http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/90190-ordo-xenos-supplement-thread/

I got my first draft up for an alternate rank

Wow, great thread. I can contribute with some of my house rules as soon as I find my way with google docs with some custom and converted equipment, talents, backround packages and origins. Also I propose the creation of There is Only War , conversion of Only War stuff to Dark Heresy, mostly that centered at Calixis, such as native regiments and Severian Dominate.

On topic of Jaded and Paranoia, I feel that they are one of the most prevalent ones due to the grimdarkness of the setting, they fit the Raid Survivor, but let not overdo it with them, as they could be at every second backround package

gandering at the house rules section, I remembered this:

http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/70097-ordo-xenos-retinue-cell-directive/

Definitely should be IMO.

So, any news, Mastigos ? I'm getting restless...

I've been holding off on posting the other Background Package that I came up with, because I wanted to include a reference that I remember reading in the 40K 3rd Ed. Codex: Orks. Unfortunately I foolishly traded away my copy after the newer one came out, and I haven't been able to track down another copy of it... Then it occurred to me that someone here on the Forums could probably find what I'm looking for in no time, so I'll put out the call: One of the Sidebars in the 3rd Ed. Codex features a quote about Ork 'kultur' taken from a book called (I think) My Life (or Time ) Among The Greenskins , a first-hand account of Ork captivity; I'm looking for the author's name. Anyone?

Anyhow, here's what I came up with- I'll edit the referenced author's name in later:

FREED THRALL

Career: Adept, Guardsman, Scum

Cost: 300 xp

The greenskin menace is the most widely-spread xeno threat facing humanity among the stars. There is no corner of the galaxy that is safe from the depredations of Ork hordes, as they crash through the galaxy virtually at random, in their never-ending search for battle.

Of course, warfare as a way of life requires more than just the urge to fight, it requires the materials to wage war. Weapons and vehicles are labour-intensive creations; and then there is mining the minerals needed to create those implements of war… Since every Ork engaged in the drudgery of arming and equipping the great Waaaghs for battle is one Ork not available to serve on the front lines in combat, the greenskins have predictably adopted the expedient of enslaving the populations of the worlds they conquer, forcing the surviving populace to toil in service of the mighty Ork war machine.

The liberation of enslaved humans from Ork settlements is a high priority of the Imperial Guard. The benefits are threefold: retrieving resources that rightfully belong to the Emperor, denying the enemy’s war machine those same resources, and bolstering the morale of the troops engaged in these operations; after all, nothing makes a Guardsman feel more like a hero than the outpouring of gratitude they receive from loyal citizens freed from servitude at the hands of loathsome alien oppressors. That many of these freed thralls are subsequently executed by the Ordo Xenos if they reveal too much contamination- of either mind or soul- from contact with the Enemy Without would likely have the opposite effect on the morale of their liberators, so this fact is benevolently concealed from the Guardsmen that participate in these operations…

Those members of the uneducated masses who are deemed fit to return to Imperial society after their ordeal have demonstrated an interesting ancillary benefit: their tales of woe often serve to motivate their fellow prols, taking minds off of the miserable conditions they face every day, with the certain knowledge that things could be much, much worse, and motivating the workforce to maximize their efforts in producing goods for the mighty Imperial war effort. Manufactorums with a percentage of freed thralls amongst their workforce have noticeably higher outputs that similar Manufactorums where no-one has endured the threat of the alien first-hand.

More valuable still to the servants of the Emperor is the information acquired from first-hand observation of the xeno menace by members of the educated classes who were once forced to toil in alien bondage. These observations often provide the best insights available into the workings of non-human societies and, if studied by those whose faith in the Emperor is unwavering, can facilitate the formation of tactics which can maximize the effectiveness of efforts to eradicate the alien from the galaxy. My Life Among The Greenskins by XXXXXXXX, a first-hand account of Ork society from the perspective of an enslaved- and subsequently liberated- human thrall is considered one of the most valuable references on Ork culture available within the Imperium, and is required reading amongst the Inquisitors of the Ordo Xenos.

And then there are those who have endured protracted enslavement by Orks. Upon being freed, these hardy individuals often find the skills that allowed them to endure their captivity put to good use by the Holy Ordos- after all, only the toughest Imperial citizens could have survived the brutal enslavement by the barbaric greenskins for any significant length of time.

EFFECTS

Apply all of the following changes to your character:

Characteristics: Increase Toughness by +5.

Insanity Points: You gain 1d5 Insanity Ponits.

Skills: Forbidden Lore (Xenos- Ork only), Trade (Miner or Smith). Additionally, the character treats Speak Language (Ork) as a Basic skill.

Talents: Hardy, Street Fighting.

Special: This character’s occasional use of Orkish expressions and manerisms causes a -10 penalty on all interaction tests with anyone who has the Hatred: Orks Talent.

I'm getting 'itchy' waiting to hear something. To kill time while I wait, I'll run this Background Package up the flagpole:

RAID SURVIVOR

Career: Any

Cost: 200 xp

The galaxy is a slaughterhouse, with no safe refuge from bloody violence and sudden death. Even on the most peaceful and complacent Imperial worlds, the horror of a xeno raid can explode upon the lives of unsuspecting citizens without warning.

