[X] Plan Topple The Idol
Works for me.
Works for me.
The Young Xian of the Celestial Realm: Space Cathay 4x Warhammer 40k Quest
- Thread starter Spartakrod
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[X] Plan Topple The Idol
Baron Ouroboros
Emerald Leaves and Crimson Petals
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- Vancouver
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- He/Him
[X] Plan Topple The Idol
i really like how you humanized the space marines through the childhood toys and the embaressment he felt upon discovering there was a meseaum dedicated to him on his home planet.
i cant help but think of unicron when i picture the secret weapon. We should probobly take care of that before it can wreak too much havoc.
For Orgus, i feel we should wait until his duel with the Khaine avatar is finished to fight him. Either the Khaine avatar wins and we can focus on other things, or the avatar falls and Orgus is weakened enough to easily fall to our might.
i cant help but think of unicron when i picture the secret weapon. We should probobly take care of that before it can wreak too much havoc.
For Orgus, i feel we should wait until his duel with the Khaine avatar is finished to fight him. Either the Khaine avatar wins and we can focus on other things, or the avatar falls and Orgus is weakened enough to easily fall to our might.
Spartakrod
Judeo-Spartacist Bolshevik-Kabbalist
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A generic no name Knight armiger would absolutely be defeated by the twins, but their body plan in either oriental or occidental dragon form is a bit awkward for fighting huge humanoid enemies due to having to rely on natural weapons and the guns mounted on their armour are more meant for clearing away chaff, as well as a dragon's generally short limbs compared to humanoid or more conventionally animalistic foes of similar size. Orgus Muchkill is certainly physically a lot stronger though and has the benefit of manufactured weapons to provide him with more reach. He's also more experienced with fighting Dragons than the Zhu twins are with fighting Black Orks of his stature and as a Black Ork; can combine finesse with brute power.
Of course in terms of battle skill the Avatar of Khaine is matchless. It doesn't have a perfect WS and BS score; above even the Primarchs; in older editions of 40k for nothing. No Ork warlord is going to outdo an Avatar of Khaine in terms of technique and finesse. The knowledge of the entirety of the Eldar craft of war is in each and every Avatar of Khaine, it is literally as good as you can get in terms of fighting skill. A Greater Avatar of Khaine is greater because it is a bigger piece of Khaine and thus has more raw power, but any Avatar of Khaine is already the perfect warrior in terms of skill.
It really depends on the spell, as High magic Actions are essentially en masse usage of fleet or army battle scale usages of tabletop or total war spells.
The Ogors find it great, though they have a habit of wearing gut plates on top of their armour and helmets on top of their helmets because Ogors are kind of goofy like that. They do appreciate not having to man the turrets though.
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Baron Ouroboros
Emerald Leaves and Crimson Petals
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- Vancouver
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- He/Him
The Avatar of Khaine is also very dangerous, so we should give him quite a wide berth. The God of Murder might just shank you otherwise.
indeed, and Khaine is famous for not distinguishing between freind and foe. Thats how he got the title bloody handed, and why Widowmaker is in the materium.
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- England, unfortunately.
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- She/They
that was my exact reaction to learning of the sekret weapon. You know, comparing it to unicron.
It would be a lot more awesome if it wasnt trying to krump us.
Spartakrod
Judeo-Spartacist Bolshevik-Kabbalist
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- Sanctum Arcanorum
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- Fae/Faer/Faers/Faerself
When you really think about it, Transforming vehicles are a deeply Orky thing. It's ded kunnin' because most people unfamiliar with such a trick would never see it coming in a million years. It lets the drivers get stuck in and scrap in close quarters combat or pull out new and different sorts of guns for the situation and the only thing better than dakka is more and different kinds of dakka. It makes your vehicles more killy by giving them more options to kill things with. And it also needlessly complicates the mechanics of the vehicle just so that you don't have to use a different vehicle for a different situation and the greenskins love a good rube Goldberg machine. And as implied before, it means you don't have to switch out of your favourite vehicle to some other, naff one.
Of course some other forms of Orky Kultur would consider transforming vehicles a lot of squigshit and try to resolve their differences in military philosophy by coming over there and giving them a good whack on the head. But that's how greenskins handle every disagreement.
Of course some other forms of Orky Kultur would consider transforming vehicles a lot of squigshit and try to resolve their differences in military philosophy by coming over there and giving them a good whack on the head. But that's how greenskins handle every disagreement.
hey, your completely right.
I am thinking the main reasons GW does not making transforming orky veichles canon is because they can't make models of them, and the possible copyright infringment issues.
Faction Primer: The Quetzitzanl Tlahtanoyan, the Firstborn of the Old Ones, Part 1
Spartakrod
Judeo-Spartacist Bolshevik-Kabbalist
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Sometimes called the "Lizardmen Domains" or the "Slann Empire" the proper term in the Itzecatl* tongue is "Quetzitzanl Tlahtanoyan" or the "Sublime Alliance of the Mage-Realms of the First Cold Ones" when translated into Low Gothic. One of the very oldest peoples in the garden, the Itzanec as they call their collective group** as a people, rather than the political entity of Quetzitzanhuac started as a sophontic albeit servile set of organisms designed by the old ones. Made to be virtually immune to any mutative or corruptive effects of the narrative essence of the empyrean so that they could work with it in virtually unlimited amounts, these beings would be divided into many species in order to preform different roles. The hard labouring Kroxigor, the small and more delicate Skinks, the generalist varanid like Cuetzpalin, the flight-capable Agamac, the militant Saurus, the hardy and turtle-like Ayotl, and of course the immensely powerful Slann.
Each would have their own jobs and tasks, specialties, and skills and would in essence be the workers who helped make the vision of the Old Ones possible. They would see the foundation of the webway, the creation of the old one created portions of the wormholes and the great warp channels that make reasonable travel across the Garden possible for the modern Imperium; next to the Elder Beasts and Fey networks. They would build worlds and stars, and shape the arrangements of the stars while laying down the great astromantic web that would provide unfathomable amounts of easily worked power for the plans of the Old Ones. They would also provide much of the work of dealing with those who regarded the Old Ones' presence negatively, waging the first wars with the Dragons and the Fey until the agreement to live and let live and taking to task a number of now largely forgotten protean cultures known only from records as old as the Earth.
When the Old Ones decreed the Necrontyr to not be worthy of immortality and were met with the Silent King's declaration of war in return, the Itzanec would fight that war for them as the first soldiers, wielding fantastical arcanotechnology and reality shaking sorceries. While the Necrontyr had mastered much of the Material Universe's offerings, it was not enough to overcome the ability of the Itzecan armies and fleets to appear anywhere in a fingersnap or to change the rules that reality worked with by working the empyrean into it and even simply altering destiny to cut outcomes where the Necrontyr could win at all from the skeins of fate. The Necrontyr fought bitterly, even trying to use now far rarer devices of time travel to fight back, but ultimately could not overcome the Old Ones.
Though the Dragons and Fey would try to make offers to Szarekh, they were roundly rebuffed, enraged that they did not help earlier and now thoroughly distrustful of all things involving the otherworld and the immaterial. But the anger of the Necrontyr was of little concern now to the children of the old ones, who resumed their work with the project to create the perfect life form intended to bring about the unveiling of all mysteries and the unlocking of true gnosis; transcendental knowledge to superscede mere science or sorcery. But when the Necrontyr returned with the C'tan at their helm, they would find this work perverted towards war.
As the war grew more muddled as the Fey and Elders' attempts to mediate only lead to them being targeted by both sides and the Strangers slipped in from the Outside to undermine existence itself to create havens for the surreal things of Below that they served; the Itzecan would be joined by more and more other creations. There were the eldritch Eldar, made in mockery of the original forms of the Necrontyr to be the epitome of their standards of beauty while having souls as bright as theirs were dim. There also stood the stoic Dawi who could smith the energies of the empyrean into grand works and weapons on a superindustrial scale. And of course, none can forget the "perfect soldiers" of the Krork who would exist for nothing but war and triumph in it and have a powerful gestalt psychic war field independent of the warp.
But those were hardly the only ones. There were also the mighty and righteously huge Jotun, the fleshcrafting K'nib, the deceptively clever techsmiths of the Jokaero, the small but resilient Halflings leading up to the not entirely finished by the end Ogors. In these days, their younger siblings would defer to the commands of the Slann Mage-Priests and the Saurus Oldbloods as the art of total cosmic war was perfected in a time and space shattering cataclysm that looped upon itself in a nightmarish cord of warped reality. Battles would be fought by those who died only to be resurrected and then be killed again and again only for the sequence to be overwritten by competing attempts to alter and define history.
A conflict to make the universe scream in terror, a waking nightmare from which powers of Darkness, Undeath, Destruction, and Chaos could seep in and spread their corruption in the wake of a war of gods. But eventually, the Necrons would prove to be triumphant. The Old Ones were hacked down by the forces of the C'tan and the tortured sea of souls vomiting out its nightmares in the form of Enslavers and other antedeluvian Obyriths. The decision to make species like the Eldar able to feel the extremes of emotions and weave their life experiences into stories so as to weaponize these feelings and stories and churn them through the empyrean had, when those emotions and stories were mostly of terror and pain, lead to disaster.
The first Daemons, the first Devils, the first Nefiroth, the first Seraphons and Kerubs and more to walk the materium were all a result of this calamity. And the Itzecan would be powerless to stop the massacres of their creators, or to stop their last organised remnants from twisting the Krork to make them set out to rampage uncontrollably against all other things. Not able to understand the spite of the Old Ones as they decided that their enemies should pay for slaying them, their creations should pay for failing them, and their successors should pay for outliving them; the Itzecan would endeavour to bury this inconvenient truth once the Necrons shattered the C'tan, sealed the nightmare of the war in heaven in a timelock to never be re-opened before destroying the proverbial key, and banished the Strangers not safe in their most fortified areas before returning to sleep to await a universe actually worth ruling.
Emerging from the webway and fortified sectors, the Slann declared the formation of the Quetzitzanl Tlahtanoyan to continue and finish the great plan, with the few who knew the truth of the Old Ones' final actions sworn to silence. They would work to drive the things spilling from the warp, the remaining strangers in places not yet totally lost to them, the roaming hordes of the Undead, the likes of the K'nib who refused to make peace with the Elder Beasts and the Fey, and of course; containing those now lost to the powers of destruction. The War of the Krork which in the absence of a war to fight simply turned it on everything and everyone outside of the war field, the Beast Set Loose born of a secret act of spite by the Old Ones to give a face to unparalleled destruction, even the Torgotai who were meant to be perfect, the ultimate life form; had run amuck under the influence of the unfinished elemental pantheon; to name but a few.
Though not as dreadful as the War in Heaven itself, the Aftermath Wars would lay to waste to the cosmos all the same. Though the Aftermath wars would be bloody and awful, it would at least be a lesser horror than the war in heaven, and it too would end, with the boundaries of time further locked shut to try and remove the possibility of anything from this era leaking out and allowing the history books to be closed on it. The ideal timeline and thread of fate was forced, and the rampant forces of the enemy were put to heel, with the Krork being perhaps the last to fall. But fall they would, as they were mercilessly hounded by all the victors, mighty indeed, but the nature of a war-eidolonic intelligence is to stand alone, and against the combined strength of the allies even the War could be broken.
It would end as the last Battlemaster of the Krork was slain and their spores reduced to ash. While the Orkoids would continue on from the decapitated remnants of the Beast Set Loose, it was mistakenly believed by many that destroying the Krork, root and branch, as well as the Dread Emerald Assimilation; would forever shut the door on that militarised perfection. Certainly not giving their old masters enough credit in their design, for the potential for both the War and the Beast remains buried within their warp-code. The Lizardmen would however, deem the task completed to satisfaction, and turn towards trying to realise the great plan in the absence of the old ones. They would establish the Grand Alliance of Preservation to ensure that peace would last in the stars, uniting the victorious powers under a sort of international order that was meant to resolve conflicts and keep more hostile forces at bay or curbed entirely.
