>On “Da Git” character mentioned last thread.

I’m not averse to using Nazdreg and revamping his backstory, especially since Nazdreg and what little has been said about him in canon fits well with the suggested idea last thread. The only reason I pulled a name out of my ass is by definition any previous claimant to the title of the Beast would be a “historical” character, who had their heyday and died long before Ghazghull came about, and there aren’t many Orks between Urlakk Urg and M41 in canon to use unless one is moved.

I never meant to imply he would he narratively compete with Ghazghull for the spot of killiest ork, for the simple reason that he died long before Ghazghull was even born, and in many ways the previous Beasts represent a framework for Ghazzy of what to do and not do if he wants to win. Even Urlakk Urg does so in a way, showing how passion can let you move mountains, but it can also blind you to weaknesses that can prove your undoing. The greed thing was an idea of how to get a previous Beast who wasn’t just “Ghazghull-lite”.

My bigger concern was how to get the story to work if he sieged Charadon. At the time it seemed like a way to get more of the galaxy than just the Imperium involved and not seem completely anticlimactic with “he rampaged around and them he died” or “the Imperium beat him back by the skin of their teeth”, while still maintaining the black comedy of what finally brought him down wasn’t his enemies. Hence the call for suggestions.

We’ve never really established how significant a Beast-WAAAGH! is. I’d imagine it’s less than a Black Crusade or an Armageddon War, for the simple reason that the Black Crusades have defined several parts of Imperial history, whereas as of yet we don’t have any Beast-WAAAGH!s doing the same. Although that may just be due to a lack of material, and the fact that an Armageddon War by definition. Some of the Armageddon Wars may have been part of Beast-WAAAGH!s.

>>59567221
I see nothing wrong with what you're saying here and we do need more orks so it sounds good to me, I guess?

>>He's also friends with Inquisitor Helynna Valeria after he rescued her from a tesseract. Tesseracts being, at least to him, the equivalent of a Rubik's Cube and his parent's once gave him one to play with as a child.
How much writing has there been on this person other then what's written on the wiki?

>>59566862
>>Inquisitor Logann
Just so the guy who does the archiving knows, his full name is Logann Powler and his rank is Inquisitor Lord.

A thread or two back people were talking about Eldar views on human weapons and equipment. I'm kinda curious about what the Tau and the other minor races of the Imperium think about human weapons and equipment.

>>59568474
The Tau probably regard human equipment as having worse average performance than theirs (if higher peaks) but absurdly long service lives. There are warships in Imperial Navy service bearing battle scars older than the Tau's presence in space. To say nothing of the occasional person, like, say, Bjorn the Fell- Handed.

>>59568934
Are there any Tau that have the same view that Ulthwe Eldar have about human weapons and gear?

>>59567221
Sounds good and orks always need more love.

Well since it went over well enough last thread, and I'm sure I'll end up regretting this, but writefag here willing to take on a request surrounding a story or theme for this. What you folks like to see?

>>59569894
Would you be adverse to another Human/Eldar coupling?

>>59569894

I personally suggest a theme: what they fight for.

Do the Eldar and the Ad-Mech/Bio get along well with each other in this setting?

>>59568342
Not much. Aristocrat that gave up life of luxury for service to the Imperium. Hellishly knowledgeable about xeno-archeologically

Do the Ark Mechanici AI know about the Void Dragon being on Mars? If they don't, what would their response be to discovering this little secret?

>>59571046
AdMech can usually keep a civil tongue in their head with your basic pleb eldar and vice versa. Then they meet the Bonesingers and the levels of concentrated, incandescent, all consuming REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE stains can be felt for miles in every direction and stain the local space time to such a degree that psychics are picking it up years after the fact.

Tech-adepts are not allowed on the craftworlds unless they promise to behave and not make a scene. Not that they would ever want to visit anyway.

AdBio and eldar get along fine enough.

>>59572189
What is it about the Bonesingers in particular that sets them off, assuming we're talking about orthodox Ad-Mech types who are only really concerned with human tech?

>>59572810
It is alive but it isn't organic, it has a soul but it's artificial, it can think but it isn't a person, it is high end Imperial Technology but it is not anything to do with the venerated STC and those are not designs sanction or even derived from designs sanctioned by Mars.

Craftworlder tech is in a great many ways an embodiment of everything Mars stands against and they can't do shit about it but throw an impotent bitch fit.

>>59571566
It unsure if the GaBHD knew about the Void Dragon. If they did the knowledge wasn't wide spread. They would be surprised but they probably don't see Mars as holy ground.

>>59573212
I see, thanks for the info anon.

>>59572810
Because bonesingers invent, they're more artistic than any tech-priest is, and they are thrilled by the act of creating something new. Which is considered a sinful temptation by the AdMech.

The AdMech also have no clue how Eldar technology works, and what little they do know they have trouble putting into context (you sing programmable matter into existence? Really?), so they can't talk down to bonesingers from a position of higher knowledge like everyone else.

I'd imagine they upper echelons are also a little salty the bonesingers can invent without consequences while they have to constantly keep one eye over their shoulder at best.

>>59567221
Speaking of Orks, having read the Ork "Diplomat" story it seems to be quite clear where the Goff clan comes from: they're descendants (at least philosophically) of the survivors of Ullanor (or at least their original Warboss was). This has some basis in canon, where the Goffs adopted their trademark colors in remembrance of the absolute ass-kicking the Sons of Horus gave them during the Ullanor Crusade. Being descended from the well-ordered survivors of Ullanor (compared to your average Ork) also really explains their dour mood and kind of shifts them more towards Fantasy Black Orcs in space, which they seemed to be intended to be in vanilla and sounds really cool but never really got established as such.

>>59571112
Didn't she end up as sort of kind of like Lara Croft?

>>59569011
What do Ulthwe Eldar think of Human weapons and Armor? I missed that particular thread.

>>59577064
It's shit but there's lots of it and a las-rifle works as effectively and still looks as good as ever after being used as an impromptu club.

>>59577286
Thanks, mate.

>>59575842
I think there was a little bit written up in an earlier thread, I will have to check.

Bumping, board is moving fast today

>>59577064
basically that they're ugly shit but they work and so while they'd never use a human lasrifle as a mainstay weapon, they've probably got something like a laspistol as a last-resort backup just in case.

How common would it be for Inquisitors to have a Mass-Effect style retinue of specialists from lots of different races? Or more to the point, is there any rule saying that inquisitors can't have Space Marines in their retinue?
I imagine it's exceedingly rare, and that some orders are more resistant to the idea than others. Space Wolves would probably be okay with younger inductees to the order cutting their teeth alongside an Inquisitor as long as they could prove it worth their time, namely by sending back suitably large heads from daemons/tyranids/particularly dangerous Orks.

I have a thought about this setting that might be somewhat risque, Former Dark Eldar are more accepted in Human circles rather then Eldar ones, right? So, given that these former Dark Eldar likely did not abandon all of their bad habits(just the really nasty shit, likely), I would imagine that a lot of them are involved in activities on these Human worlds/territories that would disgust other Eldar. Non-sacred prostitution, illicit trade, drug dealing, various forms of tech heresy,(this would probably only really piss of the Ad-Mech unless chaos stuff is involved)hive world gangs, etc. Some of this stuff may upset humans too, but it wouldn't be seen as being outside the norm of behavior on Human worlds and territories.

>>59582285
Actually, based on whats on the wiki, Ulthwe Eldar are very fond of human weapons and armor. Check the notable planets section on the wiki.

>>59582782
>Former Dark Eldar are more accepted in Human circles rather then Eldar ones

Not really. It's more the ones who fled Commorragh find themselves less hated on human worlds than on Eldar ones, who REALLY hate them. And that's more because non-psykers can't speak fluent High Tongue and former Dark Eldar don't stick out like a sore thumb to them.

>>59582633
I'd say pretty common for xenos species (Kais served on one for a while). Though something like 83% of the Imperium's population is human or abhuman, so by sheer statistics most members are likely to be human. The only races to have actually have Inquisitors so far I think are humans, eldar, and tau, more due to politics than anything else (plus until the end of the Age of Apostasy in M36 on paper the Imperium was composed of just humans and eldar).

There no rule saying you can't have an Astartes in your retinue (Sisters are allowed despite being augmented, and you could make a similar argument for tech-priests), but it'd be a pretty big deal for a chapter to allow it for the issues of manpower. It would probably be on a case by case basis.

>>59582969
It's not necessarily that they're fond of it, but that a knife is a knife is a knife. It may be crude, but it's better the pointy end goes in the other guy than you. Ulthwe Eldar due to the survivalist nature of the Craftworld like to load themselves up with ALL OF THE WEAPONS they can carry like they're some kind of video game protagonist, regardless of whether they're human, eldar, tau, tarellian, kinebrach, or what have you.

>>59583055
Okay, so less hated then. I would imagine then that this lesser but still present form of loathing would in turn push them to the margins of Human society, and thus various forms of crime.

>>59583055
>>Many Ulthwe Eldar even prefer the harsh utilitarianism of Imperial equipment as opposed to the grace of Eldar technology, and it is not uncommon to see Ulthwe Guardians wearing adapted flak armour and fatigues on campaign.

Explain this then.

>>59583457
Shit may be stagnant technology, but it's built to last. Don't know why they would wear standard flak armor, though.

>>59583737
Yeah but the thing is that you said they aren't really fond of it, but here we have from the wiki mention on Uthwe that many of said Ulthwe Eldar prefer human weapons and armor.

Is that thing about the Calixis sector being completely overrun by slaugth set in stone or not?

>>59584152
There can be many Uthwe Eldar who prefer human weapons without the Majority of Uthwe Eldar preferring human weapons.
I would say that it's a noticeable portion that prefers human weaponry, the rest of Uthwe finds the weapons ugly but useful, and most other eldar fall into either the second camp, or just don't like human stuff period and will only use it if there's no other option.

>>59584622
I don't think it's completely overrun. That might be a bit of a hyperbole. It's just that in comparison to almost any other sector its overrun, because Duke Severus is turning a blind eye to Slaugth working in the shadows.

The Slaugth haven't started working out in the open yet because in that case things would go full Rangda and the Imperium would be more concerned with that than the Dominate's attempts at secession, but your typical DH party is going to find a disproportionate number of Slaugth operations compared to, say, Ultramar, Catachan, or Praetoria. Calixis is by far the Slaugth capital of the galaxy, especially since they’ve been declared extinct several times (at least twice).

And you don't want the Slaugth to get the ball rolling. A group of Slaugth isn't a "tribe" or a "nation". It's an "infestation" or an "abbatoir".

>>59585785
I see, so Duke Severus and his dominate own either the whole of the Calixis sector or at least a substantial part of it in this setting?

>>59575842
More like modern Lara than old Lara as we already have one comically big official titty monster. Also presumably from one of the old Preatorian high born families.

>>59585898
They own enough and have enough allies to not get immediately stomped flat.

>>59587554
So, the "spinward front" is larger in the nobledark and has more fighting going on?

>>59588292
Duke Severus has forged alliances with the maggot people and several Dark Eldar Kabals because he's a fucking cluless twat who thinks they will keep their word in addition to the resources of the Severan Dominate. They will betray him in time but for the moment they make his despotic little fiefdom too hard to kick back into line.

