Categories: "Setting"
CLS FIERY FAITH
Astartes Strike Cruiser. Salvaged by the Word Bearers during Abaddon's 12th Black Crusade. May have belonged to the Fire Hawks Chapter, but this has not been verified. The ship was restored to working order by the enginseer-sorcerers of the Maelstrom as payment for a debt they owed to Obel Gar.
CLS WELL OF THE SOUL
Astartes Strike Cruiser. Vanguard-type Deep Patrol Vessel. Ancient voidship that has served the 10th for the last 60 centuries. Many of its systems are old and ill-understood by the tech-adepts toiling in the ship's bowels. Frequent sacrifices are required to keep things in working order.
CLS TIGER RAMPANT
Astartes Strike Cruiser. Previously of the Tigers Argent. Captured (with only light damage) after a very successful ambush. Castor's flagship. Slowly being repaired, redecorated and reconsecrated. There are still issues with noncompliant cogitators and subsystems. It is hoped that the datavaults may contain information about the Tigers' homeworld of 'Icefang'. Apothecary ‘Doctore’ oversees the creation of new Word Bearers from the on-board medicae facilities (which are far superior to those found aboard the Hammer).
BBA ANVIL OF THE GODS
Sister ship to the Hammer. Mothballed after much of the 10th was lost fighting the Khan. In near-pristine condition.
BBA HAMMER OF FAITH
Word Bearer Battle Barge. This ancient relic of a ship has been with the 10th since the Great Crusade. As such it is an important part of the espirit de corps and religious life of the 10th Host. The ship has been well cared for over the millennia, but there is no denying that she can be a somewhat fickle lady. The Hammer has a sister ship - the Anvil of the Gods - which lies mothballed near Sicarus.
The Will and the Word (Zaracas and Zinnridi)
The two brothers Zaracas and Zinnridi are two other examples of the first gen batch that Castor made. A Captain of a company and a chaplain.
Chaplains move around and do not stay in one company for any length of time (it is important that the word is spread) but the war leader has made a exception when it comes to the brothers, they simply fight better when they are together and the company fights harder and with more zeal.
The easy going grin of captain Zaracas, the natural way he leads from the front inspires his legionaries. His brother chaplain Zinnridi is a darker more brooding man, except when he delivers the battle sermons in a deep dark voice that rings with dark zeal and barley suppressed hatred.
Captain Hastrubal
Hastrubal is from the same batch of legionaries as Alfonzo (must be a good batch :-)) and is a brother of sorts too Alfonzo, Hastrubal was in the rival gang that Alfonzos cult destroyed making Hastrubal a orphan as well, but his path to the legion was different, he was taken into the Cult of the serrated heart, were he made a name for him self fast as a smart and powerful warrior, even at this early age Hastrubals grasp of tactics was almost unnatural and this was spotted by the agents of the Ancient Warmonger Sis Tak and so Hastrubal was recruited and joined the scouts of his company.
There Hastrubal kept up his growth in tactics and added strategy to his skills, showing the same aptitude there. As a Legionary Hastrubal is large and powerful the embodiment of a Astardes of legend. He has the bronzed charismatic look of his beloved Primarch Lorgnar Aurelian.
Hastrubal fights smart and hard and is as devote as any WB but not chaplain book smart. Hastrubals field is war.
Vern on Warp travel
On the rare occasions where the learned Adept has need of explaining the workings of the Warp (aka. the Empyrean, aka. the Immaterium) to a layman he often resorts to using the parable of the ocean voyage: The ocean is the warp and instead of a ship sailing across the watery surface you have a voidship plunging through the great unknown. Solar systems get described as tiny islands in a dark and vast ocean. Navigation is difficult because clouds are almost always obscuring the stars, save the brightest star of the all - the Astronomican. Currents and storms can throw a ship of course - or sink it utterly. And the predators of the deep...the shark and the sea serpents and the leviathans...well, there be Daemons on the charts for a reason.
