Date: D016. Y977. M31. MI60
The ecumenopolis that was Iyanden was burning, thousands no tens of thousands dying every second many not to bullets plasma or laser weaponry not even in single combat or in a psychic battle of will no many would be cruelly sacrificed to the Unborn God of the Domain in horrifying ways no sentient being had or wished to experience for millennia they were flayed, burned, hacked to pieces really anything you could imagine and that fate was about to befall a young Aeldari
The youth struggled against his captor who sought to drag him to the sacrificial pits they had carved into the ground in order to sacrifice innocent Aeldari on mass, pulling on his arm and using his body weight the youth seemed to slip out of his captors grasp with the youth falling over from the small unexpected victory, he quickly attempted to get up he however was punched and stomped on "did you really think you would get away that easily?" the hedonist questioned in an almost mocking tone "such a fool you should know that only your suffering makes you worth anything to the Unborn God" the hedonist licked then his lips and readied a dagger he extracted from its sheath
"Say goodbye whelp" he laughed, plunging the dagger right between the youths eyes…
Date: D016. Y977. M31. MI60
Luchin Mios shot up from the bed drenched in sweat and having a migraine hitting his head like a club from an ork leaning over the side of the bed and placing his feet on the ground while sitting up felt like he was weighed down to the bottom of an ocean 'breath damn you breath!' he told himself forcing himself into a battle meditation pose he would take several minutes to calm down and to shove those unpleasant memories down and out of mind, his trama was something to be forgotten.
Finally regaining complete control of himself Luchin looked up at his room, if you could describe it the one word for it would be empty, of personally, of personalization, of life 'all alone' but he did not focus on that he had a job to do standing up he would go through his morning routine of brushing his teeth, shower and sharpening his sword basic stuff however as he then approached his armor Luchin would for, one of the last times that day smile and his put on his helmet before the rest of his armor signifying his status as the Phoenix lord of the Temple of Asuryan and letting him leave his other personality of Luchin Mios behind and walking out the door and down the streets of Iyanden.
Since the sacking of Iyanden by the hedonists in the Domain and its entry into the Sanctuary, Iyanden had once again prospered rebuilding much of what they had lost and purging the corrosive influence of the Unborn God via their strong belief in the true king of the Aeldari, Asuryan and despite the relatively small size of the Temple of Asuryan they were able to punch well above their weight due to the power that the Phoenix King still granted to his followers, even with his now reclusive and passive nature.
Pulling himself out of his thoughts and finally placing the personality of the Phoenix lord on himself he spotted his entourage made up of many Exarchs, Farseers and their aspect warriors or warlock apprentices, as he approached they all clearly felt his presence and quickly shut up and stood at attention out of respect for one above their station 'good they know their place' Phoenix Luchin was pleased and then approached the webway gate.
The webway gate of Iyanden a massive construct created millions of years ago and still just as beautiful and breathtaking as when it was built, placing his hands and pulling his sword light of purity on the altar of the portal he said a prayer and channeled his immense psychic power through the runes and symbols of the webway gate a swirling mass of colors he had never and would never see again appeared and the light blues of the webway opened up to them nodding to his entourage and placing his sword in its sheath they all then ran through the gate as it rapidly closed shut with only a small portion of one the exarchs capes getting snagged and erased from existence.
Exiting the webway Phoenix Luchin and his entourage would find themselves on planet of Ulthwe, the home of the High Farseer of the Temple of Asuryan, "High Farseer Eldrad Ulthran" Phoenix Luchin spoke "Phoenix lord Luchin Mios" Eldrad replied the tension in the air was palpable you could easily cut it with a knife because despite being from the same temple and worshiping the same god the two had never agreed on much and it was rumored that they had a fierce rivalry that began when they had just started out as initiates in the Temple of Asuryan however it is also widely known they…, "so how's the wife?" Eldrad half questioned half joked Phoenix Luchin had to stifle a groan of annoyance, They were good friends "you know I do not have one and just for her hypothetical sake never will" Phoenix Luchin said "now I believe we have business to attend to?" Phoenix Luchin attempted to shift the subject but everyone could hear the slight tone of amusement in his voice.
