Reader's Notes

[Skalpynock]

And their colors are, in different proportions, the same as the Morning Stars.

[simison]

Interesting.

 

Another note: the Noble Houses of Terra often employ fate-twisters, psykers of minor ability to do their bidding. These agents are explicitly sanctioned by the Imperium, given the narrow power they work with.

[Kelborn]

Another note: Thousand Sons were op as :cuss:. Nobody liked them though. Theirs is a long story of distrust and ignorance, crowned by Magnus' hubris.

 

Well done, Alan.

 

AND there is a realm of planets which are connected via warp tunnels. You enter one end and arrive in another system if this realm. Thus, they are chained together.

Interesting concept.

Edited April 11, 2017 by Kelborn

[simison]

Indeed. I am also highly amused that the first incident of the flesh-change is the Thousand Sons fighting the Bezantine (Byzantium). 

 

Note 2: To my personal surprise, the Flesh Change afflicted even Thousand Sons with no psychic power at all.

Edited April 11, 2017 by simison

[Kelborn]

Never thought about non-psyker Legionnaires but it does indeed make sense. That's most likely the reason why Ahrimans Rubric affected the entire Legion and not only the psykers, who suffered from the flesh change.

 

It's rather a flaw within their geneseed. Maybe accidentally created like the Salamanders adaptionto radiation (skin color).

[simison]

So, this next piece is extremely relevant to BotL. Originally, the Librarius project was thought of by a different Primarch, probably Sanguinius since the Blood Angels appear to have the most psykers after the Thousand Sons. If not Sanguinius, then the next best candidate would be the Khan.

 

Anyway, the reason the Librarius Project doesn't get off the ground before Magnus shows up isn't mostly from lack of will. Rather, it's lack of opportunity. There were simply too few psykers to make the effort worthwhile.

 

This is the opposite case in BotL. From the get go, Icarion and the Lightning Bearers bring quite of few psykers to the table, almost from the start of the Great Crusade. Then the next Primarch is Alex and the Wardens' substantial contingent. Honestly, between the two, there's enough to jumpstart the Librarius program far earlier in the Great Crusade.

 

Without Magnus, the BotL Librarius would be more conservative with a greater emphasis on self-discipline. This would explain why the Librarius program never suffers from controversy and is a major factor in preventing the psyker debate from becoming so hostile as in canon.

[bluntblade]

According to Yesugei, the Khan was behind most of the rules and regs of the Librarius, though he's not credited with it.

 

In addition to the lack of Magnus providing a disruptive element early on from the pro-psyker side, the only major opponent of the psychic arts barring Russ is the Jade General, also located late in the Crusade.

[simison]

So, the Thousand Sons are the smallest Legion at the time of the Heresy. Even then, they still numbered 85,000. This is in clear contradiction to A Thousand Sons novel which put them at 10k. I'm concerned that this means that we have allowed our Legions to be too small. Specifically, the Grave Stalkers and the Warriors of Peace. Granted, I'm more concerned with the WoP than the GS. The Pariah geneseed should mean fewer numbers since Pariah-ness is rarer. 

 

I say that the WoP should be bumped to 60-70k, while the GS go up to 15-30k. The difference being that the WoP only have a limited number of Pariahs, while the entire GS Legion are Pariahs. Hence, the GS suffering for it. 

[Chief Captain Redd]

I second this proposal of giving a bump to the WoP and GS.

[simison]

Thank you, Redd.

 

Well, I just finished the last Thousand Sons exemplary battle. That puts me about halfway through the book, and the fluff is about to get a lot thinner. I have decided that I will go from Inferno to the rest of the books in reverse order as I continue to look for tidbits and secret gems to add to our universe. 

 

One of those things is going to be unclaimed exemplary battles. Although we replaced the Ullanor Ork Empire with the Qarith, it should be obvious that we have no intention of replacing every canon foe from the Great Crusade. So, I will begin compiling a list of now open enemies and battlegrounds that we could absorb into BotL.

 

The first example will be the third Thousand Sons exemplary battle. The Golden Apostles are a human-xeno hybrid civilisation that sit on a string of star systems between Terra and the outer reaches of the galactic core The critical advantage of the Golden Apostles was that their line of star systems were connected to each other by a  series of stable Warp router. So long as one traveled on this route, it was possible for a ship to safely travel from one end to the other without a Navigator. 

 

Now, Magnus leads this campaign in the late 800s, early 900s by my reckoning. Since BotL Magnus isn't discovered until 966, the Thousand Sons are unable to deal with the Golden Apostles. Since Magnus relies heavily on divination to make this conquest work, I'm going to claim this campaign for Alexandros since he's the Seer. 

 

Finally, I would like to incorporate this Warp route into both Icarion's first and second pushes to Terra. In the first push, Icarion is able to secure the first system which is closest to the galactic core and then attempts to advance through the route and on both of his flanks. I'm going to place the warp route on a line that goes between Delos to its 'North' and Prospero to its 'South'. That's why during the first push, Alexos attacks Delos, but in the second push, Icarion ignores it since he is no longer securing his flanks.

 

We could also tie this into an additional reason why Tzeentch wanted Prospero corrupted or destroyed. If the Thousand Sons had remained alive and loyal, they would have fought with the Halcyon Wardens to protect this important route. 

