Imperium Asunder

Black Crusade edition

This is a 40k alt-lore thread, new posters are welcome
1d4chan.org/wiki/Imperium_Asunder

Post your writefaggotry and argue about how cool it is.

Drawfags welcome.

Old thread

The wind whipped through Ionnas Komnene's hair. He wore no helmet, and the furry, matted curls of his hair roared about his head like the mane of a lion. His armor was halved blue and white. On his shoulder was an Gryphon sigil, gilded and decorated with precious gems. The other shoulder was bare of ornamentation, but bore the purple hue which only a Captain was permitted to wear. He sat in the command seat of a Storm pattern Land Speeder, a three-man gravship painted the same bright blue as Ionnas' armor. To Ionnas' left and right were his Excubitores, Symean and Zynobius, loyal officers who had served on the same speeder with him for decades. Flanking the ship in a flying v pattern were twelve riders. They rode warbikes with treads capable of crushing stones, and the far bikes on each flank had sidecars with mounted melta turrets. On the control array in front of Ionnas, an auspex showed Alpha squadron twelve kilometres to the west, and Gamma squad twelve kilometres to the east. No other signals appeared, the three dots sitting quietly on the dark plane of the auspex.

The world around Ionnas was flat and barren. White silicate sand covered this planet end to end, with only the occasional wadi or oasis offering haven for Imperial colonists. Ionnas' squadron, Beta squadron, sped through the night at high speed. They were, after all, on the hunt. Six ships had broken through the blockade and entered this system, called Kythera. Six enemy vessels, carrying unknown passengers or cargo, had made their way from xenos space into this system. This system, which had been officially bestowed upon the Gryphon Wing chapter by the White Angel himself. That insult could not be allowed. Ionnas' lord had tracked at least two of the ships to Kythera 2, and had dispatched three squadrons to investigate.

"Sir," said Zynobius, "We are approaching Camp 15. No signs of xenos landing zones. Should we proceed through to Camp 16?" Ionnas pondered for a moment, then replied, "No, Brother sargeant, I think not. Bring us into the camp." The squadron rolled into the low canyon of Camp 15, one of the few successful settlements on the surface of Kythera II. Camp 15's buildings were dug into the canyon walls of a deep gully, living off seasonal flooding to feed their sparse crops. Those same crops were churned under the treads of Ionnas' squadron as they came to a stop in the center of the camp. Symean brought the speeder to full-stop, settling it into the dust. As it touched down, Ionnas and Zynobius dismounted, making their way toward the houses.

An Old Crone of a woman sat on the stoop of her sandstone hovel in front of the squadron. Where all the other colonists had hustled into their homes at the roaring of the bikes' engines, this woman stood resolute. Ionnas approached her, his shadow blocking out the sun. "Where are the ships, Matron?" said Ionnas, his voice silver smooth, "What have your people seen?" The Crone did not look up upon the Astartes' face, only sput out her chew and muttered, "You been ridin' the desert fer hours, yeh?" It took a moment for Ionnas to understand her accent, and he replied, "Nine hours, since we left Camp 14. What of it, crone?" The crone continued, "Seen the ripplins' on the horizon? Reflectin nothin at nothin?" Ionnas eyed the woman keenly, unsure at her point, "You mean Mirages? A world as flat as this with an albedo so high should cause many of them, I presume. What is your point, madame?" The woman finally turned her head upward, making eye contact with the Astartes, "'It 'taint Mirages, m'lord. Them's shadow-shields, twisting of the light, yes, but twisted by hands, not by nature, no, not by nature at all..." Ionnas' eyes widened as he began to understand. "Mount up!" he cried, hustling back to his command seat.

Beta Squadron sped through the waning daylight. Ionnas kept his eyes on the horizon, scanning for any signs of disturbance. His eyes found what they were looking for, a glimmering shadow easily mistaken for a natural mirage. He diverted the squadron to a circular route around the target. Ionnas spoke into the vox transmitter on his armored gorget, "Orbital command code Epsilon Pi, subcode Beta, request drop." The vox crackled for a moment before responding in the robotic voice of a servitor helot, "Drop request confirmed, beta squadron. Report coordinates and await confirmation." Ionnas nodded to Symean, who calculated and transmitted drop vectors to the orbital command vessel in orbit. It was not long before they could hear the whistling cry and golden streaks of fire which foretold a Drop Pod attack. As the drop pods descended from the sky, Ionnas sped his squadron into tubrodrive, turning directly toward the target. Facing the objective, and getting closer, Ionnas could see the foe more clearly. Behind the shimmering shield was a rock-crete domed building. Surrounding that building were five towers with some sort of mounted gun platforms. Ionnas' heart beat loudly in his chest, and with each beat his landspeeder accelerated. "FOR THE GOD EMPEROR!" shouted Ionnas in a resonating harp-like voice, "MAY HIS ANGELS KNOW NO FEAR!" replied his men in unison.

The Drop pods crashed to the ground ahead of Beta Squadron. The pods' angular structure was decorated with golden arches, and their surfaces painted with images of the Emperor's many Saints. The Paintings drew back with the doors, and from the pods spewed a cohort of the Gryphon Wing's comitatenses. The soldiers fired upon an enemy Ionnas could not yet see. The towers opened fire upon Ionnas' brothers, spewing icy-hot plasma down at them. Ionnas gave the order, and the multi-meltas of Beta Squadron opened fire. Super-heated beams of bore holes through the robotic turrets. As the dust of the drop pods' landing cleared, Ionnas could finally see the foe. Ionnas had just enough time to say "That cannot be!" before his squadron crashed into the enemy.