>>59588470
I already knew about him having outside help, but the Slaugth as allies, really? In canon the Severan Dominate is only really allied with the Dark Eldar. Severus is apparently even dumber in the nobledark, lol.

>>59588634
Slaugth are more cunning in this AU and are far better at putting on an act for long term gains over instant gratification. They can put on an act of friendliness, they can be very manipulative and they are capable of acting through intermediaries to mitigate their natural gross out effect.

Also they are a historical relic who for most of Imperial history were believed to be extinct so nobody really remembers much about them. Except the Tau who met them once and put them on the extermination list.

Since one of the settings for the RPGs is being discussed I thought I would post a link to this warhammer wikia article about the Koronus Expanse.

http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Koronus_Expanse

My question is has anyone given any thought to what might be going on here in the nobledark?

>>59566862
Speaking of Codex entries do you mean like armybooks? Cause I'm down to clown on that one.

>>59590269
It's more about fluffing out the background then making variant army lists at present.

>>59590169
Presumably the Great Crusade still never made it this far and it is still a lawless expanse of barbarians and the damned.

There are a few old colony worlds of the Great and Bountiful Human Dominion scattered around, now regressed to more primitive states but with the possibility of ancient archeotech to be found enticing the mad and the greedy.

The Eldar Empire never had a presence here because it was so boring and shit and any elder that call this patch of the sky home are therefore descendants the Empire's exiles or people that for some reason or another have settled since The Fall, possibly to get away from the Imperium.

There might be interstellar xenos, but if they are they aren't big players by any means with empires consisting of a homeworld and a few colonies if that. Most are now either hostile or unwelcoming due to generations of learning what the local galaxy is about.

Exploration and the Imperial Colonization and Uplifting Efforts are slow. The warp currents in the area are very churned up. The local webway also rearranges itself more frequently which deters all but the most seasoned of guides.

All in all it's a bit of a shithole. But a shithole that holds great riches and would be a boon to the Imperium if it was ever brought into the light of civilization.

>>59591306
So in other words still an ideal area for Rogue Trader games? Good.

Now, what about the Jericho Reach?

http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Jericho_Reach

>>59591306
>>The Eldar Empire never had a presence here because it was so boring and shit and any elder that call this patch of the sky home are therefore descendants the Empire's exiles or people that for some reason or another have settled since The Fall, possibly to get away from the Imperium.

So exodites, eldar supremacists and possibly uncontacted and unknown or presumed lost craftworlds? Do any of the chaos factions have a presence? I presume the chaos orks do, what about cronedar and dark eldar?

>>59591465
The Jericho Reach is an example of Imperial favour. It was a nice and prosperous sector of the Imperium despite the Maw of Jericho and the Hadex Anomaly. Then shit started to go wrong. It was subtle at first but wide spread, the growing dissatisfaction with Imperial Rule and the loss of confidence in Imperial Law in the wake of the Civil War, charismatic demagogues springing up to take advantage of this new unrest and ride the turmoil to power, established politicians demanding secession and the formation of the Orpheus League (some of them with legitimately noble goals in mind, but in hindsight most not), the lack of cohesion and resultant slow response times causing an increase in pirate and Dark Eldar activity and then the final straw that was the Hadex Advent and the resurrection of Uraka Az'baramael.

The moment the deamon-prince was reborn all the politicians who were in thrall to THE BLOOD KING OF THE GALAXY openly declared their allegiance, rallied their supporters and made war upon the Imperium in that region. All the followers of other gods rose up and united (though that's too strong a word) to declare war on Uraka Az'baramael because this was their patch of the galaxy to corrupt and not some old relic from a forgotten history. They also declared war on the Imperium openly but only out of habit.

With no coordinated counter attack the whole place fell apart. The main forces of Chaos have either killed each other or turned on themselves as they always do and the whole place became and still is a broken place. In recent years the Tau have set up a few colonies in the northern border but are finding expansion into that realm to be costly.

Recolonization by the Imperium is on the To Do list.

>>59591840
>favour

*failure

>>59590736
Dangit, I'll keep checking back for when it does eventually become that. Fuggin Love designing me some units.

>>59590736
That and taking the typically informal tone most things are suggested in and reformatting it into a more formal codex form. The sarcasm is usually hilarious, but we usually try to keep the actual entries slightly more tongue-in-cheek (compare the bits on the Notes page with the actual entries).

>>59592140
Well, if you want to, you could try and stat out some of the croneworld eldar units.

>>59591840
>>59592020
You'd think that an invasion/recolonization effort would be already underway, honestly. In canon, the crusade to retake the reach started in 817.M41. Anyway, do the Deathwatch still have their Watch Fortress and listening posts around in the area?

>>59592559
It is to be assumed so. There is no reason not and lots of reason why to.

>>59591584
The primitive and regressed colonies and the undeveloped xenos would make great converts/victims so they would be there at least to some degree.

>>59592559
For the Imperium it's often a choice between gambling on taking a fallen sector and hoping that not only does it not fail and everything be a waste and also nobody attacks your heartlands whilst the resources are diverted or continuing to keep bolstered the defences in the sectors that haven't fallen. Ultimately the Imperium will resent gambling the lives of it's people.

>>59591840
I'm all for Uraka Az'baramael having the nickname The Ragged Knight, as the actual origin story of the Ragged Knight was dumb as shit.

>>59587083
Possibly the family was involved in some shady shit that brought them to the Inquisitions attention back in the days of her grandfather, the collecting of pre-Imperium Chaos artefacts and association with several cults.

>>59570022
>>59570264
(Part 1)

“Why are we here?”

The question surprised Keir to such a point that he stopped stitching the open wound. “Pardon?”

Long and vibrant lavender hair parted as the Eldar woman, Tal’hina he had come to know, turned her head to look partially over her shoulder.

“Why are we here Guardsman? You are quite lucky our band managed to spot you alone. I’m curious as to what could have driven you so far from your lines, especially with a group of Orks on your trail.”

Keir hesitated for a moment before focusing on treating Tal’hina’s wound. They had found cover in a cave thankfully and his pack lights were powerful enough to allow him to work at least basic first aid. Tal’hina had mentioned something about other warriors of hers that guarded the entrance to their hideaway. Keir hadn’t seen a trace of them though.

“I promise you it wasn’t cowardice that drove me out here.” Keir finally formed a response as his fingers worked deftly. He was wondering just how far he should go with the truth. He was among allies at the least, but what drove him on this battlefield was extremely personal.

“I was… in charge of escorting a civilian band.” Keir tried to keep his tone steady. “They had been forced underground by the initial Ork invasion and we found them locked in a sub-basement. We weren’t told to expect ambushes so far behind the front-.”

He stopped to reach for the anti-septic again, one could never be too careful with Ork and the wounds they inflicted. Tal’hina was quiet throughout his explanation. He wondered if she believed him at all. It was unsettling to say the least, like he was trying to explain his case to an Arbiter judge.

>>59600354
(Part 2)

“So you failed?” Tal’hina spoke suddenly, catching Keir off-guard. He did not answer which prompted Tal’hina again. “I find you alone and beset by Orks from all sides, not a single civilian or other human soul in sight or sound, so your mission was a failure I presume?”

Keir supposed he should feel some sting of anger or reprisal. Instead he felt numb; perhaps it was the pain suppressors the Eldar woman had given him when she had healed his wounds or maybe it was just a stark realization that in some way he did fail. He finally answered in a subdued tone.

“I don’t know honestly. I was cut off almost immediately and forced to fight for my life. The soldiers I had were good, but…” He trailed off as he realized he had finished closing the wound. He tapped Tal’hina on the shoulder as he set himself heavily against one of the cave walls. She turned with entirely too much grace for how injured she was supposed to be to finally look at Keir face to face. The small smile she wore spoke of consolation, or was it haughtiness? Keir had never any Eldar before today so he wasn’t entirely sure. He quickly realized she was still expecting some more of an answer and stammered one out.

“The soldiers were good and the civilians were survivors. They would have made it out alright.” Keir turned to regard his shredded and not empty medical tote bag. He was beginning to feel the inkling of shame crawl into his mind and wanted to look anywhere but at the Eldar woman.

He heard a small hum come from Tal’hina. She had seemed to decide something and turned to look away from Keir. This sparked something in his mind that caused him to start speaking with a rising volume.

>>59600392
(Part 3)

“No matter what you think of me, let me make one thing perfectly apparent. I’ve had countless people from almost every walk of life go through my hands as a doctor. Many of them have died, because I wasn’t fast enough, or they were killed before I ever reached them, or some random accident of happenstance. Every one of their lost lives live on in my mind; I see the last fleeting moments of a thousand different people flash through my head every time I’m called on to help those in need.” Keir spoke as evenly as he could, but the loss of his voice did not help in his efforts to explain.

“Even if I wanted to forget them, I would not allow myself to. I have been forced more times than I wish to remember to allow some to die so more may live, and the choice doesn't become any easier.” Keir was no distinctly aware of his eyes become more blurry. “All I ask Tal’hina, whatever you may think of my decisions, is to not patronize me. I try to work every day to make up for my mistakes; I could not live with myself otherwise.” Keir finally clamped down on his mouth by biting his tongue. He was close to fully spilling out into a tirade but ultimately managed to school his swirling thoughts and quiet his fears about what had happened to the civilians who he was charged with protecting.

“...I promise you, I will do everything in my power find them and ensure their safety; that is my mission. There is no other alternative for me.”

Tal’hina muttered under her breath. All Keir could make out was something about being lost but he could not be sure. Tal’hina locked eyes with him. He could not tell what she was looking for in his own eyes, but he was startled at the simultaneous steel that spoke of a warrior and silent worry that he had seen in so many of his more idealistic medic-brethren.

>>59600426
(Part 4)

“Is that why you walk this path then; to try to help the helpless and save the damned?” Tal’hina asked an almost soothing tone, turning where she was sat so now she fully faced Keir. The look of confusion from Keir at the question let loose a small laugh from Tal’hina. It was a sound that Keir admitted was quite breathtaking, internally of course.

“I meant if that is why you are a healer? Your equipment and heraldry mark you as such.” Tal’hina kept that small smile as she regarded Keir. “Our path is not an easy one, and there are easier ways to fight for your people, so I’m curious as to what drives you.”

Keir didn’t know what to make of the question. This whole situation had grown far beyond what he could have imagined not a few hours ago. Then again he did owe his life to this woman. He figured he might as well indulge her and himself in speaking.

“I don’t recall much, only the festering odor. I still don’t know what they were, what they wanted, where they went, all I can remember is that terrible stink.” Keir felt strange dredging up a very old memory, but it felt like a much needed venting from his current emotional turmoil. Tal’hina quickly lost her smile.

“A minor chaos incursion, or so I’m told; I was quite young then, young enough that the memory of it stands out as some of my earliest. I remember trying to help but I could scarcely keep myself calm let alone assist in treating such disaster. It was then I decided that it was not enough to fight. So many of the garrison there fought and they died doing their duty. I knew I needed to do something more than just pull a trigger.”

Keir slowly made his way shakily to his feet. Tal’hina followed so that both of them stood apart from the other. Keir was surprised to find themselves equal in height, although the fact that Ta’lhina was not wearing most of her armor was not lost on him.

