Black Book - Insurrection (PUBLISHED)

[Sigismund229]

Due to the sheer size of the galaxy, the Emperor was obliged to organize the Imperial military into various battle groups known as Expeditionary Fleets. Although their commanders took their orders directly from the Emperor and the War Council, each one of them operated in a state of semi-autonomy, free to make war as they saw necessary. Each Expeditionary Fleet was composed of a stunning range of void ships both great and small, from scouts and pathfinders to drop ships, enormous troop transports, provender barques, Mechanicum Arks, light cruisers, and powerful battleships. Their paths were dictated by myriad factors: apocryphal lore salvaged from Dark Age vaults which hinted at where the great colonies of old may be found, the prognostications of the Martian Tech-priests and their Terran kin of savant-scholars, and the infamous yet rare breed of Rogue Traders given license to sail ahead of the fleets as birds of ill omen before a tempest, as well as unreliable sources, such as myths, rumours, and legends.

 

At this auspicious time, the Imperial military played host to the entire Space Marine Legion Corps who, given top priority, enjoyed large influxes of resources and technology from the entire Sol System. This led to an exponential rise in their ranks numbers and capabilities. The Space Marine Legions were the speartip-the bane of all who opposed the Imperium by forming the lethal edge of the Great Crusade, whether human or alien.

 

Yet these great warriors did not stand alone. Behind the legions marched the Imperial Army: hundreds of human troops drafted from the warlike cultures of Terra before expanding with recruits from newly compliant worlds (the particular genius of this policy was to reduce possible dissent by removing possible soldiers from their homeworld and sending them to the ever expanding frontiers). The Imperial Army served as a second line, mopping up after the Space Marine Legions and holding ground. When the legions were unavailable, they took their stead as best they could, relying chiefly on their weight of numbers and strength of iron as their only advantages. Besides the Imperial Army and just as important to the war effort, stood the gigantic war machines of the Mechanicum and its Forge Worlds, the greatest of these being the towering Titans of the Collegia Titanica. Worlds broke and cities melted beneath their power when the Titans deployed. Beyond them were a host of smaller organisations and armed formations, some charged with upholding Imperial law, others tasked with unique roles or combating unusual foes. The most significant of these were the glorious Custodian Guard, the Emperor’s Bodyguard who were few in number but great in strength.

 

[Anything I can do instead of homework is much appreciated]

[simison]

Heh, the sooner you do the homework, the sooner it's not threatening you. 

 

Anyway, two quick notes: " the Emperor was obliged to organize the Imperial military" - I'd suggest changing the verb. *adopts Chuck Norris voice* The Emperor is not obliged to do anything, he does the obligin'.

 

Two: "Besides the Imperial Army and just as important to the war effort, stood the gigantic..." - There needs to be a comma between 'and' & 'just'.

 

Sigismund, I had an idea. Since you're our expert on British spelling, do you want to focus on being our editor? 

[Sigismund229]

Yeah sure, that may be better than me writing background as I already have 2 legions to be working on

[Chief Captain Redd]

Hello BoTL, I apologize for my absence. I will have all the Bears stuff here very soon. You've all been doing incredible work, and I can't wait to be in it's midst again!

[Kelborn]

You're speed is incredible. To be honest, I never would have imagined that this project would take it's form within a couple of days, respect!

 

There were some voices who spoke against your projects? Can't understand that. It's a hobby and everyone can do what he or she wants with it. I'm happy that you didn't listened to those critics. :)

 

Like Knightbringer I would like to offer you my help if you need it. Allthough I'm working on my own Legion (you can ask Mikhal, I bet that I'm a pain in the ... for him :P), I'm willing to support you. :)

 

Keep it up, guys. It's worth it. :D

[Grifftofer]

Guys all I have to say is wow... Seriously. It's not very often a project like this catches my eye but by jingo this is some of the best fluff for 40-30k I have ever read, and I am counting the canonverse stuff in that statement too. Your dedication to your legions is outstanding and the torrent of original ideas has kept me captivated for the past six hours or so as I have gone through all of you're threads. Going to be reading anything you guys write form now on with great interest and if you ever need some some knight houses written feel free to drop me a PM and I will gladly contribute to this momentous undertaking

 

You're speed is incredible. To be honest, I never would have imagined that this project would take it's form within a couple of days, respect!

