Forge World Style
>Orthodox:Patterned after Mars with few deviations
>Specializes in Servitors/Bionics of Esoteric Design
>Faith in the Omnissiah above all
>Servitor fighting force with above average strength

Skitarii Legion
>Failed Princeps Candidates: These men once had the power of the God Machines within their reach. Having failed in their ambitions and shamefully survived, they swore themselves to the Skitarii legions in an attempt to erase their failure. Now they fight the Omnissiah's enemies under the shadow of their former peers.
>Synaptic Echoes: The binary of the Skitarii becomes completely incomprehensible over time, developing into its own language of alphanumeric codes. The Maniples are unable to communicate with their Tech-Priests overseers, unless the Mechanicus break the code.
>M36: Age of Apostasy: The Mechanicus refused to accept the bullshit of Goge Vandire and openly declared against the dictator ruining the Imperium.
>Expedition - This Legion was raised as part of an expedition to find lost technologies, defend the tech-priests, and eliminate those who taint the Omnissiah's holy works.
>Explorators: Established a entirely new Forge-World in the name of the Omnissiah.
>Alpha: A Skitarii Alpha known throughout the Mechanicus and even the Imperium for being an incredible warrior. Even a few mighty Astartes recognized his abilities. He met his untimely demise not on the field of battle, but through a failure in his augmentations.
>Allies: Astra Militarum (Hua Yuan and Praetorian regiments), Astra Telepathica, Titan Legio
>Enemies: Tyranids and Daemons/Chaos

>>61992491
Tentative Lore
>THE METAL MEN OF PHLOGISTAR-SEPTIMUS

>Known for their varied and myriad eccentricities, the tech-priests of Phlogistar are a constant nuisance to the machine orthodoxy due to their insistence on testing the boundaries of legality, existing exclusively within loopholes and technicalities. Despite this, they are indispensable to the imperial war effort in their local sector due to their apparent Martian patriotism and disdain for any technology or people not of Mars or Phlogistar. Magi of the forge are either cackling madmen, pushing the limits offered to them and relishing in the results no matter how unstable. This lot is reigned in by the other magi, who are prim, proper, and dreadfully patronizing.

>Magi from Phlogistar-Septimus are renowned for their ability to realign imperial weapons systems on the fly, making for far more versatile crusading forces when they are attached. The genetor halls of Phlogistar are a massive point of contention, the magi there adept at geneforging mutants and abhumans dedicated to singular tasks, such as psicine aquatic "humans" or modular servitors that can repair themselves with loose flesh and limbs. All these genewrought warriors are converted into servitors, ensuring compliance, and this only augments their value and versatility, at the risk irritating luddites and gene purists. Goaded forth by callous Skitarii and zealous Dragoons, these warriors are ravenous, but foremost expendable.

>The other, perhaps more telling reason that the magi are largely left alone and respected, is that Phlogistar-Septimus is home to one of the few Kastelan forges remaining in the galaxy, the Datahives there home to banks upon banks of Kastelan datawafers. These attributes combined make for an indispensable forge world on the eastern fringe where supplies and war materiel are otherwise sparse.

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Titan Legio
>Majority of the Engines: Reaver Pattern
>First and Lead Engine of the Legio: Mars-Alpha Warlord Titan, This Engine was at the forefront of a glorious crusade deep into uncharted regions, defeating countless foes and bringing an entire sector back into the light of the God-Emperor.
>Datahive - Extremely rare and nigh-legendary, a datahive is a Forge World devoted entirely to the collection and analyzation of data. On those rare occasions when a Titan Legio is established upon a datahive, they are invariably equipped with immense and comprehensive databases on the foes of mankind from those long-dead tomes.
>Crusades of the Fringe - Long and bloody, the crusades of the fringe consume billions of lives and trillions of tonnes of materiel. Founded to sustain a long and difficult crusade, this Legio has fought with honor and won much glory alongside the Imperium's greatest heroes.
>Decimated - Defeat has dogged the Legio, exacting a terrible toll in engines and crews. It has been decimated, reduced to a shadow of its former self.
>Lost in the Warp - For untold centuries, you were deemed lost to the warp, until suddenly you reappeared and joined battle without a moment's hesitation.
>Champion Slain - A mighty warlord renowned and feared by the forces of the Imperium was finally brought down by your Legio.
>Xenos Helm - A vile xenos race faced your Legio and was found wanting. Their might was broken against your strength, and their race shattered into oblivion.
>[CONT]

>>61992562
>Humiliating Defeat - The Legio set out to exterminate a truly pathetic force of the enemy but somehow, perhaps through the raw tenacity of their otherwise feeble enemy, lack of effort on the Legios part due to the fact that their enemy seemed more like a joke then an actual threat, or through sheer bad luck the Legio was forced to retreat, whether the measly forces of the enemy were wiped out by more competent imperial elements(read a squad of guardsmen(as in squad singular)) or the enemy escaped to become legends amongst their kind, the fact remains that this is a loss the Legio will haunt the Legio for as long as they walk and has turned them into a laughing stock amongst those who know of it(in as much as a Legio of god machines can be a laughing stock)
>Divergent Pattern - The Legio is harboring divergent practices, like experimental machinery or unorthodox beliefs.
>Allies: Skitarii, Astra Militarum (Hua Yuan and Praetorian Regiments), Explorator Fleet
>Enemies: Chaos Space Marine Warlord
>>Combat Doctirne: Advanced
>Inexorable Advance - Move and fire, a moving bulwark of high firepower.
>Adapt and destroy - Observe the enemy discover their strengths, learn their weaknesses and exploit them with impunity.

