Alternate Heresy Community Project

[Conn Eremon]

CIA/FBI/MI6. Like I said, not brilliant.

 

If Catherics are anything like canon Catholics (See? Mad!), perhaps they co-opt Ullanor's significance as "World Where Major :cuss Went Down," making it a retroactively holy world. Especially if the Emperor is a major saint (after all, the Emperor is still important, right), much like present day Muslim beliefs view Jesus, just sans Mohammed or any other Prophet/Messiah. Or would that be changing Catherics into Space Judaism?

 

Either way, you could say that Ullanor was a major focal point through which the guiding hand of fate most touched the universe, and therefore MAH HOLY WORLD. Sprinkle some blood of the martyrs and you're good to go.

 

Or, make Ullanor important some time later, for whatever reason. A different important dude dies there, or is entombed there, or because according to our calculations, Ullanor sits in the dead center of the celestial choir, which is, like, a really big a deal.

 

Or swap Catherics for Enumerations. Just noticed the edit.

[Wade Garrett]

"My ssssson."

 

Barabbas glanced up from the from the stack of papers in front of him, acknowledging the gaunt figure his bodyguards had allowed into the command tent.

 

"Father. The compliance goes well. This principality will soon bend the knee to us, just as you demanded. Drink?"

 

The hooded figure eyed the decanter of purified water thoughtfully. With the theatrical sigh, Barabbas poured a glass for himself and took a sip, sloshing the precious liquid around in his mouth before swallowing. One of the more charming habits of his foster father's kind were frequent, ritualized attempts at poisoning one another. He poured a second glass for his father...only for his parent to stretch out one of a lanky arm and take the cup tin cup he'd originally drunk from.

 

"Smear the poison in the glass, not in the liquid itself...really, father. Do you honestly think I'd try that hoary old ruse on you? You were the one who TAUGHT it to me."

 

The Primarch signed again, this time genuinely. He supposed he couldn't blame Father for traits forced on him by genetics and biology, certainly, compared to many of the others of his kind Roboute had led in his planet spanning campaign of conquest his father was almost pathologically trusting of his foster son.

 

"You have none of the Nighghasts guarding you, boy." the taller figure retorted, lapping from his cup with a forked tongue. "It speaks to me, tells me that you do not trust in those your father chose to ward you."

 

"When we went up against the Zhuldani it was the head of your Nightghasts that allowed me to be surrounded. Yes, their powers are formidable, but they all see causing my death as a means to a promotion. My human soldiers may not be as lethal one to one, but they grasp the concept that killing me would be a very foolish thing to do, disastrous for your kingdom. A fair trade, in my opinion. Speaking of the humans..."

 

"Bah!" the features shadowed beneath the hood twisted in contempt. "Always, you speak of the humans. Useless, worthless things, good only to die for us."

 

"Oh, certainly. It's just that wouldn't they be better dying, I don't know, on the battlefield or engaged in some productive enterprise than because you needed a bit of diversion in between concubines and spellcraftings?"

 

The necromancer opened his mouth to rebuke his son, only for it to emerge as a strangled cough. He drew a cloaked sleeve across his face, and flinched to see bluish blood staining his robes of office. He opened his jaws again to spit out some dire spell or malediction, but could only manage a pathetic gasp as icy numbness spread through his chest.

 

"Two stage compound." Barabbas said, completely unconcerned by either the wheezing attempts at speaking curses or the shaking efforts at forming arcane gestures. "The agent in the water does nothing by itself, but when it interacts with the chemicals I've been lacing your meat-slaves with for the past three weeks, well. Funny thing is, this isn't actually a poison...according to the data technocrypt we excavated, the Ancients called it "Aquea Vitae", and used it to cure...well, any number of things, aging, cancers, you name it. In a humans, that is. To your kind the effects are just a bit different." He tapped a finger on his chin pensively.

 

"It's almost a shame to use the ingredients I recovered this way...I imagine if I let the alchemancers have access to them and they could replicate one tenth of what it does, we'd have had the strongest serfstock on Barbarus. But you'd have been sure to find out about it, and, well...it doesn't do them much good having longer, healthier lives if they're being wasted by an old fool who can't control his own hedonism, does it?"

