The higher mysteries of thaumaturgy remain beyond our comprehension. I suspect even with Voidwatch’s full support, the fundamental nature of our existence is an immensity that will take eons to understand. I fever.
Reality is the interweaving of everything. Every expression, every thought, every belief, every material, every emanation of force or otherwise, every notion of space, every second of time.
Everything.
How can one comprehend ...
2024-03-25 12:08:35 +0000 UTC
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#include <NEURO-PSI.h>
#include <NETHERBREACHER.EXE.h>
#include <CHRONOWALL.h>
MARKING PSI-PARASITE AS: {THE BURNING DREAMER};
// Initiating Breach
// Main routine to combat {THE BURNING DREAMER}
void eradicateParasite() {
// Loading Chrono-Mainframe for Temporal Data-Expansion Conversion
—CONTACTING THE ORGANISM [No-Dragon Outreach Protocal] to Draw from Genetic Memory...
2024-03-23 19:08:20 +0000 UTC
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Ah, but hearts are blind, and our eyes are pregnant with lies.
We see what we will, and we will what we wish to see.
And for those who claimed to be undamned by faith, know that you are damned by thought.
For the shape of your desire forms your cage, and righteousness is sought second to paint the walls with the colors of the horizon.
There is no escape for the fettered mind.
No escape.
N...
2024-03-21 12:11:24 +0000 UTC
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“Veylis! No! Please! Do not do this! Do not–”
“I love you father, but I must cure you. I must cure your weakness, and through your ascension, may the rest be made worthy. There is no other end. There is no other end. There is no other end.”
-Jaus and Veylis Avandaer
24-12
Declarations (I)
“ Your own father…” Avo said, forcing the words out. His templates recoiled with horror and Calvino murmured something unintelligible. “How? ...
2024-03-20 12:12:24 +0000 UTC
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[Query]
Yes, Gatekeeper.
[Why do you wish to make the truth a weapon?]
Because I want things to matter. I want there to be a fundamental force for virtue, for righteousness, for honesty.
[And there isn't now?]
No. Only a delusion of what could be. We have weaponized concepts, reality, even justice. Justice most of all. I have dismantled most gods of justice out of ...
2024-03-19 12:02:02 +0000 UTC
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Of course words can be weapons–how else do you think your father stayed my hand? Well, yes–the way he flails with his sword is amusing, and dare I even say endearing. But if you can seize comprehension of your foe, if you can master what they want, what they desire, who they think themselves to be, then you can provoke them. Drive them to unwise action.
Capture the animal and herd the man.
A warrior with a brittle heart makes for easy prey. A simple state...
2024-03-18 12:30:08 +0000 UTC
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Veylis Avandaer: Samir. Don’t you ever want... more?
Samir Naeko: More? Well, what do you mean by "more"? More of what? More of “this”?
Veylis Avandaer: Hah. No, not right now. Later, perhaps. But… More, more than what existence possesses. More power, more capability to make things better. To be the decider rather than the decided.
Samir Naeko:
2024-03-17 14:41:44 +0000 UTC
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A raconteur from a bygone age once claimed that all the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. When my father first breathed this quote to me, it horrified me.
Merely players. Dancers on another stage.
Most fail to see the horror of the world. You are born into a cage. Your body is the first thing to betray you. And with time, a cage is built around your mind. Belief. Desire. Culture. All things that shape you. But also chain you. To rol...
2024-03-15 18:28:44 +0000 UTC
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Since Veylis Avandaer’s ascendance to the position of High Seraph of Highflame and her complete capture of the Broken Kosgan traditions, there have been 682 formal assemblies called.
Of the [682] formal assemblies called, [455] occurred during times of war.
The great reluctance of Veylis and her Seraphs to compel such assemblies lies not in an issue of governance or authority, but quite simply, culture.
Infringement debases strength.
...
2024-03-14 11:29:16 +0000 UTC
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24-6
Diplomatic Vulnerabilities (III)
The Paladins left the Elysium of Nuurhein with ten additional Bloodthanes arrested and a media frenzy rising in their wake. Observing Naeko through Kare’s eyes, Avo found himself glad of his prior achievement.
Revealing Zein and delivering her unto Naeko had been a risky, ultimately worthwhile, poly. Pain still emanated from the Chief Paladin’s mind, but there was a drive to him now. A drive that could be cultured, nourished, and dir...
2024-03-12 18:47:25 +0000 UTC
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24-6
Diplomatic Vulnerabilities (II)
Naeko's complete arrival came with a sudden spike in metaphysical pressure.
