Welp, I promised what I wrote on the PDF right? Tell me what you think.

PDF

The Icelus PDF acts as the main defense force for Icelus as their name implies. Though the Nightmares do make their home on the planet, much of their strength is out on various Crusades or battlefields far from their home. As a result, the need for a powerful Planetary Defense Force was acknowledged by the Space Marine masters of Icelus, and put into place as soon as the Nightmares were first formed. However, the heavy presence of the Space Marines has largely relegated the force to ceremonial rules.

That said, it would be a dangerous mistake to assume the serving men and women of Icelus a toothless beast. As the inhabitants of a Hive World that churns out munitions by the minute, the Defense Force is armed with the best weapons money can provide. Lasguns are the troop standard while Hellguns are reserved for the elite, all the while backed up by deadly legions of Chimeras and Leman Russ Variants. However, the group is generally lacking in Artillery due to their defensive role, though the massive Void Shield systems of the Hives softens the blow.

After the disaster of the Sleepless, the Emperor’s Nightmare, previously rather hands-off, took a keen interest in bringing up the human defenders to higher standards. Though they Chapter can rarely bear the strength and time to press squads into service, when the mighty Nightmares arrive, they bring with them experience and dedication none can match. The efforts of the Chapter have radically redefined the role of the PDF.

>>14500213
Previously reliant on sheer numbers and basic tactical acumen, the PDF have evolved to become one of the greatest fighting forces in the Imperium, easily able to match even the most hardened Guard Regiments. The Nightmare, well aware of the need for an unbreakable supply line, initially passed into service an edict requiring record numbers of food be placed into warehouses and bases enough to feed the whole of Icelus seven times over. Multiple redundancies were placed into water plants, factories, and the like to ensure even in the case of open warfare in the streets, production would not cease unless direct catastrophic damage was taken.

The Mighty Dawn of Primus taught the PDF the value of fortifications, their knowledge of war allowing the construction and reinforcement of hives into places worthy of praise even from the Imperial Fists. The Shadowy Secundus meanwhile drilled into place the values of stealth and ambush, teaching the murderous arts of guerilla warfare, each side pushing the men and women of Icelus to greatness.

So I'm actually nearly finished. Just got Heavy Support to go, then we'll talk additions.

http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Nightmare_Tabletop

>>14500220
The acerbic and harsh teaching methods of the Space Marines initially drew some complaint, as their heightened senses forced out weaknesses that no enemy besides possibly they would have recognized, but a single look from the Marines silenced all opposition. The PDF would be taught to Nightmare standards, and no less. As a result, the small unit tactics and capabilities of the Icelus PDF are amongst the best of the galaxy. Each man is able to man a fire point, drive a vehicle, fire tank rounds, and so forth. But no army is without flaw. One noted weakness of the PDF is the failings of the Command Staff. As all the Nightmares sent to retrain the PDF were all Company Sergeants, Captains being almost always on the front lines and considered too important for so minor a task, training was focused on the common fighting man. None of this might have been a problem if it were not for the fact that Nightmares rarely made contact besides the required minimum, too many Lord-Generals had grown weary and even fearful of the unblinking perfection the Nightmare demanded. Due to this, Nightmares besides the Wake have no true experience with Imperial Command Staff, and can not communicate with them as easily they may do with ‘Dog Soldiers.’ The end result is a mobile and highly aware army with a loose chain of command, with each squad honed to perfection, but with tactically crippled Colonels and Generals.

Nowadays, the Icelus PDF has largely abandoned the flak jackets assigned by the Munitorium, though they keep massive stocks of them in reserve. Just in case. Instead, they wear the colors of the Nightmare with pride, donning feathered caps and loose tights, which is juxtaposed with the dangerous firearms each man carries. Though they have been the target of much ridicule from off-worlders, the PDF as a whole cares not for such worthless opinions. They know their capabilities, and all the enemies of man should fear their might.

>>14500232
In case you were wondering, the spiffy colors part comes from an old thread where people thought that looking like the Swiss Guard would be badass.

>>14500213
>>14500220

Seems reasonable enough. The Ultramarines maintain top-quality Ultramar PDFs in a similar manner.

Perhaps a source of conflict could be the Imperium seeing the effectiveness of Icelus troops and making increasingly insistent requests to the EN to share the wealth a little and offer some voluntary contributions of Icelus regiments to the Guard - EN doesn't have to, of course, as Icelus is their fief, but co-operation would grease the political wheels elsewhere. There's reluctance amongst some members of the Chapter to do so, though, thinking that the Marines risking their lives on the material and astral plains is help enough.

The issue of sending elements of the PDF to the Guard would not be a cause for war, of course, but it could be a matter of some dispute.

>>14500232
Apart from some grammar and spelling errors I like it. Could use an edit for clarity but I like your ideas.

My one critique would be to dial back the "they are so good at everything" in the first couple paragraphs. Until I read the last post with their weakened command structure it came across a bit too Ultramarines yknow?

>>14500242
And they were quite correct.

Also the more stone fucking cold badass you are the more silly you're allowed to look because no one is going to say shit to you. It also functions kinda like bright colours and warning patterns in the animal kingdom.

Do NOT fuck with a 250 pound highly trained soldier who is wearing a rubber ducky on his head. Ever.

>>14500258
I believe this idea was discussed back in the very early threads, but I do like this aspect of the Nightmares. We've made them so kick-ass, even their tragedy makes them elite warriors. Their weakness is that their detachment from humanity is even greater than most space marines's, and they just can't be bothered to keep up with the politics of the Imperium. This could result in them being abused by the upper ranks of Imperial power.

Hellfire Dreadnought

165pts
WS3 BS5 S6 F13 S12 R10 I3 A2
Unit Composition: 1 Dreadnought
Unit Type: Vehicle (Walker)

Wargear: Multi-melta, Missile Launcher, Smoke launchers, Searchlight, Redundant Systems

Options:
Replace Multi-melta with:
-Twin-linked heavy flamer - free
-twin-linked heavy bolter - +5pts
-twin-linked autocannon - +10pts
-plasma cannon or assault cannon - +10pts
-twin-linked lascannon - +25pts
Replace Missile Launcher with twin-linked autocannon - free
Take up to two hunter-killer missiles - +5pts each
Dedicated Transport: May select a Drop Pod

>>14500305
Well, the part about being good at everything could only apply to their planet. They have the home-field advantage their with loads of supplies and munitions at the ready, off-world, they'd still be good, but less deadly.

>>14500319
They're also simultaneously

-A young chapter
-Fairly reasonable people on an individual level
-Fairly conservative and steeped in rote, tradition and respect for old ways at an organizational level

All of this could lead to a certain degree of naivette when dealing with the rest of the Imperium. I could totally see them getting exploited by some inquisitors very easily.

Like, they can sherlock their way through deception and puzzles and shit, but damnit if Obeying the Imperium was good enough for their honoured dead, it is good enough for them too. They don't question the motivation of some of the big picture orders they're given.

>>14500364
Oh to be clear I'm actually aquite comfortable with them being one of the best regiments in the galaxy, I just meant that the way it's presented feels a bit like the way Ward presented Ultramarines. Ultramarines ARE one of the best forces around, it was just all that was talked about in the codex and got old fast. I'm just advocating a slight rewording of a few phrases. I don't even know what exactly. Just a slightly more polite way of saying "yes and the Emperor's Nightmare also has the best troops ever"

Like we can have another thing we're good at. I'm all for that, but at this stage in the design process we have to tone down good ideas to make sure they don't combine with other good ideas already in play to make an idea too big to be reasonable in the setting.

>>14500402
But they don't. It's a biased account really. And it was mentioned how weak the Command was. The way I envision these guys are fighting like dirty bastards in Urban Warfare, and great at guerilla stuff, but not so good where they have to follow tactically inept orders... How should I make that clearer do you think?

>>14500447
true. I dunno, maybe a quick note near the beginning about the lackluster command structure, saving detail of why for later?

>>14500356

FUCKING DONE

http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Nightmare_Tabletop

Have a look, see what you think, give ideas, criticism and feedback. I can't promise quality, I pulled a good deal of it out of my ass today.

>>14500505
wow. Thats looking great SC guy. It's a lot to digest so I don't have too many comments yet other than "good on ya"

Oh one thing! Perhaps those hellfire dreadnoughts should be allowed in squads of 1-5 since they are in fact deployed in actual squads like devastators? Might be weird for balance I guess but hey, so might everything.

>>14500572

Perhaps. The reason I gave the Hellfire dread BS5 was in partial to compensate for not being a Devestator squad...And I was thinking of perhaps giving it a shoulder-mounted MIU weapon akin to the Icelus to further make up for it.

>>14500586
That would be pretty awesome. But like the other guy said, balance could be an issue

also what the hell Captcha, why are their logarithms in your database?

>>14500586
Interesting.

I had liked the aesthetic of the most normal, average looking dreadnoughts in the entire chapter all being fielded alongside eachother in remarkably codex squads and painted in standardized patterns. Like... tactical dreadnoughts y'know? Faceless and uniform as dreadnoughts go. All lined up side by side decorated in company markings.

But it;s just a mental image I like. I have no real attachment to it.

>>14500609

Well it'd cost points to get guns for the shoulder, and perhaps if you take it the Dread's movement is reduced to 3 inches to represent being Link in dreadnought form.

>>14500232
Just note that they're kept to Imperial Guard standards by the discipline handed down by their superhuman masters. Have them be at something like Valhallan discipline, but explicitly second only to such regiments like the Cadian Defense Force and the Mordian Iron Guard.

They're disciplined, but their strength comes their squad-level organization. They're still humans with lasguns. Clever, tough humans, but not Cadians.

>>14500642
that works the

>>14500656
That said, while the Cadians are unquestionably a better standing army than the Icelus PDF I like the idea that our PDF has some of the best squad level training in the entire Imperium. They are all trained and supervised somewhat by marine sergeants after all. Cadians aren't.

Hellfire Dreadnought updated.

Are the Sleepless Dreadnoughts called the Living Dead or the Waking Dead?

>>14500853

...Waking Dead. Helloooooo, typo.

>>14500898
it's Waking dead?

I thought it was walking....

>>14500973

Nah, pretty sure it's Waking Dead.

>>14500853
They're called the Grateful Dead.

>>14501050
I'm pretty sure they'd be grateful if they were dead...

Also, one thing I've really been looking to see is how the Chapter Symbol looks on a Primus Nightmare. It looks great on the secundus, and it'd be cool to get a matching picture.

>>14501127

More drawfaggotry in general is needed.

>>14501223
especially if we plan on making a compiled pdf codex of all the fluff and rules

>>14501235

Which we do. For that matter, we need to pump out fluff descriptions for everything in the army if we want to do it properly.

>>14501241
Also we need to get Scripty and the other modelfags in here to make some examples.

>>14501305

Damn straight.

>>14501350
is it just the two of us in here now?

>>14501428

Seems it. Hmph.

>>14501433
well that's a damn shame, I wanted to see more of that Thureos writefaggotry

>>14501428
It's almost 11 here on the east coast. I thank the Nightmares for their restless vigilance, so that I may enjoy this gift of sleep.

Good night Res/TG/uardians.

>>14501428
>>14501433
YOU HAVE DISCOVERED THE TRUE FATE OF ALL /tg/ PROJECTS
THE TWO OF YOU WILL NOW SPEND NINE MONTHS NURTURING THIS PROJECT INTO SOMETHING AWESOME, AND THEN RETURN IT TO THE BOARD, AT WHICH TIME NOBODY WILL GIVE A FUCK.

Welcome to the world of getting shit done.

>>14501463
sleep well brother, may your dreams be peaceful

>>14501474
You make that sound like a problem.

Who the hell do you think I am?

