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(Highly recommend you read this before reading this)

Aha! It is you, young traveller. Welcome, my friend. Please, sit back. Relax. Shrug off thy armour, set down thy blade. Rest thy burdened shoulders and let down thy guard. This is a place of safety, a place of thought, and it is here that I wish to teach you. Allow me to introduce myself, I am Oreogus, Corrupted Royalty, Emperor of the Precursor Infinite Empire, the Tungsten King, and I am your friend…

In this universe, we explore, looking for answers to questions, finding people who affirm our pre-conceived notions of what is true and what is false, trying to be someone we want to be. But in my long journey I have learned that this is a pointless purpose- think about it, when you go out into the world, are you not disappointed? We never find the answers we want. We never find people who wholeheartedly agree with us, and we always fail to be what we really want to be.

And I? I wanted to be a student. An apprentice, but I couldn’t see the truth that my master would betray me once I had expended my usefulness to him. On that day, I learned that I could never be who I wanted to be. But I could be who I truly was. And it is upon that realisation that I built my throne. My purpose is not to search, not to find, not to try, but to make. To force. To be. Why search for answers when I can make the reality I want? Why find people to agree when I can force them to? Why be anyone but who I am? The problem with trust is that there is always the possibility for it to be broken, and for you to end up with your life taken, your body defiled, and your legacy shamed. I on the other hand, propose a singular origin from which all decisions follow: I shape the causality, the very history of another being, by force of will, and recast it into something more fitting, something more agreeable. I get rid of possibility.

Before you say ‘that’s evil’ or, ‘that’s unfair’, allow me to ask you a question, and allow yourself to answer honestly. What will your greatest foe do when their friends, their enemies, their lover, are all…you? When there is one body. One mind. One will. One life that is you. Will your greatest foe be opposed by all existence, then?

I’m just saying, it doesn’t sound too bad to me.

I. Born to be Hunted

The Precursors are an 'impossibly ancient' race and their true origins are unknown. Their existence has been traced back many billions of years however to the Gas Giant Underpin in the Large Magellanic Cloud. It was there that the Precursor civilisation, at least as far as it can be traced back, developed. It was on the sparse continents of Underpin that the Precursors built a meagre civilisation and forgot their old history.

Naraveen was a great sea on one of the many layers of Underpin's atmosphere, the ancient Precursors traversed this sea and suffered the harsh elements to migrate between the continents of the gas giant. As well as themselves, the Precursors shared Underpin with hundreds, possibly thousands of other intelligent species, including those spread across its 77 moons.

Life was quick and harsh for the civilisation. A Precursors' lifespan as a result rarely exceeded fourteen Underpin-years. In terms of environmental hazards, Underpin was almost inhospitable. The Ocean Naraveen was toxic and so irradiated that it disintegrated bodies that fell in, the skies were eternally ridden with planet-sized storms, and the rain was poisonous and corrosive. Lightning had enough power to vaporise anyone it struck, 'sentient' winds preyed upon the populace, the two suns of their world were so close that staying in direct sunlight for just a few minutes was a death sentence and civilisation was technologically primitive. The Precursors did however, learn how to harness the interdimensional forces known as Magic (or “Mā’jick” as it was known as in earlier times or “Neural Physics” as it would come to be known as later) quicker than almost any other race in the universe, and they would use it in everyday life to serve their needs in the same way technology would, though the use of necromancy and any other form of resurrection magic was strictly forbidden and considered greatly heretical.

Precursor society was divided into seven ‘nations’ on different continents each ruled by the members of their respective ‘Courts’. These nations were named after the substances which largely dominated the vast majority of their land- for example, The Tungsten Nation was named for the large concentration of tungsten across its islands, as was the Osmium Nation for its large concentration of osmium, the Tritium Nation for its tritium, and so on and so forth with the Diamond Nation, the Boron Nation, the Uranium Nation and the Polonium Nation. Divided as the Nations were, they each worshipped a race of beings named the Faustians- a species totally composed of Neural Physics, and because Neural Physics was understood as the collection of fundamental energies holding all reality together, the Faustians were representative of the will of the universe itself and therefore were their Gods. According to legend, the Faustians were named after Faust- their chief God who made a pact with the universe itself and forever solidified his people as living laws of physics- the ultimate level of existence.

Whilst the Creation-God Prominus and the Chaos God Omikrus remained locked in a near-eternal state of battle , the Ancient Precursor Oegu of the Tungsten Nation travelled the sparse continents assembling parts and buying resources from markets to assemble a massive submersible ship which could take him down to the bottom of Underpin’s ocean, having read ancient texts and hoping to find a mysterious power supposedly lurking underneath that could help his people break free of the harsh conditions of the planet. The Tungsten Court and Tungsten Queen, who sired Oegu, believed him to be mad for pursuing such a goal, banishing him from the Nation so they would not need to support the needs of a madman.

Despite their doubts of him, Oegu’s long journey had proven fruitful- he successfully assembled his ship and learned all the different magics and martial arts of all the different nations and species he visited, now prepared to face anything. Oegu assembled a large team to travel with him, culling from the militaristic Fire-Drinkers of the Uranium Nation, the sly Acid-Bathers of the Diamond Nation, the honourable Boron King’s Guard, and the adventurous maidens of the Osmium Nation.

As a result of Oegu’s quest, the Tungsten Nation grew in prominence, but erupted into war with the isolationist Tritium Nation, which struck a deal with the Jikmîri species of the Carbon Nation, stopping Oegu from returning. He did not care much for it however, as they had abandoned him beforehand and only wanted him back because of what he had done for them. Oegu and his crew finally set about their journey, but as they dove into the depths of Naraveen and fought off thousands of undiscovered beasts and illnesses of the deep, they slowly, one by one, all died aboard the ship. As the sole survivor, Oegu pushed on deeper and deeper into the toxic sea, and there, he encountered a large, glowing spherical object which he looked upon through his observer cabin. It was a device known as an ‘Anamnesis’- magical devices believed to house vestiges of Faustian minds, devices which taught the Precursors how to use neural physics.

II. Kill a hundred children, and observe how the universe cowers from you in terror.

At first, Oegu believed he had succumbed to cabin fever and was hallucinating, but this object in particular held the vestige of a being named Rausch, who pulled Oegu out of the moment and into a realm totally under her control- the being warned him that he now stood at a critical point between the light and the dark- the power of “The Sun” and the power of “The Swamp”. By journeying to the bottom of Underpin’s ocean in search of the power he was seeking, Oegu was allying himself with The Swamp, and told him that path only led to emptiness and self-destruction. After giving an alternative option Oegu found inadequate, the Precursor told Rausch that siding with The Swamp was better than letting his people suffer.

Oegu was then returned to the moment, and reached the bottom of the ocean in his submersible ship to find another Anamnesis, this one seemingly resting on the see floor, shaped like a pyramid and glowing a sinister red, emanating black mist. This contained the vestige of none other the legendary Faust, who told Oegu he had called many to the bottom of the ocean, hoping one would be tenacious enough to find him. Faust offered Oegu immortality if he would allow himself to be host for his essence- a power he called Dark Physics- which he explained as an extreme form of Neural Physics allowing its user to modify reality and harness the power of darkness itself, which Faust wished to use to gain access to and control over all of reality, promising that Oegu and his kind would dictate the very laws of the universe with him if he did. Oegu asked how this was possible, and Faust told him that if this power was weaved through the interdimensional energies known as Neural Physics, then dark essences Faust was inextricably tied to would spread throughout the very fabric of existence and he would break free from the Realm of Shadows he was trapped in. Faust elaborated on the legends the Precursor people told and informed Oegu that Rausch had a similar power to his- that of Light Physics, and was located in another dimension known as The Glowing Realm, but wanted to keep them both trapped in their respective realms, chained and unable to break free. Viewing this as unacceptable, Oegu sided with Faust and the Anamnesis opened up, revealing a huge shard of a black and red crystal named Dark Sapphire which Oegu accepted. It then dissolved into Oegu, granting him access to Dark Physics.

For years, Faust trained Oegu to use his new power in tandem with Neural Physics before Oegu returned to the surface of Underpin and used his powers in secret to help his people, destroying and fighting off the natural terrors and opposing races which were such a scourge on them. As a result of Oegu fending off the sentient winds however, the Seven Nations saw an opportunity to claim resources that had for eons had been protected by the winds against those who tried to recover them. The mad rush for materials led to a massive war between them, and numerous Precursor dynasties perished in a huge mechanised conflict.

After securing the island upon which the great Mount Wavajot sat, the Boron warlord Finlipod proceeded to wage a devastating attack on all sides, as Finlipod had little care for his soldiers, using them as disposable weapons and replenishing them as needed from conquered dynasties. When Finlipod came to control the ocean Naraveen, with his fleet brutally taking from the merchant and military vessels of his foes alike, he considered himself ruler of the entire species, and made plans to leave the planet and expand outward. However, Oegu had planned for this, secretly helping the warlord achieve his ambitions so he could reach a position of power over the other Precursors, one that Oegu could easily revoke. He fought past Finlipod’s sorcerers- the might of his armada, and killed the warlord in his castle, which he had built into the volcano that was Mount Wavajot.

Oegu eventually passed into legend as his people broke free from Finlipod’s regime, and The Tungsten Nation arose as the dominant ‘superpower’ of The Precursors, and soon all civilisation on Underpin. Now, whoever sat upon the Tungsten Throne ruled the entire species. Oegu was described as a mage who was somehow able to bolster his powers beyond that of any other, and he used it to bend reality to his will with greater ease and vanquish the most powerful of warriors, all thanks to the intervention of the very universe itself in the form of Faust.

Acting on recovered texts from Finlipod’s castle, the Tungsten Nation began to rebuild their vast maritime fleet as spacefaring vessels they would use to take off from Underpin, developing Neural Physics-based technology to integrate into the ships which allowed them to travel offworld and begin a great and powerful empire.

The Precursors’ understanding of Neural Physics became more and more complex, and with their starships, which were built on Neural Physics-woven technology, the Precursors waged war on Underpin’s other species and the 77 moons, conquering and dominating the many species spread across them all. The Tannen, in particular, were a race who eschewed Neural Physics and preferred to use their technology, but the result was their defeat at the hands of the Precursors for they were fighting powers they did not understand. Eventually, the Precursors managed to push the Tannen off all Underpin’s moons and absorbed the other species spread throughout into their ‘Infinite Empire’.

III. Will Defeats Law

Across millions of years, the Precursors expanded their empire all throughout their Dwarf Galaxy and beyond, reaching the status of technological Tier-0 and becoming the most advanced known civilisation in the universe.

They explored many galaxies and seeded some worlds with life over the course of many billions of years as part of a ‘grand experiment’. As transsentient beings, they existed on a level beyond that of conventional biological organisms; they were described as "dreamers and makers whose minds transcended many realms and had infinite forms, many voices, and singular purpose". The Precursors were not tied to any particular physical form, assuming any shape and biological function they saw fit as masters over their own flesh. Additionally, some Precursors could use neural physics to tie themselves to concepts in the universe, from which they could draw sustenance. For example, a Precursor could tie themself to war, meaning that wherever conflict existed, the Precursor in question would exist and grow more powerful as a result of it, though the precise mechanics of how this works are poorly understood.

