No 40K thread yet? I'm surprised. Nay, shocked, shocked I say to discover there's gambling going on in this establishment...
I'm eagerly anticipating the imminent 5th Edition release, personally, but I was interested to know if anyone here plays and has a differing opinion on it. There are certainly plenty of people out there who seem to think that 40K 4th edition "only just" came out and that a new edition isn't needed. Anyone?
Warhammer Fantasy (including Age of Sigmar and WFRP) has its own thread here
.
Edited by Mrph1 on Apr 22nd 2024 at 5:37:34 PM
Absolutely no relation to NLK
Yeah, she's not a Repentia herself. Alongside the sculpts themselves, I feel the new Repentias kinda lost some of the coolness factor the old ones had.
Dopants: He meant what he said and he said what he meant, a Ninety is faithful 100%.
" whether "Perverse" was something other Aeldar used to describe him or if it was something he came up with as a bit of self-awareness."
Yeah I feel he is "perverse" because he take a kinda joy at busting the delusion of the eldar, kinda one of those overly controversial philosopher.
After all saying the orks are better than the eldar because their crudeness let be more fullfill is....ballsy.
"My Name is Bolt, Bolt Crank and I dont care if you believe or not"
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
Man, it's been over a year and a half since I last posted here already? It started as being suddenly being preoccupied with real life, but ultimately devolved to procrastination about restarting the subject that I was talking about...
Anyway! For those of you who remember, 1.5 years ago I was planning to add a bunch tropes to Characters.Warhammer 40000 Chaos Gods that directly pertain to Chaos Spawn, since I noticed an astounding paucity of such in the list. I seek constructive feedback before actually adding the entries.
- 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.
On a different note, I've been having WH40K-related fanfic ideas (both in the actual setting and in one that's "merely" inspired by it), and it lead me to several interesting questions about mercenary forces in the setting.
- How big can they get? Is it plausible for a mercenary company to be able to muster a few thousand troops if the client is both able and willing to pay the right price?
- Do they have any limitations on Imperial wargear in comparison to Astra Militarum regiments? For example, is the acquisition of even a single superheavy vehicle like the Baneblade (which logically requires good connections to the Adeptus Mechanicus) simply outside even the largest and most influential mercenary companies?
- Do they ever get "hired" by the Imperial authorities to fight alongside the regular troops of the Astra Militarum?
Another question, this time about Baneblades: Is there any info on how a Baneblade crew is formed? Do they have to specifically train as crews for that kind of vehicle from the start, or is it plausible for, say, three or so Leman Russ tank crews that sufficiently distinguish themselves in battle to be collectively promoted to crewing a Baneblade and given any necessary (re)training in light of said promotion?
Edited by MarqFJA on Oct 7th 2019 at 5:04:56 PM
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
@Chaos Spawn tropes:
1. As they are neither Gods or daemons tropes for Chaos Spawn should go on the general Chaos page not the Gods & Daemons page.
2. As I told you a year and a half ago, they are not an example of Blob Monster.
3. Chaos Spawn do not have a Healing Factor in general and never have done, only Giant Chaos Spawn.
4. A number of those cover Chaos mutations in general and are not unique to Spawn so should probably be rewritten to reflect as such
5. The Bloodblessed are a Khorne Daemonkin warband so should so the Nightmare Fetishist trope should probably go there.
6. Putting two tropes on the same bullet point as you have done with Body Horror is against site rules.
As for mercenaries: they come in all shapes and sizes. The nature of FTL travel in 40k means most mercs will either remain local or sign on with a patron with access to the enormous resources to move between worlds; virtually no one who has the resources to maintain a warp ship would risk so much to sell their skills as a mercenary. The one real exception there is Rogue Traders, who usually have private armies and can typical be hired for a high enough price of hard currency and influence.
Mercenary companies for hire can get large, but are unlikely to ever muster much above regiment strength or so due to the sheer logistics-transporting that many fighting men and women plus their entire support network can fill much of a single escort sized transport, which is the biggest ship most private citizens will ever have.
Note that the Astra Militarum is vastly more likely to simply draft their own troops they can equip, train, and control the movements of rather than recruiting mercenaries. Most other organizations have their own supply chains for troops with similar concerns about mercenaries; as a result most actual mercenaries wind up as some flavor of security guard on Imperial worlds.
There are three exceptions within the Imperium: Rogue Traders, the Inquisition, and various private clients who want effective black operatives with deniability. I already mentioned Rogue Traders, which are likely to hew the closest to the 'classic' mercenary; the soldier of fortune who fights on their terms, and is in a position to walk away from a client/contract they do not like. The Inquisition makes use of all kinds of assistance with varying levels of coercion, but they do hire exceptional mercenaries; the ones the survive their first mission usually get fast tracked into a retinue, where they fit in to a select elite who serve the Inquisition by choice, not necessarily for any higher calling.