 

There were some voices who spoke against your projects? Can't understand that. It's a hobby and everyone can do what he or she wants with it. I'm happy that you didn't listened to those critics.

 

Like Knightbringer I would like to offer you my help if you need it. Allthough I'm working on my own Legion (you can ask Mikhal, I bet that I'm a pain in the ... for him ), I'm willing to support you.

 

Keep it up, guys. It's worth it.

 

Firstly I'd like to thank you guys for the support. Whenever someone says they are enjoying what we're doing or that they are looking forward to what we produce, it gives me more drive to get things done. Which is never a bad thing to have :)

 

Also I'd like to congratulate you KnightBringer on successfully making it through all the posts. Speaking as someone who has needed to go through them at various times searching for info I know that can be time consuming. I'd like to thank you both for your offers of help as well, it's nice to know we have the option if we need it.

 

 

Ok. On to the book text. Is someone taking the sections we have here and putting them together anywhere? If not should I maybe attempt to do this? I'm mainly asking because having this text all together rather than scattered through the thread would make the transfer into the book itself much easier. So it's entirely selfish, but if someone has already started I don't have to :P

 

I also feel I should maybe bring up the complicated issue of art. Do we have any thoughts/plans with regards to this? I'm not certain what the legal/ethical implications of taking art from google would be for us. It's sort of what I've done previously when working with simison on his Halcyon Wardens, but is it something we'd be happy to do for this project?

[MikhalLeNoir]

Best would be, if we can get some artists who want to participate in the project nd make all for free.

Getting images from google and even if we recolour them or add new legion symbols, are a copyright infrigement which could cost the project leader its head.

 

 

...

...

...

..

.

Okay, lets do it :-)

[Hesh Kadesh]

Considering it is an unpaid piece of work, it makes no difference as you say; it is essentially theft of their work, some of which may be a commision and owned by someone else.

 

Asking people to work for free is well and good if they want to, but if someone random came up to me and said 'hey I'm a random nonprofit/freeware distributing startup, can you look through our contracts please? By the way we can't pay you" I'd tell them to take a running jump.

 

Asking a self employed person to work for free isn't going to get good responses in my experience. Same for as a musocoan, number of times the wench has been asked to play a gig on a busy weekend evening and do so for free, thinking that they are doing her a favour by giving her 'free advertising' is ridiculous.

 

If it works, it works. But I don't expect it to.

[MikhalLeNoir]

I had the guys from the dornian heresy in mind. We dont need pro paintings. And if spou maybe for a big artwork of the battle of terra we might get enough money gathered.

 

And I just mocked Simison, as he is the project leader ;)

[simison]

I noticed that Mikhal. I like my head where it is.

 

Moving in reverse order, this is a complete fan project, I'm a little unfamiliar with any kind of restriction. In other words, I don't know why copyright laws might come into effect since our 'product' will be absolutely free. Now, I can understand that if we use somebody's art that we ask for permission where we can and give credit where due, but I don't understand how we can get in trouble if we don't do that, rude as it may be. 

 

I myself don't really have an art plan. The entire Wardens project was done without expecting to have any artwork available until Grifft came along and gave me some options. 

 

Grifft, my goal was to just get all of the text in this one thread. After that, I didn't have a plan to move it all together, but since you'll (likely) be translating them into FW pages, I can grab them all and put them in a Word document.

[Grifftofer]

If you could simison that'd be great. I know that not everything will come in in the order that it should fit together, but knowing me I'd forget and we'd end up with some very oddly constructed sections of writing.

[Skalpynock]

Which reminds me, I need to check how my sections fit with the multi-column style of FW's legion fluff pages, in regards to length of the whole thing.

[simison]

Which reminds me, I need to check how my sections fit with the multi-column style of FW's legion fluff pages, in regards to length of the whole thing.

 

That was quite a struggle for me to get used to when I first started writing. The sections we've done here so far should help give you an idea, since they're just re-writes.

