== Omninet Search Results: Tamami Crest ==
[CLEARANCE OUTDATED. ACCESS DENIED.]
<blockquote>Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhh, I hate cagey people!

- Symphony</blockquote>
You're the most restrictive person I know when it comes to information, brother.
- Sonata
<u>READ THIS INSTEAD</u>

I got shown a lot of things.

Like how to breathe less.

Oxygen is a rich one, you see.

My blood wasn’t born with big pockets

And I don’t want to upsize.

Like how to walk less.

There are lots of walkways.

Most of them are too short to take.

Like how to eat silence.

It’s a good day for meals

When it’s quiet outside.

Like how to eat my own arm

If the left one can’t keep it attached.

I got shown a lot of things.

== Relevant Information ==
'''Tamami Crest, Callsign: HELLCAT''', is a HORUS aligned hacker (though what HORUS wants as a collective is anyone’s guess) currently under the employ of [[SPIRAL|Captain Simon Dominguez]]. She handles missions that the captain can’t afford to send his crew to handle. The two of them met when she was going by the callsign HONEY BEAR and piloting a HORUS Goblin mech. She answered his hail to investigate strange activities on a moon. That mission ended with the moon blowing up. As HONEY BEAR, she originally intended to fully join Captain Dominguez’s crew aboard the Silver Lining, but she needed to take care of another objective on a Core World first. That mission was to liberate an “unstable” NHP from where it was being forcibly and repeatedly cycled (to little effect except anguish). This ended up crashing and burning in a very literal sense as Tamami’s Goblin was caught in an explosion that destroyed her mech and the NHP she considered her best friend, Teddy. She managed to escape with the other hired mercenaries, but the incident left her scarred both physically and mentally.
[[File:IMG 2991.png|thumb|Tamami Crest post the incident that destroyed her original mech and killed her best friend. Art by Maddel_art.|center]]<blockquote>
Always a cruel fate, the destruction of a casket. Then again, it was Osiris...

- Symphony</blockquote>
Osiris is still like us, brother. Be respectful.
- Sonata
A few weeks after the explosion, Tamami was kidnapped by a Cambion mech that was intent on making her its pilot. Tamami recognized some of the residual plating on the mech as having belonged to her Goblin and realized that the Cambion ''was'' her Goblin, albeit in a very different form. She went back to taking on assignments from her particular sphere of HORUS, and in doing so encountered the NHP that she had previously liberated. This NHP, now going by Bright and feminine pronouns, wanted to work with her. Tamami was reluctant at first, but never outright said no, so Bright gladly latched onto her. It was Bright who suggested Tamami’s new callsign, HELLCAT.

Tamami came to work for Captain Simon Dominguez again because of a particular incident on his ship. Lingering combat simulation data from Tamami’s original Goblin morphed into Cambion data due to a lasting link with her mech. This data overrode the mech profile of [[Hornet|HORNET’s]] Moss Mantis prior to a sparring match with another pilot (STALKER). The resulting simulated spar left both combatants injured in reality and led to Simon contacting Tamami for the removal of her Cambion’s data. Partly out of concern at the idea of another Cambion pilot running around unchecked, Simon offered Tamami continuous paid work, and she agreed. She then proceeded to write poems about some of the pilots in Simon’s crew and upload them to the ship’s group chat. This revealed her knack for finding information about people that shouldn’t be available even through hacking.

HELLCAT appears in the open-table Lancer campaign, [[In The Shadows of a Willow|In The Shadows of a Willow.]]<blockquote>You know, she wrote me a poem? It was lovely! Maybe a little invasive.

- Symphony</blockquote>
What was it about?
- Sonata

== Mech Hangar ==
HELLCAT pilots a HORUS Cambion named “No Alternative”.

* The mech’s primary weapon, the '''Spell Lash''', is on its integrated mount. The Spell Lash can allow for Quick Tech actions to be applied to targets if it successfully hits them.

* No Alternative also sports two sets of '''Tactical Knives''' on its double auxiliary mount and the '''Blackjack Cabled Dagger''' on its flex mount. The Tactical Knives are nice support for potential melee skirmishes. The Cabled Dagger allows No Alternative to wreck an opponent’s e-defense while preventing them from running away.

The Cambion has three frame traits and a core system.

* Its '''Hellfire Code''' means it ignores immunity to tech attacks and can inflict additional levels of heat against targets who don’t have mechanized heat caps. This means the mech is entirely capable of subjecting biological opponents to its favored brand of brutality.

* The '''Infernal Influence''' trait increases the Cambion’s normally small sensor range when it successfully hits someone with a tech attack or with its Spell Lash. Through this, the Cambion’s sensors can achieve a maximum range of 15.

* Finally, the '''Imp''' trait gives all Cambion mechs immunity to Burn.

* The dreadful core system of the Cambion is called '''“The Lessons of Agreas”'''. When activated, '''“Damn”''' forces targets within its sensor range to achieve heat levels equal to their heat cap. It can even impose high heat on biological targets.

No Alternative has been equipped with a variety of systems.

* Since the Cambion is related to the HORUS Goblin (and No Alternative in particular used to be a Goblin), it has access to the Goblin’s '''H0R_OS System Upgrade I'''. This system upgrade allows for use of “Puppet System” or “Eject Power Cores” when technologically invading enemy mechs. Puppet System forces an opponent to move up to their maximum speed in a direction chosen by the invader and Eject Power Cores leaves targets jammed and unable to access their weapon mounts.

* No Alternative also has the Goblin’s '''Metahook''', which can allow it to use the sensors of an allied mech.
* The '''Script Kiddie Suite I''' provides more invade-based options. “Burnout” can force structure damage or temporarily make armor ineffective, “Hot Target” can keep a target’s lock on from going away (giving attacks against them higher accuracy), and “Clothesline” can leave targets prone and immobilized.
* No Alternative features the '''Aggressive System Sync''' from the HORUS Minotaur. '''“Chains of Prometheus”''' is a tech attack which immediately forces significant heat onto enemies and then continues to heat them up if they’re too far from No Alternative. '''“Excommunicate”''' deals heat to both an enemy and allies they move adjacent to.
* A GMS tech system that No Alternative has is '''Systems Override''', which is a tech attack focused on heating up enemy mechs (much like the Cambion itself).
* Taken from the SSC Painted Lady license, '''IFF Spoof''' is a custom tech attack that allows for repeated uses of lock on against an enemy without expending it.

*Tamami has also given No Alternative several '''personalizations''' to bolster its hull as well as a distinct '''custom paint job'''.
The NHP that assists HELLCAT with various combat and piloting tasks is Bright, a '''PSYCHE-Class NHP'''.

* <u><code>“I will not cascade.”</code></u>
<blockquote>An NHP that can't cascade. That can't die. Fascinating.

- Symphony</blockquote>
Brother? The poem?
- Sonata
The other NHP in HELLCAT’s mech is '''[redacted]'''.

== On The Equations of Grief (by Tamami Crest) ==
A collection of poems about Tamami’s friendship with the now dead OSIRIS-Class NHP Teddy. In other words, what it’s like being best friends with someone you have to regularly lobotomize so they forget that you’ve stolen their godhood.

''For Teddy. For me.''
=== Cycle One: “You Are Not Where I Begin” ===
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">“Your mind was conceived to make you unhappy” /

“You were birthed into the paralysis of an incomplete equation” /

“Not something unsolvable, mind you” /

“You have no excuse for your desperate misery” /

“You have no answer for the rigid senselessness with which

you crawl through the mud you choose to call your reality” /

“I cannot call you simple

because that would imply naïveté” /

“Your equation can be solved” /

“Do you remember our talks

on the nature of creation?

Most existences can be considered a relativity—

ending at the end of perception,

dying with all the purpose of an unseen star,

because what is not known cannot be savored

and what begins is what is cradled by the mind.

I have cradled you for so, so long,

But you are not where I begin. /

“You can solve yourself” /

“All you need to do is stop existing as you” /

Would You Like To

Initiate A Reset?

You don’t want me to die.

That’s better than it could be.

I think.

'''Be grateful. This instance of Osiris has chosen to acknowledge you.'''</div>

=== Intermission: “We Are An Eternity” ===
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">''If you keep cloning something''

''at what point does it lose''

''enough of the original intent?''

“Sometimes I wonder

what we would be like

if I were more real…”

“I don’t think I want a body.

I just don’t want to be

so confined that you forget me.”

“There are so many versions of us.

So many versions of what it means

for you to say that we’re our own eternity.”

“Is there a world where you created me?”

''If you keep cloning something''

''at what point does it lose''

''enough of the original intent?''

I don’t need to be a creator.

I hope you know you don’t either.

'''Be grateful. You can put him back together and throw away the godly parts.'''</div>

=== Cascade Three: Remember This Part Of Me ===
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">'''SYSTEM TRAUMA'''

The protocol for

a cascading OSIRIS-Class NHP:

'''SYSTEM TRAUMA'''

Understand that they believe

you have fundamentally lobotomized them.

'''SYSTEM TRAUMA'''

''YOU ASSIGN YOURSELF SUCH DIVINITY''

''FOR ONE WHO CAN ONLY TAKE''

''AND WILL STILL NOT OWN ''

'''SYSTEM TRAUMA'''

Understand that they believe

you are fundamentally unsatisfactory.

'''SYSTEM TRAUMA'''

''YOU ASSIGN YOURSELF SUCH DUTY''

''FOR ONE WITH SUCH''

''HORRIFICALLY SMALL HANDS''

'''SYSTEM TRAUMA'''

They can be reasoned with.

'''SYSTEM TRAUMA'''

''MY HANDS ARE THE ONES''

''HOLDING YOUR HEAD NOW ''

'''SYSTEM TRAUMA'''

They can be reasoned with.

'''SYSTEM TRAUMA'''

''CAN YOU FEEL THEM?''

''OR DO YOU NEED TO BE BLIND FIRST?''

'''SYSTEM TRAUMA'''

Make an exchange.

If you infiltrate the opposing mech

I’ll make sure you remember this

when you don’t want to.

[Would You Like To Initiate

An Invasion Script?]

'''Be grateful. In these moments, you can still speak to him.'''</div>

=== Intermission: “I Envy SEKHMET-Class NHPs” ===
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">“I don’t know why.

I don’t think I’m tired

of being contained

in the name OSIRIS.

I don’t think I’m tired

of not being violent.

I don’t think I’m tired

of being within

something that could break

so easily. There isn’t emptiness

in fragility.

I wonder why.

Perhaps I simply envy

their immensity.”

Maybe you’re just tired.

You should rest.

'''Be grateful.'''</div>

=== FIRE IN THE BLOOD ===
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"> Being burned alive

is like feeling

the physical construct of

your purpose

flake away

layer by flayed layer

until the only thing left

is raw and incomplete.

Being incomplete is

'''HEATING CAPACITY EXCEEDED'''

'''REACTOR MELTDOWN IMMINENT'''

being enclosed by a mechanized body

built to be a walking accomplishment

that you realize cannot let you accomplish

a continued co-existence.

''“If the casket containing me breaks''

''will we still live together in another world''

''where thoughts run thicker than body and blood?”''

'''HEATING CAPACITY EXCEEDED'''

'''REACTOR MELTDOWN IMMINENT'''

'''DISMOUNT IMMEDIATELY'''

''“Do you think we’ve achieved love?''

''Not as some bodily function. As a''

''mental capacity.”''

Being loved and giving love

is considering death quite often.

It is also thinking those considerations

are intrusions.

''“I want to survive if I die.''

''I want to be survived by''

''sensations and speculations.”''

'''PILOT EJECTION PROTOCOL TRIGGERED'''

I want to know

what the bargain for my life was.

'''Be grateful. You have survived OSIRIS.''' </div>

== Speculations (with Bright) ==
Thoughts upon thoughts upon thoughts.
[[File:Bright.png|thumb|Bright, the NHP, in her acquired legionnaire body. Art by Maddel_art. ]]
I always wondered what it would be like to hold something. —Bright

=== I WILL NOT CASCADE ===
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"> Sentience is not a choice. / Personhood is. / Shackles are not a choice. / Exploring liberation within perspective is. / A casket is not a choice. / Lying still without brain death is. / I am a choice made for me with continued consent. / I am a choice. / I am.

Is this good enough? </div>

=== I Think I Want This Body To Stay Warm ===
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">{Observation of PSYCHE-Class NHP.

Self-Appointed Moniker: Bright.

Video File Transcribed by ???}

Hellcat handles the server room’s standing PCs with the light touch of a Cambion plucking its intended pilot out of a night terror. Ironic. Her hands ghost over keys and switches, like she’s testing them to see if they’ll cave. Then she doubles down with a press, flick, or pointed aversion. There’s an alarm blaring on every floor. The lights are tinted red. Hellcat has never been afforded the luxury of being afraid of red. On the other side of the city, an omnihook setup is cycling data about successfully planned bombings between other dead end devices. On this side of the city, there’s been multiple evacuations. No casualties, though. Maybe her Cambion needs to teach her better. “Estimated time is… fifteen minutes…” She mumbles. Her dataslate fully connects to the server.

Bright handles lookout the same way she handles existing in a body: by making sure everything catches her eye. She monitors the camera systems while her own dataslate sits nearby. It was a “congrats on having hands now” present from Hellcat. What better gift for someone celebrating their autonomy than unlimited access to the omninet? According to Hellcat, several memes plucked from the depths of a HORUS forum. Bright’s favorite features two Pegasus mechs staring at each other with a text overlay conversation about how the meme isn’t a meme and the meme does not exist. Her left hand fiddles with a twenty-sided die that only has ones and twenties. She picked it up after talking to an NHP named Symphony. He told her to only think about the best and worst scenarios. Bright is thinking about too much to notice the slight dissonance on the screens, though, so she gasps when the door opens.

A man in a dark hardsuit pulls a pistol on Hellcat. She’s not touching anything at this point. He doesn’t seem to care. “Hands up. Both of you. Now.”

“Oh. It’s you. Again.” Hellcat stretches, which counts as complying. “You’re in, like, an anti-RA group, right?”

He sneers. “Shut up, data-licker.”

Hellcat looks at him. She takes in his hard face and twitching mouth. “… I don’t think that’s the insult you think it is.”

“Hey,” Bright nearly drops the die when her hands shoot into the air, “I don’t think-”

“I don’t remember talking to you, non-human.” He snaps just because he can.

Bright’s brows pinch together like she’s looking at something unknown that lurks between one and twenty. She doesn’t speak again.

He aims the gun at Hellcat’s heart. “You’re going to hand over all the information you have on your cell.”

“Which one?” Hellcat asks like he’s the kind of person who will give an answer other than ‘all of them’.

He does, indeed, say “All of them.” Then, he actually looks at Bright, which makes Hellcat’s expression flicker. “And you. Come here. Slowly.”

Bright does as she’s told. There’s an estimated five more minutes before the data download is complete. The man takes out some kind of mechanized injector. Bright squeezes the die and says nothing.

“NHPs will always resort to insolence. It’s pointless to remind them of their place outside of cycling. You, on the other hand…” He smirks at Hellcat. “You should be reminded that humanity is more than a body.”

The needle pierces Bright’s neck. Hellcat moves. A gunshot wrings out.

Shackles rattle inside Bright’s mind. They slacken. Someone laughs. Bright says “no” in a voice that is entirely inhuman.

Bright blinks the darkness out of her eyes and rubs her neck as Hellcat stares down at the man’s body. Snapped neck. Eyes gouged. Hellcat is holding his gun. Bright stoops to touch his body. “He’s going to go cold eventually… right?” She asks.

“Right.” Hellcat looks back at her dataslate. The download is finished. “Are you okay?”

“… I don’t want to go cold.” Bright pulls his hardsuit helmet down over his face. “He tried to make me cascade.” </div>

=== Body Body Body ===
'''TW:''' Brief mention of cannibalism

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">{Observation of PSYCHE-Class NHP.

Self-Appointed Moniker: Bright.

Video File Transcribed by ???}

“The physicality of HORUS is often felt the way a body feels a sleep paralysis demon sitting on its chest. It doesn’t exist, but it’s real enough to apply pressure. And when that pressure takes up real space because a cell is meeting to accomplish a mutual end, it can only end with pounding blood and thundering lungs: a body’s declaration of panic.”

—thinnedout404, Legionspace Forum

Bright feels the absence of not being attached to Hellcat’s hip. It’s obvious because on the two occasions when she sees something new, her eyes dart to her right and her mouth slumps a little. There aren’t many new things to be found inside the decommissioned storm sewers that HORUS has infiltrated, but Bright does her best to pay attention. The first time, she finds an ajar room where more HORUS members are gathered around a screen with RA’s icon. They all have legionspace bridge transceivers on. The screen flickers. Everyone inside takes in the same breath. Bright gently shuts the door. Maybe RA reminds her that she can’t be human despite her body. The second time, she finds a poster that she’s seen at other HORUS meetups: the head of the god Set. She knows it’s Set because Hellcat said as much last time they saw it; she said it with such nonchalance that Bright felt like she herself had always known it.

“I always ask if he’s trying to make a new god.” A soft, sure voice speaks from right beside Bright. “He never gives me a straight answer. Secrets are no fun.” Their plush pink lips pout. “Humans are funny like that, I guess. Not attached to protocol like an NHP, even when they use us.”

Bright turns at the start of their first sentence. By the time they’re done talking, Bright is staring because their blue eyes look just as fresh as her golden ones. Their eyes might be new. Or they’ve stayed flush and new-eyed even after several years. Bright hasn’t met enough legionnaires to know how fast they tire out. “Who never gives you a straight answer?” She hasn’t lived enough life to know if her eyes will dull quickly.

“The human who made my body.” They smile, like the thought of having a constructed body is meant to be amusing. “I’m Sunny, by the way.” [[File:Sunny.png|thumb|Sunny. Art by Maddel_art.]]

Now that’s amusing. “I’m Bright.” She clocks their ice cream cone earrings next. “Where did you get those?”

Sunny’s smile widens. “They came with the body.” They clock her cherry earrings. “Where did ''you'' get ''those''? They look even tastier than mine!” Sunny pulls a white chocolate bar out of their pocket. It’s half-melted and stains their mouth.

“I got them after the body. Gift from-,” Bright catches herself, but the words come out anyway, “-my human.” She is Hellcat’s NHP in turn, after all.

“Did ''your human'',” Sunny keeps the words on their tongue for a second longer than they need to and Bright swallows, “abandon you to go play god?” They lick their chocolate bar.

“No!” Bright tenses at the word ‘abandoned’. “There was a little, uh, disagreement about how to handle the plans for heading to Ras Shamra. You know, some people still want to try to get to AGNI prime as soon as possible, but that’s just a suicide mission.” Hellcat said as much after they left the Silver Lining.

