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So one of the things I love to do in 40k is come up with my own custom factions that I use for my armies. It is more fun for me to, say, create an elaborate backstory for a rogue non-chaos space marine faction that uses Dark Angels rules (and then proceeds to get mercilessly crushed by my opponents time and again,) than it is to just run another Dark Angels army. For me: this sort of thing is part of the fun of 40k, the so called: "my dudes" aspect. (Granted, I can go a bit overboard with it, creating elaborate proxies and kitbashes that are far more costly than just running the normal frakking model... but I digress.)
The purpose of this thread is to see the sort of crazy lore for custom factions that you folks have produced. I'm sure that a lot of you have piles of backstory that more-or-less fit within the greater 40k universe, and if you are like me: a lot of the time you don't feel like talking your opponent's ear off about why it is that your army looks or runs exactly the way it does. So, for all you custom faction lovers out there, this is your thread. Go nuts! Let me hear your crazy backstories! Your custom heroes and their glorious sagas! Your elaborate kitbashes that have a fully fluffed out POINT dag-nam-it!
(Note: If this threat becomes popular enough, or someone requests it for whatever reason, I will of course add my own factions lore as well. But the point for now is to see what YOU have come up with!)
(Second note: please try to refrain from insulting other people's ideas/lore/backstories as well. It may not be YOUR idea of appropriate lore, but there is no reason to get all salty about it either. Let's all have fun here!)
My go-to Kabal (okay, recently subservient shard of a larger Kabal) is that of the Smoking Mirror, run by Archon-now-Dracon Telesh Kalipoch, who usurped his sister's place (her skull adorns his trophy pole) and bent the knee to <faction whose rules I'm using> - truly there is absolutely no honour among Drukhari. Unsurprisingly I've leaned into the Aztec theme, liberally using knapped obsidian patterns for bayonets and such. Skins, of course, abound (thanks, Cas, for providing so many sisters to the narrative gristmill.)
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/08/18 23:12:17
I'm currently reworking the scheme towards the Obsidian Rose (since who was I kidding, black edged with red... yeah) but aside from cross-kit within faction, I've avoided kit bashing - I tried some Lizardman bits early on but the aesthetic never quite clicked with the more fluid lines of the drukhari range. I suspect that the best solution is amping up the flaying and learning to green stuff skin banners. To whit, I guess that's my next project...
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2021/08/19 00:18:56
They're a chapter from the Ultima founding and thus primaris only. Their homeworld is Tarhil, A rocky world of large islands closely clustered together with few contients, The world is a feudal world with a clan based cuture that is roughly set in a early nedeval technology base. The chapter is newish but has already begun to adopt some tradtions of it's homeworld (vaguely celts irish). Each Company is run by a Chief, with the chapter master known as the (High) King.
The current High King is King Conan (feel free to groan) .
The High King is also served by a formal advisory council of 3, known as the Morrigan. while the Morrigan's membership is fluid, it most often consists of the Chief librarian, the high reclussiarch and eaither a company captain, the forgefather or the cheif apocathary.
The Librarius of the Stormcrows is specificly worth mentioning, being partiuclarly talented at Divination (there are even some unconfirmed rumors that early stormcrow Librarians where taught the arts of the Grey Knight prognasters) the stormcrows often arrive at important locations before the trouble has even rightly begun. This has allowed them to defeat many threats to the Imperium before they have been able to fester but has gained the stormcrows an unfortunate and poorly deserved reputation as Hearlds and bringers of woe.
In terms of orginization and the like the chapter is codex compliant, although they do use colour on the kneepad rather then shoulder trim to donate company colour.
Opinions are not facts please don't confuse the two
My first, and probably “most custom" would be the Bleeding Dragon Cabal for my Dark Eldar. Back in 4th me and a few friends started playing big group battles and bent the narrative quite often. We had an Ork player whose HQs and Nobz were all demonically possessed and red (similar to Warcraft chaos orcs), an Eldar player (who later went to Khorne Daemons) and a Space Marines/Daemonhunter player. Me and the Ork player made liberal use of the daemonic nemesis rules in the Daemonhunter codex and wound up with a very convoluted story for my Dark Eldar.
It’s a fairly lengthy affair, which I’ve TRIED to shorten below but in terms of in-game structure it was a Dark Eldar army with a lot of Grotesques, Kroot Mercenaries and Lesser Daemons (the ones from the Daemonhunter book) and later allied with Khorne Daemons and Orks.