It was as Zein had once said: once one rose beyond the Sixth Sphere, the potential operating with thaumaturgic subtlety changed from a question of difficulty to impossibility.
Even without his Heaven manifested, Avo could still feel Naeko–feel him someone could feel a giant stepping down on them. Feel them like a man trying to bear the weight of a falling ...
2024-03-11 12:16:51 +0000 UTC
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+Every major war between the Guilds was preceded by a series of lesser catastrophes.
The betrayal–or ascension–of Jaus Avandaer.
The infiltration and siege on Scale and the Longeye Revolt of Stormtree.
The Massist-Voidwatch Coldtech-Embargo and the subsequent No-Mother Cradle-Plagues.
The machinations of Noloth followed by their final–and disastrous–Uprising.
Dramatic as all previous wars were, perhaps for ...
2024-03-09 16:46:42 +0000 UTC
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24-5
Battle of the Twin Flames (III)
A concentrated bombardment of agony consumed Chambers. These traumas that assailed him, they were tailor-made to break him specifically. Weapons made from the horrors of his past crashed against his wards like waves dashing themselves against a mountain.
The surrounding sequences twisted and changed into a jungle of horror. He was a hundred sequences away from the warmind. Close enough to feel full weight of Hysteria’s traumatic amplifi...
2024-03-07 11:59:08 +0000 UTC
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24-5
Battle of the Twin Flames (II)
--[White-Rab]--
The memories Kare had of her mother were coming apart at the seams. The ghosts holding them together were shattering like glass shards turned missiles, primed to seek symmetrical sequences, each fragment breaking and slicing through her mindscape.
Sharp cries of pain–physical and emotional–resonated from the Paladin.
There was only so much White-Rab could do to stop her from coming asunder.<...
2024-03-06 12:31:42 +0000 UTC
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“Tell me, little priest, for what do you still fight? Your kingdom has been sacked. Your faith has been defiled. Your masters have been banished. Your pantheons have been taken. Your future has been seized.
Now is the time for surrender. For death. So why don't you succumb?”
+Spare me the exhalation of despair, monstress. I am beyond your reach, beyond your means to effect. You may destroy this node, you may twist this bo...
2024-03-05 11:57:40 +0000 UTC
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24-4
Defilement (IV)
--[White-Rab]--
It took painfully long for Kare to accept the session request, but when she did, White-Rab immediately understood why.
Tapping into her cog-feed, the scene before her was carnage and chaos. Her Heaven was fully manifested, and she was whipping tendrils of lightning at the oncoming cadres in a vicious offense to keep them at bay. The water surrounding her was rapidly hissing away into steam as tongues of lash fire li...
2024-03-04 17:23:56 +0000 UTC
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There are two things that make me immediately kill a run before it starts.
The first is when I think the Middler’s full of shit and might be feeding us into a slaughterhouse.
The second is if the Necro we got isn’t performing.
Trust me consangs, there’s no quicker way for your entire team to get nulled and snuffed them than a hostile diver breaching your thoughts and blowing you apart from the inside….
2024-03-03 17:49:29 +0000 UTC
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24-4
Defilement (II)
The last strings of restraint within Avo broke as he manifested the full might of his Heavens. Damn his need for stealth. Damn the quiet game. He needed Emotion broken–nulled.
He needed to do it now.
Thousands of kilometers away, within a tower overlooking an enclave, whirling winds twisted around Avo’s recently constructed sheath as chronology and air were wed as a rising tempest. Flowing gold painted the paths of rushing gales. A pulse of blo...
2024-02-29 18:24:15 +0000 UTC
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+Seeker cadre Mirror-Convexes on standby.
Block successfully deployed. Target priority [Planeshift] registering as sole active ego.
Cadre classification [Vanguard] is moving in to make contact. Cadres [Breaker] and [Paradox] in reserve.
Pocket and planar-incog going into effect in ten seconds.
2024-02-28 18:24:41 +0000 UTC
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+When you bite into the abyss, the abyss (sometimes) bites back.
Introducing the new half-boiled Razorfish Rolls just for 4099 Imps! They’re burned. They’re angry. And they might just gnaw your tongue off before you get them, but for the brave or the foolish that dare and prevail, you earn a 20% off for all other meals order.
So. The only question you gotta ask yourself is simple:
Who’s got the greater cra...
2024-02-27 17:02:38 +0000 UTC
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23-3
The Strix and the Ravens (II)
Avo reviewed Denton’s mem-data as he waited for Kare to synchronize with his Metamind. A collage of moments passed through him; flashes of visual detail overlain with two sets of directives.