For eons they would maintain the long vigil over the known universe, carefully expanding its boundaries through their manipulations of the wormholes, warp currents, and webway paths used to quickly go across the Garden and building a great many monuments and wonders. Even somewhat directionless as they were now, they had a strong idea of what it was they wanted to do, or at the very least a good idea of what they didn't want mucking up their garden. Contrasted to the Eldar, the Dawi, the Fey, or the Dragons, their culture was far, far more static, unwilling to change very much that they did not believe was intended to change.
They would tinker and experiment, but the precepts of society handed down to them from their interpretations of the plaques was something almost fixed, rooted in time and immune to cultural drift as the Sublime Communion enforced a historical orthodoxy in its interpretations of the wisdom of the past and how to divine the future and act in the present. One that could be refined and expanded on, but changing it was certainly unacceptable, and so the so-called triple alliance of what humanity would call the Lizardmen, the Birdmen, and the Amphibimen would not accept suggestions to alter course significantly, even being suspicious of the rise of the Order God Sotek that had drawn so much fervour from the Skinks.
But the changes that befell the Eldar and the desires of many to uproot the system would not allow them to maintain the same path forever. The Cythari coup of the Phoenix Kingdom and the rippling destabilisation of the entire system begat not just a growing crisis with the Aeldari, but also the unravelling of the entire system of peace. Both old foes who wished for vengeance and new enemies who wanted to break free of the restrictions of the great powers rose up either directly in opposition to the masters of the old ways or simply to exploit the deteriorating situation.
Humanity, which had risen high and far with what many of the Slann suspected was the touch of the C'tan, would implode under its own hubris and folly and the pressure it had thrust upon itself in its eagerness to join the round table who plotted the course of the cosmos. The Witch Kingdom would persist for some time yet, growing ever more abhorrent in its efforts to stave off increasingly inevitable defeat while the warp's madness and the once contained powers of destruction were allowed to spill out. Up until at last, it would be consumed by its own obsession and the twelve gods of Chaos would be joined by a thirteenth; the sixfold Prince of Excess, the Master of Obsession, the embodiment of everything rotten that the Witch Kingdom Aeldari had allowed to fester but chose to reject because they did not wish to surrender their free will.
Slaanesh, the great enemy. The Eye of Terror would consume the core galaxies of the Aeldari, tearing away at the weakened Astromantic web that had already been strained trying to contain the rampaging hordes of warp-spawn and the corrupted unleashed by the psyker blooms and magical cyclones. Much had been lost in the wars of vengeance, and there would not be enough time to recover it as had been done after the Aftermath Wars and War in Heaven; for many players were already wheeling into motion once the great powers had fallen.
Tremendous amounts of sacrifice were needed to hold the line, and the Tlahatanoyan would regress tremendously in its efforts to prevent a complete collapse of the Astromantic Web. Eons of lore was lost or no longer accessible, great expanses of their civilisation had gone dark in the brutal war and the attacks of those who stood to gain from the weakening of their web, and the Skaven would pounce on them mercilessly to try and keep them and the Dawi down. Though in less dire tidings, populations of humans who fled into their territory under the leadership of a cadre of female scientist would be accepted into the territory of the triple alliance; and reforged into the Amazons, matriarchal societies born of their spawning pools largely out of the Lizardmen not really understanding human gender and assuming that a female leadership and warrior caste was simply natural for them.
Then of course, was the mess of the frantic race to fill an unprecedented power vacuum. Anything and everything that could reach the stars was doing so all over the garden, and a great many were incredibly hostile to the Triple Alliance. Some, like the Holy Empire, Interex, or the rapidly revitalising Celestial Realm would be friendly, some such as the Q'orl, Rangda, or the Imperium of Man saw in the Lizardmen only an enemy. Despite this, the Horus Heresy and the Great War against Chaos would see the Slann assist the younger cultures, and again when the Undead tried their own power play shortly after. They would help to defeat the Prime-Orks in the War of Slaughter and spent many a long night facing the terrible madness of the Strangers.
But they are once again a rising power, not only starting to reclaim what they once had but actively expanding. Theirs is some of the greatest technology and mysticism in existence, even in their diminished state, and as they grow once again and expand the reach of the astromantic web, they unlock old secrets and have started to look at new paths and avenues. The prognostications of the future paint a grim picture, the Twilight Age and the coming of the final wars. The great plan must be accelerated so that existence may be saved, or all will perish.
Their military is infamous for its resilience and stubbornness as well as the sheer brute power it can strike its foes with once its momentum gets rolling. It is also well known for the incredibly powerful forms of force multiplication it can employ through an eclectic array of supportive technosorcery and actual sorcery and a mastery over life that few can even begin to rival. For the act of resurrecting the dead is outright easy for the Itzecan able to mature fresh troops into being from a simple egg in breath-takingly little time as they tap into workable magic energy from the astromantic web, and their psychic auras seem to suffuse the forges of their labouring kroxigors, churning out ever larger quantities of war materiel.
Temple-worlds and habitats that have long been largely quiet have become increasingly active, clearing out their operating areas of anything deemed contrary to the Great Plan while their fleets and armies marshall in never before seen numbers. For one thing, the arrival of the Tyranids seems to have greatly agitated the Itzanec, who regard these invaders from far beyond the rim of the garden as a plague and monstrosity that threatens everything they have worked to uphold and encourage, and often will wipe whole swathes of territory clean of life when they divine the presence of Genestealer cults and infiltrator organisms past a level they believe entities such as the Imperium can be trusted to deal with.
The Tyranids themselves seem to crave their flesh and genematerial, perhaps sensing something of tremendous value from them. Not to mention that the firstborn of the old ones invariably make paradises out of the places they inhabit and transform to their tastes. Something for every one of the strains of Tyranid; whether it be their classic Carbon devouring form, the Silicate and Mineral eating Lithovores, the Metal and technology absorbing Kyberdons, the energy thirsting Dynophages, or their Mindwyrm swarms. Battles between the firstborn and the hive armadas are brutal things, primeval majesty pitted against alien adaptability cold-blooded arcane genius versus the combined will of an entire form of life.
But also agitating them is the reawakening of the Old adversary. The Necrons, the Destroyers, the Flayed Ones, and other creations of the C'tan such as the Cruorans, the Revecons, or the Spectors are descending upon the stars in unprecedented numbers. Awakening from their long sleep on tomb worlds, hidden complexes in the dark void of intergalactic space or pocket subdimensions, fleets kept in a silent slumber in the deepest corners of the void of space, and cities buried by the advance of time, the Old Enemy has returned to plague the stars. A foe that they have long waited for, and are prepared to lay waste to whole swathes of the starry void in order to deal with out of an ancient purpose.
Though the Eldar and Dawi have allowed the stories of the war in heaven to fade into myth and history, it is still an overwhelming prerogative to the Slann who have never forgiven nor forgotten their ancient enemies and the powers of sterility they wield. Whether C'tan Loyalist or not, they are all equally abhorrent in the concepts of the Great Plan, and the Itzecan themselves are also remembered by these ancient minds; whether they are of the awakening Necrons or the long active and preparing Cruorans or whatever other form they take. They know well how the lizardmen were there to oppose them from the very beginning and laugh to themselves at how the Lizardmen are still "puppets on strings for dead gods".
The restlessness seen in other factions in anticipation of what is to come also seems to have motivated them to greatly step up their activities after the Slann achieved some form of victory that few outside of the sublime communion are aware of, and every passing year more of the mage-priests are being born from the spawning pools and awakening from their torpors. Their cold blooded hosts grow in number, and their fleets are crawling across the Webway and the Warp, looking for any signs of problems or acting on the whims of the Mage Priests who believe that a time of reckoning has come upon the universe and the reptillian ones will be the ones to do it.
Those who are foes of the firstborn fear this, or welcome it in the case of those mad things that see them as a worthy adversary. Those who are friends of them welcome it, hoping to see the implacable might of the ancients aid their causes. But ultimately the designs of the Itzecan are their highest priority, if they have prophecised that a long standing friend does not belong somewhere they will tear them apart without hesitation; and may stop a relentless offensive against an ancient adversary if they believe that such is necessary for their plans. This makes many very wary of being near them, but given their mastery of the webway and the empyrean one can be nowhere near any of the settlements of the Itzecan only to find a large armada of theirs suddenly deep within their territory with very little warning.
However, while they are alien and do not experience the same range of emotions that creatures such as humans, dawi, or aeldari do, they are not without their capacity for mercy. Those they deem to be under their protection will be defended to the bitter end, and while they are unafraid to die in service to the great plan they are taught to value their own lives so that they may continue to be of service to the cause. They are incapable of cruelty as humans would understand it, for sadism is not something they were ever designed to indulge in. While they can certainly give many painful forms of death, torture is not in their nature and they never truly relish in bloodshed.
Just as they do not love, they also do not truly hate. Their violent reactions towards things they perceive as not part of the plan are not born of malice as humans so often muster up towards things they see as enemies, but simply because they are the enemy and they are being asked to deal with them. When it is said that their gods such as Sotek "hate", in truth it means that the targeted foe is anathema to their nature and cannot coexist in their current state anymore than fire and water. When translated more properly from Itzecatl, the common attribution of "Sotek demands their hearts to sate his hatred!" is nearly completely wrong; instead more properly meaning "They are antithetical to Sotek and so must be cut out at the heart", with the offering of hearts being a semiotic offering of the core of that which disrupts the phenomenon known as Sotek.
They are not eidolons, they have a free will of sorts, albeit one that is far more focused than that of many other sophonts. They have inborn talents written into their flesh and genetics, but are free to express them as they see fit, though their alien emotional range and sexless nature means that the idea of doing many things that would tempt things such as the Eldar simply never comes up. The idea of betraying the cause out of love for someone on the other side is only academically understood by beings who feel none of the things associated with romance or sexual desire, and the idea of giving into despair is similarly a nonstarter for beings who simply don't think that way.
This, combined with the solidity of their design meant to work with colossal quantities of warp power safely and without incident, is what leads to their immunity to the corruptive powers of the warp and the abyss. They are fundamentally uninterested in most temptations, and are fundamentally very easy to keep content as long as they feel that they are serving a purpose. And in their thoroughly planned society, there are no idle hands and no overworked minds. Some would call their society communist then, for everyone works to their ability and is provided for to their need, and beings go from one job to another largely as it interests them and suits their talents. They do not use money, having no need of such mediums, and the production output of their society is rigorously planned to the last pebble.
But to the Itzecanl it is simply the way things are, organising in other ways is wasteful in their eyes, and they abhor waste. Forming gold into coins when it could instead be used in electronics and arcane conduits is wasteful, prizing the shine of a diamond that does little but sit and look pretty is wasteful, hoarding wealth and assets beyond what is directly useful is wasteful. And whereas the human mind grows bored with repetitive task, the Itzecan mind is pleased so long as it feels like it is doing something productive, and as such theirs is in a sense; an almost perfectly happy society.
They argue and debate over their prognostications nonstop true, but they have no bitterness over it; even when they come to blows over conflicting interpretations. Once the conflict ceases it is as if they had always been working together. Grudges are not in their nature, nor is conventional notions of vengeance. While they are infamous for the severity of their retaliations and retribution, such campaigns are waged principally because the aggrieving party has proven to be a threat and must be made to cease being one with all possible haste. And as they often struggle to conduct diplomacy with more emotive species; something they increasingly rely on the Amazons to do for them; they often come to the decision that the best option is to simply hit the problem until it stops moving.
