Hellucinatory / Rituale Plus Ultra Inferis or the Retrognosis Mass

The Hellucinatory is housed within the Abyssilica on SAA/5W/W.  Using technology based on that of the Delirium Forge, the Hellucinatory differs in that it is classed as a ←nacht/maschine↓, (commonly referred to as Infernals or Ultos (Ultra/Omegas, or +Ω)).  This class of machine is used exclusively in Opposition Theology or Severance/Re-Birthing Rituals. The rites involving the Hellucinatory are based on the archaic Eleusian and Mithraic rites of spiritual purification through fear, pain, disremembrance, and symbolic re-birth.
A passage from the Akkordance or Liber Pro Irae Viruum (Defilio 4:234-278) is read by the officiating Vikar Apostatik as the supplicant undergoes the Ritus Pro Maculo or Ritual of Self-Debasement in the Debasing Pool followed by the Ceremonia Adversus or Anathematism by submersion in the Sanguinarium (Blood Fount).

View of a portion of the Hellucinatory

Next is the Abasement of the Host performed by the Vikar and his Akolyte, during which the supplicant consumes the Crustulum Excreta Sanctus and Menstruum Mortiae. Upon consummation of the Host, the supplicant’s eyes are covered with an Occlusion Swathe, made from the skin of a sacrificed Nihilae, as representing his blind groping for spiritual truth.  Once blinded, a Volute, or flesh screw, is used to anchor the supplicant’s tongue to the hard palate, and his lips are sewn together tightly by an Cenobitum Vultus using a Mordant, or bone-needle and Funiculum Viscus, or sutures, made from the gut of sacrificed Nihilae.  This is symbolic for the end of weak and vain pleading and prayer to disinterested gods.
Finally, before beginning the ordeal of the Hellucinatory, the supplicant is fitted with two Camur Pro Viscuum -flesh hooks- in the area of the shoulder-blades.  To these hooks are attached Insistuum - heavy gauge chains - binding two Nihili who have their legs unfettered as the supplicant enters the chamber.  This is symbolic of the pull of fear and worldly attachment that will prevent ultimate freedom if the supplicant is not strong and determined enough to resist.
This done, the supplicant is encouraged by the lusty application of a scourge or Caro Plasmator (literally “Meat Maker”) to begin the re-birthing process. Blinded, mute and with forward progress made difficult by the Nihili, the supplicant must grope his way through the Hellucinatory chamber.  To further discourage those not fully committed to re-birth into the Fraternitas Lucis Niger, the floor of the Hellucinatory is made awash with several inches of blood, thus becoming extremely slippery and difficult to navigate.  The walls are also run with blood, via a number of small tunnels hidden in the topmost recesses. 
Unknown to the supplicant, the Crustulum that was ingested contained a mixture of offal, feces, and dried menstrual blood plus a heavy dose of Pseudoveritum Ecstasis that had been chemically altered to cause violent headache and nausea in addition to vivid visual and auditory hallucinations.  The ritual is timed carefully so that the PE takes effect soon after the supplicant enters the Hellucinatory.