>>14501454

Oh, I was pretty much done with that Thureos story. Might be able to see if I can come up with more...

>>14501542
one can never have enough Thureos

>>14501474
Hey bro, 2 months ago, after 6 threads, no one apparently gave a fuck about this Chapter anymore.

Now people finally got down all the Crunch after taking some time off. People still care, and they will continue to care.

Besides, we still need that Cardinal story

>>14500375
Well, after that disaster with the Deathwatch Sleepless Librarian, they probably wised up real quick.

>>14501573
What ever happened to the guy who was going to write that?

>>14501603
Hell if I know.

>>14501241
Where's the fluff?

>>14501671

http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Emperor%27s_Nightmare

This page, and the pages and stories linked to it.

>>14501671
http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Emperor%27s_Nightmare
everything Emperor's Nightmare links from this page

>>14501683
>The first [task] is to retrieve a rare Terran flower brought by settlers when Icelus was first colonized, and the second is to bring the undamaged flower to their Fortress-Monastery many leagues away through the barren wastes of Icelus

I look forward to seeing Captain Christoph Bayle, the Dark Paladin

DON'T YOU DIE ON ME

>>14501780
He is the dreams

I put this in the other thread; I had not realized we were on a new thread:

This may have been brought up before, this is the only thread I have read, but I have a solution to the status of The Sleep in the chapter. I have read that REM sleep is the main recuperating factor of sleep; as an insomniac, experience and the above information lead me to deduce: short naps only postpone sleep-deprivation psychosis and the worst effects of the the fatigue, not offer any real healing from fatigue. Perhaps this could be a factor of what creates The Sleep.

Consider: All brothers enter The Sleep eventually. What allows some to avoid this is devotion to "naptime rites", similar to what is described in the Deathwatch information. The Sleep can fall upon any brother at any time, but if he is devoted to these rites he can postpone it for however long it can. All the brother can do is pray the rites keep him from insanity until he dies in battle.

This may be too thematically similar to the Blood Angels, but I think it offers a solid answer to justify the inevitability of The Sleep, while leaving room to justify few members reaching venerable age in command. It also instills a theme of effort in the face of futility, which has always been my favorite part of 40k, and separates grimdark from grimderp

>>14501837
... I'm sorry but...

>naptime rites
>Kindergarten marines

>>14501962
How about Litanies of Righteous Rest? Repose of the Virtuous?

To be honest, doesn't fit the idea that they see sleep as another battle- they fight daemons in their dreams, remember?

This is still going? Awesome. I'd contribute something, but I'm not familiar enough with the setting right now to type up anything remotely believable.

Keep up the good work though, the rest of you.

>>14502007
also they can't really make themselves sleep, due to the node mutation

Okay. I've made an army list from the newly-flourished crunch, and I will share it with you. It is a Secundus Force, Secundus has had a special place in my heart since day 1. I'm not saying it's great, broken, or competitive...Only that it exists now.

HQ
Emperor's Nightmare Captain w/ Sniper Rifle, Relic Blade, Artificer armour, Dreamcatcher, Secundus Upgrade - 185

Emperor's Nightmare Librarian w/ Secundus Upgrade, Plasma Pistol, The Blackest Night and Living Nightmares - 135

Elites
Night Owl Bulwark Squad, +1 Night Owl, 5 Combi-meltas, Darkfire Flare Rifle, Sergeant w/ melta bombs + Dreamcatcher, Razorback w/ TL Lascannon + Redundant Systems - 285

Troops
Secundus Operative Squad, +5 Operatives, 9 sniper rifles, Darkfire Flare Rifle, Camo Cloaks, Sergeant w/ Melta Bombs + Dreamcatcher - 200

Secundus Operative Squad, +5 Operatives, 9 sniper rifles, Missile Launcher, Camo Cloaks, Sergeant w/ Melta Bombs + Dreamcatcher - 200

Secundus Operative Squad, +5 Operatives, 9 sniper rifles, Missile Launcher, Camo Cloaks, Sergeant w/ Melta Bombs + Dreamcatcher - 200

Secundus Operative Squad, 4 shotguns, Darkfire Flare Rifle, Sergeant w/ Melta Bombs + Power Fist - 130

Fast Attack
3 Icelus Pattern Dreadnoughts - 225

1 Land Speeder w/ Multi-melta - 65

Land Speeder Storm w/ Secundus Upgrade + Multi-melta - 85

Heavy Support
Hellfire Dreadnought w/ Twin-linked Lascannon, Assault Cannon, Missile Launcher, 2 Hunter-killer Missiles + Drop Pod - 285

Total - 1995

Okay, I splashed out overmuch on the Hellfire at the end there, but only because it was funny.

Here's a little something I thought of a while back. Perhaps ships belonging to the EN have comparatively smooth journeys through the Warp? Less whispering voices and fits of madness among their crews. The Marines say its because their sleeping brothers are escorting them but nobody else really believes it.

>>14501962
Completely intentional

To everyone else: Didn't know those bits, thanks for the heads up

>>14502094
"Sir, this mission requires the utmost stealth. The enemy must not discover us."
"Bring the missile launchers and the Hellfire dreadnought."
"...Sir?"
"Also we'll need a Landraider"

>>14502167
but of course you don't actually have any landraiders

and my eyes failed me again

fuck

>>14502167

They're just that good. *Stern nod*

>>14502195
I would write the Primus one... but you've seen my list-making skills

>>14501592
It's entirely possible the chapter doesn't know about that yet. It happened fairly recently and he's still fighting the Inquisition on that planet.

The librarian did drop a locator beacon for his chapter to pick up the signal but he thinks he's fighting like dark eldar or something so he might not realize that they have the scrambling frequencies and can muffle his cry for help.

>>14502280
actually
FUCK IT
BATTLEGROUP PRIMUS, HO!

>>14502297

Go for it. Any mistakes you find, tell me.

The ornate towers of the Upper Spire of Hive Emereth were alive with the exited bubbling of talk, raucous, cruel laughter and the periodic scream of agony as their depraved occupants cavorted wildly. It had been a grueling road, an endless map of politiking and scheming, a battle of wits and intelligence with the feeble Governer whose body was now nailed above the grand throne Estelle now occupied...But as the voices had promised, she and the faithful had endured and proved their worth to the Dark Prince without question. So soon too, the hive was barely a century old, it had not even had the chance to entirely destroy Alsalon IX with the fires of industry, something she was exquisitely happy with as she watched the sky.

A smile slid onto her pale, tapered features as she allowed that eldless blue-green expanse to swallow her, merely gazing out into eternity.

What she saw made her eyes widen, her smile grow into a dark grin. A shooting star, a twinkling sphere of light arcing through the air with the grace of the finest of birds, surely this was a portent of the Prince's favour. Drowning out the loud celebrating of her new subjects, Estelle watched the star in its descent. How curious, it appeared to be drifting overhead...Getting brighter...closer...Wait-

>>14502799

The star crashed straight into the nearby Althene spire, shattering its shatter alcoves like so much china with a hungry roar of impact. Estelle gently pulled herself up, staring at the ruins of the spire in wonder. What could this possibly mean? Surely the Prince of Pleasure did not intend to snatch her victory so premature-

With the sound of an enranged monster, something tore through the roof of Estelle's throne room, a large metal shape, painted in such a gaudy purple and gold motif, flattening several of her unfortunate followers in its wake. Before the disoriented revelers could flee the hatches blew open, and Estelle's jaw dropped. Armoured giants leapt out, their weapons roaring as they gunned down any cultists trying to flee. Estelle gasped and put her hand to her mouth as one of the benemoths drove his revving chainsword into one of the faithful, splitting them in two in a sick, bloody fountain of gore. One of the assailants strode towards Estelle with purpose, and with a choked wimper she looked into its eyes. She found no mercy within those red orbs. She knew them now, she looked into the Dawn and she was afraid.

The sounds of slaughter echoed all around the spire, punctuated by the occasional impact roar signifying more of them, more of her doom. Mustering all her willpower Estelle stood up straight, glaring at the Space Marine facing her with an aloof sneer.

"...You win this time." She stated, tears running down her face even as she fought to keep her manners up. "But you cannot win forever. The rituals have already ended, the Prince's own stride within the city."

The only answer Sergeant Alier of the Emperor's Nightmare had for her was to bring up his crackling power sword and swipe at her, almost negligently. The last thing Estelle felt was the dreadful ripping of her own throat. She welcomed it.

>>14501474
Even in death, I still serve. Though it is one in the morning local time and the foul sorcerers of Chaos seek to restrain me--!
No! I will not Sleep again while my brothers yet need me!
I am not mad! I am not! I am awake! I ... am ...

Or, in English, I just got back to my computer and I'm bloody tired. Rest assured there's much more than two of you still interested in the project. I got in near the ground floor on the Nightmare, and they've become important for me.

>>14503168

Good man. We should have a Primus list coming shortly from Writgar, or he's just a big liar, and fluff from everywhere, forever.

2000- ALL DEEP STRIKE, ALL THE TIME

HQ
Emperor's Nightmare Captain w/ Terminator armour, thunder hammer, Lightning claw, prophetic dreams, Dreamcatcher - 190

Emperor's Nightmare Chaplain w/ melta bombs, combi-flamer, jump pack, prophetic dreams -150

Elites
Terminator Squad w/ Thunder Hammer + Storm Shield - 260

Waking Dead Dreadnought w/ Drop Pod w/deathwind missile launcher - 180

Troops
The Sleepless w/ +7, jump packs - 370

Tactical Squad w/ +5, meltagun, missile launcher, Sergeant combi-flamer, sergeant power weapon, sergeant melta bombs, dreamcatcher, drop pod w/locator beacon - 260

Tactical Squad w/ +5, meltagun, missile launcher, Sergeant combi-flamer, sergeant power weapon, sergeant melta bombs, dreamcatcher, drop pod - 250

Fast Attack
Assault Squad w/ flamer, sergeant Lightning Claws - 140

Night Owl Storm Squad w/ sergeant Relic Blade, Dream Catcher, Prophetic Dreams - 200

>>14503220
that's more combi-flamers than I thought I had

oh well, they're awesome

Bit of an incidental question. Do you pronounce "Icelus" as "I-say-lus", "I-sell-us", "I-kay-lus", "I-kell-us", "Ice-el-us", or what?

The Greek-ish theme would suggest at "I-kay-lus" or "I-kell-us", but...

>>14503379

I say "I-kell-us" in my mind, it just runs together better.

>>14503379
I say I*-sell-us

*soft i

>>14503379
Ee-ke-los.

>>14503216
I have zero experience in the tabletop, as much as I'd like to play--someday, though, I think I will buy marines and make a force of EN.

This has nothing but the most bare-bones HQ + Troops and would be ridiculous in actual use. I just wanted to mass as much Sleepless as possible to try this:
Despite the Nightmare's reverence for their lost brothers, I think the best name for this 'list' would be Cut the Chain and Run.

-HQ-
Thureos, the Forty-Sixth Terminator - 350 pts
-Troops-
The Sleepless w/ +27, Jump Packs, 30 Power Weapons, 2 Plasma Pistols - 1550
Phobetor Dreadnought - 100 pts

Total 2,000 points

>>14503541

...It's...It's beautiful...

So I've sort of followed this, explain one point I scanned across to me- the sleepless marines were described as having supernatural awareness and heightened awareness due to the sleeplessness. Why is this? Shouldn't lack of sleep make them all struggling and out of it all the time?

Overall the fluff and write-ups seem mildly infected with derpiness and mary sue, but this is 40k after all- everyone is the most baddest ever all the time.