>>61992577
Tentative Lore
>LEGIO CLADES

>The Clades Titans themselves are an eclectic legion, their battles with chaos whilst lost in warp transit and their subsequent extreme loses at Hua Yuan have whittled a Legio of factionalism and internal division into a semi-stable band of individuals.

>Once a sweeping and mighty legion, loss of titans and a history of difficulty in recieving repairs and replenishment due to the fervour of their battles and distance from support has shrunk the legio down to its most capable and experienced princeps and engines. Those left are generally displeased, itching for a chance to prove their worth, die in battle and join their slain comrades, or see a new glory day. Countless biotitans and traitor engines fell at the legio's might, and now they struggle to find conflicts they can support. Little more than glorified guards for the Metal Men of Phlogistar-Septimus, they are constantly reminded of their past by the proximity of the moon Hua Yuan.

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Secutarii
>ARGENT DREADWARDS OF LEGIO CLADES

>Dire, dramatic, and dedicated, the Argent Dreadwards have defended the steps of their Titans against the forces of chaos for centuries, an order of stalwart defenders with traditions from before the Imperium. Under their protection, no God Engine has fallen by anything other than enemy titans or concentrated orbital bombardment, until of course their attachment to Legio Clades.

>Their order has histories of the Heresy, and as such abhor Chaos and the Dark Mechanicum, their codes of purity and honour well documented. So dedicated are they to the death of the unclean and treacherous that they adorn themselves in truesilver and emboss their helms with skull visages, their armour with macabre imagery of the fleshless human form, seemingly paradoxical to Adeptus Mechanicus ideals about flesh and bone, and their frailty.

>Since their attachment to Legio Clades, the Secutarii high command has become more in line with more conventional Astra Militarum officers and commissars to accommodate their Princep's extended exposure and smooth cooperation with the Guard. They do not eschew the severe, even fatalistic, and chivalrous traditions of the battlefield Dreadwards, but colour them with conventional military dress and decorum, silver and velour warriors led by brilliant platinum and sable leather commanders.

>Their defeat and loses at Hua Yuan spurred on their fatalism, and fueled suspicion and spite for the perceived threat of Hua Yuan, a single but strong link that allows them to tolerate the native Magi and Skitarii of Phlogistar-Septimus.

Shall I include the resident Knight House as well?

>>61992629
Sure

>>61992629
Thought we were calling it Jingang or Gamgong. Or is Phlogistar the Departmento Astrocharta designation?

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Knight House
>HOUSE RANULPH

>Vow Nature - Crusade: "We need people running around and hitting the Imperium's enemies. Call the Knights!"
>House's First Contact with the Imperium - Ages of Apostasy & Redemption (M36-M39)
>Sovereign - Other: Some other institution holds the House's loyalty; perhaps a Chapter of Adeptus Astartes rescued them from certain destruction, or a Knight cut a deal with a flamboyant Rogue Trader to explore the stars and escape the boredom of court.
>>Succession Laws -
>Feudal Elective: All eligible inheritors vote on who all titles and Knights are given to, who may distribute them as necessary (hopefully they're not in diapers!). Politicking is fierce!
>Meritocracy: Set of inheritors is entire family; in addition, there is some process by which non-family members can become eligible as inheritors, although their families do not, so the inheritance will always return to the family eventually (a deceased non-family member counts as both sibling and child to the family member they inherited their titles or Knights from, but their family does not). Typical processes include being rewarded for doing extremely well in military service or being voted in by the family.
>Cognatic: Both males and females are equally eligible (ignore gender).
>Amount of Ceremony - Rigid: Court proceedings are so boring that the Knights take to the field of battle just to keep their sanity.
>House Deamenour - Brothers in Battle: Hoes before bros? *BLAM* No.
>House Flaw - The Big Guns Never Tire: The House prefers to keep their enemies at range, to the point that this House cannot be relied upon to engage in close assault.
>[CONT]

>>61994414
>Figure of Legend - A Baron, a hero who led a glorious campaign against a rebel army, defeated the foe and brought an entire sector back into the light of the Emperor.
>Domain Size - Tiny: Tiny just the Homeworld/System
>Homeworld: Unihabited and Airless
>House Hierarchy: Strict
>Preferred Combat Doctrine: Siege
>Preferred Knight Variant: Knight Crusader
>Restrictions: No Knight Lancers
>House Beliefs- Code of Chivalry: "Duty is honor, and our duty is to protect the innocent and care for the weak."
>House Strength - Few But Proud: The last remnants of a once proud House, these warriors are few in number. Each Knight is a precious relic that is maintained with what resources the House has left. Every battle is a struggle for survival, every loss irreplaceable.

No lore thus far

>>61992519
>Known for their varied and myriad eccentricities, the tech-priests of Phlogistar are a constant nuisance to the machine orthodoxy due to their insistence on testing the boundaries of legality, existing exclusively within loopholes and technicalities

There are two obvious ways to interpret that. These guys might be cynical and have a tradition of justifying whatever they think they can get away with. (This would fit with the existing lore by tweaking the "proper" set into technologically conservative but grasping types.)

Alternatively, they could be a formerly rogue Forge World which was brought to heel and recolonized by Mars. That turns the proper guys into the rulers of Phlogistar-Septimus with a proper orthodox tradition, while the locals follow some wilder tradition. The orthodox set walk the tightrope between curbing the excesses and justifying the successes of the locals.

