THE LIBER CLUSTER II

[Dosjetka]

Is there any small task I could help with, Ace? I'd like to commit to something small, see how that goes, and then potentially help with a bigger load. :)

[Sete]

Is this just Space Marines?

[Beren]

The current 'tasks' are only Space Marines, but that will not be constant in the future and two out of task non-Space Marines submissions have already been made.

[Ace Debonair]

Is this just Space Marines?

The current challenge is focused on developing our new Space Marine factions, but Non-space Marine factions are both welcomed and encouraged - we currently don't have that many notable factions that aren't marines, to be honest.

 

The only exception that I can recall Conn making is Tau stuff - they aren't present in the Cluster up to this point.

 

 

Is there any small task I could help with, Ace? I'd like to commit to something small, see how that goes, and then potentially help with a bigger load.

 

You could always join the Writing Challenge if you wish - a 200-500 word expansion for one of our new factions?

 

If that doesn't appeal then I'll have a think and see if anything else occurs.

[Dosjetka]

This is me being outrageously lazy but would anyone have link handy to the faction list to see what's still up for grabs? The first page has a lot of info and I can't find the time to read and process it all just now. :sweat:

[Machine God]

This is me being outrageously lazy but would anyone have link handy to the faction list to see what's still up for grabs? The first page has a lot of info and I can't find the time to read and process it all just now.

All empty slots for Primaris, Chaos and Renegade Chapters are on the top of Page 2

 

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/345172-the-liber-cluster-ii/page-2

 

500 - 750 word count for chapters.

 

Edit: Linky for Lazy Dos.

Edited June 29, 2018 by Machine God

[Ace Debonair]

Furthermore, the second post on page twelve has a list of who's doing what for the writing challenges.

...Although since I'd be picking one at random for you if you did enter, I suppose that's a fairly moot point.

 

 

On that note:

 

The deadline's tomorrow, brothers - may the Emperor/Dark Gods/Other powerful entities as applicable lend speed to your typing fingers!

[WG101]

Furthermore, the second post on page twelve has a list of who's doing what for the writing challenges.

...Although since I'd be picking one at random for you if you did enter, I suppose that's a fairly moot point.

 

 

On that note:

 

The deadline's tomorrow, brothers - may the Emperor/Dark Gods/Other powerful entities as applicable lend speed to your typing fingers!

Good I updated my post as well to make it a bit longer

[Nomus Sardauk]

Phew, sorry for the last minute delivery folks, but here's my entry for the Angels Exultant, this time focussing on their Combat Doctrine!

 

 

-----

 

 

 

Combat Doctrine

 

Long ago in the days when the Angels Exultant were counted as loyal servants of the Throne they were renowned across the Cluster for their ferocious prowess in melee, the brothers of the Chapter exalting in the roar of chainswords, the bark of Boltguns and the arterial spray of blood.

 

As such, the Chapter's doctrine revolved almost entirely around delivering their members into close combat as swiftly as possible, where their superior strength, bladework and righteous fury would make the most difference.

 

However this did not mean the Angels were brute simpletons, blindly charging whatever target was presented to them, quite the opposite, instead the Angels would herd enemy forces into position by fast-moving squadrons of Gunships or Tanks, separating vulnerable enemy units from their allies to be encircled and destroyed by marine squads dismounting from their transports or bursting forth from Drop Pods. In those situations were such tactics were not viable, such as siege warfare, boarding actions or zone mortalis operations the Angels would favour heavily armed units of Terminators and Vanguard Veterans inserted via Teleportion, Drop Pod or through the use of Caestus Assault Rams (of which the Chapter possessed a great deal and employed with zeal) deep inside enemy lines. In such enclosed confines the Angels became a force of nature, leaving trenches and corridors gore-soaked charnel houses in their wake as they sweep through the enemy like a murderous tide.