The Bleeding Dragon Cabal was formerly known as the Silver Dragon, and while wealthy it wasn’t particularly notorious and had a reputation for being “soft”. One of the Dracons stepped up and killed the Arcon in full view of the ruling counsel. The Cabal fragmented and the largest portion, under command of the Dracon became the Bleeding Dragon. The instability wasted a lot of precious resources and left the Cabal in a very diminished state. The new leader was ambitious and warlike, but lacked support and resources and took to more and more desperate measures to bolster his strength.
At first it was through terrible agreements with Haemonculus covens, handing over dissidents and prisoners from rival Cabals to be tortured and warped into grotesques. It wasn’t long before they got exiled from Commoragh. During their exile they recruited a large number of Kroot Mercenaries, which quickly became tortured slaves themselves.
Their exploits brought them in conflict with craft world Wahdye (friends custom craft world) on the edge of the Maelstrom, which had both sides trying to manipulate an Ork WAAAGH! against one another with the Imperium suffering huge casualties as collateral damage in the ongoing conflict.
Eventually the Inquisition got involved, dispatching a large force of Space Marines drawn from the Sons of Kayne. Upon joining the conflict it had become apparent that the Dark Eldar force was greatly diminished, reduced to the leader and a few loyal subjects employing a huge force of enslave Kroot, Grotesques and Orks. In a final act of desperation the Dark Eldar leader tapped into the Warp using a damaged web way portal to unleash an incursion of Daemons on his foes.
The Inquisition brought a force of Grey Knights to combat the threat, and a combined force of Space Marines, Grey Knights and Craftworld Eldar finally overcame the remaining Dark Eldar force. The leader was executed and the slaves abandoned to die on a barren world.
I no longer own a Dark Eldar army so I got to wrap up this narrative fairly neatly in the end.
My first custom chapter were the Hospitaliers, often called the "Flatliners" pejoratively, who discovered an archaeotech hospital with a semi-functioning defibrillator. Being space marines, they assumed it was a religious object, and periodically subject each member of the order to being defibbed, then revived. The visions while near-death/dead then served as divine inspiration from the Emperor for the path of the chapter. Due to frequently being killed, then revived, the marines suffered increasing levels of cognitive and physical failure.
I named all the characters after things you might find in the hospital. So Mot Rin was the Sergeant of the Painkillers, along with Tyl Enol.The shoulder pad emblem was a heart rate monitor line flatlining.
It was silly. I enjoyed it. I would've done a white and red or white and blue color scheme if I'd done it today, but instead I was learning to paint so did blue and red which didn't make a ton of sense.
The only one of my armies i have any real background for is my thousand sons.
They style themselves the "Coven of the XVth". They use the old, Heresy era thousand sons colour scheme of red and gold armour, with bright blue sashes, tabards and capes. the consider themselves outside of the normal Thousand sons command structure, free to pursue their own agendas, though in truth they are still subservient to The Great Deceiver, as all the Sons are, and heavily involved in plots with, agianst and alongside other warbands of the Legion..
They rarely visit The Planet of Sorcerers, finding it too full of the byzantine scheming they pretend to be above, and instead operate out of a series of bases spread throughout the galaxy that are linked by a series of semi-permeant warp storms that form a relay, almost like a crude version of the eldar Webway. The high mobility this gives them puts their services in high demand, and gives them easy access to long-forgotton battlefields form which Rubrics can be reanimated, both of which they barter for supplies with the Sortiarius-based elements of the legion. Arhiman has often made use of their bases for rapid transit around the galaxy on his quest to undo the Rubric, and often directly hires elements of the Coven for security.
To be a man in such times is to be one amongst untold billions. It is to live in the cruelest and most bloody regime imaginable. These are the tales of those times. Forget the power of technology and science, for so much has been forgotten, never to be relearned. Forget the promise of progress and understanding, for in the grim dark future there is only war. There is no peace amongst the stars, only an eternity of carnage and slaughter, and the laughter of thirsting gods.
Coven of XVth 2000pts
The Blades of Ruin 2,000pts Watch Company Rho 1650pts
I have design with some help from Sgt_Smudge and Cyrixiinus 42 well fluffed out Imperial Guard regiments each from a different planet. I'm pretty proud of that work, I think its well generally well done and there is one for every taste. They were design for Only War, one of the rpg games of Fantasy Flight, but I have the project of making Vartarn Red Coats if GW actually releases Krieg models in plastic.
