Tag: doppelganger

#Lore24 – Entry #363 – Sci-Fi Month IV #28 – Breaching the Demon Barrier

Transcribed From the Personal Recording Implant of Andra Ganim, Chronicler of the Codex Infinitum

AG:  “How was it that Darius was able to create this Advanced TK-Drive?  Was this too the will of the draconic souls that are swarming about us again?”

RV:  “Indeed.  They know the secret, not only of how to breach the Barrier, but of how it was formed to begin with, most likely.  This collective unconscious will drove Darius towards the creation of this new drive, whether she realizes it or not.  It began before I had even become aware of her current incarnation, when she rented that ill-fated shuttle and visited the world over which she was found by the mercenaries.  She knew of the ruins there, that they had been previously studied, yet something drew her to them again.  Thanks to some rather hostile locals, she was unable to perform a proper search at the time, and had to retreat until she had help. 

Some time later, once she had her team firmly established and had proven a thorn in my side, she returned to these ruins and was finally able to piece together what it was she and many others had missed before, a key that only a handful of beings could have possibly activated.  It was tuned, you see, to the essence of a gold dragon.  When she activated this key, really another form of storage device, the knowledge of the A-TK was implanted within her mind, no doubt alongside other details that now drive her deeper into the Demon Sector.  This would not be the only such occurrence in recent years of a draconic soul resonating with keyed memories, but I’ll get to that momentarily.

Some would call it coincidence that Darius became such good friends with Releana Veylani, but I see a much more subtle hand at work.  With Veylani successfully fending off my attempt to obtain her company, her significant psychic power managing to turn even my best doppelganger agent completely to her will, she had already begun redirecting Veylani’s resources to finding a way across the Barrier.  When Darius provided what she had learned, the first A-TK was rapidly built and tested, though its first true test would be what is now referred to as the “Breach of the Barrier.” 

AG:  “The particular details of the A-TK drive’s functions have been kept under the most strict security.  Veylani has made certain that those drives remain under her company’s control for the foreseeable future and has prosecuted anyone attempting to discern their secrets to the fullest extent possible.  Have you, given your vast experience, determined the nature of the drives?”

RV:  “Of course.  It’s rather simple, really.  The standard TK-Drive is already a fusion of arcane artifice and modern technology, it simply requires some tweaks to produce the desired effect.  I’ve studied these drives up close; no matter how Veylani may have tried to stymie my efforts, she and her people, as good as they are, simply cannot compete with my abilities.  I’ll spare the technical details for now, but suffice to say, these drives combine a method of attuning the ship itself to the localized energy of the Barrier, adapting to its various frequencies, and creating something of a slight dimensional shift in addition the hyperspace shift, which allows the ship to pass through the barrier harmlessly. 

The legal quagmire Veylani and her supporters in the Big Four running Perihelion and Aphelion Stations and the whole UEF initiative have stopped competition in its tracks, officially stopped me from creating a DSM alternative until a period of one hundred years has passed.   Unofficially, I’ve already made and tested several variations of the drive and have traversed the Barrier myself many times.  It’s not the legal threats that stop me from creating a mass-market DSM alternative to the Veylani drives, simply that I would prefer access to the Demon Sector be restricted to a singular entry point for now so that  I may know who comes and goes, that my plans are not interfered with by random outside parties.”

AG:  “I see… There has been quite a bit of discourse regarding the Breach, and no small amount of obfuscation as to the nature of what exactly happened there.  I suspect that the truth lies somewhere in the middle of what is commonly reported.  The commonly accepted story is that an entire fleet of DSM ships were lost chasing after Darius when she and her team made the first trek across the Barrier, though DSM’s official statement says that no such event occurred.”

Note:  The storm outside has worsened again, and Rivalle’s aura has taken on a decidedly angry nature, causing her assistant to begin whimpering again.  I find myself feeling rather nervous and wonder if I may have overstepped myself.  I have been treading dangerous ground when mentioning Lila Darius.  This seems to be a rather fresh wound.”

RV:  “Though I do like strict control, I can’t possibly vet every single individual who is in my employ.  Inevitably, over time, some inferior intellects do slip by.  It was the commander of that fleet who was to blame for what happened.  I was aware that Veylani and Darius had planned something, that there was a new development deep in their R&D department, but thanks to her pilfering of my agent, all of my spies were purged, and protections added that prevented scrying upon them.  When Darius launched in her ship and made a break for the Demon Sector, I suspected what they may have done, having known of the draconic souls pushing us in that direction already.

