Unsquating the Squats

Seeing as the Squats were squatted because they were never grimdark enough for GW, what changes to their lore would make grimdark enough to fit into the current 40k setting?
Or are they too far removed from the general tone that no amount of changes could fix them?

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space dwarf viking raiders out of the warp? Sounds pretty fucking grimdark to me.

Little people in fantasy are dwarves. Dwarves are cool.
Little people in any other setting are just midgets. Midgets aren't cool, edgy, or grimdark. There is no saving Squats.

I feel like that would just be too similar on Space Wolves/Dark Eldar. Like it doesn't add enough to make them worthy of being an actual separate race.

Emphasis on Dark Ages technology & lost technology. Plenty of ancestral grudges. Also, some Squat quotes implied they wage war for profits and gains. If the Imperium is government evil, have some Slayer Guild equivalent be focused on corporate evil.

A small population of squats on a continent-sized asteroid-mining vessel managed to survive the destruction of their homeworld by getting lost in the warp.

The mining vessel eventually returns to real space, far larger than it was before, and now bristling with weapons. During their time in the warp, the dwarves have accumulated wreckage and STC's from warp and added it to their own vessel, increasing their ship nearly to the size of a moon.

The warp-hardened dwarves are now sworn to avenge their homeworld against the Tyranids. But first they must destroy the threat that dwells in the lower levels Skaven

Found the quote:
"You people do well at war because you treat it as a religion. We do well because we treat it as a business. It is just a matter of outlook."

>bring demiurg as BB's for the tau

Literally that's it. Only don't expect normals dwarf expect... dour mutton chopped no beard dwarves.

Oh and who's weapon shoot wave energy or someshit.

Also expect drones.

I like the idea but I feel like that would work better if adeptus mechanics wasn't a thing.

So basically Space Chaos Dwarfs then?

Why not add the squats to the adeptus mechanicus?

The imperial guard gets abhumans.
Why shouldn't the adeptus mechanicus get abhumans? If they are willing to slough of flesh and mind to become machines like them then what difference does it make?

>Imperium exterminatus to kill heresy
>Eldar kill life to preserve planet purity
>Tyranid eat planet life because hungry
>Squats exterminate life on planets to sell planets to buyers

The Planet-Jackers?

>Midgets aren't cool, edgy, or grimdark

Could be pretty grimdark.

Actually, here's another idea.

Instead of getting sucked into the warp, what if a massive squat mining vessel simply gets stranded somewhere for a while with no communication? The dwarves go feral for a while, and eventually rediscover technology and rejoin the Imperium after an adeptus mechanicus research ship finds them floating somewhere?

But still do the Skaven thing though.

Tzeentch played Dwarf Fortress with them(literally, by just dropping them on a planet caught in a Warp Storm and telling them to rebuild), creating an entire World of Chaos maddened Squats who survived the perils of the Warp by being the most insane crafty bastards. Out there.

The win-condition of Dwarf Fortress is that you expand your fort to fill the entire world, and develop Warp travel.

>Chaos chaos chaos
Yawn. I think people wanted the default Squats, not just more Chaos shit.

>Squats exerminate life on planets to sell planets to...

...Rogue traders?
...Colonists?
...Xenos?

I imagine modern 40k Squats to have multiple factions within them like how the Imperium has so many armies & Eldar have Craftsworld, DEldar, etc. One be the classic Dorfs, exo-armor, honor, ancestors & rich with lost technology & things like neo-plasma. Another be a business-esque one more concerned for making a profit than the lives & damages done. I guess Stronghold Squats & Mineral-Lords?

Bring back the land trains!

Chaos is gay.

>Le purple and pink raspy laugh man.
He's not edgy, cool, or grimdark though..

Anyone who buys.

>edgy
>grimdark
>literally has a business sending child soldiers to exterminate planets for business
>cool
>FREEZE-a

Except Eldar, because fuck elves, right?

Actually, I would like to see an Imperium-friendly faction that makes use of xenos mercenaries if only to illustrate some more of the vastness and the moral ambiguity in the setting.

Inquisition? I remember they can have some awfully radical shit. The Squats are an abhuman race anyway.

>Bring back the land trains!

Fuck yeah!

Now, here's an idea:
a xenos race of cerebral symbiotes desperately clinging to existence and willing to do anything to survive, even if it means residing within servitor cogitators.

The squats have worked out some kind of deal with these critters. The squats exchange STC's with the adeptus mechanicus for top-of-the-line custom-built servitors. The squats then rent these ambulatory plots of real-estate out to the cerebral symbiotes, and these xenos pay their rent by helping the squats to navigate ancient ruins in search of more STC's.

Dude, it's DBZ.

DBZ dude. Dee Bee Zee.


I feel like this is really all squats need to feel like squats again.

They're pretty much just guard with different armour elements.

I cannot recall when I've ever seen the Inquisition use xenos on the tabletop. I know they have Jokaero models. That is something I'd like to see explored more.

Bolter wielding Dire Avengers with support slings so their flimsy arms don't dislocate? Sounds fun. We also need Squats.

There's some pretty gruesome shit in dragon ball

Well, originall Squats were BIKER GANGS IN SPACE.

I guess?

Weren't Space Marines also just hopped up druggies too?
Isn't that more grimdark than the current holier-than-though marines we have now?

What would the Freiza race be like in 40k?

Overall misunderstood people. They'd likely get demonized because Frieza's the most well known of their race.

Well King Cold and Cooler aren't helping their case that much.

Frieza's family in general is an outlier despite their fame.

>50 shades of powerarmor
>SRY GUYZ DWARFS AREN'T DIFFERENT ENOUGH K? XD
Someone post the GW quotes on why they got actually squatted. The people in charge of design didn't like working on them and that's it.

