>>7760069

Junction 344-68B was my home. I mean, it wasn't much of home, but still.

It was perched on the edge of corridor 65, built into the bulkhead, 3 miles of city climbing up the ironcliff like a vine climbing an orchard wall. My family lived at the bottom, in the shanty habs that bordered the corridor proper, in tumbledown fibreboard houses half buried in the encroaching Flakesands. We scratched a living servicing the Smeltships when they came back from mining the Rust Dunes, or thieving from the uphivers when they came down all covered in rust cowls to collect their goods from the trawlcaptains.

I used to hear stories from the traders about other places, places where the Plasma lights didn't work and the environmental systems were so cold, people had to live over vents to the engine cores to stop themselves freezing. Places where you couldn't even see the ceiling and where it rained water instead of oil and forgeash. Some even said there was places where you could see outside the ship. Look out of the inky black and see things they called stars.

The preachers told us not to listen to those folks. Said they was crazy. There aint nothing outside the ship. How could there be.

Then the Guard came calling and I learnt better.

>>7760073

They were looking for fighting men and Emperor bless me, I volunteered. People don't usually come back from a stint in the Guard, but I had a head on my shoulders that yearned for travel, and a brain too young and dumb to realise that was a bad idea, so I signed my cross on the sheet they gave me and got me a uniform in return.

I got travel as well. God-Emperor did I. They took us in airships across the Rust Dunes, gathering men all the way, from habs like Outlet-35, Irongate, Rifttown and a dozen I hadn't even of. They said we was mustering for a crusade in Sector-585. That didn't mean much to me but I was damn sure the newly formed 56th RustCrawler Rifles would kick ass when we got there, even if it took us a year to haul our green behinds to the fight.

Which it did.

I spent 5 months on a boat. Do you know what a boat is son? It travels on water if you can imagine such a thing. I travelled on boat the size of a city down a waterpipe the size of hive. I saw things from that boat I can barely describe. Whole hives built out over the water, like mushrooms growing out of a condenser pipe, full of folk with different colour skins. I saw things living in the water that still give the jeebies in my dreams. And sometimes the pipe opened up, flowing through rooms with ceilings so high you couldn't even see 'em. Just a blue you thought you'd float away into. Yeah, scared the shit out me the first time too.

>>7760088

They taught us how to shoot in the ranges, how to get chewed out by the sergeant for not drilling in time, how to polish your boots and chant the Imperial creed. When we mustered out on the field at the end of that boat ride, we weren’t boys any longer. We were the Guard. We were proud. We were stupid.

But nobody ever said you have to be clever to fight.

We met other regiments then. CabinHivers from upship, covered in chains and gang tattoos. Bearded Hyruns who hadn’t even known they was on the ship till the recruiting ships had landed in the middle of their villages. Stiff backed Pretars. Spoilt bastards the lot of them, but I lost three teeth when I said that to their face.

So we mustered out, marched up and down the field, drilled, saluted all so that the bigwigs could inspect us or whatever it is they do. We obviously passed the test because they put us on the Train.

God-Emperor, the Train! Imagine a cathedral tower the size of a city, laid on its side and put on rails. 4km of spiked turrets, gargoyles and guns. An iron sheathed prow like the beak of a rusthawk. One of the ratings told me she’d been a Navy ship once, unimaginably long ago. Before the ship. Before the exodus. The thought awed me. Still does.

>>7760102

They put us in the holds, but we lucked out and got a view anyway. Once the Train had carried gun batteries big to level planets, but they been stripped out millennia ago. Now there was just a gallery where you could look out on the Ship as the train rolled by. When they weren’t drilling you, or shouting at you, or searching your bedclothes for contraband, you could just sit and watch. We saw, cities glimmer in the dark, oceans of oil, and coolant, and water and on top of it all floating towns chasing whatever lived down there. We saw whole agri-spheres covered in crystal glass like a jewelled planets. The glow of Forgehold 34-786 where they cast tanks in moulds the size of houses. We went through gates, and locks and elevators large enough to make a man feel like an ant next to a mountain.

Once we even came to an area of quiet pines and solemn mountains, stretching as far as the eye could see, and in the distance a single spire of black granite. Someone said that’s where the Astartes waited. Where they watched. After that no-one went into the gallery for a while.

It never pays to be too curious about the angels of death.

We spent 6 months on that train. Waiting, watching, wondering where the hell we were going. Then one day we got our answer.

We were going to Ravengate.

>>7760113

My first impressions of Ravengate was that it was big. But big doesn’t do it justice. My father was big. My mother got big when she stopped exercising and kept eating. Big implies some kind of largeness, like you could stand up against it and compare yourself to it. Compare yourself to Ravengate and you’d just be lost. A Gate, city, and fortress all rolled into one, the hive was a hundred miles of steel, and artillery and trainports. It stretched up the bulk head like a iron door studded with a million rivets, each a city, each a weapon. I remember the train pulling into a siding alongside a dozen others just like it. I watched as a million men disembarked beneath the unmoving glare of the titan legions that strode the ground like metal gods. I remember looking up and seeing a hundred more stations just like it crowded round the oval gate like piglets sucking a teat. I saw the might of humanity gathered for a war in the belly of her own creation. God-emperor it felt good.

This was the crusade that they’d talked about. The liberation of Sector-585. The commisars told us it had been taken by the Orks centuries ago. They’d boiled out of the bowels like a wave of filth, vermin infesting the shadows of the blessed Ship. At the time nobody had the resources to do much about it. So the Ravengate had been sealed and held. The Orkish tide stopped. Now they were going to be cleansed. About damn time.

