>>55473948
That pic. Pure magic!

>>55473948
Previous Thread: >>55312395

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>>55473948

Thread went up at a slow time.
I'm at work and everyone else is asleep I guess.
Question though, with Star Warriors ranks, are they just using standard rank names or have they changed ranks to be more in line with knightly orders? As I am using a Captain for the siege piece I am writing and Captain just doesn't seem to fit him.

>>55476387
Well, I'm at the Uni right now, so I won't be very active.

>>55476387
Their doc doesn't seem to specify, so I'd assume they use regular ranks. I do agree with you that they don't really fit them, so I'll ask Solomon to elaborate for us.

>>55473948
Terrifying, yet awe-inspiring.

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>>55473948

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>>55477427

>>55476387
The original idea that I had was for my highest ranking to essentially be my Knights of the Round (though that might just be a placeholder until a better name is found). As for the other ranks, I was possibly thinking about using the traditional page, squire and knight, though I haven't decided on that yet since they were originally an age-based rank.

>>55478282
Maybe you could have the age system implemented in your Legion too

>>55478329
The ago of Marines is often indicated by service studs om the forehead, but those denote a century of service. Considering the Crusade only lasts 200 years or so, that wouldn't be a fantastic way to do it.

>>55478282
The Knights of the Round are the half-Astartes he rolled with back on Avalon, right?

Calling them knights is pretty cool, but having full blown Marines be referred to as pages and squires seems odd. That might be something the start doing once they become a chapter: neophytes are squires, initiates pages.

>>55479939
Looks sweet as man.
I thought you were just gonna go with Birdperson from Rick and Morty. ;)

>>55479939
Much better now

>>55479939
He's staring into my soul and I think I like it

Threadly reminder that Mot did literally nothing wrong.

>>55481813
Aside from existing?

>>55481813
Yeah, he even fucked up doing nothing

>>55482173
>>55482599
Hey I don't see you creating your own warp god despite being universally hated.

>>55483435
Linares is a God btw

>>55483435
>He had to make his own god because the real Gods wouldn't have anything to do with him

o i am laffin

So, I posted this many, *many* threads ago, and seeing that we have advanced far enough, I bring this up again:

>Marduk dies at the Siege. Gods so dissapointed they sentence his soul to lurk in the Warp for the rest of forever
>Lambach tries to revive Raj. Fails utterly for 10 milenia
>Fast forward to the End of Times
>13th Dark Crusade
>Marduk is back, he has become Warp Incarnate. So OP even the gods are scared.
>Loyalists get their asses handed over to them so hard that they request assistance from the Seps
>WTF we are next so Ok
>Climatic battle:
>Linares 1-on-1s Warp Incarnate and gets so rekt that is about to enter Sus-An, if not to simply die. But
>Suddenly, Lambach
>He appears on the Battlefield, along a stubby figure that happens to be Raj
>Lambach has gambled with Isha to get Raj back, maybe freeing her or w/e
>Linares is about to collapse, see them both, realises that Lambach is back, and Raj is alive
>ManlyTears.windataslate

Then, the group of Non-Chaos Primarchs beat Marduk in a climatic fight, ending the 13th Black Crusade, or at least stopping it, negating its momentum.

I can either kill Linares, because let's face it, one does not just simply 1-0n-1s Warp Incarnate, or make him enter Sus-An. If it's the later, then he may or may not be in the final battle.

I have another course of action. Linares has always been kinda Khornate, enjoying fighting above much things, and sometimes being posessed by an irrepresible fury. Maybe, during the battle, Linares is beaten and dies. But Khorne refuses to just let his soul go, so he claims it and turns him into a DPrimarch.
I don't like at all this aproach, but if you guys like it, we may go for it. We still have the option of having a "neutral" DPrimarch, While he just kills w/e he finds in his way, he may assist the Non-Chaos forces too, as Daemons aren't intrinsically evil. But this is true snowflake

>>55473948
>New thread
>Expected prettiest primarch edition
>Got replaced by memebjörn

It hurts more than it should

>>55485322
Cuck'd

>>55485301
At the moment, I'm planning on having it be hinted at that Einchurt is coming back during the 13th Black Crusade, but I'm somewhat unsure myself of actually bringing back non-Daemon Primarchs

>>55485301
I don't see the Warp-incarnate thing.

however regarding the fate of Marduk, I was actually having a random idea the other night.

>Be Marduk Engur
>Get murderdeaded at Siege of Terra
>Soul enters the warp
>Tainted and altered it persists, the gods unwilling to let go of their pawn they invested so much in
>But they want to punish it
>Marduk is hurled into realspace in the body of an infant towards the feet of the Chaos Sorceress Eris Carcosa who has been used as a Chaos oracle since the Leviathan Host retreated into the Eye of Terror
>She raises him as he ever so slowly grows to his former self, which takes surprisingly long without accelerated growth
>He reveals himself after 10'000 years of fighting, conquering, gaining favour and subduing his enemies until the Host is completed once again, all sworn to his cause
>The greatest unified chaos warhost since the Brotherwar emerges from the Eye, the End Times has come!
>Marduk Engur, Champion of the Gods, with a lifetime of war and Chaos burning in his soul, comes to set the galaxy ablaze, and his erstwhile brotherlegions join his rampage
>The 13th Black Crusade is underway

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On that point, actually, what's our opinions on the End Times and non-Chaos Primarchs coming back?

>>55485485
>>55485536
Linares comes back from the Warp, and well, many Separatists are alive, and the Chaos guys may be launching attacks in person. I don't think that having non-chaos Primarchs around would be pretty balancing

>>55485513
>Warp Incarnate
It's a thing discussed already, but I'm unsure about the actual result of the discussion. I think that Marduk comes back much powerful than before. Maybe coz the Gods resurrect him and he visits Molech, or coz Warp Incarnate or however we are calling him

>Your idea
I like the thing of him being born again. We could make him visit Molech so he becomes Steamroller the Primarch

>>55485592
To this day, I have no fucking idea what happened on Molech. I think I might have read the article in the lexicanum, but nothing rings what exactly is on that planet and what happens there.

>>55485724
In Molech there is a warp gate. The Emperor crossed it and got most of his powers. Then Horus did the same, to stand a chance against him.

>>55485876
>MFW the origin of the emperor's powers has been retconned twice now

First it was he made a pact with the gods but didn't deliver, then he was the reincarnation of some-odd numbered amount of psychers creating a quasi-warpgod with their suicide pact.

And now he's back to square one. What the sausage.

>>55485513
>>55485301

Marduk is blasted to fuck and gone by all of the everybody. He of course has the favor of all 4 Gods, and they'd like to keep taking advantage of their Marked investment. So they *should* bring him back. But within the Warp they try to get a leg up over each other (Because of course they are the Chaos Gods, that's what they DO), by giving Marduk's mangled soul just a touch more of their individual power, to claim twenty-six percent of the pot. And of course the other Gods can't allow this, so they up the ante. And up and up and up and up.

So for XXXXgazillion years in a realm where Time Has No Meaning, the Gods are playing this side game (Perhaps this distraction is also what keeps them from fucking Hashut over, amusingly enough). But eventually this "Big Ball O Fun That Used To Be Marduk" is just too damn convoluted and unstable for even the Gods to keep hold of. We know the Gods are "psychic hurricanes" from Canon. So now they've made this distorted low-pressure system that slips from their grasp and goes fuck knows where to do fuck knows what. But eventually, this hurricane makes the loop and comes back to make landfall in the Materium.

>cont.

>>55485301
I'd like to know what you people think to be the most fitting fate for Linares.

Personal opinion, I'd like to have him survive, but I understand that a Primarch is OP outside the Brotherwar and the 13th Dark Crusade.

>>55486020

From the Galaxy's perspective, this "White Hole" version of the Maelstrom/Eye of Terror bursts into being, hemmorhaging Warp-Shit everywhere. Loyals respond, maybe Seps respond also. But they don't know what's coming. Marduk, Chaos Spawn to end all Chaos Spawn, the Leviathan Incarnate. Completely insane, ridiculously powerful (but still not up to the Big 4's level, since he can still manifest), and now it's Final Boss time because if left unchecked, Leviathanduk is about to unleash the Chaos version of the Tyranids as he pulls daemons into realspace simply in the wake of his passage assfucking reality.

Marduk finally gets to be the absolute destructive force he always wanted to be, and Chaos both wins and loses at the same time, since the Gods built this thing by accident, but they also might actually have to stop him, because Marduk-Leviathan might actually WIN the great game (because he's not playing a game at all) and kill all Chaos' foodstock.

If desired, therefore this leads into a "bookend" moment where just for one moment in history, Loyals, Seps, *and* Chaos Legions all have to deal with the same threat at the same time, lest they all be vaporized by the 4 Gods' one-upsmanship struggle that went malignant and started a life of its own.

>>55486020
>>55486050
This is a good solution. We have the common OP enemy, the final boss, and is Marduk.

>>55486079
I disagree on the 3vs1 thing. Chaos is supposed to fuel the End Times, not try to avert it. There may be Chaos-allies or Chaos-affiliated groups, sects or Warbands who decide it is not in their interest and their alliegance to Chaos is for their own gain, but "THE" traitor legions should stand behind Marduk as the Lord of the End Times and support his cause.

>>55486104
I did base this concept on the "Chaos doesn't want to win, they want the game to go on forever" canon perspective. Marduk threatens to break the game completely, starving the Gods, returning all things to the Warp, which then eventually returns to a still, calm pond as it was in the beginning of time.

Personally I like that better than "Oh yeah, Chaos just wants everything dead, GG no re" which seems very linear and boring to me personally.

>>55486104
Then make it a common enemy for pretty much everyone else except the Nids and the Crons

>>55486020
>>55486050
>>55486079

I like this idea, a lot. Marduk and Linares should be thrown up at the same time I think, maybe Linares atop him trying to kill him before he exits realspace. He fails obviously, commandeers a traitor ship and tries to contact some one "¡Cuiado, maricones!"

>>55486079
And because it's Chaos, I think the best way is to have them both fueling (accidentally building Leviathan-Marduk) AND averting the end times (being forced to help kill Leviathan-Marduk), because....

Chaos.

>>55486164
Nah, better to pop out *just* before, so he can reunite with everyone like "Yo, I'm back". Like a week or two after Linares' come back, Leviathanduk appears and everyone is like "lol you brought him with you?"

>>55486199
>chasing a tasty snack
>crashes into reality
>man i just hate it when that happens dont you

>>55486104
>>55486151
I thought the entire point of the Ouroboros Kult is to keep the galaxy in a cycle of creation and destruction and measured conflict to fuel their masters without creating a situation that would starve them. And again feed into our AU themes of civil war and division

This would also feed really well into Rahman and Kincaid's Eldar Sister War idea, where the Eldar Pantheon stumbles onto the scene and smacks Chaos in the dick. Marduk the Leviathan could either be their window of opportunity or be caused by said dick slapping.

>>55486205
Actually keked

>>55486199
>>55486205
Nice.

It would be interesting for Linares to go from Flash Gitz/Text To Speech Kaldor Draigo/drunken illegal immigrant Doomguy to a dude running away from an ever growing like of chaos mutations and """"gifts""""

>>55486234
Well, there's a lot of ways you could take it, yeah. This is just one possibility.

I simply prefer the "Chaos fights among itself perpetually, but the one thing they agree on is that things should keep getting eeeeeever so slightly more grimdark by the day, but never actually bring an end to the conflict."

It just makes sense to me. Cyclical universes just seem needlessly complex.

>>55486151
As a means to perpetuate the timeline and allow for more story, yes, having the option to continue the plot is crucial and more appealing. It is also very true that Chaos is, at its core, self-interested and therefore has no endgoal. It just exists in a continuous state of eating souls and shitting warpstorms (much like a certain corpse on a golden chair).

That second point is why I say there should definitely be a divide in the Chaos legions, some who will definitely want to LET THE GALAXY BURN and some who prefer to continue the Materium to exist in a form to exploit for themselves. Marduk simply should not be alone with his own daemonzerg.

This brings us to another point that I don't believe we addressed: Why do the Chaos Legions follow Marduk? For the most part they resent the Emperor and the Imperium, but they don't have the same reasons to fight as do the OU traitors. They very clearly declared for Chaos, and Marduk with his Abyssal Faith is their main source of knowledge. So the first time around, they definitely bought into the idea that Chaos wins, everybody dies. Why wouldn't they join in another time once their Dark Messiah comes back around?

>>55486234
I wasn't sure if we kept that one around but fair enough, the Ouroboros Kult is a perfect example for the internal divide in the "chaos" faction. Let's have the Kult and his allies inform the rest of the galaxy of Marduk's munchies, while other Chaos legions totally agree that this galaxy needs to go down the drain.

>>55486302
Easy.

>the idea that Chaos wins, everybody dies.

Chaos didn't win the first time, and everyone didn't die. Between that and Chaos' inherently divisive nature, it's perfectly natural that for every 1,000 Chaos Marines that behold the emergence of Marviathan, there are 1,000 different opinions regarding what the proper course of action is. Most of which will conflict in some way or another.

>>55486302
There's going to be plenty of Marines that go "BEHOLD THE PURE FORM OF CHAOS, OUR GUIDE TO ETERNITY HAS SHOWN US THE WAY!"

And there's going to be just as many that go "Fuck that guy, he got turned into a Spawn. And winners don't get turned into Spawns. That thing that used to be Marduk has got to die. And hey, maybe if WE clean up the Gods' mistake..... DAEMONHOOD!!!"

Here there be treasure. And Marduk's corpse marks the spot...

>>55486368
Alright, with that reasoning I can live.

I do want to say though, just to put it out there, that I kind of get some bad Power Rangers vibes from this. Marduk was supposed to be this charismatic, eerily beautiful champion of chaos, terrible in his magnificience, like Sauron or some shit, and the second time he comes back he's this bloated eighteen-store tall monster consisting of tumours and teeth, and there's chaostumours with teeth spawning out a warpportal in his anus.
I guess what I'm trying to say is I'd actually want a more classy role for the second coming of the Chaosmessiah. It's mostly about the mental picture. Maybe we can find a middle ground?

>>55486480
It *does* showcase how far he falls, I suppose. Part of Sauron's fall (if I remember my Silmarillion right which I might not be) was a line in the book that went something like "And he would never be beautiful and fair, and never be able to decieve Man in such a way again", more or less.

Terrifying forces of nature are still beautiful, from the right perspective.

>>55486480
But him coming back as a cosmic, country sized Spawn is a great reason for division.

You would have the party that follows it like preening birds to a hippo, and those that see a true end times as a really fucking bad idea.

Status Quo versus Age of Sigmar.

