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Made in ca
Longtime Dakkanaut






Toronto

Ooookay... Is this done to every thread?! I meant the Maelstrom's Edge ad that teleported my thread to above it.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2015/05/29 22:51:16


Adepta Sororitas: 3,800 Points
Adeptus Custodes: 8,100 Points
Adeptus Mechanicus: 8,400 Points
Alpha Legion: 4,400 Points
Astra Militarum: 7,500 Points
Dark Angels: 16,800 Points
Imperial Knights: 12,500 Points
Legio Titanicus: 5,500 Points
Slaaneshi Daemons: 3,800 Points
 
   
Made in gb
Mekboy Hammerin' Somethin'





Papua New Guinea

The offices that the Tau had commandeered provided the first tangible evidence of my Brothers' presence on this world. There were a scattering of static defences, operated by the same machine intelligences that guide Tau drones, and each one had been destroyed. There were a few scattered corpses and a shas'ui, the Tau equivalent of a sergeant, lay on the steps to the main building, his ceremonial bonding knife in his left hand and his skull emptied.

I walk through the scene, examining every detail. At the top of the steps I look through the glass doors at a reception area lined with potted plants. I push the doors and they are locked. I step backwards and look up towards the roof and I see no obvious signs but I am certain that Modak will have made entry from there as is his want. I sniff, and the scent of bolt propellant is slight; there was not much of a battle here.

" 'Dug in like ticks' you said, Commander Brant." I barely lift my hand to encompass the silent buildings. "Would you care to comment?"

Brant stares around for a long while, he gently flips over a Tau carbine with his foot before picking the weapon up and checking it. He starts talking whilst his hands rove over the alien weapon. "I just don't get it." He touches something on the carbine and a series of lights flash up the side, several green but many more red. He stops what he is doing and looks up at the office complex and then at me.

"Command told us that Hornlow was the main base of operations for Arch Forces in this area. They told us they couldn't get us out because the area was too hot but they were working on a contingency and we just had to sit tight." He shakes his head, staring around again. "This isn't a HQ, this is... this is nothing! There's nothing here. There was what, a few hundred Kesslin troops keeping us penned in at Westow? If I had known that that's all they had I could have staged a breakout months ago! If it wasn't for you showing up we'd probably still be sat on our hands over there." As he says it, his eyes snap back to mine. "You. They attacked because of you?"

I think back to what I learned from the Tau pilot, Vri'Mi'el. In my mind's eye the base he was from is located many miles to the south which tells me nothing about Hornlow. His orders are similarly unhelpful but he was directed to search the area where Cage entered Gracer's atmosphere. A coincidence, luck? That Vri'Mi'el was not told we would be there does not mean he wasn't sent to destroy us. The Shas'ui didn't eat his own brains so perhaps one of my Brothers has learned something.

I do not care for intrigue, nor speculation, but I ponder the things I know and try to piece them together as if they were all part of a deliberate plan. Vri'Mi'el was sent to take out Cage... Hm, take out the Thunderhawk, take out us. Evidently it was not supposed that any of us would survive the attack, in which case I will assume it was an order given by someone who does not know the capabilities of the Astartes even though they knew were we would be. So, a Tau or a native of Gracer then. They didn't care that we would find Hornlow to be a ruse, they did not expect we would ever get here.

So how does Westow fit into this puzzle? Another diversion? For who? By who? The only possibilities are not comforting. The marines stationed at Westow did so under orders by their own people, who it would seem, lied to them. What about the Kesslin troops then? They obviously had the means to overrun the base but chose not to do so until my arrival forced their hand and what about the Pathfinders and squad of Kesslin troops I encountered earlier? Vri'Mi'el... He told his superiors that my Brothers had survived but was ordered to stay with Cage. Hnr! His memories are difficult to grasp! ...! The survivors?...! What about the survivors? The Tau on the radio in Vri'Mi'el's memory speaks rapidly, I should know what it said because he knew, but it is not that simple. I experience the memory like an eaves dropper spying over his shoulder. Then I realise that it was his co-pilot that received the message, Vri'Mi'el was not listening, his memory fills in the blanks based on what his comrade told him afterwards. I think they wanted to keep an eye on the Thunderhawk in case my Brothers tried to get back to it but again, it shows that they do not know us. My Brothers left Cage like they left me, they would never have gone back until the mission was fulfilled.

Through Vri'Mi'el's eyes and ears I listen to my attack on the Hammerhead, I hear as I kill his co-pilot and see his hands fly across instrument panels as he sends out a distress call. The troops they had on the ground were the Kesslin special forces team who were almost certainly hunting for me and the Pathfinders laid an ambush but failed, I did let one of the special forces go after all, it stands to reason the trooper got a message out and so that explains the Pathfinders. Damn my own hubris! I should have killed them all! I turn my attention to Commander Brant.

"Yes. They attacked because of me. I am not one given to speculation, but if I were, then my conclusion would be this: CASA are in league with the Tau and by extension your old foes from the Archipzone. And before you try and deny it as possible I tell you this, you do not know what the Tau Water Caste is capable of, they are snakes who's forked tongues drip with lies, half-truths and propaganda and if they can broker alliances with scores of disparate alien races then reconciling two human factions, long grown weary of their conflict, is nothing to them."

"I just don't accept that. Even if what you say is possible, and I don't buy it for a minute, why would CASA switch allegiance to the Tau and why now? It doesn't make sense." Whilst the voice that answers is Astartes, it is not mine.

"It's because your snivelling masters have been with the Tau from the beginning."

Croagan is stood only a few feet away but the pandemonium caused by his sudden appearance clearly shows no-one saw him arrive.