[Kelborn]

Damn...if we want to include some canon exemplary battles, I'm really tempted to claim the Iron Hands' battle against a heavily fortified world, whose population made use of some AT-AT-ish walkers....

 

Problem is that I wanted to use the exemplary battles as a depiction of how the Predators change over time while fighting more and more chaos stuff.

[Slips]

If we're going by which Legion was the smallest in the cannon, the Raven Guard, after Gate 42, were the smallest at 83k.

[simison]

That's true, Slips, perhaps the numbers should be a little higher. 

 

Keep in mind, Kel, I'm not using the Golden Apostles battle as one of the Wardens' exemplary battles, merely adding it to their lore. In fact, I am hesitant to suggest that anyone uses a canon exemplary battle for one of their own.

 

Note 2: Here's a battle open to anyone who wants it. Late Great Crusade, Compliance of Cazhat. Desert, feudal world with small human population anchored to the planet's few oases. Interesting note, the Imperium couldn't overawe them into compliance as the Czahat elders deemed the Imperium 'impure'. The Thousand Sons win by using magic to make the largest oases disappear breaking the population's will to fight. 

Edited April 14, 2017 by simison

[MikhalLeNoir]

Gwal as the pure soul he is is able to convince them of the good the empire will bring to them. Just a few weels later he is attacked by travier and the insurrection take place.

 

Can you see the irony in it?

[simison]

I can see the irony, but it doesn't make sense. The fluff makes it clear diplomacy isn't on the table without some kind of force. Furthermore, the Wardens of Light have that strange mask and Pariah nature going for them. I'd imagine the reaction would be worse. Edited April 14, 2017 by simison

[MikhalLeNoir]

Well, if they are not open for the emperors light....

 

 

If diplomaty won't work, bolters will. Send the Void Eagles...and tear them to pieces.

 

 

But remember mask on, pariahness not recognizable

[simison]

I remembered, but that was my point. Either your boys are wearing masks on all the time which means they come off as hiding something or impersonal, or they take off the masks and freak out people in a different way.

 

Really, the only thing that saves the Wardens of Light's social life outside of their own Legion is their reputation and honor. 

[Nomus Sardauk]

If I recall correctly not all Wardens are Pariahs, if my memory serves don't recruits get a choice between "active" and "dormant" gene-seed that determines whether or not they become Pariahs, unless they undergo near-fatal levels of pain that can trigger the Pariah gene from a "dormant" state to an "active" one later on in life. Stop me if I'm getting any of this wrong or this has changed Mikhal.

 

Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is that the Wardens could simply employ non-Pariah marines for their "first contact" delegations to avoid any such weirdness/suspicion regarding the masks or general repulsion to Pariahs.

[simison]

Ah, my mistake. 

 

EDIT: Added the Prisoan Campaign and more.

 

Note 3: So, Magnus invents Librarian dreadnoughts by creating a device called the Osiron, a 'crowning psychometric barrier lattice for the living brain' of a psyker. The question is, does BotL Magnus successfully make the same invention while he searches for a cure to the Flesh Change or not?

Edited April 15, 2017 by simison

[Kelborn]

If I recall correctly not all Wardens are Pariahs, if my memory serves don't recruits get a choice between "active" and "dormant" gene-seed that determines whether or not they become Pariahs, unless they undergo near-fatal levels of pain that can trigger the Pariah gene from a "dormant" state to an "active" one later on in life. Stop me if I'm getting any of this wrong or this has changed Mikhal.

 

Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is that the Wardens could simply employ non-Pariah marines for their "first contact" delegations to avoid any such weirdness/suspicion regarding the masks or general repulsion to Pariahs.

 

You're remembering correctly, San. :)

This is the way, Mikhal went.

[simison]

It's kinda hilarious really, the Thousand Sons' rules require that Praetors must buy a psyker level. So, our system of requiring Pariah officers to buy their abilities successfully predated FW's own version of it. 

 

Note 2: Anyone have any idea what a M'Varta is? Apparently, they are an 'ancient terror' on par with the Eldar.

Edited April 22, 2017 by simison

[simison]

I learned a new word today: blight-code. It's like scrap-code, but without the daemonic source/taint. It is used exclusively by the Custodians through the arae-shrikes since the Mechanicum considers the use of those shrikes blasphemous.

 

I think this item represents a potential point of depth for the Suzerainty, the Steel Legion in particular. Since the item is supposed to be a counter-intelligence tool, I can see the Steel Legion/Nomus investing in their use once they free themselves from the Mechanicum and Dark Mechanicum.

 

Actually, what is the nature of the Suzerainty's relationship with the Mechanicum?

[Talonair]

I don't know enough about the Suzerainty to say what the Abyssii think of them unfortunately

[bluntblade]

Traitors, I'd have thought. While opposing Icarion, they've failed to bend the knee. See Stannis Baratheon on the Starks.

[Skalpynock]

The Suzerains respect three religious-ish beliefs: Imperial Truth, the Omnissian Cult, and the Selenar creed. The Suzerainty's progressive outlook leads to most of the Mechanicum elements in its ranks being branded Malatek for their disrespect toward the established order. The state as a whole has been branded Heretek  by the Fabricator-General of Mars.