Cenobites carefully hidden within recessed areas of the Hellucinatory assault the supplicant with violent screams and nightmarish howls, amplified electronically to painfully high decibel levels. As the supplicant passes certain way points, more cenobites hurl large portions of steaming viscera and flesh at him to further his confusion and distress.
If the supplicant perseveres, he is confronted by the final obstacle. At the end of the Hellucinatory chamber he encounters the Anus Mundi.  This is a solid wall of viscera, bone and rotting flesh blocking the entire width and height of the chamber.  To pass through, the supplicant must find the small Re-Birth Canal.  Once found, he must struggle into it, smearing himself with blood to make passage possible.  The passage itself is created from Elasticine Biomedical Flesh Replacement Material designed to mimic a human sphincter.
 Thus, once ingress is achieved, the supplicant winds his way through the passage.  By design, the Re-Birth canal was created to be suffocatingly tight in order that the supplicant must struggle not against pain and weariness only, but against the loss of relative location, claustrophobia and an increasingly airless atmosphere as well.
Upon exgression of the canal, which empties into the nave of the Red Chapel, waiting cenobites remove the Viscuum and hold the supplicant erect, all to cries of “In Nomine Nihilo! Ave, Excreta! Ave, Excreta!” The canal is then sealed behind him, leaving the Nihil to suffocate. When able to stand under his own power, the supplicant is ritually cleansed by Les Eaux du Paradis, or a shower of urine from the cenobites gathered to witness his ceremonial Re-Birth.
At last, the supplicant has the Occlusion Swathe, Finuculum Viscum, and Volute removed.   He is made to kneel at the left hand of the ranking Legate of the Order who pronounces the dissolution of the supplicant's former name.  The Legate re-names the supplicant, basing the Nom de Renaissance on formulæ derived from FLN scriptural texts and a prescribed list of Anathemic Names*. Upon acknowledgement of the new name, the supplicant is impressed on the left arm with the indelible Severance Device (represented by the hereditary Arms of the FLN: a Shield Party Per Pale Azure Sinister, Argent Dexter, Blazoned Sinister by a Main Mailed grasping a broken thunderbolt Bendways Jules and Crowned with three Stars Argent Estoile  - significant of mans’ ascension to deific knowledge and the mastery of false gods -  Further Blazoned Dexter by a Maiden's Head with six Bezants d'Or Arrondie,- symbolic of the libertine pleasures of natural instinct - Banded Heart and Hombrel Argent within which the motto AS GOD BY REASON / AS GOD BY WILL writ Azure Arrondie).
This done in recognition of the achievement, through strength of will, of the complete separation from false dogma and rebirth as a Lightbearer or Spectracide.

