IRC chat for the weekend of the 8th & 9th of August

[Lumey]

Minutes from the last chat are in the previous thread.

Last time seemed like it was a bit too late for the British contingent, so I'm proposing an earlier start time.  Once again we'll be at #HektorHeresy on irc.thisisnotatrueending.com.

A proposed agenda:

1. Snakes
   
2. Hear back from Alexandri on the Unstained Host, the HH equivalent of the Black Legion.
   
3. Brainstorm on new content.
   
4. Cats.
   
5. "Greentext"-style summaries for the project and major aspects, possibly for use as a better OP (or sequence of OPs) on /tg/.
   

If Alexandri has UH copy for us to read ahead of the weekend, that would be super helpful, but I don't mind doing a "first read together" in the IRC.

[Rogerius Merrill]

Any ideas as to what times?

[Lumey]

Any ideas as to what times?

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?iso=20150808T22&p1=136

[Rogerius Merrill]

I'll be around for about an hour or so, but have a D&D game to hit up.

[TwistofCain]

I'll be late for today's IRC, some friends and I are looking at houses. But I'll definitely be there if it goes on long enough.

[TwistofCain]

Another week, another chat! I wasn't nearly as late as I thought I'd be, so I took notes again. We started off with a few words about the greentext summaries, but when Alex showed up we got down to a discussion about the Unstained Host (who may now be the Unburdened Horde):

4:00:21 PM Froggy  Regarding the First Incursion - is this what was agreed last time?  I thought we intended to have a first crusade led by Aubrey?
4:00:26 PM Alexandri  I think it's to point out how odd it is for them not to crush people.
4:00:40 PM Alexandri  And that was literally something Aubrey spat out once and never developed.
4:00:45 PM Brennus  I always figured that Aubrey was the figurehead, and Zhardan was just using him
4:00:48 PM Alexandri  He keeps looking for things for Aubrey to do.
4:01:01 PM Uriel  'mocked their mercy/restraint' maybe
4:01:07 PM Froggy  Let's check the log, I know we discussed it.
4:01:08 PM Brennus  Well, whoever the warlord in charge was, before Zhardan existed
4:01:14 PM Brennus  http://pastebin.com/nsJjq5h6
4:01:23 PM Brennus  Last week's minutes
4:01:23 PM Alexandri  @Brennus: That's what I thought would be fine but Lumey pointed out how that hurts both characters.
4:02:11 PM Brennus  I can see how it hurts Aubrey, but Zhardan being able to bully a primarch isn't so bad.
4:02:26 PM Alexandri  But he's not.
4:02:31 PM Froggy  Around 432.
4:02:33 PM Alexandri  It's more Zhardan makes Aubrey think its his idea
4:02:57 PM Uriel  Aubrey jobs quite a lot already, having him job even more is bad
4:03:00 PM Brennus  Ahh, so more subtle than I was thinking

4:05:26 PM Alexandri  7:25:51 PM      Froggy  I mean, we should establish the guy's credibility during Aubrey's crusade, possibly as the rearguard during the retreat, or alternatively his warband carry out a feint and are widly succesful, only having to withdraw to the Eye of Terror when the main force is defeated?
4:05:33 PM Uriel  that old method still works. Its not Aubrey jobbing or being bossed around by someone. He's unlucky more or less.
4:06:08 PM Froggy  Yeah, the Roman/Aubrey ending is good.  We can have Gaspard and Brennus to back up the Lord Knight, so it's not as though the Chaos Pope gets punked by just one guy.
4:06:14 PM Alexandri  I think it's a difference in how I want Zhardan brought up.
4:06:28 PM Alexandri  I don't want him in the shadow of a Primarch, he's sort of a clean slate.
4:06:32 PM Brennus  I gotcha
4:06:42 PM Uriel  @Froggy yeah he is a DP by this point, so even Roman would struggle with him
4:06:43 PM Alexandri  Setting the stage for the era of Champions and Warbands, rather than Primarchs and Legions.

