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fool_of_sound posted:All ladies are sexy in the Warmachine universe. And while there's a lot of lady inclusion in the game, it's only with names. There's never a model of a female trencher or an obviously female mechanithrall. If a woman's on the battlefield, she's a famous anomaly (or in the case of the Press Gangers, a trap). At least some of those anomalies are interesting, like Jaga-Jaga, Helga, Calandra, or Mortenebra. Granted, there are all-female units, like the Satyxis and the Clockwork Angels. Oh wait, I have to take that back, because PP is occasionally a little on the "eww" side of nerdy fan interaction, and makes stuff like this:    Overall I love PP and am literally painting a Cryx army between reading this today, they just sometimes go a little cheesecake for my taste. Poor Haley has been a 19-year old centerfold in heel armor for three different incarnations now, over the in-game course of like six years. theironjef fucked around with this message at 18:22 on Jul 12, 2015 |
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Jul 12, 2015 18:14
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Green Intern posted:I see the creator played FF7. That's only one of the references in the town! Like I said, the game is unapologetic about playing like a classic JRPG.
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Jul 12, 2015 18:15
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theironjef posted:And while there's a lot of lady inclusion in the game, it's only with names. There's never a model of a female trencher or an obviously female mechanithrall. If a woman's on the battlefield, she's a famous anomaly (or in the case of the Press Gangers, a trap). At least some of those anomalies are interesting, like Jaga-Jaga, Helga, Calandra, or Mortenebra. Granted, there are all-female units, like the Satyxis and the Clockwork Angels. Glad to see I wasn't the only one noticing and being annoyed by that.
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Jul 12, 2015 18:22
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Forces of Warmachine: Cryx Cryx has the largest army in Immoren, what with the whole undeath thing. Even the enemy dead are more forces for them. Most of them are thralls - reanimated and augmented corpses. Necromancy was the first thing Toruk taught his lich lords, and they developed it further over a millenium. The earliest thralls were just corpses - dangerous, sure, but predictable. Since then, necromechanikal research has advanced by centuries, creating new and terrifying thralls. Most Cryxian soldiers are mechanithralls - simple, enhanced by a crude necrotite engine and given powerful mechanofists. They're the most expendable troops available, made in vast hordes. Over the years, larger and more potent thralls have been made, and the bile thrall is almost as numerous and simple to make as a mechanithrall. They're basically a mobile housing for a weapon than a warrior, and they spew acid. Bane spirits, on the other hand, are the elite thralls, created by imprisoning unholy warrior spirits inside corpses. Cryxian agents scour ancient battlefields and tombs to find vessels, for only the flesh of those strong in life can permanently anchor a bane spirit. The result is more intelligent than other thralls, devoted to destruction. The biggest drawback to thralls is their limited intelligence and lack of initiative. Autonomous and intelligent thralls are possible, but it takes care and time, so it's usually only used for skarlocks and things like that. Cryx relies very heavily on necromancers and warcaster to lead thralls in battle, and it's one of the few things a living person can do to get authority in Cryx, though most do aspire to undeath. The most esteemed of these is Darragh Wrathe, who is in the middle of turning his living body into a necrotechnological construct similar to the iron liches.  The revenants of the Ghost Fleet are not thralls - they aren't reanimated corpses, but the continuance of a supernatural contract between Toruk and Captain REngrave of the Atramentous. With Toruk's curse, it sails eternally to bring death to Cryx's foes. Living troops are also used for their unique benefits. The satyxis have unrivaled savagery and unique blood magic, with the most potent able to read fate in entrails. They are the elites of the Black Fleet, treating their human subordinates with the same disregard as thralls. They often employ black ogrun or blighted ogrun and trollkin, as they fight with little regard for their own lives. Leadership of the largest group of these soldiers has been left to General Gerlak Slaughterborn, chieftain of the Bloodgorger trollkin, but even these living troops are commodities to be used. This disregard for the living is why so few mercenaries will work for Cryx - that and Cryx doesn't have any money but what it steals, so they pay in barter or stolen coin. Some large and morally flexible groups like the Steelheads will agree to work for Cryx, paid in plunder, but even so only the most grizzled and disreputable Steelheads will take the contracts. Other mercs in Cryxian employ are often desperate or insane.  Bane Knights are born of the dark, vessels of void spirits. They are bound to a cold hatred against all living creatures, fueled by dark magic. Their strength is drawn from those who slay them, punishing their foes and relentlessly advancing. Many soldiers have destroyed a bane knight only to be killed when a new one coalesced from the shadows. They are accompanied by cold winds and charnel stench, gliding across the field with murder on their minds. They wield shadow-forged lances with inhuman skill, cutting down any foe. They can become fully spectral for short periods, passing through barriers to reach their victims. Tales are told of exhausted soldiers fleeing to the safety of the trenches, only to find bane knights walking out of the walls.  Bane thralls are sometimes led by a Bane Thrall Officer and Standard. Runebound captains lead them on the field, animated by only the most hateful spirits, pulled from eternal torment in the abyss between Caen and Urcaen. They remember little of their former lives, but what remains fills them with hatred for the living. The bane thralls follow them in silence, obscured by their clinging darkness. They use ancient standards, mockeries of the kingdoms they fought for in life. Death favors them, surrounding those who follow them with a miasma of strength. Their standards empower the bane thralls to shrug off wounds that would otherwise destroy them.  Black Ogrun Boarding Parties are the most savage pirates of Cryx. Once a prize nears them, they leap from their ships with mighty howls, slaughtering all before them. Those unlucky enough to survive are rounded up and brought back to be slaves of the Cryxians. The ogrun are experts in boarding actions, armed with cannons able to launch steel harpoons nearly on fifty feet of chain. This secures vessels for boarding and also helps to pick off victims before the ogrun close to melee. They are barbaric even by Scharde Isle standards, chosen for their bloodlust as much as seamnship. Each is commanded by a bosun whose job is both to lead them and manage their notoriously bad tempers. Often, they are left to do as they will until a target comes by to attack.  Bloodgorgers are the murderous trollkin of the blighted kriels of the Scharde. They are corrupted, evil beasts that love nothing more than maiming and devouring their foes. Toruk's blight has given them spurs and horns, enhancing their already formidable destructive power. They lead charges to cause terror and chaos, embracing their short and violent lives. Feeding on the dead does more than terrify - they use it to fuel blood sacrifice learned from the satyxis and the Tharn. They love to eat people while they're sitll alive, moving from one victim to the next and becoming even more invincible with each rite. The only mercy is that they rarely leave survivors to suffer the memory of their cruelty and hunger.  Cephalyx Mind Slavers and their Drudges are sometimes found as mercenaries, but more often they work for Cryx as allies. The cephalyx are dread creatures from the caverns under Immoren, performing experiments on others using a science known as cephalomek, mixing artifice, surgery and slavery. They are detached from the surface world and compassion, floating above the ground by some unknown means and commanding hosts of muscled and enhanced warrior-slaves, the drudges. They use surgery to open the skull and insert devices that sever of parts of the mind, rendering drudges obedient but mindless. They use telepathic impulses to command the drudges. The alliance between them and Cryx is recent, negotiated by Asphyxious to expand the scope and building speed of the Thornwood necrofactoriums. Cryx has used their extensive underground tunnel network to reach far further into the mainland. Next time: More thralls
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Jul 12, 2015 19:02
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MonsieurChoc posted:That's only one of the references in the town! Like I said, the game is unapologetic about playing like a classic JRPG. I'm not really complaining. If they're open about it, then there you go.
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Jul 12, 2015 19:20
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Forces of Warmachine: Cryx Cephalyx Overlords, like the mind slavers, will work rarely as mercenaries but most often are found among Cryxians. They are even less understood than most cephalyx, alien creatures that hover in the shadows and telepathically direct lesser cephalyx. They control cephalyx society, but the details of the hierarchy are just as mysterious as their telepathy. They hide their bulbous, distended heads behind leather and brass with multiple glowing eyes, even more inhuman than the slavers. They are able to project horrific pain into human minds, silently and without apparent cause. Any time these people try to concentrate, the horrific shriek in the victim's ears increases, triggering agony. At last, their consciousness is displaced from control of their body, which becomes dominated by the overseer. Those that have survived it say it feels as though spiders crawl under the skin while a wire is shoved into the brain.  The Brute Thralls are the latest in Mechanithrall research, a natural evolution, really. They are made of dead Scharde trollkin and black ogrun, held together by conduits, steel plating and mechanika powered by a necrotite furnace. They aren't subtle or intelligent, but they are very good at breaking things. They are fearless and practically mindless, marching ahead of the mechanithralls to pummel soft targets to bloody ooze. There is no easy solution to them, when they are with mechanithralls - the brutes can't be allowed to live, but killing them takes time and bullets not being used to deal with the horde. When a brute thrall brings the full force of its piston-driven steamfists to bear, it can smash even the thickest plate, battering warjacks apart and bursting flesh.  Necrosurgeons are always accompanied by Stitch Thralls, scavengers of carrion that find the best bits of the dead to bring back to their masters. The necrosurgeons often prefer parts from those still living, especially. The necrosurgeons accompany soldiers to the battlefield, maintaining thralls and making replacements as they are destroyed. Between engagements, they evaluate the troops and perform any required surgery by reattaching fresh parts and machines or creating new mechanithralls. Like other necrotechs, they are geniuses, augmenting their own bodies with the choicest body parts, often adding extra arms. They are much more casual about improving their favorite stitch thralls, treating them like pets or children...until they need the thralls' parts or want to improve on them, destroying them callously to remake them or others. Their workshops are more abbatoir than lab, gathering resources fro mthe slave markets of Cryx. More often, though, they are now found on the front, working directly on the field or below it in tunnel warrens of the new facotriums. They harvest great amounts of bodies, either fresh or scavenged, to grow the Cryxian army.  The Revenant Crew of the Atramentous are more terrifying than anything else on the sea. They were Toruk's first servants, cursed with living death by his flames. They and their ship demonstrate his power over even death, metamorphosing into undying forms. Even now, green flames dance along the dirgenmast, filling its sails with unnatural wind and repairing any damage it takes. Where it sails, there are no survivors and the waters boil in its wake. The crew are deathless servants, the hands of Toruk on the seas. Each one is tied to Captain Rengrave, and so long as he walks Caen, none of them can truly die. The fire the empowers the ship resurrects them over and over, and it's said that Rengrave can't die unless the Atramentous is sunk. He has spread his curse to many ships by now, creating the Ghost Fleet. They are full of hate for the living, killing most but selecting a few to join them in eternal service.  The Revenant Cannon Crew use guns transformed by the unearthly weapons of the Ghost Fleet. They melt and reforge cannons with dark power, marking them and bonding them to the Atramentous and its crew. Balefire dances in the metal, and the cannons are hot to the touch, burning the flesh of the revenants that load them. They fire spectral shot that screams like a banshee and explodes on impact, passing through hulls to hurt the living within. Rengrave claims the souls and flesh of those killed by the cannons, cursing them to join his gun crews.  Satyxis Blood Witches are legendary in their cruelty and atrocvity. They use a corrupted form of primal magic, fueled by death and blood. They attack isolated villages, slaughtering all within to fuel their magic with ritual blades known as blood razors. They are the peak of Satyxis weaponcraft, easily opening veins and serving as a focus for their witchcraft, which can turn blood itself against its owner. Those who fall under the knife might burst into crimson mist or have their vitaly turned against their foes in a lash of psychic energy.  Blood witches are sometimes led by a Satyxis Blood Hag. The Satyxis do not age as others do, though few survive as long as their race is capable of, preferring to die in battle or to fuel their sorcery. The crones who live more than a century are vicious, central figures to the Satyxis covens. They lead the most hallowed rites - the sacrifice of newborn males, the initiation of girls into the ways of Satyx, and conducted the auguries that guide their people. Decades of practice has given them unparalleled skill in their dark arts, and they can bestor their favor on the blood witches. Their very presence saps life from their foes, and they can transform themselves and their sisters into blood wraiths, able to laugh off enemy attacks. Next time: More dead poo poo Mors Rattus fucked around with this message at 19:27 on Jul 12, 2015 |
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Jul 12, 2015 19:24
