Sacred Vessel

Sacred Vessel is a term that refers to entities that have been modified to be a focus or receptacle of another being's power. The particular metaphysical augment used to reach this state of being is one mainly associated with House Mifi of the Ulemedi.

## Description

A Sacred Vessel is usually indistinguishable from any other of their kind until a power is actually cast through them. During this casting, Sacred Vessels radiate large pulses of power known as Zenit pulses. Zenit pulses are distinguishable by the fact that they appear opaque to most senses and sensors, and emit high amounts of Arish soul mass. Sacred Vessels are created from dead and metaphysically inactive Arish, which do not have control mechanisms for their power like those of metaphysically active ones. As such, Sacred Vessels are unable to amplify the bearer's own power; the bearer of the augment must substitute themselves as the control mechanism. The bearer of the augment directs and wrangles control of the dead Arish with their own abilities to modulate the potency and magnitude of amplification in accordance to a caster's wishes. Sacred Vessels are usually placed in teams of three, with one designated caster, the vessel bearer and shield bearer whose purpose is to protect the other two.

## History

While Ulemedi records are scarce within the Weave Remnant, the history of the Sacred Vessels are very well documented by other polities and as such were obtained during trades of information. Research into what would become the Sacred Vessels commenced shortly after the founding of Great House Mifi. Due to the majority non-Ulemedi membership in the house, the prospect of becoming Arish hosts for many within the house was not an attractive one due to the debilitating drawbacks for non-Ulemedi hosts. As such, alternative means were looked into for members of House Mifi to match the other Great Houses in military might. The leaders of Mifi began secret negotiations with Nikti for their expertise and existing research into the subject. Over several centuries, Nikti sent contingents of researchers and several databases worth of research to Mifi for their project in return for resources not accessible to the other Great Houses from Mifi members. Teams of Mifi-Nikti researchers undertook further research on how the Arish were able to amplify their hosts' abilities whilst adding their own, resulting in prototypes known as Stellar Foci. These Stellar Foci were metaphysical augments made from dead and dissected symbtiotic Arish designed as a way to grant non-Ulemedi all the powers that Ulemedi enjoy with none of the drawbacks.

These prototypes failed in this regard; the powers obtained from physically and metaphysically dead/inactive Arish were uncontrollable at best, while the amplification of a bearer's existing abilities were wildly inconsistent; waxing and waning in potency and magnitude to the point they were written off. Without a living, or at least metaphysically active Arish (as is the case with the Patra) their power and amplification of abilities could not be properly directed due to the lack of control mechanisms present in active Arish. Attempts made with using Void based control mechanisms met some success albeit with far less efficiency, and it was this avenue of research that was further pursued.

The first metaphysical augments that would come to be known as Sacred Vessels were created a few centuries before Nekulo's rebellion and House Malor's attempt at bringing back the Kin. These were considerably more successful than earlier efforts, but came with the caveat that the actual bearer of the augment being unable to amplify their own abilities nor make use of the dead Arish's abilities. In order to somewhat alleviate this weakness, a system was implemented in which Sacred Vessels were placed in teams of three; a designated caster, the Vessel bearer and a shieldbearer who protects the other two and assists the Vessel bearer should they require additional help. Nevertheless, the Vessels were untested; with few to no peer opponents, their usefulness was unknown.

This state of affairs didn't hold for long, as war reached House Mifi when House Malor attacked every Great House. The Sacred Vessels and their teams were brought out of secrecy and fielded in the first encounters against peers. Initially, the comparatively inexperienced vessel teams suffered heavy losses in the defense of Mifi until Malor was ground down in the heart of Mifi territory in a battle of attrition. There, immense numbers of Sacred Vessels were created and deployed, eliminating multiple Malor warhosts sieging the Mifi capital. After Malor's forces were worn down and mopped up, Mifi joined the other Great Houses in a counterattack on Malor. The recently hardened Vessel bearers gave a good accounting of themselves in the assault on the Malor capital, being the first to storm their core territories.

With the reputation and effectiveness of the Sacred Vessels solidified, full production began as Vessel bearers took on roles usually reserved for Ulemedi lords. This increase in power by the non-Ulemedi portion of the house was noted by the other Great Houses; whom made efforts to both research the technology themselves and to carefully observe social and political changes in House Mifi through infiltrators. Accusations also flew from the leaders of other Great Houses of plots to take control of the Empire of Six. Witnessing the change in stance by the other Great Houses, Mifi introduced a policy that while controversial within the house also limited the action of the other Great Houses against it. This was the Patron Act, in which each Sacred Vessel within House Mifi was placed under the patronage of an Ulemedi Lord. Domestically this was seen by many as a move to cement Ulemedi power in response to the greater political and military advancement within the house. Others also recognised that this action placated the other Great Houses while also granting greater inter-house political power to the Vessel Bearers. The other Great Houses eased on their infiltration and rhetoric, while those in Mifi quietly seethed at having to acquiesce to the pressure.

