Olis Posted February 27, 2016 Share Posted February 27, 2016 Spotted this in my news feed - an illustration of The Rock by David Sondered (from the Curse of the Wulfen book). This is the full version of the image. I figured that, of all the members of B&C, those of the Dark Angels subforum would probably appreciate it the most (or, well, talk about it the most, at least). So, brothers, have at it. What do you think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark_Master Posted February 27, 2016 Share Posted February 27, 2016 So, brothers, have at it. What do you think? Nice find! Hmmm, 1st - More spaceshippy than I had imagined, I thought it would be more Ramillies Space Fort. 2nd - Wow how big? There are Retribution Class Battle ships in that picture, and they are tiny in comparison! DM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aura_enchanted Posted February 27, 2016 Share Posted February 27, 2016 So, brothers, have at it. What do you think? Nice find! Hmmm, 1st - More spaceshippy than I had imagined, I thought it would be more Ramillies Space Fort. 2nd - Wow how big? There are Retribution Class Battle ships in that picture, and they are tiny in comparison! DM honestly i pictured it more like a giant floating building on top of an asteroid over say a flying space rock. sort of like the phalanx only buried into a giant chunk of rock http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/warhammer40k/images/8/8d/Wallpaper-phalanx.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20120312181150 the only way i can think of it being so is if the rock turns on its side to warp transition and really the "top" of the rock is technically still coming out of warpspace in the picture Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Rohr Posted February 27, 2016 Share Posted February 27, 2016 That's an awful lot of ships for a thousand marines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olis Posted February 27, 2016 Author Share Posted February 27, 2016 honestly i pictured it more like a giant floating building on top of an asteroid over say a flying space rock. sort of like the phalanx only buried into a giant chunk of rock What, you mean like this? http://41.media.tumblr.com/e5389a924e4f14b0d4082a5972e58b94/tumblr_o0i0zfAVVk1ummjd5o1_1280.jpg Yeah, I think the size of it was retconned, given that David was given the brief of "Continent sized". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rendingon1+ Posted February 27, 2016 Share Posted February 27, 2016 1. The Rock looks like Hiveship. 2. Scale/prspective is terribly off - look at the size of these thunderhawks (facepalm) 3. Can someone explain to me these hundreds of strike crusiers? This art is mega embarrasing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olis Posted February 27, 2016 Author Share Posted February 27, 2016 2. Scale/prspective is terribly off - look at the size of these thunderhawks (facepalm) You do realise those Thunderhawks are in the foreground, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rendingon1+ Posted February 27, 2016 Share Posted February 27, 2016 No, I don't. Strike cruisers in the corner are, not thunderhwks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olis Posted February 27, 2016 Author Share Posted February 27, 2016 No, I don't. Strike cruisers in the corner are, not thunderhwks. How exactly do you figure that the Thunderhawks are not in the foreground? The plume from their engines aren't overlapped by the cruisers... nor by anything else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark_Master Posted February 27, 2016 Share Posted February 27, 2016 No, I don't. Strike cruisers in the corner are, not thunderhwks. Well they're not cruisers, look like a heavily modified Dauntless light cruiser and a Sword Class frigate, I would argue the Thunderhawks are more in the foreground than them. DM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark_Master Posted February 27, 2016 Share Posted February 27, 2016 That's an awful lot of ships for a thousand marines. Yeah, the more I look at the Rock, the more I think "you could hide a legion in there" DM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grand Master Belial Posted February 27, 2016 Share Posted February 27, 2016 honestly i pictured it more like a giant floating building on top of an asteroid over say a flying space rock. sort of like the phalanx only buried into a giant chunk of rock the only way i can think of it being so is if the rock turns on its side to warp transition and really the "top" of the rock is technically still coming out of warpspace in the picture I imagined Atlantis from Stargate Atlantis when you said that. I also thought it would be more rounded since it was protected by a planetary void shield when the planet went Ka-Boom! At most, I would have thought the rock would be roughly the size of Ireland or Tasmania. That picture makes it look like the whole of Europe and the connected land mass of Asia survived! Way more space than the guessed at size of the original Legion needs to live and train. Something that size could never escape the scrutiny of the Inquisition and alleged legion building. In the lighter side, it would explain the sudden emergence of the Consecrators. It would take several millenia to build the trans-continental subway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dalleron Posted February 27, 2016 Share Posted February 27, 2016 It's definitely not what I had in mind. I was thinking more along the lines of what Olis posted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knight of the Raven Posted February 27, 2016 Share Posted February 27, 2016 That thing is going to wreak havoc on Fenris with its gravitational pull! Sure, for Fenrisians it's just Tuesday, but still. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doctor Perils Posted February 27, 2016 Share Posted February 27, 2016 That thing is going to wreak havoc on Fenris with its gravitational pull! Sure, for Fenrisians it's just Tuesday, but still. "This must be tuesday. I never could get the hand of tuesdays." For a non-dark angel, that looks nice at first glance. I like the way they've tried to make it look like a sword, but it's probably too obvious. And how on Earth (or Caliban) could you make that stand upright without it collapsing in on itself ??? The vents a the summit make it look a bit like a goofy hive ship, but otherwise it doesn't look too bad. No, I don't. Strike cruisers in the corner are, not thunderhwks. How exactly do you figure that the Thunderhawks are not in the foreground? The plume from their engines aren't overlapped by the cruisers... nor by anything else. Yeah, the thunderhawks are leaving the cruisers. Do we know if this is supposed to be only the DA fleet, or all Unforgiven, or the main chapters that banded up against fenris, or is there also an imperial navy contingent ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaplain Lucifer Posted February 27, 2016 Share Posted February 27, 2016 I see a Disciples of Caliban cruiser so it's not only DA but also some successors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knight of the Raven Posted February 27, 2016 Share Posted February 27, 2016 I can't spot that one, but I do see a ship with a crossed swords symbol at the top... Guardians of the Covenant, I think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olis Posted February 27, 2016 Author Share Posted February 27, 2016 Anyone else notice that the curve of the 'prow' is just shallow enough that it's actually not a funny cigar-shape but, really, a saucer-shape (as one might expect from a vessel crafted from the crust of a planet)? Not only is the Rock long... but it's also incredibly wide, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaSY Posted February 27, 2016 Share Posted February 27, 2016 Which one is the Disciples' ship? Can others identify other chapter fleet in the pic? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark Rage Posted February 27, 2016 Share Posted February 27, 2016 It looks like a bunch of the successors, could be wrong though I have no idea how the DA decorate their fleets, the rock reminds me of the arcadia coming out of a jump without the big skull and crossbones (Space Pirate Captain Harlock reference) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Rohr Posted February 27, 2016 Share Posted February 27, 2016 Anyone else notice that the curve of the 'prow' is just shallow enough that it's actually not a funny cigar-shape but, really, a saucer-shape (as one might expect from a vessel crafted from the crust of a planet)? Not only is the Rock long... but it's also incredibly wide, too. Some would say that the width of the continent sized space ship is more important than the length. That's just what I hear though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conn Eremon Posted February 27, 2016 Share Posted February 27, 2016 Hot damn. I've always imagined it more like that second image, but I do like this re-imagining. It does still fit, I don't think it's much of a retcon. Considering the size of the ships near it, and the scale of the planet, I'd say "Ireland-sized" is still roughly accurate. I mean, if each of those tiny specks are Strike Cruisers (4 km), and even if I want to exaggerate and say they're only 1% the length of the Rock, that's short of Ireland's length (486 km). Even if they're battle-barges, it'd still fall far short of, say, Great Britain. Maybe half the size of my home of California. As for the void shields that had protected it, we don't really know the full extent of what those shields were. It would stand to reason that their protective field is a sphere, but Caliban was not simply atomized. There were a lot of chunks of it, the Rock being one of them. All the shields had to do was protect the structures, not the earth itself. The shattered piece with the protected fortresses could have been any size. It could have been even bigger ten thousand years ago, because I'm sure it wasn't exactly the stable monstrosity we see today right after Caliban's destruction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phoebus Posted February 27, 2016 Share Posted February 27, 2016 I don't have a problem with this depiction of the Rock. Like most people, I assumed the Rock was more like the second picture Olis posted, but is there really a definitive description regarding the size and shape of the Rock? Subjectively speaking, I think Sondered's take on the Rock is very powerful. It really looks like something that could, as advertised, take on entire fleets. The warp storm crackling about it looks great, as well. Regarding the size of the Rock as shown here, and the number of ships surrounding it? Well, there are a couple of ways to look at this. One is to apply the "It's all canon and none of it is" rule, and accept that the Rock is simply gargantuan even by Warhammer 40k standards... and that the "official" size of the Dark Angels' Chapter fleet (as shown in the Codex) is a lie that conceals a tremendous force. The other is that this is an imperfect, idealized image that can't be reconciled with what we "know" about the Dark Angels. Speaking for myself? I don't have a problem with what Sondered has illustrated. I gave his illustration a somewhat thorough look, and there appear to be more than a hundred other discernible silhouettes, perhaps even two hundred. That might sounds extreme, but hear me out. There is no reason to assume that all those silhouettes correspond with battle barges or strike cruisers. Aside from those capital ships, we also have to account for escort vessels. And beyond those, there are a number of attendant vessels that would follow the Rock: tugs, supply vessels, monitors, landers, etc. Those alone could easily account for the many ships Sondered shows alongside the fortress-monastery. Really, the most glaring potential error that I can think of where this illustration is concerned is that there would appear to be seventeen battle-barges present - of the standard profile we are all familiar with. Codex: Dark Angels states the Chapter fleet only possesses eight such vessels. Even that can be explained one way or another, though. I haven't read the book in question, but - as others have mentioned - the Dark Angels appear to have had vessels from other Unforgiven Chapters seconded to them in anticipation of this cataclysmic campaign. The other might be that, even taking into account these reinforcements, the numbers shown in Codex: Dark Angels are just wrong. Given that Codex: Space Wolves has that Chapter in possession of eight "spare" battle barges, more than thirty strike cruisers, and more than one hundred and twenty escort vessels, either answer might be valid. After all, if one First Founding Chapter has a fleet that large, perhaps no one would bat an eye if the Dark Angels did as well. That's an awful lot of ships for a thousand marines. Yeah, the more I look at the Rock, the more I think "you could hide a legion in there"DM Considering the Rock predates the Second Founding... it better be able to! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaplain Raeven Posted February 28, 2016 Share Posted February 28, 2016 My initial view of the rock looks more like the second picture, but I must say that new illustration looks epic. Must have been one hell of a fortress monastery for spanning the size of a continent. No wonder they can't find the Lion hidden in there! Wasn't there a piece of fluff in the codex that said that the DA are still expanding their base within the rock? This would explain why they are still expanding after 100 centuries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Blaire Posted February 28, 2016 Share Posted February 28, 2016 Why do people keep saying continent? It doesn't appear to be that large as depicted to me. I'd agree with Conn's estimate that it is likely just smaller than the size of Ireland, which isn't small, mind, but not "all of Europe". The perspective is distorted some, and they can't be emerging that close to the planet (unless it is a lot smaller than a planet should be) or the Rock won't even have time to decelerate from where it emerged and it will just crash into the planet anyway. It's a neat picture, a little flatter than I imagined, but it works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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