Their armor was the same pale white of the sandy desert around them. Their design patterns were altered significantly, more angular and with increased mechanosupport, but Ionnas recognized them all the same: Astartes. Four of Ionnas' squadron crashed into the enemy, their bikes knocking down the mecha-paladins just long enough for their riders to recover. Sidearms and Power Swords drawn, the dismounted Gryphons engaged the enemy with their comitatenses brothers. The remainder of Ionnas' squad rode through the town, strafing what enemies they could with their bolters and melta guns. Ionnas' speeder itself unloaded its heavy bolter sponsons, pockmarking the armor of the Paladins with thousands of impact craters. The Paladins opened fire with their own xeno-enhanced fusion cannons, burning any of the encircling marines who got too close. From within the domed structure came reinforcements for the enemy: Tau fire warriors. Ionnas pulled his squadron around for another strafing run. Turning to his Excubitores, Ionnas spoke, "Brothers, I mean to dismount and face the enemy. Fight well from the skies!" In a hailfire of bullets and plasma, Ionnas leapt from the landspeeder as it zoomed by. He drew his blade, as he fell, he plunged it into one of the paladins. "Traitors!" Ionnas boomed, "You dare turn against the Imperium of Man? I will have your head for this!" The largest paladin turned to face Ionnas. Its blocky shoulderpads were painted with grey sigils, visible only up close. Ionnas' eyes widened as he took in the sigils. "The Inquisition? You are Inquisitors? This is heresy!" He pulled his hand-flamer from its maglocked holster, and fired it at the ground before the paladins. The promethium burned the sand, turning it to glass.

The Paladins fired, and the Gryphons closed in from all sides. Bolter shells exploded among the fire warriors even as assault marines crashed in among them. The Paladins killed marines by the score with their fusion guns, but one by one the Multi-Meltas of Beta Squadron tore them apart. Ionnas struck one of the paladins with his sword, dousing him with promethium and kicking the armored form to the ground. As the paladin within cooked in his armor, Ionnas knelt down and examined its helmet. He pulled on a catch, and the armor plating opened to reveal the marine within. His nose was like that of a snake's, and his skin was as pale as his armor. The paladin hissed at Ionnas, "Your people have burned the stars for centuries!" Its voice was shrill and resonated with vibrato, "Not here, not anymore. This world is protected, and you shall spread your madness no further!" The mutated creature spat on Ionnas, uttering curses at him. Ionnas placed the head of his hand flamer into the Paladin's armor, and doused the fiend in the God Emperor's holy promethium.

more like Imperium ass-thunder amirite

This is meant to be going on on the edge of the Tau Empire, right?

I imagine Tau territory is basically 40K Afghanistan with the Angels pushing in while the Paladins prop up the Tau with logistical and industrial support.

Well i kind of wanted there to be a thing about the void dragon either dying or getting out of
mars in the battle

We doing the "C'tan are shards" thing?

The Dragon of Mars would probably be a particularly big, beyond-Transcendent shard in that case.

Its release would be an interesting predicament for the Necrons. I always feel like they have things too easy in standard canon, so giving them a seriously powerful nemesis like that is a good idea in my opinion.

It'd also be a cool little hiccup for Chaos forces trying to push through the Tempestus Gap. A fully mobile, free-willed C'tan shard of The Dragon's power would definitely not want Chaos supremacy, and could be a real thorn in their side.

Id love to have that be a part of this cannon, another fighter added to the mix you know. Part of that is the fight for mars during the herasy becomes a much bigger deal because of this
Also i think it would make the fists of mars a bit more interesting since it kind of screws with their whole omnissiah thing

What in this canon though can pose a threat to the void dragon? Its beyond everything except maybe the chaos gods themselves.

Well its awakening would coincide with the eye of terra opening so the idea that it gets smacked down pretty hard by chaos gods could totally work there

wouldnt they be pretty weakened by the fight with the Emp?

Im not talking about the chaos marines and such i mean when the portal to chaos opens up after the emp dies, all sorts of shit spews out of that rearing for a fight

Well, The Dragon of Mars wouldn't be the complete Void Dragon. It'd be an extremely powerful shard, more powerful than any we can field on the tabletop.

Some of the Daemon Primarchs could probably fight it and not be destroyed utterly. With sufficient plot on their side, great hero types might be able to too. Solitaires and the like.

maybe im off the mark, but I understood it to be mighty powerful as says.

I don't know what the warp is spitting out that can slow it down noticibly.

And onces its free, whats to stop it attempting to reform - and if nothing can stop it - how does the universe handling it max power?

I'm just trying to think up interesting angles on the situation. Personally i would suggest it's pretty boring if nothing happens with the void dragon after mars gets wrecked by chaos. I dont think it would be unreasonable to suggest that crazy shit that happens when the emperor dies would in some way weaken the power of the void dragon and i also think that having a hugely powerful end of the universe threat isn't really out of the ballpark for 40k so long as we find a reason for it to be slow about the whole thing.

The Dragon could simply be taking a good amount of time in getting its hundreds of others shards. They're split between a whole bunch of Necron dynasties and heavily guarded. Just finding them would be hard, taking them would require resources and planning. Furthermore, as soon as the Necrons realize this massive shard is loose, they're going to be gunning for it. It may be able to destroy any individual Necron or war machine single-handedly, but I doubt it would want to fight one of the larger Dynasties by itself, let alone several of them.

It would probably have taken its time gathering underlings and maybe even allies. There are other, much smaller, rogue shards, mostly of the Nightbringer and the Deceiver. It would probably not want to alert the Dynasties to just how great a threat it is until it has to.

The Void Dragon is one of the smarter C'tan. It shouldn't just go on a rampage like the Nightbringer or the Outsider might.

An addition to this: It could be manipulating elements within the Forgespace to its end. Many of them believe the Emperor wasn't Omnissiah, and that the true saviour is yet to arrive?

