Conn Eremon

Maybe in the midst of a Founding, while determining final destinations, home world and initial duties, they earmark one Chapter to assist in the exploration, conquest and eventual defense of a promising section of non-Imperial space. Due to the timing, it happens to be prudent to simply attach this Chapter to an Explorator Fleet heading into that same region, alongside whatever other Imperial forces that may be going along for the ride. Probably more than a few planetary settlement fleets, Guard regiments, etc. The Chapter is not bound to any of these forces, it is merely the best for them to work together in the beginning. But, a lasting relationship can be forged here, particularly if that Explorator Fleet ends up establishing a nascent forge world.

So, a couple minutes before I started typing this post I just asked to hang my hat as a mod. So many changes have been occurring over the past couple years, whether to my hobby interest, the state of that hobby or the state of my life in general. At a shamefully distant point, my involvement here went from one of enjoyment and fun to one of beholden duty. I kept holding out for a change of tone, and thinking that if I faked it that it'd just come back. It hasn't, and a consequence of this is that I've restarted this project, gotten people interested in it, and basically abandoned it before it even started. For that, I'm sorry. So, the bad news is that my disappearance is going to be indefinite, at least until I can return to the B&C as a true Liberite again. The good news is that the Liber Cluster was never mine, it can continue without me. Those of you who I messaged before returning to the Cluster, you all know what "secret" things I intended to reveal, and are free to do so yourselves if you're inclined to. Those of you who had your ideas and were waiting to develop them, please do. Nobody needs to wait for me any longer, and once again I am sorry I made you all wait this long.

I like it! It's a different take on xenos to whisper cold nothings rather than to raid and tear. It is a different, but believable, Kabal. Kelborn, there's no gray area to that rule.

There we go, some nice Dark Mechanicum to lend their industrious weight to the side of Chaos. It brings to mind Fabius Bile, a sort of hyper-valuable auxiliary asset to Chaos Warbands. Just on the mechanical, rather than the biological, side of things. Well, it's been a little over a week and what we've had so far has pretty much remained as is. So, let's loosen the rules up a bit. For those who have contributed Chapters in the past thread, you can contribute either a Primaris Chapter, a Chaos Warband, or a Renegade Force. For those who are new to the Cluster, but have already contributed an idea, you can contribute something from one of the other categories. For example, if you've contributed a Primaris Chapter, you can now also contribute a Chaos Warband or a Renegade Force. If this is enough to fill in all the slots, then the rule of First Come, First Served will hold true. If there remain slots left, we will continue with them unfilled. Xenos Nearly every Xenos race has a presence in the Cluster, and the turn of the millennium brings each of them great change and opportunity for glory or disaster. If you're not interested in contributing guman-centric ideas, please feel free to provide Xenos contributions instead. There are only two Xenos restrictions. One, the T'au are unfortunately not available to the Cluster. Lore as provided makes it pretty clear that the Cluster is entirely out of their reach at this point in their development. Perhaps by the 43rd Millennium, but not now even with the forwarded timeline. Second, tying in with above, is let's hold off on creating new Xenos races. With the T'au being unavailable the Cluster should certainly have its own Xenos race native and bound to the Cluster itself. Some alien kind that sees the Cluster as rightfully theirs and not humanity's, or any other xenos for that matter. So we definitely should and will create new Xenos, but if we're going that big I think we should make it a more collaborative effort, and save it for an assignment dedicated to it.

Just a brief mention to say that the Sons of Calderon only had Primaris gene-seed, which was stolen in its entirety while en route. No True Sons of Calderon.

All of those ideas are perfectly acceptable ideas to explore, and we'd love to see you take a crack at them. This assignment being focused upon Space Marines is in part because of their greater popularity and in part because there needs to be a restriction on how many there can be. However, work can be done on any other DIY expansion at any time.

The Liber Cluster is everything 40k. What would you like to work on?

