The Young Xian of the Celestial Realm: Space Cathay 4x Warhammer 40k Quest
- Thread starter Spartakrod
- Start date
- Sci-Fi
Dragons Rising: Battle for Drae Nang Part 2
Spartakrod
Judeo-Spartacist Bolshevik-Kabbalist
- Location
- Sanctum Arcanorum
- Pronouns
- Fae/Faer/Faers/Faerself
Change in conditions: 52
No change in any weather conditions
No change in any weather conditions
The mighty Superdreadnoughts of the Celestial Fleet were swift, able to move more quickly than the Juggernauts and Leviathans and more numerous than either. Their engines burned with technosorcery that was rare in the Imperium, fallen as it was, accelerating at a pace that would belie their size and letting ventral mini-thrusters alter their direction to move prow on to the remaining vessels over the void of countless worlds. Across this piece of the Vay-Gir galaxy carriers would cripple the craft that sought to flee, tractor beams reeling in ships that had failed to make enough distance that had yet to be pummeled into submission.
To the Tian'Chaoren, the forces of Chaos were not traitors the way that they were to the Imperium, they were simple barbarians. People who had allowed their minds and souls to be lost to the antisocial, self-destructive, and ultimately selfish hyper-individualism of the worst the id had to offer. To give up on community, on society, on brotherhood, and to simply embrace the absolute extremes of emotion until inevitably killed by it. To say there was no hatred at all would be folly, humans are not beings of a hive mind, nor are they eidolons; and much the same applies for the other cultures within the Celestial Realm. But there was more pity and contempt than anything else.
They were lost, and it was a pity that they were lost, to make them suffer more would be pointless. A simple, quick elimination, clinical, cold, methodical. The hornate fleets were already broken, blaming each other for failures and mistakes, tearing into each other as bonds forged solely by individual power, personal respect, and fear started to break down and the blood of Khorne's followers were as good as anyone else's. Cutting down their leaders to break their morale and their organisation was done to encourage this, whether by duel, by battle, or by assassination.
As a deeply individualistic force, to destroy the leaders of chaos' warbands would lead to nowhere to go besides fighting over who would replace them. Blood would be shed, as was always done, even in the face of oblivion they would first deal with the enemy they could reach to determine who would get to decide the response. And the Lord of Skulls would frown on those who would deal with their anger, their resentment, their frustrations without bloodshed. And when one had already given so much to the great god, to back out was unthinkable for many of those who had done a lifetime of horror for power and the promise of immortality.
But this was the thrashing of dying beasts. A greater warband would have had something up its sleeve, something to push back and claw a counterattack. But this was a warband not even lead by a true devotee of Khorne. Though Orikan's artifice had grown the resources available to this new timeline, the warp did not work on easily quantised formula. As the scope of civilisation grew, the amount of effort needed to gain the attentions of the dark gods also grew; often outpacing the growing means to even carry such things out with.
They had routed, and their return fire only grew weaker and weaker until there was nothing left save minor reavers who would be systematically hunted down one by one over the coming years. Oaths were broken, individual pacts invoked to save individual lives or bands, allegiances dissolved, and it was soon every one of Gartak's underlings for themselves. The very typical result of a sufficiently severe defeat for a chaos horde.
...
[x]: Scene Request: Imperial civilian rescued from chaos cultists by terrifying flying snakes.
Meredith Aytara hid as she learned to do ever since the Khornates came. Thirteen solar year old lungs breathed hard, hardened by the exercise brought on from having to learn to survive and hide. They came for the fighters first, but it didn't take long for them, the apostates, to attack the people. Hacking, slashing, crushing, burning.
Blood, so much blood.
Her mother went to war, and never came back. Her father, a slender and even petite man who worked at his office to provide; was cut apart by a thing in hellish armour and a screaming axe, simply for looking too "unmanly" for the Technobarbarian. Her older brother and sister burned to ash when their patrols swept their hangout with a flamer. Now they were here, hiding in what used to be the basement of an apartment block.
"Are we safe?" Alicia said, her white hair framing her face as she shook, huddling a split-lasgun, she was older than Meredith was, but smaller.
"I dunno...I can't hear them anymore." Jaken said, the young boy, maybe her age, a bit taller than she was, holding another lasgun, a poorly fitting helmet hiding his mop of blonde hair. She tried her best to cut his hair for him, but she was no stylist.
"Throne, Keep, and Cog kids, keep it down." Sergeant Tordus was one of the few adults in this resistance cell. The Khornates wanted a future population to reap and harvest, so they had some minor restraint with the children. Tordus though, he was a cunning man, a Guardsman, a figure of legend in this little neighbourhood, good enough with a knife to keep himself clean-shaven despite their circumstances. His uniform was carapace armour, powered and giving him strength beyond a normal man, but it couldn't disguise how tired his eyes looked.
"Sorry sir..." She said, backing away while the Sergeant took a look out the window, breathing quietly while he slipped on the visor of his helmet to use its zoom function.
"More khornates...headin' down Sebastian street. Foot sloggers." He said, looking back to the table where another one of the adults waited. Trishia, lieutenant.
"That's heading out this level of the hive. What are they up to?" She asked, narrowing her eyes as she exhaled. A grenadier like him, she was also a canny survivor, else she'd be dead like most of the PDF. For now, she may as well have been mom, and Tordus dad.
"Perhaps they are running from the efforts of our most holy resist-" PDF Commissar Bernace said. She used to admire him, until she got to know him, always trying to be strict even after the end of the world, an asshole through and through.
"Shut it Force-boy nobody gives a kark." Trishia said, glaring at the commissar with a scornful look, her purple eyes speaking of originating from the Cadian Province. The fact that she could talk like that to a PDF Commissar...
"Perhaps your time gallivanting between worlds has rendered the things between your ears full of heresy, because just because you're of the Militarum doesn't give you the right to talk th-"
"Yeah it does. We don't have to give a grox's arse about a single thing out of your mouth. So shut it unless you have something useful to say." She shot back, discomfort making Meredith look back out the peep hole.
No sign of the Khornates anymore. Not on the street, but she looked up and could see the signs of guns glinting from windows, they were hoping to set up an ambush.
She couldn't hear them from this distance, she wondered what they were saying. What did daemoniacs who were truly afraid say among themselves? What was it like for these monsters to be afraid?
"They're setting up an ambush, Alicia write that down." Tordus said, talking softly to the scared girl so that she could get ahold of her nerves and start writing on the dataslate, exhaling quietly.
"Why don't you grow some backbone and discipline her? A fifteen year old is more than old enough to get stern with!" The commissar protested.
What an idiot! Couldn't he see that she was barely holding it together as is? She wanted to say something, to curse and swear at him as she saw Alicia flinch and gulp, trying to shrink as if it would hide her from his eyes. But she was scared of him, he could kill her for talking out of turn, he killed before, and she could still hear the roar of his bolt pistol in her minds' ears.
"Oi, you haven't got kids, you don't get anywhere by yelling and shouting." Tordus replied, patting at Alicia's head and nodding at her.
The flashes of lasguns and the muzzle flash of auto and stub guns filled her peripheral vision, getting her to spin around.
"They're shooting at something." Meredith said, standing on a box to get a better view, wanting to see the Khornates die.
She hated them, but she feared them. She clutched a lasgun, too big for her, but as far as she was concerned, only a gun could help her. Help her friends, who tried to survive, try to take what they needed to live; not from others, as the invaders cut the rations and told people to start killing each other for food if they wanted to eat more than starvation provisions. She wouldn't, she didn't, she took from them instead.
But now they were afraid. Their numbers thinning to go to war, then increasing when they sought to defend. Then new people came, purging the men in red. They killed them, made the saner ones surrender, but those who chose to fight to the death were given exactly that. She had seen them start to advance into their resistance group's territory, but it was now that she was seeing them advance into her area.
"Ah kark, we got the heathens." He said as grenades were spat into windows, loud rumbling detonations tossing ash and dust out of shattered buildings.
"What's wrong with that if they're killing daemoniacs?" Jaken asked.
"I dunno anything about the dragon-karkers 'sides what the primer tells me, and the primer's a load of shite." Tordus said, getting a laugh out of Trishia and outrage from Bernace.
Meredith though was...fascinated by the sight of dead Khornates, things she hated and feared slain, made mortal and defeated, watching their remains hit the ground and be torched away by soldiers who seemed human, alien, and mechanical.
It was loud, it smelled of blood and fire and the pig stink of burnt flesh. But the cries of the apostates, the heathens had grown quieter and quieter while the new army's movements grew louder and louder. They spoke in a language she couldn't understand, among themselves and with xenos and abhumans.
Weren't Xenos to never be trusted with guns, she thought? That was what the priest said, before one of the metal men ripped his head and spine out for talking about Throne and Keep to him.
It was certainly the Commissar's opinion as he loudly opined that "not treating them as our enemy is tantamount to treason against our very Imperium!" Shouting loudly to the horror of others hiding in the room.
"Shut up!" Meredith shout-whispered, finally finding the courage to talk without being spoken to first, forcing the noise through her teeth as the Commissar turned to look at her with a face changing colour to a beet red, face twitching.
