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  1. - Top - End - #1051
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    Default Re: The Culture explores 40K II: Now With 100% more Fanfiction

    In virtually any other setting, the Tau would be the bad guys - a technologically advanced collectivist society that is utterly bent on establishing a cultural hegemony on the galaxy even as they conquer and annex entire species at a time. All under the leadership of a priest caste that commands fanatical loyalty and unquestioned obedience from any of their subordinates with the merest word. They even practice eugenics, forcible re-education and possibly outright mind control.

    It's a wonderful measuring stick for the 40k universe that they're among the closest possible thing to 'good' you're likely to find.
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  2. - Top - End - #1052
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    Quote Originally Posted by Maugan Ra View Post
    In virtually any other setting, the Tau would be the bad guys
    Give them time.
    Or Culture Guns.

  3. - Top - End - #1053
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    Quote Originally Posted by Gavinfoxx View Post
    The mass sterilizations was because they had no idea how to handle these planets that seem to have gone completely insane, and the Tau have no idea how or why or what is going on or how to deal with it.
    There isn't much in the way that the Culture can change this, though. Not without possibly becoming fully involved, which would effectively mean declaring war on the Imperium.

    And, well, I think one of the biggest things that makes the Tau seem good is that they don't have to make some of the hard choices that the Imperium does, especially due to their size and isolation. If they get bigger, that will likely change.
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  4. - Top - End - #1054
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    Ultramarines:
    The thing is that while the Ultramarines do negotiate with xenos, the peace is only temporary and they ultimately cannot have a lasting peace or alliance with any xeno.
    Nor will the rest of the Imperium be able to do that without a major cultural shift. And if there IS such a cultural shift, the Imperium can live with a slightly bigger Tau in any case or even become allies.

    In the long term, there is no good way to deal with the Imperium.

    Also, the plan doesn't involve giving the Tau Ultramar. The Culture aims to help the Tau do maybe a 4th sphere expansion and build up some strength. Mostly by clearing away the Tyranids and giving weapons tech, but that's it. No hyperspace drive and certainly not anything Singularity enabling.

    The idea is to let the Tau take a few more human worlds. The Tau have no idea how to handle Chaos, so the Culture will have a major influence on how the Tau treat human planets; especially since they will likely gain alot of goodwill from the Tau over this. The IoM won't ever listen, so this is about the only way the Culture can get to try a low-tech containment that is more in line with their own ethics.


    Of course, its not like the Culture wouldn't give the Imperium a try. They will try their best to broker a peace between the Tau and the Ultramarines, but it ultimately relies on the IoM tuning down their xenophobia alot. Which the Culture, IMO quite rightly, will rank as a rather low chance. Once that falls through, then the Tau plan goes ahead.

    If you have some suggestions as to how the Culture might pull some strings behind the scenes to get a lasting peace in the region, then by all means, say it!
    Quote Originally Posted by Tavar View Post
    And, well, I think one of the biggest things that makes the Tau seem good is that they don't have to make some of the hard choices that the Imperium does, especially due to their size and isolation. If they get bigger, that will likely change.
    The Culture plans on helping the Tau contain Chaos on human planets. Borrow some Imperial tactics, introduce psychological profiling and mind-scan technology. Inform them of the dream vector and start work on a drug that makes humans not dream that the Tau can spike the water supply with.
    Probably also involve sharing the Warp Scanner technology on the cheap.

    The Tau seem nasty, but only in comparison to what we know. They're still far and away the most friendly race in the entire 40k verse. The Culture hopes that they can mellow out the Tau over time, either by example or by influence. (extreme life extension was mentioned as having the potential to make the Tau more inward-looking)

    EDIT: what hard choices? Remember, that this is coming from the perspective of the Culture with Culture-level tech. The IoM may face a hard choice, but the Culture can cheat.

    And they have no way of influencing the IoM to get them to adopt Culture practices towards those hard choices.
    Last edited by jseah; 2012-12-07 at 11:04 PM.

  5. - Top - End - #1055
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    Default Re: The Culture explores 40K II: Now With 100% more Fanfiction

    The Forge World I was referring to is Praetonis V. Look it up. The Ultramarines and several other chapters prevented the Tau from taking it. If they do manage to take it, holding it for some time will be a very, very good excuse for why and how the Tau can advance their technologies which lag behind the Imperium.... and if Culture involvement can seem to be nil in the entire endeavor, well, so much the better.

  6. - Top - End - #1056
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tiki Snakes View Post
    And if the Culture intercede by wiping out an entire legion's worth of Space Marines would not only very likely close off a large number of chances of the Culture ever having friendly relations with the IoM, it could also significantly destablize or even cripple the IoM, gifting large sectors of space to Chaos.
    Thing is, I don't think the Culture has much chance of friendly contact with the IoM. Even if the Culture are nice and friendly, lots of other xenos die because the IoM can't and won't change their xenos policy based on an untouchably advanced race who just happens to be nice.

    In the meantime, if the Culture helps those xenos survive (of which, the Tau are one), that worsens relations with the IoM anyway. Besides, it's not like any attempt at reforming the IoM won't result in a revolution of sorts and the Culture WILL try eventually.
    Since a revolution, especially Culture-backed, is likely to result in better relations, there appears to be no strategic purpose in maintaining ties (very expensively in terms of relations to other races) with the current IoM administration. Ties that are of limited use in any case.