*The antenomen “Frater” additioned by a given name derived by arcane formulæ.  The FLN honors an ancient interdict on the bestowing of surnames.

Gravedust Psychoactive Snort

GPS (common street names include Gips, Psycho, PsySnot, HotSnot, GraveSnot, Snort n’ Contort, Færiefuck, Demondust, among others) is the designation for Illibrium Hydrocyanide Cataleptine Sulfate, a by-product of the discharge from all generations of Schwarengeist Obskurors. The recent upsurge in Obskuror production has created an equal upsurge in the universe-wide dissemination of GPS. Though still relatively difficult to harvest, the intense psychoactive properties of GPS have made it a favorite of many amateur psychonauts. Because of the high profits associated with the purification and distribution of GPS, the larger Psychosubstance Cartels (Psysubs) have created a virtual monopoly on sector and street level sales.
After purification, GPS takes on a gelatinous, shimmering appearance similar to healthy human phlegm.  Because GPS tends to have a high-tack, the most common method of ingestion is the “Snotsnort,” or inhalation into the nasal cavity through a straw lubricated on the inner surface with Olive Oil.  GPS can be orally ingested, or even smoked, though it must first be rendered nonreactive to high heat. In it’s gelatinous state it has a tendency to react explosively to heat with a power several times that of T.N.T.  Users are advised to refrain from smoking during GPS use.
GPS in a purified state produces physical and mental effects resembling any number of individual agents.  The most common effects mimic those of Opioid Agonists and  Noncatecholamine Sympathomimetic Amines with CNS stimulant activity. This produces a sense of exaggerated well-being, the capacity for extended periods of intense physical activity, and a marked tendency toward extreme hypoesthesia.  Because of this, users are frequently injured, often quite gravely, during GPS use.
GPS has a growing following among extreme body modification adherents due to its anesthetic and mind-sedating effects.  This, in turn, has led to ever more radical body modifications, such as whole limb amputation, limb re-assignment, permanent suspension hook implantation and adamantine horn implantation using bone anchors, large area flesh removal, decorative large-area chemical scarification, trepanning with synthetic Lucite ‘windows’ implanted for brain viewing, organ extroversion, horizontal bifurcation of the buttocks, testicular and penile bifurcation/trifurcation, exfleshing of lips, large gauge trunk transfixion, bone removal, and cross-species limb grafting, among others.
Additionally, Govt. Agents have reported an upsurge in clandestine gatherings variously known as "Shooting Parties, Blow Holing, Hole Lotta Fun, and Shootin' the Shitter," among others. Usually held in outlying wastelands of large metropolitan area, these predominantly male attended "parties" involve firing a round or rounds from small caliber, low power handgun at a volunteer.  The wound produced is photographed and posted to internet sites specializing in material dealing with this emerging subculture.  While care is taken to impact only portions of the body in which wounds generally are non-fatal, the most prestigious wounds are those coming closest to vital organs.  In addition, there is a sub-group of "Wound Warriors," as the proponents of this activity call themselves, that target buttocks exclusively.  As an aside, members of this group are derisively called "Gun Butts" by other Wound Warriors. For anyone seeking to participate in this activity it is worth noting that the odds of fatalities occurring from mis-targeted gunfire are very high.
Because there is, as of this writing, no baseline sample for GPS, safe dosages are unknown.  However, there is a growing body of observational and experiential data that suggests the minimum effective dosage of GPS for an average bodyform is very close to the fatal dosage. Heavy users often experience what has come to be known as a “Psycoma.”  During this event, the user becomes unresponsive to external stimuli, behaving as if suffering Dissociative Fugue and appearing to act according to internal, wholly imaginary stimuli. There are reports of users experiencing “Psycoma” becoming hyper-sexual and accosting and attempting to couple with the first available lifeform.  Psycoma sufferers are uncommunicative, excepting with other Psycoma sufferers.  Coma to Coma communication is effected by vocalizing a highly complex language system that has yet to be deciphered fully.  Because two common effects of GPS are thickening of the vocal cords, resulting in a deeper, more powerful voice, and an extreme contraction of the tensor tympani muscle, resulting in temporary threshold shift or hearing loss, Coma vocalizations tend to effect extreme volubility at mid to low frequency.  Observers of the phenomenon liken the sounds to the bull-roaring of certain Gens Residua, rather than the speech of more civilized lifeforms.
 It appears that almost half of GPS users experiencing Psycoma do not return from this highly altered state.  After approximately 24 hours, the Psycoma sufferer has a 50% chance of experiencing Acute Life Deprivation, or the sudden cessation of life-sustaining activity.  Currently, there are no effective means of resuscitation. Those who do return from the Psycoma state invariably show a marked decrease in mental ability and and severe increase of incontinence.
This does not appear to have affected the high demand for GPS. In consequence, several Psychosubstance Cartels have become phenomenally wealthy through black-market retailing of this interestingly insidious drug.

