(I know this one is a little late in coming, but it will be the last of the Commorragh arc, in order to celebrate this achievement, and to clear up some squick issues concerning Nathaniel's exotic beauty comments, I am doing two entries for Nathaniel's journals. I am also a firm believer that novels that are a part of the Black Library aren't officially canon unless backed up by the codices and official Games Workshop articles. Some are very well done and for all intents and purposes should be taken as canon; others are so horrific that you hope that they never show up in a codex. To me this belief allows for more creativity when writing fanfiction, and prevents any unfortunate incidents of Carnifex's carrying multi-lasers being treated as canon. Also note that this story should not in any way be taken as canon. This story is fully fanon, though still keeping true to the spirit of Warhammer 40K. Once again, rated M for foul language, violence, torture, and implied sexual interaction, and some squick for some, the story does involve Dark Eldar and Slaaneshi daemons after all. I do not own the intellectual property of Games Workshop, only my own intellectual property which is being merged with their intellectual property for the sake of this fanfiction.)
Inquisitor Clark's notes concerning female Tau
From what we picked up from the work of the Inquisitor/Necron Lord Ralei, Tau males and females are almost identical. I must take exception to this categorization of female Tau. I lived with a group of Tau for ten years, specifically with a Tau ethereal for ten years, and I must admit that they possess a certain exotic beauty, which goes against his description of the Xenos as being similar to a Tau male. The ethereal he was dissecting was either young or underdeveloped. We have speculated that the Tau originated from a grazing species. It would seem that for all intents and purposes the Tau are mammalian, since they do not reproduce by laying eggs. Such a means of reproduction necessitates the existence of mammary glands, even if they don't currently use them. The ethereal also known as Aun'sal was had developed a figure by the age of 18 that we humans would associate with feminine beauty, a subtle hourglass figure and modest mammary protrusions from her chest. This was made more obvious from the clothing that we were forced to wear in Commorragh; the loose robes normally worn by Tau ethereals tend to hide distinguishing body characteristics. Female Tau also tend to have softer, more feminine facial characteristics than male Tau, as any of the images of Commander Shadowsun can attest to. While the gender difference between male and female Tau is not nearly as obvious as it is with humans, spending ten years in close quarters with the Tau gave me the ability to distinguish between their genders. But to me the biggest contributor of my attraction to the Ethereal was the probably the subtle influence of her pheromones. While their affect was not strong enough to make me obedient to her, perhaps spending ten years with this one ethereal made me more receptive to her pheromones in a subtle manner, creating feelings of pheromone induced attraction or friendliness. Perhaps that since we were both developing and she was exuding more pheromones that my body was more receptive to them. This is purely speculation on my part but such an incident of pheromone based attraction is not unheard of, and would exhibit another danger for all humans who spend enough time with Tau ethereals. Let me be clear that not a day goes by that I don't chastise myself for finding the Xenos beautiful, especially in light of what she did. Though the real worrisome question here is why are humans and Tau able to interbreed? Is it possible that the Galbeert's theory is true, and there is at least one Old One left manipulating the Tau? Some scholars have speculated Eldar manipulation, but Eldar technology alone cannot explain why the Tau are developing so quickly. If there is an Old One behind the Tau, what exactly is it planning?
Notes from Inquisitor Clark's Journal, Daemon Possession
The period when I was fighting for control of my body against the daemon simply known as the Winding Serpent was one of the most uncomfortable experiences of my life. It wasn't exactly terrifying, Commorragh had sufficiently corrupted me in that regard, but having a daemon take over and alter your body as it sees fit is one violation that the Archon was never able to inflict upon me. The fact that the daemon was female and was trying to alter my body accordingly only made the violation worse. On the plus side I managed to gain a deep insight into how these creatures think, and I have freer reign to use my psychic powers. Many times I have been approached by Ordo Malleus inquisitors who wanted me to join their Ordo; I decline every time because it is the xenos that I hold in the highest contempt. The Illuminati, people who have been through what I have been through have also approached me with offers to join them; I have also declined their offers. While I don't actively participate in their plans, I don't hunt them either. I also have no qualms about pointing an Illuminati sympathetic Inquisitor in the direction of a possible Sensei. Oddly, it was my possession that led to my freedom, as well as my landing on the planet Tian, where I would meet Inquisitor Wei. I am most grateful to the God Emperor that he led me to Inquisitor Wei, an Inquisitor who saw potential in a former Dark Eldar slave who was also a psychic who purged the daemon out of him. My good friend in the Ordo Malleus, Inquisitor Lankester Karras has informed me that he probably would have killed me on the spot if he had been in Inquisitor Wei's situation. In fact, I have come to attribute my escape and exorcism with the Emperor rewarding me for my faith, even in the dark pit of Commorragh. Who else could have been responsible for the chain of events that led to my eventual freedom and new future as an acolyte of an Inquisitor?
