Warmasters' Triumvirate XIX

Abzu?
T-h-m-t?
(Tehomt, Tiamat, etc etc.)

Again, aw shucks.

If I choose to take Emil down that route and not just leave that story as a "Dark Vision that might have been" sort of thing, only the Primarch himself and his Terquo (1000 marines) would actually fall to Chaos.

Legion leadership would then devolve to the 10 Soulshroud Praetors and Aptathos, more than likely.

In terms of actual military strength goes, 99% of the Steel Souls would remain in the Separatist camp.

Emil would presumably get a massive power boost as a Daemon Primarch, finally unshackling himself from all his previous self-imposed restraints (ironically, enacted for the very purpose of preventing Chaotic corruption in the first place), but he'd be a little like Mortation from then on. Hating himself for what he's done, secluding himself to reduce the chances he ever comes to blows with his gene-children, and only rarely acting outside of the Maelstrom.

He would become the eternal tyrant of Nonimat IV, ruling over them as a dark mirror to what had once been, but with little ambition for galactic conquest.

I do think it might be an interesting way to have Emil "die", is the primary utility of this story option. Emil's not written as a very aggressive or reckless Primarch, he's rather cautious and insular. He also doesn't have many deep rivalries with the other Primarchs. Logically, a man of his character would remain largely apart from Galactic events as much as possible, especially since protecting his "family/Legion" is almost as high a priority as anything else.

Which implies that barring Deus Ex Machina or jobbing a fight for jobbing's sake... Emil would probably survive to the 40th Millennium. He's very good at concealing himself and surviving if he has to.

And although I don't think the group has really weighed in one way or another (Please correct me if I'm wrong), I would imagine the Loyalist and Separatist Primarchs are *not* intended to make it to M40, correct?

Sweet pic, yo.

>World Serpents
>Deathcoils
>Deep Crushers
>Black Abyss
>Seabed Kings
>Subductors
>Benthic Host
>Mercurial Ascendants (themes of both Chaos/quicksilver, deadly poison (mercury), rising in power and rising pressure in mm of mercury. hits a lot of interesting notes especially for the scientific-minded)

Space Serpents? Space Snakes? Maybe use Astral instead of Space?

"Snakes" doesn't really have enough gravitas to it, imo.

>Conda Legion lolololol but actually maybe a little srs

Anaconas + Condor Legion, always a winner. The Condors certainly caused some Chaos in Spain, eh?
(Also you get to make Guernica references in there somewhere for maximum culture and pathos)

Maybe "Legio Ancondor" or something would be better, to blur the references a little more smoothly. Or something.

>Condor
Wait, that's my thematic domain

That, and the whole 'deep sea' thing is kind of big for the First.

I didn't mean literally giving them a bird/Condor theme, I was just riffing off of how Anaconda and Condor sound similar-ish.

Just idle brainstorming on my part, nothing more.

The Seps have a few Primarchs surviving to M41, Gyahdred Piter and Valorn to name the ones whose fates are known at the mo. As for the Loyalists, Linares goes full Doom Marine mode (starts killing daemons and just doesn't stop) and Pacha becomes a planet. Really, the only Primarchs we know die at this point are Raj, Marduk, Rokuten and Zelbezis.

Honestly, I'm kinda glad the seps seem to have more active primarchs than the OU imperium does. I think the seps kind of need some of their primarchs to stick around, for cohesion if nothing else. The Separatist primarchs are in many ways one of the greatest driving forces behind the movement's victories. For them all to kick the bucket would probably spell doom for the Union, as it could easily fall apart into petty, squabbling little empires that could be easily conquered by the Imperium.

What about Astral Serpents?

Perhaps "Sons of the Deep" or something to that effect

Hmm. Well, that's a perspective I hadn't really considered.

Damn, I really don't know what direction to take things now.

Pacha actually was a planet
(Pun)

I'm going to stick a LED to this, so when a joke is told, it turns on.

Interstellar reference, anyone?

Yeah man, you can't just run off and become a Daemon Primarch. You's a PARENT now. You's got RESPONISBILITIES an' shit.