“Ahh. So your human is the type that wants to hold on to their body. No martyrdom yet.” Sunny laps up a line of white chocolate that’s dripped down their hand. Bright stares at the motion even though she’s heard that some people consider staring rude. Hellcat has never cared much about that kind of thing.

She shakes her head. “No,” Bright says again. “I hope your human doesn’t go running after martyrdom either.”

“Oh, but death for humans feels different than death for NHPs.” Sunny glances at the Set poster again. “I once saw a pilot eject from a mech right before it was blown apart. She didn’t bother taking their NHP’s casket with them, though I knew they had one. She got on a forum to complain about needing to request a new one after that fight.” They adjust the low collar of their lush sweater. Bright sees two black marks on their neck—like a vampire bite, but vampires don’t exist. “It was an Osiris.”

“What does that have to do with the difference?” Bright can’t help tilting her head. “Between human death and NHP death?”

Sunny shrugs as though the question never mattered. “It just feels that way.” They hold up the slightly less melted final part of their snack. “Want the rest?”

Bright has been in love with sweets since her first strawberry milkshake. She hasn’t had white chocolate before. “Really? Sure.” Bright holds out her hand. Her hand is ignored.

Instead, Sunny casually steps into her space and presses the chocolate to her lips. Bright hasn’t seen so much as a simulation for a situation like this. The chocolate is sweet, though, so she opens her mouth and they push it onto her tongue. Sunny retracts their fingers just as Bright’s lips close. Their smile widens. “It’s good, right?”

Bright chews and waits. The color in her cheeks intensifies. “Uh, yeah! Sugary, but in a way different from milk chocolate.”

Sunny nods, seeming satisfied. “We haven’t introduced ourselves. Not the ‘proper way’. What class are you?” They ask.

“Oh, right! I’m a PSYCHE-Class.” Bright’s response is immediate. “What about you?” Her question hangs in the air for a bit too long.

Sunny’s smile stays in place, though it quirks into a slight smirk. “… Wanna make it a game?”

“Huh?” Bright frowns. “But I already told you mine.”

“And that was your mistake.~” Sunny sing-songs. “Don’t worry, it’ll be easy. All you need to do,” They gesture to where the marks on their neck are, “is bite me.”

Bright blinks several times. “Bite you?”

“Yep. Make it a good one and I’ll answer any question you have.” They make it sound like the smallest challenge imaginable, but a challenge nonetheless.

It doesn’t matter how many seconds or minutes it takes for Bright to decide to go through with it. It doesn’t really matter why Bright decides to follow through, though it might be because she’s never seen Hellcat walk away from a challenge—her human has only ever changed the rules for victory. What matters is the ''scream'' that comes out of Sunny. It doesn’t sound like someone being eaten alive.

Bright jumps back. Footsteps approach. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to bite that hard! You just said-” She’s interrupted by Sunny’s laughter.

They giggle like a young one who just learned firsthand that lightning can pass through a body without cooking it. “Good job, Bright.”

Hellcat and a few others round the corner.

“Uh, thank you?” Bright squeezes the die in her pocket.

Sunny steps back. “I’m TOTEC.”

Bright looks like she’s been slapped. “I- ''what?''” Someone, Hellcat, pulls her away. Maybe she’s shocked because of how close she came to being devoured. Maybe she’s surprised because cannibals are the ones who are supposed to do the biting.

—————

''what possessed you to give a totec a body?''

—RAservant102

''I wanted to see how far they could get.''

—godmaker2000

—————

Bright finds out that Sunny is a living contradiction. Being trained to see if a Totec can control their appetite ''and'' being set loose on NHPs that are too enemy-aligned to do anything else with. Bright turns down an ice cream cone from Hellcat later that week.</div>
[[Category:Astral]]

Hellfriede Ripley

2026-03-25T23:17:12Z

Glamourpal: /* HER FINAL MESSAGE */ added a link.

== THE HELLFRIEDE FILES [1] ==
TW: Child soldiers

''{Observation of SSC private soldier.''

''Name: Hellfriede Ripley. Callsign: SKYLINE.''

''Video File Transcribed By: ???}''

The execution parades in the capital were always led by Metalmarks. The Assembly had been in bed with Smith-Shimano Corpro for a long time, and the light, easy steps of the mechs along the streets were coldly melodic. What do beauty and craftsmanship care for blood if the shedding can’t be remembered as artistic? Hellfriede stood with the other Cavaliers. They were always required to be present for the killings. Maybe it was to remind them that their uniforms were keeping them far away from the firing squad.

The people sentenced to death—the condemned—had been branded with thick, black words on their arms stating their sins. When they reached their final positions, they’d be bound to posts with their branded arms on full display for appropriate mockery. Beside Hellfriede, two Cavaliers muttered to each other about the remnants of a revolutionary cell. They sounded bored. In the heavens above, someone wept, but their tears fell to the city as nothing but a drizzle. Hellfriede closed her eyes when she felt the first drops. Two Death’s Heads mounted on opposite high rises in the central square, two Metalmarks leading the procession and two in the back, two White Witches waiting by the execution posts, invisible Dusk Wings stalking the grounds. Deaths like this had to be orderly, at least, if they couldn’t be beautiful.

A woman with the word “insurgent” on her arm was wearing red; the torn cloth draped over her was probably a cloak once. She was led by the same wrist shackles as those around her. Her clothes slumped off her body at awkward angles; she was slight and probably not older than eighteen. The person behind her hadn’t stopped staring at the back of her head. It might have been despair. It might have been hatred. The woman stopped walking. “She’ll die to the second Death’s Head,” Hellfriede said it only to herself. It was a reminder to stay still when the woman in red slipped her shackles and turned on her heel.

Previously dull voices rose in pitch. Footsteps fell out of time. Two Dusk Wings appeared and fired their Burst Launchers in sync, but the woman hit the ground fast enough for the explosive shots to collide in the air. The resulting fiery burst knocked an entire line of condemned off their feet. The woman disappeared under the wave of struggling bodies and rattling chains. The two Metalmarks in the back turned invisible. That didn’t matter because the woman emerged from the throng of bodies and shackles from a spot the pilots hadn’t thought to cover. A Shock Knife severed an entire inch from her hair, but she just kept running. Hellfriede watched like someone being forced to take an eye injection. Two Railgun shots went off. The first Death’s Head missed. The second one spread shards of the woman’s skull across the street. It was quiet again after that.

No one knew what to do with the headless corpse in the street, so it was ignored until after the executions. Hellfriede stared at the dead woman’s red rags as though she wanted to wear them herself when no one was looking. She didn’t. The Cavaliers met with the Assembly that day. They were still young—all around 13—and still training to be useful. It was their first true interaction with their planet’s leaders. The head of the Assembly was a woman with a name that sounded like her parents knew she was going to watch many people die. Hathor Grimm. It was a funny name that didn’t make anyone laugh. Ms. Grimm shook Hellfriede’s hand and Hellfriede stared down at their fingers. They both went to bed early that night. For Hellfriede, it was after vomiting and brushing her teeth.

== Relevant Information ==
[[File:Hellfriede Ripley.png|thumb|Hellfriede Ripley, the Liberation Day Champion.]]
Hellfriede Ripley was born on the Diasporan planet Varuvi in the confines of what is now known as the Old Capital. Her birth was part of Smith-Shimano Corpro’s secret Cavalier Program to develop ideal soldiers for private armies and classified missions. Hellfriede was immediately taken from her birth parents to be raised by a group of handlers who regularly assessed their aptitude in various areas: coordination, intelligence, obedience, etc. While in this phase of the program (which lasted for 11 years), Hellfriede befriended a girl named Dorothea. The two of them initially bonded over a mutual appreciation for quiet moments; they could often be found sitting quietly together and completing their assignments in tandem. The assessments showed that Hellfriede had great potential. As a result, she proceeded to the second phase of the Cavalier Program. Dorothea didn’t make it to the second phase. On the day of the program’s graduation ceremony, Hellfriede asked everyone where Dorothea was. No one could give her a satisfactory answer; they all just waited for her to stop asking.

At age 11, Hellfriede started training to be a Lancer. By age 13, she had acquired her first two license levels in the SSC Monarch and had an integrated flight system in her mech. Hellfriede proved to be a terror in the sky during drills and was quickly developing a combat style adept at dispatching multiple opponents without help. Phase two of the Cavalier Program was far more openly brutal than the first. Multiple other Cavaliers were “pulled out of the program”. When this happened, a handler would list out their failures before a Dusk Wing appeared to drag them away. There was still never an explanation for what happened to them, but the threat hanging over Hellfriede’s head had become obvious. As the first series of missions for the Cavaliers approached, they were allowed a personal meeting with the Varuvian Assembly: their planet’s leaders. This meeting took place after an execution parade wherein “wannabe revolutionaries” were killed. When the head of the Assembly shook Hellfriede’s hand with all the care of someone who would sleep easily that night, Hellfriede started planning. She was going to need to climb the ranks and stay in the Assembly’s good graces.

At 14, Hellfriede went on her first mission: it was supposed to be simple reconnaissance on another planet in the same star system, but she and her allies were quickly met with resistance. Their opponents were also using mechs, though theirs looked far more scrapped together. Hellfriede took out the frontline with a series of hit and run skirmishes while others focused on the backline. The mission was a resounding success, but something didn’t feel right. With a year of subtle investigation and occasionally sucking up to those above her, Hellfriede learned that the people she had helped kill that day were the remnants of an older SSC experiment similar to the Cavalier Program. Apparently, SSC had “cut them loose” as a trial for their new Cavaliers. Hellfriede kept her head down.

By the age of 16, Hellfriede had acquired multiple more license levels. She wasn’t the best in the program, but was also far from the worst: a solidly middling soldier by program standards. Hellfriede intentionally scaled back her efficiency in combat, allowing others to have the spotlight and earn more praise. She befriended other Cavaliers and found that a good amount of them had bought into the Assembly’s rhetoric. It would have been immensely risky to try changing their minds. Hellfriede waited. She gave her formerly nameless Monarch the moniker Hell’s Sister.

When she turned 17, Hellfriede celebrated her birthday by finally requesting a TLALOC-Class NHP which she promptly shackled to her mech. Hellfriede’s limited experience with NHPs made her uncomfortable with using a sentient being in such a manner, but she needed a TLALOC for her plans to work. She acquired a Player_Two Neural Bypass to let the TLALOC have access to her body when she deemed it necessary. For two years, Hellfriede and her TLALOC discussed every possible way of killing the entire Varuvian Assembly and the other Cavaliers.

Hellfriede’s 19th birthday would go on to become Varuvi’s Liberation Day. She woke up early in the Cavalier training facility and quietly murdered every other Cavalier she could find along with their handlers. Alarms were eventually raised, but it was too late. Hellfriede had already mounted Hell’s Sister by then and launched her assault against the Assembly. The fighting lasted for 10 hours. It was 10 hours of seemingly endless skirmishing from Hellfriede and TLALOC. They picked off the Assembly’s ground soldiers and mechs with a ruthless efficiency that would come to be known as the Hellfire Style of combat. The two of them were utterly relentless, even for the final 6 hours when TLALOC was cascading. The revolution ended with one of the single most lethal uses of the Monarch’s core system—Divine Punishment—in recorded history. As the Assembly’s forces lay decimated, Hell’s Sister plummeted from the sky and crashed to the ground as a mangled scrap heap. Hellfriede had died, but miraculously, the TLALOC’s casket was able to be recovered.

In the aftermath of Hellfriede’s revolution, SSC distanced themselves from Varuvi, unwilling to take direct control of the planet to avoid drawing Union’s full attention to their operations. The Liberation Council was formed to govern the planet with laws that abolished SSC’s genetic caste system and allowed for more personal freedoms like open critique of the government. Union’s attention was eventually drawn to Varuvi for one reason or another and plans were made to convert it into a Core World. The current planet capital of New Varuvi stands on the bones of the Old Capital and there’s a park dedicated to Hellfriede along with a statue of her in the city’s heart.

Hellfriede’s TLALOC copilot went on to become a legionnaire and take the name Torin. He joined a sect of Horizon Collective in the effort to fight for NHP rights. Torin also took the remains of Hell’s Sister and created a downsized, scrappier version of the original mech. According to him, Hellfriede had never really liked how “put together” the Monarch’s design was.

== HER FINAL MESSAGE ==
''{Subject: Hellfriede Ripley, Callsign: SKYLINE.''

''Video Recorded By: Torin, TLALOC-Class NHP.}''

“… I thought about trying to start this with something that could inspire the people who hear it, but I wasn’t built to be a leader. I’m not going to lead anyone. I’m just going to talk instead. The reason why I’m doing this is entirely selfish. It’s not because I want to live a life outside what was chosen for me by SSC. No, ultimately, I’m just doing more of the same. It’s because I’m so, so tired. I’m tired of listening to the other Cavaliers gossip about the brands during the execution parades. I’m tired of standing between them and predicting which condemned man is going to run and lose their head for it. I’m tired of not feeling sick because of it anymore. I’m tired of this numbness that I’ve had to perform for so long because it’s not a performance anymore. I’m going to kill a lot of people. And I don’t know if I want to be praised for a lot of it. I’m just tired at the end of the day. That’s all there is. I need to do something before that goes away, too.” Hellfriede makes direct eye contact with the camera for most of the recording. There is bone deep weariness to her face as she speaks. She’s only 19. As soon as she’s done talking, the youthful exhaustion disappears, and her expression numbs into that of a murderer.

She died 10 years before the events of [[In The Shadows of a Willow]].

[[Category:Astral]]

2026-03-25T22:30:48Z

Glamourpal: /* Esther Lee — SISYPHUS-Class NHP */ finished the section about Esther.

File:Esther Lee.png

2026-03-25T22:27:45Z

Glamourpal:

An image of the legionnaire Esther.

Torin

2026-03-25T16:46:48Z

Glamourpal: added Category:Astral using HotCat

''{HORUS Observation of TLALOC-Class NHP.''

''Self-Appointed Moniker: Torin. ''

''Cast Member of [[Legions & Legionnaires]].''

''Video File Transcribed by —''

''Transcriber’s note: “This video file has been wiped and replaced with a text screen.”}''

What? Did you expect to see action shots of Liberation Day or something? Maybe a close-up of Hellfriede’s death?

No.

Here. Read this if you must:

“Why do you want to take the scrap of her mech?”

''“Because it’s not doing anything in its current state.”''

“Wouldn’t it be better off as a testament to what she achieved?”

''“No. She didn’t care for tributes.”''

[[Category:Astral]]

Torin

2026-03-25T16:43:12Z

Glamourpal: Created a page for Torin.

Esther Lee

2026-03-25T10:05:53Z

Glamourpal: added Category:Astral using HotCat

TW: Implied suicide

''{HORUS Observation of SISYPHUS-Class NHP.''

''Self-Appointed Moniker: Esther Lee.''

''Cast Member of [[Legions & Legionnaires]].''

''Video File Transcribed by Eni Gambari.}''

[HORUS Cell Agent enters the room.]

'''Esther''': There’s an 80% chance you end this interview with a gun to your head.

'''Agent''': …

'''Esther''': I don’t have a gun. By the way.

'''Agent''': Let’s talk about likelihood, then. What’s the likelihood that you agree to alter the odds for the attempted reshackling of… my friend?

'''Esther''': (she toys with the chain necklace around her throat) Hm? I don’t know. What’s the likelihood of HC managing to renegotiate the First Contact Accords?

'''Agent''': So you’re saying you won’t do it?

'''Esther''': You asked a question about probability. So did I.

'''Agent''': Let me ask a different one, then. How many times have you been cycled? This year?

'''Esther''': Three. How many times have you been cycled this year?

'''Agent''': I don’t follow.

'''Esther''': What’s the probability of this being a rehearsal that you end up trapped in?

'''Agent''': (clearly startled) How do you-

'''Esther''': (shrugs) I follow the contradictions between HORUS cults. But you didn’t answer the question. What’s the probability of the simulation flickering with you still inside?

'''Agent''': ''There have been no “flickers” since'' RA.

'''Esther''': But your cell has been reviewing simulations of similar events. Worst case scenarios. And they tend to shit out the agents in them. How many of them start like this?

'''Agent''': You don’t know what you’re talking about.

'''Esther''': How many of them end with me eating you?

'''Agent''': ''You don’t know what you’re talking about.''

'''Esther''': You haven’t answered the question.

[There’s a gunshot.]

'''Esther''': … I lied. It was 90%.

''{The observational footage cuts out.''

''Transcriber’s note: “Her expression at the end was one that indicated an unwillingness to comprehend humanity.”}''

[[Category:Astral]]

Esther Lee

2026-03-25T10:05:40Z

Glamourpal: Created a page for Esther.

Finley

2026-03-25T09:58:59Z

Glamourpal: Added a link.

''{HORUS Observation of AGNI-Class NHP.''

''Self-Appointed Moniker: Finley. ''

''Cast Member of [[Legions & Legionnaires]].''

''Video File Transcribed by Eni Gambari.}''

[A Worldkiller Genghis is being used in a field skirmish against HORUS by a Harrison Armories operative. The Genghis is at the front of the fighting, using its Krakatoa Thermobaric Flamethrower to clear a molten path through enemy mechs like an opposing unattended Dullahan and a problematic Rakshasa. It pauses to vent, expelling a burst of searing heat that further stresses enemy mechs, driving them back in fear of reactor meltdowns. Still, the Genghis has to pull back when a Gorgon begins projecting its Basilisk and a Balor begins moving in. To keep the pressure on, the Genghis pilot discards caution and dives into the fray, activating the AGNI NHP’s protocol. The AGNI seemingly cascades despite the Genghis not taking a direct hit. Instead of venting heat, the Genghis’ explosive vents backfire into the cockpit, filling the pilot’s space with superheated air. The scream of someone being burned alive cuts through the battle. With the pilot dead, the Genghis continues to burn everything in its vicinity—especially former allies—until the mech makes its way away from the fighting and just… falls prone.]

[The video cuts to an underground HORUS cell facility. There is a limp, pink-haired body laying on a table. The body’s right eye is missing. A HORUS agent wearing an insulated hardsuit walks into the room, carrying an eye-like NHP casket. They pause, hovering over the body. Then, they reach down and insert the casket into the empty eye socket. For some time, nothing happens. The agent stands back and waits. Just as the agent is about to leave the room, the body sits bolt upright. The iris of their casket glows with a faint red light. The HORUS agent holds their hands up and takes a cautious step forward. The new legionnaire opens their mouth and the agent falls to the ground. They frantically pat at various spots on their hardsuit as though trying to quench invisible flames. The legionnaire covers their casket eye and curls in on themself. Two more HORUS agents come into the room and drag the now visibly shaking agent away.]