5:19:09 PM      Arelex  Well, if some Chaos dude is riding behind The Beast, then he's probably not going to find much alive to loot. He wouldn't gain much of anything by vulturing behind him.
5:19:20 PM      Arelex  Orks being Orks and all.
5:19:34 PM      Froggy  Arelex, have you read the Unstained Host page?
5:19:35 PM      Alexandri  That was another point I was about to make. The orks really do loot and kill everything.
5:19:44 PM      Uriel  I think its being proposed more of a opportunistic thing. Like looting during Katrina.
5:19:46 PM      Arelex  briefly, yeah.
5:20:12 PM      Froggy  Looting during Katrina was overplayed, but let's not get into that.
5:20:13 PM      Uriel  Where katrina is actually Orks hordes
5:20:55 PM      Brennus  I see it as less about looting and more of an attempt to overrun an already weakened foe and finish the job Hektor left
5:21:03 PM      Arelex  You'd get some interesting tension by trying to run in front of the Beast though. Grab what you can from the people trying to evacuate, loot the nobles fleeing the scene, and attack transports full of civilians, but try not to get too close to the storm.
5:21:26 PM      Arelex  Don't attack the planets themselves, but be the Scourge Of The Fearful Who Ran.
5:21:27 PM      Brennus  That sounds cool. Maybe Zhardan sends out small strike teams to do just that?
5:21:32 PM      Brennus  Like Chaos Deathwatch
5:21:43 PM      Arelex  Chaos gets loot, Imperium gets propaganda for DONT FUCKING RUN NEXT TIME YOU DUMBASSES.
5:21:52 PM      Arelex  everyone wins!

Our next big topic after that was the Legio Canem, their Forge World, and possible interactions said world had with Alessia in the past. Gave me a slew of good ideas for the Legio, and Khorne knows I needed em:

6:10:59 PM      Brennus  Skitarii I like very much, I wanted to incorporate non-titan mechanicum forces too. It might be interesting for them to go traitor
6:11:11 PM      Brennus  They lost so much at Ostium that ferdiad is able to pull them to his side
6:11:15 PM      Brennus  *lose
6:11:39 PM      Froggy  If you go with their Forge World having that tech controversy, they might swing around internally.
6:11:45 PM      Arelex  It'd be funny if the "Canines" got leashed by their Skitarii, since usually the Titans rule the roost. I'm imagining some Warhounds riding into battle with hundreds of Skitarii on top, all clinging to iron chains welded to the back.
6:12:00 PM      Arelex  Like some kind of wierd mechano-populo-communist uprising.
6:12:04 PM      Brennus  OOooooo
6:12:08 PM      Brennus  I like that Lex
6:12:09 PM      Arelex  With Warhounds.
6:13:05 PM      Arelex  I think the one thing that would have to be examined is how independently the Skitarii can act from their Mechanicus overlords, but there's always the good old "Tzeentch though it'd be funny to give the servitors their brains back" method.
6:13:11 PM      Brennus  Lumey, I imagine at first is a slightly less severe version, but the Heresy exacerbates it. So they can feature it while still being able to work with the Imperium, especially if they are with a Primarch who is regularly in the space boonies
6:13:38 PM      Brennus  The cult that is

6:30:11 PM      Brennus  Oh, BTW, what do you guys think of "Pit Hounds" for their nickname?
6:30:41 PM      Alexandri  I think that one's already taken in the OU
6:30:50 PM      Brennus  Damn
6:31:25 PM      Brennus  Hmm, I can't find a reference, but maybe they are a minor Legio?
6:32:29 PM      Arelex  Chaindogs? Whiphounds? (Freedom Riders lololololololol)
6:32:45 PM      Arelex  Cog Masters?
6:32:58 PM      Alexandri  Cog-Mastiffs
6:33:18 PM      Alexandri  Named after Cyber-Mastiffs
6:33:23 PM      Brennus  Hmmmmm
6:33:27 PM      Brennus  That's not bad
6:34:21 PM      Arelex  "Most Honorable and Righteous Democratic People's Republic Of Skitariaa And Claiming Territorial Regions of Various Titans"?   (Go full North Korea on that bitch, cause freed peasants love them some pompous titles)
6:34:29 PM      Brennus  Hahahahaha