 

Barabbas looked back to the stack of papers on the table, the dying Necromancer already relegated to the status of a loose end tied up. "I suppose I shall have to act properly grief stricken when I announce your death...but a bit vengeful, too, after all, the evidence is going to point to the Laird of the High Crags and as a dutiful son I'll have to bring him to justice. And seize his dominions, of course. Goodbye, father. It's a shame things had to end this way, but I simply cannot tolerate wastefulness. Not even from family."

[Wade Garrett]

Something else I've considered is changing how I depict Ferrus. I've talked about him being a hateful, spite filled Primarch, but that's really more canon Angron's thing.

 

I'm wondering if it wouldn't be better to have a Ferrus that relishes what he is, is grateful for the clarity the Butcher's Nails gives him, and revels in the carnage in a way more akin to the canon VIII than the World Eaters.

[Conn Eremon]

I actually kind of assumed that, as it goes along with what you said about him hating the taint of xenos (the arms) and replacing it with the blessed tech of humanity (which includes the Nails).

[Wade Garrett]

It sort of plays in to some ideas I wanted to talk to Heathens about for his Dorn and Perturabo, with Pert as the noble ideal, Ferrus the monster that has accepted its monstrosity, and Dorn the broken man that must choose whether to be the hero or the beast.

 

Although considering Pert's a Hoplite and Mordax is a Minotaur that might be somewhat overtheming it.

[Ace Debonair]

Sorry I'm late to the party.

Palatine Blades probably belong with the First Legion, or at least the name certainly does.

PRE-EDIT EDIT: Hang on, I've mixed the Palatine Blades and the Phoenix Guard up. The following is random blethers about the Dragonslayer's alternative to the Phoenix Guard, just so everyone knows what I'm thinking of replacing.

I think the Dragonslayer's elite guard will have to consist of individuals who have done great and heroic things. Brother Karal from Squad Arthend just took the head off a warboss with only his combat knife, keeping the brute from attacking our Not-Inquisition allies? Sounds awesome, promote him into the [AWESOME NAME]s. Brother Kinar just blew up a Dark Eldar monstrosity the size of a baneblade using a strategically placed frag grenade? Dude sounds pretty hardcore, he can join the [AWESOME NAME]s too.

I can't remember if the Minotaurs were ever going to actually use the name, but if they weren't going to be the Storm Walkers before they find Ferrous, I'll swipe that for the name of the Lightning Bearer's elite warriors. It's just too cool to leave out!

Of course if the Minotaurs were the Storm Walkers pre-Ferrous, I'll come up with something else for Fulgrim's elite.

[Conn Eremon]

The Storm Walkers is one name that absolutely needs to be used by someone. It could fit with the Lightning Bearers motif, but it does belong to Wade's Minotaurs.

 

 

If Wade doesn't want it, though, maybe it could be something your Legion adopted from the Storm Walkers before they got made into Minotaurs. A gesture of respect. Fulgrim is found quite a bit earlier than Ferrus Mordax, right?

[Rune Priest Ridcully]

Magister-Apothecary Assuremenes glanced around the stone cut chamber as he stepped into it, surveying the conditions of the various wounded Astartes and Mortals crammed in. The pointless bloody war over Ullanor..... Now more then ever he wished his legion had responded more when the H̄ım̀ Khwām c̄hlād had attempted to establish themselves within it. Whilst they had seemed harmless enough, there had been something about the new interpretations of the Enumerations that had unsettled the majority of the high council, so it had been refused. Yet initiates had been taken in who practiced them, and whilst they were not expressly allowed to spread them, they had not been firmly banned from doing so. This Assuremenes would insure.
He was kneeling over an injured monk of the H̄ım̀ Khwām c̄hlād when he noticed something off about the readings his auspex gave him. Gently touching the monk's remaining arm, he concentrated, slipping his consciousness into the monk's body. Immediately the monk shot up, a ghastly wail escaping his lips, his eyes emanating a ghastly light. In the great ocean however, the monk was like a bloated bag being split open, a sickening oily black corruption spilling forth.
Stepping back, muttering words of cleansing and banishment, the insidious presence within the monk, now staring at him, eldtrich electricity flickering around the practitioner of what Assremenes now recognized as abomination, a perversion of his howeworld's teachings, one he suspected from the taint that now spread from the monk to the armsmen around him, filling their eyes with that unholy sapphire was one that had since the great betrayal longed to pervert and destroy all of Prospero and the sons of Anubis.

