Black Book - Insurrection (PUBLISHED)

[simison]

The Iron Bears' Exemplary Battle has been submitted to Grifft, which brings them back to Alpha-Compliant. 

 

That leaves just the Drowned Exemplary Battles, one of which is already done and another started. 

 

We are a battle and a half away from completing Insurrection Alpha Phase!

[Nomus Sardauk]

We are a battle and a half away from completing Insurrection Alpha Phase!

This calls for a party! :D

http://www.reactiongifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/crazy-celebration.gif

[bluntblade]

The Drowned's battle needs fiddling with. Will do that now

[bluntblade]

Thinking Death of the Bear - I reckon Ajaway should claim a major scalp, and the Godslayers should themselves take down a Lord Chief, perhaps destroy a Tribe flagship.

[simison]

I've finished the rough draft for the Drowned's second exemplary battle. One more to go.

[bluntblade]

Will try and let you know if inspiration strikes

[simison]

I was thinking something along the lines to hint at the corruption growing within the Drowned, late Crusade. Maybe a brief glance at one of the Forlorn which is being tested as a weapon.

[bluntblade]

I need to read up on the Forlorn

[simison]

Besides the Drowned's last exemplary battle, is there anything of note that needs to be fixed or finished in Alpha Phase?

[simison]

I just uploaded the entire Drowned fluff chapter (including Blunt's Styxian Pragmatism which I threw in as a potential red box), and it's been two days since I sent out the query of remaining material. 

 

I am declaring the Drowned to be finished with Alpha Phase, which means Insurrection is now finished with Alpha Phase. 

[bluntblade]

You mean I missed the party?

[simison]

You mean I missed the party?

 

*flings confetti*

 

Better?

[bluntblade]

 

You mean I missed the party?

 

 

*flings confetti*

 

Better?

Sort of. It's 35•C here and I'm running a temperature, so currently catching up on BotL stuff

[simison]

 

 

You mean I missed the party?

 

*flings confetti*

 

Better?

Sort of. It's 35•C here and I'm running a temperature, so currently catching up on BotL stuff

 

 

Can't say for the outside temperature, but I've caught a bug too.

[bluntblade]

Hope you get better soon. I'm pretty much back to fighting fitness, with a few story ideas and some fluff for Legio Auris (sworn to the Bears) to show for yesterday's downtime.

[bluntblade]

To be added to Death of the Bear. I'll work out exactly where once I get home:

 

While the Grave Stalkers largely refrained from boarding actions, it is clear from data-logs that when they did commit, the targets were typically the Titans and Knights allied to the Iron Bears. On those ships that berthed these engines the Grave Stalkers came for the bridge crews and vital systems, either in bleak silence or depraved shrieking. The disorder among the Iron Bears intensified as ships they sought to guard fell silent and unresponsive. Counter-attacks were attempted, but by the second hour only two Titan-carriers and a House August conveyer had been retrieved, and the most that the Bears could hope to achieve was blasting apart the remainder and denying them to the foe.

 

Foulest of all, on one Legio Auris vessel the Grave Stalkers captain aboard fled a counter-attack into the bowels of the ship. Activating a cluster of vortex grenades, he and his retinue caused an engine-breach which scoured the ship’s insides, killing thousands and condemning a proud War Maniple to ignominious death. In a hundred such atrocities, the Grave Stalkers inflicted destruction which far exceeded their numbers.

[bluntblade]

And stuff to be worked into the aftermath section:

 

Of the 153 Titans that Auris boasted, scarcely half survived to stand against the Traitors. It is reckoned that another 20 were claimed as war spoil by the Traitors and given over to the Legio Mortis, who had long despised them. It is unknown whether they were offered first to the Godslayers, but Kharkovic’s writings make clear his distaste. A handful of Knights from Houses August and Blintrubas were also seized, some along with their pilots. These warriors might have hoped for death, but at the hands of the Grave Stalkers they were denied any mercy. Instead they were handed to the Magos of Cycloranthe, who took relish in breaking those who had enjoyed such exceptional status. Broken in body and mind, they became the Hollow Knights, enslaved to those who had murdered their kinsmen. They became a source of rage and anguish to the remaining Knights and the Iron Bears, who vowed to end this abomination and punish those responsible.

