War Oracle
Audio testimony by: WAR ORACLE
UNTIL Archived: Link 8635AJG-20MC
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Antarctic base Alpha - renamed Alamo - was, to our knowledge, the last remaining stronghold of humans in existence. Shelf stations Hardpoint, Lorica and Aventail had already fallen as the monsters of the Qlipoth closed in. Three hundred humans gone as their signals went from screams to static.
The distant wards shrieked with colors up into the starless night, holding briefly. But it was already over. There weren't enough humans left. Even if they won right now in some daring last minute gambit, they could never remake the world of their birth. All was lost.
But life wants to live and Admiral Ishida commanded the Archons into action. We left our our contrition cells and took our combat stations. The huge Titan, Rex and Deus classes readied for the assault with the powerful Vigil and Bastion classes supporting them. Poet classes spread out through the cold hallways, fading into the scenery like the nasty surprises they were.
My own Oracle class and a dozen others joined their combat units, humans, cyber-arcanists, robotic defenders and Archons listening to the last few wards give up the brave souls with which they were made.
Warrior company was assigned the hanger approach. We had already collapsed the mountainside on it but tons of stone didn't hold back the darkness any longer than ancient magics and the fight came to us with teeth, tentacles and promises.
Commander Chanda had already planned the withdrawing action to bring the melting dark into tighter and tighter hallways. Cyber-Mages blazed their spells, overheated their relics and some burned up like dry grass. Others simply stood their ground, fought on or didn't. They had made up their mind.
The defender robots scrambled right away, chaos eating their ability to process the next electron. Some even turned on us as the creatures crawled into their cases parodying nearly human expressions on the nearly human robotic faces.
Fighting beside Chanda and her humans I briefly wondered if they regretted creating us Archons, fusing Qlipothic entities with human souls to create a hybrid construct capable of facing down nightmares without flinching, but also connected to the goal of human survival.
We could not save them though. Nothing could save them. I remember wondering if Chanda would rather have humans with her here at the end, rather than weaponized abominations. There was no way to tell. There was no time to tell. I could only watch as a toothy tentacle pulled Chanda into the writhing midnight. Her hex gun went off twice, and then once more. A standard round. The only one she carried.
The humans broke then and routed back into the base. Four of us moved to cover their retreat. I noticed the other Warrior Company Archons glowing. I was glowing too.
Then the whole world came apart in light and pain. And then I was here in this city full of people and cars and beings and I have no idea how I got here. I barley know what any of this is.
But I do know what I would do to keep it all from falling. That I know very well.
Research notes on the Oracle class Archon
by the Arcano-Technica Collective
w/commentary by Dr. Lorrain Paulsen
Body of Darkness
The Oracle has the strength of the great beasts. Steel and stone gives way. The Oracle is a patient destroyer. Like the dark earth it moves, chthonic and inexorable.
LP - Strength is slow-twitch in nature, pushing, pulling, lifting, not striking or throwing, less combat applicable
The Oracle has a body of rueful darkness turning aside elements and weapons, resisting wounds that would fell even the old monsters of the world.
LP – Magical resistance operating on kinetic, energy and mental levels, very sustainable, less feedback than other combat classes, more dead-zone style barrier defense.
Reveal the Soul
The Oracle may reveal himself as he exists in the Qliphoth allowing his essence to roll forth unbounded, the darkness of a thousand agonies, a hungry midnight devouring all things intended to live. All things intended to exist in the faith of their creators the darkness senses and feasts upon.
LP – Reactions to the darkness within vary. Some feel pain, some lose heart, some feel euphoria, results are usually the same though. Works on devices built with an intent as well, that’s weird.
The Oracle, through the bridge of its vestigial humanity, may be able to call upon the long-lost spark of unfallen light left still in the creature of its construction. Touching this light for even a moment ignites the Oracle with a remembered divinity.
LP – Calling forth this light causes significant pain to the Archon. It is one of the few things that truly hurts it even as it makes it much more powerful both physically and magically. Unsustainable over time. A few seconds of true power.
The Call and the Hunger
The Oracle may call to the body of beings who have lived. The dark eye can speak directly to their veins, their blood, their bones. Such hidden names are whispered by the will of the Oracle that the body of another may bleed its fear, its pride, its recklessness, its devotion, its anger, everything. Its every living moment can become an aura collapsing back on it and spilling outward into all around the sweet and awful gifts of the Oracle.
LP – Arcano-mental power causes cascading feedback in the systems of the target producing a mental aura sharing the feedback in an area. Effect is narco-psionic resulting in bouts of euphoria, fever, and hallucinations. Extended exposure can produce dependency features and is physically harmful to all targets exposed.
LP- This effect can be narrowly focused on a single target increasing its power to immediately dangerous levels and allowing the Oracle to draw the feedback produced into its own body, converting it into magical energy. This is how Oracle class Archons feed.
LP – Also works on machines built with intent. Also, weird.
The Eye Unbidden
The Oracle sees from the future, from the past. Sights and significances are drawn to him across the wide nets of time. No hidden thing stays hidden from the Oracle who may see all things as they become useful to destiny.
LP – The Oracle does not seem to control the visions and may not even truly know if they are the past or the present.
