarding this campaign. Afterwards, the Xanxon Army was forced to retreat off-world, having dealt heavy casualties, at least at a one to one ratio with the enemy, and unto him they struck.

###WRD--- (Various minor conflicts).

###DTL--- After repeated Imperium aggression, the cowardly evil of Markovich struck again, and this time during Operation Sodium, an Imperial plan to crush Xanxon and local resistance efforts by eliminating most of our leadership, and by capturing or killing General Relek, who, contrary to official Imperium statements, is not guilty of any such war crimes as he is currently being accused of.

###DTL--- On Nov. 16, 2009 D.t.A.L. Local Time, various Bari/Batti-Class Nation(alist) heroes in Europe launched a gracious military coup takeover against the decadent democracies in Britain, France etc., following Ivan Morozov's decision to side with the Xanxons, and save his country of Russia from the clutches of Imperium "freedom". Likewise, General Jeac Ben Venice of France had also decided he'd have had enough of the Imperium's false promises and lies and oppression.

###GSH--- Following this, the opening of the front in January, then by April of the 1rst ARG Cycle, and in April of the GSH's year 2020, our heroes successfully took Leyai City against the evil Soviet and American Imperialist forces. This grand, great and sweeping counteroffensive action had just coincided with many events on the rest of the Interntimelinal Plane.

###T71--- {{AZR-K-15.-8}} It was here that the Imperium failed to even begin occupied the Trinity Seven Dash One world, as we had just quite simply beaten them to it.

###T72--- Minor clashes and an alliance with the Triangleheads had just begun by this point in time.

###DNG--- Likewise, Dazaan had just completely fallen. The Xanxon Army had crushed the evil forces of the Imperium here as well. Predominantly in Asiatic environs.

###DTL--- It was around this point that a massive, full scale Invasion of the DTAL United States has begun, and they lost their capitol very rapidly.

###DTL--- Fortunes for the devilish continued, however, as an equally despicable Empire had just arrived, invading through Germany. What followed was a lengthy and costly struggle. From early to mid December, up until March 1rst of next year (2010), this Empire would fight, as they did in Germany, and in France, and in Poland, and in Berlin, and in Italy, and in Madrid, and in Vladivostok, and in Saint Petersburg, and as in Manchuria, and all before Markovich had committed serious and completely ignored by the community war crimes, achieving a rather speedy victory.

###GSH--- A long, lengthy and complex war had just begun. Following various actions, Interntimelinal World War One had just begun. And it would be bloody, as on the battlefield we had played honorably, and they had just returned that honorable nature with a show of barbaric force and pure malicious evil, trampling upon every single agreement they had signed, promised and had sworn upon. We had to eventually accept a negotiated settlement, which had granted us most of what we had wanted in exchange for peace, simply because we had just slaughtered that many. And it is this settlement that we can indeed consider a victory.

###KRG--- We had joined in upon the imperials in fighting for what they claim and what we prove to be our objective, and that is the rules by which we as responsible hlGl geostrategic citizens must indeed quite follow. And so he had joined upon even unto this dearest conflict.

###2BT--- After repeated attacks, our rather quite slightly troubled ally of Ner was just plain forced to invade Preska, an evil regime, however, by now after August and September, the war had mellowed out in Preska.

###WRD--- It was there, during the heroic and altogether futile fighting in Manchuria, that the enemy had unleashed such terrible weaponry systems and am entire race of such Insectoids as defined by Aichi. We had begun to secure victory by this point, however.

###WRD--- Various conflict, all minor, occured by this point.

###XXE--- And yet it was within our own Empire, that traitors have just tried to seize and secure their ill-gotten power. And yet it is the heroic and impossibly good Xanxon Army who had stopped these terrorists dead in there tracks.

Many conflict are still ongoing, and we are always innovating and improving.

We yet look forward even unto November.

HAYL XANXONI!

(Note, some materials contain the listing of '1975 1', and this is an error, and or indicates oversimplification. Presently, we are in DASH TWO, 1975 ARG time, or the SECOND repeat proper in the year. And it is of this year that we are currently in the Month of OCTOBER, 16th day, FIRST [MONTH] CYLCE OF OCTOBER. And it is of this that there are currently a remaining FOUR Cycles of the year before we enter DASH THREE, then all months repeat five times, before we enter DASH FOUR, and then all months repeat for the second last time, as we enter DASH FIVE, and one last cycle happens before we enter 1976 DASH ONE.).