I sent that battle group out to capture the ship and Darius, to see what we could discover, but in spite of the aged appearance of the vessel, it had been equipped with the latest technology Veylani had to offer, so it easily outpaced my fleet and arrived first to initiate the A-TK test.  My people witnessed the attunement as Darius approached the Barrier, didn’t understand what it was they were seeing when bands of energy leapt from the Barrier, enveloped the ship’s shields, and caused no damage.  I can only guess that the ship’s captain made the absolutely boneheaded decision that the Barrier, in spite of all sensor data to the contrary, had a weak spot, and so decided to follow Darius inside.

It was not an entire fleet that was lost, no, just a group of starfighters and the command ship; a few other cruisers were damaged when they came too close, but no other larger vessels were lost.  People simply interpreted what it was that Darius had shown during her transmission as the entire fleet going up behind her on her way through the Barrier.”

AG:  “That does make sense.  I suppose those who are in opposition to DSM made certain to play up the propagandistic angle of the transmission.”

RV:  “Yes, yes, as I’ve done many times myself.  All’s fair in corporate war, after all.  Any setbacks, stock losses, PR debacles, what have you, are ultimately negligible.  DSM remains, and shall continue to remain, the largest corporation in the galaxy for the foreseeable future, no matter what the public may think.  All tides rise and fall, and we’re simply on a falling motion that will ultimately correct itself in time.  I speak from experience, believe me.”

#Lore24 – Entry #362 – Sci-Fi Month IV #27 – The Darius Legacy

Transcribed From the Personal Recording Implant of Andra Ganim, Chronicler of the Codex Infinitum

AG:  “How could Lila Darius develop such a thing as the Advanced TK-Drive without knowing how she came to do so?”

RV:  “It is something of the nature of our draconic legacies, tempered by her more chaotic leanings.  The thing about we dragons is that we’re all unique, especially in this current state of our evolution; perhaps that was a driving factor in why we did so, a growing sameness that led to weakness as a species?  In my case, during my youth, I was described as a prodigy in the arcane studies, and I described it as something of an instinctual understanding.  The same is true for Darius and her development of the A-TK.  She instinctively knew how to enhance the devices, had unlocked some aspect of her ancient memory through her experiences, and simply plucked that knowledge out of the black box that lies hidden away within her soul.  You can’t really explain it otherwise; this incarnation is a fledgling arcanist at best, has studied only history in archaeology in her lifetime, nothing in her record that would indicate she learned advanced physics nor trans-dimensional theory.

One could call her legacy that of remarkable discovery through sheer dumb luck.”

Note:  I can see that this particular topic is something of a thorn for Rivalle by the frown she wears and the subtle way her demeanor has shifted from calm neutrality to a simmering anger.

AG:  “Did she perhaps steal some of DSM’s, or rather, your, thunder in discovering this method of traversal through the Barrier?”

RV:  “It’s not so much that she stole my glory, I would have discovered the secret eventually once I began focusing upon the problem.  No, it’s how events unfolded around the discovery that I find particularly irksome.  Speaking strictly on a cost analysis level, Darius has cost me a literal fortune, and though in my grand scheme, it is ultimately an insignificant amount, the losses were still mine.  And I am, by my nature, quite covetous and rather vindictive.  This is not the first time she has seemingly attained great things through luck rather than talent, and likely won’t be the last, unless I do something…drastic, shall we say.”

AG:  “For fear of poking the dragon, if you’ll forgive the pun, could you give me some details as to the chain of events leading to this particular slight against you?”

RV:  “I suppose so; it was rather bold of you to try to lighten the mood with a joke.  This particular chain of events began when I attempted to acquire the Veylani Transport Corporation and employed my best doppelganger agent to see the task done.  This situation was really no different than other acquisitions, simply more red tape that was best dealt with via a subtle approach due to various tensions that have grown in the last few decades.  It comes waves, the hatred against myself and DSM, and it is currently in a peak period. 