"Croagan. As sneaky as ever."

"Who said that?" Croagan makes a show of looking around, he even kicks over a Tau corpse and peers underneath. His double-take when he looks up at me is as exaggerated as it is moronic. "Carleeson! Still not dead? Pity."

"Carleeson's not dead? Imposs- Ohh. Noo. He really isn't dead. Just when I thought this putrid day couldn't get any worse..." I look over my shoulder at another of my Brothers stepping into view from behind a brick wall.

"Didn't that Hammerhead kill you Gordreg?"

"Heh! No, but it did put a shot through Gaddon. One less of your old cronies, although I will miss watching him outclass you in every way in the practice cages." Gordreg chews out each word almost one by one, the result of having his throat cut many battles ago by an ork painboy, hence his greenskin name, but I can hear the smile on his face in every last syllable.

More of my Brothers materialise into the midst of the marines and it amuses me that even though they number thirty-three they crowd the small square outside the offices and the human soldiers all unconsciously step back towards their vehicles. A scrabbling from above tells me that Modak was up there all along and as he peers over the edge of the roof the Mahtar Charkaz's taloned gauntlets sink inches deep into the concrete lintel with no resistance at all.

Croagan isn't wearing his helmet, and he beams at Commander Brant as he walks up beside me and claps an arm around my shoulder, his ceramite clad fingers digging deep into my wounded arm.

"So Carleeson, making friends with traitors again? It's starting to become a habit. Tut tut." Croagan shifts to put both hands on his thighs and squats down just enough to get on Brant's eyelevel and with his very best, condescending and overly loud voice he says, "Hello. little. man. Why. don't. you." He says pointing at Brant for effect. "Tell. your. men." He says, his finger passing along the rows of marines just in case Brant didn't quite understand who Croagan meant. "To. put. their. weapons." And this accompanied by Croagan miming the pulling of a trigger. "Down. There's. a good. fellow." I half expect him to ruffle Brant's hair but he gives him a dead eyed grin instead.

Brant cannot know that Croagan is barely repressing his natural tendency to kill and so he looks to me first before doing anything. I give him a nod, and as he turns to tell his men to stand down he uses the excuse to take a few steps away from Croagan.

"Commander Brant and his, troops, are not enemies of the Imperium. I vouch for their fidelity."

"Really? Good for you Carleeson. I had a good, long discussion with Shas'ui Su'ell over there who has known about the CASA deception since before we even arrived in the system." Croagan turns away and raises one hand, wagging a finger back in my general direction as he muses out loud. "But you vouch for these 'marines'. You vouch that whilst their superiors ran around cutting deals with the Tau behind our backs that these men and women were so grox ignorant they thought we were actually all friends?" And he raises both hands in an open gesture and shrugs. "Hm. Not really much of a compliment to them is it Carleeson? Or maybe they just took you in? Been done before hasn't it."

I do not believe that Brant or his men are traitors and despite Croagan's spin on the subject, I am willing to believe the Colonel was ignorant.

"Think about it Carleeson and let me ask you a question. Did your Commander Brant here suggest you should all come to Hornlow to find us or did you? No no, no need to answer, I can tell, you suggested it. And all of these heavy defence weapons mounted on the trucks, they just happened to have all that ready did they? And you rolled up here and now we're here, they're here, we're all here, ready to finish what the Hammerhead started and where, I might add, you almost died."

"No."

"No?"

"No. Too much coincidence. Too much paranoia, even for you Croagan. I will admit, there is an element in what you say that is suspicious but not enough that it cannot be explained by the wider deception taking in a few expendable troops. I know that's how these people think, if the disrespect they show their wargear is anything to go by, so what would a hundred souls matter?

"And how do you know that all of CASA is working for the Tau and not just elements within? This is a fractured world with multiple players involved in the game and it would only take one of them to have been subverted to the Tau cause. There would be no requirement for this deception if we did not have allies still on Gracer and some of those allies are stood before you."

I know now that Croagan was convinced of the duplicity of Commander Brant and everything up to this point was merely to get me away from him and his men, Croagan is, even now, interposed between me and the nearest heavy guns. I walk up and stand beside him to give weight to my conviction and I can see him balancing what I have said against what he believed to be true. To one side, Brant flicks his eyes from me to Croagan and back again and I am acutely aware that Croagan's drawn out pause is making the marines nervous and that will not help them in his eyes.

"Bah. We will see Carleeson. We will see."






**********




I thought more story would be preferable to more waffle from me so, here's another instalment and what's with all these random adverts? And thanks for all the positive comments as always, even though I do find even light praise somewhat awkward it's good to know people are enjoying this and that I'm not just pissing into the wind
   
Made in ca
Longtime Dakkanaut






Toronto

Yeah, these are really random adverts, anyway, good job!!!

Adepta Sororitas: 3,800 Points
Adeptus Custodes: 8,100 Points
Adeptus Mechanicus: 8,400 Points
Alpha Legion: 4,400 Points
Astra Militarum: 7,500 Points
Dark Angels: 16,800 Points
Imperial Knights: 12,500 Points
Legio Titanicus: 5,500 Points
Slaaneshi Daemons: 3,800 Points
 
   
Made in gb
Mighty Vampire Count






UK

Interesting turn in the story Wonder what his brothers will make of the children

I AM A MARINE PLAYER

"Unimaginably ancient xenos artefact somewhere on the planet, hive fleet poised above our heads, hidden 'stealer broods making an early start....and now a bloody Chaos cult crawling out of the woodwork just in case we were bored. Welcome to my world, Ciaphas."
Inquisitor Amberley Vail, Ordo Xenos

"I will admit that some Primachs like Russ or Horus could have a chance against an unarmed 12 year old novice but, a full Battle Sister??!! One to one? In close combat? Perhaps three Primarchs fighting together... but just one Primarch?" da001

www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/528517.page

A Bloody Road - my Warhammer Fantasy Fiction 
   
Made in gb
Mekboy Hammerin' Somethin'





Papua New Guinea

Apologies for no update again for a while but it's been a very hectic week full of 'real life' urgh!