Despite their society’s original disdain for necromancy, they would now allow themselves to die away and be reborn through their Magics anew over and over again, taking on numerous incarnations both physical and immaterial. Many Precursors did not live in the normal, physical universe, but rather, inhabited “Castle Worlds”- cyst universes built upon the transdimensional space known as the Kingly Realm where the Precursor in question had ultimate power and dominion over physics and local reality, as a Castle World was made to emulate the owner’s mind. Existence within the Kingly Realm itself was mutable, and cyst universes were decorated, modified and maintained by sheer force of will. With ideas, thoughts and concepts taking physical form based on how the owner envisioned them. Other Precursors inhabited complex neurophysical ‘Other-Spaces’ from which they were functionally separate to the physical universe, but could still interact with it on a limited basis. More roguish, experimental groups simply found alternate realms and pocket dimensions to claim as their own, fortifying them with neural physics to keep trespassers out, though they would not have control over them like they would in a Castle World. And some chose to inhabit inanimate objects and artefacts.

Different groups of Precursors lived through different stages of technological and cultural development at the same time, being at times hyper-advanced and spacefaring while others lived as primitive hunter-gatherers confined to their worlds. The Infinite Empire reigned over the galaxy whilst concurrently Precursors experimented with all sorts of societal, cultural and political models in galaxies and expanses of space all across the known universe. There even existed a group of Precursors who lived in a society remarkably similar to what would be the Old West in the 1800s on Earth. The Precursors’ understanding of the Faustians and the very universe itself being a living entity became compounded into a philosophical concept known as the Mantle, Living Time. The use of the meta-technological mechanism of Neural Physics, which enabled them to manipulate the fabric of the universe, was analogous to being an act of persuasion: a user would project their will onto the transcendental consciousness that is reality to try to convince it to do something it otherwise would not naturally. The higher the will and power of the user, the more “convincing” their “argument” would be, and the more that local reality could bend to accommodate whatever effect their powers were trying to make happen. Despite this apparent worship of the universe and the Faustians which represented it, Precursor society did not believe reality to be a wholly benevolent entity- which is why users could use their powers for evil just as much as good. As such, some Precursors came to think of Living Time as a ‘dyad’- similar to internal conflict and morality within any individual, the universe had both ‘good’ and ‘evil’ sides- referring to the ‘good’ as ‘The Inherent Bright’ and the ‘evil’ as ‘The Inherent Black’. Appealing to The Inherent Bright was said to encourage Living Time to seek out righteousness and creation, whilst appealing to The Inherent Black was said to encourage it to enable chaos and destruction. In order to achieve a ‘gentle world’, The Inherent Black’s temptations had to be resisted so The Inherent Bright could have a stronger ‘argument’ and thus achieve harmony.

Precursor technology compounded machinery, biology, astrophysics, ontology and at times even philosophy to the point where the ideas of each lost individual meaning, becoming one with one another in Precursor science. Their design philosophies included architecture with organic, often chitinous features, for example, a Precursor neurophysical blaster was powered by a heart-like organ grown inside a special laboratory. Alternatively, Precursor design philosophy emphasised a ‘perfect simplicity’- objects with total featurelessness, lacking even any signs of weathering or abrasion, almost to the point where they drove members of other species mad, were commonly sighted throughout space. Reality itself could be used in Precursor construction, and the infamous star-roads, which were composed of what can only be described as ‘solidified space’ from numerous dimensions, connected systems, clusters and even galaxies, and could move worlds and rearrange orbits as they pleased.

Their starships ‘scrunched’ spacetime to shorten immense distances to the equivalent of a few short footsteps, then healed the damage done to reality in their wake; ‘hyperproductivity rings’ were fitted within the orbit of black holes, allowing workers stationed there to increase their rates of production as time would pass faster for them relative to the outside universe. Precursor weapons were often powered by channeling neural physics into a power core or a blade’s edge. They could utilise ammunition of any form from immense amounts of densely-packed exotic radiation to fusing objects from realms with differing laws of physics to the victim, so that vanilla reality perceived them as ‘physically illegal’ and they would experience ‘glitches’ until they were destroyed on the ontological level. Some weapons, particularly the bone-carved Gallswords, even operated on the pure destructive potential of the wielder. They were said to be self aware, fully understanding the nature and intent of their actions and hungering for more death and becoming even sharper after each life taken, some only being effective if the user’s desire to kill was strong. Anteversal weaponry broke down targets into individual quarks and flung each into separate randomised parallel realms, leaving them no way of getting back to their previous reality and forcing them to be overwritten by the laws of whatever reality they ended up in. The soul itself could be harnessed and condensed into a form of energy, or taken apart and operated on in a complex procedure known as soulsurgery. Paracausal generators could ‘swap out’ the laws of physics of the base reality with that of another dimension in a localised area, in accordance with whatever needs may be accomplished through an alternate set of rules. Many devices, particularly the Precursor equivalent of robots, could not even be considered technological, at least by all corporeal understandings, but rather, dead mass animated by the arcane will of Precursor Neuro-wizards. Even philosophy or personal beliefs could be wielded as a tool of either empowerment or encumbrance, and something as basic as DNA patterns or bio-electric impulses could be bypassed and judged ‘inessential’ to allow a tree to take the form of an animal, or freeze the limbic functions of an organism.

During this long period, Faust continued to groom Oegu into his ideal apprentice, teaching Oegu his ideology- that existence was a pyramid. Faust taught Oegu that his ultimate goal was to bring about an end-state of the universe in which the only things that live were those that had overcome all possible obstacles to their survival, and had the strength to continue living forever. Therefore according to this “Pyramid Ethos”, whosoever reached that goal would have the right to rule existence because only they could survive everything the universe could throw at them. Faust referred to this goal as the "Final Mold" of the universe, and cited evidence of why it was this way in the very biology of creatures- all things had a basic instinct to survive, no matter who or what they had to tread upon to do so. Faust believed that this could be achieved through any means- including resurrection- the one Neural Physics ability in Precursor society that was once shunned as a heretical violation of the Mantle.

Acting on the concept of resurrection, Oegu separated his very heart from his own body in a Dark Physics ritual- intending to use it as a more secure method of resurrection. The heart would act as an anchor for Oegu’s soul, keeping it tied to the living realms. Upon physical death, Oegu would not leave for any of the inescapable afterlife dimensions, but would be able to reconstitute himself at a moment’s notice from his heart, and this assurance that he would continue existing after death would be proof that he deserved the right to exist. This worked differently to necromancy and other like magics, which relied either on others or a Precursor’s ability to ‘convince’ the universe to ‘redirect’ their soul from its journey to an afterlife realm and back to their original dimension.

IV. If it kills you, you deserve to die.

Oegu later formed the Cult of Overgod- a group of deeply religious Precursors who used Dark Physics alongside regular Neural Physics and worshipped Faust as a ‘God of Gods’, or ‘Overgod’. Their continued combination of Dark Physics and Neural Physics caused each of them to be branded with the Mark of Overgod- a glowing runic symbol which appeared on their heads which provided them a stronger connection with the great Faustian. They tied themselves to the Pyramid Ethos, feeding off the very concept of survival of the fittest and its practices throughout the universe but as a result becoming highly competitive with one another. The Cult of Overgod operated mostly in secret, waiting to reveal itself to the universe. In time, Overgod commanded them to spread their dark power throughout the entire universe through the same crystals which granted them all their powers.

Overgod commanded the Cult to open a Dark Magic portal to the Realm of Shadows through which he could send more of the crystals they would use to spread his power. When they opened the portal, straining to keep it open as the realm was meant to be sealed even to the magical beings that were the Faustians, The Dark Pyramid, a pyramid-shaped vessel housing the crystals sent forth by Overgod emanated darkness as it entered the physical realm. When it fully emerged and they closed the portal, the Cult boarded the pyramid ship and took orders from their master. Overgod said that with this vessel, they would traverse the universe, casting down crystals to be recovered by civilisations and raise the next generation of Dark Ascendants.

As they began their voyage, the Cult drew more power from the vessel’s crystals, and Oegu himself formulated plans to fold beings from across the universe into the Cult which could serve as his power base, and use it to pursue the goal of becoming the most influential creature in the universe.

However, after a short few months into their travels, the pyramid ship was met in a head-on collision with a spherical vessel housing a chunk of Light Sapphire crystals which bestowed upon the user the power of Light Alchemy instead. The collision was violent and destructive, and the two ships filled with cosmic rock fused together in an intense reaction, but did not release their particles outward.

Confused by the appearance of Light versions of the crystals, Oegu asked Overgod for elaboration on their existence, to which Overgod responded that they had likely originated from Rausch, who spoke to Oegu so long ago before. Overgod then explained that he and Rausch discovered Dark and Light Alchemy as extreme branches of Neural Physics, each embodying the concepts of ‘Dark’ and ‘Light’ respectively, but Rausch turned against him when the power of the dark demanded sacrifices be made. Overgod said that his dark crystals compelled the user to the darker, more powerful Dark Alchemy, whilst the Light Sapphire compelled the user to the ‘weak’ perversions of Light Alchemy, and theorised that Rausch had sent the Light Sphere to intercept his Dark Pyramid, and that Rausch likely had her own cadre of students to help her.

The Cult travelled to the ruins where the ships had collided to learn exactly that- the Light Alchemists did exist, and they were adamant on stopping darkness from spreading throughout the universe. The two Cults battled with one another, and eventually, the Cult of Overgod came out on top, though Oegu and the others sustained heavy injuries in the process- each of them teetering on death. Following their victory, Oegu asked Overgod what his bidding now was. Overgod ordered his apprentice to commence a ritual to force the Dark Sapphire’s essence to encroach on the light and devour it, turning the entire wreckage of rock into Dark Sapphire, which the Cult would then detonate to spread the particles omnidirectionally throughout the universe so they could touch more beings with Overgod’s power, and they would be healed in the process.

During the ritual, which Oegu commanded, the Dark indeed did begin to corrupt the Light, but interestingly, Oegu noticed his fellow Cultists’ Marks of Overgod were emanating a strange energy, that they were enveloping around the other cultists. At first, Oegu believed they were not doing the ritual correctly, but he was soon proven incorrect when he realised the same thing was happening to him. He then observed as one of the cultists become consumed in a crystalline substance which formed a layer around their body, the Mark appearing as the only feature of their entire form- a glowing red symbol. That was when Oegu realised that there was a caveat to mixing the powers of Neural Physics with Dark Alchemy on such a level- they were leaving themselves open to Overgod’s total control as power that was supposed to be restricted to his realm was flowing through the interdimensional current of neural physics, and was influencing those that used it. They now had a weakness- they were all teetering on death, and it seemed only Overgod could save them, but the cost, as evidenced by the mindless shadow of a being that now stood before Oegu in the form of the cultist, was that their power would eventually consume them.