The Warp actually has very little in common with planetary oceans, but let's stick with it for lack of a better metaphor. But if we must use the ocean to explain the Warp, let us instead go under the surface. That adds dimensions to our tale that the surface of the ocean lacks. So...let the voidship be a submersible. The submersible is protected by a pressure hull. That hull is all that stands between its occupants and a watery grave. This hull very rarely loses integrity, but when it does the effect is spectacular: Sea-water gushes into the sub, flooding it. If the breach is large there is naught to be done; there is no escape for crew and passengers, and the vessel itself sinks to the bottom of the sea. If the breach is small, however, the crew might be able to stem the flow of water long enough to surface.
It's more or less the same with a voidship and its Geller field; the Geller field protects the ship - without it everyone dies a horrible death and the vessel is lost. There is no water involved of course; instead the Geller field maintains a bubble of normality around the ship. Without this bubble the full entropic effects of the Warp will grab hold of the ship and its occupants. Destruction is not far away. Even a small 'leak' in the field can create a lot of trouble; the weird energies of the Warp can do untold damage to a voidship, even if the Geller field doesn't collapse completely. And of course there are the Daemons...but that's another issue altogether.
Entering the Warp requires preparation, just as it does for a sub to go under the water. The Warp drive must be brought online and charged - which requires stupendous amounts of energy - and all manner of calculations and preparations are made before reality is finally rent asunder and the ship slips into the Empyrean. A sub doesn't require a Warp drive of course, just some ballast tanks, propulasion and adjustable planes - but the principle of preparation and readiness is the same, even if there is no tearing reality apart in the case of the sub. And just like the sub can't dive in shallow water the voidship cannot enter the Warp where there is a powerful gravity well nearby; gravity equals the shoals of the Warp if you will: Most ships need to be in a system's outer reaches before entering the Warp - the orbit of Saturn is considered the safe Warp threshold in the Sol system for example. Finally; where the sub creates bubbles and turbulence in the water as it dives, so too does the voidship create ripples and disturbances in the space-time continuum as the Warp drive engages. And when the transition has been made both types of ship are simply gone, leaving no trace of their existence behind.
Let's presume for a moment that you've got both the entry and exit strategies covered. That only leaves the actual journey. Which pretty much involves pointing your ship in the general direction of the star you're going to and pushing the 'Engage' button on the Warp drive control station. Right? Wrong. Very wrong. Navigating in the Warp is difficult; much worse than steering a submersible with nothing but the most rudimentary telemetry to work with. The ship's empyric augury arrays collect some data, which is sufficient to perceive the ship's immediate surroundings. Ships without Navigators use these data to navigate by running them through massive cogitator banks. It's not perfect, but it works for short trips. If the ship is fortunate enough to have a trained Navigator on board its ability to traverse the Warp improves dramatically; Navigators have a unique psychic capacity to perceive raw Warp-data without the need for additional machinery. Simply put they just peer into the augury arrays and their minds plot courses with far greater accuracy than a mere machine can accomplish. Needless to say Navigators are rarely completely sane...and many suffer from bodily mutation. Such is the price they pay for peering into the Warp for a living. The Astronomican is another important factor; if this beacon of Imperial might shines brightly Navigators can use it to fix their position: Much like ancient mariners used stellar formations fixed above the poles of their worlds to navigate by. If the light of the Emperor grows dim - or is obscured altogether - their ability to navigate (pardon the pun) is somewhat curtailed, but still significant.
For navigation to mean anything you have to know where you're going. That's when those tiny islands in the great, dark and often storm-tossed sea come in. Having a real-space bearing is a good starting point, but nowhere near sufficient to get you where you want to go: Once you go under the surface you'll lose you target and won't have more than a general idea of where you must go to reach it. Again Navigators and the Astronomican makes it a bit easier, but you're still essentially going blind. You'll need to resurface frequently to get your bearings, then dive again (with all the complexity entering and leaving the Warp entails). Repeat as often as needed. It works, but it can take months to reach even nearby stars, making large-scale interstellar civilizations...impractical. That's where Warp routes come in. Warp routes are paths through the warp that have been charted in detail, taking note of markers, currents, ebbs and flows or whatever they call it. Even in a realm of Chaotic energy there are patterns that offer a way of telling one place from another (but routes do change and need constant monitoring and updating for charts to stay viable). The houses of the Navis Nobilite guard the knowledge of such routes jealously: The greater the house the more routes they will know and the greater the extent of their travel networks - and the greater their power and wealth will be. Ships without Navigators also stick to the same routes; Chartist vessels have the data required to travel between their designated ports of call, but rarely more than that.
