Nobledark 40k part 41: Fear and Loathing in Savlar edition

Inquisitor Staven Arcturos

I have no idea who he is and I can't find him on he lexicanum.

Also he will be more reclaiming and overseeing the conquest and initial stages of resettlement of a depopulated world then actually "rescuing".

Oh sorry, I meant in the initial assault to reclaim the xenos artifact on Ornsworld, not the actual liberation then rebuilding the planet.

Still no idea who he is or what he's done.

The advantages of pulse is it turns plasma weaponry into what was once only good for heavy and tank-busting into something that can be mass-produced and easily used.

The downsides is they lose some of the raw face-melting power of other races' plasma guns, but that's the trade-offs you get for trying to temper the raw destructive power of plasma.

>Laser rifles still have the "good enough" edge over everything combined with mass production and parts interchangeable. Also less training needed to use and maintain.

Yep. Also the AdMech can't replicate pulse weaponry easily without going to the Earth Caste for advice and they're too proud to do that (and they can't just claim they "found" an STC for pulse weaponry like they do with a lot of other things because there are no records of mankind using anything like pulse weaponry on a wide scale).

Some more thoughts for the Phoenix Lords

FUEGAN

Fuegan’s a pretty fun guy. He’s loud, boisterous, and if you just went by his personality alone one would be surprised to find out he’s an Eldar. He’s also pretty simple. He likes to blow stuff up. That said, don’t confuse “simple” with “stupid” or “incompetent”. Fuegan is a genius with explosives and is more than capable of long term planning, and he is more than willing to make use of his demeanor and reputation to make an enemy commander drop their guard and trick them into stepping on a landmine. His willpower is also legendary, but then again all of the Phoenix Lords are known for their willpower.

He also swears to a degree that would make a Cadian-Ulthwéan’s jaw drop.

BAHARROTH

When the old guard talk about Eldar heroes, it’s usually Baharroth and to a lesser degree Asurmen who they tend to think of, as opposed to people like Eldrad. Baharroth is the ace of the Phoenix Lords: He’s not a master of all like Asurmen, but is by far one of the most skilled non-Asurmen Phoenix Lords, in addition to his style of combat being one of the flashiest as well.

Baharroth’s Craftworld, Anaen, was one of those nearly destroyed by the War of the Beast, invaded by a Khornate Warlord named Trarkh (unclear if it was one of the Fallen, a Crone, or a Chaos Ork). Anaen was not completely depopulated, but nearly the entire population including Baharroth’s entire family (barring his brother, Maugan Ra) was killed in the battle despite the two brothers fighting on the world and the survivors and what was left of the Infinity Circuit immigrated to Biel-Tan.

The downside to Baharroth is he is also the most racist of the Phoenix Lords. Not in a Dorhai or Dark Eldar way, but in an “Eldar’s burden” kind of way. He is very vocal about how he sees the Eldar as the pinnacle of creation and it’s up to the uncorrupted children of Isha and Kurnous to save the rest of the galaxy from themselves. As a result, while he is an ace in combat, he is a pain to deal with personally. This is one of the two reasons the old guard like him so much. Asurmen was/is a pragmatist who was willing to bend rules and change the status quo if it was the right thing to do (he did agree to Eldrad’s proposal after all). Baharroth is more of an idealist who conforms to the older generations’ ideas of how things “should be”. The other reason is he lasted longer in his original incarnation than almost any other Phoenix Lord barring Maugan Ra, and so many of his deeds pre-reincarnation are much more recent.

Not to mention that lasers shoot in a straight line forever at light speed, whereas plasma is relatively slow and can deviate like all mass based weaponry. In fact I'd imagine that most Imperial species, even if they don't use lasguns as their standard infantry rifle, use the long-las or hotshot lasgun as their sniper rifle of choice (other than special units like Vindicares, Eldar Rangers, or Astartes who laugh at recoil and have super-brains that can calculate trajectories in an instant).

MAUGAN RA

Maugan Ra, as we all know, is the surly, aloof loner of the Phoenix Lords. Though in this case he has good reason to be, his entire Craftworld is dead, it’s memory perverted, and he’s one of the only survivors. In contrast to his brother, Maugan Ra is one of the least snobby Phoenix Lords, but this kind of manifests as a cynical fatalism towards everyone and everything. Everything dies eventually and everyone fucks up no matter who you are, no use sugarcoating it or pretending it didn’t happen.