The last group would be the proverbial sellsword; any client and any job if the money is right, with both sides expecting and being prepared for a knife in the back. Lone assassins, low-rent bounty hunters, local thug muscle with decent equipment, it runs the gamut. There are higher quality independent groups operating openly with at least some legitimacy, but they appear to be the exception. The only one I can think of is the clan hired by an enemy of Eisenhorn during Hereticus; he hires the whole clan of nearly a thousand warriors, and arranges transportation and high quality equipment for groups of them to conduct surgical strikes against Eisenhorn's network on multiple worlds across the sector.
Edited by ViperMagnum357 on Oct 8th 2019 at 8:47:59 AM
Granted, the big I can request any army and by request I mean order around with the power of the inquisitorial seal because....well, they fucking can.
Also while not mercenaries per se other can recruit people on a religious crusade, while is not for money it kinda feel the whole "soldier for hire" stuff.
Granted is WH 40 K, it means not all people fight for money.
"My Name is Bolt, Bolt Crank and I dont care if you believe or not"
Oh, bother.
Are we only talking human mercs? Because there are plenty of xeno mercs. Humans do hire them on occasion despite the Imperium’s official stance. Heck, the Imperium hires them on occasion.
Edited by M84 on Oct 9th 2019 at 1:35:21 AM
Disgusted, but not surprised
I took 'Imperial Wargear' as an indication of baseline human mercenaries working within or around the borders of the Imperium, likely for human employers, and phrased my answer accordingly. All bets are off with Xenos, human renegades, or the Ruinous Powers.
Edited by ViperMagnum357 on Oct 9th 2019 at 11:59:35 AM
Yep, it dosent help that xenos have diferent concept of what is to be paid for a job: eldar does for their own reason, Dark eldar for funies and probability of backstab you, etc.
Quick question: Does anyone have a source for the information on House Escher that was added to the Necromunda character page today that isn't 1d4chan. I am in hospital for a week or so at the momentum and don't have access my books but some of it seems off from what I remember.
Edited by SebastianGray on Oct 10th 2019 at 11:44:31 AM
I'd like to add the following header to the character pages to make navigation easier. Is that ok?
Imperium of Man (Adeptus Astartes [Astartes Chapters, Astartes Characters, Primaris Marines], Astra Militarum, Adepta Sororitas, Inquisition, Mechanicus, Other factions) | Forces of Chaos (Chaos Gods, Heretic Astartes) | Xeno Races | Aeldari (Asuryani, Drukhari) | Necrons | Orks | T'au Empire | Tyranids
Edited by nabu-san on Oct 12th 2019 at 4:44:00 PM
Why? It just takes up space for no real reason. The index link is already at the bottom of the page. (Which is what I think I said the last time you brought it up).
Edited by SebastianGray on Oct 12th 2019 at 4:58:22 PM
What do you mean why, that's a quality of life edit. As I said, it's here to make navigation easier. Even if there's index links at the end of the page, I think it's also good to have a place where you can directly go from one specific faction to another faction directly. And then "take up space"? The header is the size of a short trope entry. I don't see how it takes up so much space.
Edited by nabu-san on Oct 12th 2019 at 6:15:52 PM
And it is pointless when there is already an index bar at the bottom. It would probably come under the rule for avoiding duplication and I have been considering asking on opinions to remove it from the Warhammer Fantasy pages for the same reason.
It's literally not pointless, it has a minor effect but a good effect. Perhaps you are accustomed to having to navigate like this, but a shortcut is always good for any user. Besides, the header is a not a trope entry and isn't affected by the rule for avoiding duplications.
I don't know why you're so against such headers, they're small and convenient.
Hi
I've seen that header on other pages, and I added one to the characters pages for Honkai Impact 3rd. It would be helpful in case you want to go to a page that's not linked in the index bar for the page you're on...I'm good with it.
Edited by Willbyr on Oct 12th 2019 at 11:40:56 AM
I am simply trying to avoid pointless work. Also size is relative. I am currently on a 6" kindle screen not my pc screen that is actually slightly larger than my TV.
I also can't see it mentioned in the character page creation rules (i could be missing it though) so it is not an official part of the site's style guidelines.
Yes the One Piece one takes up my entire kindle screen, which is the point I was making about size, but if there is consensus then go ahead.
Edited by SebastianGray on Oct 12th 2019 at 5:59:56 PM
I don't know if two yes is a consensus.
I have always worked on the rule that the majority after 3 days counts as consensus, I just ment that I will be fine with what the consensus decides (I am still in hospital at the moment so am a little lacking a bit in energy and concentration).
Edited by SebastianGray on Oct 12th 2019 at 7:52:43 PM
Captain of the Dead City
I mean, I like it.
"...in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach."
I'll give it a ![[tup]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Thumbs_up_emoticon_3268.png "[thumb up]"){kind=small}
as well. Useful navigation tool if nothing else.
Given the recent tournaments being swarmed with Iron Hands players, how hard do you think they'll get the nerf bat? Also, thoughts on the rumors of IF and Salamanders being even more broken?
Interesting she's a Repentia Superior now rather than a Mistress of Repentance. I always thought it made more sense for the Repentia Sergeant to have a title that set her apart- she's more like their handler than their sergeant.
"...in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach."