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[LordBaal]

Yeah it looks stupidly fun, as most Ork things are.

[Grim Portent]

I'm really pulling out the stops to find some "unconventional" allies who would not obey planetary authority, but be a surprising help to Sororitas on the run. Like a horde of beastmen in the amaranthine wastes who prayed for angels of the Emperor to descend from the heavens and save them from a marauding vampire-witch. Or a criminal network of underhivers who praise the Emperor and spit in the face of the Ecclesiarchy; the kinds of allies the Sororitas reeeeally wouldn't willingly associate with under normal circumstances but may temper their usual "purge now ask questions never" approach. Especially since ammunition will not be something they can replenish easily. Pious mutants, feudal-flagellants and knights with plate armour, tech-priests of Terra and anti-ecclesiarchy gangsters may be fine allies in times of crisis, but I don't think they'd compromise on working with actual dabblers of sorcery or heresy, or even the dark eldar, so I imagine there aren't that many more unorthodox allies I can throw at them?

What about an interplanetary crime boss? Or the local representative of one anyway. Not a cold trader or anything actively heretical like that, more of a smuggler who avoids planetary tariffs on things like alcohol, lho sticks and narcotics for everyday operations, but also deals in stolen goods of high value. He's twigged on to the presence of the Temple-Tendency through contacts in the Ecclesiarchy who have drug habits and the like, and has the general gist of what they want. The return of Vandire style governance is bad for business, and deep down in his greedy heart the criminal does believe in the Emperor and the Thorian reformation, even if he doesn't really understand it.

He offers his support, meaning supplies, some blackmail material on the nobles and ecclesiarchy relating to illicit substance habits, clandestine transportation and some armed smugglers who're willing to pitch in with the more one-sided fights. In return he wants first dibs on various valuables from the various people that are going to be in the firing line. Things like the Arch-Deacon's seal of office, paintings, statues, minor relics, and other such things in the possession of the Temple-Tendency, which he can sell to wealthy collectors of the esoteric, desperate pilgrims who're willing to pool their money to buy even a scrap of sanctified coth from a deacon's robes and charlatans who want to sell a scam with some authentic props down the line. He intends to make a fine profit off of the ecclesiastical trappings, totems and trophies that build up around any high ranking priest.

[Egan_BW]

I'm wondering if your players will tolerate literally any of their potential allies or decide to just purge everyone on the planet with a force strength of forty sisters.

[Loud Whispers]

Complete ignorance of and disdain for tactical maneuvers unless specifically beaten into it, wildly reckless (some would say suicidal) bravado. strapping every random bit and bob onto your equipment because they think it'll become "more stabby" or "more dakka" or even just "more flash", the cohesive dichotomy between extreme chaotic individualism and mindless horde behavior, a general obsession with being the biggest and the stompiest, and a perpetual sojourn in search of the best fight... Wherever that may be, and whoever it might be against (doesn't really matter, so long as whatever it is happens to be big).

One day we will get a gorkamorka reboot... One day. 40kOrks are pretty suited for RPG style gameplay. Every time you up your stats and get bigger it's because your ork has gotten bigger. Direct correlation between experience and stats and size and strapping enough gubbins and bits from literally everything you see. Tendency to loot everything just in case it's important later. And for every ork that is orky, there are orks that are not orky. Like stormboyz or burnaboys, allowing for different flavours of unorkiness

There's an ork car combat game around the corner too

I like to imagine you can get to a point where you strap so much stuff onto your cart you're practically immobile but you're just ridiculously shooty and can stop other carts from lapping you using a giant magnet

What about an interplanetary crime boss? Or the local representative of one anyway. Not a cold trader or anything actively heretical like that, more of a smuggler who avoids planetary tariffs on things like alcohol, lho sticks and narcotics for everyday operations, but also deals in stolen goods of high value. He's twigged on to the presence of the Temple-Tendency through contacts in the Ecclesiarchy who have drug habits and the like, and has the general gist of what they want. The return of Vandire style governance is bad for business, and deep down in his greedy heart the criminal does believe in the Emperor and the Thorian reformation, even if he doesn't really understand it.

This one ties in pretty neatly, since the current cardinal is a drug addict who's basically in charge because he's too high to be a threat to the Arch-Deacon

Or so he thinks

Never underestimate a sneaky bastard just because they're a decadent wastrel

He offers his support, meaning supplies, some blackmail material on the nobles and ecclesiarchy relating to illicit substance habits, clandestine transportation and some armed smugglers who're willing to pitch in with the more one-sided fights. In return he wants first dibs on various valuables from the various people that are going to be in the firing line. Things like the Arch-Deacon's seal of office, paintings, statues, minor relics, and other such things in the possession of the Temple-Tendency, which he can sell to wealthy collectors of the esoteric, desperate pilgrims who're willing to pool their money to buy even a scrap of sanctified coth from a deacon's robes and charlatans who want to sell a scam with some authentic props down the line. He intends to make a fine profit off of the ecclesiastical trappings, totems and trophies that build up around any high ranking priest.

He might even be a chartist captain/chartist warrant holder. Would make sense if they have a significant sum of clout but falls just short of rogue-trader levels clout. Unless the players can find some way to get a legitimate "privateer letter of marque" for such a person I reckon this would be an incredibly hard sell for the SOBs as they would be a much bigger partner than them. I can see a world where they "fight in the same direction" at least lmao

I'm wondering if your players will tolerate literally any of their potential allies or decide to just purge everyone on the planet with a force strength of forty sisters.

