For the game I am about to run one of the potential antagonists is a Noise Marine. I need some idea's for a close combat daemon weapon. I've looked through the various Warhammer 40k codex's, read through some of the novels and so far I haven't been able to come up with anything good. I am also just going to post here as well the world that is going to be the focus of the game.

Name: Celesta

Population: 25 Billion

Climate: Temperate/Jungle

Segmentum: Segmentum Obscurus

Sector: N/A

Subsector: N/A

System: Celest System, Gloaming Worlds - Screaming Vortex

Affiliation: Chaos Forge World

Tithe Grade: Aptus Non

In the Screaming Vortex this world is prized by those who know it. Ruled by a collection of powerful guilds that work to keep the production within toleration. The first of the guilds that controls Celesta is the Order of Primacy, a group of Hereteks that fled the wrath of the Machine Priests of Mars. The second most important group are the Warp Witches of the Shrouded Mist, this vile group of psykers helps to blend science with magic in new and terrible ways. The third potent group on Celesta is the Order of the Hunt which prowls the surface to bring back the life forms found on the world to sell that desire them. The last of the great orders that control Celesta is simply known as the Many Pointed Star, a warrior order tracing its roots back to the Heresy. Being the military wing of the planet and defenders of the system they are given the greatest of the world's weapons and other resources.

The population of the world lives in cities above the thick cloud layer from the humid world. The cities are built on great columns. The core cities and the oldest of forges have had many additions to them over the millennia and have become the greatest hives. There are 4 hives with several dozen other large cities. Most of the cities are linked by slender rails. Some structures are not linked to the rail system and require special permit to reach. The Fortress and hunting lodge of the Order of the Hunt is located partially beneath the cloud layer. Only the great dome which serves as a port to ship off captured creatures is visible and the only place outsiders are allowed to be. The second area off limits is the skyhook that leads up to the equatorial ring that circles the planet.

Few who do not know the planet well survive their first journey to the surface of the planet. It is a hellish place of sweltering heat and humid temperatures. Only near the poles does the temperature cool to being more temperate. The world has a way to combine the mechanical and organic in strange hybrid ways. But the world is as alive as any outside the Screaming Vortex. Strange demon hives produce these creatures from unseen Queen organisms. The surface of the world is controlled by a handful of creatures known as the Preators. These ancient beings slumber in their places of power, so great are they that the ruling elite seek to keep them asleep or they would throw down the cities they have built over the clouds.

Unknown to only the Bleak Council is a Obliterator Cult that exists in a special fortress on the surface of the planet. Here select members of the world are brought to be exposed to the virus and trained with their new gifts. When they are ready they are assigned to special groups within the Many Pointed Star where their devastating gifts are put to use. The group is lead by one of the fallen Astartes a marine known to the council only as War Smith Hadriel. He has not revealed much more about himself.

High above the world around its equator is the largest of the orbital rings. One above and below it produce much for the warbands of the Screaming Vortex. Their ships are prized for power and speed. Combined with power of the warp their Dirge Vessels that span multiple classes of starship from Grand Cruisers down to Raiders. With the warp power the crew needed to maintain them is far less. Though the drawback is the vessels are far harder to handle in the material world than others. Very few warbands can afford any class of Dirge Vessel, though the powerful and charismatic are able to request one for future favors.

Important Groups: (suitable for the peer talent)

Many Pointed Star, The

Order of Primacy

Order of the Hunt

The Bleak Council - Must possess at least one other peer talent.

Warp Witches of the Shrouded Mist

Obliterator Cult - Must already possess the Bleak Council Peer Talen

Important NPCs:

High Adept Laodr - The Primus Adept of the Order of Primacy. Once a senior priest of the Martian Priesthood he has become something much more. His stature is nearly 10 feet tall and beneath those heavy black robes his form is concealed. A massive power pack has bonded to his frame. He is a blend of human, machine and daemon. His knowledge spans the last 1,200 years of real space history. Very little of him is left that is wholly human.

Beastlord Khagan - Leader of the Hunt. He has survived the longest in the hellish world beneath the cloud layer. Twisted by mutations he has the horns and legs of a goat, and walks with an irregular gait. Carrying with him a warp tainted glaive he seeks the strongest creatures the world can offer to kill the first of its kind before subjugating the rest. Only once he hunts and kills one of the species will he allow it to be taken off world. His fur is a milky white.

High Witch Lumina - Leader of the sorcerous Warp Witches.Very little is known about the only woman of the Bleak Council save that she broke from the Black Ships and killed many would be Inquisitorial troopers. Very few have tested her true power and lived. Nor can they say how old she is for she has maintained herself in her prime by drawing directly from the Warp. Wearing flowing and elegant robes of ever shifting colors. Carrying with her a staff of incredible power that was taken from the Black Ship she escaped from.

Lord Commander Hurst - Overall commander of the Many Pointed Star. Overseeing the ground, air and space deployment of their assets. A tall heavy set man that wears a crisp uniform. A brutal man that tolerates no disobedience. Beneath him are the Lord Generals for the Land, Air and Space. Of all the Bleak Council he is the one who is still mostly human and keeps the rest of council grounded in normal affairs to ensure the security of their shared world.

