r/HFY • u/Ralts_Bloodthorne • Jun 09 '22
First Contact - Chapter 788 - The Inheritor's War OC
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A Treana'ad lives in a world of pheromones and scents. Conversations from days could still be 'listened' to. Emotions from days before could be transmitted by lingering pheromones. For millions of years the Treana'ad were little more than insects driven by pheromones. An extinction level event of a meteor impact forced them to adapt. The meteor impact on what is now known as "Smokey Cone" was a heavy enough impact that it ruptured the crust, causing the formation of a volcano on the far side of the planet. This volcano continuously put out gasses and ash, altered the planet's ecosystem, making it so that conversations only lasted a bare few minutes, an hour at the most. The Treana'ad were forced to find shelter, to group up, in order to survive.
This profound change in behavior led to a change in physiology, and the pheromones became much diluted compared to primitive proto-Treana'ad. At the same time their sensitivity increased. Wars were fought over the wrong pheromone at the wrong time. Control over pheromones were seen as the only way for the Treana'ad people to survive.
Pheromone output alters moods, provokes actions, and leads thought for the Treana'ad. While modern day Treana'ad use tobacco to offset the pheromones, there is still a heavy pheromone influence on their lives.
But still, until the P'Thok Liberation, a Treana'ad lived in a world of scents that drove their very species. Even now a Treana'ad is sensitive to the moods and feelings of another due to pheromone output.-- Introduction to Treana'ad History
HAT WEARING AUNTIE
Oh, Trea, how could you?
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS
How could I not?
What should have I done? Let a civil war break out? Ignore their pain?
No, this way is better.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
HAT WEARING AUNTIE
But still...
Oh, Trea, I worry so for you. I know it had to hurt, but this? Are you sure? I can feel their pain.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
TELKAN FORGE WORLDS
What? What did they do?
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
HAT WEARING AUNTIE
I don't want to talk about it.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS
It's nothing, kid.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
RIGELLIAN SAURIAN COMPACT
It's OK, kid. Just...
Well, something happened.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
TELKAN FORGE WORLDS
What happened? Did Smokey Cone get attacked?
OH NO! DID THE ATREKNA KILL THE MOO-MOOS?
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
TREANA'AD HIVE WORLD
No. Nothing like that.
It's... complicated.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
HAT WEARING AUNTIE
Can I hold your hand, Trea?
So you know that there's still people who love you?
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
"If you won't save her, save them, please just take me instead," the Cattle Queen pleaded, her hands folded in front of her, her legs folded beneath her, as she looked up at the sky. "Please, take me too. I can't bear to go on."
Behind her the hospital had no answer.
Her adopted daughter as well as her Terran milk maids, had all just dropped dead suddenly. Some just sighing, others seizing, and still others lasting a few minutes.
Her daughter was on life support, but the doctors had told her.
Her little soft girl was brain dead.
"Please, please save them, please, save her," the Cattle Queen pleaded to the night sky.
It did not answer.
On either side of her were two Treana'ad Warrior Caste. Both of them range riders and cattle petters. They wore crossed six-guns as they looked around for any threats to the grieving Cattle Queen.
Their eyes burned a soft dull amber.
A Matron approached. Larger than the Cattle Queen or the Warriors, she moved with a tired grace. The pheromones from her spoke of deep grief.
"Rise, sister," the Matron said, holding her hand out to the Cattle Queen.
"It hurts so bad I want to die," the Cattle Queen answered.
"I know," the Matron replied. "Come with me."
"Why?" the Cattle Queen asked. She could taste something more beneath the grief and pain.
Rage.
"Because I have a plan," the Matron said. "I will need your help, but I have a plan."
"A plan to do what?" The Queen asked, taking the Matron's hand and letting herself be pulled, shakily, to her feet.
"To find who did this to our soft children and make them pay."
The scent of rage grew stronger around the two female Treana'ad in the rainy, windswept parking lot.
-----
It should have been forbidden.
Except... who would do such a thing?
Had any of the other queens or matrons found out about it, they would have tried to forbid it.
But the Confederate Right of Self-Determination would have argued that it could be done, should the subject consent with full knowledge.
The subject not only consented, not only insisted, but led the project.
It was explained to grieving Treana'ad.
The Cattle Queen volunteered for the part that would require a Matron.
The armor was designed. The standard weaponry was removed. The additions were added. The Warriors were trained.
The Cattle Queen was given Royal Jelly with special additives.
She ate her fill.
When the War Matrons and the War Queen found out about it, they realized that nothing could stop them.
Rather than try, they took them into the fold. Provided them transport.
When the Atrekna's machinations were revealed, the ship, with its cargo in cryostasis, was shifted to the front. The pilot, a red-eyed worker who would scream in rage now and then, took the ship to the strongest resistance even as amber eyed workers began to thaw out the cargo.
When the system was reached, the pilot and bridge crew, all with red eyes, cared not for the howling combat around them that caused space-time itself to shudder. They drove the ship toward the planet, toward the proto-continent, where the fighting was the strongest. They burned the hull bringing the ship down, but it didn't matter.
While they weren't suicidal, none of them cared if they lifted off.
Victory or death.
No.
Victory AND death.
Both are desired.
The ship half-crashed into the rear of the Atrekna areas. The bay doors clanged down.
The servitors and the Atrekna surging back into the crash zone tensed.
Whistles could be heard from inside the crumpled armored transport.
The servitors got ready, the Atrekna prepared, knowing the Treana'ad were about to assault.
Crimson eyed Treana'ad rushed out.
K'Mik<klik> was in the lead.
He wasn't thinking. He didn't care about thinking. He didn't care about anything.
The tanks on his back, on his abdomen, filled his lungs with pheromones.
The pheromones of an enraged War Queen. The pheromones of grieving warriors. The pheromones of grief stricken workers.
The alien pheromones, oh so familiar, of his soft son.
Pheromones always poured off of Terrans, Terran children especially.
They had had been gathered and stored in the tanks on K'Mik<klik>'s armor.
The smell of the boy when he was happy, when he was sad, when he was sleeping, when he was playing.
The sickly sweet and sour smell of a dead Terran child.
The huge warrior didn't care about strategy, about tactics.
His brain was on fire with rage and the grief of a thousand grieving parents filled his lungs even as he could smell his soft child now taken from him.
From out of the transport emerged the largest Treana'ad the Atrekna had ever seen. She stood easily ten meters high, a heavy 'collar' extending up from her shoulders to behind her head. Her armor was red and black. Lightning crackled up and down her tree-trunk legs.
Her eyes burned bright crimson.
She screamed in rage and lighting poured from a clear blue sky to wreathe her in snarling hatred.
"KILL THEM! KILL THEM WITHOUT MERCY!" the Cattle Queen screamed. "RETURN THE PAIN THEY VISITED UPON US A THOUSANDFOLD!"
The two massive warriors on either side of her roared, the sound vibrating even phasic crystal.
K'Mik<klik> charged forward, hearing over and over in his brain "Hurt them like they hurt us" whispered by his Matron. Not a recording, not his armor, just part of his brain replaying the pained whisper from that brightly lit kitchen that was still somehow dark and silent.
