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With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Fourteen)

"It might not even be genetic." I think for a moment. "Alright, let's… A lot of tau think that human religiosity towards machines is stupid. And I did too, but… The part of the human population has low level psychic abilities may not be able to manifest psykic phenomena individually, but it enough of them enact the same rituals and believe the same things over an area, their… Collective power is enough to alter reality and make it… 'True'. Whether it was originally true or not."
All humans are Psyker's, the Shaman's just locked most of Humanity's psychic potential away when they created the Emperor because they knew if they didn't when the Eldar fucked the Eye of Terror into existence humanity would be wiped out.



"Oh, yes. But that's not the sole reason why human technology works as it does. You've got smart programs and AI fragments from before the Age of Isolation that no one knows about infecting things, organic brains being used for data processing which may or may not have their own personalities and derangements, and people generally not knowing what they're doing and failing to copy something a system needed in order to work properly and so turning a bypass procedure into part of the main procedure… And that's before you take into account actual daemons, who actually have an easier time getting in if the rituals aren't performed. Honestly, where humans are concerned, I'd recommend that limit your ambitions a lot."
He really doesn't want to tell the Tau that if Daemon's actually took even a minor interest in them they would be completely and utterly fucked.
 
I wonder if Paul had any significant interactions with the Gue'vesa population of the T'au Empire.

Fake it till you make it.

I was very invested in an instance of this with a kid named Malachi Love-Robinson. He managed to get away with a lot, including opening his own, legally not "MD", practice.

Too bad he used his disguising abilities for evil and wrote checks to himself from his clients' accounts.
 
Waagh field, but human.

There is only one being dastardly enough to orchestrate this

One man so devious as to implement it.

and one man who would take the name.

Screen_Shot_2018_10_31_at_8.14.46_PM.png
 
Though it rarely manifests. When it does, that's where you get things like Wyrds.
No, wyrds are untrained psykers of any power level. Most would probably be in the Iota plus range as others just aren't strong enough to routinely produce overt results.
Seriously, the 41st Millennium is a shit-hole, isn't it? Though some of these things happen even today. So often, a company takes over a factory, fire all the expensive old hands and insist on exact procedures being followed by the new workers... And discover their product is failing quality control more often than not.
When Britain privatised its rail network and seperated the company running the tracks from the companies running the trains, it worked for a while because the old hands just ignored company directives and kept cooperating across company lines. Then they retired, and it all fell apart.
Tsua'm does the double nasal cleft twitch that's the tau equivalent of an eye roll...
Perhaps add 'have a' or 'suffer from a'?
Though it may take time, I believe in the eventual triumph of the Greater Good.
Ah, there's something about 'superstition' that a lot of tau…
The part of the human population that has low level psychic abilities...
I'd recommend that you limit your ambitions a lot.
Thank you, corrected.
 
The part of the human population that has low level psychic abilities may not be able to manifest psykic phenomena individually, but it enough of them enact the same rituals and believe the same things over an area, their…
'manifest psychic'
'but if'
I mean, some of them probably look like that.
IIRC, as they get older navigators get more mutated. I remember a novel where a Space Marine has a momentary crisis of faith because he realises that he's fighting to protect horrible mutants, but then he realised that the mutants are sanctioned by the Emperor so they can't be that bad.
 
"It might not even be genetic." I think for a moment. "Alright, let's… A lot of tau think that human religiosity towards machines is stupid. And I did too, but… The part of the human population that has low level psychic abilities may not be able to manifest psykic phenomena individually, but it enough of them enact the same rituals and believe the same things over an area, their… Collective power is enough to alter reality and make it… 'True'. Whether it was originally true or not."
And so Paul becomes the reason the Tau start implementing "Brainwashing for The Greater Good" in earnest when it comes to humanity, due to their power of collective belief.
 
"That's the location of the Astronomican. Where the Himalayan mountains use to be… Or are. For a ship that's probably far more important, because their on-board navigators can actually see it from just about anywhere."

"How do they stop other species making use of it?"

