Jumpers vs. 40k IC1: Worst. Isekai. Ever.

[Earl of Purple]

Battle of Rhylain

"I need to upgrade my pistol. I'll probably find more of these guys." For now, though, Edward's going to look for a door so he can potentially dump the corpse in his warehouse. If not, it's not really a big deal; unless Edward can render the corpse down to whale oil to make new bullets, he's unlikely to learn much from it. And the size doesn't impress him either, since he's seen Koloss that were bigger. And he's not sure he trusts the armour, since he's heard that Chaos is corrupting. Theoretically it shouldn't interfere with his warehouse unless invited it, but... he'd be inviting it in.

Once the body's moved, or not, Edward's also going to leave and see what's going on.

[Lord Raziere]

Aiyeku:
Aiyeku, the Collect of Treasures, Second Circle soul of Ensara, and a girl basically looking like this combination of thief, scavenger and demon carrying a big bag, sees Edward going for the space marine armor of Zhargeon and says
"Oh you want this one, Edward? Okay."
And clean of it chaos corruption with some green fire, her eyes temporarily looking like Ensara's for a moment and leave it to him to pick it up, seemingly no less damaged than before but now clean of chaos. Aiyeku then goes off to scavenge some space marine armor elsewhere, seemingly picking up tech and putting it in her bottomless bag.

Second Meeting with Eldrad:
Sooner or later, the scavenging will end, and the leaders of the Sabre will meet with Eldrad on screen again. While some things are easily settled...
"Kaerabryn has been saved, farseer."
"Good. That was all I wanted."
"Also I've managed to acquire a quite a bit of spirit stones which I'd love to give to you if you let me on your ship."
"Indeed, we'd very much appreciate them, and due to our....population issues have a bit of a surplus of Eldar technology we can exchange for them."
"Sounds like a deal"

Other things however are a bit harder:
"Eldrad Ulthran" says Rhiannon "We found this Forge of Vaul on the planet, and I think it'd be appropriate to give it back to your people."
"Nonsense, Rogue Trader Rhiannon, keep it, consider it a gift from the old Eldari Empire, we don't need it"
"No, I insist, the Forge of Vaul should be back with its people."
"No no, I insist the humans should have it, let them have a chance at wielding it."
This continues back and forth a bit, neither of the two seemingly willing to keep the powerful warp-based nanofabricator. Ensara asks
"Okay, why are you two trying to pawn the Forge off one each other? Don't you guys hate each other?"
"Yes" says Rhiannon "But I'm also wise to what would happen if the Imperium tried to use such a device. Best case scenario, it gets thrown into some Inquisition vault to be studied by tech priests allowed to see it and nothing comes of it. Worst case scenario, its actually used to try and gain a victory against some other enemy in desperation and ends up only causing a more horrible loss by dragging the entire planet its on into the warp, thus making a new Daemon World. So I'm trying to get rid of it so the Eldar use it instead"
"Meanwhile I know what the Old Eldar Empire was like. Not doing that again. In Eldar hands, it would cause nothing but decadence and hastening our species into the clutches of She Who Thirsts. I am not repeating the Empire's mistakes. Therefore the humans should get it, they have the numbers to expend on it going wrong without it harming their species in a major way."
"Really!?" Kaerabryn says "Your both trying to play hot potato because you think the Forge of Vaul is a ticking time bomb waiting to make things go wrong!? Do you not see how it could help? It could make anything! It could literally change so many things for the better!"
"Something WILL go wrong from using the Forge, Kaerabryn" says Eldrad "It is like a Psyker, a glorified version of our Bone-Singers. You saw what happened down there, the more the Warp is used, the likely things go wrong, each you use it, you spin the wheel and hope you get a good number. But you get a bad one....daemon appears and we have to hope it doesn't kill too many of us before we kill it. Assuming the Forge itself doesn't get possessed, or corrupted. Probability over a long enough time, becomes inevitability. It will only lead to a repeat of our downfall."
"Farseer, you speak of decadence when talking about the Eldar, as well as it being the cause of your species downfall, what do you mean?"
"Well hm....your human so you probably don't know. I owe you some explanations anyways. Though honesty a lot of this is all tied together so I'll try to bundle it altogether in one:

To understand the Fall of the Eldar, you must first understand that the Eldar despite our superficial biological similarities to humans are fundamentally different both biologically and spiritually. Our souls shine brighter in the warp, our senses of sight, smell, hearing and touch are many times greater than a humans, our hearts beat faster, our minds process things faster than humans and our physical reactions are too fast for the human eye to follow, we experience a wider spectrum of emotion, have senses that you do not, we love far longer and so on. This isn't inherently better than humans as our advantages come at certain costs: we're more complex organisms and thus we require more effort to make, having longer gestation and development times and requiring more complex chemicals than humans do, as well as requiring more than a single session of lovemaking to make a child, unlike humans we can't accidentally have a child from a one-night fling, and even at our height we never had a population size comparable to other more faster-breeding species.

Thus as a result of all this, Eldar live at a....greater intensity than humans do. Every emotion could reach heights no human is capable of feeling. Every sensation we experience far more acutely and intensely than a human. Every quirk, passing interest or like could develop into obsession or mania with far greater ease. At the same time, every trauma, every moment of despair, or rage or pain could affect us far more intensely than a human ever would. For example, every time we lose a loved one, that is a sadness so great we cannot express in any way that you'd understand in this language, you do not have the words for emotional intensities we have, losing Kaerabryn would've been quite despairful indeed, perhaps even éadóchas mór lán for she is one of our youngest and thus the future of the Eldar. Knowing this, our ancestors sought in their technological pursuit, to maximize pleasure and our feeling of sensations and positive experiences so as to create utopia for ourselves, even immortality through the warp so we'd never truly die. Of course due to our ability to process things fast, we quickly grew bored of the usual pleasures and games and began to....get creative and excessive. We started to mix in pain with the pleasure to give the pleasure more meaning as well as get forms of pleasure from pain, and both pleasure and pain spiraled out of control, especially since we could come back from death, so we started killing each other for FUN, torturing each other for FUN, the games and recreation ever growing more elaborate and optimized to produce the greatest highs possible until.....It Happened. The Fall.

The Eldar's intense potential to feel emotions, combined with a decadence no other species in this universe could ever match due to our technological heights, over thousands of years shaped and contributed to the warp to create.....She Who Thirsts, who broke forth from it as she was born and devoured most of the Eldar along all but three of our gods, of those who survived, Isha goddess of healing and fertility was kidnapped by The Plaguefather and his captive to this day, Khaela Mensha Khaine was shattered into many shards by the Hound of War, and finally Cegorach the Laughing God who escaped and helps from the shadows to this day.