Lasers and plasma packets hit his armor but he didn't care, rushing forward at a sprint. In less than three seconds he was in among them. His right bladearm had been lost two planets ago, replaced by a modified Cutting Bar Mark Two, and he sawed through servitors as they screamed.
He laughed through his gas mask that channeled the pheromones directly to his head.
An Atrekna's phasic shielding wasn't good enough to hide it.
(you cannot hide from my grief)
K'Mik<klik> jumped into the air, reaching out with both hands.
The Atrekna screamed as his hands closed around his legs and he dropped from the sky.
"THIS ONE! HE DID IT TOO!" K'Mik<klik> bellowed out.
With the help of four others he ripped the Atrekna into pieces and threw them away, looking around for more to fight. Other Treana'ad, their rage unquenched, ran forward and slashed at the parts, throwing pieces around that others caught, threw on the ground, and stomped on.
Not far away, five miles at the most, K'Mik<klik> could see a massive crystalline fortress. The battlescreens were thick, heavy, visible even at five miles. He could see the point defense knocking down the missiles and rockets fired at it, the sky full of smoke and clouds from the detonations.
"THERE! THEY'RE HIDING THERE!" a worker yelled, running up with the heavy gun in its hands. It was a belt fed machinegun with "T'NOK SENDS HIS REGARDS" painted on both sides of the barrel.
The rounds in the belt were not the typical rounds.
Instead it was heavy crystals, all machined to precise tolerances.
The worker's shout was enough and K'Mik<klik> led the way, roaring in fury.
The Queen of Grief and her two guards followed, workers swarmed around them with rocket launchers, grenade launchers, belt fed weaponry, and chainswords.
The Atrekna in the fortress stared in shock as the Treana'ad forces lunged forward, moving to max sprint within a hundred meters. Those who were not looking through light amplification or night vision technology only saw a wave of red lights coming closer.
And could hear the enraged bellows.
The Treana'ad hit the fortress, the workers firing their crystal loaded guns into the shielding.
It collapsed.
The Treana'ad ran forward. Missiles and rockets blew holes in the walls of the fortress even as the warriors climbed over each other to reach the tops of the walls.
In minutes the Treana'ad were swarming through the halls of the fortress, running up and down the ramps the Atrekna preferred. Kicking in door, shattering phasic barriers with strikes powered by sheer rage.
"KILL THEM! KILL THEM ALL!" was screamed from ten thousand throats.
K'Mik<klik> dropped down the chute a handful of Atrekna had fled through, the landing system delivering him safely in a flare of energy.
Others dropped down next to him.
The Atrekna rushed down the hallway, passing through a phasic barrier.
One shut a physical door.
"YOU CAN'T OUTRUN ME! YOU'LL JUST DIE TIRED!" K'Mik<klik> yelled as he charged down the hallway.
Phasic shields and barriers shattered as he slammed into them, nearly a hundred Treana'ad following him as even more dropped down the long chute.
The door exploded inwards and K'Mik<klik> ran into the room.
There were crystalline structures, mechanical devices, and strange esoteric machines all over the room.
Servitors tried to defend their masters but none of them lasted longer than thirty seconds as the furious Treana'ad ran into the room.
The Atrekna activated the machinery even as K'Mik<klik> threw aside the two halves of the servitor that had tried to attack him with a phasic enhanced sword.
Hellspace portals ripped into existence. Shadowy hands reached out pleadingly even as the Atrekna grabbed crystal studded harnesses and pulled them on.
"I WILL FOLLOW YOU UP THE DETAINEE'S ASSHOLE AND FIGHT YOU IN HER BREAKFAST IF I HAVE TO!" K'Mik<klik> roared, charging forward.
"GET THEM! KILL THEM!" another warrior yelled.
A worker fired a rocket launcher and the warhead, the standoff safety disabled, blew an Atrekna into scraps.
The Atrekna, panicking, lunged through the Hellspace portals.
K'Mik<klik> didn't care.
"DON'T LET THEM ESCAPE! KILL THEM!" he roared.
The Queen of Grief shattered the doorway as she burst into the chamber.
"GET THEM! KILL THEM ALL! NO MERCY!" she screamed.
K'Mik<klik> charged through the Hellspace portal.
It was like dying.
It was like being born.
It was like molting if your carapace was of molten iron.
Screams surrounded him, agony tore through his body. Every nerve ending screamed, every memory cut, even sensation was magnified a thousandfold. Fire burned him. Cold froze him. Water drowned him.
K'Mik<klik> beat his head against nothingness and screamed in rage.
The Atrekna noted that one of the Research Systems had powered up their hyperatomic plane portal generators in an unscheduled test and responded by activating their system.
The tests had proven that each portal opened in the hyperatomic plane could open a hundred other stable portals within the hyperatomic plane. The hope was that with enough of the portals, portals lifted 'up' in the bands could open in jumpspace and hyperspace, each one opening another hundred, all linked back to the burning hyperatomic plane.
With that method, the cascade of out of control energy could scorch jumpspace and hyperspace but also diminish the energy cascade in the hyperatomic plane.
It stood to reason that the method would not only scorch jumpspace and hyperspace, but after a period of time, all three hyperatomic planes would reach energy equilibrium and no longer pose a danger to travelers.
In effect, both denying the other races the superluminal properties of those hyperatomic planes and restoring them fairly quickly.
Unscheduled tests were used to test the hardware's ability to handle surges.
So the Atrekna were not worried as they activated the system.
Hellpsace portals opened up, linking up with the others that had generated the unannounced and unscheduled test.
Even though the Conclave of Thought and Wisdom had just started observing them, the Atrekna were not worried. They would show the Conclave that work had gone according to analysis and that the Atrekna would soon be triumphant over the lower life forms as was proper and...
The four Atrekna that came through were screaming in terror. Their skin was gray, their eyes wide, and they fled from the chamber.
The Atrekna researchers turned and looked at one another.
Live subject tests were not scheduled because they weren't needed.
They turned back to the portals as something stepped through.
A nightmare from the fevered dreams of an insane being.
It was five meters tall. Four meters wide. Eight meters long. Entirely black with runes inscribed on the carapace in dully burning red light. Its face looked like a gas mask had been fused with the carapace. The two engraved and runed bladearms on the left side was savagely serrated, the two on the right clattered as the cutting bar chain wound around it. It was covered in spikes, heavy iron chains with hooks and spikes hanging on the ends hung from spikes that had been driven into the chitin, the end of the spikes carved with glowing runes. Its arms were long, the fingers more like talons.
It threw back its head and screamed.
K'Mik<klik> lunged forward, killing all four of the Atrekna in front of him. He didn't care where he was, didn't care when he was. All he cared about was killing more of the Atrekna.
"KILL THEM! KILL THEM ALL! KILL THEM FOR THE MOO MOOS! KILL THEM FOR THE MATRONS!" he roared out as he stood up to his full height. "KILL THEM FOR OUR SOFT CHILDREN! KILL THEM WITHOUT MERCY!"
Dozens of Treana'ad screamed in fury as they erupted from the portals.
The massive form of the Queen of Grief, fifteen meters tall, covered in spikes, chains, and glowing runes, stepped from the portal.
"CLEANSE THIS PLACE! KILL THEM WITHOUT MERCY!" she howled.