    Remember that the Culture see ALL the races. Humans are just happen to be the biggest, but the Culture values all of them equally and would like to see them all survive. Humans will have no trouble surviving unless the Necrons shut off the warp.

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    Default Re: The Culture explores 40K II: Now With 100% more Fanfiction

    Are you going to ever mention any of the very minor independent races at any point?

  8. - Top - End - #1058
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    Default Re: The Culture explores 40K II: Now With 100% more Fanfiction

    But have they considered the domino effect? Backing the Tau might look good one or two steps into the chain, but unless they conduct drastic intervention in Tau military policy, it could just end up handing vast swathes of the IoM to Chaos on a silver platter.

    Even giving them minor technical advantages could snowball out of control once the Tau start actively reverse-engineering whatever they're given.
    Last edited by The Glyphstone; 2012-12-07 at 11:48 PM.

  9. - Top - End - #1059
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    Quote Originally Posted by The Glyphstone View Post
    But have they considered the domino effect? Backing the Tau might look good one or two steps into the chain, but unless they conduct drastic intervention in Tau military policy, it could just end up handing vast swathes of the IoM to Chaos on a silver platter.

    Even giving them minor technical advantages could snowball out of control once the Tau start actively reverse-engineering whatever they're given.
    Plus there's the simple fact that with humans and many other aliens in the Tau Empire, there's no way to guarantee that tech gifted to the Tau stays with the Tau.

  10. - Top - End - #1060
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    Quote Originally Posted by The Glyphstone View Post
    Even giving them minor technical advantages could snowball out of control once the Tau start actively reverse-engineering whatever they're given.
    The minor technical advantages are just that. An actual improvement to the Tau technological base, not an artificially limited gift from the sky. There's nothing to reverse engineer.

    Besides, the Tau are still limited by their small size, any expansion will be small and will take some time. Ultimately, without the hyperspace drive, the Tau have no way to seriously destabilize the Imperium, while giving them valuable experience in dealing with Chaos.

  11. - Top - End - #1061
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    Quote Originally Posted by jseah View Post
    The minor technical advantages are just that. An actual improvement to the Tau technological base, not an artificially limited gift from the sky. There's nothing to reverse engineer.

    Besides, the Tau are still limited by their small size, any expansion will be small and will take some time. Ultimately, without the hyperspace drive, the Tau have no way to seriously destabilize the Imperium, while giving them valuable experience in dealing with Chaos.
    Are you planning on speeding up the pace of the story, then? It'll be years, more likely decades, before the Tau expansion would have any noticeable effect on themselves or the Imperium. At the rate Culture plans are proceeding elsewhere, it'd leave the Tau in the dust.

  12. - Top - End - #1062
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    Quote Originally Posted by The Glyphstone View Post
    Are you planning on speeding up the pace of the story, then? It'll be years, more likely decades, before the Tau expansion would have any noticeable effect on themselves or the Imperium. At the rate Culture plans are proceeding elsewhere, it'd leave the Tau in the dust.
    I expect the Culture to slow down quite a bit fairly soon. Once the Orks and Necron initial contact bits are out of the way, it's mostly just the Rogue Trader running around. That and various lines of research:
    - Tau warp resistance
    - Orks and warp field
    - Tyranids mutability and hivemind
    - Necron subatomic engineering and warp field tech
    - IoM warp scanners and warp drives

    I have another plan regarding the IoM now though. Perhaps internal reform might not be so difficult if done through a puppet organization. Start with a simple trading company (replace a captain or two) then slowly scale up. Nevertheless, that's still a longer term thing.

    Regarding that plan, I have a few questions to ask about the Inquisition. The "company" will soon reach a point where the Inquisition will try to plant someone in it. What happens when that fails and keeps failing?

  13. - Top - End - #1063
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    Default Re: The Culture explores 40K II: Now With 100% more Fanfiction

    If it's evident that they can't get an agent inside, they'll figure out pretty quickly that someone is interfering, though whether they blame Culture or Chaos depends on who does the figuring. Either way, the likely response would be to turn the Imperium's resources to destroy the company from the outside instead of the inside, simply by declaring it and all of its personnel outlaw/heretic. The Inquisition prefers to use a scalpel, but they've got a large assortment of hammers to use when needed.

    If the Culture is smart, and has a Mind or five running continual psychological analysis and predictive algorithms on the Inquisition, they'd probably anticipate that blocking covert activity would lead to overt activity. What their solution is to this I'll leave to you.
    Last edited by The Glyphstone; 2012-12-08 at 01:59 AM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by The Glyphstone View Post
    If the Culture is smart, and has a Mind or five running continual psychological analysis and predictive algorithms on the Inquisition, they'd probably anticipate that blocking covert activity would lead to overt activity. What their solution is to this I'll leave to you.
    Let them have covert infiltration but don't let them find anything. All the records they find check out (being that the records get altered faster than they can read it), everything appears above board.

