NationStates Jolt Archive

Forodren Cormandor, Forodren Annon System
The arrival and departure of a Tandu vessel went relativly unnoticed, lost in the general traffic of Forodren Cormandor's trade traffic. The giant insectoids on the street caused some comment, but were quicky forgotten. After all, there are stranger things than giant talking mantises in the galaxy, and they were nice enough, in a cold sort of way. Several of them seemed to be missing limbs when they left, though. Maybe they had gotten into a barfight or something, though.
What they left behind, though, would definitly be noticed, although hopefully not traced back to them.
For nine months, nothing happened. Life on Forodren Cormandor was perfectly normal, for life on Forordren Cormandor, of course.
Then, nine months (and six days) after the arrival of the Tandu ship, Mr. and Mrs. Carpenter of the city of Seaside, had a baby girl. This girl was not normal.
Her bright pink hair, red eyes and, perhaps most sigificantly, horns, were the subject of comment amoung the doctors at the time of birth. The horns showed up on the pre-birth imaging tests, and so Mr. and Mrs. Carpenter made a quick trip to Ocanthus, where they recieved strong scrutiny from various medical professionals.
She seemed normal, if you discarded the hair, eyes and horns, and the doctors saw no reason not to send her home after running a battery of tests which concluded that she was perfectly human, perfectly healthy, and perfectly fine in pretty much every fashion.
They did not know, of course, that Mr. Carpenter had struck up a conversation with one of the Tandu in a bar several years ago and been found unconcious a day later in a field outside of town. They didnt know about the barely visible mark left by the hypospray stick, which had vanished a few weeks later.
And, most importantly, they didnt know about the subtle, barely noticable, changes made to Mr. Carpenters gametes. After all, human DNA is a %98 match to a monkeys, and the changes made by the Tandu only affected a few key areas. Small, but vastly important areas.
And so, after being released, the child named Alice was perfectly normal. She cried, drank milk, and did assorted baby-related things, like throwing up on house guests at carefully selected times calculated to cause maximum social awkwardness. Alice was quite good at this. She quickly learned to recognize key words and phrases such as "expensive", "just bought" and "brand new."
Her parents explained the horns as a 'genetic disease' which popped up from time to time in their family.

And in space, not-unkind eyes watched from above as these events occured, the Carpenter (and several other) family(s) were the subject of much attention. It was difficult to monitor them without the humans of the planet noticing, but there were several methods which, although not ideal, provided at least a general idea of what was going on. The presence of a Tandu 'trading enclave' assisted matters somewhat, even if it irked the Tandu greatly to have to deal with wolfling fleshbags on a daily basis. It was worth it, for the sake of their Clients. The Tandu were naturally very careful never to come into direct contact with the families in question, nor to leave any paper trails in their dealings, but it was generally ensured that none of them were too badly off. It wouldnt do to be ungrateful to the hosts of the first phase of the Tandu experimentations.

Twelve years passed, Alice grew up in the regular fashion, the occasional subject of bullying for her odd appearance, but not too bad for it. She had friends, and was smart enough to hold her own when it came to name calling matches.
She sighed and adjusted the green scarf she traditionally wore around her head to hide her horns. The earlike pieces of bone just above her real ears often caused comment on the street, and the scarf had arrived as a gift on her birthday several years ago, just when she was starting school. She rather liked it, it was made of some fabric which felt like silk, but had the remarkable ability to keep the heat out when it was warm, or keep her ears warm when it was cold. The color didnt go very well with her hair, but that was fine.
The walk to school was a fairly long one, Seaside was a mid-sized city, not HUGE, but large enough to warrant a small spaceport. Alice was fond of watching the ships come and go, and wanted to be a pilot when she grew up. This dream didnt seem beyond reach, since her reaction times were quite amazing, nobody had tried to put anything in her hair since six years ago when a boy trying to strategically place a spider had gotten a faceful of milk from a meter away. She was the school champion at every sport that involved throwing, hitting things with a stick, or generally putting one object in or through a hoop, hole or net.
Her grades were merely average, B's and C's (or the Bryn Shanderian equivalent thereof). Although one might question whether a girl who could, on the fly, aliterate two full sentences when describing the social and physical shortfalls a schoolyard foe might not be smart enough to get average scores on purpose, because, deep inside, she didnt want to be the center of too much attention.
And where does this normal life, so perfectly average in (most of) its aspects, become so non-average as to warrant this RP? That comes up in the next part, which will appear shortly after the fourth wall is repaired.

