Twisthammer - an alternate history/reimagining of WH40K

[Midgard]

What if? What if the currents of fate became twisted and corrupted, and its architects recoiled in horror? What if the once familiar names became stuff of fevered dreams and insane prophecies uttered in a new, strange reality? What if the universe itself turned around a different pivot, diverging from the common past to form a wild future?

 

In this new universe, the Emperor's grand design bore strange fruit. The names of Horus Lupercal, Roboute Guilliman, Sanguinius, Magnus remained forgotten fantasies of another age, their deeds a fictional legacy from the dawn of humanity. No, others took their place - crafted with the same arcane science and sorcerous incantations, yet given wholly separate destinies and futures.

 

The fate of the universe still hangs by a thread, to be decided by the twenty gene-forged demigods - the Primarchs, whose Legions of Space Marines conquered the galaxy in the name of Terra only to fall to fratricidal strife. Yet these are not the Primarchs and Legions you know.

 

These are the Twenty, and they will make the universe tremble.

 

 

 

Note: this is a collaborative project where all canon Primarchs and Space Marine Legions are replaced with fan creations. The initial idea and Legion concepts are by Gulag, with input from other members of Counter-Factual.Net forums (me, Ran Exilis, SIngemeister, Meaneye, WarWolf88). The Index Astartes entries for all twenty Twisthammer Legions and Primarchs are by Gulag, me, Ran Exilis, and SIngemeister.

 

I am posting this here to see if there is interest, and to perhaps reinvigorate the project. There are several years of on-and-off work in here, and we felt that it is finally in the shape where we can share the Twisthammer universe with others. We had a lot of fun creating these characters, and hope that you enjoy the results of our work!

 

The Index Astartes entries are posted at the Twisthammer blog. In addition, what started as a for-fun project produced three novel-length works so far, all by yours truly: "Conqueror" (detailing the story behind Iskanderos' rebellion), "Reaper's War" (the tale of Angelus' and the Gargoyles' fall to Slaanesh), and "Broken Blades" (in which Baelic and the Warblades wonder if they are on the right side of the war... and then things get more complicated). For now, these works are posted at Counter-Factual.Net forums, however, as those forums will be shutting down soon, I will be reposting them if there is interest.

Edited December 1, 2015 by Midgard

[MikhalLeNoir]

Yo got me there. We work here on an alternate universe as well. But always interested in fun stuff to read

[Kelborn]

Well done.

I like the possibilities of alternate universes. Will have a look an your blog. Excited of what I will find there. ;)

[Olis]

Aha, an alternate universe. It's interesting to me what sort of alternate universe it is - just how far the authors take the 'alternate' part of the project. Me and Conn have a project between ourselves known as the Guilliman Heresy (links are in my sig) that is on hiatus. That particular work keeps the names of the primarchs but changes their fates and upbringing.

 

There was also a thread a little while ago where I explored heavily altering the primarchs and their Legions, and touched upon a heresy-like event. However, with that thought experiment I tried to keep the alternate primarchs distinctive while keeping them anchoring to at least one aspect of their canon counterpart.

 

You'll find several similar projects in the ++Special Projects++ subforum, such as the Corax Coup and the Brotherhood of the Lost.

 

Anyway. If you and your compatriots wish to further explore and expand your work, then I fully welcome it. It'd be great to see a team work on something they've created together. As a talking point, I'm interested to find out why you've filled in the blanks so to speak. Is there a definitive reason to why the second and eleventh Legions exist in Twisthammer, or was it whim?

[Midgard]

Thank you all for commenting! To address Olis' questions, the existence of IInd and XIth Legions here was on a whim more than anything else (and caused additional work for us down the line, hah!).

 

The Twisthammer universe was inspired by a forum RPG game we ran at another forum - allowing forum participants to create their own Primarchs to replace canon ones, and roleplay their interactions, military campaigns, etc. That game started with the events of Ullanor, moved on through the selection of a Warmaster (who in that game ended up being a player-created character sharing some, but not all, of Corax's background), and eventually spiraled out into civil war (which Chaos ultimately won).