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>>61974379
>>61974475
>>61974823
>>61993025
>>61992562

Would Jingang (diamond/King Kong) actually be better as the name of the Titan Legion?
Considering they're giant humanoids fighting kaiju with their fists? Remember, King Kong has fought Godzilla before, and won (in the U.S. version)

>>61994414
>House Flaw - The Big Guns Never Tire: The House prefers to keep their enemies at range, to the point that this House cannot be relied upon to engage in close assault.
Not sure if I like this one. I'd assume the Knights would be fighting the smaller giant monsters and robots, and hand-to-hand is one of the core concepts of those fights.
Can anybody make it jive?

>>61995317
It's a small house that used to be bigger. The ones who are left don't like fighting in close assault.

Summary Posts

>>61992491
>>61992519
Forge World and Skitarii

>>61992562
>>61992577
>>61992595
>>61992616
Titan Legio and Secutarii

>>61994414
>>61994490
Knight House

Other relevant materials
https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Hua_Yuan
https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Hua_Yuan_Exterminators
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?tags=hua+yuan
https://yuki.la/tg/45591559

>>61995350
Isn't that the same as the Titan Legion? They lost a huge chunk of their forces in a humiliating defeat?
Maybe it was the same battle, and the Titan Legion just tightened their belts and doubled down, while the Knights lost their taste for brawls completely.

>>61995283
The name of the Titan legion needs to be Imperial standard. Hua Yuan needs to feel culturally invaded, with these imperial institutions feeling foreign in this space. There needs to be this cultural friction, so when the big battle happens, the Tyranid Kaiju rematch, there's this catharsis where everyone respects each other more, the Titans have regained their honour and the Exterminators have cleansed their home and won their independence from the Praetorians. Then they all look to the west and see Guilliman risen and a new dawn for the Imperium.

>>61995317
>>61995350
Well I think depends on who the Knights give fealty to. Praetorians? They love gunlines and mowing down xenos from a hilltop, and acting as mobile artillery for the guard. Titans? It could go either way.

>>61994742
Oooohhhh, very juicy. I like anyway this could go down.

If the Magi were always there, that means they were holed up while Hua Yuan suffered alone, lifting not a finger to help them. Which is going to create some truly intense rivalry once they become the system Forge World.

>>61997769
What if the knights owe fealty to the Sisters of Battle? Or the AdMech?

>>61997769
>>61998403
So is the forge world also supposed to be colonized? That's what I'm not clear on.
If it is brought back in line by Mars, then it makes a lot of sense for it to have an older name and for the people not to be too happy about the current state of affairs. It also works nicely if Hua Yuan resents them for always having been there but doing very little.

>>61992459

Hi Brother Anons, Konganon here. A Cantonese question was raised about the word for "forge (noun)".

You guys mentioned in Mandarin "rong lu", and in Cantonese it would be pronounced "yong low". The proper transliteration is probably "Jung Lou" as you listed, I just don't know the method as I don't write Chinese in English.

It's 熔炉. Literally 熔 is melt, 炉 is oven, so it's the furnace thing where you heat the metal before you take it out and work it on an anvil. 炉 is also a stove.

I think it's appropriate because the issue comes up in Kung Fu novels (e.g. stuff like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, like superhero kung fu). Like a warrior is trying to smith the best sword ever, but the blade is always too weak for his awesome kung fu, until his mother or wife or daughter throws herself into the furnace, and then the metal heated there becomes strong enough to make the ultimate weapon. But stronger yet is the warrior's resolve after learning of the sacrifice of said mother or wife or daughter. It's a trope.

TL;DR "ronglu" or "junglou" (yong low in pronunciation) works great. Typical trope in kung fu novels.

>>62001078

Imma point out a thing, in the spirit of being helpful. I'm going to point out an issue, but I'll provide a Marvel No-Prize solution.

Hua Yuan (花园) is Mandarin. In Cantonese, we'd write 花園 and say "fa yun" with like an umlaut sound on the u.

But keep it! Not because it doesn't matter (since 40k is so full of campy Latin already), but it's more interesting when talking about the Yuanese. 园 is the Mandarin writing. 元 is like currency. So the Yuanese, like Hong Kong people, are all about money...it's in their name.

That's hilarious because it's so shamefully accurate. But if someone should mention it in the future, you point out the above explanation.

>>62001201
Serendipitous

>>61999328
I don't know, that's up for us to decide. I can see the value of colonization as well as reintroduction, but the rarity of Datahives implies that at the very least the infrastructure was there to begin with

>>62001078
I think you may have been onto something with the life extension drugs or practices, since the head of the 1st Exterminators, Colonel Yao, is rumored to have fought in the original wars before the formation of the PDF

So is our Alpha of legend from the Skit or the Sec

>>61995317
>>61997769
>>61998413
I like the idea here >>61996844
that the Knights owe fealty to the Titan Legion, and were part of the same crushing loss that the Titans suffered. We rolled "Small remnant of a once large group" for both, it would make sense to lump them together.
Maybe the knights feel bitter towards the Titans for dragging them into such a horrific defeat, and have changed up their tactics to ranged combat to distance themselves (in more ways than one) from the melee-heavy Titan Legion.

>>62003299
Yeah, so it means we can have a local data hive sect that resents Martian control or we can have them happy to be reunited with Mars.

>>61992577
regardless of whether or not we use this
>>61996844
>>62006578
what should the humiliating defeat that the Titan Legion have suffered be? Was it against the Tyranids, that knocked them out of the fight for the rest of the war?

>>62007271
It'd be ironic since they didn't take the bugs seriously.

