NationStates Jolt Archive

It is said that it was a good gift to men that Death should receive them. We, like many long ago before us, felt that we could prevent that which is predetermined. Oh, how we laughed and knew not our folly; for we were gods amongst men and would not be denied our power and future. We attempted to reach that zenith upon which only God stood. How foolishly we thought to take from the fruits of both Life and Knowledge.

Would that I could redeem past mistakes, prove true the lessons learned through the passage of years. But now I am old, a useless relic, a reminder of failure that goes unheeded in the shadows. Still I hear her voice, and his, on the nights when the moon shines bright. No! I shall not be gainsaid by lesser men; I, a former god amongst men. I have stood upon the mountain and looked down upon the world and never again shall I be robbed of that view….

The lights are dying as I write and as I write I once again begin to fall into my own poisonous desires. Dangerous is that road. Be warned! The hand that taketh the fruit of the Tree and does not pay the cost can only become withered and brought to ruin. Be warned!

Her voice I shall always miss. That melody upon the ears of men that few have heard and near none can comprehend. Were I more religious man I might believe it to be the power of a god, or some trick of magic. But I cannot shake the feeling from my soul that that voice guided me, even while I did not heed the message and sought a place higher than I was destined to have.

None shall listen though. Even should I announce the end of our empire, they will laugh and heed me not at all. Proved right thrice through before the end, and yet my warnings will go unheeded! Why? Because they must! Man cannot be all knowing in the working of his hands or else he would no longer be Man.

And so I sit, unheard and ignored, in the shadows. I can only hope that my diary will show those who come after me that chasing this arcane knowledge and power is an ill conceived plan. I and my fellows thought we could, but we failed. And now I must rest, the Eversleep it was once called, and shall not be troubled by this again. God forgive me.

- Last diary entry of Albrecht von Keansburg
1st Head of Experimental Genetic-Psyker Program

Undisclosed Location

The fast descent of the elevator was causing what a fast drop in height usually does to a person’s stomach. James, the Emperor’s aide-de-camp, felt queasy; not to mention unsettled at standing next to Aldrich Dimitri, Commander of Section 3: the Empire of Thrashia’s main special ops/technological division. Section 3 was responsible for securing any and all information collected through the Imperial Security Bureau and other less conspicuous organizations that collected intelligence of all types.

Emperor Treize Kushrenada however couldn’t have felt anything other than a sense of triumph. He stood between the towering, black-uniformed Section 3 commander and his aide without any propensity for uneasiness or sickness. The fact that the lift had already taken them more than thirty miles below ground meant nothing.

“So Commander Dimitri, you tell me that Doctor Lynesco has finally made a breakthrough?” asked Treize.

The Intelligence chief cleared his throat. “You’d be correct sir. The good doctor came rushing into my briefing room to tell me. I didn’t fully understand all of what he said but it seemed quite clear to me that he’d made another major breakthrough in the project.”

“I’d hope so,” interjected James. “We’ve been funding his research for ten years and it has yet to prove itself a good investment.”

“Other than that sir,” grimaced Dimitri, “I know nothing else.”

Treize ignored his aide’s words and nodded. “It’s understandable. Not many could understand the good doctor very well, even if he were simply discussing the weather.”

After another grueling twenty minutes of traveling at 30 mph straight down, the lift came to a soft halt. Treize stepped outside followed closely by Commander Dimitri, James was slower out. The trio was met by a platoon of black armored stormtroopers who snapped to a quick salute as Treize passed. Dimitri nodded a dismissal as he saw the unit’s commander. Dimitri passed in front of Treize and led him through a small exit door.

They stepped out into what looked like a bright afternoon day, sunshine falling upon them from above and a slight breeze moving about their feet. James was momentarily disoriented. Hadn’t they just traveled 30 miles below ground?

“The magnificence of the Geo-Front never ceases to amaze,” commented Treize. “I don’t recall the artificial sunlight though.”

“We’ve added that in a few years ago, after your last trip down here,” replied Dimitri. “Now if you’ll follow me.”

Without another word the tall black-uniformed commander led the pair down a concrete walkway that was surrounded by trees and grass. James thought it looked a lot like a garden more than an intelligence center. Numerous buildings were within eye sight, with perhaps even hundreds more behind them. It was a truly large complex. The three men walked for another ten minutes before coming up to a large white-washed building that had Section 3 security personnel standing outside its doors.

