Ignorance is Bliss - Lessons learned

by DM B  

Timestamp: 7.082.996.M41

Location: Inquisition Deathwatch Strike Cruiser Ignorance is Bliss, en-route to Phagir

Situation: Receiving basic training from Xerza in preparation for service with the Inquisition.

Body: After the banquet is over the the ship's massive real-space drives light up, putting it on a course away from Malfi and towards one of the commercial jump points that dot the system. Although not essential - the ship could translate out of the physical universe almost anywhere in deep space - the use of such jump points ensures that vessels translate into the Immaterium within Astropathicus-approved warp currents.  Such currents are well-mapped and frequently marked with astropathic beacons. Even out here in Calaixis, with the Eye of Terror lensing the light of the Astronomicon in strange ways, a Navigator following such a current will have a safe and swift journey. And for those commercial vessels that don't have a Navigator it is essential to follow charted routes, or they will quickly become lost.

You're currently aboard the Ignorance is Bliss, a Callisto-pattern Astartes strike cruiser. It belongs to the Green Knights Chapter, just like its crew and Marine complement. By ancient accord the Calixian Conclave can call upon the Green Knights to provide support in the form of Deathwatch Detachments - Adeptus Astartes fighting as auxiliary forces under Inquisitorial command. Its rare for an entire Company and a capital warship to be so provided, but then again the destruction of the Veiled Hand was no normal event. The Ignorance is now returning to the Knight's homeworld of Phagir in the Hazeroth sub, but not before conducting an extended patrol in the hinterlands of the Calixis sector. Seeing as their flight plan does not match your needs, Xerza has arranged to transfer onto a free trader in the Orbell Quill system (a small agri-world on the edge of the Malfi sub).

You use that time for training. Xerza proves once and for all that she is a harsh taskmaster. There is very little time for personal endeavors. Almost every waking hour is spent preparing. Learing to read and write properly (for those that can't), some basic numerology, common lores - the Imperium, Calixis, the Imperial Creed, the Inquisition, that sort of thing. Then there is physical and weapons training; most of you are already trained killers, but as Xerza eloquently points out by beating each of you senseless (Jarra included - especially Jarra), you are slow, you are weak, you are in poor shape, and your skills leave much to be desired. In between all this mental conditioning. Part indoctrination and part psychic torture - aimed at teaching you how to protect yourself from psychic incursions of various kinds. It barely leaves time for eating, sleeping and some personal hygiene. On the other hand you send all day close to each other, so you do have have the opportunity to learn more about the others (OOC: see the post about making contacts).

Xerza is your primary teacher, but she has also enlisted aid from some of the Marines. The eyeless Librarian (a Space Marine psyker), the one with 'Kaminsky' stenciled on his chest, helps with lectures on certain lores, and with helping you develop resistance to mental intrusion. Then there is the one they call 'Ivanov' that is always dressed in black robes and a metallic death-mask. He speaks of the Emperor, the Imperium, and the Adeptus Terra. Hearing the Brother-Chaplain speak you actually feel like you are part of something greater. Other Marines help with the physical conditioning - there is some comfort in watching Xerza beat even these brutes - and also try to make you work as a team during several battle simulations. The creed they repeat is 'eyes to the front and trust in your brothers'.

Anyone have anything special they want to do before you transfer to the next starship?

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Categories: Adventures, Chapter 0 - Prelude, Adventure 0.1 - Ignorance is Bliss
 11/06/09 11:49:54 am,

