There is a solar system out there that was named Noctern by its early discoverers. And it had 11 planetoid entities orbiting its star.

Of course, the scientists couldn't be bothered to name each entity specifically, so they stood by the classic numeral system. That was how Noctern IV earned its name, as it was the 4th planet orbiting from its sun.

Eventually, researchers were sent with highly specialized equipment used to scan planets and asteroids. They were the best that money could buy at the time.

And so upon the first scans, the atmospheric conditions of the Noctern IV proved it to be habitable if not quite inhospitable. See, the planet was in the right position, the Goldilocks zone that is, and it had liquid water and early signs of flora covering its surface.

It, however, was also covered in a very thick atmosphere formed from elements rarely seen up there. This factor made the onboard equipment unreliable at best. Unfortunately for the researchers, admitting that their cutting-edge equipment was inadequate to their superiors was… Not an option see, the Imperium had invested a sizable chunk of its budget into the development of these tools and failure was not an option.

The researchers weren’t keen on forfeiting their life to admit faults in their tools and admitting failure to the Oligarchs. So they didn't, they simply sent back the most plausible results according to their instruments.

Thus, naturally, it was assumed that there would be no living organisms present on said planet. The Oligarchs of the Imperium initially had high hopes for the planet, as they planned to free the natives from their shackles, and uplift them into the stars. For a price, of course, a small sacrifice of eternal indentured servitude for the glory of the Imperium.

Alas, such plans were forfeit after receiving the news that the planet hadn't given birth to fauna yet, as such they designated it as a planet to be stripped of all its resources instead. A pragmatic choice by all means. 

There is just a tiny issue, see they didn't know about the issues experienced by the crew as they did the scans, so…

Imagine the surprise of the first explorers when a simple recon mission to find ore veins quickly became a bloodbath.

These early explorers learned the hard way how wrong their initial scans were. The planet was inhabited by a certain type of predator and an environment they were perfectly suited to. It seemed wrong, according to all known sources IT WAS wrong. A technical impossibility, a glitch, a mistake. One that was studied for thousands of years after its discovery.

But it was the truth.

This was written in the data pad of one of the Externals that came from the stars.

Noctern IV

It was a land of foggy darkness, its inhabitants were busy going through the banalities of regular life. The farmers sowed their lands and harvested the few fruits and vegetables that were ripe, most of their crops went to feed their livestock, creating a steady supply chain that managed to feed their various settlements. 

Their planet, however, was a mystery, it was the type of puzzle that researchers drooled over. 

“Finally, a worthy project!”  they'd say.

The planet, it was covered in near eternal darkness as previously mentioned. It made it quite difficult to grow food, which forced the evolution of its fauna towards a primarily meaty diet, one that eventually morphed to a more “liquid” diet for some.

The ancestors of the local “humanoid” species were forced by their planet's nature to hunt animals to the brink of extinction, destroying their very own livelihood. Forcing them to evolve and change, and so their bodies evolved to sustain themselves on a more reliable source of food, blood. 

Here's the thing I know that sounds crazy at home, but once again it is the truth. I, Gharson Grivs vow, on the name of my father and his forefather, that it is the whole truth.

Now, due to a lack of the various rays of radiation naturally emitted by their sun. The humanoids were quite pale. Excuse me, that's an understatement, they are deathly pale. It's almost as if they were corpses. 

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

More, importantly, to adapt to their new source of “nutrients”, they quickly began growing fangs in their prepubescent stage to facilitate this new diet. And over time, their bodies grew so used to drinking blood that they became forced to drink it almost exclusively. 

Their new diet, however, led to a stunted growth compared to previous generations and the species as a whole became smaller in stature. This phenomenon also manifested other anomalies, such as their species going from living 50 to 70 years to some living well into their 700s. Theoretically, a member of their species could nearly live forever, unless one was killed by disease, murder, or accidents, of course.

The slow aging was but one of their many new advantages, depending on what type of blood they fed upon. The blood of some ancient sea creature, for example, helps them reinforce their immune system and disinfect their tools. Others could somehow over long periods of time allow one not only to heal scars but even regrow lost limbs. 

It doesn’t stop there, however, as it is the case for every species out there, the outcasts, loners or what could be summed up as monks learned new tricks. Just as, a random creature can find a herb that allows one to heal previously unknown or incurable ails. These social outcasts eventually returned and somehow shared their new-found knowledge with the rest, creating bursts of new ideas and concepts. And thus, they began building a successful civilization. Starting with a woman now known as The Great Mother or The Mother of Hemomancy or again, The Blood Witch, she was a woman of great significance for this species.