"You would purge this planet with forty sisters?"
"We would purge this planet with one!" [arms cyclonic bomb with menacing intent]

Even if their faith is resolute, I'm fairly certain they wouldn't be able to triumph without making allies somewhere. Like Space Marines they may be a highly mobile, highly armoured and lethal fighting force capable of breaking through most conventional forces; but numbers, heavy-weapons, heavy-armour and communications get more important the longer the fight drags on. It's a bit like how space marine artillery is a highly mobile rocket platform vs the imperial guard's basilisk. The space marine artillery may be able to quickly eliminate enemy artillery and escape before counter-battery fire reaches it, but once it's out of rockets it's out of rockets. The SOBs not having secure medicae facilities to recover wounds between missions reliably, not having access to their armoury to restock on ammunition, not having access to any of their relics or the exotic incendiary ammunition they've been using to devastating effect... I'm ~tentatively hoping~ such logistic concerns can at least make them economically choose where to deliver the Emperor's wrath

I've done some very rudimentary numbers so the tech-priest can slam them on the head with some in-character common sense along the lines of "Dude stop. You are not taking over a Hive with 49 sisters. You would need at least 800,000 men, maybe 4,000,000 - and that's with the majority of the Hive populace supporting you," explaining why he is limiting his own ambitions to just the refineries. Also explaining hopefully that my players will need to enlist allies if they are to succeed

Current list of potential allies/rivals/complications

In the Hive

Lord Governor Melvin kon Ashant
-Is friends with Inquisition radicals (their bodyguard & assassin team are Inquisitorial assets, Ashant provides great resources to several radical Inquisitorial cells on the planet and in his Hive).
-Is enemies with the Inquisition (suspected of undermining Imperial authority on Erebuni, days are probably numbered as the noose is closing around his neck).
-Hive PDF is led by nobles loyal to the Ashant family. Hive PDF is however armed with domestically manufactured laslocks that can't fire full-auto and domestically manufactured flak armour of dubious quality. All quality lasguns/armour procured or produced is used to equip guard units meant for the tithe, or sold to embezzle thrones by corrupt commanders/nobles/Ashant house.
-Is foolishly allowing the Arch-Deacon to amass a fleet of frigates and light cruisers, as well as a force of "Frateris Militia" and arco-flagellants, believing they will counter-balance the Hereticus forces on the planet.
-Agenda is survival.

Cardinal Vasco Ulture
-Is doing so many drugs
-You are not invited to his party go away
-"Go ahead. Try and assassinate me. You have no idea how many body doubles I have,"
-Is in the habit of taking slaught, frenzon, stimms, amasec and other herbal concoctions before delivering sermons. Has a master-chirugeon medicae servitor who regularly replaces his organs with best-quality "donations" probably sourced from the interplanetary crime boss. Most are probably vat-grown organs, some... Most certainly not.

Master-chirugeon medicae servitor (Claudius Aesclepius Pintus the Younger, age 599 cycles and 4 standard months)
-Self-awareness was not supposed to survive servitorisation
-"Please don't go. The drones need you. They look up to you."
-"Bits of my mind are floating away. Help me. Help me. Help me."
-Did he deserve this fate?
-Forbidden Lore: [Yes]
(I don't actually know what crime is bad enough to justify such a hell. So for now it's just an unexplained mystery that only the Mechanicus or Inquisition archives would know. Pintus the Younger might not even remember at this point)

Arch-Deacon Kaefor Lamaar
-Manages the wealth, assets and property of the Aurelius sector. Each Imperial planet in the Aurelius sector has its own Cardinal in various shades of competency, but the Deacons have slowly been getting replaced by those sympathetic to the heresy of the Temple Tendency [or just see it as an opportunity to loot the sector whilst getting to wear a funny hat]. Actually has a well-loved portrait of Goge Vandire in his personal chambers.
-Is desperately trying to revive the good old days where the Frateris Templar could issue power fields, power weapons and heavy weapons as standard for line infantry. Whilst that is currently not possible, his enforcers do larp as Templars. It also may be possible later, if he happens to discover some Frateris Templar hulks destroyed in warp storms dating back to the Age of Apostasy. Because nothing can go wrong with mass-adopting archaeotech that has spent 4000 years in the warp
-Numerous nobles from neighbouring agri-worlds, hive worlds and imperial worlds have thrown in their lot with him in the mistaken belief they'll share power in the future.
-The feral worlds and feudal worlders are stubborn though. Nothing arco-flagellation can't fix
-The forge worlds are defiant. Unleash the weapons of mass malfunction
-"Good morning I hate Sororitas"
-Is pretty good at hiding his heresy to the point where in between the "emergency militias" and "old saints holidays" most citizens are not aware they are embracing a heresy by donating to the good cause of the Temple of the Saviour-Emperor Church of the Emperor-Redeemer

Some Arbites chief
-I am the law
-Lol nvm not really I'm corrupt and went to the schola with Kaefor Lamaar
-*sips amasec* yeah we go way back anyways please surrender

Magos Divinatus Octus, Alchemys specialisation
-Is interested in vacating most of Erebuni. Owed the Ordo Hereticus a favour but now they're even.
-Really likes minerals. Overseeing the Mechanicus's withdrawal from Erebuni.
-Missing. Last seen meeting Inquisitor Xavier Mordaunt

Logis Philikos Skille of the Divisio Investigatus
-Sect leader of the Cult of Gellar
-Faith is motion. Fire is change. The Omnissiah is immaterial made material.
-Praise the Machine-Emperor of mankind
-Has two maniples of Skitarii, two squadrons of heavy servitors, not counting the dozens of tech-priests dotted around the planet (of those that live)
-"They will call me heretic, they will call me apostate - then they will call me saint-savant."
-how the FUCK do holy magnets work

Inquisitor Xavier Mordaunt, Ordo Hereticus
-"I think I know who is supporting the Lord Governor"
-Disappears before saying who is supporting the Lord Governor

Inquisitor Gosvinger Brunhilde, Ordo Xenos
-Is fucking with the planet behind the scenes. Players never heard of her
-Players probably never will
-Lord Governor has a letter written in cipher from her though

The Order of the Furious Angel
-The deeply under-strength, barely mission-capable garrison of SOBs who descend from the Order of the Valorous Heart. Half of their militant branch are sisters repentia, whilst they have enough for a 15 sister strong squad of SOBs and 5 Seraphim. Thoroughly penitent for the role their order played in supporting Goge Vandire long ago. They also have 103 initiaties/non-combat members, one servitor and one rhino.

