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my dad
Oct 17, 2012

this shall be humorous
What happens when a Magos and a Lord-Sire don't cooperate?

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Loel
Jun 4, 2012

"For the Emperor."

There was a terrible noise.
There was a terrible silence.



my dad posted:

What happens when a Magos and a Lord-Sire don't cooperate?

Ooh, good one.

I know that your role (Factor of the Lathes) was built to fix that, but I bet theres a story into why. Lemme brainstorm.

VanSandman
Feb 16, 2011
SWAP.AVI EXCHANGER
I reiterate: No hive fleet is coming. Consider the facts.
1. This world is a crucial staging area for the war. From here, offenses can be launched to wrap things up over the course of a decade.
2. As such, it is remarkably well protected by Navy fleets in nearby systems.
3. The Nids are clever. Why spend a hive fleet when infiltration is so much cheaper?
4. The planet went from Genestealers to Bioforms directly. This is not the standard pattern. Bioforms generally show up only after a hive fleet has arrived.
5. What better way to gently caress over the Imperium than taking a crucial planet and spawning a surprise hive fleet?

I tell you, there is no hive fleet coming. There is a hive fleet under construction, however, likely in Gamma hive.

paragon1
Nov 22, 2010

FULL COMMUNISM NOW
What's the relationship between the church on the ship and the Family? Has the Ecclesiarchy ever sided with another ship faction against the Family?

Arkanomen
May 6, 2007

All he wants is a hug

VanSandman posted:


I tell you, there is no hive fleet coming. There is a hive fleet under construction, however, likely in Gamma hive.

Shadow over the Warp is a pretty big red flag. Genestealer spotted.


SoL suggestions:
1. More explorer legion legends and ghost stories
2. Who, if anyone, maintains the outside of the ship
3. How was the Beast first secured as the Lord-Sires ship
4. Past interactions with Astartes

Arkanomen fucked around with this message at 15:44 on Feb 17, 2015

Serpentis
May 31, 2011

Well, if I really HAVE to shoot you in the bollocks to shut you up, then I guess I'll need to, post-haste, for everyone else's sake.

VanSandman posted:

I reiterate: No hive fleet is coming. Consider the facts.
1. This world is a crucial staging area for the war. From here, offenses can be launched to wrap things up over the course of a decade.
2. As such, it is remarkably well protected by Navy fleets in nearby systems.
3. The Nids are clever. Why spend a hive fleet when infiltration is so much cheaper?
4. The planet went from Genestealers to Bioforms directly. This is not the standard pattern. Bioforms generally show up only after a hive fleet has arrived.
5. What better way to gently caress over the Imperium than taking a crucial planet and spawning a surprise hive fleet?

I tell you, there is no hive fleet coming. There is a hive fleet under construction, however, likely in Gamma hive.

Maybe, but I'd say hive fleet is still more likely.

1: Sure, it's almost certain by this point that there really has been a nice deep Genestealer infiltration in the planet for a while now, so the Nids may well have been aware of this world's importance to humanity/food source A for some time - but Tyranids simply haven't ever created hive fleets out of bolts of cloth planetside until the entire planet is being eaten. They simply can't because they have to do the whole "spore the atmosphere and biosphere so it can be dissolved into food slurry" thing to actually make use of all that lovely biomass. We have seen no signs of that at all.
2: Don't forget that the Shadow of the Warp doesn't just muck with psykers, it inhibits Warp travel. Sometimes it's just a few days delay, but it can be much longer than that if the modified currents feel iffy. This is a classic pre-hive fleet invasion sign. As an aside, this means we can't really rely on fleet support other than what we have - and let's not forget thanks to that memetic virus we're already a big supply ship down.
3: Because the infiltration kind of already happened? Lictors aren't committed to the infiltration phase, they're specifically committed at the pre-invasion phase to soften defences up and act as int/psy-ops, not infil assistance or post-victory biomass harvesting (which as said is mandatory for the scale needed to make hive fleets). That poo poo's all Rippers and Biovores.
4a: Lictors don't obey that rule anyway, as said.
4b: As for the rest, when you're at the stage of Lictors fully engaging local forces, thousands of genestealer implanted/halfbreed troops resisting local rule (the rabble that tried to oppose our landing) supported by bioforms it's not beyond the realms of reason and Tyranid battle plans to assume that the (presumably now liquidated) genestealer cult got things going properly with biomass-making smaller forms and making bigger forms from their victories to 'fund' the big stuff.
5: Because as said in 1, Tyranids physically can't and don't do that. And if they want to gently caress over the Imperium/Food Source A, they'll just invade and eat poo poo.

poo poo's undoubtedly going down, but unless Lowell's really gone off the canon scale for nids, it's not what you're suggesting.