Our biology and souls are directly tied to our fall. It is unlikely that any other species could've fallen in the exact same way."
"Okay, hm, so Chaos gods can be created? They're in a sense, artificial? Not natural?"
"Indeed, even if their creation isn't intentional. Cegorach told us that Eldar once created all the Eldar gods intentionally, but that somehow we lost the ability. The chaos gods existence is like pollution, they are the result of accumulated psychic waste and run off from the Materium. The Warp used to be a lot calmer, a lot more easy to use, less dangerous. But....things happened that changed that. She Who Thirsts is only the final stick the broke the camels back as it were, as these changes didn't happen all at once, but rather were the result of events long before humanity ever could do anything about this. Before humanity even got out of caves, the ancient Eldar, the Old Ones and the Necrontyr and the C'tan fought in the War In Heaven, an ancient conflict sixty million years ago said to be far greater and more terrible the conflicts occurring today. The details of this war, have been lost to time but is from this conflict we speculate that the other three Chaos Gods come from."
"your not sure?"
"It is admittedly possible that one or more of the Chaos Gods could come from a future event, technically. The Warp is timeless. Once a warp entity is born into it, it is technically outside of time for all intents and purposes. Linear time is a thing of the Materium, and the Warp does not follow that rule- it can't in order for Warp travel to work."
"But doesn't that mean that the Chaos Gods could simply stop us along any point in time? Or something like that?"
"In theory, perhaps if the Warp were calmer. In practice no. It is theorized the Warp's current turbulent and chaotic state works against them in this regard, swirling and mixing moments in time so that they occur out of order and thus the Chaos Gods from their timeless point of view can't control WHERE or WHEN they interfere with the Materium. In that sense, they are opportunists affecting whatever change they can with as little psychic energy as possible for maximum benefit to feed themselves from whatever feelings they get out of people. Like merchants that want to get the biggest profit out of the cheapest thing they can sell."
"But if the Warp calms?"
"The Warp being calm while the Chaos Gods are alive is impossible. They are the source of its turbulence, its chaos. If they were to die, the Warp would return to a calmer state and would have no affect on anyone's minds. They are not unkillable, as Khaine demonstrated such great warp entities can at least be shattered into smaller shards of themselves, and as She Who Thirsts demonstrated, they can be devoured to empower another entity at the very least. The Eldar's previous plan before meeting with you Jumpers was to make our own God of Death, Ynnead to fight She Who Thirsts to kill her and calm the Warp to some degree and thus lift the curse from our species, as speaking her name allows her to devour our souls. The Emperor hoped to starve them out, so they would go back to being relatively dormant before She Who Thirsts was added, as the Warp while not ideal wasn't nearly as bad before She Who Thirsts was born. The problem is figuring out how kill the Chaos Gods in an absolute sense- you can relatively kill them by shattering them which would take some time to gather their shards back together, as energy they could be devoured. The problem of killing them in an absolute sense so they're gone forever is that people produce the emotions and feelings that lead to these entities existing: Rage, Despair, Hope, Pleasure, are things all beings experience at some point in their lives. The Chaos Gods would not come back immediately from such emotions gathering together again, it took many life times for even us, the Eldar on a massive game to create even one of them and the new entities might not be the same ones, but they'd probably be just as bad"
"Why do you think these new entities would be just as bad?"
"Because negative emotions are stronger, or perhaps more violent in the Warp than positive ones. The warp entities you all see are negative, because if any daemon of something positive ever came into existence they'd be completely peaceful and fragile, unable to hurt a fly and saintly. Imagine a daemon of compassion trying to fight, or a daemon of patience trying to act quickly- it simply would not happen. As a result, such a being would be quickly destroyed by the negative, violent daemons that the Warp is now made of."
"What about something like a daemon of courage?"
"If the Blood God's presence is any indication? Well you can't have courage and fighting in a war to protect others, without killing, hurting and rage. Alex with her powers might be an exception to this, but she is just that: an exception. The base truth of such conflict is that you can't extricate the good from the bad. The same emotions and behaviors that give rise to noble courageous warriors are the same behaviors that give rise to murdering psychopaths, as any warrior inevitably must use their anger as strength to fight to some degree, its just natural. What separates from a cultist from a non-cultist is how much they give into it. Thus do the Chaos God feed upon the entire galaxy to sustain themselves every day. Thus will any entity that arises from the Warp will slide into being negative unless you somehow figure out how to change the Materium's people to not produce them. But to get rid of these emotions in an absolute sense would be to brainwash all the people in the galaxy- a solution I don't think is desirable or realistic."
"Your making solving this sound real difficult."
"That is because of it is. We're the foremost experts on the Warp, and we have been contemplating this problem for ten thousand years. If there was a better solution we could come up with ourselves, we'd have done so....though, there is a possibility.....that there might be a new solution somewhere in the Black Library. A solution that you Jumpers can do, that we can't."
"The Black Library, what is that?"
"A Library of Eldar creation. The greatest Library ever made. It exploits the timeless nature of the Warp to gather not emotions, but knowledge across all time and space. All knowledge that can be known in this galaxy, is there. Possibly the universe, but no Eldar has been allowed to look into it long enough to find out. From it, we got the prophecy that told the Eldar would fight in the Rhana Dandra, the final fight against Chaos, somehow defeat She Who Thirsts and ensure a better future for our species. Perhaps it can tell you a solution that no one otherwise knows. But....not just anyone can go there. It is hidden deep in the Webway our method of traveling through the galaxy, and only allowed to those who have conquered the Chaos within themselves by the Harlequins and Cegorach himself. For the followers of the Fateweaver were to find it, who knows what they'd do?"
"Hm..." Ensara says smiling "All knowledge across time and space you say? Interesting. I think we should check it out sometime."

[Earl of Purple]

Second Meeting With Eldrad

Edward's had an opportunity to change into a fresh suit, and has buckled a knife to his waist to go with the oil-lock pistol. He's still leaning on his cane, though not yet replace his pistol. He wants an upgrade. "I would have thought that a spirit of patience, in the timeless Warp, would have a great deal of power. Although nearly impossible to discover or interact with, if it has no desire to do anything but wait." With no time, waiting is very easy. But also basically pointless.

"You think they may have been created and come into existence retroactively. Did She Who Thirsts do anything before its birth? It won't be reliable, but it'd be a clue I think as to whether that's likely." Of course, lots of records are likely lost. Or in the Black Library.

[Lord Raziere]

Meeting with Eldrad:
"How many people do you know are patient? Can you maximize the feeling of patience through specific acts of expression? Feel greater heights of patience? Can you optimize the short term gains of patience energy to have the most output in the smallest amount of time possible? Make people create an entire way of life focusing only on being patient? The answer to these questions is bluntly: You can't. The reason all these Chaos God function the way are is because they are like.....hm....merchants, and emotion is their coin. They want to maximize things like pleasure or rage or despair or hope, is because these things can be felt in great amounts very easily in very short amounts of time, which produces psychic energy that because of their purities of a certain feelings all clump and gather together like gravity and those four are basically psychic black holes of those particular emotions. Problem is, like any farm or business venture you spend money to make money, or energy to make energy in this case. So they have to figure out ways to push the dominoes so to say with as little energy as possible for bigger payoffs down the road. Their entire cults and corrupted human forces are basically pyramid schemes cross between drug peddlers where the cultists recruit more people into them and tempt them into more and more extreme acts of this or that emotion so that their gods benefit at the top, their cultists doing much of the legwork for them.

You can't do this with something like patience or compassion or whatever else, they are inherently healthy emotions and concepts, and thus encourage you to have a healthier more balanced lifestyle, and thus a healthier more balanced minds. Thus the psychic energy produced is more mixed, more diffuse and thus doesn't lead to the imbalanced extreme daemons and gods you see. We the Craftworld Eldar demonstrate this by leading lives of incredible restraint and discipline for example. The Psychic energy from such healthier minds would actually be more sustainable than how the Chaos Gods currently operate, but would lead to the Chaos Gods going dormant as they were before the Fall. The daemons, the gods, they would all go into a slump from moderation. Thus they sustain themselves on outrageous acts of fury and bloodlust, complicated schemes of ambition, drug-fueled heights of decadence, and grand acts of mutual despair despite how short term it all is, because who they are is dependent on these short term unhealthy extreme forms of what they represent. They have turned to humanity to be the main source of these emotions because of how corruptible they are compared to everyone else, which is why their cultists are all space marines and humans."
Rhiannon sniffs
"Hah! It is no concern, the Imperium has been working to reroute all the worship of Mankind from the Ruinous Powers receive to the God-Emperor of Mankind with the Imperial Creed. Sooner or later he will one day rise from his Golden Throne to destroy the Chaos Gods along with any other enemies that could possibly threaten us. What he does to the Eldar? Is your problem, not ours."
"Hmph! Your a fool, Rogue Trader Rhiannon. We know of your God-Emperor, we know your worship. From what we can see? All your doing is creating a Fifth Chaos God."
"....What." She looks at Eldrad with a dangerous glare. "Surely this is a lie. You cannot shake my faith in the God Emperor with something like that."
Eldrad continues on, saying calmly and factually:
"While history does not repeat, it often rhymes, Captain Rhiannon. What the Eldar are observing happening on Terra these past ten thousand years, is much similar to what to happened to the Eldar's civilization before the Fall, except instead of decadence and pleasure, the emotions are zealotry, faith, hatred, distrust, paranoia, fear, dogma, things of that nature. It is nothing secret or surprising to us, the signs are there and the process is so slow and long as to be noticed inevitably. We created a terrifying deity from the heights of our pleasures, Captain Rhiannon....imagine what horror humans will make from the depths of their worst tendencies. However long it takes, whatever will emerge from that Golden Throne will not be the God-Emperor you hope for. It won't even be the Emperor that actually existed- who was bad enough. For all his efforts, all that big golden ******* did was basically gave Chaos nine Primarchs and legions of space marines to use to ruin the galaxy! No it will be something far worse, something that will destroy humanity as She Who Thirsts destroyed the Eldar for our hubris. By making your Emperor a god, worshipping him like that, you have done nothing but trade one doom for another."
"Well of course you'd say that, your not human and thus can't have any faith in the God-Emperor of Mankind, and thus can't piously work as humans can to realize his dream for the galaxy."
"...Why are you working with three beings from beyond our universe that explicitly have no faith in him and probably hate everything he stands for?"
"The Emperor works in mysterious ways. Clearly them coming here is a miracle by his hand! That and I'm Ex-Inquisitor, I'm used to using tools that lesser humans are not pure enough to handle, and I'm a Rogue Trader so clearly I'm still pure and sanctioned enough to keep doing so."

