Connect

Wanna get involved?

This pages is a one stop shop to connect to all things Philhammer, Spheres of War or Sciror. Bookmark it for easy reference. Here are links to support my work, subscribe to my RSS feed or sign up to receive notifications by email of every new post! There is also a latest comments section, a confidential contact form, and a guestbook at the very end where you can drop a quick note on articles.

I can also be found on the Bolter and Chainsword forum, posting under 'Philip S'.

Support

If you'd like to support my work there are many ways you can give, but the best thing you can do is share my articles. Discussion is what drives everything forward!

Ongoing support is through Subscribe Star, one time donations through PayPal, and I'll also happily take sweet, sweet, Bitcoins. As always, I'll be releasing everything I create for free on my website. As you can imagine free does not pay well, but I'm hoping 'digital busking' I outlined years ago on Artists Unchained works out (this is me putting my money where my mouth is!)

Subscribe Star

More backers means more time spent of creating new worlds and games for you to explore. Sign up and gain early access to future blog posts, articles, polls for content, and my scrap-blog, a place where I post ideas so new they are nothing but an incomplete chaotic mess! Help me untangle these malformed ideas into something I can post on my blog 🙂

Subscribe Star

Tips Jar

Beer! Who doesn't like a nice frosty cold one? Beer aids creativity, and with a beer in my hand, I'll weave you a crazy tale you've never heard before! The button below is a one time payment (not reoccurring), and each toast furthers the Sciror and Spheres of War cause. There is space for a message, and you can let me know what you are tipping me for, so I know what is gaining traction for the future.

Paypal Me

RSS Feed

To keep up with the conversations, subscribe to my RSS feeds, and have all the latest links on your bookmark toolbar. RSS seems to have fallen out of favour, and has been removed from some browsers, but I still use it. On Firefox you can use this addon: Livemarks, to enable you to subscribe to feeds, and then all the comments and posts are there on your bowser's Bookmark Toolbar. On Chrome you could try; Foxish Live RSS. Foxish creates the traditional RSS folder.

RSS Posts Feed

Recent Comments

As I am always working on things, with everything being a continuous WIP, I thrive on feedback. Let me know what you think and jump into a conversation. Agree or disagree, like or dislike, if you can form a good argument I want to hear it!

  1. I'm glad you enjoyed your journey through Philhammer. In answer to you question: I imagine Kron is an Artiloid (by…

  2. Hi Phil, I really enjoyed reading through your Philhammer concepts and it's nice to see a fan with as much…

  3. Donald Hawley on Connect

    None of the Dreadnought yet, but I've been 3d modeling with Sketchup and have posted some of my work on…

  4. Ah, life, yeah, that'll do it 😐 I'll check out those CBC podcast. etc. Thanks for the heads up. Do…

RSS Comments Feed

Private Message

You are more than welcome to contact me privately using the form below. Please allow a week for me to get back to you. If it's not confidential, and want to say hello or leave a comment about this website, please share your thoughts below in the Comments section.


161 Responses

Hearing feedback is very important to me in developing my ideas. Much of my designs are inspired, and crafted, by chatting to fans on forums before snowballing into a full concept you'll find here. I would like to thank all those who have contributed critiques and participated in discussions over the years, and I would especially like to thank all those who commented on this specific topic. If you would like join in, you are most welcome!

To support my work: Connect

  1. masecase says:

    Subject: Old Ones

    I think you are giving the old ones too much credit. In face of them everything else becomes meaningless, even the chaos gods and the emperor. Make the old gods more powerful, let the Artilects merge with the man on the holy toilet, but don't let everything become the experiment of one aloof force. Sure they can be vastly powerful, but they should remain a mortal race like they used to be. Oh, and please, don't force a connection between the Necrons and the Iron Men, just because they are both made of a bit slap.

  2. Kyle says:

    Subject: Chapters, extra bits and Tuberdours

    First of all a thank you for some wonderful space marine chapters im think of modelling my next space marine army on the blood eagles

    secondly i just want to know how u got some of the more unique stuff for ur marines for example the fur capes and the greek style adomen for the aqua marines

    p.s loved your wfrp career as well my char is a Tuberdour just last seesion he almost got killed by a big un ina premature spawning

  3. Dominic says:

    Subject: Dark Age/ the Emperor/ Old Ones

    Hey Phil

    I really love your site and have had hours of interest reading your various backgrounds. I especially like the Dark Age of Technology one.

