File: Void Crows.png (54 KB, 256x359)

54 KB PNG

I think the RG ships we picked up along with the Texts may have to do with how the Emperor gave aid to Corax to rebuild his Legion. Thoughts?

Bump

File: scheme 2.jpg (46 KB, 400x500)

46 KB JPG

Still working on the Deathwatch crunch but anybody got some ideas for the Inquisitor? His name? He must have had an impressive the found us and brought us down to half strength.

>>68446552
Don't forget the Departed.

File: JohnNikolai.jpg (55 KB, 520x609)

55 KB JPG

>>68448854
Finally back from work.

The Inquisitor that started all this
>Inquisitor Aabraham Nikolai
>Firey Puritan that was always on the Crows' case before they went rogue
>When the contents of the Emperor's Texts was known the Inquisitor decided to destroy them so they wouldn't tear the imperium apart, also to get rid of some bad apples in the Crows
>Lost his life while fighting them

>>68449224
Any surviving remnants from his army? Maybe some assassins escaped with some guards and abhumans, which is how the rumors of the Void Crows existence spread.

>>68449253
How long ago did we go renegade? Because a recurring Inquisitor Force made fro mthe descendants of the survivors and Nikolai's successors could make an interesting opponent.

Going to write a bit on nikolai
>Was born into a prestigious family on a Shrine World, likely to a Cardinal or such high rnaking official
>He learned the ways of the Church and was very good at it
>But he notably hated the corruption in the Church, but kept it on the down low to prevent getting offed
>He led the faithful militia to root out heresy on the planet and it's moons and a passing by Inquistor took an interest in him and took him along for a mission on the planet
>He very much impressed with his performance and was given the offer to join the Inquisitor's crew
>Nikolai took it and never looked back
>Over the years he rose through the ranks as an Acolyte under the Inquisitor's tutelage, he was practically the Inquisitor's heir and married his daughter
>When the Inquisitor died Nikolai was bequeathed his title as per his will
>Nikolai was honored to take up the role as an agent of the God Emperor
>Over the ensuing years he would notably have run ins with numerous foes and annoyances, the chief of the latter being the Void Crows with their mutations and oddities
>When he read the Emperor's Texts he was astounded when he began to actually begin to think them right
>But the danger they imposed meant he had to destroy such sacred texts

Also did we ever actually fucking agree on a name for the Techmarines?

>>68450069
I don't think so

>>68450086
Bonelocks? Fleshstrips? Any suggestions?

>>68450069
Hard-negative, there was talk about their roles, like electronic warfare and espionage (mimicing other peoples voices over hacked enemy vox channels and misdirecting their forces)

In terms of interaction they would remain mostly silent and talk through hand signals like everyone else but when communicating with mortals they would speak normally, but they would perfectly mimic the mortals voice back at them, making conversation inherently wierd/creepy.

As for a name, something to do with Magpies since they like to steal/makes nests out of shiney shit? That or being collectively known as the Wing-Clippers? I'm throwin knives in the dark here.

>>68450394
>but they would perfectly mimic the mortals voice back at them, making conversation inherently wierd/creepy.
Me likey

>>68450336
It is hard to think of a name for them.

>>68450394
Maybe base it on their voice copy abilities.

Mimics
Impersonators
Simulants
Imperfections
Mockeries
Mocks

>>68450474
Could go more mythical like Skinwalker or whatever

>>68450474
Simulants or Mockeries (Mocks) gets my vote.

Could go with Warbler for a mundane but still cool sounding name

>>68450823
Hadn't thought of that

>>68450883
Ye it gives off a mysterious feel and not huge warning bells if the name is offhand mentioned

>>68450928
So Warbler then? Get's my vote

>"The Frack's a Warbler?!"-Heretic Guardsman seconds before their ship's defenses turn on them.

>>6844420
Brother Moltke crept away from the site, and met up with Nightwalker Karlos, seeming a bit concerned.
"Brother Karlos," Moltke signed, "the abhumans on this planet are... extremely abhuman. I think we must postpone any recruitment attempts until a thorough genescan is done. What are your results?"
"Their culture is filled with curiosity and boredom, as well as a desire to be part of a greater whole," Karlos signed, "Brother Sigmund will have no issues persuading the masses to sign up. Should these genes be of value, I think that it would be trivial to offload at least a couple thousand, maybe in the tens or, if we are extremely dedicated to spreading the word, hundreds of thousands of recruits."

"I will signal Seeker Kazakh about this," Moltke signed, "our old plan has been compromised, let us return to the craft."

Moltke pulled Karlos onto his shoulders and ran back to their craft, letting Karlos dismount and entering Kazakh's chamber

"Seeker Kazakh, bring us up silently. The locals are extremely anomalous and as such we need to scan their genome in greater detail."

Kazakh nodded, engaged the reflex shield, and flew back to the Invisible Hand.

>>68451333
"So, brother Moltke," Warbler-Genewright Petros signed, "you are stating that these abhuman samples are from a race classified as abhuman, but appear only the slightly, vaguest bit human, being of modified skeletal structure and covered in fur."
"Yes," Brother Moltke signed, "I want a full scan of the genome, alongside a cross-fertility report. I understand Shade Ivak's... demands have been taxing on this department, and I know that the Intelligent Ogryn program has seen dismal progress, but this needs to be done. Should these genes be of value, we have a planetary population to harvest, which will massively enhance our capacity. Any and all material on this world could be ours."

Petros signed back.
"The fleet will consider this, but bring it to Master Oriel. He will decide whether we try and move slowly and harvest what we can, or whether we try and weather this new, massive Warp storm that has obscured the Astronomican from our position. It has shown no signs of clearing, and we have intercepted no Imperial messages."

"I understand," Moltke signed, "but please get to work on that analysis."

Petros signed in the affirmative, and Moltke turned, reaching the bridge of the Invisible Hand. He turned to a signals officer and signed.
"Contact Master Oriel, we have a fleet wide decision to make."

File: Raven Knight.png (804 KB, 764x1080)

804 KB PNG

>pictured, High-Wing Svetovid, Commander of The Feast

>>68451498
The signals officer got to work, and soon Moltke was presented with a view of the Lord of Murders, Master Sagan Oriel. At his side, Venkata and Ivak stood, and they stared.
"My lords," Moltke signed, "our initial scouting of the planet beneath us at this moment reveals a large and potentially easy to recruit abhuman population, but they deviate dramatically from the baseline human form."

Oriel signed quickly, "the Warp storms around us block all, Brother Moltke. Not even Shade Ivak's presence is enough to disperse them. Unless these abhumans prove utterly unfit for any purpose, we are to take as many of them, and as many of their supplies up as we can. Even if they are not crossfertile. Even if they are incapable of becoming Astartes. We are in a corner, and we shall not turn down this sort of opportunity. We will be in orbit for three weeks as we plot a course towards a world closer to Terra, and our policy will be one of mass acquisition. There will be no more discussion of this matter, Brother. I have other things to attend to."

Brother Moltke stood dumbfounded, knowing that the Lord of Murders was blunt, but not aware of just how blunt he was until this moment. Ivak signed as well.
"Brother Moltke, the Voidspire and all available craft are concentrating over this world. We will descend upon this world in force if needed in one week's time without fail, but will descend sooner if at all possible. Rally all the recruiters and start encouraging the populace. We must survive this. Terra needs us."

Moltke bowed and severed the connection, quickly signing to the signals officer.

"Bring all Daywalkers, available Astartes, and available Seekers here, now. We are deploying as an entire Chapter."

>>68451657
Fourth company?

>>68451707
Auxiliary.

>>68451498
>Intelligent Ogryn program.

>>68451771
>The Ogryns escape and set up their own Empire somewhere in the sector.
>This causes many headaches later on

So while techmarines do take care of maintaining the sparing armouries of the Void Ravens and take part in obfuscating their prescence with electronic warfare and misdirection, I believe they would remain on their ships a lot like most of the librarius, mainly due to their inherent value in being able to repair their meager technology. Though I do still have a few thoughts around them.

While the VR will have some form of occasional communication with outside forces, they wouldn't have direct access to send techmarines to Mars, meaning training new techmarines would be hard. They would have to stockpile techmarine candidates then try to train them en'masse when they eventually do come into contact with a forge world willing to help them. Or we could designate a specific forge world that the VR have had a good relationship with in the past, and send candidates there on the down low to be trained individually with a forge world that's a little more radical. If this deal was to be put in place, they would want something in return, which could be allowing magos access to become part of the fleet's crew so they can study the stealth ship STC's first hand.

Which seems like a better idea, saving up tech-recruits and sending them as a batch to learn together (instilling camradery) or sending them piecemeal?

And as for the general maintenance in the chapter, (and considering the low-tech status of weaponry marines use anyway) Would Warblers teach regular marines how to make basic repairs of his power armour and gear? This does help alleviate the strain on the techmarine and even if there are magos around to get mad at marines doing repairs, they can't really argue or risk losing access to the stealth ships to conduct their own research.

Overall I'm for keeping them a rare breed through the RV's circumstances, it's got more of a 'necessity breeds compromise' feel that the chapter should embody thanks to it's lack of supply lines.

>>68452117
>Which seems like a better idea, saving up tech-recruits and sending them as a batch to learn together (instilling camradery) or sending them piecemeal?
Probably depends on the resources, war situation and wat not. But batches seems most preferable, then you can divvy them up among the Murders

>>68451690
The message went through quickly, and the entire fleet assembled. Thousands of mortals and Astartes dropped in in hundreds of ships, and spread out quietly, each informed of the oddities and culture of the people they were to recruit. By dawn in the first city, they made their move, drawing attention by blaring an old Imperial anthem, marching down the main road perfectly. One Astartes held a Daywalker aloft, and the mortal spoke through a microphone into a speaker, amplifying his whisper into a loud, triumphant cheer.

"DO YOU WANT TO SEE ADVENTURE? TO EXPLORE NEW WORLDS, BE PART OF A GREATER WHOLE? TO SERVE THE IMPERIUM, TO SERVE THE EMPEROR?"
The people in the streets stared, and soon the fuzzy abhumans were crowding around the parade, screaming out that they wanted to join. This spectacle was repeated in city after city, to similar results every time. The homogeneity of the population made the same stunts equally effective.
"EXCELLENT," each recruiter cheered in unison "FOLLOW US AND BRING ALL THAT YOU CAN WITH YOU. A NEW WORLD OF EXPERIENCES AWAIT, SERVING ALONGSIDE THE LEGENDARY ADEPTUS ASTARTES! THE SONS OF THE EMPEROR HIMSELF! YOU WILL KNOW NO FEAR, YOU WILL KNOW NO DEFEAT OR SHAME IN OUR QUEST TO SAVE TERRA FROM THE FORCES OF DARKNESS! TELL YOUR FRIENDS! TELL YOUR FAMILIES! YOU MAY ONLY JOIN FOR A FEW WEEKS, AND THEN THIS OFFER WILL BE SHARED TO THOSE ON OTHER WORLDS!"

