Nobledark 40k Part XXVI: Roman Numerals Reloaded

Preatoria discovered in the Great Crusade by the Salamanders.

Mordia by the Dark Angels with whom they maintained close ties.

Preatoria is known for it's stiff upper lip, honourable combat, devil may care attitude towards long odds and fierce determination.

Mordia is known for taking no prisoners, doing what is needed no matter how distasteful, careful measuring of the odds and pragmatism.

Preatoria is an industrial and commercial prosperous hub world of rich trader families who genuinely do care about the well being of the people in their jurisdiction and share the wealth generously. Their world is also home to the Dragon Lords who traditionally recruit from the first sons of every member of the aristocracy, it is considered the greatest honour.

Mordia is a tidally locked shit hole that keeps ending up as Black Crusade sideshow. What little wealth the planet and it's people have is spent in preparing for the next war. They have the Knights of the Crimson Order call their world home and who supplement their PDF and IG regiments. Crimson Knights run the tragically large orphanages of Mordia, it makes a good recruitment ground.

Preatorians generally join the Imperial Army for notions of honour and duty. They earn much prestige for their families and come back with many tall tales to tell. They get invited to all the parties and become a good marriage prospect.

Mordians generally join for duty and glory. They earn more ration stamps for their families and come back with their rifles. They increase a settlements odds of survival next Chaos Skirmish.

Good overview, I'd be curious to flesh out the Astartes chapters too. We haven't really come up with many new chapters, it'd be nice to make up distinct nobledark examples of descendant chapters for all the legions.

They're not OC donut steel, just obscure ones from canon that only have a name and no other details.

I chose them for that very reason.

It is not stated anywhere that the Dragon Lords are Salamander successors but honestly who cares.

Also KotCO are Dark Angels but that's as far as GW got with them. They didn't even get a colour scheme. For shits and giggles I'm going to assume it involved red to some degree.

DLs are probably one of the blingiest chapter due to living on a prosperous world and being able to buy the few things that they can't make. Lots of Master Crafted Mk8 armour and hand made power weapons.

The KotCO on the other hand are operating with what can be generously called Mk5 amd accurately described as clattering and clanking Frankenstein plate.

DLs have master crafted combi-bolters with specialist ammo for every occasion.

The signature weapon of the KotCO is a sort of extra large las-rifle because ammunition efficiency and las-rifles are about all the local workshops can manage.

Preatorians are predominantly Promethean due to prolong exposure to Vulkan's influence. It's not Nocturnean Prometheism but it's a close enough relative for it to be recognizable. Also there are communities that follow Yechudism.

Mordians tend to be adherents to their Small Gods with a minority of Katholians. Their Small Gods were once tree gods, they claim. But those ancient forests burned long ago.

Neither chapter is stupid enough to start being overly evangelical to the locals although they also make no distinction with their recruitment.

Preatorians display rank on a sash and shoulder stripes, at least the sash on parades and formal occasions.

Mordians have facial tattoos and wear coloured bars on the chest. They do not do parades and have very few formal occasions.

Preatorians drink tea.

Mordians drink """beer""" but only if they can't get anything stronger.

>Something more representative of the Tyranids as a whole?
I know it wouldn't work and jars really badly with the feel of 40k (both Nobledark and Vanilla), but I guess it'd be a vast swarm of worm- or bug-type tyranids coalescing into a physical form, a la Halo's Lekgolo

Come to think of it, 'Chapter' would probably be a more nebulous designation than canon, since they're more closely integrated with the overall Army. I've been assuming that the majority of Astartes recruitment comes from the Imperial Guard itself, with specific Chapters often recruiting from and operating with specific units. So, say the Iron Dragons operate with and recruit from the Stalinvast Planetary Assault Legions; could you therefore say that the Stalinvast PAL is part of the Iron Dragons Chapter? etc.

In this nobledark imperium, does the retarded "no combined arms within regiments" doesn't exist?

Nah, we've said that the Astartes operate somewhat similarly to US special forces, where they are outside the normal command structure and instead report directly to central command (which would probably be sector-level command). So for example, even if there are Navy SEALs attached to a unit and operate regularly with them, we wouldn't say that unit is part of the SEALs.

Might be going a bit too far on the Crimson Knights supply situation, Astartes are going to be on the top of any requisition lists and probably have access to the full sector or Segmentum logistics network beyond what is available on planet. Like in canon, there are plenty of chapters based on Feral Worlds but they have their own manufacturing within the Fortress Monastery and presumably supply lines to get resources. The only time a chapter would be undersupplied is if they're nomadic, operating on the fringes of the Imperium, or have done some bad shit and received sanction (so pretty much the Night Lords and their successors, which we've said are pretty much on permanent Penitent Crusade far away from civilian populations).