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Forces of Warmachine: Cryx Satyxis raiders are sometimes led by Satyxis Raider Sea Witches. They are bold, relentless and seductive warriors, using their call to control men by lust and fear, then kill them. They use witchcraft in their piracy, exalted among the Satyxis as fierce captains and taskmastkers. They can call up mists and winds to escort the blackships, and their power grants much status. The raiders serve as their enforces and regulators among the pirate crews, and in battle, the witches use their magic to send their sisters into blood frenzies, calling on the tides to shield them or to bolster them with strength.  Soulhunters are among the most potent thralls ever made, with necrotite burning brightly in their forms. They are a vision of terror, their mix of plating, gears and flesh designed for speed and ferocity. Their slick skin is cured by alchemy and incsribed with runes, then riveted to a handmade carapace. Their steam-enhanced muscles are fused to the body of a Scharde-bred charger, with a necrotite furnace in its ribcage and a reinforced spine. The mechanikal scythe sends up sprays of blood and entrails, siphoning in the vitality of the dead to distribute their essence through the soulhunter, empowering it with vicious strength. They hunger for souls, scouring the field for victims and breathing in their essence as they die.  Bloat Thralls are immense reservoirs of alchemical sludge, shambling into battle on mechanikal claws. They are full to bursting, resembling immense ticks. When an enemy is in range, they quiver and expel their contents via brass, alchemically treated cannons. On impact, the fluid devours both flesh and metal, and those struck endure terrible deaths as their flesh sloughs from their bones. If a bloat thrall is ruptured, it explodes in a mass of corrosive acid, making them as dangerous to destroy as leave whole. They are cruedly made from half a dozen corpses, with no regard for anatomy. They sometimes take up more than a dozen human and animal skins to cover their acid reservoirs, but the flesh is left uncured and stretched over the mechanikal armature. A thick valve is mounted in the bowels, and storage tanks are latched to it, pumped full of sludge.  The Withershadow Combine have been one of Cryx's subtler tools for five centuries. They are a trio of liches who penetrate mainland cabals with their arcane lore, which includes many Orgoth secrets and other forgotten powers. Their origins and true agenda are unknown, but they are obedient and quiet in service. Earliest sightings of the eldest, Admonia, date back to the rebellion against the Orgoth, which she spent much time watching. She is fascinated by the origins of magic on the mainland and has stolen from ruins of both the rebels and the Orgoth. Passages in apocryphal journals suggest these include the Arcanist's Academy, the tower of Scion Nivara and the grave of Scion Stacia. There is some truth to it - the Thamarite cabal known as the Shroud seeks her destruction in hopes of recovering relics. Maelovus, on the other hand, knows much and was first seen on the Sand Narrows during an outbreak of Brackriver plague. Locals witnessed him taking souls on the shore so often that they began to make offerings to him as an incarnation of death, sacrificing an entire generation of children to his name. Tremulus joined them 70 years later after service in Cryx's charnel pits. He is fascinated by controlling mortal minds, infilitrating many arcane organizations iwth his power. The Combine has gained a vast understanding of warjacks which they exploit to great effect, thanks to him. Tremulus is insane by mortal reckoning, and the twitching of his marionette makes enemies respond in kind. Together, they transcend their strengths, using their combined power to defeat warjacks with but a touch as they corrupt the cortex within. They harness these corrupted cortexes to contort reality, summoning helljacks and bonejacks from the Cryxian islands.  Blackbane's Ghost Raiders are the most elite of the Ghost Fleet, adding to their ranks by harvesting those they kill. They were the original crew of the Atramentous, though, led by first mate Carsor Blackbane, most ruthless of the Darkmoor pirates. Blackbane stood defiantly against Toruk as his captain knelt, and he was burned hottest. He and his raiders were not revenants like the rest, but unholy blazes of Toruk's flame. They roam far from the Atramentous when Blackbane wills it, scouting ahead of the fleet as ephmeral flickers and distant howling. Green fire dances over the waves as they make their way to shore. They can fight on or under water as they need, and they're often the first wave of revenant attack. They delight in ambush through floors and ground, and the howling that accompanies htem is often joined with hissing laughter as they kill. Rengrave sometimes uses Blackbane as an emissary to the fleet, and the Cryxian pirates have learned to respect him. He will often just materialize on a deck and point towards the atramentous, killing anyone who refuses to quickly go meet Rengrave. It is for this reason that he remains Rengrave's first mate after so long. The dead do not know fear, but they respect him, and even they know his reputation for sadism.  Machine Wraiths are ill understood. Some believe they are ghosts of arcane mechaniks or fallen priests of Cyriss, or perhaps dead warcasters. Whatever their origin, they are terrifying. They are both ghostly and mechanikal, and they follow Cryxian armies, drawn to mechanika and especialyl to warjack cortexes. When they find a warjack, they enter the cortex with a terrible shriek, taking control of it. When briefly dislodged, they become corporeal and vulnerable, but they are still dangerous, able to attack with viciously solid claws in that sate.  Pistol Wraiths are born from those duelists that become obsessed with their art but feel cheated of immortality after death. They are unable to find rest in Urcaen, stalking the earth in search of victims. Even those who die as part of the natural order sometimes linger on, clinging to memories or hatred. Some fear the afterlife, preferring to hide in death. The necromancers of Cryx have become quite good at finding these gunmen's souls, stealing their corpses and enlisting the dead. Even bound by Cryx, they exist to test their skills in challenge. Those who refuse are gunned down, but those who accept rarely survive, either, for the spectres have a speed no men can match. Each killing gives them a bit of pleasure and surge of unholy energy, but their thirst can never be sated. Llael is home to many ghostly gunmen, who haunt the crossroads waiting to kill other pistoleers. Their connection to the abyss is deep, and those who somehow survive their first shots find themselves slowed by gravechill. Their reactions are slowed, and they can only watch as a second shot is readied. Next time: Actual names
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Jul 12, 2015 19:47
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fool_of_sound posted:All ladies are sexy in the Warmachine universe. Oh, I must've forgotten that. Kurieg posted:One of the everblight warcasters ( Who are almost excusively female, since Everblight is a pervert) is horrifically mutated and has malformed wings for arms and scales growing out of her in places she does not want scales. Now that's more like it. Has a certain Deamonette quality to her. Sorta sexy, but definitely ewww. (Though I have no idea how the current design looks like. Just going from memory here.) Aww, Keg Protector-chan is like a shy little moe maid (^_^) Doresh fucked around with this message at 19:57 on Jul 12, 2015 |
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Jul 12, 2015 19:48
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Doresh posted:Oh, I must've forgotten that. I actually have that model (there's only a few Convergence models so you take what you can get) and Steelsoul Protectors are like 12 feet tall, so her shy face comes off as impassively regarding the unthreatening little humans when she's on the battlefield.
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Jul 12, 2015 20:01
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Forces of Warmachine: Cryx Satyxis Raider Captains are the most fierce pirates of the Meredius, commanding crews of monsters and Satyxis with vicious punishments and bloody lures. The names of their ships are whispered with dread, and all of them have a high price on their heads that they are usually proud of. Their life a struggle, and onyl the most ruthless succeed. They rise above their fellows to command blackships, the most esteemed of posts. Only blackship captains may be counted as peers of the Satyxis queen, Skarre Ravenmane. They are guided by murderous whim, and they are often caught up in slaughter when the battle begins, until their decks run red with blood.  Warwitch Sirens are one the darkest traditions in Immoren, drawn from the Orgoth legacy. They are among the most dangerous of Toruk's servants, receiving no formal training - just indoctrination. Those that survive their rites become killers, cold in spirit and clad in shadow. They serve as field commanders, subservient only to the lich lords, as their predecessors were to the Orgoth tyrants. They have refined their arts, and the sirens enjoy seducing foes before killing them. They can confuse victims by occulding their minds in darkness, making them forget their loyalties for a time. Their blades can turn shadow against their foes, holding them in place for other warriors.  Captain Rengrave commands the ghost ship Atramentous as he has for 16 centuries yet. He was the first to be cursed and blessed by Toruk's fire, and all revenants of the Ghost Fleet have sworn him fealty, and through him, Cryx. Even in life, he had a bloody reputation, nominally serving Threnodax but plundering at will, massacring entire villages for the joy of it. He was notoriously irreverant and loved to murder priests, not even thinking twice before stealing one of the dirgenmast funeral ships of Tordor, loaded with the body of beloved Moorgrave and his treasure. It was meant to sail west, never to return, and crewed only by one devoted vassal. It was the grandest tomb-ship ever built, and its capture an act of blasphemy. This desecration may have invoked Rengrave's doom, for it was the Atramentous Toruk first approached, offering service or death. When Rengrave accepted, the flames washed over him and his crew, turning them into undying revenants. He was sent against the pirate kings to show what happened to those that defied the Dragonfather. In the centuries since, he has become the most feared man on the Meredius, with death in his wake. Even the navies of the Iron Kingdoms fear his ship, most commonly seen on the Broken Coast but able to go anywhere at all. Rengrave is proud and defiant, but faithfully serves Skarre Ravenmane for now. Nothing delights him more than death, plunder and fear. In past centuries, he had to restrain himself, striking only as allowed by the lich lords. However, he has the power to add names to his register, capturing new ships for the Ghost Fleet, and now he captures the living and offers them a choice: serve in death, or just die.  Bane Lord Tartarus is both weapon and general. His essence is linked to the void of darkness from which bane thralls and bane knights are drawn. He cannot deny the unholy impulses of the void, and the runes binding him to unliving flesh, and he calls his host to join him in slaughter. Only a few beings fulyl understand the nature of Tartarus and his kind. Sometimes, the souls of the dead neither linger as ghosts nor enter Urcaen. There is a crack in those realms, a fissure of void, and a few souls fall into it, experiencing unending torment. They can see the crack that kept them from Urcaen, and they are full of hate and jealousy. Lich Lord Tenebrous was the first Cryxian to pierce that realm and contact these spirits, using ancient texts from Morrdh and bringing them back into rune-carved bone. Some souls are particularly resonant with bane energy, retaining their own identity and power. Tartarus is one such, turned into something terrifying. Nearly three millenia ago, the Molgur chief Horfar Grimmr lead an attack against the wall known as the Shield of Thrace, one of the last battles against Priest-King Golivant, in which the Molgur were shattered. Grimmr was captured by the Menites, tormented for a month before being burned to purifyh is Devourer-taint. As his flesh burned, his soul lashed out, too powerful be contained by the rite. It fell through the rift, and due to Menite curses it could not reach Urcaen, languishing in the void. There, it became something else, losing its memories. Over two thousand years it lived in this state, until called forth by Tenebrous. The lich lord bound it into the stitched remains of several warrior-kings as a unique masterpiece. Bane Lord Tartarus, as it was now called, was given rune armor and the axe Rivener, to dominate the bane thralls of Toruk. Tartarus has wandered Immoren for centuries, seeking the forgotten dead. He has brought forth other potent souls from the void, arming them and giving them purpose. Because his essence is a continuous conduit to the void, he spurns the rites and ritual normally needed to make bane thralls. Lesser necromancers need runes - Tartarus just needs to kill and cast souls into the abyss for but a moment. Almost efortlessly, he consigns his foes to an eternal service of torment to himself and Cryx.  General Gerlak Slaughterborn is a monster, leader of the blighted trollkin. The Bloodgorgers claim that if they were piled up, the bodies of those he's killed owuld make a bridge from Garlghast to the mainland. Cryx has found better use for the bodies, though, and the necrotechs follow in Slaughterborn's wake, collecting them for the use of thrall-making. He is a nightmare even to the Bloodgorgers, his height and bulk equal to any ogrun's. He has shown no signs of aging and has immense stamina even by trollkin standards. Only when he unleashes himself in battle doe shis true strength come out, however. He gorges on his foes, and each kill empowers him, with his axe ignoring armor and bone to fell his foes like wheat. He earned his place by uniting the warring kriels of the Scharde, which had long been fodder for Toruk. Some of them rejected Gerlak, so he killed and ate them, seizing control of the Bloodgorgers. He then sailed for Garlghast, swearing fealty to Lich Lord Terminus and offering him countless severed heads. For this, he was made general, though Terminus didn't expecth im to live long. He was soon sent on many suicide missions, and each time he either won or came back as the sole survivor of his unit. He is one of the most respected battle leaders of Cryx now, famous for his war-hunger. He controls all the blighted ogrun and trollkin of the Scharde, recruiting them with the offer of flesh and blood. His most recent brush with death was more narrow than most, assaulting Highgate to distract them against Terminus' landing north of them. While Gerlak's army did far more damaage than anticipated, they fell almost to the last, and he was buried under their corpses, mutilated beyond recognition. He rested there two weeks, eating the rotting flesh of his own dead as his arms and legs regrew. Afterward, he returned to the Scharde only long enough to get a new army.  Darragh Wrathe is one of Cryx's most feared leaders. He was once a cruel pirate, but his body began to fail him due to dragonblight. That he still survives is a testament to its influence. He considers the disease ab lessing, proof that Toruk's energies flow through him, and it is these energies that power his magic. Eventually, he retired from the sea to Skell, sekeing necrotechs to replace his heart and lungs. He entered the service of Terminus, studying necromantic lore. Terminus made him a personal agent and vassal, and Wrathe hopes to eventually become a lich like his master. He loves to replace parts of himself with mechanika, perhaps the last human emotion he still has. His mind and soul have mutated, viewing the decay of his body as a necessity and his prosthetics as marks of progress towards attaining a form worthy of Toruk's favor. With each augmentation, he strips away the flesh of mortality and gains connection to death. He serves Terminus directly as field commander and necromancer, traveling across Immoren with a soulhunter escort. He seems to have some connection to the flayed horsemen, using his power to turn them incporporeal long enough to avoid attack and harvest their foes. Over the years, he's become more machine than man, but he is still alive. His chest contains a mass of pumps and iron organs that keep his blood and bile flowing to what flesh remains. Armored plates grafted to his broken flesh protect him, and his lower jaw is replaced with bands of steel, so he speaks with quavering buzz through his throat grill. He has replaced his left arm with a mechanikal claw, and his right arm is reinforced by pistons. When riding his steed and commanding the soulhunters, he executes his orders with a deep conviction, eager to push his strength to the limit. His devotion is not for power, but from total faith in Toruk. The End. Next up, Circle Orboros.
