[Mentirius]

And (Inquisitor) Amaurn is officially back - expect violence!  While he might theoretically be headed for Terra to play politics, I think Ben's chapel scene set the tone nicely for the kind of politics he'll likely be playing...

[Dosdamt]

Just a taster of the post to come... There's... Well there's a lot more to come on this post. I've committed to posting it this weekend, so it'll go up this weekend. More Monday morning Sydney time, than today, I'll give you that.... Still. On track and hitting the milestones!

-Ben

[Dosdamt]

Alright! Apologies for not sticking quite the schedule as promised, but I've got it out so I'm happy with that. 14.5k words and a *massive* revision to one section took a little longer than I'd hoped, but it's come out MUCH better for it.

The return of Junious is important for a myriad of reasons, so I wanted to really zero in on who he *was* before I elaborate on who he has *become*.

We've got a small cast again of folks around him, after he lost basically all of his retinue on the Point. Bess is a character we dug out of the previous ADS - Scarab too. More to come on both of them.

I've tried to emphasize the changes Bess has been through - her encounter with Balkoth being the most pivotal of the moments that have influenced her. She is still, at heart, the same compassionate and beautiful person that she was written as before, she has just been tempered in the crucible of conflict. My next posts on Junious' retinue will explore Kely, his ever present / mysterious friend from Aithol, and Junious' connection with the Eldar being a herald of Morai-Heg. Finally, we'll get under the hood on Amaarti and Scarab.

Three seals, purpose, and heading towards Secret's Hold at a rate of knots!

[Dosdamt]

A significant post. Who DuBois is, and who she is, continues to be revealed.

[Mentirius]

I just posted "The Language of Birds" on the Secret's Hold thread, which I split into two posts for reasons of character limit.  It is very much a single episode of the story, albeit it a very length one. 

TLDR: it's an introduction piece for Sairzrias the Narrator, an exceedingly old and pompous Lord of Change responsible for creating Amon Dull way back when, and Bu'Ran of the Many Tongues, an unaligned Greater Daemon with designs on godhood that Amon Dull created.  So technically Sairzrias is Bu'Ran's grandfather.  Agents of one or both of these two should be turning up all over the place going forward. 

EDIT: Oh, and I removed the "On" from the thread title because it was annoying me. 

[Mentirius]

I posted in the Terra thread - this is the first half of a collaborative two-parter I co-authored with Dosdamt/Ben using a shared online document, in which Amaurn meets/conspires with Lord Inquisitor Zjivek, the leader of the Puritan Council.  Ben will post the second half tomorrow, picking up where I left off. Both halves contain a mix of both our writing.  In total it is a pretty long scene, intended to establish more of who Zjivek is, together with some more of Amaurn's story and his role in the politics going forward.  Fear not, after this the thread should swiftly descend back into violence!

[Dosdamt]

And so the broader plot continues to emerge.

We're learning more about DuBois - who she is, what kind of monster she actually is, and what her game plan for the future actually is. I love DuBois - she's a conniving, vicious, cruel and yet caring, doting, and provides her team with patronage. She is rapidly becoming a favourite character of mine.

[Mentirius]

Just posted on The Keeping of Secrets: the second chapter of Inquisitor Rahn's story, in which he is called on to do battle with a (significantly) bigger fish.  Please continue to humour my warp-bound weirdness!  It is spread over two posts for reasons of character limit.

Coming soon on The Keeping of Secrets: the untold story of Delan's Point, or some of it at least.  A few key snapshots to join up the dots.  I've been studying the Archive for some time trying to get a handle on this one, so exactly when it materialises remains to be seen, but I think it's beginning to come together.

I concur regarding DuBois - having watched her evolve from a quiet bookish type into a predatory master manipulator has been an enjoyable ride, and I look forward to throwing daemons at her in the present day!

[Mentirius]

Another two-parter up on the Terra thread - the first part is by Ben/Dosdamt and follows Inquisitor Qi as she investigates the Ultramanian traitor, while the second is mine and deals with Amaurn's first attempt at a political assassination.

