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>>63265340
I'm still dumbfounded by how well the idea of Isha having escaped with part of Nurgle's piece of Malal works for justifying the birth of a god of Death.

>>63265340
What more can we do with Amallyn Shadowguide? How far would she push her beliefs?

>>63266991
It depends on whether her idea of military stratocracy extends to the point of thinking Isha should be overthrown and replaced with, say, Asurmen or Khaine, as despite being much more ruthless and capable of war than prior to her rescue Isha isn't as specialized for combat. But that would be a big no-no in eldar society and potentially might even result in the Handmaidens disappearing you depending on how loud and violent you are (which is kind of scary to consider, but seems in character). Of course this is Biel-Tan, who nearly declared holy war on Dorhai, and might consider the idea that an eldar goddess needs to be replaced with a mortal or with Khaine (who while liked more than before the Fall is still not that popular) might result in a riot.

So how do different schools of Inquisitors act here? What axies of thought do they follow?

>>63267592
Possibility she wouldn't see Isha removed from office so much as the relevance of that office being significantly reduced. In times of crisis the military does take over, and now is such a time if ever there was, but it is only temporary. Victory is assured in the long run because Beil-tan knows no defeat only victory and delayed victory. Once the fires are put out then the military steps down and everyone gets to go home.

Also removing Isha from authority would probably cause a decline in birth rates and an increase in ill health.

>>63267592
An interesting part of Amalyn’s context is that being fairly young among eldar, her version of “Eldar supremacy” would actually be much more akin to a mix of Biel-Tan cultural supremacy mostly directed at Imperial humans, and the administrated worlds of the Imperial ‘commons’ in particular, but also extending to superiority to other craftworlds when pressed. The actual ‘racial’ component of her Eldar Supremacy might be something like a Roman view of Brittons or Germans, granting humans some utility as grunts and even as lesser officers, but defaulting to “the Eldar’s burden” when not actively suspicious of them. In essence, she wants an eldar supremecist Imperial government, not a coup.

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Just wanted to chime in and say with mainline 40k going to hell in a handbasket I thank you guys so much for what you do. You make me actually like 40k again.

>>63271223
Oh boy, this is liable to turn out badly. One big cultural taboo among eldar is throwing people of your own social group under the bus for personal gain, and Biel-Tan is already looked at suspiciously for their zealous and imperialistic attitude.

On that note, did we ever figure out which Craftworlds sent Vandire bodyguards during the Age of Apostasy? I remember their claim was they saw how unstable Vandire was getting and wanted to have someone to reign his madness in, which some the other Craftworlds who didn't participate saw as suspicious thinking they just want to be in position to manipulate a mentally unstable puppet Emperor at the expense of everyone else.

>>63272631
It not so much throwing her under the bus as just rearranging political importance slightly and temporarily. Or that's how she would see it but there's a reason she's not in charge.

In last thread there was some mention that Eisenhorn's life was different but some key events in it remained. Which events were changed and what with?

>>63274866

It sounded like everything might have stayed the same up through "Xenos", but then diverged pretty wildly. His entry on the Notable People page describes a gradual decline of dabbling further and further into Chaos, but rationalized with "well, the Grey Knights do things like this!" rather than desperation as in canon. He has now managed to go so far that he has NO support from anyone on any side. I don't think anyone's gone into the particulars of his crimes, though.

>>63271638
Even in this apparent era of grand pettiness and gross mismanagement, /tg/ will still get shit done anon.

>>63274961
A good format would be

Crime
Reason
Justification

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>>63267592
>>63269331
>>63271223
So basically, more power to eldar military, less power to human civil administration?

Sounds interesting.
>>63271638
IMHO, mainline 40k has been bland for quite some time. One can just take so much of grimderpness.

>>63276901
Well that's Amalyn's other problem. Only the older living generations of Biel-Tan Eldar still remember when the vast human armies weren't the disproportionate hivecity sized anvil to the Astartes' hammer and their proverbial lance or stiletto. Amalyn's elders actually like the options having a neigh-inexhaustible supply of usually passable soldiers gives them, and even Amalyn would be hesitant to try to push Humanity out of the Imperial Army, it being a vast majority Human, or decrease Human contribution to the Imperial war machine. Pluss Eldar are already in deep in the Imperial administration, seers or simply ancient analysts are almost a necessity in the mid to upper Administratum, and of course, Empress Isha personally directs various endeavors across the Imperium, carried out mostly by Eldar she enscances in power. The problem for Amalyn is, again, they aren't from Biel-Tan, they're mostly from Ulthwe and Saim-hann.

>>63277854
Her views are flawed but they are her views.

So the pieces of Malal that exist, as far as we've established are
>Non-existence- probably turned into the mantle of the Indigo Crow, possibly not, and is instead wound up in some other sorcerous trophy or creation
>Destruction- Malal, vizier of Khorne, and the Khornate Sorcerer. Might be interesting to have him ever do anything, not sure if we have.
>Entropy(also denial)- Nurgle took it, sealed the portfolio away, and tried to carry on preserving like nothing was wrong, even as he became a fetid cultivator of decay.
>Some portion of this power fled the garden with Isha, and in whatever strength, it harmonized decently with Isha it the harrows of her imprisonment, to the point that she went from the (Eldar exuivilent of mother earth) nature goddess to wellspring of civilized life and shepard of the dead, All-Mother of the Imperium, etc. in the few thousand years after her initial freedom. It also arguably manifests in her willingness to revert to her markedly primeval War in Heaven methods and tactics. And of course the big point from the last thread, it sets the stage for Ynnead very cleanly.

Then there is Apep, who in his containment and backstory seems to get the whole of Malal's portfolio, but to a much lesser degree than the Vizier got destruction and the Indigo Crow is granted Non-existence, etc. Apep is called an embodied god, as well as the only true prince of Malal, so it figures he's empowered by some wisp of the original Malal.

On the other hand Malal has also been said to have fled back into the warp/realspace phenomenon that had birthed him when the his three brother gods turned on him, casting off his spheres of influence in flight to better slip back into his native nothingness. That bleak tunnel is argued to be the Tyrant Star, a collapsed kernel of true singularity beyond all madness and tempest. Which brings us to the Impossible World, and the thing the Old Ones put there.

>>63280006
Apep isn't an aspect of Malal although he did get a heap of his juice. Apep was a K'Nib scientist who fucked around with Necrontyr leftovers and grey gooed his homeworld.

At that time he would have had to have been blessed and uplifted whilst Malal was in thrall to Khorne which indicates that Malal does still have some agency even if his authority and ability is severely reduced.

>>63280006
Presumably the Horned Rat was placed on the Impossible World some time before the other gods turned on Malal, from which follows the Impossible world predating Malal's 'death'. The Rat emulated parts of Malal's nature and essence, but wasn't actually derived from Malal's power, or Tzeentch's. Why the Old Ones put it on that world is a mystery, one reason might be to easily shove the Horned Rat into oblivion if necessary. One likewise wonders if the Impossible world is however it is merely from eons' exposure to the light of the Tyrant Star, or if it truly is something from the distant side.

And lastly, across the galaxy, there is the point where Malal's touch in the universe was lightest, if present at all. The Outsider and Malal have been compared, held up as inversions, and thus it's suggested that one godly fratricide and another were linked. Malal was killed and eaten by his brothers, the Outsider killed and ate its siblings. Not being is central to being Malal, its half the reason Malal has spent all of his time since the War in Heaven doing just that. Not being the Outsider is central to the Outsider, Szarekh uses the Outsider as an attack dog with a similar set of procedures to the ones used to keep Apep in his cell on Ganymede. It's circumstantial, it's non-evidence, but only Tzeentch needs defy the odds, null probabilities are the only outcomes Malal bets on.

Oh, and Slaanesh. Slaanesh has no Malal in it, specifically, but does come from a species that the Old Ones tweaked, so you can spot similarities at times. Slaanesh is the only Chaos God that will appropriate the goat head as a symbol, partly because its pretty much the only way to actually offend the other three rather than earn their patronizing disdain. For their part, the elder three were the only real players for most of many millions of years, and the last time their number was four it ended with one the older players getting killed.

>>63281032
What was Horned Rat supposed to do when the Old Ones made it?

>>63268034
Psyker supremacists
Monodominants
Hybrid fanatics
Archaeologists
Specialization enthusiasts
Self-Sufficiently enthysiasts
Cetralists
Diffusionists
Purists
Augmentists/Mutationists
Hyper-Militancy
Reformationists

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>>63282591

>>63274961
Is it more or less likely that he killed Pontius Glaw?

I'd like to think more likely to show him as a member of a more sensible Inquisition even if he does fall from grace. Pontius had at least one child, a daughter that Vanilla Eisenhorn meets and kills, she could be the new antagonist he becomes entangled with as she attempts to awaken an ancient horror.

>>63282587
>Hybrid fanatics
The equivalent of Xenos Hybris, right? Guess they will be a major ordo in this AU.

>>63284706
Mostly it's learning from the member states to add their strengths to the Imperial whole. Only the fanatics or really bored AdBio try to make half-breeds.

>>63281373
He was supposed to do what Nurgle was later created to do, which was provide a buffer for things that "worked" against the constantly mutating nature of Tzeentch and the nitpicky destruction of Malal, as well as provide a haven for lost things so that nothing was truly forgotten. Tzeentch, Nurgle, and Malal were kind of in a Wyld, Weaver, and Wyrm trio before the War in Heaven.

When creating the Horned Rat, the Old Ones created a cross pollination between Tzeentch and Malal thinking that the two halves would cancel each other out and create stability. It didn't.

Before the War in Heaven Nurgle was like a combination between Hagrid and David Attenborough, a jovial curator finding beauty in all natural things no matter what they were, and his realm was like a great zoo/nature preserve/museum where people could go to learn how things once were and those who were the last of their kind could always have a place to belong and call their own.

Then things went wrong when there was so much extinction during the War in Heaven and Nurgle snapped under the workload and nihilistic despair over how much was lost, turning him into a depressed, unhygienic hoarder. Then things got worse worse when Isha, the supposedly kindred spirit and companion he could finally call his own got free. Nurgle had always seen causality is futile after the War in Heaven but mostly treated it like some edgelord, but after experiencing despair personally he turned into a fully bipolar nut alternating between deep depression and incandescent rage. Isha leaving should've been his wake-up call, but it wasn't.

>>63280006
Khorne also got justice, but he never uses it. Nurgle got nihilism, which was a symptom of Malal's madness in the War in Heaven.

Apep is a Daemon Prince, so he arguably embodies the totality of Malal more than most of his fragments.

Skarbrand is also "tainted" by Malal the vizier.

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Okay, a second try at Ingethel. Is it any improvement?

https://pastebin.com/BhFkQQQi

>>63285875
It's good. The sort of thing Cadian parents tell their children when they misbehave.

Anyone else mind voting for the last few threads? Seems like only three or four of us are still doing that.

>>63285875
Thanks for your contribution; we can always use more writefagging, especially neat stuff like this.

Are there Malal cultists in the dark millennium or is he only worshipped as an after thought with Khorne?

>>63292537
If there are, they are very rare. Especially since I doubt Malal would be able to confer any blessings unlike the big four which are very, very, very generous.

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>>63292537
>>63292656
They exist. Malal's schtick both here and in canon is rather than relying on mass cults is to empower single individuals and turn them into unstoppable, silent juggernauts with powers far beyond that of normal kin (maybe as much as 11 times, eh?). And then taking those powers back, with interest, once Malal is done with them.

Ever read Davin Brin's Thor meets Captain America? Exactly like that.
https://web.archive.org/web/20120712201054/http://www.davidbrin.com:80/thor2.htm

It kind of fits with Malal's aspect of justice. It fits with the notion of the underdog outnumbered a hundred to one and beating them anyway because "right" outweighs "might".

There was also the Malalian Heresy, where a bunch of Crones turned into KISS and preached the word of their lord and saviour Malal, which almost led to Malal regeneration some of his lost splendor.

Sons of Malice probably exist.

Malal also might support revolutions in a manner similar to Mist from Exalted. He no longer knows why he must incite revolutions against social structures or whether it's even necessary but does in the idea that if the revolution succeeds something better can rise from the ashes. Which he tears down again.

By and large, though. Malal cultists are vastly outnumbered by everyone else. Which is just the way they like it.

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>>63292815
Malal is the best choice among gods, its why the others keep him down.

>>63292815
Is cultist-chan or cultist-chan like figure present in this AU?

>>63265340

>>63285347
On the subject of AdBio, did the Order of the Old Tree get a write up?

>>63294144
She's either still a minor comedic character, be she a crone or a human. Or we go with a description from pretty early on, stick some pointy ears and an even more insane expression on her, and say its Malys.

Seriously. I'm pretty sure some of the early concept for Malys as the main Chaos Undivided villain was "what if beyond-manic, stinky, skinny, babbling cultist-chan, whom all the gods somehow all agreed to empower and make immortal for her perfect service, was as serious a threat as that sounds like it would be"

>>63296812
Malys was from Vanilla, we just upped her power levels considerably.

>>63282587
Archaeologists, where the past can talk to you. Come armed.

Archaeologists, looting the past to enhance the future.

Archaeologists, because our mistakes are following us.

Archaeologists, when the fossils are on the payroll.

>>63298108
Malys was from vanilla, but was conceptually totally different. In making her the Crone everchosen and so on she ended up pretty far from the canon Dark Eldar character.

>>63284605
More likely I would think.

The daughter probably attempted to resurrect the fallen "god" Yssarile because she thought that he would resurrect her father and make them all immortal out of gratitude.

Yssarile was a greater deamon of Tzneetch who dreamed of usurping the crystal labyrinth and the throne. He gets out played by the Big Bird and killed, his followers (Cherubael among them) take his body into exile and build him a tomb on Ghül that becomes the seat of a short-lived but magnificent deamon empire in the materium. That it could.seemingly exist at all was more than odd.

The eldar sterilized Ghül and it's six colonies about 8 - 9 million years ago. Yssarile echo across time still linger.

>>63299132
Would it be a too on the nose for the Archeologist faction to collectively have a particular enmity with the Golden Pyramid and a Belloq-esque relationship with Trayzn?

I cleaned up the entry on The Beast a bit, added a bit more from the other threads, and put it on the Xenos page. Does it sound okay to everyone?

