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Author Topic: Renegade Space Marine Simulator (40k)  (Read 26765 times)

crazyabe

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Re: Renegade Space Marine Simulator (40k)
« Reply #450 on: February 12, 2022, 05:36:10 pm »

COMBINATION: Stripped and Sent out an airlock, into an immediate and permanent "banishment" to Antwir enacted by sending him down to that death world by dropping him *through* the atmosphere, UNTIL we get back to Antwir- our battle brothers will be "allowed" to practice the making (and healing) of wounds on him.
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Madman198237

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Re: Renegade Space Marine Simulator (40k)
« Reply #451 on: February 12, 2022, 06:41:31 pm »

I kind of want to go for skull-crushing to spare his power armor the damage but also really don't want to find out if there's a chance for it to go wrong.

Ehh whatever we'll repair his armor, it's what we do. The GM makes some good points about the tiny risk.


Crush his skull and spare the armor.
« Last Edit: February 12, 2022, 08:15:20 pm by Madman198237 »
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m1895

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Re: Renegade Space Marine Simulator (40k)
« Reply #452 on: February 12, 2022, 08:26:20 pm »

The Scalpels' Mercies
It's only mostly raw sadism
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King Zultan

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Re: Renegade Space Marine Simulator (40k)
« Reply #453 on: February 13, 2022, 04:18:21 am »

CRUSH HIS SKULL!
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Tube Wizard

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Re: Renegade Space Marine Simulator (40k)
« Reply #454 on: February 13, 2022, 05:28:38 pm »

CRUSH HIS HEAD.

When a part is broken, you remove it, destroy it. The remainder of his components may still prove useful, and there's no need to expend ammunition on destroying our own precious power armor.
If nobody is into servitorization then I will back skull-crushing, for the record.
I kind of want to go for skull-crushing to spare his power armor the damage but also really don't want to find out if there's a chance for it to go wrong.

Ehh whatever we'll repair his armor, it's what we do. The GM makes some good points about the tiny risk.


Crush his skull and spare the armor.
CRUSH HIS SKULL!

In an effort of will, you steel your nerves and becalm the frenzy rising in your veins. You lower the Eye of Death, sliding it over your shoulder as the High Prognosticator and Master of Sanctity glance to you, anticipation and doubt warring beneath their angry visors. The Fallen Astartes meets your gaze without hesitation. Even now, the courage that hypnotherapy yields hasn't left him. Your voice is of a slow, brewing wrath. "YOU ARE NOT YET BEYOND FORGIVENESS. REMOVE YOUR HELMET AND KNEEL BEFORE ME, AS CHAPTER MASTER OF THE WATCHTOWER." He moves slowly, deliberately, unfastening his helmet and tossing it onto the sleeping rack. His eyes are anxious, deferent, he feels he has made no mistake but to reveal himself. You know better. He sinks to a knee and looks down, the image of false piety- as your twin servo-arms lunge from your shoulders and seize his skull. He gasps despite himself, "N-NO!" as both clamp, squeezing onto his skull with ceramite cracking force. A storm of hammering pistons screams out as he howls in pain and desperate, blasphemous prayer. "ENLIGHTENED ONES! TAKE ME NO- AAAAAAGHAAAAGHK!" The whirring turns to crunching, and his liar's tongue is incapable of anymore than a deathly wail as his temples cave in, meeting one another amid his grey matter and shattering into so much gory shrapnel. You look down at the Fallen carcass in scorn. The first of your Fallen. You pray to the Emperor it will be your last. Both of the others look to you as you speak, addressing the living and dead alike.

"FOR SUCH SINS, ONLY IN DEATH CAN THERE BE REDEMPTION." The Master of Sanctity nods in approval, slinging his own bolter rifle over his shoulders. "Well spoken, Chapter Master." Nens Nende taps his staff to the ground, contemplating, and shakes his head. "There are no further signs, brothers. The threat his Heresy posed is gone." Your servo-arms retract back into position as you examine the chamber. "I'll tend to his armour. The body and its gene-seed, to the scalpels. Everything in this chamber will be burnt, melted into slag, and recommissioned when it has been exorcised and blessed... Twice over. The Sentinels can afford no chances." The High Prognosticator nods sagely. "Wisdom. I will return to my meditations, then." The Master of Sanctity looks down at the carcass. "And I will start mine. To let a Heretic creep into the very chaplaincy is an unforgiveable failing and not only to the 3rd company, but to the Chapter. The contrition in me knows no bounds. When I've finished my period of fasting and prayer, the shame here will be commemorated on my flesh in ink, so that I will never forget." The fires of zeal burn hot in you but they are cold beside the chaplain-of-chaplains. "Your faith is an inspiration to us all, brother." None of you have anything more to say, so you go about the process of cleaning your mess.

After that's done, word spreads through the Chapter that you discovered a Heretic among their number and crushed his skull without hesitation. This has gone a small way toward renewing their trust in you as Chapter Master after openly assimilating the alien (not in the least because of the High Prognosticator and Master of Sanctity's refusal to reveal your previous failure to uncover the truth) but it will take time to fully renew the loyalty that came so fiercely, not so long ago. The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd companies are filled with paranoia and are frantic to prove their devotion. You doubt there are any more Heretics among them and if there are, the Master of Sanctity should do well to root them out. You ponder how the Chapter might decrease the likelihood of individual Astartes, whole squads, or Emperor forbid, entire companies Falling to the Ruinous Powers and dwell on several possibilities but deem that you can't implement much in the way of structural changes until the full force of the Chapter is gathered.

You return your attention to your crafts and take solace in the thought that no treachery of the Warp can reach you here, surrounded by gears and wires.

By the Terran Calendar: 36,133.5k

It's two months later that you return to System #14 and the Fortress-Monastery on Death World #14/2- Antwir. In a thankful progression of events, the time you spent in the Warp seems to match the local chronology. As the empire grows, time-keeping will become more complicated. 1st Fleet arrives at the edge of scanner-range, augurs at full-bore, before determining it's safe to proceed. It appears 2nd Fleet arrived some time before yours and in your absence, the 10th company captain has opted to mothball both the 3rd Strike Cruiser and 3rd Gladius Frigate. That was perhaps a practical decision, as the first thing you realize on your return is that there's been a predictable, perhaps inevitable, loss of vital resources. Because the Chapter is the closest thing there is to a bank, there's no "debt" that must be paid but the reality of the situation is that your fleets have been drawing on too much in their need of industrial upkeep for the population of your worlds to fully support them. The stores have run dry and there's been a clean two months without proper maintenance of your vessels. Of course, human engineering, especially in this day and age, is built-to-last and can endure for some time without risk but the longer you wait, the likelier something is to break, and that will be expensive to fix. You scowl at the tithe-listings and come to the uneasy conclusion that if you don't do something, the sooner the better, logistics will be a deadlier peril to your Chapter than the Heretic ever could've been. As is, you roll the scroll and turn your attention to what's been happening in your absence.

The 2nd Fleet have gathered a frankly... substantial amount of data on the Gremlins that your predecessor, Chapter Master Zaphiel, overlooked and are eager to show you their findings but the 7th company captain has some good news and some bad news to inform you of. You opt to hear out the latter first and he explains that in the first month after you left, the 7th company made an excellent find: a tremendous chunk of rubble that could be put to practical use. (+108 Resources) You aren't too impressed but you could be far more disappointed. Given the Chapter's logistical failings, the 7th company captain opted to hold it in storage for your return. He also informs you that in the third month after you left, while you would be in return from System #10, the company's 6th squad was caught under a sudden tunnel collapse. Most managed to escape, but one was crushed under several tons of ancient rockcrete, one's hand was trapped and had to be amputated, and one's helmet was shattered inward by a tremendous stone. The two wounded should survive, the amputee will need some help (5-100 Resources, depending on quality) to get an augmetic replacement for his hand and the other will live, his face has just been mangled beyond recognition. Both will take a few months to recover. You thank the 7th company captain for his work and go to meet the 10th company to talk over what he's found.

