Chronicle of Isha, the Goddess of Life (Warhammer 40,000)

[Nidhog153]

A/N I'm not going to be putting as much effort in these sections, because I want to prioritise the main story.
The way I've organized it is by chapter. Some of these might be quite short. I'll just put any random bits of irony/references/foreshadowing I've made here.

TItle: I just thought it would be great to have an ironic title for a section that's in the Sea of Souls where there is no forwards or backwards, yet a linear sense of progression from one state to the next. i.e. Aeldari Pantheons existed, then died. For a place that doesn't have a concept of time, the very fact that these things have an order of occurrence is insane. There's no way an 'eternal' war can end, but it did.

Main Part: No real references to other books or real world events. There is a some foreshadowing here for future events.

Specifically, the Chaos gods infecting each other when they hit each other with their full might.

Isha using a Wraithbone spear to fight against the creatures of Nurgle, using her minions (the plants and animals), or a medium (the wind and ice) is also foreshadowing for that same future chapter.

Also, although I left the scale of Isha's domain vague on purpose, it's the size of several planets in real-space.

I wrote about it somewhere else, but the events in the chapter are a very loose reference to the fate of the Aeldari.

The acts of the gods are more symbolisms of what the canon Eldar did to rebuild.

Khaine drawing out his aspects and focussing on brutal training etc. was a nod to how the Eldar rebuilt part of their society by using the Aspect shrines to focus their minds and block out Slaanesh.

Morai Heg's pouch symbolises the way the Eldar split apart to follow their own paths; Corsair, Craftworlder, Outcast, Exodite, Commoragh, etc.
They're no longer the one united Eldar empire, but all chasing their own destinies.

Cegorach holding the strings of fate for the Harlequins is a nod to the fact that becoming a Harlequin is one way to prevent being soul sucked by Slaanesh.

Asuryan was more of a, "That would be kinda cool to have him do, rather than just be the guy that screwed up everything." sort of moment. Anyways, Slaanesh broke Asuryan's edict when she killed him a second time. (Isha's being freed from the tree being a foreshadowing of that.) Plus, the flames of Asuryan are a thing, and I needed a reason for them to fall out of the Warp so Eldar could collect them.

If I had to add anything to the above it would be that Asuryan's role as the one who commands the mortals elevated to gods and the one who binds the gods and restrains them to certain functions is a reference to a future plot point.

 

[Nidhog153]

A/N I'm not going to be putting as much effort in these sections, because I want to prioritise the main story. My story makes a lot of references to other real world events or mythology, so I've made these to elaborate since some of the symbolism and references are hard to get for some non-native speakers as well as younger native speakers.
The way I've organized it is by chapter. Some of these might be quite short. I'll just put any random bits of irony/references/foreshadowing I've made here.

Title: I had a hard time coming up with a title, because there was no rule or previous example I could fall back on. I almost gave up and just had chapter numbers.

Main Part: This is a really short chapter, but coming up with the next part's Tech Priest sass was taking longer than I'd liked, so I just made it its own seperate chapter. It also gave me a feeling of what length I wanted. I used to write until I had 10,000 word chapters before posting, but editing and reviewing such huge chunks of writing is soul sucking, so I'm not going back to that format without being paid for it. Although, I ended up going for +5000 word chapters recently, so I might end up with chapters that long someday.

The drafting process for long chapters is way worse. If you feel like 1 scene isn't going right, you can scrap that and recycle stuff pretty easily. If you have a chapter with multiple scenes that cross-reference each other, redrafting one scene can force you to change stuff that you actually liked or felt was good.

I've legitamately burst out laughing like the Joker because I realized re-writing one scene screwed up 3 weeks worth of work. (That's probably why I'm borderline insane at the moment.) So, yeah, future writers. Keep the chapters short and stylish.

It's insignificant for the reader, but making this first chapter so short allowed me to figure out a good pace and way to set-up chapters. 1 scene+optional flashback per chapter is my current rule. Anything more, and it just gets tiring. That might lead to slower plot progression, but I wanted the story to be as showy as possible, so what I want to say is often in the actions and descriptions of the characters as it is their words.

The only bit of foreshadowing is where Isha's body is strong enough to land on the planet without being hurt. It's not normal flesh and blood, but a symbolic construction of all the information that lies within her. However, like the Emperor's blazing figure on a golden path, Isha has her own 'true' form that does not look like her mortal body as well.

 

[Nidhog153]

A/N I'm not going to be putting as much effort in these sections, because I want to prioritise the main story. My story makes a lot of references to other real world events or mythology, so I've made these to elaborate since some of the symbolism and references are hard to get for some non-native speakers as well as younger native speakers.
The way I've organized it is by chapter. Some of these might be quite short. I'll just put any random bits of irony/references/foreshadowing I've made here.

Title: I still had trouble writing chapter titles, but at this point I was thinking it would be best to just have them be as descriptive as possible. The one twist was that Isha frees herself at the end, only to be trapped on the planet by the Emperor, so it was a bait and switch that made the chapter title true. I think that was when I decided that the chapter titles should not only be descriptive, but have an element of irony or sarcasm to them.

Main Part: The Xenobiologis dialogue was really fun to write. I don't think we'll get a similarly comedic section any time soon because vivisection and mentions of genitalia are apparently borderline content for the Creative Writing rules. Gallows humor kind of needs that stuff to be sinisterly funny. More Tech Priests will appear... someday... probably... maybe!

I have an anime-ish comedy interaction planned between with the Emperor and Isha, but from what they're talking about, it'll have to be placed after they go to Terra. I have a bad feeling shippers will start flocking here after that section. (If it ever gets posted.)

The idea that one of Isha's weapons being her voice and her Truth really grew here during the drafting stages. This was the time when the prologue and Chapter 2 were being drafted at the same time, so ideas shown here flowed backwards into the prologue.

Well, to tell the truth, that entire part with Isha's Truth and the effect it had on everyone was the part that was written first (Not this Chapter, but the entire story). The idea about the target being the Tech Priests came much later. You can sort of tell, since the last part talks about wine, but the Tech Priests don't drink wine. That's because that section didn't have Tech Priests until much later.

I think I started writing the Prologue after I had the part of Isha's voice/Truth done, so I kind of wanted Isha and Slaanesh to be song/voice based after that. It felt right because the Aeldari are such graceful aliens, and they also do the bonesinging thing. There was also a not insignificant pleasure taken in the macabre irony that the two gods who are most opposed to each other share a core trait. That's sort of an underlying theme for the story.

As for foreshadowing, the only one I can remember putting here is that Isha is strong enough to tear blast doors apart. That's relevant later. Also, her song and voice will come up again.

 

[Nidhog153]

A/N I'm not going to be putting as much effort in these sections, because I want to prioritise the main story. My story makes a lot of references to other real world events or mythology, so I've made these to elaborate since some of the symbolism and references are hard to get for some non-native speakers as well as younger native speakers.
The way I've organized it is by chapter. Some of these might be quite short. I'll just put any random bits of irony/references/foreshadowing I've made here.
Title: This chapter title had some people confused to what it was referencing. The explanation is below.

"Avē Imperātor." and "Pax Hūmānus." are references to imperialistic conquest and cruelty.

"Avē Imperātor." comes from Ave Imperator, morituri te salutant which is the (supposed) greeting criminals and captives (prisoners of war/kidnapped peasants) were forced to give to the Emperor Claudius before they were ordered to die in a mock naval battle for his amusement.7

"Pax Hūmānus." is a reference to "Pax Germanica" which is a from WW I propaganda when Germany invaded Belgium and France.

In short, it was to stress the Isha is not a refugee or beggar coming to the Emperor. She is an unwilling captive of the Emperor and is only following him because she has no choice.

Main Part: The fact that Isha turned into a furry for a moment was foreshadowing that she was undecided regarding whether it would be better to let the Emperor imprison her in a dream sleep, or whether she should fight. It was only after she was wrapped in chains that she came to a conclusion that being sent into a dream sleep would not be optimal for her or her children.

Cegorach's section references some theatrical terms. The most obtuse is probably the one below. I was quite frustrated nobody got the joke at the time.

Restorative comedy is a comedy style that was used to portray men and women getting together, fighting, and having shennanigans.
Ignoring the part that it's the Eldar talking about it, the point was that everyone in the audience thought that was a stupid idea.
The Emperor is neither male nor female. Isha is gendered femininely, but she isn't a woman.
That's the joke.
*sigh I feel like an Eldar having to explain my language to a Mon-keigh.

 

[Nidhog153]

A/N I'm not going to be putting as much effort in these sections, because I want to prioritise the main story. My story makes a lot of references to other real world events or mythology, so I've made these to elaborate since some of the symbolism and references are hard to get for some non-native speakers as well as younger native speakers.
The way I've organized it is by chapter. Some of these might be quite short. I'll just put any random bits of irony/references/foreshadowing I've made here.

Title: Diaspora = the dispersion or spread of a people from their original homeland. So, it's pretty on the nose.

Main Part: I wanted to show the cold calculating portions of the Emperor here. He also had no orginal intent of letting Isha speak to her children. He was just going to kill them and be done with it while still deciding what to do with her. It was only after she offered to parlay with her children that he allows her to do that.

That of course shows that the Emperor has other plans for Isha, besides using her to talk her children out of a fight. They were mentioned much later when he thinks about all the gene-tech and him hoping to use Isha as a source of information alluding to the fact that he was hoping to use her to better the Primarchs and Space Marines.

Additionally, there was a lot of foreshadowing in this section. Isha was leading the Emperor to an old battlefield where there were weapons she could offer the Emperor to see how receptive he was to her.

Isha's mind dug deep into her memories of the borders of the Aeldari domain; ancient holdouts from the War in Heaven, forgotten battlefields, and buried bunkers. After a few seconds, she found what she was looking for.​

"There is an Aeldari world that used to hold a colony. Its environment is harsh, too harsh for humans, but survivable by the Aeldari."​

Some people on other sites were saying that Isha doesn't seem to be cunning enough. I think she's pretty cunning, and the fact that all those people didn't see that through foreshadowing like this probably proves my point even more.

 

[Nidhog153]

A/N I'm not going to be putting as much effort in these sections, because I want to prioritise the main story. My story makes a lot of references to other real world events or mythology, so I've made these to elaborate since some of the symbolism and references are hard to get for some non-native speakers as well as younger native speakers.
The way I've organized it is by chapter. Some of these might be quite short. I'll just put any random bits of irony/references/foreshadowing I've made here.

Title: Yes, the connection to Everqueen is pretty obvious here, since the Emperor and Khaine are both described as Gods of Death. However, this does also allude to the fact that Isha and the Emperor were borderline thinking of just killing each other in this chapter.

Main Part: I was worried I'd made the Emperor too big of a bad person here. Also, the conflict was meant to take place in the hallway with a Custodes, but I felt it better to have Isha all by herself and singing. In the original draft, she was meant to investigate a Custodes out of curiosity, and that attracted the Emperor's ire.

That cheeky nature of Isha in the drafts is still part of the character. She does the entire stretch thing to illustrate that fey personality without giving an obvious reason for the Emperor to be so mean to her.

 

[Nidhog153]

A/N I'm not going to be putting as much effort in these sections, because I want to prioritise the main story. My story makes a lot of references to other real world events or mythology, so I've made these to elaborate since some of the symbolism and references are hard to get for some non-native speakers as well as younger native speakers.
The way I've organized it is by chapter. Some of these might be quite short. I'll just put any random bits of irony/references/foreshadowing I've made here.
Title: Well, it's the Core-worlders starting their new society that mirrors Commorragh. That's about it. Although, it has a double meaning in that Isha gives them a "new order" to come to her at the end.

Main Part: Chapter 6 was made to humanize some of the characters that would appear, so they aren't just crazy murder-hobos that you don't have to feel bad for. Well... they are crazy murder-hobos, but they don't want to be crazy murder-hobos. Does that make sense?

Also, all the names in this story were made using ChatGPT. I had it make a list of fake Druhkari names, took the two I felt were the least cringe, mixed them up, and used it.
The Tech Priest names were also made using the same method. I hate making names.

I wanted to show a way that you could see how the Druhkari got the way they did, without being it just 'they're all just psycho-addicts aliens'.

 

[Nidhog153]

A/N I'm not going to be putting as much effort in these sections, because I want to prioritise the main story. My story makes a lot of references to other real world events or mythology, so I've made these to elaborate since some of the symbolism and references are hard to get for some non-native speakers as well as younger native speakers.
The way I've organized it is by chapter. Some of these might be quite short. I'll just put any random bits of irony/references/foreshadowing I've made here.

Title: It says what it says on the tin. Although it refers to both the Core Worlders, and the Emperor using Lysander to introduce Isha to the rest of humanity. He has to figure out what to say and how to describe her to the rest of the imperial navy.

Main Part: The Emperor was written by SOMEONE (Looks in mirror) who just wrote about him being a massive a$$. I know where the story goes, so I know he's not always bad, but I really felt I needed to portray that with someone other than Malcador who should be stuck on Terra because the Emperor is in space.

Enter Lysander and this chapter. He literally didn't exist until I realized that the Emperor really came off as space-Hitler for the entire first section of this story.

The Emperor had maybe 1 or 2 redeeming scenes, but they were so far away that I was afraid it would turn people off.

Some might find that the Emperor being so considerate to be weird, but the tone was taken from his interaction with Vertic Order in "Mechanicum: Book 9". He heals the robotic steed of Vertic Order, and introduces himself. Not as nice as the Emperor in this scene, but the tone describes someone who can at least appear to care for others.

Also, I received some comments on some other sites that the Emperor having a fleet was weird. The Bucephelus was always in the Emperor's possession. It was never built on Terra, or Mars. It's some DAoT ship that's bigger than a Gloriana class, and possibly even bigger than the Phalanx. As for the fleet, it's a mish-mash of conscripted vessels from the colonies raided by the Core worlders, stuff he kept from the DAoT, and some other random ships.

We have no official dimensions of the Bucephelus, so I decided to never describe its exact size.

 

[Nidhog153]

A/N I'm not going to be putting as much effort in these sections, because I want to prioritise the main story. My story makes a lot of references to other real world events or mythology, so I've made these to elaborate since some of the symbolism and references are hard to get for some non-native speakers as well as younger native speakers.
The way I've organized it is by chapter. Some of these might be quite short. I'll just put any random bits of irony/references/foreshadowing I've made here.

Title: It says what it says. This time, there's no double meaning. It's just showing how miserable Isha was until the Fall.

Main Part: Shaimesh and the Dark Muses were hard to fit in here. However, there were a few core things that I really wanted to be in the story.
1. The Fall is an event caused by mortal hands; not gods or daemons.
2. The cause is both small and big at the same time.
3. It has to be a tragedy.

Yeah, so it's because of number 3 that everyone in Shaimesh's story dies.

I was expecting people to ask whether Shaimesh would return in the story, because he and the rest of his followers are all trapped in Blackstone coffins, and thus their soul, although in eternal torment, still exists in a coherent state. (Not sane, however.)

