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We all know that there is often a discrepancy between "official" GW canon (if that is even a thing) and some of the ways we think about it. The Tau are a great example because some people leap to defend them as a beacon of hope ect, others say they are simply a more insidious evil. Regardless: I think we all have some bit of the 40k universe that we probably think about as being essentially different than either the fan consensus or published material.
I want to hear some of those heretical ideas! Seriously: sell me on your best Headcanon!
I will give you a few of my own ideas just as a start (but I don't want to derail the thread before it has even begun, so I will keep it brief.)
1) I totally believe in the Imperial propaganda that, somehow, the Emperor is going to eventually revive himself and get back to ruling/being awesome. We only have to hold out hope! (I know, I know: this is really just propaganda, but I WANT TO BELIEVE!)
2) To explain the discrepancy between bolters in game (better than average shooters,) and bolters in fluff (fully automatic armour piercing rockets of death) I use the handy headcanon that the bolters actually USED by 40k space marines don't have working bolts! They are essentially just really big machine-guns because the Imperium lost the ability to produce the rocket/explosive rounds a long time ago. The propaganda persists, and they are still pretty dang good (a nearly 1.00 calibre machine gun? Yes please.) But they are simply different than how they are presented.
Okay: your turn! What is your own personal Heresy?
And as always: may the emperor bless your dice :-)
Uh... I believe the Eldar have a chance of returning to their former glory... some day. Maybe on a smaller scale and in a quieter part of the galaxy but enough to pull through. Yea...
I believe the true identity of Cypher is Zahariel and that he will return the Lion Sword to the Emperor and that the Emperor will absolve him of his sins and ask him to slay him so he can be reborn. Maybe...
Sometimes I buff up marine numbers in my head so the setting makes sense. Or I imagine them like my marines in DoW II when they're already maxed out and destroying everything or where they quickly recover from being incapacitated.
I also significantly buff up numbers for all the warzones I read about. Especially Astra Militarum numbers. Millions are just entirely unimpressive in a galaxy-spanning setting where a single Hive World seems to outnumber the entire organization. We've had conflicts with millions here on Earth already.
Even though I'm a Dark Angels fan, I ignore ADB's depiction of them because I like them the way they're depicted in the actual novels (Descent of Angels and Fallen Angels), not his short stories. Even if they are badass, the unending "your grace," "my liege," and knight-lord this, knight that, thing ruins it for me. They're not Bretonnia in space! The Order was a meritocratic organization, even if there was the occasional "my lord" thrown in (the whole point was they got rid of the recruiting exclusively from nobles thing and it's mentioned that it's not "top-heavy formation." No room for liege-lord there, brother!). Hope this doesn't become established canon.
And I believe in the Imperium and that it will either survive and reform or be reborn! But nicer somehow! More like the Great Crusade Imperium!
(Yea not sure that was entirely heretical except rooting for the Eldar )
And the Angels of Darkness descended on pinions of fire and light... the great and terrible dark angels.
He was not the golden lord. The Emperor will carry us to the stars, but never beyond them. My dreams will be lies, if a golden lord does not rise.
I look to the stars now, with the old scrolls burning runes across my memory. And I see my own hands as I write these words. Erebus and Kor Phaeron speak the truth.
The Orks are the galaxy's last, best chance, because not only do they have the ability to fight off all the various menaces, they're also the only people who are truly happy.
I believe that the Omnissiah is not the Emperor, and is instead a left-over AI from the DAoT fused with the damaged and imprisoned shard of the Void Dragon on Mars.
The Emperor orchestrated the worst atrocities throughout the course of human history - to carry out his ultimate plan: Empires falling, Hitler, Stalin etc
Furthermore, I think it would be pretty amusing for the Emperor to be in fact Nimrod from old testament lore (tower of Babel era), as it would fall in line with the whole Illuminati, sun worship, 'the mysteries' stuff. So yea an antichrist or the Antichrist.
I think Astarte, the goddess, is based on Semiramis (Nimrods wife), so it would make some sort of honorary/symmetrical sense for some grade of his progenitors - of the Emperors seed - to be named Astartes. Although, I think the devs probably just thought Astartes in an innocent sense: a latin star like word
This message was edited 4 times. Last update was at 2015/03/06 03:51:09
Age of Sigmar - It's sorta like a clogged toilet, where the muck crests over the rim and onto the floor. Somehow 'ground marines' were created from this...
I like to believe the few remaining primarchs are fully aware of what is going on, and actually want to wait for the imperium to be destroyed (or just terra). Then they plan to step in and build smaller, safer empires (weather they are aware of these similar yet separate plans is debatable.)