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Jul 12, 2015 20:14
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 Note on building characters: The game is more about robots with a specialty. Because of the way costs scale, generalization ends up being cheaper than specialization. The other thing that's also worth noting is Feature costs relative to Attribute costs are seemingly all over the place. For example, High Chassis is a feature that only gives its bonus in a certain circumstance (Mobility checks to move across rough terrain) costs 8 points compared to any point in Mobility. One it's at max, it may be worth it to buy the Feature to get extra dice on various Mobility rolls, but a theoretical 6th point in Mobility would still be cheaper except for the flavor of having a special feature like big tires or long legs rather than being really fast. Character Example 1: "Spider Tank"  First, let's determine a few things about our tank. It's likely highly mobile and very agile. Due to point constraints, it probably wont be very big and since we're assuming it's still in relatively good shape, there's not as much damage or things falling apart on it. The difference between making a Tachikoma and the Spidertank from Watchdogs is a big one though. Since this is about AIs, however, Tachikomas actually have some sort of AI and personality while the other Spidertank doesn't afaict. One thing that is relevant is the lack of guns written into the game. While there were eventually rules for firearms, most robots were intended to be industrial, domestic or commercial use. Not military which would like be of better make and quality. Still, something can be worked out. Also, it's been quite a while since I've seen GitS: SAC, but the Tachikomas for that series have the most information available (and an actual personality beyond seek and destroy). Attributes: RealityCom: 4 HumanCom: 3 DigitalCon: 3 MechaniCon: 1 Point Cost: 23 Tachikomas are rather intelligent AI, if lacking in what humans might consider common sense. They're also pretty good shots. However, they're not much for repairing others and their programming could be a little more robust (the Major would probably have a 5 or 6 herself). Dexterity: 2 Mobility: 4 Perception: 3 Reflexes: 3 Strength: 3 Point Cost: 31 Tachikomas only have two three pronged "hands" (and I'm not even adding the feature of the extra manipulator because it rarely seems to use both at once) and while they can be delicate, it's more a matter of being able to apply pressure than anything finer. Mobility, Reflexes and Perception are all rather up there as its legs are quite agile and maneuverable. Strength is actually likely debatable as it's definitely strong enough to pull itself up at a brisk pace, but trying to get everything the Tachikomas could do ended up being more a matter of averaging than anything. Also, the top speed of our tank is 70km/hr Durability: 4 Buffer: 2 Size: 4 Power: 2 Point Cost: 26 So it's big and tough. Yeah, but probably not as big rear end I'd like. Still, with all of the auditing, something had to go. Total Attribute Cost: 85 Features and Defects We now have 15 points to play around with for the Features and Defects. Confidentially, though, I did the auditing in Excel so I could keep track of all of the numbers and did all this simultaneously. It's definitely easier that way. First, Features: High Chassis 8 High Speed 12 Winch (level 1) 3 Enhanced Camera (level 1) 10 Total Cost: 33 Because of the way its legs are, terrain isn't really an issue. It can climb over debris and roll over roads. It can even do stairs! To make it road ready, High Speed as chosen so its top speed maxes out at 105kph or 65mph. Most cars could still probably beat it, but most cars can't do a 180 degree turn in place at top speed. Turbo would be better, but it costs 20 points which is a bit trickier to budget around. The think tanks also have grappling hooks, but ostensibly, whatever fuel or compression system they run on may have broken down by this point so it still does have a fancy winch it can shoot out, but it may not be strong enough to pull itself with it like it did before. Finally, the enhanced camera. Tachikomas are capable of some thermal optics which is handy in urban strike situations. Even without humans, the motors and batteries of other still warm and purr making this useful. Notably, there's no guns in the features list and that can be explained away as a lack of ammunition. There's no point in listing them if there's nothing they can really do. Now Defects: Loud -4 Conspicuous -5 Rare Parts -4 Point refund: 13 The Tachikoma is not a subtle thing. It's big, bulky and still probably in that lovely blue color. It's also probably still with it's rather childlike personality so sneaking around isn't something it thinks of doing too often. Because it's essentially a military grade machine, its parts are likely custom designed or at least of a more expensive make. Total audit: 100 points! Secondary Stats: Interaction Pool: 5 TN to be Struck: 7 Damage from Strike: 1 Initiative: 1d10+3 Speed: 105kph or 10.5 meters per round Max OS Threshold: 5 Max Damage Threshold: 8 So it's fast and tanky, but it's probably not going to hurt anyone without a tool of some sort. So there's a rendition of a Tachikoma. I'll do another character example of the Office bot or the Repair bot next after the Features post. Bonus: A cool, smaller version of the Spider Tank https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vVblGlIMgw As a mechanical engineering student, this make my heart skip a beat when I see it. 
Xelkelvos fucked around with this message at 20:57 on Jul 12, 2015 |
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Jul 12, 2015 20:53
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Finished this before the character example, so the Features might not have any context without this. Here's a short from the beginning of the book quote:It turned the scrap of paper over and quickly scanned the back side. None of the information was directed at it, so the robot dropped the paper and let the wind carry it across the lot, where it flapped against the side of the single remaining Roadboy. The boxy triwheeler squonked in surprise and paused for a moment, before it slid forward in its continued attempt to remelt old asphalt in the section of the parking lot deemed most important to maintain. Features Like in any point buy system, there's a boatload of different dells and whistles one can purchase with their starting points to make their robot more than a box or wedge on wheels. Each Feature adds to the capabilities of each robot and is generally self-explanatory. All of the features and defects I've listed also appear in the mini modules that are jumpstarts for settings. Note: Feature Icons with this symbol are a danger to the robot using it and those around it. (i.e. it's a weapon)   Abrader: Some sort of sandblaster, grinding wheel, etc. Can be used to deal damage equal to the user's Size-2 and doesn't allow the target robot to roll Durability to reduce damage Agile: Increase TN to be struck by 1 Anchor: Add +1d10 to resist being moved. Max 5  Android: Requires others to roll a HumanCom check to determine the robot is not a real human with at least a number of successes equal to its Android rating. Must be Size 3 or 4 and the max rating is its HumanCom-1  Armored Chassis: Automatically reduce any impact or crushing damage by rating. Max rating is Strength-1  Attendant Swarm: Obedient Drone. Each level is another Drone. Drones are built like any other character, but start with 6 points to spend (it's actually 19, but 13 are spent on the Attributes) after putting a 1 in each Attribute. They can take flaws, but can only get a max of 10 extra points. Drones cannot get Attendant Swarm (so no exponential swarms). Drones are also controlled by the player whose robot they belong to. Max = MechaniCon  Backup System: If the robot's OS goes to 0 from reprogramming, it can make a DigiCon check every 1d10 minutes until it accrues enough successes as its Max OS Threshold and any reprogramming is nullified. However, if the check is failed more than once in a row, the backup system fails to boot and the robot needs to be reset to go back to its original programming. Battering Ram: Pneumatic Ram. Requires the robot to first anchor itself (the Anchor feature can help here) with a Strength check. The ram them activates and deals its normal strike damage plus the number of successes from anchoring. Obviously only immobile or unsuspecting targets would ever get hit by this.  Biofrequency Scanner: Can detect organic matter and lifeforms, but can't tell what type or if it's even alive. Range is based on rating and starts at 10 meters.  Buoyant: Floats! Can't be submerged in water or other liquids. Can't swim without another feature though. Cargo Hauler: Double the dimensions of one of its containers (or multiply its volume by 8). Must have a feature that gives a container before it can be applied and only one level of Cargo Hauler can be applied per container. Claw: Think magnetic arm or grappling hook. When grabbing another robot, the target cannot go beyond the reach of the robot using the claw until its grip is released or the robot with the claw goes to 0 Damage Threshold.  Collapsible: Can decrease its Size by 1 for every level. Max rating of Size-2 so a minimmum Size of 3 is needed to purchase this. Each point of Size decrease also decreases Dexterity and Mobility by 1. It's max Damage Threshold and TN to be dragged do not change however as the robot's massremains the same, just in a smaller form.  Common Model: Perception checks to find spare parts and replacement equipment get +1d10  Cutting Laser: Deals damage equal to Power+1 and has an approximate effective range of 10cm per Size. Hitting an unwilling target requires an interaction check. Databank: When recalling a certain topic, roll DigiCon+rating. Max rating=DigiCon  Display Screen: Onboard video display screen. A Rating of 1 is a simple monochrome display with higher ratings making a more elaborate display. There's no other benchmark besides the baseline, but the Feature is cheap enough that a bit of ballparking on what each rating level means won't make too much of a difference.  Disposal: The robot has an internal incinerator or shredder or other similar device. Only robots of a size rating smaller than the disposal equipped robot can fit and any robots that resist must first be caught. Damage dealt is equal to its Size-1. After being damaged an contested Strength check is made to keep the target robot in the disposal.  Drill:  Electromagnet: Can attract other objects to itself at a range in meters equal to its Power. To attract itself to other, immobile objects is a bit more draining and requires a Power check with a number of successes equal to its Size-1 Enhanced Cameras: Lower TN for visually based Perception checks by 1. Max feature Rating of 5  Enhanced Microphone: Same but for audio  Expandable: Like Collapsible but for increasing Size. Max Feature rating of Size-1. External Container: Robot has a sealable container mounted on it. Total size of all containers may not exceed the Robot's Size.  Fan: Has a fan/blower.  Fast Charger: Requires only 30 minutes to recharge rather than the standard hour  Flexible Body: Mobility and Reflex are increased by 1 in cramped areas or when trying to escape constriction.  Flight Ceiling: The robot can propel itself in the air for 1 meter per rating and can keep aloft until its Damage Threshold goes below half of its max. With a Flight Ceiling rating of 5 or more (60 points!), increase Mobility by 1. The robot is also not damaged by falls of less than its Flight Ceiling rating * 10 meters while in effect. Instead it essentially feather falls down until it hits its flight ceiling height. Floodlights: Has floodlights! Reaches 20 meters. Giant: Increase Size by 1 and can go above 5 with this. Max Power-3. TN to be struck goes down by 1 for each Giant rating. Gyro: Hardened Programming: It's armor but for the OS. Heat Resistant: It's armor, but for heat based damage (lasers, fire, radiation, etc.). Max of Durability-1  High Altitude: Can go up to 50km above sea level (think a balloon). If above its Flight Ceiling (or if it has none), it's Mobility is 1. High Chassis: +1d10 on Mobility checks across rough or uneven terrain. High Speed: +50% to Speed :flash101:  Interface Prong: With a successful interaction check, the robot can attempt to inflict OS damage on a still moving robot. MechaniCon and DigiCon checks get +1 die for each rating of Interface Prong to control or reprogram other robots. Max = DigiCon. Internal Compartment: Like External compartment, but inside and smaller. Jack: (The icon for this is a barbell.) Can lift 10x what its Strength rating indicates. Doesn't apply to dragging or other uses of Strength.  Liquid Dispenser: Like the other compartment Features, but for Liquids. Maximum projection rating is equal to the Robot's Size in meters.  Long Range: Max velocity in microgravity is increased. With Long Range, the max velocity is now x1000 in a vacuum conditions (think actual rockets). Must have Vacuum Propulsion to have Long-Range  Loudspeaker: Can transmit sound up to 100m radius. Magnetized: Can attach itself to ferrous surfaces and even climb up and down them. When going up sheer vertical surfaces, it moves half of its normal movement by succeeding on a Strength check as per dragging an immobile robot with the target being itself.  