>>59600439
(Part 5)

“So I decided I would try and help people through healing. Where else would that need be the largest than with the Guard? I enlisted as soon as I was able and have been walking this ‘path’ ever since.”

He started retrieving his equipment as Tal’hina was content to simply watch him as she seemed to be trying to judge something for herself. She regained that smile of hers and spoke.

“You are considerate to bear these questions of mine, and I don’t think I have properly thanked you for your own assistance to my wounds. So, properly now, thank you and know that you have gained the gratitude of Tal’hina of Yme-loc.” She dipped her head towards Keir who made no attempt to respond to the gesture. She brought her head back up and began to gather her own equipment and reequip her armor gingerly.

“Rovenko.” Tal’hina turned while continuing to adjust her armor and stared in apparent confusion. Kier spoke again with a bit more surety. “My name is Kier Rovenko, a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” Tal’hina nodded again, seemingly satisfied in the information, before turning back to her armor.

“So why do you follow this path?” Keir could not resist asking. Tal’hina stopped abruptly in adjusting a greave and turned to look at Keir again. “It is tale woefully similar to your own I would say. My most prominent memory of my decision was the sound of the dying and the anguished.”

>>59600461
(Part 6 - Final)

Keir averted his eyes from hers. “I apologize, I did not mean to drag up-“

“It does not matter,” Tal’hina interrupted him, “You have been more than accommodating of my own inquiries, so there is no reason I should respond in kind. Although you will also forgive me for being as elusive in my answers as you were.” Keir swallowed a small lump that had suddenly caught in his throat. He turned back to see the full regalia of an Eldar warrior, armor he did not recognize, covering Tal’hina’s lithe frame all besides her helmet which she held couched in her arm.

Both healers gathered themselves and moved toward the entrance to their small hideaway. Tal’hina, her face now covered by a full helmet, turned to Keir.

“Are you well enough to perform your duties?” Her voice rang clear despite the now electric twang it had. Keir rested his hand against the grip of his las-pistol as his eyes adjusted to the natural light again. He could finally make out the burnt orange form of a set of guardian armor standing guard just a small ways from the entrance.

“I’m still breathing aren’t I?” Keir allowed a smile of his own at Tal’hina’s metallic laughter. Maybe she was impressed; maybe she was just amused at his dogged pursuit. Either way he had found that sound of laughter to be comforting. The set off in step with the other, both of them ready to go back into the fray once again to hold death itself at bay.

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>>59600354
>>59600392
>>59600426
>>59600439
>>59600461
>>59600486
AW YEAH
that's the good shit right there, man. Thank you for your glorious writefag contribution!

>>59588634
>>59589393
Add to that the Dominate believe most of Imperial history (including current events) is propaganda and shellshock designed to justify higher tithes and keep planets under their thumb because the truth seems too ridiculous. They think tyranids are on the level of the Q'orl and Grimtoof Gitslaver is as dangerous as Ghazghull. So anything they know about Rangda seems like a bunch of semi-mythical bullshit to them.

Also the Severus family are largely a bunch of twits on an ego trip.

>>59592497
Crone Eldar: Actually making AP values worth something in 40k again.

>>59592559
>>59592968
It's possible the Crusade is just getting started, but no one knows exactly what they'll find there. As >>59595317 mentions sometimes sectors are lost beyond all hope of recover (especially when Chaos is involved).

>>59600486
Nice

>>59600354
>>59600392
>>59600426
>>59600439
>>59600461
>>59600486
Nice work friend. Stuff like this is part of the heart and soul of this project.

>>59600486
Wonderful

>>59600735
Would you say it's likely the Deathwatch still have their Watch Fortress and various minor outposts/listening stations in the area?

File: Cadian_Officer_1.png (1.88 MB, 1517x2048)

1.88 MB PNG

>>59583457
It says 'adapted' armour- maybe we can fluff it to being Eldar-quality armour, but modeled to look similar to Cadian flak? I can certainly see a high-ranking Ulthwe commander wearing armour similar (but not identical) to this dude's, for example.

>>59595317
Yeah, ironically the Imperium's more nobledark nature might be working against it in this respect. The canon Imperium's throwing resources into the Reach like it's going out of style because "those worlds were Imperial once, and they will be again, damn it!" but the Nobledark Imperium is more likely to write the Reach off as a lost cause at worst, or way down on the to-do list at best.

That said, I'd go with >>59603548's line of thinking and have, if not the Deathwatch (would the Nobledark Imperium even have something like that?), then Inquisitorial outposts keeping watch over the place at least. Those wanting to play in the Nobledark Reach might have to expect fewer pitched battles, however- with the Imperium and Tau working together, it's entirely possible the Hive Fleets haven't gotten this far.

Basically, such a game would involve fewer Space Marines and large-scale battles. Instead, we'd more combat-ready Rogue Traders and Ascension-level Throne Agents fighting small-ish but potent threats, considering the level of Chaotic threats around the place. Social players would be dealing with Tau bureaucracy irritated with the slow and insignificant Imperial response to what they see as a hindrance to their next stage of expansion, as well as equally irritated Eldar who are thanking every god they can that the warp fuckery around the place has somehow not awaken too many of the local 'crons and can the Imperium PLEASE DO SOMETHING RIGHT THE FUCK NOW?!

>>59603916
>>would the Nobledark Imperium even have something like the Deathwatch?
Xenos Horrificus exist, so the answer to that question is absolutely yes. I'd also imagine they would have a presence in the Reach as well, given that anywhere Imperial Authority wanes ultimately means that Xenos Horrificus increase in number.

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>>59603548
>>59603916
The Watch would likely have fortresses and listening stations in the area just to keep it contained. Even if the Reach is written off as a lost cause, making sure whatever now inhabits it out of the rest of Imperial space and ruin everyone else's nice things.

>>59603761
Cadian culture is said to be heavily influenced by Ulthwe culture plus that of the native Cadians that were once there (their descendants still are, though in terms of ancestry they represent a minority due to population densities). On the other hand Ulthwe is the only Craftworld to have a standing army of footsloggers, the Black Guardians.

>>59603406
I particularly liked how the eldar was trying to fit the human in terms of her psychological framework, seeing him as "pathlost".

>>59605322
>>The Watch would likely have fortresses and listening stations in the area just to keep it contained. Even if the Reach is written off as a lost cause, making sure whatever now inhabits it out of the rest of Imperial space and ruin everyone else's nice things.
So in theory, a campaign in the Jericho Reach in the nobledark would involve Tau forces being aided by various "specialist" imperial forces? Sounds interesting, actually.

>>59606627
Yeah, it's a nice subversion of the usual Nobledark Imperial/Tau social mechanics.

Going back to the Koronus Reach for a moment, we've already established Craftworld Kaelor as one that wants to be left alone, but what about the Crow Spirits? When I first read about Nobledark Imperium stuff, I had it in mind that Kaelor would be the Footfall replacement. Now that seems to have been scrapped, however, I was wondering if the Crow Spirits could take their place. The Koronus Sector is connected to the Reach, after all, and I'd like to think that the Eldar would have a vested interest in stabilizing those two regions, not to mention them wanting to increase Imperial involvement in the Cailixis Sector in general.

So yeah, I was thinking that instead of 13 dreaded Stations of Passage, the Eldar just open up a bigass Webway Gate, or at least have better, safer waypoints that Imperial ships can follow. The Footfall equivalent can be as much a hive of scum and villainy as the canon one is, just with more Eldar being, well, canon Eldar in how they manipulate those greedy and/or ambitious enough to make the passage into Koronus.

>>59606723
Which Rogue Trader book are the Crow Spirits mentioned in again? Are they on one of the wikis?

>>webway gate
But Humans mostly aren't allowed in the webway I thought?

>>or at least have better, safer waypoints that Imperial ships can follow.
This could work.

>>The Footfall equivalent can be as much a hive of scum and villainy as the canon one is, just with more Eldar being, well, canon Eldar in how they manipulate those greedy and/or ambitious enough to make the passage into Koronus.
Eldar in canon tend to view humans as being useful tools to be discarded when no longer useful. I would argue that some of this attitude may be warranted when dealing with some of the more stupidly ambitious and greedy sorts that would travel to the expanse in hopes of obtaining loot. However, those who are willing to temper their greed and ambitions somewhat would be more likely to be treated as valuable allies.

>>59607058
Just looked up the Crow Spirits, I would assume that they would have to be modified into a more human friendly set of Eldar in order for them to work as creators and maintainers of a safe set of warp routes and a footfall equivalent.

>>59607115
Thing is, Craftworld Kaelor has kind of become the Crow Spirits of the Nobledark Imperium, what with their isolationism, so I thought I'd go for a role reversal. That said, they're still a bunch of Eldar corsairs, so while they're not outright Dark Eldar, they're still looking to use these dumb humans for their own profit, and if they're in a good mood, for the greater Eldar race's benefit as well.

>>59607252
Fair points, but at the same time, the greater Eldar race is benefited by the Imperium being kept reasonably strong. So in addition to the usual assholery, I would assume that these Eldar would have to have Humans that they trust and treat as genuine allies, albeit begrudgingly.

>>59606627
Commanders would be wondering if it was opposite day.

>>59607630
Keep in mind that the human privateers and the like going into that space will be just as cut throat so it's pretty universal mutual dickery.

>>59608124
>>Keep in mind that the human privateers and the like going into that space will be just as cut throat so it's pretty universal mutual dickery.
I sort of already addressed this.
>>Eldar in canon tend to view humans as being useful tools to be discarded when no longer useful. I would argue that some of this attitude may be warranted when dealing with some of the more stupidly ambitious and greedy sorts that would travel to the expanse in hopes of obtaining loot. However, those who are willing to temper their greed and ambitions somewhat would be more likely to be treated as valuable allies.

These particular Eldar screwing over pirates, traitors and other assorted is one thing, harming competent and mostly legitimate Rogue Traders is somewhat different, if the Eldar in question care about the continued prosperity of their species that is.

Has anyone given any thought to what the Askellon sector may be like in the nobledark?

http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Askellon_Sector

>>59609045
Eldar can still be as short sighted as any other person.

>>59610461
True, to some extent. I just find it slightly doubtful that a group of Eldar in this setting who have created a stable warp route into the Koronus Expanse for the purpose of stabilizing parts of the Imperium while simultaneously playing the standard canon Eldar dickery games.

I'm not entirely opposed to the concept necessarily, but at the same time, I'd imagine they would have exceptions to that dickery, non-Eldar that they won't screw over for whatever reason.

Some kind wikianon uploaded the Logann Powler stuff onto the notable people page. That's very kind of him. I'll probably get working on Elrana later on, if any of you guys have any suggestions for her background before meeting Logann feel free to post them.

>>59610461
>>59610716
Eldar can still be very manipulative on an individual basis even if they don't want to completely screw humans over but still want to get ahead. Case in point Sreta. In the pirate example they may not kill people but do take advantage of them and make them pay out the nose.

Reading on the Crow Spirits though, it almost sounds like they are an old-school "fuck everyone who isn't us" corsair band from Kaelor. Which kind of fits with the fluff we have as the eldar are pissed because Kaelor does to them what the canon Craftworlders do to the rest of the galaxy.

>>59612112
Is Kaelor on the Imperium's kicking list? Would they object if they got invaded and taken over by forces from another craftworld?