>>7760127

I don’t remember much about the next few days. I remember the tram rides through the gate itself. A few days in a maze of steel, and firepower. The grim set faces of the RavenGaters who’d been fighting the Orks since they were old enough to stand. I remember watching a speech by Lord-General Perrus and not being able to hear a word he said but cheering anyway. The first look of the from the low mound of RavenGate where it protruded from the sector floor at wastes of 585 themselves; a torn and broken ground or rock and iron, dirty with the scars of two hundred years of artillery. Being literally sick with fear in the mess tent, and the Commissar’s surprisingly comforting hand on my shoulder. The rest’s a blur, a whirl of orders and preparations, waiting and nerves. I don’t even remember the order to attack.

I remember the war though. Such a thing’s hard to forget.

Do you know how I killed my first Ork. The Primer says they’re stupid gutter rats, big dumb animals primed for slaughter. Strong but stupid. What they don’t tell you is that they use every ounce of that strength to try and kill you dead, and that they are really really fucking strong. This particular one took half my squad with it. Guardsmen Kanth was the first to die, head blown of by a gun bigger than my torso. It killed Ren with knife made from a tank door. It just head butted Godis but that was enough.

Then I shot it between the eyes and turned its head into fried meat.

Awesome. I'd wondered if you were going to finish it.

>>7760143

If that sounds unduly skilled I should point out I had my eyes closed and was shitting my pants at the time. But it died and I didn’t, and like anything, once you’ve done something once it gets easier. It also helps to have a few hundred thousand friends on your side follow your example. And follow they did.

Can you imagine what it’s like to hear a half million artillery guns fire at once. To feel your diaphragm rumble to the sound of an angry god. To hear the scream of a rain of steel and fire so loud it makes your ears bleed. To sing the same song of praise as million other voices and mean every word. To feel a million lasguns heat the air to a furnace so every step is through an oven that blackens your skin and makes your hair smoke. To kill in the name of the Emperor, to watch Sgt. Sando get his Hero of the Imperium medal for gutting their Warboss with its own power klaw, then feel the joy of survival as you watch them break and run. That’ll stay with me all my life.

>>7760159

Of course that was just the start. There was more battles, more killing. I was there when we broke the Kult of speed after three months of running battles on the Kodyi Plains beneath the perpetual twilight of a malfunctioning plasma light. I lost an ear in clearing of Debris Warren Godlin, in the dark tunnels beneath the collapsed hive. I got promoted during a defence of the Imperial Artillery Corp’s Lance batteries in Orkish counteroffensive, where a hundred thousand men died just so they could keep firing in support of an offensive on Ork held positions on the other side of the sphere 6, 000km straight up. I got busted back down again for getting trashed celebrating the news Astartes strike teams had severed the support chains of the Ork fortress of Mork’s Town and sent it and all its inhabitants to a fiery death in the reactor core 300 miles below.

And I remember my surprise when a kid, green out of boot, called me a vet for the first time and realising it was true.

But most of all I remember the end. Two years after marching through that gate, we stood at the edge of Sector-585. The histories will talk of the Astartes facing down the Warboss Mragga Thzrat and the liberation of Esme City. They’ll talk of the burning of the Rok-yards in Docking Bay-743Theta. They won’t recall the patrol of the remnants of the glorious 56th. How we chased a bunch of fleeing boyz for three hours in the darkened rat maze of corridors beneath 743Theta. But I will. I remember every ork I shot, every shadow I jumped at. I remember because that chase, it led me there.

>>7760168

The preachers say there’s nothing more than the ship. But they’re wrong.

In that place we found a window, somehow intact and whole, ancient beyond measure, the thin pane of glass all that separated us from the nothing outside. For the first and only time in my life, I saw the stars, saw the stars stare right back at me. They’re beautiful you know. Each a diamond fit for a queen. But there also cold and cruel and jealous. Jealous of the Ship, of the Emperor’s light and of the glory of man. We walked in their light once. Now we walk in our own, and for that they hate us.

Let them hate. We need them no longer. In this Ship we have found a future. In this vessel we shall sail the void until long after the stars have grown cold and dark. We shall endure the endless night and rise anew. This is the Emperor’s plan, the Imperium’s course. It is the fate and duty of humanity to endure against a universe that wishes otherwise.

In the end there is just the Ship, our home, our salvation...

The Ship Is All.

The Ship Moves

>>7760182

Hope you folks like it.

>>7760069
I love Guild Wars concept art.

Its like rendevous with rama, on cocaine. whilst on fire.

Meh.

>>7760182

There is no .jpg to express my awe.

That was magnificent OP.

>>7760227
and you can go to hell

>>7760182
YES.

This was awesome, glad you finished it.

>>7760202

I did, I know that. Makes me wish I hadn't missed the other thread, if it lead to something this awesome

OP is credit to team!

Awesome, much likey. Thanks, Anon. =D

Great work.

>>7760218
>>7760237
>>7760251
>>7760275
>>7760289
>>7760295
>>7760302

Cheers, it was a pleasure to write.

rolled 5, 9, 7 = 21

Thanks OP. Truly, this is the stuff Campaign's are made of.

I cannot find words to express the awesome so I'll just post those titties.

ISS Imperium! Fuck Yeah!!

This is awesome OP, and you should FEEL awesome.

ALSO: http://www.onemanga.com/BLAME/

very much related.

WHY ISNT THIS ONE THE FRONT PAGE?

>>7760542

bumping for sheer epicness.

Inb4 samefag.

>Read posts

Yup, samefag complementing himself.

>>7760617

>>7760617

...what? Why don't you actually check, instead of just assuming that anyone who has something positive to say is just the author praising his own works?

also fuck yeah mechanus and Planescape!

Very nicely written , it perfectly describes the epic-ness almost as if its discribing Blame!

www.onemanga.com/BLAME/

so this is about the ISS Imperium, that truly bigass ship an AU long and its going where? i was in the last threads about it but i dont want to slop through the archived thread for the one piece of info i missed

You should write more, or is it just my shitty memory which thinks someone mentioned other Xeno races being within the ship besides orks.