Twisting the Mechanicum from within is The Void Dragon's whole thing in main canon fluff. The Dragon of Mars could have a web of corruption and conspiracy spanning Forgespace, perhaps resulting in greater Fists of Mars aggression against Necron holdings it suspects have its (or other) shards in their possession.

actually i really like that especially with the how Sinistrum becomes a brain in a box. Because of that the forge space is filled with red tape and politics with everyone bickering of what the right course of action is and who really has the highest authority.

Possible rough timelime:

1. The Siege Solar begins around Terra. Mechanicus warships, taken by surprise, are corralled into a defensive firefight around the Red Planet. In the chaos, the Emperor-class battleship is struck down, and experiences a total Warp Drive collapse as its fiery corpse crashes down on the surface of Mars. The explosion is great enough to shake the planet to its very core, and in the deepest and oldest of vaults, the engrammic wards holding the The Dragon of Mars flicker and fail. Lucid for the first time in millennia, the ancient C'tan shard reaches out with its mind, infesting the cranial cogitators and internal cybernetics of nearby techpriests. In the panic set off by the blast, commandeering the Ark Mechanicus Resonant Truth is easy, and the Dragon escapes into the dark of the void.

2. A significant portion of the original C'tan, the Dragon of Mars remembers much of what it once was, and that it is not whole. Directing the Resonant Truth far out into the galactic fringe, the star vampire begins plotting its return to wholeness, sifting through its disjointed, incomplete memories for any hint at where its lesser shards could be imprisoned.

3. Picking at the old stones of the outer fringe yields results of an unexpected kind. The Dragon discovers that its betrayers have entombed themselves in stasis, finding the holdings of a lesser Necron house. Forcing its will upon their systems, it jolts them awake, though not before altering their consciousness protocols to ensure loyalty. Now with the command of a Necron fleet, the Dragon continues to move through the shadows of the galaxy, watching the young races regroup and form their petty empires, searching for its missing self-shards. It manages to subvert several Necron tomb worlds, amassing a substantial fleet, and even frees several of its kin, but it has less luck with tracking down its own scattered elements.

4. The Dragon realizes that the expanse of stars is too vast for one soul, even one as vast as a C'tan, to search alone. Studying the civilizations of mankind, it finds ideal tools in the forms of the Forgespace and the Kor Protectorate. In its slumber, the Dragon engraved its image into Mechanicus culture, and the Protectorate is full of enterprising fools willing to barter with powers beyond their comprehension. Slowly, carefully, the Dragon insinuates itself into both realms, spreading its agents and agenda through their infrastructure.

I'll do more later.

b u m p

Are all the Americans asleep or something?

We're all at work right now. Even I am.

Bumperino

Cross country bus, actually.

Reading over Vraks for shits and giggles and it got me thinking about state organization.

I'm thinking that the Sky Serpents play an active role in administering their domains and the state cult is just that. Unaugmented humans can serve the state by passing civil service exams, the same ones that the astartes have to pass to be admins, it's just that in practice, Astartes live a lot longer and are much smarter than the average human.

The legion's Librarius corps is similar to the White Scars stormseers in function and general attitude, if not practice, and they're given advisory positions over the cult, but there is no ecclesiarchy in the Imperium's sense.
This, I'm thinking has a lot to do with the Xun's teachings and his 'Lecticio Divinitatus', which he'll have written in collaboration with Malcador.
I doubt it's used anywhere outside the Jade Empire, but I'm thinking of doing something akin to a Daoist/Buddhist/Shinto feel with some Mesoamerican bits, as part of a way of playing around with the setting, again, I'm seeing this legion as a way of really messing with the cultural formula of 40k.

I'll put up ideas in a few hours.

5. The Necron Dynasties begin to awaken across the galaxy. At first, the Dragon of Mars manages to avoid detection, using its influence within Forgespace and the Protectorate to fight proxy wars against the rising tide of old enemies, but soon the larger Dynasties begin to detect traces of its influence, finding more and more of their holdings gutted during their long slumber. The Dragon invents much of its resources in the development of several worlds in the Tempestus Segmentum into into forge worlds, setting up a seemingly benign Mechanicus cult that the Crusader States - particularly the Fists of Mars - would find worthy of protection, given their tactical position at the mouth of the Tempestus Gap. It keeps its enslaved Necron houses scattered throughout the galaxy, fighting and raiding from other Necrons when the opportunity arises, searching for any trace of their master's self-shards.

This sounds like a potential for Fists vs Scions warfare. Elements among the Scions become more and more interested in the Necrons, and the Scions do their best to root those heretics out. However, the Fists of Mars hear about this tech-heresy and the Void Dragon manipulates their leaders into aggression.

I can dig it.

>Tor Ironheads
Space-Prussians, ride cybernetic mounts.

>Vytorian High Guard
Patton IN SPACE, armored warfare

>Grogan Thunderheads
Space North to the Fire-Eaters' Space South, artillery specialists

>idk yet
Sisters of Battle, but Guard

Three more after I'm done with the Tor Ironheads.

>Vytorian High Guard

>Tor Ironheads

The terrible realm of the Hunting Grounds are the birthplace of many traitor regiments whose doctrines are forged by the Bloodhounds' bloodlust and love of fresh meat. The unfortunate denizens of the North are caught in an eternal hunt for prey and foes, the unending cycle of blooded seasons bringing new quarry. In such a violent realm there can only be the hunter and the hunted, the ruler and the servant. The nobility of the industrial world Tor take great joy in hunting, especially the most dangerous game of them all. When the Bloodhounds head south they are undoubtedly joined by the Tor Ironheads on their robotic mounts, whose scouts are ever vigiliant, ever watchful. Their high mounts stalk the battlefield, their lasguns aim far, their eyes see to the ends of the Earth. Then, once they have found their prey, the regiment gathers for the slaughter. They charge the enemy, overrun them with steel too tough for lasbolts, legs too swift for cannon fire. Once the prey is encircled and slaughtered the Ironheads take their trophies. They post the heads of the fallen on spikes, take the wargear as prizes. The hunt is complete when the bodies of the enemy are shredded by scavenging vermin and rotted by maggots and fungus.