    The thing is that the company will have to use a different company structure to IoM standard. A bit closer to today's corporations, but rather more benign. It tends towards vertical integration and independence over maximum profit growth.
    A rough timeline:
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    1. Some freighter captain is convinced to join the Culture and is replaced with an SC agent looking exactly and behaving like him.
    2. Company startup - The freighter strikes out on its own and he starts his own company
    3. Culture information advantage allows the freighter to earn lots of money; over the period of ten years or so, the fleet grows into a small freelance shipping corporation
    4. 12 years - The corporation sets up its first asteroid mine
    5. 15 years - The company turns a few freighters into training ships, crew are trained to be independent, and this includes how to maintain the ship (the blame is put on a Techpriest who 'goes rogue' - read: disappeared)
    6. Shortly after that, the company starts a research lab. The lab isn't aimed at discovering new technology, but rather searching for new applications to old technologies. Whatever plans the company cannot buy, its labs put out an alternative, always a creative reapplication of existing technology or a design plan using already present technologies or perhaps a new organization principle. The company begins to shift towards production line styles, inferior in quality to the Ad Mech, but cheaper by an equivalent margin.
    6. 18 years - The company is now self-sufficient, it mines its own materials, it trains its own crew (often rehabilitating criminals or poor peasantry), it maintains its own ships. Work begins on constructing a shipyard.
    7. 20 years - The company is now willing to take shipbuilding contracts from strictly legal sources (and they are very VERY good at knowing who is and isn't legal), although to the general public, they're just very picky and only take contracts from some people for no discernable reason
    8. 40 years - The company has been careful to not cut into other people's trading activities, preferring to develop its own infrastructure. By this time, the company's activities are closely tied to the financial health of many planets and the company's cautious expansion means that while it is greatly important to the planets it serves, it does not move to other areas quickly. The company has a rather large sub-population who work, live and die completely within the company; this population has far better working and living conditions and is far more educated and active than the standard peasant.
    Unlike many other companies, this company does not keep its secrets to itself. Competitors, primarily the Ad Mech and other shipping interests, are welcome to look into its structure and even poach its personnel and technologies (although the trained and free-thinking personnel are expensive and well-paid). The company stays ahead of the curve regardless.
    9. 45 years - The company begins its first foray into primary research. It focuses on permanent space habitation and logistical technologies (in particular, they have from day 1 a highly expensive project to investigate forcefields for loading and unloading cargo from orbit without a space elevator).
    10. 50 years - Rumours of a massive breakthrough in physics begin circulating and the company publishes their records of a few experiments in forcefields which also happen to be the groundwork for the hyperspace drive.
    Last edited by jseah; 2012-12-08 at 03:44 AM.

  15. - Top - End - #1065
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    Quote Originally Posted by jseah View Post
    Let them have covert infiltration but don't let them find anything. All the records they find check out (being that the records get altered faster than they can read it), everything appears above board.

    The thing is that the company will have to use a different company structure to IoM standard. A bit closer to today's corporations, but rather more benign. It tends towards vertical integration and independence over maximum profit growth.
    A rough timeline:
    Spoiler
    Show
    1. Some freighter captain is convinced to join the Culture and is replaced with an SC agent looking exactly and behaving like him.
    2. Company startup - The freighter strikes out on its own and he starts his own company
    3. Culture information advantage allows the freighter to earn lots of money; over the period of ten years or so, the fleet grows into a small freelance shipping corporation
    4. 12 years - The corporation sets up its first asteroid mine
    5. 15 years - The company turns a few freighters into training ships, crew are trained to be independent, and this includes how to maintain the ship (the blame is put on a Techpriest who 'goes rogue' - read: disappeared)
    6. Shortly after that, the company starts a research lab. The lab isn't aimed at discovering new technology, but rather searching for new applications to old technologies. Whatever plans the company cannot buy, its labs put out an alternative, always a creative reapplication of existing technology or a design plan using already present technologies or perhaps a new organization principle. The company begins to shift towards production line styles, inferior in quality to the Ad Mech, but cheaper by an equivalent margin.
    6. 18 years - The company is now self-sufficient, it mines its own materials, it trains its own crew (often rehabilitating criminals or poor peasantry), it maintains its own ships. Work begins on constructing a shipyard.
    7. 20 years - The company is now willing to take shipbuilding contracts from strictly legal sources (and they are very VERY good at knowing who is and isn't legal), although to the general public, they're just very picky and only take contracts from some people for no discernable reason
    8. 40 years - The company has been careful to not cut into other people's trading activities, preferring to develop its own infrastructure. By this time, the company's activities are closely tied to the financial health of many planets and the company's cautious expansion means that while it is greatly important to the planets it serves, it does not move to other areas quickly. The company has a rather large sub-population who work, live and die completely within the company; this population has far better working and living conditions and is far more educated and active than the standard peasant.
    Unlike many other companies, this company does not keep its secrets to itself. Competitors, primarily the Ad Mech and other shipping interests, are welcome to look into its structure and even poach its personnel and technologies (although the trained and free-thinking personnel are expensive and well-paid). The company stays ahead of the curve regardless.
    9. 45 years - The company begins its first foray into primary research. It focuses on permanent space habitation and logistical technologies (in particular, they have from day 1 a highly expensive project to investigate forcefields for loading and unloading cargo from orbit without a space elevator).
    10. 50 years - Rumours of a massive breakthrough in physics begin circulating and the company publishes their records of a few experiments in forcefields which also happen to be the groundwork for the hyperspace drive.
    At step 2 he would be considered a heretic or a traitor and would be liable to be executed on sight.

    They don't have the freedom to just 'start a new shipping company.' Sure someone could do so and slip through the cracks, but eventually they would be found out (by a rival if no one else.) and attention would be brought to them likely leading to the execution of the entire ship.