Depending on the timeline, it’s not clear how old he was when Altansar got destroyed. Ra was said to be young at the time and was one of the few to make it off the Craftworld, but Altansar fell during the Fall of the Eldar, which was the same time that Asurmen pulled off his Caledor the Dragontamer impression. So he either did not learn under Asurmen directly (which further drives a wedge between him and the other Phoenix Lords) or he was maybe a young adult and hadn’t trained under Asurmen as long when the Fall happened. He could have even pulled a Luke-and-Yoda thing where he went off to try and save Altansar as an incompletely trained young hothead and failed.

Despite being all grim and dark, he does have standards. He would never kill an Exarch, much less an Avatar of Khaine, just to temper his weapon. He does have a heart of gold even though you’d never get him to admit it, he wouldn’t keep fighting the good fight if he didn’t. He was loyal to Asurmen and kind of insulted when the other Phoenix Lords suspected him of being the traitor that destroyed the Shrine of Asur, but it manifested as more of “You seriously thought I did it on the basis that I’m creepy and a loner. Wow. Way to make assumptions.”

Maugan Ra spends most of his time bumming out in the Webway. It means he can show up wherever and whenever he needs to and make a huge difference, and at the same time he doesn’t have people bothering him all the time.

KARANDAS

Surprisingly enough, it’s Karandas, rather than Maugan Ra, who has the biggest chip on his shoulder. Maugan Ra has angst over Altansar, but he lets it all hang out rather than keep it in. Karandas, on the other hand, is the only Phoenix Lord who was not the original master of their aspect. Arhra was. Karandas was just Arhra’s best student. So he thinks he should have seen Arhra’s PTSD-induced betrayal coming and stopped him (depending on how we interpret canon Eldar culture, on starships at least it’s seen as the job of the second-in-command to relieve their superior of duty if they think they’re going off the deep end).

He’s smart enough about it to not completely bottle it up inside and let it fester, because that’s exactly what happened to Arhra and he knows where that path leads.

Don't pulse weapons fire particle-sized mass-accelerated bursts of plasma and have built-in correcting stabilizers? It would mean pulse weapons have an additional system that one has to worry about breaking and has little stopping power though, the former being another reason why las might be seen as more reliable.

>What happened later is shrouded in mystery. Some claim that Arcturos became a guest of an Eldar Craftworld, whilst others say he roamed distant stars, transported by alien witchery. Whatever the truth, upon Arcturos’ return he was a deeply changed man. Arcturos swiftly became one of the Xeno Hybris’ faction’s most fervent members, and he is reputed to have a number of aliens amongst his retinue. Those who have spoken to Arcturos report that he is now obsessed with the Eldar’s means of viewing the future through a series of psycically-active runestones, and that he constantly practices this vile form of divination, basing every act on what he sees in the patterns of the stones.
Basically, he is an Eldarboo.

On the subject of Tau, I found something interesting about Kais. We mentioned that Kais was a natural outlier for Tau in terms of reflexes. Got a chance to take a look at the plot of the Fire Warrior novel and ironically there is something kind of like this in there. The other Fire Caste soldiers are a little nervous about Kais because reminds them of what the Tau were like during the Mon'tau.

It kind of makes some sense. The Fire Caste's naturally ability to fight might have been dulled by generations of peace once the Tau'va unified T'au. When the Tau got offworld and started fighting again for the first time in millenia, they largely used battlesuits that compensated for their reflexes and so never experienced as strong of selection for faster warriors. In other words, Kais might literally be a throwback to the days in which the Fire Caste were more Attila the Hun than professional soldier.

Or he could have been just something of a ninja freak.

Sounds like he should fif right in to the Nobledarkness.

How often did the Dark Eldar defect and flee to the Craftworlds?

Also how long has it been since Vect and Malys got married?

I've done a thing

1d4chan.org/wiki/Nobledark_Imperium_Notable_Planets#Rynn.27s_World

Have I done a thing right?

It's been exactly one millenium. They made the announcement to coincide with Malys declaring the 12th Black Crusade on New Years Eve of 999.M40. The Dark Eldar didn't really participate in the Crusade (the rest of the Dark City except for the most cynical individuals were as shocked as the Imperium), the announcement was meant more as a "more doom hanging over your head" to the Imperium.

Makes sense. We have Imperial Tauaboos, Tau Imperiaboos, Eldar humanaboos, and everything inbetween. Makes sense there would be human Eldaraboos, especially given it is no longer heresy.

>What about Colchis?
What ABOUT Colchis? I mean, this is a case where the Eldaraboo-ing is on an individual basis, rather than a fusion of cultures.

Looks good. Written very well (especially the new parts).

So in this AU Staven Arcturos is from Colchis and is considered in his attitudes not unusual for someone from that world.

