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Cathak Tengai Hikari
Shortly after discovering that she's being functionally, if politely, disowned because she's opted not to return home, Hikari decides to do about the only thing that makes any sense to her: found a dynasty. At the suggestion of the Sidereal Era, she marries Akihiro rapidly. Together they found the Tengai clan and begin to recruit other Frontier-region Dragonblooded into the clan who they feel that they can trust. Within a year she has given birth to twins - an auspicious start to her new clan. By the time the game catches up with her they've got four children, and the oldest pair have Exalted as an Air Aspect and a Fire Aspect. While Hikari does try to spare some time for her children, especially the pair that have Exalted so far, a great deal of her time is away from the family Manse. She concentrates on building alliances and trying to leverage the wealth that her adventures so far have gained her toward both sustaining itself and furthering her ends. Slowly and with the help of Celestial screening charms from others in the crew of the Wanderer, she and Akihiro have also begun to adopt other Frontier-region Dragon-blooded into their clan. She's currently seeking some sort of magic that would qualify those adoptions as her descendants as far as her newly developed Dynasty charms are concerned. With the help of Joren, now styling himself as the Secret Inscribed in Blood, she's been able to increase her Breeding to legendary purity and, though she's not fully aware of the extent, her natural lifespan has been vastly increased.

Joren Cenik, the Secret Inscribed in Blood
Joren has come and gone a lot in the past decade. He spends extended periods away without telling anyone where he's gone. Each time he's returned, he's been... changed, somehow. In grinding together the various scraps of spiteful, maddening enlightenment from the Yozis, Joren has unlocked further potential within himself. He has, literally and metaphorically, cut whatever leashes the Yozis might still have had on him. He has taken the first steps on a road toward what he clearly recognizes to be some sort of trans-human ascension, though what the end result might be, he's not sure. While the path looks similar to the dawn of a new Stellar Intelligence, Joren knows this to be not entirely the case. He will never be a star system - at least not externally. Instead, he's becoming something different. Something new.

His exploration of his new powers has given him new abilities that the broken and insane Yozis never would have been able to develop on their own. These abilities are, for now, uniquely his own and singularly suited to his personal agendas. With them he's begun conducting vast, planetary-scale experiments with mostly-volunteer populations. In some places, where the land is scarred and burnt, he's seeded communities of modified humans adapted to their inhospitable new home. In others, he's modified people so that they're more suited to environments that humans have typically avoided or been unable to occupy - like underground or underwater. In each experiment, he tries to minimize the variables - he tries to initialize these colonies with roughly the same population (just big enough to create a successful breeding pool), similar resources in terms of supplies and tools, and instructions for the colony leaders. They're to try to survive and thrive. If they do well, the Secret Inscribed in Blood asks only that they thank him with their worship. He tries to check in on each colony every few years.

Not all of his experimentation involves humans. He's begun the long and slow work of attempting to terraform regions of entire worlds that the Wanderer crew has discovered which have been blasted or warped by the Malfean Wars. Those he does not seed with human colonies he seeds with other flora and fauna, tweaking them with his new Charms and prodigious Genesis skill to manifest novel and sometimes unexpected (and, rarely, actually useful) effects. In many such locations, he does what he can to adjust the local geomancy to help promote the new wildlife and, when possible, accelerate whatever evolution it might undergo.

He's discovered that he is capable of carving out new space and new worlds within his own souls. He has not yet worked out how to get other people into this new world, but he's already begun impressing it with his own aesthetics and birthing new life into its environs. This new space, formatted according to his own will, begs the obvious question: Is this a potential alternative to the Terminus problem? Moreover, could the metadata from dead humans - their souls - potentially be saved into this new space he has created within his own ever-vaster soul?

Lokk quickly grew tired of trying to build a fledgling empire. He had always been plagued with questions, wanderlust, and a need to test himself. As such his plan was simple. Finish the fleet, and find his answers.

