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Everything you just described about them is Legends, not canon. Pulling only from Canon sources, the Muur Talisman was last seen in deep space, in a research station belonging to the Sith empire. It most likely wouldn't be anywhere near Korriban.

...thank you so much for asking some of the stuff I'd forgotten that I was wondering!

-Twistey

Gall shook her head impatiently. "I didn't ask for your life story, man, I asked what you're made of that you can drink that rotgut. I've never felt a burn like that, and I ate some of Fellrazer's Nightmare Gel on a dare once. Does being a Fifteenth Ass-whatsit do that for you?"

Derik, who knew that his partner's hearing comprehension was excellent, cuffed the back of her head. "That's not what he said and you know it."

(( The Laundry Files looks interesting; I'll have to check that out sometime. And I'm running out the door, so short response here; sorry! ))

Now that Palpatine has returned to his Galaxy, he sees his Empire is in some degree of disarray. And now the Empire must Strike Back...

Palpatine has now seen the power of the Warp. He is convinced that the Dark Side is stronger, but he needs more power. He has now also seen the "reborn" Vader. Palpatine would almost certainly see Vader's hybridization as a betrayal. So he will need to deal with his former apprentice, and he will need a new one. After all there must always be two. One to hold power, and one to seek it.

He could seek out a Force Sensitive child and train it, but this is in the middle of a war. No, it is more likely he needs someone with training. But first...He needs to see to his Empire.

With the Republic on Couruscant he needs a new seat. Given that he sees a need for stronger access to the Dark Side, he decides that the training ground for his acolytes will work. He arrives on Dromund Kaas, and takes up residence there, and operates out of the Dark Temple.

The war has not been going as expected. A change is needed. Palpatine calls the Seventh Fleet, now under the Command of Admiral Karyn Faro (as we are assuming Thrawn does not survive Rebels) While she is no Thrawn, she still served under him and was his second in command. The Empire could use that insight now. She is promoted to Grand Admiral to help create a more unified offense. Let us assume she takes her fleet and flanks the Imperium Forces fighting the Chiss.

Palpatine still needs a new apprentice. He does not have the time, at the moment, to train one from Birth. And unfortunately most of the strong Jedi are too far from his influence and too close to Yoda's to be turned. But there are other choices. He could attempt to train one of his Royal Guards. But that would be bad form. His Inquisitors have proven far to weak to be worth the effort. But one of his assassins, his hand Mara Jade, she has the limited training he provided for her, and she is strong. But first she needs to be tested to see if she is strong enough. He assigns her a series of tasks.

First the Empire needs a new weapon, and there have been some promising results from a secret installation. He dispatches her to the Maw Installation. Her task is to acquire a new weapon without the defenses finding out. After a time she returns with the designs for the TIE Phantom. A shielded, hyperdrive enabled, cloaked TIE Fighter. Palpatine contacts Admiral Daala in the Maw, berates her for failing to protect the plans, but then orders the Phantom put into production.

The Empire still needs more. So Mara Jade is tasked with recovering and deploying Project Blackwing from Dandoran. Project Blackwing is a weaponized Zombie Plague made canon as of Star Wars: Commander. After the plague has been recovered, Palpatine orders one of the new Phantoms to ensure it is delivered to the so-called Terra. Hoping the Imperium is forced to further split its forces.

With Palpatine now believing the Imperium threat will be resolved he turns to the threat of Vader and Chaos. While he gathers his strength on Dromand Kaas, he tasks Mara Jade with seeking out sources of Dark Side Power. Her task first brings her to Korriban, now currently at war with itself with the Rak-anids and Tyranids killing each other. She encounters the Spirit of the Long-Dead Naga Sadow which attempts to possess her. Her connection with Palpatine, and her own strengths prevent him from taking over her, and she recovers an ancient Star Map. She informs the Emperor and he tasks her with following it. She has quickly established herself as a viable candidate for training. Palpatine makes up his mind. Once she finishes this task, he will train her fully in the Dark Side.

She follows the Star Maps finding maps on Dantooine, Manaan, and Kashyyyk. After recovering them all it points to a planet in the Unknown Regions. She arrives at the Observatory on Jakuu to gain navigational assistance through the Unknown Regions, where she finds the Observatory destroyed. She is about to seek out the Ascendancy Fleet, when deep in the back of her mind she hears a call.

Use the Force

Sufficiently strong Sith can indeed put their Spirit and Power into completely inanimate objects. That's how the Rakghouls were created. And that allowed him to survive in some form for Eons well into Darth Krayat's Empire (Over 7000 years in some form.)

