3660166 Maybe I got one of the more stricter mods out of the bunch? Regardless, I'll edit the chapter before I submit it again. I haven't really touched it lately so I might as well get it over with while I can.

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3660166 Well, the story finally made it past the mods and it's up...and someone mistook it for a Warhammer crossover

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3344183 Quick question for you guys. Do any of you remember the Phoenix Forge that Gap mentioned from Unholy's notes that he had? What do you think the Forge would actually be like? Cause I'd like to continue writing the Shade Knight's side story but can't continue without settling on how the forge works.

3955902 Can I have a remider on what this Phoenix Forge was?

3956081 It's the thing that converts the souls of fallen Vatican Knights into Shade Knights, I think. The one who would know more about it would be Gap but I'd like all of your input on exactly how it functions.

3955902 I mentioned that? I have no memories of it....

Well, I believe it's like a well. In literal terms a well of souls. You see, the souls are moved instantly, which means some sort of pact beforehand is required. We all know that the Vatican Knights do sort of sell their souls, so that's the pact. Once a Knight falls, his souls is captured in the well. Otherwise, it would go wherever pony souls go. Now, this isn't the "forge" part yet. This is just where they keep the souls until the souls are literally forged into the armor with the soul shards things.

An armorer will select a soul with a shard. It's the only way to fetch a soul. Now, the forge area and the well are kinda in the same place. Now, this isn't called the Phoenix Forge because of fire, it is called this because of revival. Like a Phoenix rising from the ashes reborn. So I will suggest that the forge has very little fire, if there is, it will be fire of the arcane. You know, like Skyrim.

Now, simply moving a shard into a suit of armor will not work. The soul must be familiar with all of the armor, like one would be with a body. This is where the forge comes in. The armor has been made somewhere else (probably a factory) and the armorer must forge the soul into the armor. This process is tedious and dangerous. I don't really know what to say about it, except that it is magic heavy.

(Now, this is just an idea to bounce off of, Unholy never told me details)

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3956292 That does seem good. Also - the two chapters of the story are being well accepted, which is nice.

I will try to finish up the things I got on my mind for the CMC arc this weekend so we can begin piecing the next chapter together.

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3957319 Interesting thought. I modified what i had so far to loosely fit in with what Gap proposed:

Darkness. All he saw around him was complete and utter darkness and nothing else. He couldn’t even feel the ground under his hooves as he just floated there in the black abyss. He didn’t know how he ended up here, or how long it had been since he woke up. All he could remember was that he had promised his wife that he would return to her, but since he couldn’t remember how he arrived here in the first place, he couldn’t leave either.

He looked around to see if there was any sign of a way out of the darkness but no matter where he looked, all he could see was the empty void, which disheartened him greatly. Just as he was about to lose all hope of seeing his wife ever again, a bright light appeared out of nowhere.

The light blinded him as he forced his eyes shut and turned away from it but he eventually adjusted to the light and turned his head back to took a better look at it. The light was of a golden hue, reminding him of a beautiful sunrise on Umoja but the light pulsed in a rhythmic pattern. It was almost like a heartbeat.

He didn’t know why but he felt drawn to the light as he made his way over to it. As he got closer, the pulsing suddenly became erratic as the light became brighter and brighter until his eyes started to water. He tried get away but was unable to as he was being forcefully pulled towards the light, which grew brighter and brighter until he couldn’t take it anymore and screamed.

He stopped when he opened his eyes and found himself inside a large glass capsule filled with a strange swirling mist that clung to his body. Wondering where he was, he looked through the glass and he saw dozens of other capsules similar to the one he was in, lining the walls of a massive chamber filled with the same strange mist, but they held no one inside them.

He soon heard hoof steps in the distance and looked around until he saw a unicorn mare wandering around the chamber. Judging from the robe she wore, he could tell that she was a mage from the Order of the Arcane and was probably the best pony to get some answers from so he started tapping on the glass to draw her attention.

The tapping worked when the mage turned around to face his capsule but she let out a frightened shriek when she saw him inside of it. He was confused by the mare’s reaction but guessed that she wasn’t expecting to see a naked stallion inside the capsule.

He rolled his eyes at her before he tried to ask her why he was inside the capsule but was surprised that no sound came out his mouth. He thought that his throat was just dry so he asked the question again but all that came out his mouth was silence.