The first goal was relatively easy, but took some time. He already had a basic body of beings from which to draw and train his military force. He was bright and learned quickly. Training was a matter of developing routines and schedules. Slightly harder was finding the right kind of people to join his cause. He needed willful, intelligent and loyal beings. They could harbor no love for the Empire either. There were enough of these types to crew the ships, pilot the fighters, and grow into skilled soldiers, it just took time to organize. All this he left to an infrastructure he was able to develop and put into place over the course of several months. Being super intelligent had some perks it turned out.

The real challenge were the leaders. Not the basic officers, but real leaders capable of command even without Lokk at its head. For this he needed something special. So he went to the arenas of Nexus, and visited other inhabited worlds across the rim scouring the beings he met for those brave few souls he would choose. It took several years for everything to come together, and it was an adventure in and of itself attracting the right sort to his cause.

Dragon blooded were the preferred sort, and there were plenty willing to join the cause, but they were not the only ones. Aliens of several species signed on, and he was even able recruit several AI's. Those that didn't quiet make the cut as officers made fine crew. A few in particular stood out though, and they would be the core of Lokk's personal retinue.

The Empire tried to hunt him down during this time. It turns out that one of the best ways to find a hero, was to be well, heroic. This meant kicking the dragon in its teeth when it reared its ugly head. When the Empire was involved there was no shortage of wrongs to be righted.

With his fleet completed he needed to vet them in trails of fire. His adventures had never been easy, so simply following him would be test enough. Aiden, and Era also joined onto his crew as his adventure promised to be noteworthy.

With some guidance from Era, Lokk decided to pursue a loose end from previous adventures. A facility cut off by a massive warp storm. Here Lokk found, something unexpected. It was a research facility of the Doyan, the beings pro ported to have created Lokk's people. He discovered research and data on his genome, and it's construction. Here Lokk was also able to speak with an avatar of the Doyan through a strange machine. They discussed the Doyans hope for his potential, and conveyed that the Doyan may not be finished with him. It was ominous, but also inspiring. Armed with this knowledge, Lokk was left wondering at his options, and he was hopeful.

After this initial sortie Lokk set out with his fleet to right the wrongs of a negligent and selfish empire, and for many years did so. His fleet operated with hit and run tactics. Stealing resources, and growing with each year. He recruited sympathizers from those that were liberated, and added to the fleet from what was pillaged. If the Empire was out of line and Lokk could get there, he did.

It was an increasingly difficult fight. Assassins were sent after him in those places he frequented. Traps were laid for his ships, using every method the Empire could devise. It was rough, and he lost more than a fair share of ships and crew, but the fleet preserved under his command and that of its leaders. The battleships were instrumental throughout this time. The rechristened Foehammer, and the smaller Retribution were a force to be reckoned with, winning battles they had no business winning otherwise, or allowing a timely escape when things got rough.

It wasn't all war though. The fleet spent a great deal of time exploring the rim, and deep space. Charting new hyperspace routs, and getting into trouble well beyond the borders of Imperial space. New worlds were discovered. Lost civilizations were found. Many were given the choice to join the fledgling alliance, back on the rim, and fly Autochthon's banner. Strange artifacts were the norm, and the promise of new treasures and discovery kept moral up.

Occasionally the fleet would return to more charted territory, and Lokk would touch bases with the rest of his old crew. He helped the fledgling alliance when he could, and helped broker treaties with some of the civilizations he had discovered. One such civilization even agreed to serve as a base of operations for his fleet after they were liberated from siege of warp daemons.

This base served as a hub for further exploration well outside Imperial space. It was perfect, and it kept the fledgling alliance from suffering retaliation for harboring ships enemy to the Empire. It allowed them the logistical strong point that was needed to field a fleet.

The other thing with which Lokk spent his time were science projects, which he personally funded and facilitated. He did this from a research vessel he pillaged and refurbished. His first project was work on a non-sentient organism which would naturally feed on, generate, and store Quantum. His idea was based on cells from fungus, the cuttlefish, and Eufiber colonies. He wanted something farmable, and self renewing that he could take into the field to quickly restore quantum reserves if he ran low. Since quantum was more natural, and fundament it seemed this idea wasn't without merit.

