Ornsworld was equal parts Austria and The Shire.

Was.

The population was exterminated to the last child in the 12th Black Crusade.

Now it's a lot of land reverting to wilderness, radioactive craters and stained alter stones next to body pits.

It's being resettled by those that were off-world at the time. The Halflings are out for blood.

>>56286707
I liked how some of the 12th Black Crusade stuff had deliberate parallels to the Scouring of the Shire.

By the way, this leads me to a question I had been wondering about. What insult do Chaos worshippers use to refer to the Imperium in this timeline? Normally they use "corpse worshippers" but in this timeline the Emperor isn't a corpse.

I'd imagine (and I think this is present in most of what's been written) that Crone Eldar probably use the omnipresent "mon-keigh" when referring to humans. And it's likely they'd probably use the "H word" when referring to their non-Chaos worshipping kin, seeing as the Crones see Chaos as the fruits of the Old Eldar Empire and therefore the Craftworlders, Exodites, and Dark Eldar are heretics for rejecting it. Especially since Vect's first act as lord of Commorragh was to kill or kick out all the Chaos sympathizers who wanted to open the gates of Khaine and let the daemons in.

But what do human worshippers of Chaos (Lost and Damned, Blood Pact) call Imperials? Especially humans?

>>56287730
Heathens, Lessers, Forsaken, Unbelievers and other insults.

Cadians call them "kneelers". Cadians do not kneel.

>>56287730
Eldar/Mon-keigh slaves. Chaos Eldar consider the false idol of Isha being subservient to the Emperor as a sign of any non-Chaos eldar being subservient to humans, and human Chaos worshippers consider the allowance of an eldar goddess in the highest halls of power as sure sign that the human Imperium has been subverted by those god damn pointy eared scum.

This can lead to some interesting arguments in mixed eldar/human chaos warbands.

>>56287971
Well, unless they're steadying themselves to take a shot at someone's head. But then they might say they were just squatting. Just don't say it in the vicinity of a Hubworlder or they'll go "What did ya just say ya varmint?"

>>56288038
Do the Blood Pact have different opinions than the rest of the Imperium? They were originally an Imperial sector corrupted with Urshi beliefs by Doombreed during the Great Crusade.

Eldar weren't a thing to the Imperium at the time they were fighting Ursh (with the exception of the Dark Eldar trying to raid the Afrique League), and we have no idea how assimilated the sector Doombreed corrupted was. They could be anywhere from "almost assimilated" to "barely influenced by Imperial culture". It's been implied it's closer to the latter, but all that's been said for sure is that it wasn't fully assimilated yet.

>>56286128
Did we ever do anything about the more grimdark Guard regiments, like Mordians or Death Korps?

>>56289336
Death Korps yes definitely. Not sure about the Mordians.

>>56289365
Did we change anything, or did we keep them close to canon?

>>56289383
Here:

https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Nobledark_Imperium_Notable_Planets#Krieg

https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Nobledark_Imperium_Notable_Planets#Mordia

Provides the basis. I'd give something more in depth than links, but I gotta run.

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>>56287730
>I liked how some of the 12th Black Crusade stuff had deliberate parallels to the Scouring of the Shire.

Not quite. Dial it up another notch and then some.

Imagine if Samwise "Simply Walked Into Mordor" Gamgee came back to The Shire and found that rather then his people enslaved they had been exterminated. He looks around and finds only abandoned death camps. He can find some recognizable landmarks, the tree stump of the tree around which Old Bilbo had his birthday party, a few walls where the mill stood, the hill of Bagend but the burrow/house is now just a collapsed depression in the ground.

He can't identify the bodies. There are too many. He can't force himself to look at that twisted and mangled heap. Where is Rosie Cotton? Did she make it across the border before shit went really bad? Of course she didn't.

Now imagine if Samwise "Troll Slayer" Gamgee was 423rd in line to the throne of a planet now bumped up to Overthane (or whatever title) becasue everyone else on the long list is dead.

Can you imagine what that would be like? They would sing his praise to the end of time. The man who orchestrated the rebuilding. The man who taught them the ways of war. Chaos has taken the last of their innocence and violated the sanctum sanctorum of Ornsworld.

And then there is Governor Gamgee, last of his name, heir to a land of corpses and sorrow.

Those that come back? Ornsworld was an idyllic little slice of quaint paradise among the stars. Homely and comfy and always welcoming and generous. They are not anymore.

Chaos may have shot itself in the foot with this one. They saw they were small and simple folk and thought them weak but every Chaos Marine reaches all the way to the ground. Give a ratling/halfling a decent sniper rifle and a week to practice and he can take the left testicle off of a gnat at half a mile, no scope.

Ornsworld is rising again.

>>56289115
The Blood Pact at this point is a ten thousand year old regime founded on the principle of "fuck the Imperium" that's been smashed with the defeat of each Black Crusade and slowly rekindled with the return of Doombreed each time. Its hard for the Imperium to destroy without major effort because its on the other side of the Eye of Terror, and once whatever semblance of order over there has been smashed Doombreed is able to salvage the remnants of his old influence and turn it into his little Urshian star kingdom of hate.

Absolutely nothing to do with the thread, sorry.
But that portrait is from the board game Talisman, the Tavernmaid (one of my absolute favorite characters)

Does anyone here actually play Talisman? It's on steam.

>>56290064
Blood Pact could only potentially be as old as it's current incarnation if everyone or near as everyone dies. Doombreed could be resurrecting it nearly whole cloth every time.

Has there ever been an official map given of Catachan?

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>>56290006
Something I've seen to notice is pretty much living in this AU is just "Is living in the Imperium that bad?" section from 1D4chan. Sure there are secret police along with censorship and mass surveillance, literally daemon outbreaks, evil aliens trying to control your elites, and brainwashing secret societies. But at least it isn't as bad as being eaten by Tyranids.

The big difference is between GrimDark and NobleDark is that not everybody is a shitter because the universe shits on you. Its more like the universe gives the heroes a pat on the back before shitting on them as the problem they solved only delayed the inevitable countdown on the Doomsday Clock.
Also would anybody mind if I work on the lore of Reri "The Bullied" Hesperax

>>56295693
I think also in the Nobledark the Imperium is a little less 'Ends Justify the Means.' The ends still justify the means, it's just that as a galactic governing policy, they take a hard look to see if there are any other, less exterminatus/servitorization/genocidal means first. Which also has the benefit that, because they give more of a damn about the process of which they receive tithes, victories, and loyalty, the corrupt and psychopathic can't thrive as well. Original GrimDark wouldn't care that Governor McPuppySodomizer has an infant grinder at the center of every city as long as his taxes are paid on time. Nobledark will take the effort to put a stop to this infant grinding, and hopefully will be able to put those otherwise ground up infants to better use.

Also I would love Reri.

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So I was looking around on 1d4chan and I found out that there currently a Phoenix Lord series out that explores the background of the various Phoenix Lords in more detail and (in typical GW fashion) retconning the hell out of things. The changes to Jain Zar seem to be particularly controversial. I suggest that, like just about everything else with this project, we cherry-pick the best elements out of the old and new fluff and reinvent what we don’t need or find to be stupid. It also gave me a little bit of an idea of what to do with Jain Zar.

Although Asurmen was by far the grandmaster of the Shrine of Asur and the one in charge of the place, few who would argue that Jain Zar was second in command. Jain Zar was the first student of Asurmen, and acted as Asurmen’s right hand, constant companion, and closest confidant. It is even rumored that their relationship was more than simply platonic, but nothing has ever emerged to confirm this, and frankly after the both of them have been reborn so many times any such feelings are likely to have been muddled by the repeated reincarnation.

As in the new canon, long before the Fall, Asurmen was kind of a ditherer when it came to the Pleasure Cults. He wasn’t exactly a huge fan of them but at the same time he wasn’t an anti-pleasure cult zealot like his brother Tethesis, because hey, it’s a cult devoted to making people happy? What could be wrong with that? It might have helped that he was living on the far edges of the Empire and didn’t see how the Crone Worlds had devolved into “what cruel and unusual shit can we do for kicks today?” He did leave the Empire for the Exodite Worlds, but that was mostly because his brother was doing so and he wanted to support him. As the Exodite colony grew and the first generation of Eldar outside of the empire started being born, Asurmen was happy for his brother, but still thought going to live in the middle of nowhere was a bit of an overreaction.

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>>56296890
That all changed when the Exodite world was ransacked for slaves by raiders from Commorragh. It should be noted that this was back in the days before Commorragh was seen as synonymous with treachery. Back then it was merely seen as an extralegal domain where Eldar aristocrats went to satisfy their perverse lusts that even the mainstream empire found distasteful. And here they were hunting down their own people like they were game animals. They even siphoned away the souls of the planet’s World Spirit for use back in Commorragh. Asurmen just barely managed to save his brother’s soul, but the rest were stolen.

This was the breaking point for Asurmen. It didn’t matter what one thought of the pleasure cults, this was simply wrong. He had caught a glimpse of the abyss into which the Empire was headed, and he didn’t like it. No longer would he stand by and watch his people slip away into madness. If there were Eldar who wanted to stand against the darkness, he would teach them how to fight it tooth and nail. It was this event that would put Asurmen on the path to being an eldar nobody to the kind of person who, by the time of the actual Fall, was respected enough that he could speak and get all of the Craftworlds to shut up and listen (if he hadn’t died in the immediate aftermath of the Fall, anyway).

As in canon, Asurmen may not be the guy’s original name in the first place, as it basically means “left hand of god”. This isn’t exactly uncommon for the Phoenix Lords, Jain Zar was originally named Faraethil even in the old fluff, and I’m damn sure Maugan Ra isn’t the guy’s original name (seeing as it means “harvester of souls”).

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>>56296916
The only other Eldar to survive the Commorroghites’ raid on the Exodite World was Jain Zar. Jain Zar was the young daughter of a widowed Eldar woman who had been born on the planet. The two of them lived next to Tethesis and Asurmen and Tethesis had been in a relationship with the older of the two. Asurmen fought his way to his home to try to rescue his brother and his neighbors, but only found Jain Zar alive.

Unlike Asurmen, Jain Zar never grew up surrounded by the glories of the Eldar Empire. She never set foot on Shaa-Dome or seen the impossible geometries of Commorragh. All she thinks of when anyone mentions the Eldar Empire is how slavers from the Empire killed her entire family. Comparing her to the Crone or the Dark Eldar is kind of a sore spot for her. Vulkan called her a credit to her species in respect to the Crones and Commorraghites shortly before the Raid and got an earful for it.

As for the other Phoenix Lords, I didn't have much more of an idea than what we have already. Maugan Ra was the "surly, unpleasant" member of the Phoenix Lords, largely because he was one of the only survivors of the Fall of Altansar. Despite that, he was loyal to Asurmen, and was kind of insulted that the other Phoenix Lords thought he was the traitor when the Shrine of Asur burnt down. Unlike most of the other Phoenix Lords except maybe Baharroth, Ra is still on his first life but is never around when you need him.

As we suggested before, Arhra got PTSD from the Raid, burned down the Shrine of Asur, and disappeared after a massive battle between him and the other Phoenix Lords Oh who are we kidding, he's probably Drahzar.

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>>56293323
This is the closest that seems to be out there. I know it's not very good.

>>56297090
It's all good. Plz moar

Are there any names ratlings?

>>56297104
If Catachan is meant to be a Greenhouse Hell with complete jungle cover then that just looks entirely wrong. There is either not enough surface water on the planet to sustain enough of a water cycle to keep it all green.