The Liber Cluster's original thread began with the principle that the Cluster was under Imperial control. The Eighteen Worlds Crusade was the manner in which we showed how an already established conclusion came to be. There is no such pre-established conclusion for the Liber Cluster II. I'm setting up a three-way clash, but the endgame is anybody's guess. The Imperium, bloodied and battered, may somehow cling onto its holdings against all assailants, desperately ensuring its continued existence for at least a few more centuries. The forces of Chaos, in a mad assemblage of fevered villainy and patient vengeance, may break the Cluster's spine and dash its future against a wall of hate, whether in the name of the Warmaster or at the word of various disparate warlords. The Imperium might find itself cast from the Cluster, an independent power solidifying its claim upon its most distant holding, a sudden, powerful rival rising over the Imperium like a malignant moon. Literally any of these conclusions would be fine with me, though of course there is also a likely case for there being more of a mixed conclusion, whether of two or all three. Humanity is the dominant interest among the fandom, and so was the dominant focus for the opening of this thread, but there may even be a surprise xenos option that steals the show. It all comes down to how the group writes it, piece by piece. While the biases you speak of are prevalent in the fandom as a whole, you'll find that there are many of us that stuck around from the old thread that are far more interested in an idea being written well, rather than who wins or loses. If I have any bias, I'll admit it'll be for the renegades. Simply because we've seen the Imperium won, and we've seen Chaos win, but we've never really gotten a look at what a human faction beyond the Imperium or Chaos would really look like. We've got hints that are just so very tantalizing, like the Nova Terra Interregnum. I'd really like to explore that, but I'm also perfectly content with that exploration winding up a doomed endeavor.

@WG101 Serfs tend to be treated well, Chapter depending, but are also almost universally a hereditary position. Enslavement in the sense that there is no volunteering. You're a serf because your parents were serfs, but on the bright side you probably have one of the better lives available to humanity in the 41st Millennium. Replacing them with vat-grown servitors or volunteer serfdom does work, and it'd be interesting to see what system they create to foster that environment. Do they have an open presence with their home world or fleet, making recruitment into the Chapter or service as a serf something of a job recruitment drive with a 40k twist? Or, is it still hereditary in the normal sense, with the progeny simply being given the choice between leaving the Chapter's service or swearing their life to it? As an aside, I see you've created an outline with a few categories waiting to be edited in. My recommendation: remove them entirely. It's the same pitfall I warned GDF about, this is not an article but an introduction. Consider the examples that were given to show what was expected. @Olis To be honest, I kinda like the sound of Flamesworn over Sons of the Forge, though I understand your logic. Basically, they may call themselves Salamander successors, but the primaris returning, and being rejected, feel themselves truer sons than they. We are the Sons of the Forge, not you. That said, you said the words "true sons of Vulkan," and now I can't stop thinking of that as a name; the True Sons. And that brings me kinda to the idea I had, which is that the Conflagrators are probably not going to be the only Chapter that rejects the primaris, either the means of production or those already created and newly assigned. Or both, in the Conflagrators' case. While I certainly see the Blades accepting the means of production, would they accept outsiders into their Chapter? Those not inducted into their secrets and mysteries? There's the Angels Exultant, come to the Cluster to find that there is no Chapter for them to be a part of. What about the Doomsayers, who were believed to be gone but then returned three thousand years back in an overwhelmingly confrontational way? Do they even still exist, or did the conflict they sparked spell their own end? I'm not sure we ever concluded that scenario, to be honest. But the point is, there might be a host of primaris without Chapters to accept them. In the case of the Angels Exultant, maybe there's enough to recreate the Chapter instead. But those rejected by the Conflagrators or the Blades of the Lion? Perhaps Doomsayer reinforcements found no Chapter but choose not to recreate it. Or any other Chapter that might similarly reject their primaris, like the Lords Inviolate themselves. Because if the Lords Inviolate see an orphaned host of primaris, bereft of anchor or succor, perhaps they'd look at their own reinforcements and consider an alternative use for them. Rather than inducting them into the Chapter, they could be the iron core of an independent, officially declared war host of all orphaned primaris and granted the shared name of the True Sons. Pretty much a re-imagining of the Unnumbered Sons, I realize now, but of course the Lords Inviolate would think along similar lines to their distant father. The Lords Inviolate would 'sacrifice' their own reinforcements (but not their means of production) in order to grant the True Sons enough manpower to be an effective force. The Sons of the Forge could be an autonomous company (or companies) within the True Sons war host. Those reassigned Lords Inviolate would be the Sons of the Avenger? Liberator? The True Sons would be a fleet-based crusader force, utilizing repurposed / extended / newly built sections of the immense Conclave structure as their permanent base of operations. Sound like a cool idea?

