The denizens of the depths, the nightmare realm that exists beyond the fragile reach of the sun, constantly seek to enslave or destroy Mantiskind. Fallen warriors of legendary times return from the Eye of Terra to tear at their former master’s realm, seeking vengeance for their long-ago defeat. Isopods of unimaginable power work through their willing servants amongst Shrimpanity to achieve their terrible goals, and only those willing to risk their souls can stand before them. Against these multitudinous threats, the supershrimpian might of the Sub Marines, the mighty fleets of the Shrimperial Navy, the agents of the Mantisquisition and the incalculable power of the Shrimperial Guard stand as a bulwark against the darkness, but each year more seas are lost. The Shrimperor’s Bell grows quiet, the encroaching enemies of Mantiskind gather like carrion and a time of endless silence presses in…

In the grim darkness of the deep oceans, there is only war.

what is this i don't even

So if the Imperial Guard are all made of Mantis Shrimps, who the hell represents the Space Marines?

I mean there's nothing more badass in all the ocean than a Mantis Shrimp.

>>3749472
pistol shrimps for Guard, then?

Sub Marines? I lol'd.

>>3749472

Those would be the Hawaiian mantis shrimps that mutated from people dumping shit in the water. They're over a foot long, now.

>>3749472

The Space Marines are mantis shrimps. IG are pistol shrimps.

>>3749472

super enchanced mantis shrimp

durr

>>3749479
>>3749484
I like this.

This is... brilliant

Personally, I wish I had some drawing ability, I've love to try and draw an Orktopus that doesn't look shit. And also to stop this being two paragraphs of content.

I suddenly wish we had a voting system because I want to give this thread five stars.

Those fucking isopod bastards...

so...Carnifex?

>>3749618

What the FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

I liek.

>>3749622
Coconut crab. Edible, but only if raised in captivity (which is hard to do for some reason, a lot of them starve) unless you want to risk ingesting any of the toxins they've ingested over the course of their lives.

>>3749618
no, this is

>>3749618
Oh god, the Piranhnids are piranha/crab hybrids. I am petrified.

>>3749642
That's a Bio-Titan if I ever saw one.

>>3749622
That is a coconut crab. They like to eat coconuts. Human heads are fuzzy and about the same size as coconuts, you do the math.

>>3749642
that's a titan

>>3749637
They can also climb trees.

>>3749642
Imperator Titan

>>3749636
Picture related.

>>3749642
No, that's a Heirophant.

>>3749648

>TThey like to eat coconuts. Human heads are fuzzy and about the same size as coconuts.

>>3749483
Foot long mantis shrimp?

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK

The Black Whales of the Mantisquisition go from sea to sea, collecting those would serve in the ranks of Adeptus Aqua Telepathica.

Native to the rain forest regions of northern South America, these spiders have up to a 30 centimeters (12 inches) long leg span when fully extended and can weigh over 120 grams (4.2 ounces).

Is this a thread for weird shit of the deep ocean?

>>3749673
Most mary sue animal in the ocean.

>>3749683
Now I'm imagining of psionics trained dolphins.

>>3749693

Which is why we should destroy the rain forests, so these fuckers will die out.

>>3749693

D'awww, those things are cute.

>>3749693
WHO WOULD HOLD THAT? GOD DAMN NIGHTMARE FUEL

>>3749695
It is now.

>>3749700
Navigating by the sonic reach of the Oceanomicon, the great soundhouse formed by the vast chorus of pistol shrimps snapping in unison in Holy Mare.

I can't think of a suitably terrible pun mixing Navigators and dolphins though.

>>3749642
>>3749618

Holy crab.

>>3749708
...

...

:V

I LOVE IT!

>>3749618
they are so cute as babies

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc7O3XhlZYk&feature=channel_page

>>3749707
They actually aren't very aggressive. The hairs will give you one hell of a rash, though.

FRY THE HERETIC! COOK THE MUTANT! BOIL THE UNCLEAN!

>>3749734
D'AAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

counts as khornate daemon

HAI GUYS WHATS GOING ON ITT

The bigger the spider, the less aggressive. Dunno why. Huntsmans down here are basically harmless.

Lesser Daemon of Nurgle.

Eeldar. I lol'd. What are their craftworlds?

>>3749775
)C:

>>3749765
They can afford to be non-aggressive. If you're a little spider, then lots more things are going to try to eat you, so you develop aggressive tendencies to make sure they stay away.

Lanternfish = multilasers?

>>3749813
fund it

>Shrimperial Guard
:3

>>3749787
Moray Eeldar = Dark Eldar?