You see he's holding a little green man in his hand, by its arm, dangling over the floor of the 3rd Strike Cruiser. Its face is twisted into a mask of rage that's worsened when he pokes it in the belly. You notice a severe bruise is already forming over that. "The Xenos are frail, Chapter Master. Feeble, feckless. I'd say they were worthless if I hadn't seen what they could do myself." You stare down at the Gremlin and go into a conversation with the 10th company captain, most of its techmarines, and everyone that could theoretically hold a small, sharp blade steady and identify what organs maybe did what. Their discoveries are most informative. You already know that the Xenos are small, weak, soft, and no threat to mankind but for their minds but the Chapter has dug deeper and found more. Apparently, Gremlins lack a digestive system entirely, instead having a pitiful, pouch-like sack in lieu of a stomach, that fills with spores that are almost as quickly shunted up to their toothless mouths by a gas-bladder mechanism and exhaled out, usually by breathing and when it's backed-up or they're under severe duress, fits of coughing that don't seem to disturb them. Notably, this means that they lack genitals or any form of an exit-chute, as it were, and has somewhat mystified the Chapter's improvised researchers.

They possess three separate internal lungs and these function on alternating shifts, two lying dormant at any given time while the third manages the creature's needs. They're comparable in-size to human lungs despite the diminutive frames of the aliens, which means they are able to hold their breaths for a very long time and more frustratingly, to scream for minutes on end. Unlike humans, whose superior bodies won't tolerate the shame for long and demand to stop and breathe. All of this means that their internals are freakishly alien but after seeing the inhabitants of #10/2 firsthand, you aren't much phased. The Gremlins are supposedly extremely fast to bleed-out when severely punctured and can, if struck at the correct angle, burst like a balloon. Their sense of touch is no more developed than humanity's but their sense of taste is nonexistent and their sense of smell vestigial. Fascinating. The most fundamental difference between these aliens and humanity is that the constant urge to eat and reproduce, that humanity might demonstrate and expand its righteous dominion over nature, is absent. Far from leaving them lethargic, however, they seem to have substituted these driving forces with a philosophy that they cling to with unquestioning determination. This is curious, leading the Astartes to conclude that in the lack of an innate, natural meaning that demands to be satisfied, they've introduced artificial meaning and hold it to the same importance.

That could be useful, if you could orient it toward yourselves and your own ends. The Chapter did manage to seize a handful of swollen, fleshy growths in the soil that, when cut open, revealed a handful of lumps they initially mistook for tumors or fruits, until recognizing some developing features of grown Gremlins. From what they've found, they've pieced together that the spores they continually release drift on the wind and when one lands on a patch of nutrient-rich soil, it begins to grow an aboveground womb that takes 6-10 Terran months to mature, conditions depending, before rupturing to release two or three of the aliens, fully grown but illiterate, incapable of speech, and driven to learn as much as possible about the world around them. Their manner of reproduction is horrendously inefficient by human standards as the spore-womb has no means of protection from predators and there's no way for the initial spore-releaser to plan where one emerges or to track it themselves, so the Gremlins have a tendency to constantly search for new wombs, defend them once they're found, and adopt whatever individuals emerge from them. In this respect, they're remarkably tolerant of strangers but have a total lack of a non-communal family unit, and have constant, bloodthirsty skirmishes between tribes that share different philosophies of such vicious, primal loathing, they'd doubtlessly leave numerous individuals mutilated if their bodies weren't too frail for most to survive even moderate excruciation. There are a number of cripples who cling to life with an admirable tenacity, however, and the workgremlinship of their weapons is impressive. They're primitive, yes, flint, wood, and brittle, spongy bone, but the amount of detail that's gone into them is genuinely, if only slightly, impressive and they're of a cultural complexity that's usually reserved for populations nearing the renaissance era in humans. The 10th company brought back a few dozen survivors if you have anything you'd like to try yourself. They've had to be kept separate due to the random tendency of some to lapse into internecine massacres. 10th company thinks this is philosophical and not biological but can't be completely sure. Not for the first time, you lament the loss of the Chapter's Apothecaries.

You turn your attention to the workings of the Chapter itself. Even if the tithe-increase of Civilized World #5/5- designated Kauril under the Imperium, nicknamed Hardwater by most of the locals after it joined the Chapter in revolt, were successful, you wouldn't be aware until the 4th Fleet and 5th company returns. You have a hunch they did well but an infuriating inability to truly confirm. You wonder if it wouldn't be a good idea to establish a permanent Astartes garrison on the Civilized World or a Chapter Fortress, but if you did this with every planet you controlled, you'd spend more time building defenses than expanding. Part of you does like the idea. Part of you wants to scour the Nebula and strip it of anything of worth. Maybe you could do both.

What do you want to do for the 6th month of your rule?

As always, the administrative scrolls await your perusal.


You pass over the assorted Fleets and look to the Chapter, your gene-brothers.


You consider the foundation of The Watchtower, its Astartes, and turn to the less glorious but no less necessary management of its empire.

Spoiler: Resource Income (click to show/hide)
« Last Edit: February 14, 2022, 05:16:07 pm by Tube Wizard »
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Egan_BW

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Re: Renegade Space Marine Simulator (40k)
« Reply #455 on: February 13, 2022, 06:14:46 pm »

Reduce tithes on all feral/feudal worlds to 0%, to be reassessed to a base of 10% upon recategorization to civilized world as assessed by the Adeptus Econometrica.

As a related measure, encourage natives of Antwir and Kauril to colonize our feral and feudal worlds. The chapter itself won't contribute much resources to this other than usage of our tithe-vessels for transportation, but as we've seen Antwir's civilized inhabitants will be sufficiently motivated.


Recommend mothballing most of our fleet with the exception of the Barge and the two fleets still out there, hopefully freeing up enough income to start building one or more ship-docks. But that's complicated so I'll let other people figure it out.
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Madman198237

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Re: Renegade Space Marine Simulator (40k)
« Reply #456 on: February 13, 2022, 08:22:43 pm »

Spoiler: Ship Names (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: System/Planet Names (click to show/hide)

Now that the IMPORTANT stuff is done, on with the planning.

Spoiler: Plan! (click to show/hide)
« Last Edit: February 14, 2022, 09:15:32 am by Madman198237 »
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EuchreJack

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Re: Renegade Space Marine Simulator (40k)
« Reply #457 on: February 14, 2022, 04:10:38 am »

Uh, if you get people used to not paying taxes, they'll revolt when you tell them you have to pay taxes, regardless of your reasons.  So bad idea.

You could instead re-invest their tithes into their development.  As our tech level is far superior to their own, we could use their resources to develop them far better than they could.  In fact, you should INCREASE their tithe for that purpose and make it abundantly clear that you're using the increased tithe to better their lives, and that you'll restore it to the normal level once they're civilized.  And then like true Space Democrats, you never decrease their tithe even though you said you would...

EuchreJack

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Re: Renegade Space Marine Simulator (40k)
« Reply #458 on: February 14, 2022, 04:21:16 am »

New Character!  Going in a different (non-heretical) direction with this one.  I'm actually going to help the Chapter!

3rd Company Veteran Battle Brother Galen Euchus
Bio: Galen Euchus's father was a doctor and he learned much from him before young Galen joined the Space Marines.  The Chapter's Apothecary was fully staffed at that time, but young Galen was on the list of those to indoctrinate as Apothecary Adept when resources and need required it.

Then, the Chapter went renegade and the Apothecaries were no more.  So Galen instead pursued the path of the Space Marine.  His exploits since that time have earned him the designation as Veteran.  One of the secrets to his achieving mission success time after time is his advanced skills in First Aid, keeping his fellow Battle Brothers fighting at peak shape when other squads would have fallen.

He seeks to recreate the Chapter Apothecary, if the Chapter will allow it.  Speaking of setting up shop on our worlds, his first proposal is a Research Hospital on a world for the purpose of relearning the Apothecary craft by aiding (and experimenting on) the locals.  The costs should be paid mostly by the host world, as they're the ones benefiting from the advanced medical facility.  Staff as the Chapter sees fit, although it would be good for a handful of Aspiring Apothecaries to be stationed there.  Probably need a Chaplain and Tech Marine, although that would be up to their respective departments whether or not they could spare anyone.

Glass

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Re: Renegade Space Marine Simulator (40k)
« Reply #459 on: February 14, 2022, 04:24:25 am »

The feral and feudal worlds, for all intents and purposes, produce nothing for us at present, and are in fact incapable of producing enough resources to be valuable even if we tried to tax them at 100%. We have it confirmed that bringing the tithe below 10% will increase loyalty - something that we very much need to increase with most of our planets.
Furthermore, we'll be boosting their development with migrants from Kauril and Antwir; the former like us in general, while the latter will be obscenely thankful for the opportunity to get off their dreaded hell-planet, so both groups will also increase general loyalty.
Ergo, it makes sense - at least for the moment - to drop their tithes. Maybe to 5%, maybe to a complete lack of tithe. It doesn't make a difference to our budget, and it helps us get loyalty back.

Anyway,
Spoiler: Ship Names (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: System/Planet Names (click to show/hide)

Now that the IMPORTANT stuff is done, on with the planning.

Spoiler: Plan! (click to show/hide)
+1 to MM's plan.
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Glass is, as usual, correct.
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I'm gonna say we go with whatever Glass's idea is.

King Zultan

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Re: Renegade Space Marine Simulator (40k)
« Reply #460 on: February 14, 2022, 04:36:51 am »

+1 to MadMan's plan.
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but anyway, if you'll excuse me, I need to commit sebbaku.
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EuchreJack

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Re: Renegade Space Marine Simulator (40k)
« Reply #461 on: February 14, 2022, 04:39:52 am »

Spoiler: Plan! (click to show/hide)
+1 to the Plan, now what do people think of rebuilding the Chapter Apothecary?

Madman198237

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Re: Renegade Space Marine Simulator (40k)
« Reply #462 on: February 14, 2022, 08:55:15 am »

Obviously a major positive. Oh, right, I'm going to send the remainders of the companies presently cooling their heels to go start gathering medical knowledge from local populaces. They've only got access to Antwir right now because I don't think we can or should send Space Marines out on tithing vessels (since they're not mechanically represented ATM and it might be something of a minor slap in the face to said Marines), but that's a start. Soon we'll have more frigates available and be able to spread Marines out around our Empire as we desire.
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EuchreJack

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Re: Renegade Space Marine Simulator (40k)
« Reply #463 on: February 14, 2022, 09:06:44 am »

Antwir is a pretty good place to start, actually.
I was going to suggest either our civilized world due to their having the highest tech level or Antwir where the medical opportunities are so prevalent.
The ruins on Antwir might have decent finds on the medical front, now that we're prioritizing those.  Just make sure they're free of corruption!

Tube Wizard

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Re: Renegade Space Marine Simulator (40k)
« Reply #464 on: February 14, 2022, 09:33:32 pm »

Reduce tithes on all feral/feudal worlds to 0%, to be reassessed to a base of 10% upon recategorization to civilized world as assessed by the Adeptus Econometrica.

As a related measure, encourage natives of Antwir and Kauril to colonize our feral and feudal worlds. The chapter itself won't contribute much resources to this other than usage of our tithe-vessels for transportation, but as we've seen Antwir's civilized inhabitants will be sufficiently motivated.


Recommend mothballing most of our fleet with the exception of the Barge and the two fleets still out there, hopefully freeing up enough income to start building one or more ship-docks. But that's complicated so I'll let other people figure it out.
Spoiler: Ship Names (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: System/Planet Names (click to show/hide)

Now that the IMPORTANT stuff is done, on with the planning.

Spoiler: Plan! (click to show/hide)
+1 to MadMan's plan.
+1 to the Plan, now what do people think of rebuilding the Chapter Apothecary?
Obviously a major positive. Oh, right, I'm going to send the remainders of the companies presently cooling their heels to go start gathering medical knowledge from local populaces. They've only got access to Antwir right now because I don't think we can or should send Space Marines out on tithing vessels (since they're not mechanically represented ATM and it might be something of a minor slap in the face to said Marines), but that's a start. Soon we'll have more frigates available and be able to spread Marines out around our Empire as we desire.

