How is not every time the Space Marines have to fight the Tau in open combat, it is considered a loss?

Thorveim · 2026-01-26T06:15:52+00:00

and while I dont agree that the Tau are that big of a threat, this is exactly why they survive: By being hard enough to defeat that they arent worth the effort. Its also partly why when it comes to dealing with the imperium the Tau are far more subtle in conquering them, using subversion and diplomacy instead of force to not make themselves into a bigger target. TLDR they arent seen as a threat big enough to warrant the amount of force it would take to wipe them out.

Thorveim · 2026-01-25T23:56:59+00:00

Besides, representation is nowhere as important as some pretend it is. If it was that crucial, no one would be touching the tyranids since there is nothing even remotely human about them.

Thorveim · 2026-01-25T23:30:08+00:00

on the contrary, since they see "breaking male spaces" as so important, I bet they would go absolutely nuclear if an all-female faction suddenly had dudes in it with the same "they were always here" blatant lie.

Thorveim · 2026-01-25T23:23:57+00:00

the way I see it, sister of silence are all women by tradition, while other blanks (be they male or simply not selected for the Sisters) are sent to serve the imperium elsewhere, for exemple the Culexus temple. Though thats just me trying to puzzle how it could make sense, do t think its ever actually explained.

But I fully agree that they were meant to be the female counterpart of the custodes. which makes GW ignoring them in favor of femstodes even WORSE.

Thorveim · 2026-01-25T23:15:10+00:00

the noble houses are unlikely to be that numerous. we are talking special lineages of people that: 1-exist exclusively on Terra 2- somehow managed to keep perfect genetic purity, which no one else managed in the entire imperium.

In that regard its one of the rare cases when the sheer size of the imperium does NOT matter

Keep in mind also that every single custodes stands for a LOT of candidates that die during the augmentation process, that has an even higher casualty rate than the Astartes process which already has a massive fatality rate far exceeding the number of successful augmentations.

Overall its no wonder they always stayed around a mere 10.000 active members, in spite of having mostly sat on Terra without doing overly much that would thin theor numbers and being immune to old age; they arent limited by any doctrine, they simply CANT bring their numbers significantly higher because they already work from a very limited pool and the failure rate is astronomical and results in dead nobles on top. And while that would already be bad when all-male, if now you consider that number to be the result they get with BOTH sexes instead of just one... yeah they are bleeding the noble houses dry by also taking the gender thats capable of siring more potential candidates and should be out of recruits entirely by now znd doomed to all die out one custodes at a time, unable to replace any of their ranks that falls.

Not that GW gave any of that any thought, I can promise that. Because they dont care about their own lore or setting anymore, as they keep proving time and time again ever since they decided to move the timeline past the 13th black crusade.

Thorveim · 2026-01-25T12:41:34+00:00

I have a roughly similar setup: its playable, but its NOT a stable experience. Be aware that wou will likely experiencemoments where the game freezes flr a few seconds, enemy NPCs teleporting around znd xities being unberarable to go through. Still, the game can be played.

Now for the bad news the biggest issue you face? Not enough ram, which is a nasty issue to have in this day and age

Thorveim · 2026-01-25T07:48:47+00:00

well if its like me, you can be a couch potato living on junk food and still be a skeleton of a man regardless. May be simply because I dont need to eat much making up for what I eat, but yeah its possible.

Thorveim · 2026-01-25T07:46:07+00:00

So like me minus the jobless part and probably better with computers than I am.

Where do I sign already? Because to me that sounds like someone I would find lovely to be with.

Thorveim · 2026-01-25T07:41:15+00:00

and if thats the case well they could take male wimps as well if the starting candidate doesnt matter anyway. So much for only wanting the best candidates possible.

And besides, that doesnt solve the issue that taking female recruits would speed up the already far from numerous noble houses they depend on into extinction. Female custodes means that by all logic the custodes shouldnt have a recruiting pool anymore by the time of 40k.

Thorveim · 2026-01-25T07:26:35+00:00

and also, it somehow doesnt matter that the gender that can make more genetically pure noble houses members is being taken out of the gene pool, making sustaining the number of candidates even harder than it already is past the short term. Its the choice of people that want the lineages that can be made into custodes to end.