[Wade Garrett]

Having "Storm Walkers" as the Legion's Terminator elite, with their armor modified to crackle with devastating jolts of electricity (essentially, a method of quickly dealing with swarms of gretchin, genestealers, things like that) appeals to me, but if Ace wants it for his Legion I'm sure there are other lightning based mythological monsters that I could name them after.

 

And while Ferrus and Corax are found before Fulgrim, there's nothing that says the Terrans of the III and X couldn't have been battle brothers before their Primarchs took the Legions in two very different directions.

 

Fulgrim wants to make his Astartes better men, Ferrus wants better killing machines to destroy the xenos menace.

[Conn Eremon]

I derped, I forgot we moved Ferrus up because we wanted Corax to be an early find.

As for alternatives for the Minotaurs, might this tidbit from Wikipedia suffice for inspiration:

In Greek mythology, The Elysian Fields, or the Elysian Plains, the final resting places of the souls of the heroic and the virtuous, evolved from a designation of a place or person struck by lightning, enelysion, enelysios.[1]

Edit: That is, if it's not something Ace would want as well.

[Wade Garrett]

Maybe the Cyclopeans, since the cyclops made Zeus's thundernolts. Or the Behir.

[Conn Eremon]

I had thought about them as well, but I had wondered if that would be am overly obvious theme.

 

Going for some D&D inspiration has promise, so long as we don't have a Dark Eldar anti-hero.

[Wade Garrett]

Going for some D&D inspiration has promise, so long as we don't have a Dark Eldar anti-hero.

 

But what if he's only half Dark Eldar and the Chief Librarian of the Celestial Lions?

[Conn Eremon]

Nah, because then we would need a different Legion and Primarch to take their place, since we'd have to make them a later successor using traitor gene-seed.

 

Edit: In my head, I've been referring to the Foundings as Successions. Not sure I want to run with what that name would infer, but I thought I'd put it out there.

[Ace Debonair]

Having "Storm Walkers" as the Legion's Terminator elite, with their armor modified to crackle with devastating jolts of electricity (essentially, a method of quickly dealing with swarms of gretchin, genestealers, things like that) appeals to me, but if Ace wants it for his Legion I'm sure there are other lightning based mythological monsters that I could name them after.

Oooh, do that.

That's good.

I'll think up something else for Fulgrim's elite guard, no worries.

And while Ferrus and Corax are found before Fulgrim, there's nothing that says the Terrans of the III and X couldn't have been battle brothers before their Primarchs took the Legions in two very different directions.

Fulgrim wants to make his Astartes better men, Ferrus wants better killing machines to destroy the xenos menace.

Yeah, I was thinking about the parallels there as well.

It's the same as with the canon ones, really, only this time both Primarchs are a lot more driven.

It's funny, really, because they'd probably have a lot in common and make great allies if Ferrous didn't think Fulgrim was weak and maybe tainted (those silver marks on his arms might be poisoning his mind!) and if Fulgrim didn't feel a degree of pity for Ferrous (at least I only lost a leg - he must have had it really rough back on Nuceria!)

[Wade Garrett]

Well, that and Ferrus feels he and his Legion were created to fight and kill, not to rule, to meditate, build, sculpt, or any of the things the other Legions do that don't directly correlate to war.

 

A hammer is for driving nails, it should enjoy driving nails more than any other activity, and using it to paint portraits or plant flowers is a waste of its qualities.

 

If you're at all familiar with the manga "Hellsing", that speech the Major gives about how much he loves war (which is LOTS!) is pretty much Ferrus and the X Legion in a nutshell.

 

Before Corax goes all "MAH UH-THOR-UH-TAY" and kicks the Heresy off I can see other Primarchs complaining to him about the Minotaurs giving enemies time to dig in and organize so they can have more battles, torturing those who surrender to death to encourage the other enemies to fight to the end...pretty much anything they can do to keep the party going. And by party, I mean WAAARRR!

 

And now I have a really ridiculous idea for the Minotaur's Lucius equivalent...

[Rune Priest Ridcully]

Well, that and Ferrus feels he and his Legion were created to fight and kill, not to rule, to meditate, build, sculpt, or any of the things the other Legions do that don't directly correlate to war.