Edrad turns to the rest of you.
"....Please tell me you three don't actually take orders from her."
"We don't. So, I'm an Exalted. If I train myself enough, I could probably persuade large amounts of people to embrace different ways of life using the most powerful social charms I can learn. Entire nations, to be exact. You think that could help with figuring out a way to make people not horrible in order to fix the Warp?
"Nations, as in ones less big than continents? your talking about an entire galaxy here. It might help, your talking about capabilities that seem similar to the Primarchs and they persuaded and changed the lives of a lot of people if the Imperium during the Great Crusade is any indication, so its possible. But that was the work of over two hundred years and eighteen Primarchs to change about 60% of the galaxy. your only one Exalted and-"
"-May have only ten years to fix all this since I'm a Jumper. Hm."
"You can see the problem. The galaxy is a massive place. The sheer size and undertaking of normal social change even through conquest, would be too long."
"and I have no idea about how strong my planeswalker powers are, since those are fuzzy at the best of times. Great."
"And this is all ignoring the fact that your not doing all this unopposed, which would be hard enough. The Orks, the Necrons, the Tyranids, the Dark Eldar, the Imperium, even some of the more prejudiced Eldar- these are all threats to you to one degree or another. All these beings complicate and make it harder to solve anything because of how they contribute to the situation of eternal war this galaxy is in. I'd recommend figuring out how to solve these problems piecemeal. Figuring out how to solve one problem will most likely free up resources to solve a different one."
"Hm, Ensara" Rhiannon muses "What other skills could you train yourself in to become superhumanly good at?"
"Well honestly? Any human skill that has ever existed. Combined with a Dabbler perk I took in the Anima Beyond Fantasy Jump, and I'm basically a jack of all trades in some form or other. With enough training I could probably become a master of anything in a shorter time than most people probably."
"....Could possibly become a master of bureaucracy? The Administratum really needs someone to organize it all into something sensible. It'd probably make the Imperium more effective at dealing with all the threats around it"
"Well I could but.....bureaucracy is so booooriiiiiiiing! Thats more of a Penumbra or Eclipse Caste's kind of work. That and why would I want to reform the bureaucracy of your fascist theocratic genocide space empire and make you BETTER at oppressing people and killing all the alien races that don't deserve it? I could do better at solving this than that."
"Better how? What would possibly do other than fight anything in your way?" Rhiannon says with skepticism
"Well clearly, the humans of this galaxy don't know the true meaning of freedom- neither the Imperium nor Chaos. If I had the time, I'd spread a philosophy of true freedom, enlightening them to the true nature of the power structures that control them, teaching them to think critically about how the Imperium and Chaos are basically using them as expendable tools and resources for their eternal war with no compassion or even thought given to their suffering, just in different ways, and how true freedom is learning to free yourself from the chains of hate and suffering that bind one into repeating cycles of abuse, revenge and so on and so forth. That would unfortunately, take too long however."
"Wait...what are you implying with that?" Rhiannon asks, eyeing Ensara
"Ah, simple: your still not free Rhiannon. Your mind is still imprisoned not by anything physical, but by the chains of the society and culture you were raised in. Whether as Inquisitor, Rogue Trader, or otherwise your just another tool another Imperium resource, one more flexible than most, but still just a tool. not only that, your a tool who wields other tools, not realizing that she does what is done to herself and thinks herself superior for it just because holds some of the puppet strings, dancing to your own strings at the hand of people claiming to represent the will of a being who has not been heard for ten thousand years, when entire civilizations become ancient and long forgotten in shorter timespans."
"What...I....how..." she says, wide eyed "How are you doing this? I don't feel any psychic suggestion...."
"You can't deny it. But don't beat yourself about it- I can just be really convincing when I want to, and of course someone raised in a prison can't see the bars for what they are. it often takes another person pointing out the bars to see them."
"...How....how do I know your not just with Chaos!? What...would I even fight for if what you say is true?"
"Because Chaos is just as bad if not worse than the Imperium. Whether slave to orders or slave to one's emotions, you'd still be a slave. I want people to be more than that. Don't fight for the Imperium. Don't fight for Chaos. Fight for the people that deserve a better future than all this."
"What....whats the difference?"
"Heheheheh.....once you figure that out, then you'll truly be free."

[Rater202]

"...So I'm just gonna put this out there that if what I recall from my orignal life and his knowledge of this reality is true that the Emporer of Mankind was very insistent that he was not a God in his lifetime. And was in fact an atheist. By worshiping him as a deity you are in fact showing him the greatest possible disrespect you can show him."

"Granted, it's pretty clear that he has the powers of a god whether he is one or not, at least by this reality's standards, and that gods do in fact exist in this reality, meaning that he was either in denial or delusional."

[Lord Raziere]

Meeting with Eldrad:
People in the background will gasp at the thought of the Emperor being atheist and not wanting to be worshipped. Oh no! Something about ten thousand years ago was wrong! This matters.....very little. Except emotionally, probably.

Eldrad will ignore this and continue on.
"So long as you define godhood solely by the fact that one is incredibly psychically powerful, then they are gods, but they're not really gods in any other respect. The Eldar used to have many similar gods killed She Who Thirsts who were more benevolent: Asuryan the Phoenix King whose symbols were fire and light, his Consort Gea, Hoec the Wanderer, Kurnous the God of the Hunt, Lileath Goddess of Dreams and Fortune, Morai-Heg the Crone Goddess of Fate and Souls, and Vaul the Artificer was basically the Eldar god of craftmanship and smithing, all are gods destroyed or devoured by She-Who-Thirsts and thus while we still revere them, we cannot call upon their aid anymore. But notice what didn't happen when they died."
"What....didn't happen?"
Eldrad asks
"Did the stars lose their light just because Asuryan no longer walked the world? Did people stop hunting because Kurnous no longer can? Do people no longer dream, just because Lileath's fate was tragically cut short? Can people no longer smith just because Vaul is dead? All these questions are a resounding "No". Incredibly powerful psychic entities they may be, and perhaps godlike might within them that you may feel calling them a god befits the term, but ultimately the Chaos Gods being called gods is just a shorthand. They are not vital to reality in any way shape or form, just as our gods weren't. Worship isn't even what empowers them, its emotions. The Emperor tried to get rid of all religions in the galaxy not because religion is vital to prayer, but because religion heightens the emotions that people already feel when people do things. When people believe that their actions serve some greater cosmic spiritual purpose, it boosts what they feel because they think it has a greater meaning. but given how the Great Crusade went, worship isn't VITAL to the Chaos Gods, or it would've never happened in the first place. The cults, this whole war....to them its just their psychic energy farm and religion is just the spray they use to make the plants grow faster. Ultimately, any god of the warp is an artificial created being whether on purpose or on accident that if they all dropped dead tomorrow? people would mourn, but the universe would continue on uncaring that they ever existed. In that sense while powerful, they are NOT gods, or at least, not vital divine pillars of reality, because no warp entity is. I say this because the Chaos Gods would want you to believe otherwise, believe that somehow they are vital celestial processes and this is not the case at all- flat out impossible even. They are bound by the same rules as any other warp entity, just like Cegorach, just like Khaine, just the Orks stupid gods and just like all the gods we lost. And if our gods can die and everything can keep on going....so can they.