But it all seriousness, take it whatever direction you want. Piter and Gyahdred have bitten the bullet and become stay at home moms, so you're free to gallivant and achieve apotheosis as often as you please while they take care of the Separatist's baby.

...

Okay people, stop fucking up the OP. I went to the "previous thread", and it was XVII, not XVIII.

Did you even archive the previous thread?

I direct your attention to camera three

I like the Mercury in there for the symbolism. Perhaps something with Cinnibar or Vermilion?
I'll look at some alchemical stuff later.

Sky Serpents!

Let's see if I can get this typed up before I have to go...
So what I'm picturing for the seps is this:
A rather tight, pretty efficient state built around a strong central government. They've got the Soul Wires for regular, efficient communication across the domain, they also help transit, like a hybrid telegraph/railway. They can expand it, too, but it takes time and effort and if there's a break in the system, the trains get derailed. Still, throughout the East, you can generally get where you want to go and send messages. It's as close to a Galactic Empire as you'll get in 40k.
With this, though, it's an intricate machine and doing something like mobilizing for war impacts the entire system. It's a massive bureacracy, less that it's horrifically innefficient than the system is so big that it takes work to divert the needed resources.
You'll get what you need, and it will be good quality. Eventually. But trains. And switching trains.

To sort of parallel this, I'm thinking if the Nids show up, the Dusk Phantoms see it, hold the line for a while, take massive losses, Piter does a huge defense in depth kind of a deal. It's to buy time for the network to divert the resources and bring the bug killing toys out of cold storage. But when the counter comes, the hive fleets are totally wrecked. They've been lured deeper into a transit system they can't use and are surrounded by a sectors wide industrial system. It's like they ran into the great crusade.

But they can't do that with the Western Imperium or Chaos. They'd need to lay track and wire and defend the switch points. And that takes time. It takes years to build a rail depot. And, infuriatingly, the West is wholly compartmentalized. Even if they lose a sector, the system as a whole keeps chugging along.

BTW, did Rokuten commission that image, or did you?

T'was Rokuten

The relatively large size/low density of Ultima Segmentum is also going to be a major factor.

It's not quite like the Eastern Roman Empire where Greece/Anatolia had large populations, I imagine it'll be more like Canada/Russia with incredible amounts of raw resources and high potential for growth relative to the relatively cramped Imperium, but the population concentrated in a handful of scattered sectors. Macragge and its immediate surroundings being an example.

It's like when the Mongols got to Europe and after squishing everything they'd come across, saw all the castles they'd have to take one by one and the extreme length of the supply lines and said NOPE.
It goes from trains everywhere to the Atlantic full of U-Boats.
By the same token, the East is really hard to invade, but because the West doesn't have to reorient its whole transit network to do it, they can do it more often. It doesn't get them very far, but they can keep spamming crusades.

And chaos just lives to fuck with the network, so the Commisariat and the Secret Police are constantly looking for them and engaged in running battles.

So it's sort of like the East is WWI Germany or Prussia in the 1870s. Really well organized massive machine of a state. And if they are up against something they can prepare for, it's a bloodbath, either like France falling in a matter of months, or it turns into the Western Front.
But the West is all diffuse and feudal. It's like the US trying to invade Iraq or Vietnam. They can topple a regional government, but there's no center to it and there's a thousand angry militias.

>Pacha becomes a planet
Nigga what
>So what I'm picturing for the seps is this:
>A rather tight, pretty efficient state built around a strong central government.
Besides the Ogre Legion. Sometimes. When they don't have their shit together. Like in the tenth Civil War to decide whether to remain with the Seps or not.

If I were gonna equate the Leviathans with any metal or metal-like substance it would be verdigris. Bronze verdigris.

I like Benthic Host, Benthic specifically has been a word that's really stuck with me in relation to the legion. Maybe Reavers or Raiders or something, given their heritage and combat MO. Maybe Sons of Tiamat or Benthic Sons.

