Final Inspirational Friday - Legends of Chaos (until 10/19)

[Kierdale]

Note that until now I made a new thread for each challenge but to keep things easier for myself I’ll be using this thread for all posts about IF2018 from now onward. The number and name of the latest challenge will be edited into the thread title and the details put in a new post. So, if you want to know what the current challenge is, scroll down to my newest post in this thread

For those who do not know it, Inspirational Friday is a (generally) fortnightly event within its home in the Chaos Space Marines forum (but open to all members of the B&C), in which a topic is set for members to write short (or long if the muse takes you) fluff/fan-fic pieces about their war bands, characters and models.

And here begins our third challenge of Inspirational Friday 2018: The Primordial Annihilator versus the Asuryani

One of the elder races, once with a galaxy-spanning Empire, the children of Isha brought about their own doom. Ignoring and forgetting the prophecies of the Old Ones, the Eldar became proud. They turned to hedonism and excess. Their society became divided as cults sprung up. Corruption spread and the aliens sought newer, more fulfilling sensations. At any cost. Their madness climaxed in the birth of the fourth god and the dark prince of Chaos – She Who Must Not Be Named: Slaanesh.

Slaanesh’s birth brought about the devastation of the Eldar Empire, tearing a hole in the fabric of reality and swallowing so many of their worlds. It is said that trillions died as the new god devoured their souls.

Only the Exodites, craftworld Eldar and the degenerates of Commorragh within the Webway, survived the end of their Empire. And for millennia they have been a dying race, only for the recent emergence of Ynnead, the Eldar god of death, to bring a seed of hope for their souls.

For those renegades and servants who bend their knee and dance to the will of Slaanesh, the hunting of Eldar is a pursuit unmatched in challenge or rewards, for their fay souls are the sweetest of morsels and likely to earn the greatest rewards from one’s patron.

Nurgle has a unique tie to the Eldar as within his garden he holds captive Isha: the mother of the Eldar herself! On a personal note I would dearly love to read a piece featuring this.

To the followers of Tzeentch their own mastery of the reading of the fates is rivaled only by that of the Eldar farseers.

And for those who harvest skulls for Khorne, what better challenge could there be than to pit oneself against the aspect warriors of the craftworlds: warriors who have dedicated their centuries-long (millennia-long?) lives to the honing of one aspect of combat?

I thought about limiting it to Craftworld Eldar only (or craftworlders and Exodites) and keeping Harlequins and the Dark Eldar for when they get their own codexes, but why shackle people?

IF2018: Chaos versus the Eldar runs until the sixteenth of February.

Let us be inspired.

And who shall judge this new challenge? That decision lies with our current judge: hushrong.

The winner of IF2018: Chaos versus the Eldar shall claim the Asuryani amulet:

And the honour of judging the next challenge (which they can forfeit to me if they so wish).

Please submit your entries (and any questions you might have) in the main IF thread linked to above.

[EesiOh]

No replies at all? Wow, I cant remember a single time that that's happened before. I gotta say, thats not exactly a good omen to come back to the B&C to

[Kierdale]

Well, the main thread is over in the CSM forum ;)

This is just one to advertise it here.

Still, we are waiting for more entries on the current theme. The deadline is this Friday. :)

[Kierdale]

And here begins our fourth challenge of Inspirational Friday 2018: The Hunt

Since proto-man learned to savour the taste of meat, humans have hunted. Be it for a base need such as sustenance, or the hunt for one’s nemesis, the discovery, tracking and capture or killing of one’s quarry is a task which challenges the best of hunters.

Tell us this time the tale of a hunt. For a foe who has wronged and eluded your protagonist, for a vital target -living or in the form of intelligence or data-, the hunt for a grand beast or worthy foe whose head would make a wondrous trophy, the hunt for the bearer of a legendary weapon the protagonist desires, the hunt for a weakness in a seemingly impenetrable enemy fortress...

Or perhaps it is your protagonist who is the hunted? Why? By whom? Across what terrain and through what dangers? Do they succeed in evading those who would claim their scalp?

IF2018: The Hunt runs until the second of March.

Let us be inspired.