 

A hammer is for driving nails, it should enjoy driving nails more than any other activity, and using it to paint portraits or plant flowers is a waste of its qualities.

 

If you're at all familiar with the manga "Hellsing", that speech the Major gives about how much he loves war (which is LOTS!) is pretty much Ferrus and the X Legion in a nutshell.

 

Before Corax goes all "MAH UH-THOR-UH-TAY" and kicks the Heresy off I can see other Primarchs complaining to him about the Minotaurs giving enemies time to dig in and organize so they can have more battles, torturing those who surrender to death to encourage the other enemies to fight to the end...pretty much anything they can do to keep the party going. And by party, I mean WAAARRR!

 

And now I have a really ridiculous idea for the Minotaur's Lucius equivalent...

Could that be one of the reasons some of the "loyalist" primarchs start moving against him or supporting those who seek to cure the Emperor? They feel Corax is corrupting or forgetting the Emperor's vision, and so wish to bring him back as well other reasons.

[Wade Garrett]

Well, the fact that cracks are forming in his facade are what prompts Corax to say "Dorn and Ferrus, you guys burn some worlds. Barabbas, I need you to smash the cure on Prospero. Leman, all your Secular Winter Festivals have come early, you get to kill Lorgar."

[Conn Eremon]

Not much of an update, but I have found Jonson's motto: Concedo Nvlli 'Yield No Ground'

[Ace Debonair]

Struck by a really simple idea earlier today. Not sure if it's a good one, but here's my reasoning.

Our Fulgrim's named for a Medusan legend, so I can see him being fairly receptive to borrowing names from other Medusan legends and old stories. Maybe some of those old stories had armies of unbeatable Medusan warriors clad in burnished silver and bearing various noble attributes.

And those warriors could have called themselves the Morlocks, after the deadly predator native to Medusa.

...Hmm.

Not sure if that's a good idea or just lazy, on reflection.

[Conn Eremon]

It reminds me of my Angels, organized into Hosts that are named for heavenly armies that can be seen in the night sky as constellations.

 

Taking something familiar to the canon Colchisian Legion and re-explaining it to better fit my iteration, while changing little.

[Ace Debonair]

So Emperor's Children Morlocks is ok, then?

Oh, unless Wade still wants Morlocks for the Minotaurs, that is.

I mean, if that happens I'll just steal the name 'Immortals' instead (so-called because they seek to accomplish deeds that will be forever remembered in legend )

[Conn Eremon]

I like the idea of a group that cares more about their legacy than their own lives. How they will be remembered. Perhaps, to run along the lines of the canon Iron Hands' flaw, upon Fulgrim's death it becomes less of an idealism and more of an obsession. An almost suicidal urge to fight, kill and die in the most extreme of circumstances, a death that shall be remembered forever. A flaw in which the manner of death becomes more important than the deeds in life.

 

As for Morlocks, considering they are a Medusan thing, it should be yours more. Unless I am mistaken on that part or you and Wade come to an arrangement.

[Wade Garrett]

Nah, I snatched "Storm Walkers" for the Minotaur's Terminator Elite and the Morlocks seem to have been post Ferrus Manus Medusa thing, not an X Legion thing, so Ace can have them.

 

They don't really seem to fit well with Fulgrim's Legion, though. I'd say Immortals would suit them better.

 

Thought:

To Immortals are a company of heroes, each with his own unique skills. Brother Saul the sniper, Tycho the demolitions expert, Eidolon the hammer master, etc.

 

Each is never seen outside his artificer power armor, and in spite of other Imperial forces reporting that specific Immortals were killed on a particular campaign they always turn up in another battle.

 

This is because when the guy who was named to the Immortals because of his great achievements with lightning claws and a jump pack dies, someone else who is really awesome with those tools is picked and assumes his identity.

 

Which is considered a great honor in the III Legion.

 

It is a much greater honor, and subsequently requires a much higher level of heroic deeds, to have one's own name inscribed on the roll of the Immortals, and ensure that there will always be a warrior with your name and skills fighting for the Emperor's Children.

[Conn Eremon]

I don't know, considering the clan names are a part of his IIIrd, I think Morlocks fit.

 

But, Immortals is a good name as well, so whichever Ace wants to go with.