HE WHO WALKS THROUGH WALLS

Thus far, the Sanguine seem like your dirty uncle rather than a truly unnerving enemy on the battlefield. This is the human aspect of their nature, contrary the very sinister elements of their extended abilities.

Among which is the ability to walk through solid matter like it isn't there, as well as adjust gravity relative to their own body and others, allowing them to walk smoothly up vertical walls and across ceilings upside-down.

In addition to appearing out of solid objects, with tickle-fingers at the ready, the Sanguine can harness 'low energy' to alter their physical state and that of others allowing passage through direct matter and without any injury or risk to themselves.

They can do this despite heat, pressure, radiation, and other forms of threat in ordinary space-time. They are, in this way, like a ghost, and few things capable of stopping them in the known Universe.

Despite this, and perhaps because of it, the Sanguine will not use this power against others or in ordinary circumstances, and may in times of extreme danger simply 'disappear' by moving vertically down into the floor to escape danger.

This evasion strategy is superbly effective and allows the Sanguine to partially re-materialize on the other side of such matter also - reaching through conventional armor and shields to pull men out of their enclosure, allow swords to pass through them while appearing inside the path of the swing, or allowing the weapon to pass through one part of the body while striking with another part still solid.

Therefore, disabling their harmonic core before killing them is not just recommended, but almost essential to get in any meaningful shot before they escape.

The harmonic core is located in the center left of the chest, where the human heart would ordinarily be. This is essentially an antenna for broadcasting high energy and low energy as well as wave function interference with the harmonic properties of ordinary matter.

It acts as a sensor as well as a transmitter, and so taking out the device is very much like blinding the Sanguine to a wide range of signal it normally relies on, including the ability to hear and quantify every heartbeat in a wide radius.

In a struggle, strong emotions can also disrupt the use of this organ, and as a result the Sanguine utilize their ability to touch and inflict direct links with sensory and memory data of extreme types with their opponent, thereby disrupting their ability to 'fade' to safety as the body responds to the emotional and mental input.

The same technique can be accomplished with something meaningful to the Sanguine, and an appeal to that during approach, that may make the Sanguine vulnerable and unable to escape at that moment.

In short, Sanguine without a girlfriend (or boyfriend) are three times more likely to survive a confrontation with someone who can exploit that fact. The rest, well... ...there are not many stories about those heroes in history.

There are, however, many stories about Sanguine making off with children - never to be heard from again. Probably because those children were raised to become Sanguine. Or eaten. It's fifty-fifty....

Regardless, and out of courtesy, Sanguine will ask to enter a home regardless of the species - and ordinarily respect the wishes of the lawful owner. Something terrible is written in The Prayer of Blood to the effect of 'being ridden like a pony' for Sanguine who failed to regard this warning - and memories there which make most Sanguine avoid opening that chapter of the book at all... despite the colorful index entry (which is also somewhat visual, though not too abysmal).

Whatever frightens them, apparently there are rules - even if they do not discuss it. It is also impolite to ask more than once, not permitted to ask on condition of any act or failure to act that might harm the owner or their loved ones, and prohibited to allow harm to come to anyone for failure to consent to the request.

Sanguine will not ask to enter or visit, and must be invited - without prompting first, unless there is cause. Even the Death Coprocessor will not override this. It appears to be a safeguard created to prevent newly made Sanguine from returning home to visit violence upon their parents or abusers in their first few centuries after becoming.

These rules do not apply, oddly, under wartime conditions, only in civil and private affairs.

Something about blankets over the head of children not touching the floor also makes it impossible to move them, and evokes some sort of memory that stop the Sanguine as they are consumed by the memories imposed on them from other Sanguine prior their making. Some cultures retain the memory of these events as well, and pass them on genetically to their children in nightmares that repeatedly occur during childhood.

One could call it an 'exploit' in the Sanguine code.

The technologies of Beyond War are built to raise awareness of the cultural and individual injury of genocide and policies themed complicity with genocide under color of law, for audience ages 24 and up.

As a work of fiction, Beyond War uses several terms to explain to modern culture how their use of defensive claims to normalize genocide are accessory to the actual crime and aggravate such injury. "Beyond War" and "Sanguine" are trademarks of SHADOWDANCERS L.L.C., so registered.

© 2013 SHADOWDANCERS L.L.C.