I do not, unfortunately. The work and time that would need to be done is simply too much for me to tackle on my own. I am however certainly willing to update the original posts in this thread with links if others want to take on that task. Otherwise, what I'd recommend is tossing what you are interested in into the search bar so that you may see all posts in which that feature is mentioned. I made a lengthy edit to my previous post, if everybody wouldn't mind taking a look.

The original intent was to allow room for newer individuals to make an equal mark to the Cluster as they did in the first campaign, and because the veterans can also assist in setting their own original ideas and better understanding of the Cluster to work by elevating the original Chapters and other elements to the most current timeline. Which is exactly what Olis brings to the table: The Conflagrators have always been a stubborn lot, not afraid to push their own ideals where unwanted or when in the clear minority. If the Conflagrators do not agree with the principle of the Primaris, then they would reject any provided. Is how I see it, of course. Question is, what are they rejecting? The means of creating Primaris, or those Primaris already assigned to them? Granted, the latter includes the former, but if it is the latter then you have a conundrum. What do you do with Primaris Marines rejected by their Chapter? I got an idea that would involve the Lords Inviolate, but you should certainly take first crack at it. @WG101 I'm sorry to say, but I'm removing the Umbral Specters. As I looked for your most recent post to see if there was an update, the search included all of the Liber. I see now that the Umbral Specters are your DIY that you've moved into the Cluster, which the rules do not allow. Please don't be disheartened by this, I still want you to be a part of this project, but like with Kelborn I'll need you to create a new DIY. It must be an original DIY created specifically for the Liber Cluster. This is per the Ground Rules iterated in the first post, which I'm going to modify the font and layout to make it stand out more. EDIT: @golfdeltafoxtrot Your most recent update is about 800 words. Quite simply, the easiest fix is to remove sections it doesn't need at this stage, such as Beliefs, Organization, or Homeworld. If you remove two of those, you'll be perfect. This goes for everyone too. What I'm seeing is a lot of attempts to create an entire article within the 500-700 word limit. That's not what this is about. This is an introduction to your idea, not the complete take. Because the point of it isn't that each of you create the entirety of your submitted work, but that others complete it. For example, with the Grey Ravens I'd just take off the Beliefs and Homeworld. Puts it right at 500 words. Afterward, as just an example, both Ace and Necron will be asked to expand on the Grey Ravens, and they each could choose Beliefs and Homeworld to do so. It won't be the same as what GDF wrote as part of his original notes, but that's the entire point of the Liber Cluster. That each of these concepts we are currently introducing is completed by the work of all. This is what we did with the original thread, and I recognize my own failing in not being as clear with this as I should have been. Compare, if you will, the Blades of the Lion's original submission to the final format as can be found in the first page of this thread. All that extra content was not just Reyner's work, but of the entire group tackling parts of it. This is what's going to happen to each of your submissions as well.

Yes, a time-frame will be imposed to ensure momentum is retained, but not quite yet. What I am considering at this time is to allow those who have already provided one manner of contribution to also contribute in one of the other categories, in addition to those returning veterans who had contributed one of the original Chapters. This would still leave openings, but ultimately I am okay with that. It'd allow blank slots for latecomers to join in, as well as being a call-back to the blank slates often left in canon lore. Last thread we received 15 submissions within the week, and a few others still had shown interest but disappeared once slots were no longer available, which is why I doubled it this time. The response this time has been equally enthusiastic, but not as numerous. This suits me just fine, as it's the enthusiasm that was the more valuable. We'll give it a further week before I start making changes. In the meantime, the activity I'm seeing is fantastic. I'm currently collating everyone's most current work to eventually be added to the lore pages up front, and will update the roster once finished.