    Steps: 3, 5, 6, 9, and 10 are also grounds for immediate execution. Step 6 in particular would attract Inquisition and Ad Mech attention and lead to the SC agent either having to flee, or being captured and mind raped.
    Last edited by Forum Explorer; 2012-12-08 at 06:30 AM.
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  16. - Top - End - #1066
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    Default Re: The Culture explores 40K II: Now With 100% more Fanfiction

    The Imperium keeps a tight lock on anybody with interstellar capacity. I can't think of a single legitimate interstellar traveller who doesn't come under these categories:

    1. Charter fleet
    2. Imperial Navy
    3. Inquisition
    4. AdMech
    5. Rogue Trader
    6. Space Marines

    There really isn't any independent freighter captain who can go off to do all the things in the plan. It's not allowed.

    Doing all this at a solar system scale might work, because the Imperium takes a much less intense interest in affairs at planetary/system scale. That would be the scale at which a large, autonomous corporation would work at within the setting. In a powerful system with multiple large inhabited worlds, it can be a very big and scary operation.

    Alternatively, do it under the guise of the AdMech or Inquisition, both of whom carry out secretive research operations with limited external oversight..
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    Default Re: The Culture explores 40K II: Now With 100% more Fanfiction

    Quote Originally Posted by jseah View Post
    Let them have covert infiltration but don't let them find anything. All the records they find check out (being that the records get altered faster than they can read it), everything appears above board.

    The thing is that the company will have to use a different company structure to IoM standard. A bit closer to today's corporations, but rather more benign. It tends towards vertical integration and independence over maximum profit growth.
    A rough timeline:
    Spoiler
    Show
    1. Some freighter captain is convinced to join the Culture and is replaced with an SC agent looking exactly and behaving like him.
    2. Company startup - The freighter strikes out on its own and he starts his own company
    3. Culture information advantage allows the freighter to earn lots of money; over the period of ten years or so, the fleet grows into a small freelance shipping corporation
    4. 12 years - The corporation sets up its first asteroid mine
    5. 15 years - The company turns a few freighters into training ships, crew are trained to be independent, and this includes how to maintain the ship (the blame is put on a Techpriest who 'goes rogue' - read: disappeared)
    6. Shortly after that, the company starts a research lab. The lab isn't aimed at discovering new technology, but rather searching for new applications to old technologies. Whatever plans the company cannot buy, its labs put out an alternative, always a creative reapplication of existing technology or a design plan using already present technologies or perhaps a new organization principle. The company begins to shift towards production line styles, inferior in quality to the Ad Mech, but cheaper by an equivalent margin.
    6. 18 years - The company is now self-sufficient, it mines its own materials, it trains its own crew (often rehabilitating criminals or poor peasantry), it maintains its own ships. Work begins on constructing a shipyard.
    7. 20 years - The company is now willing to take shipbuilding contracts from strictly legal sources (and they are very VERY good at knowing who is and isn't legal), although to the general public, they're just very picky and only take contracts from some people for no discernable reason
    8. 40 years - The company has been careful to not cut into other people's trading activities, preferring to develop its own infrastructure. By this time, the company's activities are closely tied to the financial health of many planets and the company's cautious expansion means that while it is greatly important to the planets it serves, it does not move to other areas quickly. The company has a rather large sub-population who work, live and die completely within the company; this population has far better working and living conditions and is far more educated and active than the standard peasant.
    Unlike many other companies, this company does not keep its secrets to itself. Competitors, primarily the Ad Mech and other shipping interests, are welcome to look into its structure and even poach its personnel and technologies (although the trained and free-thinking personnel are expensive and well-paid). The company stays ahead of the curve regardless.
    9. 45 years - The company begins its first foray into primary research. It focuses on permanent space habitation and logistical technologies (in particular, they have from day 1 a highly expensive project to investigate forcefields for loading and unloading cargo from orbit without a space elevator).
    10. 50 years - Rumours of a massive breakthrough in physics begin circulating and the company publishes their records of a few experiments in forcefields which also happen to be the groundwork for the hyperspace drive.
    Quote Originally Posted by Forum Explorer View Post
    At step 2 he would be considered a heretic or a traitor and would be liable to be executed on sight.

    They don't have the freedom to just 'start a new shipping company.' Sure someone could do so and slip through the cracks, but eventually they would be found out (by a rival if no one else.) and attention would be brought to them likely leading to the execution of the entire ship.

    Steps: 3, 5, 6, 9, and 10 are also grounds for immediate execution. Step 6 in particular would attract Inquisition and Ad Mech attention and lead to the SC agent either having to flee, or being captured and mind raped.
    Step 5 will have the Ad Mech boarding, or firing on, your ships whenever they notice them. Step 6/7 will get you killed by the Administratum or the Imperial Navy if your ships are interstellar. Step 8 will get you hunted by the Inquisition, or upset Planetary Governers for having too much control, and for letting the civilians relax too much, and for somehow advancing thier lifestyle.

    "Expensive and wellpaid" doesn't mean much to the AdMech and the other real organizations of the Imperium, they have Carte Blanche to walk in, take all of your workers, and set them to mining asteroids by hand, or just killing the lot of them, if they can provide any reasoning.

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    Default Re: The Culture explores 40K II: Now With 100% more Fanfiction

    You want a reasonable vector to establish change from within the Imperium? The Inquisition. More specifically, an Inquisitor of the Recongregator faction.

