[IRON GAUNTLET] Index Unknown-The Specters of the Purged

[Kelborn]

Finally made it, sorry for the delay.

 

I, too, have the same concerns which were already mentioned. So I'll leave them out of this post.

 

Question to your suggested flaws:

 

Maybe I've missed it but why would they have a weakness against flamers? Because of them being spectral?

 

How about giving them a weakness against psychic abilities? As far as I've understood it, their ethereal form could be more reactive with the powers of warp. That's why they need leading figures, who focus their brothers. (Maybe their own librarians?)

 

As a non player, I can't say anything to rules and the like, sorry.

 

Your suggestion about them being a closing hand, reminded my of the ghost army in LotR Return of the King. You could combine it with a certain flaw.

They have to overwhelm their enemies very quickly. Otherwise they get to weak to stay in the mortal realm or they loose the momentum by giving their enemies enough time to use warp shenanigans.

[TheBlindPrimarch]

Finally made it, sorry for the delay.

 

I, too, have the same concerns which were already mentioned. So I'll leave them out of this post.

 

Question to your suggested flaws:

 

Maybe I've missed it but why would they have a weakness against flamers? Because of them being spectral?

 

How about giving them a weakness against psychic abilities? As far as I've understood it, their ethereal form could be more reactive with the powers of warp. That's why they need leading figures, who focus their brothers. (Maybe their own librarians?)

 

As a non player, I can't say anything to rules and the like, sorry.

 

Your suggestion about them being a closing hand, reminded my of the ghost army in LotR Return of the King. You could combine it with a certain flaw.

They have to overwhelm their enemies very quickly. Otherwise they get to weak to stay in the mortal realm or they loose the momentum by giving their enemies enough time to use warp shenanigans.

Thanks for the review Kel, to answer your questions,

 

-I've decided that the Specters would have a weakness to flamer based weapons because of their element, which is ice. The void is cold, so having that be part of the force's character makes sense. (lol, that reminds me of an edit I need to make to one of the previous sections.)

-The Specters aren't warp based, so a weakness to Psychic powers wouldn't make sense. They're like an army of Pariahs so they would actually be more dangerous to Psykers than the other way around. This characteristic of the force was stated earlier but I'm not surprised that anyone could have missed it.

-Additionally, with this trait in mind it was decided that the Specters would have no Librarians, or access to Psychic powers. The Auras present in the force were conceived as a way to make up for this.

-I'm :cusse for rules too, so I don't know if what I wrote even makes sense, but I think I got the idea across.

-lol, the ghost army from LotRs was actually one of the inspirations for this force! The flaw you suggested unfortunately wouldn't make sense, but the Specters would be interested in a quick victory in most cases due to the huge risk of losing their entire force if one of the special characters dies, especially if one of the First Three is in the army.

[TheBlindPrimarch]

Last three main sections:

Beliefs

It is unknown wither or not the Specters hold true to any sort of beliefs or values, though honor appears to be a virtue they hold to. There have been three known instances of one of the “First Three” accepting a challenge from one of the Emperor’s servants, and even one known case of one of the special Specters that resembled a Chaplain accepting a challenge from one of the leaders of the Traitorous forces of Chaos. In each case the challenger was defeated by the Specter that accepted the challenge, the loss by the servant of Chaos being particularly brutal.

Additionally this theory is reinforced by the reports that state that the Specters do not attack unarmed civilians, and in many cases seemed not to even see them as they move against their targets. That is not to say that there are no civilian casualties in battles involving the Specters, cities that they attack are almost always left completely devoid of life, the defenders slain and the city’s population found lying undisturbed and unharmed as if they simply lay down to sleep, frozen solid. What’s even more disturbing are the reports that each and every one of these casualties was found with smiles of contentment frozen forever on their faces.

It is believed among my contemporaries in the Ordos that this is evidence of the “Void” that the Wraiths raised by the Specters are referring to, though it is still not known if this is in reference to a place or to something altogether more insidious. It is in this vein of thought that I return to my previously stated theory based around the reason the Primarch of the XI Legion was purged.

Legends state that Eidolon Von Ruin always had an overwhelming fascination with the dark space beyond the borders of the Galaxy, even before his discovery by the Emperor. Some sources state that this obsession was born from a religious cult that existed on the Primarch’s adopted home world before being stamped out by the Emperor’s Truth. Others believed his interest was purely scientific in nature. Unfortunately neither theory will ever be proven, as there are is no factual data from which to draw a conclusion. What is known is that once Eidolon took command of his Legion and its ships he frequently made expeditions beyond the borders into the blackness, each time coming back in silence to persecute one campaign or another. It wasn’t until his last voyage into the beyond that something changed. The XI Legion stopped responding to calls for reports or requests for aid, and it wasn’t until an escape pod was found floating lifeless in a system the Legion had been reported to have passed through that the horrible truth that something was very wrong became apparent. Inside the Life Pod were the frozen remains of over a hundred crew members, shattered into millions of tiny shards. Soon after a message was received by the Emperor’s court, sent by Eidolon himself, denouncing the Emperor’s Truth as false and went even further in its heresy by declaring the Emperor himself a despot that sought nothing but total dominion over mankind. The Primarch of the XI Legion offered an alternative, embrace the void…find peace. He claimed that the void welcomed mankind, and that it would embrace them happily if they would only allow it. This declaration would prove that Eidolon did in fact find something in the void, some sentience perhaps, and had sworn his allegiance to it as did his Legion and their ships. It would be for this reason that Eidolon Von Ruin as well as the entirety of the XI Legion, for they would refuse to stand against their gene-sire, would be purged from existence.

