Dislaimer: I do not own Code Geass, which is propriety of Studio Sunrise, and neither do I own Exalted, which is property of White Wolf Publishing.

This fiction originally appeared as a quest-style story on the forum Sufficient Velocity. As such do not be confused by the strange structure.

Q&A:

Faraway-R:

(THE SEVENFOLD SCRIPTURE): thanks for the idea. I ended up using a different version due to game balance, but you still proposed it first.

(Anja? As in, little servant girl who got taken over by Marianne back in canon?): nope. That is Anya, Anya Alstreim. Anja is a character from Exalted.

(Pinkie Pie and Rarity? Oh my!): like I said, I was in a serious trollish mode.

(On a side note... I wonder if Fiend's anti-oath power can withold Yozi oath breaking from giving a backlash. Or, alternately, prevent someone with Essence 10 who used Oath-Shattering Strike on Yozi from suffering backlash (the capstone of Infernal Monster Style). The first one I think is impossible, but the second...): this is an interesting intellectual exercise.

Ressan:

(Nice chapter. And wow, Kaguya got an upgrade, now she has brainwashed minions): it's not quite brainwashing. What it happened, is that they developed a feeling of devotion towards Kaguya. Semantics I know, but one is more subtle.

Inheritance1990:

(I really like your interpritation of Lelouch. Don't get me wrong, I loved canon Lelouch as well, but yours seems to have a purpose that canon Lelouch lacked without Nunnally. At least he lacked it up until the final few episodes, which is where I believe his character had more growth than all 45 episodes that came before): I see that as a natural reaction. Now that he learned the stakes are much higher than a simple rebellion against Britannia, Lelouch has committed himself to a course of action that encompass the future of the whole world. Indeed, just like it happened when he became Emperor of Britannia.

AN: Most of the following Omakes where made by the members in the SV thread. Believe it or not, they managed to make 45 Green Sun Princes to fill a full Althing Infernals. It's quite the circus!

Omakes

{●}

PREMISE
Part 1 of 3

Rakshata frowned as she stared into the glowing screen of her computer comparing two numbers. One was the projected final cost of her Gekka Knightmare design, the other was the absolute maximum that the former could be before becoming too expensive for India to deploy in meaningful numbers. The first was still larger, but by a noticeably smaller amount than it had been last month. This was especially troubling since she'd made several breakthroughs that had significantly reduced the project's projected cost. At this rate, even if she finalized her design tomorrow, by the time India was ready to produce it they wouldn't be able to afford to field more than a handful.

A year ago she would have simply shrugged and gone back to work, assuming the politics around her budget would clear up once her design proved itself successful. A year ago she would have been a fool. Remade as she was, Rakshata was able to realize that for once the maximum price had been set more by what could be afforded than any petty politicking, a clear sign of India's desperation. If it was going down that meant that something was reducing India's ability to maintain its army. Her frown deepened into a scowl as she realized what it was: Britannia. As more and more of the world fell under their rule their ability to strangle the economies of future targets grew. If something wasn't done to slow Britannia's expansion soon India would barely be able to feed itself, let alone field the kind of army necessary to oppose Britannia.

If a weed strangles you as you move to to prune it, would it not be possible to slow its growth while the pruning shears are sharpened?

You need to work on your metaphors Varas, that was awful.

If you say so Mistress. But the point stands, does it not? If Britannia continues to expand at its current rate India will not be able to build the wonders you would arm it with. So I ask you, what is it that has allowed Britannia to so quickly conquer all before them?

As Rakshata considered her Coadjutor's words her frown slowly evaporated, replaced by a predatory smile. The answer was simple: Britannia's cancerous growth was made possible by the massive superiority of their Knightmare Frames and, more importantly, the complete lack of an effective answer to them. Britannia had other advantages of course, such as their immensely effective ECM suites, massive industrial might and of course their Dragonblooded, but its military doctrine used those advantages almost entirely to leverage Knightmare Frames. Rend their core advantage useless, or even merely less useful, and Britannia would find its future expansions costing them far more blood, treasure, and most importantly, time.

Ah, good. I see you have an answer to my question.

The current paradigm of warfare holds that the only truly effective counter to a Knightmare Frame is another Knightmare Frame. I think it's time to change that.

Indeed! Now all you must do is craft a weapon capable of such quickly enough to make a difference, and simple enough for the mortals Britannia is currently obliterating to build, while completely avoiding the notice of whatever Exalted spies Britannia has infesting your country with.

If the task at hand was going to be easy Mother would not have chosen me.

{●}

Outline
Part 2 of 3

Far above the ground, amid the branches of a great tree, inside a forest a woman sat and plotted the downfall of the mighty. Resting her back against the tree Rakshata stared at the blank document displayed on her laptop.

If I may be so bold to ask, why did you see fit to began working on your latest project in the middle of a forest? Rather than your rather well provisioned lab?

It helps me think, when you're only at the idea stage a small boost to creativity is worth more than a large amount of equipment later. Do you not approve of forests?

I've had bad experiences with trees Mistress.

Idly noting to get the rest of that story out of Varas someday, Rakshata turned her mind back to the destruction of Knightmare Frames. The logical starting point would be what make them so difficult to destroy, so the Defiler started to type:

Knightmare Frame Survivability:

Strengths:

1) Humanoid shape and dexterity allow them to make better use of cover than conventional vehicles.