I also created three xenos species with full lore and even 7th edition stats of which I am also pretty darn proud of that work too. Links bellow for those interested. First links for the regiments, second, third and fourth for the xenos.
Years back I had a pretty cool idea, I think. I wanted to get vampires into 40k somehow and found genestealer cults a good fit, with the patriarch as a vampire lord and the hybrids being ghouls. The fluff around genestealer infiltration is pretty close to the typical vampire cult as it is but I couldn't decide if I wanted the pure genestealers themselves to be either spooky ghosts or vampire spawn. I was looking at bringing in some kind of flying tyranid ripper swarms as allies and proxy them with bats, plus other stuff like that to enhance the theme but unfortunately I stopped playing before really getting anywhere.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/08/20 06:32:57
They were born out of my preference to include a lot of different vehicles (GW, third party and kitbashes), as well as minis from other lines, cavalry and "animals with guns". So their rough backstory is that they have a very bad standing with the Munitorum which leads to them rarely ever getting the supply they would need. So they get by using battlefield salvages, putting together "new" vehicles from spare parts or repurposing local produced tanks and scout cars "borrowed" from the PDF of the worlds they are fighting on. Also various terran animals exist on their world in giant forms and are used as beasts of war, so I have rough riders on pangolins, lemurs, racoons... a giant beetle as light tank and some warelephants as sentinels.
Overall I enjoy writing their fluff as not being one of the "emperors finest... the best of the sector... the legendary heroes of the battle of XY..." regiments but just some dregs that try their best to get through with the cards they get dealt
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/08/20 06:50:49
epronovost wrote: I have design with some help from Sgt_Smudge and Cyrixiinus 42 well fluffed out Imperial Guard regiments each from a different planet. I'm pretty proud of that work, I think its well generally well done and there is one for every taste. They were design for Only War, one of the rpg games of Fantasy Flight, but I have the project of making Vartarn Red Coats if GW actually releases Krieg models in plastic.
I also created three xenos species with full lore and even 7th edition stats of which I am also pretty darn proud of that work too. Links bellow for those interested. First links for the regiments, second, third and fourth for the xenos.
They were born out of my preference to include a lot of different vehicles (GW, third party and kitbashes), as well as minis from other lines, cavalry and "animals with guns". So their rough backstory is that they have a very bad standing with the Munitorum which leads to them rarely ever getting the supply they would need. So they get by using battlefield salvages, putting together "new" vehicles from spare parts or repurposing local produced tanks and scout cars "borrowed" from the PDF of the worlds they are fighting on. Also various terran animals exist on their world in giant forms and are used as beasts of war, so I have rough riders on pangolins, lemurs, racoons... a giant beetle as light tank and some warelephants as sentinels.
Overall I enjoy writing their fluff as not being one of the "emperors finest... the best of the sector... the legendary heroes of the battle of XY..." regiments but just some dregs that try their best to get through with the cards they get dealt
I remember reading about the 2nd Thoth Askaris, hell I even used them in game of Death Watch as support for the PCs. I loved your conversion for the Missionary Hakeem it was pretty cool.
The colour scheme of the shroud of vigilance dark angel successor chapter. Tasked with keeping close ties to the inquisition by the unforgivens Grand Master Azrael to intel for any infiltration of the Fallen into the holy ordos. To maintain a level of secrecy the chapter does not maintain an official badge, that which suits the chapter and also the inquisition to perform clandestine operations, sometimes against the inquisition itself where no survivors are permitted. Each of the chapters 8 companies typically are assigned to a specific ordo within the inquisition, with one each for the major ordos and the other five covering multiple minor ordos between them.
Each company is presided over by a Grand Master, with an inner council of a Chief librarian, Master of Interrogations, The Master of the Dreadbringers and the Master of the Corvus Venators. This council is then supported by the full inner circle of the company, comprised of the librarians, Interrogator chaplains and Judicier and the Barons of Maledictum and Barons of Trepidation. The chapter is lead by a further circle of Grand Masters, each on an even parity of power and influence, with the deciding power in the case of a stalled vote going to a supreme grand master of another of the unforgiven chapters. The nature of this organisation is to aid the chapters autonomy when investigating the inquisition. In light of this, it is very rare for the grand master to meet in a formal meeting of the circle of grand masters, and typically only when a fellow grand master wants to council his peers on a certain sensitive matter, either within or outside of the chapter. Each company is comprised of roughly 80 Battle line Marines of the regular company formation, 40 corvus venators, 30 Dreadbringers, then a small formation, usually comprising of 10-20 Barons for each of the Barons of Maledictum and Barons of Trepidation.
