Grimoire:Enemies/SIVA

"And my vanquisher will read that book, seeking the weapon, and they will come to understand me, where I have been and where I was going."The following is a verbatim transcription of an official document for archival reasons. As the original content is transcribed word-for-word, any possible discrepancies and/or errors are included.

The SIVA subsection of the Grimoire covers subjects related to SIVA.

Dormant SIVA: Clovis Bray 1.0

I can't in good professional conscience recommend further research in this direction without stringent review of protocol and mitigation of the undisclosed lethality risks. Which I should have been informed of.

"Should have been." Is this insubordination, Zarin?

It's a—what did they call it—it's a protest.

~SIVA.MEM.WB065

Dormant SIVA: Clovis Bray 1.1

You have no history of subversion, Zarin. No marches, no petitions, no action items. We screened you very carefully. Where did we go wrong?

I don't think you did. I am trying to act in Clovis Bray's best interests.

How would you know what Clovis Bray's interests are?

~SIVA.MEM.WB066

Dormant SIVA: Clovis Bray 1.2

I understand your concerns. You're a good researcher, Zarin. Your work here has been deeply appreciated.

So you'll listen? You'll cease this line of inquiry?

On the contrary, we'll take your valuable findings and run with them. Your work will live forever.

~SIVA.MEM.WB068

Dormant SIVA: Clovis Bray 1.3

I'm surprised, I have to say. Although perhaps I shouldn't be. It does save time to run experiments in parallel. I see the benefit to the colonization effort, but I can't support those plans. I won't help you.

Strictly speaking, Zarin, your participation isn't necessary.

~SIVA.MEM.WB069

Dormant SIVA: Clovis Bray 1.4

Do you see these access logs? They were flagged for my personal attention.

Yes.

Do you see the times on these unauthorized access entries?

I do.

Would you have any idea who might have been prying into unreleased data, Zarin?

~SIVA.MEM.WB070

~consume consume consume~

Dormant SIVA: Clovis Bray 1.5

What do you have to report, Dr. Zhang?

Full functionality of the test nanites in our two hundred tasks across multiple trials and environments. They'll be what Clovis Bray is remembered for, hundreds of years from now. All that's left is construction of the replication chamber and initiation of production.

~SIVA.MEM.WB071

Dormant SIVA: Clovis Bray 1.6

I am changing project requirements to include a kill switch. Is that feasible?

Completely. But if I may ask, why that, and why now?

Another scientist on staff—well, formerly on staff—brought up the possibility of undesirable outcomes.

And you believe her.

Somewhat. She was honest about other matters.

~SIVA.MEM.WB072

Dormant SIVA: Clovis Bray 1.7

Does the new research facility meet your expectations?

It surpasses them. We presented you with this sample of SIVA on your desk six months ago, and the speed of our prototyping was the direct result of our generous budget.

Clovis Bray prides itself on its talent and liberality, Dr. Zhang. From construction workers to researchers, we treat our staff royally.

~SIVA.MEM.WB073

Dormant SIVA: Clovis Bray 1.8

I see you've been trying out the capabilities of SIVA, Dr. Bray.

I have. And I'm very impressed. How is construction going on the replication complex?

Everything moves smoothly.

~SIVA.MEM.WB074

Dormant SIVA: Clovis Bray 1.9

The complex is ready for wholescale replication of the SIVA nanite. We are waiting for your signal to start.

Thank you for your faithful service, Dr. Zhang. I look forward to the wonders that come from this replication complex. The New Machine Age, shall we call it? Let's begin.

~SIVA.MEM.WB075

Dormant SIVA: Iron Lords 2.0

The struggle. Fighting my brother. Fighting myself. The SIVA ~consume enhance replicate~.

A tendril reaches out, crushes my Ghost. I turn to face it. My boots slide in snow thick with blood.

If I am gone, then why am I still here?

~SIVA.MEM.??0308

Dormant SIVA: Iron Lords 2.1

Colovance died by the tanker. Dozens of frames, hundreds, more... he cut them down until he ran out of bullets. Then he smashed them ~consume enhance replicate~. It was not enough.

The same thing that killed Colovance killed me.

~SIVA.MEM.??0309

Dormant SIVA: Iron Lords 2.2

My axe’s flames are almost dead. Even its fire requires fuel.

I need an Urn, but the SIVA has already taken them. The tendrils seek them out, wrap around them, and then ~consume enhance replicate~. More mites swarm out to feed on anything they can touch.

The SIVA learns from what it consumes.

~SIVA.MEM.??0310

Dormant SIVA: Iron Lords 2.3

Ashraven’s cutting her way toward the bunker. Says we should meet her there. She’s got an idea – thinks we can hole up in there, maybe get those guns working. Draw off enough of the enemy to give Jolder’s group a shot ~consume enhance replicate~.

It’s a bad idea, but it’s the best bad idea we have.

~SIVA.MEM.??0311

Dormant SIVA: Iron Lords 2.4

Finnala always says she doesn’t mind dying, because it doesn’t last. A few seconds and then the Light comes, bright and warm. And she rises again.

Get up, Finnala! Please get up.

~SIVA.MEM.??0312

Dormant SIVA: Iron Lords 2.5

We should have been more careful. Should have never contacted the Warmind. Trying to help. Trying to rebuild. Thought ~consume enhance replicate~ was the key.