It happened on the way to school one day. One of those events which causes history to diverge into two paths. In this case, on one path, Alice made her way to school and lived a normal life, Forodren Cormandor experienced more and more Diclonius births until the Tandu attempted to exile the planet, which coincided with a massive Diclonius revolt. The bloody war that followed was nasty for all involved, and rendered Forodren Cormandor pretty much unihabitable, with rouge probability fields raging across the entire system turning reality into something like an N-dimensional patchwork quilt.
In this reality though, Alice took a shortcut to school that day. Something you should never, ever, do if you find yourself in a narrative situation.
There was a loud THUMP and Alice felt no more for the rest of the day.

She woke up tied to a pole, her clothes dirty and torn, her scarf missing and with numerous scratches and bruises covering her body. It looked as though she had been rather roughly dragged somewhere, the place had a 'spaceport bar' feel to it, although it was rather quiet. Rough plaster walls and a pasted-on artificial tile floor showed that this certainly wasnt a high-rent establishment, the stains on the floor didnt help much either. It looked as though this room wasnt used much, and then only as a place to throw drunks until they stopped throwing up at least.
The only light in the room came from a single overhead lamp, which flickered uncertainly. There was a narrow window about six feet up on the wall, little more than a strip to let light in during the day.
Alice felt very, very, sick. She had put it off as nausea from the blow to the head, but as her wits came back to her she noticed the odd sensations in her back, like something was trying to push its way out. She was covered in sweat and could barely keep her eyes focused, with her headache it was a challenge simply keeping them open. Her throat felt like it had sand in it, though that might just be dehydration...depending on how long she'd been in here. How long HAD she been in here?
Thinking back, Alice remembered little other than setting off to school, taking the short route rather than the proscribed path. The rest was a fuzzy blank space in her memory. Where had her scarf gone? She'd had it all this time and it felt odd to walk around with those horns exposed. It figured this sort of thing would happen now, just after Alex had worked up the courge to tell her she looked nice, two days ago now. She had been told in school that this was the sort of thing that was supposed to start happening around her age. She wasnt particularly attracted to Alex, but it felt good to know that everything was ticking along on schedual.
Alice groaned, trying to double over but unable to because of her restraints. Her stomach felt like it was on fire, and her head seemed about to explode. And the odd sensation on her back wasnt letting up either. It felt almost like something was...growing there.
Was that a voice outside her door? Voices...maybe. It was hard to tell, her head was swimming, and the blood pounding in her ears made hearing difficult. Maybe she was halluncinating. Was that the door opening now?

A man walked through the door as it opened, though he was sillouhetted by the bright light from the other room. After the door closed and Alice's eyes readjusted to the dim light, she could see that the man was wearing white robes with gold trim and a large pendant that showcased a sunrise made of gems. Though the pounding in her head was horribly distracting, she quickly realized that the man must be a member of the clergy of Lathander, the Morninglord.

"So, you're awake. I hope that you had a nice nap, fiend. You'll be facing the Morninglord's judgement soon." spoke the Dawnbringer. Don't bother trying to escape, I've set up all of the proper warding circles around you. You're as helpless as a newborn kitten against the Light of the Morninglord, fiend."

In Bryn Shander, traits such as horns and odd colored eyes and hair weren't terribly uncommon. However, they were associated with planetouched blood rather than birth defects or alien intervention. The Lathanderan priest had mistaken Alice for a tiefling or half-fiend, it would seem, and being a follower of a shortsighted and overly simplistic deitiy, he was not likely to be inclined to listen to arguements against his logic or show mercy.

"You will face trial for your evil soon, fiend. When you are found guilty of crimes against Good and the Morninglord, you will be sent back to the burning pits that spawned you and your kind." explained the priest as he walked up to the supposedly helpless 'fiend'. "Don't worry too much, the Morninglord's justice is swift and absolute. It will be over quickly." taunted the Dawnbringer as he walked up to Alice and examined her closely.