>>63296812
>>63294144

Probably one of the Davin Lodge members. Pretty pathetic on her own but her enthusiasm is contagious (as are her comtagions).

Keeps coming back by the grace of her gods, possibly as a joke.

>>63303311
Looks good to me! Thanks for doing your part to help get stuff on the wiki, and hopefully off of the Notes page.

>>63303311
Looks good and all seems to be there.

>>63306992
Cadia never fell.
Also her eyes aren't purple.

>>63303311
Thank you.

>>63300556
Should there be other remnants of the "deamon empire"?

>>63296243
There was an attempt but people kept trying to imply incest and made it weird.

>>63310618
>incest and made it weird
pleb taste

>>63293612
Don't know much about 40k Malice but Fantasy Malal was a god the other big four were scared of. He was parasitic and actually got stronger from them succeeding, so any time they accomplished anything Malal would grow stronger too.

>>63310967
Here he's one of the two origional gods. He was the bottomless pit of destruction into which the eternally overflowing cup of Tzneetch overflowed into.

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lewdness warning

>>63310618
I might give it another go soon.

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What would the Inquisition do if they ever caught Ahriman? He fucked up Prospero entirely by accident and it would have been lost to enemy hands if he hadn't done anything.

His original crime is essentially a maths error.

His other crimes are mostly self defence in his attempt to undo his first big mistake.

>>63310618
Those people were overlooking that the Order of the Old Tree was there to prevent inbreeding. The real reason it was getting weird was because Bene Gesserit style courtesan nuns were ruling Praetoria with arranged marriages and Isha worship, and symbolyc incest with societal mother figures. Also a literal British nanny state, but again, in a weird slightly perverse way in our view due to the influence of the fertility worship.

>>63314480
Ahriman isn't actually a fugitive, he's just persona non grata in Imperial politics, and not so much for what he did on Prospero as what he's done since to try to fix it. He's dedicated to operating as he does to achieve his goal of restoring Prospero, among other things, and doesn't want to stop trying or return to standard Imperial procedure. If he were to stop and return to Sol, or some other Imperial center, he would probably be debriefed, monitored, questioned by numerous officers as personally curious about his activities as they are professionally, and if he didn't intend to head back into the thick of things, allowed to retire or whatever.

>>63314590
The Imperial Court might actually be interested in him, Magnus's apprentice, privy to the black library, etc. Ahriman is still the preeminent human space wizard AFIK, and Eldrad it an aged fellow even for an Eldar at this point, he would like to be sure the Imperial Court's sorcerer is up to snuff should he pass.

Speaking of, is Eldrad's position at court official? His presence and influence in politics would be indisputable, and even if he spent more time at Ulthwe than Sol, the traveling court would make state visits inevitable.

Speaking of what the fuck was Eldrad doing during the Imperial Civil War? How did Vandire pass muster with Eldrad? How did Vandire get away with jack shit using Eldrad's project? Did Goge manage to out dick Eldrad and actually play him? Did Eldrad let the whole thing play out just to finally get Oscar to sit on the fucking throne?

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>>63314480
Nothing good. What got Ahriman in trouble wasn't the Rubric, it was that he was summoning demons. Summoning them to bind and torture them, yes, but summoning them nonetheless. That’s a big no-no wherever you stand, even the Grey Knights only use it as a last ditch resort. And then there’s the concern that even doing that is enough to potentially corrupt you, a demon could just fake being in pain and give you the wrong information to lead you to your doom.

Ahriman probably would try to escape, his big gripe with the Imperium is that they’re very passive about fighting Chaos and never take the fight to them (he’s right, but that’s more a matter of logistics). And regardless if the Inquisition executed him or killed him, they would never let him see the light of day again and he would never be able to finish his goals.

Although honestly, if the Inquisition told Ahriman “hey here’s a way to bring back Prospero, it’ll kill you and will be exquisitely painful, but it will do it” and had enough evidence to make it seem plausible, he would do it. Ahriman is obsessed with undoing the rubric and considers himself so damned and worthless that he is almost suicidal. The only reason he hasn’t suicided himself for the first “noble cause” he comes across is he sincerely believes that his sacrifice is necessary to undo the Rubric. This is one of the reasons he is willing to put his followers in positions where they have to make the ultimate sacrifice, he thinks they are as devoted to the causes he is and would do the same in a heartbeat. In fact he would almost certainly trade his life for theirs, if it wasn’t for the fact that he is infuriatingly less expendable.

On a related note to pic related, I think I figured out what that missing picture anon back in like thread 6 suggested Lady Malys to look like based on the description. It’s the picture of Sylvanas Windrunner currently under “Chaos Eldar” on 1d4chan’s eldar page.

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>>63314795
>Eldrad's position at court
Implying anything Eldrad does is "official". Ulthwe doesn't even like him that much, the seer council consider him as a maverick (despite the fact he is older than most of them) and both a bad influence on the younger eldar and giving a bad impression to the rest of the galaxy.

While the eldar of Ulthwe are sneakier, more psyker focused, and more pro-human than almost any other Craftworld, the stereotype of them being mon-keigh-fucking wizards controlling everything from behind the scenes comes from Eldrad (which isn't accurate even there, but stereotypes rarely are). They've been trying to distance themselves from Eldrad for years.

On the other hand, Oscar and Isha might try to give him some honorary position so the act of consulting him gives a little bit more weight. Both of them care much more about the protocols of ceremony that Eldrad does.

>Eldrad and the Civil War
This is…a very good question. We've never really talked about that.

>>63314504
The Bene Gesserit and literal nanny state comparisons sound cool, though I do remember it was getting a little weird.

>>63314795
Eldrad isn't infallible, he could have seej a future where Oscar really needed to stop pretending and get more hands on with being a real ruler and maybe he underestimated how much damage Vandire would do. Still, the changes in the time line are worth the devastation.

Not that he will tell any of this to anyone e

>>63315238
In what way was it getting weird specifically?

>>63318194
>the truth about British noblemen is that deep down what they generally desire most of all is nanny to tell them they’ve been naughty little boys

>>63313321
Holy shit they look so happy.

>>63309442
Beyond a few extremely old ruins, some obscure and unpopular performances by the harlequins and a few castaways like Cherubael I would say no. It was a very long time ago.

>>63288727
To be honest that's why I haven't been as active lately. It just seems like there's less people and interest in the threads.

>>63288727
What do you mean by voting for the last few threads? Do you mean a vote on whether the stuff proposed in the last few threads should be accepted into the project? I'm kind of new to the project, so I'm not familiar with the procedure.

>>63322106

Here. Scroll down to find them.
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?tags=Nobledark

>>63321894
There's at least 20 regulars still, closer to 30 I think-- which is why I'm surprised votes are so low.

>>63321894
>>63288727
Does it really matter? I don't think anyone is finding us through the suptg archive, so vote count there is simply irrelevant to the health of the project.

>>63322321

Well, I dunno exactly how much it matters, but we do sometimes have to go back through the threads to find relevant ealier discussions.

i got a burning question, if the horus heresy never happened then why dont the space marines use gravity guns and volklite weapons en mass rather than bolters?

>>63322179
Having been around since early on, all I recall are very general votes of confidence in a new turn of our story. It kinda dropped when we adopted the general rule on ‘minimal new additions, rework cannon materials’ and stopped adding major new components.

A general vote of confidence in Malal’s lingering cosmic influence, if that’s the new idea in question, does seem in order.

My vote is yes.

>>63322833
I believe the general idea is that because humanity didn't have the Emperor constantly pushing everything as fast as he could and forcing everyone (or every human planet at least) to fall in line, advancement was slower and never reached some of the highs it did in canon, with the tradeoff of not having fallen as low in the aftermath of this Imperium's catastrophe (War of the Beast.)

The example usually brought up when discussing this is jetbikes; in canon they were practically standard-issue for space marines, yet are nearly non-existent in "modern" 40k. By contrast, Nobledark didn't have as many, but they're still around in the "current" time.

In the same vein, there probably are at least a few gravity-guns/volkite weapons around, it's just that they're incredibly fucking rare and reserved for elite Marine units who are expected to routinely be in situations where such weaponry is required- not "useful," as that's any Marine deployment, but "the success of the mission depends on us having this caliber of weaponry."

In tabletop-terms, it would be a very expensive points-buy item that would eat up enough of your budget that you'd be fielding significantly fewer units than usual.
>>63322917
My vote is yes as well. This twist on Malal's lingering influence fits too well, and also blends into a bit of lovecraftian philosophy on whether a dead god is truly dead, since even broken and devoured by his siblings his touch still flits through the universe. "Dead" in the sense that never will he awaken again, yet still he continues to touch the world in a way that the truly dead never could.

>>63322833
Bolters are cheap and powerful. Volkite and gravity guns are still around, but they're just not as cost effective.

>>63322106
>>63322179
>>63322321
>>63322398
Low rated threads get purged from the suptg archive if there is a need for space. And we're in an awkward position where we have a lot of saved threads for one topic.

>>63322833
These (>>63323030 and >>63323100). When Great Crusade set out from Earth there were enough Vokite weapons to stick one in the hands of every Marine. As more worlds join the Imperial fold Space Marine numbers spiked, it just wasn't cost-effective to give one to everyone.

>>63322917
>>63323030
I think the general consensus for Malal's lingering influence seems to be a big yes across the board.

>>63323030
Malal isn't dead, just subsumed/enslaved and reduced. He still has some agency in that he gives blessings, made a deamon-prince and convinced Skarbrand to punch Khorne which went about as well as you would expect.

He's more alive than the Avatars of Khaine.

>>63324676
I think it was suggested that the 'true core' of Malal sank back into the realms of nonexistence when he was defeated (possibly causing the Tyrant Star in the process) and all that's left are particular aspects of his powers. They're no more Malal than a snake's shed skin is the snake.

>>63323100
Also there are quite a lot more SPESSS MAHREENZ in this AU to share the cool toys around.

>>63324776
this, Malal is long gone. In the act of being split into constituent parts, the god that was Malal ceased to be. Funny how that tends to happen when you carve your brother up and eat him. But Malal yet lives, because killing Malal is absurd. More than cheating death, it is inverting it, it is finding a way to end endings, it is conceiving of a period more final than a full stop. Killing Malal is tancencent, perhaps transcendence, it must be marked with a bullet hole in the universe, a singularity trough everything.

Malal is the point at which all the great works and golden ages of a civilization (namely of the Old Ones, but parable works just as well), every argument they had within, every bit of good and bad, is said and done and finished, well and truly completed. Malal died just when the Old Ones were wiped out, he was their death, his recoiling at what he had become in war was their own. And the result simply followed from the rest, as naturally as a sentence. The Old Ones were a post-scarcity civilization that (probably accidentally) killed themselves with their civilization's own AI super-tools in reaction to their own excesses in the War in Heaven, which was itself a product of their long presumed decline of solipsistic excess, leaving in their wake those horribly 'damaged' 'AI super-tools', the various armaments of a post-scarcity civilization, and all sorts of other fallout.

Malal was truly born when the Old Ones were wiped out, Malal is their legacy, Malal is their workmanship in truest, least degraded form. Malal is their salvation if it works. Tzeentch was always the precocious one, but quiet little Malal, Be'lakor never even thought to watch for him.

>>63325634
There's still something that talks with his voice in the Court of Khorne and there is still something powering Apep. He might be "dead" but it's only for a given value of dead.

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How well known is the Rescue of Isha from Nurgle among the average plebs of the Imperium? It pretty much goes without saying that the eldar all know about The Raid but they make up less than 5% of the population and most of them live in the enclaves and the craftworlds that mostly keep to themselves.

>>63327747
They would know the basics at least.

Also T H I C C

>>63318814
I'll try and avoid that.

>>63313321
How do the eldar view astartes? do they see them as mutilated humans or human exarchs?

>>63327747
It would pretty much have to be a cornerstone of Imperial propaganda. The first serious instance of Human- Eldar cooperation, and they rescued a god from durance vile and seriously harmed the interests of Chaos as a whole. No way it's not being trumpeted everywhere.

>>63327747
>>63328877
I would definitely say everyone knows ay least the basics. The Rescue of Isha is one of the founding myths of the Imperium, much like the Aeniad for Rome, and all the more important because unlike the other founding myths speaks to both human and eldar citizens. How accurate the retelling is, especially with such a mythic event, is variable.

>>63326148
The relationship between Khorne and Malal kind of reminds me of Caligula and his horse. Except, only instead of a horse, it's the mutilated corpse of your dead brother you sewed to your foot to keep alive with your blood flow and treat like a sock puppet. Except, instead of being a figment of your imagination, it really does talk to you and tells you to kill yourself. So maybe not much like Caligula's horse after all.

>>63330682
No, go ahead with it

>>63314795
Eldrad can't navigate the webway. It is a talent he does not have. He got really lost.

>>63332340
>>63332417
One thing I would also add is that the Chaos Gods are probably not referred to by name by most Imperials. The Imperium as a whole can afford to be relatively flippant to Chaos (because, in the words of one anon "what are you going to do, Black Crusade is against us harder?"), drawing the attention of the gods as an individual is just asking to be made example of and is likely considered to bring misfortune. The Chaos Gods are still horrific adversaries from an individual perspective. Hence in-universe they probably avoid referring to them by name and refer to them by titles or pseudonyms such as "She Who Thirsts" (previously mentioned as the name even humans use for Slaanesh), "the Plaguefather", "the Blood God", etc. This isn't to say that people are ignorant, because when these names are used everyone knows what they're talking about.

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Was anything done about him?

>>63337160
I don't remember anything being done.

>>63337160
>>63338782

We'd have to be careful to make him really different from Jaq Draco-- he's already got the "zany Harlequin affinity" and "invited to the Black Library" things going on.

>>63339031
I think there are more lines Jaq wouldn't cross also Jaq is happier.

>>63335900
Cadia just use swear words of which they have many.

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>>63333181
How far is too far with them? What other things that could potentially be involved with a holy order of a semi-secret society concubine shadow government could be involved that would activate the almonds?

They have a gestation tree that created the original members and they use to make new members occasionally when they need specific genes and can't leave things to chance.

They do recruit from outside the order in the form of adopting orphans from the lower hives.