>>62007318
Maybe they went in expecting the standard 'nid invasion force and got met with the kaiju-sized monsters we want in this setting?
Or is that not humiliating enough?

>>62006578
>>62007271
We could have the barons bend the knee to the Praetorian Lord Commissar or a commander, and they simply be on the outside of the hive. If their preferred doctrine is siege warfare they could have been the initial breaching force into the hive, alongside the titans. When the Tyranids came rushing out they got hit hard. Or maybe they didnt, which forced a Knight House used to pelting the enemy from afar into the hive the Regiment, and they faced the worst fighting they could imagine. Even being a fucking massive hive, there's only so much they could do with Carnifexes coming out of buildings and off rooftops.


The titans on the other hand could have had the mission set to simply prevent anything from coming out of that hive, and to collapse it worst case scenario. The Tyranids could have responded by just sending out a legion of Virugons, Trygons and raveners to collapse the earth from beneath the legio, then pummel the shit out of them as they were down.

Massive losses all around. The Titan Legio also could have been lost in transit via the warp storms and had to land in a nearby planet, which the storms infested with Daemons. Maybe the AdMech explorator force knew there was a Datahive nearby, and escorted the Praetorians who were responding to the SoB distress calls. When they arrive they find the place full of Hereteks using the place as a Daemon forge and laughing at the plight of the Hua Yuanese

>>62007271
>>62007318
I think an initial loss against the Nids works great. That's what forces them to think outside the box and do a training montage.
Maybe the formerly calm princeps of the lead engine comes back with machine spirit rage and demands unorthodox emergency repairs.

>>62008676
>unorthodox emergency repairs.
"But Princeps! The Reaver's shoulders do not allow it to draw a Titan sized bow!
"Did I stutter!?"

>>62007403
The Biotitans of the calibre mentioned in the last thread are products of decades, centuries of planning and cultivation by the Genestealers, what the Imperials would have found in the first battle of Hua Yuan would have been a fairly standard assortment of Tyranids, thought most would have been adapted for city fighting, so wrecker Carnifexes, gargoyles and harridans, tunneling bioforms, ripper and gaunt swarms to flood the streets, more genestealers than is reasonable, etc

>>62008772
That's a good point. I really like this here >>62008626
especially with the long-range knights forced into melee.

>>62008936
I could see them not so much bitter with the Praetorians as they are bitter with Hua Yuan itself, not even he people, thinking the place cursed

>>62010414
Oh, definitely. I could see them as a bit claustrophobic, preferring open battlefields with clear lines of sight, and then being forced into tight narrow city streets with monsters much better at melee than you, hearing your friends die the worst death you can imagine all around you...
they probably hate that place.

>>61992616
i want servo skulls with guns.

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>>62011092
I can see it. Imagine what the Throne Mechanicus' do nowadays. PTSD and Claustrophobia everywhere

So how are Skitarii legions named and how can I sneak Bionicles in?

>>61999328
>>62003299
>>62006621
OK, it sounds like an old Forge World with is own weird traditions that has been (relatively) recently brought back to Martian Orthodoxy works. It also seems like the native tradition is relatively inward-looking. How might that work for their theology?

I like the idea that their version of the Machine Cult is fixated on the Motive Force and sees the Omnissiah and Deus Mechanicus as manifestations (i.e. inferiors) of that force. This is seriously divergent and appalling to a proper member of the Machine Cult, but it's not so far gone that Kill It With Fire is the only proper response. We could use that as a basis for a more esoteric outlook with plenty of properly ivory tower (or monastery?) types along with the better-known madmen-savants.

On a completely different track, the cackling madmen reputation could be explained by Strange Moods, but that might be a little too much FUN.

>>62014820
Use the force?

I could see it working a bunch of ways, one possibility is something that is interested in the transformation of states and energy. With a data hive, they might be very interested in data abstraction and computational states, seeing reality as computation, perhaps.
They could also be more tangible and focus on energy.
Either way, there are Chinese-ish directions we can take this, if we want. The techno-Dao is definitely plausible. They could also go a very hermetic direction with it.
If it is techno-dao and we do go for that, data flow and immersion in the data and allowing the patterns to emerge would make a lot of sense. Order in chaos and chaos in order, emergent properties, nth order cybernetic systems, you see where I'm going -- data is motive force. Which is actually a reasonable conclusion to draw from stuff like particle physics and abstract algebra. Particularly IN SPESS.

>>62015296
Dao is a blindspot of mine but if the Motive Force stuff leads there, go for it.

>>62016747

>>62014820
Strange Moods?

>>62015296
Chinese is the direction we don't want to take the forge world. Most things past Hua Yuan should be culturally hostile.

That being said, Hua Yuan itself has it's own Mechanicus traditions, since the original ship was either an Ark Mechanicus or a Pre Imperial colony ship with an AdMech contingent.

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>>62014820
>>62015296

I've actually been thinking about the servitors being covered in nodes of crackling electricity, which I think would fit really well with that.

>>62014820
>>62019196
Maybe tone it down just a little, where the forge world just places unusual emphasis on the Motive Force. Only the highest Magi can voice the unspoken belief in the superiority of the Motive Force, and never in front of outsiders.
>>62019196
I get what you're saying, but I think we can introduce some Chinese influences without making them sympathetic to the Hua Yuan culture. If Hua Yuan doesn't have Dao influence, there's still a cultural divide.
>>62019507
>To the dragoons, each strike of their Taser goads is an extension of the Motive Force's unstoppable wrath, a conduit of destruction.
>Every servitor is itself a node in a grand system serving the Motive Force
>Their bladed gauntlets strike with the force of a shock maul

>>62020062
>>62019196
>>62015296
>>62014820
I don't know, focus on the Motive Force may be a New-Wave Alternative way of thinking, considering their inspiration was from EDM outfits like Daft Punk. It also fits with the storms outside Hua Yuan and the constant power within.