Oxforn 4th Light Infantry, "The Emperor's Ladybugs"
-Has around 800 stormtroopers at any given moment, though only <200 are on-planet whilst the rest are deployed throughout the subsector. Mixed-gender regiment with recruitment sourcing from their home planet Oxforn, but also supplemented by whoever the Hereticus has kidnapped and put through the schola (even as hapless adults being yelled at by a drill abbot/abbess).
-Often operates alongside the Order of the Furious Angel, is basically used as the personal brigade of Inquisitor Mordaunt as he never relinquished command of them after he "requisitioned" them.
-Wears red and black carapace armour when on parade/harassing office clerks. Wears camouflage when expecting to get shot back. Wears reflective armour when expecting to get shot back by lasguns.
-Has a soft height requirement of 6ft 3. Anyone who doesn't already meet this requirement gets bigger legs attached in the event of serious leg injury. Bigger legs and promotions are often awarded as a reward for exemplary service; much talk is given of "earning one's legs."

Interplanetary Crime Boss
-To be named
-Possible ties to chartist captains. Might be one themself. It's time to loot and shoot baby

Space banker
-Space banking is not heresy it says here in this specific clause of this book

The Emperor-Fearing underhive gangers of this particular streetcode
-Devout worshippers of the Emperor
-Has strong opinions on Imperial religion and why the Ecclesiarchy sucks
-Can't read words, can read numbers and signs
-Is covered in glow-in the dark and neon electro-tattoos depicting holy iconography and saints
-Glow in the dark tattoos provide benefits in finding mates in nightclubs. Do not provide tactical benefits in combat

Amaranthine Wastes

The vampire
-No facial features, just smooth skin where its nose/eyes/brows/ears/mouth/hair should be. Eyes in its hands. Floats towards you. You float towards it. It begins eating your soul. It doesn't want to, but it can't stop now. Run. Run. Run.

The merry band of highly pious beastmen and abhumans
-One tribe of winged minotauroids who speak in Age of Mythology quotes.
-One horde of centauroids who get drunk and go real fast.
-One tribe of bog-dwelling reptiloids who collect essence by devouring their foes.
-One tribe of wyrdling minor-witches who see the future and in every future the vampire is eating them.
-Each of them fearfully and devoutly worships the Emperor and believes they have failed by being mutants. Seeks redemption, and is praying for the Emperor's angels to deliver them from the vampire.

Julistan Kine the Shepherd
-His body is covered in marks of Chaos, and his head is studded with a crown of horns.
-He does not know much about his childhood.
-He taught himself how to read and interpret the Ecclesiarchy's divine canon.
-Believes everyone is capable of actual redemption and salvation.
-Ritually burns away the marks of chaos with a red-hot brand of the aquila.
-The marks of chaos always grow back as his body is fast-regenerating.
-He has tried killing himself before. He always comes back.

The Feudal Principalities
-Idk yet. Lots of potential for Knightly orders, bishops and missionaries who haven't taken a side yet, Princes and merchants, Kings and nobles, flagellants and cargo-cult engineers trying to appease the machine spirit of a trebuchet. Also Cletus.

The Dark Eldar
-Just vibing. Honestly unstoppable unless they accidentally fly into a flak-cannon servitor

The nids
-We are in your ocean becoming your fish

[Grim Portent]

For the feudal principalities I have a suggestion for a knightly order, based on an idea I have for a space marine chapter but with some tweaks to make them more suited for this purpose. Basic idea for the chapter was Welsh Black Templars, so essentially Welsh stereotypical heroic knights.


The Knights of the Red Dragon. Late feudal period ornate plate, barded versions of whatever the locals use as horses as their preferred mounts. Welsh or Welsh-like names, green and white livery with a red dragon on it. Favour fighting on foot with two handed weapons, generally either greatswords or halberds, or going for lance wielding heavy cavalry. Always wear an arming sword as a sidearm. Genuinely quite good people, but rather hidebound to a code of honour that can work against them in actual warfare, and kind of bad at ruling over their subjects in a laissez faire way. The order numbers a few hundred, plus miscellaneous peasants and mercenaries who serve the knights. The knights are notionally all equal, but in practice the majority leave all leadership and administration to the order's 7 paragons, who each embody a traditional Christian morality style virtue, though are also each struggling with a vice. Chastity, humility and lust and pride and so on. They are mostly no more enthused about governance than the rest of the order, but they recognise it as their duty to set a good example for the others.

In large battles they tend to have a small number of knights spread out among the infantry to serve as leaders, while the rest of the order divide into cavalry formations. For smaller battles with few of their levies and mercenaries they either all go on foot or all go mounted with the knights spearheading the assault and driving straight into the enemy. Outside of conflict they spend a lot of time hunting local animals or criminals, leaving the commoners of their lands to their own devices. A lot of them don't even bother to appoint reeves or bailiffs to do things like enforce local laws or collect taxes, so disinterested are they in governance. That peasants will sometimes waylay a knight in order to get them to actually pass judgement over a legal matter, duty dictates the knights must govern when asked, but they try to avoid it in favour of travel.

The name comes from a mythical battle long ago where a knight fought and defeated a dragon of crimson hue,* and was rewarded with lands and the right to create his own order of knights, taking his closest and most trustworthy friends to join him. To join a knight has to prove himself a stalwart ally to an existing knight.