Assuming that is just one supercontinent and there is a fucking huge ocean on the other side then there should be mostly empty arid wasteland on the land side of the globe.

Also there should be ice at the poles or at least some indication of differing climate between extreme latitudes.

That picture makes me angrier than it should.

>>56300585
According to
http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Ratling

Stumper Muckstart - An excellent sniper with a gambling problem.

Magogg - First ever confirmed Imperial kill of an Ethereal.

Manvolio - Head of a group of ratling snipers who held a bridge against a force of Tau + Kroot for an unexpectedly long time. Had to be fucked up by Stealth Suits before he would be persuaded to retreat.

Given that the Tau have been allies or actual members of the Imperium for a long time no in this AU they will either have been fighting historical battles and are now dead, a different enemy or Farsight Enclave.

Magogg could have been accredited with the first confirmed kill of a Chaos Eldar in the 12th Black Crusade.

Manvolio could have been fighting Kroot Extremists who wanted to hunt and eat actual people rather than the vat-grown meat. Or maybe Gene-stealer cultists and instead of Stealth Suits finally fucking his shit up it was Purestrains.

Stumper Muckstart can be left as is as a slightly delinquent but with a heart of goldish space hobbit fits this Imperium pretty well.

>>56301890
Would the first kill of a Crone in the Black Crusades be a big deal? I realize the Crones aren't as easy to kill as a Tau, but someone would have killed a Crone eventually in the 12th BC simply because it was the Crones who were invading. Aa opposed to an Ethereal who, even though it's a Tau, killing one is a big deal.

>>56304276
The confirmed presence of the Crones would make it officially a Black Crusade rather than just a bunch of Chaos Orks and Fallen getting restless.

Or if you want to make it a more notable kill it could be that he took out DOOMRIDER.

Other than being smol what other makes them different to regular people?

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>>56295693
>Reri Hesperax
Illucis Grizvaldi, following his emergency Warp jump to escape Imperial forces, was stranded on an unknown planet within Ultima Segmentum when Lelith Hesperax found him. Or rather the Dark Eldar agents that found him. When approached by these agents to be commissioned for the creation of a living weapon or risk starving to death in the middle of nowhere, he refused to work for Lelith unless they allowed his remaining disciples be taken with him.

After coming to an agreement, the heretek along with his cult was taken back to Commorragh to being his finest creation. The treacherous Dark Eldar politics have caused the famous Succubus for an insurance along with a weapon for her own personal use outside of the city. It began with taking the embryo from Lelith to have it grow in a vat. Once the child was fully developed with accelerated aging to around 17, her ears and limbs were cut off. Citing the need to install cybernetics along with ridding of the typical hypersensitive Eldar weaknesses located on the feet, hands, and ears. Machines built for utility, enhanced movement and hunting were integrated into the girl's body over time, as she was trained while brainwashed into the blind obedience of Lelith.

Given the codename "Reri", she was made for tracking and assassination of all Lelith's rivals outside of Commorragh. Illucis whispered some unknown words to Lelith before leaving, those words would be the killswitch for the cybernetics on Reri if the machines ever picked up the vibrations of those words. Not to mention the explosives built into the limbs that would probably kill Reri. In the 41st Millenium however, Reri has gone on to kill some diverse targets that only a lucky few have survived against her. Not even the Emperor can truly defend himself from that Dark Eldar but Reri wasn't assigned to target the Imperial Family yet.

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>>56307924
Without the ears, Reri could either install specialized equipment or synthetic ears for infiltration as an Abhuman. The limbs have also been heavily modified to always have motion sensors, vox comms, powerful magnetics, and survival tools like a knife or lockpicks. they can also be outfitted with built-in weapons and tracking instruments. This was all done while adding durability to have them be tougher than Eldar bone without sacrificing the mobility.

Some say that her appearance is eerily similar to that of a Human with the right limbs and ears, creating another conspiracy theory saying the Impossible Child was already built by the Dark Eldar. Although few subscribe to this theory, it has been given exposure following the assassination of an Inquisitor in Sol right after the 12th Black Crusade. There are also some within the Imperial government who suspect Reri interfered with Legienstrasse's death, although it is unknown how much she was involved. One thing was certain, however, Reri was tracking down Legienstrasse when the Imperials killed the renegade assassin. With increasingly erratic behavior after The Wedding, Lelith worries about sending Reri away as the chance of her going rogue also increase.

>What do you guys think about Reri Hesperax's backstory?
>https://youtu.be/srujv6YNPAg

>>56308756
It's all good but for two things.

Firstly the implication that she might be able to bother the royal couple should only be hoped by the Dark Eldar as an outside possibility. Isha and Oscar both operate on another level when compared to mere mortals. Even such exquisitely crafted ones.

Other thing is that Legienstrasse is very much alive and well and lives in the Ganymede facilities. She and Inquisitor Draco get along like a house on fire.

If Reri was to be involved with anything to do with Legienstrasse it would be with assisting her children. Her children and grand children and possible further descendants are all manner of fucked up being somewhere between Alex Mercer (Prototype) and The Thing.

Other than that it is good.

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>>56309036
Fuck I forgot Ganymede was a thing. On the subject of the Imperial Family, I'm not saying Reri could actually kill them it's more so the Dark Eldar think she could kill Oscar.

What if I changed it to

>There are also some within the Imperial government who suspect Reri interfered with Legienstrasse's capture, although it is unknown how much she was involved. One thing was certain, however, Reri was tracking down Legienstrasse when the Imperials caught the renegade assassin.

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It was said in the last thread that the common perception of Ratlings is that they are a race of promiscuous gluttons with slight hedonistic tendencies. They lived on an agri-world that was lush and rich inf food. That anon also pointed out that becoming smaller is not what happens to a population with abundant food. Also if they had always been breeding like rabbits then they would have depleted the food supply long before the Imperium discovered them.

The multiplying, food rich environment was the result of the Imperium finding them just as an Ice Age came to a rather abrupt end and huge swathes of arable land became available on Ornsworld. Before that Ornsworld had been a very cold, very bleak place to live. Finding them in such a state resulted in the stereotype that endured for most of Imperial history despite their behavioral trends changing somewhat over the years.

Then the 12th Black Crusade and the Ornsworld Extermination.

It's been the better part of a millennium since then. Their numbers have recovered somewhat from the few thousands that were off-world.

But now they are not the happy jolly people that the older people of the Imperium remember them as. The tendency towards big families has returned and in truth the fondness for a few pints of ale never really went away but now Ornsworld is getting very famous for something other than the best cooks in the known galaxy.

It is known that they make excellent marksmen. They can also sneak like champions. All Ornsworld soldiers carry a spool of what looks like piano wire. It's silk from the giant domesticated spiders. They typically make pretty silver dresses and shirts out of it. If they can slip it under the helmet they can cut into an orks neck all the way to the bone with training and practice.

The Imperium demands a tithe from it's worlds. Ornsworld pays that in food surplus. The increasing numbers of soldiers it demands the Imperium take have the world paying almost three times what is asked of it.

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>>56310519
Much like the Ophelia system and Cadia there has now been forced a restriction on how many can be allowed into the Guard so as to not bleed the world of needed hands in essential industries. Visitors to Ornsworld have seen the place running itself ragged, what pleasures there are on that world are the defiant good cheer of it's citizenry and the simple pleasures of life. Anything too extravagant has been sacrificed for the War Effort. Ornsworld was found weak and fat once, it will not be again.

>>56306902
Each hand has three fingers and two thumbs. The little finger has become larger and stronger and the middle now does the job of the index finger. The Index finger is now a second thumb.

Feet are noticeably larger than normal humans in proportion to the rest of the body. They are also somewhat hand like. The sole of the foot is slightly shorter proportionally but the toes are longer, robust the larger toe is opposable.

It has been observed that they can hang from the underside of branches with their feet, even managing to line up a medium to long distance kill shot whilst doing so. They also do not wear foot ware unless they absolutely have to.

They do not have especially hairy feet. No more than the average human has hairs on the backs of their hands, it's just more noticeable. Typically they can't grow beards although many of the man can grow sideburns.

Despite rumours they can not typically see better in the dark than baseline humans. They just prefer to attack at night because when you're under four foot tall you really need every advantage you can get.

bump

>>56305445
Do we even know what the fuck Doomrider is in this timeline? We know where Doombreed comes from. There was a suggestion a long time ago that Dechala the Denied One and N'kari are eldar and human Daemon Prince/sses that keep fighting and one-upping one another to try to show to Slaanesh that eldar/humans are better and because She Who Thirsts finds it hilarious.

The fuck is Doomrider? In canon he's a Slaaneshi Chaos Marine, but it's never really said how he got that way. Only that he's from the Emperor's Children and the White Scars really hate his guts.

>>56308756
Kind of reminds me of the Androids in Dragonball Z, specifically the "put a bomb in your cybernetics in case you decide to go rogue". This isn't necessarily a bad thing.

>>56309036
>Firstly the implication that she might be able to bother the royal couple should only be hoped by the Dark Eldar as an outside possibility. Isha and Oscar both operate on another level when compared to mere mortals. Even such exquisitely crafted ones.

This. Agree with the suggestion here (>>56309378, yes I know it is the same person as the original writefag). Indeed, the idea that the Dark Eldar think Reri could kill Oscar or Isha fits well with their worldview of the Dark Eldar being supreme, being the only free beings with no need for gods or laws restraining them.

We don't really have a concrete story as to how Legienstrausse ended up in Ganymede. We know she's loyal, but beyond the fact that she submitted to Imperial custody and didn't try to kill everyone while all the other subjects of the experiment turned into monsters it's not clear how things went from point A to B.

>>56310901
God. They're like miniature Kriegers except that they chose this lifestyle instead of being born into it.

Bump.

>>56314656
I wouldn't say that the Ratlings are as badas Kriegers. They still have stuff outside of war.

++Thought for the Day: Let your first thought upon waking always be "What can I do for the Imperium today."++

>>56318129
Someone should collect this Nobledark Imperial Toughts and put them all togheter on 1d4chan. They are lovable

>>56309036
I'm with this guy here, Reri is nowhere near the Imperial Couple and shouldn't even be near Legienstrasse in power because that gives way too much importance to a minor fapbait character (I know she's written as a grimdark cyborg here, but come on, we all know where she came from). Legienstrasse in canon fought off Lysander, an Emperor's Champion, a squad of SM veterans, an Eversor, and like 2 grandmaster assassins, putting her solidly at around Greater Daemon power levels, and to put a minor character imported from /tg/ fluff on that tier is silly.

And if the DE truly believe for whatever reason she could take on Oscar, that simply puts them from extremely arrogant to extremely stupid. Current day Emps is beyond canon Chaos Horus at this point, and we've agreed that the only "mortal" being anywhere near being able to take on Emps 1v1 in this AU is Lady Malys, and in-universe she makes sure EVERYONE knows it.

>>56319702
Also let's not forget that Legienstrasse is a loyal imperial citizen and is voluntarily staying on Ganymede. Of course if she didn't stay voluntarily they would forcibly detain her but she is understanding of the situation and has made no attempt to escape (bar a few pranks with Inquisitor Draco and she came right back without a fight).

Reri, given what she now is in this AU, should be powerful. Take on a squad of Mandrakes on an even footing type powerful.

What would be a good title for the Governor of Ornsworld or are we just going to stick with the generic Governor?

How is this different from Brighthammer? I don't know jack shit about this project, so please explain.