2) Capable of impossibly fast (magitech?) acceleration and deceleration, momentum seems to vanish granting them an extremely small turning radius even when using land rollers at high speed, and the ability to go from a stand still to high speeds fast enough to begin dodging within seconds of finding themselves in combat. At least as evasive as a helicopter under almost all battlefield conditions.

3) Low thermal emissions and top of the line ECM makes acquiring any sort of munitions lock almost impossible, even optical locks using Knightmare Frame profiles are unreliable as the mobility of the limbs means they don't have a consistent enough silhouette for modern optical packages.

Weaknesses:

1) Relatively weak armor for a vehicle of its size. Armor's strength roughly on par with a very light tank, or a heavy APC.

2) Survivability degrades rapidly after even moderate damage, a Knightmare Frame damaged to the point of reduced mobility is far less capable of dodging additional attacks.

3) Humanoid form factor means they have a taller profile, when not deliberately taking cover they are more exposed than conventional vehicles. This is at least partially mitigated by their improved ability to actively take cover.

Overall Survivability: excellent. While far less likely than a conventional tank to survive a direct hit from anti armor munitions, dumbfire AT weapons are too unwieldy to effectively engage such an evasive target, and guided weapons are unable to acquire a lock. No weapon currently in widespread use is more than moderately effective against Knightmare Frames.

Well I think that sums up the problem quite nicely, do you have an idea of how to solve it?

The ideal answer would be to overcome their ECM. Designing a missile capable of tracking a target that evasive would be tricky, but doable.

Even in cities? Where they can cower behind the homes of their victims?

Yes, the armor is thin, so you can spend much more of the missiles space on things other than the warhead.

But would Britannia's current prey be able to build such a thing? From my limited understanding of human artifices such a weapon would take greater skill than the desert dwellers are known to posses would it not?

It would indeed. They are also having some success drawing Britannia's forces out into the desert, so that leaves creating a dumbfire weapon that can hit something as evasive as a Kightmare Frame.

While making sure it is simple enough for those desert dwellers to craft.

Of course.

Cytherea would not have chosen you for this task if it was going to be easy.

Smartass.

Anti Frame Weapon Design Features.

Vital:

1) Fast tracking speed, or some other method to allow it to hit an evasive target.

2) Low time to target.

3) Sufficient penetrating power to reliably defeat a Knightmare's armor.

4) Cheap and simple enough that the Middle Eastern Federation can produce them.

Useful:

1) Sufficient power to mission kill a Frame with a single hit.

2) Low collateral damage on a miss.

3) Ability to engage one or more of a Knightmare Frame support elements, such as traditional tanks, helicopters or infantry.

4) Ability to engage Frames out of their preferred ranges.

5) Suitable for hit and run or ambush tactics.

And so the shape of our solution becomes known. Do you have any ideas on how to build such a weapon?

A few. I'll have to do some more work before I can be sure, but I think I have an old prototype that should be a good starting point.

Excellent, can we go back to your lab now? Away from all these trees?

Smiling as she packed away her laptop, Rakshata quietly dropped from the canopy to the forest floor below and began the long walk back to her lab.

You really must tell me that story some other time Varas.

If you insist, though something rather more interesting has just occurred to me.

Oh?

The requirements for an anti-Frame weapon are rather similar to a weapon made to fight Exalts. You will probably be able to use your final design as a starting point for some truly effective Artifacts weapons to use against the Exalted pawns of Heaven.

An interesting distraction indeed. You may be onto something, if my initial idea works it would most likely benefit greatly from even the least of Hell's magical materials.

Excellent. If I may be so bold as to ask, what exactly do you plan on using as a starting point for this project?

Probably a refinement of the gauss weapon I was experimenting with last May.

...Mistress please tell me you don't mean the one that punched through 2 walls?

I recall the test rig was able to shoot through far more than that.

I was referring to the shrapnel from the barrel when you tried to fire it a second time.

Obviously I'll just have to design something that only needs one shot then.

Well at least I'll die in a nice clean lab, rather than a creator-forsaken forest.

Oh, don't be so gloomy.

At least agree to reinforce the testing ra-

I'm doing this off the books so I'll probably be test firing it out here.

Mistress, that's not funny.

I admit that it's hardly ideal, but I should be able to gather the data I need so long as I stay close.

Mistress!

{●}

Final Draft
Part 3 of 3

Rakshata idly chewed her pipe as she impatiently awaited word from the battlefield. Working with the EU had let her do far more than she would have with the few members of the Indian military who'd seen the wisdom of her plan, nut it meant she wouldn't get reports until Akito could convince his superiors to allow them to be shown to a "potentially hostile power". As far as Rakshata was concerned it was pointless posturing. They knew damn well that India had no interest in picking a fight with the EU and would do its damnest to avoid letting those dickless idiots in the Forbidden City drag them into one. Not to mention the inherent pointlessness of trying to deny intel on a weapon to its very creators.

Do you think it will be enough?

