++ The Dark Council - A Word Bearers Community ++

[Tenebris]

A question for the community. 

 

What is a Word Bearer? 

[Lord Marshal Ragnrok]

burn that heathen

[TDF]

A Word Bearer is one who has seen the truth of the universe and decided that embracing it is better than hiding from it.

[totgeboren]

Considering I have been taking my Word Bearers to war for the last 17 years, perhaps it is fitting I make some small contribution?

 

I started playing Chaos using the b&w list in the 2ed starter box, by borrowing some Nurgle Renegades from my big brother. When the Chaos codex came for 2ed I switched over to my own Word Bearers after a  while, I just thought their background was so awesome. And then in 3ed their IA article came, and that sealed the deal. For me that article will probably always be the bedrock and basis of how I view all other background produced about the WB. If it's incompatible with the IA article, I simply ignore it or rewrite it in my head so it makes sense.

 

I mean, there is only one legion where these sentences apply;

 

"Only united behind the teachings of a god and offering the obeisance that such a god requires can the masses of Humanity be saved from the perils of alien menace and internal schism. There is only one power in the galaxy worthy of such submission, and that is the dark majesty of Chaos."

 

and

 

"The unshakeable belief of the Word Bearers that they alone can save the galaxy has seen them marching towards certain death, yet unwilling to take a single step backwards."

 

That's the kind of bad guys I enjoy!

 

And that to me is what a Word Bearer is all about.

[totgeboren]

Double post, but almost two weeks in between.

 

I have a question for you, my fellow Bearers of the Word, and it ties in with the quotes I gave in the post above.

 

How do you view the WB and their relationship with humans/mortals?

 

If we read the WB trilogy by Reynolds, they come across as rather not-nice-at-all, which is fitting with them being Chaos Marines and so on. But to me there is something more to the WB, as I personally regard their IA article as canon, and the quotes above as 'true'. How can they fight to save humanity if they just kill all humans they find all the time? How could they lead thousands if not millions of the faithful if they just killed them all the time?

 

In the case of the WB invasion of Tanakreg, if you think about it, the goal from the start would, if fulfilled, kill all the humans on the planet anyway, and they had precious little time, so their treatment of the human population makes sense through the eyes of a psychopath at least. A case of the ends justifying the means.

 

But they also control many worlds, with the factory-world of Ghalmek being their main industrial hub. If they in general treat humans as they did in the WB trilogy, a functioning industrial world would simply be impossible to maintain. What I'm thinking is that perhaps their sphere of concern sharply divides between followers of the Word of Lorgar and those who do not (not a novel thought, but having it being said is important).

 

Also, it is worth pointing out that the Imperium does the exact same thing. If they come across a population with incompatible beliefs, they will kill ever last one of them before resettling with a population from within the domain of the Emperor. The WB at least gives the chance to convert, so in some ways are perhaps less evil than what the Imperium in general is?

 

I know it is best not to try and mix 40k and the real world too much, but still I can't help myself, perhaps a form of therapy for dealing with the many rather disturbing things I see and hear on the news, and in this particular case it is hard not to draw parallels to the actions of ISIL/IS/whatever-those-nutjobs-call-themselves.

 

They seem to be a real-world example of people who on a large scale act as, well, how chaos followers are described to act in 40k, with bloodshed, torture, slavery and death following in their wake, all mandated by religiously inspired leaders. Yet they also attract thousands of followers, and they build (brutal) societies based on their faith, but where things like giving to charity (of course only directed at fellow believers) are mandatory. From the outside it is pure horror, but from the inside there are positive aspects, even if you disregard the notion that some people actually believe what is said in religious texts (a concept many especially European westerns have a hard time grasping).

 

So, could the worlds the WB govern actually be functioning societies, albeit perhaps brutal ones submitted to arbitrary laws laid down by the theology from the Word of Lorgar?

I mean, Lorgar always seems to care about the masses, even during the Shadow Crusade.