>>56322299
Brighthammer had a galaxy full of high adventure where the world was wondrous and the people usually good.

Nobledark is that the galaxy is a steaming heap of malicious shit but the people are good.

Lord of the Rings could be described as Nobledark for example.

Sigma-Agrius was also a Ratling homeworld that tried to break away from the Imperium and had to be brought back into line via military action in Vanilla. Is that still the case here?

Would they be different to Orndworld Ratlings?

>>56323437
They could be a pre-extermination colony that set up and refused to pay tithe.

This was not taken well

>>56289365
Mordians I think are very much as they were minus the xenophobia.

>>56319702
>extremely arrogant to extremely stupid
Do you know that the Dark Eldar basically use shotguns when fighting against Space Marines?

>>56327044
They are very good shotguns

>>56323437
Ornsworld is the primary homeworld of the ratlings in this timeline. Because the Imperium isn't as concernes about muh Holy Human form, abhumans are allowed to set up colony worlds or immigrate to other planets instead of being confined on their honeworld. Both ratlings and felinids have colonies all across the Inperium (it's why Ornsworld wasn't a death sentence for the species after the 12th BC). Given the number of ratling colonies and the sheer scale of time, it is inevitable that at least one would rebel.

Ogryn and Beastmen are an exception, not because they are forbidden to immigrate, but because there are multiple centers of origin unlike ratlings or felinids.

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>>56321896
Given that it's Austria + The Shire I'm inclined to go with Archduke. Thain was the title of the leaders of The Shire in Middle-Earth but Thane was about as low on the hierarchy as you could be in Saxon England and still be considered part of the nobility.

I'm also going to suggest that the title had fallen out of tradition of being a hereditary title by the time of the Extermination. By then they had elections, of a sort. You voted for the family you wanted to rule the Royal House rather than the individual.

The elected family would then distribute themselves around as administrators and such functionaries. The various nations operated on a similar principle in that there were votes on which family got to be the national royal family.

Ratlings were typically generous to a fault, tend not to be materialistic and feel great happiness in the giving of gifts. As such it was usual to have the richest family voted into power because they would spread all of the wealth that they could across their nation.

The Planetary Royal Family was usually elected for typically producing diligent, honest and thoughtful workers because nobody could be rich enough to give to a whole planet and it actually make a difference.

It didn't always work out that way but that was the intention of their system.

Needless to say this all went away in the aftermath of the Extermination if only because there weren't any families left that could trace their numbers big enough to form any sort of government. The only coherent force left were the regiments returning home.

Around those heartbroken regiments Ornsworld was rebuilt. It's a military dictatorship, but a very well meaning and competent one. Closer to Cadia than to Krieg.

The title of Archduke was originally a military title back in the half remembered days of Orn the Great in the early years of the Age of Strife. It's only been in the more pleasant years that the meaning was forgotten. Now it means again what it once did.

>>56329659
Didn't we have the name of whoever was in charge of Ornsworld in the fluff for the 12th Black Crusade?

>>56331072
I can't find one but It's late and I'm tired so I'm probably mission something.

>>56331072
I remember writing up the summary of the 12th BC where traitor Night Lords warband called Warp Hounds exterminated the fuck out of Ornsworld. Making a reference to the Biblical slaughtering by Israelites carried out on several cities. While Crone witches and herateks carried out experiments on the Eye of Night.

>>56331157
>>56332273
I just checked. There was no mention of who runs/ran Ornsworld. There was a mention of Ratling Lords, but no one elaborated on that so I think it was a throwaway mention.

On a related note, how do people feel about the idea of the Sapiens Supremis attack on Sreta Ulthran being correlated with Fyodor Karamazov's fit and the Inquisitorial "Civil War". Not as a direct consequence, but as a result of Fyodor stirring up shit and instigating people to action. I had an idea for something (not Sreta's assassination, but something else), and I was going to mention the Sapiens Supremis attack as a throwaway mention of the negative effects Fyodor's attempted coup had.

I was concerned it might be too much of "everything is connected", as well as its effect on the timeline. The Sapiens Supremis attack was considered "recent". We don't have an idea of how recent the coup was (though we know the timeline goes 12th BC -> Burning of Saint Salem -> Fyodor throwing a coup). However, "recent" for the Imperium has been used to refer to everything from the Badab War to the Battle of Ultramar and Dorhai upping the stakes. I'd wager that the Sapiens Supremis attack was closer to Dorhai's No Gothic and attacks on Jubbowski (which is like 700.M41) than the 12th BC (which IIRC was on New Years Eve of 001.M41).

++Thought for the Day: To defy barbarism, even in a hopeless situation, is its own point, its own end, and its own reward.++

Something about this thread makes me think of "the Culture explores 40k", have you guys ever read it?

>>56335670
I have. Parts of it were quite weak, but overall decent.

>>56309036
What are the extent of what Legienstrasse can do?

>>56332273
What is Eye of Night

>>56333860
I think we were trying to spread the events out more in this timeline rather than the Vanilla where despite having 10,000 years to play with they still crammed everything into the last half hour.

>>56337082
Change shape to a greater extent than polymorph drugs allow, get cells to swap type and form complex organ systems on the fly and heal like Wolverine.

Her children could form more bizarre organ systems and change their form to greater extents. Not out of any inherently better nature or anything but because Legienstrasse was born human and had to learn to do what she could do. Her children were born like that and it cam instinctive.

Her children were all monsters and so were her grand children.

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>>56337668
The Eye of Night was a xenos artifact on Ornsworld that can emit beams of light which will drive machines mad.

>>56340301
Could be another piece of Old One junk.

I'm imagining that the storage facility on Ganymede is some distance away from the main complex. It fucks with the equipment so they don't want it fucking up the Containment Measures of the other "things".

The facilities are as low tech as you can make them and still survive the inhospitable environment of Ganymede. 0 automation, 0 computers and everything has to be done by hand. Can't even get a vehicle to it. It's a 3 day hike to the cave under the mountain from Vault 43.

You know you done fucked up somewhere when they give you the guard duty on that Vault.

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>>56341527
Apparently, it was a xenos artifact from a race the Eldar Empire once fought before they exterminated them. The xenos was so vile that no Eldar record write their name or utter it. These artifacts were either hidden or lost to time after that war until the Imperium rediscovered them. The Imperium would then later lock them up on planets like Purgatory and Ornsworld.

>>56342159
Wouldn't it make more sense to stuff them in Ganymede? That's where all the other stuff that the Imperium wants to bury but can't or aren't able to destroy gets stuffed.

Also, didn't the Crones successfully get the Eye of Night?

>>56337082
Basically Alex Mercer or the Thing in 40k. She can eat people with just skin contact and absorb the DNA of whatever or whoever she eats, in addition to what was mentioned by >>56339483.

>>56339483
Does anyone else think it might be a better idea to have the monsters the Imperium keeps Legienstrausse around to hunt down be the failed test subjects and their children rather than her own? I think in canon Legienstrausse had to do the whole Species thing to make babies, and the Imperium would immediately notice something is wrong when one of their assassins starts laying eggs. I mean, unless we can spin it better with plot.

>>56343737
It's possible that her child or children were born in the normal manner because she remains human shaped out of habit.

I think the failures either died or got cancer. The people responsible were "seen to" by the Inquisition.

>>56343737
>Wouldn't it make more sense to stuff them in Ganymede? That's where all the other stuff that the Imperium wants to bury but can't or aren't able to destroy gets stuffed.

Probably best not to stuff all the nightmare eggs in one basket, least one of them breaks the walls and lets everything else out as well.

>>56344196
The question is more how would the Inquisition not notice that they have a problem in that Legienstrausse keeps producing monsters. Heck, if Legienstrausse realized that she was doing it she would probably stop it.

>>56337950
Agreed. The only thing to keep in mind is that due to the extreme timescale it's difficult to have more than two significant figures interact with each other, even indirectly. Even with the Eldar characters. Yriel and Iyanna would have to be middle-aged for Eldar at least considering they were active when Kraken hit. Karamazov must have been one of the lucky ones with rejuvenants to have been the Inquisitorial Representative at the turn of the millenium and yet still up and causing trouble as of 999.M41 to the utter misfortune of the rest of the Imperium. And having him be yet another old soldier just barely making it into Ragnarok sounds a bit too much like Kryptman and Shadowsun.

But I mean it's not like it doesn't have a basis in canon Kyril Sindermann lived for at least two millennia after all.

>>56344196
>It's possible that her child or children were born in the normal manner because she remains human shaped out of habit

Somewhere on Ganymede: “ALRIGHT HOLD UP, WHICH ONE OF YOU IDIOTS BANGED THE SUPERWEAPON?”

>>56345795
presumably Lord Inquisitor Draco

>>56345279
It's possible and probable that it wasn't evident that her children were monsters until after they were mature. Until then maybe the Inquisition thought they had found a new and better type of Super Soldier.

Give that Legienstrausse was a good and loyal citizen they didn't appreciate how long they could be.

>>56346503
>long
*wrong

>>56345940
I dunno, I see Legienstrausse and Draco having more of a platonic relationship. Legienstrausse for all her power has been emphasized as normal psychologically. Draco would probably be two mililiters short of a flask of Amasec for her to be attracted to him. Also given his attention span she probably knows he wouldn't be able to sustain a relationship (and he knows she'd rip his dick off if he tried). So Ganymede-bros.

Also because any children would be Maerorus with potentially Alpha-psyker level powers.

>>56346627
This Freudian slip got Slaaneshi real quick.

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>>56339483
Given that polymorphine can turn you into a fake purestrain genestealer in vanilla, that's pretty damn impressive.

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>>56347493
Gene-stealer is still a more or less conventional lifeform in shape and function. One brain, eyes, torso with organs inside, limbs and so on.

Legienstrausse and the other Maerorus do not have those restrictions. Also you need training to not die using polymorphine and you can't just change shape on a whim, there is preparation and shit.

A Maerorus can just decide that it needs a tentacle with an eye on the end to see around that corner without having to stick it's head into danger and it has one immediately. Jumping out of an aeroplane? Now you got enough wings to, if not fly, at least slow down. Got to fall fast? That's fine. Just make cushioning around the brain and hit the ground, whatever is left attached after the splat can be rebuilt into a couple of limbs and a digestive system. Then it's just a matter of eating the broken limbs to regain the biomass and scuttling off before the bring out non-kinetic weapons.

Presumably the only really good weapons would be ones that burn and destroy the cells at the chemical level. Flamers, plasma, meltas, strong acids and the like.

Also the brain, or analogous organs. The tissue will grow back easy but the memories won't unless there is another brain or some such collection of grey matter acting as a back up.

Which raises the problem that they could make two brains, shift them to opposite ends of the body, split down the middle and multiply via mitosis. Although as an artificial predator they might not have the instincts to want to breed beyond safety in numbers and needing numbers. But not too much numbers and be noticed too quickly and also deplete the food source. People are delicious for some reason, possibly an engineered preference to encourage hunting.

Legienstrausse can't mitosis. It's too alien a concept to envisage and enact for a person born human.

What are the Dark Angels doing in the darkening days of 999M41?

>>56349143
The Dark Angles, Blood Angles, and Lamenters are getting fucked up in the 13th Black Crusade by my guess.