    I would really love it if you did something on the Emperor, uniting the various fluff and mysteries surrounding him and putting your own unique 'philverse' spin on it. Also some ideas re: extragalactic travel, civilisations and lost Old Ones would fit in nicely with your Dark Age of Tech background.

    Please keep adding stuff? This site is one of my favourites and you are a terrific storyteller/artist.

    Cheers

    Dom

    • Philip S says:

      Hi Dom, and don't worry, I'll always keep adding to this site! Even when I'm not posting I'm thinking up new ideas and concept in the background, researching new stories on advances in science and figuring out how to shoe horn back into 40K.

      Dom wrote;
      I would really love it if you did something on the Emperor, uniting the various fluff and mysteries surrounding him and putting your own unique ‘philverse’ spin on it.

      There is some information about the Emperor and how I see him on this Blog: Sole Survivor, and some more over on my webbie: Of Ghods and Primarchs

      Dom wrote;
      Also some ideas re: extragalactic travel, civilisations and lost Old Ones would fit in nicely with your Dark Age of Tech background.

      I wrote a little bit about the Old ones in my Warhammer Fantasy background regarding The Fonn (Amazons). To my mind it is much the same for 40K, yet I do not go into it that much in the 40K concepts page. I wish to hold back on this info and regard it more as the details of the 'mythology'. I figure the Emperor does know all about the stuff mentioned under the Fonn background (as there is a reference to the 'web way' and the whole artificial Imperial Gate on Terra). However it will not be spelled out in the 40K section.

  4. jamie says:

    Subject: Artbooks

    Hi,

    I was wondering about your art work. My husband has started reading your books and really likes them. I really don't know much about them to be honest. He gives me the run down on what happens as he finishes them. He is deployed right now. He is a blackhawk pilot for the Army. See I want to send him a box for xmas and he was say'n how much he liked the art work and I was hope'n that you could let me know if you have any books of your art? I know that you're the guy 'cause he told about the book False Gods. The title kinda stuck in my head. I hope that its ok that I used this place to ask you. I was reading some of the posts and these people are really serious about your work. That one person wanted to know about how the space marines pissed and pooped!!! WOW! My husband told me about the space marines too. So I'm really nervous about leave'n this but I don't know how else to get a hold of you. Sorry if this is the wrong way. Or maybe you could sign one of your favorites I will pay you for it. Sorry and thank you.

    • Philip S says:

      Hi Jamie,

      Yeah, what are these fans like eh? Crazy! Gotta love that creativity through 😉 I know it can be pretty intimidating wander into a fanboi zone, so kudos for bravery. Though I think you'll find we're a friendly lot.

      As for art, or more specifically 40K art, there is: The Art of Warhammer 40,000. It's a collection of all the best of 40K art, it's heavy, and cost £30 direct from the Black Library (BL). It doesn't include my cover of False Gods within (as that was done later), and if that is what he likes the poster of False Gods is still available for £8 (also from BL).

      I hope that helps, and if you have any further questions you can direct them to my connect page (as found here). If you would like me to remove your post due to you feeling uncomfortable; ask and it shall be done.

      Best wishes,

      Philip
      PS: He has a tough job, wish him luck.

  5. Kage2020 says:

    Subject: Adeptus Mechanicus and "Data Sanctuaries"

    Hey, Phil... Our concepts seem to broadly match on the Adeptus Mechanicus - perhaps with the exception of the fundamental importance of "implants" as you define them with regards to knowledge - so I wondered if you had checked out the game "Shadowrun" (4e).

    If we go with our (mutual, IIRC) idea of the obfuscation of technology behind Imperium aesthetics, with the "data sanctuaries" and the information from "Mechanicum" (e.g. noosphere)... Well, much fun can be had with the idea of Personal Access Networks (PAN), Augmented Reality (AR), and so on.

    Truly "technomancy..."

