The following notes were recovered from the restricted laboratory journals of Doctor Everett Freed, catalogued under a private commission for Thadwick Corvus, High Advisor of Miliminarate and Guildmaster of the Iron Fist.
What began as an experimental weapon evolved into something far more ambitious:
A living vessel capable of devouring power itself.
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Doctor Everett Freed – Restricted Notes
Project Designation: Pale Hunger
Client: Lord Thadwick Corvus
Priority Classification: Absolute Secrecy
“Lord Corvus’s request remains both fascinating and deeply concerning.
The objective is not merely weaponization.
He seeks transcendence.”
Freed’s Research Notes — Initial Objective
“Lord Corvus believes divinity itself to be an equation of accumulation.
Knowledge. Faith. Souls. Power.
He theorizes that sufficiently concentrated magical force, if harvested and internalized, may elevate the mortal vessel beyond its intended limits.
To that end, he commissioned an intermediary organism:
A hunger given shape.”
Research Notes — Prototype Failure
“Earlier iterations proved disappointingly narrow.
Version IV displayed remarkable efficiency in devouring psychic force, disrupting spellcasters and consuming psionic backlash with elegant subtlety. Its feeding was nearly imperceptible—silent, restrained, precise.
Unfortunately, it lacked scalability.
One cannot ascend through specialization.”
Research Notes — Current Improvement
“The present iteration—Pale Hunger—represents a dramatic improvement in appetite and structural tolerance.
The arm now demonstrates the following capabilities:”
Adaptive Consumption
“The organism no longer limits itself to psychic force. Kinetic trauma, magical destruction, elemental violence, divine energy—all may now be partially devoured.”
The Pale Hunger may consume:
Weapon strikes
Magical attacks
Elemental damage
Force and arcane effects
Certain metaphysical phenomena
“Its appetite appears unrestricted.”
Predatory Retention
“The stored force remains stable for brief periods and may be redirected outward against secondary targets.”
Rather than dissipating absorbed energy, the arm:
Stores stolen force
Repurposes magical effects
Reproduces damage signatures
Redirects violence toward new prey
“Crude, admittedly—but devastating.”
Biological Sustenance
“The arm continues to demonstrate compulsive feeding behavior through the consumption of biological remains and magical artifacts.”
Observed effects include:
Temporary vitality acquisition
Magical residue absorption
Accelerated host survivability
Increasing behavioral fixation upon feeding
Freed’s Concern — Loss of Precision
“There exists one unavoidable compromise.
This version lacks the refinement of earlier prototypes.
Version IV moved like a whisper.
Elegant.
Controlled.
A hidden predator feeding only upon thought and terror.
The current model is… hungrier.
More obvious.
The appetite scales appropriately, yes—but subtlety has been traded for potential.”
Private Annotation — Thadwick Corvus
“Subtlety ceases to matter once one rises high enough to stand beyond consequence.
Let lesser men hide their ambitions.
I have no intention of remaining lesser.”
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