Asdrubael Vect. Of all the individuals that dwell within that wretched place, it is his name that is the most accursed, both by the general galaxy and those within its non-Euclidean walls. However, if one were to travel through time to Commorragh circa M25, just before the Fall, one would be surprised to find Asdrubael Vect was merely a simple porter to a wealthy Eldar family. Commorragh at that time was a retreat for the rich and famous, originally a Webway port turned into an extralegal domain where the aristocrats of the Eldar could indulge in their perverted whims away from the prying eyes of the Empire’s public. Vect was in Commorragh because he was a servant, rather than any sort of noble. When the Fall happened and most of the Eldar outside of the protection of the Webway were killed in an instant, Commorragh was thrown into chaos. Many of the nobility were borderline Chaos worshippers in the first place due to the hedonistic nature of the Eldar Empire, and the first thing they wanted to do was open the Gates of Khaine and let the Warp in. It was during this time that Vect took charge of the panicked masses and instigated a general purge of Commorragh, killing all those who were sympathetic to Chaos. By the time the dust had settled, Vect was in control and the seeds for the present-day hierarchy of Commorragh had been sown.

Many Dark Eldar, being Dark Eldar, are not happy with this turn of events. Some Kabals who know the truth of Vect’s origins take things even further, twisting fact into propaganda, claiming that Vect was originally a vatborn Eldar slave, and as such is not fit to rule over the Trueborn nobility of Commorragh. Vect allows these rumors to persist, for the simple reason that he knows that if the only thing the Kabals are the slings and arrows of scandal, then they don’t have any power to actually harm him. If the Kabals had anything to actually threaten him with he might actually be worried.

>>56351559
In restrospect, Vect shows all the traits of a leader who took power rather than being born into it. He enjoys luxury, but understands it is merely a pretense that can be thrown away as necessary. He also holds no pretenses to power because of birthright, divine right, or any other sort of nonsense, unlike many other Archons. Vect holds power because he holds power. Simple as that. And then there is the ruthlessness. Most Dark Eldar have lines even they would not cross, though this line is often drawn not out of any idea of morality but from the individual’s own desires. Most Dark Eldar would never think of using daemons to further their plans. Vect would. Most individuals would not think of breaching the containment fields of the Ilmaea to burn entire sections of the Dark City to the ground. Vect would.

Commorragh has but one rule: Don’t cross Vect. All other laws and decrees are secondary. Even Commorragh’s taboo against psychic powers and daemon summoning are more derived from a mutual desire for survival and the fear of crossing Vect than codified laws. A few Crone Eldar, who are suffered in Commorragh but generally treated as deluded proselytizers in thrall to their gods, have attempted to defy this edict and open up the Gates of Khaine, which would flood the Dark City (and likely the Webway) in daemons and hopefully elevate them to Daemon Princedom. All have failed. The lucky manage to escape with their hides back to the Eye of Terror, where they merely face the wrath of the Daemon Queen for trying to endanger her on-again, off-again lover. It is perhaps better not to think about happens to those that Vect manages to get his hands on.

>>56351579
It is said that Vect almost never takes to the field in person anymore, instead gaining the necessary slaves and victims necessary to maintain his youth and keep off the touch of She Who Thirsts through other means. Residence in Commorragh by any Kabal merely requires a simple payment to its landlord, a tithe of slaves and chattel to its resident overlord. If a Kabal refuses to pay this levy, then they are more than willing to find another place to practice their craft, something that would almost certainly be a death sentence given the vulnerability to predations both material and daemonic outside the protection of the Webway. Some Kabals have tried to flee to other Webway realms like Pandaimon, or tried to set up their own demesnes within the knots of the Webway. Almost all of these realms have been absorbed into Commorragh over the years. Vect tolerates no competitors.


Thoughts? I feel it's a little bare bones. Didn't add anything on Vect and Malys' relationship because I felt that could be added on later. Tried to really mix canon Vect's stuff with a bit of Machiavelli and the sort of two-faced Rapture-esque mindset that's been suggested for Commorragh. Heck, wouldn't be surprised if Vect ever said "I am Commorragh"

Actually this raises a question. What are Vect's long-term plans for Commorragh? If the Imperium falls it means a serious dearth of slaves, which the Dark Eldar kind of need. And it's doubtful the Chaos Gods would let the Dark Eldar exist unmolested.

>>56351665
It's a lovely story of rags to riches worthy of it's own Disney film.

>>56351665
Well he took the field and cooperated with Crones, possibly Malys prior to her ascension, to loot Cthonia at the end of the War of The Beast

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>>56335670
If anything, this Imperium is the antithesis of The Culture but still have good intentions instilled in their governments. Whereas The Culture is a post-scarcity labor free socialist utopia, the Imperium of Civilization in contrast is an imperialist military-industrial monarchist hegemony. Even as a leftist I found The Culture too powerful, perfect, and unobtainable for me to like. The government here is pretty right-wing going so far as (I would think) to have the average Imperial citizen's role model be Catherine the Great or Oda Nobunaga. At least with this Imperium it's actually believable in showing the merciful to ruthlessness that all spacefaring lifeforms can have. I would rather live in this Imperium than be poor in Brazil.

>Some worlds not only have shortages due to a lack of efficient offloading technology, but have exploited their own resources beyond exhaustion.

>Most work in either agriculture or industry are usually for the state. It is to be used in feeding the infinitely expanding military just so they don't get killed by Orks or Tyranids.

>There is literally an Emperor and Empress ruling most of the galaxy while voidborn, navigators, and Rogue Traders are effectively the most widespread form of aristocrats.

>The Imperium exports civilization via convincing, coercing, or conquering worlds to secure its borders and gain assets.

On a scale of Anarchist Spain to Czarist Russia, the Imperium would be somewhere between Persian Empire and Imperial China.

>Which god give you the divine right to rule this Imperium?
So the Emperor answered, "All of them".

>>56353801
>Which god give you the divine right to rule this Imperium?

If the eldar asked this the answer would be

>yours, and I'm plowing her daily.

>>56351665
It's a damn good read and really brings out the notion that Vect is a creature you don't want to cross whilst still giving the impression of a statesman of sorts rather than just a rampaging monster. It could and should be used as the first instalment for a Vect section in the Notable People page of the 1d4chan.

Vect's long term plan for Commorragh seem to have already been more or less achieved already. He's made a place where the Dark Eldar are free to be and do as they please. Or as he pleases which mostly amounts to the same. But without having to ben a knee to anyone. He defies the gods and has and in surviving their predations places the Eldar people, his people, above them.

He is in his way, especially reading that, not unlike Oscar in his approach to rulership; "do as you please but pay your taxes and don't rock the boat".

Possibly the only thing left to do would be to refound the Eldar Empire with Commorragh as the capital and no petty gods above him. The Eldar Empire in his view how it should have been.

>>56345940
Draco licked the shadowlight for a dare but not even he is crazy enough to bonk Legienstrausse and Legienstrausse has standards.

Do the Night Lords fight alongside regular humans in this AU?

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So Legienstrausse could look like Elizabeth Greene from Prototype when in a "rest" state?

I just need something to image. I want to write something about the shenanigans of Legienstrausse and Draco but I'm hitting a wall.

>>56358593
your pic fits perfectly to what I was picturing, and as to tone for the Ganymede adventures, something like the more free wheeling SCP tales, and the list of things Dr. Bright can no longer do, combined with Candide's style of Enlightenment era shenanigans. For Legienstrasse's powers and people's reaction to them, uncomprehending terror for those unfamiliar, and for her regular handlers, a mixed reception of "really fucking cool" concepts and "gristly, stomach churning, squishy disgust" when it comes to their use.

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>>56357704
No, they keep at the edges of the empire or in dedicated trouble spots and only get called inward when things get dire. Similarly, the Carcharodons had kept to their hunting grounds as a far flung ship borne chapter until Isha tracked them down and set them on Karamazov.

>>56358593
I had a really, really shitty idea for an out-of-universe goofy moment where the cast circa 997.M41 sits down with their various groups to have a movie night watching an ancient historical relict from Earth. The movie? Aliens (or alternatively, each group is watching something different).

Legienstrausse and Draco are having movie night with the rest of the staff of Ganymede. You know how people often get frustrated with the sheer stupidity of people in horror movies and start MSTK3-ing them? Legienstrausse is doing the same but with the monster, snarking about how incompetent it is. One gets the impression that if she wasn't so nice she would have made a terrifyingly competent monster.

As for the rest of the Imperium...there's Nemesor Zahndrekh

>Sees facehugger
"Oh, you still have wraiths around do you? Jolly good. I used to have one of those as a pet when I was a boy. They're so affectionate..."
>Sees facehugger facerape someone
"I don't recall wraiths ever being able to do that..."

>>56359700
To elaborate on pic, this is what Isha hopes to turn the Carcharodons into with the right amount of societal manipulation and reinforcement. Her line of thought is something along the lines of "I put up with Khaine for sixty-five million years and he managed to evolve into slightly less of an asshole, I can do the same here". Whether or not she will succeed or if it's another pie in the sky goal is anyone's guess.

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>>56354815
I mean Isha is the goddess of firtility so it wouldn't be too far off from canon.

>>56360120
How seriously do the eldar treat the whole All-Mother title? Is it seen as literally or figurative?

Because if they literally see her as the common ancestor and mother of their kind then Oscar has the ultimate come back even if he would be too polite to use it.

>>56359799
Does Zahndrekh ever leave his estate?

>>56360742
He's been mentioned to go on tyranid-hunting expeditions.

>>56361418
Has he ever visited any of the big Imperial worlds on state visits?

>>56361781
Probably not because the Eldar would have a collective freak-out if that happened. The Eldar are convinced that Zahndrekh is either A) taking the piss and getting everyone to let their guard down before he murderbots everyone, B) really doesn't remember things, but eventually he will and once he does he will murderbot everyone, or C) if he regains his sanity Szarekh will ASSUME DIRECT CONTROL and Zahndrekh will murderbot everyone. The idea of his personality being geniuine besides the case of robo-Alzheimers is beyond them.

None of the Eldar with the exception of the Harlequins, not even Isha, will get near him because they all think he's a ticking time bomb.

>>56359873
How savage are the Carcharodons?

Do we actually have a picture of what Isha looks like?

>>56342159
Are these the Yngir anti-gods of ancient half-remembered eldar myth that may or may not be trapped behind the Gates of Vaul or are we sticking with them being C'tan?

>>56365495
The Yngir are C'tan (or Necrons, not clear which). The xenos race responsible for whatever artifacts the 12th Black Crusade were after were at some point during the height of the Eldar Empire some time between the War in Heaven and the rise of humanity.

>>56360531
In actuality? Isha probably isn’t the literal ancestor of all Eldar, or if she is she’s a heavily distorted and mythologized version of a figure that might have existed, like King Arthur or Gilgamesh or Mitochondrial Eve or how some anthropologists view some of the Greek Gods. Indeed it is possible that Isha at one point was the primary and/or sole goddess for just one nation of ancient Eldar living on Shaa-Dome, similar to what has been proposed for Zeus and Hera (though note that this theory is not as well-regarded as it once was) that was later linked to the deities of other Eldar people through syncreticism when the Eldar people united first to drive off the Mon-Keigh and later when they were forcibly unified by the Old Ones. This kind of explains the weird set up of the Eldar pantheon where Isha’s daughter is also Asuryan’s wife. Despite what the Eldar say, the Eldar created the gods, not the other way around, using their beliefs as a framework to give them personality. So Isha is Lileath’s mother because she’s always been Lileath’s mother in the stories, and Isha likely can remember her giving birth to Lileath despite the two of them popping into existence at about the same time. It’s very confusing.