In-fact...maybe what happens is on Korriban someone discovers Remulus Dreypa's Oubliette, and the Possessed Celeste Morne (host for Sith Lord Karness Muur) Let's say for argument the Tyranids are the ones that break into the Oubliette. Morne is overwhelmed and slain, being in Stasis for 4000 years will probably dull one's combat abilities, then something odd starts to happen. The Tyranids start changing, into vicious mutants. The first Tyranids begin being cut off from the Hive Mind. The Rakghouls have returned to the galaxy. Until the now Rakghoul-Tyranids are able to turn one of the Warp/Force infused Tyranids they remain locked on Korriban.

"Thank you." he said, and he meant it too.

"So, hmmm, wildly diverging accounts" Peregrin said to himself, pointing at various locations in empty space as he thought "common elements. Naming collisions? Well, possibly, but we cannot simply ... So where, where, how would, cultural segmentation? .. No, one of the accounts carries distinct histories. So, inheritance by filtering? That could be it. Yes. Yes."

He looked at the two kids he'd been talking to again. "Were your home universes partly defined in the same place, say, World One?" he asked. "No wait, that is rather technical wording. Is there, ah, a universe I could go to where I could find stories about both the canons you came from? And is Halloween a holiday there?"

"Halloween began in the days of the second alliance between children and adults. It seemed a successful partnership at first, with chore duties shared, and children once again had access to Earth's many environments they hadn't been able to enjoy during their exile on the moon.

"The peace, of course, couldn't last. When adults built the brainwashing institutions called 'schools,' children began to rebel against the tedium of the school day and the time wasted on homework. On cool, dark nights in autumn, small groups of children would put on disguises and cause mischief for adults. Most kids didn't want to terrorize the parents assigned to their family units they had come to know and love, but would sneak around to the houses of neighboring adults.

"At first, the children only wore frightening disguises, terrorizing the adults into giving them food and other treats to make the kids go away. Soon, though, the adults learned what was happening, and were no longer frightened. Then, the kids changed tactics, using one to ring the front doorbell and distract the adults through talking while the rest of the group infiltrated the home and took what they want. Eventually, the adults learned it was easier to keep a bowl of candy near the door, always ready to bribe any children at the door to go away so they could stay inside and guard from intrusion—they had come recognize that their choice was a treat, or be tricked.

"After many decades, "trick-or-treating" had become a tradition among kid culture, with a special day set aside for its observance. Adults eventually forgot its true origins, and began to celebrate it in their own, curious way, with terribly uninteresting parties without enough candy. But we children still remember the truth behind the so-called 'holiday:' a period of rebellion and empowerment against the rigid structuralism that adults impose upon us all year long."

Harry stared at her with an open mouth for a moment. Then, he turned to Peregrin and said, "Really, it's just an excuse to knock things over and crast stuff with your droogs."

((Actually, as far as I can tell through memory and research, the Kids Next Door don't seem to attach much importance to Halloween. Call this a fringe theory, call 3721 an AU character, whatever works.))

What kind of things would an agent have to do to get suspended? Fired? How bad would it have to be, on what kind of scale?

And if the Flowers believe in suicide missions, what would an agent have to do to get that?

Dax grinned widely. "Eberron, specifically. I'm a changeling—I'd show you what I can do, but I think without all the scaly bits people would get a little upset at me."

He handed one to Thoth - who once again downed it - and a considerably less horrific one to Derik.

Thoth nodded to Gall. "I am Thoth, of the XVth legion Astartes, otherwise known as the Thousand Sons. I am - or was - the unwilling servant of the Architect of Fate, and have my origins in the Warhammer 40k continuum. My partner is Tom Andrews."

Tom bowed. "Tom Andrews, computational demonologist, at your service. I'd tell you where I'm from, but then my brain would fry. It seems there was only so much DoSAT could do about that."

((If you're curious, Tom's from the Laundry continuum. So he's not exaggerating: if he tells you where he's from or where he worked or anything of that sort, he'll probably start smoking. DoSAT loosened it a bit, but they could only do so much.))

((I can appreciate the Wolves for similar reasons - Vikings are cool, and I do have that same soft spot. And they're a good legion. But the Sons... ah, there's just a bit too much of the Sons in me for me to prefer anyone else. Because I want to know the universe, to understand it. And if I am to be guilty of any crime, I want it to be the pursuit of knowledge. I also share some of their flaws... :-(

As for it not being their fault... I kind of disagree. But I'm not going to get into the reasons why, because it would take ages and I'm typing this on my phone. But I also have a soft spot for villains who are doing the wrong thing for the right reasons. And many of the Sons fit that to a T, especially Ahriman.))

"Yes, that's the important part." She looked a bit more closely the other woman's 'disguise'. "So, shapeshifting. Well, you know where I come from, but what about you?"

