Night Lords Lightning

[Son of Carnelian]

Hey gang! Do the Night Lords have actual lightning coursing over their armor as in this image:

 

http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130325104149/warhammer40k/images/8/88/Nightlords_in_combatpg12.jpg

 

Or is it painted on as seen in numerous other depictions?

[Bryan Blaire]

My understanding was that, barring some super-heavy Warp influence (unusual for the Night Lords), the lightning is simply painted on.

[Brother Ambroz]

Almost every source has it as being painted on but recently, I believe one of the last C:CSM had it actually coming from their armor. I think it being painted on is far better than the other way.

[Brother Heinrich]

All the novels portray it as a paintjob. Though as said above, I wouldn't put it past some tainted Night Lords to have the actual lightning effect.

[Kevlarshark]

There was a small piece of fluff in one of the codex (or possibly index astartes articles) about the Night lords armour crackling with actual lightning.

 

No one liked it, it didn't match the fluff (how do you sneak up on someone if you are lit up like a Christmas tree?)  and so it was (hopefully) forgotten about...apart from that  picture.

 

Its my biggest concern for the Night Lords supplement, that rather than drawing on the awesome books and other background material the writer will resort to dragging out awkward little pieces of old fluff like the 'lightning'.  I can practically taste the horror (not in a good Night Lords way) of a special unit of Chosen or Warp Talons who are "covered in electricity"...because I could easily see that being considered "awesome" by marketing and 12 year olds round the world.

[Galron]

Yeah, last edition of the chaos codex had a very brief note about coruscating lightning playing over their armor. As said, most people thought it was one of the dumbest fluff ideas they had heard of. While thats a cool pic, it isnt very practical and there is no real fluff besides that one sentence that I have read that has it. Hopefully that will be the last we ever hear of it.

[Scribe]

ADB touched on this (in his righteous respectfulness of all aspects of the fluff) by having the Exalted have lightning actually dancing around him/it.

 

Painted on, with possibility for it to be warp corruption and so actual energy/lightning seems to be the consensus however.

[Brother Heinrich]

My opinion has always been that it depended on the Warband, the more tainted by chaos, the more likely the painted lightning was to become actual lightning. Make your own fluff for your own warband, it's conflicted enough to do so.

[Xenith]

The Night Lords painted the lightening on.

 

In the warp, thought becomes reality, and the perception of lightening may as well be real lightening - Certain warbands do have actual lightening playing across their armour.

[Chronotonic]

they are just emitting so much awesome batman vibs that is vibrating outwards and expanding into actual energy forms...

[Spaz431]

The images of crusade and heresy era looked more painted, but I agree with the consensus. Time + Warp = possible factual lightning.

[DuskRaider]

I always thought it would be cool if it were actual electricity coursing over their armor. In CC, they can turn up the juice and fry enemy combatants, or at least daze them with a high voltage kick in the pants. Seems like an underhanded tactic, and would give them an open window to perform a coup de grace.