Far Future Ch. 86 – An old Path is the new Path...

"Captain, the main reason you or anyone else never noticed the difference is because they are keyed to the bloodline you have been given, so a standard psion could not activate them, and they are mechanically part of the weapon, not psionically crafted, so their presence would not be noted. As a transpsionic effect, even when in active use, they wouldn't show an aura.

"The secondary reason is that you don't have the psychic Reserve to push them to a higher performance level, so you simply thought you were getting a higher QL Weapon with no obvious overt effects. If you had the Reserve to make use of them, your Weapons and Armor would have noticeably greater effects in your hands, while having no better performance then otherwise in the hands of a normal trooper without a high Reserve.

"To put it in parlance, you have a potentially +IV suit and rifle there, but because your Reserve is low, it's only acting at +I, which only feels like a superior weapon performing better in the hands of a Legionnaire."

He wasn't a fool, and knew well the significance of individually psicrafted Weapons, always the most unique and powerful gear of the Legions, if rare.

"Thinking about it, any psicrafted Weapons or Armor were likely unable to add straight-up Enhancements, probably because of the existence of this pcircuitry. So, your psicrafted Weapons probably adds on things like flaming, frost, thunder, or similar things, instead of striking true and deeper, Captain," Shelbi mused for him.

Captain Donnal slowly handed her his carbine back. "I will have to trouble you to look over my sidearm, and the equipment of my men, Sergeant."

"Certainly, Captain."

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"I was told to arrange a chance to speak with you over various issues, Colonel. I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

I was in the middle of a full-out slaughter through elements of some alien ruined city that had been bombed all to freaking hell, and was now swarming with creepy-crawlies, undead and diseased shit made from those things, totally insane humans, and a lot of demons. I was in constant motion, leaping, bouncing, gliding, skating, shooting, spinning, while tracking multiple combatants that never fell below two digits and easily spiked above three, while coordinating with Briggs on fields of fire, paths of advance, who and what to slaughter, while dodging, evading, juking, and charging from point A to points B, C, D, and E... and if I could arrange it, all the way through Z, but the enemy was seldom so helpful.

It was cool, that was what multiple thoughtstreams were for. The call was actually taking place on a flatscreen using cathode-ray tech, i.e. primitive Vakker tech, shunted from Marktell. I loved the irony.

"You're fine, Captain." #3 thoughtstream blithely ignored everything going on in reality. "What did you want to talk about?"

"You may have heard that some troubling discoveries were made about our equipment."

"Troubling? That's an odd word to use, Captain. You've got Gear that most elite warriors only dream about being issued to you repeatedly, and now it's even better than you thought, and now you know WHY Legion Gear is so damn pricey and hard to make." I had to arch an eyebrow at him.

"That is true," he had to agree. "But... why were we not informed that we were not Gifted with psionic ability?" He could not keep a note of doubt out of his voice. "The Emperor's Gift... we are fully aware of its power, Colonel. How could such be kept from us?"

He was looking for some advice. All righty.

"Probably because the Emperor is a cautious old fart, and the situation when he set the Legions up has changed drastically since then."

I could see he hadn't considered that. "Continue," he frowned.

"First point, the rebellion of the Primogenitors. If the Legions had been fully psionic at that point, the galaxy would have burned and the Empire would have died. Imagine the Fallen Legions, all of them Warp Sorcerers. He would have doomed humanity. Holding off teaching the Legions psionics until he was fully assured of their loyalty was probably the most prescient thing the Emperor ever did."

A look of awe crossed his face as he considered those ramifications. "By the Throne," he said softly.

"Two, it was something he could rectify easily at any time just by adding something to your training regime. Once the basics were unlocked, your own need for the power would drive you to rapidly master them, and the Legionnaires are more talented than all but the most gifted of normal humans in that regard, if you but look at your Company Ministers."

That was also true. The Ministers were the equals of any Mentats in wielding the Emperor's Gift. They could very rapidly teach the Legions both basic and advanced psionic usage.

"Three, the presence of Mythos creatures in the mindscape has increased by orders of magnitude since that time, and active, trained psi-users are both the most resistant and the most vulnerable to their influence. If the Legions were all psions, they would be the concentrated targets of the Mythos on many levels, and we've already seen what traitorous Legionnaires could do. If those Legions simply go batshit mad because some Elder God decided it was fun to play with them, and they are such centralized, wonderful targets, instead of the scattered fireflies common to the human population... the Emperor not making fat, juicy targets of his Legions was also a pretty good idea."

Captain Donnal took a visible deep breath, and something akin to relief fluttered across his face. "I am disturbed that I was not given the choice."

"Quite understandable. On the other hand, it's not a choice. Knowing you have the Gift, and the potential thereof, you will choose to use it to get stronger, or you will simply be less than your brethren who do the same. And the consequences of you all choosing to do it is as I have mentioned." He frowned again. "As an example... the Mentat's Guild of Janus Prime is the largest on the planet, and draws from 2.6 billion people for its members. Do you know how many Sevens or higher are in its Guild? Fewer than two thousand!

"Now, a basic Legion trooper is a Six. How many Sevens and higher are there in an average Battalion of a thousand men? My guess would be in excess of two hundred!

"There are fireflies, and there are lightbulbs amid torches, Captain."

He looked pensive again. Again, just because you had talent didn't mean you were going to pass Six. It was called the First Ceiling for a reason. Many, many talented people lacked the drive and ambition to reach Seven. Even Legionnaires often remained stuck at Six for decades... until they were promoted, at which point the demands of their brethren and position inevitably drove them to Seven and higher.

