Alternate Heresy Community Project

[Wade Garrett]

WILD AMERICA! Yessss!

 

More seriously, I like it, but it's not my Legion so my opinion doesn't hold much weight.

[Wade Garrett]

I may take a crack at writing up some Index Astartes articles for my Legions later (like the Dornian Heresy). That reminds me, we really need a catchy name for this besides "Community Alt Heresy". Corax's Coup, maybe? ;)

 

More seriously, I've locked down the fates (dead, dead, Daemon Prince) and post Heresy roles of three of the four, with only Angron and the Lions left up in the air.

 

I almost want him to be a High Lord of Terra (of which department I am not sure) so he and Jonson can have EPIC BUREACRACY WARS with one another until they both get Daemon Primarched, Webwayed, vanished into the Eye of Terror, etc.

[Conn Eremon]

High Lord of the Adeptus Astartes, because :cuss you Jonson.

 

Corax's Coup has its merits, but there's something integral that is lost when you remove "Heresy" from the equation.

[Rune Priest Ridcully]

That is awesome, I hadn't even considered that the knowledge gathered on Prospero could have been genetic, that is freaking amazing, and makes the whole burning of Prospero even more tragic in some ways and you could have his sons later lamenting the loss of the some of the species the Apothecariarch created (that name is awesome, would be nice to use it possibly) and then have their atempts to emulate their father and recreate them go awry?

I must admit I was going on the idea that Prospero must have had wildlife that was not mind eating gribblies.

Must admit, I was not thinking of including emulation of animal fighting styles as part of the philosophy, but it could work well as possibly a small sect within the beliefs of the legion.

Am I the only one picturing Anubis getting called up by Logar every time one of his hounds has a cold?

Also, I want people's opinion on wherever the Ensarhaddon falls at terra, in the scouring or just does a Sargon/MIA, personally I am leaning towards having him die, just not sure when.

"You say why I spend my time recreating the animals of old earth, why my sons gather and preserve all the old texts that have survived the cold and dark of old night? Well I will tell you. It is Terra. Old Earth, Gia, Kakai.. these names and more are the titles of mankind's cradle, and do you not think that is the thoughts and ideas that elevate us above the crude orks? Or that it is this shared bond of descent from that third planet that separates us from the haughty Eldar? It is not just the Imperial truth we bring to the universe, but the glories and treasures of Terra and all the wonders that our Father saw."

The Ensarhaddon to his brother Logar during the Khronos cluster campaign

Bit cheesy? Should be trashed? Or kind of workable?

[Conn Eremon]

Personally, I've been hoping that Anubis would die at Terra, so that Corax could kill at least someone before being offed by Konrad and Fulgrim, who both have post-Heresy dates.

[Wade Garrett]

I like it, both the ideals and Lorgar and Anubis being friends.

 

Something I wanted to discuss with heathens (before he vanished) was the idea of Lorgar mildly chastizing Perturabo for putting so much trust in steel and machinery, a bit like Fulgrim

proclaiming his Phoenix Guard are superior to canon Pert's Iron Circle in "Angel Exterminatus".

 

The hounds that fight with the XVII are living things augmented by technology, very different from combat servitors or battle robots because they can know love and loyalty.

 

Those views would seem to mesh with Anubis's quite well, although I don't think the Hound would approve of his closeness with the Ghost Fox.

[Conn Eremon]

Now that I have time to post a bit more, just wanted to say that I am so glad you liked it Ridcully. I had gotten attached to the idea and I was worried you might not like it.

[Wade Garrett]

While we're on the subject...how do we want the battle of Prospero to play out?

 

I know mention was made that it'll be less destructive than what the Wolves pulled in canon (due to the Thirteenth arriving, destroying the cure, taking Anubis and then leaving vs the canon VI burning everything and salting the ashes) but still, multiple Echelons hitting a Legion homeworld won't exactly be a surgical strike.

[Rune Priest Ridcully]

Please can we not have Prospero destroyed? heavily damaged yes, enough of the defenses (which their would be more of as unlike the cannon legion of Prosepero, these guys don't forget they are astartes half the time) but I swear it gets destroyed in every other alternative heresy, we've already blown Fenris and Caliban up, do the loyalists need to lose more planets? :P
Prospero has to be in a semi decent state for the Solar tigers to be able to help the executioner rescue their father or fight at terra, or their beliefs to spread.

[Wade Garrett]

I'm cool with not blowing it up.

 

Perhaps there's a limited amount of time before the full Tigers Legion musters at Prospero, hence Barabbas deciding to use Warptime to plot

and train and run scenarios and so forth so they can get it perfect the first time, because if they get drawn into anything but a smash and grab raid the entire force committed to Prospero will be wiped out.

[Conn Eremon]

Just remember that this is a Legion striking another Legion's home world. Even if this is a surgical strike, there is going to be no small amount of devastation and lots of dead.

 

But this doesn't mean Prospero can't survive, or even thrive.

[Wade Garrett]

What I'm picturing is canon Calth, if the Word Bearers had grabbed Guilliman shortly after the daemons blew the bridge up and scampered impishly back into the Warp with him.

 

Thought:

The ages trapped in the Warp have seen the corroded hulks Barabbas ships have become packed to bursting with fanatic serf-thralls, beastmen tribes, entire clans of plague ogryn, and so on.

 

He leaves the bulk of this fodder host on Prospero to cover his retreat and keep the Solar Tigers from realizing their father has been absconded with.

[Conn Eremon]

Plague hordes on the world of life? Sounds like it would be pretty damaging to Prospero.

 

I do like the idea of unleashing hordes of beastmen. That could be the Sons' cultist type.

[Wade Garrett]

Perhaps 40k Prospero is a bit like 40k Fenris, which houses entire civilizations of Tzeencht worshipping cannibal mutants created by the repeated invasions of the Thousand Sons.

[Rune Priest Ridcully]

True, but the problem with Nurgle cults is it pretty much always wipes out the planet/wins unless exterminatus is called down, or at least that is how it is presented, but the idea that the reason the legion did not notice their father gone till it was two late was that they were trying (and succeeding) to counter a plague?
I do like the idea of the hulks unleashing waves upon waves of gribbly hordes though that is cool, and could lead to the tigers taking loses as they try to protect the population/primarchs work.
Wade: I am now imagining a pair of bloodletters skipping away with Guilliman, giggling as they do :P

[Wade Garrett]

Eh, Nurgle cults are no more or less prone to "Cyclonic torpedoes fall, everyone dies" than the other three.

 

But perhaps the Tigers and their iniates are engaged in a constant battle with the ever adaptong diseases and roving plague beasts the Sons seeded their world with, even ten thousand years later.

[Conn Eremon]

Tzeentch cults can be weeded out, Khornates can be massacred, Slaaneshi orgies can be purged. Marble plagues can be survived.

 

Of those four, I think that Nurgle is the more damaging, the least preventable.

 

Using the Fenris example, it being a Tzeentch cult allowed it to be secretive, underground, sparse and rare. Plagues burn across populations, and are then cured or burn out. It wouldn't be like with Fenris. It'd be more like pre-Lion Caliban.

 

Which it sounds like Ridcully wants to avoid.

[Wade Garrett]

I was thinking of something along the lines of:

 

Weird new disease springs up, Tiger Apocetharies spring into action, quarantine is established, and a vaccine is developed. Twenty years later, a new strain pops up that the vaccine can't defend against, quarantine the infected sections, make a new vaccine, wash, rinse, and repeat for ten thousand years.

 

The great physicians of the Imperium vs the Plaguefather for ten millenia, and so far the result is a stalemate, if that makes sense?

[Conn Eremon]

Having the Apothecary Legion be a counter to the Nurgle Legion is a good idea, but it sounds to me like Ridcully wants Prospero to bounce back from the assault.

 

What if we pull a Death Guard and move the fall to Nurgle and centuries-long journey to a battle much more important than Prospero, Terra? We can keep the beastmen hordes on Prospero, if you'd be interested in that.

[Wade Garrett]

Well, there are degrees of "bounced back". I'm seeing a Prospero that is wounded but stable, and kept that way via the tireless work of the Tigers back at the Fortress Monastary.

 

Also, if Barabbas falls en route to Terra, he can't exactly rant and rave to Anubis about why Chaos is inevitable and accepting it is the only logical choice on Olympia, can he?

[Conn Eremon]

I wouldn't call stabilizing "bouncing back," but it's possible Ridcully's definition matches yours. I think at this point both of us are coming on too strong on this point.

 

As for the Olympian rant, nothing prevents Barabbas from being pro-Chaos or, more easily, pro-Corax.

[Rune Priest Ridcully]

I was thinking of something along the lines of:

Weird new disease springs up, Tiger Apocetharies spring into action, quarantine is established, and a vaccine is developed. Twenty years later, a new strain pops up that the vaccine can't defend against, quarantine the infected sections, make a new vaccine, wash, rinse, and repeat for ten thousand years.

The great physicians of the Imperium vs the Plaguefather for ten millenia, and so far the result is a stalemate, if that makes sense?

That sounds quite better then what I was imagining, and it actually does sound good, as long as we avoid the "Irreplebly wrecked" status it seems to get in almost every other AU heresy. I like the idea of a sizeable beastman population being present on Prospero, however I think that the Nurgle worshipping/blessed would be mostly be cleansed, possibly even Tzeentchian following some kind of freaky chaos fueled crossed/possession by the Psychenuin, with major out breaks happening every century of so, with major pandemics occurring once a millennium or so, each time the Solar Tigers are not sure if it is natural or chaos infused, the odd one that seems to physically amplify the dying thoughts and emotions out to the tigers librarians, Prospero is a two sided coin, on the one hand you have the gleaming Hospice fortress of the legion, the glittering towers and halls of the cities, on the other you have the beastman packs who roam the highlands and dark corners, and the terrifying plagues that will strike

Edit: well, it seems Wade got it and put it better then I did, serves me write for writing a response as I do an essay

2nd Edit: Following on from the "constantly keeping stuff in check" it could be an idea for the larger Tiger vessels and Hospice fortresses that they have meangeries of the plant and animal life of prospero, a check to ensure their fathers work is preserved in the case that they one day fail to protect their homeworld.

[Conn Eremon]

In keeping with the idea of successors, perhaps these Andalite Domeships scatter across the Imperium, seeding worlds and leaving Solar Tiger successors to guard them.

 

Like the Eldar and their Maiden Worlds.

[Wade Garrett]

It is the secret shame of the Solar Tigers that many of their successors have fallen to Slaanesh when introduced to that fiendish Chaotic concoction, the cinnamon bun!

;)

 

More seriously, glad we're in accord, Ridicully.

[Wade Garrett]

It has occurred to me that Corax might be favored by the Emperor a bit like Horus was, since the Twins are unable to look beyond hating each other, Ferrus is a quivering hulk of spite and bitterness, and Lorgar isn't really interested in having a father...a friend and commander, maybe, but he has Elanin and nothing and no one is displacing her.

 

Noctus's Lanista...he seems lonely, with an adoptive father he sees as beneath him and a brother who is more of a trained animal. The Emperor might be able to really connect with him as a son.

 

Plus he doesn't start a war on Terra, isn't a hide wearing savage, and lacks Butcher's Nails. Definitely the favorite.