Horus Heresy - An Alternative History?
I was discussing the Horus Heresy over on Dark Reign's forum, when a heresy of my own popped into my head. Instead of the Primarchs betraying the Emperor, what if the Emperor betrayed the Primarchs! In this re-image the betrayed Primarchs would have to fight back with everything they have, seeing as the Emperor is so powerful, and this would drive the Primarchs into the arms of chaos. As they draw heavily on warp energies, in their desperation to survive, they become corrupted. This links into early descriptions of the Primarchs are being 'warp enhanced' (in strength, and special powers). So if they push their abilities, the assumed built in safeguards start to breakdown.
Now all I need is a good rationale as to why the Emperor would betray the Primarchs?
The Emperor is a magnitude of power greater than the Primarchs. The Emperor can see much of the future, and makes some very harsh choices based on what he sees coming down the line. Without detailed explanation others can not hope to understand, and even if explained it may not sit right with someone. This re-image could be quite complex, and perhaps draw upon Earth's religious mythologies and fables and revamp them for a modern audience. The Primarchs would be much more the 'angels who can not disobey', until one does...
Monomolecular Edge
The first monomolecular edge blades turn up in the Stone Age as obsidian based prismatic blades, and later in the Atomic Age in glass scalpels used in cardiac surgery. While incredibly sharp, and even used by the Aztecs in construction of the Macuahuitl, they are ineffective at defeating metal based armours - let alone the advanced ceramics of the the 41st millennium. A sharp blade, even one a mere molecule wide at the cutting edge, can not cut through such tough materials.
The monomolecular edge really comes into it own with the development of phase field technologies and the ability to imbue phase into materials, to produce 'phased materials', also know as 'exotics'. Using this technology an advanced ceramic blade, or a metal blade with bonded diamond edge, can be phased to imbue it with unearthly abilities. The most common imparted ability is a 'power field' effect seen in the far more advanced 'power sword' (dealt with below). The power field effect is a phenomena where a material touched by the outside of the field (the blade conducts the field to the surface) is 'softened' as the bonded between molecules are drastically weakened and even negated. This allows a relatively 'fragile' blade to cut through very tough materials with ease.
Slann
I really like the old Slann for the Rogue Trader era. You do not see them about much these days. They seem to have been over-written with the 'old ones'. I suppose in current background the Slann are the 'old ones', the terms interchangeable, though 'Slann' never seems to be used. The problem is that the old ones are so utterly-powerful, and the Slann being mere space frogs, that there is a bit of a disconnect. They do not really much up in concept. I quite like the idea that the Slann of the agents of the Old Ones. At time the interaction may be deeper, and the Slann Priest may function as vessel for part of an Old One's conciousness, an avatar of an Old One, or visionary. I see the Old Ones as only being able interact with reality through the Slann.
Iron Men and the STC
I was thinking the Iron men would be the 'front end' to the system - the friendly face of the STC. The Iron Men would co-operate and interact with the colonists to design the systems and infrastructure the colonists wanted and needed.
It would not take much storage in future technology terms to house all the templates and standards for a new colony based on STC. Coupled with a AI to manage it all and interact.
The benefits of such a set up would be to deny humans full control of the colony infrastructure, making harder for humans to screw it up (making it idiot proof by removing the idiots :P). If the Iron men are human shaped it would mean there would be a certain amount of redundancy built into the system as a whole, as the tools and gear used by the Iron Men for maintainable could also be used by humans too - should the Iron Men hand over control of that side of things. Also all access ways, and control panels are humocentric. Some Iron Men could even by quite human looking, maybe even like Ash of Bishop of Aliens or Terminator covered in synthetic flesh, enabling expression and ease communication.
In case of an accident the Iron Men may be vital - a colony could have a single Iron Men, and that Iron Men would be the source of knowledge for their survival. The Iron Man would know how to make tools from scratch, to use them and teach others, to start building and planing for a later civilization, while taking care of the colonists immediate survival. The tools the Iron Man makes first of all would be used to build shelters etc. but later they could build more advanced tools using the tools they have already made, and keep advancing, step by step.
I single Iron Man could rebuild a civilization from scratch, though how long they last would be anyone's guess - I imagine they would at least get a colony up to the Iron Age or greater, maybe even up to the industrial revolution, or leave a lot of project plans and blueprints for future generations to go into an industrial revolution later. The Iron Man could even build a printing press and print out books.
On a full STC supported colony, with hundreds of them helping out, and STC machines and automated factories with rapid prototyping machines for molds, to build what they need, and to build ever more advanced tools to make more advanced devices (and more even more advanced tools), which in turn are used to make even more advanced devices (and more advanced tools), and so on - I suspect a colony could be quite advanced in no time 🙂
There are a lot of benefits to having the STC inside an 'Iron Man' who is human sized, proportioned, and who uses tools that humans could use too.