Each move was pitifully easy, shipping thousands upon thousands of felinid abhumans up to the fleet, and the genewrights were almost overwhelmed with the scanning and sorting of all of them. The initial hours, then days were cramped and hectic as the Astartes and Daywalkers sent wave after wave of felinids and their supplies up, bringing down Iron Crows to help in the demolition of unused buildings, tearing through the planet and its surface like a ravenous horde.

>>68452344
Two weeks later, Brother Moltke looked over at the scans of the planet from orbit. Total biomass had dropped nearly seventy percent, the fleet had gained several dozen new craft, and the influx of materials and genes was enormous, easily capable of sustaining their cruise for the next hundred years, assuming an exponential growth rate. The genewright-Warblers scrambled around, working at a hectic pace, and the new populace was quickly integrated with the other mortal Crows, while the fleet formed up, preforming their final checks.

Brother Moltke looked at a communication, and smiled. The text read as follows:
"Brother Moltke. This effort undertaken and initiated by you and Seeker Kazakh has been most fruitful. According to our count, 94.87% of the abhumans have been relocated, and the vast majority of structures on this world have been demolished and salvaged. This is a golden moment in our history, and shall make our march to Terra far easier."

The fleet quietly slipped away with their new supplies, but three days later, another ship, a pleasure barge, emerged over the planet.

"Um... my lord?" A thin, twisted technician asked, "the f-felinids... S-sir. They're gone!"

"GONE?!" The obese noble screamed, "That's impossible! We had.... ten thousand thrones per felinid.... and they're all... gone?!"

"Not all of them, sir. But the remainders are scattered about in extremely low density. This mission was a failure, and we must return soon, the Inquisition will catch up to us."

The noble gritted his teeth and seethed, wondering what force could rob him of such profit so quickly. He had last been on this world only five years prior!

>>68452117
The Void Crows probably would keep the tech-recruits in small units, and would likely repair their own armor and weapons, leaving the dedicated Warblers more time to create weapons or spacecraft, or work on relics or research.

>>68452474
Ah, isn't child labor great?

>>68452485
The Crows preform mass deception and kidnapping, cannibalism and murder, and wipe their fucking asses with the religion of the Imperium.

So yeah child labor kicks ass.

>>68452522
Preach it Brother!

Is there anything else we need to flesh out about the Crows?
There's their 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th Captains, as well as relics and what their rampant genetic and technological experimentation has yielded so far.

>>68452622
I can't remember what relics we have. Other than the Texts of course, and the stealth ships

Perhaps they possess a sizable amount of Corvus-pattern Power Armor, and in honor of the Emperor's original vision, occasionally paint the original markings and symbols on their armor from the days of the Great Crusade

This is so modelers have an excuse to use old RT markings, because I want chevrons.

>>68452749
>>68452774
What about special weapons? They've got souped up lasguns, but every big chapter has that one special weapon or set of armor. The Crows are in a weird position, having a massive amount of human and abhuman reserves, manufacturing and research capacity, and an abundance of labor.

>>68452774
Good idea, that'd be extra heretical to the Imperium how these mutants are wielding sacred relics and using awards/iconography from the GC. But they wouldn't use the Palatine Aquila

>>68452830
Well of course not! That would be heres...

Wait a minute, we can't use the H-word.

>>68452874
...Badong?
https://youtu.be/9DW6Gz0N6Hs

Genius! The Corpse-Emperor will love this one

>>68452928
Guys I found the Alpha Legion spy.

Son of a bi-

>The Void Crows have actually ferreted out a few AL spies over the years
>Now they are properly on the look out for them

Any Deathwatch stats for them yet?

>>68452990
"So, my fellow Void Crows, shall we praise the God Emperor?"

>EVERYONE STARES AND DRAWS SWORDS

>>68453063
>AL Spy: "Ah fiddlesticks."
>In the interrogation chamber: https://youtu.be/bFtcLJVN8yg

>>68453099
holy fuck, every spy or prisoner astartes the ravens have ever taken could be converted and sent back out into the galaxy at large as counter-spies, we actually have a pretty solid indoctrination tool at our disposal.

>>68453220
"THE EMPEROR NEVER WANTED TO BE A GOD"

>Loyalist
"WHAT? YOU'RE ACTUALLY LOYAL I'M SO SORRY!"

>Heretic
"FUCK"

>>68453063
The first hint they had was him talking out loud, to be fair, the 'god' emperor part was just confirmation

>>68453244
Yes, but I just wanted to make the joke even funnier.

>>68453240
>Heretic
>"Holy shit! I thought we were just memeing when we were calling him a false god. But he actually didn't want to be one at all? And gave proof and a great argument on why he shouldn't?"

>>68453282
"Yes..." The Crow sighed "now go and fuck off and tell your buddies that this entire Heresy shit was started by Lorgar being a dumbass."

>>68453319
>"We already make fun of him and the Bible Fuckers. But now we can rub it in their faces. Ha! Got a few copies to spare? We could air srop them next time we meet. I can already imagine them tearing their eyes out"

>>68453362
>The crow pushes a giant cart full of books over at the heretic marine
"Now don't fuck with the Imperium again or we'll turn you inside out and keep you alive and screaming the whole way through."

>>68453427

>"Wait, did we just let an Alpha Legion spy go?"

>"...Fuck. Okay, I will admit the bastards are pretty good at what they do."

Where was that guy working on Deathwatch stats?

>Inquisitor: "So... any idea why the Crows hit this one lone isolated, out of the way depot? It has nothing of importance from the records."
>Acolyte: 'I have a theory, my Lord."
>Inq: "Speak of it."
>Acolyte: "I believe they may be hitting Alpha Legion cells. These attacks are too spread out and seemingly out of the way. My contacts mention their was an incident a matter of decades ago that amy have caused this uptick in activity."
>Inq: "So the Crows are ridding us of Alpha Legion cells? There is more to this, there always is with the Scavengers."

>>68451333
Isn't the Invisible Hand one of the flagships of General Grevious?

>>68453643
I'm at work right now. Off in an hour thirty.

>>68453759
Stay strong anon

>>68453752
Yes, and it's a reference to Adam Smith's theory of the 'invisible Hand' of Capitalism, because the CIS

In terms of the combat blades used by marines, are the simply normal combat blades or are they the monomolecular kind? Or are all marine blades monomolecular and I'm just being forgetful?

>>68453807
God I love the CIS.

>>68453813
They vary in quality, but they are all phenomenally tough to withstand the rigors of Astartes combat

>>68453759
Bless you, you beacon of hope

>>68452622

I had an idea for an officer who's more or less Warbler in chief. Pyotr Termen. Doesn't have a company command but holds a Captain's rank as he's in charge of the Warblers and the technician-auxiliaries. Has the rank to allow him to do his job.

Tall and thin by Void Crow standards, Termen has nearly joined the ranks of the death corps several times. Only just being able to purify himself though fasting and meditation each time. The warblers, in their need to crack enemy systems greedily devour the enemies technicians, seeking not only memories but specific technical details. It is this profound hunger for information and the need to assimilate it quickly that makes the warblers particularly vulnerable to the hunger. It is also perhaps, part of why the warblers are prone to keeping charms, keepsakes, and fetishes in their armour. A lifeline to allow them to find their way back out of the memories they devour.

Superstitious even by the standards of the Crows Termen's armor is heavily customized. He always carries with him a silver throne, a coil of wire, and a multiplex knife, in addition to several devices and scraps of electronics that may be entirely non-functional, though none but another Tech marine could say for sure. Given this, Termen, is respected for his skills and courage far more than he is liked or trusted.

And Termen is courageous, he has many times lead ship-borne assaults, slipping his way auxiliary communication consoles, or redundant cogitator systems whose function the crew were entirely ignorant of, and thrown entire fleets into confusion as contradictory orders are issued over the vox nets, targeting data resolves friendly ships, and in the chaos, the main force of the Void Crows are already boarding.

>>68453945
So he'd be a sorta Master of the Forge?

So in addition to fighting Orks, Inquisitor forces with a grudge the Crows have been fighting a shadow war with the AL for who knows how long. Things are getting mighty interesting

>>68453988

More like master of the wierd signals guys who don't leave their trailer much, but yes. He's not a company commander, but he has the authority of a captain because of how important their tech is to the Void Crow way of warfare.

Name is based on the Russian names of the physicist who developed the mathematical basis for stealth aircraft and Leon Theremin, who invented some rather ingenious spy gear for the Soviets.

>>68454309
That's what I thought. Interestign trivia

Name
>Haya Peresvet (Russian laser weapon)

>>68452622
>6th Company Captain
>Roscislaw Lassila
>A fairly new Captain. His predecessor Unto Soini never returned from a mission while his command squad did. He took over as regent/temp Captain for a number of years before the Murder Master put him in charge fully
>He is still getting used to his position and the responsibilities that come with it
>An excellent boarder/counter boarder he made a name for himself in the fleet for his numerous attacks and defenses against the Green horde
>Is regarded as one of the "Loudest' of his brothers and especially compared to the rest of the Captains

File: Stop, Arnold.jpg (114 KB, 768x1024)

114 KB JPG

>>68453945
>death corps
My original plan for them was that the hunger and degradation into a Departed is something you can very much fight through will and training. Such a thing probably wouldn't exist as you'd get maybe two or three every decade. But they're resilient fuckers for cannon fodder/shock troops so they stay around a consistent dozen or so.

>>68455437
I'd rather avoid any immediate comparisons to the blood angels but if we're going for a 'mysterious 13th founding' vibe having a small amount of them would be in line with that, and to anyone taking a crusory glance they might believe they were BA successors (if we're making the Raven Guard origins redacted though)

Then again considering their status most of their profile would simply be redacted to be fair.

Best ones I see for characteristic modifier are.

>The warrior-scholars from this Chapter have often noticed clues that their more zealous comrades have missed. Space Marines of this Chapter gain +5 Perception and +5 Intelligence.

