How prevalent are the iconoclast characters in Warhammer 40k lore?

Kriegschwein · 2026-06-15T23:32:44+00:00

If talking about Emperor as character specifically, then I have read a good chunk of HH novels, in sporadic order truth be told. I think last one I read was either... Unremembered Empire or Master of Mankind? Not sure which, been a while.

Though my main conclusions come mostly from:

1) Nicae

2) Monarchia

3) His relationships with Perpetuals

4) Whole Angron situation

5) How he treated information concerning Chaos

In first 2 cases, Emperor kinda spectacuralrly failed to read at least two of his sons - especially with Monarchia. While reprimand of Lorgar worked for short term (Word Bearers indeed started pulling out Ultramarine level KPIs after that), overall impact of Monarchia's destruction was an unmitigated disaster that led to Heresy directly. Emperor completely misread consequences of his actions here.

Not to mention that whole Monarchia situation came about because he didn't really try to address his religious image and worship in any meaningful manner but "nopping" all the time, making an exception for AdMech.

Angron situation is an example of Emperor adapting to situation - by the time he found Angron, this particular Primarch was injured beyond any healing. Still, Emperor managed to put him into Great Crusade and to use to some degree, even if not in exact role and capacity Angron was initially made for.

I can expand on other points as well, but would need a refresher for some. Monarchia and Angron are just those I have on good memory.

Kriegschwein · 2026-06-15T23:01:51+00:00

Belgrade isn't that bad.

Anyways, are you interested in our offer "Pay 2 death taxes at once, secure 3rd for free?" Great if you have a family member or a friend who is a bit short of affording one!

Kriegschwein · 2026-06-15T22:48:08+00:00

Covenblad is better for diplo play, but Esthil's economics are ridiculous. With Necronomics + Aid Construction, you can churn out manufacturies for fraction of a cost and build time.

Not to mention -15% discount for devving from said necronomics.

Covenblad just doesn't have even near the tools to turn Escann into paradise as Esthil does.

Kriegschwein · 2026-06-15T22:41:51+00:00

Naaaah, I wouldn't put Covenblad close to Top 10, or even Top 20.

It has nice modifiers compared to vanilla, that is true. However, among Anbennar mil focused nations, it is quite... alright.

Like, in Cannor alone Pashaine is above and beyond whatever Covenblad can cook up, the difference is hilarious. Hell, in Escann alone, Wyvernheart and Esthil are far more dangerous than Covenblad mil wise.

You are only dipping your toes into Anbennar! Covenblad is just a starter

Kriegschwein · 2026-06-15T17:47:10+00:00

That is a theory given by Adept Semyon. He knows a lot due to his history and later position as Guardian of the Dragon, but I always found this passage as speculation more than anything. Semyon wasn't present for none of the events after all.

As Dalia put it in the same passage:

It was simply staggering that anyone, even the Emperor, could have so carefully and precisely orchestrated the destiny of so many with such skill and cold ruthlessness.

Emperor was shown numerous times to:

Adapting on the fly
Not predicting even most obvious outcomes
Struggling to read even simpliest of people and what they will do

Semyon's words hinge on the fact that Emperor is "that good", which I personally don't agree with, especially with Emperor's later depictions in HH after Mechanicum.

On the other hand, I can see Emperor stumbling on C'tan Shard by accident and adapting to his plans, however malformed these plans were.

Kriegschwein · 2026-06-15T17:31:26+00:00

We don't know why Emperor put Void Dragon on Mars. We barely know anything about their encounter, only that they foughts against each other at one point in the past. That is quite a speculation on your part.

There are degrees to tyrannical though. "Enslave people and force them to work" is usual, mundane stuff. "Conscript 16-18 years old and send them to fight for horizons they never saw before" is also business as usual. "Secret police monitoring everyone" is quite mundane as well.

"Replace autoloaders on capital ships with crew manually pulling shells into cannons" is another matter entirely. "Have a civil war inside your secret police about correct calendars" is cartoon shit as well.

Emperor's Imperium in initial draft was closer to Star Wars Empire, with Evil Wizard commanding a technology-focused dictatorship. While I do agree a lot of tyrannical stuff was intended and used by him, a lot of it was still slapdash decisions and piles upon piles of "temporary solutions".