[simison]

His forces marshaled, the Emperor launched his grand mission to liberate Man from the aliens and warp creatures that had destroyed it. Freedom expanded with the Great Crusade to world after world. Whenever a human society was found, diplomacy reached out with open hands, aiming to ‘Achieved Compliance’ with the ‘Imperial Truth’, as it was known in those halcyon days. Many worlds rejoiced at the reunion with noble Terra and enjoyed security and prosperity as the Imperium rescued them from the darkness. Others required a closed fist as tyrants were broken and corrupt religions cleansed. Mercy toward humanity would always be sought, so long as it had not become irrevocably mutated or grievously tainted. The alien would not receive no such mercy as xenos oppressors were annihilated or sent running into the void in a series of epic wars that freed enslaved billions and rent empires asunder. Around every turn of the galaxy, the brutish Orks infected ruins like vermin and were eradicated wherever they were found. The Eldar, ancient and perfidious, were pushed back in encounter after encounter with those who stood being laid waste to by the Great Crusade’s might. In addition to these infamous races were countless others found; lesser species were met with no pity or remorse as they were exterminated, while the more bizarre or unnatural who were able to resist annihilation were driven into the outer darkness, such as the noisome Hrudd or the nightmare Salugth. Not all threats were as corporeal. On planets overrun with the taint of warp creatures and where the barrier between reality and madness were open, the warriors of the Imperium would leave nothing to chance. Vortex missiles and virus bombs unleashed in apocalyptic fashion would purge worlds of their madness in the form of Exterminatus, the most final of all tactics.

 

Not all victories were military in nature. As the Great Crusade achieved success after success, one boon to the war effort was the reuniting of the Space Marine Legions with their gene-fathers, the Primarchs. Once thought lost, one by one they were found by the Emperor sooner or later. With his sons standing with him once again, the Emperor not only had generals waiting to fulfill their destinies but used their planets to further the Imperial cause. These homeworld of the Primarchs would become hosts to their legions, each of them becoming heavily fortified and reinforced. Along with a handful of other strategically-located planets, they became lynchpins of the Great Crusade as it moved farther and farther away from Terra, which strained central command and coordination. With these new bases established and distant Forge Worlds of the Mechanicum, the Great Crusade was able to travel farther by consolidating and launching assaults anywhere across the galaxy.

 

[That paragraph was huge.]

[simison]

The Darkness of Old Night

Long before the techno-barbarians scavenged across Earth’s rotting carcass, a similar state existed as pollution and lack of resources force those early survivors to journey across the stars far from home. What awaited them were horrors uncounted yet rewards immeasurable. What foes that fought them or trials that crushed them are beyond our knowledge, only that humanity succeeded. Never again would Mankind be limited to a single system, but would manage colonies across the galaxy. At its zenith, humanity was rendered as gods of science, able to remake planets in the image of young Earth, harness the energy of stars, and give counterfeit-life to fashioned men from iron and clay to serve them. This was the Dark Age of Technology. An era of unprecedented human superiority as they reigned for millennia. All of it undone in a few short centuries, which saw the rise of a new age of bloody brutality and widespread ignorance as untold billions died, their screams unanswered and unheard. Thus ended the Dark Age of Technology, dark because we know so little of the accomplishments of those galactic masters. 

 

[since Sigismund is switching over to editing, I'm taking over his section, seeing as I've finished the last one.]

[MikhalLeNoir]

The Dawn of the Imperium.

Ruling alone was impossible, even for such a man like the Emperor. Understanding this, he formed a War Council, consisting of his closest generals and a number of high-ranking administrators. Among them was Malcador, known under the name „the Siglite“. He was a man of mind, not of war. He resembled more a priest than a warrior. Despite that, he was the most formidable man on the council. His origins unknown, although it was whispered, that he was related tot he emperor and that he know where Malcador the Siglite came from.

As the Emperors left hand, he was tasked to run the imperial palace and court and therefore managed the administration oft he imperium in the absence of his master.

The War-torn Terra made space for a Terra full of unending activity, planning, visions and production.

Just as the days of war seemed to end and old terra was in the hands oft he emperor, an cosmic incident took place. The warpstorms which isolated terra for the last 5000 years were blasted away, as a giant shock wave shaked the immaterium, ending the turmoil and freeing Terra from their grasps and opening the door to the galaxy.