"They don't. They can't. That whole system is one of the reasons that tyranids are such a big problem for Imperial worlds. Normally they home in on the signal generated in the warp by populated worlds, but major Imperial worlds actively signal them."
Sorry if this has been answered, but how does the Astronomicon's existence contribute to any major world other than Terra signalling Tyranids?

Is he talking about only Terra?
Or is this a thing about how the astronomicon is more detectable in certain regions of the galaxy or certain distances from Terra(closer is better), so humans tend to settle in those regions in response to fewer warp accidents, and Tyranids tend to prefer to move to a region where the astronomicon is more detectable ?because the psykic background signal is stronger?
 
Sorry if this has been answered, but how does the Astronomicon's existence contribute to any major world other than Terra signalling Tyranids?

Is he talking about only Terra?
Or is this a thing about how the astronomicon is more detectable in certain regions of the galaxy or certain distances from Terra(closer is better), so humans tend to settle in those regions in response to fewer warp accidents, and Tyranids tend to prefer to move to a region where the astronomicon is more detectable ?because the psykic background signal is stronger?

The Astronomican can be detected even outside the galaxy, so tyranid fleets that might have either bypassed us or come later are arriving faster, and when they do they'll detect all the inhabited worlds they encounter. Since humans are all over the place that means they'll hit more human worlds, plus the fact that the tau have weaker souls means the tyranid won't prioritize them as much
 
Sorry if this has been answered, but how does the Astronomicon's existence contribute to any major world other than Terra signalling Tyranids?

Is he talking about only Terra?

Or is this a thing about how the astronomicon is more detectable in certain regions of the galaxy or certain distances from Terra(closer is better), so humans tend to settle in those regions in response to fewer warp accidents, and Tyranids tend to prefer to move to a region where the astronomicon is more detectable ?because the psykic background signal is stronger?
That doesn't help, though astropath choirs are probably a bigger problem.
 
Sooo.... MrZoat saw the latest smurfycat movie, and P'ol is going to make a title drop?
 
Xenopsychology (part 12)
6 568 938.M41

Thick orange cables attach the ring to the Eugenics Board's central server as I absorb everything the tau know about their own biology. It's nice that they don't consider me to be a security risk, though the somewhat unsteady Maka'm did check that I was authorised for secure data.

"That cannot be right."

She hasn't got less unsteady.

"Fio'el Maka'm, I was born thirty eight thousand years ago. I assure you that filing a protest against reality only serves to prevent you learning to deal with it as it actually is."

"But that is exactly the point. If you are correct, then there is no reality. It is a shared hallucination made real."

"No." Tsua'm shakes her head. "That would be to say that when you are on a boat on the ocean during a storm, land stops existing when you lose your bearings."

I nod. "Or perhaps… The difference between air pressure at sea level and air pressure at the top of a mountain. It's… Funny, because there are a small percentage of humans who enforce reality on the area around them. Do you want to know what their power classification is called?"

"Yes."

"Tau."

"That is the Imperium's assessment of our power level?"

"No, it's a pure coincidence that the words sound similar. They think it's the level most of the tau species is at, but… There's a Fire Caste chap on my team who is definitely higher than that. Maybe as high as Rho."

"And Rho is..?"

"An unusually unpsychic human. Someone who might be completely unaware of psychic phenomena." My construct cables retract theatrically. "Thank you. It's going to take months at the very least before I'll be able to best-fit human genes with their tau equivalents, but I'll send you whatever I learn."

"Hybridisation is quite impossible."

I don't say 'you kinky minx', because I don't think she'd get the joke.

"No, I-." / "Work placement."

Maka'm does a nasal twitch. Confusion, I think. I incline my head slightly towards Tsua'm to indicate that she should continue.

"I was curious as to whether it would be practical to assess the suitability of particular humans to particular types of occupation using their genes. It would simplify vocational training on fully incorporated human worlds."

"Do you think it would be possible to make human castes?"

"Perhaps, but that is for other people to decide. I can only make recommendations based on what Orange Lantern discovers."