Be Pure!
Be Vigilant!
BEHAVE!

Show me your god and I'll send you a warhead because my god's bigger than your god.
 
   
Made in ca
Longtime Dakkanaut






Toronto

Hmm... I wonder what will happen next.

Adepta Sororitas: 3,800 Points
Adeptus Custodes: 8,100 Points
Adeptus Mechanicus: 8,400 Points
Alpha Legion: 4,400 Points
Astra Militarum: 7,500 Points
Dark Angels: 16,800 Points
Imperial Knights: 12,500 Points
Legio Titanicus: 5,500 Points
Slaaneshi Daemons: 3,800 Points
 
   
Made in ca
Stormin' Stompa






Ottawa, ON

So much for a happy reunion. Not much brotherly love between these marines.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2015/06/12 20:02:47


Ask yourself: have you rated a gallery image today? 
   
Made in ca
Longtime Dakkanaut






Toronto

Hmmm.. These aren't the superhuman, completely cohesive fighting force I thought it would be... Aren't these guys united? They're on the edge of shooting at each other!!!

Adepta Sororitas: 3,800 Points
Adeptus Custodes: 8,100 Points
Adeptus Mechanicus: 8,400 Points
Alpha Legion: 4,400 Points
Astra Militarum: 7,500 Points
Dark Angels: 16,800 Points
Imperial Knights: 12,500 Points
Legio Titanicus: 5,500 Points
Slaaneshi Daemons: 3,800 Points
 
   
Made in us
Master Shaper




Gargant Hunting

Space marine infighting isn't terribly uncommon. Look at Dak'ir and Tsugan. Or Ragnar and Strybjorn. Also, don't forget Tsugan's 'buddy' Iagon being a maniac and doing some stuff that is way worse than anything that happened so far in this story. (Don't want to say it as it does do a decent bit of spoiling)

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2015/06/12 21:23:35


Irishpeacockz-Blackjack needs a pay raise for being the welcomer to the crusade
Palleus-Write a school essay about Kroot! Pride. Prejudice. And Cannibalsim. 
   
Made in gb
Mekboy Hammerin' Somethin'





Papua New Guinea

"Have you ever seen the like Carleeson?" Croagan's mouth is downturned and his nose wrinkled in distaste. He tilts his head on one side as if a different angle might make sense of what he is seeing.

"The galaxy seems to provide endless ways to disappoint me Brother."

"It's good of him to play with the children like that. It's good for them to have a little bit of normality and honestly, I think they've all been quite scared by you Space Marines. I know I have." Miss Foster adds the last sentence in a small voice but Croagan turns to her with one eyebrow raised.

"His behaviour is abhorrent. He-" Croagan bites off whatever he was going to say as I catch his eye from behind the woman between us. "Brother Ferrax suffered extreme... head wounds-"

"Brain damage." I interject.

"Extensive brain damage," Croagan carries on. "Er, during a mission of course. He has needed a great deal of careful rehabilitation but the effects," Croagan keeps his face directed towards Miss Foster but his eyes slide across to Brother Ferrax as he searches for the right words. "They reduced him to an almost childlike state."

Miss Foster is frowning and her eyes dart towards Ferrax and the moronic grin plastered across his face. Why wasn't someone watching him? He is sat on the floor, awkwardly cross-legged, his armour not designed for such a position, and he and the two youngest children are rolling small model vehicles backwards and forwards across the carpet of the meeting room we have gathered in to discuss our next actions. One of the children produces some kind of upright, two-legged, plastek crocolid and walks it through the dry mulch of a potted plant.

Croagan steps across and looms over Ferrax and patiently waits all of two seconds before delivering a sharp kick to his leg to get his attention. Ferrax looks up still smiling and lifts up the model vehicle for Croagan's inspection.

"It is your turn to walk the perimeter Brother Ferrax. Go at once." Ferrax sticks out his bottom lip and turns his face away, refusing to meet Croagan's eyes.

"Don't want to." He mumbles in a voice like a rockslide.

"It is your turn Brother. I won't ask again." Ferrax juts out his jaw and rolls his head around on his neck as if he's trying to a stir a pot with his mouth and then hunches down into his armour. Before either he or Croagan can escalate the situation the smaller child mercifully interrupts.

"It's okay. We can play again later." Ferrax smiles.

"Okay Lissie." He hands the girl the toy and stands up, his huge bulk overtopping Croagan by a good six inches, checking his bolter with precise, expert movements before striding from the room.

Lissie? Is that the girl's name? I had no idea. How is it that our poor Brother Ferrax could have such knowledge and not I? Because he asked her, you fool, or simply listened when she told him.

Commander Brant gets our attention by clearing his throat. The room's large, oval conference table has been dragged to one side, near a wall that very helpfully displays a map of the whole planet indicating all of the areas that the Hornlow refinery company held corporate offices, drill sites and other areas of interest. In thick, red ink, Brant and his people have marked out all the areas of strategic interest to us: Hornlow, the Westow area, the marine headquarters, the city, various known outposts both friendly and enemy and the main camp at Redwick, held by the Imperial Guard.