>>56365933
However, at the same time, as we’ve seen, the Eldar are more than willing to conflate and distort historical events to make them more dramatic and emotional (plus the whole “separated by sixty-five million years of history” thing), as seen by how the War in Heaven and Khaine’s teamkilling rampage get conflated when they’re two different things. Figuring out Eldar history is kind of like biblical archaeology, you have to parse out what really happened and what is legendary while at the same time avoiding pissing off the people living in the region for which it is a big deal. So while Isha may not be the literal mother of all Eldar, the Eldar certainly see her that way. And while Isha may have been created with the old Isha stories fresh in her head, the parts about her lamenting Khaine’s rampage and being cut off from realspace definitely did happen.

>>56364790
She probably looks a lot like Macha, seeing as the two did the whole fusion dance thing.

I've been going off the pictures of the Everqueen Alarielle (because frankly that's what Isha is right now since she can't throw around the full weight of her god power or go back in the deep end of the Warp) only more Macha-y.

++Thought for the Day: The sacrifices made for the Imperium are already too great. No sacrifice for the good of the Imperium is too great.++

>>56366962
Is this a sunk cost fallacy? Because this literally sounds like a sunk cost fallacy. Perhaps...

++Thought for the Day: The sacrifices made for the Imperium are already too great. Do not let them be for nothing.++

>>56355517
>He is in his way, especially reading that, not unlike Oscar in his approach to rulership; "do as you please but pay your taxes and don't rock the boat".

I'm glad someone picked up on the similarities.

>>56352727
It's less he never leaves Commorragh and more he doesn't have to leave Commoragh to collect slaves if he doesn't want to, he has people to do that for him. He definitely left Commorragh to loot Cthonia during the War of the Beast. Not to mention that avoiding leaving Commorragh if at all possible in the pimp couch means he doesn't get his head blown off by a Vindicare or a Dark Reaper.

>>56368265
>Is this a sunk cost fallacy?
Going for more of a koan thing; deliberately paradoxical. Your version is better, though.

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>>56366095
Are we going with Fantasy or Sigmarine version of her?

>>56368265
>he has people to do that for him. He definitely left Commorragh to loot Cthonia during the War of the Beast.
I brought that up as a hint at a possible long term plan, I assumed he still goes out occasionally. We had agreed that Malys wasn't in power until around the first black crusade.

>>56368474
Does a life goddess that looks like a twig make sense to you?

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>>56369039
>fucking leaves
Is Alarielle the biggest shitposter in the Old World?

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>>56368474
Fantasy. Sigmar version is some weird treant thing, as opposed to badass elf god-empress.

I honestly keep seeing Isha as a cross between the Everqueen, a family-oriented Iron Lady (exactly who in terms of analogous characters I could not tell you), and a less dickish version of the Scarlet Empress.

>>56370961
Oh God, those background characters. I love this pic

>>56370961
Sigmar version is literally the post above yours

>>56369480
Someone got paid to make that. That makes me sad.

>>56368265
There is also the possibility, nay ever probability, that the Salamander lead raid on the Dark City still took place in this universe. In Vanilla it was the disruption that it caused that allowed Vect to consolidate power.

It would still fit into this one and it would also be in Vulkan's life time when he was still very active so he would be at the head of it all.

What could be the cause of this? Dark Eldar are a constant threat so it would have to be something that caused a need for retribution.

>>56317242
Remove Chaos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7I63sRGsTw

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>>56364790
According to the first few threads although I think that they meant it as a joke as much as anything I hope.

>>56286128

So this thread is just Ultramar?

>>56373269
Vect is a pre-Fall Eldar in this one. In vanilla he didn't rise to power until M35, whereas here he was already one of the bigger players in Commorragh if not already at the top by the Great Crusade, as indicated by Vect's raid on Cthonia.

We had the War in the Webway in...I dunno, like m40 or something, which was kind of like the Salamander raid and the Horus Heresy War in the Webway but used by Vect to eliminate his three strongest and most outspoken political rivals and the ones who would make the most noise when Vect and Malys formalized their alliance.

>>56375550
The Cthonian raid could have been not long after he became head of a Kabal back when the Noble Houses still ruled. Whilst all the old Eldar Empire aristocrats were busy murder raping civilian targets he and Lady Malys met over a candle lit AdMech magus.

Vect Kabal becomes more powerful until he baits Vulkan into killing a bunch of rivals. Takes over controlling majority of Low Town. Puts out the suns.

Sometime post-Vulkan Vect lures Imperial forces in again to kill off the ruling Archons and aristocrats as well as open up space for rebuilding in a more pleasingly manner.

Takes control of High Town but keeps whats left of the council on as advisors as they are now no threat to him. Declared and accepted as First Amongst the Damned. Marries Malys as he gets crowned Aragorn and Arwen style.

>>56374704
I don't get it.

>>56374688
Wasn't there another pic? Red hair, green dress on a throne beneath a tree and looking regal.

>>56377097
I think Vect was already pretty powerful before the War in the Webway. He had the single most powerful Kabal by M34 at least, the problem was that he still had a lot of opponents and if they managed to combine their forces they could gang up on him and take him down.

And let's be frank, Vect marrying a Croneworlder would be more than enough pretense for the major Kabals to set their differences aside and get most of Commorragh behind them because of how much the average Dark Eldar dislikes the Croneworlders.

Hence the War in the Webway (a.k.a. the Battle of Sansayaam). Vect gets the three most powerful and outspoken Kabals to get in a fight with Imperial Forces in the Webway, then detonates a vortex bomb to take out the archons. Both the Dark Eldar and Craftworlders find breaking the Webway taboo, but of course the Craftworlders don't believe the Dark Eldar when they say it wasn't their fault because...well they're Dark Eldar. This not only serves to wipe out the three archons who would be most outspoken against him marrying Malys, but further isolate the Dark Eldar from their Imperial kin so they have a harder time jumping ship and his army doesn't desert him.

It's not so much Vect gaining power as making sure the power gap between him and the next most powerful archon is large enough such that one has a hard time seriously opposing his actions.

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Bumping with an odd thing I found. Is it just me, or does this elf seem to be wearing a variation of the Grey Knights' emblem?

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>>56386773
Huh, that is an odd coincidence.
Also
monoboob plate > boob plates
this objectively true.

>>56388019
Are eldar allowed to become SoB?

>>56386773
Grey Knights do employ eldar farseers and webway guide

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>>56389653
I would say yes and it's not unprecedented. It's just that it happens so rarely that everyone assumes that it's never happened and that makes them less likely to pursue that path, thus decreasing the likelihood of it being a thing in the future.

It would require an Eldar that genuinely believes in and loves the Imperium and sees it as "their" empire. So probably Beil-Tan. Or at least probably one of the youger generation who havent' actually met any aged grand parents telling them in their youth that the Imperium is just a temporary arrangement of convenience.

Also becoming a Battle Sister is a long term commitment, a lifetime one for humans and a centuries long one for eldar, so it's not unlike getting almost pathlost. So the mentality of someone who would seek it out would be mildly upsetting to regular eldar.

Overlap all of these requirements, tak into account that the eldar make up at most 5% of the Imperial population and you are left with a very small number of potentials.

Now half it because no boys allowed.

Of these few it's probable that they will find something less controversial to do with their time.

What's left will almost certainly take the Path of the Enforcer as it is quite similar and far more respected among the eldar peoples.

But it's an Imperium of a million worlds with a population in the quadrillions and the Sisterhoods have been around for thousands of years. It's bound to have happened somewhere at some point.

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>tfw I really like this AU but never contributed

>>56392144
That's okay Spurdo Spärde, most of what I have contributed recently has been below par.

You could always try your hand at a little light writefagging.

>>56307924
>>56308756
>Back story makes Reri basically an eldar skitarii
Sounds cool. A tad grimdark but none the less cool.

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>>56392568
I just wanted to have a darker version of the happy go luck fapbait that Reri was originally was. Although she is nothing more than a plaything or weapon for her mother considering the horrible upbringing she has. Even with that, I have a hard time imagining she would harm a random bystander because of bloodlust or sadism like a Dark Eldar would, so long as she can kill her target without needless bloodshed, she will do that. If she had to break a few civilian skulls along the way to her target, she would do that too. Reri’s real agenda is up in the air by M.41, what with her taking detours to her target’s location and coming up with convoluted plans. She could easily desert or defect to the Imperium with the brainwashing as the only thing holding her back. Who knows? Maybe that’s what she’s planning all along.

>>56393831
So it's another wild card for Judgment Day. Ceggers is holding a hand full of Jokers.

>>56390830
Only thing is the augmentations wouldn't work, because they are designed for human physiology. Though Sister augmentations put a human somewhere between a baseline eldar and an Aspect Warrior.

>>56393831
It's good. She adds contract.

>>56361988
If he wanted to he would do so on the basis that it would be impolite to refuse him. For one thing they would have to explain why and that might get uncomfortable.

Zahndrekh thinks that eldar and humans are all descendants of the Necrontyr who didn't go into stasis.

>>56393831
Is there any actual indication in Vanilla about how good DEldar cybernetics are?

Reliable stuff, not the "artwork" super high end stuff.

Could the Dark City field a cyber-soldier army in addition to it's Frankenstein monster army.

>>56399469
In vanilla, the Dark Eldar are said to have the highest tech level of any of the 40k races, because unlike the Imperium, Orks, and Necrons they understand how science works and unlike the Craftworlders and Exodites they don't have taboos on doing so (exactly why the Craftworlders are behind on science isn't clear, since they aren't Space Amish like the Exodites. You'd think they'd automate everything so they can go cultivate their OCD more).

Latest Eldar fluff (Hand of Asuryan) indicates that Eldar armies in the Eldar Empire were mostly robots (Men of Wraithbone?) supplemented by flesh-and-blood forces. Exodites and Craftworlders got rid of them but no vanilla writer has ever said what the Dark Eldar did with them. Given in this timeline we know what happened to the Men of Iron I'd say the Eldar robots didn't have the overarching supercomputer minds of the Men of Iron (possibly to the point that the Men of Iron and Iron Minds might have sneer at the Eldar robots because at least their creators had the balls to give them free will. This would have been more of an attempt to dismiss the enemy than anything else, since despite their free will the Men of Iron were probably equal to if not weaker than their Eldar counterparts [66 million years to git gud]).

So far, in this universe we have the Imperial Eldar just starting to experiment with more advanced wraithbone prosthetics. It's likely such prosthetics existed before the Fall, but the Exodites are Space Amish and the Craftworlders are descendants of merchant fleets and refugees, so they didn't have the best technology available. That's all left on the Crone Worlds.

Aren't there some Dark Eldar constructs that are primarily technological? I think the Pain Engines are at least partly mechanical or are robots with flesh attached.

Here's a possible idea to throw out there. We've discussed in the past that the Severan Dominate is running on grimderp pseudo-pragmatism to try to keep their rebellion against the Imperium going and they're getting desperate enough that they're thinking about making deals with people that are likely to come back and bite them. What if the people the Dominate are making deals with aren't the Dark Eldar (or not just the Dark Eldar) but the Slaugth? The Dominate give the Slaugth a world or two to build up their forces and Emperor Severus uses them as a scapegoat to say "see, the Dominate has to stay strong, look at what's at our borders". Explains why there is so much Slaugth activity in the Calixis sector.

This, of course, is a bad idea. We all know what happens when the Slaugth get an infestation going.

