+Project inload: PCRC Scallop Stars build-up, lead-in and general ephemera+
+ My friends and I have a gaming group we call the PCRC (pcrc.org.uk). For the past few years we've played games in our own little corner of the 40k universe, a sector called Antona Australis, a loose 'High Gothic' translation of Southampton, where most of the group met at University.
+ While the sector started out simply as a place to record the battles we fight with our armies, it's gradually grown to become a quite fleshed-out backdrop, full of political intrigue, danger, excitement and quite a few awful puns! Graham Gilchrist, the gang's Earth Caste Engineer, has made a really cool interactive sector map that we've populated over the years with subsectors, star systems and sundry fleets, warp storms and other interesting oddities.
+ If you get a chance, please do have a little explore. The sector map has a zoom function, so simply scroll the mouse wheel in and out to get closer, then click on whichever system or other item you fancy. The tabs at the top will take you to info and images of the various armies, characters and stories associated with them.
+ We'd really like to hear what you think – the sector's an eternal work in progress – so feel free to leave a comment here or fire us off an email +
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+ Campaigns +
+ The sector backdrop has given us endless backdrops for stories and games, and for the past two (three?) years we've run a loosely annual campaign, concentrating on a specific planet or system.+ In 2014, we're going to explore what happened in M37, when the forces of the Imperium launched an assault into the Scallop Stars, a notorious den of greenskins that borders the Hesiod-Siculus subsector.
+ We're hoping to include a frequent update service on this – a sort of ticker tape 'news from the front' for readers. I'd like to invite everyone to come up with Imperial Guard regiments – of any type – to join the Crusade. Please make up your regiment and leave a comment below with the name and anything else, like a history or interesting facts – and we'll see if we can incorporate it into our ongoing history.
+ Feel free to pick a blue world (Imperial) from the sector, make up an out-of sector regiment, or create a new world!
+ Of course, the 'oomies can't have it all their own way, so if you'd like to create an ork warband in the same way, we'd be very interested indeed. Again, pick a green world (ork) – or make one up – and leave the info below.
+ Looking forward to seeing what you come up with – and a sincere thank you in advance.+
10 comments:
Definitely something I'd like to do. I'll get something done by the end of the week if I can.
As an example, here's a couple of example:
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A rag-tag tribe of orks that emerged briefly from the Stellar Wells were dubbed 'The Filthy Vandals' by Lord-General Matys during the Invasion of Kilsnik in the second year of the Crusade. Led by Scurgog One-hand, the orks' were notorious for their desecration of Imperial STC shrines established for the invading human forces. This led, in turn, to low morale amongst the invaders.
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The Neues Tremo 'Unloved' are a cavalry regiment with a long history of courage and dedication to the Emperor. The initial uptake was drawn exclusively from orphans rounded up during the building tensions of the Nova Terra Interregnum. The ranking troopers revelled in the rather sardonic name 'Unloved' after learning of the vocal and repetitious complaints of their first Commander, Seinse Bathory, who resented the posting.
As promised over at the First Crusade forums, some Ork stuff. I've added some 'poetic translations' of the Ork names, based on the glyphs stuff from the old Rogue Trader books.
Boss Skargarg Badurd Og Goff - Warlord Skargarg (Terrifying Blade), Baddest of the Goff Clan.
Skargarg the Baddest is one of the many warlords who took advantage of Gogwort Ugfug's advances into the sector. Originating from one of the worlds lost to the Orks in the Scallop Stars became notorious for his reckless attitude. With Orks already being rather ugly creatures, Skargarg is no exception, his face is covered by hundreds of scars that he gained from devouring the infamous face-eater Squigs, also known as Gnashers. As he grew in size and his scars increased, it did not take long until he challenged his leader, Boss Durzgor Wazmor (translated as: The Boss Who Slaughters Cities In Wild Ecstasy) for his position.
With control of his former leader's warband, Skargarg's next challenge was to find a means to join Gogwort Ugfug in conquering Imperial worlds. Stories surrounding Skargarg's acquisition are often told by other Orks. Because of this the story has many versions. Some claim that Skargarg fought with another warlord who originally owned the ship. This in itself is not uncommon to occur amongst Orks. Other stories tell how Skargarg stole the ship from other warlords or even from Gogwort Ugfug himself. One story, often told amongst members of the Nazbad (Bad Moon Clan) is that Skargarg actually won the ship during one of his famous Gnasher eating sessions. Skargarg has encouraged these stories, even making up some of them to increase his status amongst the other warlords.