Manipulative Limb: An extra limb. The maximum amount of objects carried increases by 5kg and can hold another object. No other mechanical effects. Massive: It's heavier than a robot of its size. It can add extra damage to a Strike if moving in a straight line for at least a round akin to a Charge. Max Size-1 Master Unit: Double max number of Drones for Attendant Swarm.  Nuclear Battery: No need to recharge thanks to the power of fission/fusion! As a note with Overdrive, if it fails a Power check after a Overdrive, it must then make a Durability check. Success means it merely shuts down for 1d10 hours per Power. Failure means total meltdown and the robot explodes after five rounds and destroys everything including the robot in a Power*10 meter radius.  Overclock: Can attempt two interaction checks during its turn, but receives 2 damage as a result that cannot be mitigated or soaked. Can still be repaired though. Plasma Arc Welder: Reduce TN to repair a robot by 1 and deals damage equal to the equipped robot's Size-1. Max rating of 5. Pneumatic: +1 Strike damage. The robot just hits harder. Power Dock: Other robots can recharge from the robot with this feature. Recharging with this dock is done as normal and the robot with the Dock, after the recharging must make a Power check with a TN of the recharged robot's Power+3. Failure means its battery is drained and needs to recharge. There's a one hour interval between chargings and Robots with a Nuclear Battery aren't subject to this loss. Technically, two robots with Power Docks could technically charge themselves back and forth forever. Obviously, no sane GM would let this happen, but it works by RAW.  Power Leech: Drain power from another robot. The other robot must be immobile. The leeching robot makes a Power check and if successful, it can treat the target as though it had the Power Dock feature. Both must remain connected and immobile during the leeching and the target robot is drained afterwards. Prehensile Limb: Replace a limb with one that's more limber. Maybe a tentacle or flexible stalk? Interaction checks with this limb get +1die Rack:  Roller: Think Steamroller. Add Size to damage from Strikes against an immobile robot. It only works on robots that are smaller than the equipped. Saw: Another alternate form of damage. This does damage equal to Size-1  Secondary Battery: If the robot fails its daily power check, the secondary battery kicks in and allows for another 24 hours of operations before degradation. The secondary battery charges separately from the primary.  Self-Repairing: If the robot's Damage Threshold is lowered and it's still at least 1, the robot recovers a point of that damage.  Silent Mode: While remaining immobile, the robot is considered inconsequential (just another piece of dead junk) unless they succeed a Perception check with successes equal to 6-the robot's Power rating.  Simple Assembly: Lower TN to repair the robot by 1 because the parts are so simple and easy to assemble.  Smelter: Convert enemies into mere tools :unsmiggh: Immobile robots are what's fed in and every 5 points of Damage Threshold makes a tool or object with Durability and Size 2. Excess or insufficient metal just makes useless slag and robots bigger than the one with the smelter wont fit. Solar Powered: Spend the hour under bright light and recharge without needing to plug in. Solar Sail: More space travel stuff. Specialty Chassis: Pick a specific physical task like pushing, crushing, lifting, towing, etc.. All Strength checks to accomplish this task gets +2d10.  Submersible: Not only is the robot waterproof, but it can swim too! Add the Submersible rating to Mobility while in the water. Telescoping Reach: Make a limb extendible (Extend-o-matic?). Extend reach by 1 meter and further purchases can be applied to the same limb to increase extension. Each meter extended decreases Strength using that limb by 1 however and the max for any limb is Strength-1. Tool Set: Add 1d10 to any repair check it makes. They also double as weapons and deal Size-2 damage.  Turbo: Double speed! With both High Speed and Turbo, High Speed applies first so a total multiplier of x3 occurs (with variance due to rounding from High Speed). TN to be struck also increases by 1. Vacuum Nozzle: The robot sucks. Literally. Without a container, the sucked contents are ejected out elsewhere.  Vacuum Propulsion: Can move in space. Not gonna say much more than that since it's mostly unnecessary. Vice Grip: The robot has a clamp or a clamp-appendage that can crush things. A robot must first be caught to be put under the vise and then a Strength check to see if it can break loose. The robot with the vise gets extra dice equal to the feature rating. If the target robot gets more successes, they can escape. Otherwise damage is dealt equal to the difference in successes with no reduction from Durability checks. Only robots smaller than the robot with the vise can fit and the max rating is 5. Winch: Add a d10 per level of Winch to Strength checks to pull things towards the robot with the Winch. Max range of 5 meters. Max rating of 5 Wind Turbine: By remaining immobile for 6 consecutive hours, the robot can recharge so long as there's wind to charge it. A secondary battery only takes 3 hours.  Wireless Transceiver: The robot can communicate with other robots with transceivers up 100xRating meters away. The robot can also jam others with a MechaniCon check (TN target's Buffer+5) vs. the target's Buffer check (TN 8). Both add their Wireless Transceiver ratings to the check. Reprogramming or resetting cannot be done through these devices however.  Workhorse: Increase Max Damage Threshold by 1. One thing that stands out as irksome is how high the costs for some Features are compared to Attributes. For example, High Chassis is a circumstantial benefit and costs 8 points so it ends up being cheaper to max out Mobility than it is to acquire that Feature That's literally all of the Features. Before I get into defects, I'll do the examples
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Jul 12, 2015 22:34
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Xelkelvos posted:Character Example 1: "Spider Tank" I hate to bring in spoilers for SAC, but the Tachikomas at one point are repurposed from military machines into general labor, construction, and taking care of old people. It might be better to build it off one of those variants for this game instead of trying to replicate it's military use.
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Jul 13, 2015 00:34
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I love how ludicrously incongruous this is with basically everything doing with the Convergence. And the fact that she's doing a cutesy anime pose. Doresh posted:Now that's more like it. Has a certain Deamonette quality to her. Sorta sexy, but definitely ewww. 
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Jul 13, 2015 06:32
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Kurieg posted:I love how ludicrously incongruous this is with basically everything doing with the Convergence. And the fact that she's doing a cutesy anime pose. Not exactly sexy, I mean that tail is pretty huge when it connects to the body. Not like the sort of tail that your average catgirl enthusiast is okay with, more like she has one of those external garbage chutes you see on buildings during construction permanently attached.
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Jul 13, 2015 06:44
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Most of the ancellary dragon-bits she had in place of actual humanoid anatomy were removed, though. She's no longer covered in heavy scales and missing half of her chest, and the stuff she does have is symmetrical again. Dragon-Absyllona is still far and away better than half the other Legion warlocks who have inexplicable boob-windows or are posing like they're in a lingerie ad  or both. I still think the canon explanation is that thagrosh and/or everblight are perverts. Or that Vayl just wants to gently caress with her dying race as much as possible.
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Jul 13, 2015 07:00
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I'm a die-hard Skarre player, and she literally wears a chain-mail miniskirt and armored battle-heels. I just love the rules for her. Generally I think the characters with the dumb boob windows and so on are supposed to be supernaturally armored in some way. Like Thagrosh is just wearing rags, he's just made of evil and rhino leather so it's fine. Skarre though... Skarre is just a Satyxis pirate, and not only that, one of her weapons is her "Great Rack" (hah hah it's her horns though, get it?).
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Jul 13, 2015 07:23
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theironjef posted:I'm a die-hard Skarre player, and she literally wears a chain-mail miniskirt and armored battle-heels. I just love the rules for her. Generally I think the characters with the dumb boob windows and so on are supposed to be supernaturally armored in some way. Like Thagrosh is just wearing rags, he's just made of evil and rhino leather so it's fine. Skarre though... Skarre is just a Satyxis pirate, and not only that, one of her weapons is her "Great Rack" (hah hah it's her horns though, get it?). Okay, there you go. If you're gonna do that then loving own it and have the character own it most of all. I might still roll my eyes but at least I'll have a smirk while doing it, if not unironically digging it.
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Jul 13, 2015 08:24
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All this stuff is making me miss playing Warmachine, and also wishing I'd kept up with Cryx (I played with their starter battlebox, didn't like how it played, went to Khador, had an even shot against everyone because Khador vudriya, Khador matchka)
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Jul 13, 2015 09:06
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Knowing Matt Wilson's work prior to Warmachine, I have zero shocks looking at the above models. He's a fine artist, but he tends to do toothy monsters, muscle dudes, and booby ladies, and not a lot between.
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Jul 13, 2015 15:41
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Alien Rope Burn posted:Knowing Matt Wilson's work prior to Warmachine, I have zero shocks looking at the above models. He's a fine artist, but he tends to do toothy monsters, muscle dudes, and booby ladies, and not a lot between. Thing is, someone at PP knows better, because they do something I haven't seen any other tabletop wargame company do, which is actually make female models of the "ugly" races. Normally when you're playing Orks or Zombies or something, it's always wouldn't you know it, every single one of these things is a dude. But someone at PP makes stuff like this:   One the one hand, these are great. But they're also just a first step. The next logical step is to start putting a few female models into the ranks of grunt soldiers as well. Immoren is supposedly a super-egalitarian world, at least that's the fluff presented in IKRPG and so on. The third step is to actually get Wilson to quit it with the perpetual cheesecake heroes he loves so much. Between Haley's second and third incarnations, the fluff has her losing an arm. But Wilson is so dedicated to his warcaster waifu that instead of a cool grizzled Furiosa vibe for Haley 3, he just released the model as three Haleys at once, all with two perfect arms and finely coiffed hair.
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Jul 13, 2015 17:19
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The fluff is that Haley got hit with some crazy super-death-poison from Cryx that stopped her from using her magic and had absolutely no cure whatsoever. The Cyrissists approached her and tried the whole "We can make you live forever just have to suck your soul out and also you work for us now" thing but she "refused and stayed true to herself". And then mere moments after dying her soul reconnected with her magic, decided "nah gently caress dying, actually", and somehow pulled two versions of herself into that time frame from the past and future, and made a new unblemished body for herself out of raw magic. I mean, the sculpts on past and future Haley are really cool but goddamn her fluff is getting convoluted.
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Jul 13, 2015 17:24
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Kurieg posted:The fluff is that Haley got hit with some crazy super-death-poison from Cryx that stopped her from using her magic and had absolutely no cure whatsoever. The Cyrissists approached her and tried the whole "We can make you live forever just have to suck your soul out and also you work for us now" thing but she "refused and stayed true to herself". This is the worst. Oh? Character development? Nevermind nothing happens and she looks the same only healthier. I mean I'm aware that Deneghra got cut in half and her next incarnation was just Deneghra again only now with midriff armor to show her cool cut in half scar, but Haley is just the worst.