Fan Demiurge stuff works for me.
They're dour, technically advanced, highly communal space miners. They have very long memories and carefully consider observed past behavior when dealing with other species.
Their language generally uses "we" over "I".
They are extremely mercantile, with the accumulation of resources for the group being the primary consideration for status along with age.
They generally use drones and viral weapons against their enemies, preferring not to engage in direct combat. When leaving their vehicles, they usually wear extremely durable power armor/vacuum suits.

I've actually got the copy of citadel journal that explains it buried somewhere.
But the long and short is:
>They felt like the Squats weren't distinct enough mechanically.
>The Squats were not doing the "Dwarf" archetype justice. They were too much of a one-to-one port, and lacked some of the dignity that traditional fantasy dwarfs have.
>No one was very excited about working on them, and they didn't want to half-ass it.

They basically said that they wouldn't categorally never ever bring the squats back, but if they come back it will be because there's an exciting new idea for them, not because they used to be in 40k and can coast on legacy.

>Actually, I would like to see an Imperium-friendly faction that makes use of xenos mercenaries if only to illustrate some more of the vastness and the moral ambiguity in the setting.
So literally Rogue Traders as described in 1E and 2E?

There's also the other guy who acted like a hero but was truly a pirate

Squats were already unsquatted

Yeah, if they translated that to the present-day Warhammer 40K tabletop that would be great.

?

drive.google.com/file/d/0B0U3BBdJgFZ9MUF5M240cUNBZXc/view

As someone who just started looking at HoR Kill Team yesterday, this is probably the part I'm most excited about.

Aren't the Demiurg exactly that?
They're described as a race of stocky miner types, small in number but with very powerful starships, for the most part neutral, though they work with the Tau on occasion.

Demiurge are more space skaven

couldn't resist

Hell no. They are Nu-squats. Squats have no business with the Imperium. Their "we have better tech and do we understand it" clashes with the entire mechanicus thing. Also I am not sure how tolerant would the Imperium be with abhumans that can field superheavies without external support.

Squats make their own power armor and warmachines en masse on their Homeworld, and have beliefs radically different to that of the larger Imperium due to being so isolated and insular.

They'd share similar beliefs to Fenrisians with regard the nature of the spirits. They'd believe ruins of power etched in ones armor grants them protection via their ancestors. They don't typically use ranged weapons, in fact their combat tactics would be similar to that of fantasy Dwarves in many regards, with little being changed so as to preserve the overall asthetic.

They'd also be the only part of the Imperium that'd be completely beyond the reach of the Inquistion, with any and all attempts to pry open the secrets of a Squat Fortress world are met with extreme prejudice, regardless of allegiance. It'd basically be imply that they accept worshipers of the Chaos gods among their ranks, even though their loyalty is ultimately to the Emperor.

Here are what I believe to be the main elements of the squats, in no particular order:
>division of powers between leaders (political power), ancients (spiritual power) and guild masters (technical knowledge)
>small comunities (fortresses) with a few links between them (leagues and guilds)
>reasonably advanced tech with emphasis on efficiency and reliability
>bikers gangs
>lots of big machines (which was one of their issues because it made them more adapted to Epic than regular 40k)
>miners, crafters and traders
>fantasy dwarfs equivalents
>pioneers (harsh, semi desertic planets, isolation)
actually, with the bikers gangs, they always seemed to be a pretty american faction to me, I could totally see wild west squats.
>hate orkoids and chaos
>technically part of the Imperium
>use robots
>got nommed by the nids

1/2
Cyclops super-heavy in pic

2/2

IMO, every race in 40k is a shadow of its former self : Humans have lost their tech, Eldar their power, Necrontyr their souls, and Tau their ideals if GW had written them correctly after 3rd ed instead of going giant mecha. Even the orks are hinted to have degenerated.

If we look at the squats, the really live through others for a taciturn race; they traded with eldar and other xenos, integrated the imperium, and guilds are made to circumvent the fortresses' isolation. Vae Soli would be a fitting motto.
Therefore I suggest to place the new squats under the sign of betrayal :
Almost everyone got eaten by the nids, their society has crumbled. There is no more leagues, already isolated fortresses have disintegrated in small communities, biker gangs roam the land, the ancestors have been driven mad or senile by the shadow in the warp, the guilds act as a mafia to preserve their power, and the squat's former allies have used the opportunity to turn on them (eldar directing the nids towards the squat worlds because of prophecies, imperium looking the other way because they didn't want to fight the hivefleets there, explorator fleets taking everything that wasn't bolted down in the now undefended fortresses in their quest of SCTs, and so on...)
A few farmers and hermits left for the wilderness rather than see the end of their culture in the now empty halls. The people trying to start anew and rebuilt are halted by those clinging on tradition and the remnants of the previous era.

And if you want to make it even more grimdark you can make them mutate, since their energy souces were based on warp fission.

That aside, keep their profiles and gear.

Aren't they mentioned in the 7th ed Imperial Guard (or Astra Militarum) Codex?

Just make them even more biker and less viking.

>imply that they accept worshipers of the Chaos gods among their ranks

This would never work as background fluff

Even in more "enlightened" times the Emperor would kill them all

Squat robots. In order to make up for losses, they supplement their ranks with lots of Squat-shaped machines.

The Demiurge are just another client race of the Tau. What do they have aside from being Dwarfs? Their high technology isn't something special compared to the rest of the Tau. They don't have anything like the Kroot.

They weren't squatted because they weren't grimdark enough, they were squatted because the design team couldn't decide what to do with them. Nobody felt they did Squats properly because they were just Dwarfs IN SPAAAAAAACE. They had nothing to make them stand out from other imperial forces in regular 40k. Epic was another story.

Will the Sisters be joining the Squats soon?