The 40k Fluff Thread

[Sergey]

This is made to explain 40k fluff and etc.

First we have the Imperium, who are the protagonist of the series, but they are far from the strongest, they are basically zealots who rely on a mechanical cult (http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Adeptus_Mechanicus) to make sure their technology is working. Then we have the Space Marines (http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Space_Marines) who are basically 8 ft tall walking tanks who have bolters which shoot 20 mm exploding bullets. That's not talking about the heavy bolter which shoots mini missiles at 4-8 rounds per second, not that fast but potent. Next we have the ships of the Imperium which span from Iron Clads to Retribution Class Battleships. While the ships Lancegun does a crappy 300 - 600 gigatons worth of damage, it can slice ships in half, rendering it very potent, (pay in mind Star Trek ships believes 30 gigatons is god like, when really it's just fireworks to the Imperium fleets), then we have the Nova Cannon, it goes near light speed, and worst of all, it has 22 petatons worth of power, for those of you unaware, this 3000 km worth of a planet blown apart, oh and 1,000,000 times stronger than Star Wars strongest turbo laser.

Now we have the Orks, they are savage, physically powerful, numerous, and nearly unkillable. But they are glass as they can be killed relatively fast, and then there are the Feral Orks who are primitive Orks who use crude grenades, guns, and even spears, but then there are the matured Orks who use potent (in a way) guns, grenades, and even tanks, but this is all possible because of the WAAAGH signature Orks have, (http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Waaagh). Their technology only works because of the WAAAGH, like the belief the "red goes fasta" thing and that putting metal together makes a weapon and it does because the WAAAGH has effects on reality. So if Orks said a stick can make a god it would happen, well if the Orks had a big enough WAAAGH signature it would.

Now on to Eldar, who are advanced but endangered, and most of them are Psykers who can throw tanks around with a wave of their hand or destroy 500 ft titans with a simple thought, and they are very fast proven during the Necron-Eldar war where the only two advantages Eldar had were speed and psychics. Not only that, but Eldar have stealth too, as they can use tools to render themselves invisible to the human eye. While they have a ludicrous amount of firepower, they lack in melee, but they have Banshees who are fast and equipped with swords that can cut metal like it's paper. As for Eldar technology (http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Eldar_Weaponry)

Now on to Chaos, who have the technology as the Imperium as well as safe trips around the Warp, with Daemons on their sides, they have Sorcerers who can create things in a blink of an eye with no effort or even trap people in force fields they can't leave unless countered or if the Sorcerer is killed. Then we have the Greater Daemons who can cause every person to go insane in a 10,000 light year radius, and they can't be killed but only pushed back into the warp, they also have the Chaos Gods who feast off emotions and actions. They are a deadly one indeed.

Dark Eldar: Dark Eldar are basically the same thing as Eldar except they are sadistic. Their weaponry is Dark Matter related and they are also just as fast as Eldar. Not much about this race. But they live somewhere in another dimension I think.

Necrons: Oh these guys? In their history they were one of the first races to exist shortly after the Big Bang, only younger than the Old Ones and the C'tan. They lived on a planet with a star that gave off too much radiation reducing their life spans, they were encountered by the Old Ones when they were trying to help each race evolve, the Necronytr hated the Old Ones near immortality so they set an armada to destroy them, only to lose and start to hate all living things, and when they encountered the C'Tan they worshiped them and the C'Tan gave them metal suits to survive the radiation, but their minds were dulled and they obyed the C'tan, and they set an armada destroying all life in their galaxy. Their technology was matter ripping Gauss Rifles and even weapons that effected space and time. They are easily the most advanced.

Tyranids: A bunch of bugs from a different galaxy, and suggestions say that they have eaten many galaxies before encountering the Milky Way, their weaponry is basically bio-plasma that is really effective, they have the Genestealers (http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Genestealer) who are too scary to think about, then there are the Carnifixes who can slash tanks apart. These are controlled by the Hive Tyrant and the Norn Queens. But all obey the Hive Mind; a psychic link between all Tyranids, one that can drive Psykers insane. These guys aren't really sentient as they have to obey synapse creatures like Zoanthroapes (http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Zoanthrope)

Tau: A new race only around for a few thousand years, but they are fairly advanced with plasma technology given to their most basic units. They are lead by a Ethereal who has mental control over them, they always attempt to ally themselves rather than fight, they are good for 40k standards but really they are somewhat evil but current standards as the Ethereal has control over them, and they are technically space communists.

That's it for now. Post comments!

[Sergey]

I said comment... nao!

[Earl]

Lewis will show up eventually.

[Sergey]

And we know why! At least, I know why.

[Sergey]

... LEWIS HERE NAO!

[Fat Man]

Good morning Sergey.

I finally got around to reading the information on the links you provided.

WOW! This sounds like one kick-ass game of strategy. It makes Dungeons & Dragons look like Kindergarten stuff by comparison.

I once had a game called Star Flight for the Commodore 64 computer. That graphics sucked, but it was a pretty good game of strategy. It had many different races such as the Velox, Thrynn, Elowan, Spemin, Gazertoids, Mysterians, Minstrels, and the Ulek.

The Ulek was not exactly a race of individuals. They were all controlled by a single mind, a huge brain ganglion deep within the Ulek Brain World. They were absolutely evil. If you encountered any of their ships, you better haul ass, because they shoot on sight. Don't try to hail them, because they speak only with their weapons, and you would not care to hear what they have to say. Nobody even knows what they look like.

