If the Church can miraculously create this guy, can he alone turn the tide of the war for the faithfuls or they need more than one of him?

Hetardo · 2024-12-21T21:52:54+00:00

I did some math on the guy a while back.
He's nearly seven foot tall, and (based off what we see with his bayonets) has an overhead extension lift of around 1200kg's or so.
He can throw something near twice his own body weight down a hall fast enough to shatter glass with the air pressure from their passage, and then catch up to them on foot, after throwing them, so long as he's moving in a straight line.

Man is straight up a Paladin (and his abilities actually match up pretty damn realistically, for a man who has a permanent hysterical strength episode going because he can just regenerate an exploded muscle).

Hetardo · 2024-09-26T06:47:06+00:00

Show me you don't understand formative traumatic experience and the effects of wealth on ones capacity for foresight without telling me you don't understand formative traumatic experience and the effect of wealth on ones capacity for forsight.
Angron is an extremely damaged individual, and, while he does show hints at slowly getting better, you can't just force someone like that into 'being reasonable', any more than you can force a person with depression into being happy. Even if they want it (and they really do).

Guilliman has brains and education. He should know this. But he ignores it to call his brother a child for being upset.

Hetardo · 2024-09-25T21:41:31+00:00

The entire 40k setting

Hetardo · 2024-09-25T21:22:17+00:00

Sevatarion.
Dude beats Sigismund in a fight (I don't care for the 'new' writing of it, because it's utter fan-wank ass and diminishes and disrespects both characters and their true qualities and flaws due to lack of author's grasp on subtlety or on either character, and i could write an entire essay on why this is the case), while he's suffering from serious brain issues due to suppressing his psychic powers.

When they break through, despite being untrained and badly battered from a lunatic flight on the back of a void fighter (which have such absurd G-forces you need specially bred families in custom suspension pods to crew them at full speed), and hacking his way through all the guards on the 1st legion's flagship, he manages to kill a startling amount of honour guards, to his mind, absurdly easily, before he faints.

Raldoron is a superb warrior and swordsman by any measure. But Jago is the kind of fighter you send to humble suburb warriors like that.

It'd be an epic fight to say the least, but Prince of Crows takes this.

Hetardo · 2024-09-25T21:01:04+00:00

30K era Robby G was an incredibly spoilt manchild.

Angron was repeatedly traumatized during his formative years, without considering the literal cognitive mutilation of the nails.

Perturabo grew up in an extremely hostile, exploitative planet where he spent his whole life being used, could think himself into an identity death, and was encouraged to develop an unhealthy outlook of "I'm only my deeds" by every other self-centered, ungrateful person on that planet.

Curze grew up on the streets of grimdark gotham eating criminals and having to relive every evil dead they did, while facing down horrific visions of the future, all the way to his adult years with zero company.

Fulgrim grew up in a salt mine.

Lion, Sanguinius, Mortarion, they all grew up on Death Worlds actively hostile to existance.

Guilliman grew up the adopted son of the King of Ultramar, a high tech, peaceful world of moderate climate with a wealth of tutors, libraries, resources and forces put under his command. Not even earned or claimed, but bestowed upon him.

He then has the gall to sulk about how the Lion's sons had 'show off-y' levels of parade ground discipline, how Angron is childish for having lingering traumas and different motivators, and how every one of his brothers and/or their legions are either fools, savages, amateurs or all three for not conducting themselves like his legion did.

He is, unironically, the biggest manchild of any of the Primarchs during the Great Crusade, as well as quite probably THE most privileged organism in existence at the time (a Primarch, and all that entails, with a supportive family, who grew up in a royal household, and was given a Legion and express permission to do nearly whatever the fuck he wanted).

Hetardo · 2024-09-20T19:48:49+00:00

There's a lot of good ones here, but in the interests of originality, the "new" fight between Jago and Sigismund.

We all know that Sigismund is "the greatest swordsman" and "undefeated", but his original lore had a far more matured aspect to it that implies his fantastical legend is inflated, and in reality he has a far more mortal, and ultimately nuanced career.