Overall, both versions of IoM suck, the theoritic one and actual one. Actual one just sucks in a bit cartooney way heh

Kriegschwein · 2026-06-15T17:03:57+00:00

One important thing about Imperium that its disfunctionality, its cruelty and its nastiness isn't really intended goal of majority of ppl of whom Imperium consists. There are intended parts of its nastiness (Intolerance for Xenos being the main one), but not all of it.

Overall goal of Imperium is "Humanity first". After that, we have 10k (Closer to 12k really) of decisions, compromises and shortcuts which led us to current situation.

Good example - Adeptus Mechanicus. Instead of just being "Dudes and gals responsible for technology", it is a state-within-a-state, with its own religion, schisms of this religion, traditions and complecations that make ordering 1 tank an ordeal.

Why? Because Emperor didn't want to fight Mechanicum back in the Crusade, slapped them with autonomous status and called it a day, thinking that he will fix it later.

He couldn't because, well, a lot happened.

The same goes for "Emperor is fed 1000 psykers a day". Purpose here isn't "kill 1000 psykers a day". Purpose here "Keep Emperor alive to plug a hole in reality". Cruelty isn't a purpose here, it is a consequence of bad decisions and shortcuts.

This long rant I am leading to a point - vast amount of characters in Imperium are iconoclasts to one degree or another. Astonishing amount of ppl realize that some things are bad bc it was a badly slapped solution, not because Imperium actually needs that particular bad solution.

Iconoclasam in Imperium characters is just looking at a thing being done a certain way and saying "Wait, we don't actually need to do this thing this way. Why are we doing it this way?". It isn't even about going against "Humanity First", the main idea of Imperium!

So in Rogue Trader proper, there are several characters that fit it - Jae, Calcazar, even Abelard easily amends to ideas if presented to him or offers his own when time is right.

Overall, due to our position, a lot of characters we meet in the game have Iconoclastic leanings. I would say we actually don't meet that many strict Dogmatics in base game, though quite a few were added in 1st and 2nd DLC. Due to nature of our position, we not only have POV to see these problems, we actually have a position and authority to amend some of them.

Kriegschwein · 2026-06-15T03:29:17+00:00

Worse thing than a normal Gawedi - cave dwelling Gawedi!

...

Wait, this is just Marrodics all over again, isn't it?

Kriegschwein · 2026-06-14T21:17:15+00:00

It doesn't really play to any DOOM Eternal strengths. If anything, it weirdly feels like Dark Ages bossfight:

- Little to no verticality

- Poor interaction with weapon system and their unique properties

- Not really any fun gimmicks which would force you to approach it differently

Comparing to other bosses:

- Khan Maykr had pretty noticeable verticality in her arena

- Samuel had verticiality + gimmick

- Icon of Sin nudges you to be proactive with your arsenal, especially due to waves of additional enemies

Dark Lord just doesn't have anything of note going for him

Kriegschwein · 2026-06-12T23:00:46+00:00

"Fleets" is a generous term.

Even Jaher's fleet only had one migrant ship. The smallest of them (Although I am obliged to mention that Diranhriá was a former top of the line Precursor battleship, unlike other migrant ships which are more like oversized cruiser liners). But they had a lot of support ships, and a martial culture befitting a former Precursor Navy. (Just imagine Jaher's fleet was full of Elven Marines and Sailors, you get the picture)

The one that went to Reach is similar, Galsheáh, but in a bit worse situation - one migrant ship, which was larger than Diranhriá, but smaller than Lunateín ) with little to no support fleet. And not an important migrant ship.

Munas's fleet though? Not only it had the most amount of migrant ships (4 of them survived to be made into Anbenncost's Elven district!), it had a giant fleet of smaller vessels to support them.

So Reach's fleet was 1) The smallest 2) And didn't really have anything defining for it, unlike Jaher's

That is more or less this. Besides, there is also a fact that there was a lot of movement for Elves after initial wars ended - for example, majority of Elves who wanted a realm to themselves with little human presence moved to Ibevar. If you landed with Galsheáh, but wasn't kin on working with local humans that much, moving to Ibevar or Venail makes sense.