Slaan
Mar 16, 2009



ASHERAH DEMANDS I FEAST, I VOTE FOR A FEAST OF FLESH
Speaking of Hive Fleets, in regards to combat, in what class in the Beast in? Is it as powerful as a Naval Battleship, a Strike Cruiser, etc?

Loel
Jun 4, 2012

"For the Emperor."

There was a terrible noise.
There was a terrible silence.



Slaan posted:

Speaking of Hive Fleets, in regards to combat, in what class in the Beast in? Is it as powerful as a Naval Battleship, a Strike Cruiser, etc?

Well, its big, but not coordinated, if that makes sense. If you were able to put all the weapons together in a platform that worked with each other, it'd be a monster, but right now you have cannons that don't work, cannons that face each other, cannons that are blocked by starfish, and a slapdash of ork/eldar/minor xeno ship weapons that were stapled on or crashed into.

VanSandman
Feb 16, 2011
SWAP.AVI EXCHANGER

Serpentis posted:

Maybe, but I'd say hive fleet is still more likely.

1: Sure, it's almost certain by this point that there really has been a nice deep Genestealer infiltration in the planet for a while now, so the Nids may well have been aware of this world's importance to humanity/food source A for some time - but Tyranids simply haven't ever created hive fleets out of bolts of cloth planetside until the entire planet is being eaten. They simply can't because they have to do the whole "spore the atmosphere and biosphere so it can be dissolved into food slurry" thing to actually make use of all that lovely biomass. We have seen no signs of that at all.
2: Don't forget that the Shadow of the Warp doesn't just muck with psykers, it inhibits Warp travel. Sometimes it's just a few days delay, but it can be much longer than that if the modified currents feel iffy. This is a classic pre-hive fleet invasion sign. As an aside, this means we can't really rely on fleet support other than what we have - and let's not forget thanks to that memetic virus we're already a big supply ship down.
3: Because the infiltration kind of already happened? Lictors aren't committed to the infiltration phase, they're specifically committed at the pre-invasion phase to soften defences up and act as int/psy-ops, not infil assistance or post-victory biomass harvesting (which as said is mandatory for the scale needed to make hive fleets). That poo poo's all Rippers and Biovores.
4a: Lictors don't obey that rule anyway, as said.
4b: As for the rest, when you're at the stage of Lictors fully engaging local forces, thousands of genestealer implanted/halfbreed troops resisting local rule (the rabble that tried to oppose our landing) supported by bioforms it's not beyond the realms of reason and Tyranid battle plans to assume that the (presumably now liquidated) genestealer cult got things going properly with biomass-making smaller forms and making bigger forms from their victories to 'fund' the big stuff.
5: Because as said in 1, Tyranids physically can't and don't do that. And if they want to gently caress over the Imperium/Food Source A, they'll just invade and eat poo poo.

poo poo's undoubtedly going down, but unless Lowell's really gone off the canon scale for nids, it's not what you're suggesting.

I think you are severely underestimating the intelligence of a hive-fleet overmind.

Deadmeat5150
Nov 21, 2005

OLD MAN YELLS AT CLAN
This is a massive battle and the is drat well a Hive fleet being grown under Gamma right now. Hive Tyrants don't grown on trees and biotitans certainly dont. The Imperium also won't commit that many Titans to a world about to hit the Shadow.

Aside from that, LowellDND, if you really want to get that 40k feel you should mention the crackle of void shields and the bright blue steaks of Las fire. Titans especially have loving huge weapons that do serious damage and look like the hand of the God-Emperor himself.

Loel
Jun 4, 2012

"For the Emperor."

There was a terrible noise.
There was a terrible silence.