The order is predominantly and overwhelmingly female although that's a response to the traditionally patriarchal nature of Praetoria, men recruited to typically marry the secondary daughters of lesser political value of the great houses. It's a way of introducing desired mutations via spare and offspring.

A lot of the orders work is arranging matches between the houses and occasionally offworld nobility to ensure genetic and political stability.

They don't have an "end goal" although conspiracies abound about trying to breed super humans or a "Men of Silver" race. They aren't even aiming for particular traits. Their job is to ensure the stability of Praetoria by ensuring that the future leaders are born without mental or physical deformities.

They aren't just cute little bed warmers. Their first language is High Gothic, their second language is Praetorian Low-Gothic and they are well versed in courtly etiquette, the proper running of a noble house, basic self defence, child care and medicine. They also carry little black books containing contact information useful in setting up mutually beneficial deals between houses.

They are also implicated in countless murders, disappearances and deaths by "natural causes". Sometimes it is beneficial for the tree as a whole that some branches are pruned. Links with the Adepta Securitas Order of the Bloodied Brier.

Other AdBio orders look down on them for having dirtied themselves in politics which they see as beneath what the AdBio should stand for.

>>63338782
>>63339031
I could come up with something, the basic idea being
>A hard-faced xeno hybris whom thought no alien enigma was up to his challenge, after centuries of indomitable field work. The Laughing God, however, decided to met this 'defiance', a turn of events that bound the inquisitor's fate to a grim joke.

>>63343813
This is good, the "Men of Silver" part picking my interest.

>>63344189
>xeno hybris
Fuck, I meant something between archaeologist and hybrid fanatic.

>>63343813
>Men of Silver project
Dr Bile approves

>>63337160
I haven't heard of this Inquisitor. What has he done?

Bump

>>63343813
Sounds good

>>63344189
>>63337160
Proof that although all Harlequins are followers of Ceggers not all followers of Ceggers are Harlequins.

>>63285875
Catachan has Land Bobbits. This is why they aren't on polite terms with many of their gods.

>>63335900
It might genuinely offer some very minor protection if enough of them believe it hard enough. In much the same way holy water burns them and hymns have a negative effect on them.

>>63348876
>>63344950
I am working on it I swear but shit is busy at the moment and time is hard to find.

I'm suggesting that the Order came to Praetoria but had been founded many centuries prior. Praetoria was just where they hit the jackpot and went from a few hundred down-hive hospice and charity clinic workers to the big leagues.

What would be a good name for the sister that took them to Praetoria?

>>63353424
Clarissa Bartonia?

>>63356295
Is that a reference to something or did you pick it out of a hat?

>>63358732
Reference to Clara Barton, founder of the Red Cross. Not sure how well it fits, but it's at least semi-appropriate?

>>63358777
Makes sense.

>>63356295
>>63358777
>>63358791
Alternative in incase people don't like it (don't mind either way, just throwing another suggestion out there): Gregoria or Greer (which is the female form of Gregory in Scotland) after Gregor Mendel, the scientist who discovered genetics and did the first rigorous studies of genetics and tracking how traits track across generations (though I'd assume in earlier times geneologists would keep track of things like haemophilia and stuff).

>>63359375
Gregor Mendel fits well as he was also a monk.

>>63343813
But the biggest issue still remains; they're still big tiddy nuns, yes? Godda have dem big tiddy nuns.

Wasn't there something about Emps and Isha adopting abandoned psyker children?

>>63332417
I can imagine deluded simpletons seeing this as the Imperium provoking Chaos at the demands of it's le_happy_eldar.holo "friends" who then used humanity as a meatshield against reprisal whilst simultaneously pushing for their empress to be placed on the throne.

They see themselves as more woke than the sheeple plebs and the mere Galactic.Eldar.Conspiracy. tinfoil hatters as they are the only ones who can see the end goal of the eldar beyond mere influence peddling.

To these nutters the Chaos Gods are their gods and they are the real chosen people, eldar are just pretenders and the Imperium is an evil oppressor.

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>>63361256
Presumably but only by coincidence. They acquired their original standing in the noble houses by offering themselves to the high and mighty and seduction was a means to an end.

By the time anyone figured out exactly how far they had dug themselves into the ruling elite it was too late to do anything about it and the people who tried found themselves having "accidents".

There is also the Praetorian Civil War to consider. Praetoria was split 50/50 during the Imperial Civil War and only an armed uprising of peasants on the side of those supporting Inquisitor Thor saw shit shift in a favourable direction. Leader of the rebellion broke in to the national museum and had an impromptu coronation with the stolen crown and a Promethean preacher, was recognized by the Administratum afterwards as the Imperial Governor and effectively re-established the Praetorian Monarchy.

The Order of the Old Tree has some degree of approval if not official backing of the Administratum as they ensure that the planet's loyalty is never again held in such a delicate balance. But as always the Imperium is more interested in cultivating change from inside pre-existing structures rather than imposing it from outside. It's usually cheaper, people often think it's entirely their own idea and are therefore happier about it and it gives the Imperium itself plausible deniability.

Now it's a public secret exactly what has been done, how they did it and why. It's just almost nobody cares.

Obligatory pic, because someone will post it.

>>63363889
How big is the order in terms of number of sisters?

>>63362868
Chaos is the Religion of Peace.

>t. Chaos apologist

>>63340900
How common is anti-gravity technology in the Imperium?

>>63362041

There was-- if I recall correctly it was very powerful infants who'd been disowned by their original families,which still added up to enough over the millenia that a huge number of people can now technically claim descent from the Imperial Family (the implication being that that's not even much of a bragging right).

>>63362868
>>63366487
I remember us mentioning another belief some of the "woke" cultists have is that the Chaos Gods are humanity's actual pantheon whom the eldar convinced us to turn our back on in effort to neuter us (as an attempt to explain why human pantheon doesn't seem to have a pantheon like the eldar), and the gods just want their people back.

>>63362041
The Imperial Palace has a big orphanage as one of its many functions. However, it seems like Oscar and Isha aren't super hands-on like you would expect given the spend most of their time putting out fires in the Imperium, kind of like the Argentine custom of the president of Argentina being the nominal godfather of every seventh son of a family, except a little bit more literal.

Jenetia Krole was raised in a bit more hands-on manner and even she was kind of distant with Oscar. She spent most of her time being shuffled around to any primarch who would take her and Ork Diplomacy implies that Arik Taranis and the custodians spent the most time raising her (probably because Taranis was the only one stubborn enough to put up with Krole's null aura for the sake of making sure the girl had a family).

>>63366915
I'm not sure. I know we suggested last thread that the Hubworld League has the biggest collection of human-made jet bikes. I also remember there is something about kitbashed abominations made by the Happalachians and some of the nobles who want their own fliers.

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An idea and some writefaggotry.

Humans have always seen the benefit of taming useful species in their environment, from the dog of Old Earth to the warhawk of Chogoris. Warhawks are a species originally native Chogoris, though similar species are known throughout the galaxy. However, genetic evidence suggests that warhawks are descended from a species originally native to Old Earth, transported to Chogoris in the distant past. The average warhawk, or at least the Chogorian breeds that most closely approximate the original appearance of the species is large, about the size of a wolf or large hound, with a mostly dun colored body and black and white markings. They are fast, pack-hunting predators, with long legs and a long feathered tail used as a counterbalance to help them make tight turns. Warhawks are also capable of flight with their broad, clawed feathered wings, though they prefer to rest on the ground. Although they have a toothy maw, their most dangerous and most iconic weapon is the large, razor edged claw on their foot, which they use to pin down smaller prey or lacerate larger prey or predators. Indeed, these fearsome claws have inspired the name of at least one Space Marine chapter: the Crimson Talons, a White Scars descendant from the pastoral world of Timpagonos that works with a large, horse-sized breed of warhawk unique to that world bred for war.

The traditional use of warhawks are for sport and gathering food. When honing their skills by hunting in the Khum Karta mountains of Chogoris, Astartes of the White Scars use warhawks to help them in the hunt, rewarding their pets with the choicest giblets. Many, including the White Scars, prefer to tame wild warhawks from the wild instead of using a domestic one, citing that it creates a closer bond of trust with the beast. The less glamorous individuals of Chogoris’s many tribes use warhawks to help catch game to supplement their usual diet of herdstock.

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>>63369230
The less glamorous individuals of Chogoris’s many tribes use warhawks to help catch game to supplement their usual diet of herdstock. In addition, many will use warhawks to help corral and protect livestock in the manner of a sheepdog. Although adult warhawks are usually too large for a human to carry, some Astartes of the White Scars have been known to let their prized pets rest on their armor. As with many domesticated species, there are a large number of specialized warhawk breeds found throughout the galaxy, ranging from the aforementioned Crimson Giant to the meter long Oscillated Grey, a more sedate breed used for vermin catching on Civilized Worlds.

In contrast to some other domesticated predators like Fenrisian wolves, warhawks are typically not used in battle. Compared to these species warhawks are rather fragile, and their organic bodies cannot keep up with the untiring mechanical steeds of the White Scars. However many Pastoral Worlders will use them as trackers to hunt down and kill feral Gretchin and other similar targets, and when war comes to the Pastoral Worlds warhawks can be used in the manner of a war hound.

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>>63369393
Despite their similarities in usage, warhawks are not dogs. They have a much more fickle temperament similar to felines, and while they are often hostile to unknown strangers. Similarly, warhawks cannot be caged or kenneled like dogs. Unless you are dealing with one of the more demure domesticated breeds, attempts to do so typically result in warhawks going mad from the confinement at best or sating their boredom by figuring out how to open their cages at worst. On Chogoris and the other pastoral worlds warhawks are typically allowed to roam free, their handlers expecting them to return to their homes based on gifts of food and attention, though they do mark their animals to denote which ones are theirs. The Pastoral Worlders see this as only right, a loyal warhawk should not be punished for their loyalty by being forbidden to fly free and feel the wind in their face. Furthermore, by allowing their prize warhawks to roam free it ensures the best warhawks continue to breed are not removed from the population.

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First part of the Order of the Old Tree.

https://pastebin.com/73LQTrLM

Will finish it tomorrow becasue it's half an hour until tomorrow and work starts too early.

>>63370822
Sounds good so far. Only two things I would point out.

Molech is only about as far from Sol as Cthonia is, close enough that it's reasonable to get there without a Warp Drive.

I don't know if you're already implying this, but it would be interesting if the reason for their gender imbalance was that they were semi-cloning themselves or undergoing virgin birth with a slight "scrambling" of the genetic code like a cross between the Bene Gesserit and the Tleilaxu in order to keep their secrets within the group.

>>63331065
That's a good question, one I don't think we ever really addressed. On the one hand, exarchs are the closest thing the eldar know to them as they have given up their lives for the purpose of solely waging war (in theory, at least). On the other hand the eldar might find it easier to relate to Astartes than regular humans to some degree as Astartes live much more eldar-like lifespans without rejuvenants and are eldar-sized.

It probably varies. Some eldar might find a human who can look them in the eye just weird after being used to being a head taller than them, but that's dodging the question at hand.

>>63374955
Wow, that really looks like a human city built to resemble an eldar aesthetic but with steel instead of wraithbone. Wonder if that's the sort of thing you'd see with the human populations on Colchis or possibly one of the enclaves (though you think they would use wraithbone).

>>63372856
I wasn't implying that although it's a good idea.

>>63370822
It'll be good when finished.

>>63369432
Nice, it gives flavour to the Scars.

>>63374955

Clearly a Hybrid Fanatics' work.

>>63378839
>Reeeeeeeee in binaric

>>63372856
Without a warp drive is sub-light. That's decades of not centuries of travel time.

>>63368392
The psykers would have Auntie Handmaiden and Uncle Custodeus. Isha says it's good for her handmaidens to get involved with child raising, it gives them something beyond being a bodyguard and keeps them grounded. It's also an important part of her divine signature and only right and proper for them to have experience.

Oscar just tells the Custodeus that they will do it because he's the boss and he's telling them to. Also that they need something outside the job, he's had this conversation since the Thunder Warriors and it is as true now as it is now. They're all one big family if a slightly strange one.

So Fulgrim's bio mentions him continuing the Merikan John/Jane Doe program after Unification, did we decide if he also kept it going through the WotB and reconstruction of Old Earth? If so the Merikan population and any others subject to Fulgrim's techniques might have been quick to bounce back in numbers, but also deeply alienated from pre-WotB ways.

>>63383905
Post-WotB nations existed afterward mostly as administrative districts of a far more unified Old Earth. This was not intentional, it's just that everything was so shit up that you went where you got put, keeping groups together was a long way down the list. Then Perty got involved with the rebuilding and, with the absolute destruction of his nation and the extermination of his people so extensive they couldn't continue as a legitimate nation, he saw no reason to rebuild nations how they were. Which is not to say the old national identities died out totally. Indeed not. Many survived off-world like the Nordyc moving to Fenris because that's where their Primarch was building a new nation or the Mongolians mass migrating to Chogoris or the Dutch Jermanic exodus to Baal Secundus.

It's just that the WotB ended all the nations on Old Earth. Possible exception for Orioc, but that's more because they had deep bunkers and could leverage their technical skills to be allowed to rebuild how they wanted to an extent. So long as their designs were approved by The Mad Architect.

>>63377133
I'm still working on it.

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Attempt number 2

https://pastebin.com/71MxcPA1

Any good?

>>63384144
The Doe program was the Merkian plan to clone peak-ish humans from the recombined genetic materials of fallen members of the military and political classes. After Unification, if not before during his own plotting, Fulgrim used the program to produce the original recruiting base of his Legion, as well as ensure a steadily building population for the coming great crusade. He probably would have been happy to share the tech with the other primarchs when rebuilding.

>>63335861
Medusa: In order to reach the nearest exit from the labyrinthine dimension, you must go 1 km in that direction, then take a left, go another kilometer and take a left, go another kilometer and take a left, and then go another kilometer and take a fourth left
Eldrad: By Isha this is confusing, I hope nobody does anything crazy while I am gone. Though I suppose if they did Vandire would take care of it.

>>63378263
I've been trying to go through and clear out the backlog of stuff that needs to go on the Notes page. Unfortunately no Interex yet.

I've been thinking about possibly making a big list of all the things that have been fleshed out but haven't gone on the notes page yet, just to get it written down that something has been done, thoughts?