Our position is at the tip of a finger of hotly contested land but I look at the map as if everywhere beyond Redwick is hostile. We are a long way from any allies.

"Yes, yes. We know all that Commander," Croagan interrupts as Brant highlights all of the Tau bases in blue ink, discussing the military situation up to the point he believed his own intelligence was accurate. The blue circles splatter the map, concentrating more and more to the North and East, into the Central Region where Brant has hastily scrawled long, blue lines to show the Tau dominance in that area. "None of us here need a lecture on the Tau or your internecine conflicts. We need a plan of action. What about you Carleeson, you've always got something to say?"

"We head South for Redwick. They need to know about this conspiracy, because if it is true, then we have a hell of a fight on our hands."

"Bleh!" I turn to look at Gordreg who is rocked back on a chair far too small for his bulk, with his boots up on the table, arms crossed over the scorched and chipped belly plate of his modified MkV armour.

"You have something to say Brother?"

"Head South? Away from the enemy? You've always been soft Carleeson. We don't need to go to Redwick, all we need is a vox. Find one. Contact the Guard. Let them sort out the traitors." With a squeal and a sigh, the chair scoots away on its casters from Gordreg as he stands up, rebounding off the floor to ceiling plate glass window and spinning to rest, half hidden and peeking out from behind a long drape curtain. Gordeg stabs a finger into the map, leaning in and squinting myopically. "We go right into the heart of them. Find the leaders, one of those slinking Ethereal bastards or whoever they've got up there calling the shots. We kill them. Job done."

I have to admit, I like the sound of it. Commander Brant feels differently.

"Madness. So you're suggesting we just drive all the way up to Bennig, fight our way into the Spirlin and then the war will be over just like that?! Are you guys vucking serious? How are we supposed to make it through that?"

"There is no 'making it through' little man." Says Croagan. "If you don't come with us then you're dead. If you surrender then your own side will execute you to keep you quiet and you'll be dead. If you come with us against the Tau you'll probably end up dead. If you survive, and it's a very big if, then this world will be brought to compliance and you and all other military assets will be drafted into the Imperial Guard. Then you'll be shipped off to another warzone and then another and then another and then another until you are all dead. If you are very, very lucky, you might get to settle a new world, you can call it New Gracer, and your time in the Emperor's Astra Militarum will be over. You will be old. You will have wounds and disabilities and all manner of other aches and pains because you are only a man and that is what happens to old men. You will be given land you cannot work, money you cannot spend, you will take no wife, father no children and you will lie on your deathbed dreaming of the glory days. And then you will be dead. Your life is over. Get used to it." Croagan makes a face like a hound chewing a wasp and then looks to me. "We are in agreement Carleeson?"

"Aye. We go North."





**********




Well I had builders in the week before last and this week the internet went down - I actually got to work on some Space Marines as there was nothing else to do! Excuses, excuses I know.


There is a lot of unspoken backstory to the Prophets of Hatred which I have built up over the years and I am hoping that the interaction between the characters in the last few updates can be interpreted sufficiently so that people get the gist of what's gone on in the Chapter's recent past.

The way I have always viewed the Chapter is that they are all individuals with no particular company, squad or leadership units. They group together as it suits them or because they are a member of one of the Chapter's various organisations like the Mahtar; my version of the historical Janissary musicians present in both my homebrew Guard and by extension the Prophets of Hatred because they originate on the same world and the cultural practices have bled into Chapter tradition. Within the Chapter the Mahtar are a sort of quasi-priesthood, a cross between a Chaplain and a Noise Marine; the Chapter retaining only one true Chaplain but he's another story.

So they are very autonomous individually and band together for all sorts of reasons and fight however they can with whatever resources they have; basically they just turn up and get stuck in doing 'Mariney' things. I don't necessarily see that any one of them would therefore take power within the Chapter but none of them exactly like being told what to do, hence the bickering, arguing and general pushing and shoving. They are brothers after all and they don't all have to get along with each other even though they would fight to death for each other.

Be Pure!
Be Vigilant!
BEHAVE!

Show me your god and I'll send you a warhead because my god's bigger than your god.
 
   
Made in ca
Longtime Dakkanaut






Toronto

Sure, so, like one of those Chaos Warbands, but loyal, and have some sort of glossy coating to prevent the Ultramarines from Exterminating them.

Adepta Sororitas: 3,800 Points
Adeptus Custodes: 8,100 Points
Adeptus Mechanicus: 8,400 Points
Alpha Legion: 4,400 Points
Astra Militarum: 7,500 Points
Dark Angels: 16,800 Points
Imperial Knights: 12,500 Points
Legio Titanicus: 5,500 Points
Slaaneshi Daemons: 3,800 Points
 
   
Made in gb
Mighty Vampire Count






UK

Very cool new bit - love the Child-Marine

I AM A MARINE PLAYER

"Unimaginably ancient xenos artefact somewhere on the planet, hive fleet poised above our heads, hidden 'stealer broods making an early start....and now a bloody Chaos cult crawling out of the woodwork just in case we were bored. Welcome to my world, Ciaphas."
Inquisitor Amberley Vail, Ordo Xenos

"I will admit that some Primachs like Russ or Horus could have a chance against an unarmed 12 year old novice but, a full Battle Sister??!! One to one? In close combat? Perhaps three Primarchs fighting together... but just one Primarch?" da001

www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/528517.page

A Bloody Road - my Warhammer Fantasy Fiction 
   
Made in gb
Mekboy Hammerin' Somethin'





Papua New Guinea

lliu wrote:
Sure, so, like one of those Chaos Warbands, but loyal, and have some sort of glossy coating to prevent the Ultramarines from Exterminating them.


