(NERV Game Site – Official DAtS Offline Forums)

Number5Alive, Golddigger, BurtBacharach, CrazyCelt, Blaze, DoYouEvenLyft?, MarcoPolo, MightMakesRight, l33tpally, Bennie, SEA-TAC_Sweetie, Requiesce-in-Pace, MacD, HaveGunsWillTravel, TheDespoiler, Guardian, GunKitty, Chummer, Inquisitor, Lizard, RedFox, SemiSolidSnake, ElfMama, Not_the_Face!, Anonymous3, Anonymous4, Anonymous7, Anonymous9, AggregatorOfSorrows, M.Mollen, WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot, DigDug, BigGunn, Dolcett, Starwatcher, Backlog, DarkAvariel, Knocker, Hullu_Kapteeni, GrimDark, BloodForTheBloodGod, Queen’s_Bitch, BackDat@55Up, DoYouEvenDPS?, MajorTom, Parca, and DarkAngel are in the chat.

DigDug: What the hell are these starburst patterns showing up all over the place?

Anonymous7: What starburst patterns?

DigDug: I’m seeing them show up more and more all over the Empire. Some kind of weird eight-pointed star with a black circle in the middle.

Inquisitor: Such heresy!

BloodForTheBloodGod: BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE!

Dolcett: I’ve seen the ones you’re talking about, Dig. Not quite the same as what Inquisitor and BFTBG are on about, but definitely similar.

MacD: Well sure, that’s the link to the real world, but where is it coming from in game? I mean, there hasn’t been anything like that so far, right up until that shit at Sol happened.

Guardian: Well…

Parca: Heh.

DoYouEvenDPS?: Wait. Are you saying that you guys knew something about this?

BackDat@55Up: And you didn’t tell us?

M.Mollen: And why should they?

Number5Alive: So, you’ve just been hoarding secrets like this? Not cool, man!

Anonymous3: Seriously! If we had known about this stuff, we could have prepared for it! I lost a year’s progression, in game, because the clan I was working for got wiped out on Pluto!

l33tpally: Yeah, I mean you gotta share that stuff with the rest of us, man?

M.Mollen: No, I really don’t.

l33tpally: WHAT?

M.Mollen: Did I stutter? No, I don’t have to share anything with you. And you don’t have to share anything with me. The fact that, sometimes, I CHOOSE to share things I learn with others means that I’m a great guy, not that I have any obligation to do so.

Anonymous4: And how is that fair?

M.Mollen: Consider it part of my rewards for not sitting on my ass and waiting for things to happen. I didn’t do anything that the rest of you couldn’t have done. You just didn’t try.

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Lizard: Hey, Mollen, don’t listen to those haters. They’re just jealous that you did things first, and didn’t give them cheat codes and walkthroughs to follow behind.

M.Mollen: Thank you, Lizard.

Lizard: But, like, if you were feeling generous, do you have any inside knowledge on what is going on in the Imperium? This place has been getting… strange, lately.

M.Mollen: Ah, yes, I guess it would be, since the Imperium’s Empress went and did something colossally stupid.

SEA-TAC_Sweetie: What does the light show in the Imperium have to do with this?

GrimDark: Ugh. That level of ignorance hurts, Sweetie.

Inquisitor: Now, now. Better to be in ignorance of Chaos than fall prey to it.

TheDespoiler: The Eye’s opening was the scream of a newborn Goddess, born of the Ihm, and made in their image, and She will rule them forever. Their souls belong to the Dark Goddess newest of the Three turned Four, and none shall change that.

GrimDark: Damn it to the abyss. That means…

Inquisitor: Yes, there are more out there.

GrimDark: Gunkitty, you make custom weapons, right? Have you made a bolter before?

Gunkitty: Sure. Any specific pattern in mind?

GrimDark: Can you get a Mark II Cawl?

Gunkitty: Yeah, want the custom ‘skin’?

GrimDark: Indeed.

Gunkitty: No problem.

DarkAvariel: I’ll take a Condemnor version, if you can.

Gunkitty: Not a problem, Sister.

l33tpally: What in the HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?

M.Mollen: They are referencing the ‘inspiration’ for some of the recent events, pally.

DarkAngel: Speaking of which, I wonder why we’re only hearing about these things now.

M.Mollen: Because the other Three haven’t been able to reach out to any of the people in Known Space.

Anonymous7: But if they’re gods, they should be able to do anything, right?

BloodForTheBloodGod: Their power is everywhere the Warp is, but they need hands in the Materium to carry out their works.

M.Mollen: There’s plenty of reasons why things are different, and why they are continuing to be different. But the primary one is the fact that there was no Dark Age of Technology.

Inquisitor: I see. It begins to make sense, now.

Backlog: If it is making sense to you, can you clue us in? Because I’m seriously not getting it.

Inquisitor: In the game, the Dark Age of Technology included a massive human diaspora, where they spread across the entire galaxy.

GrimDark: Without the exodus, humanity was not exposed directly to the Ruinous Powers.

Lizard: So, how much do we actually know about these Four? Can I just go buy a game sourcebook to read up on them?

M.Mollen: No. Real-world lawyers would come down hard if something like that happened. As for what we know? That’s fairly limited. But suspect? That we can do.

Lizard: Fine, what is known about this Dark Goddess, and how can I get out from under this whole mess? The Imperium is going nuts with this new religious fervor sweeping through the higher castes.

TheDespoiler: I was there, in Chaos’s realm, when She awoke. And I heard the words She spoke. She is born of pride, and the fool Empress has played her part, bringing the Ihm into Her service. There is no hope to resist. Embrace the Eightfold Path.

Knocker: Wait, you were actually there, in Chaotic Space? How the hell did you get there? The Chaos Brigade was no where close to the rifts when they were open!

M.Mollen: You act like ripping a hole in the universe that will spread across a sector is the only way to access that realm.

Knocker: It isn’t?

M.Mollen: If you had been exploring, you would know the answer already, but no, there are ways to access Chaotic space, and other places. But such things are likely to be considered ‘Lost Tech’.

Anonymous3: If they’re Lost, how do you know this?

M.Mollen: Because what is Lost can be found. And sometimes it is Lost not because it does not work, but because people in high positions thought there were other ways to go.

DarkAngel: Think VHS vs. Betamax, and you get the idea.

M.Mollen: Exactly. Or Laserdisc vs. DVD. At any rate, TheDespoiler was there, because I outfitted his ships in return for test data, allowing him to be there.

Golddigger: Damn, just how many pies do you have your fingers in, Mollen?

M.Mollen: More than you could possibly know.