To suffer a net-deficit of resources is unacceptable. A lack of resources means a lack of ammunition, an inability to equip new cannon fodder honoured auxiliaries, and a stagnancy of the empire's growth. That cannot be tolerated and you will no longer. Though it pains you to do this, you have no other recourse and Night's Final Watch, Dawn's First Light, and the Vengeance of Kerhon-7 are mothballed on Death World #14/2- Antwir, effective immediately. When Shattered Silence returns, unless conditions dictate otherwise, it too will be, and Peacemaker has been sent to system #10- named Delnai, to recall The Emperor's Spleen and Gilded Rider, to return and mothball the former and press the latter into much-needed service. 2nd, 6th, and 8th company are crammed into the Nova Frigate to hopefully gather enough Astartes to relieve the members of 9th company whose hate for the Xenos has grown too fierce to hold back any longer.

Peacemaker flies to the end of the system and its gellar field flickers, before propelling it into the warp. You have a strange sense of swiftness, looking at it. Hmm.

Nevermind. You decide that the tithes on the Feral and Feudal Worlds are too insignificant to spend time and effort gathering them. For the time being, they are exempted. It will likely take one or two tithe cycles for the news to reach them but such is the cost of Warp-travel. You deem the marginal, if extent, increase of troop quality from primitive planets to be useless next to the production they could yield if modernized and feel there's no better way to advance their societies than to fill them with advanced people: the Antwiri. Victims of birth, circumstance, and so, so many parasites, they are extremely hardy colonists and more than that, they are willing enough to kill and be killed for the chance to board a colonial frigate with an elbow's room of space left in the cargo hold. You know that taking the effort to choose the objectively least suited to combat among them will cause undue resentment, so you leave it to chance by lottery. You don't need to propagandize their destination so you don't bother.

By the end of the week, Argent Raiment and Verdigris Cloak are filled with the 4th and 5th companies and 20,000 colonists between them. 15,000 civilians and 5,000 auxiliaries, all chosen at random. They should repeat this expedition a dozen or so times. It would be more efficient to do it all at once but you'll hold a fresh lottery when they return. You don't want resentment to breed between winners and losers, and besides that, you want to keep their hope alive. As they were last time, winning tickets are so precious that no offer of wealth will sway their holders. You're still sure there were a few dozen murders but the local law enforcement are so sympathetic they're almost unable to investigate so you let the issue go. It's beneath your notice. Eventually, there should be an appreciable advanced colony on Feral World #7/3- Overlook which should improve the local standard of living as well as lead to fears of parasite daemons in the superstitious locals. It's too early to begin building a proper fortress but when they arrive, they can begin laying the groundwork. They leave and a betting pool emerges on when they'll return. There's one case of a known loudmouth being beaten to death by a mob for publicly trying to bet they won't return at all but the hundreds of suspects that may know of who was involved or when refuses to speak of it. Again, you drop the issue. It's indicative of one thing, the people of Antwir want to go. The problem is that Antwir is so effective at breeding soldiers you simply can't comply. They know it, too, but the fact that you're letting the luckiest of them leave seems to have had a notable positive effect on their loyalty.

The rubble that 7th company discovered can't put a dent in the Chapter's maintenance needs but it can contribute to stopping them, so you have it melted down into the tons of sheets, girders, nuts and bolts necessary to begin constructing a Small, Crude Shipyard in Antwir's orbit. This is cause for tremendous joy among the techmarines, yourself included, but few others care. More than anything else, it represents a step forward. (-100 Resources, Construction Project has begun: Small, Crude Shipyard in Antwir's Orbit.)

After this, you launch a very low intensity propaganda campaign to encourage the mortals to reproduce. It doesn't take very well to the masses, who ignore it and keep having children at the same rate as before. The Chapter's finest minds are stumped. One veteran suggests that we make less references to gene-seed implantation but the others are confused as to why that would be relevant. For now, the project is shelved. You'll get back to it at a later date.

