The Liber Cluster

[Conn Eremon]

You and I think of the Lions very differently, I feel.

 

I felt that their idealogy, as it were, was more about their own independence and self-reliability. No new order in their name. Free to fight their own wars, but "everyone" need not apply.

 

That is the lens through which I view their original taking of the Eighteen Worlds. It was not immediate. At first, they were content with the freedom of the mercenary. It was only when that freedom was threatened that they took power from those who were threatening them. And no more. They only took from those who had stood against them.

 

When they get kicked out into the Deep (barring an unexpected EWC conclusion), that freedom becomes inviolable. So they content themselves with being the mercenaries again, raiding only when needed. If that freedom was to be somehow threatened once more, the Lions would retaliate as needed. Eliminate the threat.

 

Edit: In other words, less interested in empire-building and more interested in being removed/independent from the empires of others.

[Wade Garrett]

Disclaimer:

Unreliable narrators, biased records, matter of perspective, etc

 

With all that said, I don't think the desire to be free from the rule of others squares with how the Lions have acted since Al-Rashid took charge.

 

In the snippets heathens provided us, we see that as soon as they arrived in the Cluster, they were clawing their way towards hegemony with both hands.

 

Right from the get go, we have pirates and mercenaries conscripted and assimilated, planets forced to pay tribute, merchants driven into indentured servitude, and so on.

 

And the Pride has only continued to grow its forces since then.

 

To me, when a bitter renegade Astartes creates his own personal millions strong armies and navies, he's not expressing an urge to be left alone, he's planning to use them to do something.

[Wade Garrett]

Well.

 

This has been a productive several days of applying my head to a wall.

 

All I've come up with:

 

-Lords Inviolate are attempting to scrape together enough forces to make a return to Evin Prime not a suicide mission.

 

-Possibly backroom dealing, using ties with House Salvador to mobilize new task force. Going outside normal channels because of need for haste in getting back to Sons? Or just trying to keep word of own failures on downlow?

 

-Ordo Hereticus contingent turns up. "You can't guarantee our safety in a warzone? No worries." *Whistles*

 

Black Judges battle barges Final Appeal and Sin Eater join strike force.

 

-Sin Eater lands troops on Evin. Need live captures to interrogate about Sons and other missing/dead? Imperial forces.

 

-Grimdark snippet with heathens former Kaskrin Sinday Kupa

 

Intermedius

Specialist of Lords lnviolate Chapter. Sergeant who handles diplomacy with mortal factions, facial features surgically altered to be closer to baseline human appearance, less unnerving to allies.

[Reyner]

Sounds good to me. 

[Ace Debonair]

Ooh, I like the sounds of those Intermedius guys.

 

They fit well with my mental image of the high-ranking Lords Inviolate, which can be best summed up as 'put-upon Roman Senator/battered war-veteran types who have far too much diplomacy and politics to deal with' - now they can at least delegate dealing with the mortals to someone trained for the task!

[Conn Eremon]

I've been holding off on responding, but my laptop took a major turn for the worse (my own fault, but I also blame Britain) and my PC is in a limbo stage that just keeps stretching.

 

I'm basically restricted to this phone, which makes typical forum interactions pretty nice and easy, but anything greater than that a chore.

 

So I won't be doing any pieces, and actual contributions will be light. I won't be able to update the second post for a while. But I'll still try to keep everything on track.

 

 

 

 

The Intermedius remind me of romanticized deviant art Space Marines. Not the prettified ones, but the ones that make them look very . . . Roman statuesque. Noble, heroic, handsome. Not the true kind, that are blunt faced, scarred, augmented, brutish, heavy-browed and sharp-fanged. The idealized image.

 

I love the idea of the Lords actively cultivating that image.

[incinerator950]

So work this week made me both sick and very sore for my legs. Missed who knows how much.

[Captain Nameless]

I'll be getting some work done on my next piece over the weekend. A few notes:

 

Planet Name: Andalus

    -almost all land covered by extremely flat, open grasslands

    -most manufacturing done in orbital Mechanicus stations

    -technologically advanced Feudal World; people are organized into tribes (not Tribes, though that does give me some ideas)

    -local Millitarum regiment drawn from all tribes, military academy located on a plateau, (for appearance think blend of Arab and Scot)

    -a vital part of supply lines during the EWC, thus Sereki Lions' attack

[Wade Garrett]

More on the Lords lnviolate front:

 

"Truly, what is politics, if not war practiced in an extremely codified and formalized manner, the elegant cut and thrust of words and influence as opposed to the thunder of bolters? Do not forget the teachings of the Primarch, my brothers. The Emperor did not create our kind to be mere blunt instruments, or even sharp ones."