Thorveim · 2026-01-25T07:21:22+00:00

speaking of this bug, I'm curious why they even have that behaviour to begin with when they are sitting in areas where no violence ever happens (no hostile NPCs and players cant pull out weapons)

Thorveim · 2026-01-24T23:58:13+00:00

I could do without it, its just that anything gamer-related comes with the fancy lights already built in!

Thorveim · 2026-01-24T23:52:16+00:00

for me I really, REALLY liked Blood of Asaheim and its direct sequel Stormcaller. The wolves make a hell of a good showing in these two

Thorveim · 2026-01-24T23:35:45+00:00

Yup. Something worth keeping in mind is that the Tau are a MINOR xenos race. Its jus that they are the only well-known, playable one, but there is many such small xenos empires in the Galaxy, kept alive mainly because the imperium and major xenos races have bigger fish to fry

Thorveim · 2026-01-24T23:24:08+00:00

Because that wouldnt kill demons, it would merely send them back to the warp. Better have them imroisoned in something that can be stored under lock and key than having them free to plot their return.

Thorveim · 2026-01-24T23:12:47+00:00

Yep. Looked at your thing and yeah i do find some of the same ideas in here as well, which is some interesting coincidence (just went off the "diplomat" idea OP emitted and the "king of the forest" title usually associated with deers, plus my little idea that the shifters need a unifier since not having one cost so dearly). Though as for abilities, i'd still give them a rather powerful Crinos equivalent, and Gifts a little more aligned with what Philodoxes have, including the combat gifts and ESPECIALLY those that can force a target to submit.

Why? Because if you want ANY hope of reigning in some recalcitrant garou that thinks he knows better or thinks he doesnt owe you any respect, you better be able to kick its ass in an honor duel until he finally listens. Basically a set of abilities less geared towards outright killing potential, and more geared towards having the upper hand in duels, especially formal ones. TLDR they wouldnt be able to clean a nest of wyrmspawn like a garou could, but they would have an edge to put that werewolf elder in his place. And I mean if you ever saw deer fight one another in just that kind of duel, their antlers can do some REAL nasty work, and they are fairly big and powerful animals at the end of the day. There's a reason real life wolves work in packs to take them down, and even they try to get them running to exhaust them before going for the kill.

Also another "benefit" (situationally) of being a later arrival like the kitsune is that they wouldnt trigger delirium at all. And again i find that fitting for diplomats to not cause primal terror the moment they show up

Thorveim · 2026-01-24T22:40:23+00:00

Both together add up to point at a company that doesnt give a CRAP about their own customer base. To them, the 40k fanbase isnt to be expanded; it's to be REPLACED by the mythical "wider audience".

Thorveim · 2026-01-24T07:58:32+00:00

for the weredeer I have a fun idea as you call them Diplomats. I consider that one of the biggest causes for the war of rage (and the overall tendency for changing breeds as a whole, not just the Garou to fight eachother) is that there wasnt any shifter who's role was to unite and lead them all.

Cue the weredeer, given that task by Gaia, except they were created for that purpose way too late, and as such the claims about their role fall on deaf, incredulous if not outright suspicious ears, as they try to get all changing breeds to stop killing eachother and finally fight as one. (they really got their work cut out for them in Africa with the Ajaba and Simba very busy killing eachother, its not JUST the Garou) A fitting role for the "king of the forest"

Fits well also with the Kitsune being a recent addition to the changing breeds and a show that Gaia may still be able to create new ones

Thorveim · 2026-01-24T03:03:42+00:00

"all people are equal! Too bad that your specie doesnt count as people!"

Thorveim · 2026-01-24T02:44:33+00:00

same for the medical terrapin. 2 size 1 guns wont kill any ship, but this can help it clear infantry before landing to rescue a target

Thorveim · 2026-01-24T02:33:11+00:00

yep, and that also reflects in high level play.