>>14503541
"Shas'o, why is that random Gue'vasa walker just sitting over there?"
"Dunno, let's go check it o-OH A'UN THE PAIN"

>>14503577
you ever stayed up for several days? Eventually the tiredness goes away, and you start to become squirrelly and alert to things. Or at least that's my experience in the times I've gone 5+ days without sleep. With Marines who reach this point (read: many years of no sleep in most cases) they eventually hallucinate their way into realizing that though and action are simultaneous, and train it because they have literally nothing else to widdle away the time between battles.

That's how I see it anyway, but I'm not ENTIRELY sure.

>>14503595
He is literally there to pad out my Troop choice.
Plus, I guess, they have to at least try to reign them all in after they scrape the last tank crew out of their hull.

...Actually maybe Markings of the Sleepless mark them as brethren to each other. No one else has yet been able to emulate their signage. Maybe make MotS units immune to killing each other.

>>14503577
I would guess it's something akin to a migraine making you sensitive to light and sound. Sensory and perception overload. Yes, reasonably, sleep deprivation to the extreme would dull your senses and then kill you, but it's one of the major donnés of the chapter, way back when we first rolled their +5 Perception and Intelligence trait on a table. There's been snippets of conversation in the threads, I suggest you just read through in your own time.
TL;DR I dunno lol and damn I'm too tired to come up with a straight answer.

>>14503577

You cross a certain path of sleep deprivation, you stop feeling drowsy. The concept takes that and turns it up to eleven, because it's fun.

All in all I find the Nightmares to be one of the least Mary Sue chapters. They've got one super-choppy guy, and he's half comic relief half indiscriminate berserker. It's still marines, and there's only so much you can do with marines without breaking fluff.

>>14503674
Ah, right. A bit of this, mixed with Rule of Cool and 40k being 40k. The borderline clarity they get is tinged by much less borderline insanity, and even when healthy it makes them twitchy.

>>14503745
Pretty much

Ok, getting sleepy but feel like writefagging maybe one more story. How better to honor the essence of the EN?

Question (as someone who hasn't read much actual Space Marine lit)- How would a regular marine normally address a dreadnought? What about a Phobetor, tasked with keeping the Sleepless in check?

>>14503857
Space marines tend to see most dreadnoughts as revered ancestors and heroes. Honored ____ would probably fit.
Apothecaries tend to be called by their vocation, so probably either Honored Brother/Elder or Apothecary.

One last bump for the night. See you in the morning, Icelus.

Question: do the sleepless come with a complimentary dread, or is there one Somewhere I'm missing?

>>14504053

Having the Sleepless allows access to a Phobetor Dreadnought.

>>14502143
HOW DID I MISS THIS

It seems awesome.

"Ensign, are we ready for the Warp?"
"Aye, Lord-Captain. The Navigator is ready, the Gellar Field is primed, and the Dreamers are in bed."

>>14504082
the second line of options mentions two dreads, neither a phoebtor dread.

>>14504121

Not anymore it doesn't, the moment you mentioned it I nipped in and cleaned up. Sorry 'bout that, that was just waste options from an earlier idea.

I'm thinking about this really powerful librarian that is always in a daze, because he is acting in the dreams and reality at the same time, and therefore is constantly half asleep.

>>14504148
on the subject of the sleepless. I think it would be better to limit the squad to 20 total. No real reason except maybe to differ a little more from death Comp.

>>14504187
Also, any ideas for that marine who is forever asleep but keeps fighting? Haven't read all the stuff, just skipped to what I liked.

>>14503880
Thanks for the answers. Another question-

How are dreadnoughts handled during warp-travel? The non-crazy ones I mean. Are they deactivated? Would perhaps a techmarine or battle-brother in need of counsel be able to converse with a chasis in... storage?

A long time ago, I think it was yesterday but it might have been the day before that by now, I offered to start working on the Emperor's Nightmare Chapter Banner. Travelling by train means you have a lot of time to kill, so I thought I'd make myself useful for a change.

This is the preliminary sketch, drawn with pencil in my sketchbook. Since I didn't have access to a scanner I took a quick pic with my phone. Any comments, criticism and suggestions are welcome of course. I'll take note of any changes needed and start working on a final version somewhere later today. The final version will be drawn on A4, the larger area will allow me to add more details and I'll arrange for a scanner to get a better image quality. If anybody feels adventurous he or she is free to mess about in Photoshop or something to add colour and whatnot.

Some minor explanations on the image: the winged skull is blindfolded to link it with the Chapter Trapping, the "owlglass" is flanked by two shields symbolising the Dawn and Dusk strike forces (Dusks shield has a moon hidden by the 2 due to poor planning, this will be rectified in the final version), the lower scroll bears the Chapter Motto and one of the purity seals on the bears the Raven Guard symbol as a visual link to the Nightmares genetic heritage.

>>14500183
Cannot unsee.

>>14504322
I really like it

sadly though I'm useless for critiquing drawfagging, because if I like some thing all I can think is "I love this"

A quick depiction of Eidelan, the Chief Apothecary, at the artistic level of a seven year old.

>>14504383
I don't....

>>14504383
>>14504400
OH FUCK OFF

>>14504391
Hm... Perhaps he should have some Bionics from his run-in with Thureos

>>14504322
drop the sword, and make the symbol bigger. Maybe have the symbols that represent the two halves be in the wings, rather then the shields? Kind of like your saying that both are needed to carry the chapter.

Try something like this pic as an alternate maybe as well.

Alas brother res/tg/uardians, the time has come for me to have take the damned, blessed false-sleep brought about by my Apothecary's sedatives.

I wish you all may have peaceful rest.
Ave Imperator

reading the tabletop rules. Thought the last thread had us taking termi armor out of the captains section?

Aww I'm just finally finishing up my last story. Seems everyone's going to their rest. I could save it for next thread... but no. I will honor the essence of the Sleepless by posting for our brothers who may still find repose.

>>14504430
Enlarging the symbol is a sound plan indeed. Making a large 'owlglass' the central image was my original idea, but I quickly discovered that the thing is a bitch to draw on the cuff. I didn't have my compass with me, so I had to dig through my loose change to find a mold for the circles and that limited the size considerably.
Integrating the Dusk and Dawn icons into the wings is a nice touch too, very rich in symbolism.

I'm hesitant to make the image more dynamic though. I kept it quite static on purpose because this is supposed to represent the Chapter Banner and I thought that the focus should be on the display of heraldry.
But now that I've got all day to spend on this I can do two (or more) versions and put it to a vote. The Emperor's Nightmare chapter is a communal effort after all so picking the best banner democratically is only fair.

Anyway, I'll wait a few hours before moving on to give everyone a chance to speak his (or her) mind.

>>14504657
there is nothing wrong with having more than one chapter banner. If memory serves, the BA have 3 or 4 chapter banners.

Apothecary Balstor's form moved quietly down the halls of the battle barge. He passed through passageway upon passageway, barely registering the bulkhead sliding past as his feet guided him to his destination. His mind was elsewhere, occupied with reports and charts, linear progressions which caused his brow to furrow in worry.

Coming to a hatchway, he stopped for the first time in his journey and recognized the signs in front of him. The door, painted in the honored colors of the chapter, also bore dire warnings of what it contained. Even among his battle-brothers, few others held or wished for the authority to enter this section of the ship. Yet Balstor knew that the Sleepless it contained were his responsibility, and that they deserved the best care he could offer them. Stepping forward to press his gauntleted arm against the sensor plate, the door registered his armor and opened with a smooth hiss. Beyond the hatchway stretched a long, tall vault, a pedestal before him glowing with runes cataloging the status of its contents. The hatch slid shut as soon as he stepped inside, and the apothecary stopped for a moment to take in the great chamber.

Here there was not the same silence as outside, where all that could be felt was the low thrum of the ship passing through the immaterium. This voyage had gone smoothly, as the chapter's voyages tended to, and many of the brothers had taken this welcome respite to rest. Balstor approved. Far too many of the brothers fell to his charge as it was. In here he could hear them... held behind heavy doors and locks, the Sleepless awaited their next task. Some more patiently than others.

>>14504771

Near to the entrance was the Hall of Repose, a side chamber filled with cots for those who could still be subdued. Their rest was fitfull and shallow and they did not dream, but Balstor was glad for whatever respite he could give them. He checked on the levels of their sedatives, and for a select few, their restraints as well. Satisfied, Balstor marked in the great logbook the statuses and conditions of the brothers. Putting the stylus down, he moved to the next task.

Beyond the Hall of Repose the Vault of the Sleepless began in earnest, hatchways extending down the corridor as well as stacked above one another, reaching the ceiling high above. The lowest chambers were reserved for those Sleepless who still retained their sanity, though for their own good as well as the chapter's needed to be segregated from the rest of the brothers. They had not been so long without rest that they could not be reasoned with. Yet within the eyes of each burned the knowledge of their fate, as the strain of endless waking took its toll on their mind. They were allowed to interact with each other for the most part, but their conversations were brief and shallow. Most preferred to pass hours gazing out the broad viewports into the passing void. Others tended to their armor, administering with utmost precision paints and lubricants. The apothecary looked carefully over the records of each, and questioned a few as to their state. All answered honestly, and succinctly. None of the answers were unexpected. Balstor left them to their vigil.

>>14504787

Above them were ensconsed the brothers who no longer accepted their fate with such calm. From this level more noise emanated, as ceramite gauntlets battered on bulkheads, seeking release from the prisons of their minds. Their roars of torment were muffled by the shielded hatches, but Balstor knew their pleas by heart. These brothers were no longer allowed their weapons, for fear of what they may see fit in their madness to use them for. Taking a lift platform up, he checked the screens mounted to each hatchway, detailing the activities and vital signs of its inhabitants. In the past the apothecary would gone in to the chambers and attempt to distract the anguished marines, but he knew all too well that his sympathetic counsel could do nothing to relieve them, and today could not find the strength to try. May the Emperor have mercy on him.

Rising again, the lift platform passed a tall, blank face of bulkhead, specially engineered to contain not a single rivet that could used as a handhold. The third and topmost level was kept isolated as high above the floor of the chamber as possible. Every precaution needed be taken, though the Emperor knew that even that had not always been sufficient. Rising finally to the level of the highest chambers. There were only four hatches here, each placed as far away from each other as possible. Two of them held nothing for the time being, praise the Emperor. But the other two...

>>14504799

No sound emanated from the heavily shielded chambers. Their inhabitants saw no point in making needless commotion. The apothecary checked his equipment out of deeply-engrained habit, ensuring that his Narthecium was fully functional and loaded with the most powerful tranquilizers known to the chapter. He knew better than to stray into the cells which housed these two powerful warriors. Yet even with the powerful wards which restrained them, safety was not always assured. And so Balstor must be prepared to face what every brother of the chapter feared- one of their own, crazed beyond recognition in fanatical service to the Emperor. Here there were no readings to check on the inhabitants of the cells. Their condition was not in question. Instead the apothecary could only check and recheck the wardings and locks which imprisoned them.

On this day there were no anomalies. Balstor felt a wave of relief pass through him as he completed the inspections, and muttered the Emperor's Benediction in thanks. Though these battle brothers were tormented souls, helpless in the face of their chapter's curse, the apothecary could not help but pray that they would see battle again soon, that they may have a chance to go to their final rest at the Emperor's side. Such was the only respite that awaited them. As he returned the lift to the deck and exited the Vault, Balstor reflected that such was the only true respite for them all.

>end

>>14504807

Shit I think I choked it.

Writefag signing off for the night. I'll be back tomorrow assuming this thread is still around.

Any suggestions for things to be fluffed out are welcome.

What segmentum did we settle on for Icelus again?

The sleepless remain ever watchful. Bumping for our brothers who continue their duties in the immaterium.

>>14504322
Did a little refinement on this idea. It's just a sketch, but what do ya'll think?

>>14505687

Nice! I think the Battlegroup shields need to be edged in gold or silver though to better offset them from the starry background. ALso, why is the sunrise of Dawn purple? Maybe switch the colors of sky and sun there.

