With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Fourteen)

[The Froggy Ninja]

Also, Forge Worlds don't always want to share their tech with each other. But there are still advances, especially in biological stuff because, as you say, it's impossible for them to learn about something like tyranids from old science.

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Yeah, "all but unknown" could easily mean "a couple biotech focused Forge Worlds figured it out but refuse to share with the greater Cult"

 

[jasonh23761]

Ah, good old 1d4. It's a surprisingly useful way to learn about a lot of nerd stuff while being pretty entertaining.

I must say I was a bit sceptical when this Paul joined the greater good but it's slowly won me over. Still not my top three places to be born in 40K but it's slowly getting there.

 

[Vaermina]

i dont think so. the mechanicus has losta lot of tech and the tau are more advanced in some areas. how would it result in the planet getting eaten if they change the dna of some of its inhabitants?

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No, the Tau actually aren't more advanced in any area.

It's just an illusion created by certain technology seeming more common due to the Tau's pitiful numbers compared to the Imperium's vast armies.

can you provide links of these examples?

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https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Second_Agrellan_Campaign

 

[PDV]

the absolutely farcical bit is the idea that the f*cking HIVE MIND wouldn't notice by the time you de-infected the second city, never mind half the planet, and kick things off early.

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"[...]our enemy is so strong that they have never had to be clever"​

The Hive Mind doesn't adapt quickly to new attacks. New tricks work once. Usually only once, but they do work; the Hive has to reconfigure itself to counter it and it doesn't do that preemptively. Also, the Genestealers don't have full access to the adaptive biology of the Hive Fleet, nor, IIRC, to the full processing power of the Hive Mind.

 

[Ct613hulu]

The wiki also says that the re-coding process is taking place before the infected have been activated by a signal from the Tyranid Hive Mind. The infection was detected as a result of routine genetic screenings and not as a result of obvious mutations. This means the psychic sensory organs that would allow for coordinated Genestealer action or communication with the main Tyrannid Fleet could not have yet developed. The Tau are dealing with a relatively mundane genetic disease that spreads according to the normal principles of epidemiology and not a psychically connected conspiracy of infected monsters and brainwashed cultists actively working to foil containment.

No, the Tau actually aren't more advanced in any area.

It's just an illusion created by certain technology seeming more common due to the Tau's pitiful numbers compared to the Imperium's vast armies.


https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Second_Agrellan_Campaign

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How does this demonstrate that the Tau would be less equipped to develop new technology and disease response than the Imperium? This campaign makes it seem as if the average technology level of the Tau far exceeds that of the Imperium given that they are described as only losing when the Imperium has a vast advantage in force size or are executing a particularly clever stratagem. If anything it seems to point to significant Tau superiority as they ultimately forced a far larger Imperium force to withdraw.

I think you are also misinterpreting what happened at the end of the campaign. I read it as the Imperium suffering a near-total defeat but ensuring that the Tau could only achieve a Pyrhic victory by using a Exterminatus weapons to destroy the planet (a former Imperium planet previously conquered by the Tau) they were fighting over. This was a disaster for the Tau as it prevented them from using it as a core component in their supply line for the Third Sphere of Expansion. There is absolutely no indication that the Mechanicus had some kind of superweapon capable of destroying an entire sector.

 

[transhumansage]

Ah, good old 1d4. It's a surprisingly useful way to learn about a lot of nerd stuff while being pretty entertaining.

I must say I was a bit sceptical when this Paul joined the greater good but it's slowly won me over. Still not my top three places to be born in 40K but it's slowly getting there.

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what are your top 3 places to be born?

 

[Assblaster5000]

do you have a link to the appropriate page in the wiki?

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I know it exists, but I can't fine it for the life of me. Even Lexicanum isn't baring any fruit.

If you'll take a Reddit post that just directly quotes the book instead then here ya' go, but that isn't the full picture obviously.

 

[Mr Zoat]

Does anyone have any good pictures of a human Princess Celestia? I'd have used one from the same artist who did the Luna picture, but his versions of Celestia either lack detail or clothes.

 

[Vaermina]

How does this demonstrate that the Tau would be less equipped to develop new technology and disease response than the Imperium? This campaign makes it seem as if the average technology level of the Tau far exceeds that of the Imperium given that they are described as only losing when the Imperium has a vast advantage in force size or are executing a particularly clever stratagem. If anything it seems to point to significant Tau superiority as they ultimately forced a far larger Imperium force to withdraw.