>>59603916
Yeah as this anon said >>59603999 the Deathwatch are definitely still a thing, in fact they fit in better in the Nobledark because of better cooperation and less ridiculous interchapter bickering. And given that the Orks, Nids, etc. are all buffed compared to canon, there’s probably an even greater need for badass alien hunter specialist SMs.

>>59612112
I’m inclined to agree. Kaelor is pretty much just canon Craftworlders in the Nobledark: arrogant, convinced they’re the smartest ones around, and willing to dick over anyone if it means accomplishing their goals.

>>59603761
Didn't someone at one point detail Taldeers uniform?

>>59613585
Yes. The Craftworlders see Kaelor as having learned nothing from the Fall and playing around with the same old Game of Thrones Sidhe noble houses that led to the Old Empire getting so bad in the first place (at least in their mind). Kaelor feels betrayed by the other Craftworlds (especially Saim-Hann) due to what happened in the initial Exodus from Commorragh), and there's the little issue of the leader of Kaelor having been blinded and left with some rather ugly scars in the horror show that was first contact. The fact that Kaelor treats everyone like garbage (except the Harlequins, because they're not stupid) doesn't help.

Kaelor is officially on THE LIST. Or at least Isha's list. Problem is despite being a Craftworld of millions it's still so far down the list it's unlikely to get resolved any time soon. Dorhai is higher priority than Kaelor.

That said, invading a Craftworld has been said to be about the most suicidal thing anyone can do in either Nobledark or vanilla. Every able-bodied adult is a soldier and if that doesn't work they can pull the dead out of the Infinity Circuit. Plus the Craftworld itself is capable of fighting back and can do "fun" things like venting the atmosphere or turning up the gravity in a chamber to dispose of intruders. It's like kicking a beehive. In vanilla the Imperium even adopted a "leave them alone and let them attrition themselves to death unless they mess with human affairs" policy after Leman Russ and the Wolves got BTFO during the Great Crusade.

Hence why Dorhai is such a problem here. They're technically isolationist (despite all the guerilla terror tactics and sowing sedition), but if they did decide to move they have a population on par with Saim-Hann and stopping them would be a serious problem.

>>59615105
Invasion of one craftworld by another would be more of an ideology shift than a conventional military takeover. Infiltrate in the running of things and replace the loudest voices, change the culture from the inside out.

>>59616217
Assuming they don't notice the differences in accent, culture, etc. Kaelor and Dorhai are (mostly) isolationist and have been for almost ten thousand years. They still speak high tongue but it would be like someone trying to infiltrate an isolationist Britain with an American or Aussie accent.

And if anyone notices that they're capable of speaking Gothic without the accent their cover's blown.

>>59591306
Would their be native Void Born?

>>59611734
No problem.

By the way, whoever did the drawings of the Leman Russ models a while back? I figured out how to upload images to 1d4chan so I can put those up. Does anyone know which ones need to go up? I remember there were the Leman Russ ones and the Blade of Luna, but I don't know if the latter was going to be revised.

Bumpan

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>>59618543
>>New Leman Russ model image
Got it right here.

>>Blade of Luna
Last I checked, the guy was still working on it. Had to redesign the front/prow of the ship or something like that.

>>59621735
I got that one, it was the other Leman Russ images I was having trouble finding.

>>59622209
Well fuck, the one I posted is the only one I have.

A while back a couple of non-canon stories that took place after M41 were posted. Does anyone on here have links to them? Or maybe the threads they were posted in?

I already searched the archives a bit but there's some 50+ threads to go through.

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>>59610020
Honestly didn't know this existed until now. The Vaxi Atrocity would be a perfect opportunity to demonstrate the Ordo Securitas (Sicarius? Are these two branches separate or the same?) flexing its muscles, although whether the squabbling Inquisitors involved got their act together before doing too much damage or had to get smacked down into having their talk on Vaxi could use a discussion.

>>59621735
>>59622209
>>59622283
The examples used for the "early-era" Leman Russ tanks are just canon Leman Russ pics I pulled off the 40K wikia. The Mk. I depicted is also a Solar Auxilia MBT in vanilla. The Mk. V is a generic Cadian Leman Russ MBT.

>>59623026
There was an alternate future story by Sangyfag in thread 42, where Sanguinius is the Emperor and the Cult is in full swing. And in the "Big 5-0 Edition," there's this pastebin for a talk between Lofn and Ynnead: https://pastebin.com/pW8ErK4B

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>>59624583
(cont.)
This one is the Mk. V, as the name states. With the Leman Russes I basically shifted all the canon Leman Russes into the early years of the Nobledark Imperium, before combining the design of the M1 Abrams, the Leman Russ, and the Predator tank into one unholy amalgamation of a battle tank.

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>>59624615
(cont.)
Apologies for the series of images, but the Blade (or Shield) of Luna also has a new prow design. There's some slight coloration differences in the paper that hopefully don't detract too much. The original design is more typical of the more orthodox Mechanicus ship-builders, and hopefully this one fits better with the idea of the Luna-shipyards following a more streamlined Art Deco aesthetic.

>>59624583
>>There was an alternate future story by Sangyfag in thread 42, where Sanguinius is the Emperor and the Cult is in full swing.
Interesting, I'll go look for it.

And in the "Big 5-0 Edition," there's this pastebin for a talk between Lofn and Ynnead: https://pastebin.com/pW8ErK4B
I already found that actually using Bing. Thanks all the same though. Does anyone think the wiki might need a non-canon conclusions section for this stuff maybe?

>>59618543
Thank you for the wiki uploads.

>>59624818
Happy to help. Also a non-canon/future-visions section might be good in the Writing section.

Started a crude sketch of a Securitas with a heavy weapon (thinking it's gonna be a heavy bolter) aiming from a kneeling position. That's a while from completion, but I might redesign the Seraphim/finish some writing if this ever does indeed get completed.

If there's other suggestions you guys have for sketches, please send them. I can't draw quickly or very well with my terrible time-management and all, but maybe something decent will come out of it for this project.

>>59625019
>>Happy to help. Also a non-canon/future-visions section might be good in the Writing section.
Thanks, but I checked thread 42 and I didn't see Sangyfag's story. I'm either going blind or maybe it got deleted or it's in a different thread.

>>59625019
Do a picture of the Tau's close combat suits.

>>59625099
The Mont Kau battlesuits specifically, they're in the Imperial Forces section of the wiki.

>>59625090
Just re-checked and realized 42 was a typo. The Sangyfag story is in 52, "Prospero University Edition." Sorry about that, I need sleep.

>>59625116
Your will be done (give or take a few millennia).

>>59625310
>>Just re-checked and realized 42 was a typo. The Sangyfag story is in 52, "Prospero University Edition." Sorry about that, I need sleep.

Thanks, interesting stuff.

>>59624670
That is a sleek ship. Wonderful

>>59624583
>>And in the "Big 5-0 Edition," there's this pastebin for a talk between Lofn and Ynnead: https://pastebin.com/pW8ErK4B
>>Titled Nobledark Imperium Non-Canon Post-M41 Story 2
It's obviously not the other story mentioned in this post because that story came afterwards(52 is the actual thread it was on)so, what gives? Is there a missing story or something?

>>59624670
>>59625019
Guy who suggested the Art Deco train silhouette here. That looks absolutely awesome, well done. Only other suggestion I might add is simplifying some of the detail in the middle section and having the horizontal lines from the prow run the length of the ship. You see this in a lot of Streamline Moderne designs and it adds a sense of forward movement and sleekness.

>>59624583

The Lofn x Ynnead undertone is hilarious!
Seems like aside from Eldrad another Universal Constant is cousins swapping saliva. XD

>>59626437

If they are cousins they would be very distant cousins. Taldeer is many generations descended from Eldrad whereas Macha was of the same era. Also the relationship between Eldrad and Mach pre-Fall is unknown other than Eldrad with his freshly shattered mind felt that she was familiar. She could be a sister, a distant cousin, an old friend, a former lover one of his old apprentices all that we know is that he felt she was familiar but she isn't called Ulthuan.

At worst they would be as closely related as Aragorn and Arwen.

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>>59625915
Agreed, looks a fair bit better then the older pic with the vanilla looking prow.

>>59627279
Also looks good. That could in universe be the product of an Ultramar or Praetoria dockyard whereas the art deco sleek and elegant ship is of the Luna docks.

Hubworlder ships would be more sort of a flying brick, maybe with a bit of Saxon decoration around the edges but still ultimately brutal looking.

>>59614304
This is what I found when searching

Cadian "soup bowl" helmet slightly adapted for not crushing her ears. Built in radio.
Osmotic Gill type gas mask and night vision goggles that clip together and neatly slot into the face of the helmet providing a full gas mask.

Standard Cadian plain issue underwear set.
Basic issue fatigues with rank insignia inexpertly sewn on

Cadian-flack greatcoat. Combat webbing and a medium sized backpack.

Standard size 7 boots.

Armed with standard issue laser pistol and combat knife.

Additional equipment in the form of a psychic focusing staff.

Taldeer was gifted by Eldrad of the same family a psy-focusing crystal before she left Ulthwe, it is assumed that this is inside the ork skull atop the staff. Originally the shaft of the staff was ribbon tree wood with copper wire running over the surface but was replaced after breakage in the conquest of Kronus when it was used as an improvised club. Staff shaft is now made of some sort of lightweight titanium alloy.

The ground end of the staff was altered by a wandering tribe of Jokaero that attached itself to the regiment for a short time. In exchange for the regimental banana crate they upgraded much of the regiments equipment. Taldeer's staff now ends with a retractable piston spike.

>>59618398
Potentially. There were Void Born across much of the galactic disc in the days of King Horus but Horus was king of all of them that he knew of. If any Void Born are in that place then they are either a recent migration there for fun and profit or they are ones that were unknown in antiquity and havn't been catalogued since.

The ships that they have will either be extremely old and of local make or bought through intermediaries.

>>59626733
This is the problem you get when your species lives thousands of years. Eventually, you're related to everyone somehow, whether as descendant, ancestor, or in-law.

>>59571566
This begs the question does anyone know about the Ark Mechanici being genuine A.I.?

>>59626051
https://pastebin.com/JfQxmWN7
I think this is the first non-canon story, if that's what you're looking for.

>>59631886
Yes it was, thank you kindly anon.

>>59631522
Probably not. They have hidden well. Certainly better than Elmo did by luck of being mobile. Presumably Elmo and they do not know of each other as the AdMech don't go to Stillness.

>>59629562
I like it because it's essentially a farseers uniform, or as near as can be, made from Imperial Guard parts.

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>>59621735
>Adept Beevis and Private Butthead

Inquisition really needs to run a proper investigation into the prevalence of the "god" Cornholio. It is seen as a Deep Green god of Catachan, one of the broken gods of Savlar and a particularly stupid Cadian tree spirit. There is also the web-wraith Cho'rnhaalyo known on at least two distant and seemingly unrelated Exodite worlds. And these all existed before Imperial contact.

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>>59637389
And there are those puritans who would argue they are unknowingly worshipping an aspect of Khorne.

>>59625310
>>59625871
>>59626051
Made an alternate future/alternate timeline section on the Writing page. Was there ever any title for the alternate future with Sanguinius?

Also, do either of the Tal'hina and Keir stories have titles yet?