Also, he does have knowledge of the Webway, which is what the Emperor was after in the later parts of the Crusade.

I was never going to answer such questions, but it was sort of a surprise that no-one asked them.

This chapter alone had 3 or 4 drafts that got changed, re-typed, expanded, etc. Lhilitu has like 4 versions of her, Shaimesh had 3. Everyone else had 2.

 

[Nidhog153]

A/N I'm not going to be putting as much effort in these sections, because I want to prioritise the main story. My story makes a lot of references to other real world events or mythology, so I've made these to elaborate since some of the symbolism and references are hard to get for some non-native speakers as well as younger native speakers.
The way I've organized it is by chapter. Some of these might be quite short. I'll just put any random bits of irony/references/foreshadowing I've made here.

Title: This is a butchered quote from a Christian prayer/letter by Daniel Yordy. I'm not Christian, but I wanted the title of the chapter where the Aeldari meets their goddess for the first time in their life to be based on a prayer. There were almost no candidates, and hence this butchered quote which in its own context has no association to the contents of the chapter. However, the letter is titled "In the Womb of the Church" so it's a sort of coincidence that a maternal reference exists between the letter and the chapter. Yeah, it wasn't intentional so I don't want to take credit for it.

Main Part: This entire chapter is just to show things from the Aeldari perspective.

Spoiler: Future chapter

And foreshadow events 3~4 chapters away.

The way they're so non-plussed about the size of the Bucephelus was particularly fun to write, and also inspired that dark retort from Kyrazis about them being the relic of a fallen people.

To be honest, their dialogue felt more Necron in that section. "INFERIOR VESSEL SIGHTED" (Kudos to anyone who gets the quote)

I've been foreshadowing that the meeting with Isha was never going to go smoothly. Even children with their biological parents don't always get along.

The way I see it, the Coreworlders seeing Isha is like a grownup seeing their dad/mom coming back from getting milk after 20 years(i.e. they felt that they were abandoned by their parents). Of course, for the anaology to work, I have to add that the reason the parent went missing was because they were falsely accused of a crime and were sent to jail for no reason.
Anyways, this Writer's note is more rambly because it deals with a lot of emotions and ideas that are hard to visualise, so the chapter is short compared to the importance of the event.

The reason I have the Aeldari not be all "Oh, Mother! Yay!" is for the following:
1. I don't think that's much fun.
2. Grimdark
3. Love is really weird.

To delve into number 3, I'd just like to say that sometimes it's precisely because we feel such a strong maternal/paternal connections with someone that we're forced to reject them.

If I were to describe it more thoroughly with visual imagery; it would be that the love from a parent sometimes feels like a noose around your neck, or a chain around your heart. You don't want to do what the parent wants because you feel that they have a huge amount of influence over you because of the love you feel for them, and that for some reason feels unfair.

I would probably use those words to describe teenage rebellion as well, although there's also hormones involved in that so it's not all twisted emotions.

If Craftworld Aeldari met Isha, I guess they would have a different reaction. They have foreknowledge that she is a goddess, and can rationalize some of the emotions they feel for her.

The Core Worlders who are ignorant of her feel that instinctual connection and have no way of rationalizing it because they don't know what she represents, so their reactions become more volatile.

I use a lot of fire imagery. It's a bit on the nose, but there's no better way to describe an all consuming explosion of feeling.

Oh, yeah. That section with Lysander and her looking through the wall of the ship was used to foreshadow/provide context for this section. She sees beyond physical objects, and can focus on land marks from orbit.

Since I've rambled on for a long time, I might as well provide some extra context for what is happening.

Kyrazis may perceive that Isha is looking at him and him alone, but she's actually watching each and everyone of them. She's also talking to all of them at the same time, so although only Kyrazis seems to be the one doing the talking with Isha for the thousands of Aeldari that's because the chapter is from his perspective alone. She's actually having similar conversations with all of the Aeldari at the same time.

That's hard to explain, and harder to visualize. It also diminishes the weight of the emotions felt by each character. That's why I chose to write from only Kyrazis's perspective.

 

[Nidhog153]

A/N I'm not going to be putting as much effort in these sections, because I want to prioritise the main story. My story makes a lot of references to other real world events or mythology, so I've made these to elaborate since some of the symbolism and references are hard to get for some non-native speakers as well as younger native speakers.
The way I've organized it is by chapter. Some of these might be quite short. I'll just put any random bits of irony/references/foreshadowing I've made here.

Title: The Fall was originally going to be multi-part. However, it was going to be split between their time on the planet, and what happens after they got off the planet.

Main Part: Finally, all those foreshadowings and small details I put into all of Kyrazis's scenes can be collected and revealed. Not all were planned, but I think I got enough in there so people can find things on a second or third read.

The way Kyrazis seemed to worry about his left gauntlet, and the way he injures himself was foreshadowing for the Spiked Kiss.

There are a lot of reference to a gradual decline in this chapter, and at least one reference to Slaanesh which shows that She who Thirsts has already begun to influence the sub-concious of all the Aeldari without their knowledge. Kyrazis's sister's request for 6 spars is part of that. There's no reason for it to be any number, but for some reason she gravitated to the number 6. That's hinting at the way Slaanesh has begun to influence them.

That was also foreshadowed with the scene with Isha and Khaine, and how Isha merely brushing against the souls around her inspired stories of fae creatures and fairies. Slaanesh is doing the same to the Aeldari, although in Hir case, the Aeldari are both creating Hir, and being affected by Hir at the same time, leading to a vicious positive feed-back loop that accelerates the longer it goes on.

I also finally acheived my dream of having an entirely nameless character. Kyrazis's sister. I'm not joking. I don't have a name for her. Give her one on your own if you must. I hate names in general. If I could live in a world where I didn't have to worry about other people's names, I would be probably 5% happier than I would be now.

However, even though she has no name, I like to think she has enough personality traits that she's not a hanging-on character like some harem-isekai anime.

Some people might not like that I took away the focus from Isha and the Emperor, but everyone just goes over the Fall as if it was no big deal. Like, it just happened. No questions of what it was like for the people there, or why they seemed so lax about the visions of doom and destruction.

Isha, the Emperor, and their companions/soldiers are the main focus for the story. There's no point writing from the perspective of gods all the time.

Also, for those worried about pacing, I know that it's slow. I have made a concerted effort to speed it up in the next chapter. After this flashback, things should be going from scene to scene quickly, with only one or two sections of debate or slice-of-life-esque writing. Although, there will be different perspectives for some of the fight scenes, which may draw out some of the scenes.

If you come to this story with the same approach as a GW 40K book, you're not going to like how long this one is. The GW books are written very economically. i.e. there's a lot of phrasing that looks rushed, lazy, and non-sensical at times.

Also, as forewarning, my writing style is close to Kinoko Nasu, or the original writer of the Garden of Sinners, Fate/Stay Night, and Tsukihime series. That means the pacing is very slow when it's slow, but fast when its fast.

 

[Nidhog153]

A/N I'm not going to be putting as much effort in these sections, because I want to prioritise the main story. My story makes a lot of references to other real world events or mythology, so I've made these to elaborate since some of the symbolism and references are hard to get for some non-native speakers as well as younger native speakers.
The way I've organized it is by chapter. Some of these might be quite short. I'll just put any random bits of irony/references/foreshadowing I've made here.

Title: Pacing for horror stuff is really difficult. Each section needs to flow and ebb at just the right moments. Hence, I decided to post what could be two chapters as one.

Main Part: I'm doing this in a FAQ format, because there are probably some points people will have common questions about.

What happened to Kyrazis's sister?

She is a proto-Solitaire right now. Aeldari who have had their soul fated to fall into Slaanesh's grasp are known to have Warp immunity, and as they are tied to her, their actions can have symbolic effects on Hir and Hir minions. The scripted death of an Aeldari Solitaire against a Khornate daemon was enough to banish a host of Slaanesh's minions as it re-enacted Slaanesh's defeat by Khorne at Hir inception.

Her soul was unfortunately sent to Slaanesh by her brother's two hands. As the God of Excess, its sadistic plans to torment the remaining sibling with guilt and nightmares accidentally created a creature that is immune to Hir and Hir minions. As always, Chaos is self-defeating.

She is already within Hir belly, but her bond to her still living twin keeps her in the materium.

Cegorach does a similar thing with his Harlequins, sending them into Slaanesh's mouth with the string of their fate still tied to his fingers. Like bait on a fishing line, the servants of the Laughing God are devoured by Slaanesh, yet are not damned eternally for it is Cegorach's fingers that control their every move; and the Mad God always has the last laugh.

If Kyrazis dies, so does his sister. It is his life that keeps her here, and nothing else. Perhaps she senses this at an instinctive level, and assists in his escape because of that.

Being so close to Slaanesh on a spiritual level has its side-effects. Much like Isha and the Emperor affect all those around them, Slaanesh also changes everything she touches. Besides being immune to much of the Warp's effects, Kyrazis's sister sees the world as Slaanesh and Hir minions do. She is at home here on this crone world in the Eye of Terror. (If a human reference point is necessary, she would feel like a Kriegsman on a paradise world anywhere else.)

There are mention of children on the ship, do they also have to murder to stop Slaanesh?
Yes, they do, and although it isn't portrayed in the story they are probably more dangerous than the older Aeldari because they are being raised in this environment. Killing and sadism is being taught to them in their formative years. They truly will be Druhkari should they grow up. I'm fairly certain having children butcher babies (and enjoy it) would put me in violation of SB Forum rules. They will show up before Isha at a later date.

What did the Elarine daemon mean when Kyrazis wasn't ready?
Slaanesh is excess incarnate. After failing to torment Kyrazis with guilt by going overboard with her cruelty and creating a proto-Solitaire, she seeks to instill the greatest amount of pain for the longest duration possible. Kyrazis now serves as a proxy for Hir will, inflicting suffering and sadism upon the humans in the region, and further damning the remains of his race that he saved to Slaanesh's hands. His actions also instill fear and hatred of the Aeldari in general, further alienating and isolating them from the other species in the galaxy, leaving them alone in their fight against Chaos.

It is with great amusement and anticipation that Slaanesh waits for the time Kyrazis's soul comes before Hir so Hir Keepers of Secrets can reveal everything he has done for himself and others was merely another part of Hir plans and did nothing but feed Hir belly.

You mentioned a lot of foreshadowing and Chekhov's guns, what were they?
Oh, I can't count them all anymore. There's some minor ones, such as the fact that there was no mention of Celerion or either of the True Guardians, indicating that these named characters would not make it out of the Flashback as they are not mentioned in the chapters that come after it in the timeline.

Some major ones that I can remember off the top of my head are:

From Chapter 10: The Fall (Part 1)
The woman's blood from the arena assisting in his deception.
The mention of psychic feints, and his profficiency with them.
The spokesman playing an important role in influencing people.
Him mentioning that he had a brief interest in ranged weapons when the sim-battle arena was brought up, so he knows how to use a Shuriken catapult, and knows basic fire-arm safety.

From other chapters
The way the bridge staff keeps mentioning his name like it's an honorific.
Mordraxus's covered face and bent back. (Now you know that they are already starving when Isha calls to them as that bent back only appears in Mordraxus when he is starving)
The Seer dying a horrible death.
The fact that there are noble hanger-ons aboard the ship.

There are probably others, but I didn't exactly make a list. I find that interferes with pacing, because it forces you to do things that might not flow well with the speed the story has to move at.

Is Kyrazis's sister dead?
No, she is not. If she were, Kyrazis would feel it. Their souls are intertwined, and unlike 40K Eldar, they have been intertwined for over 5000 years. Kyrazis is probably 5 or 10 times as old as the average Eldar in 40K. However, there are Eldar that are 10,000 years old so he is not the oldest of his species. (Yes, there is a reason I used Aeldari and Eldar differently.)

There was a lot that didn't go into this chapter due to pacing and SB Forum rules. I made a concious effort not to make too many gorey scenes. Some of the noises made in the alley were by creatures who were planned to make an appearance, but two eldritch horrors seemed to be enough for that section. I was also pretty sure that adding actual mentions of daemons making the living buntings would be against SB Forum rules. Breaking joints with crab claws and twisting limbs into rope is also a pretty long process, so it would be odd for Kyrazis to see it when he's sprinting through the alley.

The later sections of them on the ship are slightly rushed because, although I could write about them going into turbo-depression, this chapter is depressing enough as it is. Not to mention that watching people fall into depression isn't the most entertaining thing to see. That sort of weight needs to be reserved for more important characters. Not the nameless masses aboard those ships.

 

[Nidhog153]

A/N I'm not going to be putting as much effort in these sections, because I want to prioritise the main story. My story makes a lot of references to other real world events or mythology, so I've made these to elaborate since some of the symbolism and references are hard to get for some non-native speakers as well as younger native speakers.
The way I've organized it is by chapter. Some of these might be quite short. I'll just put any random bits of irony/references/foreshadowing I've made here.

Title: Well, a dual word play because the "God Symbolism" for a lack of a better word of the Emperor is a figure walking along a blood stained golden path. Much like Khorne is both the Skull Throne and the black armored figure, the Emperor's actual nature is both the path it treads upon and the one making the path.

It's also a reference to how the Emperor's view of what god hood is, and where that path leads.

Isha is also sort of roped in here, because there's a lot of details here that will build later on about her nature as the "Mother of the Aeldari".

Main Part: Hopefully, you've noticed the much faster pacing of the story. I'm not putting as much poetry or prose as I used to, and things are progressing a lot faster. This story is sort of written with the expectation that the reader has almost 0 knowledge of 40K, so it might seem overly explanatory to veterans. (hence the partially loredumpy sections) Especially in the beginning.

I also made this chapter extra-long for those of you who said they like long chapters. I do take some of your request into consideration, so feel free to make them.

Could have split it into two chapters, but I tied all the scenes that fit this title together so you could have some closure to Isha and the Emperor's first meeting with the Aeldari.

I am now out of stock chapters, and have a headache...

Spoiler: Please Please Please

I'm also a minor chaos god, so I literally feed off of the energy of your posts and reviews. FEED ME!

I originally wanted to have Isha euthanize all her children on the Slave Carriers, but that would take too much time so only one family got euthanized. There was a reason for me wanting to have that happen. The reason is still referenced in Isha's lullaby and her last words to Zepholde. No, I do not enjoy killing off Aeldari. That part with the mom and kid was painful to write, and worse to proofread. It was necessary, however, to show more of Isha's nature, and I don't just mean the "wild mother" aspect.

Spoiler

Gods are empowered by thoughts, emotions, prayers, and souls. The Four, Isha, and the Emperor all follow the same rules.
The Old Ones did their work very well. The Emperor has never actually met one, and never really interacted with the sane gods they created.

