Sons of Sobek - Updated 25/8/20

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Oh, I've already got 2 home-brew Chaos warbands that I'm vaguely working on (Vectorium of Sanguine Fecundity for my Death Guard, and the Host of the Gilded Lord, name subject to change in this case) for my standard Chaos.

Good names. Is the Host of the Gilded Lord dedicated to Slaanesh (gilding does seem excessive), Tzeentch (whose plots may allow his worshipers to win great wealth), or Chaos Undivided?

I should clarify though, the spirits in this case aren't spirits of prior battle-brothers, or saints, or anything like that. They're just the standard Machine Spirits. There's no "the thought the spirit was an Imperial saint when really it was a Khorne daemon playing pretend", they don't get spirits added to them. They're just an inherent aspect of any machine.

 

...which of course means that any Librarian who is actually trying to add a "better" one himself is definitely getting a rather stern meeting with a Chaplain.

Well said.

[Lord_Caerolion]

Both of my Chaos warbands are actually attempts to deviate a bit from the norm. The Death Guard are cannibalistic, in armour the colour of diseased blood (Contrast paints are fun). The Host are a Slaaneshi warband, initially conceived back in 4th, after Chaos lost the "amazing" 3.5 Codex. People hated Legions no longer getting rules, so I decided to have fun with a Legion warband that split entirely.

The Host of the Gilded Lord are a Slaaneshi warband that used to be Iron Warriors, forgotten "exiles" from one of the garrison worlds out in the  -end of nowhere, who got left behind. Over time, they got more and more despotic over the native inhabitants, setting themselves up as petty tyrants and warlords, demanding tribute, while their leader, an absolute nobody of a minor officer, started playing around with the forbidden, and ended up creating a cult to Slaanesh.

Skip forward 10,000 years, and the followers of the Gilded Lord have completely thrown aside their ties to the Iron Warriors, and have changed their armour colours to being the melted down gold given in tribute from the subjects of the worlds they claim, trimmed in the bone of those who could not pay appropriate homage. The minor officer, having renamed himself the Gilded Lord, is now a telepath, thanks to the influence of the daemonette he bound into a staff, and uses his powers to rip the memories from his victims minds, desperate to find any experience he hasn't yet felt.

They absolutely don't give a damn about the Long War, or Abaddon, or any of that. They just want another populace bowing at their feet, lavishing them with praise, and offering gifts worthy of their "majesty". They're nobodies, who drape themselves in stolen finery thinking that makes them important, all while Slaanesh whispers "more".

[Bjorn Firewalker]

You have great ideas for the Host of the Gilded Lord.

[Lord_Caerolion]

Oh yes, and the vaguest rumblings of a zen Khornate warband, instead of the usual insane ax-murderers. They're a death cult that wants to return the universe to "purity". They're still hate-fuelled, they just seek to control it, rather than them being yet another example of "well, they're Khornate, better make them World Eater clones". Of course, they're probably doomed to fail, and sooner or later their willpower will begin to slip.

Absolutely no idea what they're called, or what they'll look like, but I'm thinking maybe blue armour with red arms, and called the Paragons of Annihilation? Really cannot stress enough how unsure I am on the name. 

 

To bring it back to the Sons of Sobek, I'm planning to have some further assistance to my Librarians by having the Chapter still making strong use of the Rhino-chassis MBT's and support vehicles, given they're easier to construct. They might have a few Gladiator tanks, or whatever new variants get brought out, and definitely make use of the Repulsor and Impulsor, but by and large their armoured support is comprised of Predators, Whirlwinds, and Hunter/Stalkers.

[Lord_Caerolion]

Updated the original post to add information on the training and recruitment.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Oh yes, and the vaguest rumblings of a zen Khornate warband, instead of the usual insane ax-murderers. They're a death cult that wants to return the universe to "purity". They're still hate-fuelled, they just seek to control it, rather than them being yet another example of "well, they're Khornate, better make them World Eater clones". Of course, they're probably doomed to fail, and sooner or later their willpower will begin to slip.

Absolutely no idea what they're called, or what they'll look like, but I'm thinking maybe blue armour with red arms, and called the Paragons of Annihilation? Really cannot stress enough how unsure I am on the name.

"Paragons of Annihilation" is acceptable as a name. If not, how about "Purifiers"? (I used the latter for a religious sect seeking to "purify" humanity of sin, in a story unrelated to WH40K.)