6:38:39 PM      Froggy  What's their Forge World like, Brennus?
6:39:11 PM      Brennus  Hmm...well, if they are in some sort of "liberated lower class" status, my first thought is that they are recovering from some sort of ecological crisis
6:39:43 PM      Brennus  So there might be scarce resources, and that would make the people hardy and sort of agressive with what they think of as "theirs". But things are getting better for them
6:39:51 PM      Brennus  Right up until the Heresy happens
6:40:33 PM      Brennus  Perhaps that's why they don't have larger engines; they COULD field them if they had the right stuff, and eventually they decay into uselessness
6:41:43 PM      Arelex  Maybe they just don't have the knowledge to keep the big machines running under the stress of war, so they don't bother with them.
6:41:45 PM      Froggy  Well... a Titan Legion without Battle Titans is a very small player.
6:42:12 PM      Froggy  Like, obviously they shouldn't have Emperors, but there's room between that and the Warhound.
6:42:18 PM      Brennus  They could have a few, maybe, and like Arelex said they lack the knowledge to repair others
6:42:46 PM      Brennus  I keep looking things up, I have so many tabs open right now
6:43:01 PM      Arelex  Or maybe they have some of the bigger ones, they just can't get them up and running again, since the resources needed to get one Warlord/Emperor running are many times greater than a Warhound?
6:43:05 PM      Froggy  What's their relationship like with Mars?
6:44:19 PM      Arelex  Always amusing to have a trumped up little dictatorship trying to aspire beyond its means. North Korea wants the fusion bomb, but it can't get to it, lol. Argentina wanted the Falkands, but it couldn't handle the Exocets and such. That sort of thing.
6:44:42 PM      Brennus  I really haven't thought about that Froggy. I'm not terribly familiar with the Mars in this era
6:45:27 PM      Brennus  Haha, yes Arelex. They want to have an Imperator class titan, but they can't fix it
6:45:31 PM      Froggy  The Martian Parliament is keen to bring the Forge Worlds to heel, but some of them buck the system.
6:45:59 PM      Brennus  I imagine galactic distance is a major factor in their success at bucking it

7:46:46 PM      Froggy  As a suggestion: the Forge World used to maintain a little Empire of subjugated worlds, based on the strength of its Titan Legion.  This gave the Legion special privileges and basically resulted in them running the show.  The rebellion against the Legion & associated Hawks made for a serious civil war that really banged the place up.
7:47:08 PM      Froggy  On Alessia, memories of the presence of Titans walking the earth persist in the myth of "Thunder Kings".
7:47:32 PM      Brennus  That's really good, I like it!
7:47:32 PM      Arelex  reference game on point
7:48:33 PM      Brennus  That's a great myth for the Astartes to take as their own, given their enhanced size and strength.
7:49:02 PM      Froggy  The Tech Canton on Alessia is isolated from the civil war but tries to keep up the "enslave and exploit" programme until Brennus headbutts them to death.

We had a bit of discussion towards the end on the Iron Rangers, mostly about their name and training:

8:21:40 PM      Froggy  There doesn't seem to be a story behind their name.
8:21:42 PM      JaegerWolf  As in deleted or just edited in out of the contents?
8:21:52 PM      Alexandri  [22:21] <Froggy> There doesn't seem to be a story behind their name.
8:21:53 PM      Alexandri  HOLY FUCK
8:21:55 PM      Alexandri  THAT'S IT
8:22:07 PM      Alexandri  I wanted to grab onto something that had been bugging me in the back of my mind with them
8:22:09 PM      Brennus  Edited out of the contents box. But left on the page in general
8:22:11 PM      Alexandri  But I couldn't focus on it.
8:22:31 PM      Brennus  I'ma make a sandwich guys, be back in a few
8:22:53 PM      JaegerWolf  Iron for the hardness of their spirits, Rangers after the masters of the wilderness of old Terra?
8:22:58 PM      Froggy  In order to pull the headings from the contents box, you need to make them just bold emphasis lines.
8:23:13 PM      JaegerWolf  h/o.
8:23:17 PM      Froggy  Who names them that?  When?
8:23:24 PM      JaegerWolf  Hektor.
8:23:30 PM      JaegerWolf  Yes.
8:23:55 PM      Alexandri  I think
8:24:01 PM      Alexandri  You could have it be they wanted to be named The Iron
8:24:06 PM      Alexandri  Or Merrill wanted to name them that
8:24:10 PM      Alexandri  And Hektor is like 'no bro come on that's a bad idea'
8:24:18 PM      Alexandri  'call 'em Iron Rangers'
8:24:37 PM      JaegerWolf  Then what were they before?

