Knight of the Raven

Posted here alongside Showcase: True Scale Astartes because ultimately, it's just a kitbashed Primaris. Who just needs his jump pack swapped to count as an Assault Intercessor, too.

Coincidental timing made this years-old kitbash hilarious in hindsight.

I'll never not see an Anomid when I look at Primaris with rebreathers and I find the brazier just doesn't belong with a Salamander despite their obsession with fire, but that's by far my favorite non-generic Primaris model. I'm really not keen on the sloped base. Remove it, and he's aiming down. Works well in a diorama where he's about to execute a traitor marine on his knees, but not as a model on his own.

edit: rereading this post, it's nothing but criticism for criticism's sake. Apologies.

So apparently, the supplements devote one page to each company in a chapter. I'm expecting that question to still not get a satisfying answer. Or an answer at all. I'm a little hopeful for Armageddon, though.

I love, love, love that the survivors from the crusade that sundered the Swords of Victory keep tracking them down. It's wonderful to see someone not dismiss a defeated threat as "meh, not my problem anymore." And it takes some serious mettle for an Imperial Guard regiment of all things to personally hunt down chaos space marines led by a daemon prince. About the Sunder themselves, I feel there's a severe disconnect. They come to expect mortals to worship the ground they walk on, without even passing the "Where's my gratitude!?" stage apparently. But that theme vanishes very soon; it evolves into a competition for victory for victory's sake as soon as the next paragraph. Or perhaps for bragging rights, but certainly not for the adulation of the masses, who incidentally are only mentioned again when they throw themselves at the Inquisitor's coalition with their masters' name on their frothing lips, without a word of description about what these same masters thought about that. Then "beauty comes in many forms" gets involved. That fits Slaanesh's themes, but I felt it came out of nowhere. The Sunder are also as obsessed with perfection as can be expected of his/her followers, but I don't really get the feeling of "an excess of martial pride that would make even Slaanesh blush" when I read the article. At least, not after they fall to Chaos. The Swords of Victory certainly have an inflated sense of self-importance, whether about their actual significance in both Imperial history and the grand scheme of things or about the actual importance of something like grace versus brutishness when the only thing that matters regarding space marines is that they prosecute humanity's wars. The Sundering of Lilaethan speaks of the Eldar changing their plans to focus on the biggest threat. I can easily imagine the Swords of Victory's precious little huge ego being nastily bruised if their enemies ignored them to deal with someone else on the same battlefield or in the same warzone, because they were the biggest threat... I'd call it delicious even, and it does give an opportunity for the Sunder to hunt down the guilty chapter/order/knight house/whatever to the ends of the galaxy. About what could have possibly tipped off the Inquisition. The chapter was for all intents and purposes paragons of virtues on par with the most admirable paladins of Dungeons & Dragons, then their personality took a turn so sharp, it's a miracle the Swords of Victories didn't all die from whiplash. And their homeworld turned into a monument to the glorious magnificence that is they, the God-Emperor's gift to the human species. Yeah. Any inquisitor worth their salt will see the writing on the wall from across the galaxy and go "damn, not this again."

I find the company system to be a mess to begin with, even without the Salamanders' take on it. When, say, the 'Fourth Company' takes to battle, the chances are very high that every single tank is crewed with marines seconded from the tactical reserve company (whichever number it ends up having with the Salamanders) while all the land speeders pilots come from the assault reserve company. And even with the chapter's high number of terminator armors, some of the Firedrakes are probably among the strike force. And then there are the scouts, who can't really be deployed on their own, so it's likely they're kicking around somewhere too. That's why the companies fighting across the galaxy are (or were, at least) referred to as "Battle Companies." Self-contained companies with specific numbers, specific officers and specific everything else is good on paper when it comes to organization and perhaps logistics, but in practice, there is no such thing as a 'pure company' sticking it to the enemies of the Imperium. Of course, as with all the lore I mention, this is most likely outdated. This does precede Primaris and their new fancy battle roles. In fact, it's probably from before tactical marines were updated to be the culmination of the devastator and assault experiences; this particular White Dwarf was about 4th edition space marines. Going back to the Salamanders in particular as opposed to space marines in general, remember Dak'ir? Main protagonist of the Tome of Fire trilogy? He doesn't come from any of the cities. He hailed from the caves crisscrossing beneath the surface of Nocturne, from an albino-like people who... subsisted on mushroom or something, I guess. And his best friend in the same squad, Ba'ken, came from the city known for the most aggressive and warlike tribesmen, I believe. And then there was Tsu'gan, son of one previous king of Hesiod, another city. And then there's wherever Iagon crawled out from, which I assume is a third city altogether. And they were all in the Third Company. And that's without mentioning the two companies—whichever they may be, with whichever Salamanders as I mentioned earlier—which I assume have been stuck on Armageddon since the Third War because of the time dilation caused by the Cicatrix Maledictum. In the end, I guess only Nick Kyme knows the answer to this question. Or at least, that he has his claws latching so deep into the Salamanders that no one else will dare come out with an official answer without his express consent...