>>7760795

Basically, the ISS Imperium, or the Imperialis Universalis as I like to call it, consists of all of the Imperium's holdings and then some compressed into a giant ship 1 AU long, or approximately 8 light-minutes long. The only reason it isn't a supermassive black whole is because of techno-arcane gravitic plating (also known as handwavium). It sails through the empty vastness of space at unbelievable speeds with the Emperor at the helm, and only He knows where it's going.

Pretty damn sure that this ship fries entire solar systems when it fires its engines.
How very grimdark.

Pretty darn good.

>>7760827

No. Tyranids infest it as well, and since its creation basically consumed the milky way galaxy there are probably some webway gates here and there that allow piratical Dark Eldar access. We also tossed around the idea of a craftworld getting stuck and lost inside it, due to the ISS Imperium's immense size.

>>7760883
How about giving some love for an obscure 40K race? Like H'rud. Sabotage masters, would be interesting to see what shenanigans they get up to.

>>7760827

Yep, all the major are races are present. Doing what they do only in ship. Which on one hand makes things easier because they don't have access to reinforcements. On the other hand the imperials can' really fall back on exterminatus to solve their problems. Fighting is a brutal troop based affair.

>>7760918

Yeah, sounds good. Maybe there could even be some Squats manning an isolated engineering section or

>>7760918

We just assume that *everyone* made it aboard the Imperialis Universalis. It's kind of a thought exercise on multiple levels. The first we explored completely: exactly how big is this thing? The answer was fucking huge. Now, we're thinking about what it would actually be like aboard, assuming it could ever be constructed. So, we're making a microcosm of 40k. What if the entire galaxy was reduced and then crammed into 1 AU?

>>7760924
on the contrary, they can fall back on exterminatus...
entire decks, hangars, and the likes may have the primary bulkheads locked down, and an exterminatus called.
after a few centuries, they can send in colonists to repopulate the desolate zones, and find lost technologies...
"this is amazing, the region recently discovered includes engines thought missing for 800 years."

>>7760069

OP. My brother. I was actively involved in the original ISS Imperium thread. It was I who named the Great Ship and crowned the God-Captain with His title. Creating that epic thread with you and all the other anons was an extremely inspiring experience for me.

I had to just sit here and read this amazing piece of writing three times over before replying. You have done us all very, very proud.

Glory to the God-Captain.
The Ship moves.
The Ship is all.

>>7760955

*BLAM*

This is definitely deserving of a 1d4chan page, can someone request it?

>>7761070

There have been a whole lot of really good threads lately, and I, too, am proud to have helped create such wonder with such fine men. There is no place on all the internet that I would rather make my home, and no group of men that I would rather call my brothers.

Wonder where Emps is taking the Ship... Tyranid home galaxy maybe?

>>7760982
I disagree somewhat. Sealing an area off *should* do the job, but too many other forces can keep active. And the use of virus weapons, even on a ship that large, is a horribly bad idea.
No, Exterminatus is ultimately an act of resource denial -and that doesn't work in something that can't be destroyed.
Or something. I think I botched my post. Fuck!

>>7761131

ok so Emps woke up, loaded everyone into the ADMECH's insane brainchild of an AU long ship and just started kicking it out of the galaxy?

>>7761202

Well, they can't really kick it out of the galaxy because they destroyed the galaxy to make the ship. Literally. It would take almost every star and planet in the Milky Way to gather the raw materials necessary to make a ship of this magnitude. The ship is the galaxy, and the galaxy is the ship.

>>7761254
so, but besides that, yes?

are we headed to Andromeda or somewhere or are we just cruising around with the Emps at the wheel?

>>7761254
Is Chaos in the ship?

rolled 1, 6, 2 = 9

>>7761254
Say. How big is the Galaxy?

>>7761285

The idea is that the AdMech somehow built the ship and placed the Golden Throne at the bridge, and the Emperor acts as the Navigator and Captain, steering the ship... somewhere. No one knows where the ISS Imperium is going, and the Emperor isn't saying anything. Personally, I like the mystery.

>>7761254
Nah. A few star systems completely dismantled for raw materials, that's all.

Given, you know, the 100 billion stars in the Milky Way Galaxy, most of whom appear to have at least some sort of planetary system, even a ship this huge isn't going to make that noticeable of a dent in it.

>>7761318
oh ok, so no real plot advancement of any kind but everyone still kills each other for shits and giggles

imokwiththis.jpg

>>7761294

I think the original thread hypothesizes that the Warp has actually become a kind of gestalt field that partially surrounds the Great Ship (the extreme gravitational pull of the ship sucked the Warp into its drag/orbit). Chaos minions continue to launch excursions against the ISS Imperium just like in the old days, and heretics, witches and mutants continue to fester in the bowels of the vast Cabinhives.

>>7761254
PART OF THE SHIP, PART OF THE CREW

>>7761294

Given that the Emperors proximity is omnipresent, daemonic incursion onto the ship would be extremely difficult, if not outright impossible. Naturally, rogue psykers and heretics would still pose a problem, but daemons would now likely be extremely rare, if not gone entirely.

>>7761330

More than "a few."
The Ship is powered by a dozen eta-class stars, which are contained in enormous onboard Dyson fields and serve as an almost-perpetual power source.
The entire population of the former Imperium crews the ship, and their numbers have swollen-- we calculated that the Ship will host something in the range of 4 octillion inhabitants.
The overwhelming majority of the mineral, infrastructural, and military might of the Imperium was directly siphoned into the construction of the Ship.

>>7761330

Oh, you's right. Looking back on the thread now, it would only take about a hundred+ superdense stars for the necessary raw materials. Don't know why I thought it was the whole galaxy.

>>7761407
>you're

Man, am I dumb today.

>>7761254
> The ship is the galaxy, and the galaxy is the ship.

It's more along the lines of the ship is the Imperium, and the Imperium is the ship.

> This thread

Holy shit, this is my first time seeing any of this. This is one of the most epic things I've seen /tg/ come up with

It sounds like Imperator Titans would be little more than cargo lifters on this thing...

>>7761522

Basically, yeah.