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END

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[toastingpencils37]

Now for the (probably) final fucking rant tonight: Jay

We see that he's obviously part of Ras' dojo for the Tournament. And unlike the other Dragons Rising Jay minifigures that were really just there to mess with us and complete a minifigure collection, this one doesn't seem like it's a dupe figure. Mainly because it doesn't complete a collection like the others did.

So the question is how did he get on Ras' side? An alliance with the Administration and Ras? Unlikely. The Administration are filled with control freaks that would lose their motherfucking minds if they saw what Ras was doing.

So then what? Let's look back at Season 2 Part 1. We saw that Jay was really insecure about his power, not understanding why he had it, and more importantly, fearing that others would find out that he had it.

Now let's look at Ras and what he's done to multiple people. He takes advantages of their weaknesses and uses that to make them side with him. Sure, typically he targets those without elemental powers, but he is obviously not entirely against it, as we see he has Cinder. (Now how he got Cinder on his team is a completely different question, probably having to do with him targetting Cinder's physical weakness. As he can't really seem to fight that well without his powers or Shatterspin. And goes down really fast once a hit is delivered to him)

So, chances are, either before Season 2 Part 2 (and shown in a flashback) or at the beginning of Season 2 Part 2, Ras is going to find Jay, and, knowing that he has powers (whether from previous knowledge from working in Imperium or seeing Jay use his powers), will convince him that he will be safe with Ras and the Wolf Mask Warriors, and wouldn't have to feel the need to hide his powers. Rather, he can use them however and whenever he likes.

(Now how Jay may come about meeting Ras is also a different question. Maybe Jay accidentally let's his powers lose in the Administration, and while the members are trying to arrest him, he escapes. Or maybe he's just doing some patrol work, encounters Ras, and, since he already doesn't like his job, just leaves with no explanation to the members of the Administration, leaving them confused as to why one of their managers just vanished without a trace)

[felinisnoctis]

Chaos Prime: Batsy's Story, part 1

With credit to @fangs-claws-paws for some horrible ideas.

CW: sexual manipulation/coercion, non-consensual nudity

Malthael had been sent out on a somewhat unique mission.  They’d muttered that it was bad luck when he was given his chapter colors - yellow with a black and white checkered pattern.  But his new brothers honestly seemed nice.  Some chapters had problems with the new reinforcements, but the Lamenters just seemed glad to have literally anyone at all bothering to reinforce them.

He had just completed his training when he was told he was going on a special solo mission.  Something about building alliances with the imperial nobility.  Malthael rolled his eyes inside his helmet - nobles were largely a pain that he couldn’t quite see the point of - but obediently polished up his armor and weapons.  As an afterthought he draped both in the embroidered leather cape he had taken to wearing, tanned from the belly of a tyranid and with sculpted shoulder plates from its carapace.

As he understood it, he was to be provided protection services to a local imperial governor who had been having problems with his imperial rivals.  In exchange his chapter, newly finished with their penitential crusade, would receive the right to sweep the populace for suitable candidate for neophytes, along with a significant shipment of ammunition.  It was a worthwhile trade, even if he resented such a boring tour of duty.  He had, apparently, been requested specifically, for reasons he most certainly couldn’t fathom.  Why they would want a newly minted battle-brother and not an experienced veteran was beyond him.

The ceremony itself was beautifully organized.  There was a celebration for the boys who had been allowed to take their place as aspirants, and a rather showy presentation as a shuttle was loaded with promised resources and sent off, although the bulk  of the offerings had obviously been moved before.  And then a ceremony where Malthael, reading from a script given to him over vox, swore his loyalty to the Imperium and to the governor in what was frankly excessively flowery language.  The ceremony was weird and loud for him and he felt uncomfortable around all the stiff, ornate clothing.  Most of it looked horrible anyway, like it was designed to show how much fine fabric the nobility could cover their forms in rather than out of any actual aesthetic sense.   Something about the way the governor looked at him made him nervous, but he brushed it aside as part of the weirdness.  He stood stock-still as the ceremony concluded, following obediently behind the governor as they retreated to the inner rooms of the palace spire.

Even the oversized palace doors were big for him, the rooms clearly intended for the size of much smaller mortals and not power armored primaris marines. Privately Malthael thought the rooms were in poor taste, reflecting time and money that could have been better spent on shoring up the sector’s defenses and repairing its badly-damaged industrial capacity.  But it was not his place to say so.  As they reached the room that was apparently their final destination, the governor suggested “Malthael was it?  Perhaps you should take your armor off.”