>Members of this Chapter are famed far and wide for both their skill with the blade as well as their leadership under fire. Space Marines of this Chapter gain +5 Weapon Skill and +5 Fellowship.

The former makes sense to me because they're skilled trackers and tacticians who prefer to end fights by exploiting the weaknesses of the enemy. However the latter also makes sense because they've become so skilled with knives and hand to hand weapons over the years of stealth operations, their fellowship coming from leading their fleet of auxiliaries

You guys decide.


Solo mode
>Master of the Shadows
Type: Passive
Required Rank: 1
Effects: The Raven Guard excel at covert operations, opting for the more subtle approach over an all-out assault. Millennia of training and refining their guerilla tactics have made them masters of blending into the shadows and striking when their opponent least expects it. When the Battle-Brother is in solo mode, he may re-roll any failed Concealment, Shadowing and Silent Move Tests. Improvement: At Rank 3 or above, all attacks made by the Battle-Brother against surprised targets gain a +2 to Armour Penetration. At Rank 5 or above, the Battle-Brother gains a +20 bonus to Concealment, Shadowing and Silent Move Tests. At Rank 7 or above, all attacks made by the Battle- Brother against surprised targets gain a +4 to Armour Penetration.
(Contd)

>>68456835
Squad mode attack pattern
>Exploit Weakness
Action: Half Action
Cost: 4
Sustained: No
Effects: The Void Crows use precise application of force to cripple their enemy. The squad works in concert to exploit the foe’s weaknesses and deliver potent, strategic blows. As a Half Action, any Battle-Brother in Support Range may single out an enemy. Until the beginning of that Battle-Brother’s next turn, all members of the Kill-team may re-roll damage rolls against that target (the second result must be taken). Only one target may be singled out at a time. Improvement: At Rank 5, singling out a target becomes a Free Action.


For Squad defense I'm thinking.
>Knowledge is Power
Action: Half Action, Cost: 3, Sustained: Yes. With knowledge of secret and forbidden lore, the Space Marines of this Chapter are able to more easily avoid sorcery and witchcraft. While under the effect of this ability, the Battle-Brother and any within Support Range of him receive a +10 bonus to any Tests made to resist the effects of a psychic power (this can include attempts to Dodge). At Rank 4, this bonus increases to +20.

Advancement table.
>Strength of Arms Advances

Of course I'm not skilled enough to homebrew tables and such so I just picked what I found was fitting from Rites of Battle and The First Founding.

Night anons.

>>68452622
Probably the organization of auxiliaries.

>>68456835
>>68456848
Yeah, that sounds about right.

>>68455437

Okay. The point was that the tech marines are particularly vulnerable to it because their role revolves so much around information. It's another area where they wind up with very ritualized behaviour as a result.

>>68460242
Like how reading too much depressing stuff can lead to depression?

So would the Murders/Companies train their own Scouts or would their be a main training on the Fleet and are divvied up to reduce Factionalism/Tribalism among the Murders?

>>68462153
Mass training of scouts would likely be the best, considering the chapter and the fleet pretty much move as one and any force being sent away would be made up of random amalgamations of squads means they wouldn't always have the best marines for training new inductees.

So yeah, mass abduction, breeding, picking candidates, training them, augmenting them to astartes and training them further should be centralised, and considering the mobile nature of the chapter a lot of that training would be on ships, so 'excursions' to currently orbiting planets would be a semi regular thing.

this would actually lead to more diversity among candidate as different 'classes' would have experienced different harsh environments or tests depending on which planets and system they were near at the time of their training.

>>68462272
Sounds good, I like the 'Classes' idea. Helps bring diversity and break down barriers between the new generations of Crows

>>68460992
More like how too many voices and different sets of memories and emotions can cause dissociation, but in principle you're right.

>>68464298
That's what I thought

>10th Company/Murder
>Fleet Security
>The Murder that stays closest only second to the 1st
>They also coincidentally have the largest amount of Marines, though only by a handful of Squads more
>They handle inter Fleet security and traffic alongside an army of Auxillaries to enforce order and root out spies

>>68456848
What sort of chapter relics would they have that they'd be happy to share/bring with them to the deathwatch?

>>68465421
The only relic I know of is their copy of the Imperial Truth, and something tells me they wouldn't be that stupid.

Perhaps one of their few powered weapon experiments, designed to be more quiet in operation, and with a jagged edge on one end for use when the power field cannot be used, essentially, sorta a chainsword/powersword hybrid, just saying it has the body of a power sword but gains the function of a chainsword when unpowered, just noiseless and being a jagged edge instead of rows of sawteeth.

>>68466205
>>68465421
A suit of Heresy Corvus Armor. Excellent stealth capabilities, maybe some hacking as well.

Recon/Sniper Scope Servoskulls to aid in sighting

>>68466369
Oooooh, maybe the armor belonged to an old Raven Guard Moritat?

>>68466205
Yeah that's be extremely stupid, but there should easily be enough examples if we make some up e.g.

>A champion's heavily modified power-blade with a near-silent generator and instant activaiton/deactivation (so if can be flicked on at the last second before a kill, them immediately turned off, something akin to what >>68466333 mentioned)


>stummer pads (same size as a breaching charge) that can be placed on walls and negate sound in a large raidus for a short amount of time

>Captain's helm (minus the mouthpiece so it looks like cptn america's mask) that belonged to a famous void raven who liked to eat small bits of his enemies as he killed them on missions (probably gives a bonus to command or intimidation as the empty space is shaped like a open maw)(also whatever the bonus was for not taking a helm during missions)

>Extra set of exhausts and control vanes that can be attached to power armour (powered by the on board reactor) that allows for insane maneuverability in zero-gee situations and limited reduction of speed and control of direction when falling short distances

>As >>68466369 mentioned, 'heavy' corvus armour that includes a number of improvements to the stealth capabilities, perhaps with stummers in-built to negate noise around the marine wearing it.
(Could this be a conversion for terminator armour that we could give out First Company?)

>A combat shield made from the same material used in our ships stealth technology, either giving the ability to flash and stun an enemy or the ability to reflect laser weaponry, could simply be a coating and have an ablative effect where it's eventually chipped off.

>Custom-built coilgun/stake-launcher weapon from a Warbler techmarine which counts as a silenced weapon and has decent armour penetration

Also just had the thought, what type of Terminator armour would our chapter use? Because if possible I'd suggest Tartaros because if it's increased mobility

>>68466431
Good idea

Another relic from the armory of a Stealth Ship from the Cache
>A suit of scarred and slightly rusty Mk III
>It bears the insignia of the 19th Legion, but lacking the Raven Guard symbol indicating this was from Terra well before the Primarch Corvus Corax was found
>It has the Terran Raptor and Thunderbolts further denoting it's age and it's taking part of the Terran Conquest under the Emperor
>But the most controversial award on it is a engram which reads
>"In honor of Boris Samson of the 19th Legion. Few have impressed me quite like he. May his legion speak his name and deeds in honor and pride forever more!"
>By Horus Lupercal, Primarch of the 16th Legion.

Ooooh, a spicy relic!

>>68466578
>Horus you rat! You played the long game and managed to work things out to give us the ol' spicy relic!
>How could you do this to your nephews!?

>>68466527
To be fair most VR would understand this was Horus when he still had presence of mind and wasn't sucking chaos-dick

>>68466638
Nah, make it even funnier, make it post-badguyification Horus

>>68466638
It's just they have to hide it away to prevent it's destruction from others. It has excellent memory of the Terran Conquest and a rare insight millennia back. Including:
>Boris: "Did you hear Brother Ishmael? Our Genesire has been found! We meet him in 2 months time. Imagine how proud he'll be of us and what we've accomplished!"

I wonder what the Ravens would've thought of the Unification Wars and the use of Thunder Warriors in general, mabye there could be some sort of secret pilgrimage to the country where the 19th's gene-stock was first harvested from if they ever get the chance to go to terra for 'secret meetings'

>>68455437
One of the most interesting bits about the departed is that they would keep eating and consuming without restraint, since they are too far gone to be able to excercise the caution their most sane brethren do. This would even compound even more their psychological issues, which united to the frontal lobe degradation alluded before, would render them eventually from schizoid wrecks into animalistic beasts.

Now, most departed would be expected to eventually die after a few boarding actions or deployments, since they are only released to cover up the retreat of their brethren in the most catastrophic circumstances.

But sometimes, just sometimes....the departed survives enough tours of duty. And maybe, once the wild, suicidal beast has gorged itself with enough prey flesh, a new, alien intelligence grows from the memories it has absorbed; a raw intellect with a single role.
To stalk. To terrify. To prey. And at last...To eat.
And thus, a Man-Eater is born.

>>68466721
Don't you mean Crows? I'm sure Corax didn't like the Terran Marines which is why they were sent away. Not sure on the Raven Guard's thoughts on the matter

File: 1aa1.jpg (114 KB, 1200x800)

114 KB JPG

Any notable mortal members of the fleet? Captains? Perhaps something like >>68451657 put forward.

>Expanding upon Casimir Slovak.
Casimir is average in nearly every way for a VC, his height, build, weight, and even most of his skills. Unlike most high ranking members Casimir shows no more exceptional combat abilities then that of any other brother. But his averageness actually makes him stand out quite a bit to his underlings who feel inspired by his bravery and shorter gap in skill, less a true figure of legend like some captains and just a man like the rest of them. Casimir and his men specialize in boarding actions and diving into forgotten derelicts and stations.

Casimir has longer more oily black hair then his brothers. His armor has no special adornments but as his tenure as captain continues he has accumulated a large amount of carvings into his armor. His most notable feature is his missing left eye, taken by a fallen Astartes. He has forgone a cybernetic replacement to keep it as a reminder of his shame, instead wearing an eye patch.

>>68467586
Sounds like a perfect fit for the 10th Murder >>68464792

>>68455437
>>68467468
The man-eaters are a rare phenomenon and often decried as myth, even within the own ranks of the crows. It might certainly be so, for the Void Crows have few departed, and their fate and numbers are a closely guarded secret, a topic any self-respecting battle-brother does not discuss willingly. In such circumstances, myth, exaggeration and apocryphal tales run like wildfire. But a common substrate runs through them all.
The man-eater gets its name from the legends of ancient Terra, before the man conquered the stars. It refers to the majestic tigers of old, shadowy and gigantic felines that stalked the jungles rumored to have grown at the feet of the continent that now houses the Emperor´s palace.
They were but invisible to the clumsy manlings that tumbled through their jungles, but seldom would they prey on them, if they did respect their might and steer clear of their holdings. However, should one of them taste human blood, the man-eater would be born. An invisible killer which would kill each of their victims unseen, hollow out entire villages, and would only be killed by an entire army set at its heels. Terror incarnate, the ultimate predator of man.