 

While in the game, we still used canon Primarchs as NPCs, the game ended up going in several different directions. Instead of clear-cut Chaos/Loyalist division, we ended up with a neutral faction, which did not join in with either side but ended up with its own policy (and created many headaches for both Loyalists and Traitors). There was a lot of political manipulation and outright backstabbing, further cementing the idea that these Primarchs were not exactly the sterling examples of everything good and right with humanity.

 

It was not a long transition from that to creating a new universe which took the ideas of the Primarchs game and turned them up to eleven. By then, we have read Dornian Heresy and several other alternate Heresies on this and other forums, and decided to take the character-creation aspect of the game to its logical conclusion. This produced twenty Primarchs (after all, if you are going to get new characters, might as well make twenty of them rather than eighteen), and altered both the Great Crusade and the subsequent events in many significant ways.

 

In this universe, the Great Crusade lasted considerably longer - close to five hundred years rather than two hundred (we felt that considering the size of the galaxy, two hundred years is a very optimistic estimate of how long it would take to secure a sizeable portion of it). As the Primarch discovery was more spread out, it allowed for the first several Primarchs to gather significant prestige within the Imperium... and for several others to build up sizeable private empires which they did not want to give up. Though the first several Primarchs found by the Emperor were, to put it mildly, unsuitable to real leadership (consisting of a violent savage, a paranoid obsessive, and a bitter nihilistic monster), by the time the more "standard" Primarchs were found (the empire-builders, great generals and politicians, characters in the mold of Horus, Sanguinius, Guilliman), none of them could upset the delicate balance of power holding the alternate Imperium together.

 

And then, there is the fact that these Primarchs are not particularly nice. In fact, there are some rather nasty characters here, though also quite a few tragic ones.

 

My motivations for posting up Twisthammer has to do with the fact that we put so much work into it that it felt wrong to abandon it. This thing has been going on and off for a number of years, and produced over 90,000 words of Legion background (spread amongst twenty IAs and collaboratively written), and about 340,000 words of fiction spread out across three novels (all mine). While the group's enthusiasm might have waned a bit, I thought that sharing it (with the group's permission) could perhaps reignite interest in it. While we are aware of multiple alternate Heresy projects, I am only aware of one where all Primarchs were replaced with original creations, at /tg/ forum at 4Chan. So there seemed to be a place for another alternate Heresy that took a different approach from using or reimagining familiar characters - hence, Twisthammer.

[Kelborn]

Respect!

 

Not only that you've written the complete fluff but three novels as well. That is a ton of time and work you must've invested.

Now I'm even more interested in reading it. ;)

 

How long did you actually worked on it? And what will be the next step? A codex like the HH books?

 

We, the Brotherhood of the Lost, are actually working on it. Maybe you can have a look and could give us some feedback as well? :)

[Midgard]

Thank you! I bookmarked The Brotherhood of the Lost, and hope to check it out extensively when I have some time... until I revisited B&C, I did not realize that there were more alternate Heresies that did not simply rearrange the canon Primarchs, so it is now on my to-read list

 

As far as Twisthammer, I would definitely love at some point to have a codex (or few of these), with Legion-specific formations and rules for both 30K and 40K settings (as certain Legions underwent drastic changes). At the same time, I am realistic. I don't play tabletop enough to know a good rule or stat line from a bad one, so for something like that, I would love to get community involvement.

 

The original idea for Twisthammer goes back about 3 years or so, give or take a bit. The project waned and waxed for a while afterwards - there were periods of frantic activity when IAs got completed every few days, and periods when no work was done for months at a time. Members came and went, and for a while the thing was entirely dead. I hoped to revive it, if only to share the work that was put into this universe.

 

Personally, I am interested in telling a story, and if there is interest, I would be interested in writing more Twisthammer fiction. At one point, I had plans for ten book series to cover the entirety of Twisthammer Heresy from Iskanderos' turning (which is already covered in "Conqueror") to the eventual battle at Terra, and everything in between, however, I am not sure where these plans stand right now. A project such as this one needs audience, and I would be more willing to commit time to writing additional novels if there was community interest in those. Not to mention a more selfish reason there outside of the enjoyment of writing - I am a published author, and hope that my Twisthammer stories also help generate interest in my original works.