If the Magi have a massive genetor program, and the Secutarii are hardcore Chaos slayers, then the Human Form could be a big thing for them. For the Magi it's all about the possibilities of the human form, its patent malleability. They view the Emperor as the Omnissiah and believe that Humanity was his final machine, a toolbox with infinite possibilities.

The Secutarii believe that the Omnissiah is the Emperor, and that when it created man, that form was its purest intent, and they as Mechanicus shake off their given form to return to the Omnissiah, since theirs is not to live and prosper, but to kill and protect.

Meanwhile on Hua Yuan, they can't hear this theological debate over their sick beats. Unless they're Traditionalist, which then they want you to turn that new age crap down and go to church. The Traditionalists would probably look down on everyone, thinking they're all missing the point of the AdMech

>>62020181
Actually actually actually, what if the Datahive was abandoned, and was the original destination of the Brimstone, the ship Hua Yuan is built on, but mysterious happenstance got the ship ass first in the moon. So the Imperials settling there is a blow upon a bruise for the Tech Priests that even remember that fact.

And an interesting thing to consider, is that maybe the newer tech sect on Hua Yuan does the electro-hymn thing because they believe they are the resonances of the Motive Force, which again puts them in the ire of the comparatively more conservative Mechanicus schools of thought

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Quick update: changed the servitor's bladed gauntlets (they felt a little too genestealery) to a blade that sticks out between the fingers. Thoughts?

>>62021246
I imagined them looking more like 50's movie monsters but this is cool

>>62021347
Also a cool idea, but it would probably require me to do different designs for each one which is waaay too much work and besides it's too late to go back now.

>>62021452
Could just do a singular design. I mean if this is supposed to be the initial assault, then this could work as proto types, hastily converted from shipservitors, and representing Frankenstein

>>62021478
...fuck. I could totally do a bolt through the neck, but I'd have to get rid of the tube things.

>>62021769
Just do the bolt on the neck for the rest.

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>>62021876
Tried out the bolt for the ones I haven't inked.

>>62022028
That looks badass, and the tubes gives for some nice variety.

So building upon the Skitarii:

>unusually for Skitarii, the cyborg soldiers of Phlogistar are known for their warmth, conviviality and good cheer off of the battlefield. Many even have families with forge-workers.
>But each Skitarii is implanted during their initial conversion with a series of nodes in the amygdala. When battle looms and they mount their Dragoon steeds, a signal from the tech-priests activates these nodes remotely, sending an electric charge through their brains.
>The charge shuts down the emotional center of the brain, and the soldiers who take to the field are not the same men as before. Filled with the will of the Motive Force, they fight without anger, without fear, and without mercy.
>They are empty, and yet full. Through the machine's gift they become conduits of the Motive Force like the servitors they command, in harmony with the universe. Every act is spontaneous and perfect.
>But the Motive Force is not a gift to be used freely. When the purity of battle has ended, the Skitarii descend from their mounts, once again full of emotion; human, and flawed. Such teaches us humility.
I was trying to unite the emotional suppression idea with Daoism, not sure how well I did.

Also, are we set on Phlogistar? Phlogiston was an early theory about flammability, and we're focusing on electricity and flesh.

Also also, if we want to get real crazy, we could have them occasionally team up with the Knights, importing Ogryn bodies to use the same "herd and shepherd" tactics, just scaled up.
And if we wanted to get completely balls-to-the-wall crazy (and feel free to shoot this down), we could have them working on a secret project to stretch the limits of the human form and create a Servitor the size of a Warhound Titan. A Titan in a different sense, if you will.

>>62023033
Like you ripped it out of a Mechanicus Codex.

>>62023033
Again, I think the motive force should be a Hua Yuan thing, not a Phlpgistar thing

>>62023736
Here's my thinking.
Yes, there should be a major feeling of cultural oppression on Hua Yuan, and we don't want the cultures to be too similar or the feeling won't be strong. The best way to do that would be an Orthodox Forge World that comes down hard on any deviance.
But Phlogistar (and again, not sure about the name) is not going to be a standard Forge World, otherwise this thread wouldn't exist. And the Motive Force fits in really well with the stuff we've made already. And Daoism fits in shockingly well with the Motive Force.
And Daoism isn't really a strong influence on Hua Yuan. They've got a cult of light and put emphasis on ancestor worship and reincarnation, but the "pure, unifying force" of Daoism isn't present.
If we steal Daoism for the Forge World, there's still an enormous cultural divide between it and Hua Yuan. There's plenty of room for oppression and xenophobia. I bet if this gets its own 1d4chan page, people will accuse us of ripping off Star Wars before cultural appropriation.
That's what I think.

>>62023033
>>62023234
>>62023736
>>62024196
Okay, okay, okay hear me out. Half of what we're doing is fluffing stuff out that should have been fluffed out in the original threads. The other half is catching up that stuff to Post Gathering Storm, bringing the setting changes of Hua Yuan with that, and a new status quo.

We can have our cake and eat it too, in different time periods.