The first recorded instance of a Sacred Vessel being used in the Weave Remnant was the Narek Incident, in the heart of Bocht Sovereign territory in the Weave Remnant's frontier. The Bocht Sovereign were a criminal syndicate dealing in arms smuggling, slavery, and in some cases, genocide. The syndicate's existence was tolerated by the polities within the Remnant for their work as deniable assets for powers in and outside the Weave. The prelude to this event was related to the Transcend-Shardbearer hybrid Venet, an enforcer for the syndicate. The leadup to the incident started early in Venet's career; during the first meeting with their would-be employers Meli, Venet's Transcended lover, was mind-wiped when the leaders of the syndicate felt that Venet acted insufficiently respectful to them. Murga Kol, the leader of the Bochts, used his Tor Harness to turn Meli into a mindless and subservient blightling. Enraged, Venet attempted to attack Kol. Without an activated Tor Harness of their own, however, Venet's attacks barely affected Kol and was promptly restrained and subdued.

A few weeks after the effective murder of Meli, Venet was pressed into service. As the syndicate's muscle, Venet was assigned targets to extort, convoys to protect and figures to end. Venet proved themselves with efficiency and ruthlessness, rising through the ranks to become a high ranking enforcer. Throughout the centuries of service, Venet kept their emotions repressed and expressed themselves very little to other Bocht's. The immediate prelude began during a fateful assignment where Venet was given a target to assassinate, in a universe distant from Bocht territory. Not expecting to be back in several decades, Venet set off in search of their target. In their journey to their target's location, Venet encountered a strange alpha blightling in the Void. Deciding to take a detour to avoid the the blightling, they introduced themselves as Narek.

Venet's interest and caution were piqued, as it was thought that blightlings are always mindless husks that never display behavioural characteristic of sentience or sapience. That the blightling introduced themselves was a cause for concern. Over the course of the meeting, Narek opened a dialogue with Venet, coming to promise answers on their existence in future meetings. After Venet finished their mission, they pondered over the meeting. Venet took on several bounties in the same general region as that they met Narek, coming to meet them several times during their missions. Over the course of the meetings, Narek revealed that they owed the integrity of their mind to the Ulemedi, and more specifically to House Mifi. One of the Ulemedi lords of Mifi had captured the then mindless Narek and restored their mind through means unknown to the Weave Remnant. Narek henceforth had all the benefits of blightlinghood without its chief downside.

Upon this reveal, Venet saw the potential for greater power in pursuit of revenge. Asking how they could achieve such a state and if their lover could be restored, Narek told them that their patron would be willing to perform the procedure, provided they gave something in exchange. Venet asked Narek to name their price, with the latter telling Venet that they would be willing should they become a Sacred Vessel and give the Bocht Sovereigns and their territory to Mifi. Narek gave them several weeks to ponder their decision, upon which Venet agreed. Narek led Venet to their patron, an Ulemedi lord by the name of Nephri. Narek turned Venet into a blightling, whereupon Nephri restored Venet's mind and implanted the Sacred Vessel into Venet. For a few years, Venet trained alongside Narek in the use of their new augment while the former adjusted to their new abilities. During this time, the duo created a plan to destroy the Bocht and take their territory.

Returning to Bocht held space, Venet concealed their new state of existence and smuggled Narek in under the guise of a new initiate. Venet made their way to the heart of Bocht territory, where Kol held a gala to celebrate the acquisition of assets from the syndicate's rivals. In the midst of the gala, Venet stopped concealing their new state of existence while Narek unleashed their power through Venet's Sacred Vessel. The resulting storm of Tor Mass ripped throughout the capital universe of the Bochts, turning all within into mindless blightlings. Venet retrieved Meli, whom he returned to Nephri with in order to restore their mind. Meli's mind was restored, and the trio travelled to Mifi territory after they performed their role.

With the leadership effectively dead, those within the Bocht either fled with or fortified what assets they could, while the remaining leaders who didn't attend the gala consolidated their positions. Nephri's forces, which had been mobilised since Narek and Venet put their plan into action, quickly seized Bocht territroy in the chaos. The Bocht's were now Mifi's to do as they please.

The Weave Remnant responded to the invasion after they discovered the intrusion from reports by survivors, Several Patra and multiple expeditionary groups were sent in to engage Nephri's forces, while the latter fortified their position. The conflict quickly ground down into a stalemate, with neither side making headway into either gaining or regaining former Bocht territory. Nephri's forces held their ground until reinforcements arrived, whereupon they made a breakthrough against Remnant forces. The latter cut their losses, retreating from the realities once held by the Bochts. Over the next millennia, strategists and intelligence operatives combed through what they could to build a picture of what lead to the incident. Piecing the fragments of information together, the Remnant found the main culprits Venet and Narek, whom would have bounties placed on them. As of yet, neither has been found in Remnant space and are still at large.