All this religion, superstition and faith? Is just the perfect environment for the Chaos Gods to manipulate people using mysticism and mummery to cloud their true nature and exploit religious people to dark ends, just like say, a normal cult leader: they talk a great game but at the end of the day their real goal is control and making money. No, the real reason The Emperor failed is because quite simply....he was a ruthless genocidal conquering tyrant who, no matter what his actual beliefs were, killed many many people to force them to follow him which made it very believable that he'd get even worse. do you really think it would've mattered if the Emperor was a religious man as he burned Monarchia? do really think Lorgar would've been any less enraged by him killing an entire planet he had converted peacefully if the Emperor's justification was "they were worshipping the wrong religion" rather than "They were worshipping any religion at all"? No. It wouldn't. In the end, the Chaos Gods would have their servant either way. He was wrong to kill people for being religious but thats because.....its wrong to kill people just for being religious. The cults are just as much victims of the Chaos Gods and their manipulations as anyone else. Horus didn't start out fighting the Emperor for Chaos for the sake of Chaos after all, he started fighting the Emperor because he'd thought he become a power-mad oppressor, with a lot of dead planets, civilizations and species of evidence at the Emperor's and primarchs hands to back that up. What, you thought he turned half the Imperium's forces against itself with a pitch like "come join Chaos and worship demons?" at first? No, such corruption was slow. If the Emperor truly had good intentions for his people, he had a very strange way of showing it."
"Heresy!" Rhiannon says "He killed so many threats to humanity! So many xenos that would want to exploit or wipe us out, or people that wouldn't be loyal to humanity's cause. How is that bad?"
"You assume, Captain Rhiannon that all of alien races were truly threats, that all of the people who disagreed with him truly needed to be wiped out. Perhaps if your histories weren't so buried in needless censorship and revisionism to fit whatever version of religious dogma a particular Imperial wanted to be true, you could point to specific examples where the Emperor or the Imperium were right to call an alien species a threat and wipe them out, but wait! knowledge about alien species is forbidden in your Imperium isn't it? How convenient that all your documents about true information about the alien species you wiped out are either secret, burned for being too curious about the "vile xeno" or lost somewhere in a random Administratum file cabinet! Almost as if your Inquisition disposes of any evidence that your Imperium has been going around killing aliens of varying innocence for ten thousand years."
"the Inquisition keeps such secrets because such information is too horrible for most minds to bear!"
"While I have no doubt that are indeed secrets of this universe of such horror and darkness, I find it ridiculous that all the secrets your Inquisition keeps would be consist solely of that, or that a group of superstitious zealots not versed in proper scientific methods would be able to find so many and judge them accurately- after all if these are secrets humans truly are not meant to know and your entire organizations consists of humans.....then your entire organization isn't fit to know about what your protecting the people from and are damaged by having the secret at all. The simplest most plausible explanation is that you simply lock anything you don't like or get scared of away without knowing what you actually have and the rest of the Imperium muddles through things without a clue what they're doing. And/or things that if got out would make people rebel because surprise surprise, not all humans would like their rulers actions no matter how much propaganda and dogma about hating the xeno, the mutant, the heretic they try to cram down their throats.

Quite simply, the Emperor could've been more open, more cooperative, less violent, less obsessed with controlling everything, perhaps then his own Sons wouldn't think him becoming an oppressive god as something so believable as to rebel against him at the first sign of him not trusting them. After all, if the all-powerful dictator of the galaxy known for a tendency of controlling all he could and destroying whatever he couldn't, keeping secrets, trusting few and treating everyone else as tools for whatever mysterious ends he had planned went off to do something and told no one about what it was....wouldn't you have good reason to think you might be next on the chopping block? Wouldn't you be concerned about him not having anyone's best interests in mind? After all the killing and conquering he has done? Your Imperium dresses up the Horus Heresy as an operatic pageantry of family issues when it doesn't just make it all myth and fable, but really? distrusting and not wanting to be ruled under such a man is entirely reasonable. Its just a shame Chaos likes to corrupt those who see the light."
Rhiannon is quiet as she takes this in and says "...I will be....in my cabin" and walks away.
Eldrad continues.
"But all this, is ancient history, and tangential.

The Forge of Vaul I cannot accept. It is too dangerous."
"Well if the Imperium don't want it, and the Eldar don't want it, perhaps we could use it."
".....While your certainly capable, I'm not sure thats wise. The Forge of Vaul is a roulette wheel, you could theoretically fabricate anything, its just the problem of inevitably causing some random immaterium mishap. you'd be better off finding a fully intact STC, or trying to figure out Necron tech, neither of which use the Immaterium to function and thus are more reliable."
"Perhaps, but we need not use it immediately. With my Exalted brilliance, perhaps I could find a way to improve it or something. If nothing else, its something I can use in a later jump with some perk or ability to fix it up."
"Hm. Very well. Its your risk to take. Don't say I didn't warn you however."
"and what of Kaerabryn now that she is safe?"
"She is a Pathfinder, walking the Path of the Outcaste of her own choice. She goes where she pleases, no matter what her Craftworld prefers. If an individual Eldar wishes to strike out on their own, knowing the grim state of affairs of our race and the galaxy, there is little we can do and if worst comes to worst, they will at least be able to live their life how they prefer before the Rhana Dandra, the End Times."
Kaerabryn turns to Ensara
"I think I'll stay on this ship, you Jumpers seem to be interesting and if your on the quest you say you are, why not come along? You'll need all the help you can get for fixing this galaxy. And it wouldn't be the first time an Eldar has spent time on a Rogue Trader vessel."
"What will you do now, Farseer Eldrad of Ulthwe?"
"I'd say we are allies, Jumpers of the Saber. We will probably go through the Webway to somewhere more safe, whenever your ready to depart. I'd suggest finding more allies regardless of whether you go towards the Black Library or not. This is a galaxy of armies and war, and while your powerful, do not discard the strength of the normal, the meek, the many. People will die no matter what you do, but leaders that actually care about them, that fight for a good cause might make all the difference."
"Okay people, aside from sticking around to get some Eldar weapons, I'm fine myself, so....do we search for the Black Library next? Or do we do something else?"
"If you search for the Black Library your best bet is to find the Harlequins. They tend to travel around, fighting Chaos here and there." Kaerabryn says

[Earl of Purple]

Meeting With Eldrad

"So we have a plan, then? I need to replace my pistol before our next outing. This one's not very good against the tall dudes in the fancy suits. I had to use other methods to kill one. Something silent, I think, or as quiet as we can find. I'm more sneak than warrior. We should find the Black Library. I came into this blind, without my usual batch of memories. I want to know more of what's going on and is out there, so we can maybe plan a way to kill the Chaos Gods." Assassin, and thief, and black marketeer, and sometimes even a politician. He'll ideally get a chance to don his dragonscale armour before their next outing, anyway, but a change of sidearm will at least give him a better chance of being useful if that doesn't happen.

[Lord Raziere]

(OOC: Immaterial Martial Arts aren't canon, they are an entirely fanmade creation by me, so don't worry about them.)

Ensara:
"Well, I've been gathering this tech for more than just curiosity- its to replicate it, and some guns can pierce the Space Marine armor. I could do a bolt gun for you and that should work for piercing those armor and thats probably the most familiar to a normal gun. I'm going to get some Eldar guns however and probably going to gather even more stuff so if you ever want more, never hesitate to ask."
She will go to the Craftworld to do some negotiations for eldar technology. After some time, she will come back with all the spirit stones gone and various Eldar devices and weapons they can spare obtained.

If you have any questions or things you want do involving interacting with Craftworld Ulthwe, please state now as while they're your allies they are going different places and won't be in contact with you. Kareabryn will take a room to herself and will seek out Ensara to ask:
"You have interesting martial arts, where did you learn them?"
"Creation for some of them, Gaia for others. I didn't know this universe knew of such things to recognize what they are."
"Well....your mostly right, long ago in the old Eldar Empire, there was techniques called Immaterial Martial Arts that harnessed Warp energy for various fighting techniques, and the Eldar had tournaments to fight for enjoyment and the glory of Khaine. They are now....lost for the most part. I learned my own style from delving into some ruins as a pathfinder, though I'm pretty sure there are Exodite Eldar out there who still maintain them for self defense- basically Eldar who discarded higher technology to live simpler lives."
Ensara looks up from the device she was working on her eyes alight with interest
"There are Immaterial Martial Arts? Fascinating! If I could find a way to learn them they'd be something quite unique to add to my repertoire."
"....Well thats fine, but you'd need to figure out how to use warp energy first. While your powers are great, they aren't native to this galaxy."
Ensara thinks about this, reminded of Tzeentch's offer. With the perk she could get, this wouldn't be a problem at all. It was tempting. So tempting. A part of her even knows her perk to make deals with demons might apply to Tzeentch and thus maybe might allow her to escape the deal with some loophole. Another part thought of how she might be able to get back Shanari, she would be angry at her for doing so, but she'd be alive at least. The problem was someone like Alex or Edward. They might not approve. She might have to discuss Tzeentch's offer to them to get their opinions on this. But not anyone else. Something like this required...delicacy.
"....I'm sure I'll figure something out Kaera." she says with a roguish smile "And when I do we can perhaps learn them together."
"Well, you did a lot of impossible things back there so maybe you can pull that off? I'm not sure what to think of someone who is foreign to....the universe itself."
"Oh, you'll find I'm full of surprises, Kaera, we all are."

Ensara will ask Edward and Alex to meet her in private to discuss something. Whether they attend is up to them.

[Rater202]

Alex has no reason not to meet with Ensara.

[Earl of Purple]

Meeting with Ensara

Edward has nothing more really to do with the Craftworld, save perhaps trying to find directions for the Black Library there, which is probably going to be impossible. So besides perhaps a sight-seeing tour, I don't think there's anything Eldar he really wants.