Also two housekeeping questions: what was the opinion on that Lovecraft quote, and does anyone know if the second version of the Blade of Luna with altered prow ever got posted?

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Working on Czevak's story, will probably finish it by the weekend, if time and my english allow.

Another character concept. The idea behind this was an experiment to see how deviant can one make an individual from the typical image of a Handmaiden while still recognizably being a Handmaiden.

Amaranthé is one of the youngest Handmaidens of Isha, at little more than a millenium old. Amaranthé was born in the eldar enclaves of Fortiori Hive on the Hive World of Arctus Major. Her family had no special status within the community and her upbringing was decidedly average. Indeed, nothing about her life was potentially noteworthy until the hive was attacked by a fallen warband during the 12th Black Crusade when she was 32. Although Arctus Major weathered the attack, Fortiori Hive suffered heavy damage and its enclaves were nearly destroyed. The nearby Craftworld of Lugganath tried to provide some relief for the enclaves, but as is always the case with war some people slip through the cracks, Amaranthé being one of them. She ended up in the underhives of Arctus Major, with only her soul stone to her name, and fell in with the gangers.

>>63391063
Although the idea of an eldar ganger might sound strange, it is not completely unheard of. In recent millennia, these individuals tend to be refugees from the Dark City, trying to survive in a way that at least feels somewhat familiar, but sometimes they come from other walks of life. Amaranthé spent many years running with the gangers, her speed and agility highly valued as a fighter, eventually working her way up until she was in charge of a gang of her own. As a gang leader, Amaranthé was known the loyalty she inspired, her honor in keeping her word, and her compassion for those in her gang, the trait being one that turned against her when one of her lieutenants was struck with a poisoned autogun round during a gang war. Stuck in the underhives with a dying friend and no legitimate means to seek medical attention, Amaranthé turned to the only place that might have been able to help, a place only dimly remembered from her childhood: The temples of Isha in the eldar enclaves.

When Amaranthé appeared on the temple doorstep with her dying friend drooped over her much taller shoulder, the priestesses of the Isha temple were unusually unphased. They said they would be willing to cure the lieutenant of the strange, lost eldar on one condition: that she join the disciplehood of Isha and at least try her hand at priesthood. Amaranthé had little taste for authority, much less organized religion, but in her desperation she was willing to try anything and so she agreed. After her lieutenant was cured, Amaranthé returned to her gang and announced that she was leaving, and lieutenant would be in charge. Her gang was distraught, wondering why she would so abruptly leave them, but Amaranthé was a ganger of her word and was unwilling to renege on her Faustian bargain.

>>63391076
d find that she enjoyed helping others and showed skill in the more aggressive applications of Isha’s work. As a result it is not surprising that one day Amaranthé was brought before the Royal Court to be blessed as a Handmaiden of Isha.

Amaranthé is not a well-loved figure among the Handmaidens of Isha. She has a fierce antiauthority streak and brings a ganger’s attitude to her job. Several senior Handmaidens and Custodians have remarked that she is little more than a street punk and seems better suited to be a Harlequin that a Handmaiden. Not that Amaranthé cares much what they think, and is more than happy to be traveling the galaxy fulfilling Isha’s will than suffering the scrutiny of a bunch of ossified snobs in the Imperial court. One of the few high-ranking members of the Travelling Court who tolerates Amaranthé is the Captain-General Trajann Valoris, who agrees with her of being more proactive in preventing threats to the Throne, though unlike her he feels too much of a call to duty to spend extended periods of time away from the court.

Amaranthé spends most of her time away from the Traveling Court as a wandering Handmaiden. The All-Mother always has need of those who will travel to the darkest parts of the universe in search of hidden sources of corruption and healing. She is a strange Handmaiden, more willing to use stolen autoguns and confiscated contraband shuriken catapults than her Thorn of Isha. Amaranthé is particularly at home in the deep underhives, searching for cults and genestealers in an environment that between the darkness and sewage and gangers and hrud seems almost familiar across the galaxy. Gangers like her, she speaks their language and is actively concerned with their plight, something that gives her a strong source of local information. She may seem strange but who knows? Perhaps the Empress has need of all kinds.

>>63391087
I derped, the first paragraph of that should read...

>As might be expected Amaranthé had little tolerance for the pomp and ritual of Isha worship, but she did find that she enjoyed helping others and showed skill in the more aggressive applications of Isha’s work. As a result it is not surprising that one day Amaranthé was brought before the Royal Court to be blessed as a Handmaiden of Isha.

But it got cut off.

>>63391109

It makes an interesting background, but I think you need more explanation for why she was chosen as a Handmaiden candidate. They're both elite operatives and potential hosts for the goddess if anything happens to Macha-- what led Amaranthé to even agree to that?

>>63391939
I agree, I think that's one area that I kind of skimmed over and didn't address very well. I tried to put some implications that she already had some of the useful traits expressed in different way: her concern for people under her was easy to repurpose as more broadly expressed compassion for others.

One thing I did try to show is another person's viewpoint on the Royal Court, specifically how ossified it is. This is even more pronounced for the Handmaidens, most of whom have been around since the beginning and haven't had a large-scale turnover like the Custodians have.

Plus Handmaidens tend to be really obsessed with their devotion to Isha. Galadrea's devotion even resembles romantic adoration if you strip out the context, with her grumpy that Isha ended up with the Oscar instead of her but trying not to blame Oscar for it and her platonic relationship with Constantin.

The big thing I had trouble with was figuring out how someone would be promoted to become a Handmaiden. Handmaidens often do a lot of fighting on behalf of the All-Mother, but the majority of Isha priestesses do explicitly non-violent functions. The majority of Handmaidens seem to be drawn from the Isha worshippers among pre-Imperium or even pre-Fall eldar, and growing up in that more militarized culture it makes sense why a priestess would be so warlike and know how to fight.

>>63389394
Can't wait.

>>63391109
It's a good idea with a lot of potential but what this anon said
>>63391939

>>63392189
She could have been employed as a temple guard rather than a novice

>>63387374
I can't load it. Is it a problem with my device?

>>63389394
Who are the people in pic?

>>63344189
How many Harlequins are there in the Imperium.

>>63395432
I don't know. Harlequins are comparable in power level to Custodes, Handmaidens, and Grey Knights, so probably not a lot. Yet there are probably more than the other three since they aren't beholden spefically to the Imperium and have a lot more jobs.

There are also probably variations with how powerful the Harlequins are. Individuals like the monstrously powerful Solitaires are even rarer.

On an unrelated note there's a thread discussing Nobledark on the 40klore reddit.

>>63393912
Works fine for me.
>>63396822
Solitaires could be closer to Handmaiden levels of OP plz Nerf.

Regular lower ranks are closer to Aspect Warriors. The thing is that it might be linked closer to the role being played rather than the individual playing the role.

>>63369432
There are 2 broad types of dinosaur in this AU. The descendants of creatures taken by the Old Ones to introduce to other worlds in their terraforming work and thing made by the GaBHD for novelty tourist attractions and pets.

I wrote a thing about the Adeptus Biologis. Specifically, one of their hideous, planet- wrecking failures.

https://pastebin.com/XF0WkuLR

Thoughts?

>>63399632
I like this, it really shows that while the AdBio may have laxer standards and different beliefs from the AdMech, all it really means is that when they do fuck up they tend to do so in different ways.

>>63387374
It sounds good so far. Is there more?

>>63399230
Yup, that was the idea. Raptors transplanted from Old Earth by the Old Ones and subsequently rediscovered without saying on the nose that they’re dinosaurs.

They’re inspired by a combination of real-life Mongolian falconry techniques (and a little bit how dogs were treated in most preindustrial societies and are still treated in some parts the world), the fact that the White Scars in canon are known to practice falconry, and the fact that most IRL Velociraptor fossils come from Mongolia. The warhawks themselves are combination between real raptor dinosaurs and raptor memes, with the differences being handwaved away by the fact they had been continued to evolve for another 65 million years.

The giant ones are a reference to Utahraptor as well as a statement that “even though most warhawks aren’t normally used in war that doesn’t mean that Your Dudes can’t do it, wink wink, nudge nudge.”

Plus, you know, raptors in space.

>>63398360
It does make sense that the closer you are to the troupe (and therefore to Cegorach) the more power you have. That said, harlequins are supposed to be a lot rarer in the galaxy than their influence would indicate. A group of two dozen harlequins is considered to be abnormally large, which is about the size of a tabletop Custodes army.

There’s also kind of the parallel going on between the Grey Knights, Harlequins, Custodes, and Handmaidens. Both the most elite groups of warriors that their respective species can field, one devoted to battling the archenemy (Grey Knights, Harlequins) the other dedicated to protecting the leader of their respective species (Custodes, Handmaidens). The difference being that Harlequins and Handmaidens are imbued their powers by a small fragment of their god whereas Grey Knights and Custodians receive it through Mark III S geneseed (though Isha would probably argue that there’s no practical difference, the only distinction being that the fragment of their God is physical rather than metaphysical).

Solitaires are said to be monstrously powerful but are also the rarest of the rare, even among the Harlequins. Most troupes are considered incomplete because they lack a Solitaire. They’re probably more like the equivalent of a Custodes Terminator, though with most of their power coming from their artificially induced blankness and nimbleness.

We’ve also kind of implied that the fact that Cegorach has divested a bit of his power in them is why they don’t need soul stones and Cegorach is able to challenge Slaanesh for their soul. Aspect Warriors are able to achieve what they do just through sheer hard work and training.

But having the power be a little bit more variable could make them a bit more thematically distinct from the other three.

>>63339031
>>63344189
>>63389394
You know, I don't know if this conflicts with any ideas you have but looking through the canon lore I noticed that Ahriman tried to track down Czevak to get into Black Library. Given that, it's possible that in this timeline Ahriman might be trying to stop him from getting in, Ahriman being an alumnus of the library and therefore has a vested interest in keeping it safe (but then again, we never figured out what the timeline is for Ahriman and his visit).

Then they find out the whole thing was a test set up by Cegorach to see if Czevak was worthy to enter the library and for Ahriman to judge Czevak's character. Ceggers figures if Czevak was on the level Ahriman would let him in and if there was something wrong with Czevak Ahriman would notice and take him out. A win-win for Cegorach no matter what happens.

Ahriman isn't happy about it but knows that while the Laughing God's schemes tend to embarassing for those involved they generally serve a higher purpose and aren't actively harmful.

But if you already have the general idea for Czevak written out feel free to disregard this suggestion.

>>63400404
Ahriman's exact linear timeline might not be entirely easy to pin down anymore given the way the webway can be with time to say nothing of the warp.

>>63399946
I hadn't planned on doing more immediately. If you want to expand on it then feel free to.do so.

>>63396822
I had been thinking about adding an FAQ to the Notes page below the summary article to address some of our reasonings behind some of the decisions that have been common criticisms of the project elsewhere (i.e., "why aren't the primarchs all artificial demigods") as well as the general disclaimer we've mentioned a few times regarding "it's supposed to be a retelling and point of contrast with canon, not a replacement", but I wasn't sure if it was a good idea. Anyone have any thoughts on the matter?

>>63400673
It might even be possible he went back in time after he went to the Black Library and there are actually two Ahrimans swapping out as leader of the Daemon Breakers, one pre-Black Library and one post. This would probably be something that is better implied and shrouded in mystery rather that outright said.

>>63401531

I don't think the FAQ is necessary, but the statement that this is meant as a contrast rather than a replacement sounds like a very good idea.

>>63401531
I agree with the idea of an FAQ or summary; we tend to get the same questions rather frequently, so it might help to have all those answers sorted into one place. It would also help give more clarity as to the purpose of our decisions, with the one about the Primarchs being a good example ("They're not demigods because thematically they needed to be more mature and sensible, ala the whole point of "hefty dose of common sense"" would be one answer).

bump

>>63399632
I like it. it shows the flaws and the mad scientist nature of them well.

My only criticism is that it's consent rather than assent.

>>63402698
>>63402842
Okay, I tried to put together responses to some of the most common things we keep getting asked as well as the reasoning for the decisions that were made.

https://pastebin.com/mPfaZ4ZG

Do these sound okay? Because this is supposed to be a general disclaimer I didn't want to put anything that didn't represent the community.

>>63407517
I like it; it answers some of the more common questions fairly well. It gets my vote of approval.
Though maybe we could add in something about the central themes of the project, like how one of the major conflicts in the setting is Civilization vs Anarchy, with the Imperium and friends representing Civilization while Chaos, Orks and the like represent Anarchy.

>>63407517

Pretty good, but it seems a little too drawn-out and wordy-- too sick to be more specific, sorry.

Still working on Tarellian stuff, in the absence of more not!Lizardmen, here is another Tarellian related idea.

The Warp is not a realm of matter and logic, it is a realm of myth and metaphor. It is a realm where thought and symbology are more important than anything else. This one reason why melee weapons like swords are so much more effective at banishing daemons and other creatures of the Warp than bolters and other projectile weapons. There is something instinctively satisfying about striking down an enemy with a blade, telling you that it is gone and cannot hurt you any longer, an act that resonates with the nature of the universe and says that because you believe the creature is dead it is more likely to be banished. It is a primal feeling, one entrenched in our DNA. Although powder weapons have been a part of human history for nearly forty thousand years, melee weapons like swords and spears have been entrenched in human consciousness for much longer.

Such is also the case with the humble javelin. Javelins have been throughout human history, from the earliest hunter-gathers to the armies of ancient Roma to the city states of Middle Merika. It was javelins and atlatls that are ancestors harnessed to bring down the great beasts that roamed the frigid taigas and to defend against the scimitar-toothed predators that awaited in the night. Even harpoons, which are javelins in a sense, were once used to hunt the great leviathans that once prowled the oceans of Old Earth. As a result of all this javelins have attained a rather curious position in the human psyche. Javelins kill monsters.

>>63408691
Such is also the case with the Tarellians. Although a much more carnivorous species than mankind, they too developed their own javelin throwers and atlatls to bring down megafauna, and as with humanity the atlatl also attain the status of the “killer of monsters”. And so, when the Tarellians first encountered daemonkind, first encountered the creatures from the id, is it any wonder that they dusted off their ancient tools in the same way that humanity repurposed its swords and axes?