Three days have passed since they had left the daemon world; the closest webway gate was still 11 days away. The Archon was growing impatient with his slave, when he first heard groans coming from his cabin; he had assumed that his slave was feeling ill, so he gave him some space. Three days had passed since then, and strange noises, shouts, clattering, groans, and the sound of breaking furniture had been heard from the room. All food sent in was thrown back out against the wall. The Archon would not put up with this pubescent tantrum anymore, if the boy was healthy enough to make a ruckus, he was strong enough to serve. The Archon made it to the cabin and heard his slave mumbling to himself and thrashing about, he savagely beats on the door.
"Pet, I have been more than patient with you and your foul mood, you will come out at once and start performing your duties. Once you are done with that you will clean up whatever mess you have caused in there."
The response sounded like Nathaniel's but with a melodic feminine echo to it. "Your father sucks Slaaneshi cocks in the warp."
The Archon, quite furious now, pulls the door open. "I will not take such insolence from one of my slaves." Right as he finishes he notices that the cabin is completely destroyed, and his slave now has a serpentine tail, a slightly feminine figure, developing breasts and six arms, a mouth filled with sharp fangs, pink feathery hair, and eyes that keep shifting from black to serpentine pink.
"Hello Archon, Nathaniel isn't here right now; would you like to give me a message for him?" The Daemon asks.
"Oh shit" is all the Archon can reply with.
"That's a peculiar message but I will pass it on for you." The daemon now slams him into the wall and starts slithering down the hallway. The Archon presses a button on his gauntlets and bright red lights and blaring screaming sirens start appearing around the ship.
"Emergency, I repeat we have an emergency, my slave Nathaniel has been possessed by a powerful Slaaneshi Daemon and is now on the loose. Tread with extreme caution and try to kill that creature." The Archon's message is transferred throughout the ship.
Meanwhile Homunculus Galbeert in his private cabin looks up from his experiment to splice Ork DNA into a Mon-Keigh girl. "There are times when I hate it when I'm right." He locks his door and gets back to work.
Meanwhile the Winding Serpent makes her way to the ships escape pods, with Nathaniel still putting up a defiant struggle in their now shared mind.
"Why won't you just submit child, why won't you embrace the fact that this body now belongs to me?"
"Because my body belongs to me and no one else, you foul beast."
"So says the sex slave of a Tau Ethereal."
"That was only once, and she drugged me on the Archon's orders."
"A part of you was attracted to her though; you can't hide that from me. I can see all of your desires, past, present, and future."
"I will not listen to your lies, you foul warp spawned beast." Nathaniel is quite flustered at this point.
"That's right, you would have preferred that Tianese girl, too bad that didn't work out for you."
Through sheer willpower Nathaniel manages to send a psychic punch that disorients her for a few minutes. She gets her bearings back and slithers into an escape pod. She pushes a button and they exit the ship. Fortunately for both the Dark Eldar ship was passing by the world of Tian, so the Winding Serpent sends the pod in that direction.
Meanwhile on the bridge of the Piercing Cry, the Archon is trying to get an assessment of what is going on.
"Sir, an escape pod has just left the ship; do you want us to fire on it?" A young Kabalites asks from her station.
"No, let them go, they are someone else's problem now."
Meanwhile on the planet of Tian, Inquisitor Wei Huian is meditating in a temple of the Immortal God Emperor of Mankind who resides on Terra. It was the ten year anniversary of when her daughter was stolen from her, so she wasn't exactly in a good mood. Nonetheless she felt a strong disturbance heading toward her planet, being a psyker did have its advantages. She sensed a fearsome daemonic entity, and while she had little experience against such threats, she had to protect her people and her planet. She left the temple and headed back to her estate, she would need to get ready and gather her retinue.
Meanwhile, while the escape pod is still hurtling for the planet, Nathaniel and the Winding Serpent continue their struggle for dominance.
"As you can see I have almost completely altered your body to suit me, give up boy and accept the inevitable."
"No true servant of the God Emperor would ever accept being possessed by a foul beast such as you." Nathaniel noticed how the mention of the name God Emperor caused the daemon great discomfort. "God Emperor, God Emperor, God Emperor, God Emperor, God Emperor"
The daemon is in serious pain now, "Shut up you little twerp, stop saying that name."
"From the lightning, and the tempest, Emperor deliver us."
"You know, out of all of the pitiful mortals I have possessed, you are definitely the most annoying, maybe that is the real reason your parents left you behind."
