1st/2nd Age AU
Let the whispers rage; my focus remains fixed.
Venatorix of the Holy Aurus Spectra. Calix rae Fellner was born with heterochromia viridum which, to the Imperia Aurumate, is a feature wrought with folklore and superstition--not always favourable.
To the people of the Imperia, eyes are the very symbol of literal and figurative wisdom, holy perception and omniscience. It is the form and avatar of their God as Hyuron all over Nhera are said to have seen it while dying or under the influence of substances.
Given that he was born also with eclipsed hair, an exceedingly rare physical trait in Hyuron but much more common in Draihari, he is believed by many to have a strange fate.
If that was not enough, Calix is a Psyarch. A "mind-mage" with the ability to manipulate and alter aether which is the very weave of the realmstar. This differs from elemental mages and sorcerers, who merely learn to harness the facets of aether in moments of heightened will.
His brain is like to a weapon and his body the sheathe, held tight to the hip of the Spectra.
He wields an arclock pistol and four mindblades.
A prudent but confounding question breaks him of his thought and he stares dumbfounded at the, frankly terrifying, gesture of night-eye embellished glowering. Prudent because, well, he should be grateful it was considered--Confounding because he'd never had to answer such a question before.
His eyes fall in consideration as he approaches nearer, indicating that he was willing to follow even still.
He even joins him on the steps, pausing just behind. Mutual assurity gave him confidence to not wither in the presence of the enemy. Heinous as they all were. Perhaps it would be a different story when surrounded by many.
"I take it you imply there's little to eat on board." A pause. "It's no matter. I can sustain myself on ambience for a time."
He leaves out how generally unpleasant it was to do so. His kind, even with psyonics, had not the mechanism to siphon aether in great quantities unless it condensed into the telluric.
"Afterwards, I... Suppose I will find creative uses of our time. I won't be of inconvenience--Ah--"
His eyes drop, realizing he had grown so used to titles that the lack of proper address is what had him pausing in his speech so frequently. Frustrating. He swallows in a twinge of nerves.
"What are you? What is your... Surely, you must have some address."
Literature.
the nhera tag broke..... im so upset
Calix felt Mornfeir’s full, chilling focus upon him.
He is dying.
Yes. Calix answers.
Your anger lends a satisfying heat to my core. Could you fuel a precise wrath?
Calix swallows, eyes lifting. I would burn everything for him.
There's a sense of weighing, of calculating. Then, a decision, sharp and absolute, slices through Calix's fear.
For him, then, direct me, for the breath of malice approaches.
3rd Age AU
His body, a prison. A cold sweat had broken from his forehead in his panic before the heat of his muscles left him- not dead.
He realises with fear he could not express that he was breathing.
Making himself breath.
A tremulous sensation of viper’s teeth shave his nerves from spine to nape as he must—
Make himself breath.
The dark imprisoned his mind in the sensation alone. He could hear it. His own breathing. Mismatched eyes stare in a deadened horror at nothing in particular though he does note that he can still move them. When they flicker at his behest, it did little to spark any sense of hope.
What cruelty was this design, he wonders. His eyes lid slightly as a car door shuts with a hollow sound. Like a fucking seal on his fate.
Nhera, in the third age, heaves with its own efficiency. Hyuron engineering sees trade and goods erupt across the sea in spite of the Elder Fathom. Though its arms reach and its will grasps the weak willed, advanced psychoreactive materials help to mask the ships cross-crossing far above, forcing its children to prowl in hopes of sporting a chance at meat.
Calix rae Fellner, private investigator, toils in the silverine, opalescent guts of Theastone, capitol of Arune's trade empire. There's no shortage of work, the Directors of trade companies were ruthless and hungry for the assets of their competition and would pay for information illicitly obtained. Pay for devoted eyes willing to skulk around dark places and report back.
His primary client, Saren von Aurastor- director of one of the Imperia's largest trading companies- is particularly fascinated with Calix and frequently offers him an allowance arrangement if he were to move into his penthouse. Calix has refused many times.
Being a Psyarch, the Holy Aurus Spectra mandates his kind take the mind-stilling medication known as Clarity. Designed to make him far less dangerous to burgeoning society and delicate structures of transparisteel and concrete. Things easily torn by such touchy, easily triggered power. A neutering of agency he had come to think little about beyond collecting his monthly cycle's-worth of rationing.
That would all change.
Clarity.
The name the Spectra wants the Imperia to use, assuring that it brings mental order rather than suppresses power.
Street versions of Clarity exist as Aurachord and Synveil. Common 'rape-drugs' for recreation and more sinister ends, they are hyper-depressants and can slow the brain function to levels near-death.
How Clarity works?
Clarity introduces complex bio-resonant molecules into the Psyarch's system which actively disrupt the specific frequencies Psyarchs use to connect with or draw power from the aetheric and telluric. It doesn't sever the connection entirely (which might be fatal or cause madness) but creates intense 'static' or interference, making focused psychic manifestation incredibly difficult, draining, or impossible.
It targets the specific neurological pathways and bio-aetheric interfaces within the Psyarch's body that allow thought to be translated into psychic force. It acts as a potent inhibitor, binding to key receptors or disrupting the flow of specialized neurotransmitters essential for channeling psychic energy. It essentially forces the Psyarch's internal 'circuitry' for psychic powers into a dormant state, preventing the build-up or discharge of psionic potential.
Psyarchs feel mentally dulled, thoughts related to power use become sluggish or difficult to form, attempts to use powers result in mental fog, splitting headaches, sensory disruption, and a feeling of being 'cut off' or 'muffled'. Like hitting a mental wall. Higher doses increase the dampening field's intensity. Emotion might be blunted as a side effect.
Continuous use is necessary as the body metabolizes the inhibitor; withdrawal could potentially lead to uncontrolled psychic backlash as the suppressed pathways reactivate erratically. The Spectra markets "Clarity" as preventing dangerous emotional extremes linked to psychic power.
Literature.
4th Age AU
WIP
Hyuron society has spread far beyond the bounds of Nhera and to further Realmstars. The power of the Holy Aurus is absolute without a single established colony not having felt the affects of worship of the Golden Eye of the Empyrean.
The Venatorix are the mobile, fast-acting hands of the Holy Spectra and Calix finds himself in the Synod Raeth. Largest and most equipped to combat entropic void corruption in the far reaches of Man's Imperia.
No backlinks