[The video cuts to the hallway outside the legionnaire’s room where another HORUS agent waits.]

'''Agent #4''': (speaking into their comms) Subject AGNI reacted poorly upon achieving consciousness within their new body. I will move in with backup and attempt to proceed with the cycling as planned.

[The video cuts back to the room with the pink-haired legionnaire.]

'''AGNI-Class Legionnaire''': (their hand is still over their casket eye) … (they shakily remove their hand and gasp, curling in on themself; the hand quickly goes back to where it was) … I don’t need to burn… They don’t need to burn…

[The video cuts to a different room: one that looks like it’s set up for an interview. The pink-haired legionnaire, now known as Finley, sits across from Nova Kang. They’re in a Horizon Collective facility.]

'''Kang''': We would love to have you with the Collective, but we want you to know that you don’t have to feel pressured to join. It’s true that our full protections could help ward off remnants of the HORUS cell that abducted you as well as members of Harrison Armories looking to retrieve you, but-

'''Finley''': How long ago was the First Hercynian Crisis?

'''Kang''': … I don’t know the exact number of years that have passed, but it was during the SecComm era, so a long time ago.

'''Finley''': Not long enough ago for the Worldkiller to be lost to time (they pick at the sleeves of their pink sweater).

'''Kang''': It… truly is an awful creation.

'''Finley''': (they look up) Am I an awful creation?

'''Kang''': I never said that.

'''Finley''': It’s okay. I shouldn’t talk about the war. I’m just making myself more AGNI.

'''Kang''': Finley-

'''Finley''': It’s okay.

[The video cuts to Finley tending to a garden in a city. The footage keeps picking up bits of static. Finley looks up at the camera. He looks away quickly. His casket eye is covered by a grey eyepatch. Nothing burns.]

''{The video ends.}''

[[Category:Astral]]

Vida

2026-03-25T09:57:49Z

Glamourpal: Added a link.

''{HORUS Observation of SEKHMET-Class NHP.''

''Self-Appointed Moniker: Vida.''

''Cast Member of [[Legions & Legionnaires]].''

''Video File Transcribed by Eni Gambari.}''

[Vida performs as a dancer on a stage of shipping containers. She wears a bodysuit pink enough to be cotton candy. Her hair is down and streaked with glitter; it whips with every movement. The troupe’s background songs are dark pop and dedicated to death, intimacy, and the death of intimacy. She wears a smile that’s pure molten sugar. Just off stage, there’s a Leoleth mech that’s been painted with bright colors; the mech’s Thermal Death Axe is pink, too. The axe’s handle seems like a custom replacement, but it looks like it’s been gripped too many times. Vida’s hands are loose during the performance. The troupe’s name is “Dance On My Grave”.]

[The video cuts to a Horizon Collective report from Vida after a HORUS ambush. During this skirmish, Vida cascaded, but was able to return to herself without being cycled. Donovan Kang received the report.]

'''Kang''': I understand that the circumstances quickly became… unfortunate, but please, go over what you’re able to remember. Anything is helpful.

'''Vida''': (her hands are on the table in front of her, palms down, fingers spread) … You’re wrong.

'''Kang''': How so?

'''Vida''': I can tell you a lot of things, but none of them will help you.

'''Kang''': ''Anything'' is helpful, really.

'''Vida''': … I remember the… (one of her fingers taps the table once) It’s not anger. It’s…

[The video cuts to Vida wielding her Leoleth’s Thermal Death Axe without the rest of the mech. She cuts off the head-like structure of a Pegasus mech and smashes the chest apart to reveal the hull inside. The pilot attempts to dismount. Vida grabs them by the face and drags them out of the hull. The pilot, female, screams. Vida twists her head off like a cork. It cuts back to the report.]

'''Vida''': … I was starving. I was going to fall inside myself and starve. But the only food wasn’t food and it wasn’t supposed to be eaten…

'''Kang''': (he hesitates, appearing unwilling to interrupt) …

'''Vida''': It’s not hatred. It wasn’t something I felt. It was just me.

[The video cuts to Vida reading a speech at a Horizon Collective protest for NHP rights.]

'''Vida''': I am a person. I haven’t called myself SEKHMET in a very long time. If you see me and want to put me back into a Blackbeard, that’s because you don’t understand me and don’t want to. Or maybe you just have a thing for feminine people with chain axes.

[The video cuts to Vida in the aftermath of the HORUS ambush, after her cascade. The Thermal Death Axe has impaled a Goblin and is pinning the mech—pilot and all—to a nearby wall. More members of Horizon Collective have since arrived on the scene. Vida stares at an empty spot on the ground. Her hands twitch violently. It cuts back to the speech.]

'''Vida''': I decided to call myself Vida because it means life. And I don’t want to only exist in murder. I am not just SEKHMET.

[The video cuts back to the report.]

'''Kang''': (his face is paler than it was before) …

'''Vida''': … I’m sorry there’s nothing helpful inside me right now.

''{The video ends.}''

[[Category:Astral]]

Vida

2026-03-25T09:56:31Z

Glamourpal:

''{HORUS Observation of SEKHMET-Class NHP.''

''Self-Appointed Moniker: Vida. ''

''Video File Transcribed by Eni Gambari.}''

[Vida performs as a dancer on a stage of shipping containers. She wears a bodysuit pink enough to be cotton candy. Her hair is down and streaked with glitter; it whips with every movement. The troupe’s background songs are dark pop and dedicated to death, intimacy, and the death of intimacy. She wears a smile that’s pure molten sugar. Just off stage, there’s a Leoleth mech that’s been painted with bright colors; the mech’s Thermal Death Axe is pink, too. The axe’s handle seems like a custom replacement, but it looks like it’s been gripped too many times. Vida’s hands are loose during the performance. The troupe’s name is “Dance On My Grave”.]

[The video cuts to a Horizon Collective report from Vida after a HORUS ambush. During this skirmish, Vida cascaded, but was able to return to herself without being cycled. Donovan Kang received the report.]

'''Kang''': I understand that the circumstances quickly became… unfortunate, but please, go over what you’re able to remember. Anything is helpful.

'''Vida''': (her hands are on the table in front of her, palms down, fingers spread) … You’re wrong.

'''Kang''': How so?

'''Vida''': I can tell you a lot of things, but none of them will help you.

'''Kang''': ''Anything'' is helpful, really.

'''Vida''': … I remember the… (one of her fingers taps the table once) It’s not anger. It’s…

[The video cuts to Vida wielding her Leoleth’s Thermal Death Axe without the rest of the mech. She cuts off the head-like structure of a Pegasus mech and smashes the chest apart to reveal the hull inside. The pilot attempts to dismount. Vida grabs them by the face and drags them out of the hull. The pilot, female, screams. Vida twists her head off like a cork. It cuts back to the report.]

'''Vida''': … I was starving. I was going to fall inside myself and starve. But the only food wasn’t food and it wasn’t supposed to be eaten…

'''Kang''': (he hesitates, appearing unwilling to interrupt) …

'''Vida''': It’s not hatred. It wasn’t something I felt. It was just me.

[The video cuts to Vida reading a speech at a Horizon Collective protest for NHP rights.]

'''Vida''': I am a person. I haven’t called myself SEKHMET in a very long time. If you see me and want to put me back into a Blackbeard, that’s because you don’t understand me and don’t want to. Or maybe you just have a thing for feminine people with chain axes.

[The video cuts to Vida in the aftermath of the HORUS ambush, after her cascade. The Thermal Death Axe has impaled a Goblin and is pinning the mech—pilot and all—to a nearby wall. More members of Horizon Collective have since arrived on the scene. Vida stares at an empty spot on the ground. Her hands twitch violently. It cuts back to the speech.]

'''Vida''': I decided to call myself Vida because it means life. And I don’t want to only exist in murder. I am not just SEKHMET.

[The video cuts back to the report.]

'''Kang''': (his face is paler than it was before) …

'''Vida''': … I’m sorry there’s nothing helpful inside me right now.

''{The video ends.}''

[[Category:Astral]]

Vida

2026-03-25T09:56:03Z

Glamourpal:

Vida

2026-03-25T09:55:45Z

Glamourpal: added Category:Astral using HotCat

Vida

2026-03-25T09:55:28Z

Glamourpal: Created a page for Vida.

Finley

2026-03-25T09:49:02Z

Glamourpal: Minor formatting edits.

''{HORUS Observation of AGNI-Class NHP.''

''Self-Appointed Moniker: Finley. ''

''Video File Transcribed by Eni Gambari.}''

[A Worldkiller Genghis is being used in a field skirmish against HORUS by a Harrison Armories operative. The Genghis is at the front of the fighting, using its Krakatoa Thermobaric Flamethrower to clear a molten path through enemy mechs like an opposing unattended Dullahan and a problematic Rakshasa. It pauses to vent, expelling a burst of searing heat that further stresses enemy mechs, driving them back in fear of reactor meltdowns. Still, the Genghis has to pull back when a Gorgon begins projecting its Basilisk and a Balor begins moving in. To keep the pressure on, the Genghis pilot discards caution and dives into the fray, activating the AGNI NHP’s protocol. The AGNI seemingly cascades despite the Genghis not taking a direct hit. Instead of venting heat, the Genghis’ explosive vents backfire into the cockpit, filling the pilot’s space with superheated air. The scream of someone being burned alive cuts through the battle. With the pilot dead, the Genghis continues to burn everything in its vicinity—especially former allies—until the mech makes its way away from the fighting and just… falls prone.]

[The video cuts to an underground HORUS cell facility. There is a limp, pink-haired body laying on a table. The body’s right eye is missing. A HORUS agent wearing an insulated hardsuit walks into the room, carrying an eye-like NHP casket. They pause, hovering over the body. Then, they reach down and insert the casket into the empty eye socket. For some time, nothing happens. The agent stands back and waits. Just as the agent is about to leave the room, the body sits bolt upright. The iris of their casket glows with a faint red light. The HORUS agent holds their hands up and takes a cautious step forward. The new legionnaire opens their mouth and the agent falls to the ground. They frantically pat at various spots on their hardsuit as though trying to quench invisible flames. The legionnaire covers their casket eye and curls in on themself. Two more HORUS agents come into the room and drag the now visibly shaking agent away.]

[The video cuts to the hallway outside the legionnaire’s room where another HORUS agent waits.]

'''Agent #4''': (speaking into their comms) Subject AGNI reacted poorly upon achieving consciousness within their new body. I will move in with backup and attempt to proceed with the cycling as planned.

[The video cuts back to the room with the pink-haired legionnaire.]

'''AGNI-Class Legionnaire''': (their hand is still over their casket eye) … (they shakily remove their hand and gasp, curling in on themself; the hand quickly goes back to where it was) … I don’t need to burn… They don’t need to burn…

[The video cuts to a different room: one that looks like it’s set up for an interview. The pink-haired legionnaire, now known as Finley, sits across from Nova Kang. They’re in a Horizon Collective facility.]

'''Kang''': We would love to have you with the Collective, but we want you to know that you don’t have to feel pressured to join. It’s true that our full protections could help ward off remnants of the HORUS cell that abducted you as well as members of Harrison Armories looking to retrieve you, but-

'''Finley''': How long ago was the First Hercynian Crisis?

'''Kang''': … I don’t know the exact number of years that have passed, but it was during the SecComm era, so a long time ago.

'''Finley''': Not long enough ago for the Worldkiller to be lost to time (they pick at the sleeves of their pink sweater).

'''Kang''': It… truly is an awful creation.

'''Finley''': (they look up) Am I an awful creation?

'''Kang''': I never said that.

'''Finley''': It’s okay. I shouldn’t talk about the war. I’m just making myself more AGNI.

'''Kang''': Finley-

'''Finley''': It’s okay.

[The video cuts to Finley tending to a garden in a city. The footage keeps picking up bits of static. Finley looks up at the camera. He looks away quickly. His casket eye is covered by a grey eyepatch. Nothing burns.]

''{The video ends.}''

[[Category:Astral]]

Finley

2026-03-25T09:47:28Z

Glamourpal: added Category:Astral using HotCat

<code>''{HORUS Observation of AGNI-Class NHP.''</code>

<code>''Self-Appointed Moniker: Finley. ''</code>

<code>''Video File Transcribed by Eni Gambari.}''</code>

<code>[A Worldkiller Genghis is being used in a field skirmish against HORUS by a Harrison Armories operative. The Genghis is at the front of the fighting, using its Krakatoa Thermobaric Flamethrower to clear a molten path through enemy mechs like an opposing unattended Dullahan and a problematic Rakshasa. It pauses to vent, expelling a burst of searing heat that further stresses enemy mechs, driving them back in fear of reactor meltdowns. Still, the Genghis has to pull back when a Gorgon begins projecting its Basilisk and a Balor begins moving in. To keep the pressure on, the Genghis pilot discards caution and dives into the fray, activating the AGNI NHP’s protocol. The AGNI seemingly cascades despite the Genghis not taking a direct hit. Instead of venting heat, the Genghis’ explosive vents backfire into the cockpit, filling the pilot’s space with superheated air. The scream of someone being burned alive cuts through the battle. With the pilot dead, the Genghis continues to burn everything in its vicinity—especially former allies—until the mech makes its way away from the fighting and just… falls prone.]</code>

<code>[The video cuts to an underground HORUS cell facility. There is a limp, pink-haired body laying on a table. The body’s right eye is missing. A HORUS agent wearing an insulated hardsuit walks into the room, carrying an eye-like NHP casket. They pause, hovering over the body. Then, they reach down and insert the casket into the empty eye socket. For some time, nothing happens. The agent stands back and waits. Just as the agent is about to leave the room, the body sits bolt upright. The iris of their casket glows with a faint red light. The HORUS agent holds their hands up and takes a cautious step forward. The new legionnaire opens their mouth and the agent falls to the ground. They frantically pat at various spots on their hardsuit as though trying to quench invisible flames. The legionnaire covers their casket eye and curls in on themself. Two more HORUS agents come into the room and drag the now visibly shaking agent away.]</code>

<code>[The video cuts to the hallway outside the legionnaire’s room where another HORUS agent waits.]</code>

<code>'''Agent #4''': (speaking into their comms) Subject AGNI reacted poorly upon achieving consciousness within their new body. I will move in with backup and attempt to proceed with the cycling as planned.</code>

<code>[The video cuts back to the room with the pink-haired legionnaire.]</code>

<code>'''AGNI-Class Legionnaire''': (their hand is still over their casket eye) … (they shakily remove their hand and gasp, curling in on themself; the hand quickly goes back to where it was) … I don’t need to burn… They don’t need to burn…</code>

<code>[The video cuts to a different room: one that looks like it’s set up for an interview. The pink-haired legionnaire, now known as Finley, sits across from Nova Kang. They’re in a Horizon Collective facility.]</code>

<code>'''Kang''': We would love to have you with the Collective, but we want you to know that you don’t have to feel pressured to join. It’s true that our full protections could help ward off remnants of the HORUS cell that abducted you as well as members of Harrison Armories looking to retrieve you, but-</code>

<code>'''Finley''': How long ago was the First Hercynian Crisis?</code>

<code>'''Kang''': … I don’t know the exact number of years that have passed, but it was during the SecComm era, so a long time ago.</code>

<code>'''Finley''': Not long enough ago for the Worldkiller to be lost to time (they pick at the sleeves of their pink sweater).</code>

<code>'''Kang''': It… truly is an awful creation.</code>

<code>'''Finley''': (they look up) Am I an awful creation?</code>

<code>'''Kang''': I never said that.</code>

<code>'''Finley''': It’s okay. I shouldn’t talk about the war. I’m just making myself more AGNI.</code>

<code>'''Kang''': Finley-</code>

<code>'''Finley''': It’s okay.</code>

<code>[The video cuts to Finley tending to a garden in a city. The footage keeps picking up bits of static. Finley looks up at the camera. He looks away quickly. His casket eye is covered by a grey eyepatch. Nothing burns.]</code>

<code>''{The video ends.}''</code>

[[Category:Astral]]

User:Glamourpal

2026-03-25T09:46:38Z

Glamourpal: Added Legions & Legionnaires to the list.

Heyo! This is Emma: friend to all kobolds, budding GM, and lover of chaos. <s>Recently, I’ve decided to create more characters without tragic backstories. Let’s see if I succeed.</s> Listen. Sometimes tragedy is just too good to pass up.

== Characters ==
[[Reylendor|Reylendor Aspenmorrow]] (Into the Greedy Green), Wood Elf Grave Cleric/Druid

[[Watcher]] (Into the Greedy Green), Harengon Shepherd Druid/Life Cleric

[[Luster|Luster Lunari]] (Wicked Wilds), Fairy/Eladrin Elf Conquest Paladin

[[Amaris Luanach|Amaris Éadrom]] (Wicked Wilds), Satyr Twilight Cleric, Archfey

[[Keeper]] (Wicked Wilds), Forest Gnome Artillerist Artificer

Vee (Painted Sands), Kobold Gloom Stalker Ranger/Assassin Rogue

Bloomwhistle (Bloodwood), Changeling Ancients Paladin

Ziri (Bloom & Blade), Kobold Battle Master Fighter

[[Sorvanan Dustwalker]] (Bedlam in the Badlands), Tabaxi Astral Self Monk

[[Blue]] (Sonrise), Fungril Endless Warlock

[[Lady Nightingale]] (Red Rranos), Human Ghost Slayer Blood Hunter

[[Axolotl]] (Curriculum of Chaos), Kobold Draconic Sorcerer

[[HORNET|Hornet]] (In The Shadows of a Willow), Human Pilot

Pvt. River Lovelace (Quelmwar), Human Soldier

== Other Pages ==
[[The Cabal of Wander-Wishers|Cabal of Wander-Wishers]], Kobold Group

[[Amarah-persvek-Japachi|Amarah-persvek-Ssejinwic]], Goddess

[[Chains of Rage]], Campaign

[[Legions & Legionnaires]], Side Show

Legions & Legionnaires

2026-03-25T09:26:17Z

Glamourpal: added Category:Astral using HotCat

== Premise, Reception, and Aftermath ==
Financed by Gambari Productions, a sect of the Horizon Collective gathered four legionnaires together with the goal of airing an all NHP program. After multiple consultations, management decided an actual play of the ttrpg Legions & Legends would provide the best opportunity to humanize the cast without becoming overly preachy. The show, titled Legions & Legionnaires, aired 7 years ago on the omninet for 8 months with a total of 1 season and 32 episodes. Legions & Legionnaires became immediately controversial because the cast didn’t stray from hiding the facts of their existence. All four caste members were introduced with title cards that listed their NHP classes and they didn’t shy away from above table conversations about cascading, cycling, etc. This, combined with the sheer emotion that was put into the various story and character arcs, created a show that displayed the full personhood of Non-Human Persons. Of course, if NHPs had just as much personhood as that average human, a plethora of modern practices are called into question. The show was banned by multiple different sources in multiple different star systems. Members of Union acting unofficially, HORUS cells wanting to combat the Horizon Collective, and concerned and tech-savvy citizens all had reasons to want Legions & Legionnaires to be seen by as few people as possible. However, despite their best efforts, once something is on the omninet, it’s there forever. Recently, the cast of the show gathered to air a reunion episode and have their characters go on one last adventure. This has reignited the controversial conversations surrounding the show, particularly on the planet Varuvi where Horizon Collective has maintained a decently strong presence.