Alice blinked at the man, only comprehending half of what he was saying. Sweat was getting in her eyes now, making it even harder to see.
"Wha-t-t? I...fiend?" Alice tried to concentrate, forming words was so difficult though, each one had to be dragged out of her brain and forced through her dry throat, "My...parents? Momma...s-she's worried...can...can I have some...water?"
Alice coughed, trying to clear her throat only made the itching worse, and each cough sent another wave of pain through her head. The sweat was pooling around her now, running down her face in rivulets and splashing when she coughed.
"I...dont feel good..."
Distantly, she thought of the time she'd caught some sort of flu, apparently from a spacer, since nobody had any idea what it was or how to cure it. In the end, it had been a long two weeks she'd spent in bed, freezing and burning up by turns. She'd gotten over it, but for a while it had been a close thing. Her fever had peaked at nearly a hundred and twelve, and after that she'd felt...different. More aware, it became obvious when somebody tried to sneak up behind her, sometimes she could even tell WHO it was. 'Alice tag' had become, temporarily, the most popular sport on the playground. Being identified meant you were out, and Alice had gotten VERY good at it.

"Don't play dumb, fiend. Your nature is as easy to see as the Morninglord's glory. I wouldn't worry about your mother either. My brothers will have likely already captured or slain her. If she isn't already dead, she'll be put on trial and executed for consorting and copulating with fiends." explained the priest.

Alice could hear a great deal of commotion coming from the other room. There were cries for help and the sound of tables being quickly cleared, while men and women shouted commands that were muffled and distorted by the door and pounding in Alice's head.

The door opened and a man in robes just like the priest's stood on the other side. Unlike the first priest, this man's robes were soaked with blood as though he had been treating the wounded. A small hole in the robes near his shoulder indicated that not all the blood was from others.

"Your report, Dawnbringer Aric?" inquired the first priest.

"I have bad news, Dawnlord." muttered the bloody Lathanderan.

"What was that?" queried the Dawnlord.

"The fiendish harlot is dead. We will be unable to bring her before the Morninglord's light for judgement and purification." sighed the Dawnbringer.

"That is... unfortunate. I thought I instructed you to bring her in alive."

"We tried, but she pulled a gun and knew how to use it. Dawngreeter Jonathan and Dawnbringer Robert were killed before Dawnbringer Joshua caved her skull in with his mace. We've got a number of wounded though, some critically, so we need you to come with me into the other room to help treat the men."

"I see. I will be with you in just a moment. You are dismissed, Dawnbringer."

After the red priest left, the Dawnlord turned back to Alice.

"Well now, it would seem that your mother, the filthy demon loving whore, killed two of my men and wounded even more. This will not bode well for you at your trial and sentencing."

Alice blinked, not comprehending at first, "Momma...died? But..." The girl cringed again, fighting down the urge to throw up, "Nuh...killed her...y-you...she died? M-my...momma...?"
Alice's mounting rage was, more or less, overridden by her physical weakness. She wanted, desperatly wanted, to lash out at this man and his cohort, but bound as she was, her arms tied behind her, the worst she could do was gasp at him and try to keep her eyes open.
"Ugh...w-what did...do t-to...to you? Y-you...I...ghuh." Alice's stomach finally gave out, spraying last nights dinner across the wards around her, leaving her coughing and choking against the pipe. For a moment, her face seemed to change, her eyes sharpened and her words were clear, expressed along with an immeasurable hatred on her face, a look which, especially when coming from a pubescent girl, would give just about anybody pause, "You're the fiends..."
Then she fell unconcious.

When Alice awoke, she found herself free of the pole she had been tied to previously. Instead, her hands and feet were bound in abnormally heavy iron manacles that had a number of seals and runes carved into them. Theoretically, they would render her demonic abilities inert. Theoretically. She was sitting in a wooden chair, surrounded by more men wearing the same robes as before. In front of her was a small podium, and beyond that a larger podium where an old man sat wearing robes like the others except brighter, more ornamental, and clearly indicating far higher status.

"The defendant is awake, Morningmaster." announced one of the Lathanderan acolytes.

"Very well. We will begin with the reading of the charges." stated the Morningmaster.