He will accept a bolt pistol if one is offered to him, though. He'll practice with it when he can, but before then there's a meeting he'll attend, wearing a different tailored suit and with the bolt pistol and a dagger hanging at his waist. He's not wearing glasses or gloves, showing off the delicate tracery of blue lines over his nose and around his eye sockets and also displaying the Outsider's Mark etched upon his left hand.

[Lord Raziere]

Before the meeting:
Edward will find the bolt pistol handling a bit different from a normal gun, even this "human-sized" one according to Ensara, Rhiannon and Iota-34 is larger than what you'd probably used to using: its .75 caliber, the ammo itself is a self-propped explosive bolt that explodes when it penetrates its target, and it has a powerful recoil that most humans would find hard to handle, and the standard magazine has like 30 rounds. This is like, wielding a big assault rifle that fires miniature rockets. Its utterly ridiculous from a normal gunman perspective. It likely only works a ridiculous universe like this and might need a perk to work in some universe thats more sensible.

Eldrad will tell you:
"Directions to the Black Library are....complicated. Its in the middle of the Webway. An extra-dimensional network of FTL travel we built so we didn't have to use Warp travel. Problem is, its hidden deep within the webway, which are only gotten to through our Webway Gates. Its why we recommend finding the Harlequins, they could lead you there- the Black Library is under the Laughing God Cegorach's protection and Harlequins are his servants. Though...thats can be a bit hard on its own, they are constantly moving, their "performances" against Chaos take their troupes across the galaxy. If you can't find them, you might need to go to Comorragh. That is much easier to find unfortunately, but you'll have to deal with Dark Eldar to get to the visiting Harlequins there."

Eldrad will accede to a sight-seeing tour. The Eldar Warriors will state:
"Greetings mon-err, human. You will shown around the Craftworld. We will escort you to assure that your safe to the rest of the Aeldari. You will not be allowed to know the location of or be near any Aeldari Children, not be allowed in any areas with vital systems where sabotage could harm our Craftworld's vital systems, things like that. If you have a problem with any of this, I am instructed to remind you that most humans would try to kill us on sight in this galaxy. To be granted a tour so that you may see us peacefully at all, rather than having to force yourself in guns blazing is a great honor. Do not take it lightly."
Then escort you, showing you around the Craftworld. It feels empty, but not of life. Sure there are biomes as the Craftworld is the size of a planet, and these aren't just farms or drab things made to serve some utilitarian function- these biomes are all art. The cities as well. The Eldar it seems, do not do anything without not only doing it right, but doing it superbly and beautifully. The cities however are just.... empty. There are entire neighborhoods with no one living in them, immaculate as the day they were built. The Eldar population only occupies parts of them. These Craftworlds were built expecting greater numbers than they have. Even stranger some of the Warriors you see walking around are not Eldar at all, but seem to be robots with soulstones in them while the normal Warriors are very restrained in their demeanor compared to other Eldar, very disciplined, though some level of self-restraint and discipline seems present throughout all of Craftworld society.

Ensara:
She will look unsure about this but say anyways
"Okay....this is probably going to sound bad.....but I think you need to hear this and its probably not a good idea to speak to anyone else....

....Tzeentch spoke to me. Offered me a deal. He probably knew both of you were decent enough people that he wouldn't have any chance with you two. He said my patron granted him power to do things like bring back my old mentor, to get perks I want by going into point debt that would give me flaws....things like that. But that if I helped him escape from this universe he would forgive the debt. If he isn't lying, Tzeentch sees this galaxy as a lost cause and wants to find some other universe to play with. Wants to escape, and given he is the "god" of hope and progress and how stagnant, decaying and backwards this galaxy is....it makes sense that he'd want to go somewhere else.

I didn't say yes to him but.....I didn't give him a definitive no either....he left me to stew on the deal, saying the offer was always open. Because apart of me is tempted to say yes, knowing that I have a perk to like, potentially screw him out of the deal. Problem is, I'm both an Exalted and a Planeswalker, and both of those kinds of people have a tendency towards succumbing to hubris when they try to do something too audacious or risky. I'm worried that I'd be playing with fire, and want you to understand why...why I didn't just say no even if its like, probably completely obvious to you as to what the right decision is. Normally when I go around picking up demonic or dark powers on a jump, I don't have any peers who can judge me and perks that can like, mitigate the downsides of getting them to me or any natives. But in this situation, I have to think about how people could be affected by actions. Dealing with Tzeentch is a big risk and could have both benefits and downsides depending on how its done, but there is also the potential to outplay him to beat him at his own game, and wouldn't that be a legendary feat worthy of one of the Chosen?"

[Rater202]

"I am going to politely request that you do not let one of the four abominations whose more existence corrupts the universe around them free into the wider multiverse. Or like have anything at all to do with him? I would really rather not chain fail right now. Explaining this to my original self's family would be awkward."

"Like, real talk? The only reason I'm not actively trying to destroy the Chaos Gods right now is that I can't."

"...I could have been a god. Could have had a domain of Holiness or Purity or something and been strong enough to purge whole chunks of this galaxy of taint at once. But no, I just had to double up on my psychic powers."

"Or, my original self did, when he thought this was a game..."

[Lord Raziere]

Ensara:
"Well to clarify if I was actually taking the deal, I'd be screwing him over. Straight up. Like my plan would be to basically make a ritual, super-lie to him that that it will free him when all it would really do is like, allow me to devour him using certain Metagaos charms and turn him into one of my component souls and thus whatever entity remaining would be loyal to me. The deal would technically be fulfilled since Tzeentch would become me in a sense, and thus since I would be free and he would be apart of me well....technically fulfilled but not his favor.

But I can see why that you wouldn't want even that. not sure if a god-devouring charm would work on him without a perk."

[Rater202]

Ensara:
"Well to clarify if I was actually taking the deal, I'd be screwing him over. Straight up. Like my plan would be to basically make a ritual, super-lie to him that that it will free him when all it would really do is like, allow me to devour him using certain Metagaos charms and turn him into one of my component souls and thus whatever entity remaining would be loyal to me. The deal would technically be fulfilled since Tzeentch would become me in a sense, and thus since I would be free and he would be apart of me well....technically fulfilled but not his favor.

But I can see why that you wouldn't want even that. not sure if a god-devouring charm would work on him without a perk."

"Yeah, I don't think you're gonna out scheme the god of being a scheming asshat, and If I recall trying to devour chaos beings doesn't end well. I've got an anti-corruption perk and I wouldn't even try that."

"...Dream. I could have had the same powers as Franklin ****ing Richards. Even cross-origin I had the points. Could have just snapped my fingers and purged chaos, dusted the nids, boyz, and Necrons, healed the Emporer, and whipped his ass as many times as it would have taken to beat some sense into him and make him clean up the messes he made. But no, I didn't want to be that powerful off the bat."

[Lord Raziere]

Ensara:
"Yeah, I feel ya, I have my own regrets about my power choices to sometimes but....if we're not going to be exciting, audacious and daring by trying to screw over a god, I guess that we'll just have to deal what we have, and I'll just have to find some other audacious or great thing to do. Think I should like, engineer a magical necrotic curse-plague under my control using black mana to try and like, make tyranid zombies to screw over their biology based abilities? Like it could turn their eating thing against them by cursing them when they try to eat the zombies and even if we end up with like, a rogue zombie tyranid horde or something their lack of biology would ensure all their living abilities would not work and thus be far easier to kill than the constantly evolving menace they are now."

[Earl of Purple]

Ensara

"I thought our plan was to kill them, and that's why we wanted the Black Library. Or is that just me? I mean, I can't stop you if you choose to make that deal, but... I thought we already had some plans for that. I think next time we do a discussion like this, though, we do it in somebody's Warehouse. I don't know how aware a daemon might be of what's going on in realspace, but I'd feel a lot better discussing plots and plans- especially ones about the entity empowered by such, in a space we can be reasonably sure he can't look into." Edward has never encountered a demon or a daemon before, but he knows that some can hear when their name is spoken. "I don't really regret my choices. They've all been fun. Not all will be very helpful right now, and... Frankly I think you're both more powerful than I am. I still need to sleep, less sure about that with you guys. But power's not something I'm after; I want to enjoy myself." An adrenaline junky can't get as much adrenaline if what they're doing is completely safe, and Edward's a bit of an adrenaline junky.

Craftworld

Edward takes some images with a Silvergraph device he'd put in his warehouse. It's quite a clunky bit of kit, but the first world he went to didn't have any photographic technology and neither did the third. And frankly he quite enjoys how much time the old-fashioned thing needs to take an image, though it's quicker than Earth-native technology of a similar style.

