The Long Night Part One: Embers in the Dusk: A Planetary Governor Quest (43k) Complete Sequel Up

Investigate the Sea?

  • Yes

    Votes: 593 80.4%
  • No

    Votes: 145 19.6%

  • Total voters
    738
Actually, going by canon 40k numbers, we're facing a lot more.

Armageddon Ork Forces - Lexicanum

Mind you, the army numbers in canon 40k aren't necessarily sensible due to GW perhaps not being consistent in regards to scale. For example, there are several canon Hive Worlds with populations only in the low billions, with populations lower than Earth, which makes no goddamn sense because Hive Worlds pretty much universally have populations that require food to be imported to feed them.
4 million orks what just what 'sigh' i just don't get game workshop.
 
Apparently the Fall of Cadia is really riling people up for some reason?
It's gotten a mixed reception. Some people like it and some people don't. Apparently the Celestine vs Abaddon fight was pretty glorious and Abaddon got shit-talked to by Creed. It's no disaster like Age of Sigmar was, that's for sure. Read here for what the Imperium's propagandists have to say about it.
 
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It's gotten a mixed reception. Some people like it and some people don't. Apparently the Celestine vs Abaddon fight was pretty glorious and Abaddon got shit-talked to by Creed. It's no disaster like Age of Sigmar was, thankfully. Read here for what the Imperium's propagandists have to say about it.
At least I never have to loo too far now to prove that most of the stuff we rely on in canon is rubbish :D.

Still Celestine vs Abaddon.

That sounds EPIC.

People think that this is the begging of the 40k end times even when GW said that no such thing would happen.
Depends have they really exterminatus'd Cadia?

NEVER MIND APPARENTLY CRASHING A BLACK STONE FORTRESS INTO THE FUCKING THING WORKS JUST AS WELL

More seriously now that I've had a look it seems they are sorta maintaining the status quo... sorta.

Cadia is gone and the Pylons with it, but Abadon's plan is in shambles cause now he lacks a beach head in and out of the eye without ending up in 1842... on the other hand the eye is expanding... I'm not sure.

In any case apparently the majority of the defenders leg it before Abadon CRASHES A BLACK STONE FORTRESS INTO CADIA TO KILL CREEEEEEEEEEED :D, and Creed not only held the line while the world was turned into a demon world, but was rescued by the eldar THE PLANET CRACKED BEFORE THE GUARD DID.

The Eldar have also been saying something about a "new dawn"... huh, GW is really keeping the whole Eldar and Humans destinies intertwined thing going... I thought it was just Eldrad being senile.
 
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The Apinian Exile Fleets
So, i did a thing. Might be bad, might be good. Might be Xeno. Definitly is Xeno.


Omake: The Apinian Exile Fleets

The Apinians are an unfortunate species that has suffered far more from the Fall of the Imperium than most Xeno races. Before, they had been a respectable local spacefaring power for more than twenty thousand years, controlling several dozen systems beyond the outer reaches of Segmentum Pacificus, beyond the edge of the Astronomicans light. Now they have been reduced to scattered fleets of refugees.

The reason for that is the birth of the Abomination.

The Apinians are an eusocial, vaguely insectoid species, with four-parted bodies, eight legs and both an endo- and an exoskeleton. With an average body weight higher than human standard it is needless to say that their appearance is quite unsettling to Terran eyes.

Having evolved on an extremely mountainous world plagued by strange gravity eddies, the Apinians used to live in great underground hives, in a biological caste system reminiscent of Terran ants or bees, though it is slightly less specialized.

There are two main distinctions that decide which caste an Apinian belongs to: gender and reproductive capability.

Infertile females are by far the most numerous of the castes. They are wingless, squat, and possess mandibles capable of burrowing through tough bedrock. This, combined with their heavy carapace armor and frontal limbs equipped with manipulators capable of deft tool-use marks them as the grunts, laborers and defenders of the Apinian hives. Strong, tough and of comparable intelligence to a particularily dumb human, they serve their Queen loyally and without doubt.