"You dare back-talk me, a child?" He asked.
"Shut up! All you do is whine and complain! When have you done anything? I've killed more heretics than you, you fucking coward! You've got a chainsword and a bolt pistol and you just sit here making snippy little remarks at everyone." She snapped at him, seething through her teeth, red hair flowing with the movements of her head.
"I am going to ki-" He started, hand reaching to his waist before Trishia throat punched him in the time it took for her to blink, making him wheeze and choke before she grabbed the pistol and chainsword out of their scabbards.
"Listen here you jumped up piece of shite, these kids are in the Guard now, you are in the Guard now. You do what I say and drop your parade ground tough guy act before I use you for bait." She said, hoisting him up with a snarl on her face.
The room was suspension bridge cable tense, everyone was silent.
But the big one, an armoured humanoid monster with the lower body of a metal plated reptile came, tearing his way out of the building he had holed himself up in, exuding lightning and violence, and all was noise; louder than their argument, louder than the explosions, louder than tanks and powered armour.
The apocalypse, Ragnarok, the end of days, whatever you wanted to call it, Gartak was all of those things to Meredith, and the bravery she showed in the face of the commissar faded as she looked around. Someone as big as the shaggoth with his honour guard could cause this place to collapse by little more than collateral damage from swinging his weapons.
"Get out!" She shouted, jerking Jaken back by the ill-fitting flak armour he wore to pull him up the stairs.
"Meredith!" Tordus shouted, leaping after her as the PDF Commissar was dropped.
"We'll finish our chat later." She growled before joining Meredith, sensing that the building was starting to collapse, yelling at other resistance fighters and civilians sheltering with them to get a move on.
He could withstand the attentions of tanks and aircraft, and Meredith struggled to imagine how one could take down someone so huge without a knight, or perhaps the angels of death. Could these newcomers deal with him?
But they were shooting at the big centaur men. Some weapons she recognised, the intense actinic flare of the continual lasers of meltaguns, fusion ejecta, plasma weapons and bolters; others she didn't.
They fell back, moving out of the way of lightning called from the sky, forcing herself to scramble, rolling out of the way of thunder from a cloudless sky.
Jaken rolled with her, grunting as he snapped the face shield of the helmet over his head to keep out the dust while she did the same. The electro-servos of the flak suit moved with her, nothing compared to carapace or ceramite armour, but enough to make sure she wasn't slowed down, far from it honestly.
But the strange men with dragon banners had fallen back, letting Gartak smash through another set of buildings like a monster in a movie, roaring as he locked gazes with...
"...Izzat a bloody flying snake?" Jaken said for her, a blue and a red serpent coiling around a defiled church, but closer...she saw a more human red shape turn his "finned" skull helmeted head towards them and felt her body seize up.
"Tian long, Celestial Dragon." Alicia breathed, looking at them briefly before instinct forced Meredith to yank her down to dodge the stitching rounds of a Chaos Warriors' sawn off heavy stubber.
"BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!" The Chaos Warrior roared, loud enough to be heard over the din, flinching somewhat after being hit by a number of hellgun blasts from Tordus.
"Yeah you want more of that you stupid brute?" He shouted, his Kasrkin facemask now concealing his face, partially reflected ruby light casting red tint over his armour.
"Brave words for a civilised weakling." The Chaos warrior scoffed as he dropped down, hitting the ground with heavy boots. He wasn't Astartes big, from what she remembered of when the Space Marines visited to screen the populace for marine compatibility and crushed her heart by telling her that, seven years ago; she was too young, but he was huge, and radiated evil of a degree that she never figured anything humanoid ever could, steam curling from his grille.
There were others too, casually dropping down into the field of battle, moving towards prey like wolves, growling with sounds that sounded more like a reptilian beast made of metal at the menagerie than anything human.
Cultists running through, moving somewhere else were met with irritation and the swinging of chainblades and axes to hack through them.
Blood, so much blood.
Limbs moving faster than her eye could track, poorly or even unarmouerd flesh yielding like tissue paper, wet, grotesque gurgling sounds and oh by the Throne and Keep the crunching of bone made her sick to her stomach.
It was enough for other resistance fighters to emerge, including a platoon of PDF reservist troopers who refused to listen when Trishia shouted at them to get back, thinking the Chaos warriors were distracted.
There were forty PDF troopers one minute, there were forty corpses the next. Astartes would have done it even faster, but servoless flak armoured troops trying to stab bayonets, shoot autoguns, and swing entrenching tools at Chaos warriors was a futile task all the same. Even crazy Jenkins, famous for bringing down thirty cultists in melee in a single engagement, was split in twain like he was rotten firewood.
She wouldn't be passive, no, she took aim and locked on what was the most vulnerable target on the lead Chaos Warrior while he shot the source of a pair of krak grenade launcher rounds, raking the mound of what used to be their hideout, many of the autogun bursts ringing against his defences cutting short as their wielders died.
"Go to Hell." She snarled, recognition flashing on her face, he was there, the markings on his helmet, he had killed her dad, just for the way he looked. "For my father."
The lasgun shot and struck the Chaos Warrior's eye when she saw the aura of flame around him die down. He had been arrogant, not dodging or taking cover, so contemptuous he was of PDF remnants, but from the way that she made him jerk his head, she must have hurt him...if he even felt pain.
One warrior with a flamer approached, torching the mound and reducing men and women to ash before turning to their cover until the squad leader push his flamer away.
"I don't forget voices...you cried for him didn't you?" He said, fire and smoke curling out of the high-charge lasgun shot's impact to the eye.
"I am Meredith Aytara, and yes, you killed my father, Urian Aytara. And you're going screaming into the pit for that. On my life." She declared. She wanted him to know, she wanted him to hear her name as he fell into the deepest pits of Hell.
"If he deserved to live he wouldn't have been so easy to kill, but rejoice. Your skull will be worthy to offer to Khorne, so says I, Argak Argalssen." He declared, locking his stubber to a mag-attachment on his back and pulling out a chainsword in his other hand. Chaos blessed muscles and servo-fibers moving and pushing his huge body to run towards them.
Tordus and Trishia shot, Alicia and Jaken shot, she shot, he kept coming; the world moving in slow motion, devouring distance between each blink, a cheetah would have been lucky to have a third his speed.
Gatrak was sent flying through a building, rolling down the street and flung Argak off his feet like a bowling pin, tossing him into the air while he let out a bellow of rage and frustration, the colossal Shaggoth letting out monstrous roars while the blue dragon loped through the streets, shielded armour absorbing impacts like rain against steel.
Tumbling on the ground, Argak pulled himself up and raised his chain axe before the Red dragon snaked his head into the street before chomping his helmeted head's teeth around the Chaos Warrior and obliterated his form in power fields and magic, letting precise tongues of vermillion flame annihilate the others.
How did something so big move so fast?
There was a quiver in her knees, a feeling of supernatural awe that sunk in her body and gave her an overpowering desire to not look the creatures in the eyes unless permitted. Like what she felt with the space marines but stronger.
The Commissar made a sound like a startled dog, frightened, scared. A Shaggoth dragged into the air by one of the sinuous Longs was squeezed until something crunched with a disgusting sound like a wetter version of boulders breaking.
Gartak rose, preparing to swing his axe, but the blue dragon intercepted it with her body, preventing it from crashing down on their cover before she engulfed him in ice, pushing him away with a shrug of armoured muscle.
For the briefest moment, she locked gazes with Meredith, who choked at the attentions of a thing like a god. But the god had other business, moving away with great speed.
"Are we...safe?" Jaken asked, a nod coming from her. A true, earnest nod.
...
The battle had begun with roars and collisions, smashing scale and metal into each other after loosing their weapons mounted on their bodies into one another. Plasma, missiles, cryobeams, and electromagnetic beams raking into the shaggoths, autoweapons, boltguns, grenades, and lasers jabbing back at the dragons, dragon's breath and Shaggoth lightning bouncing back and forth.
Xinyi slithered, twisting out of the way of the blows of the nearest Shaggoth and digging claws into shields she punched into a few times until they collapsed, chomping into a throat that a blade she conjured from the space she kept her extra mass within had slashed at to create weakness with a few repeated blows. Then she tore off the head outright, crunching bone and freezing the wound to shut off the blood as she grabbed at the head, shaking it like a dog's toy and crushing it once it had frozen entirely.
Xiang had tackled Gartak, smashing into him with force that seemed at odds with his serpentine body, throwing him off his feet and shoving him through rockcrete buildings like children's blocks. Lightning flashed around him, mingling with his flame but starting to choke down as he felt Gatrak's body and surged biomantic power into it.
"You are weak and afraid. A coward, a liar, a disgrace!" Xiang lectured with a voice that once, smooth like wine and youthful like a teen music group's star but was now crackling like an inferno.
"A lifespan without limit, and spent on what?" He snarled as he sidewinded out of the way of an axe swing, tail swatting aside several of the guards trying to grab at him while his own guards attacked at the Dragon Ogor's praetorians.