>>55486542
>Terrifying forces of nature are still beautiful, from the right perspective.

Marduk was a Good Friend(tm)

>>55486542
>>55486559
Well I did say I will support the notion. I see the value of Marduk being divisive. It's just my own ego that would have loved to have Marduk as a wholesome being that can still charm people into servitude.

>>55486852
The End Times probably don't permit much time for charming people, I would imagine. With as much shit weighing down on the 40k galaxy, when it finally snaps in half presumably it cracks hard and fast.

But, maybe before everything goes to shit, Obi-wan style ghost-images of Marduk start appearing all over the Galaxy seemingly at random, re-enacting all kinds of shit that he did in life, whether constructive or destructive. And of course different people interpret this all kinds of ways, following the phantoms, trying to kill them, trying to get them to speak or make contact or acknowledge their existence, etc.

As the Leviathan rises, it pushes forward an Emotion-Wake of fragmented memories and ripples that Marduk left on the universe before he was destroyed, which starts fucking with everything everywhere.

>>55486938
That does sound like a good plot element. Count me in.

>>55485322
Sorry Phant man, Einchurt and I were to easily amused by our own antics.

>>55473948
Also, a suggestion for people with image editing skills/programs:

We should have a size chart for our dudes, so we can gape in awe at Pacha's stature, and wonder when the manlets will learn.

>>55486044
They brang back Rowboat and are almost certain to bring back at very least Russ and the Lion when they get their own Codexs. So Linares coming back shouldn't be an issue.

I'm not sure how I feel about buffing Marduk up to some sort of Super-Chaos final boss.

I'll think ponder on it overnight.

>>55485301
>Raj
Isha gets free somehow, doesn't she? That's what makes the Eldar Empires go off, ne?

>>55486050
Fuck yeah. Makes Marduk into a proper Old One type horror.
Nobody sees it coming, though, since Eris claims that she's been recieving advice from Marduk's spirit.

>>55486542
Think that's Melkor.

>>55486542
>>55486559
>>55486852
Marduk doesn't manifest physically at first.
That comes a ways into things. At first, Marduk comes in dreams. Usually nightmares for mortals that leave them writing strange stories and drawing strange pictures before blowing out their brains.
Eventually, Marduk's call becomes stronger and more focussed. He's able to appear to his brothers, radiant in chaotic light. He's ascended. He's glorious. He's returning to lead them all in a completion of their great work. Glorious.
He's coming. So they follow the warp storm, knowing that Marduk moves within it. He continues to communicate through dreams and the like.
Marduk is coming. Everyone knows it, it's written on a billion hive city walls in spray paint, hidden in crosswords, scrawled in spidery cracks as windows break.
Marduk is coming.
And finally, at some planet, he manifests. They're not sure at first that that's Marduk, they think it's something he's made. They don't realize that he's come to chaos like Leto to a sandworm.

>>55490382
I...think? I dunno, I just proposed it because it seems unlikely that a god would share the secret of reviving someone for nothing. Although Isha could just be that good

Isha escapes following either the Brother's War or at sone point when Nurgle's power wanes, yes. By M41, she's speaking through her Everqueen.

>>55492475
Perhaps Lambach could play a part in Nurgles power wane? Not sure how though?

>>55494197
Maybe he goes full edgy and fights him in his own subtle ways

>>55492475
We might be able to tie it into a Black Crusade. We've got 12 of them to fill in, so there will surely be room to work with there.

>>55497381
Makes sense, not a bad idea.

>>55498208
>>55497381
Should note that Eresh Khial's awakening is directly linked to Deshain going on a murderspree in Commoragh.

>>55498214

>>55498214
I'm really not caught up on all this Eldar stuff. And I don't mean the stuff you've proposed, I mean Eldar lore, period.

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I've been wondering about our Traitor legions. In order to differentiate the Traitors and Separatists, we've said that the Chaotic corruption sets in way quicker. As a result, they become more like the 40k Chaos Marines we know.

What I'm wondering is the following: how does this effect the indiviual Traitor Marines? How do they experience this? How does the indiviual marine justify their actions, beyond obeying their gene-sire?

How do our Chaos Space Marines think?

>>55502278
The Loxodontii may be completely into Chaos in the Individual level, each one following a certain tendency but with their own ambitions, acting solely by their lust for power.

Correct me if wrong

>>55502278
For the Chosen of Hecate they almost all felt betrayed by the Edict of Nikea. They all strongly believed in the cause of psykers and even those that weren't psykers still had close ties with squad mates that were. Being forced to watch them die, or to struggle in battles that would once have been easy really flipped their switch.
They definitely wanted to rebel againzt the Emperor but didn't want to fall to Chaos though. Most of them hate the Nurgle curse and if Lambach hadn't of isolated them from the galaxy before Ullanor they might have just sided with Frédéric and become Seps.

>>55502875
>>55503169
I would question the speed at which some of these Marines accept these dangerous creatures. This also largely effects traitors from non-traitor legions.

For the Iron Ancients, I do believe they'd share the Chosen's sentiments. They've seem the pain caused by the Imperium and could very likely rebel. Would it be believable to have them start using daemons quite quickly?

>>55504286
I haven't decided exactly when they start using Plauge daemons but I definitely know they are using them by the Siege.
They start using Zombies almost right away though so it probably doesn't take them too long.
With most of them being scholars they would have learnt about summoning and binding fairly quickly I'd think.

>>55504286
Marius von Kreimann goes to Chaos because he's very into the occultism of Rheigmarkch's Old Beliefs, which is basically Chaos worship. Einchurt himself is also interested in the Old Beliefs, which is where von Kreimann gets it from, but Einchurt isn't so pants on head about it

Is it too early for random anons to pitch Successor Chapters?

>>55508211
Nah man always welcoming new members.
Jump in the discord and say hi.

>>55508211
Go for it.

>>55502278
I'm still working out the stuff for the chaos phantoms-- they'd mostly Slaneeshi, under the logic that if they're going to go in for illusions, might as well be a pleasant one. They're like Cypher from the Matrix about it.

The big reason that the average Soaring Host guy goes over is because he feels like the Imperium is out to get him, then Lambach comes over and shows them all this cool chaos magic stuff and Marduk says that it is the next step in human and cosmic evolution. Marduk and Lambach are basically the only dudes who ever had your back, so you listen. Not like there's much of a choice, the ships are coming for you and you need to get moving.
Also chaos is intoxicating. It lets them soar, let's them taste the colors of the wind as they run, I mean holy crap, this is amazing. They can fly and be proud of their genefather.

>>55508211
Not every Legion in this AU has Successors, but sure, nothing wrong with pitching ideas if you see something you'd like to write about.

>>55508671

>>55508671
I know that the Steel Souls are supposed to all die against the Hive Mind, but what other Legions won't have Successors? For that matter, do they even split up into Chapters after the Brotherwars?

>>55502278
>>55502875
As far as the Loxodontii go, their entire culture is centered around esotericism. Shamans and High Priests of Babylon V, Stargazers in the chapters, they're all basically using snake oil and rattles in ceremony to divine the future and bless their soldiers' equipment.
Their fall to Chaos isn't so much "Yeah, we hang with Chaos Spawns and Daemons now", but more along the lines of "The Snake Oil actually works! We told you all this time and now we can prove it!"
In that regard they completely surrendered to Chaos on an individual level. Some see it as an option for their own gain, although everyone agrees that the Warp is the ultimate authority, that all lives and dies because Chaos gives it motion. Chaos is their master, whether they like it or not.
now as I stated in my doc and several times in the discord, the Loxodontii's geneseed defect makes them extremely hungry. With Chaos driving them over the edge, the impulse to feed overrides the logic brain, and many Astartes care more about immediately sating their hunger than any long-term goals. Only the most strongwilled manage to keep focused, and they ascend to leaders simply by lack of competition. It basically boils down to each warband finding new sources for food.
As far as Daemons go, many register them mostly like a fellow packmember or a beast of war. Mutations are seen as gifts or tests by the gods.

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Eternity Wall
Commander Galehaunt of the Star Warriors fired the twin assault cannon of his command apc into the oncoming ranks of the dead, knowing it was futile but needing to vent his rage. The Chosen of Hecate were attacking in force.
He had been given overall command for the defense of Eternity Wall space port and had successfully repelled countless enemy pushes since the start of the siege. This attack, however, was different. Warmaster Je’she had seen fit to send reinforcements to Eternity Wall and now the Star Warriors manned the defenses alongside their brothers of the Titan Marchers. Lord Primarch Raj Vokar himself was among their number and while the Primarch had assumed temporary command of the defense effort the Titan Lord had been nothing but gracious in not usurping Galehaunt’s command. Making sure to listen to and consider every single piece of information Galehaunt could provide and ensuring that the commander was included in every single tactical decision.

>>55513419
For all their efforts it seemed only a matter of time before they were overrun though. They hammered firepower into the enemy, but they seemed endless. Hordes of ex imperial citizens now infected with the blight of undeath clamored at the defenses, easily hurled back but no less distracting, and in enough numbers could even drag down a mighty astartes. More worrisome were the risen corpses of Space Marines. They moved like automatons, firing boltguns until whatever ammunition they had was spent then using their fists or guns as clubs, for the most part the walls proved an adequate defense. Even though he knew they were dead firing on those who were once his battle brothers disturbed him.
Horrific... daemons, the word felt wrong but he could think of no other to describe them, lopped at the flanks. Their horribly distorted forms spewing maggots, bile, pus and other organic fluids. Rusted, cruel looking blades held in their bloated hands stabbed at Galehaunt’s men. Easily parting their armour where they struck and turning flesh necrotic.
Behind all of these foes came the Chosen of Hecate legionnaires, some looking more horrid than their daemon allies. Blasting at the Space port’s defenders with heavy weapons. Once noble Dreadnoughts now corrupted beyond recognition strode towards the walls with impudence hammering them with all the deadly fire power they could bring to bare. These became a target priority for Galehaunt’s defenders. One, Seraphium scrolled on its nameplate was struck by two Lascannon shots. Smashing great rents into its chestplate. A foul green ichor gushed from the wounds but still it came on. The Multi melta on it’s right arm turning a section of wall into slag before tearing into the mush with it’s left handed chainfist. With this breach in the wall the undead host immediately began to pour inside the Eternity Wall.

>>55513430
Galehaunt’s Star Warriors and Raj’s Titan Marchers rushed to plug the gap. Trying in vain to bring down the rampaging Dreadnought. Even as one Marcher clamped a melta charge to it’s leg Dreadnought’s brother, Kyros strode through the breach and gunned the Marine down with it’s assault cannon.
Galehaunt turned his own twin assault cannon on the lead, wounded Dreadnought stitching it’s already torn chassis with a trail of bullet holes as more and more of the undead flowed through the breach, dragging several of Galehaunt’s men down with sheer weight of numbers, behind them came the Chosen of Hecate warriors, several throwing sickly green lightning. The warriors struck by this warp lightning would burst like rancid pustules or wither and decay where they stood, only to rise moments later to swell the ranks of the Chosen.
Galehaunt’s driver gave a shout, giving the commander just enough warning to fling himself free of the cupola just in time to watch his mount explode. From another breach in the wall a third Dreadnought, this one named Eusebias had split his tank with a precision shot from its twin-linked Lascannon. With it’s target neutralized the ancient turned its baleful gaze to more of the Star Warriors armoured support. Galehaunt drew his claymore chainblade and cursed the fact that the Emperor had seen fit to gift these traitor swine with so many of the venerable Dreadnought relics.

>>55513443
He was just about to give the command to fall back as he swung his blade in expert arcs shattering undead legionaries around him, when the mighty form of Raj Vokar joined the fray, barreling into the swollen ranks of the undead like a cannon ball. The Titan Marcher Primarch’s vast array of weaponry cut a swath through the Chosen forces. A ball of super charged Plasma melted Kyros to slag while a volley of Krak missiles slammed into Seraphium, finally bringing the avatar of death low. Blowing out the ancients powercore in monolithic explosion that engulfed several of the Chosen astartes and a vast number of the undead in the immediate area. Raj paid them no heed as he continued on his rampage, underslung heavy bolters spitting death, flamers burning all around him to a charred crisp. For a brief moment in the face of such an onslaught the undead hordes faltered. Only for a moment…

>>55513452
A sickly green mist, almost viscous to look upon flowed in through the breach. Where it touched a fallen warrior the body would with with unholy power. Striding amongst it came Lambach Kropor, the gene sire of cursed Chosen of Hecate. With an air of arrogant confidence the Master of Undeath met his brother's eye and begun to purposefully move toward the turban clad lord of Titans. The rich, thick green cape billowed behind him, the hood pulled low over his brow. The air around him crackling with psychic energy.
A massive force polearm was held in the relaxed grip of his right hand, it’s blade shining luminescent green with warp energy. With a casual wave of his free hand the shattered corpses of the fallen began to restitch themselves and rose from the ground to once again resume their attacks on Galhaunt’s men. None dared stand between the two titanic figures.
“Raj, my brother it is good to s…”
Before he could finish his sentence the Titan lord opened fire with everything he had. Missiles, bolt rounds and high impact shotgun slugs struck home, several seemingly passing through where Lambach stood, others detonating on a kine shield the powerful psyker had summoned around himself. Several struck the Primarch tearing great rents in his armour and flesh alike. Halting the master of the Chosen’s advance in his tracks. Miraculously the wounds that Raj inflicted repaired themselves as swiftly as they were inflicted and again Lambach begun his stoic march weathering every shot the Titan Lord threw at him. Craters in his flesh that would have given any one of his brothers pause reknitting themselves at an astonishing speed.
As Lambach drew nearer Raj really turned it up. Adding shorter ranged flamers and melta guns blasts to the lethal cock tail of destruction he now hurled at his forsaken brother. To a point where Lambach virtually disappeared from sight.

>>55513466
Surely, nothing could survive such an inferno Galehaunt assumed. Even one of the Emperor's mighty sons would perish. Eventually Raj was forced to stop firing as ammo belts and powerpacks ran dry. As the smoke cleared the figure of Lambach still stood, horrifically burned and maimed beyond recognition. For a split second it appeared as if the Primarch would fall, little more than a charred corpse but then the body took another step.
“Not very polite my dear brother” words uttered from a throat that was so utterly destroyed that it was surely incapable of making such a sound. Yet even as Galehaunt watched the body of the Master of Undeath regrew to what it was. By the time he had made the last few paces to stand face to face with the Titan Marcher Primarch, Lambach Kropor was whole once more.
Still without saying anything Raj drew his Master crafted Power Falchion and Galehaunt knew things were becoming desperate. Raj Vokar was famed for the knowledge of his ranged superiority and his utter disdain for a close quarters fight.
Galehaunt fought valiantly to try and reach the Raj’s side, slashing his way through undead and traitor alike. The fighting was fierce and a lesser swordsman would have been downed swiftly, but Galehaunt was among the best swordsmen of his Legion and his talents were known the universe over.
Between the two Primarchs there was a brief exchange of blows, periodically interrupted by a burst of flame whenever Raj’s auto loaders had generated enough fuel. The Titan Lord fought well and any Astartes would have been instantly overwhelmed but it was clear that he was completely outmatched by Lambach.
The Master of Undeath knocked aside blows from the Master of Titans with a languid ease his return strokes almost always scoring a wounding blow. The greenish blade of the famous Venus Gospel parting Raj’s thick armour with ease.