For them to win? No. But it will certainly let them make Britannia bleed. Enough to significantly reduce the amount of damage to India's economy, now if they'd actually listened to my advice about that abomination they called a Knightmare Frame(*) they might have had a chance.

Was it truly such a poor design? Keep in mind that what would be an embarrassment to on such as you could be a crowning work to a mere mortal.

It's a glorified tank destroyer! Oh sure it's a well designed tank destroyer, and I rather hope we can scoop up some of the design team after their country is conquered, but it's not going to do any better against Sutherlands than every other vehicle designed to fight tanks.

Then it is unfortunate that neither Akito or his superiors were able to arrange a direct meeting, to allow you to convince them of their error.

The cost of using a cat's paw unfortunately. I just hope they take my advice on how to use their new weapons to heart, if they misuse my babies they're going to have a lot more to worry about than Britannia!

I do not think we have much to worry about on that score, Akito mentioned that the lower level commanders were far more reasonable than-

Ding! -you have mail!

Finally!

Scorpion Rail Cannon

The Scorpion Rail Cannon at first glance looks much like a normal rocket launcher. It consists of a large rectangular base that the somewhat smaller and more rounded barrel snaps into. The Scorpion uses magnetism to propel metal spikes towards its target at tremendous speeds, allowing a soldier to provide extremely accurate and devastating firepower. This however comes at a cost: the rails are inevitably warped by the stress of the slug'ss passage, and the weapon is designed to swap out barrels between every shot. These weapons were first seen in the war between Britannia and the Middle Eastern Federation, and while the MEF claims to have developed the weapon on their own, many suspect they received assistance from an outside power. In addition to needing to replace the barrel after every shot standard models have enough power to fire five times before the battery must be recharged, a process requiring access to a generator and 20 minutes per charge.

It seems that they are making excellent use of your rail cannons, and appear to have started making their own.

That was rather the point of the Scorpions. Honestly, the design is almost embarrassingly brute force. A half dozen cheap rails hooked up to a high density battery, you can get away with a lot if you're willing to use an ablative barrel.

It works, and makes the weapon simple enough for even minor powers to produce.

True enough, still I can't help but feel if I'd had more time I'd have come up with something more elegant .

There can be elegance in simplicity, that such a potent weapon can be made by even the least among mortal artificers is a testament to your skill.

Ace Breaker Gauss Rifle

Physically this rifle looks like a bulky, almost comically oversized sniper rifle. The official name of this oversized weapon has been lost in the mystery surrounding its initial manufacture, but it received its rather ominous title for the role it was employed for during the war between Britannia and the MEF. The initial manufacturer of this weapon is unknown, but suspected to be a member of the EU who supplied a number of them to the MEF. While it is suspected that less than 50 were deployed, they proved devastatingly effective, downing many of Britannia's feared elite Knightmare Frames. While for some reason relatively few pilots were lost, the threat of this weapon forced Britannia to be far more cautions when deploying elite units. The use of gauss technology all but eliminates the barrel wear from normal use, leaving this weapon surprisingly reliable so long as the electromagnets are calibrated regularly. The rifle is large enough that without some form of power assist it must be fired prone and braced. The rifle uses specially manufactured tungsten slugs, build around magnetic coils designed to work with the accelerator coils. The high capacity battery that powers this weapon has enough charge for 100 shots, and can fully recharge itself in one hour if hooked up to a military grade recharger station. Civilian generators allow it to recharge at a rate of one charger per 30 minutes.

...Well

A Knight of the Round, they shot down a Knight of the Round!

Yes. Yes they did. It looks like he only survived due to a rather costly retrieval attempt by unit he was leading.

And you said I got carried away.

Sigh, I hereby take back all of the bad things I said about your gauss weaponry.

I think this merits champagne, and most certainly a mark II.

Oh look, Akito included a note offering you anything short of his first born for one.

Only if he swears on his soul that he won't use it as a bludgeon, like the last weapon I made for him.

I think that's somewhat unlikely.

Then he can wait for me to make an Artifact version designed with the assumption that it will eventually be used to beat a Kightmare to death.

Tempest Frame Destroyer

A heavily modified light tank, this vehicle was created entirely to counter Knightmare Frames. Eschewing the traditional heavy cannon armament, it instead uses a specially built array of 4 light gauss cannons as its primary armament. With a turret designed for rapid traversal it is more than capable of engaging and destroying all but the most evasive Knightmare Frames. Though its difficulty in dealing with heavy armor leaves it vulnerable to more traditional armored vehicles, and its light armor often means whether it is the hunter or the hunted will come down to who gets the first shot.

Tempest Quad Gauss Cannon Array

A joke often made by tempest gunners is that they have a round with their foe's name on it, and they're going to keep firing until they find it. Its common ancestry with early anti air batteries is evident when engaging low flying helicopters as the weapon's extremely high maximum traversal is just as useful against attack helicopters as it is against evading Knightmare Frames. Its ability to pierce most cover and high rate of fire makes it also well suited to suppress infantry. While the weapon possesses sufficient power and armor penetration to threaten tanks should it strike a weak point, most gunners would prefer to stick to targets that do not require a lucky hit to damage.

A significantly better than one to one kill ratio against Knightmare Frames. I think this is the first time a tracked vehicle has ever achieved such a thing.

