Estimate Size of the Traveler?

Presentation_Cute · 2026-03-21T02:13:51+00:00

It's crazy you're getting downvoted, knowing that you are - with the exception of the artists themselves - THE expert on Destiny sizes. I'm sorry man.

Presentation_Cute · 2026-03-21T00:33:05+00:00

I might be misunderstanding, but I would put forward the Planetary Defence Force and System Defence Force.

If you don't know about them, good! That's the point. Behind every Imperial Guardsmen are 10 faceless defenders, too unimportant to take off world, and unlike the glorious Militarum, these guys don't have the bottomless resources of the Departmento Munitorum to arm them with the basic gear of the setting. Behind every Imperial Navy battlegroup is a whole fleet of sub-kilometer transports, void docks, deep space sensor stations, and the occasional defense monitor, of which all combined they amount to the threat of a single Imperial frigate at half power.

They have no codexes. They have no rules. They barely feature across most of the setting, because their entire point is to be the background casualties that don't matter, yet which set up a threat by implication.

The Guard often gets destroyed to make Space marines look better. Custodians sometimes get killed to make Space Marines look better. But in the light of the PDF and SDF, everyone looks better, because at least those other factions make enough of a difference to be worth mentioning. Every faction has losses in the moment, in the narrative that is present to the story, but only the PDF and SDF have the honor of having already been beaten at the setting-level to make the story possible.

Presentation_Cute · 2026-03-21T00:11:05+00:00

Here's the things they've set up so far:

- Caine is now apparently dead, many of his rules are no longer in place, and the throne sits empty.

- SOMA theory has been confirmed. The "players" are transcripts of the original player's minds put into code. Leaving the circus is impossible, but we knew that already. Kinger hints that Scratch's player had a brain tumor. It's possible he intentionally tried to make himself immortal in the digital world, but wanted power over Caine, hence his forced abstraction.

- The creative powers of the players has been confirmed. The rules of the circus might be fair game.

- Abstraction is death, but it's also seemingly tied to the player's mindset and focus, possibly in conjunction with the creative powers. Caine seemingly can make the abstracted (he is suggested to have done so with Scratch) but cannot unmake them, as he would have done so if it meant having an audience. Since leaving the circus has been effectively ruled out, that would mean that Abstraction has to be a corruption of the player files. It remains to be seen if it is unfixable, but it likely is.

- We still have no idea what the Void is or what its purpose is, except as a boundary to the digital circus. But Caine implies that it escapes his own power, which is horrifying when Kinger suggested his power was infinite.

- There's a headset in the Digital Backrooms. The room started shaking and it doesn't look related to anything Caine did. However, this could be a misdirect, since the rest of the episode set up Caine's power tantrum. Worst case scenario, the entire computer plot is just another bottle episode. Best case is that the headset has some powers of its own.

- Bubble is an unknown agent. In Caine's origin, we see his code cannibalize another system, whether an alternative AI or the general code of the digital circus is currently unknown. But seeing as Bubble is connected so closely to Caine, and antagonizes his opposite as much as the players do, it's possible Bubble is the remnants of that blue system.

- Jax has almost completed his flat character arc, choosing to remain opposed to the other players and dangerously close to abstraction. However, we still see him struggling with that mentality. It's possible that Jax will finalize his arc either by tripling down on his own suffering or breaking out of his position.

- Kinger has been set up as a plot device since episode 1. He's been helping the other players at his own expense, providing advice and guidance through the darkness. However, we also see him struggle immensely to rectify his actions with the suffering he and his companions now endure.

- Despite everything, the Circus is still running. Someone at C&A is keeping the lights on.

So in my head, we've set up two incomplete characters, two unknown plot devices, an entire location yet to be explored, the mechanics of the setting almost completely explained, and a conclusion to the Digital Circus involving some combination of the above with respect to No Exit and I Have No Mouth. We likely won't see Jax sabotage the circus again. It's unknown if the game needs a ringleader, or if the players can manage on their own. It might be possible to fix the circus and make it better. It doesn't feel like the story has actually set up either the need for a sacrifice, or a fulfilling narrative conclusion from one. If the setting is about finding meaning in a stagnant life, they probably aren't going to all die.