"I have power! I have glory! I command legions by my strength, by my might! You're just a bureaucrat!" He snapped back, grabbing at the dragon's neck before he could bite at his neck until Xinyi clouded his eyes with the power of Yang and cast him into darkness, tackling him afterwards and rolling him through a building and down a street.
Chaos warriors were swept away, a squad annihilated for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, a battle of giant monsters. The celestial dragons were masters of shapeshifting, and Xinyi's shape changed once again, growing wings, a more pronounced body, more like the Space Dragons that the Aeldari associated with so often.
A wing's foreclaws were used like fists, clad in powered armour and crackling with energy, slamming the Shaggoth while her breath froze and shattered another Shaggoth, claws crackling with potent fields and tearing into weaknesses in battered armour. Every blow drawing fresh pain from the shaggoth before Xiang arrived.
The young dragon lord was transformed back into human form with a closed helm, floating to bypass the Shaggoth's guard and then stabbing a shimmering spear into the wound. Wyrms of fire twirled around his polearm and bit into the wound, chewing their way inside to let some sort of power run through it, burning like a thousand suns as heat tore its way out of every injury.
Gartak grew limp as his body charred and then became as less than char, crackling to pieces and slammed into oblivion by Xinyi. The Dragonness raising him into the air and then slamming him again and again, like a ragdoll or a potatoes sack until his bones shattered.
With his struggles all but finished, she raised him further into the air, Xiang shifting back into Dragon form to tear off his head, just before she smashed his form into the ground one last time, leaving nothing but ruin and dust. As the storm that followed Gartak withered away from his death, they announced the return of the sun's light by letting out a roar of triumph into the new dawn
Xiang and Xinyi vs Gartak
5d6+28 (Advantages) +18 (items) vs 5d6+8 (Items)
18+46=64 vs 12+8=20, Xiang and Xinyi win, Gartak loses 4 wounds, 8/12 wounds
21+46=67 vs 28+8=36. Xiang and Xinyi win, Gartak loses 5 wounds, 3/12 wounds
9+46=55 vs 7+8=15. Xiang and Xinyi win, Gartak loses 4 wounds, -1/12 wounds, Gartak dies!
5d6+28 (Advantages) +18 (items) vs 5d6+8 (Items)
18+46=64 vs 12+8=20, Xiang and Xinyi win, Gartak loses 4 wounds, 8/12 wounds
21+46=67 vs 28+8=36. Xiang and Xinyi win, Gartak loses 5 wounds, 3/12 wounds
9+46=55 vs 7+8=15. Xiang and Xinyi win, Gartak loses 4 wounds, -1/12 wounds, Gartak dies!
With the Shaggoth lord broken, the morale of the Khornate forces would only downspiral. A false chaos lord he may be, but the energies of chaos were indeed wrapped around him, and severing his cord caused a hole in the net that weakened it as a whole. Not as dramatic as the death of the primary warboss, but the forces of Chaos present all seemed to just know that their leader had died.
Xiang, would remove his helmet, feeling the fury of battle ebb across the armada he had tapped into and tasting the imperial air. It was fouled, polluted and disgusting. Even before the Khornates had come, they had ruined this world's air with their wasteful but slightly cheaper industrial technology. How was it that these people came to encompass the greatest portion of humanity, he wondered as he felt his sister petting at his hair after letting her own helmet disappear away, crinkling her nose.
"Blech." She managed, getting a raucous laugh out of Xiang.
But even while laughing, the dragons could easily sense the approaching Imperials, his red eyes turning to look at the two cadians, three local children, and someone he recognised to be a commissar of the local PDF.
Xinyi raised a hand, bidding him to let her talk as she approached, letting the guards fan out to deal with any forces that might remain in the immediate area, to appear less threatening while she knelt slowly down to the human girl's level, the icy patterns in the irises of her eyes glowing a bit less brightly now.
Her Low Gothic was flawless, spoken as naturally as her Tian'Chaowen.
"Hello, brave one." She said, not holding out a hand to touch, while Xiang looked at the Commissar who seemed about ready to let out some sort of outburst.
"Why did you save us if you're a xeno?" She asked, a glare from the Commissar fixing on her. The cadians had weapons pointed at her, not fully trusting her, but the Commissar concerned her more.
"The path of harmony is open to all who wish to walk it. But Chaos has no place within it. Their leader was here, so we came to kill him." She said, respecting her intelligence enough to not talk down to her as if she was a young child. She was a teenager, she had lived, she could understand big words.
"So what? You gonna leave and let us all get back to it?" The male of the cadians said.
"We are here to stay. But you are not unwelcome here. We would rather you stay actually." Xinyi said.
"If we don't fight you here and now, when the crusade comes, we'll be traitors." The woman said, her plasma pistol pointed at Xinyi who seemed entirely unphased.
"You will be. And you can try to, but I will defend myself." Xinyi replied.
The aura of awe that they radiated made them quiver in the knees, made them drop their weapons when she intensified it a bit more. No matter the form she took, she was a Xian and a Dragon, her presence could make many people prostrate themselves, run away, freeze up, or seek to hide; related to the Astartes phenomenon of transhuman dread but more intense, the Dragon's Presence.
However, she would not focus in such a way on the Commissar, seeing a chance to show something.
"Enough of this heresy! Blasphemers, apostates all of you!" He said, levelling his bolt pistol against Meredith's head and squeezed the trigger, but the shell never left. Indeed the gun broke, disassembling in his hand. Enraged, he grabbed his chainsword and revved it before Xiang crushed the chainsword with a thought.
"The keystone of the imperium is the gravestone of martyrs! I will not yield!" he shouted, reaching for his grenades and running a thread through the pins. The grenades also disassembled, falling apart while actual warheads were dispersed into the air before Xiang stepped in and slapped him hard enough to send him buckling into the ground, cap flying into the distance.
"Enough of that." Xiang said as nearby blaze troopers grabbed the Commissar off the ground, pulling him away.
"You can live your life in fear and spend your time in this life waging eternal warfare against us if you want. But if you wish, I can show you a way to rule your fear. It will require hard work, and discipline, but if you truly desire it, we are ready to teach." She offered, looking at the remaining five and offering a hand.
...
But the war council had determined that there was a need to take item of those who were still holding out. Not all of them of course, would so neatly fold into the realm; remaining petty Greenskin Empires left behind by the original Imperial Conquest or the Khornate invasion, or were feral Greenskins who grew to prominence as the means to contain them broke down. As was typical in these cases, the response was demobilising the Orks by taking out anything capable of leaving planet and then touching down and burning everything. Greenskins made war because the Waaagh was written into their DNA, their souls, and the very idea of their being; though some could be bribed as mercenaries or a lesser enemy for a time, letting them fester was undesireable.
Ogors would be useful for this in particular, perfectly happy to touch down and replace the Waaagh ecology with their own, using their as of yet unknown means to encourage more tameable forms of the greenskin ecology after eating all the greenskins; likely a product of their shared origin and their usage of the gnoblars. There were the usual debates as to whether there was a better solution to the Orkoid problem, but so far the Realm had a long way to go before it could even think of the sort of understanding the Xian had in the war in heaven.
Imperial remnants were, as one could expect of the Imperium, divided amongst itself. The Imperium on paper, was a centralised polity that gave the Adeptus Terra vast and widespread powers. In practice, the left hand knew not what the right hand did and authority was devolved in the tiers of administrative governance[1] with a byzantine corpus of legal exceptions and contradictions that in essence; there was no unified culture, no singular nation, and in practise Feudalism of a degree to make it looser than the old Confederation[2].
Every imperial subdivision was akin to a nation unto itself, with different cultures, different ideas of what the Imperial Creed entailed, different traditions of warfare. The few precious shared institutions and obligations were what really made the Imperium even exist as a singular polity at all. Some would have to be violently put down and cracked down on, with the Crimson Guard dispatched to ensure proper cultural transformation and the elimination of stubborn officials. It was not nice, or pleasant work, it was a sharp, directed form of terror and organisational disruption, directed and carefully managed cruelty, but eventually the shooting stopped and transformation could begin.
But there were as many who simply accepted the coming of the people of Tian'Chao and were willing, some even eager to accept a new guardian and a new suzerain than the Imperium that had left them to the tender mercies of insane khornates who danced in their blood. Many civilians, most even, were just looking for the terror to be over. To get back to their lives without fear of death, and to know peace. Humans, like most sophonts, did not wish for eternal warfare in their hearts of hearts, only a deeply dangerous form of madness could let a human being thrive in such a heightened state of stress and fear for an eternity, they were not like the Greenskins nor the Tyranids; they were people.
However, more pleasantly, the invocation of Xinyi's name would draw the attentions of the Eldar of the Confederation of Kushani Kiithid; comprising of many craftworlds spread across Vay-Gir. The Aeldari were fond of Zhi Xinyi, remembering her work to help raid Croneworlds for spirit stones and fortify space near aligned maiden worlds against possible problems. It was not done entirely altruistically; minimising the avenues of conflict with those Aeldari who would deign to bother with diplomacy was logical, and having friends among them would help with ensuring that there would be some among them speak on the Realm's behalf.