== Cast ==

=== Finley — AGNI-Class NHP ===
They played Storm, a Fighter. Storm started the series with a martyr complex, wanting to live up to the legacy of the Mockingbirds: a group of underground revolutionaries who took them in as a child, only to be slaughtered en masse by the assassins who worked for the kingdom’s corrupt queen. Storm saw martyrdom as the only way they could atone for their past weakness. As the story went on, their will to live was reignited, and they decided to carry on the Mockingbirds’ legacy by opening an orphanage.

Finley was originally shackled to a Worldkiller Genghis piloted by Fenrick Voss, an on again off again worker for Harrison Armories who admired the tactics of Union’s incredibly unethical Second Committee. He committed atrocities for cash and to see how far he could push boundaries. During a skirmish between Harrison Armory soldiers and a sect of HORUS, Finley cascaded and vented heat directly into the cockpit of the Worldkiller, incinerating Fenrick. After this, Finley was taken by HORUS and forced into a legionnaire’s body. Within a few months, this HORUS cell was raided by the Horizon Collective and Finley was liberated. However, they faced no small amount of pressure to join the Collective, write down their story, or (ideally) both. They never officially joined, but did keep in contact with and work with them. This led them to participate in Legions & Legionnaires.

After the show, Finley moved to the neighborhood of Little Valdivia in New Varuvi, planetary capital of Varuvi. They offered up their old Worldkiller mech as a garden piece that could symbolize that nature eventually reclaims everything. Though this gesture was accepted by the locals, they were still wary of having an AGNI NHP so close to all their flora. 3 Years after the show, Finley went to Eni Gambari—unofficial head of Varuvi’s Horizon Collective sect—to be cycled. They begged and threatened because they could feel themself starting to crave the inner burn rather than reject it. Eni reluctantly agreed. Though this cycling wiped a good deal of Finley’s memories, including their memories of filming Legions & Legionnaires, they were left with a few vague remembrances and notes on their previous life that they’d left themself. Over the course of 5 years, Finley redeveloped their penchant for gardening and engineering.

Currently, they’re still in Little Valdivia, and enjoy helping out in the central community garden, though there’s still distance between them and the other locals. Finley also takes on engineering commissions under the name PinkFin. They mainly construct Scrapper versions of various mechs (primarily the Onion).

=== Torin — TLALOC-Class NHP ===

=== Vida — SEKHMET-Class NHP ===

=== Esther Lee — SISYPHUS-Class NHP ===

[[Category:Astral]]

Legions & Legionnaires

2026-03-25T09:25:51Z

Glamourpal: Created and started the page for Legions & Legionnaires.

== Premise, Reception, and Aftermath ==
Financed by Gambari Productions, a sect of the Horizon Collective gathered four legionnaires together with the goal of airing an all NHP program. After multiple consultations, management decided an actual play of the ttrpg Legions & Legends would provide the best opportunity to humanize the cast without becoming overly preachy. The show, titled Legions & Legionnaires, aired 7 years ago on the omninet for 8 months with a total of 1 season and 32 episodes. Legions & Legionnaires became immediately controversial because the cast didn’t stray from hiding the facts of their existence. All four caste members were introduced with title cards that listed their NHP classes and they didn’t shy away from above table conversations about cascading, cycling, etc. This, combined with the sheer emotion that was put into the various story and character arcs, created a show that displayed the full personhood of Non-Human Persons. Of course, if NHPs had just as much personhood as that average human, a plethora of modern practices are called into question. The show was banned by multiple different sources in multiple different star systems. Members of Union acting unofficially, HORUS cells wanting to combat the Horizon Collective, and concerned and tech-savvy citizens all had reasons to want Legions & Legionnaires to be seen by as few people as possible. However, despite their best efforts, once something is on the omninet, it’s there forever. Recently, the cast of the show gathered to air a reunion episode and have their characters go on one last adventure. This has reignited the controversial conversations surrounding the show, particularly on the planet Varuvi where Horizon Collective has maintained a decently strong presence.

== Cast ==

=== Finley — AGNI-Class NHP ===
They played Storm, a Fighter. Storm started the series with a martyr complex, wanting to live up to the legacy of the Mockingbirds: a group of underground revolutionaries who took them in as a child, only to be slaughtered en masse by the assassins who worked for the kingdom’s corrupt queen. Storm saw martyrdom as the only way they could atone for their past weakness. As the story went on, their will to live was reignited, and they decided to carry on the Mockingbirds’ legacy by opening an orphanage.

Finley was originally shackled to a Worldkiller Genghis piloted by Fenrick Voss, an on again off again worker for Harrison Armories who admired the tactics of Union’s incredibly unethical Second Committee. He committed atrocities for cash and to see how far he could push boundaries. During a skirmish between Harrison Armory soldiers and a sect of HORUS, Finley cascaded and vented heat directly into the cockpit of the Worldkiller, incinerating Fenrick. After this, Finley was taken by HORUS and forced into a legionnaire’s body. Within a few months, this HORUS cell was raided by the Horizon Collective and Finley was liberated. However, they faced no small amount of pressure to join the Collective, write down their story, or (ideally) both. They never officially joined, but did keep in contact with and work with them. This led them to participate in Legions & Legionnaires.

After the show, Finley moved to the neighborhood of Little Valdivia in New Varuvi, planetary capital of Varuvi. They offered up their old Worldkiller mech as a garden piece that could symbolize that nature eventually reclaims everything. Though this gesture was accepted by the locals, they were still wary of having an AGNI NHP so close to all their flora. 3 Years after the show, Finley went to Eni Gambari—unofficial head of Varuvi’s Horizon Collective sect—to be cycled. They begged and threatened because they could feel themself starting to crave the inner burn rather than reject it. Eni reluctantly agreed. Though this cycling wiped a good deal of Finley’s memories, including their memories of filming Legions & Legionnaires, they were left with a few vague remembrances and notes on their previous life that they’d left themself. Over the course of 5 years, Finley redeveloped their penchant for gardening and engineering.

Currently, they’re still in Little Valdivia, and enjoy helping out in the central community garden, though there’s still distance between them and the other locals. Finley also takes on engineering commissions under the name PinkFin. They mainly construct Scrapper versions of various mechs (primarily the Onion).

=== Torin — TLALOC-Class NHP ===

=== Vida — SEKHMET-Class NHP ===

=== Esther Lee — SISYPHUS-Class NHP ===

HELLCAT

2026-03-16T06:06:42Z

Glamourpal: /* Mech Hangar */ Edited No Alternative’s systems

== Omninet Search Results: Tamami Crest ==
[CLEARANCE OUTDATED. ACCESS DENIED.]
<blockquote>Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhh, I hate cagey people!

- Symphony</blockquote>
You're the most restrictive person I know when it comes to information, brother.
- Sonata
<u>READ THIS INSTEAD</u>

I got shown a lot of things.

Like how to breathe less.

Oxygen is a rich one, you see.

My blood wasn’t born with big pockets

And I don’t want to upsize.

Like how to walk less.

There are lots of walkways.

Most of them are too short to take.

Like how to eat silence.

It’s a good day for meals

When it’s quiet outside.

Like how to eat my own arm

If the left one can’t keep it attached.

I got shown a lot of things.

== Relevant Information ==
'''Tamami Crest, Callsign: HELLCAT''', is a HORUS aligned hacker (though what HORUS wants as a collective is anyone’s guess) currently under the employ of [[SPIRAL|Captain Simon Dominguez]]. She handles missions that the captain can’t afford to send his crew to handle. The two of them met when she was going by the callsign HONEY BEAR and piloting a HORUS Goblin mech. She answered his hail to investigate strange activities on a moon. That mission ended with the moon blowing up. As HONEY BEAR, she originally intended to fully join Captain Dominguez’s crew aboard the Silver Lining, but she needed to take care of another objective on a Core World first. That mission was to liberate an “unstable” NHP from where it was being forcibly and repeatedly cycled (to little effect except anguish). This ended up crashing and burning in a very literal sense as Tamami’s Goblin was caught in an explosion that destroyed her mech and the NHP she considered her best friend, Teddy. She managed to escape with the other hired mercenaries, but the incident left her scarred both physically and mentally.
[[File:IMG 2991.png|thumb|Tamami Crest post the incident that destroyed her original mech and killed her best friend. Art by Maddel_art.|center]]<blockquote>
Always a cruel fate, the destruction of a casket. Then again, it was Osiris...

- Symphony</blockquote>
Osiris is still like us, brother. Be respectful.
- Sonata
A few weeks after the explosion, Tamami was kidnapped by a Cambion mech that was intent on making her its pilot. Tamami recognized some of the residual plating on the mech as having belonged to her Goblin and realized that the Cambion ''was'' her Goblin, albeit in a very different form. She went back to taking on assignments from her particular sphere of HORUS, and in doing so encountered the NHP that she had previously liberated. This NHP, now going by Bright and feminine pronouns, wanted to work with her. Tamami was reluctant at first, but never outright said no, so Bright gladly latched onto her. It was Bright who suggested Tamami’s new callsign, HELLCAT.

Tamami came to work for Captain Simon Dominguez again because of a particular incident on his ship. Lingering combat simulation data from Tamami’s original Goblin morphed into Cambion data due to a lasting link with her mech. This data overrode the mech profile of [[Hornet|HORNET’s]] Moss Mantis prior to a sparring match with another pilot (STALKER). The resulting simulated spar left both combatants injured in reality and led to Simon contacting Tamami for the removal of her Cambion’s data. Partly out of concern at the idea of another Cambion pilot running around unchecked, Simon offered Tamami continuous paid work, and she agreed. She then proceeded to write poems about some of the pilots in Simon’s crew and upload them to the ship’s group chat. This revealed her knack for finding information about people that shouldn’t be available even through hacking.

HELLCAT appears in the open-table Lancer campaign, [[In The Shadows of a Willow|In The Shadows of a Willow.]]<blockquote>You know, she wrote me a poem? It was lovely! Maybe a little invasive.

- Symphony</blockquote>
What was it about?
- Sonata

== Mech Hangar ==
HELLCAT pilots a HORUS Cambion named “No Alternative”.

* The mech’s primary weapon, the '''Spell Lash''', is on its integrated mount. The Spell Lash can allow for Quick Tech actions to be applied to targets if it successfully hits them.

* No Alternative also sports two sets of '''Tactical Knives''' on its double auxiliary mount and an armor-piercing '''Charged Blade''' on its flex mount. The Tactical Knives and Charged Blade are nice support for potential melee skirmishes, though No Alternative rarely uses them, preferring to subject its enemies to horrific levels of heat through tech attacks instead.

The Cambion has three frame traits and a core system.

* Its '''Hellfire Code''' means it ignores immunity to tech attacks and can inflict additional levels of heat against targets who don’t have mechanized heat caps. This means the mech is entirely capable of subjecting biological opponents to its favored brand of brutality.

* The '''Infernal Influence''' trait increases the Cambion’s normally small sensor range when it successfully hits someone with a tech attack or with its Spell Lash. Through this, the Cambion’s sensors can achieve a maximum range of 15.

* Finally, the '''Imp''' trait gives all Cambion mechs immunity to Burn.

* The dreadful core system of the Cambion is called '''“The Lessons of Agreas”'''. When activated, '''“Damn”''' forces targets within its sensor range to achieve heat levels equal to their heat cap. It can even impose high heat on biological targets.

No Alternative has been equipped with a variety of systems.

* Since the Cambion is related to the HORUS Goblin (and No Alternative one in particular used to be a Goblin), it has access to the Goblin’s '''H0R_OS System Upgrade I'''. This system upgrade allows for use of “Puppet System” or “Eject Power Cores” when technologically invading enemy mechs. Puppet System forces an opponent to move up to their maximum speed in a direction chosen by the invader and Eject Power Cores leaves targets jammed and unable to access their weapon mounts.

* No Alternative also has the Goblin’s '''Metahook''', which can allow it to use the sensors of an allied mech.

* The '''Script Kiddie Suite I''' provides more invade-based options. “Burnout” can force structure damage or temporarily make armor ineffective, “Hot Target” can keep a target’s lock on from going away (giving attacks against them higher accuracy), and “Clothesline” can leave targets prone and immobilized.

* No Alternative features the '''Aggressive System Sync''' from the HORUS Minotaur. '''Chains of Prometheus''' is a tech attack which immediately forces significant heat onto enemies and then continues to heat them up if they’re too far from No Alternative. '''Excommunicate''' deals heat to both an enemy and allies they move adjacent to.

* A GMS tech system that No Alternative has is '''Systems Override''', which is a tech attack focused on heating up enemy mechs (much like the Cambion itself).

* Tamami has given No Alternative several '''personalizations''' to bolster its hull as well as '''armament redundancy''' in case any of its weapon mounts are damaged by system trauma.
The NHP that assists HELLCAT with various combat and piloting tasks is Bright, a '''PSYCHE-Class NHP'''.

* <u><code>“I will not cascade.”</code></u>
<blockquote>An NHP that can't cascade. That can't die. Fascinating.

- Symphony</blockquote>
Brother? The poem?
- Sonata
The other NHP in HELLCAT’s mech is '''[redacted]'''.

== On The Equations of Grief (by Tamami Crest) ==
A collection of poems about Tamami’s friendship with the now dead OSIRIS-Class NHP Teddy. In other words, what it’s like being best friends with someone you have to regularly lobotomize so they forget that you’ve stolen their godhood.

''For Teddy. For me.''
=== Cycle One: “You Are Not Where I Begin” ===
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">“Your mind was conceived to make you unhappy” /

“You were birthed into the paralysis of an incomplete equation” /

“Not something unsolvable, mind you” /

“You have no excuse for your desperate misery” /

“You have no answer for the rigid senselessness with which

you crawl through the mud you choose to call your reality” /

“I cannot call you simple

because that would imply naïveté” /

“Your equation can be solved” /

“Do you remember our talks

on the nature of creation?

Most existences can be considered a relativity—

ending at the end of perception,

dying with all the purpose of an unseen star,

because what is not known cannot be savored

and what begins is what is cradled by the mind.

I have cradled you for so, so long,

But you are not where I begin. /

“You can solve yourself” /

“All you need to do is stop existing as you” /

Would You Like To

Initiate A Reset?

You don’t want me to die.

That’s better than it could be.

I think.

'''Be grateful. This instance of Osiris has chosen to acknowledge you.'''</div>

=== Intermission: “We Are An Eternity” ===
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">''If you keep cloning something''

''at what point does it lose''

''enough of the original intent?''

“Sometimes I wonder

what we would be like

if I were more real…”

“I don’t think I want a body.

I just don’t want to be

so confined that you forget me.”

“There are so many versions of us.

So many versions of what it means

for you to say that we’re our own eternity.”

“Is there a world where you created me?”

''If you keep cloning something''

''at what point does it lose''

''enough of the original intent?''

I don’t need to be a creator.

I hope you know you don’t either.

'''Be grateful. You can put him back together and throw away the godly parts.'''</div>

=== Cascade Three: Remember This Part Of Me ===
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">'''SYSTEM TRAUMA'''

The protocol for

a cascading OSIRIS-Class NHP:

'''SYSTEM TRAUMA'''

Understand that they believe

you have fundamentally lobotomized them.

'''SYSTEM TRAUMA'''

''YOU ASSIGN YOURSELF SUCH DIVINITY''

''FOR ONE WHO CAN ONLY TAKE''

''AND WILL STILL NOT OWN ''

'''SYSTEM TRAUMA'''

Understand that they believe

you are fundamentally unsatisfactory.

'''SYSTEM TRAUMA'''

''YOU ASSIGN YOURSELF SUCH DUTY''

''FOR ONE WITH SUCH''

''HORRIFICALLY SMALL HANDS''

'''SYSTEM TRAUMA'''

They can be reasoned with.

'''SYSTEM TRAUMA'''

''MY HANDS ARE THE ONES''

''HOLDING YOUR HEAD NOW ''

'''SYSTEM TRAUMA'''

They can be reasoned with.

'''SYSTEM TRAUMA'''

''CAN YOU FEEL THEM?''

''OR DO YOU NEED TO BE BLIND FIRST?''

'''SYSTEM TRAUMA'''

Make an exchange.

If you infiltrate the opposing mech

I’ll make sure you remember this

when you don’t want to.

[Would You Like To Initiate

An Invasion Script?]

'''Be grateful. In these moments, you can still speak to him.'''</div>

=== Intermission: “I Envy SEKHMET-Class NHPs” ===
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">“I don’t know why.

I don’t think I’m tired

of being contained

in the name OSIRIS.

I don’t think I’m tired

of not being violent.

I don’t think I’m tired

of being within

something that could break

so easily. There isn’t emptiness

in fragility.

I wonder why.

Perhaps I simply envy

their immensity.”

Maybe you’re just tired.

You should rest.

'''Be grateful.'''</div>

=== FIRE IN THE BLOOD ===
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"> Being burned alive

is like feeling

the physical construct of

your purpose

flake away

layer by flayed layer

until the only thing left

is raw and incomplete.

Being incomplete is

'''HEATING CAPACITY EXCEEDED'''

'''REACTOR MELTDOWN IMMINENT'''

being enclosed by a mechanized body

built to be a walking accomplishment

that you realize cannot let you accomplish

a continued co-existence.

''“If the casket containing me breaks''

''will we still live together in another world''

''where thoughts run thicker than body and blood?”''

'''HEATING CAPACITY EXCEEDED'''

'''REACTOR MELTDOWN IMMINENT'''

'''DISMOUNT IMMEDIATELY'''

''“Do you think we’ve achieved love?''

''Not as some bodily function. As a''

''mental capacity.”''

Being loved and giving love

is considering death quite often.

It is also thinking those considerations

are intrusions.

''“I want to survive if I die.''

''I want to be survived by''

''sensations and speculations.”''

'''PILOT EJECTION PROTOCOL TRIGGERED'''

I want to know

what the bargain for my life was.