What I want: to finally learn what's going on with the two companies that have been kicking about on Armageddon since the Third War for Armageddon. It occurred in 998.M41, so the chapter itself didn't have to make do with two fewer companies for long, and I didn't expect anything to happen with them whenever I remembered about these guys... but things have changed since then. I think Angron came back for a second round? They must have been happy about that, incidentally. Hidden Content "How long have we been fighting orks, and nothing but orks, again?" "Beats me. Thirty years, three hundreds? No idea." "Sigh." "ARMAGEDDON. I HAVE COME FOR YOU. THAT FIRST DEFEAT WAS A PRACTICE ROUND. YOU WILL DROWN IN BLOOD. FOR REALLY REALS." "Oh, thank the Emperor." What I expect, however, is FIRE ANVIL FLAME HAMMER FIRE SMITHING DRAGON MOUNTAIN FLAME INFERNO HAMMER VOLCANO BLACKSMITH CRUCIBLE OF WAR FIRE ANVIL ANVIL FLAME FIRE ANVIL FIRE FLAME FIRE.

Seeing as Vulkan He'stan is first and foremost the Forgefather, I can actually see the Primaris 'He'stan' be another Salamander entirely. Vulkan Er'satz has a nice ring to it. All it takes is He'stan dying and a new Forgefather will need to be elected; and naturally his relics will be passed on to the next bearer of that title. The Gauntlet of the Forge might prove a tight fit, but the Spear of Vulkan cares not for the Primaris' increased height and perhaps Kesare's Mantle will stop catching all these dust bunnies as the Forgefather roams across the surface and down the depths of every planet in the galaxy. I can't actually see it that much, however, and fully expect Vulkan He'stan to survive the Rubicon Primaris operation.

I realize most of my contributions are more about Irnach than about his son, when he's only supposed to be the reason Kalios found himself where he is, an explanation for the setting who'd remain forever in the background. Sorry about that, but that's where my inspiration and knowledge of the dark eldar lie at the moment; the former always proves extremely finicky in particular. That said, thanks for the answers about Irnach and Kalios' interactions, and I hope our discussion helps you with fleshing out the Kabal of the Shattered World. I just find it nice to see the greedy, forever power-hungry dark eldar contenting themselves with what they have for once. And sociopaths though they are, even they may enjoy some stability in their life, in the form of '0,0002 percent fewer threats to deal with' because of that surprising restraint. It'd probably lead to derisive touristic leaflets the day Commorragh learns about them, of course. 'Go on vacation on the Shattered World!' and things like that. I can't comment on Lord Vetinari, not being familiar with the Discworld series. You may find you have much to discuss with Hasoroth of the White Towers, though, since he described his chapter master as 'Havelock Vetinari in power armor.' As a matter of fact, if there weren't any expendable meat sacks to practice on, the dark eldar wouldn't stay long enough to be experimented upon. They'd try to slip through the cracks of the patrols encircling the Glastheim Rifts or take their chances with the horrors of the webway in order to find a better hunting ground, because no slaves means becoming a starving husk at best or throwing their so very precious souls in Slaanesh's waiting maw at worst.

The only faction that "needs" exact numbers in the setting, as far as I can tell, is loyalist space marines. Capping them at roughly one thousand brothers is the keystone of the Codex Astartes. I'd call it necessary to determine their vague numbers though, in order to know what they can and can't do. For example, having a good idea of what it'd require to break or wipe them out should allow you to adjust their rampage across real-space accordingly; how many of the six chapters guarding the Glastheim Rifts would it take to storm the Shattered World if they found a way in, that kind of things. It's possible Irnach eventually learned about his son's kabal. He sent him to die after all, and received absolutely no confirmation about it. No one ever came back from the "daring raid," if I understand the article correctly. No body means no death. That is even more true with dark eldar, who can grow back from a charred finger bone if they have an amiable haemonculus on their payroll. It's also possible Irnach will never learn about the Shattered World and spend the rest of his life seeing his son polishing a blade in every corner and in every shadow. If he does become aware of his son's whereabouts, he may actually find himself impressed. His good-for-nothing son not only survived his best enforcers, but is now inflicting pain and terror upon an entire realm. Kalios may return to Commorragh only to find a long-planned parade waiting for him and his warriors. But not necessarily. Irnach sentenced his son to death for being "essentially worthless as a warrior;" leadership never came into consideration (probably because he has Kalios' older siblings for that). Since he's apparently still "not a warrior," Irnach may want him dead more than ever. Either way, he might want to keep the intent behind the whole Ardanu business to himself. The troops of the Rhidainyans are noted to be unexpectedly loyal for dark eldar; I don't think they'd appreciate learning this loyalty isn't as two-way a street as they believed. Then again, they may consider that a "worthless warrior" is owed no loyalty and that Kalios and his merry band of failures deserved the fate they so narrowly missed. Considering haemonculi are the key to the dark eldar's refusal to stay dead, this one may end up with considerable power, with everyone in the kabal owing their survival to them. Or maybe not, if they take a few apprentices who can make a few deals on their own. And that heamonculus may not even end up abusing his power and being the man behind the man. Kalios does treat his fellows handsomely, why ram a knife between the status quo's shoulder plates when they already get all they want? I only own the 5th edition codex, which may or may not be outdated. And it was a long time since I last read it. It's possible I mistook Urien Rakarth's little practical joke on the Tau as something done by all haemonculi rather than only he.