He also put into place a research program on a science ship in his fleet. This program was a study of his own genome, with the hopes of revealing more about his potential. He pushed his own body and quantum development to its limits, seeking for better and more creative ways to utilize his power. It wasn't just for fighting anymore, and seemed to be limited only by his imagination and will. By the end of the decade Lokk was close to something big. Something that could alter the face of Lokk quickly grew tired of trying to build a fledgling empire. He had always been plagued with questions, wanderlust, and a need to test himself. As such his plan was simple. Finish the fleet, and find his answers.

The first goal was relatively easy, but took some time. He already had a basic body of beings from which to draw and train his military force. He was bright and learned quickly. Training was a matter of developing routines and schedules. Slightly harder was finding the right kind of people to join his cause. He needed willful, intelligent and loyal beings. They could harbor no love for the Empire either. There were enough of these types to crew the ships, pilot the fighters, and grow into skilled soldiers, it just took time to organize. All this he left to an infrastructure he was able to develop and put into place over the course of several months. Being super intelligent had some perks it turned out.

The real challenge were the leaders. Not the basic officers, but real leaders capable of command even without Lokk at its head. For this he needed something special. So he went to the arenas of Nexus, and visited other inhabited worlds across the rim scouring the beings he met for those brave few souls he would choose. It took several years for everything to come together, and it was an adventure in and of itself attracting the right sort to his cause.

Dragon blooded were the preferred sort, and there were plenty willing to join the cause, but they were not the only ones. Aliens of several species signed on, and he was even able recruit several AI's. Those that didn't quiet make the cut as officers made fine crew. A few in particular stood out though, and they would be the core of Lokk's personal retinue.

The Empire tried to hunt him down during this time. It turns out that one of the best ways to find a hero, was to be well, heroic. This meant kicking the dragon in its teeth when it reared its ugly head. When the Empire was involved there was no shortage of wrongs to be righted.

With his fleet completed he needed to vet them in trails of fire. His adventures had never been easy, so simply following him would be test enough. Aiden, and Era also joined onto his crew as his adventure promised to be noteworthy.

With some guidance from Era, Lokk decided to pursue a loose end from previous adventures. A facility cut off by a massive warp storm. Here Lokk found, something unexpected. It was a research facility of the Doyan, the beings pro ported to have created Lokk's people. He discovered research and data on his genome, and it's construction. Here Lokk was also able to speak with an avatar of the Doyan through a strange machine. They discussed the Doyans hope for his potential, and conveyed that the Doyan may not be finished with him. It was ominous, but also inspiring. Armed with this knowledge, Lokk was left wondering at his options, and he was hopeful.

After this initial sortie Lokk set out with his fleet to right the wrongs of a negligent and selfish empire, and for many years did so. His fleet operated with hit and run tactics. Stealing resources, and growing with each year. He recruited sympathizers from those that were liberated, and added to the fleet from what was pillaged. If the Empire was out of line and Lokk could get there, he did.

It was an increasingly difficult fight. Assassins were sent after him in those places he frequented. Traps were laid for his ships, using every method the Empire could devise. It was rough, and he lost more than a fair share of ships and crew, but the fleet preserved under his command and that of its leaders. The battleships were instrumental throughout this time. The rechristened Foehammer, and the smaller Retribution were a force to be reckoned with, winning battles they had no business winning otherwise, or allowing a timely escape when things got rough.

It wasn't all war though. The fleet spent a great deal of time exploring the rim, and deep space. Charting new hyperspace routs, and getting into trouble well beyond the borders of Imperial space. New worlds were discovered. Lost civilizations were found. Many were given the choice to join the fledgling alliance, back on the rim, and fly Autochthon's banner. Strange artifacts were the norm, and the promise of new treasures and discovery kept moral up.