The Explorator fleet, Guard and Titans happen upon Hua Yuan, then find Jingang after, and discover the Datahive populated. They find the Metal Men/Atomancers/Whatever we end up calling them and the Secutarii and Titan legion set up shop, and question them as to why they didn't make contact with Hua Yuan, and they tell them that they didn't see a reason to implicate themselves with the dirty savages.

The natives of Phlogistar are full of 50's family values, Skitarii and Tech adepts with greater emotional range so they can have *nuclear* families and true devotion to the Emperor. They seemingly would get along with the Praetorians, Knights, Titans but their "good old fashioned orthodoxy" and "God, Family, Country" attitude is a very thin veneer over a mindset that would allow for some extreme tech heresy if it wasnt for what is, for lack of a better term, an act. They're batshit insane closet heretics that reign themselves in through an attitude of better living through genecrafting.

Once the battle breaks out, they reveal their magnum opus, a massive servitor, crafted from the dead body of a Biotitan, essentially the Gigan Biotitan writ large. Mechagodzilla. They unleash it upon Nidzilla, and does some decent damage, after they hack Gigan, both Nidzilla is able to btfo both, being Godzilla after all. This let's the Titans have the limelight *cue Pacific Rim theme*

Then once the smoke clears and the humies are victorious, the Phlogistarians are like "Hey, that thing was cool, huh? And we have all this stuff to make more!"
>[CONT]

>>62024666
Then every sane Mechanicus member goes, "Dude what the fuck, no." And the Phlogistarians get censured by Mars, maybe there's a small revolt and the Secutarii, Titans, and emancipated Hua Yuanese tech cult go kick them in the teeth.

Phlogistar is remanded to the Yuanese, and the Gardener designation becomes the official one, and its renamed Jingang.

Here the Gardener cult flourishes using the foundations of the Metal Men/Atomancers/Whatever, Family Skitarii, servitors. etc. But with the focus more on the motive force, a more spiritual forge world, with a less cynical and materialistic view on science and flesh.

So we get both by way of plot development

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>>62024666
At this point, I feel like it might be better to take the Motive Force, Daoism, Dragoons and Servitors and emotional suppression, and make a different Forge World in a different system, because it doesn't seem to be mixing well with Hua Yuan.
Maybe we should scrap all that for Phlogistar and focus on the Mad Scientist Giant Kaiju Battle idea.

Pic updated, by the way.

>>62024863
I disagree. I think it fits perfectly, because it's already on Hua Yuan, and I'm saying export that to here >>62024818. The Dragoons and Servitors are a bad ass concept no matter how you dress it. For the Phlogistarians it's an expression of their callousness and mad science, for the Jingangi it's an expression of their love of the motive force, and am expedient way to deal with Hua Yuan's outrageous criminal population.

It's like the British thing, once we unbind ourselves of a static faction we have a lot of creative opportunities

>>62024863
Art looks fantastic, by the way

>>62025252
So, wait, what is Phlogistar and what's Jingang? Is it the same planet, but renamed Phlogistar from Jingang?
Are the Jingangi the natives before the Phlogistarians moved in? Or something different?

>>62025414
Two words for the same Forge World in the Hotung system. The Gardeners, the Hua Yuanese, will be able to observe the planets and stars, even if their ability to travel to them is nonexistent.

What I propose is that Phlogistar is the name given to the Forge world by the native magi, and the initial Imperial designation. Once the Metal Men/Atomancers/whatever reveal that they've crossed the technological event horizon they were censured and the planet is remanded to the Lay Engineers, Tech Adepts, Magi and Electro priests of Hua Yuan, and it is redesignated as Jingang.

>>62025786
I could see that. The Phlogistar mad scientist heresy is replaced with the less heretical Motive Force worship.

>>62024666
Ooh, man. As much as I need to work on the first picture, I really wanna draw Servitor-Gigan

>>62026068
It's the reason I made this thread. I wanted to have Gigan be an augmented Demichaeron that the GSC made, then the Imperials hack it and turn it against Nidzilla before its destroyed. I wanted that particular sect to be something like the Bladed Cog, but I realize that the AdMech of Hua Yuan was never explored. So here we are

>>62026068
>>62026099
"The Great One" or Future Weapon Zeta, is a massive Demichaeron, a hunter killer bioforme. Unlike other cults, where they simply revere, feed, and protect their god the [INSERT SECT NAME HERE] actively experiment on theirs, seeking to improve upon the Patriarch's design. One day the Great One was accidentally awakened and its aggression and raw power allowed it to break free. It slew countless members of the sect and loyal Mechanicus agents, before bursting in to the deeper reaches of the forge systems and into a Core Dragon nest. It took hundreds of them before the Great One ceased his assault, radiation, the lake of slag, and the Core Dragon's ravagings finally stripping him of his limbs, and stunning it.

>The full force of the [INSERT SECT NAME HERE] fell upon the nest to retrieve their god and do away with the evidence. Even half formed, the Great One was extremely dangerous, almost too dangerous. Even still, in their retrieval of its body, it had sustained massive injury, but fended off even greater harm. Above all, it was not truly dead, but suffering from massive organ failure and too rent to fight. Its augmentations stayed true death, and the [INSERT SECT NAME HERE] suddenly had their experiments become a necessity. Dangerous enough, they simply needed the thing to be operable, and controllable. With the Great One close to completion, they fear full completion will activate it early once more, and simply bide their time. Now the [INSERT SECT NAME HERE] plays the disparate factions of the local Mechanicus against each other, fanning the political and ideological flames, as well as providing illegal bionics and weaponry to the rest of the Storm Dragon Temple and the Anti Imperial gangs of the hive

>>62026099
>>62026318
I don't know how well this fits in. Is this the mecha-Gigan that the Phlogistarians tried to use? If so, how did the forge world get control of it/why would the GSC use it against the Tyranids?