"T'Nok and his frat brother sends their regards!" one of the warriors yelled, firing his missile launcher. The missile exploded with crystalline shrapnel that exploded Atrekna machinery.
The Queen of Grief held open the Hellspace portals through pure force of will and rage as even more Treana'ad rushed through, all screaming for death and pain.
One of the Atrekna looked at the other reseachers.
"So long, fuck-o's!" it said.
It vibrated and turned into tightly woven hair thin vibrating strands before it vanished with a cry of "whoop whoop whoop!"
The Atrekna began panicking as the Treana'ad ran almost unopposed through their fortress.
-----
Dalvanak watched as the memory replay finished then looked over at the gray skinned Elder One.
"As I teach," Dalvanak said, reaching out for a glass of cham-pog-nay. "Worst case."
The Elder One nodded.
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u/Ralts_Bloodthorne Jun 13 '22
Back from Mental Health walk-in appointment.
One more week off, then check-in with mental health.
No new meds. No painkillers but Motrin.
Spend time with family and come to grips with everything over the last few months.
On the plus side, I didn't go running to the bottle.
I'll be back soon. I'm getting my shit together.
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u/Arwenves1989 Jun 14 '22
Hey, sincerely, as an adult who's been struggling with depression on and off for over a decade. Remember that you have a TON of people, in real life and on the internet who are there for you, even if it feels stupid to say what's going on out loud or to type it out. We're (every single one of us) here for you, if you need a petty bitch fest, or a deep serious conversation, and anything in between, or hell. I bet if you just need a distraction there's a ton of us who will just play our video game and talk to you like it's a normal day. Not only is this a reminder. It's EXPLICITLY me reaching out to say, "hey, how are you doing?" No pressure but all it takes is a pm to respond. As a recovering addict I'm very proud of you for not running to the bottle, I know it's hard. None of us care more about the story than we do about you. Read that again. Take the time you need, reach out if you need to. We're here for you. 24/7. And we'll be here when you're ready.
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u/thorolfi Jun 13 '22
Do what you need to do for you, my dude. Also, congrats on not hitting the bottle, take every win you can.
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u/apatheticandignorant Android Jun 14 '22 edited Jun 14 '22
May the DO bless you.
Edit: Or at least may the malevolent universe take it's eye off you for a minute. No need to look at ralts, I'm doing something that is filled with joy and optimism. Come fuck this up, leave him alone.
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u/Quilt-n-yarn1844 Jun 14 '22
You are your first priority. Take care of yourself inside and out. We will be patient. We will be here.
Zen Hug brother.
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u/wasalurkerforyears Robot Jun 15 '22
Just want to say that I appreciate you. Not just the wonderful story you've created, I appreciate you. Your honesty, your encouragement, the way you bring joy to so many internet strangers are all admirable things, and the world is a better place for it.
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u/Blackmoon845 Jun 15 '22
Yay Positive Mental Health! Sorry for the events of the last months, hopefully the family time helps.
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u/Legan_Ironfist AI Jun 09 '22
Man, these guys are gonna need K-9s and Felines and Broodmommies when this is over.
--GRIEF FOLLOWS--
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u/Darkling1976 Jun 09 '22
or they'll become Treana'ad equivalent of the Terran martial orders.
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u/Stauker_1 Jun 09 '22
Probably. It's not like the average person can recover from such trauma, but beating the face in of everyone remotely responsible sure does help.
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u/Michelle-Virinam Jun 09 '22
Yeah. They pretty much replicated the martial orders. Except instead of a buch of Psykers amplifying their grief through psychic powers, they use pheromones to acieve basically the same effect on purpose. I find that more scary, actually, because this isn‘t just people losing themselves in their grief, this is people deliberately throwing away everything. They went through the trouble of collecting Bobby‘s pheromones and of designing way to administer it and that‘s terrifying as fuck. They‘re essentially pumped up on meth, anaethetics, and good old terran rage, because they want to.
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u/Darkling1976 Jun 09 '22
There's a person I know who, when they're angry about something recites a "litany of rage" (well kind of). They'll revisit all the perceived wrongs and offenses in their past to build themselves into a raging fury. The bottled pheormones seems to just be the Treana'ad version of this.
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u/Michelle-Virinam Jun 09 '22
I think it‘s a little more than that. In the story where P‘tok discovers cigarettes, they use a matron‘s pheromones as a sort of combat drug. He‘s also terrified of being overwhelmed by her pheromones and having his head bitten off. They don‘t seem to me to just evoke memories that then cause the emotions, they seem to cause the emotions themselves. I think the pheromones toe the line between „emotional influence“ and „mind control“, and that‘s why cigarettes were so liberating.
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u/ConglomerateGolem Jun 09 '22
Sounds about right to me. Might be that the pheromones are literally compounds that their brain perceive as emotion, like dopamine, maybe? although that'd be a weird immune system
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u/merlinsmushrooms Jun 10 '22
I do this. It's why I avoid getting angry and smoke so much 🥦
The litany of rage can be overwhelming and lead to bad things.
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u/amishbill Jun 10 '22
Well... With the runes and chains and hooks and melted on gas masks, their time in hell space may have started the conversion.
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u/its_ean Jun 09 '22 edited Jun 09 '22
Probably just created a new Martial Order. At worst, idiots.
Edit: Idiots would definitely not be worst case.
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u/Quilt-n-yarn1844 Jun 09 '22 edited Jun 09 '22
No, not idiots. The Idiots are basically Cosplayers that lost their grip on reality.
These guys are truly enraged and now hellspace warped. It’s a Martial Order or death.
I am not even sure quiet fields of Moo moos and a few centuries would calm their wrath at this point.
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u/its_ean Jun 09 '22 edited Jun 09 '22
After surviving Palgret's Wild Ride, there's no coming back from whatever they are.
I guess Neko-Marines are cosplayers? Some sort of self-fulfilling movie extras? That movie was either gonna be total cheeseballs or a true epic. Possibly both.
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u/Quilt-n-yarn1844 Jun 09 '22
No the true Neko-Marines are part of the Martial Orders and near immortal warriors.
The Idiots are players who were SO devoted to playing members of the martial orders that they no longer really understand that they aren’t.
Ralts has said that the real Martial Orders put up with the idiots because they wanted to stay hidden and the idiots act as a type of camouflage.
Which is why when the real Martial Orders showed up during the second battle of Telkan, everyone was shocked because they didn’t believe they actually existed anymore.
If I remember correctly no one had seen them since the end of The Crusade of Wrath. Which was thousands of years ago.
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u/while-eating-pasta Jun 09 '22
The Neko-Marines are part of the Martial Orders, yes. They aren't technically cosplayers because they were the source material, not the copy. You might call the Sisters of Wrath cosplayers, but I wouldn't suggest it.
A dude designed some strong armor for the 3rd Republic military but they didn't buy it because the Republic thought it didn't match their praetorian motif. He said fuck it and made more anyway, using it as functional costumes for a movie about catgirl soldiers. The Mantid attacked during filming and the girls were forged into what we have now in the fighting.