I think you are also misinterpreting what happened at the end of the campaign. I read it as the Imperium suffering a near-total defeat but ensuring that the Tau could only achieve a Pyrhic victory by using a Exterminatus weapons to destroy the planet (a former Imperium planet previously conquered by the Tau) they were fighting over. This was a disaster for the Tau as it prevented them from using it as a core component in their supply line for the Third Sphere of Expansion. There is absolutely no indication that the Mechanicus had some kind of superweapon capable of destroying an entire sector.

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The highest tech Tau equipment and vehicles were barely superior to their Imperial Guard counterparts...

I don't think you realize just how bad that makes Tau technology look.

Because the Imperial Guard are equipped with the lowest level mass produced shit in the Imperium. Which is important because it's not the Imperial Guard who you have researching, it's the guy's who built the Skitarii. IE the things that completely rolfstomped their way through the Tau's best forces any time they were actually deployed.

Though on that note, the Imperium didn't really suffer a defeat. Because there were four different groups of the Imperium there each with their own goals. The Imperial Guard wanted to re-take the planet, and they of course failed. But the High Lords wanted the Tau's best leaders murdered in a rather obvious way and the Tau shown just how outclassed they were, and they mostly succeeded. The Space Marines wanted revenge, and they succeeded. And the Mechanius wanted to analyze Tau tech and test their superweapon, and they succeeded.

 

[Assblaster5000]

Does anyone have any good pictures of a human Princess Celestia? I'd have used one from the same artist who did the Luna picture, but his versions of Celestia either lack detail or clothes.

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That is... a strangely tall order after looking for a few minutes. Most of them them either have features which the mirror wouldn't give her (like her horn and/or wings), are just anthros, or are in the image with someone else. That last one might not be too much of an issue for you, I'm not really sure, but it's warded me off of suggesting them immediately.

Also not sure if art style is a concern, which probably doesn't help. But I did find this one:

Spoiler: Celestia

It's apparently the concept art for a toy they did. I think it looks swell but it would probably have to be cropped a bit to remove that big text box.

 

[jasonh23761]

what are your top 3 places to be born?

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1.) Leagues of Votann, though this may change as their lore expands.
2.) Farsight Enclaves, Greater Good adjacent but hopefully less mind control.
3.) Some Imperial worlds are genuinely good places to be, we just don't dwell on them all that much.

Ultimately a lot of it comes down to the Grimderp.

 

[Duke Long]

1.) Leagues of Votann, though this may change as their lore expands.

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I'd almost forgotten that these guys are a thing now, but now that I've glanced at their lore they seem really cool.
I think I'd rather live on some high-quality Imperial world, though.

 

[Coda]

my ring tell me

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Either "rings tell" or "ring tells"

New Chronus

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Isn't it "New Cronus"?

 

[Mr Zoat]

Either "rings tell" or "ring tells"
Isn't it "New Cronus"?

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Thank you, corrected.

 

[Mr Zoat]

6 558 937.M41

"Well… That depends on you."

"I don't believe that."

I nod, making a dismissive gesture with my right hand. "Alright, not entirely. The Tau Empire's primary interest in this matter is to make sure that the tyranid hive fleets don't come to the Tau Empire. The problem there is that genestealer cultists like you emit a constant warp signal which draws the hive fleets to you. And there's the problem of purestrain genestealers who won't be on board with avoiding doing that whatever the hybrids like you think."

"The tau would… Leave us in places like this, where we can't feel each other. And control our breeding, so that we… Don't…"

"Don't give birth to purestrains. Because you can be surprisingly reasonable, but they… Can't."

Assimilating a purestrain genestealer wasn't actually very hard. Their desires are so focused and intense that it couldn't really resist once I got it alone. But what I didn't realise is that if a Construct Lantern gets destroyed, I get the pleasure of seeing their thoughts. It was bad enough the first time it happened with an assimilated ork; they think like weirdly violent children. It was disturbing, but in some regards relatable.

Genestealers…

It was.. like…

Complete selflessness. And not because they've overcome a sense of self-preservation. It was very clear that they never had one in the first place. Anything other than its task barely registers, and even that just as a background 'this may impact something important later' sort of way. Even fanatical members of the Adepta Sororitas are aware of their own pain. And there's no… Chaos worshippers feel joy when they do something in the service of their god. So do Brood Brothers and Hybrids. But purestrains? No. Nothing. They just move onto the next thing. It's machine-like, really.

