Patra

With the increasing amount of existential threats to the societies and civilisations that inhabit the remains of the Weave, new fighting forces dedicated to combat the most dire threats were needed. The Negentropic Union made pacts with the few Arish that escaped Ulemedi enslavement to create the Patra; a fighting force meant to combat the very worst threats in the multiverse that might threaten what remains of the Weave.

## Description

The Patra are beings empowered by merging with an active Arish soul without a consciousness. Any being can become a Patra, from Transcends, Old Brethren, Shardbearers and many other types of entities. The Arish soul grants the same type of reality warping power that the aforementioned entities possess, alongside greatly amplifying whatever abilities that the being had prior to the merging.

A Patra starts off with no more power than they had prior to the merging, but their abilities rapidly grow with prolonged usage of their powers, up until they are able to warp the entirety of a universe. It is this concentration of force that makes the Patra valuable assets against major threats. There are extremely few Patra at any one time, usually numbering less than one hundred trillion in active service.

## Process

The process for becoming a Patra is a long and thorough procedure, often taking several millennia to complete. Candidates are selected from a wide variety of backgrounds and occupations, undergoing prolonged psychological and metaphysical screening by both the Negentropic Union and the Arish to ensure that they are suitable for having an Arish's power entrusted to them. The Arish in particular have criteria for the candidates unknown to the Union, and thus far recruitment has been very low (though many also suspect this is to make sure that the secrets to the bonding process is kept within the Arish, and thus ensures that the former Weave's civilisations have a steady need for the genie-figures).

After the initial screening is complete comes the bonding process. The Arish create an Arishi soul without a consciousness, and over a period of centuries integrates it into the candidate's metaphysical composition. After the bonding process has been completed, the new Patra is put through a number of trials by the Negentropic Union, where their abilities are constantly pushed to the limit in order to facilitate their growth. Over a few millennia, the Patra mature into their abilities. Once the Patra has fully grown into their powers and finished the training trials, they are deployed into action.

## Deployment

A Patra's role is to delay or, if possible, fight off and kill universal and multiversal threats that are too dangerous and/or cause too much collateral damage for other units to directly combat. As a consequence, the Patra are only deployed in situations where a battle against the threat would take more resources than can be quickly mustered from nearby regions. In most circumstances, the Patra will delay a threat until a superweapon can be deployed to deal with the situation.

Patra are often deployed either solo or in teams of up to four, with massed deployments reserved for threats such as greater Tor fragments and full Ulemedi and Flesh Cult invasions.