Once the course is set the ship's warp drive will be able to move it in the direction specified by the ship's navigator - be he at true Navigator or a mere man and his machines. The Warp is in constant turmoil, so regardless of the course laid in there will be a drift. The Navigator and the Helmsman will work diligently between them to keep a ship on its course, but there will always be some deviation, however slight. It's more a skill thing than a power thing: The Warp is rarely turbulent enough to actually force a ship along, despite its warp drives; it's far more common to be pushed ever so slightly off course. And remember what I said about dimensions - the Warp has very many, so it's tad bit more complex than up-down and north-south. Try keeping your bearing in seventeen dimensions, with drifts and flows and sheers in all of them and you'll know what I mean. But barring major turbulence or outright storms the ship will move where its Captain wills.
Then there is speed. Speed is generally taken to mean time used to cover a distance. Well, in the Warp both time and distance cease to behave in a fashion that's predictable, so already the 'speed' thing gets a little murky. But as a general rule the deeper you go the faster you move. I don't have a good ocean metaphor for that one, except perhaps if the core of the world was filled with watery tunnels and you could move through them and reach the other side faster than you would if you had to traverse the surface ocean. In the Warp it's more about how many dimensions you're willing to play with; deeper essentially means taking on more dimensions and using them for travel. The more dimensions are involved the greater the complexity of navigation...and consequently the risk of getting lost - possibly forever - increases dramatically. Which is why a ship that has a Navigator who can see the Astronomican it can make longer journeys at greater speed; they can go deeper, faster, without risking destruction. Lesser Chartist captains who must do without such luxuries can only move between local systems at a much slower pace. As a side note lesser charts need only contain a fraction of the data complete Navis Nobilite charts holds, because the Chartist barges using them will never go that deep.
Finally your destination island is looming ahead of you. Then there is getting to the surface...unfortunately leaving the warp is not as simple as pushing a big red button or pulling a panic lever. Cutting the warp drive just leaves you adrift on the currents of the Immaterium; it doesn't return you to real space. So not only is it pointless in terms of getting out, it will actually throw you off course - which is never a good thing. Disengaging the Geller field also doesn't work, but it's infinitely more stupid: It's not the field that's keeping you in the Warp - it's whats keeping the Warp out of you! Losing the Geller field is like breaching the pressure hull of the sub; the outside comes rushing in to fill the vessel., which is a very, very Bad Thing! One final solution that doesn't work: Supposing you're close to a solar system you might think that heading in-system will yank you out of the warp once you're deep enough in the gravity well. That works about one time in a million; the rest of the time it's like running your sub at full speed into submerged reefs just off the coast of the island you're trying to reach...'Total Warp breach imminent'...those are the last words you'll ever hear, droning out from the ship's intercom system.
To leave the warp you first have to ascend to the surface - remember we're using the submarine metaphor - before you can break through into the air.This is one point where the metaphor fails to convey the message: The warp is not an ocean. It doesn't have just three dimensions; it has many, many more. Even with a Navigator on board it might not even be apparent which way is 'up'. The difficulty increases if the ship's aethyric auspexes are damaged or local warp conditions makes navigation difficult. Then there are Warp storms; not only can the push you of course, but they can be a real show-stopper for those trying to escape the Warp: As you near the surface the risk of destruction rises many-fold, as the storm gains in destructive power as you draw closer to reality. Not unlike the effects of a real-ocean storm; you can ride the waves when out at sea, but once you get close to land things suddenly get more dramatic and dangerous. Thus most ships will just have to risk riding out the storm - which will likely leave them wildly of course.
