#psion flayers

[wastedpotentialsblog]

Destiny enemies and enemy models that I really really liked and could've been used more:

Marauder Ultras:

They're fun to fight! They're fast, can use stealth, can use shock blades, and don't have to Boss StompTM. I would've loved to see these guys decked in white, cream, blue, and black if they were on Europa. You don't have to give em Stasis but a different boss than just Large and slow Captain is a nice change of pace.

House Salvation elites (Enforcers, Disciples, and Assisstants)

>Makes 3 custom enemy types that use Darkness powers for the first time, all with unique models and animations

>barely uses them

>they disappear for 2 years

They didn't come back til Seraph! SERAPH. Come on man. These fuckers should've been everywhere throughout BL. I also think their lack of appearance also contributed to the lack of urgency of the "our enemies have darkness now" threat. I mean, we fought like 8 or 9 named "Salvation Elites" but most were just standard Ultra Captains. If they were Elites, they could've just been these guys.

Side note: Out of the new factions of Lucent Hive, Shadow Legion, and House Salvation. Salvation didn't get an "invasion" season to go with their expansion. Robbed. Truly. They made a Military-Industrial Complex and barely set foot anywhere else besides Europa. I also think this was a factor that didnt create any kind of urgency during BL.

Berserkers

Need I say more? Look at this swagged out motherfucker. If House Salvation really subsumed multiple houses under its banner, Kells Scourge included, should've thrown a couple of these bozos out there. Alter the shield mechanic to be more easily disabled by a solo player. Could even make their armor jet black. Given they have stealth itd be a nice visual contrast when they reveal themselves. I didn't play Scourge of the Past too much, but I did enjoy these guys when I did.

(Can you tell I'm biased at this point?)

Psion Flayers

Easy miniboss material. They dont have to be Ultra sized, maybe just slightly bigger than standard Psions. Could even give them a supporting role on the battlefield. Empowering Cabal around them with their enhanced telekinetics, those enhancements varying by elemental type and tying back to our Light 3.0 abilities. (Sun Flayer/Solar=heal, Abyss Flayer/Void=overshields, Storm Flayer/Arc=movement speed). Of course, their armor would have to have more visual differences and distinct silouhettes as I imagine trying to pick out which one is which based on color alone could be difficult for some. Hell, truthfully, I'd be fine if they were just the fucking Psion Sisters from Season of Dawn copy and pasted everywhere. But a supportive role would add more variety to a fight.

Rocket Centurions

Bet you forgot about these dudes, huh? They pop up in the EAZ but, you know, we've been fighting the Cabal for this long, you think more would've strapped rockets to their backs by now. While their missiles are just Colossus slow missiles (iirc), they could just be normal missiles that explode and don't slow just to keep them different. While these could be neat minibosses, if you want an Ultra one at the end of a story mission or something, they could take the Elykris (The Machinist) route of firing missiles where they go straight up in the air and red dots target the ground around you and you have to keep moving. They could've popped back in with the Shadow Legion. I think they could rock black, gold, and purple

Anyway this is mostly about House Salvation and Psion Flayers and I remembered Rocket Centurions in the middle of making this post. If I remember anything, I'll reblog it. I was gonna say something about the other races but Hive don't have a lot of variants that can be turned into minibosses and the Vex got Wyverns (seriosuly. No notes. A perfect enemy type). Obviously it's like way too late to add these to previous story missions, but if we are gonna reuse enemy types, can we reuse some of the cooler ones? Please?

[thefirstknife]

Did we ever learn whi "Otzot" is from the insight terminus strike? I always assumed it was a codename Osiris used but don't actually know

Otzot is a Psion Flayer! Also called Freeborn Otzot. She was a genuis scientist who recreated the OXA machine for which Calus had her in his circle and freed her. She was the only freed Psion, hence "Freeborn." Otzot participated in the Midnight Coup which overthrew Calus, because he wanted to free all Psions and she didn't like losing her unique status. Most of the information about her is in the vanilla D2 collector's edition booklet.

Otzot:

We have no clue if she's still alive. I believe she is and that we may get to her if they ever decide to deal with the Psion stuff. We know a lot of the Psions split off from both Caiatl and Calus, led by Yirix, who now leads the Psion Conclave. Yirix and her Psions were the ones who made the prophecies we saw in Vox Obscura mission.