    The Recongregators are generally convinced that the Imperium cannot survive for much longer as things stand, and generally aim to introduce large-scale internal changes to it's very structure. They replace old, corrupt aristocracies with new and vital local governments. They locate and analyse reformers in all branches of the government, and use their clearance to slice through all the red tape standing in their way so that it can actually function. They are, generally speaking, far more willing to take chances with experimental techniques and ideas than other Inquisitors, if it will improve humanity as a whole. The closest thing you'll find to an idealist in the Imperium is likely to be a Recongregator.

    Inquisitor Astrid Skane, one of the canonical characters in the Dark Heresy rpg, is a Recongregator and fondly dreams of a time where justice for all is an actual possibility (she's ex-Arbites). She, and those like her, generally appreciate that they're deeply unlikely to see anything immense change within the next few generations, but they work at it anyway.

    They're not good guys - Inquisitors seldom are - but they're the closest thing to an ideal ally for the Culture within the Imperium.
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    Default Re: The Culture explores 40K II: Now With 100% more Fanfiction

    Selrahc, was that sanctioned within the Imperium or within the Imperium? Cause if the latter, you forgot 'pirates'. And yeah, Recongregators which are also Xenos Hybris and non Calixis equivalents are probably the best way toward reform. These people have permission slips from god to basically do whatever they want, often more so than even Rogue Traders, who are the other group that can actually set up interstellar companies.
    Last edited by Gavinfoxx; 2012-12-08 at 10:03 AM.

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    Default Re: The Culture explores 40K II: Now With 100% more Fanfiction

    Selrahc, was that sanctioned within the Imperium or within the Imperium? Cause if the latter, you forgot 'pirates'.
    Well I think by using the word "Legitimate" I was ruling out unsanctioned travelers like pirates.
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    Default Re: The Culture explores 40K II: Now With 100% more Fanfiction

    Quote Originally Posted by Selrahc View Post
    Well I think by using the word "Legitimate" I was ruling out unsanctioned travelers like pirates.
    Argh... that's what happens when I post before caffeine in the morning.

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    part 8.5 A Certain Chaotic Warp Sorceror
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    Week 1
    GCU The Right Hand of God has arrived at the mining planet and is currently meeting problems investigating the rumoured artifact. It appears that in an effector scan of the planet, a large section near the surface has... unusual physics.

    The easiest method of description is that hyperspace doesn't exist inside a sphere centered on what appears to be a mountain, probably with underground mines. Effectors and Displacers cannot target anything inside the sphere. This anomaly is of great interest. We suspect Warp activity.

    It appears that we have found our artifact.

    Week 2
    Due to the dangers of the Warp, we will not be directly observing the artifact, not least because extraction is impossible by Displacer and the artifact itself will disable this ship's Mind and its engines. Instead, we will allow the Imperium to collect the artifact and observe their reactions.

    Some plans for manipulating them to conduct the tests we want are underway.

    Warp Sorceror
    The sorceror completed the divination circle yet again, sitting down on the barren rock. Then he snarled once.

    So far, all his divinations indicated that he was on track. Now suddenly, a problem had appeared. The Culture had come, he was sure of that, but they had not come to collect the artifact. Still, it wasn't completely irredeemable, at least according to his divinations...

    The Culture
    Due to the potential problems we might encounter within the no-hyperspace zone, we are currently designing a modified Effector array for use as an arbitrarily long relativistic cannon.

    The first interested mercenary has arrived. We have placed primitive bugs into their systems to tap into their findings as they attempt to find the artifact.

    A few subtle clues were dropped and the mercenaries easily found its location. They obtained permission to land and investigate the tunnels from the local governor (not difficult since their ship is the only one in orbit).

    At this point, we opted to attempt contact with the mercenary in order to negotiate a deal where the mercenary will run various tests for us.

    Week 3
    The mercenary, after the usual introductions, has demanded that he gets to keep the artifact afterwards and that we provide him with materials and weapons at least 30% higher than the IoM's best. This seemed fair enough, so we came to a preliminary agreement.

    The mercenary's team found the artifact, which appears to be some kind of broadcasting array, although clearly of partial Warp construction.

    Warp Sorceror
    The Warp crackled to life as the unwitting humans touched the array. The sorceror grinned and suppressed the Warp around him, no scrapcode, no weird effects, nothing to suggest that they were walking into his trap.

    He bent down to the rock where sigils were carved into the surface and lifted the sigil off, leaving a flat rock clear of scratches behind. The sorceror spoke calmly to the sigil, knowing that the array would let him communicate with the Culture's pawns.

    "The Durfan Empire sends its greetings to the Culture. We come in peace. "

    Sorry to leave it on a cliffhanger, but I really need to sleep now. =P

  23. - Top - End - #1073
    Ogre in the Playground
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    part 8.5 A Certain Chaotic Warp Sorceror
    Spoiler
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    GCU The Right Hand of God
    The mercenaries have, through the warp device, made contact with an alien race in a distant part of the galaxy. It is looking likely that the artifact operates as a method for instant communications across the warp.

    We bribed the mercenary ship to remain in system, although also some distance from the inhabited planet, with the provision of antimatter torch missiles and a single purpose missile constructor. They will mediate communications between us and the Durfan Empire using the device they have taken onto their ship. The Durfan Empire communicates using Eldar, which the mercenary does not understand.
    This GCU will maintain a safe margin from the mercenary ship. The hyperspace disruption effect is too dangerous to go near. Not to mention the Warp effects on the communications array detected by a Warp scanner given to the mercenary.