Pretty much and it's also along the lines of the Space Wolves too. Originally I had a Chapter called the Spectral Hunters, and I used the Space Wolves Codex to design the army even though by that point I wasn't really playing the game any more, I still liked to have things game-compliant. They slowly morphed into the Prophets of Hatred and rather than simply have two separate Chapters I began to formulate the idea that they were the same Chapter and in the back of my mind was a sort of Alpha Legion style guerrilla force of infiltrators couple with a Chapter war and my ideas about mind-wiped marines and the ability of the Astartes to absorb memories.

 Mr Morden wrote:
Very cool new bit - love the Child-Marine


Thank you

This follows on from what I was saying to lliu. Brother Ferrax is an attempt to portray a mind-wiped Space Marine. In the earlier background we were told a min-wipe reduced the recipient to a baby-like level and imagine that Ferrax is only part of the way recovered from that procedure but he still retains all of those reflexes and instincts which I think seems reasonable. We also have instances of partial wipes in the background and novels but, that seems a little too easy. In the past I've had mind-wiped characters who, through psychic manipulation and the use of the omophagea were given the memories of a fallen Battle-Brother so that they would then become the dead Marine to all intents and purposes.

Be Pure!
Be Vigilant!
BEHAVE!

Show me your god and I'll send you a warhead because my god's bigger than your god.
 
   
Made in us
Master Shaper




Gargant Hunting

So in a way Ferrax is a gentle giant? He just wants to do kiddy things and doesn't want to fight, being a victim of being mind-wiped, but if he does want to fight its gully fledged space marine?

Irishpeacockz-Blackjack needs a pay raise for being the welcomer to the crusade
Palleus-Write a school essay about Kroot! Pride. Prejudice. And Cannibalsim. 
   
Made in gb
Mekboy Hammerin' Somethin'





Papua New Guinea

Well he has a childlike mentality, that means he can play, as demonstrated, but even very small children get angry, throw tantrums, fight, they just aren't very good at it because they're small. Put that mind into an eight foot tall killing machine and you have something that needs to be handled carefully. I still think that all of his instincts, honed over centuries, are still there, I think they go deeper than mere memory. But it's all part of a process, all of the ingredients needed to make a normal, fully functioning Marine are there, it just needs time for it all to work through.

Be Pure!
Be Vigilant!
BEHAVE!

Show me your god and I'll send you a warhead because my god's bigger than your god.
 
   
Made in ca
Stormin' Stompa






Ottawa, ON

I think Carleeson was right to fall back and solve the internal crisis. Croagan wants to charge into unknown forces in unknown territory and attack its commanders at an unknown location. Not only that, they're marching with with unknown allies at their backs.

Sounds like a Space Marine made this plan.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2015/06/15 04:06:54


Ask yourself: have you rated a gallery image today? 
   
Made in gb
Stalwart Dark Angels Space Marine




England, UK

I'm not sure storming the tau headquarters on an assassination mission is the most tactically shrewd option, but I'm sure it will make a great read!
I can sense a finale, and the spilling of space marine blood, lets hope its not Carleeson's!
As always a great read, my compliments to the OP.

"They'll bend the knee or I'll destroy them"- Stannis Baratheon 
   
Made in ca
Longtime Dakkanaut






Toronto

If Carleeson dies, I freeking will start throwing a temper tantrum. After what happened to Jon Snow in Game of Thrones, I am ready to freak if any more main characters die.

Adepta Sororitas: 3,800 Points
Adeptus Custodes: 8,100 Points
Adeptus Mechanicus: 8,400 Points
Alpha Legion: 4,400 Points
Astra Militarum: 7,500 Points
Dark Angels: 16,800 Points
Imperial Knights: 12,500 Points
Legio Titanicus: 5,500 Points
Slaaneshi Daemons: 3,800 Points
 
   
Made in gb
Stalwart Dark Angels Space Marine




England, UK

lliu wrote:
If Carleeson dies, I freeking will start throwing a temper tantrum. After what happened to Jon Snow in Game of Thrones, I am ready to freak if any more main characters die.


Spoilers dude.....Spoilers

"They'll bend the knee or I'll destroy them"- Stannis Baratheon 
   
Made in gb
Mekboy Hammerin' Somethin'





Papua New Guinea

 Mr Nobody wrote:
I think Carleeson was right to fall back and solve the internal crisis. Croagan wants to charge into unknown forces in unknown territory and attack its commanders at an unknown location. Not only that, they're marching with with unknown allies at their backs.

Sounds like a Space Marine made this plan.


All very true but I like killing Tau so

I don't know, maybe this is my subconscious digging in to my 'tactics' for when I played the game many years ago, and by tactics I mean charge into the middle of them and hope for the best!

 Ustis wrote:
I'm not sure storming the tau headquarters on an assassination mission is the most tactically shrewd option, but I'm sure it will make a great read!
I can sense a finale, and the spilling of space marine blood, lets hope its not Carleeson's!
As always a great read, my compliments to the OP.


My pleasure, I'm just glad people enjoy reading it as much as I do writing it! I think I was definitely going to have them fall back until I thought about the option to simply communicate the information, seemed a bit much to have them trudge all that way just to deliver a message and as I say above, time to get some dakka into the Tau.

lliu wrote:
If Carleeson dies, I freeking will start throwing a temper tantrum. After what happened to Jon Snow in Game of Thrones, I am ready to freak if any more main characters die.


They've got to that part in the TV show then? Even if Jon is dead, he won't be staying that way.