Now that you sub has finally reached the surface there is another problem; the sea is covered by a thick sheet of ice. Unless you can find a suitable spot for breaking through you're going to be stuck down there. Fortunately - unlike the sub - the voidship as an advantage; it has a Warp drive than can rip open a hole in the icy surface of reality and let it slip back into real space. Congratulations - you've made it to your destination. One final thing remains; getting a fix on the current real-space time. Time in the warp gets compressed at variable rates (generally speaking greater the deeper - faster - you go). For a slow Chartist vessel the compression ration could be as low as 1:2 one week of ship-time for ever two weeks in real space - but for the fast Nobilite highliners it could regularily go as far as 1:5 or greater. As a result ship crews tend to outlive any on-world relations that they might have, further setting them apart from the land-based kin.
Communication needs mentioning: It's perfectly possible for a vessel in the Warp to send and receive astropathic messages. Caveats do apply; the deeper in the Warp the harder it is for astropaths to send and receive. Turbulence and storms can also disrupt communications; but that's not unique to vessels under Warp drive. Most Astropaths - and Captains for that matter - are rather reluctant when it comes to communicating: The uneducated think it's asscociated with 'bad luck'. Those in the know are aware of the possibility of a ship attracting the attention of aethyric predators and the strain that can place upon a ship's Geller field. Reception of messages is perhaps less dangerous, but it is still not to be undertaken lightly: There is always the chance of insanity, psychic backlash or even bodily entropy. To be fair the danger is there in real space as well, but aestimates indicate that the frequency of incidents go up while under Warp drive - and that the average magnitude of at-warp incidents is much greater. If as ship must communicate it will generally rise close to the surface before transmitting.
One final thing: It is possible for ships in the Warp to detect one another. The chance is very slight, but it is there: Geller bubbles are at most a few hundred kilometers across; they are less detectable than a single snow-flake caught in a roaring blizzard. Powerful augury arrays help of course, as does having an idea as to the location of the other vessel and where it might be headed. Navigators are another great asset in this regard as they can interpret Warp data more accurately than servitor operators; some skilled Navigators can even track the paths of other vessels through the Warp with some accuracy. Since ships can detect one another they can engage one another as well; combat within the Warp is rare because detection chances are so low - and because when it does happen it is a brutal, short-range affair: Geller bubbles must overlap, meaning ranges are a few hundred kilometers at most - practically point-blank range in terms of space combat. That's too close for torpedoes to arm or lances to target properly, meaning that it's usually down to battery fire. Furthermore void shields cannot be brought up to strength because of the power drain of the Geller field, so ships are protected solely by armor. Needless to say few sane captains are willing to risk entering into combat on those terms.
Fork and Than
Fork and Than are two senior Brotherhood Warriors. The former is a young male in excellent physical condition; he's one of the Word's best shots. The later is a heavyset middle-aged (some would say past his prime) NCO; he's got a lifetime of experience abusing people and turning cult zealots into true soldiers.
Emona
This stunning (if a little rough - a diamond in the making so to speak) feral shaman from Nim-Kor is the granddaughter of the savages’ head witch. Hails from a long line of shamans. Under the tutelage of Lumin; she'll be a great sorceress one day.
Warsmith Duremo of the Iron Warriors
Duremo the Warsmith made a brief appearance at Diamantina. He could have been a real asset cracking open the Calixis Sector. Unfortunately he was recalled by his Legion for a more important mission; the Second Siege of Terra.
Divine Heralds
The Divine Hearalds is the remnants of a detachment of Titans that followed the 10th during the Great Crusade. All that remain to them is one Warlord titan, two Reavers and four Warhounds. They travel the galaxy in a single Titan Tender, which contains sufficient titan lander capacity to put down the entire titan detachment in one go. there is also a 2.000-strong skitarii regiment, plus all the other odds and ends you need to make Chaos titans tick.