The Corvus Venators
The Corvus Venators. The chapters vanguard, reconnaissance, scout and guerrilla operatives. The formation is a twist on the more traditional ravenwing formation of the unforgiven, with the inclusion of infantry exclusively in phobos pattern or omnis pattern armour, allowing the formation to deploy assets on long recon and surveillance missions as well as the chapters outrider, ATV and storm speeder squadrons for hard, swift strike and hit and run missions. Finally, in fitting with it’s phobos base, this is also where the chapters invictor war suits are also maintained, though rare due to the potential to be spotted during infiltration missions, they are piloted by a member of the small elite force within the corvus venators, the ‘Barons of Maledictum’.
The Dreadbringers
The elite shock troops of the chapter. Maintained in a small number within each company rather than a distinct formation. The company makes extensive use of gravis armour to achieve it’s needs as well as some specially modified terminator plate to accomodate the primaris frame. In addition this is where the chapters bladeguard veterans are maintained. The true modus operandi of the formation is to act as a search and destroy, sweeping up any breaches of secrecy outside of the chapter and within, performing purge operations to ensure secrecy at all costs, to the extent that burnt earth tactics have been used to ensure no evidence is found, with unfavourable rumours of sanctioned exterminates that falls far below the codex astartes thresholds for such an actions. Whilst many different configurations of squads make up the Dreadbringers, only the bladeguard and Terminator squads are members of the chapters inner circle and take up the additional mantle of ‘The Barons of Trepidation’.
The Barons of Maledictum
The Barons of Maledictum are the Corvus Venators elite warriors. Inducted into the inner circle of the chapter, they form a council within the Corvus Venators to aid and guide the master of the formation as well as being the chapters most specialised clandestine operatives and assassins, deploying often and providing crucial intel for the Dreadbringers search and destroy, and burnt earth operations. Sometimes working closely with the ‘The Barons of Trepidation’ within the Dreadbringers on their in-house purges. Whilst aware of the role the ‘Barons of Trepidation’ fulfil within the chapter, and providing support, they keep their fellow Barons at arms length, understanding how volatile they can be and also being aware that the Barons of Trepidation may bring their captious modus operandi upon the corvus venators themselves. In itself these lends clues to how the chapter command is organised. New grand masters of a company are promoted from either the corvus venators master or the dreadbringers master, with a vote taking place by the 7 other grand masters of the chapters companies. Naturally, the appointment of either lends to the direction the company will take, ruthlessly zealous in it’s pursuit of maintained secrecy, or a more pragmatic approach, choosing to operate in a manor of innocent till proven guilty in regards to investigations within the chapter. This can come into direct conflict with the Barons of Trepidations allowed autonomy, with an ex corvus venator master often utilising his own barons of maledictum surveillance mastery to keep an unrelenting watchful eye on their fellow barons, aware that speed and swiftness is of the essence if they want to curtail an internal purge.
The Barons of Trepidation
Meet the elite of the Dreadbringers, ‘The Barons of Trepidation’. Permanent allocations to the Barons of trepidation within the formations are the companies senior librarian, the apprentice of the reclusiarch and the companies Judicier, to aid this role, with the companies master of the Dreadbringers being in overall charge, and only he and the companies grand master can order a baron of trepidation to stand down, that is if they hear of the impending sanctions in time. In this role they act as gatekeepers to the chapters dark motives, ruthlessly watching members below their rank of the Dreadbringers for any lapses of secrecy and given prior autonomy to handle any threats to the chapters true motives within the chapter without the requirement of an official trial of the accused, with the Judicier performing the final judgement once the threats have been isolated. Rumours within the inner circle at present suggests that the the barons of trepidation of the 8th company summarily executed the rest of the companies dreadbringers recently. Grand Master Ophaniel Ezekane has displayed discontent for their actions when the matter was investigated, unsure of the true motives. In consequence to this, the company is still to return the Dreadbringers to full strength, Grand Master Ezekane choosing to let it operate at understrength, recognising and limiting the scope and reach of the barons of trepidation under his charge.
