Index:-
1 SLA Industries references
P16/17 SLA - "[the
House of the Black Church] was a truly malignant legion of troops
renowned
throughout the Known Universe for
their ruthlessness in battle. They were also respected by the
Conflict Societies for their leader, Cadavar, as a
ruthless battle commander and military scientist.
Cadavar and his army joined Slayer's business for a variety of
reasons....Cadavar overheard the talk of
biogenetic production. All Cadavar's previous attempts at living
Biogenetics had proved unsuccessful.
The
most he had accomplished were biogenetic enhancements...."
"..Cadavar prepared to depart for the Conflict
Societies. he had no plans to return and secretly hacked
into Senti's database and stole her 'amended' plans and then,
nonchalantly took the House of the Black
Church away from SLA Industries."
2 Cadavar and the House of the Black Church - History in Progress
Secrets upon secrets, lies upon lies,
these are the foundations of SLA Industries over 900 years of
progress. Slayer, Intruder, Senti;
these three names stand out foremost in the history of SLA Industries yet the
brutal zealot Cadavar played a big part in the Stormer project that brought the
conflict era to such a violent end. When you look at a Dark Finder you are
looking at 900 years of lost knowledge, knowledge that Cadavar took with him on
his journey beyond White Earth following his betrayal by Senti. Cadavar had a
grand vision for the human race, to advance humanity above all the other
conflict aliens and create his own Empire in the stars. Arrogantly Cadavar saw
Slayer as no more than a convenient step along the path to his own divinity, a
bit part player in his Grand Vision, meanwhile Slayer planned his Big Picture
and kept a wary eye on Cadavar.
The House of the Black Church and
Cadavar left SLA Industries to roam amongst the conflict
societies, little did Cadavar realise the scale
of Slayers Big Picture. When Cadavar realised he had been tricked by Senti he
went into a wild rage, destroying everything that came into his path. As he
stood on the battlefield watching the cities burn a plan began to form within
his mind to avenge himself upon Senti and Intruder. On the eve of the Big
Picture Cadavar's forces landed on an almost unspoilt planet called Static,
stealing away victims for his latest experiments. Even as the Stormers were
destroying the conflict societies Cadavar's ships slipped silently past White
Earth and into the space beyond, far away from SLA Industries
reach.
What Cadavar found beyond White Earth
was a region of space know as The Black Stump, a living
hell nominally ruled over by Bitterness. Whilst
Slayer brought order, Bitterness spawned a universe of chaos where the basic
laws of physics seemed to have little effect. In The Black Stump every nightmare
took form, a stray thought could kill as quickly as any blade, and Cadavar's
bigoted and violent mind created a region known as 'The Holy See' where he
settled the House of the Black Church and set himself up as self-proclaimed
'Pope-Protector'. The Holy See became much like 17C Europe, a place of constant
religious wars where new ideas were outlawed and punishable by death. All the
while Cadavar carried on his experiments into biogenetics, now with a new and
twisted dimension; the Ebons from Static.
Cadavar consolidated his empire within
the Black Stump, magnificent fortified Cathedrals were built to control vast
swathes of space whilst Bitterness looked on from White Earth. All the while
Cadavar was creating a new race of ebb being, a
primitive life form that could accumulate raw
Flux energy and use it to power strange weapons and armour for his New Model
Army. This new life form lacked sentience but retained the vital ability of the
ebon flux matrix, Cadavar had regressed the Ebon's to a stage long forgotten in
there evolution. The new life form looked like a small embryonic child only 6
inches long, held in a special conductive fluid within a tube. When fitted to
Cadavar's new biotech devices these creatures could produce
enough energy to power frightening
ebb-like weapons, and the dark forces of the Black Church evolved tainted by
Bitterness and the raw emotion of the proto-ebon creatures, which Cadavar named
Ebids.
Cadavar had achieved much with his new
army, the Black Church were stronger than ever and the
bio-ebb devices proved fearful in battle
driving all before them. Cadavar continued to work, trying to recreate Senti's
work and produce his own Stormers. But powerful as Cadavar was he did not posses
the art of Deathwake, and without that his biogenetic abominations lacked the
vital spark of life. Then the rumours started to come in from the outer regions
of his empire, tales of nightmare creatures worse than any seen before that
destroyed whole cities. These creatures were Necanthropes sent by Slayer into
the furthest reaches of space beyond White Earth to seek out the enemies of SLA,
travelling in a fleet of eight mighty Fold Ships known collectively as the
'Ghost Rider Union', and they waged a terrible war against the Holy
See.
Cadavar summoned his finest warriors
and formed from them an elite force known as the
Wytchfynders, armed them with the latest and
most powerful Bioebb devices he sent them out to hunt down the Ghost Riders. For
100 years they struggled, fighting themselves to a standstill. Thousands died
across vast areas of the Holy See, many of the few remaining Conflict Societies
that had fled the Big Picture were exterminated, the Black Church were decimated
along with many of the Necanthrope houses. The Wytchfynders becoming ever
watchful for the Necanthropes, whilst a pathological hatred had grown between
the two forces, eventually a tense stand-off was reached.