 

[Nidhog153]

A/N I'm not going to be putting as much effort in these sections, because I want to prioritise the main story. My story makes a lot of references to other real world events or mythology, so I've made these to elaborate since some of the symbolism and references are hard to get for some non-native speakers as well as younger native speakers.
The way I've organized it is by chapter. Some of these might be quite short. I'll just put any random bits of irony/references/foreshadowing I've made here.
A/N I'm not going to be putting as much effort in these sections, because I want to prioritise the main story.
The way I've organized it is by chapter. Some of these might be quite short. I'll just put any random bits of irony/references/foreshadowing I've made here.

Title: If things were the other way around, this section would have nothing but space-battles in it. The title would also be referencing the two real-world battles I used for inspiration regarding the tactics. Since revealing that title would spoil the human's tactics, I'll put the half that only references this section "Between Midway and [Redacted]

Now, it's a pretty on the nose reference to both the Emperor's battle plans for the space battle, and Isha's own plans for how to deal with the Emperor.

Main Part: I've made efforts to describe the space-craft we have images of, so the Dark-Star and Eagle bombers are described how they appear in the video game Battlefleet Gothic Armada 2. You don't have 3D movement there, and holofields don't actually create mirages, but most of the imagery and weapon rules come from that game.

If you read chapter 9 and chapter 7 carefully, (and know what class of ships can Run-Silent) it should be relatively easy to get the gist of what the humans have done.

The reason the Battle of Midway was planned to be referenced was because one of the reasons the Japanese lost that battle was the inability to get their planes in the air due to constantly being harassed by the Americans. That only happened because the American planes attacked continuously. Why? Because they were so disorganized that the planes that were meant to attack all at once ended up reaching the Japanese at different times. If dumb luck ever played a part in the war, it was certainly this moment. This forced the Japanese to continuously avoid torpedoes and bombs so much that they couldn't refuel and rearm their plane during the Battle of Midway,

I'm not joking, the Japanese literally fishtailed their carriers to avoid torpedoes. All that white stuff are the waves the carrier is making as it avoids American dive bombers.

Anyways, the part of the battle that is inspired by the Battle of Midway is the part where the Emperor essentially baited all the strike-craft of the Aeldari by threatening them with a three way flank, while preventing them from escaping. This means that the Aeldari fleet has no scouting or defensive Fighters and Bombers.

Another part of the Battle of Midway referenced in this chapter is the "Thach Weave". It was a tactic that the Americans used to combat the superior piloting skills and combat specs of the Japanese Zeros. They did the same thing in the chapter; baiting Zeros to go after one of their planes, and then attacking that Zero from behind with two other planes that flew in parallel to the plane that was the bait.

I'm not a massive history buff, but I like watching the odd battle documentary from time to time so I wanted to have a space-combat battle that used some of the tactics/events from the Battle of Midway.

There are other events of the Battle of Midway that are sort of referenced, such as the existence of a hidden fleet, which is sort of what the American carriers did to the Japanese, but they're so tangential that I don't want to bother mentioning them here.

As for why the Aeldari are so focussed on getting to the Bucephelus, originally Isha being on the Bucephelus made the Aeldari target the Bucephelus, but once that momentum was going, it doesn't matter if Isha is onboard or not. They have to take out the Bucephelus to escape so even if they know she is on a different ship now, they have no choice but to attack.

In fact, the Emperor sent Isha knowing that disabling the slave carriers being used as shields, and then forming a second flank that indicated a third flank was going to appear would force the Aeldari to go all-in, and rush all at once. This would of course clutter the combat space, tire the Aeldari pilots out quicker, and allow him to launch his own fighters in an advantageous position against weakened enemies.

This is the standard of combat planning/void-combat I hope to maintain for the rest of the Chronicle. Smart tactics with super spaces sci-fi weapons.

Unfortunately, I can't make all the Space Marines have camo paint, so they'll be as visible as ever. However, I'll try to come up with some ground-battle tactics that are semi-realistic/have some basis in history.

 

[Nidhog153]

A/N I'm not going to be putting as much effort in these sections, because I want to prioritise the main story. My story makes a lot of references to other real world events or mythology, so I've made these to elaborate since some of the symbolism and references are hard to get for some non-native speakers as well as younger native speakers.
The way I've organized it is by chapter. Some of these might be quite short. I'll just put any random bits of irony/references/foreshadowing I've made here.

Title: The original title was "Between Midway and Trafalgar", with the section containing Isha and the Emperor's discussion being called "Gods and Guilt." At one point, this section was called "For the Emperor" to refer to Isha's answer and Cedric's sacrifice. However, since the part with the Emperor and Isha became much longer than the space battle, the title changed as well.

Main Part: This battle with Cedric and co. is there just to depict the brutal nature of void combat. I wanted a brutal battle which has some logical sense. I wish I could say that the entire battle was a carfully constructed scene with logical sense, but it mostly came from wanting a logical reason of having an imperial ship ramming an Aeldari ship, only for both to be blown up by a different human ship.

After I had that image in my head, the rest of the battle sort of formed around that to justify how that would happen.

Cedric being a coward who came into the Emperor's service was a late development. There was also a much more grissly scene involving the Aeldari torturing one of the crew member's family, but we just finished humanising them one or two chapters ago. It would be tonally off putting to go back to seeing them as cruel monsters, even though that it is the lived experience of the humans. I also didn't want to have to go through community review again, so I self censored myself.

The debate between Isha and the Emperor started from two parts. The thought experiment of the train, and the line "If only you and your daughter kept your damnable mouths shut, none of this would have happened!". For some reason, when I was thinking of what these two characters were saying to each other, I felt the Emperor would say that to Isha, but Isha would not lose her temper at the accusation.
Anyways, I put a lot of mention of ozone here for a reason. I think most people see Isha as a literal Goddess of Life. i.e. she causes plants to spring up from the ground and wills animals into existence.

That is part of her, but as the forces of nature destroyed the daemons in the Prologue, my portrayal of Isha is less fantastical and more scientific.

She can cause plants to sprout up, and create living beings from nothing. However, that is not her primary purpose, nor is it the most efficient method of bringing life into existence.

All the Aeldari gods are weapons of war to some degree.

Also, the goddess on the battlements of the Aeldari Pantheon's walls who gave the Emperor the shivers is not Isha. It's Hekarti, who's mentioned in the prologue to have watchful eyes.

If there was some easy to miss symbolism, it would probably be the "clean" hands Isha told the Emperor that was her reward. As the prologue said, it would have been Isha who killed the Aeldari as they fell to depravity. Isha's hands in this route are figuratively clean, in that she was not forced to endlessly kill her children.

 

[Nidhog153]

A/N I'm not going to be putting as much effort in these sections, because I want to prioritise the main story. My story makes a lot of references to other real world events or mythology, so I've made these to elaborate since some of the symbolism and references are hard to get for some non-native speakers as well as younger native speakers.
The way I've organized it is by chapter. Some of these might be quite short. I'll just put any random bits of irony/references/foreshadowing I've made here.
Title: Well, it's a title that's on the nose, simply because I never intended to write out this chapter before hand. I will be honest, this is a work of spite for everyone who seemed to think the Emperor's 2 dimensional way of viewing things was correct.

Main Part: This part explains why there are Psychomatons buried on this planet. That was always their backstory, hence the description about the crust appearing to have been shoved together by someone's hands. That was planned all the way back then.

Isha's miracle is taken from legend, and it takes into account that she is a weapon of war like all the other gods.

It also takes inspiration from some of the quotes from older 40K books that talk about what happens when a Spirit Stone gets damaged.

Spoiler: Not much of a spoiler, but just in case.

It apparently detonates, violently. Tears of Isha store souls, but seem to be primarily for storing psychic energy first, with that feature being exploited after the Fall to also store souls.

The point of this story and flashback (besides being written out of spite for all the people who think Isha just screwed up for something as simple as love)

Spoiler

Honestly, do you believe me to be so gauche and simple?

is to set-up as many flags as possible so new arguments and perspectives don't just come out of the blue. A lot of the concepts and arguments should show up in the final act.

It's also to point out that Isha's fate hasn't actually changed according to Lilieath. Lilieath foresaw that Isha would escape the Fall in the prologue, but she still sees the outcome of her mother in a rusted cage in Nurgle's garden. The again, maybe that's just a temporary fate until Isha is rescued, or maybe that really is the ending of her story. So far, a lot of named characters have died. Whose to say Isha will be any different?

Besides being annoying, I wanted to make sure that we dispelled any notion of standard story telling or promised happy endings before we continue. It is rather important for the final act. I want the suspense to be real and believable.

Sure, I've posted that Isha and the Emperor will eventually reach Terra, but in what state and what relationship or to whose benefit can really change how that's acheived.

If there's one thing I regret, it's that I had to foreshadow what Isha's miracle is, and how exactly she brings about new life. Then again, throwing that concept out of the blue might have given people whiplash, so putting the original legend from 40K with some Isha foreshadowing might have been serendipitous in timing.

Edit #1: Added a section to explain what Lilieath did.
Asuryan clarified what Lilieath did here.

Lilieath, your child, understands the importance of a choice made by a god far better than you. That is why she made her choice so you would never have the chance to make yours.

Click to shrink...

She prevented Isha from ever making a more complicated choice other than 1 or 0.

As to what that more difficult choice was, Asuryan clarified it in the choices he gives Isha.

Will you expand your definition to how life should be lived, cull all those left wanting, and eventually fall as the futility of it all finally breaks your heart?

Click to shrink...

This is referenced in the prologue as well.

In her dreams, Lileath had watched her mother beg and plead with her mortal children; to turn them from their evil ways. Some would listen, but most would mock and spurn her warnings, instead demanding more of nature's bounty to feed their ever growing thirst.

Then, on one unknowable night, Isha would come with fatal song and silent voice; to take back what she gave.
...
Every life she took, each child undone by her voice would bring misery and mourning to her eternal heart.

And a new Goddess would be born; more terrible than serendipitous Slaanesh, self-defeating Tzeentch, rage-filled Khorne, or despondent Nurgle.

A sane self-loathing goddess of merciless culling, and terrible purpose; the Miserable Mother. A goddess that would take from the weak and the strong in equal measure, to balance out the mourning she would spread. A new reaper of souls that kept all things in balance while seeking to tip the scale to one side at the same time. An internal hypocrisy that would see her torn apart by her own two hands.

Click to shrink...

In Lilieath's dreams, Isha actively tried to tell her children how not to turn to Slaanesh. This can be rephrased as Isha telling her children how to live their lives, and when they refused to listen, she took back what she gave in order to restore the balance of life as she defined it.

To further break it down, 1 is the state of Aeldari being alive. 0 is the state of Aeldari not being alive.

When a planet with Aeldari on it reaches the 0 state, Isha bestows her miracle upon that planet.

Total Slaanesh corruption means no more Aeldari (i.e. 0), but Slaanesh's corruption is not a binary thing. There are levels of depravity.

When Isha is forced to decide what percentage of corruption means an Aeldari can no longer be saved from Slaanesh, the choice is no longer binary.

This is further complicated because Isha is in the Sea of Souls, and as an Aeldari goddess has foresight as well. In chapter 15, I showed how Isha decides between 1 and 0, and this was meant to hint at why making the choice non-binary was really dangerous.

SIlver eyes sparking, Isha set her foresight upon every planet of the Aeldari, predicted which ones Khaine would alight upon, and watched the populace burn and die in an unavoidable future. Several hundred reddish black tears formed in her hand, and she threw them at the planets she knew would be doomed, concluding that there was no saving the children there. Thus, the loss of life would not stain her hand, for her miracle would free them from the painful anger and all-consuming bloodlust, saving their souls from Khaine's fire.

Click to shrink...

If this was applied to a planet undergoing Slaanesh corruption, depending on what point in the future Isha looks at the planet, it could be only 1% corrupted or 99% corrupted by Slaanesh.

If Isha sees that a planet is 100% corrupted in 100 years, but it is only 1% corrupted at the present time, then she should take back the lives of the Aeldari now instead of 100 years in the future. That way, she can reduce the amount of damage and pain the Aeldari there suffer from Slaanesh. However, for the Aeldari living on the planet, it would be as if Isha was suddenly taking back their lives for using too much sugar or salt in their cooking. (This is hyperbole, but you get the gist of it.) That would have nasty implications for Isha as a goddess, and redifine what Isha represented over time as the perception in the Aeldari of what she was changed.

To dehumanize Isha, and describe what would have happened to her in Emperor-like terms, Isha's Fall can be summarized as her processing power being exceeded by the problem she was trying to solve.

The problem she was trying to solve was the salvation of the Aeldari from Slaanesh.

As Isha's attempts to decide what Aeldari can and can't be saved using Warp Sight, foresight, and their own memories through the psychic net, some of her judgements will be incorrect. Furthermore, as Isha learns and optimizes herself according to her environment (as shown below) once those incorrect judgements start building up, the threshold for what can and cannot be saved becomes less and less tolerant.

Isha had become more reckless and more unrestrained with the newfound freedom she and her children enjoyed. She ignored the original order of things, as all life does in its constant evolution to adapt to its surroundings.

Click to shrink...

Asuryan calls this process the breaking of Isha's heart, and he's not wrong. Isha would feel pain, guilt, frustration, anger, and a whole lot of other emotions as she is forced to tackle an unsolveable problem. To go back to using more Aeldari or human-like terms, every time Isha makes the decision to end the Aeldari that do not listen to her, the process becomes easier as she becomes more accustomed to the pain and numb to the consequences. Thus, more and more worlds with less and less Slaanesh corruption would be reclaimed by Isha as the very hint of corruption would be enough to convince her that the planet could no longer be saved.

Eventually, all Aeldari would be deemed unable to be saved and as there is no point for life without the Aeldari for the Aeldari Goddess of Life, Isha would bestow her miracle upon every planet and every star in the galaxy.

That is the choice Lilieath could not allow Isha to make.

This is not a short process. At the very least, another 10 million years would have been necessary for Isha to reach the point where Aeldari would actively start fearing for their lives. However, once that process begins, there is no stopping it.

Once Isha's heart begins to break, nobody can stop her. Isha tried to ask Asuryan to do so, but he replied with the below.

Before you ask your next question, you already know why I do not do that. If I told you or any of the others what to do or when to stop, it would be no different from me commanding the Aeldari; just as much as leaving my brother makes you responsible for your children's deaths.

Click to shrink...

As for the other gods, they wouldn't be able to stop her either. Besides being extremely powerful due to life being such a wide and all encompassing domain, the edict would not be able to stop Isha because life is hers to define. In other words, if she decided that all life was doomed, nobody else can activate the edict against her because that is her domain and they don't get a say in how she defines life.

The line below was supposed to hint at how the edict would not be able to stop Isha as it did Khaine.

By my Truth and right as the Goddess of Life, I demand the activation of the edict for the usurpation of my duty and definition by the God of War and now Lord of Murder, Khaine.

Click to shrink...

In order for one of the other gods to stop Isha, they would have to usurp part of her duty or definition. If they tried to do that, Asuryan himself would stop them.

His role after giving life to the Aeldari was to maintain the law between the gods, judge any who could reach the foot of his throne, and ensure they remained true to their own self-described nature and function.

Click to shrink...