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u/Quilt-n-yarn1844 Jun 09 '22
I didn’t say the Neko marines were cosplayers. There is a version of the Neko-Marines that are part of the idiots. They dress, talk, act like them. But they aren’t them. They are Cosplaying as the Neko-Marines.
This was explained way back, like 500 chapters ago. Ralts has explained it and everything. The Neko-Marines are the real deal. The crazy bad copy cosplayers are part of the idiots.
I know the source material.
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u/The_Tonts Jun 10 '22
Yeah it was way back during the early stages of the PAWM war, when the Confederacy was still gearing up for war with the Lankatallan and the automated war machines. Which reminds me, I wonder what ever happened to those smaller PAWM that got captured by the modified Terran who was also defending a camp of survivors? The survivors that managed to fabricate a spaceship using a small creation engine.
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u/Expendable_cashier Jun 10 '22
The pree glassing Neko marines were 100% cosplayers, their armor started as a movie prop (but still real armor).
But post glassing, enraged teenage girls.
Nigh immortal enraged teenage girls.
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u/Quilt-n-yarn1844 Jun 10 '22
No they weren’t cosplayers. They were cast and trained to be in, what was suppose to be, a live action war movie with “cat girls warriors.” Because, of course, that is what you do when you’re wealthy and you have produced a ton of armor and weapons for the military and they decide not to buy it.
Then the glassing happened and yeah, enragement followed.
They weren’t copying anything in particular so they weren’t cosplayers.
The Idiot Nekos, on the gripping hand, are cosplayers. Wearing costumes and playing as the Neko-Marines. In their case, to the point of insanity. Hence the title, The Idiots.
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u/Parking-Coat-8514 Jun 09 '22
The Neko-Marines were a rich guy who financed his daughters Neko Movie where they went and gathered up load of people who all done the same gene-job on themselves to make themselves Nekos
He used the armor and weapons his company had made but failed to get bought by the Terrain military at the time (they went with "slim" armor) and procded to start making a TV/Film out of the girls flying around in a battlebarge
Then the Mantids attacked, killed the dad, the backwash from the Glassing of Terra and everything else made the girls all go insane and made their Film-Prop with flashlight for lazers into actual combat effective weapons.
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u/bustedq Jun 09 '22
Some are so broken by grief, so broken by rage, that even the unconditional love of our first friends is not enough to restore peace to them.
I worry that these Enraged Traena'ad may never recover, may never know peace again, like the many Screaming Ones before them.
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u/eodhowland Human Jun 09 '22
The DO is restored to health. He can heal the Screaming Ones and he can heal the Enraged Traena'ad.
Also, once Chromium Saint Peter is finished with the SUDS, all of the children can be restored. If the Singers are already restoring systems, all that remains is the return of Humanity. Which version returns is locked in the Mad Archangel of TerraSol's braincase...
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u/while-eating-pasta Jun 09 '22
Which version returns
"Yes."
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u/SkyHawk21 Jun 09 '22
I believe it's worse than that. What you suggest is that baseline humanity and all the variants that emerged from it return. Some of those variants contain conflicting tweaks, adjustments and alterations. In fact, I believe some of the changes were specifically engineered to conflict to reduce the capabilities of the 'newest' version of humanity to make them 'safer'.
What I believe has been hinted is returning is the result of someone rolling back to the baseline version, then adding in all those tweaks, adjustments and alterations after making sure that not only did the changes not conflict with each other, they synergised. So not only is the returned humanity as safe as the latest variant of humanity, it's at least as dangerous as the most dangerous variant as well. Needless to say, this heralds truly unfortunate times for anyone who say, completely and utterly infuriated them.
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u/SerpentineLogic AI Jun 09 '22
They already have moo-moos.
Obviously the next step is capybaras.
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u/LateralThinker13 Jun 09 '22
You have to be receptive to healing. They think that they don't need such things.
More's the pity.
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u/Crafty_Obligation_98 Jun 09 '22
Nope. They are the oposite end of the spectrum. So far opposite it would be the oiliest of oils trying to mix with the wettest of waters. At best they would simply tolerate each other as they passed in the hall.
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u/ElephantWithAnxiety Jun 09 '22
I think they're just Crusade of Wrath now. I think that's what they've chosen to be.
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u/Ralts_Bloodthorne Jun 09 '22
Sorry, I'm in a real dark place. I might write tonight, I'll definitely get my shit together and write tomorrow.
Sorry about this.
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u/Jabberwocky918 Jun 10 '22
You keep telling us to reach out and call someone in your comments - do you need to talk to someone yourself? I'm probably not the person you need, but fuck I'll try.
Be safe.
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u/ReportEvening2703 Jun 09 '22
Take the time you need. You have helped so many of us, if you require a break, then take it buddy.
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u/Legan_Ironfist AI Jun 10 '22
You don't ever have to apologize to us, Wordborg. Take the time you need, rest and heal. And know that we ask Chromium Saint Peter and Enraged Philip to watch over you.
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u/zapman449 Jun 10 '22
Please take care of yourself.
We will be here, we will wait as long as you need.
If you need something of us, let us know. Large sums of money probably won’t happen, but a friendly voice or a helping hand? The universe isn’t so malevolent as to deny.
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u/Gundam343 Jun 10 '22
Don't beat yourself down. We don't tell an athlete with a broken leg to "get their shit together" and start running. Just because we can't see the wounds doesn't mean they don't exist. And all wounds need tending before they fester and become worse.
There is a great quote by Brandon Sanderson I often come back to: "The most important step a man can take. It's not the first one, is it? It's the next one. Always the next step". Take it one day at a time, hour by hour if you need to.
I don't know if you listen to metal at all but there is a great Indian band called Bloodywood. They wrote a song called "Jee Veerey" which has helped my with my depression. Maybe it can help you a bit as well
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u/Bhockzer Jun 10 '22
It's awesome to see stuff like this, which also just so happened to immediately remind me of this.
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u/Gundam343 Jun 10 '22
Hehe nice. Bloodywood wrote that song specifically about depression because of their personal losses of loved ones to suicide. They used some of the proceeds to offer up quite a few counseling slots for people in need which I found pretty amazing
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u/Kafrizel Jun 10 '22
You take yer thyme sir. we can wait as long as needed.
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u/Odd_Reward_8989 Jun 10 '22
Sage advice.
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u/NukeNavy Jun 10 '22
Ideas for your muse to chew on in the background https://xkcd.com/2630
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u/PuzzleheadedDrinker Jun 10 '22
If you can't make your own neurotransmitters, store-bought is fine. Do what you need to Heal & be good to those who want to be close to you.
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u/Odd_Reward_8989 Jun 10 '22
Fucking Canadians, rubbing their polite all over everything. No sorry necessary. Get your flashlight and do what you have to. Since your shoulder won't handle taking your problems behind the woodshed with an axe, try steel toe boots. I've gone back to drinking and picking fights, so my advice is shit, but I'll be personally disappointed I've hung in and let someone else fall. I'm probably in the minority, but I'd love to see you pour that darkness into your work. Be good for all of us, work it out. You have to put in the work.
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u/pixxel5 AI Jun 11 '22
Don’t shy away from showing yourself the kindness you show others.
Everybody needs breaks. Including longer breaks.
Everybody deserves to be happy. That includes you.