Red Suns
The Red Suns are a new addition to my DIY Chapters. They are based on Japanese culture and mythology. In essence they are 'Samurai in Space' in the same way Eldar are 'Elves in Space', so there will be a fair bit of twisting of preconceived ideas.
I've tried to get a bit of flavour into the chapter, and reimaged the Japanese culture - I want it to be fun for a Japanese fan too! I suppose I hope it will have a similar effect to how European culture was reimaged in the old PS2 game 'Vagrant Story'. Well there is only one way to find out...
3D Head Sculpt
This has been added to the 3D models page. This was a lot of fun to sculpt, especially shapes like the eyes, nose and ears. There were not crafted in a sculpting program like mudbox or zbrush but instead I crafted these by pushing vertexes about and cutting cut polygons - just to see if I could: and it turns out I could! The ear wire is interesting as a piece of sculpture in and of itself - I tried to keep it all quads like the rest of the sculpt, and in turned into a bit like a 3D puzzle. It does have some triangles in it, but wouldn't take much to make it all quads (and port it over to something like zbrush to subdivide). It's not perfect but not bad for a first attempt (first attempt of sculpting a head - not used the program!)
Over on the Troll Forged Miniatures website there has been a lot of chatter about rapid prototyping, and I thought I would add this model to my site. I would be nice to have enough time to sculpt up some Space Marines heads, or AFG (Artificial Flesh Golem) heads, along with armour and such in 3D and rapid prototype them?
Marine Power Armour Stealth tech
This has been added to the Tactical Gear page of the main site. It details the marine's steal technologies, both evasion and detection. I wanted to introduce some ideas for tactical options when out in the field, especially is caught in the open. Active camouflage is something modern militaries have been working on for a while, though how useful it would be against IR sensors etc. is debatable (hence I also threw in IR suppression tech.)
Active Camouflage
The armour is covered in coating which adapts its colour to it's surroundings. Depending on the coating types the surface of the armour can alter it's appearance, colour, luminance and reflective properties to allow the marine to blend into his surroundings. The camouflage is used by the marine when out in the open (not within STC like structures/ Ecorium) and allows them to close with enemies that may fee the Emperor's justice.
- Dark Age technomancy: A mythical cloaking device. A marine wearing this disappears and can not be detected.
- 'OLED' based AC: The armour is coating in a form if 'organic light emitting diodes' only more complex and technically 'alive'. The armour collects video data of the surroundings an maps it onto the surface of the armour, and can match most luminance levels. It is not perfect, the marines can still be seen, and any movement really gives the game away. If stationary the marine is practically invisible, though 'unnoticeable' would be a better description, especially in complex and detailed environments like jungle or rubble.
- Pigment based AC: A simpler form of AC similar to 'e-paper'. It lacks luminance, and can not match ambient light levels.
- None: Some Chapters do not have this function, or refuse to use it. The armour is locked to chapter colours, or painted over.
Some radiation is harder to suppress like infra-red. To deal with this the armour's cooling system is routed through heat exchangers to power up 'Thermoelectric cells'. The takes all heat and converts it to electricity and is mainly a power conservation system. Combined with the ceramite insulation properties of the armour, the conservation system as the side effect of dropping the IR signature of the marine to virtually nil. The marines can still be seen, the outline etc. but they blend in with the background temp perfectly. However if they stand in front of a heat source their body will block it and they can be seen. Positioning is important when utilizing IR 'invisibility'.
Use of this AC function allows marines to suddenly appear from nowhere and get into the thick of melee causing havoc (and uses the local enemy as a 'meat shield'). Once in close the armour flashes to their Chapter colours as they butcher the enemy. If the enemy is ruthless and fires on their own kind in an attempt to kill the marines they find that marines are quite hard to kill and such actions can be detrimental to morale. This 'sneak and explode' style of combat is the hall mark of marines, but they also use sniper tactics and will often take out artillery and other snipers before getting into the thick of it (they do not assume the enemy command will respect the lives of their own side). The marines are less famous for this tactic but only because they are so good at it - as often the enemy has a clue where or who the sniper is.
Eye system
The auto-sense system includes two front mounted (stereoscopic) vid-sensors in the helmet. These sensors are surface mounted into a recesses, so that behind the eye is solid armour. The sensors are linked to the Convent, which in turn is linked directly into the marines's visual cortex. The auto-sense system bypasses the marine's natural eyes. The eye sensor has a number of interesting technologies.