Besides, the bolter is so iconic of the SM that I don't think it makes sense for a chapter to be wielding big lasguns.

Lasguns make sense as a secondary weapon. Since Astartes armor is fusion-powered, they'd basically have infinite ammunition.

So, Dark Eldar don't exist anymore? They just got absorbed by the Chaos Eldar?

Indeed, combined arms are very much present. More here if you want to go in depth:
1d4chan.org/wiki/Nobledark_Imperium_Imperial_Forces

They were separate for most of history. However, Vect and Lady Malys (who is the big bad of Chaos like Abby in canon) have recently cemented an alliance through marriage, in a dark reflection of the Emperor's marriage to Isha. This is a huge point of tension for many Archons and other DEs who are repulsed by the idea of working with the CE, but this idea has mostly come up in threads and no one has written up anything regarding this yet.

Pretty much. We’ve mentioned the Imperium uses some combined arms tactics in the past. No massive betrayal like the Horus Heresy means that the Imperium isn’t as paranoid about its forces turning traitor (that’s not to say regiments turning traitor doesn’t happen). There’s also a lot less dick-waving between officers or between, say, an IG officer and a chapter master.

However, there is still some segregation of regiments, which is at least in part due to Lord Solar Machairius. Machairius saw the wide variety of fighting tactics across the Imperium and their ways of making war as assets rather than obstacles. Every regiment specialized for a particular purpose. The right tool for the right job. No need to fix what isn’t broken. And it worked really well for him, but then he could juggle regiments across a front better than anyone except probably the Emperor.

Additionally, general Imperium combined arms tactics are nowhere near as good as Tau combined arms tactics, because when the Tau organized their army they had a much smaller fighting force and it was much easier to coordinate things. The Tau have fewer soldiers, but those soldiers are much more efficient and coordinate better with each other.

No, they’re two different things. Dark Eldar are still raiding and pirating, and they like the Crone Eldar about as much as the Craftworlders do. To put it a different way, another user put it as “Dark Eldar are druggies, Crone Eldar are so far down the rabbit hole that they’ve made the transition from crack whore to crack dealer”.

However, at the turn of the Millenium between M40-M41 long-time on-again, off-again couple Asdrubael Vect of Commorragh and Lady Malys the Daemon Queen were united in an all manner of fucked up wedding. Now the Dark Eldar and Croneworlders were united, at least in name. To say that not all Dark Eldar were happy with this arrangement is an understatement. For one, you had a huge exodus of Dark Eldar refugees into the Imperium (basically anyone who could leave and say they weren’t a psycho war criminal with a straight face), and Commorragh nearly revolted.

The backlash would have been worse, except that all of the Kabals with the political clout to challenge Vect all had their archons die under mysterious circumstances years or even decades beforehand (the War in the Webway was one such event). Even then, most of the Dark Eldar would have loved to reject the alliance, but Vect is just too damn powerful. Vect basically controls Commorragh through martial law and the mandrakes now.

rglajrelgjnaeralgkn

Ork daemon princes. Y/N?

I vote yes, if only to make the tzeench ork iron cage easier to write

Y, but astonishingly rare.

Quick question, if Commorragh was formed from the port comprising the extralegal resorts of the Old Eldar Empire's rich and famous, would one of the first actions the Dark Eldar have to take after the Fall be a general purge of Commorragh? I imagine that there would have been quite a few among the Eldar nobility who wanted to go full throttle on the Chaos thing, so they would either have to be killed or kicked out for the sake of the more agnostic (read:the ones we see today) Dark Eldar who wanted to party and get high but didn't want to pledge themselves to any incomprehensible god. It might be one way in which the seeds of the present hierarchy in Commorragh were established.

It could be that was the goal of the Big Wyrd. I mean, beyond fuck shit up like orks and weird boyz normally do.

To be an Ork daemon prince, you would have to a) be a Chaos Ork and b) do something worthy of note for one of the big four. That usually requires a lot of followers, which would be harder for a Chaos ork to achieve because he usually doesn't follow the Gorkamorka.

Does the species of a daemon prince really matter in the long run? Be'lakor I can see because to him he's always an Old One first, daemon second, and damn anyone who says otherwise (because it would imply that he is not his own man). Eldar is worth noting because with the Cronedar it means that we can have Dechala the Denied One without breaking reality. But beyond that daemon princes/esses really don't seem to resemble the original species.

I imagine Dechala and N'kari have a rather antagonistic relationship with one another. One a daemon prince of Eldar origin, the other human, the two of them constantly butting heads for She Who Thirsts favor and trying to prove that Eldar/humans are better. Slaanesh encourages this, because it keeps his/her minions fighting amongst themselves and is fucking hilarious to watch.