>>55513479
Lambach seemingly tired of the game just as Galehaunt cleared the crowd, his black and red armour now vastly more red as it was spattered with gore. Galehaunt gave a cry as Raj was impaled through the chest. The mighty form of the Primarch struggled for a moment before sinking to his knees. The Commander of the Star Warriors made to rush to Vokar’s aid when seemingly from nowhere a blow like a thunderclap smashed him into his back, many of his vital organs spilling from a hole in his torso. For a moment he maintained his footing before his prodigious strength gave out and he toppled to the ground. A Chosen of Hecate warrior with a powerclaw and jump pack stood over him.
“Watch your hero die now little whelp” The warrior hissed as Galehaunt fought for the last few moments of his life.
“Je’she and the others will stop you Lambach, you dogs of Marduk will not win, even if I am not around to see it, you will be repelled, slay me now and be done with it”.
“Raj, as I tried to say it is good to see you” Lambach’s smile struck his brother as almost sad.
“I assure you, I am not here to slay you my friend, Marduk told me to take the Eternity Wall, not to slay my brothers. You will be around to see, but not what you think”. Lambach shrugged and sat on his haunches to get to eye level with Raj.

>>55513491
“I know you have had your own doubts about this ‘Imperium’ that has been built, Kincaid’s silly little attempt at religion? If only he knew what I know Raj if only the fool knew that the real gods hate us, feed off of us would he be so quick to label our father as one? I think not brother. You have seen today the gift the gods can give. The power. It does not come freely Raj. Things have been promised, oaths I can never hope to undo and yet…” The Master of the Chosen stared over his brother's shoulder at the Imperial palace “and yet perhaps our Father is not so different hmm? Your defenders here are defeated Raj, either dead or in full scale retreat. Take word to Je’she now that this port is mine tell him of what you have witnessed here today, I give you my word none will stop you and I will see you again brother, when our father is defeated and we can put all of this behind us”.
The hordes of Undead parted making a narrow passageway for the Titan Lord to take for a moment it appeared Raj would speak again but the horde closed the gap and The Master of Manaan was blocked from Galehaunt’s view.

>>55513507
“You fool Kropor” Spat the warrior with the power Claw. Nurgle would have gifted you greatly for that soul, you insult our master by throwing away such a boon”.
Lambach slumped to a sitting position looking more drained than Galehaunt knew was possible for a Primarch. Clearly whatever foul sorceries he had used to survive Raj’s onslaught had taken a much heavier toll than was Galehaunt first thought. The Primarch looked almost incapable of moving and yet another Dreadnought, this one with the name plate Mendel stood protectively between the Primarch and the wayward warrior.
“Not now Atreus” Lambach groaned. “Nurgle will have my brother and his sons, but I will not force him”.
“You got lucky... my lord” using the title seemed overly disdainful. “If your power had run dry before Raj Vokar’s ammunition I wonder if he would have released you?”. The Primarch did not respond.
Galhaunt’s vision faded to black and he welcomed the embrace of death when suddenly he was pulled back. His eyes reopened and he climbed shakily to his feet. Commander Galehaunt was confused, he could see through his own eyes but he had no control over his body. Screaming on the inside but outwardly silent Galehaunt’s body fell into step with the other slain legionnaires forced to watch but helpless to do anything as his body marched towards the Imperial Palace.

>>55512547
From what I remember all the Loyalists split up and (with the possible exception of the Forge Lords) the chaos legions do the same. The only legions where the creation of chapters might be brought into question are the Separatist ones. Of the 7 of them I know the Pale Hounds have successor chapters and as you said the Steel Souls don't.I believe the Corsairs Gallant, the Dusk Phantoms and the Iron Guard might have successor chapters but I'm not sure and I've got no idea if the Ussaran Liberators and the Dragoons Triumphant have chapters or not

>>55513419
>>55513430
>>55513443
>>55513452
>>55513466
>>55513479
>>55513491
>>55513507
>>55513521
Good show man. Great read. I like the emotional weight behind it, and I think that reading it from Galhaunt's point of view makes it all much more interesting.

My only real gripe with it would be the capitulization. I feel like, at times, certain bits are a bit difficult to follow because of it. Still, the story itself is good, and with a few touch-ups, absolutely fantastic.

>>55512547
The Blades don't split completely after the Brotherwar because they can't. Their numbers at that time are a little bit over Chapter-strength, and a good chunk goes right to the so far only Successor that they have, the Divine Crusaders (!Black Templars), so the rest of the Legion creates the Silver Blades chapter, under-strength from the beginning.

>>55512547
The Dragoons remain as a singular fighting force, but since they are the "premier" fighting force of the Seps, Chapters become a smaller command and elite structure to Regiments, which are comprised of both Skitarii and Mortal Auxillia.

The Dragoon regiments are pseudo independent, stationed about Sep and Dragoons space like Imperial Guard units, with a Chapter being the battle space owner and superior element that will support Regiments as needed. I'm basing the post Heresy Dragoons on the Roman and American military as far as structure goes

>>55514696
But do these chapters develop a different culture from the main body of Dragoons Triumphant? I imagine it'd be like a 'legal' version of what the Dark Angels do; they individual chapters take on their own imagery and names, but they're all Dragoons Triumphant once it comes down to it.

>>55514819
Marginally. The chapters would have have different names and variant culture, but the greater divides would form in the Regiments, since they are formed from the local systems and the legion as a whole never really fights as a singular force, just like a modern military doesn't deploy en masse

Also, why would the Loyalists break down into chapters and dissolve the legions? Isn't the Great Crusade still going on in their mind? They still have half a galaxy to conquer

>>55515272
After the Scouring, I think the loyalists realize that, for the immediate future, the Ultima Segmentum is lost. After the losses they've suffered, countless burned worlds, hundreds of thousands dead Asartes and mortal men, and the loss of a Primarch, the Imperium needs to consolidate what it still has. It needs to ensure it's own safety.


The Codex Astartes would still be written, much like it happens in the OU. It's primary purpose is to prevent another Brotherwar from happening, by removing the massive concentrated power of the Primarchs. Je'She would also try to use this in order to disarm Kinnévail and the Doomsingers, as he still wouldn't trust them.

The decentralization of power allows the Astartes forces to refocus. The threats they face now are way different from the Crusade.

So basically, to answer the question of whether or not the Loyalists still think the Crusade is going on; no. They are aware that the Crusade has ended and that, while the forces of Chaos were fended off, they lost to the Separatists.

That's my interpretation anyway.

Thanks for the reply guys, I think I'll do one Successor Chapter/Warband per faction.

>>55513419
>>55513430
>>55513443
>>55513452
>>55513466
>>55513479
>>55513491
>>55513507
>>55513521
Great one, Lambach! Make sure to add it to the Doc

>>55515685
The Silver Blades spawn a Chaos Warband during the Brotherwar, a khornate one. I did a skeleton, but you may take it and start all over again.

>>55515854
It's me btw

>>55512547
Steel Souls dying against the Hive Mind is no longer "canon", such as it is. Unfortunately I don't have time today to explain more, as I'm headed to a friend's house in the mountains this weekend for his birthday, so I won't be around.

>>55516253
I emphatically ask you to seriously reconsider

>>55516253
The Souls dying against the Sothanids is such a cool plot point. In my opinion it doesn't even have to be Emil himself. An Astartes legion could do the trick.

>>55515685
Aight, awesome! If you have any questions, don't feel afraid to ask, be it here or on Discord.

>>55513664
Actually, the Golden Mountains never split either, with The Fettered and the Avalanche Company being the exception and neither is exactly loyalist anyways.

>>55519421
I've heard of the Avalance. They are essentially a renegade chapter, right? The Fettered I've never heard about before.

>>55521593
>Avalanche
Pretty much, although because the Golden Mountains don't like the Ecclesiarchy either, it's not uncommon for SMs to freely switch from the main Legion to the company or viceversa. They also get shelter from some Loyalist factions who don't like the Ecclesiarchy much either, since otherwise The Avalanche fight for the Imperium and don't hold back against any other faction, with the obvious exception of Ecclesiarchy-aligned groups.
>Fettered
Basically a chapter of GMs that decided that they couldn't just cooperate with the Ecclesiarchy, even with Pacha's sleep meaning they didn't have any other choice, so they defected to the Seps.

>>55515685
I think it's probably for the best of people like this anon that we have almost all of the Legions split up at some point for some reason. It gives people more freedom to add their own chapters using our Legions as a base groundwork. It's the reason GW did it and I think we only benefit as a group if we give people the option of using all of our works rather than locking some away by saying Legion X never splits at all.
The Loyalists could just do it because of the Codex, the Seps could do it simply because they have more freedom to do so. If a batch of Marines doesn't like what the Legion as a whole is putting down they have the freedom to separate from their parent without being punished so long as they stay loyal to the Sep cause if that makes sense?
And chaos is chaos that one is easy.

>>55521888
The Seps are wierd because they have equal reasons to break up and stay whole depending on the legion. The Corsairs devolve into rogue trader jackholes and Alpha Legion triple-cross double heretics, the Phantoms would spread out due to evolution of ideology, and to experience the Omnissiah with fresh eyes (or to separate the hideous Nosforatu asura Marines into leper colonies). Meanwhile the Dragoons have no reason to split up in a any significant capacity, but they have enough wiggle room for Loyalist chapters and regional variation

>>55524238
Like I said before, >>55514819, Separatist legions could just break apart in a way similar to the Dark Angels. Different chapters of Dragoons Triumphant might take on their own tactics and heraldry, names even, but they still come together to form the legion is ordered to do so.

This would make even more sense after Frederic is removed from the picture. Without the unifying presence of the Primarch, legions can fracture much easier.

Lambach has the right idea here, >>55521888. It's best for pretty much every legion to fracture to some extent, just so that interesting things can be done with their successors. The only exception to this would be the Steel Souls, as with their psychic network shenanigans it wouldn't make sense for chapters to break away.

Keep in mind that there are plenty of foundings and events between the Heresy and M41. There will probably be breaks in any legion after 10,000 years. Even Linares' Silver Swords will likely have enough Astartes to set up successors eventually. The OU's excuse of 'Dropsite Massacre' for explaining why the Salamanders are still dicked after ten millenia is dumb as hell, and shouldn't necessarily be used by us either.

Even if you disagree with the Codex Astartes from a logical or strategic point of view, I think everyone can agree that the creation of successors is a good thing for the setting, creatively.

>>55525770
Yeah, maybe we could spawn some Successors in later Foundings.

Do we know who writes the codex astartes? From what I can recall, it was either Solomon or a group of Loyalist Primarchs

>>55524238
The Corsairs are interesting cus they are somewhat akin to Chaos in decolving to warbands with fluid organization BUT they are still a unified legion with one Master and cooperate. Thus they are both unified and dispersed in different ways.

There is one Pirate King but many pirates. :p

>>55526656
I think that it was written by Je'She, and included a number of works from other Primarchs

>>55526657
Which I think is a logical way for it to go down for the Seps. Individual groups, all still part of the legion.

>>55526748
This. This lead me to believe there would be more widespread agreement on the Codex, and that all 7 loyal legions split.

>>55527528
My view was that he just took those parts/works from them. In Linares' work case would be like that cause Linares is gone. But yeah, the Silver Blades agree with the Codex, they simply can't divide much more. But in later foundings, they could spawn successors using their Gene-Seed or just taking Marines from them (which could make more sense, hold on). My original idea for the Blades' sucessors is that they are like the Imperial Fists. In times of dire need, they will unite again under the Legion banner. But, in the meanwhile, they would work together as closely as if the Legion still existed. That would create some problems with many people, because Legion Building. But nope, they just cooperate easily between them.

Think on a "Bro, need one more company to defend against X, and I don't have one. Would you let me one?" "Yeah ofc" and stuff like that

File: Solomon_Dawntreader_Tyrus.jpg (3.57 MB, 3508x2480)

3.57 MB JPG

Behold, our final Loyalist!

>>55529521
Nice to have the good side of the family complete.

>>55528364
Perfectly acceptable. They split, and then they only come back under extremely dire circumstances.

That does lead me back to the question of the Black and Golden Crusades. Does anyone have any ideas for a crusade?

>>55530800
Maybe there're still some Loyalist planets in the Ultima Segmentum, but they went full low-profile so the Seps either didn't knew that they were there or that they were Loyalists. They send an SOS and the Loyalists go to save them.

>>55530892
That sounds like something that would happen in the aftermath of the Brotherwar. The Loyalists wouldn't be in much of a position to do assault Sep Space then, which is important for the Union's survival into M41.

Even then, the Seps would respond way faster to the distress calls, and silence them.

>>55530930
Yeah, true...
But maybe they get to sneak a cargo freighter, it reaches the Iron Ring and the Loyalists send forces to retrieve as much tech as they can or something.

>>55529521
He looks very cool

>>55530800
Part of me thinks that am eternal cold war via esoteric Death Stars between the Seps and Loyalists would be pretty cool

Part of me knows that's not very 40k, and the Knights Stellaris would very well sponsor a plucky group of Loyalists trapped in Sep space to take out their superweapon and vice versa

>>55530800
I have mine that you know about. Just not sure which number it'll be.

>>55531949
If someone has a cool idea for a Black or Gold Crusade, we could just roll a dice for the number.

>>55532095
Well I think the Black Crusades are just a giant ritual, culminating in the 13th and the rise of Marduk the Leviathan (we should probably rename the Hive Fleet)

Each would have very specific goals and methodology, some seemingly insane. If they fail they would simply relaunch the crusade although I see no reason why they would or should from a narrative standpoint. Each would be well planned an executed.

As for Golden Crusades they would be massive undertakings to reclaim space and advance the Imperial Ring, emplacing Shrine and Fortress worlds to advance the Imperial line.

>>55534219
The Nurgle led black crusade was going to drive into sep space in search of the Proteus Protocol technology.