 

Since their fall, the Angels Exultant themselves have long forgotten all notions of strategy and forethought, their rage-addled minds barely able to comprehend anything but the next kill, the next tribute to their choleric god. However the Khornate Cultists that now lead and direct the Angels since their corruption on Arrax are more tactically astute, capable of commanding their Astartes charges via great brass collars that can temporarily dull the incessant killing rage enough to comprehend and obey the Cult's orders.

 

Additionally, while much of the Angels' old armoury has been lost, destroyed or sold to other warbands in the years since Arrax the Cult has managed to acquire more than adequate replacements among the malign denizens of the Tempest, whether by raiding Imperial shipping or simply selling the services of their Angel thralls as disposable shock troopers.

Edited July 1, 2018 by SanguiniusReborn

[Kelborn]

Last minute post, as well.
But I hope you'll enjoy the belief of the Followers of Mabinos:
 
 

Belief

 
 

„Praise the lords! Praise Mabinos, our savior!”

“Through ailment fruition”

“Through fruition epiphany”

“Through epiphany ailment”

 “Follow us and thus you will follow him!”

 
The Followers of Mabinos are an obscured brotherhood, which seemingly came out of nowhere. Despite meticulous investigations and relentless interrogations of alleged members, nearly nothing can be said about either their origin or the source of their system of fanatism based around the being known as Wyllem Mabinos.
Through sheer observation, it is assumed that this particular warband does not only serve one but two different chaos gods, the so-called Prince of Pleasure and the Plague Lord, which is rather unusual for a fellowship of the ruinous powers. It is assumed that this rare form of belief has to do with their worshipped leader Mabinos. Not much is known about Mabinos; some belief him to be one of the corrupted Space Marine, maybe even one of the old Traitor Legions and some think of him as a demagogue. A small handful of Inquisitors is convinced that his origin may be even more sinister than that, naming him a demon made manifest by an old pact between these two deities.
 
Interrogations of seemingly higher ranking cult members proved us the contribution of at least two demonic entities, the Lady of Agony and the Master of Decay. After researching their names, it was revealed that these two demons can be linked with the patrons of the Followers of Mabinos. Furthermore, these two lieutenants are also connected to the warbands mobile home, the ancient Space Hulk Tempest. Most likely do they have their own shrines deep within the hallowed halls of that cursed vessel.
 
What is definitely known is the way, the mortal followers of Mabinos revere their gods and sacred prophet, and respectively how they were able to overthrow so many distant worlds. Mortals regardless of their origin are equals within the unholy festivals of the cult. The usage of stimulants combined with inciting speeches of their demagogues leads to excessive celebrations. Even acts of sexual sensations are not a rare sight. In doing so are they sharing the diseases and plagues, which they were granted by their rite masters until all are truly equal in suffering and damnation.
 
The ultimate goal of the Followers of Mabinos seems to be the resurrection/summoning of their name giving leader. How or when this will happen is still unknown and is one of the main targets for the allocated Inquisitors.

Edited July 1, 2018 by Kelborn

[Servant of Dante]

I'm not really a participant here, but a few word choice things jumped out at me as I read:

 

"Through sheer observation" (first paragraph, third sentence) sounds strange to me, since "sheer" is usually applied to some method by which a person bypasses expectation (sheer inspiration, sheer force of will, sheer physical strength), where in this case observation is probably the expected course of action, and something that is done deliberately, not in the heat of the moment.

 

"hallowed halls of the cursed vessel" (second paragraph, last sentence) "hallowed" and "cursed" have more or less opposite meaning, right? True, hallowed can simply mean "weighty" or "significant" but it usually also means "consecrated" or "holy"

 

Third paragraph, first sentence: the first comma doesn't seem necessary.  Also, "respectively" link pairs of attributes or actions (the Sister of Battle and the Space Marine are 9 and 11 points respectively). Maybe I'm just missing something but I'm not sure what respectively is supposed to mean in this sentence

 

I hope this isn't out of place on my part :P sounds like an interesting form of chaos worship (I'll need to order more promethium).

Edited July 1, 2018 by Servant of Dante

[Machine God]

I'm not really a participant here, but a few word choice things jumped out at me as I read:

 

"hallowed halls of the cursed vessel" (second paragraph, last sentence) "hallowed" and "cursed" have more or less opposite meaning, right? True, hallowed can simply mean "weighty" or "significant" but it usually also means "consecrated" or "holy"

 

The vessel is cursed to outsiders(The Inquisitor making the report) and hallowed to the Followers of Mabinos.

 

Third paragraph, first sentence: the first comma doesn't seem necessary.  Also, "respectively" link pairs of attributes or actions (the Sister of Battle and the Space Marine are 9 and 11 points respectively). Maybe I'm just missing something but I'm not sure what respectively is supposed to mean in this sentence

 

I hope this isn't out of place on my part sounds like an interesting form of chaos worship (I'll need to order more promethium).

 

 

What is definitely known is the way the mortal followers of Mabinos revere their gods and sacred prophet, and respectively how they were able to overthrow so many distant worlds. 

@Servant of Dante - Thank you for your insights, first part of reply is in bold above.

 

You state that respectively links attributes or actions. So the use of respectively by Kelborn links the mortal followers and their actions of how they were able to overthrow so many worlds.

[Kelborn]

Thank you, Servant of Dante.

English is not my first language and every feedback is a chance to improve it.

 

 

And thank you, Machine God. Your answer applies.

Hope that I did your warband justice. :)

Edited July 1, 2018 by Kelborn

[Machine God]

@Kelborn - Thank you good write up. It was my intention that Mabinos has already been reborn and leads the warband, but your take on it could be a viewpoint from an Inquisitor that doesn't have all the fact's at his disposal and made things up. Mabinos is the name of the Rogue Trader(?) that originally found the Liber Cluster and died on a world that is now in the middle of The Tempest and I chose Nurgle and Slaanesh as I wanted him to reborn as a Daemon-Prince and thought that they'd be best to do it.

 

Ace Debonair - So there you have it 8/8, time to get the D8 out and roll off again...

Edited July 2, 2018 by Machine God

[Kelborn]

Funnily enought, that was the idea behind it.

To follow your concept of reports, hearsaying, etc. ;)

[Teetengee]

@SanguiniusReborn, which Angels Exultant were you assigned combat doctrine for? The original chapter (which you've written for, seems nice) or the Refounded Primaris chapter?

[Teetengee]

Plague of Mabinos

Afflicting thankfully only a dozen confirmed worlds as of current reckoning, it is nonetheless a heavy threat to not just the physical health of the Emperor's servants, but their spiritual health as well. The disease first manifests as an itchy rash. Repeated scratching appears to raise blisters filled with a powerful hallucinogenic spore. Those who absorb these spores begin to suffer as well. In later stages of the disease, the victim, now nearly continuously under the effects of the spores and with blisters over 40% or more of their body, begins to see visions I believe to be of daemonic origin. Considering that prior to Kalav's exterminatus due to daemonic contamination reports consistent with this disease had been reaching nearby colonies, I believe that later stages of the disease may open the victim's mind as a conduit directly to the warp, at least in a small subset of the population. Heretical vandalism showing daemons bursting from the flesh of human forms found on Kalav circumstantially supports this conclusion.

Notes of Archivist Othol Rag, Exterminated for Heresy 6135998.M41


(I was inspired, sorry if out of place)

Edited July 2, 2018 by Teetengee

[Ace Debonair]

@SanguiniusReborn, which Angels Exultant were you assigned combat doctrine for? The original chapter (which you've written for, seems nice) or the Refounded Primaris chapter?

…Uh, it should have been the Primaris Chapter.

I suppose I should have made that more clear.

 

That said I have no issue at all with using what SR has written for the combat doctrines of the original Angels - it's good stuff.

 

 

As for what's next - what's the thoughts on a 'Round 2' of the Writing Challenge?

I'm keen to have another go, just wondering what everyone else's thoughts are.