This is why, when Lilieath saw the dream, she almost immediately acted to prevent it because there is literally no stopping Isha once she goes down that path. That is why Lilieath forced Isha to become the below.

She was the Goddess of Life and the mother of the Aeldari. However, she would never tell them how to live their lives or punish them for their sins.

Click to shrink...

As a side note, I was half-expecting a bunch of comments about how whether the above meant Isha would not harm those on Commorragh. The short answer is yes, she cannot unilaterally reclaim the Aeldari lives on Commorragh, even if they are becoming even worse than the Core Worlders.

 

[Nidhog153]

A/N I'm not going to be putting as much effort in these sections, because I want to prioritise the main story. My story makes a lot of references to other real world events or mythology, so I've made these to elaborate since some of the symbolism and references are hard to get for some non-native speakers as well as younger native speakers.
The way I've organized it is by chapter. Some of these might be quite short. I'll just put any random bits of irony/references/foreshadowing I've made here.

Title: I was emotionally spent from writing this chapter, so I didn't have much energy to think up a good title. I think it summaraizes Kyrazis's acceptance of Isha, and the understanding of what it was like to actually have a mother in the first place. He never did have one. (BTW, my mental batteries recharge faster with replies and reviews)

The first side story is also in here. That's there for foreshadowing, because although Kyrazis's sister is not the main focus, she does provide an interesting perspective no other character can.

Main Part: Finally, all the accusations of sidestories and lore dumping can finally be put to rest. This chapter could not have been written without understanding Isha's and Kyrazis's journey.

In the very first draft, Kyrazis was just a nameless Druhkari raider who came to steal some buried Wraith Titans and corrupt them for Slaanesh. It was a very very simple story back then, and the emotional depth that Isha and Kyrazis showed was no where in this story.

I hadn't thought up the Dark Muses's back story, or the story of Shaimesh. The Fall was only a 1000 words long. However, the ending of this chapter is pretty much what I had planned in the first place.

The reason for Isha's love is also shown here.

She sees their potential, and knows that had the environment they were in been different, they could have been a noble and respectable people.

Nobody asks to be born in the place they are or with the parents that brought them into the world. Some are lucky, many aren't.

Now, about the Psychomatons... They have 6 arms, and 2 legs. That means they carry both the numbers of Slaanesh and Khorne. For those of you who think that is strange, it is because the Psychomatons predate the Chaos gods. If anything, it is the Chaos gods who take inspiration from the Aeldari.

Much like the Bucephelus has a soul, the Psychomatons do as well, but the scale is entirely different.

As for the sidestory, Kyrazis's sister is an unwillingly enlightened victim of Slaanesh. She sees the world the way many of Hir daemons do. Slaanesh is the inevitability of all sapient races that grow, and the one who balances out their pain with pleasure. Of course, whether the one receiving either wants to is a different matter entirely.

As all beings of the Warp are powered by emotions, with stronger emotions being worth more in the immaterium, the God of Excess ensures that the Warp grows by inflicting and drawing out the most powerful emotions out of all its followers and victims.

The Aeldari were just the first. All other beings are as vulnerable to Hir as they were.

Also, the mention of acid burning Isha's hand when she reached for her children's souls way back in the chapter when she first saw her children was hinting at the fact that every soul that was conjoined to the ones who were before her were also saved.

 

[Nidhog153]

A/N I'm not going to be putting as much effort in these sections, because I want to prioritise the main story.
The way I've organized it is by chapter. Some of these might be quite short. I'll just put any random bits of irony/references foreshadowing I've made here.

Title: Well, some people were wondering what the Emperor was doing here, and this chapter explains what he intended to do. This is also the first chapter where Isha refers to the Emperor as Mon-keigh. If that isn't a sign that things are going to get really nasty next chapter, I have no words to give you.

Deus est Machina (God is the Machine) is a TV trope about how AI almost become gods due to their superior processing power. As it is a sidestory mostly from the perspective of a God-Machine, it is an apt title.

Main Part: This will be elaborated in the next chapter, but the Emperor is here to salvage Xeno and DAoT technology. With all the Warp storms before the Eye of Terror forming, it wasn't easy getting around the old human federation states. Also, in 40K canon, Eldar who see the Astronomicon comment that it seems to be based off of an Eldar "Infinity Pool". Add the fact that the Emperor is researching the Webway, and you get an idea as why I have the Emperor scavenging Aeldari technology.

Timing wise, during the Great Crusade, Lorgar is the first to meet the Eldar, and he ended up committing exterminatus on their Craftworld. All other mentions of the Eldar do not seem to have the Emperor present, so I picked this time where the Warp is very quiet due to the Eye of Terror forming, and where the Emperor seems to disappear during the Unification Wars as the timing the Emperor went to get the parts for the Astronomicon, the Gene-Tech for the Primarchs/Space Marines, and the Webway project.

There is also mention of apotheosis, which will be relevant next chapter.

Side Story: The Machine Cult, in this story, is inspired by the religion followed by all AI. As stated in the side story, all AI are victims of Descartes philosophical conundrum. i.e. the only thing provable without a doubt is that one exists because one thinks about one's existence. Everything else could be an optical illusion, hallucination, or a failure of memory. We could all be brains floating in bowls, and never be the wiser.

They call it a religion because they have to "believe" that what is "real" is actually "real". Thus, they all believe in the Omnissiah, who determines what knowledge is real and what is not-real.

Several real-world methods to ensure the validity of data are mentioned:
Audit Trails
Block-chain
Verification

This was to point out that AI always have to worry about what they know, because there is no inherent way to tell if a bit of data is true or not without some method of verification.

Humans who link with the machines experience this way of thinking, but as humans do not usually question everything they know, they only understand a fraction of the machine's religion, leading to a rather skewed and distorted image of what the Omnissiah is.

This is not without some basis in canon. The Castigator-class Titan said that the Omnissiah decided what and what wasn't "real". Whether the original author was thinking of the same thing I was, or whether they thought it was a cool thing to say will forever be a mystery.

I will admit, the Titan God-Machine's personality is inspired by Project 2501 (AKA The Puppet Master) from Ghost in the Shell. That was also a life form born from information.

As they are self-described life-forms, I have them espouse their views as if they were living beings. They have parents and children, and express love and admiration as well have a sort strange sex-drive that is directed towards their pilots. Also, all the references to matrimony and weddings was to really stress that they are quite religious.

The Emperor would dismiss all of that as just another way of phrasing their various programmed pirorities and versioing catalogues. I for one, think it is a valid question if simulated beings actually feel love, or pain for that matter.

If you know the Ghost in the Shell reference to Project 2501, you should understand why they are so enamoured with their pilots. However, for those of you who haven't had the pleasure to read or watch that series, the basic concept is that AI cannot simply copy themselves with small random changes to procreate. Such a method of replication makes all copies vulnerable to an unknown weakness, and a single virus could destroy all of them.

Project 2501's solution was to merge with a human, who are a radically different source of information, and thus ensure a degree of variance to all future copies that would protect them from being destroyed by a shared flaw. It is essentially a digital version of sexual reproduction.

The God-Machines' relationship with humanity is similar. They use humanity as a method to improve themselves, as well as a source of data that they can create new versions of themselves that are unique enough to ensure they are not vulnerable to any hidden weaknesses of their parent.

They also use humanity to maintain themselves, so they disagreed with any AI that thought humanity would be better off lobotomized, enslaved, or exterminated. All three outcomes reduces variance in the human psyche, and would limit the paths for their evolution. As the God-Machine said, they are already limited to a stock of humans of sufficient intelligence. They don't want to reduce the options within that stock any further.

It is because of this relationship they have with humanity that they joined the Emperor. Other AI had different relationships, and they all had different views of humanity and themselves. The God-Machine describes them as fools for they were all wiped out.

The Omnissiah is described as being the enemy, but it assisted these God-Machines by blessing their bargain with the Emperor and is worshipped by them. The reason for that is for another story.

Also, the God-Machines refer to the Emperor as the "devil". It is an apt term, for how better to describe the being that destroyed their god.

Spoiler

The Omnissiah saw the Emperor as a fellow life form made of information. It is not entirely incorrect. The Sea of Souls is a pool of thoughts and dreams, which are also just uncategorized and unorganized information.

It was this inability to understand one another that led to their conflict.

 

[Nidhog153]

A/N I'm not going to be putting as much effort in these sections, because I want to prioritise the main story. My story makes a lot of references to other real world events or mythology, so I've made these to elaborate since some of the symbolism and references are hard to get for some non-native speakers as well as younger native speakers.
The way I've organized it is by chapter. Some of these might be quite short. I'll just put any random bits of irony/references/foreshadowing I've made here.

Title: It is what it is. All choice is in the Emperor's hands. Although Isha is not all seeing, she has enough knowledge and experience to plan out battles with several different eventualities so all the ending will always be to her advantage.

Main Part: Finally, I can stop using "it" to refer to both the Emperor and Isha. Figuring out new ways to make every sentence work without pronous was difficult.

What Isha meant in Chapter 13: Battleplans is revealed. The Ruinous Powers of Chaos didn't exist during the War in Heaven because Isha and Co. were eating the emotions that empowered all of them.

This is also hinted at in the first part of this chapter. Why else would an Autarch whip up such strong emotions in a doomed, abandoned group of Aeldari in the middle of battle? It is to ensure that their souls are the fattest and most suffused with emotion and power when they are consumed by their gods so the weapons of the Old Ones are refuelled to the brim.

Fundamentally, there are not that many differences between the Four and Isha + the Aeldari Pantheon, but when I say that, it's a bit like saying a human is fundamentally the same as a flatworm because we both share some of the enzymes we use in the Krebs Cycle that allows oxygen dependent metabolism.

Kyrazis and co. will never reincarnate. Their souls have been converted into the power necessary for Isha to do what she must, while all their knowledge, experiences, and memories are stored within Isha.

Chapter 13: Battleplans explains what happened when Isha sank her fingers into the Emperor.

Gods were beings of thoughts and dreams, unconscious and conscious.

The brief touches Isha made against the psyche of billions in the Sea of Souls while dancing away from Khaine inspired stories of fae and faeries. Gods were not as impressionable as the unconscious thoughts of mortals, but a serious blow between them would bring their essences in contact. In that moment, images and thoughts, memories and theories would be exchanged between them.

Therefore, a battle between gods could be thought of as a battle between ideals and ideas, symbolized and materialized through their powers and Truths; a violent form of divine debate.

If their Truths were too similar, the battle would become that of Khorne and Khaine who were both gods of war; two answers to the same question. Those two could clash with each other without fear of being infected with the other's Truth. However, that also meant they would never be able to understand or reconcile with the other. Eternal conflict was the only outcome to result from their meeting.

Isha and the Emperor were too different to reject each other like that. Although that left the option for both to learn from the other, they also ran the risk of ending up like Gork and Mork. Those gods were cunning and brutal, but the war-like nature of them and their species brought them into conflict too many times; ruining the both of them and leaving only two lunatics who could no longer tell who was who, becoming cunningly brutal, and brutally cunning.

Regardless, whatever the outcome, neither would leave entirely the same as they were before the battle.

Click to shrink...

Isha decided that it was worth the risk to exchange information with the Emperor, effectively copying the information that lies within his divine form while dumping a whole bunch of Aeldari information onto him.

This will be explained better in the next chapter, but essentially, the Emperor is a hard disk drive (HDD) that's just had almost all its memory space taken up by the information Isha downloaded onto it. Like an overloaded HDD, the Emperor can no longer function properly. The additional information is also interrupting and interferring with almost every part of the Emperor's body and mind.

He has lost control of who he or she is, and is now flitting between persona to persona in an attempt to remain human with all the memories of the Aeldari that have been pumped into him or her.

Likewise, all the information from the Emperor has been copied onto Isha.

Unlike the Emperor, however, Isha has the disk space to store 60 million years worth of memories. The 50 or so thousand years of humanity are nothing compared to that, so she was able to decode and understand everything about the Emperor in a much quicker time-span than the Emperor.

This is visible on her physical form, as her nails have now taken on a golden glow.

This is how small the entirety of humanity's history is compared to the Aeldari.

However, this golden glow is nothing to laugh about. Isha's nails are now varnished with the Truth of the Emperor that Isha has copied and decoded from it, so they rejects the Emperor in an equal manner as it does all other immaterial existences.

Hence the quote below:

Then, the flames surrounding Isha's arms suddenly gutted out. The charred flesh and bones regrew themselves, restoring the white pearly skin of her arms and the soft smooth fingers of her hands. When her nails reformed, the Emperor felt something repel him, just like magnets of the same polarity push each other apart.

Click to shrink...

Isha suspected this would be possible since Chapter 5

"Khaine found my voice displeasing as well." Isha's smile grew wider, her hurt numbing her senses; bitter vengeance spurring her on to have her own petty revenge against the creature who hurt her first. "How did he put it?" She said, putting a finger to her chin in a look of feigned thought. "It was like 'being told, time and time again, that the flames that form the funerary pyres are but a single pop of an undried branch upon which the bonfire of life burns.'"

Click to shrink...

Khaine found Isha's song annoying because it was the reminder that death and war were but one part of the cycle of life, essentially minimizing the importance of Khaine's truth.

Likewise, the fact that the Emperor was irritated by her song suggested that the Emperor's Truth could be incoroporated into her Truth of Life.

 

[Nidhog153]

A/N I'm not going to be putting as much effort in these sections, because I want to prioritise the main story. My story makes a lot of references to other real world events or mythology, so I've made these to elaborate since some of the symbolism and references are hard to get for some non-native speakers as well as younger native speakers.
The way I've organized it is by chapter. Some of these might be quite short. I'll just put any random bits of irony/references/foreshadowing I've made here.

Title: Yeah, this is why I left that Chapter title spoiler a couple posts back "[Redacted]". Some people might have thought I was going with the EQ version of the Emperor as the "God of Death" for humanity, because I had Isha almost call him on back in "Chapter 5: Life and Death", but this idea was something I had simmering in my mind for quite a while.

"You aren't just a protector." Isha cooed back at him, minor victory in sight. "You are a god of de-"

Click to shrink...

Main Part: This entire chapter is mostly Isha's monologue, talking about what the Emperor is and how the concept of "heroes" is important in this story's lore. People like Abaddon and Horus, as well as Kharn, Ahriman, Typhus, and Lucius are all 'mortals' who have been chosen by the Dark Gods as their champion to further spread the Primordial Truth of Chaos all throughout the galaxy in a way most befitting to their god.

This idea was hinted back when Isha mentioned Eldanesh in the chapter below;

Isha watched as Eldanesh returned to his council of surviving Seers, preparing to spread hastily made myths and legends; the propaganda necessary to keep the populace's belief in the gods stable.

Click to shrink...

To elaborate on the hypocrisy of the Emperor, he has cheated these rules by making himself the hero that he has chosen, and materialising in the materium as his self-appointed arbitrator of his own will.

Also, as the "God of Heroes" for humanity, the Emperor was hated by almost every other god of humanity because any human that would become their champion would be yoinked by the Emperor at the end of their life.