Please post entries in the main thread (in the CSM forum) linked to in the Original Post :)

[Kierdale]

And here begins our fifth challenge of Inspirational Friday 2018: Artefacts of Chaos

From the Axe of Blind Fury to the Burning Brand of Skalathrax and the Scrolls of Magnus, many are the artefacts of Chaos, as powerful as they are corrupting. The fifth challenge of IF2018 is to write a piece featuring an artefact of Chaos taken from any of the Chaos codexes current or past: the Rod of Command from Realm of Chaos: Slaves to Darkness, the Suppurating Plate from Codex: Death Guard, the Endless Grimoire from Codex: Daemons...any and all are fine choices!

Tell us of a hunt for the artefact (by pawns of one of the Chaos Gods? Or by the lapdogs of the Corpse-Emperor?), or a tale of the one who now wields it - or is cursed by it, for surely the possession of such a powerful item comes with a price?

IF2018: Artefacts of Chaos runs until the sixteenth of March.

Let us be inspired.

Please post entries in the main IF2018 thread in the CSM forum.

[Kierdale]

Here begins our sixth challenge of Inspirational Friday 2018: The Night Lords

The VIII Legion. The sons of Konrad Curze, the Night Haunter. During the Great Crusade they were renowned for their extreme warfare, their terror tactics, that would see uprisings quelled before they fully ignited; enemies slain in their beds the night before battle; men, women, children, none were sacrosanct in the eyes of the 8th. They did what needed to be done, believing they did what was necessary. Dirtying their hands with deeds and methods their brethren in other legions shied from.

The first recruits of the legion that would later be known as the Night Lords came from the prisons of Terra itself, these `Night’s Children` making perfect, ruthless Astartes recruits. And upon the reunion of the Emperor with Curze they became these children became lords and their father taught them the ways with which he had brought his cruel justice to their new homeworld of Nostramo. The philosophy of terror. Obedience via fear. Sudden, swift and decisive strikes. Extreme, merciless violence committed unseen but with the results left for all to discover. And as the legion crusaded it began to receive new recruits from Nostramo – which had in the Night Haunter’s absence descended once more into a hive of criminality and visciousness – and so its ranks were filled with those who fed upon fear.

In the 41st millennium the Night Lords are fractured, operating as scattered warbands – as are all the traitor legions of old -, yet unlike many who swore fealty to the pantheon, a great many of the Night Lords despise the taint of Chaos and shun the gods of Chaos, respecting only power, temporal and material.

IF2018: Night Lords runs until the sixth of April.

Tell us a tale...30k, 40k or bridging the eras...of the VIII Legion.

Let us be inspired.

The winner of IF2018: The Night Lords shall claim the Amulet of Night Incarnate:

And the honour of judging the next challenge.

Please submit all entries in the main IF thread in the CSM forum.

[Kierdale]

And here begins our seventh challenge of Inspirational Friday 2018: Ambush!

One of the oldest strategies in war: an attacker lies in wait, concealed from their enemy, and strikes when their foe enters the kill zone.

The theme of this challenge is to tell a tale of an ambush involving the forces of Chaos as one or both sides.

Where does the ambush take place? Within the twisting alleyways of a besieged city? The darkness of a Deathworld jungle? The confines of a boarded vessel? Or perhaps it is that grandest of ambushes: between voidcraft?

To what purpose is the ambush laid? To assassinate an enemy commander in transit? A raid to capture vital supplies (ammo? Slaves?) or intel? An artefact? Is it merely a slaughter in the name of one’s patron deity? An attempt to cut off enemy reinforcements from supporting a larger offensive?

And is it successful? Do the ambushers make a clean get away, fading into the terrain and leaving no survivors? Or are the tables turned and they are driven off to lick their wounds?

IF2018: Ambush! runs until the 20th of April.

Let us be inspired.

The winner of IF2018: Ambush! shall claim the Octed amulet:

...and the honour of judging the next topic.

[Kierdale]

And here begins our eighth challenge of Inspirational Friday 2018: Chaos versus the T’au

Back in October 2015 we did The Primordial Annihilator versus the Greater Good, which Warsmith Aznable won, and though I am generally not keen on repeating old topics, due to popular demand -and new developments in T’au background- I’m setting Chaos versus the T’au as the next challenge of 2018.

Though the souls of this new race are faint and bland to the neverborn of the Warp, in comparison to the rich delicacies of humanity, that is not to say that daemons do not have cause to (or entertainment in) the corruption and harvesting of their souls.

And to the traitor legions and renegade chapters the armies of the T’au and their auxiliaries (both xenos and human!) are a formidable foe in battle.

Though this challenge is open to all entries which pit the forces of Chaos against those of the Greater Good, of particular interest perhaps is the xenos empire’s Fourth Expansion...

From Lexicanum:

Hidden Content

Ultimately, the Ethereal Council decided to renew the Tau's expansion with a dangerous plan. The AL-38 Slipstream Module was developed after many years of studying Imperial FTL technology. The new technology allowed for the Tau Fleet to move at incredible speeds and a new Sphere of Expansion was declared under the command of Commander Surestrike. Surestrike's armada gathered at Numenar Point, but due to the sheer size of the fleet to utilize Slipstream technology disaster struck. The multiple disruptions in reality caused by anti-matter fields created a chain reaction that created a massive wound in realspace. The rift swept across the Tau fleet, devouring it whole. The disaster was broadcast across the entire Tau Empire and the Etherealsscrambled to contain all knowledge of the catastrophe.

However, the Fourth Sphere was not entirely destroyed. Cast into a nightmarish dimension, 3/4ths of the fleet was destroyed by alien creatures not yet fully understood by the Tau. Saved from oblivion by a nightmarish entity within the Warp, the survivors eventually emerged Chalnath Expanse deep within the Imperium of Man. After many years, contact through the rift was reestablished using communications Drones. The Wormhole was dubbed Startide Nexus and was used to launch the Fifth Sphere of Expansion. The initial reemergence area of the Fourth Sphere has since been fortified into the Nem'yar Atoll.

What became of the Fourth Sphere's Auxiliarieshas since become a mystery. However rumors speak of mass expulsions and executions directed at any non-Tau within the surviving fleet. It has been theorized that this uncharacteristic action by the Tau was initiated after their trauma of what they had encountered within the Warp, somehow blaming the alien races for the catastrophe.

Survivors of the Fourth Sphere continue to have a dark reputation. Its contingents display a brutality and xenophobia uncharacteristic of the Tau. During the Fifth Sphere, Human prisoners were massacred and Auxiliaries were intentionally sacrificed in battle by Fourth Sphere survivors. The Massacre of the Dul'un Lakes and the Eight Days of Infamy are the most famous episodes from this controversy. Eventually, Shadowsun and the Ethereal Council disciplined the Fourth Sphere commanders with a ritual punishment known as the Malk'la before they were returned to the ranks or sent back to the empire for re-assimilation. After a massacre and bloody Krootuprising upon the colony of Ky'san, all auxiliaries were removed from contingents of Fourth Sphere Tau.

What fate befell those T’au vessels which did not emerge from the wormhole? And that those who did survive were tainted by their experiences is without doubt, but to what degree?

And how will the merging of the 4th Sphere’s survivors with those forces of the 5th influence the xenos’ latest plans?

Tell us a tale of the T’au Empire versus Chaos.

IF2018: Chaos versus the T’au runs until the fourth of May.

Let us be inspired.

The winner of IF2018: Chaos versus the T’au shall claim not the Amulet of Greater Good:

to protect and treasure or alternatively defile, as their mood and allegiance dictates...and the honour of judging the next challenge (which they can defer to me if they so wish).

Please submit entries in the main IF2018 thread in the CSM forum.

[Kierdale]

And here begins our ninth challenge of Inspirational Friday 2018: When Old Meets New

Astartes have been corrupted and manipulated by, and entered into the worship of the Chaos Gods since the Horus Heresy: the Sons of Horus, the World Eaters, the Thousand Sons, the Iron Warriors, the Night Lords, the Word Bearers, the Death Guard, the Alpha Legion and the Emperor’s Children.

And over ten thousand years more have fallen. The Seekers of Truth fell prey to Tzeentch and became the Scourged. The 8th company of the Emperor’s Wolves were corrupted by Khorne to become the Blood Disciples. Slaanesh took the Shining Blades and turned them into the Flawless Host and the Purged worship Nurgle. Then there are those who do not worship the gods of Chaos, but have fallen from grace and turned from the Imperium for various reasons: the Company of Misery, the Red Corsairs and more.

For those who have been fighting the Long War since the Purge and the flight to the Eye there is great pride - as well as ten millennia of corruption and madness - and they look upon those who fell later as ‘Thinbloods’.

Tell us a tale of the old meeting the new. Be it outright combat, manipulation, comradeship...

As judge of this theme I’m keen to see stories which are not mere pissing contests :D I’d like to see how Astartes have changed over the ten millennia, and what differentiates both the ‘old guard’ from the newly enlightened and those who have worshipped a particular deity for all that time from those more recently favoured (or indeed those who have shunned the gods for ten thousand years compared to new renegades).

IF2018: When Old meets New runs until the 18th of May.

Let us be inspired.

And who shall judge this new challenge? That decision lies with our current judge: Me.

The winner of IF2018: When Old Meets New shall claim the Octed amulet:

...and the honour of judging the next challenge (which they can forfeit to me if they wish).

Please submit entries in the main IF thread linked to in the Original Post.

[Kierdale]

And here begins our tenth challenge of Inspirational Friday 2018: Solo Mission

Astartes are trained and conditioned to operate as part of a squad. One element of a cohesive unit. And such is no different for traitor legionaries or renegades. What then might see a lone marine dispatched on a mission?

Tell us a tale of a solo mission, be it espionage, assassination, theft or sabotage. For what reason was one marine dispatched rather than a squad? And why was this marine chosen? For his skills and experience? Is he a glory-seeker who volunteered? Or is he acting of his own volition? Disobeying his commander? Acting upon a god-given vision? Is it a suicide mission or is the marine a sacrificial lamb, a pawn in some greater scheme?

Note: I’m keen to do ‘survivor’ as a future theme so I’d rather members avoid having the protagonist as the lone survivor of a squad sent on a mission.

Note2: that the theme coincides with the new SW movie is in fact a coincidence. Let’s not have 8ft arboreal sidekicks.

IF2018: Solo Mission runs until the 8th of June.

Let us be inspired.

The winner of IF2018: Solo Mission shall claim the Octed amulet:

...and the honour of judging the next challenge (which they can forfeit to me if they wish).

[Kierdale]

And here begins our eleventh challenge of Inspirational Friday 2018:Prophecy

The gods whisper into mortal ears and minds, all too often with promises of power, glory or other desires fulfilled, but also on occasion with words of guidance or warning. They would not see their plans (be they grand or trifling distractions from the greater game) foiled so easily, or they lend their guidance to mortals so those plots might flourish.

Even the Corpse-God, the God-Emperor of mankind has been known to give guidance to the faithful, via his tarot or visions.

Over the next two weeks I would have you write pieces on the subject of prophecy.

From what higher power do these visions come?

Who is the mortal or mortals blessed(? Cursed?) with this guidance?

Does the prophet succeed in interpreting divine will correctly?

And what forces oppose the prophecy?

IF2018: Prophecy! runs until the 22nd 29th of June.

Let us be inspired.

The winner of IF2018: Prophecy! shall claim the Octed amulet:

...and the honour of judging the next topic.

[Kierdale]

And here begins our twelfth challenge of Inspirational Friday 2018: Cry Havoc!

While some Chaos Space Marines live for the bloody grind of melee, others prefer the application of heavy ordnance from long range.

The Havoc.

Perhaps members of legion support squads or devastator squads while they were loyal, Havocs live for the roar of heavy weapons. They enjoy nothing more than wreaking great destruction with overwhelming firepower.

They see themselves as gods of the battlefield, smiting their insect-like enemies with a mere twitch of their trigger-fingers. And those who inhabit the Warp long enough find their weapons becoming a physical part of themselves. Their own veins course with the oils and power that feed their weapons. Ammo belts feed into ravenous maws and they feel the ever-present violent hunger of their weapons. Is it not the epitome of such a marine’s life to truly become one with their weapon?

Tell us this time a tale of Havocs, be they a legendary unit such as the Talons of Khorne, a band of once-legionary support marines or fallen Devastators. Do they wield heavy weapons from afar or battle up close with plasma guns, melta guns and flamers? Or what saw them find this role within the warband? What drives them? Tell us of their victories and failures, their blessings, curses, strengths and foibles. What holds this squad of destructive individual together?

IF2018: Cry Havoc! runs until the 20th of July.

Let us be inspired.

The winner of IF2018: Prophecy! shall claim the Octed amulet:

...and the honour of judging the next topic.

[Kierdale]

For those who do not know it, Inspiration Friday is a (generally) fortnightly weekly event within its home in the Chaos Space Marines forum, in which a topic is set for members to write short (or long if the muse takes you) fluff/fan-fic pieces about their war bands, characters and models.

And here begins our thirteenth challenge of Inspirational Friday 2018: Temple of Chaos

Ranging from towering menhirs upon which captives are sacrificed to Khorne, their blood draining into the tainted soil at their feet, through debased and adulterated former houses of worship to the God-Emperor, to grand cathedrals of non-Euclidean geometry, passageways of crystal winding impossibly and turning in upon themselves, varied are the temples of the Chaos Pantheon.

Be it a defiled chapel aboard a heretic Astates vessel or a gladiatorial ring - each fight ending with the presentation of skulls before a bronze icon of the Blood God - or a house of ill-repute run by devotees of the Dark Prince, exercise your imaginations and tell us of a temple of Chaos!

IF2018: Temple of Chaos! runs until the 10th of August.

Let us be inspired.

The winner of IF2018: Temple of Chaos shall claim the Octed amulet:

...and the honour of judging the next topic (which they may choose to relinquish to me as they wish).

[Kierdale]

For those who do not know it, Inspiration Friday is a (generally) fortnightly event within its home in the Chaos Space Marines forum, in which a topic is set for members to write short (or long if the muse takes you) fluff/fan-fic pieces about their war bands, characters and models.

And here begins our fourteenth challenge of Inspirational Friday 2018: ETL mini

ETL-VI ended with a victory for the sons of Sanguinius!

While I myself vowed for the lapdogs of the Corpse-God this year, I do know a great many fantastic models were painted for the Chaos forums.

We’ve seen them, now tell us who they are.

The 14th challenge of Inspirational Friday 2018 is to write a piece about models completed for ETL-VI.

If you - like I - did not vow for Chaos (pray that the Call of Chaos is held this year so that you may seek redemption damnation!) then by all means give us a tale of models you completed for other forums pitted against the forces of Chaos.

If you did not take part in this year’s ETL then focus on models you completed for a previous ETL...or simply completed recently ;)

Photos are not mandatory but are recommended (but your entry will not be judged on the models/photos).

IF2018: ETL models runs until the 31st of August.

Let us be inspired.

The winner of IF2018: ETL-VI Models shall claim the Octed amulet:

...and the honour of judging the next topic.

Please post entries not here but in the main IF2018 thread in the CSM forum.

[Kierdale]

For those who do not know it, Inspiration Friday is a (generally) fortnightly event within its home in the Chaos Space Marines forum, in which a topic is set for members to write short (or long if the muse takes you) fluff/fan-fic pieces about their war bands, characters and models, or alternatively their non-Chaos models pitted against the forces of Chaos.

And here begins our fifteenth challenge of Inspirational Friday 2018:

The Primordial Annihilator versus the Drukhari

The Aeldari empire brought about its own demise, falling into debauchery and wickedness. The Exodites were the first to recognise the folly of their race and the dangers to come, fleeing their worlds for a simpler life. Those of the craftworlds escaped just in time...but these two factions were not the only survivors for within the Webway, that labyrinth dimension betwixt reality and the warp, a great bastion of depravity and horror evaded the death of their empire: Commorragh -a ‘city’ in the loosest possible sense-, and within it a race that did not turn from their old ways.

The Eladrith Ynneas.

The Drukhari.

The Dark Eldar.

Pirates, assassins, flesh-crafters and murderers, they feed upon fear and pain: the only way to replenish their withering flesh and souls as She Who Thirsts feeds steadily upon their very existence.

The theme of the fifteenth challenge is The Primordial Annihilator versus the Drukhari.

Tell us a tale of the Dark Eldar -as protagonists or antagonists- against the forces of Chaos. And while Slaanesh might be their most obvious foe, Inspirational Friday yearns for diverse tales.*

IF2018: Chaos versus Dark Eldar runs until the 14th of September.

Let us be inspired.

The winner (chosen by the victor of the previous challenge) shall claim not the Octed amulet:

...but the amulet of Commorragh:

...and the honour of judging the next topic (which they can forfeit to me if they wish).

* with a thirst rivalling that of the Dark Prince’s for Aeldar souls.

Please post entries not here but in the main IF2018 thread in the CSM forum.

[Kierdale]

The deadline is extended to the 21st of September.

[Kierdale]

The final Inspirational Friday topic is up:

Legends of Chaos.