    The Durfan Empire introduced itself as a race that came into conflict with the Eldar some time ago, in between the Great War against the Necrons and the rise of humans / fall of Eldar. They possess great warp sensitivity, just like the Eldar, and in fact have many of the same warp capabilities, like future visions and warp powers, that the Eldar have.
    Being driven into the outskirts of the galaxy by the Eldar, the Durfan Empire has made communication using the Warp a priority, as well as survival through extreme secrecy with the aid of future sight.

    The Durfan Empire explains that it is due to this future sight that they and the Eldar have become aware of our presence except that they had no method of contacting us since the rise of humans have prevented their activities in most of the galaxy.

    This explains much of how the Eldar have managed to contact us as well as much of the capabilities and behaviour of the Eldar. While the Eldar have had no mention of the Durfan Empire, it is doubtless that the Eldar have existed long enough for multiple species to have risen and fallen in their time.

    The Durfan send us a warning regarding the Eldar. While the Eldar appear waning in strength but generally agreeable to a large extent, the Durfan Empire warns that the Eldar are treacherous and proud. After the Durfan Empire started to surpass the teachings of the Eldar, the Eldar destroyed them.
    --- This GCU is unsure of what to make of this warning. We are still awaiting more news regarding the exchange program to know if this is a real warning or if the Durfan Empire is just attempting to worsen relations between us

    We expressed a wish to meet and discuss a cultural and information exchange. The Durfan equivocated on the details.

    Discussions with the Durfan are going nowhere beyond vague warnings regarding the Eldar. They regard their secrecy to be of the highest order.

    ----------------------------------------------------

    Three days later

    Three IoM warships have arrived at the edge of the system. From their appearance, two of them are mercenaries also aiming to investigate the artifact while one was listed as an Imperial Navy patrol frigate.

    From effector scans, it appears that these three ships are working together. The Imperial frigate contains an inquisitorial team and is apparently in command of the mercenary ships.

    Upon arrival, the mercenary ship holding the artifact began heading towards the warp limit of the system. Due to the geometry, the incoming trio of ships would be able to intercept the mercenary ship well before the warp limit, a course which they proceeded to take.

    The Inquisitorial team contains a psyker, who apparently is able to forecast the future very vaguely, but he was able to pinpoint the artifact's location to the mercenary ship. Their ships will attempt to engage and destroy the mercenary.

    We communicated this to the mercenary, who began to prepare for battle. We also notified the Durfan Empire of the situation and indicated a potential disruption in communications.
    --- From prior records, it was obvious at this point that the mercenary, normally a cautious person, was acting considerably out of character, but this GCU did not notice the changes at that time.

    Warp Sorceror
    So THERE was where it all fell apart. The Inquisition was onto him already. Drat their psykers and their Emperor's Tarot.

    Well, might as well attempt to take what technology he could from the Culture before the mercenary could get away with both the tech and his bait. The Culture had, oh so kindly, informed the 'Durfan Empire' about their arrangement with the mercenary and even offered the same antimatter missiles in exchange for information.

    A warp jump this close to the star was unsafe for the Imperium but it wasn't that far to the limit. It would just be a "small" matter of being impossible to jump safely, where safely meant being able to maintain a working Gellar Field through the power surge.
    That, of course, wasn't going to be a problem for him. He just wanted that missile construction bay. Never had anyone short of the Necrons managed to squeeze an antimatter containment into something the size of a missile launcher, much less an entire missile fabrication facility.

    He flexed the Warp, sending a burst of hostile scrapcode through the Array, a Chaos artifact that let him channel his power through a simple ground link. Next, time to take over the crew. Corrupting people wasn't easy for a sorceror by himself, but with a Chaos artifact in tow? No harder than stealing candy from a baby.

    He reached out through the Warp, through the Array, into the minds of the crew of the mercenary ship. The sorceror closed his metaphorical fist and they were his.

    The Culture
    As the Inquisitorial ship approached the mercenary frigate, the sphere of hyperspace-nullification appeared to expand many fold. Remote cameras and nanotech bugging the mercenary's ship began to go haywire and the three minute long light-lag (no hyperspace communications) confirmed that the equipment had been taken over by scrapcode.

    It appears that the array has been corrupted by Chaos. Some of the last transmission from the cameras were of the bridge of the mercenary ship being overrun by minor warp rifts and spontaneous Chaos-linked mutations appearing on the crew.

    Standard scrapcode prevention measures were taken. This GCU placed a massive static screen between itself and the ship to block all communications. This made its rough position visible to the Inquisition ship but that was secondary to the problem.
    Warp drive powering signatures were detected (3 minutes old) despite the fact that warp jumping so close to the star would generate a Warp surge that disabled Gellar Fields. This served as confirmation that the ship had been taken over by Chaos.

    A decision was made then to destroy the ship as soon as possible. The modified relativistic accelerator was loaded with compressed antimatter and fired at the ship, along with a number of prolonged CREW beams. Using the Pancaker in wide area mode to generate gravitational waves capable of destroying the ship from outside the no-hyperspace sphere was forgone as it was projected to have, while not fatal, extremely disruptive effects on the local planet.
    Three minutes later, before the warp drive could be charged, the mercenary ship was completely destroyed. The location of the Array was the target of the relativistic antimatter and it is presumed to have been destroyed based on the following results.

    A massive warp rift appeared in the space, occupying a sphere nearly a light-minute in diameter. This was considerably bigger than the zone of no-hyperspace and this GCU retreated to 1 lightyear distance at maximum safe acceleration. The rift was observed to close after just over one hour.