The people on terra rejoiced and this event was considered an divine intervention, deepening the belief of those, who considered the Emperor himself divine (Although he rejected this claim with all his hearth).

Now, as the gate to the stars was open, the emperor would start to reclaim the worlds lost to humanity with his armies, starting with the other planets in Terras soloar system. First would be the earths moon and then mars….and thus the Great crusade finally begun.

 

----------------------------------------------------------------

 

Dear editors, it is free for you to tear apart^^

[simison]

The true Dark Age that followed would become known as Old Night in the commoner’s tongue, while the scholars preferred to call it the Age of Strife. For over five thousand years, the nightmares continued unabated. Warp storms would isolate the colonies of Man from one another and from Ancient Earth as interstellar travel became prohibitively deadly. Removed from Terra and one another, the bereft colonies descended into anarchy as old, local grievances exploded into civil wars, while opportunistic tyrants seized power over others. Human civilization was dealt a shattering blow, while death consumed whole worlds. Without trade and protection, colonies died via planet-wide famines, insanity, and – worst of all – perils of the Warp.

 

In those days, the existence of warp creatures and daemons and the threat they posed to the human mind were little understood.  Wherever there were gatherings of emergent psykers, the barrier between physical reality and the Immaterium weakened to the point where the denizens could cross over. Any invasion of the Immaterium is catastrophic, but in those days entire worlds were swallowed by the Warp, to the eternal horror of their inhabitants. With the fall of human civilization, lurking old foes and opportunistic aliens seized their chance to satisfy their nefarious purposes, whether it was a chance for vengeance or a chance for plunder and slaves. Hundreds of human-inhabited star systems were ravaged and sacked, their peoples enslaved, tortured, and massacred. The final casualty was civility as surviving mankind settlements tossed away culture and knowledge in place of raw barbarism for the sake of survival.

 

Humanity stood on the edge of the abyss and destruction as its children faced against uncountable challenges. All around, the human race was under siege by ravaging aliens, corrupting warp denizens, starving famine, infecting pestilence, and bloody internal strife, leaving the surviving embers of Mankind a pale shadow to their former glory as the dead rapidly outnumbered the living. Those few who weren’t consumed with the bitter task of survival, it seemed that the end times were here, and it would be a slow death of decay as their race slipped into the yawning void. None could see a way out of the hellish chains dragging them to the depths of annihilation and save Mankind. Yet, hope would come.

 

Terra would receive no quarter from the Age of Strife. Already suffering from ills that had driven its early inhabitants to seek better shores among the stars, the birth world of humanity would writhe as further indignities forced themselves upon it. Incessant war reduced the planet to nothing more than a barren wasteland with the few exceptions of fortified techno-castles of the barbarians built over the corpses of lost civilizations, while its people degenerated into hordes feral nomads. Led by religious demagogues, vivisector-warlords, cyber-augmented butcher-kings, and insane prophets, the tribes were led into war after war as one tyrant after another rose to prominence only to fall back into obscurity. Tribes formed, fought, and disintegrated as petty empires fought to establish themselves only to break apart, while humanity languished. Whispered tales like of the Unspeakable King and the Seven Neverborn terrified generations as uncounted billions died unremembered. Bloodshed and anarchy was Terra’s true ruler.   

 

[Rest of the Old Night section.] 

[simison]

The Dawn of the Imperium.

Ruling alone was impossible, even for such a man like the Emperor. Understanding this, he formed a War Council, consisting of his closest generals and a number of high-ranking administrators. Among them was Malcador, known under the name „the Siglite“. He was a man of mind, not of war. He resembled more a priest than a warrior. Despite that, he was the most formidable man on the council. His origins unknown, although it was whispered, that he was related tot he emperor and that he know where Malcador the Siglite came from.

As the Emperors left hand, he was tasked to run the imperial palace and court and therefore managed the administration oft he imperium in the absence of his master.

The War-torn Terra made space for a Terra full of unending activity, planning, visions and production.

Just as the days of war seemed to end and old terra was in the hands oft he emperor, an cosmic incident took place. The warpstorms which isolated terra for the last 5000 years were blasted away, as a giant shock wave shaked the immaterium, ending the turmoil and freeing Terra from their grasps and opening the door to the galaxy.