 

For me, the next steps would be getting the Twisthammer novels out there, hopefully with some artwork suitable to the series (unfortunately, I have no drawing or graphic design ability myself). I am not entirely sure what the best venue for that would be; ideally, I would love to put them out there as both PDFs with artwork (for free download - as this is fan-fiction, I would expect no commercial applications of it), and on the web for ease of reading, and to allow comments. If there is enough interest in the existing three novels and the Twisthammer universe, I would love to write more on these characters.

 

So, with that in mind, I would definitely appreciate some feedback on the best place(s) on the web to post Twisthammer fiction (FanFiction.Net might be one, but I am not very familiar with the site, and don't have a whole lot of time to dedicate to full research of others). Also, if anyone would be interested in providing some Twisthammer artwork or collaborating on rules, I'm game for that as well!

Edited December 4, 2015 by Midgard

[Kelborn]

I would say that you found the right community concerning rules, etc.

 

In our project, I am the only one who's not familiar with the rules and how to create them as I don't have the time / money, etc. to collect, draw and play. Therefore I'm just writing some fluff, create new chapter, Houses and so on.

BUT there are so many people here discussing rules and possible new units every day that you will quickly find someone who can help you.

 

Seems like we have something in common. I am interested in telling a story as well. Had so many ideas for stories etc. in several franchises (Warcraft, Star Wars, Halo, Black Flag, etc.) until I finally decided to turn my full attention in WH40K (Sci-Fi and Fantasy in one franchise, could not be better!). Since then (and after creating 2 chapters and started to work on my very own lost legion) I jumped at the chance and joined the Bortherhood. Nowadays I'm working on several Knight Houses and on the very first Supplement book for our alternate universe (of course not alone ^^) while most of us are working on their own legions and our first book, "Insurrection".

 

Nice job that you worked on that for 3 years and are still motivated to publish it.

 

I will read your Twisthammer project as well. Step by step as it is rather large.

 

Maybe we can exchange some ideas, etc. concerning our projects. I think that we all could benefit from that.

Edited December 4, 2015 by Kelborn

[Midgard]

Kelborn: Sounds good!   I hope to have some time over coming weeks to get a good feel for the project you are participating in, and see if there is a place in it for me to contribute (whether as a creator of content, or as a reader with occasional thought or two ).

 

 

 

[Kelborn]

Would be cool.

If you got some questions, just write a pm. :)

Allthough I joined recently, I can hopefully answer them. ;)

 

I read your section about your primarchs. I like themand. They are very different and unique. It is funny that every fan created universe got some independet Legions who went their own way during the Heresy.

[Silent Observant]

Hey! You might recognize my name from the BoltHole, I'm glad you are posting these! I missed the fiction and loved the books! If you need any help turning them into a pdf or anything of the like, let me know!

[Midgard]

Thank you! I think the biggest issue for me is the graphics/artwork - I am just not talented in those areas, and my miniature painting skills are passable... but not much more, definitely not enough to actually turn Twisthammer armies into life. If there are people who might be willing to illustrate Twisthammer and to provide covers/illustrations for the fiction, it would be really cool :)

[Midgard]

I have just updated the blog with the Twisthammer timeline from the Great Crusade until the "present day". The post-Heresy timeline is a bit bare, but there is a lot of space to fill in all kinds of events :)

[Kelborn]

New stuff to read. I like it. ;)

[Skalpynock]

The longer crusade, and primarchs reinforcing/expanding their personal fiefdoms, is something I really like (and would have considered putting the latter in the BotL universe, had the idea come to me earlier).

I love all these alternate heresies, be they with completely different primarchs (Twisthammer, BotL, Hektor Heresy) or elements of the standard universe (the Corax Coup, the Leonine Heresy, and my various thought experiments about the primarchs never being scattered or found). Just how everything changes by simply replacing one cog, and how we get a completely new universe when we change only 20 characters.

[Midgard]

Thank you guys! By the way, I started reading BotL, and think there is some good stuff in there! Maybe I missed it, but is there a thread with just the IAs for that universe? I saw Legion-specific and storyline discussion, but it seemed like it was a work-in-progress at this stage for most of the Legions? Also, is there a pre-Heresy background/history for BoTL?