[Mentirius]

I've posted Ghosts of the Past, Volume IV on The Keeping of Secrets, divided into three posts.  It flashes back to M41 to cover events on Delan's Point from several angles, picking up where Welcome to the End left off, before returning to M42.120 with Inquisitor Palici at the end.  This is not meant to be an exhaustive or definitive conclusion for Delan's Point; just another tribute to the old days to tie up some of the hanging threads and further ground our present-day story in the past.  I have focused on the escape of Junious and other cell members through a portal opened by Balkoth, and the arrival of the Puritan Council strike force in the closing stages of the battle, met by the last stand of Mantis and his Mentirians.  There was a lot more going on that my point of view characters didn't see, and that remains open for speculation for the time being.

Some characters do die in this story.  Not all of them were created by me.  I've only let the hammer fall where I felt like it was logical, foreshadowed by Archive material and necessary for the narrative.  In most cases, I have tried to leave things open as to the fate of the various combatants.  I also stayed away from Arkhan and Charax entirely, bar some mentions in dialogue - that strand of the battle might warrant some proper attention of its own at a later date, but given the context of these flashbacks within The Keeping of Secrets, I didn't feel like this was the time.

[Mentirius]

'Thus Spoke Panoptikos' posted on The Ghost Worlds in two parts.  This is my first contribution to the story of Jaqueline DuBois, seen here through the eyes of Rune Priest Elpis - a low-ranking tech-priest serving the Forge City of Fabraxis, a secretive splinter faction wary of discovery by Mars.  Elpis is not a typical tech-priest by any means, but she represents the current direction of Fabraxis recruitment and a window into some of their thinking.  Tech-priests from Fabraxis have appeared in The Keeping of Secrets and will continue to crop up in various places going forward.  We have plenty more in development for them. 

Next week we'll have a connected episode from Dosdamt and see what DuBois makes of all this. 

[Dosdamt]

Slightly later than intended, thanks to some weekend shenanigans featuring some lost and rearranged items in the apartment, but here it is. A linked post, continuing the diplomacy between the Fabraxians and DuBois & Co, and then, well, violence. There are many folks who do not want this alliance to stick. Where's it going to go? Who can say...

[Mentirius]

A relatively short instalment on A Love Letter to Terran Politics this week.  This one is an important flashback to Amaurn's recent past, featuring a confrontation with his alleged Imposter and a cameo from an old friend.  I doubt anyone else remembers Inquisitor Friedle but I've never been opposed to giving myself Easter eggs and I see no reason to stop now!  Amaurn lacks a proper retinue but he does have a supporting cast of sorts out there, though they're all far too disreputable to go anywhere near Terra.  We might see more of them later, though probably not for a while.

Next week, back to the present and Amaurn will be going after Inquisitor Odion, the second target on Zjivek's list.

[Mentirius]

I've posted on the Terra thread again: Amaurn vs Odion this time, otherwise known as 'Fellow Inquisitors' since I realised the phrase comes up in several places.  This chunk is a bit longer than the last one but still fits into a single post. 

[Mentirius]

So, we had been intending to get something up this weekend, as has been our usual habit so far.  As it is, I'm afraid neither of the next two instalments have ended up finished in time...work is being done on them daily however, so normal service should resume soon.  For anyone keeping up with the story, sorry about the extra wait. 

Currently on the horizon, though not necessarily in this order:

A Love Letter to Terran Politics - The Ultramanians react to/investigate Amaurn's rampage so far.  The plot continues to thicken, conspiracies abound. 

The Ghost Worlds - A big old battle sequence from the PoV of Rune Priest Elpis, who is not much of a fighter herself, featuring various daemons and cultists of Tzeentch against Fabraxian Skitarii and Inquisitor DuBois.  This thing will be a monster when it's done and is most of the way there now, I promise!

The Keeping of Secrets - The present-day introduction of Junious and his network is in the works, though I'm afraid it might still be a while.  We're keen to get it right after all that buildup so please bear with us here.  There is a lot more story still to come in this thread.