My hobby instagram account: @the_shroud_of_vigilance My Shroud of Vigilance Hobby update blog for me detailed updates and lore on the faction:
Blog
They were born out of my preference to include a lot of different vehicles (GW, third party and kitbashes), as well as minis from other lines, cavalry and "animals with guns". So their rough backstory is that they have a very bad standing with the Munitorum which leads to them rarely ever getting the supply they would need. So they get by using battlefield salvages, putting together "new" vehicles from spare parts or repurposing local produced tanks and scout cars "borrowed" from the PDF of the worlds they are fighting on. Also various terran animals exist on their world in giant forms and are used as beasts of war, so I have rough riders on pangolins, lemurs, racoons... a giant beetle as light tank and some warelephants as sentinels.
Overall I enjoy writing their fluff as not being one of the "emperors finest... the best of the sector... the legendary heroes of the battle of XY..." regiments but just some dregs that try their best to get through with the cards they get dealt
I remember reading about the 2nd Thoth Askaris, hell I even used them in game of Death Watch as support for the PCs. I loved your conversion for the Missionary Hakeem it was pretty cool.
I feel you, I'm very much the same way with my fluff and kitbashes. I could talk your ear off, but I'll try to be brief with my favorite:
The Void Rangers: They are my custom 2nd founding Space Marine chapter and were formed of the surviving loyalists of the traitor legions that didn't get folded into the the Grey Knights of other such organizations. Due to the heavy lack of trust surrounding them, they were sent to the galactic far south away from anything sensitive by the Primarchs that still didn't trust them. Near their destination they were caught in a terrible warm storm that deposited them in sector that had been essentially sealed off from the rest of the galaxy by warp storms since the Age of Strife. The human population of this system had been pushed back to merely a few worlds in a single system from a arrival of large Waaagh! that had found themselves stranded in a similar fashion. After nearly a decade of conflict, the Ork threat was declared cleansed from their little corner of the galaxy and The Void Rangers took the Capital world of Naxia as their homeworld, developing a close relationship with the people they now protected. For the next ten thousand they defended the sector from various threats that stumbled upon them, as well as folding into their ranks random Imperial forces that became lost in the sector as well. When the Cicatrix Maladictum split the galaxy, the warp prison that had trapped them for 10 millennium finally broke open and The Void Rangers cautiously returned to the Imperium.
They are structured to reflect much of their origin, with each of the companies reflecting the strategies and tenants of one of the founding legions. 2nd = World Eaters, 3rd = Emperors Children, 4th = Iron Warriors, 5th = Thousand Sons , 6th = Luna Wolves, 7th = Word Bearers, 8th = Night Lords, 9th = Death Guard, 10th = Alpha Legion. I actually did a full stat spread for the various captains for a campaign some friends and I are playing if you are interested in all the little details: https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/799899.page The rules I use for each company are different, for example The 4th uses Iron Hands rules, while the 5th uses Grey Knights and the 10th, Raven Guard. Whatever I find most suits the playstyle I'm trying to achieve for the flavor of that company.
I could talk your ear off for hours on all the details of the Void Rangers and my other custom factions, but I don't want to make too large a post. XD I'd love to hear about yours though, it seems like we're cut from the same gaming cloth.
The Spiral Arm Trade Consortium is a an ancient bureaucracy within the Imperium of Man, a conglomeration of interstellar merchant fleets and spacing guilds whose origins are lost to history. Noble houses of Terra have in their vaults ancient documents entitling them to shares of ownership of the SATC. And with those shares comes a slice of the Consortium's vast profits.
The operations of the Consortium take many forms, from massive freighters traveling the most essential trading routes of the Imperium, to hardscrabble operations beyond the frontiers of Administratum control. It is out in those distant tendrils of commerce that the infection has taken hold. A genestealer cult has used the Consortium's network to secretly infiltrate the trading ships and outposts of the frontier. They are especially prevalent within The Ancient and Honorable Guild of Armsmen, the private military used by the Consortium to secure their assets.
The cult has been very profitable for the SATC. Where many of their competitors must rely on expensive and fickle mercenaries, the Guild of Armsmen cares little for pay or plunder. And their discipline and ferocity in combat is second to none. Indeed, in worlds infected with the cult, the Consortium's operations lose almost no profit to graft, theft, or labor conflicts. Pirates and xenos are a much-diminished threat, having learned to seek more vulnerable targets. And rival operations find themselves hard-pressed to repel direct attacks by the Guild of Armsmen. The resulting profit flows coreward to the great houses of the Imperium, ensuring ongoing support for the Spiral Arm in the highest levels of government.