[cactusmisslittle]

Pairing: Gen

Warnings: Standard apprehension towards mind flayers, I guess?

Summary:

Y is struggling to figure out his psionic sorcery. Luckily, a certain renegade mind flayer is well-versed in both arcana and psionics, and is more than eager to help.

[veilkeeper]

1 + 8 + 28 + 29 for that lovely Githyanki over there? 👀

oh wow!! thank you!

1: Where in the Faerûn is your Tav from?

not far from elturel! the backstory i made up for them is that they were born in a small crèche north of elturel and when it burned in an attack, they emerged the sole survivor. they spent years in elturel and baldur's gate before finally reconnecting with their people. the crèche we see in the game is the replacement for their crèche, essentially. not sure how supported this is by canon- i came up with all this before i even booted up the game. but this is MY playground now.

8: Who are they suspicious of?

answered! tl;dr, astarion, because why would anyone be interested in them?

28: Is your character the de facto leader of the party? Or do they consider someone else to be the leader?

they are but they don't exactly guard that position jealously. roz is suitable for command (and was vying for it among the githyanki), but their typical MO is to be a silent observer. so they'll take the lead when the occasion calls for it, but they're just as happy to let a companion step in. i think they think lae'zel would be just as suitable, but the others don't take her as seriously because she isn't as familiar with faerûnian "custom" as roz is.

29: Does your Tav want to utilize the tadpole powers or not?

wants to, has, and likely will again. roz has... let's call it a strained relationship with boundaries? they've always been a pretty powerful psion and have no qualms about using their abilities, even when people might not want them to. they will be very cautious about how many tadpoles they take in though - they know the dangers mind flayers possess. they just also aren't keen on leaving advantages at the door.

[fiirecracker]

FLOWER

callsign ; sunflower species ; psion pronouns ; she/her/hers gender ; flayer sexuality ; lesbian class & subclass ; warlock, dawnblade ; attunement of flame ghost ; ozymandias (he/him)

physical description ; there is no doubt that flower is the traveler's tiniest guardian. her height alone, or rather lack thereof, exemplifies this; as an extremely young psion, flower stands at a diminutive 4'2". she lack lacks any real muscular definition, as, like most of her race, she is physically frail. her body is thin and lithe, with limbs almost too-long for her form. unlike most psions, however, flower displays an affinity for solar abilities, rather than the cold void of her siblings. her single eye is a warm orange, and her skin glimmers with a similar color.

personality ; as a child with a great gift (the light) (also psychic abilities), flower has a difficult time connecting with both those of her age and those she is supposed to work for. she is curious and playful, as a child should be, but also remains aware of the weight the light has placed on her. she wants to experiment, to test her light. she wants to fight beside her fellow guardians and prove herself worthy of the traveler's blessing. she is also a child. and she is so, so lonely.

history ; just after the red war, a ghost by the name of ozymandias was darting through the edz. he had every intention of finding his guardian that day. he had planned on it, and spent every moment of his hundreds of years preparing for this moment. and then, in the blink of an eye, it was almost all taken from him. he found himself being chased by a collection of surviving red legionnaires. they smelled blood. they wanted it. they almost had it, if not for the intervention of a very small psion. she took him gently in one hand, pushed the legionnaires back with a psychic pulse. they fired back. she tried to escape. the cliffs of the edz gave way to a crack, which opened into a cavern. the psion opened her hands, trembling and soaked with blood, and released the poor ghost. "be careful out there," she said, in a language he did not know but somehow understood. and then she fell. she was not his guardian. the terran out there who belonged to him still waited. still waits, now. but what could he do? she had saved this lonely ghost. she was just a child. she was a baby. what kind of ghost would he be, to leave such a thing that way? and so the little thing awoke.

important information ; flower is a literal child, and so will not be open for shipping.

tags ; | general | musings | aesthetics | ic | general relationships |

[torobatl]

I love that my fave destiny characters are either uluran nobody has heard of (Iska’al, Shayotet, Moli), warcrime girlboss psions (Otzot, flayer sisters), or Hive But Not Actually (Hiraks, Gahlran)

[sundayswiththeilluminati]

Ticuu’s Divination

Three points, pushed through forever.