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Jul 13, 2015 17:50
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Cutting a character's arm off without replacing it with a magitek claw/minigun is missing the entire point.theironjef posted:I actually have that model (there's only a few Convergence models so you take what you can get) and Steelsoul Protectors are like 12 feet tall, so her shy face comes off as impassively regarding the unthreatening little humans when she's on the battlefield. So she's Sakaki from Azumanga Daioh? Young Freud posted:I hate to bring in spoilers for SAC, but the Tachikomas at one point are repurposed from military machines into general labor, construction, and taking care of old people. It might be better to build it off one of those variants for this game instead of trying to replicate it's military use. Those are the smaller, cutesy spider tanks from the series, not the giant-rear end one from the movie, right? Then again it would be kinda funny having that juggernaut be tending to an elderly woman. theironjef posted:Not exactly sexy, I mean that tail is pretty huge when it connects to the body. Not like the sort of tail that your average catgirl enthusiast is okay with, more like she has one of those external garbage chutes you see on buildings during construction permanently attached. Catgirls don't even need a tail. It's all about the ears. (Though don't ask me if they still have their human pair of ears. That enigma is driving me nuts.) Kurieg posted:I love how ludicrously incongruous this is with basically everything doing with the Convergence. And the fact that she's doing a cutesy anime pose. Rrrrrrrr. theironjef posted:One the one hand, these are great. But they're also just a first step. The next logical step is to start putting a few female models into the ranks of grunt soldiers as well. Immoren is supposedly a super-egalitarian world, at least that's the fluff presented in IKRPG and so on. The third step is to actually get Wilson to quit it with the perpetual cheesecake heroes he loves so much. Between Haley's second and third incarnations, the fluff has her losing an arm. But Wilson is so dedicated to his warcaster waifu that instead of a cool grizzled Furiosa vibe for Haley 3, he just released the model as three Haleys at once, all with two perfect arms and finely coiffed hair. Someone's gotta Starship Trooper this up.
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Jul 13, 2015 17:55
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Doresh posted:Cutting a character's arm off without replacing it with a magitek claw/minigun is missing the entire point. They did, it's just that after she went Super Haleyjin Level 3 she made a new body with a new arm. Doresh posted:Those are the smaller, cutesy spider tanks from the series, not the giant-rear end one from the movie, right? Then again it would be kinda funny having that juggernaut be tending to an elderly woman. Smaller in the sense that they still carry a slightly reclined adult human in that back segment there.
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Jul 13, 2015 18:00
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But all of Haley's bizarre misadventures lie in ~THE FUTURE!~ Now is Circle time. Forces of Hordes: Circle Orboros  The Circle Orboros are the oldest organization in Immoren, bending nature itself to their will. They have joiend together to destroy those who want their sacred places or whose existence is a defiling of the world. They use immense monsters and great stone constructs to fight, excelling at guerilla warfare. They are very maneuverable, especially in forests, and have very powerful magic options.  The Circle is the oldest human organization in western Immoren, made over thousands of years of coordinated efforts. Few outside their inner circle suspect they're anything but weird druids and their personal armies. They operate in scattered cells, using a network of natural sacred sites to communicate and travel immense distances. When roused to war, they are unparalleled in use of terrain against their foes as well as immense elemental power. Those loyal to them live in the wilds of every nation, in the forests, swamps, mountains and deserts. Families in these remote areas are bound by ancient oaths and stand ready to fight. The barbaric peoples have allied with the blackclads, and they manipulate other species to fight for them. They fight as they ever have, at the head of a horde that would smash the cities of men and cast all the world into an eternal dark age.  Outsiders believe the blackclads worship the Devourer Wurm. In truth, they just placate it, recognizing it as the conscious aspect of the primal Orboros and working to ensure it remains distracted by its eternal war in Urcaen. What is on Caen and gives them power is the unthinking body of Orboros, and their labors maintain the ley lines that are its circulatory system, keeping it strong. Civilization chokes it, disrupting rivers, hills and mountains. When the body becomes too riddled by damage, the Wurm will realize its weakening nature and return to exterminate humanity. The Circle believes that this is inevitable. Civilization pushes back against nature, and even the war between nations has not reduced human populations. Violence on any scale, therefore, is justified. Even were all great kingdoms ended, it would not fix the imbalance, after all. Thus, they willingly ally with cults and barbarians. They are callous about slaughter, plague and famine, but their goal is to prevent greater destruction. They seek to preserve a place for humans on Caen. They claim all wilderness in western Immoren, choosing the sites of their mystic stones carefully based on their understanding of the flow of Orboros' power. They work constantly to identify, free and tap into the wild energies, believing that the stars and planets themselves are tied to the flow of Orboros' blood. By combining ley lines and celestial conjunctions, they can use extremely powerful rites.  The Circle's armies exist in part to protect these territories, and their power is concentrated in the sacred places. Some of the richest fonts of power are near regions of interest to civilized nations, like major rivers or mountain passes, including the mouth of the Black River, where Caspia and Sul are built. They are one of the oldest and most lasting injuries to the body of Orboros. To master the natural energies, the druids are obsessed with personal power. There are very few of them, and so each must become as potent as possible, putting their own survival above all others. The order is at once hierarchical and fiercely independent, with each individual interpreting the order's goals on their own. As a druid masters the elements, they gain allies, guardians and monsters of war, which can be combined to create huge armies. While the apocalypse looms, the Circle has more immediate threats to the sacred spaces, like the dragonblight, and the balance is a distant abstraction - what matters right now is the day to day problems. While the Circle has many allies and minions, the druids are the ones in charge. There are ranks within their number, and you must earn advancement to lead or gain large territories. The Circle guards many secrets, and only the topmost understand its inner workings. This has worked for thousands of years to reward the skilled and ambitious but limit those who can't meet the standards. Each blackclad is born with the potential for near endless power - the wilding, an innate connection to Orboros by the random and arbitrary selection of the Devourer Wurm. It cannot be taught, so the Circle must find these people as soon as possible and train them to control the wilding. Should their parents be unwilling, they are entirely unafraid to steal children. Some believe they sacrifice this children, which only adds to their dark reputation. Over the centuries, they have refined their methods of finding the wilding anywhere, often tracing bloodlines known to manifest it and binding them to the Wolves of Orboros. Unlike outsiders, these families will happily surrender wilding children to the druids. These young druids are known as wilders, and it is vital that htey learn self-mastery by guide rather than being taught, as each manifestation is different. Most learn to control beasts and branch out into other areas from there, however. They have no authority and must obey superiors at all times. Sometimes, the wilders are gathered and taken into battle to train their potential, and sometimes they end up dying. Everything that can be done to prevent this is, but losses are inevitable. Wilders that survive their training are promoted to warden, entrusted with supervision of parts of larger territories. They maintain these small regions, attending to the stone pillars in each that channel the energies of the wild and protect it. They are small, but larger than anyone person can patrol. Often, the locals - animal or human - act as the warden's eyes and ears, and as cannon fodder. Wardens inherit relations from their predecessors and carefully maintain and preserve them for the next. They begin to specialize in some forms of druidic magic. Some become wayfarers or stone keepers, focusing on the ley line networks and the stones that enable long distance travel and communication. Some focus on controlling beasts like the argus, gorax and satyrs. A few become stoneshapers, making wold constructs, and others specialize in summoning destructive elemental power. Wardens that mature in power may eventually become overseers, who supervise multiple territories and the wardens attached to them. Often, there are many differences and distances between these territories, and it's the overseer's job to ensure the wardens do what must be done as well as gathering forces for larger conflicts. Not all druids are meant to be on this level, and some specializations are not expected to manage subordinates. Giving overseers disconnected territories means htey become familiar with many geographic regions, and more importantly, it means that each of their territories is under a different potent, so they must prioritize tasks from many masters. An accomplished overseer must not just be powerful, but skilled in prioritizing and assessing the skills of subordinates to get jobs done. Successful overseers can be initiated by the potents into many mysteries, and it is at this point that many learn the rites to become warlocks. Subordinates may understand the fundamentals of beast control, but they lack the deeper communion needed to push them to their limits. Veteran overseers learn to bind wold constructs and living beasts utterly, as well as how to shunt injuries to their beasts. Few blackclads ever advance beyond this rank, even if they become very powerful. Potents are the true masters and generals of the Circle, an elite tier just below the top ranks. They know more than most the secrets and plans of the order. Every one of them has unique power and abilities, governing their diverse territories by many means. No two run things the same way. The system the Circle uses to divide up their territories is meant to prevent the order from fracturing into local cabals. When a potent is raised, they are given different territories by each omnipotent, so they don't answer to any one leader. This balances the three omnipotents, but hasn't always been enough to prevent hidden loyalties and secret agendas. A potent will meet with all three omnipotents, answering to whichever has sway over the place things are going on in. In reality, when not given specific jobs, potents have a lot of latitude to do as they like, but they are expected to govern without aid from their peers or subordinates, using a web of alliances and servants directly. Their territories are vast, but not equal. Some expand their domains by reclaiming lost nodes or usurped strongholds. The most pervasive and influential are Movahna the Autumnblade and Krueger the Stormlord, each ruthless, cunning and very powerful, but even the least influential potent is formidable indeed. The three omnipotents head the Circle. They inspire dread and awe even among the blackclads, and they alone know the most terrible secrets and rites. They hold the legacy of the order's pacts, with powers linked to the Devourer Wurm, like the Lord of the Feast or the Tree of Fate. It is possible more omnipotents would be named if the Circle extended itself beyond western Immoren. Their unique sensitivity ot the ley line network allows them to extend their awarenss over vast areas. Little happens in the wilderness that they don't know about, and the full scope of their authority is undefined, reliant on their ability to enforce obedience. They expect their shared commands to be obeyed, but territorial hierarchy lets some potents have leeway in interpreting commands. The Circle has long given priority to success over precise obedience, and some potents, like Krueger, are notorious challengers of authority. The fall of an omnipotent is an immense event, requiring the surviving of the triumvirate to select a successor and initiate them via special rites to unlock their deepest power. The most senior omnipotent is Mohsar the Desertwalker of the east, then Dahlekov the Black Cudgel of the north, and at last Lortus the Watcher, recently elevated to control the south after the death of his predecessor, Ergonus, against the trollkin kriels. Despite being promoted in the midst of chaos, Lortus has risen to his challenges with admirable skill and is widely considered the most approachable omnipotent.  Next time: Druidic forces
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Jul 13, 2015 18:15