[Brother Lunkhead]

Both of my Chaos warbands are actually attempts to deviate a bit from the norm. The Death Guard are cannibalistic, in armour the colour of diseased blood (Contrast paints are fun). The Host are a Slaaneshi warband, initially conceived back in 4th, after Chaos lost the "amazing" 3.5 Codex. People hated Legions no longer getting rules, so I decided to have fun with a Legion warband that split entirely.

The Host of the Gilded Lord are a Slaaneshi warband that used to be Iron Warriors, forgotten "exiles" from one of the garrison worlds out in the  -end of nowhere, who got left behind. Over time, they got more and more despotic over the native inhabitants, setting themselves up as petty tyrants and warlords, demanding tribute, while their leader, an absolute nobody of a minor officer, started playing around with the forbidden, and ended up creating a cult to Slaanesh.

Skip forward 10,000 years, and the followers of the Gilded Lord have completely thrown aside their ties to the Iron Warriors, and have changed their armour colours to being the melted down gold given in tribute from the subjects of the worlds they claim, trimmed in the bone of those who could not pay appropriate homage. The minor officer, having renamed himself the Gilded Lord, is now a telepath, thanks to the influence of the daemonette he bound into a staff, and uses his powers to rip the memories from his victims minds, desperate to find any experience he hasn't yet felt.

They absolutely don't give a damn about the Long War, or Abaddon, or any of that. They just want another populace bowing at their feet, lavishing them with praise, and offering gifts worthy of their "majesty". They're nobodies, who drape themselves in stolen finery thinking that makes them important, all while Slaanesh whispers "more".

 

 

You have great ideas for the Host of the Gilded Lord.

 

 

Oh yes, and the vaguest rumblings of a zen Khornate warband, instead of the usual insane ax-murderers. They're a death cult that wants to return the universe to "purity". They're still hate-fuelled, they just seek to control it, rather than them being yet another example of "well, they're Khornate, better make them World Eater clones". Of course, they're probably doomed to fail, and sooner or later their willpower will begin to slip.

Absolutely no idea what they're called, or what they'll look like, but I'm thinking maybe blue armour with red arms, and called the Paragons of Annihilation? Really cannot stress enough how unsure I am on the name. 

 

 

 

 

Oh yes, and the vaguest rumblings of a zen Khornate warband, instead of the usual insane ax-murderers. They're a death cult that wants to return the universe to "purity". They're still hate-fuelled, they just seek to control it, rather than them being yet another example of "well, they're Khornate, better make them World Eater clones". Of course, they're probably doomed to fail, and sooner or later their willpower will begin to slip.

Absolutely no idea what they're called, or what they'll look like, but I'm thinking maybe blue armour with red arms, and called the Paragons of Annihilation? Really cannot stress enough how unsure I am on the name.

"Paragons of Annihilation" is acceptable as a name. If not, how about "Purifiers"? (I used the latter for a religious sect seeking to "purify" humanity of sin, in a story unrelated to WH40K.)

 

 

This looks to be a very interesting subject, worthy of a separate thread

[Lord_Caerolion]

OP updated again, adding a section on the homeworld of Orichar, still need to add a paragraph or so about the lives of the local tribes.

 

Gotta say, finding it a bit hard at times to not expand off into massive tangents about stuff that isn't entirely relevant, like the flora/fauna, etc.

[KBA]

Gotta say, finding it a bit hard at times to not expand hatoff into massive tangents about stuff that isn't entirely relevant, like the flora/fauna, etc.

I hear you on that. It’s hard to reconcile just how in-depth you should go into the more obscure details of things vs the flow of the read. I’d like to try a new format after I complete my main article that really bites into that kind of stuff but is completely optional reading material to the main IA. That way, we can go nuts on the extra details without sacrificing readability. Like, ‘here’s another thousand words on Homeworld’, presented in an interesting way separate from the main course :)

 

I really like what you have so far, going to read it front to back and provide some feedback when I get a chance.

[Brother Lunkhead]

 

Gotta say, finding it a bit hard at times to not expand off into massive tangents about stuff that isn't entirely relevant, like the flora/fauna, etc.

 

You might consider a series of annexes at the end of the main article for tangent detailed articles. You can hide the bulk of the text under the subject titles and summaries so the IA article doesn't look too bulky or padded.