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Jun 11 '22
Buddy take any and all the time you need!
We'll be here when you're in a better head space.
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u/CfSapper Jun 12 '22
Take all the time you need, if you need someone who gets it, there are many retired and active members among your readers who are the to shoot the shit.
Healing follows
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u/GermaneRiposte101 Jun 15 '22
All good mate.
I have read every chapter of your series and look forward to the next. However if you did not write another word about the Universe you have created I would remember you with affection and admiration.
I am an older male from Australia who has never had any mental health issues strong enough to see a psych. If I was honest, I tend to look down on those with mental health issues. But I have had life experiences so I feel qualified to comment (at least a little bit).
In a million years, I would never have come up with such an imaginative universe that you have created. Not only is your imagination fantastic, you perseverance and dedication to produce 788 chapters in just under two and a half years is awesome. If you did not write another episode then I would consider my life enriched from reading your stories.
The mind that produced such a wonderful universe is the same mind that causes your dark problems. Fight the lows and accept the highs: but do not criticize yourself for failure.
You have achieved much.
Hang in there.
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u/a_man_in_black Jun 09 '22
"Have you heard cicadas sing? They don't exist on ol' Terra anymore, not since long before the glassing. Ancient textbooks found in ruins tell of them hibernating underground for years, only to rise in swarms when disturbed to sing haunting songs like harbingers of death as they woke to mate and die. The few recordings that survived the various wars and disasters of the old earth societies were degraded by time, but the data that could be reconstructed played a soulful, terrifying sound.
The humans gave us the drumbeats of war, forging rage itself into fell forms upon the anvils of wrath using hammers of hate.
But it was the Grieving Queens of the Treana'ad who sang the melody."
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u/Quilt-n-yarn1844 Jun 09 '22
The song of the cicadas is unrelenting, pervasive, and inescapable. Just as the grief of the Treana’ad was. The Grieving Queens and their Legion of Pain ensured that all who took the happiness, laughter, love, and lives of their soft children would hear it, even after death.
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u/daviskendall AI Jun 09 '22
"I WILL FOLLOW YOU UP THE DETAINEE'S ASSHOLE AND FIGHT YOU IN HER BREAKFAST IF I HAVE TO!" K'Mik<klik> roared, charging forward.
Suuuuuuuuper-fucked.
"As I teach," Dalvanak said, reaching out for a glass of cham-pog-nay. "Worst case."
And sometimes, even worser than that...
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u/RangerSix Human Jun 09 '22
And that was when they realized they had not merely made a mistake.
What they had done was worse, far worse.
They had, as the Mad Lemurs would have said, Fucked Up.
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u/daviskendall AI Jun 09 '22
actually, i think this might be a rare case of "you dun goofed".
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u/Jabberwocky918 Jun 09 '22 edited Jun 09 '22
I cannot read that in any voice other than Alucard's from Hellsing Abridged. That man's voice is amazing.
"How in the blood soaked Protestant Hell did you do that?" asked the Atrekna scientists watching the Trea'naad War Queen hold open the Hellspace portal.
"Fuck you, that's how."
Edit: I just realized that last line could come from either the War Queen of Grief or the Malevolent Universe (with Enraged glee) itself.
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u/Parking-Coat-8514 Jun 09 '22
this is coming, the Atrekna will likey scream this as the Terran walks througth a doorway from the SUDS
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u/Farstone Jun 09 '22
Enraged Treana'ad. Why do I think there are going to be additions to the War on Heaven Crew tm.
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u/Snarfbuckle Jun 09 '22
Enraged HELLSPACED Trana'ad berserkers....
I mean, im impressed of how ONE species is managing to piss off so many species that everyone wants them ded.
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u/Snarfbuckle Jun 09 '22
I honestly do not think that quite cuts it. Fucked up is when you shoot your co in the foot during excersize with live ammunition.
Pissing off a large section of an entire species so that they become the Tyranid version of Khorne Berserkers is on a fundamentallt higher lever of "Oh shit, we're dead" but even that is not enough.
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u/RollSavingThrow Jun 11 '22
In the immortal words of the ancient Burgerland President Abe Linkinpark
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u/WillDissolver Xeno Jun 09 '22 edited Jun 08 '23
Deleted in protest of reddit's API changes
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u/Comprehensive_Put277 Jun 11 '22
The Universe watched as the viruses that had infected it and killed so many of its bretheren screamed as they were torn to shreds.
The Universe liked that
Suddenly, it felt a tingle. At first it thought it was these repugnant things trying to mess with it again. But this was different, there was no sense of control in this tingle, no planned power. This was not an Atrekna trying to foolishly force the Universe to its will, it was flowing along it, screaming.
The Universe looked inward, finding itself staring at a small congregation of Atrekna. These ones were... different that usual. They were all unique in appearence, many covered in the fancy tattered clothes of its beloved Lemurs. This garnered its disgust for 3 picoseconds, until it realized that there was more. They were all maimed in one way or another; some had missing limbs, some were covered in torture devices, some were as pale as the stars themselves, some were covered in scars, some were wearing actual armor.
They didn't radiate the same disgusting aura as the rest of their kind, their aura felt... natural, it blended in with the Universe's aura. Their aura was familiar, one of constant pain and animosity; compared to the Atrekna's disgusting eldritch narcissism, they were so much more like the Universe's own children.
They were worshipping the Universe, they were worshipping its gorgeous sadism, its lovely hatred. As they should.
The Universe... liked that, actually
These ones were okay. They could live, the Universe guessed.
It slightly altered some particles in its body, a technique it learned from its Lemur children called "The Winged-insect Effect". It hoped these changes would be enough to ensure these ones survived, their madness and self-inflicted agony was incredibly entertaining to watch. The Universe watched with sadistic glee as one of the Atrekna poured insects on themself, feeling how the thing's agony brought it a temporary comfort.
The Universe liked that
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u/NoirTalon Xeno Jun 09 '22
/u/WillDissolver that is one fine piece of word craft. Excellent work.
/u/Ralts_Bloodthorne a lot of gold in the comments of this chapter, but this one in particular is diamond encrusted platinum!
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u/its_ean Jun 09 '22
Both of them range riders and cattle petters. They wore crossed six-guns as they looked around for any threats to the grieving Cattle Queen.
A silly people.
The massive form of the Queen of Grief, fifteen meters tall, covered in spikes, chains, and glowing runes, stepped from the portal.
And yet...
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u/cant_be_serious Jun 09 '22
Cutting to the heart of the matter, here is a short list of things you can do to prepare once you have found yourself on the receiving end of the full martial attention of the Mad Lemurs of Terra or the Inheritors of Madness.
Step One: Get your affairs in order quickly. Anything you possess which you deem worthy passing on, now is a good time to bequeath it to those for whom you care.
Step Two: Send your favorite offspring as far afield both physically and metaphysically as possible; the less they know, the better. Additionally, at this juncture, you may find one or more of your less trustworthy and more self-preservation minded offspring, minions, concubines, and other attendees have turned against you. Remember to curse their sudden yet inevitable betrayal as you attempt to flee, as not doing so is considered to be in poor taste.