"The issue is that we can't build facilities like this on the scale that we'd need to in order to house a decent population."

This cell block is shielded by a single null rod taken off the body of an Inquisitor at.. some point during the Damocles Gulf Crusade and stuck in storage because the tau thought that it was just a fancy walking stick. But null rods are rare, archeotech relics or custom built by the most highly skilled Magi of the Cult Mechanicus. They're in the database as a high priority acquisition target but there's no real reason for them to be used in combat against a species like the tau who flat out don't have psykers.

Psyker technology on the other hand is relatively easy to come by. Every Imperial ship has rooms for navigators and astropaths, and the larger ones frequently have other psykers on board for various purposes. And some have null chambers, because even the Imperium would rather help a struggling psyker than put a bolt round through their head. Time permitting. We had a couple of nicassar psykers help with making sure the whole place would actually work as intended, but they found it too disorientating to give a precise explanation.

Point is, we're never going to get enough for a long term settlement, and even if we theoretically could, it wouldn't be cost-effective. Human-dominated worlds inside the Tau Empire need that technology while the T'au Aun'ar'tol comes up with some sort of rule for dealing with regulating human psykers.

One that doesn't involve cutting off their arms and legs to try and make them dependent on a tau handler, because seriously, I have no idea what they were thinking when they came up with that one. 'We're going to train you to be a psychic weapon, and for step one we're going to make you hate us, because at least that way you'll be motivated'.

"On the other hand, I take it that you're no more interested in having your whole family eaten by the hive fleets than you are in having them wiped out by the Imperium?"

She shudders. "No."

"It's my experience that humans who are citizens of the Imperium tend to… Think about things in religious terms. When you were connected to the broodmind, you saw the hive mind as a… God?"

"It was… More of a superior… Force, or… Presence."

"Right! Now, technically, it is. It's just not one that has your best interests in mind. But plasma reactors don't have anyone's best interests in mind and they're still useful. The warp itself is invaluable for starship travel and interstellar communication while being extremely dangerous. So what we want to do is give you and your people a better general education than you received back on your homeworld. And when you understand a little more about the way the universe operates, we'd like to work with you and your people to find out exactly how your collective mind works. Maybe even use you to track down genestealer cultists hiding out on tau controlled worlds."

"What will you do with them?"

"That depends. Any purestrains will be killed, including any broodlords and the patriarch. Whether individual Brood Brothers or hybrids can be salvaged will depend on them."

"They… They won't. Won't cooperate."

I nod. "Probably not. But we can't have them signalling the hive fleet."

"Their families… My-."

"Their families would be eaten. Just as yours would have been. The issue is their fanatical religious belief in the righteousness of the hive mind."

"Yes. Does-? Is there.. no part of.. us that becomes..?"

"It would be difficult to test, but there's never been any sign of it. New tyranid forms develop as the hive mind responds to the things that oppose it, they don't integrate personalities. I mean, lictors eat people's brains but they don't start acting like them."

"And…" She looks a little like she wants to vomit. "Does the Emperor take the souls of the faithful?"

"Not sure. Psykers who get picked up by the Black Ships but have inadequate willpower to master their abilities get their souls fed into him directly. I'm not sure how coherent they are when it happens. As for everyone else… Maybe? I've been working under the assumption that individual human souls aren't powerful enough to retain coherence after death, but the Emperor's core consciousness is made up of a large group of powerful psykers who used sorcery to bind themselves together so in theory it's possible."

Huh. Both the hive mind and the Emperor eat people. Hadn't really thought about it like that before.

"Look, I'm sure you've got a lot of things to think-."

"Can I-? Speak to the others?"

"Uh. Not right now, but we can sort something out in a few days. I'll make a few files available on the local computer system. You can access it through verbal commands, though for now your access will be limited to a few non-restricted files."

Really basic files on t'au ideology and science. Nothing that could be used as a weapon or to otherwise aid her escape. Lots to encourage her to come to share the tau worldview.

"I'll leave you to it."

I nod politely, turn away and leave the cell. Once out of the cell I enter the other door and walk through to the observation area.

Tsua'm jerks her head around and stares at me for a moment, nasal cleft undulating. Then she starts pulling up facial images on one of the screens and indicates that the AI should analyse them and run a comparison to human baselines.