I think I saved one of the art deco astartes pics that were posted in an early threads, but its the one with the face helmet that was thought of as too eerie. I still think its a decent vibe for a posthuman angel of death, and I remember at the time there was discussion of the Nobledark Imperium replacing the skull motif with idealized humanoid faces somewhere between human and eldar. I really like the idea, it goes well with art deco, and I think there would still be use of the bare skull in some places with appropriate gravitas, and similarly idealized faces based off other Xenos Familiarus would have started cropping up since the Age of Apostasy.

Also, the mention of all sorts of human factions within the Imperium appropriating the Cthonian Ring motif for their various ideologies, and the variety of forms used by the Mechanicus, Biologicus, Administratum, Conclave, etc. all altered to represent their thesis through a depiction of Cthonia is really cool, and I'd want to try drawing a few versions.

Also did the Servo Brain pic ever get to the wiki?

>>59640734
>>Made an alternate future/alternate timeline section on the Writing page. Was there ever any title for the alternate future with Sanguinius?
I don't think so.

>>Also, do either of the Tal'hina and Keir stories have titles yet?
Not yet, maybe ask the guy who wrote it when he shows up again.

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>>59640931
found them

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>>59641009
and some other stuff

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>>59641033

So if Trayzn insisted on paying a polite diplomatic visit to the Traveling Court, and presumably came at a time when Isha was elsewhere, would he be granted an audience? Failing that, would he be let near the fleet at all due to the friendly pretense he and Oscar keep up while the theft and counter-ops stay under the table? Would he be shooed away?

I imagine the Emperor has a very interesting relationship with the various truly immortal figures around in galactic politics, and even if they don't like each other Oscar would be magnanimous on the principle that he may have to deal with the figure's reaction indefinitely.

>>59641436
Trazyn might be smart enough to not show up when Isha was present. Alternatively, he might do so precisely when Isha was present for the sheer reason of pissing them off while still maintaining the facade of politics.

Eldar have been said to believe the Necrons aren't real people, but machines aping old ghosts and monsters. Part of this is due to their belief that life = soul due to all being psykers, and therefore the idea of sapient life without a soul is horrifying to them. A similar reasoning is behind their reaction to blanks and Solitaires.

Isha might try to have Trazyn killed regardless
of politics, because he's "just a machine" that should have been shut down long ago. Of course, this is Trazyn the user of body doubles. He would try it just to see if he could make Isha lose face.

The Imperium at least tries to cultivate good relationships with Trazyn. He's annoying and egotistical, but he doesn't like the Silent King and to be honest is a much better neighbor than Orks, tyranids, etc. Trazyn's smart enough to avoid antagonizing the Imperium enough that realpolitik goes out the window.

>>59641436
He would be admitted as the head of state of one of the oldest allies. He wouldn't try anything so overt as to use the visit as a time to steal anything because that would be to hard to plausibly deny.

>>59640734
>>59640988

That guy here, and nope, no working titles as of yet. That stuff kind of just sprang up from some other ideas I had. If anybody wants to suggest some I'm all ears.

So some of the less famous C'tan came up in the last thread, did we decide anything conclusive about them?

How was the Deathwatch founded?

>>59644144
If I had to guess, it was in the aftermath of the war of the beast when the inquisition was likely founded as well. The ordo xenos needed a militant arm because of orks being orks all over the fucking place and decided that space marines from various chapters/legions who had a lot of experience fighting orks would make a good fit for that organization.

>>59644520
If I might throw on, perhaps it was formed after the likes of the inquisition? Perhaps a sort of absolute failure of a mission on the part of the inquisition that highlighted the need for a chamber militant with some bad ass kickers like some space marines?

I say only because I imagine it would be hard to pull away marines for a special organization like the death watch if there are still some primarchs kicking about, or if it is still in the middle of the legion/chapter formation (I may be remembering the notes wrong though)

>>59644144
We don't know yet. In canon they were founded in the wake of the Beast because the Imperium decided it needed a specialized xenos taskforce because the Inquisition fucked up so spectacularly.

Specifically, the vanilla Inquisition kept insisting the Imperium needs to focus on Chaos as the primary threat while Ullanor was hanging over Terra and the human homeworld was literally existing at the Orks' mercy (this was the same time as the canon diplomats). To be fair, the Harlequins tried to tell the Imperium the same thing, after IIRC setting off a bomb and trying to kill their way into the Imperial Palace to talk to the Emperor (despite having a 100% legit peace token to use to signal the two groups needed to put their differences aside if either wanted to survive).

>>59641921
"Pathlost" could work well for the second one.

The first...I don't know.

>>59644709
I like that for the second one, for the first one I was going to go with something like
'A New Chapter'
or
'A future worth fighting for'

-with it being a future event as a first story. or since I'm feeling fairly pretentious today, 'The End at the Beginning' but I mostly like that for the meta keks.

>>59644686
Except experiences during the Great Crusade and the war of the beast should have already demonstrated the need for a dedicated force of space marine alien killers.

>>59645549
>>59644686
Possibly that the organization technically got started up during the Great Crusade era, but was more of a side-department to the greater Inquisition rather than it's own dedicated branch, and only with the War of the Beast did it get upgraded to the Deathwatch we know today.
More specifically, that dealing with hostile aliens was simply part of the job description for the Space Marines during the Great Crusade, and that it was only in the aftermath of the WotB and subsequent breaking of the legions into chapters that they formed a single group dedicated specifically to dealing with hostile Xenos.

>>59645761
Speaking of Deathwatch, new codex has Ghazzy finally get a victory to his name by absolutely wrecking the Deathwatch stations around Octarius. That might be something to consider if we need to give Ghazzy street cred.

>>59645896
My problem with this is the same as with all of GW’s codex writing: the only way they know how to make one faction look good is by worfing the elites of another faction. No nuance, no creativity, just “look how super powerful these dudes are!” In this case, they also reverted to the tired trope of “the reinforcements came and all they found were dead bodies! So spooky!”

Not saying Ghazzy can’t beat the Deathwatch, but it has to be more interesting than that garbage.

>>59645761
Have we established when the Inquisition was formed in this AU? I always just assumed it was after the WotB. And was it still the brainchild of old Malcador given that he died before that?

Also, during the GC the proto-Deathwatch probably wasn’t even as formal as a separate organization, it probably just occurred naturally from the sharing of intel between legions and joint operations. At some point commanders probably realized how effective these joint operations were given the tactics of different legions nicely complemented each other, and the Inquisition expanded on this concept.

>>59647237
Inquisition in this AU was founded by Alpharius and/or Omegon and given the greenlight by Malcador. It was active in the days of the Great Crusade. Presumably the reasons for it being founded were internal policing of cross societal strata and dealing with the weirder things from the borderlands.

Exact details of founding were scrubbed from official records most thoroughly under orders from the Hydra.

>>59643160
Not really, other then that the flayer may or may not have been "nice" to his followers.

>>59648444
Okay, so lets lay out the bare bones then.

-Inquisition founded during great crusade
-Ordo Xenos also founded around this time because Orks obviously
-At some point during the crusade or afterwards a Ordo Xenos force gets shithammered by something they were unprepared for
-Deathwatch founded as the chamber militant in order to give the Ordo Xenos some proper teeth.

Does this seem agreeable to everyone?

>>59649165
Looks good.

To start with the Inquisition would not be differentiated and specialized into orders. They would just be given the mandate "be inquisitive about anomalous things".

Malleus would be founded as a specialist department I imagine after contact with the Interex and Eldrad's confirmation that yes, yes indeed that shit is actively malevolent and extremely influential.

>>59649741
And the Ordo Xenos would be founded some time after the first few encounters with Orks, then?

>>59650042
Ordo Xenos after the first encounter with the more subtle and insidious xeno species. The ones that ensnare and enthral and require considerable cunning and wisdom to remove properly.

Deathwatch would be created when they really start encountering the orks properly rather than just skirmish and raiding parties.

>>59650110
So was this before or after the founding of the Malleus as it's own separate order.

>>59650144
Probably before. Dark Angels ran into hostile xenos almost immediately after they left Sol so there would have been more incentive to specialize where as the Imperium didn't realize the true nature of Chaos and the magnitude of it until some time later when Oscar had a good sit down chat with Eldrad and an Interex scholar. Before then Chaos and it's gods was just a more or less extinct social and religious movement on Old Earth that was oddly mirrored on some off-world societies.

Before that an Inquisitor was an Inquisitor. It had one job (inquisitoring) and one order (the Inquisition). Everyone was on paper a generalist. A generalist with a hobby or aptitude maybe but no official distinction.

Then the depths and heights of knowledge needed to tend to an ever increasing and increasingly complex Imperium started to make this no longer a viable structure. Inquisition remains mostly generalist but with the early Ordo Xenos and Ordo Hereticus, the two most mutually unrelated branches of their service.

Hereticus was a something and nothing ordo that was mostly concerned with keeping tabs on the increasing number of religious sects and faith groups within the growing Imperium and making sure that the Decree Passive (no armed religious institutions) was being adhered to.

Then the Ordo Malleus is founded and the Hereticus has it's duties expanded to "and make sure none of them are Chaos loonies in disguise" with the appropriate increase in resource allocation and funding.

Ordo Militum was formed in the aftermath of the War of the Beast to oversee the military branches of the Imperium and originally more to make sure the Dark Angels don't do anything suspicious.

Ordo Securitas founded in the ruins of the Civil War.

>>59650638
Wouldn't it make more sense to have the Hereticus be one of the earliest ordos to be founded? I mean, Earth had all sorts of religious groups in need of policing, yeah?

Assuming for a moment that all goes well with the Imperium's future and Ynnead is born, they start pushing back etc. What does this blurring of the lines between Humans and Eldar that I've been hearing about mean aside from the obvious one of half-eldar being born?

>>59651200
Because one star system didn't require it's own sub-division of the Inquisition when there was local law enforcement and Curz's newly minted Adeptus Arbiters to enforce Imperial Law.

Also generalist Inquisitors unofficially specializing with a knowledge of the tenants of the major faiths, that they would have had at least a passing familiarity of since childhood, would have been enough especially when they know who to consult with when they need more expert opinions.

Then they get out into the stars and the enormity of the task at hand becomes evident. As there was one specialist branch forming they went ahead and made another alongside it.

>>59651240
The line between eldar and human souls also starts to blur. Humans being born as eldar and eldar being born as humans. Souls reborn like the eldar in the days before The Fall and souls going to rest in the Gardens of Isha.

>>59651240
It could mean a lot of things, and part of the reason the canon for this setting's “present day” being frozen as one minute to midnight on 999.M41 Earth time is to keep the answer ambiguous, or at least open to interpretation in whatever way is most appealing to you. In-setting, the blurring of the lines could be many things, such as their "souls" becoming identical, or their genome becoming mixed so that they're effectively one species with two main subtypes, or it could mean something more sinister, meaning that they share the same ultimate fate within the clutches of the Chaos gods.
It's also important to remember that Ynnead being born is not necessarily a good thing; it COULD be a good thing, but it could just as easily be the catalyst of the Imperium's collapse. The Starchild Prophecies are wildly varied as to how good or bad the event will be, ranging from it finally turning the tide against Chaos to it being the rape-baby of Oscar and Lady Malys, to it being a situation where the childbirth takes the mother's life, which would be very bad for the Imperium.