The Queens are fertile females, and the leaders of the Hives. Though in their youthful, "virgin" state they are capable of flight and only about twice the size of a human. During this lifestage they leave their mothers Hive and travel to seek a place where they can establish their own. A Queen that has established a Hive tends to swell to obscene size, as her body adapts to pump out hundreds of football sized eggs a day. Apinian Queens are quite intelligent, and control their subjects through a mixture of pheromones and potent telepathic powers. An Apinian that loses its Queen dies soon after, driven to suicidal depression by the lack of her pheromones.

Every Queen surrounds itself with a slavishly loyal harem of fertile males, known as Apinian Knights. These winged Apinians are about the size of a virgin Queen, and serve as her honour guard during her journey to establish a new Hive. Despite living to serve their Queens Knights are very intelligent, and once a Hive has settled they often become the Apinians sages, scientists and intellectuals, the councilors and ministers of their royals.

Infertile Males are known as Apinian Vanguards. Frailer and smaller than a Worker, their bodies are slimmed down and their limbs are elongated, with a pair of powerful, translucent wings on their backs. Vanguards are optimized for flight, ranging outside a Hive for long periods, scouting for resources and enemies. They are the only Apinians not bound to the Pheromone control of a Queen, capable of surviving their Hives death and even joining new Hives.

In the Second Age of Strife, the Vanguards are the only free remnants of Apinian civilization.

While Apinian Queens were universally psykers, mainly strong telepaths, through the first Age of Strife and the Age of the Imperium they proved to be very resistant to the depredations of Chaos. None of the Ruinous Powers resonated with their sessile, conservative and imperious mindset, and their ability to read other Queens thoughts across continents made them very effective at rooting out those few who were corrupted.

When the Abomination was born, this advantage immediately reversed into a terrible weakness. As the connected minds of the Queens peered into the Warp to divine the source of its recent turbulences, they looked upon the birth of a tyrant-god.

And it looked back upon them with approval.

Overnight, all Apinian worlds fell to the Abomination, their leader's natures far too close to the new gods' themes of tyranny and domination, almost all of their subjects natural-born slaves ready to die for their masters.

The only ones that resisted Chaos were the Vanguards, and for that they were slaughtered in the billions.

But the Vanguards held only one trump card in this civil war: Their caste operated the majority of the Apinians navy. Only battleship sized ships are large enough to hold a sessile Queen and her entire Hive, all smaller ships were left to the Vanguards, who did not depend on royal pheromones to survive.

While assaulting Hive Battleships with cruisers, escorts and fighters was a brutal and costly battle, the Vanguards eventually prevailed and established void superiority. But it was clear that they could never hope to push through the well-established and extensive planetary anti-orbital defenses of the Hiveworlds with what they had left, much less win a ground war against the fanatical masses of workers defending their Queens.

And while they tried to hold and blockade the systems in order to build an invasion force with the resources of the asteroid belts, the first of the Hiveworlds turning into an Angylworld and starting to summon legions of Angyls put a stop to that idea.

The remaining Vanguards fled their doomed homeworlds, and haven't settled down ever since.

Wandering a galaxy aflame, the Apinian Exile Fleets have scattered themselves, using cloning and gene modification to increase their numbers and asteroid mining to maintain and build ships.

Apinian technology is more advanced than Imperial standard across the board, a result of their long history as a space faring species. But their technology really shines in two fields: gravitics and antimatter containment. Their antimatter spiked plasma reactors produce incredible amounts of energy, which they use to power sophisticated and highly maneuverable gravitic sublight drives and gravity based mass accelerator cannons. Interestingly, their other weaponry and their warp drives are clearly human in design.

Particularly the later are easily identifiable as near identical to the ones on the Well of Urdr, suggesting that the Apinians either got extremely lucky or traded for them with ancient humanity.

This technological edge makes the Apinian Exiles fearsome foes in void battles. Utilizing mainly escorts and fast battlecruisers, they are slippery and hard to get a grasp on, preferring engagements at extreme ranges where they can abuse their maneuverability advantage to the fullest.

But their greatest relative advantage are their strikecraft.

An Apinian Vanguard is a natural flyer, blessed by evolution with an excellent understanding of three-dimensional movement, lightning quick reflexes, great spatial awareness and a cocky recklessness that places little regards on his own life.