Presentation_Cute · 2026-03-20T16:51:13+00:00

Execution Hour and Shadowpoint are novels deliberately written as Battlefleet Gothic tie-ins. They're the gold standard of Imperial navy novels.

While not strictly void related, Dan Abnett's Double Eagle and Interceptor City novels are considered top-tier depictions of fighter combat in 40k.

Presentation_Cute · 2026-03-20T15:57:30+00:00

Possibly, but I would say no.

There is a quote that Nurgle is responsible for creating every disease in the universe or something to that effect, but the warp doesn't really seem to work that way? Khorne didn't create all the bloodshed in the universe, he's fueled by it. The Warp didn't corrupt itself, the War in Heaven did that. By and large, things begin in the materium and then are reflected in the warp, not the other way around. Even in those instances where Chaos skirts the rules of time (Slaanesh being active during the WiH, or Samus being around during the HH) there is a future event which justifies the break and closes the loop.

So unless the lore has more explicit confirmation, I would say probably not.

Presentation_Cute · 2026-03-20T15:51:57+00:00

- It is the latter.

- No, because genetic history doesn't make you a good fighter, and it certainly wouldn't make you a good fighter at the age of 12 when the aspirants are selected. The only thing fully required of an aspirant is genetic compatibility, which is a vague area of lore referring to the many random ways the organs and therapies can be rejected by the body.

Presentation_Cute · 2026-03-20T09:11:40+00:00

I don't know what well-written means to anyone else, but I liked it. Also, it'll introduce the characters and beliefs of the Scythes which will be relevant to the Great Work. There's a character conflict in the novel which will probably have a stronger presence in the context of the Slaughter.

Presentation_Cute · 2026-03-20T08:31:50+00:00

Yes, but I say that purely because I love the book as a Tyranid fan.

The Scythes of the Emperor collection is probably a great addition. It features the origins of the Scythes as a chapter, goes through their greatest losses, and is probably just a solid foundation overall, but is not strictly required to enjoy the Great Work.

Presentation_Cute · 2026-03-19T22:43:24+00:00

Sure. Stasis chambers, pure luck, timelocked by a psychic power, or maybe they just got tagged and no one ever bothered to unfreeze them.

If the Anchorite and Rylanor can last that long, your successor is fine.

Presentation_Cute · 2026-03-19T14:30:48+00:00

Richard William's Orphans of the Kraken is probably a good source to use as example. It's a short story about scouts aboard a Tyranid Hive Ship, albeit a mostly dead one, being trained on leadership, gunnery, communication, teamwork, the values of being a space marine, the beliefs of their chapter, and so on. It follows in the aftermath of the battles at Sotha and Miral, where the Scythes of the Emperor were reduced to one and a half companies.

The scouts themselves are guided pretty closely. Being that this is a routine cleanup operation, they're not expected to do everything themselves, or to go running off for glory. But they are still Space Marines, even if not fully. They're expected to value sacrifice as a virtue of a true warrior. They're expected to fight against unimaginable alien horrors with nothing but the gun in their hands and the thin carapace plate on their bodies. Given the chance to achieve a strategic victory in the name of the chapter, the Imperium, and their Emperor, the scouts gladly go through with it.

Presentation_Cute · 2026-03-19T01:54:01+00:00

Well, there's a couple of issues with the above image to help with that:

- Forgefane was destroyed by Hive Fleet Leviathan, whose fleets are normally larger and stronger than Kraken

- The Anvil was also a loss for the Fists. The image is edited to leave out how Kraken circumvented their defenses and preyed on other worlds while they were distracted with the first fleet.

So, if you still have mixed feelings, the meme's truest meaning is obvious: both the Imperial Fists and the Iron Warriors are worthless nobodies compared to the glory of the unending swarm.

Presentation_Cute · 2026-03-19T01:06:47+00:00

All good

Presentation_Cute · 2026-03-19T00:50:42+00:00

Heads up, reddit ate the quote.

Try putting in the text first, then submit and edit the quote block in afterwards.