The people on terra rejoiced and this event was considered an divine intervention, deepening the belief of those, who considered the Emperor himself divine (Although he rejected this claim with all his hearth).

Now, as the gate to the stars was open, the emperor would start to reclaim the worlds lost to humanity with his armies, starting with the other planets in Terras soloar system. First would be the earths moon and then mars….and thus the Great crusade finally begun.

 

 

 

He was a man of mind, not of war. He resembled more a priest than a warrior = He was a man of the mind, not of war, closely resembling a priest as opposed to a warrior. [This is smoother.]

 

His origins unknown, although it was whispered, that he was related tot he emperor and that he know where Malcador the Siglite came from. = His origins unknown, it was whispered that he was related to the Emperor, who alone knew of where Malcador the Sigilite came from. [issues with commas and clauses, along with a spelling typo and a missing capitlization.]

 

Emperors = Emperor's

 

tasked to run the imperial palace = tasked with running the Imperial Palace [improper preposition & capitalization error.]

 

oft he imperium= of the Imperium

 

which isolated terra for the last 5000 years= which had isolated Terra for the last five-thousand years...[improper tense, capitalization, spell out 5000]

 

War-torn= war-torn

 

 old terra was in the hands oft he emperor, an cosmic incident took place. =old Terra...of the Emperor, a cosmic incident struck. [Capitalization, spelling, replaced linking verb with action verb to strengthen sentence.]

 

warpstorms = warp storms

 

away, as a giant shock= away as a giant shock [no comma]

 

wave shaked the immaterium= wave shook the Immaterium [improper tense & caps]

 

terra = Terra

 

rejoiced and this event= rejoiced, and this event [missing comma]

 

an divine intervention, deepening the belief of those, who considered the Emperor himself divine (Although he rejected this claim with all his hearth).= a divine intervention, deepening the belief of those who considered the Emperor to be a god (although he strenously rejected this claim). [an only if in front of a word beginning with a vowel, extra comma, weak writing to use the same word twice in a sentence (divine) and stylistic change.]

 

emperor =Emperor

 

in Terras soloar system= in Terra's solar system [apostrophe needed, spelling error]

 

earths moon and then mars=Luna and then Mars [name suggestion, caps error]

[MikhalLeNoir]

:) you could have simply changed it ;)

[simison]

you could have simply changed it

 

Could, but this way you're getting an idea on how to improve your English writing skills.

[simison]

Lords of the Imperium

 

Above the massive machine that was the Great Crusade, the War Council operated as it had when the Emperor had first convened them. Since the Great Crusade was the highest priority of the Imperium, these individuals essentially became the ruling body as the Emperor added hundreds of human worlds to his domain. As was his right, the Emperor sat at the head of this Council; at his left hand advised the venerable Malcador and with them were the greatest of his general, tempered in the burning forges of the Unification Wars as well as talented administrators recruited from the great ruling dynasties of Terra and the solar system, and when the Emperor secured his alliance with Mars, the Fabricator-General of the Mechanicum also claimed his seat. As the Imperium’s expanded farther and farther, the War Council would find its members stretched from Terra to a half-dozen battle fronts. Unable to physically assemble due to distance and vagaries of the Warp, a body of Astropaths were drafted to provide communication between the Council members.

 

Every new world added to the Imperial ranks required an overseer, thus the office of Imperial governor was instituted, and each governor would answer and serve to the pleasure of the Emperor and his War Council. The majority of these new leaders were military men and women who were rewarded for their faithful service with planetary rule in the name of the Imperium they had bled for, while others were indigenous rulers who, with wisdom, understood the folly of resisting the Emperor’s noble dream and submitted themselves to his reign, earning their right to govern.

 

Although Imperial Governors answered to no other on their respective planets, all observed the important responsibilities and necessary strictures set forth by Imperial law. First among them, the governors were charged with propagating and defending the Imperial Truth and second was to fulfill the planetary tithe required to sustain the Imperium as a whole, whether it be supplying soldiers or resources and providing succor and shelter for the armies and fleets of the Emperor. Another priority task was to restore purity to their human charges by cleansing the populations of grievous mutation-specifically psykers. For the psykers, it was their duty to wait for the Black Ships and make the journey to Terra, no matter the distance. If the governors failed in this task, the price was exterminates. This dignified system was known as the Imperial Tithe.