>It is not stated anywhere that the Dragon Lords are Salamander successors but honestly who cares.

Of course they would be. All the other Dragon-themed chapters seem to be Salamander related.

>Mordians tend to be adherents to their Small Gods with a minority of Katholians. Their Small Gods were once tree gods, they claim. But those ancient forests burned long ago.

Wait, isn't Mordia that place where it's tidally locked and the whole population is crammed into the twilight zone or the dark side of the planet, depending on who you ask? Where would they get trees from?

Life finds a way.

The ones verdant twilight band.

Now not so full of life.

Extra sized laser pistols work well.

I like the idea of the more sane Withered and maybe some of the less extreme younger generations and maybe quite a few of the Vat-born of the Dark Eldar having their eyes opened by the wedding.

Up until that point they could always point at the Cronedar and say "at least we aren't that". Then their great and independent city becomes so close to that that it makes no practical difference, not that it did to outsiders anyway.

Now they don't have an option. Now they are staring into the abyss with Clockwork Orange eye clamps on and they can't look away and they are slowly being dragged forward and they can see perfectly well where this journey ends. Oh holy ever loving fuck they can see where this journey ends, this is going to be The Fall v2.0 and they are at ground 0.

A large number of their number would maybe of gotten a Harlequin escort out of the Dark City. Vect wouldn't have been recklessly brash enough to antagonize the Clowns until the marriage had stuck and he knew it was safe, their god is often abroad in the webway and can manipulate it to some degree.

That would have been the last time the Harlequin Tropes would have visited the City of Sins. Beyond that point it's just a Chaos stronghold with nothing worth saving. At that moment the City was forsaken by the elder gods. Even Khine. They had finally managed to make their own mother admit they were irredeemable wish them dead.

Of the millions of Repentants they would be viewed as highly suspect. They would only be permitted into the visitors section of the Craftworlds if that and that is generous.

They would not be officially permitted on most human or other xeno worlds although that would be very difficult to enforce as eldar can not into paperwork at the best of times and one group of eldar is difficult to tell from another to a basic human. Needless to say Chaos and Dark Eldar infiltration would increase drastically, but only temporary.

The Exodites would be more welcoming. To them it's the founding of their own people all over again, but this time with them to show them the right and proper way of things.

They would get soul stones. They are prodigal sons and daughters repentant and humble returning to their senses in shame and apology. They would be accepted by Isha and her disciples, though not completely trusted to start with.

Or that's how I see it maybe.

bump

I don't think that the Night Lords and their ilk are on penitent crusades as such as they are still following orders in their own special way.

Typically they get deployed away from anything anyone gives a shit about. Also their supply problem is because if there is a choice between giving a supply shipment to them or a chapter that isn't fucking awful it goes to the other chapter.

Sounds like they'd have trouble adapting.
Always the temptation to have another go at the whole raid&pillage and whatnot.
And the having no clue how civilization works.
But perhaps they channel that, the ones that have the most difficulty with it. The ones who can adapt do, the ones who can't might still do their hit and run strikes, but now against say...the orks, and with notably less 'capturing' afterwards.

It could just be a massive swell in the corsair fleet population

They would have trouble adapting. There would be those that fall back to bad habits and then get cut down for it. It would not be easy considering that every body they meet looks edible.

Perhaps many would find some relief of their needs on the paths of the warrior but perhaps they might consider that tempting a relapse.

Corsairs are still Imperial aligned. Eldar don't let their malcontents run amok in the galaxy anymore because it makes them look bad and there's no way to ensure they won't harm Eldar.

To quote one user "you can't let them loose because those aren't mon-keigh stars anymore. They're your stars".

Of course, they're still about as Imperial aligned as, say, Rogue Traders. Maybe less. They'll work for anyone provided the pay is good and in some cases work for people on the Imperium's shit list if it benefits them and they think they can get away with it. And of course there are actual rogue pirate Eldar who do whatever the hell they like, but on the other hand are shot on sight by groups like Biel-Tan.

The Dark Eldar who defected to the Imperium would mostly be the young ones like Yvraine or Alith Anar. Especially the vatborn. If they have to choose between living in a Chaos-controlled Dark City with no opportunity for political advancement and being feared and mistrusted (but away from Chaos) with the Craftworlders and Exodites, they're going to choose the latter every time. They literally have nothing to lose.

Of course, this doesn't mean that all the "innocent'" Dark Eldar are gone from the city. Oh my no. Indeed, there are probably now more than ever because the Dark Eldar are kicking their cloning vats into high gear to both replace the losses caused by the refugees and to meet the demand for troops by the Crones.