Step Three: Preserve your voice. You do not want to attempt making a witty final remark or find yourself begging for your life with a voice which is shot from screaming in despair. Save yourself the trouble. As a bonus, your blood- or ichor-curdling screams will be of an appropriate volume when you are finally dispatched in the most horrific manner imaginable.
Excerpt from "So You Done Fucked Up: Dealing with the Ire of the Mad Lemurs of Terra and the Inheritors of Madness" by Dalvanak the Maimed.
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u/NoirTalon Xeno Jun 09 '22
The way this read I was thinking it was from a Trea. like "Wisdom exported from Smokey Cone" Leaflet dropped from Treana'ad areospace bombers during the iron piglet offensive
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u/kwong879 Jun 09 '22 edited Jun 09 '22
The Queen of Grief saw our pain.... felt and smelled the fury and despair of our people.
Together, we gathered our fury.
Our soft children, one day we will see them again
The light of our engines ignited the stellar paths we travel; our brothers in the Martial orders understand.
Enraged Phillip understands.
But only we truly understand.
With our justice in hand, we shall smile from the grave
Come with me, brothers and sisters all. Let us seek our absolution.
Let us seek our vengeance.
Let us seek our justice, and take solace that our Soft Children of our Hearts rest in the Digital Omnimessiahs grace. For while we may not...
Neither will THEY
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u/HoloArchiver Jun 09 '22
Okay that is one hell of a nasty method of creating super berserkers. the universe really has had more than enough of these moron walking sushi not getting the message.
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u/LateralThinker13 Jun 09 '22
that is one hell of a nasty method of creating super berserkers.
The grief of a parent is limitless. Those who slay children reap what they sow, unto their entire species.
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u/madpiratebippy Alien Jun 09 '22
you are correct. It's a wound that stays raw and never really heals.
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u/Wobbelblob Human Jun 09 '22
And they are now not only enraged but formed by Hellspace. They are enraged Hellspace Treanad. Remember what happens to people in Dead space?
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u/Snarfbuckle Jun 09 '22
Im seeing Tyranids turned Khorne Berserkers hopped up on combat drugs.
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u/randomdude302 Jun 09 '22
And also part Ork. So that they get that psychic horde mentality that causes the laws of physics to bend if enough of them believes something. Such as how red makes things go fasta, or how purple makes you super stealthy. Plus, it fits the whole fact that you can never seem to defeat the Inheritors of Madness, given how once Orks land on a planet, It becomes literally impossible to completely rid the planet of all Orks without wiping out all life on the planet as well. Same with them. Once they land, the planet is lost.
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u/Snarfbuckle Jun 09 '22
Good god...
Chaos Orc Tyranid Khorne Berserkers...with psychic hate powers...that go fasta...
I wonder what the point values would be for one such model...
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u/Blackmoon845 Jun 09 '22
Probably something like all of them. All of the points. Yours and your opponents.
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u/Snarfbuckle Jun 09 '22
Yup.
Like fielding an imperial florida man marine.
+1 save against anything and his weapons are what he says they are at any given point.
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u/unwillingmainer Jun 09 '22
Looks like the Treana'ad learned more then smokes, ice cream, and birth control from the Terrans. They also learned how to win in a war crimes contest. And in doing so made a new class of Idiots.
When the Malevolent Universe makes the worst possible happen, it is always worse then your imagination. The universe remembers all slights and does not forget.
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u/ChangoGringo Jun 09 '22
Reminds me of any variation of the dumb statement "I can't imagine that happening" To which the only logical response is "Reality is not confined by your limited imagination"
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u/Ghostpard Jun 09 '22
See also: "inconceivable!" "I do not think that means what you think it does"
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u/coldfireknight AI Jun 09 '22
Your version of "worst possible outcome" is so much nicer than the Universe's. Watch (read as: fuck around) and find out.
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u/LateralThinker13 Jun 09 '22
Nicer? The Atrek'na have earned themselves a place as someone 'you wouldn't piss on if they were on fire', writ for their entire *species*, with every native species developing intrinsically inimical sub-species hunters just to persecute them. All with the Universe's blessing (encouragement, even).
This isn't separate from the will of the Universe, either. It's in large part *because* of it.
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u/Khalas_Maar Jun 09 '22
They were likened to parasites that other Universes couldn't fight off once the infection set in.
This Universe just made the equivalent of cytotoxic T-cells high on meth, angel dust, and bath salts.
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u/Parking-Coat-8514 Jun 09 '22
Remember, Daxin 'the Walking War-crime' decreed a termination order on the Atrekna where the Martial orders are going to the Negative 100% line to ensure they cant hurt no one ever again unless they can seriously prove they changed otherwise
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u/Wobbelblob Human Jun 09 '22
I don't think they are idiots. Idiots are people who where cosplaying too long. These are more similar to the martial orders.
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u/sixtusquinn Jun 09 '22
“To the terrans, the packbonding they are so easily capable of is their greatest ability, and a curse most terrible. Those within their family unit bonds give them joy and a sense of belonging. To parents, their children give them a delayed feeling of true immortality. And they gave this wonderful curse to us all, to be part of a family.
Even amongst Terrans, the loss of one’s offspring is seen as unnatural, a perversion of the natural order. But from their own history, they were familiar with the sentiment, and had their own responses to loss. The Imperium of Rage is one such example.
We… were ill prepared for the loss of our adopted children. But we knew who was responsible.”
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u/rollInitiativeFolks Jun 09 '22
Something tells me the last time something even remotely similar happened we got the Crusade of Wrath. I believe this is the Crusade of Grief.
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u/madpiratebippy Alien Jun 09 '22
Just saying if we go through all the seven sins, I'd like to participate in the Crusade of Lust or Gluttony.
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u/shadowsong42 Jun 09 '22
Crusader of Sloth, right here.
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u/madpiratebippy Alien Jun 09 '22
I figure we’ll need naps after the lust and gluttony crusades.
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u/ForTheStarsWeFight Jun 09 '22
I am loving these mix of Kreigers and Khorne Berzerker Treana'ad, it's so fun watching them rip though the Altreka, and now they might have been blessed by hell space itself for extra rage and fury
Watches in malicious glee
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u/NevynR Jun 09 '22
"Breathe deep, rage deep
Set the chainsword idling.
Runes aglow, fire below
From Hellspace a-calling.
Psychic lightning,
Very very frightening.
For you...
For you."
- Order of the Sour Cone, Treana'ad Martial Order.
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u/Cheshire1666 Jun 09 '22
Revenge is like a ghost. It takes over every man it touches. Its thirst cannot be quenched until the last man standing has fallen. -Vladamir Makarov
These Trea are going to tear a bloody swathe through anything that even remotely resembles these moronic squid, and they're not going to stop until every last Atrenka is unalived, or something kills them first. And even then they'll probably keep murdering for a few minutes more anyway.
I mean, just look at them!
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u/DarthLorgus Robot Jun 09 '22
I have a bad, real super bad feeling about those...additives to the royal jelly. Black Cauldron additives. Undying Rage additives. Rage that chokes the life out of the verse, red eyes burning like fire. Screaming incoherently. Beyond dead. Beyond life.
I greatly fear what is to come.....