These guys are next.

First of all, this is cool. I don't want to try and stifle what your doing at all.

The problem is though, that the Dragon is already immensely powerful, the Emperor himself barely able to defeat it.

Couple its immense strength with its intellect (as said before this guy is also crafty, doesnt need to straight up brawl)

Then throw in the fact it can corrupt & hijack machinery and this is a huge threat - and more so, its not any particular factions issue - so they are less likely to actively come after it, allowing it almost limitless freedom of action.

Then add in that is has
>several Necron tomb worlds, amassing a substantial fleet, and even frees several of its kin,

to make it work, but to make it fit I think we need to put some restraints on it.

part 1!

So lets look at the resources it has now.
(A) A substancial fleet, keep in mind that necron ships are RIDICULOUS in canon.

IRT Cairn-Class tomb-ships
>two warships proved to be nigh unstoppable opponents that annihilated everything in their path.

The only instances that caused these ships to disengage was assaults from the Minotaurs 1st Company in boarding actions, and even then they barely achieved that (at significant cost). OR when the High Marshal Helbrecht drove on into a Star.

And their cruisers are just as bad.
IRT Scythe class harvest ships
>A minor Imperial fleet of 6 Escort ships and 1 Light Cruiser were destroyed, with the only survivor being a single Cobra-class Destroyer.
By a single Scythe.

>at least twenty Scythe-class Harvest Ships...
>they destroyed many times their number in Imperial warships and had shattered the combat effectiveness of Battlefleet Orpheus by the time they disengaged.

(B) several of its Kin.
At this point, the space & ground forces it controls are unlike anything we have seen in canon under a single banner (except possibly the great crusade).

The problem as I see it, is that in traditional 40k canon, the balancing of necron fluff with their power levels is that the shards are broken apart, the worlds are largely sleeping, and even when they wake up they rarely unite.

This scenario has none of those. The Dragon is strong beyond anything in the material realm to start, is smart to boot (so incompetent leadership doesnt fit), is actively waking them up, and when it does so has them join it.

To reiterate, I like the idea and want

I agree. The Dragon is powerful enough that it creates narrative problems, so we have to be careful.

What if the Void Dragon is somehow 'injured' by the impact on Mars and its awakening? Maybe its mind is atrophied from millennia in a comatose state. It hides in the deep void, tentatively reaching out with subtly manipulations while it heals.

It can be another of the "the galaxy is doomed as soon as X gets its shit together" villains that make 40k so fun.

Does the Void Dragon have to stay on Mars? Would it be going too far to have it leave for a place less-surrounded by enemies?

We could put him on Tyche instead.

>The problem is though, that the Dragon is already immensely powerful, the Emperor himself barely able to defeat it.

I'm not sure that's actually canon anymore. Not since the shard retcon kicked in.

Eh, I'll come back to Vytoria tomorrow.

I think it definitely HAS to leave mars. It'd wake up and leave. The Warmaster wouldn't abide it living nearby, and visa versa.

Well let's think about what it does. It's smart, powerful, alien in the extreme. Keeping it chained up is somehow vital for humanity's ability to use technology.
When the thing was last running about, chaos wasn't yet a thing.
The Ctan could not directly influence the material universe in some way such that they required the necrons.
Warp-tech is some kind of a threat to them, suggested by the extreme antipathy that they have towards the warp and the fact that they continued the war on the Old Ones after securing the necron's souls.
The Ctan needed the necrons to make their bodies and these bodies can be destroyed.
If I recall correctly, they can also be trapped in complex dimensional prisons like tesseract vaults.
They can also interact with souls, IE, to eat them

So they're metaphysical in some way, but don't operate in quite the same way as the Warp, given that the Warp was really developed by the Old Ones, right?

So perhaps the Ctan would inevitably come into conflict with Chaos and an awakened Void Dragon would find that it had common cause with The Emperor. It's not like it would be loyal to the Necrons and if it had no body and nobody who knew how to make a necrodermis body for it, then, if it lost its body in escaping from Mars, then it would be SOL, since it would have to negotiate with the Necrons to build it a new body, which they'd be in no hurry to do.

In fact, it would probably be looking for someone who would do the legwork for it on how to make a new body, perhaps a legion with an interest in Necrons.

Of course, Ctan are cruel buggers, so it would be better for everyone if it never got that body, which the Emperor might well try to divinely signal, meaning that every so often someone would get a cryptic vision warning of danger from undying space.

10/10 posts

What if the Dragon lives in the firewall for a while? It schemes there, hunting warpsmithed chaos ships and quixotic crusaders until it learns where the Necrons are sleeping. It chooses a Tomb World which the Scions have unknowingly built a fortress monastery on.

It starts infiltrating data networks and finds connections into the Dreadnought Vaults. Any sufficiently cybernetic techmarines, all the servitors and mechanicus support staff, every security system gets infiltrated by the Dragon in the blink of an eye. Dreadnoughts and servitors and shit start mindlessly marching into the deep caverns of the planet, with biologicals asking them 'dude wtf u doin?' They march down further and open vaults which had never been opened before. Out march the Crons.

Dragonhacker taking control of large mechas and shit mite b cool.

This really makes me want to paint my necron battleforce, guys.

do it senpai

Maybe I'm mistaken, but wasn't there some sort of "ancient xeno presence" in the Istvaan system? And Cassian Dracos developed some sort of machine empathy. If it was some sort of necron artifact, then his abilities may be due to them, and we might see stuff like that showing up with the Undying.