Deadmeat5150 posted:

Aside from that, LowellDND, if you really want to get that 40k feel you should mention the crackle of void shields and the bright blue steaks of Las fire. Titans especially have loving huge weapons that do serious damage and look like the hand of the God-Emperor himself.

Can do :D I never played the tabletop in any seriousness, so sometimes I miss things like that.

Skellybones
May 31, 2011




Fun Shoe
So one of our guesses for how this happened was the bio-modding nobles picking up Tyranids from somewhere and trying to engineer/tame/enbiggen them for fun and profit, followed by the xenos reliably escaping and taking over most of the planet?

Is the responsible noble house Van Der Weyland Yutani Umbrellum?

Serpentis
May 31, 2011

Well, if I really HAVE to shoot you in the bollocks to shut you up, then I guess I'll need to, post-haste, for everyone else's sake.

Shadeoses posted:

So one of our guesses for how this happened was the bio-modding nobles picking up Tyranids from somewhere and trying to engineer/tame/enbiggen them for fun and profit, followed by the xenos reliably escaping and taking over most of the planet?

Is the responsible noble house Van Der Weyland Yutani Umbrellum?

Led by Ser Tricell, no doubt.

Loel
Jun 4, 2012

"For the Emperor."

There was a terrible noise.
There was a terrible silence.



Slice of Life XXVIII

Life on the Beast can seem peaceful for the most part. While the Gangs may have their little spats, and the Family may do their pecking orders and quiet accidents, things mostly continue on as they always have. However, what is not known to the outside observer - indeed, what is not known to all but the highest ranking of factions - is that the peace is simply the coldest of Cold Wars.

Older than records, older than written history, the Beast was divided up into two claimants to power - the Rogue Trader and the Magos. It is not known (except, perhaps, to the Magi) why the Mechanicus had such an interest in this ship. Why was it not subject to the breakers, like so many other Space Hulks? Why had the Mechanicus established a post on there for all the millennia that had passed? An individual Magos may join an individual Rogue Trader for explorations, but a dynasty to join a dynasty? Unheard of.

And, for many centuries, this uneasy balanced continued. Oh, the two claimants might have disagreements on what the best course of action was, or what resources might be shared, but in general, the two factions could be viewed as allies - a microcosm of the Imperium itself. It is not for nothing that the symbol of the Imperium is a two-headed Eagle, just as the God-Emperor intended.

The troubles began, as they do in many stories, with the ascension of Goge Vandire and the Age of Apostasy. A maniac of paranoia and power, he became dictator of both the Administratum and the Ecclesiarchy. Many are the texts which go into his ascent, reign, and fall, which we will not go into here. Instead, we will will simply point out its repercussions for the Beast.

While many Lord-Sires gave lip service to the Church, or even believed in some sort of nebulous way, their foremost concern (and duty, even) was that of the bottom line. They were tasked by the High Lords of Terra themselves to explore strange new worlds, seek out new life and new civilizations, and loot and pillage them for the might of Humanity. The idea of needing chaplains and cardinals to bless the acquisition was largely unnecessary

Nonetheless, Vandire insisted all Rogue Traders be equipped with great Cathedrals, and priests to operate them. Soon ships all over the galaxy were being ‘protected’ by Frateris Militia and other fanatics. On the Beast, this wasn’t particularly a problem. Having an army of bloodthirsty crusaders meant you didn’t need to hire mercenaries, and many were the xeno worlds that were put to the sword and flame. (Not to mention, several ‘heretic’ colonies that the Lord-Sire liked the look of.)

The problem, more so, was Father Belal, the loyal servant of Vandire. He worshipped Vandire like a god, and emulated him in all ways. This included both cementing his own power aboard the ship, as well as increasing the dissension between the other factions. Soon, the Lord-Sire and the Magos were at each others’ throats. After a particularly bloody defeat that had cost the lives of tens of thousands of people, they went to war.

When both leaders were exhausted, ready to crawl back to equilibrium, Father Belal struck.

He called them purges of the unfaithful, but there were equally an attempt at a coup. The Frateris Milita swept through the corridors, putting all they found to the torch. The Magos unlocked terrible weapons and secrets, and murder-servitors and chrono-gladiators began to haunt the below decks. Even the Lord-Sire called in his many favors and alliances, and Eldar Mercenaries began to dance in the darkness, blood floating through the air.

