Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing, and all intellectual properties belong to their respective owners.
Any and all original characters (OC) belong to their respective owners and will be credited.
I only own the original characters that I make.
The author's notes will be at the bottom in bold text.
"normal Speech"
Inner thoughts
"telepathic speech"
(foreign languages translated)
Speeches may be combined if necessary.
Thank you, and please enjoy the fanfic.
[3rd POV]
"So, you're telling me not only do people out here can have multiple spouses, but there's a religious significance to it as well?" questioned a bewildered Matthew, as everyone was gathered around a makeshift campfire at midnight, in the cracked parking lot of the now destroyed Dunwich building.
"Yeah pretty much, everyone out in the waste that each person has one sinful flaw and one heavenly virtue. Take for instance me; my sinful flaw is sloth on account that I don't give a shit about a lot of things, where my heavenly virtue is diligence because I can be a real stubborn bastard." Explained Jericho, cleaning his Type 93 assault rifle.
"Is there a limit to how many spouses someone can marry?" questioned Dan, intrigued by wasteland's culture, or what could be considered a culture in this day and age.
"Yes actually, there is. Counting the 'husband', you can have up to seven spouses at a time. The idea is that each spouse has at least one of each flaw and virtue, so you have a 50/50 chance of being blessed or damned." Elaborated Jericho.
"…so how do you and Riddick know of this hunter guy?" questioned Matthew, wanting to know how Dan and Riddick knew of the mysterious being.
"We encountered… it, when we were on the edge of death until it intervened and, well, I guess rescued us for lack of a better word. I was cornered between a group of Ork Nobs and an Ork Warboss and prepared myself for a most gruesome fate when it came and slain the damned beasts and 'recruited' me without me giving consent whatsoever." Explained Dan, miffed by the abrupt 'recruitment' by the strange hunter.
"…So anyone else have some strange and unexplainable secret we should know about?" tiredly asked Matthew, thoroughly done with any further nonsense that the day has brought.
"Well, there's always me." Spoke a mysterious, gleeful voice. Every immediately stopped what they were doing a swiftly turned to the newcomer and saw a man, with a see-though ethereal soft blue glow, with a glint of mischief in its eyes, as it cheerfully waved at the group, no longer phased by the ghost presence after the events of the day.
Pinching the bridge of his nose and sighing deeply, Matthew tiredly asks the spirit, "And who might you be?"
"I'm Isaac Clarke, a former ship systems engineer and current ghost living in Carver's body. Nice to finally meet you all." Cheerfully greeted the ghost engineer.
"…Something you want to say, Carver?" sternly questioned Dan, suspicious of the resident Psyker.
"…Trust me when I say I wish I could be rid of this insufferable spirit. Ever since we've met, he has made my life needlessly complicated. All that I desire at this point is to reunite with my chapter and sleep the series of events off like a bad dream and be done with it." Grumpily said Carver, absolutely hating the situation forced upon him.
"…So we know that the hunter guy brought over those two." Stated Matthew, pointing over at Riddick and Dan, before continuing, "So how did you end up on this planet?"
Sighing deeply with reluctant resignation, Carver stated, "I used an incredibly ancient spaceship that Isaac's people used when they were alive before some great calamity destroyed them, jury-rigged it into being space flight worthy again, and used it to escape certain death. Unfortunately, the ship had quite a few malfunctions, forcing me to crash land on this world, flying out the window screaming, and landing in a den of slavers. I just so happened to land and crush on top of the group's leader and ended up getting into a gunfight with the entire encampment. Luckily, none of the slavers possessed any weaponry that could actually pose a threat to me and swiftly slew the fiends without any major fuss. That was when I met with Clover here and freed the slaves there. A few days later, I met up with Dan and Riddick, pissed off a giant deathclaw, and… well, you know what happened after that."
"And that isn't even mentioning all the crazy stuff the two of us went through since we met." Chimed in Isaac, eager to put in his side of the story.
"…I feel that's a story for another time." Stated Matthew.
"I'd rather not speak of it." Gloomily said Carver. Isaac then piped in and said cheerfully, "I would though."
"…Moving on, how are you taking all of this Shephard?" asked Matthew, explaining everything he could to the marine for the past few hours.
"Pretty good all things considering, though I do have a few questions for the three resident spacemen here." responded Shephard, wanting to be up to date on current events.
"Yes?" questioned Dan, eager to answer Shephard's questions.