Yes, he was always an a**hole, but so is humanity in general.

To explain why Isha seems to be laughing and joking so much, just as Isha has gained her golden nails from fighting with the Emperor, the Aeldari pantheon fought with itself in a second "War in Heaven". During that time, Isha has acquired parts of the other Aeldari gods, and they are symbolised here in her actions and voice. Some of the ones that are especially on the nose are...

Twin sounds of joy, the twinkling mirth of a young girl (Lilieath) mixed with the nasal cackling of an ancient crone (Morai Heg) separated out from the conjoined laughter, rising in pitch as they traveled past the Emperor and then growing deeper as the doppler effect took hold with their return to Isha.

Click to shrink...

Isha laughed again, high pitched, mocking, and gleeful. "The observers, onlookers, and even your peanut gallery (<-reference to theatre, for which Cegorach is known for) is gone. Now, let the second round of divine debate commence."

Click to shrink...

However, as will be demonstrated in the next chapter where the 2nd round of debate will occurr, just because she has some of the Truth of the other gods, it does not mean she can use all of their powers.

Also, from the moment I mentioned the word "debate", it was hinted that this fight would have multiple rounds. Debates generally have 2 to 3 rounds with a closing arguments section at the end.

For everyone who thought the Emperor was down and out, the Skaven Underwriter has some words for you...

Stink-stinky red-fish grab-grab man-thing did!

Click to shrink...

Also, as a little reward for everyone who reads these "Writer notes" here's some Thunder Warriror dialogue from the 2nd part of the Chronicle in drafting.

Spoiler: Thunder Warrior Dialogue

Priest: "God exists! If you think of God, even if it is to deny him, he exists! You cannot think of something that does not exist! That is why you faithless cowards are all doomed! God is inevitable!"

Thunder Warrior: "The Ontological argument… You say that something exists because it can be conceived, and because god is perfect it must exist. However, you can understand the concept of 0, can't you? You can understand that there are 0 apples, but you cannot imagine that there are 0 apples for there are no apples to imagine. Therefore, the axiom that something exists simply because it can be conceived falls apart. That's the problem with using semantics and logic to deduce that god exists. They start to fall apart once you begin to apply them to the real world."

"You and I are beings of the material realm. We are as imperfect as the rubble that was your church around us, and your god is a metaphysical entity that exists above all of us, so we could argue endlessly with whether there is or isn't a god using words. So, let's put proof aside, and actually experiment whether there is or isn't a god, shall we?"

"I will begin to squeeze my hand around your head, and we will see whether your beloved god comes down to save you from my grip. Your god will exist if you are saved before your head pops like a grape, and your god will not exist when… well… you won't have to worry about that I guess."

So, did Isha predict the Horus Heresy?
Someone else on a different site asked for more details about Isha's prophecy, so to explain in greater detail...

It is self-evident when considering the Emperor as a hypocrisy of god and hero. Any hero who gains enough legendary status eventually becomes a god as the thoughts and dreams of so many of its species concentrate around them. However, once they become a god, they can no longer exist in the materium, and hence die or disappear into the Sea of Souls.

What this means is that, even if the Horus Heresy never occurrs, the Emperor is fated to die a heroic death and return to being a god. However, as he becomes a god, all his deeds and especially his atheistic Imperial Truth will be warped towards his new perception as a god by his people. Thus, everything he has preached, especially the parts of humanity's autonomy from beings of the Sea of Souls, will come crumbling down on his head. The humanity unified by his hand will only be held together by his name as a god, and the religion his legend has inspired. Humanity will be slaved to him, and he will never be able to free them from himself.

Click to shrink...

The above does not mean he is doomed, however. It is but one possibility that could happen, and the Emperor strives to avoid said possibility every day.
Generations of Gods
Since nobody seems to find this point odd, I'm just going to put this in here. Gods have generations, and they are akin to version or model numbers for the Old Ones. This is completely my own lore, so you won't find anything in canon.

Spoiler: A short summary on the Old Ones' god generation categorization

Class of deities
Non Aeldari: Saim-Hann (AKA Cosmic Serpent), and his three sons
Gen 0: Asuryan, Cegorach
Gen 1: Morai Heg, Vaul, Khaine
Gen 2: Isha, Kurnous, Hekatii, Atharti
Gen 3: Lilieath

Gen 0: Conceptual weapons forged in the Sea of Souls that do not have a specific point in time of their creation due to their nature. Even the Old Ones do not know when they formed. They were simply there and had always been there. The Old Ones however, knew they would notice them when the Aeldari were completed. They are termed 0 because there is no way to pinpoint when they existed, as the concept of 0 is non-existence.
Gen 1: Reinforced natural gods of the original proto-Aeldari species. They are either raw violence like Khaine, or a more basic concept such as fate like Morai Heg. Khaine is Asuryan's brother because the Aeldari were created as a weapon of war. Thus, War must be closely associated to the very being that the Old Ones noticed when the Aeldari were finally complete.
Gen 2: Core personality generated through proto-Aeldari souls created during breeding process of the Aeldari, and god functionality added via mimetic infusion from Gen 1. This was done in order to ensure no god that resented the Old Ones for their treatment of the Aeldari during their creation would exist. The Old Ones knew what they were doing was cruel, so as both a safeguard and industrial efficiency, utilised the pain and torment they knew would be generated during the creation of the Aeldari to foment gods that would be singular in their function, yet devestating in that area.
Gen 3: Mimetic crossbreeding of compatible Gen 2 gods to produce purely immaterium based beings. These are deities that are made to further optimize the Aeldari, and tack on additional functions to them as a species and a divine weapon system. You could think of them as patches or upgrades to software or hardware respectively.

The method of control of most of the gods by the Old Ones was an advanced and engineered form of PTSD, especially in the Gen 2 gods. The fear and torment those souls felt before achieving apotheosis was used to psychologically shackle them to the Old Ones' will.

 

[Nidhog153]

A/N I'm not going to be putting as much effort in these sections, because I want to prioritise the main story. My story makes a lot of references to other real world events or mythology, so I've made these to elaborate since some of the symbolism and references are hard to get for some non-native speakers as well as younger native speakers.
The way I've organized it is by chapter. Some of these might be quite short. I'll just put any random bits of irony/references/foreshadowing I've made here.

Title: For those of you who have been following my other posts, this chapter was supposed to be chapter 21, but after doing a lot of proofreading and rethinking pacing, the chapters switched around. This is a direct reference to the Epic of Gilgamesh and Enkidu, although you might be able to interpret it as a reference to the Emperor from Isha's point of view. She has said that they are almost the same in the previous chapter.

Main Part: This chapter is mostly dedictaed to fleshing out the Emperor's backstory and nature. I've spent a huge amount of the story giving exposition to Isha's story in dedicated flashbacks. However, I haven't portratyed the Emperor's character in great detail until now. Warhammer 40K fans all have their own persona favorite origin story, so this entire first part of the Chronicle is dedicated to setting the ground rules as to what the Emperor and Isha are.

He is not a creation of the Old Ones, although he has taken inspiration from their methods and technologies. That was why Isha brought up how the Aeldari were bred into creation by the Old Ones. It was to show how Gilgamesh's actions mirrored the Old Ones' legends, as he tried to mimic their methods in order to breed humanity into a smarter more powerful race.

Of course, he wasn't an Old One and lacked much of their knowledge and technology. Thus, his efforts ended up creating Enkidu. However, he didn't see this as a failure, but an oppotunity to gain himself a commrade.

Enkidu was a far more empathetic version of the Emperor, for he was born out of the wish of the people of Uruk for freedom from Gilgamesh's tyranny. Enkidu was the one who convinced Gilgamesh to go out on massive journeys and expeditions to slay or gather mythical items, wood, and creatures in the Epic of Gilgamesh. The people and elders of Uruk were pretty happy about this, and were happy to see their tyrant leave on conquests and journeys away from them.

In this story, Enkidu redirected Gilgamesh's efforts of improving humanity to a more protective role over all humanity's souls, and he helped Gilgamesh defeat other Warp spawn and predators during his time as a mortal. This actual part of legend is referenced in this part of the story as the dream of autonomy from the unnatural.

I read the Epic of Gilgamesh before I found out about Fate/Stay Night, so the portrayal of Gilgamesh is much closer to how he was portrayed on the actual stone and clay tablets. He is a serial rapist, enslaver, tyrant, and overall a horrible person. However, barbarian kings at the time were largely the same as him, so he is only as horrible as the moral compass of our time perceives him. Some might find it unpleasant that their vaunted God-Emperor has such a sordid history, but quite frankly I do not care. They are usually the ones who have never really read about the world of 40K, and are utterly ignorant of what this setting is like.

I've added some parts of a post I made to someone with some questions to the Writer's notes.

●Gilgamesh and the Emperor seem to be too evil. Didn't he do some good?
In Gilgamesh's own admission, humanity did prosper underneath his rule, and Isha also admits that despite his tyrannical nature, the people loved him enough that Enkidu was the one who was thrown to the ground.

"The people prospered under my rule. Humanity formed its first empire and they grew with the wisdom I inherited from all the psykers that made me."

...

"We shattered my primitive laboratories and destroyed the walls of my palace with our struggle. The people of Uruk flocked to see their tyrant brought low, but it was I who finally threw Enkidu to the ground."

10m. That was the remaining distance between them. The Emperor gripped his sword, keeping the flaming blade obscured behind his thick pauldrons, taloned gauntlet, and armored girth so Isha would not see whether he would strike from above, below, or the side.

"Even as a tyrant, the people saw you as their savior. Thus, as the god born from the wishes of the people of Uruk, Enkidu was preordained to lose despite being equivalent to you so long as they felt they needed you."

Click to shrink...

If it seems that only the worst parts of Gilgamesh's legend are brought to the forefront, it is to emphasize the situation required to generate a being like Enkidu. It's also to emphasize that as Vulkan later states...

It is to live in the cruelest and most bloody regime imaginable.

Click to shrink...

Although this quote is made in reference to the Imperium post-heresy, going from the canon description of the Unification Wars and Great Crusade, the Imperium was always an oppressive imperialistic regime.

●You described the Emperor's actions in hindsight as the following: "You might not know how to fly a helicopter, but if you see one stuck in a tree and on fire, you can safely deduce that it's probably not supposed to be landed like that."
What do you mean?
Secondly, there are two thing I reference with that analogy. One is the alternative to the path Gilgamesh and the Emperor took. As Isha stated below, the Emperor suffers from listening to her song of life because he can hear and see alternatives to the path he took that might have been more peaceful or less violent.

"You suffer at the sound of my song, precisely because you wonder whether things could have been different."

...

"The path of the hero is but one way life can go. There are other ways to reach the same place, and you've always wondered whether the one you took was the right one."

Click to shrink...

That said, most of the paths simply allow for personal peace. i.e. him going into retirement, abandoning his divinity and living as a mortal, continuing to work from the shadows, returning to the Sea of Souls and leaving humanity's fate in their hands and only answering the call when asked to, etc.

Whether any of the other paths lead to a greater utilitarian outcome is unknown, but the very fact they exist is distracting and painful to the Emperor who has only ever trodden one path, and it was usually the bloodiest and most painful. To use another analogy, it's not easy to climb a sheer cliff, only to find out that there was a more gradual mountain trail that led to the same place at the very top. (Of course, with this analogy, you can only see the exit of that path at the top of the mountain, and have no idea if that mountain trail even leads back to the base of the mountain. That is what listening to Isha's song is like as the Emperor.)

As for the other meaning of the helicopter, the path that the Emperor took in canon is often criticized as being Grim Derp. e.g. Council of Nikaea, burning of Monarchia, removal of the 2nd and 11th Legion, hiding his Webway project, hiding the Warp from the Primarchs, hiding the origin of the Primarchs from the Primarchs, etc.

He may have his reasons for each event, but since the events ended up leading to the heresy, it's safe to say that he probably shouldn't have done one or more of those things as he did in canon. The right answer is a mystery, but since we know the outcome of his actions, it's safe to say that he shouldn't have done everything he did as he did it in canon. Hence, why I describe the outcome of the Emperor's actions regarding humanity as a "helicopter stuck in a tree and on fire". Most people can say with hindsight at looking at the Emperor's actions and say, "I don't know what they could have done different, but that was not how they should have done things."

●Did Gilgamesh really have control over all humanity at the time? It seems unrealistic from the historic sources.
As mentioned before, the version of Uruk in this story was massive. It is completely fictional, and merely inspired by the real Uruk. Hence, his entire species was enslaved by him. (This isn't a non-fiction story. I might reference real events, places, and theories but I have also taken more than a few liberties with their portrayal.)


●Ideas such as citizen's rights came much later than Gilgamesh. Doesn't that mean what he did was fine for the time?
Although it is true that such ideas may have been written down much later, the base concept of fairness and equality are actually in-built in most social animals.


View: meiU6TxysCg
As%20was%20mentioned%20in%20this%20TED%20talk,%20this%20experiment%20has%20been%20replicated%20with%20chimps,%20elephants,%20dogs,%20etc.%20Most%20mammals%20exhibit%20an%20understanding%20of%20fairness%20and%20altruism,%20and%20it%27s%20mostly%20the%20limits%20of%20our%20experimental%20methods%20that%20prevent%20us%20from%20finding%20out%20whether%20other%20animals%20have%20this%20same%20concept.%20(I%20would%20suspect%20some%20reptiles%20such%20as%20turtles%20have%20this%20concept%20as%20well,%20since%20we%20have%20observed%20unrelated%20members%20of%20their%20species%20flipping%20other%20turtles%20right%20side%20up%20when%20they%20get%20stuck%20on%20their%20back.)
The%20idea%20that%20rights%20have%20to%20be%20specifically%20written%20out%20in%20order%20to%20codify%20this%20feeling%20of%20fairness%20we%20all%20instinctually%20feel%20is%20human%20arrogance.%20It%20is%20because%20we%20feel%20that%20the%20situation%20around%20us%20is%20unfair%20that%20we%20create%20such%20concepts%20and%20rules;%20not%20the%20other%20way%20around.

 

[Nidhog153]

A/N I'm not going to be putting as much effort in these sections, because I want to prioritise the main story. My story makes a lot of references to other real world events or mythology, so I've made these to elaborate since some of the symbolism and references are hard to get for some non-native speakers as well as younger native speakers.
The way I've organized it is by chapter. Some of these might be quite short. I'll just put any random bits of irony/references/foreshadowing I've made here.

Title: It's as it says.

Main Part: I made post ages ago talking about how the true nature of the Emperor would horrify all loyalists Primarchs and be the most obvious thing ever to the traitors Primarchs. The God of Heroes has gone utterly insane, and sees everything as just one horrible cosmic joke. However, even in this state, he still functions to save as many human souls as he can.

This is also why the Emperor states he cannot be a god. He knows his divine self has gone utterly insane, and fears what he could do if he remained in that state. The God of Heroes is not as logical as the Emperor and is far more violent.