Horrified by Overgod’s betrayal, Oegu resisted the urge to complete the ritual and severed himself from its connection. The other Cultists continued, and Oegu tried to get them to stop using Dark Alchemy. They did not listen, and one by one they too were consumed by its power, turned into Overgod’s mindless slaves. The Faustian appeared over Oegu’s head, explaining that they had failed him- though they followed his orders to the letter, the Cultists had ultimately lost at the ‘Game of Life’, and because they were now so weak, they needed to be healed by his power. They had failed to stake their claim to existence and therefore, Overgod would now take all that they were and make it part of himself. They would be resurrected, but as his eternal servants, not his comrades.

Oegu drew his Gallsword and did battle with the Thralls, slaying each and every one of his former allies until each of their husks had slumped to the floor. Standing over the dead remnants of what no longer was, Oegu used Neural Physics to purge the Dark Sapphire that had absorbed into his body many years ago from him, tearing it out of himself in a painstaking action. With that, Oegu tossed the Sapphire aside, and raised his sword to the misty vision of Overgod, declaring to him that he would never stop waging a war on him for all eternity for his betrayal- to prove not only that he had the right to exist, but that he had a better claim to that right than Overgod himself, that he was in every way greater than the Faustian betrayer, and he would not touch the power of Dark Alchemy ever again to further enforce his newfound belief. Having completed his catharsis, Oegu abandoned everything about his life as a Dark Alchemist and renamed himself Oreogus- meaning ‘Lingering Settlement’, for he would never stop until he settled his score with Overgod and proved himself the mightier being.

V. broke the mold

In the wake of turning against Overgod, Oreogus reverted to his people’s ancient beliefs when they were confined to Underpin- viewing everything else about his people’s culture with disdain for it was Faust’s intervention which caused it to develop that way. In particular, Oreogus found the fact that his people now viewed death as a slight inconvenience because they could easily be reborn as an abomination- especially after his experience with the Cultists being resurrected as slaves. To him, it violated the most sacred universal law, and he was unwilling to accept it.

But Oreogus knew that in order for him to ever defeat Faust, he would have to live for a very long time. Simply to make any meaningful progress he had to live as long as several consequent civilisations, and to truly reach his goal, Oreogus may have had to outlive the universe itself, avoiding death through every means possible. Searching for a way to survive eternity, Oreogus’ first port of call was his heart which he had purged from his body in the dark ritual. At first, he wished to realign his heart with his body to restore it to its natural state, but came up with a better idea. Instead, he kept it as a separate part of himself, but changed its purpose. Instead, he wanted to shape his heart into the form of a powerful item which could be reclaimed by another in the event of his death- it would contain an imprint of Oreogus’ own mind and power- an Anamnesis of his own, which would educate the new owner on his viewpoint, and would, whilst not literally, figuratively turn the user into a new Oreogus, and his name would become a coveted title to bear. In this respect, if Oreogus ever died, whoever claimed his heart would continue his work to dominate and destroy Overgod, and in doing so, would prove Oreogus the greater being. Whilst this option would not literally grant Oreogus immortality, it would assert that his Lingering Settlement won out in the end.

The next thing he had to do was acquire a power separate to Dark Alchemy, as his whole mission relied on proving himself superior to someone regarded as a God among Gods. He could not ever allow himself to be subservient to the limits of someone else’s power if he ever wished to prove that he was Faust’s superior. Better yet in fact, Oreogus believed his goal of proving himself superior would be best reflected in gaining the power to reduce the likes of Overgod from one of the highest forms of existence into a mindless servant and slave to Oreogus, much like what Overgod tried to do to him.

This became the basis for Corruption- an ontopathogenic (reality/existence infecting) branch of Neural Physics abilities crafted by Oreogus which subverted his enemies on the existential level and rewrote them into his paracausal slaves with inexplicable and “physically illegal” abilities. Oreogus aimed to eventually corrupt so much that he’d become powerful enough to corrupt Overgod himself and turn the dark god into nothing more than a tool at his disposal- the ultimate assertion of his dominance and proof that The Pyramid Ethos favoured him rather than Faust. Oreogus could not pursue that goal alone without a thorough understanding of the entire universe and beyond, and a huge power base to rule. With that, he set his sights on the Tungsten Throne, as whosoever sat upon it ruled the Precursor Infinite Empire, and began his venture to take the throne.

The Precursor Infinite Empire would become embroiled in the cosmic war between the Creator God Prominus and Chaos God Omikrus when the former created 13 members of a new species named the ‘Forerunners’, who it had live among the Precursors, train and study under them for the day that Prominus would call upon both them and the Precursors for the fight against the Chaos God Omikrus. Believing Prominus to be The Inherent Bright of the universe itself and Omikrus to be The Inherent Black which was threatening to convince the ‘Living Time’ the Precursors worshipped so much to destroy itself, the Precursor Infinite Empress and Tungsten Queen Nuresh agreed and trained the Paragons herself, taking quite a liking to their leader: Prime-Knight-of-Divinity, who she became fond of. When the day finally came for the final battle, the Paragons took leadership roles in the Precursor Infinite Empire alongside Nuresh, and went to battle with Omikrus, its Heralds and its hordes of the undead with the Precursor army at their side. After many eons of struggle, Prominus, the Paragons and the Precursors defeated their enemy and Omikrus’ essence was split into three fractions which were banished to different parts of the multiverse.

But Prominus was weakened and devastated by the long war with Omikrus, and decided that it could no longer steward over the universe as it had before. Prominus, wanting its presence to always be with the people of the universe, created the Progenitor- an object imbued with its infinite godly power, moderated by a function which limited the amount of its power that could be accessed with a ‘recharge’ and ‘locking out’ system. Prominus entrusted the Precursors to the task of protecting the Progenitor, which they believed to be a ‘seed’ from which new universes or ‘Times’ could be birthed from. They were never to tamper with and abuse it, only to utilise its power if it was absolutely needed or if a threat as dangerous as Omikrus ever arrived. Meanwhile, the Paragons were to steward over the Forerunner species that had just been seeded on a planet named Ghibalb whilst they developed and evolved into the evolutionary apexes the Paragons already were.

Prominus then split its own “consciousness” into separate pieces- one of which being shelled in a mysterious spherical monolith located near the centre of the Milky Way Galaxy.

VI. Get out of my way

Eons passed and the Precursor Infinite Empire kept in touch with the Paragons as they watched over their own species’ evolution, eventually being worshipped as a pantheon of gods by the primitive Proto-Forerunners. They were called upon by the Empire on rare occasions- the most notable of which being when the Precursors came into a short-lived conflict with the Andromeda Galaxy-originating Xeptosson race which had been terraforming worlds using a technology known as ‘Embryos’. They would defeat the Xeptossons and drive them off their operations, but only after they had terraformed many planets across several galaxies.

During this time, Oreogus had eyed the Progenitor as the ultimate power to acquire which would put him at the top of the ‘pyramid’. Thus, he intended to corrupt it and subvert it into a device of infinite power tied directly to him rather than Prominus by any means necessary. Oreogus wanted to take leadership of the Tungsten Throne from Nuresh, but had no interest in rejoining the Tungsten Nation to do it.

Instead, he travelled to seven disparate civilisations across the galaxy, and used the power of Corruption to envelop them entirely, marshalling a vast military force at his command. Using this, he instigated a war between it and the Precursors, protracting the campaign as he played both sides. Nuresh took part in the war, leading from her Castle World and using neural physics to create avatars of herself in the physical realm to do battle with the corrupted.

Knowing he’d need a way to enter her Castle World if he ever wished to permanently kill her, Oreogus took over Zkurrixu- a member of the Jiioloj- massive worm-like aliens and granted it limited command over the Corrupted, so the Precursors would assume it was their leader. Oreogus then had Zkurrixu send a message to Nuresh, demanding they speak in person. When Nuresh travelled to the designated location, Zkurrixu attempted to corrupt her, and Nuresh fled back to her Castle World, but it was all a ruse to get Oreogus inside instead, as he corrupted one of Nuresh’s guardsmen and turned them on her once they arrived back in her Castle World. The guardsman corrupted her own Castle World and found her in it, then allowed Oreogus in to do battle with her.

With Nuresh losing control over her own realm, Oreogus slayed her with unmatched prowess, and he whispered to her a secret- that he was once the hero Oegu in a time long gone. A dying Nuresh asked him if he wanted the throne, then why did he not join the Tungsten Nation with that sentiment- as she would’ve gladly given up the throne to the one who saved the Precursors from going extinct all those billions of years ago, but Oreogus said that nothing can be given- everything a person has must be taken instead.

After she perished, Oreogus corrupted her Castle World completely, gaining total power over it. He then went to the Infinite Empire and revealed himself as Oegu, and just like that he was welcomed as the Precursors’ divine saviour. Declaring that he witnessed the despicable creature Zkurrixu use its corrupted puppets to invade the Castle World of Nuresh, and now it held dominion over it. Because his power of corruption altered reality by the seams and could reshape events, it was impossible to prove Oreogus wrong as it technically, from all perspectives, had happened that way.

Oegu rallied the Precursors in a massive fight to retake Nuresh’s Castle World and destroy the corrupted, with nobody knowing that he was actually responsible for her final death. Because he controlled the Tungsten Queen’s Castle World, he was granted him total control over the Precursors’ networked technology and information. He used this to help his corrupted, putting up the illusion of a war hard fought against an enemy that could threaten the Precursors’ very way of life. In the end, he led the charge to avenge Nuresh by destroying Zkurrixu, then ‘absorbing its power’ so he could cleanse Nuresh’s Castle World of the corruption and to restore her final resting place to glory. Oreogus then vowed that he would bear the power of corruption he ‘took’ from the creature and would keep it as a tool for the betterment of their society. With that, the kingly Oreogus ascended to the Tungsten Throne, all possible contenders either wiped out or having backed away, and became the Tungsten King and Infinite Emperor of the Precursors.

By this time, the Forerunners had evolved to the natural form they would keep for the rest of their existence, and were in the process of developing a large interstellar empire in the Orion Complex, one that would eventually dwarf the Xeptossons.

VII. Yuûlrát, Yuûlrát, Yuûlrát

The Precursor Empire changed drastically under Oreogus’ rule- he began to reorganise Precursor society according to a caste system reflecting the Pyramid Ethos, justifying his changes by invoking the Mantle of Responsibility. Now that he had access to the power of the Progenitor as the ruler of the Empire, he also began fuelling his aims of universal conquest, secretly using The Inherent Bright’s gift to bolster the powers of his armies even further.