I shake my head. "Probably not a good idea. That's the sort of thing that worlds that are culturally Imperial would take strong exception to."

"I doubt that they would concern themselves if we limited our initial efforts to small scale studies."

"Have you ever heard of the Plague of Unbelief?" I fabricate a small data pad loaded with pertinent data and offer it to her. "I suggest reading about what Dolan Chirosius managed to spur people into doing against Cardinal Bucharis."

She takes it from me. "I will study it and reflect upon its lessons."

"Short version: properly roused, every single human on a planet may turn out to be perfectly willing to throw themselves at you and every other tau and gue'vesa, no matter how compliant they'd been before or how they had benefited practically from their inclusion in the Empire."

"That is extremely irrational."

"No. It's extremely rational. The Tau Empire is an exception in the way it treats conquered populations. Orks and Dark Eldar and tyranids are the rule. Enslavement, torture, murder and consumption; that's what surrender gets you. The ability of a population to say 'yes, we're doomed, time to see how many we can take with us' is actually useful on a species wide scale. It denies the enemy resources. That fact that it's maladaptive in a tiny proportion of cases doesn't make it irrational."

"I… See."

Tsua'm steps forward, her body posture relaxes and open. "If I may ask an unrelated question?"

"Y-es?"

"I have not requested a pairing, but I am curious as to whether I am reaching the point where it will be considered appropriate for me to breed. Would it be acceptable for you to check for me?"

Maka'm presses a few buttons on a computer console. "Yes. Yes, you are authorised for that information. Due to the nature of your work, it has been judged that it is best not to assign you for breeding at this time."

"Is that unusual?"

"No, it is fairly common in relation to work in highly secure areas. Of course, that does not impact the chance of approval or rejection to any pairings you arrange for yourself. Those go through the same approval process as normal."

"Thank you. Then unless there is anything else you wish to hear from us, we will leave."

"Will you be on T'au for long?"

"That is up to the T'au Aun'ar'tol, but-" Maka'm responds with an expression of shock. "-it is likely that we will be on T'au for a kai'rotaa at least."

I nod. "I'm hoping that we'll have time to see Fio'taun, and maybe some of the pre-unification water tribe settlements."

"Then if there are any matters arising from this meeting, I will be able to send a message to you. I should consider what I have learned carefully before formulating policy."

I try to take a look-. Ah. I fabricate a bottle of fermented nectar and offer it to her. She takes the bottle, opens the cap and sniffs it, her nasal cleft spasming as the scent hits.

"Ah. Thank you."

"You're not the first tau I've culture-shocked." Right. I walk over to Tsua'm, bend and pick her up in a bridal carry. That prompts Maka'm to stare in shock again, though Tsua'm's expression is more one of surprise. Now, send a flight plan to air traffic control and transition.

Tsua'm eyes open wide as our surroundings vanish, being placed by the open skies over the ancestral home of the Fire Caste, and the ring translates her scent as an expression of fear.

"You're safe, Tsua'm. Perfectly safe."

"Everything that I have read about teleportation tells me that you are wrong."

"Oh, that wasn't teleportation. Teleportation involves travelling though the warp. If that happened to you… You probably wouldn't experience anything, due to your minimal warp presence. My method involves travelling between places in the material universe, and it's far safer. Here."

I create a platform and gently set her down.

"See? Perfectly safe."

She taps her right hoof against the platform a couple of times, her hands still on my shoulders.

"Yes. Did you get the data that you need?"

"Is it that urgent? Do you want to be pregnant that quickly?"

"No, but it is unlikely that we will have cause to-." She twitches. "Was that a..? Line?"

"Not a serious one." I lower my face slightly towards her, exhaling with a little more force that usual so that my scent covers her receptors. "Unless you want it to be."

"I, um. Not… Not yet. But humans have… Intimate gestures of affection that are not sex? I have a… Curiosity, about other species. About you. Beyond… What my job requires."

"Sure." I rest my forehead against hers. "Let me know if anything I do is unpleasantly weird."
 