The older Dark Eldar, the ones entrenched in Commorragh's byzantine political structure, would be too deep in the sunk cost fallacy to ever try leaving. They didn't spent all this time clawing their way to the top of the heap only to abandon all that and start over at square one living as a pariah and a nobody in Imperial society. They'd rather futilely fight Vect to the bitter end instead of doing the smart thing.

Plus any Dark Eldar who's infamous enough to be known to the Imperium by name would have no chance of fleeing. The best they hope for is fleeing to some far-off corner of the galaxy and hope that Slaanesh doesn't drain their soul too fast. So again, it is the young ones who haven't committed as many atrocities or never left Commorragh in the first place.

In this universe humanity is more capable of telling the different groups of Eldar apart. In part due to having actual Craftworlders and Exodites around to point out the differences, in part because the Eldar don't let the corsairs run as rampant, the Eldar aren't being stupid and jumping to defend the Dark Eldar at every oppprtunity, and in part because the Imperium isn't stupid in this timeline (I mean if the Tau can tell the difference between the space dominatrixes and the space snobs, why can't the Imperium).

There might also be vigilante action by the craftworlders. It's worth remembering that Khine is venerated by the craftworlders.

The Yvraine fluff says that Biel-Tan used the information gained by Dark Eldar refugees to coordinate a massive raid on Commorragh to free captured slaves and generally make things uncomfortable for their traitorous kin. At least until the Dark Eldar changed the locks.

I have fluff to catch up on.

Here's what's already there for the Indigo Crow. Any ideas what the Crone schools of magic in the webway fringes are like?
The preeminent Crone sorcerer and seer, an independent Tzentchian scholar of vast power, not bound to the service of a liege or court
Able to call on some level of cooperation between the dark academies of warp-lore in the corrupted webway around the eye
Its unclear if this is a single individual, an assumed title passed between great tzeentchian eldar, or some more unusual entity, but in any case it is the Crones' answer to both Eldrad and Ahriman
Has incredible supernatural power and knowledge, and is the conduit for much of the Tzeentchian Crones' access to Tzeentch's realm and boons, but little military power

Wait, what? When was a Commorragh raid discussed? All I see in the Yvraine fluff is that they got the codes to a few Webway back doors.

Wasn't that it? Or was that something else. I thought it said that Yvraine gave the code to the back entrance she went through, and between all the Dark Eldar who fled the Dark City they had enough viable entrances to launch a counter-raid. Maybe I am misremembering.

My theology inspired explanation of Macha's selection as avatar from last thread.
Macha might have come with the seer group as her repressed, frustrated self, and when Isha emerged from the portal Macha had a very strong religious experience. Macha would essentially have been a repressed, machiavellian, psychic elf oracle all her life, maybe not the meme ever-virgin but someone that long ago squelched thoughts of enjoyment or self-fulfillment in the name of duty and civilization. She would have gone with Eldrad expecting to fail, or a Pyrrhic victory at best, and went expecting to burn out or be eaten by daemons while holding the gate.

She doesn't just survive though. She watches as heroes return in something resembling real triumph, and she sees the Steward of the Golden Throne carrying the exhausted All-Mother across the threshold, and is overcome by the scene. Macha, unexpectedly and at the core of her person, reevaluated the universe's potential to bear truly joyful and virtuous things, and at the same time Isha was shedding her desiccated, traumatized form. Isha stood in radiance on the ground of old earth, Macha was the most perfectly receptive of that radiance, and so it simply follows that she received the radiance of Isha in that moment.

It all fits bar for one thing.

The opening of the door was not done on Old Earth.

on the 1d4chan there is mention already that Isha first saw Old Earth through the window of a space ship.

Also in this AU the Emperor isn't an arrogant retard and wouldn't start tearing holes in the very stuff of time and space and sanity on an inhabited world and especially not on the keystone planet of the Imperium.

It could also have been that Macha was the most receptive eldar woman, no in the galaxy as a whole, but out of the eldar who were in that place and at that time. Isha was still weak then and would need to get into the head of someone else as quickly as possible.

I don't know, that kind of sounds invasive. I can understand the narrative appeal of spontaneity, but it seems a little creepy for the first act of freedom from a goddess just released from disease hell to invade a mortal mind without so much as "hello."

It's a religious experience as much to do with Macha assuming Isha's mantle as Isha picking her, and we've been describing Isha as a primordial goddess.

Not invasive if she was welcomed in. Maybe she wouldn't have been receptive if not welcoming. Also maybe she would have left if Macha was unhappy with the arrangement.

It is implied that her codes were used alongside shit learned from other former citizens of the Dark City to open enough doors to get an army in and fuck up that particular part of the city.