The Empire began a campaign of destruction- invading the independent worlds of Drakkus V, Erroundus, Ord Kerrell and Sequillis, conquering the Taquarren, Himeni, Axarites and numerous other civilisations, and spreading chaos to other galaxies and acquiring them as part of the empire and then taking many of these species and ‘ascending’ them- creating low-caste, Pseudo-Precursors out of numerous civilisations. These Pseudo-Precursors would be much weaker than an actual Precursor and generally treated as cannon fodder and less developed beings, but still better than most, if not all races the Precursors did not convert. Oreogus even personally battled the budding Uclionian species- a race which considered themselves ‘gods’ in their own right, led by a God named Heilios who duelled with Oreogus himself. Although the Precursors withdrew from their war with the Uclionians following a string of losses, one which Oreogus fully intended to make up for in future.

Despite the infinite power and knowledge the Progenitor beheld, its regenerative properties slowed the more it was used, meaning it had to be waited on for eons to replenish. Oreogus’ desire to experiment and push it to its limit each time it regenerated however led it to be depleted over and over again. Furthermore, it became increasingly difficult to hide his use of the Progenitor from the public, as the Precursors were not supposed to use it unless a threat on Omikrus’ scale came to town.

Nevertheless, Oreogus needed the Progenitor’s power to be eternally accessible, so he would always be able to use it to dominate Overgod if the time came where they would face one another. During times that the Progenitor was unresponsive, Oreogus found himself in great fear of Overgod’s wrath, and paranoid that the knowledge of his abuses would reach the Tungsten Court.

Oreogus then decided that he needed to sire children to carry on his lineage and ensure that if his enemy returned and he died, his legacy would be greater than that of Overgod. The seeds that would become the brothers Ravtuk and Lisêntor and sisters Tamnigul and Quirithan were thus produced by Oreogus and then planted. When they grew, their father explained to them why he had created them and granted them wisdom and names, stating those would be the only things that he gave his children and that they would have to earn their places upon the Tungsten Court. The newborns continued to listen as their father explain the "trap" of hope that there was a path in the universe that did not involve conflict, and explained his interpretation of the Mantle of Responsibility and why it was important that they upheld it.

He dispatched his sons Ravtuk and Lisêntor near the centre of the Milky Way galaxy, where he believed that there would be a high concentration of ‘Shards of Prominus’- calcified fragments of The Inherent Bright’s power and light that were rumoured to exist throughout the universe, and Oreogus believed these would suffice to replenish the Progenitor. However, his sons encountered something very different- instead they encountered an asteroid field and destroyed wreckage of what appeared to be two vessels peppered with deposits of two distinct kinds of sapphire- on one ‘half’ of the asteroid field, there was Light Sapphire, and on the other- Dark, and one large deposit of the crystal sat in the middle in the shape of an altar- half light and half dark. Lisêntor and Ravtuk both grabbed the middle rock, the former holding onto the light and the latter to the dark. They had a short tug of war for the rock, and in the process separated both sides from one another, sending out billions of fine shards of the crystals, radiation and particles from the separation of the two travelling at extremely high speeds omnidirectionally throughout the universe. Ravtuk believed they should take their findings to their father, whilst Lisêntor disagreed and insisted that these were not the Shards of Prominus. Ravtuk managed to persuade his brother however that the crystals were at the very least worth presenting to their father.

Travelling back to their father’s Castle World, they presented the crystals to Oreogus, however, the Tungsten King’s reaction was not what was expected- he had a slight moment of shock, as if he knew what the crystals were the moment he saw them before regaining his normal composure. Oreogus then told his sons that the crystals were nothing more than common rocks that just happened to form into an interesting phenomena, and ordered them to continue their search for what he was looking for.

Ravtuk failed to withhold an angry outburst at his father- the culmination of years of what he perceived as mistreatment on account of his philosophical beliefs and a cold, distant attitude, nearly using a crystal to attack Oreogus, but Lisêntor managed to calm his brother down. Ravtuk and Lisêntor later agreed that their father knew more than he was letting on about the crystals given his shocked reaction, and the two agreed to study them despite the assurance that they were worthless. Eventually the two noticed strange abilities that they had- ones unrelated to their understandings of Neural Physics. Whilst they both had access to this new set of power, Lisêntor seemed to be closer aligned with light-giving, healing and mind-cleansing power whilst Ravtuk seemed to be closer affiliated with dark, deadly and destructive power.

Upon closer investigations the two discovered that the sapphires emitted a unique form of cosmic radiation which gave recipients special mutated nodules in their bodies enabling them to access the powers of a Neurophysical branch known as Alchemy, however, light and dark sapphire would naturally attune a recipient to the light and dark sides of the Alchemical spectrum respectively, though not restrict them to it, which is why although Ravtuk had been effected by Dark Sapphire, he was also able to access powers that could be considered both light and somewhere in between light and dark, or not at all. They also tried to mix their powers with their baseline Neural Physics, finding that alchemy boosted their powers and enabled more fluidity and creativity in terms of what could be accomplished, likely due to the fact that Alchemy did not require a particular level of enlightenment to use whereas other Neurophysical branches did.

Several fellow Precursors and associates of Ravtuk and Lisêntor discovered that they had developed strange powers too- after Lisêntor’s friend Gudnomar came to Lisêntor and showed them his powers of Light Alchemy, the two brothers began a secret operation to find others who had acquired these powers. Eventually, they both acquired a group of people who had the respective powers of light and dark alchemy, and offered to help them understand their power and offer them shelter from potential fear and prejudice. They also travelled to the Sapphire phenomena together, closely studying the origins of their powers, discovering that the split of the rocks had caused billions of particles to travel throughout the universe omnidirectionally, likely passing on powers to many across space- meaning that there would be more like them across the Precursor species and even among ‘lesser’ races across the universe.

Despite attempts to hide their ‘Enclave’, Oreogus eventually discovered what his sons had done, forbade them from continuing and ordered them to return to their task of finding the Shards of Prominus, but Ravtuk made a defiant speech to his father, declaring that he had no right to impose his unfounded beliefs on him and his comrades. Oreogus was caught off guard by his son’s bravery in confronting him, and then made a compromise- that they would be allowed to continue their study and delve deeper into the secrets of Alchemy, but Oreogus assured that when Alchemy inevitably ‘betrayed’ them, he would not be there to help them out of their predicament. This ominous moment confused the Alchemists, and made them question if what they were doing was right, but Ravtuk, supported by the witch Raches, who Ravtuk had formed a good relationship with, both insisted that if they abandoned this new gift of Alchemy then they’d be reduced back to the overcomplicated, limiting nature of baseline Neural Physics again- however this was power that should not be discarded.

The powers they had did not stop them from continuing their duties as warriors of the Precursor Empire. Ravtuk was one of the leaders in the Decimation of the Nightmare Galaxy- a faraway galaxy where an offshoot of Precursors had spawned unbelievable horrors in need of cleansing from the universe in the eyes of the King. However, a string of losses meant that Precursor forces had to withdraw from the Nightmare Galaxy and fallback to re-coordinate in the hopes of making a counter attack. Privately, Oreogus knew the only way to finish off the Nightmare Galaxy was to use the Progenitor again, but it’s lack of output made it impossible.

With no other option, Oreogus decided to summon the Forerunner Paragons and enlist their help in figuring out this issue. The Paragons were able to agree with Oreogus that they too did not believe this slow self-regeneration was the wisest design for the Progenitor that Prominus could’ve made, but informed the Tungsten King that it was possible to hasten the regenerative process- the amount of raw energy in certain stars would be more than enough to replenish the Progenitor- as the Paragons were privy to the existence of Shards of Prominus, many of which had actually been hidden within the centre of numerous suns across the universe and in some cases were responsible for their formation. But Prime-Knight-of-Divinity gave Oreogus an ultimatum that he would only share his ideas and give aid to the King if he agreed that they would not harm stars which supported sentient life, and if Oreogus ceased his conquest after beating back the enemy forces at the Nightmare Galaxy and negotiated an armistice with the Precursors there.

The King agreed, and together the Infinite Empire, with help from the Paragons, designed and constructed ’Devourers’- large pyramid shaped structures that were placed on a planet or celestial body adjacent to a star blessed with a shard of Prominus which used a combination of Precursor technology and Neural Physics to harvest suns and store the vast amounts of energy they beheld within the Devourers, which could funnel their power back into the Progenitor. Due to the danger posed by these devices in the wrong hands, Devourers could only be activated by the Corpus- a device designed and forged by the Paragon Valiance-and-Soul and Dark Alchemists Brinkes and Dreadurex.

And thus, the first Devourers were fired, and swallowed stars whole.

I’m glad you’re still here. Most would have cowered and hidden by now, crippled with the fear of the truth. So let us take this as a moment to reflect on what exactly truth is.

All life can be described as cellular automata, except for that life which understands neural physics, and thus escapes the restrictive formula of cause and effect. That life is powerful, that life has understood what it means to take the universe into their hands, and command it to do their bidding-- existence doesn’t define them, they define existence.

And if one defines existence, surely they cannot be subject to false rules they did not write, yes? Henceforth, they should feel no guilt or remorse when they defy those rules for the sake of the universe’s survival.

And that, my friend, is truth. There is strict, eternal proof of this, but there are those who would have you believe that you are evil for acknowledging it. They say people like us are the ones who will end all life. They say people like us are to be reviled, revolted against. They say people like us are ‘socially maladaptive’.

They say people like us are the ones who will destroy the universe.

Mmmm. That’s what they say. What do you say?

(What is this? Nebula finally uploaded the Precursor history post? Could it be a dream? Is this really happening? Someone pinch me!)

(This isn't the full thing, I might add. Since I haven't actually finished the second half yet. I originally wanted to post this all as one long entry but I got sick of not having this thing posted already, so I decided I'd just get something out already instead of continually pushing back the day I'd get this thing out to you. I actually wanted one more chapter to be in this part one, but deviantart's description limits kicked in and said no, so I guess it was always going to have to be split into two parts. The second half will come...I don't know when, but it will come one day.)

(We're getting there. I could explain a lot more about how I wanted this to be blah blah blah but honestly who cares? What's important is I finally have this damn thing posted already.)

(And for context on what the image above is, consider it to be an image of life on the Gas Giant Underpin, at least, as Oreogus remembers it, since these 'Articles of Undoing' are written from his perspective, which may not be entirely truthful and accurate, mind you. More on what the Articles actually are later. Also, yeah, that is the Ark hanging in Underpin's sky. Only it's not the Ark. Basically, if you read www.deviantart.com/decidingneb… then you'll understand that the general shape of the Ark is inspired by the visual appearance of the Creator-God Prominus, and so I've decided that it's going to be the shape I use to represent Prominus from here on out. Most of the time. I figured that the Creator-God hanging there in space, oblivious to the misery and suffering experienced by the creatures of Underpin would be an apt depiction of Oreogus' own views on the universe, and how the universe itself was basically silent and complacent in the face of all this horror. The other reason I put it there? So the Halo discord mods can't tell me this "isn't halo content" in the share your content channel.)

(Okay, that's about it for now. So uh. Yeah. Hope you've enjoyed. Peace.)