>>14505544
Did we roll for the chapter's traditional enemies? That'll be a big part of where the homeworld is.

>>14505719
Wiki says:

Chapter Enemy
Khaliman, the very same Daemon Prince of Tzeentch slain in M39 by then- Raptors 4th Company Captain Randolphus. Following this mighty deed Randolphus' broken body was entombed within the mighty iron sarcophagus of a dreadnought and seconded to the newly created Nightmares to be their first leader. After serving the Emperor in this fashion for many centuries one of the powerful minions of Khaliman sought revenge for its master and stole away Randolphus' mind with foul Tzeentchian sorcery. The Nightmare continues to hunt down Khaliman's minions in hopes of one day restoring their founding father to his rightful glory.

>>14505705
Better?

>>14505856
I would proudly bear that banner into battle.

http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Emperor%27s_Nightmare

I've gone ahead and updated the chapter symbol on the wiki page. If ya'll want it to be changed back, go ahead and say so.

>>14505928

I took the liberty of moving the symbol itself down into the gallery (next to the old one) and put the visually more impressive banner at the top instead.

I think I'm finished with my version of the banner.

Was a .pdf produced for using the Nightmares in Deathwatch? Am thinking that if my Space Wolf techmarine buys the farm I'd roll up a techmarine from the Nightmares.

>>14506794
You mean Iron Priest right? Freaking Wolves and their need to rename everything...

>>14505544
Tempestus, some Tyranid interaction, mostly Chaos

>>14506794
http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Emperor%27s_Nightmare

It's mostly up on the wiki but there's some balance problems with the trappings we're working on and the lack of psychic powers, but most of it is solid.

>>14506612
Also, the banner looks outstanding, great job!

>>14506612

I am very VERY impressed. Fantastic job!

>>14507450
SC Guy do you not sleep? Or eat? Or work? Are you on /tg/ 24-7? Certainly seems like it... Or perhaps there are multiple SC Guys posting under one name. Like Alpharius.

>>14507476

I'm currently on holiday from college, so I can afford to spend a decent amount of time here. I actually just got in from hanging out with some friends, so, I dunno.

Just to keep things going:

I'm not so sure about dreamers during warp travel. My understanding is that the geller field would prevent both warp spirits coming in, and access to the dreamscape. Perhaps those dreamers who do find themselves asleep during warp transit find themselves in some sort of Loading Room, like in the matrix. Where they can practice their dreamscaping without fear of demonic assault.

I could also imagine a small, relic that acts as a geller field in a single chamber of the Nightmare's Fortress-Monestary. It would be immovable and archeotech for all intents and purposes, but it would act as a training room for the August Dreamwalkers in Iron to teach.

Also a possible Strike Cruiser name: Lucidity.

>>14507897
I do like the idea that dreamers can hear the Daemons pounding to claw their way into the ships as they travel through the warp. Maybe not defending, maybe defending, but they still know what's happening.

>>14506612
Gotta say I like it. I feel bad for actually having a suggestion because it's so good, but...maybe divide the field and have one half a day background and leave the other half night? It does seem to be more a Secundus then Primus banner.

And, damn late I know, I gotta say the PDF thing is interesting, but I don't like it that the Hive knows about the sleepless. It sounds like something the Nightmares would keep as hidden as any secret of the Imperium. Maybe lying that a Lictor escaped into the Underhive and, afterward, the Nobles suddenly having their PDF stolen away and trained under the Marines. Overly brave PDF that have been trained as if they were Marines and tend to forget that, oh yeah, they're bones aren't made of ceramics.

And...is it normal for a Chapter to only have one recruiting world?

>>14508018
It's actually been stated that the purple and gold represents how the people of Icelus view the night sky, as gold points on a purple backdrop. And since the sky tends to have alot more empty space than stars, that's why it looks like it's overly purple with only a hint of gold. Perhaps the compromise would be to add a few more stars?

Personally I think it's fine.

two minor points for the discussion about dreamers in the warp.

1) remember to walk carefully. Expanding the dreamer fluff too far too quickly is the surest way for this chapter to definitively jump the carcherodon. By all means do it, just be reminded that this is one of the more delicate parts of the chapter/setting fluff so be careful.

2) the dreaming was established to be part of the warp. Moreso than the webway. If the warp was REM sleep the dreaming would be those few seconds in the morning where you haven't quite woken up to your alarm but you can feel your pillow.

>>14508018
It is actually. The Space Wolves recruit from Fenris exclusively and lots of planet based Chapters use a single planet. Exceptions are Fleet Based ones where they have maybe 4-5 Feral worlds they do the rounds on.

As for the Sleepless discussion, you're a bit late on that. It's definitely true the Nightmare would try and keep all knowledge to themselves, but after the accident and the completely distrusting populace, they had to do something to get some credit back. How would you get recruits if you're not going to find any Aspirants?

>>14508018
The chapter is saddened by their curse and don't actively mention it and parade it around and shit, but I never got the impression they shamefully hid it like a secret. They're not Dark Angels.

And the hivers didn't really know much about the sleepless. All that most of those hive scum would know is "my grandpa told me a story about how one of their dreadnoughts went crazy and attacked everyone. He showed me his scar!"

And having a degree of shattered trust between astartes and their subjects is a rarity in 40k (even if it is just in the underhive). It's kinda nice to not have the entire population worshipping the Astartes every move for once...

Guys? I just realized something. When an Icelus dread mounts a heavy weapon, it loses the ability to sneak around in a visual sense. But it remains completely silent when shooting! Imagine how unnerving that would be. A Icelus dread with an assault cannon mounted Hollander-style letting rip with a huge stream of bullets. But the only sounds you can hear are the ones normally drowned out by gunfire. The hiss of the bullets as they fly through the air. The impact on stone, soil and flesh. Scary.

I read over the proposed codex stuff. Great work so far. Though it could use some tweaking in places. The entries for the Icelus dreads are missing the "can purchase flamer for X points" line for instance.

The Hellfire dread needs to be toned down. 3 heavy weapons on the same chassis?! That is a little overboard. Even TANKS can barely manage that and only by carrying tons of ammo internally to the exclusion of passengers.. It also adds up to a really high point concentration in a single unit. How do the following changes sound? (pick and choose)

- Raise WS to 4. WS3 doesn't make any sense.
- Can deploy in squads of 2. Limited to 2 squads. Normal devastator squads have up to 4 marines with heavy weapons. So 4 dedicated Hellfire dreads with codex devastator markings per battlegroup sounds about right. Any further ones would be from the pool of extras deployed at the order of the Lord Adjutant. (and thus count as Elites)
- Built in shoulder mounted MIU targeted storm bolter. (easily modeled with a pintle mount) Can replace with grenade launcher, flamer, meltagun or plasma gun. No extra heavy weapons or scout weapons.

>>14508304 cont,

I imagine that Secundus battlegroups would make extensive use of Icelus and Hellfire dreads for fire support. Considering that they probably make little to no use of vehicles beyond walkers in normal deployment. Conversely Primus battlegroups would use more vehicles than normal and rarely deploy extra Hellfires. Which fits with their shock and awe tactics.

As for Walking Dead dreads. How come they don't have at least F13? And why bother including the searchlight as a 1 point buy? Shouldn't they also have redundant systems? The point is to make a scary unstoppable brawler. The current incarnation is too similar to a regular dread.

Lastly the Phobetor dreads need some changes. Ditch the multimelta and make that a CCW. Change the dreadnought glaive into plain Narthecium mounted on a normal dread fist. Shepherding the sleepless would often involve carrying them out of harms way. (among other things) Which is kind of hard to do when one of your hands is a polearm and your other hand is a gun.

>>14508304
As I stated at ... some point... I am a fan of the aesthetic of a bunch of the most normal dreads in the chapter walking around in squads and basically actually acting in every way like devastators, just in dreadnought bodies. I don't really like the idea of every dreadnought in the chapter being super-special-awesome and different. To me it was important that there be a designated squad for the "normal" dreadnoughts and their normality would be accented by the codex markings, the uniform squad colours and so on.

That said I don't care very strongly and I wasn't going to say anything on the grounds that "SC guy has done an awesome job, let him have his pet unit of snazzy dreadnoughts"

I do REALLY like the aesthetic of dreadnought squads all lined up in uniform colours though.

>>14508383

These changes are all good ideas, and I thank you for voicing them...It's needed, without critique and testing we just have a bunch of thrown-together messiness.

My idea for WS3 was that the Dreadnoughts were excessively, perhaps far too much so, programmed with target-finding systems, so when the time comes to engage the Hellfires were impaired by the continuous stream of target-finding info.

Agreed on the Hellfire front, it IS a little too much. I'll see what I can do about accomidating your points.

The Waking Dead dreadnoughts SHOULD have F13, that is a mistake. Also, they have the rule "None May Stay My Wrath" from the Blood Angels book, which means they ignore all shaken and stunned results anyway.

The Phobetors, I'm more reluctant about...But I suppose it DOES make sense.

I messed around a little in the Phobetor and the Hellfire, along with giving the Waking Dead its proper armour value. Check it out, see if that's any better.

>>14508133
No, no, I mean it's a perfect Secundus standard, but I think the Chapter would have one that the feild would be divided party per pale, you know one half of the standard the Glorious Dawn and the other half the Dusk.

>>14508261
See, I was under the impression that they did. They list them as 'dead' and strip their name from any active list. There are no 'Sleepless', but the dead. If too many people found out, well I'm quite sure the single attempt to question one of the Nightmare's Dead as they did with a Dreamer in August – which is now almost as feared as the First Sleepless – would be but the first of many. Yeah, the inquisition would have them by the Geneseed. The fact that the whole chapter has been cursed by chaos to have a large section, if not all of them, fall into a dreamless madness that makes them murdering crazies...that's almost as bad as everyone in your chapter bursting into flames.

I still think that the fact that the Population knows that they’re mutation is so strong that they pass out for months and, during wakefulness, push the pedal to the metal is a secret agreed upon.

Soooo... as someone who does not know anything about WH40K... what is the problem with the new codex? What is the new codex and why is it important?

Because I can, 4,000 seconds in MS Paint.

>>14508665
They're not ashamed of their brothers for going mad, they're bereaved . Plus, we do have canon instance of the Inquisition knowing on some level about Sleepless, and trying to acquire one. It's probably not worn on their sleeve, but if asked directly, they don't make a secret of it.

>>14508665
Couple things.

The chapter isn't cursed by chaos. They chapter master had his mind stolen by a Tzeentchian daemon and the chapter is very angry about that. That's all.

The catapsean node degradation was an admech mistake (I think. Can't remember if we rolled an actual reason for it in the original thread. Anyway it was some kind of human error). It can and has happened to other chapters.

I'm the fellow who wrote the bit about ritual funerals and I intended them to be entirely symbolic. It's the chapter paying their last respects to a fallen brother by removing his name from active duty and placing it on the list of honoured dead, not the chapter striking him from the roster so they can pretend he doesn't exist.

And while there is that one in a million Sleeper whose node degrades super quickly and in just the right way that they lose touch with reality over the course of a day or two, for the most part new sleepless aren't a security risk and long time sleepless are already in the care of the apothecarion. As chapter flaws go it's less problematic than most actually. We just fucking love talking about the sleepless so they seem like a bigger part of the chapter than they actually are because they're all we talk about.

>>14508793
I thought there was also a bit of 'cursed with Sleeplessness' too. Oh well.

Anyway, I thought the Sleepless were worse not because suddenly breaking, but because they're pretty good at pretending they're not broken. It's only if they get caught, or are brave enough to 'die', do they become officially become 'Sleepless'. I thought that was why the Nightmares rarely send Marines to Deathwatch because it's already hard to watch for the signs and if they're in an environment that they can't be watched, things will get very bad very quickly.