Sector CS Gamma Ultimate Void Tour disaster

On of the worst avoidable disasters in recent aeons, the Ultimate Void Tour disaster cost the lives of over 1,000,300 lifeforms. Only 15 Deep Void Survival Suits were on board the Deep Void craft that caused the disaster, and these were stored in the mess hall beneath several tons of illicit Gravedust Psychoactive Snort being transported by the tour operators to Phallatus, during what was to be an unadvertised sex-party debarkation.
The group was part of tour scheduled to visit a number of Minor Voids and supernovae during a six month holiday excursion.  The Void Tour Craft docked successfully with the stationary Holiday Complex Eureka! and the entire party of 500,000 guests were debarked onto the Irradiation Platform for disinfection.  The complex already hosted over 500,000 guests and was due to begin festivities later that day.  Negative Matter Anchor Technology was still in the development stage and the complex was using the antiquated Fuel/Thrust repulsion method.  As the tour craft disengaged from the complex, the pilot misjudged the clearance between his craft and the Thrust Pylons.  His wing struck the pylon with enough force to loose it from its mooring.  Additionally, both large bore fuel lines inside the pylon ruptured, sending a glut of fuel to the thrusters.  The complex began a relatively slow turn aft, resulting in the attitude in relation to the void becoming dangerously unstable. 
The tour craft remained in controlled flight for no more than five seconds.  Then, the damaged wing, weakened by the impact with the pylon, simply fell away and was sucked toward the void. Without any mechanism for steering, the craft listed drunkenly.  At this point, the situation could have been stabilized with quick thinking from the pilot.  Inexplicably, rather than fire his tractor wire into an unpopulated portion of the complex, he disengaged his engines and fired three short bursts of gamma bolts into empty space. The offsite flight controller recorded the pilot’s last words as, “Oh, fuck. . ." before communication was broken.  
Without steering or propulsion, the tour craft followed its damaged wing toward the void. 
The complex was equipped with a medium-level shield, as required by universal law, that was capable of withstanding impacts of dense objects up to five by five yards in diameter.  There was no possibility that it could resist the massive tour ship. 
The wing struck first, impacting directly above the Irradiation platform.  It slammed into the shield with massive force, puncturing it and continuing through to the platform.  In the seconds before a complete vacuum was created, the wing collided with the platform deck, crushing several thousand people to death in an instant.  A second later, it was wrenched from the deck and back through the hole in the shield, along with the majority of the people who had been waiting on the platform.  It is believed that they died almost instantly and did not suffer Void Compression.
The thruster meanwhile, had spent its fuel and came to a sudden cold stop.  Without thrust and with a massive hole in the shield, the complex began a quick fall into the void.  The rogue tour craft, diverted by the void pull and sudden relocation of the complex, struck a glancing blow along the Food Court.  The tearing away of the wing had ruptured one of the craft’s supercooled fuel storage tanks, and a spark from the contact with the complex ignited it and the other nearly full tanks.  The resulting explosion incinerated the tour craft and much of the complex in an instant.  The remaining portions fell into the void and disappeared.
Overall, it is believed that 1,000,300 people lost their lives during the few seconds it took for this disaster to occur.  Subsequent interviews with friends and family of the tour craft pilot have revealed that he had struggled with GPS addition for many years.  Tour company records indicate that this was his inaugural flight after returning from a two-year suspension for using GPS while operating his tour craft. 
To this day, governmental and private investigations into the causes and consequences of the disaster are ongoing.

Negative Matter Anchor

This technology is now mandatory for all structures built within 52 Parsecs of any Class IIVXX void larger than 54a85K43ms/E and with a Gravitational Vacuum Index of greater than 1000gdt/x-897+E/15barSTG.  This was in response to the infamous Sector CS Gamma Ultimate Void Tour disaster, during which over 1,000,300 lifeforms perished after their Tour craft was sucked into a small Class IXV Void. 
These anchors, made of a clear Adamantine/Silica alloy, are set into High-level Captivation points along the Void Ingress and fixed by Antihelix Parabraid Guy Wires dropped into the void.  The anchor retains a fixed position by means of Adversarial Propulsive Impellation technology using a series of Sh’aitan AP Impellors, made by Shwarzenwerk Systematisch und Gihern Vorhangen.
Until the advent of this technology, the inefficient and expensive Fuel/Thrust method of Perpetual Repulsion was used, limiting the propagation of CloseVoid structures.

Detail of a working Negative Matter Anchor

Upper Harrowing-On-The-Void Cathedral (UHOVC)

Religious structure owned by the Universal Theists offshoot, Disciples of the Void, also known as Deeps, or Stargazers. The UHOVC was the first artificial CloseVoid structure to utilize Negative Matter Anchor technology as a means of preventing unintentional devourment by the void.