Last edited:
6 568 938.M41

Thick orange cables attach the ring to the Eugenics' Board's central server as I absorb everything the tau know about their own biology. It's nice that they don't consider me to be a security risk, though the somewhat unsteady Maka'm did check that I was authorised for secure data.

"That cannot be right."
Heh. First time she's seen Spectrum energy constructs in action, I see. If it helps, think of them as volumetric holographic projections with forcefield reinforcement. Not all that different to something like a Tidewall Shieldline's barrier.

She hasn't got less unsteady.

"Fio'el Maka'm, I was born thirty eight thousand years ago. I assure you that filing a protesting against reality only serves to prevent you learning to deal with it as it actually is."
In other words: :cool: Deal with it, honey.

"But that is exactly the point. If you are correct, then there is no reality. It is a shared hallucination made real."

"No." Tsua'm shakes her head. "That would be to say that when you are on a boat on the ocean during a storm, land stops existing when you lose your bearings."
Trust in the things you can feel for real. The ground under your feet. The tools in your hands. The scent of other, entirely calm tau around you...

I nod. "Or perhaps… The difference between air pressure at sea level and air pressure at the top of a mountain. It's… Funny, because there are a small percentage of humans who enforce reality on the area around them. Do you want to know what their power classification is called?"

"Yes."
The Imperial's scale, for reference. Naturally, the Emperor would register completely off their scaling. :p

"Tau."

"That is the Imperium's assessment of our power level?"
For reference, that's actually less-than-zero psychic talent. These are people who would see someone use a telekinetic shove and think it was a strong gust of wind.

"No, it's a pure coincidence that the words sound similar. They think it's the level most of the tau species is at, but… There's a Fire Caste chap on my team who is definitely higher than that. Maybe as high as Rho."

"And Rho is..?"
Admittedly, for a tau, that is significantly high.

"An unusually unpsychic human. Someone who might be completely unaware of psychic phenomena." My construct cables retract theatrically. "Thank you. It's going to take months at the very least before I've been able to best-fit human genes with their tau equivalents, but I'll send you whatever I learn."

"Hybridisation is quite impossible."
For tau technology, maybe. A power Ring is just a wee bit more advanced, thank you. :D

I don't say 'you kinky minx', because I don't think she'd get the joke.

"No, I-." / "Work placement."
Whoops, awkward.

Maka'm does a nasal twitch. Confusion, I think. I incline my head slightly towards Tsua'm to indicate that she should continue.

"I was curious as to whether it would be practical to assess the suitability of particular humans to particular types of occupation using their genes. It would simplify vocational training on fully incorporated human worlds."
Sadly, people tend to have their own opinion of what they want to do, regardless of what someone else says they're best suited to...

"Do you think it would be possible to make human castes?"

"Perhaps, but that is for other people to decide. I can only make recommendations based on what Orange Lantern discovers."
It's been tried a few times. And usually doesn't work out great. Especially when someone gifted is born into a low-caste...

I shake my head. "Probably not a good idea. That's the sort of thing that worlds that are culturally Imperial would take strong exception to."

"I doubt that they would concern themselves if we limited our initial efforts to small scale studies."
Never underestimate humanity's talent for grabbing the wrong end of the stick... :oops:

"Have you ever heard of the Plague of Unbelief?" I fabricate a small data pad loaded with pertinent data and offer it to her. "I suggest reading about what Dolan Chirosius managed to spur people into doing against Cardinal Bucharis."

She takes it from me. "I will study it and reflect upon its lessons."
...It usually ends up with them whacking someone with said stick.

"Short version: properly roused, every single human on a planet may turn out to be perfectly willing to throw themselves at you and every other tau and gue'vessa, no matter how compliant they'd been before or how they had benefited practically from their inclusion in the Empire."

"That is extremely irrational."
...Then you haven't really studied humans too closely, have you?