>>55534219
>Preparation Crusades
That's something that's been retconned into the new lore that I don't particularly like. I don't think all Black Crusades should just be one big JUST AS PLANNED.

Some of them could contribute, but Lambach's Black Crusade is awesome too, but wouldn't necessarily contribute to the Leviathan of the Warp.

>Renaming Hive Fleet Leviathan
Aye, the thought had crossed my mind. Leviathan would have certain connotations in /w3/.

>Golden Crusades
The idea of them being used to bring the Imperial Cult to the Union is awesome. A real pain in the ass for the Seps, though it would also enforce their beliefs that mortal men are weak and feebleminded.

>Other (Eastern) Black Crusades
Deshain suggested in the Discord that some of the Black Crusades could emerge from the Maelstrom, instead of the Eye of Terror, and go into the Union. I like that myself. Chaos vs Seps doesn't happen often enough.

>Green/Iron Crusades
What are our thoughts on potential Separatist Crusades into the Imperium? What could they be trying to accomplish? What should we call them?

Bump

>>55535403
>Preparation Crusades
I think some of them are like that, but I agree a lot of them should be independent.
>Leviathan
Unless it's as destructive as the Leviathan host? And Marduk possesses them as part of his weird shit.
>Gold
Hell yeah.
>Black Crusades
Hell yeah
>Iron
Why green?
And I think it may make sense for a lot of them to be preemptive strikes. If they just want to be left alone, then that's an option, but I suspect some see Terra as rightfully theirs. The Union has equal right to call themselves Loyalist, after all. If geography was different, they'd hold Terra and the Conclave would hold power in the East and be the Seps. They're both the Imperium.

>>55538609
>Hive Fleet Leviathan
Ehh, maybe. The Inquisition wouldn't like it much.

>Green/Iron Crusade
Just spitballing, mostly. Green has been our go to color for the Seps, but Iron seems like a stronger name, imo.

File: 20170924_174733.jpg (3.87 MB, 4032x3024)

3.87 MB JPG

The Brothers Three, Eusebias, Kyros and Seraphium. They were written by Je'she and featured in the Eternity Wall short I put up in the thread earlier.

>>55540341
Nice! Looking good so far

>>55538609
>>55535403
Why do we feel obligated to have a number of "big" crusades for the Imperium and the Separatists anyways? The Imperium has named crusades in the OU anyways, and I don't know how they'd crusade against the traitors in the Eye of Terror.

>>55542406
The Imperium sent a Crusade to the Eye of Terror. A number of Chapters entered it. We don't know what happened to them. Presumed dead.

Or a couple of them survived? Can't remember

>>55542436
The Abyssal Crusade was a resounding failure on all accounts. It swelled the ranks of the chaos marines living there and it turned out that it was orchestrated by a chaos worshiper in the first place.

>>55542436
>>55542466
Yeah Mot is right here, that crusade was a farce orchestrated by a chaos traitor to send innocent Chapters into the Eye to become corrupted.

>>55542466
>>55542495
Oh. Fine then

Ghost in the Machine

It had been two years since the Brotherwar had begun in earnest. Brother had turned against brother on the salted plains of New Hope, and now the galaxy was set aflame. The Ruinstorm created by sorcerers devoted to the Ruinous Powers had cut off the east from the west, and the Warmaster of Chaos, Marduk Engur, and five of his brothers marched towards Terra. At the same time, Mot Hadad, Primarch of the Forge Lords, had been tasked with waging war in the east, against those legions who had declared themselves independent of the Imperium of Mankind.

Five years prior to the onset of the Brotherwar another event had shaken up the Imperium; the Censure of Lambach Kropor, Primarch of the Chosen of Hecate. He had gone against the Edict of Nikaea by continuing to use psychic powers, and the Warmasters’ Triumvirate had taken action. One of the legions dispatched to return Lambach to Terra was the Titan Marchers, for their Primarch, Raj Vokar, had been a friend of Lambach for decades.

Events had not played out as had been hoped, however. The whispers of the Ruinous Powers had opened Lambach eyes to the powers beyond, and the words of the Throne-Emperor no longer swayed him. The Titan Marchers were forced to take up arms against Lambach’s Chosen, and all did, except for a single chapter, the 30th, also known as the Iron Ancients. The Ancients had been attached to the Chosen’s Expedition Fleet for over a century and had formed a powerful bond with them. Raj Vokar had recalled them, so that they could be used as a tool to make Lambach see the Triumvirate’s way. When the 30th chapter was told to fight the ones they had Crusaded alongside of for decades, they rejected their orders. When the Chosen of Hecate fled from Miletus, the Iron Ancients fled alongside them. They rejected their parent legion, becoming Iron Ancients alone, and repainted their armour from blue and orange to a dark cyan and faded bronze.

>>55543071
Yet now, here they were in the galactic east. The Chosen of Hecate had joined Marduk Engur’s campaign towards Terra, but the Iron Ancients were not allowed to join them. They were placed under the command of Mot Hadad, as had other Astartes who had accepted the glory of Chaos, while their gene-sires still resisted. They were to wage a guerilla campaign against the Separatist legions, in order to ensure they would not interfere with the war in the west.

-022.M31, Ultima Segmentum, Togan System-

And so it was that Malrass Ror, Techmarine Captain of what had once been the two hundred ninety-eighth company of the Titan Marchers legion, found himself on board the the Ebullition, flagship of the Iron Ancients, on the outskirts of the Togan System. The Iron Ancients had been dispatched to the Togan System alongside their twin Titan legion, Legio Veterix, as well as a chapter of Forge Lords. They had been tasked with the destruction of the Pale Hounds in the system.

The Togan System had been an unremarkable collection of planets orbiting two stars. Still, the system happened to be a point of conversion for several warp routes, and these Hounds had been responsible for several counter attacks against Chaos fleets. The system’s sixth planet, Cosine VI, was where Valorn Adras’ Pale Hounds had set up camp. They had to be dealt with decisively.

Malrass’ company would go into battle along with their chapter’s first, lead by Chapter Master Kairav Dhar. The ongoing Ruinstorm had made it difficult for separatist cogitators and astropaths to detect their arrival in system, but still the decision was made to engage the enemy immediately. The Lords would engage the Hounds in naval combat, while the Ancients would make planetfall and focus on the destruction of the enemy target. The Forge Lord and Iron Ancient fleets rapidly advanced on Cosine VI, hiding their approach as effectively as possible by moving through the gravity fields of Togan’s other planets.

>>55543085
It wasn’t long before the Pale Hounds fleet engaged them however. The Forge Lords’ flagship, the Excruciator, immediately attempted to engage the Pale Hound flagship, the Stainless Honor. Cruisers and corvettes quickly broke off from both fleets, engaging one another. The Excruciator’s Nova cannon fired a devastating plasma-based macro-bomb, putting the Stainless Honor’s void shields to the test. Meanwhile several corvettes had closed in on the Excruciator and began their engagement rotations. The system had lit up within minutes.

Instead of engaging the enemy fleet in void combat, the Iron Ancients focussed on making planetfall. Long range auspex had identified the exact location on the surface of Cosine VI where the Pale Hounds had set up their operation and the fleet headed straight for it. The Ebullition took point, firing Rift Shells from its own Nova cannon. The Ancients’ fleet had formed around Legio Veterix’ Heavy Transport, which housed its Titan warmachines. The massive vessel shattered several Pale Hound ships on it’s bow, but the mad dash for the planet was not without casualties. Battlecruiser Ironborn was obliterated by a volley of torpedoes, and the Ebullition sustained serious damage to its starboard firing batteries. Still, before long, the Iron Ancient fleet had managed to pierce the Pale Hounds fleet and entered Cosine VI’s stratosphere.

-022.M31, Togan System, Cosine VI-
No matter how many times Malrass Ror made planetfall by drop pod, he would never be comfortable with it. As an Astartes, he had been implanted with the Lyman's Ear, a gene-seed organ that stopped him from getting dizzy or nauseous, so physically these drop pods were no issue. It was the feeling of vulnerability he hated. They were falling from the skies towards a hostile planet at breakneck speeds, stuck in a metal box. Malrass yearned to reach to surface, so that he might stand strong on his own feet. He took a deep breath, and closed his eyes.

>>55543105
The pod’s retro thrusters set in and Malrass could feel the descent slowing down. Then, a loud thud. They had reached the surface. After a few second, another thud as the drop pod’s doors fell to the ground. He heard some of the marines in his retinue shouting at the top of their lungs. Malrass Ror opened his eyes, raised his autocannon, and yelled out the Iron Ancients’ new warcry:

“STEEL RESOLVE!”

Within moments his battle-brothers replied,

“AND LIFE ETERNAL!”

Malrass stepped out of the drop pod, onto the desert sands of Cosine VI. The battle had quickly flared up, the sounds of landing drop pods filling the valley of sand and rock. Immediately he saw how the Hounds had been able to run such an effective operation from this barren system. On the other side of the valley Malrass could see an almost five kilometers long Goliath-class Factory Ship. During his training on Mars he had seen ships like these frequently. He knew these vessels devoured solar plasma to power their own arcane fuel production techniques. While these ships often times served to provide material for Hive worlds, it appeared that this one was being used to keep the Pale Hounds fleet fully operational.

The valley in front of them was barren. The binary stars had blasted away any inkling of humidity this planet could possibly have had. It was filled with trenches and gullies, providing ample cover, but not just for them. Malrass just knew they had to get through it.

First order of business would be to reconsolidate his company. Together they could move through and see to the obliteration of the Factory Ship. He rallied most of his men to him, and used his helmet comms to instruct the remainder of his company to hide in the trenches. They would secure the perimeter of the drop site, so that the Legio Veterix could send down one of their largest Titanicus warmachines.

>>55543117
As the company advanced through the desolate pathways, they quickly ran into a detachment of Pale Hounds, who had holed themselves up inside several caverns and in between various rocky protrusions. Clearly having waited for the Ancients to come into view, Stalker bolter rounds quickly split open the helmets of two of the marines under Malrass’ command.

The present squads of Astartes hid behind the rocks themselves. The Iron Ancients and Pale Hounds exchanged fire for about a minute, until Malrass decided to take action. Instead of firing at the Separatist Astartes, he opened fire on caverns the Hounds were hiding in. His men followed suit, and soon the enemy cover was turned to dust by grenades, missiles and explosive rounds. While the Hounds fell back, the Ancients quickly advanced.

It proved difficult to chase down the Pale Hounds for long however. Their brown armors blended into the terrain almost perfectly, and their camo cloaks made it even more difficult. Before long, the Hounds they were chasing had seemingly disappeared.

The battlefield around them was flaring up. The advancing Ancients had cleared enough room for Legio Veterix to begin fielding its titans. The enormous Heavy Transport cast a shadow across the desert valley, as the massive lander vehicles employed by the Adeptus Titanicus made their way to the surface. The descending metallic giants resembled angels or other holy entities from ancient religions, even if Malrass’ eyes had now been opened to the true divine beings of this universe.

Down came a number of titans, largest of which was the Warlord-class Antiquity. The focus of Mechanicum ship’s auto-defenses quickly switched from the advancing Iron Ancients, to the massive titans. A pair of Warhounds quickly broke off and advanced towards the Mechanicus ship rapidly. Pale Hound Thunderhawks flew overhead, opening fire on the newly arrived god-engines.

>>55543129
This gave the Astartes forces on the ground a chance to regroup, and prepare for their next strike. Malrass’ squads made their way through the labyrinthian passages and eventually found themselves on top of a large plateau, towering over the battlefield. In the trenches below hordes of Iron Ancients and Pale Hounds had engaged one another in melee combat. Thunder Hammers, Power Swords and Lightning Claws permeated the battlefield, Astartes blood running through the cracks in the stone.

From his elevated position, Malrass spotted several Hounds moving in outside of trenches, on top of the dividing walls, Stalker bolters at the ready. From their elevated position they began picking off Iron Ancients. Ordering his men to open fire on the Pale Hounds engaged in melee below, Malrass himself and a handful of others ran towards the edge of the plateau and jumped down, onto the newly arrived snipers.

These snipers, caught off guard by the Ancients’ sudden assault from above, did not react in time. Malrass brought down the chainblade at the end of his autocannon, splitting the sniping Hound’s skull in two. His servo-arm reached out to another Pale Hound and crushed his windpipe. Then, with a savage roar, Malrass fired his autocannon at a third Astartes, turning him into a red mist. The other Ancients soon followed, and while his marines were dealing with the snipers, Malrass looked down at the battlefield below him. His swift action had seemingly turned the tide, especially since the rest of his squads were tearing the Separatists to shreds from the raised plateau.

Still, even in all the confusion, Malrass picked out a single corpse from the crowd; Chapter Master Kairav Dhar.

>>55543138
Kairav Dhar had lead the 30th chapter for decades. He had been an ambitious man, constantly pushing himself and trying to prove his worth to the legion. That attitude had been the driving force towards his rise through the ranks and eventual promotion to Chapter Master, even though he had been relatively young. Malrass on the other hand, had never been quite so ambitious. Though he was the oldest member of the 30th chapter, one of only a handful of Terranborn, Malrass had been satisfied with his position. Even after they turned from their legion and the Imperium he had been content with his position, but now… now he felt something flaring up inside him. A drive that he had never felt before. With Kairav’s death, the Ancients could, and should, be his! Malrass Ror would lead the Iron Ancients to glory, in the name of the Dark Gods! In the name of the Nurgh-leth, Lord of Death and Decay!

Malrass dropped his autocannon to the ground, a loud thud sounding from it. He took off his helmet and fell to his knees. Closing his eyes, he could feel a force pushing in the back of his head, like something was growing, clawing it’s way out. His vision became blurry and distorted. He could hear slurred, but soothing whispers, telling him to give into his ambition, and to feed it. Powers would be revealed to him, powers repressed for over a century, never given a chance to come to light.

>>55543148
The Titan Marchers legion had never had a librarius. Manaan, their homeworld, mysteriously did not bring forth psykers. Because of this, the legion never had any reason to focus on the psychic arts, as they were beyond their reach. By the time the XVIIth legion was reunited with their gene-sire, the legion was still rather small. It wasn’t long before the legion was almost exclusively Manaanan in origin. But Malrass… Malrass was Terran, and a psyker whose talents had never been given a chance to blossom. Now he had a chance to unleash those powers he held within his mind, a chance to finally achieve his true potential.

When Malrass opened his eyes again, they were glowing. Green lightning shot out from them, crackling around his face and causing sparks to shoot across the rocky earth. He stood up, turned around to face the Factory ship and raised his arms towards the sky. He channeled this new power he felt within himself as best he could, the warp energies wrapping themselves around his gauntlets. They shot up towards the sky in all directions, but came together again several meters above Malrass.