The Calixis Sector has long been the target of horrific raids by Kabalite Eldar, who revel in slaughter even as they harvest slaves for their vile domains beyond conventional reality. Those who escape the attentions of these pain-loving fiends on one of their sorties into an Imperial settlement are usually scarred to their very soul by the sights they have witnessed.

Then there are the new horrors emerging from the Koronus Expanse: the blood-mad Rak’Gol. These barbaric reavers seem to care for naught but slaughter, laying waste to any Imperial outpost they encounter as they grow ever closer to the Calixis Sector.

More sinister still are the rare but increasing reports of isolated communities being wiped out overnight by mysterious beings who leave no trace of their passing other than the mutilated bodies of their victims. Survivors of these attacks are rare; they usually give incoherent testimony of ‘metal skeletons’ appearing from no-where and killing everything that moves…

Survivors of xeno-raids are thoroughly debriefed and screened by representatives of the Ordo Xenos, both to determine the nature of the attack and to test the witness for possible corruption from their contact with alien forces. Those deemed to have had their faith in the God-Emperor shaken by their experience are quietly executed to prevent their weakness from infecting their fellow citizens. Some raid survivors, however, emerge from their harrowing ordeal with their hatred of the xeno menace tempered into a keen weapon- a weapon much sought after by the Ordo Xenos.

EFFECTS

Apply all of the following changes to your character:

Skills: Awareness, Concealment.

Talents: Hatred (Dark Eldar, Necrons or Rak’Gol), Jaded.

Insanity Points: You gain 1d10 Insanity Points.

I also have a Freed Thrall (someone rescued from Ork slavery) Background Package, and Diplomatist (negotiators with xenos) and Xenoarchaeologist Alternate Ranks- the 'crunch' part is done, but I'm still writing up the 'fluff'. And I'm in the early stages of working out a Scalp-Taker (someone who collects bounties from dead xenos).

Wouldn't honestly make more sense to allow Hatred Xenos (any) for this talent? There are after all a whole bunch of different Xenos out there who likes to make life hell for the Imperials beyond the Dark Eldar, Necrons and Rak'Gol. The Slaugth and Orks to name two.

Also would this esteemed project have room for a race of homebrewn xenos? I'm thinking about my Feras who I posted about some time ago.

Btw, if someone needed a realistic (or at least pseudo-realistic) calculations of stellar systems and other astrophysics - I can help, this is my old hobby.

This is one of my pet peeves with 40K fluff. It almost never bothers with the star systems the various covered locations are found at. Which is kind of important, at least to me, since it's bound to have a pretty major impact on the locations themselves, and how people travel to and from them.

I've been holding off on posting the other Background Package that I came up with, because I wanted to include a reference that I remember reading in the 40K 3rd Ed. Codex: Orks. Unfortunately I foolishly traded away my copy after the newer one came out, and I haven't been able to track down another copy of it... Then it occurred to me that someone here on the Forums could probably find what I'm looking for in no time, so I'll put out the call: One of the Sidebars in the 3rd Ed. Codex features a quote about Ork 'kultur' taken from a book called (I think) My Life (or Time ) Among The Greenskins , a first-hand account of Ork captivity; I'm looking for the author's name. Anyone?

Can anyone help me out with this?

____________

Also- I'm working on another Background Package, inspired by the classic sci-fi novel Stranger In A Strange Land , that represents a human raised by Eldar, then returned to human society (to fulfill some mysterious goal of a Farseer...). I was going to call it 'Changeling', after the European myths of fairies left in place of stolen human children, but I'm concerned that too many people will mistake that name for being a literal 'shape-changer'. What do you guys think- and if not a Changeling, what should I call it...?

I was going to call it 'Changeling', after the European myths of fairies left in place of stolen human children, but I'm concerned that too many people will mistake that name for being a literal 'shape-changer'. What do you guys think- and if not a Changeling, what should I call it...?

I think that "changeling" term is widely known in its true sense now . The only other option that comes to my mind - " foundling " - but "changeling" is a way better.

I've been holding off on posting the other Background Package that I came up with, because I wanted to include a reference that I remember reading in the 40K 3rd Ed. Codex: Orks. Unfortunately I foolishly traded away my copy after the newer one came out, and I haven't been able to track down another copy of it... Then it occurred to me that someone here on the Forums could probably find what I'm looking for in no time, so I'll put out the call: One of the Sidebars in the 3rd Ed. Codex features a quote about Ork 'kultur' taken from a book called (I think) My Life (or Time ) Among The Greenskins , a first-hand account of Ork captivity; I'm looking for the author's name. Anyone?

Can anyone help me out with this?

____________

Also- I'm working on another Background Package, inspired by the classic sci-fi novel Stranger In A Strange Land , that represents a human raised by Eldar, then returned to human society (to fulfill some mysterious goal of a Farseer...). I was going to call it 'Changeling', after the European myths of fairies left in place of stolen human children, but I'm concerned that too many people will mistake that name for being a literal 'shape-changer'. What do you guys think- and if not a Changeling, what should I call it...?