>>7761347

Well, I dunno what would happen. All of humanity being within such a close proximity of one another seems like it would create a warp-storm of massive proportions due to the collective "soul." To take the old analogy further, the Imperialis Universalis would be as bright as a supernova glowing in the Warp. On the other hand, the Emperor calms the warp by his mere presence. Hard to say what would happen, although I think that, since the Emperor prevents daemons and other malicious warp-beings from manifesting while allowing the more "benign" elements of the warp, the area around the ship would be pure, condensed Humanity, in all its triumphs and woes.

This unit had the honor of assisting in the Ship's design.

This unit has recorded your story, to be stored in the cogitator-halls, to be transmitted down the length and breadth of the Ship, the signal crawling slowly down the light-minutes. For the Ship lives, and watches, and knows, and in his union with the machine-sprits, the God-captain knows as well.

Your heroism will not be forgotten.

The ship is all.

The ship moves.

As an anon who witnessed the original thread morph from 'meh' to 'frickin awesome' I must declare someone ARCHIVE THIS! This was so good I delayed visiting the bog for a slash just to read it fully. Yes, it's that good. Now to piss...

pic slightly related.

There was also the Valiance, Justice and Guardian from another thread a while back.


Still meaning to write a decent story about the Valiance...

Glorious. Just Glorious.

Back from my visit to the accursed WC to bump this kick-ass thread.

What about Necrons? Did they make it onto the ship somehow?

>>7762968
Yeah, the Necrons got onboard during construction, when they strip-mined a load of tombworlds and didn't notice the sleeping 'crons. It was like: "Hey boss, what are all these wierd statues?" "I dunno, looks kinda strong though, just weld it to the bulkhead and go"

>>7763041

Bet they'll be pissed when they wake up and find they've been used as lug-nuts.

I just want to say that this is why I love /tg/

>>7762802
>>7762929

pic is slightly related... again.

What're the Tau doing?
Recruitin' for the Greater God?

>>7763152

I have no clue. My instinct is to say that they're either not aboard because they were so far out on the edge of the galaxy or were destroyed for resources, but that doesn't really mesh well and some people like the Tau. I don't know what they'd be doing on board. If they were, it would be one sept at most, or maybe the Farsight enclave.

>>7763152
The Tau... never came up. Not once. Nobody so much as considered them. It's conceviable they made it on board, but I can't think of what they'd be doing, or where they'd hide.

Here's a thought: they got left behind, in the now mostly empty galaxy.

With the Imperium departed, carrying among it the hidden remanents of the Eldar race, the Warp has waned and faultered, a shadow of it's former turbulent self.
The 'nids have been destroyed and absorbed for their biomass, in order to clone the crew needed to pilot the great ship (though some DNA survived, and woke to infest the dark spaces with chittering beasts).
Even the imortal Necrons find themselves depleted, and for the first time since the age of the Old Ones themselves, the galaxy is quiet. What will the emergent Tau do in this desolate place? For the void is vast and cold, and the laughter of gods has grown silent. And in this ashen wastland, new life stirs...

rolled 5, 9, 1 = 15

>>7763367
Some Tau made it aboard. Mostly through direct trade and manuel labor. The Imperium needed bodies. It knew that the Tau could strip their own systems, all for the sake of being left alone. It happened, their own Homeworld was sold to the Imperium, for the sake of the greater good. Some Tau have colonized parts of the ship, but they are disconnected, and lost without the leaders they once had. The Tau might have been left behind, but the race, like all things in the galaxy, was made a part of the ship.

Custodes are awesome. Their domain is the bridge, right?

>>7763240
"3678-Delta-Muru you said, sir? Not a blip from them, sir. They tithe nice and regular and provide those useful "peacekeeper" lads you see in the 3675-Alpha through Ultimas and the adjoining segmentas.
No psyker problems, no heretics, just them and those funny atmospheric helmets. They've got a really minimal number of maintenance requests; the Tech-priests sometimes squawk about 'Sleeping Hereteks' but they've never put in a formal complaint, sir"

>>7763426

Yes, along with the Emperor.

Actually the ISS Imperium pretty much IS the Greater Good given tangible form.
It's entirely possible the Tau formally applied to admission to the Imperium, and got a Yes straight from the Big Chair.

nice!

>>7763466

"The Emperor is in his bunk right now so we must perform the holy mission ourselves."
"And that is?"
"Get to the holy fire alarm and pull it."

>>7763367
Ergh, bad thought: Craftworlds get sucked into the mass-intakes, no one noticed.
;_;
And I like the Eldar.

>>7763564
A couple probably did. But the Eldar are generally too smart for that. I think they proabably snuck aboard, and are busy hiding inside its protective warp storm/bubble, where Slaanesh can no longer get at them. I mean, there are massive hollow mini-dyson spheres in this thing. They could probably make a craft world invisible and just park it in a disused one.

rolled 2, 1, 10 = 13

>>7763564
A bargin was struck long ago. The Imperium would use the Eldar's warpways to safely travel the warp. Now, the Eldar are the guardians of the ISS Imperiums mighty Warp-Engines. They no longer use the webway, but carve a path through the immaterium itself, creating their own crude version. Of course, some revolt against such ideas, however, with the safety of the Imperiums anti-warp capabilities, they can only tend to the engine, and win what they can from the dark holds of the ship.

This physicsanon was proud to supply calculations for the glory that is The Imperium. Here is a quick summary of scales that may be useful:

Equivalent mass required for ship core crew biomass: roughly 10 solar masses.

Mass required for ship structure: roughly 10,000 solar masses.

Weapon placements: approaching Avogadro's number.

Ship length for radio communications: a bit over 8 light minutes.

Time required for an impact on one end to be felt (via shock propagation) on the other end: nearly 10 months.

In terms of sheer concentrated mass, ship is only surpassed in the universe by supermassive black holes.

Truly, the ship is all.

The ship moves.