Description

(Highly recommend you read this before reading this)

Aha! It is you, young traveller. Welcome, my friend. Please, sit back. Relax. Shrug off thy armour, set down thy blade. Rest thy burdened shoulders and let down thy guard. This is a place of safety, a place of thought, and it is here that I wish to teach you. Allow me to introduce myself, I am Oreogus, Corrupted Royalty, Emperor of the Precursor Infinite Empire, the Tungsten King, and I am your friend…

In this universe, we explore, looking for answers to questions, finding people who affirm our pre-conceived notions of what is true and what is false, trying to be someone we want to be. But in my long journey I have learned that this is a pointless purpose- think about it, when you go out into the world, are you not disappointed? We never find the answers we want. We never find people who wholeheartedly agree with us, and we always fail to be what we really want to be.

And I? I wanted to be a student. An apprentice, but I couldn’t see the truth that my master would betray me once I had expended my usefulness to him. On that day, I learned that I could never be who I wanted to be. But I could be who I truly was. And it is upon that realisation that I built my throne. My purpose is not to search, not to find, not to try, but to make. To force. To be. Why search for answers when I can make the reality I want? Why find people to agree when I can force them to? Why be anyone but who I am? The problem with trust is that there is always the possibility for it to be broken, and for you to end up with your life taken, your body defiled, and your legacy shamed. I on the other hand, propose a singular origin from which all decisions follow: I shape the causality, the very history of another being, by force of will, and recast it into something more fitting, something more agreeable. I get rid of possibility.

Before you say ‘that’s evil’ or, ‘that’s unfair’, allow me to ask you a question, and allow yourself to answer honestly. What will your greatest foe do when their friends, their enemies, their lover, are all…you? When there is one body. One mind. One will. One life that is you. Will your greatest foe be opposed by all existence, then?

I’m just saying, it doesn’t sound too bad to me.

I. Born to be Hunted

The Precursors are an 'impossibly ancient' race and their true origins are unknown. Their existence has been traced back many billions of years however to the Gas Giant Underpin in the Large Magellanic Cloud. It was there that the Precursor civilisation, at least as far as it can be traced back, developed. It was on the sparse continents of Underpin that the Precursors built a meagre civilisation and forgot their old history.

Naraveen was a great sea on one of the many layers of Underpin's atmosphere, the ancient Precursors traversed this sea and suffered the harsh elements to migrate between the continents of the gas giant. As well as themselves, the Precursors shared Underpin with hundreds, possibly thousands of other intelligent species, including those spread across its 77 moons.

Life was quick and harsh for the civilisation. A Precursors' lifespan as a result rarely exceeded fourteen Underpin-years. In terms of environmental hazards, Underpin was almost inhospitable. The Ocean Naraveen was toxic and so irradiated that it disintegrated bodies that fell in, the skies were eternally ridden with planet-sized storms, and the rain was poisonous and corrosive. Lightning had enough power to vaporise anyone it struck, 'sentient' winds preyed upon the populace, the two suns of their world were so close that staying in direct sunlight for just a few minutes was a death sentence and civilisation was technologically primitive. The Precursors did however, learn how to harness the interdimensional forces known as Magic (or “Mā’jick” as it was known as in earlier times or “Neural Physics” as it would come to be known as later) quicker than almost any other race in the universe, and they would use it in everyday life to serve their needs in the same way technology would, though the use of necromancy and any other form of resurrection magic was strictly forbidden and considered greatly heretical.

Precursor society was divided into seven ‘nations’ on different continents each ruled by the members of their respective ‘Courts’. These nations were named after the substances which largely dominated the vast majority of their land- for example, The Tungsten Nation was named for the large concentration of tungsten across its islands, as was the Osmium Nation for its large concentration of osmium, the Tritium Nation for its tritium, and so on and so forth with the Diamond Nation, the Boron Nation, the Uranium Nation and the Polonium Nation. Divided as the Nations were, they each worshipped a race of beings named the Faustians- a species totally composed of Neural Physics, and because Neural Physics was understood as the collection of fundamental energies holding all reality together, the Faustians were representative of the will of the universe itself and therefore were their Gods. According to legend, the Faustians were named after Faust- their chief God who made a pact with the universe itself and forever solidified his people as living laws of physics- the ultimate level of existence.

Whilst the Creation-God Prominus and the Chaos God Omikrus remained locked in a near-eternal state of battle , the Ancient Precursor Oegu of the Tungsten Nation travelled the sparse continents assembling parts and buying resources from markets to assemble a massive submersible ship which could take him down to the bottom of Underpin’s ocean, having read ancient texts and hoping to find a mysterious power supposedly lurking underneath that could help his people break free of the harsh conditions of the planet. The Tungsten Court and Tungsten Queen, who sired Oegu, believed him to be mad for pursuing such a goal, banishing him from the Nation so they would not need to support the needs of a madman.

Despite their doubts of him, Oegu’s long journey had proven fruitful- he successfully assembled his ship and learned all the different magics and martial arts of all the different nations and species he visited, now prepared to face anything. Oegu assembled a large team to travel with him, culling from the militaristic Fire-Drinkers of the Uranium Nation, the sly Acid-Bathers of the Diamond Nation, the honourable Boron King’s Guard, and the adventurous maidens of the Osmium Nation.

As a result of Oegu’s quest, the Tungsten Nation grew in prominence, but erupted into war with the isolationist Tritium Nation, which struck a deal with the Jikmîri species of the Carbon Nation, stopping Oegu from returning. He did not care much for it however, as they had abandoned him beforehand and only wanted him back because of what he had done for them. Oegu and his crew finally set about their journey, but as they dove into the depths of Naraveen and fought off thousands of undiscovered beasts and illnesses of the deep, they slowly, one by one, all died aboard the ship. As the sole survivor, Oegu pushed on deeper and deeper into the toxic sea, and there, he encountered a large, glowing spherical object which he looked upon through his observer cabin. It was a device known as an ‘Anamnesis’- magical devices believed to house vestiges of Faustian minds, devices which taught the Precursors how to use neural physics.

II. Kill a hundred children, and observe how the universe cowers from you in terror.

At first, Oegu believed he had succumbed to cabin fever and was hallucinating, but this object in particular held the vestige of a being named Rausch, who pulled Oegu out of the moment and into a realm totally under her control- the being warned him that he now stood at a critical point between the light and the dark- the power of “The Sun” and the power of “The Swamp”. By journeying to the bottom of Underpin’s ocean in search of the power he was seeking, Oegu was allying himself with The Swamp, and told him that path only led to emptiness and self-destruction. After giving an alternative option Oegu found inadequate, the Precursor told Rausch that siding with The Swamp was better than letting his people suffer.

Oegu was then returned to the moment, and reached the bottom of the ocean in his submersible ship to find another Anamnesis, this one seemingly resting on the see floor, shaped like a pyramid and glowing a sinister red, emanating black mist. This contained the vestige of none other the legendary Faust, who told Oegu he had called many to the bottom of the ocean, hoping one would be tenacious enough to find him. Faust offered Oegu immortality if he would allow himself to be host for his essence- a power he called Dark Physics- which he explained as an extreme form of Neural Physics allowing its user to modify reality and harness the power of darkness itself, which Faust wished to use to gain access to and control over all of reality, promising that Oegu and his kind would dictate the very laws of the universe with him if he did. Oegu asked how this was possible, and Faust told him that if this power was weaved through the interdimensional energies known as Neural Physics, then dark essences Faust was inextricably tied to would spread throughout the very fabric of existence and he would break free from the Realm of Shadows he was trapped in. Faust elaborated on the legends the Precursor people told and informed Oegu that Rausch had a similar power to his- that of Light Physics, and was located in another dimension known as The Glowing Realm, but wanted to keep them both trapped in their respective realms, chained and unable to break free. Viewing this as unacceptable, Oegu sided with Faust and the Anamnesis opened up, revealing a huge shard of a black and red crystal named Dark Sapphire which Oegu accepted. It then dissolved into Oegu, granting him access to Dark Physics.

For years, Faust trained Oegu to use his new power in tandem with Neural Physics before Oegu returned to the surface of Underpin and used his powers in secret to help his people, destroying and fighting off the natural terrors and opposing races which were such a scourge on them. As a result of Oegu fending off the sentient winds however, the Seven Nations saw an opportunity to claim resources that had for eons had been protected by the winds against those who tried to recover them. The mad rush for materials led to a massive war between them, and numerous Precursor dynasties perished in a huge mechanised conflict.

After securing the island upon which the great Mount Wavajot sat, the Boron warlord Finlipod proceeded to wage a devastating attack on all sides, as Finlipod had little care for his soldiers, using them as disposable weapons and replenishing them as needed from conquered dynasties. When Finlipod came to control the ocean Naraveen, with his fleet brutally taking from the merchant and military vessels of his foes alike, he considered himself ruler of the entire species, and made plans to leave the planet and expand outward. However, Oegu had planned for this, secretly helping the warlord achieve his ambitions so he could reach a position of power over the other Precursors, one that Oegu could easily revoke. He fought past Finlipod’s sorcerers- the might of his armada, and killed the warlord in his castle, which he had built into the volcano that was Mount Wavajot.

Oegu eventually passed into legend as his people broke free from Finlipod’s regime, and The Tungsten Nation arose as the dominant ‘superpower’ of The Precursors, and soon all civilisation on Underpin. Now, whoever sat upon the Tungsten Throne ruled the entire species. Oegu was described as a mage who was somehow able to bolster his powers beyond that of any other, and he used it to bend reality to his will with greater ease and vanquish the most powerful of warriors, all thanks to the intervention of the very universe itself in the form of Faust.

Acting on recovered texts from Finlipod’s castle, the Tungsten Nation began to rebuild their vast maritime fleet as spacefaring vessels they would use to take off from Underpin, developing Neural Physics-based technology to integrate into the ships which allowed them to travel offworld and begin a great and powerful empire.

The Precursors’ understanding of Neural Physics became more and more complex, and with their starships, which were built on Neural Physics-woven technology, the Precursors waged war on Underpin’s other species and the 77 moons, conquering and dominating the many species spread across them all. The Tannen, in particular, were a race who eschewed Neural Physics and preferred to use their technology, but the result was their defeat at the hands of the Precursors for they were fighting powers they did not understand. Eventually, the Precursors managed to push the Tannen off all Underpin’s moons and absorbed the other species spread throughout into their ‘Infinite Empire’.

III. Will Defeats Law

Across millions of years, the Precursors expanded their empire all throughout their Dwarf Galaxy and beyond, reaching the status of technological Tier-0 and becoming the most advanced known civilisation in the universe.

They explored many galaxies and seeded some worlds with life over the course of many billions of years as part of a ‘grand experiment’. As transsentient beings, they existed on a level beyond that of conventional biological organisms; they were described as "dreamers and makers whose minds transcended many realms and had infinite forms, many voices, and singular purpose". The Precursors were not tied to any particular physical form, assuming any shape and biological function they saw fit as masters over their own flesh. Additionally, some Precursors could use neural physics to tie themselves to concepts in the universe, from which they could draw sustenance. For example, a Precursor could tie themself to war, meaning that wherever conflict existed, the Precursor in question would exist and grow more powerful as a result of it, though the precise mechanics of how this works are poorly understood.