They were stronger than he expected, and the battles continued. Incredibly, the Beast even managed to (barely) continue its duties. It transited supplies from planet to planet, and if they occasionally hijacked, pirated, or massacred their contacts, how was it that different from normal business? The wars aboard ship actually lasted longer than Vandire’s reign, and was wrought with temporary truces, alliances, backstabs, surprise attacks, and sudden death.

It only came to an end when the Warp Drive failed, leaving them adrift in deep space, far from any help.

The three leaders came to a meeting place, while armed guards and retinues watched feverishly. After days of talking, they agreed to a truce - the current battle lines would remain as they were, and the Ship would be forced to continue. The Triad would serve as equals, and make decisions in concert. It was not as easy as all that, of course - a shadow war of assassins continued for a century afterwards. However, the traditions of that long-ago war continue. The Magos holds the engines, the Church holds the recyclers, and the Lord-Sire holds the bridge.

And ever so quietly, each faction continues their plans for when the war starts anew.

Loel
Jun 4, 2012

"For the Emperor."

There was a terrible noise.
There was a terrible silence.



Serpentis posted:

Led by Ser Tricell, no doubt.

And a research deal with Union Aerospace Corporation

Deadmeat5150
Nov 21, 2005

OLD MAN YELLS AT CLAN
I should mention that Titans are seen by the Mechanicus as the direct embodiment of the Machine God. They are sacred beyond belief, perhaps only surpassed by an actual STC.

Loel
Jun 4, 2012

"For the Emperor."

There was a terrible noise.
There was a terrible silence.



Deadmeat5150 posted:

I should mention that Titans are seen by the Mechanicus as the direct embodiment of the Machine God. They are sacred beyond belief, perhaps only surpassed by an actual STC.

Yup. I really do want to emphasize how important this planet is to the Crusade and the Warmaster.

my dad
Oct 17, 2012

this shall be humorous

LowellDND posted:

However, the traditions of that long-ago war continue. The Magos holds the engines, the Church holds the recyclers, and the Lord-Sire holds the bridge.

And ever so quietly, each faction continues their plans for when the war starts anew.

And recently, a bunch of Church sisters and luddite zealots were slain, the food vats were heavily damaged, the poorest and most pious families of the ship were mutated beyond recognition and shipped off to die, and both the Magos and Lord-Sire are about to gain a lot from this planetary adventure...

The tripod is about to lose a leg. Will it still stand?

Loel
Jun 4, 2012

"For the Emperor."

There was a terrible noise.
There was a terrible silence.



my dad posted:

And recently, a bunch of Church sisters and luddite zealots were slain, the food vats were heavily damaged, the poorest and most pious families of the ship were mutated beyond recognition and shipped off to die, and both the Magos and Lord-Sire are about to gain a lot from this planetary adventure...

The tripod is about to lose a leg. Will it still stand?

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3657951&pagenumber=86#post441220429

They definitely do seem torn up about something :D

paragon1
Nov 22, 2010

FULL COMMUNISM NOW
It's easier for two factions to come to an accommodation when they are the only ones present. And we're one of the only people with a foot in the Mechanicus and the Family.

jng2058
Jul 17, 2010

We have the tools, we have the talent!





paragon1 posted:

It's easier for two factions to come to an accommodation when they are the only ones present. And we're one of the only people with a foot in the Mechanicus and the Family.

Which means we should be extra careful that someone churchy doesn't try to set us on fire.

my dad
Oct 17, 2012

this shall be humorous

jng2058 posted:

Which means we should be extra careful that someone churchy doesn't try to set us on fire.

And, oh dear, we can be connected to several incidents related to the Great Enemy, particularly if someone has an interest in making the connection, and has a spare box of matches...

Outrail
Jan 4, 2009

www.sapphicrobotica.com
:roboluv: :love: :roboluv:
At the rate we're accumulating resources and allies if someone sets us on fire they're the ones who'll get burnt.

Tomn
Aug 23, 2007

And the angel said unto him
"Stop hitting yourself. Stop hitting yourself."
But lo he could not. For the angel was hitting him with his own hands

paragon1 posted:

It's easier for two factions to come to an accommodation when they are the only ones present. And we're one of the only people with a foot in the Mechanicus and the Family.

