Creating a non-Imperium human faction in 40k

Let's see if we can craft up a lost or breakaway human polity in 40k that can weather the coming storm.

First, we'll need the Segmentum in which they reside.

Other urls found in this thread:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisdom_King
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vajra
twitter.com/AnonBabble

pacifica

Ah, Segmentum Pacificus! So we've been hidden right under the Imperium's nose, eh? There's lots of good material there, from the Macharian Crusade to the Plague of Unbelief.

How long have they been there? Give me 1d100 for centuries since founding.

Rolled 66 (1d100)

66 centuries, or 6,600 years! This would put their founding at around 399.M35, right in the middle of the Nova Terra Interregnum in the Segmentum Pacificus! Perhaps they broke away from Nova Terra, but did not reintegrate with the Imperium.

Roll 1d250 for the number of worlds this power possesses. We aren't going for full Five Hundred Worlds of Ultramar, but they must have acquired a few if they've survived almost seven millennia.

Rolled 108 (1d250)

Not op, but seeing 108 worlds makes me want to tie in some kind of buddhist theme to these guys, going off the whole 108/1080 prayer bead thing. At least I think that was a thing.

108 worlds is a lot to just 'lose'..even for the Imperium

Especially in Segementum Pacificus. Maybe we could make them secret separatists? Iconography hidden behind imperial signs, so people traveling through just think its another imperial world, but it hasn't been one for six millennia. Cloak and dagger silencing of people who figure out the truth.

If push comes to shove

Just say wapr fuckery

>No one knows if it was the work of a fel sorcerer, a daemonic incursion, some blasphemous technology of a Heretek or the fickle twist of fate
>But a massive warpstorm enveloped 108 worlds in the Segmentum Pacifica during the height of the Nova Terra Interregnum
>Taking the form of a kaleidoscopic mandela of unnameble colors, the chain of systems were engulfed, space folded in on itself, and contracted together as if the systems had never been there at all
>in an instant over a hundred worlds were swallowed into the warp with nary any sign they had existed in real space at all as stars moved lightyears closer together and realigned in new gravity matrices

We space Tibet now. I'm incredibly excited.

>The chain of worlds are shunted into a bizzarely calm section of warp space
>Persist for 66 centuries
>on the 6th day of the 6th month of the 6th year of the 66th century, real space unfolds itself, reality distorts, and the 108 worlds are plopped back into the modern era.
>for some reason, no one even seems to notice as reality itself over-writes the mistake

Why does this thread make more sense than GW lore?

They got shunted to where warpspace dumps the inevitable daemons of tranquility and diligence and shit that occasionally crop up. There are barely any of them, and they're rare as hell even there, but occasionally you'll have a Tzeentchian Daemon of the Hope aspect fly in as a Lammasu to talk to people, or a Khornate Honor Daemon demanding a duel from a military academy's best student.

Rogue Genestealer cult that won't follow a hive fleet, Patriarchs have made an empire amongst the stars and want to unit mankind under their council.

>we can take the metaphorical Shangri la that people have been obsessed with for centuries and make it a thing in 40k

This is too good to waste.

Graduates from that academy would be ded hard.

Because it fully accepts that the 40k universe is senseless and that all laws of reality are malleable. The warp itself is beyond even the so called 'gods' of chaos, who are they themselves merely facets of an unknowable and inexplicable no-thing that straddles this imperfect creation known as reality. Those who write seek to impose a vision on such a universe that can know no such regulation, in their folly they echo the self same sins of their own so-called creation who, as they, sit moldering upon a throne that is a prison.

>Tzeentchian daemons reciting zen koans.
>Khornate monks exchanging bloodthirst for supreme focus and control.
>Slaaneshi daemons directing massive sand-mandalas, destroying them after their completion to preserve the moment when they were most perfect.
>Nurglite mystics becoming at peace with all things to the point where they don't get sick because the germs and viruses just chill out on them.

>Slaaneshi tantric sex for days, trying to prolong the pleasure as much as possible

>Khornate kung fu mystics capable of crushing a man's skull without damaging his flesh. The DIM MAK.

