One last bump to see if interest is still around

>>56708163

Someone last thread promised to do some writing.

Also, what's the likelihood of Eldar joining the Inquisition?

>>56708201
Eldar Inquisitors exist. Also numerous Inquisitors have things like junior seers or Warlocks in their retinue.

The Rangdan Xenocides were by far the most costly conflict ever fought during the Great Crusade. The campaign included the involvement of three Space Marine legions (the Dark Angels, Space Wolves, and the Ultramarines), several Titan legions, and significant numbers of the Solar Auxilla; needed the assistance of the Eldar to gain a foothold; and required the direct intervention of the Steward himself to finally turn the tide.

The opposing forces of the Rangdan Xenocides were the Slaugth. The Slaugth were colonial organisms resembling masses of maggots (though pedantic AdBio members would point out they also showed similarities to Terran leeches and earthworms) linked together in a mucosal sheath into a humanoid shape. The constant psychic contact between the individual worms in the colony, combined with the completely horrific and alien mindset of the Slaugth by the standards of nearly every other race in the galaxy, made them revolting to directly touch with psychic powers. Psychic contact with a Slaugth was not like the mental communion of matter and anti-matter of a blank, but described more like sticking one’s arms up to the shoulder in maggots. “Only a daemon would want a Slaugth’s soul”, an old Crusade-era saying goes.

>>56709119 (cont.)
The Slaugth themselves had an entirely self-centered mindset and only cared about themselves and their desires, to the detriment of the rest of the universe. Although they were able to scrape together some semblance of social order, the Slaugth saw everyone and everything, even members of their own kind, as little more than tools or slaves to fulfill their needs. For the most part, the most prominent of those needs was hunger. Although the Slaugth were naturally detritivores and could survive on any flesh, they most preferred to feed on brains (the larger and more complex, the better), and had developed a system to feed this gluttony. Humans, eldar, and other sapients were farmed like cattle, their brains extracted, and the waste meats fed back to the livestock and Slaugth bio-constructs like Osseivores. The Slaugth did not eat the brains of other sapients solely for their nutritional value. Absorbing nutriends from a brain would cause an individual Slaugth worm to be overwhelmed by neurotransmitters, producing a euphoric effect similar to a chemical high.

>>56709141 (cont.)
Indeed, just about the only reason the Slaugth didn’t readily turn on each other is that Slaugth couldn’t really eat other Slaugth. If one Slaugth colony tried to eat another Slaugth, the two would simply merge into a single giant Slaugth colony twice as large and twice as hungry as its constituents. Even if a Slaugth did manage to completely kill all the component individuals of a fellow Slaugth colony before eating it, Slaugth flesh simply tasted foul to their own kind. And this is assuming that a Slaugth could kill another Slaugth in the first place. Being composed of hundreds if not thousands of individual organisms, Slaugth lacked vital organs or a centralized nervous system and were notably hard to kill. For this reason, Slaugth tended to prefer necrotic weaponry, which rotted the tissues of their foes from the inside-out and was one of the few ways (aside from fire, plasma, or radiation) to make sure another Slaugth was reliably dead. The fact that it also worked well on the bio-constructs that Slaugth technology was largely based around just made it even more attractive.

Given this entirely self-centered mindset, it is difficult to imagine how a species like the Slaugth could have ever developed a civilization, let alone space travel. However, what little historical records remain show the Slaugth arose long after the end of the Old Ones in the War in Heaven and long before humanity developed widespread genetic engineering or spread out into the stars. Current hypotheses suggest that the Old Eldar Empire, or at least someone like them, was responsible for the uplift of the Slaugth from what were essentially fire and tool-using ants into a starfaring species, as well as their adoption of a humanoid form.

>>56709230 (cont.)
By the time the Imperium encountered the Rangda, the Slaugth were being ruled by an Iron Mind. A minor Iron Mind, to be sure, but even a minor Iron Mind was still dangerous. The Slaugth and the Iron Mind had formed a kind of symbiosis, or as close to one as the Slaugth were capable of. The Iron Mind handled the long term planning of the Rangdan Empire, which the Slaugth naturally didn’t have the wherewithal or inclination to run, and the Slaugth indulged it in its god complex and protected its physical body while its artificial soul ran with daemons in the Warp. When the Imperium fought the Slaugth the Iron Mind was able to coordinate the movement of its forces with uncanny accuracy. Companies would advance only to be met with forces that already predicted their arrival. However, when the Imperium finally made a beachhead on Rangda, the Steward took to the field and struck down the Iron Mind with an ancient archaeotech device of unknown purpose from the vaults of Ganymede. With the Iron Mind destroyed, the cohesion of the Slaugth was broken, and the remaining factions were run down and killed by the Imperium and Eldar.

>>56709237 (cont.)
It was during the Rangdan Xenocides that the Dark Angels, who were previously tied for the status of “most numerous legion” with the Ultramarines, became the largest standing legion by a wide margin. Although the Ultramarines were well-trained and highly-skilled, the Slaugth were an outside context problem for them and they suffered grievous casualties. Still others became infested through some unknown means and had to be mercy killed, their eyes begging for death and their limbs moved to butcher their comrades in the name of their xenos master. By contrast, the Dark Angels had been traveling the void and dealing with anomalous phenomena for far longer, and knew how to deal with the unexpected. While the Ultramarines immediately moved to free the Slaugth chattel, the Dark Angels held back and waited. Although this seemed callous at the time, the Dark Angels knew that the Slaugth would use the prisoners as bait for an ambush, and that by focusing their efforts on the Slaugth or restricting any rescue operations to the cover of darkness they could save a lot more prisoners than otherwise possible. The rise of the Dark Angels as the undisputable largest legion set the stage for Luther’s actions during the War of the Beast, and made the betrayal of the Fallen that much more devastating.

>>56709309 (cont.)
Imperial and Eldar forces rescued numerous humans and Eldar from Rangda and the surrounding worlds of the Slaugth Empire. Eldar rescuees, due to the longer generational gaps, were not as mentally damaged and were herded off to the nearest Craftworlds where they could be given some semblance of a normal life. Although these slaves were physically normal, mentally, it would be more accurate to describe them as livestock than anything else. They had spent at least a few thousand years being bred for servile, docile natures and to be just strong enough to not need looking after much but too weak to pose any sort of threat. The Imperium tried to uplift them in a similar manner to the ogryn, but had variable success. In the end, the human survivors of Rangda were largely adopted by the various Legions. They were docile but they were dutiful, they also had inhuman patience and didn't get bored by repetitive tasks. Their tainted bloodline has by 999.M41 faded away though many in the Imperium, even some Space Marines, could claim to have at least one ancestor in the "serf families" as they became known.

>>56709326 (cont.)
Today across most of the galaxy the Slaugth are considered to be harmless boogeymen, an extinct xenos species whose only modern function is to scare children into eating their vegetables. There are others who know better. Not every Slaugth was killed in the aftermath of the Rangdan Xenocides. Some escaped the destruction of their species, hiding amongst the flesh of the dead in places beneath notice. Today the Slaugth exist in the shadows, multiplying in the places out of sight ready to emerge wherever weakness or rot presents itself. Slaugth have been sighted in the xenos districts of Low Commorragh, trading technological abominations to the Dark Eldar in exchange for slaves. Some have even suggested that the abundance of Slaugth in the Calixis Sector is not a coincidence, speaking in hushed tones of bargains struck between the maggot men and the separatist Emperor Severan of the Severan Dominate.

The surviving Slaugth seem surprisingly unconcerned with the loss of their empire. They resent it, but they are not devastated by it in the way that a human, eldar, or tau would be. Indeed, the Slaugth seem to see the destruction of their empire and near-extinction of their species as “not their problem”. And given that the Slaugth are colonial organisms, who can reproduce asexually or with minor contact with other colonies, it could be argued that the death of the rest of their race really was “not their problem”. Indeed, the empire at Rangda was in effect the normal Slaugth modus operandi on a large scale. The similarities are evident; a large number of thralls and bio-constructs lorded over by a Slaugth elite, resembling a feedlot or a parasitic infestation more than what one would think of as civilization. It’s possible that while the Slaugth might on some level desire retribution for the destruction of their empire, given their mindset they might just consider vengeance another flavor of eating.

(And it's done. Stupid character limit.)

>>56709374
Man, I like this a lot. The recent writefagging has been moving towards character-driven pieces, so it's nice to get back to the historical codex style.

>>56709374 (cont.)
In terms of time period, I was thinking Rangda took place some time before the Raid. The Eldar and humanity teamed up with one another in a manner that at this point would be considered more an alliance of convenience than anything else. The Slaugth threatened the Eldar as much as they did humanity, and the Eldar were satisfied with showing up, fighting the Slaugth, rescuing the Eldar captives, and leaving without turning on humanity. It was this event that showed the Steward that the Eldar were somewhat reliable, or at least reliably acting on their own self-interest enough that they would keep their word if it benefited them, that he went with Eldrad's proposal to do the Raid.

>>56710381
>>56709374
all sounds great. Its really interesting to see out AU's equivalent to the vanilla standard of "purge the Xenos". I was thinking that this defeat for the Ultramarines actually sounds like a similar dynamic as the one we've described for the Terra's Children vs Chaos Orks/Iron Cage scenario, and the Rangdan Xenocides might be the point where Robute started the work that would become the Codex Astartes, to codify the lessons the Xenocides taught about interstellar war.

>>56710381
>>56710381
Hm, I thought the timeline for initial Eldar integration was something like this:
1. On and off contact and some intel sharing between Steward and Eldrad, mostly staying out of each other's way
2. Discussion between them of a true alliance
3. Council of Nikaea where Steward proposes the idea of the alliance and the Primarchs vote
4. The Raid

I think is more in character for the Eldar: ask the Imperium for a huge, incredibly risk upfront investment for a vague future help while minimizing risk to yourself for a huge potential payoff. Luckily both sides got along surprisingly well, and things were peachy until the Beast came around. The Rangdan Xenocides would come after the Raid this sequence of events, it would probably be easier to fight horrible worm monsters if you're not looking over your shoulder at the suspicious space elves.

>>56708201
I promised to do some writing but by the time I got home from work thread was dead. I won't be doing it tonight as I feel dead. Tomorrow is a half day so if thread survives I do intend to write up some serious Yarrick.

>>56711864
I think the timeline is like this, which is mostly like what you said.

1. Imperium expands out from Sol system. Has initial brief encounters with Exodite/Craftworld Eldar, some bad, some good, but overall minor enough that the two aren't in constant contact and neither group is on the other's shit list. Eldar primarily want to be left alone and are willing to actually talk, which makes them leagues better than many of the Xenos species encountered. To Eldar, humans are no better or worse than Tarellians, etc.
2. Imperium encounters Interex, who tell them that, "no, all these psychotic human and xenos civilizations with similar pantheons you've been encountering are not a coincidence, there are real things living in the Warp and they are not nice".
3. Steward goes to Eldar (specifically Eldrad) for independent confirmation because they're the most Warp-knowledgeable and reasonable outside expert they know of. Eldrad confirms what Interex say is true. Discussion between them of a true alliance
4. Council of Nikaea where Steward proposes the idea of the alliance and the Primarchs vote
5. The Raid
6. Eldar and humans mostly go separate ways on relatively good terms, until War of the Beast where Eldrad has to step in to keep things from going ploin-shaped.

The only issue is how much time passed between the Raid and the WotB. I think we said the WotB was six years after Ullanor (maybe longer, but it wasn't that long). Raid was sometime in the latter half of the Great Crusade, when the Imperium was a big enough power that it was worth noticing by the Eldar. Great Crusade overall was...three hundred to five hundred years instead of two (it's in the old threads somewhere)because Steward more interested in quality of life and stabilizing gains (and doesn't have a "unify all the things NOW before shit goes south" attitude of vanilla!Emps).

You make a good point that alliance-wise Rangda sounds more like a post-Raid "on good terms but not allies yet".

>>56712664
As to whether they were allies after The Raid depends on when Isha and Oscar get married. I assumed it was immediately after the Raid. Eldrad encouraged her to formalize the alliance quick as possible for reasons stated in the Eldrad story to do with fate, predictions of behaviour and safety in numbers.

Alliance is a formal thing but in those early days still contested by elements on both sides. Most notably wary craftworlders who still remembered the pride of the Old Empire and Vulkan who fucking hated eldar.

Years pass and the alliance becomes an accepted fixture. WoTB happens and humans and eldar risk and sacrifice for each other as brothers in arms. Craftworlds in the aftermath are subsumed willingly into Imperium as member states.

>>56713061
The marriage actually comes immediately after the Battle of Terra. Oscar promises Eldrad one unconditional favor for their help and Eldrad immediately goes, "Well our mother-goddess has been single for a few millennia..."

>>56713061
It's not necessarily that they were fully allies after the Raid, it's more like if they happened to be on the battlefield pursuing similar goals (wiping out a group of xenos which threatened both, for example), they would cooperate. The only difference at this point between this timeline and canon is the two groups weren't actively plotting to stab the other in the back as soon as it was convenient because it's a fight neither side needs and having good street cred with a reasonable xenos species gives you more options in the future.

As >>56713748 said the official alliance only happened after Oscar promised Eldrad a favor after he saved his life.

I'm wondering how Aghoru and the Elohim went down in this timeline. The Elohim were all but stated to be Eldar who got stranded on Agorhu and their Webway Gate broke down, letting daemons onto the planet that they had to seal. I was going to suggest back in an old thread that Magnus' visit to Agorhu was an encounter with a regressed Exodite-esque colony of Eldar and one of the first unofficial first contacts between humans and Eldar, but then I noticed the Elohim were supposed to be extinct and Agorhu solely human-inhabited (that doesn't mean things could be different in this timeline).

Finally productive again, I’m gonna post what I’ve got when I’m back from the doctor’s office. I’m now working on the purge of Laeran and fall of Lucius (also fabious) and Fulgrim’s role in the siege of terra, and someday I will get to the iron cage. If that means reviving these threads another year down the line, that’s what I’ll do.

In the meantime, I’m tempted to make Laeran flying cities fusion candles, and possibly Laeran a gas giant with watery moons instead of a water world. In general the Laeran Conquest is gonna be a war between Fulgrim’s aesthetic transhumanism and theirs.

I’m happy to hear what people would be interested in seeing.

Fulgrim's many inquiries into future endeavors by the Warlord, for potential avenues of research, for examination of technologies, continued all through the last years of unification, and he always seemed to give them precedence to the interim Merikan government run by him and Lucius. Lucious in particular, but Fulgrim as well, both showed a keen interest in the overtures the Imperium extended Hy Braseal, though they had the deference not to take part. It was worth noting in Oscar's mind that they had more or less copied the councils under which he'd arrayed the leaders of the lands of Europa and the remains of Ursh to assemble and represent the various Merikan provinces north of the isthmus and south of Dorn's restored Kalbi, all without coaching on his part, but had made some focused and major alterations in some places. There were provisions for continued cooperation with the Alpha Legion nominally to ensure full and thorough reform and removal of entrenched corruption, and others to continue the Doe program, with the added practice of optimizing the babies after random sample combination, which Fulgrim had already started, and further provisions for eminent domain over all samples of neutronium in their government's remit. For his part, Lucius was reordering the Merikan military and its many arms foundries around the support of the Terra's Children, and glad handing and encouraging as much of the old officer class to go on on grand world tours to enjoy the new Imperium, while Fulgrim was overseeing the expansion of the proud legion of nearly three hundred that had overtaken the Merikan war machine.

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The Futurist got his conclusive answer shortly after Oscar became Steward of the Empty Throne, named him Primarch of Terra's Children, and began the next stage of unification, that of Sol, with his oath before all assembled. With naught but some hasty organization of the new Council of Merikan Foremen, Fulgrim convened his legion in Moton. Before his force of three hundred Astartes of his own selection, bearing his modifications, their backing of seven hundred Merikanized Skitarii, and with his blades, his mechanists, and Lucius arrayed at his sides, Fulgrim drew up in illustrious words his vision of the era before Old Night, one that the this new Imperium of unification would reclaim, with the Children of Terra at the fore to realize its mighty promise. He spoke of ships fleet and unstoppable, pillar cities vaster and more grand than any gilded Urshian ziggurat or Merikan pyramid-bunker, and of the great bridges indestructible, the Neutronium lines that tied worlds to the sea of heaven, and thus to each-other. He envisioned his legion as the mighty “New Men” of this Imperium, more virtuous, more beautiful, more effective than any officer class or knightly order of the old provincial nations, the great poet warriors that would realize this Imperium’s truth.

Furris’ new position on the council of twenty, the Primarchs, Malcador, and Oscar Steward, ensured he was now privy to the grand strategy of the Solar Unification without needing to trade favors with Ames and Ozzy. Already the pale, eerie, yet charming trade lord of the inner system had seized the initiative and taken up the Unification’s banner as its master of ships, and the famed Knight of Franj and the Lion ascendant were bound on a mission of pacification to the outer system aboard his flotilla. With some prodding a contingent of Terra’s Children best military virtuosos followed close behind, led by Lucius in a gold, purple, and white fleet of a half dozen restored Merikan warships.