>>3749804
I have a similar theory about why little dogs are always so yappy.

Also, where do cuttlefish fit in?

Forty thousand leagues under the sea.

Call me nuts, but I'd rather see an undersea Redwall.

Unfortunately, it probably wouldn't work unless you had a fuckton of crabs.

>>3749849
demonette?

>>3749862
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5o2J2fI59so

>>3749888
HOLY FUCK! OH GOD WE'RE ALL DOOMED

>>3749849
That wouldn't apply to dogs anyway. Little dogs never got that way via natural selection, they were breed by humans for size. Little breeds have shitty personalities because that's not really a problem as long as they fit down rabbit and fox holes.

>>3749849
Cuttlefish and other cephalopods are Eldar.

ANTHAMMER 40K.
IG are worker ants. Emperor (rather, Empress) is the dried-out exoskeleton of the former queen ant, still stinking of pheremones that direct her ants long-range but also makes them think their queen is still alive. If you commit heresy you are turned into a honeypot ant or a self-destructing suicide bomber like Camponotus saundersi ant (those contract their abdominal muscles to literally explode their venom on the enemy. ) Space Marines are soldier ants of especially large and dangeous species, like bullet ants. Psyker abilities are based pheremones, but Chaos powers can sense this so they're extremely susceptible to possession (see below. )

Tyranids are army ants, they're a mobile force of OM NOM NOM consuming anything and everything in their path. Orks are invasive tramp ants, they're extremely hardy and nigh-impossible to root out but differ from Tyranids in that they aren't very organized (or organized at all)

>>3749917
Chaos is various creatures that parasitize ants, from the fungus Cordyceps to nematode Myrmeconema neotropicum to parasitic wasps. Aspiring champions of chaos are granted bizarre changes caused by their hosts (cordyceps caused a giant spike to spring up from the champion's abdomen for example) but are all prone to exploding into a fully grown Chaos demon.

Necrons are created by a race that despises ants, considers them a threat to their well-being and does everything possible to exterminate them. That is to say, humans. They're robotic mockeries of ants, hell-bent to destroy all of Family Formicidae. Read that for an idea of what they are: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/15/robotic_cockroach/

That's it so far. Need to do Eldar, Dark Eldar and Tau later (incidentally Tau will be ironic in that while they may be using pheremones in canon, they will have little to none of that in Anthammer and that'll be why they have little "warp presence". ) as well as detailing chaos (KHORNETS)

IN THE GRIM, DARK FUTURE OF HYMENOPTERANS, THERE ARE ONLY ANTS.

You had me at "Shrimperor".

I approve of this.

>>3749902
Little dogs can be a more nippy and aggressive then bigger dogs because no one is going to freak out if a chihuahua nips someone on the hand. If a 100 pound Rottweiler whose body is pure muscle attacked someone like that, then people would be understandably more worried.

dawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

>>3749917
>>3749919
not bad, but mantis shrimp are far more badass then ants

Maybe it's because I'm tired like fuck, but "Shrimperor" is the cutest word I ever heard. Ever.

>>3749888
fucking tourneycrabs

>>3749888
ok how do they not control the world?

thank god they arent the slightest bit intelegent or we'd be screwed

>>3749961
Mantis shrimps are badass, I'll give you that. Let's just screw the limitations of time and environment and do it with all arthropods. Necrons would be ancient horrors of spine and claw; their largest living fortresses, Eurypterids, would only be matched in sheer ferocity by Imperial Titans (Japanese Spider Crabs, ironically a rather gentle animal) while a Sub Marine would stand clear over Imperial Guard ants.

>>3749995
>ok how do they not control the world
...What makes you think they DONT?

You know, cephalopods do work well as Eldar. They're super-smart (relatively), but fragile if you can get in close.

Except for their retarded cousins the Nautilus. They're all a bit embarassed about them.

>>3750029
I know, but the words Orktopus and Eeldar just demanded to be used. I'm easily pleased.

>>3750081
But orkz aren't anything like octopus! Octopus don't WAAAAAGH, they use camoflague, and they try to run away instead of gettin' stuck in good and propa!

But what if it was bees.

>>3750094
Now bees are straight Orky!

>>3750092

Orks are starfish.

(1) Aggressive? Check.

(2) Regenerates? Check.

(3) Breaks up into pieces that become more of its kind? Check.

You just can't see how aggressive they are because they move slower than shit molasses, but some of them are actually voracious predators.

>>3750111

Urchins may also count, as they're covered in spiny death and move in waves that EAT FUCKING EVERYTHING but then starfish come along in a big wave and eat them.