Perhaps the mathematics behind say sacrificing a hundred civilians to summon some daemons is 'With the aid of the daemons, we will win the battle and the greater masses can be saved. In war some have to be sacrificed for the great whole to go on.'

 

In many BL publications, life on worlds where chaos is the main religion seems to be not much different than life in the Imperium, and so I choose to see the WB as not much worse to live under as long as you are a faithful follower of the word as how it is to live under the Ecclesiarchy as long as you are a devout follower of the Emperor. I don't think the Chaos Gods care all the much about the teeming masses (especially if they worship them), so their influence on the average human would probably be minimal.

 

For those who played Black&White, you won't hurl fireballs against your own villages, but it's pretty fun to do against villages that follow other gods. From their point of view you would be a horrible god, while your own followers are pretty happy for their bountiful harvests, even if they have to sacrifice someone once in a while to get it.

[Carrack]

I would agree that life on a Chaos controlled planet would be equally bad as life on an imperial planet. Traitor General (Gaunt's Ghost) and Pawn of Chaos, both have pretty good descriptions of life on a Chaos controlled planet. It's pretty grim, but no more so than life under "The cruelest and most bloody regime imaginable."

 

I think ultimately it comes down to what the objectives of the Word Bearers are in relation to the conquered world, and the strategic viability of holding the planet. For example, if a Word Bearer force can take a planet that is isolated from the rest of the Imperium by a warp storm (perhaps of their own making) they may have several hundred years to control the planet. In this instance they can afford to build up the infrastructure, establish long term indoctrination of the population, and basically make a stable territory from which to operate. Conversely, if an Imperial retribution fleet is already in route to retake the fallen world, I could see the World Bearers doing the mass sacrifices and enslaving the population to build shrines to summon daemons. In either instance the Imperium does similar things to worlds they control. Some worlds they take a long term approach to its exploitation, while others they strip mine and make uninhabitable in a short time as they ramp up war production. So while the methods may be different, the outcome for most of the population would be the same.

 

In regards to real world terrorist organizations and how they win support through some publicized charity and good works, and I hope I'm not offending anyone or crossing too far out of the bounds of this forums mission statement, these organizations win support through operating some charity / quality of life programs, like hospitals and schools, in regions where the legitimate government is incapable or unwilling to do so. So for the average person living in these regions sees the local school board all living in lavish houses and no actual schools, while the radicals are actually building schools and hospitals, can make the radicals more appealing to the locals. Now taking this back to 40k, the Imperium is is rotten to the core with corruption and inefficient beuracracy and would, in my opinion be vulnable to a Word Bearer public relations program, as long as it was subtle enough to elude the Inquisition and other heavy handed Imperial authorities.

 

Please excuse the ramblings of this madman, my local coffee shop gave me an extra large coffee for the price of a small. ;)

[MaliGn]

If you think back to the assault on Tanakreg then it is worth remembering that a significant portion of the cultists had previously given them selves over to chaos willingly. Although the rest of the populace are swiftly overwhelmed and forced into servitude. It is clear from the outset that the word bearers are in a race against time. Jarulek is desperate to complete his ritual according to the prophecy. There is no consideration here for a longer term raid. The other two books in the series aren't really any help as they featured a small raiding party and an all-out titan-backed war.

 

I suspect that many of the word bearers rites would still bear resemblance to loyalist practises as they are still a holy warrior order, and as such a certain pattern is inevitable. Sure the subject matter will be different and the practises themselves very different, but they will still employ serfs and whatnot to form specific functions I can imagine favorites being preserved via artificial or daemonic means, while less important ones could be disposable and more fed into place by infernal bureaucracy.

 

If you use all the people for mortar without remembering to let them breed you run out of stuff to build with pretty quick. Even if you are ruthlessly efficient and let them work to death first, and use a portion of them as food for the others.