*Saurian is a silly name for a Nahuatl based language
**The Itzecan language has a large number of possible acceptable terms for the "Children of the Old Ones". Quetzal is a common shorthand in Gothic for those who feel calling them "Lizardmen" or "Lizardfolk" is too informal, derived from the name for their polity. Itzecatl refers strictly to the language, Itzanec or "first children" is generally the most correct demonym, though in the presence of the related "Birdmen" or Wakota in their own language of Lakiya or the "Amphibimen" (more properly called "Ngu con" in their own tongue of Cu baihat) typically the modifier of "Quetz" is added for distinguishment's sake.
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Bloody*Vermilion
The newbie of newbies on this site
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Something seems to be wrong here. How could the Aftermath Wars lay to waste to itself?
[X] Plan Topple The Idol
Turn 1 Part 3: Krumped (Aka I went and made another 12k word post)
Spartakrod
Judeo-Spartacist Bolshevik-Kabbalist
- Location
- Sanctum Arcanorum
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- Fae/Faer/Faers/Faerself
Gonna ask you to pretend this is a spaceship since it's the closest thing I can find to Tian'Chao's space navy aesthetic
[X] Scene Request: War Room Action
Fleet Admiral Jiang Qingling looked at the data being fed to her display table from within the bridge of her Jade Qilin class Superdreadnought; the Autumn's August Dawn. Given the possibility for sudden teleporter assault or Kommando infiltration, she wore her power suit, fully enclosed in its protective embrace while its systems linked into her mind to speed up the movements and efficiency of her thoughts. A cybernetic link that helped her keep up with the massive flow of information from her battlegroup and the wider task force.
She tapped at her helmet's mouthguard, her visor poring through every scrap of data one after the other while her eyes drifted to look at the representations of the other commanders in the system.
"The main force of the Shouren[1] is rallying to their star-titan. It's very likely to be a major concentration of their gestalt energy." The Strategos Sun Fang's serpentine body coiled as he spoke, the Tian Long shifted to get eyes around his display systems and then back towards the rest of the gathered commanders at this war council.
"These Shouren seem to favour the aspect of Mork, which means we can assume they have some trick of low cunning prepared. I would suggest screening first with automated ships before we concentrate on the warmech." Shen Rong replied, the Qilin's current human guise given away only by the fact that her helmet had to be designed to enclose her horns as well.
Qingling for her part found the machine...absurd. What was the point? The joy of punching an entire planet? Yet it was indisputable that as the greenskins fought near it, it seemed to amplify them, and waaagh gates within it let fresh mobs pour in from beyond the galaxy to the core of Muchkill's empire.
She chewed her lip beneath her helmet and puzzled over it for some time.
The Imperials were committed to simply hammering their way through the foe with everything they had, but she wanted a less bloody sort of victory.
"Perhaps we could try to disrupt the gestalt energy to damage it? By its gravity shouldn't it...collapse into a sphere?" She said, that sliver of information crawling out of her memory.
"We would need to contact brother Xiang to start another ritual to do so." Sun Fang replied, the Dragon hissing somewhat to itself. "But I have confidence that he could manage it. At the very least, it cannot hurt to ask." He finished, looking towards her in holographic form.
"Is he recovered from the prior ritual? To test them once is lucky enough, can he handle it twice?" Shen Rong asked.
"Haoyu and his sister might be able to manage, at least if Xiang is presently indisposed with his command duties." Her eyes turned towards a man who might have been called out of place in his beauty, unmarred by the ravages of war as it was, with a voice that sounded more fitting with a fresh recruit than the grizzled veteran she knew him to be from his marks of service on his armour. The roughly cut way he wore his white hair stricken with ice blue streaks telling her at once who they were even before she looked at his odd, diamond shaped pupils.
Zhang Xiao, often called the watery daemon prince of the bastion, even if he deeply hated the title. Yaoguai he might be, but to call him a daemon even in jest wounded his soul. Like most of the Tianren, the heavenly people, he was a shapeshifter, a teacher and a guide in the sea of more conventional humans and xenos being.
"Can such a thing be done without Xiang's guidance?" One of the Admirals asked.
"If Xiang were indispensable to your stratagems he wouldn't risk himself in the first place. I know him better than most of you, and he's definitely confident that he can address other goals without the armada falling apart. He might be stubborn, prideful, and often outright insufferable; but he has pride in his students and faith in you." Xiao explained, walking around his display area of the holoconference, letting his hands convey his words while he smirked at the end of his words. She thought his eyes caught her own for a moment, but she couldn't be sure, besides the briefest expansion of that smirk.
Perhaps there would be time for that later...now though.
"If the esoterical side is settled, then what of the ground conflict?" Qingling asked, pointing towards the display of the surface battle ongoing on a planet that by all accounts should have been lifeless after a supernova thirty eight thousand years ago erupted and stripped it to the core in an explosive cataclysm.
"The ground war against the Shouren proceeds well, Tongzhi[2] Admiral. We are in need of further mechanical support, but are making steady progress. Casualties are...not the best but could be worse." General Tashi Drakpa was one of the Huoren, whose scarlet fur bristled from wind blowing against his unhelmed head.
"I will see what I can do to get more help to you. Anything in particular you would like Tongzhi General?" She said, slightly playful in he rvoice in her second sentence.
"Titans have never let me down. Would be nice with breaking through th-" He managed before being cut off by a by now thoroughly ingrained cry of "WAAAAAAAAAGH!" as teleporting Greenskins emerged in his room, his helmet snapping over his face while he landed on his hands, feet grabbing his power staff long enough for him to right himself and let out a battle shriek.
"Why do these fungal barbarians throw themselves so recklessly? Most foes would have asked for terms of surrender by now. Our kill tallies reach higher than this galaxy has stars!" Admiral Li Fo was a young man, a proud man, but a somewhat gentle soul for a man in the navy all the same.
"You do not understand the Shuoren." Fang said, the dragon looking towards the lad, recommended to his office by the astromancers and confirmed by his fleet; he had more the sort of features one would see on Cadia. Rounder eyes, purple ones at that from the energies of the Death Rift that his homeworld orbited, pale hair with a slight purple tinge to it, a strong contrast to Qingling's own black hair and brown eyes.
She wondered why he had a Tian'chaowen name, but based on his accent he was probably raised by someone from Xi-Gau. It certainly explained his more relaxed attitude towards the Tianre, looking at Fang with curiosity rather than awe.
"They are not a culture formed by experience as you would understand it, but the byproduct of an old and dreadful conflict. They are machines of fungal flesh and bone, made to self-replicate, make war, and grow stronger to overcome a foe." He explained, though not lingering on his thoughts for long as the other commanders in the conclave carried on their discussions without him.
"They fight because they do not have a choice to do otherwise. Maybe one day we can give them that choice." Qingling said, a nod of appreciation coming from the dragon.
"I see...that...bothers me. I do not like the idea of a living thing that exists only to kill. It seems, blasphemous." Li sighed.
"It is a blasphemy, but one we can only treat for now, not cure." Fang responded.
"Then I hope our treatments will be effective now." Qingling added.
...
Raug Meatspicer was a happy Ogor, dispatched as he was to try and undermine the power of the Waaagh by taking on some of the weirdboyz with some of the Eldar solitaires in tow.
"Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum! I smell da blood of a big green Trogg!" He sung raptorously as his heavy cleaver swings carved through many a Greenskin in his way, weapons fire bouncing off him like rain, his heavy foot stomping on some snotlings to smash them into gristle beneath his boot.
His power fist clad right hand grabbed at an ork, fingers squeezing until it stopped moving before flinging it behind him into the cooking pot backpack he wore, laughing like a maniac while the slaughter master used his armour as he was trained to, feeding a chunk of catachan devil meat from a compartment into his yawning jaw.
The meat of the apex predator of the world that more than any other in the imperium, the question of "why does anyone willingly live here?" is raised. Nevermind the horror at the department munitorium's policy of deliberately seeding worlds to be colonised by those of the Catachan tradition with its insanely hostile biota. And it was this that had lead to him having access to this meat in the first place, harvested from a world in the Drae Neng territory.
Food was power in Raug's tradition, and the power of the Devil was its sheer speed. Creatures the size of land trains able to see a human preparing to squeeze a lasgun trigger and then juke the shot reliably, its meat would be his meat now and its speed, his speed as he made the chants.
The force picked up in speed, limbs lashing quicker than whips, bodies like lightning, dismembered foes would be piled around them, even as some of their number fell, such as an apprentice butcher who would be hacked to pieces by a trio of deff dreads, an Irongut felled by a Trog with a sizzling power klaw, a Yhetee devoured by a Squiggoth. a Stonehorn brought down by killtanks, but Raug didn't stop or slow.
He was looking for his foe, looking for the Trog he knew was there, Shoutablast Brainshoot. Xinyi had told him that he needed to get rid of the major Wurrboyz if they were going to smack that planet-titan down, and Raug was eager to taste the flesh of such a foe, hooting and tollering as he grabbed at a four meter tall trog boy and simply flung it like a basketball through a window of the Greenskin hive he was rampaging through.
"Waaaaaagh!" Shouted new voices, stranger voices...human voices. Diggaz, humans who had come to try and emulate Ork culture and revere the Greenskins as the superior species after generations of slavery beneath them. While most greenskins thought they were "cringe", the Blood Axes recognised their value as infiltrators and tolerated them to a degree, though they did something to them that let them feel the Waaagh and thus be enslaved to it. These were wearing what was clearly meant to be imitations of Imperial Guard armour, specifically...if he recognised his emperor botherers right...
"Yer not real cadians!" Raug laughed as he bit into a piece of stone from its container in his armour shoveled into his mouth, crushing it with his teeth and glaring at the ground to will it to tear apart, fissures ripping open and engulfing the diggaz before they were crushed by the ground repeatedly into the consistency of ground beef, a pyrokine psyker next to him letting heat rise from the earth to engulf the hamburger made out of the humans before he stomped his foot to bounce the meat out, seared to perfection.
"Deez fatboyz got their weirdgitz out! Get da Wurrboss over 'ere sharpish!" One of the Orks shouted over the din as Ogors following behind Raug stopped to pick up the...long pork patties and stuff their faces with them.
They didn't have to wait long, the Trog and the Grot Killeye Meangit would crackle into place with the thunderclap of displaced air and the green flash of tellyportation. The Trog was a big brute himself, nearly equal in height to Raug though certainly not in width. A spiny, moist hide was visible between plates of armour, a deep shade of green that seemed quite fitting given the borderline unbelievable stench he gave off.
Like a Tannery inundated by sewage that later had an open-air durian tasting party upon which twenty thousand fish collectively decided to crawl into the wreckage and die in celebration to be left to rot for at least a month in a hot and humid climate. Except somehow worse. A Water Trog he was, his gills briefly opening up at the sides of his neck while finned ears spread wide in intimidation display, hair squigs on his face covered in kelp.
"Yoo wantz da Brainblasta?" The Trog snarled with a bassy rumble that released breath that smelled even worse than the rest of him, haltosis so powerful it had an almost physical presence, like a hot, wet wall slamming into the nostrils.
"I wantz ya in me belly ya smelly wankah!" Raug shouted at the Trog Shaman before letting out an earth-shaking belch in challenge, one met with...unfortunately a burp of the Trog's own like some gaseous parody of two apex predators roaring at one another to try and get the other to back off before fighting. It certainly smelled much worse.
Killeye, uninterested in being near this whole mess, slid off of the Trog, his Spider-Squig mount seeming to almost shimmer into being while he cackled to himself.
The Harlequin Magician,Meldania Twice-Laugh made a mocking bow to the Grot whose glaring red eyes shone with green power while he barked orders at his underlings.
"Dis pointy earz' one of 'em Harley-Kin weirdboyz ooz not boyz!" He hissed, briefly remembering the existence of "girlz" but disdaining the usage of the term, while the Harlequin Magician offered a simple, sarcastic clapping response, the left half of her mask black with a white light from the eyehole and the right half white with a black eyehole, a simple half-moon smile on the mask as liliripes capped by bells jingled with her movements.