108 beads now hang upon the neck of he-who-contemplates in golden chains beneath the tree of worlds.

The time of Apotheosis is near, when he shall finally achieve enlightenment and transcend both material and immaterial, becoming all-thing and no-thing, all-thought and no-thought

And then he shall teach us the way, and wash away this prison known as reality, and bring together the two halves that have been separated - material and immaterial - for all time and no-time.

Guys, I just realized what we've done.

We've made Khornates who can REACH HEAVEN THROUGH VIOLENCE

Samui?

Alright, you know what. I'm feeling arty tonight. I'll draw some stuff up for this thread if we can get down some more concrete themes and ideas.

What kind of units do they have?
How are they organized?
Do they have prayer flags and prayer wheels mounted on their tanks?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisdom_King

well if they were a interstellar bubble kingdom their military may not be designed for warfare. There would likely be quite a lot of people who are extremely focused and trained and who are beautifully equipped, but this would be for self improvement rather than to go fight the orcs on world 12,000. So their force, if they intended to go into battle with it would likely be rather unmechanized for a human faction. Why build a tank to fight unless piloting the tank was somehow artistic or spiritual?

Moreover, why build a tank when you step on falling leaves or rain drops and by meditating hard enough you can make your body harder than steel.

So it's a faction of humans led by good greater demons of their respective gods?

so daemons. lots of daemons

ITT: Feng Shui, 40k edition.

I suppose Sorcerers would be a big thing, with the meditation and the like acting as ritual.

I figure that most of them don't actually get to that level. As a culture, they're predisposed to getting people to kung fu bullshit levels, but in terms of basic logistics they're probably people who field small groups as opposed to armies. That said, I figure they'd probably have SOME kind of heavy ordinance, especially since they used to be part of the Imperium. It might be re-purposed however.

Squats

Well yeah, they're probably like the Eldar or if humanity had only Space Marines. Armies made up entirely of elites, without any cannon fodder really.

Also, if they do have heavy ordinance, it should be some kind of psychically powered particle cannon because I feel like that's the sci-fi equivalent of a Vajra. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vajra

Archaeotech?

>without any cannon fodder
except cultists

Actually, given the bullshit kung Fu people are mentioning, actual 'super secret martial art styles' would probably work well as sorcerous paths. The ones that are 'dangerous to learn' result in warp corruption of the 'normal' kind rather than the tranquil variety practiced by these lunatics.

to their magic dudes are actually some of the most combat capable members of the faction then

Field as Daemons of Tzeentch IMO, obviously with heavy kitbashing

The ones with 'natural talent', sure. Or maybe they'd be the archetypal chinese alchemist mystic. I don't know.

I mean we could use the whole thing where Chinese Alchemy was split into two parts. External alchemy was making potions and stuff with the end goal being the elixer of immortality, Internal alchemy was gaining such control of your body that you could convert chi into ching, and were therefore immortal.

So some sorcerers are hardcore casters based around alchemist style fabius bile bullshit, and others are kung fu super ascetics?

I was more thinking alchemy in a less literal sense. High science doped with psychic abilities, so almost eldar-like in it's function. Less refined though, and significantly closer to regular Admech stuff.

Probably it's another path of sorcery/psychic powers.

The martial arts are designed to teach the acolyte how to use the flow of chi/energy/the warp. With a style for each of the major disciplines. (kinda like the thousand son's pre-heresy cults)

The Biomancer stylists practice study how chi flows through the body, strengthening their skin and bones to become like iron, or striking pressure points in their enemies.

The Divination style is all about predicting what your enemy will do, and defeating him before he can defend against it.

The Pyromancer martial artists are the most flashy, igniting the air with their fire dances, and forming it into wheels and other glorious structures.

Likewise, the Telekinetics are also flashy, using their martial art style to strike from a distance, for they know that space is but another illusion of the materium, and that all is one.

The telepaths are the rarest of the styles, for they spend much of their time in meditation. They can send their minds out to talk with others - linking the temples of the hundred and eight worlds, like beads on a necklace. When forced to fight, they are likewise formidable, for their attacks strike not at the flesh, but the spirit.