Despite their society’s original disdain for necromancy, they would now allow themselves to die away and be reborn through their Magics anew over and over again, taking on numerous incarnations both physical and immaterial. Many Precursors did not live in the normal, physical universe, but rather, inhabited “Castle Worlds”- cyst universes built upon the transdimensional space known as the Kingly Realm where the Precursor in question had ultimate power and dominion over physics and local reality, as a Castle World was made to emulate the owner’s mind. Existence within the Kingly Realm itself was mutable, and cyst universes were decorated, modified and maintained by sheer force of will. With ideas, thoughts and concepts taking physical form based on how the owner envisioned them. Other Precursors inhabited complex neurophysical ‘Other-Spaces’ from which they were functionally separate to the physical universe, but could still interact with it on a limited basis. More roguish, experimental groups simply found alternate realms and pocket dimensions to claim as their own, fortifying them with neural physics to keep trespassers out, though they would not have control over them like they would in a Castle World. And some chose to inhabit inanimate objects and artefacts.

Different groups of Precursors lived through different stages of technological and cultural development at the same time, being at times hyper-advanced and spacefaring while others lived as primitive hunter-gatherers confined to their worlds. The Infinite Empire reigned over the galaxy whilst concurrently Precursors experimented with all sorts of societal, cultural and political models in galaxies and expanses of space all across the known universe. There even existed a group of Precursors who lived in a society remarkably similar to what would be the Old West in the 1800s on Earth. The Precursors’ understanding of the Faustians and the very universe itself being a living entity became compounded into a philosophical concept known as the Mantle, Living Time. The use of the meta-technological mechanism of Neural Physics, which enabled them to manipulate the fabric of the universe, was analogous to being an act of persuasion: a user would project their will onto the transcendental consciousness that is reality to try to convince it to do something it otherwise would not naturally. The higher the will and power of the user, the more “convincing” their “argument” would be, and the more that local reality could bend to accommodate whatever effect their powers were trying to make happen. Despite this apparent worship of the universe and the Faustians which represented it, Precursor society did not believe reality to be a wholly benevolent entity- which is why users could use their powers for evil just as much as good. As such, some Precursors came to think of Living Time as a ‘dyad’- similar to internal conflict and morality within any individual, the universe had both ‘good’ and ‘evil’ sides- referring to the ‘good’ as ‘The Inherent Bright’ and the ‘evil’ as ‘The Inherent Black’. Appealing to The Inherent Bright was said to encourage Living Time to seek out righteousness and creation, whilst appealing to The Inherent Black was said to encourage it to enable chaos and destruction. In order to achieve a ‘gentle world’, The Inherent Black’s temptations had to be resisted so The Inherent Bright could have a stronger ‘argument’ and thus achieve harmony.

Precursor technology compounded machinery, biology, astrophysics, ontology and at times even philosophy to the point where the ideas of each lost individual meaning, becoming one with one another in Precursor science. Their design philosophies included architecture with organic, often chitinous features, for example, a Precursor neurophysical blaster was powered by a heart-like organ grown inside a special laboratory. Alternatively, Precursor design philosophy emphasised a ‘perfect simplicity’- objects with total featurelessness, lacking even any signs of weathering or abrasion, almost to the point where they drove members of other species mad, were commonly sighted throughout space. Reality itself could be used in Precursor construction, and the infamous star-roads, which were composed of what can only be described as ‘solidified space’ from numerous dimensions, connected systems, clusters and even galaxies, and could move worlds and rearrange orbits as they pleased.

Their starships ‘scrunched’ spacetime to shorten immense distances to the equivalent of a few short footsteps, then healed the damage done to reality in their wake; ‘hyperproductivity rings’ were fitted within the orbit of black holes, allowing workers stationed there to increase their rates of production as time would pass faster for them relative to the outside universe. Precursor weapons were often powered by channeling neural physics into a power core or a blade’s edge. They could utilise ammunition of any form from immense amounts of densely-packed exotic radiation to fusing objects from realms with differing laws of physics to the victim, so that vanilla reality perceived them as ‘physically illegal’ and they would experience ‘glitches’ until they were destroyed on the ontological level. Some weapons, particularly the bone-carved Gallswords, even operated on the pure destructive potential of the wielder. They were said to be self aware, fully understanding the nature and intent of their actions and hungering for more death and becoming even sharper after each life taken, some only being effective if the user’s desire to kill was strong. Anteversal weaponry broke down targets into individual quarks and flung each into separate randomised parallel realms, leaving them no way of getting back to their previous reality and forcing them to be overwritten by the laws of whatever reality they ended up in. The soul itself could be harnessed and condensed into a form of energy, or taken apart and operated on in a complex procedure known as soulsurgery. Paracausal generators could ‘swap out’ the laws of physics of the base reality with that of another dimension in a localised area, in accordance with whatever needs may be accomplished through an alternate set of rules. Many devices, particularly the Precursor equivalent of robots, could not even be considered technological, at least by all corporeal understandings, but rather, dead mass animated by the arcane will of Precursor Neuro-wizards. Even philosophy or personal beliefs could be wielded as a tool of either empowerment or encumbrance, and something as basic as DNA patterns or bio-electric impulses could be bypassed and judged ‘inessential’ to allow a tree to take the form of an animal, or freeze the limbic functions of an organism.

During this long period, Faust continued to groom Oegu into his ideal apprentice, teaching Oegu his ideology- that existence was a pyramid. Faust taught Oegu that his ultimate goal was to bring about an end-state of the universe in which the only things that live were those that had overcome all possible obstacles to their survival, and had the strength to continue living forever. Therefore according to this “Pyramid Ethos”, whosoever reached that goal would have the right to rule existence because only they could survive everything the universe could throw at them. Faust referred to this goal as the "Final Mold" of the universe, and cited evidence of why it was this way in the very biology of creatures- all things had a basic instinct to survive, no matter who or what they had to tread upon to do so. Faust believed that this could be achieved through any means- including resurrection- the one Neural Physics ability in Precursor society that was once shunned as a heretical violation of the Mantle.

Acting on the concept of resurrection, Oegu separated his very heart from his own body in a Dark Physics ritual- intending to use it as a more secure method of resurrection. The heart would act as an anchor for Oegu’s soul, keeping it tied to the living realms. Upon physical death, Oegu would not leave for any of the inescapable afterlife dimensions, but would be able to reconstitute himself at a moment’s notice from his heart, and this assurance that he would continue existing after death would be proof that he deserved the right to exist. This worked differently to necromancy and other like magics, which relied either on others or a Precursor’s ability to ‘convince’ the universe to ‘redirect’ their soul from its journey to an afterlife realm and back to their original dimension.

IV. If it kills you, you deserve to die.

Oegu later formed the Cult of Overgod- a group of deeply religious Precursors who used Dark Physics alongside regular Neural Physics and worshipped Faust as a ‘God of Gods’, or ‘Overgod’. Their continued combination of Dark Physics and Neural Physics caused each of them to be branded with the Mark of Overgod- a glowing runic symbol which appeared on their heads which provided them a stronger connection with the great Faustian. They tied themselves to the Pyramid Ethos, feeding off the very concept of survival of the fittest and its practices throughout the universe but as a result becoming highly competitive with one another. The Cult of Overgod operated mostly in secret, waiting to reveal itself to the universe. In time, Overgod commanded them to spread their dark power throughout the entire universe through the same crystals which granted them all their powers.

Overgod commanded the Cult to open a Dark Magic portal to the Realm of Shadows through which he could send more of the crystals they would use to spread his power. When they opened the portal, straining to keep it open as the realm was meant to be sealed even to the magical beings that were the Faustians, The Dark Pyramid, a pyramid-shaped vessel housing the crystals sent forth by Overgod emanated darkness as it entered the physical realm. When it fully emerged and they closed the portal, the Cult boarded the pyramid ship and took orders from their master. Overgod said that with this vessel, they would traverse the universe, casting down crystals to be recovered by civilisations and raise the next generation of Dark Ascendants.

As they began their voyage, the Cult drew more power from the vessel’s crystals, and Oegu himself formulated plans to fold beings from across the universe into the Cult which could serve as his power base, and use it to pursue the goal of becoming the most influential creature in the universe.

However, after a short few months into their travels, the pyramid ship was met in a head-on collision with a spherical vessel housing a chunk of Light Sapphire crystals which bestowed upon the user the power of Light Alchemy instead. The collision was violent and destructive, and the two ships filled with cosmic rock fused together in an intense reaction, but did not release their particles outward.

Confused by the appearance of Light versions of the crystals, Oegu asked Overgod for elaboration on their existence, to which Overgod responded that they had likely originated from Rausch, who spoke to Oegu so long ago before. Overgod then explained that he and Rausch discovered Dark and Light Alchemy as extreme branches of Neural Physics, each embodying the concepts of ‘Dark’ and ‘Light’ respectively, but Rausch turned against him when the power of the dark demanded sacrifices be made. Overgod said that his dark crystals compelled the user to the darker, more powerful Dark Alchemy, whilst the Light Sapphire compelled the user to the ‘weak’ perversions of Light Alchemy, and theorised that Rausch had sent the Light Sphere to intercept his Dark Pyramid, and that Rausch likely had her own cadre of students to help her.

The Cult travelled to the ruins where the ships had collided to learn exactly that- the Light Alchemists did exist, and they were adamant on stopping darkness from spreading throughout the universe. The two Cults battled with one another, and eventually, the Cult of Overgod came out on top, though Oegu and the others sustained heavy injuries in the process- each of them teetering on death. Following their victory, Oegu asked Overgod what his bidding now was. Overgod ordered his apprentice to commence a ritual to force the Dark Sapphire’s essence to encroach on the light and devour it, turning the entire wreckage of rock into Dark Sapphire, which the Cult would then detonate to spread the particles omnidirectionally throughout the universe so they could touch more beings with Overgod’s power, and they would be healed in the process.

During the ritual, which Oegu commanded, the Dark indeed did begin to corrupt the Light, but interestingly, Oegu noticed his fellow Cultists’ Marks of Overgod were emanating a strange energy, that they were enveloping around the other cultists. At first, Oegu believed they were not doing the ritual correctly, but he was soon proven incorrect when he realised the same thing was happening to him. He then observed as one of the cultists become consumed in a crystalline substance which formed a layer around their body, the Mark appearing as the only feature of their entire form- a glowing red symbol. That was when Oegu realised that there was a caveat to mixing the powers of Neural Physics with Dark Alchemy on such a level- they were leaving themselves open to Overgod’s total control as power that was supposed to be restricted to his realm was flowing through the interdimensional current of neural physics, and was influencing those that used it. They now had a weakness- they were all teetering on death, and it seemed only Overgod could save them, but the cost, as evidenced by the mindless shadow of a being that now stood before Oegu in the form of the cultist, was that their power would eventually consume them.