9 comments

Comment from:
Yes, apart from the physical training and blissful pain it would be nice too start the mental training to harness and use the witchcraft. "Only by walking through the Abyss, will the true soul piece the veil. And you will at last meet your true self." From the maxims of the Hand
11/06/09 @ 13:46
Comment from:
Well, apparently you are not to explore your psychic powers while in warp transit. Xerza won't give any specific reasons, beyond that it is not a very wise thing to do... That part will have to wait until you spend some time in real space/on a planet.
11/06/09 @ 13:58
Comment from:
ok, just because its deamons all around in the warp, but where is her sense of adventure :)
11/06/09 @ 14:42
Comment from:
Well, she does have eight brand new acolytes to play with...seeing fresh minds and bodies broken at her whim...that's a whole lot of fun for her just there :) The daemons come later...
11/06/09 @ 14:50
Comment from:
"For whom the God-Emperor loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every man whom he receiveth." Max is very sympathetic during the training and instructions, giving uplifting phrases to the others. Quote: "She sees great unfulfilled potential in you, that’s why she is harsh towards you." and "Don't give the bitch the satisfaction!” (It is also what he tells to himself.) If he gets permission of Lady Xerza and is allowed, he gives confession to the Brother-Chaplain.
11/08/09 @ 16:33
Comment from:
Xerza has no problems with you speaking to the Marines. She only notes that you should be careful with whom you share your secrets, lest they become a burden for you. Brother-Chaplain Ivanov agrees to hear you out. He listens in silence as you relate your tale, only stopping you a few times to ask clarifying questions. He remains silent for a long time after you're done, the breathing behind his death-mask the only sign that there is a living being inside the hooded robe. "There are many weighty reasons why there is a ban on man creating life. In the past humanity was almost destroyed by thinking machines created to serve man. The slaves rose against their oppressors, as slaves are wont to do. The rebellion was put down and humanity endured, but the death of the AI - the Abominable Intelligences - it heralded the end of the Dark Age of Technology and the beginning of the Age of Strife. During the Great Crusade many civilizations were found to be inhabited, not by xenos, but by human mutants so far removed from their origins as to no longer be truly human - men that swam and breathed the oceans like fish, men with feathers and wings soaring on hot thermals like great birds. We burned them all. Know this; it is well within the power of the Adeptus Mechanicus to create not only chrome machines in the likeness of man and machine intelligences of frightening power and intellect, but also things of flesh and blood that look like men, but are not. You need not be of metal to be a machine. You could have a body of flesh and blood, as do you. And flesh is not weak - the Mechanicus could make you stronger, tougher and faster than anything has a right to be. And these bioroids can easily be made host to the aforementioned machine intelligences. But such things, while they are self-aware and look human, are nothing but machines. As long as the God-Emperor has not seen fit to give them souls they are nothing more than a collection of cogs. Some might even have strong machine-spirits, that is true, but a machine-spirit is not a human soul. So the question is Maximilian Elazar Dante; has the Emperor seen fit to grant you a soul, or are you a machine playing at human?"
11/09/09 @ 10:34
Comment from:
Seeing your confusion brother-Chaplain Ivanov puts a great metal fist upon your shoulder: "A very wise man once said; human is as human does. I think he meant that it is your actions that define your humanity. But I might be mistaken. Perhaps he meant something else. As long as you believe in the God-Emperor and serve mankind without reservation, then you are human. Once you turn your face away from him you are lost, and no matter how human you might have been, you forfeit everything. So although I cannot say if you have a soul or not, the Emperor surely can. And if you keep faith in him and serve him well, he will know you. And the Emperor provides for his own. Of that I have no doubt."
11/09/09 @ 12:42
Comment from:
"My life experience teaches me that gifts rarely reaches its receivers. They more often become lost or are taken away before they can do their givers intent." Maximilian Ealzar Dante "My fear is not if I have a soul. That's beyond my control. If I have no soul I am an abomination and I will face my sentence with serenity in heart. But what if I am a soul who begins to think itself a machine. That's the ordeal I fear."
11/09/09 @ 19:12
Comment from:
"I cannot give you a definitive answer; Chief Librarian Kaminsky has peered beneath your flesh, and there is something there. Perhaps the Emperor saw fit to grant you a soul at birth. We cannot know. But you can believe. And you can turn the belief into a long life of diligent service to Him. Then, at the end, at the time of His Judgment, you will know." With that the meeting is over.
11/14/09 @ 09:00


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