Of course, that is just ridiculous...but I can have my hopes :(
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I believe that Laguns are an extremely deadly weapon, which are poorly represented in game terms along with bolters. As something that has become a replacement for modern assault rifles, it would totally feth up a target. I think the Gaunts Ghosts book do a great job of showing it in its proper strength. Bolters would destroy what ever got hit by them. Once agian poor game representation.
Hell, shotguns are the most violent and flexible weapon system around, it in game terms it's Piss poor pop gun.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2015/03/06 05:12:13
The Internet- where men are men, women are men, and kids are undercover cops
The Necrons will fall when the Destroyers turn on them and the C'Tan take advantage of the chaos to re-unify enough to fight back against the Necrons. They will go from "arising horror" to Eldar.
The Eldar will sacrifice themselves to destroy Slaanesh.
The Tau will create a virus that finishes the work the Old Ones did on the Orks, turning them into a living weapon that can be directed.
The Emperor will die and will not be reborn.
The Minotaurs will help a rogue High Lord (corrupted by Tzeentch) kill the Emperor. The Space Sharks will kill them after the Ultramarines fail to do so.
The drastic rewrite in the role of the Inquisition and the size/composition of the Grey Knights in the 5e book? There was a schism involved, the High Lords of Terra tried to assert greater control over the Inquisition and appointed a Supreme Grand Master to try and keep the Grey Knights in check. A number of Inquisitors and some of the Grey Knights accepted the restrictions and are the forces mentioned in the Codex, but some Inquisitors and over half the Grey Knights refused to recognize the newfound authority and left. There were short, intense, and very secret skirmishes all over the galaxy where garrisons contained loyal and renegade members, but in the end both sides elected to preserve the fiction that they're working together for the good of the masses. There's a shadow war going on throughout the galaxy right now between the loyalist and schismatic forces.
Wow, I also remember this topic from before I started actively posting on the forums! There was some really good stuff in there!
And the Angels of Darkness descended on pinions of fire and light... the great and terrible dark angels.
He was not the golden lord. The Emperor will carry us to the stars, but never beyond them. My dreams will be lies, if a golden lord does not rise.
I look to the stars now, with the old scrolls burning runes across my memory. And I see my own hands as I write these words. Erebus and Kor Phaeron speak the truth.
- Imperium/HLoT don't care about planets and systems, as long as they complete their tithes.
- There are planets/systems with DAoT -level tech within the Imperium.
- Emperor knew about the impending heresy, he just didn't expect Horus to lead it.
- There are "mini-empires" within Imperium.
- Guard actually get s*it done without the marines.
- The exact number of marines is unknown. 1 000 000 is only the accounting number of Administratum.
- The IG regiments are only used for accounting and for shipping by Administratum. On combat-zone, regiments are divided, and formed into combat teams.
- The IG Flak armour is light-years from what we have. It has superior armor, communications, and networking capabilities. It also has built-in HUD-visor with NV/IR -capability.
- Lasgun is (one of) the best infantry-rifle(s) when it comes to cost-power ratio. It can be used against extreme variety of targets, from High-Power shots (that will expense the power-pack on 1 shot, and have high possibility of ruining your barrel.) that can penetrate power armour, to low-power, virtually unlimited non-lethal shots that are used for training and crowd-control.
This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2015/03/06 09:33:32
I just shared this in the End Times thread but probsbly fits in this thread better:
A man enters the high council's meeting room, latent psychic power fully awakened in him. The room falls to silence, one member looks to the man demanding "who are you, how did you get in here?".
The man looks straight at him and says "My name is John Grammaticus, and I am here to save the Imperium."
For those who have read Legion in the Horus Heresy series, I believe John will one day rise up as the "Jesus" of 40k. I also believe there is potential story in his psychic potential being much greater than we have seen, blockers being put in place by the Cabal.
So just before the Emperor's death, John will return, the regent of the Imperium.
As it is the end times, the alive Primarch's will return, and although initially resisting their allegiance to him, will see that John has taken the Emporer's place psychically keeping the imperium together, but playing a much more Malcador sort of role, leaving the returned Primarch's to be the generals.
Just a random thought I have been putting together.
Finlandiaperkele wrote: - Imperium/HLoT don't care about planets and systems, as long as they complete their tithes.
- There are planets/systems with DAoT -level tech within the Imperium.
- Emperor knew about the impending heresy, he just didn't expect Horus to lead it.