>>7763754

I dunno. The Eldar are way too haughty to *work* for the mon-keigh. They might deign to sneak on board, though, as the Imperialis Universalis would probably be their best defense against She Who Thirsts, apart from living in the Webway all the time, and the Dark Eldar probably wouldn't be too keen on that.

ARCHIVE!

>>7763838
That's the great Eldar challenge though, ain't it?
Pragmatism v. Pride.
I'm inclined to think the Eldar would make the choice providing the most long-term benefit, and being (near) eternally protected from Slaanesh at the cost of tolerating the mon-keigh would be worth it.
I'd be more interested in seeing if their Paths traditions could cope with not needing to be terrified of having their souls devoured: IE, suddenly every Eldar who's not an Exarch gets on the Path of the Lover (bow chica wow wow) and there's a population boom.
...SExarchs?

great read

rolled 5, 5, 2 = 12

>>7763838
Well, in my eyes, the Warp-Engines would be, like all the ship, huge beyond reasoning. The Eldar are put there, alone. No humans with them. They are barely ever contacted, and never bugged by any official sanction of the Imperium. They are still fighting the Dark Eldar, and all the rest. Just now they have an additional task, the maintenance of the Engines. Additionally, the engines themselves may not be an inertial force, but rather, the "exhaust" of the anti-warp presence. Instead of pushing the warp aside constantly, it's funneled, and creates a inertia in the WARP. Sorta like pushing the same cart, in two dimensions. The Anti-Warp properties would hold a ship in place if it's that big, the warp engines make that side of the equation move. Just as the regular engines do the job of moving it through real space.

epic thread, this needs an archive and a formal entry on 1d4chan

someone get on this STAT

>>7763905

Keep in mind that this thing has enormous psychic potential, and is also a movable Golden Throne. It could probably just fly into the Eye of Terror and kill everything. Not to mention all the weapon emplacements and the weaponized gravity capable of tearing stars apart. I just love the almost sexual thought of the AU long spaceship of the Imperium piercing into the Eye of Terror and gushing forth enough Emperor-energy to smother Slaanesh. While the eldar watch. And then we laugh at them.

question, in the Ship, how would the various afterlives work?

like, since Emps is right there, no problem with human souls ascending to him and all, but the bubble of gellar field stuff would play havoc with the souls of demon worshipers, and what would happen to the eldar? a good afterlife for them now?

>>7764022

Well, the Eldar's souls are trapped in soulstones, which are then placed in the infinity circuit. That at least would be unaffected by the massive weird Warp gestalt thing.

rolled 7, 3, 6 = 16

>>7764022
If Warp Engines exist, I'd say their just propulsion.

There is a rule for this: Don't read into it too much, this is 4chan.

>>7763978
Which triggers a schism in the Eldar:
1) the Children of Light, who move among humans, have divorced themselves from the Paths, and mostly just nonce about feigning work. They create art, work in hydroponics, and sell vastly-overpriced wraithstone items which are prized as status symbols.

2) and the Neo Dark Eldar who see the hedonism of the Children as horrific weakness that insults all the sacrifices made to their continued survival, and who express this disgust with the maintenance of the Paths of the Warrior and occasional terror raids on the populace of the ISS Imperium for supplies and kill-thrills. They use the largely abandoned psychic shielding equipment formerly critical in escaping Slaanesh's sight as a means of foiling easy psychic detection of their encampments in the vents.

>>7764087

You are mistaken, sir. This is /tg/, and we read too much into everything.

>>7764022
There is no Geller field. It doesn't need one. The concentrated light of humanity's souls and the God-Captain on the golden throne, twist the warp around it into a massive storm, only instead of letting demons in, it works to hold them out. They rail against the outside of the Ship like vultures in a huricane, constantly torn apart, but desparate for the sustenance within. Only the actions of insane and depraved cultists inside the Ship can allow a chink in this armour to appear, and never for long.

>>7764108

Now, logically, it wouldn't happen and probably couldn't happen, and I don't want to make it 50k "canon", whatever that is at this point, but it's a fun thought.

>>7764154
Craftworld: Rollercoaster.
It takes generations to get through the line and a lifetime to finish, but it's worth it.

>>7764136
i didnt mean an actual gellar field, because having the emperor within a single AU is pretty much the best gellar field analog you could have

thats what i meant

>>7764108
I'm pretty sure this fits with "established 50k canon" :P
The Children of the Light bit certainly, as parts of the ship use wraithbone in them, and I'm pretty sure there are massive webway-esque tunnels for the movement between important areas of the ship

>>7764116

Touché anon, touché.

"Have you ever looked into the bow wake of a water-going ship and seen the foam that washes against the bow? You have? Good. Now, picture that again, picture the froth rolling as the ship cuts its way forward through the water. Now imagine imagine each bubble as a hungry mouth or a glaring eye or a horrible claw, imagine each bubble as a beating heart or a childs face. Each bubble is a warp creature called into being by the mass of souls and then torn apart against the bow of The Ship. Now imagine that unending churn as far as you can see, as far as you can think, as far as you can possibly conceive. That is Chaos. That is what we fight today."

Gentlemen, I believe that we have together hit upon something great and wondrous.

>>7764204

I know, I'm just leery about making everyone one big happy family. The setting is still ostensibly GRIMDARK, and while it may have been toned down in some areas I don't want it to disappear completely. Orks are in the holds, raiding and looting. Genestealer cults arise in the crew quarters with alarming regularity, to be stamped out by the vigilant Ordo Xenos. Dark Eldar think this is the greatest thing ever, as all those delicious souls are now concentrated in one area, making for easy pickings. In those areas, it might be worse, but, really, the Imperium probably won't have to worry about Chaos anymore. It's also interesting to note that, unless the AdMech got really, really careless, they should still have schematics of the ship. That amounts to an accurate map of the galaxy, and its import should not be overlooked. Furthermore, because everything is so close together, governance would be more effective but the bilges would fester more quickly.

>>7764308

Crew Quarters?