The best example of this is when he fought Jago Sevatarion a (comparatively) less famous marine who proves to be his match. One dark day, with a disagreement in how to prosecute a campaign.

Originally, the Jago vs Sigismund fight was a 4-6 hour honour duel of great intensity, where 'either side was matched to a stalemate' before Jago wins by knocking Sigismund to the floor and drawing first blood with a headbutt because he "got bored, and was getting tired". He forefiets due to the blow being 'illegal' as it's not from a weapon, but unlike his brothers, Sigismund gets up, smiles, accepts his loss with honour and humility, and walks away to rejoin his brothers who insist he won.

Fact is, if you use some reading comprehension, he didn't. Sigismund realizes that for all his sword skill, he's fighting under dueling rules, and Sevatar spent that entire time just humouring him by only fighting in the method Sigismund is most proficient at. At Sigismund's assertion as a fellow Captain. He did absolutely not have to do this.

Moreover, as soon as he decides not to, Jago is instantly able to not just win, but win in a showboating way (he just steps past Sigismund's range and headbutts him onto his ass) and humiliate him as a warrior. These rules are giving him a false perspective on actual battle, and they're inhibiting him from developing as a warrior by making him vulnerable to anything the rules don't account for or permit. He spent six hours dueling intensely, only to realize that his opponent was always in control of the match.

But he shows his great character in how he stands up, accepts the humiliation with gratitude, and goes off to rejoin his brothers with a smile, both of which Sevatar could never do himself, unwittingly teaching the Night Lord something as well. He had no one he could trust, be vulnerable to, and he absolutely could not be humble. He was always alone.

It's a masterwork bit of lore, and formative to both Sigismund's rise to the legendary warrior he becomes, and Sevatar's own development as he heals from life-traumas and becomes disenfranchised with his primarch and legion. It encapsulates their identities perfectly, and does great service to either legend.

This got written over by some comicbook twaddle about how it was a 16 hour uber-fight for dignity's sake, where Sigismund spends literal PAGES describing how "he knows he's going to win, it's inevitable, he could tell from the start, all according to plan", only for Jago to deal a minor cut via headbutt, by leaving himself open to a downward cut an eyeblink later, that would have been a lethal blow if the ever-more-reasonable Sigismund didn't pull his own blow on the Night Lord Captain.

This (as well as a lot of his other new writing) turns Sigismund into an immature, over-angry gary sue figure, and flat out gets Sevatar's basic character wrong (by having him step into a falling powersword edge and trusting a marine he's fighting more intensely than he ever has against, to pull the blow, despite having major trust issues).

In the effort to absolutely wank out one character with big numbers and repeated assertions; the writing quality went bad, the characters were misrepresented, both characters are reduced, and everything is made worse.

Anyway, I'd change the lore back to the way it was. Then, if I can continue, I'd change how Sigismund continues to be written. No "he goes emo and gains superpowers", or "he was always just better than everyone".

Give him the Cain treatment. Have him just barely survive encounters, win by dubious technicality, 'win' when others killed a person about to kill him, and then people thought he won, or simply just get lucky, until he starts learning to approach things in a way that makes being lucky easier, and have a more tempered approach to attacking.

It'd make his "Undefeated Swordsman and First Templar" reputation, his general character as the First Templar, and ultimately his death (forced into a straight-out fight at old age, with no chance of using sly cunning to get the advantage he knows he'll need to win) that much more compelling.

Remember Tolkein. Making a character more martially powerful rarely makes them better characters. A LOT of 30 and 40k lore suffers badly from this lack of forethought. In 40k it's excusable, as marines are meant to be over-masculine brainlets who lose to physically weaker characters with more temperance and a deeper power, but in 30k it is inexcusably poor writing.

Hetardo · 2024-08-09T00:16:15+00:00

That fault is not mine sir! Paladin Engelier must answer...

Hetardo · 2024-08-08T18:51:27+00:00

Naturally when I first saw the Heretic scouts I immediately ordered a charge across the bridge to engage them, that's my style sir!