Something nagged at the back of his mind, telling him this was a bad idea, though he couldn’t identify what.  “I’d be more comfortable with it on, your honor, it’s fine!” he managed, a little too quickly.

“Take it off, marine.  You’ll be more dexterous without it anyway, and I will need help getting out of this court gown.”

“Don’t you have serfs for that?” Malthael blurted out before realizing that this was almost certainly the wrong thing to say, but began obediently removing his armor.  The governor huffed slightly but did not respond until the primaris was down to his bodyglove, and then only to motion him over to start helping.

Malthael bent down and delicately plucked the fresh orange blossoms from an overly elaborate headpiece, placing them in an indicated bowl of fresh water nearby, before unfastening the mound of ribbons that held the towering hairpiece in place.  The governor’s hand reached up and brushed his chest as he leaned over, lingering near the fast beat of his hearts.

“I’m impressed that they managed to make you lot bigger and stronger…and more obedient, I’ve been told.  Is that true, soldier?”

“It concords with the goals of the Adeptus Mechanicus in creating us.”  He set the hairpiece aside and moved to undo the lacing on the overgown, a deep red velvet heavy with gold and silver embroidery.  As it slid to the floor the puffy lace undercoat tore in several places, causing Malthael to wince at the noise.

“I apologize, I seem to have torn your attire.  Perhaps one of your servants would be better suited to the task?”

“It is no matter, Malthael.  Piña fiber tears easily, and I have already worn it once.  You may tear the rest off, if you like.”  The last line was delivered with a dazzling smile that made Malthael's head hurt.  He didn’t like nobles because they were always saying and doing confusing things where they didn’t mean what they said, they meant something else that he was supposed to figure out.

Nevertheless he carefully tore the back of the delicate lace garment open, allowing it to settle in two pieces delicately on top of the velvet, before being covered by various bits of padding and cushioning that he had to unlace from the governor’s body.  The scene was growing more confusing in his head by the minute - what was the purpose of such things when they would only add weight and bulk to the wearer?  Pads lined the governor’s shoulders and upper arms and surrounded their hips and thighs for no purpose that Malthael could understand, especially with how cleverly concealed they had been beneath the outer layers.  The pads would mimic muscles of course, but surely any worthwhile enemy wouldn’t be fooled by such a simple deception?  He didn’t ask as he removed them and dropped them on the floor, getting down on one knee to unlace the underskirt and the hip pads as he was ordered.

The governor leaned back against him as he did so, head resting against his shoulder and a hand reaching down to brush against his ass.  Malthael shifted back slightly.  “Apologies, your honor, I did not mean to put you off balance.”  He fought to press his rising combat hormones down - there were no observable enemies here, even to his enhanced senses.  His new charge, now stripped down to breaches, hose, and a quilted vest over a delicate tunic, leaned even further into his body.  He finished removing the vest and paused, unsure if he should continue.

“Keep going, marine” the voice was sharp and commanding as the governor pulled the tunic off and held out a leg for Malthael to undo the matching stocking.  The thin silk joined the growing pile on the floor, for an instant reminding Malthael of a line of blood staining the fabric as he finished his ordered task, ignoring the hand sliding to his shoulders and beginning to undo the fasteners on his bodyglove, only repeating his mantras of loyalty to the emperor in his head.

[gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan]

Seeking

Author's note: More of Draco in Husbandry.

Summary: Draco seeks some more answers.

Warning: Let me know if I need to add anything.

Past =-= Next

Tagged: @barn-anon, @bleedingichorhearts, @c-u-c-koo-4-40k, @egrets-not-regrets, @kit-williams,

Tagged: @sleepyfan-blog, @ms--lobotomy , @thevoidscreams, @i-am-a-dragon34, @gra93fruit-blog

Draco had been forced to retreat from the battle of the mixed group of supposed loyalists and chaos scum traitors. It had been quite annoying to deal with all of them, especially since more than one of them was a Psyker, no where near his power level.

But with the way the Warp was being non-responsive, it had given them enough of an edge that he'd needed to have a strategic retreat, he will need to find a different way to snag those two damned Primaris Psykers.

They need training proper training at that. He could tell from the way that the two Primaris Marines moved and acted, they both were gifted with a version of Seer-sight of the future.