Imagine a ship like this with centralized crew quarters.

The commute would be a BITCH. "Welp, I'm going into cryogenic suspension for my shift on the forward stabilizers, I'll be back shortly after everyone I know is dead"

>>7764405

Well, obviously there wouldn't be crew quarters in one location. I was using it kinda like "hab-block," in that all residential areas would be referred to as crew quarters,

>>7764405

Not really much point in coming back is there? Might as well live under your desk, along with the rest of your 'shift'.

>>7764405
The commute wouldn't be that long. A couple years, tops. Maybe 6 for the round-trip.

>>7764308
Understood, no worries.
I see it more a circumstance that strips some of the Grey out of the Grimdark. The "reasonable" factions, the Tau and the Eldar, gain tremendously by actually cooperating. There are still Necron Rivets (many lols, love the idea) awakening and menacing areas, there are still ORKS! popping out of the bilge and going a'krumpin' and the aye, the DE or neo-DE have lots of fun right nearby. There's still heresy, there's still endless wars, there's still plenty of genocide to inflict. Death worlds are now Death Bulkheads, but the battles to contain the superpredators and horrific mega-fauna are all the more terrible for how important they become.
Any problem anyone else has can become yours with horrible speed in a closed ecosystem. Tyranids, Orks and Catachan Devils are the new mega-mold, and no longer does simple empty space distance them from the Imperium.
Much is different, but war...war never changes.

>>7764428

I figured. I just liked the idea of commuting on a ship like that.

I'm assuming it took 10,000 years to build this beast. A LOT will have changed in that time, politically. I can definitely see the Tau and Eldar being much more willing to cooperate with us after witnessing the titanic power of Mankind's greatest creation. Just think of how different things were in the year 30k-- the Imperium didn't even exist then.

So did Emps wake up, or does he still slumber in the Golden Command Bridge?

you could have 3 Eldar factions
the Dark Eldar functioning pretty much as they used to
the Craftworld Eldar, who have their craft worlds riding in the wake of the ISS Imperium for their own means and still cling to their pride and only show up in the ship for their own mysterious reasons
the Shipbound Eldar', those who believed it was more practical to quietly integrate themselves into the ISS Imperium because they see it as chance to stuggle free of Slaanesh's grasp

>>7764517
Still sleeping. Still piloting the ship though.

I think it'd be interesting if everyone just forgot where the bridge was. After all, a bridge doesn't need to be very big even on a ship this size. The emperor is in a small room surrounded by paraphernalia. He still gets fed, (purpose built corpse disposal that doubles as soul collection perhaps?) but no one remembers where he is.

>>7764517

Well, I think that he still sleeps on the Golden Throne. Given that he doesn't have to extend the Astronomicon as far any more, I imagine that more of his strength would be dedicated to either healing himself or steering the Imperialis Universalis. Besides, I kind of like him where he is.

>>7764308
> AdMech would have schematics of the ship

Keep in mind this thing is like a million Earths long. It's easy to lose stuff in it. Maybe the original Grand Schematics were lost in one of the long-abandoned docking bays, and the AdMech now searches for them relentlessly as they once scoured the galaxy for an STC.

needs some AdMech gone heretek with necron stuff since chaos is somewhat diminished

necrodermis zombies!

>>7764585

Admech searching for the original schematics. Awesome.

>>7764585
yes but also remember that even with how long an AU is, it still could easily pale in comparison to the bureaucratical might of a now twenty thousand year old million world imperium, i think most administrative functions work much better now

>>7764585

I actually like this idea a lot. Can you imagine being the AdMech who lost the Grand Schematic? Your life would be shit.

>>7764623
then lets do this, the ship is quite literally alive

its bigger than the schematics indicate

every so often someone stumbles upon a section that shouldn't be there

>>7764585
It's also fluff canon that in the actual capital ships of 40K things and people get lost. Workers sometimes starve to death or are sealed into sections by other crews accidentally in the course of the ship's creation.
Remember, typically Vox technology is shit; it barely works under ideal conditions.

>>7764573

I imagine Emps would still require psyker souls to sustain Him. Would there be Black Ships (or Black Trains) within the ISS Imperium to bring Him room service?

>>7764568

I like the idea that He is able to rest easy now that the Astronomican need not extend across the galaxy, and is preparing, perhaps, for His true reawakening.

>>7764660
i like this, House of Leaves Ship

Truly, the Ship is All and the Ship moves.

>>7764568
>>7763551

Let us not forget the Custodes and the holy fire alarm.

>>7764676
the original schematics could predict the growth of the ship

BEST OF BOTH WORLDS

>>7764517
Alot changes in 10,000 years, true.
Perhaps there should be an age before The Age of Exodus: the Age of Assembly. The Age of the Imperium ended when the Emperor breifly awoke and issued a Mandate that The Ship be constructed, and in the following milleninia the Imperium shrunk and retreated from it's borders as The Ship was slowly asssembled around Holy Terra

>>7764538
I like this. Shipbound Eldar are in position to act as spies and observers on the SSI Imperium while also functioning as their own society.

>>7764694
too bad about all the suckers that got left behind

>>7764660

The Ship not only the apex of Mankind's creative power.

It is also the sentient physical embodiment of the Emperor's thought. A living Throne for His majesty.

Its Machine-Spirit is quite literally the Omnissiah, the direct will of the Emperor translated into signals and electricity.

The Ship is Him and He is the Ship.

there should be some necron ships that attempted to chase down the ISS Imperium when it first departed only to get shot down and get caught in its gravity well before falling into the surface of the Great Ship

they are still out there

Now, the original schematics were devised by Tech-Priests in thrall to Slaanesh. Have we abandoned that idea?

>>7764752

Which is why no mere human, no matter how learned or powerful, can possibly understand the layout and interior of the Great Ship.

The Grand Schematic which the AdMech seeks, is almost like the Emperor's Tarot: it is a tablet or electronic device of some kind that reflects his thoughts and memories.