She took off her hawk helm, revealing a head of dark, wiry red hair plaited against her scalp, and mopped off her face. To Thoth's comment, she replied hoarsely between heavy breaths: "I'm Gall Knutson, Fellrazer's rider, of the Hairy Hooligan tribe. 'Interesting' is what we do. If by 'interesting' you mean brave, stubborn, and just a little bit insane." She grinned—no hard feelings. As far as she was concerned, anyone who could outdrink or outfight the likes of herself was to be admired. "The hell are you made of, jötunn?"

Derik, meanwhile, sank his ale in a few steady gulps and slammed the glass down on a nearby table. "One. And, in good news, I think I just spied Nurse Robinson as the spitting image of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Maria Hill. I think she keeps Purple Stuff handy for occasions like this."

(( I didn't know about the Rubric, but I looked it up, so now I sorta do. Yikes!

(( Can't speak for everyone else, but I like the Wolves because a: I like Vikings and Viking analogues in general, and b: I have a soft spot for big, hairy, unpretentious warrior-types. The Wolves are bloody awesome at what they do, but they know their place, and their limits, and there's a lot of heart under all the gruff, too. All the Legions Astartes have that warrior-brother thing going on, it seems, but I suspect the Wolves take that to a relatively high level what with the wolf traits making them a pack, too. I 'unno, but they're not what I expected from Space Marines going in, and I like it.

(( The Thousand Sons, on the other hand, are nice enough guys, and pretty cool, but make me want to pull my hair out with frustration at their basic lack of common sense. That said, I don't think what happened to them was really their fault. I blame the Emperor for trying to make a bunch of addicts quit cold-turkey and getting mad when, shockingly, it didn't work. {= P ))

Dax's cheeks somehow managed to go an even darker shade of blue. "I'm terrible at sewing anything larger than tears in a cloak, so I kind of cheated and went naked." She nodded at Marina. "That, though—that's impressive. I was able to recognize it immediately, after all, and that's the important thing, yeah?"

Did we really need this?! I swear, movie executives have no imagination these days...

I'd be shocked if they didn't accept Tor users, but there IS a possibility. I hope not. :-(

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Hey Thoth,

Update on the situation, I'm trying to see if they'll let me register. Currently, I'm experiencing a redirect loop when trying to register so I'll contact service and see what they say.
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"It's ale, you know. Not mead. Not that it makes much of a difference with that stuff. Just be glad you hacked it up: I don't have any Klatchian Coffee handy." He produced some rags. "That's for your mouth. Here, Thoth, take a few to wipe off your armor with. And don't try to burn it off or anything: the smell will get everwhere."

He turned to Derik. "Sorry about that. Anyways, I think I saw some of the spice ale at the table..." He went off and grabbed a glass. "There you go."

Thoth frowned at Gall. "That was... an interesting decision." He had managed to wipe most of the ale off of his armor... before burning the rest. Thankfully, the smell was minimal.

((The Wolves ARE cool. But I'll always come down on the Sons side of that particular debate. Besides, I don't seem to like The Wolves as much as everybody else...))

((Now Ahriman... Ahriman is an interesting case. He's actually self-conscious enough to recognize his flaws a good deal of the time, and he's reasonably sensable, but he ultimately has the same flaws as the rest of his legion. Primarily, arrogance.

As for going full dark lord... he actually doesn't. Which is one of the cool things about him. Heck, he has no particular desire to serve Chaos at all (a trait he shares with several other named characters most people barely discuss). After the Rubric (I assume you know what happened with the Rubric), he was... distraught. And so he dedicated himself to reversing its effects. Imagine Edward Elric with absolutely no limits, nothing he won't do, and a devotion to his goal that is arguably even more fanatical. THAT is Ahriman, or at least the closest approximation I can give with a simple analogy.

DISCLAIMER: Ahriman is probably one of my favorite characters in all of 40k. Take that as you will.)

"'Efforts'? I... pretty much leaped on the idea while my partner was agonizing between disguises. The staff is a work in progress, and I took the coat and amulet he had prepared. He's the guy wandering around there, with the black coat, the mask and the curly hair. He cheated too, but belive me, that's for the better for him. I didn't really care for a particular disguise at the time, and was fully ready to go as myself and tell I was actually disguised as a wizard. Richard pointed out how ironic it was that I was one coat away from being disguised as Dresden, and the idea was just impossible to ignore. Besides, it did help him to make his own choice. He was thinking about throwing a dice to make his decision before that."

... Sith Force Ghosts have previously continued to exist by possessing lumps of rock, so that part is irrelevant. 'A mindless, Force-sensitive body' is also precisely what allowed Palpy to become the Emperor Reborn, so the initial injection should work.

