Editing Quest:The Long Night:Volume Two:The Rise (section)

==Aftermath==

Of course, there are still billions of Orks upon the planet, but now that their leader is gone, they aren't a real threat. The cleanup is going to take a while though, especially since the Trust starts a campaign against the now leaderless Ork realm.

In even better news, with all the commanding, Rotbart now has a new trait. A Paragon level one, which means, for this quest, Game Breaker ability. In his case, if you translate it to tabletop terms, it means he doesn't need to set any of his tabletop pieces until the enemy has finished placing theirs.

Saint Lin, meanwhile, tells you that the Abomination is probably aware of his existence. Since, between the Chaos God's work and a thousand years having passed, every other Living Saint in the galaxy is dead, that means killing Lin might become a personal matter for Star Daddy.

Over the next four years, the Trust takes over three Ork Worlds. On Avernus, you mostly blockade and assault the Ork strongholds. A few of those are gone already, with you having lost a cruiser during the bombardment. You have finally looted that breastplate.

Jane, meanwhile, almost gets killed. An attempt is made to kill and replace her, but she gets a warning from Ridcully, and, after a brutal battle, manages to destroy the threat.

Want a translation to Warhammer 40k lore?

Jane dueled the [[Changeling]]. While it wore her form. And she won. And destroyed it permanently.

Of course, that can't remain unrewarded. Jane gets ''two'' Paragon traits. One allows her to kill Daemons permanently and cut through Warp effects. The other lets her cut down anything smaller than an Imperator with one strike if she's lucky.

In grim news, however, the number of Major Psykers seems to be lower than expected. Some alternate source seems to be recruiting them, and Ridcully believes there is a threat in that bigger than Garkill was.

As always, he's right. That cruiser shot down during the cleanup? Wasn't an accident. A group of Tzeentchian Psykers were working out methods to teleport onboard shielded ships. They intended to bombard the planet in order to provoke it into destroying the human colony. By the time you find them, it is too late for your fleet commander. And Saint Lin has to spend about ten years checking for corruption throughout the Navy.

In more bad news, the damage from rogue Psykers is very limited lately... because Tzeentch seems to be stealing them through Warp Rifts. By now, he has taken two Betas and an Alpha.

However, having spied on the god's plans, now it's Rids who has two Paragons. Now he can spy as far as he wants, even on gods. And he has more rerolls, both in combat and when warning you about danger.

Ophelia, the Alpha, passes her exams. The score is rather outstanding, which shouldn't be a surprise, considering how much effort was made (both in-story and outside). Of course, her skill is still far from that of her adoptive parents (for whom she constantly tries to play matchmaker).

On the other hand, you lose General Schwarz. Don't worry, he was merely promoted, due to the commander of the Trust's military retiring.

Jane finally completes the training of the Super-Elites. Out of the thousand babies, only eighty-seven have completed their training (although some of the surviving washouts are still good enough for regular elite forces or Inquisition agents). Jane believes that once she sets a proper training facility, the pass rates should be about double. Each guy is given a Super-Exitus as their main weapon. These things turn out to be really hard to make once Tranth manages to reverse-engineer them, so much you need to commission them from Svartalfheim.

Tranth manages to upgrade the rest of the Power Armours for Astartes use. Congratulations! The [[Scout Squad|Scout Marines]] can fly now!

Ridcully doesn't predict a lot of attacks in the near future, but claims that he can feel dark stirrings of some galaxy-wide event coming. After a bit more divining... seems like [[Gork]] and [[Mork]] are about to become active. Now that sounds '''bad'''.

According to him, there are still thirty to fifty years. To start with, a High Council meeting is scheduled.

The Council is thankfully properly scared. After some debates, it is agreed that the nearby Ork domains are to be taken over. There is also a somewhat more distant Ork domain of sixty worlds, currently in a civil war. Ridcully is to attempt using his abilities and prolong the war, while Tranth is to try and reverse-engineer the Inquisition's [[Exterminatus#Cyclonic_Torpedoes|Cyclonic Torpedoes]]. Everyone is to be warned, both human and Xeno (you even consider warning Chaos, but decide they tend to learn such things anyway). Dragon's Nest is to be traded some low-level tech. Also, you manage to push through a decision allowing you to trade souls to the Sirens. There are a couple of problems with that, of course; for one thing, you lose a lot of favours and reputation, and for another, even that only allows you to trade Cultist souls. Considering you've beat those down to only a couple hundred cultists popping up per year (and only about a third of those captured alive), it's going to take a while. Thankfully, the Sirens already gave you one sample in exchange for wildlife souls, a Rune to help banish Daemons.

On a more personal note, Jane decides she wants a family. She adopts a cute five year old orphan boy named Jacob. His parents were killed by a crocodile. Jacob killed it with a knife. She seems to be a good mother, although that does include combat training a level above that of the Super-Elites.

You spend the next dozen years largely away from Avernus. Taking over dozens of Ork worlds isn't easy. Syr is in the Navy now, a Cruiser commander. Xavier takes out one of the Ork Overlords, the other is killed in regular battle. By the time you return, Jacob is a Psyker Hunter, while Jane is half way through training the second batch of Super-Elites. Also, it's two centuries since the quest started.

The Dragon's Nest agrees to trade you what technologies you don't have, like Terminator Armour and the biggest Mechanicus Forge-Cathedrals (increased ability to make the more exotic gear components). They also start cracking down on the Orks in their vicinity. Scott is now past the stage where she has little authority, meaning you can, if careful, do some of the more controversial research projects. Most importantly, she pushes a law through allowing regular administration to expand and fortify Forge Cities.

Tranth manages (after ten years of effort) to incorporate the Dark Age tech into the Terminator design. Remember those [[Dawn of War III|complaints about jumping around in a Terminator suit]]? Well, forget it. Our dear half-adamantium sonofabitch genius made a hovering one...

Rids' efforts to meddle with the distant Ork domain work for a while, but then an error allows an alarmingly intelligent Overlord to take over. Fortunately, the Super-Elites turn out to be quite suitable for assassinating such guys. Costs you three of them (out of the six sent), plus four Vortex Grenades, but the realm is fractured once again.

Saint Lin goes on a grand tour through Dragon's Nest, trying to convert them to the New Imperial Truth (missionaries sent earlier have prepared the ground, but it's time for a personal touch). Valinor sends a few assassins, but the security and the bodyguards sent along turn out to be too good for them.

Initially, the tour is planned to last fifteen years, but three years in, Ridcully states it's only ten years until Gork and Mork become active. Lin will continue his tour until then; for the Trust, it's time to withdraw the harassing forces and focus on walling up. You've been fortifying all your cities, the Psykers have been training (including with the Runes, once the Saint declared them safe), Jane had finished the second batch of Super-Elites (two hundred and nine graduates this time), the Helltroopers are being equipped with Power Armour. The former Ork worlds are being colonized; largely by Midgardians, of course. A Council meeting reviews the plans and the situation, but little else can be done for now.

Saint Lin, meanwhile, faces a problem. To be precise, he had it for a while now.

You see, a regular human soul isn't meant for such power as was given to him. Without the Emperor to share the burden... Lin ages faster than should be the case with the Dark Age Juvenat. Once in a while, he gets a power boost to his abilities at the cost of ever faster aging. Now it's the second time.

Ridcully states he intends to watch the Ork Gods becoming active. Risky, but you agree, even giving him the Black Crystal Jewelry for protection. After two years of preparation, it's time to have a look...