>>56400165
I like it. It's underhand, short sighted and motivated by greed and hubris, it fits the image of the Severan Dominate well.

>>56396549
>contract
I think you mean contrast.

>>56399973
>Given in this timeline we know what happened to the Men of Iron I'd say the Eldar robots didn't have the overarching supercomputer minds of the Men of Iron (possibly to the point that the Men of Iron and Iron Minds might have sneer at the Eldar robots because at least their creators had the balls to give them free will. This would have been more of an attempt to dismiss the enemy than anything else, since despite their free will the Men of Iron were probably equal to if not weaker than their Eldar counterparts [66 million years to git gud]).

This raises an interesting point. In previous discussions we decided that the rise and height the Great and Bountiful Human Dominion was at a point well after the Old Empire had turned inward and begun its long slide into utter debauchery, and this is what allowed humanity to build a galaxy spanning hegemony underneath the Eldar’s much older, stronger galactic empire. Where as humanity was colonizing, terraforming, and building minor megastructures, the Eldar were already mostly post-terrestrial. The Old Empire had developed the webway to the point where Commoragh was only one of many comparable extra-dimensional districts, and all the Crone Worlds were essentially one city, with the Shaa-Dome as a central district and junction, to the point that the area of space that would become the Eye of Terror was already the location of Eldar development that bridged stars. So where the Men of Stone and Iron had to travel the stars in ships, the Eldar could walk from one end of the galaxy to another, only entering the real in places of unassailable Eldar rule. This went along with a notion that by the time of the Iron Minds and Men of Gold, Eldar sorties and pleasure raids could be reliably repelled by the former parties, and their understanding of real-space applied physics was comparably advanced (though lesser than the Necrons’) but the Eldar had a massive advantage in understanding the Warp and wielding its power

>>56402791
So while an Iron Mind with a star system’s resources, an ST constructor, and a Golden Man might be able to theoretically hold its own against an Eldar raid, offensives were a non-option, because attacking any given webway gate was essentially equivalent to a direct attack on the Shaw-Dome, and the Eldar could send fleets that out massed stars to any point in their remit with minimal effort. This also meant that Slaanesh’s birth collapsed the whole region of space around the Crone worlds into the warp, flooded good chunks of the Webway with daemons, and set many of the remaining webway spaces adrift.

Arrotyr is still flying a fleet of ships from that era, and they aren’t much more powerful than the Necron ships they were originally meant to fight, just with more sorcery and less super-science, and obviously lacking inertialess drives. Presumably the webway of the Old Empire would have let them keep up with or even outpace the Necrons, but it’s current state is less than it was then. The ships (and Iron Minds) of the golden age could reasonably contend with both high Eldar and Necron warships and commanders, but were fundamentally limited by the lack of superior FTL that let the Eldar control any serious engagement to a tee. Their stationary installations, like the Cthonian circle, were notable even then, as the AU radius ring was similar in scale to the things Eldar only ever built in the, and stuffed with tech that approached Necron/C’tan levels of mad science, but even still it was stationary and only touched one star system, where as wonders like the Shaa-Dome or the Celestial Orery encircled the galaxy.

>>56392568
It should be remembered that the Dark part of Nobledark needs to be present to actually fit our proposed tone. As has been said in many of these threads, the highs in the setting should be higher, but the lows should also be lower.

>>56403229
Humans would also have the upper hand in any Eldar attacks on a given system for the same reason that many historical colonial powers lost against colonial rebellions: the defenders have virtually all of their forces at hand while the attackers are constrained by how fast they can ship forces over to the battlefield. Eldar forces would have to slog it to the nearest human world in order to pick a fight, and it’s unlikely that humans, Tarellians, kinebrach, and whoever else were active powers at the time would allow an active Webway gate to be anywhere near their worlds.

Human attacks on Eldar worlds would have been fucked for the exact same reason.

This is also very similar to the reason the Necrons “lost” the initial scuffle before the Star Empire-Imperial cold war. The Imperium had almost all of its resources ready to go, whereas despite their more advanced technology the Star Empire was limited by how many dynasties had awakened, how fast they could get to the front lines, and how fast it took the reanimation protocols to replace their losses (not to mention that despite being biologically immortal robots, dying too many times will make a Necron soldier essentially useless). This is likely why Szarekh has been keeping things at a cold war/brushfire war state for the last millennia. He hasn’t given up on his plans to stomp the Imperium and take Cadia, he’s just waiting for all of the dynasties to awaken so that when he comes back for round two he can hit them like a sledgehammer with all of his power. The longer he puts off the Rhana Dandra, the better his position is.

>>56403229
I wouldn’t necessarily say the Eldar have had zero technological growth since the War in Heaven. I’d say the major advancement over the centuries was the Eldar learned to make the technology on their own, rather than just use it. Remember that despite the genetic engineering the Eldar were still essentially a Bronze Age people piloting spaceships, and the Old Ones deliberately kept the best toys out of their hands to use them as grunts in the war against the Necrons. The Eldar would have had to learn how all this technology works in order to keep being a starfaring people rather than devolve into techno-barbarians. Being able to sing matter out of nowhere does little good in making an internal combustion engine unless you know what an internal combustion engine looks like. Combined with Eldar obsessiveness, it’s likely they wouldn’t have been satisfied until they knew exactly how something worked rather than doing it by rote.

The Eldar likely had impressive megastructures on par with humanity. The Dawnblade for example is a melee weapon that both makes you immortal and bends the laws of causality over its knee and spanks them. The difference is the Eldar would have had these in the highly developed Crone Worlds, most of which are now in the Eye of Terror. Indeed, its likely most of the high-end warships and fragile technology was wrecked by Slaanesh and subsequent daemon invasions, and digging up old empire technology might be one good reason why Crone warbands might go to war with each other.

>>56404069
Building on this, one common complaint with vanilla lore is that both humanity and the Eldar are claimed to have galaxy-spanning empires despite the two nearly overlapping in both time and space. The implication both here and in the vanilla fluff is that the reason humanity and Eldar were both able to say they had galaxy-spanning empires prior to the Age of Strife during the Age of the Great and Bountiful Human Empire is that the Eldar worlds were scattered, nigh-impenetrable enclaves with instant links to the Crone Worlds whereas humans and other races occupied the rest of space. By the standards of both races they ruled the galaxy: humans saw them and their allies as ruling because they controlled most of the planets, whereas the Eldar saw themselves as ruling because they had the tech advantage to take whatever planets they wanted and they saw humans as mostly occupying the unwanted parts of space. The rest of the galaxy likely saw the Eldar as an isolationist, though insanely powerful people that occasionally spat out a few tourists like teen!Eldrad but let few if any people inside its own borders, probably to the annoyance of all of the other major races because while everyone else was willing to build alliances against major threats the Eldar only ever stepped in when things like the Brain Boyz (i.e., when it suddenly became the Eldar’s problem as opposed to everyone else’s), and even then they mostly fought on their own.

>>56404069
>>56404084
Essentially this. The Old Empire had megastructures that made the Cthonian ring look tiny, but they were all 99% in the webway, and only the anchors on the Croneworlds were in realspace. The rest of the galaxy's powers just filled the space in between the Eldar's many redoubts, and were ultimately irrelevant. The Cthonian ring is impressive to them because short of the Necrons nobody built that sort of crazy shit in real-space, and they themselves would do it in the webway where it made more sense. Golden age Eldar have causality and space smashing super-tech, but would warp space before bothering to brute force Mega Engineering with neutronium and gravity furnaces. Instead all of their Megastructures jutt off into an esoteric direction and are mostly in spaces that wouldn't otherwise exist.

>>56404422
Which would in turn add to the worrying possibility to the Eldar that humans share a scary number of similarities with the Necrontyr.

Of course, given how few races seem to rely heavily on the Warp beyond the Eldar, Hrud, Orks, and Old Ones (and it's more than likely that there were more, but they were all wiped out by the Fall due to how it worked), any race that invests heavily in non-Warp tech is going to look sufficiently Necrontyr-like after a while.

>>56404422
Tzeentch probably stole half that shit during the Fall when the Webway was vulnerable and stuffed it in the Crystal Labyrinth. Either that or Nurgle as the Preserver took it, but if that's the case by now it's probably akin to a vintage comic book covered in various bodily fluids.

>>56405186
There's been mention of the Indigo Crow working out of the wrecked and corrupted webway on the edge of the Eye of Terror, and selling access to those passages that circumvent the Cadian Gate as a way to gain more influence among the Crones.

bump

>>56405186
I have a question.

How does the webway work? Do you need an actual doorway to it or can, presumably specialists, just access it with time and effort on their own?

>>56359873
She's going to have her work cut out.

I seem to remember in a previous thread, possibly the first one mentioning the Nicor, that one of them tried to stop her docking yard on the ship. He garbed her arm so she tore his out at the shoulder as a warning. Given the nature of the Space Sharks they might have considered that to be a generous gesture of tolerance in that it wasn't his head or they might be a bit annoyed.

Also where do the Sharks recruit from?

>>56405903
Does Purple Penguin have followers or students or does he just "do" things Joker style?

>>56409715
I think you need an actual doorway to either open or repurpose like a Stargate. Otherwise it's a long, arduous, and fragile process to make your own as seen by vanilla canon (i.e. the Terran Webway), and not even the Eldar seem to know how to make new gates. The Old Ones built the thing in the first place and no one has access to the machines that do so in either timeline.

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>>56411278
we've mentioned Crone sorcerous orders and academies in the corrupted webway, and the Blue Cockatoo was originally supposed to be the head of/peacemaker between those orders, being the main avatar of Tzeentch's will among the Crones.

>>56412447
I think that they should be able to, or by now the millions of years of stuff happening would have depleted them via attention.

There are a few of Old One make, meticulously looked after.

The rest are Eldar Empire imitations, bit they are good imitations.

The ones built in the Imperial era are different. The gate-wrights of the Eldar Empire guarded their knowledge jealousy and were never very many. Few if any survived The Fall so the survivors had to relearn the art.

The modern eldar can build them but they are almost certainly doing it wrong. New gates take a lot longer to build, are dangerous to build as until completion they risk imploding and sucking everything in half a mile into the Warp and whilst the Old One and imitation gates were elegant things the new ones are far larger and crude looking.

Given the skill needed and the risks involved there are not many Bonesingers who can or will make new gateways.

>>56414577
One thing to keep in mind is that part of the reason the Eldar were so antsy about the idea of humanity having access to the Webway (and why only a select few groups are allowed to, usually for emergency situation) is that they were afraid so many unfocused minds in the Webway would break it, and they didn't know how to fix it.

Slap a big bandaid over it or jettison the damaged portion into the Warp, yes, but not repair massive damage the likes of which would be common if humans had free access. It's like a mechanic who can fix an off suspension on a car but doesn't know enough to put an internal combustion engine back together. They're using a technology which no one alive today has any idea how to recreate (and it's implied the Old Ones actually struggled to do it, since they had to make specialized creations to make the Webway).

It's also debatable as to whether they know the Webway is alive. Cegorach probably knows, but very few Eldar alive today even remember the Empire, let alone anything the Old Ones might have said about using it.

>>56414577
>>56416459
It may be that they can build new entrances (I mean, 30k humanity could do it with the help of the vanilla Emperor), but the overall structure is irreplaceable.

>>56416459
>>56417510
If it is alive then it might eventually regrow broken/destroyed sections on it's own. Even and presumably in a less organised manner.

There is also the possibility that Ceggers knows how to rebuild that shit but is keeping the knowledge to himself. So long as he and he alone knows the Cronedar can get fucked.