 

 

Also, with respect to Twisthammer, I started thinking about tabletop applications, and got a few ideas. I don't feel completely comfortable coming up with TT rules, as I did not play enough of it to know if my suggested rules and stats are reasonable or garbage, but here are some ideas on the Primarchs.

 

Stefan Ignatiyev - in keeping with his nature as a quasi-mafia boss/spymaster/grey eminence with aristocratic pretense, he should have an average (for a Primarch) stat-line, though perhaps a close combat weapon emphasizing dueling with enemy characters (swordsmanship is an aristocratic pastime, and he could be above average swordsman - again, for a Primarch). His special abilities should center around bringing units from reserve, infiltrating units, and the like (a version of Heroic Intervention where he can bring a reserve unit onto the tabletop at will, and allow it to attack on the same turn). I would presume it would make him one of the lower point-cost Primarchs, and less effective combatants.

 

Kthuln - he is a close combat monster, and should be treated as one in terms of stat line and rules. As he loses Wounds, he should get stronger, and perhaps get additional rules such as FNP. This would represent the thin veneer of civilization slipping away to reveal outright savagery. Kthuln should be an all-around assault fighter, capable of slicing through any kind of enemy.

 

Zaeed - an average stat line, probably higher than average (for a Primarch) initiative, and a special ability centered around his "Storm Bringer" trait (either treated as a psychic long-range attack, a debuff for enemy troops, an ability to give allied troops a cover save or to infiltrate them). He should be more of a force multiplier than a fighter expected to carry the army on his back.

 

Echelon - uniquely amongst the Primarchs, Echelon should be a unit of 3-5 models, one of which is designated as Echelon Prime. The non-Prime models would all have strong stat line (but below a Primarch), something akin to better versions of Dreadnoughts. The Prime model should have a stat line of a lower-end Primarch, with a choice of advanced technological wargear intended to kill from distance rather than for close combat. The non-Prime models can be detached from the unit and attached to other Steel Wardens units as Independent Characters with buffs for the units they join. If the Prime model is destroyed, another non-Prime Echelon model can be designated as Echelon Prime (its stat line would increase, but its wargear stays the same). This should represent Echelon's multiple bodies and ability to transfer command between them. Naturally, this would make him one of the most expensive characters, points-wise.

 

Ashur - second highest Initiative amongst the Primarchs, Combat Drugs rule (FNP variant), one of the better close combat Primarchs. Can take a combat bike, which should give him improved Toughness. Should be one of the better combat-oriented Primarchs on the tabletop, representing that he is a powerful and unpredictable fighter, but perhaps less of a general and more of a gang leader in mentality.

 

Iskanderos - should be pretty well-rounded with no particular weaknesses, and a number of buffs for the troops to represent his generalship. I see him as more of a "baseline" Primarch, at least before his fall to Chaos.

 

Mohktal - THE psychic Primarch, who is also a close combat monster with increased Strength and Initiative (think Eastern martial arts as the cause, and as an application of many of his psychic powers). His psychic abilities should be centered more on buffing himself and his men, as opposed on ranged attacks and the like.

 

Nihlus - slightly above average in close combat, but has psychic powers geared towards offense and debuffing enemies. Enemies within 6" suffer from -1 Strength or -1 Initiative (due to noxious smell and Nihlus' terrifying visage). May cause Fear. He is more of a fighter than a force multiplier.

 

Nyxos - if Corax and Kurze had a bastard love child, and then let Mortarion raise him, he would be Nyxos. Anti-psychic measures, plus a close combat monster with stealth-themed army buffs. Causes Fear.

 

Gideon - another well-rounded Primarch, with buffs to nearby allies, and perhaps abilities centered around giving Astartes units unique abilities. Not too different from Iskanderos, but probably more ranged centered than close combat.

 

Baelic - should be all about close combat, but gets bonuses when fighting characters, monstrous creatures, and the like (worthy opponents, and all that). Not much of an army buff character, but a fairly straightforward fighter/duelist. Might have extra attacks due to his two swords. Baelic should be essentially a budget version of Kthuln, but geared to fighting characters, monsters, and the like, where he excels.