The Divine Heralds hold that the Emperor was NOT the Omnissiah - the Messiah of the Machine God. That's not very original; the majority of the Dark Mechanicum agrees with that. Where they diverge from 'mainstream' Mechanicum dogma is that they hold the Emperor to have been a Prophet of the Machine God, but that he became corrupted by human emotions and ambitions and therefore fell into apostasy. Most of the brethren and the Word Bearers they used to work with in the past consider this and odd notion (at best).
Their Warloard titan has been dormant for ages. According to their beliefs it will only come alive when the Omnissiah walsk the galaxy. He will call out to the god-machine and it will wake and lead the Hearlads to their Messiha. The Warlord is called the Divine Herald - for it is who who will proclaim the Omnissiah.
2.2 Key personnel post Samson
Imran Dhral - Coryphaeus (war leader) of the 10th Host. Formerly Captain of the 3rd Company. Emerged as the best leader and strategos during the post-Samson war games.
Update: Doing quite well, Castor is mighty pleased with himself for picking him as Warleader..
Nim Gral - Anointed (terminator) Captain of the 1st Company. A child of Colchisian refugees, but not a Great Crusade veteran. The veterans look to him for guidance.
Update: Killed in melee with Tiger's Chapter Master.
Ta'zaak: Captain of the 2nd Company. The most heavily mutated marine in the 10th. Fused with his power armour. Lives only for the Word and War.
Update: Wiped out along with his entire Company during the opening hours of the fight for the Tiger's Battle Barge.
Drosos - Captain of the 3rd Company. Veteran Sergeant under Imran Dhral. Has the misfortune of being named similarly to the Patron of the Calixis Sector, Saint Drusus.
Update: Has performed very well.
Lorgos Tak - Captain of the 4th Company. Promoted by Obel Gar. Highly competent, but bears watching.
Update: Has performed well. Castor believes that he knows the 'identity' of the Gal Vorbak commander. Still bears watching.
Katarn Colchis - Captain of the 5th Company. A Colchisian marine. Devoid of creativity or initiative, but 10.000 years of lead men into battle have made company command a reflex for him. He is also very good at teaching new recruits and seasoning young marines (without getting them killed). Assigned to one of Castor's own companies because he is unflinchingly loyal to whomever is the current Apostle.
Update: Has stoically slaughtered his way through every battle. Still completely unimaginative, but possessing an uncanny ability to kill while remaining alive. More importantly this ability seems to rub off - to an extent - on his subordinates.
Baltus - Captain of the 6th Company. Served as a Captain under Obel Gar, but was an officer long before that.
Update: Lost, along with much of his command during the boarding of the enemy flagship at Karrik.
Tam Caron - Captain of the 7th (Assault) Company. Former Coryphaeus; the merciful Castor let him live on in a role more suited to his nature.
Update: Proved his worth many times over aboard the Tiger's battle barge; with Nim Gral dead at the hands of enemy the assault might have ground to halt were it not for his extreme aggressiveness and willingness to sacrifice the lives of the other marines.
Juron Gaik - Captain of the 8th Company. Recently promoted from the ranks of the veteran sergeants by Castor.
Update: Has performed well. His company has survived better than most thus far.
Tholkis - Captain of the 9th Company. A native of Sicarus. One of Castor's own veterans.
Update: One of the few marines to fall during the ground-based part of the Icefang Assault. Shot dead by a head-shpt from scout-sniper using a lascannon. He was swiftly avenged by one of the Reaver titans.
Jovus Err - Captain of the 10th Company. The only Chaplain to retain command after Castor's reorganization.
Update: Has performed very well. Presumably invoked a daemonic pact to be carried to safety when Castor's assault on the enemy flagship turned sour; maybe that counts as abandoning your men, or maybe it counts as having preserved an important asset?
Anaximander - Captain of the 12th Company. Formerly of the Adeptus Astartes. Turned renegade and worked as a mercenary and pirate for millennia before finding true purpose in the Word. One of the deadliest warriors in the 10th - and a fine leader.
