Warhammer 40,000

I really like that for GW, in the hipanosphere everyone complain of GW, sometímes to fan dumb levels, maybe this would deal things a little bit.

"My Name is Bolt, Bolt Crank and I dont care if you believe or not"

I've taken a stab at splitting up Guilliman's section like we'd talked about doing earlier...could definitely use some more work,

It's gonna be a struggle fixing that section up when more of them start coming back.

Wonder if it's still too early to start splitting up the sections for Magnus and Mortarion too. Fulgrim...well, not until he actually gets a new model.

Disgusted, but not surprised

Looks good

They probably should although they could probably be split pre/post daemonhood.

Knowledge is Power, Guard it Well

That would probably be the best way to do it.

Rumoured release schedual for the next few months.

EDIT: Also it is the yearly chance to write for Black Library.

This year is more open than previous years to celebrate Black Library's 20th Anniversary. Stories can be set in the contemporary Warhammer Age of Sigmar, Warhammer 40,000, Blood Bowl or Necromunda worlds and have one of the following themes: Heist; Detective/Police Procedural; Adventure; Mystery; Ghost/Paranormal/Horror; War

Submitions must include a one paragraph summery and a 500 word example from the work itself by 10th April.

edited 11th Jan '18 7:42:46 AM by SebastianGray

Knowledge is Power, Guard it Well

Alright, I may actually commit to writing a story this time around.

That is the face of a man who just ate a kitten. Raw.

Sorry, been rather distracted the last few days.

@BlackSunNocturne: Dear God. This should have a Nightmare Fetishist entry!

@M84: I think it would if it actually ventured into Slaanesh's portfolio. The Dark Prince is about perfection, passion, self-indulgence and depraved excess, right? The Bloodblessed don't seem to be venerating Spawnhood out of any of these, but simply out of the same reason that other Khornates would venerate the status of Daemon Prince.

---

@Sebastian Gray: OK, I'll rewrite the entry so that it's about it being one possible outcome out of many for what the Spawn would look like.

It is appropiate because:

1. Several sources I've come across emphasize that the Spawn's existence is one of torment. Apparently Chaos doesn't care if you're mindless and thus unable to think, as long as you have a soul it will find a way to torture you. Which makes sense: Just because you can't think doesn't mean you can't feel.

2. Even if the average Spawn is deprived of anything resembling intelligence and thus unable to ponder anything about their own state of existence, non-Spawnified Chaos followers don't have that disadvantage, and besides a few unbelievably-insane sorts that other posters have mentioned, they're universally noted to regard Spawnhood as a Fate Worse than Death. And considering that there's no way to escape that fate (barring a Chaos God's whim), it becomes logical to assume that they regard it as an Inescapable Fate Worse than Death at that.

... That just modifies the Healing Factor entry, and also neglects to mention the fact that the rare few Giant Spawn are apparently exempt from the "eventually will collapse from too many mutations" aspect. That being, I suppose Nigh-Invulnerable would have to look like this:

• Nigh-Invulnerable: If the Chaos Spawn is lucky, its uncontrollable mutations would include a Healing Factor and/or Super-Toughness of such potency that they're extremely hard — though not necessarily impossible — to be put down for good.

Will incorporate.

I see what you mean for the Was Once a Man entry, but Shapeshifter Mashup seems to have sufficient context IMO.

---

Current revision:

• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: While most Chaos Spawn range from dog to Ogryn size, the mutations of a rare few swell them to truly monstrous size. The most famous of these Giant Chaos Spawn is Foulspawn, once a Champion of Nurgle, whose unique mutation has seen him grow to the size of a mountain simply by devouring its enemies/victims... and it's still growing!
• Baleful Polymorph: Nobody willingly seeks out Chaos Spawndom; it's either the result of the victim's willpower buckling under the weight of accumulated Chaos-induced mutations, or a Curse being inflicted upon them by a Chaos Sorcerer, a Daemon, or even one of the Chaos Gods, whether as punishment for some failure or slight against them, to eliminate an rival or threat, or just for the caster's own dark amusement.
• Blob Monster: The typical "form" of Chaos Spawn is a constantly shifting mass of limbs, eyes, orifices, and/or appendages that may or may not retain a vaguely humanoid or animal-like shape across the endless transformations. Sometimes the Spawn's mutations would turn it into a veritable blob of amorphous flesh-yet-not-flesh or even actual liquid.
• Body Horror (specifically, Transformation Horror): To be a Chaos Spawn is to be an embodiment of shapeless, unholy horror.
• Clipped-Wing Angel: Many Spawn used to be Chaos Space Marines who were aspiring to become Daemon Princes, but either failed so badly that they've angered their patron God of Chaos or had the misfortune of said patron deciding that Spawndom is a perfectly good "reward" for their successes. Such cases are almost universally a downgrade in comparison to Daemon Princedom, as while the Spawn might develop mutations that give them greater raw power than its original self, it's not guaranteed to retain them, and they're reduced to mindless animals at best intelligence-wise.
• Eldritch Abomination: Chaos Spawn are living embodiments of what makes Chaos what is. And unlike true Daemonic creatures, they lack the ability to control their form, dooming them to become a gibbering mass of mutations that is an affront to all things natural.
• Eyes Do Not Belong There: If a Chaos Spawn has eyes at all, expect at least one to be somewhere other than one its face... if it even has a "face" anymore.
• Healing Factor: The rampant uncontrollable mutation that Chaos Spawn undergo can result in them developing abilities or extra organs that allow them to survive wounds that would have killed them mere moments before. In some rare cases this can result in the Spawn healing faster than they can be wounded, resulting in a near unstoppable killing machine that will only fall once its own body can no longer take the strain of its constantly mutating body.
• Inescapable Fate Worse than Death: Death or even Cessation of Existence is always preferable over life as a Chaos Spawn. Unfortunately, their nigh-immortality usually denies them such a mercy.
• Involuntary Shapeshifter: Chaos Spawn have no control at all over when and how they shapeshift.
• Lovecraftian Superpower: Sure, a Chaos Spawn isn't harmless; depending on its exact state, it may have Combat Tentacles, spit warp-fire, Mind Rape or rip apart enemies with Psychic Powers, or simply steamroll over them with good ol' Super-Strength. They even have a potent Healing Factor that makes them all but immortal. Unfortunately, this always comes hand in hand with complete mindlessness and lack of even the slightest vestige of control over their body's ever-shifting form.
• The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body: Just as the Chaos Spawn's body has become a mass of horrific constant mutations that deny it any permanent shape, so does it lose any semblance of sanity or intelligence, leaving it a mindless and formless abomination.
• Nigh-Invulnerable: If the Chaos Spawn is lucky, its uncontrollable mutations would include a Healing Factor and/or Super-Toughness of such potency that they're extremely hard — though not necessarily impossible — to be put down for good. However, such practical immortality isn't a good thing when your body is a shapeless blob of eldritch horror and your mind has been completely shattered, unable to formulate anything more complex than the basest of instincts.
• Nightmare Fetishist: Most followers of Chaos, who are almost universally utterly insane by definition, still have enough sense to consider Spawndom to be a curse and a punishment, even if the Chaos Gods might occasionally bestow it as a "gift" or "reward" for success for some demented reason. Yet there are those who are so insane that they actually believe Spawndom to be a good thing, equal to or even superior to Daemon Princehood; an example of such a group is the Khornate warband known as the Bloodblessed, who make much more widespread use of Chaos Spawn among their forces, and believe them to be the true form that humanity should take.
• Shapeshifter Mashup: At any given time, the Chaos Spawn's form is likely to be a chimeric combination of humanoid, inhumanoid, and/or simply unreal body parts.
• Was Once a Man: Every Chaos Spawn is a horrific abomination that is a walking violation of the laws of nature... but it was also once a mortal being, either in servitude to the Gods of Chaos or a hapless victim thereof.

edited 12th Jan '18 4:54:31 AM by MarqFJA

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.

I wonder if Clipped-Wing Angel might fit too. A lot of Chaos Spawn used to be Chaos Space Marines. While they're pretty tough (at least after getting a significant improvement in the tabletop so they're now usable instead of garbage), they're almost certainly less effective than they were as fully equipped and armored Chaos Space Marines.

Though TBF, most people don't choose to be Chaos Spawn...except for the Bloodblessed.

Technically he's still a Champion of Nurgle. It's the main reason Mortarion hasn't killed him for devouring so many of his Marines. Foulspawn is Daddy's Favorite.

edited 11th Jan '18 7:16:43 PM by M84

Disgusted, but not surprised

Oh yes, Clipped-Wing Angel definitely fits. As for Foulspawn, just because he's the most favored among Nurgle's Chaos Spawn and is so favored that even the Plaguefather's own Daemon Primarch is not allowed to ruin said Spawn's fun still doesn't change the fact that he's no longer a Champion of Chaos per the actual definition of the term.

Edited by MarqFJA on Oct 7th 2019 at 2:53:36 PM

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.

Hmm, I stand corrected.

On a side note, the list of named Chaos Champions on that wiki page seems awfully short. I thought Kharn was technically a Chaos Champion?

Disgusted, but not surprised

Most notable Champions are under 'Chaos Lords', since most of the ones with notoriety and longevity usually end up in charge, dead, or Spawn.

I believe I have seen Foulspawn called a Spawn Lord or Spawn Prince in the past.