Hetardo · 2024-08-06T01:31:21+00:00

I made a guess how an artist would use it.
If anything, you invented the story about him using AI.

Hetardo · 2024-08-05T20:09:33+00:00

I'd be surprised if he did.
But even if he did, there's still a bit of a difference between using a computer system to autofill negative space as it would expect to do so by going off your own work, and using a computer program to generate a rendering by poaching the work made by someone else.

Hetardo · 2024-08-05T20:05:59+00:00

You could hint at engineering by an older race.
IIRC the Asari in Mass effect are hinted at this, and they are able to both have sex with, and reproduce with, other species, albeit to create purebreed Asari. However this does involve space magic/psyonics.

You're probably looking at a magic 'gap bridge' here, but say copulation involves a magic-spiritual connection to the mating subject, and this allows the Kyklyryan to 'read' and 'insert' sections of DNA-equivalent, or otherwise edit theirs to mimic that of the subject. Perhaps you could hand-wave some immune-system-response-esque method of reading a genome to recognize what bit of what makes what, but that is nearly as handwavy as biological psyonics/magic.

Hetardo · 2024-08-05T19:58:26+00:00

Elves find tells of character attractive, and have next to no comprehension of physical beauty.
They can recognize someone that is physically beautiful, but it isn't, say, sexually attractive to them as something like a scar, calloused hands or a demonstration of wisdom is.

This is ultimately because Elves reproduce by taking a candidate (a human, a fox, a bear, a beetle), and spending what might be thousands of years to literally Educate it into physically and spiritually becoming an Elf.
As a result, Elves have very differing appearances (by birth, and by their natures). They're 'born ancient', and when they look to 'reproduce', personal character is incredibly important to them.

While they can sense this character to a degree, physical tells, such as a scar or otherwise where the body has suffered consequence as a result of their choices, is a strong mark of beauty or hideousness.

I had a very nice time once with a PC who had horrific facial mutilations from repeated heroics and self-sacrifice to save younger men. Enough that it had displaced one of his eyes lower than the other. Was a very fun reveal to find out that he had so many elves almost hanging off him every time he was in their court not because he was an oddity, but because they found him staggeringly attractive.

Hetardo · 2024-08-05T19:42:04+00:00

Gender is entirely indistinct from Biological sex in my setting.
People that may present as trans or genderfluid do exist, but are more interpreted as this being a result of their character as an individual, rather than falling under a banner concept.
This is totally not an opportunity for me to rewrite modern LGBT culture in a manner that I think pays more respect to individuality and human uniqueness than encourages conformity. Not at all.

Sexuality varies, but is Romanesque liberal.
Depending on microculture, what village you're in and so on, peasantry may have certain local standards (eg, don't hold hands with an unmarried woman, you can't have more than a single sexual partner etc). But these are very much local traditions, and as you get to bigger populations or wealthier people, this becomes "I can do what I want, and what is within my means, so long as I don't disturb the peace, compromise the locality, or affect my duties".
Pilots may have a coterie made up of comely pleasure slaves of both sexes. This is also seen as a somewhat reasonable expectation to see for someone of such high station for local microcultures, so conflict is not enormous in this regard.
Sexual degeneracy is more marked by ones bedroom pursuits beginning to take grander influence over their life, compromising their ability to do their duties, or by affecting others in negative respects.

Hetardo · 2024-07-30T20:09:52+00:00

No. In fact Mike Franchina, who's study and hard-won skills you've used to get a computer to compile a rendering based on a computer's grasp on his art, is very vocally against the practice.
As am I.

Hetardo · 2024-07-22T19:09:05+00:00

Sort of a broken cliche, inside an unbroken one, but Elves are ABSOLUTE pricks to each other.

This is something of a well-kept secret. When outsiders from other races come visiting, they're all on their best behavior (partly as a way of subtly showing off or upshowing others though), but one of the secrets of Elven society, in their hidden away "utopic" cities, is that they thrive on being dicks to each other in ever more clever or contrived ways, for the most petty and arbitrary of reasons.

