Andromeda 40k

Or maybe they just got lost while travelling through the Warp and ended up there. Weirder things have happened. Maybe there are multiple factions of humans, each from a different era. 30K Imperium-like humans vs Age of Technology ones?

Acually, what if this aquatic species expands so much that all the other races have to develope specialized underwater armies? 40k space warfare works like naval battles, so what if in this galaxy subaquatic wars are common? Per example, big space battleships can double as submarines. Most astartes armor is desined to fight underwater, and all of them get jet packs to allow fast movement.

I think just going with the whole "bombard the planet until everything drowned" thing is boring
Maybe a hi-tect shooty faction who's reliant on using living tanks (trilobites,heavily armored whales) along with drones and genetically engineerd soldiars along with elite shark assasins and SUPER SPOOKY creatures of the deep

REMEMBER: IF IT DOESN'T SOUND LIKE IT CAME OUT OF AN ULTRAVIOLENT 80s COMIC/MANGA IT DOESN'T FIT IN 40K

anyway, spooky deep fish people sound cool.
There's already the Sahaduin in 40k but they're more like shark people with tiny legs

the Warp is infinite but as far as we know, our chaos gods are limited to this galaxy.

Maybe, but this race may be more interesting in spaces battles rather than in regular combat (Campaigns in Batlefleet Gothic). On land, and specially meele, their need to be on a liquid medium basically makes them easy targets. But if they develop this massive terraforming technology, they could become something even more fearsome than the tyrannids. At least you can fight tyrannids on land, but this ones don't give you the option. Either you beat them in space, or your planet will be underwater. "The Flood is coming! The Flood is coming!"

Okay so, trying to be original isn't the best way to approach it.

All we have to do is rip off something cool and badass that 40k hasn't already ripped off (not to a big extent anyway)

okay whatever

what matters is: what do they look like? If they don't look like something I'd dish out 200$ a month to collect, they're no good.

What if we don't know what they look like? They are always inside of those heavy suits made to walk on land. Attempts to analyze their anatomy have proven unsuccessful because the suits selfdestruct in case of death or capture to avoid these kind of analysis. And when they fight underwater, they keep themselves hidden from any lightsource, to stalk their prey from the shadows. Termic scanners show something like a mix between a jellyfish and a scaly dragonfish (static.wixstatic.com/media/c82177_7b30adf8a570b2eeb9368b3c13247832.jpg_1024), but so far all images are inconclusive.

Picture of some of there "ships of war"

Would their vehicles be traditional mechanical ships like imperium and tau or more like bioconstructs, like the tyrannids? Because their tech evolved underwater (and possibly abyssal darkness), technology like electricity or metallurgy may be harder than genetic engineering on those conditions.

okay here's a few concepts:
plant-based black metal space vampires

samurai robogirls with fluffy hair

insectoid maori Predators with tribal tats

cannibalistic space gopnik ghouls

nuclear dragons

then what do their suits look like?

fuck your ships this is 40k not Battlefleet Gothic.

Maybe they keep water on living spaceships based on balloon fish? They absorb all the water they can find during their travels, and the ship inflates until it gets the size of a small moon, all full of water. Once they arrived to their destination, the balloon ship either explodes or throws up the water. Their biggest spaceships are based either on big whales or giant squids, while smaller and faster ships are based on remoras. Assault ships would be lampeys that stick themselves on the enemy ship and board it, maybe by unleashing bio-engineered crabs, lobsters and land octopi who squirt acid.

Probably genetic engineering

I love the idea of lost exploration missions of DAoT humans, age of strife humans, necrons, true Necrotyr, and other Milky Way powers from throughout the ages squabbling in the background of andromedan galactic politics

yeah that's a good concept

I was thinking they look something akin to a mix between a jellyfish and a scaly dragonfish. They wouldn't be anhtropomorphic in any way, more like incredibly long scaly fish with docens of trailing tentacles (also, maybe they are blind?). Their suits would be like the old classic scuba diving suits but adapter to their anatomy.

okay that's a good beginning
now spice it up; what other visual influences can you throw in there?

Maybe something like Jules Verne's 20.000 leagues under the sea? Considering the kind of vintage art associated to this book, we could find some really original designs.

something more badass/gruesome is needed

it's not about originality, it's about coolness

PIRATES

Also, their weapons might look very zeerust-esque (tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Zeerust)? Like those sci-fy B movies pr the original Lost in Space or Flash Gordon? All this mixed with biotech? Per example, a rifle might just be like one of those old plastic rifles like in the pic, but with a sea snake entangled around it?

Also, look for thalassophobia for ideas of the spaceships and vehicles.

okay now we're talking
yeah obviously, this is 40k after all, but that's not sufficient on its own. The Admech for example also have strong raygun gothic elements (especially in 30k) but they make it look badass by making everything look more industrial, tougher, and sticking skulls and cables everywhere.

Andromeda is a dying galaxy right now. The red tint means it is no longer producing new stars, and that existing ones are burning through their supply of fuel.

By it wouldn't have changed much but it would probably mean any sentient life that still exists would be space faring, or at the very least mastered a means of living on worlds that are normally inhospitable to organic life.

Maybe each of the factions don't actually have a home world(their planets having long since been devoured by their suns) and are instead giant space faring fleets that routinely clash with each other as they scavenge for resources left in their zombie galaxy.

good theme but it still needs to allow for variety

Tanks with "depressurization" effects where the liquid inside leaks out and everyone suffocates after certain rolls on penetrating hits, to make up for it they get invulns.

Maybe their weapons are litteraly alive? They could have a heartbeat, and we could see the veins and small moving parts? Maybe some of them could even have cuttlefish eyes, that allow for improved precission? Like with the pic, but sea-themed.

Well how about the way the fleets are built?

>The Grand Imperial Fleet of [Name]
What started as merchants exploiting a fleeing population have since grown into the new aristorcracy of a large fleet of civilian tankers and warships the size of small moons. The admirals of the ruling families meet annually to determine the course for the next year based on trader and scavenger information.

They are a psuedo-Imperium that relies on old, but formidable technology of their ships to beat their foe, their enormous size making even a single ship a monumental effort to take down, energy weapons and missiles firing in all directions. Their ground forces are trained around the expectation they'll be fighting in ships with little or no gravity, and are equipped to deal with those sorts of scenarios.

>The Scavz (the notOrks of Andromeda)
Aussie speaking scaveners that crash their ships into small planetoids, or large asteroids and turn it into a giant ship they use to raid the other powers of the galaxy. Thrill seekers and war mongers, they live only for the next fight with the promise of loot driving them forward. Their favored strategy is keeping a stockpile of asteroids nearby and then when a plump target drops out of Warp, they throw a giant rock at em!

>Singularity(the notEldar of Chaos)
An insectoid species that have mastered space and warp travel, they actually survive by taking their ENTIRE SOLAR SYSTEM, and placing it in a pocket dimension in the warp with a sun being kept fed through a mix of warp energy and resources scavenged in realspace. This semiWarp fuckery has gotten them Chaos-y attention...

Over several generations this system has been trapped in this pocket dimension, each planet filled to the brim with this species but each is dedicated to a specific power. They routinely leave their Chaos Webway thing to sow discord in the Andromeda galaxy, taking slaves ships, and leaving corruption behind them.

I know that outside the milky way there is not much. There are necrons a few eldar forming a sort of "the wall" situation from GoT and nids. It is desolate and far from the Emperors light. Would not want to live there