>>59651349
>>The line between eldar and human souls also starts to blur. Humans being born as eldar and eldar being born as humans. Souls reborn like the eldar in the days before The Fall and souls going to rest in the Gardens of Isha.

I see, maybe also they start gain a few physical traits from each other as well. I.E Humans might start getting Eldar lifespans and Eldar might become as fertile as Humans are.

>>59651488
That would be why I said Assuming all goes well with the Imperium's future in my post here>>59651240

So how would the Deathwatch be organized? Can they cherry pick and offer a place to any they deem worthy or do all recruits have to go through the Inquisition? How autonomous are they and what resources can they call on?

>>59652307
I would assume that the Deathwatch recruits from various space marine chapters like they do in canon, barring any pressing reason it would be otherwise.

>>autonomy
They are the order militant of the Ordo Xenos. They would be a precisely as autonomous as their job requires, I'd imagine.

>>resources
They are a part of the Inquisition, they will likely have whatever resources necessary to do their job and possibly more depending on how dire the situation is. However, there will be oversight from the Ordo Sicarius to ensure that they do not misuse said resources.

>>59652442
Would they employ xenos?

>>59653483
Yeah they most likely would, as not every alien in the nobledark is in need of purging.

>>59653483
I'm imagining that they have a lot more varied setup including shit loads of xeno-tech, xeno assistant specialists like webway guides and Imperial Guard elite soldiers.

>>59654563
Oh yeah, most definitely. Anything that is useful and safe is something that they would have some access to.

>>xeno assistant specialists like webway guides and Imperial Guard elite soldiers.
Again yeah, stuff like this would almost certainly be common.

>>59648444
That it was The Hydra was also deleted.

>>59654768
Plus not every species would be able to keep up with Astartes. Some come close, the kinebrach and Beastmen aurochs come close in terms of physicality, but they lack all of the neat doo-dads like the Sus-an Membrane, Larraman's Ear, Black Carapace, and Catalepsean Node that made Astartes so successful to begin with beyond just "swole". Case in point if a Deathwatch team gets stranded on a spaceship with no air, the Astartes can all go into suspended animation, other species can't.

>>59641729
>He would try it just to see if he could make Isha lose face.

She wouldn't loose face to her people.

Dammit where is Fulgrimfag already? We need new writefaggotry.

>>59654563
>>59654768

This also makes me wonder about how large the Deathwatch could be. Would we assume a mirror version of 40k in its small specialized format, or could the organization itself be more compartmentalized/specialized in and of itself, wherein space marine squads are only one aspect of it.

There could the likes of Xeno-tech 'security specialists' or disposal teams, research wings, etc. Or is this over thinking it and extended duties like that would fall under the auspices of other orgs like the Admechs?

>>59657574
>>59659403
Yeah, Space Marines kill teams are still going to be the main focus of the Deathwatch given the absurdly intensive demands of their missions. Very few forces in the Imperium can handle missions like infiltrating a Hive Ship or assassinating Warbosses, and Space Marines are in a sweet spot of strength, speed, and toughness. Ogryn and certain Beastmen might be almost as strong but are not nearly as fast, and Eldar are as fast but not as tough, and so forth for other species. Assassins could do some DW missions, but are even scarcer than SMs.

Not to mention, all Deathwatch marines are veterans with centuries of experience seconded from their Chapter’s first company, and even normal tactical marines can’t really keep up with the demands of a Deathwatch kill team. The only forces I could see integrating well with kill teams are Exarchs since it would take a pathlost warrior to keep up with SMs; other xenos or human forces are going to be strictly auxiliaries providing recon and such.

>>59660498
Of course, the other side to this is that every military force lives or dies on Logistics; the most bad-ass Space Marines still need bullets to shoot and ships to ride in, not to mention the intel needed to know the opportunity exists.
Deathwatch might be mainly focused on the Space Marine kill-teams, but that doesn't mean there isn't a veritable army of support staff doing a lot of the work necessary to keep the operation running smoothly, or brave souls willing to go on suicide missions to essentially broadcast back as much information as they can before they get found and killed.

>>59662024
To be fair, there is no mention of that vital piece of military necessity outside of 'Administratum' and 'Admech flashlights' and it dosen't make for compelling writing. However since we are focused on the nitty gritty, it would be interesting to write out for a codex entry.

>>59662295
That is to say there isn't much mention in regular 40k stories outside of the Lexicanium/Codexs.

>>59658060
I got a job

I'm still working and will try to get something out next thread

Do we know who any of the founding members of the Deathwatch were?

>>59657589
True, that's what makes it fun (for him). Like all the times Dr. Doom tried to rules lawyer any of his opponents in the Marvel universe. He probably finds it especially hilarious as what is effectively a xenoanthropologist.

>>59662346
Congratulations, dude.

>>59662346
Great, but it's officially Saturday and you have no excuse not to be writing now, dammit.

>>59662295
>>59662315
Well, in that case the question is how do military and civilian logistics work in nobledark 40k? I expect that the answer to this question is highly complex and a complete write-up would take up a good ten or twenty posts.

>>59662024
You're right that the Deathwatch obviously has a huge support network that helps them get their job done but I don't think they would necessarily be part of the Deathwatch, in the same way that there is obviously a crew of guys that pilots the helicopters that transport the Navy SEALs but we don't refer to those pilots as SEALs too.

That does raise a point of rationalization for this AU. I always thought it was silly how in canon chapters used SMs as pilots for aircraft and armored vehicles even though it was a huge waste of an SM's abilities. Yeah, super-reflexes would be helpful, but a talented human with some augmetic eyeballs could do 90% as well as an SM pilot and not waste the huge investment that goes into an SM's other abilities. I imagine chapter serfs in this AU have a much greater military role as pilots and other support staff.

>>59665721
Given the increased common sense it would be reasonable to assume that Space Marines are used where their investment is most used. It's why there are so few really high officers that are super soldiers.

>>59599179
Do Inquisitors have to renounce old title when they become Inquisitors? Also what of marriage?

>>59665449
Oh boy I doubt we'd be able to get through every bit of it unless we wanted to start another thread to pull info. But just off the top of my head, things like there is sometimes a seat on the Terran High Council for a Rep from the chartist captains, who make up the trade fleet for the Imperium (Also the fact that the chartist fleet makes up the largest naval entity in the galaxy from my last recollection). The number of Agri-world entirely devoted to a single variation of a food crop to ship to hive worlds and other locales, the fairly fun explanation of how th elas-guns are an absolute necessity to keep the Imperial Guard armed because if they ever shifted over to fully stubbers and solid projectile rounds that the Imperium would likely collapse under the requests for ammunition in a matter of years, and going on to explain why a fucking bureaucracy of paper pushers is considered to be one of the if not the single most powerful organization in the Imperium (See Goge Vandire's little take over for proof). All kinds of fun factoids can help to explain just how massive that logistical nightmare is on a daily basis. I suspect the AU would be a little less worse just with the healthy dose of common sense, but not by much by the literal load of crap they have to sift through even at the smallest level.

>>59665721
I like the idea of chapter serfs being given a chance to shine as military heroes for some of the smaller battlefield roles that need doing.

I'm imagining, and possibly thinking of writing now, of such a serf that saves his 'battle brothers' (Whether said SMs consider the serf as such or not optional) in doing something wild and crazy, but with the courage and gumption of a space marine.

>>59667742
What, like they are jedi? I can't imagine any kind of ruling body would give a toss unless it impeded in the mission of the Inquisitor.

As for titles, I can see it going either way. They either give it up as a sign of commitment to a new life or they keep it on and rack up the names as they rack up service. I guess it just comes down to how 'Authoritarian' does this new Inquisition want to be about protocol.

>>59667892
It was mentioned with the Adeptus Arbiters that they are allowed to get married but that they are expected, though not legally required, to resign on taking their vows. In part because a man of the Law would not be able to be a good husband given the needs of duty but also because a loved one, especially one of the locals, would potentially represent a conflict of loyalty or a point of contact nefarious interests could exploit. The difference being that the Arbiters are a lot more stationary and belong to a more developed hierarchy whereas Inquisitors are pretty much laws unto themselves and can go for years without reporting in, maybe there is an expectation for them to have to choose between marriage and work but there is no way of enforcing it and Inquisitors are nothing if not known for their eccentricities.

Could a Space Marine fuck up so bad that they end up in the Penal Legion?

It is recorded that the Fallen that repented in ancient days did but was this only a one off event due to the enormity and scale of the fuck up?

>>59667850
It's not that outrageous. A ratling with a sniper rifle can take out a space marine if he gets a clear shot and doesn't miss and given how bloodlustingly crazy they all are now after what happened to Ornsworld this has probably happened more than people want to think about.

>>59671807
Not necessarily in THE penal legion but Astartes who have massively fucked up have typically get sent on penal crusade in some form. The Night Lords and Marines Malevolent are effectively on this status nearly all the time.

>>59675400
In all fairness the Night Lords penance is only the Administratum going through the motions. They are meant to be monsters, being feared is their job.

Marines Malevolent are just assholes for fun.

Has the Imperium in this setting been engaging in any sort of genetically modified soldier programs aside from the space marines and battle sisters? Something like this guys for example. https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Gland_War_Veteran

One of the books for the FFG rpg games mentions some sort of gland warrior or gene warrior as well.

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>>59677752
Presumably so and the Afriel Strain among others. They would be the AdBio answer to the AdMech Skitarii, highly individualized augmentations made by a brotherhood for use on the brotherhoods soldiers. AdBio don't have an army as such but they do have bodyguards and such. No two are exactly alike as no two people are exactly alike and when you take a view of all the brotherhoods rather than just in-house variations they can vary widely in ability and appearance. Typically they aren't anywhere near as good as space marines in any way but because of the custom-built nature of the work they are cheaper and far less picky with the recruits. To an extent they are advertisements of the quality of their brotherhood's skill.

There are a few regiments around the Imperium that consist of nothing but these upgraded soldiers but they are considered unpleasantly weird by regular soldiers and are often very insular and uncommunicative with those not of the AdBio. Which is odd considering that the AdBio is often a lot more open than the AdMech with the common plebeians and a secretive nature in it's soldiery is not anything any Bio-Druid or Splice-Master has ever tried to cultivate. Whatever the reason the soldiers of the fleshsmiths do not play very well with others so it's best to plan around that.

>>59673364
Certainly true, I'm all for the stories about the underdog getting the best of the OP killing machines as many of us are I'd guess. I was mostly just remarking on haver never seen a story around a 'specific' chapter serf from any recognizable chapter doing something of that nature. Although should we go with the idea of chapter serfs serving as pilots and drivers/machine operators on a battlefield then it could make for some interesting story potential.

>>59678429
As the pass rate for a Space Marine is thousands to one many of the serfs would be failed space marines. They are the best of what's left. Such a story would be one of a man proving himself to himself that he is not a failure.

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>>59679962
>Such a story would be one of a man proving himself to himself that he is not a failure.

Is it wrong that I like this idea? Because I really like this idea. The Space Marines probably aren't using serfs as literal canon fodder anymore (Space Marine Hunter Tank), but even if they are treated more like support personel that's still a heavy weight to bear.