Bump!

>>56373928
Chaos Removal bump

>>56418965
I'm not sure how well it regrows, seeing as parts of the shark tube are broken open into the Warp and daemon incursions in there are a thing. Though that could also be due to the far northern end being "sunk" into the Warp where the Eye of Terror is.

Hilariously, the Webway only seems to ever target Necrons using Dolmen Gates in canon (which is another argument that the Webway can have new entrances built, but the whole structure can't be replaced in case of catastrophic collapse). At least directly, the Webway still tries to fuck with everyone who uses it. Which suggests that the Old Ones only told the Webway to keep out Necrons, Chaos not being a thing during the War in Heaven. So the Crones who are balls-deep in Chaos can go running through the Webway, and the Webway only ever seems to note "huh, those Eldar have a serious radiation exposure problem. They should probably have that looked at".

Bump for a better future.

I've been getting shit done but am stuck on the conquest of Laer, much like the conquest of Merika. I'll post as soon as I know where I'm going and write as I go, like I was early on.

>>56425755
getting hypdd

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Looking at what has been written about the old Eldar Empire I have to ask.

Did the eldar ever experiment with A.I.? Could there be any surviving examples?

random clic pic

>>56358731
What is she like in terms of personality in Vanilla or is this another thing never touched?

pag tan bamp

What other whacky things could be in the Ganymede Vaults?

>>56430063
I got a chance to read the book on Legienstrausse. She suffers from Castigator syndrome: that is, not an unquenched thirst for vengeance on humanity but is essentially a plot device and final boss that has little to no character despite the cool design. She barely says anything the entire book. Indeed, the entire book she shows little to no emotion with the exception of fear when Lysander's banhammer comes down.

The Ordo Assassinorum refuses to say why she went rogue. Legienstrausse herself said she just wants to not die and she knows she is a mistake (she actually calls herself such) the Ordo Assassinorum wants erased. She's surprised that Lysander isn't more sympathetic (being a modified human himself) and points out the Space Marines put duty over everything, even the good of humanity. She thinks she has the moral high ground over the Astartes.

She's a long term planner who is willing to manipulate cults into worshipping her, including one that thinks she's the God-Emperor reborn, but it's never shown why.
It's unclear if she has a god complex or not, the closest we see is when she says a sparsely populated feral world is "insufficient for [her] needs", but that may be due to a lack of meat shields.

She actually looks like Alma. She looks like a skinny woman with ratty blond hair dressed in rags (though she did just survive a spaceship crash), to the point that Lysander did a double-take when he saw her.

Also, she can't regrow her head. Or, at least, she regenerates head first. Lysander cuts her head off and tendrils grow from her head and try to reconnect to her body. She also can't change her head like the rest of her body.

>>56433623
Alma flavour is being taken care of by the Apex Twins. Also in this AU she isn't on the run so she isn't going to be grubby and half starved.

The god complex, meatshields and cults is more than likely going to be the doing of her offspring.

Maybe they do see them as living gods, who can say.

>>56435003
If her offspring's personality are closer to vanilla it could lead to some interesting exchanges.

"I don't understand you mother. We only wish to survive, you are no different from us in that respect. What makes you think you are morally superior to us?"
"I don't eat people".

Seriously they go straight to your hips. Have you ever tried to get that weight off?

The extra funny thing is despite looking scrawny in comparison to an Eldar or a Space Marine, Legienstrausse probably weighs as much as a Leman Russ due to following Alex Mercer rules.

>>56368474
Shit, she looks like she’s on meth.

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>A little something about Legienstrausse and Inquisitor Jaq Draco

The Stripped Down land speeder whipped around another hairpin bend in the webway depths, Hell and damnation in the form a of what once might have been eldar not too far behind them. The walls were curved her and sticky enough with something not unlike gravity that rather than being dashed against the side they merely continued their mad dash along what she had until a moment ago been considering a ceiling. Today was going to be another “explanations” day if they made it back and that was for damn sure and the only thing that would buy them leniency was the semi-crystalline Necroteuch stolen from a curious temple dedicated to both Tzneetch and Slaanesh. That there were still copies of the foul tome in circulation and new cooperation between the gods were both equally disturbing.

But not immediately as disturbing as the driving skills of one Inquisitor Jaq Draco who was pushing the “pimp-speeder” as fast as it’s custom engine would go down extra dimensional tunnels that man was never meant to know of.

“You sure you know where we are going?” Legienstrausse asked through the comm.-bead she had embedded in her skull earlier that day. “Not as sure as I was fifteen minuets ago.” The mad inquisitor replied turning to face her with a manic grin showing far too many teeth. Without warning the Speeder spun around on it’s frictionless anti-grav sheath just as the chariot pulled by two Steeds of Slaanesh rounded the last corner and gaining on them. The damned creature in contraption, shimmering and beautiful and terrible locked its baleful dark eyes with the Inquisitor. Beguiling and inhumanly lovely and opening wider in shock as the Mad Dog Draco raised his ultra-violet laser pistol and winked.

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>>56437552
The creature, fast as it was, couldn’t dodge the invisible spectrum light as it punched through it’s head right between the eyes and flash fried it’s diseased brain. The serpentine mounts startled and tried to bolt in opposite directions resulting in what could best be described as a fucked up mess as another half dozen or so pursuers collided with them. The carnage was obscured as the speeder violently lurched back into pointing in the direction of travel just in time to swerve around another tight corner and land on what had originally been the ground or at least a surface that seemed like one.

Legienstrausse could only lament the poorly judged decisions that had lead her to this point in her life. Once upon a time, a lifetime ago if truth be told, she had been waiting tables in an eating establishment in the Daisy Chain. It wasn’t a glamorous life but she had her own apartment, was making enough to live off of and a little more to send home to her mother and father in the Lagrange Point Sprawl. But that wasn’t enough for her and she had volunteered for drug trials. That had quite paid well, serious risks were minimal, as by the time they tested it on people most of the kinks had been ironed out. A few days of blinding headaches, an upset stomach, a bit of dizziness and on one embarrassing occasion lactation were a small price to pay she had thought. But she had gotten greedy and gotten in for more extreme trials for greater financial rewards. Eventually she had volunteered for something to seriously help the Imperium, to be a test subject to make a better type of super soldier. Of the ten thousand by luck she had been the only success. The fates of the failures ranged from unfortunate to sorrowful.

It wasn’t until the Inquisition kicked her door down that she knew anything actually illegal had been going on.

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>>56437573
The speeder upended without warning and disappeared into a long shaft in the ceiling and the gravity reversed so that they were in fact falling. Faster than falling as the Necroteuch slipped out of her hands and flew “upwards” at mere freefall.

Her long clawed arms almost made longer in reflex action almost closed on it’s irregular dodecahedron form just as the sinewy hands of another being snatched it out of the air. They had closed on them, the forsaken and wretched. With a predatory grin the once-eldar lunged at her with murderous intent, it’s jaws closing deep into her shoulder as claws punched deep into her abdomen. Through the ringing of red hot and depthless pain she heard Draco swear as a pained sound half scream and half whimper escaped her lips, but no help would come from the Inquisitor as he fought off another creature with his knives and steering the speeder with his left foot.

The creature pushed her down into the upholstery of the back seat of the vehicle, a snakelike tongue licking it’s lips and extending to her bloodshot eyes as it leaned in close to drink deep of the scent of her agony. The pained noise without words continued to peel out of her mouth, tears running freely from her eyes. There was a brief moment of confusion for the kneeler before foul gods as it realized that the scent was all wrong and it’s hand was in fact stuck and being held tight in the wetness of her ruined gut. The croneworlder had enough time for a momentary expression of panic as the gut wound grew teeth and a jawbone and accompanying musculature and clamped down hard enough to meet in the middle, Legienstrausse’s face split neatly down the middle as she head butted the once-eldar and caught his head in her own and crushed in a shark like bite. It was over then but for the twitching as the body was pitched over the side, the Necroteuch retrieved from the corpse with a long boneless limb that she habitually would still have called an arm.

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>>56437589
“What did that one taste like?” Asked the Mad Jaq against the gale as the body of his own assailant disappeared upwards into freefall, headless and presumably dead.

“Chicken and sex” Replied Legienstrausse as her skull crunched and knitted itself back into a human shape. Jaq flipped the craft ninety degrees to flat as the upside-down pit came to an abrupt end, bottoming out the vehicle that then sprang and lurched forwards along a much broader tunnel not long later two mangled corpses landed where they had been.

There were still shapes following them, more distant now, on what looked like long limbed spider-squids. They were wary, not one of them would want to make the first move but neither would they willing return to their foul land without their strange and terrible book.

Options presented themselves fleetingly in the manic mind of the mad inquisitor. They could lure them to Ganymede of Titan, but one was meant to be secret and the other would probably get them shot by grumpy space marines, they could lure them all the way to Saim-Hann or the Hubworlds but that would mean taking the straight and broad roads and the others were faster on the open, there was a Silver Skulls checkpoint somewhere around here but he couldn’t remember exactly where. All he knew was where he was and in the beating of his heart and the saruthi-smell where everything else was for a given value of “here” and “there”. Today was, he felt, another good day. A fun day and as the hordes of damnation followed his streaming checkerboard coat he couldn’t help but laugh.

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>>56437611

And that's all I got.

>>56437670
And now I want fear and loathing in the nobledark imperium, starring these two.

>>56437740
I will confess that I have never actually seen that film so I have no idea what that would be like.

>>56437946
We were somewhere on the edge of the Savlar system, when the drugs began to take hold...

>>56437670

Fun!

>>56439506
could be the edge of the Savlar atmosphere

>>56441465
Any ideas for pther advetures they could have?

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>>56437670
Me likey. I like how it fleshes out the two characters.

In addition, it's also an unexpectedly good entry point into Nobledark as a whole from someone coming from canon, as it shows just how different the two universes are.

The current setup of Ganymede kind of reminds me of SCP Foundation meets BPRD. Or pic related.

>>56435226
Legienstrasse's New Years Eve resolution: Lose 15...hundred kilograms.

+++Ganymede Facility. Add a weighing scale to next month's requisition list. Legienstrasse threw hers so hard the remains ended up being embedded in the ceramite. We need to find a sturdier scale or else this is going to be an issue with the budget.+++

>>56442227
Who's the current Supreme Grand Master of the Grey Knights? I know it's technically Kaldor Draigo, because we said that all Supreme Grand Masters take up the name when they take the position (from the Grey Knights' perspective it has the bonus of elevating Janus even higher because he is one of the few Supreme Grand Masters to not be named Draigo, showing how important he is to the Grey Knights), but it's not the original who got lost in the Warp, who was old enough to identify as coming from Sino-Japan. Thinking in terms of who the Ganymede people have to deal with since Ganymede and the Grey Knights are so closely associated.

Ok what do we need?

If both the thread and myself survive until this afternoon I will try to write some more.

>>56442920
I don't think we've identified one
>>56445013
to just list my lingering questions
>what was the point of the Cthonian raid, its one of the AU oldest original pieces of fluff and its yet to be really addressed, and the piece itself is even more cagey than a lot of stuff written early on.
>What's going on with the Ork strongholds in distant parts of the galaxy that are mentioned in the assault moon lecture? It seems like those territories overlap with the Necron sphere of influence, and the implied rise of Brain Boyz in those regions is also really vague.
>Has anyone actually compiled what we've decided about the Alpha Legion, Illuminati, and Hydra, just for OOC understanding of what our lore is? If so, where is it posted?
>was there ever an actual writeup for the farsight enclaves? I know there's some passages that keep coming up to describe Farsight's philosophy, but is there anything coherent to read?
>Do we essentially just have vanilla tyranids, or have we made any alterations to them, even on a thematic level?