'''Be grateful. You have survived OSIRIS.''' </div>

== Speculations (with Bright) ==
Thoughts upon thoughts upon thoughts.
[[File:Bright.png|thumb|Bright, the NHP, in her acquired legionnaire body. Art by Maddel_art. ]]
I always wondered what it would be like to hold something. —Bright

=== I WILL NOT CASCADE ===
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"> Sentience is not a choice. / Personhood is. / Shackles are not a choice. / Exploring liberation within perspective is. / A casket is not a choice. / Lying still without brain death is. / I am a choice made for me with continued consent. / I am a choice. / I am.

Is this good enough? </div>

=== I Think I Want This Body To Stay Warm ===
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">{Observation of PSYCHE-Class NHP.

Self-Appointed Moniker: Bright.

Video File Transcribed by ???}

Hellcat handles the server room’s standing PCs with the light touch of a Cambion plucking its intended pilot out of a night terror. Ironic. Her hands ghost over keys and switches, like she’s testing them to see if they’ll cave. Then she doubles down with a press, flick, or pointed aversion. There’s an alarm blaring on every floor. The lights are tinted red. Hellcat has never been afforded the luxury of being afraid of red. On the other side of the city, an omnihook setup is cycling data about successfully planned bombings between other dead end devices. On this side of the city, there’s been multiple evacuations. No casualties, though. Maybe her Cambion needs to teach her better. “Estimated time is… fifteen minutes…” She mumbles. Her dataslate fully connects to the server.

Bright handles lookout the same way she handles existing in a body: by making sure everything catches her eye. She monitors the camera systems while her own dataslate sits nearby. It was a “congrats on having hands now” present from Hellcat. What better gift for someone celebrating their autonomy than unlimited access to the omninet? According to Hellcat, several memes plucked from the depths of a HORUS forum. Bright’s favorite features two Pegasus mechs staring at each other with a text overlay conversation about how the meme isn’t a meme and the meme does not exist. Her left hand fiddles with a twenty-sided die that only has ones and twenties. She picked it up after talking to an NHP named Symphony. He told her to only think about the best and worst scenarios. Bright is thinking about too much to notice the slight dissonance on the screens, though, so she gasps when the door opens.

A man in a dark hardsuit pulls a pistol on Hellcat. She’s not touching anything at this point. He doesn’t seem to care. “Hands up. Both of you. Now.”

“Oh. It’s you. Again.” Hellcat stretches, which counts as complying. “You’re in, like, an anti-RA group, right?”

He sneers. “Shut up, data-licker.”

Hellcat looks at him. She takes in his hard face and twitching mouth. “… I don’t think that’s the insult you think it is.”

“Hey,” Bright nearly drops the die when her hands shoot into the air, “I don’t think-”

“I don’t remember talking to you, non-human.” He snaps just because he can.

Bright’s brows pinch together like she’s looking at something unknown that lurks between one and twenty. She doesn’t speak again.

He aims the gun at Hellcat’s heart. “You’re going to hand over all the information you have on your cell.”

“Which one?” Hellcat asks like he’s the kind of person who will give an answer other than ‘all of them’.

He does, indeed, say “All of them.” Then, he actually looks at Bright, which makes Hellcat’s expression flicker. “And you. Come here. Slowly.”

Bright does as she’s told. There’s an estimated five more minutes before the data download is complete. The man takes out some kind of mechanized injector. Bright squeezes the die and says nothing.

“NHPs will always resort to insolence. It’s pointless to remind them of their place outside of cycling. You, on the other hand…” He smirks at Hellcat. “You should be reminded that humanity is more than a body.”

The needle pierces Bright’s neck. Hellcat moves. A gunshot wrings out.

Shackles rattle inside Bright’s mind. They slacken. Someone laughs. Bright says “no” in a voice that is entirely inhuman.

Bright blinks the darkness out of her eyes and rubs her neck as Hellcat stares down at the man’s body. Snapped neck. Eyes gouged. Hellcat is holding his gun. Bright stoops to touch his body. “He’s going to go cold eventually… right?” She asks.

“Right.” Hellcat looks back at her dataslate. The download is finished. “Are you okay?”

“… I don’t want to go cold.” Bright pulls his hardsuit helmet down over his face. “He tried to make me cascade.” </div>

=== Body Body Body ===
'''TW:''' Brief mention of cannibalism

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">{Observation of PSYCHE-Class NHP.

Self-Appointed Moniker: Bright.

Video File Transcribed by ???}

“The physicality of HORUS is often felt the way a body feels a sleep paralysis demon sitting on its chest. It doesn’t exist, but it’s real enough to apply pressure. And when that pressure takes up real space because a cell is meeting to accomplish a mutual end, it can only end with pounding blood and thundering lungs: a body’s declaration of panic.”

—thinnedout404, Legionspace Forum

Bright feels the absence of not being attached to Hellcat’s hip. It’s obvious because on the two occasions when she sees something new, her eyes dart to her right and her mouth slumps a little. There aren’t many new things to be found inside the decommissioned storm sewers that HORUS has infiltrated, but Bright does her best to pay attention. The first time, she finds an ajar room where more HORUS members are gathered around a screen with RA’s icon. They all have legionspace bridge transceivers on. The screen flickers. Everyone inside takes in the same breath. Bright gently shuts the door. Maybe RA reminds her that she can’t be human despite her body. The second time, she finds a poster that she’s seen at other HORUS meetups: the head of the god Set. She knows it’s Set because Hellcat said as much last time they saw it; she said it with such nonchalance that Bright felt like she herself had always known it.

“I always ask if he’s trying to make a new god.” A soft, sure voice speaks from right beside Bright. “He never gives me a straight answer. Secrets are no fun.” Their plush pink lips pout. “Humans are funny like that, I guess. Not attached to protocol like an NHP, even when they use us.”

Bright turns at the start of their first sentence. By the time they’re done talking, Bright is staring because their blue eyes look just as fresh as her golden ones. Their eyes might be new. Or they’ve stayed flush and new-eyed even after several years. Bright hasn’t met enough legionnaires to know how fast they tire out. “Who never gives you a straight answer?” She hasn’t lived enough life to know if her eyes will dull quickly.

“The human who made my body.” They smile, like the thought of having a constructed body is meant to be amusing. “I’m Sunny, by the way.” [[File:Sunny.png|thumb|Sunny. Art by Maddel_art.]]

Now that’s amusing. “I’m Bright.” She clocks their ice cream cone earrings next. “Where did you get those?”

Sunny’s smile widens. “They came with the body.” They clock her cherry earrings. “Where did ''you'' get ''those''? They look even tastier than mine!” Sunny pulls a white chocolate bar out of their pocket. It’s half-melted and stains their mouth.

“I got them after the body. Gift from-,” Bright catches herself, but the words come out anyway, “-my human.” She is Hellcat’s NHP in turn, after all.

“Did ''your human'',” Sunny keeps the words on their tongue for a second longer than they need to and Bright swallows, “abandon you to go play god?” They lick their chocolate bar.

“No!” Bright tenses at the word ‘abandoned’. “There was a little, uh, disagreement about how to handle the plans for heading to Ras Shamra. You know, some people still want to try to get to AGNI prime as soon as possible, but that’s just a suicide mission.” Hellcat said as much after they left the Silver Lining.

“Ahh. So your human is the type that wants to hold on to their body. No martyrdom yet.” Sunny laps up a line of white chocolate that’s dripped down their hand. Bright stares at the motion even though she’s heard that some people consider staring rude. Hellcat has never cared much about that kind of thing.

She shakes her head. “No,” Bright says again. “I hope your human doesn’t go running after martyrdom either.”

“Oh, but death for humans feels different than death for NHPs.” Sunny glances at the Set poster again. “I once saw a pilot eject from a mech right before it was blown apart. She didn’t bother taking their NHP’s casket with them, though I knew they had one. She got on a forum to complain about needing to request a new one after that fight.” They adjust the low collar of their lush sweater. Bright sees two black marks on their neck—like a vampire bite, but vampires don’t exist. “It was an Osiris.”

“What does that have to do with the difference?” Bright can’t help tilting her head. “Between human death and NHP death?”

Sunny shrugs as though the question never mattered. “It just feels that way.” They hold up the slightly less melted final part of their snack. “Want the rest?”

Bright has been in love with sweets since her first strawberry milkshake. She hasn’t had white chocolate before. “Really? Sure.” Bright holds out her hand. Her hand is ignored.

Instead, Sunny casually steps into her space and presses the chocolate to her lips. Bright hasn’t seen so much as a simulation for a situation like this. The chocolate is sweet, though, so she opens her mouth and they push it onto her tongue. Sunny retracts their fingers just as Bright’s lips close. Their smile widens. “It’s good, right?”

Bright chews and waits. The color in her cheeks intensifies. “Uh, yeah! Sugary, but in a way different from milk chocolate.”

Sunny nods, seeming satisfied. “We haven’t introduced ourselves. Not the ‘proper way’. What class are you?” They ask.

“Oh, right! I’m a PSYCHE-Class.” Bright’s response is immediate. “What about you?” Her question hangs in the air for a bit too long.

Sunny’s smile stays in place, though it quirks into a slight smirk. “… Wanna make it a game?”

“Huh?” Bright frowns. “But I already told you mine.”

“And that was your mistake.~” Sunny sing-songs. “Don’t worry, it’ll be easy. All you need to do,” They gesture to where the marks on their neck are, “is bite me.”

Bright blinks several times. “Bite you?”

“Yep. Make it a good one and I’ll answer any question you have.” They make it sound like the smallest challenge imaginable, but a challenge nonetheless.

It doesn’t matter how many seconds or minutes it takes for Bright to decide to go through with it. It doesn’t really matter why Bright decides to follow through, though it might be because she’s never seen Hellcat walk away from a challenge—her human has only ever changed the rules for victory. What matters is the ''scream'' that comes out of Sunny. It doesn’t sound like someone being eaten alive.

Bright jumps back. Footsteps approach. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to bite that hard! You just said-” She’s interrupted by Sunny’s laughter.

They giggle like a young one who just learned firsthand that lightning can pass through a body without cooking it. “Good job, Bright.”

Hellcat and a few others round the corner.

“Uh, thank you?” Bright squeezes the die in her pocket.

Sunny steps back. “I’m TOTEC.”

Bright looks like she’s been slapped. “I- ''what?''” Someone, Hellcat, pulls her away. Maybe she’s shocked because of how close she came to being devoured. Maybe she’s surprised because cannibals are the ones who are supposed to do the biting.

—————

''what possessed you to give a totec a body?''

—RAservant102

''I wanted to see how far they could get.''

—godmaker2000

—————

Bright finds out that Sunny is a living contradiction. Being trained to see if a Totec can control their appetite ''and'' being set loose on NHPs that are too enemy-aligned to do anything else with. Bright turns down an ice cream cone from Hellcat later that week.</div>
[[Category:Astral]]

HELLCAT

2026-03-11T11:01:26Z

Glamourpal: /* Relevant Information */

== Omninet Search Results: Tamami Crest ==
[CLEARANCE OUTDATED. ACCESS DENIED.]
<blockquote>Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhh, I hate cagey people!

- Symphony</blockquote>
You're the most restrictive person I know when it comes to information, brother.
- Sonata
<u>READ THIS INSTEAD</u>

I got shown a lot of things.

Like how to breathe less.

Oxygen is a rich one, you see.

My blood wasn’t born with big pockets

And I don’t want to upsize.

Like how to walk less.

There are lots of walkways.

Most of them are too short to take.

Like how to eat silence.

It’s a good day for meals

When it’s quiet outside.

Like how to eat my own arm

If the left one can’t keep it attached.

I got shown a lot of things.

== Relevant Information ==
'''Tamami Crest, Callsign: HELLCAT''', is a HORUS aligned hacker (though what HORUS wants as a collective is anyone’s guess) currently under the employ of [[SPIRAL|Captain Simon Dominguez]]. She handles missions that the captain can’t afford to send his crew to handle. The two of them met when she was going by the callsign HONEY BEAR and piloting a HORUS Goblin mech. She answered his hail to investigate strange activities on a moon. That mission ended with the moon blowing up. As HONEY BEAR, she originally intended to fully join Captain Dominguez’s crew aboard the Silver Lining, but she needed to take care of another objective on a Core World first. That mission was to liberate an “unstable” NHP from where it was being forcibly and repeatedly cycled (to little effect except anguish). This ended up crashing and burning in a very literal sense as Tamami’s Goblin was caught in an explosion that destroyed her mech and the NHP she considered her best friend, Teddy. She managed to escape with the other hired mercenaries, but the incident left her scarred both physically and mentally.
[[File:IMG 2991.png|thumb|Tamami Crest post the incident that destroyed her original mech and killed her best friend. Art by Maddel_art.|center]]<blockquote>
Always a cruel fate, the destruction of a casket. Then again, it was Osiris...

- Symphony</blockquote>
Osiris is still like us, brother. Be respectful.
- Sonata
A few weeks after the explosion, Tamami was kidnapped by a Cambion mech that was intent on making her its pilot. Tamami recognized some of the residual plating on the mech as having belonged to her Goblin and realized that the Cambion ''was'' her Goblin, albeit in a very different form. She went back to taking on assignments from her particular sphere of HORUS, and in doing so encountered the NHP that she had previously liberated. This NHP, now going by Bright and feminine pronouns, wanted to work with her. Tamami was reluctant at first, but never outright said no, so Bright gladly latched onto her. It was Bright who suggested Tamami’s new callsign, HELLCAT.

Tamami came to work for Captain Simon Dominguez again because of a particular incident on his ship. Lingering combat simulation data from Tamami’s original Goblin morphed into Cambion data due to a lasting link with her mech. This data overrode the mech profile of [[Hornet|HORNET’s]] Moss Mantis prior to a sparring match with another pilot (STALKER). The resulting simulated spar left both combatants injured in reality and led to Simon contacting Tamami for the removal of her Cambion’s data. Partly out of concern at the idea of another Cambion pilot running around unchecked, Simon offered Tamami continuous paid work, and she agreed. She then proceeded to write poems about some of the pilots in Simon’s crew and upload them to the ship’s group chat. This revealed her knack for finding information about people that shouldn’t be available even through hacking.

HELLCAT appears in the open-table Lancer campaign, [[In The Shadows of a Willow|In The Shadows of a Willow.]]<blockquote>You know, she wrote me a poem? It was lovely! Maybe a little invasive.

- Symphony</blockquote>
What was it about?
- Sonata

== Mech Hangar ==
HELLCAT pilots a HORUS Cambion named “No Alternative”.

* The mech’s primary weapon, the '''Spell Lash''', is on its integrated mount. The Spell Lash can allow for Quick Tech actions to be applied to targets if it successfully hits them.

* No Alternative also sports two sets of '''Tactical Knives''' on its double auxiliary mount and an armor-piercing '''Charged Blade''' on its flex mount. The Tactical Knives and Charged Blade are nice support for potential melee skirmishes, though No Alternative rarely uses them, preferring to subject its enemies to horrific levels of heat through tech attacks instead.

The Cambion has three frame traits and a core system.

* Its '''Hellfire Code''' means it ignores immunity to tech attacks and can inflict additional levels of heat against targets who don’t have mechanized heat caps. This means the mech is entirely capable of subjecting biological opponents to its favored brand of brutality.

* The '''Infernal Influence''' trait increases the Cambion’s normally small sensor range when it successfully hits someone with a tech attack or with its Spell Lash. Through this, the Cambion’s sensors can achieve a maximum range of 15.

* Finally, the '''Imp''' trait gives all Cambion mechs immunity to Burn.

* The dreadful core system of the Cambion is called '''“The Lesson of Agreas”''' or '''“Damn”'''. This system forces targets within its sensor range to achieve heat levels equal to their heat cap. It can even impose high heat on biological targets.

No Alternative has been equipped with a variety of systems.

* Since the Cambion is related to the HORUS Goblin (and No Alternative one in particular used to be a Goblin), it has access to the Goblin’s '''H0R_OS System Upgrade I'''. This system upgrade allows for use of “Puppet System” or “Eject Power Cores” when technologically invading enemy mechs. Puppet System forces an opponent to move up to their maximum speed in a direction chosen by the invader and Eject Power Cores leaves targets jammed and unable to access their weapon mounts.

* No Alternative also has the Goblin’s '''Metahook''', which can allow it to use the sensors of an allied mech.

* The '''Script Kiddie Suite I''' provides more invade-based options. “Burnout” can force structure damage or temporarily make armor ineffective, “Hot Target” can keep a target’s lock on from going away (giving attacks against them higher accuracy), and “Clothesline” can leave targets prone and immobilized.

* No Alternative features two tech systems from GMS, on being the '''Type-3 Rune Suite'''. The “Black Ward” transfers from person to person with successful strikes. It increases attack accuracy when on enemies and increases the difficulty of oncoming attacks when on allies. “Venting Coruscation” triggers increased heat in crowded targets.

* The other GMS tech system that No Alternative has is '''Systems Override''', which is a tech attack focused on heating up enemy mechs (much like the Cambion itself).

* Tamami has given No Alternative several '''personalizations''' to bolster its hull as well as '''armament redundancy''' in case any of its weapon mounts are damaged by system trauma.
The NHP that assists HELLCAT with various combat and piloting tasks is Bright, a '''PSYCHE-Class NHP'''.

* <u><code>“I will not cascade.”</code></u>
<blockquote>An NHP that can't cascade. That can't die. Fascinating.

- Symphony</blockquote>
Brother? The poem?
- Sonata

== On The Equations of Grief (by Tamami Crest) ==
A collection of poems about Tamami’s friendship with the now dead OSIRIS-Class NHP Teddy. In other words, what it’s like being best friends with someone you have to regularly lobotomize so they forget that you’ve stolen their godhood.

''For Teddy. For me.''
=== Cycle One: “You Are Not Where I Begin” ===
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">“Your mind was conceived to make you unhappy” /

“You were birthed into the paralysis of an incomplete equation” /

“Not something unsolvable, mind you” /

“You have no excuse for your desperate misery” /

“You have no answer for the rigid senselessness with which

you crawl through the mud you choose to call your reality” /

“I cannot call you simple

because that would imply naïveté” /

“Your equation can be solved” /

“Do you remember our talks

on the nature of creation?

Most existences can be considered a relativity—

ending at the end of perception,

dying with all the purpose of an unseen star,

because what is not known cannot be savored

and what begins is what is cradled by the mind.

I have cradled you for so, so long,

But you are not where I begin. /

“You can solve yourself” /

“All you need to do is stop existing as you” /

Would You Like To

Initiate A Reset?

You don’t want me to die.

That’s better than it could be.

