You know, I always hated the term “sheath.” The term is deliberately backward. Your sheath is the hardware–the physical apparatus you use to interface with the world. Your ego is not the blade, but more like the hand that wields the weapon.

  Whatever voider bastard we stole the term from should be ashamed of themselves; their focus on poetic marketing betrays the conveyance of ideas. Pitiful.

  But I can deny it does sound good. Catchy. The concept just clings to you after you say it. “Sheath.” It certainly fits more than calling our products “enhanced ego-receivable bodies.” Because bodies aren’t what they are. Bodies are the ugly legacies we got from our parents, hammered into an inefficient lump by our environment. A lacking vessel for these trying times.

  I don’t know if you’ve all noticed, but we’re in an arms race right now. Against existence. Against each other. Against our own limits. There’s a war happening, and it’s happening everywhere. And if you don’t upgrade, someone else will, and to steal a phrase from my mother: “Skill’s what you’re forced to fall back on when you’re shit outta luck everywhere else.”

  I hated the sow, but she’s right. You get a pureborn Kosgan, fish Old Thousandhand back out from the Big Nothing, have her train the poor shit a thousand years, and then throw them up against some joy-fiend sheathed into a Bearbreaker. See who comes out on top. Two hundred pounds of brittle bone and soft tissue against a sub-ton of super tensile muscle tissue, titanium-duramite endo and exoskeletal supports, hyper-conductive synaptic layering, and desynchronized nerve silos. See who wins.

  Thankfully, you choose which part of the metaphor you wish to embody. Most will end up as the poor bastard about to be swept aside. But you? If I’m right about you at all, you’re gonna wanna be the avalanche instead.

  Or maybe you fancy yourself another kind of calamity altogether.

  We won’t judge. We’re just here to give you options. Hell, we’ll even throw in the immuno-suppressants and the counter-dysmorphia sequencing for free. All you need to do is choose power.

  Choose better.

  Choose Onta-Fang.

  -Personalized Nether-ad of Yaer Coldstrong, Doghead of Onta-Fang (A Stormtree subsidiary)

  19-17

  An Attunement of Flesh (II)

  Dice had a preference for the cybernetic over the purely biological.

  There was something about the girl that preferred the certainty of steel over the flexibility of flesh. It was understandable, in a way. She lived life as a thing, an object, a weapon, and so, she saw herself the same way: as a blade; a dagger; a gun. What then could speak more to her self-regard than becoming a weapon above weapons? Encased in skin impervious to the sharpest of teeth.

  Joined to Avo’s Conflagration, the specifications of each sheath and implant calcified into understanding within Dice’s mind. After narrowing her search parameters, the Onta-Fang Stormrazer-IX was the first major item to catch the girl’s interest, boasting extreme physical power supported by a modified fusion core for a heart deemed “treacherously volatile” even for light assault vehicles, the girl’s enthusiasm regarding the choice was cut down with but a scoff from Tavers.

  The old squire rolled her eyes at the phantoms hovering over Avo’s mind, simulating a modeled projection of a headless ten-foot-tall bipedal sheath with wire-like synthetic muscles and an L-200 anti-drone assault cannon fused into its spine. “Jaus, always with this shit. Look. Juv. Not to piss on your parade, but this sheath is for half-strands and fuckwits. This thing guzzles over a thousand kilowatts on the daily. Even inactive, you’re going to be sucking juice constantly. Ghoul here’s gonna have to plant a Domain of Lightning in you to deal with that. Sure.”

  Tavers took a moment more to review the design further. “Sensory suite lining the body isn’t bad; core storage for the brain is good too. And I gotta admit the spinal-mounted heavy cannon is real sexy. Can punch through an assault drone at two hundred kilometers away with BVR assistance. But I propose the contrary: just jock into an assault drone or missile yourself and cut out the complicated middle-man bullshit. You’ll get ten times more firepower at a fourth of the cost. And people won’t look at you funny while you’re walking down the street.”

  Dice blinked at all that and shifted her thoughts to template-Draus for approval instead. The Regular stored in Avo’s mind responded with a shrug. [Ain’t wrong. But you’re a Godclad now. You can set your own rules. A recharge is just a resurrection away. A death will give you a clean slate. Old Tavers’ there got limits you don’t.]

  The girl nodded. “Okay.”

  Adjusting her parameters further, she spent a few beats considering the NewLife Bomber Queen and the Ascender Operative before moving on, regarding the first as something too grotesque and the latter as too brittle. Then, her mind came to a rest on the Aegis-provided Big-Stick Diplomat, offering a heavy augmented baseline body built around an expandable particle cannon.

  {Ah,} Calvino said, releasing a sigh of satisfaction. {She finally comes upon the diamond we placed among the rough. Fitting for her, don’t you think? It looks so harmless, yet with a single thought, the arms and chest will unfurl to form a–}

  Dice promptly eliminated the Big-Stick Diplomat as well, her attention drifting ahead to one of the oddest acquisitions among the items.