Atlatls are the Tarellians first weapon of choice against daemons. The method of manufacturing is completely different, darts composed of stainless steel and titanium rather than fire-hardened wood or stone, but the weapon is the same, just as the force halberd of a Grey Knight has its ancestry in the ancient designs of Old Earth’s Bronze Age. The Tarellians painstakingly craft these weapons with intricate ritual, infusing their essence with even more significance and meaning. They consider them blessed by the Old Ones, gifted with the power to strike down the Neverborn in their name, as if Zeus had gifted mortals his thunderbolts. Javelin throwers are rare, but highly respected sight in Tarellian armies. Such weapons are little more than inefficient novelties against other species, but are lethal to monsters from the warp. Although their ammunition may be few in number, and their wielders must be skilled to make every shaft count, when the points hit the target they hurt.

>>63408699
tl;dr: It's the Tarellian equivalent of dousing something with holy water. Plus it allows Tarellians to use Lizardmen-style Mesoamerican weaponry despite Tarellians normally preferring rifle weaponry, and hearkens back to how Fantasy Lizardmen considered certain items or spawnings to be blessed by the Old Ones.

With all the stuff with Malal and War in Heaven era secrets in recent threads I was thinking the other major names in chaos had been left out of a major chunk of worldbuilding.

It of course makes sense to leave Slaanesh out of it, not having been born for millions of years to come, and Be'lakor was intentionally hiding from the deific fratricidal shit show in a webway bunker. This actually leads to another odd set of parallels we've made. It was the decision to kill Malal that was the definite point in the minds and lives of Tzeentch, Nurgle, and Khorne at which they freed themselves from the Old Ones' parameters. At this point the accumulated changes of the War in Heaven were accounted for, and Be'lakor's nominal control over the Chaos Gods was truly lost. The original mortal psyche that had "ascended" into the warp and had imposed itself in preening envy upon its superior students and creations was forced out, and the warp truly became a realm of Gods if only for his absence. In the millions of years that followed the status quo became three Ruinous Powers, themselves together the Primordial Annihilator (once Malal), with old Be'lakor at the ceiling of mortal power, immortal Daemon Prince though he is. There was the Eldar and their pantheon, but their pretensions of inheriting the Old Ones empire were nothing beside the three Powers' (and Be'lakor's) actual inheritance of the Old Ones' thoroughly ruined empire, until they fucked Slaanesh into existence. This was horrible for civilization and materium in general, but was actually not super horrible in the immaterium in an abstract sense, because while Slaanesh is pretty awful its at least not Khorne, Nurgle, or Tzeentch, which being Old One AI and not gods by design are arguably exponentially worse for individual mortals. This argument would only work on Croneworlders, but then Slaanesh's hospitality and taste is what keeps most of them semi-alive and semi-coherent.

>>63409266
The last time a newborn god joined the Great Game one of the oldest players got eaten alive, so the other gods have their expected hostility towards Slaanesh, and for Be'lakor this is doubly so. Slaanesh had shown itself eager to eat lesser spirits in the warp and turn them into perverse toys and weapons. Moreover, even if its treatment of its 'family' in the Eldar pantheon did not show this to be irrelevant, no ties of sentimentality (Nurgle) or even ancient hatred (Tzeentch) would stay Slaanesh from wiping out and consuming Be'lakor in a show of force and easy acquisition of treasures. On the other hand, Slaanesh's mortal-esque tastes were also more comprehensible and workable to the Old Sload, who bit his tongue and came to the Eldar Godling's court, bowed and scraped and perhaps even bestowed some title like "Prince" in hope of fostering a budding enmity with Khorne that would force Slaanesh into a neat category for Be'lakor's personal vision of ordered Chaos. He provided a measure of council in Slaanesh's early court, even divulged some (the most meagre) of his secrets against the rival Gods, until either Slaanesh got wise or the Taskmaster did and marshaled the cult to drive out the Toad stifling their ambitions and frustrating their appetite. Around the same time as Slaanesh's birth though there were some looney secret stealing up-jumped ape-brains in jars that decided to cut the multimillion year chase, stole Be'lakor's secrets, Necron secrets, maybe even Malal secrets of counterfactuality. Be'lakor wouldn't have noticed if these particular descendents of an Old One genestock world (petri dish) hadn't been jabbing him in the third-eye, but around the time Eldar warp construction produced a work comparable to those of the Old Ones, another species more akin to the Necrontyr than to Eldar or his own people jumped up to the station of demi-godhood he'd reserved to himself.

>>63409697
The Golden Men had existed for fleeting moments as time was measured by the Old Empire, let alone Be'lakor or Tzeentch, and the Iron Minds behind them were scarcely older before it all came down, but they were definite proof that mortals could still ascend. Combined with the Eldar pantheon and people's creation of Slaanesh, which was challenging the status quo of the great game in the warp, the potential of the Golden Men and a 'subject people' taking to the Warp as the Old Ones (and the Krork with their runaway Gorkamorka) had was also a threat Be'lakor feared (paranoid as he was). He had taken measures to wipe them out as thoroughly as possible, using Slaanesh as his instrument whenever he could to sow enmity in the respective peoples, but no sooner had Be'akor been thrown out of favor in the post-fall Slaaneshi Eldar court and exiled back to the formless wastes do the agents of the last Golden Man come knocking, looking to steal his secrets again. Be'lakor thought he had been all but thwarted in his attempt to use the birth of Slaanesh to reposition himself in the great game, and while the realspace dust had settled the shit was about to hit the fan in terms of the immaterium as Slaanesh fought for conceptual real estate. His hope had been to harness the power of the Eldar's god to his cause and bring the other gods to order, settle his score with Tzeentch, etc. and he was likely foiled by the intercession of any and all of them (but probably Tzeentch), all an extension of Be'lakor's persistent mindset that he is the last (and first) Old One and insistence on all that entails and entitles him. Only after he failed to prevent the escape of the Imperium's humble spies, be the gods so low or civilization so mighty, did the enormity of the problem actually dawn on him. By all indication he realized it before Tzeentch did, but it was a question of knowing mortality, not sheer intelligence, so of course he did. But then the Raid was upon them.

>>63408699
>as if Zeus had gifted mortals his thunderbolts

That's a hell of an image.

>>63410283
Slaanesh is not a god in the sense of the gods that preceded it. It is not a paperclip-maximizer or an Auto-war, it is an absolutist autocrat. It is everything the Old Ones feared in Szarekh, that they taught and programed the Eldar to fear in him, it is the recoil and reflection of a race raised to the heights of power in the most absolute of slavery. The emperor of the Eldar Empire is and always was irrelevant to history, before they fell above him sat the pantheon, and after, it was Slaanesh in both cases. Similarly, the Iron Minds and Men of Gold were demigods, but not in any religious sense, with power gained, held, and advanced by knowledge and application of technique, rather than power on grant from long established Old One creations. Though the advent of god-making understood as technology was brief in both societies, both the Old Empire and the GaBHD produced powerful Warp entity-structures for their own wants/needs that were not of the Old Ones. Slaanesh was the most apparent and was angling for Be'lakor's place as master of temptation and faustian pacts, but then Oscar introduced himself to the Great Game with the Raid and stole Be'lakor's spot as the scrappy ascended mortal that made big power plays for lack of a stronger hand. Then Oscar's camp got Isha and Chegorach, who were no longer bound by Old One designed limiters and were doing an inexplicably workable impression of the pre-War in Heaven Gods of Sorcery, and also survived the WotB and the wrath of the big three. Big three because Slaanesh (actually the Taskmaster acting as Admiral) didn't really put much effort into the realspace strike on the Raid when it looked like they would escape the Warp with Isha. Slaaneshi aligned Eldar naval forces (Taskmaster again) that wouldn't shoulder the brunt of the reprisal on the Imperium because it would leave them open to Arrotyr's forces in the Eye led the Ruinous Powers to turn to the Orks.

>>63410750
The gods had long enough to buy into their own myth. It was the only way to achieve recursive self-improvement, but Tzeentch, Nurgle, and Khorne had whittled down their own realspace assets into perfect expressions of their portfolios, paragons, princes, elite of the elite, as the Pleasure Cult's inner circles had been among the Eldar, but invested with all the vast cosmic power that the lavender club's pretentious members could only aspire to dream of. But when it came to making an actual war, Slaanesh had navies and soldiers in the numbers needed, their enemy did, and the Orks did. Even Be'lakor cannot say why such a large number of Orks ended up between the actual opposing armies in the War of the Beast, but they became involved too, and brought the Gorkamorka into it with them. For his part Be'lakor has found himself stuck on what looks like the losing side of history, his legacy tied to the Old One's creations, and those Creations reaching the farthest limits of their problem solving capacity. The War of the Beast was a small provincial conflict, but it drew up the lines of the actual war to come between the Old Ones' creations and the races they enslaved to their cause, the Gorkamorka, three (four? five!) Eldar Gods, and a Golden Man against the old Ruinous Powers. The wars of the subsequent era were the preparations, building of siegeworks, filling of medicine cabinets, for the fight to come, as new paradigms with potential to grow overwrite the structures of the old gods.

TL;DR
I'm tripping balls, hope some of this made some sense. I had the question of what Be'lakor and Slaanesh think of each other, and also what Slaanesh's inevitable token offer to Oscar would be.

>>63411060
Slaanesh's danger in this AU is in how it really can get you from solid ethical axioms reasonable beyond any argument to gleefully snorting the narcotic brain extracts of bioengineered slave races. For Oscar, it would present a version of history where it seemed realistic that Slaanesh was preferable to the other three, even supportive of their defeat, and that he should plan accordingly, to conceive of a happy world where Slaanesh was the only chaos god, and one that could be treated with and reached accord with, who would manage vice and wickedness and perversity, take responsibility, even punishment for such things in that portfolio. It would require nothing of him, do away with a quarter of his work, if not more, says Slaanesh, and it would be another alliance made, another peace brokered, etc.

Of course in truth peace with Slaanesh would cost a great deal and is not something the Imperium wants even at a low price, because Slaanesh can make an appetite for tea as horrible as anything else, but the argument is not completely hollow. Be'lakor has earned the ire of the Old Empire and the New Imperium, and neither has much fondness for the other Chaos gods, nor would either be any worse off if instead of Khorne, Nurgle, and Tzeentch the Powers in the Warp beside the Prince in Purple were Gorkamorka, Allmother, and Golden Man. Slaanesh has no compunction in working with its enemies to subjugate and humiliate its enemies, and makes no effort to hide its desire to enslave the other Powers and to be appeased and fellated by those remaining, but would be just as happy an extragalactic corsair (or the East India Company) should the Imperium ever civilize the galaxy and strike out for another, secure in the thought that it's preferable to Tyranids. Slaanesh is enterprising, a dealer as well as a junkie, but Oscar must admit that yes, if forced to on pain of death to choose one, Slaanesh is the Chaos God that might be a potential temporary ally.

Had any mortal ever found a chunk of Big Bird's crystal sceptre.

>>63399632
That's excellent.

>>63411060
That's some good shit.

>>63411271
It's doubtful his wife would share those sentiments.

>>63411971
Not in the way you would think. Every spell and bit of "forbidden" lore in the galaxy was part of that shiny stick, now everyone's after the forgotten knowledge.

Then someone finds a lump of weird rock that was part of it and everyone freaks the fuck out.

Would anyone be upset if I tried to do the Jubblowski section with a proper write-up?

>>63416790
Nah, take a crack at it. When you post the rough draft, we can review it and point out things that might need changing if needed.

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Have we got something on Cult of Lhamea?

>>63417464
What is the Cult of Lhamea.

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>>63411271
>>63415028
Oh shit. At first I was wondering “who in their right mind would be willing to make a deal with Slaanesh over the other three” but that makes a horrifying amount of sense. It’s only through our perspective as third person viewers that we know that Slaanesh is actively worse than the other three and their hatred of it is much out of standards as it is usurpation, but Slaanesh is also the only one interested in romanticizing its image.

Hopefully, though, Oscar is smart enough for his attitude in this worst-case scenario to be “let them fight” knowing that given Slaanesh’s nature of wanting more is going to lead to a sudden yet inevitable betrayal. The danger in such a plan would be if Slaanesh manages to benefit from it more than the Emperor from the team-killing.

Isha would probably allow no such thing to her history with both Nurgle and Slaanesh. Which makes you wonder if she ever told Oscar what happened to her daughter.

On a related note, should this go somewhere on the wiki?

>>63418682
They're an organization of Dark Eldar who follow the teachings of Shaimesh, the Dark Muse of Poisons.

>>63418682
https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Lhamaean

Trust me, there's no better article explaining it.

>>63419470
I have never heard of these before. Looking at them they would probably be pretty much the same as always with perhaps in recent years them acting as go-betweens to the Croneworlders.

>>63416823
It looks like it's going to be tomorrow when I can.

>>63418722
>That's not Lileath
For a moment I imagined a semi-corrupted Lileath, enslaved to Chaos, appearing to Oscar and Isha.

>>63422106
*appearing before

Fucking lack of sleep.

>>63422106
Slaanesh would definitely be the one to use the broken remnants of the Eldar gods as envoys. Sure he ate them, but as has been said before, Slaanesh sometimes restores some semblance of favorite past conquests to relive the pleasure of taking them.

>>63422106
>>63422370
Given that we have Slaanesh killing Lileath first and using her like a suit to get the drop on Asuryan, Vaul, Morai-Heg, and the rest of the eldar pantheon, it's more likely than you might think.

>>63424632
Cadians writing a polite letter to Lady Malys.

>>63426138
>by the standards of Crone correspondence, it really is polite

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The Life of Bronislaw Czevak, Part One.

https://pastebin.com/vMfg2yas

I've already outlined part two, but will continue after rest and reprieval. Suggestions and criticism very much welcome.

>>63426547

Looks like a good starting point, just a couple of things:

>The future inquisitor had barely entered the second decade of age at the occasion

Did you mean to say that he was a preteen? I mean, that much of a prodigy isn't completely impossible (especially since it's 40k), but I thought up to that point that he was the equivalent of a college student.

Other than that, I'd just suggest maybe changing "big-sized laboratory" to "giant laboratory" unless you're deliberately giving him a really informal voice.

>>63426202
>>63426138
It's all the more infuriating for it's politeness.

>>63426547
The Hybrid Fanatics are referred to as an Ordos, but they're not. They're an ideological tendency within the Inquisition, but not a formal organization.

