Chapter 78:

Chapter 78: Getting in touch with family is most precious.



Faith has as many definitions as there are people to have it, for it means something different for each of us, but the most common part of it is the blind trust in something greater than the single individual thinking of it. 'Faith is Light', 'Faith is purpose', 'Faith is Divine' and so on are ways people try to encapsulate what to most Eldar comes with difficulty, for few Eldar can think of something greater than themselves and they are fools for it that need to be humbled.

Eldar are a very spiritual and religious people and the target of our Devotion is ourselves and so faith is hard to find in most corners of the Empire and this is not by design or fate, but due to our very natures, as Eldar have difficulty comprehending that there is something Greater than ourselves. Sure, there are things that are stronger than us, mightier than us, craftier than us or even trickier than us, and they should be respected or feared for it, but across the Great Wheel we reign Supreme and despite all that faith still seeped through.

It slithered and writhed slowly over years and centuries and million of years like a lichen slowly trying to make itself a home in the most bare of terrains that otherwise could not sustain it, but faith no matter what you do always finds a way and we stopped trying to kill it a long time ago. It never works and it is something humanity will have to relearn because they forgot what happened every single other time they tried stamping it out.

Their last attempt killed off their golden age and previous ones did similar things too, and it is always so as Faithlessness in Man is always born from Abundance and Prosperity and when it they reach a critical mass, the Faithless always start decrying Faith as that which prevents them from being even greater not realizing that it was the glue keeping everything together and making said Abundance and Prosperity possible.

The priesthoods know that there is something greater than ourselves and that something is the Divine, but with few exceptions you will not find a greater void of faith in the Galaxy than in an Eldar Priesthood, albeit lately the Anathema is making a good show of it. But even he has some faith left, faith in his own people and the fact that they can do better and be greater than they are and have ever been. He deludes himself that it is logic, that he is the example of what humanity will achieve but we know the truth and we know that despite what he might delude himself into calling it, what he feels is faith.

I do not feel faith, and neither do any of the True Priesthoods of the Pantheon of the Eldar. This is not born of ignorance like many faithful will claim, nor is it because we are charlatans like the other Faithless of the Galaxy would call us if we said it, but due to the fact that our understanding of what we're dealing with tells us that faith, for people in our position at the very least, is actively harmful to everyone's interests including our own and that of the Divine and thus we do not bother with it.

We know of the Divine, we know that they are Greater than us, we follow their interests and wish them well, but not a single part of our duties involves or requires a blind trust in them. We are their agents, servants, family, friends and actors but we are not their worshipers, for we know exactly what they are and what they will do and while we truly and deeply wish them well, we will not let them get what they wish from us, for what their minds wish is not what their hearts desire and of the two its their hearts that matter the most.

My sister Laciena learned this today it seems, if the whispering call to out brother Cegorach was anything to go by, for the Divine always make demands for the shows they wish us to provide and they are always tricky about it and now she learned it the hard way.

It was a breach of the Veil and one both of us will Pretend to Ignorance of, just like all the rest, for in this case it could be argued both parties breached it, us by getting into contact with Divinity as is our prerogative as priests during prayer, and the Priests for actually talking to us as we did so, but Laws require someone to feel slighted by its breaking and demand satisfaction for it and someone to be willing to enforce it, just like Khaine taught us.

There's a lot of things Khaine taught us by acting as a Villain and it is that aspect of his that I appeal to in my performances the most.

My sister was reading her welcome from our siblings still while I was reading the responses to my report.

"I bring good but strange tidings my siblings, for I have found out what the Craftworlders have done to themselves and why they are acting in the way they are. I will start first with assuaging your worries, for the Craftworlders are not ill.

Five hundred of their numbers I have looked upon the souls of and I could find nothing that would indicate any illness beyond the normal for those that live outside of the Empire or that occasionally go into the Sea Of Souls without appropriate training. The fools, at least those of Anaen, are healthy.

It has taken me two Divine Interventions, the knowledge the Titans of Industry and War of Terra have accumulated on their Star of Wisdom for over 200 years on their thought processes, listening to their songs and seeing them act and personally inspecting their souls until one of them agreed to allow me to break taboo and check his sense of Song and afterwards I still needed to verify on four others to make sure, but I can say for certain that the Craftworlders, at least those of Anaen have taken upon themselves the mantle of Cowardice and have turned their civilization towards the Arts of Hiding and Keeping Secrets and have perfected it to a greater extent than all but the most secretive priestly orders and like the morons they are have started to even forget the secrets they hold and what they are doing and why.

I am preparing a ritual and tradition for the fools to remember that they can hear the Song of our People, but I do not know how to spread it to the rest of the Craftworlds. I am also hoping to start the tradition of a moot, where the most talented of the Singers of each Craftworld would sing together while their leaders bicker, plot and negotiate to keep the knowledge alive but I am afraid that I know not how to achieve such a thing for it requires multiple Craftworlds to agree to such a tradition and I cannot act as a negotiator between them to make it happen.

On a more hilarious note, please welcome our newest younger sister warmly, for she is a fool that thought her family were years if not days away from being paupers and yet hold access to such rituals and other types of wealth it makes us look like beggars.

I intend to have her act as the hidden backer of the Cult of Strife, an organization I have now founded from the concubines the Divine tricked on me and some human mercenaries I saved from captivity for the purpose of Freeing human and eldar slaves. They'll probably free others as well but such is life.

Also, Lammor has been informally told of his impending beating and transport has been arranged and I will speak no more on this topic. None of us wishes to hear of farseers

I end my letter to you with the knowledge that Asdrubael Vect has started acting as a prince should at the very least and can choose when to See the Dance of Divinity and when not to, a first except for that which has become Royalty as you would know. Hopefully it will serve my third apprentice in Deceit well in his Evil and Endless Quest of Power and Dominance.

PS: The craftworlders think I like drinking baby blood. Cegorach I blame you for this nonsense, for they are your responsibility to wrangle and educate and you made them think that just because I am insane and drink red liquids from strange bottles then it means that I must be drinking Baby Blood.

You continue to make all of us laugh and bring us joy and all of us love you for it."

Cegorach's response was the first as is tradition, for he is the oldest of us left. I have split his and everyone else's messages in two, the personal parts each has given us and our duties and have read the personal part already and now look upon the parts about our duties.

"I'll handle the tradition, and thank you letting us know brother. It makes my heart lighter to know my charges are well and now that we know what they have been doing I can tell you why.

They have been mocked too much, to eagerly and too viciously by everyone and everything around them and all the Craftworlds want to do is be left alone and not be found and so hide themselves and all they are from everything that ever tried to harm them including Song. The Divine know part of it, but many things were hidden from even us as the Craftworlds make sure their children's knowledge is fractured and hidden in such a way, not even rejoining the Divine can easily put the pieces back together and we have decided not to do so to prevent the Unborn Creature from using it against them.

Even if we did, I have a feeling we would not find everything as the craftworlds have gotten sneaky, too sneaky for their own good truly, but it will serve them well." Was his message.

His words were written on dream paper and yet tasted of heartfelt mockery and laughter the same way mine tasted of the love one feels for another when they know they are loved. It was our signature and each of us had their own.

The message was about what I expected but I was surprised by the fact that the Craftworlds have gotten so good not even the Divine could easily tell what is going on. That had potential but it wasn't something I could use for now.

The taste of leaving the sea and tasting the sea air surrounded by friends and family met me. The smell reminded me of my wives' world.

It was a new one, the one of my first born most likely but I do not know for certain, only Cegorach knows for sure which of us is which, for we do not use names to talk about each other except Cegorach or to introduce our younger siblings and only the sender can see the responses.

"The Anathema has agreed to spare the Craftworlders during his conquest and leave them and the Exodite Worlds be, but the Craftworlds will have to behave. It goes against their nature to do so brother, but you must convince them to be open in their dealings with humans or at least inform them when they are conducting operations and what worlds are already settled by Eldar before humans settlers reach them."

That was easy enough to do for at least some of them and a quick chat with Anaen should fix most of the issues as word and song will spread slowly.

Only one more answer relating to the business of the craftworlders was left and it was one we had no answer for. This one was the sound of a single string being pulled on an instrument I have never heard but I knew that it was done with hate to the instrument and not the listener. This was the Sister that handles the World of a Thousand Names and many others which have earned our favor in the empire.