No worries things happen. I have a ton of things on the site that I have been wanting to do (such as rewriting the 40K Chaos Gods character page into a less messy format) but never have the time (or motivation in some cases) to get around to it.

Okay I will concede it is a Fate Worse than Death but whether that is the case or not, from reading the Inescapable Fate Worse than Death / And I Must Scream page it specifically states that "even death never comes to free him from it" and even the toughest Giant Spawn can still die (even if it is difficult to achieve) so that isn't an appropriate trope.

Not totally exempt just more so than a regular Spawn. Also as the Nigh-Invulnerable aspect is specifically a part of its Healing Factor so I feel that it is more than sufficient to mention it in the entry for that trope rather than give it its own entry.

The first part isn't the trope so should probably begin "Although" and run into the second sentence. As for the second sentence itself, I cannot think of any examples of such Spawn in the background I have read so could you provide an example.

No offence intended but I do feel that with a couple of your tropes you are trying to think of ways to fit the Spawn to the trope rather than the trope to the Spawn.

Knowledge is Power, Guard it Well

And yet so many examples of the trope do end up with someone delivering the victim from their misery by killing them, even if it's not an easy thing to do for one reason or the other. My impression is that "death" in the definition of the trope implicitly refers to "natural death", i.e. a victim of such a fate either cannot die from "natural causes" or their suffering will not end even with that happening.

Healing Factor is just one of several ways to become Nigh-Invulnerable. Like I've noted, a Spawn's mutations logically can give them incredible Super-Toughness.

More like I'm drawing reasonable conclusions from the descriptions of Chaos Spawn that I've come across. Amorphousness/shapelessness/formlessness is a frequently mentioned trait, for example.

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.

They can die of natural causes though with their body giving out due to their rampant mutations, as I have already said the ones that survive longer than a few hours are extremely rare and even these still have a small chance of dying, neither of which are represented in the way you have written the example. The Chaos Marine Codex doesn't even mention the Spawn suffering torment at all describing becoming a spawn as "an ignominious end as a slaving heap of limbs and protrusions".

Except they don't. Giant Chaos Spawn have a Toughness of 5, the same as an Ogryn and their special rule is explicitly a Healing Factor (giving them a chance of healing wounds whenever they roll one of their random ability scores and although this can take them above their starting Wounds this doesn't make them more difficult to wound). and even that is something introduced with their 8th Edition rules (they used to have Feel No Pain in previous editions but that was explicitly to represent extreme regeneration).

This , this, these and her are Blob Monsters. These◊ are◊ Chaos Spawn. If you can find me some canon instances of Spawn looking like the former then I would concede the point.

edited 12th Jan '18 6:01:23 AM by SebastianGray

Knowledge is Power, Guard it Well

"Natural causes"...as if there is anything remotely natural about being a Chaos Spawn.

Your body giving out from the mutations is akin to dying of Warp cancer.

edited 12th Jan '18 6:05:07 AM by M84

Disgusted, but not surprised

Natural for Chaos anyway.

Knowledge is Power, Guard it Well

Being reduced to Swiss cheese by bolter rounds is probably natural causes for a Chaos Spawn.

Dopants: He meant what he said and he said what he meant, a Ninety is faithful 100%.

"Death by bolter rounds" is probably one of the most common causes of death for a Chaos Spawn at least.

Come to think of it, it's probably a pretty common cause of death for most things in Warhammer 40k.

Disgusted, but not surprised

I wouldn't say the most common cause, because IIRC, Lasguns are way more common than bolters. But yeah, still pretty common.

edited 12th Jan '18 6:41:19 AM by Medinoc

"And as long as a sack of shit is not a good thing to be, chivalry will never die."

Possibly. Then again, bolter rounds are more likely to bring down Chaos Spawn than lasgun fire. Chaos Spawn are pretty durable.

Disgusted, but not surprised

Death By Lasgun is THE most common cause of death for His enemies, the 8e core rulebook even out and out says no other weapon has killed more enemies of the Imperium than the humble Lasgun....

advancing the front into TV Tropes

Well, it is true that enough concentrated lasgun fire will kill damn near anything. And the Imperium has a lot of lasguns, along with unlucky troopers to aim them.

Disgusted, but not surprised

There's like a billion Guardsmen for every Marine. In fact, in order to not bang my head against a wall whenever fluff like "ten Marines held against ten thousand Orks" or "a hundred Marines took over a planet" crops up, I mentally add the thankless Guardsmen to the tally.

Dopants: He meant what he said and he said what he meant, a Ninety is faithful 100%.

Heh, I doubt even ten Custodes could stand against ten thousand Orks, let alone ten Astartes.

And yeah, there's no way 100 Astartes could hold an entire planet without support.

edited 12th Jan '18 8:32:07 AM by M84

Disgusted, but not surprised