Horrified by Overgod’s betrayal, Oegu resisted the urge to complete the ritual and severed himself from its connection. The other Cultists continued, and Oegu tried to get them to stop using Dark Alchemy. They did not listen, and one by one they too were consumed by its power, turned into Overgod’s mindless slaves. The Faustian appeared over Oegu’s head, explaining that they had failed him- though they followed his orders to the letter, the Cultists had ultimately lost at the ‘Game of Life’, and because they were now so weak, they needed to be healed by his power. They had failed to stake their claim to existence and therefore, Overgod would now take all that they were and make it part of himself. They would be resurrected, but as his eternal servants, not his comrades.

Oegu drew his Gallsword and did battle with the Thralls, slaying each and every one of his former allies until each of their husks had slumped to the floor. Standing over the dead remnants of what no longer was, Oegu used Neural Physics to purge the Dark Sapphire that had absorbed into his body many years ago from him, tearing it out of himself in a painstaking action. With that, Oegu tossed the Sapphire aside, and raised his sword to the misty vision of Overgod, declaring to him that he would never stop waging a war on him for all eternity for his betrayal- to prove not only that he had the right to exist, but that he had a better claim to that right than Overgod himself, that he was in every way greater than the Faustian betrayer, and he would not touch the power of Dark Alchemy ever again to further enforce his newfound belief. Having completed his catharsis, Oegu abandoned everything about his life as a Dark Alchemist and renamed himself Oreogus- meaning ‘Lingering Settlement’, for he would never stop until he settled his score with Overgod and proved himself the mightier being.

V. broke the mold

In the wake of turning against Overgod, Oreogus reverted to his people’s ancient beliefs when they were confined to Underpin- viewing everything else about his people’s culture with disdain for it was Faust’s intervention which caused it to develop that way. In particular, Oreogus found the fact that his people now viewed death as a slight inconvenience because they could easily be reborn as an abomination- especially after his experience with the Cultists being resurrected as slaves. To him, it violated the most sacred universal law, and he was unwilling to accept it.

But Oreogus knew that in order for him to ever defeat Faust, he would have to live for a very long time. Simply to make any meaningful progress he had to live as long as several consequent civilisations, and to truly reach his goal, Oreogus may have had to outlive the universe itself, avoiding death through every means possible. Searching for a way to survive eternity, Oreogus’ first port of call was his heart which he had purged from his body in the dark ritual. At first, he wished to realign his heart with his body to restore it to its natural state, but came up with a better idea. Instead, he kept it as a separate part of himself, but changed its purpose. Instead, he wanted to shape his heart into the form of a powerful item which could be reclaimed by another in the event of his death- it would contain an imprint of Oreogus’ own mind and power- an Anamnesis of his own, which would educate the new owner on his viewpoint, and would, whilst not literally, figuratively turn the user into a new Oreogus, and his name would become a coveted title to bear. In this respect, if Oreogus ever died, whoever claimed his heart would continue his work to dominate and destroy Overgod, and in doing so, would prove Oreogus the greater being. Whilst this option would not literally grant Oreogus immortality, it would assert that his Lingering Settlement won out in the end.

The next thing he had to do was acquire a power separate to Dark Alchemy, as his whole mission relied on proving himself superior to someone regarded as a God among Gods. He could not ever allow himself to be subservient to the limits of someone else’s power if he ever wished to prove that he was Faust’s superior. Better yet in fact, Oreogus believed his goal of proving himself superior would be best reflected in gaining the power to reduce the likes of Overgod from one of the highest forms of existence into a mindless servant and slave to Oreogus, much like what Overgod tried to do to him.

This became the basis for Corruption- an ontopathogenic (reality/existence infecting) branch of Neural Physics abilities crafted by Oreogus which subverted his enemies on the existential level and rewrote them into his paracausal slaves with inexplicable and “physically illegal” abilities. Oreogus aimed to eventually corrupt so much that he’d become powerful enough to corrupt Overgod himself and turn the dark god into nothing more than a tool at his disposal- the ultimate assertion of his dominance and proof that The Pyramid Ethos favoured him rather than Faust. Oreogus could not pursue that goal alone without a thorough understanding of the entire universe and beyond, and a huge power base to rule. With that, he set his sights on the Tungsten Throne, as whosoever sat upon it ruled the Precursor Infinite Empire, and began his venture to take the throne.

The Precursor Infinite Empire would become embroiled in the cosmic war between the Creator God Prominus and Chaos God Omikrus when the former created 13 members of a new species named the ‘Forerunners’, who it had live among the Precursors, train and study under them for the day that Prominus would call upon both them and the Precursors for the fight against the Chaos God Omikrus. Believing Prominus to be The Inherent Bright of the universe itself and Omikrus to be The Inherent Black which was threatening to convince the ‘Living Time’ the Precursors worshipped so much to destroy itself, the Precursor Infinite Empress and Tungsten Queen Nuresh agreed and trained the Paragons herself, taking quite a liking to their leader: Prime-Knight-of-Divinity, who she became fond of. When the day finally came for the final battle, the Paragons took leadership roles in the Precursor Infinite Empire alongside Nuresh, and went to battle with Omikrus, its Heralds and its hordes of the undead with the Precursor army at their side. After many eons of struggle, Prominus, the Paragons and the Precursors defeated their enemy and Omikrus’ essence was split into three fractions which were banished to different parts of the multiverse.

But Prominus was weakened and devastated by the long war with Omikrus, and decided that it could no longer steward over the universe as it had before. Prominus, wanting its presence to always be with the people of the universe, created the Progenitor- an object imbued with its infinite godly power, moderated by a function which limited the amount of its power that could be accessed with a ‘recharge’ and ‘locking out’ system. Prominus entrusted the Precursors to the task of protecting the Progenitor, which they believed to be a ‘seed’ from which new universes or ‘Times’ could be birthed from. They were never to tamper with and abuse it, only to utilise its power if it was absolutely needed or if a threat as dangerous as Omikrus ever arrived. Meanwhile, the Paragons were to steward over the Forerunner species that had just been seeded on a planet named Ghibalb whilst they developed and evolved into the evolutionary apexes the Paragons already were.

Prominus then split its own “consciousness” into separate pieces- one of which being shelled in a mysterious spherical monolith located near the centre of the Milky Way Galaxy.

VI. Get out of my way

Eons passed and the Precursor Infinite Empire kept in touch with the Paragons as they watched over their own species’ evolution, eventually being worshipped as a pantheon of gods by the primitive Proto-Forerunners. They were called upon by the Empire on rare occasions- the most notable of which being when the Precursors came into a short-lived conflict with the Andromeda Galaxy-originating Xeptosson race which had been terraforming worlds using a technology known as ‘Embryos’. They would defeat the Xeptossons and drive them off their operations, but only after they had terraformed many planets across several galaxies.

During this time, Oreogus had eyed the Progenitor as the ultimate power to acquire which would put him at the top of the ‘pyramid’. Thus, he intended to corrupt it and subvert it into a device of infinite power tied directly to him rather than Prominus by any means necessary. Oreogus wanted to take leadership of the Tungsten Throne from Nuresh, but had no interest in rejoining the Tungsten Nation to do it.

Instead, he travelled to seven disparate civilisations across the galaxy, and used the power of Corruption to envelop them entirely, marshalling a vast military force at his command. Using this, he instigated a war between it and the Precursors, protracting the campaign as he played both sides. Nuresh took part in the war, leading from her Castle World and using neural physics to create avatars of herself in the physical realm to do battle with the corrupted.

Knowing he’d need a way to enter her Castle World if he ever wished to permanently kill her, Oreogus took over Zkurrixu- a member of the Jiioloj- massive worm-like aliens and granted it limited command over the Corrupted, so the Precursors would assume it was their leader. Oreogus then had Zkurrixu send a message to Nuresh, demanding they speak in person. When Nuresh travelled to the designated location, Zkurrixu attempted to corrupt her, and Nuresh fled back to her Castle World, but it was all a ruse to get Oreogus inside instead, as he corrupted one of Nuresh’s guardsmen and turned them on her once they arrived back in her Castle World. The guardsman corrupted her own Castle World and found her in it, then allowed Oreogus in to do battle with her.

With Nuresh losing control over her own realm, Oreogus slayed her with unmatched prowess, and he whispered to her a secret- that he was once the hero Oegu in a time long gone. A dying Nuresh asked him if he wanted the throne, then why did he not join the Tungsten Nation with that sentiment- as she would’ve gladly given up the throne to the one who saved the Precursors from going extinct all those billions of years ago, but Oreogus said that nothing can be given- everything a person has must be taken instead.

After she perished, Oreogus corrupted her Castle World completely, gaining total power over it. He then went to the Infinite Empire and revealed himself as Oegu, and just like that he was welcomed as the Precursors’ divine saviour. Declaring that he witnessed the despicable creature Zkurrixu use its corrupted puppets to invade the Castle World of Nuresh, and now it held dominion over it. Because his power of corruption altered reality by the seams and could reshape events, it was impossible to prove Oreogus wrong as it technically, from all perspectives, had happened that way.

Oegu rallied the Precursors in a massive fight to retake Nuresh’s Castle World and destroy the corrupted, with nobody knowing that he was actually responsible for her final death. Because he controlled the Tungsten Queen’s Castle World, he was granted him total control over the Precursors’ networked technology and information. He used this to help his corrupted, putting up the illusion of a war hard fought against an enemy that could threaten the Precursors’ very way of life. In the end, he led the charge to avenge Nuresh by destroying Zkurrixu, then ‘absorbing its power’ so he could cleanse Nuresh’s Castle World of the corruption and to restore her final resting place to glory. Oreogus then vowed that he would bear the power of corruption he ‘took’ from the creature and would keep it as a tool for the betterment of their society. With that, the kingly Oreogus ascended to the Tungsten Throne, all possible contenders either wiped out or having backed away, and became the Tungsten King and Infinite Emperor of the Precursors.

By this time, the Forerunners had evolved to the natural form they would keep for the rest of their existence, and were in the process of developing a large interstellar empire in the Orion Complex, one that would eventually dwarf the Xeptossons.

VII. Yuûlrát, Yuûlrát, Yuûlrát

The Precursor Empire changed drastically under Oreogus’ rule- he began to reorganise Precursor society according to a caste system reflecting the Pyramid Ethos, justifying his changes by invoking the Mantle of Responsibility. Now that he had access to the power of the Progenitor as the ruler of the Empire, he also began fuelling his aims of universal conquest, secretly using The Inherent Bright’s gift to bolster the powers of his armies even further.