 

Lastly, Dosjetka, if you're still about - technically there's still room for more Chapters/Renegades/Heretics if you're looking to create something rather than expand on existing forces - I don't see any real need to shut off further submissions until we hit 10 forces for each, to be honest.

[Kelborn]

Sure. Think we should advance after writing something for each faction. :)

[Dizzyeye01]

I'm cool for another round two however while we should continue to focus on the chapters/warbands, perhaps we could delve slightly into what the next steps are after they're ready to go. Will we having three step war lkke with the original Liber Cluster or something else? I feel like they should be considered.

[Machine God]

 

As for what's next - what's the thoughts on a 'Round 2' of the Writing Challenge?

I'm keen to have another go, just wondering what everyone else's thoughts are.

 

Lastly, Dosjetka, if you're still about - technically there's still room for more Chapters/Renegades/Heretics if you're looking to create something rather than expand on existing forces - I don't see any real need to shut off further submissions until we hit 10 forces for each, to be honest.

I also think that they Chapter / Warbands need filling out, although we need more people for this.

 

With the original criteria later updated by Conn Eremon we could each create a Primaris Chapter, A Chaos Warband, and a Renegade Chapter.

 

So not counting Jape and Fat Necron who are off the radar at this moment in time the results are:

 

Created:

 

Teetengee                     Primaris & Renegade.

Kelborn                         Primaris & Chaos.

Machine God                 Primaris, Chaos & Renegade.

Ace Debonair                Primaris & Chaos.

WG101                         Primaris.

Sanguinas Reborn        Renegade.

Dizzyeye                        Renegade.

Beren                            Renegade & Chaos

 

Can create:

 

Teetengee                     Chaos.

Kelborn                          Renegade.

Ace Debonair                Renegade.

WG101                         Chaos & Renegade.

Sanguinas Reborn        Primaris & Chaos.

Dizzyeye                        Primaris & Chaos.

Beren                            Primaris.

 

So of the 16 slots left, we can all create 10 more Chapter / Warbands. We definitely need Chaplain Dosjetka's assistance and others.

Edited July 3, 2018 by Machine God

[Kelborn]

I could contribute a renegade force, being a mixture of disciplined World Eaters (a la Dornian Heresy) and Halo Wars' Banished.

 

Led by an old Kratos-/ Atriox-ish character.

[Dizzyeye01]

I personally feel that while we should still allow room for other forces to join, we should still progress the actual campaign on. We already have the base for 14 individual forces within this campaign so at least perhaps putting forward ideas for said campaign would be nice in my opinion. At this rate, if we go for a section per month then it'll be Christmas if its six sections total. Apologies if I'm sounding impatient, I only have concerns about burnout for the project as Jape and Fat Necron are MIA as of the typing of this post.

[Ace Debonair]

Sure. Think we should advance after writing something for each faction.

 

That is pretty much the entirety of my plan, if I'm honest. 

 

 

With the original criteria later updated by Conn Eremon we could each create a Primaris Chapter, A Chaos Warband, and a Renegade Chapter.

 

So of the 16 slots left, we can all create 10 more Chapter / Warbands. We definitely need Chaplain Dosjetka's assistance and others.

Let's just set a cap of "two space marine factions contributed per Liberite, MAXIMUM" and leave some space for new blood as and when it arrives.

 

Filling all the spaces for submissions early on was the last Cluster's biggest problem - having the extra space is a good thing, not a negative.

 

 

 

I personally feel that while we should still allow room for other forces to join, we should still progress the actual campaign on. We already have the base for 14 individual forces within this campaign so at least perhaps putting forward ideas for said campaign would be nice in my opinion. At this rate, if we go for a section per month then it'll be Christmas if its six sections total. Apologies if I'm sounding impatient, I only have concerns about burnout for the project as Jape and Fat Necron are MIA as of the typing of this post.

We're not going to be writing everything for everyone, do not fret.