>>63422370
It's almost certain then that she has tried to tempt Isha into her embrace by wearing the skin of her late husband. Slaanesh can't understand why Isha would refuse.

>>63426547
Hybrid Fanatics aren't an ordo, his age doesn't ad up unless he started higher education age 12 and footnotes might go funny if it goes on the 1d4chan.

Other than that it's a promising start to the story of a prodigal Inquisitor.

At what level of resettlement is Kronus at by 999M41? I remember that of the origional human population there were at most a mere ~10,000 survivors.

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>>63393515
I think you are right, temple guard would work better. Though exactly how she got from there to Handmaiden still probably needs expounding. I tried to make it seem like it was at least partially forseen, hence the Isha priestesses being unsurprised at an eldar ganger showing up, but why she would choose to stick around except out of begrudging duty to her word is hard to say given her established personality, especially given that there have to have been more eager candidates. The only thing I can think of is motive drift due to all her old friends dying of old age. I'm kind of stuck. Any suggestions?

>>63427002
College student age was my impression too.

>>63429266
The right group would be Xenos Hybris, right?

>>63430056
It's functional, but defining that is debatable. The planet's military is essentially the Kronus 1st Liberators, and they are supposed to leave as soon as possible except their commanding officer got ''''"sick''"'.

It's basically a society as built by military grunts of different regiments. You can see how that would be a problem.

>>63430436
Ordo Xenos is the official division. Hybrid Fanatics is the social club + social ideology that they belong to.

>>63430436
They could have taken her in as a charity case originally, given her a job as the temple's trouble deterrent, she takes the job very seriously and starts hunting down trouble before it gets to their door, then they find that she is VERY good at dealing with trouble, holy shit she has found her true calling.

the other temple guards don't like her because she's Path Apostate and they're all Aspect Warriors or have been at some point. She isn't there for their approval.

The temple isn't sure what to do with. It's the equivalent of picking up a cheese knife and it turns out to be the flaming sword of the Archangel Michael. The mad bitch is unstoppable when she gets fixated on a target.

At some point she does something totally off the scale like finding and killing the local equivalent of Pablo Escobar because he made threats against the temple. She comes to wider attention because Escobar was in fact a renegade inquisitor who had eluded capture for the last 30 years. The Handmaidens who were on the hunt catch up just in time to watch her toss his broken body from the balcony of his mansion.

Handmaidens offer her a job to serve the All-Mother in person. She accepts it.

Handmaidens aren't ordained holy women. They're bodyguards of strong faith.

bump

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Czevak writefag here, day was a fucking mess and just now managed to get itt.

As pointed by
>>63427477
>>63429266
>>63427002
Will rework some of part one, but part two is already being written.

I don't usually writefag and english isn't my first language, so expect more blunders to come.

How big is the Travelling Court?

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>>63431860
That’s a pretty good idea. It gives a good reason as to why the priestesses offered such a bargain, to the priestesses Amaranthé is this little lost eldar in need of a proper home and guidance in a bit of well-meaning but arrogant generosity similar to what happened with Tigurius. Although she would have sworn off running with the gangs as part of the deal she made, she would potentially still be in contact with them, and while not as much of an adrenaline rush the fact that she could help people in the underhives through her connection with the temple would be something she would enjoy.

It would also be how she caught the bastard that brought her to the Handmaidens’ attention, all she has to do is put feelers out in the underworld because the gangers and hrud know what’s going on and she knows who to talk to. It also kind of explains her later motus operandi, she sees the underhives as her people and in general sees them as an area where the Imperium has not paid much attention to. Doing anything to make their lives better is a plus in her book. Not to mention the senior Handmaidens’ response to her ideas would have reminded her too much of her days in the Isha temple and the temple guards, so she would gladly take the first reason she got to bug out from the Travelling Court specifically.

>>63434741
I don't think we gave a number. Officially, it is composed of the Emperor, Empress, a number of Handmaidens and Custodians about the Bucephalus. There are probably other adepts and non-augmented people around as well. Then you have the various hangers-on and such, often planetary nobility with too much spare time on their hands who want to follow the court around.

>>63398360
>>63400212
Wait, this just dawned on me. Does this mean Harlequins get literal plot armor the higher ranked they are due to their place in the "story"?

>>63434699
Yes-yes, Great Horned Rat wills it. Hope you have a better-fine rest of day-day.

>>63435124
>Wait, this just dawned on me. Does this mean Harlequins get literal plot armor the higher ranked they are due to their place in the "story"?

That... is astonishingly plausible. Heck it would be plausible in *canon* thanks to the Warp. I like it. Also kind of harkens back to the parody/satire roots.

Is Ordo Hereticus still around?

>>63435691
Yes, but its job is discerning mundane schisms and heresies of the various religions practiced within the Imperium from chaos infiltrators and cultists. Similar to the Impreium's laissez faire attitude towards duly reasoned and non-disruptive local revolutions, religious schisms are not halted by Imperial authority unless they show signs of chaos corruption or truly pernicious influence like vampires or genestealers. The Ordo Hereticus are the ones that ensure no Daemon is usurping good faith.

bump

Wow, a lot of good new writing this thread. I've got most of it up on the wiki, except for Amaranthe, Czevak, and the FAQ is that they are either not finished or the process of being revised.
>>63426547
One additional thing to point out that wasn't already mentioned is that the eldar have a pretty good idea of where most the Maiden Worlds are. When they joined they provided a big list of Maiden Worlds to the Imperium to denote which worlds were off-limits (and vice versa, humanity let it happen so the eldar couldn't snipe worlds out from under them by claiming they were Maiden Worlds).

>>63399632
I put this on the writing page, is any better place would go? Either on the Forces of the Imperium page or on the drafts maybe?

Most would be written down somewhere or have Exodites living on them. Now there are Maiden Worlds that are lost, or have no living eldar population, and there are surely some that are both. Alternatively it could be that they knew that there were some out there but couldn't get to it due to a warp storm or some other shenanigans.

It's not a big deal either the way, probably just something worth clarifying.

>>63439791
It looks good where it is thank you.

Is there a unified postal system in this Imperium?

>>63442035
Well, there's already a unified (more or less) bureaucracy in the Administratum, and a unified (more or less) communications network in the Adeptus Astra Telepathica. So a unified (more or less) postal system seems like a natural outgrowth of those two systems.

>>63442059
Adeptus Astra Telepathica would have nothing to do with the postal system. They send very fast very short messages and there is a very hard cap on how much information they can send before it becomes a legitimate health hazard. Astropaths are reserved for use by the Imperial Government and sometimes are loaned out to the Mega-Corps for a steep price.

>>63437379
They also enforce the "No Militarized religious institutions" law.

>>63430056
Population is in the tens of millions but climbing as there is a steady stream of veterans who took the land option for a pension. Ideally the Imperial Army pension and pay department will get it up to what it was pre-extermination and stop at low billions.

Military presence is at one and the same time extremely low and extremely high. The actual Regiments/PDF are just a few regiments that saw the war to the end and remained as a garrisoning force but in times of need the military can call a draft and the population bar the ten thousand or so original natives and a few administrating scribes is entirely Imperial army veterans. And the Imperial Army allows you to keep you're weapon when you leave. When settlement is finished there will be a few billion strong population, all former soldiers.

Economic output is at the moment non-existent. Bar the first few homesteads and a few hastily erected permeant structures everyone is living in tents. Local food production will start soon which is good because the tinned food, hardtack and MREs won't last forever. The problem is that old buildings have to be demolished rather than renovated because of threats of lingering Chaos corruption and nobody will touch a field that hasn't been ritually cleansed by a respected holy man or woman. Land reconsecration is a big job on Kronus and is probably the most diverse ecumenical endeavour ever seen in the Imperium as each regiment brought their own preachers with them.

>>63435234
They are the roles that they play, it is the source of their power. Ceggers is writing new stories soon.

>>63444442
Cluster fuck added to by the presence of the Tau who are slightly clueless.

>>63445703
Mostly they aren't clueless. The Ethereal heading the expedition is just inexperienced and a lot of the Fire Caste weren't aware that humans came in more than three or four flavours and they don't understand half the shit going on.

Also Shas'O "Doomtau" Kais brought some Kroot friends with him for additional backup and they never left.

>>63443744
There has been some really thin lines on this subject, Ophilia and Fenris spring instantly to mind.

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Subject related?

>>63449258
The Path is restrictive. Sometimes they just have to blow off steam.

Either that or the Dark Eldar just aren't trying anymore.

Are there any non-asshole creatures left in the warp beyond the furtive snake?

>>63450974
Depends on what you mean by that. There's things like the gods of Salvar and Cadia, where they've managed to survive untainted by being well-hidden and locked to a specific area- if they exist, of course. Beyond that, there's the Medusae who were basically warp-cattle who now live in Commorragh because the Warp is too dangerous for them and the Imperium has a shoot-on-sight policy given their need to kill someone to have a host-body.
There's also plenty of nice beings in the warp who genuinely hold no malice towards you; the fact that they're leading you to your demise or twisting you into something grotesque is something they consider to be a kindness, freeing you from the drudgery of normalcy. The fact that you don't actually want this isn't really a factor.

>>63416823
First section. Am I doing it right and should I continue?

https://pastebin.com/SfgP7mSd

I would be doing this faster but I'm currently working ~57 hours a week among other things and I'm not operating at peak performance at this point.

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>>63451603
And Captcha ate my pic.

Would be too much to suggest the Crone Eldar don’t have a good idea of everything that exists in the Eye of Terror?

The Eye of Terror accounts for nearly 3.5% of the entire galaxy, with potentially more than 30,000 planets within its realm. Yes, the Old Eldar Empire had the area now occupied by the Eye pretty well mapped prior to the Fall, but things have changed since then. If one were to assume these ancient maps were gospel and set out in search of contacting all the lost Crone Worlds, they would find the maps to be horrendously inaccurate. Entire planets have gone missing since these maps were last corrected, whereas entirely new planets that were not there before the Fall have popped up in their place, baubles taken by the Chaos Gods as gifts from their most ardent worshippers. Shaa-Dome is by far the most populous Crone World, but is not the only one. There are entire Crone Worlds that should be home to thriving eldar populations based on ancient documents recording their existence, but no one has heard from them in thousands of years and it is generally assumed they were all wiped out. Many Crone Worlds have been completely depopulated, whereas on others so few survived that the remaining survivors simply decided to migrate to Shaa-Dome.

Humans, if placed in a similar situation, would have explored every nook and cranny of their new domain, claimed them, and summarily sold off the land rights. But these are eldar, and Crone Eldar at that. They preferred to spend most of their time post-Fall fornicating and coming up with new hedonistic atrocities to inflict one another, only halfheartedly supporting any attempts to map the Eye of Terror and regarding any such information is a passing curiosity. Therefore, large parts of the Eye are simply regio incognita, particularly towards the edges as you get away from the territory of the main Crone Worlds.

>>63453170
The only entities that probably know the full extent of where everything is in the Eye are the Chaos Gods, their respective daemons, and Be’lakor.

Some worlds are more easily located than others. Shaa-Dome, Elsinore, Altansar, Belial IV, and other “big name” Crone Worlds are suspiciously easy to get to. Indeed, it almost seems as though there is some mystical component to this phenomenon, with worlds becoming easier to travel to the more renowned they are and the more their location becomes common knowledge. Other worlds jump around randomly, whereas others are impossible to navigate to unless you have somebody who’s already been there is a guide. These are the worlds in which lesser warbands of Fallen, colonies of the Lost and Damned, and splinter groups of Crone Eldar make their home, many times being the only sapient, material inhabitants on their surface.

Shaa-Dome in particular has a particularly insidious effect. It is almost as if there were a current drawing everything in the Eye to Shaa-Dome, any ships trying to set out for Shaa-Dome almost always get there and do so faster than if they were trying to travel anywhere else, making Shaa-Dome an important navigational aid when traversing the Eye. The inhabitants have certainly noticed this effect, “All courses at their end lead to Shaa-Dome” is a common saying in the Eye, and the fact that the world seems to occupy a central location in the Eye has only made its preening inhabitants all the more arrogant. Although the idea of likely ending up in a known location in the event one gets lost might seem comforting, it is a false hope. The Mandeville point of Shaa-Dome is constantly awash with floatsam from other parts of the Eye, and the systems fey inhabitants are constantly scavenging through the debris for usable parts.

>>63453189
A shipwreck survivor washing up on the material shores of Shaa-Dome is likely to be taken, enslaved, and subjected to a thousand other unspeakable horrors, with whatever is left over dumped in a vat for the fleshsculptors to play with.

Croneworlders tend to flock to Shaa-Dome in general, but this is much for cultural reasons as it is any eldritch current of the Warp. As the most populous Crone World, Shaa-Dome is seen as the centerpiece and shining jewel of the Old Eldar Empire. If you can make it big in Shaa-Dome, you can make it big anywhere.

Within Crone society, there are always a few individuals interested in reestablishing the Old Empire’s borders, braving the fickle currents of the Warp looking to stake their claim and make their fortune on worlds not their own. These individuals have always existed in Crone Society, but have become more common following the Raid as the Crone Eldar were once again reminded that there was a galaxy existing outside their borders. To make such a journey is take an odyssey with sites never before imagined in your wildest dreams, as well as your worst nightmares. Well, at least if you’re Chaos worshipper.

>>63453224
We’ve said that the vast majority of Crone Eldar live on Shaa-Dome, at least partly because Shaa-Dome could in theory support almost as many people as the rest the galaxy combined. This opens the door for additional shenanigans in the Eye, plus it emphasizes how even the Crones have trouble with its acausal weirdness at times. The loss of the outer reaches of the Eye and the fact that there seems to be some magnetism drawing everything to Shaa-Dome is kind of like a twisted version of the Roman Empire and their fall, complete with their own version of “all roads lead to Rome” (a suggestion for a better version of the quote would be appreciated).

The Crone Eldar explorers are kind of a combination between Roman expeditions to retake lost parts of the empire and subsequently dealing with the new societies that moved in when they were driven out and 16th century explorers wanting to sail into the unknown reaches and not getting a lot of funding from royalty because the Kings and Queens were too busy persecuting people for being the wrong religion (which isn’t exactly accurate in historical sense, but it’s more the image being aimed for).