>>59677752
I’d imagine there’s also a measure of gene modding and other transhuman tech used by various guard regiments, PDFs, mercenary corps, etc. from planets with the tech base to do so, but because they’re starting from the already fairly transhuman Man of Stone baseline, which itself contains all the variety of abhuman strains, it’s actually pretty hard to make modifications that significantly improve instead of being lateral shifts in abilities.

>>59681183
There's still a lot of room for modification. Bile's New Men are a thing and their failure is more due to his methods than the idea being wrong.

>>59680114
I also really like this idea of a Serf overcoming his own limitations (whether real or imagined) to prove that surrounded by an army of superhuman warriors who attained what he could not, he can prove that he is one of them in spirit, if not physically. Unfortunately I lack the writing skills to do this justice.

>>59685331
I've read the New Men entry, apparently Bile is into some seriously fucked up shit.

>>It cannot be due to their creation, as there are many humans in the Imperium that are grown in-vitro and yet turn out to be perfectly adjusted adults. It cannot be due to their upbringing, as even New Men raised by surrogate families still turn out the same way. It is almost as though the souls of the New Men somehow know they were grown from spliced cells cultivated from dead bodies, unwillingly implanted into the surrogate wombs of terrified prisoners.

So based on your post, it would be possible to do something like this New Men project and have it be successful provided you adhere to various ethical and moral standards?

>>59688885
Well, Fulgrim’s and the entire Merikan John/Jane Doe program we’re made from samples from dead Merikan military officers and grown in mass production facilities, and most of them turned out alright. On the other hand, Lucius and Fabious were born from the same program, and are absolutely horrific, and Fulgrim himself seems somewhat off in fulgrimfag’s bio.

>>59688947
In the case of those three it was probably the result of their upbringing.

>>59670134
A problem for the Inquisition is that the only people they regularly interact with are their retinue. Getting involved with them would potentially compromise the job givne the dangerous nature of their work.

So does anybody have the thread that describes more detail for the Sons of Antaeus? I'm thinking of them for some write faggotry and wondered if there was any more in depth description of them.

>>59690664
What we know so far consists of;

Antaeus was a Grey Knight who grew dissatisfied with the current recruitment method not being able to keep up with attrition.

Presumably of some rank to be taken seriously but not so high as the attrition is a recent thing and he was wanting change so he was presumably not ancient.

Eventually this came to a head when he openly questioned the running of things and the high ups told him to get in line or get out.

For his good service was allowed to keep sword. They expected him to join a regiment or another chapter or some shit and live out his days as an exiled knight.

He instead founds his own chapter with blackjack and hookers cultivating his own gene-seed organs from his own flesh.

He has not got the support of the Imperium but the Imperium also does not stop him. His little order of ~200 warriors is self funding and therefore poor as dirt. Grey Knights in kitbash Mk5 armour.

Potentially Antaeus is still alive and well.

>>59690947
To expand on that, he thought Mk III S augmentations shouldn’t be limited to only psykers and that Mk III S marines should be more available to fight all the enemies of the Imperium, not only daemons.

I started a bit of writefaggotry a while ago about them where they fly around in a rickety salvaged Strike Cruiser saving people, so feel free to use that if you like.

>>59691566
I don't think that it was because he wanted them to start taking the fight to everything else in the galaxy, they already had too much to do with their current duties. He just wanted more recruits because the Grey Knights are down to 1,500 - 1,750 or something like that from their once height of ~9,000 and he was not unreasonably concerned that they were facing terminal attrition.

>>59691566
There's a story in how they managed to get such a ship, even a semi-derelict. How could they have managed it?

>>59677752
How far can the AdBio go and get away with things?

>>59695254
I imagine it comes down to a couple of basic guidelines in general:
1. No mindless monstrosities. Their work is to better the human condition, so intentionally degrading humans into mindless beasts is a big no-no.
2. No kidnapping unwilling test subjects. Human test subjects may be necessary, but they need to be willing and aware of what they're in for, and still decide to go through with it. Kidnapping people is for the Dark Eldar and Chaos.
3. No use of Ork, Tyranid, or other black-listed species biology. Period. The risks are too great, and every time someone's tried it's blown up in the Imperium's face.

Beyond that, it's got wiggle room, but would probably need to be able to argue that they were doing it in an attempt to improve humanity, such as finding cures for abhuman ailments, or making more reliable bio-augs, or improving quality of life. Spending the lives of willing test subjects in pursuit of a goal is fine, wasting lives is not.
In short, as long as the Frankensteins function and are respected on about the same level as normal humans, it can be tolerated, but making mindless flesh-servants intentionally will get your door kicked down.

>>59691566
He could be using the justification that both The Lion and Vulkan were non-psychic Mk3 S, one being the last technically surviving primarch. Also non-psychics can kill deamons, not as well obviously, but they absolutely can.

>>59693990
I say they had a daring mission to cut if from a space hulk.

>>59688885
This was brought up in previous discussions of the New Men in old threads (and honestly should go on the wiki). The New Men didn't fail because of their genes. If you introduced the genes Bile used to make the New Men into humanity slowly, possibly over generation, you would get nothing more than a particularly quirky but otherwise unnotable strain of abhumans. Little more than Sisters born with their augmentations plus a number of weird survival adaptations from species across the galaxy (not unlike Canis Helix soldiers). New Men are meant to be to humanity what modern eldar are to their pre-Old Ones ancestors.

They failed because creating them involves the Warp (especially since they're all latent psykers), which is sketchy at best. They were grown in Commorragh, which is like a glass tube in a shark tank and the local power grid used to make them is powered by the torture of thousands of slaves. And of course, Bile has no ethical standards. It's no wonder they're fucked up, even if the Warp wasn't involved they're probably picking up all the suffering telepathically in utero. Bile is unable to get why his creations keep failing, because SCIENCE says things should work reliably. So he tries again after fixing what he thinks is the problem. Over and over again.

>>59698118
I Vanilla Dr Bile was also possibly the creation of successive generations of Bile clones using consciousness transfer due to Bile being prone to multiple cancers.

Is Nobledark Dr Bile still the original by 999M41?

>>59698013
And where would they get a crew mad enough to fly it?

>>59699083
It was mentioned that he had transferred himself to cloned bodies several times, but it was not mentioned exactly why he has done so. He likely didn't suffer cancers for the same reason as canon (vanilla Bile got them because he got the bad geneseed that cut the canon Emperor's Children legion down to a few hundred), but something might have happened.

Plus there's the whole age issue. Even if he wasn't ill in some way he would have had to do it to avoid dying of old age. But it's possible some kind of sickness is still there for the characterization angle.

If anything that would be Fulgrimfag's territory as Bile was a Terra's Son during the Great Crusade.

>>59700644
Since they probably fund themselves by the charity of rescued ships, worlds, etc. and besides their primarch level studlieness have little in the way of assets, they're presumably a relatively motley company of balls-to-the-wall adventurers, and whatever daring souls they come across that don't become Sons themselves would still be welcome to tag along seeking glory and momentous doom with the Sons proper, going by Anteus's thoughts on attrition.

Short answer, anyone that will sign up and isn't a liability.

>>59703297
Im working on the blade of laer, with an aside about Lucius and Bile's respective defections to chaos/the Dark Eldar.

Bump.

>>59696493
So are there any highly controversial legal New Men type projects being done by the AdBio?

>>59710475
Probably not specifically, for the simple reason that anything like that might appear tainted due to being associated with Bile. The Emperor is also worried about the idea of a bunch of genetically-engineered transhumans ruling over the rest of humanity and turning them into an underclass, which is why he's okay with the bio-borg Astartes and Sororitas who are born normal humans like anyone else. And is also why he reacted to Badab the way he did.

>>59707545
Presumably the founder wasn't a surgeon. Who cultivated his organs to start with?

I see nobody has touched the Mortifactors yet. How Mortificatory should they be?

>>59711035
On the subject of which wasn't there something about Skyrar of Skyrar's Dark Wolves being a transhuman supremacist?

>>59698013
Would that be better or worse than winning it in a game of cards with a Rogue Trader? Antaeus wagers his services and the services of his at the time 100 strong brotherhood for ten thousand years and the Rogue Trader bets a beat up but still kind of functional strike cruiser. The Exiled Knight wins fair and square and the Rogue Trader hands over the ship with good grace, he had a fleet of ships and this was by far from the greatest of them.

Since then Antaeus and his people have spent considerable effort keeping it floating and air-tight. It would be to get it back to navy standard take several years of intensive work in a real dockyard by skilled adepts. Antaeus can not afford this. He has a handful of renegade adepts with teams of lay-technicians enacting what repair work they can with what materials and parts they can acquire by means both dubious and legitimate whist the ship is on the move.

You could combine the two. The Rogue Trader employs Antaeus and his men to clear a Space Hulk in exchange for the regular payment, Rogue Trader and his salvage teams hack the ship from the surface and Antaeus decides that he wants it and challenges the Rogue Trader. If he wins then he will have his own "battle barge" and be one step closer to being considered a legitimate chapter. If he looses then he enters the service of a Rogue Trader house which will at least solve their cash flow problem.

>>59713804
the combination, sounds good to me
>>59711680
On this note, I'm certain Antaeus could catch the attention of at least a few AdBio druids with the possibility of working with Mk 3S modifications.

>>59711035
I'd imagine AdBio projects for human enhancement lean more towards Horus's idea of slow and population wide enhancement, as opposes to the more overt stuff Fulgrim and his technologists favored.

>>59715383
Hors was more into just sitting back and letting it happen. It wasn't that he was going to instigate wide ranging adaptation so much as just letting it happen through natural processes. To him it wasn't something to aim at, it was an inevitability.

>>59712297
I'm going to do the Morties this evening if I can

>>59713804
How should the Sons be organised?

>>59713804
>>He has a handful of renegade adepts with teams of lay-technicians
Stuff like this makes me wonder about how tech heresy works "on the ground" in the nobledark. The wiki mentions that heretek can be just as much of a political designation as it is a signifier of membership in the Dark Mechanicus.

So what sort of "minor" hereteks inhabit the imperium precisely?

>>59718994
A heretek is basically anyone who is on the bad side of the Fabricator General of Mars. Think of the Pope and excommunication. Being declared a heretek can be on the grounds of anything from creating Abominable Intelligences to inventing a twin-linked lasgun or telling the Olympus Mons brotherhood to sod off, depending on how (un)reasonable the Fab-General is that day.

Dark Mechanicus is when you decide daemon blood makes better lube than holy oil and other such monstrosities.

Most of the hereteks we've had so far inhabit the fringes of the Imperium, working for groups who similarly don't have a lot of resources or are so far out the AdMech doesn't really notice them. Survivor civs have a lot of them because AdMech doesn't have a monopoly on them, but most Administrated Worlds can't deal with hereteks or else Mars will boycott them or worse.

And as has been pointed out with the Tau and Severan Dominate in canon, sometimes someone has been excommunicated for a very good reason, and making deals with them is probably not the smartest idea.

>>59719653
Presumably you don't have to disagree with just the Fabricator General. To maintain a dominance the Olympus Mons Brotherhood would have to have delegated some authority to utterly representatives in the more distant forge worlds to act in the Fabricator General's place due to message times. Presumably disobeying a direct order from such an emissary or disagreeing with them on interpretation of scripture or sending them a letter of personal dissatisfaction like "I do not think you are a good priest and believe you are a knob" would also get you officially declared heretek.