What I'm hearing is that we're going to have control of the best flow of information between the two.

Sounds like a great setup for shenanigans, as long as we're careful about it!

Loel
Jun 4, 2012

"For the Emperor."

There was a terrible noise.
There was a terrible silence.



Slice of Life XXIX

It is a strange thing, but not many people aboard the Beast like Space Marines.

Oh, its normal for citizens to fear them. Be in awe of them. But to dislike them? The guardians of the Imperium, the God-Emperor’s sword?

Turns out that there is a children’s story told to all children aboard the Ship. The particulars may vary, depending on if you are Dreg or Family or something in between, but the generalities remain the same. Tales told of the Darkness, and the years that were lived under it. Its a tale of something that came out of events that occurred some twenty centuries ago.

It began with the sickness. The Lord-Sire at the time began suffering a nervous disease - tremors, sweats, pale skin and shakes. Completely out of the blue, he changed his heirs, from an up-and-coming warrior priestess, to a newly-born baby of a distant cousin. She began an insurgency against the decision, backed by many powerful members of the Family, until they, too, began to suffer the nervous disease. As a body, the Family began to jump at shadows.

The Church sensed weakness, tried to make their move. And then the infection spread to them, and they became paralysed with indecision. The Lord-Sire vanished within two years, and the leadership of the Ship became lackluster. No one was running the Ship at all. Parts of the ship vanished or changed without explanation, and the crew that were supposed to be responsible claimed no knowledge. But they, too, had the shaking sickness.

The Beast left its traditional trade routes, abandoning contracts and bargains of long tradition. The profit factor of the Family plummeted, and in many circles they became a joke. For no reason, the ship began visiting dead worlds, abandoned worlds, ruins that were tens of thousands of years gone. Xenotek, heretek, ancient lore, ghost stories, mysteries. Anyone who spoke up got the sickness. Anyone who questioned the direction of the ship got the sickness.

Ten years after the Lord-Sire vanished, the faintest whispers began of figures in power armor, wearing the blue and black. Nothing was ever explained, and the Ship was taken along an expedition of roads long untravelled. Colonies were bombarded by cannon that had no orders. Assault shuttles were launched carrying no crew.

Finally, in the eighteenth year of what was called the Darkness, the new child became the new Lord-Sire. And the ghosts stopped. Although young, she returned the Beast to its old traditions, the old trade lanes. Terrified into submission, the Family obeyed her every edict. Over the next century, the Dynasty began to claw its way back to its old power and prestige.

And even now, parents warn their children, to beware the Darkness.

Deadmeat5150
Nov 21, 2005

OLD MAN YELLS AT CLAN
Sweet merciful Omnissiah that particular SoL gave me chills. Could you expand on that one more?

Loel
Jun 4, 2012

"For the Emperor."

There was a terrible noise.
There was a terrible silence.



Deadmeat5150 posted:

Sweet merciful Omnissiah that particular SoL gave me chills. Could you expand on that one more?

Do you mean in lore (like more of that era) or an explanation out of game of what happened?

HiHo ChiRho
Oct 23, 2010

LowellDND posted:

Do you mean in lore (like more of that era) or an explanation out of game of what happened?

por que no mas dos?

Loel
Jun 4, 2012

"For the Emperor."

There was a terrible noise.
There was a terrible silence.



HiHo ChiRho posted:

por que no mas dos?

Sounds good. Ill start sketching it maybe from the Family/Church/Magos PoV

Kegslayer
Jul 23, 2007
Lowell is free and should change the fluff to fit the story but traditionally, Tyranids don't take worlds, they just eat them and all Tyranids and their space ships are normally birthed in space by Hive Ships/Norn Queens.

As a race, Tyranids generally just roam around in space looking for biomass and when they've finished conquering the world, they build things like reclamation pools and Capillary Towers that transmit biomass back to the hive ships and leave empty hollowed worlds behind. It'd be pretty abnormal for Tyranids to hold onto a dead planet or breed a spaceship away from the safety of the fleet.

