Look to the sky for your Salvation [Open]

[swordofdorn.livejournal.com]

Erhart had been stalking around the Hangar for quite some time. The various ships interested him, as he went from ship to ship, analyzing each with the augmented mind of an Astartes. But then... he saw something strange. A flash of red. Something obscured by other ships, but now found to him. His hearts pound, and he runs toward it, clambering up the side of a larger mass-conveyance ship to find the half hidden thing.

A gunship, in the colors of his artistic brothers. The blood Angels. Heavily armed, and with a certain ferocity to it, like that of a predatory bird. He stares at this wonderful fruit of the Omnimessiah, unsure of what to do with it, who he should call. What he should do. Indeed, if he can do anything with it.

It was like a Thunderhawk, the steed his chapter rode to war in, only smaller, more agile. But so heavily armed it could only be a form of gunship. He crossed to it, touching the heraldry of the Blood Angels blazoned on the side with a reverent hand. "Dorn's blood!"

Comments

[facepunching.livejournal.com]

"Language," Soren said absently, figuring this to be some manner of curse. Exclamations like that usually were. He glanced over at Erhart, saw a hulking man in heavy armor, and figured him for a knight.

"I've found that many of the owners of the vehicles here are particular about who touches their things."

[swordofdorn.livejournal.com]

"It's an Imperial Vessel, my brother chapter would not gainsay my reverent...."

He turns, looking at Soren.

"And who are you?"

[facepunching.livejournal.com]

Soren looked up at Erhart coolly -- he had to look up, because Erhart was approximately 3.5 feet taller. "It is customary to introduce yourself before demanding it of someone else, is it not? My name is Soren. I'm an Archmage from Tellius."

Not that that would likely mean much to anyone who wasn't from Tellius.

[swordofdorn.livejournal.com]

"I am Erhart of the Eternal Crusade. And I do not follow custom. I am Astartes."

Which means he's an arrogant bastard of a knight, but that was fairly obvious to begin with.

[facepunching.livejournal.com]

That look of disdain was just for you, Erhart.

"How wonderful for you." Yep. Bonehead knight, or so Soren thought. At least Gatrie had the sense to know when he was being chastised. "A lesson in manners, and perhaps your crusade will be complete."

[swordofdorn.livejournal.com]

"And you will be the one to administer it? I think not." He rumbles.

"But no, as long as humanity is threatened by the dark, I shall endure and attempt to bring light into a benighted universe."

[facepunching.livejournal.com]

Now Soren's expression had a hint of disgust to it, as well. It was really becoming a subtle, tasty blend of condescension. "Believe me, I'm not in the practice of taking pupils. And even if I were, I'm sure there are less pungent ones I could accept."

[swordofdorn.livejournal.com]

"Pungent, what do you mean?"

Erhart has never, in 200 years, thought about the epic stank of his body odor.

[facepunching.livejournal.com]

"I mean you smell like a platoon of wyverns that just spent the last year or two wallowing in bog filth. There are baths on the ship, and they are free of charge."

Soren: meen.

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Zouichi knew that voice. He was nearby anyway, so when he heard Erhart speak, he made his way over to see what the fuss was.

"Good news, I guess?"

[swordofdorn.livejournal.com]

"Indeed. A gift from the Omnimessiah, it would appear. This is some sort of gunboat or assault craft, Imperial in origin though the standard pattern is not known to me. Clearly not heretical, for it bears the Mechanicus seal."

He gestures to a bisected skull, one half bone, the other half metal, which has been engraved onto the Stormraven.

"It is similar to, though smaller than, the Thunderhawk that is the primary assault ship of my Chapter. It bears the Heraldry of the sons of Sanguinius."

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

"Lucky for you; maybe you can fly it into combat." He frowned as he looked at the bisected skull insignia and also he had no idea who Sanguinus was.

"Implying that some technology is heretical, I suppose."

[swordofdorn.livejournal.com]

"Indeed. Heretical and dangerous, both to the user and humanity as a whole. Apocalypse weapons, Chaos-tainted machines... and worse. Many xenos-tech things have caused disasters in worlds where they are trafficked, or used by humans."

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Zouichi waved a hand in dismissal. "Any piece of technology can be useful or dangerous, depending on who develops it and what it's used for. It's not inherently good or evil."

[swordofdorn.livejournal.com]

"I must disagree with you. The Necrons are a race comprised of xenos archaeotech that exist for no other purpose than to annihilate every living thing in the galaxy."

"There's also the case of the bloodtide, a sentient being of Nanytes that destroyed an entire subsector in one night."

"Some things are too dangerous to use, or too inherently corrupting."

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

"I find it difficult to believe that the scientific principles those inventions were based on couldn't have been applied to cause positive change, rather than destruction. Nanomachines, for instance, have wide-ranging applications in construction and medical treatment. If they are used incorrectly, it is only because they're in the hands of someone irresponsible."

[swordofdorn.livejournal.com]

"There are nanomachines in my blood. I know they have positive uses. The problem comes from when.... man created machines to rule him. And forgot his own existence as anything other than a slave. Becoming a technocracy ruled by giant cogitators that disposed of them as biological parts. "

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Howard's been scavenging from the hangar for things he can take without getting in trouble, and hopefully without permanently damaging the fighters right before they go off and try to fry some space bugs. Seriously, though, it's not his fault if the pilots don't check to make sure all their parts are there before flying off.

He panics a little when he notices Erhart walking towards over where he is, though, crouched behind the gunship looking for something to take. There isn't enough time to run and even though he's short and half-hidden already, odds of him going completely unnoticed are slim.

So clearly the solution is to start off hostile and sarcastic! "Who the hell is Dorn?"

[swordofdorn.livejournal.com]

Erhart stares down at the small human, the red eye slits of his helm seeming to blaze.

"Lord Dorn is the Primarch of the Imperial Fists, and all their successor chapters. He is my gene-father."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"...the only thing I got from that is that you're adopted." Howard backs up a little at the red eye blazing. That doesn't look good. That looks like some Battlestar Galactica stuff there.

[swordofdorn.livejournal.com]

"I am not... exactly adopted. But it is often the tradition for the Black Templars to swear by our Primarch when confronted with surprising things."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Howard spends a few seconds just blinking at that. "I didn't understand half those words."

[swordofdorn.livejournal.com]

"Tell me which words you didn't understand, and I shall enlighten you."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Primarch. Templar. So maybe just ten percent of those words."

[swordofdorn.livejournal.com]

"Primarchs are genehanced superhumans who provided the source genetic material for all the warriors known as the Adeptus Astartes. Men such as myself.... are Astartes. Primarchs are to us as we are to mortals."

He pauses, then proceeds to Templars. "Templars are my particular order of knights. We wear the Black, in memory of the personal Livery of our first leader, Sigismund."