Thanks for the feedback all, very useful, I will certainly be keeping in mind the expected difficulty of them heading off into the unknown. Hmm, now I have some conflicting ideas, I'll have to have a good think about how they justify it. Looks like Commander Brant is the only one with a sensible head on his shoulders.

Be Pure!
Be Vigilant!
BEHAVE!

Show me your god and I'll send you a warhead because my god's bigger than your god.
 
   
Made in ca
Longtime Dakkanaut






Toronto

I've read the books and is watching the TV show... It will be creepy to imagine a Lady Stoneheart type Jon Snow...

I also Carleeson is sensible...

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Made in gb
Mekboy Hammerin' Somethin'





Papua New Guinea

"You're certain this will work?"

"No sir but we can't trust our own communications gear now and I just don't know how to boost the signal for your armour's on-board systems. Besides, I just don't see the Tau wire-tapping the phone lines!" Olan Broan gives a facial shrug and grins. He is Brant's vox operator and he is holding out a small black, plastek receiver to Croagan.

In his gauntleted hands the device is tiny and he holds the thing to one ear using just his index finger and thumb.

"Hello?" Croagan frowns and lifts the receiver away from his ear, glaring at Broan. "All I hear is music."

"They er, must've put you on hold."

"Hold? What do- Hello? Yes? Who is this? I don't care if it's reserved, I need to- They cancelled the link!"

"I'll re-dial it."

"It'd better work this time or I'll redial you!" Croagan says in a stage whisper. Broan leans forwards and hits a button. Croagan's eyes unfocus as he listens. "It's ringing." He holds up a hand for quiet. "This is Brother Croagan of the Adeptus Astartes, sending vital information. To whom am I speaking?" Croagan doesn't look like he is enjoying the forced civility. "Yes I did. Never mind all that just listen! Find someone in authority and put them on the line." Croagan flicks his eyes up at me and takes a deep breath. "Hello? Yes. This was the only available means of communication, now listen, I don't have time to explain. Our mission was to destroy the refinery at Hornlow, believed to be an enemy stronghold. That information was false and furthermore the enemy were aware of our objectives. It is now our belief that our allies in CASA have sided with the Tau." Croagan frowns as he listens to the voice on the other end of the line. "I see. Then our warning has come too late. And you Major, the Emperor Protects. I hate phones." Croagan grumbles.

"Well?" Gordreg says before Croagan even gets the receiver back in its cradle.

"The Tau have launched a massive counter-offensive and have moved the front forwards a hundred miles. Redwick is now being attacked by their long range airpower. CASA forces lead the 9th and 11th Battalions of the Ormain Dragoons into an ambush and they were slaughtered to a man. Apparently the Marine Corps elements present refused to turn on their Imperial allies and were also destroyed."

"Just like I said. Find the Tau leaders. Kill them." Gordreg chews out each word with an added touch of bitterness.

"That's still easier said than done." Commander Brant has a calm expression, as if the news has removed all his doubts and he now inhabits a world of simple actions and reactions. "Bennig is Sixteen-Hundred-And-Fifty-Six kilometres from our position. Less than three kilometres from here we have upwards of three hundred Kesslin infantry and last I saw they were hot on our tails. If the front is now moved then that means we are deep inside enemy territory and the Tau have already moved their forces right past us, and they could easy re-task some of them to mop us up. We'd have to go in convoy and at least some of it would be on the autoexpressway where we would be completely exposed. Assuming we could make it a-hundred-and-fifty clicks then we could go through the wilds at Felce but it would be slow going through there. That'd get us maybe two thirds of the way to the capital and after that," Brant shrugs matter-of-factly. "I just don't know what to tell you. Your plan sucks major ass."

"It is clear the Tau wanted us destroyed." I say before anyone else can reply to the Commander. "They must have known that Cage was our only Thunderhawk. With Cage gone we are effectively neutralised as a threat although they clearly believed we were enough of one to go to such elaborate lengths to get us out of the way. And I received no communication from the Contumax since we entered orbit. The Tau have been preparing this for a long time but I would hazard they are in a more precarious position than their gains would suggest. Obviously not all of CASA has been successfully turned." And if not all of CASA then why all of its former enemies?

"Commander Brant." I say, turning to the marine officer. "Do you think it feasible that any elements of the Archipzone would not have sided with the Tau?"

"Kredesh." He says it without hesitation and that somewhat surprises me.

"You sound very certain."

"They're fanatics and isolationists. The only reason they are allies with the other Arch powers is because every demand they made was met. In the Seventy Year War they were bitter enemies of Kesslin, slaughtered thousands of civilians. It all came to a head on the Field of Tears. Kred Zotacks, their terror troops, took all of the Kesslin women from a maternity hospital and impaled them and disembowelled them, something to do with 'destroying the seeds of the enemy'. So Kesslin retaliated, bombed them to hell and back, killed who knows how many and in the centuries that followed both nations blamed each other for all the atrocities.

"But the Kred, the Kred..." Brant's smile is tight and he shakes his head. "Those weapons that were used to knock our shield defences back at the base, you can bet those came from the Kred and anything else advanced of sophisticated that the Arch forces have: Kred. The only thing that stops them using all those fancy kill toys is that they are few and far, far away. Then Kesslin signed a treaty with Kredesh, brought them into the Archipzone, posthumously pardoned troops, scientists, even the Zoltar, he's like the Kred king. Now that you've mentioned it, it does seem odd that no Kred forces have been in the vanguard of this war and it seems to me they would have taken one look at those Tau and said 'no thank you'; they may even hate aliens more than you boys, I bet you'd get along just swell with'em."

"I'll keep that in mind Commander." I say.