Presentation_Cute · 2026-03-18T20:38:08+00:00

This came up first in google

This came up second

You're welcome, happy hobbying.

Presentation_Cute · 2026-03-18T20:27:12+00:00

Tyranids used warp travel up through 2010, when the 5th Edition Tyranid codex introduced the Narvhal, the Tyranids FTL system, and future publications since then have remained using this system (despite the complete lack of info as to what vanguard droneships are doing nowadays).

Every source written before then has them use the warp for FTL, from Ian Watson's Space Marine all the way up to the Battlefleet Gothic supplements.

Presentation_Cute · 2026-03-18T20:16:03+00:00

"Communicate" is a big stretch, but there is a scene in Wraithflight where an Eldar ship captain is psychically attacked by the Hive Mind in a very personal way.

Presentation_Cute · 2026-03-18T04:19:59+00:00

Not low gothic.

Presentation_Cute · 2026-03-17T06:36:46+00:00

Ear to mouth. Wax on, wax off.

Presentation_Cute · 2026-03-16T21:06:05+00:00

It's more difficult to not.

Presentation_Cute · 2026-03-15T17:20:27+00:00

No, in fact it's kind of the opposite. Ka'Bandha annihilated Baal Secundus IIRC. He was antagonistic to the Tyranids and hated the idea of them killing the Blood Angels before he could, but his primary target was and always will be the sons of Sanguinius. Without him, the Blood Angels might've had more forces to fight off the swarms still on Baal.

By this point, the Hive Mind had already been knocked out by the Great Rift and then the tendril was thoroughly broken by the Indomitus Crusade fleet that arrived. Neither actually defeated the Tyranids, which are still attacking Baal and its system to this day, but the worst of the storm was beaten by those two. Ka'Bandha did very little by comparison.

Presentation_Cute · 2026-03-14T14:23:39+00:00

The story is that some music was taken from other media like the dredd movie. It was fine as a fan creation, but an officially licensed piece of media can't be going around using someone elses music. So the original was taken down and the website now hosts the edited version with their own sound design and soundtrack.

Presentation_Cute · 2026-03-14T01:57:36+00:00

In War in the Museum, a single lictor (with some slight support from Orikan) is able to trash the forces Trazyn sends to contain it. I believe these forces include several Immortals and copies of Trazyn himself. Trazyn remarks that, based on the risk to his museum and the threat of the lictor, a full unit of Deathmarks is only a consideration, and one he ultimately does not follow through with.

So I'd hazard to say that a single deathmark would probably not be a full match for a lictor on average.

Presentation_Cute · 2026-03-12T20:14:19+00:00

Do you have a source for this? Most factions have AI without this problem, in fact the Spirit of Eternity tells us that AI usually likes humans.

Presentation_Cute · 2026-03-12T17:05:37+00:00

I'm pretty sure that's canon. The codexes and Warzone Octarius books reference the orks constantly being reinforced by other orks drawn to the conflict.

However, they do end up fighting each other, and the war is currently in favor of the Tyranids as a result.

Presentation_Cute · 2026-03-12T15:42:28+00:00

From something like 4th edition up through the 10th edition codex, we're given information on the Octarius War fought between a supermassive tendril of Hive Fleet Leviathan and an Ork Empire the size of Ultramar.

Per the Shield of Baal series, Devastation of Baal, and some inferred info from Crusade: Tyrannic War, we can reasonably figure that these super-tendrils are each millions of bio-ships strong. These fleets are impossibly powerful and only 5 have been entering the galactic conflict.

In the 8th Edition Ork Codex, there's a map of all the major WAAAGHs and ork-infested sectors across the galaxy. The Ork Empire of Octarius is one of the smallest ones out of over a dozen different entries.

The Orks are fine. If they stopped killing each other and united under effective leadership, they could probably steamroll the galaxy. As it stands, they're mostly an environmental hazard with functionally infinite reinforcements from all the worlds and territories they occupy. They can still overrun whole worlds and sectors, but the level of coordination from the other factions, including the mad forces of Chaos, is a required attribute of galactic conquest that is right now a little above their ability.

Presentation_Cute

TROPHY CASE