Whether he can then successfully separate his new body from the Hive Mind depends on how the Force interacts with that. 40K lore isn't a reliable guide to that question, because - of course - the Force doesn't exist there. It's possible (for instance) to cut a being off from the Force entirely and permanently, so that they can't touch or be touched by it. Would that have the same effect on the Hive Mind, separating the Tyranid from it? Who knows! It's not a process that makes any sense in 40K.

The underlying assumption in this wacky scenario is that things of comparable power can be compared across canons. Star Wars and 40K starships can both make a decent effort at destroying each other. The Force doesn't let you magically overcome the Warp, but equally, Force-sensitives aren't subject to the same limits as psykers.

We've already used the Force to mute the Hive Mind - not by throwing an anti-soul at it, but by (I guess) altering the flow of life and its energies around the 'Nids. So in principle, there is a route our Sith Lord could follow to claim control.

Would it work? Or would he lose the battle and be consumed? That's probably a decision for plot-based thinking.

hS

"But taken all together, it's pretty obvious," Dax said. "I like it, though—it looks like you put a lot of effort into it. I just cheated on mine."

Tyranids have no souls, or sufficient minds to house a soul. There are no daemon possessed Tyranids, and if one were to attempt it, it would have to do battle with the entire Hive Mind. To put that in perspective: The Chaos Gods are afraid of directly challenging the Hive Mind. And since it's been proven in the lore repeatedly that the only thing that can even momentarily disrupt the Hive Mind are blanks, which have anti-souls, it is likely that the possessing force ghost would be consumed by the Hive Mind's influence.

Looking at the Kaldor Draigo story shows the answer. It's the effect of Psykers on the Warp around them. The Orks, as a race of passive psykers, influence the world around them. It's why their machines work, why the 'Red onez go fasta', and why a purple ork army is actually stealthy. The Warp is shaped by belief, and the more powerful or large the collection of believers, the more it is influenced.

When an army of passive psykers charge into the warp to unleash destruction, destruction is unleashed. Palpatine is not in the warp, he isn't a powerful psyker, and his beliefs have zero influence on the daemonworlds.

And, to go back to the Draigo story, Draigo was a Grey Knight who rampaged around the warp. His faith and power were sufficient to protect him and carve a trail of destruction, but as soon as he left, the warp returned to the way it had been. Every victory he won, every daemon slain and every world broken, was fixed once he left. Even if Palpatine could wreck the daemonworlds, they'd correct themselves in moments because he has no influence to keep them broken.

She held up her glass and swirled the dark, viscous fluid—more like petroleum or blood than beer or ale—around the bottom. The substance had a strong, chemical reek that made her cough, but she turned the reaction into a noise of derision. "You call this muck mead, do you? When this is over, I'll introduce you to the real thing."

"Gall..." Derik's sense of caution broke through his anger. "Maybe you shouldn't—"

"Shut up, Derik," she snapped. She was committed, and there was no backing out now. With a deep breath to fortify herself, she locked eyes with Thoth and knocked back the whole shot.

It was fortunate that HQ was governed primarily by the Laws of Narrative Comedy, and by that token, what happened next was completely predictable: Gall shuddered and tried valiantly to hold on, but her stomach was smarter than she was. She convulsed, retched, and spewed the noxious brew right back up again, saving herself from committing suicide by stupidity. It was quite unfortunate to be standing in front of her.

Derik shook his head and patted her on the back while she hacked up the last drops of mjød. "On second thought, some fights aren't worth fighting. I'll stick to pumpkin spice ale."

(( If the Comedic Laws are in full force, Thoth will need to go clean his armor, but that's up to your discretion. {= D

(( And yes, I've read approximately two and a half Horus Heresy books now: Prospero Burns, A Thousand Sons, and the first few short stories in Tales of Heresy. I'm an extreme noob, but Phobos has been reading these books for a while now, and he finally talked me into starting. I'm afraid we're a Wolves household through and through, but I do feel sorry for Magnus and the Thousand Sons.

(( As for Ahriman, I don't get him. Half the time I thought he was the one with the most common sense of the lot, but the other half he was making the same dumb mistakes as everyone else, and from the fanart I've looked at, he seems to go full-on Dark Lord down the line. What on earth made him think making the same mistakes as Magnus was a good idea when he'd lived through the consequences, eh? ))

"Name is Marina and yep, I'm a wizard. A rather easy disguise, eh? That said, how did you guess it? Irony aside, a brown trenchcoat, a silver babble and a staff aren't that distinctive."

It now runs through to Palpatine's escape and Vader's fall. I haven't yet got round to putting in the Black Crusade, but it's coming.

hS