You're welcome. Nice third option with the orks. I'm so used to them being the tools of the other factions—I'm looking at you Dawn of War I & II—that it never occurred to me they would be the ones using something else as a tool. It's an unexpected, delicious turn of events. I want to note the differences between the 'melting pots' and your Xenos. The latter aren't references; instead they are themes, archetypes, storylines even. That's a lot more universal and a lot less on the nose than 'people who are already their own thing, except in Warhammer 40,000.' It still can go into overdose, of course, as proven by the Dark Angels. They literally do not exist unless Fallen are involved. On the better end of the scale, you've got the Salamanders who're defined as defenders of mankind before all else, regardless of Nick Kyme constantly cramming their own lexical field down their throats.

My own experience with fan creations amounts to a successor chapter absently pondered about years ago and since then consigned to the mists of time (and probably hard drive failures), so take this post with a grain of salt. Preferably the size of an ork attack moon. This is my personal preferences speaking, but from the rough draft I read here—I don't have time to read the links you've given Messor at the moment—, these factions run the risk of not being their own characters. What I mean by this is that with so many influences, they may end up looking more like a patchwork of references rather than like creatures with their own identity. Shoving all the inspiration into a cooking pot and letting it stew might lead to (for example) forgeworld Gnomnomnom, where Obvi-House Stark rules over a mass of short tinkerers who fled from the 'Orde generations ago from atop the dreaded Binary Mountain, all the while a Freeblade only known 'the Lothbrobot' kicks around in the sticks, as opposed to an authentic culture. (No, I don't know anything about Game of Thrones, World of Warcraft or Vikings.) As I said, my opinion is colored, specifically by my bone to pick with 'a real-world culture I like IN SPACE' as a concept. A concept that's been Games Workshop's bread and butter for decades so again, keep your Medrengard-approved salt shaker in reach. Moving on, I like the rest of the factions. Eldar purging their own kind isn't something I've seen before, and neither is orks tracking down a C'tan shard of all things. I'm curious about whether their quest is to find what they believe to be an avatar of Mork/Gork and appease it (by krumpin' everyone) or find the enemy they were created to destroy and dealing with it for good (by krumpin' it and then krumpin' everyone else).

Planetary raids can be extremely big affairs, sometimes including thousands of warriors or even more. As a family that has "long been one of Commoragh's noble class," house Rhidainyan probably has an impressive amount of manpower; enough for those found wanting to be numerous enough for a genuine real-space raid on their own, even without adding the enforcers and their troops. Considering they straight out have a reputation for talented warriors earned and upheld over millennia, it's very easy to make the number of washouts increase to the tune of Irnach's exacting standards. The raid would need enough soldiers at the start to look genuine and not tip Kalios off, as well. He can plausibly have started with a big warband and, being known for picking his fights wisely, kept casualties to a minimum. Dark eldar are also functionally immortal, so these few casualties added to their natural birthrate can be enough to grow in numbers. They might even take a page out of the Fellheart family from the World that Was and actually have some kind of filial loyalty, perhaps even taking care of their children (while still being dark eldar, of course) as long as these same children don't plot to kill them first. Many aboard the Shattered World are painfully aware of how it feels to be found wanting, after all. But I'll talk about the other part of the Kabal now. Seeing as Kalios was scheduled for a heroic death by a very powerful family in Commorragh, what in the world did the turncoats among the enforcers' troops see in his offer? I know he's described as having some 'God-Emperor of Conmankind' level charisma, and that dark eldar on a whole are literally psychologically incapable of imagining not coming out on top whatever the circumstances, but this strikes me as 'didn't think this through.' What did they think would happen if the webway portal wasn't damaged and they did come back to Commorragh, with an entire house's worth of warriors reputed for their uncharacteristic loyalty to their lords waiting for them? Mind you, it led to a good story. And as I said, dark eldar have an ego the size of the Virgo supercluster that blinds them to the truth that there's always someone better than you. But I thought it was worth mentioning, to give some food for thought about that Kabal. I also have one example of a good offer, specifically for the haemonculus. If there was only one among the enforcers (or even among the rabble), being the sole flesh-artist in a new kabal is certainly an enticing future compared to having to compete for Irnach's favors. Speaking of fleshcrafting, 'make-prisoners-into-mindless-genetic-abominations' is par for the course for kabals (well, for haemonculi to be accurate). They might be notable for breeding their slaves as opposed to capturing more of them because they have a finite, well-defended hunting ground, but that's all. And about that quote, trust a dark eldar to take "Well, achually—" to the next level. The awesome level, to be more specific.