-excerpt from the writings of Ursini Vencarlo, first Chapter Master of the Lords lnviolate

 

THE CURlOUS CASE OF CAPTAlN LUClANO SlCATRlS

 

A short tempered, choleric brute of a man in imposing Mark llI power armor, Luciano's extensive bionics and acerbic tongue stand in stark contrast to the rest of the Chapter's leadership. Indeed, it is baffling how such a man rose to command rank in a force that takes moderation and self control as their watchwords.

 

lt becomes even more baffling if one has access to certain files dating back to the beginning of the Reconquest, which record a Captain Sicatris of the Lords lnviolate being ejected from war councils and negotiations dating back almost to the establishment of the Chapter, in some cases on opposite sides of the Liber Cluster simultaneously.

 

Among those who have bothered to pry into the matter, theories range from a combination of clerical errors and the vagaries of Warp travel playing hob with the career of an Astartes veteran, to the somewhat fanciful idea that whatever his origin was, Captain Luciano has become a role played by countless Lords, to be trotted out whenever they feel an ally needs sharp criticism.

 

Supporters of the latter theory point to the character Luciano the Fool Killer in the obscure Maccragian play Two Gentlemen At Odds, although they admit the connection is a thin one.

 

There have been more sinister explanations bandied about, but as those bandying are usually members of the Conflagrators or Black Judges, the official response has been to quietly ignore them in favor of other lines of inquiry on what is, in truth, a minor anomaly.

[Conn Eremon]

Nice expansion on the Lords. I like the idea behind Sicatris.

 

Capt. Nameless: So, regiments whose uniforms include turbans and kilts? :D

[Wade Garrett]

For Sicatris, l was thinking of how Horus used the Mournival on Murder, with Abaddon, Loken, etc chewing Eidolon's officers up one side and down the other so the Warmaster seemed all the more reasonable in comparison.

 

For the Lords...well, I was looking over them going "How are they not Ultramarines?" And what I came up with was their mandate to guide (command?) The other Chapters of the Cluster.

 

A mandate they can't be too forceful about, because the powers that be frown upon one Chapter Master having a dozen others at his beck and call, and the Conflagrators, Blackjaws, Blades of the Lion, etc aren't big on order taking at the best of times.

 

So...they have to be political animals.

 

(Note to those tackling the Lords in the future: that does not mean they are a Chapter of Petyr Baelishes! They are still loyal Space Marines, with all the knowing no fear and "For the Emperor"ing that goes with that.)

[Captain Nameless]

I like how the Lords Inviolate are shaping up. 

 

And Cormac: Kind of like that. Though, keffiyehs, not turbans.

[Conn Eremon]

Even better, because you can match the tartan patterns.

[Tiberius Cato]

The Ha'ei

The Eagles of Glory chapter boast a great many traditions do to the multicultural nature of their recruiting pool. Their recruits come from all corners of Libertas and bring with them many traditions that had been passed down through their heritage since the recolonisation of the world. One such tradition is the Ha'ei, it was first brought into the chapter from recruits from Libertas' equatorial island chain. The Ha'ei consist of the brothers of a squad, or sometimes many more than that, gathering around their sergeant who leads them in pre-battle chants. The sergeant begins with about four to six lines of prose, invoking the warrior spirit instilled into them. After this he lets forth a loud yell accompanied by a tribal dance in which the squad members squat and hold their arms parallel at chest level. The sergeant lets forth another yell in which the squad begins chanting in unison whilst slapping their thighs, chest, and forearms. It is at this point the warrior spirit fills each brother, his bloodlust and desire for battle heightening with each slap of his body. The display is about five minutes long and is practiced primarily by the sixth company of the Eagles of Glory, though it is not uncommon for a few squads within each company to practice the Ha'ei before battle.

 

Might add more about the island peoples of Libertas soon, or others may feel free to contribute whatever they want.