Speaking of gene-seed implantation, you attempt to uncover potential gene-seed recipients in Antwir's population. The Astartes you've sent to go door-to-door are unsuccessful and you're frustrated. If there were trained Apothecaries conducting the search you're confident they would've found something but as is, your techmarine's fumbling attempts to match them don't measure up. You need to rebuild the Apothecarion, the sooner the better, and when you puzzle over it for several nights, you come to the conclusion that while the scalpels do good work, their knowledge of gene-craft is no greater their peers'. It hurts but you concede that in this specific area, parts of the broader human population may be your Chapter's superior. However they are your charges and like the auxiliaries, to a degree, there's no shame in relying on their expertise.

If Copperstock possessed a secret reserve of genetors it would warrant Astartes action, so you settle for delegating an ad campaign to the Adeptus Econometrica on Antwir while you arrange for word to get to Kauril, Hardwater, gah, whatever it's called... and are surprised again when tens of thousands of professional, experienced geneticists are clamouring for an audience by the end of the week. It turns out that due to the omnipresent indigenous parasite infestation, (and the infestation of parasite-parasites, and the infestation of parasite-parasite-parasites, et al.), the Adeptus Mechanicus' Magos Biologis maintained a presence on the planet, showing great interest, until eight too many casualties of high-ranking personnel convinced them it wasn't worth it, so they were sanctioned to train and supervise locals to do their own surveying instead. In a matter of years, this shifted to a lifesaving medical tradition and the Adeptus Mechanicus' interest in the planet shifted to its ruins, largely recalling the Magos Biologis. After the Chapter's arrival under Chapter Master Zaphiel, most of them were exterminated to the last but the local gene-medicae remained and in the absence of even slight supervision, have thrived into a disproportionately huge and wildly successful, for a given definition of the term, branch of local professionals. There are enough geneticists on Antwir that you're able to pick and choose the cream of the crop, who are eager to work for the Chapter. You consider their skills carefully and come to a decision.

They will be in a strict, teaching only role: They will do everything in their power to train and educate the scalpels and brighter marines who aren't preoccupied with tech-heresy in the study of gene-craft. From there, the Chapter should be able to do its own work.
They will be incorporated into the Chapter's scalpels: Though most of their hands-on experience is related to the treatment, removal, and prevention of cell-leeches, vein-burrowers, and rare, loathed DNA-scramblers, much of their skills are also applicable to battlefield surgery.
They will be allowed to examine a gene-seed: Just one, the least visibly healthy, from the least prestigious donor that wasn't a Heretic, and only for a few hours a day. This is tremendously controversial but they may make enough sense of it to relearn some forgotten Apothecary lore.

When that's done, you turn your attention to what's important: dissecting scrap technology and reassembling it in new, Mars-confounding ways. Ah, the joys of freetime.

By the Terran Calendar: 36,133.6k

This blissful twisting of the machine goes on for a few weeks before the Shattered Silence and 5th company return, with good news. The tithe-increase on Civilized World #5/5- Kauril, officially, went off without a hitch and their population has agreed to hand over 30% of their monthly resource-output. It will be put to much more vital use under the Chapter than their hands. The 5th company captain insists that a minimum of threats to the planetary administration's lives were made. Good. You wouldn't want them losing sight of who their protectors against the greater galaxy are. You'll start seeing improvements sometime next month, though the work of the Xenos is already trickling in and it is substantial. So substantial, in fact, that you demand an audit of their population census and come to the stark realization that there are just barely over four-hundred and thirty million of the horrors. That means that, technically, there are more Xenos than there are humans under the Chapter's protection, and by a significant margin. For the next four days you lie flat on your back, barred in your personal chambers, eyes-wide-open, wrestling with dread and shivering in fear of what you've become. In the end, your Renegade tendencies prevail and you opt to simply not think about it too much. The news will slowly trickle through the Chapter and you hope they, too, will come to the same conclusion. The Xenos are too useful to purge. Once their manufactorums have reached a human standard and the social engineering bears fruit, oh, you shudder to imagine the wonders that could be built.