In which case he probably looks like a WHFB high elf with blunt ears. Or at least dresses like one.

Looks okay.

>also sexy Spaniards

Also Spaniard Amish elves. Do the Spanish have an equivalent to the Amish?

I would actually say the opposite: not from Colchis. Don't give in to the stereotype.

But stereotypes are always fun.

Are there more Phoenix Lords you are planning to do?

The only ones who don't have anything yet are Irillyth, Drastanta, and Lykhosidae. Also there is quite a bit of room for expansion on the others, given these are the Eldar equivalent of primarchs.

bump

Some general thoughts on tyranid anatomy for the sake of discussion.

Many tyranid species are characterized by pores along their head, neck, and thorax, suggesting a completely decoupled respiratory and digestive system in which air is taken in by spiracles (and indeed, this is suggested by Xenology based on purestrain genestealer dissections). Additionally, some of the more unusual tyranid physiological features, such as the “smokestacks” of the Swarmlord, can be easily produced by modifying a spiracular breathing system into more specialized organs. What this means is that tyranids can eat and eat and eat without having to stop and breathe, even compared to organisms like humans (even though they can’t really digest it that well in most cases).

However, in insects spiracles can cause problems because they cannot easily increase ventilation of the body, cause problems with molting, and the spiracles act as vectors for parasites. A system of spiracles that is powered by a more traditional lung-like pump and oxygen exchange seems more likely, as well as a lack of molting (with tyranids either metamorphosing like tadpoles or certain insects like beetles or growing and healing like vertebrates). The spiracles may also be able to constrict if they need to “hold their breath” (also explaining how tyranids can fight in space as well as the “tyranauts” of Sotha).

Tyranids are also described as having weird circulatory systems that are linked to some other system (I can’t find the link, but I was stumped when I saw it), and genestealers have been described as having an outright open circulatory system. This may mean that some of their muscles are hydraulics pressurized by more “normal” muscles, meaning they can hit like a truck.

It also has to be noted that most tyranids aren't expected to live for more than a few days. They don't live long enough for problems to develop.

It basically sounds like "insects, but with some troubleshooting applied".

I expect given the smokestacks that Tyranids may operate on a similar system to sea sponges and high end PCs, in that they have a large, diffuse number of intakes leading to a small number of higher pressure outflows, in a continuous flow. While this supports high metabolism operation in an environment with good atmosphere, to "hold their breath" they probably rely on filling their respiratory circuit as best they can (probably not very well) and mostly just chemically adsorb any gases they need access to, like whales.

Its possible they may have redundant respiration pathways that can make use of other gases like nitrogen etc. to give themselves more environmental flexibility and get more mileage out of small volumes of held air.

Tyranid respiration could- probably does- vary radically depending on strain and environment, adapting for local conditions. Adaptation is there entire thing, after all.

At least one of the Phoenix Lords, the one from tue craftworld in Tau Space, developed independently. Contact was made with them after The Raid and the formal alliance of men and elves.

I wouldn't have him be physically different to regular Fire Warriors, it's his attitude towards things that is somewhat more primitive bordering on primeval.

Other Fire Warriors are wary of him because he reminds them of all they have supposed to have left behind.

Is there an equivalent of a Phoenix Lord for eldar rangers?

Are there going to be more Legienstrausse and Draco stories? Last one ended on a bit of a downer.

Also do they fug?

They do not fug. They are professionals and Jaq Draco isn't that crazy.

It was suggested in the last thread they are more platonic bros. Because Draco's too flighty for a stable relationship, and both Legien and Draco know it. Legien would want a "normal" relationship to make her feel more normal, and Draco knows she would probably punch him if he played fast and loose with her trust and emotions. Also because if they did that would mean Legienstrasse's offspring would all potebtially be alpha-level psyker Alex Mercers.

Mad Jaq isn't i don't think that powerful.

He's possession resistant in a way because his brain has been double-mazed so if something ever does get in it can't do much except get tangled up and eventually starve.

His tangled ball of string of a brain also makes him difficult to read even beyond his formidable defences.

This and his ability to navigate the webway are what make him dangerous, unpredictable and odd.

Can't see them having. They aren't a path, they what you get when you remove path but keep sanity.

Mad Jaq is an Alpha Level psyker. In terms of raw psychic level output he's one of the strongest psykers the Imperium has, which is part of the reason he's on Ganymede in the first place. He's just as much there to shut down anything that tries to escape as kept there to make sure someone has an eye on him at all times.