>>62026381
Behold
>>>61899002
>>>61901629
>>>61907192
>>>61907200
>>>61907639
>>>61907655
>>>61907699
>>>61907715
>>>61907773
>>>61921521

So Gigan is one of the GSC biotitans, but because they used Phlogistarian methods in rebuilding him, they're able to seize control of it, and turn it against the GSC. Their Tyranid Biotitan servitor is basically Mechagodzilla, and is the thing that gets them in boiling water in the end, and they both fight with Ghidorah riding Living Saint. They all largely fail to stop Nidzilla, although they may be able to slay some of the others. The Titans are the ones that put Nidzilla in the ground

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>>61992459
I assume their homeworld is something similar to Kowloon Walled City

>>62027021
Literally one of the inspirations for the hive, good eye

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Jesus, the detail work wears me down.

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>>62027021
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kowloon_Walled_City

https://imgur.com/gallery/jFoPv

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>>62027133

How about a Dao Electro-Priest Magos, who was the main force behind reforming Phlogistar practices into Motive-Force Jingang philosophy?

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>>62027119
Well it looks good, so...maybe have a synthwave background, them going *into* Hua Yuan from the wastes. I'm not sure those Servitors need to breath

>>62027500
I was thinking them on Jingang, but that's a good idea too.

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>>62027471
Just one?
>>62027537
In the fighting after the transition from Phlogistar to Jingang?

>>62027471
In the transition?

So are we going with Phlogistarian natives, then with Hua Yuanese Tech adepts settling to stand up reforms?

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>>62030545

>>62030545
>>62030573
What would the Kastellans do in the invent that the Hua Yuanese cult came to censure Phlogistar? I mean it's not like the Metal Men/Atomancers/whatever are good people at the end of the day

>>62030545
>their arrival unheralded and taken as a sign of the machine god's favor
>after which they disappear once more, perhaps for centuries at a time
So they're pretty much the Legion of the Damned for the Mechanicus?

>>62026788
Any thought to having the Living Saint be a woman? I agree with the ganger thing, something lowly, but I'm thinking a woman, just to fit the trend. Solar Macharius is the only male LS I can think of

Bump til morning

>>62030947
The bots themselves you mean? Most assuredly they'd allow the datasmiths to direct them wherever.

>>62026788
>with Ghidorah riding Living Saint
I know what you're trying to say here, but I'm picturing something completely different.

>>62031756
Spoopy bots.

>>62033156
And what does that look like?

>>62030545
So do Kastellans have forges or is that a mystery?

>>62037453
I think they do

>>62037453
They're not mentioned, but I imagine that they exist but are extremely rare.

>>62039811
Then maybe Phlogistar doesn't have a Kastelan forge but data wafer banks and repair datums?

So the Atomancers of Phlogistar become the Motive Daoists of Jingang?

>>62043053
Then I'll have to do something with the Atomancers later.

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>>62036154

>>62043326
They could be ejected from the planet. Depends on how comfortable you are with them becoming hereteks.

>>62041691
Did we ever decide that the forge world had a Kastelan forge? I thought it was just a data repository.

>>62043415
I wouldn't be.

>>62045002
I would argue that it would help with the mad science angle, I mean it would completely unbind them from the orthodoxy and allow you to go a lot of places.

With their new history of proximity to massive Xenos biotitan and Mechanicus titans, the sky is literally the limit for them. You know have a legion that can geneforge massive servitor engines and arm them with unorthodox beam and ray weaponry, gleaned from the archives of the Datahive. I mean it's perfect. They don't have to be Chaos, or even Anti Imperial, just in the hottest water with the Mechanicus and with a massive grudge for the little yellow men of Hua Yuan. The favor of a Rogue Trader should be enough to shield them, and gives them room enough for bullshit.

>>62045171
That's more agreeable than them turning to chaos. Thanks.

>>62045192
I mean is that the narrative thread you want to explore?

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>>62045266
It could be. I liked the angle where the Atomancers are really good at using the mechanicum bureaucracy to get out of trouble with the cult proper.

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>>62046463
>Honest Omnissiah fearing men of science replaced by degenerate foreigners because they made the ultimate sacrifice for their world

>>62046463
I mean, I'm sure they could finagle a way out of trouble for having a genestealer cult, so long as they properly wiped them out.
Trouble for keeping a kaiju-sized 'nid and souping it up with borderline heretical tech is a bit harder to get out of.

>>62046463
>>62046953
>>62047071
To a certain extent, there are ways to get away with it. Rogue traders get away with a lot, so if these guys can use the "oh, it's a weapon testing rig" sort of excuse, they might be able to get away with it, since none of the technology they're actually using is all that innovative, just the configuration. Mecha-Godzilla is seeing if regular servitor interrupts will work on Xenos-Horriblis. Nothing truly scandalous there. Stuff like that keeps it notionally within the bounds of tolerance and means that when it's a rogue trader doing it, who is able to get away with trading with xenos and using their equipment as it is, it'll be hard to prove that they've actually broken any law.
Won't stop zealots and mobs, but it will freeze the administratum.

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What color do you think the servitors should be: pallid, sickly white, or Electro-priest gray?