War Smith Hadriel - One of the traitorous Astartes of the Iron Warriors Legion. He came to Celesta to create a new generation of human based Obliterators to serve in the Many Pointed Star. Why the Bleak Council asked him here is something they have not revealed and the existence of the Astartes is a secret only they know, to learn this secret and have any find out is punishable with a most terrible death.

Gau’las’tok - This mighty daemon has come to inhabit the form of a Grand Cruiser to create its daemonic court. Its gun decks house the noble gun daemons. The vessel also has a mortal crew and its captain is joined with it on a great throne. Mortal press gangs work beside roving gangs of daemons to keep the vessel in full operation. It is the flagship and greatest defense for the world in which it was forged and created. The sacrifice to bring it into existence was nearly 50 millions lives to the gods of Chaos. It eternally circles the system like a hungry shark its potent magics carry it across the system far quicker than others.

Dirge Pattern Avenger-Class Grand Cruiser

When I read "Slaanesh" and "Weapon" in the same sentence my mind lingers towards whips and S&M, interestingly.

So how about a Neural Whip with an unnamed warp entity (probably a Daemonette, but not needed to know for sure - something slaaneshi atleast), Willpower of 34 and two attributes (Glittering and Shrieking). A whip hard to avoid and when it snaps it does so with a painful crack.

Lucious the Ethernal and there used to be a Slaanesh marine with a bike but can't remember is name.

I looked through three editions of Chaos Space Marines. I even looked through the Warriors of Chaos and Beastmen army books for inspiration and nothing is all that inspiring to me.

Slaanesh is more than just pleasure and vice. Slaanesh is also the god of perfection, but as with most things of the Dark Gods their more beneficial natures are twisted by their lesser daemons. The lesser daemons pervert those aspects which make the Gods something a human could want to worship. They take that high and multiply it to ever increasing degrees of depravity. When Slaanesh first started to creep into the Warrior Lodges of the Emperor's Children it was to make them more perfect warriors. I was looking for a weapon that was like that. It holds to those qualities which make up the core of Slaanesh, to be perfect but the touch of its wielder twists its nature.

It may be a bit to complex but link what the weapon can to based upon the Disgrace that character has chosen. The disgraces come from different emotions, the invoke different sensations and the daemon inside seeks to exaggerate the flaws of its wielder while granting them its power.

crisaron said:

You are thinking of Doomrider. From the rumors that I am hearing he is actually coming back in the Legion's Codex for 40K 6th edition.

Yes DoomRider i just found my old codex.

Well, the Emperor's Children of old were indeed perfectionists (in a good sense of this word) and it was not uncommon for the warriors of the Legion to forge their own weapon or improve upon those issued to them. Some weapons were even created by their magnificient Primarch Fulgrim to be awarded to most worthy of warriors. Of course, after ten millenia of warfare most of these weapons are bound to be lost, but a precious few probably remain.

Quest for perfection was something deeply personal for each legionary, so the form of the weapon could be pretty much anything from power blade to bolter to melta gun. They should however have three traits in common:

1. Dependability (Accurate / Balanced / Reliable - all or some of these traits, as appropriate);

2. Lethality (Proven(X) - for certain, maybe Razor Sharp or Tearing if applicable);

3. Exquisite Craftsmanship (Best, and weapon should really look like a piece of art).

If the weapon was wielded by one of the Phoenix Guard, it could also have the Tainted trait, as these warrior-brothers escorted Fulgrim on that fateful trip to the Laeran Temple, and some fell energies of this place could very well remain within the weapon.

Optionally, you could leave the weapon just like that: a potent artifact of the Long War, the one which slew untold thousands and has a Legacy of Slaughter trait, but is not a daemon weapon (maybe the legionary wielding it is loathe to allow some lowly warp spawn to corrupt his beautiful creation). In this way the Finall Boss will still have a potent weapon at his disposal, but at the same time you'll provide player characters with a possible quest for the future.

Or, if the daemon weapon is a Must, just come up with a couple bizarre attributes and then write down an appropriately horrific story how the weapon came to be possessed by an unclean spirit. For example:

1. Over the ages the legionary became so obssessed with honing the weapon to perfection that at some point it became everything he cared about. And so when he was finally slain, his soul merged with the weapon and inhabits it ever since. Although the weapon is a potent instrument of killing, few would dare to wield it since the warrior soul within is a proud and vindictive one, and will lash out on anyone proven to be "unworthy" of his magnificient creation.

2. Wielded during the orgy of Maraviglia and used to slain many innocent remembrancers, the weapon radiates an aura of despair and kills not the bodies nor souls but the dreams of those it hits (see Apostate Matrix in the DH: Radical's Handbook).

3. A weapon of one of the few Emperor's Children who remained pure and died on Isstvan III fighting the Warmaster's Legions. The blade (bolter, whatever) slew many Emperor's Children loyal to the Warmaster, then witnessed the treachery of captain Lucius and ultimately was captured by heretics and used to end the life of its original bearer. It is said that the weapon's spirit is now plunged into madness and is re-living the events of this ancient battle over and over again.

Erborn said:

I like this idea a lot actually.