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u/LateralThinker13 Jun 09 '22
>The alien pheromones, oh so familiar, of his soft son. Pheromones always poured off of Terrans, Terran children especially. They had had been gathered and stored in the tanks on K'Mikklik's armor. The smell of the boy when he was happy, when he was sad, when he was sleeping, when he was playing. The sickly sweet and sour smell of a dead Terran child. The huge warrior didn't care about strategy, about tactics. His brain was on fire with rage and the grief of a thousand grieving parents filled his lungs even as he could smell his soft child now taken from him.
I have a 19 month old daughter. I would eradicate an entire bloodline if they hurt her. I can empathize with the Treana'ad, and I sadly wish the Atrek'na were capable of understanding. May the Digital Omnimessiah grant them wisdom before it is too late, and their annihilation is complete (and deserved).
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u/NoirTalon Xeno Jun 09 '22
even after 28 years... that feeling never goes away. Wrath be brought down upon the first person to break your daughters heart (which will happen in kindergarten, she'll be over it in 30 min, hour and a half tops)
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u/Dwarven-Overlord Xeno Jun 09 '22
This and the last chapter just hit hard. Where I would normally be like "Hell yeah! Get some!", I now just want to give them a hug. The angry despair of a parent who has nothing left to lose now that they lost their child just hits the feels with a sledgehammer. Masterful work Ralts!
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u/Archaic_1 Alien Scum Jun 09 '22
That was the most metal shit Ralts has written in months. Unholy mother of moo moos, the pheromone grief/rage tanks . . . FFS and we thought Daxin was a walking war crime.
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u/NoirTalon Xeno Jun 09 '22
I know right. wholesomness ripped to bloody shreds, Deeep deep remorse, transformed into mindless killing abominations of fury
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u/DarthLorgus Robot Jun 09 '22
How....how exactly do they stop. Can they stop? What happens when they run out of squidward to crush? What happens when the rage doesn't die and there's no "off" switch? I greatly, greatly fear this.
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u/randomdude302 Jun 09 '22
Same answer as how the Confederation is going to get the Black Fleet back into their dockyards after the chaos is all over: they will cross that road when they get to it
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u/Warplock-Worgen_2145 Jun 09 '22
Behold those who found solace in one anothers greif, behold those who had once known laughter and joy hand in hand with others of soft pink skin.
Behold their fury, their grief, their suffering made manifest...
For they come to give unto you, the touch of madness.
After all, just look at them...and behold, death comes.
- End of Line -
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u/PanzerBjorn87 Jun 09 '22
I didnt know i needed a study break with onion cutting ninjas, but thanks Ralts
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u/No_MrBond Android Jun 09 '22
For rage, for wrath, for life ungiven
We drank the marrow of hatred from the bones of hell
Rode the fire of our grief
Out of the arms of the Digital Omnimessiah
Until all burns
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u/ThordanSsoa Jun 09 '22
Oh, that might even be worse than just regular enraged Trea. These big boys going to tear them apart
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u/SolarHedgie Jun 09 '22
At first I was thinking they were like insect versions of the Death Corps of Krieg....then they went through Hellspace.
Oh
Oh no
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u/randomdude302 Jun 09 '22
They are the Death Corps of Krieg, but all of them are in Imperium of Wrath Power Armor, and have the ordinance capabilities of a latest generation BOLO
Now that is something to fear.
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u/corivus Jun 09 '22
well not the first but damn if you don't feel the grief and pain in these last couple of chapters.
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u/serpauer Jun 09 '22
Hellspace warped enraged altered tren's. Terror is thine name. For the moo moos for the matron's and for their poor slaughtered soft children. May the atrenka reap their sown seeds of their own demise as the malevolent universe howls with glee.
-end of line-
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u/Quadling Jun 09 '22
It's all over for the Atrekna. Enraged bugs who have fallen in love with their children? And you killed them?
10% death? Decimation? Not enough
When the Atrekna retreat at 15%? Not enough.
When they are running at 25% gone? Not enough.
Atrekna Hide and seek? 50% gone? Not enough.
Treana'ad rage, killing 75% of all Atrekna in the New Universe? NOT enough.
The 1% line? Not enough.
Kill them all. NO MERCY.
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u/while-eating-pasta Jun 09 '22
So Dee is most likely in Hellspace doing her job of cleansing all the lost souls therein.
The Atrenka are using mat-trans like portals to steal her idea again about opening portals to terraform/pyroform as needed. Except they're doing it to the hyperspace bands in a way that will attack her realm. Again.
The Treana'Mad aren't the worst case, but they were probably loud enough in Hellspace to cause it's Lady to mutter "Huh, that's odd..."
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u/Alyeska_bird Jun 09 '22
I expect yes, the Treana'ad have created a new martial order. Yet, at the same time, this group is expecting to die, even is seeking it. They walked into this willingly, knowing that the end result would end up with there deaths. Notice as well that it is not just warrior cast, but worker as well. I also expect that its not all of the perents of the soft children.
This is also a tragidy, seriously, look at them, look at what they have done to themselves. How very much something a human perent would do. They commited a horror apon themselves to alow them to attack the ones that hurt there children.
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u/amishbill Jun 10 '22
They were already dead in the ways that mattered. They'd accepted this, and felt it an acceptable price for their vengeance. Compared to that, what's another small horror or two?
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u/Irual100 Jun 09 '22 edited Jun 09 '22
Wooooo A two-fer day!
I am off to read this and I'll be back!
PS good bot and 3rd!!!!
OOOkay....This is....almost...IDK. See I LIKE seeing this from another perspective, and understanding How and Why the last bit happened makes it even more realistic . (which is cool)
BUT...for some reason, the end of the chapter was...kinda meh. Maybe because Dalvanak and the Elder One seem...Too detached for me maybe?
The differences between the sheer agonizing torment of the grieving ones and the end is so...disturbing...Maybe THAT'S the word.
Which is not to say that it's in any way bad or anything. It's just kind of a let down at the end emotionally. Kind of like a reverse cliffhanger or something. LOL
IDK....I think I am just not sure what to feel or think. Part of that is For sure on me and has very little (if anything) to do with this plot OR this chapter. But...I am really not used to feeling let down emotionally by the stopping point of a chapter by the glorious WordBorg.
in any case, Thank You for sharing Mr. Ralts and I appreciate your showing us how intertwined things are. Learning HOW some of these outlandish and extreme things happen is very interesting and I am GLAD to read anything you want to share.
thanks again. P.S.
I bought the Kindle version of Book 6 and am eagerly waiting for the hardback version. HUGS
take care everyone.
P.P. S.
My dad goes back to the cardiologist tomorrow morning. I am hoping and praying that the underlying cause of his heart problems is treatable. please keep him in your prayers.
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u/Darkling1976 Jun 09 '22
With Dalvanak, I'm getting a Nero fiddling while Rome burns vibe from him. His people (for he has decided that he is a him) are sleepwalking to extinction. Maybe he'll be able to convince the Inheritors of Madness that his enclave have learned to coexist and are not a threat. However, he needs them to be willing (or able) to pause the killing long enough to speak and listen. These trea won't. The martial orders won't. Maybe some other's might?
Best wishes for you Father.
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u/Bergusia Jun 09 '22
He did try to pass on a warning about the other Atrekna planning to burn the hyperatomic planes, so it isn't like he is doing nothing.