If the masses of mankind are the villager of old and astartes a tiger, the oldest of departed are the man-eaters. While the nature of the man-eater transformation is ill-understood, the apothecaries of the chapter have come to a glimpse of understanding - if a chilling one to consider.
The man-eaters are what happens when a departed´s mind fully collapses under the strain of the memories absorbed by its omophagea... and then "something" grows anew from them, a feast of meat at a time. The result may not be called human anymore; it is both far less and more than it.

File: 1a11.gif (2.59 MB, 540x300)

2.59 MB GIF

>>68467468
>>68467999
>corpsewalkers feel when it turns around and the un-hypno tamed Departed kept for scanning other brothers is missing from its cage.

File: MAN-EATER.jpg (5 KB, 300x168)

5 KB JPG

>>68455437
>>68467468
>>68467999
One of the harsh truths behind the space marine geneseed physiology is that an astartes mind and brain remain far less malleable than any other fraction of his body. The Emperor´s masterpiece can rework muscle, mold bone, protect from age and poison and render exsanguination near-impossible...but only two zygotes dare touch the substrate of the brain, barred from collapsing its function only through the careful use of hypno-indoctrination protocols. The catalepsean node, the sentry´s faithful companion...and the omophagea.
When the cursed founding gifted the void crows their omophagea, the minds meddling with the emperor´s work did not consider the possibility that the zygote full potential had been intentionally curtailed by Him On Terra.

One of the key dogmas about brain function states that a memory is a network of synapsed neurons. In order to function, the omophagea does not only decode the memories ensconced within the prey´s flesh, but also stimulates the growth of a new set of neurons in the astartes brain to encode them. In a regular astartes, the size of the growth and amount of information within are very small, yielding only instincts and hunches. In a void crow, the size of the growth is larger, and closer to the neocortex, making information is accordingly more effective and rich.
Even with the risk posed by this antinatural growth, excess memories absorbed via omophagea will not usually be revisited, and their neuron networks will degenerate accordingly, in a process very similar to normal human forgetfulness. But should a battle-brother gorge itself too much or constantly review and rely on its acquired memories, the growths will not go away and will only pile up as the omophagea´s function adds new ones, reducing the relative volume of the frontal lobes that encode the astartes consciousness against the encroaching mass of neurons encoding the omophagea stolen memories.

File: DEPARTED.jpg (13 KB, 225x225)

13 KB JPG

>>68455437
>>68468138
>>68467468
>>68467999
>>68468334
A Departed is the culmination of psychosis and loss of brain function caused by this process. The frontal lobe becomes too small to rule the omophagea-induced neuron growth, the encephalization ratio becomes similar to the one found in beasts, and the Departed is born.
However, since this neuron growth is typically induced from the focused acquisition of memories of intelligent organisms and soldiers, the result is a hungry beast ruled by technical skills and the trades of war.

A Departed is no mere mindless animal. It is an instinctual hunter-killer shaped by the memories of its prey and the favored death-dealing trade of the Astartes that birthed it. It may not know why it fights, it may not understand what a gun is, or what a war means, but it does not need to.
It only needs this information to guide it to its next meal. Unconcerned by sentience, a departed stalks the halls of enemy voidships, opening doors out of instinct; stalking prey out of habit; devouring its prey as it wished to do in life. It can only do as much as the memories whisper to it....but since a void crow Astartes life is naught but warfare and silent slaughter, the Departed usually becomes much more efficient at it´s task with its progenitor humanity scoured clean.

As such, a Departed is merely the hunger that walks. A Man-Eater is much, much worse.

>>68468664
>>68468334
>>68468138
>>68467999
Fucking nice

File: MAN-EATER BLINDSIGHT.jpg (102 KB, 845x1200)

102 KB JPG

>>68455437
>>68468138
>>68467468
>>68467999
>>68468334
>>68468664
Once unshackled from morality, from sentience and understanding, its existence ruled by instincts made of the purest warfare, the Departed becomes the finest predator the void can offer. But even as its slaughters its enemies with terrifying efficiency, it remains only a beast, and even the most savage and cunning of beasts can eventually be hunted. Most of the Departed will eventually die at the enemy guns or be recaptured by their brethren to be given the Emperor´s mercy, and will never realize their full potential. Born as beasts, they die as them.

But sometimes, a Departed lives long, and eats plenty. And as it gorges on victim after victim, the omophagea delivers its promise in full.
The regeneration properties of an Astartes are a truly wondrous thing, even able to acomodate the most grueling injuries. As the body registers the damage and agony of a scoured humanity, the Astartes physiology tries to repair the damage. As such, it turns to the only fresh source of new, undamaged neurons it can access - the fresh memories incessantly induced by the omophagea as it gorges upon prey after prey.

As the Departed scythes through prey, it will acquire the memories of dozens, hundreds, perhaps thousands of victims. As its regenerating brain tries to sort and interpret the deluge of memories into something coherent, two islands of meaning will stand out.
The first is the circumstances of the prey´s death and the overwhelming, agonizing fear that courses through its body with its shuddering last breath.
The second is the comforting lullaby of a sated hunger, the endorphin release that comes from a kill without injury and a full belly.

And from those, an intelligent, yet non-sapient abomination will be born. A composite between the schyzophrenic paranoia of innumerable victims, scrambling to flee, to hurt an invisible predator, and the sadistic efficiency of a consumate predator.
A Man-Eater.

>>68468334
>>68467999
Nice you have me.
>>68468664
Little decrease but still with yeah.
>>68469196
Ehhhhhhhhh.

>>68469196
Gotta say I love this.
>Cannibalism
>MPD
>Pychopathic/Sociopathic Posthumans
>PTSD/Shellshock
All combined into a horror

>>68469279
">>68469196: Ehhhhhhhhh."
How so? I am interested on your opinion.
Should I perhaps leave things a bit more...unspoken?

>>68469322
Not him, but they should be rare in the Chapter so the Marines/Fleet think they're a myth started by malcontents/AL Spies long ago to undermine authority. But it stuck as there's a kernel of truth to it all

>>68469376
They are exceedingly rare, maybe entirely mythical. As much as 6-7 could have been documented in the entire chapter´s history, and the idea here is to make them fully customisable urban legends; if somebody´s headcannon is that they don´t exist, the exceedingly scarce amounts of information about them would fully support this interpretation.

>>68469435
Sounds good to me.


>Battle of Nyman II
>An oddity of an engagement for the Chapter , elements of the 5th and 6th Murders were caught blindsided when an Imperial Crusade translated in system to collect backed up tithes fro mthe Governor
>The Crow elements decided as they were already seen they may as well go along with the charade of posing as regular Marines
>The Crusade commander was honored to lend aid to the God Emperor's Sons, the Marines were notably agitated as they had to play against their normal selves: Talking, using loud weapons, shouting and more to keep up appearances
>After a matter of weeks which they massively sped up the Crusade they managed to complete their original mission and left back to the fleet
>Reports note how later an Inquisitor found out the Crows had helped the crusade and executed the Commander for failing to notice Heretics

File: Departed.jpg (97 KB, 1280x720)

97 KB JPG

>>68469322
Kind of.

My original idea when I proposed them was something like this and how I would do it with what we got. (Now incorporating man-eaters)

Brother in danger of falling.
>Has developed signs of mental problems MPD, Psychopathy, Sociopathy, Schizophrenia, disconnects between reality, forgetful, etc.
>Hunger is greater then ever.
>Loses himself occasionally in memories and dreams that don't seem to be his own.
>Cause by excess of memories and retaining the personalities attached to them.
>Can recover from this stage with fasting, meditation, being sealed away, and etc giving the marine time to "digest" the memories and personalities he's taken in.

The Departed.
>Frontal lobe is completely destroyed by excess number of personalities and memories fighting to assert themselves.
>Use of tools is greatly reduced due to permanent brain damage. Could open a door with a knob but not something with a keypad.
>Hostile to non-departed/man eaters, can be "tamed" through hypno-therapy to reduce aggression towards marines but auxiliaries are still to different to not attack.
>Lose hair, skin becomes almost stretched and paler as they become gaunt, almost starved looking, eyes become sunken.
>Lose nose and cheeks typically by accident as they ignore pain and they get torn off trying to tear into prey.
>Greatly reduced sense of pain but enhanced senses.
>Typically still in armor as it's to dangerous to remove even when under influence of Catalepsean Node, but most manage to remove their gloves and helmets without losing auxiliaries.
>Nails grow into unkempt claws from lack of upkeep.
>Released as cannon fodder or to terrorize the foe and go into danger first in place of other brothers.
>Maybe get about a dozen every century.
>Overseen by Corpsewalkers and can be used as an early warning that a brother is in danger of falling.
(Contd)

>>68469657
Man-Eater
>Like Departed with some minor differences.
>Much older and scared with partially destroyed armor from dozens, possibly hundreds of battles.
>Nails and teeth have become stronger and larger.
>Looks stronger built from excess of food.
>Typically separate themselves from Departed, Departed if able will avoid them seemingly out of fear.
>Has regained minor tool use and self-preservation instincts but lost ability to feel pain.
>Great ambush predator and hunter as its retained the knowledge of its prey but doesn't know why it does what it does.
>Hypno-therapy has become less effective.
>Over the millennium of the chapter maybe 3-5 have existed.
>Typically escape and need to be put down and present a real danger to the fleet.

After rereading your thing we seem mostly on the same page, but the way you described upon first read made them come off more as intelligent psychos to me then cunning apex-predators.

>>68469293
>>68469376
The idea here is to explore the "you are what you eat" idea and see how omophagea could affect and compromise brain function, based on what we currently know about brain function.

One of the most interesting implications of lore, as I discussed in >>68468334, is that, excepting the MAJOR limiters to combat efficiency of a human brain such as the need of sleep and fear, the geneseed does not enhance the Astartes brain function to posthuman levels unattainable by unmodified humans. An Astartes may often be the most driven individual in a room, but does it owe to its geneseed, or his stringent selection and gruelling training regime?

Given that Intellect is one fo the greatest advantages you can gain over your competition, there must have been a reason for it...The Departed may yield one of the answers to it.