Occasionally the fleet would return to more charted territory, and Lokk would touch bases with the rest of his old crew. He helped the fledgling alliance when he could, and helped broker treaties with some of the civilizations he had discovered. One such civilization even agreed to serve as a base of operations for his fleet after they were liberated from siege of warp daemons.

This base served as a hub for further exploration well outside Imperial space. It was perfect, and it kept the fledgling alliance from suffering retaliation for harboring ships enemy to the Empire. It allowed them the logistical strong point that was needed to field a fleet.

The other thing with which Lokk spent his time were science projects, which he personally funded and facilitated. He did this from a research vessel he pillaged and refurbished. His first project was work on a non-sentient organism which would naturally feed on, generate, and store Quantum. His idea was based on cells from fungus, the cuttlefish, and Eufiber colonies. He wanted something farmable, and self renewing that he could take into the field to quickly restore quantum reserves if he ran low. Since quantum was more natural, and fundament it seemed this idea wasn't without merit.

He also put into place a research program on a science ship in his fleet. This program was a study of his own genome, with the hopes of revealing more about his potential. He pushed his own body and quantum development to its limits, seeking for better and more creative ways to utilize his power. Quantum wasn't just for fighting anymore, and seemed to be limited only by his imagination and will. By the end of the decade Lokk was close to something big. Something that could alter the face of everything.

Far Horizon Guardian knows that the Empire will not prepare for the extragalaxatic threat that is heading this way. The Emperor is incapable of understanding the true threat that the Consuming Swarm will be for everyone. Far Horizon Guardian knows that he will never be able to wield any power within the Empire and his current power base is far too small to even stop one of the many coming scout swarms. Wanting to find an ally that might be able to work with him, Far Horizon Guardian approaches the Chiaroscuran Khanate. The Chiaroscuran Khanate and Far Horizon Guardian’s group come to an arrangement that they will be able to use the Chiaroscuran Khanate to build up their forces. Knowing that the arrangement will not be enough Far Horizon Guardian asks his crewmates from the Wanderer that are connected with the Steller Intelligence Autochthon to have it join with the alliance.
With the alliance formed, Far Horizon Guardian sees that the only way to really be able to defend the galaxy from the upcoming Swarm is to first defeat Empire. The Empire will never let any force capable of truly threaten it to form. Using the Frontier’s citizens distain for the Empire, Far Horizon Guardian begins to recruit the Solar, Lunar and other exalted to join his cause.
Building up the forces needed proves to be a challenge. Having to hide it from the Empire and recruit across the Frontier is a delicate balancing act that almost never balances. As Far Horizon Guardian bring more of the exalted beneath his banner, the Empire grows all the wearier.

My captain:

1. Continue to explore powers given by the ship.

2. Really focus on innernal issues with the start of our empire, and helping make it stable.

3. Exploring and mapping unknown parts of space. Maybe see what he can find that will help defend against the empire


The lunar:

After establishing myself as a dragonblooded I focus on gaining mental influence inside the house that adopts me. I get married but I can have someone else knock up my wife. This will require some additional charms but shouldn't be an issue. Hopefully this lets me have a small but insulated position close to the top of power in the empire.


I won't spend all my time in the empire. I want to also get the end of space Lunars involved in our empire. Then use them as an elite forces to enforce our boards. This of this as an Israel style enforcement. I am not going to nice or peaceful about it. Retaliation will be harsh and swift.

In the rest of my spare time I want to research the head of the empire. I need to know exactly what he can do and attempt to push my exaltation to new levels that will allow me to fight him. I would spend time with actothan (sp?) and any other options I can get to

The Next Ten - Edit by Avil: From here down is post-intermission for all characters

The first month after the Three Days War, was spent pushing the fleet to harass a partially broken Imperial force, and exploit those territories along the Alliance/Empire border. Bitter Shadow goes for this whole cloth. Shining Star, however, is more reserved. She eventually gets Lokk to back down and allow their fleets time to regroup, recuperate, and rebuild.