"Ah yes that's just like you always so serious, lighten up we may get to do something important this time" Eldrad said, Phoenix Luchin scowled in impatience as Luchin Mios he would have enjoyed his friends jests but he was Phoenix Luchin so he did not "alright then this way" Eldrad said he could practically feel the annoyed amusement from his friend so he lead them to the webway gate that lead to their destination Commorragh the capital of the Sanctuary.
Exiting the webway gate of Ulthwe and entering the gate if Commorragh they entered what was widely considered the center of pure Aeldari culture, economics, military strength and not the endless twisted hedonistic mockery that was the domain, standing upon the large floating platform that supported the gate to Ulthwe like the many thousands of other webway gates, above them the large orange sun that orbited around Commorragh shone illuminating the vast urban sprawl that seemed to stretch on for miles downward as well as the large amount of commuters on their way to do whatever job, errand or task they had.
'And to think Commorragh stretches across an entire solar system' Phoenix Luchin thought needing a moment to take it all in despite being a Phoenix Lord he and Eldrad were still comparatively young to the true masters in the Temples of Isha, Kurnous and Vual "remember just because we are young doesn't mean we dont hit hard" Eldrad spoke through their shared telepathic link "could you not Eldrad this is not the time" Phoenix Luchin responded "you know i'm not joking the other temples do not respect us and that is an important fact" Eldrad had always been keenly aware of how the other temples had looked down upon them seeing them as merely hitching their wagon to their success "yes I do but we will prove we can and will play a major role in the fall of the Domain" Phoenix Luchin concluded Eldrad merely hummed in response.
Having been picked up by the elite Commorragh Corsairs, who were considered to be some of the most well trained, experienced and well equipped solders in the galaxy, only the Phoenix Lords, High Farseers, the Path Masters and the most veteran Exarch squads could be said to be their betters, arriving at the grand hall of the Sanctuary entering through the Representatives only entry way they walked to and through the hall of Asuryan towards the central camber with nobody else using the hall it was empty giving them some peace and quiet however they quickly grew bored with only the soft footfalls of their entourage and only the walls to look upon.
It was noted how empty the hall of Asuryan was, apart from a rune or two here and there, while other halls would have great works of art or ancient artifacts that were forged during greater eras the hall of Asuryan had none of that, Phoenix Luchin vowed to change that some time ago when he had first set foot in this very hall but so far the war and soon to be escalation of the war with the Domain took president "do you think we can win" Eldrad said suddenly thinking about that "what are you suggesting?" Phoenix Luchin settled on Eldrad seemed to contemplate it as if he thought what he was going to say was unpopular
"it's just that I have… Had doubts the Domain has… So much more, more planets, more resources, more manpower, more weapons and while yes our location gives us the ultimate defensive position we have no way to use it effectively to our advantage assassination of leadership? They are not united anyway and kill one Archon, It seems three more take their place, grind them down? They have all the resources and manpower and we are the ones on the clock with the Unborn God growing stronger every day… we need allies, allies who can at the very least pull Domain troops and fleets away from us and I want you to help me get that across to the Triumvirate in the council".
Eldrad finally finished his long diolong and Phoenix Luchin was not surprised his friend had made this argument before and personally Phoenix Luchin and Luchin Mios did not hate the humans even if they were primitive barbarians worshiping barbarian gods and having painfully simple cultures and traditions, no human had personally wronged him or sought to kill him for reasons that were not based in logic, such as believing he was apart of the Domain or a hedonist whos mere presence meant they would all be tortured and sacrificed soon, as such his opinion boiled down to not caring for the barbarians if they didn't get in his way "really? and what would those barbarians be able to do that we can't?".
"Simple! They would provide the troops and fleets necessary to keep the domain under pressure and if gods be willing they could even coordinate with us to help bring down the Domain after all the threat of the Unborn god is a threat to every sentient being not just the Aeldari!".
"Do you truly believe the humans would listen to reason and our wisdom? Truly Eldrad" Phoenix Luchin asked rhetorically the humans were to concerned with their own petty problems and conflicts to see the bigger picture "I do" Eldrad replied "in fact I believe they are more than willing to ally with us, you have heard of the Damned One and the destruction of Vraks right?" Eldrad asked, Phoenix Luchin knew of these recent events it was what had preceded caused the Human Pantheon to make a united response the humans called the gods grand return and it was had most likely prompted this meeting of the Temples.
