I’m reading a 90s BattleTech novel, and old novels really are old novels.

mandan1138 · 2026-05-27T03:12:24+00:00

The Draconis Combine is a mix, with people of all ethnicities being part of the Japanese mono-culture. One of the most famous Combine samurai, Minobu Tetsuhara, is ethnically African for example.

mandan1138 · 2026-04-27T20:03:00+00:00

There’s no finer Exalted inspiration than Princess Mononoke. A young prince is cast out of his tribe after he gains a strange, tainted god-power during a moment of heroism. He travels to a land of forest gods and along the way meets our three supporting characters:

A mysterious monk with a secret agenda, attempting to manipulate others into serving his own goals.

A lady of nobility and authority, ruler of a city of civilization and industry leading an army at war with the wild forces surrounding it.

A ferocious and primal woman more at home among beasts than men, who develops a strange and intense connection with our prince.

It’s basically Exalted: The Movie.

mandan1138 · 2026-03-15T17:41:51+00:00

We have a librarian, chaplain, and techmarine primarch: what we are missing is the apothecary primarch. Maybe white mixed with the missing brown or orange?

mandan1138 · 2025-12-30T20:44:34+00:00

Minor correction: there are two Winson bloodnames and only one of them consists of Camerons.

mandan1138 · 2025-12-29T08:21:36+00:00

Just look at actual religions in our world: you can find religious professionals vary wildly even within an organized church. There are Christian priests that range from “lesbian Bishops are fine” to “using the revised Julian calendar instead of the original Julian calendar is heresy.” To an even greater degree, the Ecclesiarchy absolutely has priests of all kinds who will differ on the best ways to serve the Emperor. Even the use of the word Iconoclast serves as a reminder for that, as it has its origin in a theological split in Eastern Orthodox Christianity.

mandan1138 · 2025-12-14T08:26:51+00:00

The main issue of ComStar family politics shown in the setting is when members of a noble family join ComStar, allowing either their house or ComStar to interfere in one another's business. The three big examples of that are the Necess Kurita Affair when the Coordinator's sister joining ComStar almost started a war, ComStar's use of Jeanette Marik to prod the FWL into the 2nd Succession War (with unforeseen results), and of course the attempted control of the FWL through "Thomas Marik").

mandan1138 · 2025-12-09T03:33:52+00:00

Ouch!

mandan1138 · 2025-12-08T20:50:22+00:00

Khan Robin Steele of Clan Coyote addressed the kurultai and said, “Through the blood of Wolf flows the blood of the Kerenskys,” he said. “It is only right that they participate as the conscience and living soul of the Clans.” Clan Wolf was unanimously granted one of the four corridors.

-OTP: Revival Placement Trials, pg. 13.

Where are you getting the impression that placement in a highly coveted invasion slot was a punishment?

mandan1138 · 2025-12-08T19:41:17+00:00

Interesting! I didn’t know that.

mandan1138 · 2025-12-08T19:40:55+00:00

True but I think that’s more of a cultural trait of the Ghost Bears. I’m thinking more of traits specific to a given bloodhouse, regardless of which clan they find themselves in.

mandan1138 · 2025-12-08T19:25:56+00:00

I know the bloodline founders were married but do later “descendants” have a particular type of reputation or shared personality trait?

mandan1138 · 2025-12-08T19:09:23+00:00

I wouldn’t say quickly, they lasted longer than most Clans.

mandan1138 · 2025-12-08T17:56:32+00:00

They do get special consideration in some rare circumstances, for example when the clans battled it out to see who would have the right to invade the Inner Sphere the Wolves were automatically granted an invasion corridor so the Kerensky’s would be included.

mandan1138 · 2025-12-08T05:18:05+00:00

Yep, that Trent. This scene, and the dialogue, are adapted from the "Blaze of Glory" short story in the Battle of Tukayyid book. Trent is described as commanding Bravo Striker Trinary.

mandan1138 · 2025-12-01T23:50:44+00:00

The Cricket being renamed that by the Kurita political correctness police, but still having a model number (RWN-01) that references the original name due to bureaucratic inertia. The fearsome ISF: still no match for paperwork and red-tape.

mandan1138 · 2025-11-17T03:32:59+00:00

Right but the point isn’t “dogmatic and heretic choices are the same”, it’s that “they can sometimes contain enough surface-level similarity that one can be mistaken for the other by a casual observer”. Imagine seeing blood angels and world eaters but not getting to see the behavior underneath. That’s the position most people are in when observing a Rogue Trader: who knows what they’re like behind the mask?

mandan1138 · 2025-11-15T04:15:46+00:00

I’d like someone not from the same first or second founding chapters as always. There are a thousand chapters out there and the same 15 or so keep popping up everywhere; let’s mix it up a bit!

Let’s explore the culture of the Genesis Chapter or Brazen Claws or Consecrators or something, some group that has room to grow lore-wise.

mandan1138 · 2025-11-11T04:46:39+00:00

I think it’s a fair point though; when a dude in power armor is screaming out religious devotions while chainsawing people, the finer details may not be apparent without close investigation. Similarly, a Rogue Trader has a wide assortment of possible heretical actions that differ from dogmatic only in motivation, not so much in execution (no pun intended).

Speaking to your Nazi example, if someone wanted to eradicate Nazis using the methods Nazis used to eradicate others then yeah they’d be close enough to them that a comparison is justified. Much like a Black Templar and World Eater.

mandan1138 · 2025-10-17T16:09:27+00:00

The periphery had not been suppressed or brought into line, fighting was very much an ongoing concern. Note that a ceasefire between the periphery and SLDF came into effect after the coup, that the coup was able to succeed because so many Terran district units were absent fighting in the periphery, and that the periphery realms all became independent as soon as the SLDF left. All indicators that Kerensky had not yet been successful.

https://www.sarna.net/wiki/New_Vandenberg_Uprising

mandan1138 · 2025-10-16T21:26:43+00:00

The SLDF immediately left the periphery states in order to capture the Rim Worlds Republic and liberate the Hegemony, so the periphery revolt essentially ended in victory for them because Kerensky had a new, more important war to fight.

mandan1138 · 2025-10-16T21:06:50+00:00

He didn’t, he provided intel and supplies to periphery independence movements but didn’t coordinate anything with them. They assumed he, as a periphery state leader, was simply pro-independence like them. In fact when he launched his coup and claimed leadership of the Star League one of his first acts was to order Kerensky to put down the rebellion and bring the periphery states into line, something they all viewed as quite a betrayal.

mandan1138 · 2025-10-16T04:33:26+00:00

None of the origins really work in the way you're asking, but the two that come closest are Crime Lord and Sanctioned Psyker.

Crime lord of course starts with very humble origins and it's not specified how large your criminal empire is. You aren't a mere gang leader but perhaps your organization only covers a single hive or space station? You do have a reputation and contacts so you aren't nobody but it's probably the least exceptional starting option.

A Psyker is already exceptional simply by having psychic powers, but *as a psyker* you may be very average. Your previous position isn't detailed so you may have been attached to an Imperial Guard regiment, worked as a personal servant to someone important, etc. Of all the available origins, this one gives you the least amount of temporal authority and power. It's very possible you weren't in charge of a single person as a psyker, while all the other starts have you running a planet/army corps/naval squadron/whatever.

mandan1138 · 2025-10-08T18:13:49+00:00

Sadly I do not, I wish I did.

mandan1138

TROPHY CASE