>>14508857
It's possible that Deathwatch is just now calling for marines to be seconded, and only a few test cases are being implemented, with some understanding made.
Also, for marines going sleepless, I had the suggestion that while some come forward, others hide it, perhaps thinking it will pass. One of the duties of the Apothecaries is to monitor the men, and one of the duties of the Chaplains to speak with them and either tease out, or catch on to the fact that the marine in question is Sleepless.

>>14508665
>>14508793

To add to this,

It still isn't official that every Nightmare will fall to the Sleepless. My personal stance is that probably half of the chapter(give or take) will never have their catapsean node degrade no matter how long they live. and of those that will suffer node degradation, a good percent won't live long enough for it to occur.

>>14508922
The Sleepless is a problem, but not a universal one. Spontaneous naptime is a universal problem. It's not the Black Rage, not by a long shot, but the victims are more of a problem individually (though it takes longer for it become one).

>>14508857
Nah the whole "curse" thing is pretty much just poetic phrasing. I mean, it is a total curse, but seeing as this is a universe with literal magical curses we should make the distinction.

I don't think the marines who were slipping into sleeplessness would ever hide it from their brothers. That just seems awfully counterproductive for everyone involved.

The reason they're not sent to the Deathwatch that frequently is because there aren't a surplus of Nightmare Apothecaries at every Daethwatch fortress to monitor them. As such, most of the recruits they send are either responsible kill marines who can monitor themselves for the most part or actual apothecaries doing a tour of duty in the Deathwatch before they return to the chapter to complete their training.

>>14508922
>>14508941
Yeah, I think we had left the inevitability of Sleeplessness to a matter of personal belief. Some schools of thought think every marine will suffer node degradation. Others think there's some occurrence that lends to the decay. Some think that it's a random affliction. They all regulate sleep and work with Apothecaries closely to minimize the risks.
Plus, it makes sense in 40k codex style to not have a confirmed answer one way or the other.

Also, I had a thought: Maybe Sleeplessness ends up a Deathwatch Curse because the hypno-inductive training they undergo influences the node/their already askance sleep patterns negatively.

>>14508953
>I don't think the marines who were slipping into sleeplessness would ever hide it from their brothers.
They might be in a desperate denial. If they can just sleep soon it'll all be over. I'm still sane. It's not a problem.

>>14508922
Oh yeah, I agree. I'm quite sure it's something every marine is worried about. I am pretty sure that the Inquisition would actually like to get their hands on one of these ‘supposed dead’ and talk to them. After all, the Cult of this Chapter sounds so a little like Heresy and just why there are people who aren’t actual dead seem to be up and around.

I still think that the Nightmares are very guarded about the Sleepless out of worry that they’ll become Sleepless, out of fear of being persecuted over it, and over the Inquisition breathing down there necks about their rather severe mutation.

But that's just me. And, because all this bitching, more story about the Techmarine coming.

>>14508922
Yeah. I like thinking "anyone COULD but few will"

>>14508980
indeed

>>14508995
Possible. I think the chaplains and apothecaries would have done a lot over the centuries to try to discourage this line of thought, and to get everyone to volunteer any information about troubles sleeping etc. No marine wants the shame of going mad and hurting his brothers and if he hasn't slept in four months but is CONVINCED that if he just holds off alerting the apothecary for another week he;ll fall asleep on his own... well that marine doesn't know when his mind will finally snap and he's a huge security risk now.

Some marine at some time certainly has had that thought process, but I imagine they would all be thoroughly indoctrinated to prevent it.

>>14509077
Oh, certainly, but for everyone who finds themselves in the grip of Sleeplessness, how they respond to it becomes a personal thing. Most "do the right thing" and come forward, but I'd say at least some do try to hide it--maybe even not trying to hide it. It's only been a week more than usual. I'm just scaring myself. I'll give it a full month before I worry."
And then that month rolls around and they're more acute, but less rational, so they find it easy to justify waiting just a little longer.
That's an idea--one common sign of Sleeplessness is an upswing in their perception, as well as irritability. If someone hasn't stepped forward by then while showing those traits, there's a soft-spoken visit from the Chaplain.

>>14509119
I'm all for this. Could be some cool character development possibilities in it as long as we always emphasize that the chapter does its best to discourage this line of thought.

I never saw sleepless as "irritable" though. Not exactly.

>>14509156
Irritability could be one reaction to the enhanced senses- and how slow everyone else is responding.

>>14509156
Irritability is actually the trait given to the Doom Warriors, the original chapter with a busted node and thus don't sleep. I think our boys handle themselves a little better.

Irritable may have been a bad choice of words. "Twitchy" has been what we used, I meant more like that.

>>14509207
Yeah, they don't get irritable, they just get more...awake. And more capable of pretending to be normal, other then the delusions.

These guys would be scary as hell to look at without the helmet. Other Chapters, sure they're all scarred and stuff, but these guys...

Skin paler than anything people have ever seen, with bloodshot eyes from too little sleep, with deep lines in their faces from all the stress, and that soulless gaze they'd give when they look at you... They'd rank up their with the Salamanders in the whole 'oh shit I don't want to fuck with that' factor.

>>14509292
Yeah. That and the unnerving "I see everything" gaze and the accidentally-too-probing questions are the justification we've been using for the dirt cheap intimidation and interrogation skills in Deathwatch

>>14509292

The fact that the Nightmares are Fucking Scary is well established within fluff and the actual tabletop rules. They don't even need to try and be intimidating, it seems, it's just something that comes with the chapter's abilities and overall mindset.

>>14509292
>>14509313
>>14509319
This was what I went with for my DW guy. He's also got a nasty scar that probably adds to the effect.

Yeah. They're rather scary aren't they? And that's not when they're Sleepless.

consistent perspective? references?
pffft, who needs those?

>>14509368
hory sheet.
What are the wing-things? Part of its shoulder-link MIU?

One thing I'd suggest is heavier boots, though the legs are great.

And that reminds me, I saw we have a fuckin' excellent banner. I'm either going to try the watcher-sleeper-dreamer one again, or ask if the dude who made his could try it.

>>14509368
Oh God, now I have the image of him chasing Chaos Space Marines in that pose while they're flailing their arms in the air, trying to get away from the crazy Dreadnought.

>>14509389
those are supposed to be the quill sensors. a row of 3 down the middle, since i broke perspective too much for one over each shoulder.
and as for the feet, that's where the lack of references shows. i was worried if i made the feet too big it'd just look cartoonish. for some reason i've got it in my head that those old dreds had boot feet, not claws....

>>14509511
Make the legs spindly, but the 'feet' wide. Have a ball-joint mechanism so the leg can angle on any direction and bend in/around while the foot is planted. That lets it get a solid traction and grip while simultaneously bending all the way down to hunker and hide in the environment.

Emperor damned shitfucking sleep meds.
keeping me in a dreamless slumber for too long.

oh well, I have my Greatest Ever Sandwich™ to distract me while I catch up with the thread.

Archived thread nine and updated the wiki with it. Go vote it up!
Also, on the Nightmare Tabletop, would it be worth having the basic lists we've made mentioned? There was a Primus, a Secundus, and the Sleepless army (Cut the Chain and Run).

>>14509567
Could be a good idea, just as an example.

>>14509522
ironically, under the armor and visible bits that's what i pictured

>>14508665
Drawfag responsible for the final banner, here.

The starry field is supposed to represent more of the Immaterium and the draeming brothers than it does a night sky.

>>14509567
We should actually come up with what they call unleashing the Sleepless in combat, unless they actual call it 'Cut the Chain and Run'.

>>14509791
They probably just call it releasing the Sleepless with sad reverence. CtCaR is just the name of the army list.
On that note, I put the lists up.
http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Nightmare_Tabletop#Example_Army_Lists

>>14509791
I think we should, there needs to be a bit more humour in this book

>>14509856
It just occurred to me that I should have squeezed more vehicles into what's supposed to be a "Shock and Awe" list

>>14509869
References to Schlock Holmes and Adrian Monk. Rubik Cube formations. Chaos Marine Moriarty. Mmhm…what other jokes should we do?

Techmarine Hadrianus had never liked his work. Praise the Omnissiah, yes, but the Golems. He glanced toward Those That Eternally Did His Will and shivered. They were crouched low, Mechadendrites buzzing. One was close enough that he could hear the chanting, no the droning of a human machine – pitch perfect repetition of the Liturgy of Crafting over and over.

These were once brothers that were now focused on a single task to the exclusion of all others. These were the Sleepless the Omnissiah. Hadrianus watched them, his work forgotten for now. They were amazing and awful at the same time. Did the mechadendrites awaken and control a body? Did they truly exist as one step from utter madness, focused so intently on the perfection of the minute they staved off true Sleeplessness?

Hadrianus wondered as he watched. It was these Sleepless Techmarines that where the great secret to the Chapter’s fortune. These were the master crafters.

holy shit! this thread is still up!?

Here we are. Another fun thing, for the guy who wanted Dreadnought units.

>>14510033

Hell Yeah it is! Do Work Son!

>>14510046

And of course, I forgot something.

Meat Grinder - Any enemy unit within 4'' of a Drop Pod takes D6 S5 AP5 hits and D3 S6 AP3 hits for each Pod. Should 4 dreadnoughts be in range, the unit all suffer Instant Death as the explosives, grinding blades and the emerging Dreadnoughts themselves make quick work of it.

>>14510079
It will be many a week before I am to rest. I will serve well my brother.

>>14509999

HAIL THE QUAD.

Also: Sleepless Techmarines with OCD. My god!

I haven't been around since the DE release. How does GK stack up? Are they better or worse than 3E? Do they still get/lend Assassins? Are they still outclassed by Witch Hunters?

>>14510193

Scary thought, huh.

Do vehicles count as units?
>2-3 Land Raiders with Unyielding Anvil

>>14510204
Wrong thread trollbro

so what needs to be discussed. And has there been any other ideas recently?

>>14510285

I think ironing out bugs in the tabletop rules seems like the most prominent goal right now.

>>14510326
SC guy, have you contemplated lowering sleepless to 20 total as I suggested in >>14504187

>>14510379

I did indeed. I also reduced their points by 1 and took away Feel No Pain. If they want FNP, they need to take a Phobetor. I thought it was more fluffy.

>>14508304
>An Icelus dread with an assault cannon mounted Hollander-style letting rip with a huge stream of bullets. But the only sounds you can hear are the ones normally drowned out by gunfire. The hiss of the bullets as they fly through the air. The impact on stone, soil and flesh.

>>14510379
>>14510399
Crap, that's gonna murder the Cut the Chain list.
Someone want to take it over? Maybe add some Sleepless Dreads?

>>14510399
I'd noted the drop of FnP and couldn't agree more. They are mad, but no tougher than a normal marine. Also, it makes taking the dread more likely.

>>14510445

I may try my hand at it once I'm not busy, I need to fix the Secundus list's Hellfire anyway. If someone else is gonna do it, from a gameplay standpoint I'd suggest a captain with Signs of the Sleepless so the Sleepless don't go full retard, and some Waking Dead if there's enough points.

>>14510445
But, why not make it 60 points for the first three? I'm a stifler for using all my points, so I hate odd numbered units.

>>14510469

Fine with me.

I feel the venerable dread is useless. It takes up an elites slot but doesn't really seem like it will get used much. Maybe we could drop it and add an upgrade to some of the other dread types? That way it doesn't waste space, but can still be represented in the army/ codex.

