+We don't have a census for how many people are living in the refugee sanctuaries.

  You want to know why? It's not because we don't have the logistical means to count them. No.

  The Guilds, if anything, are more than competent logistically. All it takes is a few divisions of dedicated Necros and a little bit of time and they will have every true living person surrounding New Vultun counted and catalogued.

  That is not the issue.

  The issue is if they are listed, if they are counted, then the weight of what we're doing settles in. Make no mistake, we are ignoring people dying on our doorstep. We are ignoring them because it's easier to turn away when they’re smuggled in as refugees as death fuel for the city.

  “They knew what they were getting into.”

  “Risk is the name of the game.”

  Bullshit. It’s just easier for us to swallow them not being actual people. Just fools who wandered into the gutters looking for death. Fools for selling their agency and handing themselves over to the Syndicates.

  They must be because anything else is too unpalatable.

  You think about that the next time you watch a vicarity starring these “fools.” You think about what kind of life they were leading to force them to risk the Maw, the smugglers, the Crucibles and the Syndicates to get into the city. You think about that the next time you enjoy another snuff stream.

  Or maybe just apply for a border pass. Take an ex-route shuttle and tour the sanctuaries. Look down at them from the skies,

  You think about that the next time you enjoy another snuff stream.+

  -Cala Marlowe, The FATELESS Thoughtcast

  20-1

  Interrogations

  All children born under Highflame’s banner learn early that there are some beatings you just have to take. It was this understanding that filled Abrel’s spine with steel and turned her nerves into titanium.

  Shame coursed through her person, but in her existed a draught of fear or sadness, for the lesson of the beatings came paired with another of the High Seraph’s teachings.

  Pride.

  Pride in one's wounds for the scars to show what they survived and an understanding that there was worthiness to be regained when one rose to redemption’s call.

  Uthred took a moment to gather his thoughts before he spoke, the shape of his face finally stabilizing. Circles of discoloration ran below his eyes and his optical implants gleamed with an intense glow. Beside him, Vator smiled deeply at his sister with open affection, his hair flowing as waves of silken gold, his left eye purple while the right remained blue. He stood a few inches taller than their father and was dressed in a fine suit of ash white.

  Upon closer inspection, she could see movement under the suit. Flicking legs and brushing palps. Abrel did her best not to roll her eyes. Of course, this being Vator, he probably had his pet spiders weave the suit around him on the way over. Always with his artistry–constantly trying to get her to keep one of his pets for the sake of “fashion accessibility from biodegradable resources.

  “I will keep this direct,” Uthred said, an unexpected softness just beyond his glare. “Effective as of two days ago, House Greatling was dissolved, and my position as Authority was resigned.”

  Both admissions hit Abrel like flechettes to the gut. The consequences of her actions were beyond extreme. But how? Though dangerous, she didn’t see how this action could force his hand so severely. There were other factors to consider, such as the provocation behind the matter, and the details of the case.

  Uthred Greatling wasn’t a man to avoid responsibility, but he wouldn’t just bear punishments bestowed without ensuring the sentences were deserved.

  “‘Was resigned… was dissolved.’ Seriously, father, it’s like someone else did these things for you.” Vator tutted, unaffected by Uthred’s side glare as usual. “I told you I could have applied for the Writ if it bothered you that much. There was no need for you to be in such–”

  “Enough. The duty was mine. Do not interrupt.” Uthred shot his youngest a final look before turning back to Abrel. Vator simply sighed, surrendering to his father’s will but completely unshaken by the chastisement. Turning his gaze back to Abrel, Uthred continued. “The severity of your actions–the recklessness with how you pursued your target. And how you deviated from the dispatched task.”

  A shadow blanketed Abrel’s thoughts. If she had secured and brought Jhred back as she was ordered, things perhaps would be different now. But she left love win over duty, and now he was truly dead, and she mental pawn under the creature that killed him.

  “Instruments Zenna, Alphim, and Melt.” Every name Uthred listed was another stone plunging into her gut. The members of her cadre. The team she led. Her friends. All gone now. Each and every one. “They have been recognized with honors. Their service and distinction have been recorded and eulogized at Axtraxis for heeding the commands of their leader in the most dire of circumstances. Even unto death.” A near-silent sigh followed. “But I do not need to tell you about the social repercussions. I know you were close to them. Zenna as well. I was fond of her too. She was always a meritable friend.”

  Abrel nodded and did her best to distance herself from the searing pain inside. “I couldn’t ask any more of her. I failed her. I saw her to an inefficient end.”

  “Yes,” Uthred agreed.

  Vator frowned at the both of them, but his disapproval was directed more toward his father. The display was unnerving touching in a way. Abrel knew that her brother loved her, but it was in a fashion most unnatural. There was something that didn’t fit in Vator like he was a puppet pulled by inhuman whims. Most things never bothered him, but there was a dynamic he sought in his family. A kind of perfection that was missing.