The advantage of the Man-Eater generation process is that it is a terror film slasher custom-made and influenced by the circumstances of its birth; the post-human progeny of the "Chinese room" evolved artificially in the accelerated hell of desperate fights and unlit space hulk corridors. No two are alike; each uniquely shaped by the preys it stalked, the weapons and ploys they used against him, and what its Astartes progenitor used to be in a past life. The concept in >>68469196
is to provide something akin to the "Lone Wolf" unit like the space Corgis have access to: a cool, unique mini that allows you to customize it according to your headcannon.

But remember: The Man-Eater is a "thing". It is not sentient. It is not sapient as we would understand it. It may walk on two legs; it may open doors; it may even imitate noises and cahtter to attract prey.
But at the end, it is an artificially evolved algorithm made to maximize feeding and hunt prey in the environment it is born, one prey at a time. And this just makes it the more efficient at its task for it.

>>68469722
Sounds good and pretty wel lfleshed out

>>68469686
> "The way you described upon first read made them come off more as intelligent psychos to me then cunning apex-predators"

Oh no. They are merely apex-predators that become so intelligent and functional at hunting prey that people could mistake them for actual sapients. But no. A Psycho is sentient and sapient.
A man-Eater isn´t. It is a non-sentient, non-sapient expert system operating on blindsight. An overwhelming amount of lessons and skills extracted from dying victims, and refined into a hunting algorithm by pavlovian training.
From Victim-prespective memories, the Man-Eater can know what worked best against them, what induced more hunt-facilitating terror, and what tools a prey can use against him.
From Hunter-perspective memories, the hunter draws positive reinforcement for the strategies that allowed him to feast, and negative reinforcement for whatever strategies that dealt injuries to him.

The problem is that, even if the substrate is so simple, the access to so many victim-memories and hunts is enough to quickly rebuild an entire brain which was a a blank slate before.
Think of it as Peter Watts "blindsight" AI.
It lacks awareness, and instead runs the most advanced killer algorithm of the galaxy on its head instead.

>>68469770
>>68469657
>>68469574
>>68469293
>>68469279
>>68468695
>>68468138
>>68455437
No, thanks to you all. I always liked Warhammer 40k, I was surprised to find such supremely educated community on 1d4chan, but the fact the void crows are SO well fleshed out has finally managed to scratch that writing itch about warhammer 40K science and logistics I have been feeling for years.
I went for a mythical feel intentionately, so that people can headcannon the Man-Eater thing as much or few as they like; hope I did not derail the thread.

File: 1aa1.jpg (46 KB, 612x387)

46 KB JPG

>>68470095
You did amazing anon.

>>68470095
Thanks for all the work you did.

I've been rather busy my days off so not much to do.

>>68469686
Yes, we definitively are onto the same page...but there are a couple of goodies left I was thinking about. Some examples of past Man-Eater development worthy of their own names, from "Medusa, the flickering death" to "Deimos, the voice of terror".
And, of course, "Echo". A fine urban legend and an example of what can arise when a Warbler succumbs to the hunger and lives long enough to become a Man-Eater.

>"Typically escape and need to be put down and present a real danger to the fleet."
Funny that you shall mention that...Hehehe. Yes, one of the funny things is that hypnoindoctrination starts working a bit "iffy" when the Man-eater stage is reached.
So should you encounter one, neophyte...remove your helmet and NEVER break eye contact. For one blink of your eyes is all that it needs...

File: 1502406878588.jpg (2.07 MB, 4000x2022)

2.07 MB JPG

>>68470293
>The Stalker (Of Shadows)
>One of the most nightmare inducing fro mthe tales of the fleet
>He/It melds with the shadows and stalks it's target for years, slowly and methodically destroying their life until they reach a breaking point, where they reveal themselves and offer release as a messenger/angel

Bump

File: Charming.png (53 KB, 750x750)

53 KB PNG

>pastebin.com/xKDvBGEE
Quickie of some Nightwalker stuff

With the post-Truth shift, most forms of ritual and occultism were cut out of the chapter to make way for the new enlightened age. Rationalism and pragmatism won out in the majority of chapter culture, but a lot of the old knowledge and understanding of their nature was also lost with the reformation. Though the myths and horrors of their bloodline might have been starved out by their new restraints of secularism, the precedence to deal with those things was censured or destroyed as ritualisms, and when such things occur nowadays there are few who fully understand it. Specialists in the Corpsewalkers and Warblers and the other splinters of old have approximations, but those who kept to the old ways and ancient lore accept the flaws and defects as part of their nature and understand how it affects them, how close they actually are to falling into the myths.

>>68472538
Shit I fell asleep and just woke up a bit ago. My bad

Nice stuff man.

Well I'm going to bed, I can barely stay awake.

>>68466527
>Armor of the Forgotten Faithful
>>68466369
>Armor of the Shade
>>68466513
The rest of this stuff is great

>>68446552
>We run a sort of eugenics program amongst the fleet matching those who can produce more genetically compatible recruits.
just want to point out this has been explicitly tried in the lore and unfortunately doesn't work, space marine acceptance rates cannot be predictably bred using eugenics.

Glad to see things still going caw caw

>>68449364
>>68449253
>>68449224
Maybe Nikolai was "martyred" fighting the Crows and has been canonized as a minor saint in the Ecclesiarchy, and his followers continue his work

>>68450624
Mocking-jays? Or has Hunger Games poisoned that well?

Aren't Mynah birds corvids? They're phenomenal mimics.

Ok so I just spent the past few hours fully fleshing out the stealth cruiser, so this might take a few posts

>Void Crows 'Dirk' class Stealth Cruiser

>History
Recovered from the depths of the Last Whisper by the Void Crows, the mysterious station gifted the chapter with perhaps it's second greatest gift after the words of the Emperor himself. Taking this new design as a boon for the chapter they set about developing and creating it with what little resources they had at their disposal, stripping whole facilities and their own ships in the system to feed it's ravenous needs.
What they were left with at the end was a dagger of a ship, a formidable beast with power belying it's size. The ships armaments were many, seemingly designed to allow it to attack in almost every direction, coupled with an extensive manoeuvring thruster system and powerful engines meant that it could thrust itself into the fight, causing significant damage, before disengaging to make another pass. While the armour of the ship was somewhat thin by Imperial standards, it could still weather void combat like any other bruiser of a ship.
Coupled with the integration of the remnant reflex-shields the Void Crows had cobbled together a short but effective dagger that could pierce the heart or head of any fleet and deal the decisive blow.
While initially an extreme undertaking in design and manufacturing, the shipwrights of the Last Whisper slowly managed to creature more vessels to join the fleet, built with the help of centuries of scavenging and repurposing technology left on the battlefield.
Currently, while several vessels are under construction and several in repair the Dirk class remains the heart of the Void Crows fleet. Working in unison with their cover fleet of ships, they stalk the void ready to tear the throat out of anyone who dares underestimates them.

1/?

>>68473655
2/?
>Design

>Armament
With a significant number of weapon mountings on the ship, the Dirk uses these to the fullest extent by packing a variety of weaponry that can be used to finish off enemy vessels. With a single battery weapon mounting on either flank, a dorsal and keel weapon and a prow-slot the ship can bring to bear an array of weaponry in almost any direction, giving it flexibility in it's method and direction of attacks.
The Void Crows have chosen to fit these slots to take advantage of this wide arc of coverage and number of slots with a number of standard weapons repurposed from older ships and stations that were cannibalised. Of note is both flank batteries, armed with a particularly powerful set of Stygies-pattern Macrocannons, which are quite formidable at defeating armour and void shields alike. For the dorsal and keel mounts Titanforge lances have been installed, relying on their solid build and the speed of the ship they can easily be brought to bear on weakened parts of an enemy ship, cutting into them where their defences are weakest. And finally the prow. In true astartes fashion no ship would be complete without the ability to launch torpedoes, an abundance of boarding torpedoes to be precise. Able to carry a significant store on board the 4 tubes of the Mars-pattern can launch any type of Imperial torpedoes to suit the situation, be that cutting into enemy armour or sending a boarding party of eager Crows to meet the enemy.

>>68473671
3/?
>Control Systems
While the ship itself is controlled through normal means, these being mind-linked crew attached to the ship through various stations and cabling links and tens of thousands of menials to deal with the inner guts of the ship, a special control system has been put in place that allows for an even deeper melding of man and machine.
The specialised command throne of most Dirk class vessels is fixed with multiple mind impulse unit likes, as well as focusing tines and psychoactive arrays to help reflect and boost the mind of it's captain's, those members of the Librarius.
While a strange undertaking for other chapters, the combat psykers of the Void Crows make special use of the embedded systems within the ship to augment both their own capabilities, but to support those marines deployed in nearby battle zones. With the far-reaching connection afforded by the psychic projectors they can both soothe and direct the minds of those marines in boarding actions or even on a planet's surface. While most marines do not need guidance the latent hunger dormant in their blood can overwhelm them, and be almost impossible to settle without the guiding hand of their brothers above. This is also used as a direct form of communication that bypasses electronic means, and can be used as an alternative in the event that an enemy is particularly adept with jamming technology.
Alternatively the psyker's powers can be focused outward to read the skeins of the warp, assisting in both navigation through it's many eddies and waves to guarantee safer travel. It can also help with astropathic messages, focusing and extending the range of communiques into the galaxy at large.

>>68473676
4/?
>Defensive Systems
The defining element of the ancient design, however, was it's ability to enhance the already considerable abilities of the Void Crows ships, namely, their Reflex Shields. An inheritance from their primogenitors, the reflex shields that were cannibalized and integrated into the STC's design could modulate the density of the fields in specific areas. This allows some areas of the shield to be weakened to allow weapons fire out, while maintaining a modicum of the ship's stealth and capabilities, making it harder to target it, even as they throw lance fire cut into their enemies.
While modulation of the shields is an arduous and complex task usually undertaken by senior Warbler and mortal personnel, it has proven immensely effective in allowing multiple, rapid strikes against enemies fleets, crippling command structures and leaving them nothing but listing wrecks in the void.
Like anything this does come at a price, and eventually the strain of modulating the shields can drain their energy to the point that they need to be recharged like most other void shields. The application of this technique is heavily featured in most Void Crow fleet actions and used to it's fullest effect to cut the head from the snake and leave the enemy fleet in such disarray that the mortals can easily mop them up.