The hobgoblin-looking individual next to her grins at me, and wiggles 'his' right hand in greeting. Gremlin used to live in a cell not too different to this one, but once he demonstrated himself to be reasonably helpful he's become more of a trustee. At this rate he might well end up joining my team before too long. It's just that given how intelligent he is, any sort of analysis of his behaviour is hampered by the fact that the only comparison we can make is to a snotling.

Not sure what he said to Tsua'm, but it's probably what I didn't want him to.

"You were watching that?"

He nods twice. "Yes, Boss."

"How much was she faking, do you think?"

"Oh, it was deffo a shock." Gremlin scratches his nose. "An' she ain't doin' too well without the rest a' the brood. But its mostly mental. She coulda tuffed it awt enuff t' stand up and speak proppah."

"Think we need to flush the cell?"

He shakes his head. "Nah. Wasteful. Not like anyone really thought we'd just flip the lotta 'em. Keep tawkin', see what falls awt, that's the way."

I nod. "Will do. Keep watching what she does."

Gremlin nods, grinning. "What else 's a brainy boy like me for?"

 

[crazygrox]

And suddenly the idea of there being a hyperintelligent snotling conspiracy keeping Ork society running from behind the scenes is a lot more worrisome.
The other worry is that the Waaagh field may be able to just generate the semi-mythological brain-boyz at-need, and may have ticked off some sort of decision that there is a need to scout out and analyze the appearance of a power ring, sending this one into the right position to do so.

 

[Chojin Patriarch]

6 558 937.M41

"Well… That depends on you."

"I don't believe that."

Click to shrink...

And honestly, you'd be right to be suspicious. You're one among many captured Cultists, and largely disposable outside of your supposed 'leadership' role. To be fair, you're probably lucky they're bothering to try and talk to you instead of employing less pleasant non-invasive psychological testing methods.

Spoiler: Commentary spoilered for length

I nod, making a dismissive gesture with my right hand. "Alright, not entirely. The Tau Empire's primary interest is this matter is to make sure that the tyranid hive fleets don't come to the Tau Empire. The problem there is that genestealer cultists like you emit a constant warp signal which draws the hive fleets to you. And there's the problem of purestrain genestealers who won't be on board with avoiding doing that whatever the hybrids like you think."

Click to shrink...

And that's assuming you can get hybrids to think anything different, under the group-thought reinforcing aspect of brood telepathy.

"The tau would… Leave us in places like this, where we can't feel each other. And control our breeding, so that we… Don't…"

"Don't give birth to purestrains. Because you can be surprisingly reasonable, but they… Can't."

Click to shrink...

That comes from having a passive uplink to the Hive Mind engineered into them at the genetic level. Even if it's only connecting to their own brood-mates most of the time.

Assimilating a purestrain genestealer wasn't actually very hard. Their desires are so focused and intense that it couldn't really resist once I got it alone. But what I didn't realise is that if a Construct Lantern gets destroyed, I get the pleasure of seeing their thoughts. It was bad enough the first time it happened with an assimilated ork; they think like weirdly violent children. It was disturbing, but in some regards relatable.

Genestealers…

Click to shrink...

...Interesting how there are subtle similarities between the interconnections of the Ork Waagh energy and the Hive Mind. Though the former allows for much greater independence amongst its members.

It was.. like…

Complete selflessness. And not because they've overcome a sense of self-preservation. It was very clear that they never had one in the first place. Anything other than its task barely registers, and even that just as a background 'this may impact something important later' sort of way. Even fanatical members of the Adepta Sororitas are aware of their own pain. And there's no… Chaos worshippers feel joy when they do something in the service of their god. So do Brood Brothers and Hybrids. But purestrains? No. Nothing. They just move onto the next thing. It's machine-like, really.

Click to shrink...

Such is the nature of being a tool of the Hive Mind. Even the 'instinctive' behaviour of the lesser tyranid creatures boils down to 'survive, kill, repeat' like some sort of biological default programming.

"The issue is that we can't build facilities like this on the scale that we'd need to in order to house a decent population."

This cell block is shielded by a single null rod taken off the body of an Inquisitor at.. some point during the Damocles Gulf Crusade and stuck in storage because the tau thought that it was just a fancy walking stick. But null rods are rare, archeotech relics or custom built by the most highly skilled Magi of the Cult Mechanicus. They're in the database as a high priority acquisition target but there's no real reason for them to be used in combat against a species like the tau who flat out don't have psykers.