Type: Combat Bow

Slot: Kinetic | Energy | Heavy

Element: Arc | Solar | Void

Perk: Sacred Flame - Hipfiring this weapon fires multiple tracking projectiles. Targets marked by these projectiles explode upon death, or when struck by another Sacred Flame's explosion.

Trait: Causality Arrows - Arrows fired while aiming down sights cause Sacred Flames to instantly detonate.

Masterworked Trait: Causality Quiver - Perfectly-drawn arrows that detonate Sacred Flame increase arrow damage. Striking targets unaffected by Sacred Flame instead refreshes Causality Quiver's duration.

Ornaments: Hasta Solari, Ferromancer, Solar Astrolabe

Origin & Description: Combining the best traits of Le Monarque and Graviton Lance, Ticuu's has my name written alllllll over it. And also Ticuu's name, because Ticuu was a person. A Cabal psion Flayer, to be specific, who with typical psion inscrutability decided that if he was going to make a bow, he was going to make the most confusing bow possible. It almost certainly cost Ticuu his life, or worse, his existence, to arm this bow; but once it was armed, it never needed to be reloaded. The three arrows inside this bow are not quite real arrows; or maybe they are real, but they're the same three real arrows looped over and over again through time. You don't need any more than three, because the bow doesn't fire them. Instead it fetches a future in which the targets have arrows in them. Or Ticuu fetches that future. Or he already had it, pinned into the bow by the three points in his mind harmonized across time's empty wheel. Consider the name: divination. There are many words for attempting to predict the future, but "divination" in particular evokes the examination of signs and symbols to discern what's already been fated to happen. You didn't choose to put arrows in those targets. They already had arrows in them, in the future, and this bow just fetched that future into the now. Yeah. Psions have an odd relationship to time.

And an odd relationship with the Cabal. The Cabal Empire uses the term "Cabal" to refer to both the empire and its main species, the seven-foot-tall exosuited space rhinos we so often dispatch. While the empire had a number of "client species," annexed races that lived under Cabal "protection," the psions are the most directly subjugated - likely an early conquest by Cabal military seeking to weaponize their abilities. Psions exhibit unique mental powers that function outside the common paracausality-fueled abilities known to Guardians, Hive, eliksni, etc. The Cabal keep the psions "indentured," at best skilled specialists with little hope of advancement, at worst outright slaves, in order to make use of said powers. Within the military psions function as engineers, pilots, and long-range fighters; many serve on the more intellectual side of combat operations, working as after-action analysts and intelligence experts.

A select few are "allowed" to grow into their full adult state, known as a Psion Flayer, though it isn't clear what missing element lets them do so. One theory says they need pure accumulation of knowledge, which might explain why a group tried tapping Rasputin nodes to enable the transformation.* Emperor Calus had a number of psions loyal to his cause, as he seemed to have been the most charitable towards their race - even claiming he would have freed them had he not been deposed - but it was his daughter Empress Caiatl who finally declared all psions free and equal citizens after Xivu Arath's attack, offering them the choice to stay and fight or leave the Cabal fleet. Surprisingly some did elect to continue fighting for the Empress, though the splinter sect that remembered the attempts at the Sundial and with the Almighty expressed their displeasure by attempting to assassinate Zavala (don't worry, he's fine).

*It worked, though Ana opined, "they're just gonna make [Rasputin] mad," so those Flayers might not have lived too long even if we hadn't intervened.

Even in their deliberately weakened state psions are capable of telepathy, telekinesis, and a harmony of minds known as "metaconcert" that allows several psions to pool their mental abilities to solve problems and create shared realities. Psion Flayers wield far more dramatic powers, calling down fire and lightning, freezing combatants in place or teleporting them around at will. A detachment of Psion Flayers assigned to the forward Cabal forces on Mars successfully lowered the small moon Phobos into a physically-unstable orbit around the planet, maintaining a dangerously-low altitude in order to use it as a staging base. One Psion Flayer, Otzot, constructed - or reconstructed - the clairvoyant OXA machine that could view both past and future, though it dispensed that information in maddeningly vague ways. Psions themselves have a complex social structure that included a domination early in their history by a small group of powerful individuals known as "God-Thoughts" who imposed their command on the rest of society by pure mental might; certain schools of religious thought are still considered verboten among them. They have a powerful sense of the community over the individual and a shared reverence for ancestors, implying that their spirits are still present - which, given the odd psion relationship with time, might literally be true.

