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Is this truly the state of the world?

[Gilgamesh asked the machine while not realizing it was on, wondering if he was simply being shown a farce of the Earth. The reality of the world around him sunk in quickly, but he seemed a little disappointed. The King stood in the middle of the street, holding his tablet in one hand and visible in the corner of the screen he held a golden crown with a jeweled ring attached to the front of it.]

So few survivors left. With this artifact being the only interesting thing presented to me...

[His teeth clenched and his expression hardened.] What a torrid vacation. The degradation of the world is no surprise, but these spoils are a disappointment. At the very least, I would have preferred to see the 'end' of civilization as it happened rather than being inclined to save it in its aftermath.

I, Gilgamesh, shall oversee this.

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[ Only until you take the helmet off. ]

I don't care that you are a petty dynast. Out here, in this time, in this place, you're just a soldier, or a bystander.

[Fabio, the gunner.]

[There's the cluck of Gilgamesh's tongue. The desire to extinguish life rises up as bile in his throat, but even he realizes the world is too small and fragile at the moment. With such a small population, spilling blood so wantonly would be a waste.]

Curb the speed of your foolish tongue, mongrel. I'll remove it if you do not pay respect.

To call me a mere 'soldier' is begging for my divine judgement.

The only god I'll acknowledge is Him on earth, the Emperor of mankind. And don't waste your time trying to remove my tongue, there is work to do. [ He's a god-slayer himself, in his war plate, after all. And fear is a completely alien emotion to him. Disgust with waste, however, isn't. ]

You're a soldier. Accept it. Any respect you'll be accorded here must by accorded by deeds, not words, unless they're ones of sage advice. I notably haven't heard much of that.

Edited 2013-01-05 08:28 (UTC)

If you know not who I am, then I do not place blame on you for your ignorance. However, you'll rue the prospect of my punishment in time.

[Primarily, because Gilgamesh had no idea how big the remainder of the 'world' was, nor whether or not he was in the same land as this person. He knew that communication technology was fairly misleading.]

You look upon my radiance incorrectly and speak foolishness. When you learn, bend your knee and understand.

I doubt that I shall be doing that. You are not my master, and only one man here can command my allegiance in any case.

You misplace your words and you misunderstand between 'Master' and 'King'.

You're neither to me. In my time, kings were honored to see the presence of my brothers and I, and I've never been bound to obey petty dynasts of whatever sort, as the princess of Cartomax learned to her displeasure.

If you value the title of 'soldier', then you're merely a misplaced soul. All other Kings proceeding after me have been mere imitations--pathetic wastes and imitations.

You know nothing of the True King.

Soldiers come and go. The only title that holds meaning to me is "Brother."

Enlighten me.

Of course. [As soldiers went--he was used to that standard. In his youth, he felt the same way.]

As far as words go--I have no qualms crushing you rather than tiring myself with repetition so that in your fleeting final moments you understand even a moment of the breadth of my legacy. Such conversation works only to bore me, after all.

I suspect you might find it rather more difficult to crush one such as I than you have initially imagined.

That being said, I see little else to discuss for the moment, unless you have some actual intent of helping the Initiative that I have not ascertained.

I have already stated my purpose. I will oversee this land and wait for the filth to be culled.

When this place is worthy of my rule, I will take it.

You'll be waiting a long time, I think.

You know nothing of my patience. 'Soldiers' are limited in their usefulness, after all.

Waiting longer than a handful of days to fight--I imagine you'd go sick and mad.

I think you would be surprised about that. I am Adeptus Astartes, and we endure.

And sometimes... we wait. As it is written in the codex.

[Gilgamesh wasn't exactly slow on the uptake. Right off the bat, this man went from mere soldier to 'monk' in his mind.

Anyone who fought on that sort of credo's policy was much more worthy of admiration.]

'Codex'?

The codex Astartes is a holy tome penned by our progenitor Guilliman roboute during the Heresy and the Scouring, some 10,000 years ago in my time. It was the distilled whole of human knowledge, philosophy, and tactics relating to the practice of war. It was his gift to his sons, and even now we continue to add to it, as new things are discovered, and new tactics developed.

Though few know the entirety of the text, all warriors know some.

[Condensing and merging all that? It sounded vaguely interesting, though a bit insulting to the integrity of having varied culture.]

A merged text sounds to be nothing more than an insult to the variation and strength of differing cultures.

For what reason would a man sunder text in such a way?

A good question. He found what worked best, and discarded the parts that weren't practical. Much as you would mine through dross to find gold. Some cultures were eminently suited to dealing with particular foes, and terrible at dealing with others. The codex would give you a correct procedure for beating both.

The philosophy is simple enough, and can be best encapsulated by two ideas. Strength and honor.

A dissatisfying prospect. Philosophy is not about 'superiority' in text and logic. Error must exist in conjunction with betterment and superiority in order for there to even be a comparison of the fact.

[There must be winners and losers, so the King believed--such that he won so much that there had to be an immensity of losers or else why bother being the King?]

I disagree. Perfection of doctrine and thought is what humanity has been running towards, and Guilliman's undertaking was a significant jump in that direction, as far as war goes.

It's a shameful suggestion. 'Perfection' is an impossibility for humans. It is one of the very reasons why I prefer them.

Is it? It is well that the codex was written by and imparted to those who are no longer human then, though we come from them and protect them.

It seems vastly pointless for any sentient being to try.

To protect humanity?

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gates_of_babylon - 2013-01-10 11:02 (UTC) - Expand

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