For several years afterward Lokk holed up working on the construction of clone factories, and designing stable human clones that could be mass produced. He worked in large part with Joren, and they were able to create an effective, largely autonomous process after some time. These facilities, seeded throughout Alliance worlds, worked in three ways. They grew and developed mature, brain dead clone bodies. They then allowed for the transfer of a Terminus spirit into the husk. Once awakened the new person was then educated and trained via a direct data feed technology.

Authochton was of course petitioned for help building these facilities and the technology therein. The Death Lords also had a necrotechnician on loan to help with certain parts of the process. That individual was kept as far out of the loop as possible. Measures were taken to help protect the bonded souls from Death Lord influence as well.

From this Joren gained whole populations of people to work with in his world experiments, while the Alliance received a large population boom. Lokk hoped it was at least enough to help stabilize a core of worlds for the Alliance.

Two years in, Chrysalis. After a period of characteristic changes to his personality and habits, Lokk fell into a coma. His body was surrounded by a shell of solidified quantum. in this state he underwent a metamorphosis that smoothed out developing mutations, and increased his quantum output. He emerged from this state after several months with strange abilities, and more potent adaptations to those he had before. One of these changes allowed him to splinter off permanent clones of himself and divide his work load. This he did almost immediately.

Shining Star of the Guiding Dawn revealed feelings for Lokk during his time in chrysalis as she grew increasingly more worried and sad at his unexpected change, and continued absence. Upon his awakening she held a great celebration and their relationship was made more public. The two had been developing feelings for one another for some time, but they had kept things very discrete.

The Journey of Selves

First self spent the next seven years devoting his super intelligence toward further developing the previously mentioned cloning technology. Continuing to build upon what was learned he started work on a viable colony of Novas. The base genome was a combination of Lokk's own DNA, and that of the Dragon Blooded to both stabilize and direct results. The embryos were grown in environments designed with different variations of universal constants, and quantum fields. Of that first generation only a handful survived. Lokk triggered their eruptions himself and they were called the Children of Lokk.

Samples of the children's genome were taken for the next generation. It was a more stable blend, and Joren predicted that with some tweaking to the environmental factors the nature of the eruption could be better controlled. The second generation was born. There are less causalities and the quantum manifestation was more predictable as Joren had said. This generation quickly matured under gene treatment and was educated via the direct link technology developed previously.

This generation was raised under a culture of Autochtonian ideals, philosophy, critical thinking, and carefully chosen ethical constructs. These beings were fertile and begot a third generation naturally. Further indications that the quantum manifestations had been stabilized and directed along specific lines were confirmed through careful testing. The Houses of Latency were formed: Groups of Novas with similar quantum manifestation and lineage.

Second Self spent his time building up the fleet. Stealing and engineering technology for Alliance naval forces. He also reinforced the Aiden system, and further established a base in the liberated Tau space. This base could serve as a staging area away from the prying eyes of the Empire. The Tau were not without their own resources either, given they had built a civilization undisturbed for generations in unknown space. The cultural exchange was good, and new ideas were given to innovation. This was another sorely boon for the Alliance.

One of Lokk's more wild ideas came to a head when he used a new found ability to infuse quantum energies into an already experimental capitol ship stolen from the Empire. Combining his quantum infusion ability with resonance crystals, and necromancy via the necrotechnician on loan, he was able to create a prototype ship crewed by spirits. The vessel was christened: Reaper, The Urn of the Dragon. Lokk procured the help of Joren and Kar'El in trying to secure this experimental technology against control by the Death Lords.

In addition to this experimental vessel he commissioned a project which would become his personal flagship. A massive system superiority weapon. Something which would serve as a mobile command center and battle platform. The plan was to arm it with advanced systems, weapons, shields and communications. As well as a network of energy receivers, transmitters, and amplifiers. Ambitiously multiple sorcery stations, as well as essence cannons, and augmented weapon platforms would give it the awesome power he envisioned. The idea was to create something that would be remembered and feared. The Foehammer was impressive, but he could do better, and he had a civilization of resources to help him work on it.