Within moments a rift in reality itself opened, and horrid, bloated creatures came forth from it. Humanoid figures with rotten, green flesh, exposed bones and guts and blackened horns protruding from their heads and shoulders. The horde came forth at a great speed, Neverborn scattering across the desert steppes, hunting for the Pale Hounds that remained.

Malrass turned back again, facing the surviving Iron Ancient looking up to him in awe, and the approaching Antiquity. He picked up his autocannon and raised it into the air before addressing the marines now under his command.

“Battle-Brothers!”, Malrass shouted, “Kairav Dhar lies dead! Slain by these cowards in the name of their empty claims of superiority! But they do not understand the true nature of the cosmos! And up until now, neither did I!”

>>55543163
He reached out towards the piles of bodies that laid scattered throughout the trench and slowly raised his arms. The power still flowed through him, and moments later the slain Ancients and Hounds began moving once again. Stiffly and like puppets, but moving. Not last among these corpses was Kairav Dhar himself, brain still exposed from the bolter round that killed him.

“The Sons of Lambach have told us of true extent of the powers that can be granted to us through the warp and these Neverborn! But now we finally have that power within our own grasp! Together, we will bring terror to these deserters, and the glory of the Ruinous Powers to the galaxy! STEEL RESOLVE!”

Malrass revved the chainblade on his autocannon. In unison, the Iron Ancients replied.

“AND LIFE ETERNAL!”

The Antiquity fired it’s massive Volcano cannon at the Factory ship, finally tearing through its thick shields and armor. Within moments the massive kilometers long ship became unstable. The distorted energies in the air became palpable to everyone. Plasmatic energies broke through cracks in the ship’s hull and ran across its outer plating. Then it erupted in a cataclysmic explosion. Malrass acted quickly, the immaterial energies that flowed through him responding to his very will and forming a protective dome around them. The white plasmas crashed into the shield, and when they cleared moments later the damage became visible.

The previously brown desert was blackened and set aflame. The very atmosphere had been burnt away. Malrass immediately put his helmet back on, as the enclosed environment would prove to be the only way to survive. The ship had been destroyed, but the damage dealt to the Iron Ancients had been significant. Had the Forge Lords known the ship would explode in such a fashion? Would the Sons of Mot Hadad be so low as to attempt to rid themselves of the Ancients, simply because of the feuds between their gene-sires? Questions for later, Malrass thought.

>>55543180
Most pressingly at the moment, Malrass noticed that the Antiquity had been brought low. He and his men made their way through the burnt desert crags, towards the downed god-engine. His Master of Signal informed the crew of the Ebullition of their success, and requested extraction.

Once they arrived at the titan, they saw Thunderhawks and similar vessels in their livery making their way down to the surface, including the same landers that had brought Antiquity down to the surface of Cosine VI. While the ships began extracting Ancients from the surface back to the Ebullition, Malrass remained below for longer.

He sat on top of the Antiquity, legs crossed, chanting hymns he had heard from the Chosen of Hecate, prayers to Nurgh-leth. He channeled as much of the power he had found within himself into the Antiquity. The Neverborn returned to Malrass, and dissolved themselves into the Warlord-class battle titan. After some time the Antiquity began to take on an almost spectral appearance, and a bloated rot, similar to the Neverborn, appeared around it. Malrass could feel the machine come back to life, quite literally.

The Spectral Titan was born.

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>>55543195
-025.M31, Northern Ultima Segmentum-

In the three years since the Battle of Cosine VI a lot had changed for the Iron Ancients. For one, they were no longer considered a chapter, they had instead taken to calling themselves a warband, with Malrass Ror serving as its leader. They had broken off from the Forge Lords after their perceived betrayal, but they were still laying waste to Separatist worlds. Their Spectral Titans became infamous, more devastating than ever, and symbols of Nurgle’s greatest gift; eternal life. Much like the Chosen and their Funeral Fleet, those Iron Ancients who are slain in battle will find themselves reawakening within the confines of the titans.

Malrass Ror had become a dreaded Chaos Warlord, often seen riding into battle on top of the defiled Antiquity. Control over the powers of the warp had come naturally to him, and his knowledge over machines only increased as the Iron Ancients laid siege to more and more Forge worlds. Malrass became a master of undeath and the mechanical. Through the course of the Brotherwar Malrass and his Iron Ancients committed atrocity after atrocity, among which was the burning of the Spectre System, which earned him the moniker of Mecha-Lich of Spectre.

A dreadful fate awaits those that see the Ebullition enter their system. Few survive an encounter with these twisted, undead mechromancers.

None can stop the march of the dead.

Steel resolve! And life eternal!

>>55543071
>>55543085
>>55543105
>>55543117
>>55543129
>>55543138
>>55543148
>>55543163
>>55543180
>>55543195
>>55543207
Good one, truly! We'll have to find a way to kill those Titans, and to keep them dead.

>>55544131
There's some pretty conclusive ways to deal with 'em. Tossing them into a black hole should do.

>>55545489
Marduk would crash a Battlebarge in one

I may give the Silver Blades a Titan, something to put in Kadir as a gift from a nearby Forge World.

So, I had a word with Emil and an interesting question came up in regards to the Iron/Golden Crusades: "What exactly is the relationship between the Imperium and Union?"

I mean, they're bitter enemies, but do they wage constant total war for 10,000 years, or do they have periods of extended 'peace'? This is kind of important since this kind of changes the nature of these crusades. If there's total war all the time, the Golden Crusades wouldn't be all that important, just slightly more intensified war. If there are periods of armistice, these Crusades would actually be significant events.

So what does everyone think? 10,000 years of constant war, or 10,000 years of tug-of-war? Or something different altogether?

>>55543207
This was all a great read. The Iron Ancients are a great warband.
I like how Malrass was a latent psyker and under the infliance of the Marchers he never even knew.

>>55548551
I think the relationship between the 2 factions is one of constant fluctuations? Loke there are those who push for peace but for every step they make forward they get pushed back 2 steps by radical groups of the other opinion in both camps who push for war?

Ok so I've thought on the Nurgle led Black Crusade, and decided it should be the 7th crusade. 7 being Nurgle's sacred number. Essentially Lambach is looking for the Proteus Protocol.
http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Proteus_Protocol
Figuring he can use this technology combined with his own foul research to further his eternally futile quest.
It makes sense that this item would likely be found in Sep space right? So that is where he'll go. Other Chaos Legions will surely join the cause if for nothing else the opportunity to go on a Rampage.
I figure it ends in what looks like a defeat for the Black Crusade but in actuality Lambach finds what he is looking for and begins to pull away from the front, which would leave some of the other legions exposed and in some pretty hot water.
Now if we are doing the all Crusades before the 13th are linked route we can probably easily add that aspect to this idea. What do people think?

Also as an aside perhaps we could give the Chaos Legions a small amount of space around and outside the Eye under their control which gives somewhere for the Loyals and Seps to crusade into from time to time?

>>55548551
I think it might come to relations between smaller parts of the Loyalists and the Seps rather than as a whole.
Most of the GMs might try to allow the Seps to retreat with minimal casualties when possible, but the Avalanche will fight them with all they have.

>>55548551
Personally I'm inclined to think that war is almost constant among all 3 factions, since this is after all the Grim Darkness of the 40th Millennium, punctuated by massive spikes of intensity which garner their own names in the historical annals of all factions.


One other question I have is how much territory actually changes hands, and how often.

In canon, the Imperium owns essentially the whole Galaxy to a greater or lesser extent, since Chaos occupies little physical territory. There's not many systems changing hands in any real sense. However, in our AU we have two human factions with an equal need for Materium territory and which are not penalized like Chaos is for existing outside of Warpstorms.

I would imagine the borders between Seps and Loyals would move considerably across the millennia, waxing and waning as one or the other takes an upper hand, yes? Total war wins planets and sectors, but then as supply lines shorten and reinforcements arrive a counter-Crusade makes its own headway.

Total war is when hundreds of worlds are burning together. "Armistice" is when only tens or dozens do in a given year or decade. Crusades put thousands of planets to the pyre. At least, I would think so.

>>55548551
I imagine that by and large the Seps want to leave well enough alone and just want to purge Xenos scum and chaosfags. However Imperial super weapons designed to punch Ultramar and cripple the Union would force them to invade in Iron Crusades, as well targets of opportunity and the more dogmatic legions attacking the Imperium for spiritual reasons.

I Imagine once JFA takes his leave of absence, the Dragoons take on a vindictive bent, and will try to wound the Imperium for blowing up Theivpal (Not taking into account that JFA cared little for the miserable little rock and was glad to be rid of shit caked plebs and the incest plagued, meaningless politicking of the upper class

>>55548551
I think there should be several periods of relative tranquility, where little changes are made, the engagements are reduced to skirmishes and generally we could speak of "peace". This is because it's difficult to wage constant war for 10 millennia. And this way, the Golden and Iron Crusades gain more importance

Test

What if a node of the Soul Wires fail, and the Seps throw a Crusade to retrieve the devices needed to make it work again. They could be located in Loyalist Space, and without them the system would slowly fail completely, making them of vital importance to the Union's survival

>>55550471
>7th Black Crusade
Aye, this still sounds as good as when you first proposed it. The Iron Ancients stand ready to bring the fight to the loyalist scum. Too bad the Protocol doesn't really work for Raj.

>Space around the Eye
I don't think this is a good idea. For one, having space around the Eye be in Chaos hands makes Cadia pointless. Second, something like that would just cause the Eye of Terror to expand. Thirdly, the Chaos legions already have space and planets inside of the Eye of Terror.

>>55550909
This is pretty much how I envisioned it the as well. There is never any moment of actual peace, there's constant fighting and constant killing. The armistices are the only moments of respite, and even then there will still be strife. The map we've whipped up shows what area of the galaxy is in flux.

>>55551559
These are good ideas for the Iron Crusades. I say we go with it.

Emil suggested calling these Sep campaigns 'Operations' instead of 'Crusades'. I'm on the fence, thought I should try to hear your thoughts.

>>55554360
What could the Imperium have that the Separatists can't replace themselves though? Still, I do imagine the Seps would campaign for COOL LOOT.

>>55554440
Think on the Eye of Darkness and the Hand of * of the Gothic War. They have them, they don't know what they do. They just hoard it and try to not loose them to their enemies, failing utterly. These ancient relics cannot be replicated, so the Seps would need to fight for them

>>55554477
Nice double dubs

Fair enough, though I'm still not sure if it should be tied into the Soul Wires. The Wires are so closely linked to the Steel Souls, that I imagine they'd be perfectly equipped to keep them up and running without archeotech. They built them themselves.

Separatist legions going into Imperial space to steal archeotech is still a good enough reason as any for them to set out though.

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>>55554593
Yeah. Maybe we could place one in the Calixis Sector to further include it in our narrative.

>>55554812
Plenty of cool stuff to be found there. Let's see if our Adept could shine some light on that.

>>55554812
>>55554866
So, you wish to know of things the Separatists could want in the sector? Technology, artefacts, resources, secrets... There are many things they could claim in that sector. Perhaps they want the Jericho-Maw Warpgate? Perhaps the strategic location as a staging point to expeditions in Halo Stars? Many ancient ruins and lost places can be found in the sector, as well as artefacts: What kind of things would Separatists be most interested in claiming? That´s a question that could limit the number of primary/secondary goals of the war.

>>55555327
Most probably artifacts or the Gate, cause Calixis is in the middle of Loyalist Space. They would get steamrolled if they establish a beachhead there

>>55555400
Most likely the Gate, with the secondary goal of artefact- and technology looting.

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Ok so, I've been playing warhammer all day with my Chosen of Hecate list. Radcliff Kaden (Pic related, using Vulkan He'stan rules) single handed beat an Avatar of Khaine in close combat over 3 turns. Anyone mind if I write this up as a story? ;)

>>55554440
Yeah that's fair about the chaos planets around the eye, I was just throwing an idea out there to see how it went, seeing as crusades into the eye are a no go,

>>55556126
Do it, cunt

>>55555400
>>55555453
They could stage an invasion from the gate. Then the Loyalists would have to drive them back, and ultimately destroy the gate.

There'd be a lot of details to consider, but I can see it working. Which legions could be involved? Will there be a Chaos presence.

>>55557671
Mot said he wanted to be there. Maybe the Silver Blades could respond to the SOS, as Kadit will (most prolly) be relocated to near the Calixis Sector, and they like to have good fights even when they are nearly wiped out. But by the time, they should be OK. If not the Blades, the Divine Crusaders?

>>55558106
When I say legion, by this time that would mean successors of the legions. Even the Blades would just be a chapter at this point.

>>55559463
Yeah, obviously.

>>55559475

>>55556126
#MarneusCalgar

>>55557671
Runeclaws could go.

>>55564763
>>55558106
Right, so this Calixis Crusade seems like a good candidate for an Iron Crusade.

We still need more though. Before the whole 'Necron pylons' think was brought up in canon, what were the general goals of the OU Black Crusades? Just an attempted march towards Terra? How about the Blackstone Fortress? Will we include those?

>>55565177
As far as I know, the OU Black Crusades were always just Abaddon pushing into the Imperium to conquer and plunder in all directions, and the Imperium hurling him back each time at varying levels of cost to themselves.

Blackstone Fortresses are kind of whatever. I don't see a reason either to include or not include them.

>>55565177
>>55566941
Originally the Black Crusades were just different times Abaddon wanted to go on a rampage through some Imperial space, however after he started to build a reputation as a failure among the Warhammer community GW started to realize they'd made their big bad guy into a bit of a joke so it was ret-conned that they all were to serve the purpose of the 13th Black Crusade by in someway preparing for this final assault.
However there have also been hundreds of lesser crusades and plenty of times when Angron or one of the other Daemon Primarchs just felt like getting their end wet in Imperial blood. These are also known as Black Crusades but are not numbered.

The Blackstone Fortresses could be the Sep's equivalent to Je'She's Iron Ring, and used to attack imperial planets

>>55568631
But for them to work I think that the Seps need the Eye of Night and the Hand of Darkness

>>55566941
>>55567424
Well, perhaps we should keep off on this for a bit. Pinning down all these Crusades is kind of difficult with this little input. I think we'd also need to settle on who exactly our !Abaddon is, though I don't imagine he'd act too differently from the actual Abaddon.

>>55568631
Would they be? The Imperial Ring is just Fortress worlds, right? Not superweapons?

>>55571360
Yeah, a few people missing over the last week.
Not Abaddon should definitely be from the Leviathan Host, but he is probably someone a few of us should get together and hash out.