I updated the Primus list to accomadate the point changes

>>14510423

Death rained down on all. Shas'La Nyr saw his commanding officer torn apart by the thousands of strikes which fell upon them. His squadmates were helpless as the cover they sought disintegrated under the assault cannon fire. There was nowhere to hide, and their combat armor was like paper in the face of the onslaught. Nyr felt the rounds hit him, penetrating through his flesh and out the other side to bury themselves deep in the dirt. He could do nothing but sink to the ground as his blood ran down his armor to pool under him.

Yet as he laid there dying he could think of nothing but the sheer surreal quality of the scene around him. In all the carnage, there was no sound. There had been no warning, no telltale whining of the heavy cannons spinning up. Even as they had been torn apart the only sound to be heard was the whistle of flying rounds, cut off in sick thumps as they found their targets. The other fire warriors had not cried out. Nyr mused idly that perhaps most of them had been dead before they could have thought to.

Laying on his side now, Nyr could partially see the carnage around him. Some part of his mind realized that a hole must have been punctured through his helmet, but such facts seemed so distant now. He saw the heavy armored boot of one of the Gue'la walkers land silenty, barely disturbing the valley floor. Such an impossibility seemed to fit perfectly in the dream world Nyr found himself in. The deep purple machine strode across the killing ground, pivoting from side to side to ensure that the entire patrol had been accounted for. Another walker joined it, and together they moved off into the forest to vanish like the ghosts Nyr knew them to be. As his vision faded, he realized he could hear the birds in the treetops again.

>>14510670
No words can truly express how awesome this is.

>>14510566

Though I see your point, I'm not sure if we should REMOVE it. After all, that'd make it seem like the August Dreamwalkers in Iron would be the only old Dreads. Perhaps if we improved it in some way...

>>14510670
See, more reason for this to be my most favourite chapter ever

Now in Garry's Mod.

>>14510740
Not remove, I suggested it as an upgrade. Maybe for the normal dread. Like in the BA codex, furioso and libby dreads share the same section.

Also, having the venerable in general is not that great. It's 60 pts for a stupid rule and +1 WS/ BS.

You might want to recheck the dreads armor value. Alot say rear 12.

>>14510825
YOU
YOU ARE AWESOME

Here's a quick gesture for the Codex cover.

>>14510918
Oh, goddamned sweet.

>>14510825
>>14510918

You are both amazing.

>>14510870

How about for those 60pts we add a few things to the upgrade. Like, we give Venerable, we add the WS and BS, and allow it to have a certain specialisation to represent a preference towards working with whoever? Like...

Primus: Redundant Systems, Furious Charge
Secundus: Shoulder-mounted Darkfire Flare Rifle, +6'' range to weapons
Night Owl: Either Tank Hunter or Fleet, choose at beginning of the game
Apothecary: Mechadendrite-mounted Narthecium Glave

And such. It's just a random idea.

>>14511037
The heretic flinched despite himself, unnerved by the features of the Astartes. A face made too pale from months of sunless light, added with the gene legacy of mighty Corax had resulted in a figure who might have been mistaken as a ghost. Through bloodshot eyes, the endless stare of the marine intimidated the cultist, eventually forcing him to avert his gaze. At the small victory, Iskander spoke again.

“Heretic,” he started, his voice now quieter but no less dangerous with out the magnifying effects of the vox-grill, “I know you. I see you and I will have what I want.”

”You can try,” the heretic hissed.

Iskander was silent for a few minutes, though he continued to gaze at the cultist without pause before choosing his words. “There is a flawed teaching your false god tries to teach you. That pain is pleasure, and vice-versa. I tell you now that is wrong. The weak flee before it, the strong endure it, and only the foolish desire it. Now then, what are you?”

Iskander then lowered one of his gauntlets to caress a bony arm. “Soft, untouched by manual labor. A noble perhaps. Yes, the indent of a ring on four fingers, their size and placement tells me you belong to one of the High Ten, the leading families of this world. Your face, the lack of lines speak of a stress-free life, but more importantly that you are young, with no rejuva treatment. Your youth also implies you are new to your false worship. You are but a lackey are you not? You desire to reach the inner workings of your cult. Is that not right, second son of House Goran?”

>>14511047
“H-how did you-”

“Peace heretic. Now then, tell me, with your immaturity confirmed, is this pleasure?”

With that, two ceramite clad fingers crushed the bones of a thumb, ignoring the flailing this incurred. Iskander waited a few seconds before continuing his work, “Is this what your ‘Prince’ offered you?”

“S-stop, please! For the love of the Emperor!”

“Hmm, so not strong, and not a fool. Weak then. Ah, and do not speak of Him you have forsaken,” Iskander said, punctuating his last statement with another broken finger.

“And be sure of this heretic, I have many more bones to break, and much time to spend. What do you have?”

“Names! Locations!” the heretic blubbered, “just show mercy, please!”

“Mercy? I suppose that is not outside the realm of possibility. If you speak the truth.”

“It is, I swear,” the heretic promised before telling all he knew. After he finished speaking, Iskander lifted his massive hands to the heretic’s face.

>>14511054
“To stain my blade with your blood and to waste a Bolt round into your body would be an insult to the Machine Spirits of my weapons,” he mused, “so I will simply crush you.”

“You said… you said you would show mercy,” the heretic protested weakly.

“I lied,” Iskander chided before looking amused, “or perhaps I did not lie. I send you now to the Emperor where he will judge your miserable existence. Instead of leaving you here to die slow of hunger, I give you a quick death. A nobler death can never be had for one so weak as you.”

“You call this mercy!” the heretic shrieked.

“For the enemies of man, there is none greater,” Iskander assured. The last thing the heretic saw were the unblinking red eyes of an Angel of Death.

>>14511060

>"I lied."

GLORIOUS.jpg

>>14511037
>>14511047
>>14511054
>>14511060
Is dat sum more Deathwatch's Nightmare?

>>14511042
Maybe we could lower the cost to 40 pts and leave it for the waking, iroclad and norm dread. or just keep it for the reg dread.
I just don't want to change the basis of "venerable" from the normal codex

rolled 93 = 93

Aww, I was hoping for more Sherlock scan. Iskander just figuring out what they need from studying the heretic.

And [i]then[/i] intimidating and terrorizing the heretic.

Brothers, I am being drafted into service. Keep up the good work and amazing fluff, I shall try to return before the thread is out.

SC guy, good luck with the venerable rule, I will keep thinking of other things for the next time I'm on

rolled 78 = 78

>>14511392
Sleep Well, Brother. We will watch over you.

Sorry for taking so long with this. Class, class, and more class got in the way.

Cardinal Villium Largos was in a foul mood this morning as his servants anointed his body with the five essences of vocalization. It had been many years and numerous rejuvenate treatments since he had felt this livid. Every week since his inception, he’d delivered the Word of the Emperor to nearly seven billion Emperor-fearing souls. It was a small flock, but they were his responsibility, and it was his duty to keep them focused in their duties as well as mindful of the dangers wrought in attempting to push above one’s station. But today was different. The sermon he’d deliver today would shake them to the core.

As he held out his arms to allow the servitors to dress him, he could hear his herald out on the dais of his cathedral. The boy had a pleasant voice and knew how to rile the crowd into a frenzy. This would insure the Cardinal’s message would spread to all in his flock swiftly.
“…and on this day, The 14th day of Trius, 641.901.M39, I present his Holiness, the Sheppard of Delois, Cardinal Villium Largos!”
The name of the Cardinal brought a deafening roar from the crowd of over a million standing within and around the cathedral. Hundreds of floating servitors were recording his sermon to be broadcast to the entire sub-sector.
Cardinal Largos stepped out on to the dais as his herald slipped off stage in the opposite direction. The Cardinal’s presence increased the crowd’s cries by several magnitudes. With only a raised hand, the crowd grew silent at the Cardinal spoke.
“Loyal workers of Delois, I come to you today with tragic news. I bring to you evidence that one of the shining lights of the Imperium of Mankind and the Emperor’s Finest, the Adeptus Astartes, are gross sinners without penitence! These false angels hail from the world of Icelus, where their greatest sinners are not only tolerated, but hailed as heroes! People of Delois, I bring to you the truth so that you may act in the name of the God-Emperor, and turn your back on these grand sinners. They are guilty! Guilty of the Sin of Sloth!

These Astartes of Icelus have been known to spend months at a time in rest! They bury themselves deep in their fortress, sleeping, neglecting their sacred duty as swords of the Emperor. The Adeptus Astartes sleep while the loyal souls of the Emperor work without rest. Leopold volume 3, chapter 81, psalm 11, “And all under the gaze of the God-Emperor will toil ‘till their souls join with His glorious light.” All will toil! There are no exceptions made for the Astartes. Chapter 86, psalm 33, “Let none under His gaze rest while the filth of xenos festers or taint of heresy broils in the hearts of Man.” Saint Leopold speaks the truth, yet the Astartes of Icelus are deaf to his commands.
But perhaps I step above my own station. Throne forbid I preach hypocrisy to my flock! Perhaps it is hubris to pass judgment upon an Angel of Judgment? Where then may such judgment issue forth then another Astartes? Thus I present to you a reading from one of the Ecclesiarches sacred relics, The Book of Polux, penned by Alexis Polux, Lord and Master of the Emperor’s Legendary Crimson Fists, and presented to Cardinal Helioe in a forgotten age. Chapter 19, “An Astartes will know neither rest nor respite in his vigilance of the domain of Mankind. Those that would turn away from their sacred duty as Astartes are to be purged, ripped like a cancer from the body of Mankind and crushed out of existence through strength of arms!””
And with this final quote, Cardinal Largos slammed his hand down on the dais to a cataclysmic round of applause and cheering. He crossed his arms in the sign of the Aquila, and act that was mimicked by a million pairs of hands as he stepped off from the dais and returned to his private quarters.

There will be more, just need some time to get homework done.

>>14511594
>>14511586
>>14511579

How ironic that the ones that DO "know neither rest nor respite in his vigilance" are also the ones that go bugfuck insane.

Starting Unit Fluff. May as well begin with the basics.

Tactical Marines

Tactical Marines form the fighting backbone of every chapter, able to move fluidly from a tenacious defensive firefight to a blistering assault in a matter of moments. Although the vast majority of Space Marine chapters reserve the position of Tactical Marine for those who have undergone service as a Devestator and then as an Assault Marine, but the Emperor's Nightmare conducts themselves differently. Upon their promotion from Scout they are immediately inducted into the ranks of the Tactical Marine, the vast wealth of extra training provided to their Scouts allowing the Nightmares to function effectively in their role despite inexperience.

Every member of the Emperor's Nightmare chapter is a fully trained Tactical Marine, from the Captains down to even the Chapter Serfs to a certain extent. This is due to catalepsean mutation, requiring the entire Chapter be able and willing to take over the role of a brother lost in sleep at an instant's notice.

>>14511704

The signature weapon of the Tactical Squad is the Boltgun, one of the greatest symbols of the Imperium, the roar of its wrath as a death knell to billions of the Emperor's foes, firing a mass-reactive shell which blows its victim apart from the inside. The Boltgun is particularly favoured by the second to fifth companies of the Emperor's Nightmare, Battlegroup Primus, as the ferocity of its discharge compliments their deadly shock assaults well. Battlegroup Secundus can and does field Tactical Squads, but it is a rarer sight, the Dusk preferring to organize their manpower into their feared infiltration teams.

It is not merely the Boltgun a Tactical Marine must train with, however. Each member of the Emperor's Nightmare is well versed in the operation of prometheum-spouting flamers, tubular missile launchers, mighty heavy bolters and many other weapons besides, not only because they may be assigned these weapons upon the battlefield, but in case the Nightmare bearing these holy instruments of vengeance should succumb to sleep. Thus when the Emperor's Nightmare goes to war it does so fielding some of the most versatile soldiers in the galaxy, each Tactical Marine truly worthy of the name Astartes.