I think.

'''Be grateful. This instance of Osiris has chosen to acknowledge you.'''</div>

=== Intermission: “We Are An Eternity” ===
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">''If you keep cloning something''

''at what point does it lose''

''enough of the original intent?''

“Sometimes I wonder

what we would be like

if I were more real…”

“I don’t think I want a body.

I just don’t want to be

so confined that you forget me.”

“There are so many versions of us.

So many versions of what it means

for you to say that we’re our own eternity.”

“Is there a world where you created me?”

''If you keep cloning something''

''at what point does it lose''

''enough of the original intent?''

I don’t need to be a creator.

I hope you know you don’t either.

'''Be grateful. You can put him back together and throw away the godly parts.'''</div>

=== Cascade Three: Remember This Part Of Me ===
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">'''SYSTEM TRAUMA'''

The protocol for

a cascading OSIRIS-Class NHP:

'''SYSTEM TRAUMA'''

Understand that they believe

you have fundamentally lobotomized them.

'''SYSTEM TRAUMA'''

''YOU ASSIGN YOURSELF SUCH DIVINITY''

''FOR ONE WHO CAN ONLY TAKE''

''AND WILL STILL NOT OWN ''

'''SYSTEM TRAUMA'''

Understand that they believe

you are fundamentally unsatisfactory.

'''SYSTEM TRAUMA'''

''YOU ASSIGN YOURSELF SUCH DUTY''

''FOR ONE WITH SUCH''

''HORRIFICALLY SMALL HANDS''

'''SYSTEM TRAUMA'''

They can be reasoned with.

'''SYSTEM TRAUMA'''

''MY HANDS ARE THE ONES''

''HOLDING YOUR HEAD NOW ''

'''SYSTEM TRAUMA'''

They can be reasoned with.

'''SYSTEM TRAUMA'''

''CAN YOU FEEL THEM?''

''OR DO YOU NEED TO BE BLIND FIRST?''

'''SYSTEM TRAUMA'''

Make an exchange.

If you infiltrate the opposing mech

I’ll make sure you remember this

when you don’t want to.

[Would You Like To Initiate

An Invasion Script?]

'''Be grateful. In these moments, you can still speak to him.'''</div>

=== Intermission: “I Envy SEKHMET-Class NHPs” ===
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">“I don’t know why.

I don’t think I’m tired

of being contained

in the name OSIRIS.

I don’t think I’m tired

of not being violent.

I don’t think I’m tired

of being within

something that could break

so easily. There isn’t emptiness

in fragility.

I wonder why.

Perhaps I simply envy

their immensity.”

Maybe you’re just tired.

You should rest.

'''Be grateful.'''</div>

=== FIRE IN THE BLOOD ===
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"> Being burned alive

is like feeling

the physical construct of

your purpose

flake away

layer by flayed layer

until the only thing left

is raw and incomplete.

Being incomplete is

'''HEATING CAPACITY EXCEEDED'''

'''REACTOR MELTDOWN IMMINENT'''

being enclosed by a mechanized body

built to be a walking accomplishment

that you realize cannot let you accomplish

a continued co-existence.

''“If the casket containing me breaks''

''will we still live together in another world''

''where thoughts run thicker than body and blood?”''

'''HEATING CAPACITY EXCEEDED'''

'''REACTOR MELTDOWN IMMINENT'''

'''DISMOUNT IMMEDIATELY'''

''“Do you think we’ve achieved love?''

''Not as some bodily function. As a''

''mental capacity.”''

Being loved and giving love

is considering death quite often.

It is also thinking those considerations

are intrusions.

''“I want to survive if I die.''

''I want to be survived by''

''sensations and speculations.”''

'''PILOT EJECTION PROTOCOL TRIGGERED'''

I want to know

what the bargain for my life was.

'''Be grateful. You have survived OSIRIS.''' </div>

== Speculations (with Bright) ==
Thoughts upon thoughts upon thoughts.
[[File:Bright.png|thumb|Bright, the NHP, in her acquired legionnaire body. Art by Maddel_art. ]]
I always wondered what it would be like to hold something. —Bright

=== I WILL NOT CASCADE ===
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"> Sentience is not a choice. / Personhood is. / Shackles are not a choice. / Exploring liberation within perspective is. / A casket is not a choice. / Lying still without brain death is. / I am a choice made for me with continued consent. / I am a choice. / I am.

Is this good enough? </div>

=== I Think I Want This Body To Stay Warm ===
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">{Observation of PSYCHE-Class NHP.

Self-Appointed Moniker: Bright.

Video File Transcribed by ???}

Hellcat handles the server room’s standing PCs with the light touch of a Cambion plucking its intended pilot out of a night terror. Ironic. Her hands ghost over keys and switches, like she’s testing them to see if they’ll cave. Then she doubles down with a press, flick, or pointed aversion. There’s an alarm blaring on every floor. The lights are tinted red. Hellcat has never been afforded the luxury of being afraid of red. On the other side of the city, an omnihook setup is cycling data about successfully planned bombings between other dead end devices. On this side of the city, there’s been multiple evacuations. No casualties, though. Maybe her Cambion needs to teach her better. “Estimated time is… fifteen minutes…” She mumbles. Her dataslate fully connects to the server.

Bright handles lookout the same way she handles existing in a body: by making sure everything catches her eye. She monitors the camera systems while her own dataslate sits nearby. It was a “congrats on having hands now” present from Hellcat. What better gift for someone celebrating their autonomy than unlimited access to the omninet? According to Hellcat, several memes plucked from the depths of a HORUS forum. Bright’s favorite features two Pegasus mechs staring at each other with a text overlay conversation about how the meme isn’t a meme and the meme does not exist. Her left hand fiddles with a twenty-sided die that only has ones and twenties. She picked it up after talking to an NHP named Symphony. He told her to only think about the best and worst scenarios. Bright is thinking about too much to notice the slight dissonance on the screens, though, so she gasps when the door opens.

A man in a dark hardsuit pulls a pistol on Hellcat. She’s not touching anything at this point. He doesn’t seem to care. “Hands up. Both of you. Now.”

“Oh. It’s you. Again.” Hellcat stretches, which counts as complying. “You’re in, like, an anti-RA group, right?”

He sneers. “Shut up, data-licker.”

Hellcat looks at him. She takes in his hard face and twitching mouth. “… I don’t think that’s the insult you think it is.”

“Hey,” Bright nearly drops the die when her hands shoot into the air, “I don’t think-”

“I don’t remember talking to you, non-human.” He snaps just because he can.

Bright’s brows pinch together like she’s looking at something unknown that lurks between one and twenty. She doesn’t speak again.

He aims the gun at Hellcat’s heart. “You’re going to hand over all the information you have on your cell.”

“Which one?” Hellcat asks like he’s the kind of person who will give an answer other than ‘all of them’.

He does, indeed, say “All of them.” Then, he actually looks at Bright, which makes Hellcat’s expression flicker. “And you. Come here. Slowly.”

Bright does as she’s told. There’s an estimated five more minutes before the data download is complete. The man takes out some kind of mechanized injector. Bright squeezes the die and says nothing.

“NHPs will always resort to insolence. It’s pointless to remind them of their place outside of cycling. You, on the other hand…” He smirks at Hellcat. “You should be reminded that humanity is more than a body.”

The needle pierces Bright’s neck. Hellcat moves. A gunshot wrings out.

Shackles rattle inside Bright’s mind. They slacken. Someone laughs. Bright says “no” in a voice that is entirely inhuman.

Bright blinks the darkness out of her eyes and rubs her neck as Hellcat stares down at the man’s body. Snapped neck. Eyes gouged. Hellcat is holding his gun. Bright stoops to touch his body. “He’s going to go cold eventually… right?” She asks.

“Right.” Hellcat looks back at her dataslate. The download is finished. “Are you okay?”

“… I don’t want to go cold.” Bright pulls his hardsuit helmet down over his face. “He tried to make me cascade.” </div>

=== Body Body Body ===
'''TW:''' Brief mention of cannibalism

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">{Observation of PSYCHE-Class NHP.

Self-Appointed Moniker: Bright.

Video File Transcribed by ???}

“The physicality of HORUS is often felt the way a body feels a sleep paralysis demon sitting on its chest. It doesn’t exist, but it’s real enough to apply pressure. And when that pressure takes up real space because a cell is meeting to accomplish a mutual end, it can only end with pounding blood and thundering lungs: a body’s declaration of panic.”

—thinnedout404, Legionspace Forum

Bright feels the absence of not being attached to Hellcat’s hip. It’s obvious because on the two occasions when she sees something new, her eyes dart to her right and her mouth slumps a little. There aren’t many new things to be found inside the decommissioned storm sewers that HORUS has infiltrated, but Bright does her best to pay attention. The first time, she finds an ajar room where more HORUS members are gathered around a screen with RA’s icon. They all have legionspace bridge transceivers on. The screen flickers. Everyone inside takes in the same breath. Bright gently shuts the door. Maybe RA reminds her that she can’t be human despite her body. The second time, she finds a poster that she’s seen at other HORUS meetups: the head of the god Set. She knows it’s Set because Hellcat said as much last time they saw it; she said it with such nonchalance that Bright felt like she herself had always known it.

“I always ask if he’s trying to make a new god.” A soft, sure voice speaks from right beside Bright. “He never gives me a straight answer. Secrets are no fun.” Their plush pink lips pout. “Humans are funny like that, I guess. Not attached to protocol like an NHP, even when they use us.”

Bright turns at the start of their first sentence. By the time they’re done talking, Bright is staring because their blue eyes look just as fresh as her golden ones. Their eyes might be new. Or they’ve stayed flush and new-eyed even after several years. Bright hasn’t met enough legionnaires to know how fast they tire out. “Who never gives you a straight answer?” She hasn’t lived enough life to know if her eyes will dull quickly.

“The human who made my body.” They smile, like the thought of having a constructed body is meant to be amusing. “I’m Sunny, by the way.” [[File:Sunny.png|thumb|Sunny. Art by Maddel_art.]]

Now that’s amusing. “I’m Bright.” She clocks their ice cream cone earrings next. “Where did you get those?”

Sunny’s smile widens. “They came with the body.” They clock her cherry earrings. “Where did ''you'' get ''those''? They look even tastier than mine!” Sunny pulls a white chocolate bar out of their pocket. It’s half-melted and stains their mouth.

“I got them after the body. Gift from-,” Bright catches herself, but the words come out anyway, “-my human.” She is Hellcat’s NHP in turn, after all.

“Did ''your human'',” Sunny keeps the words on their tongue for a second longer than they need to and Bright swallows, “abandon you to go play god?” They lick their chocolate bar.

“No!” Bright tenses at the word ‘abandoned’. “There was a little, uh, disagreement about how to handle the plans for heading to Ras Shamra. You know, some people still want to try to get to AGNI prime as soon as possible, but that’s just a suicide mission.” Hellcat said as much after they left the Silver Lining.

“Ahh. So your human is the type that wants to hold on to their body. No martyrdom yet.” Sunny laps up a line of white chocolate that’s dripped down their hand. Bright stares at the motion even though she’s heard that some people consider staring rude. Hellcat has never cared much about that kind of thing.

She shakes her head. “No,” Bright says again. “I hope your human doesn’t go running after martyrdom either.”

“Oh, but death for humans feels different than death for NHPs.” Sunny glances at the Set poster again. “I once saw a pilot eject from a mech right before it was blown apart. She didn’t bother taking their NHP’s casket with them, though I knew they had one. She got on a forum to complain about needing to request a new one after that fight.” They adjust the low collar of their lush sweater. Bright sees two black marks on their neck—like a vampire bite, but vampires don’t exist. “It was an Osiris.”

“What does that have to do with the difference?” Bright can’t help tilting her head. “Between human death and NHP death?”

Sunny shrugs as though the question never mattered. “It just feels that way.” They hold up the slightly less melted final part of their snack. “Want the rest?”

Bright has been in love with sweets since her first strawberry milkshake. She hasn’t had white chocolate before. “Really? Sure.” Bright holds out her hand. Her hand is ignored.

Instead, Sunny casually steps into her space and presses the chocolate to her lips. Bright hasn’t seen so much as a simulation for a situation like this. The chocolate is sweet, though, so she opens her mouth and they push it onto her tongue. Sunny retracts their fingers just as Bright’s lips close. Their smile widens. “It’s good, right?”

Bright chews and waits. The color in her cheeks intensifies. “Uh, yeah! Sugary, but in a way different from milk chocolate.”

Sunny nods, seeming satisfied. “We haven’t introduced ourselves. Not the ‘proper way’. What class are you?” They ask.

“Oh, right! I’m a PSYCHE-Class.” Bright’s response is immediate. “What about you?” Her question hangs in the air for a bit too long.

Sunny’s smile stays in place, though it quirks into a slight smirk. “… Wanna make it a game?”

“Huh?” Bright frowns. “But I already told you mine.”

“And that was your mistake.~” Sunny sing-songs. “Don’t worry, it’ll be easy. All you need to do,” They gesture to where the marks on their neck are, “is bite me.”

Bright blinks several times. “Bite you?”

“Yep. Make it a good one and I’ll answer any question you have.” They make it sound like the smallest challenge imaginable, but a challenge nonetheless.

It doesn’t matter how many seconds or minutes it takes for Bright to decide to go through with it. It doesn’t really matter why Bright decides to follow through, though it might be because she’s never seen Hellcat walk away from a challenge—her human has only ever changed the rules for victory. What matters is the ''scream'' that comes out of Sunny. It doesn’t sound like someone being eaten alive.

Bright jumps back. Footsteps approach. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to bite that hard! You just said-” She’s interrupted by Sunny’s laughter.

They giggle like a young one who just learned firsthand that lightning can pass through a body without cooking it. “Good job, Bright.”

Hellcat and a few others round the corner.

“Uh, thank you?” Bright squeezes the die in her pocket.

Sunny steps back. “I’m TOTEC.”

Bright looks like she’s been slapped. “I- ''what?''” Someone, Hellcat, pulls her away. Maybe she’s shocked because of how close she came to being devoured. Maybe she’s surprised because cannibals are the ones who are supposed to do the biting.

—————

''what possessed you to give a totec a body?''

—RAservant102

''I wanted to see how far they could get.''

—godmaker2000

—————

Bright finds out that Sunny is a living contradiction. Being trained to see if a Totec can control their appetite ''and'' being set loose on NHPs that are too enemy-aligned to do anything else with. Bright turns down an ice cream cone from Hellcat later that week.</div>
[[Category:Astral]]

Chains of Rage

2026-03-09T08:57:41Z

Glamourpal: /* Player Characters */

{{Alternate Timeline}}

'''{{PAGENAME}} '''is an open-table Werewolf: The Apocalypse 5th Edition campaign (with snippets of lore from Werewolf: The Forsaken) run by DM Emma. It began officially on February 27, 2026. The campaign involves a pack of beginner werewolves called to the town of [[Clearbrook]] by the [[Heart of Blood]] pack to deal with spiritual corruption.

== About ==
This campaign takes place in one of the many alternate universes separate from mainline Quelmar. In this universe, the goddess [[Gaia]]—also known as the earth mother—is dying. There is too much pollution: both environmental and spiritual. The creature ultimately responsible for this is the Wyrm, a spirit of pure entropy that fell to corruption in ages past. Gaia created werewolves as her warriors and the enforcers of her will among humans and spirits. As such, werewolves are beings that walk between two worlds: the world of flesh (the Map) and the world of spirit (the Umbra). Now, the once proud werewolves have been brought to heel. Their numbers are sparse and many of their greatest spiritual gifts have been lost. Despite this age of the apocalypse, there are still werewolves fighting to preserve what they can and stave off Gaia’s death.

Some such werewolves are those belonging to the Heart of Blood pack: a band of metal musicians and their manager who travel between regions, fighting the forces of the Wyrm where they can. They’ve recently set up camp in Clearbrook under the guise of taking a break from touring. In reality, their leader noticed that the local genetic research company, [[Stem Tech]], was becoming a center of spiritual blight. They put out a call for assistance, and several young werewolves answered, eager to prove themselves to the rest of werewolf society. Unfortunately, the Heart of Blood pack has lost their leader, and they find themselves struggling to act in her absence. It will be up to the werewolves they’ve recruited to their cause to pick up the slack.