As his bold actions increased, so did the size of his warband. Skargarg's warband, eventually expanded to possessing multiple cruiser sized ships and several escort squadrons. With little interest for conquering other worlds, Skargarg hasn't set foot on any planet in many years, having only lived and fought aboard ships and stations.
Skargarg's face is covered by many scars, many of them received whilst fighting against the Imperium and fellow Orks foolish enough to stand in his way. Many more of the scars are a result of Skargarg's lust for eating Gnashers. As a result of this, many parts of Skargarg's face are kept together by golden rings given by his lieutenant, Gobnaz.
Here the second Ork fellow:
Big Nob Sniklug Gortoof Og Nargor - Head Ork Sniklug (Messenger of Execution), Bloody Tooth of the Blood Axe Clan
Sniklug came to join Skargarg's personal retinue after the latter had killed Sniklug's original master, Dreggrub (Cunning Destroyer) of the Grim Axes tribe. Most refused to accept Skargarg's command and joined other warbands. Sniklug was one of the few who did join Skargarg's fleet. In the years serving Skargarg, Sniklug quickly rose through the ranks by killing those who stood in his way. Being a Blood Axe, Sniklug is rather cunning and primarily kills his opponents in a rather unorky way, through assassination. Skargarg, wary of those beneath him, has employed the services of Sniklug on several occasions to remove those he considered to be a threat to his position as warlord.
Typical for a Blood Axe, Sniklug's attire is a foul parody of the uniforms worn by the Imperial Guard. Unlike most other Orks, Sniklug wears little decorations; his wrist mounts several necklaces previously worn by high ranking Imperial Navy officers and priests. Sniklug's preferred weapons are his blades that he uses to silently kill his enemies.
Whilst he uses Sniklug as his personal assassin, Skargarg does not fully trust him. Because of this Sniklug is refused command of his own ship, remaining close to his master so that Skargarg can keep an eye on him.
Kaptin Gobnaz Og Nazbad - Captain Gobnaz (The Moon Who Speaks out of Turn) of the Bad Moon Clan
Gobnaz, not unlike most other members of the Bad Moon Clan, is a rather opportunistic and greedy Ork. In Oligorkia Gobnaz had already built himself the reputation through gambling. On how Gobnaz ended up serving in Skargarg's warband remains debatable. Some Orks claim that he escaped to join the Waaagh due to gambling debts, other claim that he simply did it to find wealth and glory. A thing that has not up for debate was the respect between Gobnaz and his warlord, Skargarg, because of their mutual love for betting and devouring Gnashers.
It is said that Gobnaz won his ship during a bet with Skargarg in which the latter received a rather nasty scar from a face-eater Squig. Whilst technically this meant that Skargarg had lost, a new scar on his face was satisfying enough since bearing scars (and especially facial scars) is something greatly respected amongst Orks.
Whilst Gobnaz could easily afford it, he refuses to wear a heavily armored suit the Orks call "Mega Armor"; Gobnaz claims it limits his movements. Instead he wears a colorful attire patched together from various pieces of expensive fabric the captain had stolen during his raids. Gobnaz lost his left eye because of a face-eater Squig. The same Gnasher responsible for the lost of his left eye was also responsible for tearing up Gobnaz' lower jaw. After the incident his lost eye was replaced by an implant, the targeting scope from a Boltgun previously owned by the Adeptus Astartes of the Novamarines Chapter. His jaw is kept together with golden rings.
Kaptin Grimduff Skumdreg Og Goff - Captain Grimduff Skumdreg (He Who Destroys His Enemies By Beating Them Recklessly) of the Goff Clan
Grimduff Skumdreg is a rather cruel Ork, taking great delight in inflicting pain and suffering amongst his foes. Whilst his name might suggest that he is a rather crude and direct figure, his personality is radically different from his name. Grimduff is known to take his time when fighting his foes, almost as if he were playing with them. Other Orks generally frown upon such practices and some even consider if Grimduf's worthy enough to be a member of the Goff Clan, or even being fit to command, because of this. Grimduff however crushes any of these doubts by killing anyone who stands in his way.
A large Ork skull covers Grimduffs head, not unlike the skull faced helmets worn by the Chaplains of the Adeptus Astartes. His hands are covered by small and sharp metallic studs, implants he has grafted many years ago so he could be armed during fist fights. Usually Grimduff carries a large single shot pistol and a chain that functions as a leash for his pets, his favorite slaves.
Grimduff's ship, the Guldreg (Breaker of Bones), is testimony of Grimduff twisted personality. The halls are filled with limbs and heads of slaves and enemies he has defeated. Some parts are even painted in blood. Other Orks have very little interest, viewing the morbid decorations as "unorky", but it does seem to have considerable more effect on the slaves.