Furthermore, while the Asuryani were not as deeply tied to Dragons as the Asur of the reborn Phoenix Kingdom, or the Lumineth; the Aeldari were the first of the old ones' children to come to the dragons with an attempt to end that leg of the conflict in the ancient war in heaven; and the support of dragons had helped dissidents flee from the Witch Kingdom in the ancient past. The Tian Longs as they called themselves; the serpentine celestial dragons; could engage with the Eldar without much of the hang-ups of most human polities, as could the Fenghuan.
Thus, dragons and fenghuan would be sent to begin the negotiations, re-establishing ties. There was work to be done.
Victory!
Casualties: Tian'Chao fleethorde 1: 10%
Tian'Chao fleethorde 2: 12%
Ogor Fleethorde 1: 15%
Ogor Fleethorde 2: 11%
Strategic Siutation
Territory Points Conquered: 1 (Industrialised)
Pops absorbed: 10
Tian'Chaoren Pops: 20
RP: 40+20 from production=60-4 Upkeep=56
Free Research Slots: 3
Vay-Gir Galaxy Map
You are in Square 36
Known Territory
Casualties: Tian'Chao fleethorde 1: 10%
Tian'Chao fleethorde 2: 12%
Ogor Fleethorde 1: 15%
Ogor Fleethorde 2: 11%
Strategic Siutation
Territory Points Conquered: 1 (Industrialised)
Pops absorbed: 10
Tian'Chaoren Pops: 20
RP: 40+20 from production=60-4 Upkeep=56
Free Research Slots: 3
Vay-Gir Galaxy Map
You are in Square 36
Known Territory
- 30: The Tarandar Territory, a former Territory of the Imperium of Man conquered by Waaagh! Muchkill and is currently being contested by the Aeldari of Kushan Kiithid to keep the Greenskins disorganised and assist the Exodite Maiden systems within.
- 29: The Shardarat Territory, a very standard territory of the Imperium of man, currently being invaded by Khornates under the command of the Chaos Warlord Kysartokul.
- 41: Delen-Man Territory, a territory of the T'Au Spheres, currently preparing an invasion force with an unknown target.
- 35: Shyalarad no man's land: virgin territory kept as a buffer between the T'Au and the Imperium to prevent sharing borders when the Leagues of Votann and Dawi both proved uninterested in holding space there.
- 42: Hae Tan Territory, Virgin Space, in response to the Viridian Stars Chapter Master's raid on the crown world of Phaerakh Un'Dakala destroying a precious memento of her past life during a campaign in the Mivan Galaxy, the Necrons of the Irtanak Dynasty wiped out all imperial life in the territory of his homeworld 50 years ago and destroyed the entire sector he called home outright, then left as soon as the purge was complete. Imperial recolonisation fleets were diverted to provide labour to the Virtana galaxy and missives requesting another are still pending approval by Galaxia level government.
- 47: Moradash Territory, these Halo Stars are being contested by Iron Warriors of the 9718th Grand Host and a population of Cythor Fiends, servants of the Strangers and a component of the Army of the Starless Night
- 24: Iladrani Territory, Former Imperial Territory, overrun by the Skaven. The lot of those who lived in the territory has gone from Feudal privation to brutal slavery as the Skaven work the humans to death.
- 22: Ortanak Territory; Held by the Votann League of Vorgan; dedicated to the establishment of profit and trade, doing business as they see fit as their holds and kindred spread through their designated part of the core.
28: Katanak Territory; Held by the Dawi Kingdom of Uzkazar, who has been here since the end of the war in heaven, long before the Umgi ever arrived. - 23: Undead Warp Rift, the Jaws of Death; a realm of the undead and nightmarish Gehenirot, the dead animating nearby in growing numbers as the efforts to contain the creatures of the Mordei start to break down.
- 34: Zhardan No Man's Space: Virgin territory kept as a buffer between the T'Au and the Imperium to prevent sharing borders when the Leagues of Votann and Dawi both proved uninterested in holding space there.
- 40: T'Au territory of Kal'Dor'Ae, a very standard territory of the T'Au spheres.
- 46: Vortex of Woe: Chaos Warp Rift. This Warp Rift is overrun by the forces of the dark gods, with most of the stars of this territory either inundated by the warp, or are eternally on the watch against the forces of Chaos.
45: Quetzitzanl Tlahtanoyan Territory of Xokitalan, a territory of the enigmatic lizardmen. Full of ancient megastructures and restlessly preparing its legions for some purpose.
You can look at this thread for how to format your strategic posts.
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[1]: The ranks of administration for the Imperium in GoD are as follows in descending order, with a "super" and a "sub" version of each grade.
- Domain
- Civitate
- Electoratus
- Proconsulate
- Commonwealth
- Publicae
- District
- State
- Magistrate
- Provincia
- Palatinate
- Prefecture
- Galaxia
- Segmentum
- Region
- Themata
- Territory
- Tribus
- Department
- Sector
- System
- Planet
- Colonia
- Politae
- Urbs (City)
While the Imperium is a lot larger than it was during the great crusade, its grown far more diffuse and thanks to massive crises like the Horus Heresy, the Atrayan Apostasy, the War of the Beast, the Beheading, the Shadow Aeterna, the Nova Terra Interregum, the Dark Omens, the Reign of Blood and so on so forth; the meme Holy Roman Empire would be a more unitary state.
The Age of Apostasy is generally regarded as the mortal blow to the attempts at even a confederal Imperium, with the Time of Troubles being the coup de gras as the result of the Time of Troubles was the decree of sovereignty which formally recognised the right of Imperial subdivisions to conduct diplomacy of their own accord so long as it does not contradict the Adeptus Terra following the capture of the capital by the sovereignists.
Even more recently, in response to the Successor wars following the Macharian crusade in the 4th to 5th century of M41 which conquered more territory than any imperial crusade before or since; further concessions of sovereignty were given even in military affairs after one of Macharius' Diadochi, Lady Solar Loptra Varnsdottir; who decided to turn around and deal with the Adeptus Terra when they ordered her Proconsulate be rescinded; seized Via Lactea and Terra while the Astartes, Custodes, Psykana, Psionis, Peregrinas, and Mechanicus all declared neutrality.
And more recently than that, in response to the Badab war and other internal conflicts with renegade Astartes sparked by it as well as the Gravefall; the Astartes being needed to deal with renegade Astartes further undermined the authority of the Adeptus Terra to the Space Marines.
The bad decisions and concessions the Imperium kept on making to deal with the blowback from its perverse incentives; starting all the way back from the Great Crusade's offers of devolution and autonomy to quickly get polities of various size on the crusade's side in expediency's name; that in the short term keep its components happy but are the root cause of its decay. Increasing destandardisation, rising internal competition and friction, mounting corruption because graft is basically all that's left, sharpening self-contradiction and even conflicts between subdivisions, and the growing self-segregation of imperium-wide institutions not under the Adeptus Terra from the Imperium at large to try to establish self-reliance in an ever more dysfunctional entity so they can actually function.
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- Location
- USA
Looking at the situation if we expand I feel 30 is a good spot- we have an allied faction there so even though we can't claim all the worlds we can claim the non madien worlds and have local backup plus further our relation with the friendly craftworld and help cull a greenskin menace.
edit- hmm if i understand our bonuses right turning the territory into heartlands is 56.25 RP which lets us employ 15 more pops for another 30RP per turn. Could bump up to mod defenses for 3 more RP.
edit- hmm if i understand our bonuses right turning the territory into heartlands is 56.25 RP which lets us employ 15 more pops for another 30RP per turn. Could bump up to mod defenses for 3 more RP.
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I agree, it also opens up 29 and 24, which are other good places to stomp - I mean, bring harmony to. I need to review the strategic rules but we should probably repair and expand our forces if we're going to go pick another fight.
i believe we should go to 30 after a bit of time to repair our forces.
the The Tarandar Territory is close, and it would be beneficial to establish diplomatic relationships with the Aeldari and to stop a WAAGH in its tracks. I also believe that the Hae Tan Territory would not be a good choice, as while it is a low level imperial territory, it might have some necron tricks left behind by the Irtanak dynasty. in addition, if any converted imperial forces join us, it might sour them to our cause for this to be there first misson.
after all, the han tae territory is still imperial territory, which they might not feel comfortable fighting against, or allying with those who are fighting it. But they know the necessity of fighting the greenskins and can ally with the Eldar. And our Ogor mercenaries are greatly suited to the fighting of the orkoids.
so in conclusion, i vote that we repair our forces and then go to square 30.
the The Tarandar Territory is close, and it would be beneficial to establish diplomatic relationships with the Aeldari and to stop a WAAGH in its tracks. I also believe that the Hae Tan Territory would not be a good choice, as while it is a low level imperial territory, it might have some necron tricks left behind by the Irtanak dynasty. in addition, if any converted imperial forces join us, it might sour them to our cause for this to be there first misson.
after all, the han tae territory is still imperial territory, which they might not feel comfortable fighting against, or allying with those who are fighting it. But they know the necessity of fighting the greenskins and can ally with the Eldar. And our Ogor mercenaries are greatly suited to the fighting of the orkoids.
so in conclusion, i vote that we repair our forces and then go to square 30.