>>55571360
The Blackstones were used to destroy worlds. Either if the Iron Ring is a group of Spehss Staishuns or Fortress Worlds won't matter at all if the Seps manage to activate the relics. The BsF have very powerful weaponry anyway, they will do the trick

>>55571485
I'm assuming Marduk had some ideas. Even then, I believe he was planning on having !Abaddon be a bit of a puppet to the Chaos Sorceress.

>>55571576
Right, I know what the BsF are, but I wondered in which way they were the Separatist 'equivalent' to the Imperial Ring.

>>55571916
Yeah I inow Marduk has a rough idea of what he wants to do with him. I just meant he is gonna be a BIG character. Even if he is a puppet. We should all go over the character and really flesh him out.

>>55571916
They are not an equivalent, they are a weapon, a measure agaisnt them. You want to break the Ring in one point, you bring 3 BsF along with your fleets and troops

>>55571916
>>55572631
I agree the Blackstones would be localised superweapons used sparingly and in times of dire need. As for their Ring, I've suggested a Blockade lining their borders

Alright, I've decided on a "Successor" Chapter to write up for the Separatists faction; a Chapter of the Ussaran Liberators' known as the Bloody Masquerade in the Gothic translation of their Ussaran name, but otherwise sometimes known as the Bloody Masks.

Their themes revolve around deception, trust, good faith, and slight reflections of the brutal internal security service of the planet from which they were taken in their Librarians, Chaplains, Apothecaries, and Techmarines.

>>55574108
Ideas for the Loyalists and Traitors are pretty undeveloped but this is what I have so far: Steel(or other noun/adjective) Rictus, a Death's Heads Successor Chapter who are artillery specialists whose themes revolve around attrition, destruction of morale/ psychological health, and gallows-humor brotherhood; and the Bronze Banners (name ideas welcomed), the Silver Blades Warband whose themes revolve around championship, Khornate martial "honor," and extensive use of, and investment in, personalized elite retinues of mortal soldiers for the badly-depleted Astartes in the Warband.

>>55574108
>>55574227
Nice. So we have Astartes Kriegers?

>>55574235
I can get jiggy with that

>>55574235
>So we have Astartes Kriegers?
With the DH's penchant for esoteric weaponry applied to artillery, yup.

How exactly do you guys format fluff/lore about your Legions? I'd like to follow the parent Legion's formats to give the Successor/Chapter/Warband a feel of being from that Legion.

>>55574850
We don't necessarily have a singular way of documenting our legions. Just use a format you're comfortable with. Otherwise the anon responsible for the legion might be able to give you a hand. Pretty sure he'll be around shortly.

Also, if you have any other questions, the Discord is available to you.

>>55574850
I'm the Silver Blades anon. I just write, but I try to first fluff the Legion and Primarch traits and fighting style, then the homeworld, any G-S defects... But feel free man, do as it pleases you. Also, I've opened a bit the Sucessors thing, so if you have a cool fitting idea, you can develop it too

>>55574108
Okay little comrade, let me explain to you important thing about glorious Ussar Federation:

Ussaran Federation is stronk, stronker than silly religious believing Bolsheviks on Terra. Thanks to my ungodly curse of immortality I remain to lead my sons and siblings to great conquests!

In true Ussaran Style we have made our expanse into five great Pentarchs, Central, North, South, East and West! This not only ensures that the great legions of Ussar are spread equally among our territories, but allows for greater autonomy while still supporting the people! Haha, Take that fat Bureaucrats on Terra!

In addition to this each Pentarch divides it's complement of Ussaran Liberators into four sector commands, to best respond to threats in our Utopia!

Assuming your Ussaran Education Program has not failed you, that gives you a grand total of TWENTY sector commands, each with their own little rituals and adaptations of good old Ussaran Muscle. However should I ever call upon my sons; No matter their colors or rituals, they are Sons of the Motherland and they shall answer the call!

I am hoping this information does helping you figure out where your successors will be!

With Love,
Papa Piter Karamonov, The Shield of Ussar

P.S attached is one hand-rolled Lho-Cigar by yours truly, savor it Brother-Comrade.

>>55575458
As a Loyalist, I am offended.
As a Brother, I am proud.
As a Warmonger, I shall call to arms my men and crusade your little corner of the Galaxy

>>55543071
>dark cyan
Isn't that just blue?

>>55576141
No because women have a better understanding of the subtle differences between colors. To a man, two colors may be the same, while a woman may differentiate them perfectly and even tell you the specific shade of the color.

Raj is a woman then

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>>55575458
>>55575458
As a fellow proud member of the Union, I am fairly smug about this whole affair.
As your Brother, I am proud to have you in the Union.
As Warmaster your sprawling intelligence network that may or may not be a fully independent entity with little checks and balances fills me worry.

Also

>Undying
>Russian
>Is a Primarch in the Faical Hairesy
>Eventually goes mad as a better

M8...he's not Stalin...

>>55576263
Depicted: Grigori HORSECOCK Rasputin

I'm working on my legion page now, and I think we need to settle on the Separatist state name once and for all.

I like the Union being the governing body of the region, like the Lords of Terra are the governing body of the Imperium.

As for the state, I like Superium Astarte over the Separatist Confederate Union

>>55576423
Thats my vote too, with the Union sometimes being used to describe the state though it technically applies to just the joint treaty body. Superium Astartes is the more proper name (I prefer the plural. Think it flows better, begining and ending the name with a S sound)

>>55576141
There's a difference. It's a shade of blue, I suppose.

>>55576263
He goes from Stalin to Rasputin, actually.

>>55576423
Lemme just quickly explain my reasoning behind the SCU. The Seps are a very non-40k thing to begin with, the very idea beig kinda silly and wanky. I thought, why not go all the way, and give them a very non-40k sci-fi name, the SCU.

Superium Astarte is good, but people have gotten so used to referring to the Sep State as the Union that I can't imagine that becoming just the ruling body…

>>55576548
Im following the same logic as Imperium of Man as opposed to Men

>>55576581
I get your reasoning, but the Seps are just as grimdark as the Imperium in their own ways, and develop into something more at home with 40k, albeit without all the faith and religious iconography. But their fedora tipping, cult of science, military worship is Ecclesiarchal in its own right

Silver Blades Reliquary:

>The Banner of the Legion
Gone are the days of the Legion, as we now live the days of the Chapter. Although the Silver Blades Chapter retains the Legion's Banner with its design mostly intact, but still different, they retain the old banner used in the days of the Great Crusade and the Brotherwar, as a testimony of the dire times that the Legion lived, the many Astartes who died in the conflict, and the change that the Legion suffered to later become the Chapter known nowadays. It has never been used in combat since the Brotherwar, but its presence would certainly inspire the Astartes to fight with the same determination of their predecessors.

>The Winged Whistler
At first, a simple boltgun used by the Captain of the 10th Company during the War of the Beast, that was then modified to fire a special type of munition that generates a distinctive "whistle" when it flies and has an improved armor piercing capability, at the expense of the amount of explosives carried. It was given to the next Captain when the previous died, and he gave it the beautiful angel wings that now decorate the side of the weapon. Considered a true masterpiece of the 10th Company, it went from Captain to Captain, each adding more details and decorations to the gun. Although the gun remains in the 10th Company's Captain hands, it has been used by Chapter Masters and other Captains too.

>The Black Sorrow
The well-known relic of the Silver Blades' Paladin, the weapon that he carries to battle. A gigantic Claymore of blackened ceramite covered in energies that are said to come from the Inmaterium itself. The sword is able to break through the thickest of the armors, and to banish daemons back to the warp with a single hit. It shizzles when it comes close to its wearer's objective, and will not stop until he's dead. Sometimes, it seems that it absorbs the blood of its victim, and that it's the blood of the victims what fuels the energy field.

>>55576649
True, but the decentralized nature I feel warrants the plural vs centralized Imperium.

>>55576657
Fair, either side could be argued well enough, it lands on what people like the sound of more, and I think we need to settle on that name firstly before we even get into the details

Silver Blades' Sucessors: Electric Boogaloo Edition

Divine Crusaders
>2nd Founding
>Black Templars in /w3/ basically
>Homeworld: A dwarf planet orbiting Kadir's star ("Sagrado Monasterio")

Guardians of the Stars
>7th Founding
>Raised from Astartes of the Silver Blades Chapter. They manage to keep part of their parent's culture
>They wander the galaxy, protecting the people of the Imperium and patrolling the space
>Fleet based

>The Mourners of the Forefather
>14th Founding
>Raised from Gene-Seed stock from the SB's stockpiles
>They found out about Linares' fate and presumed him dead (heh.). They mourn his death and constantly seek revenge. Bitter hate towards Chaos and the Gunslingers.

Sky Bringers
>23rd Founding
>Raised from Gene-Seed stocks of the Adeptus Mechanicus. They didn't listened to the Silver Blades' Apothecaries and replicated the (not as pure and stable as the SB's stockpiled G-S) Gene-Seed using standard methods. Result: Disaster. Some of the lost traits of the impure Gene-Seed appeared again.
>Vanilla Chapter

>The Sons of the Blade
>26th Founding
>Raised from Silver Blades' stockpile
>Last sucessor known. They try to bring the Legion's culture back, as it's being lost due to vanillization of the Sucessor Chapters

>>55576423
>I'm working on my legion page now
Looking forward to it!

>>55576423
Ultima Konfederat
Peregrinus Aeterno (Peregrinus is the Latin for Crusade apparently)
Terra-Heredes (Heirs of Earth)
Fili Liberum (Free Sons)
Republic of Terra (aping the Republic of China, aka Taiwan, which does not own any of mainland China much as the Seps do not own Terra but still claim it)
Dominion of the East
The Inheritors (ELIPHAAAAAS)
True Sons of Terra (very Confederacy vibe)
The Unrepentant (Those who recognize no God need not beg His forgiveness)

One mask of a thousand

His Bolter roared once more- a burst of four that gouged pounds of rockcrete from the edge of the wall, the final bolt momentarily revealing a retreating flash of gold- then fell silent. Alexei's hands remained where they were: his left holding the grip of Bolter, and his right wrapped around the gleaming upper half of the magazine, the rest painted a matte jet black; his opponent had been counting, and Alexei had counted with him. The flash of gold reappeared a second later, followed a second after that by the rest of the Space Marine charging towards him, arms already swinging a Thunder Hammer at the painted cables crisscrossing Alexei's chest. His Bolter roared once more, then fell silent.

>>55580251
Rip in peace

>>55578357
I'm not a huge fan of the longer ones, although the Liberum Heredes or some variation sounds good to me personally

>>55581606
Now if we could fit unio in there somewhere…

I like Ultima Konfederat too.

>>55580251
Codename: "Cherubim"

They were signing there own death warrants, had signed it the moment the passing thought had entered, been humored, and became an idea in their minds; the Faceless Men could be anywhere, anyone, even one of them. Enemies were damned, Traitors doubly so, but thrice-damned were they willing to be if it meant saving what was left of the hundred men they were tasked to protect mind, body, soul and sword. The attack on the Eldar Maiden World had failed, was failing, and no rivers of xeno-scum blood could ever pay back the dead and dying Astartes strewn throughout the godforsaken planet. That the Craftworld's army would sweep down on them with such speed and in such force just as they themselves fell on the Exodites, it was no coincidence, no vagary of the Warp- they had known.

A full Terran week of fighting and heavy casualties on both sides had seen half the Company slain, purchasing with their lifeblood the destruction of their foes; Operation Cherubim had been completed. The coming days saw less and less fighting as the remaining Astartes busied themselves with the latter part of their "fighting retreat," hounded all the while until they successfully absconded from the planet late one night, a fact only discovered the following day during a planned dawn-assault on the Astartes position. There, left in the middle of the makeshift encampment was the fruit of one Terran week's continuous work by the combined forces of the Chapter's Librarians, Chaplain, Apothecaries, and Techmarines: Cherubim.

A light, pale pink-yellow fog cascaded from the thing even as it sang a haunting tune to the entranced Exodites who had stumbled upon it. A golden orb, twice over the size of an Astartes' head, split in an everchanging number of parts as it spun and whirred and drew strange pictures in the air with the light that streamed in the gaps through it.

>>55582605
Inevitably, the device found its way to the Craftworld Autarch who had the device summarily studied and then destroyed to the protestations of the Exodites who desired a trophy to commemorate their victory over the Mon'keigh knights. A quiet fell over the Exodites in the following days as they rested, recovered, and tended to their wounded and dead. A not uncommon phenomena this reflective melancholy, especially in the wake of such terrible struggle, except it did not fade with time. A week's rotation of the planet on its axis found the Exodites in a state of resigned disquiet, to the concern of the Craftworlders, who had stayed when the Exodite's condition had not improved despite their species' mastery over their own emotions. A depression had seemingly fallen over the planet in the wake of the Astartes' passing, and it now began to spread to the Craftworld's army. A strange lethargy and numbness of the mind and soul to any and all stimulus had overtaken them, and nothing could seem to awaken even a spark of interest or passion in those affected, who behaved like one already dead. As the number of those unaffected grew ever smaller and ever more fearful, talk of various ways to deal with the "ill" began. Some thought that they should leave them all behind and escape to the Craftworld while they were yet unaffected, others still thought that they should be brought to the Craftworld where they might be treated or at least protected from themselves or from the Mon'keigh, a few even wondered if the affected should be killed lest their condition spread to other innocents. As if by a miracle, whilst the factions argued with one another, those overcome by the melancholy began to recover; the depths of the emotions that coursed through them as their kin openly spoke of abandoning them, risking it all to save them, and cutting them down in turns were such that even this deathly melancholy could not numb them.

>>55580251
>>55582605
>>55583147
I am slightly confused as to who these people are and how they relate to the overall plot.

>>55583147
The cure revealed to them, it took only a few hours for the Autarch and his Cadre to determine the nature of the affliction. A Mon'keigh curse, exacerbated by the Eldar's self- inflicted repudiation of even the slightest excess of emotion was to blame for the morbid depression that had already caused the deaths of some who had simply chosen to waste away rather than bother to eat or drink under its effects. A simple unshackling of the Eldar's own mental barriers to emotion and the results were immediate, if gradual. To those previously trapped in a shell of numbness that was once their bodies, the pain of the unaffected Eldar's plans to abandon them was exquisite agony; the love of those who would risk becoming infected to bring them to the Craftworld for the possibility of treatment was overwhelming; the anger at those who would have killed them, volcanic; and the relief of being cured- unimaginable ecstacy. As the melancholy wore off their emotions soared higher still, unbound for the first time in their lives, and they pushed it on further and further, excusing their revelry as ensuring the complete eradication of the melancholy sickness.

By the time they realized what they had done it was far too late.