Last one:
Flyboy Wazgul Ogteef - Pilot Wazgul (Quick Death) Ogteef (In Service To Wealth)
Wazgul and his squadron of fighter-bombers have been known to act as mercenaries. Whoever pays up the most will receive Wazgul's services. Wazgul's loyalty lies with the money, which is why he is also known as "Ogteef", literally meaning into "Belonging to the Teeth". Since Orks use teeth as their currency, "teef" in most cases means wealth. In his younger years Wazgul was active throughout the sector, hunting down surviving humans for reward. At a certain point he was even fighting against infamous figures such as Grubgutz Uzmek and Snazgutz the Corpulent. Realizing Wazgul's skills, Snazgutz offered the pilot a higher reward to hunt down those who sought to destroy him.
When Snazgutz decided to attack Imperial worlds, he paid Wazgul in full to join him. During the attack on Anchorage the ship Wazgul and his squadron used as their base was destroyed by Imperial forces. Wazgul escaped, finding his way back into the Scallop Stars. There he joined Skargarg's warband. One of Skargarg's lieutenants, Gobnaz of the Bad Moon Clan, offered Wazgul to use his newly won ship as a base of operations. Loyalty was ensured by the constant tributes Gobnaz pays to Wazgul and his henchmen.
Wazgul's appearance shows his wealth. Both his ears are pierced by multiple golden rings, most of them looted from the corpses of Imperial officers and nobility. Like Skargarg and Gobnaz, Wazgul enjoys eating Gnashers, resulting in his face containing several big scars from when he almost lost the eating contests. Generally he wears leather overalls with various patches of armored plating, a fur collar (rumored to be from a type of boar deployed by the Imperium to track down Orkoid spores) covers most of his neck and shoulders.
Imperial Guard regiments:
SICITTAN DEATH SQUADS:
Hailing from the Anargo sector, the Sicittan Death Squads are not deployed on regimental level, but as individual squads. Often assigned to Inquisitors or Commissars, the Sicittans are used to instill Imperial authority by hunting down all who oppose the Emperor's Will. Inquisitors have often deployed Sicittans to take out their political opponents in the most brutal manner possible.
MAKARIAN GUARD:
Makaria is a hive world that produces all sorts of armored vehicles for the Imperial Guard. However, it's mostly known for the Makarian Dropship: A clunky, heavily armored, and armed to the teeth, gunship capable of transporting a demi-battalion of soldiers. The Makarian Guard have been deployed in various battle zones within the Scallop Stars, fighting the xenos forces there.
NHORIAN ASSAULT REGIMENTS:
Like any most other worlds in the Imperium, Nhoria pays its Tithe in the form of young men and women for the Imperial Guard. Unlike most worlds, these men and women do not hail from Nhoria. The Nhorians often raid the feral worlds in the system, enslaving entire communities of savages and shipping them off to Nhoria for hypno-reprogramming. There have been rumours that the Nhorians have given these soldiers ancient and forbidden cerebral implants, but so far the Inquisition has not been able to confirm this.
If you want an Imperial Guard regiment, may I present my Arborian Guard? I started writing a journal of one of the doctors who was part of their founding before running out of steam - the information can be found here: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/344637.page
Three Arbour is an agriworld which has so far supplied a single draft to the Imperial Guard which ended up recruiting almost 1/4 of the population (about 90% of the eligible men and women on the planet signed up and went through training). They are a very new outfit who have not really been tested in the fires of war and so still have a massive amount of exuberance and patriotism - very reminiscent of UK WWI PALS brigades. Being an agriworld, Three Arbour produced a crop of well fed, fit young men and women who take great pride in their place in the Imperium, though have not really been exposed to a great deal of its harshness or excesses.
The Arborian Guard has an extremely large infantry force with what would have been a reasonable tank and motorised contingent for a normal sized tithe but because of the number of recruits it is actually comparatively small causing most regiments to have limited tank and armoured support. There is little to no air support, with only a handful of fliers, mostly reserved for the small number of attached storm trooper squads.
Posted this over at the TFE but thought i would post it up here to:
The infamous Ruzenko Cossaks, a regiment formed from second sons of the cast rulers for the paradise worlds of the Janenko system. The regiment was almost wiped out during the disastrous Nyx frontier crusade, with the survivors banding together as outriders for Imperial forces. Often operating on the frontiers of Imperial space, they are known to use hard methods with the locals of systems who have barley any contact with the Imperium they live under, and are often found in the employ of Rogue traders, despite the disapproval of Imperial Command, looking to push the boundaries of known space
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