>Maybe I'm mistaken, but wasn't there some sort of "ancient xeno presence" in the Istvaan system?
That would be the Warsingers who are pretty cool priestesses of slaanesh

I think there should be some sort of Necron artifact on one of the Vigil Worlds. Like the pillars of Cadia, in scope but different in purpose. What about some sort of Necrontyr forge, capable of crating new fleshmetal? The void Dragon and his necron slaves want it, the Fists of Mars want it, the Behemoth Guard and Iron Hearts want it, and the Undying Scions just want everyone to fuck off, including the heretic traitors in their own ranks who want it.

The conflict as a whole could be one of the numbered Crusades.

>The Ninth Crusade
With the emergence of the innumerable legions that make up the necron race, the Unyielding Vigil was torn in two. A sizeable faction of dreadnoughts and techmarines were corrupted into the service of the Void Dragon, one of the masters of the necrons which they had cast off long ago. Secretly supported by free necrons, great fleets from Forge Space brought their armaments to bear in scouring the Unyielding Vigil of these traitors. The untainted sons of Sarco Funerus, however, could not allow this transgression to go unpunished, and soon pushed back into the realms of the Fists of Mars.

M36 First Stirrings
Odd flesh metal ships are sighted with increasing frequency along the Firewall, particularly in the Undying Vigil. It is at first assumed to be the newest horror from the fever dreams of Gengrat Vannevar, but warp soundings taken from Jade Empire Astrologic Observatories show that these fleets are based in the Firewall, as often as not originating from Vigil Space.
On several occasions, traitor legion fleets are sighted engaging these flesh metal ships.


I'm thinking that the Jade Empire may blame the Undying Vigil and after some false flag nonsense, may get an invasion fleet together. Heck, the VoidDragon may even be sparking a civil war in the Vigil. Even as it departs, the Firewall blinks out along sections of the Undying Vigil border and heretics pour in, the Void Dragon hoping to use the confusion of the crusade to annex the fortress world.
Over the course of the war, the Void Dragon drags it into warp storms, but maybe a freak warp storm prevents the void dragon from achieving all its goals. It makes off with a bunch of necron shit, but the planet sinks into the warp? Or it gets exterminatused?

I really, really like this.

You may not have been here so I'll oat this again:

"Traitor!"

Rain fell like ice picks on Marius' ceramite form. Wind howled around him as lightning flashed nearby. If there was thunder, Marius did not hear it over what the words of the towering dreadnought before him.

"DO YOU NOT SEE, BROTHER?", Orpheus boomed, "THE DEAD ONES ARE OUR SALVATION!"

Orpheus' chassis was marred with filthy xenotech: obstructing the dark purple of their legion colors from view was a shiny black substance. Necrodermis, as the heretekal magos that Marius had purged called it.

"Xenos shall have no dominion over Mankind or its works," Marius replied, quoting one of the tenets that the Emperor had laid forth at the outset of the Great Crusade. One that he had oft repeated to himself during the past months. "They have naught to offer us but death and misery."

"THESE ALIENS ARE OLDER THAN MANKIND. OLDER EVEN THAN THE EMPEROR HIMSELF," came the retort. "HE HAD NO INKLING OF THE TECHNOLOGIES THAT THEY POSSESS. THEY CAN EVEN SAVE US FROM DEATH.”

“The path you go down can only lead to ruination!” Marius warned.

“THE IMMORTAL ONES SEEK TO EXTERMINATE THE CAPRICIOUS ELDAR. THEY CAN RESTORE TO LIFE THE INTERRED.”

“The sarcophagi grant us strength, brother. The Eldar can be beat back with the help of our ally states!”

“THEY CAN LIFT THE VILE WARP-CURSE THAT HOLDS OUR FATHER.”

It was then that Marius knew his brother was too far gone to see reason. There was only one way to cure him of his delusion.

Marius detonated the melta charges.

Post* fuck

Yeah this is metal as fuck

I'd also like to point out that Mandragora is in the no man's land west of Tau space.

Here's a map

I want in on this Necron action. Here goes another writefag attempt.


"Garvus, I'm well aware of the threat these 'Necrons' pose. We just don't have the resources to commit to a war with the entire race."

Garvus Draedell, Captain of the Errant Paladins and Champion of the Protectorate, stood before his Primarch hoping to gain his support in fighting against the Void Dragon's armies. It was going about as well as he expected.

"Besides, we have reports of some of these aliens interacting peacefully with our people! You would forsake their whole race based on the actions of so few?"

Looking up at his leader's throne, a wave of anger washed over Garvus. This is how it always was. Garvus would ask for more resources for his men, and Kor would deny it. Or worse, he would lecture Garvus. There was a reason Draedell had volunteered to lead the Errants, and during his meetings with Kor any doubts he had about doing so were discarded faster than a crashing Thunderhawk.

"What is it I always tell you, Captain?" As if he'd forget.

"Judge not the xeno for the actions of his brothers, but on his own."

"That's right! Yet every time you come to me, it seems you need to be reminded. Your time with the Errants has done you good, but I fear their more warlike traits may be affecting you negatively."

That might be true, but at least Garvus wasn't sitting idly by while his brothers fought for the fate of the galaxy! "My lord, I don't think you understand the gravity of-"

1/2

2/2

"I understand it perfectly, Captain. That is why you have my permission to take whatever resources you need from the Capital Vault to make a comprehensive threat-assesment of these Necrons."

Garvus was stunned. "My lord?"

"The armoury and treasury are open to you, Captain. Take what you need, and report back to me when you can give a proper report on their capacity for destruction."

