How to create and use a theme in your Index Astartes

[Dosjetka]

Hello!

 

In the time I've been here, I've often heard the word "theme" and have often wondered what it meant in an Index Astartes context. If I got the whole thing correctly, it's basically what a word (or a bunch of them) that are used to describe your Chapter, but it should also be something that links the sections of your Index Astartes together, making it more solid and altogether smoother for the reader to, well, read.

 

Now, there is no real guide to "How do I set a theme for my Chapter and how do I use it to link the parts of my IA together?" and there's a couple of reasons for that in my view: there's no one way to do it and everyone does it their own way. Another thing is that I have seen different people define a theme in different ways, making it difficult to pin down exactly what it is.

 

Anyhow, what I'm trying to do is to discuss what a theme is, but also ways of developing one for your Chapter. So, in a way, this could become an article in its own right if discussions go far enough and if it seen as a necessary/useful addition to the community.

 

An idea of how to start out with a theme came to me the other day and I thought that sharing it could generate discussion amongst other things. So here it goes!

 

 

 

Basically, the idea I had in mind was that an IA writer would try and select a handful (no more than three or four) words that would describe his Chapter in a reasonably good way. For example, if you were thinking of doing a Chapter from a recent Founding, one of those words would be "young".

 

After haing selected those words, take a sheet of paper/open up a Word document and write down the first word. Then proceed to write down everything that that word means to you. Taking the word "young" as an example, to me it makes me think of these things (in a 40k context): inexperienced, (over)eager, looking to impress, near-to-no relics/old tech, few contatcs, little influence (compared to other, older, Chapters), prone to be easily influenced, less superstitious.

 

Now that I have all of those things, I proceed to try and include them within my IA in various ways. For example, my Combat Doctrine would not include en masse Land Raider/Dreadnought/Terminator assaults as my Chapter wouldn't have the resources and instead use Rhinos/Razorbacks more heavily than other Chapters. In my Beliefs section, I could put down many things, such as their belief that Terminator armour is extremely sacred and so only deploy it in extreme circumstances.

 

I could go on and on with examples, so I think that I'll stop here and hopefully people get the general idea of what I'm trying to explain (if not, then I'll try and take a second shot at it)!

 

So, now I'd like to hear your thoughts about what I have said and, if you have any, see any additions/alterations you would make.

 

Cheers for reading! :D

 

Ludovic

[Sanguinius Chosen Wing]

If people did in fact do this it could cut down on the amount of refinement that is needed when someone makes their own chapter. Just pluck out a few words that you feel capture the spirit of the chapter such as "scholarly" or "stubborn" or "inscrutable" and refer back to it a lot and see what you have written actually reflects those ideals. I've been doing the same for some time now and it has helped me really refine it down to a few core ideals without trying to jam to much in or straying from the spirit of the chapter

[Ring-around-the-roses]

I would also recommend keeping a picture in your mind of what you want your chapter to represent. It could be a battle-scene, a apocolyptic war, or something as simple as your Chapter's marine walking down a hall, etc, etc. I find it helps to me true when writing or thinking about the background, as i can simply bring the picture to my head, and think 'does he look like the kind of guy to do that'. Like if your going to decide wther your Chapter would retreat or do a death-or-glory charge, bring the picture to mind and try and picture a two scenario's, one for each path. Whichever looks the best, to your mind, wins.

 

Simple, yet i find it quite effective. Hope it helps.

[Sanguinius Chosen Wing]

Further expanding that ring I find jotting down the basics of what you imagine your marines to do in that battle is a good idea as well and make sure it is included in your IA. Also I built a model of one of the members of my chapter. Best thing I have done for getting into a characters head or really getting to the core philosophy of the chapter just to have that visual aid

[Captain Juan Juarez]

My guilt is that I pick a theme and then try to interlace it in to every single part of the Chapter, even when it won't make any sense to any one else and even I raise my eyebrows over it.

 

It's why my latest, after a many month hiatus, IA has been worked on in "secret" for the past few months to allow the slow, simmering, of ideas rather than a massive lump of them and then it all messes up as I scramble about with a theme.

 

The trouble is people try to develop things such as "only use jump packs" as a theme and it doesn't work in the way that "kind to kids and grannies" does.

[Dark Apostle Thirst]

Indeed.

 

I do find something else interesting to use - placing the chapter in a unique circumstance and deciding what to do from there.