 

Rogr Hemri - he should have a rather average or even slightly below-average stat line (he is a politician and a ruler, not a front-line fighter), but most of his abilities should center on buffing friendly units to represent his skills in propaganda, spinning the story his way, and getting others to go along. His added value is by allowing the player to bring greater numbers to tabletop than normally possible, or perhaps through enabling some "cannon fodder" units to be taken at decreased cost. By himself, Hemri should not be great on TT, but he should be a decent, if budget-priced, force multiplier for an army built around numerical superiority.

 

Dyal Rulf - as one of the more secretive, scientifically minded Primarchs, Rulf would have an average or even a below average stat line, but with abilities to compensate. He would give his army Preferred Enemy (or equivalent) to represent studying the enemy's weak points, and perhaps extra movement during one of the phases (to represent his preference for rapid, coordinated assaults). Rulf should be less about fighting in person (though he would be at least somewhat competent at it, even if not great), and more about exploiting weak points of the enemy army through Preferred Enemy, debuffs, preventing the enemy from bringing Reserves into play, and making the other player reroll the dice.

 

Angelus - he gets Wings by default, which essentially turns him into a Flying Monstrous Creature. In addition, he should be in the upper quartile of Primarchs with respect to close combat, and a high Mastery level psyker. His psychic powers should be centered on ranged Witchfire attacks, and divination/clairvoyance (rerolling unfavorable dice results, making the enemy roll for reserves, etc). This should come with a few flaws, as could be expected from a guy who constantly hears voices in his head - he might have to take constant Leadership checks, where on the roll of 1 he would be essentially paralyzed for the duration of a turn, to represent him being extremely volatile. I presume he would be one of the higher point cost Primarchs.

 

Griven Kall - archaeotech and xenotech are the words of the day. Griven Kall should be an above-average fighter (though not on the level of Kthuln or Baelic), but he should be loaded to the gills with wargear, unique devices, and plasma weaponry. He should have a decent amount of buffs to the units in his army, and make non-Astartes units fight considerably better (he is considered a hero of the Imperium, after all, thanks to his anti-xeno stance). He should also have Preferred Enemy (Eldar) due to his adventures in Commoragh... I doubt he would make a distinction between regular and Dark Eldar.

 

Leto - his stat line should be the definition of average for a Primarch, not flashy but effective. His abilities should have more to do with him arriving in the right spot, at the right time, and with the right wargear. As one of the smartest Primarchs, he would have the ability to change one or two of his special rules during the game (adapting to the battlefield situation), though once the change(s) is made, it is permanent for the rest of the game. Leto should give a decent amount of bonuses to allied units, and should uncover some additional unit synergies (perhaps giving bonuses to unit A as long as unit B is also on the table, and vice versa). He should be one of the better force multiplier Primarchs, if not the best or the most expensive TT option.

 

Andrieu Ulliann - Andrieu is the "random" Primarch, meaning that before the game, the player should roll on the table to pick one (or more) special rules. Those rules would apply through the rest of the game, and would represent Andrieu's tactical unpredictability (and his approach to war as a talented dilettante rather than as a true general, which may lead to strange choices). His other rules would include some sort of unit buff due to inspirational leadership, and ability for certain Legion Elites to roll for an application of a special rule pre-game. He would be one of the mid-cost Primarchs, as he has potential to be extremely powerful with some luck, but can also be a point sink with little return if the rolls do not go your way.

 

Marvus - a spymaster/taskmaster/resident psycho (though he hides it very well) with a reputation for dirty fighting, which implies that he should have access to WMD style wargear. He should not be the best hand-to-hand fighter, and in fact be fairly average at that, but he should be a decent all-around support/force multiplier character. Marvus can be one of the lower point cost characters, and more of a budget Primarch option.