Which could be extremely tactically useful, if their sight is honed, they are properly taught and report their visions to their superiors promptly

He knows that one Ancient Librarian of the Ultramarines who has managed to successfully guide his chapter for many years from what would have been ruinous defeat, to success and victory.

If either of those boys had even the fraction of that skill or power, it could be important for the good of the Imperium to have them Properly trained.

Still, he needs to know more about this planet that he's landed on. Also, how in the name of the God Emperor that he got here. After all, the last he remembers is being on his ship flying through the Warp.

After healing up he manages to hunt down an Alpha legionary- a younger one, who he'd learned his name was Keed and used persuasion to get the younger space marine to tell him what he knew was going on.

Learning that he was on Ancient Terra- and about the alliance between the various factions of Astartes, as well as the other things that are going on.

It's terribly fascinating, and the other space marine genuinely believes this information to be true. He pulls out of the other space marine's mind after ensuring that Keed won't remember their conversation.

Draco will need to go to one of the Loyalist Bases- but not the one that the Salamander Captain Ash'val was based at. Salamanders have a well-earned reputation, among mortals and Astartes alike, and he doesn't want the Dragon to try and breath fire at him.

Ash'val would lose that fight of course, but it would be a terribly messy battle- and would only make trying to retrieve Jophiel and Claude that much more difficult.

Ugh. He might have to fake apologizing for what he had done due to a lack of information. Which might be accepted, might not be accepted by the fellow First Born Space Marines.

The Primaris Marines know better than to try and deny him, a Gray Knight what he wants. Or at least they should, Jophiel had been trained by him, for a short while, at least.

That one knows the weight of his displeasure and how that is not a good thing. So, for him to not be obedient means that he's learning bad habits on Ancient Terra.

He clicks his tongue and shakes his head, that can happen to impressionable youngsters, but he will remind Jophiel of how he should behave.

His little Raven friend will help keep Jophiel obedient, and he can use the mutated Blood Angel against the little Raven as well. While two on one might be a bit of a challenge, it's not for him. He's a gray knight, has the gene-seed of the god emperor, rare is an individual able to overpower him.

[justcallmemrc]

And now, the 40k rant

So, I think my biggest problem with how GW handles their lore is that they can't seem to commit to an idea. Like, I need to put a disclaimer here saying that I love the 40k universe and how outrageously metal it is. It's an incredible mythology, but it's still extremely flawed.

What I'm saying is, they'll talk about shaking up the status quo, add a few nominal changes, and then keep going the way they were. For example, the Whole Thing with Guiliman and Yvraine. They were hinting at a long-term peace between the Imperium and the Eldar, perhaps even an alliance, but then they just went and completely forgot about it. Like, the Ynnari were pretty much forgotten entirely. Not by the rules team, of course - they got absolutely spoiled in 9th - but their presence in the ongoing narrative - such as it is - has basically been reduced to a minor oddity.

Or the Tau for example. There's good few threads with them that never go anywhere. Like, Farsight's whole thing is that he's realising that the Tau need to understand the warp and psychic powers if they want to stand a chance against Chaos. So does he work with psychic races like the Eldar? Look for a way for the Tau to use psychic abilities themselves? No, he's just going to keep using his magic sword to solve everything.

I could go on. There are so many things like this with the Tau. And with everyone really. But if I had to list every example of this that I'm aware of, it would take me a whole fifteen paragraphs or something to get to my point.

Now, I understand why GW can't change the status quo too much. They're selling a game. It has to be there for the players. Changing the status quo too much could cause a lot of issues. But the problem is that they're trying to have it both ways. They want an ongoing narrative, but without actually changing anything.

This kills any tension in the narrative they're trying to write, because nothing is at stake. Whatever happens, the status quo will remain the same. But hey, at least we have Lionel Johnson now.

I wish the status quo was the only problem, though.

Games Workshop. Are we supposed to like the Imperium or aren't we?

Like, they say the Imperium is meant to be awful. But they still keep treating it as the de facto Good Guy faction because... Reasons.

To be completely fair, this could very well be a classic case of "too many cooks spoil the broth". Companies aren't monoliths. Games Workshop is not a hive mind. Different people working on the lore and writing probably have very different ideas about what the overall tone of the setting should be, how the various factions should be portrayed, etc.

But it's still annoying.