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Forces of Hordes: Circle Orboros Despite their immense power, the blackclads alone are far too few to be an army. They rely heavily on their allies, whether bribed, oathbound or manipulated. The most important of these are the Wolves of Orboros and the Tharn tribes. The Wolves are most closely integrated, most numerous and best organized of all the Circle's allies. For many centuries after the birth of the Circle, they were served by warriors of the Devourer-worshipper tribes. These communities prayed to the totems of the Beast of All Shapes, viewing the blackclads as embodiments of their god. In time, the druids consolidated these tribes, and the wolf totem rose above the others. Wolf pack symbology was useful to the druids for the values they wanted to give their forces. Wolves of Orobros are trained to hunt in loyal, tight-knit groups against prey named by the blackclads. Their weapons and methods have changed little in centuries. They rely on hunting tools easily made even in small villages, and cleft-blade wepaons have always been favored by the Wolves, just as with any other group descended from Devourer cults. The spear and crossbow are their traditional weapons, and they are skilled in ambush, wilderness terrain and tracking. They kill wolves and use their hides as clothing, but it is out of respect, and many of them capture and train wolves to fight alongside them in battle. All Wolves see themselves as brothers and sisters, but the organization is ac ollection of similarly trained and equipped by geographically isolated groups. Through the wilderness, men and women swear allegiance to the ancient society, inheriting older pacts and promises made by their forbears, often their own ancestors. There is limited communication betwene groups except as coordinated by the druids, and the Wolves are sworn to serve individual druids, with only limited awareness of their internal ranks or goals. Every generation brings new recruits, including some less dedicated to the Circle, who just want to be mercenaries. They rarely rise far, but sometimes develop lasting ties to their brethren or become converts to the ceremonial traditions. There's only a few ranks in the Wolves, as most are uncomfortable with rules. Despite their training, they lack the discipline of soldiers. Most warriors are Wolves or Reeves, depending on their discipline. Groups of Wolves are led by veterans known as huntsmen, with the most senior being Masters of the Hunt. These leaders answer to regional chieftains, usually the oldest and most experience Wolf in an area. The chiefs directly interact with the druids to determine the best use of their forces. There are no formal ranks above chief, but some individuals rise to prominence, like Wolf Lord Morraig, a living legend. Some druids rely more heavily on the Wolves than others, especially those born among them. The Wolves are those that die most often when the Circle goes to war, but they are repaid in many ways, sheltered from the authorities and cared for well, even after the Wolves' deaths. It's said that an orphan of a Wolf can find mothers and fathers in every fringe village. The Tharn, on the other hand, are a Devourer tribe known for fierce savagery. There are no more vicious foes of civilization, and increasingly they have been a vital Circle weapon. Through generations of sacrifice and devotion, they have transformed themselves into inhuman creatures, claiming as their birthright the ability to channel the Wurm into theirb odies, transforming them for power or speed. They are everything civilization fears about the wild men and women. They have endured many trials, and if not for the druids they'd probably have died out like the other barbarian tribes. They nearly did after a border war between Khador and Cygnar in 295 AR. The exact events are uncertain, but they gave rise to the Curse of Ten Ills, which rendered the Tharn largely infertile and reduced their numbers immensely. About thirty years ago, Morvahna the Autumnblade broke the curse and amplified their fertility hugely, giving rise to many twin and triplet births. The Tharn have quickly regained their old numbers and stature, committing themselves utterly to the Circle. The Tharn warbands are varied and loosely organized. Men and women contribute equally. The men become ravagers, channeling hte Dovurer to become larger, more muscular and tougher, able to slaughter ozens with their huge axes. Bloodtrackers are the most fierce women, an agile counterpart who are experts of stealth and javelin usage from ambush, channeling the Devourer for speed and to augment their senses. Similar to them are the wolf riders, who ride their miunts for extra speed, mobility and power. Tharn ravager shamans and female bloodweavers draw on blood magic to support these forces, killing their foes in gruesome but effective rituals. Tharn society is primal and chaotic, with the strong controlling the weak. Life is unforgiving, cycling betwene battle and revelry. They are fierce and passionate, but highly loyal. The warbands are led by beast lords, but the tribes, known as tuaths, are led by chieftains. Longevity among them requires immense skill, given their societal violence, and the young watch their elders for any sign of weakness. Most tuaths are isolated, but periodically notable chieftains will rise to king or uqeen. Theoretically, any can claim the title, but without recognition it's a hollow boast that will invite challenge. Recognized kings and queens, like Kromac the Ravenous or Nuala the Huntress, command the loyalty of dozens of tribes over wide regions. Coordination with the druids is fluid, but the Tharn will generally listen to any blackclad. In cases where druids compete, the Tharn fall back on personal relations and oaths. The druids have never needed the subtle manipulation and deception so frequently used on the trollkin, gatormen, farrow, bog trogs or other wild species. The Tharn just like to fight.  Not all of the Circle's servants can easily be called men or beasts. The warpwolves owe their origins to rituals originally drawn from the Tharn, and they are one of the Circle's greatest weapons. For more than a millenium, the Circle beast masters have evolved the process of making them. Once, they used alchemical mixtures to catalyze the transformations, but eventually eliminated them in favor of rituals performed on ley line nodes during conjuncitons of Caen's three moons. Once a battle is over, a warpwolf returns to human form, but their minds are forever altered. They are not human, and even in human form, the first generation warpwolves are insane, suffering from predatory and violent impulses and an inability to control their tempers. Warpwolves can breed and produce young that carry their power but suffer from a somewhat reduced mental instability. After several generations, some of their descendants will be "pureblood," with no human form whatsoever. These warpwolves are calmer and more accepting of their nature than their feral kin, and are strikingly intelligent, if with utterly inhuman minds. Even to the Circle, they are enigmatic and unpredictable. Druids continue to refine the process, trying to balance intelligence and rage. One of their greatest successes is the warpborn skinwalkers, warriors taken from the Wolves of Orboros to become greater. They are not as strong or deadly as feral warpwolves, but they retain their intellect, and the Circle is seeking other ways to unleash the primal power buried in the human soul.  The term 'warlock' is rarely used in the Circle - it's just the normal extension of a druid's power. Virtually all of the Circle warlocks are druids, and it's a minor distinction related to the specific ability to bind and command warbeasts and wolds. This refined ability takes experience and skill, and the warlocks are potent battle leaders, but all top-ranking Circle leaders can do it, and none who have done it have ever been below overseer rank. Often, the mere mention of their names will cause fear in those who live in the wild places. Like all druids, the warlocks do not choose to join, but undergo the wilding and are found. This connection is poorly understood outside the Circle, but it taps into natural power and elemental chaos, as well as the the concept of predation. The wilding is potent and unpredictable, and it must be tamed and harnessed over years of study. Because it manifests at an early age, most druids remember no other upbringing, so they view the world differently than most. During their mentoring, they learn the nature of the power, how to control it and the philosophy of Orboros. Most important is teaching them how to define their own path and grow their own power, as each druid follows a different course. Whatever their ultimate expertise, however, they all learn some control over the beasts and wolds the Circle uses, and subordinate druids help handle these creatures in battle, but are still pale shadows of a warlock's mastery. Few blackclads reach the rank and power needed to learn the binding rites to become warlocks, and the beasts of the Circle are not bound to specific warlocks, but temporarily joined before battle. Once bound, they can be directed by thought, pushed beyond their limits. Druids who become warlocks learn to tap into the inner essence of the beasts to manifest their animi, and perhaps most importantly, how to shunt injuries to their beasts. Given their sacrcity, warlocks must do anything to stay alive, after all. They are deeply political and ambitious, often scheming against each other for decades, but it rarely develops into fights. Most warlocks prefer to undermine each others' minions. Only the strongest, smartest and most determined druids get rewarded with power and rank.   Cassius the Oathkeeper is never without Wurmwood, the Tree of Fate. The first omnipotents sealed great bargains with the manifestations of Orboros, of which the Tree of Fate is one. Before Menoth gave man the first laws and taught them to build walls, the carnivorous tree Wurmwood was there. Unlike most trees, it thristed for blood and was deeply intelligent. The first druids of the Circle persuaded Devourer cultists to sacrifice under its branches, traveling great distances to feed it blood and hang bones from it. These rites endedi n a great ritual in which thousands of men and beasts were killed to give the tree a feast worthy of the Wurm. Great powers of creation pulsed through the air as a single root came forth to entwine a druid, through which the tree spoke its name. This rite let Wurmwood communicate with a human voice and was the first pact of the Circle. Only the omnipotents know its exact terms, but since that time, one druid must always uphold the covenant with the tree, giving their life and soul to become a conduit to Wurmwood. Its mind does not perceive time or Caen as mortals do, and so it needs an intermediary. The tree comes and goes through the natural energies at its whim, able to disappear into fog and manifest elsewhere. For generations, it has lived in many forests and mountains, with the cultists always seeking it out to feed it blood. The druids periodically make their own sacrifices for its wisdom, and it is invited to most Circle deliberations, where it is given great privileges. When the omnipotents cannot agree on a course, Wurmwood is often called on to choose the best path. However, mortals age, and when Wurmwood requires a new conduit, the potents gather the wilders. They are chosen for youth, stamina and magical power. Being selected is an unwelcome honor, because it is a great and terrible burden, and leading druids often ensure their favorite subordinates are absent. On the night of Geremor's Feast, Wurmwood kills its previous druid, and its roots choose the selected candidate, encoiling them. If they do not speak the ancient words of the oath, they will be crushed. When the vow is complete, the tree consumes their memories and becomes one with their flesh. Their personality lingers, though, and tree's perspective is colored by it. Cassius, the current chosen, was a cunning and intuitive druid who made his master jealous somehow. The master through the slight avenged when Wurmwood chose his apprentice, but that satisfaction didn't last. The mentor was soon forgotten, and Cassius is now part of an immortal being that manifests the will of Orboros. Perhaps through his influence, Wurmwood has become increasingly active in recent decades, manifesting at times and places of its choosing to olbiterate the foes of the Circle. The tree accepts any sacrifice, but prefers the blood and souls of its foes, and its war hosts are particularly vicious when it urges them on. The Tree of Fate appears where it likes, judging the worth of the dead as their blood feeds its roots. It violence is a suggesting of what awaits all things should the Devourer awaken. Cassius and Wurmwood's gimmick is controlling movement and raising up forests. Their feat creates a giant forest around Wurmwood temporarily that knocks enemies over and hurts them. Next time: More druids.
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Jul 13, 2015 18:52
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Doresh posted:Those are the smaller, cutesy spider tanks from the series, not the giant-rear end one from the movie, right? Then again it would be kinda funny having that juggernaut be tending to an elderly woman. Yes. These series of model kits include the three demilled variants, Tachi-Blue (which looks a lot like the base Tachikoma, but with the spinnerettes removed), Tachi-Silver, and Tachi-Yellow... 
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Jul 13, 2015 20:52
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While it's not an excuse for these big ol' paintings I do kind of wonder how you could make a visibly female trooper on these mini scales, which doesn't to some extent play up hips/rear end/boobs. I'm sure there are ways but it seems like a well-armored or heavily geared female trooper will not be terribly distinctive visually (on this scale) from a male one. Of course you could just have some variance in height/build.
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Jul 13, 2015 21:55
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Nessus posted:While it's not an excuse for these big ol' paintings I do kind of wonder how you could make a visibly female trooper on these mini scales, which doesn't to some extent play up hips/rear end/boobs. I'm sure there are ways but it seems like a well-armored or heavily geared female trooper will not be terribly distinctive visually (on this scale) from a male one. Of course you could just have some variance in height/build. I'm fine with unisex models if the fluff makes it clear they're mixed gender, myself. theironjef posted:And while there's a lot of lady inclusion in the game, it's only with names. There's never a model of a female trencher or an obviously female mechanithrall. If a woman's on the battlefield, she's a famous anomaly (or in the case of the Press Gangers, a trap). At least some of those anomalies are interesting, like Jaga-Jaga, Helga, Calandra, or Mortenebra. Granted, there are all-female units, like the Satyxis and the Clockwork Angels. Scyrah has some mixed-gender units! Was part of why I chose them for my free starter.
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Jul 13, 2015 21:58
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Young Freud posted:Yes. These series of model kits include the three demilled variants, Tachi-Blue (which looks a lot like the base Tachikoma, but with the spinnerettes removed), Tachi-Silver, and Tachi-Yellow... Why on earth do they ship them with that armed suit? drat it, now I've got "Good By My Master" Playing in my head again.
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Jul 13, 2015 22:05
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Esser-Z posted:I'm fine with unisex models if the fluff makes it clear they're mixed gender, myself. For what it's worth, this is stated to be the case with tau in 40k: tau units are mixed gender, but only a human very familiar with the tau can distinguish between tau genders on sight if they're wearing concealing clothing or armor.
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Jul 13, 2015 22:20
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Nessus posted:While it's not an excuse for these big ol' paintings I do kind of wonder how you could make a visibly female trooper on these mini scales, which doesn't to some extent play up hips/rear end/boobs. I'm sure there are ways but it seems like a well-armored or heavily geared female trooper will not be terribly distinctive visually (on this scale) from a male one. Of course you could just have some variance in height/build. I see this point come up a lot whenever the discussion turns to "but how do we make it clear these miniature figures are ladies and not dudes" but these days mini sculpting is far beyond the days of Games Workshop's "everyone looks like a lumpy potato-person" aesthetic. The quality of sculpts and casting processes mean that there's enough fine detail going on in a lot of modern wargame miniatures that you don't really need to give every female character a huge chest and a cheesecake pose to go "hey, did you know this is a woman, it's true!"