They hold council outdoors, in a circle of standing stones in the hills near their primary fortress, in the center of which is a large carved stone platform depicting the local interpretation of the God Emperor with a host of knights kneeling around him, though much of the detail has been lost to time and an ever spreading carpet of moss and lichen. Most of the time when the council meets it consists of only a dozen or so knights, the 7 paragons who are the de facto leaders and any other knights who happened to be nearby and felt like popping in. When the council is being convened for a matter like war or to slay local megafauna it is not unusual for the bulk of the order to arrive.


The Order is pretty in favour of the Sororitas based on what they have heard. Killing witches, slaying enemy champions, hunting the corrupt and wicked. It's all very romantic isn't it?

*Possibly just a random monster, a mutant, a war machine, or a daemon.

[Loud Whispers]

For the feudal principalities I have a suggestion for a knightly order, based on an idea I have for a space marine chapter but with some tweaks to make them more suited for this purpose. Basic idea for the chapter was Welsh Black Templars, so essentially Welsh stereotypical heroic knights.

The Knights of the Red Dragon. Late feudal period ornate plate, barded versions of whatever the locals use as horses as their preferred mounts. Welsh or Welsh-like names, green and white livery with a red dragon on it. Favour fighting on foot with two handed weapons, generally either greatswords or halberds, or going for lance wielding heavy cavalry. Always wear an arming sword as a sidearm. Genuinely quite good people, but rather hidebound to a code of honour that can work against them in actual warfare, and kind of bad at ruling over their subjects in a laissez faire way. The order numbers a few hundred, plus miscellaneous peasants and mercenaries who serve the knights. The knights are notionally all equal, but in practice the majority leave all leadership and administration to the order's 7 paragons, who each embody a traditional Christian morality style virtue, though are also each struggling with a vice. Chastity, humility and lust and pride and so on. They are mostly no more enthused about governance than the rest of the order, but they recognise it as their duty to set a good example for the others.

In large battles they tend to have a small number of knights spread out among the infantry to serve as leaders, while the rest of the order divide into cavalry formations. For smaller battles with few of their levies and mercenaries they either all go on foot or all go mounted with the knights spearheading the assault and driving straight into the enemy. Outside of conflict they spend a lot of time hunting local animals or criminals, leaving the commoners of their lands to their own devices. A lot of them don't even bother to appoint reeves or bailiffs to do things like enforce local laws or collect taxes, so disinterested are they in governance. That peasants will sometimes waylay a knight in order to get them to actually pass judgement over a legal matter, duty dictates the knights must govern when asked, but they try to avoid it in favour of travel.

The name comes from a mythical battle long ago where a knight fought and defeated a dragon of crimson hue,* and was rewarded with lands and the right to create his own order of knights, taking his closest and most trustworthy friends to join him. To join a knight has to prove himself a stalwart ally to an existing knight.

They hold council outdoors, in a circle of standing stones in the hills near their primary fortress, in the center of which is a large carved stone platform depicting the local interpretation of the God Emperor with a host of knights kneeling around him, though much of the detail has been lost to time and an ever spreading carpet of moss and lichen. Most of the time when the council meets it consists of only a dozen or so knights, the 7 paragons who are the de facto leaders and any other knights who happened to be nearby and felt like popping in. When the council is being convened for a matter like war or to slay local megafauna it is not unusual for the bulk of the order to arrive.


The Order is pretty in favour of the Sororitas based on what they have heard. Killing witches, slaying enemy champions, hunting the corrupt and wicked. It's all very romantic isn't it?

*Possibly just a random monster, a mutant, a war machine, or a daemon.

So I totally misread this and thought you were talking about a Knightly order of space marines and accidentally did some worldbuilding for it. I can probably recycle it into other stuff though at this point so I'll just post it here so you guys can use it too

The Knights of the Red Dragon (Space Marines)

Some rudimentary maths says horses can comfortably carry an extra 20% of their own body weight on their backs. Space marines in armour can reach 400-1,000kg of weight according to Deathwatch anyways. Heavyset big boy weighed 1,500 kg of absolute unit mass. Assuming 40,000 years of dark technology, growth-hormones, muscle-transplants and such can buff that up 500kg we get a comfortable carrying capacity of 20% of 2,000kg for 400kg. Enough to carry a scout marine but not yet enough to carry most marines with their equipment. But top-grade bionics typically add double strength (quite literally adds and then doubles strength in the rulebooks) which can push us into the 800-1000kg territory.

But even the heavily-augmented horse may struggle with fully-kitted out space marines, especially if it has to reach combat speeds - not just "carry" the space marine at a comfortable trot. Maybe this results in the space marines doing funny stuff with their power armour, e.g. slimming it down ever so lightly (-1 armour protection) and producing a tendency to use ammunition light precision rifles, light bolt pistols or an abundance of melee weapons to cut down on unnecessary weight. With much love given to the rarely seen power claymores, halberds and spears.

Could just bypass this issue completely by using a xenobreed OC species, like riding on hypogryphs or giant salamanders. But there's something to be said about the dumb cool gothic factor of having 8ft tall horses with bionic augments and glowing red/green eyes and a deeply violent temperament that are nigh-immune to small arms fire. Slimming down their power armour also adds more flavour; the Mechanicus probably enjoys shaving bits off of power armour as much as I enjoy listening to metal screeching on glass, so a lot of their work is either done by some seriously masochistic tech-priests who get sent to work with the Knights Red as a punishment post (you're getting sent to space Brazil) or it's done by their own techmarines. I don't think shaving any power armour off would give any buffs to speed or agility as such; the only real "buff" I can think it would provide would be the ability to walk on some hive walkways/staircases without utterly destroying them from sheer bodacious mass. [It is a secret joy of mine whenever writers remember space marines are designed for fighting zero G situations. Not walking on flimsy mezzanines and wooden staircases and they go plummeting down].