Shadeoses posted:

So one of our guesses for how this happened was the bio-modding nobles picking up Tyranids from somewhere and trying to engineer/tame/enbiggen them for fun and profit, followed by the xenos reliably escaping and taking over most of the planet?

Is the responsible noble house Van Der Weyland Yutani Umbrellum?

If the creatures are being produced on the planet then either someone, perhaps the Magos we're looking for, has found a way to spawn them or there's a Norn Queen on the planet which might explain why the shadow is here without an actual hive fleet being present.

Mind you if there is a Norn Queen already here, we'd be pretty much caught between being wanting to get off the planet to avoid certain death and trying to figure out a way to stay and capture it for what would be the single biggest pay day in the history of our Dynasty.

Loel
Jun 4, 2012

"For the Emperor."

There was a terrible noise.
There was a terrible silence.



Slice of Life XXX

Of course, that story - the baby, the lack of leadership, the sickness - is the one that is told the Dregs. It allows a certain amount of distance from the terrible decisions made, the massacres, the brutality, virus bombs and low-budget Exterminatus. The one that is told to the Family is a little bit different. In that story, she wasn’t a baby. She was Anastasia de Vocht, a young teen. And it wasn’t a sickness, brought out of nothing - it was a bargain made with the darkness.

Anastasia de Vocht was a psyker, and a powerful one. She was young enough, and crafty enough, to avoid the Black Ships. She would probably be found by them, eventually - but she reached out with her mind. On the day she found out about the Black Ships, that she was destined for kidnapping to Terra, to be trained and tormented for decades, to possibly be fed to the God-Emperor to power the Astronomicon, she screamed out into void.

And something answered.

The warp drive failed that day, as did the external sensors. Something docked, although no one could say what it was. The crewmen who would have aided the mechanisms vanished, or were the first to receive the sickness. Some claim that this shows the biological nature of the threat - that it came aboard by some unfortunate shuttle. Others point out that many of the people who got the sickness next were powerful, connected nobility - usually the last to be infected by a disease.

Some of the Family say she asked to be safe. Safe from the Lord-Sire, from the heir. Safe from the Black Ships. Some say she bargained for power, for complete dominance over the Ship for the rest of her natural life. Depending on what lesson is being taught, it can go many ways. Is the lesson that anything is acceptable for gain of power? That you should never betray your Family? As always, it depends on the storyteller.

Equally compelling - what was her end of the bargain? Did she offer her soul to the darkness? Shorn herself from the God-Emperor’s holy light? Did she offer her Family, or the Ship itself? Who gave the orders, to go into the void, to explore lost worlds? To destroy and pillage colonies of the Imperium, xeno worlds, ghost ships? Some say she promised her loyalty for twenty years, and all the resources of her Family, if only she could rule without question.

Some say the Darkness still exists. Some say that if you want it enough, you can reach out to it, call for it.

And something will answer.

Oasx
Oct 11, 2006

Freshly Squeezed
With an infestation this size should we be expect some space marine chapters soon? Or does bureaucracy/logistics/warp travel mean it could take years?

Tomn
Aug 23, 2007

And the angel said unto him
"Stop hitting yourself. Stop hitting yourself."
But lo he could not. For the angel was hitting him with his own hands

LowellDND posted:

Depending on what lesson is being taught, it can go many ways. Is the lesson that anything is acceptable for gain of power? That you should never betray your Family? As always, it depends on the storyteller.

The million dollar question is now, which version was the Lord-Sire taught? Which version does he believe? And which version does he tell in turn?

Lanky Coconut Tree
Apr 7, 2011

An angry tree.

The angriest tree
psyker schmyker, who gives a gently caress about the Darkness when we have TEN BARRELS OF HELL

wait that's a baneblade

ONE HUNDRED METRES OF DEATH AT OUR COMMAND

we can BE Imperius Dictatio

Grognan
Jan 23, 2007

by Fluffdaddy
:frogon: Wow, our family is hosed.

Loel
Jun 4, 2012

"For the Emperor."

There was a terrible noise.
There was a terrible silence.



Grognan posted:

:frogon: Wow, our family is hosed.