Whenever I'm called upon to explain Ticuu's Divination to new players, I describe it as "mark for deletion." The tracking hip-fire arrows tag enemies to be deleted, and the ADS ones delete them. Simple. Less simply, Ticuu's is another exotic that has different behavior in hip-fire vs. ADS mode. In hip-fire mode Ticuu's will put up tracking markers on the first three enemies it picks up. Firing it in that mode - you don't have to draw the bow all the way, just pluck the string - sends marker arrows to seek those three targets and tag them with Sacred Flame. You can have more than three marked targets up at a time, limited by the timer on Sacred Flame. Tagged targets don't take burn damage but do show a visual flame effect. That part's important for the next step: switch to ADS mode, draw the bow properly this time, and precision-hit one of the marked targets. Nailing a Sacred Flame aura with an ADS-drawn arrow causes that aura to detonate - and if that detonation nicks another Sacred Flame aura, it'll go off as well. It's like a little homebrew Graviton Lance chain reaction, but only through the targets you've marked.

The catalyst adds a more complicated firing pattern that makes it more useful for heavy single targets: precision hits on a Sacred Flame target give stacks of Causality Quiver, which increases arrow damage. Sending out the marking arrows instead refreshes the timer on the Causality Quiver buff. So you can mark a heavy target with Sacred Flame, detonate it with a precision hit to gain a damage buff, then mark it again to refresh the timer. It requires more thought to pull off but expands the bow's range nicely. And yes, precision arrows will detonate Sacred Flame auras laid down by a teammate, so you can have one player doing nothing but marking targets and a second doing nothing but detonating them when they reach critical mass - or two people marking targets and a third killing them with a different weapon, since Sacred Flame will also detonate if the enemy just dies.

With the addition of Ticuu's Divination in Season 13 (the seasonal exotic of Season of the Chosen, to go with the Cabal theme) we now have crowd control bows in all Light elements: Ticuu's for Solar, Trinity Ghoul for Arc, and Le Monarque for Void. We don't have a Stasis bow yet, but I'm sure they're working on it; if it follows the current pattern for Stasis exotics it'll be in the kinetic slot rather than energy, a welcome addition that would double the number of exotic kinetic bows. In the meantime I'll be out here marking some fools to get deleted.

Destiny 2 Compendium Armarum Exoticarum

[ Ace of Spades | Ager's Scepter | Anarchy | Arbalest | Bad Juju | Bastion | Black Talon | Borealis | Cerberus+1 | The Chaperone | Cloudstrike | Coldheart | Collective Obligation | The Colony | Crimson | Cryosthesia 77K | DARCI | Dead Man's Tale | Deathbringer | Dead Messenger | Devil's Ruin | Divinity | Duality | Edge of Action/Concurrence/Intent | Eriana’s Vow | Eyes of Tomorrow | Fighting Lion | The Fourth Horseman | Forerunner | Gjallarhorn | Grand Overture | Graviton Lance | Hard Light | Hawkmoon | Heartshadow | Heir Apparent | The Huckleberry | Izanagi’s Burden | The Jade Rabbit | Jötunn | The Lament | The Last Word | Legend of Acrius | Leviathan’s Breath | Lord of Wolves | Lorentz Driver | Lumina | Malfeasance | Merciless | MIDA Multi-Tool | Le Monarque | Monte Carlo | No Time to Explain | One Thousand Voices | Osteo Striga | Outbreak Perfected | Parasite | Polaris Lance | Prometheus Lens | The Prospector | Queenbreaker | Rat King | Riskrunner | Ruinous Effigy | Salvation's Grip | Skyburner’s Oath | Sleeper Simulant | Sturm | Sunshot | SUROS Regime | Sweet Business | Symmetry | Tarrabah | Telesto | Thorn | Thunderlord | Ticuu's Divination | Tommy's Matchbook | Tractor Cannon | Traveler's Chosen | Trespasser | Trinity Ghoul | Truth | Two-Tailed Fox | Vex Mythoclast | Vigilance Wing | The Wardcliff Coil | Wavesplitter | Whisper of the Worm | Wish-Ender | Witherhoard | Worldline Zero | Xenophage ]

[desertdruidcrafts]

The last of the Underdark minis for now, including a redrawn Elder Brain in a few positions. An orog battlemaster, a variety of duergar, a mind flayer thrall-themed flesh golem (and armored version), elder brains, and a mind flayer psion.