Since it is generally accepted among my fellows in the Ordos that the Specters are the spiritual remnants of the Ethereal Legion one must conclude that their motives haven’t changed and that they seek to spread the influence of this unknown entity.

Appearance

Generally speaking the Specters resemble Astarte in appearance, adorned in badly damaged black space marine armor of various marks with blue flames flaring out from any opening in the armor. Many appear to wear Aquila pattern armor, though if they are in fact remnants of the Purged Legion it is unknown how they would have come about acquiring said armor. One theory is that their appearance is an illusion of sorts, and that the viewer is simply seeing what is most familiar to them. Given the wide spread use of the Aquila pattern this would make sense. Many wear drab grey dusters over their armor, while some have only tabards or loin cloths. They wear very few adornments on their armor, though chains have been noted as being commonplace, hanging haphazardly from them as if anchoring them to the mortal plain.

Disturbing as their appearance is fully armored, those that have been see helmet-less are more disturbing still. Flesh-less, fire blackened skulls wreathed in blue flames stare eyeless at those unfortunate enough to have gained their attention, jaws clenched in morbid grins or hanging open is silent screams. Such a feature only serves as testament of their ghostly nature.

There is some variation in the appearance of the Specters. There have been reports of Specters seen without heads at all and even of some missing limbs. Some are considerably more ethereal in nature, appearing as ghosts and lacking any real substance. Though they seem little more than apparitions, the loyal servant of the Emperor should still be wary of them, for their attacks lack none of the bite of the attacks made by their more substantial companions.

Battle Cry

Like the mysterious Legion of the Damned, The Specters of the Purged march silently into battle, and utter no bellowing challenges when charging. The only known cases of speech come from the Wraiths that the Specters raise from those that have fallen to their bolters and in even rarer cases, from one of the First Three. The words uttered from the Wraiths are usually drawling nonsense, and are repeated constantly. Those uttered by the leaders of the Specters are considerably more seditious in nature. Often they offer peace to those that fight them, if they would only embrace the void and lay down their arms. As abhorrent as it may seem to a truly loyal servant of the Divine Emperor, it pains me to report that there have been cases of traitorous commanders do just that, only to be found frozen solid, kneeling as if receiving a benediction from one of the Priesthood. A warning to any who even begins to consider such an option, death does not save you from the Emperor's Judgement.

Everything after that is just polish for the completed IA...you know, to make it pretty

[Machine God]

What a nice idea.

 

Nice read apart from the massive amounts of spelling mistakes.

 

The word is spelt SPECTRE.

[TheBlindPrimarch]

Lol that's why it's called a rough draft Scion, and as far as the spelling of Specter, here in the US the way I spelt it is correct, Spectre is incorrect.

[Legionare]

While it seems that we don't know much about the Specters of the purged, there is few things i'd like to say about them:

 

The XI legion that they are based on, the Ethreal Legion, sounds very interesting, especially their interest in death. That with the fact that they can phase through walls and leave an aura of Hoarfrost makes them one of the most interesting Lost Legions.

 

I love the colour scheme of the Specters, black with the blue flames coming from the cracks of the armor looks really good. To me they look like "cooler" Legion of the damned (meaning that the blue flames and even in a way more fascinating history make them more appealing to me than the Legion of the damned).

 

However i would change the primarchs name a bit Eidolon is a good name but Von Ruin? In my opinion the name "Ruin" just somehow shatters the suspension disbelief, why would anyone be named like that? 

 

Anyway, good work in creating this very interesting IA, i like how you've managed to write fascinating mysteries around the Specters.

[Brother Emund]

This is a ## REDACTED ## article, though ## PURGED ## I initially ## PURGED ## it hard to read because of all the interference from the ## CLASSIFIED ## Inquisition.

Very interesting concept ## REDACTED ##. But a little too much like the LEGION OF THE D......... Transmission Lost

[TheBlindPrimarch]

While it seems that we don't know much about the Specters of the purged, there is few things i'd like to say about them:

 

The XI legion that they are based on, the Ethreal Legion, sounds very interesting, especially their interest in death. That with the fact that they can phase through walls and leave an aura of Hoarfrost makes them one of the most interesting Lost Legions.

 

I love the colour scheme of the Specters, black with the blue flames coming from the cracks of the armor looks really good. To me they look like "cooler" Legion of the damned (meaning that the blue flames and even in a way more fascinating history make them more appealing to me than the Legion of the damned).

 

However i would change the primarchs name a bit Eidolon is a good name but Von Ruin? In my opinion the name "Ruin" just somehow shatters the suspension disbelief, why would anyone be named like that? 

 

Anyway, good work in creating this very interesting IA, i like how you've managed to write fascinating mysteries around the Specters.

 

I'm glad you like the concept, I might expand on the Ethereal Legion another time but I've got a lot on my plate right now as it is so probably not for awhile lol.

 

I wanted to go with a simple yet striking color scheme for them. I think the black armor and blue flames accomplish this pretty well and I'm glad you like it as well. 

 

The Primarch Eidolon is named like he is because Ruin is the name of the place he was raised in on his home world. (Unless I'm mistaken "Von" means "of" in german) So his name means Eidolon of Ruin. The major cities of his home world, which currently is unnamed, are known as Mausoleum Cities and have names like Ruin, Despair, Doom, etc. It's still a rough concept but it served it's purpose for the IA of the Specters.