- Wide spectrum: The sensors can detect a wide spectrum of radiation, including infra-red and ultraviolet (black light). All the information is processed by the Covenet to render the image the marines will see. Often non-visible light is used by the Covenet to figure out what object are, and outline and mark them with icons.
- Non-stick: The eye lens of the auto-sense system is hydrophobic and naturally resists water, and other fluids. It is a form of non-stick surface, like Polyester (teflon), only better. Fluid and gore may simply not stick and is repelled.
- Eyelid: In reality the non-stick coating is not 100%, and some sticking occurs; scratches or acid damage would give some purchase. It is almost impossible for the marine to use his armoured gauntlets to wipe his eyes as they are too hard, even the padded grip tips do no yield enough due to their solid backing. To clear the lens of contamination a mechanical lid, made of a tough transparent membrane, is used. It is housed in the upper part of the eye armour.
Trial of Fear - Update
This has been added to the Space Marine Creation page on the main website. It is a reworking of the trail of fear and incorporates some ideas that have been floating around in my head for a while. I was reminded of it when posting on WarSeer about marines. There are a lot of things that need updating and bring into line with the background (or explaining the loop holes better 😉 )
A full battle brother's blood and bodily fluids contains potent genetic maintenance agents that if ingested by a normal human will alter their genetic structure. This agent is the basis of the marines acidic and poisonous spit, and the ingestion of this is fundamental first step in altering a human into a marine. All chapters require the recruit to drink the blood of the chapter from the chapter's grail. The grail ritual appears in all the chapters, and in all cases it includes the drinking of the blood of full marines and in some cases the blood of the Primarch!
Once these agents are ingested the effects on the body are traumatic and pronounced and many recruits will not survive. The Space Wolves 'Canis Helix' is probably the strongest of these agents and many die in the ice fields of Fenris screaming in pain. The Blood Angel's seems just as virulent and perhaps produce the greatest physical changes, those mutants who survive the blood of Sanguinius, and the sarcophagus, emerge as a vision of their Primarch.
Genetic Alterations: As the agent invades the body now produces a range of hormones and proteins that are mostly completely useless to the normal human body, and in many cases harmful to the human body. As the recruit endures the levels of these new hormones and chemicals rise and induce great pain and madness. The perceptions of the initiate so they see things that aren't there and are prone to suggestion. This is the time when the Chapter moulds the core mind on the future marine. Working with the sickness induced by the new hormones, the initiate is put through the ringer of madness until utterly broken. Then they are rebuilt and taught how focus, how to deal with pain. As they learn these lessons they are injected with geneseeds, which as they grow, the use the hormones and this in turn lifts the madness, restoring metal functioning. The initiate is then thrown into the Trial of Solitude.
Geneseeds: These new proteins and hormones are designed to support and feed 'geneseeds'. Geneseeds cultivated chimera stem cells that under the influence of the new hormones and proteins flourish into new organs that further modify the initiate's body. The geneseeds are invasive and can cannibalise surrounding tissue and convert them, they act like targeted cancer. As geneseeds are added they absorb the new hormones, and they absorb a lot when growing. New geneseeds have to be added at regular intervals to balance the system, and the penultimate geneseed of the Progenoids which regulate the whole system. The Progenoids can not go in until all the other implants are in place.
The first implant results in a major cardiovascular alteration often referred to as 'a second heart' but that is a gross simplification. This is sometime accompanied with corrective surgery, though many Chapters will leave a recruit experiencing complications to die.
Implants: Secondary 'Heart' geneseed implanted, Ossmodula geneseed implanted.
Psalm Verse: Text II
Thoughts of Grimdark...
In the original discussions of WarSpike the idea of a 40K mod came up. It was one of the ideas Malika came up with, and the reason there is a WarSpike forum over on Anargo. Great system ideas are easy to come up with, and they seem airtight when musing about them, but no idea survives contact with paper. This what happened with WarSpike, and in writing it up it snowballed into a thousand variables that all needed to be sorted out. All while keeping on track. Suffice to say, it took longer than I thought to get the framework done, and the 40K mod on Anargo has revived little attention these past few months.
Now wounds are going in, and the arms and armour are going to get a brush up may thoughts of a 40K mod are starting come to the fore. With the new Space Hulk the idea of a WarSpike 'Space Hulk' mod, and 40K mod seems very appealing. In further daydreams of the mod, and pondering copyright issues, my mind turned to a satirical take on Grimdark.
Grimdark
The idea is to make a Sciror setting that is 'grimdark' and a parody of 40K. This means ramping up the grimdark to new levels. I am reminded of discussions on the old Black Library forums were my discussion of 'Philverse' often brought exclamations of horror and disturbance. It seems the greater 'reality' of Philverse has a greater power to induce 'grimdark'. This is to be more grimdark by using Philverse (which Sciror basically is) to ramp up the logic and explanation of '40K' and hence contrast with the madness (because fact is stranger than fiction - unless you have my brain!). The madness comes from the thoughts and concepts of Philverse taken to their logical conclusion.