You can find the rest of the mind flayers deeper in this blog or on the website

[cerothenull]

Veil, Voidwalker Warlock of the Vanguard: "If the Taken are expressions of the Darks intent for a being, then are we Guardians not that same expression but of Light? And if not us, for we have seen Guardians fall to the Dark and Deep, then should there not be Taken of the Light?"

Thimble, Veil's Ghost: "...you know they banish Guardians for these kind of philosophical meanderings right?"

[rocco-the-warlock-blog]

New DLC looks pretty good. Yo I stole this from davyissp00py on Reddit but it was too good to just leave there.

[wastedpotentialsblog]

Now that we know of the Psion Conclave, that Statue Room is becoming more and more ominous

Psions are always fucking with tech that's not theirs. If Amtec is leading the Conclave, she's PRIME pickings for the Pyramids influence. She's got a personal grudge against the Guardians and Zavala and the Last City. Light Suppression tech is just a gateway drug to Darkness powers.

The 3 sisters each had an element assigned to them it would only make sense for the 4th to have Stasis.

[destiny2paladin]

Seeing Zavala in the cutscene after Cayde's death saying we're not soldiers and giving YW a stern look has... a different impact now. Knowing how much Big Blue has loved and lost and raged and grieved? It adds perspective. He wasn't just telling us that as commander. He was warning us of how much pain we would bring.

And reading how Crow got brutalized just because he looked like Uldren without knowing why? That's our fault. We did that to Crow for the sake of vengeance. Savathun sowed chaos because we allowed it. Crow had to deal with our consequences because we are too godly, too beyond control to be stopped. We are unstoppable in the face of adversity.

Crota. Oryx. Atheon. Ghaul. Panoptes. Xol. Nokris. Riven. Insurrection Prime. Gahlran. The nightmares. The Undying Mind. The Vex of Garden of Salvation. The Psion Flayers. The truth of Rasputin. Savathun's interference. Stasis-wielding Fallen. The High Celebrant of Xivu Arath. Taniks, that Stubborn Bastard. Caiatl's legions. Quria, Blade Transform. Xivu's forces. Savathun herself, reborn in Light. Rhulk, first Disciple of the Witness. And we still keep going. Raids, dungeons, whatever. The Young Wolf is a god amongst gods.

And it was because we were chosen years ago by a little machine with the gift of the Sky.

[the-ashen-gm]

More Dual-Type Lineages #4: Symbiotic Psions, mind flayers gone rogue!

[Image ID: a tentacle-faced pirate with a cutlass in a room with an astonomy motif. A pet gerbil sits next to them. End ID.]

Mind flayers, otherwise known as illithids, are said to be a hive-minded species. Although each illithid technically has its own individuality, they are are under the influence of the elder brain. This elder brain is a giant mass of neural matter and an ego to match. It believes that illithids are the superior consciousnesses in the multiverse and that it is the peak of illithid-kind. Most illitihids would agree, which is why they implant tadpoles birthed from the elder brain into a select few of their victims. Rather than eat their brains (as they are wont to do), they allow the victim to be slowly transformed into an illithid themselves. After less than a year of incubation, a new illithid emerges where once a normal humanoid was imprisoned.

However, not all victims of the mind flayers is successfully transformed by this so-called “ceremorphosis”. Some escape before the transformation is complete and never become a part of the elder brain’s hive mind. They flee the mind flayer colony and return to their previous communities, or join a new one if the original’s population has already been harvested for their brains by the illithids. For a time, the escapee might believe they have dodged a fate worse than death and live in peace. Truly, there is nothing more horrifying than becoming an illithid. You do not die, but instead are changed forever into an alien monstrosity without empathy or compassion to those of the material world. 