Thus the Spiral Arm Trade Consortium, and its Guild of Armsmen, expand their corruption to new ships, and new worlds, preparing for the inevitable arrival of their star-gods.
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2021/08/23 19:51:11
The Spiral Arm Trade Consortium is a an ancient bureaucracy within the Imperium of Man, a conglomeration of interstellar merchant fleets and spacing guilds whose origins are lost to history. Noble houses of Terra have in their vaults ancient documents entitling them to shares of ownership of the SATC. And with those shares comes a slice of the Consortium's vast profits.
The operations of the Consortium take many forms, from massive freighters traveling the most essential trading routes of the Imperium, to hardscrabble operations beyond the frontiers of Administratum control. It is out in those distant tendrils of commerce that the infection has taken hold. A genestealer cult has used the Consortium's network to secretly infiltrate the trading ships and outposts of the frontier. They are especially prevalent within The Ancient and Honorable Guild of Armsmen, the private military used by the Consortium to secure their assets.
The cult has been very profitable for the SATC. Where many of their competitors must rely on expensive and fickle mercenaries, the Guild of Armsmen cares little for pay or plunder. And their discipline and ferocity in combat is second to none. Indeed, in worlds infected with the cult, the Consortium's operations lose almost no profit to graft, theft, or labor conflicts. Pirates and xenos are a much-diminished threat, having learned to seek more vulnerable targets. And rival operations find themselves hard-pressed to repel direct attacks by the Guild of Armsmen. The resulting profit flows coreward to the great houses of the Imperium, ensuring ongoing support for the Spiral Arm in the highest levels of government.
Thus the Spiral Arm Trade Consortium, and its Guild of Armsmen, expand their corruption to new ships, and new worlds, preparing for the inevitable arrival of their star-gods.
Oh that is so cool!! I absolutely love it! You don't see too many GSC armies that aren't, you know, just generic GSC! (Heck: I'm my groups you don't see much GSC at all!)
Plus: the rogue trader/merc idea really is killer. It lets you fight whomever, and have a fluff reason for it!
I try to customise every army I make, which ends up meaning I never finish any of them.
I started building a single Salamanders company back when Codex Armageddon released them (with Initiative 3 as well...), where I was determined to give each and every battle brother their own history and combat experience. I built a narrative around them having been decimated by the dark eldar before being reinforced and heading to armageddon, so the captain of the company was new to the role and a little scarred from the psychological and physical wounds inflicted by the dark eldar.
I never finished it, but I did like having each model be a character.
My space wolf great company is the Spirit Wolves (using the wolf rampant top half and a swirly ghost bottom on a blue field). The wolf lord has a twin brother who is a rune priest and has always had a strong spiritual connection, hence his totem.
I decided when I started collecting eldar that I wouldn't go with one of the main craftworlds. Mine is Alai-Yannen and it is more of a coalition of clan controlled craftworlds than one single culture.
Early after the fall, several small craftworlds banded together for protection, each one bringing a strongly independent culture with them. As such they never fully integrated together, despite fusing their ships into a massive multi-segmented craftworld complex. Each ancestral domain is controlled by a specific clan and while they allow free passage between all segments of the complex, it's still very clear where each eldar's clan affiliation lies.
Leading Alai-Yannen is the triumvirate of the Clan council, Seer brotherhood and the Autarchy. Each has representatives from the clans, ensuring that no one clan has too much sway over the collective decisions of Alai-Yannen.
Now the cynical reason I created this was because I wanted to be able to field a counts as army using each of the big 5 craftworld rules, so each one is represented by one of the Clans in Alai-Yannen.
Eithiad - the Mausoleum. Most of the clan died in the century after the Fall due to constant raids and daemonic incursions. When they joined Alai-Yannen they did so with merely a handful of members. With vengeance burning hot as only an eldar can feel, the clan has gone to war with its dead for ten millennia, seeking some unknown end that will quieten their spirits.
Ystrafael - The Many Shadows. A daemonic incursion fractured their webway gate and the shards infected the infinity circuit, growing web way gates throughout the domain before it was stopped. Having spent so many millennia with dozens of webway gates spread across their domains, they've seemingly become like shadows in appearance and manner. But they are the most connected and reactive of the clans with their spies everywhere.