    Really must get back to starting that thread over on Anargo! 😀

    Regards,
    Kage

    • Philip S says:

      Thanks Kage I'll check it out. I agree out respective 'verses' are very similar in may ways, and much of what you have put forward to justify 40K has been very helpful to me. I really like the idea of, 'Augmented Reality', or as least the concept the name suggests given the context. Having the Ad-Mec running about using their implants as 'servers' in a wi-fi linked mesh network sounds like a lot of fun. It really is like a Wireless ad hoc network or more specifically a MANET

  6. Vaz says:

    Subject: ezine

    Hi, Philip, ever since seeing your artwork on "Grey Knights" I've liked your artwork! So much that I was wondering whether you would contribute any of the pieces you are free to do so for an ezine - Sorry if this is a little presumptuous just posting this, but I'd appreciate it if you could. If you could either e-mail me back, or post a reply to this I'd be extremely grateful 😉

    Your work on Deathwatch and Grey Knights in particular was spectacular - are there any plans for the Sisters of Battle to be Represented?

    Cheers, Vaz.

    • Philip S says:

      Thanks Vaz, I appreciate you popping by to comment.

      As for art; any GW stuff is under copyright and used with permission. I do not have the authority to licence their IP.

      There are no plans for a Sister of Battle picture at the moment.

      Philip

      • Vaz says:

        No problem - credit given where it's due 😉

        I know the pains (well, from my Point of View, Copyright Protection is paramount for a business) of the IP. I'll look forward to more of your work 😉

        Cheers - Vaz

  7. Range_Finder says:

    Subject: Grey Knights and 3D Modelling

    Hi Philip,

    I found your site while searching for ideas of how to make my own 3d Space Marine, I must say I loved your site particularly the Warrior coven wireframe image (though i still cant figure out how you made those Shoulder Pads) and the Grey Knights cover was also an incredibly detailed image.

    Wayne

    • Philip S says:

      I glad you like my wireframes. 3D is a lot of fun! As for the shoulder pad it's a simple quarter sphere with one edge extruded, then all the faces extruded (so it has some thickness). To get the trim you can then select all the 'thickness' side faces and pull them out, and then select the outer faces of this fresh extrusion to pull up the trim. Nice and easy.

      Do you have any links to your 3d work?

      • Range_Finder says:

        At the moment no, i have a weird thing with 3d modelling where unless it's absolutely right i tend to delete it and start again. I should really be building a portfolio though.

        Thank you for the help with the shoulder pads thats really appreciated.

  8. IvK says:

    Subject: Old Ones

    I think that you are giving the Old Ones too much power in GW lore they were material beings with warp mastery and in your lore they are in short gods.

    • Philip S says:

      The material beings in GW lore are the Slann (or they were back in Rogue trader days). Nowadays they seem to be called the Old Ones, though this is not always the case, and sometimes they are seen as the servants of the Old Ones. In my 'Philverse' version of 40K I played up this angle and made the Slann and the Old Ones separate. This allows for the current confusion over who and what these ancient beings were, and neatly explains the fall of the Slann (disconnect from the Old One influence). As such, I figure the 'Slann' are the material avatars of the Old Ones ('god on earth').

      • Ivk says:

        I know that in earlier and later editions there is a different description of Old ones and Slann. My thought on Old Ones was that they were material beings with warp mastery and that Slann were their servants who created Kroks(Orks), Eldar and many other races.

  9. Andrew says:

    Subject: Traitor Marines

    So I chanced upon a picture of yours on Dakka which brought me here and I thought your space marine chapters were just awesome, but I had a question; have you ever thought about drawing marine chapters that went traitor to join different xenos factions? Examples being Space Marine chapters joining the Tau on their path to the greater good or the Eldar in their quest to save the universe. I personally would love to see what you could do to blend the Marines with the xenos.

    • Philip S says:

      I didn't plan on doing traitor Space Marines chapter. The closest I came to doing a traitor legion is the Inquisition suspicions of the Dragons be a branch of the Alpha Legion (which I think they may or may not be).

      I personally would love to see what you could do to blend the Marines with the xenos.

      Blending in xenos technology?