Anyone have any good ideas for Research/Doctrinal Improvements? Since the tutorial battle was a bit easy, it's hard for me to identify any areas we're lacking in now. It seems like we're a bit reliant on our mercenaries to clear chaos corruption... but on the other hand, we have those mercenaries, and we're specced for mercenaries so it makes sense to rely on them.
Clash is our obvious spaceborn weakness. How about investing in anti-boarding measures? Stronger teleport blockers, better point-defense against boarding torpedoes, divisions of heavily armed defensive constructs ready to respond to intruders? Something as simple as investing in blast doors to seal off sections of our ships to isolate invaders better.
Clash is our obvious spaceborn weakness. How about investing in anti-boarding measures? Stronger teleport blockers, better point-defense against boarding torpedoes, divisions of heavily armed defensive constructs ready to respond to intruders? Something as simple as investing in blast doors to seal off sections of our ships to isolate invaders better.
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- Pronouns
- He/Him
Yes, that sounds good to me as a starting point.
Spartakrod
Judeo-Spartacist Bolshevik-Kabbalist
- Location
- Sanctum Arcanorum
- Pronouns
- Fae/Faer/Faers/Faerself
Research Project Suggestions
Here's a few research project ideas for how to format it and what you might want to consider investing in.
Breacher Automaton: While boarding focused automatons already exist, this would elevate their capabilities further with designs specially made for breaking into or preventing a breach into a fortified point such as a ship or fortress. Reinforced armour, a suite of close-range weapons, and additional limbs make them more suited for confined CQC, while the smaller package allows them to squeeze into more spaces. Provides greater chance of claiming an edge in clash and penetration actions. Cost: 3 research slots.
Ogor Armour: Provide Ogor units with more consistent armouring to allow them to better survive incoming fire with things beyond sheer physical toughness, as Ogors grow for as long as they live, this requires highly modular armour that can have components replaced as its wearer grows. Teaching the Ogors to use it and the Gnoblars to maintain it will also take time. But it will save many an Ogor life, and provide valuable experience in working with Ogor physiology. Reduces casualties suffered in Ogor infantry engagements. Cost: 2 Research slots.
Harmonic Broadcasters: Inspired by the Tyranid shadow in the warp and the Itzecan Astromantic interference, Harmonic Broadcasters will radiate the harmonic influence of Yin and Yang into the empyrean and into the dimension often known as "Leng" that the forces of the Strangers reside in. Taking existing technosorcery, these devices can reduce reality corruption, complicate the manifestation of supernatural beings, augment your own esotericists and forces, and also help function as interdiction of enemy comms and travel. Revolutionary Breakthrough: 10 Research slots.
Ogor Autobattery: Assists the Ogors with the provision of automated guns on their ships that can help overcome the often mediocre aiming capabilities of the Ogors and the Gnoblars, allowing for their barrages of fire to be, particularly at close range, be more coordinated and make it safer for Tian'Chaoren ships to fight where they're shooting without worrying about getting shot. Provides a greater chance of claiming an edge in clash actions and slightly increases likelihood of inflicting enemy casualties while reducing friendly losses. Cost: 3 Research Slots.
Anti-Matter Boosters: Systems that can inject anti-matter into ship reactors for a brief, intense boost of speed to allow for closing into an action, escaping an undesired one, or a brief augmentation to energy weapons output and shield strength. Enhances most space actions, but particularly clash and pursuit/disengagement. Cost: 4 slots.
Ooh, the Ogor Armor and Anti-Matter Boosters look particularly good.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Ok, took a gander to review the rules, and coming back here. We have 56 RP, once I reminded Alpha to include the Fleethorde upkeep.
So the Fleethordes will naturally heal 2 levels of damage, or up to 20%. We're good there. Now, thanks to Exemplar of Production, we get a 25% discount, which our fae QM confirmed applies to defenses and rounds to the lowest whole integer. In other words, eg: we can upgrade the square to Industrialized & Heavily Defensed for a total of 29 RP (22+7). That will allow us to employ 10 of the Population, and thereby gain 15 RP (before modifiers) next turn.
That leaves 27 RP. Now, we can upgrade each of our main Fleethordes to Mag 2, for a total of 20 RP (10 x 2). For the remaining 7 RP, depends on if we want to make a move with our forces this turn or not. If we do, we probably should keep most of that leftover RP on hand for repairs. Otherwise, we can spend 5 RP for 2 more research slots (a total of 5 slots to work with) and bank the remaining 2.
Or alternatively, just upgrade one Fleethorde this turn, and use most of the remaining RP to purchase 3 more research slots, and thus be able to take both the Ogor Armor and Anti-Matter Boosters that Kreen really likes.
Or we can just dump everything into upgrading to Heartlands for the full 56 RP, hold positions and settle for a single 3 slot Research project.
So the Fleethordes will naturally heal 2 levels of damage, or up to 20%. We're good there. Now, thanks to Exemplar of Production, we get a 25% discount, which our fae QM confirmed applies to defenses and rounds to the lowest whole integer. In other words, eg: we can upgrade the square to Industrialized & Heavily Defensed for a total of 29 RP (22+7). That will allow us to employ 10 of the Population, and thereby gain 15 RP (before modifiers) next turn.
That leaves 27 RP. Now, we can upgrade each of our main Fleethordes to Mag 2, for a total of 20 RP (10 x 2). For the remaining 7 RP, depends on if we want to make a move with our forces this turn or not. If we do, we probably should keep most of that leftover RP on hand for repairs. Otherwise, we can spend 5 RP for 2 more research slots (a total of 5 slots to work with) and bank the remaining 2.
Or alternatively, just upgrade one Fleethorde this turn, and use most of the remaining RP to purchase 3 more research slots, and thus be able to take both the Ogor Armor and Anti-Matter Boosters that Kreen really likes.
Or we can just dump everything into upgrading to Heartlands for the full 56 RP, hold positions and settle for a single 3 slot Research project.
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always_confused
Perpetually unwanted
- Location
- SEA
One area that I really want to buff up is our 'Super Infantry' equivalent. We won't always have Ogors to take down Chaos Warriors - or worse, Marines - for us in boarding action. Until our automaton show up on the scene, I get the feeling we exchange poorly in the melee.
Awesome, thanks for delving in and figuring it out. I'm always a research monkey when it comes to 4x games so I'd definitely vote to get enough slots to research something else. I'm flexible about what, though.
Interlude choices
Spartakrod
Judeo-Spartacist Bolshevik-Kabbalist
- Location
- Sanctum Arcanorum
- Pronouns
- Fae/Faer/Faers/Faerself
Interlude and Informational Choices | StrawPoll
What is your opinion? Vote now: Lizardmen Informational, Dis iz a people's waaagh! A sacred waaagh!, Primarchs Rising, Archaon's Journey, Malal Informational, Vudran Informational, A
strawpoll.com
Here's some options for Interludes and Informationals, it's not a formal vote as its more of a way for me to gauge what people would be more interested in.
For the interludes here's their brief elevator pitches:
Dis is a People's Waaagh! A Sacred Waaagh! covers Ghazghkull seeking out the reincarnation of Skarsnik as he seeks to start bringing da lads together for a right proper krumpin' of da 'ohle 'ooniverse.
Primarchs Rising cover the awakening of the first few Loyalist primarchs and the start of major changes in the core of the Imperium, though of course, these changes will take a long time to filter out through the whole of such a diffuse, vast society.
Archaon's Journey covers one of the legs of the quest of terrible, dreadful understanding that Archaon the Everchosen is undertaking in parts of the warp that even the dark gods do not dare tread, where existence is not present to temper the infinite potential of the warp.
A Silent King covers Szarekh beginning his great work and a major invasion of the Imperium and other polities to secure subjects for his research and to clear out the territory of his mighty dynasty, as well as his thoughts on what is to come.
The Many who are one gives a brief insight into the Gestalt Chorus that is the great community of every single Tyranid from the tiniest specks of their biology to the largest of gigabeasts; a community of equals, a pure and perfect democracy connected by the synapse network; unable to truly recognise their prey as truly intelligent beings, so alien are they to them.
For the Warhammer! A Sigmarite facing the Imperium of Man finds that sometimes the hardest part of a battle is what comes after, and dealing with the people whose territory you now occupy.
The Dark Master; Be'Lakor begins a scheme that has been in the making between entire realities and timelines, a long desired goal perhaps no longer so distant.
They Who Watch from Beyond: The Ghoul Zone as some call it, despite the name is not best known for outbreaks of Ghoulism, or even Necron Flayed ones, but rather that it is a place where the Dark Tapestry is at its strongest and the things of the strangers leak through, and the Death Spectres Astartes who are part of the great Cordon Sanitaire grimly proceed with the offering of their chapter master to the Glass Throne in the hopes of keeping it at bay. Lest the Nightmares walk in the waking world.
Death Comes for All: Ahkenaten leads the hosts of the undead to carve through the realms of the living in a great Dark Omen as the great work of the arch-necromancer starts a new phase. Ahkenaten adores Nagash, and sees in his dream the only route to peace, and glories in the "peace" he brings.
If I had Known is a Ciaphas Cain piece.
