Inside the Great Maker

[Random Word]

Nemesis


Nemesis nods absently after Industry as she leaves, smiling. Now he had all the fun to himself, and no one to criticise him no matter how long he stretched it out.


The lights inside the cell cut out, leaving the prisoner in pitch darkness. Several minutes of silent darkness passed before the crystal housings flickered to life for the briefest of instants, revealing a twisted vaguely humanoid silhouette with wickedly bladed hands. Each flicker of the lights, minutes apart, revealing the figure in a new position, always slightly closer than before. As it finally reaches the chair binding the prisoner, terrified pleas turn to screams before the process begins again anew.


Soon the whispering breaks the silence, their insidious memetics worming their way into a battered and beleaguered mind. Undesirable elements are excised, one incision at a time. Regrettably, little is left of such a wayward citizen beyond their capacity for speech when the process is complete. This is fitting, though, as it is all the state requires of them.

Spoiler

Transcendent Brutality Programming 3m [1m] with Confessional Scream Extractor to eliminate all willpower and all dots of willpower, learning all intimacies in the process. Rogue Cell Isolation Protocols [4m1wp] with Instructive Fear Resonator to instantly eliminate the strongest intimacies preventing me from extracting information.

 

[vinom]

Vanguard of Social Progress


Vanguard remains with the busy Celebrant... the plots to look out for in her mind growing more complex, more unlikely. She didn't know Kamak's or Estasia's political climate enough to be sure of anything, not nearly enough for anything like this. Was this a void cult's master stroke, a political power play from some faction in Kamak or Estasia, a foreign attempt to reignite the war... From one point many lines can be drawn. From one act innumerable motives could be in play... Vanna fears that she can not know what the end game is for what ever masterminded this attack until their next moves are reveled.


Or perhaps their previous moves... She might need to cross reference the interrogation and public records. If she could divine what they have previously done by this group, that might also work to divining motive. She put it on a to do list for later, when Celebrant Mera was secure in her domicile.

 

[Sherwood]

In the Interrogation Room


Using all the theatrics you want, Nemesis is slowly breaking down the mental resistance of the first of the captured grenade throwers. As each flicker of the light comes on and you move ever closer to the target, you can see that the whole experience is wearing on his mind. But, you also get the feeling that he is somehow able to resist you more than what you expect from a mortal. As you begin to question him, he responds as if in intense pain, and you are having to pull each question out of him instead of having the answers come flowing out as you normally expect.


During one of the temporary breaks in the mental conditioning, Nemesis is handed a data tablet with some shocking information on it: the man is one of the many hard working factory employees in a bearing plant here in the city of Ein! In fact, all six of the survivors are members of the populat of Ein from different disciplines.


Finally, you start to get some answers from the man you are currently interrogating. He was recruited to strike a blow against the aggressors of Estasia from all the crimes they have committed against Kamak. The person responsible for arming them with the grenades is a mysterious person he only refers to as "the Master", a figure that he both respects and fears. As you put more pressure on him to reveal the identity of this Master, the prisoner clutches his head and screams out in pain, and you can see a flow of blood coming from his ears and nose and he goes limp. Medtechs come racing in and begin to treat him. "We need to remove him to the infirmary. There is something in his brain that is resisting your efforts to question him, some kind of implant. Bring the other prisoners; they may have a similar implant. We can scan their cranium and see."

 

[Exthalion]

Heroism Advancing Algorithm


Algorithm had finished regaining essence and come to watch the interrogation. Upon the revelation of the anti-questioning implant he stepped close to Nemesis in a way to indicate that he was not speaking to anyone else present.


"No mere saboteur or infiltrated agent could have managed this on their own. The brain is one of the most complex and fragile components of humans, and devices capable of interfacing with it would require advanced training and infrastructure to create or implant. The only agents capable of this are Champions. Either a voidbring cult has taken hold of senior Tripartite officials or a nation neither Kamak or Estasia has a great interest war. Estasia itself wouldn't have bothered with this sort of ruse, their international reputation is such that if they go to war over this everyone will assume they arranged for it. Kamak has nothing to gain.


We should investigate the make of these implants, see what the auspex and experts say."