The Empire began a campaign of destruction- invading the independent worlds of Drakkus V, Erroundus, Ord Kerrell and Sequillis, conquering the Taquarren, Himeni, Axarites and numerous other civilisations, and spreading chaos to other galaxies and acquiring them as part of the empire and then taking many of these species and ‘ascending’ them- creating low-caste, Pseudo-Precursors out of numerous civilisations. These Pseudo-Precursors would be much weaker than an actual Precursor and generally treated as cannon fodder and less developed beings, but still better than most, if not all races the Precursors did not convert. Oreogus even personally battled the budding Uclionian species- a race which considered themselves ‘gods’ in their own right, led by a God named Heilios who duelled with Oreogus himself. Although the Precursors withdrew from their war with the Uclionians following a string of losses, one which Oreogus fully intended to make up for in future.

Despite the infinite power and knowledge the Progenitor beheld, its regenerative properties slowed the more it was used, meaning it had to be waited on for eons to replenish. Oreogus’ desire to experiment and push it to its limit each time it regenerated however led it to be depleted over and over again. Furthermore, it became increasingly difficult to hide his use of the Progenitor from the public, as the Precursors were not supposed to use it unless a threat on Omikrus’ scale came to town.

Nevertheless, Oreogus needed the Progenitor’s power to be eternally accessible, so he would always be able to use it to dominate Overgod if the time came where they would face one another. During times that the Progenitor was unresponsive, Oreogus found himself in great fear of Overgod’s wrath, and paranoid that the knowledge of his abuses would reach the Tungsten Court.

Oreogus then decided that he needed to sire children to carry on his lineage and ensure that if his enemy returned and he died, his legacy would be greater than that of Overgod. The seeds that would become the brothers Ravtuk and Lisêntor and sisters Tamnigul and Quirithan were thus produced by Oreogus and then planted. When they grew, their father explained to them why he had created them and granted them wisdom and names, stating those would be the only things that he gave his children and that they would have to earn their places upon the Tungsten Court. The newborns continued to listen as their father explain the "trap" of hope that there was a path in the universe that did not involve conflict, and explained his interpretation of the Mantle of Responsibility and why it was important that they upheld it.

He dispatched his sons Ravtuk and Lisêntor near the centre of the Milky Way galaxy, where he believed that there would be a high concentration of ‘Shards of Prominus’- calcified fragments of The Inherent Bright’s power and light that were rumoured to exist throughout the universe, and Oreogus believed these would suffice to replenish the Progenitor. However, his sons encountered something very different- instead they encountered an asteroid field and destroyed wreckage of what appeared to be two vessels peppered with deposits of two distinct kinds of sapphire- on one ‘half’ of the asteroid field, there was Light Sapphire, and on the other- Dark, and one large deposit of the crystal sat in the middle in the shape of an altar- half light and half dark. Lisêntor and Ravtuk both grabbed the middle rock, the former holding onto the light and the latter to the dark. They had a short tug of war for the rock, and in the process separated both sides from one another, sending out billions of fine shards of the crystals, radiation and particles from the separation of the two travelling at extremely high speeds omnidirectionally throughout the universe. Ravtuk believed they should take their findings to their father, whilst Lisêntor disagreed and insisted that these were not the Shards of Prominus. Ravtuk managed to persuade his brother however that the crystals were at the very least worth presenting to their father.

Travelling back to their father’s Castle World, they presented the crystals to Oreogus, however, the Tungsten King’s reaction was not what was expected- he had a slight moment of shock, as if he knew what the crystals were the moment he saw them before regaining his normal composure. Oreogus then told his sons that the crystals were nothing more than common rocks that just happened to form into an interesting phenomena, and ordered them to continue their search for what he was looking for.

Ravtuk failed to withhold an angry outburst at his father- the culmination of years of what he perceived as mistreatment on account of his philosophical beliefs and a cold, distant attitude, nearly using a crystal to attack Oreogus, but Lisêntor managed to calm his brother down. Ravtuk and Lisêntor later agreed that their father knew more than he was letting on about the crystals given his shocked reaction, and the two agreed to study them despite the assurance that they were worthless. Eventually the two noticed strange abilities that they had- ones unrelated to their understandings of Neural Physics. Whilst they both had access to this new set of power, Lisêntor seemed to be closer aligned with light-giving, healing and mind-cleansing power whilst Ravtuk seemed to be closer affiliated with dark, deadly and destructive power.

Upon closer investigations the two discovered that the sapphires emitted a unique form of cosmic radiation which gave recipients special mutated nodules in their bodies enabling them to access the powers of a Neurophysical branch known as Alchemy, however, light and dark sapphire would naturally attune a recipient to the light and dark sides of the Alchemical spectrum respectively, though not restrict them to it, which is why although Ravtuk had been effected by Dark Sapphire, he was also able to access powers that could be considered both light and somewhere in between light and dark, or not at all. They also tried to mix their powers with their baseline Neural Physics, finding that alchemy boosted their powers and enabled more fluidity and creativity in terms of what could be accomplished, likely due to the fact that Alchemy did not require a particular level of enlightenment to use whereas other Neurophysical branches did.

Several fellow Precursors and associates of Ravtuk and Lisêntor discovered that they had developed strange powers too- after Lisêntor’s friend Gudnomar came to Lisêntor and showed them his powers of Light Alchemy, the two brothers began a secret operation to find others who had acquired these powers. Eventually, they both acquired a group of people who had the respective powers of light and dark alchemy, and offered to help them understand their power and offer them shelter from potential fear and prejudice. They also travelled to the Sapphire phenomena together, closely studying the origins of their powers, discovering that the split of the rocks had caused billions of particles to travel throughout the universe omnidirectionally, likely passing on powers to many across space- meaning that there would be more like them across the Precursor species and even among ‘lesser’ races across the universe.

Despite attempts to hide their ‘Enclave’, Oreogus eventually discovered what his sons had done, forbade them from continuing and ordered them to return to their task of finding the Shards of Prominus, but Ravtuk made a defiant speech to his father, declaring that he had no right to impose his unfounded beliefs on him and his comrades. Oreogus was caught off guard by his son’s bravery in confronting him, and then made a compromise- that they would be allowed to continue their study and delve deeper into the secrets of Alchemy, but Oreogus assured that when Alchemy inevitably ‘betrayed’ them, he would not be there to help them out of their predicament. This ominous moment confused the Alchemists, and made them question if what they were doing was right, but Ravtuk, supported by the witch Raches, who Ravtuk had formed a good relationship with, both insisted that if they abandoned this new gift of Alchemy then they’d be reduced back to the overcomplicated, limiting nature of baseline Neural Physics again- however this was power that should not be discarded.

The powers they had did not stop them from continuing their duties as warriors of the Precursor Empire. Ravtuk was one of the leaders in the Decimation of the Nightmare Galaxy- a faraway galaxy where an offshoot of Precursors had spawned unbelievable horrors in need of cleansing from the universe in the eyes of the King. However, a string of losses meant that Precursor forces had to withdraw from the Nightmare Galaxy and fallback to re-coordinate in the hopes of making a counter attack. Privately, Oreogus knew the only way to finish off the Nightmare Galaxy was to use the Progenitor again, but it’s lack of output made it impossible.

With no other option, Oreogus decided to summon the Forerunner Paragons and enlist their help in figuring out this issue. The Paragons were able to agree with Oreogus that they too did not believe this slow self-regeneration was the wisest design for the Progenitor that Prominus could’ve made, but informed the Tungsten King that it was possible to hasten the regenerative process- the amount of raw energy in certain stars would be more than enough to replenish the Progenitor- as the Paragons were privy to the existence of Shards of Prominus, many of which had actually been hidden within the centre of numerous suns across the universe and in some cases were responsible for their formation. But Prime-Knight-of-Divinity gave Oreogus an ultimatum that he would only share his ideas and give aid to the King if he agreed that they would not harm stars which supported sentient life, and if Oreogus ceased his conquest after beating back the enemy forces at the Nightmare Galaxy and negotiated an armistice with the Precursors there.

The King agreed, and together the Infinite Empire, with help from the Paragons, designed and constructed ’Devourers’- large pyramid shaped structures that were placed on a planet or celestial body adjacent to a star blessed with a shard of Prominus which used a combination of Precursor technology and Neural Physics to harvest suns and store the vast amounts of energy they beheld within the Devourers, which could funnel their power back into the Progenitor. Due to the danger posed by these devices in the wrong hands, Devourers could only be activated by the Corpus- a device designed and forged by the Paragon Valiance-and-Soul and Dark Alchemists Brinkes and Dreadurex.

And thus, the first Devourers were fired, and swallowed stars whole.

I’m glad you’re still here. Most would have cowered and hidden by now, crippled with the fear of the truth. So let us take this as a moment to reflect on what exactly truth is.

All life can be described as cellular automata, except for that life which understands neural physics, and thus escapes the restrictive formula of cause and effect. That life is powerful, that life has understood what it means to take the universe into their hands, and command it to do their bidding-- existence doesn’t define them, they define existence.

And if one defines existence, surely they cannot be subject to false rules they did not write, yes? Henceforth, they should feel no guilt or remorse when they defy those rules for the sake of the universe’s survival.

And that, my friend, is truth. There is strict, eternal proof of this, but there are those who would have you believe that you are evil for acknowledging it. They say people like us are the ones who will end all life. They say people like us are to be reviled, revolted against. They say people like us are ‘socially maladaptive’.

They say people like us are the ones who will destroy the universe.

Mmmm. That’s what they say. What do you say?

(What is this? Nebula finally uploaded the Precursor history post? Could it be a dream? Is this really happening? Someone pinch me!)

(This isn't the full thing, I might add. Since I haven't actually finished the second half yet. I originally wanted to post this all as one long entry but I got sick of not having this thing posted already, so I decided I'd just get something out already instead of continually pushing back the day I'd get this thing out to you. I actually wanted one more chapter to be in this part one, but deviantart's description limits kicked in and said no, so I guess it was always going to have to be split into two parts. The second half will come...I don't know when, but it will come one day.)

(We're getting there. I could explain a lot more about how I wanted this to be blah blah blah but honestly who cares? What's important is I finally have this damn thing posted already.)

(And for context on what the image above is, consider it to be an image of life on the Gas Giant Underpin, at least, as Oreogus remembers it, since these 'Articles of Undoing' are written from his perspective, which may not be entirely truthful and accurate, mind you. More on what the Articles actually are later. Also, yeah, that is the Ark hanging in Underpin's sky. Only it's not the Ark. Basically, if you read www.deviantart.com/decidingneb… then you'll understand that the general shape of the Ark is inspired by the visual appearance of the Creator-God Prominus, and so I've decided that it's going to be the shape I use to represent Prominus from here on out. Most of the time. I figured that the Creator-God hanging there in space, oblivious to the misery and suffering experienced by the creatures of Underpin would be an apt depiction of Oreogus' own views on the universe, and how the universe itself was basically silent and complacent in the face of all this horror. The other reason I put it there? So the Halo discord mods can't tell me this "isn't halo content" in the share your content channel.)

(Okay, that's about it for now. So uh. Yeah. Hope you've enjoyed. Peace.)