[Dosjetka]

CSW: Good to see that you're using it and that it helps you :)

 

RATR: That's a pretty good idea too, though I'm not too sure if it works as well, due to the fact that war (to me) seems to be quite a restricted thing and you can't really develop the whole of the Chapter's theme just on that (though I could be quite wrong).

 

CJJ: I'll have to go back to check up on it again sometime soon ;) And your last note is very true and it's a shame. To me though, it doesn't really count as an important part of the theme, unless there is an answer to the question why?

 

DAT: That's a good one too. Do you have any examples of "unique circumstances" to share?

 

Cheers,

 

Ludovic

[Captain Juan Juarez]

CJJ: I'll have to go back to check up on it again sometime soon :) And your last note is very true and it's a shame. To me though, it doesn't really count as an important part of the theme, unless there is an answer to the question why?

 

Ah but to really understand theme you first have to define it. To me a theme is a single unifying concept that runs through something, if not completely, to a great extent - I can also understand that this kind of interpretation is entirely personal to the extend you take it.

 

Thus, going back to my original point of "Jump Packs only" - which we've all probably succumbed to at some point: Iron Angels anyone? - there isn't enough in that single point as it stands to be a theme, though you can easily generate a theme from that basis if you think about it.

 

Theme is more important than anything else you can put into an IA because otherwise you get what looks like a series of ideas jammed together in some crude "round into triangle" way that never quite feels right, yet a single theme that you focus on can unify those disparate parts and make that triangle round.

 

Another problem with theme is that, in terms of fitting with the universe, in my opinion that are a finite amount and some of the best ones - for the reason of being good - are used time and again so that even though the names and colours may change the "face" still seems familiar. This is not me throwing stones, I've been a writer for two decades and I fully understand how tough that job is even just for your own amusement.

 

I suppose, at least where theme is concerned, there biggest single thing that holds it back is a lack of thought; it's impossible to consider every little thing about you own idea, it's hard to be disapassionate about an idea that you've thought about enough to consider using - after all, without that energy and spark, you're not a writer you're just a scribe.

 

I appear to have rambled and possibly gone off-topic, but I'll stop now!

 

EDIT: The amount of typos there was staggering.

[Dark Apostle Thirst]

DAT: That's a good one too. Do you have any examples of "unique circumstances" to share?

Personally, I've used having traitor geneseed, needing support early in the chapter's history, and being disgraced and relocated. The first two for the Lords of Shadow, the third one was for the Masks of Death.

[Madwolf Shadowmane]

This seems to be the part of an IA I have the most trouble with. It took me 13 tries with the Hounds of the Hunt and I'm still not convinced I got their yet. Most of my attempts lack a single theme and tried to incorporate too much. I do agree that a theme is the most important part of an IA, but I can't seem to break it down as easily as you did Ludovic. I'm following this thread with interset, hoping to make my IA better.

 

Madwolf

[Ring-around-the-roses]

In relation to my little foible of creating ideas for IA's, i didn't mean to pigeon-hole the method into a entirely war-based context. It works, at least for me, for all situations.

 

Astartes asked to attend a conference to advise in reconstruction of the world they just saved? (I will just use the IA's i created here, but you can easily put your own in any situations)

-Templars Ursine- Thank the ruler(s), and bring a delegation including local leaders/war heroes they know will support them. 'Advise' all matters military and and to do with construction. By the time they left, they would of have gathered huge influence in a large part of planetary affairs under a government who all but takes orders from them.

-Abyssal Hunters- Arrive, demand the populace gives their best fighters and resources to them, with a huge show of strength in clear intimidation.

-Knights of Dolor- Arrive, try and be friendly, end up scaring the :) out of everyone. Populace see's after effects of the fighting and prays to the emperor never to have to be rescued again.

 

etc, etc.

I hope this helps other's in making their IA, writing stories or even daydreaming. ;)

[Dosjetka]

CJJ: I agree on your definition of theme, but I'd add to it that it must reflect the character/nature of the Chapter (which it usually does anyway).

 

And yes, you can generate a theme from that, but as you say, it is not sufficient at all. Only a starting point.

 

I do agree about the finite amount of themes though, which makes things quite difficult, from time to time. But then again, it forces one to really strive and make something unique, so it's not entirely a bad thing either ;)

 

DAT: Ah, those kind of "unique circumstances". I thought something more along the lines of one of your Chapter meeting the High Lords of Terra or something like that.

