+ Origines Dubiae – the Scythian +
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| + Work in progress + |
Scry-chronicle pre-mission datasquirt: {authval: Sensorius-principal Ossteon}
Validity: {principal >14% accur.}
'And it came to be told that Titans would march, and the storm would follow with them.'
Mission parameters:_________________________
+ Scythian +
Recently we looked at the crewing of Titans [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], with particular reference to the Reaver. That inload covered a lot of the theoretical side of things, so today we'll start looking at one specific Titan, and how we can use the ideas to create some personalities for gaming and narrative.
I hope that the inload covers off how I approach things, and encourage you to have a go yourself. It's great fun!
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| + A motley crew... + |
+ Where to start? +
There's no need for a crew if we don't have a Titan, so let's work out the Legio and individual Titan. I've been mulling over what Legio to work this deep dive around, and have settled on the Stormlords – Legio Tempestus – for the following reasons:
- Legio Tempestus has a rather peculiar and winding background, with three homeworlds, and good options for the Titan to be Loyalist, Traitor, Blackshield – which also means that it's as general and open an opportunity as I can get for a 'catch-all' generic Reaver Titan crew.
- A 'canon' Legio with an established history both in-universe and the real world gives me the best chance of finding background dots to join.
- As a good example of that, 'Legio Tempestor' [sic.] turned up to help defend Armageddon during the Third War, according to Codex: Armageddon, so there's a great example of those lovely little notes that prompt a story.
- It'll make for a great excuse to get some paint on some AT-scale Titans and create an opposing force for my Legio Metalica (another Legio that has flexibility in loyalty – or at least plausible deniability...)
+ Naming the Titan +
I exloaded on naming Titans back in the dim and distant past, and you can read it here: [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]. Taking that sage advice to heart, I looked at existing names for the Stormlords. Odrysian appears in the Traitor Legios book:
... and Tempestus appear in lots of other books and rulebooks, notably Abnett's seminal Titanicus and McNeill's Mechanicum. A sample of Tempestus Reavers includes:
- Arcadia Fortis
- Hand of Dominance
- Metallus Cebrenia
- Raxvalian
- Jogozh
- Cerulean Stride
A nice varied bunch, and a good example of not hewing too closely to your theme: a mix of names can give a richer feel to the Legio culture. Here, I
I played around with some High Gothic names, and mused on using plant names – binomial nomenclature's a great place to find inspiration for cod-Latin. Urtica Dioica, for example is stinging nettle, and strikes me as a great name for a Titan.
In the end, I thought a single-word name would suit – easy to remember and it fits in with the Titanicus rulebook and Horus Heresy black books naming (e.g. Odrysian, Raxvalian). I opted for Scythian, which is general enough to work for loyalist or traitors, and also quicker to say when gaming than a longer double-barreled name!
Like T. S. Eliot's cats, Reavers deserve more than one name, so there'll also be a High Gothic name in addition to its Low Gothic cognomen, but that'll be decided upon in the closing stages of the project, as I'd like to muse on that a bit more.
Next inload we'll start looking at the crew of the Scythian – and how their personalities, and Scythian's own, affect one another.
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