"Yes I have heard the Damned One is a grave threat but so long as we hold the external webway gates he shouldn't be anything to be concerned about" Phoenix Luchin said with confidence "we cant just do nothing! That is idiotic that's why I need you to persuade the triumvirate to act!" Eldrad said, attempting to get his point across.
Eldrad had explained this dozen of times but the Damned one was new though Eldrad was right he was a threat what could they do they would have to go out of their way to not only gather support for it but go out of their way to try and destroy the Damned Ones fleet and going against tens of thousands of ships while already being at war a possibly escalated war at that was not appealing.
'All the Aeldari ever need is their gods and themselves' Phoenix Luchin thought already fed up with this argument and put it to bed by continuing "the humans wont differentiate between us and the Domain they already have many reason to hate all Aeldari and with their inability to look past a few thousand years how would they ever know what's at stake?" "They already have!" Eldrad was also getting frustrated with his friends inability to look past the surface level although the humans on the surface will always seem to be ignorant, impulsive and hateful and to an extent many are, but Eldrad firmly believed that Humans with their shorter life spans and different outlook on life, as seen in their culture could always change and change fast, they could be persuaded, they could change their minds and mindsets all the Aeldari had to do was take the first step, there was hope in Eldrad's opinion that Aeldari and Humans need not despise each other.
But just as Eldrad was going to respond once again the spiral door opened in front of them they had been deep in their telepathic link so deep they had not noticed how far they had gotten but they had entered the council chamber, the chamber itself was circular in shape and extended for what seemed like miles up and down with each Temple getting a grav platform called a council chair there were eight chairs for twentyfour Aeldari each chair would contain a Phoenix Lord, a High Farseer and a High Priest or Priestess speaking of such.
"It is surely by a miracle that you two are on time today" High Priest of Asuryan Prydar Eldoc one of the only surviving priests of asuryan during the Fall of the Old Gods when after the great war with Humanity caused by the Disgraced One, the Slaanesh cults rebelled and established their own Kabal's within the Domain, attacking and throwing out the Temples, most would flee into the webway such as the Temples of Isha, Kurnous and Vaul however most such as the Temples of Asuyan, Khaine, Morai-Heg and Lileath many with these Temples would be killed or commit seppuku however a few would survive using the infinity circuit to be reborn again and again while others passed down their knowledge, all the way until the rise of the Sanctuary finally allowing a large scale safe space to rebuild.
They have been growing ever since, with Priest Eldoc being one such survivor gave him a certain amount of prestige and respect amongst the population however not much from the other Temples who had also survived notably the Triumvirate or as they were more commonly know the Founders of the Sanctuary "it is at a good time too, thank Asurayan that now you can help me to get these to listen! They are fools, I tell you fools!" Eldoc also had a rather large pride that didn't like to be challenged.
"They just don't see that we have far more than enough to challenge the Domain, the battle of the Webway should already be underway!" Eldoc said it was then Eldrad looked at Phoenix Luchin or mentally at least looked at him, Phoenix Luchin could always tell because they were telepathically linked "High Priest if I could suggest something it would be appreciated" Eldrad said the High priest rolled his eyes before sighing "yes what is it" "i'm sorry if this sounds rude but they don't respect you maybe they would take us a bit more serious or at least humor us" Eldrad finished putting on his best poker face and Eldoc once again sighed,
"Fine you two will be speaking today they don't seem to take me seriously maybe they will want to deal with you two" Eldoc said he was obviously frustrated as the Temples of Kaine and Morai-Heg blatantly disrespected them and the Triumvirate never seemed to care much about what he said however the lights then dimmed as the cacophony of noise died down with it, they looked up slightly about fifteen feet to the overseer chair as the overseer was the one who oversaw these meetings not only that but the overseer was also the head of the Sanctuary and that person was Tuirad Dain The great uniter, The Pride of the Gods, Liberator of the webway, True Heir of Eldaanesh "you two better not screw this up" Eldoc said "you know the Triumvirate almost always makes up its mind without the rest of the Temples lets hope we can change that" Eldoc whispered while Tuirad would stand up and use to the overseer chair to flout to the center of the chamber signaling to everyone the meeting was about to begin.