Kaela-Menshad – The Bloody Hand. A clan with an ancient warrior lineage spanning aeons, they refused to accept the destruction of the Fall and the shattering of Khaine. As their patron god, Khaine stood for all that was great about the eldar: sublime martial skill, the pinnacle of physical perfection and the unyielding fury of a righteous warrior. When Asurmen founded the aspects, the Kaela-Menshad initially refused to adopt his practices. They believed in the strength of their warrior traditions alone. It wasn’t until Asurmen’s proteges repelled a daemonic incursion ten times their number to protect Alai Yannen from annihilation did the Lords of the Bloody Hand see their value. From this moment on the Bloody Hand considered Asurmen and his first pupils, the Asuryata, as Khaine’s apostles and Asurmen his fated son. The clan dedicated itself mind and body to the Path of the Warrior so that now, every member has trod that path at least once and continues to train as veteran guardian squads when not wearing the war mask.
Uthaelu – Adamant Mind. Unlike the other clans this originally formed as a clan of ideology rather than one of blood. During the final days of the Fall, those who had resisted the descent into oblivion through asceticism and discipline came together to discuss how they might extricate themselves from the destruction surrounding them. This brotherhood of the mind escaped in their own ship, designed by the last great unsullied thinkers of the Eldar Dominion. They drifted alone in the cosmos for centuries, maintaining an unbroken meditative state. Their unbound minds explored, contemplated and learned, delving deeper into the recesses of the eldar mind than any had before. They shrouded their craft from attack and probed the skeins of fate to find one that might bring the eldar back to greatness. This lead them to the newly formed Alai-Yannen and for reasons they haven’t discussed with any other clan, they joined the coalition. Even now their clan is one of the mind and any that wish to join from the other clans may do so, but it is a permanent choice and once done may never be undone.
Faolchu Ra – The Winged Death. A storied and noble Clan of Alai Yannen, the Winged Death bears a terrible stain on their honour, a dark secret that sits beneath their untarnished exterior. Before Alai Yannen, their origins lay with the clan lords of Craftworld Saim Hann. In the centuries following the fall, each of the craftworlds was fighting a solitary war for survival and none fought harder than Saim Hann. It was during these hard times that the Faolchu Ra, then called the Thantefaelion, destroyed their honour. Saim Hann had not truly formed by this point and desperate for survival after a particularly brutal war with the orks, they turned on their fellow clansmen. Calling in Drukhari mercenaries to help them, they attempted to take control of the nascent craftworld from the wild rider lords. Bloody from war with the orks they were ill prepared for treachery from within. The fighting was brutal and the Drukhari delighted in the misery of their cousins. It was only when the Avatar roused itself from slumber, so great was the death and hatred flooding the infinity circuit and marched on the Thantefaelion did they realise how wrong they were. Imbued with just a shard of Khaine’s power and flooded with an entire craftworld’s worth of emotion, the avatar beat back the Thantefaelion until he slashed through the craftworld’s hull, cutting the entire Thantefaelion section from it in a massive blaze of volcanic fire.
The section was left to drift in space, with no functioning wraithgates or craft of any kind. By the time Alai-Yannen found them, the population had been cut in half and neither the Thantefaelion or the Drukhari were left, only the Faolchu Ra. From then on they have been paragons of honour, hoping to outrun 10,000 years of shame.
My main custom faction is called: “The Iron Republic.”
The Iron Republic is a group of space marines who essentially turned their back on the imperium during the heart of the Horus Heresy, hijacked a fleet of reinforcements, and went on to settle their own society in a planetary system hidden in the heart of a mysterious nebula.
Why do they do this, you ask?
These astartes are old timers, bitter with what they have seen of the imperium and its state of constant war. Each has their reasons: dedication towards ideals of scientific curiosity, or a more just society, perhaps simply questioning their superiors or showing mercy. They are mysteriously united by a sentient A.I, one of the few remaining, who has reactivated in this hidden system away from the gaze of the imperium.
This A.I, which secretly manipulates the imperium towards making this fateful reinforcement fleet filled with would-be traitors. A fleet which goes missing at the heart of the heresy, and mention of it quickly being erased as events unfold.
Now, roughly ten-thousand years later: the Iron Republic stands as a bastion of ancient technology and ideals. It has raided countless imperial worlds, taking “prisoners” that are relocated to the idyllic and peaceful lands of one of many uniquely terraformed planets within the hidden system of “Utopia”.