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In the same period of manic consolidation and activity, Fulgrim fell in with the esteemed King of Empty Space, Horus, and the iron fisted Antarctican Skitarii mastermind, Ferrus Mannus, on their mission of diplomacy to Mars. While the Steward knew the holy man, Lorgar, to be the better diplomat than the preening Phoenician, treating with the dogmatic and hegemonic Brotherhood of Olympus Mons was a task ill suited to the earnest preacher, and thus it was Fulgrim that bore the Standard of the Aquila to the red priests for that first time. It proved a wise choice, and between the guns of Empty Space encircling, the mercenary charms of Horus and guileful Fulgrim, and the proud imperatives of the Antarctic Brotherhood’s iron fist, the ruddy neighbor of Old Earth was drawn into the fold.

Fulgrim hardly returned to Merika after this, and instead dwelt with Horus at the dockyards of the Lagrange supervising the building of the dreadnoughts that would lead the coming interstellar crusade, and on Mars, aiding the designs of the Iron Fist he had long idolized from the stories of his Mechanists. One could hardly tell if his fondness for Horus was surpassed by his love for Horus’s ships, and though his obsession with the mighty Ferrus Manus was clear, it took many efforts and trials to prove the worth of his works, and thus himself, to the machine-man.

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Fulgrim was often said by the remembrancers to be the more worldly mirror image of Blessed Sanguineous, created haphazardly, a happy accident that perfected himself, and grew imperious and mighty by his own ambition, who flew by roaring jet instead of graceful wing, but likewise pale and fair, refined and elegant. Indeed this was very compelling, the Terra’s Children’s fine armor was unmarred and unbloodied even through Fulgrim’s brutal raids and engagements, he struck where he pleased and retreated when it was advantageous, whose blade was drawn in pride when Sanguineous drew his in duty. For all their contrast, the aesthete and the prince were on good terms, so long as military matters were not broached between them. Likewise he was compared to Guilliman, great strategos of Europea, as the Phoenician conducted great overarching campaigns in sector after sector, indomitable purple Astartes at the vanguard and unbreakable supply lines guarded by his shining cyborgs, advancing through the galactic west apace with the vaunted Ultramarines in the east. Though it had to be said that Guilliman never leaned so heavily on the techniques of economic sabotage and poxy war that Fulgrim brought with him, following on the heels of the shadowy Alpha Legionnaires he still held close since the Merikan Coup. For all appearances Fulgrim was as deft a diplomat as Lorgar, Vulcan, Horus, and Robute, but for the fact that when he paraded his regal Astartes before the people of a world and charmed its leaders at Imperial hosted galas he was often hard at work cutting down their dissenting elements and special forces just beneath that pleasant veneer of peace.

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It was in this time he finally endeared himself to Ferrus Mannus, and an unusual friendship bloomed in the life of the Iron Fist, be it from their similar childhoods, shared archaic fantasy of the Great and Bountiful Human Dominion, or merely Fulgrim’s persistence. In Fulgrim, Ferrus saw a fitting disregard for the limitations of biology, in Ferrus Fulgrim found an exemplar for the advancement of the holy human form and appreciation of its mighty heritage. It was in the forges under Olympus Mons, after the Gorgon had established his might over the heads of the resident Archmagos, that they held their famed contest of smiths. Among the great cogs and reactors of the forges in the heart of the red mountain the cold Iron Hand was making demonstration of his mastery of artifice before the many venerable smiths of that ancient foundry. While the Gorgon beat cascades of sparks from adamant at the forge, another unfamiliar host of robed and augmented figures drew around the mighty Skitarii. At its head was Fulgrim, and about him were the Archeotechnological Diviners and War-smiths of the Terrawatt Clan that he had been asked to herald to the Martian Brotherhood, and with them came the Genesmiths of the Deutch Jemanik, the Gene-Hippes of the mountain enclaves, mighty weapon-wrights and siege engineers of Macedonia and Achemedinia, and Furris’ own mechanists, who had already found favor among the martians that held with the more creative interpretations of the Strictures Cybernetica.

It was in the midst of this gathering of the great masters of the forges, the Brotherhood of Olympus Mons that had in few years brought Mars to heel, who dared say they were the keepers of the Noctis Labyrinth, and the vast treasury of knowledge and art that were the assets of the Imperial Court, possessed of so many esoteric and mighty secrets and specializations they could not be rightly remembered hence their passing, that Fulgrim and Ferrus proposed to settle the budding rivalry between Old Earth and Holy Mars. In the spirit of their great blessed adventure to come, their Crusade of Interstellar Unification, Fulgrim proposed the tourney would last seven days, and in that time all present would strive to see the arsenal of Man filled with wonders to match the weapons of old. It was Ferrus that added the terms that each master of his own forge should work for himself upon his craft, and that any that shrunk from the task to let servitors or adepts dither in their work would show their lack of art. It was then that Ferrus Manus shed his robes and bore down upon the forge like a tempest with his vast silver arms, and bid the adepts about him bring schematics and material. Furris Doe likewise seized a forge, and with his Mechanists set about the recalibration of tools and selection of designs, and all around Siege Masters and Genesmiths and Armorers rushed to heat Adamant and prepare the manufacture of fine mechanical filagree.

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At the contest’s end, the forges and laboratories grew still and quiet, and many gleaming wonders were brought forth to be seen by all. Kelbor Hal, esteemed host to those assembled, so humbly presented a bright adamant power-javelin he named the Windlance, that flew unerring by means of grav-lifts in its shaft, and he received much acclaim, until Vie Braur, Master of the Genesmiths, came forward with a pair of golden armbands that would in a matter of minutes regrow a arm on which it was worn if it was severed, and this was followed by a cybernetic eye that saw across the spectrum and could glare a hail of lasfire as effectively as a heavy rifle, presented by Arton Luron of the Order Cybernetica, and from the Gene-Hippes, a poison gland from which a modified creature could spit streams of strong corrosive marking agent, and put forth by the Skitarii armorers, a beautiful brassy jezail of ancient design and thunderous power, an ingenious system of actuated tread claws that would let superheavy tanks scale sheer inclines was produced by the Macedonian envoy, and gleaming the gift of the Terrawatt engineers a reconstruction of an ancient tactical awareness computer, a golden pedestal that held an ethereally projected globe, then set to show much of the infrastructure and troop placement on Mars. Between all of these treasures and wonders, any one of them fit for royalty of the previous forsaken era, still none could rightly see its creator named champion, until together Fulgrim bore up a great black hammer, and Ferrus Manus unsheathed a burning golden blade.

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The black hammer, Forgebreaker, glowered with un-light, cut as it was from a shred of neutronium Fulgrim salvaged from one of earth's many equatorial scars, and he had struck upon a way to shape it only in the heat of the tourney. Though in the past Fulgrim had failed endlessly to work neutronium whatsoever, the modest lump of exotic matter was now a weapon to scatter the mass of mountains. The eye-searing sword thrust aloft by the Gorgon was simply named Fireblade, and it burned with unreal white flame that enveloped its narrow golden edges at solar temperatures, forged as the unification of many of the ancient subsystem fragments and schematics Ferrus Manus' brothers of the Antarctic Enclaves had brought from Earth, now possible to construct and piece together in the vast facilities of the Martian Brotherhood. The whole assembly of priests and artificers conceded the glory of these weapons above all the others, but between them none could decide the better. Fulgrim was certain it was the Gorgon's that was the mightiest, he loved the sword from his first sight of it, and its swift and biting form taken from the ancient glory of man far surpassed the bleak, crude weapon he had been able to carve from the strange matter. Ferrus Manus was already transfixed by the very notion of working neutronium even on such a small scale, far better than misassembling an archeotech hunting knife, it was a step towards the rediscovery of one of mankind's greatest arts. No decision could be reached, and the mastery of artifice could be given neither to Old Earth nor Holy Mars, and the budding of that rivalry continued. But the tourney beneath the red mountain did fill the arsenal of the unification of Sol, and the long and glorious Great Crusade after, and much joy and mirth resounded in the forges of mars on that seventh day, one that would be remembered as the unofficial, popular unification of Earth and Mars.

forgot to include the actual exchange of the weapons.

The tournament itself was said to end when the two Primarchs gave each other their own creation as prize, and the countless adepts, apprentices, magos, forgemasters, and artificers present saw fit to rejoice their work and the coming years of war and production. As the Primarch inventors exchanged notes on their works of the past seven days the huge convention of Imperial technological orders and leaders did much of the same, establishing much of the early relationship between the Mechanicus Orders and the myriad of other technological orders that The Throne would come to retain over the coming Millennia. Fulgrim would never part with the Fireblade after this, taking it with him into the unification of the galaxy, and bearing it back to Sol to strike at the back of the Beast when all that bright dreaming civilization shuddered and collapsed, and Forth again in vengeance and beautiful rebirth. Ferrus Manus would never forsake the Forgebreaker, and even when the Gorgon finally fell on the fields of Armageddon, millennia after his weapon's maker, that same hammer had smote the ruin of many dozens of Meks and Bosses across the battlefield, and left is final enemy naught but broken atoms in the ground.

So, next I'm gonna work on the conquest of Laeran, the Laer are gonna be hedonistic transsnakemanist, bioengineering, Slaanesh worshiping lunatics as a counterpoint to Fulgrim's aestheticized transhumanist vision for humanity's golden age, their capital world is gonna be a moving Gas giant with fusion candle cities and water world moons unless someone stops me, Fulgrim is never gonna bother with the blade of Laer, Lucius will carry it briefly in the Crusade before consigning it to Ganymede, and Fabulous Bill is gonna make the New Men project by combining the old Doe population project method and Laer bioengineering principles and tech. Lucius will be going to join Luther when Fulgrim doesn't make him Immortal.

bump for opinions

>>56717952
I like it. Your writing style has also really improved as well.

I like that the forge-off happened under Olympus Mons. Seems much more dramatic and apropos to the story than Uralia.

>Laer
Glad I'm not the only one who seemed to notice the Laer seem to be snake people first who seem to have Daemonette-like crustacean parts mutated on later. I think in canon it's implied the Sslyth were Laer who decided they wanted nothing of what the homeworld was doing.

As the guy who wrote the Diasporex I was almost going to imply the Sslyth were the ones who founded the Diasporex, but then I realized it would be too similar to the Eldar (divided between Chaos-worshippers on the homeworld, ascetic nomads, and dark kin on Commorragh).

What exactly is stopping Fulgrim from picking up the cursed blade? I don't know exactly why he picked it up in canon, but what's keeping him from doing that beyond common sense? If it's pre-Interex, Imperium may only know that Chaos and the Warp is bad in general rather than Chaos can corrupt you like radiation poisoning.

How much of a xenophile is Fulgrim? This version seems to be into all things culture and archaeotech, and even canon Fulgrim seemed to be a bit into xenos culture based on what he knew about Eldar stuff (even though much of it was bullshit). However, at the same time Fulgrim seems to be heavily into reclaiming the lost glories of humanity here. So it could be just human stuff. Although since Nobledark isn't as relentlessly xenophobic he could have an appreciation for both.

>>56718732 (cont.)
Also, I had been trying to avoid this because this always seems to come up in AUs and we're trying to avoid the timeline revolving entirely around the primarchs, but I had been thinking about how the voting for the Council of Nikaea had gone down.

Fulgrim, the xenophile (assuming he is a xenophile), voted Yes
Alpharius and Omegon (who agreed to count as one vote for the purposes of fairness), to everyone's surprise, voted Yes Because Cabal, either directly or through the intel grapevine if they are from the Illuminati or something
Magnus, who may have met Eldrad before with the Steward and whose first encounter with the Eldar was probably the world of Agorhu (not to mention potential sympathies because psyker), voted Yes
Lorgar voted Yes because Fuck Chaos
Sangy voted Yes, as previously established
Dorn voted No. He wasn't against the Eldar personally, but it was a pretty big risk and the Imperium didn't even know the Eldar that well in the first place.

Vulkan thinking back to the raids on the Afrik League, voted No, but said if the Imperium wanted to pursue this course of action he wouldn't throw a ruckus about it.

Lion, torn between conflicting desires of "there's a fair maiden in trouble" and "dude, they're Eldar, they're creepy" hesitantly voted No. It's possible his hesitance was due to conflicting information from the Watchers.

With the majority of his generals voting yes and the fact that the ones who voted no were not going to throw a hissy fit if they did not get their way, the Steward agreed to Eldrad's proposal.

>>56718732
my plan is that he's both really attached to the fireblade, and is more reliant on Lucius than in canon, as he has been for his entire backstory. It may go something like having Lucius storm the temple on the water moon while Fulgrim destroys the fusion candle fortress/fabricators on the gas giant, and afterwards the blade of Laer is just something that Lucius has as a trophy. It would eventually show to be a deamon, and Lucius would consign it to Ganymede before his subsequent fall and efforts to reclaim it. I'm also perfectly amenable to suggestions.

>>56718844
>More attached to the fireblade
Makes sense. Was also open to the idea that Eldrad got to Fulgrim before Laer happened and said "by the way, when you go to the planet of the snake people, watch out for corrupted swords".

Eldrad might have contacted Fulgrim because he knew that in a short period of time the Steward would be asking for Fulgrim to make contact with the Eldar (if for no other reason than Fulgrim was the closest to one of the major Craftworlds), and would have told Fulgrim as much. And sure enough, within hours Fulgrim recieves an astropathic message from the Steward, saying there's been a major change in plans due to meeting the Interex and he needs to get in contact with the Eldar as soon as possible. The fact that Eldrad knew beforehand that the Steward would want to meet before the Steward even said anything leaves a serious impression on Oscar.

Oscar gets his comeuppance when they actually open the portal into the Warp. Oscar, being a portable Gellar Field generator when he puts his mind to it, goes first and when he steps into the Warp the Warp seems to recoil and stabilize just by him being there. Then he turns back to look at the stunned hosts of humanity and Eldar like "you coming?" And that's when it sinks in for Eldrad that while Oscar may lack his finesse, he is not someone you want to fuck with.

It's kind of like that scene in the DCAU where Batman and Superman each get a one-up on each other in rapid succession when they discover each other's secret identities, which sets the stage for the mutual respect between the two later on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F90nxOlsm1s

>>56717952
Damn, I agree with what this anon said >>56718732, your writing really has improved by leaps and bounds. Now if you could add a few paragraph breaks for my poor eyes...

I like the way the relationship between Fulgrim and Ferrus is shaping up. How would Ferrus react when Fulgrim dies?

>>56719293
The animated Justice League was so good. How the fuck does Zack Snyder still have a job?

any preferences for where I go with Laeran?

>>56717952
It was a wonderful read.

>>56720083
Freaky gas-giant moons sound good.

>>56718836
>Lion, torn between conflicting desires of "there's a fair maiden in trouble"

Laughing_eldar.holo

>maiden
>implying

Bumpan before bed

>>56718836
I get the feeling that this AU Fulgrim is a high culture and sophistication enthusiast regardless of source. Much as Dr Bile becomes interested in the mad biological sciences of the Dark City Fulgrim would love the erudite nature of the Craftworlds and the refined tastes they would offer.

So what has happened to Fulgrim's pimp sword by 999M41?

>>56723108
We don't have how Fulgrim dies yet, so that's probably going to be a big factor in where the sword ends up.

>>56720418
>56718836
>>56720418Considering thar with that configuration you can end up as a geuinne threat all is good.

Also wanted to put this down in writing. My plan for Fulgrim in the fall is gonna be suppressing the Martian Schism while Manus is out securing the many forgeworlds in the WoTB's path. This will be the section following Laer, and will both be another step of pride for Fulgrim to be taken down in the Iron Cage, and the point over which Lucius will betray him, if not the time at which he does it. Fulgrim will fall into the iron cage pursuing Lucius, and eventually need to get the Ultramarines to help bail him out.

I'm also thinking that since this project has grown so far out of hand, I'm gonna use it as a spot to actually display various parts of our 30-31k setting, and will probably include decent chunks of Ferus and others as well.

bump

>>56706040
Question: Can I still be a good-guy space nazi in this alternate setting of yours?

>>56726995
Looking forward to it. Also Fulgrim fighting to supress the Mechanicus Schism makes sense.

Did the Mechanicus Schism happen durin g the WotB? I can't remember. I thought we had it slightly after, but it would make sense the Chaos gods would try during the WotB because of the "Use all the leverage" mindset they had going on.

>>56728624
This would make most sense

Hey Fulgrimfag, the new Fulgrim stuff is uploaded to 1d4chan. You might want to make sure we have everything prior to the Crusade-era stuff here (I think we either do, or Fulgrim's recruitment is in the archived threads still. I couldn't tell).

>>56726957
It sounds great and i look forward to reading it.

bump

Any more thoughts for Orks/Chaos Orks? Here was that one post from last thread.