It'll be - at most - a second round of the Writing Challenge, focusing pretty much entirely on the factions that were missed out the first time around.

 

For example, the Followers of Mabinos and the Gravewalkers didn't get any attention in this round - I'd like to change that and give everyone a chance to add a little more depth and detail for rest of the Liberite factions.

 

I don't plan to secretly press-gang everyone into writing sixteen IAs before the new year. Instead, I just want to more clearly illustrate the key players of the next few Cluster Campaigns that will be taking place.

 

 

Since you seem rather keen on knowing what's next, I'll be totally honest and admit I haven't yet finalised things.

I've got plans in mind that can be summed up as "Like the Liber Campaign/Cluster 1, but much smaller in scale", so maybe five or six factions doing two or three waves of battles against various opponents, that sort of thing.

[Ace Debonair]

The Inquisitor glanced once more across the reports arrayed before him. The Liber Cluster was on the precipice of war, and every single piece of information that could be gleaned from the intelligence his agents had gathered so painstakingly could be the crucial detail that brought about Imperial victory.
 
Know thyself, and know thy enemy, as the old mantra went.
 
The Inquisitor sighed, and turned back to the data-slate in his hand.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
 
Alrighty then brothers - I've suddenly got a day off, so I'm going to set up the second and final round of the Writing Challenge.
 
But before that: A hearty thank you and congratulations to everyone who took part in round one for getting the submissions in on time!
Sterling work, brothers. You do the Liber proud!
 
 
Now, on to round 2!

The challenge, as before, will be to write up a 200-500 word expansion that covers one or more of the following topics: Homeworld*, Beliefs, Combat Doctrine, or Organisation.

*If the chapter/warband is fleet-based, then replace 'homeworld' with 'recruitment'.
 
Renegades:
 
The Enlightened - Machine God
The Jus Naufragii - Sanguinius Reborn*
The Gravewalkers - Kelborn
 
Primaris:
 
The Sons of Morrigan - WG101
The Argent Claws - Ace Debonair
The Warshields - Beren
 
Chaos:
 
The Singala Cadre - Dizzyeye
The Abyssal Stalkers - Teetengee
 
 
OK! So if anyone would like to write for a different faction or bow out of round two for whatever reason (fluff burnout happens, we can revisit this later if we need to) just say the word and I'll make the required adjustments.
 
I've tried where possible to stick to the alignments people requested first time around, hopefully I've succeeded.

 

Let's call the deadline for this round the 25th of July - but if we all finish our tasks early we can move on ahead of schedule.
 
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
A quick note on the Warshields:
 
So where the Lords Inviolate draw a lot of inspiration from ancient Rome, their successor was based on the Auxiliaries used by the Roman Legions - offered full Roman citizenship but yet not entirely Roman. Hence, the Warshields work closely with the Lords Inviolate to the point of basically being an extension of the Lords, despite also remaining a separate entity.
 
My original idea was that the Warshields would be like the 'barbarians of Gaul' to the Lords' Roman Citizens.
...Then I remembered the Aetheric Swords (which I originally submitted for the First Cluster) were also based on ancient Gaul... About a week after I posted the Warshields.
 
But the Romans used auxiliaries from lots of places, so now I'm thinking something more African, if only because the image of Space Marines using a more grimdark Wakanda as a homeworld won't leave my head.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
 
 
* Sanguinius, if you'd rather do a section for the Primaris Angels Exultant, just say the word - that's fine too. If so, we can either have a space open for anyone else who might want to join in, or worst comes to worst I'll just write up something for the Jus Naufragii too.
 
 
 
Dosjetka (or anyone else who wants to join in) - There's always room for more fleshing out of stuff. If you want in, I can assign you a Chapter to write a section for - it'll be one of the ones we've just covered, so you'll have to pick a section that hasn't been done already, but there's still plenty of room for cool ideas and fresh developments.

 

EDIT:

Added little details like the deadline and what the challenge actually requires.

Edited July 4, 2018 by Ace Debonair