Click to shrink...

Well, that explains that little issue some folks had. I'm impressed they managed to construct a system to channel the anti-psyker field, though...

Psyker technology on the other hand is relatively easy to come by. Every Imperial ship has rooms for navigators and astropaths, and the larger ones frequently have other psykers on board for various purposes. And some have null chambers, because even the Imperium would rather help a struggling psyker than put a bolt round through their head. Time permitting. We had a couple of nicassar psykers help with making sure the whole place would actually work as intended, but they found it too disorientating to give a precise explanation.

Click to shrink...

Nicassar, for the curious. One of the auxiliary races never seen on the battlefield for logical reasons. Unlike something like the Vespid, who have tabletop rules and models, but are never used because... They're terrible.

Point is, we're never going to get enough for a long term settlement, and even if we theoretically could, it wouldn't be cost-effective. Human-dominated worlds inside the Tau Empire need that technology while the T'au Aun'ar'tol comes up with some sort of rule for dealing with regulating human psykers.

One that doesn't involve cutting off their arms and legs to try and make them dependent on a tau handler, because serious, I have no idea what they were thinking when they came up with that one. 'We're going to train you to be a psychic weapon, and for step one we're going to make you hate us, because at least that way you'll be motivated'.

Click to shrink...

Yes, making your new psychic weapon hate you. That never ends poorly at all, never. On the other hand, they're got to work something out before they start getting too many demonic outbreaks.

"On the other hand, I take it that you're no more interested in having your whole family eaten by the hive fleets than you are having them wiped out by the Imperium?"

She shudders. "No."

Click to shrink...

And honestly, that's a quite logical belief, in the face of that level of unrelenting horror.

"It's my experience that humans who are citizens of the Imperium tend to… Think about things in religious terms. When you were connected to the broodmind, you saw the hive mind as a… God?"

"It was… More of a superior… Force, or… Presence."

Click to shrink...

A whisper in the back of your mind, telling you are great, that your existence is part of something greater, something beyond the mundane humans around you? Or something like that. I don't think any source has ever really delved into the psyche of a Genestealer cultist.

"Right! Now, technically, it is. It's just not one that has your best interests in mind. But plasma reactors don't have anyone's best interests in mind and they're still useful. The warp itself is invaluable for starship travel and interstellar communication while being extremely dangerous. So what we want to do is give you and your people a better general education than you received back on your homeworld. And when you understand a little more about the way the universe operates, we'd like to work with you and your people to find out exactly how your collective mind works. Maybe even use you to track down genestealer cultists hiding out on tau controlled worlds."

Click to shrink...

And as long as she's disconnected from the brood, she'll probably happily go along with that...

"What will you do with them?"

"That depends. Any purestrains will be killed, including any broodlords and the patriarch. Whether individual Brood Brothers or hybrids can be salvaged will depend on them."

Click to shrink...

I suspect not a lot will be, of course. Easier to exterminate than relocate.

"They… They won't. Won't cooperate."

I nod. "Probably not. But we can't have them signalling the hive fleet."

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Though if a Hive Fleet's close enough for them to pick up on it, then it's already too late.

"Their families… My-."

"Their families would be eaten. Just as yours would have been. The issue is their fanatical religious belief in the righteousness of the hive mind."

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Unfortuantely, breaking them loose of that would require a lot more null-technology than you have.

"Yes. Does-? Is there.. no part of.. us that becomes..?"

"It would be difficult to test, but there's never been any sign of it. New tyranid forms develop as the hive mind responds to the things that oppose it, they don't integrate personalities. I mean, lictors eat people's brains but they don't start acting like them."

Click to shrink...

...Amusingly, Space marines have a similar ability. The 'brain-eating to gain knowledge', not the behavioural aspect. ...Although, given the quirks of their biology and things like the Blood Angel's Black Rage...

"And…" She looks a little like she wants to vomit. "Does the Emperor take the souls of the faithful?"

"Not sure. Psykers who get picked up by the blackships but have inadequate willpower to master their abilities get their souls fed into him directly. I'm not sure how coherent they are when it happens. As for everyone else… Maybe? I've been working under the assumption that individual human souls aren't powerful enough to retain coherence after death, but the Emperor's core consciousness is made up of a large group of powerful psykers who used sorcery to bind themselves together so in theory it's possible."

Click to shrink...

Possible, but not easily done.