The Cherubim Plague, the psyko-spiritual bio-weapon named after the angel of Ancient Terran mythology which expelled Ancient Man from Eden first tore through the Maiden World in an exultation of Eldar debauchery which forced the Craftworld to abandon its army to their fate alongside the Exodites; it would then burst throughout the thousands of psykers in the sub-sector as a result of the psychic feedback of a thousand-thousand Eldar souls being consumed all at once.

Official records from the Bloody Masquerade Chapter pre-emptively shared with the rest of the Legion in a never-before-seen expression of transparency from the secretive Chapter reports the entirety of the Company involved in the assault on the Maiden World "Lost in Action."

>>55583394
>I am slightly confused as to who these people are and how they relate to the overall plot.

They don't. It's just fluff of a far-off Successor Chapter.

>>55583663
These are all really cool.
Awhile back Linares and I talked about some Loyalist Chosen who escaped the Censure and later had their own Chapter founded. Disguised as Silver Blades successors. If you're at all interested I'd be happy for you to adopt them.

inb4: MUH IT'S TOO SOON SILVERISH

The Chaos hosts advanced slowly, pursuing the retreating PDFs of Kadir. They made planetfall that very night, and already had taken control of most of the planet. The combined might of the Gunslingers, Forge Lords and Loxodontii was backed up by daemonic hosts of Hashutan and Khornate daemons, along with the Daemon Primarchs Ashur and Mot. Before them, a force of a handful Astartes companies of the Golden Mountains and the Sentinels, lead by the Watchman himself, and several regiments of the Imperial Guard. Je'She made a dangerous move: to stop the Chaos push, they had to prepare the battlefield. They left several planets nearly undefended, and concentrated the manpower in Kadir, an already heavily defended planet. But that gamble wasn't going just as planned, as the first engagements against the invading force couldn't even slow their advance, at the cost of many thousands of lifes.

And now they were there, in a the lower part of a bowl, surrounded by hills all around the compass. They were doomed. This was their last stand.

Mot advanced in front of his force, roaring and enjoying every step that brought him closer to his bitter enemies. They were spilling a lot of blood that day.

The Loxodontii vehicles crushed rocks under their tracks, advancing slowly in the middle part of the host, along their domesticated Daemon Primarch, Ashur. They were to have a good fight, no doubt.

But they were not alone. Nor the fight was going to be easy. Je'She had prepared the battlefield so it was favourable to the Imperial forces. That included several trap-pits, mines and trenches. Reinforcements were in their way, too, most probably the remaining Silver Blades and PDFs forces, but they wouldn't be enough to beat the enemy forces.

"If only my brother was here..."

>Three days earlier
>Chapter Masters of the Sucessors
"Battle-Brothers, today we paint our armor in Silver!"

>>55587375
The Chaos Host was about to start its attack. The God of Blood will be proud. There was nothing that could stop them. Kadir was being devastated, the Spire was going down, no defense forces remained. Victory was at hand.

"¡SOLDADOS DE KADIR!, ¿¡ESTAMOS TODOS!?"

The cry resonated in the whole bowl, it was coming from the hills of the east. It was powerful enough to be heard in several kilometres around. Je'She's hair stood on end. Mot had his blood frozen. It couldn't be. He was dead!

"¡ESTAMOS!"

The reply came from all around. Not only the east, but from the north and the west too. Were they surrounded, or was just a mind trick?
Je'She couldn't help to smile. But...it was impossible!

"TODAY, WE FIGHT FOR OUR PLANET AGAIN, BROTHERS! WE REUNITE UNDER THE LEGION'S BANNER ONCE MORE, TO BRING DEATH TO THE ENEMIES OF THE IMPERIUM! TO AVENGE OUR FALLEN BRETHREN! TO PREVENT KADIR FROM BEING DESTROYED AGAIN! TODAY IS THE DAY WE TAKE OUR REVENGE FOR EVERYTHING THAT THIS BARBARIANS HAVE DONE TO THE IMPERIUM!"

Ashur stopped too. He recognized that voice. His human feelings were gone, but he still felt something. Fear? Surprise?

Mot laughed, hard. Now he could finnish his work. He could claim his prize.

The Lord of Ale stood in top of a rock, looking over hundreds of thousands of soldiers, Astartes and mortals united under the very same banner. The IVth Legion's Banner. The Silver Blades marched to war again.

The Sucessors united again, their armors painted in silver, their voices crying the same battle-cant of their Parent Legion. Roughly 10000 Silver Blades were at the place. Entire Chapters that answered the call.

With them were the many mortal Regiments that fought off-world. 42 according to the last counting.

"NOW, BROTHERS, SONS OF MINE! LET'S MARCH TO BATTLE! LET'S GIVE THESE TRAITORS WHAT THEY DESERVE, WHAT THEY CAME FOR!"

"¡POR EL IMPERIO! ¡POR EL EMPERADOR! ¡POR KADIR!"

>>55587474
The reply made the Host pale, shouted by thousands upon thousands of throats at the unison

"¡A SANGRE Y FUEGO!"

And the charge started. The force gathered by Linares charged down the hills from all around the Host. East, West, North, even South. They were completely surrounded, The ground trembled with every step made by the huge warhost, every second closer to their objective. Linares leading it, Silver Slayer in hand. Fuelled by sheer rage and hate.

Je'She was nearly inmobilized. Charges like that hadn't been seen since the Siege of Terra.

"Let's go, Battle-Brothers! We can't let them do all the work, CHARGE!"

The redoubt of Imperial forces in the lower part of the bowl charged too, joinning the rage-fuelled run.

When the forces clashed, the world nearly stopped. The shouts and cries of the fighting soldiers being supressed by the Loxodontii's huge guns, while their tanks were being climbed by Imperial forces and taken out of combat with grenades and Lasgun shots throught the hatches. The Silver Blades shouted a plethora of warcries, the Chaos Host trying to surpass them shouting harder.

"NOT AGAIN!"
"BACK TO YOUR WHOLE, TRAITORS!"
"¡NO PASAREIS!"

Linares slipped through the enemy ranks, slicing and chopping traitors from left to right, his tally growing with every meter advanced. Linares reached his objective: the hulking beast that Mot had become.

"At last you decide to come back from your pleasure trip, Linares! Too bad we are here to ruin your beautiful planet AGAIN!"

"YOU WON'T WIN THIS TIME!"

The clash ended with a first injure in Mot's leg. Linares fought with rage and hate, moving at speeds unseen previosly, with the same skill and much greater strength.

"You are feeding Khorne now, Brother! Your hate and rage are making him proud of you!"

"KHORNE WILL SHED TEARS TODAY, FOR YOUR SKULL IS GOING RIGHT TO THE GOLDEN THRONE, NOT TO HIS!"

>>55587544
Mot was having problems with Linares. Even in his daemonic form, he couldn't best him, although he managed to land a couple of hits on him, shattering his armor and most probably several bones.

"You aren't hurt, brother?" Asked, knowing perfectly the answer.

"WHAT ARE A COUPLE OF BROKEN BONES?!" Said Linares, charging again.

Mot threw his Maul arcing towards Linares, but he dodged it, getting close to Mot and stabbing him right where his primary heart should be. Mot's retinue engaged the silverish Primarch, allowing Mot to partially recover from his wounds. Linares was overrun with Terminator-armored Marines, and even the Daemon Primarch Ashur was going to where he was.

"LINARES, DON'T THINK I'M FINISHED WITH YOU!"

Mot arced his maul again, right to Linares' head. It was about to hit when Je'She kicked it, preventing the maul to crush his brother's skull.

The two-legged duel continued for nearly half an hour, and only finished when the Chaos forces started to retreat. Both Daemon Primarchs were dragged out of the fight by their retinues, leaving Je'She and Linares behind, injured, and with a sour taste in their mouths. The battle was won. The Chaos forces retreating to their ships. Kadir was saved, and the offensive halted.

>>55582605
>>55583147
>>55583631
Interesting, although I will agree that it's kind of difficult to understand what's going on at first. I like your style though, you've got flair. I'd like to see what you've got for us next. Piter has more than likely accepted these guys as Liberators successors.

>>55587375
>>55587474
>>55587544
>>55587626
A lot of fun, though I can't quite be sure about the timeframe here. It's obviously post-Brotherwar, otherwise Mot wouldn't be a Daemon and Je'She wouldn't wish for Linares to be there, but since Linares does show up, I take it this is supposed to be an End Times thing?

Either way, fun, if a bit… basic. It doesn't really do much, besides showing Linares come back. I think the reappearance of a Primarch should be slightly bigger than a single fight.

Chaos really fucking hates Kadir though, don't it?

>>55587964
It's M42. I'm throwing this here cause I had the idea yesterday and wanted to write it. Nothing special tho.

>Chaos really fucking hates Kadir though, don't it?
As I'm most probably relocating Kadir, it'll be close to Cypra Mundi, and to the Eye of Terror, so it'll be in the Danger Zone. Also, I think it's logical for the Traitors to take out the Chapter Homeworlds, so they can't recruit, and if it's the *Legion* Homeworld, they can fuck it further.

>>55587985
Keep it coming buddy! We desperately need more stuff written. Decent read mate.
Only bit I'm confused on is that I thought Linares came back before Je'she but if not that's fine.
Again though we really need to get people into fluffing our bigger events up.

>>55588118
I think that Je'She never leaves.

>>55588126
He totally does. Until the End Times happen, Piter is the only non-Chaos Primarch that's still around.

>>55586771
>Loyalist Chosen
>disguised as Silver Blades
>Greek themes meet Spanish sword skills
>If you're at all interested I'd be happy for you to adopt them.

I am very interested. I will write something up for them this afternoon, but until then can you give me anymore details about them?

>>55588249
Then, when does he comes back?

>>55587964
>although I will agree that it's kind of difficult to understand what's going on at first.
A consequence of phoneposting, poor formatting, and writing about a Chapter infamous for their secrecy and deception, I'm afraid. It probably didn't help that the first bit with Alexei had nothing to do with Operation Cherubim.

>>55587375
>>55587474
>>55587544
>>55587626

Cool! I hope to write about this battle from the point-of-view of the Silver Swords' Khornate Warband (whose name I am having a hard time decided upon, so any advice would be greatly appreciate.)

>>55588523
Bloody Spaniards

>>55588448
All I can really say is that they surrendered at the Censure rather than fighting their brothers and friends during the battle.
Linares took them in when they had nowhere to go but he and Raj both decided with the way the Imperium was shapeing up they would probably be persecuted for the crimes of Lambach so theu kept them disguised as Silver Blades Legionaires.
We haven't gone into too much more detail on them yet.

>>55588631
This. I should definitively write about them.

>>55588631
Alrighty, I will have something in a few hours.

>>55588540
What do you think of the name "Kadirian Skulltakers"? I like the implied double meaning, they're skulltakers from Kadir and takers of Kadirian skulls. I think it will piss off the Silver Blades a great deal to have their homeplanet used in such a way.

>>55589266
Dubs speak truth, my dude. Yeah, it will work

"I have heard that they call themselves the True Sons of Death, my lord."

"As opposed to the fake ones? Understandable that they would need to communicate their lineage with their tongues, as their actions so often say otherwise. What I do not understand is what madness could possess these 'sons of death' to face us, his angels?"

-Excerpt of a conversation between Honored Brother Alexandros and Sergeant Aristides, recorded prior to the Brazen Angels' attack on the Dusk Phantoms.

What is greatness?

"Son of death, rejoice! I send you now back to your father!"
The head of his chain-spear skittered for a moment across the previously unblemished midnight blue of his opponent's chestplate before biting through and plunging deep into the flesh beneath.
"Drink deep, Drusilla," he muttered to himself as he surveyed the carnage around him and sucked his teeth in annoyance, no Astartes should fall that easily, it made them all look bad. His gaze swept through the twenty-man squad of Dusk Phantoms his own squad had just ripped through, taking note of their arms and armor.
"Idiotes," he declared.
"Yes, decadarchos. Even the greatest among them do not bear a single long-service stud," replied Honored Brother Argus, who led the combat squad that had struck the Phantoms from behind after his own frontal assault.
"They insult us, ouragos, but insulting us is not their aim, not the whole of it."
"A diversion, then? Or maybe even a trap?"
He would excuse the notes of hope that crept into his protege's voice at the thought of another, potentially much more glorious battle, but the lack of fighting *was* growing worrisome.
While they spoke, the rest of the squad had formed two loose circles around them and the clustered dead, an outer cordon of shield-strapped, chain-weapon wielding Phalangites, and an inner ring armed with the standard Bolter.
"Hail the other squads, see if there are any Phantoms left for us at their positions."
"Decadarchos, squads Erasmus and Kyros are unresponsive, squads Markos and Ignatios are in the same predicament as we are."
A smile slowly split his lips until nearly all his teeth were bared at his ouragos in a wide grin, Argus would get his wish.
"Decadarchos?"
"Who are the greatest amongst us, Argus? Not of our own stichos, but of those stichœ sent to fight here."
"Us of course, squad Arsenios! Followed by squad Markos, Ignatios, and then Kyros, and..."

>>55590764
The Honored Brother's words drifted into silence as realization came upon him.

"A typical Dusk Phantom tactic, ouragos."
"Is that why only half our number are Phalangites, decadarchos? You wanted to play at being *lesser*, to draw their elite troops against us?"
"That is one of the reasons, yes."
"They are lost then."
"Most likely. Were any of them born to another gene-sire each would have had Battlecruisers and Land Raiders named after them, or else they'd've been raised up into the glory of a Dreadnought, but among our esteemed company..."
"They were the weakest link."
"If such a word can even be applied to one of our number, yes, technically."

After a less-than-civil forfeiture of the slain's pristine weapons and armor pieces, and after destroying their enemy's gene-seed, squad Arsenios marched deeper into enemy territory.

"Squad Ignatius is requesting our aid at their position, decadarchos," informed one of the Phalangites, "The ouragos would tell you himself, but he is..."
"Upset, let him be Carolos," interjected Arsenios, "come brothers! Squad Ignatios needs us to save them! To glory!"
"To glory!"

They heard the sounds of fighting long before the sights, and Arsenios sucked his teeth again.

"Carolos! I thought you said squad Ignatios requested our assistance!"
"They did, Arsenios," intoned the Phalangite.
"Oh ho! You think just because you are a Phalangite that you no longer need to address me by my title? Be careful your big head doesn't become a target!" Arsenios joked, "But what is this then, Carolos?" He said as the battle came into view.

Squad Ignatios was beset on all sides by Dusk Phantoms, a third of their bronze-clad number already dead a dozen meters away from where the main body now fought- obviously ambushed. Their attackers had already paid with interest based on the bodies splayed at the feet of the Brazen Angels- typical Ignatios, so usurious- but these Phantoms were not the immaculate blue-black novices.