"Yoo makin' fun of me?" He snarled, the Solitaire placing a hand over her mask's mouth as if in shock then pointing to herself as if to say "who, me?" before miming laughing, pointing at the Grot wordlessly before pulling out a card from a sleeve.
"Of course, why wouldn't I be?" She said in a sing songy voice before disappearing the moment Killeye blinked, dodging around the lethal strands of waaagh power he had fired, her form disappearing into a chaotic kaleidoscope of indistinct shapes and colours all over the place before she manifested out of a teleport having thrown a number of cards charged with red wind of aqshy like daggers.
A large trog nob that got in their way laughed at first before bursting into fire from the inside out, consuming him into nothingness before the grot created a shield to protect himself, letting each card explode against him with more force than a baneblade company's weapons unloading at once, vapourising many of the less protected greenskins in the way.
She teleported again, Killeye laughing and conjuring up a manifestation of the Bad Moon to consume the disco-ball like spheres she cast out of her bag of tricks before the beams of cutting hysh they would generate could tear into him, snarling as he tapped into the Waaagh to make himself faster.
"Oh-ho-ho-ho! You might just be able to keep up enough to eat my dust." She laughed as three of her seemed to cartwheel in separate directions, a card placed on one of the Ork weirdboys near Killeye causing the Ork to start glowing from within before blasting with the totality of his stored energy, pushing Killeye to the side until the spider-squig dug its legs into the ground and channeled the power of the waaagh into its forelimbs and slammed them into the ground to create linear shockwaves to force the Magician to disappear out of their way, the rest of the scene erupting into a brawl in short order as he shouted at the ladz not too busy with the ogors to get a move on.
As for the Ogor and the Trog, the two were busily punching each other; with Raug equipping his second power fist and the Trog fitting his power klawz in a brawl of the giants where every blow rang louder than a thunderbolt. When their weapons collided, the air seemed to still for a moment before the resonance of the power fields created shockwaves that could throw lesser combatants off their feet, their warp energies channelling into their bodies to let them move with astonishing speed for their bulk.
Raug summoned a figment of the Maw, willing the Earth to open up with hungry mouths gnashing and biting at his foe, Shoutablast called on the Foot of Gork, bringing down a vast viridian boot onto the mouth to shut it up, the cancelling energies tearing through cover and overturning tanks.
He chomped into the tongue of a magmawyrm and let heat and flame build within him before belching it out in a torrential inferno, a bane for things like Trogs; but he countered in turn with his famed Shoutablast, roaring so loud that its soundwaves turned green and pushed against the fire and flame, neither getting the advantage over one another for the time until they let the spells run their course.
Raug bit into a haunch of trog flesh fed into his helmet, letting the meat suffuse into his being to repair the wounds accruing on his skin and unending layers of blubber, while Brainblasta's injuries seemed to knit of their own accord no matter how grievous while they closed in once again, headbutting and punching each other, each step shaking the ground as they brawled.
The Trog let out a blast of his vomit, regurgitating out his stomach's contents in a stream of warp enhanced acid that collapsed his slowly restarting shield and drew a roar of pain out of Raug when he felt it eat into his shoulder, sizzling and fighting against the regenerative properties of the trollflesh imbued into him, bubbling on his helmet and forcing him to pull off the faceplate.
"Yooz gonna run outta food tricks way 'fore I getz tired fatboy. Den I'z gonna be da one dat eatz ya!" He snarled as he stabbed his power klaw into Raug's chest while he stumbled, punching into weakened armour and getting another roar of pain out of the Ogor.
"Nobody...eats...RAUG!" The ogor roared as he chopped at the Trog's arm with the other power fist, cutting clean through the arm joint like balsa wood and getting the Trog to howl in outrage, the stump trying its best to heal while Raug looked at the arm embedded into him, yanking it out with the other hand. Even this severed limb was trying to grow a new body, so he did the only sensible thing.
He bit down into it and tore out another piece of flesh, unhinging his jaws as he beseeched the maw to take impossibly large bites out of it.
"I'M DA SLAUGHTER MASTA 'ERE! YER JUST ME GREENZ FER DA DAY!" He roared as his wounds sealed even faster now, the Trog drawing out his force staff to replace the missing klaw when his arm had finished regrowing while Raug discarded it, bringing out his own butcher's cleaver and letting out a bestial roar as the two tackled into one another; two mountains of flab, skin, and muscle colliding in a powerful shockwave.
With the waaagh coursing through him, the wurrboy trog's body was like a cannonball, fast, powerful, bounding with muscle that could barely be contained by its armour and surging forward with a gleeful urge to destroy.
But Raug was taller and denser and fatter.
And with a haunch of bull grox, he had the greater momentum to push Shoutablast back, roaring and then headbutting the trog hard to break his concentration long enough to fill himself with the glory of the Maw and unhinge his jaws while the Trog babbled out nonsense. Then he lowered it over the top of the Trog's head and chomped, thrusting his cleaver into a weak point in his foe's defences, pushing it harder and harder while his power fist clamepd down on the other arm once he had gained an advantage in the brawl through his size.
The old reliable firebelly jabbed a spear into the Trog's back, letting the fireheart's song roil within it as the greenskin's thick skull began to give way and then...
CRUNCH
Pulling his head free, Raug slurped up his grotesque meal in triumph, having bit the Trog's upper jaw and brain off.
"NOW YER DEAD! AND NOW I'Z GONNA EAT YOU! LIKE ALL YER DAMN GREEN 'OOLIGANS!" He declared as he started chowing down on the Trog, many of the gathered greenskins feeling the backlash of the waaagh's "boss" focal point dying and suddenly finding themselves alone against foes they could not see how to win again.
Killeye snarled and snapped, the green currents of the Waaagh coursing into him as he looked away from his duel with the Harlequin.
"YOO GITZ GET BACK INTO IT ER I'LL-" He never finished the sentence before she gave him a wave of goodbye and flipped out of the way, letting one of the Solitaires melt out of his shadow and jab the Harlequin's kiss into him, reducing his insides to slurry while the other hand reached for the heart of the spider-squig and crushed it.
"WE'ZE ALL GONNA DIE!" The shout rang out as they broke into a mindless scramble for survival.
The Eldar gave the Ogors a wide berth as they ate their meals, cooking and roasting it or simply having it raw. However, the Harlequin Magician would give a courteous bow to Raug as he sat down, the battle-lust gone from him and only a desire to sit down and eat filling his mind.
"A masterful performance from the master chef. We shall see each other sooner than you might expect, but for now, I have other performances." She said as Raug just nodded and yawned.
"Yeah dats nice...bring me some of dat...cinnamon next time, it's good." he said, gesturing towards some of his butchers to start preparing something while he laid down and started snoring.
...
The Greater Avatar of Khaine consumed the first of the Orkead who sought to get in its way with plumes of fusion flame like a far larger version of the incendiary wrath of the fire dragons' fusion guns, leaving only searing imprints on the ground as the bloody handed Avatar advanced towards its quarry. As it walked the wailing doom took on the form of a Dark Reaper's Launcher replete with a dreadful scythe bayonet, streaking missiles of pure burning malice leapt into vulnerable defences, trivially adjusting their flight paths to counter any effort at avoiding them before reducing their quarry to ash, the Scythe cocked and then swung through a bumper crop of trogs trying to slow down the Avatar; every single one of the trollish things crumbling to molten ash as the avatar's weapon changed again.
Every single weapon and ability of the aspect warriors was available to such a great avatar who necessarily embodied all of the aspects of Khaine that such warriors took after. If that meant the wings of the Swooping Hawks and their laser blasters for example; that could be done, the Avatar flying overhead on blazing wings of fire and killing light torching foes not swift enough to get out of its way before it landed with the wailing doom once again in the form of a great two handed sword, swinging down into the Defflord's shield.
"I AM WAR, I AM DEATH, I AM HATE, I AM YOUR END."
"Yoo'z a git, Yoo'z a grot, Yoo'z naff, and i'z yer end!"
He brought his maul around, letting the weapon thrum to full power as he sought to bash in the Avatar's head, backing away to bring his thunder shield in the way of the next frenzied greatsword swing. Shielding protested and heavy boots tried to lock him in place into the ground, but the Avatar opened his mouth and spoke fire, letting tendrils of molten heat spread across the Black Ork's armour.
Grenade launchers clicked into pace over his shoulder and released a barrage of "frosty-nades" that exploded into a storm of "freezy clouds" that froze oxygen and nitrogen around the avatar before following up with high explosives in a classic "freeze and shatter". Which would have been impressive against a foe who was not solar hot already and simply sublimated the shell of frozen oxygen through sheer hate alone, letting the wailing doom take the form of an Avenger's Shuriken rifle and peppering the Ork with blazing discs of spite.
"BETRAYER OF OUR KIND. BARBARIAN SCOURGE OF THE STARS. A WASTE OF PRECIOUS LIFE. THESE AND MORE ARE YOUR SINS FOR WHICH I CLAIM YOUR HEART."
"Zog yoo Avatar Gits all' talk da same. Kan't ya find anyfing else ta yell at me fer? Yer borin' me!"
"MY SHARDS ARE ALL ME, YOU ARE KNOWN TO ME, AND AS SUCH YOUR LIFE ENDS HERE"
"Yeah well, made ya look!"
The bale eyes of the defflord erupted in beamy defflight, shooting into the eyes of the avatar who barely even flinched.
"Huh dat usually works."
"YOU WOULD USE HEAT AND LIGHT AGAINST ONE WHO IS ALREADY MOLTEN?"
"Look yooz made of melty metal right? 'N me beamz run way 'otter then that so when I shootz ya wiff me eyebeamz dat oughta 'splode yer 'ead since when yoo really finkz about it at deez levels uvv energy yer bo-"
"SILENCE YOUR GIBBERING TONGUE."
The wailing doom was now a two handed Warhammer of the Battle Harbinger aspect, swinging downwards with mountain crushing force into the head of Muchkill's maul, knocking him somewhat downwards before the Defflord tried to headbutt the Avatar only to receive an uppercut to the jaw for his trouble, knocking his head back
Removed from the presence of Khaine were the Wu Conclave, which had instructions from XInyi to start trying to drain at the Ork's vitality. Each of these mystics, clad in talisman bedecked armour and wielding a personalised force staff and blade and having had their progress in cultivation personally overseen by the Xian had taken great precautions to stay out of sight, even if it meant having to have guards posted near them to fight off wave after wave of greenskins.
In the frenzy that Khaine inspired in the Eldar, the people of Tian'Chaoren could very well be on the receiving end of the wrath of Khaine if the Aeldari couldn't control the lust for murder Khaine inspired in them. None were willing to chance it, certainly not when Khaine's wrath could let even a strictly long ranged marksman of the Aspect of Khaine the Far-Killer grab at an Ork's head and crush it between their fingers while screaming like animals.
The reports of what an Avatar of Khaine did to Eldar just by being near them were always terrifying, and here was a conclave of them, many lesser and middle ones gathered around a greater avatar; amplifying Khaine's frenzy to the level where even an Eldar child would have been a whirlwind of blood and death. Here were seasoned warriors who had been seeped in the mythological roles of Khaine's aspects, and they were utterly insane butchers now.
Shenhe Xetian was pretty sure she saw a de-helmed howling Banshee tear a Trog's throat out with her teeth, drawing far more blood and a much deeper wound than her small mouth should have been able to make, hacking and slashing before pouncing on her next victim, the Trog's body sizzling away in the heat of the Avatar.
Nevertheless, she would have to remain focused. The drumbeat of Khaine and the roar of the Waaagh were palpable here, two children of the Old Ones ripping into each other without mercy or remorse, swollen on energies that had convinced their ancestors long ago that the Old Ones were playing with fire at best, and may have doomed the universe in the long term at worst.