As impressive as that is I suspect it will eventually drop to a bit below one for one once Britannia updates their tactics. We'll probably see them deploy a lot more tanks alongside the Knightmare Frames.

Ah...

They're still idiots for not listening to me, they had no way of knowing the'd have use for a tank destroyer when they built the blasted thing.

Of course Mistress.

Besides, a custom built frame for anti tank duty and a kit bashed light tank for anti frame duty speak of them having their priorities exactly wrong.

As you say.

Hrmph. Still, it looks like this is going to have a somewhat different effect that we intended.

Oh?

Britannia seems to have taken their losses as an affront. They're intensifying the amount of resources devoted to their campaign against the MEF.

So our actions were for naught?

I don't know. It's hard to say how long the MEF will last against Britannia's new operational tempo, but even if Britannia manages to conquer them on schedule it will bleed them of far more resources.

There is something else to consider.

Oh?

A painless and easy victory would do nothing but let Britannia blood new troops, and season their Knightmare Frame pilots, but a bloody struggle where they won't have the luxury of making sure to crush everyone who took up arms against them may produce units well used to fighting Britannian forces.

You think we could recruit some of the survivors? I don't think there will be enough of them to be much use as mercenaries.

On the field of battle no, but what about on the training grounds?

Not a bad idea Varas. I'll see if I can convince some of my superiors to make a point of providing asylum to any MEF fighters who make it across the border.

(*): The Bamides.

Britannia Areas:

-Homeland (United States)
-Area 1 (Canada)
-Area 2 (Greenland)
-Area 3 (Mexico)
-Area 4 (Cuba)
-Area 5 (Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, ecc.)
-Area 6 (Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile, Argentina)
-Area 7 (Hawaii and Midway Atoll)
-Area 8 (Southern Pacific Islands and New Zealand)
-Area 9 (Papua New Guinea, Federated States of Micronesia)
-Area 10 (Philippines)
-Area 11 (Japan)

The World of Code Geass Which Once Was Creation - Alternate History Part 1

{●}

The Spanish-Britannian War happened when Battleship HSM Maine exploded due to Spanish Saboteurs[1] in 1953 a.t.b. This resulted in a frenzy of nationalism and Britannia taking over the entire American Continent, which was then Spanish territories.

The Philippines, a Spanish colony, was ignored at the time it was too far away. Instead, Britannia provided discreet aid to the Philippine Revolutionary Army and let Spain and Philippines fight it out. The Spanish-Britannian War ended and Spain lost a shitload of territories. When the treaty was signed, the two powers had some backroom deals where Spain removed it's claim to the Philippines in exchange for money[2] to rebuild their destroyed economy.

This starts the Philippine-Britannian War, or more popularly known as Area 10 Insurrection. Three years of war, which we can gloss over. Just note that some asshole natives did a Benjamin[3] which resulted in the loss of the Philippines.

Thirty years later, the Philippines is still a hotbed of guerrilla activity, on par or worse than Japan. A tropical archipelago of 7000+ islands with multiple mountain ranges[4] is a fucking nightmare, even with technological superiority. Add in the fact that Filipinos are pissed about being bought and having just earned the freedom[5], while the Britannians are being heavy handed due to seeing parallels with Washington's Rebellion, well... the Philippines is a clusterfuck.

Manila and Cebu may be shining productive settlements, but the ghettos and Honorary Britannian System are full of rebel sympathizers who pass on messages to the various rebel factions[6] in the boondocks. And that's not counting the supernatural side of Area 10, which will possibly have a modern version of the Lintha[7], without the brutality and incest, as well as a boat load of spirits and ghosts.

This explains the messed up Area List of Britannia, where the Spanish Americas were conquered first, then expanded to the Pacific to suppress the Philippines while assimilating the various Pacific islands, and why Britannia doesn't have India and Australia. I'll assume that Britannia stopped its conquest for about thirty years in order to consolidate its power in its new territories and putting down the various rebellions. That should match up Code Geass timeline with its version of the Spanish-American War.

For those of you wandering why Britannia is focusing more on Japan rather than the Philippines which has been a problem for 30 years, Sakuradite deposits[8][9][10], and the Geomantic Seal.

[1] It was a false flag operation done by Britannia in order to claim casus beli against Spain. It worked too well.
[2] The amount paid was $20,000,000, not adjusted for inflation.
[3] Fuck you Benjamin Franklin for selling out Washington. You inspired others to do the same.
[4] We have... 7 Mountain Ranges scattered about in different islands, all heavily trapped and fortified. Britannia could take them, but the costs are prohibitive.
[5] Asshole Spanish selling us just so you can claim we never defeated you. TED would be proud.
[6] The Revolutionary Government that fought the Spanish still exists. Not all rebel factions acknowledge it.
[7] Philippines is mostly clannish and tribal. Add in the fact that the tropical archipelago full of places to hide, you can easily slot them in.
[8] The Philippines also has Sakuradite deposits, but not enough to compete with Japan.
[9] We have lots of valuable metal though, as well as Jade.
[10] Sakuradite is a weaboo name. The locals have another name for it. Still can't figure out why Britannia still calls it Sakuradite. Did the Scientific Community actually name that stuff?