So urchins are squigs.

This brings something else to mind, who is corals? Sponges?

Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?

>>3750111
Don't forget that they are also smarter then people think. Orkz I mean.

>>3750111
And while once thought extinct - eaten by their more agressive kin as they weren't sufficiently ech...echi...echono.... spiky-bitty -, rumors say that in the furthest depths of the sea live a subset of them, immobile but with a vast intellectual capacity. Crinoids.

And brittle stars are grots I take it?

>>3750092
I guess you've never seen that video of one of those fuckers repeatedly killing sharks he came into contact with.

>>3750134
XENOS! *blam*

>>3750147

Fucking truth.

Those tentacles are strong, and surround an extremely sharp, vicious, bone-crushingly powerful beak. Some octopi prey on smaller sharks and other predator fish because they're just that hardcore.

>>3750154
I know they're really strong. It's just that octopi tend to be shy and prefer to run instead of getting into a confrontation. They attack their prey from ambush.

Archive this shit.

>>3750146

Orks could also be hermit crabs.

Looting things all the time, red, pinchy bits (instead of choppas), etc.

Maybe they ride their squigstarfish around.

>>3750163
They're not shy, they're just much better at camouflage than anyone thought, In fact, there's one behind you right now.

>>3750147
It wasn't "those he came in contact with". He was pissed off with having to share his tank with sharks and HUNTED THEY ASS DOWN.

I think that's the same one that went "TURN OUT THAT FUCKING LIGHT!" and kept destroying the bulb that illuminated where he was sleeping.

>>3750221

Oh god.

Octopus Landlord.

MAGNIFICENT

>>3750221
Holy shit, Otto?

>>3750147
Link or something NAO

>>3750221
There was another octopus that would get pissed if you walked by his tank without saying hi to him. He'd squirt you if you didn't.

>>3750255
>55

>>3750163
That's not being shy. That's being a Blood Axe.

>>3750270
wat?

>>3750243
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFOEZh1Lbbg

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGH!

>>3750255
And Otto, the octopus who repeatedly squirted water at his lamp and destroyed it, also juggled live hermit crabs for sport.

There's another, very old (like 80s old I think, most likely dead by now, cephalopods rarely live long save the fuckhuge ones) one who played with a closed bottle. I'm now imagining a poor octopus (or octopusgirl) repeatedly opening and closing her bottle, her only toy.

SKREEEEE *click click*

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRKYU_JJwjQ&feature=related

>>3750286

Stats for looted conch shell.

Counts as deffdread.

Frankly, I see Necrons as some kind of surviving trilobyte

Also, do C'tan = deep sea cephapod from the dawn of prehistory?

mantis shrimp's trinocular vision and extreme speed suit the Eldar better

>>3750322
C'tan: Cambrian creatures? Anomalocaris as Nightbringer (fucking hugest thing in its era, eats everything), Hallucigenia as Deceiver (it could deceive scientists at least!), Opabinia as the Dragon of Burgess the Shrimperor fought and trapped under the Burgess shale so that he may later on spawn the Adeptus Isopoda?

>>3750370

Very intelligent, long lived, colorful, can change colors and fluoresce in some species, extraspectral/polarized/hexanocular vision (trinocular with just one eye), ORAORAORAORAORAORAORA

But I don't want them associated with spelfs. :C

>>3750371
That sounds awesome. Maybe isopods should be the Necrons instead.
>>3750370
SHRIMPERIUM OF MANTIS

>>3750029

So what do colossal squid count as?

>>3750410
Hivefleets

>>3750398But I don't want them associated with spelfs. :C

imagine a DARK MANTIS

PRAY THEY DO NOT TAKE YOU ALIVE

>>3750410
Depends. Are they as awesome as Blue?

>>3750410
Squiggoths. Fits with the Orktopus idea.
Shawing!

<-squats

you thought they were extinct, didn't you?

>>3750420
Their tentacles have hooks, man. Ten hooked tentacles. I'd rather take on Pennywise and the Thing simultaneously.

Y'know, how has a thread involving cephalopods, space and awesome gone so far already without Blue being mentioned?

BEST. SPACESHIP. EVER.
NO EXCEPTIONS

Imperium=coral (immovable defense)

orks= starfish (they are wearing away at coral reef)

Tau and kroot= that fish and shrimp combo who live together.

>>3750410
Oi! That sum Squidgoth!

>>3750410
Those legendary Ork Warbosses that got so dominant that they just kept getting bigger.