"So this is the 41st millennium right, seeing that I'm from the 3rd millennium, you guys must have solved all sorts of problems that plagued mankind in my time, so did you guys solve those yet?" asked Shephard, hopeful of the answers.
"Well, you need to be a little more specific or we could be at this for weeks." Said Dan, confident in the imperium, while the other two space marines feel a sense of dread pooling in their stomachs.
"So did you guys solve world hunger, or in this case galactic hunger?" questioned Shephard.
"… uh no, no we didn't." spoke Dan, a little put off by the question. "The Imperium at large has been suffering from a food shortage for many millennia now, corpse starch has been a thing for the past few thousand years, and even now that's in short supply." Stated Riddick.
Shocked at the answer, Shephard quickly asked, "W-w-well, what about poverty? You guys must have solved that at least right?"
"Poverty has always been shit since the founding of the imperium, and it's only gotten worse since then, even more so after the Horus Heresy." Answered Carver.
"Education?" Shephard dreadfully asked, an unsure tone in his voice.
"Over 90% of the imperial citizens are illiterate, most only learning through imperial propaganda, under the belief that reading could make you turn into a heretic. Only imperial guard officers and nobility actually know how to read and write. Many space marine chapters also don't know how to read or write either, believing that reading is a waste of time, thinking that it would only get in the way of their duties. Fortunately, not all chapters believe this; take for instance the Ultramarine. It's actually required in their training to read and write… maybe that's why their chapter is so successful?" spoke Carver, asking the last one to himself.
"…Have this imperium actually solved anything?" asked Matthew incredulously.
"W-we have a little under a million worlds under our control and can repel any force thrown at our imperium." Spoke Dan, desperate to salvage the conversation.
"Yeah, 70% of which are just dead floating rocks, worlds that actively try to kill you, or worlds blown up by trigger happy inquisitors." Remarked Riddick, sarcasm thick in his voice.
"Not to mention that the imperium loses more men than the enemy due to inept leadership and idiotic 'strategies', with the imperial guards' motivational speeches being incredibly fatalistic and our main strategies simply charging headfirst to hit things with our swords. I am frankly still amazed that this whole damned imperium hasn't collapsed under its own weight and stupidity." Bitched Carver.
"… is the most advance pieces of tech just weapons you people use just to kill shit?" asked Shephard, any hope he had for humanity gone.
"Yes." Stated Carver and Riddick, while Dan dispassionately said, "… We do have advance medicine too."
"Is it available to everyone?" Shephard deadpanned.
"...No." said Dan, lowering his head sullenly.
"… Can we please change the subject? It's just too depressing to listen to anymore." Spoke Shephard dejectedly.
"… How about getting Mathew here a change in clothes, so he looks more like a local here?" spoke up Jericho, trying to lift everyone's spirit's a little.
"The only thing I can think of is a shirt and jeans, maybe a coat if possible. It's not like there's combat armor in my size." Said Matthew, worried at the thought of a lack of protective clothing.
"Actually, there is." Piped up Clover, everyone not local looking at the ex-slave questionably. She continued, "I heard from a couple of old ghouls who served in the military back in the old world that the army was constantly running low on recruits, so they started drafting kids about Matthew's age into the army and gave them equipment that would fit them. Even today, there are warlords out in the waste that do the same thing too, considering that being 14 is now considered being an adult out in most places in the wasteland." Jericho nodding his head in agreement with Clover's statement.
"… So do kids also take jobs normally reserved for adults too?" questioned Shephard, concern in his voice.
"Yeah pretty much." Confirmed Jericho nonchalantly.
"… Including... prostitution?" worriedly asked Shephard, dreading the answer.
"… yeah, that too." Spoke Clover tensely, not proud of giving this kind of information.
Everyone was quiet at the shocking information, Shephard most of all upset at the piece of news. The three space marines keeping quiet, knowing that the same thing happens every day within the imperium, much to their degust. Matthew was mulling over the information in his head before a thought popped inside his head.
"… Wait, does that mean that I could get married at my age too?" asked Matthew, genuinely curious.
"Oh, yeah definitely, people out here tend to die young, so lota folks tend to marry when they can." Answered Jericho, wanting to move past the tense atmosphere.
"Why did you want to know about that Matthew?" asked Shephard, curious as to why the young doctor asked such a question.