>Here's a list of canon Warbosses.
>http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/List_of_Ork_Warbosses
>Garshul the Destroyer was possessed by a daemon in canon, not sure what the details of that were (it was in Bloodquest).
>Killdagga leads a band called the "Warpheads" (little on the nose there).
>Cadia has two major Ork empires, Dregruk and Gathrog, just to the north of the Eye. The two hate each other and have been fighting each other for decades to the benefit of Cadia. Dregruk in canon is aligned with Ghazzy (suggesting Gathrog could be Chaos Orks).
>I can't think of many named Warbosses that have done notable things on my part other than Ghazzy, the Beast, Tuska Daemonkilla, and Gorgutz (and Makari and Orkimedes, but they're not Warbosses).
>Charadon is a really big empire that hasn't been touched (though Snagrod has been mentioned in Rynn's World). In canon it's basically just east of Tau space, northeast of Ultramar, and southeast of the Sautekh Dynasty. It's supposedly lasted since the Horus Heresy, but that's mostly because the vanilla Imperium would rather use them as a buffer state. Given that the Tau have expanded to the point that they and Ultramar share a border, if Charadon exists in this timeline it could cause problems.

There was a suggestion that the Gathrog Ork Empire is Khornate. I would suggest that maybe the head warboss is Khornate but not the whole thing, because the Blood Pact are right in that same area and they are also Khornate above all other Chaos Gods. Garshul might make a better Khornate Ork given the context of which he existed and the fact that in canon he fought the Blood Angels, which Khorne seems majorly tsundere for.

Also why are the threads falling so fast? It used to be they would stay up for a while now it seems like they have to be bumped once an hour or they fall off the board like the last two.

>>56716333
I'd be curious where these treasures ended up.

>>56728466
no, but maybe a space prussian

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>>56734986
Space Prussian with a bit of Imperial China and Persia. People have pointed out that Imperial philosophy has strong elements of utilitarianism, "don't be an asshole", and "don't rock the boat".

This is largely due to the sheer scale of the threats facing the Imperium. This is because unlike Fantasy, where Chaos is mostly bottled up at the poles and predominantly deals with Kislev/Cathay, Chaos is a much larger threat here (as it is in vanilla) and can show up anywhere. Sowing disunity to the point that it breaks the fellowship is basically an open invitation for the OG rape elves to come in. This has only become worse since tyranids, Brain Boyz, and the Star Empire have become things. They've built the seawalls so high that trying to take them down would let the ocean in.

On the other hand, there's always Krieg. Though Krieg wasn't always a shithole, at some point it was merely known for big guns and weird art. The Codex entry has it at M40 but shifting it to an earlier date has been suggested because it would explain why pre-Kalamity Krieg has been all but forgotten and "modern" Kriegers showed up for the Battle of Iyanden with Leviathan.

>>56734321
Yeah, I've noticed that as well, not sure if /tg/ is more active than usual or what.

>>56734321
He could be a Slaanesh/Khorne hybrid.

There are still High Lords to do

>>56737817
That could work. It's indicated that in this AU at least there is more cooperation between the gods and their followers. In the Legi and Draco story they raided a Tzneetch + Slaanesh temple.

No reason there wouldn't be an ork Warboss dedicated to two gods. God of hitting hard and god of going fast, two great tastes that taste great together.

>>56712664
I thing that the Great Crusade went on in this AU for ~350 years. It had to be longer than the Vanilla due to being more methodical and less slapdash in it's approach as well as a lot more emphasis put on finding diplomatic solutions.

>>56737087
The laat time this happened 8th edition was just announced. Nothing this time that I can tell.

>>56739274
Would Khorne and Slaanesh cooperate that much? Tzeentch and Slaanesh I could see, but Khorne's personal dislike of Slaanesh in vanilla is well known. Plus I don't think Slaanesh usurping the other three gods would be an acceptable idea to THE BLOOD KING OF THE GALAXY.

>>56741142
It's orks. It doesn't need to make perfect sense given how batshit orks can be.

Also Slaanesh and Khorne, like all the gods, do have some overlap.

>>56709374
That is good to read. Thank you.

>>56741142
>Nothing this time that I can tell.
Bunch of stupid short threads. Topics all over the place too.

How old should Yarrick by by the 5th War?

Also what should be the time between them?

>>56744032
I would argue not that old. We already have a lot of events piling up at the millennium mark (12th Black Crusade, the Dark Wedding, Space Cambodia) and a lot piling up about 300 years before present day (Dorhai being dicks, Battle of Ultramar, Swarmlord shows up for first time). It would be nice to spread some events out. And we're starting to get a lot of individuals who are probably just reaching the end of their lifeline by 999.M41.

4th Armageddon War was also Ghazzy's first appearance, so the timing depends on how long humans live and how long Orks live.

It's not clear how long Orks live. Official lore is ridiculously contradictory on the matter. Gorkamorka claims that Orks only live until their thirties and can die of old age. Rynn's World has a Warboss that is over a thousand years old. Ghazghull is at least a century old, if not more. The Beast is not a good example in either timeline, because in vanilla he'd have to be born post-Crusade at earliest because there's no way the Emperor wouldn't notice him and take him out, whereas in this timeline the Beast got huge because of mad Chaos buffs and the size increase that comes from beating up the Warbosses of every major Ork WAAAGH! of note until they recognized his authority.

And because Orks growth is completely unrelated to age, size is not a good indicator. An Ork that's plateaued could theoretically live for centuries bouncing from win to loss assuming he doesn't sustain a lethal injury. On the other hand an Ork that's won a huge number of victories in a row can outstrip the former in size in a few years.

>>56744875 (cont.)
One major issue with anything in 40k, this universe or otherwise is that simply the travel time involved in doing anything. I think we said in a previous thread that it takes about 5-6 realspace years to go from one end of the galaxy to the other. That means by the time the Imperium musters the forces to do anything and send them where they need to be a significant amount of time has passed. The Imperium's only way to resolve conflicts immediately is the Webway, and they're limited in the amount of forces they can deploy that way. And if the Webway Gate in a particular system happens to be destroyed, well, they're fucked. This makes it hard for any characters to interact unless they are literally on the same planet all the time.

That’s one of the less selfish reasons why the Administratum employs seers, after all. With seers, they are able to look into the future to see if their orders get filled out, cutting down on cases of “Planet X got sent 2000 units of military-grade weaponry instead of food to relieve a famine”. Of course, this only reduces it, not eliminates it, because resources are still limited and the galaxy is just so damn huge.

>>56744032
Back in thread 21 it was said that Cain's current assistant (the Alfred-like figure, not Jurgen, who's currently travelling with Amberly Vail) fought in Helsreach Hive in the last War for Armageddon and "never received" the order to withdraw after things got to manageable levels and kept killing things in the sewers for years until people realized he was down there.

Being that he was just a Stormtrooper, he probably doesn't have access to good rejuvenants, so he can't be that old (though he is described as being an older individual).

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>>56745333
He might have gotten some bottom end rejuvenants as part of his job being an assistant to Ambassador Cain.

Assuming he was in his late 40s to mid 50s when he was dragged out of Hades Underhive, a veteran who had made up with experience what he had lost to age. The "economy value" rejuvenants might have slowed the aging process down to a little less than half speed. He looks like he is a spry 65 but he could be as much as approaching his first century.

He accompanies Ambassador Cain on his misadventures and escapades.

It's such an endearing character idea. All prim and proper and overly fond of etiquette, well versed in the tedium of high society, insists on the importance of keeping up appearances and the maintaining of standards. Has a fussy little mustache.

And then, if he knows you well enough, he might share a story of his misspent youth or his inglorious career in the Inquisition. On parades you might see the ork trigger finger bones he wears a jewelry. He will tell you that it started out as a necklace but by the time the PDF dragged his broken body back into the light he was wearing it as a bandoleer.

Cain looks younger than him but is, by 999M41, about 20 - 30 years older. They have both seen some shit. Alfred merely tolerated the last Ambassador, in Cain he feels he has found a kindred spirit. This does not reassure Cain because Cain can't tell if Alfred is blinded by his reputation and views the Hero Cain as kindred or has seen through to the bastard beneath and considers that like himself.

>>56746158
Good point, don't rejuvenants kind of work by freezing you at the age you are at (so to speak). Which is why Lorgar was a fifties-ish Bruce Willis-esque Space Buddha and Guilliman looked old but was fit for an old man (though he wouldn't have been as close to the front lines as Corax or Lorgar, who were younger when they started).

Also Hubworlders tend to get the whole "age without youth" treatment, so they look like spry old folks like Dresden File wizards, but that could be because their rejuvenants work different and don't have compatibility issues.

Also does Cain's batman have a name yet?

I keep sitting down to do the Yarrick. I have a vague idea for the shape of it. But I can't get the dates of it to add up.

Need help but right now I need sleep.

Got about as far as appointment to head of his first regiment and the orks landing in mass for the first time in his lifetime and the start of Hades Hive Siege.

>>56747813
Also different people react differently.

Guilliman's grandson for example suffered from Rejuvenent Rejection and died at the tender age of 156.

I think it was mentioned previously that the best way to take that shit is small doses at regular intervals, also there may be differences in quality of product. Presumably Alfred (or whatever name we settle on) just got a big does of the cheap stuff the moment he got his new job on the principle that anything is better than nothing.

Hubworlders are very much socialists. They all are on the cheapest of cheap because it can be given to all.

>>56745141
5-6 years seems like it would be too long to have a viable empire with any sort of centralization, didn't we agree that it was a year to get from one side of the Milky Way to the other, give or take Warp shenanigans? If I remember correctly, for the Roman Empire it took about 2 months to march from Rome to the Germanic border, and even then they always had problems with keeping the garrisons supplied and reinforced and the barbarians out.

For the Imperium, I think for the 3 smaller Segmenta response times would be several weeks and for the Ultima Segmentum it could be over a month towards the outer rim. Reinforcements from other Segmenta would vary but would generally be several months, depending on where the conflict is, logistical circumstances, and other such factors. Any longer and the Black Crusades are going to be over before the Imperium even mobilizes.

>>56749423
That's what I was trying to find. I think you may be right, the only thing I've been able to see is one year.

Fluff is not very helpful. I've seen estimates of everything from one year to six years on average. E.g., there is an example of a vanilla!Sister in the Necron codex who made a pilgrimage to Terra that took ~300 days subjective time, 6 years realspace time. But one could always argue that those examples are due to unfavorable Warp currents and whatnot.

What were travel times like during the Age of Sail? How long did it take to sail from, say, Peru to Spain pre-Panama Canal? Of course, I'm not sure you can call colonial empires any kind of centralized, because you frequently had the locals rebelling, there was little centralization, and the people in charge often had a lot of autonomy.

>>56750169
Bump

>>56738652
Which High Lords are left?

>>56753677
The Master of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica, Astronomican, Schola Psykana and the Black Ships

Grand Headmaster of Rhetor Imperia and Schola Progenium

Spokesman for the Collective Synod of the Imperium

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>>56750169
From Spain to Peru would take at least 9 months under favorable conditions, if not realistically 12 months or more. That’s why I would say under the best Warp currents, a voidship can navigate from the galactic edge of Segmentum Pacificus to the edge of Segmentum Ultima in at least 1 year realspace. But things like Warp storms and just plain bad luck would send a ship spitting back out into realspace because of disturbances within the Warp. They would then have to make smaller minor Warp jumps to go around whatever in realspace that was effecting the Warp, before going on a long distance jump. Worst, they might have to wait until the Warp settles down before entering it again, or else face random daemons boarding the ship.

>>56755372
Also keep in mind that the Imperium is very decen and has much faster communications than travel

>>56755618
>decen

*decentralised

wtf phone?

>>56749423
Communication works faster so integrity is helped to be maintained by that.

Also given that the actual high governance of the Imperium is extremely hands off and rarely gives direct orders to anyone and imposes almost no actual laws beyond the tithe and policies of "don't rock the boat" the outlying provinces don't have any serious reason to want to leave whilst still having reasons to stay. Most notable reason to want to stay is that in times of ohgodwat they get the benefit of the tithe.

The tithe is only in theory paid to the Imperium via Old Earth. In practice it is paid to the neighbours of the worlds paying with the process overseen by a representative of Old Earth to make sure it's done honestly.

To the majority of the worlds under the Old Earth Aegis the distant rule of Old Earth is nothing more than a collective idea rather than a physical place that they all hold to and abide by because for 10,000+ years it has been beneficial and given the direction the galaxy is going in now will be soon be not only beneficial but also critical for survival as it has been in the past.

And then you have the Survivor Civs who can be considered singular mega-nations in their own right under the Aquila. They see themselves as partner nations culturally and socially rather than subjects and the Imperium is happy to go along with this because having the Interex, Inwit and Ultramar happy is worth being polite.

>>56746158
Alfred is beating up superman.

Wtf is going on?

>>56754622
The Master of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica, Astronomican, Schola Psykana and the Black Ships should probably be someone like the 0 fucks given Dumbeldore. Someone who will listen carefully to your concerns and then tell you to kindly fuck off and mind your own business.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aG7m56rbDQQ

>>56754622
Wasn't the Synod a Catachan? Or am I thinking of a different High Lord.

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>>56759871
That was what we seemed to be going with.

Basis for the character being Hughnon Ridcully of discworld adapted for Noblebright 40k

https://wiki.lspace.org/mediawiki/Hughnon_Ridcully

Sticking point before the thread died was that we couldn't think of a name and it would require at least some minor fleshing out of the Catachan gods of Blood and Wood.

All we have is that the people of Catachan live in defiance/at the sufferance of their gods rather than with their blessing, religious services usually consist of yelling at the alter and although the priesthood consider it of vital importance that all Catachans are faithful they don't really feel the need to prosthelytize off-world.

>>56759337
Looks good for something to build on.

>>56706040

what irritates me is that you don't even understand why this is a bad idea.

>>56762167
can you elaborate? we've been at it for over a year now.

>>56762409

I'm 99% certain that's a just a troll, ignore 'em.

>>56762167
What did he mean by this?

>>56759967
Do Catachans have a naming theme going on? I am trying to think of famous ones beyond Straken and Sly Marbo (who is an obvious Rambo reference).

>>56762916
I've heard there's a Dutch ring to some of the named characters, but a french one might also work with their vietnam theme and the fact that the Dark Angels lead the vanguard of the great crusade.

>>56763177

If we are going for Dutch names then the Spokesman for the Collective Synod i suggest be Walden Van Aaldenberg for no other reason than I think it means Forested Valley of the Old Mountain. I think. I can't into Dutch for shit so I only have Google to hel me.

>>56763177
Well the Dark Angels didn't discover every world on the Great Crusade. They were just the first ones out to get sent out to get a foot in the door and make sure there wasn't some horrible xenos empire two solar systems over that no one knew about.

>>56763765
That said I like this name.

>>56759337
From what world would Space Dumbeldore be from?

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>>56764210
>>56763765
Walden of the Aaldenbergs started his ecclesiastical vocation as the acolyte of Hahn of the Aaldenbergs, priest of the old gods, slayer of orks, caller of lightning, forger of blades and all over aging and highly accomplished strong man of the tribe. He was a mere twelve standard years old when he decided that this was what he wanted to do with his life although that his two older brothers had already been earmarked for future leader of Old Mountain tribe and sent off to the army it could be argued that there wasn't much else besides the priesthood for the third son of village chief to do. Not that he resented his lot in life, not by a long way.

He was possessed even in early age of a powerful intellect that suffered only slightly from overly straight line thinking and somewhat Dornian bluntness. As he grew up in the teachings of the faith he learned deep of the gods of blood and wood and bone and ash. He learned the names of the spirits of the deep forest where not even orks would grow and at the tender age of 15 survived the trip from the wooded foothills into the sunless heartlands by the rivers where the trees grow a mile tall. There he met the gods, he claims, though he will not say what they said to him. The gods of catachan can impart wisdom and purpose and those that would speak with them might return changed for the better or driven mad or not at all.

Young Walden came back more driven than ever, a thing old Hahn approved of greatly.

But the place of a mere village priest was not, he felt, the place where he was needed most. Catachan's children were abroad among the stars and far from home as they were they needed a priest to keep them from becoming lost. It was with heavy hearts that the old chief and his family said fare well to their son and with some annoyance mingling with the pride that Hahn would look for another apprentice.

Walden was no a Chaplain of the Imperial Army attached to the Catachan "Green Specters" 943rd.

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>>56767159
There he stayed for a very long time, tending the spiritual needs of his militant and inter-tribal congregation, his crozier was six foot of thornbirch with a stylized shock-maul built into the end and his vestments were a cassock made of kevlar. His regiment were known for their discretion, for the art of killing without being seen; he was not.

His followers found him of much use for the drawing of fire and attention and flushing out of targets that they could then claim. How, some would ask, would he survive more than a few missions? His gods had shown him where and to approximately when he would die in the natural course of things. Although it didn't make him invulnerable and he was never foolish enough to put them to the test outright it did allow him to move with a degree of confidence unmatched by his peers. To the Catachan, from his highest officers to the lowliest of grunts, he was inspirational.

He was also shrewd and it was for this that he started to come to the attention of higher authorities.