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Jul 13, 2015 22:24
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Kai Tave posted:I see this point come up a lot whenever the discussion turns to "but how do we make it clear these miniature figures are ladies and not dudes" but these days mini sculpting is far beyond the days of Games Workshop's "everyone looks like a lumpy potato-person" aesthetic. The quality of sculpts and casting processes mean that there's enough fine detail going on in a lot of modern wargame miniatures that you don't really need to give every female character a huge chest and a cheesecake pose to go "hey, did you know this is a woman, it's true!" I do think the Winter Guard was explicitly mixed gender; women were not automatically drafted but were welcomed warmly if they volunteered and evidently treated with equality. I assume Cygnar would be similar at least
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Jul 13, 2015 23:24
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Cythereal posted:For what it's worth, this is stated to be the case with tau in 40k: tau units are mixed gender, but only a human very familiar with the tau can distinguish between tau genders on sight if they're wearing concealing clothing or armor. Meh. It could be argued that Bane Thralls are mixed gender, and so are Man O' Wars and Tyranids, but I like to think it doesn't count if you just make a bunch of dude models and then say "Hey, some of those are women, you don't know." Esser-Z posted:Scyrah has some mixed-gender units! Was part of why I chose them for my free starter. This is true. And it's a great example of how it can be done. I think it's also true of a few of the merc units, at least Sam MacHorne's Devil Dogs. Like I said, I think Privateer Press is pretty close to getting it right. If they just quit making pictures of Haley where you can imagine where the centerfold creases go, and add a few more nameless women into the ranks in the resculpts of various units, they're there.
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Jul 13, 2015 23:50
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Forces of Hordes: Circle Orboros Kaya the Moonhunter is Epic Kaya, always seen with her wolf, Laris. She stands now on the precipice of greatness, driven both by joy of battle and a firm belief in the Circle cause. Laris is a reflection of her predatory spirit, the other half of her soul, and they have a deep bond. Kaya's power flows through Laris, and he feels her pain more than his own. Outside battle, he calms her, and his desire to protect her is a good contrast to her recklessness. Finding Laris was not easy for Kaya, and one key was learning the role of celestial conjunctions to Circle magic. She studied under Morvahna the Autumnblade, learning to tap into the tie of the moon to predators, and Morvahna sent her on a rite to climb the Wyrmwalls to unlock her inner power. There, she found an ancient sacrificial site, giving of her own blood under a thunderstorm. The clouds parted, revealing the three moons of Caen, and a great white wolf emerged from the woods at the peak of the ritual. She look at it, and she knew its mind, sensing its invitation to hunt. She joined it, and the two of them bonded forever as they hunted the mountains. Kaya named the wolf Laris, for the second moon, which the ignorant call wicked and evil, for it is associated with storms and bad luck. Laris has proven to be a calming influence on Kaya and her warbeasts, and she can sense warnings from him and see what he sees. He does not speak, but is very clever and perceptive, and extremely brave. While she is calmer now, it is a predator's calm, lacking sorrow and compassion for the kills she must make, much as a wolf feels none. Even Morvahna was a bit unsettled at how Kaya transcended her expectations on that rite, moving beyond the need for mentors. Kaya has learned from experience that some of her peers will try to exploit her, and once, she only thought about the present, not caring. Now, she has learned to move past it, learning deeper rites, and is very appreciative of Baldur the Stonecleaver's teachings, intending to heed his example by focusing solely on the enemy and ignoring all distractions or manipulations. She and her beasts move like lightning alongside Laris, watering the earth with enemy blood. Kaya's gimmick is still warbeasts and buffing them, and her feat essentially lets her ignore range limits briefly and call her beasts to her. Laris' animus lets him teleport to Kaya or vice versa.  Kromac the Ravenous is a barbarian king of the Tharn, who hang on his every word when he walks among them as a man. When he calls on the Wurm to turn into a beast, monsters and beasts leap to obey his howls. He is not a conqueror - he is a destroyer. He is not a druid, but a sword to be wielded only reluctantly, because once he tastes blood he does not stop. However, something has always set him apart from the Tharn - he could hear the wind whisper and feel the howls of wolves in his heart. He became a shaman, learning the blood rites, but something told him there was more. In fact, he had the wilding - entirely unheard of among the Tharn. Krueger the Stormlord, once known to the Tharn as Storm Father, came to him and taught him how to use his power. The wilding mixed with the Tharn gifts to bring forth wild strength beyond all reason, allowing him to enter the beast-mind and transform into an avatar of slaughter...but it drives Kromac to madness. The Stormlord is one of the few humans he still respects. He was once a servant of Morvahna the Autumnblade, who broke the Curse of Ten Ills, and he viewed her with awe and longing. For years, he served her, but her disregard for Tharn lives and her willingness to use them as a tool forced him to look on her with fresh eyes. He has now turned on Morvahna, serving Krueger once more. He knows he was born to kill, and he has a lot of work to do. His gimmick is crazy aggression and turning into a death beast. His feat lets him wound himself to amp up his fury massively, and also to shift forms to beast if he's in human form. (He chooses forms each turn or so.)  Krueger the Stormlord is Epic Krueger. Even the omnipotents admit that he is among the most potent druids ever, and he is ambitious and ruthless. He intends to change the Circle, and if he makes enemies while doing it, so be it. After the death of Ergonus, he lost patience with the omnipotents. He expected to become one, but did not. It was not until he went to aid Kromac the Ravenous in Thornwood that he realized how limited his perspective had become. How could he grasp the greater picture if he was tied down by petty scheming? He knows now that the omnipotents just sit back, spinning their webs and keeping others in the dark as to the dangers they are in. He believes he is the only man who can leave a lasting change on the world, willing to do what his peers are too afraid to. For example, he felt the Order too complacent about dragons. Rather than obey orders and face Everblight, he went to the dragon Blighterghast, telling him of the threat to the dragon alliance against Toruk that Everblight represented. Krueger thinks the inevitable disaster that will follow well worth it as the price of the first blow against civilization that has ever really happened. The only question is if the Circle can survive the coming storm. Krueger has gathered his own army, full of those discontent with the current order or drawn to his boldness. He promises a return to the primordial roots of the Circle, and he certainly has the raw power to do it. His gimmick remains storm and lightning control, and his feat lets him shove enemies around and debuff them with wind.  Mohsar the Desertwalker is the eldest and most enigmatic of the omnipotents. Even other druids fear to speak his name. He believes the Bloodstone Wastes perfectly embody the nature of Orboros, as the unforgiving power of nature fills them, and the desert shrugs off all attempts to civilize it. No city can outlast the dunes, and nothing is so beautiful as a cleansing sandstorm. Mohsar is easy to underestimate, for he is blind, but his awareness of Orboros and the flow of life means that doesn't actually stop him. He has learned to call on great power over the environment, cracking the land at his word or calling up great pillars of salt. Even the greatest works of magic do not seem to tax him, either. His hatred of humans is legendary, and he tolerates even other blackclads only when he must. Still, most fear him too much to avoid his summons. He was the tutor to Krueger, and even those that know that have only a small grasp on the savagery of the training. Mohsar is relentless, emanating scorn and willing to use any method to turn his students into polished diamond. He has only recently involved himself in Circle affairs again, which troubles those who dislike him and his allies. He takes no advice and gives none, so even his servants can only guess at why. His gimmick is heat and earth control, and his feat basically shuts off warbeast/warlock bonds temporarily.  Morvahna the Autumnblade is both killer and healer, tearing foes apart to feed her beloved forests. No druid will willingly seek her wrath, and many want her favor. she is ambitious, clever and charming, reveling in the politics of the Circle and seeing her rise to omnipotent eventually as a foregone conclusion. She achieves far more with seduction than most do with full war, and she has been raised among the Circle since an infant, learning the magic of spring and autumn. She grew on an island off the coast of Mercir, near to both Cryx and the dragon Blighterghast. She has fought dragonblight for years, working to cleanse the outer Scharde, and her territory has expanded over the decades as she reclaims lost land. Only Krueger dares challenge her directly, even stealing the loyalty of Kromac the Ravenous. Bad timing, given Morvahna's position at the fore of the war with Everblight, so she convinced Kaya to assist her. She has endured several setbacks, blaming Krueger for the order's failure to keep Everblight from gaining power by diverting critical assets. Her greatest flaw is arrogance, and she often underestimates others, preferring to manipulate rather than earn loyalty. She has no inclination towards deep attachments, and she feels qualified to judge who must live and who must die. Her gimmick is healing and growth, and her feat lets her drop forests whenever enemies die near her.  The warbeasts of the Circle Orboros are embodiments of the destructive power of nature, both elemental constructs and giant monsters. They are some of the most varied of all beasts in Immoren, and they must undergo special rituals in order to be properly dominated by a warlock. While the Circle is not cruel, they tend to view their beasts as just tools, existing only to serve, and their deaths, while costly, are inevitable and acceptable if goals are achieved. Some are beasts dominated by a warlock, some men turned into beasts by magic, and some are walking constructs of nature. The beasts include the argus, gorax and satyr breeds, and the druids exploit their nature to earn their service or breed them. The warpwolves begin life as humans but are imbued with primal power via fell rites, causing them to transform under stress, when called on or under certain lunar phases, at the price of their sanity. The constructs, known as wolds, are seen as most reliable, as they have no independent mind or instinct, and they are very durable, but they are very difficult to heal or repair, and they take a lot of time to make, especially the big ones.  Next time: Big hungry monsters
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Jul 13, 2015 23:50
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Forces of Hordes: Circle Orboros The Woldwyrd is the most overtly arcane of the wold constructs, designed as a small but powerful guardian. Every inch is covered in runes that tap into the ley line network, allowing the woldwyrd to float over the ground, its beryl 'eye' pulsing. It can fire blinding flashes from its eye or unleash an iron-melting beam of power. Few survive encounters with the woldwyrds, particularly mages, whom they were designed to kill. In ancient times, they hunted Menite priests, who burned those that had the wilding. Now, more than ever are being made as versatile weapons. Their animus suppresses spellcasting.  The Shadowhorn Satyr is a rare, elusive beast, only recently called forth by the druids to fight. They are the most agile breed of satyr, enthusiastic for battle and slender, for a satyr, but very aggressive. Mature males often compete in battle for the right to mate, and they are highly athletic, able to use their attackers' momentum against them. They engage in leaping dances, jumping off trees and bounding about, quickly sending foes flying. Their animus improves throws and slams.  Gnarlhorn Satyrs are pure force, ramming foes with their immense horns from a dead run. Their heads can break bones, and the males often fight each other for territory via headbutt battles. The blackclads have tried to hide them from humanity for centuries, as humans once believed the satyrs to be embodiments of the Wurm and hunted them. The Circle finds them loyal and useful, so they preserved them. Satyrs will not abide mistreatment of that which they protect, and make good bodyguards, charging at any attacker. Their animus improves movement, slams, charges and trampling.  Pureblood Warpwolves have fur as white as the moon Calder, and they may use their blood to turn insubstantial to reach their foes, or to let loose with howls that rend flesh and stone alike. Generations of breeding among those born warpwolves have produced the purebloods, who are free of human taint. The only indication of their ancestry is their intellect, for while they lack conscience, they are far smarter than beasts. They can speak in their wolf forms, but their voices are rough and often hard to understand. Senior druids enjoy speaking with them, as they often have surprising insight and are capable of great courage and tactical brilliance. Their animus blesses the weapons of allies.  Wold Guardians have only two jobs. First, they defend warlocks, and second, they kill poo poo. Few have the courage to stand up to these massive stone creatures, which are like living walls. It takes a lot of perfectly carved stone to make one, etched with precise runes and enchanted by gallons of living blood. They are slow, but monstrously strong, with huge, pillar-like arms that can smash through any obstacle. Most of their foes just end up as bloody smears. Their animus reduces damage from ranged attacks.  Megalith is a unique wold, Baldur's great masterpiece. It uses living plants as part of its makeup, with long roots coming out of its feet, both steadying it and drinking power from the earth. Its eyes glow with something akin to self-awareness, and it wanders wherever it feels most needed, often finding Baldur just as he needs help. Its stones can seal cracks and damage from battle as if it were made of living skin, and it can cause forests to erupt around it. It took a long time for Baldur to make Megalith, and fully a month to complete the final fusion of plant and stone. When Baldur fell against the arrows of the Legion, Megalith kept him alive and began the slow process of regrowing him, but by bit, with the same power used to create it. Its animus sprouts catching undergrowth around foes. Next time: Soldiers of Orboros