And as a note: The Cruorans are to the Necrons as Vampires are to the Tomb kings, with a far, far higher portion of non-necrontyr biotransferred entities among their ranks.
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- Pronouns
- He/Him
Actually, it's been pointed out to me that our starting territory is already Industrialized, so we could upgrade it to Heartlands for a discounted total of 33 RP. Then add Heavy Defenses for 7 RP, and then 14 to purchase 3 Research slots. That leaves 2 more we could spend on espionage/scouting out Square 30 and making contact with the Craftworld Confederation.
We could also consider doing espionage here, so we're not caught by surprise.
Where are the Holy Alliance on the grid?
Interlude: Archaon's Journey: Quest of the Everchosen
Spartakrod
Judeo-Spartacist Bolshevik-Kabbalist
- Location
- Sanctum Arcanorum
- Pronouns
- Fae/Faer/Faers/Faerself
Archaon's Journey: Quest of the Everchosen
"The Sea of Souls is the place of potential, but what lies below the potential shaped by the concepts of material things?" - Unknown
"Why hasn't it ended? Why am I still here?" He snarled beneath the crown of domination, gazing upon the twisting currents of the empyrean. Most who would have looked upon this pleromic ocean of possibility without some sort of filter would have perceived too much at once, and burned their brains and eyes out. He was not so weak, he could see that damn it all, the Dark Gods, those great deceivers, still endured.
It was a foolish thing to believe that the dark gods had a single body, they were their daemons, their realm, every mark and spell. The locus was merely a perceived identity, a possibility interpreted by the observer. And these things were undiminished by his act of rebellion, to destroy rather than corrupt the world. Timeless, alwayswere but neverborn. Ideas and narratives that may alter in pitch when echoed, but remained constant in a way.
"Damn it...was it all for nothing? Must I still be a slave? Dancing at the puppet strings..." He snarled as he channeled his might to bid the empyrean allow him to walk, forming ground akin to the barren ashlands of the chaos wastes his castle once was in. He had wanted freedom from gods, from religion, from fate, yet here he was, still brandished with the mark of Chaos Ascendant. Still alive, still gazing upon the works of the black pantheon.
"No...not again, never again." He murmured to himself, the Half-Daemon, child of Be'Lakor, would never be a slave again. He had given enough, he had been deceived enough. He would never be like his father, not a puppet raging at invisible strings.
He exhaled, though he had no need to. U'Zhul raged in his blade, the daemon he had partially released to slay grimgor wanting to return to its prior story, its prior concept. He would not allow it, snarling at the blade until the Bloodthirster within shrank away from his fury for a time. He would call Droghar unto him, the Steed of the Apocalypse returning to his side after it parted through the waves of the sea of souls, for its tale was bound to him for all time.
"We ride for answers. For I have many questions." Archaon said to his steed, briefly petting its mane in one of the last vestiges of humanity he still had.
The steed of the apocalypse let curls of the fires of the end of many worlds escape its nostrils, whinnying while the everchosen saddled up with practised ease, a simple thought being enough to bid his daemon horse ride.
With the Eye of Sheerian damaged by Grimgor's headbutt, he could not see the skeins of fate automatically, he had to concentrate, focus. Will the empyrean to reveal potential to him and then seize it to make it real. He saw the flicker fires of something of interest, divining and then manifesting as he rode his steed. He knew better than to count the hours, it was meaningless, he would get there when he got there. The warp would shift around him, forming the vista of a journey as the hooves of his steed carried him through the hellish realm, hooves beating into the splendour of Slaanesh's empire.
He drank of the raw warp, meditating on it, letting it seep into his bones and being. He could sense the song of the othersea, and murmured his own role in it. His words made this realm quiver, shaking. He, who had seen the veil of death many times before and come back, he who was half-daemon by his father in darkness; Be'Lakor the Dark Master; could drink of it.
The soup of maybes, could-have-beens, and might-becomes shifted as he sensed the pages turning. A daemon sensing his presence, a material thing that had outlived its immediate use, a crown to claim. A shape that was partially there became real, in as much as anything was real in this broken pleroma. He could sense threads of tales of excess, of a beast of obsessiveness and lack of restraint; a Daemon of Slaanesh.
"Do not think to frighten me, Daemon." Archaon said coldly as the Daemon's shape finalised as he looked upon it. Not a Keeper of Secrets, but a Greater Daemon of another order, embodying Slaanesh the perfectionist. A figure of far too polished armour, with a blade kept to a sheen more reflective than mirrors pointless in a tool meant to get bloody anyway. Two sharp tails, a shield always kept in rigorous posture even when it would make it look disturbingly unnatural, a closed helm with six staring eyes, always judging, always critical. A Chastiser of Flaws.
"You ride in a place where your kind are unwelcome, Half-spawn. Your presence here offends." It said, raising a blade already prepared to attack. Archaon did not shift, he did not flinch, he merely growled.
"I tread on whomsoever I please. You are a thing of tales and possibilities, and there is nowhere in your journey that will lead to my end." Archaon replied as the Daemon moved whip fast towards the Everchosen, but even without the eye of Sheerian, the man who was once Kastnar understood enough to peer into the webs of possibility.
The Daemon would not be able to breach the armour of Morkar, and so he would let its blow land, glancing off as he thrust the Slayer of Kings into a gap in his foes' mirror plate, the sword burning red with hate for what it recognised as a creature of the great nemesis of Khorne. The Daemon howled, feeling the bite into its being, but it would not back down; it could not back down. Deltarathi the Sin Judge existed to chastise the folly of those who fell short in the perfection they had sought, and it sensed this folly in Archaon.
Their blades danced and skirted, Archaon having his steed fly up and down, burning hooves leaving balls of fire in the miasma of the empyrean.
"You claim yourself as Everchosen, yet in your heart you reject the Gods. You sought to end our lords, but we are eternal." The Sin Judge taunted, but Archaon ignored it. There was no barb that a daemon spitting out its potential tale could make that Archaon would care for, but what he wanted was being obscured by this fool.
Other Daemons crawled out into the open, drawn by the presence of a solid thing, a real thing, in the ethereal plane of the warp. But Archaon knew they were coming, his twisting blade deflecting a blow aimed for his steed as it lashed warpfire upon his foes' frame.
But his was the crown of domination, and he bade his foes obey. Lesser things whose tales were merely hypothetical, never recorded by a mortal culture, never given more than theoretical form or tale found the crown reaching into them. They felt his spite, his unbending will, his contempt. He had seen the end, he had beheld the direct actions of gods destroy a world, and did battle with those who bound their souls to winds of conceptual battle and emerged triumphant.
He would not be denied, not by things that had yet to become more than nascent and had thrown themselves at him in the hopes that he could anchor their being. And he would give them exactly what they wanted, just not on their terms.
He defined the Daemons as his, his slaves to darkness, his puppets and soldiers, and twisted their form. Lesser and beast daemons of many forms and deities had their understanding reshaped by him, though he did not have their true names yet, he had given them meaning.
The Sin Judge had tried to strike again, but Archaon had worn it down. He had not fought it with his full might, seeking to wear down the exalted greater daemon so that he could do something altogether more sinister. He bade the things he now could direct to assail the foe, to chain it down while his magic escaped his lips, chanting the words of a ritual of daemon binding before stabbing it in one of its eyes.
The Daemon howled, shrieked with protest and outrage, but Archaon was merciless, and U'zhul was hungry. He felt it trying to slip away, back to Slaanesh's circles of sensation. He would not have it, he tore from it its true name, reaching his mind's hand into its being and pulling from it its fragment of the primordial truth. The fields of beauty around him withered in response to the act, growing gray and cracked and disintegrating to dust as he drank of its essence; the Half-Daemon cannibalizing its kindred.
The Daemon screamed, its narrative having no context for such a thing, no concept for how it could be done, for Archaon was someone who should not be. It lashed back and fought with all it had, its immutable nature crashing against Archaon's deranged willpower. The Sin Judge's threads spearing into Archaon's soul and trying to override Kastnar, to possess him. But Be'Lakor's prodigal son roared and redoubled his efforts. And at last, Archaon's will overwhelmed it, shattering its essence and devouring its heart.
What was left of the Slaaneshi Daemon was drawn into the blade, forced to coexist with its khornate counterpart, its form spaghettifying and breaking before flowing within the sword with a dying scream. A fate of confinement and imprisonment, to be a slave to a mortal; more dreadful than a thousand banishments even without Archaon having torn out the very heart of its story.
He looked upon his blade and nodded, turning it upon those daemons who had been foolish enough to trust him. They would feed his armour, shield, and crown, one at a time; aided by the rampaging of the daemon-steed he rode.
The Half-Daemon briefly looked at the hands of a cannibal as he devoured a creature of Khorne, his own hands. Was he such a lowly beast as to eat his own kind?
No...not his own kind. He was unique, the one and only son of the very first Daemon Prince, the Everchosen of Chaos.
And with every fragment he devoured, he could taste answers on his tongue, feel true names burning in his mind as he tore into the storyflesh of a creature of a God he did not recognise at first. Answers he craved, answers he needed. What was the real and authentic primordial truth? He wondered, where was the truth he so craved?