  Uthred was supposed to support her. To offer his kindness when she self-criticized. But he never did. And Vator never failed to show his open disapproval.

  “I also know you would have never lost yourself to such a rage if you weren’t provoked.” Uthred’s voice softened. “I know your sins. I know your flaws. As Jhred was… her son, I am your father. I fought the rage too. Even demanded that the trait be kept within you, in light of all the times it sustained me–propelled me.”

  “But I failed to master it,” Abrel replied, whispering.

  “Yes. You failed. But now I want to know the reason. I want to know what caused your assigned task of retrieving your brother for his dereliction of duty to degenerate into an open conflict against Reva Javvers and her Bloodthanes.”

  Abrel’s eyes widened. “Javvers?”

  “Yes. Niece to the head of the now destroyed Scalpers. Vincintine. Currently listed as missing. Irrelevant to the current topic. I wish for you to elaborate. To explain your missteps.”

  A dryness suddenly filled Abrel’s throat as the words refused to leave her. There were parts that she was physically incapable of revealing, for the blocks the ghoul built into her mind dammed such dialogue from flowing. And more than that, she was compelled to reveal half-truths. Partial insights into the chaos of the situation to better manipulate her father–and Highflame itself.

  “Jhred was attacked,” she said. “That’s why. That’s what provoked my downfall. I have no excuse for my first failure. I offered him too much choice. Too much opportunity. He was–he had plans to attack the Fire’s Height. I think. It seemed his time as a Syndicate head was building up to an assassination from the intelligence I gathered.”

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  A nearly imperceptible twitch passed through Uthred’s lower lip. But Abrel saw, and so Vator definitely felt it too.

  Like a hound sniffing blood, the youngest Greatling seized the opportunity to speak, joining the conservation as if an actor entering stage right. “Ah. Poor Jhred. If he could have only parted his potential from the pain of losing mother.”

  “Enough!” Uthred snarled, countenance cracking into incandescent rage. The shape of his nose cut toward his son like a slashing blade as he stepped close. “I do not know what urge has consumed you this day, but it ends now. No more of this. No more excuses for him. It was his life, as he always insisted. And so it was his life to waste. And our shame to bear.”

  All the while, Vator was looking at her, grinning as if she owed him a favor. She understood then what he was trying to do; he played the role of antagonist to grant her an opening toward an alliance with their father. A unified front would see an unnatural camaraderie engendered, and place father and imprisoned daughter on the same side.

  He was trying to reduce the heat on her.

  “Yes,” Abrel said. “It was Jhred’s fault. I should have known that. He didn’t want to get better. All he wanted was Ambassador Valhu Kitzuhara.

  Suddenly, Uthred went very still. “I see. He said. And he was… going to attack the Fire’s Height then?”

  “I can’t be sure, Au–uh, father.” Abrel felt her heart break as her father’s shoulders rounded. A display of relief.

  Losing a son was one thing. Needing to fight him, to kill him personally because he was at the diplomatic convention you were attending to kill the host would have developed into a trauma pattern even for one hardy as Uthred Greatling.

  “Regardless, after I made the mistake of giving him more time, the attack happened. The crippling Nether offensive compromised the districts, and the Thoughtwave Detonation took the Nether down. During this time, I found myself wondering if Jhred was in danger–or if this was part of his operation somehow, and returned to detain him.” Abrel paused here, letting the tension build up for effect. “But when I arrived, he was already on the cusp of death. Tortured.”

  “Tortured?” Uthred stepped around the table and came to her, the human almost slipping through from the Godclad. Abrel always thought her father shared eyes with Jhred, and it was almost as if her oldest brother was here in spirit, mourning his own fate. But such were fanciful delusions. If even Jaus could not be granted such a reprieve, who then was Jhred Greatling to be blessed?

  Catching himself halfway, Uthred froze approximately three footsteps away. “Tortured,” he forced the words out, anger audible. “Who did it? Who shed Greatling blood?”

  Avo. The ghoul beyond ghouls. The beast that burns dreams and twists wills. The monster that scours the Nether.

  There was so much she would have told her father. So much she wanted to reveal. But her words found release along another avenue, and she spoke to portray a twisted history of what unfolded. “It was a team. A cell. They were responsible. They managed to ambush Jhred in his own base. When I got there, his mind was already compromised… there were two not wearing any armor. One of them might’ve been Jhred’s personal attack dog. Some FATELESS. The other–”

  “Yes,” Vator interrupted, a cheerful grin on his face. “‘Aedon Chambers.’ Supposed acolyte of the Low Masters and quite the interesting specimen. His genitalia is oddly large.”

  “Oh, wow, thanks, Vat,” Abrel deadpanned. “The knowledge that the half-strand who murdered my brother has a huge cock is super useful.”

  “You’re welcome, sister dearest. Would it benefit you to know that he is a Godclad?”