She exhaled, drew her ritual circles and began to chant over the sounds of backline greenskins hacking into many of the less fortunate soldiers trying to hold the line long enough for the Conclave to do its work, gathered around a Wu Jin compass to amplify their power as they wove a poem into being, casting their ritual items into the lantern at the compass' heart.
"In all things is harmony, and in harmony is duality. Every strength has its weakness, every weakness has its strength..." She began.
...
Taking down Da Secret Weapon would be an endeavour, and Xinyi would take it upon herself to lead the effort. Haoyu and Kexin would lead the effort from the void, but the dragons would strike the machine from within.
The celestial fleets would array themselves to present as much firepower as possible, reinforcing their shield recharges while Ogor ships descended towards the surface of the war machine alongside the landers. Siege ships released their artillery pickets and platforms, massive cannons that detached and took aim to release everything they had into concentrated bombardments as deluges of surface to space fire stitched across the void.
Xinyi closed her eyes and reached her mind's hand into the void, pushing many of the corkscrewing missiles away from her lander as incandescent light stabbed into overlapping power fields from bombardment platforms. Opening them again, she saw the interior of the Iron Mother class lander she was using, austere but calming, designed according to the principles of Yin and Yang and tonal architecture. To amplify harmony and exude an aura of calm.
Making an opposed landing was a very often terrifying experience, and this was more terrifying than most. She hugged a bit at a small stuffed toy, one well used from a much earlier period of their lives by both herself and her brother. Xiang meanwhile, held her hand, clutching it tightly and close.
Whatever happened over the years, they were, and will always be twin brother and sister. And this was understood well by their guards, who made no jeers nor jabs at their closeness.
Pummeling and hammering, forming a cantabrian circle where ships would dip closer to the secret weapon, then pull away to let fresher ships take their place in an effort to keep their shields as strong as possible and provide no easy targets for the defence zappers tearing bloody red arcs into the heavens.
Her brother focused on the paths of fate, grabbing at the chances they needed to exploit to make their landing, dancing around the beams that had managed to partially break through their target while the Vermillion and Azure Dragon guards waited with commendable stoicism.
"We've had harsher landings before, and heaven willing; will probably have worse to come." She said with a bit of joking faux-reassurance.
"I would prefer if we did not, actually." Guardmaster Dai Ling caught her off guard with how blunt he was, getting a laugh out of her as she gripped the hilt of her blade; the Typhoon's Song. Mountain ranges were visible now, lower level power field generators throwing up barriers against the stabbing pulses of light or the rains of cometary bombardment projectiles.
Some of the automata and troop ships sent to gather attention away from the stealthed guard ships erupted in flame, torn apart by interceptors or anti-aircraft fire while the lander rocked from nearby puffs of flakka rounds.
The faster falling forms of Titans and Knights on hot-drop as well as Iron Eggs raced by, grav-chute troopers and vehicles jumping out for their own swift landings as the ground became ever closer, this shoulder joint chosen because it moved much less relatively compared to the rest of the machine. Mechanisms the size of old terran nations shifted and more guns were revealed, trying to stop the descent even as the bombardments singled them out wherever defences were weakened enough.
A battleship plumed into debris, struck from the void by the attentions of a trio of giga-gargants after lengthy bombardment. A destroyer breathed its last, Spacey-Bommers roaring past after delivering their payloads of gravity bombs that crunched large sections of its hull upon itself. A cruiser died, smashed in twain by an Ork battleship ramming through its weakened hull. But the descent continued, it could not be stopped now, they were too numerous, too tough.
The strange mechanical vistas of the transformed attack moon provided for a surreal and somewhat dizzying view of the sky as the machine's limbs moved quickly enough to radically and continually alter the portions of the night sky one could see. Day and night could shift erratically depending on limb and mech positioning, and weather conditions were similarly violently unstable, with storms forming at a moment's notice from devastating wind gusts to cacophonic bombardments of statically charged lightning, lightning having to be channelled away by the astromancers in the unit to avoid being torn through by the storm, the heavy beat of the Waaagh! at the back of everyone's minds.
But now Xiang could teleport the primary wave directly onto the surface, the Guard having made it without casualties. Of course, this was merely the first phase of their descent, the second would be in now, having arrived at their entrances, boring their way deeper inside with conversion cutters to convert matter into energy that could be pushed forwards to help further deepen their penetration.
Flying through cavernous openings and joints, they cut through less armoured "naff bits" that guarded less important areas or had been stripped down to build some form of gubbins or another, guided by Xinyi's divination as she perused the skeins of fate and grasped those threads that seemed to lead to triumph. Each movement seeming to strengthen the cords of what she desired, while the cables of possibility from other destinies began to wither, some fading as soon as they were observed by her mind's eye; unable to occur if one had so much as an idea of forewarning.
The machine was vast, and the Greenskins were only too happy to start shooting at the flight of landers pushing through, everything from the smallest snotling's pistol to entire gargants and krawlas started pumping fire into the sky, forcing escorts to detach to suppress the anti-aircraft fire while other detachments landed to provide ground pressure, islands of discipline amidst a roiling sea of raging green. Mobile bases established themselves, assembling resources and producing fortifications and structures as well as supply and reinforcements, but with the Waaagh! as strong as it was here, the Greenskins were maturing at thermodynamically impossible rates and slapping together fresh war materiel at absurd speed.
It would be a grind, but one that would give the twins and their guards the chance to land in their destination, as close to the primary power core as they could manage. A beating heart of a not-so jolly green giant that pulsed with barely guessable viridian energies, surrounded by hordes of Tekboyz who monitored every bit and bauble of the machine with bionik eyes while Shoutaz constantly roared about the great green gods.
Some of the cutters that had flown in with the shuttles dropped out of stealth, Ulgu's grace fading to power their weapons and open with preliminary barrages to cause as much chaos and confusion as possible, the larger landers depositing the Titans and massive units they could before folding into base structures to establish a presence. But it would be the Azure and Vermillion landers that would be the tip of the spear, landing as close as they could upon sweeping their LZs of resistance.
Unlike before, this time Xiang and Xinyi would emerge in human form, her Jian blade in hand as she raced out of the landing ramp as soon as the "Iron Mother" lander had allowed her to do so, rumbling bombardments as far as the eye could see as she immediately trusted the tip of her sapphire blade into the skull of an 'eavy nob, his body freezing and then shattering on the spot while she pointed ahead.
"So long as their psychic gestalt field is operating at full power, this machine will kill. So long as this reactor-heart beats, this machine will destroy. So long as these Shouren are free to operate it as they please, this machine will threaten." She declared with a stirring voice above the din of battle, flicking her free hand and letting a gust of ice engulf a wave of Boyz rushing at her with choppers raised.
"Comrades, I ask you to follow me, not because I am your charge or because it is your duty, but because it will save the lives of our comrades in arms and many a world to come. I ask you to destroy these Shouren not because of what they are, but because they have made the choice to commit to tearing these stars asunder." She shouted, her straight blade gleaming as she channeled her empyreal energies through it, its characters glowing across its fuller.
"We have come this far, and our people, our friends and compatriots, all expect nothing less than triumph. Fear not their numbers, for they have been bested before, and we shall do so again!" She declared, speaking over the elementals of flame that her brother summoned forth, directing these avatars of magical fire into the masses of enemies, casting her in silhouetted shadow against the pillars of fire that rose behind her.
"To War! For the Way of Harmony!" She shouted, her compatriots raising their own mighty cheers as they charged through the columns of fire into greenskins who seemed positively delighted that the enemy's bosses were leading the charge.
A Warboss in mega-armour with a pair of coruscating power klaws stomped forwards, wrist mounted shoots and shoulder mounted bomm-lobbaz letting loose while he let out a bellowing and triumphant shout of "WAAAAAAAAGH!" before Xinyi tackled him with unnatural strength, striking into his energy shield and knocking him briefly off balance. Her sword was jabbed forwards, drinking in the energy of his shield and creating waves of ice that she compelled to crush into the Ork to keep him further staggered, moving around a skillful but hardly fast enough swing to grab at the Ork by the horns of his helmet and channel her spirit into the thrust of her blade, punching through the eyepiece of his helm and freezing him from head to toe, left to shatter into pieces while she kept going on.
Her left hand's gauntlet extended its claw blades, cutting through a Trog and extending its slicing fields through the rest of its body, her cold magics drinking in its heat and channeling it into her own defences, shrugging off the stray rounds that managed to strike her. Her guards hewed through their foes with halberd and gouts of weapons fire, the green tide dropping in piles of dead hill-high consumed by Xiang's flames.
Eventually, as one, they adopted dragon form; exploding from the midst of the mobs looking to see what all the ruckus was about in serpentine form, fire and ice sweeping through whole formations at a time while massive claws and teeth cut through what they could; flying over obstacles and tearing down bridges that held whole mobs of boyz and their kit to fall screaming to their doom deeper in the central cavity of the Secret weapon.
Hrekgor would not be a mindless sheep lead so easily to the slaughter however, and by the time that Xinyi had fought her way to him, he had already suited up in his own personal Orkanaut, one clearly fitted with an Orkanaut sized Stormboy pack.
"Now wotz a snakey git like yoo doin' in me sekret weapon?" He said, laughing as his Flash-Kustom Orkanaut stomped forward with rather longer legs than was typical for greenskin walkers, the leering central head of the machine staring dead on at Xinyi's dragon form.
"Surely even one like you would know we are here to destroy it." She replied, getting a chuckle out of the Hobgrot.
"Now dats not gunna 'appen, cuz I worked real 'ard on dis fing and I'll be zogged fer I let a dragon krump it! So come over 'ere so I kan kill ya or piss off outta me machine!" He barked back before opening fire with gatlin'-blastas, sending waves of plasma spheres towards her while his machine started to take off, rokkitz belching smoke and heat to send it off the ground and towards her.
"Oi, kant a Wurrboss get some zoggin' shut eye 'round 'ere? Wotz all dis ruckus?!" Another voice bellowed, the form of the Wurrboss Zogsmak materialising in a green flash and thunderclap, accompanied by his minders as well as Gurtz Murderfist and Fightblitz and their escorts.
"Oi! Itz da red snakey-fing dat wrecked me spell! YA MADE ME LOOK BAD IN FRONT UVV DA BOSS! SO I'Z GONNA MAKE YE PROPPA DEAD!" He bellowed right before the Imperials teleported in through a homer laid down by a Callidus assassin that had waited for the target to appear.
"We have unfinished business, Trog." Watchmaster Beowulf said, the vocoders of his Ironclad, Venerable, Leviathan Dreadnought body booming loudly as the Trog underboss turned to the source of the sound and snarled, mottled, rock-like green hide thick and cracked between his plates of armour.
"Oh, iz yoo da git 'oo blew up me last spacey 'ulk?"
"The same, Greenskin. This time, there will be no emergency exits for you. You die here." The Watchmaster declared as he slammed his siege claws into one another to produce a disruptor shockwave to throw some of the chaff to the side before charging down, chest mounted Melta weapons stabbing forwards and striking into the Underlord's shielding before his claw was swung out to catch the haft of his rokkithammer, a meaty right hook thrown to clock the Trog in the face with deafening force while the kill-team let rip.
This left Xiang to the Wurrboss, shifting back into human form and unsheathing his halberd; the Scarlet Tears; and running his left hand's index and middle fingers along the fuller of the blade, making the characters inscribed into it start to glow.
"Oh dis is gonna be a laff! Fightin' me in yer runty 'umie form eh? Gunna 'ave fun stompin' yoo!" He laughed as he approached, his guards amassing near him.
"I'm not doing this for fun, Zogsmak. But feel free to bark your nonsense while you still can. Very soon, I won't have to listen to your mumbling in the othersea any longer." He said as he got into a combat stance and then spun his halberd to deflect the initial casted sphere of warp energy when the Greenskin shaman decided to strike first, rushing towards his foe like a blur.