There was some discussion of where some psykers fit on the chart, the problem is how to deal with Eldar (who can hide their power level...I mean change their degree of psychic abilities). Apex Twins are the only explicitly Alpha Plus described so far. I don't think Magnus mentioned but he was also probably Alpha Plus, if not between that level and Emperor tier. Emperor, being a Man of Gold, is off the charts.

Eldrad was described as abnormally powerful for an Eldar. If he were human he would be Alpha Plus. Alpha Pluses in general are rare because in addition to the usual factors they can break planets while in utero.

Ahriman was never mentioned, but he might be an Alpha or Alpha Minus. He's strong and talented, but it's not clear how much of his power comes from brute strength as opposed to talent. We do know that Magnus saw him as his surrogate son and logical successor, which is the only reason he taught him Ada's daemon summoning techniques in the first place (on the grounds that the knowledge had to be preserved somehow given the possibility that someday the situation might be so dire it was necessary, and that Ahriman was the most responsible person he could think of and in his mind was smart enough to never use them unless there was literally no other choice). He had no idea Ahriman would snap after the Rubric and Prospero burned.

Agreed on the path thing. Did we ever do anything with Illic Nightspear?

In canon, the smokestacks also have the advantage of spewing horrible spores out all over the battlefield, further sapping the enemy. It's like having allergies, but instead of you inhaling nasty spores you're spewing pollen all over your enemies and making them sick.

Agreed. Regardless of their original body plan (which was six-limbed something based on what we know), tyranids have probably stolen and mixed and matched until they find the "best" system to use for furthering their goals (by which I mean eating). "Best" is probably subjective depending on hive fleet and environment.

Wasn't Kais' father in canon basically an alcoholic and a horrible person whose negative side was covered up by propaganda and half the plot was Kais thinking he had to live up to his father's (fake) image only to find out after he became Doom'tau that all of his older mentors knew the truth and thought his father was an asshole and Kais was the real deal?

>Agreed on the path thing. Did we ever do anything with Illic Nightspear?

No and it's surprising given the character.

Speaking about the Phoenix Lords. Would the Crone Eldar cults have something like that? The Gorgons, the Meatwavers, the Shrikes?

Illic Nightspear is a discipline of Kurnous. Originally from Alaitoc but found no peace on their Paths. Left and became an exodite for a time on a harsh world of long winters. As an exodite he found in the hard life meaning and contentment for many centuries.

But in time his heart grew weary and he found less and less joy in the work.

One cold winter's day a band of Hunters walked into town to trade bone and furs for drink and trinkets. Clad in animal skins and primitive paints of ash and ground rock and walking with a supremely confident swagger they intrigued him. When next they left the village he went with them.

That was about a thousand years ago. As of 999M41 Illic Nightspear is a hunter and predator beyond compare and can navigate the webway. Clad in skins and ash and armed with simple stone tipped spear, wooden bow and flint tipped arrows he would be considered a joke in any war of the Dark Millenium. But then you notice the gene-stealer teeth neckless and the bone knife handle made from a single chunk of squigoth ivory. Most unbelievable of all is the necron finger.

they might have powerful warriors that stand above the rest, but the phoenix lords are pretty bound up with their post fall history. There are also the Puppets and Masters, the Scions, the Bonesingers, all would presumably have some structure and leader, Arrotyr for the Scions, but we haven't touched on them much.

The Crones wouldn't be as organized as the Aspect Warriors. The Aspects were created by Asurmen as a way of self-discipline and a way to fight back against Chaos, whereas the Dark Eldar counterpart, the Incubi, are in-universe donut steel ripoffs of the Aspect Temples (and it's suggested that they're a result of Arhra starting his own, so they have a direct connection with the original).

For the Crones it seems to be more of a religious calling, though it would likely have some of that same obsessiveness that is associated with the Eldar in general.

>this
its a really great picture you paint user. I'm reminded that part of our setting's tonal shift is that the galaxy doesn't just seem a medieval wilderness that surrounds and encroaches on the rare bits of true civilization, be they good or wicked, because of some sort of galactic mismanagement. The wilderness is real, it strives against conquest from Man, Eldar, Crone, Necron, and even Tyranid. The wilds of the galaxy, the materium as well as the immaterium, are well able to swallow up the horrors that dwell in them.

Yup. The possibility always exists that the victors of the upcoming war for the Milky Way may not be Team Imperium, Team Chaos, Team Necron, Team Tyranid, or even Team Ork. It might be Team Enslaver.

I know there's been a bit of discussion of weird, unaffiliated things out in the Chaos Wastes, where none of the Big Four hold sway.