Feels like we’ve been fighting for days. Weeks. But we’re close. Once we get to the replicator, we ~consume enhance replicate~

Go! I’ll hold them off!

~SIVA.MEM.??0313

Dormant SIVA: Iron Lords 2.6

Felwinter tried to communicate with the Warmind. Called it Rasputin. ~consume enhance replicate~ Said he could make it understand. Tell it we meant no harm.

Rasputin didn’t answer with words.

~SIVA.MEM.??0314

Dormant SIVA: Iron Lords 2.7

I stood at the edge of Lords' Watch and watched the enemy ~consume enhance replicate~.

SIVA curled and thrashed, creating tendrils that lashed out at us. It formed shapes that could grapple us, and angry swarms that buzzed around us before breaking apart to worm their way into every chink of our armor.

Warlords I know how to fight. This is ~consume enhance replicate~

~SIVA.MEM.??0315

Dormant SIVA Iron Lords 2.8

I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die. I don’t want... ~consume enhance replicate~

Ghost? Ghost, where are you?

~SIVA.MEM.??0316

Dormant SIVA: Iron Lords 2.9

This is not my end! I have come too far to die here! I've let one unknown force make me, now ~consume enhance replicate~

~SIVA.MEM.??0409

Dormant SIVA: Fallen 3.0

Long have we wandered in the blind prison of flesh. Those old lives now a memory, transposed by another. The gift brings pain, yes, but godhood must come at a price. ~consume enhance replicate ~

~SIVA.MEM.AK0617

Dormant SIVA: Fallen 3.1

That which we were, we are no more. That which we are is undefined. We make our new selves. We need not machines, because we are machines. ~consume enhance replicate~

~SIVA.MEM.AK0618

Dormant SIVA Fallen 3.2

What is this complexity? ~consume enhance replicate~ The machine of a thousand parts, fashioned by single mind. From where does such complexity arise? What does the creation of a mind require? In the long march of life’s procession, order is created from disorder. The rise of complexity is not promised. Such things are not inevitable, and yet here I stand. ~consume enhance replicate~

~SIVA.MEM.AK0619

Dormant SIVA Fallen 3.3

~consume enhance replicate~ Life requires death requires life. All in an unending circle. The expenditure of countless generations, slouching blindly toward uncertain ends, each step forward a mere accident of chance. But this... this is different. This strange complexity requires only the will to wield it. ~consume enhance replicate~

~SIVA.MEM.AK0620

Dormant SIVA: Fallen 3.4

~consume enhance replicate~ Life’s procession is written in the corpses of those who came before. But here the great chain breaks. Here we step forward, freed from that which has always bound us. Here we speak as gods. We are they who created themselves. ~consume enhance replicate~

~SIVA.MEM.AK0621

Dormant SIVA: Fallen 3.5

We are they who created themselves out of themselves and died in the creation. No longer merely the god in the machine, but the machine in the god. ~consume enhance replicate~ Here we rise, made equal at last to that which we worship. ~consume enhance replicate~

~SIVA.MEM.AK0622

Dormant SIVA: Fallen 3.6

~consume enhance replicate~ To build a species requires epochs. Countless pairings and dyings. Countless generations. The simplest creature requires geological spans of time to develop. But not machines. Machines are free from such constraints. It is not life that matters, but the building of complexity. ~consume enhance replicate~

~SIVA.MEM.AK0623

Dormant SIVA: Fallen 3.7

Past is connected to the present by only two things: chain reaction, and memory. ~consume enhance replicate~ But is not memory just chain reaction? ~consume enhance replicate~ These memories in my mind are not my own. They belong to a past version of myself, a different being entirely. ~consume enhance replicate~ One who could die. ~consume enhance replicate ~ I am that no longer. ~

~SIVA.MEM.AK0624

Dormant SIVA Fallen 3.8

It rises. I see clearly from its eyes, and breathe with its lungs, and stride with its legs, and kill with its hands, and yet it is not me. ~consume enhance replicate ~ I am me. And yet I am it. ~consume enhance replicate~ This is a paradox. ~consume enhance replicate ~

~SIVA.MEM.AK0625

Dormant SIVA: Fallen 3.9

~consume enhance replicate~ My thinking is clear now in ways it never was before. It is my mind that is changed, and yet it is not my mind, but another consciousness that is different from my own. ~consume enhance replicate~ I feel there is a choice to be made, and yet I have made no choice. ~consume enhance replicate~ The choice was made for me. ~consume enhance replicate~

~SIVA.MEM.AK0626

SIVA

RECIPIENT: Assembly of Masters, S14 Cryptarchy
SENDER: Tyra Karn
SUBJECT: SIVA
SUB-ENTRIES: Nanotech; Self-Assembling Materials; Cosmodrome; Warmind; Iron Lords; Clovis Bray

SUMMARY:
We must reopen all previous entries on SIVA. What we once believed to be a colonial tool of the Warminds, destroyed long ago, appears to be active again. This time, there is no sign of any active Rasputin networks. My summation: SIVA is actually a nanotechnology capable of breaking down any existing matter very similar to Glimmer.
Unfortunately, these SIVA mites reuse the energy and matter based on a set of programmable directives. SIVA does not cease until said directives are complete. I fear what this could mean for us all and suggest we instigate a system-wide scan for anything bearing the enclosed signatures.