      That reminds of the Warrior Brood cover, which originally had Captain Octavius armed with an Eldar sword, but it was changed to a chainsword. I think I still have a picture of that sword somewhere.

      If I ever do a list of traitor chapters it may be an idea to put in a xenos aligned chapter or two, perhaps one for each of the major powers, Eldar, Tau and Ork (?). Maybe even some Nid worshippers that ate some Nid flesh and absorbed the Nid link via the Omophagea? Any preference?

  10. Guillaume says:

    Subject: Proportions model sheets

    Hi Philip,

    I'm currently making a CG model of a space marine, and I was looking for a good anatomy reference to make a credible stuff to avoid incoherences and disproportions... Since there is many space marines illustrations, it's difficult to get some proportions model sheets for a space marine...

    Anyway I appreciate your incredible contribution to the warhammer world, I hope you will continue for a long time.

    • Philip S says:

      The only 'proportions model sheets' I can think of is the diagram BL gave me, which is the one by Jes Goodwin. That's it. I tried to match my version of the marine anatomy to that official diagram and, as far as I know, mine is the only diagram of the marine proportions that (attempts) match Jes' diagram.

      You're welcome to base your CG model on my diagrams if you think it will help?

      Send me an email when you have something to show 😉

  11. Ivk says:

    Subject: DIY Chapters

    Me again. Great work on those chapters some of them are truly grimdark. But in the grimdark there is always Slaneesh to lighten things up.

    • Philip S says:

      Thanks. Which reminds me that one day I want to create some chaos space marine chapters (even though The Dragons may, or may not be, an Alpha Legion cell - it would be nice to have a few truly fallen chaos chapters).

  12. IvK says:

    Subject: 1000 Chapter Project

    Nice work on those 1000 chapters. I myself have created one DIY chapter the Emperor's Wrath.The chapter is still WIP but you can find the info on DakkaDakka

  13. IvK says:

    Subject: Power fields. Iron Men.

    Your monomolecular edged blades article has reminded me of that Eisenhorn power blade which didn't have physical blade. I was wondering what can a power field do to some object if it passes trough it.

    I have been looking on your version of Men of Iron and compared them with Men of Iron of Warhammer monthly comic and they look vastly different.

    • Philip S says:

      In my re-image the power-field interferes with chemical bonds, so that a material is 'softened' under the influence of the field. As such there needs to be a physical impact or energy transfer in addition to the field for there to be an effect (arguably a person moving within a power-field could provide enough force, through their movements, to damage themselves). Without the secondary effect the power-field would have limited effect, and I suspect that power-fields used in weapons are not that powerful. All it all, striking with a power-sword would 'feel' like the target was much soften than it really is.

      I have been looking on your version of Men of Iron and compared them with Men of Iron of Warhammer monthly comic and they look vastly different.

      It's a re-image, the Iron Men I posted on my site are my version. Having said that; I suspect that as they are machines, and not bound to a set form as we humans, they would come in many guises. The ones in the comic a merely a different form of Iron Man, but they are all 'machine', they are all sentient 'Iron Men'.

      • IvK says:

        In comic they looked like a true classic robots, not some machines that can turn to slime after they are severely damaged, but after all the iron men could be found in any form that was available in that time. Maybe those Iron Men locked in stasis field were some defensive models, they looked fairly human, some had extra limbs on back which ended in chainswords. I feel sorry for that arbitrator(or Magos) that was dead, but later his body was composed mostly of bionics, even his skull was changed and he's going to remain there for "eternity".

  14. Robert C. says:

    Subject: IG

    Wow! I think you've done a really good thing by making a strong effort at tackling the background of such a vast universe. Good job! Honestly, I was most fascinated by the IG section. Something about the IG makes me shudder; normal people thrown into the most dire situations. 15 hours life expectancy?!? I have a habit of researching WW1 and WW2 because it's insane some of the situations, those who fought, were put into. Once again, good job on these backgrounds!