    This action has, without a doubt, been noticed by the Inquistion team. We are considering contacting them but at this point, this GCU feels that further consideration of courses of action is recommended.

    Warp Sorceror
    The sorceror stared at the dust that was his sigil circle. The visions burned him with the displeasure of Tzeentch. He was so close.

    It was obvious in hindsight what the error was. It was him. If only he hadn't leapt to conclusions, hadn't thought that he had mastered the prediction and known its meaning so easily.

    It was in his attempt to salvage something from the 'problem' that was where things were going wrong. With the antimatter missiles, the mercenary might have won the battle and he might have been able to continue working on the Culture.
    Instead now, his own efforts had derailed his original plan.

    Unlikely friends indeed. (see 7.5 Eldar warning)

    I finished Path of the Warrior. Which was um... well, informative of the Eldar society. No wonder they can't grow.
    Last edited by jseah; 2012-12-09 at 11:17 AM.

  24. - Top - End - #1074
    Bugbear in the Playground
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    Heh I enjoyed that. Nice characterisation of the sorcerer. So guys, at what point is Chaos going to start treating the Culture seriously as an Emperor level threat?
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  25. - Top - End - #1075
    Titan in the Playground
     
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    Quote Originally Posted by jseah View Post
    part 8.5 A Certain Chaotic Warp Sorceror
    Spoiler
    Show
    GCU The Right Hand of God
    The mercenaries have, through the warp device, made contact with an alien race in a distant part of the galaxy. It is looking likely that the artifact operates as a method for instant communications across the warp.

    We bribed the mercenary ship to remain in system, although also some distance from the inhabited planet, with the provision of antimatter torch missiles and a single purpose missile constructor. They will mediate communications between us and the Durfan Empire using the device they have taken onto their ship. The Durfan Empire communicates using Eldar, which the mercenary does not understand.
    This GCU will maintain a safe margin from the mercenary ship. The hyperspace disruption effect is too dangerous to go near. Not to mention the Warp effects on the communications array detected by a Warp scanner given to the mercenary.

    The Durfan Empire introduced itself as a race that came into conflict with the Eldar some time ago, in between the Great War against the Necrons and the rise of humans / fall of Eldar. They possess great warp sensitivity, just like the Eldar, and in fact have many of the same warp capabilities, like future visions and warp powers, that the Eldar have.
    Being driven into the outskirts of the galaxy by the Eldar, the Durfan Empire has made communication using the Warp a priority, as well as survival through extreme secrecy with the aid of future sight.

    The Durfan Empire explains that it is due to this future sight that they and the Eldar have become aware of our presence except that they had no method of contacting us since the rise of humans have prevented their activities in most of the galaxy.

    This explains much of how the Eldar have managed to contact us as well as much of the capabilities and behaviour of the Eldar. While the Eldar have had no mention of the Durfan Empire, it is doubtless that the Eldar have existed long enough for multiple species to have risen and fallen in their time.

    The Durfan send us a warning regarding the Eldar. While the Eldar appear waning in strength but generally agreeable to a large extent, the Durfan Empire warns that the Eldar are treacherous and proud. After the Durfan Empire started to surpass the teachings of the Eldar, the Eldar destroyed them.
    --- This GCU is unsure of what to make of this warning. We are still awaiting more news regarding the exchange program to know if this is a real warning or if the Durfan Empire is just attempting to worsen relations between us

    We expressed a wish to meet and discuss a cultural and information exchange. The Durfan equivocated on the details.

    Discussions with the Durfan are going nowhere beyond vague warnings regarding the Eldar. They regard their secrecy to be of the highest order.

    ----------------------------------------------------

    Three days later

    Three IoM warships have arrived at the edge of the system. From their appearance, two of them are mercenaries also aiming to investigate the artifact while one was listed as an Imperial Navy patrol frigate.

    From effector scans, it appears that these three ships are working together. The Imperial frigate contains an inquisitorial team and is apparently in command of the mercenary ships.

    Upon arrival, the mercenary ship holding the artifact began heading towards the warp limit of the system. Due to the geometry, the incoming trio of ships would be able to intercept the mercenary ship well before the warp limit, a course which they proceeded to take.

    The Inquisitorial team contains a psyker, who apparently is able to forecast the future very vaguely, but he was able to pinpoint the artifact's location to the mercenary ship. Their ships will attempt to engage and destroy the mercenary.

    We communicated this to the mercenary, who began to prepare for battle. We also notified the Durfan Empire of the situation and indicated a potential disruption in communications.
    --- From prior records, it was obvious at this point that the mercenary, normally a cautious person, was acting considerably out of character, but this GCU did not notice the changes at that time.

    Warp Sorceror
    So THERE was where it all fell apart. The Inquisition was onto him already. Drat their psykers and their Emperor's Tarot.

    Well, might as well attempt to take what technology he could from the Culture before the mercenary could get away with both the tech and his bait. The Culture had, oh so kindly, informed the 'Durfan Empire' about their arrangement with the mercenary and even offered the same antimatter missiles in exchange for information.

    A warp jump this close to the star was unsafe for the Imperium but it wasn't that far to the limit. It would just be a "small" matter of being impossible to jump safely, where safely meant being able to maintain a working Gellar Field through the power surge.
    That, of course, wasn't going to be a problem for him. He just wanted that missile construction bay. Never had anyone short of the Necrons managed to squeeze an antimatter containment into something the size of a missile launcher, much less an entire missile fabrication facility.