Now with the lights on Tuirad's chair in the center of the chamber, Phoenix Luchin would listen intently however blinking he would notice two figures standing on the platform besides Tuirad that had not been there a half second ago 'The Gods!' With a tall Female Aeldari standing to Tuirad's right and a larger male standing to Tuirad's left, 'Isha and Kurnous' Phoenix Luchin then felt the large urge to fall onto his knees in respect but did not as it would disrupt the following events.
"You have all been called and you have answered" Tuirad began "Events outside of our Sanctuary of given us cause for concern, that much I know, but as you also know I am not the Disgraced one I don't not command absolute authority over all of you, instead I rule alongside you" Tuirad looked over the eight Temples lingering for just a half second more on the Temples that made up the Triumvirate "as such we will hear all of you to the fullest extent upon the three issues that concern us in these perilous times" Tuirad finished the small formality and began to list the issues at hand.
"First as of two weeks ago TST the Primarch the humans call the Damned One has returned and has destroyed the planet of Vraks" Tuirad the continued "second coinciding with these events the Kabals have begun increased raids not only that but are appearing to mobilize extra forces especially Kabals in the Webway and closest to out outposts in realspace" Tuirad said surprisingly looking over to the Temple of Cegorath and the almost giddy Harlequins before again continuing "third this 'proclamation' by the Human Pantheon, they have openly challenged the Domain and have declared their intent to seek out the 'Bloody-Handed' for his crimes against them" 'As they should' Phoenix Luchin thought glaring openly at the Temple of Khaine their pompous High Priests and their unusually quiet Phoenix Lord with hatred,
Their crimes during the War of the Gods would never be addressed due to politics and their strategic situation but he still didn't like them "they have also begun to send messengers to speak with various independent nations and are whipping their followers into a frenzy, the question is what should we do about this? I leave the floor to all of you" and with that they all waited for the first Temple to take the floor.
"We wish to speak" the High Priest of Khaine Zonha Mesh spoke up "and we wish to call upon the Temple of Morai-Heg" the High Priestess of Morai-Heg, Rhael-Lesh would nod at her allies words and begin approaching the center of the chamber, Zonha Mesh would then begin with "as we all know the humans could never control their emotions as well as we could and this has lead to destrutive conflict this is easily seen and reflected in the fact that out of twenty 'Primarchs' ten would turn to Chaos although only three exist as of now on Chaos side as such he is much less of a threat and they have no way to strike us effectively as such we should prepare for the Domain not some corrupt Barbarian that is even more backwards then its uncorrupted idiotic kin" Zonha said finishing his monolog with the High Priestess of Morai-Heg, Rhael-Lesh, then continuing.
"We dont not have the most experienced and deadly warriors in the galaxy just to use them as glorified body guards" she said not so subtly glaring at Phoenix Luchin and Eldrad "as for the Domain we should prepare for war it is inevitable, we should not just posture and claim we are strong we must back it up with action! We must strike at the last lingering warlords in the Webway and kill the Pleasure Lord of Slaanesh before they catch on to our movements as we can easily destroy them for this reason we do not need anyone's help, it is an insult to our very species to consider needing anyone but ourselves" Rhael said looking pleased with herself and Zonha quickly picked up from where she left off.
"For starters this 'proclamation' is a blatant threat and we should deal with this accordingly. although a full war with their primitive and crumbling Federation is not necessary instead a surprise assault and desecration of their 'Holy Terra' should be undertaken, after our victory over the Domain of course, this should send a message to not mess with us, their gods while mentally deficient should know what's good for them and their species" Zonha finished his idiocy with a smug smile not noticing how Isha subtly glared at them with intensity if Phoenix Luchin didn't know any better he would have thought Zonha to be a dead man who was somehow still walking.