Where did the Raid take place (in realspace) anyway? I assume it would be some nowhere world that only ends up becoming important to Imperial history because of what took place there. Steward isn't stupid enough to try it on Earth or another populated world and Eldar wouldn't do it on a Craftworld.

Also the possibility exists that Ceggers simply hid Isha in the Webway until a suitable host (Macha) could be found. Canon already shows that one Eldar God could hide out in the Webway almost indefinitely without being attacked by Chaos. Crone Eldar might try to search the Webway, but it at least buys Isha some time.

Also, for some reason I keep imagine Isha's immediate reaction to being freed and in realspace to be like her reaction in Tales of the Emprasque, pure innocent laughter for finally being freed after thousands of years of captivity before evaporating in a flash of light.

It's never been said where in realspace the door was opened although it is implied that the defunct and faulty webway gate that Vanilla Emperor fucked around with was used. Not that this means that they didn't move the gate to a more remote location.

Also it's possible that Macha intentionally volunteered for helping with opening the gate despite the risks. Possibly Ceggers asked her to be in that place at that time but, true to nature, didn't tell her why.

Holy fuck.
I was looking through the archived threads, and just found the bit about Armageddon/Ullanor.
I thought that was just one of the extra-silly things made up for this that was in the wiki.
I didn't think it was someone taking what happened IN CANON and making it make a modicum of sense.
Holy fuck GW what the fuck.

Haha, yeah... Black Library has been pretty fucking zany ever since they started writing the Horus Heresy books.

Did they ever say where they got the Webway gate from?

Yup. I don't think that's the only example either. Ullanor broke some user's brain the last time it came up.

It’s hard being one of the most important leaders in the galaxy. You feel like the only sane person among a bunch of dithering morons. Turn your back for one minute and the next thing you know they’ve burnt the house down. If you don’t take out any time for yourself it’s enough to drive one mad. So, one of the most important strategists of the galaxy decides to have a day off.

pastebin.com/CkS2NKFP

Sorry if this is a bit choppy. About half of it got eaten when my computer got down and I had to rewrite those parts from scratch.

Good shit user, I quite like it (though I thought it was going to be about Creed when you said "most important strategist"). Two thoughts:

1)The Chaos Eldar seem a tad too... professional? I imagine if this was the equivalent of a joyride for Malys they would be a little more unhinged.
2) How much spaghetti did that guardsman have in his pockets to ask Lady fucking Malys why she was here?

Though now that I've mentioned it, what is Creed up to in this AU anyway? Has there been any writing on him?

We know anything about Drazhar, Master of Blades yet? He always gave me the impression of the most honorable of the Dark Eldar, though probably still an evil dick stabber. Would he have defected to avoid the crones, or is he still running his temple, Chaos be damned?

he might have hoarded Khaine's artifacts of struck a pact with Malal in the court of Khorne

Honestly, he seems like the sort of person who would barely even notice the change of regime.

Presumably not too different from Vanilla.

One of the PLs, fell to dark impulses early on, another Striking Scorpion takes his place. Unlike rest of PLs was not there for the Mansion Raid.

Built some sort of Murder path in dark city, complete with small infinity circuit.

Not in Vanilla so far as I know.

My completely unsupported head fluff has it as an old piece of long buried crap on Earth that the eldar in ancient times used to use to fuck around on prehistoric earth and give rise to legends about elves and shit.

In this AU it's probably a captured trophy from one of the few victories the Dark Age humans had over the Eldar. Taken as loot in a war of retribution the likes of which mankind to that point had never known, a needed but hard won victory. The cost of billions on each side and the source of songs and sorrows that were told until the dawn of the Age of Strife. The first human on eldar conflict took the disparate worlds of humanity and brought them together into the Great and Benevolent Human Empire and saw the rise of the Iron Minds and later the Men of Gold to keep shit workable.

To the eldar it was a barley noticeable scuffle that cause an ant hill to rearrange itself a little.

On the Mordia thing.

In what ways should the planet be fucked over?

It already has a small area of habitation. What else can we do to it to turn it into the shit hole we all know and love?

How independent should Malal be?

>That one story about a female Dark Eldar who thought "There must be more to life then rape & pillage" while fighting in Imperial space then inside the arena.
>Runs away from the Dark City right before the wedding to a Exodit world where she works as a herbalist and occasionally teaches combat techniques to those that offer her rare plants.
>Sometimes she even goes off fighting for the Imperium when her home get the call-to-arms.

Fuck, forgot her name.

Here was the high concept that someone had earlier im the threads from the Notes page.