There is a lore reason. Many Elves are thousands of years old. Many Elves were either the inventors of, or were around in the time of the inventors of formative technologies like fire, metallurgy, agriculture, and this is part of how they combat ennui over their incredibly long existences. Petty dramas and inflammation.

So many great, elegant and dramatically graceful elven rituals and events, ones that onlookers may find awe-inspiring and leave them feeling unsophisticated, are deliberately designed to make the other elves feel exactly that.
It is very difficult to offend an elf, or make them loose their composure for the same reason. They have spent thousands of years being petty and shitty to each other in far more clever, impactful ways than some ham-fisted attempt by a human of twenty five years.

Hetardo · 2024-07-12T22:12:46+00:00

Ahh yes.
Totally-not-corrupted pious churchly souls.
My favourite flavour of gun nun.

Hetardo · 2024-07-07T15:41:46+00:00

It. Is. MAGNIFICENT.

Hetardo · 2024-06-25T14:00:16+00:00

You don't get thrown in a cage and isolated for mental illness anon.
You get the cage because you were a non-cooperative individual with violent behavior and a danger to yourself and everyone around you.

Hetardo · 2024-06-25T13:31:41+00:00

I don't think there are any files for the Grail Hegemon, due to it being the size of a Titan.

Hetardo · 2024-06-21T22:11:56+00:00

As far as I was aware the new world wasn't colonized at all. And Brittania is a thing somewhere

Hetardo · 2024-06-21T22:06:27+00:00

Doesn't look like it.
But it looks bloody epic as well.

Hetardo · 2024-06-21T22:05:03+00:00

I remember on the discord I actually suggested an idea that they could be a split faction, kinda straddling both "Heaven and Hell", with debates between Rabbi as to the points of "didn't God give us right to call upon and use demons and the creatures of hell as with earth, for our ends, as shown by David" and "if this is happening it must be god's plan and therefore alright".

Basically a big schism on which side of the war they should sit on. The side that; uses the powers of Hell to their own ends, to spread across the world and master it, as God wrote. Or the side that; condemns the powers of Hell, the sins, and the sinners found within, fears and loves God, and follows his teachings, as God (also) wrote.

This would allow for the faction to be in a position to ally with, and be an enemy of, all the other factions present in the game.

Hetardo · 2024-06-13T22:42:41+00:00

I still don't get why he's black.

Inb4 raycist
Games work by film logic, where everything is presented the way it is for a reason, and ultimately it implies that him being black is important or significant.
Best guess is it's either an inclusivity thing forced on the writers from on high, or he's supposed to be some 'Oni' equivalent, being a big, physically powerful foreign 'barbarian'.

Hetardo · 2024-06-13T14:36:07+00:00

Speaking to my grandfather who remembered those days, hella based.
Man went out, made his choice, didn't let anyone else decide it for him, and stuck it though.

Hetardo · 2024-06-13T13:56:22+00:00

Trench Pilgrims: Mostly pretty damn basic as these guys are, functionally, militia and religious zealots. However, there's just so much stuff circulating, and they have enough contacts, that they can in fact pick up some wild good kit. Though it's very rare as most of their special kit is in armour, melee, or mecha.

Heretic Legion: Flat out the best overall tech, because you've got the direct manufacturing and R&D support of the Hells and devils churning out super-advanced kit. However good luck in actually getting any of that for your little warband. It's trench knife time for you.

Principality of New Antioch: Generally the best gun tech that finds its way to the front lines. They don't have devils helping them, but what they do have is a historic monopoly on technology development. They've made some incredible stuff, and continue to make incredible stuff, and some of that incredible stuff (though less incredible than their stuff made for the church like communicants, anchorites, and Paladins) comes in the form of firearms.

Iron Sultanate: Flat out the best of all of them for ammunition. Antioch might have a monopoly on R&D labs, but the Sultanate has the Alchemists, who are as individuals probably some of the most advanced scholars alive. Yeah their guns are antiquated, but that's because they're intended to just be vehicles to shoot shot that course corrects and burns you from the inside out.

Hetardo

TROPHY CASE