  [Omnitech Railjumper]

  Standard Market Price -> [35,000,000,000 Imps]

  Specifications:

  Reactor: ENE-393 Microfusion Cells x2

  Cog-Tech Systems: Chainglass Polyweave Vivianite Casing with Pre-Built Phalanx Warded Poly-Loci Processing Core with Cybermind ({5.5 TB/s} Sprites)

  Modules: [360-Vision]; [Full Spectrum Visual Interface]; [Lidar]; [Sensory Enhancement Suite]; [Synth-Flesh Endomesh]; [Scope-10 ScanGrid]; [“Railjujmper” Mag-Boosted Maneuvering System]

  The sheath wasn’t that much taller than Dice was at a glance, barely reaching two hundred and ten centimeters in terms of full height. If judged from the look of its contours, it would have seemed relatively mundane as well, offering two arms, two legs, and even a smooth pyramid-shaped ScanGrid as a head unit. The true specialty lurked behind the curved layers of polished chrome encasing the body, with the inner system being a twisted interplay between heavily modified synthflesh fused around a heavily modified skeleton composed of coils, rails, pneumatics, and magnetically charged extension units.

  To put it simply, each step one took while built into a Railjumper allowed them to leap, dash, and soar through the air as if they were flechette being fired out of a railcannon.

  {No. Bad. Terrible idea. Avo, advise her.}

  The ghoul just grinned. “Like this one?”

  For a beat, Dice said nothing, but the twitching of her lips told him all he needed to know.

  Across the room, Tavers whistled. “Fuck me, juvs like to live dangerously these days.”

  Draus grunted in agreement. “Railjumper. Haven’t seen many people build themselves around those. Knew a guy who made it work for him pretty good. First Lieutenant Kiseng. Fastest among my surviving pod of aspirants. Might be the fastest Reg alive. If he’s still alive. Bastard managed to shoot down a passin’ golem while diving across blocks durin’ the war.”

  “Yeah. Way too fast for most to handle,” Tavers concurred. “You’ll need a high-end Accelero just to keep up with how fast you’re moving. And it’s too fragile to survive a direct impact with heavier armor. She’s gonna have a hell of a learning curve if she wants to cut her teeth on that.”

  {Not to mention its design is completely nonsensical,} Calvino complained. Drawing up the schematics for the sheath, the EGI scrawled through the data and highlighted several sentences, focusing on how the body was a “scientific success at capturing and redirecting the force of a linear-acceleration platform in a miniaturized vessel” and “a constant counter-magnetic pressure paired with high-tensile tissue allow for the flexing and survival of the host.” {This is utter nonsense.}

  The Techplaguer disagreed, chiming with a note of approval. “Good child. THROUGH SCIENCE EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE! EVERYTHING! HAIL SCIENCE!”

  {But none of this is scientific you ridiculous, broken thing. Newton’s Third Law is screaming. And the amount of heat this will generate–}

  “Have been resolved through TRUE SCIENCE!”

  {Loudly shouting science does not alleviate the fact that this body is powered by reality-breaking madness.}

  A low warbling drone of disgust sounded from the Techplaguer. “What do you know of science, Sky-Burner?”

  {...Are you serious right now?}

  “I want to try this one,” Dice said, as Heaven and the artificial mind continued their argument.

  “Good,” Avo said. “Can make some adjustments afterward. But your installation will come later. Have our grafters do your cybernetics before I adjust your biology. Provided locus and coldtech mind also useful. Gives us more time to sequence a Metamind to your ego.”

  The girl blinked twice and nodded. “Am I going to get the fires too?”

  “No. Fires only for me,” Avo paused. “For now.” He would need to experiment with his Conflagration further. He still had a yearning to deepen his control over his current state and prevent any further lapses. The desire to temporarily quell his fires to allow for standard and subtle jacking remained as well. “Stay here for now. Will start work on you once the workshop is finished and the voiders get a look at you.”

  {They’re not going to like that,} Calvino said. {Jack and Jane might be quite liberal about using thaumaturgically affected materials, but the shadow of the Builder War hangs over us yet.}

  +Girl’s chosen. Will it be a problem?+

  {Just be ready to hear a lot of complaining from both of them. And me.}

  Avo clicked his fangs together and regarded the rest of his cadre; the endless templates constantly sniping and sneering at each other in his mind.

  The EGI groaned. {Very well, point taken.}

  “Chambers,” Avo said. “Call up more grafting station. Going to do the rest of you while drones bring in the rest of the workshop. Call the voiders too. Get them on standby. Have a side job for them to do.”

  “Yeah… sure, got it…” Chambers said. A hint of uncertainty remained in his voice. His eyes were flicking between Avo and Dice.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

  “What?”