Surprised, Garvus stood up and saluted his Primarch. Had Draedell misjudged his progenitor so much?

"I shall not let you down, my lord! When I return, you shall know just how dangerous these monsters are!"

The captain saluted once more, and moved to leave the throneroom. As he left, Kor said one final thing.

"If they are as dangerous as you say, you will not come back at all."

Of course. As it always was with the Primarch.
Hope this isn't terrible.

Just my 2c, but I think we are better off having it have escaped into the void - and then not touching it again in any significant way.

I'd suggest handling it in a sort of "evidence suggests... / Imperial scholars debate whether XYZ / unexplained events.

This way, we can keep it in the setting, we can even hint that it has occassionally taken a more active part in events, but we leave the rest blank - forever unexplained with any validity.

Such as:

++ Imperial Chronicler Johnathan Drake Personal Log ++

>Day 1054.
>My investigation into what has now become known as the Protius Conundrum has yet again ended abruptly. A paranoid man might even believe the universe plots against him. A lesser man maybe, not not I.

>Recent interviews with the Knight-Commander of Operating Base Omega III suggest that the Astartes believe the machinery of the planet was not controlled by some malicious spirit as the civilian population believes, instead a simple misfunctioning algorithm turned the servitors against the factory workers.

> Indeed, from what scarce findings there are infact to be found, the Machinist-Telepath i've brought with me can find no warp-affliction to credit this event to, suggesting it was not an attack by the Great Enemy.

> What question I truly seek to answer is the one no-one else seems interested in... Whatever the problem, whatever the cause, who was it that fixed it? how? why?

> For exactly 4 hours 13 minutes and 21 seconds - every machine, servitor, and system in an entire system went rogue, irreparable damage was done, thousands lost their lives, though only a handful of accounts suggest the rogue machines actively sought to cause harm - could such an event be random?

> I am to be urgently recalled to the Council to report on my findings, I will leave Jurgo here to finalise the last threads of investigation, some raving prophet of the minor cult "Mechanico Deus" claims to have visions from a metal dragon who can see through the eyes of machines - likely the ravings of a madman, but considering the lack of other sources, it must be looked at.

>"If they are as dangerous as you say, you will not come back at all."

I get what youre going for here, but something about this rubs me the wrong way.

because either he thinks the captain is dead wrong, and is wasting resources on a golden goose. OR he thinks the captain might have a point, and jokingly is like "u ded now, bye".

I think it might be improved by just changing it to.

>"If they are as dangerous as you believe Captain, you'd best hope you make it back at all."

I donno, maybe im over thinking it?

I think the Void Dragon's participation in stuff should be questionable. Maybe he's responsible for things, maybe he isn't, reports in the Ninth Crusade might be contradictory. Records might also be expunged by Inquisitors, Silent Sisters, Eyes of the Warmaster, and regular old rogue trader theives.

Administratum historians on the libroworlds of Imperium Minorum in M41 might debate the veracity of accounts of some 'malignant force' controlling the Necrons during the Ninth Crusade in M36.

This rubs me the right way.

In any case, I think IF the VD is growing in power, or accumulating resources or whatever..

AT BEST it should be hearsay.
At worst it should be contradicted a dozen ways from sunday.

IF the VD shows up in person, then the only reports are from the 1 or 2 lucky dudes to have survived the utter destruction of the continent/planet/system.

Thats the way I'd play it anyway, it is too big and powerful to legitimately introduce into the setting without either A: arbitrary parameters to stop its power, or B: having it just win.

So lets just have it be an enigma, something so unfathomably powerful, intelligent, and alien (in perspective) that we cannot grasp its intentions.

The only thing we do know is it doesnt like Chaos and Chaos doesnt like it.

Honestly, I wouldnt even have it manipulate the normal factions. Id have it be suggested by some abstract philosopher - that should such a being actually exist, it would be akin to a Lion taking an active roll in the management of an ant colony, whilst a buffalo is wandering around in its savanna.

>AT BEST it should be hearsay.
>At worst it should be contradicted a dozen ways from sunday.
I agree, partly because ambiguity is more interesting, and partly because the dragon really would leave little trace for imperial recordkeepers to figure things out.

Ooh that could tie into the ghost ship, daemon sword idea i had for the broken blades where they essentially suicide crusade at full pace into the segmentum solar because a tzeentch daemon operating under the guise of ghost klaus told them to.

Bump

I just had an idea, how many worlds worship the primarch whose territory they fall in instead of the emperor? There'd be cults of Alexios on pretty much every backwater world in Imperium Minorum.

I reckon there'd be straight up cults where these Primarchs are deities and in some cases have become conflated with the Emperor (after all, they basically WERE the emperors of their Crusader States while alive), then there'd be sects where they're treated more like saints or angels.

Or, in the Jade Empire's case, bodhisattvas.

I guess most of their stuff in Segmentums Solar, Obscurus and Pacificus would be gone?

Or maybe they'd be a serious thorn in the Dark Imperium's side that is preventing the full power of the Imperial war machine from descending upon Segmentum Tempestus? The blast of Warp-energies could have triggered an early awakening for Necron worlds in Chaos space. Or maybe The Dragon started awakening them for its army, and failsafes caused other Tomb Worlds to spark to life all across the Chaos-held regions of the galaxy?

They might need more stuff in Chaos space to be relevant, as the eastern side of the galactic map is pretty cramped in this continuity.

Gentle bump.

I actually quite like the idea of a big Necron presence in Pacificus.

There's ample room, and it would mean the Warmaster's forces have more fights going on than many of the Crusader States realize. They could be a real problem, what with all the warp-nullifying technology they have access to. If these are C'tan controlled Necrons then they'd be producing stuff like Pariahs too.

I think there should be some schism/differences among the Necrons.