Additionally, what do people think about the idea of Shaa-Dome orbiting a black hole where it sun used to be? There is said to be a supermassive black hole at the middle of the Eye of Terror, but the chances of Shaa-Dome being in the exact middle of the Old Empire are low. On the other hand, it’s in the Warp, the place where logic and causality go to die.

Also, it might be a good idea to sketch out some themes for the other important Crone Worlds, much in the same way that vanilla typically lists at least four or five major exemplars of different factions (Craftworlds, Tau septs, AdMech Forge Worlds) for spicing up different armies. Arach-Cyn is said to have a thriving archaeotech market and a large non-eldar population, maybe that world is more of a bazaar of the bizarre type place?

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>>63451603
>https://pastebin.com/SfgP7mSd

Looks like a good start. The first paragraph could be tweaked a little bit so all of the sentences don't start the same way.

Also
>suicide rampage of the damned
I'm not exactly sure what this is. Is this supposed to be a phenomenon as well known from canon, or is one of those things that supposed to be mysterious and never fully described to let the audience's imagination go wild like canon's infamous "rape gulags".

Because this line stuck out to me and made me go "damn, I'd like to know what the hell that's about".

>>63408309
I agree. I wonder if another theme that might be worth mentioning is "everyone is the hero of their own story". A lot of characters like Alith Anar, Tamerlane, Colonel-Farseer Rommel, Anval Thawn, have seemingly unique origins but on a galactic scale can come off as literally whos. But by the same token, the plot doesn't necessarily revolve around the Emperor; for most characters the Emperor and Empress, the Traveling Court, and the High Lords are far off authority figures similar to the portrayal of the government in Wuxia. The point of this being that even though unusual characters exist it doesn't mean that other people are meant to be faceless NPCs, merely that they are small sample of the types of people inhabiting the galaxy, encouraging players and GMs running a session in the nobledark to come up with their own characters and designs.

>>63453992
>I'm not exactly sure what this is

Not the author, but I thought that just meant a bunch of cultists going on a killing spree-- nothing unusual, just that this time it was obvious they were going to get slaughtered by the loyalists.

>>63453529
>Shaa-dome is/has the shore that breaks all tides

>>63453529
I’m definitely down for fleshing out a few levels of Shaa-dome dams and some outlying crone world’s as the next part of the project. Another part might be finishing the Taskmaster.

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>>63456384
>>63456423
Maybe also put in a mention that some have dark suspicions of what causes the weird currents. I wanted to put forth the implication that Shaa-Dome's weird warp currents were due to the core of the Shaa-Dome being connected with Slaanesh, whose hunger and desire for more is well-known, and that the currents all point inward because She Who Thirsts is sucking them in like a giant whirlpool (seemingly supported by the fact the currents center on the planet and not the black hole), but leave it as unconfirmed and just one theory people have for the phenomenon.

Broadsides' description of Shaa-Dome was really cool. The different levels being held apart by marble-esque pillars kilometets in length and the thickness of battleships. It really gave you the impression of a world in a realm where physics don't work right. The first chapter was great for a Crone/Chaos worldview.

>>63453992
>Chef
That was the implication I was making.

>>63453992
>>63451603
I do like the idea of a Chef inspired character giving advice to Cadian children. Given the long life of his people he will have guided many generations of Cadian.

>>63457306
It also demonstrates the dependency that the shell world has on the Eye. Presumably before and immediately after The Fall it was structurally sound. Now if real physical rules ever returned, even briefly, the whole thing would implode.

>>63458171
>>63453992
>>63458559
My first thought was of the Eldar Gordon Ramsey we were talking about a few threads back. Which in attitude at least would make sense, considering he's working on Cadia.

>>63459967
Eldar Gordon Ramsey is less likely to be giving down to earth wisdom compared to Eldar Chef.

>>63451170
Cadia has no gods. They are adamant about that. There are gods, that is undeniable. God in Base Cadian is not a nice word and saying someone is godlike is calling them an asshole.

They have spirits and things that they worship but they are smaller than gods and are down here in the muck and the grime along with everyone else. Isha they think is one of these things that is inhabiting a mortal body. They say the same thing about Amalaxis Deamonslayer, Marshal of the Black Legion's 5th Cohort the main difference is that Isha is a much more powerful entity.

But she isn't a goddess and they will react negatively if you keep claiming that she is. The eldar try and not raise the subject and put the whole thing down to linguistic incompatibility.

>>63453992
The Imperium is made up of quadrillions of little people. There are a lot of little stories of little heroes who did their part for their little piece of the Imperium and by their little deeds the greater whole endures the Long War.

Did the stuff on Servitors get saved?

>>63458559
>Why hello young ones
>Hey Chef
>Why do you all look so down?
>Well, our friend Cainnech got possessed by a daemon that looked like a cross between a human, a bear, and a pig and had to be put down.
>Well, that's too bad. Let me sing you a little song I know about the pain of loss.

>>63459967
I remember we had that idea of that one pre-Fall eldar who has Forrest Gump-ed his way through just about everything yet spent the last 10,000 years spending his days sweeping the floor and occasionally going to the pub canon Oll Persson style. No one believes his stories and thinks he's just making stuff up, but he's entertaining so people like to listen.

>>63461719
The eldar aren't insulted because the Cadians' justification for why they think Isha isn't a goddess is that she's too nice. To the Cadians, anything from the Warp is bad news, and the fact that Isha isn't some fire and brimstone bastard who gets off on torturing humans is "proof" of her lack of divinity, which in their eyes is a good thing.

If we need an explanation for why Jubbowski is praying to Isha, there are a significant minority of eldar pantheon worshippers (and other religions) among the humans of Cadia.

>>63459688
Honestly one thing about the Crone Eldar that can be played for horror is just how disconnected their society is from reality and more specifically logistics. Many fanatical or dysfunctional regimes have fallen to pieces by a cold hard dose of reality acting as a mechanism of Darwinian selection. A totalitarian regime ends up having to soften its views and engage in realpolitik because it doesn’t have the resources to stick by its guns every time. A decadent society ends up collapsing because if no one is actually doing the things to keep society running it falls apart. A political ideologue trying out a new but untested method of agriculture ends up having to roll it back because it results in mass starvation (e.g., Five Year plan, Mao’s China). A charismatic warlord’s ambitions and empire fall to pieces after their death because they turned out to be decidedly mortal (Alexander).

This is one of the reasons that the new agri-worlds fluff was hated so much (besides violating the concept of Your Dudes). It is true that humanity is capable of absolutely inefficient, horrendously short-sighted methods of managing resources (e.g., the Dust Bowl, Ancient Rome’s dependence on grain from the Sahara, the Garamantians reliance on fossil water, the Mayan’s use of cenotes, etc.). However, in almost all of these cases these policies were not sustainable in the long term and the societies in question were forced to either change their way or go extinct.

Even the Dark Eldar aren’t immune from this, they have to maintain some sense of order within their societies or else they can’t cooperate enough to go on raids and if they can’t raid for more slaves their society collapses.

>>63465271
Now consider the Crone Eldar. All of them are effectively immortal, living in the Eye of Terror where time doesn’t work right. In theory, the Crone Eldar population should be increasing exponentially, it’s just that they happen to kill each other about as fast as they reproduce. Due to a combination of living in the Warp and Old Empire technology issues such as starvation or plague or maintenance of society almost don’t really apply to them. They don’t even need slaves like Commorragh, they’re really just a status symbol within the empire. And if they do run into an issue that threatens to destroy their society, the gods subtly nudge them back on the right track, much like Lolth and the Drow.

So the ambitions of many totalitarian or fanatic regimes have collapsed when it turns out their ideals are not practical or achievable in reality. Now imagine how crazy a society that isn’t subject to such limitations might be.

bump

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>>63465285
>Now consider the Crone Eldar. All of them are effectively immortal, living in the Eye of Terror where time doesn’t work right. In theory, the Crone Eldar population should be increasing exponentially, it’s just that they happen to kill each other about as fast as they reproduce.
Taking into account their society is deldar + Chaos, one can only imagine how is growing up from a cub and survive until adulthood as cronedar.

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>>63467360
It's going to be a childhood of competitive examinations and rewards to the most worthy. Most worthy being defined as "survived peers".

>>63467360
>>63468679
We’ve mentioned that growing up as a Crone Eldar is not much fun and that’s not even getting into living on Shaa-Dome where Slaanesh likes to snack on children. It’s potentially one of more tragic aspects of the Crone Eldar.

The Crone Eldar are not necessarily Saturday Morning cartoons super villains. They do have a consistent internal philosophy (namely that they are social darwinists who believe that as demigods in the making they are above good and evil and what is “right” is whatever makes them feel good, the problem is that they’re mostly sadists and hedonists who see everyone else as either heretics or entertainment), it’s just that that philosophy is absolutely toxic compared to…pretty much every other system of living. Tzeentch sums up their philosophy pretty well in “Just As Planned”: I do what I want, when I want, and I am strong enough that no one can tell me what to do, putting any kind of restraint on myself is akin to psychosis. That said, they are not some society of tragic Miltonian or Byronic figures. They will kill you with an honest-to-the-dark-gods smile on their face and enjoy every minute of it. The tragedy comes more from their situation, kind of like the Orks or the Dark Eldar.

The Crone Eldar are born into a society that literally does not allow them to be anything else. However, because they’re not Orks, their situation is 100% due to the messed-up nature of their society rather than any inherent biology. Any child who shows signs of mercy, morality, or forgiveness are quickly weeded of the population by the unforgiving nature of Crone society unless they are really good at compensating for it.

>>63468783
To counter any questioning of their society they are told from day one that “once the gods loved us. Then some mortals defied the natural order and caused a rift between mortals and the gods. Now the gods are only willing to give us tough love until we fix the mistake, and if we do that maybe the gods will love us again”, like a revisionist version of the original sin. Which is itself a lie, the Chaos gods were just as shitty to them before the Raid and any claims otherwise are a “just so” story to try and explain why the gods are so shitty like an abuse victim trying to justify their abuse.

The best they can hope for is the unlikely chance of ending up as a Haemonculus in Commorragh or the very, very unlikely chance that Cegorach will take them in as a Harlequin and vie for their soul. At least the Dark Eldar can theoretically leave their situation if they so chose. Crones are essentially born to be damned, if not because they are born to a society where they are damned by proxy (this is Warhammer, and one commonality to all Warhammer settings except Age of Sigmar is that there is no going back from Chaos) but because the actions necessary to survive in such a society would damn them anyway.

I’ve always seen one of the “real world” inspirations for the Cronedar, in addition to the old myths of amoral Fair Folk, as extremism in all its forms. We’ve mentioned that some of the real world historical inspirations of the Crone Eldar include the Aztecs, the Christian Crusades, the Islamic counter-Crusades, the Northern Crusades by the Teutonic Knights in the Balkans, and you can even see hints of some terrorist groups and cults throughout history. In this respect the Crones are kind of like some extreme fundamentalists in that they grow up in an oppressive setting not knowing there is any alternative way to live one’s life.

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And so far

https://pastebin.com/f5JYFJY2

I'm trying to keep the basic theme but not have it turn into too much magical_realm. Sadly it's 8 minutes until midnight here and I'm very tired.

Anyone have any suggestions?

>>63468679
Ugh. You can almost imagine a combination between those old stories of Spartan training (beaten not for stealing, but getting caught, letting a fox chew open your stomach), the worst of the old British boarding school system, and those assassin school movies/comics that seem to be making the rounds lately, only in this case being actively encouraged to kill your peers.

>>63469121

Second paragraph from bottom seems to have two beginnings.

Nice allusion to how you "save" someone on the brink of Chaos corruption.

>During her pregnancy her figure again bloomed into something that resembled an ideal of fecund femininity
Not exactly sure what you meant by this-- she's really curvy all the time, isn't she?

>>63474140
>Second paragraph from bottom seems to have two beginnings.
Rereading it and I can also spot other lesser mistakes

>Not exactly sure what you meant by this-- she's really curvy all the time, isn't she?
I meant she got more curvy. I wasn't very clear.

>Nice allusion to how you "save" someone on the brink of Chaos corruption.
Thank you.

>>63469121
It's not magical realm as such, but it's delightfully close.

>>63456384
It's a sinkhole into which flows all crap.

>>63468800
WE WUZ CHOZUN PEEPUL AN' SHIIIEEEET!

Has anyone got any ideas on what Inwit should be like?

>>63460308
Gordon Ramsey would be a Nova-Ogryn stationed on either Kronus as the head cook of the Dig the Fuck Inn or the head chef on the Emperor's flagship.

>>63464204
I'll try and dig it up or rewrite it if I can't.

>>63480885
It’s on my list of things to compile for the Notes page. I was trying to go back to the old threads and get some the other stuff we mentioned about servitors, like how the Mechanicus still uses “recycled” people to make servitors quite frequently as a display of power to young adepts and how the Imperium uses servitorization and the associated fear of objectification to terrify people into not breaking the law.

If you want to pull it together be my guest. I could always use help with the wiki.

>>63478337
There was some stuff on Inwit in Thread 52, also probably needs to go on wiki, I don't remember how well it was recieved (but I thought people like it).

>>63468783
That kind of gives me an idea for a Malus Darkblade-like character. You would have to imagine at some point you would get at least one Crone would come to the realization that Crone society is actually awful, and Chaos is weakening the Crones and making them use it as a crutch.

Such a mindset would make him an ideal champion of Malal, for whom wrecking the other gods shit and rebelling against society is kind of his thing. Malus wouldn’t care that he has just traded one Chaos God for another, he just sees it as another tool to destroy the Crones’ dependence on Chaos (laughinggods.jpeg). As a Malalian champion he’s basically a one-man wrecking crew, and travels around the Eye wrecking Crone Eldar plans in the hopes that it will get Crone society to wake up and reject Chaos. He’d even be willing to work with Imperials and other groups because as a Malalian he’s stoic and disciplined and isn’t marked up with 100 occult symbols, and possibly because Malal has put a blessing on him that makes other people tend to think he's a renegade Dark Eldar or edgy corsair until it’s time for him to do his one-man army thing.

