Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hello Dakka!

This is my first foray into creating fluff, but I wish to create my own Imperial Guard regiment, and feel the need to give them some back-ground.
Trouble is, I can’t come up with a name for the Planet/regiment/home-system, and seek the help of fellow dakka-ites.

Some general themes/meta-game background (i.e. my initial concept)

Core Points:
- Heavy Beach Assault. By this, I mean WW2 Operations Overlord, Husky, and, most recently, Pacific Theatre Island Hopping, as seen in the new HBO series Pacific.

- All that being said, I must however confess/insist that I am a tread-head, and want to field as many tanks as I can.

- Also, my primary paint-scheme will be similar to the Urban Streets paint scheme for IG tanks but my tanks will have a section of dark red (not sure which shades I’ll use yet, the army is still in concept/collection/building stages) on the raised portion of the hull-sides on the bottom (presumably the thicker armor protecting the lower track rollers). This is borrowed from the painting on Navy-vessels in WW2, generally (to my knowledge), predominantly varying shades of gray, with red just (below/above?) the waterline.

- Also, I have a friend who plays Sister’s of Battle, and I would like to create some fluff-based reason for my army working closely together with his, most likely the planet will have a reliquary


My concept for the Home-planet:
- So far, when I envision a home planet for my troops, I envision a planet covered almost entirely by water.

- The largest continents (few and far between), are no larger than Australia.

- All other landmass is comprised of small to mid-sized island chains

- Large polar icecaps are present (100% ice “landmass”. Stay in their polar positions due to currents.

o There may be small dormant volcanic islands embedded in the polar ice-masses, but none have been discovered so far.

- From a greater perspective, planet will be in a system in Ultima Segmentum, close to the ever nearing Tau-space borders ( I have another friend who plays tau, poor fool refuses to see the light of the Emperor )


People:
- Governing body has the feudal system, individual islands are the equivalent of fiefs, and island chains are equivalent to duchies.

- This contrasts with a mechanized military. Veteran troops are generally sent/drafted into the royal army of a given kingdom, while Dukes maintain their own security forces.

- All heavily armed naval ships (this planet’s analogs for Battleships, carriers, destroyers, cruisers, battlecruisers) belong to Royal Navies. Dukes maintain their own transport/beach assault/landing ships.

o Leman Russ variants arrive on shore via LCT analogues


o Chimeras used to deploy troops similar to LVTs


o Deployed from LST analogues


Thanks for your help Dakka.

I would make some fluff right now, but I just don’t fell right moving forward until I can name things properly, I’m kinda OCD about it.

-PPH

I like most of your ideas. The feudal aspect coupled with a heavily mechanized force is a bit confusing but if you wrote it well I could believe it.

EmpBobo wrote:I like most of your ideas. The feudal aspect coupled with a heavily mechanized force is a bit confusing but if you wrote it well I could believe it.

The way I see it so far, is it is similar to the loss of understanding of tech across the imperium, something cataclysmic happened to this planet, and resulted in the eventual loss of understanding on the planet. This does not necessarily mean that the automated factories got destroyed though. Its not so far-fetched (compared to all the recognized fluff) to think that these factories could have been restarted, perhaps by shear dumb luck, providing the planet's feudal countries with Imperial tech. As far as the populace is concerned, they feed the buildings raw materials, and the building gives them weapons and needed goods.

See, with a little more explanation it makes more sense. I think it would be even cooler if you made all of your vehicles a bit medieval looking, maybe add some empire bits, to match the idea that it is a less developed society using higher technology.

Style heavily inspired by Reaper6, here is my first bit of background, just some general planetary info:

Planetary Data : MARE CASTELLANUS “Garrison Ocean”

System : Alessandr.
Local Star : Binary Stars
Spectral Classifications : A1 G2V A2 G2V
Bodies in System : 11.
Disposition : 7 orbiting nexus of binary star gravitic influences.
2 orbiting each star on inner orbital track.
Life sustaining bodies :(Natural) 2
(Forced Colonisation- Planet) 1
(Forced Colonisation- Asteroid Belt) 2
(Total) 5
Assigned numbers : Belt01, 05, Belt02, 07, 08

Specific Planetary Body : Alessandr 05 - “Mare Castellanus”.
Classification: Death World
- Reason: oceanic mega-storms and possible Tryannic life forms (compare: Catachan Devil

Location within System : Orbit of Binary Stars, between the 2 Asteroid Belts, orbit canted in comparison to other planetary bodies
Orbital Position : 1, 907, 701, 040 Km average, from center of twinned G2V star paths.
Magnetic Orientation : Polar, Terran Standard.
Nature of Planetary Anomaly : Single Planetary Ocean covers large majority of surface, features large Polar Ice Masses
Primary Landmasses : 9
Details : 2 Polar Ice Masses.
4 Tropic Sub Continental islands.
3 Temperate Sub continental Islands.
Secondary Landmasses : Island Chains, Unknown total, various sizes and climates.