The first was addressed from Ori-Thaum’s Inner Council to all active assets. The basic takeaways were focused on the mass deployment of Information Domain Heavens and expanded subtly requirements now that Chief Paladin Naeko was back in play. The se...
2024-02-26 14:52:48 +0000 UTC
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+To all Mirror-Concaves and Convexes:
This is a confirmation that the Summer Contingency has been activated. You are free to assume pre-war footing and request the deployment of Heavens of Information for Threshold-III operations and above.
From reports delivered by infield assets.
We are pleased to state that the casualties sustained after the “catastrophe” two days ago have proven to be minimal. Communications intercepted between the Pala...
2024-02-23 19:13:22 +0000 UTC
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23-2
That Which Lurks (III)
–[Draus]--
Every Guild warred differently.
Highflame’s cadres are the tip of their war hosts, punching through while golems, Regulars, and armor flood in to hold the land.
Ori-Thaum relies on Nether supremacy, high-concept Heavens, and hiding behind Stormtree's skirts while the Scaarthians do the dying for them.
Ashthrone and Sanctus are a one-two punch; the latter moves and fights guerilla across space and t...
2024-02-22 17:02:35 +0000 UTC
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{FRAGMENT LOCATED. LIQUIDATION PROCEEDING. SECURE THE PREMISES.}
-Omnitech Scout Group South-K333
23-2
That Which Lurks (II)
–[Draus]--
Draus examined the snakes she tore out along with her eyes and studied them using her Specter phantasmic. Their corpses were strings of matter fused with strips of chrome, each nearly a meter long before she slit their guts open.
Initially, she assumed this was just another rogue miracle assailin...
2024-02-20 18:42:15 +0000 UTC
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To successfully breed a dragon, you need two groups— two populations: one to be placed in stasis as a party ignorant to the outer world, and the other to operate as their exposure.
This, more than anything, is the most reliable way to engender a zeitgeist.
To this end, most farms exist in a closed society – children or ignorant people separated from other outside influences from birth or via mental adjustment. They must be in such conditions for at least ...
2024-02-19 11:35:32 +0000 UTC
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23-1
Borrowed Insight (III)
–[Dice]--
“I told you that you couldn't kill people anymore," Dice said, staring the Dogmother down.
She chastised the aged flat beside a pristine fountain. Behind her Ivory–Dice’s aunt–stood huddled with the rest of the former concubines on the veranda. Lanes of perception from splinter-embedded phantasmics down from the surrounding rooftops, and in the skies above, a constant buzzing could be heard as swarms of B...
2024-02-18 11:15:16 +0000 UTC
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Sometimes, the best soldier you can use against your enemies is one of their own.
-High Goddess Deis Aera, the Lady of Oaths and Vengeance
1
The Contract
As pillars of fire speared down through boiling clouds, a dying goddess limped down the crumbling halls of her temple to ensure the ruination of her kingdom.
The sanctified fortress that stood as Deis Aera’s place of worship for the past 500 years rumbled with each impact. With every impact, the light...
2024-02-17 18:18:05 +0000 UTC
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23-1
Borrowed Insight (II)
Fear. Confusion. Surprise. Suspicion. Recognition.
Such were the dominant emotions reigning in Cala Marlowe’s mind as she laid eyes on Avo, and as transparent splinter sank through her accretion, he too regarded himself vicariously through her insight.
His monstrous visage loomed over her even with meters of distance between them. The phantoms molding his body caused him to radiate with ethereal light. His presented sheath was a contrast of...
2024-02-15 19:37:49 +0000 UTC
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+Hey, hey, consangs.
It's your girl, Cala Marlowe, coming at you this morning with a special episode of the Fateless Thoughtcast. Hope your minds are screwed back on after whatever the fuck just happened earlier because we got some news and tunes to get through.
The city's been heating up recently. The real city, up in the Tiers. I’m not sure if all of you deep down in the Spine or lower have even noticed, but all is not well in paradise.
In ...
2024-02-14 19:37:58 +0000 UTC
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Though Tribulation Falls
“Who holds the sword?”
-Words Spoken by the Descender Willaim Wei before the Scouring of Jupiter
1
Reactivation
Attention all subjects! Attention all subjects!
A dimension merger is in progress!
Please seek shelter while hostilities are in progress
Any harm incurred upon your person during the engagements between Outsider powers will...
2024-02-14 05:20:16 +0000 UTC
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