To fully capitalize on this, Apinian strikecraft are 'Apinioid' in the same way as Titans are 'humanoid', huge metal look-alikes that move much like an Apinian Vanguard, controlled directly by a neural interface. To a Vanguard, a fighter is an extension of his body, and in combination with its gravitic drives they are insanely maneuverable.

On top of that, the Apinoid Fighters are entirely capable of atmospheric flight and if need be they can even deploy on the ground as voidcraft sized 8 legged walkers. But as it is relatively rare for the Apinian Exiles to fight ground battles, they don't possess any other notable ground vessels aside from dropships capable of deploying infantry and lifting loot back into orbit.

The Apinian Vanguard caste make for shitty infantry. They can only carry light weapons without much recoil, and are no match in a straight fight against an equally trained human if they cannot make use of their wings. Thus, they are disadvantaged in boarding combat.

Over the course of their journey, the Apinian Exile Fleets have fought for and against many petty realms, Human or Xenos, to acquire resources, technology and safe havens for themselves. The only faction they have never worked for and attack on sight are all forms of worshippers of chaos. They have been vagabonds and mercenaries, pirates and traders, invaders and saviors, all in the name of slowly building back their numbers and strength.

Eventually, the Exiles will become strong enough to return home and light the funeral pyres of their past, laying their fallen worlds and siblings finally to rest.
 
Omake: The Apinian Exile Fleets
It was good until you got to the bit about their technology. Xeno races with technology equal to the Imperium were very rare, the only known ones being the tau. They were noted to be incredible in that area and was the only reason why they could be considered a "major" faction in 40k. One of the "rules" when making a new faction is that you don't take away the specialness of another faction. The tau are very special to have gotten as technologically advanced as they are, and that's what sets them apart. Writing in "oh and these guys I made are better than them" is...I wouldn't say Sueish exactly, but if you have to justify it then that's a sign that you're getting too close to that line.

Giving a xeno empire technology that's better than the Imperium is something you should avoid. The Imperium was so advanced that they barely understood their own technology. The tau were noted to be freaks for matching it, even with technology to reverse-engineer from. Simply getting Imperium-level technology is a major thing that requires building the xenos around, but making them superior to the Imperium arguably enters into Sue territory. You can't have them be that advanced without affecting the galaxy in some major way.
 
Isn't the abomination xenophobic? Because I think that was one of the reasons that made people abandon humanity's birthright to rule the galaxy in this quest.
 
Isn't the abomination xenophobic? Because I think that was one of the reasons that made people abandon humanity's birthright to rule the galaxy in this quest.
It is, but it hates every race equally. Humanity's birthright to rule the galaxy hasn't been abandoned in this quest. What has been abandoned is hating xenos for no reason. Humans are still destined to rule the galaxy because they are objectively the best race and everything in the galaxy will be well once humanity gains uncontested control of it.
 
Isn't the abomination xenophobic? Because I think that was one of the reasons that made people abandon humanity's birthright to rule the galaxy in this quest.
We await the glorious emperor's rebirth so he can lead humanity on the second great crusade to establish human dominance, as is our right.

Its only Xeno hate that has been stopped, it was nothing more than traitor lorgars machination to weaken humanity as a whole.

Xenos will be allowed to live but they will remain second to humanity.
 
Isn't the abomination xenophobic? Because I think that was one of the reasons that made people abandon humanity's birthright to rule the galaxy in this quest.
Chaos Gods always are hypocritical and self-contradictory. Also simply because Abomination domain includes xenophobia doesn't mean that it must always be human-centic xenophobia, humanity is just another, if favorite, toy and tool for him.
Giving a xeno empire technology that's better than the Imperium is something you should avoid. The Imperium was so advanced that they barely understood their own technology. The tau were noted to be freaks for matching it, even with technology to reverse-engineer from. Simply getting Imperium-level technology is a major thing that requires building the xenos around, but making them superior to the Imperium arguably enters into Sue territory. You can't have them be that advanced without affecting the galaxy in some major way.
Generally having a xeno race having better technology than Imperium when it comes to certain technolgies is fine, however just being better at everything is pretty iffy. And Tau (at least in 40k) have tech-level lower than Imperium for most part, but they are able to utilise and mass-produce it better due to understand how it actually fraking works (using actually sensible tactics also helps).
 