- There are "mini-empires" within Imperium.
- Guard actually get s*it done without the marines.
- The exact number of marines is unknown. 1 000 000 is only the accounting number of Administratum.
- The IG regiments are only used for accounting and for shipping by Administratum. On combat-zone, regiments are divided, and formed into combat teams.
- The IG Flak armour is light-years from what we have. It has superior armor, communications, and networking capabilities. It also has built-in HUD-visor with NV/IR -capability.
- Lasgun is (one of) the best infantry-rifle(s) when it comes to cost-power ratio. It can be used against extreme variety of targets, from High-Power shots (that will expense the power-pack on 1 shot, and have high possibility of ruining your barrel.) that can penetrate power armour, to low-power, virtually unlimited non-lethal shots that are used for training and crowd-control.
1, 4, 5, 7 don't seem heretical to me. I dare even say it's pretty canon, for a lack of a better word.
For 1,
It is the duty of each planetary governor to ensure the Imperial Tithe is paid. Such ministrations are tyrannically enforced, but as long as all tithe responsibilities are met and enemies of the Imperium are rejected, a planetary governor may rule his planet in any fashion he sees fit with little or no interference. In return for this fealry, the planetary governor can call upon the Adeprus Terra in times of need to request aid. (Warhammer 40,000: Core Rulebook. “The Imperial Tithe”. 6th Edition. P148)
4, Ultramar, for example.
5, pretty much every Gaunt's ghost novel and Ciaphas Cain novel has this.
7. Well, you know they have squads, the same thing.
Edit: 7, also Kill Team
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2015/03/06 10:52:09
Since the distant days of Rogue Trader and the Realms of Chaos books, the WHFB was a planet within the 40K universe, but isolated from the rest of the galaxy by impenetrable warp storms (as implied by the 40k 2nd edition Chaos Codex).
The WHFB is a planet that some surviving Old Ones (i.e. Slann) retreat to in order to continue their tinkering, and they shield this world with impenetrable warp storms through their arcane machinery and powers to prevent any interference from the rest of the galaxy. They bring with them samples of their various subject races, including the Orks (though the WHFB Lizardmen book implies Ork spores hitched a ride on the Old One ships and were unwanted). Using their mystical technology and powers, the orbit and continents of the WHFB world is adjusted. The Old Ones spawn Slann servants but keep them at a distance either intentionally or not, so these Slann are unaware of their true origins and begin to worship the Old Ones as gods. The 3rd edition Necron Codex said one could use WHFB Lizardmen to represent degenerate Slann, so the WHFB Slann would be an example of this. The polar gates collapse, and the Chaos gods send their daemons through. Seeing things go wrong yet again, the Old Ones either flee or are destroyed, leaving their children the Slann in the dark and only able to follow what scraps they can piece together of the plan.
For their part, the Chaos gods (as per the original Realms of Chaos books) love setting sometimes arbitrary conditions over the worlds they battle and wager over. They set the condition that the WHFB can only be conquered by daemons and mortals that have arisen from that world (i.e. no outside mortal Chaos followers so no CSM), and keep the impenetrable warp storms going so as to have their arena. In this isolated microcosm of the wider galaxy, the mortal races of the WHFB resist corruption for a surprisingly long time (again as per the 2nd edition Chaos Codex), and they create their own very localized warp gods explaining the various pantheons of the WHFB world.
Far far away, an Old One decides a different strategy. Seeing that uplifting psychic races has only caused endless grief for the Old Ones, this Old One decides to "beat the Necrons at their own game" by creating a race that is psychically dull but advanced in realspace technology like the Necrons were (as opposed to the Old Ones and their mystical warp based technology). The Old One creates/modifies members of a primitive race tearing itself apart in a brutal civil war. Once its creations are complete, this Old One sends its creations off to end the civil war and take control and guide this fledgling race to be a new weapon for the Old Ones against the Necrons. These creations are ignorant of their own creation and purpose, and establish themselves as the Ethereal caste of the Tau.
Since the distant days of Rogue Trader and the Realms of Chaos books, the WHFB was a planet within the 40K universe, but isolated from the rest of the galaxy by impenetrable warp storms (as implied by the 40k 2nd edition Chaos Codex).