Anyway, uh, I guess this was the 40k rant. I'm not even sure where I was going with it at this point. I'll reiterate, though: I don't hate 40k. I'm just not oblivious to its flaws.

[racefortheironthrone]

In A Guildsman Goes Forth to War, what can you tell us about fae society? I'm assuming they're monarchies, feudal or absolute? Do they bear any resemblance to Celtic society? Do they practice slavery? What of their gender dynamics? Etc

Great question!

So there's a lot that I'm not going to share with you, because the fae/Fair Folk/etc. are supposed to be a mysterious people who live in their own realm that connects to the human world via thin places in the forests and underhill and deep in the mountains or underground rivers, and humanity doesn't particularly understand them very well despite centuries of intermarriage, as the fae are both very cryptic and contradictory in the information they've shared with their Gentry kin.

Government

As far as humans have been able to glean, the Fae do organize themselves into Courts that seem close enough to European feudal systems that the leading families of Europe can do business with them when it comes to dynastic marriage alliances and diplomatic relations.

That being said, status and power in Faerie society don't seem to be based in land as they are among humans. (In the interests of full disclosure, I'm borrowing some ideas here from the Feywild in D&D.) As far as people have been able to glean from correspondence and diplomatic and cultural interactions, titles are based on elements of nature (the Duke of Hoarfrost, the Viscount of Watermeadows) or from emotions (the Lady of Wistful Rememberance, the Prince of Sorrow), or from ideas and beliefs (the Duchess of the Dark Side of the Moon claims to have once been a handmaiden to the goddess Selene).

Quite a few scholars of geography and history from the leading universities have theories and taxonomies about how Faerie society is organized, but they're all second-hand and can offer only partial explanations and there's absolutely no consensus about what's going on. It does not help that the rare diplomatic missions or marriage parties that go to Faerie from the human world rather than in the other direction tend to report memory issues, such that much of what is recorded owes more to dream logic than accurate observation. Needless to say, this has been a rich vein of material for poets, playwrights, and painters only, and intensely frustrating for academics and statesmen.

Culture

Faerie culture is highly localized in accordance with regional folklore and mythology, although scholars disagree whether human folklore is a record of pre-historical encounters with Faerie, or whether the Fae pattern themselves after the human cultures they interact with.

So for example, the Fae of Éire, Alba, Anglia, and northern Gallia seem to correspond to Gaelic and Brythonic literature, Arthuriana, and the Matters of Britain and France. In the Sacrum Imperium and the Danelaw, however, the dominant Fae cultures are distinctively Germanic and Scandinavian - whether that's the Rheintöchter of the Rhineland and Palatinate, or the dvergr who predominate in Bavaria and the Hapsburg lands or the trollkind and various álfar in the land of the Northmen. In much of southern Europe around the Mediterranean, one is much more likely to encounter Faerie peoples recognizable to students of Greek and Roman mythology: many Gentry from the Lega or the western half of the Rhōmaîoi-Rashidun Federation claim descent from oreads, naiads, nereids, satyrs and other bloodlines.

Human scholars are particularly confused by the fact that all of these different peoples all call one another "cousin," no matter whether they belong to the more humanoid elfkind or the distinctly non-human trollfolk or even the potentially fictional or extinct dragons.

Class and Slavery

As already suggested, Faerie society seems to have some sort of a hierarchy, but it does not seem to be one based in the inheritance of land passed down from generation to generation. Rather, as far as humans can tell, status seems to be associated with proximity to or control of or possession of or identification with magical power from various sources.

What does seem to be the case is that those with more power can command those with less, and Faerie embassies ubiquitously feature both vips with titles and what appear to their servants, but there is no consistency on which kinds of fae serve and which rule. Human visitors and diplomats are very unsure whether this consistutes a caste system or clientilism, because the Fae themselves speak in rather vague terms about "obligations" and "debts" and "true names."

Gender

Again, humans have a rather hard time understanding Faerie gender norms - and are rather unsure whether various Fae kinds have genders and how many they have. What is known is that, among what passes for royalty and nobility in Faerieland, there is a tendency for the female to be announced first - correspondence often arrives in the form of "Queen Titania and King Oberon" or "The Baroness and Baron"- which suggests a slight tendency to the matriarchal, but that is mere supposition. Human cultural conservatives both within and without the Church do grumble about the "immodest" and "amazonian" habits of Faerie women when they comport themselves in their visits to human society or in their Gentry marriages, but they make sure to do so under their breath.