"The defendant is hereby charged under divine law with the following offenses..." began the priest apparently charged with bailiff duty. The charges piled on quickly, ranging from general conspiracy against Good and consorting with fiends to other more absurd charges like creation of undead and the summoning of fiends. Clearly, Alice knew that not one of the charges held the slightest bit of truth, but the clergy of the Morninglord were not quite as unconvinced.

The trial then began, and the prosecuting cleric began to detail Alice's supposed guilt, using her horns, eyes, and hair as definitive proof of her fiendish origin. More evidence was presented for other charges, most likely fabricated to support the flimsy case. Several times, Alice tried to speak up in her defense, but each time she was silenced at spear point under pretext that the court would not be profaned by her demonic tongue.

After the very one sided trial came to an end, the Morningmaster presented his verdict.

"The light of the Morninglord has illuminated this court with his divine truth. On behalf of the Morninglord, I hereby declare the defendant guilty of all charges. She is sentenced to death by burned alive at the stake. The sentence will be carried out immediately."

Again facing the razor sharp points of the Lathanderan spears, Alice was lead outside of the courtroom to a large courtyard. A wooden platform was showcased in the center of the courtyard, with a wooden stake as the only feature. Below the platform was a mess of wood and dried grasses, obviously fuel for a large fire. Along the edges of the courtyard stood the rest of the clergy, who obviously had been waiting for the verdict since before the trial had begun. Alice was lead up the steps to the platform, where she was stripped and chained to the stake.

As Alice stood against the rough wooden pole with her arms helplessly chained above her head, the clergy quickly vacated the platform. The call to carry out the sentence was given, and torches were tossed under the platform. Smoke began to pour up from the cracks between the boards and bellowed from the sides. It stung Alice's eyes and made breathing difficult at best. The wooden platform began to get hot as flames licked at the wood, and as the flames began to surround her and move inward, Alice began to feel her bare skin begining to blister...

Alice had dreamed all night long. Disturbing dreams, usually fragments, experiences with her parents, her friends at school, firsts and lasts. That sort of thing. She remembered little of it, but one segment stuck out in her mind, quite clearly.
A girl, naked except for bandage wrappings around her face, had stood before her. A single eye peeking out of the coverings. Alice was sitting on the floor of some room, the extermities of which vanished into a grey mist. The girl had squatted before her and stared into here eyes.
"Well? The girl spoke with a voice much like Alice's.
"Well...what?"
What are you going to do? Theyve taken it all from you, you know. Killed mother. I bet they even raided your schoool. Killed your friends and left their bodies to rot in the courtyard.
Alice had not responded, drawing her legs up and sobbing into her knees.
"You are alone now. It was probably one of those 'friends' that gave you to these people, maybe even father. He wasnt getting along with mother, was he? But thats fine. Theyre all just humans."
"...just...humans?" Alice looked up, tears streaking her face.
"Humans, meat, pathetic monkeys struggling to stay afloat in the stream of evolution. You are better....yOu ArE tHe nExT gEnErAtIoN, sHoW...tHeM..."
The men who had come to take her from her cell had been greeted by hundreds of hand prints coveirng the entire interior of the cell, in some cases imprinted several inches into the walls, floor and ceiling, all radiating out from Alice.
Alice hadnt known how to respond at the time. Then she had awoken in the court room, the girls bandaged face still fresh in her mind. Her stupor was only broken by the pain in her feet as the fire was lit. Something in her mind snapped, it was almost a physical feeling as the rage flooded outwards. A hatred of humanity in general and her captors specifically. Alice felt the arms emerging from her back, she could almost see them, though perhaps it was just her minds eye, feeding false information to her brain.
Those in front of her took a step back even before her chains shattered and the wooden pole fell in six neatly cut pieces, the girl stepping calmly from the platform with an expression of anger, hatred, and pure maleficence twisting her features into a face which was truely demonic, her eyes blazing red infernos which sowed destruction in all they fell across.
It was almost serene, the way Alice stepped across the platform, reached the edge, and gently floated to the ground, held by hands only she knew were there.
First to fall, those next to the platform, came apart in bloody chunks, perfectly straight gashes appearing across their bodies as the girl approached them, more often than not severing limbs, torsos, and heads from their proper places and generally making a rather impressive mess.
Perhaps it would have been better if the girl had been screaming profanity, or gibbering. As it was, Alice's face remained unmoving, displaying no reaction to the carnage before her, aside from the occasional glance to make sure she didnt slip on some scattered bit of viscera before her. After those immidiatly in front of her had ceased twitching, the girl turned her gaze to the other parts of the room, glaring left, then right, before turning and calmly padding towards the nearest door.
In her mind, Alice saw the girl again. Same as before, she squatted in front of Alice, her single visible eye the same red-pink shade of Alice's. Alice blinked at her, and the bandages fell away, showing Alice her own face, an expression of blended glee and rage frozen across its features, white teeth glinting in the half-light of the dream-place. Alice sighed.
"Sorry..." The words emerged from her vocal chords half-formed, barely audible, but understandable, if detached, almost seeming to come from a different body.
In her dream, Alice felt as if she was fading into the background, it got darker around her and brighter around the other Alice. She didnt mind that, much. Let the other one do this...