The Gazertoids are squid-like creatures living in huge colony ships filled with water which they breath. They are religious fanatics who hate and despise all air breathers and they are on a Holy Crusade to exterminate all air-breathers across the galaxy. When you encounter their ships, you can hail them, and they are willing to communicate. But they won't answer questions. Instead they preach their religious rhetoric saying shit like "Fear not vial air breathers. For in death, thou shall findeth redemption. I am thy redeemer!" and as long as you assume an obsequious position (another words, sucking up to them) and being very polite, they might allow you to live and be on your way.

The Spemin are obnoxious purple blobs with 7 eyes. They have formed an alliance with the Gazertoids. When they communicate with the Gazertoids, they sit in pools of water so that the Gazertoids think they are water breathers, when in truth, they are air breathers. The Spemin are rude, obnoxious, and cowardly. Just fire a few shots at them, and they immediately surrender, and when you hail them again, you need to assume a hostile position to bully information from them. Then through out the rest of the game, when ever you encounter the Spemin, they will hail you first, begging for mercy, and being very polite, they will gladly tell you anything you need to know so you can complete your mission. For the rest of the game, you own them!

The Thrynn are reptilians and the Elowan are plant-like creatures. Both races are willing to be friendly and willing to communicate. But there is hostility between the Thrynn and the Elowan. If you get too chummy with the Thrynn, the Elowan want nothing to do with you. And if you get too chummy with the Elowan, the Thrynn won't have anything to do with you. So, it's not possible to establish a peaceful alliance with both the Thrynn and the Elowan. You have to choose one or the other. The Thrynn have a lot of good reliable information on ancient or alien artifacts, the Old Empire ruins, etc. etc. that they are willing to share, and you can barter and trade with them. The Elowan are also a good source of information, but it's mostly cultural, historical or spiritual or philosophical, and their speech is rather poetic. they are more spiritual and not as materialistic as the Thrynn.

The Velox or Veloxie are an insectoid race resembling large beetles with six limbs. They are friendly and intelligent, but sometime they can act kind of silly, and while they are a good source of information, they also like to tell dirty jokes.

The Mysterians are really weird. They look like some kind of blob-like creatures dancing on a grid and they only communicate in binary. 111001010000010101011011100001111100101111001111

There there is the Minstrels who resemble bee-like creatures who speak only in rhymes. It takes several encounters with them to peace together all the information they have. With each encounter, the give you only one verse from their Minstrel Song and then they terminate communications and they move on before you can ask another question.

Here is what I was able to gather from them after 7 encounters during the game.

THE MINSTREL SONG

Through the windless night we sail
To watch the timeless dance unfold.
Out of joy we share the tale
To any who would have it told.

Time, it seems, doesn't flow...
For some it's fast, for others slow.
In what to one race is no time at all
Another race may rise and fall.

The virus spread like burning fire...
The sea of dread rose higher and higher.
The crystal ones had to fight
By causing suns to ignite.
...self defense. It is their right.

Back when all the stars were young,
Before the Minstrel songs were sung,
When this galaxy was new
There came from far the crystal few.
Gradually they spread through space.
They were the first...the only race.

And harder still to recognize
That which lies before one's eyes.
So many races have believed
In only what was preconceived.
That which is ancient may be new...
It all depends on point of view.

From inward out the races flee
Searching for a place to hide...
Ever in a wave of war
And on the crest the strongest ride.

We are the watchers of the dance.
Many wonder at us...
But how could there not be an audience
For the greatest of all comedies?

As I have said before, Star Flight was an excellent game of strategy. The graphics sucked but it was a lot of fun, and after playing for a few hours, you could save the progress of the game to a floppy disk, and then, re-load and continue from where you left off. It took about a week to finish the game.

I only played the game once, because at the end, when I found out the truth about the Endurium Crystals which we had been burning in our ship's engines as fuel for centuries to go faster than the speed of light, it turned out that Endurium Crystals were intelligent sentient beings, and we had been burning them alive as fuel, not knowing that we were burning intelligent life-forms.

It was late at night when I have finished playing the game, and when I found out the truth about Endurium Crystals, well, when I tried to sleep, I woke up in a cold sweat from some rather disturbing dreams.

So, I never played that game ever again!

NEVER AGAIN! NEVER AGAIN!

[Sergey]

I remember that story.

[Lewis]

You rang?

Thanks for the intro Sergey. It does sound like an interesting game and the back story is compelling.

That said, I probably will give it a go, but I will never defect from the Time Lord cause, because the Doctor is a legend afterall:

'I'm the Doctor. I'm a Time Lord. I'm from the planet Gallifrey in the constellation of Kasterborous. I'm 903 years old, and I'm the man who's gonna save your lives and all six billion people on the planet below. You got a problem with that? '

Who can top that?

[Sergey]

You rang?

Thanks for the intro Sergey. It does sound like an interesting game and the back story is compelling.

That said, I probably will give it a go, but I will never defect from the Time Lord cause, because the Doctor is a legend afterall:

'I'm the Doctor. I'm a Time Lord. I'm from the planet Gallifrey in the constellation of Kasterborous. I'm 903 years old, and I'm the man who's gonna save your lives and all six billion people on the planet below. You got a problem with that? '

Who can top that?

The Ork WAAAGH? Aka reality breaking mental thing.