  Chambers just shrugged. “You know, like, Tavers said right? It’s pretty extreme for the kid. That’s–her body’s going to be completely replaced and stuff. It’s not even going to remotely look the same. It’ll just be her brain, skull, spine, and bits of torso fused to the core of that thing.”

  The man’s apprehension was understood in an instant. Avo could feel the same unease boiling inside template-Chambers as well. “Worried about her suffering dysmorphia.”

  The half-strand opened his mouth and squeezed out an effortful breath. “I’d have trouble making the transition is all I’m saying.”

  “She won’t,” Avo replied. “Have her mind inside mine. Know her limits. Her sheathing tolerance is comparable to Draus. Comparable to me. Will shape any damage out of her ego if it happens. Ensure her lasting sanity.”

  “Yeah? Okay. You got the burn, consang.” Despite the words leaving his lips, a slight wariness remained in Chambers’ posture. “Just, uh, you know… You know better than I do.”

  “Yeah,” Avo replied. “Chambers?”

  “Hm?”

  “New grafting stations.”

  “Right, right.”

  ***

  Implants qued:

  Jelene Draus -> [Neurotuner]; [Chem Sniff]; [Soulgazer Optics]; [Accelero-XI]; [Volant Reflex-Acceleration System]; [Modular Projectile Unit] (Right Arm)

  Kae Kusanade -> [Neurotuner]; [Examiner Optics]; [Nanosurgeons]; [Accelero-XI]; [Duramite Skeletal Lacing]; [Muscular Nanofibers]; [Nanosurgeons]; [Respirocytes]; [Tox-Filter]

  Aedon Chambers -> [Neurotuner]; [Duramite Skeletal Lacing]; [Muscular Nanofibers]; [Nanosurgeons]; [Respirocytes]; [Tox-Filter]; [Accelero-XI]

  Avo -> [Neurotuner]; [Mastermind Personal Data-Cortex (58 TB/s)]

  Dice -> {SHEATH UPDATE: RAILJUMPER]; [Neurotuner]; [Modular Projectile Unit] (Left+Right Arm); [Meteor Omnidirectional Manuvering System]; [Volant Reflex-Acceleration System]

  Domain of (Biology)

  ->Canons: My Blood The Harvester, My Flesh the Symphony (III); Remembrance of Flesh (V)

  Extracting Biological Traits…

  Grafting…

  Jelene Draus -> [Endo-Chitinous Plating]; [Bioelectric Skin Sensors]; [Magnetoreception Sensitivity]; [Bomb-Queen Bio-Hive]; [Bomb-Queen Bio-Pheromones]

  Kae Kusanade -> [NewLife Phagekiller-TURBO]; [NewLife Metabolics]; [FANG Endocrine Modulator]; [Omni-Lung]

  Aedon Chambers -> [Immunobooster]; [Omni-Lung]; [NewLife Phagekiller-TURBO]; [NewLife Metabolics]

  Dice -> [Bone Demon Mycelia]; [NewLife Phagekiller-TURBO];

  Avo -> [Condylostylus]

  Steel sank into shifting flesh as machines performed their surgeries and the Woundmother expressed its touch.

  Aside from the Aegis Neurotuner requisitioned for all active combatants in the cadre to tune and keep their cognitive processing speeds synced, each member obtained varying implants and modifications based on their own preferences and requirements.

  Kae’s needs weren’t so unlike Essus’ in some regards, though her augmentations focused more on enhancing her physicality. Both she and Chambers had their bodies' major systems boosted, with special consideration applied to their bones and muscles. It would likely take the Agnos a bit longer to adjust to the changes, but she would acclimate in time. Now, at least she could keep up easily with the rest of the group.

  Avo borrowed a few organs from the Bomb-Queen rejected by Dice and applied their benefits to Draus. Despite how formidable her sheath already was, being able to command and compel a swarm of highly explosive hornets at range was likely going to be a trait she enjoyed.

  Of course, this modification would pale compared to the sheer spike in effectiveness that the Aegis Volant Reflex-Acceleration System offered. Paired with her existing Accelero-IX, the exo-spinal neuro-booster implant was a module adapted from highly advanced voider interceptor drones.

  Reduced in potency though it was, it remained a restricted modification to most even among the polities beyond the most extreme body modders or those with extremely durable sheaths. Anyone lesser tended to reap a quick death after their synapses were overloaded.

  Neither Draus nor Dice fully qualified as either of the above, but with their ability to resurrect and Avo being capable of mending their flesh with a thought, the risk posed to them was acceptable.

  As a needle empty of heavy aesthetics lifted from Dice’s unmoving form, Avo listened to Jack grumble about the sheath they were assembling opposite of the waif, describing its design as cursed and “powered by goofy bullshit.” The Techplaguer regarded them with muted scorn as the voider grafters continued with their task, Jane testing the whining articulations of her drones as she fired her monosaw twice.