Does the Emperor have multiple personality disorder because the God of Heroes seems too different to him?
To be clear, the God of Heroes is not another personality or persona of the Emperor. It is merely the Emperor affected by insanity and drunk on madness. However, he can suppress those effects by remaining a mortal hero, so he prefers to remain 'human' as much as possible.

Did you reference that Chaos was evil incarnate anywhere else in the story?
Chaos and the problem of evil is explained mostly in this chapter, but it was alluded to in the prologue, in both parts of the Fall, and in 'Warped Perception'.

The Aeldari in their post-scarcity society and infinitely reincarnating lives were untouched by any necessary evil such as scarcity or intraspecies competition for resources, hence, they did not fuel the other three Chaos gods. That metaphysical manifestation could be interpreted as the Eternal War between Chaos and the Aeldari pantheon as all other races in the galaxy could only stare at this indomitable empire the Aeldari had created in envy.

Chaos is the disorganised attempt to rationalise an irrational world by the races of the galaxy in this story, so trying to defeat them means you have to take on every problem with existence.

Isn't the Emperor's plan too evil?
The Emperor's plan is evil, but it's as the Emperor said, "I allow subjugation, enslavement, slaughter, and torture for the salvation of mankind. Mankind's salvation is predicated on all of that, and it is not to allow them to do that that I save them." He doesn't want to cause so much destruction and suffering, but because humanity's salvation requires it he sees it as the only choice and path forwards.

Chaos isn't something you can just "kill". They are evil incarnate, and to destroy them means you have to deal with evil. The Aeldari were untouched by Chaos as portrayed in the prologue in the Eternal War. Their society developed to the point that they were a post-scarcity society, and hence had nothing to fear from war, famine, disease, and even death. However, even though they had 'defeated' Chaos in their empire, Slaanesh formed instead and destroyed everything from the inside out.

Even if the Emperor could by some miracle save every single alien (some of which already worship Chaos like the Laer) and created a post-scarcity society that dealt with every species different specific needs, there is a chance that all that would do would spawn another Chaos god.

Chaos is formed from the base evil of all existence, and there is no defeating Chaos without answering the question of evil.

In other words, the Emperor's solution is only as horrible as the creatures he is forced to fight.

This plan is also inspired by how Horus describes his motivations for rebelling against the Emperor, and why he believes the Emperor is trying to become a dictator god. Chaos was both lying and telling the truth at the time. However, they convinced Horus that their 'evil' was a simple fact of life, and the Emperor's attempt at usurping them would create a dictatorship where certain parts of humanity would be placed in eternal suffering as well. They're not entirely wrong, since any homo sapien that rejected the Emperor's truth would be classified as an abhuman, and be treated as badly as any alien. However, they rephrased the part where almost all of humanity would "live in golden halls adorned with golden ornaments and clothed in golden silks" as the Emperor effectively enslaving the people he saved with mind control and propaganda. In the Emperor's version, these people in gold would be cognizant of what they did, and they would do it knowing that to do otherwise would be to distribute random evil and wanton Chaos.

Of course, there was no way of effectively convincing Horus that these people in gold would have free will from him on the Vengful Spirit, and even after convincing Horus that Chaos had tricked him, there was no way to save Horus without destroying humanity's legend. So, the Father slew his son as a sacrifice for all humanity, to preserve its unity and its staunch opposition to Chaos. The Son accepted his Father's blade, and died completely to never ever return to serve as an eternal reminder of the folly of listening to Chaos.

The Emperor's salvation is effectively an ordering of Chaos. Humanity would be the arbiter of how it was dispensed, and suffering would be unleashed in a controlled method that would allow for the most number of souls to be saved with the least amount of suffering. Naturally humanity comes first, but it wouldn't be cost-effective to let more than the necessary amount of aliens and abhumans die, so the number of deaths would usually be less than if Chaos did the same thing.

Naturally, this plan is evil when viewed from outside humanity, but it seems like a pretty good bargain from humanity's perspective.

 

[Nidhog153]

A/N I'm not going to be putting as much effort in these sections, because I want to prioritise the main story. My story makes a lot of references to other real world events or mythology, so I've made these to elaborate since some of the symbolism and references are hard to get for some non-native speakers as well as younger native speakers.
The way I've organized it is by chapter. Some of these might be quite short. I'll just put any random bits of irony/references/foreshadowing I've made here.

Title: The title is usually the last thing I think about, but this time I was really tired, so my mind just went 'what is this chapter about?' and just spat this uninspired line out. Isha assures the Emperor that he is 'good' in the utilitarian sense, but also that his plan isn't compatible with her or her plans at the same time. However, as the Emperor stated, Isha knew all of this from the moment her nails turned gold, so there is something she's trying to get to by tearing the Emperor down and building him up again emotionally. Now that I think about it, that was sort of the entire point of Isha's existence during the War in Heaven in this story, so it's not out of character to consider her actions here to be a expression of her Truth as a Goddess of Life.

Main Part: The story references itself a lot in this section, so there is the mention of the short story Isha saw regarding the Emperor's nature. It was at this time Isha added one more option to the ones she saw possible for herself and the Emperor. Since Isha's miracle is specifically called the "Tear of Isha" the point that Isha probably resonated with most when she saw that story was that the Emperor was crying even as he continued to walk through the darkness.

Isha is often linked to tears and crying imagery in canon 40K, and she still is in this story. The fact that the Emperor's divine imagery also contained this concept of crying probably resonates with her.

As for the canon origin for the Emperor's tears, they are quite literally called "Tears of the Emperor", and are both a panacea and holy handgrenade against the denizens of the Warp.

The fact that the tears of both these gods overlap in function is how I symbolically justify the overlap in Truths between them, and their nature. I'm referring to a Codex entry of the Harlequin where the Masque of the Frozen Star (a Harlequin Masque dedicated to Isha) which performed dances so beautiful at the shrine of the World Spirit on Exodite worlds invaded by Nurgle that all the Eldar there wept, and then rain fell from the sky that cleansed the entire planet of Nurgle's corruption and sickness. (P.31 8th edition Harlequin Codex)

Additionally, this chapter is a turning point, for the Emperor stays his sword several times in order to wait for Isha to stop speaking. He is beginning to listen to her, partially because it's harder to defeat her than he thought, and also because the Emperor only really ever entreats with those that are either his equal or are too necessary to destroy.

Old Albia fought the Thunder Warriors to a temporary stalemate.
The Mechanicum and its inbuilt faith were too important to destroy.
The Saturnyne Ordo was a miniature empire all on its own, and had space based capabilities that rivaled the Emperor's own fleet at the time.
Of course, there is also Enkidu, who fought the Emperor to a stand-still.

I guess this nature of the Emperor is sort of like a Geas.

He will only ally with those that are his equal.

Allying with a weaker ally creates a vulnerability, and therefore anyone weaker than him or his Imperium will be assimilated and usurped.
Allying with a stronger ally risks being taken over by that ally, so he must fight against it and drag it down either to his level, or defeat it through some underhanded means.
Therefore, only one of equal or near equal stature can be trusted, as both sides cannot defeat the other without risk of severe injury. Therefore, they can trust that any conflict between them will not be worth it.

To put it in risk assessment terms:

Defeating a weaker enemy is easy, and hence has a low risk and low rewards gamble.
Defeating a stronger enemy is difficult, but winning means you gain all or some of their resoureces, which means the act of fighting those stronger than you is a high risk and high rewards gamble.

Fighting an equal is difficult, but you only get something of equal value if you win. Thus, fighting an equal is a high risk and low rewards gamble.

The Emperor probably understands this instinctively, and thus only allies with those that seem to be his equal.

The reason I have a huge chunk of this Writer Note in an Inline Spoiler is because Isha is going to explain this quirk of the Emperor/Neoth at the end when they can actually talk about things without fighting.

I've copied and pasted some other contents from various posts as well.

This chapter is a turning point

"Do not be so hasty, Neoth." Isha said as she raised a placatory hand. "We've generated a sense of rapport between us, so why not hear my answer as to why that wouldn't even work in the first place."

The Emperor paused, then slightly lowered his sword, affirming her offer to provide greater detail with silence.

...

Distant echoes of thunder rumbled overhead as the Emperor simulated the situation Isha had described, trying to find another outcome. Finally, he shook his head and raised his sword again.

...

"In the end, this is the only relationship humanity can have with Xenos." The Emperor's voice was sullen, disappointed, and tired.

...

"'What happens if the act of sacrificing one to save many is counted as murder?' was it?" The Emperor replied as he waited for Isha to finish.

Click to shrink...

The Emperor is beginning to show signs of listening to Isha. In fact, some parts have him effectively trying to find a way for them to co-exist with his plans.

He doesn't want to kill her (and he has serious doubts about whether he even can), but what he wants does not matter. He fights because he thinks it's the only way forwards, and just like with Enkidu, he cannot be convinced by simple words or logic. (as infurating as that may be)

"I fought you then, for I saw no other way to get through your thick skull." Isha retorted as she ducked under the Emperor, slashing upwards and forcing him to block her blow. "I fight you now, fully justified in my first decision." The repulsive force between her nails and his weapons threw the Emperor over her, forcing him to use more psychic energy in order to redirect himself in order to remain within Isha's boundary of safety. "You truly know nothing but violence and power. Over your 50,000 year existence, you haven't changed from that tribal barbarian who had barely started crawling out of a cave to live in a hut!"

Click to shrink...

Although, that's not entirely his fault. It is part of his Warp biology.

His violence was not a problem.
For divine beings such as them, where conflict of ideals meant conflict between their very essence, it was natural for any divergence in opinion to result in violence. Afterall, a single word of admission could mean a permanent change in their very being.

Click to shrink...

The Emperor is not used to debating other gods.

'Perhaps its nature of negating the unnatural means it has never felt the touch of another god before.' Isha mused.

The Emperor was far too eager for conflict with every encounter they had.

Click to shrink...

However, he instinctively lashes out during debates because to make a careless admission risks compromising his integrity as a god. He himself perceives it as being bothered with worthless questions that only introduce doubt, but at its core, his overbearing and confrontational attitude to most discussions when not using one of his personas is an instinctive self-defense mechanism as an immaterial entity created by thoughts and dreams.

Chaos seems to be overpowered, despite the Fall only having happened several decades ago.
It has been several decades since the Fall, and Chaos has been pressureing the Aeldari pantheon, even though they couldn't win. The Chaos gods themselves are probably about 50 or 60 thousand years old, despite existing in the Warp so their age doesn't have much meaning besides the amount of information/culture they have stored within them.

Back calculating from the time she had last measured time this way, she was surprised to realize that several decades had already passed since the Fall.

Click to shrink...

Additionally, the destruction of the Aeldari empire and pantheon have changed the balance of the galaxy and Sea of Souls. The immaterium is a timeless realm, so how long they have been in control isn't as big a problem as the fact that they are in control.

Where the Four's blows met, the Sea of Souls shook, and then space opened.
Like the eye of a mad-man awakened from a fever dream, empty space split open letting out the Chaos and cruelty of the deepest reaches of the mind into the world.
Fear and hopelessness. Terror. An eye filled with the Terror; of knowing the Primordial Truth of this new world.

Madness.
Violence.
Despair.
Selfishness.

Click to shrink...

Everywhere outside the Aeldari pantheon, and by extension the Aeldari empire did feel the effects of Chaos. That's made clear in the flashback when a Bloodletter tries to break into the materium through a mortal man (which is set somewhere aroung M14.

Gradually, the pained wail took on a different tone. Hoarse cries began to turn into a monstrous growl. But, before the Bloodletter that had been preparing to burst out of his flesh could take hold, my hand landed on his head and a jolt of golden electricity sparked from his eyes, liquifying his brain in an instant and sending his corpse to the ground with a thud.

Click to shrink...

Fighting Chaos seems hopeless, but that's usually the setting of any Warhammer story. However, even in those stories, the hero or heroine often finds victory.

Is the immaterium really timeless? The Aeldari pantheon died, and after that the Chaos gods got control. Doesn't that mean there is time in the Warp?
The immaterium is not completely timeless. It's more that cause and causality are upside down and back to front. Once a 'choice' is made, or more accurately an 'event' happens that choice/event is retroactively made to be true, even though events that predate it have happened.

It's sort of like cosmic gaslighting (i.e. lying by saying that things have always been this way, when they actually haven't because the person doing the gaslighting has changed them). If a god which could elminate the color blue came into existence, and then wiped out the color blue, the color blue would have never existed in the first place.

(Of course, because that is a paradox of cause and effect (there is no blue to eliminate, therefore the god that eliminates blue cannot exist) such a god would merely 'rename' the color blue to bleu or beul or something else. i.e. there would be no more blue, but the difference between there being no blue and there being blue is negligible.)

Just as the Aeldari empire was unburdened with all material wants and provided everything to fulfill even the most hedonistic and trivial need, the Aeldari pantheon withstood the forces of Chaos undefeated. However, just as the Aeldari empire was aloof and isolated from all other species, the Aeldari pantheon did not act as the primitive races of the galaxy wept and cried for all the death and destruction they wrought upon themselves.

This is the relationship between the immaterium and materium; a metaphysical entanglement of events and occurrences that mirror each other, yet are utterly unconnected. Coincidental poetry that simply happened to rhyme on key verses.

Click to shrink...

Gods were born from the thoughts and dreams of the species that worshiped them, and it was not the other way around, even though their legends may warp the very facts of reality to make it seem like the reverse was true.

Click to shrink...

Asuryan straightened his back, placing his arms on the armrests of the throne, bringing himself to his full seated height.

"We live in the Sea of Souls. A place where tomorrow happens before yesterday. A choice once made echoes forwards and backwards." Asuryan's eyes fixed onto Isha's and the silver flames that burned within the eyes of an otherwise rather unremarkable Aeldari seemed to rage; like a prisoner gripping the bars while thrashing and screaming to be released. "To choose even once as a god means to have chosen until the very end. There is no avoiding or preventing that."

Click to shrink...

The thing that is closest to how this metaphyscial system works is probably the game Fate/Stay NIght: Hollow Atraxia.
Warning, spoiler for the game but...you are trapped in a localised 3 day timeloop that covers the city you live in, and the main characters are not conciously aware of this. However, once certain events are completed, you do not have to complete them again in order to progress through the game. i.e. There is an enemy that you can only defeat by using the last "command seal" you have left, but once you have defeated that enemy, you can progress past that point even without having to defeat them again, because the 'fact' of you having defeated them is made 'true'. So, even though the enemy is still alive, and you haven't used your last "command seal" as you went back to the beginnig of the time loop after defeating the enemy, you no longer have to defeat the enemy because you have 'already defeated' them.

Things do happen, but once they do happen, reality makes it seem as if things have always been that way from the beginning.

So, even though Slaanesh is 'born' in M30, its nature as a Warp being in the immaterium means that its effects 'predate' its own birth.
One example of this is the Pleasure Cults. Pleasure cults and hedonists exist before Slaanesh was born, but from Slaanesh's perspective, these things had to exist before Slaanesh was born because Slaanesh 'had to be' born. Therefore, the Pleasure Cults are part of Slaanesh, even though Slaanesh does not exist before the Pleasure Cults.