8:25:18 PM      Froggy  What else is an issue... the Warrior's Path needs more detail.  You kinda imply that they have grueling training, but then we don't get any detail.
8:25:44 PM      JaegerWolf  I like having the name be set forward and be unchanged.
8:25:57 PM      JaegerWolf  It gives a slightly unique feel while still being lazy.
8:26:50 PM      JaegerWolf  Well, they're astartes. That implies the grueling training, I was focusing more on showing how it was DIFFERENT from other Legions.
8:27:55 PM      JaegerWolf  and I really don't want to get into how it's grueling, because honestly anything I put down will seem like it's one-upping things anywhere, and if anything that's a bad trend to start setting.
8:28:54 PM      Froggy  OK.  Well, the other side of it is that the current wording implies that they get trialed for a few weeks, then they're neophytes and wear power armour.  That's not how Space Marines work.
8:29:29 PM      JaegerWolf  Not in 40k. Except for Space Puppies (Blood Claws).
8:29:30 PM      Froggy  The Black Carapace is only implanted after years of surgical procedures and brainwashing.
8:29:32 PM      Brennus  I think that we could all be permitted some leeway in exacerbating the grueling nature of our training programs
8:30:16 PM      JaegerWolf  I know 30k ran things a bit differently, and hardly mentioned scouts or anything of that nature.
8:30:27 PM      JaegerWolf  They even just had Recon Marines in Power Armor.

Then Voidwatcher showed up, so we talked about Nikea for a good while:

9:49:02 PM      Voidwatcher  The main changes/revisions to the Black Augurs would be about their development
9:49:34 PM      Voidwatcher  They start out as a legion willing to do anything to get the job done
9:49:53 PM      Voidwatcher  They're proud of their work, they think they do the hard stuff that other legions aren't willing to do
9:50:13 PM      Voidwatcher  But slowly, as the Crusade goes on, they are progressively alienated by the other legions for their practices
9:50:23 PM      Voidwatcher  This pushes them further away, makes them resentful
9:50:58 PM      Voidwatcher  And alongside this, partly as a copying mechanism and partly just as a side affect of what they do, they start to enjoy it
9:51:25 PM      Voidwatcher  They get progressively more brutal and cruel, therefore pushing themselves even farther from the other legions
9:52:14 PM      Voidwatcher  They still believe they're fighting for the Emperor and Humanity, they still have the idea of just being the only ones willing to get the job done
9:52:36 PM      Voidwatcher  But really, any moral fibre they has been worn away
9:52:43 PM      Voidwatcher  And The Voidwatcher knows this
9:52:59 PM      Voidwatcher  He only needs one little push to get them to abandon the Imperium

9:54:31 PM      Voidwatcher  I think this way the Voidwatcher "throwing" Nikaea by provoking Lumey makes more sense
9:54:32 PM      Alexandri  And doesn't detail out why.
9:54:45 PM      Alexandri  Oh, that actually does help I think Void.
9:54:53 PM      Brennus  Yeah, I like that also
9:54:56 PM      Alexandri  Gives a definite reason why Voidy doesn't try to defend himself
9:54:58 PM      Alexandri  He doesn't care.
9:55:00 PM      Alexandri  He wants to lose.
9:55:15 PM      Alexandri  Not look like he does but yeah
9:55:17 PM      Alexandri  He knows going in
9:55:19 PM      Alexandri  He ain't gonna win
9:55:26 PM      Alexandri  But he can atleast turn it to his advantage.
9:55:31 PM      Alexandri  How does that sound Lumey?
9:55:44 PM      Brennus  Is he trying to make the people who oppose him look bad?
9:55:51 PM      Froggy  I had the Council picked as a matter of pure loathing.  Voidwatcher hates Lumey so much he can't resist provoking the guy, Lumey hates Voidwatcher so much he can't restrain his counter-attack.
9:56:52 PM      Froggy  I've also implied that Uriel was involved in giving Lumey records of the Black Augurs misdeeds.
9:57:18 PM      Froggy  Although that could easily be the Vardhana's information.
9:58:29 PM      Froggy  That said, the new Augur backstory would make their enmity with Winged Victory even stronger.  The Augurs suffer and toil for ages so that #5 can pop up and grab all the glory?  RAGE.