  15. Christian Svenningsen says:

    Subject: Space Marines

    Hi Philip,

    I'm a Dane who also spends a lot of time on the Warhammer 40k universe and its background. I've read a lot of your blog and written emails to you before concerning pictures of Space Marines and other which you of course responded to. I write to you now because I've for a long time thought about the huge shins of the Space Marine power armour. It has been discussed before that that design comes from manga drawing style, but I've always wanted a reason to why they looked that way so there would a logic reason to why the armour a shaped like that and not just because it looks cool.

    So I thought it could be because the shins were fitted with about five boosters/tiny "jump packs" to help the marine run and maybe enabling him to run very fast. If you look at a marine from beneath him we can see that the rear underside of the shin are kind of exposed and that's where I wanted the small boosters to be placed. Maybe three or five boosters would do it and they wouldn't be seen when you just look at a Marine so nothing visual would actually be changed and it would explain why the power armours' shin are so big to the rear and side.

    Functionally the boosters wouldn't kick in when the Space Marine are just walking, first when he engage some sort of run and maybe enter some sort of vehicle state of movement so it wouldn't enabling him to run and then make a hard ninety degree turn. All this functionally stuff can be discussed so it makes the best sense.

    I furthermore thought that it would be cool if there were spend time to find the perfect sound for the sound effect when boosters every time they kick in so both their bolters and this state of run have sound effects which we always will remember them by like the sound of the laser shots in Star Wars and sounds from Predator, Aliens etc. which we'll never forget.

    Just imagine a Marine slowly accelerating and when he hits a sudden speed the boosters kick and makes a "bang" for every leap/step he makes when running. Personally I like this idea a lot because it would explain more about the power armour and because the state of running will be very cool with the sound effect but do you think?
     

    • Philip S says:

      The backpack has thrusters (the vents) for stability in space, and a suspensor unit in the backpack (in some older background) which further reduces the weight of the marine. I suppose they could have thrusters in there, but it's not mentioned anywhere. Maybe they could be weak and used in zero gravity for manoeuvring?

      • Malika says:

        The thruster thing sounds really interesting, perhaps that might be an idea we might be able to introduce in the AFG? Maybe Christian is interested in joining up in this little project?

        • Philip S says:

          I am thinking of including these capabilities in the AFG - more jump pack/ rapid drop.

          @ Christian - if you are interested there is a discussion over on the TFM forums: Armoured Flesh Gholems

        • Christian Svenningsen says:

          I would like to continue this discussion with you guys in a forum as this place doesn't seem fit to have an actual conversation. It seems like the Armoured Flesh Gholems isn't the Warhammer 40k universe so it will properly not interest me that much but I would like to share more of my ideas about Space Marines which you can of course freely use for the Armoured Flesh Gholems. Where can we continue our conversation?

          • Philip S says:

            I took the liberty to edit your post, as I had trouble understanding your first line. If this is not what you meant: please let me know!

            I suppose I should sort out a forum for this site, but in the mean time any forum will do. You can post in the Sciror section if you wish. There will be a fan mod of WarSpike/ Sciror for 40K, and there is this forum on Anargo for that, which you are welcome to post in. Either will do, or any of the other popular forums, like Warseer, Bolter and Chainsword, Dark Reign, etc.

      • Christian Svenningsen says:

        I know it's not mentioned anywhere, that's why I post it here. Yep to use them in zero gravity is a possibility. I just liked the what you wrote about power armour earlier on: "A marine is effectively a one man IFV!" I continued the thought and thought that the Emperor wanted to create some sort of tactical tank with extreme mobility, high discipline etc. and so made the Space Marines. But with a tank as base the armour were very thick and even though the Marine walks and runs as infantry several additional high speeds to his movement were made so he could operate on larger fields like a tank without needing a Rhino to carry him greater distances.

        • Philip S says:

          The old Rogue Trader background had the Space Marine backpacks as 'jump packs', the current jump packs are 'flight packs'. If we go all retro, then having some stabilizing thrusters in the lower leg armour would be a good idea. It would basically be your idea, but the back pack would provide most of the thrust.

  16. Topher says:

    Subject: Warp Drive

    First of all, wow. Seriously. I've been reading this site for a few hours now as a first-time visitor and I'm awestruck at the level of detail, not to mention the level of intelligence you clearly have to develop these concepts to this depth. Hats off!