 

Madwolf: I'll try and have a read through your IA and see if I can help you in any way. Anyhow, I hope that this discussion will be able to help you out a bit :)

 

RATR: Ah, I see. Actually, that's what I thought DAT meant when he mentioned "unique circumstances". Cheers for clarifying that and giving an example!

 

Cheers,

 

Ludovic

[Captain Juan Juarez]

I don't subscribe to the concept of "unique".

 

Take ideas for novel plots; Author A writes the first story of it's kind, three years later - and totally unaware - Author T then writes a story that is the same idea but only names and places changed.

 

It's not an unusal cirmcumstance, though neither perhaps is it common, but it is there.

 

So thus, "unique" is simply a matter of "It's the only one we know about!"

[Dosjetka]

Striving to be unique doesn't necessarily mean that the end result will be unique (that's what I meant, though I didn't word it well at all). But if one strives to bring something new to the table then the chances of something new being found are increased. At least, that's the way I see it.

 

Ludovic

[Dark Apostle Thirst]

DAT: Ah, those kind of "unique circumstances". I thought something more along the lines of one of your Chapter meeting the High Lords of Terra or something like that.

 

RATR: Ah, I see. Actually, that's what I thought DAT meant when he mentioned "unique circumstances". Cheers for clarifying that and giving an example!

Meeting the High Lords wouldn't be bad either. Stumbling upon another chapter's treachery and getting the blame would be another.

 

But yeah, the focus is on how it affects the chapter.

[Dosjetka]

Meeting the High Lords wouldn't be bad either. Stumbling upon another chapter's treachery and getting the blame would be another.

 

But yeah, the focus is on how it affects the chapter.

The more I think about it, the more I think it's a great way of seeing what character your Astartes have. Definitely something I'll have to try.

 

Ludovic

[Malthe]

I like to think of themes as questions or conflicts.

 

The first method has two applications:

1) What questions does your IA provoke?

2) Which questions does your IA answer?

 

Answer those, or just one, and you got your theme.

Of course this is easier said than done... Especially since you usually want a theme before you write your article.

 

That being said I think it is rather simple, not to mention effective, to try to keep a question in mind when you outline your IA.

 

The second method is more simple:

A theme can be a conflict, but this can be tricky since such a conflict very easily becomes too abstract (good vs. evil) or too concrete (marines vs. orks).

The plus side is that it is usually very easy to think of a conflict ;)

 

The logical application of these methods is to first think of a conflict and then transform it into a question later on in the process.

It's a creative shortcut, and it works marvels!

 

 

To sum it up: A theme for me is what is explored in your IA.

It's also a creative method that is both very effective when writing an article, and very easily practiced.

 

Of course, as with all methods, there are pitfalls.

Your theme might turn out to be uninspiring, it might be over applied, under applied or simply too confusing... The latter is often the case, since the reader is usually not aware of your theme, but can only guess.

 

This is why I propose a conflict between two opposites as a starting point for establishing a theme. It is very hard such a conflict to be too complicated! Provided that the reader can identify/understand the two opposites... For example "Aristotel vs. Brecht" is not a very good theme, since very few people know what the concepts imply, where as "Robute vs. Rogal" is much more appropriate in the context of an IA.

 

 

With regards to actually making use of a theme I find it helpful to think of 'metaforical leitmotifs'.

That is; a recurrent set of metaphors that appear throughout the article.

The easiest way to do this (at least the way I see used most offen!) is the quotes people stick under their headlines. There is a lot of room for creative freedom here, and the type of language you can use in the quotations is not as limited as in the rest of the article. Sidebars are another common place to see these leitmotifs.

Personally I strive to sneak in metaphors in every area of my IAs. They are per definition very engaging to the reader, and work on a sensory level (i.e. they create images in the mind of the reader).

 

I'm strolling into the field og philosophy, which was not intended, so I'll stop writing now.

Sufficient to say; I love themes and I find them very liberating when writing, since they make the narrative less important :)

I suggest everyone to give it a go!

 

Cheers

 

p.s. And don't bother trying to be unique! It's practically impossible anyway, and even if you succed people usually won't notice... Try to be interesting instead ;)

[Ace Debonair]

Hmmm.

 

Well, my advice when theming a Chapter is simple:

 

Subtlety is your friend.

 

To use a cooking comparison, the theme is ideally a seasoning to the meal of the IA; there should be enough to add flavour and pique interest, but not enough that it overwhelms everything about the Chapter.