By the time his hair was turning grey he was attached as an advisor to Lady General Heilwig of the Uhulis Sector after the events of Velgagrad defense from the Space Hulk Da Iron Wurm and it's cargo of murderous orks. Although he was reluctant to leave his position, as the spiritual health of his fellow countrymen would be at risk until a replacement arrived, he could also see the greeter need that Lady General Heilwig had of her. The Lady General was of Krieg with all the problems that it brings with it. She was brilliant in her way and one of the few in ten millennium to achieve such rank from her world but she was still deeply flawed as a human being, her saving grace being that she knew how flawed she was. She needed someone capable of understanding the human needs and wants of those under her command and blunt enough to communicate it to her effectively. It also helped that Priest Walden was also versed in numerous languages including base-orkish

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>>56767502
At this point Walden of the increasingly distant but not forgotten Aaldenbergs started on the rejuvenants and his apparent physical age stopped in mid forties, though in vitality and capability he regained some lost ground. It was in the following years that he truly showed his worth to the Imperium and his powerful and direct intellect was truly allowed to show.

In an empire as broad as the Imperium with a million worlds and a hundred times that many religious faiths and distinct cultures conflicts were inevitable. As a mediator between these factions Walden was peerless. He was a priestly man but he was also a soldier, he was scholar but he was also a man of the trenches, he was an officer but he was also not. Also his gods did not encourage or forbid much strictly and were so unheard of outside of the Catachans that nobody had a grievance with them. Where once had been division he brought a wary unity.

It's hard to say if he became friends with Lady General Heilwig. As a Krieger and one who had seen some horrific things she was maybe too damaged to make friends. It is known that she valued the strange Catachan man greatly. There was nobody she enjoyed arguing with more and nobody she listened to closer.

He served in this capacity for nearly seventy years until a Mandrake killed his Lady General and took her severed head. After that he felt he couldn't serve another, the pain of it was too close. He also felt by then that he had forgotten his roots somewhat and needed to be a priest again rather than a generals assistant. He didn't know what gods, if any, lived on Krieg but he gave her the Catachan burial rites and fuck any god that objected.

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>>56767707
No sooner had he packed his bags and booked passage on a ship traveling somewhere near Catachan Space did he receive a great surprise; a letter from Old Earth demanding his presence before the Collective Synod.

The Collective Synod had, for the thirty or forty years previous, been going through a tumultuous and uncertain time. Due to the advancing ages of quite a lot of the heads and representatives of the faiths there had been delays on decision making and the voting of a new spokesman since the last one died. To this end, with Walden being of sound mind and body, centuries the junior of many and accomplished and proven capable his name had been put forth to represent the voice of the Imperium's people to the High Lords on matters of faith.

Also, they assumed, some yokel village priest from Catachan with no real power would cause them no problems and be easy to remove should the need ever arise. They were not quite right about that. Walden proved initially very unpopular, too connected to remove and seemingly unkillable.

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>>56767976
And so by the closing of the year 999M41 the Collective Synod endures under the less then gentle ministrations of Spokesman Father Walden von Aaldenbergs. For all that they might grumble the old men and women of the Synod have never functioned so well. It takes a special mind to organize such a fractious and mutually hostile bunch of people and by great good fortune they have one and they have nobody else to blame.

As the time of trials grows closer, prophesies are fulfilled and the Imperium is whipped into a religious fervor as the faithful rise up to meet Judgment Day. It is by the efforts of the Synod that the passion is set to the long simmer rather than the full boil and made manageable and it is the direction of Walden that is is done so.

Of the man himself? He is not where he saw himself, those many years ago at the foot of Old Mountain, but the gods work in mysterious ways. Especially Catachan one, bastards as they all are.

>Is this acceptable?

>>56767707
>He didn't know what gods, if any, lived on Krieg but he gave her the Catachan burial rites and fuck any god that objected.

Ha! Typical Catachan.

Indeed the worship of the Catachan Gods of Blood and Wood sounds a lot like Krom-worship in Conan.

It's generally good. The only thing I wish is that it gave more details on Catachan in general. But then again maybe that warrants it's own codex entry.

Also, do we have any titles for the High Lords, like we have for the other major figures in the galaxy? it would be nice to compress their entries down.

Indeed, I'm not sure if we should keep everything on one page. I know Hektor Heresy doesn't, but I'm not sure how long our codex entries are compared to theirs and whether we would be just wasting space on 1d4chan.

>>56768071
Sounds great to me. The mention of prophecies being fulfilled makes me imagine an Imperial agency established after the War of The Beast to vet prophecies and ensure only legitimate ones got into major circulation, because if some calamitous prophecy was said to be marked by whatever commonplace omens, or if the supposed marker for the dawn of the new age was something Crones could easily fake, or, as they now have to deal with, prophecies of the final war would lead to massive buildup, possibly too early. So back ten millennia ago there was some Administratum bureaucrat stamping these prophecies approved or no prior to them reaching their status in the folklore of the Imperium.

Also, the meeting rotunda of the Synod would presumably be sufficiently beautiful and vast to make the grandest cathedrals of our history look like small shabby tabernacles, and also one of the lesser examples among the examples of important buildings on Old Earth.

>>56758123
>He doesn’t know about the glorious Injustice comics.

>>56772474
I think there was actually something like that mentioned with the Starchild Prophesies, though not as a specific organization. There are so many psychics and seers of various species running around that it's necessary to determine which are really visions from the future and which are Tzeentch dicking around.

Not all of the prophecies are reasonable, either. IIRC one of the Starchild Prophesies was "Vect's Magical Realm" and Vect and Malys (and Nimina too, but for different reasons) keep trying to find more seers that will say the same thing. Many of which are intimidated enough by the Lord of Commorragh and the Daemon Queen to tell them what they want to hear, even if it isn't true. At least one seer did give a "Vect's Magical Realm" prophecy to get the whole thing started, though.

There was also some mention with the in-universe misinterpretation of the Void Dragon prophecy that the Imperium keeps a record of many of the more common unfulfilled prophecies in the hopes that someone with the right cultural context can understand them.

The Imperium was also more than willing to use folklore to its advantage during the Great Crusade. On worlds that had some sort of King Arthur figure that would show up/return in its darkest hour, the primarchs would present the Steward as that figure. And who knows, the stories may have been from psykers actually referring to Oscar as opposed to wishful thinking. At the same time appearing as Space Aragorn rather than Space Jesus benefits Oscar because it makes him look like a man come to break the darkness rather than a god.

>>56767159
Minor quibbles with the details around Catachan. Isn’t Catachan civilization more akin to rough and tumble Wild West settlements scraping out a living amongst the jungle than primitive tribes?
Also, are there even Orks on Catachan?

Rest is pretty solid.

>>56773247
I think Oscar, being a humble sort, would rather let the Primarchs take the savior roles in the myths of the people they encountered. His title of Steward was very much literal in that he saw himself as just taking care of the Throne, and by extension humanity, for the worthy person who would one day sit upon it, so as much as he hated the veneration he would probably agree to more of a John the Baptist, herald type portrayal.

>>56773892
There are feral orks on Catachan. Old Zogwort comes from there.

>>56773892
Catachan civilisation is fortified villages and nomads.

>>56772795
[desire to know more intensifies]

I've added Walden of the Aaldenbergs to the High Lord section of the Notable People page.

Should 0 Fucks Dumbledore be the Grand Headmaster or the Master of Psykers? Considering Dumbledore was a teacher and a wizard he could be either if we are basing him on that idea.

>>56774528
>>56773933
Also remember that Catachan is one of those rare examples where there are baseline (more or less) humans and ogryn that developed on the same planet.

It has already been stated that above the treeline and the beach of the main landmass are avoided due to the immediate death that follows exposure.

Humans I can imagine living in the foothills of the mountains and the banks of rivers as the least hellish places. Typically in fortified villages.

Agriculture, if you can call it that, around the villages is more like gardening in that you don't plant what you want very often, you decide what you want and try and kill everything else.

The nomadic tribes are the ones who hunt. Typically they barely find enough to survive but can trade meat for veg at a profit to the river dwellers for variety. Not even the nomads, crazy fuckers as they are, will go into the Deep Green.

In the Deep Green the sunlight does not touch the ground save for a deep twilight. It is here that the Catachan gods and spirits can be found and spoken with or yelled at if it's been a long day. No human travels here willingly, at least not for long.

In the Deep Green live the Ogryn Tribes. The strange giant people who stain their skin and wrestle with greenskins and eat ork flesh.

Interaction between the humans, typically the nomads, and the ogryn is sparse and some natives even believe them to be mythical.

The Catachan Ogryn do not form regiments for the army for the same reason that the Imperium tries to break up single clan regiments; the potential for cultural devastation is too high and it fosters divisions within the Army.

>>56776198
The Ogryn when first encountered by the Imperium were Primeval but not as afflicted as other populations were. As such they were quick to become Nova Ogryn, since then they have stabilized nicely.

>>56766284
DeKere's World, same as Eisenhorn. Despite rumours they do not know each other just because they are from the same planet.

Given that The Master of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica, Astronomican, Schola Psykana and the Black Ships is a hell of a title with a broad number of responsibilities it would be a title that comes with subordinates that would be in charge of each branch. It would, in effect, be 3 participants acting through one High Lord representative.

Two, three counting the actual High Lord assuming it isn't one of them, would most likely be psykers but one would be a Pariah of the Black Ships.

They would also have their hands in the navy, army and traders by the nature of their responsibilities.

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>>56776198
I like this. We need a Catachan entry.

pic probably unrelated

Didn't we have one of the moons of mars as a wild Pariah reserve?

>>56780796
I don't remember. The Jovian orbitals are Navigator city though.

Bringing any large number of blanks into the Sol system is probably a bad idea. Too many and it starts to eclipse the Astronomican like in canon.

The rarity of blanks means that the few who do travel to Sol by chance would be enough, you'd have to be deliberately concentrating them. Any blank planet would have to be outside Sol.

>>56780926
Would Prometheus, moon of Nocturne, be a reasonable alternative. It seems that the Salamanders live as people among the people now so they aren't using it.

Also it has no atmosphere so it is only good for mining, which would give the Blanks something to do and be self funding as their only other task is maintaining a sustainable population.

>>56781827
No, Prometheus is still their fortress monastery, there instead of on Nocturne so that attacking forces don't go straight for the civilians.

I too remember the pariah colony, I think it was on deimos, which is funny, because a daemon would certainly not enjoy a trip there if so. If that's too close to the Astronomicon then Charon would probably work, and if thats still too close than some rock orbiting Proxima Centauri would probably do. The Imperium wants its strategic reserve of anti-warp kryptonite close at hand and easy to protect, and they don't want to make the blanks feel too marginalized even if they really are, but need to keep them at arm's length.

>>56782943
Alright. Pluto and Charon are now the home of the Pariah people.

They have exclusive mining rights over anything in the Kuiper Belt or stray rocks in the Oort zone that they lay eyes on. As their main job is just existing and continuing to exist they would grow bored and live unfulfilled lives. The space rock harvesting and any other job that doesn't require them to actually interact with normals would be good for them.

Presumably those two little (and is there a third discovered recently?) chunks of rock and ice have been hollowed out and built on to the point where they are now not recognizable. TO anyone else looking it now just looks like a private space port with manufactory rigs and a small docking yard.

It does appear on the official maps, but only because not doing so would be more suspicious. It's a "private enterprise" on the charts and not open to the public.

At that distance Sol looks almost like any other star and without the occasional official visit the isolation would get to them. But on the positive side there aren't people throwing rocks at them.

>>56745333
Has anything been done with Amberly Vail and Jurgen?

>>56785841
Briefly. Cain is the ambassador to Biel-tan being the only sane man trying to keep a bunch of trigger happy Eldar calm. He took the job because it keeps him away from the battlefield, but being Cain this means he is always around when assassination attempts and Tyranid invasions happen.

>>56785841
>>56787144

Vail specifically keeps hanging around Biel-Tan way too much to be healthy. She claims she's afraid Cain's gone native and needs someone to remind him he's human. Few people believe that.

>>56781827
>>56782943

Yup. When they do go visit their families they just take a shuttle from Prometheus to Nocturne.

>>56780926
>>56781827
>>56784561

In canon, the Navigators hated blanks for what they were, and got the Imperium to try and execute them all rather than just shipping them to some other planet (which the Imperium kind of brought on themselves, by bringing literally every blank they came across during the Great Crusade to Terra until there were thousands of them) by appealing to “muh holy human form” and whipping people into a frenzy. I’d imagine here the Imperium pointed out to the Navigators that they’re not just going to wipe out an entirely non Warp-taineded group of people because they appear different from baseline humans. As in, pointing out that any attempt by the Navigators to tar the blanks for being different and weird could easily be used by others to do the same to the Navigators themselves. The Imperium’s motivation wasn’t just being selfless: blanks are just as useful as Navigators are.

Also, I can easily see blanks easily being the most discriminated against group in the Imperium by its eldar citizens. In canon eldar see blanks as abominations of nature. Although eldar prejudices against humans range from Dorhai to Ulthwé, blanks are always treated worse than regular humans. Even the most tolerant craftworlds see them as tragic monsters, people who didn’t want to be born freaks of nature but ended up that way regardless. Kind of like they do Solitaires (just replace “necessary evil” with “tragic monster”). It’s just harder to see because eldar never have any contact with blanks beyond a holovox screen. No one has yet figured out Glorious Golden Abs involvement in the whole thing.

>>56774846
Basically, to justify the fighting games nature of the setting, in the plot someone develops a pill that briefly turns normal humans into Kryptonian-level super. In this timeline Superman has turned evil (must be Tuesday, that said, it's one of the better takes on it) and attacks Wayne Manor. Alfred takes one of the pills and beats seven shades of shit out of Superman.

>>56773892
Someone a couple of threads ago suggested Catachan is a lost refugee colony from the Age of Strife, because who would ever want to live there. Looking up Catachan in Lexicanum it turns out that's the actual canonical explanation, a number of ships landed on Catachan when the warp storms started up and Catachan was the only Earth-like world around. They expected the storms to blow over and they would be on their way. They didn't.

Ironically, that might mean Catachan has a higher than normal chance of having archaeotech, because they were out in the boonies and had everything powered down when the Iron Minds went crazy. If the A.I. of the ships tried to kill the original settlers, it could have easily wiped them out because Catachan is Catachan. More than likely the advanced technology including whatever Men of Iron were there got shut down or destroyed with the passage of time.

Bump

>>56770838
What is Krom worship like?

>>56787144
>>56787312
Do Vail and Cain still go on the occasional adventure?

>>56784561
That makes more sense. Given that Old Earth is the keystone of the Imperium and the relative proximity of the Ganymede Vaults it makes sense to have the ultimate anti-Chaos weaponry close at hand. But not too close at hand.

Also Inquisition, though decentralized and scattered, always maintain a presence in Sol and always have use for some Pariahs.

>>56791779
>Crom, I have never prayed to you before. I have no tongue for it. No one, not even you, will remember if we were good men or bad. Why we fought, or why we died. All that matters is that two stood against many. That's what's important! Valor pleases you, Crom... so grant me one request. Grant me revenge! And if you do not listen, then to HELL with you!

>[The] chief [of the gods of Cimmeria] is Crom. He dwells on a great mountain. What use to call on him? Little he cares if men live or die. Better to be silent than to call his attention to you; he will send you dooms, not fortune! He is grim and loveless, but at birth he breathes power to strive and slay into a man's soul. What else shall men ask of the gods? ... There is no hope here or hereafter in the cult of my people. In this world men struggle and suffer vainly, finding pleasure only in the bright madness of battle; dying, their souls enter a gray misty realm of clouds and icy winds, to wander cheerlessly throughout eternity.

Granted, there are some differences. Catachan gods seem to be more "just so" stories (as in, "why does Catachan suck so much") than providing even the little that Crom does.

>>56794089
>>56794089
It makes you wonder what the Catachan afterlife would be.

>>56796169

Finally a place where they can sit down and seriously enjoy some peaceful & quiet RnR with a Catachan liquor in their hand and a gun in the other, occasionally taking potshot at the chained orks a few feet away & join in a barroom brawl or two.

That and a FUKC HUEG knife for ye D.

>>56796169
>>56796213
That or something like a Zen garden. That's even assuming the Catachan have a good afterlife. Many real life religions have no afterlife at all or an "everyone goes to hell" mindset (the Babylonian afterlife comes to mind). The general mindset behind these is life isn't fair, so why should the afterlife be?

That said it seems like Catachans would be the type to have a nice afterlife just to give them the hope to keep going day by day.

>>56717237
>Moving gas giant with fusion candle cities
Issac Arthur?

Are the Flesh Tearers still a thing and still insae?

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>>56797552
yes, I'm a big fan. I wish he would do an entire episode on designs for megastructure scale space ships

Given how everything is slightly less fucked on the inside are teleporters more common?

>>56799687
Probably not. In terms of technology less has been lost because no Horus Heresy and less dipshittery, but at the same time the Warp is as hostile as it's always been making teleporters just as dangerous. It depends on how well off your local Forge World is and how desperate you are.