After starting plans and work on his flagship, Lokk turned toward helping Kar'El develop a scaled down version of the super weapon they had earlier destroyed. He had several ships he felt might be a good platform for such a device including the new flagship under construction.

In this time Lokk also developed his relationships with Shining Star, and his brother Bitter Shadow. Both beings grew into their roles as leaders and powerful exalted. Shining Star of the Guiding Dawn was a beacon for the fleet. A brilliant, capable and fearless naval commander. Broken Dream, Bitter Shadow was a cunning genius who excelled at indirect combat. Their fleets become infamous across the Empire, and their flagships legendary. Grond the Foehammer; Executor of Fleets, and The Retribution; Whispering Blade of the Sky.

Shining Star and Lokk became very close, though they couldn't have children, as Lokk was engineered sterile. Instead those surviving the original Nova experiment became just that. These adolescents began to grow quickly in power under Lokk and Shining Star's direct care and tutelage. Their attitudes and minds were shaped by the tales of their parents exploits, and the reality of their love and attention.

Lokk saw their potential early on, and knew it was different from that of the second and third generation Novas. He and Shining Star did their best to mold people who would understood the importance of compassion, hard work, rationale thought, and morality. Neither was under any illusions about what sort of potential beings they might be raising.

These children were allowed to grow naturally after an initial round of gene therapy. They still matured quickly, but they were not yet full adults after only a few years. There names were: Sindel, Fayde, Zhan, Arko, and Mirri, and they were destined to be the Masters of the Houses of Latency.

Third self spent his time working with the Tailor to find a way to stop the Emperor. Word was, there might be a device which could trap living essence and Lokk worked with the Lunar to secure that device or at least blueprints of it. He had a feeling the Emperor might be impossible to stop without it. Lokk gave the Lunar what ever he needed in his endeavors against the Emperor directly.

He also spent time on Nexus, though mainly at the yearly tournaments. This time not as a participant but as an observer, watching. He studied exalted and their abilities, especially those of the Siderials. Their power intrigued and disturbed Lokk as it presented a problem for him. He also looked for more recruits to join the cause. They needed only be loyal, and have no love for the Empire. Exalted, alien, it didnt really matter.

The rest of his time was spent doing what he could to help where it was needed in the Alliance. He brought his not inconsiderable intellect to bear on any problems that the Alliance might be facing to help solution them. He made himself available for Hikari since she seemed to have taken most of that responsibility on herself.

Though spread out, Lokk was in his element. He enjoyed the challenges presented tremendously. His mind, powers, and stamina allowed him to serve his allies to the best of his ability at all times. His clones were able to keep in contact via telepathic bond, and so he could also act as a hub for various groups as needed. By the end of it he was tentatively hopeful of things to come.

Far Horizon Guardian

- Use the fact that the Empire and Deathlords have attacked in a coordinated attack to get support for a unified defense force
- The Unified Defense Force (UDF) will be drawn from all systems within the Horizon Alliance.
- Systems within the Horizon Alliance will need to have a home defense force and contribute to the UDF
- Set up a sensor network around the Horizon Alliance to detect incoming threats
- Use the skills of the recruited Solars to help plan, construct, and support the newly created governmental bodies that are needed for such a large task
- Far Horizon Guardian will create a few custom sail charms to allow him to create a safe temporary warp lane even when one doesn’t exist and another charm to allow for faster warp travel
- Using the new charms Far Horizon Guardian will lead a small fleet to a base within Empire territory and steal ships from the Empire

Tengai Hikari continues to put effort into furthering the Horizon Alliance's agenda and insuring that her slowly growing house is an integral part of it. She hopes, too, to find some sort of magic that will allow her to ritually, perhaps sorcerously, adopt new members into her House in a way that can be supported by her Dragon-Blooded Charms. Working with Joren, a prodigious sorcerer of the Adamant Circle and skilled biologist, they are able to innovate a spell capable of effecting Dragon-Blooded (or other, if it mattered) spiritual adoption. The House grows, if only slowly. Hikari does not wish to unduly burden the House with favors owed to a creature such as Joren, so adoptions occurs only rarely, and only when the adoptee is judged to be beyond reproach and is well-liked enough by the family for them to want to add them to the ranks. She tries to hold at least annual family gatherings in order to keep the ties tight, particularly with those she's adopting into the House.