 

A feudal-Japan themed chapter who are proud and honorable with highly formalised rituals that are steadfastly followed prior to donning their armour for combat is a lot better than one that renames their Captains as Shoguns and has Chain-Katanas, for example.

[Malthe]

I totally get your point Ace, when applying a theme one should always strive to sustain the suspension of disbelief.

 

However, feudal-Japan (with regards to IAs) is not a theme. It is a metaphor.

A theme, must be a conflict (or a question, which always contains a conflict).

Otherwise it's just imagery = a metaphor.

 

The theme for a chapter such as the one you describe could be "duty vs. honour", which could be elaborated into "what happens when duty tells you to obey your lord, but honour requires that you disobey?"

The metaphors used when applying such a theme could be "codes of honour", "meditation" or even "cherry flowers".

All of those conjure up images, while still maintaining the suspension of disbelief, and all points to the central theme (since they relate to feudal-Japan, which again can be considered a metaphor for honour and duty).

 

I know that I am argueing sementics (litteraly), but I am convinced that by enforcing a distinction between theme and metaphor/imagery we could help people avoid many pitfalls!

[Aqui]

A very good discussion topic BBL ^_^ I'm mentally shot to pieces at the moment, so I'll be back to mull over what everyone has said and (hopefully) add something worthwhile soon. For now, I'll just give two examples of my own processes have been in developing the two "main" DIY's I have:

 

The latest way I've approached the Steel Wings was by accident. I had been watching a programme on Leonardo Da Vinci on BBC1 a while ago, and it explored his fascination with flight (amongst other things) and I was mulling over what ideas I had to make my latest attempt work. I didn't want to change the name of the Chapter, mainly for sentimental reasons - I'd been using that name for the Chapter for Twenty or so years, and it got me to thinking that their home world could be kinda like Renaissance Europe in tone and that flight was an essential need for the people (gathering food, defence etc). Add in that the Ad Mech had abandoned their planet and that the Iron Hands moved in the rest is as they say History. It still needs refinement, but I'm happy with it.

 

The Bahltimyr Reavers are another matter. Once I decided their Primogenitor (Raven Guard - fitting in that both the RG and the Baltimore Ravens the Reavers' inspiration comes from a certain Poem by E.A. Poe), I decided that their road to Chaos was determined through their pathological need for acceptance by the Raven Guard (being part of the Cursed Founding also gave them a massive chip on their shoulder). Rejection and then a perceived betrayal by the Steel Wings shaped their mind set.

 

The other two DIY's (Amber Dragons and Rainbow Warriors [as in my version of them - it would seem GW may have a fate set for the RW :(] ) are mainly just a flavour (Aztec, Mayan etc, but still haven't got another more substantial than that).

 

As I said, I'll be back to add some more (tomorrow most likely), but wanted to post something (mainly so I don't forget about this topic - brains like a sieve lately :tu: )

[Sigismund Himself]

My guilt is that I pick a theme and then try to interlace it in to every single part of the Chapter, even when it won't make any sense to any one else and even I raise my eyebrows over it.

But a theme should be interlaced into every part of the chapter. That's what makes the best IAs in my opinion, a chapter's character clearly reflected in every sentence. This is another way of saying the IA should focus upon telling us how your chapter is different, not what is the same (unless their sameness is their character). Any Organisation section that lists the codex layout is a waste of space in any IA. Indeed, in some IAs it may be superfluous altogether. Those words could be better spent in the Beliefs section, telling us that although they fight like other marines, the reasons for them fighting are entirely different.

 

 

The trouble is people try to develop things such as "only use jump packs" as a theme and it doesn't work in the way that "kind to kids and grannies" does.

This leads me onto my second point nicely. There are two starting points for a theme.

 

One is at the endpoint, where you have the core of the theme. 'My marines will be stubborn'. You then have to try and work this into every facet of the chapter. You have to examine the effect of this on their history, warfare and beliefs. What are the consequences of it? And then you have to ask 'why?'. How did this come about? An IA should hammer home the theme in every paragraph, if not every sentence. Every time you don't is a wasted opportunity. And this needs to be done subtly. The best chapters manage to carry this off, with the theme carried throughout every sentence of the IA and every aspect of the chapter without being 'OMG, they're soooooo stubborn and awesome !!1!' (see the Castigators, The Scions of Dorn and my Gryphon Guard (I'm allowed a plug!) for some examples).