>>68473694
5/5
>Technical Specifications
Hull: Stealth Cruiser
Ship Name: Dirk
Forge World of Origin: 'Last Whisper' station
Known Patterns: Dirk class
Crew: 94,000
Plasma Drive: Obsail-Infitsa VIII
Warp Drive: Korhala-Sigma PAttern
Shield: Reflex Shields
Auger Arrays: 'Solemn' Observation Auger System
Tonnage: 28 Megatonnes (approx)
Length: 6.2km
Width: 1.4km
Height: 0.9km
Acceleration: 4.1G Maximum Acceleration
Weapons:
Port Battery: Stygies-pattern Macrocannon Battery
-Armed with Penetrator rounds

Starboard Battery: Stygies-pattern Macrocannon Battery
-Armed with Penetrator rounds

Dorsal: Titanforge Lanc Weapon

Prow: Mars-pattern Torpedo Tubes
-Stores up to 32 separate torpedoes, plus 4 in the tubes

Keel: Tianforge Lance Weapon

caw

File: crow thumbs up.png (320 KB, 750x563)

320 KB PNG

>>68472538
Great work, love the atmosphere

>>68473710
>>68473694
>>68473676
>>68473671
>>68473655
Wow. I'm impressed

File: EclipseHangsOminouslyInSp(...).jpg (135 KB, 1152x832)

135 KB JPG

I imagne the Dirk looking like a smaller Eclipse SD

Bump in meantime.

So roughly how many Auxiliaries would you guess are devoted to maintaining the fleet while others focus on combat. Or do you imagine everybody is trained to be able to do nearly any job?

>>68479601
Auxy numbers are hard to define, purely on the basis of the sheer size of a single ship, let alone a whole combat fleet and it's supporting resupply fleet. If we're talking the entire support element (including scavengers, engineers, technicians, logisticians, breeding managers, etc) I'd say somewhere in the low millions. About 8-15 million as a rough geustimate.

>>68479982
Sounds like a good number

How many accompany the Murders when they deploy? Does it sepend upon projected risk/reward? Are they allotted a set amount?

>>68480119
Presumably the combat side of the auxiliaries with be a much smaller force compared to the support element, and as previously discussed when Crow officers are given missions away from the fleet they're given X amount of marine squads/specialists and X amount of auxy's to do the job, so overall they would need to be a fluid force much like the marines. To help this standardisation is a key factor to training. Either they need to be organised into all-rounder regiments (with anti-vehicle, artillery, armoured or infantry based organisations) Or specialised and need to be constantly doing training exercises with other specialist regimentss to make sure they can work effectively together. I'm personally leaning towards infantry/mechanised/armoured regiments with all-rounder support in the form of arty, AA and logistics to cover all the bases, but what do you guys think?

Again, rough guestimate of 3-6 million for the combat arm of the auxiliaries (Do we have a name for those?) that'd put their standing force at around 1,500 Regiments (at a rough size of 4000 men per regiment) And that's purely the combat forces, suppo

>>68480725
Not a bad amount given what we've bee nup to

>>68480119

I'd guess "As many as we need". This is a fundamentally pragmatic chapter. They're not going to set a strict limit or number of Auxiliaries.

I'd say they probably organize the bulk of their Auxiliaries into something like battalions 500 - 1000 people, each battalion being a self sufficient, with it's own commander and attached support, communication and supply elements. They then mix and match battalions based on the mission needs, and supply the overall command and control themselves.

They probably maintain some larger formations, on the theory that when it comes to the ability to conduct massive deployments, it's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it, but given how stealth focused they are I suspect they're not going to be rolling around with corps or army group level formations most of the time. The Soviets could manage to move that kind of formation without people noticing sometimes, but it's quite a trick to pull off.

>>68480884
>>68480725
Likely few armored vehicles out of flyers given they're a 'Smash and Grab' sort of force. Need to be quite mobile to get what they came for so big tanks aren't common outside of rare instances like a moon base can't be reached with flyers due to AAA and Marines not carrying the ordnance needed

>>68480961
What we have to remember is that the human force is both a diversionary tactic and a supporting element for the marines. Their inital use is to distract enemies and keep them bogged down, then, once the astartes have either finished their objective or join them in the battle, they are there to support astartes combat. To effectively do that having elements of tanks and mechanused elements would be prudent. I'm not saying making them almost entirely mechanised and armoured regiments, but a decent chunk rather than a sliver.

>>68481320
I imagne a couple converted Cobras to act as rapid troop/armor transports ont osome planets/moons. Small and light enough to get out of a grav well, armored enough, fast to get in and out and a decent carrying capacity alogn with a light AAA armament to deter anything trying to bomb the tanks.

>>68481354
That sounds about right.

Clump while I' At work

>>68470293

There's a Stanislaw Lem story called "Terminus" where a ships robot is trapped with dying crew as they tap to each other in morse code. The robot subsequently starts replaying their conversations as a kind of nervous tic, tapping them out. At one point the main character of the story is fascinated by this, listening to the conversations, and out of curiosity taps his own message. At which point the robot starts frantically tapping out "Who's there? Please! Help us!". Suggesting that it wasn't just a record, but somehow a model of their personalities that was causing the robot's tapping. It's a creepy as hell moment.

The idea of "Echo" made me think, what if that, a device that has built a model of dead people; except maneater who's constantly begging for help in the terrified voices of its victims because it has built up a pattern where these noises make its prey distracted and sometimes can make them go running to convenient ambush locations.

You can talk to this thing. It will talk back, in the voice of your friends and comrades. What you will hear is genuine fear from those it has stalked and killed. It will tell you things that only they could have known. It won't know, or care what it has told you. To it, this is all just an elaborate sort of comms jamming. A way to hack the control systems of its victims.

"Echos. That's all you're hearing. Echoes of the dead."

The other thought would be that the first sign that a departed has reached the man-eater stage is when it plays dead, or starts avoiding confrontation with the enemy. This may seem counter intuitive, but it's a sign that the man-eater is starting to pick out easy meals and has begun to be able to process further ahead. This is also where Man-eaters may slip out of the grasp of the chapter without being fully discovered. When a battle is in such dire straits in which the departed are employed, there is more than enough chaos for a man-eater to slip away and hide.

Back in an hour will start work on a 1d4chan page.

>>68487572
Leaving now.

>>68488213
Good speed my anon

File: 1aa1.jpg (21 KB, 268x268)

21 KB JPG

Would it be safe to say that the auxiliaries mimic the Void Crows to a lesser extent? Larger eyes and pale skin from lack of natural light and mainly dark ships for example. But stronger built and taller then average, possibly quicker reactions, from generations of eugenics. Perhaps some common mutation in the vocal cords or mouth from lack of use.

File: Void Crows Heraldry.png (66 KB, 416x483)

66 KB PNG

Any art anons in here that can do a more refined version of that heraldry anon from last thread gave us?

I did an intro for a short void-warfare story involving the Crows, if I get time tomorrow I'll try to work on it some more.
1/2

Garthan had always had a nose for trouble, and as he stared into the buzzing, blue lines of the hololith, he definitely couldn't help shake the feeling that something was off, the annoying part was, he couldn't do a damned thing about it.

Across from him the old man hacked and coughed, but had a grin stretching from ear to ear as he examined the display, probably busy tallying the haul in his head already, before lifting his head to scowl in the younger man's direction

>“This is a good omen, it'll at least pay for the months of scrounging we've had to endure thanks to your shoddy navigation. Swear if I didn't know better I'd say you were trying to starve us all.”

Keeping his head down he kept staring at the hololith, watching the train of cargo ships and their escorts list lazily through the void for some hint of danger he couldn't see.
As much as the old man had experience on his side he was too eager for his own good. He was the one that had wanted to come to this backwater sub-sector in search of these mysterious spoils he kept prattling on about. Garthan had been the one forced to plan out the foolish operation despite his grievances and for his efforts he had heard nothing but complaints at every turn. Chasing about for some vague 'golden payday' would get them nowhere but penniless or worse, dead, and he feared this would be the latter.

>“Considering we have the advantage of surprise I suggest we send out the escorts as decoys from further along the asteroid belt, that way when the defenders are drawn off we can hit them from the rear and crush them. Simple and clean.”

File: 1568865427088[1].png (407 KB, 1333x1000)

407 KB PNG

>>68489820
>>68436458
I quite liked the minimal birb drawanon did last thread. I think it'd be good for their shoulder badges, something like this maybe, simpler geometry so it's easier to paint on smaller surfaces.

>>68490719
2/2

As a gloved fist slammed into the table he stood a little straighter, the old man now staring back at him with a simmering rage before he began barking back at Garthan as if he had just offered to [fuck his wife/daughter/kill his pet]

>“You've done quite enough you fungus-brained buffoon! Would you have our fleet get picked apart as well and leave use ship-less as well as penniless? You're lucky I don't throw you into the void for the sheer incompetence you've displayed so far! Terra knows why I ever hired you as a first officer in the first place.”

Waving his arm at the surrounding stations, and the people quietly, manning them their Captain redirected his ire for a moment as he singled out the vox operator, the air thick with the smell of grease and sweat.

>“You! Send out a message to the other ships; tell them we're going to cut right through those unsuspecting fools and teach them a lesson about underestimating the void! We're going to drive a wedge right into their convoy and take those haulers as our payday, understood?”

The vox operator confirmed before relaying the message to the ships hidden in the asteroid belt. Turning back to Garthan, the old man's eyes still blazed as he continued to berate him.

>“And you aren't to utter another word until this is over. I don't want to hear any more bright ideas from that fungus-farm of a brain, or I'll be lookin' to promote someone to your suddenly vacant position. Got it?”

“Aye Cap'n” Garthan clipped as the old man limped back to his seat before slumping down into the throne, looking over the deck. Moving over to the edge of the command pulpit Garthan simply watched as their prey continued on through the void, unable to get the tinge of blood out of his nostrils.

File: Herald.png (35 KB, 750x750)

35 KB PNG

>>68490727
Oh, put the wrong thing.

>>68490729
> [fuck his wife/daughter/kill his pet]
Ah fuck, meant to decide on that before I posted, none of them seemed appropriate though, a little too on the nose. Any suggestions?

And if it wasn't clear, this intro is written from the point of view of the pirates that intend to try and raid a Void Crow supply fleet what they don't know is there's a little surprise escorting the convoy

File: 1aaa111.png (81 KB, 1384x542)

81 KB PNG

I'm having to fill in some parts like making the Warblers also the historians of the chapter. Everybody good with this so far?

Will wait till we get a refined heraldry to add it to the infobox.

