Debauchery BioTech 10 (Patreon)

Debauchery BioTech

Chapter 10

-VB-

The videos and images of biological abominations overrunning Radstadt horrified the Inner Sphere. 

And then the ritual and the effects of it? 

Worse than horror was panic.

Souls were real. 

There were people who could enslave your soul.

There were actual magicians who could make biomechs that can and will beat you to death with your own mech’s broken limbs. 

Those same magicians had access to giant bio warships that can and will nuke cities from the ground by just breathing.

Archon Katrina Steiner… saw all of these as an absolutely good thing. The Priesthood of Kalmaktama was a known cult associated with her and the Lyran Commonwealth. The Department of Communications was already letting not just her people but all of the Inner Sphere know that the Priesthood had taken part in the Fourth Succession War with her permission. 

“But I had no idea Our Lord had so many… creatures capable of space travel. Or alternate means of faster-than-light travel,” she noted calmly while looking at Zend Karstein as the two of them sat across each other over a small coffee table in their private meeting.

The elderly woman in the skin of a young woman hummed. “It should not have been ready, but his ascension mere months prior was the catalyst needed to make it happen.”

“And so many?” she asked again. She had been alarmed about it. At first. But once she internalized the fact that she was a member of the Priesthood herself and that her … god would not hurt her and her nation unless she gave him a very good reason to, those giant FTL-capable dragons wouldn’t be used against her. In fact, she had been able to direct them against her enemies already because she was warned about their existence. “It would have been prudent to inform me.” Because their existence was not the problem but their numbers. It was one thing to have an unicorn, but it was another to have an entire herd of them.

But she also knew that her people didn’t necessarily care for that, and might not believe that the Priesthood was on their side for some time even when (not if) she used the resources of the Commonwealth to convince them of the fact. 

For a second, Zend Karstein didn’t say anything. 

But then she finally looked up from her coffee.

And Katrina felt a shiver run up her spine.

“... Normally, I would not take such a stance lightly,” Karstein replied evenly. “For who am I - or you - to question our lord? However, we knew what accepting you into the Priesthood meant. There is a compromise. A give and take. I shall bring this matter up to our lord, but do forgive us. We did not think it to be a big matter.”

Katrina wasn’t sure if she should push it. It was clear what the zend was trying to say. Katarina was a member of the Priesthood, yes. She wasn’t an outsider. At the same time, she hadn’t dedicated herself to the Priesthood like others had, and did not hold the rank to make demands, especially when it was oh so clear to the both of them - and the people of the Inner Sphere to a lesser extent - that their lord was truly something divine and beyond them. 

Karstein was saying that the Priesthood knew this but also understood that she was the Archon and thus held responsibilities beyond the Priesthood. Knew it and will bring it up to the Karcist. 

“... Thank you,” she said, deciding to let the matter lie for now. She’ll just have to bear with the overbearing and squabbling Estates General until she received word from the karcist. “It’s… not easy.”

“We know, and we thank you for the support you have provided consistently over the years.”

“... Is there anything else I should know about? What the karcist did… it’s understandable why he did it.”

It’s one thing to conquer a world. It’s another to hold it, especially against a foe like the Draconis Combine that just might nuke a world. 

‘Well, that’s not fair, actually,’ Katrina thought as she leaned back into her chair. The Lyran Commonwealth also had its fair share of nuclear bomb-happy generals and archons throughout its history. 

“The karcist will not spread a plague, if that’s what you are asking.”

“Honestly, the thing about souls might be worse than a plague,” Katarina chuckled humorlessly. “People are … jittery.”

“I have seen that, yes.”

The court within the Triad had been abuzz with the news. Sure, some people still refused to believe that souls exist, but what could happen to them “post-death” was still horrifying. People from all walks of life rebelled at the idea that someone who they didn’t know and trust held such a power. 

Just today, there were hundreds of petitions from just within her court to bring the Priesthood to bear and make them either a part of the Lyran Commonwealth in full or “remove them as needed.”

Hah! As if. 

Her god was immortal and divine. Death can’t hold him, and if the Commonwealth truly did turn their back on him for attacking its enemies, then he might do to the Commonwealth what he did to the Combine.

At least, that’s how she understood the current relationship dynamic between her, the Priesthood, and the karcist. 

“What is his plan from now?” she asked. “Do you know?”

“He will send out the rest of the willing Priesthood to conquer surrounding worlds. And perhaps join the Lyran Commonwealth as a semi-autonomous state, if you are willing.”

“I would be willing.”

“Hmm. That is good. The karcist was worried, you know?”

“... He is?”

“Of course. Though he molds the body, he insists that the minds and fate of men and women belong to them alone. That is, after all, the founding philosophy of the Priesthood and its parent.” 

“Yes, I’ve heard that in some of the … sermons.” 

Zend Karstein hummed. “If that is all, then I have appointments with some of the nobles seeking to … up their assets.”

Katrina snorted. “Then I won’t stop you.”