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@Durin, we were talking about megaprojects a little while back. I'm not sure if this counts or not, but it'll be useful. Here is the picture I drew of my idea:
The thing in the middle is an example city. You can tell because of how it's labelled 'City'. Around it is a railroad track that encircles the city. On those railway tracks are giant flamers. The idea is that these flamers will spew forth a very large amount of fire on ground forces attempting to attack the city. They are on tracks so that they can be moved and attack other people. The final design will have more than four flamers, obviously, it's just that I didn't want or have to draw them all. The entire system will be underground when not in use, preventing it from getting damaged by the wildlife or the (presumably) psychic weather of Avernus. Its prime use is in taking out large numbers of ground enemies, such as the orks which will attack and the daemons of the First Daemonic Incursion. Since the flamers are on turrets, they can only attack low-flying aircraft. Since they're underground, the enemy won't know about them until it's too late.

Let's look at other potential weapons and why many of them are unsuitable.
Melee weapons: Too short-ranged
Melta: Ditto, also incapable of continuous fire
Single solid shot (EM): We don't have the technology
Single solid shot (propellant): Perhaps may be used to kill all enemies in a straight line that are too far away for the flamers, so possible alternative to flamers
Single explosive shot: The turrets mean they can arc and hit enemies from far away, so possible alternative to flamers
Rapid fire propellant solid/explosive shot: Heat build up is a big issue considering the Assault Cannon
Rapid fire EM solid/explosive shot: We don't have the technology
Grapeshot: Inferior to flamer in all regards
Plasma/las: Heat build up is a big issue. Flamers operate at a much lower temperature than them, so continuous fire is possible. (Note: We should look into phased plasma fusils to get plasma weapons as they never overheat)
Haywire: We don't have the technology and not all of our enemies are mechanical
Missiles: Our cities already have as many as they can hold, which is a lot
Grav: We don't have the technology
Psychic: No

The ammunition for the giant flamers is a non-issue. Flamers use Promethium, and we have endless amounts of Promethium that we never use.
 
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@Durin, we were talking about megaprojects a little while back. I'm not sure if this counts or not, but it'll be useful. Here is the picture I drew of my idea:
The thing in the middle is an example city. You can tell because of how it's labelled 'City'. Around it is a railroad track that encircles the city. On those railway tracks are giant flamers. The idea is that these flamers will spew forth a very large amount of fire on ground forces attempting to attack the city. They are on tracks so that they can be moved and attack other people. The final design will have more than four flamers, obviously, it's just that I didn't want or have to draw them all. The entire system will be underground when not in use, preventing it from getting damaged by the wildlife or the (presumably) psychic weather of Avernus. Its prime use is in taking out large numbers of ground enemies, such as the orks which will attack and the daemons of the First Daemonic Incursion. Since the flamers are on turrets, they can only attack low-flying aircraft. Since they're underground, the enemy won't know about them until it's too late.

Let's look at other potential weapons and why many of them are unsuitable.
Melee weapons: Too short-ranged
Melta: Ditto, also incapable of continuous fire
Single solid shot (EM): We don't have the technology
Single solid shot (propellant): Perhaps may be used to kill all enemies in a straight line that are too far away for the flamers, so possible alternative to flamers
Single explosive shot: The turrets mean they can arc and hit enemies from far away, so possible alternative to flamers
Rapid fire propellant solid/explosive shot: Heat build up is a big issue considering the Assault Cannon
Rapid fire EM solid/explosive shot: We don't have the technology
Grapeshot: Inferior to flamer in all regards
Plasma/las: Heat build up is a big issue. Flamers operate at a much lower temperature than them, so continuous fire is possible. (Note: We should look into phased plasma fusils to get plasma weapons as they never overheat)
Haywire: We don't have the technology and not all of our enemies are mechanical
Missiles: Our cities already have as many as they can hold, which is a lot
Grav: We don't have the technology
Psychic: No

The ammunition for the giant flamers is a non-issue. Flamers use Promethium, and we have endless amounts of Promethium that we never use.
The Fuel constraints on a movable flamer station on that scale would probably make Tranth and Scott slap you upside the head with a mechadendrite for proposing it.