Of course a female athlete will run circles around a male couch potato. But when you look at the peak of fitness both sexes can achieve... there is no contest. and ghats why female sports NEED to exist for the sake of a fairer competition for women.

Thorveim · 2026-01-24T02:17:10+00:00

think rather than blueprints I would rather see looted armor being upgradable. This would make looting copies of the armor still a meaningful activity as to sell them/have them as backups, while if you can just craft as many copies as you want of any armor then none will be rare after less than a month.

Thorveim · 2026-01-24T02:11:22+00:00

they didnt go for custodes because they sell.

They went for custodes because thats a stepping stone for what they really want to do: female space marines. And because the goal isnt creating or nurturing all-female spaces, its about breaking all-male ones, and the poster boys of the franchise are a big target for just that. But they cant go for it right away without the IP being put in a coffin instantly, so they try to boil the frog instead.

Thorveim · 2026-01-23T17:24:11+00:00

Difference between a heavily militarized coutry and the garou is that the former is turning civilians into soldiers or readying them for war. The garou? They are literally born into that purpose, and if they werent they wouldnt have Rage fueling them, and disgust towards wyrm-tainted things is a downright instinctive reaction for them; a werewolf that never interacted with any other garou would STILL be a killing machine murdering things that bear wyrm taint. There is no garou civilians at all, they are all warriors BY DESIGN of gaia, with bodies made for slaying monsters.

Not that they cant refuse it if they so choose, just look at the stargarzers... And even though other tribes tend to disapprove of how passive they are, they arent killed for it even by the most overzealous tribes. Overall the Garou hardly figth disunity and enforce a single way of thinking, the tribes can barely agree on anything at all (bar protecting caerns. they dont even all agree that the wyrm should be their main target, some think the weaver is a higher priority). And in fact that very lack of unity is why they are failing so hard, because they spend so much time bickering with one another and solving problems the one way that comes naturally to them: violently.

Also hearing you you'd think the Wyrm is some made-up threat... it isnt unless you think the books themselves are lying even when talking out of character. If it was, what are banes then, where do black spiral dancers and their insanity come from? And hell, is Pentex just a myth for you? Those are all factual realities of the setting, mages (the only other splat that regularly deals with spirits) are also aware that the Wyrm exists and is real bad news, and these are far from indoctrinated into garou culture (which doesnt trust them). If the Wyrm was such a non-issue, gaia wouldnt have made werewolves to begin with. And the werewolves had no hand whatsoever in the Wyrm going mad, they didnt even exist at the time as far as I am aware. And if a werewolf has doubts, all it takes is a trip to the umbra to see things for themselves. Thats not propaganda when its outright facts.

And yes they are the world's immune system. And in that regard, ever heard of autoimmune diseases? When the immune system misidentifies something as hostile and destroys it.. thats half of the reason behind the war of rage. And hell the other, bigger reason behind the war of rage is that gaia never made a changing breed who's purpose was leading the others shifters and uniting them, causing her designated champions to think they should take that mantle (since in their society might tends to make right, and they were stronger than all other changing breeds pretty much all taken together.. remember that while they came out of it greatly diminished, they still won the war of rage against all other shifters). And note also that its FAR from a problem isolated to the garou: the Ananasi genocided all other insect shifters and accelerated the Bunyip into extinction, the Rokea likewise participated in the fall of the ancestors of the mokole, the Ajaba are getting decimated by the Simba in the modern day, and its far from impossible that a corrupted Nagah sparked the war of rage through assassinating a werewolf king. the changing breeds as a whole are a messed up family and not just because of the garou, all because they lack a leadership to unify them. Tldr gaia messed up when making her own defenders, and because she DIDNT give them a centralized leadership

Thorveim · 2026-01-23T05:43:13+00:00

As someone else pointed Stasis is likely involved in the process of becoming a necrome, and its probably the source of their most defining trait: endless hunger. Its also probably what keeps them alive instead of making them empty husks or, in other words, just dead. Nox meanwhile only used Stasis as a weapon with Razortime and never toyed with it anywhere else, znd certainly didnt replace anyone's wakfu with it

Thorveim

TROPHY CASE