>>62047071
Don't conflate the GSC of Hua Yuan with the Magi of Phlogistar

Although now I'm thinking that the [Honed Flesh Clade?] got the idea from stolen secrets from the magi of Phlogistar. But instead of strapping on ceramite and servos to a dead Heirophant, they augment a living, but slumbering supersized Demichaeron. So in a way, as far as that fuck up goes, it's the Atomancers fault.

But as >>62047199 says, if you sell it right, a lot of people won't mind. Your average Astartes or Militarum commander might give you a look of disgust but not demand your hide. Your average rogue trader is going to say "Haha, YES!"

>>62047199
And I like this rationale. Post Gathering Storm Hua Yuan is a pretty saccharine ending for 40k, but all in all it's still very grimdark. Sure the Hua Yuanese are "independent" now, sure their tech cults get to forge their own legacy, sure the Praetorians get to go home or at the least get the fuck out of the system, sure the Titans have regained their honour and are celebrated heroes, and the Genestealer menace is gone.

>[CONT]

>>62050543
>>62047199
But now they have to rule themselves, the tight Praetorian leash they had gone, the cover of being an active warzone taken from them. Whatever mistakes they make will be on their heads, whatever tithes get "lost" to gangers or guilders can have Space Marines in their homes. Whatever crimes or heresy their people commit can have the Inquisiton in their orbit. The cruelty and injustices of their Praetorian ruler ship will forever go unanswered for, the callous indifference and outright hostility the Atomancers, and their grevious crimes, will go unanswered for, and even if they were ejected from their planet, they have the near-limitless support and patronage of a Rogue Trader. The Gardeners lose their immunity, their Oppressors gain it. They lose the immediate oppression of the Praetorians and gain the direct and uncaring eye of the Imperium. They Row, Rowed, fought and fought the power, more or less won, and now has to deal with a greater power. In true Cyberpunk fashion, even the victory of the punks is tainted by the sheer nature of the setting. Even with a Living Saint, his purpose is to kill, fight, die, and live again for the Emperor. Even if he refuses the Ecclesiarchy will black mail Hua Yuan itself until he joins his brothers and sisters in combat.

Its bleak, but they had a sizable victory. And I think that's what 40k at it's best is all about

>>62048110
If Pre Gathering Storm, i.e. Atomancers of Phlogistar, sickly pale, maybe with discolouration in the limbs to represent the rigour mortis of Frankenstein.

If post, and thus after the Titan wars, elimination of the Genestealers and the Storm Dragon Temple, and the Independence of Hua Yuan, then it would be the new Motive Daoists and I would have them electro grey. Maybe use the scheme posted in the last thread by Hong Konganon? The one with the Yellow Helm?

If this is the route we go, callous eccentric natives getting booted etc, I can see the Secutarii and Titans wanted to kick the Atomancers ass for seemingly stealing Titan technology, applying it on one of their most hated enemies, and accidentally allowing those techniques to fall into the hands of the GSC. I'm sure Gigan would have whipped a lot of ass before it got control taken from the GSC, and everyone would be a little sore about that.

Having your local Titans wanting to stomp your shit would be reason enough for those responsible to leave. The rest would just be happy enough to rebrand and lay low.

Bump til morning

>>62050587
>>62050543
I like it. Appropriately grimdark and a pretty decent comment on how fucked up the IRL "decolonization" process was.

What are we thinking for the saint?
With Hua Yuan, we could go for a cheesy HK action movie hero, like Bruce Lee. In space.

>>62052710
Oh I was thinking a shirtless ganger riding Ghidorah like Archaon

>>62048110
Gray

Bump

>>62044075
Can we roll up the wider sector?

>>62058678
Based on the amount of traffic this is getting? I don't know. I want to, but I don't see the point if I'm going to just be bumping it every hour

Honestly the Atomancers sound more and more like Big MT/The Enclave

>>62060437
Fund it.

>>62061973
What are the Think Tanks again? We could base a Magos on each on and flesh out the forge world enclave that way

>>62063243
>>62061973
>>62060437
Maybe certain "think tanks" drew the ire of the Titans and had to jet, and others made compromises with the Hua Yuanese

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>>62064528
The think tanks were Dr Klein, Dr. 0, Dr. 8, Dr. Borous, Dr. Dala, and Dr. Mobius

>>62046463
>The HERETICAL alien before me! What other terrifying terrors will plague us in our quest for knowledge? Mutants? Mutant ALIENS, perhaps?

>>62064775
What's the difference? Do they have specialties or anything significant that can be ported over?

>>62064858
Doctor Klein is the leader dude, Doctor 0 specializes in robots, Doctor 8 does not talk, Doctor Dala specializes in mineralogy, Doctor Borous is the "Head of Animalogy, Beastology, and DNA-Scrambling technology", and Doctor Mobius betrayed the rest to keep them trapped in Big MT to spare the wasteland of their experimentation.

>>62064963
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Think_Tank_(faction)

>>62064963
I can see Magos Klein, O, and Borous being ones forced to flee, with Magos Mobius being the one to welcome the reforms and help establish a new tech cult

What does 8 do?

>>62065351
>O
good one

>>62065383
?

>>62065533
In the game, everyone calls Doctor 0 Doctor O despite his protests.

>>62066228
Oh, well what does Doctor Zero do, then. Would he be one of the ones booking it or laying down an accepting the new status quo?

>>62066512
Personally I don't think we need a direct 1:1 comparison for each character as long as we get the themes and the feel down.

>>62066631
Well no, but I'm thinking the clades correspond to the Think Tanks, then have Magi built from them, not Fallout.

>>62067041
Is there a Roboscorpion equivalent? Or would they make them out of people?

Bump til morning

Bump