View from the Nave Looking toward the Apse

Universal Theists, or Disciples of the Void

Known familiarly as Deeps or Stargazers.
The Deeps practice the theology of Void Discipline which holds that the Voids in and of themselves are the only true generative/destructive agents in the universe and are inextricably linked, one to another, through a startlingly complex network of wormholes, thus becoming, in effect, a single ultra-massive Void.  Therefore, they worship the Void as Deity, believing Deep Void Dwellers to be manifestations or aspects of the ultimate Deity, to whom they apply the cognomen Non Plus Ultra.
The Deeps’ main center of worship is the great cathedral in Upper Harrowing-on-the-Void, a Class V settlement.  Here, they perform daily offertory services to minor aspects of NPU.  Within the nave of the cathedral is built a synthetic VoidSphere in which a captive void dweller resides.  During the weekly Missa Astra (a liturgical term for Star Mass, by which name the event commonly is known) an effigy of a void dweller is ritually sacrificed upon the Solar Altar in honor of NPU, with the hope that the god will favor the congregation with metaphysical boons.
There is a Stargazer Church in virtually every inhabited sector of the universe, with over Five Billion adherents, according to claims by the Ecclesiastical Oversight Congress of the church.
Some Stargazer congregations practice Void Immersion as a test of Faith.  During services, the faithful are encouraged to leap unprotected into a temporary ‘void hole’, with the expectation that NPU will hurl them out unharmed if their faith is pure. 
So far, no one has survived this ultimate test.
Also, they derive the name Stargazer from the propensity for performing  mass “Palprebectomies,” or eyelid removals.  They believe that removal of the eyelids assists the opening of the ‘third eye,’ from which may be gained mystical/esoteric understanding.  To further assist the process, the ‘Gazers’ book passage on craft that drift in close orbit to Red Giant Stars.  From the ships’ lookout, they stare into the heart of the star, believing that NPU will prevent damage to their unprotected eyes.
It is unsurprising that the Stargazers suffer the highest incidence of adult onset blindness in the known universe.
The Disciples of the Void is recognized by the Deep Void Ecclesiastic Tyranny as an orthodox Void Theology.   

RedLight Transposition

To grossly oversimplify, RedLight Transposition is a relatively new method of quantum travel, using highly specific red spectra as carriers for material being transposed.  Officially restricted to Council and Military applications, several contraband RedLight Transposers are known to be in the possession of at least five illegal Theist factions.

W(il±l←(d)erloch Blood Main

A large bay feeding into the Mare Sanguinaruum on the dark satellite Marduk.  The W(il±l←(d)erloch is bounded by the Aldebaran Archipelago containing a compound housing the laity of the Friars Divum Volatillis.

W(il±l←(d)erloch  Blood Main

Demention Catalyst

Marble sized entheomechanical device available as either an oral suspension or a suppository, used for induction into the Delirium Forge.  Accepted into the bodyform of the psychonaut, the DC disperses a dosage of the proprietary entheogen Pseudoveritum Ecstasis™ (PsE).  Contained within the liquid suspension of the PsE are a number of nano-machines known as Multi-lobe Modulators, which attach to specified areas of the brain via blood cells.  As the PsE takes effect, a carefully regulated electrogravitetic charge is fired at the subject by a Grosveldt Void Inductor.  Acting in sympathy with the brain cells, the MlM form an what is basically an alternative nerve schematic controlling brain function.  Upon completion of the "re-wiring", the subject experiences the /psyche→/thrust/ that is indicative of successful induction into the Delirium Forge. The /psyche→/thrust/ has been variously described by those who have experienced it as, “. . .like drowning in cold, black water. . .” or, “. . . like fuckin’ Dante, man, like, you know, like goin’ to Hell and shit. . . fuckin’ awful. . .”, or, in stark contrast, “. . .beautiful, a living dream. . .floating through galaxies, at peace. . . and very erotic.”.

The Deep Void Delirium Forge

Very simple in principle, the DVDF is a planet-sized Biomechanical construct that allows living beings to experience the workings of the mind as reality.  Users perceive the ‘mind-only’ environments with all of the twelve universal senses, and may interact freely with any elements within the DVDF. 

However, there are two caveats: 

The first is that users have no visible form.  While the imprint of their native form is retained, it becomes invisible during the /psyche→/thrust/ into the DVDF.  This is an undesirable side-effect of the thrust that technicians have been unable to overcome as of this writing.  Though the body form is invisible, it is tangible.  Therefore, while the user may move about and interact inside the DVDF without being seen, the senses of the user  still provide input to the user’s mind.  So, physical perception is not altered, leaving the user open to pain, pleasure, injury and body/mind death.  While those users experiencing mortality within the DVDF cannot be said to be dead when disconnected from the Forge, they seem to exist in a state of permanent catalepsy within the DVDF environment last experienced. Technicians are working to resolve this oddity of existence.
 

