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To Plunder the Stars Themselves Dramatis Personae Iron Gods: Solios Nebula: Talek Varn: Tyrant of the Solios Nebula, Lord of the Iron Gods. Brother Ghoran: Talek Varn's loyal Second. Brother Degier: Varn's personal Librarian advisor. Magos Octavius: Renegade AdMech Magos, cares for Iron Gods technical/medical needs, Varn's power rival and mental sparring partner. (See the IT and the 2 short stories linked in the IT thread if you want more detail about these characters!) Kill-Team Cutlass: Brother Orphiel, Tactical Marine (Mazer) Brother Kai (The Traveller), Tactical Marine (Commissar Molotov) Brother Svelk, Assault Marine (Beren) Brother Decimus, Devastator Marine (Black Cohort) Brother Odysseus, Librarian (A.T.) Brother Vesalius, Apothecary (Necronaut) Brother Brynjarr, Tactical Marine (Trokair) Brother Draak, Devastator Marine (Machine God) Brother Radago S'ynek, Assault Marine (Ancient Sobek) Brother Ithan Khor (Redcloak), Techmarine (Xin Ceithan) Non-Astartes: Xaver Achard, Captain of the Dagger Thrust Mister Holger, Remembrancer Vessels: Strike Cruiser Avarice, Iron Gods flagship Sword-class Frigate Dagger Thrust

"To Plunder the Stars Themselves" Episode 1: The Rivals The Solios Nebula. A wild, desolate array of dying stars and near endless asteroid fields. Bordered by no less than seven Sectors in three different Segmenta, but claimed by none. A galactic backwater, cursed with unstable warp routes and few resources. A haven for those cast from the Emperor's light. In recent centuries, the Nebula has become the home of a dark legend, Talek Varn, and his reavers, the Iron Gods. Astartes, those who should be the greatest of Humanity's defenders, led by a tyrant and turned against their former charges. Terrifying monsters that plunder and pillage worlds and vessels around the edges of their domain. Few would now willingly enter the Solios Nebula, risking the pirate Lord's wrath. But there are still those who do come, for like inevitably calls to like. Outcasts and freaks, ignored, shunned or even persecuted by the vast Imperium. Captains and crews of warp-faring vessels, seeking a life of freedom and adventure from the grim realities of Mankind's existence. Even once proud Astartes warriors, somehow failed or fallen in their duty to the Golden Throne. Warriors like you. Each of you has travelled here, some with intent and purpose, others drifting like flotsam and jetsam caught in an eddying current. However you came to be here, you each have stood before the mighty gates of the Crag, the Iron Gods asteroid fortress. You have each come before their cruel master and revealed to him alone the secrets of your former lives. Your histories, your glories and your shames. You have bowed down before him and sworn the oaths of fealty and obedience he demanded of you. Now the day has come that you must pay what you promised. Talek Varn has called you again to his presence. INQ.ref.35-4.ver.152_6432-67.ha_Solios-Nebula. Your power armour had been taken from you, supposedly part of the tribute you owed, but now it has been returned. It is not as it was. The badges, colours and honours of your former Chapters have been carelessly obliterated, scoured away and replaced with mismatched greys and a few, seemingly randomly chosen sections of deep, bloody red. Icons of the Imperium itself, double-headed eagles and winged skulls, have been left in place but brutally defaced, a deliberate statement of rebellion and anarchy. As you armour yourselves, some of you would admit to finding this troubling. Others claim indifference. Any weapons you brought with you into the Solios Nebula still have not yet been returned. You gather, as instructed, in the Crag's Auditorium, a vast amphitheatre carved into the inner rock of the asteroid. It is a dark, echoing space of gradually descending stone steps in a wide semi-circle. Down at the centre of these many levels is a raised platform with a podium, surrounded by lumens and accessed by dark portals on either side of the chamber. The Auditorium could hold every single Astartes under Talek Varn's authority and several thousands of his mortal thralls besides, but at this moment there are only six. Seven. On the platform, beside the podium, a seventh Marine stands at ease. He is armoured as you are, in grey and red plate of unidentifiable provenance. Unlike yours however, his armour is covered in trinkets and talismans, furs and long, wicked looking teeth. His face is tanned and weathered, his hair and short beard a peppery grey, and something golden glitters in one ear. You all recognize him as Ghoran, Talek Varn's utterly loyal Master Sergeant and second-in-command. He has a reputation as a highly skilled if less than honourable fighter, especially with the powered fist that encases his left arm. Ghoran does not stand on ceremony, but instead offers you a simple comradely nod. Then he speaks, his rough voice a match for his worn features. "Well lads, you're all here," he grins. "He'll join us in a moment and we can get started. In the meantime, feel free to get to know each other a bit." *** GM: Welcome to the Solios Nebula! This is now your opportunity to introduce your characters to each other. Or at least to make mental judgements about each other based on what you can see. The physical descriptions in the character thread may give you a few ideas or hints about who your new squadmates are. (Bear in mind that everyone has their armour and any personal items back now, but no-one has their weapons yet.) Alternatively, you might want to introduce your own character by means of flashbacks, or thinking back and wondering how you ended up in this Emperor-forsaken hole, etc etc. You're free to share as much or as little of your story as you wish, though you have already learned it is wise to be cautious around strangers. And of course, you cannot even be certain that anything you are told by the others is actually the truth…