The Watch-Captain worked the men under his command hard, and they enjoyed the few hours they had to themselves accordingly. A favorite pastime had become the exchanging of stories between each chapter, trading myths and traditions. Tonight's topic was recruitment. Mikhail, a Space Wolf Long Fang, kicked back, listening to his brother-marines speak of their respective homes.

"There are almost no losses in our initiations," said Gordon, the Salamander. "Those who fail the tests still serve proudly in the planetary defense forces."

Mikhail snorted. "Bah, where's the encouragement without the risk? You'll end up with toothless soldiers that way."

"They've done the job so far," Gordon replied evenly. Though things had gone roughly at first, by now they all knew Mikhail's jabs were friendly.

"But what about you, brother Fionnel? You haven't spoken about initiates from... Icelus, was it?" As he typically was, the Emperor's Nightmare sergeant had been silent thus far.

"Aye." Mikhail sat up, always curious about their tacit scout. "Let's hear it."

>>14511812
His voice was as soft as ever as he began. "When the Nightmare recruits, the youth gather at the lowest levels of Icelus Primus. The challenge is to reach the Fortress Monastery."

"So you recruit anyone with legs, then."

"No. The aspirant has to arrive with a token--an intact flower from the--" Mikhail's guffaw echoed off the walls at that. With a sideward glance, Gordon motioned for their companion to continue.

"... A specimen of Night-Scented Gilliflower. It grows around the hive. Some families import them, though the chapter keeps watch to make the challenge difficult for all comers."

"You said 'intact.' What are the rules?"

"There are none. The aspirants may do anything and everything they wish, so long as they arrive with their flower unmarred."

"Unless perhaps you tripped, I don't see that being an issue. How did your trial go, then?" The Wolf still snickered as he asked.

"My flower was lost when another aspirant broke my arm." Mikhail was about to make another jibe when Fionnel continued. "He hit me with a truck."

"...What?"

"A loading truck. He had commandeered it. When he reversed, I jumped onto the hood and strangled him through the window."

The others had gone silent.

"He had started trying to shake me off as he backed up. After he lost consciousness I jumped off before it crashed into a wall. When I landed, it was on my broken arm, and my flower. I had to find another after I made it out of the hive."

Mikhail was the first to speak. "So what did you do with your posie? Frame it?"

The Nightmare was silent for a moment. When he spoke, it was with the faintest trace of emotion in his always gentle tone.

"Brother Laertes crushed it."

Inquisitor Armoring frowned and tapped his dataslate. He requested a Space Marine, and he was given...this? His Magos was tending to (but mostly poking at) a gently snoring suit of 'corvus' power armour, painted in the yellow and purple. He received this marine five days ago, and he hadn't even...woken up? yet. He wasn't sure that this was even a real space marine. Some trick by his ri-
"Greetings, Inquisitor Armoring. Magos Risze."
The Inquisitor and the Magos jumped around to look at the space marine standing in the corner.
"I have not given you my name," The Inquisitor stated. The Magos hadn't either, but one thing at a time...
"The dataslate you are holding contains the shipping records to and from the planet Carthaginus III. The ring on your left middle finger is most likely a digital laser; only the most wealthy or an Inquisitor can afford such...extravagance." The marine's tone was clipped and short, amplified by the vox-speaker. There was silence for one, two, three seconds before the Inquisitor spoke up again. "...and my name? And his name?" He waved to the Magos. How could one space marine learn so much in...the thirty seconds he has been conscious? He knew of the legendary abilities of the Space Marines, but this was insane.
The Space Marine turned and nodded his thanks to the Magos, picking his boltgun up from the table beside the reinforced cot.
"I did some research."

I'm thinking of adding some kind of Secundus force to Elites, a sort of elite team with different Stances they can take. Like...Say...

1. May my aim be true: Slow and Purposeful
2. Bulwark of righteousness: Defensive Grenades
3. Let none stand before us: Move Through Cover

Y'know what I'm getting at? Just a highly versatile, stealthy unit to give Secundus more representation.

>>14511817
>>14511812

Fluff tie-ins are the greatest thing ever, bravo sir.

Also, updated the Dreadnought. Took away Venerable Dreadnought as a choice, added it as a 60pt upgrade to a normal dreadnought, throwing in free specialisations to sweeten the deal. With the specializations I've tried to make the Venerable Dreadnoughts more like "Veteran" Dreads, if you get me.

>>14511817

The ending is quite jarring, I like it.

>>14511963
Holy Shit! I didn't even realize it until you mentioned it.

>>14511963
>>14512018
I actually wrote both Initiation stories. I'm glad people like them.

On a side note, is it a bad thing if I make Fionnel's story there my Deathwatch marine? It could easily be seen as a way to shoehorn myself into the chapter fandex beyond what I did worth contributing. I figured I'd ask before I went ahead and did it.

>>14512018
>>14511963
What am I missing here?

>>14511817
'He hit me with a truck'. This is amazing. I almost want a Fionnel speical unit just for that ability.

>>14512084
In the first Initiate story, the boy who made it to the Monastery had broken his arm, and watched (like many) the gate-keeper destroy the flower he had fought so hard for.

>>14512084
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/14491925/#14492294

/tg/, getting shit done in high style. I like it!

bump for awesome

>Type faster!!!.jpg

Working on adding some of the more recent fluff to the 1d4chan page. New to wiki editing, so this may be a slow process...

>>14512703
Is it terrible that I want to name >>14511812 All Around the Watch Fortress?

>>14512889
Terrible? No.

Awesome? Hell yes!

>>14512909
>>14512889
Ahhhahaha. I had added it on to the end of the existing Initiation page, but I am very tempted to do this...

>>14512918
Yeah, its own page. That way the initiation 'punchline' stands on its own.

>>14512940
Done. Thanks for the advice. Oh, and story titled as suggested d=

>>14512889 Haha, classy.

Secundus Nightkin

110pts
WS4 BS5 S4 T4 W1 I4 A2 Ld9 Sv3+
Unit Composition: 5 Nightkin
Unit Type: Infantry

Wargear: Power Armour, Sniper Rifle, Bolt Pistol, Camo Cloak Frag and Krak grenades,

Options:
May include up to 5 additional Nightkin - 22pts/model
2 Nightkin may replace their Sniper Rifles with:
Combat Knife - Free
Darkfire Flare Rifle - +5pts
Flamer - +5pts
Missile Launcher - +10pts
Meltagun - +10pts
Plasma Gun - +10pts
Power Sword - +15pts
2 Nightkin may take:
-Melta Bombs - +5pts
-A Demolitions Charge - +15pts each
For every 5 Nightkin in the unit, one may replace their Bolt Pistol with a Plasma Pistol - +15pts

Special Rules: And They Shall Know No Fear, Stealth, Infiltrate, Combat Tactics, Combat Squads, Versatile

Versatile: The Nightkin are the cream of Battlegroup Secundus, and are trained to take on any circumstance. At the beginning of the turn, the controlling player may choose one of the following stances: The benefits of the stance last until the start of the controlling player's next turn.

Let my aim be true: Slow and Purposeful
Bulwark of Righteousness: Defensive Grenades
Let nothing stand before us - Move Through Cover
A prime vantage point: Immediately go to ground, may still fire at BS4

How does this sound?

Ok, think I got all the writefaggotry from this thread. This only thing I didn't add in were things that were already in the pdf. Also, I left this out:
>>14502808
>>14502799
It didn't really feel like it went anywhere, or showed much of the EN. It seems like a good start, so if SC Guy or anyone else wants to add more to it I think it would make a great story.

Bumpan for glory

Doodled the top half of an Icelus pattern for consideration. High on the baroque and mobilty.

Onwards to perfection!

>>14514178

I'm liking it, I'm liking it a lot. The hooked ends of the Lightning Claws are a nice touch

I' m back now, so I can get to work with more Unit Fluff.

>>14514269

And of course, that was me. What I get for only namefagging myself in Nightmare threads.

Man, has any other homebrew chapter gotten so much writefaggotry?

Scouts

With very few exceptions the Tenth Company of each Space Marine chapter is the Scout Company, where initiates who have survived the brutal genetic alterations and transplants required to become a fully fledged Marine are placed to learn their vocation. The Emperor's Nightmare is no exception, those plucked from Icelus who manage to transcend their humanity are inducted into the tenth company.

Here, scouts are taught the necessary skills to function as an Emperor's Nightmare under the watchful eye of the Scout Sergeants and Battlegroup Secundus. It is a hallmark of the bizarre organization of the Nightmares that the Chapter possesses no Master of Recruits; instead, Adjunant Secundus bears the role in addition to his regular duties.

The training for Emperor's Nightmare scouts is gruelling, even more so than of scouts of most other Chapters. This is because the Scouts must learn a myriad of supporting roles in order to cover for any of his battle brothers, including but not limited to basic Thunderhawk piloting and landing and basic maintainance rites. So it must be, as without such rigorous training a single battle brother falling asleep at an inoppotune time may spell doom for an entire battle plan.

In battle the scout act as the eyes and ears of the chapter, roving ahead in their lightweight carapace armour, seeking out enemy troop movements and assassinating important figures. Depending on their mission they may be equipped with the standard boltguns, long-barrelled sniper rifles to pick off the enemy from afar, or robust shotguns or long-bladed combat knives to battle the enemy more personally.

Back, and bumpin'.
>>14514178
Looking good, looking good. It's in good hands, but I may try another crack at this myself sometime.

>>14514437
Hahaha absolutely not

>>14514437
Nope. But the Emperor's Nightmares fall behind other /tg/ chapters in terms of drawfaggotry, and also in terms of actual armies people use. Pretty Marines and Angry Marines each surpass the Emperor's Nightmares in both those categories.

>>14515279
We're new yet. And as much as I like angry/pretty marines, I know if I had the money I'd play EN.

Secundus Operatives

Promoted scouts are placed within Battlegroup Primus for a year and a day, earning experience as a tactical marine in the Dawn as a counterpoint to their training as a scout. After this time is up many choose to remain in their new company, or are required to stay temporarily due to threat of an imbalance. Just as many choose to stray from the Dawn and re-embrace the skills from their first battles as Scouts. Thus, the sixth through ninth companies are filled.

Battlegroup Secundus Operatives are given even more grinding training, honing their talents of stealth and marksmanship until they can remain undetected even in power armour. If a situation cannot be handled efficiently through sheer force of arms, if the enemies of Man are dug in too deep, or fanatically inspired by some mad demagogue, The Dusk is brought in. Like all of the Nightmare the Secundus Operatives are able to employ a variety of weaponry to accomplish their task, but their signature weapon is a black-swathed sniper rifle. Punishing fusilades of these scoped weapons come from unexpected angles, cutting down their targets before they were aware they were under attack.

Just bumping with minor writefaggotry... not really a whole story.

---

The Flesh is Weak, Steel Endures.

The ancient proverb rang in Magos Postuma’s mind as his optics gazed upon the glory of the Machine-God. Truly, the Nightmare had done a fine job, seeking to reach perfection in machinery. His well-cared for and blessed optics flicked through several vision filters, each colorful gaze never detracting from the magnificence of the Dreadnought frame.

A deceptively simple claw reached out to touch various points, with each connection sending down signals of joy and information to his electronic brain, his claws splitting open into a thousand intricate feelers as they danced a patterned form.

“A masterpiece of engineering” the Magos said sweetly in the Lingua-technis, a beautiful language beyond compare.