Where was his freedom in this warp he tore at like a savage? A barbarian beast whose armoured fingers clawed at the bedrock of soulstuff as if to uncover something. To dig for some sort of treasure perhaps?
He was looking for something, something precious, something needed.
The Half-Daemon heard a voice calling to him, a voice never uttered to his ears but still somehow familiar. He looked up, the Eye of Sheerian glowing with stolen power as the three-eyed King stared upon the soul of a woman.
"Son..." She said with a voice that garnered instant recognition from a man who had never once heard her voice.
"Mother." He replied, looming like a giant over the apparition, transluscent and semireal, a soul that had slipped whatever prior home it had to find something it...she was connected to.
"What has become of you?" She asked, face hazy and unclear.
"I found my calling, but I still seek answers." He replied, steadying his hellish horse when it seemed ready to bite down the wispy spirit.
"What have you done? Is it true...were you the one to doom us all?" She pleaded, trying to speak in a softer voice only for Archaon to snarl and point the Slayer of Kings, engorged on the essences of Daemons torn apart by the cursed blade.
"Do not try to speak to me with affection, you who have never known me, and never wanted me." He said with an icy voice, watching her back away from the twisting blade with some degree of satisfaction.
"I do not blame you for preferring to tear out your womb than give birth to a daemon's child. But do not think that motherhood gives you power over me. None have power over me now." He said, slowly lowering his blade as she dropped to her knees.
"You are a slave to darkness, a puppet of the dark gods. Your path only leads to self-destruction, son." She said, looking into his two, natural eyes that burned with the flames of chaos.
"Self-destruction..." He said, thinking on the daemons who threw themselves at him simply because it was what they were, even though they could not win. The hordes of maniacs who knew that he was going to destroy the world, but were so lost to their increasingly solipsistic excesses of emotion and antisocial concepts that it no longer mattered; as long as they had a chance to become as daemons themselves.
And his father...always grasping at schemes that ended in defeat, humiliation, ruination, thinking himself free as he pursues godhood only to be a slave to all of chaos at once. That too, was self-destructive...even the Chaos Gods themselves, he mused, looking into the thrones of Dark Gods he knew and those he didn't...they wanted him to destroy the world in the end, to burn it all down in one final cataclysm of horror and woe, even though they would ebb away without material things to give their ideas meaning.
Suicide, it was all a race to suicide. It all lead to isolation through selfishness, to reject the others until there was only the solitary individual, and without others for an individual to define themselves against and by; they had no meaning and were thus the same as nothing. Pursuing their own solitary glory until they sacrificed to an individual concept as they cut away bits and pieces of themselves to achieve that glory, to fit into their vision of a winner.
But even the Gods were slaves. Self-destructive slaves. They would kill themselves sooner or later, they could not help it, it was what absorbing oneself into the worst, most anti-social sides of themselves would do. It was all it could ever do. He would need further proof of course, he would need to confirm his hypothesis. But it made sense to him.
"Thank you." He said, looking back towards her at last, seeming to baffle her as she stammered, perhaps not realising that such an answer could ever come of him.
"F-for what?" She asked as he gave out a small, demented chuckle.
"Setting me on a path for truth." He replied before saddling back up on his steed.
"I am done with you, find your own way back to wherever you came from. Or perhaps do not, you are free to do as you please, it makes no difference to me." He continued.
"What truth are you looking for?!" She demanded one last time.
"What is the real nature of this place of souls and stories, so that men may be free of its gods." He replied, thinking of the legend of Kairos Fateweaver, and how the Vizier of Tzeentch was thrown into a well that lead to a deeper part of the Warp that even the changer of ways feared to enter; from which thousands of other lords of change never re-emerged. If there were answers, he would find them there, in the deeps beyond what was shaped by the ideas of civilisation.
He bade his steed gallop, and began his quest in earnest.
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Can I say that I love your interpretation of Empyrean? As of recently (i.e. since I got my taste of Nobilis and read through Practical Guide to Evil, so maybe last year) narrative causalities and symbolic-semantic logic are my absolutely favourite tropes and fantasy approaches, so you hit my sweet spot. That's on top of your descriptive skills and how you fit the preexisting lore into writing.
I think I'll wait a bit before I start participating in the quest, but I'm definitely gonna stick for more stories!
I think I'll wait a bit before I start participating in the quest, but I'm definitely gonna stick for more stories!
So this?
[x] Plan A Strong Center
-Upgrade Square 36 to a Heartland
-Fortify Square 36 with Heavy Defenses
-Purchase 3 Research Slots
-Spend 3 Research Slots on Breacher Automation and 3 on Ogor Autobatteries
-Spend 2 RP on outfitting a diplomatic expedition to Square 30 to make contact with the Craftworld Confederation
The example thread's orders were more fluff-heavy, not sure if that's desired/needed here?
Spartakrod
Judeo-Spartacist Bolshevik-Kabbalist
- Location
- Sanctum Arcanorum
- Pronouns
- Fae/Faer/Faers/Faerself
Fluff isn't needed no since I'm going to cover the fluff.
And might I say you do an excellent job of that. I am eager to learn more about the galaxies of darkness.
It's probably a bit early to be thinking about Megaprojects, but a good 4x game does tend to have some early Wonders one can build.
Some thoughts:
Some thoughts:
- A Research Academy to improve research by gathering the brightest minds of our new territory (spending actions to get actions is a problem in quests, but hey, it's part of 4x for sure)
- Some sort of monument to the friendship between Space Cathay and the Ogors and our victory/victories over Chaos, strengthening the bond between our people
- Some sort of mega harmonic projector ship, like the Harmonic Broadcasters but centered into a Battleworld
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Technologies of the Celestial Realm (Eternal WIP)
Spartakrod
Judeo-Spartacist Bolshevik-Kabbalist
- Location
- Sanctum Arcanorum
- Pronouns
- Fae/Faer/Faers/Faerself
Technologies of the Celestial Realm of Tian'Chao
Anti-Matter: Among polities with substantial human populations, there are few who can rival the Tian'Chaoren's mastery of anti-matter. While a far cry from the Necrons' casual usage of such weapons, Anti-Matter serves as an ideal means of power storage to be released over time or in bursts as is needed. However as Anti-Matter is faildeadly rather than failsafe, it is typically kept out of civilian hands to avoid accidents save for facilities able to reconvert the anti-particles back to conventional matter through the inversion of the process used to convert matter into anti-matter.Mass-Energy Conversion: While mass-energy conversions are the meat and bread of most human large scale power systems in general, the Tian'Chaoren are noted for being particularly adept with the technology, either forming matter from energy or turning matter into energy with a substantial rate of efficiency. This is notably also used, as it is in the armies of the Mechanicus, the Leagues of Votann, and a number of other cultures; as a weapon to devastate unshielded targets while the inverse not only creates incredible cold by removing energy but creates sheets of ice from that energy as well, making it useful for stopping foes in their tracks or stripping shields.
Atomic Suppressors: Through subatomic action, Atomic Suppressors shunt the kinetic energy in the targeted mass from the centre of the field to the extremities, slowing and eventually halting the target while heating up the exterior of the field with the removed energy to create the distinctive "icy-hot" field. Though cruder than say; Necron stasis devices, it is a potent area denial tool and also highly effective in purging unwanted matter such as runaway nanites or greenskin spores.
Plasma: Widely used in the 42nd millennium, Tian'Chaoren plasma follows the mould of T'Au plasma weapons, sacrificing some raw power for the inability to catastrophically overload if overcharged or not allowed to cool down properly. Though drastically inferior to Aeldari Plasma weapons across the board, the emphasis on sustained rate of fire does allow them greater practical usage in many areas such as part of ship batteries or specialist teams. However the decreased raw power can have a notable impact on its ability to deal with large targets, with Imperial Plasma gun patterns for example being regarded as flatly preferable for dealing with large monstrous creatures or tanks than their Tian'Chaoren counterparts of the same size. Plasma is also often used as a means to transmit power.
Artificial Intelligence: Though they are a far cry from the original Men of Iron and rarely as clever as the Ironkin of the Leagues of Votann, the Automata of the Celestial Realm are a ubiquitous sight across the realm. More sophisticated than T'Au drones, the Automata provide the great majority of menial labour, and are mass-produced to fight alongside organic soldiers at every level of the battlefield and provide additional bulk. They also serve an additional purpose, whereby machines with protective Talismans are a frequently preferred means of dealing with warp borne or Strange terrors that may have a deletrious memetic effect on mortals, sometimes being deployed en masse to exhaust the warp energies of tainted areas by providing the denizens of the empyrean nothing to feed on until the area can be cleansed.
Artificial Intelligence is also used to streamline and smooth over the process of planning and the organisation of the Tutor's state, collating and crunching the vast amounts of data being sent across the void to help delegates manage the densely populated space of the tutored peoples. Though for the most part, only some especially sophisticated A.Is are more than assistants in this process, those who can more than academically understand the feelings and emotions of organic beings and thus be entrusted with making fair decisions; whereas those not programmed for such of course do not have the capacity to mind being denied leadership positions.