    There's one thing I'm not grasping, and would like to hear your thoughts on regarding your concept of how Warp travel works. Your theory of opposing forces is really cool, and I like the idea of ships being swept away from their origin points on the opposite-gravity wells of the stars they're leaving behind, but what about those that they're heading toward? Did I miss something in the article that explains how this would be accounted for?

    I think it might be in the comment about entering shallow and leaving deep, and it's just not been fleshed out. I'm guessing that the best way to reconcile this would be in how you explained that, the deeper you get in the Warp, and thus closer to the Void, the weaker the forces get. So in essence the ship in question would be starting out "shallow" near the Great Barrier (where the opposite-gravity well is extremely strong, forcing it away from the origin star system) and then perform a gradual "descent" through the Warp toward the Void over the course of the voyage. Going "deeper", the forces that propelled it are weaker, but so are any forces repelling it, allowing the ship to maintain momentum and decreasing the chances of it getting knocked off course by "cross-currents" from other stars.

    When the ship nears its destination, it performs a very rapid "ascent" back to the Materium, kind of like a contemporary submarine doing an emergency blow of its ballast tanks to force itself rapidly to the surface. This would, I suppose, allow the ship to bypass the repelling effects of the destination system, since it would only be in a depth of the Warp where the opposite-gravity of the destination star is strong enough to repel it for a short time, too short for such "currents" to counteract the ship's "upward" momentum and shove it away from the star.

    I'm assuming this is what you were going for, just wanted to bounce it off you to see if that's what you had in mind, and my apologies if I just didn't get it the first go-around. 🙂

    Also, one wonders, if the Immaterium is an opposing reflection of the Materium, and the further "down" you go into the Immaterium the closer you get to the Void, which is absolute nothingness, could it then be theoretically possible to go "up" from the Materium to some sort of super-concentrate reality? Just some fun for head-crunchin'. 😉

    • Philip S says:

      The details of the jump can be found under 'Dynamics of a Jump'. You have the right idea about how the ship overcomes the effects of the repulsed gravity, but there is a little bit of the puzzle you missed. The only difference between your concept and mine is that: at the Great Barrier the effects of gravity in the warp ('negative') are nullified by the effects of gravity in the materium ('positive'). When a ship drops into the shallows of the warp; the materium is still having an influence, there is still the positive force of gravity and this reduces the repulsing (negative) effect of gravity in the warp. Think of them overlaying each other, and merely an extension off 'border-space'. As you dive deeper the effects of the positive gravity of the materium subsides and the effects of negative gravity can be felt in full force. However, as you dive ever deeper the effects starts to fade. The 'negative' force of gravity is not being negated any more, it simply fades from existence (there is theory that the void is 'creation energy' - but that's for another day!).

      could it then be theoretically possible to go “up” from the Materium to some sort of super-concentrate reality? Just some fun for head-crunchin’.

      Yes: black holes are 'super materium' 😉 There is a hypothesis that our galaxy spirals around a supermassive black hole. Such a massive body would create a phenomenal repulsing force.

      (A tangent: a star ship with normal engines would have problems escaping the pull of a supermassive black hole if it got too close. In an emergency the only way to escape when normal engines do not have enough power would be to drop into the shallows of the warp: that would push the ship away. The pilot has to be very careful when doing this. If they go even a fraction too deep the ship will be torn apart but the super massive repulsing forces of the black hole warp side. It's a careful balancing act between the positive and negative effects of this massive amount of gravity, a knife edge, with a very slight shift to the negative.)

      • Topher says:

        Thanks for the reply and the point that I'd missed! Lots of fun, I've been doing some background-story stuff for my Traitor Marines and it'd be fun to at least pay lip-service to the technical aspect of the universe.
         
        On the topic of the super-massive black hole bit, that conjures fun mental images of a mad-scientist Mechanicus Explorator team with a theory that they could use the extreme negative-gravity force to power trans-galactic travel with a ridiculously over-powered Geller Field: "Oh, shit, we made it! We're the first natives of the Milky Way Galaxy to travel outside our... oh, you've got to be kidding me! Orks?!"