It's difficult to be sure with the amount of details you're providing, but having looked in the Codex: Orks for 3e now, I'm guessing it's Codex: Armageddon I should have looked in instead (I will later, if I remember).

However, since 3e basically re-wrote 40k Orks from scratch, it's not at all unlikely that what you're after is from one of the much earlier or much later books. In other words, more information would be great, because what you're looking for could turn out to be pretty hard to find.

As for Changelings, I don't see a problem. Maybe Manchurian Candidate would be more accurate, but Changeling sounds more 40K to my ears. I wasn't aware the term had been confused with shape changer in pop culture, but I also don't know why that would be an issue

I think that "changeling" term is widely known in its true sense now . The only other option that comes to my mind - " foundling " - but "changeling" is a way better.

As for Changelings, I don't see a problem. Maybe Manchurian Candidate would be more accurate, but Changeling sounds more 40K to my ears. I wasn't aware the term had been confused with shape changer in pop culture, but I also don't know why that would be an issue

Cool. I know 'changeling' is widely used in comics as a term for shape-shifters; I'm glad that usage hasn't seeped into the general culture. Changeling it is.

Has anyone heard from Mastigos (the originator of this thread) recently? I tried PMing him, and got no response. I really hope this project doesn't stall out...

Relatedly:

I'm hard at work at my ENCYCLOPÆDIA CALIXIS - A CALIXIAN GAZETEER

The project page is here:

http://www.darkreign.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=6129

You can grab the current draft here:

Download

Currently looking for volunteers to do planetary descritpions.

I've made an example of the world of Cyrus Vulpa (agri-world Golgenna Reach):

http://www.darkreign.org/forum/download/file.php?id=1807

This is what we're aiming for. One page per world (plus more extensive entries for some choice planets).

I've made an example of the world of Cyrus Vulpa (agri-world Golgenna Reach):

Looks good .

It would be possible to add duration of the year - something about 210 days if you need Earth's solar constant . Less if you take into account a hotter on the average climate (savannah ) .

And yet , six percent of the population in the capital of Agri - world - is not it too much? This is the kind of Moscow is obtained by the ratio between the total population and the population of the capital.

Good point. Duration of year/day should be part of the basic description. Probably also a reference to gravity as well.

Something like this:

http://darkreign.org/forum/download/file.php?id=1808

And yet , six percent of the population in the capital of Agri - world - is not it too much? This is the kind of Moscow is obtained by the ratio between the total population and the population of the capital.

I don't think so. There aren't many other urban areas on the planet, so it has an extremely low urbanization percentage.

Besides the hive is overcrowded because of immigrant failed ranchers. Possible plot hooks there; desperately overcrowded, alienated population, environmental devastation, etc.

Good point. Duration of year/day should be part of the basic description. Probably also a reference to gravity as well.

Something like this:

http://darkreign.org/forum/download/file.php?id=1808

I calculated 212 days for 0.7 AU ( Earth's solar constant ) with the eccentricity 0 and 1G on the surface + Earth radius. For better calculation with 1.08G I'll need planetary radius and eccentricity.

I don't think so. There aren't many other urban areas on the planet, so it has an extremely low urbanization percentage.

Besides the hive is overcrowded because of immigrant failed ranchers. Possible plot hooks there; desperately overcrowded, alienated population, environmental devastation, etc.

Well, I think that my objections are due to the fact that I have my own design on the planet. The same as your almost completely , except for some moments. But you made it before, so no problem :-)

I don't think so. There aren't many other urban areas on the planet, so it has an extremely low urbanization percentage.

Besides the hive is overcrowded because of immigrant failed ranchers. Possible plot hooks there; desperately overcrowded, alienated population, environmental devastation, etc.

Well, I think that my objections are due to the fact that I have my own design on the planet. The same as your almost completely , except for some moments. But you made it before, so no problem :-)

And here I picked a planet that I was pretty sure no one had bothered with to use as an example

And here I picked a planet that I was pretty sure no one had bothered with to use as an example

I warn you , just in case I 'm working on a description of the Pellucida IX now, and will try to make it on your sample.

And here I picked a planet that I was pretty sure no one had bothered with to use as an example

I warn you , just in case I 'm working on a description of the Pellucida IX now, and will try to make it on your sample.

Darn...

I'm focusing my efforts on the Golgenna Reach + Hazeroth Abyss ATM.

Writing stuff for: Luggnum, Granithor, Settlement 228, Ysai Ydumee + Guytoga, Cyprian's Gate, Samson IV, Elros, Hilarion, Valos Krin, Ichovor

New sample world: Settlement 228, a colony world in the Golgenna Reach

http://www.darkreign.org/forum/download/file.php?id=1809

Download

This looks great!

Made some more worlds to showcase:

2 1-page worlds:

Granithor - a cemetary world

Bront - a hive world, home to the Brontian Longknives regiments (probably deserves a 2-3 page entry).

1 3-page world:

Iochantos - should be well known from the Core DH book.