The Greenskin's shaman staff swung out with far more dexterity and grace than most would figure an Ork Psyker would bother with, his free hand grabbing the end closer to Xiang to adjust the angle and force of his swing as it burned a brilliant emerald, baiting a parry out of Xiang who swung the bottom of his weapon to try and set up a pivot into an axe-side slash.
The Ork's scale-leather coat bristled with energy, his eyes glowing even more brightly than usual before Xiang drew his own Jian Blade; the Red Comet; and jabbed it forwards, briefly withdrawing some of the power invested into the halberd to get the surprise blow in and impale one of the Ork's bare feet, getting a yowl of pain.
A headbutt from the Wurrboy made his knees buckle from the mass and force, regardless of the strength of his armour and defences, enough for a foot to the groinplate that, while thankfully not as painful as it could be, brought him off his feet.
"Ye finkz just cuz I'z a wurrboss doesn't mean I dunno 'ow ta 'andle myself in a scrap? Ye finkz ye can just fight Zogsmak an' not take it seriously?!" He roared and hollered.
"I am concentrating." He replied, quickly getting to his feet and moving out of the way of a gout of warp vomit that incinerated a trio of space marines where they stood, leaving behind not even ash while one of his dragon guards pulled out of the way, kicking a meganob into the path to be vapourised.
"Wot, am I borin' ye so much ye can't even focus on fightin' me?" He said, sounding more hurt than angry.
"When one fights indoors, the ceiling is as much a weapon for the alchemist as anything in your hands."
"...Wot? Dat one uvv dem fortune cookie sayingz?" He said, noticing a shadow starting to approach before looking up and seeing that one of the bridges above had been corroded apart by strands of chamon and was now rapidly approaching him.
"Oh! Hahaha! Clever git! Not clever enuff tho!" He boasted as he let his eyes erupt in emerald beams to vapourise the falling masses of metal, spinning around to try and sweep them at the Dragon as he approached only to find that his quarry was missing.
"Guess I vaped 'im. Fat loada mouth on dat one." He mumbled before his thick head was swept off his shoulders once he had relaxed his guard briefly by the Halberd, the surprised cranium grabbed by Xiang and then tossed into the jaws of one of his transformed dragon guard to crush into gristle as he vapourised the body of the Ork.
"Fortune cookies are from Asahikyo." He said with a bit of snarky contempt, exhaling as he took stock of the situation around him.
"Duly noted Sister." He said as he stampeded down the walkway, moving with speed the ignorant tended to believe Terminator armoured astartes were incapable of, raising his shield to block all incoming fire to not test his iron halo before he hewed through masses of greenskins in close quarters, briefly taking note of the aerial duel between Xinyi and the Mekboss.
She was dodging around the Mekboss and his "flygitz" in the air with practiced ease, being by far the more aerodynamic figure and a much more practiced flier, but her foe had enough firepower to make her somewhat wary of approaching him too close, especially as the extra choppy arms would fire off powerful thrusters to snap around to try and attack her from any angle she approached. However, she had cut off its shielding, her frost breath draining the last of its power fields and forcing him to wreathe his machine in flame to stop ice from building up around important components.
"Sister, have your squad target the Orkanaut."
"The flying one?" She asked.
"Yes, the one tumbling through the air with the grace of an ogryn lobbed brick." He responded dryly before turning back to his work.
Flakk missiles loaded into cyclone launchers tore into the air, contrails corkscrewing as the guided missiles suddenly rammed into the Orkanaut's sides, not a fatal wound to the machine, but enough to get the Hobgrot to turn around.
"Oh, yoo finkz yooz bein' clev-" He managed before Xinyi chomped into the weakened side armour and tore out a piece, slithering around his mech's body like a constrictor and squeezing with her powerful frame, digging the claws on her left hind leg into the wound she had opened into the machine, letting out gouts of cold from her mouth as she spiralled around her prey.
When the machine had at last been completely frozen, she crushed it like a glass sculpture in her coils, the rest of his ladz suddenly feeling a wave of panic through them as she roared her triumph, flying like a lightning bolt to strike others out of the sky. One storm-dread had its rokkit pack torn off, the machine left to fall to its doom, another flyin' kan was chomped through by her teeth, and the former Mekboss' understudy would hold her off for but a few moments until she clawed the Ork out of the machine and crushed him between her fingers.
To return the favour, as Augustus fuelled with the Freeboota Kaptin Fightblitz, she would cast him in waves of ice from her jaw, stunning him long enough for Augustus to finish him off with a bisecting cut and draw.
For a moment, Dragon and Astartes exchanged glances and nodded to each other, even as the Trog underboss roared at his boyz to get in line and stop moaning.
A Vindicaire and a team of Deathwatch Scout Snipers waiting for their moment struck, shooting the Greenskin in the eyes once his defensive fields were brought down with incendiary and mutagenic acid filled rounds, blinding the Trog as he roared, flailing before the Watchmaster's dreadnought body tackled the giant, armour scored from many solid hits in their long and titanic duel.
"In the Emperor and Empress' name, I cast you into oblivion. In Terra's sight, I bring you to ruin. And in Primarch Deirdre's honour, I destroy your legacy." He declared as he hoisted the massive Stone Trog over his head with his siege claws, slammed him down into a knee to break his back, and before he could heal, shift his grip to the Trog's legs and hammertoss him into the incandescent green lights of the reactor to be vapourised.
"Destroying the reactor would cause too much damage, but if we disrupt the Waaagh field, gravity's cruel embrace should do the work for us." Xinyi said, curling back into her human form as she landed heavily on her feet, looking at the eruption of conflict all around her. Nods were exchanged, and the preparations were made as Haoyu finally got the word from aboard the flagship to start his end of the great work.
...
The Greater Avatar of Khaine was already the Defflord's superior in just about every metric, far stronger, with a deadlier weapon, and vastly more skilled. The Black Ork had failed to land a single telling blow as he dropped to his knees, coughing blood out of his ruined helm before the avatar kicked him across the room.
"WHERE IS YOUR BATTLELUST ORKEAD?! STAND UP AND FIGHT." Khaine's avatar roared as the Ork pushed himself to his feet, injuries knitting together unnaturally quickly, spitting out a few knocked out teeth.
But he was slowing, weakening, unable to properly block the next deadly axe swing of the avatar that broke through his guard and hacked ragged, burning lines into his chest.
The Avatar had already cut his throat, tired of hearing the greenskin ramble as Khaine's aspect approached, punching the Ork with a free hand and then yanking him head first into a spiked knee, straight through a bionik eye. The Ork roared in pain, but the Avatar would transform the wailing doom into a blade once more and impale it tip first through the back of his head when it sensed the Waaagh field dimming, weakening from what the avatar could tell was a great deal of death and a mighty empyreal duel.
Wrenching the Ork's head free of his shoulders, the Avatar let its flames engulf the greenskin's skull until not even ashes remained, roaring in triumph over the broken body of another foe of the god of murder as the greenskins were already pointing fingers over whose fault this mess was when they weren't consumed by an animal panic desire to flee to safety.
The Ork Secret weapon, had it looked outside the window, was streaked with landing craft pulling out of it while gravity was starting to crunch inwards, pulling its body towards its centre of mass while relentless bombardment picked off bits and pieces of it. With the sudden death of so much of Muchkill's Waaagh council, along with Muchkill himself, the Greenskin discipline had broken down into bloody infighting and a panicked retreat. Nobody was quite sure who was the boss now, but the back of the Green Tide had been broken.
Victory!
Baise De Fleet: 27% damageHeise De Fleet: 25% damage
Munch Fleet: 22% damage
Crunch Fleet: 23% damage
Craftworld Fleet: 11% damage
Exodite Fleet: 15% damage
Corsair Fleet: 10% damage
Imperial Fleet 1: 39% damage
Imperial Fleet 2: 40% damage
Adeptus Mechanicus Fleet: 22% damage
Ork Fleethordes: 72% damage
Strategic gains
Territory 30 acquired, has minor Imperial Presence (10% more expensive to develop), has Feral orkoid presence (requires fortification or military presence to prevent Greenskin fleethordes from spawning, 10% more expensive to develop unless 25 RP is spent to remove Feral Orkoids)Territory 30 has 5 non-greenskin POPs, infrastructure will start at base level
Two research slot credits for new Battle Planetoids unlocked
Eldar Rewards granted, Additional Eldar gift of Rune technology granted for low imperial presence (lowers chances of perils of the warp for your units or in high magic actions)
"Ork slayer" diplomacy roll bonus with Leagues of Votann and Dawi Karaz Ankor.
Characters now move to level 3 (gain new traits, improved capabilities)
Asur approval raises your relation with them to "Allied".
Strategic Update
Square 36: Drae Nang (Tian'Chao) A newly assimilated territory of Tian'Chaoren, and the first territory to be overseen by the Tian Long twins; Xiang and Xinyi. Heavily developed and fortified, the territory now produces a great deal of resources and is home to, for a relative backwater such as this galaxy, a rather considerable amount of military force. (Heartland, Excessively Defended)
30: The Tarandar Territory, a former Territory of the Imperium of Man conquered by Waaagh! Muchkill and then by the Celestial Realm of Tian'Chao, currently still crawling with Feral Greenskins in need of being cleared out with some of the space within being held by the Eldar and the Imperium of Man. A stand off has ensued between the Imperium and the realm thus far. (Established, Lightly Defended)
42: Hae Tan Territory, Once devoid of all intelligent life due to a Necron purge, the Hae Tan territory is now a bustling centre of the Celestial Realm's rapidly growing presence in this galaxy, albeit one on the watch to its east for the warring powers of Chaos and the Strangers. (Heartland, Lightly Defended)
New Phoenix Kingdom Territories:
6: Aeldari Territory of Baradesh: The Phoenix Kingdom has made its mark here, hoping to help with the rebirthing of the Eldar ways of old even in the face of an often hostile universe.
Stranger Territories:
1: The Arcane Veil Territory: Long lost to the infrareality distortions of the strangers, a nightmare place where horrid things creep and crawl out of.
2: The Southern Arcane Veil Territory: Long lost to the infrareality distortions of the strangers, a nightmare place where horrid things creep and crawl out of.
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. The Iron Warriors have dug in for the long war with the benefit of a Jump-Gate while more of the Estranged pour in.
Leagues of Votann Territories:
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.
21: Gologhor 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
Dawi Karaz Ankor Territories:
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.
27: Vagralkar 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
Reality Distortions:
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.
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.
Lizardman Territories:
45: Quetzitzanl Tlahtanoyan Territory of Xokitalan, a territory of the enigmatic lizardmen. Full of ancient megastructures and restlessly preparing its legions for some purpose.
50: Quetzitzanl Tlahtanoyan Territory of Tenotacala, a territory of the enigmatic lizardmen. Contains a substantial population of Amazons, a substrain of humanity created by the Lizardmen from human refugees in their space.
Skaven Territories:
18: Skaven Under-Imperium territory of Veektok: While the Skaven tend to stay in the "Underway", their perverse, less reliable parody of the webway or the webway itself whenever they can get purchase into it, the Skaven openly rule here over a ramshackle nightmare empire. Being invaded by the Imperium of Man.
38: Skaven Under-Imperium territory of Veektok: While the Skaven tend to stay in the "Underway", their perverse, less reliable parody of the webway or the webway itself whenever they can get purchase into it, the Skaven openly rule here over a ramshackle nightmare empire.
12: Skaven Under-Imperium territory of Veektok: While the Skaven tend to stay in the "Underway", their perverse, less reliable parody of the webway or the webway itself whenever they can get purchase into it, the Skaven openly rule here over a ramshackle nightmare empire. Under attack by the Asur.
Greenskin Territories:
16: Greenskin Territory of Morktrok: Formerly held by myriad powers that rose from the general collapse of the Maetar Dominate, Waaagh! Gitkilla the Fun recently krumped the whole lot of them, expanding from territories directly to the west
10: Greenskin Territory of Gorktrok Centre: Held by Warlord Gitkilla the Fun who arrived here via the "Gorkamorka Tunnel" Wormhole recently, Gorktrok is the origin point for a growing Greenskin force.