Huh. Both the hive mind and the Emperor eat people. Hadn't really thought about it like that before.

"Look, I'm sure you've got a lot of things to think-."

Click to shrink...

Though on the Emperor's part, it's not entirely conscious or voluntary.

"Can I-? Speak to the others?"

"Uh. Not right now, but we can sort something out in a few days. I'll make a few files available on the local computer system. You can access it through verbal commands, though for now your access will be limited to a few non-restricted files."

Click to shrink...

No doubt allowing a measure of indoctrinational re-education, eh?

Really basic files on t'au ideology and science. Nothing that could be used as a weapon or to otherwise aid her escape. Lots to encourage her to come to share the tau worldview.

"I'll leave you to it."

Click to shrink...

Thought so. Still, It doesn't pay to underestimate her. I expect she'll be watched around the clock.

I nod politely, turn away and leave the cell. Once out of the cell I enter the other door and walk through to the observation area.

Tsua'm jerks her head around and stares at me for a moment, nasal cleft undulating. Then she starts pulling up facial images on one of the screens and indicates that the AI should analyse them and run a comparison to human baselines.

Click to shrink...

No doubt lots of interesting information gained during this little debriefing.

The hobgoblin-looking individual next to her grins at me, and wiggles 'his' right hand in greeting. Gremlin used to live in a cell not too different to this one, but once he demonstrated himself to be reasonably helpful he's become more of a trustee. At this rate he might well end up joining my team before too long. It's just that given how intelligent he is, any sort of analysis of his behaviour is hampered by the fact that the only comparison we can make is to a snotling.

Click to shrink...

...Oh, that's interesting. A helpful greenskin? Hopefully they have the involuntary aspect of Ork spore shedding handled.

Not sure what he said to Tsua'm, but it's probably what I didn't want him to.

"You were watching that?"

Click to shrink...

Wonder what sort of insight he could have to offer.

He nods twice. "Yes, Boss."

"How much was she faking, do you think?"

Click to shrink...

Because of course they suspect everything. The Inquisition would approve of that.

"Oh, it was deffo a shock." Gremlin scratches his nose. "An' she ain't doin' too well without the rest a' the brood. But its mostly mental. She coulda tuffed it awt enuff t' stand up and speak proppah."

"Think we need to flush the cell?"

Click to shrink...

...And have to do this all over again with the next-highest ranking cultist? That would be such a pain.

He shakes his head. "Nah. Wasteful. Not like anyone really thought we'd just flip the lotta 'em. Keep tawkin', see what falls awt, that's the way."

I nod. "Will do. Keep watching what she does."

Gremlin nods, grinning. "What else 's a brainy boy like me for?"

Click to shrink...

...Suspicious. If only because if he is a brain boy... Then that has strange implications, too many to list here.

Well, this has been a fascinating look at things. That last possible twist, though... I can't imagine how that would roll out the butterflies. At any rate, it looks like things are about to return to OL, and what I expect will be the NEMO counter-attack against the Reach's counter-attack. We can but hope that it goes well, and OL can get back to more critical things, like Earth.

 

[Vaermina]

This cell block is shielded by a single null rod

Click to shrink...

Null Rod's have a maximum range of 20m, so that must be a tiny ass cell block.

I've been working under the assumption that individual human souls aren't powerful enough to retain coherence after death,

Click to shrink...

And you would be wrong.

It's perfectly possibly for individual human souls to retain coherence after death. And actually happens pretty often. Most times they do though they just end up eaten by Daemons. But the rare times that doesn't happen they've been known to pop back out in fully living bodies.

 

[PepeTheFrog]

And suddenly the idea of there being a hyperintelligent snotling conspiracy keeping Ork society running from behind the scenes is a lot more worrisome.
The other worry is that the Waaagh field may be able to just generate the semi-mythological brain-boyz at-need, and may have ticked off some sort of decision that there is a need to scout out and analyze the appearance of a power ring, sending this one into the right position to do so.

Click to shrink...

"Dat ring iz funny. Weird funny not krumpin' funny. Go poke it ya git." - Gork and Mork probably

 

[Mr Zoat]

A whisper in the back of your mind, telling you are great, that your existence is part of something greater, something beyond the mundane humans around you? Or something like that. I don't think any source has ever really delved into the psyche of a Genestealer cultist.

Click to shrink...

