Fluff Questions

[Tyriks]

So, I'm new to Thousand Sons. A few questions popped up from reading the codex or novels:

 

First, does a warband necessarily all belong to the same cult? Or would they be a mix of adherents to all the cults? The codex makes it seem more like the former but I can't find that explicitly laid out. Some of the warbands described have iconography of one cult while mentioning different cults in the blurb so I'm not sure if there's a hard and fast rule there.

 

Secondly, is Magnus on the tabletop always Magnus himself? Or, could they be his splintered selves? I ask for two reasons, first that it seems hard to justify Magnus getting time with every single Warband out there from a fluff perspective, but also I'm looking for a reason to paint him to match my army better (when I pick him up).

[Kite Senet]

I think the new 9 cults are all new to the codex, so if you've read that you know as much as anyone.

 

If you mean the old 5 cults corresponding to psychic disciplines, they were generally used in mixed forces.

 

As for tabletop Magnus, I would probably say Magnus has been re-unified enough from when he was shattered by Russ, so he's probably more-or-less whole, not splintered. *However*, I do recall he can project himself to different locations, as he does in one of the Space Pups books; though in that case I recall he appeared as a young child and an old man when projected, not in his full glory.

 

It actually makes a lot more sense to have Magnuses all over the shop than Ahriman, since Daemon Princes can travel substantially faster than regular humans, and may even be able to be in multiple places at the same time. (I dunno if that's true, but I wouldn't be surprised if that held.) And keep in mind there are limits to how much each game integrates into the fluff---if Ahriman dies in your game it doesn't mean nobody else can ever play him, after all. So don't feel bad about painting Magnus to match your army.

[Tyriks]

When was Magnus reconstituted?

[Kite Senet]

Crimson King, Ahriman trilogy, and a short story spoilers:

By the end of The Crimson King, Ahriman and friends have managed to collect most major shards of Magnus and have rejoined them to more-or-less reconstitute Magnus--a notable exception being the shard which resides on Terra, being Magnus's good side, which is eventually infused into a loyalist Thousand Sons marine to create the first Grand Master of the Grey Knights, Janus; and another major exception being a shard which features in the Ahriman trilogy.

[Tyriks]

Ah, I've only just started Crimson King, thanks.

[Gederas]

It actually makes a lot more sense to have Magnuses all over the shop than Ahriman, since Daemon Princes can travel substantially faster than regular humans, and may even be able to be in multiple places at the same time. (I dunno if that's true, but I wouldn't be surprised if that held.) And keep in mind there are limits to how much each game integrates into the fluff---if Ahriman dies in your game it doesn't mean nobody else can ever play him, after all. So don't feel bad about painting Magnus to match your army.

Daemon Princes are able to be in multiple places at the same time, yes. Also multiple times at the same time. I remember reading a bit of official fluff, where a Chaos Champion (I think it was a Khorne champ?) duels a Daemon Prince, and later its revealed to the reader that the Daemon Prince the champion dueled was himself after his Ascension :lol:

 

So Tyriks, feel free. Paint Magnus to match your warband. Nothing is stopping you.

[sneakybamsen]

When considering your models assembly and painting, there is always the rule of cool to go by. If it's your models, and you think it's cool (whatever paintscheme and so on), the rule of cool trumps player opinions and fluff. Always.

 

If you want your army to have a light green theme, by all means go ahead. You might see questions from puzzled hobbyists, but as long as you have an answer, it's all good.