>>68491031
Considering our apothecaries have a dual purpose of also being the 'sort of' chaplains, throwing the historian elements in with the warbler seems a little forced IMO, if we're going to have a historian I'd either say make them a subset of the Librarius or make 'historical knowledge' more of a 'stories told around a campfire' kind of oral history (ironic considering the circumstances) but the act of passing down general chapter history should be part of the social structure of the marines lives. New inductees being told stories by elders of the chapter who learned it from their elders etc, this sort of ceremony could become a 'anniversary' or 'festival day' of sorts where great deeds and historical events are passed down, but since they're marines make it celebrated every decade or so.

>>68491109
>>68491031
I kind of like the Warbler one more. The Corpsewalkers and Librarius already have their plates full. The Warblers can literally almost never forget details and could even act as story tellers since they wouldn't have to spend hours trying to retell the Chapters history through sign language and could even use their voice manipulation to create sound effects and voices for characters.

>>68491143
With the Librarians and Corpsewalkers also having more active combat duties to attend to, piloting and medic/stop everyone from losing it. While the warblers have a more supportive role that requires less of them on the field, leaving them more time at home to spread the history.

It could even be seen as a three way passing of the duties of the chaplains.

Corpsewalkers take their duty of mental health and absorb the remainders.
Librarians take their duty of weeding out possible corruption chaos or otherwise.
Warblers take their duty of record and historical keeping.

bump

Guess everyone asleep.

What else do we have room to fluff out? Have we done much on the auxiliaries yet?

>>68493342
I'm pretty sure we still got some Flock captains left to fluff out along with leader of the Corpswalkers, Warblers, and Librarians.

>>68486722
> "You can talk to this thing. It will talk back, in the voice of your friends and comrades. What you will hear is genuine fear from those it has stalked and killed. It will tell you things that only they could have known. It won't know, or care what it has told you. To it, this is all just an elaborate sort of comms jamming. A way to hack the control systems of its victims. "

Yes, It was exactly one of the behaviors I was thinking about; "Echo" was infamous precisely by doing this kind of stuff, and starting to model the behavior and deployment of the void crows to better obtain "easy meals".
It does not understand conversation, or be self-aware, but it has picked up that certain patterns of noises cause a desirable response on its victims.

Emergency bump

>>68494545

It's a good idea. I also think that the Void Crows should sometimes not be aware of the Man-Eaters, because when they're deployed, the first thing they do is get away from the chapter on the "Okay, Void Crows = hard to kill, everything else easier to kill, go away from Void Crow". So unless the Void Crows twig to the fact that one of the departed has become a man-eater very early the man eater has a good chance of getting away.

Could lead to the idea that the Void Crows deploy these things deliberately as terror weapons. Or rumours that they're making pacts with daemons to create them. The rumors are so distorted and the Man Eaters so rare that the Void Crows don't actually understand how many of them have slipped out of the Void Crow's grasp and gone to ground in hives or on various planets. Of course if someone ever happens to take one of these things alive, and get it to a Magos Biologis, the idea that the Void Crows can create these things is likely to create a great deal of problems for the chapter.

>>68446552
Who do they usually fight?

>>68498024
Orks infest the sector and the descendent of an Iquisitor has a hard on for them.

I wonder how anon is doing with the 1d4chan article, if you need help just shout out!

>>68498365
I got home from an 2-10 shift yesterday. I posted the screenshot at 3am and am working 9-5 shift today. So now I'm at work, all I ask is when it's finished anons ask for a change in the thread so I can edit it and that way people aren't fighting back and forth.

>>68500673
Easy done mate, if there's any big conflict of ideas we can roll or strawpoll it after all

Grab-bag-
-Woodwinds are a popular instrument among the chapter and auxiliaries (though only inside their own vessels or bases).
-Void Crows on recon of a potential recruiting world have been known to use their small size to let them 'borrow' local vehicles.
-Crows' small size is used often to give the just that little edge when hiding, especially when fighting (chaos) marines, who have solid ideas of how big a marine should be.
-Through their contacts, the chapter maintains correspondence with the Custodes (basically anonymously), the other body in the Imperium that comes closest to the Crow's version of The Imperial Truth. Custodes' study of the words of the Emperor means they were very interested in the Crows' findings, which included other things than just his almost-finished missive decrying divinity, and a philosophical debate with general range and a specific focus on the Emperor and Imperial Truth has gone on. This is a prime source of support for the chapter, as their benefactor uses the inroads the Crows have made among the Custodes to support his eminence and then shelter the Crows. Some Crows resent that he should benefit materially from a philosophical debate he is not participating in (especially the actual philosophers involved), but the chapter's general pragmatic nature says to go with it.
-A faction of the Crows understands that all the things they do are pragmatically inspired, but still turns to Guilliman's Codex for reference, adopting its precepts wherever not contradicted by their own chapter's. Their reasoning is that the codex is a tried and proven method set, generally.

File: MAN-EATER INFESTATION.gif (700 KB, 350x184)

700 KB GIF

>>68486722
>>68497365
I like a lot these views; In fact, when I first wrote about man-eaters, my ideas were very similar, with many man-eaters slipping away at the first chance they get. If something distinguishes the Man-eaters from their departed kin, is how duplicitous they are.

In the worst cases, a Man-Eater will slip away and reach the darkholds of the fleet vessels. In the dark, cramped recesses of the disafected cargobays and structural bracings of imperial vessels, the Man-Eater will thrive, cautiously hunting ratings and auxiliaries that stray too far. And even fumigation and poisoning of the entire darkholds is unlikely to kill a being that has sus-an membrane and oolytic kidney implants...
If the Man-Eater gets to greedy for the deaths to be explained away as desertion or accident, it will likely get caught and killed by the crows sooner or later. But this has the disadvantage to select the smartest ones. After several hunts and fumigation attempts, the surviving Man-Eater will get an uncanny knack to know how many predations it can get away without attracting attention to itself.
Those smarter ones possibly are the reason by which some of the vessels of the fleet are rumored to be "cursed", why the "Carrion Lord" cruiser is widely held as "unlucky" amongst ratings and auxiliaries amongst the fleet, and why so many warding superstitions and bone charms wrought in the imagery of the void crows still circulate amongst ratings, which give those trinkets supernatural warding powers against "the curse of the darkholds".
Some corpsewalkers theorize that those repeat patterns and imprints used in the hypnoindoctrination protocols branded upon the departed, explaining some of the "miraculous" properties of those trinkets.

The worst known case of man-Eater infestation is the void crow cruiser known as the "Carrion Lord". It is not a ship, but a title gifted to the particular vessel the Man-Eater known as "Echo" has chosen to haunt.

>>68498365
>>68500673
>>68500817
Dear Anons, I intended to make some posts continuing on the topic of Man-Eaters, since the series of Posts I tried in:
>>68455437
>>68468138
>>68467468
>>68467999
>>68468334
>>68468664
Seem to be well-enough liked to warrant developing some concepts and ideas, but I have work-related stuff on my hands. Could it wait an extra 24-48H before posting, or is the thread likely to fall away before that?

>>68501019
The thread is likely to survive until then. I myself am writing something for the departed and a man-eater mini story that may be disregarded by anons, cause after all man-eaters don't exist.

Bumping to keep the thread alive for the writefags.

Work kicked my ass, I picked up some new Primaris, I'm going to call it a night. Stay comfy anons.

My muse has been a fickle bitch but I'm going to force out some more writing, wish me luck

>>68504892
Godspeed.

Night anons, looking forward to what the writefags make, and out of curiosity how many Eurobros we got here?

File: 1aa1.jpg (68 KB, 680x454)

68 KB JPG

Post more memes.

File: Hood.png (66 KB, 750x750)

66 KB PNG

So the Librarians are psychic pilots and watchers for corruption amongst the Crows, alongside their more typical librarian duties. But if we're calling them Seekers, then that implies that they also seek things, right? I'd imagine if that's the case, then the subset of Librarians who are more suited towards that role would be one of the few assets to split off on their own, with a small entourage of course, and track down the more esoteric objects of interest with their psychic gifts. Most notably the Emperor's words, but perhaps other relics, or hidden people notably aligned or opposed to the Crows' goals.

If that's so, what's something the Seekers could still be seeking once they've found the Scroll of Truth?

>>68507255
Well it's possible that in finding the Imperial Truth, the Crows found other documents which hinted at the existence of a personal library filled with knowledge from before the Age of Strife, perhaps a series of journals written by the Emperor over the course of his long life, maybe even the Emperors own genetic research, like how he made the primarchs. By no means am I saying they should be anywhere near finding this, but that sounds like something worth looking for.

bump

Should it be the chapter's 'end goal' dream to return to terra and be aknowledged for their work? At least by the high lord(s) that won't try to kill them for knowing about the Imperial truth? Because as far as we know the only place where the Emps genetic secrets are were the himalayan mountain complex and what they brought back with them the khaivhar.

bump

>>68510820
Well if they have any idea what's going on, they could be trying to reach Guilliman. He's probably the most likely to accept them if they show up with the Imperial Truth.

Bumping

>>68505933
I am spaniard, so that´s an "Eurobro" for your census :-)

>>68504892
Godspeed indeed

>>68505933
scotland reporting in

>>68489576
Still would like an answer on this.

>>68507229
Top kek.

>>68518858
I mean, it's entirely feasible that generations of eugenics could result in physical superiority, so you're on the money there.

So, here's a thought. We went rogue on the orders of a High Lord, but which one? Who has the balls to move against the Ecclisiarchy like this?

File: 1550420726486.jpg (254 KB, 1080x1350)

254 KB JPG

>>68521950
I see there being 9 (10) members of the HLoT:
>Ecclesiarch
>Fabricator-General of Mars
>Grand Provost Marshal
>Inquisitorial Representative
>Grand Master of Assassins
>Master of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica
>Master of the Administratum
>Master of the Astronomican
>Paternoval Envoy
And finally:
>Captain-General of the Adeptus Custodes
The rest listed o n1d4chan are subordinate so let's play with the big boys. I feel it's be the Captain General of the Custards who gave us our mission

File: 1510270323437.jpg (916 KB, 2424x1966)

916 KB JPG

>>68522085
>The rest listed on 1d4chan are subordinate so let's play with the big boys. I feel it'd be the Captain General of the Custards who gave us our mission
I mean, think of it. Who else would know the location of the Cache other than say Heresy Era RG or the Emperor Himself? But the real question is: Why? What does the CG gain from this? Is it to help Roboute out in rebuilding the Imperium? Does he just want to protect the Imperium from such damning/enlightening revelations? I s he just a troll?