>>56797828
Cretacia has been mentioned to still be a dinosaur-infested shithole, but it's a liveable one as opposed to a stone tools Death World. The Flesh Tearers are still a bunch of nutters but the people of Cretacia have toned down some aspects of their culture like animal sacrifice or proxy sacrifice instead of human sacrifice (at least I think, it may not have been referring to Cretacia specifically). How nutty the Flesh Tearers are is still up in the air.

For all we know Cretacia's dinosaurs and some of the Exodite megadons could be literal non-avian dinosaurs given that Earth was an Old One genestock world before the C'tan had their Lucharaan in the Yucatan.

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>>56799975
We have the Death Company of the Blood Angels, the ones who have seen enough and now just look for a beautiful death.

It's the deep end of the Blood Angels philosophy but how else is a near-immortal warrior supposed to die? Lingering and withering, sat in a bed unable to walk and waiting for the long drawn out beep as the body finally splutters it's last and fades away? No, not for them. If The Wheel want to claim them it's going to have to turn through a mountain of orks first and if we all return in ignorance and loss to The Wheel then there are worse ways to go out then telling the neophyte to hold your beer before one last moment of glory.

To the Flesh Tearers this is not the exceptional philosophy of a few super fanatical death seekers, it is the majority view.

This is why, despite having a viable recruitment population, they are dying out. They're all batshit crazy. The new Chapter Master Seth is trying to curb the enthusiasm by pointing out that there is a time and a place but there is only so much he can do against centuries of habit and thousands of years of tradition.

Also the Cretacia natives are probably a civilization where the hunters from Jurassic Park 2 would feel right at home.

>>56799975
It’s more than the Imperium losing less tech, in the past we’ve actually said that tech has actually advanced due to civilizations like the Eldar or Interex joining the Imperium and Emps being around the smack the AdMech when they get too spergy. Jetbikes, for example, were lost in canon 40k but still common in the present of this AU.

On the flip side, the cogboys still wield huge influence and slow things down, much of the advanced tech is expensive and the low tech stuff is much more economical, and since all the hostile factions have gotten equivalent buffs money that could go towards R&D is going on towards not dying instead.

>>56787453
The Dark Age ships that landed on Catachan would have been used up by now for the available metal and any equipment would have broken down long ago.

There might be old cave dwellings in the mountains that have strange metal fixtures, mans oldest surviving structures on that world, but much as the lizard people haven't found any Old One junk in working order so to has nothing of use been found on Catachan.

Not that this stops the legend of the Forgotten Bunker from luring off worlder treasure hunters into the Deep Green. Few return.

One last bump against the coming archive
One last post forged in this defiance of fate

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Something I had been thinking about regarding this universe.

In canon, it’s said the Chaos Gods are empowered by both good and bad aspects of their portfolio and just tend to act like maniacs because everyone else in the galaxy is just that shitty. Here, despite still being a shithole, the galaxy is full of nicer people. So why are the Chaos Gods still such assholes? It’s because they’re intentionally focusing on feeding on and perpetuating the more negative emotions to the detriment of the positive ones Because (like in canon) they’re basically giant, immaterial drug abusers, who only care about the immediate high rather than anyone else’s wellbeing or the long term benefit.

Each of the Chaos Gods had a moment where they could have turned away from their path. Where they could have reformed, and become avatars of more benevolent (or at least neutral) emotions. Each of them turned it down, painting them more as redemption rejectors than purely amoral barometers.

>>56806527
Khorne was twisted when the Gorkamorka eluded him too many times and he went from being the construct meant to impose order and unity on the galaxy into the rage-fueled monster we know today.

Slaanesh crossed the line the moment he/she was born. Slaanesh was born to be a savior, the god/dess of peace, love, and happiness. Despite being born from less than pure motivations, Slaanesh could have turned away from his/her less than noble origins. Cegorach managed to draw a line in the sand despite being in similar circumstances. But Slaanesh didn’t, instead reveling in overindulgence and promoting pain.

Nurgle had his moment when he rescued Isha, and later when he felt despair at her rescue. Isha was the first being he felt actual empathy for, and her being rescued should have been a wakeup call at how hypocritical he was. However, he rejected any attempts to reform, ironically because he is the god of despair and stagnation, preferring to stew in his own despair.

Tzeentch is a little harder to pinpoint. Tzeentch was in part responsible for the biggest influx of hope into the galaxy in thousands of years. He could have rode that wave all the way into being the God of Hope and the one bright spot in the galaxy (especially since it was apparent that the other three could thrive in a stagnating, hopeless galaxy that would strangle him, and as a bonus get the other three to stop bumming on his couch). He didn’t because he’s a dick like that.

Malal is just a crazy fucker. The original three ganged up on him and stole his stuff, and it’s highly likely that the “justice” part of Khorne’s portfolio was stolen (ironically) from Malal Alternatively he could be the only one to see how far the Chaos Gods have strayed from their purpose and that they must be DELETED to uphold the cosmic balance.

>>56806757
Nurgle was already awful long before the events of The Fall.

I think that the main problems with the Chaos gods as people starts with the scale they operate on and grows from there. Unless you do something astoundingly entertaining you are just one more blade of grass before the galactic grazing cow.

That crossed with a kid torturing ants.

They are assholes because they have no reason not to be.

>>56807441
Yeah, I was thinking of more in a meta sense of "if everyone else isn't as nasty, why aren't the Chaos Gods?" The explanation being they had their chance at being nice and rejected it, making them more repugnant on a personal level than the ambiguous amorality of canon (and lets be fair, other than Khorne not liking baby heads depending on the writer they really don't show a lot of that in canon, though the Crone Eldar exist because Slaanesh decided to show some restraint).

A villain who rejects the chance at redemption in favor of their own desires is typically seen as more vile than someone who is forced into the role, solidifying Chaos as the typical North star (or should I say South Pole) of the moral compass. Chaos in vanilla is usually described as "the bad guys" even in comparison to the Imperium, Eldar, Orks, tyranids, Necrons, and Tau (which despite being bad all come off as smelling of roses in comparison, and most vanilla factions would actually agree with this assessment).

Agree about the cow analogy in general though. Most of the aforementioned redemption opportunities either come from big phenomena or interacting with beings of a comparable weight class (the Eldar gods).

>>56807884
It's also worth noting theat the eldar gods were much nicer to their followers than the chaos ones.

also if by some good fortune this thread is still alive by tonight I have some writefaggatory.

>>56808300

Bumping in hope

Here's a question. Does the Gretchin Revolutionary Committee exist in this timeline, or would that have gone out the window when the Brain Boyz returned at the latest?

>>56813229
i will fight to the death for the gretchin revolutionary committee to stay in

>>56813229
I vote yes. It's too stupid to be left out and names one of the many sides in the constant orkish in fighting.

>>56717237
Keep in mind that the Laer were beaten so they can't be too awesome.

Although like the Saruthi they might be the remnants of a much grander society eaten away from the inside by the insidious touch of Chaos.

How intelligent are the Jokearo?

>>56814503
I think that's what also implied in canon, especially if the Sslyth are uncorrupted Laer who decided to GTFO.

Plus, they're Slaaneshi. They would build a cold fusion reactor just to power a vibrator. Chaos societies in general seem to be pretty inward looking (look at Ursh compared to the GaB Human Empire, or the Crones), and it's been mentioned that the reason mankind's xeno allies didn't help during the Long Night is that just about every major starfaring race went all Mad Max. Everyone is living in the ruins of their much more glorious ancestors.

>>56816469
It's been left vague. Great ape level at the minimum, but there's been some indication they're much smarter than they let on and just fake being stupid. If that was the case they likely have some way of foiling telepaths (which likely exists anyway, Makari fooled a telepathic polygraph and made it look like he was dumber than average, which he's...not).

Their minds might also be really alien, so it's hard for non-Jokaero to grasp the nuances of what they're thinking.

>>56816541
It's a implied, from the Inquisitor Cortez section, that they have a far more complex mind or several that is there briefly and then not when it thinks you're looking.

It's either something they switch on and off as needed, perhaps when they need to do some intelligent decision making or other heavy thinking.

Or it flits from brain to brain.

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The legend that is Commissar Sebastian Yarrick began as all commissars in the Schola Progenium as an orphaned child of the Imperial Army on the world named for the end of days. As all such children he was raised by the state to find purpose in the state. Even at an early age he was ear marked for the commissairant due to his ability to memorize the codes of conduct used by the Steel Legion and the rules imposed upon it and was adept at their interpretation and implementation to changing circumstances. Normally this would have had him booked down for officer training but for his dry wit and ability to motivate by both fear and fervour.

His first real assignment outside the classroom at the tender age of 15, apprenticed to aging regimental commissar Lenert Górecki, was the 97th “Kill Krazii” Outriders. They were the most vicious bunch of lunatics as you could ever hope to avoid feared more by their neighbours than by the feral orks they hunted for reasons of typically never leaving enough orks for their name to spread. They were a leathery skinned and gaunt breed that made their home deep in the Great Fire Wastes of the northern continent. Much of their culture and attitudes of war sank into the young commissar’s impressionable mind, certainly their ancestor worship did.

He was never accepted as one of them, but like old man Górecki he was eventually held in some measure of esteem. As Old Man Lenert retired his last apprentice seamlessly took over and the wild ork hunts continued uninterrupted. It says something of the man that the Kill Krazii gave him a traditional sky burial and when next the tribe were reunited with those returning for a tour in the Imperial Army his name was mentioned at the gathering as one of the lost.

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>>56818639
In time young Yarrick was reassigned, it was suspected by those above that he was going native. They probably weren’t wrong. When Yarrick had left him he had been an erudite and mildly urbane student, straight capped the very model of all an aspiring young commissar should be. When he came back to them he was half feral and far more experienced, not actually any wiser but with a highly refined animal cunning that was almost as good. He was also extremely experienced in matters of orkish psychology, physiology and language; the hunting had definitely been a learning experience for him.

For all that he was no longer in any way orthodox in his technique none could deny his effectiveness. His training and apprenticeship was well and truly over and his scarlet sash earned.

As a young man Yarrick found himself appointed to many regiment of Armageddon, though only ever sadly the more numerous Steel Legions. Typically he would serve for a campaign, maybe two, before someone called in enough favours or kicked up enough of a fuss and got him transferred to be someone else’s problem. It was usually the officers that had a problem with him and his “disruptive” methods and “barbaric” tendencies, among them men he was usually tolerated, certainly feared, and often much liked. Yarrick typically moved from unit to unit seemingly almost totally at random more than he spent his time in any stationary or central position of control. He would then observe and participate in the thickest of the action whilst sifting through comm. bead chatter.

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>>56818882
It was many, many years before he would again see the world he had grown up on. He was biologically maybe in a good light in his mid 60s when he came home (though given the time distortions of warp travel was closer to 110), grey haired, scarred and hardened like old oak. His last assignment was to take a more sedate teaching position in the Schola he had once come from and spend his last few years trying to impart some wisdom to children too young to appreciate it. He had a pension to look forward to and a retirement with only some light advisory work for the PDF to occupy him. He could relax, for him the war was over. Part of him, he was ashamed to admit, was looking forward to it. The rest of him saw it as some alien and hellish existence he wanted no part of.

He was saved from such a fate by one far worse. Ghazghkull, at the time a much inexperienced Warboss, had just warped into the system aboard a renovated Space Hulk.

One Space Hulk against a hive world like Armageddon, with it’s trillions strong PDF, was a threat but not an insurmountable one. And so, the Overlord of Armageddon. Herman von Strab claimed the Imperium need not know. If the Imperium knew then they would send their Imperial Guard and associated riff raff and undoubtedly put the tithe up for a few years afterwards to cover the debt. No, better to deal with this quietly, in house.

Yarrick anger was pretty incandescent when he heard of this. Had the man not seen the reports? The legions of feral orks in the wilderness and wastelands and jungles? Had he any clue what would happen if they were bolstered and united under an outside authority? He didn’t. He didn’t typically read military reports or concern himself with such drab minutiae.

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>>56819094
And that's as far as I got tonight. It's approaching midnight and I have to get up for work in 6 and a half hours.

Intended to do more. Sorry.

If anyone else wants to adopt it I won't mind.

>>56819227
Sounds interesting so far, but then again I don't know much about Yarrick as a character in canon.

Have gene stealer cults been covered?

>>56823861
About one millenium before the big three Hive Fleets made galaxyfall, the Imperium had a serious problem with Genestealers. Cults started rising up in eastern Imperium, gets put down and purged, world garrisoned to prevent further issues. The Genestealers actually made it all the way to Old Earth, but were caught early on. Nevertheless, this was one of more notable times the Imperium has censored something from the public, mostly to prevent a general panic. Ended in something called the Genestealer Wars, which it's not clear if they were an actual war started by an uprising of genestealer-compromised worlds or more of a metaphorical term like "War on Genestealers". The fact that the Imperium considers current Genestealer levels to be low in comparison gives you an idea of how bad peak Genestealer was.

The Imperium thought the genestealers were the main threat during the Genestealer Wars. They were wrong. When the tyranid Hive Fleets arrived, they seemed to be following the same path the Genestealers had before hand like ants following a scent trail. The Imperium decided to actually look at the phenomenon like a path instead of random flarings...and found a trail leading all the way back to Old Earth.

>>56824143
As of the genestealers themselves, it's been pointed out due to the presence of Kroot and Eldar in the Imperium it should be easy to detect genestealers (not to mention gene-scanners, which are apparently a canon IoM thing). The problem is the people who are going to report for genestealer testing are the ones who aren't infected. Genestealers thrive in the underhives, which like in canon are still pretty slummy and have poor census records. Genestealer infectees have a compulsion to squirrel themselves away and avoid being found. Genestealers good enough to pass for human have probably enough pull on the planetary government to avoid being scrutinized too closely.

It's been mentioned that one major way the Hrud and Imperium often come into conflict is when a normally peaceful tribe of Hrud suddenly butcher an entire family for seemingly no reason, prompting retaliation, only for it to turn out the Hrud were hunting down genestealers instead. The Hrud are just as threatened by genestealer infection and tyranids eating the fucking planet as Imperials, and unlike the Imperium they have a much closer ear to the ground in the underhives.

So far, no cure for genestealer infection has been found.

At least, that's the impression I got so far. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong or forgetting anything. And there is still room to expand.

>>56824262
There's also the Ymgarl genestealers raiding the genetic pantry and stealing DNA from across the Imperium (including Fenris and Catachan) to give the tyranids the best adaptations possible before the Hive Fleet shows up. The fact that the tyranids try to avoid consuming them is more to avoid blowing their cover and let them gather more genetic material than anything else.

>>56823861
>>56824262
This makes me think of an idea for an SCP-style horror report I had kicking around.

Inquisitorial Report: Azure Iron Wasp
>Enter Clearance
>Password: ********************
>Verifying...
>Commencing biometric scan...
>Verified. Welcome, Inquisitor.
>Opening file...
OPERATION: AZURE IRON WASP (Eclipse Caterpillar 754)
SOURCE: Ordo Xenos, Divisio Raptoris, Facility BORON RAM
AUTHOR: Inquisitor PEARL WATCHMAN, administrator of facility BORON RAM
[Context: Blanket report to all personnel of facility BORON RAM, a facility devoted to researching potential cures for genestealer infection]

It has come to my attention that several of the facility’s personnel have been using several of the patients of this facility for their own…personal uses. This behaviour was found to be rampant across the facility, with at least 23 different individuals breaking quarantine of numerous infectees, both male and female and of various species. Genestealer infection induces indiscriminate mating behavior with any perceived suitable partner to produce genestealer hybrids, even after host sterilization. Experiments to neutralize tyranid phero-brainwashing (which so far have only showed temporary success) have hosts show horror at actions while infected, indicating behaviour occurs regardless of conscious desires.

Speaking freely for a moment, I want to ask a simple question: What in the Imperium’s name is wrong with you? These are people. Men and women. They have friends and family waiting for them out there. They’re here to get better. Just because they’re sick and can’t control themselves doesn’t give you the right to use them as sex dolls.

Most of the offending personnel have been identified and dealt with. If I find any further instances of this occurring, I will personally make sure those responsible get reassigned to the deepest hole possible on Ganymede.

>End file
>Logging you out...
>Good hunting, Inquisitor.

>>56824848
I like it. It shows that the Inquisition has standards and the Imperium really does care.

If thread is still up tonight I will try and finish then Yarrick.

>>56824848

I thought that just having sex would pass on the infection? I admit it's been a while since I read any canon genestealer lore.

>>56824848
They got lucky the inquisitor was a moderate, they'd be executed otherwise. The Imperium has enough filth as is to deal with, even in nobledark, to stand such behavior among its important research personnel. An example has to be set.

>>56826234
According to Lexicanum, having genestealears infect you results in a tyranid organism being planted in the body that causes hormonal changes and messes with the host's DNA. If it does infect the partner, we could mention the tyranid DNA has been suppressed, but the psycho-pheromonal effects, aversion to light, and slavish obedience to all things tyranid have been unable to be reversed.

>>56826236
I was thinking more along the line of the closest thing the Inquisition has to "assigned to D-class".