Releana Veylani was the target of my operation, a simple replacement until the acquisition was done and VTC’s assets were under my control.  At the time there was nothing that I particularly wanted from them, it was simply a matter of my greedy nature at play.  As Veylani was on her way to me, Lila’s luck would come into play.  The idiot may well have ended this incarnation without even a ripple in the timeline had it not been for that luck.  She had rented a ship and traveled into the particular system where the handoff of Veylani was to occur, visiting a draconic ruin, when the subpar maintenance resulted in an explosive engine failure that left her adrift in orbit.  My external agents, mercenaries, answered her distress beacon and took her in, thinking to make some amount of additional profit by doing so. 

Knowing my particular tastes in pets, the mercenary leader asked of my interest; the moment I saw her image, I knew who she was, for all of the old hatred started to boil up.  That was the first thing she cost me in her present form, for the mercenary saw my reaction and raised his opening price to a ridiculous amount.  Thinking that fate was finally on my side, I decided to pay it for a chance to study Darius as I had wanted to for so long. 

What I did not factor in was the strength of her personality and influence, whether she realized her nature or not at the time.  She easily won over Veylani’s loyalty, and that of my personal assistant whom I had sent to oversee the care of Veylani until my agent collected what was required from her and took her place.  Though my doppelganger would be successful in this, he did not realize that his psychic probe into Veylani’s mind would awaken her own latent psychic abilities, which were, as I would learn soon enough, remarkably strong. 

In short order, Darius had persuaded my assistant to help her and Veylani escape, and the three went on the run, where they would eventually encounter another pair of misfits, a pair of rattenvolk whom she likewise won over.  The male of the pair had a contact within DSM that he called for information as to what we knew of their location, which was just as quickly relayed to me, and I sent one of my elite security teams to retrieve my prize.  I managed to take the trio that had earned my ire, and for an ever so brief time, would have them well in hand to do with as I would.

Little did I know those space rats would prove more resourceful than I had accounted for.  It seemed that my former assistant had arranged for my prizes to be slipped away through a criminal group, and though the three primary targets were already in my clutches at the time, the space rats’ loyalty had been secured.  They would not only engineer a plan of rescue, but one that brought them onto my private holding facility.  It would have been doomed to failure but for Lila’s continued ability to win loyalty, for she had managed to convince one of my newer commandos to betray me as well.  Had I been at my facility at the time, they would not have escaped, but I fear I may have stretched myself too thin and had too many obligations, a flaw I have since corrected.

There is much more, certainly, for Darius and her loyal followers would prove a nuisance for several years, but we don’t have all day, and I suppose we should cover her development of the A-TK and what occurred at the Demon Barrier.”

#Lore24 – Entry #359 – Sci-Fi Month IV #24 – The Gifts of the Draconic Gods

Transcribed From the Personal Recording Implant of Andra Ganim, Chronicler of the Codex Infinitum

AG:  “To…become their creations?  You are implying something more than simple transmutation into a humanoid form?”

RV:  “Any sufficiently advanced idiot can perform a basic spell such as that; one of DSM’s subsidiary divisions sells such magic in pill form for use at parties, in fact.  It is well known in the records we have that dragons would often assume humanoid or animal forms whenever they wished, to mingle amongst their underlings, to fornicate with them, what have you.  Beings of such long life and great power often grow bored and must entertain themselves, after all.

I am indeed saying that the dragons sought a much deeper transformation, a fundamental reconstruction of their very souls.  For such as they who can manipulate and shape life however they may choose, such a feat would surely be simple enough, wouldn’t you think?  I have yet to uncover the reasons behind this movement within the dragons but am absolutely certain that a significant number of them altered their most fundamental essences, changed their state of being into something that transcends time and perhaps even space, allowing them to in effect live forever in one form or another.

Draconic souls, my dear.  They are still amongst us, and have been for thousands and thousands of years, some stronger than others, some aware to a limited degree of their higher existence, fewer still exhibiting a much keener awareness of their superior essence, the great rulers I’ve mentioned for example, and fewer still completely aware of what they are, what they once were, those who wish to awaken their full essence and reclaim what they once had.”

AG:  “…Individuals such as yourself.”

Note:  Rivalle’s presence has taken on a much more intense air of superiority, an almost palpable aura of command, of power unlike anything I have felt before.  Her assistant has gone to her knees, trembling as she cowers behind me.  I thought the light had caught Rivalle’s glasses, but no, that intense glow is coming from within them.  The storm outside has grown more intense, the thunder actually shaking the building, rattling the reinforced glass.  I feel myself trembling.