The leaderless Mephrit and untrustworthy Nekthyst dynasties are awakened and secretly enslaved by the Void Dragon. They are woken up early, before the other necron tomb worlds awaken or are discovered by humans. These are the Necrons of the Ninth Crusade.

The Atun Dynasty wakes up at the same time, picking up shockwaves of the Void Dragons' control of their kin. These Necrons oppose the Void Dragon, not wanting to be controlled, and also wanting the Necrontyr Forge in the vigil worlds (which we should give a cool name) for themselves. This could be a Necron x Astartes enemy of my enemy team-up a la Blood Angels or it could be a third party who's both your ally and your enemy situation like Eldar in Dawn of War games.

Thokt and Sarnekh dynasties are awoken by chaos warpstorms during the heresy. Their primary goal is the destruction of chaos to put an end to the warp storms which are Anathema to necrons. These provide a second opponent to the Warmaster's forces, particularly the Behemoth Guard who claim Pacificus as theirs. Another enemy makes the stalemate between Chaos and Crusaders make more sense. They are mostly unaware of the Void Dragon's status because they're too embroiled in constant warfare to learn about current events.

The powerful Sautekh dynasty and the lesser Nihilakh, Charnovokh, Sekemtar, Dynavakh, and other dynasties of the east are more like vanilla OU necrons. They wake up later on in M40/M41, by that point only a vaguely remembered threat to the Crusaders. In the aftermath of the Twelfth Crusade, and with the additional arrival of the Tyranids, the Kor Protectorate and Imperium Minorum are both utterly crippled, standing on the precipice of obliteration when the 13th Crusade comes.

Speaking of pariahs, what would a chaos empire do with its blanks? They can't be sacrificed to the dark gods as they have no souls.
Oh shit what if the warmaster is able to use the ruinous powers to his own ends because he's a blank?

Blanks would make extremely good spies/assasins. Especially given the Warmaster's disposition and sneakyness, maybe he even keeps chaos versions of the Assasinorum?

Blanks are also extremely useful for the handling of daemons. Daemons don't attack them and can barely even see them or realize they exist, and Daemons aren't aggressive in general when in the presence of Pariahs. If you're running some sort of daemon pit where you sacrifice humans and turn them into daemons, a keeping a Pariah around to keep things 'safe' could be very useful.

Also Primarchs literally can't be blanks. They were created using the warp.

This is fundamentally what stopped me in the very first "create your own primarch" thread from making Raydon a blank.

I was tempted to anyway (not knowing what the thread would evolve into) but in the end, I just couldnt justify it, regardless of how awesome I thought it would be.

Thinking about putting some more work int the Warp Raiders. They've been untouched for too long.

How do you guys feel about them being secret semi-loyalists, a la Alpha Legion? Oramar discovers the nature of the Primordial Annihilator, but also the Anethama (the Emperor.) He's the type to use his enemy's weapons against them, as he does with the Eldar, so he uses sorcery against Chaos. He starts gazing into the Warp more and more, trying to learn the nature of Chaos so he can defeat it. He keeps this knowledge mostly secret, but he tells the Warmaster, Anshul, and Balthasar, all of which he mistakenly trusts. The Warmaster and Anshul's respective ambition and curiosity get the better of them, and Balthasar narcs in Oramar to daddy, triggering Nikaea.

They flee after Nikaea and start hiding across the galaxy, hiding in warp pockets and the webway. They establish contact with Eldar and the Cabal, and start doing their best to curtail the power of the Primordial Annihilator.

>working with Eldar
>trying to use chaos against chaos

these two are mutually exclusive to my mind, the Eldar (while yes use pskers) are too smart to align themselves with someone who is naive enough to think they can use sorcery to defeat chaos.

That could work. The other direction we could take them and I've been throwing out there is that Oramar gets in way over his head with Slaught-tech and chaos craziness and ends up feeling pretty vindictive towards everyone.

More like the Cabal than craftworld Eldar. Oramar is an "any means necessary" kind of guy, and seeks out others with like minds.

And I was thinking that Oramar shoes some of his stuff to Xun, given their similar interests. Xun considers telling the Emperor and confides in Raydon, but if it's Balthazar that narcs, that would work pretty well, as Oramar could blame Xun and Xun could blame Raydon, messing up loyalist cohesion pre-heresy.

I think it would make more sense if Oramar gets clued in by the Eldar, but takes it way too far and really goes off the deep end. I'm imagining him ending up as a well intentioned extremist, who ends up summoning daemons to fight chaos, like if Lorgar was a Malal fanboy.

I mentioned Balthasar because Spess Wolves. Xun being the one to trigger Nikaea makes some sense as well, though.

>I'm imagining him ending up as a well intentioned extremist, who ends up summoning daemons to fight chaos, like if Lorgar was a Malal fanboy.
Exactly what I'm picturing as well.

A rare pict-capture of the noble men of the Protectorate Marshals in action.

Saw this on reddit a whole ago and immediately thought of the protectorate

same

Wow, I love this pic-

Hate this picture, get rid of it!

You crazy son

>The Emperor tasks the Bloodhounds with the prosecution of the Warp Raiders after Nikaea
>"HUNT THEM DOWN, BALTHASAR!"
>years later
>Balthasar's expedition encounters the Interex
>Balthasar thinks Oramar is hiding on their worlds
>fuck diplomacy we hunt
>bigass purge of world eater proportions
>Discover the Anathame
>Warp rift opens
>Oramar says just as keikaku
>Slashes Balthasar with the Anathame
>metal as fuck warp dream
>Warmaster contacts Balthasar in the warp
>Join me and we'll kill stuff forever
>Balthasar says kool
>joins Chaos, embracing Khorne
>Grabs Anathame and breaks it into pieces
>gives the pieces to his captains

In Nemesis, they have a rather silly thing where a daemon is a symbiot with a null.
It's a dumb idea, but perhaps there's a way we could have Warmaster have a warp dampening effect, perhaps akin to the Nid shadow in the warp. He might distort the warp around him, which is why people have trouble remembering details about him.
Heck, that could explain why his marines can be everywhere--you have a hard time noticing them and even if you see one, you tend to forget about them, sort of like Corax and his boys.