"You have been talking with some of the Beacon Mentats about psionics, and several of my people, Captain," I went on calmly. "I would like to offer another theory. Your psionic ability is remarkably similar to that of the Null Psions who follow me. I will posit that that those of your people who are trained as Ministers or the like are those who are shown to have psionic talent when they are selected. Naturally, they end up extremely gifted psions when they are gifted his bloodline.

"The rest of you only develop basic psionic ability. Have you confirmed that you are unable to shape PP and duplicate even the most basic psionic abilities? Do not consider this a failing... you are too skilled to fail at such basic skills at this point in your life."

He nodded slowly. "Even with telepathic guidance, I was unable to spend any psionic energy to any level, Colonel. Furthermore, my Reserve was measured and confirmed at exactly two points, which they believe to stem from a Force of Will granted by the Emperor's bloodline."

"That is the same basic talent that allows an untalented street punk with no brains to manifest a mindblade. It can naturally be trained to greater strength, and if you wish to develop your mindblade, you will do so.

"I believe they also tested you with a Metaconcert and a crystal blade?" I inquired, knowing the answer.

He nodded. "I could contribute to the Metaconcert, but of course my Reserve was extremely small. I could also spend a PP through the crystal blade." The flare of power through the simple dagger had been thought-provoking.

I nodded at him. "The Emperor's Blood is still stronger than a Null Psion, Captain. You actually manifest a mindblade, not a claw. Thus, you have more range on your psi... but your background means that you cannot shape the Gift as those who have it naturally can do. Still, your blade will reach out, you will be able to throw it, and you can aid a Concert... and most importantly, you can spend PP through a weapon or your armor, giving you a shocking attack or defense if you require it.

"A Null Psi cannot spend anything but excess PP that might come through to them by a weapon that harvests such thing, Captain. They cannot throw a mindclaw, and they cannot contribute to a Metaconcert. They can share PP only with a Bonded psion. On the flip side, they are not considered actual psions, and effects which target psions have no effect on them."

He looked thoughtful at the differences. "This seems to be an evolution of humanity to the Emperor's Gift..."

"Psionics existed before the Emperor taught it widely, Captain," I reminded him. "Even the Emperor did not know all that humanity could and had invented. While his knowledge was great, his greatest achievement was gathering the knowledge together and codifying it into a form that could be passed on. The Gift is the combined knowledge of all humanity, gathered by the Emperor, not merely knowledge discovered by the Emperor himself."

He looked hesitant at that, but let it pass. Certainly it was not illogical...

"I believe you will find your natural progression to be on the Psionic Warrior path, Captain. Its details are easily learned from the Mentats, Coronals, or Umbrans. However, you will share with the Null Psion path the fact you can't develop actual psionic powers... but you can quickly and rapidly master psionic powers that do not involve shaping or spending PP, what are called Psionic Feats.

"If you talk with the Briggs Brothers, Captain, they will readily share with you the advance schema they tend to use, as well as discuss the various Feats commonly known and employed.

"Given the Emperor's Blood and your own enhanced mental capabilities, I believe you will master this new path with great speed. You will need experience using those Feats, but I do not believe that will be a problem for you.

"Once you step onto this path... you will find that your Legion's wargear will quickly become more potent in your hands. You will also have to spend some considerable efforts on improving your mental defenses, because you are a shining soul in the Warp... but you don't have the power to strike back at them, save with your Mindblade."

I watched him set his jaw. "While I might be happier if I could unlearn all this, Colonel Rantha, I know it now... and if your forces can walk this route, why cannot a Legionnaire of the Empire?" he asked forthrightly.

I inclined my head. "One of your most important acquisitions then should be a Crown Ward, Captain, and each and every one of your men should acquire one. Those are not cheap, and do not expect the Orders to lay their hands on them so easily for each of your men. Your greatest threat now is attracting the attention of the Mythos and the Warp. A Crown Ward will protect you from Possession and their telepathic attention."

I paused, then shrugged. "The easiest way to do so is to burn things tainted with Warp energies in vivic fire, and reduce them to crystals which can be used to pay for the psi-crafting of such defenses. The nexals of phrenic beasts serve an identical purpose.

"A Crown Ward will cost you between forty and sixty crystalweight... which is nearly the same cost as your Captain's Armor, Captain. I apologize for reducing you to trophy hunting and basic looting, but I'm sure you can see that supplemental devices that expensive are simply not mass issued to everyone."

"Understood." I watched his keen eyes spinning through the logistics of it all. Getting one for all his surviving men would set them back over a million crystalweight, a simply staggering amount of money on the micro scale. It also gave an idea of what it cost to equip a full Imperial Legion's troopers. Truly the best of arms and armor!

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Glossary: Effectively, standard Marines are born Forsaken, boosted by the Emperor's Bloodline. They can't shape psionic powers, BUT... they can SPEND psionic power (Forsaken can't) and they can learn to wield psionic devices (also something Forsaken cannot do). They can also freely contribute to a metaconcert without needing a bonded psi.

The Emperor was a full Human Exemplar, and a Psion/21+. Right now he's crystal bones on a crystal throne...

The Primogenitors were Exemplars Lite. They are now either dead or half-demons.

The Legionnaires are Advanced Humans (+4 to all Stats) and of course chosen from the elite of humanity. They are male only because they are gene-tied to the Emperor, and the biomorphic upgrades don't work on women... and there's no way to change that, now. They can pass on their morphics laterally, with the right equipment, which is how the Legions survive, but not sexually, and are effectively sterile, and have a very long lifespan, not that most ever get to reach it. The combination of great Stats, long years, and lots of experience generally makes the Legionnaires the highest-Level individuals in the Empire on average, and even if the elite of the Coronals, Umbrans, and Mentats can rival them in Level, they almost never do in depth.