The Lathanderans immediately began to try to stop Alice, charging her with their spears and maces. None got close enough to use them. In fact, many of the weapons that were to be used against the naked, murderous loli were instead used as projectiles against the Dawnbringers. Before the flames of the scattered pyre consumed the temple of the Morninglord, the walls and floors were soaked and stained with blood.

After escaping from the now burning temple of Lathander, Alice wandered the streets in a daze, unaware and unconcerned that she was naked and covered in more blood than a used tampon. Eventually, she made her way back to her home unmolested. Bullet holes and blood stains were everywhere, confirming the story the Dawnbringer had told. Retreating to her room, Alice fell onto her bed and cried until she passed out.


Across the planet, taverns and inns were filling with stories of brutal and bloody massacres and botched demon captures that ended in TPKs. Nobody could understand what was happening, but the stories were driving some to begin looking for answers. Already, the total destructions of goodly churches within some towns and cities was allowing their rival, more evil faiths to fill the vacuum and take power unopposed. If an answer wasn't produced soon, the more militant goodly faiths like Lathander's would soon be wiped out completely and the Morninglord would be killed by the lack of worshippers.

Alice wasnt too concerned at this point with religious politics, interplanetary implications and the fate of makind. She was more busy freaking out, as it were.
She found that using her new arms was just as easy as her old limbs, with the benifit of having four. She could control the world within two meters of herself. It was a heady feeling for a twelve year old. She found that there was no object in her house that couldnt be lifted with ease, including the kitchen cabinets.
She had avoided the living room. That was where the shooting had taken place. The rest of the house was more or less intact, if a bit disturbed by what looked like a hasty search.
After a few hours, Alice determined that she had to move on. Somebody would come along to investigate this sooner or later, and she didnt want to have to fight off an entire army. She wasnt too sure she could, she could stop throw spears and the occasional hurled holy book, but what about bullets? She wasnt too sure...
It took about an hour, but she managed to shove enough supplies for a few days into a backpack. It was pretty heavy, but with the help of her new limbs she managed to carry it pretty easily. She found a hat to cover her horns, although it made her feel a bit uncomfortable, sort of like she had cotton in her ears or something. Still, better than being picked up by another bunch of crazies.
Vaugly, Alice wondered if there were more like her. Had the same group tried to take them as well, only to find themselves on the recieving end of the...well...whatever these were coming out of her back? There must be...she couldnt be the only one. Things just didnt happen like that, right?
So...she had to find more like herself. It shouldnt be TOO hard to find pink haired, red-eyed girls with horns, right?
Aliced opened the back door, she couldnt bring herself to go through the living room again, and walked through the back yard. She sighed, knowing full well she would never be able to come back here, somebody would buy it and either demolish it or fix all the damage, throw her stuff out and destroy anything worth remembering about this place. It made her a little angry, an emotion easily vented by slicing the deadbolt on the gate open with one of her invisible arms. She'd hated that gate anyway, it'd kept her away from all the interesting things outside of the backyard when she was little.
It was a nice day outside, at least. She was in a rather good mood, actually, she didnt even dismember the woman walking her dog that passed her. It was only when the woman was about a foot behind her that one of her arms leaped out and planted a finger firmly in the womans forehead, passing right through the skull and brain matter, seeking out...what? Alice recoiled in horror, watching as the womans eyes glazed over while she fell backwards. The dog started barking.
Alice stared at her, seeing that she was still breathing, and wondered what had just happened. Her arm had moved without her commanding it to...was it...reflex? Instinctive action? And what had she done to the woman? The dog was trying to run away, but the womans hand seemed to be compulsivly holding onto the leash.
Alice paused, then ran. She didnt need this right now...things were already too complicated.