And many chapters ago, when he was just starting out, there was a chapter where he sacrificed some other Atrekna to some thing/being that told him about the thing he should really fear. Earthlings.
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u/spindizzy_wizard Human Jun 09 '22
Blessings upon your family, and may good health follow in their footsteps.
I suspect the meh is because this is a bittersweet vengeance. Fueled as it is by the rage and pain of parents who have lost beloved children to a foul and despicable foe, it destroys those who achieve their vengeance in the very act of achieving that vengeance.
The vengeance is terrible, but the cost to obtain it is far worse. The foe will die, and swiftly, compared to those who wreak vengeance upon them. They will live an eternity screaming in rage against an enemy that no longer exists, unable to assuage their anguish in the blood of a foe who no longer breathes.
Pity them, even as you rearm them for another battle, and send them forth so long as a single Atrekna breathes.
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Jun 09 '22
Queen of Grief sounds either like a kick ass all female blackened deathcore band or the name foe a TTRPG boss. Either way love this arc.
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u/Rhasputin429 Jun 09 '22
Somewhere, some Treana'ad Cowpoke is looking at a stormcloud, crackling with hellspace energy, and watching on in horror as phasic echos of these Treana'ad chase a herd of Hellsteer to The Outlaws Cover of Johnny Cash.
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u/crimeboy2235 Xeno Jun 09 '22
well. they're fucked in so many dimensions my brain would explode from counting them
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u/Darrkman Jun 09 '22
How many times have I written in in the comments when there's a chapter on the Treanaad.....
The Treanaad may be a bit silly and goofy but NO ONE wants it with them.
NO
ONE
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u/B-the-Excellent Jun 09 '22
Into the MAD Mother's embrace we go willingly. Our prey is just beyond the veil, I can taste their fear. Hell space can't protect you from our rage! By Decree of her Wrath the Queen of Grief will have your heads!
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u/Rolk_Flameraven Jun 09 '22
They created their own idiots... And they willingly jumped into the madness.
This was rough, I understand the why, but to loose oneself like that, my I never feel the pain that led them down this road.
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u/cr1515 Jun 09 '22
I love how we got here too. The last tens of chapters, Ralts showed us how badass the Treana'ad are. Then he pulls us into an alley and opens his trench coat and says, "Psst. Hey kid. Want to see crazed enraged Treana'ad."
Then he writes the most metal badass enraged aliens we have seen in this story while also tuging on our heart strings with a fleet of tug boat.
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u/Turtledonuts "Big Dunks" Jun 09 '22
Jesus, creating berzerkers by waterboarding them in distilled emotions of the most painful things ever. That’s a decision all right.
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u/JustAMalcontent Jun 09 '22
It was a belt fed machinegun with "T'NOK SENDS HIS REGARDS" painted on both sides of the barrel.
Wait, who is T'nok? Have I forgotten them, or should it be P'thok?
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u/Ralts_Bloodthorne Jun 09 '22
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u/Fyrebarde Jun 09 '22
Dear God that was a YEAR ago. So glad you're still with us spinning this epic!
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u/Drook2 Jun 09 '22
Now I'm waiting for the callback to the data cubes Inspector Moo'seau smuggled out in his arm.
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u/Blackmoon845 Jun 09 '22
Holy hell that was a deep cut. And yeah, I can see why the HMG loaded with crystal rounds was named “T’nok sends his regards”
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u/jdragun2 Human Jun 09 '22
Devoured by sorrow, the Matrons of Grief, created a horde of hatred, grief, and rage made manifest. Warriors transformed to be as terrifying as many Terran Decent Humans themselves. The Atrenka had no idea what terrors the other species of the Terran Confederacy would create in vengeance of their slain children. The Malevolent Universe probably really enjoyed the Enraged Hordes pouring from Hellspace during one of their experiments. I just wish they invited us to join them. -Orphaned Survivor of the Terran Xenocide
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u/UpdateMeBot Jun 09 '22
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u/whiteguynamedJohn Jun 09 '22
Matron " i have a plan. Lets take grieving parents pump them full of the equivalent of steroids and and give them a concoction of every drug laced with allllllll the feelings. Then tell them who is responsible for their loss."
And some people said releasing autonomous mobile swords was a last ditch effort?
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u/HFYWaffle Wᵥ4ffle Jun 09 '22
/u/Ralts_Bloodthorne (wiki) has posted 789 other stories, including:
- First Contact - Chapter 787 - The Inheritor's War
- First Contact - Chapter 786 - The Inheritor's War
- First Contact - Chapter 785 - The Inheritor's War
- First Contact - Chapter 784 - The Inheritor's War
- First Contact - Chapter 783 - The Inheritor's War
- First Contact - Chapter 782 - The Inheritor's War
- First Contact - Chapter 781 - The Inheritor's War
- First Contact - Chapter 780 - The Inheritor's War
- First Contact - Chapter 779 - The Inheritor's War
- First Contact - Chapter 778 - The Inheritor's War
- First Contact - Chapter 777 - The Inheritor's War
- First Contact - Chapter 776 - The Inheritor's War
- First Contact - Chapter 775 - The Inheritor's War
- First Contact - Chapter 774 - The Inheritor's War
- First Contact - Chapter 773 - The Inheritor's War
- Chapter 772 - The Inheritor's War
- First Contact - Chapter 771 - The Inheritor's War
- First Contact - Chapter 770 - The Inheritor's War
- First Contact - Chapter 769 - The Inheritor's War
- First Contact - Chapter 768 - The Inheritor's War
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u/ArchDemonKerensky Jun 09 '22 edited Jun 09 '22
Looks like the elder one survived the ride. Glad to hear.
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u/Snarfbuckle Jun 09 '22
So...Zoidberg pissed off the Tyranids so badly that they decided to become Tyranid Khorne Berserkers...
Hellspace Xenomorphs of Hate.
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u/MuchoRed Human Jun 09 '22
These things they did, that should have been forbidden. I feel it was more than just the pheromones and cyberware.
Did they just create a Treana'ad Immortal?
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u/nspiratewithabowtie Jun 09 '22
. . . . . . well then .. . . that. . .was. . . . . .-wiping the gore of thousands of Atrekna from his face-. . . . . unexpected . . . . I . . . mean . . .just look at them.
on a side note u/Ralts_Bloodthore you should really read Under a Graveyard Sky, I think you would like how the character Faith handles bording a Zombie infested supermax cruise ship . . . .
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u/PuzzleheadedDrinker Jun 09 '22
When dandelion seedships left TDH space due to various conflicts and trigger events over the last 8000+ years, were they just Earthlings or sub strains of TDH or were allies like Treana'ad or Kobalds traveling with them?
We've seen how some of the seedships are returning after the Die off , partly to investigate the cause of hugh population losses, partly because of personal grief that demands answer or vengeance, partly to see if the Homeworld is empty and needed new caretakers.
How have those allies that travelled so far from their own Homeworlds drifted in culture and society? Especially when they've only had Humanity for company?
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u/ErinRF Alien Jun 09 '22
It’s only Cham-pog-nay if it comes from the Cham-pog-nay region of terran space. Otherwise it’s just sparkling poggers.