 

As the Great Crusade grew in size, so too did the War Council mirror its growth. Ministers of state, admirals, generals, sector governors, and commands were either elevated to this prodigious body or were joined to it. Existing below them were technocrats, advocates, and legal experts chosen to carry out control of the far-flung administrative systems and world-regimes with the dull yet vital chains of supply and distribution whose enormous size strained belief. As the Emperor’s sons were found one by one, each claimed a rightful spot on the War Council as was the Chief Custodian of the Emperor’s Bodyguard, but such men were creatures of war (with a few exceptions) not politics. Time would eventually begin to take its due as various Council members succumbed to old age and infirmity, while others fell in battle, their numbers replaced only occasionally. Thus the task of administering the Imperium and its minutiae grew in complexity to the point where only sharp-witted and ageless Malcador the Sigillite was capable of accomplished, leading him to become the overseer of the Imperial Tithe and overall chief of the Imperial Administration.

 

By this point, all of the Primarchs had successfully been reunited with their respective legions, while the Imperium had restored millions of human planets to safety and prosperity within its borders. The alien had been crushed, exterminated when possible or sent reeling to the edge of civilized space, contained and ready to be destroyed at the Emperor’s command. The Imperium’s strength reached its apex, beyond the hope of any of its enemies to overcome, no matter the technology of their arms or the power of their witchcraft. It seemed that the Emperor’s grand plan to secure human dominance was unstoppable. 

[simison]

Apotheosis

It was at this apogee that the Emperor declared it was time for him to return to Terra to begin the next phase of his plan to ensure human superiority. Although none could replace him, he had faith that his gene-sons, the Primarchs, could prosecute the Great Crusade and continue the unending list of victories the Emperor had begun. His trust seemed well-earned. The legions and their Primarchs had each achieved a long list of military successes of their own doing, and were well along the paths of alien destruction and human security throughout the galaxy.

 

At the glorious Triumph on Qarith, once the center of a deviant mutated race of humans that threatened Segmentum Sola, the Emperor bestowed upon the Primarch Alexandros VonSalim the title of Warmaster and the authority over the entire Imperial military forces as the Emperor’s chosen representative. The other Primarchs were then instructed to follow and obey Alexandros and complete the Great Crusade’s mission. It was rumored there was quiet dissent among the Primarchs over the Emperor’s decision to return to Terra and leave them to continue the Great Crusade, but the Emperor was as adamant as he was silent as to why he had changed his path.

 

Taking his leave of the Great Crusade, the Emperor returned to the Imperial Palace to undertake an important task that was wrapped in a cloak of secrecy. After enlisting certain advisors, the Emperor retired to the private vaults of his city-fortress. Alexandros meanwhile set about his new duties with an early reluctance.

 

His appointment was welcomed by some but a shock to most. Icarion Stormborn, the first-found, had fought at the side of the Emperor for the longest and had been a dutiful lieutenant of the Emperor. For the ‘second’ son to be chosen over the first left an unanswered mystery almost as large as the Emperor’s sudden departure from the Great Crusade. There were critics, even among his fellow brothers, some subtle, a few brazen. Brutal Raktra was one of the most vocal, calling the appointment a foolish mistake followed by claims that he would’ve been far more suited to the role. Despite whispered resistance and his own confusion, Alexandros would honor his father’s trust and threw himself into his new role. Several of his brother Primarchs would offer him their full support: Daer’dd, Gwalchavad, and Icarion. Whether he found resentment or celebration, Alexandros sought to build a foundation as he met with each of his brothers in private and in public before an assembly of the legions. Alexandros swore he would dedicate himself to the execution of his duties and be a faithful servant to the Imperium, his brothers, and the Emperor. 

 

[Finally reached new ground. Also, I still need Sigismund (or anyone) to check the the Old Night & the rest of the Great Crusade sections.]

[MikhalLeNoir]

Damn...yonder art evil, sir!!!

[simison]

Damn...yonder art evil, sir!!!

 

I'm...sorry?

[MikhalLeNoir]

I bet you are not^^

 

Will correct it asap.