>Drazhar acts as Vest's iron right hand. Rumored to be the greatest swordsman in the galaxy, he has cut a bloody swathe through the Imperium's finest, leaving a trail of corpses and legends behind him. Despite his merciless efficiency in the killing fields, Dark Eldar don't trust him. He acts with too much honor, maintaining an unsightly code. He eschews subterfuge, preferring instead to kill his enemies face to face. And worst of all top the Chaos Eldar, one whisper placed him in the Gardens of Nurgle during Isha's liberation. Perhaps this is why Vect keeps Drazhar close: he so loves to see his bride furious. Rage and hate are a fine substitute to love for the dark Eldar.

So many typoes...

Eh, I thought DAoT Humanity was the closest thing to the Eldar Empire at its peak. Still nowhere near power parity, but more than an ant hill at least.

Not in terms of military power.

DAoT humanity was as spread out as thinly as the Imperium.

Eldar because of the webway essentially lived in single hive structure light years wide.

To claim any real victory you would have to take on the entire military might of the Eldar Empire in every engagement.

The Eldar were living in an extradensional mega-city that hung over the entire galaxy, Mankind was still getting good at building wonders in realspace. The difference is more like nomads compared to walled polises, not ants to men, but of course the eldar would be arrogant bastards to the barbarians.

>Good shit user, I quite like it (though I thought it was going to be about Creed when you said "most important strategist"

Deliberately left the identity ambiguous as long as possible so it would be a surprise for the readers.

>The Chaos Eldar seem a tad too... professional? I imagine if this was the equivalent of a joyride for Malys they would be a little more unhinged.

I would say the Cronedar are smart enough to rain on the parade of the frickin Daemon Queen while she’s having her “me time”, or that Malys specifically picked those grunts because they wouldn’t be as likely to fly off the handle. However, I see what you mean and my reasoning probably sounds too much like a retcon.

Really, the piece was supposed to be more a character study for Lady Malys than anything else. Putting together some of the stuff we’ve said on the wiki. Tactically skilled and intelligent yet dangerously psychotic and completely insane, nonchalantly talks back to Drach’nyen despite him eating the souls of his last three wielders, has died several times yet keeps coming back for more (and probably finds death “boring” as the daemons are all terrified of her). Unlike Abbadon, who wraps up his motivations in claims for power or ambition, Malys makes no such excuses for why she does what she does. She is evil and LOVING IT!

However, I think the piece lacks the characteristic mania that we've been consistently describing for Lady Malys. Maybe it’s because it focuses more on the pre-combat scenes, and needs more focus on how manic she is when limbs start flying.

I’m open to suggestions for tweaks for a V2 if people think this is good enough to go on the wiki.

I didn't mean militarily, I meant just in terms of power level - granted, still at least an order of magnitude (and then some) difference, but they were closer to the Eldar than any "current" civilisation is now apart from arguably DEldar, if only for their webway- and biotech.

Basically,

test post

So who is the left/underhand of Vect?

The Decapitator? Would he/it be reliable enough?

I'm kinda imagining that there's a ton of weird reverse psychology involved in imprisoning the one Daemon Prince of Malal. Stuff like demanding he leave the vaults of Ganymede and never return, locking him out of his containment cell, and insisting he's the jailor not the prisoner are probably just the start of it. It would probably descend into a level of double negative bullshit like how The Outsider momentarily/eternally became an avatar of Malal by virtue of being the antithesis of Tzeentch, and also by not being Malal.

Oh sweet fucking Jesus that's a beautifully stupid image.

Apep, the one Daemon Prince of Malal, is guarding an empty cell so that it remains empty and because he is free no to.

Also the Outisder is just crazy enough that even if he wasn't the avatar of Malal he would act like Malal to such a great degree that he would be the avatar of Malal by virtue of nobody including both gods involved being able to tell the difference.

This sorry state of affairs would be, I imagine, a source of unending mirth for the Inquisition were it not for the fact that these creatures hopelessly broken as they are are civilization ending disasters waiting for someone to happen to.

Also added to the "List of Thing Inq. Jaq Draco is no Longer Permitted to do on Ganymede" is
>interact with the Prince of Malal

From the looks of things I would imagine edgy Malal worshippers who want to destroy all forms of government in the galaxy, yes that includes the other Chaos Gods as well. Not knowing they wouldn't survive a second in that galaxy but thinks Malal might protect them even though he wouldn't. People like politically active violent teens or disgruntled former government employees.
>Malal cults are the Antifa of Nobledark 40k.

It seems that the mandrakes are closely aligned with Vect in this timeline, so I guess so.

Really though Malal it just the opposite of Tzeentch. Those names might even be the Old Ones' words for their functions, and in the golden age of sorcery when the warp was calm this difference was as complete and negotiable as one could hope. Now that the galactic conscious has the many nuances added of aeons of history those two are anything but a generative infinity set in perfect transposing balance a with a destructive one, because they're also self-aware and wrapped up in the intrigues and tumults of the warp.