Armed with this new idea I popped off to grab 'grimdark.com' but obviously someone has already grabbed that, and so I had to come up with another...
Stare into the Abyss
Yep, that is what I came up with: 'stareintotheabyss.com'. Not perfect, and it's a bit of am mouthful (SitA), but it taps into a popular meme about madness and nihilism and seems like a good place to start. Next up was to come up with the setting, or which bit to rip off, but then it occurred to me why not go full Philverse? I thought it should to analogous to the fall of mankind in 40k, and the beginning of the age of strife, as there is very little detail for GW and I filled in all the blanks. This is easy to do with Sciror as all the explanations of the setting are in place. All it required is dropping the threshold for psionic manefestion and the result is basically a scenario where the vanilla Sciror setting goes tit's up. This would be along the lines of the 'psyker epidemic' of 40K, except here it is brought about by latent psionic powers combining due to population density. Along with this we can chuck in the withdraw of the Artilects from the Mars Accord and the loss of all advanced technology, and to top it off the loss of billions of colonies and the death of untold trillion, upon trillions, of humans.
Colour Text: This is the end of a civilization...
The war is over. We lost. Mankind is extinct. Only the bio-construct remain, mere echoes of humanity, built for war. This is their story, their fight for survival, and their search of the Venus Bluegenes, Battle Nuns, Sisters of Sin, Amazons of Isha, Sirens of the Core, to continue their species. Their inability to form lasting relationships... (OK, that end bit went too far! :P)
40K?
Anyway, the idea being that all the characters and troops types in grimdark, I mean; 'Stare Into The Abyss', would be place-holders/ stand ins for other Sci-Fi games, like 40K or AT-43.
So a 'armoured flesh golem' = 40K space marine, whereas 'Humo-Exo-Suit' = AT-43 UNA TacArms (or Tau Battle Suit).
It means new designs for all the characters but the archetypes would be preserved. They would be similar to other games (as all these games are very similar). I may change the weapons for the 'default' but a weapon upgrade would bring them into line. So the Armoured Flesh Golem (AFG?) would use SSG (Steaming Stun Gun) but could upgrade to 'auto gyro-jet launcher' which would basically be my version of the bolter (with modal bolts).
I have some ideas for the space marines - AFG - that are more like plate armour in look but use the newt suit joints. They originate from corporate 'paradise' worlds, are made by humans not machines, are compliant with the dictates of the Mars Accord, and used to kidnap/ fight between corporation houses, and also used to raid off-world Ecorium (flesh harvest for organs, DNA etc?) Therefore their design in 'logical' to the setting.
Your thoughts? Troll Forged Miniatures forum thread here;
Heavy Bolter / mainsite update
The Heavy Bolter issued to the Adeptus Astartes uses a larger calibre that their Standard Bolter, has a more powerful kicker charge gyro-jet. It is also fielded using the 'drum box' (see above). It has a slightly lower maximum rate of fire that the Standard Bolter, but due to the greater amounts ammo is more likely to actually be used in full auto (this leads many observers to conclude the Heavy Bolter is faster firing, but it is just the way they are used by marines). The Heavy Bolter is ideal for smashing strong points, buildings and light vehicles. Space Marines make good use of the to rapidly take out hardened positions within STC bunker complexes (Ecorium) or mow down hordes of xenos like 'nids.
Modern Equivalents
There are no directly comparable weapons systems, but the easiest way to figure out it's power is to think of a Mk 19 automatic grenade launcher but using 60-80mm grenades with rocket motors instead of its 40mm. This gives each heavy bolt about ten times the mass of a real 40mm grenade. It can punch through most modern light armour vehicles with ease (kinda like an automatic RPG-7 but far more compact) and clear most rooms in residential buildings with one shot.
Variants
The Heavy Bolter is normally issued with modal Bolts much the same as the Standard Bolter. However there are variants that are sometimes employed is specific circumstances, such as single mode thermobaric Bolts. These variants are not common issue as Space Marines like to remain flexible, but some missions do allow for a certain level of predictability.
Thermobaric Bolts are effective against 'nids or Orks on 'paradise worlds', as well as renegade humans inside STC subterranean bunkers (where is consumes massive amounts of oxygen within the confines of the bunker). There are not so effective at penetrating fully armoured targets, or atmospheres/ areas with limited oxygen. totally ineffective in a vacuum.
Plasma Bolts to cut through almost anything, though ceramite armours offer some protection.
This is an update inserted into: Bolter info page