It's probably like with the CSM champions in canon. Other than the primarch-tier entities and the major champions of the Big Four (Kharn, Lucius, Typhus, and Ahriman in canon, Arrotyr, the Taskmaster, Nimina, and the Amaranthine Astrapia here), you probably have lots of other champions that don't quite reach that level, but are still renowned for their degree of debauchery. Like canon Honsou and the Iron Warriors.

There are probably famous Gorgons, Meatweavers, Shrikes, etc., though they probably don't reincarnate like the Phoenix Lords. Phoenix Lords require soul stones to work, which if I recall right the Crone Eldar hate (beyond using them to transport souls for easy carrying) because it prevents them from becoming "one with their gods".

If they do come back it's probably because they've sufficiently won the favor of the gods to do it, and then it's straight up resurrection as opposed to whatever the Phoenix Lords do.
I like it. It really helps expand on the Disciples of Kurnous which we really need.

It's unlikely to be another enslaver plague unless everyone else has already killed each other and the last survivors are largely psychic

I was going for the more primal aspects of the eldar and their faiths. The Hunters of Kurnous are possibly the oldest of the sub-groups of the eldar to exist in an unbroken line. Isha and her disciples are close but the old religion failed in The Fall and the line of continuity was broken and she had to rebuild from a new start.

On the other hand the Hunters have actually outlived their god and it's possible that their order originates among the pre-Old One proto-eldar. But it possibly won't make much difference any more as without Kurnous they are a dying breed. Fewer and fewer of their kind feel drawn to The Hunt and they don't make up for their losses like they used to. It's possible that an order that was around to hunt the T-Rex is going to die out soon.

The Hunters take this philosophically. These things happen, there isn't anything they can do about it. What upsets them more is that the hunting grounds beyond the silver sea that should be there for the dead to retire in is a twisted mockery of what it should be. Most of it was taken by Nurgle and is now a festering swamp and rotting dead trees and what's left is burned and blasted stumps on the edge of Khorne's battle grounds. Neither is fit for them to go to. They aren't sure what happened to all those who were there before but since The Fall they have been retiring into the Exodite World Souls.

The Imperium, perhaps due to their rarity, does not understand them. They see them as feral and slightly stupid as they hunt things unspeakable with weapons of chipped stone and wood. They usually stop laughing when they return with the freshly pealed skull of a Chaos Warlord.

Unlike regular eldar the Hunters can seem to live off a diet of nearly nothing but meat without getting ill. They are held with reverence by craftworlders and exodites, contempt by the croneworlders and contempt hiding fear by the commorraghites. Nobody knows what the Harlequins think of them.

If no one take it I I will write.

My apologies in advance.

Pretty much this I’m surprised anybody remember that the Old Ones got BTFO by Enslavers while the Eldar just hid in the Webway.

Maybe they will, but it would be the last time they will. Her last christmas, a last night before something really, really stupid by Jaq as the End times come roaring in or something.

Helenia Valaria is said to be the other candidate alongside Gideon Ravenor to the High Lord seat. we can assume that most of Ravenors deeds remain the same.

Other than getting stuck in a box what has Valaria done?

Kais in this was raised in a state boarding school. Are we keeping him the same father?

She's basically Space Lara Croft/Indiana Jones. Xenoarchaeologist who goes around looking for archaeotech and xenos technology. Or any lost historical information that could be of use really. Hence why she tried to break into Solemnace.

She's not a Xanthite like in canon though. We said what faction she is but I don't have the thread on hand.

(same)
Knew I forgot something. Valeria also has a nemesis in the form of Emil Darkhammer. Crazy monodominant who doesn't like Valeria poking around with archaeotech or xenoarchaeology and will destroy whatever she's looking for out of spite with the flimsiest excuses, even if she's cooperating with the AdMech on official business. He probably thinks humanity needs no help to stand on its own and sees Valeria poking around with archaeotech as going to doom them all.

He was pathetically easy to convert to Fyodor's cause, because it allowed him to Javert his obsession without getting chewed out for it.

Has there ever been description of what she looks like or where she's from?

Are there any Phoenix Lords that specialize in telekinesis?

Eldrad is kind of the Phoenix Lord equivalent of a psyker. There's only one of him and he doesn't reincarnate, but he's the most powerful Eldar that focuses on psychic ability as opposed to martial talents. The Phoenix Lords are all disciples of Khaine and I'm not sure if Aspect Warriors do a lot of direct combat with Warp Power (Warlocks do, but I don't know where they fit in, someone with greater 40k-fu than me please correct me).

Nope. And I think she got BLAM!-ed in canon when she got let out of Trazyn's magic box during the Fall of Cadia.

Bow closely are we going to base her on Lara Croft.

I'd say more Indiana Jones than Lara Croft. Goes poking around old alien necropolises and ancient long-abandoned human worlds, but is doing it for the benefit of the Imperium. She probably Maybe. I don't know too much about Tomb Raider lore. Not to mention Darkhammer is literally the Belloq to Valeria's Jones, except he just smashes the stuff she finds.

In canon, Darkhammer burned down an entire Hive World just because Valeria thought that a super-Gellar field Xenos artifact Valeria was looking for *might* be located there. He's so bad that even in the xenophobic totalitarian theocracy that is the vanilla!Imperium people think he goes too far (they think Valeria goes too far in vanilla too, so the Inquisition's reaction to the feud is "I am not getting involved in that").

In addition, despite the fact that in canon Inquisitors are not supposed to declare Exterminatus unless absolutely necessary, Darkhammer in vanilla has been known to declare Exterminatus to kill a handful of people, and has burned over thirty worlds. Why hasn't someone BLAM!-ed this guy already?

bumpn

Dark hammer is perfect

Emil Darkhammer would fit well into this Nobledark AU with after a bit of alteration. He hasn't Exterminatus'd multiple worlds for minor reasons. In Vanilla that probably gets you BLAM!ed for wasting Imperial assets unless you know people in even higher places that can bail your ass out of the fire.

In this AU an exterminates is usually career poison at best even if it was deemed necessary and grounds for public execution if it was considered unnecessary. Just look at the restrictions Kryptman got slapped with after the Kryptman Line.

So it's more likely in this AU that he is a raving human supremacist who has organized death camps. They wouldn't be called that of course; they would be called Sorting Stations and Temporary Detention Centres. Places to hold people whilst they are checked over for gene-stealer taint or Chaos Corruption.

It's just that these camps typically held the rounded up xeno citizens and those who associated with them, spoke up on their behalf or just objected to what was happening.

But they were undeniably effective. Just look at how many stealer hybrids and chaos thralls he found. He and his people should be rewarded for finding them, nobody else could spot their supremely well hidden corruptions. To the untrained eye, any eye but those of he and his people, they could pass as real people.

These camps alone have claimed the lives of potentially tens of billions but it was usually done on more distant worlds and so well hidden in the paperwork that it wasn't until Fyodor Karamazov's botched uprising and civil war that it all came to light. Emil Darkhammer, as Fyodor's right hand goon, also has the Carcharodons after him. Him personally and his friends. Not the cause or the organization, no appeal or trial. He is hunted.

Troubling is that nobody knows for sure how high up his supporters in the Administratum were or how many. High Lord Haemotalion has ordered an internal investigation, someone's going to burn for this.

The Dpt. of Internal Investigation are what keep the Administratum worker awake at night. They ultimately answer only to the High Shit Lord (and the Emperor, theoretically) himself. The Dark Clerks and Grim Statisticians are what get set on outside associated administrators and bureaucrats and the auditing of planetary Governors to find their off-world bank accounts. They have channels or authority to answer to and obey and have to hand over the seemingly guilty to the relevant authorities for trial and punishment.

The D.I.I. are a different animal. They only operate when guilt and wrong-doing is unquestionably known, as in this case, and now just need a name and an address to pin it to. They absolutely do have the correct paper work to perform an on the spot execution in a manner that can legally range from a quick chop where you go quick all the way up to stringing someone up on a lamppost and letting them choke slowly.

Being the friend of ex-Inquisitor Emil Darkhammer is going to cost someone very steep.

Not that Darkhammer would really care about that, they will just be to him martyrs to his insane cause.

In contrast to him is Lady-Inquisitor Helynna Valeria. The title Lady was something she had before becoming an Inquisitor as she is an old-blood aristocrat from one of the relatively minor cadet branches of the Praetorian aristocracy. To the pride and annoyance of her parents she abandoned the comfy life of luxury and opulence and set out to serve rather than rule. She is very well educated in the Imperial classics and has much love of history that extends to all history, even and especially that of the multitudes of xenos. Her speciality is the points where history and myth mingle and the truth is lost in the middle. It is speculated that she is deep down trying to find the answer to the age old question "why?". She trawls the deeps of time for the ultimate moment of cause from which all around her is merely an effect.

Due to her seniority by 999M41 she is legally a Lady Inquisitor by the Inquisitions own naming and hierarchy traditions. Which would make her a Lady-Lady Inquisitor though anybody drawing attention to this is considered to be taking the piss.

Her high birth did not buy her any short cuts in the Inquisition and she started her career at the tender age of 16 in the employ of Inquisitor ██████ ███ ████ of the Ordo Xenos before his untimely death in the ruins of an early First Nation Rashan structure. After being assigned a new master her competence was evident; she was extremely clever, had an astounding physique and was an excellent shot with small arms.

By age 60 she was an Inquisitor in her own right with a retinue of specialists and a badge to her name.

By her centenary she had a string of successes to her name and a string of contacts across swathes of the Imperium. With success and fame came rivalry and resentment and many saw her introduction of "outside" influences into the Inquisition as threatening and degenerate.

In the years that were to follow no rival would be greater to her than Emil Darkhammer.

Lady-Inquisitor Valeria over the centuries of her service has proven to have a knack for uncovering ancient artefacts and strange buried wonders. Rumour has it that she has an entire gallery dedicated to her finds on Ganymede.

Most surprising of her contacts is old Nemensor Zahndrekh of Gidrim of whom she became acquainted when he freed her from the hellish confines of one of Trazyn's tesseracts. The two of them have since become good friends and she is possibly his most regular visitor.

By 999M41 Lady Helynna Valeria is centuries old, though she might appear and act youthful, and is a serious candidate for Inquisitorial Representative when Hector Rex stands down. Her greatest rival in this is the crippled Gideon Ravenor, a man she greatly respects and would not mind seeing in that position.

Bump

We have no official description of Inquisitor Helynna Valeria. She can look like Lara Croft because we all know that's what you're asking.

Would Legienstrasse even be able to get trippy off of Savlar's breeze?

The last writing had her able to drink three times a lethal dose of alcohol and merely get drunk, but it's not clear how much she had to drink to get there.

That said, a trippin' Legienstrausse is probably not a good idea for anyone around her.

She was drunk because she chose to be. If she wanted she could form a super-liver from her biomass and purge any toxins in moments, but it seemed she wanted to forget.

She also defaults to human shape due to having been born human.

I would go with later tomb raider pictures if thats the direction we are going. We already have one titty queen in the fluff, another would be getting a bit much.

I second this. Normal human proportions.

So is this going on the 1d4chan?

If so it's going to need work separating the Darkhammer and Valeria stuff.

How would you portray an Imperial Human Eldaraboo?

Probably an individual who plays up how noble and wise the Eldar are, and how much humanity has to learn from them. Probably get people rolling their eyes at them, including possibly some Eldar who see them as ass-kissers. That said, other Eldar would probably eat it up.

Or an ultra-flat chest. Not that she minds, those only gets in the way when she need to pull some Lara Croft-esque acrobatic stunts.

(That and she can hide some extra guns/ artifacts where her boobs are supposed to be.)

Part of it too might be that the Inquisition had some idea that Darhammer was doing things that weren't legit, but based on the things he was actually caught doing the Inquisition could never do more than basically scold him. So Darkhammer already has a resentment towards the greater Inquisition, and Fyodor provides a better alternative because it means he gets to work for a boss that actually approves of his methods.

The fact that both Valeria and Darkhammer are considered "young" and yet their rivalry lasted long enough that Darkhammer jumped ship to Fyodor suggests that the Inquisitorial Civil War and Fyodor's subsequent coup attempt were pretty recent in the timeline. Like within the last century or so at least.

Is the Inquisitorial Civil War a civil war? We've always seemed to describe it as "the greatest catastrophe that never happened to the Imperium", because the public at large never found out about it and it would be the equivalent of the CIA and FBI nearly going into open war without the rest of United States knowing (substitute organizations for your country of choice). Or all those near-misses of nuclear annihilation during the Cold War. The most disturbing thing about it is it raises the old question of "who watches the watchmen?" back up.

There was an additional part to this suggested in Thread 29. When Trazyn caught Valeria in what was essentially a cheap dimestore Tesseract he was partly hoping she would figure out how to break out on her own. Trazyn sees Valeria as a kindred spirit with them both being xenoanthropologists with a habit of collecting things. Trazyn’s kind of disappointed that the Imperium went to Zahndrekh for help, instead of Valeria figuring out how to get out on her own. Of course, Valeria wasn’t even aware it was possible to break out of a Tesseract Labryinth from the inside, being more familiar with the high-end stuff build for C’tan that doesn’t contain an emergency off switch.

(same)
I'm not sure how close she would be to being in the big chair. It's a ten year rotating position, right? How many years of experience are needed?