[totgeboren]

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. Also speaking of mortar and building, the WB are in many ways the UM of the traitor side, being empire-builders and organisers of the masses on a completely different scale than the other legions. Since that behaviour is at the core of their identity (as I see it), they would probably actively try to promote and maintain large populations within their domains. And that would by necessity mean they actively do things that keep their populations alive and perhaps even prospering (or at least multiplying)?

[Lord Asvaldir]

Must say I don't agree with this view that the Word Bearers are actually truly looking out for any of their "citizens" on any of their planets, whether they were recently conquered form the Imperium or have fallen to chaos for millennium. Sure, at some point in time the Word Bearers definitely did care about ordinary people-even after they turned traitor, but after ten thousand years of wanton bloodshed and an incredibly long life of intense violence, it's hard to believe any being would any longer have the capacity to care for people. What's far more likely as the current Word Bearers might believe they are on the right path by converting others to chaos, but in truth they really have no use for normal humans-they use them at fodder either in battle or in construction dark temples and armaments, any sort of actual human population ruled by Word Bearers that are not complete saves are more likely a long gone idea. 

[Bearingtheword]

I think it started out as what Totgeboren has laid out, but over time it has become closer to what Lord Asvaldir has illustrated..... 

The attitudes can be summed up in the following ways:

If given time, humanity can be taught to embrace the Gods, but often that time is not available. So is it not right to utilize the populace in accomplishing the goals, be it willing or unwilling. Of course, a willing population is preferred, but the unwilling also have their uses.

The ends, clearly justify the means. If the sheep are too stupid to go where they need to be led to be saved, is it not better to deny them to the monsters that seek to claim them? Is death not preferable to an eternity of enslavement to (a) False God(s)? (<---- that statement would be equally at home in the mouth of a Commissar as it would a Word Bearer)

Just a few random thoughts on the topic.....

~BtW






 

[MaliGn]

I think that individually each word bearer would see each human as essentially beneath contempt. However when viewed on a grand scale the leadership would see the benefits of an industrious population over a dwindling one. They would delegate the task of monitoring such a battle of attrition to various adjutants, some of whom maybe almost Hyman themselves, be they servitors or tech-magi or whatever, their functions are still required as the detail of the administration is beneath the Astartes, they serve a holier cause.

 

Much as loyalist space marines are seen as emissaries of the emperor's holy light, so too are the word bearers the harbringers of the infernal truth. Each marine is the very embodiment of the word of lorgar and strikes awe into mere mortals, so no Word Bearers don't give a whit for the lives of their slaves and cultists but The Word Bearers Legion* sure do.

 

*legion used here for emphasis rather than that seperate issue.

[Aspiringchaoschampion]

I sort of see the Word Bearers respecting their human followers after all if you dont respect them why would they want to become one of you or atleast to their face. However behind closed doors they dont care about the humans

[Lord Asvaldir]

New transfer sheet for Word Bearers from FW looks sweet: http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/New_Stuff/WORD_BEARERS_LEGION_TRANSFER_SHEET.html

[Bearingtheword]

Dammit Prophet!  You always come up with the coolest conversions.....Always!

 

Anyhow, I'm back.... can't believe I was so busy with other stuff for nearly two years..... Great to see so many new faces among the Brethren!

 

And loving the fact that there are so many new goodies from FW to start working on....

 

So to make it official:

 

I've been working on my version of the XXXIVth host of the XVIIth Legion, Led by Dark Apostle Marduk and Coryphaeus Kol Badar....

 

I think I have a link to the gallery here on B&C in my sig (along with my SW Company).... Time to get cracking on it once again!

 

~BtW

 

Ok, after a lot of thought and musing I have decided to stop portraying the 34th Grand Host of the Word Bearer's........

 

 

And have decided instead to portray the 3rd Grand Company of the Word Bearer's, The Chapter of the Illuminated Verse.

 

The Illuminated Verse are led by Dark Apostle Cardinal Sar Rhavax, Coryphaeus Antaxus and First Acolyte Khariah Zoh'palos.