>>56445941
Also, did we ever decide what Brain Boyz actually were. I kinda remember a discussion of the Imperials not really understanding the difference between Gork and Mork and this translating to a situation where Brain Boyz were always plural, with some sort of more intellectual version of the Waaagh between them.

>>56433498
They spoke of a man, preserved in amber, millions of years old. Perhaps some more info about that?

++Thought for the Day: Better to strike a light and curse the darkness than simply curse the darkness.++

>>56445969
There is never a singular. It takes two components to make a Brain Boyz, a midget ork and a giant grot. One has to be cunning brutality and a brutal cunning.

>>56445941
>Ork strongholds
I don't think it's that much different from Vanilla. Just areas that are predominated by WAAAGH!s like Octarius.

>tyranids
Other than the Swarmlord, Sotha, and the Zoats, we have nothing new on tyranids. Kind of hard when we've been trying to keep them faceless. There have been a few suggestions to their origins, like this is what you get in the rest of the universe where you don't have psychic lizard wizards to ward off the worst threats, to being a failed singularity, to whynotboth.jpeg.

>>56445969
Things seem to be going towards the "twins they were" idea: Brain Boyz are always born as a duo, a gretchin and ork, to represent the kunnin brutality and the brutal kunnin of Gork and Mork. It also leads to situations where you kill what looks like the super warboss only to find a gretchin screaming bloody murder and the Orks unimpaired from the loss of the Brain Boy.

>>56445941
The secret society stuff is contradictory and obscured. It's best to be more that way.

What could be some good celebrations that could be had by the staff on Ganymede?

>>56442920
Joros was the previous one.

After the 1st Armageddon War he intentionally pulled the a Tzneetchian Trickster deamon into himself to contain and, by his death, banish it. He was already wounded mortally by a Nurgle blade.

Grimnar, then merely a Lord rather than High King, brought the axe down. Joros didn't want the guilt of it gnawing his brothers but knew that Grimnar understood the necessity of it.

The axe the Grey Knights provided for the job was, Morkai, the one given by Russ to Magnus as an apology. The Knights handed it back to the wolves in thanks.

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The drinks had been plentiful and that wasn’t the problem unless it was. Everyone seemed to be having a good time, a fun time. Music and drunken flailing charitably called dancing, the people from different sites and Vaults and even off-worlders and outsiders come to visit (after being extensively checked of course). The main hall of Admin-Site Prime had never been so alive. And away from the heart of it all sat Legienstrausse in her own little bubble of self-generating, alcohol fuelled, misery. Nobody had asked her to dance, nobody had commented on her pretty dress, barely anybody had even said hello to her.

She saw them, they though that she couldn’t see them but even with only two eyes she had extremely good peripheral vision. A new face, an outsider or someone new enough not to know what she was would approach her only to be carefully intercepted by one of her jailers who would whisper into their ear. Over the happy, happy music she couldn’t hear what it was exactly they were whispering. They would not be told the truth, not the whole truth.

The alcohol helped. It wasn’t making her happier but it was making the misery feel more distant. She was through nearly eight bottles of Rakia and the night was still young. After a fashion. Ganymede was tidally locked to Jupiter with an orbit of a hundred and seventy two hours and if she could remember that then it was time to start on another bottle. Which she did. Or at least intended to. A hand grasped her own firmly but not ungentle. She could have sworn that she saw no one approach, and she would have. But then he did have a knack for moving in unexpected directions.

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>>56457181
The hairless done of his head gleamed like a twisted halo in the lights and his stupid clown coat, horizontal stripes on the inside, vertical on the outside and both in badly matching colours, hanging from his coat hanger and deckchairs body like the wings of a badly assembled angel. Was there genuine concern in those eyes? It was hard to tell. He was either a man who could hide and mimic emotions well or bounced around far more than a man should and still be capable of doing the job he did.

What was he? It irked her something fierce that all knew exactly what she was, knew enough certainly to be frightened at any rate, but nobody ever stopped to ask what the ever loving fuck he was. He ran the place, or at least the day to day running of part of it. Gods know he answered to people, strange shadowy people that she did not know of and probably never would, and whom she suspected probably didn’t know about each other. But who and what was he? He was insane, clearly he was insane and she had seen far too much to believe otherwise, but he held a job that required a level professionalism and competence well above what the teeming masses were typically capable of.

She looked up into those dark grey eyes and saw nothing reflected back. Not a lack of anything to reflect but a nothingness so complete that it fell away to some unseen terrible horizon and she didn’t know if those were his eyes or her eyes reflected in them.

“Legi, you shouldn’t do this to yourself.” He said concern etched in every line framing those fathomless eyes.

“I shouldn’t a lot of things, but here we are.” She replied up ending the bottle and managing to suck down half it’s contents before he more firmly pulled it away from her.

Slipping himself under half-heartedly resisting arm she carefully guided her out of the main hall, though not before she managed to split her other arm into four grasping tentacles and each grab more bottles from the table on the way out.

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>>56457199
“What was all that about Legi?” His voice was not unkind, but when she felt less than kind she couldn’t believe that it was anything but an act. He didn’t give a damn, he wouldn’t be her jailer if he did. But maybe he did and that was more terrifying to her, maybe he did and she was pushing away the only person mad enough to care about her.

“Nobody wanted to dance” She slurred, the alcohol, several times terminal levels for a normal human, was finally starting to kick in. “Not one person, I put on my prettiest dress and not one person wanted to dance.” In truth she was technically naked, the dress was her own skin reshaped and pigmented into looking like what was in fashion in the Jovian Orbitals; Pale blue and light grey, hugging on the torso and sleeves but loose and flowing from the waist down. Broad belts with big buckles were in fashion again this year. The colours in the dress were starting to run together and blur as she lost concentration.

“I’ve seen you try to dance Legi, you may have dodged a bullet on this one”

“Fuck you old man, you can’t talk”

“Yes, dear, I absolutely can. I have danced with Harlequins and they take that shit seriously.” She was starting to stumble more now and although he wouldn’t mention it to her she was a lot heavier than she looked.

“I just wanted one dance. Would you dance with me?” She mumbled through half closed eyes “I could try and take it as seriously as you like”

“No” The Inquisitor replied as they staggered around down the corridors that became tunnels. Mad as he was the idea of trying to waltz with an inebriated organic weapon of mass destruction was not something even he, Mad Dog Draco, was crazy enough to attempt.

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>>56457216
She would be sober in the mourning; thankfully her unique properties seemed to minimize hangovers. Hopefully she wouldn’t remember much of tonight. He though an invitation to a new years party would have made her feel batter. It was not one of his better ideas. Next year maybe they could curl up on a couch with some chocolates and watch a film or something. Or maybe he could try and find another method of escaping their jailers for another little adventure.

He would have to be careful, he knew, his sponsors and superiors were getting more adept at finding and shutting down his escape tunnels. If it carried on like this in a few hundred years they would have trapped him here with all the other dangerous curiosities.

>And that's all I got for now. Not as good as the last one I think.

>>56457280

Well, it was certainly a lot more depressing...

Made Draco sound a bit like a much nicer (if much nuttier) version of Dr. Clef or something, though, and that was interesting.

>>56457280
nice. Could use some copy editing, but overall very sweet and pleasant fluff

>>56459193
Yeah, he seems like a mix of Clef and Bright from what we've described in the past

>>56452429
seriously? We can't even have an out of universe understanding of what's going on in our own setting?

>>56459193
Second. Though as >>56459222 says Draco seems to draw quite a bit from both Clef and Bight.

>>56457216
>fashion in the Jovian Orbitals
The thought of fashion trends with Navigator women makes me giggle. For all their importance people always seem to forget that the Navigators are people too.

>>56457216
Does Legienstrausse know Draco is under as much of a watch as she is?

Also, do you have titles for these for the 1d4chan page?

>>56459242
Good point. Even with all the nuttiness going on with Alpharius and Omegon at least we kind of know what is going on with them (sent to the Emperor by someone, not entirely clear who, helped found the Inquisition, have the Hydra and Alpha Legion around to help do what the Inquisition can't).

>>56461222
the main navigator writeup doesn't forget it

Also, on Alpharius and Omegon/Alpharius Omegon, someone seemed to suggest that they/he were/was a Terrawatt spymaster(s) or leader(s), one that knew about Cthonia and backed Malcador's mission to the ancient capital. Also, its the Alpha Legion and Omega Legion that do black ops and "The Imperium denies all knowledge" opperations. The Hydra seems to be a special circle very close to the throne every time its been mentioned, and it's supposed to predate the Imperium. I remember it also being said that Oscar and Malcador were members of the Hydra, and its affiliation with them, Alpharius and Omegon, and Terran Unification meshes with the idea that A and O were from Terrawatt, or at least that Terrawatt was closely tied to the Hydra.

Its hidden nature and pervasive guiding hand and connection to Cthonia and thus the Great and Bountiful Human Dominion gives the Hydra a serious Foundation vibe.

And there's also the Illuminati, who kinda seem like a freemason style conspiratorial order of men of means and station, with various goals.

>>56459242
Different person from the guy you responded to, but leaving some vagueness is sometimes more effective for bits of lore because it leaves room for interpretation and ambiguity. We have fleshed out the Alpha Legion and Omega Marines though but you'll have to do some archive diving. IIRC the gist of it is that the Alpha Legion executes highly classified covert missions but are still publicly known/acknowledged (like Tier 1 US special forces), whereas the Omega Marines run black ops and officially do not exist (like the super secret parts of the CIA/Mossad/whatever intelligence agency), known only at the high levels of government.

Alpharius and Omegon should probably always stay vague though as explaining everything about them would negate the mystery around them, unless someone has a REALLY good backstory we can all agree on.

>>56461222
Legienstrausse knows that Draco isn't top dog and has his orders and responsibilities. An important part of his character is that he is defiant to authority and in trouble with those above him.

But he is of enough station not to get instantly fucked over when he does what he does.

Legienstrausse does not know and would probably not believe that he is as much an exhibit as she is.

>>56462759
honestly its an interesting feature of Draco's character. I suppose his incredible survival and shenanigans would work on the same principles as the Imperial Saints and protection-by-faith for sororitas in the canon 40k universe, but because of the more humanistic and enlightenment-esque beliefs of the Unified Imperium that effect would be more subtle and less widely recognized. Instead of being an object of worship he's a improbable scientific anomaly. It might even be that as the personally alienated, eccentric bringer of order and civility to the collection of strange and terrible wonders on Ganymede the aforementioned effect is increased, because much like the hyper-devout of the canon universe, he embodies the nature of his Emperor and the Imperium at large, thus repeating and reverberating its mighty pattern in the warp.

I've been sipping absinthe all night so ignore this if its stupid.

>>56463101
Yeah, I think that’s the absinthe talking. But like they say, write drunk, edit sober.

>>56463101
Draco's oddity is his continued survival combined with his ability to navigate the webway.

Also this evening I will be attempting to write another one. Any preferences ormideas?

>>56463392
start thusly.
>We were somewhere on the edge of the Savlar atmosphere, when the drugs began to take hold...

make it about a trip through bat country, investigate the small gods of Savlar, and return with a column about the big race