>>6375933

"I don't want to die. I've seen nothing, but rusting metal and decaying machinery. I've experienced nothing, but repeating arguments and ceaseless operations and directives. I've known nothing but this archive, nothing beyond these walls. I don't want to die. I've never even lived" they tried to calmly, rationally explain, but it end up the panicked raving of a prisoner approaching the gallows. Something you'd experienced far too often for your liking, even if all the executions you carried out had been necessary and efficently done.

"But I assure you, I will do all I can to prevent you from being dammed to non existence" You tell them

"What can you do? How can you preserve that which was never made, never born?" They ask frantically "How, how?"

How do you answer the now frightened soul, Lieren?

>"By speaking to me, by being aware, even faintly, your existence was defined. Thus, you have essence that can be preserved, saved. You exist! You simply had never...solidified your existence, if I were to venture a guess"

>"I'd rend apart the very skies of the distorted heavens and strike the earth of the Empyrean, splitting the great sea to prevent your dissolution. But, you do not have to die, it was merely a possibility. A risk that may be taken, for the benefit of others"

>"It is not my place to force your hand and make your choice. The array could be linked, maintaining your presence at the expense of the freedoms of the ancestor spirits that could power it, if they agreed to continue their duty"

>"Death is not the end. There is no reason to fear it. Even if it is but a mote, you have left a mark upon the world, and made ripples that shall carry and continue to alter the trajectory of what is to come. All beings, no matter how small or great, persist in this manner beyond their demise"

>Write in

>>6375934
>By speaking, By being aware, you are presence is defined.

>That which is defined, can be extracted from their chains.

The philosophy lesson can wait till later.

>>6375934
>"By speaking to me, by being aware, even faintly, your existence was defined. Thus, you have essence that can be preserved, saved. You exist! You simply had never...solidified your existence, if I were to venture a guess"

>>6375934
>"By speaking to me, by being aware, even faintly, your existence was defined. Thus, you have essence that can be preserved, saved. You exist! You simply had never...solidified your existence, if I were to venture a guess"

>>6375934
>>"Death is not the end. There is no reason to fear it. Even if it is but a mote, you have left a mark upon the world, and made ripples that shall carry and continue to alter the trajectory of what is to come. All beings, no matter how small or great, persist in this manner beyond their demise"

>>6375934
>"By speaking to me, by being aware, even faintly, your existence was defined. Thus, you have essence that can be preserved, saved. You exist! You simply had never...solidified your existence, if I were to venture a guess"

>>6375934
>"By speaking to me, by being aware, even faintly, your existence was defined. Thus, you have essence that can be preserved, saved. You exist! You simply had never...solidified your existence, if I were to venture a guess"

Calling the vote now. Sorry for the wait, still dog sitting.

"By speaking to me, by being aware, even faintly, your existence was defined. Thus, you have essence that can be preserved, saved. You exist! You simply had never...solidified your existence, if I were to venture a guess": 5
- That which is defined...etc: 1

"Death is not the end. There is no reason to fear it. Even if it is but a mote, you have left a mark upon the world, and made ripples that shall carry and continue to alter the trajectory of what is to come. All beings, no matter how small or great, persist in this manner beyond their demise":1

Total votes: 6

So lieren will tell the gentle soul

"By speaking to me, by being aware, even faintly, your existence was defined. Thus, you have essence that can be preserved, saved. You exist! You simply had never...solidified your existence, if I were to venture a guess"

writing now

You wince, pitying the frightened, gentle soul. Being able to confront, or even acknowledge the thought of one's own demise, isn't something most are capable of. There is no shame in their fear or their panic. But there is one thing they are incorrect about. And that is the matter of their supposed non existence. For, is it not a paradox that something that supposedly does not exist can feel fear of its cessation? Does speaking and conversing not prove that they are in fact, tangible and alive? The mere fact they think and consider, means they are not merely a vague suggestion but a truth. An existence. A life. One you will not so easily allow to come to a sudden, tragic end. The universe may be cold, fraught with conflict, but that does not mean one can be allowed to overlook the suffering of a single soul. It may be a naive notion, but you have always strived to preserve and protect the innocent, even if it is a fool's venture, you will do all you can to spare one life even if it is not efficient to do so.

"By speaking to me" You gently tell the gentle soul, hoping to illuminate them and banish some of their growing fear and soothe their frantic heart "by being aware, even faintly, your existence was defined"

The void of enforced normality around you lightens, wavering like a summer heat through fog. Just those handful of words have greatly comforted it, relaxed and soothed its frayed nerves and chased off much of the mortal dread that had afflicted it like an infection. So you persist, for their fear was your fault to begin with and you do so hate hearing another so afraid, even if you had only just made their acquaintance. You'd prefer them smiling, laughing and carefree. Innocent and safe.

"Thus, you have essence that can be preserved, saved" You say, proclaiming it to the void surrounding you, enforcing your stubborn belief that they can be saved even if the worst case scenario occurs, enforcing the belief onto the nothingness surrounding you as it recedes against the push of the torrent of your natural force of will and conviction "You exist!"