It would take some major engineering to disgorge enough burning promethium on the scale you want, requiring something like a giant underground hose, or a giant annular prometheum reservoir with a rotting access point, either of which would be a defensive liability.

Las would be your best bet, as it could be powered by an onboard reactor.
 
@Skewfiend, promethium is the catch-all term used by the Imperium to mean "combustible material". Coal and even some times of ice count as promethium. It's entirely possible with their technology for the Mechanicus to create a concentrated kind of fuel that significantly lowers the required amount of space required to store the necessary amount of fuel, converting it to a more useful one in the same moment it's used as fuel for the mega flamers.

EDIT:
It would take some major engineering to disgorge enough burning promethium on the scale you want
The concept of mega-engineering is one the Mechanicus is familiar with. No, more than that, it's something that even something as technologically low as the Administratum is familiar with, hence why the constructing of hives is an Adeptus Administratum action instead of an Adeptus Mechanicus action. Engineering constraints don't exist.
 
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@Skewfiend, promethium is the catch-all term used by the Imperium to mean "combustible material". Coal and even some times of ice count as promethium. It's entirely possible with their technology for the Mechanicus to condense fuel a great deal to significantly lower the required amount of space required to store the necessary amount of fuel, converting it in the same moment it's used as fuel for the mega flamers.

EDIT:

The concept of mega engineering is one the Mechanicus is familiar with. No, more than that, it's something that even something as technologically low as the Administratum is familiar with, hence why the constructing of hives being an Adeptus Administratum action instead of an Adeptus Mechanicus action. Engineering constraints don't exist.
As enthusiastic as the idea may be I don't like it for 2 reasons.

1. Its a giant waste of money, resources and doesn't accomplish much, OH NO, the giant flame thing is rotating around the kilometre wide city, what ever shall I do, but wait for it to pass.
2. It still doesn't stop the spiders.
3. Because I thought of another, do you really think setting so much of an area on fire and pumping so many pollutants into the atmosphere is a good idea? @Durin has warned us about this, we got those anti pollution STCs for a reason.
 
1. Its a giant waste of money, resources and doesn't accomplish much, OH NO, the giant flame thing is rotating around the kilometre wide city, what ever shall I do, but wait for it to pass.
As mentioned in my opening pitch, there would be more than just those four in the diagram, I just didn't draw them. At worst it functions as a powerful piece of area denial.

2. It still doesn't stop the spiders.
Neither do macrocannons but we still build them.

3. Because I thought of another, do you really think setting so much of an area on fire and pumping so many pollutants into the atmosphere is a good idea? @Durin has warned us about this, we got those anti pollution STCs for a reason.
They'd only be a problem if we used them constantly. If we limited them to only during major invasions, it won't release so many pollutants that Avernus would care, especially since with our tech our promethium probably burns especially thoroughly and thus cleanly.

How about bathing the place in radiation?
Unwise considering Avernus.

EDIT: Or better yet, create bottle-necks and mount these or these at the choke points.
Bit expensive AM and EM wise. Another advantage of my flamer idea is that while it requires a lot of material, the technology doesn't actually require a (relatively) large amount of advanced materials. Flamers, elevators, and railways aren't exactly advanced technologies, after all.
 
As mentioned in my opening pitch, there would be more than just those four in the diagram, I just didn't draw them. At worst it functions as a powerful piece of area denial.
I am now wearing heat proof clothing and running.

Oh and a pyromancer.

Neither do macrocannons but we still build them.
Yeah, because they're actually useful.

They'd only be a problem if we used them constantly. If we limited them to only during major invasions, it won't release so many pollutants that Avernus would care, especially since with our tech our promethium probably burns especially thoroughly and thus cleanly.
And sure against orks and nids, they may work, until the Gargants come.

Against all other factions they'll just shell the hell out of us like they would do anyway.

Space elevators.

I think @Durin's said no to that one, but I could be wrong.
 
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