  “Ah, shit,” Chambers muttered, watching in silent apprehension from his own grafting station as Dice prepared to undergo her changes. “Hope you’re right about this, Avo. Sheath rejection gets real nasty.”

  “She’ll be fine,” Avo said, reassuring Chambers. The anxiety inside the man and his template was growing; brewing like a forgotten kettle set to boil. “Seem nervous Chambers. Got something you want to say?”

  “What? No. I’m just… You know. Tired. You growing those biomods inside me tickled something bad. Got me unbalanced and all that other shit, you know.”

  “Have your mind inside me too, Chambers. Don’t need to do this. Don’t need to lie.”

  The man drew in a long wheezing breath. “I forgot. Why don’t you just ask the version of me who’s burning inside you? Just pull the mem-data from him. You don’t need to talk to me.”

  "You would like it more if I talked to you,” Avo said.

  A beat passed. Chambers nodded. “Yeah… I’m… worried about the juv. And jealous of her ass too.”

  “Jealous?” Avo asked, refraining from accessing template-Chambers for immediate understanding. Amassed intuition told him that letting this moment play out to the end as a process would be more poignant than just knowing everything in an instant.

  “Yeah.” Chambers snorted. “You already fucking know why, right? It’s stupid. Shit, I’m blushing. Fuck.”

  “Embarrassed?”

  “No shit I’m embarrassed. Got the Reg, Kae, Essus, and Tavers giving me looks right now. I just… you know. Kinda wish someone gave a shit about me like we give a shit about her back when I was a kid. You know? It would’ve been nice if I had someone looking out for me, caring about what I wanted, and stealing stupidly expensive sheaths for me…”

  It promptly dawned on Chambers what he was asking and he buried his face into his palms. “Fuuuuccck. Holy shit, consang. I wish that you could have been my dad instead.” He barked a humorless laugh. “A godsdamned people-eating monster for a father. What a joke.”

  “You had a monster for a father,” Avo said. “You should wish for more. Act to cast his shadow behind. Leave him forgotten in the end.”

  Chambers shifted his face and peeked at Avo from the corner of his eye. “Listen. Can I ask you a question? But I’m not sure if it means anything–”

  “Ask it anyway.”

  “I mean, you already know everything I’m going to say. What’s the point?”

  “For you? Everything.” Avo regarded Chambers. “There is a difference between knowing something will happen and being part of the action. Gnosis is not a manifestation. Epiphany is not full comprehension. The possibility of a miracle is not the miracle itself. Ask your question. Make your thoughts true.”

  “Why don’t you just… burn the useless out of me? Out of me and Essus and–and anyone else, really. Elegant-Moon, the Paladins! You can make us think like anyone. Make us whoever you want us to be. Why are we still us? Why? I don’t get it. It’s what I would have done.” A darkness fell over Chambers’ features. “Hells. I don’t know what I would’ve done if I could do the things you can. Probably named myself god boss of some Syndicate in some district somewhere and then get myself snuffed after pissing the wrong person off.”

  The question made Avo smile. It was an honest question magnified by Chambers’ greatest insecurities. “You have seen my brothers. Remember how they are?” Avo asked.

  The man nodded. “Yeah?”

  “What are their characters like? Personality. How do they behave?”

  Chambers opened his mouth and shrugged. “They’re… hungry fucking monsters that hurt and eat shit.”

  “Yes. Small differences. Some bigger. Some smaller. Some cunning. Some simple. All without impulse. All ruled by hunger. All ruled by the Hungers and the Low Masters. A self-referencing set of traits and habits. Nothing more. No culture can grow from them. No expression. Not people. Poor pathetic things. I will not make the Hungers' mistake. I will not be foolish like the Low Masters.”

  “You don’t want to play god?”

  [Oh, for fuck’s sake,] template-Draus muttered. [How much do the rest of you have to put up with this shit?]

  [All the time,] Abrel muttered. [I swear, the ghoul thinks he’s some kind of philosopher.]

  [Especially when he’s torturing or killing people,] Benhata added. [It’s disturbing.]

  Avo ignored his inner hecklers and kept going. “I am a god. I don’t want to play human. Play tyrant. Tyranny is rooted in fear. Fear of the oppressor. Fear of the oppressed. But this fear is relative. And I do not wish to be chained by such things. Debases my pursuit of freedom. The ideals I wish to embody. My power is not relative to another’s existence. My powers are total. Absolute.” Avo looked to Chambers. “And so are yours.”

  Chambers just blinked. “Consang… I wish I could catch on to half the shit you’re saying. This is like, freedom and philosophy and shit, right? About letting people live their own choices all the way?”

  Avo smiled. “All these minds. All these memories. All these lives and perspectives. There are many ways to consider the world. Many angles to look at a mistake. Do you know why I think existence is broken?”

  Chambers shrugged. “Why?”

