Index Tratorois: [WIP/Brain Storming]

[Fat Necron]

Howdy Chaps, I've come to the Liber Chaotic to brain storm nifty idea's regarding Chaos, its religious practices and eventually constructing my own Lost and Damned/Traitor Marines. That said, one key factor I'm eliminating from the equation is Chaos vs Imperium conflicts. It's an age old troupe done again and again without end. There's enough fantastic stories that I'd rather enjoy those than add my own non-sense to the equation. And yes, I'm very much aware the two are very much intertwined but I'd rather take a different route... Kinda. 

You see, my issue is I have a lot of idea's but no solid structure, then again, how structured should it be?

 

A little while ago I read Empire of Leng by Jape and The Violent Gods by bloodhound23. Arguably my favorite homebrews to date. The execution of both were on point, beautifully well-crafted without getting bogged down by answering questions. They left room to interpret, have the reader think and come to their own conclusions. Every so often I still contemplate what exactly Ynoggua is or how The Silver Skulls reacted to the discovery of The Violent Gods. 
 

So I'm going to drop a rough draft of what I've been thinking which may be kinda/sorta lengthy. Nothing is set in stone, just a bundle of idea's. However, keep in mind I'm not focusing on the Traitor Marines or war with the Imperium. The outline is suppose to be a potential precursor to a Chaos vs Xeno's.

 

A Rough Historical Outline

What I want to do is craft a setting from the perspective of Traitors, so to speak. The rough idea is a collection of systems have been shattered by a splintered Hive Fleet. Imperial forces narrowly defeated the Hive Fleet but not without suffering horrific casualties. Hundreds of Astarte's died, small fleets destroyed, ect ect.

 

Mechanicum Adepts have come in to capitalize on the resulting chaos turning this conflict into a sort of enterprise. Grotesque brass citadels have risen, dedicated wholly to productivity. To settle unrest Ecclesiarch representatives have lead the re-population efforts, hoping to integrate zealots with less devote, traumatized citizens- thus, a powder keg!
That's only the tip of the ice berg. Remnants from the Hive Fleet linger, still. Genestealer Cults worming its way within noble merchant houses, abandoned mining operations housing whole nests and worse. Dark Eldar have taken a particular liking to these systems, sighting the zealots as excellent fodder for their arena's.

The only real defenders, if you'd call them that, is an army of Repentia with a small contingent of actual Adaptus Sororitas but they're indisposed. They swore to uphold the Imperial Creed, thus, linger on what are known as Slave Worlds. Accepted abhumans, physically able mutants and less pious citizens are shipped to these worlds as indentured slaves. Since the systems were shattered the top priority is production, rebuilding; numbers. Human rights be damned, civility be damned, there is no room for mercy when both Ecclesiarch and Mechanicum build for the whole of the Imperium... And that's where things get complicated.

You see, I listened to the audiobook Heart of Rage by James Swallow and in that story a Biologis essentially fuses with a weakened/dying Carnifex. He's enraptured by the sheer amount of evolutionary information stored within its genetics, and that got me thinking, what if it took a one-eighty?

This is where, I'm thinking, my idea's get a little fickle. I was debating on doing something similar where a Genestealer is discovered, however, the Magos in question isn't enraptured; he's petrified. He saw something to the affect of what the detective saw in

. Maybe the Hive Mind itself, more Tyranids, whatever it was he/she abandoned his/her faith and creed. What he/she  knows for certain is the Imperium won't return for a second time.
So, I'm thinking this realization spreads throughout the Mechanicum temples. Where riots have begun to break out, some Adepts are siding with the rebels in what is essentially a civil war. Nothing like The Death of Innocence but pretty bad. Slave Worlds are up in arms, fighting their dastardly oppressors, so on and so forth. The idea is there's no official Regiments or Astarte's to quell these uprisings. Thus, we have sub-factions grossly overwhelmed by the sheer volume of non-sense... And then came Chaos Worshipers!

Now let me explain where the Chaos Worship come from. Where all this slavery, oppression and other delightful authoritarian non-sense is happening, some have begun abandoning their faith. Khorne is one good example. You'll have slaves who will hide pendants and tattoo's of his symbol or variant of said symbol. They'll prey for the strength to endure, for courage, for salvation... And boy does he deliver.