More the sorcery for martial arts, just because it fits so easily as 'super sendai martial arts powers' as Sorcery. Actual Psykers who were 'internal' martial artists would be using something like Exalted's Solar Hero martial arts - random bullshit they develop themselves. The 'External' ones being the out and out psyker-alchemists.

>Psyker achieves CHIM

immediate thought as to how one would represent this on the tabletop:

Counts-as Inquisitors, Jokaero and Daemonhosts leading conscripts/normal guardsmen.

another thing to consider about their army is what the industrial base behind it is like. On one hand 6k years of peace and good government would do a lot towards making the worlds in question wealthy by imperial standards On the other hand, a culture that focuses on asceticism and no organizations like the mechs to provide technological aid could lead to an anemic manufacturing sector.

I'd say a human army (or chaos force) backed up with the occasional daemon (they prefer deva)

As the 108 worlds are in a becalmed pocket of the warp, so to are their heavens.

These would include the terrifying black skinned and red haired guardians of the sacred places (Who others would see as unusually calm Bloodletters); the comely nymphs of paradise who tend the gardens of the gods (their connection to the Daemonettes is obvious); the disturbing hungry ghosts who devour the bodies of the dead may be feared -- but they do their duty as do we all (Plaguebearers), which of course leaves the perpetually dying and reborn deva who taught the martial arts to humans. (Pink and Blue Horrors)

They are all led by the four heavenly kings, Greater Daemons of the four lords of Chaos who are as changed as any other inhabitant of the 108 worlds.

They probably work very slowly, but the stuff they make it incredibly powerful. Or, more interestingly, they've figured out Warp based methods to expedite the whole process. A sorcerer could mix the right alchemical reagents and poof a whole bunch of steel into existence without any mining or forging.

Mars is a non imperium faction.

Probably big users of daemon weapons and daemon engines. Temple cars where the deva inside helps fight when war comes.

My attempt at Chaos Buddhists.

OP here, holy shit. I leave to go to bed and you people roll and create Shangri-La in 40k.

Well done, Veeky Forums. You have gotten shit done. I have only one more question for you before this creation is yours forever:

What is the name of this place?

Frankly, part of me wants to go the easy route with Shambala, but we can probably think of something more 40kish.

Only the avatar can master all four styles, and bring balance to this segment of the warp

The Nerakan Reclusiam.

Seems great to me. Feels 40k-ish enough while evoking the Shangri-la vibe.

Sadly I feel like as soon as the Imperium would hear of this place they'd launch a massive crusade to "retake the worlds in the name of the Emperor," because the Imperium banned anything remotely fun or ideal that doesn't belong to nobles or high-lords.

So what's their relationship like to the other factions?

>Only War
Yes, yes we know. But in what way? Courteous shadow wars with the Eldar? "They Shall Not Pass" style attrition with the IoM? A strange martial respect for the Orks?

Probably not since Rowboat is leading now.

It's kinda closed off with only a brief window of entrance. The Imperium probably does maintain a garrison fleet to try and invade whenever possible.

I'd see the IoM planning on annexing them, but still treating them with some sort of respect due to them not being xenos-lovers or absolute chaos worshippers.
They'd be planning on purging them, but still find some sort of respect in the way they pushed man to its limits in their own way.
And I really want to see imperium sided Renegade monks. Emperor monks.

>there are many statues that weep within the Nerakan Reclusiasm that represent those who have swayed from the path of self-righteousness and wisdom to pursue a path of servitude for the Imperium

So i would assume that at some point an inquisiter would start digging a bit deeper and would find out about the cult
How much of a shitstorm would be caused?

It's a weird kind of cult, so even finding out exactly how heretical it gets is going to be damn hard. I think one thing we've been leaving our is that if these daemons are manifestations of the Big Four's more positive aspects, they're absurdly rare. There are a lot more people who worship Khorne as the bloody god of conquest and slaughter than as the god of righteous honor and sublime training. These daemons are going to be rare as fuck, they're going to be hidden, and they're going to be halfway between folklore and ancestral figure to many of the planets in the Nerakan.