10:05:55 PM     Froggy  You could always bust out the entrails.
10:06:31 PM     Voidwatcher  What
10:06:49 PM     Brennus  For reading the future
10:07:03 PM     Froggy  Rather than Shakya's nice clean "vision thing", the Voidwatcher sees the future in the guts of dead things.
10:07:07 PM     Froggy  Recently dead things.
10:07:28 PM     Brennus  Not as effective or accurate, but more controlled maybe?
10:07:43 PM     Voidwatcher  Oh fuck
10:07:51 PM     Voidwatcher  That's so genius
10:08:58 PM     Froggy  It just means that his future-reading is more of a focused "I need to know what's coming" thing AND adds a bit of grotesque vileness.
10:09:28 PM     Voidwatcher  It could also be a reason why everyone on his homeworld is dead
10:09:52 PM     Froggy  It.... could.
10:09:55 PM     Froggy  
10:10:15 PM     Brennus  Oh man, that's some good villainy
10:10:58 PM     Froggy  I particularly like the idea that he decides his own Legion's fate hangs in the balance pre-Council and kills his right-hand man to get a good reading.
10:12:11 PM     Voidwatcher  I like the idea that he keeps doing it to roll the dice so to speak
10:12:21 PM     Voidwatcher  He sees possible futures
10:12:24 PM     Voidwatcher  Not definite ones
10:12:33 PM     Voidwatcher  So he has to keep killing till he gets a future that he likes

And of course, we kept our sense of humor around as well:

3:14:19 PM      Uriel  Keanu Reeves is a great actor, I feel he gets forgotten a lot though.
3:14:30 PM      Brennus  He's great if put into the right role
3:15:12 PM      JaegerWolf  The right role involving those where he says "woah"

3:26:21 PM      Froggy  I was slightly concerned last night that the start of the English football season might keep me up and see me sleep in past the start of this meeting.
3:26:30 PM      Froggy  But Man U & Spurs took care of that.
3:26:59 PM      Uriel  haha
3:28:13 PM      Uriel  well you havem't missed anything but talk of Keanu Reeves acting ability
3:28:31 PM      Froggy  Not a lot to talk about there.
3:28:53 PM      Brennus  Haha, that was essentially the conclusion we came to
3:28:59 PM      Uriel  yeah that was the general consensus, although he's surprisingly good in a few things
3:29:22 PM      Froggy  He's decent at being pretty on screen.

7:15:02 PM      Arelex  Well, I found Arelex's evil Chaos twin, lol.    http://rickyryan.deviantart.com/art/Of-Flesh-and-Blood-and-Steel-376603718
7:15:13 PM      Arelex  But that's not what I need right now.

7:57:48 PM      Arelex  IIRC, Alpharius/Omegon are the only OU Primarchs to have done such a thing. Do any of ours other than I guess Brennus now do that?
7:57:48 PM      Brennus  Cool. I think I can put something interesting together from this
7:57:56 PM      Brennus  Not that I know of
7:58:13 PM      Froggy  Bob Girlyman and Rogal Dorn also do some interplanetary travel.
7:58:34 PM      Froggy  Possibly Horus, but his background is all "we ain't telling!"
7:58:55 PM      Arelex  mmk
7:59:06 PM      Brennus  Really? I thought the Rowboat only had one planet. I'm sore Black Library will use it for some book, so they can wring the most blood out of that stone
7:59:28 PM      Brennus  *sure
7:59:39 PM      Froggy  In Tempest, FW explains that the Realm of Ultramar is a going concern pre-Pacification.
8:00:00 PM      Brennus  Ahh, so I see. I haven't read that.
8:00:01 PM      Froggy  I think Corax had also travelled to another world but one of them is a moon so it's not such a big deal.
8:00:49 PM      Brennus  Yeah, humans were travelling to moons 28,000 years before that.
8:01:09 PM      Arelex  lol

8:44:44 PM      Alexandri  Is everyone dead?
8:44:48 PM      Alexandri  Did they get you all?
8:44:51 PM      Alexandri  Am I the last one!?
8:45:25 PM      Froggy  I'm fighting a sandwich.  Brennus is doing the same, I think.
8:45:39 PM      Brennus  Also had to clean up broken glass
8:46:14 PM      Froggy  Those glass sandwiches always make a mess.
8:46:50 PM      Brennus  And they don't do my gums any favors either

9:00:17 PM      Alexandri  Brennus!
9:00:23 PM      Brennus  Yes
9:00:25 PM      Alexandri  You know what to do!
9:00:48 PM      Brennus  ...sell all my materiel goods and join the priesthood?
9:01:08 PM      JaegerWolf  Blow up a bus full of nuns was my guess.
9:01:28 PM      Froggy  Try to take over the world?
9:01:51 PM      Froggy  ("They're Froggy and the Bren, they're Froggy and the Bren...")

Here's the full minutes for your reading pleasure: http://pastebin.com/WVYK7R9Q We hope you'll show up next week!

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