There are many cultures and aspects that have grown from these humble beginnings:
The Vonya-Krovi are the decedents of both the men and women of the imperial navy and other auxillia. They have a blended, utilitarian martial culture in which xenos technology is incorporated into a wide range of cybernetic enhancements for whatever career suits them best. Their world provides shelter for countless refugees stolen from the imperium, many of whom end up taking the xenos enhancements and adopting the Vonya-Krovi philosophy. They are represented on the table by an entirely custom proxy army list of Imperial Guard.
The Psy-Wolves are the decedents of a group of space-wolves that decided to settle upon a vast and warp afflicted planet they named: “Jotunheim”. This planet teems with strange creatures and bleeds warp-magic from numerous unseal-able portals into the warp. This provides the space-wolves who have settled there with an endless array of combat, while a magic tonic created from the local flora and secret ritual allow there members essentially infinite resurrection, revival, and stamina. Over time, the Astartes who live here began to experience strange expansion of their minds, resulting in an outcropping of psychic ability. The Psy-Wolves are represented on the table by either Grey-Knights (psykers) or Space-Wolves.
The Iron Angels are the largest military force within the republic, representing an independent force of volunteers from every world of the republic. They are comprised of both ancient veterans and fresh faced newcomers, and incorporate technological advances from thousands of years of A.I. Backed research. This, along with the near constant raids of imperial territory, has allowed them to match if not exceed their imperial counterparts in all new military equipment. They have their own version of Primaris, Primaris equipment, Custodes Equipment and modified or upgraded versions of many weapons and armor that is exceedingly rare within the larger Imperium. They are represented on the table by either the Dark Angels or Custodes, as an elite raiding force designed to get in, slaughter, take, and get out.
That is my main collection right now at least! I have a few more custom faction ideas cooking, but nothing I've actually collected yet :-)
Yeah, I wanted to have a faction that made sense fighting other imperial forces all the time (my group is HEAVILY imperial leaning) but also worked against the galaxy's other threats.
Similarly, as a writer (sixteen stories published and counting!) I have a fascination with utopian ideals, communities, ect.
If you don't mind a little standing-on-the-soap-box:
To me it is simply inherently more interesting to make something that is attempting to be utopian than to make just another dystopian nightmare. Don't get me wrong: I happen to be quite fond of dystopian nightmares (I mean, I'm a big fan of 40k and that's about as dystopian as it gets!) I simply enjoy the idea of actually struggling for that beautiful society far more.
That's what got me thinking: Can a Utopian (attempting) society actually exist within the nightmare universe of 40k?
It's a weird bit of cognitive dissonance, I know, but the universe of 40k is also vast, with entire planetary systems existing far "off the beaten path" for lots of the universe's "Only war" setting... so is it conceivable to have an entire group of people (even WARLIKE people) that can essentially escape and protect their little slice of paradise?
With all that being said: I also think there is a wonderful futility to how I see the Iron Republic eventually working out. Sure, in the short term, it thrives and continues as a secret little thorn in the Imperium's side... but long term?
A hive fleet, an Ork Waaagh, or just them imperials finally figuring out where it is... and the place is doomed... So, yeah, it's beautiful while it lasts :-)
Names are hard. Fact. When I'm writing I often end up with characters named (in the first draft) XXXX or YYYY until I can actually take some time to figure out what to call them!
Space Rangers (yeah, I was younger, then).
Weenies lost in the warp, mixed armor made from scraps, lead by an inquisitor hunting xenos, and captain with some imperial hangers on, Astropaths and fleet officers and so on… now that they have re entered active sectors, they have heard about Cawl the heretic and numarines (pawns of heresy) and have taken up with my new plastic (and old metal) SoBs to hunt xenos and purge the empire of heretics.
leerm02 wrote: Names are hard. Fact. When I'm writing I often end up with characters named (in the first draft) XXXX or YYYY until I can actually take some time to figure out what to call them!
I've always found Space Marine Chapter names very hard to come up with.
The first one I did back in 2nd Ed was the "Imperial Death Waves". Yeah...
I eventually found one I liked - Iron Knights - only to find that GW had already created them.
But I eventually came up with two that I liked and that stuck: Emerald Vipers and the Iron Paladins, the latter of which is now my not-White Scar Primaris army.
Coven of XVth 2000pts
The Blades of Ruin 2,000pts 
Watch Company Rho 1650pts
~6550 build and painted
819 build and painted
830 
4965 
3235 
2936 
2273 
1176 
1342 
1010 
2000 
960 
1330 