-Led by a chapter master with some suitably Arthurian name. Could literally be Uther Pendragon, maybe "Pendragon" is the chapter master title. Rules over a feudal world where xeno-dragons fly about burninating the countryside.
-Favours fighting on horseback. Technically codex-compliant, but as codex chapters are allowed any number of scout companies, they have a core of "heavy cavalry" whilst their scout companies form large formations of "light cavalry."
-Modified their strike cruisers to be faster and lighter armoured. Modified their power armour to be lighter. Highly chivalrous, worshipping the Emperor as a chivalric ideal sovereign instead of following the Imperial Creed. Possesses a high quantity of power glaives, halbers, spears and two-handed power claymores.
-PIPES
-With their Knightly quest for perfection and weird modifications they do to their wargear and ships, could be White Scars or Emperor's Children successor. -Normally not a big fan of the whole "ooo la di da we are loyalist traitor successors." It's cool but if everyone does it it stops being cool. However it does fit thematically the whole Arthurian dance between what a Knight should do vs "that's a bad idea however" leading to stuff like Mordred or the Lancelot Heresy
Probably makes use of cyber-mastiffs and hunting horns. To mixed results

Don't know if I'll actually use these guys, but it is a neat idea. It's kinda surprising we have space marines with lances riding motorcycles, space marines with swords riding wolves or juggernauts of khorne, but not a single one of spess mahrins riding horses

The Knights Redcurrant - Imperial Knight version of the Red Dragon Knights
Cranberry juice flavoured Imperial Knights. Idk much about Knight lore or if it makes sense for a bunch of them to be bing qiling around a feudal principality next to a hive but if it is, it's a cool addition. I could potentially even give my players one each and have a massed knight-sentinel duel... But need to read more about them. Haven't even read the wiki pages yet.

The Red Dragon Knights / Knights of the Red Dragon (normal dude version)
Basically copied wholesale from your order. Your concept is perfect, the only thing I would add is give them a status similar to Imperial Knights where since ancient times they swore fealty to the Emperor directly and to this day serve the Emperor of mankind directly, giving them a unique political status that makes them terribly annoying to deal with if you're a Hive noble or an administratum tithe collector. I like to imagine in order to keep enforcing their special status, these Knights sometimes send their proteges and successors to go on a pilgrimage to swear fealty to the Emperor directly. Also gives more excuse to have Knights in feudal plate armour show up on other planets with some very confused hive worlders/station men. Do they ride xeno-dragons?

The Cargo Cult Tech-Priests
Started off as a joke but I love the idea of these guys more and more. Appeasing the machine spirit of a trebuchet, waterwheel, lathes, forges or weaving looms. Regular prosthetics + regular prosthetic additions. Built-in black powder weapons & stake launchers. Simple optics made from hand-cut lenses of crystal. Spends days coming up with mathemechanical equations. The actual adeptus mechanicus is divided about these enthusiastic peasants who live by the cult of Mars's tenets but don't have much in the way of mechanical augmentations to speak of. I imagine the cargo-cult of Mars is also similarly divided, unsure whether to accept the authority of Mars or not, or unsure if the cult of Mars is even the same religion that they worship...?
I like to imagine that it may come as some consternation if the cargo-cult of Mars can produce some serious technomagical savants (if they produce an optic capable of seeing warp-ghosts is that tech-heresy if they're not technically using technology?) or mathemechanical geniuses without any augmentations (it's a bad look if you keep saying the flesh is weak but then flesh brain over there just disproved your theorem).

*EDIT
I just realised as well some void shield lore has it that they don't work if the projectiles are slow enough. There is a world where bows, arrows, crossbows, trebuchets... Defeat void shields. Tech priests of Mars defeated by the true heirs of technology once again

[Grim Portent]

Another idea would be what I am provisionally calling the 'Brethren of the Sword at Rest,' a group of monks drawn from the rare crusader native to the planet who is lucky (or unlucky) enough not to be martyred in the Emperor's service before becoming too old to contribute to their House in combat, and so have chosen to live their remaining lives in quiet contemplation and meditation, spending their time copying religious texts, gardening, farming, brewing alcohol. Medieval monk stuff.

Perhaps having them be a subgroup of one of the Crusader Houses would be sensible, in this case one that draws from this planet and nearby ones for it's membership. The Brotherhood of the His Celestial Might might be a good name. Loyal to the Ordo Malleus rather than the Hereticus, and distributes crusaders to join military crusades against the Great Enemy or serve in Inquisitorial retinues and fortresses.

As they have been exposed to life off-world, they are less technologically hidebound than their planetary peers, and some still have bits of their gear from their time as active warriors. A power weapon here, a bit of their carapace armour that stopped a shot that should have been deadly there, a suppression shield or two. Enough to equip maybe five or so warriors fully with some bits left over, though all the members are getting to be a bit geriatric, as they are retired from active service, even the ones with bionic limbs and organs. A smattering of the Brethren even have Pure Faith, and the ability to perform minor miracles, the result of testing their piety against Daemons and coming out reaffirmed rather than doubting.

The Brethren don't have any way to communicate with their spaceborne brothers and sisters who are still active combatants, but in theory if you could get the abbot of their monastery to a form of communication he could send word to the rest of their order who are headquartered in the same subsector and could send reinforcements after a few months, if the situation lasts that long.

The Abbot himself, Abbott Peregrinus Armet, is over a century old having spent his life in service to the Ordo Malleus and even facing down a daemonic Herald in single combat to defend his Inquisitor while he performed rites of banishment, though he will not openly speak of daemons to those not alread aware of their existence. His long service has left him with some mental scars, and his flesh has withered from exposure to the corrupting influence of the Warp, pockmarked with malign stigmata that embody his sacrifice in the name of expelling the forces of the Ruinous Powers. He is physically frail due to a lack of rejuvenat treatments in his retirement, but his martial skills remain incredible and his faith unshaken. His rank endows him with the right to appoint new aspirants to join his brethren in their offworld fortress, to live in spiritual and martial service to His glory, though most aspirants spend some many months or even years in the monastery training with mundane weaponry while awaiting the arrival of a transport to ferry them to their new life.

[Loud Whispers]

Whelp. Looks like one of my players is leaving the country for a month the same day I get back home so all this prep might only see a day of play in September. RIP, it's been fun worldbuilding with you lmao
For what it's worth I love your crusader idea. I've kept in character knowledge/experience of things like power weapons and daemons rare to the point where no one's encountered one yet, so it'd be pretty cool for them to run into someone who has a bit of everything. Could even have them all in the same room in a formal cocktail party where all of the Hive's various stakeholders can talk things out, have a nice moment of friendliness before all the ensuing sessions end in assassinations and warfare. If I could even run a session ;-;

So throwing campaign building out of a window, what do you guys think are the oddest careers in 40k possible? Stuff that is just so specific but likely to fill a serious need, made possible by all the weird social structures and technology in 40k. I got inspired after reading up on MSH's space economics post again and reading in the inquisitor's handbook about some dudes who ran a private enterprise fulfilling people's "last wishes."

These last wish caretakers would take someone, either dead or on their deathbed, and place them in stasis aboard their special little frigate. Their frigate was custom designed so that it only required a crew of 5 or so people, with the rest of the space often being exposed to space itself. They would then fly over to the home where someone requested to be buried/spend their last few days, pick up any new "passengers" and then be on their merry way to the next destination.

Asteroid miners. Plasma harvesters. Gas cloud void whale tamers. Underhive sewer rangers. Official Hive Tourist Guide^TM. Holovid game designers? There must be a businessman somewhere who's still funding the production of the cup and ball on string. Are remembrancer-descendents still running record services for civilian consumption? Does a war economy still allow for the existence of counselors and psychs?

*EDIT
Imagine meeting a guy with a chainaxe. But he's not a warrior or something. Literally a lumberjack
*EDITx2
Now that I think about it, it would be neat if mechanically chainswords had some little rule to represent "digging in" with the chainsword. Unlike a power weapon a chainsword doesn't need to be swung very hard at the enemy, just a contact is enough to get the teeth going. Maybe if you hit once your next hit auto succeeds?

[Loud Whispers]

Ah fuck. My missing player just levelled with me and was all "yeah sorry I've been ghosting you for the last few weeks I'm basically falling apart." lmao I appreciate the honesty and all but I wish I was there to give him a hug, poor bastard's been getting 2 hours of sleep a day, works in a hospital and most of his friends think he's just exaggerating how destroyed he is because he always presents a strong public image. Thanks for everyone ITT for helping brainstorm stuff especially you Grim Portent but sometimes you have to football punt your gameplans out the window because it's better to be a fail GM than a fail friend. Dude would seriously push ahead with the games despite a 200bpm tachycardia unless you told him no games cos he doesn't want to let anyone down. A good friend but times he needs to learn to be a good friend to himself ;-;

[Grim Portent]

Sorry to hear that LW, hopefully your friend gets back into a good headspace.


I've been thinking of Ranni and Blaidd from Elden Ring, and I think their dynamic could be interesting to explore as a player character or NPC duo.

Spoiler: Spoilers for the Elden Ring Ranni questline (click to show/hide)

So Blaidd is a hunter-spirit assigned to Ranni from birth by the Greater Will, the effective ubergod for the game, to serve and guard her unless she betrays the plans of the GW, at which point he is to execute her or force her back into service. Ranni's mother adopted Blaidd and raised the two as siblings, Blaidd's innate loyalty to Ranni made him her most loyal and steadfast follower as she begins to walk a path that will ultimately defy the GW. Blaidd had no intention of betraying Ranni, but as her plan comes closer to fruition his mind frays and he is overwhelmed by his nature conflicting with his own mind. Ranni, knowing it has to be done, dispatches assassins to kill him, they fail, and the player character must kill Blaidd who is still trying to deny the instinctual urge to turn on Ranni.

To portray this concept in 40k, Blaidd moreso than Ranni, I find myself thinking of Inquisitors, the Phaenonites specifically.

Short version is the Phaenonites are rogue Inquisitors (and a few Mechanicus) who have gone off the deep end of Radicalism. They view Chaos as something that can be mastered and controlled, and attempt to understand the scientific principles behind things like mutation and sorcery so they can use them as tools to conquer and reshape the Imperium to their own designs. Any weapon is acceptable, any atrocity* condoned in pursuit of the ascension of the few over the Galaxy, and maybe even over the gods themselves. Membership is secret, and being known as a member of the Phaenonites is enough to justify immediate execution regardless of status.

In Dark Heresy there is a player option to become a servant of the Phaenonites and benefit from some of their heretek augmentations. The class is called Maltek Stalker, and it's basically a vampiric assassin with a warp fuelled potentia coil** that allows the Stalker to absorb the lifeforce of those they kill with melee weaponry.

The Inquisition also has the ability to implant programned personalities, subconscious commands and so forth.


So, this gives us the pieces I need to use the basic concept. To start with we have a Phaenonite Inquisitor, we shall call them Inquisitor Crucius, we have an Interrogator (apprentice Inquisitor) serving under Crucius, we shall call them Interrogator Flavius, and we have a Maltek Stalker, who we shall call Gutter. Lastly we have the PCs, who we shall not name.

Crucius is not known to be a Phaenonite, instead still masquerading as a radical but loyal member of the Hereticus, and many of their Acolytes and even their Interrogators are not aware of this fact, gathering heretical artefacts and live mutants for experimentation under the illusion that it is for legitimate purposes. Flavius is one such innocent, spending their time chasing after various threats on Crucius' behalf, and sometimes being actively mentored by the Inquisitor in person.

Gutter, a death-cult assassin acolyte turned Maltek Stalker, one of many similar products from Crucius' dark experiments is tasked with serving alongside Flavius as a bodyguard and warrior, and has done so for decades. Flavius is a radical, willing to use the tools of the enemy to protect the Imperium, as their master purports to, but is unaware of Gutter's true nature and the sheer level of heresy inherent in their augmentations. Gutter, despite being a willing puppet of the Phaenonites grows to admire and respect Flavius for their relative integrity, mercy and charity when compared to the devious, cruel and ambitious Inquisitor, becoming more loyal to Flavius than Crucius on a conscious level. Unknown to Flavius, but known to Gutter, the assassin is programmed to kill the Interrogator if they turn on Crucius.

Then the players come in, and through the course of adventures, uncover Crucius' true nature. What they choose to do with that knowledge is of course something that cannot be foreseen. Do they side with the Phaenonite in exchange for forbidden powers? Do they seek to kill all of the Inquisitors underlings, branding them all as traitors whether they knew or not? Or do they seek to turn Flavius against Crucius, to work together to bring down the renegade? In this last tale lies the place for tragedy, as the players and Flavius work to undo the horrors of Crucius Gutter is gradually driven insane by trying to resist their programming, eventually turning on their friend and allies, the warp-fuelled cybernetics that beat where their heart once was pumping tainted blood as pure tears stream from their eyes.


*As an example, vivisecting a mutant with potent regeneration using no anaesthesia in order to study the regenerative process. See if it can regrow whole organs, grievous internal injuries, bones and so on, with the intention of trying to give this ability to thrall soldiers or even to fallen Inquisitors.

**The central augmentation that most tech priests have in their torsos to which things like mechadendrites connect. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes, but all connect to the spine and ribcage.

[Loud Whispers]

Sorry to hear that LW, hopefully your friend gets back into a good headspace.

Thanks man

I've been thinking of Ranni and Blaidd from Elden Ring, and I think their dynamic could be interesting to explore as a player character or NPC duo.

Spoiler: Spoilers for the Elden Ring Ranni questline (click to show/hide)

So Blaidd is a hunter-spirit assigned to Ranni from birth by the Greater Will, the effective ubergod for the game, to serve and guard her unless she betrays the plans of the GW, at which point he is to execute her or force her back into service. Ranni's mother adopted Blaidd and raised the two as siblings, Blaidd's innate loyalty to Ranni made him her most loyal and steadfast follower as she begins to walk a path that will ultimately defy the GW. Blaidd had no intention of betraying Ranni, but as her plan comes closer to fruition his mind frays and he is overwhelmed by his nature conflicting with his own mind. Ranni, knowing it has to be done, dispatches assassins to kill him, they fail, and the player character must kill Blaidd who is still trying to deny the instinctual urge to turn on Ranni.

My mind started breaking down as I kept reading GW as Games Workshop trying to crush Ranni for defying their will

The Inquisition also has the ability to implant programned personalities, subconscious commands and so forth.

I want to do a oneshot that is a thinly veiled excuse to run this video's premise

The players are all just regular hive civilians in the vein of "welcome to grox burgers home of the grox burger how may I starch you today" and then someone orders a Drusus Terra Phobos with a side of Sabbat and BAM
Swap out their civilian char sheet with one absolutely loaded with talents & skills and the sudden urge to:

-destroy all grox burger restaurants (the grox burgers are tainted with bloody boreworm cysts?)
-assassinate some high profile figure (known for their love of grox burger?)
-retrieve top secret grox burger lore (you think that's grox you're eating?)

Then the players come in, and through the course of adventures, uncover Crucius' true nature. What they choose to do with that knowledge is of course something that cannot be foreseen. Do they side with the Phaenonite in exchange for forbidden powers? Do they seek to kill all of the Inquisitors underlings, branding them all as traitors whether they knew or not? Or do they seek to turn Flavius against Crucius, to work together to bring down the renegade? In this last tale lies the place for tragedy, as the players and Flavius work to undo the horrors of Crucius Gutter is gradually driven insane by trying to resist their programming, eventually turning on their friend and allies, the warp-fuelled cybernetics that beat where their heart once was pumping tainted blood as pure tears stream from their eyes.

I love this kind of stuff that expands on chaos beyond the big 4.

-We have canon examples of chaos deities
-pre-war in heaven chaos deities
-the RPG books go on about how there are always minor deities popping up and going away
-there are chaos warbands like the Night Lords who worship their own chaos deitiy
-surviving Eldar gods
-weird warp-xenobeasts like enslavers, psychneuin, leviathans and the like
-actual ghosts

So you'd think people would have more fun with false saints, true saints, warp-AI hybrids, unique demons and real gothic frankenstein horror

*As an example, vivisecting a mutant with potent regeneration using no anaesthesia in order to study the regenerative process. See if it can regrow whole organs, grievous internal injuries, bones and so on, with the intention of trying to give this ability to thrall soldiers or even to fallen Inquisitors.

**The central augmentation that most tech priests have in their torsos to which things like mechadendrites connect. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes, but all connect to the spine and ribcage.

This does my head in, because I know I read somewhere there are rules for playing as a biologis tech-priest who can take on mutations/biological augmentations instead of mechanical ones, but I can't find if it's in a RT, BH, OW or DH rulebook. The damn things are built like a digital DLC library with everything compartmentalised in the least likely places. But genetors and biologis are great Dr. Frankenstein's imo.