Commander Dimitri ushered them inside and they entered a large hallway that was entirely white. The floor had white marble and the walls and ceiling were painted white. It almost hurt the eyes to look down the hall too far. Dimitri opened a door that had seemed almost hidden to James and Treize and entered it, the other two followed him. Inside was a conference room with a large wooden table with a dozen chairs sitting around it.

Sitting in one of them was a small man wearing a white laboratory coat and a very predominant pair of black rimmed spectacles. The man had a largish nose and ruddy cheeks. His eyes seemed twice as large as normal due to his glasses, which only added to the aesthetic that he was no more than a very reclusive scientist or doctor.

“May I present Dr. Ivan Lynesco,” said Dimitri.

The small scientist came up and bowed before Treize. “I-it’s truly an h-honor to meet you sire, I’ve never been more privileged.” The man tumbled over his words like an excited five-year old.

“Trust me doctor,” smiled Treize. “If this breakthrough is as mind blowing as it is rumored then the honor and privilege is all mine. Now, please, tell me what you have done.”

Lynesco nodded and motioned for them all to sit. While they did so he clicked a series of controls and a small hologram appeared of a DNA strand and bits of informational text next to it. The small and very excited doctor stood next to it and pointed.

“What we have here is a decoded strand of DNA from one of our current test subjects. Unlike previous tests and experiments, we’ve been able to fully alter the sequence in the strand in order to dictate our own code and thereby make it possible for the DNA to more easily congeal and meld with the Psyker Mutagen,” said Lynesco, falling into a lecture tone that reminded James of university.

“So how is that different from what we were doing earlier?” asked Treize.

“Well sir, as you know our first beginnings happened thirty years ago on Thrashia Prime with Dr. Volescu. His test subjects showed profound abilities, however due to the raw power in his early version of the Psyker Mutagen serum it caused physical and mental defects to the subjects. One girl I’m told believed everything to be a dream, a boy was turned into an avatar of psyker flame, while only one subject, Simon, truly melded with the effects of the serum.

“And its there that I get to the interesting part you see. Simon had been, up to then, our most brilliant breakthrough in creating an artificial psyker. Our own population not having the genetic mutation of Mother Nature as has the population of the Chronosian Empire, we were at a disadvantage. The way we succeeded in Simon was nearly lost due to the small way in which it happened.

“You see, the mutagen did indeed change Simon and give him altercated abilities and psyker-related powers; it was however his connection to the raw stuff of psyker power and his connection with it that allowed him to fully control how his body changed in regard to the mutagen agents. He tapped into the power that normal Chronosian psykers and others use on a daily basis.”

“How does that help us then?” asked James. “What has that have to do with this encoding you’ve developed.”

Lynesco smiled, the bearing of a mad scientist coming over him.

“Now that’s a good question! And I’ve an answer, its brilliant really. You see, a Chronosian psyker is born with the ability, therefore his genetic code is already attuned to tapping into what is known as ‘the Warp’ and using it as a lodestone to draw power. Our genetically altered psykers can do the same, but on a more radical and risky scale causing their life expectancy to decrease with every use of psyker power. Even with a more refined Psyker Mutagen serum the dangers exist and the neo-psyker remains at risk.

“And that is where the Chronosian psyker code comes into play. Through my contacts with ISB I was able to procure blood samples and two or three living subjects, that is blood samples of Chronosian psykers and living Chronosian psyker subjects. Powerful enough for our purposes but low-key enough to not be missed from the prison ships, but I digress.

“Through the study of these subjects and the decoding of their DNA we found a pattern that was inherent in all of them and can be deduced to be prevalent in all natural-born psykers. It was the final piece of the puzzle! Thanks to that encoding we can now program the DNA of a test subject to form into that which is identical of a natural-born psyker.”

“So,” interrupted Treize. “We basically stole the blue prints and made copies?”

“Essentially my lord, but with much more advantageous results,” answered Lynesco. “You see, with natural-born psykers their level of power can be subject to a predetermined ratio due to the encoding of their DNA. However we have the power to encode that same DNA to a higher level of concentration, thereby guaranteeing much more powerful psykers. This combined with our already strong cloning technology would allow us to, plausibly, create an army of psykers more powerful than anything recorded in Chronosian databases or that of any nation-state within our range of knowledge.”

The thought was spell-binding. The fact that so small a step toward the replication of psyker abilities had never been reached before this was no longer in the picture when considered alongside what that small step guaranteed. Emperor Treize tapped his foot and chewed on his knuckle as he stared at the DNA hologram. He had already three promising psyker subjects in his psyker corp; and the thought of expanding that to monolithic levels was mind bending.

Treize looked up from the hologram to Lynesco.

“I want to see the process first hand.”