"Back in my vault, I was the only 14-year-old there. Everyone was either older than me or was in diapers. I always thought I would be alone for the rest of my life, never really knowing what it would be like to find that special someone or getting married. Honestly, I thought the only people who could be with me were my friends and dad." Answered Matthew, revealing a little of himself to the group.
"… Shit, that sounds lonely as hell." Spoke up Jericho.
"Trust me, it was." Said Matthew, sad at the memory.
"… So, we all know that Jericho has, or well, had a family. What about everyone else?" Spoke Shephard, wanting to change the topic to something more light-hearted.
"I had taken an oath of chastity when I became a space marine." Answered Dan.
"I have a boyfriend in the Deathwatch." Said Riddick.
"I'm married to a 6'8 sized ghoul." Spoke Clover, everyone looking at her questionably.
"…Carver here has a girlfriend." Spoke Isaac cheekily, grinning ear to ear.
"ISAAC, WHAT THE FUCK?! Shouted Carver, embarrassed at the revelation.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" laughed the spectral engineer, holding its sides as it fell to the ground, rolling on the floor.
Everyone looked at the display, shaking their heads with a smile on their faces or laughing along with the ghost.
Shephard then said, "I was married at the end of the combine war actually, even had a kid too." Before his attitude turned more somber and continued, "… Before I was taken away from them against my will, and brought here."
Isaac and Carver looked at each other, a look of understanding between them, and looked backed at the marine out of time and nodded sympathetically towards Shephard. Everyone else gave the man their condolences, Matthew apologizing the most, guilt swelling inside his gut after knowing he's the reason Shephard wasn't with his family anymore.
Dan then immediately asked, fury in his voice, "Was it this hunter individual that took you from your family?"
Shephard then shooked his head and with a smile behind his gasmask said, "No, he actually saved me from the guy that did. He promised that after my role is done, he and a friend of his would send me back to my family. So as much as it sucks being away from them, I can wait for a little while longer and help you guys out."
"That's great buddy! OH! I almost forgot, I can help you guys upgrade your weapons and equipment whenever we get back to town. Don't want you all to think I'm just some ghostly freeloader now can I?" Isaac said enthusiastically, then continued, "Of course I need to 'temporarily' take over Carver's body to do so, if mister grumpy here would let me." The ghost said coyly.
Carver was about to heatedly refuse the offer, before looking at Matthews pleading puppy dog eyes, trying to summon the will to refuse the child, but then sighed in defeat. Then, with much annoyance, Carver said, "Fine, you can take over and make the necessary modifications to our stuff if it will please you."
Matthew then excitedly jumped up and whooped with barely restrained joy, doing a little dance, while the others looked at the excitable child, shaking their heads, smiles on their faces.
With a chuckle, Dan then said, "Alright little one, it's time to go to sleep, we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow, and we'll need our strength."
Matthew nodded and dove into his sleeping bag, but before he went to sleep, he asked, "Hey, after a few days of getting our stuff ready, can we go into D.C and try to find my dad please?"
Dan nodded and spoke, "We will certainly do so child, now go to sleep. We will need you strong and ready tomorrow."
With all that said, Matthew laid back down into his bag and slept as soon as he closed his eyes. The others soon following shortly after, Mike keeping a watchful eye out for any sign of danger.
A few days have passed since the group's encounter with the supernatural, and everyone has acquired new gear and weapons by selling the equipment looted off of the dead mercenaries, giving them a lot of caps to use for supplies. Isaac did as he promised and upgraded everyone's equipment, making the group more prepared for the journey ahead.
Matthew had gotten a new set of clothing as he promised the group. He had a plaid red shirt, blue jeans, and a black turtle-neck undershirt, with black spiked steel-toed combat boots and a sheathed combat knife attached to the right boot. Over the cloths was a green sturdy combat armor chest piece and leggings. Over the armor was a tan, brown trench coat with a sliver Hardcase backpack with the medical symbol painted on it, where Matthew stores his medical supplies. Around Matthews's neck is a set of road goggles and a grey flat cap hat on the young doctor's head.
Inside Matthews trench coat were two holsters sewed in; the one on the left side of the coat is a double-barrel sawed-off shotgun called the Kneecapper, which was rewarded to him after he helped a man out will his love life issues, which ended with the flirt getting a shotgun wedding. On the right side of the coat, the other holstered a 44 scoped magnum called the Blackhawk. Matthew got this from an old lady named Agatha by helping retrieve her great-great-grandmothers violin from a vault.