Actually, I don't think so. They're connected to the broodmind of the genestealers who converted them, but genestealers aren't synapse creatures. There isn't really a mechanism to connect them to the hive mind until the hive fleet gets closer.

 

[jasonh23761]

And suddenly the idea of there being a hyperintelligent snotling conspiracy keeping Ork society running from behind the scenes is a lot more worrisome.
The other worry is that the Waaagh field may be able to just generate the semi-mythological brain-boyz at-need, and may have ticked off some sort of decision that there is a need to scout out and analyze the appearance of a power ring, sending this one into the right position to do so.

Click to shrink...

Da Red Gobbo and da Gretchin Revolutionary Committee will not be stopped.

Viva la Revolushun!

 

[Vaermina]

Actually, I don't think so. They're connected to the broodmind of the genestealers who converted them, but genestealers aren't synapse creatures. There isn't really a mechanism to connect them to the hive mind until the hive fleet gets closer.

Click to shrink...

Actually if you get enough genestealers together they can pull an amplifier and reach out to the hivemind.

 

[Darko]

Their families… My-."
"Their families would be eaten. Just as yours would have been. The issue is their fanatical religious belief in the righteousness of the hive mind."

Click to shrink...

Add a space between the two sentences.

 

[Duke Long]

The Tau Empire's primary interest is this matter is to make sure that the tyranid hive fleets don't come to the Tau Empire.

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'in this matter'

One that doesn't involve cutting off their arms and legs to try and make them dependent on a tau handler, because serious, I have no idea what they were thinking when they came up with that one.

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'seriously'

"On the other hand, I take it that you're no more interested in having your whole family eaten by the hive fleets than you are having them wiped out by the Imperium?"

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'are in having'?

Psykers who get picked up by the blackships but have inadequate willpowe

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I was going to say 'black ships', but I looked it up and apparently it's acceptable without the space.

Really basic files on t'au ideology and science. Nothing that could be used as a weapon or to otherwise aid her escape. Lots to encourage her to come to share the tau worldview.

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'tau ideology'?

The hobgoblin-looking individual next to her grins at me, and wiggles 'his' right hand in greeting.

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Very interesting. I wonder how the SI found this guy. And I wonder if this guy has been neutered, or if they just have to decontaminate any room he goes into.

 

[Mr Zoat]

Add a space between the two sentences.

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'in this matter'
'seriously'
'are in having'?

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Thank you, corrected.

'tau ideology'?

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I'm using t'au for the ideology and the sept.

Very interesting. I wonder how the SI found this guy.

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Find? They made him. The tau were already tinkering with ork DNA, and the SI pointed them in the right direction.

And I wonder if this guy has been neutered, or if they just have to decontaminate any room he goes into.

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The spores don't germinate if the waaagh field isn't strong enough, and they need plants to parasitise on anyway.

 

[BrotherofaStudio]

So Paul is tracking down Genestealer cults and working out more effective ways to fight them. Am I correct in the assumption that Gremlin is a Goblin that became loyal to him?

 

[Mr Zoat]

Am I correct in the assumption that Gremlin is a Goblin that became loyal to him?

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No, because goblins don't exist in Warhammer 40,000.

 

[jonasquinn]

Okay so… I fell behind a while ago and decided to do a quick skim before properly catching up and with how fucking miserable and terrible everything has become I'm probably just going to wait a few months to give things time to get better again before I force myself to read any more

Congratulations to Vaermina I guess for finally getting the miserable version of the story he's always wanted

 

[HearthBorn]

Unfortunately I'm not much of one to give reviews, but seeing something as… let's say grumpy, as the above dragged this out of me. I intensely enjoy this story, and the alternate realities, while not all of them are my cup of tea, reached out to subsets of the readers who love seeing their favorite settings represented. The wander down the marvel line recently was a treat, for example. And the primary story has been amazing as always. I've been reading this since the beginning, and hope to see this go on for a while longer. Thank you so much for one of the longest fanfic serials I know of, Mr Zoat!

 

[Rafin]

The hobgoblin-looking individual next to her grins at me, and wiggles 'his' right hand in greeting. Gremlin used to live in a cell not too different to this one, but once he demonstrated himself to be reasonably helpful he's become more of a trustee. At this rate he might well end up joining my team before too long. It's just that given how intelligent he is, any sort of analysis of his behaviour is hampered by the fact that the only comparison we can make is to a snotling.

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Who and what is Gremlin and when, where and how did OL (or the Tau) pick it up?