However, once the tadpole is implanted, it is too late for a normal life. Over the coming months or years, the escapee realises that the tadpole lingers on inside their skull and is changing them from the inside out. The alien stowaway is much weaker now than it was, as it is not being nourished by the colony’s ambient psionic radiation, but it still has the capacity to warp the victim beyond recognition. Such individuals retain their memories and personalities, but also gain some of the powers and visual signifiers of mind flayers. Some look like slightly unusual members of their original race while others could pass as mind flayers themselves. 

Regardless of their looks, real illithids will likely recognise a deviant in an instant and seek to destroy it. Among illithids there is a legend that a tadpole-implanted humanoid will one day destroy the remnants of the illithid empire; however unlikely that story might be, it is logically not worth the risk of allowing any half-formed kin to live. 

Symbiotic Psion Traits

Type: Humanoid and Aberration 

Size: Medium or Small (your choice when you gain this lineage) 

Speed: 30 feet

Age: Your ageing slows down on your humanoid traits, but that becomes irrelevant once the tadpole takes over. You live to be roughly 160 years old before expiring.

Superior Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 120 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern colour in darkness, only shades of grey.

Magic Resistance. You have advantage on saving throws against spells.

Ceremorphosis. You have a suite of psionic spells you can cast using your evolved brain, but the more the tadpole integrates with your brain the harder it gets to hide your burgeoning illithid nature.

You can use an action to cast mind sliver. At 3rd level, you gain the ability to cast thunderwave and gain one symptom of ceremorphosis. At 5th level, you gain the ability to cast detect thoughts and gain another symptom of ceremorphosis. At 8th level, you gain the ability to cast levitate and gain another symptom of ceremorphosis. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for these spells.

When you cast a spell that is 1st-level or higher using this trait, you cannot cast it again in this way until you finish a short or long rest. Furthermore, any spell you cast using this trait that deals damage deals psychic damage instead of its original damage type.

If you roll the same symptom of ceremorphosis twice, the symptom becomes more extreme and difficult to hide.

Sunlight Sensitivity.  You have disadvantage on attack rolls and Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight when you, the target of the attack, or whatever you are trying to perceive is in direct sunlight.

1d6 Symptoms of Ceremorphosis

Your skin is slimy and pale, and smells salty like brinewater.

Your eyes are empty like pools of water, with fragments of your iris floating across the surface.

Your limbs are long and your digits are fused into a set of inhuman grabbers.

You become uncommonly tall for someone of your ancestry and far more gangly. 

Your mouth and lips become a maw of tentacle-like protuberances.

Your favourite food is brains.

[breakneckpeixe]

wakenedintostorm - Guardian: Sao Cidon | Class: Titan/Warlock | Element: Arc (if you're still doing this I mean! ;w;)

"What would become of us under the Cabal?"

Osiris' voice sounded almost hollow in Sao's coms, the Duel-class Guardian frowning at the question.

"Would they destroy us?" Osiris pondered, "Or conquer and keep us, as they did the Psion's so long ago?"

The way he drifted over the word 'keep' let a sour note in Sao's ear.

'enslave.' They thought to themselves. 'Pretty sure the technical term for that is 'enslave'.

Shrugging off the thought, Sao braced their hands together, taking some small satisfaction in the electricity arcing between their palms.

The sooner they could finish with the Sundial Spire, the better. Once the Flayers were dead, they might be able to sneak in two hours of sleep. Four, if they decided to misbehave and try out that new mod Amanada whipped up for their Solpiercer---

Wistful thoughts of freetime soon faded as Sao drew closer to the Flayer's position, and once again Osiris' voice crackled in their ear.

"I've seen a far future with this Psion at its center. It's a bleak place."

'Obviously.' Sao chambered a round, wondering briefly what sort of future someone who had been a slave from birth might dream of.

("Freedom." sighed a voice in the back of their head. 'From the cabal. From the deafening impatience of my sisters. Together we are strong, oh, so strong, but if only they would listen, if my voice were just a bit louder...')

Nothing good, clearly, because Osiris had said---

Sao froze, realizing just then that they'd heard another voice in their mind.

"Psion!"