On Matthew's right hip was a holstered modified 10mm pistol with a reflex sight, a fire select, a long light ported barrel, a sharpshooter's grip, a large quick eject magazine, and a compensator. On the right side of Matthew's backpack was an aluminum baseball bat covered in barbed wire Matthew named Lucille. On the left side of the backpack were an automatic laser rifle with a reflex sight, a gyro compensating lens, a recoil compensating stock, and a boosted gamma wave emitter.
Matthew wasn't the only one to upgrade his gear however.
Jericho equipped himself with a dark brown set of combat armor and upgraded his Chinese assault rifle with a long covered welded barrel, a light stock, a quick eject drum magazine, glow sights, and a large, serrated bayonet.
Clover got herself a set of light combat armor and upgraded her 10mm SMG with a 70-round drum magazine, a collapsible stock, a foregrip, and a reflex sight. On her hip was a 10mm silenced pistol with a reflex sight and a Chinese officer's sword with an electrified serrated blade on her left.
Lt. Dan added a belt around his waist with three satchels sewn onto it, one in the back under the power pack, and two on his body's left and right side to carry explosives in all three bags. This was due to revealing to the group that he was his chapter's demolitions expert and thus was entrusted to handle all of the group's explosive needs. Matthew wasn't trusted to handle lethal explosives due to him constantly almost blowing himself up with hand grenades, as it turns out that he can't throw anything worth a damn, and can only successfully disarm explosives.
Shephard didn't change his outfit other than getting a pip-boy himself, but he did upgrade and swapped out his arsenal. He traded his bolt action rifle for a silenced semiauto sniper rifle, his M249 SAW for an M199 assault rifle with fire select, a vented barrel, a recoil compensating stock, a reflex sight, a quick eject drum magazine, and a muzzle break, traded in his 9mm Glock 17 with a 10mm pistol with the same modifications as Matthews, and finally traded his Spas 12 shotgun for an automatic combat shotgun with, a long ported and shielded barrel, a recoil compensating stock, a quick eject drum magazine, glow sights, and a large bayonet.
Shephard had his desert eagle upgrades with a reflex sight and an extended 15-round magazine, his MP5 was rechambered to use 45 caliber rounds and reflex sight, and getting his combat knife a stealth edge.
The group felt confident with their gear and equipment upgraded and set out to go into D.C., ready to search for the young doctor's missing father.
Sorry again for this taking so long to make; I was originally going to add more to the chapter but decided that it took too long and split it up.
I hope that it's obvious by now that these chapters aren't going to be released on a regular schedule, but sorry for those who really want to see these chapters.
This chapter didn't really have any action in it, but I did add quite a bit of world-building to it. I especially wanted to focus on the lack of education and the children being used as either workers or soldiers, adding some grim darkness in its implications. I'm sure you Warhammer experts can see where this might go.
Yes, Matthew will have a harem in this fanfic, but only three spouses for this one. The other three will come in another fanfic VERY later down the line. I won't be doing any sex scenes in this fanfic however, at best, I will hint at it but never actually write about the sex itself. Sorry to disappoint anyone looking to get their rocks off; you're going to have to look somewhere else.
Regarding Shephard's weapons, more specifically the one I haven't mentioned, here's a short brief on them and if they're in the fanfic:
Barnacle Grapple- not in the fic, G-man took it away.
Snarks- not in the fic, G-man took it away.
Spore Launcher- not in the fic, G-man took it away.
Shock Roach- not in the fic, G-man took it away.
Displacer Cannon- not in the fic, G-man took it away.
The rest- Shephard does have, just not mentioned.
The Shephard I am basing off on is from Shephard's mind on YouTube by Krim.
I'm using a combination of armor and weapons from Fallout 3, New Vegas, and 4, especially the crafting system.
As stated again, this chapter just adds to the lore, but let me know if you guys want more of our large group just hanging around, talking, and shooting the shit. The next chapter though will have much more action.
I also have questions for the community I've been wanting to ask.
How well could beskar from star wars hold up in Warhammer 40k? Remember that a spear made of beskar took a direct hit from a starship and didn't get a scratch, though arc weapons might be useful.
What was the emperor of mankind do during world war 2? The only information I manage to find was that he was with the Nazis and experimented on prisoners in concentration camps.
These questions will become relevant to the series; I just want to know right now.
Thank you for reading, and please follow, favorite, and review.
Have a nice day.