[Lord Raziere]

Ensara:
"Yes it is the plan to kill them. It will always, inevitably be the plan. Screwing over Tzeentch wouldn't change that, and we've already decided that my plan is not happening. Don't mistake me throwing out possible ideas for this or that as a definitive change in overall objective, or your going to be real confused every time I suggest anything. There is only so much I can do to make you understand my thoughts, so please make some attempt to keep up."
She has noticed that they either don't know or don't care for much of what she has to say and thus is considering only saying what she absolutely needs to.
"I'll just go figure out with Eldrad how to find the Harlequins then...."

[Earl of Purple]

Ensara

"I wasn't sure if you could safely kill something once you've made it part of your soul. Because once it's there, it's part of you, isn't it? Or is that not how souls work in whatever world you picked that trick up from? I've not done a lot to directly interact with my soul, but if I removed the thing I added I'd die." The gold spike stitching his healing ability to his soul goes through his heart. If he'd put it somewhere else, he could potentially remove it without dying and lose the healing ability in the process, but hemalurgy is a messy and complex art. Edward doesn't know enough about it to know what other bind points would work, and didn't fancy the process of experimentation. It would also have attracted very unwanted attention, which Edward at the time would not have been able to deal with.

[Lord Raziere]

Ensara:
"Okay one: its a plan thats been tabled. 2: whatever entity that would be reborn would not the Tzeentch that it is now. You cannot unbake bread, and you cannot unkill a god, much like how a person cannot unreincarnate back into being the person they were before they reincarnated, a mortal cannot Unexalt nor can a Liminal Exalted can become the person they were made from. To do such a thing is to slay Tzeentch-That-Is, and Tzeentch-That-Would-Be would not be fundamentally be the same. you eat things all the time after all, that process doesn't leave with the same food you had afterwards, does it? While many universes delight in easily reversing the consequences of one's actions, Creation is not one of them. Why, an Exalt cannot even resurrect anybody! A power considered normal or vital on some worlds and its effects thought little about, when to Creation such a thing is reversing the irreversible, and taking back what has no takebacks. the ghosts and undead of Creation are not the same person as when they were alive. Nor can an Exalt's abilities allow for time travel, despite the worlds that can do such a thing as well

So trust me when I say: if Tzeentch dies to an Exalt's blade, he will stay dead. Regardless of what is done with his remains afterwards. Any Solar, Lunar, Abyssal or Sidereal could kill him with enough power, and Lunar might also devour him as they sometimes do to some gods, but they would not have the Infernal power of Metagaos to utilize it the way I do."
She will confer with Eldrad and soon:
"We can either go forth to Comorragh where we can find the Masque of The Soaring Spite or...

well due to my and Eldrads magical prognostications there are a few places we can probably find a traveling Masque of Harlequins:
-Jaggogona System, an Imperial solar system currently rebelling against the Imperium and thus vulnerable to Chaos corrupting them, The Masque of the Midnight Sorrow, dedicated to fighting Chaos, is likely to be there
-Elrecega V, a Necron Tomb World and Mechanicus Forge World, The Masque of Dreaming Shadow might be there, for they are dedicated to fighting the Eldar's ancient foe and don't want more of them waking up
-The Octarius Sector, The Masque of the Hidden Path is probably there to figure out a way to make sure neither the Tyranids nor the Orks there become a galaxy-destroying force.
-Coigawa, a planet outside the Imperium where remnants of various alien races with grudges against the Imperium are gathering to do a dark ritual. The Masque of the Shadow Weavers are most likely there
-Ziaphora. the Masque of Leaping Stars went to investigate it after a Tyranid Hive Fleet Tiamet had begun to claim a cluster of planets without stripping them of biomass, highly unusual behavior for Tyranids, that the Inquisition and Deathwatch Space Marines have also come to investigate
-The Tau's home system, The Masque of the Veiled Path are probably there to manipulate the Tau towards a path to the Eldar's benefit.

Any these choices of sound good?"

[Rater202]

"On the one hand, I'm up for a bug hunt... On the other, very bad things would happen if the Nids got my DNA."

[TeChameleon]

A familiar plaza... a fountain to Saint Drusus... and a noise.

Some have described it as 'the music of the spheres', 'the most beautiful sound in the universe'.

Less excitable, or possibly just saner, people typically describe it as sounding sort of like

*VWOORP VWOORP VWOORP*

And a boxy blue structure faded into view above the fountain, dropping a few inches before hovering in place.

There was a pause as the box slowly rotated, stopped abruptly, and managed to convey an impression of shock, then dismay, and finally frustrated, resigned acceptance, without ever once being anything other than a plain, unchanging blue box. And then suddenly it spun around, angled upwards as if it had suddenly spotted something. After a moment of something that the handful of bystanders could have sworn was staring, despite not having anything to stare with, the box faded out with another *VWOORP VWOORP VWOORP*, leaving the underhive square as unremarkable as it had been previously.

*****

Aboard the Sabre, things are very likely a bit disturbed by a sudden, insistent sound of *VWOORP VWOORP VWOORP* as a blue box that bore a striking resemblance to a 1960s-era London police phone box materialized in the room. After a moment, the door cracked open, then opened fully and a tall-ish, rangy, viking-looking type in a dusty coverall and workboots staggered out sideways, nearly falling before he caught himself on the doorframe.

"Bloody hell, spacetime is a mess in this universe, feels like my brain's about to leak out my ears..." he muttered, righting himself and looking at the assembled group as his TARDIS folded in on itself, vanishing in a streak of jumbled light that leapt 'into' him. Those with above-human senses might notice that there was something odd about the transition, but unless they were very sensitive to spacetime events, that's probably all they'd get.

"Er, right, sorry 'bout that. Name's Frode, and going by your energy signatures, you lot have to be other jumpers. What nonsense is going on around here to pull all of us into it?"

[Lord Raziere]

Update:
Frode as he appears in this universe will hear an update from his Archive:
"DING! UPDATE SUCCESS! ALL WARHAMMER 40,000 UNIVERSE KNOWLEDGE STORED.
WARNING! MANY FILES OF THIS UNIVERSE'S ARCHIVE CONTAIN COGNITOHAZARDS. CAUTION ABOUT WHO VIEWS CERTAIN FILES IS ADVISED."

Ensara:
A long red-haired woman with green eyes, wearing nine-teenth century style clothing with a blue navy coat will turn and look at him, really peer at him, with Exalted level perceptiveness
"Ah, someone whose jumped to Doctor Who....and if my estimation is correct, probably MORE intelligent than me. Not every day I'm not the most intelligent person in the room. Yeah, our Benefactors put us here? Edward I think just....randomly came here maybe? But this isn't an ordinary jump, don't get perks at start, and for some reason we've all been just...zapped here. Probably by greater powers than our own for their amusement.

But where are my manners, I'm Ensara, Infernal Exalted, Planeswalker, Sorcerer, Martial Artist, Artificer, many things such as that."

She will say introducing her with a flourish.
"This is the Sabre, a vessel that flies through space, most of the non-Jumpers are crew from the Imperium, and we're just y'know, trying to save this galaxy, admittedly probably a bit hard given it seems doomed seven ways from sunday but a little thing like isn't going to stop us! I'm a bit more selfish about trying to get technology and other things out of it but the other two Jumpers are pretty much good beans, you'll like them. Honestly your TARDIS might open up a lot of options, we were just discussing our next move. Frode was it? Nice to meet you Frode."

[Earl of Purple]

Ensara

"We'll have to face the 'Nids sooner or later, but I agree. It might be best to leave them for a while until we've learnt more, possibly including ways to fight them without facing them. I'd be interested in meeting the T'au, but I don't think they're a good idea. We'd stick out like a sore thumb in their space, and that's not good. Jaggonoggoa or whatever it's called is I think the most likely place. Lots of ships turning up, probably for both sides, all human so we'd blend in easier, we'd have a mutual aim in keeping the worlds out of Chaos' grip, and we've faced Chaos before so we've got some idea of what to expect."

Of course, then they're interrupted.

"I'm Edward Sinton, Obligator of Resource, the Dragonborn and somebody the Outsider thought was interesting. I didn't sign up for any of this deliberately, but fell asleep on a train and woke up a priest on a world that was about to end. I've been travelling ever since." The man smiles, a red-haired man with freckles, with intricate blue tattoos around his eyes and wearing a slightly old-fashioned but well-tailored black suit with a cravat about his neck, a twisted hardwood cane propped against the table next to where he sits. His hands are resting on the table in front of him, showing off the Outsider's mark on the back of his left one, a vaguely winged sigil marked out in what seems like black ink. "I've been trying to help people for most of my time, though I've not always succeeded. People come first, but if I get a chance to experience something I'd never have done so before, I'll take it." Which is why he has some photographs of an Eldar craftworld hanging on a wall in his warehouse.