  17. Subject: Arctic Templars

    Hi mate,
     
    Found the site and great work! Also noticed my chapter the Arctic Templars made it to the list of DIY chapters after I listed it on a forum.
     
    The link for the blog post http://wolftemplars.blogspot.com/
     
    I'm also tempted to do a few Blood Eagles one day!
     
    cheers
     
    JP

  18. Kage2020 says:

    Hey Phil,

    I've gone and lost the conversation that you sent my way regarding the zodiacal approach to the Primarchs and wondered if you could send my way again?  Taking a gander at the concepts as a way of giving more flavour to the FFG concept of progenoids by introducing the concept of a "heroic lineage."

    You have the email address if you find it.

    —Kage

  19. Mikemp44 says:

    Hey Phil,

    I actually have modelled an entire army off of a concept I came up with 9 years ago that dealt with the "Lost" army of Sigma corp. You see I have been a huge buff of both canon Imperial history and some "fluff" stuff that often ties in well and makes for some great back stories. Anyway, the story of my army, which is loosely based upon Imperial canon, has to do with the ancient history of Terra, when the Emperor first rose and fought the corporate warlords that ruled at the time (techno barbarians is what I think they called them). Sigma corp. was one of those powerful corporations that was the only one to discover zero point energy and master matter configuration. In essence they learned this by accidentally opening an ancient webway gate buried on Terra. Once inside they came into contact with Biel' Tan Eldar who, only after an explicit agreement, gave the corporation the proper knowledge needed to harness energy from the immaterium, and explained the process of creating in the material world from the immaterium.

    Anyway there was a long back story but eventually the Sigma corp. decided they had every right to use the webway (they called it the Zero Gate) and created a vast army of drones and war machines to invade and conquer the webway. However, when they charged the gate to begin the invasion they made an error in the energy level needed to open the gate for the period of time they needed to get everything in, and ended up creating a mini 'warp storm.' It was assumed in history that they were simply conquered by another corporation, or the emperor himself. Even in the highest levels those who know the truth regarding the corporation, hidden in the hidden Imperial records, think the 'warp storm' simply consumed and destroyed the entire army.

    However, what really happened was the Sigma corp. forces were sent tumbling into the death world of Darrow segundus, deep within the Tau empire. After meeting the Tau they pledged an non-aggression pact in exchange for Tau plasma technologies, given much of the Sigma arsenal was nuclear based weaponry. The Tau willingly agreed to the non aggression pact given that the Sigma corp. would control Darrow Segundus (known as T'aloth to the Tau) and the two races would combine there knowledge of plasma technology and the zero point energy the Sigma corp. had mastered producing. The product of this exchange is the slip space drive, the rail cannon, and the majority of Tau mechanisms, most notably the drones they often deploy which are loosely based on Sigma drones.

    There is a lot more back story, but my Sigma force is setup very similar to the old thousand suns rules and deployment; few actual leading units that are very powerful, majority are automatons that cannot even be hurt by weapons strength 4 or less, and they use limited heavy weapons platforms, such as tanks and airships. The majority of the force are customizable drones in squads, led by one actual soldier. The humans of Sigma corp. haven't varied much since their time, unlike modern (41K) humans, which on par are smaller in size and stature. The leaders of the sigma corp. have long lost their material bodies and exist simply within memory. The current generations of Sigma humans have all but changed Darrow Segundus to agro/ urban world, with main manufacturing being done on all four of its moons.

    I would love to give you a much broader and deeper back story, including when the first contact between the Sigma corp. and current Imperium occurred, as well as what happened. 🙂

    Love your site, and I think a lot of your ideas are spot on and could be considered canon.

    Let me know what you think about the Sigma Corp.

    Also, Sigma corp. are not space marines, they are ordinary humans augmented with incredible machinery that they pilot, no neural integration and such like the Mechanicus with implants.

  20. James Gavis says:

    I really like some of the artwork you do with the space marines. What programs do you use? It gives an air of inspiration.

Leave a Reply to Tavar Cancel reply

These comments are moderated. This requires a tempory cookie until ok'd. By posting a comment, you are consenting to this tempory cookie.
See the cookie policy.

Out of respect for your privacy: your email will not be made public. Required fields are marked *