I like to think these rebellions came as a result of this growing cult of Khorne. I'm not throwing in daemons or blood sacrifices, these slaves are simply praying for the courage to fight back. No aspiring champions, none of that non-sense only their prayers being answered.

Another chaotic aspect is caused by natural occurrences. Pollution from mass industry and worlds affected by the previous Hive Fleet have left them a little warped. Miscarriages are a growing problem as birth rates continually drop. Children born with mutations and others barely making it past infancy. As we all know, this is quite traumatic. So you'll now have folks praying, not to the God-Emperor but to anyone who will see their child lives to an adult. 

Nurgle graciously obliges them!

Khorne and Nurgle worship, though not directly, is spreading as praying to them actually has results. With their hidden devotions thinning the veils and conflicts only getting more heated we now have Warp Talons! Yup, you read that right, Warp Talons.

This is where I might be bending the lore a bit but bare with me. The idea behind the Warp Talons suddenly appearing is the veil between the Immaterium and Materium is thinning. Those Astarte's who perished have come as a result of these prayers. I'm thinking they're Revenants, Astarte's pledged to defend these worlds yet died doing so. I personally love the idea of daemons/spirits taking the form of twisted Astarte's and reaping a bloody toll, but again, it's another idea that's up in the air.

As everything begins spiraling further out of control we'll find those remnants of the Hive Fleet begin to emerge. Cells of Genestealers who's political power is threatened by these rebels. Remember the abandoned mining operations and colonies? Well they've been building and refitting. There will be no Imperium to return, no Chapters to swoop in like Callahan, nothing to prevent the Second Coming. Thus, a new conflict will begin to rear its ugly head.

I'm thinking the setting will have bits of Mechanicum/Sororitas battles but it'll heavily be based around Lost and Damned fighting Genestealers/Tyranids. After I that, I'd like to cram some Necrons and Dark Eldar in there but I'm settling with the above for now. 

So thoughts, idea's, criticism is welcomed and genuinely appreciated! Edited March 15, 2018 by Fat Necron

[Tarvek Val]

Hmmm that's quite an ambitious undertaking. I think it is totally doable, if you're willing to commit a fair amount of time to this project. I would advise addressing each aspect of the story in a separate segment, so each part is addressed and nothing seems rushed, forced, or confusing. I really like the idea of people praying to the Chaos gods not for power, influence, or glory, but just for strength and survival. This is an avenue that hasn't been much explored in the 40k or HH realms; those who pray to Chaos are portrayed as either deranged lunatics or dangerous warriors who seek power and ascension to the rank of daemon prince. I like the idea of Revenants; are the Revenants equivalent to the Warp Talons, or are they too separate groups? 

 

I like the idea, and would love to see more progress!

[Fat Necron]

Very ambitious but if Warhammer has taught me anything Go big or go home. Seriously they have the largest, most audacious constructs in that universe. I figured if I'm going to commit any writing to the universe I should attempt to keep up. 

I was thinking on the actual history I posted up above and I'm thinking of leaving it as just that- history. I've got no interest going into great detail regarding Chaos vs Imperium battle. Personally speaking, leaving it as history with tidbits here and there seems preferable. I could leave hints as to who began to turn when, why this and that failed, ect ect. It's more appealing, funner without any math involved... However I'm always up for idea's regarding that route. 

Bothersome, if anything else. There's much more to murder and mayhem when it comes to the Chaos entities. Khorne will be instrumental in freeing the systems, Nurgle's blessing will see man and mutant thrive again, the familiars of Tzeetch will inspire the Adapts into eventually creating pseudo-rubric marines, preachers of Slaanesh will whisper ambition and greed among the noble families birthing eventually leading to an industrial rise. All the while these supposedly free systems battle the many xeno races. For now, however, it'll mainly focus on genestealers and tyranids. I'd rather not shoot too much off and fall short though what I just said speaks to the contrary.

I haven't actually decided on the Revenants idea yet. I'm using my Warp Talon models to represent them but I'm on the fence right now. If you've got any idea's I'm game to read them.