 

 

While portraying the 34th Grand Host was extremely fun, it has also been extremely limiting. So I figured it was time to create something of my own. I'll be developing more background and fluff as time goes on, and will try to add it in here. Thank you all for the inspiration and impetus to take this "Leap of Faith" (pun intended)....

 

~BtW

 

If any of you lads are clever with Banner/Sig making and have time to work one up for me, drop me a pm, please....Thanks!

 

 

[Tenebris]

Gentlemen and not so gentle ladies, the new FW book, HH: Tempest is out. There is a lot going on in that book and there are a lot of new information about the Word Bearers. I now officially open the discussion about the newly revealed lore of the XVIIth legion. 

[Scribe]

I like the reintroduction of Terrans, I like the bits on the old Iconoclasts, but in my skimming of it, I havent really found much else 'new' so far? To be honest though I jump from rules to pics, to campaigns, to lists...

[Terkael]

I suppose it doesn't seem like much but I did see that destroyer squads made the transition to red armor sometime before Calth. They kept the destroyer insignia as well.

[Scribe]

So speaking of HH5 (which has been very detrimental to my ETL progress...but I'll get there) has anyone played around with the Mhara Gal Dread? Expensive for sure, but with the Gal Vorbak, Erebus, Zardu Layak and the Blade Slaves...those are some fantastic models. I'm soaking my Gal Vorbak now and will be building them tomorrow.

[Forté]

Well, I know I'm still tempted with the Gal Vorbak minis. More as a base for Obliterators with all the WB markings removed ;)

 

Hey, end of the day, you WB lot are easily gaining some of the best looking minis that can be used for Chaos forces, and the art in HH5 just shows what is to come.

[Scribe]

My Gal Vorbak where great, solid cast, and some of the parts surprised my son "That guys hand has a mouth!!" He's 10, so thats a bonus. :p

 

What I wanted to alert everyone too however was the Forge World Word Bearer Red paint. I love it.

 

It comes thinned, to me perfectly for painting by brush. I dont have an air brush, but while it goes on slightly brighter, it dries to a perfect match to Mechrite, so if like me you have painted a lot of red in your life...its quite nice.

 

The coverage is great, 2 coats gets you a solid colour, and I'll be playing with shades/ink's on it later.

[Bearingtheword]

I'm looking at picking up Gal Vorbak and using then as my possessed bodyguard for my DA/Sorc..... Had been tempted to use them as Spawn but not sure I have room in my lists for them..... Are the "official" rules for the Mhara Gal in HH:5 and do they differ much from the "experimental" ones?

~BtW

Thanks for the info on that Scribe...may give that a go!

[Scribe]

Its official points are way higher, its 305. Its got 1 more HP, 1 more rear AV, and its built in bolter is upgraded to have Blind. Howling Death is also at a -1 to LD, but is it worth that difference in points? Questionable. :p

 

My only issue really, is that the model doesnt look that pose-able. 

[Bearingtheword]

Well :cuss!   Hard enough to fit anything into my lists as is, and it's point go up instead of staying static or going down...disappointing even if they upped a few things...

~BtW

 

[Scribe]

Yeah I dont know if there is some mojo in those rules, but 305 is a ton. Then again, in HH our local plays 2500 default, feels like a 1750 40K sized game.

 

My main issue is the ability to build it how we want, it looks very very static.

[totgeboren]

Well !   Hard enough to fit anything into my lists as is, and it's point go up instead of staying static or going down...disappointing even if they upped a few things...

 

~BtW

 

 

 

It does seem massively overcosted, but that has been the design ethos for FW regarding CSM for a long time, so we shouldn't be surprised.

However, they did change Accursed just a tiny bit so that it's not just Psychers and Daemons within 6" of the Mhara Gal who suffer S5 AP2 Ignore cover hits, it's also models subject to any blessing-type power.

Fun if someones tries Invisibility. :)