>>55591370
Hunter-Killers, the Dusk Phantoms elite, had pinned down and surrounded squad Ignatios after they had charged and slain the foolhardy Phantoms who met them in hand-to-hand combat, thinking perhaps that their inner demons were of the same caliber as the Brazen Angels who now trampled their corpses; the rest had wisely retreated back to cover and were even now grinding the remaining Angels down.

Squad Arsenios had adopted a leonine stance, the Angels' conception of a stealthy attack, as they approached the battlefield and were drawing ever closer to the Dusk Phantoms' positions when members of the latter suddenly turned and pauselessly began firing on their new, would-be attackers as the rest unconcernedly continued to bleed squad Ignatios.

"Ignatios! You call us for a feast, and this is what you serve us?!" yelled Arsenios over the din of roaring Bolters and shrieking chainblades.
"Arsenios! I should've known that you would fuck up even as simple an ambush as this! Finish this already and I'll give you all you can handle!" the other Sergeant shouted back.

If the Dusk Phantoms were at all concerned at being trapped between two squads of cackling, though wounded, Brazen Angels they showed no signs of it, commendably shooting, moving, and ducking into cover with such speed and efficiency as to match the Angels' own Phalangites. It would not save them.

"-ee,four. Four kills Ignatios, what about you?" Challenged Arsenios.
"Seven in all, you child. What now, huh?" Sergeant Ignatios reciprocated.
Clearly outdone, Arsenios replied, "Only a shameless gloryhound such as yourself would brag about slaying a Dusk Phantom in close-combat, Ignatios, they weren't even equipped for it," he then changed the subject and spoke to his squad, "before we leave this utter mutt behind, be sure to take the Phantoms' ammunition, their tech-heresy has proven remarkably efficacious."

>>55590764
>>55591370
>>55591891
Cool. Who are these?

>>55591891
you should write this in crayon.

it would appeal to your audience better.

>>55591891
A long and exaggerated sigh escaped Ignatios' three lungs, a deep followed, but before he could speak one of his Phalangites placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I was not actually going to hit him, Leandros," muttered the incensed Sergeant.
"Decadarchos, squad Markos needs us, leave Arsenios to his pride-hunting, he needs as much as he can find," the Phalangite replied.

At the Phalangite's words Arsenios became silent, not because of the insult but because of Markos' call for aid. He broke the silence then, "Markos...he is the closest of all you here to matching me in prowess, for him to call for aid...none of us are safe."

Amidst the collective rolling of eyes, Honored Brother Argus growled, "What are we waiting for then? To glory!"
"Ah! He has come back to me!" Arsenios crowed as the Brazen Angels began to march.

Squad Markos was dead. Their bodies were found torn to pieces a few miles deeper into Dusk Phantoms territory than any of the other Brazen Angels had reached.

"We retreat." Arsenios said as he surveyed the
carnage around him.
"Hmmm..." Ignatios' vocalized noncommittally as the rest of both squads erupted into shouts of rage.
"Retreat?! After this butchery of our own flesh and blood?! Never! We bleed them!" It mattered not who said the words, all thought it regardless of whether they dared gainsay their superior.

"Tell me, what do you see?" Arsenios said as he gestured at the dead. It mattered not that he spoke to no one in particular, all turned and did as he asked.
"Markos, and Oreste, Gregor, Dion, Emperor-damn it Arsenios we're mad enough! Give the word! Let us loose!"
"Do you see nothing else?"
"No! There is nothing else but our martyred dead, there is nothing else that matters!"
"True, on both accounts," Arsenios' words had seemingly aged in an instant, "but tell me, with what weapons were our brother martyred."
"Wha-?! Swords, blades, whatever, what does it matter Arsenios?!"

>>55592436
Brazen Angels, Loyalist Chapter of the Chosen of Hecate. Hence the Greek names and words for squad, sergeant, etc.

>>55592437
Undoubtedly.

>>55592608
I would tone down the Greek nomenclature. That level of specificity is usually jarring and forgets that at the end of the day, they are still Astartes. Something as "vanilla" as an angelic chapter isn't going to jam it's culture into the basic nomenclature.

And even if they do it's a pain in the ass to read, and still jarring. Also, you wanna hop into the discord m8?

>>55592577
From his place beside Ignatios, Arsenios turned to face the men.

"Where are the enemy dead?"

Sergeant Ignatios turned to face the stunned Angels, "We retreat."

The Brazen Angels' surprise assault on the Dusk Phantoms outpost was a resounding success, achieving a tremendous kill-to-casualty ratio of just over three-to-one while accomplishing their stated objective of destroying an extensive cache of materiel vital for the Separatist's continued control of the planet.

"They slaughtered my men! Desecrated their bodies! I will not be stayed, Soterios!" Deep within the Brazen Angels' Chapter Keep, the Lord Commander stood from his throne and looked over the ranting Captain to the other nine and spoke.
"Unless the Emperor Himself commanded me, Hesperos, the thought would not have crossed my mind. The Dusk Phantoms will bleed for this."

>>55592662
>I would tone down the Greek nomenclature. That level of specificity is usually jarring and forgets that at the end of the day, they are still Astartes.
>And even if they do it's a pain in the ass to read, and still jarring.

Gotcha, will keep that in mind for the future.

>>55592662
i remember when someone suggested long ago that you guys move this shit heap into a discord.


the resounding answer was an autistic "No!1!!"

>>55592924
We've been using both for a loooong time now

>>55592924
Thanks for the comment fellow contributor

>>55593158
>>55593193
you are welcome, i am happy to bring some quality posts to this mess. And generate more replies in a few minutes than you have had in an hour.

>>55590764
>>55591370
>>55591891
>>55592577
Good stuff, though I do agree with Frederic that the Greek naming goes a bit overboard. Especially if they'd be trying to hide their lineage.

And joining the Discord would be nice, but no pressure.

>>55593286
Truly you are the hero /tg/ needs, but not the one it deserves, friend. ;)

>>55592662
>>55593853
A legend of sorts for the fluff. I won't be using such terminology in the future so it'll be applicable only to this story.

In order of appearance:
Idiotes- New recruits
Decadarchos- Leader of ten, Sergeant
Ouragos- Leader of five, combat squad commander.
Phalangite- Veteran, but not in an official sense; denotes those who have earned a long-service stud.
Stichos- Squad
Stichœ- Plural of stichos (squad)

>>55594171
Nice! You know Greek then?

>>55593853
>Especially if they'd be trying to hide their lineage.

You're absolutely right, Miletian (Greek) names and titles would probably be quite infamous in the Imperium. I'll definitely keep that in mind going forward.

>>55593193
Hi, may I ask how far along you've gotten in writing up the Emperor's Dragoons page. Any tips for headings, sub-headings, and formatting?

>>55594263
Nope! I do know how to pull up the Greek Phalanx page on Wikipedia though, lol. I don't even know if the information there is entirely accurate or not.

I've been wanting to take another swing at the map. One of the things I want to properly establish is the 7 constituent states. So, for the Seps, what are your legions' holdings, and for everyone, what should these states be called?

File: Sslyth.jpg (256 KB, 900x1286)

256 KB JPG

Sslyth empire when?

Bump

>>55599260
Whenever we want it, I suppose. I believe Mot suggested it waaaay back in the first couple of threads. How would you see that going down, and how would you justify it happening here as opposed to the OU.

>>55599260
>>55603466
I believe this is just Mot in an Anon disguise.

Iron Crusade: Early speculations of the events.
First off... Who initiated the crusade: Most likely either Steel Souls, Pale Hounds, Corsairs Gallant (Confirmed participants) or Iron Guard assisted by other Separatists (most likely supporters of the offensive are also the ones mentioned, due to tactical preferences or legion's interests).

Chaos/Traitor Forces present: Forge Lords (defending their territory and secrets), possibly Leviathan Host (Lovecraftian secrets hidden in the sector probably have them interested) and once the conflict escalates, possibly the followers of the great four join in, turning the battlefields into sacrificial altars for their gods.

From Loyalists, the most likely legions to join the defense are Death's Heads, Golden Mountains, The Sentinels and Star Warriors. Other legions would likely join in when conflict escalates and civilian casualties skyrocket.

>>55604126
The early parts of the Crusade would consist of Separatists taking a foothold in the sector: the fighting is mostly skirmishes and small-scale space battles at this point. Soon enough Forge Lords take notice, and begin a counter-offensive. Soon after, the first Loyalist defenders arrive, beginning the second stage of the Crusade.

At this point, the conflict grows in scale, as skirmishes turn to all-out sieges and ground warfare, the heavens burn as fleets exchange blows and Traitor forces begin to trickle in, drawn to the bloodshed and suffering like moths to the flames. By this point, Separatists have fortified the Jericho Maw Warpgate they used to enter the sector, ensuring that the gate will be defended and under their control for possible future offensives. Secondary objectives of collecting technology, artefacts and secrets commence as the Separatists strengthen their positions. Loyalists establish their front, beginning the third stage of the war.

>>55604238
Now that all sides of the conflict have established themselves, the war turns to a meat grinder: Civilians die in droves, Guard regiments are drafted from the survivors and entire worlds are devastated all across the warzone. All sides collect their allies for the final stretch of the battle: The Separatists cut their losses and withdraw to their fortified positions around the Warpgate, having achieved their objectives and now only having to defend the Warpgate. Chaos and loyalists begin an offensive, against each other and against Separatist positions. The end result could go any way, with likely victors being Separatists, successfully holding their position. Loyalists would hold most of the contested areas, but Chaos would consume much of the population and resources, making it a questionable victory for the Loyalists who continue to hold most of Calixis Sector. Chaos' hold of the Spinward Front would strengthen, but it would likely turn out to be barely worth the resources thrown into the grinder, if not for the favor of the Gods and spreading the influence of Chaos.

>>55604126
>>55604238
>>55604329
Looking good. So the Sector gets FUBAR And the Seppies get away with the cool toys.

>>55604358
At least most likely. That is simply the base, the most likely course of events that can be changed as seen fit.

>>55604126
>>55604238
>>55604329
I'm liking this outline. Couple of points.

>Most likely either Steel Souls, Pale Hounds, Corsairs Gallant (Confirmed participants) or Iron Guard assisted by other Separatists
My personal interpretation of the Sep State leads to me assume it'd be the Corsairs Gallant that find the actual Warp-gate. It's xenos in origin, so they'd be interested in this incredible tech. When can't figure it out, they call in the Dusk Phantoms, who then manage to turn on the gate. This is how we explain the gate activating waaaay before it does in canon. (I'll get back to that)

>Forge Lords
Do the Forge Lords have holdings in the Calixis sector? I know they do at first, but I doubt they could hold material territory post-Brotherwar.

>Loyalists
At this point, all the loyal legions have been shattered. Any successors in a nearby system would swoop in and help out, I'd imagine.

-------
So, about the timeframe. When does it fill right to say this Crusade takes place? I'm thinking somewhere between M35 and M37.

>>55604683
Ouais! M35/37 seems a good time period. By that time, the Silver Blades would have at least 2 (written) successors, the Sky Bringers and the Mourners of the Forefather, so they could take part too (along the Silver Blades themselves?)

>>55605127
Cool. I also think it's important to emphasize the role of non-Astartes groups on the Imperial side. The Seps have more Space Marines, but the Imperium brings the Imperial Guard, Inquisition (Ordo Desertus), Sisters of Battle and Adeptus Mechanicus. The Seps just have Astartes and a couple of mortal (xenos) auxiliaries.

>>55605170
Regiments from Kadir f.ex? I want to fluff them a bit

>>55605260
That would entirely depend on the exact location of Kadir. Even then, I feel like Kadir and it's forces, be it Guard or Astartes, have already been featured very prominently in many events and campaigns. A Crusade on the northern flank of the Imperium is a good opportunity for others to shine. The SoB especially need more love.

>>55605415
How's LK going on the SB work?

>>55605446
Can't say that I know for sure. Even then, if we change the origin story for the Sisters, that doesn't mean they'll act all that differently.

>>55605638
Yeah I know, I'm just interested.

>>55605763
Hopefully she'll be able to grant us some insights soon. I'll ask her.

>>55605415
>Location
Nay. IG Regiments are sent to where they are needed. If that's in the other side of the Galaxy isn't a big problem.

>The rest
Fine then. Bolter Bitches FTW!

>>55603570
>>55603466
It is, I forgot my name.

>>55607604
I'm still confused about Calixian Adepts claim that Mot has 'territory' in Calixis. Is that the case? Because I don't really see how that adds up.

File: Screaming_Vortex_Map2.jpg (420 KB, 1024x668)

420 KB JPG

>>55608066
Screaming Vortex. In OU, chaos warbands used it as their own miniature Eye of Terror.

>>55608066
Maybe is because his interests in the Calixis Sector during the Brotherwar

File: Screaming_Vortex.jpg (1.22 MB, 2312x1416)

1.22 MB JPG

>>55608232
Alternative image.

>>55608066
I'd postulated that maybe there were a number of Forge Lords in the screaming vortex because of Mot's actions there during the great crusade.

Should it be agreed upon, I could navigate the Haarlock family through this AU, beginning during the Iron Crusade where their family establishes themselves as Rogue Traders. While not quite important enough to be called a faction, they do have a rather important part to play in the future of Calixis Sector.

>>55610091
I'm perfectly alright with you picking up the Haarlock Rogue Traders, or pretty much any other faction you'd like to take a swing at.

>>55610091
Yeah, go ahead. During the Crusade itself, what kind of role would the Haarlocks take?

>>55610501
As free captain of a lone ship, Mordechai Haarlock (First of his line) would be of little use in the grand scheme of the war: However, he would transport supplies, troops and refugees and join naval battles in support of the mighty battleships of the Imperium. Acts too small to change the tide, but effort, bravery and devotion beyond most mortal men.

>>55610572
Did they already exist all the way back in M31? What is their opinion of the Separatists in general, Corsairs specifically, and the Traders that side with them?

>>55610597
Haarlocks became prevalent only after the Iron Crusade, but the family had existed long before that. They are generally opportunists, men and women of curiosity and greed. Their opinion of the Separatists was that of contempt: Haarlocks were not intent on becoming servants or lower beings. Separatist idea of Marine supremacy thus caught the Haarlocks' ire, and Haarlock line is famous for two things: Their sadistic malice and their hateful vengeance upon those who have wronged them. Thus, Mordechai Haarlock was more than happy to commit his ship and his life to dealing as painful a blow as he could to those who would enslave him as an inferior creature. They held similar hatred to those who would submit on their own accord to such slavery.