Now Cadavar is ready to return to the
World of progress and fulfil his Grand Vision for humanity.
After 900 years in the wilderness he
is going to raise humanity to it's rightful place and subjugate the heathen
alien races. This will be a religious war, fought not only on the battlefields
of the World of Progress but also in the hearts and minds of all humanity. The
taint of Bitterness is strong in the minds of the Black Church, they are without
compassion and mercy, they live only to serve and die for their leader Cadavar.
Feared above all else are the Wytchfynders, sociopathic killers with a violent
hatred of Ebons and their dark cousins the Necanthropes. And Cadavar now has the
Preachers, a symbiotic human/ebid lifeform able to manipulate flux energy much
like an Ebon.
3 Bioebb Devices
Bioebb
Devices fuelled by flux from the Ebids were created by Cadavar for use by the
Black Church
army. They
are characterised by there ornate design, combining a shiny brass like metal
with strange
fluid
carrying tubes that convey the flux energy by means of a conductive fluid
medium. At the heart
of
these devices is the Ebid, held within a clear tube like container and filled
with a special conductive
fluid medium, flux flowing through the tubes to power the devices.
Weapons, Armour, Vehicles and
even the fortress Cathedrals are powered by flux leached in this
way from the Ebids. These pitiful
creatures are born without sentient minds, but raw emotions of
pain and even a kind of despair haunt
them throughout their lives.
The most abominable bioebb creatures
are the Preachers, a symbiotic human/ebid lifeform. As
powerful as a Necanthrope these creatures are a
fusion of bioebb and flesh. The proto-ebon is linked
directly into the mind of the human host, who
feels the full pain and despair of the creature. Most
symbiotes live short and tormented lives,
surviving maybe only hours or days. But a few develop a full
symbiotic bond with the Ebid by
controlling the emotional daemons, and they become Preachers
powerful in the manipulation of flux
energy.
The Ebids soon wither and die,
consumed by the force of raw flux energy they were grown to
accumulate. The Ebid looks much like
a creature that evolved on Static many millions of years ago,
possibly the first creature able to
collect flux in a basic natural matrix. This creature eventually
became the Ebons that live on Static
and throughout the World of Progress, Cadavar was able to
'back-engineer' this creature using
the ebon test subjects he stole from Static during his flight from
SLA Industries. All of the original
test subjects died in the process, but Cadavar had what he wanted,
a simple life form that could collect
flux energy.
4 The Wytchfynders
5
Preachers
The
most abominable bioebb creatures are the Preachers, a symbiotic human/ebid
lifeform. As
powerful
as a Necanthrope these creatures
are a fusion of bioebb and flesh. The proto-ebon is grafted
directly onto the mind of the human host,
who endures the full pain and despair of the
creature. Most symbiotes live short and tormented lives,
surviving maybe only hours or days. But a few
develop a full symbiotic bond with the Ebid by
controlling the emotional daemons, and they
become Preachers powerful in the manipulation of flux
energy and ebb powers.
The Psychological damage that this
symbiotic existence causes is profound. The Preachers are solitary
beings, found upon the fringes of
Cadavars New Model Army, they are watched carefully by the
Wytchfynders who view them as an
intolerable abomination of all that is Holy.
The Preachers manipulate the ebb by
using a holy book given to Cadavar by Bitterness, this book is
called 'The Byble' and contains page
upon page of prayers and religious liturgy. The Preachers often
sermonise from this book, calling
upon the powers of "God and the Pope Protector", and talking in a
strange language called
'Psychobable', in part this is where the Preachers derive their
name.
5a The Holy
Byble
Gifted to
Cadavar by Bitterness the Holy Byble contains the liturgy of The Preachers and
allows them
to
manipulate the ebb in much the same way as the Glyph Cards where once used by
the ebon race.
Written
in an ancient language The Byble is divided in thirteen books called The Holy
Scriptures, and
these
books are each a parallel of ability of ebb:-
Book of... Ebb ability
Sacrament
Heal 1-10 instead of healing in fact the use of this ability
causes damage.
Regeneration 1-3 instead withers the affected
limb/area.
Psychosis
instead increases ranks of psychosis.
Heal 12 creates an animated zombie. These unfortunate beings crave
human flesh.
Darknesse
Light 1-10 actually creates darkness, absorbing
all light in the effected area.
The Preachers also make use of
equipment to enhance their ebb powers. These again are a parallel
of
the Science Friction
equipment produced by Dark Lament, though that utilised by the
Preachers
appears to be
of a more arcane construction. In fact these items are copied from RealTime
artefacts by
Bitterness
and as such have great power:-
Ability Equipment Dark Lament equivalent
6a Enemies - The Ghost Rider Union
7 Armour
8
Weapons