 

The second start point is anywhere else in the process and where most newcomers start their chapters.. You can have a cool feature like jump packs all the time or a cool battle like they fought so hard the planet beneath them broke. You then have to ask, 'okay, why?'. Why do they where jetpacks or what drove them to fight so hard the planet broke? Just keep asking why until a) you get bored of it or (hopefully) :tu: get the chapter's theme or character out of it. Congratulations, you're now at the point described in the paragraph above. Go read it ;)

 

Here's an example of the second one. The Dire Wolves most famous battle was against the Dark Eldar of Smargh, where they laid in wait for two weeks onboard their ships with no life-support or energy whatsoever. Why this way? Because they are renowned for their patience. Why? Their homeworld's natives are great hunters and patience is the key to it. Why? Because their greatest test of strength is in hunting the giant lizard birds that populate it and patience is the most effective method of killing them. Why did they adapt it? Because they've been their since the 4th Founding and gradual osmosis of the planet's culture has changed them. Why did they adapt it so wholeheartedly? Stop asking me why, my ears are bleeding! (this is when you know you've succeeded ). I then go and apply this notion of patience to every other aspect of the chapter. Has this affected their rate of recruitment? Does their relationship with other Imperial organisations suffer as a result of their slower campaigns?

 

And remember, your theme must set your chapter apart from the other 999 in the galaxy (or 9999, whatever they're doing with the canon these days in the Horus Heresy *grumble*). As Octavulg has put it, marines are here to kick ass and chew bubblegum. So tell us what flavour chewing gum they use ;) We know marines are awesome, space knights (of doom). So how are yours different? Making them more awesome is not the solution. Answer this. What is it that motivates them to get out of bed and the morning and drop 10000 kilometers into the teeth of death to kick their enemies down the throat of death and then cling to the face of death and survive while it digests said enemies. If you can answer this, the rest should flow :tu:

[Captain Juan Juarez]

My guilt is that I pick a theme and then try to interlace it in to every single part of the Chapter, even when it won't make any sense to any one else and even I raise my eyebrows over it.

But a theme should be interlaced into every part of the chapter.

 

Yes and no.

 

It is entirely possible, and I know this from my own experiences, that sometimes you can't interlace a theme through the entire IA article because in some places it just doesn't fit or for whatever reason. You then have the problem of the theme becoming jarring and having a detrimental effect on the rest of the article.

[Malthe]

My guilt is that I pick a theme and then try to interlace it in to every single part of the Chapter, even when it won't make any sense to any one else and even I raise my eyebrows over it.

But a theme should be interlaced into every part of the chapter.

 

Yes and no.

 

It is entirely possible, and I know this from my own experiences, that sometimes you can't interlace a theme through the entire IA article because in some places it just doesn't fit or for whatever reason. You then have the problem of the theme becoming jarring and having a detrimental effect on the rest of the article.

 

Could you give an example of this?

Frankly, I have never seen this. What I have seen is people trying to overapply metaphors, or people whose theme doesn't make much sense in an inuniverse perspective.

I agree with Sigismund, your theme should pervade every single paragraf in your IA.

Of course this is difficult, which (I think) is why people usually follow more than one theme.

[Dosjetka]

First of all, thank you to all who have added their thoughts/ideas to this B)

 

Now, to individual replies!

 

Malthe: I believe that your method works well to check whether you have or not got your theme-inclusion right, and less to actually decide what theme you want. And the use of "metaphorical leitmotifs", as you say, works quite well indeed to reinforce the presence of your theme throughout the IA.

 

Ace: Completely agree with that. Too much shatters the suspension of disbelief.

 

Aquilanus: Some pretty good examples of where ideas for an IA can come from. Thanks for sharing and I hope that you'll have something to add sometime soon (oh and if this thread helps you along in your theme searching process, then that's even better!):)

Sigismund: I completely agree with your first point, especially with the Organisation part, which has always been a bit difficult to tackle. Maybe, in most cases, its exclusion is a good idea, though it does seem that some people are against that. Which I find weird.

 

And your second point is something with which I completely agree. Oh, and the example is much appreciated :)

 

CJJ: I second the request to see an example of this, as I haven't seen an IA like that either (or maybe I'm just not concious of it ;)).

 

Cheers,

 

Ludovic

[Captain Juan Juarez]

Could you give an example of this?

 

CJJ: I second the request to see an example of this, as I haven't seen an IA like that either (or maybe I'm just not concious of it ;)).

 

Yes, yes I could give an example.

 

But I won't as I don't want to drag up pices of my own work that are over three years old and never saw light of day on this forum :P