RV:  “Yes, individuals such as myself.  That is what drives me to do everything I have done, what I continue to do, and what I will do in the future.  I intend to unlock my full, unbridled essence and transcend back into my original state of being.  And for that, I needed others like me to study and manipulate, to see exactly how that is to be done. 

Note:  The intensity of her presence has begun to fade, as has the storm outside.

What I do is only seen as wrong because of the shortsighted nature of civilization at large, of the small-mindedness of the lesser beings that compose the bulk of those civilizations.  I am simply reclaiming what is mine, and I will not be denied my ultimate prize, whatever I must do. 

Am I acting selfishly?  Perhaps, but it is my nature, you see.  All of the traits I have admitted to possessing are simply part of my nature.  My ambition, greed, power, need to control others, all of the things I am derided for by my inferiors, all of it is simply who I am.  What I am.”

AG:  “I…see… So, this reaction you have to other individuals who possess this trait, other draconic souls, that is an ability to sense not only what they are, but their natures as well?  You can sense on an instinctual level if they have a nature that is aligned to yours, similar, or even in opposition?”

RV:  “Very good.  Yes, that is exactly what that feeling was, and why I simply cannot stand Lila Darius, though I would likely still feel the same regardless of her nature, given her actions.  I am a dragon of the most powerful of chromatics, the mighty reds, as you may have surmised given what I have described of my nature.  Darius is a metallic of the golden variety, the most powerful of their kind, and most often in opposition to my kind. 

Mind you, not all of our kind are driven by the baser nature of our original beings; in her various incarnations, Darius has displayed behavior that is markedly out of character for the traditional gold, her tendency toward chaotic behavior for example.  Even I have tendencies that are against my nature, as I enjoy a more ordered existence in lieu of the chaos I perhaps once preferred.  I find it most entertaining to create and manipulate systems, to watch as the little beings beneath me dance on the end of strings they do not even realize are there.  Everyone needs hobbies, even beings such as myself.

AG:  “You had mentioned this instinctive reaction relating to Marcon Shadowmist and his children.  Given what you have described…they are of the golds?”

RV:  “His children, yes, he…he has become something quite out of line with the typical gold.  His evolution to immortality took a far different path that tarnished his essence.  Though he is something orders of magnitude greater, basically you could say that he is a dracolich, perhaps the first of our kind to experiment with such a transformation.  You may be aware of tales of ancient adventurers encountering him as a black-scaled dragon, living in the swamps?  Tarnished gold.  Marcon does love a good joke, especially on zealous types, hence his collection of paladin armors and souls over the centuries.  He’s tolerable because he’s so amusing, really.”

AG:  “You had indicated that there has been a resurgence in the presence of draconic souls in recent times, due to a spiral nature in the patterns you have observed, and hinted that there could be a rather dramatic shift in civilization approaching because of it.  Where do you see this leading?”

RV:  “Into the Demon Sector, obviously.  There’s a reason why it has recently become of such intense interest throughout civilized space.  Our attention is being drawn there by the very will of the draconic souls themselves.”

#Lore24 – Entry #358 – Sci-Fi Month IV #23 – Seeking What Lies Hidden in the Sands of Time

Transcribed From the Personal Recording Implant of Andra Ganim, Chronicler of the Codex Infinitum

AG:  “I hope that I’m not delving into a topic I shouldn’t here, but what steps did you take to further your research once these special individuals began to show up again?”

RV:  “I won’t give you all the dirty little details, but will admit that I have used methods which most would find very questionable at best, downright ruthless and monstrous at worst.  I have faced no few attempts upon my life since I renewed my research, and I am something of the galaxy’s boogeyman because of them.  But as I’ve stated before, I don’t care what others think of me.  Most of them are beneath me and could not begin to fathom what it is I seek.

So, once I started to recognize these individuals again, I moved swiftly to secure them for myself.  You’ve heard rumors of some of the methods DSM employs, no doubt.  Some are completely true, others only slightly so.  I directed my AR&D division, in accordance with some of the secrets gleaned from the ancient draconic relics, to enhance the creatures known as doppelgangers, greatly enhancing their psychic abilities and their ability to duplicate their victims, without need for consuming them; all my particular breed of them require is a blood sample and time to psychically analyze and copy their targets innermost thoughts.  This made acquiring some of the more public and prominent test subjects much easier when I could simply replace them with versions that were loyal to me, and would further ensure that DSM maintained its position at the top of the power structure.