 

Those remembrancers who captured alive (none survived on those ships taken solely by the Grave Stalkers) were offered liberty within Icarion’s realm in return for service in the propaganda machine of the Insurrectionists. A small number accepted, but even among these a morbid tone pervaded much of their work, making it “unsuitable”. Hundreds more chose death over betrayal or were driven to madness or suicide by what they had experienced. Their experience was mirrored by those who escaped to Loyalist space, and the difference in their output prior to and after the Day of Revelation is tangible in almost every remembrancer’s body of work. It behoves me to add that this extends to these tomes; several remembrancers intend their contributions to serve as the final step in their careers. Mortal Fleet personnel, military and civilian, resisted violently even after being taken prisoner. As it was deemed more difficult than it was worth to try and turn them, they all met one of three fates: slave labour, servitor conversion or simple execution for the most grimly determined.

 

As for the slain Iron Bears, their weapons and armour were scavenged, although under Kelbor-Hal the renegade Mechanicus would make no attempt to analyse or imitate the technologies of Huron. The Grave Stalkers took trophies both practical and charnel, while Koschei forbade his warriors to take personal spoil from their vanquished foes. Iis conjectured that a small number of companies flouted his command, for Godslayers were later encountered wielding Huron-pattern blades and guns in small numbers. Such wargear as could be salvaged, both from the Astartes and their mortal auxilaries, was dispatched to Madrigal with a message from Kharkovic: “By such deeds as these we bloody our hands for the dream of a better dawn.”

 

Despite the Godslayers’ legendary stoicism, it is not hard to discern misery and resentment for the act they had been set to perform. Leaving aside the steep losses inflicted by the Bears, the act of betrayal scarred the Legion’s collective soul. Records from the aftermath suggest that their Primarch’s injuries played some role. The psychic backlash of Daer’dd’s fall afflicted the murderer’s kin as well as the victim, and some have speculated that the presence of Ka’wiil twisted this, deepening the stain on Kharkovic’s soul.

 

The Grave Stalkers had paid a gruesome toll for the victory, but their mordant spirit warded them against the kind of psychological fallout which harrowed the Godslayers. Ka’wiil emerged mutilated and with his grim aura amplified, but there is no evidence to suggest that this diminished him in the eyes of his sons. Taking ample spoil from their defeated enemies and gaining greater resources through Icarion’s favour, the dark legend of the Grave Stalkers was set to grow far beyond their previous infamy.

 

In particular, does the GS stuff read right?

[simison]

"Those remembrancers who [were] captured..."

 

"Iis conjectured..." [it is?]

 

And you messed up K'awil's name twice.

 

Beyond that, it all looks good. I like how there's a seed of dissent planted in the Godslayers, but the readers don't know that it'll be destroyed by Nurgle. 

 

The GS reads well. I like how they don't view K'awil any less for his physical injuries, so long as he can still spread fear. 

[bluntblade]

Then I've always messed up K'awil's name. Cheers for the corrections

[Sigismund229]

By and large I like it and it ties in with an idea I had for the Grave Stalkers, the Iron Reapers and the bit about Titans is better than my section about Legion Fureans. I would be concerned though that slightly too many of the Auris survived when compared to the losses the Iron Bears survived. However, my one concern would be the emphasis that is placed on the remembrancers. It feels a bit out of place. Perhaps it should be cut out of this and revised so that it can be a more generally applicable red box?

[bluntblade]

A red box dealing with the remembrancers certainly could work.

 

What proportion of losses do the Bears sustain? We can up Auris' losses a bit. I figured most of their survivors would be aboard Tribe flagships rather than Legio vessels, but also that a large chunk of them would be on garisson duty or beyond the point of easy recall - perhaps a quarter of the Legio not there, which means well over half of those present were destroyed.

[Sigismund229]

Well 130,000 Iron Bears were present over Kataii, of whom 112,000 were killed or taken prisoner. 103,000 of those were killed or captured in the actual ambush. The remaining 9000 were killed or captured as they arrived in system or were lost in the warp trying to escape. So 86% of the Iron Bears present were killed or captured.

[bluntblade]

Ah.

[bluntblade]

Wondering about writing "Dragon's Flight" from Ellan's perspective. Bearing in mind that she'll have seen it more than done anything.

[simison]

Wondering about writing "Dragon's Flight" from Ellan's perspective. Bearing in mind that she'll have seen it more than done anything.

 

I don't see why not.