  “Because humanity refuses to cross over. It wants to indulge in all the pleasures of mortality while also enjoying the privileges of divinity. But an idea is perfection. A canon is absolute. I once lamented my fate as a ghoul. Didn’t ask to be. Pitied myself in a way. But I see the grander pattern now. That all of us live lamentable lives. That we are all of us torn by the way of things. Seeking ascension. But anchored to affliction and addiction. Pulled between the heights of apotheosis and the debasement of primal desire.”

  A wince passed through the half-strand’s face. “I just wanna feel good sometimes, The rash–all the porn, it’s just… I needed to feel.”

  “Yes. I understand. I was not better. I was just as addicted. But mine was harm inflicted. Yours is lust internalized. I shaped others with my cruelty. Broke them. Ate them. You dreamed of love and lust in the greatest extremes. Stimulation. Reminders that we are here. We exist. But you can be more than that now. Or you can be just that. All up to you. I just think it would be another kind of pity. Another kind of pitiful. If you do not seek the ends of who you can become.”

  Silence fell. But not in Avo’s mind. Template-Draus made whimpering noises in mockery of the moment. [Listen to you both whinge.]

  {I felt it was quite caring,} Calvino said. {A show of our ghoul’s growing maturity. Using stolen goods to augment what is functionally a child soldier aside.}

  [Well, that’s ‘cause you’re a bit of a bitch, Calv.]

  {Charmingly described as always, Captain Draus.}

  Back in the real, Chambers exhaled. “I’m real happy I got lucky. That you decided to keep me alive and use me against Mirrorhead. That you didn’t snuff me afterward. Or take back your Frame. That’s all. That’s all I had to say.”

  And so that’s all Chambers needed to say. But there was one more thing Avo could do. One final act of extreme positive reinforcement. “Chambers. Have a final question.”

  “Yeah. What?”

  “Was thinking about adding a final biomod. Just for you.”

  “Yeah…”

  “Would you like to get your genitals enlarged? For the sake of enhancing your Heaven.”

  Avo could see Kae’s face break out in horror while Draus leaned over next to her. “Avo, fuck you. What are you doing?”

  “You mean it?” Chambers said, eyes growing wet.

  “Why would I lie.”

  “Godsdammit, Avo, if I catch a twelve-inch dick from his Fucktopia in the future, I’m gonna lodge that shit in your skull!”

  The ghoul just kept grinning. And in time, Chambers’ smiled too. “...I love you, consang. I really, really do.”

  Not enough Godclads? Get near-daily advanced chapters on (15 chapters ahead) and join the .

  Ontologics

  In effect after 19-12

  Ghosts - [26,557,563]

  Liminal Frame (V) - 16,099 THAUM/c

  User: Avo

  Heaven/Hell: [Woundmother] - 10,002 THAUM/c

  Heaven

  ->Domain: (Blood)

  ->Canon: Haemokinesis (IV) - All blood in user’s area of influence can be controlled; speed and force experience exponential increases with each ton of force controlled

  ->Hubris: Central pillar of the Heaven must remain 80 tons; each ton of non-central mass controlled increases thaumic and Rend-based demands (5%)

  ->Canon: Linger - User can eject constructs shaped from their blood; each construct generated accrues Rend based on design and size

  ->Hubris: Central pillar of the Heaven must remain 80 tons; each ton of non-central mass controlled increases thaumic and Rend-based demands (5%; x2 backlash)

  ->Canon: Sanguinity’s Reign (IV) - A building haemokinetic storm continuously expands from the user, spreading their area of influence (without limitations) as far as the storm can metaphysically expand; generates more Rend the larger the area it takes up

  ->Hubris: Attempting to move and alter more than 80 tons of matter without constituting a central construct will result in thaumic backlash (20%)

  ->Canon: Exsanguinating Helix - Allows the user to instill an exsanguinating effect in a piece of matter, causing it to drain all the blood its mass can contain when in contact with a non-user designated entity; the larger the object instilled, the higher the Rend

  ->Hubris: If the object is destroyed, thaumic backlash will be inflicted (15%)

  ->Domain: (Matter)

  ->Canon: Alchemization (V) - The user can subsume and channel and combine the properties of 108 fragments of physical matter through their blood; the limit of fragments channeled can be increased at the cost of thaumic and Rend-based demands.