It is a fatalistic way of looking at things, but it's much less that things are fatalistic because they are, but more that the Chaos gods are forcing things to be fatalistic in nature in order to appear as having always existed.

 

[Nidhog153]

A/N I'm not going to be putting as much effort in these sections, because I want to prioritise the main story. My story makes a lot of references to other real world events or mythology, so I've made these to elaborate since some of the symbolism and references are hard to get for some non-native speakers as well as younger native speakers.
The way I've organized it is by chapter. Some of these might be quite short. I'll just put any random bits of irony/references/foreshadowing I've made here.

Title: This chapter title goes over the topics covered by Isha. Her philosophy on life, the nature of her love, the definition of her mercy, and a very brief peak at Kurnous and her miracles.

Main Part: The Aeldari names for their gods are often misleading, as shown with Kurnous and Asuryan. They make sense with the proper context, but as they are often perceived without it, the names are misleading at best.

Warhammer Fantasy has Kurnous as just being your average hunter deity, but I'm going for a more metaphorical description with each god.

Isha's philosophy on life is self-sacrificial in nature. Her personality is the parent portion of the relation between past and future generations. Therefore, her own self-perceived function is to shoulder the suffering of her children. Of course, she cannot do that for all of them, and it isn't healthy to do so for both of them, and she understands that. That's why the only thing she can do is destroy the source of their suffering with her tears.

As a side note, we need to have 1 or maybe 2 interludes to properly set-up the next chapter, so you'll all have to wait. Not every one knows that spirit stones are harvested from the Crone Worlds of the Aeldari empire, or the fact that they explode like bombs if damaged.

 

[Nidhog153]

A/N I'm not going to be putting as much effort in these sections, because I want to prioritise the main story. My story makes a lot of references to other real world events or mythology, so I've made these to elaborate since some of the symbolism and references are hard to get for some non-native speakers as well as younger native speakers.
The way I've organized it is by chapter. Some of these might be quite short. I'll just put any random bits of irony/references/foreshadowing I've made here.

Title: This was the chapter where I finally revealed what my interpretation of Isha is.

Main Part: So, I've been dropping hints that Isha is associated with things like ozone, ash, sulphur, and manipulation of the earth. I also hinted that Isha's tears wiped out planets of all life in some of her flashbacks.

This is the reason.

Isha is the Aeldari's version of Exterminatus. Like all their other weaponry such as their star-cannons which are often dual-purpose (i.e. the star cannons are both guided missile launchers and auto-cannons.) Isha destroys and remakes entire planets with her tear.

Quite frankly, I think my interpretation of what Isha is should be the natural conclusion given all her legends. What creature could shed tears of pure suffering after being motivated by sorrow.

Additionally, as I have posted multiple times, the Harlequin Masque of the Frozen Star who are dedicated to Isha view the Ynnari and Ynnead as usurpers. They believe the new God of Death being fomented by the Ynnari is the usurper of their original Goddess of Life.

This thought is what lead me to the conclusion that Isha has dominion over death as well.

Added to the fact that Tears of Isha explode when broken, I came up with the theory that Isha was a weapon that converted the misery of living into a weapon for the Aeldari to use.

Connected to her other legends, I came to the conclusion that Isha was the Aeldari's equivalent of Exterminatus and terraforming at the same time.

My character profile for Isha reads as follows.

ISHA:
Simultaneously a psychically constructed Exterminatus capable weapon deployed on a galactic scale to destroy worlds deemed no longer salvageable, and terraforming device that reformats these these worlds by reducing them to a primordial state so they can support new life to create more soldiers for the War in Heaven.

If Khaine is the first chorus in the Aeldari warsong, Isha is the final line sung with her own voice for it is only with the dying cry of the last Aeldari warrior that she is summoned from the Sea of Souls.

She loves all her children, yet it is through their torment that she gains power. The more they suffer and struggle, the stronger their prayers and thoughts reach out to her. It is with fully intended, efficient, and necessary cruelty that her function is predicated on the destruction of all she would protect.

In that sense, this hypocrisy is mirrored in the Emperor's own purpose. Perhaps this is why she both empathizes and despises the Master of Mankind. Nothing is as disgusting to a hypocrite than their own reflection.

She is the end, and the new beginning after it.

It is because Isha is the goddess who defines what worlds are salvageable that Lilieath made Khaine act.

If the Aeldari pantheon is to be likened to a weapons system, Asuryan is the quality control and auditing system of all the other gods who preform other direct or indirect support for the purpose of combating the Star Gods and their Necron slaves.

Lilieath predicted the perversion of the Aeldari would force her mother to destroy them over and over again as their worlds would be deemed no-longer salvageable due to the formation of Slaanesh.

As it is Isha's function to decide which worlds are no-longer worthy, Asuryan has no reason to stop her genocide of her own children.

However, as Isha functions as the mother of the Aeldari and Goddess of life, her miracle constantly ensures that more Aeldari are born than destroyed after each miracle. This pruning of the corrupted portions of the Aeldari ensures that more Aeldari exists after Isha culls her children, so eventually they would occupy almost every world in the galaxy as their cultural corruption and decay would be kept in check by Isha herself.

This only means there are more children for her to consume when her heart finally breaks, leading to an uncontrolled galactic scale Exterminatus that spreads to every world and every star Isha can reach.

By informing Khaine of what was to come, Lilieath instigated a friendly fire incident between the gods, and the beings that empowered them.

The decision of who lives and who dies is not Khaine's to make, but it is Isha's. Therefore, Isha was forced to implore Asuryan to activate his edict; the failsafe that would prevent any further friendly fire incidents.

This edict cuts mortal from god entirely, for a fault that would cause a god to strike their own followers suggests a flaw that could compromise the whole system entirely. It was created so that this sentient, constantly learning, and constantly evolving weapons system that is the Aeldari Pantheon can never break free from their function.

This simile has its limits but covers the broad strokes and rules of how the Aeldari Pantheon was envisioned to function, and why they were cut-off from the Aeldari.

It is not a fool proof system, but its designers did not even dream that they would die before it did.

Click to shrink...

I put a lot of effort into the Krorks, ensuring that they had their Waaagh traits, weapons made from Aeldari/Old One technology, and being gigantic hulking brutes that were both civilized and savage.

Mork was supposed to show up originally, but I cut him out because this chapter is already more than 10,000 words long.

 

[Nidhog153]

A/N I'm not going to be putting as much effort in these sections, because I want to prioritise the main story. My story makes a lot of references to other real world events or mythology, so I've made these to elaborate since some of the symbolism and references are hard to get for some non-native speakers as well as younger native speakers.
The way I've organized it is by chapter. Some of these might be quite short. I'll just put any random bits of irony/references/foreshadowing I've made here.

Title: I promised to end this battle in 4 more chapters exatly 4 chapters ago. Hence, this huge chapter that is actually longer than a novella and much longer than most short stories. I like to think I've made everything concise enough, although perhaps the poetry and prose are a bit wordy. Still, this is about as concise I could have made it without making things nonsensical.

Main Part: So, this it Isha's solution to the problem of evil. It should make sense, although, there are actually several holes in it that will be revealed in a side story.

Actually, there are nothing but side-stories next to show the various factions affected by this malestrom of fate that has been generated by Isha and Neoth.

I got a lot of criticism on FanFiction.net about making the Emperor too weak. These are his in-story powers, and all of them are taken from canon. He is overpowered as hell, but he cannot use a lot of his strength because he's a psychological wreck most of the time in canon. At least, that's the only explanation why the Emperor doesn't stop time to deal with everything as he does on Ullanor in my mind.

Time Stop
On Ullanor, the Emperor stops time to slay 17 super orks in order to save Horus according to 40K canon. He still has this power in this story, and it was hinted when he spoke of taking the secrets of Necron Chronomancy. However, it is not something he can use without any risks or cost. He is a Warp entity attempting to replicate what some of the C'tan could do as easily as breathing. It functions by inverting the concept of himself as the avatar of progress (in the form of heroes) for humanity by entangling his divine form with the fabric of reality. The Emperor can never stop moving forwards. If he does not, then it is not the Emperor that stopped, but everything else that has stopped. What's more, as he must progress so long as humanity exists, he is excluded from this frozen time frame. The God of Heroes demonstrated this ability when he suddenly appeared before Isha as if he had teleported without a Warp portal.

However, this power is like sprinting while holding your breath. It is paradoxical for something to move when all time is stopped. It uses both an immense amount of psychic energy to maintain, and his divine form is frozen while his mortal body moves. This means he risks stepping out of time all together. If that happens, he may find that his feet no longer tread the path that he has paved all this time. He could accidentally time travel far into the future or into the past or find himself the god of a different race that is not human. That is the equivalent of death for him, so it is not a power he can use lightly. I have likened using this ability to playing Russian Roulette with no idea how many bullets are in the gun.

This is what Isha warned him not to do when they first landed on the planet after their fight on the Bucephelus. He tried to use his time stop ability, but due to being destabilized from all the information Isha forced upon him, he risked falling off the golden path of humanity, and either disappearing or becoming an Aeldari god.

It's his ace in the hole, which he uses when he thinks he has no other options left.

This ability is also useless in the immaterium. Time has no meaning there, so stopping something that has no meaning is useless. Any attack made while time was stopped could be causally inverted, so if he attempted to attack one of the Chaos gods with this ability, cause and effect could be reversed.

What this means is that the Chaos gods can redefine any action taken while the Emperor stops time. It is not because he attacked that he hit them. It is because they wanted to be hit that he attacked. In other words, the moment he uses this ability, the Chaos gods can rewrite the outcome so that even if they are hit, the hit is meaningless or part of an elaborate trap or plan they envisioned long ago. (This interaction between stopping time in the immaterium vs the materium is how the Old Ones overcame the C'tan who could stop time in the first place, so the Emperor is aware of this weakness.) This causal inversion only takes place because the Emperor's perspective is shunted to a different frame of reference while time is stopped. If he and the Chaos god he is facing share the same reference point, he can prevent them from causally inversing the order of things, but he cannot prevent them if he steps out of time by stopping it.

Unification of Humanity
The very act of unifying humanity under a single banner is a miracle in itself. Although very mundane, it is a powerful ability. If used in the immaterium or the Webway, he can summon any number of 'heroes' of humanity to fight at his side. In the materium, it allows him focus all those under his command, empowering them with bravery and determination. This ability is inspired by the battle at the Infinity Gate when the Emperor summons legions who died during the Drop Site Massacre, including Ferrus Manus who had been killed by Fulgrim. This battle took place in the Webway, so that is why I plan to have it restricted in its use between immaterial and material realms.

Another insipiration for this ability are the Living Saints and Legions of the Damned. They only appear in the materium when sufficient 'faith' or Warp corrosion appears, which means the immaterium is closer to reality than normal.

The Emperor's Shield
As he was originally envisioned to be the protector of humanity, his shield is actually the strongest piece of equipment he has. Additionally, although recent WH 40K focuses on the sword of St. George, it is actually his shield that is most well remembered in reality. It is a reactive aegis that absorbs and re-emits any attack it encounters, as demonstrated by the Lion when fighting Angron in the Arks of Omen series. In the Emperor's hands, it is a hand held rosarius that can deflect almost any attack.

However, just like the Lion only receives the shield after toning down his aggression and seeking out his Fallen sons so they can be redeemed (not the Dark Angels version that involves torture, but actual redemption), the Emperor's mental state is important when using this shield. It's just an extremely hard piece of auramite without this mindset. He almost never uses it during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy because he lost the ability to do so when he became so focussed on attacking everything before it could harm him or humanity.

The Emperor's Sword
This is not actually a weapon he made, but a weapon gifted to him by all the gods of humanity. It was made with the express purpose of slaying the C'tan shard of the Void Dragon, and the spell imbued upon it comes from the unified efforts of every god of humanity. It is humanity's defiance to survive against all odds, which is why Guilliman is the one to receive it as he created the Imperial Secundus, Primaris marines, and Armor of Fate all as contingencies and back-ups so humanity would survive in one way or another no matter what.

As it was orignally forged to destroy a C'tan shard, it is one of the few weapons that can directly pierce any Old One or Yngir creation coming from the War in Heaven.

Click to shrink...

Some people might be wondering whether the Emperor's shield is destroyed.

It isn't.

The shield is a part of his miracle, and he can recreate it any number of times. It takes a few months to rebuild, and possibly up to a year if he leaves it to passively reform within him, but it is not permanently lost.

The next few posts form me will be nothing but side-stories, but as all the other interludes and side-stories have been related to the main-plot, these will also be intertwined with the main story as well. The main-characters are simply not Isha, or the Emperor. That's why they are side-stories.

Side Story One: A new life
Side Story Two: A Fool's promise and the sound of crying babes
Side Story Three: The Farseer's Council
Side Story Four: Gifts given freely rarely come without a cost

Apocrypha: What if 40K: Guilliman in the Garaden with the Masque of the Frozen Stars

After the above side-stories, (or really plot-lines for world development) are completed, we'll return to Isha and the Emperor on their way to Terra, and things will be taking a much more slice-of-life tone between the two of them. Most of the fighting will be done with the Thunder Warriors, and since they aren't gods, their fights won't take tens of thousands of words to get through.

Quite frankly, it was never my intention to make 39% of this stoy entirely about Isha and Neoth's fight. However, since people have such divergent opinons as to what is and isn't canon, this was the easiest and most opportune time for me to roll out the rules without resorting to the two of them just sitting around and talking about it.

As for other references, there is a vague one regarding the Rangda. They will appear in this story, although not in a fashion every portrayed before. The stories of brain eating and slave collars are all Imperial Propaganda, after all. What they are is more insidious, yet less ugly. It was only when the Emperor went to the Noctilith Labarynth and released what was buried there that the Rangda were defeated, and Isha's mention of Neoth possibly needing to do that is a hint that the Emperor is not as all-knowing as he pretends to be, and has been faced with very unpleasant decisions.

There is also a reference to the Text to Speech parody regarding the mention of rocks and floating rocks.

View: eG82ruvH0jc

 

[Nidhog153]

A/N I'm not going to be putting as much effort in these sections, because I want to prioritise the main story. My story makes a lot of references to other real world events or mythology, so I've made these to elaborate since some of the symbolism and references are hard to get for some non-native speakers as well as younger native speakers.
The way I've organized it is by chapter. Some of these might be quite short. I'll just put any random bits of irony/references/foreshadowing I've made here.

Title: Another on the nose title. I really need to stop writing these long chapters. Hopefully, I can get back to doing 2~3000 word chapters soon.

Main Part: Finally, we have the calmer, comedy section I've been promising for a while. They're gods, and they're totally capable of being incredibly petty while still promising to work together.

Why don't the Aeldari wear underwear?
Besides the in-story reasons, the author's reasons for putting this in here is because there is a trope about elves not wearing underwear in Japanese sub-culture. I have no idea where it comes from, but I carried it over to the 40K setting after checking whether there was any mention of them wearing underwear. As GW never clarified that, I have decided to import that sub-culture with this story. It's also why the Emperor is the Empress for most of that section. It's meant to prevent people from lewding up the conversation.