Given how small and weak Malal is by 999M41 it's possible that there are no normal people who actually know about him.

Everybody might get a basic education in how not to get Chaosed but Malal is a has been and the joke of Chaos left alive by Khorne because it's the nearest he can find to funny.

He and his followers are, in effect, to Chaos followers what Chaos followers are to the Imperium.

Not that the Imperium can tell the difference at a quick glance.

If they knew the ancient history of the gods during the War in Heaven they might argue Malal represents un-malicious pre Khornate destruction, a more abstract form that glories not in carnage. They aren't wrong but that because Malal is all about inventing pic related just because he can.

No, no, you see. Apep isn't imprisoned. It's everyone else who's imprisoned. They built a whole prison around the universe, except for one little spot where the guard is supposed to be stationed. It's Apep's job to keep everyone else imprisoned. I mean, if you built four walls to contain an entire universe, it must be full of pretty nasty stuff.

Or at least, that's what they tell him. Pic related.

Oh shit. He's riding out the apocalypse in the safest place in the Imperium

So for Mordia to get at least the planet to the state that we all know and love.

During the Golden Age it was somewhat of a backwater. More somewhere for people to come from than go too. Had a high technology base, as all the Great and Benevolent Empire did, but generally at least 50 years behind what everyone else was doing.

There were 2 big reasons for it's backwardness. First was the isolation. It was not particularly close to any major warp currents and so you had to intentionally go there rather than travel near it on your way elsewhere. Second was the tidally locked nature of the planet that resulted in it having a thing green band of habitability between frozen and baked. As such it could never support a big population. It was quite pleasant and it's greatest sin was that it was terminally boring for most of it's pre-Strife history. It didn't even have seasons or tides.

When it all started to break down in the Age of Strife Mordia was spared the worst of the shit simply due to the remote location and nearly everyone needing to be reminded that it existed at all. Which is not to say it survived unscathed.

As Old Night rolled across the stars Mordia came to the sensible conclusion that it couldn't hope to fend off a galaxy gone mad and that the only sensible thing to do would be to try and be as unnoticeable as possible. All transmitter technology was banned, all space ships were recalled and disassembled, all that could be moved underground was and even things like street lighting was made illegal. The whole planet essentially went into standby mode.

Stupid as it sounds it almost worked. It almost survived long enough to be counted as a Survivor Civilization.

Sadly it did not. When the Eye of Terror formed it fucked up the warp currents something fierce and rearranged them. Mordia was no longer away from the good currents. There was a current now running right through their system from the Eye of Terror, but with no warp capability they didn't know this.

You know, random thing, it's always bothered me how many people don't pronounce the first t in Tzeentch, acting like it's silent or something.
It's easily pronounceable, yet people act like it's some impossible alien sound.

All they knew was that half the psycho population committed suicide and the other half became decidedly unwell. Then the first of the Chaos touched set foot on their world, heralds of the New God Slaanesh. Things went downhill from there.

By the time the First Legion encountered Mordia in the Great Crusade it had been repeatedly assaulted and regressed back to a pre-black powder level of sophistication haunting the ruins of when they were greater. About the only thing left intact from those better days was the Great Road that ran the entire circuit of the Temperate Band in an unbroken loop. Along the Great Road society had fractured into a dozen kingdoms, some in contest but most in cooperation.

Of interest to the Dark Angel scholars were the Keepers of the Chronicles, a quiet order who's task was to maintain an up to date record of the affairs of state to be preserved for posterity, and that they had done all the way back to the day Old Earth stopped answering the calls and a little bit further. Sadly no technical information of note had been preserved.

The kings of Mordia welcomed the Imperium as the heirs to the fallen realm of humanity. Old Earth had finally come to save them.

The First Legion orchestrated the rebuilding of Mordia and later set up a recruitment station at each of the kingdom capitals along the Great Road. This was the 2nd Golden age of Mordia. It was ultimately not to last.

Mordia took to the Imperiums uplifting efforts eagerly as the Chronicle showed them that this was merely returning to where they had been before. They were not abandoning their roots, they were rediscovering them. Before long Mordian regiments were found in the Legions of the Great Crusade, marching forth to raise up others as they had been.

When the War of the Beast afflicted the galaxy their regiments fought no less bravely than any other and gave their lives no less dearly and gave them those soldier did.

>It didn't even have seasons or tides.
Being tidally locked it would have constant global wind blowing from the icy side to the desert at surface level and blowing back at high altitude, and any live that evolved in the twilight ring would be adapted for this.