Machine God, I believe you might be misreading my post, so let me clarify. The minimum for submissions is 500 words. WG101's post was in excess of that, but could be easily cut down to a single section of about 350 words. If he could then boost this section's word count, up to the 500 word minimum, it would be right as rain. Everyone, I do apologize for the confusion. I attempted to mirror the previous thread's opening challenge, but this time around we have people whose quick writing necessitates a maximum word count as well. So here it is: All initial submissions shall be 500 - 700 words in length. Any development beyond that limit must be held until after the challenge has concluded and new assignments given. I am very happy to see such enthusiasm nonetheless, and I hope you all stick around to put it to use once the real work begins.

Okay, it's finally time for me to jump in and respond more fully! @Kelborn The Argent Claws sound interesting. An Inuit-based Chapter would have a very distinct visual appearance I'm sure. Thanks for putting the Star Lords on the back burner. The intent of the rule is to make sure that nobody feels they have full say over what happens to their contributions, and I'd rather apply such a rule universally rather than on a case-by-case scenario. "As part of the Ultima Founding did, the force, later known as the Argent Claws, awoke in an Imperium asunder. " I'm not sure what you mean by the first part, I assume it's a combo of autocorrect and/or missing words? I'm also not really sure if the paragraph detailing their 30k history is necessary. I think it distracts from the whole, and might be better served taken out. Other than than that, apart from some needed edits to clean up the language and grammar, it's pretty much good to go. As far as continuing, I'd say you can continue working on your contribution in the form of editing what's already submitted, but hold off on further expanding it. You can provide C&C and encouragement to others developing their ideas, or look at expanding the Cluster in other ways, as Ace has mentioned. @WG101 The Umbral Spectres are pretty good after the edits. As Ace mentioned, it's pretty big and still kinda is. What I'd do is cut everything out but the History, the name and the colors. That'll put you at about 350-400 words. You can cannibalize some of the other stuff to boost the count up to 500, but stick close to that. We don't want to develop everything right off the bat, we want to leave plenty of room to allow others to do so. I did some editing of my own below that you can steal (it's 340 words): @Beren I think, with the least tweaks, the Wyvernspawn could make a very good Chaos Warband. It's currently Just under 600 words, so it could serve to be edited down a tad more, but it's good. That said, Dizzyeye's recommendation also certainly works! Once I know what kind of category the Wyvernspawn fall under, I'll drop them in the list. @Dizzyeye Absolutely beautiful, love the newly edited version. Lot of character, but still massive amount of room to explore and expand. @golfdeltafoxtrot The first page has an index, including each Chapter already in the Liber. Outside the Liber, there is the Tabula that Dizzyeye mentioned, as well as various wikis like Lexicanum. There certainly does seem to be a preponderance of the type of Chapter you're interested in making, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't go for it. It just adds to the challenge of developing each of the ideas to be their own, unique take. @FatNecron Of course! A mixed cultist/astartes Chaos force is always welcome. Ace provides good advice, though you can certainly mention their presence to sort of "seal them in," while later expansion providing more information on the manner of it. @All Once again, really happy with the strong, early showing. If I didn't respond to every question, it's because another Frater's response (particularly looking at Ace Debonair and SanguiniusReborn) said everything that needed to be said. Once we've got all slots filled, we'll start on the next phase. I'll introduce more information on the state of the Cluster at this point in time, such as the nefarious power behind the renegades. Then I get to the really fun part, and mix and match all the contributions with our current roster of contributors. Edit: @No Foes Remain I hope you come back with your idea. I'm sure whatever it was could be reworked to better fit, and we'd all be glad to help.

Just to reiterate the rules of the submissions. It's one submission per person. The Primaris Chapters are all of the Ultima Founding. The Chaos Warbands can have lengthier histories, but are new to the Cluster. The Renegade Chapters are created from gene-seed stolen from the Ultima Founding.