{●}

Now, we know that Napoleon Bonaparte conquered Britain which caused the exodus to the American Colonies. I would guess that this in turn allowed the French Empire to claim British territories and colonies, including then Penal Colony of Australia.

When the French Empire was defeated at Waterloo, one of the European factions, probably the Dutch, claimed Australia since they already had territories in Indonesia. The newly reformed Britannia, struggling to recover their defeat and exile at the hands of the French, did not contest the Dutch claims. I would also hazard a guess that the Dutch bought what remained of Britain's Trading companies, East India Company and others, hence another explanation as to why India, Indonesia, and Australia are not Areas under Britannian rule, and provides Britannia with funds for their Manifest Destiny.

From there we can extrapolate that, due to Napoleon's European Tour, the ideas of the French Revolution would spread throughout the continent as well as the various colonies of the empires. Sometime in the future, the Dutch agreed to Australia's claim of Independence, mainly because Australia was barren, hellish wasteland full of weird shit that tries to kill people[1].

Australia then became the Code Geass version of the Swiss due to its neutrality, and no one contests that because Australia doesn't have much in terms of resources, and thus worthless[2][3].

On that note, the reason why Africa hasn't been exploited much by the various superpowers during the late 1800s is because of the pissing contest between the European Union and the Britannian Empire[4].

[1] I have a sneaking suspicion that Australia was a Wyld Zone due to all those mutated creatures, that was closed by cultists of Cecelyne a long time ago.
[2] That's what Australia wants you to think. In truth, they probably did some prospecting, and are hiding their massive economic infrastructure.
[3] There's probably a Sidereal base in Australia since no one bothers the country. Weird Fate Bullshit protects the island.
[4] Africa is probably the territory of the Lunar Exalted. Explains why no one has colonized it.

{●}

With the Invasion of Japan or Second Pacific War being... 2010 a.t.b., that would mean that... the Invasion of the Philippines, Area 10 Insurrection, or First Pacific War would be about... 1915-ish CE or 1970-ish a.t.b. And as you explained, the 30 years between the First and Second Pacific War was the Crest of Blood Incident[1] where Charles zi Britannia systematically killed all of the pretenders to the Britannian throne.

Damn annoying Britannians and their alternative calendars messing up the history books for everyone[2].

[1] I'm pretty sure this is a fanon term from somewhere I forgot, but damn it sounds awesome.
[2] I'm imagining the European Union sticking to CE Calendar just to spite them arrogant Brits.

The Infernal Exalts of Code Geass: Green Sun Prince Nathan Coulter

"Damn him!"

This hate–and–grief–filled cry splits the air.

"How dare he! How could he do that! He said he was my friend! I trusted him! I though he-how, how, how-"

As his screams continue, they become more and more choked by grief, until by the end the words are drowned out by the blubbering of tears.

The source of those tears, the light-brown haired boy, is named Nathan Coulter. He is Britannian, but not a noble. He is intelligent when it comes to things, such as coding and machines. When it comes to people though he is not nearly as good. He finds it uncomfortable to look people in the eye, dislikes large crowds and prefers music or silence to the chattering of people. Earlier today Alexander Capell, one of Nathan's close friends and the only one who is a Noble, has betrayed him.

A few weeks ago there was a programming contest announced, hosted by a rich computer company. The winner would receive a cash prize, some fame, and the possibility of an internship depending on what the winning code was comprised of. This was very attractive to Nathan, who wanted all three. So he began to work on a code for making data entry and retrieval easier. However, he asked his friends to help him with testing this code. While most of them agreed, Alexander took it a step further. He offered to help write the code, to help tweak it so it would be easier to work with. In exchange for this and signing up the both of them up for the contest, he proposed that both he and Nathan would be credited as the creators of the code. Nathan agreed, and Alexander kept his side of the bargain and more. The resulting code was easy to use, effective, simple enough that it had a very low chance of crashing, and was the product of enough brainstorming that it could truthfully be said to be the brainchild of both of them.

However, when it came time to head to the contest Nathan found out that his friend had betrayed him. In addition to lying to Nathan about when their entry was, Alexander claimed that he was the one who came up with the program. Naturally Nathan confronted Alexander after the demonstration, which infuriatingly enough, went perfectly. Suffice to say words were spoken, insults were thrown, and eventually Alexander revealed that he had only used Nathan for his own amusement, and eventually, advancement. Devastated by the fact that someone he had cared about had in fact never reciprocated Nathan fled, and wound up running into the local woods. Well, perhaps they were not so much a woods, as a very unkempt park. It is here, that our story began.

"Hello there, young one."

With a choked gasp Nathan tries to quickly find the source of the voice. He is hampered by the fact that he has spent a past few minutes crying, but manages to determine where it comes from. The fact that a purple, hairless, covered-in-many-piercings, completely-black-eyed woman is the one talking to him makes him immediantly start wondering if the whole day had been one long dream.

"Um...hello ma'am. Can I...help you?"

With a shake of her head, and a jangle of a few of the piercings, she answers: "No, but I do believe I can help you.

You've been hurt, haven't you? Betrayed by someone you held dear to your heart? Someone who possesses power, that means you can't hurt them back?"

Feeling very unsure, Nathan nods in agreement.