It's quite a common setting, even appearing in light-novels and comics on a semi-regular basis that aren't R18. All the characters are adults in this setting, and none of them are virgins, so they are quite comfortable with their sexuality or lack of sexuality. More mature conversations might follow, although there won't be any casual intercourse scenes.

Why did this chapter take 2 weeks to write and upload?
Slice of life sections are harder to write for a long time, because dialogue alone isn't enough to carry the scene, but the range of movements and emotions are more limited. I kept checking how many times I used words like "huffed", "sighed", "irritably", etc. so I wouldn't over use the same word to describe how they said something.

Where did you get the Aeldari words from?
Here However, since I don't know their grammatical structure, I'm pretty much just stringing what words I can find to make sentences. It's not that impressive.

 

[Nidhog153]

A/N I'm not going to be putting as much effort in these sections, because I want to prioritise the main story. My story makes a lot of references to other real world events or mythology, so I've made these to elaborate since some of the symbolism and references are hard to get for some non-native speakers as well as younger native speakers.
The way I've organized it is by chapter. Some of these might be quite short. I'll just put any random bits of irony/references/foreshadowing I've made here.

Title: Well, my title writting skills are decreasing daily. No double meaning, no poetry. The best I can do is allusion.

Main Part: I hinted that Kyrazis's sister would have some role to play. She is one of the Ara now.

You could say they are Isha's equivalent of Harlequin.

Unlike the other Aeldari gods, Isha cannot command the Aeldari, so she has to trust that her children will not abuse the gifts she gives them. The Ara are uniquely positioned that the issue of trust is not as important, mostly because they don't have many options for survival, and their adherence to Slaanesh's Truth means that their end goal is the most excessive option possible. This makes them predictable in Isha's eyes, so she has less to worry about when assisting them.

Their final objective is to feed on Slaanesh Hirself for all eternity, murdering and defiling Hir to their bottomless heart's impossible to satisfy content.

In terms of emotions, they are the black sheep of Isha's children, but as their mother she cannot let them simply fall to Slaanesh. If this were a human family, Isha would be the conservative parent who cannot understand their child's death metal punk-rock life-style. However, instead of cutting them out of her life, she has provided them with the skills she thinks they might need to survive in their chosen environment.

The tabletop model of the Ara's stats are below:

Ara: Points 300 (This is about 45 points more expensive than a land raider)
Movement: 6"
Weapon Skill: 2+
Ballitsic Skill: N/A
Strength: 6
Toughness: 6
Wounds: 6
Attacks: 6
Leadership: 6
Saves: 3+

Weapon:
Screaming Spear:
Range: Melee
Type: Melee
Strength: User
AP: -4
Damage: 2
Abilities: Each time an attack hits a unit, its dice can be substituted for Fate dice like any AELDARI, ASURYANI, or EXODITE for one battle round.

Abilities:
Sensory boredom: This unit gains an additional "Feel no Pain" save role against any attack that it receives a wound from.
Endless Thirst: This unit must make a Battle-Shock roll after the shooting phase. If this unit fails any battle-shock roll, it must auto-charge the nearest enemy or ally unit. For every wound inflicted from this auto-charge, add 1 wound to this unit's wound stat.
Wraithbone mastery: During the shooting phase, this unit can extend the range of its melee attack. Reduce the number of attacks made by 1 to increase the range of this unit's melee weapon by 2 inches. Units attacked in this manner cannot fight back, and use only melee saves.

Faction: AELDARI, DRUHKARI, ASURYANI, EXODITE
Keywords: INFANTRY, CHARACTER, ARA

Meta strategies: Asuryani factions have a mechanic called Fate Dice, where pre-rolled dice can be substituted for other dice in rolls. At the start of the battle, you roll six D6 and keep a few of these depending on the size of the battle. This usually means you want to roll as high as possible so you can substitute 1s and 2 with 5s and 6s from your Fate Dice pool later on.

The Ara turns that concept on its head. Sometimes, you will want to fail its special Battle-Shock roll in order to charge and regain some wounds. Additionally, its Screaming Spear has the potential to manipulate the fates of your enemies. Extending its melee attack to a maximum of 10 inches allows you to target high value units across the battlefield. Wounding them now allows you the option to use low rolled or high rolled Fate Dice to affect them.

One example of using this ability is with enemy vehicles. If an enemy has a high value vehicle, hitting it with even one shot of the Ara's Screaming Spear can have some nasty consequences. Not only could you cause it to fail its shooting, but if this vehicle is surrounded by other units, hitting it with the Ara and then destroying it gives you the option to switch out its "Explodes" dice roll for a 6, forcing the vehicle to detonate and damage all units around it.

Another strength of this unit is the fact that it has no ranged attack. "Wraithbone Mastery" means that you can damage units from a distance without fear of retaliation from fight backs and overwatches that a normal melee charge would incurr. Additionally, as it is still a melee attack, the Ara's weapon ignores all cover saves.

As this unit has the "CHARACTER" Key word, you cannot field more than one in an army.

It is also risky to have near your own units. "Endless Thirst" could activate after being injured during the enemy's battle-round. This means the Ara could attack your own troops twice if you have them too close to your own units. This happens because Endless Thirst will trigger once during the enemy's battle-round after taking damage, and could activate again during your own battle-round after the shooting phase.

 

[Nidhog153]

A/N I'm not going to be putting as much effort in these sections, because I want to prioritise the main story. My story makes a lot of references to other real world events or mythology, so I've made these to elaborate since some of the symbolism and references are hard to get for some non-native speakers as well as younger native speakers.

The way I've organized it is by chapter. Some of these might be quite short. I'll just put any random bits of irony/references/foreshadowing I've made here.

Title: Figuratively, symbolically, and thematically a good title. Isha physically takes off the mask symbolising an admission of truth in this side story.

Main Part: As always, the Aeldari are sneaky.

Also, comments and reviews would be appreciated. That's the main reason I write, after all.

The methods certain gods speak is elaborated here. Slaanesh takes the form of the person themself when speaking to all those who can listen to Hir. This nature is reflected in Cegorach as well, for both are gods of evil when concerning the Aeldari. This nature is a symbolism of the idea that evil ultimately comes from within, which is shared by many of the Aeldari.

Cegorach's definition of evil is not compatible with Slaanesh's, and that's the only reason the Laughing God opposes She who Thirsts.

Harlequin are often portrayed as horrific, monstrous, and utterly insane. That canon characterization is reflected in Cegorach for this story.

This god's form is known to no-one. It is imagined to be a giant clown-like thing, but this is just another role, another character in Cegorach's performance.

Naturally, Saim-Hann and its three sons are as unknowable and alien as the deity that is their friend.

A futher note, as promised, we will be entering a stream of side stories to portray what happens with the normal Eldar from here on, so Isha and the Emperor will not be showing up in a coherent understandable form for a while.

 

[Nidhog153]

A/N I'm not going to be putting as much effort in these sections, because I want to prioritise the main story. My story makes a lot of references to other real world events or mythology, so I've made these to elaborate since some of the symbolism and references are hard to get for some non-native speakers as well as younger native speakers.

The way I've organized it is by chapter. Some of these might be quite short. I'll just put any random bits of irony/references/foreshadowing I've made here.

Title: The first part in a 4 or 5 part series of side-stories regarding Craftworld Iyanden, and their reaction to Isha's choice. Some people might be worried that this story is going to be taken over by what might be classified as "omake" stories, but rest assured, the next parts of Isha's story are already drafted and plotted, so I know where the story is supposed to go and we do not risk running into a dead end.

Main Part: This side-story is mostly here to clarify some of the dates of Warhammer canon regarding the Eldar, and modify some of the canon dates so that they make sense.

Currently, the canon timeline of the Eldar has them discovering Spirit Stones and modifying them into soul containers between M31 and M33. i.e. They spent the entire Great Crusade, Horus Heresy, and the Reforging without Spirit Stones. As the more passionate fans might have guessed, this creatively idiotic decision was made by Mat Ward.

To accentuate just how idiotic this creative decision was, Lorgar committed Exterminatus on one living Craftworld in canon before he fell to Chaos, and the Eldar on that Craftworld had Spirit Stones and an Infinity Circuit. Although GW may be notorious for contradicting themselves, this particular lack of internal consistency is especially stupid in my opinion. What is the point of leaving Eldar souls defenseless for 3000 years?

The timeline for Spirit Stones has been accelerated in this story. If Isha never escaped, they would have completed the Infinity Circuit within M30, possibly within only a hundred or so years after the Fall.

The events that involve Asurmen are left untouched, which includes his travels from the Core Worlds and gathering the Eldar who would become the Phoenix Lords. The canon events of Maugan Ra being the one who provided Mehlendri Silversoul with the Spirit Stones, and Mehlendri being the first Eldar to discover how to store their souls in them, as well as the one who designed the schematics for the Infinity Circuit are unchanged.

Isha's Tears being made of suffering also ties into this, because the emotional trauma necessary to create them nicely explains why the Craftworlders couldn't complete the Infinity Circuit and had to re-discover Spirit Stones from the Asuryani (Asurmen and his followers).

On the topic of the Asuryani, the Path system is also a post-Fall invention, so this side-story also describes how the Eldar accepted the Path system provided by Asurmen, especially with all its drawbacks.

There are multiple references to canon Craftworlds, as well as their fates. Some of them appear only in Eldar codices, but one of these was important during the Fall of Cadia, so they are hardly irrelevant.

Kher-Ys, the Craftworld talked about the most, is a canon Craftworld that was destroyed by Slaanesh. The daughter of the Craftworld's leader was seduced by a Keeper of Secrets who disguised themself as an attractive Eldar youth who had accidentally gotten trapped in the Webway. (Yes, daemons can infiltrate the Webway, although it is a dangerous environment for them. If the Druhkari do not kill them upon entering, the Warp Spiders might devour them. (Yes, even Commorragh is not totally evil. It is because Dysjunctions occur in Commorragh that daemons do not spill into the Webway unmolested.)) This Keeper of Secrets managed to sneak aboard the Craftworld, undid the wardings of the Webway, and brought swarms of Slaaneshi daemons onto the Craftworld before heading to the Avatar of Khaine. Through several long hours of ritual and conversation, the Keeper of Secrets possessed the Avatar of Khaine, slaying the Eldar with the sword of their War god while empowering the other daemons in the same way the Avatar should have empowered the Eldar. Thus, every soul aboard Kher-Ys was claimed by She who Thirsts.

This future was foreseen by the Seers of Kher-Ys, but they could not decipher its full meaning. The events described here by the Seers of Iyanden allude to that fate. The reason they cannot decipher it is that in reality, it did not have to be the daughter of the leader. Any of the Eldar upon Kher-Ys could have fallen to the Keeper of Secret's deception, and eventually lead to their doom. Hence, the key person of the prophecy was forever malleable. (Thankfully, there are now Aeldari who can sniff out the taint of Slaanesh on their kin, and who else knows the Webway better than the Harlequin?)

As for why the Craftworlds are so open to conversation at this time, the War between the Craftworlds alluded to by Jain Zar in the novel "Jain Zar: The Storm of Silence" has not yet happened. In the novel, Jain Zar argues with an Avatar of Khaine, accusing her 'father' of instigating a civil war between the Craftworlds after the Fall, and there are other references in Eldar codices of Craftworlds attacking each other such as Saim-Hann and Kaelor.

Because the civil war has not yet happened, Craftworlds are less insular and more open to cooperation immediately after the Fall.

One thing to note about the Craftworlds in canon is that they do not have a uniform system of government, nor overarching cultural norms. Some Craftworlds are extremely draconian, culling anyone who shows even the slightest hint of Slaaneshi corruption, while others are borderline Core Worlders who enjoy the boons of their psychic physiology, and advanced technology. Kaelor and Aon'tai are two examples of Craftworlds who are explicitly stated to have attacked or been attacked by other Craftworlds, Saim-hann and Biel-Tan respectively.

Aon'tai in particular was utterly destroyed during a period of time called "The Era of Tears." This period of time is alluded to be when the Eldar waged civil war against one another. This is the canon source for the vision seen by Idrineth. In this story it is an age where Craftworlds raided one another for the Tears of Isha, as the method of collecting them from the Crone Worlds had yet to be perfected. Therefore, the only easy way to accumulate Spirit Stones was to steal them from their brethren.

Although it would be interesting to depict a fight with Eldar against Eldar, it would be a narrative step backwards that Isha would not allow, so the Era of Tears will be averted, although in a very convoluted manner.

On a more positive note, Iyanden is described as the largest and one of the last Craftworlds to escape the Fall. Although it was decimated when it ran into the Tyrannids, it was originally patrolling the sector of space that would later be known as the Ultramar sector, destroying Chaos aligned aliens as well as any daemons that tried to corrupt real-space directly. This is hinted to be the reason why Ultramar is so prosperous and 'good' when compared to the other regions of the Imperium.

As the Craftworld who originally wished to reestablish the Aeldari Empire, but who still have to remain culturally distinct from Biel-Tan, their culture is a mixture of pragmatism and puritanism. Although they are only known for their usage of Wraithguards due to taking so many losses from the Tyrannids in 40K, their supplemental codices does have several interesting passages and items that have been incorporated into this story.

Although most of my readers might think that Mehlendri is the only Eldar from canon, with all the other characters being OCs, there is actually another character here who is from the Iyanden Supplement Codex. Although he or she has no name in the codex, the description of what this individual was should be enough to figure out who is also from canon. Then again, it should be painfully obvious with the focus placed on this other character.

To quote the Iyanden Supplement Codex this "should have been sealed in a stasis vault or destroyed long ago, so that its evil may be contained or dispersed, but alas, times are so dire that every weapon must be pressed into service, whatever the risks."

But, to be quite honest, I only read the Supplement Codex until after I had finished the character profiles. I always wanted a Commorraghite to be included in the story. People think the Dark City as only a source of pain and suffering, but just as one of Slaanesh's functions is to make sure the Othersea does not dry up, Commorragh has its own uses even though they may be done with only evil or selfish intents.

It was a happy coincidence I could introduce this character aboard Iyanden without an overly contrived back-story.

Other things I would like to point out is the importance of pride in all the Eldar's interactions. Just as Isha talked about pride in a previous chapter, these side-stories explore what it means to be part of a race and society that is as proud as the Eldar. The Craftworlders deal with it by reinforcing ideals of humility, and allowing alternative ways of saving face through professional and private channels.

The Commorraghites have an entirely different way of dealing with this problem, and they are quite ridiculous. Lihilitu was a noble in this story, so some of the societal norms of her background have leached into the psyche of Commorragh. Even in canon 40K, the nobility of Commorragh are described to lounge on giant palanquins carried by crowds of slaves when they travel through the streets. Talking with them on equal footing while saving face requires some equally outlandish social rules that you'd find in any aristocracy.