The WHFB is a planet that some surviving Old Ones (i.e. Slann) retreat to in order to continue their tinkering, and they shield this world with impenetrable warp storms through their arcane machinery and powers to prevent any interference from the rest of the galaxy. They bring with them samples of their various subject races, including the Orks (though the WHFB Lizardmen book implies Ork spores hitched a ride on the Old One ships and were unwanted). Using their mystical technology and powers, the orbit and continents of the WHFB world is adjusted. The Old Ones spawn Slann servants but keep them at a distance either intentionally or not, so these Slann are unaware of their true origins and begin to worship the Old Ones as gods. The 3rd edition Necron Codex said one could use WHFB Lizardmen to represent degenerate Slann, so the WHFB Slann would be an example of this. The polar gates collapse, and the Chaos gods send their daemons through. Seeing things go wrong yet again, the Old Ones either flee or are destroyed, leaving their children the Slann in the dark and only able to follow what scraps they can piece together of the plan.
For their part, the Chaos gods (as per the original Realms of Chaos books) love setting sometimes arbitrary conditions over the worlds they battle and wager over. They set the condition that the WHFB can only be conquered by daemons and mortals that have arisen from that world (i.e. no outside mortal Chaos followers so no CSM), and keep the impenetrable warp storms going so as to have their arena. In this isolated microcosm of the wider galaxy, the mortal races of the WHFB resist corruption for a surprisingly long time (again as per the 2nd edition Chaos Codex), and they create their own very localized warp gods explaining the various pantheons of the WHFB world.
Far far away, an Old One decides a different strategy. Seeing that uplifting psychic races has only caused endless grief for the Old Ones, this Old One decides to "beat the Necrons at their own game" by creating a race that is psychically dull but advanced in realspace technology like the Necrons were (as opposed to the Old Ones and their mystical warp based technology). The Old One creates/modifies members of a primitive race tearing itself apart in a brutal civil war. Once its creations are complete, this Old One sends its creations off to end the civil war and take control and guide this fledgling race to be a new weapon for the Old Ones against the Necrons. These creations are ignorant of their own creation and purpose, and establish themselves as the Ethereal caste of the Tau.
Nice! In your version, would you consider Sigmar one of the missing Primarchs? And is Nagash just a very powerful psyker?
And the Angels of Darkness descended on pinions of fire and light... the great and terrible dark angels.
He was not the golden lord. The Emperor will carry us to the stars, but never beyond them. My dreams will be lies, if a golden lord does not rise.
I look to the stars now, with the old scrolls burning runes across my memory. And I see my own hands as I write these words. Erebus and Kor Phaeron speak the truth.
EngulfedObject wrote: Nice! In your version, would you consider Sigmar one of the missing Primarchs? And is Nagash just a very powerful psyker?
I leave the issue of Sigmar unanswered and open to interpretation. Maybe he was a Primarch...maybe he was not. Maybe he was just a super powerful psyker with innate powers in biomancy?
Nagash would be a psyker. He was mortal and just elevated himself, through magic/warp power.
Chaos: - The Chaos Gods are entirely dependent on humanity. Every bit of their power comes from human beliefs (read: they can do only what humans think they can do), and as such, they are extremely vulnerable to galactic human "mood swings". A depressed and bitter humanity (like the current one) turns the Chaos Gods evil, while a happy and progressive humanity would turn them good.
- Consequently, if enough humans think that a Chaos God doesn't exist, then he/she will stop existing. So overall, humanity could f*ck up the Chaos Gods in many-many very original and interesting ways if they knew this. Luckily to the Chaos Gods, they don't.
- Oddly enough, out of the four Chaos Gods, only Khorne knows this. That's why he turns his followers into mindless killing machines.
- Even the most powerful daemons are susceptible to this effect. Even the most feeble human can simply "think" the most powerful greater daemon into non-existence. This is effectively the only way to defeat a daemon: to firmly think that the daemon is defeated (this is usually triggered when someone stabs/shoots a daemon for good, thinking that he/she dealt a mortal blow to the creature).
- Psykers suffer a lot because they think that the Warp is harmful. Mutants exist because people gave mutating qualities to the Warp. Warp Storms exist because people think that they should exist.
- Gellar Fields are essentially "thought blockers" - they prevent the crew's thoughts to reach the Warp, thus they can't f*ck up the Warp with their negative emotions/thoughts.
Tau: - There is a Fourth Sphere Expansion coming.
- Shadowsun has served her purpose, but is now unneeded. The Ethereals want a new, fresh generation of Commanders to lead the new campaign. There are... plans to remove Shadowsun.
- Farsight is gearing for an invasion against the Tau Empire. He knows about Shadowsun, and banks on her rebelling against the Ethereals.