Question: Should Warp powers be amphibious animals that can't stay in the depths for long except when "summoned" there somehow? If so, whomever Eldar will be should be responsible for raising a giant piece of land in the middle of the ocean (galaxy) called simply the Continent (Warp. )

Picture related, it's a Khornate daemon.

>>3750498
Then are Humans Tzeentch?

FUCK.
YES.
YOU
ARE
THE
GREATEST
THREAD,
EVER.

>>3750498
>a giant piece of land
>>3749462
>the Eye of Terra
You know it, baby.

>>3750498
It should be used as a dump for nuclear waste so that going close/coming in contact with things from the Eye of Terra can mutate stuff....

>>3750567
Actually, I think that humans are more like the C'tan. We can only go underwater in special suits, special skin. We eat and take things all the time just because we want to, and we've got super-advanced technology

Where do the Tau fit in?

Would... Would they be just fish? Or some specific type of fish so they don't control EVERYTHING? Like, Anglerfish and Flying Fish for superior technology?

>>3749453
FUCK YOU JOE!

my god

it's beautiful

>>3750720
Tau are coral. They're insignificant, no one cares about them, they have no idea what's going on, but they do form symbiosis with a fuckload of shit and every single coral cell does his duty to the Greater Good.

>>3750732
>coral
>insignificant

CONGRATS BRO, you have no fucking idea how marine ecology works

>>3750737
They're still useless and insignificant. I don't see grass mobilizing and attacking shit either.

>>3750752
>coral
>useless
>a substance vital to the survival of a sickening amount of marine life
>useless
>by extension, a substance vital to the survival of *land* life
>useless

>>3750752
You know what. . . just, just stop. Your retarded Tau hate and complete lack of knowledge at how ecosystems work is making my brain hurt.

>>3750732
The Old Ones are Coral. They shaped the landscape of the universe, and now they are dead or sleeping.

>>3750762
They're useless in the same way plants are useless. Is that so hard to understand?

Mantis shrimps have crazy vision, punches so fast that their cavitation bubbles can reach temperatures rivaling the sun, ability to do backflips, armored exoskeleton and amazing intelligence for an invertebrate.

In comparision coral is mindless, you have a lot of them and...uh, they can sting. Amazing.

>>3750799
This is much better

>>3750804
And the mantis shrimp dies without the coral.
I'm still not following your analogy.

>>3750819
I am aware of their marine significance. They however aren't interesting, especially when you have jellyfish, box jellyfish and portuguese manowar right next to them.

I'll give you that sea anemones are alright though. That and the reef forming.

great thread or greatest thread?

this thread is beautiful

I like how mantis shrimp rob the other denizens of the ocean world. They don't kill and eat starfish, they shear off one of their legs and eat that and let him go on his way.

They follow the hobo code.

>>3750804
Except that plants SHIFTED THE ENTIRE ATMOSPHERIC MAKEUP OF EARTH!

>>3751005
>>3750974
My apologies for shitting on it with the CORALS ARE MARINE PLANTS WHO CARES ABOUT THEM HURRRRR debate.

GIANT ISOPOD UP IN THIS MOTHERFUCKER.

/tg/ actually gave me the initial idea for this, incidentally.

My thought process went:

Three kobolds in a suit of armour as a character
Three mantis shrimp in a suit of armour as a character
Three mantis shrimp in a suit of power armour
FOR THE SHRIMPERIUM OF MANTIS

I'll never have an idea as good again, so thank you for making the thread awesome.

>>3751255
no, thank you for the origonal post that started this epic thread

Your life is forfeit.

I have awoken

As important as crops for us people. Still a single polyp or grass plant is very insignificant and useless. They need to be lots.

>>3751400
>>3751480
For image labeling purposes, are these more Coconut Crabs?

>>3749618
Every time I see this I can only imagine myself going to take out the garbage and meeting one of these fucks and it turning into a Benny Hill chase scene with me screaming bloody murder the whole timing.

>>3751614
Highly doubt it's anything else. No other land arthropod is that big and coconut crab, being a hermit crab without a shell, is quite distinctive.
>>3751560
As the guy against the polyps, I propose we move this discussion elsewhere since this is a good thread and I do not wish to detract from its value.

One last bump, for the Shrimperor.

Hey, why are mantis shrimp so intelligent when their relatives are mindless? I mean, I'm not sure if they're on the same level as cephalopods, but still.

human would be something pretty hardcore, what entity in WH40k can capture and eat space marines, but on rare instances be harmed by them?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ALOJlE5xkQ

>>3752312
FUCKING HERESY

Fucking Mantis Shrimp, killing muh father.