Update: Has performed very well indeed.
Sis Tak - Dreadnaught veteran of the Great Crusade. He spends most of his days slumbering and meditating. He's fairly sane and a source of much wisdom. He also has the ear of many of the older veterans.
Update: Sis Tak is one of two surviving dreadnoughts; the other three having been killed. The good news is that several more dreadnoughts will soon be joining the ranks - the 10th has no shortage of hopelessly crippled marines to entomb!
Calixian Marines
The Calixis Sector has a limited number of Astartes available:
GREEN KNIGHTS
Only native Chapter. Fleet-based (homeworld destroyed). Aestimate: 200 Brother-Marines. Low: 100. High: 400. Heavily involved with the Deathwatch; hence the uncertain aestimate. Considerable fleet assets.
BLACK TEMPLARS
Has one major and several minor Crusades going in the extended area (Finial and surrounding sectors). Aestimate: 200. Low: 50. High: 500. There are no doubt 5 full companies of Black Templars engaged in fighting the Reaving, but most seem occupied elsewhere (i.e. not in Calixis).
TIGERS ARGENT
Based in Finial. Aestimate: 200. Low: 0. High: <1000. Fully engaged with the main Reaving, but elements could conceivably try to strike back at the Word Bearers to avenge the loss of the Strike Cruiser and it's marine company.
DEATH EAGLES
Vague reports. Aestimate: 0 Low: 0. High: 500+. Unverfiied reports has the relatively unknown Death Eagles Chapter turning up in the 6th Circle of Finial. They may have ties to the Black Templars or Tigers Argent. If they are present at all it's unlikely they bring more than approx. 500 men - and they will likely end up in the Finial meat-grinder.
Battlefleet Calixis
MIDDLE AESTIMATES
BB: 1 verified (Port Wrath, Golgenna Reach, fleet flagship), 1 unverified (Kulth), 1 non-warpcapable (Scintilla). The Calixis Sector has never had many battleships. There may be as little as one warp-capable hull of this class; and a the sector flagship it's unlikely to suddenly appear at the front.
BC: 17 (half at Porth Wrath, the other half in the Malfian and Markayn subs). The good: this is what passes for battleships out here on the rim. The bad: They are fast, deadly and there are more than enough of them!
CG: 5. Analysts are having trouble coming up with a credible aestimate for grand cruisers; it looks like there aren't very many (possibly none at all!).
CA: 50. Divided into 8-10 battle squadrons. Another result of Calixis' relative lack of heavy ships is an overabundance of heavy cruisers - and those cruisers are oten pushed into the role of the ship-of-the-line, a taks they are not quite qualified for.
CL: 30. Squadrons of 2-3 CLs and FFs are making life hard for the raiders. Other CLs fill fleet scouting roles.
FF: 30. Squadrons of 2-3 CLs and FFs are making life hard for the raiders. Other FFs are tasked with convoy protection and long-range scouting.
DD: 100. Analysts are having a difficult time pinning down the number of tin-cans. They are, however, of little concern to the main fleet.
System defence fleets not accounted for (can be considerable).
Lesser craft not accounted for.
LOW AESTIMATES
Numbers could be 30%-50% lower: Some previously Calixian ships have been reported in Finial, probably reassigned by Segmentum command, so there is reason to belive the above numbers are a bit high. It should also be remembered that the Calixian still have the renegades/orks of the Spinward Front to contend with. Plus there are rumours of the Screaming Vortex opening. The Calixis sector also borders the halo Stars and they have to contend with all manner of other xenos threaths.
HIGH AESTIMATES
Fleet aestimates have turned out to be too low during the whole Crusade; it may be that the basic assumptions are too low. Also the Calixis sector has had considerable time to prepare and may have had time for native production to be geared up (for the lesser ship types at least). The possibility of reinforcements from Scarus and Ixanid sectors, plus internal consolidation (i.e. abandoning less important fronts and systems). Major ship up to 50% more, lesser vessels (CL and smaller) up to 100% more.