Messor

Here is the progress so far on the story for this challenge. I kinda bs-ed most of the details pertaining to ship function, because I really haven't read any 40k lit about that. I'm planning to go for about six pages, but we'll see if I can really tease that much out of it. The Toll of Failure “We have our heading, courtesy of the Arch-Magos,” The Marshall boomed to the command deck, “Lay in the course, sync with the fleet, and let us be about it. They tell me the voyage may take weeks. I know I’m not the only one who would see this system put well behind us.” The Marshall didn’t turn from the viewport as he made his last statement, but Mahlur knew that the Chapter Master referred to him. He ill concealed the angry grimace that pulled at his face, and turned and left the deck to seek the solitude of his own quarters. A few corridors clear of the command deck and any living presence but a couple of passing servitors, he allowed himself the release of slamming a gauntleted fist into the bulkhead plating as he passed. When at last he reached his quarters he sunk into the bench along the rear wall, and tried to recite some of the focusing litanies the Wardens taught. The peace he hoped for did not come. Though he had escaped the perceived judgements of his brethren, their whispers and glances, they were replaced by the tumult of his own mind; his mistakes during the challenge, the taunts of his opponent repeating again and again, filling his ears in a way that could not be silenced. When it finally became too much he lurched to his feet and let a guttural roar of impotent rage tear from his throat. Panting as the anger subsided, the blood pounding in his head seemed to drown out his thoughts, he stood, looking around the room and letting the feeling ebb from him. After some time, minutes probably, but it felt longer, the ship’s captain spoke over the ship-wide vox. “All hands to warp stations. The Reilios enters the warp in five minutes.” Mahlur slumped, and began removing and stowing his armor. He lay awake on his slab when he felt the tell-tale jolt of the ship breaching the warp, and allowed the otherworldly hum of the geller field generator far below to guide him to sleep. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hardin had been attending the bulky and demanding generator engines for only two days without sleep. Others had gone longer in the past; even he had, on occasion. So he was sure, despite the toll the long hours had taken on his body, that his senses were still acute enough for the work. He understood the importance of making it known if he felt too fatigued; the geller field was all that kept the ship and everyone aboard from suffering horrific deaths. But at the same time, he knew he would be punished if he was suspected of shirking his tasks. So he pushed on, and it was no bother, really. He could handle it, he was sure. The problem was that if he really was as awake and functional as he wanted his crewboss to believe he was, then he hadn’t imagined that flicker on the field integrity cogitator. That could mean only one of three things. First, he had imagined it, and the fatigue was getting to him; he needed to take his lashes and be relieved to rest. Second, that there was a problem with the cogitator. Fixing that would only be possible to one of the attendant tech adepts, certainly not him, and he sought one out now, fervently praying to the God-Emperor that this was the case. For the third possibility was that there had, in fact, been a flicker in the geller field integrity. In which case, they might all be doomed already. Spotting an engineseer monitoring another cogitator, Hardin hurried toward him. A few steps away, though, there was a mechanical groan from beneath the deck grating, a pop and a rush of stale air and dust blasted Hardin in the face. For a nearly a minute he was reduced to teary-eyed, doubled-over coughing. When he straightened up, the enginseer had approached and was berating him in choppy mixture of low gothic and bursts of static, and mechano-tendril pushed him aside to get at the grating. Hardin shook his slightly swimming head, and blinked, furrowing his brow. He had been doing something important. But now he couldn’t remember what. Begrudgingly, he concluded that fatigue was getting the better of him, and he reported to his crewboss for relief. Finding a comfortable position with the growing bruises from the ensuing beating proved difficult, but eventually he settled in his slot bunk and let weariness claim him. As he took his first sleeping sighs, a thin cloud of fine white dust-like motes issued from his nostril and dissipated through the room.

Glad you asked. Mahlur's story will be expounded in the next part of the challenge, and his significance will become apparent. Once finished, the story will complete this Index entry. I like the idea of including some passing descriptions of abilities relating to the gene-seed, I'll give that some close thought. Thanks for checking it out, StratoKhan!

While the details behind Sidon's present condition aren't super important to the story of the Flaming Swords (and I don't think the absence of those details detracts from the story at all), they make for a pretty interesting story themselves, something that might someday be fun to delve into in a narrative campaign or something. I do think that the Inquisitorial elements involved are being rather narrow in their scope. It makes sense to investigate a Chapter with a suspicious background; we see that often. But the Flaming Swords are sitting on mysteries that could be every bit as impactful and every bit as heretical on their homeworld. While the Swords themselves may not take interest in delving deeper into those secrets, outside factions will (like the Mechanicum you mentioned). That's one thing I think would be worth giving mention in the Swords' story; the degree to which other parties have taken interest in Sidon's secrets since the Swords settled there.

That's metal as all get out, Nineswords. Looking forward to the new stuff!

Thanks. I'm gonna have to revisit them at some point; I don't know if it's the paint job or my photography, but I'm not a fan of these pics.

Well, forgot a crucial step, but I painted them, so I figured I should post them: http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/362736-it-the-pallid-procession-iron-gauntlet-2020/?p=5587573

Well, I got 80% through painting these fellas for the second challenge before remembering we needed to take pre-paint pictures. A lesson in not procrastinating: you forget stuff. They came out alright for a two evenings at the table. We have here Calvera himself, the Pallid Preacher, and Brother Alvorid.

Thanks KBA! Just trying to find time now to sit down and paint the models for the next part of the challenge.

I, Brother Messor, in service to the Pallid Procession and the Great Unclean One, vow before my brothers and sisters of the B&C to complete Challenge the Second and submit it to the Liber before the deadline. I vow to support my fellow challengers to the best of my ability. May the powers curse me if I fail.

Crush it, brother.

Some new inclusions have been made to the Recruitment, Organization, and Beliefs based on the questions and points raised here. Barring any major issues raised, I feel good calling the article "complete" for this part of the event. I'll edit in model images instead of a painter image for the heraldry, and some of the other narrative points I'm interested in covering will get their chance in the story challenge.

I'm with Ace on where some additional meat would be nice. I more wanted to say, though, that the presentation with your emblem and models is phenomenal! It's fun even just to look at the article, let alone reading it to learn about the Chapter.

The heraldry is still a bit up in the air. I saved a scheme at home that I'm gravitating toward, and I'll edit it into this post after work. It just doesn't evoke the tree they broke away from quite as much as I'd like. The other reason I've delayed putting it up is I used the regular marine painter; it felt weird to use the Chaos one when they are so far from that aesthetic. Edit: Here it is The gray parts will be silver/rusted silver, and I'm leaning toward making the helmet full red, more like the Asperos. Looks rather plain in the painter, but on a model with some character I think it should get the job done.

Thanks Cambrius! So to answer your questions, the isolation of the Halo Stars has dramatically limited the players in the Manifest Frontier; before the arrival of the Asperos, the only notable factions were the (descendants of the) stranded colonists and the Nonaveridis. With the arrival of the Asperos Astra and the later appearance of the traitors, they've become fully half of the major players in the region. So by that token, the Procession bears pretty much the full yoke of the Chaos presence, and the Inquisition's presence is scant. I toyed with idea of introducing a lone inquisitor who had made the trek and begun investigating, but looking back I've noticed that's...already a weirdly frequent occurrence in my homebrews. Jury's still out on that; for now the narrative of the Frontier is in a place with just a few major factions, relatively isolated from the larger galaxy.

Ah, I thought for sure Bellon and Lamonte was some sort of reverse portmanteau of Belmont.