Electromagnetics: Though far from having a monopoly on electromagnetic technologies, immensely powerful magnets, electronic countermeasures, and electromagnetic pulses as well as electrical weapons are all commonly used tools within the People's Realm. Electromagnetics of course commonly serve as containment fields for reactors, as secondary or primary shields, drives, and immobilisation devices. Commonly utilised of course, is the Electromagnetic Beam Weapon, which shears the electron clouds off of atoms to first fire a stream of high speed protons before following up with an electron stream for a distinctive "one two" punch into the target. This, along with electromagnetically assisted cannons; more commonly called mass drivers, railguns, or accelerator cannons, serves as one of the common currencies of weapons technology for the dragon realm.
While having more lag time compared to Imperial Laser Weapons, particularly notable in space, they are much less affected by dusty conditions or the albedo of the target, and are more reliably able to avoid the common pitfall of lasers where the amount of material vapourised by the laser's first pulse will absorb heat from follow up pulses or a continual beam and form a sort of ablative armour that typically leads to most laser weapons to utilise multiple pulses rather than a singular coherent beam (with the notable exception of Meltas). Electromagnetic melee weapons typically generate a shaped electromagnetic field around themselves, like a much less potent version of a power field that merely augments the impact of the weapon rather than changing its parameters outright, however they are common enough, and the electrical discharges they run into an enemy useful enough, to serve as the preferred equivalents to chainweapons, though they require more power.
But in more civilian usages, the high degree of skill with Electromagnetic Fields allows for the usage of high efficiency power transmission as well as advanced computer substrates along with armouring their systems against the usage and abusage of haywire devices or unusual electromagnetic activity against them.
Lasers: Used largely identically to most human or aeldari polities, Tian'Chaoren lasers are preferred where a minimisation of lead time on the target is needed as well as to transmit high-quality realspace information wirelessly, including the usage of alcubierre fields to allow for realspace FTL comms over short to medium distances; though certainly not as far as Astropathic or other warp based comms. When used as weapons, Gamma Ray lasers are generally preferred out of atmosphere for their ability to maintain coherency over very long distances, whereas in-atmosphere Ultraviolet is typically preferred to mitigate the tendency for the atmosphere to absorb such high frequency light waves. Like Imperial Lasers, in space they are typically invisible, but in atmosphere the combination of heat absorption and refraction off of dust particles will produce the distinctive beam associated with lasers even if the true light beam is invisible.
Disruptor Fields: Power Weapons are not, as is commonly thought, a form of energy sheathed weapon or energy blade, as such simple techniques would not be able to produce the increased gains in impact and cutting ability seen in these devices. Rather these disruptor fields, typically used in melee weapons due to the difficulty of projecting them far away from the source, disrupt the electromagnetic bonds of coherent matter to destructively randomise the target and allow the passage of the projector, typically a strong, sturdy weapon in and of itself. The stronger the bonds the more resistant the matter will be to its passage and shielding will generally offer at least some defence. Disruptor fields also repel other disruptor fields, and can be shaped to ignore certain things, allowing for their usage in carried shields.
When used for blunt weapons, typically the charge is rather stored and then released in a capacitor burst on impact, creating a concussive disruptor blast commonly associated with power mauls or thunder hammers, weakening the target and allowing the solid mass of the weapon to deliver a secondary but still very dangerous blow, though they also have continual state field settings when needed to parry another power weapon. Largely identical across most human factions, human disruptor fields are generally universally inferior to the equivalents used by the descendants of the war in heaven; or especially C'tan Quench fields which suppress the laws of physics that allow matter or energy to maintain a coherent state outright and give the Warscythe its legendary cutting power.
The most elite forces of the Realm do make use of ancient technosorcery passed down from far earlier eras, though these relics are regarded as nearly irreplaceable, especially far away from the capital regions of the Realm and as such outside of the guard forces stationed to protect the Presiding Council; are usually only handed out to those who have proven they are unlikely to lose or damage them. With the damage that the Celestial Realm suffered in the Wars of Vengeance and the Fall, the general focus has been on rebuilding as a whole rather than focusing on the elite and for the time being; mass-producing these relic weapons is a lost art.
Warpcraft: The usage of the Warp in day to day ways is more common in the galaxies of darkness than it was in the prior timeline, particularly to offer some degree of augmentation to equipment or protection against possible empyreal dangers. Talismans and charms being used in this regard the same way the Imperium uses Purity Seals or the Votann use runes. Psychic warpcraft which draws more from the raw warp itself channeled by the user's soul and personality differs from Sorcery which revolves around the usage of rituals, mysticism, and items of power to channel it, while true Magic draws on the so called "elemental winds" through wizardry, squeezing the semiotic essences of these winds into a more workable form that is generally more reliable but less versatile than psychic craft.
Warpcraft is also used for long distance and high priority messages, as well as long distance forms of travel that humanly accessible alternative FTL systems simply lack the speed or fuel efficiency to manage in a timely manner. Using the Great Lanterns, a sort of signal is generated in the warp that can help ward away incursions from the ether and provide peace of mind against the Dark Tapestry, though not in a fool proof way; and broadcast a guiding light in the warp to allow for the transmission of signals as well as the navigation of ships. But their more limited range compared to the Astronomicon and its tributaries means that Tian'Chaoren's expansion must follow carefully planned lines of infrastructure, especially for expanding between different galactic clusters; and compared to an Astropath, they require considerably more development to set up and lack the secondary usages of the Astropaths.
Warp Abaci are used instead of Navigators as a rule, though the Elder Beasts and the Xian are able to navigate in a similar manner to the three eyed mutants if need be. This typically results in slower but more consistent warp travel, and requires the devotion of a not inconsiderable amount of space in ships to computers to run the numbers, leading to the Imperium's smaller ships having far less reliance on their larger counterparts than their nemeses in the Celestial Navy and necessitating the more methodical approach to warfare that Tian'Chao is famous for than the more frantic pace of crusades and launched invasions by the powers to its occident.
Vibro/Sonic Devices: Most commonly used in mining or anything else that has to go through a large quantity of solid matter for relatively low energy costs, these devices aren't often used as weapons by the Celestial Military out of a lack of fondness for their variability in effectiveness depending on atmospheric conditions and lacking the Votanni field and air projectors that allow theirs to work in space; nevermind the more esoteric capabilities of highly advanced cultures such as the Dawi and Aeldari. However they are often used in subterranean assault forces, particularly those meant to rapidly go through the underground and then emerge above to open tunnels in the enemy's rear area or attack underground fortifications.
And on the surface there is one particular form where they find substantial usage; Seismic Weapons, which direct powerful shockwaves either in a radial burst, a line, or in a more targeted blast. Seismic weapons are frequently used to shake apart enemy fortifications by tearing apart the ground beneath them just as much as they cause destructive resonance with the structure itself, and the shockwaves from their larger seismic weapons can quite literally reduce organic tissue to paste; though it is clearly more effective against the more simple composition of inorganic matter. Seismic weapons also find substantial usage as a difficult to detect ahead of time form of artillery or rapidly altering the terrain to the advantage of the Tian'Chaoren.
Alchemobarics: Derived from similar first principles to Thermobaric weapons, these weapons spread a form of extremely explosive dust that ignites immediately after in an alchemical reaction that produces an extremely high temperature blast with an extremely intense overpressure wave while making little to no conventional shrapnel. Secondary effects of the weapon include the consumption of the atmosphere in the blast radius which leads to a follow up suction effect as air rushes in to fill the void at speeds only slightly slower than the initial shockwave. The alchemical processes used in these warheads allow them to vastly exceed the energy output of a conventional oxidization reaction and to react with anything gaseous and organic as well as most forms of rocky matter the same way as atmospheric oxygen, making them devastating tools of siege warfare and the generally preferred replacement for flamers in most cases.
Power Armour: While most human troops of the galaxies of darkness use exosuits of some form; save for the most disposable of fodder or those who would be hindered by any practically made mark of it; Tian'Chaoren exosuits are as a rule significantly more sophisticated than those of the Imperium or the Holy Empire, with integrated shield reinforcement and longer lasting reactors. However towards the higher end of the technological scale of human powers, the Ceramite suits of the Astartes or Peregrinas or the Sigmarium of the Stormcasts start to match or even out-do their Tian'Chaoren counterparts. While the basic forces of the Celestial Realm are of high quality, it typically takes the elite of their elite to match the space marines, with their more conventional super infantry falling short of the mark, especially when one factors in the way narrative flows around the warp components of the geneseed of the Astartes.
For the armour used by the greatest of eithers' numbers though, the quality equalised, the great of the Imperium or the Realm have broadly similar armour capabilities and strengths, though there is a general preference for more mobility of joints among most of the Tian'Chaoren. And as for the living legends of either, at this point narrative matters as much if not more than the actual technological capability when one starts dealing in the gear of Primarchs, Xian, Custodes, Living Saints, and Elder Beasts. Compared to Aeldari, Itzecan, or Dawi power armour though, and both the materials and technologies are broadly inferior across all boards. And as for the Votann; at the moment they are renown as the leaders in metallurgy among humanity's many wayward spawn for good reason.
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