Mordia itself was spared the direct attention of any major Warboss or Chaos lordling and came out of that awful war maybe less broken then many. They were lucky

Luck ran out in the 1st Black Crusade and every one after that. The warp currents always brought the dregs of the Eye to their door step time and again from then on. It was never assaulted to the degree of Cadia but Cadia was by it's very nature a better and stronger world to defend them.

By the dying of the 41st Millenium Mordia stands still. A grim testament to bloody-minded stubbornness. Life is harsh, death usually harsher. The planet isn't dead but you could be excused for thinking so. Much of the Temperate Band is irradiated and the cities there destroyed from orbit. The Great Road is broken. Civilization in that once fair land was too obvious a target and so was abandoned, the Dark Side of the planet is now the home of the Mordians.

Deep beneath the permafrost and the glaciers and in the mountain holds they dwell by the billions. Hard ranks of whipcord bodies marching in step of iron discipline. War has taught them. War has made them hard. They are a bitter people now, their sunrise smiles erased over the Long War. The Dark Angels stationed during the 1st Black Crusade founded their own order of Crimson Knights, a very Mordian order. The ever dutiful Keepers of the Chronicles keep the records of every war, every victory and every postponed victory as they will never bend or admit defeat. Defeat is to invite total death, they will not permit it.

Chaos and Orks come now to Mordia to die. Their bodies linger for decades and even centuries gradually sinking into the glaciers and the fields of the dead spread in all directions form their strongholds. They venture out to cleanse the Temperate Belt of mutated orks strains that find that greener ground fine for spawning in, feral and savage but far from dangerous. Perfect for training the new recruits.

Mordia still has the title of High King, instituted in better days as a wise intermediary between the people and the Imperium, but now it is given to the head of the armed forces for tradition only. There is nothing left of Mordia untouched by the all consuming war.

From the lowliest tender of the algae vats to the wisest lore-master of the Crimson Knights all serve the war effort. Every warband that dies on Mordia is one less in the wider Imperium. One day, by the grace of their many gods, they will be victorious. One day they will know joy again. One day they will be born under blue skies and the forests will be regrown again.

And, their prophets say, it will be one day soon. Judgment Day is coming, now is the time of the big push towards the dawn.

But for now there is the war

So orks and stuff.

Are there still blood axe mercenaries? Or is the nobledark imperium not ones to give weapons to a hostile alien species that will probably be turned back on them in moments.

It would be considered highly illegal to supply arms to enemies of the Imperium. Send in the Imperial Army and confiscate your planet if found out levels of illegal.

But there's always one person mad, stupid or desperate enough to do it.

>mad, stupid or desperate enough to do it.
What are corsair captains, rogue traders, and radical inquisitors, respectively? for 800 thrones, Oscar

This, it would be stupid to try hiring the Blood Axes, especially since there are other mercenary xeno species like Kroot who are less likely to turn on you. Doesn't mean it doesn't happen. Rogue Traders especially, who don't like to play by the rules on the best of days. Having a Freeboota on staff might be considered less heinous by the Imperium, as opposed to a Dark Eldar or a Crone, which would be treason and you'd be shot on sight (since Orks don't really do manipulatin' and puppeteerin').

The more religious or fanatical members of the Imperium might see the Blood Axes as proof that Orks aren't irredeemable. It's debatable how true this is.

On a related note, I'm imagining the people of Old Earth have an unreasonable hatred towards Orks in this timeline, like they have a fear of Space Marines in canon. For obvious reasons.

For some reason I imagine thrones being an image of Oscar in stylized profile on the front and the Golden Throne on the back, in the manner of an old Roman coin.

To this day, the Emperor complains that they still got his nose too big.

So are they keeping samples of the old twilight trees so that when the day comes they will finally be able to re-seed the twilight zone?

>The more religious or fanatical members of the Imperium might see the Blood Axes as proof that Orks aren't irredeemable. It's debatable how true this is.
I like the idea of ill-advised, enlightenment inspired attempts to reform the orks in panopticon style fortresses. Some sect of Biologicus techpriests, maybe an Order Psychologicus, could have Imperial aristocratic support for their attempts to reform Orcs. They might even have some less than great Seers in their projects, intent on recapturing some (imagined) vision of the old ones in which the Eldar could civilize the Ork. Mostly the project comes about from the recognition that Orks are more loosely held by chaos, the legends from the War in Heaven, and of course the belief popular among those aristocrats that Imperial Reason can clearly do better to sway the barbaric Orks than the madness of Chaos. None of the projects are so stupidly dangerous that the Ordo Xenos would need to crack down, and some of the research they're getting is really useful, but they can't really do shit to reform the Orks, and if they ever did the at least a few of the aristocratic backers would very quickly start trying to grow their own army of Boyz.