  ->Hubris: Any attempts to subsume gaseous or liquid matter will incur backlash. (12%)

  ->Canon: Remembrance of Matter (V) - The user can memorize the traits of all physical matter they subsume at a hundredth of the thaumic cost; the matter they memorized can be assembled and blended before a construct is formed

  ->Hubris: If matter being subsumed has their state changed mid-subsumption, thaumic backlash will be triggered (9%)

  ->Canon: Stormwreathed - The user can temporarily convert their mass into electricity

  ->Hubris: If the user is submerged by water in this state, thaumic backlash will be triggered (15%)

  ->Canon: Haemification - The user can turn all influenceable matter into blood

  ->Hubris: Any attempts to subsume gaseous or liquid matter will incur backlash (12%; x2 backlash)

  ->Domain: (Fire)

  ->Canon: Matterbomb - The user can detonate pieces of matter based on mass and inherent energy

  ->Hubris: If the matter being detonated is destroyed before ignition, moderate (EST. 35%) severe backlash will be inflicted

  ->Domain: (Luminosity)

  ->Canon: The Light Unseen - The user can blend their matter with the light of their surroundings should they stop perceiving the world visually

  ->Hubris: If the user has their perception active while this canon is in use, (EST. 51%) severe backlash will be inflicted

  ->Domain: (Protection)

  ->Canon: Fortress of Luminosity - The user emanates a luminous shroud that renders all physical matter bathed by its shine invulnerable; generates heavy Rend (1.2%) every second canon is active

  ->Hubris: There must be a persistent source of light for the user to imitate in the environment or from the user themselves or thaumic backlash will be triggered. (5%)

  ->Domain: (Biology)

  ->Canon: My Blood The Harvester, My Flesh the Symphony (III) - Allows the user to grow, blend, or extract biological organisms and structures from their blood.

  ->Hubris: Another source of biomass must be present and in the area of influence or thaumic backlash will be inflicted. (6%) ->Canon: Remembrance of Flesh (V) - Allows user to memorize traits from biological organisms at a tenth of the thaumic cost; the biomass they memorized can be spliced before they are grown.

  ->Hubris: Another source of biomass must be present and in the area of influence or thaumic backlash will be inflicted (6%; x2 backlash)

  ->Domain: (Lightning)

  ->Canon: Boltstride (III) - Allows the user to transmute and move all blood-based structures as bolts of lightning; distance limited to the reach of user’s Sanguinity

  ->Hubris: Attempting to move over 120 tons of matter as a single bolt will trigger (EST. 87%) extreme thaumic backlash

  Hell - [Fifth Circle]

  ->Domain: (Matter/Entropy/Luminosity)

  ->Canon: Breath of the Withered (V) - Allows the user to expel their total Rend as an entropic storm across their area of influence; the storm will disintegrate matter through withering bolts of lightning (This canon is absolute)

  ->Daemon: Striking the same place twice will result in the manifestation of an Anathema of Ruin, causing the user to lose control of the Heaven

  ->Canon: Barrage of the Withered (V) - Allows the user to expel their total Rend as an entropic projectile the size, shape, and speed of the Woundmother at its maximum potential; this projectile can be guided by the user and is loosed faster with higher Rend (This canon is absolute)

  ->Daemon: Should the projectile not dissolve sufficient matter, the projectile will birth as an Anathema of Ruin

  ->Canon: Shadowbreaker (III) - Allows the user to influence all shadows in their vicinity with a touch of luminosity that will continue to expand and dissolve anything physical covered by the shadows

  ->Daemon: Should an insufficient amount of physical matter in darkness be consumed in (8 seconds), an Anathema of Ruin will be manifested.

  Heaven/Hell: [Fardrifter] - 5,660 THAUM/c

  Heaven

  ->Domain: (Air)

  ->Canon: Horizon Strider (III) - The user takes on the properties of a hurricane and can influence winds for 250 kilometers

  ->Hubris: If an external force counters the motion of the user’s centrifugal force, severe (EST. 59%) thaumic backlash will be triggered

  ->Domain: (Space)

  ->Canon: Yondergales (IV) - The user’s demiplane now encompasses ten kilometers, with each ton of mass multiplying the base speed of their winds (252 kilometers per hour)

  ->Hubris: If an object over 5,000 degrees celsius is drawn into the plane, extreme (EST. 83%) thaumic backlash will be triggered.

  ->Canon: The Nine Streams of Freedom - The user can materialize from any nine points in space their winds encompass (250 kilometers)

  ->Hubris: if they emerge in a confined space and are unable to fully materialize, thaumic backlash will be triggered. (10%)

  ->Canon: Shadowrun (II) - The user can surge within shadows as if they are wind tunnels (x10 current speed); shadows must be connected to pass from one to another.

  ->Hubris: If a light shines and clears away the user’s shadow, heavy (EST. 39%) thaumic backlash will be triggered

  ->Domain: (Shadow)

  ->Canon: Midnight Hand - The user can blow, move, and shift shadows together as if they are waves in a storm.

  ->Hubris: If the user is between shadows when the wind stops blowing and the bridge breaks, moderate (22%) thaumic backlash will be triggered.

  ->Domain: (Labyrinth)

  ->Canon: Path of the Nine Storms (III) - User manifests a maze-like dungeon in the walls of their winds, allowing them to create and weave winding paths from tunnels of air; the maze is a fixed spatial anchor (may not be affected by spatial changes) that can be triggered at any time.

  ->Hubris: If the inner walls of the dungeon are forcibly breached and someone enters the eye of the storm (where resides the Yondergales), heavy (EST. 39%) thaumic backlash will be generated.