5: Greenskin Territory of Wotdazog: Formerly held by myriad powers that rose from the general collapse of the Maetar Dominate, Waaagh! Gitkilla the Fun recently krumped the whole lot of them, expanding from territories directly to the east
Virgin Territories:
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.
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.
Imperium of Man Territories:
17: Imperial Territory of Kidor: Primarily the home of worlds that were settled by Kriegers when the Imperium decided to colonise this territory through the Bysdorian wormhole, and as such is full of worlds that operate under the Krieg system. Unnervingly pleased at being surrounded by the foes of man. Currently being attacked by the Black Legion.
24: Iladrani Territory, reconquered by the Imperium of Man in the Iladrani crusade and undergoing substantial reconstruction. Currently being counter-counterinvaded by the Skaven.
8: Imperial Territory of Algoran, Generally regarded as the centre of the Imperial presence in Vay-Gir, Algoran at its heart has the Aevalus Wormhole that helps connect the Imperium to this place.
9: Imperial Territory of Aekorna: A portion of the Imperium of Man well known for being something of a cartel playground bloated from wealth funneled through rogue trader dynasties interacting with the leagues. Currently being invaded by the Undead.
14: Imperial Territory of Soradar: Containing the heart of the Viridian Star Chapters of Astartes' operations, this populous and longstanding territory of the Imperium of Man is full of recruiting worlds for the chapter raised to safeguard the Imperium's operations in one of the many, many galaxies it hopes to rule over.
3: Imperial Territory of Elsonar: Largely dominated by the Mechanicus which exploits the large number of supernova induced during the war in heaven's creation of many heavy element-rich worlds and bodies to produce many wonders and extensively studies the old human presence here.
4: Imperial Territory of Ordania: Expected to hold the bulwark against the things of the Arcane Veil, this territory also contains significant development and military build-up. Currently being invaded by the Brain-Eaters of the Army of the Starless Night.
7: Imperial Territory of Jaldis: Mostly dominated by the Ecclessiarchy, Jaldis was the birthplace of the Galactic Patron saint, Evenia.
13: Imperial Territory of Ordorat: A very standard territory of the Imperium of Man. Under attack by the Black Legion through a local minor warp rift.
11: Imperial Territory of Vidar: Primarily the home of worlds that were settled by Kriegers when the Imperium decided to colonise this territory through the Bysdorian wormhole, and as such is full of worlds that operate under the Krieg system. Unnervingly pleased at being surrounded by the foes of man. Currently being invaded by the Skaven and Greenskins.
T'Au Sphere Territories:
33: T'Au Territory of Sha'Dra'Nan: A former maetar territory under T'Au occupation and being converted to the philosophy of the greater good and populated by massive numbers of vat grown colonists of the T'Au Spheres' major species.
39: T'Au Territory of Sha'Dra'Nan: A former maetar territory under T'Au occupation and being converted to the philosophy of the greater good and populated by massive numbers of vat grown colonists of the T'Au Spheres' major species.
40: T'Au territory of Kal'Dor'Ae, a very standard territory of the T'Au spheres.
41: Delen-Man Territory, a territory of the T'Au Spheres that has grown into a fully fledged series of septs under the guidance of the T'Au'Va.
Chaos Territories:
37: Chaos Empire of Toradarak: Home to many warbands of Chaos dedicated to Tzeentch who have erected their fortresses here, as a safe place where they can plan their raids.
19: Chaos Empire of Malgonash: Primarily dominated by traitor legionaries of the Knights Glorious, this place of vanity and arrogance is bedecked in monuments to the triumphs of the traitor Primarch Mordra's villainy.
Undead Territories:
20: Undead Empire of Asherakh West: Ruled by the Liche King Askorakh and backed by astartes of the Night Lords legion, the Empire of Asherakh is building its forces for something.
26: Undead Empire of Asherakh Centre: Ruled by the Liche King Askorakh and backed by astartes of the Night Lords legion, the Empire of Asherakh is building its forces for something.
32: Undead Empire of Asherakh East: Ruled by the Liche King Askorakh and backed by astartes of the Night Lords legion, the Empire of Asherakh is building its forces for something.
29: The Shardarat Territory: Overrun by the Undead while still recovering from the Khornate attack and a surprise strike by the Death Guard, the Unliving of the Jaws of Death have conquered this territory and made it a haunted place of ghosts and the restless remains of the unquiet dead.
Necron Territories:
25: Marakesh Dynasty Territory: The first elements of the ancient Marakesh dynasty in this Galaxy have begun to awaken from the long sleep and are eradicating everything that they deem to be unwelcome trespassers in their ancient land, which is just about everyone.
31: Necron territories of Vash-Gorand: The Dawi Zharr fought hard and fought furiously but ultimately succumbed to the deathless tide of the Necrons all the same. Their temples have been cast into ruin, their cities wiped clean of their presence, their fleets shattered in orbit over their worlds while pylons scour the touch of Hashut clean.
Maetar Dominate Territories:
44: Maetar Remnant territory of Moroktar: A Remnant of the Maetar dominate reeling from the expansion of the T'Au spheres. Currently being invaded by the T'Au.
43: Maetar Remnant territory of Voktar: A Remnant of the Maetar dominate reeling from the expansion of the T'Au spheres. Currently being invaded by the T'Au.
Tyranid Territories:
49: Baphomet Territory of Graktar: The Maetar Dominate proved unable to resist the advance of Hive Armada Baphomet and its worlds have been, after having the most easily accessed materials scraped off by the rapacious bioships, tyrannoformed by stay-behind organisms into quivering centres of Tyrannic biomass.
48: Baphomet Territory of Sektar: The Maetar Dominate proved unable to resist the advance of Hive Armada Baphomet and its worlds have been, after having the most easily accessed materials scraped off by the rapacious bioships, tyrannoformed by stay-behind organisms into quivering centres of Tyrannic biomass.
51: Tyranid Territory Argalik: The powers of the Dark Gods ultimately did not protect their followers from the lining the gullets of the Tyranids, who have scoured these stars of their presence and covered it in their biochemically bizarre structures and presence, a quivering foothold for the Hive Armadas to invade further into these stars.
Diplomatic Statuses
Tian'Chao, with your current set of bonuses starts at ALLIED to the following factions known to be Present in your operating area:Asuryani/Craftworld Eldar, Asrai/Exodite Eldar, Asur/High Eldar
Tian'Chao, with your current set of bonuses starts at FRIENDLY to the following factions known to be Present in your operating area:
Dawi Karaz Ankor
Tian'Chao, with your current set of bonuses starts at CORDIAL to the following factions known to be Present in your operating area:
Quetzitzanl Tlahtanoyan/Lizardmen
Tian'Chao, with your current set of bonuses starts at NEUTRAL to the following factions known to be Present in your operating area:
Leagues of Votann, T'Au Spheres-(Worsening)
Tian'Chao, with your current set of bonuses starts at UNFRIENDLY to the following factions known to be Present in your operating area:
Imperium of Man+ (Improving), Maetar Dominate
Tian'Chao, with your current set of bonuses starts at HOSTILE to the following factions known to be Present in your operating area:
Necrons
Tian'Chao, with your current set of bonuses starts at ANTITHETICAL to the following factions known to be Present in your operating area:
Chaos, Undead, Skaven, Tyranids, Strangers, Greenskins
Dilemma
[]: Pursue the remaining greenskins to the very last! (Causes more damage to your fleet hordes but wipes out the greenskins entirely)[]: Let them flee back to where they came from (No further damage to your fleethordes)
[]: Drive them into Imperial territory (Forces the Imperium to withdraw, severely damages relations with the Imperium)
Trade Offers
T'Au Sphere Contact
The Tau would like to open up trade links worth 15 RP per turn in exchange for a pact against the Imperium of Man and information to improve their drones from your scientists that would constitute a revolutionary breakthrough for their forces, while the technology they would offer in return would constitute about three research slots worth of research into plasma weapons. This would also remove you from the list of possible targets for T'Au expansion in the future, and allow you to also recruit Kroot mercenaries. Doing this will shift the Imperium to hostile.The current relationship between the Greater Celestial Realm and the T'Au Spheres is currently Neutral trending unfavourable.
Dawi Karaz Ankor Contact
The Dawi would like to open up trade links worth 25 RP per turn in exchange for an oath to help defend their territory should it come under threat. You have no technologies of particular interest to the Karaz Ankor, and they will not exchange any for the time being. They will however, permit young Dawi out to explore to settle in your territory, constituting about one extra pops worth of growth per turn.The current relationship between the Karaz Ankor and the Celestial Realm is currently Friendly.
Leagues of Votann Contact
The Leagues of Votann would like to open up trade links worth 20 RP per turn in exchange for a joint A.I research project that will ask you to commit at least one research slot per turn towards an A.I revolutionary breakthrough for both you and them to try and alleviate the burden on their ancestor cores while improving your own Automata. Doing this will open access to Leagues of Votann mercenaries.The current relationship the Celestial Realm and the Leagues of Votann is neutral.
Imperium of Man Contact
The Imperium of Man would like to open up trade links worth 25 RP per turn in exchange for a guarantee that you take no hostile actions against the Imperium and repatriate Imperial Loyalist rebels in your territory to theirs rather than continue repressions. This will move 4 pops into the Imperium and out of your territory. Doing this will, for as long as the pact remains, remove you from possible Imperial Crusade target lists. It will also sour relations with the Tau.The Current relationship between the Imperium of Man and the Celestial Realm is Unfriendly.
Asur Phoenix Kingdom Contact
The Asur would like to open up trade links worth 30 RP per turn in exchange for access to the Virgin territories of 35 and 34 so that they may populate them and turn them into bastions of the Phoenix Kingdom. They will also offer information worth 5 research slot credits to a revolutionary breakthrough towards anything magic related, in exchange they wish for a formal alliance and the obligation to aid each other in wars.The Current relationship between the Celestial Realm and the Phoenix Kingdom is Friendly.
Missions
Lizardmen
Clear out Territory 47 and allow Lizardmen to claim it.Description: The Slann Mage-Priests have sent a psychic communique to the Jianyi stating that they would wish to expand into this territory, but in the interest of minimising losses and continuing to hold back Hive Armada Baphomet, they would prefer to engage in a cooperative endeavour. Displeased by the presence of the Iron Warriors and the powers of the Strangers in this area and wishing to build upon the Astromantic Web, they have gathered forces with the intention of eliminating the enemy presence outright. The teachers have agreed that this is a wise course of action, as doing so would make significant progress towards closing the Vortex of Woe and strengthening this fringe of the Vay-Gir galaxy against the tides of Baphomet.
The Itzecan are somewhat distant to most warmbloods and are not anywhere near as friendly to the Dragon-taught as the Aeldari are in general, but there is a shared opposition to the cosmic forces that would threaten the habitability of real space and a mutual appreciation for very long term thinking that allows for some basis of cooperation. Thus, the Slann have deigned to ask, rather than to tip the hand of fate to manipulate the Tian'Chaoren into doing this for them later. Such is a rather rare occurrence to any polity heavily populated by humans, whom the Mage Priests generally regard warily at best save for their Amazon auxiliaries.
The Slann are patient, and are willing to wait for some time before launching their assault. But they would wish to strike before the war between the Fiends and Iron Warriors can be resolved in either's favour. Something they suspect will happen in a few decades, though who is the more likely winner as of yet remains too volatile to say for certain. They also believe that a fleet of Hive Armada Baphomet will arrive at this territory at some point, and would wish to grow the resources needed to halt them here, rather than hope that these warring menaces won't simply feed the swarm.