"Oh I'm sure you will."

Wickedly clawed fingers gently slip over Brant's shoulders and Modak's elongated helmet slides into view next to Brant's nervously frozen face. There is something vulturous or python like about the Mahtar Charkaz's helmet, the skull plate bulging with vocal enhancers and the snout grille a snarling, distended maw, held open in a silent scream. His voice is a sibilant whisper that gutters out into a throaty, wet growl which makes the hair on Brant's neck rise. Even though the office lobby is glass fronted, I did not see him enter.

"We have company." Modak's growl stretches out like a consumptive's chest rattle. He struts away from Brant and his armour purrs like a great leonid. The modified sabatons of his armour force Modak to walk on his toes but his steps are silent.

Beyond the Mahtar Charkaz, past the laager of marine transports come all the hundreds of Kesslin troops that overwhelmed Westow. I pity them for now they do not face marines but Astartes.





**********




lliu wrote:
I've read the books and is watching the TV show... It will be creepy to imagine a Lady Stoneheart type Jon Snow...


But Caitlyn has been in the river for a few weeks hadn't she where as Jon will have been dead a few hours or less I would imagine. Besides, we all know that Stannis is a phoney and R'hllor needs his true champion.

Be Pure!
Be Vigilant!
BEHAVE!

Show me your god and I'll send you a warhead because my god's bigger than your god.
 
   
Made in gb
Mekboy Hammerin' Somethin'





Papua New Guinea

At the final reckoning there were three-hundred-and-ninety-eight infantrymen. They all died. They tried to flee before the end and some tried to surrender but there can be no surrender for a man who would turn his back on his own kind to ally with the xenos. For what manner of man can turn away from his own people to embrace the foreign, the exotic, the alien? I will tell you what manner of man can do this: a traitor.

Even as lieutenants and sergeants called orders to the marines my Brothers and I stepped past them. We walked into the fussilade and soaked up the punishment. No bullet, not even a thousand bullets, could have stopped us in that moment. Our hatred was a shield against injury and no Astartes fell before we reached the enemy line.

Modak made the first kills. He swept down into the swirling mass of bodies with a scream so loud it went beyond sound and the noise of it rendered the battle into silence. Those at the centre of his sonic attack were killed almost instantly. Armour, cloth, flesh and bone liquefied. Lumpy streams of flesh cascaded and where they soaked into the parched ground they left a frothy scum. Those on the periphery perished in agony. Eardrums and eyeballs burst, bodily functions were lost and many went into seizures so violent that bones snapped. Skin blanched and blistered and hearts stopped.

Crorgal was a member of an esoteric Chapter cult whose name I was not permitted to know. His armour streamed with prayer parchments and a gossamer fine sliver chain of sacred sigils. His helmet was adapted to fit around the grotesque bionic maw that replaced all of his lower face and throat. His visor slit was an unblinking acid yellow band that gleamed with holy murder-lust. His mandiple split open to reveal a gullet filled with spinning discs that roared like a chain weapon. He stuffed heads and arms into his distended mouth, jets of blood venting from crackling gill slits down his back.

Flebathiel promised a no less bloody demise, his chain gauntlets shredding men apart with every touch. He looked like a minister of the Ecclesiarchy blessing the faithful and, truly, each soldier fell to his knees like a penitent as Flebathiel passed. Graicul sang as he slew, his angel's voice filled with compassion as he unleased a torrent of death from his boltcaster, a specialist piece of wargear designed for siege breaches. Mounted on his forearm the gun's multi barrels span around his wrist, unleashing scores of bolts every second.

For every one of my Brothers there was a different means by which the Emperor's judgement fell upon the enemy and none escaped. Men with automatic weapons are no match for the Angels of Death and I had the honour of silencing the last of them. Please, please he begged. On his knees, on his arse, on his back, please, please, his hands clasped before him like a shield. Please, please his face red, eyes swollen shut with tears. He was a young man, almost a child as reckoned by one who has fought for centuries, in his third decade, thick brown hair stuck to his scalp with sweat and a small golden locket on a chain round his neck in the shape of a heart. Please, please... I stamped on his guts and he wretched and gagged and vomited blood. Please, please, he choked out the words until the very end and I thought he would never shut up. I stamped on him until what was left didn't even look like a human being anymore. Ask your Tau masters please little man, ask them please and see where it gets you.
   
Made in us
Master Shaper




Gargant Hunting

What a poetic wording for a battle. It was really cool to see just battle, and to see his brothers in battle. The most freaky one has to be either Modak, or Crogal

Irishpeacockz-Blackjack needs a pay raise for being the welcomer to the crusade
Palleus-Write a school essay about Kroot! Pride. Prejudice. And Cannibalsim. 
   
Made in gb
Mekboy Hammerin' Somethin'





Papua New Guinea

Thank you

I think the weirdness of some of these Prophets of Hatred is unique to how I perceive them in my mind, certainly it wouldn't fit for how I think of an Ultramarine for example. I just keep thinking about these men being centuries old, often isolated from each other for hundreds of years, and you see in the background it said that it's been millennia since the entire Chapter was in the same place at the same time and that also is in my thoughts too. With that in mind it seems to me that there is a lot of scope for some very bizarre traditions and groups to form where normally Marines are portrayed as quite static, as people, and I think that misses out on a lot.

I forget the name of the Night Lords Raptor from ADB's novels but there's a little of him and the creature from the Come To Daddy music video by Aphex Twin in Modak. Crorgal is inspired by Devastator from Transformers (3 I think) probably with a bit of the Merman from Cabin in the Woods thrown in.