Shortly after, as you're getting ready for another eventless month Peacemaker returns, with The Emperor's Spleen and Gilded Rider in tow. You're stunned and demand an immediate explanation from everyone involved. The crew of the Peacemaker explain that they went through a full month's travel in the Warp but that when they emerged and checked the local date, they arrived at the same moment they left. You're confused how this could be possible but dismiss it as a rare, harmless example of Warp phenomena and are thankful that they didn't waste any time. On the month-long return voyage, nothing of substance occurred but much of the crew of the Gilded Rider reports dreaming strange dreams that they dreamed those same dreams before. Strange. You aren't sure if that's good or bad, or to get the Prognosticators involved. You ignore the mortal crew for now and discuss the situation at planet #10/2- designated Zahn for its alien taint. In particular, of the returning 2nd, 6th, and 8th company Astartes, you notice that outside of 2nd company there are very few transfers from 9th company, which received a dozen less than expected. The Chapter has very little company culture outside of the 1st and 7th, and what's there doesn't explain the disrepancy.

You demand another explanation and a younger battle brother from 9th company, 7th squad relates to you that the 9th company has begun to get over its loathing of the Xenos. That's excellent news but you want to hear the why of it. He explains that after a couple of days the 9th company grew increasingly frustrated with their assignment and after a couple of weeks, this frustration reached a fever pitch and Bulvak Aquonus, a well-liked veteran of 10th squad and arguably the most xenophobic member of the company, demanded the Chapter start holding fights against the Zahgun, reasoning that if they were so willing to throw their lives away and if the Astartes wanted to kill them so badly, they might as well. Some short debate later, the 9th company captain agreed and the Prognosticators, long tired of being near the aliens, enthusiastically sent out a call for volunteers. By the end of three of Zahn's daily cycles, there were thousands of applicants and fights were well underway.

In cleared, designated patches of dry sand, because the Astartes would be damned if they allowed Xenos on any of the Emperor's vessels, tens of silent marines, hundreds of cheering auxiliaries, and thousands of whooping Zahgun gathered to surround and watch two combatants try their damnedest to tear each other apart. An ancient, time-honoured tradition among the aliens and much-needed stress relief for the marines, the rules dictated neither was to be armed or assisted by any members of the crowd under pain of death-by-dismemberment. Because the Zahgun considered the marine's power armour to be equivalent to a shell, or that it was their shell, researchers aren't yet sure, the marines were allowed to grapple with them in full kit, to devastating effect. To date, there have been hundreds of Zahgun casualties and not a single marine has suffered a major injury. Rather than cause a lack of Zahgun volunteers, this seems to have had the opposite effect and further, the news has convinced some aliens of the Chapter's martial prowess. For his part, Bulvak, who insisted on fighting them naked, so as to truly prove mankind's superiority, has twenty-eight confirmed kills, a few fresh scars, and a change of mind. Now, where he used to rant about the Xenos' hideousness, he speaks of their virtues, of how their third and fourth hooks tend to catch him by surpise, of how it takes his full upper body strength to rupture a shell, and of how mankind could learn a thing or two from their lack of fear.

Indeed, he seems to have grown fond of the Zahgun by their skill in battle and some of this has rubbed off on the Chapter, who've begun to refer to them by affectionate nicknames, such as "mini-russes," "death-spitters," and "fit for later extermination." A few have started to express interest in fielding them with auxiliaries in combined-arms exercises and Bulvak is the foremost among them, insisting they'll provide an example for the men to aspire toward. You deem that, while a certain tolerance of the Xenos is what you wanted to happen and killing handfuls of them is perfectly acceptable, he and the 9th company have started doing so without your permission. This demands a response.

Sanction the Zahgun-Fighters of the 9th company Their open disregard for your authority as Chapter Master is unacceptable, the fights will stop immediately, and they will be transferred back to answer for their reckless behavior.
Recall Bulvak to the Fortress-Monastery for Disciplinary Measures: His intentions may have been in the right place but there is a structure of command for a reason and he would do well to obey it. By the end of one Terran year he should be ready to reintegrate into a different company and resume his duties.
Grant Your Permission For The Fights: If they're popular with the Chapter and with the Xenos, and make for practical combat experience as well as bettering interspecies relations, you don't see any reason they shouldn't continue. In particular, you'll commend Bulvak for the idea, as this type of initiative in the rank-and-file is vital.

When all is said and done, you turn your attention to the management of the empire. More than anything, you're really liking the heightened income.

How do you want to start spending it?



Spoiler: Resource Income (click to show/hide)
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