>>7764736
someone had to be bait for chaos, the nids, and the necrons

>>7764772

I advocated that idea back when we were still in the goofy first half of the old thread.

We are far beyond that now.

Retconned.

>>7764793

You mean that you're the OP of the first thread? Did you have any idea what you're simple query for number-crunching would spawn?

>>7764807

No, not the OP, but active in that thread since the way beginning.

Immensely proud of where this has all gone... keep it up /tg/

so... what if the void dragon wriggled his necron ass aboard with out anyone noticing (or maybe he was noticed and gravely injured)?

Play him up like Karras from Thief 2, turning people into technozombies

Chaos is getting shafted and someone needs to pick up the slack

i might be out on a limb here, but something tells me that this is exactly like a mechanicus brainstorm meeting would be like, not necessarily about this same thing, though that could happen

but this back and flow of data.... Omnissiah would be proud

>>7764866
What if the VD _is_ the ship? Slave to the Emperor's will and the ultimate warp-proofed hull?

Ok, eh, probably not.

>>7764866
using false 'whispers of the omnissiah' to subvert techpriests into making heretical devices, until they are tricked into making a blasphemous creation similar to the necrodermis which promptly takes their body as well as their minds

>>7764793

I participated in the original thread too. I second retconning out the admech slaaneshi heretics

I like the idea of the Emperor waking up for a hot minute, ordering the construction of the Ship, and then falling back asleep for the Age of Construction.

>>7764877

I've always thought of /tg/ as a group of tech-priests in thrall to Slaanesh anyways.

>>7764890
I like him cowering in bowels the ship, whispering lies to the techpriests and waiting for a chance

>>7764920

20,000 years and the VD is still up to his old tricks...

>>7764920

'Course, when Big E wakes up he'll just kick the Void Dragon's ass again, then send him to sleep for another 10,000 years.

>>7764866
I'd imagine the Deceiver wormed his way onboard too and is quietly trying to corrupt the faithful crew of the Imperium.

Besides, Chaos isn't out of the picture entirely. Yes, Daemons aren't able to breach the hull, but with the help of cults and sorcerers they can still be summoned into The Ship. Plus there have got to be hordes of Chaos Marines hiding in the ship. They strike out against portions inhabited by the faithful like lightning, taking whatever they desire and disappearing into the shadows just as quickly. In many ways The Ship is a far more dangerous place to live than the standard 40K universe.

>>7764952

How would chaos marines get on the ship? They're all pretty much confined to the Eye of Terror (can't get past Cadia), which the Imperium wouldn't have looted for raw materials. The only way they could get on is through Diabolos ex Machina, or straight up fiat.

>>7764978

Maybe traitor marines more than chaos marines?

Chaos fan here.

I'm totally digging 50k and you guys have obviously put a lot of thought into it. Except for one small thing.

CHAOS TOTALLY GETS FUCKED OVER.

In 40k, the war between the Imperium and the Warp is a yin-yang like balance of power where no side has a true advantage. There are plenty of threats to the imperium-- orks, nids, xenos etc-- but Chaos is the one true enemy.

But in 50k it seems like Chaos is reduced to little more than the fumes coming off the Ship's engines. Can we figure out some way to make Chaos still viable in this new setting?

>>7764952
alpha legion would definately be there, though the others wouldn't be there in that big of a number

but necrontech admech make a cool add on, and they'd be opposed to chaos as well

also what about the Kroot?

>>7764952

Whoops, didn't see this before I posted.

I guess that covers it. But what happened to the Chaos Gods?

>>7764994
Chaos got shafted in regards to the ISS Imperium

the Milky Way Galaxy is theirs now

>>7764994

Well, throw ideas at us. I can't really see any way Chaos could meaningfully be incorporated. With everyone so close, the Inquisition is a lot more powerful and the entire ship is a living testament to the Emperor's power. Chaos just wouldn't be a meaningful threat for the Imperium any longer, unless I'm overlooking something.

Well, my question is why does everyone need to be on board the ship?

>>7764978

Do not forget the Maelstrom and rengade marines, anon.

>>7765024

And without any souls to feed on, they will slowly wither and shrivel away.

Unless, of course, the Tau (some of whom, we decided, are staying put in the galaxy) become psychic. Then Chaos will have plenty to feed on for years to come.

Wait, if Necron were used as lug nuts, doesn't that mean that a mass awakening would result in the ISS Imperium losing structural integrity in a lot of different spots?

>>7765063
that was more of a hyperbole

plus they wouldn't have survived being melted down anyway

using the combination of necroned admech, necrodermis zombies, and crashed necron tombships on the hull should be sufficent for them

Necron'd Admech = the new tau?

>>7765039

There's nowhere else to go. All of the habitable worlds in the Imperium were essentially strip-mined and abandoned in order to build the Ship.

>>7765063

A crack in a cooling vent somewhere is not going to really cause major structural damage to a ship that is one million times the size of the earth.

>>7765063

Probably. The Necrons are the new comedic badguys. Of course, there would certainly be safeguards, but a mass-awakening of necrons in any context would be catastrophic.

>>7765082
>melted down
SUDDENLY, RESURRECTION ORB

>>7765056
there are other races that would be eventually fill the gap

but it'd be lean pickings for a bit

>>7765031
Bear in mind that the Inquisition, while much more concentrated, is now having to deal with orders of magnitude of more people. Plus even small spaces can't keep bureaucracy from slowing stuff down to a crawl.

Also, look at the writefaggotry that started this thread. The Imperium has its hands full keeping the hordes of Orks and Tyranids from breaking out and infesting or overrunning the 'safe' portions of the ship. If any single line breaks, it could well spell the doom for mankind.

>>7765063
Welcome to the new Black Crusade?
That could work.

Actually, as for Chaos...
Humanity is still Humanity. Though no longer powered by the Chaos Gods cultists work at corrupting and manipulating the wretched poor, the cruel rich and the hated mutants at rebelling against the way of the Imperium. With enough psychic power bent to their ends they could create a new Chaos Power from within the ship, and split it open like a 1AU long pusgrape.

