The "strange alien ships" of Necromunda

[N1SB]

This is not in the wrong forum, I promise.

 

In Book III, they describe noteworthy battles of the Imperial Fists.  On page 77 was about how they brought Imperial Compliance to the worlds of Araneus Continuity, ruled then by technobility.  As soon as they did, "small dark ships circling bloated behemoth craft" came through warp gates, destroying all their planets but one, which was still devastated, which they thusly named Necromunda.

 

My question is, who/what were those "strange alien ships"?  Are there other mentions of "small dark ships circling bloated behemoth craft" elsewhere in HH lore please?

 

It could just be a deliberate loose-end for future books, but wanted to check.

[Leif Bearclaw]

I actually hope it's not a loose-end for future books. I'd much prefer a loose-end for the sake of a loose-end. It's one of the most obvious way GW stroryy telling has degraded over the years, the urge to explain everything, tie everything up, and it's always ultimately the fault of one of the usual suspects. More mystery and uncertainty in the alien bits of the setting, even 10,000 years in the past, is only a good thing in my book.

[N1SB]

I hear you, because if there is no other reference to...whoever they are...I plan on using them in my own campaign.

 

But I want to check if anyone knows a similar description related to other things in the Horus Heresy era.

[Fallen Dark Angel]

Some of the descriptions in HH III, "Living lightning and flame wreathed chrome", make me think of Necrons.

[Xenith]

Necrons don't use warp gates though.

 

First thought is Kroot Spheres. They fit the bill. Tau didn't exist in the heresy. There is evidence for a tau influence in Necromunda, though with the Spryers using tau tech and language.

[Brother Pheidias]

There is evidence for a tau influence in Necromunda, though with the Spryers using tau tech and language.

But that's waaay off in the future for us though ;)

 

And the Spyrers basically use any exotic gear they can buy and bribe their hands onto, spoiled brats that they are!

[Leif Bearclaw]

Eh? Since when did the Spyrers use Tau tech, let alone language? As far as I was aware they were always just packing funky archaeotech. I've never come across anything suggesting a Tau connection, especially as Necromunda is over a Segmentum away from the Tau Empire (iirc, Terra is actually closer).

[Sandlemad]

I think it was down to the names being fairly and arguably consistently similar to some tau words (e.g. Yeld being similar to the tau word for winged) and being very broadly analogous to battlesuits. It would be strange though. Providing military-grade equipment to inbred nobles so they can literally hunt their lessers doesn't seem like something that even the most cynical water caste diplomat would do.

 

Not sure the tech is that similar either. It's so ludicrously good that it surpasses what the tau have. It could be reverse-engineered xenotech though, the FFG rpgs had similar stuff made for bored uphivers by jokaero.

[carlisimo]

Eh? Since when did the Spyrers use Tau tech, let alone language? As far as I was aware they were always just packing funky archaeotech. I've never come across anything suggesting a Tau connection, especially as Necromunda is over a Segmentum away from the Tau Empire (iirc, Terra is actually closer).

 

The 3rd ed. Tau codex had a written statement by an Inquisitor wondering if some of the fancy tech used by Necromundan spyrers was Tau in origin.  In other words, wondering if they were gaining influence in the Imperium through illicit trade with rogue traders, who would in turn sell the stuff to nobles here and there.  It fit their mercantilist theme very well.

 

Of course, in the M31 setting any xenos goods would be from other species.

[Leif Bearclaw]

Thing is though, the author of that fluff piece in the 3rd ed Codex (God I miss those in newer books ) isn't actually an Inquisitor. He's an Ad Mech genetor writing a piece for Mars about Tau tech. He offers no actual evidence for Spyrer hunting rigs being Tau tech beyond calling them 'battlesuits'. The three abilities he lists don't imply anything about Tau tech, 'self sustaining' and 'capable of recording the wearer's actions' are thing Imperial Tech, like power armour, can certainly do, while no Tau gear I'm aware of has ever been described as 'self repairing'. Then there's the way none of the Spyrer rigs really fit Tau tech, a lot of melee, lasers and bolt weaponry, seems far more Imperial than Tau to me. Plus that segment ends with the recommendation that the Spyrers have to hand over that shiny tech to the Ad Mech, totally for 'safety' reasons. It's pretty clear that this is just an attempted tech grab for some shiny archaeotech that has apparently been kept away from Mars. It's 'the Ultramarines absorbed the Lost Legions' in universe speculation at best (and that one makes more sense).

[Dono1979]

The other thing to keep in mind is that the 'Tau' are not a single race, they are a collective and while the core race of that alliance are described as being recently evolved, I am pretty sure some of the 'consumed' races in addition to the Ethereals themselves (though I think recent fluff reduced the insinuation that they are not native tau) are not in that same boat. There could be elements of the 40K Tau that did in fact exist during the Heresy and aspects of that race could have influenced the aesthetics of the 40K Tau. 

Edited August 22, 2017 by Dono1979