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Jul 14, 2015 00:51
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Less Terres d'Amarande/The Lands of Amarande Mythology Magic is common in this world, but not capable of world-shattering miracle. Most spells are based around combat, healing, or helping accomplish more mundane tasks. GOds, on the other hand, are those special beings who posses the Spark of Invinity which confers both Immortality and numerous other Powers. However, since the battle between gods during the far past, they have been exiled from the world, invisible to all but a few gifted people, and have had to rely on dreams, rituals and other indirect means of manipulating events. Until Ragnarok, anyway. Gods CAN curse mortals who hurt them, sometimes for multiple generations, so don't go around burning temples. The Jotnars, Ragnars and Immortals are the principal factions of Gods, head of their respective religions (some Dragons, Monsters or stranger beings might be Gods, but they remain isloted). This is written in the Bible of Hermod, a book describing the past and future and the Gods, although of course the three religions itnerpret the book very differently. None of the Religions have managed to gain the complete support of their Gods, who oftenr emain aloof: this, the priest says, is the proof of divinity. It is mortals who needs the Gods, and not the reverse. The major Ragnar gods are Odin, Thor, Ull, Aegir, Baldr, Freya, Tyr, Fenrir, Logi, Eir, Hel and Jord. Since they come from Norse mythology, there isn't much I can say about them. Thor is popular among humans, Aegir among Lizardmen, Freya among Elves, Tyr among Felines, Fenrir among Moonfolk (for some mysterious reason), Logi among Tomtens, Hel among Hippanthropes and Jord with dwarves. Thor's hammer is the official symbol of the Ragnar church. Next are the Immortals: Mardouk, immortal of the sky who took back the Tablets of Destiny from the dragon; Chess Knight, immortal of war strategy, who's enchantment permits objects to come to life; Bahamut, immortal Dragon who looks like a giant fish and hide sbeneath the dephts; Doom Train, immortal machine who transports souls from the land of the living to the land of the dead; Golem, either the first golem or the primordial spirit of the race, Golems pray to him to break the chains of their Enchantments; Mummy, immortal who prepared his entrance to the world of the dead so thoroughfully he came back as undead; Rats of Hamelin, immortal enchanted creature which represents the submission of nature to intelligence, worshipped by Ratlings; Serving Shadow, immortal shapeshifter that can look like anyone's reflection, thought to originally have been the shadow of another god; Vampire, immortal who planted his sword into the Yggdrasil and drank the Blood of Life that gushed out; Statue, immortal of art and inspiration;Leviathan, immortal sea serpent that has switched alliance multiple times while somehow remaining neutral and Cyclop, an immortal giant that was thrown out because he gave fire to the monsters. As you can see, a strange, varied bunch. And then there's the Jotnars: Thrivaldi, Titania, Mimameidr, Fraudelling, Rokar, Skadi, Rindr, Svanhit, Sinmara, Annar, Kari and Mani. They're basically Giants of nature, elemental spirits. Fraudelling and Rokar, sibling gods of the Sun, used to be one God, Sol, but were cut in two by the blind god of winter Hodr. Mani si the god of the Moon, and as such is close to the Moonfolk. A sidebar talks about summoning gods. Some classes can summon avatars of gods to fight for them. Those aren't conduits to these gods, just representation of the power of the summoner shaped by his or her belief. (Yes, you can summon Doom Train) Ragnarok, the mythic battle at the end of the world, is certain to most in these superstitious times. The prophecy states that, after Baldr's death, three years of winter will follow. Loki will break his chains and lead an army of Jotnars, the Raganrs and their Einherjars will fight without mercy on the gates of Breidablik, the Moon and Sun will be eaten by wolves and at the end only two humans and a few gods will emerge to create a new world. The section ends with a short list of other gods that do not belong to any faction. There's the Fates Udr, Skuld and Verdandi, Mimir the sage who's head was cut off by Odin, Hodr blind god of winter, Iomungard son of Loki a snake so huge it circles the world, Nidhogg ancient king of dragons that gnaws at the roots of the Yggdrasil, Loki the eternal trickster and wild card and the Dark Lord, a mortal who grew so powerful he challenged and eventually became a God. He took his power from the shadow of the Yggdrasil. Those are just the most important ones. Next: a look at the various playable races.
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Jul 14, 2015 03:02
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Before I forget, there are a few things in the Features section I forgot to mention. Certain Features can obviously be very disruptive to the game. Attendant Swarm and Master Unit can slog a game down as a player can have up to 11 different characters all buzzing about on their own (it does cot 75 points, on its own, and 15 points for DigiCom 5, but enough Defects could make it nightmarish and annoying). Giant can also potentially be disruptive since most weapons scale with Size. Nuclear Battery is also on the "you may forbid purchase of this" since it essentially nullifies part of the game that could add tension with little to no consequences or just decide to nuke the area for the lols. Also of note, certain Features are mutually exclusive with certain Defects. Having Mute or Loudspeaker means the other cannot be taken. Defects Buggy Cameras: 1s rolled whenever Perception is used in a pool negates successes in any visually based Perception  Buggy Mic: Same but for audio.  Compliant: The robot is meek or otherwise weak willed and must pass a DigiCon check whenever ordered by another robot to do something to not do it. The robot won't violate its programming so telling a cleaning robot to make a mess wont work. Though telling it to tear the limbs off of another robot might be fine (as long as it doesn't make a mess). Conspicuous: Whether via flashing lights, being brightly colored or hauling a fuckhuge banner around, the robot is a lot more visible. Perception checks to see this robot get +1d10.   Exposed Power Switch: The robot's power button is plainly showing for everyone to see. Lewd. An interaction check can be used to press the button and turn the robot off. High Maintenance: The robot  Inferior Model: The robot has 1 less in its physical interaction pool because it is   Inflammable: The opposite of Heat Resistant. Reduce the Durability pool by one when making Durability checks against heat based damage. Lightweight: The robot is lighter than others and is easier for others to move around. The TN to move the robot is reduced by 1 for each level.  Limbless: No limbs! No manipulators or anything. It can still have other tools like Rollers or Drills, but it has no manipulating arms to pick things up or anything. In particular and of importance, the robot with this defect cannot repair robots including itself. It provides the greatest refund out of any of the other defects except those with levels.  Loose Connections: Either through shoddy wiring, poor soldering or just wear and tear, the internal components are loose and has a chance to shut down for a bit and reboot if hit too hard. Whenever its hit by some sort of jarring impact and loses DT, roll a d10 and on a 1, the robot shuts down for 1d10 rounds before rebooting.  Low Speed: Half max speed. Manual Feature: Something on the robot needs an independent operator to activate or keep on and can't be done by itself. If the robot has a Drone, the drone can sub in for an operator. Model Error: The robot has robo-dysphoria and thinks it's programmed for a different body or lack features it thinks it has. The robot reduces the pool to repair itself by 1 for each level in Model Error and also cannot have Limbless (idk why). Mute: No audio out from this robot. Other methods of communication work though.  Noisy: This is what I'd imagine an extreme example of this Defect would be. Sadly only one level can be applied and not so many that other robots can feel it in their servos when the robot nears. It's basically the audio version of Conspicuous. Overheating: The robot's cooling fan is terrible or it secretly has a Bitcoin miner installed inside it. It needs to take a turn of not doing anything for a round after it has taken a round using an interaction. Not pausing, reduces the die pool by 1 for each level of Overheating it has for each round it doesn't stop and recovers one per round when stopped.  Overriding Directive: The robot's programming mandates it must be carried out. If the robot has a chance to fulfil it, the robot must pass a DigiCon check with at least as many successes as its Overriding Directive level or else it stops whatever its doing to go follow its directive. It comes in two flavors, Minor and Major with minor showing up occasionally and major showing up all of the time. A robot can have both and adds the levels of the Defect to Buffer when resisting reprogamming. Partial Casing: Increase damage dealt to the robot by 1 because it's left some of its components naked. Partitioned Personality: Basically the robot has a split personality that comes out with a certain trigger. All of the values of Intelligence stats remain the same, but may be shuffled when the alternate personality comes out. The partitioned personality remains out for the duration of the triggering situation and 1d10-5 hours after. A robot with the Backup System feature or Overriding Directive defect can't have this defect as well. Probably because there'd be too many weird interactions and it's better just to limit it than to make rules for it.  Plastic Casing: Lower max Damage Threshold by 1 for each level. Max Damage Threshold can't be lower than 1 so it's perfectly possible to play a robot made of tissue paper but a ridiculously high Durability to shake off damage. Poor Acceleration: Another complex defect. When the robot starts moving, it moves its normal speed minus its Poor Acceleration level. Each round it continues to move, its speed goes up by 1 until it reaches its normal Max speed. IMO, seems like an inconsequential Disadvantage unless movement speeds are made very relevant  Power Cutoff: No overdrive. Simple Rare Model: The opposite of Common Model. Finding replacement equipment requires two more successes than normal. Response Lag: Lower Initiative modifier by 1 Reusting: Like with Buggy Camera/Mic, but for Reflex rolls.  Salvaged: The robot's assembly is in poor condition or is made of nonstandard parts (like having Imperial Standard pieces while being located outside of the US)and is otherwise more difficult to repair. Increase TN to be repaired by 1.  Simple Programming: Reduce maximum OS threshold by 1. Slow Charger: Add an extra hour of charging time per level of Slow Charger. Free points if the player feels like being tethered to an outlet for extended periods of time seems like a good idea.  Spaceborne: The robot wasn't built to move in atmospheric conditions and has extreme difficulty moving. Reduce TN to be struck by half while under atmosphere. Also, if it's TN becomes 2 or less, any Interaction checks are automatic successes. Top Heavy: The robot is like Bender in that if it falls on its back, it can't get up easily. More technically, if the Robot fails a Mobility check, is capsizes and becomes immobilized until it's helped up through a Strength check. Multiple robots may pool their Strength checks together, but the fallen robot can't help. The Top Heavy rating determines the number of successes needed. Unreliable: A 1 in 10 chance of not even getting to make an Interaction check. Before making the check, roll a d10. On a 1, the robot fails to operate. Try again next time.  Warranty Worry: As part of its programming, the robot is forbidden from making repairs on other robots. It can still repair itself (and presumably other robots can still repair it). It also cannot have the Limbless defect since that more than covers this defect. Weak Chassis: The robot's chassis isn't as strong and thus makes contested Strength checks with one fewer d10 than normal. Weak Motor: Damage from Strike is reduced by 1 because of weaker servos, but somehow doesn't reduce its strength or or Chassis stats. Wide Turner: If tying to make an interaction check while moving, subtract the Wide Turning rating from the dice pool in the Interaction check. And those are all of the defects and that finishes up everything needed to create a character. As nice as the idea of the system is, the Features and Defects are relatively sparse compared to a typical point buy game. Of course, the game adds that new Features and Defects may be added if needed, but there are no real guidelines to it beyond looking at another one that would be mechanically similar and basing the cost off of it. I'll post my full thoughts after I finish the main book. Edit: All of the icons come from a PDF of a sticker sheet that came with the game (though you had to cut everything out yourself). Every feature and defect has their own icon, but I didn't do all of them because  Also, because they would be different sizes.Next: Spare Parts (i.e. the rest of the book) also, another Character example. Xelkelvos fucked around with this message at 05:02 on Jul 14, 2015 |
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Jul 14, 2015 04:59
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Cythereal posted:For what it's worth, this is stated to be the case with tau in 40k: tau units are mixed gender, but only a human very familiar with the tau can distinguish between tau genders on sight if they're wearing concealing clothing or armor.
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Jul 14, 2015 12:22
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