Thread archived

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/56706040/

>>56826234
It seems that to be infected you have to be jabbed by a Pure-Strain with it's tongue. It then places an implant just underneath the heart.

>>56824848
Fucking the gene-stealers was probably put on the list of things Jaq Draco is not allowed to do as a cautionary measure.

>>56824143
In get the feeling that it would have been a proper war. The whole point of 'Stealers is to soften the target up

How much should the Armageddon War Mirror the Vanilla one.

>>56835235
well the grey knights are a thousand sons descendant in this universe

>>56835235
>>56835275
On the other hand, no Angron falling means the First War is very different.

We have what happened to Joros and the Grey Knights in hunting down the daemons drawn in by the last War.

There's also been multiple Armageddon Wars in this timeline. Whenever the Orks get really large, the lead warboss takes on the mantle of the Beast and leads a huge WAAAGH! against the Imperium (hence the leaders of these "Green Crusades" are known as Beasts). This is one thing that has never really been built on. However, all of these Beasts have never measured up to their predecessor. Ghazzy's dangerous because he is the first Beast with the potential to be as dangerous as if not surpass the original Beast.

Also, what is Ghazzy's relationship with Yarrick like? On the one hand, I can easily see their rivalry and Ghazzy regarding Yarrick as a worthy opponent remaining the same. On the other hand, in this timeline Ghazzy is a pragmatist who is willing to think outside the box and engage in un-orkodox behavior in order to win. Doing something like letting Yarrick go free to Armageddon after he'd captured him like in canon seems unlikely. He'd probably do something like duel him one on one in the pits of his Rokk than let him go, ensuring both that his rival is dead and he gets a proppa scrap out of him (suggesting the two were never in this situation in the first place).

>>56813229
I totally say yes.
Also bump

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>>56819094
Rather than retire Sebastian Yarrick started to kick up a fuss in the halls of the nobility and the hierarchy of the PDF. In his time he had acquired some small measure of a reputation among the military and even a little in the mindset of the civilian population. As the orks started to assault the inter-hive roads and rail systems and raid the farmlands his words were given weight of evidence. Overlord von Strab, after several failed arrests where the police officers tasked resigned on the spot, decided to go about silencing the old warmonger and worry spreader more subtly. He gave Commissar Yarrick the position of Senior Advisor to the PDF of Hive Hades. To the public it looked as though von Strab had promoted the old soldier to a useful position and was doing something about the situation, which relieved the growing panic, but also removed public sympathy as any further protests would look like a selfish power grab.

Yarrick was not blind to what had just been done but neither could he do much about it beyond make the best of bad situation. Thankfully the head of the Hades Hive PDF and the Hive Governor, Hartmut Frucht and Gertraud Rösch respectively, were followers of his and wise enough to defer to his extensive experience on the subject of all thing regarding the Orks.

First order of business was to sever public communications with the rest of the world, if the corpulent Overlord could give them orders and it be publicly known he had done so then disobedience would be classed as treason in times of war. Secondly was the introduction of conscription and rationing as well as the issuing of orders for the citizenry to abandon the outlying settlements and farmland near the city before the orks could reach them. Hades was digging in for as long a siege as it could hope for.

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>>56836708
But it was to be a hopeless siege. Or at least it would have been had it not been for an old hubworld trader by the name of Unwerth who owed him a favour and had been in the system when the Hulk arrived. Yarrick had no way of knowing if the high gravity spacefarer, on his little trader boat, had survived the orks and made it to the systems edge. All they could do was dig in and hope and survive long enough for rescue to arrive.

It was a grim watch as the storm clouds gathered on the horizon and the low rumble of alien aggression got closer. Grimmer still was the news as the other hives fell, overrun and butchered. Infernus was the first to fall, it’s poorly prepared walls breached in less than a week and it’s famous forges put to darker work. Next was Death Mire Hive barely a month later as feral orks of the jungle and wastelands bolstered the ranks of the off-worlder orks and swelled their forces to obscene scale. Then the others, seemingly in no pattern or order until only Helsreach and Hades remained, the former as the capital had always possessed formidable defences as befitted it’s position and the latter only by the illegal actions of it’s rulers.

All the while, for the months that followed, men and women died on the walls and in the body-strewn mud and ash about them. They were PDF, well beneath the standards of the Imperial Army for the most part, but Yarrick and his officers knew that in those days and in their dying moments they were Guardsmen one and all.

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>>56836932
But no siege can continue eternally, no great wall endures the storm forever. Adamantium and ferrocrete began to crumble under the weight of artillery and malice thrown against it and sapper teams of grots and to the horror of all enslaved citizens undermined once thought sturdy foundations. The Orks were in winding and tangled three-dimensional maze of Hive Hades. It was then that the real fighting began. Workers in the effected areas were told to either retreat to the safe districts or grab a weapon and report to the Citizens Militia stations. In the months of the siege and in preparation for it’s failing the outlying districts had been seeded with all manner of traps and snares and these were out into good use.

Once more Old Man Yarrick was abroad in the hives among his soldiers. Where he stood victory was stolen from defeat, lines held, trembling hearts became firm, weapons held steady and the whimpers of animal fear turned to the roar of something fierce and primal. For those moments, and they were just moments, Yarrick could believe he was young again among his friends in the Kill Krazii people. He could not deny that they were loosing ground but they were making the green bastards pay for every inch and if this was to be an end it would be an end remembered for a thousand years in infamy.

For a further six months they held out like this. Loosing ground street by blood swimming street, building by corpse chocked building. They fought not like lions but like cornered dogs left with nowhere to run and still they would not give in to despair. By fire and passion the men and women sold their lives at a high price for those they loved in the diminishing safe zones. They just had to hold out they were reassured.

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>>56837193
Time was bought for another few months as the green tide abruptly stopped. What had first appeared to be additional reinforcements approaching from the north were discovered to be outlanders and nomads on their clattering war machines in great number, headed by the warrior priests of the Kill Krazii screaming an unending curse of Death as they mowed down all in their path, circling the city once and scattering the few orks that survived their sudden savagery. Then they too dived into the city. Though they loved the open spaces and they were more than slightly insane they weren’t stupid. They knew that they would return in greater numbers and would be prepared for them this time.

The Hades soldiery were immensely grateful for their brief relief and unexpected reinforcements and wasted no time in repairing the barricades and hastily erecting new defences alongside these strange tribals from the north.

It was a bittersweet reunion for Yarrick. At last he would see his old friends one last time before the end. The eldest of the eldest of the war-priests, indeed the last one left who had met Yarrick in his youth, was unconcerned; “We are witnessed” he informed the old Commissar “and it is a good day for glory”. At these words in his gnarled and shrivelled up soul the old soldier felt some strange and pleasant emotion he had longs since forgotten; belonging. His ancestor gods (by adoption) had not abandoned him.

The next day the old war-priest died with a weapon in his hand and a smile on his lips manning the barricades.

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>>56837333
The day after that a most cunning ambush from the storm drains beneath one of the fortifications saw Warboss Ugulhard in mortal combat with Sebastian Yarrick and although the old man won he didn’t land the killing blow before having his right arm taken off at the elbow. Bleeding arterial blood most alarmingly he continued to oversee the defences until the greenskins were beaten back into their tunnels and sealed down their to scurry away or be buried alive and starve in the darkness. Only then did Commissar Yarrick allow the darkness to take him.

>And that's where I'm leaving it for tonight. It's half an hour into tomorrow and I have to get up at 6AM for work.

>Is it any good or should I stop it?

>>56706040
>40k
>with samurai jack aesthetic
YEEEES
YES

>>56837369
Interested to see where this is going.

Worth noting that Ghazzy might be somewhat green (no pun intended) at this point in the timeline. The reason the Fourth War for Armageddon failed might be because Brain Boy or not, Ghazzy lacks the experience needed to most effectively command the orkish hordes. Tactical acumen is a lot different than individual combat prowess or political skill. Ghazzy has probably gained loads of experience as a result of his fall and rebound after the Fourth War for Armageddon, which means that no matter how Ghazzy and Makari's plans turn out they're going to be a lot more dangerous than last time.

As a completely tangentially related note, it's always been kind of interesting how in canon Yarrick is one of the few Imperials who can speak Ork (which, to be fair, is said to not be that hard and given that Orkish has been implied by some authors to have lots of Gothic loanwords) and yet Ghazzy is one of the few Ork who can speak High Gothic without an accent. Interesting foil. Is that still going on here? Yarrick could have learned Orkish from his time with the Kill Krazii.

Bump for more Yarrick. And spitballing for the Gretchin Revolutionary Kommittee maybe. Not sure how to handle them. Tuska Daemonkilla has the right mix of funny and serious to fit in this timeline no problem, the GRK might need some work.

Any ideas on Rak-Ghol? They seem to be one of the "young" races, i.e. the ones that arose after the Age of Strife, like the Kroot and the Tau.

Do Jokearo ever do things to cybernetics?

>>56842380
Haven't been touched yet. Probably just as nasty.

Is half day today. If thread still up this afternoon will more Yarrick.

>>56842415

I'd assume yes, but hopefully not ones currently implanted.

bump

>>56842415
>>56842883
Then given that the Rak-Gol are a highly cyberneticly enhances society we have to wonder if the Jokearo ever visit them.

I swear I am going to update the Yarrick, I just need a little moar time.

Beyond orks are there or should there be any xenos on Armageddon?

>>56848445
I think it's mostly Orks. Orks are there because the planet used to be Ullanor. Anything else would be Imperial species living in the hives.

>>56842661
>>56846238
The Rak-Ghol are said to be pretty violent and unreasonable. Then again the Rak-Ghol have only a minimim of fluff in canon so they're more flexible. That said I would keep the crazy space pirate angle, since that is their most notable feature.

I had an idea about the Rak-Ghol being an Imperial first contact gone horribly wrong. Rak-Ghol trick Imperium that they want to join to get technology, then when they feel they have milked the Imperium for all it's worth they turn on them. But I feel that is handing the Imperium too much of an idiot ball (and the Imperium would just Exterminatus their worlds as an example).

I just remembered that we have the battle of Armageddon as the Gorgon's final fight.

Now hear me out. We take a Sororitas and we send her to a AU where the Emperor plan for humanity was realized all the 30k actors are the same the difference is that just Big E doesn't fuck up with Lorgar as hard.

So we have 10000 years of advancements for mankind and no Imperial Cult.

How much would the sister cry?

>>56850322
the 30k actors aren't the same, the Emperor is a golden bioandroid

>>56850544
I think humanity wiuld be golden bioandroids but the emperor would still mantain his appearance

>>56849013
I just had a moment of mild panic.

But then I remembered we have more wars this time around.

Ferrus Manus died in the 3rd Great War of Armageddon.

Yarrick participated in the 4th and 5th.

>>56851046
Makes you wonder why the Orks took so damn long to get around to waging war on Armageddon if three of the five wars took place between M39-41. Not able to get the ball rolling until they were reaching near-Brain Boy levels? Previous Beasts not able to penetrate deep enough into the Segmentum Solar to reach Armageddon?

>>56848909
Could be that they are anti-Tau.

their homeworld orbits a star above the galactic disc on the very raggedy edge of intergalactic nothingness. Its a long way inwards tonthe next system and a very long way to the next inhabitable world.

They had no First Contact for a very long time and grew up in isolation from the galactic community. They are younger than most other peoples and only learned how to warp relatively recently.

The affinity for cybernetics came about by the crude nature of their ships and their dulled sense of pain.

most encountered in the galaxy are from the colonies that they set up. Contact with the distant homeworld is sporadic at best.

>>56851544
Yeah, part of it is definitely Ghazzy being the scariest Beast since the first one. He's smart enough to use the takteekul and unorkodox technique called retreating, meaning he actually survives when other Beasts would have charged screaming to overwhelming Imperial firepower. Also true Beasts arising is a once per millennium or two event like a Black Crusade, so the Orks have only had like 8-10 tries.

So all that, combined with the other major threats like Nids and Necrons entering the stage around M37/38 means Ghazzy has been able to get farther than any Beast since the first.

Bump

Bump in hopes of posting some stuff tomorrow.

>>56854114
>It ain't runnin' away, ya gits, it's advancin' in da opposit direction.

Also does anyone think the super-gorget thing Ghazzy had in canon (and is seen in some othet major warbosses) should be a symbol of high power worn by Beasts and the very highest of normal Warbosses (like the Arch-Arsonist of Charadon or the Overfiend of Octarius) as a symbol of authority based on something similar being worn by the first Beast? I'm not sure if anything like that has been mentioned in canon but it makes sense here.

Also what are the origins of the Clans in this timeline? In canon the Beast made them during the War of the Beast, so maybe it way a way Urlakk organized his super-WAAAGH! in this timeline?

>>56858136
Would orks be that sentimental?

>>56854114
Has there ever been more than one Beast at a time?

>>56859614
Could be that there was the WAAAGH!!! of the Three Beasts where the title was held by the Overfiend of Octarius, the Arch-Arsonist of Charadon and Mighty Mangler of Bork.

This being in the direct aftermath of The Civil War and the Imperium was incapable of preventing them from arising in it's weakened state and fend off the opportunistic Chaos activity arising at the time.

Thankfully the orks were a victim of their own success and the moment they became aware of each other they tried to exterminate each other. Not that there wasn't some manner of WAAAGH!!! overflow that fucked up anything nearby.

As the bump gains purchase, spirits are lifted and purpose is made clear.

>>56853518
That could be an in-universe theory of their origins. Another could be that they were a species that, achieving technological sophistication in the Imperial era but being missed for First Contact by the Imperium early enough, they were under no illusion of the need to get out into space and spread out to avoid extinction.

They achieved a measure of technological sophistication. quite fast, enough to augment themselves with machines. Their bodies adapted easier to mechanical interface by chance of their odd biology. They could and did alter their own brains to make themselves no longer feel pain at will or at all if they so wished it, not that they had the same concept of pain as men or eldar. Maybe the removal of pain was where it all started to go wrong. One little step too far.

As they spread out in imperfect ships they first encountered were the Draethri and some sort of wasp/squid like creatures that laid their eggs in living animals and liked to it in sapient creatures as a matter of status and because they were sadistic bastards. And orks, because orks are everywhere.

To this end the Rak-Gol started to highly militarize their already pretty brutal and Spartan society. They also really start to double down on the cybernetic enhancements. The wasp/squids are the first to be exterminated, down to the last infant. The Rak-Gol started to remove the part of the brain responsible for empathy at about this time.

They learn much from the grave plunder of the fallen wasps and captured Draethri.

After that point is starts to hit a sort of vicious cycle of reward and benefit for brutality. By the time the Imperium, just after the Tau, discover them they have gone full Strogg. Nothing of what they once were remains. Now they live only for war and plunder so that they can war again, each war making them stronger in some sick parody of the orks they once hated but not war with for wars own sake.

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>>56858663
It's not necessarily sentiment, it's that the orks think it's zoggin' cool to make themselves look more like the Ork that fucked up so much of the Imperium.

Also, the gorget itself makes their head and tusks look bigger, making them look bigger and badder.

Orks have some level of sentimentality when it comes to looking and being killy. Remember the warboss who, when he found out he was sent back in time, went to go kill his past self so he could have two copies of his favorite gun?

>>56860502
WAAAGH! of the Three Kingdoms?

>>56863617
I was thinking more of the time there were 3 popes but that works just as well.

>>56862224
That could also work as another in-universe explanation of them.

The truth may never be fully know.

>>56863937
Just making a shitty joke. Though I do like the idea that the reason Charadon, Octarius, and the other one got so powerful and so entrenched is they were formed by the most powerful warbosses in the wake of the WotB, when the Imperium couldn't do a whole lot.

>>56865160
It's not like they're in a big hurry to talk to people. But this might be one area where we might want to be more explicit with what is going on. We have a lot of mysteries already, and what the hell is up with the Rak-Ghol is not high up on the list of importance, even if the Imperium has no idea what's going on.

Dunno, just my two cents.

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In the wake of all these amazing pieces of writing, comes the driest Leman Russ tank writeup that literally no one asked for. Hopefully it gives a good look into how the Imperium develops its lower-end tech.

THE REGIMENTAL STANDARD: A HISTORY OF THE LEMAN RUSS TANK

“We should've waited for the Fenrisian ale before rushing here just to find half a tractor. At least we'd've something that would lift the mens' spirits after such a disappointment.” - Primarch Leman Russ, post-Imperial Compliance of Nova Borilia.

In today's battlefield, almost all of the armed forces flying Imperial banners have either used or fought alongside the Leman Russ Battle Tank. Many view it with great relief, no longer having to be at the forefront of an advance on fortified positions, others call it their “ride,” and some view the Leman Russ as an inelegant and ugly hunk of metal that conceals brutal effectiveness and resilience worthy of the name. Its treads have rolled over thousands of battlegrounds, and its guns have shot down many foes... yet one wonders where the seeds for this venerable war machine were sown. If you have had the same question that we at the Regimental Standard did, read on to find out.