[Lord_Caerolion]

Building on the idea raised by Bjorn Firewalker earlier in the discussion about the Oricharian techpriests being allowed some leeway due to the Mechanicus wanting to get their hands on the terraforming technology that reshaped the planet, and the fact that I'm wanting my Chapter to have a larger amount of archaeotech than usual, how big of a no-no would it be considered to say that the technology uncovered on Orichar had helped the Adeptus Mechanicus with the refinement of displacer-field technology and other rarer technologies, which is why they're allowed some leeway in their practices.

 

I usually try my best to keep any custom Chapters out of influencing the wider Imperium, but the idea of giving the Mechanicus something would go a long way to explaining the deviancy of the local branch of the Cult, and I'm wanting to keep whatever happened to the planet itself mysterious. I haven't even really decided myself what did it, and I don't think I want to, but I'm certain there's not going to be a vault somewhere deep on Orichar that contains the stuff they need to inflict it on another planet. Hell, it might not have even been Imperials/humans that did it.

 

I'm hoping that this compromise of "well, they were at least able to increase the stability of displacer-fields by 7.486%, and had a power cell that could be stored for 12% longer before degradation, so I guess they're ok, even if we don't get the planet-changing superweapon" isn't seen as too much of trying to shoehorn my Chapter into the wider 40k mythos.

[KBA]

I think marginal refinements to the current techs are a fantastic way to make that work for your chapter. You can affect the paracosm with DIY to the degree of only adding rarely missed footnotes, or throw-away facts, to keep the majority of readers onboard, IMHO, and I think you accomplish that in those examples.

[Lord_Caerolion]

I'll try to get some photos up later, but I've tinkered around with my Librarian model, and made some changes to my Chapter Master too.

In regards to the Librarian, the staff head has been changed, but I'm wanting to keep the mask. Chapter Master has some Necron bits too, but they're hopefully a lot less recognisable for what they are.

Edited August 10, 2020 by Lord_Caerolion

[Lord_Caerolion]

Well, I've made some changes to the Librarian, to make him look less like he just plundered a tomb world.

 

 

Also showing off for the first time Chapter Master Sukheiros, the Lord of Bloodied Waters:

 

 

Rules-wise, he's just a Gravis Captain with the Burning Blade, although we'll see what the new Codex brings.

[KBA]

Great job on really signalling ‘tech tribal’ with that Librarian! Oh, and your Chapter Master looks amazing. Really well done kitbashes.

[Lord_Caerolion]

I'll be adding some fabric strips to the Librarian, to make him look a bit more like the Banuk Shaman image from when I first posted pictures of him, and to make him look a bit more like a Phobos Librarian, with something that could pass as representing a camo cloak.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The Chapter Master looks most promising.

[Lord_Caerolion]

Thanks, Bjorn Firewalker. Some might call it overkill to have purchased a FW model just to steal the arms for a conversion. However, the Steel Janizars now have a cool First Captain made from the remaining bits of Tyberos, combined with some Grey Knight parts.

 

I'm really happy with how the Chapter Master turned out. Initially I'd left Feirros' backpack unchanged, but the servo-arms really didn't fit the character, or the Chapter either. Some careful snipping, combined with some Seraphon/Necron bits, and hopefully he looks the right amount of barbaric and high-tech.

[Lord_Caerolion]

Added a section on the local population, found it hard to put this down in words I was happy with, so this might get rewritten at some point.

[Lord_Caerolion]

Triple-posting, because I’m horrible like that.

 

Added a small section about the priesthood and their relations with the Mechanicus, drawing on the archaeotech tribute to the wider Mechanicus in exchange for being allowed to keep their independence.

It did also get me thinking though on something that had been bugging me for a while, and not have an answer to. If the local population is so insular, and the local offshoot of the Mechanicus in particular, why’d they welcome the Sons with open arms, and instruct their Chaplains/Librarians with their sacred knowledge? Then it came to me. Protection. Their bargain has worked fine up until now, but what happens if the person they’ve been sending their tribute to gets replaced, and the new guy is far more of a puritan hardliner? Or what if the archaeotech dries up enough that the Adeptus Mechanicus renege on the deal? Well, now they’re a Chapter planet, with all the protection and independence that comes with it. They’ve also made themselves indispensable to the Sons of Sobek, being owed for helping save the Chapter after their techmarines were wiped out and staying true to the supposed wishes of the Omnissiah.

 

Next time the Mechanicus come to the table wanting to look at the deal, they’ve got an entire Chapter backing them up.