Reward: 20 trade RP per turn, the Lizardmen are pleased, Astromantic web will strengthen realspace in your territory
Time Limit: 2 turns
Hostile Intelligence
Iron Warriors legion (Chaotic Imperials)
Known: Iron Warriors Forces Present: One Magnitude 3 Iron Warriors Fleet Hordes (Primus, High Quality), Chaos Space Marine Detachment, Daemon Engine Detachment, Legio Cybernetica Detachment. One Magnitude 3 Dark Mechanicus Fleet Hordes (Extremis, High Quality), Daemon Engine Detachment, Soul Forge Daemon Detachment, Legio Cybernetica Detachment. Planetoid craft confirmed.Known Characters Present: Grand Warsmith Guh'Dei Meit (Iron Warriors Chaos Space Marine Lord), Arch-Magos Viyels Will (Dark Mechanicus Heretek Arch-Magos)
Cythor Fiends (Army of the Starless Night)
Army of the Starless Night Forces Present: Unknown due to reality distortion, extradimensional incursions registered.Cythor Fiend Characters Present: Unknown
Celestial Realm
Fortify all territoriesDescription: It is believed that the Skaven have allowed Abaddon the Despoiler to make major breakthroughs from his territories in many chaotic warp rifts and the Black Legion will be spearheading multiple major chaotic assaults in the near future, furthermore other hostile powers such as the Undead and Strangers are increasingly active. Thus it is imperative that the territory be properly defended against any potential attack.
Bring up all territories to at least heavy defence.
Reward: Immediate 20 pop immigration flow, 5 extra pops per turn, 10 extra income per turn
Time Limit: 2 Turns
Turn plan
[]: Write in diplomatic and military plansMilitary actions will start tactical phases if opposed by a meaningful amount of enemy force.
Current Income: 20 base income, 20 Trait Income, 30 Megaproject income, 20 Trade Income, 20 boon income, 110 industrial income. Fleet Upkeep: -19 (High quality upkeep is offset by High grade support). Total: 201
Total Pops: 20 Starting, 5 per turn growth over two turns, 15 gifted, 15 former-Imperial, 9 natural Growth: 69 total (Nice). 14 unemployed pops, population will grow by 6 naturally.
Current Military Forces: Magnitude 2 Celestial Fleethorde (Baise De, Extremis, High Quality), 27% Damage
Magnitude 2 Celestial Fleethorde (Heise De, Extremis, High Quality), 25% Damage
Magnitude 2 Celestial Fleethorde (Huise Jandui, Extremis, High Quality)
Magnitude 1 Ogor Fleethorde (Munch, Primus, High Quality) 22% Damage
Magnitude 1 Ogor Fleethorde (Crunch, Primus, High Quality) 23% Damage
[1]Tian'Chaowen term for the Orks, but often used for the Greenskins as a whole
[2] As in real life, it means "common aspiration" or more precisely "comrade", as a gender neutral form of respectful address.
Bonus Boon Roll: 33, 20 extra RP per turn for 3 turns.
Turn Boon Roll: 91, 20 RP of battle planetoids (2 batches of Cat 0, 1 batch of Cat 1) Free Upkeep.
Primary System(s): Starbreaker class Tera-cannon (Wave-Motion Gun, devastates tightly packed fleets in a line)
Secondary System: Bastion Shield (Long range shield projector that can extend protection to itself or others in the fleet)
Primary System(s): Conversion Rocket Manufactory (Spams a macross episode's worth of massive warheads fitted with matter to energy conversion systems to Blow shit up real good), Dragon Breath Annihilator Cannon (Fires a torrent of Aqshy capable of scouring tainted foes or just incinerating everything in its path; very effective against supernatural foes or those without resistance to supernatural attack)
Secondary Systems: Interior Forge (Mitigates losses suffered by fleethordes its attached to through internal production), Harmonic Gigacaster (Projects a bubble of harmony around itself, stabilising space in reality distorted areas and amplifying assets it is near), Magnetosphere (Alterable magnetic barrier that can either serve as an additional shield, a tractor beam, or even magnetise enemies to the point of causing comedy in packed fleets or doing horrible things to enemy planets)
Turn Boon Roll: 91, 20 RP of battle planetoids (2 batches of Cat 0, 1 batch of Cat 1) Free Upkeep.
Sunsetting Billows Class Mega-Capital
Lore: TBD, looks similar to but is much bigger than most Tian'Chaoren macro and normal capitals with a notable bore hole affixed above the prow ram for the Tera-cannonPrimary System(s): Starbreaker class Tera-cannon (Wave-Motion Gun, devastates tightly packed fleets in a line)
Secondary System: Bastion Shield (Long range shield projector that can extend protection to itself or others in the fleet)
Adamant Tortoise Class War Moon
Lore: TBD, Looks like a heavily urbanised planet that nevertheless has significant green spaces around it, Has two interlocking magnetic ring systems around it to give a sort of gyroscope appearance and has a lotus pattern formation for the Dragon Breath Annihilator CannonPrimary System(s): Conversion Rocket Manufactory (Spams a macross episode's worth of massive warheads fitted with matter to energy conversion systems to Blow shit up real good), Dragon Breath Annihilator Cannon (Fires a torrent of Aqshy capable of scouring tainted foes or just incinerating everything in its path; very effective against supernatural foes or those without resistance to supernatural attack)
Secondary Systems: Interior Forge (Mitigates losses suffered by fleethordes its attached to through internal production), Harmonic Gigacaster (Projects a bubble of harmony around itself, stabilising space in reality distorted areas and amplifying assets it is near), Magnetosphere (Alterable magnetic barrier that can either serve as an additional shield, a tractor beam, or even magnetise enemies to the point of causing comedy in packed fleets or doing horrible things to enemy planets)
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- Pronouns
- He/Him
A lot of things to discuss. First, one simple question, do the Fleethordes heal all the damage or is there still a level left to spend RP on?
Spartakrod
Judeo-Spartacist Bolshevik-Kabbalist
- Location
- Sanctum Arcanorum
- Pronouns
- Fae/Faer/Faers/Faerself
They should be able to autorepair unless you go for broke against the Orks.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Cool. I also want to see what new traits/modifiers our characters bring to the situation. Are the Fangs providing us our intelligence report, or are those coming in during the results?
Ooof, that was a session and a half. Things went in slightly different direction than I originally envisioned, but the end result is probably more gripping than it would be. Probably that's on me for not writing the full rationale and underestimating the power drain from High Magic Actions.
For the future:
T'au offer is interesting, because a.) plasma weapons, b.) it means more diplomatic opportunities in the future, c.) a secure flank. That said, the Imperial hostility sounds bad. We don't want to poke the bear, not until we have an established presence and strong enough infrastructure for a ground-out war. Though it may be my inner Turtler/Science Victory Enjoyer speaking.
No opinion on Dawi so far, must think more.
Big thumbs up on Votann. This helps a potentially helpful polity without pissing off anyone we don't want pissed off and Automata tech shores up our army deficiencies and should also be applicable to improve the automated parts of Celestial economy.
Non-Agression Pact with IoM is... potentially big. Again, I might be biased, but I think that getting out of "To Purge" list is invaluable in our current position. Also, we can probably salvage our relationships with blues easier than with goldies.
Missions: Lizardmen are tempting, especially for the warding, but I don't know how useful it is given the Harmony geo-effect (if you can use the term for a vacuum of space) and the Bastion. Being buddies with clarcktech-holding ubermage toads is obviously also a profit. However, I would probably want someone more informed in the system to run the numbers and assess our chances at dealing with the opposition without losing 80% of our assets.
We probably want to do the fortification anyway, and more pops=more economy=more murderfleets=more everything else=*happy dragon noises*. Also, the sooner we do it, the more resources earned over the course of the game.
I want the War Moon because on-site resupply, loss prevention and long range supriority rule. I feel like this is my Turtle bias again, but blowing enemy up before they can even try to hit us is the most sustainable and reliable method of taking ground (or space, or whatever). But I can be persuaded against.
For the future:
T'au offer is interesting, because a.) plasma weapons, b.) it means more diplomatic opportunities in the future, c.) a secure flank. That said, the Imperial hostility sounds bad. We don't want to poke the bear, not until we have an established presence and strong enough infrastructure for a ground-out war. Though it may be my inner Turtler/Science Victory Enjoyer speaking.
No opinion on Dawi so far, must think more.
Big thumbs up on Votann. This helps a potentially helpful polity without pissing off anyone we don't want pissed off and Automata tech shores up our army deficiencies and should also be applicable to improve the automated parts of Celestial economy.
Non-Agression Pact with IoM is... potentially big. Again, I might be biased, but I think that getting out of "To Purge" list is invaluable in our current position. Also, we can probably salvage our relationships with blues easier than with goldies.
Missions: Lizardmen are tempting, especially for the warding, but I don't know how useful it is given the Harmony geo-effect (if you can use the term for a vacuum of space) and the Bastion. Being buddies with clarcktech-holding ubermage toads is obviously also a profit. However, I would probably want someone more informed in the system to run the numbers and assess our chances at dealing with the opposition without losing 80% of our assets.
We probably want to do the fortification anyway, and more pops=more economy=more murderfleets=more everything else=*happy dragon noises*. Also, the sooner we do it, the more resources earned over the course of the game.
I want the War Moon because on-site resupply, loss prevention and long range supriority rule. I feel like this is my Turtle bias again, but blowing enemy up before they can even try to hit us is the most sustainable and reliable method of taking ground (or space, or whatever). But I can be persuaded against.
- Location
- New Jersey
One lore question I have: who are the 13 Chaos gods, or more specificially, who are the Chaos Gods beyond the 5-6 we know and love/hate from canon?
Also to give my 2 cents plan wise the Votann cooperation is a must, the Dawi one is heavily contigent on whether they have any neighbors imminently likely to attack them, and I remain uncertain about the other choices
Also to give my 2 cents plan wise the Votann cooperation is a must, the Dawi one is heavily contigent on whether they have any neighbors imminently likely to attack them, and I remain uncertain about the other choices
Bloody*Vermilion
The newbie of newbies on this site
- Location
- Canada
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His/Etc
They still have fortune cookies that far into the future? What, did piggy banks survive too?
There is this list here which also has the order gods unless Spartakrod has retconed it.
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- Location
- Warsaw
@Spartakrod
I have some ideas for research.
Mech Conversion: The Orks are truly mad to think of this. Still mad does not mean impossible. Our technology is far beyond their scrap. Surely we can produce our own mech transformation. This will be limited to vehicles on the smaller side, but still useful. It could be a potent and unexpected force in the right places.
Firepower Improvement: One thing the Imperium has is firepower. Massive numbers of cannons thundering to kill the enemy on masse. Despite our technology advantage the Imperials have managed to hold an edge over us here. Still our engineers believe it can rectified. Some small alterations to our ship board weapons should give us a nice boost in that field.
I have some ideas for research.
Mech Conversion: The Orks are truly mad to think of this. Still mad does not mean impossible. Our technology is far beyond their scrap. Surely we can produce our own mech transformation. This will be limited to vehicles on the smaller side, but still useful. It could be a potent and unexpected force in the right places.
Firepower Improvement: One thing the Imperium has is firepower. Massive numbers of cannons thundering to kill the enemy on masse. Despite our technology advantage the Imperials have managed to hold an edge over us here. Still our engineers believe it can rectified. Some small alterations to our ship board weapons should give us a nice boost in that field.
Dawi-Zharr, are here, so their God is a given (Hatshut? I think). I presume you counted Horned Rat and Malal, which leaves us at 7. I recall Imperium Ascendant had some more Chaos Gods and I could swear some were inspired/adapted/worked from some semi-canon sources, counting from 10: Malal, Tzeentch, Khorne, Nurgle, Slaanesh, Atham (Star Father, God of Tyranny and Zealotry), Hatshut (God of Greed, Industry, Technology), God of Fear, God of Paradox, God of The End, The Actual End.