I'll think on it over tonight. As it is, Leviathan Host sounds good to me but only because I've said it a lot in my head. I'd like to keep it, but I know it could be better.

Benthic Reavers feels good on the tongue, I think.

What do you guys think about Mot's loadout being his chainmaul and just a normal bolter? Upon reflection I think Mot doesn't need to be on the taller side for the primarchs.

Is the chainmaul a one-handed weapon?

It can be. I was imagining something like a flanged mace with chain blades on the flanges.

Seems like it'd be hard to press a mace into the target long enough to really get much cutting done compared to a sword, but sure. And it feels like a waste to have four or more cutting edges but only be able to apply one at a time, too.

At least if it's one-handed it's easy enough to swap between melee and ranged combat. I see no problem with the loadout as stated, I only question its utility.

Chainsaw swords are ridiculous too though.

Ridiculous yes, but not at the same level as a multibladed chainmace. You've got motors and blades pointing all over the place, guaranteeing at least some of your force is always wasted, you see?

No, it's just as ridiculous. In fact, the extra weight probably helps.

I think we're going to have to agree to disagree, then.

If *I* was to do a Chainhammer/mace type deal, I'd do it with a bigass Hammer of Sigmar type weapon with one large, broad crushing head.

Then I'd create a recessed area in that hammer face within which I'd install many, many, many rows of chainblades, all rotating in alternate direction for maximum grinding effect, like a plowed field except the field is planted with monomolecular death instead of corn.

And then when you strike someone, all the force is in a single direction, and all the teeth benefit from it. And instead of making a long gash in someone, the hammer basically chews and mangles a big square hole in the target, shredding anything it touches to a far greater extent than a normal chain weapon.

Hell, I might do that myself anyway, come to think of it. Call it a "Kannav-pattern" Chain Hammer.

Ooh, transiberian railway!

Damn dude, I like that better than my idea. It fits more with the Forge theme as well.

Pretty much. The Steel Road is just a bunch of Forge Worlds, and the Soul Wires are just telegrams, but pair them together and it's kiiiiiiinda like a railway system.

Kinda. But only a little, because neither resupply points nor telegraph poles actually let you move more swiftly or safely.

Well, I know someone was talking earlier about Primarchs gifting each other weapons. Perhaps the first one truly *is* a "Kannav-pattern" hammer, and Emil makes it for Mot's use in an effort to bridge some of the distance between them.

Before everything goes all Chaos-y of course.

So I'm new round these threads. Where can I find a breakdown of the different chapters and what they do?

There should be a link to our spreadsheet in OP.
All the documents and info are on that man.

Another big document, boys, and another one that will 100% need your help to make sure I've done it right.

docs.google.com/document/d/1ak5R2FNCl1vV5-xoM5RWa1zyPIL8McBOwwqkw3dI8-Y/edit?usp=sharing

This is the link between the "Emil enters the Ruinstorm" story and the "Emil falls to Chaos" story. Because I still haven't fully decided whether Emil falling to Chaos is the best choice for our AU narrative, I have left it open enough that another future where the Steel Souls make it back across the Ruinstorm to rejoin the Separatists is also possible.

Please let me know what you all think, because once I get this bit of plot tied together, that actually gets Emil and his Legion past the Heresy and into the true bulk of Imperial History, an obstacle I know most AUs seem to inevitably stumble on when they try to pass it.

See the first post in this thread, there's a Google spreadsheet with most of what we've done thus far in it.

>21 chapters
>Hashut

21 Legions because three-way split.

Hashut is... not something I would have written, but my word is not law here.

>21 Legions because three-way split.
I'd rather have 18 legions though

Time will tell, I suppose. If pruning must happen, we might end up there by default.

(I like the numerology of 7-7-7 better though)

6-6-6

Or we can get on the phone with 5-5-5

You don't like 6-6-6?

6-6-6 is overdone in Grimdarkia.

7-7-7 is a "lucky" number, but the 3 way split is very far from lucky. I like that dissonance, personally.

777 also has more relevance in stuff like turn of the century occultism. Most obviously Crowley.