Sunshot snapped to attention, as hungry and eager in Soa's hand as an attack dog. But as they stepped into the ritual circle, they saw that their battle had already been won.

Sao wasn't sure how it had happened, but the Psion was speared to the ground with the severed arm of a minotaur.

Something like blood oozed from the wound in sluggish pulses.

The Flayer had lifted her head to watch the Guardian, but now, she let it fall. Her helmet making a soft 'clink' against the cold, unfeeling stone of the Sundial.

("My sisters cannot undo this without me. They will grieve, and they will try, but they are impulse. Fire and Lightning, I am the Void. The calm. Without me, they will burn out each other.")

Out loud, Sao could make out the garbled sound of Psion Speech, and it occured to them that this was why the Flayer was projecting her thoughts.

'She doesn't speak my language.'

("No. Yet now, I speak quite freely. How strange. My entire life, I was quiet, but in this moment of my death...I've finally found my words.')

Sao scanned the area, knowing full well this had all the makings of a trap. Yet in spite of their better judgement, the Guardian knelt beside the would-be Usurper of Time.

A strange sound came from the Psion, a crackling sort of noise that sent spasms through her narrow chest.

On reflex, Sao's hand went to their water bottle, and lifted it to the Psion.

("What is---")

The dying mind faltered, seeking the proper word.

("Life-fluid----Water. You offer me water. My sisters will turn you to ash. You will thirst then.")

"So you don't want it?" Sao asked, keeping their voice even.

The Psion made another sound, a small, almost hum of a noise.

The long, spindly fingers faltered at her mask, and Sao had to reach out to help remove it.

The face underneath was no where near the realm of attractive. A smooth, egg-shaped thing, with a single eye in the center, a lipless mouth much smaller than it should be.

But Sao cupped the back of the Psion's head, lifting the bottle to their lips.

The flayer sipped delicately, the tiny flutters of her throat as faint as a butterflys wings. In spite of her strength and ambition, everything about this creature hissed 'fragile,' and 'do not touch.'

Another cough wracked the Flayer, and she turned her face away.

('No more words, now. Sad, when I have only just found them. Finish it, Guardian. The pain is...')

She groped for the words, absently.

('Immense.')

Sao pressed their hand-cannon to the Psion's temple, then paused, realizing it might not equate to the same weakness in a human skull.

"Where would be...ah, quickest?"

The Psion's fingers closed on Sao's wrist, and guided the hand canon toward the center of their smooth head.

"...This doesn't...it doesn't sit right with me." Sao stated.

("It's horrible, isn't it? The weight of trying to make things right.")

The lone eye drifted closed, and the Psion folded her hands over the wound in her chest, pressing down as if to keep the lifeblood in.

Sao's finger went to the trigger.

Then, they holstered the Gun and rose.

"Brace yourself. I'll do it on three."

The eye opened, wide and confused.

("For what Purpose.")

"One."

("And why are you thinking about the number '2' why are you thinking deception = Reduction in pain, I do not understand.')

"Two."

Sao yanked.

("Wait, no I cannot---AAAAAAAAIII--------"

The thought became sound, a shrill, electronic-sounded screech as the Vex was yanked from the wound. The Psion's eye rolled back in agony, the lean form going limp.

"Ghost." Sao ordered, "Need some heat here."

Their ghost appeared, giving Sao a judging look before focusing a thin, laser into the Psions' wound.

"Can you help her?" Sao asked.

"I can cauterize the main blood vessels." The Ghost repeated, "But the mission was seek and destroy."

"Yeah." sao sighed, staring down at the unconcious flayer. "Maybe if we convince her that the Vanguard can free her People, she'll help us set the Sundial right."

"Sao." Their ghost said. "Your saving her life."

"Technically you are. Besides, I save a lot of people."

"This one will be different. If we stop now, she'll...bleed out. But if this continues..."

"...'This one?'"

"She'll be 'the one.' Your one, Sao."

The Guardian was silent for a long moment.

"What was her name again?"

"Niruul. The Hollow Voice."

"Niruul." Sao repeated, making no move to stop their ghosts ministrations.

With a sight, the ghost finished sealing up the worst of the bleeding.

"Guardian," The Ghost said quietly, "You do realize, most of the Psion's don't 'want' to be free. And even if they did, spending vanguard resources on a race that might not thank us for it..."