If an Inquisitor does manage to find out and get the message out before getting silenced, shit is going to hit the fan so hard it might as well have been shot from a baneblade.

It might even still have elements of Emperor worship - think of how in the real-world Tibet, even with lots of influence from Buddhism and Hinduism, older spirits of the mountains still exist. The God-Emperor could be seen as some enlightened sort of individual, even if his worship has declined due to the long span of history without contact with the Imperium.

>Inquisitor confuses stylized depictions of Daemons as stylized depictions of Primarchs and Saints.

I'm okay with this.

I think this is the ticket. The Buddha figure has to be obviously the Emporer and very predominant. And in a way it's true, with him sitting on the Golden Throne and essentially being one with the Warp. Perhaps the people of the 108 planets don't even connect the dots, but the Ecclesiastical and Inquisition forces see it's clear as day from the outside who these Buddha statues are supposed to really represent.

Would those with high levels of spiritual understanding be able to see the light of the Astronomicon, even if it's only at some abstract level beyond articulation?

The four chill demons would present themselves as the four great immortal teachers who lead the people on their way to enlightenment and oneness with the Emporer and the universe. Maybe it's a ruse, maybe it's not because the worship only makes the tranquil warp even more tranquil.

They are not, however, part of the IoM because the rest of the universe cannot let go of its need for physical existence and attachment.

Make it like China and Tibet.

Imagine how bum bothered an inquisitor would be if demons guided them to be pious (even if esoteric to an extreme degree) and loyal to the Emperor but not the IoM.

Would reaching enlightenment involve turning into a minor demon or dying and having your soul dissolve into the smooth glass like sea of the undisturbed warp?

I just realized something.

Throat-singing Noise Marines.

I could see the Four Daemons being kinda like the monk's companions in Journey to the West. Originally they were the disciples of the founder who were swayed from their destructive path and now live past him transcending to teach his ways.

The Old Slann, in ancient editions, taught the Eldar about how to become an immortal being by becoming a reincarnating warp spirit.

The people here probably have a similar view (And these would be Daemon Princes. Just, you know, not utterly terrifying monstrosities all the time.

Hmm, their worship of the Emperor would probably be awfully similar to the old Sensei stuff, come to think about it.

Leman Russ and a Bloodthirster could easily be confused, come to think about it.

Alright, someone give me a name for the Slaaneshi Daemon, because I'm gonna draw it. I'm thinking of lots of Kali and Kama Rati to its design, maybe some veils.
Tell me if you have any ideas to add to it

Okay, what if the Daemons all dwell on one particular world, gifted by their redeemer and purifier. In normal terms this would be a daemonworld, because there the immaterium and materium are one.

Here, however, the daemons/deva of each kindred do not fight. Working together under the four heavenly kings: The General of Heaven, the Laughing God, the Peacock Sage, and the Concubine of Paradise.

Trathka, Returned Prince of Undying Affection, who has maintained presence in the material realm and cohesion in the immaterial realm to guide others towards the point of transcendence. The Prince them-self was but an infinitesimal fraction away from transcendence, but has held back to guide us as well. None shall be left behind!

I'd add some aspects of Ardhanarishvara, the composite form of Shiva and Shakti, showing how one cannot separate masculine and feminine, and that they are both halves of a heavenly whole.

This also keeps the Slaaneshi trait of hermaphroditism, which is helpful.

If the warp is so supremely calm and serene, would that mean psykers and AI are actually very stable and not blasting into warp corrupted monstrosities?

I'd say emergent psykers would be yogi and other spiritual guides, since they have what amounts to an opened Third Eye which can see into the immeterium. The most spiritually adept may even see glimpses of the Golden Throne and He Who Attained Enlightment himself.

Based thread, I really want this to be canon.

Or maybe not, since Geedubs would most likely fuck with it.

>mfw Veeky Forums homebrews Shangri-La in 40k.

How would the military function? Would there be robo-monks? People so in touch with themselves that their weapons become an extent of their being? Reverse Tau?

You could use something like this and have imperial 'daemon' Bodhisattvas, people who perfected themselves enough to linger on as spirits, guiding others towards enlightenment

So how has time changed the admech among these worlds?