    He flexed the Warp, sending a burst of hostile scrapcode through the Array, a Chaos artifact that let him channel his power through a simple ground link. Next, time to take over the crew. Corrupting people wasn't easy for a sorceror by himself, but with a Chaos artifact in tow? No harder than stealing candy from a baby.

    He reached out through the Warp, through the Array, into the minds of the crew of the mercenary ship. The sorceror closed his metaphorical fist and they were his.

    The Culture
    As the Inquisitorial ship approached the mercenary frigate, the sphere of hyperspace-nullification appeared to expand many fold. Remote cameras and nanotech bugging the mercenary's ship began to go haywire and the three minute long light-lag (no hyperspace communications) confirmed that the equipment had been taken over by scrapcode.

    It appears that the array has been corrupted by Chaos. Some of the last transmission from the cameras were of the bridge of the mercenary ship being overrun by minor warp rifts and spontaneous Chaos-linked mutations appearing on the crew.

    Standard scrapcode prevention measures were taken. This GCU placed a massive static screen between itself and the ship to block all communications. This made its rough position visible to the Inquisition ship but that was secondary to the problem.
    Warp drive powering signatures were detected (3 minutes old) despite the fact that warp jumping so close to the star would generate a Warp surge that disabled Gellar Fields. This served as confirmation that the ship had been taken over by Chaos.

    A decision was made then to destroy the ship as soon as possible. The modified relativistic accelerator was loaded with compressed antimatter and fired at the ship, along with a number of prolonged CREW beams. Using the Pancaker in wide area mode to generate gravitational waves capable of destroying the ship from outside the no-hyperspace sphere was forgone as it was projected to have, while not fatal, extremely disruptive effects on the local planet.
    Three minutes later, before the warp drive could be charged, the mercenary ship was completely destroyed. The location of the Array was the target of the relativistic antimatter and it is presumed to have been destroyed based on the following results.

    A massive warp rift appeared in the space, occupying a sphere nearly a light-minute in diameter. This was considerably bigger than the zone of no-hyperspace and this GCU retreated to 1 lightyear distance at maximum safe acceleration. The rift was observed to close after just over one hour.

    This action has, without a doubt, been noticed by the Inquistion team. We are considering contacting them but at this point, this GCU feels that further consideration of courses of action is recommended.

    Warp Sorceror
    The sorceror stared at the dust that was his sigil circle. The visions burned him with the displeasure of Tzeentch. He was so close.

    It was obvious in hindsight what the error was. It was him. If only he hadn't leapt to conclusions, hadn't thought that he had mastered the prediction and known its meaning so easily.

    It was in his attempt to salvage something from the 'problem' that was where things were going wrong. With the antimatter missiles, the mercenary might have won the battle and he might have been able to continue working on the Culture.
    Instead now, his own efforts had derailed his original plan.

    Unlikely friends indeed. (see 7.5 Eldar warning)

    I finished Path of the Warrior. Which was um... well, informative of the Eldar society. No wonder they can't grow.
    Cool post. Though what do you mean no wonder they can't grow?
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  26. - Top - End - #1076
    Firbolg in the Playground
     
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    Quote Originally Posted by Forum Explorer View Post
    Cool post. Though what do you mean no wonder they can't grow?
    Haha, read Path of the Warrior.

  27. - Top - End - #1077
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    Quote Originally Posted by Gavinfoxx View Post
    Haha, read Path of the Warrior.
    I have. I still don't know what he's talking about, though I could be forgetting something.
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  28. - Top - End - #1078
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    Quote Originally Posted by Forum Explorer View Post
    Cool post. Though what do you mean no wonder they can't grow?
    Path of the Warrior has rather alot of detail on the inside of Craftworld life. Well, Alaitoc life at least.

    Umm... how do I put it? They appear to have no public education, the Eldar consider 40 years to be young and they have virtually no specialization, with Eldar hopping from one Path to another every two or three decades. My guess about apprenticeships being the standard way for educating new Eldar appears to be right on the mark, which indicates that they never have all that many students in the first place.

    Furthermore, their use of ritual in... about everywhere, obscures the true reasons for things. I would not be surprised if much of the Eldar do not understand what they are doing and why they are doing it. They have meditations to calm the mind, but the main character has little idea of why it works and why he is so agitated. The Eldar say they carry the curse of Khaine, but what does that explain anyway?
    They have this elaborate ritual for awakening the Avatar via blood sacrifice. Do they know why it works? Do they really understand the Warp the doubtless drives this?

    Also, I know Alaitoc is big, but for goodness sake, it's still a spaceship! A ground battle on a spaceship?! Really? Not even a boarding action, just a... honest to goodness ground battle with trenches and artillery and heavy tanks. *argleblargh* *sputters* *dies*

  29. - Top - End - #1079
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    Quote Originally Posted by jseah View Post
    Also, I know Alaitoc is big, but for goodness sake, it's still a spaceship! A ground battle on a spaceship?! Really? Not even a boarding action, just a... honest to goodness ground battle with trenches and artillery and heavy tanks. *argleblargh* *sputters* *dies*
    You're better off considering it a small planet than a space ship, honestly.

  30. - Top - End - #1080
    Eldritch Horror in the Playground Moderator
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    You've mentioned Orbitals repeatedly, and described them as planet-sized spaceships. A spaceship the size of a planet shouldn't bother you at all.

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