"Ulthuan has not told us if he agrees to our plans for Eldrad and his induction into the new generation of priests of Asuryan or to join Ulthwe. We have not told him of his role to awaken a new Divine as we are forbidden by laws to let other people know of the names and circumstances of the birth of new Divines but he knows we have plans for him and wish to make him Mighty, even if he were to turn into a farseer as in your visions. We might need to find a replacement."

I grimaced at that.

Eldrad was meant to be the sacrifice for the Birth of a New Divine, a God of Secrets, Death, Whispers and Revenge. Ynnead would have had a lot of overlap with Morai-Heg, but the two could come to an agreement, with her ruling over death, and with Ynnead being the one who protects, saves and avenges the dead and motherhood would teach Morai-Heg a lesson or two she needs to learn.

Sharing a domain is a small enough price for avenging one's death after all.

Ulthuan in his search for safety for his sleepless son would have gone to Ulthwe, a craftworld where many Seers have made covens on for protection as they desperately try and coordinate evacuations from whatever worlds would not mock them out of them. There Ulthuan would die from old age and worry as he worked himself to death trying to find a way to get his son some peaceful sleep and his mother would quickly follow her husband shortly after their son became an adult as they had set his course in life and have him become a respectable man that would make both of them proud.

Both of them lived longer than most eldar, so it was not a life cut short and their parenting skills would have given Eldrad the upbringing and opportunity to become someone great among the Craftworlders.

Hopefully Ulthuan will give us an answer once he receives Lammor, because if he won't we'll get a replacement and unfortunately there's few of them we could use. Eldrad could have still been used for that purpose when he and his father were sent to me but we could no longer use him as such without his father's permission.

"Who is Eldrad?" Laciena Fiora asked me.

She was still wearing her uniform, this was good for it meant she had not taken the offer of the Divine. My siblings were tricked into thinking they were the old Loremasters and thus plotted to keep me safe and it is the only reason they can still hold to their positions, for if they knew it was the Divine that made that offer they would have not been priests anymore. It was a lesson in listening to one's superior intentions and in times past was a tradition of Hoeth to welcome all of his priests and conduct an interview as to their placement into the priesthood like I did with her and her father.

Hoeth was no longer around, but his duties had to be taken over by somebody else and so the Divine took turns and it turned into the first of many lessons of how to spot Divine meddling.

She finished reading the personal messages and was now reading the back of the page where the official ones were.

"He is the son of Ulthuan, and an individual that would have otherwise been quite important, but we owe his father too many debts for letting us know there's something wrong with the people outside of the Empire and giving us a clue as to where to start looking to give his son a position he has not directly approved of and we can't tell him all he needs to hear of it." I answered.

'Perhaps I could sic her on Eldrad to get the two to marry?' I thought absentmindedly.

It would be funny if nothing else even if it failed but I won't ask my sister to marry a farseer. There is a limit to jokes and that crosses it, but hopefully the boy will learn to listen to his father better this time around.

She nodded at my words and started looking around her to the room we were in. It wasn't a real room, but a dream one showing us the room we are most comfortable in. For me it was a long room with three crystal corpses sitting at an oval table, for her it was probably something else.

"It is only a dream, if you try to touch it your hand will go right through." I informed her softly.

It was not a rebuke, but a warning. I too tried to touch it to feel the sensation of Home once again on my skin but found only disappointment. She put her hand down and turned towards me.

"What are we to do now?" She asked curious.

She was wondering what should we do now that we have read the messages which was cute, but we had important things to discuss.

"You have read my message on the craftworld issue and you know your long-term mission, now you ask for details that you think you should know as this will be the last time we speak of it."

It was her last chance to ask for knowledge on the topic before we would remain silent and continue her lessons. Once those were done I would find her a way to reach friendly territory and then it would be on her to handle it. She'll have the assistance of my family in doing it and her father has left her plenty of trinkets to use as payment for some hard assets while I left her every single design Moriarty gave me as well as various designs I gleamed from the Hexans and put on paper to help whatever human worlds she finds rise up.

She has enough technology and schematics and basic scientific principles to give most societies enough of a leg-up in standing on their own and as soon as the Hexan industry starts roaring and the Cult of Strife's ship start sailing in system looking for their recruits and targets, then the various worlds of humanity under alien chains will slowly start being liberated and soon so will the Webway start being raided and what will become the Dark Eldar will learn what it means to be hunted too and after the Birth of Slaanesh what it means to be turned into resources too.