  This she already knew, though it came as a surprise when she first engaged him at Light’s End. Just another one of Avo’s many impossible tricks. Almost all the Souls he burned into his companions that day were taken from her cadre. A pang of disgust followed, and her hatred boiled, but she continued the ruse–the sequencing of her mind at Avo’s hands demanded it. “No. How? Wait, how do you know this?”

  “Oh, I did a little research,” Vator said. “Our mutual nuisance resurfaced a few days ago at Veng’s Stand. Also in the Warrens. He had an… let’s say ‘interesting encounter’ with one Seeker Shotin Kazahara whereupon he triggered a wombrash outbreak to cover his escape when the Paladins arrived. I did some more investigation into his past as well. The media he consumes is so delectably degenerate.” The youngest Greatling threw his head back and cackled. “The ‘Soft Master Collection.’ Ah. Priceless.”

  “I–” Uthred trailed off with a scoff. The head of what once was House Greatling shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Abrel. Tell me everything. In detail. Leave nothing out about your encounter. Vator. You will inform the both of us on what you know about this Chambers. Once that is done, I speak on the duty I have been entrusted with, and the potential for our family to be atoned.” He leaned in close. “I fear that Jhred might have been in contact with something of greater worth than even he knew.”

  “What?”

  Uthred shook his head. “That is not for you to know. Nor is it your task. You need simply tell us of your encounter. Nothing more.”

  Abrel understood, and so she continued painting a disfigured truth.

  So, the city was determined to make a target of Aedon Chambers. She could use that. Use him to pull attention away from Avo, but still give her father, brother, and Guild someone to go after.

  The wrong person.

  ***

  +First. There is a problem. You need to come down now. To the Circuits.+

  Bright-Wealth’s harried message came with a splash of heavy anxiety. The ghosts leaked from Green River’s active session in a constant flow as a progress bar filled her cog-feed, memories being transferred. The time was just before dawn. She wondered what matter so important to do demand her attention now.

  Yawning slightly, she slithered through the darkness and reattached herself to the rest of her body, feeling the “human” component of herself draw a sharp breath of surprise as the memories loaded in the same instant the vessel activated.

  She wasted no time thereafter and took flight down her penthouse, glad she kept her dress on tonight instead of cleaning the body and putting it to bed.

  Regardless, her mind cleared more with each step. She should have known things were awry considering all the dread in Bright-Wealth’s mind. The younger Sang wasn’t someone she would describe as anxious or easily terrified, but considering the situation, she was holding together rather well.

  The Second Fortune ostensibly had its doors open to any and all guests, but the presence of a certain few was as if a silver bullet for businesses, and a bad omen for their continued operation.

  She found him reclined at the very edge of the audience seats overlooking the Circuit area below. As the sounds of a fight continued, she noted that three entire rows had cleared out behind him, with guests fleeing up the walkways, making for the doors. Layers of intersection perception left him bathed in the notice of countless minds, but none dared to offer a single utterance related to his presence.

  Her heels clicked with every step and she readied herself, pulling her lips in a wide smile while casting emergency orders to the rest of her sisterhood running the establishment. +Wealth. Have Lucille temporarily lock the doors leading to the upper wings overlooking the arena. Thank you.+

  She didn’t bother turning around to watch hallways swell and close themselves off. All her focus was needed for a single task, a single conversation.

  As she came to a stop at the very final row of seats, she briefly glanced at the two bioforms fighting below. One was a large simian creature–a gorilliod incarnate–facing one of Ruveca’s new snake-centipede designs. Dragging her attention away, she greeted the unwatched guest with a bemused smile, though her thoughts were tense with uncertainty.

  Blood was pouring down from his eyes, his nose, his ears, and his mouth. But he sat there, blinking, eating roasted meatballs in a bag using a toothpick, and shaking his head every time an impact sounded from below.

  “Chief Naeko,” Green River said, greeting the highest-ranked Paladin in New Vultun with a slight bow. “I would have never expected one of your stature to visit our humble establishment. You do us a great honor.”

  Languidly, the man turned his eyes away from the fight and over to her. He returned her false modesty with his own lazy smile. “Nah. I’m just being trouble. I know that.” He patted the seat next to him, the size of his hand enough to close around her skull. She needed to be careful. She needed to be prepared to lose her expendable vessel and dive for the shadows. “Come on. Sit down. Let’s talk. Don’t worry, I’m not busting you up or shutting you down or anything. The paperwork would kill me. I just have some questions.”

  She didn’t sit down. Not immediately. “Will these questions you ask see me killed then, perchance? Something that my superiors will not want answered.”

  Naeko ran his fingers through his short crop of black hair and shrugged. He smeared the blood constantly pouring down from his face and snorted. “Well. Suppose we’re about to figure that out from whether you say anything to my question or not.”

  Green River nodded. “The question, then?”

  “Have you had someone under your employ conduct a…” the Paladin paused as his halo spun, ghosts pulling mem-data across the accretion. “...a ‘Bone Demon’ graft for a customer? Should be a sheath from the details I got.”

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  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: Naeko starts emerging from his long sleep...

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