The Leman Russ Battle Tank and its numerous variants has its origins early in the Great Crusades, and is not to be confused with Primarch Leman, who discovered it on Nova Borilia. Rumors of an STC for a tank dating from the Dark Age of Technology drew his attention to the campaign against the Noman xenos' planetary empire, already marked for destruction as Xenos Horrificus due to its brutal enslavement of the local human population and violent refusal of all diplomacy attempts. Fortunately, resistance was broken after a series of engagements that saw the Nomans and a disobedient slave army reeling from the hard hitting tactics of the Space Wolves and Solar Auxilia attachments. For the expeditionaries, what they salvaged from the last Noman stronghold was an immense let down.

>>56866012
The STC was, in fact, the fragments of a blueprint for an all-terrain tractor that started production sometime before the Age Of Strife, not the weapon the intel had suggested. Presumably it had been mistaken for a valuable human relic, and so it was situated in the most secure collection in the Noman fortress.

But the Imperial Army would not be denied their tank, and in the span of a decade several components of the discovery were incorporated into a new design, christened the Leman Russ Battle Tank, Mark I. It set a gyrostabilized Battle Cannon turret on top of a ceramite and plasteel hull with a steel-sprung suspension, while a complex transmission mated to an enormous twin-turbocharged V12 multi-fuel HL230 engine gave it a top speed of 80 km/h and 40 km/h offroad (widely considered ludicrous for a tracked vehicle twice as tall as a Space Marine). This ability was used to great effect, as commanders swung behind enemy positions and unloaded rounds into petty tyrants and slavers.

However, as the Imperium expanded further and encountered tougher opposition, the Leman Russ proved inadequate. Its main gun struggled to defeat more heavily-armored horrors and what was left often outmaneuvered the Leman Russ, and breakdowns ranging from burnt out turbocharger components to transmission failures intensified a growing logistics headache. This led to the replacement of the Mk. I with the Mk. II-V, similar variants that traded mobility for protection and ease of maintenance by bolting on armor, dropping the forced-induction chargers, and in the case of the Mk. IV and V, switching to a simpler transmission. This was deemed acceptable, as the Imperium couldn't afford the best equipment possible for all its soldiers in the immediate aftermath of the War of the Beast.

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>>56866046
That is not to say desperation did not proliferate the loaded idea of 'innovation.' During and after the War of the Beast, new variants were hurriedly fitted with crew-operated sponsons to add anti-infantry firepower, and while still inferior to the Land Raider-killing Vanquisher Cannon, a long-barreled Battle Cannon increased muzzle velocity and was easier to mass-produce. Later, more improvements filtered through, like a hydropneumatic suspension and lifted armor skirts that allowed the road wheels freedom of movement and together provided better acceleration and a more stable firing platform. Other changes included light, replaceable composite rectangles attached to the sides (sanctioned for Chimera variants and Salamanders after APC crew entrepreneurs decided they too wanted more armor) and a set of wide-angle optics that replaced the glass visor slit in the driver's hatch and made it possible to drive the tank and fire the hull weapon without switching seats or controls.

The Mk. XVII, created in the late 36th millennium, was supposed to use a scaled-down version of the Malcador Heavy Tank's electric drive system. You will never see this outside the Mechanicus' basements.

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>>56866095
The Mk. XXIV Leman Russ Battle Tank is the most recent variant (see Remembrancer's sketch above), created in response to reports of a spike in Leman Russ losses due to an increased prevalence of Crone Eldar and Necron tank analogues. The Imperial Couple had put pressure on Mars and the Fabricator-General to either keep the venerable tank a viable part of the Imperial Guard armory, or risk losing further contracts to Forge Worlds unaligned with Mars' branch of the Adeptus Mechanicus, many of whom were experimenting with unsanctioned tank designs. This was enough incentive to finally push the program into its final field tests and evaluation stage.

It carries over the extremely sloped frontal turret and glacis present since the Mk. XX, but replaces the original hull weapon's swivel mount with a ball mount in a smaller housing. To address the vulnerability of the Leman Russ to being flanked, particularly in urban warfare, the tank hull went from being 4.42 meters tall to a flatter profile 3.3 meters high. The front-facing plates of the widened and extended turret are angled to better resist side shots, and the Battle Cannon magazines were relocated to the back of the turret, so an ammo cook-off wouldn't be surrounded by critical systems and the crew. Blow-off vents further increase the chances a disabled Mk. XXIV can escape without Atlas recovery vehicles being put at risk, and two sponsons utilizing cogitators based off the Predator's and Tarantula Sentry Turret's are managed by a remote gunner seated by the driver. Lastly, a refined version of the Great Crusade's forced-induction setup and a weight reduction of 5 tons have allowed the Leman Russ to regain the nimbleness of the Mk. I, without the original's notorious mechanical problems.

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>>56866552
While the newest Leman Russ might still be recognizable to an Imperial officer of the 30th millennium, it is not the same war machine your great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandparents used. Keep an eye out for those shiny new Mk. XXIVs, and remember to report any issues to your commanding officer or a Commissar!

>Thoughts? Not sure if this is taking the less backward attitude of the Imperium too far and giving the Imperial Guard too much, and in going for an academic tone this may have made for incredibly dry reading. I also assume the Regimental Standard is still a thing in this AU, and like the Uplifting Primer, more truthful and informative with its morale-boosting propaganda toned down.

>>56867286
I like it, and think that its perfectly good when it comes to the more technologically open attitude. Since they do have at least 20% of the Imperium's workshops as rivals, not counting the Eldar's forces, it only makes sense that they innovate at least that much in 10,000 years.

>>56867286
Great stuff much deserving of archive.

Should Yarrick still have an actual ork Power Claw in this AU or just something that looks like an orkish claw?

Considering the size of the claw he usually gets depicted with and that he is an old man he shouldn't be able to lift it.

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>>56837369
When the old man next opened his eyes it was in a triage centre eight days later, ashen pale and grim as death he awoke to the chatter of comm. traffic buzzing in his ear and a mood of celebration. Drop pods had been sighted falling behind the orkish lines, Unwerth had gotten through. The Imperium had learned of their desperation and presumably the incompetence of the Overlord. The mere thought of von Strab brought Yarrick back to a state of Full Commissar, ignoring the lights flashing before and behind his eyes, heedless of the shaking in his legs and the sudden and terrible weight of his coat and sash he stomped out of that improvised hab-block hospital.

Governor Rösch of Hades was more than a little surprised to see him and given his darkened eyes, paled face and her last news of him having been cut down by a warboss for a moment assumed he was some spectre of the unhappy dead. But it was not so as the dead, at least in her mind, did not swear quite so colourfully.

By those final days of the 4th Great War the name of Yarrick was becoming something of a legend. When the common men heard of his fall they began falter for if one so great as he could fall so abruptly then what hope was there for lesser men? Had relief from the Imperium not arrived when it did there would only have been corpses to be rescued.

Caught between hammer and anvil the orks were quickly minced and as the Space Marines cleared landing fields and the main body of the Imperial Army arrived the line was pushed back and pushed back hard. It was commonly shown in the years that followed a one armed Commissar leading the retribution; it was a symbol of Armageddon resilience and dogged determination. The truth of the matter was that for most of the Retribution March Yarrick was in a state of bloodloss and fever.

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>>56870966
One thing that is certain is that he was there at the breaking of Helsreach siege, he absolutely did march into the Overlords office, he absolutely issued an execution order for gross criminal incompetence and it was witnessed by several individuals including Chaplain Grimaldus that the execution was issued via kicking him out of a window nearly two miles high.

Then came the long drudge of rebuilding and the tally of the dead.

In the confusion of the last days of the war Ghazghkull mag Uruk Thraka, architect and instigator of a world of sorrows, had shown uncommon Kunnin' and Taktikul thinking and was not counted among the slain. The Beast reborn had escaped. The knowledge of it burned in the commissar's veins and he one thing and one thing only; his life now was for one thing and one thing only, he would hunt down and take Ghazghkull's head. (Light years away an alien mind was reaching a similar conclusion).

From his time among the Kill Krazii he also knew that to hunt you could chase or you could wait. Yarrick didn't know where Ghazghkull was but he knew where he would be. Armageddon had bested him and to the orkish mind that was intolerable and Yarrick knew it would only gnaw at him. He would be back and so Yarrick blew his entire pension and the good will of the Imperium on the best Rejuvenents he could afford. He would ensure that The New Beast got the welcome he deserved and he would be there to greet him.

>And thus concludes the 4th War for Armageddon. Was it worth the wait? Probably not but feel free to re do it should you so wish.

>Will do the 5th Great War some point soon time permitting.

>>56871163
I honestly liked it, only question is, did Yarrick get Ugulhard's Power Klaw like he did in canon? In its current state, the answer seems like a 'no' on this one.

>>56870524
If the above answer is yes, rejuvenat could give Yarrick a boost, and with a Power Fist-esque exoskeletal frame Yarrick could probably wield a propah-Orky Power Klaw in battle. It'd be another way to get under Ghazghkull's skin, using one of his (former) underling's weapons against him despite being human.

>>56867286
Pretty great. Only thing I might remove are the more grounded technical references, like the turbocharged V12 engine and what not. 40k tech has always run on science fantasy space bullshit, and leaving it a bit more vague or using GW's preferred technobabble might make it fit the setting a little better. Dunno what others think, just my 2 cents.

>>56870524
I think so. I always imagined Yarrick had a Catachan-level physique like Sergeant "I crush Raveners with my biceps" Harker. Otherwise, he's both respected and important enough as a leader and symbol to requisition Power Armor so he can do his thing.

>>56870524
>>56872100
>>56872199
I’d say he does take the claw, and then heavily retrofits it until he can lift it. It’s an orkish thing, something he understands very well from his time with the Kill Krazii. First, it’s a trophy of war showing just how ded killy he is, something Orks do all the time (the only difference is the Orks would mutiliate themselves to put the arm on while Yarrick just needed a spare). Second, it’s a direct insult to Ghazzy, saying “Yeah, I killed your lieutenant in battle and took his arm. If it bothers you so much, come and have a go if you think you’re hard enough”.

Modifying it until it's liftable by his smaller frame might be additional insult to Ghazzy, seeing as he's not just taking Ork technology but he's adulterating it. Ghazzy may be self-controlled enough to not fly in to a rage like Urg did, but he's going to take special pleasure in killing Yarrick.

In canon it’s also strongly implied his ability to wield the power klaw and maintaining his health despite his great age is due to the Ork WAAAGH! effect. Orks don’t feel fear. At least, not in the way humans do. In contrast to most living things fear of death is actually detrimental to an ork passing on its genes, since an ork releases most of its spores as a last-ditch reproductive effort when they are dying (that said, they’d have to have some better judgement, or else they’d be suicidally brave to the point that they’d never listen to a Warboss). The closest thing an ork feels to fear is realizing a that the pleasure of combat doesn’t outweight. Only a few beings get Orks to feel this. In canon, these include the Sons of Horus and Commissar Yarrick. In canon the Orks believe the Commissar is an unstoppable boogeyman who can kill you just by looking at you. And when a bunch of Orks believe something…

>>56871163
I think 5th Great War is the 999.M41 one, the one where the timeline "stops" and headcanon begins.

>>56874174 (cont.)
On a related note, here's an idea for a quote if we ever get a section detailing Ork Brain Boyz.

“It’s no good. Bloody greenskins set a trap for us. Send a few trigger-happy Boyz our way, knowing that we’d think that’s all they got and advance. So we get cocky and march our way through the mountain pass. Then once we get too far in to retreat the Orks show they’re not as dead as we all thought and cut off the mountain pass. Only way out of the beartrap is to go deeper into ork territory. Don’t you see, Commissar? It’s an ambush.”
“Ambush? What do you mean ambush? Orks don’t set am–”
-- Last words of the Hekaton 234th, right before being attacked by an Ork ambush

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>>56866012
Don't feel bad. I had part of a write-up for Grox done back in like thread 15, then I looked in the mirror and said "what the fuck am I doing".

>>56867286
I kind of like it. Reminds me of one of those crappy 40’s war news movies or 50’s educational films, which really fits the tone of the 40k universe (especially when the propaganda is dialed down from frothing xenophobia to putting the creator’s culture on a pedestal).

It also kind of makes sense. If Land didn't go digging out in Mars until later in the Great Crusade, the tanks the Imperium had would be constrained by whatever they could rummage up. The Land Raider and its derivatives could have been limited by production and distribution by the time of the War of the Beast, as opposed to half of them being stolen by Chaos, making them important to not lose. The Leman Russ despite being an overgrown tractor would have been critical during much of that period.

>>56872199
The technobabble is the one thing I agree with. Even the shitty 40k tech has been said to not correspond 1-1 with modern stuff. Prometheum for example is not gasoline, but some artificial fuel that can be made from organic waste (possibly a biofuel or artificially produced oil through future science). At least sometimes.

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>>56867557
>>56869503
>>56872199
>>56874478
Thank you for the feedback. Weirdly enough Lexicanum does have a bunch of technical specifications for the Leman Russ tank(like the V12 engine), which is why I thought to include the technical stuff. I can see why these clutter the flow of the reading, I'll trim them out.

Some random OOU things that didn't fit into the writing:
*The Regimental Standard downplayed losses with the phrase "a spike." New, terrifying weapons showed up in Crone Eldar forces, and despite the use of tailored tactics and deployment of heavier supporting weaponry, mechanized units took heavy casualties and in more than a few cases, total losses.
**The Malcador and its variants are still in use, its ability to carry Flare Shields invaluable for its role. Refinements to its engine, armor, and weapons keep it combat effective, giving worlds unable to afford 'true' superheavies like the Macharius and Baneblade for its armies access to a cheap tank that can reliably give and take hits above its weight-class.
I assumed that vanilla Malcadors have engine problems not because the engine is underpowered, but that understanding of its internals was lost (yet it didn't affect the Leman Russ, which also uses a tractor engine), hence my guess that the Malcador uses something fancy similar to the hybrid drive that the Germans tried in the Elefant tank destroyer, not just a generic gearbox. When canon Mechanicus lost the rituals for the Malcador's drive system (here they don't), goodbye to the Heavy Tank going fast.
***Recovery vehicles being set into an active warzone, especially one crawling with mechanical centipedes and atom-shredding beam guns? That would probably not end well from my limited knowledge of a battlefield.

The dubiously-truthful/mildly human-centric propaganda film tone was definitely what I was going for. After a showing in my history class, I still wonder if people took the Duck and Cover film seriously.

>>56875437
>I still wonder if people took the Duck and Cover film seriously.

The people who made it didn't. It was well known at the time in military circles that if an atom bomb dropped and you were in the open, the best you could do was kiss your ass goodbye. Duck and Cover was the real-life equivalent of "Recite the Litany of Radiation Protection as you walk through this rad-soaked field", basically giving you something to focus on before you became charcoal. It's telling that a lot of Warhammer, specifically the radiation-like nature of Chaos and black comedy, are at least partly inspired by the bullshit of the Cold War.

Now whether or not the average person knew Duck and Cover was a load of shit, I don't know.

>New, terrifying weapons showed up in Crone Eldar forces, and despite the use of tailored tactics and deployment of heavier supporting weaponry, mechanized units took heavy casualties and in more than a few cases, total losses.

Hell, even a Saw Blade ricocheting around in a tank chassis would be enough to turn the pilots into pureed salsa.

Since we said that Ork snipers were a thing (the Celestial Lions tragedy in this timeline was said to be that they either discovered that Brain Boyz/Attack Moons/Ork snipers exist and got chased across the galaxy for it, thinking they were dead until the Templars showed up), what are they? Mostly Bad Moons or Blood Axes?

Maybe their weapons are like the Thark's sniper rifles in A Princess of Mars to get around the lack of dakka. Basically a sniper-bolter.

>>56874174
Then it will be mostly be the build up to the war

>>56867286
I like everything about this.

>>56876805
One major difference in this AU is that the Celestial Lions aren't going to die out. Worst case scenario is that they need refounding just as any other regiment that gets exterminated.

>>56874174
>>56877411
At what year was 4th Great War?

Ferrus Manus dies in a Great War against Obliterator Cyb-orks and he was the last of the Primarchs and presumably died not super long after Vulkan who died not long after the Oscar vs Vandire war. So that would put him at ~500M37(?)

There would therefore have been a large gap between war 3 and war 4 which could explain the complacency that fucked them over.

Given that Yarrick is already a crusty old man by the 4th war he would not survive super long on Rejuvenent drugs, especially the low to mid end ones he could afford. So the 5th war could only end, at most, a century after the 4th. Which would give them enough time to rebuild but not much more.

>>56874478
What did your Grox write-up have and is it still salvageable?

Also what are Grox, exactly? I don't know shit beyong lizard-cow. I imagine them being native to the Salamander homeworld but only because lizard-cow.

>>56879808
The primarchs page said he died in 616.M40. He lived the longest out of the primarchs but the health of his organic components had been deteriorating for centuries.

Magnus was the one who died right after the Age of Apostasy. Vulkan outlived him by some time, though by that point he was philosopher-king of Nocturne after he retired in late M35 and lived for at least another millenium past the end of the Imperial Civil War.