I like the idea of a Daemon King.

Well, there already are electro-priests in the Imperium, and Chaos has the Obliterator. The 108 Pearls of Nerakan may have something similar.

I imagine their military to combine aspects of the guard, the admech, and chaos into a whole. Deva weapons, mass ranks of soldiers armed with las-pikes, sorcerer-psyker-martial artist-monks, and the occasional Deva.

Weapons based on the Vajra would make sense, as described. Maybe make them have arc weapons as a basis?

Vehicles could include chariot based troop transports, temple cars, elephantine-Deva Engines, and floating lotus-like anti-grav platforms.

Used to be a thing back in the RT days.

Sensei Masters, "daemon princes" of the Star Child (the god the Emperor was becoming), they would actually ascend -- becoming part of him, but could return to help those in need.

Another interesting dimension of their military would be their space ships. Considering the warp was so chill there they very probably wouldn't bother with Gelar fields. And since awareness of the Astronimicon would be stronger and more common in their population they likely could travel extremely quickly and accurately in their home region, but would be eaten alive if they ventured outside it.

So, a big question.

Do they have space marines?

I'd say probably not. 6600 years isn't a long time to a marine chapter, so if one was present they could likely keep 108 worlds under Imperial culture for that time. We can diverge further and in more interesting ways without them present.

Any if anything chaos related ever journeyed inside it would get sleepy and take a nap. Which means it would turn back before going totally comatose or be easily swept away.

I like this idea, it makes even the farthest separated worlds effectively next door neighbors in terms of travel.

No, but they have warrior chi masters who are pretty much on the same levels. Even if there was only about a dozen out of billions from each planet could achieve such mastery, it would still be about Chapter strength all in all. Acolytes and typical monks would be like the scouts/initiates.

Makes sense. Plus of course this way their armies diverge further.

I would imagine no, the presence of space marines at the start would probably make most of the tranquility not exist due to them going to war against daemons.

Mercenaries at best. Marines who are a bit like the Gurkha could be an idea.

>Gurkha Marines
They're based on an asteroid that only occasionally is in the pocket dimension that the 108 developed in.

Could work.

So like a renegade warband, not quite falling to chaos yet, ends up pulled in and starts acting as a mercenary force?

Part of me would want to make them space-wolf descendants, with the fangs, claws, and bones making them like ogres or rakshasha.

>Chapter Founder Enkidu

Lets do this.

they currently control 108 worlds...thats not how many they had per say when they split with the imperium.

Remove Guard and replace with Storm Troopers.

Sort of. In the same way you've got monks screaming SHADOWLESS KICK in old wirefu movies and teleporting to kick someone in the balls, that SHADOWLESS KICK is actually a sorcerous ritual, as are all the other moves. Instead of just flat out adapting current paths. You've got people who meditate to make themselves as strong as steel, or light enough to leap from raindrop to raindrop. As the person who started the chain mentioned. Tabletop stats probably would just give them one or two thematic abilities, and make them either solo/scount units, or sergeants.

Psykers would probably follow the inner path and just have some bizarre melange of martial arts 'styles'. Outer path ones would probably be squad leaders, randomly buffing their followers each turn without th chance of their faces melting off.

>Rakshasha Marines

Makes sense, too deviant now for Mars to permit propagating, yet still loyal after a strange fashion. Their usual opposition to the local warp presences (because they still maintain records of 'the old/true warp') makes them isolated and paranoid.

Perhaps to fit with the Rakshasha legends they channel this distrust into a focus on illusions and misdirection (through a combination of mild hypnosis, holo-projectors, and a knack for the common art of disguise and camouflage. Huge focus on shock and awe, smash and grab raids in which a squad bursts out of hiding after having waited undercover in plain site for days.

They don't have a lot of gear, but they've at lot of acumulated cunning and almost infinite patience interspersed with spasms of explosive violence.

Works for me.

Being trapped in a pocket dimension with little threats probably means they're certainly not using mass recruitment. You'll probably have a professional warrior caste, with carapace armour, fancy weaponry, and a whole lot of practice -- if little actual experience.