That and the Seven Sins/Virtues, should anyone feel like playing with that.

Not really my thing, but hey, it's nice to have the option.

So that pretty much sums up my thoughts on the matter.

People don't like Hashut?

What is Hashut doing in 40K?

I don't, but we've already discussed why in previous threads. I'm not opposed to Hashut so strongly as to make a big fight about it though.

I do. I've explained several times why it works.

I don't care

If the soul wires map stable aetheric currents and serve as regular beacons, it should give you something more reliable than the OU. Sort of a better system for travelling within the network but harder outside it kind of deal. This on the assumption that Emil put a great deal of time and effort into these things and he didn't know about the webway project.

>he didn't know about the webway project
well, how many OU primarchs knew about the webway project? As in, "knew it was about the webway" as opposed to "knew dad was doing some shit"

None of the Primarchs knew.

In this AU it'd be even worse, considering the Emperor never really starts the project.

Serpents of the Deep?

I'm not digging Serpents all that much...

Wardens of the Deep?
Keepers of the Deep?
Watchers...?

Where did you guys get the painter for your space marines? The B&C one I can find has much reduced functionality from the one I remember.

It's just the one in the OP. Make sure to use the Constructor, not the Generator.

As soon as you mentioned Watchers, the Abyss Watchers immediately popped into my head

I thought about Drakengard.

bump

Maybe just a thunder hammer would work best for the Forge theme.

I just don't know anymore.

Better than a maul, yes

Right, so I'm thinking that if Emil is doing a massive infrastructure project, it'll include a provision for transit.

Bearing in mind that it can't be anything on the scale/safety of a working Webway Project, what exactly would that entail, then?

Beacons of Gondor or some such like you were talking about here?

Just the low rez for now until he sends the proper thing. but here it goes.

oh my good, he looks so goddamn nice.

Ramsay Snow.

His face large

...

bump

How much was it? I've set aside some money for Marduk now. I just have to decide what his face looks like.

Slow day. I have some big Leviathan stuff to post tomorrow though.

Dat boi could drive a fencepost with his forehead!

All jokes aside, looks pretty good. I guess one of these days I'm going to have to get over my fear of trusting people on the internet and order Emil's pic now, lol.

The jawline of a god, the chin of a ball-peen hammer

dude could fit a battle barge in that wideass mouth lol

I should order some Characters from FW and convert them into characters from the Death's Heads
I should also save my money up since I'm heading back to school soon and getting my first apartment

>Post three hours ago
>come back to check thread
>only one actual person and a troll have posted 3 posts between them
>It's not the weekend, it's Wednesday night

Where the hell is everyone? Even the Hektor thing didn't tail off this quickly.

gotta remember names and shit when i get back from anoning in other threads goddamnit

I'm here, writing up numbers and details for the VI Legion
Also thinking of starting to write a timeline for my Legion, might be nice for everyone to do so. That way we can have a reference for when different things go down

During the work week everybody has jobs, so it usually picks up on weekends.

On weekends everybody's partying so they usually only post on work days.

During the summer everybody's soaking up rays, and every other season they're waiting for summer.

If you feel like you wind up with a decent-looking timeline, you should make a template of it for everyone to use. That'll help people keep things consistent stylistically, and make it easy to spot where a Legion has gaps that might need filling.

So I might as well fuck off because no one's ever going to be around and this project is an illusion, lol? That about cover it?

Lambach's favorite book.

>So I might as well fuck off because no one's ever going to be around and this project is an illusion, lol? That about cover it?
Twas a joke.

Guess I should have added a /s to my "lol". Whoopsie.

Sure, I'd be more than willing to set a template for everyone else to use. It'd make things a lot easier to translate between Legions

On that same note, if anyone would like to use the "Dispotia Tacticae" section of the Death's Heads doc to layout their Legion's assets and disposition in more detail, feel free!
Just so you know, the weight classes of Imperial vessels are, from Largest to Smallest
>Battleships
>Grand Cruisers
>Battle Cruisers
>Cruisers
>Light Cruisers
>Frigates
>Destroyers