Hello fraters! So, I'm playing about a bit more with an idea I mentioned previously, of having a go at GMing a PBP game with a bit of a twist - a motley crew of Iron Gods pirates! The Setting: Astartes renegades out of the Solios Nebula, pre-Great Rift. For more detail, I'd invite you to read their Index Traitoris (and the other linked threads) in the Liber Showcase for more details: IT: Iron Gods Missions: Newly arrived at the asteroid home of the Iron Gods, Talek Varn wants the new blood to prove their worth. At this point you are an unknown quantity, and therefore expendable until you have shown otherwise. As such, you are assigned to the tasks with the least chance of glory and the highest likelihood of death. Missions won't save or doom entire planets/systems, but would be on a smaller scale, with more focus on intrigue, conspiracy, larceny and all the other fun of being a pirate! They might also feature interacting with (and fighting against) the inhabitants of the Imperium's underbelly on worlds around the edge of the Solios Nebula, from criminal gangs to the agents of corrupt planetary governors, heretical tech cults or xenos infiltrators. Perhaps run-ins with the Adeptus Arbites, or even... the feared and hated Inquisition! Characters: Renegades, exiles (self-imposed or otherwise) from your Chapters, survivors of lost causes. From every Chapter and gene-line, from across the breadth of the galaxy, you have found your way here, like filth gathering at the lowest sump. Your histories are unknown, your former colours, battle honours and selves obliterated in grey and red. Talek Varn insists on knowing the truth of all your pasts, but how much of it you reveal to the rest of your new 'brethren' is up to you. Perhaps you are a true pirate, an arrogant killer or greedy opportunist who barely escaped execution at the hands of his more noble former brothers? Or maybe they spurned you because of some other deviance, some uncontrollable battle madness or genetic insanity? Or perhaps you are a bold revolutionary, who has seen the Imperium for the sham it is and are determined to bring the truth to Mankind? Or perhaps you are one of the lost, spared by fate, plagued by guilt and remorse for living when your squadmates or Chapter died? (If any of this sparks something and you want to post character ideas here, that's cool, but stick to the obvious surface stuff; appearance, etc. DON'T include their history, keep that private in PMs just to me!) Rules: Characters will be created using DW (+RoB, FF, HtC) No DIY rules, must be one of the FFG Chapters presented in these books for simplicity, although of course, fluffwise Successor (official or DIY) Chapters are very, very welcome! Equipment: Minimal, this isn't the Deathwatch! Requisition allowances will be low, so if there is something you especially want your character to have, SigWargear (something they brought with them into exile) may well be the way to go! NB. I'm using DW as a base rather than Black Crusade, partly because I've just gotten vaguely familiar with it, but mainly because in-universe Talek Varn knows that the surest way to get himself crushed between a very big Imperial rock and a nasty, daemon-infested hard place is to start messing around with Chaos. He's not interested in becoming anyone's pawn and he despises those weaklings who do. That's not to say that people's characters couldn't be secretly taking their first steps down a(n even) darker path, but if Varn catches you he'll kill you without blinking. As I'm totally new at this, I'm thinking maybe to keep it simple I'd like to find around 4 or 5 volunteers for a small opening game? (If you know what you're doing in regards to the rules, that would be awesome as you can help cover the gaping holes in my understanding of them!! :P ) There we go, that's just some fairly random opening ideas. I'm not planning on starting this at any time soon as I don't have a definite plan for a first mission, I'm just spitballing at the mo. Anyway, if this setting interests you, or you have other ideas on ways I could run it, feel free to throw them out for discussion! PS. A specific question to Mol or other GMs: where do you get the Character spreadsheets, and also the cool maps to lay out combat phases? Are they downloaded somewhere, or is there a program you use to create them or will something as simple as Paint do the trick?

"Gather round now, you mangy curs, and I'll tell you a tale of most fearsome marauders that ever plagued the seven Sectors…"