[Return] [Voice]

[aetherweaver]

[There's a vaguely British-sounding voice emitting from the journals, and those who recognize Nara'a will note it's not his usual calm tone.]

Would anyone, anyone like to explain what in the hells just happened? 'Oh, the town or the spaceship or the book closing sound?' All of it.

[He takes a breath, lets it out.]

Right. Everyone back here? All appendages accounted for?

Comments

[angel_of_baal]

Experience. [That's the neutral term he's going with because it was absolutely nightmarish even before meeting Curze, but he's a Primarch and they don't show that things...get to them. Minus the red tear tattoo, that is. ]

Was yours...good?

[aetherweaver]

Experience.

[That's fair. That's a good term.]

I mean... it was... awkward? Some of the conversations that I had were... uncomfortable.

[angel_of_baal]

[Laugh that's just a tiny bit nervous. N-not that he does 'nervous, of course.]

Me, as well. I met my brother. [It did not go well!] Only, of course, we did not know each other.

[aetherweaver]

Of course. Because why would things here be convenient or helpful?

[angel_of_baal]

That is probably the better question than my own. [Someone's a little stuck in his own head and his own problems. ] My brother seemed almost exactly as he is, but I was changed. Have others seen this?

[aetherweaver]

I saw others who had been changed, yes. I wasn't, and a few other people I encountered weren't. So I'm not quite sure what the criteria for 'changed' versus 'unchanged' would be, because we don't seem to have enough data.

[angel_of_baal]

We need to get this data. Somehow.

Could you, unchanged, recognize others? Because I could not. I was wholly, to my mind...the...xenos. [zero out of ten would NOT recommend.]

[aetherweaver]

Only by voice or appearance. The things that most would be able to.

If I were unchanged, not being forced into a hyur form... I might be able to tell by scent, depending on who they were.

[angel_of_baal]

Curious. [Because Curze should have recognized him. But Curze hadn't recognized when Sanguinius had thrown direct lines from their conversation at him. ] What changes did you endure?

[aetherweaver]

Ears on the side of my head rather than the top, no claws, no tail... deadened senses overall. It was quite... irritating.

But I did what I could with the resources available I suppose.

[angel_of_baal]

But only that. You knew who you were, what you were? That was unchanged?

[aetherweaver]

That was unchanged, yes. There were several of us, but I don't know what we might have in common. ... To be honest, I don't know everyone quite well enough to begin to even guess.

[angel_of_baal]

Maybe it was simply a matter of resources--they lacked energy to mindwipe everyone.

Or maybe some were there as witnesses. Did anyone debrief you?

[aetherweaver]

... No, no one did. It would have been nice if they did, considering I don't know what the hells just happened.

[angel_of_baal]

I have theories but they are...not benign.

[aetherweaver]

Do you mind sharing?

believe it or not this is a sane theory in canon

[angel_of_baal]

This is all new to my understanding, but there are entities in the Immaterium who feed on emotions--pain, suffering, fear, anger, dread. This shared hallucination or whatever it was might have been an attempt by the Chief of the Librarius here to harvest such from us.

it's Warhammer, I believe it.

[aetherweaver]

... I know of beings who think that high emotional states heightens the flavor of aether, but not the emotions directly, unless I'm not recalling something. I suppose that's not out of the question, though I'd like to not immediately assume the worst if possible.

Perhaps that's naive of me, but the last time I was pulled to another world without my consent it was because someone needed help.

[angel_of_baal]

Emotion colors many things. [No denying that at all.] Though where I am from the emotion tends toward righteous wrath. Our father would not countenance envy among his sons. [Not to say it doesn't happen but just that no one is ill mannered enough to show it.]

[aetherweaver]

I see. Your father is... hm. Different than most, or just strict in that manner?

[angel_of_baal]

My father is the Emperor of Mankind. He is...quite different than most. And strict. One has to be, with the burden of his duties.

[aetherweaver]

[He's trying not to judge. He's trying so hard.]

I see... I have heard that being an emperor is... difficult. Unfortunately the emperors I know have all been... relatively corrupt.

[angel_of_baal]

I think no one envies my father his position. I certainly don't. But he says that those who are capable are called--we must do for mankind what we have the power to do. [Not the greatest father? Guilty. Corrupt, though? No.]

[aetherweaver]

‘To ignore the plight of those one might conceivably save is not wisdom - it is indolence’, or so the grandfather of some of my closest friends once said. And the former leader of our order would say ‘for those we have lost, for those we can yet save’. Waiting around and doing nothing only harms people.

Some of us are given gifts that can help others. Only someone heartless would turn away from using them - and even then, I’ve seen the heartless reverse course.

[Not always entirely, but…]

[angel_of_baal]

That is my father's counsel. We all...do our best. But as we are not him, it is not easy for many of us. [Then again, if it were easy, it would not be edifying.]