Don’t look so shocked, my dear.  In the grand scheme of things, this is on the minor end of the scale when it comes to the terrible things I’ve done in pursuit of my ultimate goal.  You needn’t worry about being replaced yourself, nor should you worry about meeting an untimely end upon leaving here.  Believe it or not, I do have a great deal of respect for what is you’re doing, however roundabout your methods are.  It’s a dodge worthy of Marcon himself, really.

Now, with a few new subjects to study, I would finally see my centuries of research bear fruit, would finally begin to unravel what it was that lay hidden within the sands of time by the dragons.”

AG:  “May I dare ask what it was that was so well hidden?”

RV:  “Why, the dragons themselves, of course.  Or, at the very least, their knowledge and experiences, stored in a way that only someone like me could manage to uncover.  There have been a few others over the course of the many millennia who have began to follow the road I have but have never taken the steps required to actually reach its end, for one seeking this knowledge cannot allow themselves be dissuaded by little things like common decency or a few lives along the way.  Take Lila Darius, for example; she has been something of a treasure hunter and historian in many of her incarnations, but try as she might, she is simply incapable of attaining the knowledge that she too seeks, because she has not allowed herself to see others as I do, to study them as I have.

I’m speaking of the very nature of advanced life as we know it, of the many sentient races who populate this galaxy.  At some time or another, we were all created, more or less in our current forms, by the dragons, our civilizations cultivated, changed, and ultimately left to fall to ruin in the wake of these beings who apparently vanished from whatever worlds they had played with, vanishing into time and space. 

But they didn’t vanish; no, they evolved.  Evolved into an existence that the pathetic little brains of the average being cannot begin to fathom.  That’s why most religions were formed, to make sense of these great beings that had evolved beyond common ability to understand.  Their evolution was what drove them to their experiments with the lesser races, what fueled their travels from one world to the next, trying something different each time, seeing what additional knowledge they could glean from their work.

Not all dragons were that way, certainly.  Some sought simpler existences, were content to continue ruling over their followers as gods in the flesh, while others seemed to grow discontent with their creations, attempting to destroy them only to find out that they had grown beyond their ability to handle, through various factors like the mastery of arcane magic and the formation of “divine” connections, and simple tenacity to survive.  Still other dragons would take different paths along their evolution, seeking to become more like their creations, to live amongst them or even to become them.”

LORE24 ENTRY #4 – Doppelgangers

Category – Creature

Doppelgangers are a species of shapechanging monsters that have been present to some extent since ancient times.  Their ability to blend in and assume practically any identity have led them to be considered absolutely abhorrent in most societies, yet they are often employed by those of questionable morals to cause chaos in those same societies, usually by replacing important individuals with a (mostly) loyal minion who can perfectly mimic them.

In their natural state, doppelgangers are unsettling for most to gaze upon.  Their skin is a very neutral gray color, their bodies and limbs are lean and gangly, seeming very alien in appearance.  Their facial features are very smooth and undefined, their eyes black and multifaceted, large, and often unblinking, their mouths thin slits.

In ancient times, most doppelgangers could mirror a target for a limited amount of time to a fair degree of accuracy, mimicking their voices and behaviors with an uncanny instinct after only a short time of observation.  Should a more long-term replacement be necessary, the doppelganger must do more than simple observation; it must actually consume its target, draining its vital fluids and consuming its flesh, including its brain.  Through this almost ritualistic method, the doppelganger becomes its victim almost completely, typically gaining most of its memories and skills, while retaining its own consciousness deep within.  This makes them exceptionally hard to detect without specialized methods.

By the time of galactic expansion, doppelgangers have evolved, or at least, some of them have; rumors persist that these advanced doppelgangers were created by DSM’s AR&D division.  The most exceptional doppelgangers are often employed by corporations for spying, and have further refined their methods of infiltration and deception.  These advanced doppelgangers no longer need to consume their targets to assume their identities; instead they rely on forging a psychic link with their victim and consuming some of their blood to sample their DNA, and thus become a perfect duplicate with access to all knowledge of the original, which would remain in a hidden, secure location until the job is done, after which the original can be disposed of.  In some cases, these advanced doppelgangers have been known to behave as body doubles, working with the original.