Willpower - Ativari Conclave Preview
My will a blade
Mind bright with flame
It darkness abrades
In Conclave's name.
~Excerpt from the Neophyte's Oath, recited upon initiation into the Willblade Order
The Ativari Conclave is an antediluvian species that goes to great lengths to obfuscate its alien culture from the prying eyes of the Spur's younger civilizations. Beyond the saccharine diplomacy of its agents and shadowed bulwark of its tightly controlled borders lies a society honed by millennia of existence.
The Ativari's passing resemblance to humanity and the Zhren'thrar is a bizarre example of convergent evolution, as these silicate lifeforms are biochemically alien to other species. With a hardy musculature formed of a viscous fluid matrix that rapidly crystallizes to generate movement, and a physiology that responds radically to sustained stress; the Ativari adapted well to life on an inhospitable homeworld that could barely sustain intelligent life.
One of the species' greatest attributes is its propensity for powerful psychokinesis. This ability - a unique electrical field generated by specialized nervous ganglia - has the effect of subtly altering atomic energy states and has been recorded in both Zhren'thrar, and humans to a lesser extent. However the efficacy of these less evolved species pales in comparison to the instinctual command Ativari demonstrate. Projected by a complex neurological network of subdermal ganglia and attunement spines, the psychokinetic field of an untrained Ativari is capable of feats unknown to even the most devout Dreamspeaker.
In Service of the Synod
The Conclave - or collected society of the Ativari - is unique within the Spur in its perfect unity. In a great schism eons past, a dissident theocratic faction split from the Conclave proper, leaving its remaining members to enjoy an unshakeable allegiance to the civilization as a whole. Individuals are not even identified or given a name until one is bestowed for deeds performed in selfless service of their community.
The Conclavate Synod is the ruling council that oversees the actions of the Conclave. A summit of the most venerable Ativari - some millennia old - the Synod passes its commandments to individual Directorates that oversee every aspect of Ativari life - from fabrication to habitation and warfare.
Advanced Warfare
While their advanced technology often makes victory in large-scale conflict trivial, Ativari doctrine all-but forbids such engagements. With an isolationist attitude and glacial population growth, Ativari political philosophy maintains a neutral stance towards their stellar neighbors, while promoting destabilizing agents from within. Synod operatives will often have infiltrated an alien society before it is even aware of the Conclave's existence.
When military intervention is required, it is typically executed by highly skilled infiltrator teams, equipped for stealth and surgical strikes that can fade into the background before the enemy is able to react.
Conclave operatives make use of their advanced technology to confound their opponents detection and targeting equipment. Nanofields are protective auras composed of highly specialized biotechnological microdrones generated by an adaptive combatskin. The most common nanofields project high-frequency EM field between each component particle that disrupts virtually all methods of detection; rendering the user all-but invisible until the field is dispersed.
Prelator troops form the core of Ativari infiltrator teams. While they are typically the least-specialized operators on the field, even the most novice Vanguards are elite warriors boasting decades of grueling training and combat experience; using both their phase projector firearms and deadly monomolecular-edged close combat weapons.
The most prolific technology issued to Ativari combatants is the adaptive combatskin; a highly resilient, biotechnological symbiote that is flash-grown over a warrior before they are deployed for battle. Interfacing with the wearer's psychokinetic ganglia; this advanced combat armor can deploy a myriad subsystems that relay feedback directly into the user's nervous system, allowing them to act in unison.
On the tabletop this gives each model access to multiple powerful Enhancements. These special rules can be seen in action already on the Zhren'thrar character Khash'Parah, Blade of Paqhat. With the ability to "toggle" on and off, enhancements can change the model's capabilities during the game.
Prelator teams are characterized by seamless teamwork; assisted by both their enhanced communication systems and subvocal psychokinetics. Using these tools, Prelator troops are important to any Ativari team for their ability to improve the team's efficiency by "sharing" enhancement activations.
Mind Games
Aside from their advanced technology, a major asset to Ativari troops are their powerful psychokinetics. With the ability to regenerate Psychokinetic points with ease thanks to their neuropsych interface enhancement, this makes Ativari psychokinetics the most efficient in the game.
A signature ability of the Prelator Optius, Haywire unleashes a wave of force capable of the position of the opposing team. This can force targets of out of cover, into striking distance of powerful melee fighters or even rip bodyguards away from their crucial Field Officers.
Members of the Willblade Order take these abilities to the next level. Boasting unparalleled control of their psychokinetic gift, members of this order are often attached to infiltrator teams where their mastery of manipulating their surroundings and prodigious skill-at-arms are highly prized.
Willblade Adepts are able to act as a scalpel on the battlefield, picking out high-value targets, isolating them with powerful psychokinetic abilities and leverage their extreme mobility to get in close.
Equal parts a ceremonial device and deadly close combat weapon, a Willblade's Kaesus is a long, crystalline blade honed to a perfect edge by its user's own psychokinetic field. Acting as a both a rite of passage and constant practice for a Willblade warrior, they must spend decades painstakingly repairing and shifting every molecule of the blade's edge into place. Representing the order's seamless unification of their martial art and mental discipline, these weapons are so dangerous they must be suspended in gravitic "sheaths" while not in use to prevent the potentially catastrophic results of an accident.
Their Kaesus makes Willblade troops some of the most dangerous melee combatants in Breachstorm. With an impressive Acc 5, 2" Rng and ample access to Precise attack modifiers, Adepts can use their suite of psychokinetic abilities and the Mobility Augment enhancement of their adaptive combatskin to align the perfect assassination.
These are not all of the inclusions in Wave 1 of the Ativari Conclave faction. Learn more soon when their rules become available in the Breachstorm Open Beta.
The Ativari Conclave will be unlockable as a stretch goal on the Breachstorm Kickstarter Campaign, launching 9/18/18.