Geological and Climatological anomalies (Detail):

Massive tectonic upheaval during the planet's early epochs have resulted in sub-continental islands. Evidence of these landmasses being larger exists, but chunks of landmass were thought to be destroyed when Mare Castellus encountered fragments of what was formerly Alessandr 04 and Alessandr 06. A possible lasting effect of these impacts is a large amount of tectonic and volcanic activity.
Starting from the poles, an arctic climate holds sway, with average temperatures never rising above -30C in recorded history. This climate extends to roughly the 55th latitudinal line, where the temperature begins to rise, reaching tropical temperatures at the equator. In the temperate and tropical zones, a large amount of “hot-spots”, areas where the planet’s crust is weaker or thinner, are frequent, resulting in an as-of-yet uncounted number of undersea volcanoes and a large amount of dormant and active volcanic island chains. An many of the islands that lack volcanoes, or where the volcanoes are non-existent, as well as in regions of the tropical jungles of the tropic sub-continents, significant promethium reserves have been discovered.

Human population : No census taken. Rare instance of Feudal culture combined with presence of Standard Imperial Tech

Polar Ice Masses :

Mare Castellanus' poles are covered by icemasses of almost equal size (allowing for factors such as coastal erosion), and of identical climate. Both also display similar geological features, again allowing for the effects of erosion.
At the specific poles, the terrain of both regions is that of a high, mountainous, ice-desert plateau. Being the surfaces receiving the least light, these deserts are arid frozen wastelands almost completely devoid of life on the surface.
Both regions are thought to be riddled with islands of prehistoric volcanic origin which support geo-thermal algal growths, sustained by moisture heated from the ice. Whether these algae support any form of food chain is presently unknown as travel to the ice-masses is extremely dangerous, and the sector Magus Biologis is reluctant to send a survey team.

Temperate & Tropical Sub-Continents:

As stated earlier, these regions were originally formed from massive tectonic stresses. Pressure along plate edges pushed the resulting faults up to a mile above ocean level.
The Temperate Climates feature large predominant ever-green and deciduous forests. On the Tropical islands, vast jungles hold sway, except for a mile wide (average) region of sand and rock encircling each tropic island, most life being blasted away in the frequent mega-storms that form in the tropic region. These storms have been known to enter the temperate zones, but the lack of heat in these areas often decreases the strength of these storms to manageable levels.

General Climate Variation.

Mare Castellanus is on a slightly elliptical, and canted orbit (in comparison to the other planetary orbits in the Alessandr System. It is furthest away from the binay stars as it passes through the plane at which the other bodies orbit, and at these times, Asteroid Belt 01 decreases the amount of light that Mare Castellanus receives, just enough to create two notable “winter” periods throughout a single year. During these periods, the frequency and power of the oceanic mega-storms decreases, likewise decreasing the danger presented by the “Mountain Fish”

Other Notable Phenomena.

Fauna: The large and deep planetary ocean has given rise to numerous dangerous species, two most notable being the Flasher Fish and the Mountain Fish. Both have features that are worryingly similar to Tyranid sub-species, and both are extremely dangerous if encountered, albeit, for different reasons.
The Flasher Fish, or “Flashies” are small eel-like fish with razor-sharp teeth and boney heads. Flashies bear uncanny resemblance to the Ripper sub-species of Tyranids. Alone, the “flashies” merely dangerous, but because they always found in schools ranging in size from 20 – 300 individuals, entering the water unprotected is a death sentence. Flasher Fish are extremely voracious, and attack anything that moves in water, except for the Mountain Fish. Flasher Fish can survive in both the inland fresh-water streams, and the salt-water oceans.
The Mountain Fish gained their name from their immense size. Mountain Fish display physical features similar to the Tyranid Carnifex. Juvenile Mountain Fish have been recorded as being nearly 700 ft long and 300 ft wide. Adult Mountain Fish have been mistaken for small islands and have been known to swallow Venerable-Class Battle cruisers (displacement: 10,000 tons, length: 600ft, beam: 65 ft, armament: 8x 9in guns, 10x 5in guns, 16x 4in torpedo tubes) whole. Approach with EXTREME CAUTION. Mountain Fish are most active during storms, and are extremely territorial.


Cultural Development and Anomalies.

When first encountered by an Inquisitional task force chasing Chaos Space Marines, the population appeared to be in an industrial state. Further investigation revealed that despite the use of industrial technology, the local populace was ruled through a number of feudal kingdoms. The Imperium level technology was lost at some point along the colony’s history (evidence points towards chaos infiltration driving colonists from sub continents). Eventually the original colonist settlements were rediscovered and the manufacturing capabilities used. All of Mare Castellanus’ people depend, either directly or indirectly, upon the ocean for life. Those kingdoms that have direct access to the original colonial settlements send exploration parties into the ancient proto-hives in search of “new” tech on a regular basis. Through these exploration parties, knowledge of the Emperor has been strongly maintained, as The Emperor of All Mankind to the larger settlements, and as the Sea-Father to the smaller less sophisticated settlements.
+++

Next Installment will be actual fluffy fluff, the circumstances of the (re-)discovery of this planet/system by the Inquisitional task force.

Just an update, I've been having finals at my school, so I haven't had time to write much. I'll be done with everything next week, so I'll be able to get back to this.

Alright, I'm back. Have an initial army list here:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/297982.page#1626398

All C&C welcome, more fluff soon to follow.