"No. It's extremely rational. The Tau Empire is an exception in the way it treats conquered populations. Orks and Dark Eldar and tyranids are the rule. Enslavement, torture, murder and consumption; that's what surrender gets you. The ability of a population to say 'yes, we're doomed, time to see how many we can take with us' is actually useful on a species wide scale. It denies the enemy resources. That fact that it's maladaptive in a tiny proportion of cases doesn't make it irrational."
'Better to die then live on our knees'? Not an unreasonable reaction, really.

"I… See."

Tsua'm steps forward, her body posture relaxes and open. "If I may ask an unrelated question?"
Yes, best change the subject, this might be getting a little traumatic for the young lady.

"Y-es?"

"I have not requested a pairing, but I am curious as to whether I am reaching the point where it will be considered appropriate for me to breed. Would it be acceptable for you to check for me?"
Ah, yes! Distract her with actual work. Best idea!

Maka'm presses a few buttons on a computer console. "Yes. Yes, you are authorised for that information. Due to the nature of your work, it has been judged that it is best not to assign you for breeding at this time."

"Is that unusual?"
I assume because of the dangers implicit in her line of work, in close proximity to potentially hostile aliens.

"No, it is fairly common in relation to work in highly secure areas. Of course, that does not impact the chance of approval or rejection to any pairings you arrange for yourself. Those go through the same approval process as normal."

"Thank you. Then unless there is anything else you wish to hear from us, we will leave."
Oh, boy. Their love life is so going to put a cat amongst the pigeons.

"Will you be on T'au for long?"

"That is up to the T'au Aun'ar'tol, but-" Maka'm responds with an expression of shock. "-it is likely that we will be on T'au for a kai'rotaa at least."
Roughly fifty days, going by this. So, almost two months. :confused: Boy, I was kidding about their appointment taking time to line up, but dang.

I nod. "I'm hoping that we'll have time to see Fio'taun, and maybe some of the pre-unification water tribe settlements."

"Then if there are any matters arising from this meeting, I will be able to send a message to you. I should consider what I have learned carefully before formulating policy."
Yes, best to be very well-informed.

I try to take a look-. Ah. I fabricate a bottle of fermented nectar and offer it to her. She takes the bottle, opens the cap and sniffs it, her nasal cleft spasming as the scent hits.

"Ah. Thank you."
A gift of booze? :p Very sensible. I think she'll need it after dealing with P'Aul, as his empathic vision probably just suggested...

"You're not the first tau I've culture-shocked." Right. I walk over to Tsua'm, bend and pick her up in a bridal carry. That prompts Maka'm to stare in shock again, though Tsua'm's expression is more one of surprised. Now, send a flight plan to air traffic control and transition.

Tsua'm eyes open wide as our surroundings vanish, being placed by the open skies over the ancestral home of the Fire Caste, and the ring translates her scent as an expression of fear.
And possibly a little nausea, given what transitions can do to the unprepared person's internal perceptions. Motion sickness on an epic level. :p

"You're safe, Tsua'm. Perfectly safe."

"Everything that I have read about teleportation tells me that you are wrong."
...I wonder if P'Aul could Greediport in this universe if he learned how. That would be useful for messing with Imperials, for one thing. :V

"Oh, that wasn't teleportation. Teleportation involves travelling though the warp. If that happened to you… You probably wouldn't experience anything, due to your minimal warp presence. My method involves travelling between places in the material universe, and it's far safer. Here."

I create a platform and gently set her down.
Just a little bit of real-space faster-than-light travel between friends. Nothing special.

"See? Perfectly safe."

She taps her right hoof against the platform a couple of times, her hands still on my shoulders.
Somehow, I don't think she's entirely convinced.

"Yes. Did you get the data that you need?"

"Is it that urgent? Do you want to be pregnant that quickly?"
I doubt a tau's biological clock ticks that loudly, certainly.

"No, but it is unlikely that we will have cause to-." She twitches. "Was that a..? Line?"

"Not a serious one." I lower my face slightly towards her, exhaling with a little more force that usual so that my scent covers her receptors. "Unless you want it to be."
Oooh, naughty.