Alice ran for several blocks before having to stop and catch her breath. As she stood there panting, a group of people in wolf costumes ran past in a frantic hurry. Chasing behind them were several hundred men in black suits with red ties and large black afros. "Yiff in Hell!" shouted several of the men as they caught up to the wolves and tackled them. From inside the faceless sea of afros someone yelled "SEAKING!". Every one of the others responded in unison with a nigh deafening cry of "FUCK YEAH!!". The afros then administered a savage beating to the costumed freaks, kicking and punching them for a minute or two as they laid there curled up in the fetal position. Before long a woman in a green dress with long brown hair and red and green eyes showed up. She was carrying a large gas can.

"STOP desu~!!" shouted the girl. All of the afros stopped the beating and turned to look at her.

"IT IS CAN BE RAEP TIEM NAO desu~!" she announced, holding the gas can up. The crowd of afros split and formed a pathway between the girl and the battered and bloody furries who were now on the verge of losing conciousness. She walked to them quickly and began to douse them with gasoline. When the can was empty, whe retreated to a safe distance and the rest of the crowd did the same.

"KILL IT WITH FIRE desu~!" she shouted. A number of the afro'd men pulled zippos from their pockets and tossed them at the blood and gasoline soaked furries, who immediately burst into flames. The cries of the burning fursuiters filled the air as the nylon fur that made up their suits melted and bonded with their skin and caused horrible burns. It was a moot point though, as the skin itself was burning soon after. Several of the flaming furries managed to stand and stumble around, screaming in agony.

"DESU! DESU! DESU! DESU! DESU! DESU! DESU!..." chanted the afros at the top of their lungs. The girl in the green dress cackled wildly as the burning furries writhed and cried out.

Alice was horrified. If people would do this to people dressed as animals, what would they do to her? She began running again, this time even faster.

OOC:Wide Freakin open eh...

Grand Ceaser Octavian stood looking out his window twards the rest of the fleet. They millions of souls still survived by travelling across the galaxy waiting for a new planet to call home to preset itself. In the meantime the Julii wandered studying other species and learning all they could. The quiet of his cabin always bothered the Grand Caesar. Coming to birth into a world of war and endless noise made one feel uneasy in the silence. "Comuter, music." He said.

A light beep and then the reply. "State prefrence."

"Classical, Beethoven 9th Symphony." He clarified. The computer beeped again lightly and the music began to play. As the Julii passed a small planet known as Earth several hundred years past they grew fond of there musical style and adopted it as among the most common. He heard another beep to indicate that someone was at his door. "Come." He said. The door opened and the Grand Caesar turned around to see the fleet Admiral Donitz walk into the room. "Ahh Admiral what brings you here?" He asked.

"I have some news you may be interested in." He said holding a small pad that contained all the information needed. "It appears that this planet is falling into turmoil." He added handing over the datapad.

"My dear Admiral, I hoe you are not suggesting we take this planet over ourselves." The Grand Caesar said. It had long been know that the Admiral wanted to end the nomadic life and find a home, using force if necessary.

"No we cannot, this place is to populated, the de-population would tae three generations at least." He said standing sternly.

"Well, this is interesting, the entire place is in turmoil. We could learn alot about there habits by sending a recon team in." The Grand Caesar said continually tapping the datapad.

"I agree sir, we also detected several strange beings down there with slight alterations to there human DNA." Admiral Donitz added.

"Did we now?" The Grand Caesar said. "Make sure to keep the ships hidden from the inhabitants. Organize a small 4 person team to go down and get more information on what was goin on."

Within the day a small 4 person team was picked. Two protoss would be part of it, along with a Julii and a Jaffa. All would be cloaked using personal units and hopefully go unnoiced by everyone on the planets surface. They would beam down a few blocks awasy from the burning of the costumed citizens.