- The Ethereals are of course one step ahead of everyone. They have a secret weapon (or, to better say, two secret weapons) that would disarm both Farsight and Shadowsun.
- Before you ask, the Ethereals secretly created two "children" by combining Farsight's and Shadowsun's genetic material. These two warriors would be more, than a match to their "parents".
Tyranids: - The massive bulk behind the tendril fleets are harmless colony ships meant to "Tyrannoform" the planets stripped by their more aggressive brethren. The whole Tyranid race is like an intergalactic "replantation project".
- The Hive Minds assimilates the sentience of any creature the Tyranids devour. It could then shed any consumed personality and implant it into a Tyranid creature. The Swarmlord, for example, is in fact the Catachan colonel consumed at Tyran who voluntary joined the Tyranids after his merge with the Hive Mind, and took the mantle of leadership to "liberate" the Imperium.
- The Shadow in the Warp is the result of the Hive Mind not thinking about the Warp. See the Chaos section.
The massive bulk behind the tendril fleets are harmless colony ships meant to "Tyrannoform" the planets stripped by their more aggressive brethren. The whole Tyranid race is like an intergalactic "replantation project.
That's acutally a brilliant idea. Thumbs up for this one. It makes the Tyranids more sensible and could even mannage to give them a bit of personnality outside of the Destroyer of Worlds (which they really need to turn back into since their last codex made them look more like: «those creepy bug monster over there, but don't really care about»)
A) Humans, Eldar and other races are consumed by the terrible Tyranids as Chaos will no longer have the emotions to empower them.
B) The Tyranids slam into the eye of terror and neutralise it. The Tyranids view the Chaos Gods as rival creatures and I expect they will pile into them as they weaken.
Orks and Tyranids will live in harmony beating each other up, the Orks happy to fight and the Tyranids a quickly reproducing food source.
Necrons couldn't care less about all the shenanigans and will take over their Old Empire, beating away the occasional Ork and avoiding the Tyranids (mutual decision)
Thousand Sons: 3850pts / Space Marines Deathwatch 5000pts / Dark Eldar Webway Corsairs 2000pts / Scrapheap Challenged Orks 1500pts / Black Death 1500pts
-Planned the whole Heresy, except did not realize that Horus would be the one to lead it
-After he was struck down, he became the God of Order, saved the souls of any Primarchs that he could, and began the creation of his own "Angels" (Daemons that are good). His Legions of Angels are actually the souls of Loyalist Marines who he has slowly been empowering. He will occasionally deploy some of their weaker brethren into battles that, if lost, would lead to the destruction of the Imperium (LotD). Once the Emperor's body dies and he stops feeding on the Psyker souls he gets sacrificed, he will come out of the closet and his Angels will become active all across the galaxy.
-Malal is actually the Emperor's alternate personality that hates what he did to his sons, and now hates everything ever
-The Emperor actually took power from the Laughing God to create his Primarchs, but the Chaos Gods twisted the evidence to appear that he had made an agreement with them.
Tau:
-Tau Ethereals are actually Psykers with access to a dimension of power that is not the Warp
-Tau Ethereals wish to unite the galaxy under the banner of the Greater Good so that they can make the species of this galaxy reactive to the dimension they look to for their psychic power
Space Wolves:
-Rune Priests aren't actually Psykers
-The Spirit of Fenris is a Warp God created by the powerful beliefs of the Fenrisians and the Vlika Fenrika
-The Rune Priests use Runes to channel the Spirit of Fenris's power
To quote a fictional character... "Let's make this fun!"
Tactical_Spam wrote: There was a story in the SM omnibus where a single kroot killed 2-3 marines then ate their gene seed and became a Kroot-startes.
A 40K Imperial Space would kick the utter gak out of a 30k Space Marine.
Thought for the day: Hope is the first step on the road to disappointment.
30k Ultramarines: 2000 pts
Bolt Action Germans: ~1200 pts
AOS Stormcast: Just starting.
The Empire : ~60-70 models.
1500 pts
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Tyranids: - The massive bulk behind the tendril fleets are harmless colony ships meant to "Tyrannoform" the planets stripped by their more aggressive brethren. The whole Tyranid race is like an intergalactic "replantation project".
)
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DKoK Blog:
Have a look, I guarantee you will not see greyer armies, EVER! Now with at least 4 shades of grey
Thousand Sons: 3850pts / 
Space Marines Deathwatch 5000pts / 
Dark Eldar Webway Corsairs 2000pts / 
Scrapheap Challenged Orks 1500pts / 
Black Death 1500pts
The Empire 
1500 pts
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