  Hell - [Fourth Circle]

  ->Domain: (Air/Entropy/Labyrinth)

  ->Canon: Halt of the Passing (IV) - The user can enchain all actors and objects moving through their area of physical influence (250 Kilometers) with stasis

  ->Daemon: An anathema of correspondence will be birthed if the total velocity drained exceeds the total Rend accrued

  ->Canon: Waybreaker (II) - The user distorts all directionality about them (10 kilometers), causing space to coil and distend, randomizing vectors of movement for all actors and objects caught in their wake.

  ->Daemon: Rend must be balanced in nine minutes or an Anathema of Correspondence will manifest.

  Heaven/Hell: [Techplaguer] - 200 Thaum/c

  Heaven

  ->Domain: (Signals)

  ->Canon: Skin of Virtuality - Layers user in mirror-reality raw data and information, allowing them to move and exist as radio signals might and shift inorganic objects in their vicinity as blocks of temporarily stored data (reloads back to their original position in reality after miracle ends)

  ->Hubris: The user cannot pass through lead without incurring heavy (EST. 41%) thaumic backlash.

  ->Domain: (Space)

  ->Canon: Techjumper - User inserts themselves into a signal or system capable of transmitting signals, moving as a packet of data and materializing at the endpoint of the transmission.

  ->Hubris: If the transfer is disrupted halfway, moderate (22%) thaumic backlash will be triggered.

  ->Domain: (Biology)

  ->Canon: TechSick.exe (II) - User mimics the properties and symptoms in a virus and transfers that over to a signal-receiving system, affecting the machine as if it were a person

  ->Hubris: If the transfer is disrupted halfway, moderate (22%) thaumic backlash will be triggered. (x2)

  Hell - [Third Circle]

  ->Domain: (Signal/Entropy)

  ->Canon: Datarot - The user decays and distorts signals and data within their ability to influence

  ->Daemon: If a signal the user is decaying is disrupted and they are unable to find another within (5 seconds) to continue expelling their Rend, an Anathema of Epistemology will be generated

  Implants

  Mime-Fog: Allows Avo to produce a spore-expelled field of active camouflage

  Celerostylus: A symbiotic reflex booster laced into Avo's spine; accelerates him a bit over sixty-five miles an hour in his baseline body

  Echoheads: A chimeric bioform adapted into an implant. Can provide echolocation for eight hundred feet. Designed from a hyper-durable silicon-chitin structure that also allows each of the eight heads to piece forward from the inside like a mantis shrimp punches.

  Bone Demon: A body-sheathe--complete overhaul of Avo's physical form. made from a nest of super-tensile, hyper-synaptic nanofibrous mycelia on the interior. Beyond the threads, thick plates of cordyceramite line the outside like jagged skeletal continents emerging from a sea of webs. Bound to his biology, Avo is able to harden and shift his structural integrity, as well as shape the growth of the fungal-ceramic matter that would encase his outer skin.

  Meldskin: A smart-fluid adaptive combat skin capable of altering its composition to suit almost any environment and slowly return to full integrity. Possess holographic disguises, advanced visual sensors, omnidirectional thrusters, and a highly advanced reactor. Can also interface with other pieces of advanced voidtech.

  Metamind

  Ghosts: [17,313,887]

  SPRITES: {4.2TB/s…}

  [QUICKSAND SYNC TRAUMA] COG-CAP: 55 SEQUENCES (VARIABLE)

  ->STRUCTURE: “A LIMPID POOL FILLED WITH BODIES DRIFTING BENEATH THE WAVES; WHATEVER TRAUMA STRIKES THE SURFACE WILL IN CAUSE IT TO IGNITE AND SIMULATE A RESEQUENCING OF SAID TRAUMA”

  ->FUNCTION: GUARDS THE MIND USING A LAYER OF TRAUMATIC MEMORIES: CAPABLE OF ADAPTING TO TRAUMAS AFTER SUSTAINING AGAINST THE FIRST IMPACT

  [THOUGHTWAVE DISRUPTOR] COG-CAP: [ERROR] SEQUENCES

  ->STRUCTURE: [NULL]

  ->FUNCTION: TAPS INTO THE ENTIRETY OF THE USER’S COGNITIVE CAPACITY AND EXPELS UNSTABLE MEM-DATA OUTWARD, DISRUPTING AN AREA OF (CONTINGENT OF GHOST CAPACITY) SPACE

  [INCOG] COG-CAP: [x] SEQUENCES (VARIABLE; MUST MATCH ALL OTHER INTERNAL MEMORIES BEYOND THE WARDS)

  ->STRUCTURE: “AN OPALESCENT SUN RAINS DOWN OVER THE LANDSCAPE; LIGHT SPILLS FROM IT MORE LIKE MERCURY DOLLOPS THAN RAYS, BASKING EVERYTHING IN A REFLECTIVE SHEEN WHILE DRINKING UP MEM-DATA INTO ITS CORE”

  ->FUNCTION: ALLOWS THE USER TO CAMOUFLAGE THEMSELVES FROM NOTICE VIA THE OBFUSCATION OF THEIR MEMORIES AND THOUGHTSTUFF. NO ACCRETION WILL LEAK DURING THIS PERIOD AND ALL OUTWARD REACTING PHANTASMICS WILL BE PLACED INTO A DORMANT STATE UNTIL DELIBERATE ACTIVATION.