>>68522233
What's the state of Valdor in the 41st millenium? Because as far as I know, he's still missing, and if he's still missing there might be a chance that he's out 'in field liason' back to terra.

>>68522298
No info unfortunately. But he could come back with how things are shaping up currently.

I imagine how the Crows were recruited wa during a meeting between all the Captains (7 or so) and CM were chatting in a sealed chamber in the deepest part of their flagship discussing Chapter things.

Out of nowhere scaring the shit out of a couple of the Captains is a Csutodes who says the CM and and a handful of his Honor Guard/A Captain in tow are to come to a rendezvous point in X days in Sector Y on the dot or consequences will happen. He then disappears leaving them all dazed and confused.

So they do it, the CM is transported all the way ot Holy Terra (Holy Fuck) and is in the Palace to meet the CG and gets the mission. Then the mission starts and we all know what happens

>>68522298
Probably not him, likely lower down.

>>68522939
Yeah, it'd be one of the sneakier Custards

File: 1641189b6247598949678928a(...).jpg (451 KB, 1345x1055)

451 KB JPG

>tfw I already have to go back to make a major change to the page.

>>68524057
*Just woke up from the desk* There's a page?

>>68510820

I feel like they should be looking for something undeniable. Some undeniable word, some apocalyptic, in both the sense of a revelation of previously concealed and ending the world message that would not, could not be denied. (This is where the Word Bearer influence is seen, they have an idea that there is a truth, and they will march to hell itself to get it. Or slip into hell undetected and start shanking demons as the case may be).

I like the idea from the previous threads that when the eye of terror opened they were on the wrong side and just went "Fuck. Need to get to Terra", and are currently trying to figure out that particular trick.

Also wanted to run a thought by everyone. The Warblers; I have an idea that they take the Man-Eaters much more seriously than the rest of the chapter. Partly because of their susceptibility to the hunger, partly because they've run across traces of Echo and have an idea of what they are.

I have an idea for a story with Termen intercepting some Apothecaries preparing to strap down a warbler who came back from a battle looking like he was going down the road irreversibly, and talking the warbler through it.

The thing is he would be talking the marine through it. Telling him to scream if he had to, but to listen to his own heart, his own breath, his own voice, even the babble of voices in his head. "For as long as you are listening there is a you to listen. Hold onto that. Hold onto your self and follow the noise. The noise will fade. You will remain. What is to be feared now is not noise but silence. The silence that dissolves the self. You will be tempted to flee to the silence. You will be fleeing into death."

To the apothecaries this is, if they had such a word, borderline heresy. It would lead to a rather heated signed conversation after the warbler is taken away and locked in a cell in the warbler's workshops. Termen would defend his methods by saying "They are our methods, I do not expect you to use them"

>>68525087

It would be pointed out that he was carrying a bolt pistol with him when he went into meet the warbler, and how insane that was.

Termen would drop the mag and clear the chamber, showing that there was exactly one round loaded. "They are our methods, I do not expect you to use them".

This would be a recent practice; the warblers have an agreement to kill each other rather than join the ranks of the departed. Partly because they're the tech-nerds of the chapter, and loosing that distinguishing intelligence and skill terrifies them. Partly because they have an idea of what is possible, and that's much worse.

Just some thoughts that occured through the day. I'd be interested on other's thoughts.

How do y'all think they found the Voidspire? Big station that makes their stealth ships, I assume you can move it like the Rock and acts as their HQ. Were they on their last leg?

>>68526094
I personally would say that they found the Voidspire in the same place they found the Imperial Truth. Towards the end of their hunt they were weakened and tired, on the verge of collapse. Then they find the Truth and a new purpose.
Come to think of it, did we ever go over just how they found the Imperial Truth beyond noting that they were racing against a bunch of Word Bearers who wanted to destroy it? I can't imagine it as the kind of thing you just leave out in the open.

>>68526257
Maybe it was stored at the heart of the Void Spire. The written and signed documents with far more comprehensive versions stored on the station. Massive loses came from a mix of system Orks, then an assault on the Void Spire's automated defenses while fighting WBs. and finally ultra religious inquisitor.

>>68526447
I have been headcanoning that refugees found the station(s) the tech was held on, and were holding out there, probably just on the doorstep, as it were, and it took the Crows to venture into the depths.

>>68525087
>>68525123
As the guy who started writing about Man-Eaters, I fricking love everything you wrote. It´s like you had a direct line to my head!
Godspeed you glorious writer.

>>68506994
>>68507229
Love those two, altough levitating black guy making an slenderman impression now occupies a special place in my hearth :-)

don't die

>>68527157
I like that, neatly ties together how they established their fleet.
Here's a thought that just occurred to me, isn't Lorgar out of his isolation and leading the Word Bearers now? What does he think of Astartes following the Imperial Truth after all this time, and Corax's sons to boot? I predict that Corax is laughing his emo ass off.

Bump

>>68528967
I wonder what extent it's automated to.

File: Bitch wtf.png (95 KB, 1377x531)

95 KB PNG

How do you guys want to do the finding/taking of the Void Spire.

Live damn you, live!

Can anyone link the 1d4chan page, I can't find it.

>>68533046
See >>68535647
it's being worked on but won't probably be up till after the thread at this rate.

>>68536690
They took it with heavy loses from the WB or something

>>68536690
Enslaved pirates for serfs too until they found the truth.

What do people think of >>68522233
>>68522381?

>>68539216
It's pretty good, it explains the who but leaves enough of the why to mystery to keep people guessing. Why did the Custodes dispatch the Crows to find the Truth? If they knew of it, why wait until now?

>>68540758
Good questions

>>68540781
*Maybe they forgot/suddenly remembered/the backlog finally got through to the CG?

>>68539216
>>68539216
I'm personally against using such a big name character that'll likely return. Sreams Mary Sues.

>>68541048
>>68540794
>>68540758
>>68540781
Well it's been noted among the latest novels that the Custodes supposedly have an extensive network of their own spies littered accross the galaxy (be they actual custodes handlers in disguise or human agents) while I'm not sure how new the whole network is it could be a point of contact with the Imperium at large. It doesn't need to be a custodes after all, it could be a human 'benefactor' that acts in his place as some sort of local planetary noble/governor. And only during dire times does the 'shadow behind the shadow' (read: a custodes handler) meet with chapter officials to redirect their fleet and goals.

The human noble/governor would also provide a good source of materials for the chapter too, perhaps he's in charge of a shipping sector that 'loses shipments to pirates all the time' in his official reports, when in reality, the (trustworthy/controlled) ships and crew are leaving the resource at a designated point to be picked up by the chapter later on.

Bump

>>68541185
Maybe since their conversion the Custodes have been keeping the Void Crows here in the sector as reclamation force to weaken or prepare it for reintroduction into the Imperium.

>>68544198
Then why all the cloak and dagger?
Is the Emperor at all capable of communication? Could it be that he said "fuck it, grab my book"?

I want the custodes to be involved, because imperial truth, but I don't want them to be too involved, because I feel like it breaks the narrative; with patronage like that, why couldn't the crows just leave the sector when the found the documents? Any one of the custodes could simply order their passage allowed. I mean, that not being the case might be possible, but if so, why? Their needs to be some kind of disconnect between the crows' situation and the favor the custodes can or will extend.

>>68546143

The Custodes became aware of moves by the Ecclesiarchy to deepen their influence over Holy Terra. For them the church it makes sense, the entire planet is sacred, we run sacred things, ergo...

The Custodes wanted the documents as a leverage point, but could not be seen to need them, nor would they do the equivalent of launching a nuke in a border skirmish that having them retrieved by anyone who could not be discrete.

The Void Crows were cursed founding. From the Custodes perspective, they're ideal. Cursed founding chapters are viewed with some significant suspicion in the Imperium. So if the Custodes need to burn them for some reason, there's little to be lost. Also, they're not going to be believed if they start shouting this from the rooftops.

As for why the Void Crows didn't leave, they might not have been told what the docs contained. The Custodes weren't counting on word bearer corruption causing the Chapter to go a little nutty for the Imperial Truth, and the Chapter figured that while the Custodes had influence, they were fighting the Inquisition, so openly going back would be dicey at best.

The Custodes, being the Custodes, shrugged and realized that having a chapter of crazed astartes out on the fringes protecting the info was an acceptable outcome, given that they could suggest that they might be retrieved to safeguard the discoveries and keep them from falling into the wrong hands. They still have their nuke, they still have plausible deniability, and they don't really see any need to bring them back.

>>68547327
Imagine their faces when the Crows show up on Terra and start throwing copies of the Truth at everyone, because there is no way you can convince me that they wouldn't land on Terra and start torching temples and copies of the Lectitio Divinatus.

>>68548369

I think they're pragmatic enough not just attack Terra. But they probably have about a third of their chapter confined to quarters to make sure no "accidents" happen.

Bump

>>68548761
Mostly Corpsewalkers I'd imagine.

>>68547327
>>68547327
Ok, I like this, thank you. We should mix in some non-custodes high-ups so that we can bring in self-interest by highly placed people into the narrative. Maybe someone high up in the Munitorum, who had to help supply the move. As well as whoever the Custodes were using as go-betweens, and the people who had to be bribed/threatened/appealed to to make that possible, and you are approaching government conspiracy level.

Which would have been lost in the noise in the snakepit that is Terra, so it wouldn't make any big waves, but was enough to clue in an inquisitor. Who probably didn't make a big deal out of it because that's not so big a thing at that level, but would have put it on the back burner. And his successor, and his, kept an eye on it- and then rumor of the Crows began talking about full-on heresy.

Your thoughts?

File: OP his thread.jpg (60 KB, 317x466)

60 KB JPG

I wonder if Man-Eater anon or Writefag finished their stories?

>>68554751
I got a Man-eater story to post when I get home.

>>68555884
On my way and got to do some editing.

Where the fuck did yall go?

>>68559844
I'm off the next two days but busy with personal stuff so no posting. That and I've lost interest.

>>68559867
>That and I've lost interest.
Oof

>>68559928
>>68559928
I've just been very busy, and unless these threads keep up wacky/inasane like the Clavessa threads (bless those threads) I can't keep attention.

>>68560005
Same. Work and classes have my plate full. We came up with a lot of good stuff. I'm fine with leaving things off here. And any writefag stories that don't have the time to be posted here can always be added to the chan.

It's not an energetic place to end off, but it is a good one.

Bump

I feel like we did not definitively lay out the sequence of events- nor like we addressed practically or narratively the Crows' strength deficiencies agains other marines.

not yet