Be Pure!
Be Vigilant!
BEHAVE!

Show me your god and I'll send you a warhead because my god's bigger than your god.
 
   
Made in us
Master Shaper




Gargant Hunting

I'm curious as to how the Prophets of Hatred go about recruiting, if it's so lone wolf based. It seems like an interesting process, and some insight on that would be cool

Irishpeacockz-Blackjack needs a pay raise for being the welcomer to the crusade
Palleus-Write a school essay about Kroot! Pride. Prejudice. And Cannibalsim. 
   
Made in ca
Longtime Dakkanaut






Toronto

It's very nice. I want more!!!

Adepta Sororitas: 3,800 Points
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Adeptus Mechanicus: 8,400 Points
Alpha Legion: 4,400 Points
Astra Militarum: 7,500 Points
Dark Angels: 16,800 Points
Imperial Knights: 12,500 Points
Legio Titanicus: 5,500 Points
Slaaneshi Daemons: 3,800 Points
 
   
Made in gb
Mekboy Hammerin' Somethin'





Papua New Guinea

The Chapter basically grew out of the background I designed for an Inquisitor character and the reasons behind why he was bound to a giant daemon sword.

In order to properly explain about their recruitment I should give a brief(ish) overview of the Chapter's history but I shall put it in spoilers for those who don't want to read a long ramble.
Spoiler:

The gist of the story was that the Chapter had initially been fleet based and sent off into Wilderness Space. They fought extensively alongside Legio Destructor and vanished into the Charadon Empire for a long, long time. Legio Destructor are supposed to becoming increasingly orky and that was something I incorporated into the Chapter, which is where they get their sonic weapons from, gifts of the Legio; on the simplistic reasoning that the Titans often have plenty of speakers and the like attached so they can compete with the orks in a good old war chant ipso facto sonic weaponry.

Eventually they help to bring into compliance the world of Carnate, which I envisioned as one of those super-Earths, which exists in a system far, far beyond the Galaxies North-Eastern edge; I always liked the idea that it was so far off their are no stars, just a perfect view of the galaxy itself. The premise for the world is that it exists at the end of a stable Warp route that is little more than a tiny thread of stable warp surrounded by intense storms so people end up there by accident pretty much. So early Earth colonists on their way to some other uninhabited world end up on Carnate which already has an established human population due to Warp/time travel shenanigans. The new colonists basically go troppo and become obsessed with technological augmentation and end up as immense bio-mechanical cannibals, think of the creations from the Jamie Lee Curtis film Virus. Naturally these inhuman constructs end up at war with the normal humans and eventually, to destroy their most potent enemies, that build a massive super weapon and shoot a hole through the planet to destroy the lands of their enemies on the other side of the world.

This place becomes the Fortress Monastery of the Prophets of Hatred. So it's half buried in this giant wound in the planet, surrounded by raging seas that poor down into the abyss, immense jungles created by terraforming gone completely haywire and all manner of gribbly creatures and constructs which the Marines let wander around so they have something to hone their skills against. Anyone who wants to join the Chapter just needs to reach them.

Now, the very early background I had for my Inquisitor was for an earlier incarnation of the Prophets, the Spectral Hunters. These were much more vanilla in their structure as a Chapter so they did have a scout company at that time. I had the idea that the Chapter became so obsessed with war as a concept, and a philosophy that the Chaplains all became devotees of Khorne. I also had the nebulous concept of the Marines eating portions of the fallen to gain their memories. I also wanted to incorporate the idea of mind-wiping as in accordance with the early 40K background. I combined the ideas in having the Chaplains corrupt their Brothers by feeding the brains of the fallen who had died fighting Chaos but, obviously, by being dead, hadn't been mind-wiped. So they basically got to hi-jack these mindless, blank marines. This eventually lead to a Chapter schism and way back when I had the first company captain as the arch traitor, sacrificing all of the scouts in a blood ritual to gain entrance to ancient daemon weapon which he would use to instantly ascend to daemonhood. Except my Inquisitor character got in the way and ended up bound to the weapon himself. The only surviving scout then became a member of his retinue. I should also say that my Inquisitor was only an Interrogator at the time, and his master who supposedly died heroically trying to stop the traitor marines was actually a part of the heretic cabal who helped in the corruption of the Chapter - long, long story, basically everyone died in the end!


So currently I don't think their are any scouts or recruits as such. I should probably think of something to resolve that!!!

Be Pure!
Be Vigilant!
BEHAVE!

Show me your god and I'll send you a warhead because my god's bigger than your god.
 
   
Made in us
Master Shaper




Gargant Hunting

Yeah, it sounds like a dying chapter. Really epic and unique, but dying nonetheless. It's a very cool idea, and I like the isolation their planet has.

Irishpeacockz-Blackjack needs a pay raise for being the welcomer to the crusade
Palleus-Write a school essay about Kroot! Pride. Prejudice. And Cannibalsim. 
   
Made in gb
Mekboy Hammerin' Somethin'





Papua New Guinea

Well funnily enough I used to use the Chapter Trait, Faithful Unto Death to represent how hammered they were after their Chapter war although I suppose technically there are more of them out there, as most of the rebels survived. I really enjoyed traits, everything that I had for the Chapter fitted in perfectly with that Codex. And yes that did mean I had infiltrating terminators; only ever utilised in stories though. Same with my dreadnought HQ, I suppose old Maloch-Reus should make an appearance one of these days.

I absolutely will get another update tomorrow to get things moving forward.

Be Pure!
Be Vigilant!
BEHAVE!

Show me your god and I'll send you a warhead because my god's bigger than your god.
 
   
 
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