The Techmarine next to him nodded his head deeply in thanks, which Postuma only recognized through peripheral sensors, so focused was he on the marvel in front of him. He let his logic and simulation programs run hundreds of scenarios where this Icelus-Class Dreadnought, or so it was dubbed, spent its wrath on its foes, with hallowed munitions spilling the worthless plasma encased in flesh forms. He then walked to a table, where sheets of parchment dictated the workings of the machine. To show approval, Postuma purposely nodded when appropriate, amazed that the Nightmare had found a way to merge the ancient tech of old with the modern ones of now. To think even in this age of progress, the schematics of old were so useful despite all advances. Just another example of Machine Supremacy. But even more valuable was the datacrypt holding far more detailed instructions, meant only for Mechanicus minds to puzzle and decipher.

“Let it be known that this Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes, given the nomenclature Emperor’s Nightmare has the thanks of Mars for their outstanding contribution of the pursuit of knowledge. So say I, Magos Postuma of Magos Technicus, who speaks with the approval of the Fabricator-General himself, who in turn is the voice of the Omnissiah.”

The formalities done, the Magos headed back, back to space where his brethren would learn and weep, so grateful of the gift.

>>14515651


Secundus Operatives also employ specialist weaponry to fulfill their task. Heavy bolters, fitted with large bafflers to obscure the direction of the shot, can rip entire enemy units apart. Missile Launchers swathed with black cloth are used to unload deadly explosive force where it is most needed. The most common Secundus special weapon, however, is the Darkfire Flare Rifle. All Secundus ammunition is swathed in Darkfire solution, a chemical resonant with the Nightmares' auto senses, but Flare Rifles fire pressurised cannisters full of the stuff, which light the target up like the Astronomican. Given the velocity at which the cannisters are fired it is not uncommon for a well-aimed shot to penetrate its victim moments before the flare burst. This usually spells doom for the victim, as Darkfire solution is highly toxic.

>>14515666
Double 666 in this thread? The Emprah is smiling on us. Also, now I have the image of a Secundus Company lighting up a massive Ork camp with Darkfire, which an orbiting Battle Barge uses to drop a pinpoint bombardment before launching Primus pods and Thunderhawks.

>>14515796
No, it means the Chapter got into conflict with the Grey Knights. Twice.

Also, the ideas are cool, but maybe make the special weapons a bit more limited or specialized? Muffling heavy bolters seems a bit...difficult and cloaking missile launchers only works until you fire it the first time- the hot metal and the exhaust would be a dead giveaway for stealth missions

A standard batch of quotes from our special characters, because 40k things just aren't the same without them.

"Flee mutants, flee and curse this day, for the very stars themselves descend upon you!" -Captain Taheton Hector at the fall of the Iron Brotherhood

"The head? Look again, Sergeant, his forehead is covered in rivets, most lightly his head is encased in slabs of steel. Now, see the ring of circuitry upon the Warboss' left elbow? It is shoddy work, dangerous,,if you shoot it just right the beast's own protection shall be its undoing. You have one chance to end this Waagh here and now, choose wisely." -Captain Nyseos

" look at our foes, reading their souls like tattered scripture. They have one thing in common: they do not dream. When they close their eyes, they are left with their fury, or the torments of their Gods. Beware the man who can find no solace in slumber, lest you become one yourself." -Brother Tibalt

"Traitors? No, brother, you misunderstand their nature. The Sleepless may be mad, the Sleepless may have slaughtered elements of this planet's Defence Force, the Sleepless may be the very lost soul we seek to fell even now...But The Sleepless are not traitors." -Chief Apothecary Eidelan, adressing a Dark Angels representative.

None for Thureos, because nothing comes to mind.

>>14515796

Hell yes.

>>14515901

Well the whole point of the cloaked missile launcher IS that it's a 1-shot thing. The Operatives get into position, say, in view of the rear of the tank, before firing suddenly and unexpectedly and getting the hell out of dodge. I suppose I agree on the Heavy Bolter front, though.

I have returned from my tour of duty with thanks and much bumping.
SC guy thanks for taking my advice on the venerable. I think a secundus elite unit is a great idea!

>>14516038

It was a good idea, the "Veteran upgrade"-esque nature may mean people actually USE the bloody things.

I've added Secundus Nightkin to the wiki.

"278 posts and 23 image replies omitted. Click Reply to view."

I think it may be time for a new thread.

>>14515904
Not technically a quote, but:

"Nine cycles since time had stopped. Eight since it had started again. Eight since it stopped again. Eight since it became irrelevant because there was only the Emperor – and Thureos, his ever-faithful blade of vindication. Eight since the laughing had started."
-Battle-Brother Thureos, Rogue Sleepless Terminator

>>14516204
Why not just get one stickied so it will sit on the front page (making it easier to find) and hang around for a while

>>14516235

Dunno. Maybe because the next will be our big 10th thread. And saying "We drove 10 threads into autosage with this shit" sounds great.

>>14516255
Just popped onto 1d4chan, like the nightkin, but do you think we're doing to much for the secundus? I might be overt hinking things.

Or maybe because the Dawn rely on vehicles more they don't need specialist units, being more like vanilla marines. Maybe that should be strongly suggested in the unit fluff.

Captcha: Colonel Eloyes

I have an idea, if you guys are interested?

Can't believe no one's posted the obvious by now. These guys take the phrase "Sleep when you're dead," to a whole new level.

>>14516379

Well, most of the Primus stuff doesn't need specialist stuff, because their role of Shock-attack rings true with usual Space Marine doctrine. Rule of thumb is, if it's not got a Secundus Upgrade, it's Primus.

Idea? Go for it.

Someone needs to change the narth glaive in the tabletop rules. Why not have the narthecium be a close combat weapon that way the dread gets an extra attack.

>>14516235
Because mods are too busy deleting quests to do anything positive?

>>14516435

Because the Phobetor isn't MEANT to be stunning in close combat.

>>14516425
I remember an anon suggesting a character that had the exact opposite of the sleepless happen. He permanently is sleeping, but due to some reason he is still able to fight.
Basically, my idea is to have an upgrade character(along the lines of Lemartes or that GK justicar who won't die) or maybe a special character like the chief libby (the one fluff bit has a dread doing it) or the Chief chaplin.

Just an idea and we only got 5 special characters and no unique upgrade characters. Discuss!

>>14516472
>>14516499
Then it also drops a ranged weapon? Maybe we should make it more of an icelus pattern so it can join a unit. It would be like a sanguin priest dread, and gives us more use for the icelus STC.

Also, I know from experience that a lone dread can easily be blasted to none existence. I don't want to invest 100 points in an easy kill point

Four days, seventeen minutes, twenty three seconds.

Twenty four.

Twenty five.

Such was the time the Sixth Company of the Emperor’s Nightmare had spend in waiting, with a full 60 Marines, hiding in the shadows of a Jungle. The Orks had cleared many trees, and even now, their rickety machines were hard at work expanding their base. For four days, the Nightmare had waited. Until now.

“We’ve received confirmation from the Endless Vigil. Orbital Supremacy has been achieved for the time being, with Ork reinforcements due in system within three days,” a Secundus Sergeant voxed Captain Nyseos.

The Captain reacted instantly, “Weapon status confirm.”

Despite the days of silence, of so many hours spent in unnatural poses and tense concentration, All of Sixth Company responded within two seconds, confirmation runes blinking into place at the Nyseo’s tactical screen.

“Ready all weapons, on my mark, fire for effect, focus on making it as bright as possible, don’t worry about kills. The Dusk has passed, and the night is waning Brothers. Bring the Dawn!”

>>14516601
Tense moments passed as every Marine lined up their shots.

“…Mark.”

The Ork Camp exploded into chaos as massed rounds from Darkflare Rifles punched through green hides and exposed munitions, sending hundreds ablaze. But that was not the point of the attack, the specially coated Darkflare solution released a burst of radiation that was used to paint targets for Gunships. But with constant salvos from no less than six full Nightmare squads, the flames reached new heights as all of Sixth Company vanished into safer regions.

“Paint confirmed Lord-Captain,” alerted a Nightmare crew member. Aboard the Strike Cruiser Endless Vigil, the Captain allowed a tight grin at the report.

“Bombardment Cannon is ready Lord-Captain,” read another worker.

“Fire.”

>>14516609
Magma Bombs tore through the skies, their hellish payload screaming down to erupt at the feet of the confused Orks. Though the aliens were widely considered fearless, even they knew not how to react. As they stumbled through the nightmare that had become their new home, a few looked to the skies with their crude weapons, as though meager and inaccurate shoota rounds could stave off the Emperor’s Fury.

“What’ze you’ze all doin!? We gotz a Waaaaagh to win! Say it wit’ me, WAAAAAA-”

The lone Warboss cut off his warcry as a Drop Pod crushed him beneath its cargo before a squad of Primus Marines burst forth from its doors.

As Bolter fire poured forth like rain, every Marine began to chant “We are the Guardians of the Deep! We bring the Emperor’s Light to the Blackest Night! We are the Dawn, and we find you wanting!”

---

Well, that's it for me tonight. Feel free to screencap this for the next thread if you think it warrants more exposure. Later Res/tg/uardians.

>>14516499

I like it...I'm leaning towards the squad upgrade option. No idea what he could do though...Perhaps he could have a watered down version of Quiet As the Grave or something of the like.

>>14516567

Well, the Phobetor is supposed to be a fluffy choice...But I'll give it a think. My motion to make an Icelus Phobetor was rather firmly rejected, however.

>>14516601
>>14516609
>>14516617

...This just may be my favourite piece of EN Writefaggotry yet produced.

>>14516672
the idea in my mind is a reverse lemartes, instead of mad but in control, hes asleep but still aware of his surroundings. For now i like the name Eloyes

>>14516770
I feel like I'm drawing way to much from the BA codex, even thou I have read all the codices except Tau. Maybe its cus I roll a fleshtearers army if I must play marines.

>>14516672
Yeahhh, I was pretty proud of the stuff I did, but...

>The Dusk has passed, and the night is waning Brothers. Bring the Dawn!

That done warmed my heart.

>>14516770
This may be a realllly stupid semantic quibble. But if he is aware of his surroundings and capable of action... how are we defining him as asleep?

>>14516770

I'm unfamiliar with Lemartes' rules for some reason. Can somebody remind me?

>>14516835

Because wizards or something said so.

>>14516835
make him a dreamer or libby who's body is responding on instinct? Or maybe he has a familiar or leader (like a warlock) It sounds stupid, but if its done right it could be a really cool concept.

>>14516959
chaplain stat line/ rules
death company rules
jump pak, bolt pistol, master crapped pwr weapon
if he gets wounded, but doesn't die his STR and atks jump to 5. thats really it.

>>14517016
I thought we'd give him a different stat line, maybe like this:
ws5 bs5 s4 t4 w2 i5 a3 ld8 sv3+

and give him a rule like, "for every successful hit against this model, immediately return an attack s4 towards the unit at the same initiative step before roll to wounds."
also, for fun, give him a dodge 4+ invul in close combat to represent him drooping or suddenly moving away.

If I killed the thread with this idea, drop it. We don't really need this or any other character.

I'm going to bed, good night, And keep up the good work.

The barest update of the codex cover. Tell me if I'm headed in the right direction. Supposed to be an Icelus Pattern Dreadnought up there.

bump

>>14517792
I like it.
>ffier elsewhere
Direct your fire elsewhere! This target is down!

>>14516972
Re: The Sleeping hero:
How about a mandated open-top vehicle that carries his sleeping form into battle? In the dreams he combats the enemies, and if not outright slaying them (daemons and psykers are like beacons in the dark for him), then befuddling and crippling their abilities.

Basically a rolling bonus-to-you, penalty-to-them who can "easily" kill anything that has a justifiable reason to cast a strong warp signature that he would see in the dreamscape. He can fight on his own, but he's best served bolstering your men and hampering the enemy.

Why are these bumps not bumping? Can a mod look into this? This thread seems to be stuck on position.

We hit autosage. Don't worry that is normal. It means the thread has become too old/large.

Give me a minute to make a new one.

New thread up: >>14518541