This shuts Nathaniel up and ticks him off.
"Oh, did I hit a sore spot, well at least they didn't end up like Sister Ortega, who makes a very fine daemonette if I do say so myself. Do you know that there is still a little bit of her old personality left, and she weeps constantly at what she has become. I don't see why, to me it's an improvement."
"Or what about your friend Rubanza, you were too weak and powerless to save him, and now he will never join with the God Emperor."
"Shut up"
"Or back to your little friend Chun, you probably don't even realize that she had a crush on you. That's why she sacrificed herself for you, probably a good thing it happened to her when it did, a boring and cowardly boy such as yourself could never truly love someone back."
"I said shut up, you foul abomination."
"Or what about your sister, you pushed her away even after she had been completely broken, all she wanted was to know that her brother still cared for her, and you completely rejected her. That must have been crueler than any torture that the Archon inflicted upon her."
"Why won't you shut up?"
"Anyway I don't see why you are being so judgmental; she wasn't the only one who found pleasure in sexual relations with a Xenos."
"I am ordering you to shut up." And with that he sends out a mighty shockwave of psychic willpower that knocks the Winding Serpent around the escape pod, dazing and hurting her.
"Once I gain full control of this body, I will use it to cause so much depravity that you will come to regret your resistance."
"Weren't you going to use my body for depravity anyway?"
"Yes, but before I was going to render what was left of your mind unconscious and trapped within a little corner. Now I am going to make sure you are completely aware of everything that I do."
The pod lands on the planet, up in a highland area surrounded by rice patties. Before the ship or the area around it even has a chance to cool down, the Winding Serpents bursts her way out and begins to thrash around in the rice patties. Nathaniel is putting up a tougher fight than she expected one she might even lose.
Meanwhile Inquisitor Wei has changed into her work clothes, wearing tight slippers in a loose robe with some flak armor on, and a staff with the inquisitorial seal on the tip. She leads her retinue towards the rice patties and the daemon that is threatening her world. She has a strange feeling about this though, like things are not completely like they seem.
The Winding Serpent continues to thrash around in the rice patty, trying to subdue Nathaniel.
"What will you do boy, if you do get rid of me? How will you explain your story to the people of this planet? They are liable not to believe you and kill you as some kind of heretic. Or if they discover that you are a psyker, I have heard that black ships are quite unpleasant."
"I will take my chances, any fate is better than becoming a vessel for a daemon."
"How about this boy, swear allegiance to Slaanesh, I will leave your body on the condition that you find me a suitable one to possess. My mistress rewards those who serve him faithfully."
"One, if your bargaining with me, it means you're getting desperate. Two, why would I want to serve a deity who isn't even sure of its own gender?"
"Why you little, who even taught you the truth behind desperate bargains?"
"The Archon, he likes to tell slaves that bargaining with him won't do them any good, because if they are desperate enough to bargain it means that they can easily be broken."
"You know what, as soon as I take control of your body I am just going to give your soul personally to Slaanesh, and then we will see how big of a talker you are."
"With hollow threats like that, how can you hope to take my body? You are getting desperate, aren't you; you know I can drive you out."
"You stupid boy, I will make you SUFFER."
"I survived ten years in Commorragh; all of your threats are as hollow as your existence."
"You cannot win a mere mortal like you cannot defeat me."
"Hear this, I am no mere mortal, I am Nathaniel Clark, last son of Mantanya. I am a servant of the God Emperor of mankind, I survived the horrors of the dark city, and I will drive you out, now leave my body." Ushering every last ounce of his willpower and untapped psychic ability, he makes one last mental push against the Winding Serpent, driving her out.
Inquisitor Wei and her retinue arrive at the rice patty as they see a daemon being driven out of the body of an eighteen year old boy, and send screaming back into the warp. The boy, now dazed, stumbles in their direction. He has a muscular build, wearing little more than a torn shirt, with scars covering his entire body. He has curly brown hair and piercing hazel eyes, apparently he wasn't a native of this planet. He stumbles in their direction, looks up at Inquisitor Wei and asks "Chun, is that you?" and collapses on the spot.
Inquisitor Wei, quite shocked now bends over, and puts her hand to his forehead to properly read his memories. After a few minutes she stands back up with a sad look on her face.
"Li" she points to the biggest member of her retinue, wearing custom power armor, "take this boy back to my families' estate, get him clothed and take care of him."
"Inquisitor, did that boy just drive out a daemon from his body?"
"Yes he did, when the Emperor sends you a blessing you really aren't supposed to ask too many questions now get him to my families estate, take him to Chun's old room."
The Emperor works in mysterious ways indeed.