[Conn Eremon]

Forgot to respond to Wade.

 

The Mournival is very fitting for the Lords as a source of inspiration, so kudos.

 

If we are going for Game of Thrones references, I would say Barristan Selmy, as commander of the Queensguard. First and foremost a warrior, but time among politics has made him savvy and wise in those circles, and he uses that background to guide the Queen, who is herself headstrong and difficult.

 

And that is the Lords Inviolate. They are, above all else, a Chapter of Space Marines, with all that entails. But their ranking as the guiding hand among headstrong and difficult brother Chapters, and position among the governing powers of the Cluster, has made them rather tuned to the political world, and greatly to their benefit.

[Wade Garrett]

And now, more of me trying to brainstorm the Second Battle of Evin Prime:

 

When the lmperium strikes back, the Lions are in the process of stripping it clean, seeking to load up every last slave and resource from their former capital before leaving.

 

Trying to hold a static position against the endless hordes of the lmperial war machine would be neutralizing their own strengths and preferred highly mobile style of warfare. Instead, they seek to wring the last dregs from their pocket empire before embarking on a series of counter strikes against their hated enemies.

 

Ibn-Khroda himself is not present, Pride forces in theatre are instead led by a renegade who calls himself Matthias.

 

This Astartes claims to have once belonged to the Black Templars, until (according to him) he was ordered to claim that he had experienced a vision of the Emperor and serve as Champion of a Crusade into the Bastion Stars.

 

If Matthias himself is be believed, he acquitted himself well in the role, leading his brothers to victory...at the cost of his own faith.

 

As a commander of the Lions, he espouses a heresy perhaps greater than that of the Legions of the Eye: that there never was an Emperor, and all the historical records of such a figure are fabrications of the lords of the Administratum to justify their own rule.

[Hyaenidae]

Dear God, I got a lot to catch up on....  

 

So, I got nuthin' but excuses. New hobby store in town, gaming with Armond, meeting new peeps to play against, and (drumroll) I am officially a civilian. Yeah, busy.

 

So, after I get a day or two to roll through all of this, and absorb, I'll see where else I can help/ place input.  

 

Sorry for my absence, folks.

[Reyner]

I think the Chapter of Petyr Baelishes are referred to as the Alpha Legion :P Gotta love a bit of Game of Thrones! I wanted to shoehorn in a bit of the Lannisters into my Blades (minus the incest parts..) so might have another go at it (arrogant, only out for number 1, other things I forget and um Lions!)

[Olis]

Dear God, I got a lot to catch up on....  

 

So, I got nuthin' but excuses. New hobby store in town, gaming with Armond, meeting new peeps to play against, and (drumroll) I am officially a civilian. Yeah, busy.

 

So, after I get a day or two to roll through all of this, and absorb, I'll see where else I can help/ place input.  

 

Sorry for my absence, folks.

 

No problem, Heathens. We kept a seat spare for you. ;)

[Nomus Sardauk]

Welcome back Heathens, good to have you among us again. :)

[Ace Debonair]

*Clears throat in the dead, dusty halls of this once-bustling thread, the sound echoing down the pages and causing things in the darkest corners to stir...*

 

First time I can think of that some 'welcome back' posts apparently killed a thread.

 

The 'everyone abandon thread' game is terribly boring - has anyone had any more ideas for the Cluster?

[Captain Nameless]

I'll try to get some work done on the Andalus battles.

 

What I'm working on for it: sereki lions' mortal air support; the aforementioned Arab-Scot regiment, specializing in camouflage, ambushes and the like; and another Saint for the cluster.

[Nomus Sardauk]

My bad Ace, events IRL have been demanding most of my attention recently and whever I try to write something Writer's Block promptly smacks in the face. :(

[Vesper]

I'll be back in a week or so. Real life got in the way. That's unacceptable.

[Ace Debonair]

Hey, it's not a problem if everyone's had a break - it's not like I've been working on anything for the Cluster either.

I don't even have a real excuse. I've just been playing Destiny for the last few weeks, and telling myself I can stop at any time, honest I can, just one more mission...

 

If anyone does get stuck writing things up, though, post whatever the problem is in the thread and let the rest of us have a crack at it - this is a community project after all!

 

Vesper: Real life does have a tendency to get in the way. It's always totally acceptable to deal with that first, though!