It's not a death sentance. Not if you can run fast and have a head start. If you make it out of direct OMB and associates jurisdiction you can live out your life in a lesser order or even freelance. But you won't be able to get the best cybernetics and the job security of the OMB will be gone.

>>59719653
Interesting information, but on a more local level say, would a Hive-World have various tech-dabbler types working on the fringes of that world's society, providing tech services to various underhive gangs, bounty hunters, or really anyone who might need such assistance?

Furthermore, what are lay-technicians? Are they strictly a heretek thing or does the rank and file mechanicus use them?

>>59721539
Lay-technicians are assistants to tech-priests. They hold the Omnissiah in great veneration and perform simple rites, sometimes unassisted but usually overseen by an adept. There a probably a lot more of them than tech-adepts because there are a lot more jobs that need doing that are mundane, repetitive and easy. As the Imperium doesn't make mass use of servitors there are likely even more of them in this AU than Vanilla. They are no ordained in any way and so are neither heretek or legitimate in and of themselves although might be heretekal by association depending on circumstance.

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I've never used pastebin. So this might not work.

https://pastebin.com/2ULf63g2

Is it okay?

>>59718598
I would imagine, given how poor and small the chapter currently is, I'd imagine that any full blown space marine in the Sons may very well stand at the level of a Sergeant.

These sergeants would lead squads of aspirants and hopefuls of soldiers that are being considered for selection to become a space marine but haven't gone through the biological process of geneseed implantation. These squads could also include members that have already 'failed' in their tests to join the Sons but remain on as Chapter serfs and mercenaries.

I would say this has the double duty of both getting their recruits some battle experience in their forms of warfare along with cutting away anyone to weak to withstand even the most basic rigors of a Space Marine lifestyle. Minimum resource usage with maximum efficiency.

I would think that one would only see a full squad or platoon of the Sons in the most dire of circumstances or most essential missions, again due to the very low funds and no official backing. Any support staff (Apothecary or Tech-marine level marines) would probably travel with Antaeus himself in order to best protect those assets and move where they were most needed.

All of this could mean that the each of the Sons has to be able to taken on a leadership role equivalent to a company captain in a regular chapter, given that they might be the only space marine(s) on a battlefield if they are not supporting an official Astartes operation

>>59721796
The Imperium does still use a lot of servitors, it's just most of them are made with flash-cloned cogitators and such. Except for the AdMech, but then again they're the AdMech. Getting sentenced to servitorization is considered one of the worst sentences that can be given to an individual, worse than even execution.

>>59723378
I like it.

>>59723378
It worked. Nicely done, no complaints from me other than a few slight grammar issues.

>>59723378
Looks pretty good except for a few minor spelling/grammar issues.

>>59723378
Makes me wonder what the Novamarines are like. We've already mentioned that the Novamarines are perhaps the most prominent chapter going "uh, Acting Chapter Master Titus, you may want to take a reality check"? in Ultramar. The homeworld of the canon Novamarines is super grimdark, their planet is a shithole where the only large terrestrial animals are humans, the only land plants are lichen (laced with toxic metals), and most of the animal life are marine invertebrates (also laced with toxic metals). It's basically Earth during the Ordovician. The canon Novamarines let the Stone Age-level tribes slaughter each other over the limited food and take the most promising recruits.

My thought is perhaps Honourum in this timeline is primarily a mining colony. The world is still Ordovician-lite, but the reason there are people on it is because of the metal ore on its barren landscape. Food is a mixture of what you can catch and leach metals from and what gets traded for ore. This breeds a very stubborn, self-reliant culture.

The Novamarines don't stick out because of this, because they oversee many worlds and so appear more cosmopolitan than it seems, but there is a streak of Honourum stubborness and resistance to change in them. That said, they have very legitimate reasons to be worried about Titus' wide reaching proposals. Being the defenders of the northern border of Ultramar they didn't see the Battle of Ultramar firsthand, and so they only heard about what the full force of the Hive Mind could do secondhand.

>>59723378
Solid, but one thing I will say is that there needs to be a compelling reason for them to be on Posul beyond “our Chapter Master is a weirdo and decided we should be here.” We’ve mentioned that since psychopathic teenage barbarians are not the aspirant of choice in this AU, SM chapters have no real reason to set up shop on backwater feral shitholes. Thus there would have to be some important reason for the Imperial Army/Administratum to approve the Mortifactors setting up shop on Posul instead of a Hive World or some other important civilized world, particularly since SM chapters have a bit less autonomy in this AU.

And sure, there are exceptions like Fenris, but that’s because no one was going to tell a Primarch no if he liked the planet. By and large planet based chapters would be assigned to strategically important worlds.

>>59729939
It might have been that they were recruiting from elsewhere until the planet was sufficiently civilized. Also maybe it was strategically located.

>>59729607
Or it could be a terraforming project.

bump

>>59715345
What should the ship of the Sons be called?

>>59735596
Probably something pretentious and arrogant sounding like The Guardian of Civilization or something like that.

>>59736184
Really? I imagined it’d be more tongue in cheek given the Sons butting heads with authority, like The Reward of Duty.

>>59736944
Given their low position and that they are funded by going around asking for donations rather than demanding a price they would be at least slightly humble.

If they ever gave it a prestigious name, rust bucket as it is, it would be as a joke.

The ship would have had a name before they had to cut it out of the Hulk because nameless ships are unlucky. It's possible that the name would be traceable. Or it could just be called The Manatee.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wJzPhRJRgFA

>>59736944
Isn't it kind of arrogant of them to be thinking that they know better then the establishment regarding what should be done with the Gene Seed used to make Grey Knights? Just putting that out there.

>>59736944
>>The Reward of Duty
This or something like it would work. It's also pretty funny.

>>59737569
Yes. It is. Antaeus does have a point in that restricting Mark IIIS geneseed to two Imperial organizations is a waste of resources. However, at the same time there is a very good reason it is restricted to those two resources is due to logistics.

Assume the Imperium went with only the Mark IIIS geneseed and the Steward didn't make the Ducht Jemanic genesmiths go back to the drawing board. Given the difference in compatibility rates of the two and the fact there is about 10 million Space Marines in the nobledark Imperium, if they went with the Mark IIIS there would only be around ten thousand. Which isn't too much higher than the maximum number, which suggests either they look for Mark IIIS compatibility or the numbers are biased by the 6000+ year lifespan.

It would be very hard to standardize equipment if some members of a chapter were Mark IIIS and others were Mark III MP. You could get away with that shit in the Great Crusade but not now.

>>59737994
What sort of a person should Antaeus be?

>>59739603
So far I've been picturing him as a very Homeric sort of war hero, somewhere between Odysseys and Aeneas.
>>59737994 Isn't wrong in terms of the logistics, but Antaeus is more hubristic than arrogant in my view.
>>59737491
Also, The Golden Vanity, the song/ship that tune is borrowed from, would work pretty well.

>>59740171
So basically, they galivante around the Imperium's space, looking for enemies of that Imperium to fight when they aren't working as soldiers for hire for various Imperial worlds or client states? Do they have any given specialty as far as enemies are concerned? Any rivals within the Imperium or without?

>>59741683
Man, you make Antaeus's boys sound like some kind of A-Team. Maybe we can use that for their Chapter themes?

>>59742564
That's a terrible pun. Although maybe the underlying influence could work, I dunno.

How far-ranging are kroot mercenaries in the nobledark?

>>59744974
In significant numbers, a ways to the galactic west of Ultramar, with some enterprising individuals getting as far as the western fringes

>>59742564
Given how small their chapter is, I'd imagine that would be one of the only ways that they could both accomplish their mission AND have enough forces left after to continue on. Standard marine combat doctrines would not apply

>>59737911
I had a giggle at it. It's one of those names that sounds regal but is also a good "fuck you" to those in the know.

>>59729939
It could be Posul was in an area that needed a chapter for defense, and the world the Mortifactors eventually chose was just one of several possible ones. Tezuka would claim it was as the omens foretold. Others might point out you can't just ascribe every little coincidence to omens.

>>59744974
As far as they want. They are socially and biologically compelled to find new things to hunt and the Imperium doesn't shoot them. They have also been in space a lot longer so they have travelled far by now.

>>59742864
Yeah, I'm definitely picturing a bunch of ragtag marines shooting around space in an even ragger-tagger ship, doing good deeds for money (and sometimes for free, if a community is poor enough and can be counted on to keep it quiet). I dunno, man, I just like the mental image of Antaeus going "I pity the fool who doesn't love it when a plan comes together!" or the like, while his Marines engage in madcap schemes to solve whatever problem random villains cook up. Maybe have them be 'sponsored' by Cegorach, though that might tip them over into Sooper Speshul™ territory.

>>59750633
Having them be sponsored by Cegorach is probably going a bit too far.

Is there additional chapters in Ultramar?

>>59752120
There are something like at least a couple dozen. Ultramar does include about 300 worlds as of 999.M41.

>>59747457
Keep in mind that that any plan they come up with would have to be adapted to something that can take anti-tank weaponry without worry

Bump

>>59753844
Is that in Nobledark or Vanilla?

Which ones are they/should they be?

>>59750633
So are the Sons in ratty armor that's gilded but easily scratched to show the grey underneath, or painted with whatever colors the wearers wish?

>>59759301
Grey Knights have each their own personal heraldry on their armour. In old fluff it was half the armour but in more recent it is just one shoulder I think. It's probable that Antaeus would have kept some traditions because no reason not to so each new brother has their own personal mark on one shoulder and the chapter's heraldry on the other.

Official colours in Vanilla are black and grey but that in this AU might just be because they got a bulk order of high endurance paint in that colour 30 years ago and haven't used it all up yet.

>>59759900
Black paint also covers dents and scratches easier. Back in medieval times knights who were without a lord to serve or squires to maintain their equipment tended to just cover their armor in pitch because it was dirt cheap and made the armor look a lot less banged up than it really was. Hence the stereotypical image of a "black knight".

>>59759282
I think both. In Vanilla Ultramar used to be known as the 500 worlds, but then the Heresy happened and then Guilliman gave it away parcel by parcel to Ultramarine chapters after the Horus Heresy so people couldn't accuse him of building his own personal fiefdom within the Imperium. Ultramar was left with about 50 worlds, which got whittled down even further by Cimex ex Machina.

Here Ultramar stayed relatively intact, but it got whittled down by the War of the Beast (not as bad because it wasn't targeted specifically by the Ruinstorm by Lorgar, but still many worlds lost), more historical events (including possibly the Age of Apostasy), and THEN Cimex ex Machina again. About three times to be honest (Behemoth, Kraken, and then the main event).

The Imperium isn't hemorrhaging worlds as badly because there are fewer rebellions (but still quite a few), almost no loss of worlds from squabbles between humans, eldar, and tau and the Imperium still knows how to terraform. However a Daemon World is still a Daemon World, a Tomb World is still a Tomb World, and tyranids do what they do, and eventually the Imperium is going to run out of useable rocks to terraform. Not to mention they are still losing worlds in a way. Ultramar went from 500 to 300, and even worlds that survive might end up severely changed, like Krieg.

>>59760137
So it's possible that the Novamarine homeworld is an Ultramar world. Also other super Codex chapters like the Genesis Marines.