Gladly. :D

Slice of Life XXXI

For the Tribes, the years of Darkness were the pinnacle - the stuff of which legends are made. They came shrieking out of the gun batteries, out of the metal jungles where they had spawned, and savaged the Deeps with a massacre that was still remembered, twenty centuries later. To them, the sickness was the time of victories - none of their people suffered it, and it simply showed the inherent weakness of living outside of the jungles.

To them, the Darkness was conquest made flesh.

Within a matter of months, they had made the Deep their fiefdom, a regime of terror and obedience. Thousands of children were kidnapped and taught the ways of the Tribes - thousands of adults were made to participate in the Rites of Purification. Their inability to understand the rituals meant they died by the hundred in open space, trapped by malfunctioning suits.

For the first time, the Gangs made an alliance against an outside force. Their leaders were struck by the sickness, and the backbone of their armies shattered. Broken, they surrendered to the will of the Tribes. Within a few scarce years, feral monsters roamed the Deeps and Between, creatures of might and shadow. Within in a few years, they were boarding other ships, violence in their hearts and Darkness in their eyes.

In these histories, the works of the Magi were pushed even to the Engines themselves, and the entire run of the ship was that of the Tribes. Instead of simply being Tribes of the Batteries, they were the Tribes of the Beast, and their every whim was law. They worshipped giants in the dark places, swearing loyalty and offering sacrifice.

In the fourteenth year, their siege broke onto the Alpha Deck. Ancient treasures were stripped, tapestries of destroyed worlds made into rugs and blankets. Inexplicable weapons were scattered across the ship, lost or surrendered or misplaced. The Court itself was made a place of debauchery, where the elders of the Tribes accepted tribute and ordered the death of worlds.

They learned well the lessons of the Darkness. Even now, twenty centuries later, they dedicate themselves to deception, stealth, and sudden violence.

VanSandman
Feb 16, 2011
SWAP.AVI EXCHANGER
God I hope those Night Lords aren't around anymore.

Loel
Jun 4, 2012

"For the Emperor."

There was a terrible noise.
There was a terrible silence.



VanSandman posted:

God I hope those Night Lords aren't around anymore.

Slice of Life 11.

my dad
Oct 17, 2012

this shall be humorous

LowellDND posted:

Slice of Life 11.

Huh, I thought the answer was in slice 6. I guess not.

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Loel
Jun 4, 2012

"For the Emperor."

There was a terrible noise.
There was a terrible silence.



my dad posted:

Huh, I thought the answer was in slice 6. I guess not.

You're right, that one is even better :D

Slice of Life XXXII

It wasn’t altogether uncommon for Greycloaks to have family. Oh, they couldn’t be from the Dregs, most of the time - although that rule was sometimes ignored these days. Usually, it was some planet bound, or a voidborn from another ship. Someone different enough that you wouldn’t feel connected to the Dregs, and someone different enough that they wouldn’t have a connection to them either. That way, they would rely on you, you would rely on the Family, and equilibrium was maintained.

You could select people for new Greycloaks, of course. Those were usually from the Dregs - the highest population on the ship. Not like you could grab someone from the Tribes, they were barely human. And the Family, well, they are as close to the God-Emperor as you were likely to get. So that was the nature of things - new Greycloaks from Dregs, preferably as children. Family from planetbound. If you were sneaky, you might grab people from your old family, bring them in as Greycloaks.

Some people had even brought their entire families, near enough. At least the ones young enough to be selected.

You could really fill a full docking bay with the extended family of Greycloaks. People they had known in their prior lives, people they had married or had kids with. Younger brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews. You could fill a docking bay with them. Usually they were happier to see you though. A holiday of Ching Shih, a slab of meat-beast, nebulae wine. That was the stuff. They weren’t happy to see you now. You could distantly hear the anger of them, raised voices. The familiar sound of panic, if not from these familiar faces.

Distantly, you could feel the weight of your armor on you, your riot control weapons. It was an odd thing that you had been ordered to wear them. The family of Greycloaks never caused trouble - they believed in the cause. Were full supporters of it. Never caused trouble. Above you, on the loading balcony. A giant, in blue and black, the power armor that was his right. The smell of promethium filled the air.

It is often asked, what did the Grey Guards learn from the Darkness?

They learned Obedience.

Loel fucked around with this message at 21:09 on Feb 17, 2015

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