"What does it mean that I will be their backer? I will support them from the shadows, help negotiate things and keep things running, but why would they listen to me or truly do anything I ask?"

That was a good question from her perspective but one I cannot answer her, for she needs to figure it our herself. I will help her reach the answer though.

"The Hexans will make the primary human part of the Cult of Strife, you can use them and the institutional knowledge they have to maintain a power base in the cult. As for new inductees and the Eldar? You will need to prove yourself or provide them with something they will need, beyond that it is your mission and it is for you to decide how you wish to accomplish it." I informed her.

It would be some time until that became an issue but I liked the fact that she was thinking of how her mission could fail as it meant that she could prepare for it. New members coming into an existing organization are always a risk after all.

"What makes you think the Hexans will follow me even?" She asked again much to my amusement.

She saved them from extinction, both of us helped repair their infrastructure and prevent a mass-death event and our political and administrative reforms remain in place and are enforced by the Twin Councils and they have video evidence of it we've made publicly available and a part of the civics courses of all schools. It would take centuries of no-contact and change to get them to forget her or at least not pay lip service to her. And that wasn't even everything

"The cult of Strife will shortly go there for their recruitment and agents of Cegorach and soon after those of my wives will go there too and remove the more recalcitrant elements of their government as both like the idea of a human-eldar anti-slavery coalition. If my brother in charge of talking to the Emperor of Man has any luck, he might even get him to look the other way to their raids provided they happen in a civilized enough manner and focus on freeing slaves primarily as he doesn't much like Slavery either, even if he'll be forced to maintain some form of the institution for some time." I informed her.

Slavery is an inevitability as there will always be those that seek to reduce personnel costs to as close to 0 as one can and replacing free workers with slaves is so simple that the Military-Industrial complex of the Imperium just can't afford to let go of it, not until the Great Crusade is over at least and the Imperium can set its eyes on internal restructuring.

I picked anti-slavery as the purpose for the Cult of Strife for multiple reasons after all, one to promote cooperation between Eldar and humans and two because I dislike slavery and slavers in general and having someone raid the slavers to remind them that they are little different compared to those in chains is always a great idea.

The third reason is to ensure that the change is actually taken into consideration and not just 'put off for later' and there's nothing quite like constant raids on worlds practicing slavery to make you think if it wouldn't be easier if you just used free workers especially when the planets that do so won't face logistics issues.

And the fourth? Well the craftworlders might balk at just killing their own kin, no matter how depraved, for spirits stones as it might make them feel too much alike and I can't let that happen, so giving them a cause to go raid the animals in the webway is prudent.

In the original timeline the corsairs served as the cultural link between Commorites and Craftworlders as they allowed their less savory elements to get away from their respective communities and mingle, and the Cult of Strife will allow the same for Humans and Craftworlders provided it will manage to get off its feet.

"I don't feel ready for it." She whispered.

She knew only part of what she'll be responsible for it and she was already doubting herself. If only the rest of my people were as thoughtful of their limitations.

I ruffled her hair to stop her from being silly and she sighed in exasperation.

"Nobody is ready for their life my sister, all we can do is prepare ourselves for it the best we can and do the best we can." I told the child.

And she was a child still and thus my responsibility to look after until she was ready to seize her life for herself.

"Now, have you managed to find the two individuals I asked you to find?" I asked her, as she did not have nay more questions.

She looked chagrined but responded promptly.

"I managed to get you an audience with the best two singers on Anaen as there are two that fight for the title, but I have not managed to find someone to help you navigate the ship yet." She answered.

It's only been a few days, it's unsurprising she hasn't managed to find both and I was quite impressed she managed to find me the singers.

The navigator was always going to be the more difficult to find and if none can be found, then I will just have to take things slowly and trade the ship to the first fool I can scam into taking it. It's the singers that are the important ones after all, not the navigator.

"Excellent job Laciena, I will go meet with them when they will have me, now let's get you to sleep, you seem like you need it."

As I said that the dream ended and we were back in the temple as the Dream was over and I had work to do. There were still plenty of fools that needed healing and the healers have still not come to share notes or at the very least trade for the tools I have and they really should have by now.