[Rater202]

"I'm Alexandra of Thymiscria, or Starheart if you refer. My original self thought this was a game and the next thing I know I'm spending 40 years as a 13-year-old Amazonian mutant in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. Then I was here."

[TeChameleon]

Frode blinked, even as he inclined his head in acknowledgement to each in turn.

Not much for secrecy, are they, this lot? he thought.

He shrugged.

"Well, to re-do the intro with all flags flying, I'm Frode Trygvessen, X-Man, Tech Ambassador of Krakoa, I think maybe Imperial Guardsman of the Shi'ar empire... the paperwork never really did get cleared up on that... Iacon Science Councilmember, Autobot Special Mobile Forces, and... survivor... of the Great Time War."

A slight quirk of the lips. "And yes, that means I'm a giant robot sometimes, and, well, I don't have a TARDIS, I am a TARDIS. Although there are going to be some pretty sharp limits on what I can do before I figure what the fy faen is going on with time-space around here. Normally, navigating time is like trying to use a bowl of spaghetti as a map. It's a pain, but it's doable with the right ways to calculate things. Around here, it's like trying to use a bowl of pasta as a map where the spaghetti is being stirred by about five people that all hate you and are trying to kill you with the spoons, while the spaghetti is in a blender, in a tumble dryer, being slowly sucked into a black hole."

He shook his head, then huffed a brief sigh.

"It's good to meet you all."

He looked at Ensara. "So, fight the universe until everyone agrees to play nice? Eh, I can get behind that. At least in this universe the horrors beyond human comprehension happen in linear time, mostly. It's a little less likely that somebody will try to shove a quasar up our bum because something we did fifteen hundred years in our future pissed them off yesterday, anyways."

He cocked his head. "But... Exalt? I don't know a lot of details about that universe, but from what I've heard, shouldn't you already be kicking Khorne in the goolies and... I don't know, beating him over the head with the physical manifestation of his own crushed dreams or some such?"

"In whatever case, if you like tech, I can probably show you around my storage areas, there's probably something in there that would catch your liking. I don't even know what all is in there, a bunch of it was kind of... sleep invented, or at least made while I was in a bit of a dissociative state. I'm... pretty sure... the most dangerous stuff is inert or disassembled, but maybe don't jostle any piles too hard."

He grinned amiably at Edward, next. "Nice to meet you, as well. You'll have to forgive me, I'm not sure I recognize the universes you've been to- perfect recall only helps so much when you've never heard, or barely heard of a topic. Well, aside from Skyrim, of course." he chuckled. "The offer of tech extends to you, as well, of course, if you happen to think of something you want or need. Making things is pretty much what I do."

And finally Alexandra. "Nice to meet a fellow X-Gener, although..." he gave a low whistle. "... forty years stuck at thirteen? That sounds like a special kind of hell even without zombies."

Frode's eyes glowed briefly as he looked Alex up and down. "Huh. I thought I was getting a familiar sense from you- kid called himself Amalgam blew through Krakoa briefly, set off every cross-dimensional rip alarm I had at once. I was near-deaf for almost a week after, you might say it left a bit of an impression." His eyes glowed again, then widened. "Enough magic to drown the world, and the Power Cosmic as well. Remind me not to get on your bad side, you won the lottery with that powerset."

A brief pause. "Oh, right- same offer extends for the tech, although I sincerely doubt you need it at your power levels."

[Lord Raziere]

Ensara:
"Well, hm, good point why DON'T I just go up to Khorne and kick his ass? That sounds like a wonderful idea! The battle would be EPIC! One worthy of song and story, of experiencing the thrill of it! A battle like none other! And whose to say all this tip-toeing around killing the Chaos Gods is needed and I can't just do the job myself?"
She considers it.
"Ah but thats the problem isn't it? Like none other. What if I Flowers for Algernon myself by facing him too early? What if I can't find any good fights in this universe after that? What a tragedy that would be! Furthermore, working with other Jumpers....that is not an experience jumpers get every day, don't they? There is a good chance that, after this we will all go back to our individual jumps, going our separate ways. Thus, what if I, by going to slay Khorne I deny the opportunity for any of you to get the same thrill, same pleasure by fighting with me? Wouldn't be a bit selfish of me."
Rhiannon comments
"Oh Emperor, remind me to never send Ensara against Lucius the Eternal, he's this chaos champion who is immortal and comes back to life by taking over the body of the people who feel any pleasure or pride at all in killing him."
"Oh thats bothersome. Anyways! Concerns like that make me hold back because I don't want to y'know, be a jerk like that. If I was alone I'd be more open just doing shenanigans and fighting whoever as I go, burn down the oppressive power structures and stop and smell the smoke along the way, but with a group there tends to be an expectation to plan, prepare, do whats efficient, all that jazz, even though I wish otherwise. But even if I were alone I'd probably save some kind of powerful entity for last just to have a good fight to go out on a high note for this jump, you know what I mean? and considering Khorne's like, the most powerful Chaos God and like one of the main villains of this universe, he is a pretty good candidate for that. You'd have to like, point me to some other powerful entity worth killing last instead.

Oh and my sub-souls are telling me to mention that technically, most gods of Creation are nowhere near as powerful as gods in other universes- more like bureaucrats than all-powerful entities- so even though an Exalt can boast they're greater than a god in their own Creation thats not really guaranteed in others. however one of the big things Exalted can do are those charms to slay divinities and immortal beings regardless, so I can't imagine a Jumper Exalt not having some ability to kill any god no matter where they are, its just a question of whether I'm powerful enough to do it. I'm not sure how strong I really am. Maybe I could kill Khorne, I dunno, I'd certainly love to try that out if people are okay with it, but given this is a universe with uh...vague wibbly-wobbly bits to it much like how you described time travel. I can't make any guarantees, but maybe I'm being too uncertain and it'll turn out just fine, who knows? Never know until you try.

By the way this one here is Rogue Trader Rhiannon, former Inquisitor. She's our resident token Imperium authority figure, don't worry we're slowly deprogramming her with facts, logic, and our utter disregard and disrespect for everything she stands for."
"When did I lose control of my life?" Rhiannon wonders.
"See? she's starting to ask the right questions already."
She realizes and asks
"Anyways I'm rambling, we were talking about our next move to find Eldar Harlequins to find the Black Library and our only solid vote was from Edward to go to Jaggagona System? Rhiannon do you know anything about it?"
She considers
"Uh? Hm....If I remember...its not that notable to the Inquisition at least? Jaggagona if I recall is a system in Segmentum Pacificus and should be one of the most stable and safe systems in the Imperium, it shouldn't be in rebellion at all. It hasn't had any major Chaos or Xenos attacks in.....I don't know how long, thousands of years? and a minor xenos incursion only occurred recently and was easily dealt with by a passing Inquisitor. The System is kind of like the Imperium in miniature and it has its own space marine chapter, standard Ultramarines successor chapter called The Azure Teachers stationed there which probably explains the stability, the Ultramarines for whatever reason tend to make any world they set up their home in more stable, civilized and productive, and perform their jobs very efficiently and expertly. You can't really go wrong with having an Ultramarine chapter set up a chapter planet somewhere, they just.....make everything better somehow. I have no idea what could've possibly gone wrong."
"Could it have been because the Azure Teachers are not there right now? I can't imagine a Space Marine Chapter just allowing this to happen."
"Well they're probably away, yes, leaving only their chapter serfs to manage things but.....thats normal for the Imperium. We're at constant war, and Space Marines can't just sit around in their fortress-monasteries guarding already safe systems, they probably have left the system to respond to wars throughout Segmentum Pacificus many times without trouble. Surely they will feel duty and honor bound to return to the system as soon as possible to see what's wrong, but.....the only strange about this from my perspective is that its happening at all."
"But what about Chaos being involved?"
"Well....thats the thing. If a loyal, stable Imperial system has everything go right....Chaos shouldn't be able to take hold: faith in the Emperor, discipline, duty until death, so on and so forth. and Ultramarines are very good at ensuring and instilling these kinds of things. For another example, The Ultramar subsector is one of the most well-protected and prosperous places in the Imperium due to the Ultramarines efforts. If the Jaggogona System is anything like that, it shouldn't be like this at all."

[TeChameleon]

Frode raised an eyebrow.

"So booting Khorne in the head early would allow less opportunity for dramatic speeches, got it." he replied, with a small smile that would hopefully keep the slightly flippant comment from being offensive.

"Although in all honesty, I don't think I would feel like I was missing out. I'm not as fighty as I used to be. Still willing to go at it for a good cause, but three thousand years of nonstop fighting some of the deadliest monsters in the multiverse will take the edge off just about anyone's desire to fight." A pause. "Also some of the silliest looking monsters in the multiverse. It was like fighting saltshakers with death rays."