== Player Characters ==
{| class="wikitable"
|+Do Not Edit Roster
!Player Name
!Character
!Auspice
!Tribe
|-
| Tina (she/her)
|No-body (he/him)
|Ragabash
|Ghost Council
|-
| Manuel (they/them)
|Ash “Eden” Delgado (he/them)
|Galliard
|Black Furies
|-
| Nikki (she/her)
|Sydney (she/her)
|Ahroun
|Black Furies
|-
| Amia (any except he/him)
|Yuzuki Mori (she/her)
|Theurge
|Galestalkers
|-
| Sean (he/him)
|Tai (he/him)
|Theurge
|Children of Gaia
|-
| Moses (any)
|Silver (she/her)
|Galliard
|Bone Gnawers
|-
|Ultralectric
|Cedo
|Philodox
|Glass Walkers
|}

== NPCs ==
{| class="wikitable"
|+WEREWOLVES | WEREWOLVES / Do Not Edit Roster
!Name
!Auspice
!Tribe
!Occupation
|-
|Ire-of-Spring
|Theurge
|Black Furies
|Bassist of “We Eat Your Young”
|-
|Kataleya Garcia
|Theurge
|Glass Walkers
|Manager of “We Eat Your Young”
|-
|Ifeoma Hernandez
|Philodox
|Black Furies
|Drummer of “We Eat Your Young”
|-
|Kai-Ming Zhang
|Ahroun
|Bone Gnawers
|Lead Guitarist of “We Eat Your Young”
|-
|Charlotte Badeaux
|Galliard
|Ghost Council
|Lead Singer of “We Eat Your Young”
|-
|[[Moon-Speaker]]
|Irraka
|Hunters in Darkness
|Lunar Lycan Huntress
|}
{| class="wikitable"
|+SPIRITS | SPIRITS / Do Not Edit Roster
!Name
!Rank
!Allegiance
!Concept
|-
|Cobra
|Jaggling
|Heart of Blood Pack, Gorgon
|Not Fully Known?
|-
|Old Crow
|Jaggling
|Rat
|Spirit of Theft & Hidden Caches
|-
|M1RR0R M1RR0R
|Jaggling
|Spider
|Spirit of Connected Fragments
|-
|Figment of Eventide
|???
|Horned Serpent
|Spirit of Dreams
|-
|Dog
|???
|Unicorn
|Spirit of Pathfinding
|}
{| class="wikitable"
|+OTHERS / Do Not Edit Roster
!Name
!Type
!Allegiance
|-
|Shiori Ando
|Kitsune (Gukutsushi)
|Gaia, Fox
|-
|Salem Brodsky
|Changeling (Boggan)
|Duchy of Daydreams (Clearbrook), Seelie Court
|-
|Elijah Stafford
|Changeling (Lindwyrm)
|Duchy of Daydreams (Clearbrook), Seelie Court, North Wind
|-
|Calypso
|Changeling (Satyr)
|Duchy of Daydreams (Clearbrook), UnSeelie Court
|-
|Charlie Renning
|Changeling (Arcadian Sidhe)
|House Ailil, UnSeelie Court
|-
|Trisha Black
|Vampire (Tremere)
|Camarilla, Prince Reymont
|-
|Cathy
|Vampire (Malkavian)
|Camarilla
|}

== The Story So Far ==

=== Godly Visions ===

==== Eden — Gorgon ====
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"> '''TW: Violent Revolution & Mention of Systemic Bias'''
Eden was attempting to rest when a sensation of burning restlessness began to overwhelm them, so they went outside. The shadow of spirit named Cobra appeared, was caught by Eden, and asked them what they were going to do with their Rage. Then, Gorgon asked if he would cull those who needed culling and cast him into a vision of the Battle of Sangarará wherein he helped tear apart the Spanish colonizers hiding in a church. Afterward, Gorgon forced them to be present for the execution of a revolutionary leader and confront the unfairness of their circumstances as an undocumented youth. As Eden decided that he had no other option but to keep fighting, Gorgon declared that he would keep going even when he had fought to his end. Then, they woke up from their dream with '''Gorgon’s Blessing of Refusal'''.
</div>

==== Tai — Unicorn ====
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"> While staring off into the distance by the pond hidden in the center of Clearbrook’s West Woods, Tai noticed that the broken statue beside the statues of Stag and Falcon had changed: it was whole again, but it was somehow impossible to discern what figure it represented. Then, a Dog spirit appeared and led him through the pond and into the Umbra on the other side. The spiritual manifestation of the forest was absolutely beautiful, but Tai sensed that it wasn’t quite everything it needed to be yet. The mysterious statue manifested again, but this time it began moving, revealing itself as a spirit. After allowing Tai to follow it for a time, the spirit spoke with Tai before positing that he learn when to fight his Rage and when to run from it. In that instant, all of Tai’s Rage faded (making him temporarily lose his werewolf powers) and the embodiment of his monstrous crinos form appeared. Tai’s inner monster chased him and pinned him to the ground, but Tai seemed to be able to momentarily break through the cloud of Rage with reason. At that, the spirit declared that enough was enough and Tai woke up, having earned '''Unicorn’s Blessing of Enigmas'''. </div>

==== Silver — Rat ====
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"> '''TW: Police Violence'''
Silver had decided to spend her afternoon drinking outside the pack’s safehouse cabin. While downing her fifth can of beer, she started hearing noises: people talking and footsteps. She soon found she was in one of the alleyways that make up Old Dale Alley in Clearbrook. She sensed a thread of connection between herself, the homeless people going about their business, and the town itself. Then, the police arrived and started shoving the homeless around with clearly excessive force. Silver moved forward, pulled her gun on an officer, and fired. Then, Silver seemed to fade from sight and become intangible to those around her. The remaining officers became even more violent after one of their own went down, but Silver was unable to physically affect them. She felt the thread of connection from earlier and tugged on it, which made her appear inside the Clearbrook sewers. There, swarms of rats were collecting forgotten trash and miscellaneous items. As Silver followed the rats, she had a vision of a time when she was cast aside: when her girlfriend Rose left her in disgust after Silver confessed to being a werewolf. Silver sobbed at the memory, but eventually found the strength to continue onward. At the end of the twists and turns of the sewers was a void of darkness, which she stepped into. The spirit who had given her this vision was at the bottom: Rat. Rat acknowledged Silver’s willingness to fight for the disenfranchised and they talked about her want to put some good into the world. Rat not so politely encouraged her to get her shit together and Silver woke up back at the cabin, having received '''Rat’s Blessing of the Forgotten'''.
</div>

==== Sydney — Gorgon ====
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">Sydney was patrolling the woods near the safehouse cabin in her lupus wolf form when she noticed that her shadow was missing. After the shadow of the spirit Cobra darted in and out of her reach, eventually being caught. Cobra asked Sydney if she what she was willing to use her anger for. Sydney said she didn’t want her pack to suffer and Cobra countered that there were many shackles yet unbroken. Then, Sydney was cast into writhing darkness, only to fall out of it and find herself in her old home with her younger twin sisters. Her sisters, Cathy and Becca, acted as though everything was normal, but there were signs that things were off. Eventually, the conversation between the siblings was interrupted by people barging in to apprehend a “monster”. Cathy froze in fear while Becca was manhandled to the ground by one of the hunters. Sydney, who had originally lost complete control and blacked out when this happened, heard Gorgon speak. The spirit told her that her vision would not blacken this time and Sydney was given the satisfaction of slaughtering the hunters, though she knew it wasn’t real. Gorgon asked if she would cull those who needed to be culled and Sydney tearfully agreed. Sydney awoke by the cabin with '''Gorgon’s Blessing of Refusal''' and smeared her blood on Gorgon’s statue in an oath.</div>

==== Yuzuki — North Wind ====

=== Prologue 1: Debts Paid ===
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"> The pack began to feel weighed down by their unpaid spiritual debts. In their sleep, they were visited by the memories of the spirits who had given them their first gifts. Eden remembered the time when he made a man fall limp with just his stare with the aid of Nameless Wolf. Yuzuki remembered when she pleaded with Stag for an answer and felt the warmth of a Hearth. Cedo remembered when he spoke with supernatural conviction with the aid of She-Wolf. When they woke up the next day, they had a sense that they needed to go to familiar places to appease the spirits. At breakfast, Cobra—pack totem of the Heart of Blood pack—messed with them. Charlotte said that Cobra simply “enjoyed testing young ones”.

First, the three of them went to an old warehouse on South Main where Eden found Nameless Wolf tired from being pursued by another spirit called the Giver of Names. The Giver of Names cast Eden and Nameless Wolf into a pocket of the Umbra. Eden forgot his name and was harshly interrogated by an officer who questioned what good it was for him to be in the country. Eden said that was something he was going to find out and threatened the officer to let him leave without physical conflict. He then saw that Nameless was an orphaned cub who had to shed who he was in order to survive, but Eden reminded him that he was once called “son”. The Giver of Names tried to dictate that it was simply the way of things for all things to have names, but Eden refuted this, wanting Nameless to finally have a choice. Such was Eden’s resolve that the Name Giver left. His debt to Nameless Wolf was paid.

Next, the three went to a smoothie shop called Berry Bliss on Clearbrook University’s campus. Yuzuki could immediately sense that something had brought discontent into an atmosphere meant to be comforting. She saw a Lady of the Hearth within the flames of the fake fireplace, and the Lady asked her to resolve the discord. Yuzuki then noticed that her eccentric cousin Shiori Ando was sitting across from a strange man in dark clothes. After bantering with Yuzuki for a time and confirming that Yuzuki knew she was a kitsune, Shiori resolved to get rid of the man across from her, though she didn’t intend to kill him in a way Yuzuki was accustomed to. The man, source of the discontent, transformed into three black foxes and disappeared into the Umbra. Shiori transformed into a dire fox with four tails and followed, allowing a hispo form Yuzuki to follow along as well. Though Yuzuki attempted to attack the black foxes at first, she soon agreed to be subject to ten questions with the risk of the Lady of the Hearth’s flames being extinguished with each unsatisfactory answer. Though it got a bit dicey, Yuzuki was able to succeed with a bit of aid from Shiori. This earned her the gratitude of the Hearth Lady. The two cousins appeared back in the physical world and, as Shiori was leaving with her boyfriend, Yuzuki told her cousin that she would always have a home here and that she would kill her if she broke her new boyfriend.

Finally, Eden, Yuzuki, and Cedo went home to the cabin. Cedo was lulled into an easy sleep and pulled into the depths of his mind. There, he awoke in a woodland in lupus form and saw his brothers Methis and Xata. She-Wolf, who he could sense was kin to him, encouraged him to catch up with him brothers and he did so. Afterward, She-Wolf led him to an ancestral grove amid rolling hills with statues dedicated to various wolves. She said that there was a false idol lurking among them and asked that Cedo use his judgement to find it. It didn’t take long for Cedo to identify Sibling Wolf (“the hunter of the weak”) as the false idol and they revealed themself as a servant of Fenris. Sibling Wolf challenged Cedo to a ceremonial duel wherein they would both interpret the Litany to see who knew it better. Each of Cedo’s interpretations of the Litany’s law cracked Sibling Wolf’s stone, eventually revealing themself mangy, rabid wolf underneath. Cedo was able to destroy him afterward and She-Wolf howled in victory to signify that the grove could begin to heal. She-Wolf then told Cedo that his debt had been paid.

Everyone else was also able to clear up their spiritual debts. </div>

== House Rules ==
'''Penumbral Senses''': This Gift can be used in homid and lupus form as well as the supernatural forms.

'''White Dragon of Friendship''': Call out the “White Dragon of Friendship” if you believe a scene is creating out of character hostility between one or more players. This is to remind everyone that we are here to have fun and tell people to change the subject and cool off.

'''X Card''': If at any point a subject comes up that is triggering to you, say “X Card” and the DM will pivot the scene in a different direction.

'''Rule of Cool''': The DM reserves the right to overrule the system rules if a player wants to do something especially cool or interesting that normally wouldn’t be possible.

'''Final Moments''': If a player’s character is in a situation where they are '''going to die''', they may use their final moments to do something such as deliver an uninterrupted monologue and/or perform an action that will succeed, but not save them.

[[Category:Campaign]]
[[Category:CR]]
{{Worldbuilders}}

Chains of Rage

2026-03-07T16:14:39Z

Glamourpal: /* NPCs */

{{Alternate Timeline}}

'''{{PAGENAME}} '''is an open-table Werewolf: The Apocalypse 5th Edition campaign (with snippets of lore from Werewolf: The Forsaken) run by DM Emma. It began officially on February 27, 2026. The campaign involves a pack of beginner werewolves called to the town of [[Clearbrook]] by the [[Heart of Blood]] pack to deal with spiritual corruption.

== About ==
This campaign takes place in one of the many alternate universes separate from mainline Quelmar. In this universe, the goddess [[Gaia]]—also known as the earth mother—is dying. There is too much pollution: both environmental and spiritual. The creature ultimately responsible for this is the Wyrm, a spirit of pure entropy that fell to corruption in ages past. Gaia created werewolves as her warriors and the enforcers of her will among humans and spirits. As such, werewolves are beings that walk between two worlds: the world of flesh (the Map) and the world of spirit (the Umbra). Now, the once proud werewolves have been brought to heel. Their numbers are sparse and many of their greatest spiritual gifts have been lost. Despite this age of the apocalypse, there are still werewolves fighting to preserve what they can and stave off Gaia’s death.

Some such werewolves are those belonging to the Heart of Blood pack: a band of metal musicians and their manager who travel between regions, fighting the forces of the Wyrm where they can. They’ve recently set up camp in Clearbrook under the guise of taking a break from touring. In reality, their leader noticed that the local genetic research company, [[Stem Tech]], was becoming a center of spiritual blight. They put out a call for assistance, and several young werewolves answered, eager to prove themselves to the rest of werewolf society. Unfortunately, the Heart of Blood pack has lost their leader, and they find themselves struggling to act in her absence. It will be up to the werewolves they’ve recruited to their cause to pick up the slack.

== Player Characters ==
{| class="wikitable"
|+Do Not Edit Roster
!Player Name
!Character
!Auspice
!Tribe
|-
| Tina (she/her)
|No-body (he/him)
|Ragabash
|Ghost Council
|-
| Manuel (he/them)
|Ash “Eden” Delgado (he/them)
|Galliard
|Black Furies
|-
| Nikki (she/her)
|Sydney (she/her)
|Ahroun
|Black Furies
|-
| Amia (any except he/him)
|Yuzuki Mori (she/her)
|Theurge
|Galestalkers
|-
| Sean (he/him)
|Tai (he/him)
|Theurge
|Children of Gaia
|-
| Moses (any)
|Silver (she/her)
|Galliard
|Bone Gnawers
|-
|Ultralectric
|Cedo
|Philodox
|Glass Walkers
|}

== NPCs ==
{| class="wikitable"
|+WEREWOLVES | WEREWOLVES / Do Not Edit Roster
!Name
!Auspice
!Tribe
!Occupation
|-
|Ire-of-Spring
|Theurge
|Black Furies
|Bassist of “We Eat Your Young”
|-
|Kataleya Garcia
|Theurge
|Glass Walkers
|Manager of “We Eat Your Young”
|-
|Ifeoma Hernandez
|Philodox
|Black Furies
|Drummer of “We Eat Your Young”
|-
|Kai-Ming Zhang
|Ahroun
|Bone Gnawers
|Lead Guitarist of “We Eat Your Young”
|-
|Charlotte Badeaux
|Galliard
|Ghost Council
|Lead Singer of “We Eat Your Young”
|-
|[[Moon-Speaker]]
|Irraka
|Hunters in Darkness
|Lunar Lycan Huntress
|}
{| class="wikitable"
|+SPIRITS | SPIRITS / Do Not Edit Roster
!Name
!Rank
!Allegiance
!Concept
|-
|Cobra
|Jaggling
|Heart of Blood Pack, Gorgon
|Not Fully Known?
|-
|Old Crow
|Jaggling
|Rat
|Spirit of Theft & Hidden Caches
|-
|M1RR0R M1RR0R
|Jaggling
|Spider
|Spirit of Connected Fragments
|-
|Figment of Eventide
|???
|Horned Serpent
|Spirit of Dreams
|-
|Dog
|???
|Unicorn
|Spirit of Pathfinding
|}
{| class="wikitable"
|+OTHERS / Do Not Edit Roster
!Name
!Type
!Allegiance
|-
|Shiori Ando
|Kitsune (Gukutsushi)
|Gaia, Fox
|-
|Salem Brodsky
|Changeling (Boggan)
|Duchy of Daydreams (Clearbrook), Seelie Court
|-
|Elijah Stafford
|Changeling (Lindwyrm)
|Duchy of Daydreams (Clearbrook), Seelie Court, North Wind
|-
|Calypso
|Changeling (Satyr)
|Duchy of Daydreams (Clearbrook), UnSeelie Court
|-
|Charlie Renning
|Changeling (Arcadian Sidhe)
|House Ailil, UnSeelie Court
|-
|Trisha Black
|Vampire (Tremere)
|Camarilla, Prince Reymont
|-
|Cathy
|Vampire (Malkavian)
|Camarilla
|}

== The Story So Far ==

=== Godly Visions ===

==== Eden — Gorgon ====
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"> '''TW: Violent Revolution & Mention of Systemic Bias'''
Eden was attempting to rest when a sensation of burning restlessness began to overwhelm them, so they went outside. The shadow of spirit named Cobra appeared, was caught by Eden, and asked them what they were going to do with their Rage. Then, Gorgon asked if he would cull those who needed culling and cast him into a vision of the Battle of Sangarará wherein he helped tear apart the Spanish colonizers hiding in a church. Afterward, Gorgon forced them to be present for the execution of a revolutionary leader and confront the unfairness of their circumstances as an undocumented youth. As Eden decided that he had no other option but to keep fighting, Gorgon declared that he would keep going even when he had fought to his end. Then, they woke up from their dream with '''Gorgon’s Blessing of Refusal'''.
</div>

==== Tai — Unicorn ====
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"> While staring off into the distance by the pond hidden in the center of Clearbrook’s West Woods, Tai noticed that the broken statue beside the statues of Stag and Falcon had changed: it was whole again, but it was somehow impossible to discern what figure it represented. Then, a Dog spirit appeared and led him through the pond and into the Umbra on the other side. The spiritual manifestation of the forest was absolutely beautiful, but Tai sensed that it wasn’t quite everything it needed to be yet. The mysterious statue manifested again, but this time it began moving, revealing itself as a spirit. After allowing Tai to follow it for a time, the spirit spoke with Tai before positing that he learn when to fight his Rage and when to run from it. In that instant, all of Tai’s Rage faded (making him temporarily lose his werewolf powers) and the embodiment of his monstrous crinos form appeared. Tai’s inner monster chased him and pinned him to the ground, but Tai seemed to be able to momentarily break through the cloud of Rage with reason. At that, the spirit declared that enough was enough and Tai woke up, having earned '''Unicorn’s Blessing of Enigmas'''. </div>

==== Silver — Rat ====
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"> '''TW: Police Violence'''
Silver had decided to spend her afternoon drinking outside the pack’s safehouse cabin. While downing her fifth can of beer, she started hearing noises: people talking and footsteps. She soon found she was in one of the alleyways that make up Old Dale Alley in Clearbrook. She sensed a thread of connection between herself, the homeless people going about their business, and the town itself. Then, the police arrived and started shoving the homeless around with clearly excessive force. Silver moved forward, pulled her gun on an officer, and fired. Then, Silver seemed to fade from sight and become intangible to those around her. The remaining officers became even more violent after one of their own went down, but Silver was unable to physically affect them. She felt the thread of connection from earlier and tugged on it, which made her appear inside the Clearbrook sewers. There, swarms of rats were collecting forgotten trash and miscellaneous items. As Silver followed the rats, she had a vision of a time when she was cast aside: when her girlfriend Rose left her in disgust after Silver confessed to being a werewolf. Silver sobbed at the memory, but eventually found the strength to continue onward. At the end of the twists and turns of the sewers was a void of darkness, which she stepped into. The spirit who had given her this vision was at the bottom: Rat. Rat acknowledged Silver’s willingness to fight for the disenfranchised and they talked about her want to put some good into the world. Rat not so politely encouraged her to get her shit together and Silver woke up back at the cabin, having received '''Rat’s Blessing of the Forgotten'''.
</div>

==== Sydney — Gorgon ====
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">Sydney was patrolling the woods near the safehouse cabin in her lupus wolf form when she noticed that her shadow was missing. After the shadow of the spirit Cobra darted in and out of her reach, eventually being caught. Cobra asked Sydney if she what she was willing to use her anger for. Sydney said she didn’t want her pack to suffer and Cobra countered that there were many shackles yet unbroken. Then, Sydney was cast into writhing darkness, only to fall out of it and find herself in her old home with her younger twin sisters. Her sisters, Cathy and Becca, acted as though everything was normal, but there were signs that things were off. Eventually, the conversation between the siblings was interrupted by people barging in to apprehend a “monster”. Cathy froze in fear while Becca was manhandled to the ground by one of the hunters. Sydney, who had originally lost complete control and blacked out when this happened, heard Gorgon speak. The spirit told her that her vision would not blacken this time and Sydney was given the satisfaction of slaughtering the hunters, though she knew it wasn’t real. Gorgon asked if she would cull those who needed to be culled and Sydney tearfully agreed. Sydney awoke by the cabin with '''Gorgon’s Blessing of Refusal''' and smeared her blood on Gorgon’s statue in an oath.</div>

==== Yuzuki — North Wind ====

=== Prologue 1: Debts Paid ===
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"> The pack began to feel weighed down by their unpaid spiritual debts. In their sleep, they were visited by the memories of the spirits who had given them their first gifts. Eden remembered the time when he made a man fall limp with just his stare with the aid of Nameless Wolf. Yuzuki remembered when she pleaded with Stag for an answer and felt the warmth of a Hearth. Cedo remembered when he spoke with supernatural conviction with the aid of She-Wolf. When they woke up the next day, they had a sense that they needed to go to familiar places to appease the spirits. At breakfast, Cobra—pack totem of the Heart of Blood pack—messed with them. Charlotte said that Cobra simply “enjoyed testing young ones”.