With their points having been made and reasons for doing so, the chamber waited for someone to either agree and put forward a vote of confidence in the ideas put forward or someone would challenge them, and challenge them Eldrad would "are you sure of this?" Phoenix Luchin asked telepathically this could after all completely alienate them permanently from the rest of the Temples and that would to put it mildly very bad "I will speak my mind" Eldrad replied with that Eldoc would then speak up breaking the silence "we wish to speak" Eldoc said getting the attention of the entire chamber with their chair and platform floating to the center of the chamber before Eldoc continued "I would also like to have my High Farseer and Phoenix Lord speak in my place if that is alright with you, your grace" Eldoc said and Tuirad would just shrug "that is just fine please proceed" and with that Eldoc would step down and allow Eldrad to be front and center.
"For beginners" Eldrad started "while the Damned One does not currently threaten us what if that changes? we have almost no idea about his plans for what actions he will take, he could charge straight for Terra or methodically destroy any potential ally the humans could have, namely us" Eldrad said with that last statement the High priests of Khaine and Morai-Heg were already shooting daggers at Eldrad with their glares "but the point is that we can not assume that the Damned one will do anything but he is also too strong for us to do anything about right now I propose we in response to his return we start to gather allies and those willing to stand by us in our time of need" Eldrad said he was now going to allow Phoenix Luchin to tackle the second issue although the other two Temples across from them did not look happy however Tuirad silenced them with a look and so Phoenix Luchin would begin.
"The Domain has always been our greatest rival and adversary and we may have some of the greatest warriors in the Corsairs lead by his grace himself but blindly charging in and hoping for the best we need plans, and plans upon plans for that matter they have more resources, more manpower, more military assets and giving them a threat to unite against is not wise it would just lead to our gradual defeat" Phoenix Luchin said and was set on continuing before being interrupted "so what we should just do nothing!" Zonha almost yelled and many in the chamber would begin to murmur and some would be shocked by his outburst "Silence!" Tuirad commanded, everyone in the room immediately listen turning to Phoenix Luchin, Tuirad would nod "continue" he said and Phoenix Luchin planned to do just that.
"No but what we should do is wait there will be opportunities for us to strike but it must be while the Kabals are distracted and focused on other ventures, mindlessly attacking is not a viable option probably using the humans like pieces on a game board" Phoenix Luchin said it was then that the Rhael would speak "you are a coward and you dare say we should ally in any capacity with those barbarians! Careful who you trifle with boy!" Rhael said and Phoenix Luchin would go to retort but Eldrad beat him to it "you have some dangerous opinions High Priestess and you shout them from the rooftops like a child that is no way to engage in a debate" Eldrad said clearly mocking the High Priestess however this only enraged both Zonha and Rhael who looked like they may pop a blood vessel however before it could escalate more Tuirad looked ready to intervene however Phoenix Luchin would see Isha place a hand on Tuirads shoulder, they would share a look and Tuirad backed off while Isha would float to the center of the chamber causing everybody to go quite it seemed that she was not happy.
"Idiots, Idiots I tell you that's what you all are!" she yelled her presence spilling out like a flood, everywhere and overwhelming however Phoenix Luchin knew this was only a small glimpse into what her true power was and that scared him "Zonha Mesh you are a warmonger who is ignorant" she said then pointing to "Rhael-Lesh you are a narcissist who is too arrogant to see clear facts!" she would then turn to look at Eldrad and Phoenix Luchin "you two are just young fools and believe that the humans can just be manipulated easily, history has already proven you wrong" she said as if it was fact when it was not, well who was Phoenix Luchin to challenge a god's word anyway?.
With that Isha would turn and float back to the overseer platform before Tuirad would step forward once again "this meeting is dismissed all of you continuously repeat this cycle over and over again well it ends here as of now I hereby pass into a law a grand mobilization that will prepare us for the upcoming strife ahead we will reach out for whoever is willing to support us and we will prepare to crush all opposition in the Webway" Tuirad declared and with that the Temples began to file out of the chamber however before they and the Temples of Khaine and Morai-Heg could leave Tuirad would make one more announcement.
"All of you will meet me in my personal office you all have deep seeded grievances and there is some things we must discuss before we make our moves on the galactic stage" Tuirad said and then he and the two gods next to him would vanish in the blink of an eye, looking at Eldrad, Phoenix Luchin hoped his friend would revel this was a neat trick he had whipped up to scare him but looking at his friend all Phoenix Luchin could feel was fear and apprehension shaking his head and sighing Phoenix Luchin hoped whatever punishment they would receive from the gods would not be to harsh.