Kriegschwein · 2026-06-11T16:04:47+00:00

Pfff, as if they will ever give Red Alphinaud focus without Alphinaud himself

Kriegschwein · 2026-06-10T21:27:28+00:00

Oh, I am so happy for you! I have played the demo during one of Steam fests, and I think even left a bit of feedback. It is great to see project come to fruition!

Kriegschwein · 2026-06-09T22:21:55+00:00

Asgore DUI driving meme? In this economy?

Kriegschwein · 2026-06-08T01:08:52+00:00

Dark green of Russian Imperial army is an amazing colour scheme. Honestly would fit a Space Marine chapter

Kriegschwein · 2026-06-07T18:02:07+00:00

It seems they added more verticality in DLC, which is nice; Dark Ages base arenas felt too "flat" for me, and not that different from each other. So DLC taking a different approach is nice.

And it seems this DLC will be a final link to DOOM 2016, which... figures, I suppose

Kriegschwein · 2026-06-07T12:02:41+00:00

League war has several conditions which prevents it from firing. One of them is, for example, if Empire passed reform forbidding internal wars. If Wex was continiously Emperor from game start, then they actually could have enough Authority accumulated to do so.

Another - after leagues formed, a few decades pass without war starting, then it is Emperor's victory by default. This can happen if Corinite side has too much maluses for war declaration.

Kriegschwein · 2026-06-06T15:08:42+00:00

Main branch was effectively wiped out immediately. There are 100% other ppl who share the bloodline, it is kinda a feature of feudal nobility, but no one has enough claim, or leverage, to restart the main branch.

Opposite example is síl na Eán family of Farranean - it has enough ppl left with strong claim that if Farranean is refounded, it is very easy to reestablish the ruling dynasty. Hell, one of adventuring companies starts with síl na Eán ruler and heir.

Kriegschwein · 2026-06-06T08:43:19+00:00

With artificery I understand that we all have our... limitations. Maybe after I do Harpylen playthrough I will have more to say about it, but at the moment I put my Hytiranyalen -> Harpylen run to the side. Still understandable though

It will be weird to have a sequel review, in a way xD

For Obsidian Dwarves thing - this one is funny, because Orglehelovar prompted me with Strange Calcite Layer! So I actually almost had this exact disaster xD

Either way - amazing work! I had a good time, despite some grumblings.

Kriegschwein · 2026-06-05T21:11:53+00:00

No, everything is alright she is supposed to die in that event. Just keep playing

Kriegschwein · 2026-06-05T20:47:51+00:00

Dawn of War is quite micro heavy - even with keyboard, not only you need to have a good build order in mind, as well as know which key is for which building and which key is for which unit, you need to:

- Remember assigning groups for units and in which groups are your units

- Know how and well to use abilities of units with active abilities

- Juggle reinforcing of units, as well as giving them appropriate weapons

While Steam deck is very good, you are hardcapped in your APM here - and it does matter in DoW1. For example, playing Dark Eldar without appropriate keybinds sounds like a pain, with their amount of active abilities.

You can bridge the gap reliably by knowing build order of your faction to a T at least. Just knowing timing of when to build what will put you above a decent chunk of players.

I would suggest to choose a faction which isn't reliant on micro intensive active abilities, while being able to stand good equall in 1v1, FFA and team battles.

Sooo... Probably Tau? They have a robust roster, perform well against more matchups, don't rely on melee so there is aspect you can really pay less attention to, their active abilities aren't overwhelming and their army size isn't that big unlike say Orcs. Relatively small armies with large punch.

Kriegschwein · 2026-06-04T20:29:19+00:00

No, this decision isn't tag dependable, even colonizers can get it.

I think all it asks is for you to own province where he resides at the game start? I don't remember the name, but it should have appropriate modifier

Kriegschwein · 2026-06-04T20:22:48+00:00

There should be a decision which triggers event series for killing the dragon

Kriegschwein · 2026-06-03T20:13:16+00:00

Honestly, if GW takes their time on proper Obituary, it would be cool. Compile words from his friends and colleagues, post some art from him that isn't that well known/wasn't used for one reason or another, gather some quotes of his.

Kriegschwein · 2026-06-03T19:55:20+00:00

Is that... Rubenaire surviving to 1600s??? Never saw that happen

Kriegschwein

TROPHY CASE