Another thing that was mentioned is that among the many groups she has contact with to try to piece together galactic history and rediscover ancient technology is the Daemon Breakers. She draws the line at messing with actual Warp corrupted stuff (not being a Xanthite in this timeline), but the fact that she's willing to associate with them and poke around Necron stuff (because at least that doesn't corrupt your soul) but that might make some Inquisitors see her as reckless and naive (which is why some might support Ravenor, who proved he had major willpower when he didn't go down the same path as Eisenhorn).

The other question is how welcome is she on Gidrim. As others have pointed out while the Nemesor would love the company, Valeria is likely to ask a billion questions, some of which are likely to make Obyron's scythe hand start acting up.

Also, on an unrelated note, are Necron Pariahs a thing in this universe, since that seems to be a liked part of the fluff that GW removed. Maybe as a side project of the biotransference experiments?

Doesn't really qualify as a civil war since Karamazov and his lackeys have been running for their lives since the assassination attempt. His faction was always a small minority in the Inquisition due to just how crazy and traitorous the idea was, and the need for utter secrecy probably prevented him from recruiting too many conspirators. Now he's being hunted by one of the most relentless and bloodthirsty Astartes chapters, as well as whatever other Inquisition, Alpha Legion, and Arbites resources can be spared.

To his credit, he is very, very cunning and resourceful, and the galaxy is a very, very big place, so thus far he's managed to slip away. However, if the Imperium ever gets any actionable intel, he may find a very angry Emperor popping out of the nearest Webway portal to show him how the Assassins of old were broken to the Imperium's will.

Fag that propped the Civil War idea here. Well, originally I wanted for Fyodor to have been a 'Second coming', of sorts, of Goge Vandire. Insanely charismatic and efficent but a batshit-insane-lunatic-asshole-cunt-dick, and has drawn/set up quite a lot of support in the fringe areas from the 12th Black Crusade and his little time as the Inquisitorial Representative that lasted for barely as long. The Civil War is not so much a civil war, yes, but it ain't be so easy as a mere hunt for the Carchies, and cracking down on Fyodor and his goons' shit is akin to a war versus a galaxy-wide organized crime syndicate/ terrorist group. Like the Mob in the US and how hey needed the FBI to clean them up, that's where my original inspiration came from. And now that the 13th Black Crusade is ongoing it would create a lot of cracks for Fyodor to slip through - and fuel for his flame.

>if the Imperium ever gets any actionable intel, he may find a very angry Emperor popping out of the nearest Webway portal to show him how the Assassins of old were broken to the Imperium's will

Ooooh. I'd read that.

Are we keeping or loosing the assassination attempt? There was disagreement last time the subject was raised.

Bump

Or we could just assume that she looks like Alicia Vikander who is playing Lara Croft in the new movie as she is pretty normally proportioned.

Hopefully it won't suck as much as the last movie.

I imagine that she would have been very well briefed on Zahndrekh after she made it back to the Imperium. Assuming she hadn't already read up on him excessively which given her interests she must have done.

Also there is the point that if it was as easily as a casually dropped word Zahndrekh would probably have woken up long ago. So long as she chooses her words carefully all will be well.

Zahndrekh believes he and his people are the last real remnants of the First Empire holding true to the traditions and values of that Empire.

They are flesh and blood Necrontyr.

He and his people went into stasis for 65,000,000 years.

The Imperium is a direct but distant heir of the First Empire made up mostly of the descendants of the Necrontyr (humans and eldar) who didn't go into stasis.

The Silent King died millions of years ago. He either didn't enter stasis or his stasis tomb broke down some time between here and there. This shit stain running around claiming to be the last of the Triarchs is some petty little alien pretender trying to cash in on the glory of those that came before. This "Silent King" is a scoundrel and a coward and acts with not one shred of nobility.

So long as Lady Inquisitor Valeria remembers to view the galaxy through these beliefs all will be well.

I always intended to do some writefagging on this interaction, the two of them sitting down to dinner and discussing things.

Maybe tonight once I have some time.

I think the general consensus was that it happened, but the actual assassins weren't involved. Fyodor had been using a feral or feudal world Death Cult as his own private assassins, reasoning if the Assassinorum is what you get when you give a Death Cult some training, gear, and funding, then why not make his own? They aren't as good as the Assassinorum, they probably don't have access to polymorphine or Blanks for example, but they have access to the kind of gear that only the Inquisition could get for you. The world they come from is an uncharted world, so they have no social contact with the rest of the Imperium and almost see Fyodor as a god.

That said, Fyodor's mistake was thinking that his knock-offs could perform a job that the real deal couldn't, and suffered the consequences.

Is there anything done with Inquisitor Toth?