Seeing as his death isn't tied to anything super important I wouldn't be averse to moving it back a millenium.

>>56882122
I'm all for moving the death date back. It leaves him still much longer lived than thr other Primarchs and fits the timeline of Armageddon better.

Also spaces shit out better on the timeline.

>>56872100
Not fond of the idea of power armour for Yarrick.

>>56876805
Is there a Barsoom inspired planet in 40k?

If not why not?

>>56881627
Canon: The Grox are native to the Solomon system. There is a planet Solomon in Dark Heresy, but seeing as it's a Hive World with explictly no remaining native fauna or flora, I doubt they come from there.

Grox are highly prised in the Imperium because they can eat almost anything and yet provide a full meal to humans. Unfortunately, grox are also highly territorial unless neutered, and you always have to have a few highly aggressive breeding individuals around. So groxherding is a dangerous task and groxhands often get gored because they mistake an aggresive, fertile grox for a docile, neutered grox. Because in 40k even the cows have to be grimdark.

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>>56886270
The Idea (scraped together from what survived in my files): The evolution of life in the Solomon system proceeded sort of like it did on Earth, right up until the point where the first four-legged animals started clambering out of the water. One of the was the grox, which due to its lifecycle (eat anything and grow MUCH bigger than anything that could feasibly threaten it) ended up steamrolling much of the competition and ended up dominating the ecosystem.

The result? A planet with almost no terrestrial animals in the native ecosystem much larger than 5 kg besides this seeming refugee from the Permian. The grox, however, almost more than makes up for this lack of megafauna, by being a complete and utter omnivore, feeding on plants, animals, even some mineral formations. At some point above the first link or so on the food chain, Solomon's terrestrial ecosystem turns into big grox eating juvenile grox until the point where that no longer becomes feasible. What's more, due to an extremely active metabolism and efficient digestive system, Grox could grow incredibly quickly, reaching full adult size in over six months, less so if fed a nutrient-rich diet. This rapid growth rate primarily evolved so that juvenile grox could rapidly reach the size range where they were too large to be eaten by other adults.

>>56886410
At the same time, this makes the Grox extremely gluttonous and very territorial when it comes to food. Given that there isn't much to eat on Solomon and Grox grow fast, there is always fighting over who gets food, who controls where the food is, and who becomes food. Like some iguanas, grox horns are as much used for fighting over resources as mating disputes. They aren't aggressive so much as gluttonous, either thinking you're trying to steal their food or you're weak enough to overpower and eat. Feral grox are a common sight on many worlds, but they're not really carnivores (though they are predators). They're more like a combination between wild hogs and grizzly bears the size of a bison (which is why they can exist in such large numbers despite also being predators, normally terrestrial predators are inefficient livestock).

More when I get back to a computer.

bump

>>56886503
The Imperium really likes Grox because they can survive just about anywhere and eat just about anything. This means that they can take plants with normally hostile biochemistry and make edible food out of it. Grox flesh also contains all the nutrients humans need to survive. This even includes carbohydrates, as grox physiology is a little different from Earth's vertebrates and contains chitin and some other substances like mushrooms. No relation to Orks and squigs, though (not even in taste, ork and squig is said to taste like ham, grox tastes like beefy chicken).

Additionally, it turns out if you sterilize Grox (which are natural hermaphrodites), they get pretty docile and actually grow bigger (you see this in several animals, including parasite-sterilized squid, because the energy normally devoted to reproduction gets shifted to growth). The fertile ones are usually marked in some way or have bright painted colors on their side, letting groxhands know which ones to watch out for. Grox are still more popular on worlds where other forms of livestock cannot survive, but they have a notable presence on Agri-Worlds and on the Pastoral Worlds.

>>56889608
Sounds like they could potentially be a very devastatingly invasive species if left unchecked.

>>56889608
This is actually pretty well thought out for a write up about a food source of the Imperium. Where exactly would this go on 1d4chan though?

>>56889696
In canon they are invasive species on a variety of worlds. There are feral grox herds on Catachan. CATACHAN of all places. And they aren't even at the bottom of the food chain.

The only thing that keeps feral grox from being worse on other planets is that those places simply have things that are naturally more dangerous (e.g., Catachan Devils). They're like fricking cannocks from KOTOR II.

>>56891977
Imperial Society and Culture. Though it would have to be written in the form of a codex entry.

Here's a scary thought. Reading the entry on Kroot Warspheres on Lexicanum, and it says that the Kroot have a seemingly instinctive ability to direct their ships towards life-bearing worlds. The Tau have no fucking clue how they're doing it, suggesting it's psychic. And who did the Kroot eat to originally become sapient in the first place?

That's right, the Orks. Which makes one wonder if the Orks' movement through the galaxy is really as random as people think it is, or if they're subconsciously following programming left in them from the Old Ones from the War in Heaven to be drawn to and subsequently destroy inhabited worlds.

>>56877411
>>56879808
Another thing to consider is the 4th and 5th Wars for Armageddon aren't really separate of events, but rather two phases of the same conflict. Ghazzy lost serious face for retreating at the end of the last Armageddon War. Truth be told, he would have lost face if he hadn't retreated but survived anyway, the only difference is he has more Boyz to punch any git in the face who dares think he's a coward and try to finish him off while he's weak.

So much of the interim time has been him shoring up support among Orks in the usual way in order to have anuvva go at Armageddon. War 5 is Ghazzy's comeback tour (not that he was jobbing for however long between Wars 4 and 5).

>>56886192
Surprisingly, the only mention of Barsoom I could find in 40k is the use of radium bullets by the AdMech. Which is rather notable, since 40k likes to draw on everything from Samurai Jack to 2000 AD to War of the Worlds to actual history (particularly 2000 AD, if you look at the magazine's history even excluding Judge Dredd there is s lot of 40k influence in it).

>>56892531
Would the Shapers be aware of this ability or the origins of it?

>>56895011
They would be aware that they have the ability even if it does just manifest as gut instinct and even if the majority are not aware of it. Someone has to be doing the planning and preparation for the trips across space.

Also they aren't stupid. They know some history. Know enough to know where they came from. Before Orks invaded they know that they were just a species of slightly brighter than strictly necessary vultures but still only in the clever animal category.

They know they take on aspects of what they eat. Most of their job is regulating this.

They know they became sapient when they ate dead orks and that without eating the flesh of sapients they loose brain power over generations.

It's not hard for them to put 2 and 2 together.

How much do the Tau actually know about the Kroot ability to absorb genetics from food?

>>56886192
This.

The people of Haydes have red skin in one of the Ragnar books so it's reasonable to assume that others do.

There must be more hot arid desert dominated planets than just Tallarn.

Put them together and we need naked red desert princesses.

Also would need Thark, but semi-hostile gree aliens that aren't orks aren't that unbelievable for 40k.

>>56897018
They know quite a bit. At least that Kroot have to eat sapient flesh or they get locked into a non-sapient form. In canon, it's implied the vanilla!Tau are well aware of this, and are guiding the Kroot down the path to their own self-destruction to get rid of them once they are no longer useful to the Greater Good because they can't be controlled to the degree the Ethereals want.

Given that there are thankfully no Perpetuals in this AU is there still a Anval Thawn of the Grey Knights dying a hundred deaths for the cause and Dark Soulsing his way through the ages?

>>56900518
Not sure. Vulkan became known as Vulkan the Invincible because he walked away from numerous situations where he either should have died or was declared MIA and later found alive. Not an actual Perpetual but just really, really, really hard to kill.

Just some writing of the suggestions we had for the two Ork Empires north of Cadia for further spitballing...

To the galactic northeast of Cadia and the Eye of Terror lie two great Ork Empires, the Empire of Gathrog and the Empire of Dregruk. These Ork empires are so large that if the two WAAAGH!s were to combine forces, it is likely that they could easily overrun Cadia and the Cadian Gate before the Imperium could do much of anything about it. Fortunately for the Imperium, these two empires hate each other with a passion, and would much rather fight each other than team up against the Imperium.

This is due in large part to the two empire’s choice of patrons. Gathrog is one of the few Ork WAAAGH!s to be composed almost entirely of Chaos Orks (likely because of its close proximity to the Eye), with the current Arch-Dictator of Gathrog being a Khornate. The Great Despot of Dregruk and his forces, on the other hand, are staunch followers of the Gorkamorka, and in recent years have sworn fealty to Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka as part of his efforts to consolidate forces in preparation for the 5th War of Armageddon.

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>>56902044
The difference is that Vulkan never actually died. He got the ever loving shit knocked out of him and took beatings that lesser super soldiers would have been killed by but he was just a tough bastard.

Anval Thawn dies. Body broken almost beyond recognition, eviscerated and twisted by Crone Eldar. Punches lid off of coffin during the funeral and sits up, not a mark on him.

Pulverized by a falling Gargant, his mortal remains recovered and scraped up. Going to have either cremate or bury him in an envelope. Wakes up and walks out of the ships freezer half way back to Titan.

Disintegrated by necron gauss weapon. Next seen waiting patiently in line in the Titan cafeteria with no idea how he got there but very grateful because Wednesday is toad in the hole day.

Decapitated and skewered by Chaos Spawn, his headless body mounted on the front of a cultist APC. APC flips over backwards because he's just broken his chains, lifted the front end up and is looking to ruin someones day.

Artillery shell from a Defiler lands on top of him. He's next spotted and hour later three miles behind friendly lines at full sprint because he's got infinite respawns and he's got a Defiler to get even with.

Chewed up and eaten by Nurgle Squiggoth. Rips and tears out of it's huge guts with only mild acid burns.

Night Lord with a melta takes him out from waist up. Wakes up next mourning in the command post on his sleeping mat like nothing happened.

Why does he keep coming back? Nobody knows. He doesn't know. He wishes it would stop because for him the war would then be over. He has lost count of how many times and in how many ways the hostile Galaxy has killed him. He's been dying since late M33. All he knows is that there isn't a headstone heavy enough to keep him in the ground.

>>56906643
Sounds interesting, but does this run the risk of re-introducing Perpetuals into this universe? It sounds like there is very little else that describes what he is.

The only other person that comes close is Aun'Va, but Aun'Va is implied to maybe be an unknowing avatar of the Greater Good, which because the Tau have potato batteries of psychic energy merely manifests as biological immortality. Aun'Va doesn't even have eternal youth, he looks middle-aged for a Tau, and if he died he doesn't know if he's going to get back up (and he's not particularly eager to experiment with it).

Though this seems more like a weird quantum effect. Perpetuals usually reform around a core somehow like Majin Buu (case in point canon!Vulkan might burn up in orbit, but his body pulls itself together after smashing into a million pieces on the surface). Thawn here seems to vanish like Schrodinger's Cat half the time the minute you aren't looking at him.

>>56907064
Thawn would be unique. Perpetuals aren't a thing that exists or have ever existed and, excluding divine or infernal intervention, nobody has seen anything like Thawn. No gods are taking responsibility for him. He isn't even a powerful psychic by Grey Knight standards. Other than the inexplicable respawn he is unremarkable.

bump

Doing a bit of a starter for the three ork empires that formed after the Great Crusade (Charadon, Octarius, and Bork). Any ideas for what the original Arch-Arsonist, Arch-Fiend, and Arch-Mangler were like? Despite the empires being ridiculously old in canon nothing has been written about what the founders were like.

>>56909617
From what can be found on Lexicanum and the Nobledark Rynn's World entry, the Arch-Arsonist of Charadon, Snagrod, takes sadistic pleasure in grand plans and more personal, despicable acts of torture involving fire. Much to the Imperial Army's chagrin, he has found Imperial worlds to be a reliable source of good fights and helpless civilians. This seems to have led to an overinflated ego and arrogance, seeing himself as superior and quite possibly invincible after surviving a Space Marine assassination attempt.

Blaktoof runs the Octarius empire, and at some point fights the Nobledark Hive Fleet Leviathan after it's led straight into his planets. In canon, his status is unknown. However, if he survived here, Blaktoof's probably gotten at least a little smarter and 'arder from having fought and survived Kryptmann's Gambit. Possible he's interested in the modification of Ork physiology? After all, 1d4chan's Nobledark Imperium mentions the existence of the Bug Boys of Octarius.

Bork is the newest empire, and the Arch-Mangler Klakjaw has fought very hard to keep his nascent Ork empire united. From Lexicanum, he seems to like Battlewagons, and in this AU could be a pain in the ass for the Imperium's tank-heavy regiments. Depending on whether Ork empires have anything resembling diplomatic relations, I would suggest that he supports Ghazghkull's vision of a strong, united Ork race free from the un-Orky taint of Chaos and its un-Orky powers.

>>56910880
In this timeline Bork, Charadon, and Octarius were said to be set up by three of the Beast's most enterprising Warbosses carving out dominions for themselves in the initial aftermath of the Beast. The Imperium couldn't do much to dislodge them due to resources being strained just cleaning the Orks out of the rest of the galaxy. As in canon, the titles (and to some degree disposition) of Arch-Arsonist, Overfiend, and Arch-Mangler are passed down from Warboss to Warboss, Snagrod, Blaktoof, and the like are just the latest in a long line.

That said I like the idea of the personalities for the current Warbosses.

I guess one could have been set up by the Beast Ork that Farsight fought in canon unless we want to use that Ork for something else.

>>56906643
>>56907064
>>56907232
Eh, not really a fan. I always disliked Perpetuals in canon and think it was the right choice to leave them out of this AU, and making Thawn a one-off Perpetual isn’t really doing anything for me.

Spitballing a random idea for how we could potentially keep some of his character: he could be an extremely powerful pskyer with a latent, unconscious ability to rewind time for a few moments in his immediate vicinity when he’s on the verge of death to avoid what would have killed him. His comrades think he’s amazingly skilled/lucky, but experiencing several dozen horrible deaths and rewinding out of them has scarred his mind.

No idea if this sounds good or not, feel free to react.

Now powerful are Brain Boyz?

Didn't we discuss at one point a Slaaneshi ork all about the drugs and going fast?

>>56914123
There was Wazdakka, but he was a distinctly non-Chaos ork who was notable for being the only ork who knows how to navigate the Webway.

I think there was mention of an idea that a Speed Freek would be the perfect Slaaneshi. If nothing else we could make up one or use a barely-mentioned Speed Freek in canon.

>>56912756
I think physically it's been suggested they are about as powerful as a normal grot or ork (though their intelligence means they tend to win more, and hence be bigger). The danger is that they are smart even by human standards, and just being around gives all the Orks a boost in smartness.

>>56914336
http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Skargrim_Ruknar

Fond of fire, going fast and presumably drugs because why not.

Says he took part in the War for Armageddon. Presumably the 5th one.

Is his own warboss of a small but not insignificant WAAAAAGH!!!

>>56914336
Wazdakka is the only Speed Freek I can find in Lexicanum that is known for using drugs (specifically, a shit-ton of stimulants so he doesn't have to sleep). I don't see any Speed Freek that is specifically associated with the Webway in canon.

>>56916539
wazdakka is trying to build a galactic highway. Could be the same thing

What is life in the Farsight Enclave like for the average peasant.

>>56919502
I imagine decent, but extremely regimented and strict. One of the reasons Farsight rebelled was the liberalization of Tau society and breakdown of the caste system. So his Enclaves in this AU are probably like the canon Tau Empire, except maybe more militarized and less mind controlling.

Bumpin'.

>>56920687

I thought it was because he found out the Ethereals were hiding the true nature of the Warp

>>56922905
In this timeline, Farsight left because he thought the Ethereals were getting too cuddly with the Imperium and contact with outside powers was corrupting the Greater Good. In any other circumstance he would just be labelled an "orthodox" member of the philosophy, but he and other such Tau feared the Ethereals would make them adopt what they say as a bastardized Greater Good.

He also wasn't a fan of how the Ethereals pro-Imperium stance would make them bigger targets for Chaos, but he might not have known that Chaos likes fucking over everyone regardless of their association to the Imperium.

>>56919502
>>56920687
Did we ever decide if the Eight were Farsight's band of sidekicks or, since this is mirror universe Tau Empire, if they are with Shadowsun instead? On the one hand, it gives more character to the Farsight Enclaves. On the other hand, the Eight are a clear ragtag bunch of misfits that even in canon blur Caste boundaries (one is an uploaded Tau, another is an Earth Caste scientist who was named an honorary Fire Caste soldier by Farsight).

Bump.

Should we try to jump into a new thread when this one hits the 300 post mark? One thing I've noticed is what takes these threads so long to get going is everyone has to keep looking to see when the new thread is up when the old one goes down, and it seems to take everyone a while to get there.

>>56923543
I'd even consider breaking the eight up over Shadowsun's long life, but that might not work.

Also, another aspect of the enclaves and Farsight himself is that they really play up the Ethereals' philosopher king mystique, Farsight is fixated on being deferential to them, and in general they propagate an atmosphere of overt traditionalism and orthodox ceremony, despite the fact that Farsight actually pulls most of the strings in the enclave and the Ethereals therein are pretty much subservient to him in all matters he cares about.