"Yeah..." Sao grimaced, lifting Niruul gently into their arms. "Well, nothing's free."

[rogue-smelter]

Ooc;; Alright since Tera ( @theslagmaker​​​ ) requested I post my master list of all my muses I’ve had/have. 

So without further ado, here ya go: 

— HAVE PLAYED:

Transformers:

             Star Saber |  @gallant-commander 

             Helex | ( ya already know )

             Overlord |  @eradicating-renegade ( previously )

             Sparkeater |  @sparkdevourer ( previously ) | @edaxanimae​ 

             Sunder |  @killermnemonics 

             Constructicons |  @construction-crew 

             Monstructor |  @hellish-inmanis

             Guzzle |  @gvzzle

             Micronus Prime |  @microiism-blog​

             Lord Imperious Delirious |  @illusionsdelusion

             Tyrest |  @iudicaturi ( previously used to be his url before I reused it )

             Insecticon Trio |  @feralisect​​    

             Prowl |  @iudicaturi​​

Digimon:

         Omegamon

Kirby:

            Galacta Knight | Meta Knight | Dark Matter swordsman | @arcane-swords

Borderlands:

            Rhys |  @cybernetic-ambitions

            Warrior |  @smolderingbehemoth 

Overwatch:

            Roadhog | @ruutledge

Red vs. Blue:

            Santa 

Warframe:

            Nekros Prime oc | @nekromantiia-blog​​

            Alad v | @profitscience 

Destiny:

            Void flayer Numoc | @void-psion

            Atheon 

            Sylok  

            Aksis Prime |  @aksis-prime

            Kovik |  @splicer-priest

Fate/Grand Order:

            Cu Alter | @curruiid​

            Goetia |  @pityguise​

            Angra Mainyu |  @tenebrousii

            Asclepius | @remeserpen​​

            Tristan | @lamentiia-blog​

​​Megaman: 

            Mercury | @mercurialiity

[theburninghuntress]

Destcember Day 8: Tyrant

ACCESS: RESTRICTED

DECRYPTION KEY: 446f646f$IKO-006

REP #: 1287-Cabal-VEN

AGENT(S): Alp-153

SUBJ: Countercultural Intelligence Update

1. Small scale Cabal splinter factions have continued to form since the arrival of the Pyramids. The latest faction, self-labeled as 'Hellraisers,' has occupied a previously unknown Golden Age city in the Lada Mountains on Venus. Due to the typically much more severe storms in the region, scouts have been unable to surmise the group's full combat capabilities. 

2. This group has continued the emerging trend among Cabal splinters to be led by a Psion. VIP #2541 appears to be the commander, and VIP #4102 is the lead strategist for this contingent. It is unconfirmed if such a leadership shift indicates a more significant change in the system's typical Cabal Hierarchy. From preliminary observations, it appears the roles among the two separate species of Cabal and Psion have reversed

3. Along with these developments, a pair of Psions have taken up leadership positions. We should maintain a frequent period of monitoring as not to allow the contingent to grow further.

VIP #2541, a Psion believed to be formerly of the Seige Dancers, calls themself Ilinoc. It appears after the Guardian operations to destroy the command structure of the Seige Dancers, many of the remaining Cabal and Psions left their allegiance to the Empire to flee to the less explored sectors of the system, in particular RZ-481, the Lada mountain range in the southern hemisphere of Venus. #2541 has stolen supplies from factions across the planet, including equipment from remnants of the House of Winter's dens, and has commandeered several Vex structures for personal use.

VIP #4102, a Psion of unknown origin, calls themself Kolar. #4102 bears the same name as VIP #1613, Kolar, the Psion Flayer of the Ice Reapers detachment. Since #1613 was confirmed dead by Guardians post-strike operation, #4102 is not #1613. It is unclear if there is a connection between the two. #4102 has garnered her position through the use of brutal and merciless tactics against any hostile force she's confronted. These tactics include the usage of hostages, torture, and adolescent Cabal being used in troop movements. #4102 has further radicalized the already brutal tactics of the Cabal. This agent suggests immediate operations to terminate these threats if possible.

MESSAGE ENDS