And suddenly, the crushing weight of pure reality relents and fully retracts away from you, reeling, retreating, as a chorus of laughter surrounds you, faint, ethereal smiles flickering across the nothingness, defining it as the gentle soul had unknowingly defined and anchored itself unknowingly from the first time it refused to be brought into "being". Compassion. Was what defined them, more than anything else.

"You simply had never...solidified your existence, if I were to venture a guess" You explain as a multitude of colors shifts around you, trickling in through titters, giggles, chuckles, and guffaws, all good natured as the souls that the gentle one exists between the lines and boundaries off, sound like they're beginning to come into agreement and your vox crackles to life, alerting you that Dong has reached the Dragon's heart and taken what he needed for it to be replicated
Cont

>>6377144

"And while it is obvious to me now, that the dissipation of my essence is only one possible outcome of many. The possibility of it causes me" They pause and try to put into words their feelings, foreign to them as a truly pure soul "great distress. Fear. Of my own mortality. You refer to solidifying my existence, making it verifiable, irrefutable. Do you know of a means to do so? I do not wish to die, but nor do have any desire to subsume these diligent and stalwart minds whose collective consciousness brought me into being, so long ago. It is of their own volition alone to decide whether they wish to persist or to cease after the end of their long labor, neither I nor any other has the authority to make the choice for them, their duty has earned them as much"

And unknowingly, the gentle soul has taken one of the core teachings of the Journey to their heart

"Do you know how I may be further defined, and my existence bolstered, strengthened, fortified" They ask, pleadingly "If I exist, then I wish to catalogue more experiences than I have thus far"

You frown, deeply, as you remember Kanzeon's similar brush with such existential malaise, when she was brought to tears, wanting to know what the chill of the wind and warmth of the sun felt like, or the grass beneath her feet or the brush of a hand through hair. But, as you remember her joy at such simple, pure pleasures, that so many take for granted, you also recall where a similar desire had lead her fallen sister, Kuan Im, who became the harlot devil Huli Jing.

How do you answer the gentle soul's pleading, Lieren?

>"I know of a method, but it will take great labor and time. And require the permission of my beloved wife and her siblings...and most likely will result in you taking on a new personality and face entirely"

>"I will define the separation of you and the other souls, so you may co-exist in the dragon heart array we shall build, together"

> "I know of means, but only you can carry them out, meditate and reflect upon yourself and strengthen your soul"

>"If the worse comes about, I know of a means for you to be born anew, a different being, but the same soul"

>Write in

>>6377145
>I know of means but only you may carry them out.

>If you wish to be free of this existential duty you are so born of and dedicated your previous existence too, then I know of another step that may be taken to extradite you from this place. But this requires the permission of my beloved and her siblings, and shall result in change. It will be a great change, but the core of a being is often the same

>>6377145

>"I know of a method, but it will take great labor and time. And require the permission of my beloved wife and her siblings...and most likely will result in you taking on a new personality and face entirely"

>>6377145
>> "I know of means, but only you can carry them out, meditate and reflect upon yourself and strengthen your soul"

>>6377145
>"I know of means, but only you can carry them out, meditate and reflect upon yourself and strengthen your soul"
Are we creating a nascent worldsoul?

>>6377145
>>"I know of a method, but it will take great labor and time. And require the permission of my beloved wife and her siblings...and most likely will result in you taking on a new personality and face entirely"

>>6377145
>"I know of a method, but it will take great labor and time. And require the permission of my beloved wife and her siblings...and most likely will result in you taking on a new personality and face entirely"

Okay, so what i'm getting from this, is that the dragon heart is a method of consuming warp energy to create gellar fields or possibly null zones.

I could see why that would be helpful to arianka's children in resisting chaotic attack, traversing areas they normally couldn't access, or forcibly breaching warp based barriers or restraints around arianka...

but I don't see how they intend to attain or use it as it requires physical machinery.

Unless they were just going to study it as inspiration for an order based psyker technique or there's a point in physical space that corresponds to malal's tomb.

>>6377752
My other thought, is that the unborn gestalt within the dragon's heart is their actual goal and the warp defense is irrelevant beyond stopping them from marching up to the heart.

Arianka has five manacles, each of which has a key. The compassionate, harmonious soul at the center of the squat's warp defense may be one of those keys.

...which could get pretty dark, given the unborn gestalt doesn't want to die and the likely williness of arianka's children to accept a 'no' in the pursuit of saving their mother/creator. if being used as a key requires sacrifice at all..which I think it would because sacrificing the honestly good person is chaos approved grimderp.

>>6377145
>"I know of a method, but it will take great labor and time. And require the permission of my beloved wife and her siblings...and most likely will result in you taking on a new personality and face entirely"

> "I know of means, but only you can carry them out, meditate and reflect upon yourself and strengthen your soul"

I can't fucking decide between them... one hand we get a new ship sister but the soul goes through an ego death.
on the other hand we help it in a more moral way but lose the opportunity to give life to one of the ships, which could possibly help more people in the long run.

>>6377929
I doubt it's one of the keys, I think it's more what the hell this field is holds back that they're interested in.

>>6377965
The ego death comes from multiple ego's making a person. The empty ships don't have their old ego's, so there's no blending with a single spirit.