>>7765097

I meant all the standard races. Do the kroot really need to be on board the ship?

>>7765098
>comedic Necrons
CAN'T IMAGINE IT

>>7765097
uhhh no, just plain no

>>7765097
Problem is every new problem is one more thing to locate, address, and maintain. The battle for the fate of the ISS Imperium is won and lost in every little leak.
That's the big empty out there; it is Death.

GUYS GUYS! THE HRUD ARE BACK!

My God. I weep for the glory that /tg/ has created. The last time I felt like this was when I came to /tg/ and started contributing to Server Crash. . .

This. . . is so much more.

The Ship is All.
The Ship Moves.

>>7765120
you think they wouldn't have managed to get on?

>>7765104
>>7765063
Oh, that'd be fucking scary.

Imagine a wave of green energy rippling across the "sky".... And a trillion green stars flicker into existence.

Then the stars start falling.....

>>7765153
Cooks. Suspiciously the galley is staffed by croaking, cawing "servitors" the Tau insist can make anything into a good meal.
So far they're right, but the Inquisition's always watching for pickles on it's Astartes Burger!
....probably too silly. =]

>>7765141
well Necron'd Admech are just as interested in keeping the shup intact as well, because they want to subvert it for their own purposes

>>7765168
Be awesome!
Woo hoo, THE CARNAGE, SHE RETURNS!

>>7765175
they'd fit in with some of the renegade humans possibly

>>7764694
Wait a minute. How about this. The golden throne was not disassembled and transferred to the ship, but the entirety of Earth was placed, UNTOUCHED into the bridge section of the ship.

And they lost it. they lost a whole goddamn planet.

>>7765181

I think there would be two major AdMech factions.

A "good" Admech, loyal to the God-captain, who see the maintenance of the structural integrity of the Ship as their ultimate duty. They are the ones looking for the Grand Schematic, so as to better preserve and protect the Ship.

An "evil," Necron-infiltrated, Void Dragon/Deceiver-influenced Admech, seeking to seize control of the Ship for themselves and dethrone the Emperor.

What do you think?

>>7765222

They built the ship around Earth.

This is impossibly badass.

>>7765225

The evil necronified admech would probably be also looking for the grand schematic-- after all, it is the blueprint of the ship and therefore of the galaxy.

Earth is the "bridge"?

Awesome.

Total faction list is as follows:
The Imperium (IG, SoB, =I=, SM, AM, etc...)
Orks
Tyranids
Dark Eldar
Craftworld Eldar (whose craftworlds trail in the wake of the ship)
Neo Eldar (or shipbound, those who taken up to living in forgotten sections of the ship)
Necroned AdMech (subverted by the Void Dragon, tau replacement)
Normal Necrons (tombships crashed into the hull, warriors smelted down and made into parts of the ship, etc...)
Renegade Humans
Chaos

>>7765222

Losing the Emperor was a very silly idea. I don't particularly care for it. However, building the Ship around Terra is an awesome idea.

>>7765312

Losing Emps is a shit idea.

But my mind is being blown imagining Holy Terra suspended in an enormous anti-grav field at the ship's bridge.

>>7765312

Yeah, I don't think losing the Emprah is a good idea.

However, having the whole of Terra serve as the ship's command center, that's just fuckwin.

>>7765284
Purgatorium Xenos Attatchment, xenos the IoM has found aboard the ship that have surrendered themselves to the will of the God-Captain

The Imperium is a little more willing to work with xenos that will acknowledge they are their bitch

>>7765326
>>7765341
>samecontent, differentfags

>>7765312

Seconded! Fire alarm is now the country of... France. Curbstomp it HARD anon.

>>7765312
>>7765326
Let's not say 'lost' per se, but very few are aware of the full extent of what the bridge for The Ship actually is, let alone where the God-Captain is located on it.

Also, it can't hurt to embrace some of the comedy grimdark options. The Ship alone, an absolutely incredible idea, is hilariously over the top. Keep that spirit in mind.

BY THE WILL OF THE GOD CAPTAIN! ARCHIVE THIS!

>>7765378
plus the ship is growing in size

>>7765347

I like this idea. Keep in mind though that there are still millions if not billions of xenos running around the ship, which the Imperium can't do anything about.

>>7765404
exactly, make them kill each other

>>7765378

I don't know. It is definitely in some ways. But it's also a very epic, even poetic idea and that's what I found so striking about it in the first place. Let's not lose sight of that.

The Ship is All.
The Ship moves.

>>7765379

It has been done
Vote for it
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/7760069/

Oi me lads, its yer friends the Squats. Just wonderin' if there was a place fer us aboard that Ship o' yers.

>>7765326

Not just suspended, but cooled down, hollowed out, reinforced, filled with passages and packed through with machinery, controls and adeptus custodes.

>>7765462
Missed the archive, faggot.

I say we start another thread. This one isnt getting saved again, and any good ideas will be lost.

>>7765482
the archive does autoupdate every half or so

>>7765404
Make the xeno spill their blood in place of a human, it is a fitting price if they wish to be part of the Great Voyage.

>>7765482

The archive will definitely catch anything we put up here until this 404's.
But if you want to make a new thread just do so and let us know the thread number

>>7765482

Seconded. This anon thinks /tg/s writefags are the shit. New thread!

Journey to the Edge of the Universe is on discovery channel right now, very fitting for this thread. Good inspiration.

Since humanity is gathered so close, the collected spiritual essence has changed something in the Emperor's physiology. The EKG is registering faint beats, barely more than artifacts, and through the impossibly weathered and thin skin, his blood is turning to the blue-white shade of the soul.

One day, a Custodes thinks he sees a twitch, but dismisses it while cleaning the holy fire alarm.

The Emperor bides his time as he always had, waiting for his body to adapt to the new source of life.

Thread continued at >>7765640