Her children grow in number and begin to Exalt during this period. The twins, her oldest, are nineteen. Kyou is Air Aspected and her brother Akira is Fire Aspected. Both work for the House in whatever ways their aptitudes and drives support best. Their younger sister Nao is seventeen, and a Fire Aspect. She's only now starting to test the boundaries of what home is and thinking about striking out on her own. Fourteen year old Minoru is Air Aspected and shows great aptitude with science and computers. Hikari does what she can to support his aptitudes and encourage his growth. Kae is the youngest that has Exalted, and the first of her children to Exalt as an Earth Aspect. At ten years old, she's still learning what it means to be an Exalt, how to manage her power without destroying everything around her, and of course a lot of mundane stuff - school. Hikari has two unExalted children as well. Jun was, until recently, the baby of the family. At five years old he spends much of his time in the care of others. Hikari does try to take a more direct hand in raising her children than many other Dragon-Bloods she knows, but her time is at a premium. Kokoro is her youngest, born only a few months ago, she is not yet a year old. She personally mentors her two fire aspected children in Fire Dragon Style when she can, hoping to ensure that they're well-prepared for whatever might happen in a harsh and unforgiving galaxy.

Attempts on Hikari's life are disturbingly frequent (at least a few occur during the downtime). She is forced to devote at least some of her attention and energies to countering such attempts and is protected by some effects from others among her former crew, be they nearby clones or replicas, spells, or simply guardian forces. An adaptation to this state of affairs becomes life aboard ship. She commissions or otherwise obtains a well-armed ship and has the interiors redone to make it sufficiently 'home' for permanent habitation. Hikari, Akahiro, and their children make their primary residence aboard for many years. The ship is large enough to have sufficient guest space for dozens of guests and for the slow-but-steady expansion of her growing family. A side effect of this nomadic lifestyle is that it enables her to more easily perform her job within the Alliance and her House, as she can nearly constantly be on the move from one meeting to another.



The Secret Inscribed in Blood continues his sanguine apotheosis. He plies his skills where such are in demand. That some of his former crew-mates have come to need him for biologically-based activities of their own is to Joren's private pleasure. Many of his experiments continue, entering further generations of their programs. Joren makes sporadic and frequently unannounced appearances on Alliance planets or at official Alliance events, expressing his support on the rare occasions he is present to do so. Somewhat more reliable are his appearances when needed for specific projects. He has taught several of the Exalted members of his former crew how to summon his Splintered Gales so that he might possess them at need to rapidly cross Alliance space and render what infrequent aid is needed (or wanted) of him.

After working with the others to give rise to the technology to bind ghosts to new bodies, Joren retreats for a time to experiment. He summons a number of ghosts to consult with during the process. Can these ghosts exist without Terminus within his new Inner World? What is required to get them there? Are there limits to the duration of their stay? All of these are subject to repeated experiment by Joren and whatever (preferably willing) ghosts are at hand. His goal is to find a way to selectively import ghosts into his world without too much fuss with regard to nasty or soul-straining reformatting.