 

Maikhaira - the highest initiative among the Primarchs, combined with one of the better close combat stat lines/war gear/rules combinations. He should be fast, good in close combat, and probably equipped with a jump pack. He should have a Larai-i-Moha rule, which is essentially a battle trance he enters when sufficiently wounded. At that time, he would gain FNP or similar, Preferred Enemy, and extra movement, at the cost of being forced to move to the nearest enemy unit and attack it in close combat. In addition, he should be able to buff a single unit of Iron Locust elites to give them a significant boost, or give all Iron Locust units within 12" of him an Initiative boost (thanks to the quasi-"hive mind" connection). To further the "hive mind" connection, he should be able to allocate some of his wounds to an allied unit, though this ability needs to be toned down so that it does not become too powerful. I would imagine him being a rather high-point cost character.

 

Corwin - an above-average (though not exceptional) WS and number of Attacks, though rather average in other respects. His strength is in giving his units a plethora of special abilities (either Eternal Warrior, FNP, or something similar to represent their extreme levels of devotion on top of their existing knightly honor code). If he is about to lose his last wound, he can execute a special move up to 6" to avoid harm, and to negate the attacks targeted against him that turn. This ability can only be used once per game, though if he cannot make a legal move, he would be taken off the table. His other special abilities should allow an Angel Kings army to take Knight walkers at reduced point cost for a Heavy Support slot (or equivalent).

 

What do you folks think?

[Kelborn]

Good questions.

 

Yeah, it is in a work in progress stage. We are all working on our stuff while discussing general things together. Besides that simison and some other are already writing the Alpha version of our first book.

 

To be honest, it is a total mess if you are a newbie. BUT if you just ask someone, he will help you. For example MikhalLeNoir helped me quite a lot. Without his explanations I'd nether understood who is who and what happened because of what, etc.

 

A little hint of mine: read the General Discussion, the Reference Information and the Great Crusade. There you'll find most of the important information to start into the "broverse".

Edited December 10, 2015 by Kelborn

[Skalpynock]

Indeed, someone should write a Quick Start Guide like that pic in your first post. Depending on how I decide to spend my day tomorrow, I may have a go at it.

[Midgard]

Quick question since I have not spent much time on B&C until recently... is this sub-forum the most appropriate place for Twisthammer, or is there a better place? Also, would any of you folks like to have the IA entries posted on B&C rather than via a link?

[Midgard]

New post is up on the blog (http://twisthammer.blogspot.com) dealing with the certain themes behind the Legions/Primarchs, a "breaking the fourth wall" look into them, if you will.

[Midgard]

Not to spam the thread, just a friendly public service announcement that I started to post the first (chronologically) Twisthammer novel "Conqueror" here at B&C. I'll post it chapter at a time to keep it manageable... the finished novel clocked at over 140,000 words, and might be a bit to take in one sitting.

 

The link to the thread in Fan Fiction sub-forum is here. Hope you folks enjoy (and comments/attaboys/feedback are always welcome)!

[simison]

Not sure if you're still checking this thread, but I had a question. Was Zaeed's name picked before or after Mass Effect 2?

[Midgard]

Not sure if you're still checking this thread, but I had a question. Was Zaeed's name picked before or after Mass Effect 2?

 

I think it might have been after ME2, though in all honesty, he was named and created by @Gulag rather than myself. I did not get to play through ME2 until years after Twisthammer was started, and never encountered a character named Zaeed in my own play-through, so I have no idea if the Third Primarch of Twisthammer has anything in common with the ME2 character other than the name :)

[simison]

Quickly reviewing Twisthammer Zaeed, there doesn't seem to be much in common with the ME2 character. So, because I'm lazy (and have no idea why my google account posts have my username as 'no'), what were the running theories for what was going with the Emperor? In my Brotherhood of the Lost project, we understood that it was necessary to pin him in the throne room to give our Arch-Traitor, Icarion, a chance. 

 

I didn't see any info for what happened to the Emperor in your timeline, so I'm curious as to how you solved that issue.

[Midgard]

We purposely left the Emperor's actions and fate somewhat cryptic, but there are hints as to what happened at the end of "Conqueror" (

he might have been the force trying to drive Iskanderos to rebellion, knowing that it was the rebellion he COULD defeat

), and the fourth novel in the series ("Death March", in progress as of now) covers that a lot more.