Regular Dakkanaut
Columbus, Ohio
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...A little help would be appreciated.
Anyway, I want to write the backdrop/history for a combined 40k wargaming and roleplaying campaign, that will be played out in the "present" day of the 40K universe, but will span far back into the history of man and the great crusade.
ASSUMPTIONS
Much like the Roman Empire, as it gradually fell into the Dark Ages, also gradually became more a victim of ignorance and superstition, the assumption here is that the 40k universe devolved gradually in the same way. Thus, the various re-writes of 40k history are simply a function of the Imperium growing gradually more corrupt and subject to counter-factual beliefs..
Thus, for example, there are no "primarchs", except in the sense that these represent the first space marines created through genetic manipulation. They are not now, nor were they ever, supernatural beings. There certainly are warp-entities, but they also are perfectly natural, and evil only in the sense that prey always views predator as evil.
Chaos creatures, such as warp daemons, vampires, enslavers, etc., are perfectly natural in the sense that they evolved naturally out of warp space, which is itself a perfectly natural place.
The endless rewrites of 40k history are exactly what would be expected in a society of this nature. One faction takes over the Administratum, executes everybody with opinions they find objectionable, rewrites them to fit "true" orthodoxy, and then, a thousand or so years later (or maybe a thousand or so DAYS later, depending on the stability of the new regime) the same thing happens, and the old orthodoxy becomes the new heresy, and gets rewritten again.
This will all culminate in a universe of the "present" time, in which the PCs are forced to confront the truths that the Administratum, Inquisition, Navis Nobilite and most other power groups of the Imperium will not wish to face.
HOW IT WOULD WORK OUT IN PLAY
This is a roleplaying campaign in which the PCs can and will kill each other, as things go on, as most will find themselves devoted to / enmeshed in, the various core beliefs espoused by their particular factions. Each player can then take on a new character, as long as the party is never wiped out as a whole, which will end the campaign. Oddly enough, the less powerful characters will probably have a higher rate of survival, as their lesser importance in the grand political scheme of things will not so obviously place cross-hairs on their backs.
WHAT SYSTEM
System agnostic. I know it might make sense to write it for Dark Heresy or something, but I prefer to let the GM use whatever he wishes.
WHAT I WANT FROM YOU GUYS
Two things:
1. Where on Dakka should this go? The 40k background forum seems the most logical place to me, or is something that runs afoul of the official history of the Imperium going to be seen as objectionable?
2. Co-conspirators. I really only have a vague idea at this point as to where I want all of this to go. I'd like everything from suggestions to full blown fan fiction to add to it. I'll probably start by writing it in snippets maybe once or twice a week. These might be character sketches, descriptions of battles or political intrigues, pieces of "history" that will re-write orthodoxy, etc.
SO, DOES THIS SOUND FUN?
Would it be worth making a one time, occasional, or even ongoing contribution to a work in progress?
IF SO, HERE'S THE STARTER:
(Note that the following has been deemed heretical by the Inquistion, demanding exterminatus upon any world in which it has been promulgated. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED)
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[Excerpt | Chapter Approved, 1989] The Origin of the Legiones Astartes
The visitors waited in the elevator capsule whilst hidden pumps silently adjusted the temperature, humidity and pressure. When the doors opened there would be no sudden draught, no breeze to alter the constant thirty-one point seven degrees in the subterranean vault. In Laboratory Nine, the most stable environment on earth, chance had long since been eradicated.
Inside the laboratory, Dr Devram Outek and his staff shuffled nervously as machines made final miniscule adjustments to the capsule's oxygen content. In a moment they would be in the presence of the man who had planned and guided their work through five generations of human endeavour.
The visitors, sealed in their pristine suits, barely heard the doors move aside to reveal the shadowy world of red and yellow light. The technicians and scientists bowed as their visitors stepped from the lift.
'My Emperor', intoned Dr Outek.
'Dr Outek. Phase Nineteen is complete?'
The scientist straightened stiffly. 'Oh yes', he said, 'A pretty baby... very pretty indeed'.
The article then briefly introduces a very early version of the role of Space Marines in establishing the Imperium (here called 'the First Crusade' - no mention of Primarchs, Horus or Heresy yet!) and the existence of multiple subsequent Foundings, up to the 26th Founding (given as the most recent, 'in the year 738 of the current millennium'.
'...And here,' continued Dr Outek,'we have five of the phase eleven zygotes. The eldest has now been functioning uninterrupted for fourteen years.' The doctor gestured towards the row of glowing incubators containing several varieties of organic components in clear, bubbling baths.
'You call the organs zygotes?'
'Yes - our geneticists create a single germ cell for each new organ. Every cell takes years of work as you know. At that stage we can store the cells indefinitely in the zero-room as gene-seed. Inside the incubater [sic] we can activate and control the growth process. The cell divides, multiplies, and eventually grows into a whole organ. Until the organ is ready for implant, we refer to it as a zygote.'
The doctor led the party along the long row of glass cases, past incubators labelled with the names of the strange organs. He stopped at a large door emblazoned with the Imperial Eagle and the stark sign 'Security Zone One'.
'Now,' announced the doctor. 'Now you'll see what all this flesh and gristle really amounts to...'
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14000 points