Years into the process, after his Essence had matured further, Joren began to unveil powerful spirits related to himself - his own pantheon of souls. Neither demons nor gods, these devas express aspects of Joren's self in various ways - some more esoteric than others. The first and most popular of these is Kaishin, the Burning Heart, who is seemingly everything that Joren is not. Strong, heroic, honorable, and personable, Kaishin displays an adventurer's spirit. Other souls express various other aspects of his self. Over time more than a dozen such spirits make appearances, along with their own Second Circle devas. A list of these Third Circle souls along with Second Circle souls for Kaishin will appear in the Characters thread. While some of his souls do turn their power to the Horizon Alliance's cause (such as Deriok, the Eye of Darkness, who places his mark upon Hikari's ship that he might be aware of any dangers to it), others follow their own paths. Joren himself admits to having no particular control over them without binding them sorcerously. A few, such as Fenea and Phereldon become itinerants and travelers, always on the move. Some of these souls interact with the general population - even in Imperial space - often passing themselves off as mutants, aliens, or rogue gods bored of the Grand Celestial Mountain. Some are traders, others are explorers, some seek worthy challenge or simply fun times. With sixteen third circle souls making an appearance at one time or another and over a hundred second circle souls wandering around space, the collection of interests, obsessions, and motives represented by Joren's soul hierarchy are too vast to entirely document. Future scholars would, no doubt, spend decades attempting to track them all down to do just that.

The last of Joren's souls, Linanen, was not spun forth from its own chrysalis of pure essence as others were. Linanen began her existence, or at least her current existence, as a ghost. One of the several Joren had called upon for council, the pair developed sufficient rapport that Joren, upon discovering that his still-developing nature was capable of such a thing, offered to allow her to join the ranks of his pantheon. Experiments with long-term ghost habitation within his Inner World had not gone to plan so far and Joren hoped that inviting a ghost to partake of his nature and, for him to partake of the ghost's nature in turn, might allow him to sufficiently adapt the environment within the inner world to sustain ghosts in the long term. Though a great deal of negotiation was required, the offer was eventually accepted and, as Linanen's power grew and she began to craft her own souls, experiments went forward. His nature, normally that of life and blood, now tainted slightly by a creature of death and static existence, Joren found that he was able to successfully alter the nature of his inner world to sustain ghosts with reasonable comfort. Work is still ongoing on methods of transferring volunteers out of Terminus directly into his Inner World en masse.

First ten:

Kar-el:
Recreate the destroyed super-weapon and find a way to channel it through the ship from point of origin.
Create manses on our out-planets and hearthstones.
Explore more uncharted areas of space and help develop the frontier (thus getting followers)
Spend a large amount of time in the Factory Cathedral building up weapon caches

Jezial:
Explore the uncharted areas of space
Uncover more areas of the ship
Form a deeper bond with Xinch (moar sorcery)

Next ten:

Kar-el:
Working on Expanding the Horizon alliance (combination of diplomacy and the truth charms paving the way for good relations)

Jezial:
Expand the Horizon alliance and Deathlord’s space into the uncharted areas of the galaxy
Recruit Jezial’s people to help explore the galaxy
Reach higher levels of sorcery and psy (Xinch)
Using warp and psychonavigation powers to attempt to create new warp lanes.

Cha'llx:
Continues to secure his people's place on their new homeworld, while building up the hivelike infrastructure.
Begins a compulsury military enlistment program for Autucthon.
Spends a great portion of time researching ways to incorprate Autucthonian technology with the AllHive's already impressive biocybernetic technologies.
Lends forces to the Far Horizon Republic, to train together and fortify soft points, and some forces are trained and used as strike teams to hit the Empire's soft targets.
More forces are used to defend the Univere from the tyranid incursion.
With personal time he explores what his new place as an alchemical means, and the limits of his newfound capabilities


Khalaseem:
Begins training programs for his followers, training them in survival and assassination tactics. Sends these hit teams where they are needed in the fight against the Empire other enemies.
Uses his clones as his High Priests over a hierarchy of chosen disciples.
Continues to keep his demon pits functional, binding the demons and using them as the grunts and marines of his armed forces.
Other pits are used to produce locusts which are candied and exported across the universe.
Personally he is absent great portions of time as he explores his mutable exaltation and undergoes his own apotheosis...finally reaching his elusive divinity.