If psykers have + souls and nulls have - souls, then these guys might have souls that are fractions or irrational numbers that clash with the warp's architecture, similar to how the Ctan can interact with souls, but not the warp.

Aye. I'm thinking that Xun and Malcador design their religion very carefully and keep it as a framework into which local ritual can easily be slotted, akin to the way Buddhism has been able to integrate itself successfully with various cosmologies.
The primary axis is about self actualization and the enlightenment, with nebulous forces of chaos or evil being described as illusion and lies. In an ideal world, each human would be free to follow the example of the Emperor and seek virtue, but humanity is beset on all sides by enemies. Humanity is at war and as a result, everyone has a duty they must fulfil in this lifetime, whether that be being a good citizen, dying in the defense of humanity, the Emperor's vision, and the Empire, or something else.
Chaos isn't so much evil as fundamentally misguided and self defeating, it is the path of fools. The Emperor shows the way to what is good, to enlightenment.
I suppose in real world terms, you might say that:
The Emperor became enlightened while still alive and lived as a sage. He saw the Dao and lived by it. (This doesn't mean that he never made mistakes, but he saw clearly and he was committed to providing a path for people to follow. In this way, he was more a bodhisattva than the Buddha.)
Every human has dharma that they must fulfill, both for their own good and for that of humanity. Ideally, this is an integration into the Dao, coming to satori, sunyata.
Chaos is antithetical to the Dao. It is motivated by illusions about the nature of reality. They don't cite the chaos gods by name, but they do speak of 4 major delusions.
There is the fallacy of control. The Dao is outside of our control. (Tzneetch)
There is the fallacy of rage. Anger and destruction will not help, rather it merely entraps you further in the Web of illusion. (Khorne)
There is the fallacy of senses. Always seeking a new pleasure and sensation makes you a slave to them, there is no liberation there. (Slaneesh)

There is the fallacy of stagnation. Simply because we do not control everything does not mean that we should cease seeking enlightenment. Through our labors we can attain the Dao and become junzi. All is not decay. (Nurgle)

Ideally, it provides an ideological firewall against the temptations of chaos while motivat8ng everyone to do their best and not being too distant from what the Emperor was actually trying to achieve for humanity.

Sin doesn't really enter into it. Instead, failing in one's duty is shameful and losing out on virtue. Basically, karma is a bitch.
Reincarnation is probably a thing, though just what happens after death is left open ended.
Those who fall to chaos are fucked by daemons and suffer eternal misery and madness, not far from the truth.
Some people get sent back to complete their duties in a new format.
Some are rewarded with a better next life.
Some souls who are deemed unworthy are consumed by the Emperor as energy in his war.
There are also sacrifices who lend their strength to the Emperor, which is seen as a glorious ascension. This happens to psykers who are sacrificed to the Emperor atop the great obsidian pyramids.
Others who attain enlightenment become bodhisattvas and can aid people. This is what makes up the legion of the damned equivalent, among other things.

The primarchs are venerated and the traitor primarchs have stories about them too, that serve as warnings about various mistakes one can make.
They are treated as pathetic entities who sold their greatness for shadows. They're dangerous as fuck, but they're fools. The stories are, of course, heavily fictionalized, but they're more fables than anything else, and doubtlessly many people don't take the existence of the traitor primarchs seriously.

The idea with all this is that Xun and Malcador figure that they can't hide the existence of chaos and the heresy, but they can do much to diminish it's allure and, for the most part, they do this by ...

... by framing the truth into a story that gives the people something to learn from. As a result, someone trying to convert a citizen of the Jade Empire can't use the 'suppressed truths' route. Chaos cults still happen, but it's harder for them, I'd think.

Religion on angelic worlds would be very different, and probably be a point of contention between Alexios and MalcaXun. Alexios is space catholic as fuck, and very much believes in sins. The Abbots who set up in Imperium Minorum would be zealous fundamentalists, opposed to Maldacor's moderate Imperial Truth and Xun's meditations. Alexios composes volumes of Biblica Theologia proscribing the character and behavior of 'godly' imperial citizens.

Scholars in monastic research chambers on the fringe worlds of Imperium Minorum study the arts of binding spirits of the Emperor. Alexios' Lexicographers record what they refer to as divine saints, humans who are for whatever reason chosen by the emperor to become angelic demi-gods.

Several chapters of Angels successors are chartered for inquisitorial purposes, tasked with hunting down heresies in Alexios' territory. his abbots would act like Inquisitors, using their space nuns to exterminate ANY suspicious populations.

Unlike the wild wild west of the Kor Protectorate (which is to the east) if you even smell like chaos in Imperium Minorum a mob of acolytes will burn down your house and hang you.

I don't know why, but I imagine Balthasar as this guy... in a waistcoat.

>And I was thinking that Oramar shoes some of his stuff to Xun, given their similar interests. Xun considers telling the Emperor and confides in Raydon, but if it's Balthazar that narcs, that would work pretty well, as Oramar could blame Xun and Xun could blame Raydon, messing up loyalist cohesion pre-heresy.

Really like this sequence of events.

I feel like the Warp Raiders, or Oramar at least, should definitely feel like he's in the right and that he's fighting Chaos. But I imagine him being pretty bitter over how everything went down. Which is why he may have been on the Warmaster's side during the Heresy.