Of course, this doesn’t mean he’s some Drizzt or Elric-type. He’s a Crone Eldar, and while he may object to the Crones being dependent on Chaos, he has no reason to question the rest of Cronedar society. He’s a bastard who’s a bigger bastard to worse bastards, and while he hates Chaos more he doesn’t really like Imperials. Indeed, while he’s 100% convinced that Chaos is a bad thing for Crone Society he has absolutely no constructive suggestions as to what should take its place (a very Malalian thing to do). He’s not even like Ahriman or Kryptman who do terrible things in the name of the greater good and feel bad about it, he just doesn’t care most the time and sees most other people as pawns. Indeed, most of the people who do help him tend to get fucked over in some way, as one would expect from a champion of Malal.

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>>63477395
It's worse than you think.

>>63483340
I have no idea what's going on but I like it.

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If nobledark is better for a RPG adventuring party. Shouldn't Demiurgs and Ratlings get a boost in fluff to get them on the level of Dwarves and Halflings?

They should be Old One races for manufacturing and logistics / and for farming.

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>>63487022
>>63487022
I wouldn’t necessarily say there is a need to make them Children of the Old Ones to give them a buff in power. I mean, humans weren’t enhanced by the Old Ones and they did pretty well. Demiurg getting a bump in power from fluff yes, but I would say that’s because they were never well fluffed out in canon in the first place and thus no one knows their potential.

Ratlings are abhumans and have better reflexes and are harder to hit than baseline humans due to their small profile. Think of them like an extreme glass cannon sniper. Plus there are cultural traits that can prove useful to survival and diplomancing, especially in a world where they aren't seen as filthy mutants.

I mean yes technically a Vindicare can snipe just as well or better and is a better hand-to-hand fighter but that's like saying a Grey Knight is a better fighter than a Guardsman. It's all about the power level of the campaign you're going to put the players in (I mean, you wouldn't allow an epic-level PC in an otherwise 1st level game).

Demiurg can get away with crazy cybernetic stuff that not even tech-priests can get away with due to being sillicon-based lifeforms and therefore don’t suffer from flesh-to-metal connection problems. There also really damn old, they may not be Children of the Old Ones level old but as a species they are much older than humanity.

And in theory there are also the squats and the watchers for all your space dwarf and space halfling needs. Of course, the overall theme of the watchers is their helplessness and their resilience in spite of that. As a species, you think that they would’ve hit the jackpot, being biologically immortal and essentially immune to Chaos corruption. But that’s balanced out by having to spend all those millennia in the physically frail body of Snurko. However, despite being rather limited physically, that doesn’t stop them from doing whatever they can do to make things better.

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>>63487318

Abhumans are lame thou.

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So, do the Harlequins still act as a third party between Craftworld Eldar and Dark Eldar?
Is there still some underlying plan to reunify the race?

>>63487572
Kinda, but they fucked off from Commorragh when the Dark Wedding happened.

And since Crone Eldar are a major issue, I don't think there will be any unification ever.

>>63487572
They did, kind of. For many years you had Harlequins preaching to the Dark Eldar to change their ways and while they didn't listen the Dark Eldar didn't mess with the Harlies because Harlequins are crazy and you don't want to mess with them while they are around. Then Vect allied the Dark Eldar with the Crones and the Harlequins gave up on the DEldar. They didn't slam the door but considered them not worth the effort anymore.

The Craftworlders pretty much wrote the Dark Eldar off in this timeline. They asked the Dark Eldar to stop raiding humans. They didn't even ask them to stop slaving and torturing people, they just said "this one group of mon-keigh is under our protection, can you please find some other group of mon-keigh to do your business on?" The Dark Eldar didn't like being told what to do and attacked them. Opinion still varied among Craftworlders (Lugganath always hated them, Il-Kaithe was disturbingly close to them), but other things happened like Vect pulling a false flag operation by blowing a section of the Webway, one of the few things that both the Dark and Craftworld Eldar saw as heinous but the Craftworlders were all too willing to believe the Dark Eldar did intentionally.

>>63487882
>>63488026
We do need some more stuff to flesh out how the Dark and Crone Eldar differ. The Dark Eldar are slightly more sane in this timeline due to a variety of reasons (the global common sense buff, the craziest ones tend to go join the Crones, etc.), the selfish ancap Neutral Evil pirate mafia to the Croneworlders Chaotic Evil Space ISIS. Unlike the Croneworlders the dark eldar are “classy” (quotes intentional). They have rules. No using psychic powers. No harming the individuals (Scourges) that holds society together. Don’t fuck with Vect. If you kill someone you kill them behind closed doors or as part of a (rigged) honor duel, you don’t do it as some animalistic urge because that’s what the Crones do. And by someone they mean other Dark Eldar and the few outsiders considered to meet their standards.

That said, they still live in a society with rampant hedonism and where the electric bill is powered by the torture of a billion slaves. The difference being that they are the aristocrats who enjoys drugs, alcohol, and sex but are able to make themselves look presentable, whereas the Cronedar are a bunch of methheads who despite adopting the trappings of high society (i.e., the aristocratic manses on Shaa-Dome) are too ravaged by the addiction to even care about what they look like anymore. People still don’t trust them because they’re spiky bondage elves. And Haemonculi still be extra crazy even by Commorragh standards, being kind of a bridge between Crones and DEldar (there are some Haemonculi covens among Crone society).

To make an analogy, if you’ve ever read the Dresden Files, think of the Dark Eldar as the White Court of Vampires while the Crone Eldar are the Unseelie.

>>63488229 (cont.)
One suggestion that was made in the last thread was that the Dark Eldar tried to resurrect El’Uriaq when they realized Vect was leading them down the road to hell and nobody was speaking out about it because Vect had been systematically killing the most powerful and outspoken archons for millennia prior to the announcement of the wedding.

El’Uriaq in this timeline was suggested to be one of the next biggest rivals back in the old days when Vect was but one of many Kabals and while well-respected due to organizing the Purge of Commorragh and being one of the only archons who wasn’t descended from the Old Eldar Empire’s nobility wasn’t the undisputed autocrat yet. Vect eventually managed to kill El’Uriaq back in like M32-M35, and while he had many rivals and critics before and after (including the solar cults, two or three of the Dark Muses who got themselves killed trying to usurp him, the archons killed in the Webway war, and others) none were as hard to kill as El’Uriaq. So he seemed like a logical choice to resurrect to break Vect’s chokehold on Commorragh.

This being Warhammer, Bad Things happened when they did and it was a huge crisis in Commorragh until El’Uriaq got put down again.

It would be a good event to potentially add or expand on to fluff out what the Commorrites have been doing for the ten millennia they’ve been squatting in the Webway.

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>>63488330
I feel as though "Business as usual" would be a fine enough descriptor, as a whole a race of pain eating pirates would have little reason to change a system that works for them, or try to expand elsewhere in great numbers. Perhaps we can delve further into detail about those in Commoragh dissatisfied with Vect's rule (which, in all honesty, should be a fairly large number) and what steps are being done to take him down. Is Lady Malys still gathering followers to her banner? Are the old aristocrats quietly biding their time and gathering strength until the time comes right to bring the old man down and reclaim The City for themselves?

Speaking of the deldar, by which time (year.M41) the Exodus happened?

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>>63489625
Around the turn of the millenium on M40 during the announcement of the Wedding and 12th Black Crusade. It happened right after the announcement of the Wedding when a bunch of the lowborn said "fuck that" to being allied with the Daemon Queen, but the Dark Eldar didn't officially participate in the 12th Black Crusade beyond their normal behavior of attacking targets of opportunity.

That's part the reason why the Imperium has been wincing at the idea of a 13th one.

Of course, with the rise of the Brain Boyz Malys and the Crones control over the Orks is slipping and Malys feels they need more options, which is why she decided to formalize her relationship with Vect.

Vect sees it as an opportunity to break the Imperium and leave it open for raiding. He thinks that Malys may be able to take Sol, murderfuck the Emperor, and haul the Empress back to Nurgle's garden, but that her greater ambitions will stall out (at least, that's what I think we had, we didn't nail it down super well). And if that fails and his fiancee really is capable of ripping the galaxy a new one? Well, he lives in an immaterial bomb shelter.

>>63489762
It's possible that the entire city is built in Be'Lakor's origional fortified observation outpost. Be'Lakor isn't happy about this.

>>63491097
Could Malal be involved?

>>63491322
Probably not. Vect isn't much liked by the gods, as he is denying them so many delicious souls.

If any it would be Big Bird but not if only to annoy the others, but not letting Vect know or he would have gone elsewhere as he is no one's bitch.

>>63487453
St Gav disapproves.

>>63488960
Few of those invested in the system dislike Vect on a personal level because he doesn't impose all that many rules and tax is all but nonexistent.

As for space, the Dark City is two Dyson spheres stuck together. If you want space just renovate a new area.

>>63489762
Does Malys and Vect have any children?

>>63495245
Many, but not with each other yet. Some of Malys' even survived to adulthood.

>>63491322
Probably not. Malal would have handed them a self immolating noose and pointed them to the nearest lamp post.

>>63465258
It seems that Cadiane have a pick-and-mix attitude towards their gods in that they have a highly variable pantheon made up of gods they like borrowed from everyone else and then argue that they aren't gods.

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The Story of Bronislaw Czevak, Early Life.

https://pastebin.com/a2taKaBV

I've reworked the format which I will be writing. Instead of doing pieces of a single text, episodes of Czevak's life will be released, no idea of how many of it yet. This has really piqued my interest, and for that I will re-read the inquisitor's novels. It has been quite some time since I did it, and some details may have escaped my mind. But for sure, the original character had great potential for 'nobledarkness'.

More to come, stay tuned.

>>63493950
To be honest, by Dark Eldar standards Vect isn’t that bad of a ruler to have. He keeps Commorragh stable and the infrastructure in place. While he’s brutal in the game of politics, for the most part as long as you pay the rent he leaves you alone. He may even justify to himself breaking some of the few rules Commorragh has as necessary for maintaining the Dark City’s stability. Prior to the Dark Wedding the biggest problem with his leadership was his poor taste in consorts, and even then that didn’t affect the governance of Commorragh.

The reason why some people didn’t like him prior to the Dark Wedding is that they are Dark Eldar, and Dark Eldar by their nature always seek to achieve greater heights of power.

>>63495245
>>63496506
Some of Malys’ children think they’re hot stuff because they’re scions of the Daemon Queen. Malys has had to disparage some of them that notion personally. What they should be is grateful that they didn’t end up as sacrifice fodder like some of Malys’ other offspring.

Also, a potential Crone quote
“You know what I call seeing a hundred screaming, wailing Exodite women converted into highly efficient daemonculabi? A good start.”

>>63491097
I would suggest this be left is one of those things that's possible but never outright confirmed. Commorragh was said to be one of the Old Empire's pinnacles of mega-scale engineering. It's possible that it could be built on a highly expanded version of Be'lakor's outpost, though it's equally possible Be'lakor built it in somewhere even more off the grid. Be'lakor is never going to tell anyone if it's true and he's pissed about everything anyway so few would notice the difference

>>63480885
There were three types of Servitor in use in the Imperium although put together not anywhere near as numerous as in Vanilla 40k. Mass unemployment is bad for the long term stability of any culture and society, it robs purpose and worth from real people. But there are some jobs you just can't ask a person to do because it's dangerous to the point of suicide.

First was The Grey. They were never people. Vat grown flesh parts created individually for use in the construction of a Servitor, human flesh but only technically. They are human at a genetic level but at no point ever made a coherent organism, never sentient, never sapient. They are the most common type in use and are extensively used by the Mechanicus who don't give a shit about the well being of people and aren't going to listen to Imperial Decrees about limiting their use.

Second Type are The Condemned. This is considered a form of execution as it allows them to serve the communities that they harmed in life. It also is extremely public shame and shame for the family that produced them. A little known thing is that servitorization is, to an extent, reversible unlike executions. Enough to have some degree of a life, although you won't be the same person you were.

The third type are The Blameless. Those born with crippling and sever retardation or brain deformities. To these not quite people it is given as a gift. The cybernetics are of high quality, inlaid and coated in electrum, chrome and porcelain and often decorated in a careful and graceful manner of the local style. The Cortex technology in the brain is also of high quality resulting in a hybrid creature it is possible to have a sort of conversation with. These almost people are a considerable investment and are greatly valued and carefully, lovingly looked after and often enjoy a not unreasonable quality of life. Their forms of employment are often the greeters in high ranking administratum hubs and front-desk tenders of mega-corps.

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>>63500256
>“You know what I call seeing a hundred screaming, wailing Exodite women converted into highly efficient daemonculabi? A good start.”

>>63500142
This is a wonderful read, thank you.

Bump?

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theme for the next thread?

>>63504147
Tenta-Crones and Wyches

I decided to touch up the posts on the Eye's geography above for the wiki. I can post it early next thread also if need be. Any thoughts?

https://pastebin.com/Whdjb19e

I'm torn whether it would be better to have Shaa-Dome at the exact center of the Eye or not. On the one hand, a planet orbiting a black hole without getting spaghettified is metal as hell. On the other hand, the idea of a region at the center of the eye where both the laws of physics and the warp go NOPE is also cool.

>>63504268
Is that a pun on something? It sounds like it is but it doesn't sound familiar.

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>>63502043
Very much appreciated, thanks.

>>63504961
>Is that a pun on something?
I believe it's from hentai.

>>63504961
We've been saying the heart of Shaa-dome bleeds right into Slaanesh's palace since the concept first came up, and we could have that be the case even if the heart of the eye actually is geometrically the thing the shellworld orbits. having Shaa-dome's home star be a black hole also presents an interesting possibility for an event in the history of the Old Empire.

>>63505787
Or the Blackhole was the star and now just represents ravenous hunger.

>>63504961
Only thing I would change is have the black hole orbit the shellworld. Eldar are the centre or the universe, their cosmology unbound by strict physics should represent that.

>>63271638
Between Nobledark and Roboutian Heresy I've had more fun with 40k recently than in years.

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>>63504147
Big tiddy nuns and shit.

or

Croneworlder and Dark Eldar date night.

have pic

>>63492233
Tzeentch probably let the Eldar empire into Be'lakor's bunker ages before Vect was around, and they added onto it, brought in the Ilmaea and various gates to make it into a port. For a while it might even have been an Eldar Empire Versailles, with the court moving there for a while to embrace their inheritance from the Old Ones and coming back to Shaa-dome when it became an even vaster webway structure.