As she found out that they could control blood, as in control everything about blood, not just their own but that of others as well. This finding flipped the foundations of their society on its head. This newfound power was a boon, but it also led to a great catastrophe, as expected, it can be used equally for good as it could be used for bad. And since not every member of the species had the time, talent, or simply the interest in learning this new power, it led to many levels of disparity within their society.

Thus, a classist society was born, based on one's inherent ability and control over their own inherent powers. As you’d be able to assume, those who lacked the skill and/or the knowledge to handle their inherent powers turned into the lowest class in their society. It brought along everything one would associate with the poor and infirm. Families that committed atrocities or major mistakes would become ostracized from society, and the future generations would be banned from learning about their powers through normal means. 

Essentially leaving them to the nature, forcing them to re-learn their abilities from scratch without the assistance of anybody else.

All these quirks of evolution may seem like a dream come true to some, but every coin has a flip side, as you can see from the previous example.

For all the good there must be an equal amount of bad, such is life. Their environment led to their current nature, an environment that was covered in darkness and fog, as well as a species, forced to adapt to it. Now what if, per example, the darkness disappeared? 

Well, because they lack the need for protection against the light of their sun, the skin of many species on the planet reacts like when you mix potassium in water. In short, they burn, rapidly. As some have unfortunately found out quite early on in their evolution. Frankly, most forms of ‘excessive’ light were harmful to their skin. It mattered little for the ordinary folk as they were adapted to seeing in these conditions, and if deemed necessary, candles were a safe substitute. They could also easily just cover up their body if it was deemed necessary. 

Furthermore, they also seem to have an additional quirk, that requires further research, but in short, from our observations, their genetic material seems extremely flexible. They can effortlessly adapt to other environment IF given the right amount of time and dedication.

For example, if these humanoids bite each other, it seems they can transmit their genetic material to the other, teaching their bodies how to adapt or build an immunity to certain diseases. This has been observed between clans on diplomatic envoys and families with sick children. A family member would come in and transmit the genetic information to the child, allowing it to defend itself from their sickness.

Oh, and of course, they can feed on each other this way as well. Although, the donator will require a pick me up much sooner than normal.

Frankly, they are a fascinating study, but the Imperium cannot allow their existence as is, they must be either exterminated or tamed and used for our benefit. And so we were instructed to use all methods available to achieve said results.’

A pair of dark red eyes skimmed the dimly lit pad reading their content, barely reading most of the information dump, the parts that were read summed up information about her people and their various abilities. 

Eventually, the individual holding the pad got either fed or frustrated as they tossed it over their shoulder. Only to be nimbly caught by another pair of pale hands.

“Hey! Careful with that, it contains a literal wealth of knowledge! We can’t afford to give up any info on our enemies if we wish to drive them off our planet!” a young lady’s heated voice rang out in the forest.

“They have weird crossbows that burn a hole in our skin faster than the sun does! Whatever information they have is at least centuries ahead of what we can understand anyway! Plus, the information on that device is all things we know better than them, damn it!” the annoyed voice of Nyx resounds in response.

“So? Any information is useful, who knows what Sir Ratkel might deduce from these pads. He’s the one that told us to collect as much information as possible! It’s for the greater good, Nyx.” the younger woman retorted.

“They have weird crossbows that burn a hole in our skin faster than the sun does! Whatever information they have is at least centuries ahead of what we can understand anyway!” the annoyed voice of Nyx resounds in response.

“It still can’t hurt to try, Nyx! Sir Ratkiel might be able to decipher something from these odd texts! Hell, discovering what they know about us is as important as learning how to replicate their odd weapons. We use their knowledge against them, can’t you understand that?” the young woman tries to reason.

“I’m sure he can, but how long will it take? The sun literally follows them! On our planet! How in the 7 HELLS can they control the sun?” Nyx responds loudly, exasperated.

“Well, we might just be able to learn that through this!” she says, pointing at the now cracked surface of the data pad's screen.

Sigh “Whatever…” Nyx says as she walks off.

As if by magic, the blood covering every square inch of her massive battleaxe seems to flow off before forming into a bubble of crimson blood floating in the air. It then slowly flows into an open vial located on Nyx’s waist. 

“Let’s move before they get here to recover their buddy.” she says as she looks back at the beheaded young researcher.

“Don’t forget to test their blood first! We don’t want you to grow fur again.” the other one responds, holding back a chuckle.

“Quinn.” she says with words oozing with bloodlust. “We agreed not to bring that back up. Did we not?” Nyx’s voice resounds in a low, embarrassed and threatening tone.

“Sorry, sorry.” Quinn replies with a mischievous grin, having clearly noticed the pink hue to her cheeks.

End of Prologue

HeadlessChickenCrew