-They're already great for faction conflict because they sit outside Mechanicus and Ecclesiastic orthodoxy, revering the human form in a way neither religion approves of.
-They can offer rejuvenation, replacement limbs, ADDITIONAL limbs and any other weird biological upgrades, or create armies of mutants. Making them great allies and foes
-Surprisingly flexible in where their moral disposition could end up. A genetor might study mutants and noble lineages, trying to "fix" the errors in their gene-code producing "corruption of sacred genetic data-code." They might align with some planetary authority and go full Sheng-Ji Yang and produce the best thing since servitors made from vat-grown meat. Vat-born servitors. They may reach a point where they have claws that tear through plasteel, multiple eyes that see many wavelengths of radiation, a body that can survive intense punishment & environmental stress, and reach a point where other authorities begin asking if it's possible to augment yourself straight into "mutant" status.

Also obligatory vain magoses who augment themselves to achieve perfect greek-god like physiques. Then way way way at the end of the tech-heresy scale, tech-priests offering any augmentations to anyone willing to fund them. Mutations, cosmetics, new-creations, experiments, all the lovely weird stuff in making zombies or "forms of life approaching omnissian ideals." Incorporating alien DNA to gain alien traits is ultra heresy, but who doesn't think about trying it at least once in a 3,000 year lifetime? I guarantee there is a dark eldar in Comorragh right now that is probably just a tech-priest biologis larping as a space elf. All his haemonculi colleagues probably know he's a mon'keigh but think the ruse is hilarious

[Grim Portent]

I love this kind of stuff that expands on chaos beyond the big 4.

-We have canon examples of chaos deities
-pre-war in heaven chaos deities
-the RPG books go on about how there are always minor deities popping up and going away
-there are chaos warbands like the Night Lords who worship their own chaos deitiy
-surviving Eldar gods
-weird warp-xenobeasts like enslavers, psychneuin, leviathans and the like
-actual ghosts

So you'd think people would have more fun with false saints, true saints, warp-AI hybrids, unique demons and real gothic frankenstein horror

On the note of minor deities, like that chap Vashtorr, who is a minor deity who actually has a model, I have an idea for a Daemon World ruled over by multiple minor gods. Dozens, perhaps hundreds or even an infinite number of barely distinct gods who blur and shift into one another because they all exist for a brief moment and also for eternity in the timeless Warp.

Not put much thought into it yet, but I'm essentially thinking of gods that are all related to ritual combat, honour duels, gladiatorial combat and so on. Obvious overlap with Slaanesh and Khorne, into whom each of them will likely eventually be subsumed, but for the brief infinity in which they exist they are gods in their own right.

Their world is in a perpetual tournament to decide which of them gets to be in charge. If it ever ends the victorious minor god gets to eat the others and ascend to a higher state of godhood, closer in stature to the Four. Because time is weird in the Warp the tournament can never end, so the ascension can't happen. Human, xenos and daemon warriors of Chaos are all invited to the world to champion one of the many small gods in the tournament in exchange for Gifts and clout. Eventually most champions either get bored and move on to pursue their own interests elsewhere or die.

If I ever get around to writing up my idea for a Black Crusade game where the players are all piloting Chaos Knights it might be something to flesh out. A great tournament against hordes of enemies and greater daemons, duelling mortals without the Knights and so on.


I also got an idea for a Genestealer Cults campaign. As in one where the players are genestealer hybrids, not one where the cult is the enemy.

Gist of the idea would be that the players are members of a fledgeling genestealer cult, which has just had it's first purestrain genestealer born. During the labour the cult was assaulted by Ordo Xenos forces seeking to purge them, the infant abomination is born and hurried away to keep it safe while the cult engages with inquisitorial stormtroopers. The players, through circumstance, are tasked with taking the purestrain and fleeing into the uncharted parts of the Underhive as the Patriarch and Magus try to drive back the Inquisition. The party escapes but the rest of the cult is either dead or taken away to be interrogated and experimented on, leaving the party to care for a flesh eating monster that they view as an angelic nephew, while facing off against mutants, gangers, law enforcement and other such groups while waiting the weeks or months* it takes for a genestealer to reach maturity so the cult can be born anew.


*How long genestealers and their hybrids take to develop isn't clear, but it's said in a few novels to be really damn fast to the point that hybrids go through pregnancy in a couple of months and the offspring mature in a handful of years. Prefer the slower growth take for cults myself, but rapid growth is an established Tyranid trait. Fluff is kind of inconsistent on the matter really, some cult fluff talks about hundreds of years of growth to have a meaningful population of genestealer hybrids, others go with decades or even less. Depends on the genre they're going for I guess, the latter is more xenomorph-esque.

[MrRoboto75]

On the note of minor deities, like that chap Vashtorr, who is a minor deity who actually has a model, I have an idea for a Daemon World ruled over by multiple minor gods. Dozens, perhaps hundreds or even an infinite number of barely distinct gods who blur and shift into one another because they all exist for a brief moment and also for eternity in the timeless Warp.

Not put much thought into it yet, but I'm essentially thinking of gods that are all related to ritual combat, honour duels, gladiatorial combat and so on. Obvious overlap with Slaanesh and Khorne, into whom each of them will likely eventually be subsumed, but for the brief infinity in which they exist they are gods in their own right.

Their world is in a perpetual tournament to decide which of them gets to be in charge. If it ever ends the victorious minor god gets to eat the others and ascend to a higher state of godhood, closer in stature to the Four. Because time is weird in the Warp the tournament can never end, so the ascension can't happen. Human, xenos and daemon warriors of Chaos are all invited to the world to champion one of the many small gods in the tournament in exchange for Gifts and clout. Eventually most champions either get bored and move on to pursue their own interests elsewhere or die.

Long lost warhammer 40k 90's arcade fighting game

[pisskop]

Khorne and Slaanesh are exactly the kind of people to hold a tournament too.

[Egan_BW]

There's only one way to settle our differences! A TOURNAMENT ARC!!!!

Tzeench facepalms and delays his Plans another couple decades.