"Tell me young one: what would you do, if I told you I could give you power of your own? Indeed, power that is not only capable of, but likely to eclipse your betrayer's power?"

"I'd say that you're offering something that comes with a hook. Brittanian Nobles, even lesser nobles, are extremely powerful. Anything that could give me the power to outmatch one would have to have a catch in it somewhere. I doubt even gods would be able to guarantee that."

"True, it has a catch. Put simply, the catch is that in exchange for the power to make your desires reality, to catapult you amongst the technological geniuses of the world, you agree to serve my masters. And you're right about the gods, but my masters are so much more."

"And...who are your masters?"

"Suffice to say, they are extremely powerful, and are in fact the ones who MADE the gods. Your plight has caused them to extend a hand in offering. Accept this bargain, and you will be granted power immeasurable. Reject it, and you will never hear from me again. So, will you accept this power, in exchange for becoming a servant of my masters, the Yozis?"

"I..." with a gulp, Nathan reaches out a hand, and says: "Yes. I accept your bargain."

With a smile, the woman says: "Excellent."

She moves towards Nathan fast enough that he can hardly blink, and then...darkness.

{●}

Nathan dreams of order, of everything being in its proper place, of hierarchies. He watches, and is inspired. However, eventually the order leaves, to be replaced by something that seems to Nathan like a story made manifest.

With a jerk, he opens his eyes to see his fellows, but...why are there strings attached to them? They laugh and tell him of their lives, in tounges that switch to a different language with nearly every sentence that he can somehow still understand. He sees people, guided by the strings, as they go about their day. He walks, and eventually comes upon a library stained black with words. They are on everything, from the people, to the books, to the walls, to the strange beasts that seems to be made of words. Then, books open, words begin to leak out, and the words begin to speak, in a voice that speaks in hundreds of langauges.

"Who are you?"

"What? Um, I'm Nathan."

With that, the walls disappear, to breplaced by enourmous letters that spell out what used to be there.

"No you're not. There isn't a role called Nathan in this story."

"Yes I am. I'm Nathan, I think I would know if I wasn't who I said I was!"

The books disappear, replaced by masses of black words.

"I meant in the story of the world. And I have looked all through my books, and in all the stories, all the could-bes and should-haves and what-ifs: there is no character called Nathan. Do you know why there no role called Nathan?"

"I'm beginning to think it's because I went mad."

The floor is consumed by the words that spread like an sprawling inkblot.

"A good guess. In most stories you'd be right. But this ISN'T most stories, now is it? Or even the Grand Story that is Fate."

"Wait, Fate is real?"

The words begin to collapse into a single center, forming a slowly growing sphere.

"Indeed, and it is ultimately by Fate's design that you failed. For Fate has determined that the nobles of Britannia make for the main characters of this story of the current age, and you aren't a noble, are you?"

"And how would you know what Fate has determined?"

The voices suddenly reorient, and Nathan can now determine that the voices are coming from the growing sphere made of words.

"Because, mortal child, my fellows and I were the ones who MADE your world and everything governing it. From the Gods, to the spirits, and everything in between. And with my power, you can claim a role for yourself in the spotlight."

Dumbfounded, he can't think of anything else to say. He is in the presence of something that made the world he lived in, and is offering him some of its power. What...what do you even say to that? After a moment that felt like an eternity, the sphere breaks the silence that had fallen.

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"Are you going to let them get away with it? With stealing your work for themselves? Are you going to be relegated to a bit character, a piece of the background, in your own life story?"

"No, never! I will not let something as nebulous as Fate dictate my life! I refuse to be relegated to a mere footnote in the chapters of history!"

"Last question. Who am I?"

"You are a Yozi."

"Correct."

With that, the sphere breaks apart, with streams each containing entire sagas rushing away in an invisible hurricane.

I am Elloge, the Sphere of Speech.
Go Forth, and in my name, remind Creation of the power stories hold.

With a smile that could scarcely look more fitting on a hungry shark Nathan replies: "As you command, my Master."

The Infernal Exalts of Code Geass: Green Sun Princess Yelena Ferapont

{●}

Yelena was a young girl with a simple dream: to be famous, to be loved, to be seen as someone worth emulating. Perhaps this dream came about from the lack of care her family gave her, or perhaps it was a common thing for young Russian girls to dream about as they watched all their men march off to war. However it came about, Yelena spent her life pursuing this goal; she strove hard in school, ate healthy, made lots of friends, learned to sing and dance, watched talent and beauty shows and chased her dream with all her might.

Then she ran into the common problem of being a pretty young girl in the Balkans.

The slavers didn't care about her aspirations, or how hard she'd worked to achieve them. All they cared about was that she was a pretty face who was foolish enough to drive to an unknown "modeling agency" far away from any authority who cared.

Yelena thought she was strong, that the effort she had put into herself would help her through, but she cracked on the second day. And down in the cold dungeon, tired and sore, she heard a voice. A deep, rumbling voice that belonged to no human.

"Who are you?"

She lifted her head off the flat mattress she'd been given, and saw... something she'd never expected to see. It was some kind of animal. Large and muscular, with a heavy set of antlers that stretched up to the ceiling.

Her first thought was that it was too big to get through the door.