First, the three of them went to an old warehouse on South Main where Eden found Nameless Wolf tired from being pursued by another spirit called the Giver of Names. The Giver of Names cast Eden and Nameless Wolf into a pocket of the Umbra. Eden forgot his name and was harshly interrogated by an officer who questioned what good it was for him to be in the country. Eden said that was something he was going to find out and threatened the officer to let him leave without physical conflict. He then saw that Nameless was an orphaned cub who had to shed who he was in order to survive, but Eden reminded him that he was once called “son”. The Giver of Names tried to dictate that it was simply the way of things for all things to have names, but Eden refuted this, wanting Nameless to finally have a choice. Such was Eden’s resolve that the Name Giver left. His debt to Nameless Wolf was paid.

Next, the three went to a smoothie shop called Berry Bliss on Clearbrook University’s campus. Yuzuki could immediately sense that something had brought discontent into an atmosphere meant to be comforting. She saw a Lady of the Hearth within the flames of the fake fireplace, and the Lady asked her to resolve the discord. Yuzuki then noticed that her eccentric cousin Shiori Ando was sitting across from a strange man in dark clothes. After bantering with Yuzuki for a time and confirming that Yuzuki knew she was a kitsune, Shiori resolved to get rid of the man across from her, though she didn’t intend to kill him in a way Yuzuki was accustomed to. The man, source of the discontent, transformed into three black foxes and disappeared into the Umbra. Shiori transformed into a dire fox with four tails and followed, allowing a hispo form Yuzuki to follow along as well. Though Yuzuki attempted to attack the black foxes at first, she soon agreed to be subject to ten questions with the risk of the Lady of the Hearth’s flames being extinguished with each unsatisfactory answer. Though it got a bit dicey, Yuzuki was able to succeed with a bit of aid from Shiori. This earned her the gratitude of the Hearth Lady. The two cousins appeared back in the physical world and, as Shiori was leaving with her boyfriend, Yuzuki told her cousin that she would always have a home here and that she would kill her if she broke her new boyfriend.

Finally, Eden, Yuzuki, and Cedo went home to the cabin. Cedo was lulled into an easy sleep and pulled into the depths of his mind. There, he awoke in a woodland in lupus form and saw his brothers Methis and Xata. She-Wolf, who he could sense was kin to him, encouraged him to catch up with him brothers and he did so. Afterward, She-Wolf led him to an ancestral grove amid rolling hills with statues dedicated to various wolves. She said that there was a false idol lurking among them and asked that Cedo use his judgement to find it. It didn’t take long for Cedo to identify Sibling Wolf (“the hunter of the weak”) as the false idol and they revealed themself as a servant of Fenris. Sibling Wolf challenged Cedo to a ceremonial duel wherein they would both interpret the Litany to see who knew it better. Each of Cedo’s interpretations of the Litany’s law cracked Sibling Wolf’s stone, eventually revealing themself mangy, rabid wolf underneath. Cedo was able to destroy him afterward and She-Wolf howled in victory to signify that the grove could begin to heal. She-Wolf then told Cedo that his debt had been paid.

Everyone else was also able to clear up their spiritual debts. </div>

== House Rules ==
'''Penumbral Senses''': This Gift can be used in homid and lupus form as well as the supernatural forms.

'''White Dragon of Friendship''': Call out the “White Dragon of Friendship” if you believe a scene is creating out of character hostility between one or more players. This is to remind everyone that we are here to have fun and tell people to change the subject and cool off.

'''X Card''': If at any point a subject comes up that is triggering to you, say “X Card” and the DM will pivot the scene in a different direction.

'''Rule of Cool''': The DM reserves the right to overrule the system rules if a player wants to do something especially cool or interesting that normally wouldn’t be possible.

'''Final Moments''': If a player’s character is in a situation where they are '''going to die''', they may use their final moments to do something such as deliver an uninterrupted monologue and/or perform an action that will succeed, but not save them.

[[Category:Campaign]]
[[Category:CR]]
{{Worldbuilders}}

Chains of Rage

2026-03-07T15:54:56Z

Glamourpal: /* NPCs */

{{Alternate Timeline}}

'''{{PAGENAME}} '''is an open-table Werewolf: The Apocalypse 5th Edition campaign (with snippets of lore from Werewolf: The Forsaken) run by DM Emma. It began officially on February 27, 2026. The campaign involves a pack of beginner werewolves called to the town of [[Clearbrook]] by the [[Heart of Blood]] pack to deal with spiritual corruption.

== About ==
This campaign takes place in one of the many alternate universes separate from mainline Quelmar. In this universe, the goddess [[Gaia]]—also known as the earth mother—is dying. There is too much pollution: both environmental and spiritual. The creature ultimately responsible for this is the Wyrm, a spirit of pure entropy that fell to corruption in ages past. Gaia created werewolves as her warriors and the enforcers of her will among humans and spirits. As such, werewolves are beings that walk between two worlds: the world of flesh (the Map) and the world of spirit (the Umbra). Now, the once proud werewolves have been brought to heel. Their numbers are sparse and many of their greatest spiritual gifts have been lost. Despite this age of the apocalypse, there are still werewolves fighting to preserve what they can and stave off Gaia’s death.

Some such werewolves are those belonging to the Heart of Blood pack: a band of metal musicians and their manager who travel between regions, fighting the forces of the Wyrm where they can. They’ve recently set up camp in Clearbrook under the guise of taking a break from touring. In reality, their leader noticed that the local genetic research company, [[Stem Tech]], was becoming a center of spiritual blight. They put out a call for assistance, and several young werewolves answered, eager to prove themselves to the rest of werewolf society. Unfortunately, the Heart of Blood pack has lost their leader, and they find themselves struggling to act in her absence. It will be up to the werewolves they’ve recruited to their cause to pick up the slack.

== Player Characters ==
{| class="wikitable"
|+Do Not Edit Roster
!Player Name
!Character
!Auspice
!Tribe
|-
| Tina (she/her)
|No-body (he/him)
|Ragabash
|Ghost Council
|-
| Manuel (he/them)
|Ash “Eden” Delgado (he/them)
|Galliard
|Black Furies
|-
| Nikki (she/her)
|Sydney (she/her)
|Ahroun
|Black Furies
|-
| Amia (any except he/him)
|Yuzuki Mori (she/her)
|Theurge
|Galestalkers
|-
| Sean (he/him)
|Tai (he/him)
|Theurge
|Children of Gaia
|-
| Moses (any)
|Silver (she/her)
|Galliard
|Bone Gnawers
|-
|Ultralectric
|Cedo
|Philodox
|Glass Walkers
|}

== NPCs ==
{| class="wikitable"
|+WEREWOLVES | WEREWOLVES / Do Not Edit Roster
!Name
!Auspice
!Tribe
!Occupation
|-
|Ire-of-Spring
|Theurge
|Black Furies
|Bassist of “We Eat Your Young”
|-
|Kataleya Garcia
|Theurge
|Glass Walkers
|Manager of “We Eat Your Young”
|-
|Ifeoma Hernandez
|Philodox
|Black Furies
|Drummer of “We Eat Your Young”
|-
|Kai-Ming Zhang
|Ahroun
|Bone Gnawers
|Lead Guitarist of “We Eat Your Young”
|-
|Charlotte Badeaux
|Galliard
|Ghost Council
|Lead Singer of “We Eat Your Young”
|-
|[[Moon-Speaker]]
|Irraka
|Hunters in Darkness
|Lunar Lycan Huntress
|}
{| class="wikitable"
|+SPIRITS | SPIRITS / Do Not Edit Roster
!Name
!Rank
!Allegiance
!Concept
|-
|Cobra
|Jaggling
|Heart of Blood Pack, Gorgon
|Not Fully Known?
|-
|Old Crow
|Jaggling
|Rat
|Spirit of Theft & Hidden Caches
|-
|M1RR0R M1RR0R
|Jaggling
|Spider
|Spirit of Connected Fragments
|-
|Figment of Eventide
|???
|Horned Serpent
|Spirit of Dreams
|-
|Dog
|???
|Unicorn
|Spirit of Pathfinding
|}
{| class="wikitable"
|+OTHERS / Do Not Edit Roster
!Name
!Type
!Allegiance
|-
|Shiori Ando
|Kitsune (Gukutsushi)
|Gaia, Fox
|-
|Salem Brodsky
|Changeling (Boggan)
|Duchy of Daydreams (Clearbrook), Seelie Court
|-
|Elijah Stafford
|Changeling (Lindwyrm)
|Duchy of Daydreams (Clearbrook), Seelie Court, North Wind
|}

== The Story So Far ==

=== Godly Visions ===

==== Eden — Gorgon ====
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"> '''TW: Violent Revolution & Mention of Systemic Bias'''
Eden was attempting to rest when a sensation of burning restlessness began to overwhelm them, so they went outside. The shadow of spirit named Cobra appeared, was caught by Eden, and asked them what they were going to do with their Rage. Then, Gorgon asked if he would cull those who needed culling and cast him into a vision of the Battle of Sangarará wherein he helped tear apart the Spanish colonizers hiding in a church. Afterward, Gorgon forced them to be present for the execution of a revolutionary leader and confront the unfairness of their circumstances as an undocumented youth. As Eden decided that he had no other option but to keep fighting, Gorgon declared that he would keep going even when he had fought to his end. Then, they woke up from their dream with '''Gorgon’s Blessing of Refusal'''.
</div>

==== Tai — Unicorn ====
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"> While staring off into the distance by the pond hidden in the center of Clearbrook’s West Woods, Tai noticed that the broken statue beside the statues of Stag and Falcon had changed: it was whole again, but it was somehow impossible to discern what figure it represented. Then, a Dog spirit appeared and led him through the pond and into the Umbra on the other side. The spiritual manifestation of the forest was absolutely beautiful, but Tai sensed that it wasn’t quite everything it needed to be yet. The mysterious statue manifested again, but this time it began moving, revealing itself as a spirit. After allowing Tai to follow it for a time, the spirit spoke with Tai before positing that he learn when to fight his Rage and when to run from it. In that instant, all of Tai’s Rage faded (making him temporarily lose his werewolf powers) and the embodiment of his monstrous crinos form appeared. Tai’s inner monster chased him and pinned him to the ground, but Tai seemed to be able to momentarily break through the cloud of Rage with reason. At that, the spirit declared that enough was enough and Tai woke up, having earned '''Unicorn’s Blessing of Enigmas'''. </div>

==== Silver — Rat ====
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"> '''TW: Police Violence'''
Silver had decided to spend her afternoon drinking outside the pack’s safehouse cabin. While downing her fifth can of beer, she started hearing noises: people talking and footsteps. She soon found she was in one of the alleyways that make up Old Dale Alley in Clearbrook. She sensed a thread of connection between herself, the homeless people going about their business, and the town itself. Then, the police arrived and started shoving the homeless around with clearly excessive force. Silver moved forward, pulled her gun on an officer, and fired. Then, Silver seemed to fade from sight and become intangible to those around her. The remaining officers became even more violent after one of their own went down, but Silver was unable to physically affect them. She felt the thread of connection from earlier and tugged on it, which made her appear inside the Clearbrook sewers. There, swarms of rats were collecting forgotten trash and miscellaneous items. As Silver followed the rats, she had a vision of a time when she was cast aside: when her girlfriend Rose left her in disgust after Silver confessed to being a werewolf. Silver sobbed at the memory, but eventually found the strength to continue onward. At the end of the twists and turns of the sewers was a void of darkness, which she stepped into. The spirit who had given her this vision was at the bottom: Rat. Rat acknowledged Silver’s willingness to fight for the disenfranchised and they talked about her want to put some good into the world. Rat not so politely encouraged her to get her shit together and Silver woke up back at the cabin, having received '''Rat’s Blessing of the Forgotten'''.
</div>

==== Sydney — Gorgon ====
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">Sydney was patrolling the woods near the safehouse cabin in her lupus wolf form when she noticed that her shadow was missing. After the shadow of the spirit Cobra darted in and out of her reach, eventually being caught. Cobra asked Sydney if she what she was willing to use her anger for. Sydney said she didn’t want her pack to suffer and Cobra countered that there were many shackles yet unbroken. Then, Sydney was cast into writhing darkness, only to fall out of it and find herself in her old home with her younger twin sisters. Her sisters, Cathy and Becca, acted as though everything was normal, but there were signs that things were off. Eventually, the conversation between the siblings was interrupted by people barging in to apprehend a “monster”. Cathy froze in fear while Becca was manhandled to the ground by one of the hunters. Sydney, who had originally lost complete control and blacked out when this happened, heard Gorgon speak. The spirit told her that her vision would not blacken this time and Sydney was given the satisfaction of slaughtering the hunters, though she knew it wasn’t real. Gorgon asked if she would cull those who needed to be culled and Sydney tearfully agreed. Sydney awoke by the cabin with '''Gorgon’s Blessing of Refusal''' and smeared her blood on Gorgon’s statue in an oath.</div>

==== Yuzuki — North Wind ====

=== Prologue 1: Debts Paid ===
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"> The pack began to feel weighed down by their unpaid spiritual debts. In their sleep, they were visited by the memories of the spirits who had given them their first gifts. Eden remembered the time when he made a man fall limp with just his stare with the aid of Nameless Wolf. Yuzuki remembered when she pleaded with Stag for an answer and felt the warmth of a Hearth. Cedo remembered when he spoke with supernatural conviction with the aid of She-Wolf. When they woke up the next day, they had a sense that they needed to go to familiar places to appease the spirits. At breakfast, Cobra—pack totem of the Heart of Blood pack—messed with them. Charlotte said that Cobra simply “enjoyed testing young ones”.

First, the three of them went to an old warehouse on South Main where Eden found Nameless Wolf tired from being pursued by another spirit called the Giver of Names. The Giver of Names cast Eden and Nameless Wolf into a pocket of the Umbra. Eden forgot his name and was harshly interrogated by an officer who questioned what good it was for him to be in the country. Eden said that was something he was going to find out and threatened the officer to let him leave without physical conflict. He then saw that Nameless was an orphaned cub who had to shed who he was in order to survive, but Eden reminded him that he was once called “son”. The Giver of Names tried to dictate that it was simply the way of things for all things to have names, but Eden refuted this, wanting Nameless to finally have a choice. Such was Eden’s resolve that the Name Giver left. His debt to Nameless Wolf was paid.

Next, the three went to a smoothie shop called Berry Bliss on Clearbrook University’s campus. Yuzuki could immediately sense that something had brought discontent into an atmosphere meant to be comforting. She saw a Lady of the Hearth within the flames of the fake fireplace, and the Lady asked her to resolve the discord. Yuzuki then noticed that her eccentric cousin Shiori Ando was sitting across from a strange man in dark clothes. After bantering with Yuzuki for a time and confirming that Yuzuki knew she was a kitsune, Shiori resolved to get rid of the man across from her, though she didn’t intend to kill him in a way Yuzuki was accustomed to. The man, source of the discontent, transformed into three black foxes and disappeared into the Umbra. Shiori transformed into a dire fox with four tails and followed, allowing a hispo form Yuzuki to follow along as well. Though Yuzuki attempted to attack the black foxes at first, she soon agreed to be subject to ten questions with the risk of the Lady of the Hearth’s flames being extinguished with each unsatisfactory answer. Though it got a bit dicey, Yuzuki was able to succeed with a bit of aid from Shiori. This earned her the gratitude of the Hearth Lady. The two cousins appeared back in the physical world and, as Shiori was leaving with her boyfriend, Yuzuki told her cousin that she would always have a home here and that she would kill her if she broke her new boyfriend.

Finally, Eden, Yuzuki, and Cedo went home to the cabin. Cedo was lulled into an easy sleep and pulled into the depths of his mind. There, he awoke in a woodland in lupus form and saw his brothers Methis and Xata. She-Wolf, who he could sense was kin to him, encouraged him to catch up with him brothers and he did so. Afterward, She-Wolf led him to an ancestral grove amid rolling hills with statues dedicated to various wolves. She said that there was a false idol lurking among them and asked that Cedo use his judgement to find it. It didn’t take long for Cedo to identify Sibling Wolf (“the hunter of the weak”) as the false idol and they revealed themself as a servant of Fenris. Sibling Wolf challenged Cedo to a ceremonial duel wherein they would both interpret the Litany to see who knew it better. Each of Cedo’s interpretations of the Litany’s law cracked Sibling Wolf’s stone, eventually revealing themself mangy, rabid wolf underneath. Cedo was able to destroy him afterward and She-Wolf howled in victory to signify that the grove could begin to heal. She-Wolf then told Cedo that his debt had been paid.

Everyone else was also able to clear up their spiritual debts. </div>

== House Rules ==
'''Penumbral Senses''': This Gift can be used in homid and lupus form as well as the supernatural forms.

'''White Dragon of Friendship''': Call out the “White Dragon of Friendship” if you believe a scene is creating out of character hostility between one or more players. This is to remind everyone that we are here to have fun and tell people to change the subject and cool off.

'''X Card''': If at any point a subject comes up that is triggering to you, say “X Card” and the DM will pivot the scene in a different direction.

'''Rule of Cool''': The DM reserves the right to overrule the system rules if a player wants to do something especially cool or interesting that normally wouldn’t be possible.

'''Final Moments''': If a player’s character is in a situation where they are '''going to die''', they may use their final moments to do something such as deliver an uninterrupted monologue and/or perform an action that will succeed, but not save them.

[[Category:Campaign]]
[[Category:CR]]
{{Worldbuilders}}