  [WHISPER] COG-CAP: 19 SEQUENCES (BASELINE)

  ->STRUCTURE: FIVE/SIX LEGGED DOG CHASES A FLYING LETTER WHILE A DRONE STRIKES A VILLA.

  ->FUNCTION: ALLOWS THE EXTENSION OF CONSCIOUS AWARENESS BY 60 FEET AND THE DELIVERANCE OF COG-DATA WITHIN SAID FIELD OF AWARENESS; CAN BE EXTENDED BY MULTIPLES SHOULD MORE SEQUENCES BE USED

  [PHYS-SIM] COG-CAP: 18 SEQUENCES (FIXED)

  ->STRUCTURE: A MISSILE LOCKED TO AN AEROVEC, EVER INCHING CLOSER, DODGING INCOMING POINT DEFENSE FIRE”

  ->FUNCTION: CALCULATES THE ACCELERATION VECTORS AND IMPACT LANES OF UP TO TWELVE DYNAMIC OBJECTS

  [OSARAI MEMGUARD] COG-CAP: 20 SEQUENCES (BASELINE) [REPLACED BY QUICKSAND IN AVO'S METAMIND]

  ->STRUCTURE: “A HURRICANE TWISTING AND HURTLING SCREAMING FIGURES AND BROKEN STRUCTURES”

  ->FUNCTION: GUARDS THE MIND USING A LAYER OF TRAUMATIC MEMORIES: CAPABLE OF WITHSTANDING AND REFORMING AGAINST HEAVY-MASS PHANTASMAL INTRUSIONS; VULNERABLE TO NARROW-BUILD INVADERS.

  [AUTO-SEANCE] COG-CAP: 2 SEQUENCES (BASELINE)

  ->STRUCTURE: “A STAR BLEEDS INTO A SPIRAL OF SPLICED MEMORY SNIPPETS [ERROR: MEMORY ARTIFACTS TOO BRIEF FOR REVIEW...]"

  ->FUNCTION: ALLOWS OMNI-SYNCHRONIC COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN TWO OR MORE MINDS ACROSS ALL AREAS ENCOMPASSED BY THE PRESENCE OF THE NETHER

  [MORALITY INJECTOR] COG-CAP: 20 SEQUENCES (BASELINE)

  ->STRUCTURE: “A RESPLENDENT CAGE WITH A CINEMA PROJECTION OF PAST HAPPENINGS PLAYING ACROSS THE SKY"

  ->FUNCTION: ALLOWS THE USER TO NULLIFY SPECIFICALLY ENCODED IMPULSES WITH COUNTER-EMOTIONAL DOSES OF MEMORY.

  GHOSTJACK (ALLOWS FOR THE MODIFICATION AND EDITING OF MEMORIES AND SEQUENCES; SHAPES TRAUMA AND COMMANDS GHOSTS)

  [SKIMMER PERCEPTION EMANATOR]

  TRAUMA PATTERNS:

  [ASELERI'S FOLLY] - HIGH PAIN INFLICTION; PHYSICAL TORTURE BASED

  [LUCILLE’S REGRET] - HIGH EMOTIONAL TORMENT; REGRET AND ANGUISH ALIGNED

  [LUCILLE’S AGONY] - HIGH PAIN INFLICTION; PHYSICAL TORTURE BASED; BODY DYSMORPHIC AFFLICTED

  [SECONDHAND FATALITY] - EXTREME PAIN INFLICTION; EGO-KILLING TRAUMA FOR HUMANS

  [BENEFACTOR’S DREAD] - HIGH EMOTIONAL TORMENT; FEAR OF COMING DEATH

  [ARATNID’S KISS] - HIGH PHYSICAL TORMENT; CASTRATION AND PRIMAL FEAR-BASED

  THE BURNING DREAMER

  MIND-TEMPLATES

  [AVO]

  The Talons

  Abrel Greatling

  The Shadows

  Benhata Veloso

  Glitch

  Lip

  Corner

  Osjack Thenndenn

  (Ashthrone/Sanctus assault force)

  Dice

  Chambers

  Paladin Kare

  Paladin Kassamon

  I hope you enjoyed today's installment of Godclads!

  Next up: GUN-DICE! GUN-DICE! GUN-DICE!

  Anyway, I hope you're having fun, and remember: reviews, follows, favorites, and comments make the word-gods happy.