"Anyways, finding the Black Library? I'm assuming that's on one of the Eldar Craftworlds that they hide away in their weird web thingy... I'm pretty sure I can access... yep, easy enough." Frode's eyes glowed momentarily as he accessed his TARDIS abilities. "Alright, if everyone wants to jump aboard, I can... wait."

Frode looked thoughtful. "The Eldar are paranoid and reclusive, no? So if we just go popping up around their various supposedly most hidden and safe worlds with no warning, they're probably just going to try and kill us all, and finding their little library will become a giant pain."

He sighed. "So the local Ultrasmurf central is probably the..." he stopped, an odd look on his face. "You know, I just realized that a lot of my exposure to Warhammer 40,000 was through memes. I suppose I should probably be cautious about that, as the Eldar aren't likely to appreciate being called space-elves, and I don't think that Space Marines are famous for their sense of humour either."

"Also, it is a pleasure to meet you, Trader Rhiannon. Please forgive any gaffes I might make with your culture; my own is rather different." Frode said, materializing a rather extravangant cavalier hat, black leather with silver edging and red and white ostrich plumes, to tip it towards the (probably a bit startled) ex-inquisitor. The hat became an outline made of light once he replaced it and took his hand away, before fading from view completely.

"If we want to keep a low profile while we're hunting for information..." Frode started, holding up a hand, palm upwards, as seemingly-liquid metal flowed out of various pouches and pockets on his outfit, along with coming from some of the tackier skull decorations in the meeting room, "I can make these in my sleep. It's a copy of Kurt's old Image Inducer, a holographic disguise kit." he finished as a slim, pocket-sized bit of techno-whatsit finished forming above his hand before dropping into it.

"It works quite well for simple visuals," he continued, as his form appeared to shift and shimmer and his voice also distorting before settling, as Rhiannon suddenly found herself looking at and listening to... herself... "but it won't hold up under closer inspection." the second Rhiannon finished, waving a hand that stopped abruptly several inches from the figures' arm, clearly slapping against Frode's bulkier form.

More metal flowed out as Frode shut off the hologram, rapidly forming into a second and third image inducer. "Are there any non-jumpers that you think would be an asset on our mission?" he asked, as metal swirled around his hand while he made absent motions, forming briefly into a wide variety of shapes, including a miniature metal version of each of the other jumpers, albeit only briefly.

[Lord Raziere]

Ensara:
"Well I'm not AGAINST booting Khorne in the head now if you really insist, it'd still pleasurable, it just wouldn't be y'know, saving one of the best for last, y'know? I have no idea what dramatic speeches have to do with it, generally in a fight you don't talk a lot, leaves you vulnerable to someone attacking you in the middle of it the longer you go. Speeches like that are like, for after or before battles to masses from leaders, and I try to stay away from being a leader, seen Exalts that start taking leadership, results weren't pretty, one of the more dangerous drugs to be on in my opinion.

.....Did you want me to go kill Khorne, like immediately? Because I will. You don't have to be roundabout, you can just ask. My personal reasons are just preferences, not a big deal or anything. If you think Khorne's a big enough problem to remove now or just want it to be done, I'll just do it if you explicitly confirm that you want that from me. If you don't like me just doing it because you asked, we can negotiate payment for killing such a being so you don't feel indebted, you do come from the Doctor Who universe with highly advanced technology that I was planning on jumping to sooner or later myself so getting access to it early might help with a lot of things."


Rhiannon:
She says in response.
"Saltshakers? what does he mean by that?"
"He probably means the Daleks. alien race that lives in robot suits shaped like cans, hates and wants to genocide everyone, literally shouting "Exterminate!" while they do so."
"Ha! Yet another filthy xenos race trying to emulate the highest virtues of humanity: hatred and intolerance. Of course he beat them, he is clearly human and thus superior at hating and not tolerating those different from him!"
You can feel Ensara cringe at Rhiannon's response. She responds darkly
"Rhiannon.....remember that I've killed stronger beings than you for making such statements."
"....Okay I'll shut up now." Rhiannon says with sudden small fear.

Kaerabryn:
"As the one Eldar in the room, I'd say that yeah, going straight to the Black Library appearing there would be unexpected, but the only one who could probably fight you Jumpers would be Cegorach himself, the Laughing God.....the last god we have."
"You think he'd fight us?"
"Hm...well....depends on what you mean by that. He tends to be a schemer and a comedian over a straight fighter like say, Khaela Mensha Khaine or the Blood God. He might do various puzzling....things and traps and plans over fighting you directly. Or worse he might make you endure his.....Comedy"
She says the last word with no small amount of dread.
"What kind of humor are we talking about here?"
"Unspeakably horrible. Some are said to go mad or fall into unending despair from enduring his jokes. and he is likely to mock any sudden intruders relentlessly. He respects no one and nothing is sacred, all are mocked by the Laughing God. It is said he laughs even at the Eldar and tells jokes about The Fall to this day. "
"Do you think I could face him in a joke off?"
".....Yes actually it is said in legends he loves that kind of thing, but its facing the Laughing God, the most horrible and absurd comedian in the universe. Most don't survive."
"....You didn't say he was the best though"
"No. No, I didn't." she agrees

Ensara Again:
"As for non-Jumpers who'd be an asset well....we have an entire ship full of underhive people, mutants and the like, some other crew, but honestly we haven't had time to recruit many people relatively speaking, to our cause. Any non-Jumpers from this universe we have well...aren't exactly the strongest fighters compared to us. A heretek tech priest, a blank (anti-psychic) assassin, an astropath, a girl with too many eyes....not exactly picking up legends or space marines so far or have much opportunity to help them get stronger or anything. Kaerabryn here might help with negotiations with Cegorach however, he is her god after all. I do have my own allies and companions in my inner world from previous jumps, but I didn't bring them out so as to not overwhelm people with my personal strangeness."

[TeChameleon]

Frode's lips quirked, yet again. Apparently being a jumper tended to draw in strong personalities, and Exalts even more so.

"I can actually think of one very good reason not to go after Khorne right away- the Chaos goobers are responsible for the turbulence in the Warp, correct? Killing one, even if it makes things much smoother in the long run, would almost certainly cause so much upheaval in the Warp that it could cut off all travel completely for an unknown length of time. While I can probably brute-force it with Time Lord technology- speaking of which, if you want to see if what I've got interests you, I'll give you a tour once we've decided what we're doing, and for the most part, you can have whatever- but killing Khorne now would cause no end of unnecessary headaches."

Then Frode gave Rhiannon a grave look. "The Daleks are maybe the ultimate example of hatred; they are physically incapable of having other emotions, their brains simply cannot process them, aside from maybe a tiny bit of fear leaking out of the brainstem." He sighed heavily. "They have even mutated themselves hideously, to the point that they can no longer survive outside of their... combat life support systems... just so that they could hate better. And nothing will stop them from killing what they hate. Even the Benefactors, who are more powerful than us the way we are more powerful than most of you, refuse to let them loose on the multiverse. They are not to be emulated."

"If Cegorach wants to hinder us, I may try the psychic blockers that I developed in case the Shadow King annoyed me- a monster of pure psychic energy- and at one point he did. I don't think it even registered an uptick in power consumption when one of the most powerful psychic entities in that universe tried to kill me." he said with a slightly cocky smile. "Of course, I mostly mean to stick it on Cegorach, to see what happens when an entity that depends on feeding on psychic energy to exist is suddenly cut off from it completely. Might be interesting... but hopefully it won't come to that."

"And combat power isn't the only thing that someone can bring to the table; the four of us could probably fight this entire universe to a standstill, but that would just make us another side in the mess. We need local knowledge so we know who to punch until they stop twitching. Or, you know, fire my five-megaton-per-second Hellbore Cannon at, whatever."

[Earl of Purple]

Ensara

"Both worlds struggling under tyranny and oppression when I arrived. I did what I could on both to make things better, with some success at first but my powers were not enough to aid me in Dunwall. I wasn't caught, but I didn't win either. I hope I left it better than I found it, but I can't guarantee it. Tech? I've got some pistols that weren't able to dent a Space Marine, but they're lighter than this hunk and I'm used to them far more." He'll hold up his new bolt pistol as he speaks, before holstering it again.

"Keep it in your back pocket for Cegorach; he's still protecting the Eldar, and before Rhiannon says anything racist that means he's distracting the Chaos gods in process. Without him, maybe no Eldar, meaning Slaanesh for one can turn their full attention on humanity." Or perhaps other races, but humans still count as that.