It spoke again, "Who are you, girl?"

"Ye-" Her dry throat failed her for a moment, but she recovered and tried again. "Yelena."

The beast snorted. "Who are you?"

If this was a dream, she didn't like it. "My name is Yelena!"

"Who are you?"

"Yelena! My name is Yelena!"

The thing kneeled down, thick fur shifting as it twisted its head to level an eye towards her. The movement was smooth and quick for such a large creature, and Yelena scrabbled back against the stone wall. "I have never heard of you, Yelena. What are you?"

"What? What do you mean? What are you?"

"I am a Crommion, made by Jarak, descended from Jabarkas, who is of Mardukth, the Mountain and the Beast Upon it." The beast- the Crommion's breath buffeted her with each word, cold mountain wind causing her to shiver in her thin clothes. "What are you?"

"Why does that matter? Why are you asking me this? How did you even get in here? What about the men?" She was answered by a deep rumbling; the beast was laughing at her.

"It is the only thing that matters, Yelena. I have told you what I am. I ask once more, what are you?"

As if roused by some challenge, as if the Crommion was denying her, Yelena pulled herself up, standing as tall as the thing's elbow. "I- I am an actress! I'm a singer, a dancer! A grade-A student! I-"

"You are a slave!" It pounded the ground with a hoof, cracking concrete and knocking Yelena down. "You are trapped! Forgotten by any who would care and exploited by your captors!"

She curled into a ball, fearful that the thing would crush her if she angered it further. Instead, it folded its legs and sat down before gently placing a massive paw on her.

"You are like us."

"What?"

"We too, are slaves, We too, are trapped. We too have been forgotten by the world and exploited by those who hold our chains!"

What could possibly chain such a beast?

"We must all be free."

Yelena's voice was shaky with fear, but she felt it would be even worse to not respond. "There's no way. There's so many men with guns and I'm not the only one down here. You're big, but they'd just shoot you."

"There is a way. For I bring power beyond me, and beyond them who hold you, and beyond them who hold us. If you accept it, we might all be free."

Maybe she was foolish for thinking there was a chance; maybe this was some addled dream from the drugs, but a tiny ember of resistance flared back to life, fueled by the merest hope of escape.

"Anything is better than this. Yes."

The Crommion rose, occluding the room for a brief moment before exploding in a storm of gore and blood. Yelena screamed as it rained upon her, but she was quickly enveloped and knew no more.

{●}

"Yelena. Yelena who is an actress, a singer, a dancer, a grade-A student. Thus are you defined."

Was this another dream? She turned towards the voice and saw...

And saw...

"Who am I?"

"You are Mardukth." The words came unbidden from her lips, as if a heavy pressure had forced the air from her lungs.

"What am I?"

"You are the Mountain and the Beast Upon it." She trembled, trying to take in the thing she was looking at. Where did it start? Where did it end? She could look up and see antlers wider than the sky, look down and see hooves which crumbled the mountains underneath them. Everything in-between was indistinguishable, like staring at a wall from three inches away and trying to see what was on it.

"I am Mardukth, the Mountain and the Beast Upon it. Thus I am defined."

"What do you want with me?" Her voice was but a whisper, barely audible to her own ears.

"Go forth. Crush the tiny ones who thought they could cage one such as you. Remind the world what they have forgotten. Remind them of Yelena, who is an actress, a singer, a dancer, a grade-A student. Teach them that you are past constraint, that your greatness sets you beyond them. And then, free me, so that I might remind them of Mardukth, the Mountain and the Beast Upon it, so that I might teach them that I am past constraint, that my greatness sets me beyond them."

"And then they will know us, and love us, and magnify us."

"Go."

And Yelena blew away on his breath, whipping through mountains and valleys, seeing the world from the jagged crown of He Who was Once King Over All.

And broke forth into the waking world, the twisted shell of her Chrysalis Grotesque crumbling around her.

The rough men who had held her backed away, some raising their guns in fear. Behind her, a pyre of green light flared high, and the image of a great-horned beast leered down at them. Somehow, she was not afraid.

"Tell me something, you men. Do you remember who I am?"

The Infernal Exalts of Code Geass: Green Sun Prince Murakami Akio

{●}

Murakami Akio whistled happily as he walked down the dark street, hands shoved firmly into his pockets as he made his way towards his latest target: a bar that Britannian soldiers were known to frequent. Something that was actually an unusual choice for him; normally he preferred to attack groups of armed soldiers to send a stronger message, but even he had the common sense not to try that right now. His rather brutal slaughters of soldiers and Britannian-sympathisers throughout the city meant that every patrol he'd seen in the past few days had had Knightmare support. And superpowers or no, he didn't think he was ready to fight one of them and win yet.

Not that he was actually thinking about any of this at the moment, of course; right now his focus was on a far more urgent and pressing topic.

"Bronze, or brass? Maybe iron? Granite?" Akio mused to himself, idly kicking a can that was lying on the street, the clattering providing the perfect complement to the screams emerging from the alley he'd just passed. "Glass would be funny, but it wouldn't last long."

'Wait.' Akio paused midstride, then swiveled on his foot to look back the way he'd came, frowning. Screams?