Realizing that he was trying to talk to her, the mage approached his capsule and did something to it that caused the inside of it to glow. He winced at the brightness as it reminded him of the light from his dream so he asked her to turn it down before he realized that he just spoke.

With the ability to speak again, he thanked the mage before he asked her why he was in the capsule. The mage gave him a strange look before she asked him if he could remember what happened to him before he woke up in that capsule.

The 'Darkness' refers to the Nexus ship that sucks the souls of the fallen crusaders into it's soul nexus before they're dumped into the capsules where they are stored before they're 'downloaded' into the power armor which is essentially a mobile and armored version of the capsule. So what do you think?

Is there any part so far that you would personally change? Cause I would really like to hear about them.

3958042 It's lovely. I see nothing that needs changing here.

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3959424 Quick question concerning the Umojan Vatican, do we make the knowledge of the Eternal Legion's origins common knowledge to Vatican citizens or do we it keep it a military secret?

3984566 I dont know, whatever you feel works best I guess

3984566 Yes, make it public. Here's why (not to say anything against Muslims). Let's make it like Jihad. A holy war. The Vatican will make it public so that the Knights will be even more willing to pay such a price, like in Jihad. It's the greatest honor any (pony) could ever have. The honor of serving eternally for Celestia.

The population will back up the war (like Jihad) because it's religiously right. Get what I'm saying?

3985052 I am for making it public too. Though we can also call it a crusade. Because, from my knowledge gained from Crusader Kings 2, a Jihad is to muslims what a Crusade is to christians.

3985426 Crusade will be the better term since we use Vatican and the such.

Also, don't get knowledge from games or sources like that. There is history you know

Jihad is built into the religion of Islam. Muhammad's commands. Jihad is a promise of salvation for service (IE death) in war. It's an aspect of Islam and Allah. (though many reject it, I am sure) Kinda like Vikings and Vahalla...only different.

Crusade was what some desperate Catholic priest did to get recognition. It's not in the Christian Bible, thus is not one of God's commands. Christians did do it though. The Crusades were meant to liberate Jerusalem from the Turks. Nothing else than that. Being in a Crusade will not bring salvation.

3985619 Actually Crusader Kings 2, and the whole of the Paradox made games have tons of their game mechanics built upon real history. But apparently the Crusade=Jihad for the two religions event is one of those that are false.

3985802 ....So is Assassin's Creed. But you and I both know that Connor Kenway didn't ride with Paul Revere through the New England forests shouting "Go this way" and "You've got the right place." (ugh...I hated that mission) I also know that the Templar Order wasn't some evil organization. Some of them were just nice knights. Like the Teutonic Knights. They just went about protecting people from unruly bandits and marauders. Not very sinister...And the Assassin Brotherhood started in Arabia during the Crusades...Not centuries before...

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3985426 Thanks for the feedback, this is going to help me quite a bit in fleshing out the Vatican's culture.

Just putting this here for reference(Stupid thunderstorm causing blackouts):
The Five Orders:
The Order of the Dawn: In charge of the Vatican's military forces and responsible for training the Crusaders and Knights.
Sub-Order: Order of Justice: The Vatican's equivalent of the judicial system complete with a police force supplied by the Order of the Dawn to enforce the law.

The Order of the Arcane: In charge of research and development of magic and its application to benefit the Vatican. Responsible for the education of scholars and mages who would either help the Vatican by developing new forms of arcane technology(in conjunction with the Order of the Gear) or fight in the crusades with their magic. The Order's ranks are predominantly unicorns.

The Order of the Coin: In charge of the Vatican's treasury and its vast wealth Responsible for maintaining and enriching the Vatican's economy through trade and production. One of two Orders that maintains contact with the other factions, primarily the Kel-Morian Consortium.

The Order of Celestia's Light: In charge of the Vatican's one and only religion and is responsible for all religious matters within and outside the Vatican's borders. Disciples of the church would sometimes leave the Vatican to spread their religion though due to the dangers of the Koprulu Sector, the number of missionaries have decreased with any daring to venture outside the Vatican borders usually accompanied by armed guards.

The Order of the Gear: In charge of developing and maintaining technologies for the Vatican. Responsible for the development and construction of the many pieces of technology utilized by the Vatican, especially the equipment and vessels used by the Holy Navy. With the cooperation of the Order of the Arcane, they develop and create pieces of arcanatech, a combination of magic and technology to give their people a fighting chance in the Great Crusade.