Second, users do not experience the environments of their own minds.  Because currently there is no method of targeted insertion into the DVDF, each experience is one of random chance. Therefore, a human user may find that he or she has been inserted into the mind-environment of a Gens Residuum or a Deep Void Dweller, depending on the ethnographic makeup of users at any one time. Obviously, this can have a negative impact upon the mental state of those unprepared for such possibilities.   This said, it is often as likely that the user will be inserted into the mind-environment of a fellow being and enjoy vivid and deeply satisfying experiences.
It should be noted that during recent years, certain omnicidal Gens Residua have accomplished pirated insertions into the DVDF.  Because of the woeful lack of policing inside the DVDF, these omnicides have been able to effectively destroy a large number of beings within the DVDF parameters. This achieves a twofold effect;  First, it disables the victim of the attack both inside the DVDF and in the real-world environment.  Second, because victims of mortal experience inside the DVDF cannot be said to be dead in real-world environments, many races offer long-term caretaking services for these victims, thereby diverting resources, both monetary and lifepower, from other needs, such as defense.  Lately, some nearby planetary councils have begun to refuse funding to groups that provide caretaking to voluntary ‘psychonauts’, as users of the DVDF are known.  Three well-known councils have even instituted ‘Drift’ laws into their legal codes.  Simply put, when cataleptic or unresponsive users of the DVDF are identified by council representatives, they are summarily loaded into holds of Deep Void Waste Craft and set adrift in the Void.  Though there has been some outcry against these policies, more and more councils are considering implementing them.

Update:  Recent developments regarding the DVDF bear reporting.  Because of the extremely long lifespan of certain Gens Residua, it has become possible to map more or less stable environments within the DVDF.   The DVET, which owns the DVDF, has placed a number of these beings in permanent stasis within the DVDF, in order to provide detailed descriptions of the environments engendered thereby.  It should be noted that the DVET placed these beings in stasis under the law of “assumed consent”.  Under the letter of this universal law, consent for any act can be assumed if no dissension is observed.  Because many of the Gens Residuum have no capacity for communication of any kind, the DVET finds them to be exceptionally accommodating in this respect.
Despite these stable environments, target insertion is still not possible.  However, the DVET hopes eventually to have enough ‘voluntary’ beings in permanent stasis to provide users with a reasonable expectation of enjoying a pleasurable experience inside the DVDF. 

What is the DeepVoid Skitzoid?

Good question.
Having no meaning other than as outflow/overflow from the mind of the entity from which it was constructed, the DVS is one small and fleeting manifestation of the Deep Void Delirium Forge.  To put it more simply, the DVS is like a snapshot of a the workings of a living mind.  Rather than harvesting datum from the mind via oblique methods - brainscans, ctscans, etc., - the DVS is a multidimensional representation of any activity in which the mind was engaged at the moment of observation. Of course, due to our current inability to overcome certain physical restraints, DVSs can be represented only in two dimensions. 
All of this begs the question;  what is the Deep Void Delirium Forge?
Move on to the next post to find out.

Enter the DeepVoid Delirium Forge

When you feel ready, click here to enter the Delirium Forge.

Welcome to the Antechamber of the DeepVoid Delirium Forge

Please make yourselves comfortable and prepare for an excursion into the strange worlds of the mind. Then, take a moment to reflect upon the words graven into the entrance arch:

The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a Heav’n of Hell, a Hell of Heav’n*

You stand at the threshold of limitless unreality, upon the edge of vast deeps and trackless gulfs through the void. Within, you may find great beauty or undiluted horror.  All that is required of you is an open mind. 
So, lean over, gaze into the void. . . and jump.


*John Milton (1608-1674 ) from the epic poem Paradise Lost.