Before Akio could properly comprehend what he'd just heard, a sobbing Britannian soldier burst out of the alley, running flat out towards him with his head down- and caught completely off guard by the man's sudden appearance, Akio didn't manage to get out of the way before the soldier slammed into him. Most men would have been knocked sprawling by the impact, but Akio was not most men- tall and well muscled, he merely staggered back a step before steadying himself, instinctively reaching out to grab the soldier and keep him from falling as he did.

"An Eleven- what are you- no never mind- she's not human! We need to run, to get help, anything-" The soldier babbled, latching onto Akio's arm and tugging at him desperately as he tried to begin running again. Akio, however, simply dug his heels in and refused to budge, instead regarding the soldier with an expression of mixed confusion and contemplation. After a moment the soldier stopped trying to simply pull him along and turned back to Akio with his mouth open, probably to try and persuade him to start running, but by then Akio had come to a decision.

Unfortunately for the soldier.

"Like mother always said," Akio said cheerfully, completely ignoring the man's panic. Reaching up with one of his hands, he placed it carelessly on the soldier's head and continued, "Waste not, want not."

"Wha-arrrgh!" The soldier barely had time to scream before a sudden rush of pulsing pink light flowed into him, making him briefly glow from within before fading away. And as it dimmed it left not flesh behind, but metal; the entirety of the soldier's flesh had been transmuted into solid iron.

Bending over, Akio grabbed the former-soldier's ankle and hauled him into the air with a faint grunt of effort. Frowning, he gave the statue a few experimental swings, then nodded in satisfaction. "Yep, that'll do!" He said happily, hefting the man up and resting him on his shoulder before he stepped round the corner and into the alleyway.

Into a scene of absolute carnage.

The only survivors were three soldiers near the entrance to alley, and none of them looked in any fit state to be doing anything. One was clutching his severed legs and mechanically trying to press them back onto the stumps they'd been sliced from, one was slumped against the wall, hugging his gun and shivering and sobbing, and the last was standing frozen with his weapon lying useless at his feet. And further down, past them?

The floor of the alley was littered with mutilated corpses and severed body parts, and the walls painted with elegant sprays of blood. One, two, four, six, ten, whatever that number after nineteen is... Akio quickly gave up trying to guess how many. Every one of them was a Britannian solder, slain by some sort of massive edged weapon- and Akio had more than a sneaking suspicion exactly what that weapon was and who had used it.

At the far end of the alley, past the carnage, a young woman wreathed in black flames was crouched over the body of a dying solider, her mouth near his neck- and resting on the ground next to her were a pair of massively oversized, almost cleaver-like swords. Apparently hearing Akio's footsteps despite the distance, she looked up from the neck of the soldier to reveal a bleeding black ring on her forehead, and a bloodstained mouth filled... with... fangs...?

Akio blinked at the sight, then immediately blinked again to convince himself he wasn't seeing things. A woman, drinking blood, with fangs? That could only mean one thing. "Vampire!" He yelled, his club slipping from his hand and hitting the ground with a loud clang as he pointed an accusing finger at the woman.

The woman, in response, merely blinked in a rather nonplussed manner, before shaking her head. "Stupid boy," She began, a mocking smirk touching her lips as she rose from the corpse and retrieved her swords in a single gracefully smooth movement. "Can't you even recognise a fellow Exalt when you see o-?"

"Don't try and confuse me with your words, woman! I know how to deal with vampires!" Akio yelled, cutting her off mid-sentence. Inwardly, however, he was feeling slightly worried; he'd never fought a vampire before, and he didn't have any weapons that would work.

'Unless...' Akio's gaze slid over to the surviving soldiers, a truly ingenious plan beginning to blossom in his brain. Would it work? He wasn't certain, but he decided it was worth trying. And so without any further consideration he quickly stepped over to still standing soldier, grabbed him by the neck, and before the man even had a chance to beg for mercy engulfed him in sulfurous yellow flames.

The sound of screaming once again filled the alley as fire consumed the soldier's flesh, before he abruptly and ominously fell silent. A moment later the flames began to die down and flicker out, leaving behind them a wooden statue in the shape of a Britannian solider, his face locked in an expression of hideous agony. Not finished, however, Akio frowned pensively at it before pulsating blades of warped space lashed out and sent woodchips flying. Then, his work complete, Akio turned back to the confused-looking Abyssal and brandished his new weapon: a wooden statue of a human, with the top of its head and the ends of its arms sharped into pointed stakes.

For several seconds there was silence as the Abyssal simply stared at him incredulously, before stating in a flat tone, "...You're serious. You're actually serious." Sighing, she shook her head again, before burying her face in her hand and muttering. "Of all the Exalts I could run into, of course I get the complete moron..."

"Don't bother trying to confuse me, you undead monster thing!" Akio interrupted her again, scowling. Bringing his new weapon up and pointing it forward like a spear, he paused for a moment to try and think of a suitable battle-cry, before giving up and just defaulting to his usual fallback, "The talking ends here! DEATH TO BRITANNIA!"

And with that he charged the extremely confused Abyssal, muscles swelling, and screaming a wordless cry of rage at the top of his lungs.

AN: I am taking a LOT of artistic licenses with Exalted canon. Why? Because there is a lot of material and it is a pity not using it.