"I, um. Not… Not yet. But humans have… Intimate gestures of affection that are not sex? I have a… Curiosity, about other species. About you. Beyond… What my job requires."

"Sure." I rest my forehead against hers. "Let me know if anything I do is unpleasantly weird."
Let's start with a little thing called 'kissing'... x3

Heh. Seems Tsua'm is a bit of a xenophile, then. Or at least a little curious about 'this thing you Humans call love'... At any rate, I suppose they've got the time for a little sight-seeing, anyway. The wheels of bureaucracy grind slowly indeed. It'll also be interesting to see what P'Aul can do with the Tau genetic information...


I assure you that filing a protesting against reality...
I assure you that filing a protest against reality...
... though Tsua'm's expression is more one of surprised.
... though Tsua'm's expression is more one of surprise.
 
It's been tried a few times. And usually doesn't work out great. Especially when someone gifted is born into a low-caste...
That's the thing: the tau system doesn't have higher or lower castes. She wouldn't assume that rank order was a part of it.
I assure you that filing a protest against reality...
... though Tsua'm's expression is more one of surprise.
This sentence is two tense, I think changing the highlighted text to 'I'll be' would help relax it.
Thank you, corrected.
 
I try to take a look-. Ah. I fabricate a bottle of fermented nectar and offer it to her. She takes the bottle, opens the cap and sniffs it, her nasal cleft spasming as the scent hits.

"Ah. Thank you."

"You're not the first tau I've culture-shocked."
Yeah I can see how "I need a freaking drink" would be a common desire after meting P'aul.

Oddly enough I feel this is the best 'romance' arc so far in WTR. Might just be that P'aul doesn't have any big distractions going on. Could also be that he is pursuing it rather than simply not resisting it.
Or it could just be that Mr Zoat has more practice now.

That's the thing: the tau system doesn't have higher or lower castes. She wouldn't assume that rank order was a part of it.
Difficult to argue that the Etherial cast is not 'higher' than the others. They are explicitly the leaders after all.


I really don't get the point of this Paul dumping so much bad information on the Tau...
-reply to Vaermina-
Many authors enjoy the opportunity to expound upon their worldbuilding. And many fans enjoy the opportunity to expound upon their headcannon/fannon.
Good authors manage to fit such exposition into their story diegetically. In this case it is info the Tau would reasonably be expected to want and P'aul would be entirely willing to give, even if from a plot perspective it could all have happened off-screen.
 
Thick orange cables attach the ring to the Eugenics' Board's central server as I absorb everything the tau know about their own biology.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I think that the apostrophe on 'Eugenics' is unnecessary.
"Thank you. It's going to take months at the very least before I'll been able to best-fit human genes with their tau equivalents, but I'll send you whatever I learn."
'I'll be able'
 
Oddly enough I feel this is the best 'romance' arc so far in WTR. Might just be that P'aul doesn't have any big distractions going on. Could also be that he is pursuing it rather than simply not resisting it.
Or it could just be that Mr Zoat has more practice now.
This is the first romance where Paul is pursuing somebody at least as cold logic inclined as he is. They have similar communication styles and this understand each other smoothly.
 
Maybe I'm wrong, but I think that the apostrophe on 'Eugenics' is unnecessary.
'I'll be able'
Thank you, corrected.
Difficult to argue that the Etherial cast is not 'higher' than the others. They are explicitly the leaders after all.
I'm basing my tau in their portrayal in the novelisation Fire Warrior and their first codex. The Ethereals aren't leaders in the sense of issuing commands, they just help the other castes coordinate with each other.
 
Oddly enough I feel this is the best 'romance' arc so far in WTR.
This is a Paul in a position of high respect and social authority, so his unfortunate tendency to be over-concientous to his potential romantic targets is both expected behavior and translatable by the potential romantic targets within the peerage of his social strata.
 
This is a Paul in a position of high respect and social authority, so his unfortunate tendency to be over-concientous to his potential romantic targets is both expected behavior and translatable by the potential romantic targets within the peerage of his social strata.

also, blue space babes
 

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