#dataslate

[transformersmr-hq]

It's obviously not finished yet, but I already have headcanons regarding the objects that will be featured in the finished shot:

A hamfisted attempt at making a simple datapad somehow turned into a hamfisted attempt at making a whole desk

(The owner of this desk is supposed to be one of TFMR's main characters, but not sure who it would be at this point)

1. Dataslate (aka robot books)

Primitive version of Datapad

Can only read what's stored inside, cannot remove or add new pages

Advanced models can store audio/video files

Considered an outdated media, but still being used in important places regardless

Absurdly durable, like they can be used as floor tiles for couple millenia and they can still be perfectly functional

Sometimes used as tray, coaster, doorstop, hammer, and trivet

TFMR Ratchet used to throw these as self defense weapon, but later changed to wrenches which were cheaper to come by.

2. Databytes

Cybertronian equivalent of SD card

Its official name is 'Databyte', but everyone just calls it 'Chip'

Can be slotted into any hardware that can read data, including datapads and desktops

It's even possible to directly insert it to the back port of Cybertronian's body, but this is not recommended because who knows what's inside that chip?

Put a program in the chip, shove that chip into an empty drone, it moves according ro rhe program.

3. Datashelf

Basically bookshelf, but the books are databytes so the entire library is portable

Also works as a usb hub

More slots the better

4. Stickies

Sticky notes, but magnets instead of adhesive

The writing part is like really bendy plastic, but it cannot be rolled up or folded

Writing can be done by applying pressure with pen or pen like object

Produced in varying shapes and color

On Cybertron, where almost everything is made of metal, it's hard pressed to find where a aciky cannot stick.

Sometimes people stick this to the bck of someone's back as a form of mean joke, the message written on it usually goes along the line of "kick me im dumb".

#transformers: mobius run #blender #blender3d #desk #dataslate #databytes #stickies #robot stationeries #now I have added some pens and few monster energy cans #so there should be more stuff on the desk now #maccadam

[definitelynotalpharius]

Is anyone else a bit hesitant about seeing the balance dataslate for 40k this thursday?

I know a bunch of armies are in need of a rebalance, mostly buffs for the least powerfull factions like the drukhari, admech, grey knights, etc.. But as someone with 2 whole armies who are on the lower end of the mid tier by power right now, I'm not too sure GW won't fuck me over.

Especially since they've absolutely refused to buff the sanguinary guard in a meaningful way in 10th, presumably in fear that they'll be as broken as in 9th, or made the sororitas the glass cannons they used to be.

On one hand I whish Games workshop would put out more balance updates to 40k purely to do incremental changes every month or so, but on the one hand even with the quarterly updates it often feels like too damn many.

In any case, I feel as if Gee Dubs will unnecessarily do something stupid to both the codex marines and the sororitas because some metq-chasing assholes figured out that they can spam one too many Arco-flagelants or some guy showed up to LVO with 30 Assoult Terminators with stormshields. Or even worse, they'll skyrocket the points on a unit because everyone is using it instead of thinking about why they're using it, like they constantly do with the Infiltrators.

Anyway, rant over...

#warhammer 40k #warhammer #warhammer 40000 #40k #wh 40k #imperium #space marines #adeptus astartes #adepta sororitas #sisters of battle #40kmeta #gamesworkshop #balance dataslate

[soraka-in-warhammer40k]

Since the 40k Balance Dataslate is upon us this week when going by general rumors and expectations, I wonder what changes they will do to the core rules. Points are always one thing, and I sure would not mind some buffs for my overnerfed GSC, but for shaping the overall game the actual rules are much more interesting.

I doubt they will ever do anything to make aircraft viable, and whatever solution they have for stratagem duplication I don't know (the current "Battle Tactic" solution sure is a weird bandaid fix), but if there is a thing I am most curious about is how they handle the FLY keyword. In 9th it was essentially overpowered as in "ignore all terrain" for vehicles that had it. In 10th it might as well not be on the datasheet. It's absolutey pointless in 99% of cases.

But what if they made the FLY keyword work like the GRENADE keyword and tie it to a core stratagem? Call it something like "Reckless Maneuvers" to essentially level the FLY mechanic up to its old power for a select unit for one movement phase at the price of a command point. Meanwhile this opens up an opportunity to give factions that heavily rely on such units (like Drukhari) a realy simple yet fitting detachment mechanic: "Once per turn you can use this stratagem for free even if you have already used it." Alternatively you can put this as an ability on a specific unit.

I really like how core stratagems work in 10th, so why not lean a bit more into it?

#wh40k #warhammer 40k #10th edition #balance dataslate

[divineerdrick]

Metawatch Warhammer 40,000: January 2024

Alright! The long awaited Balance Dataslate for the start of 2024 is finally here! I'm glad they waited until after LVO this time. I'm so eager to see what's changing for this new season of 40K!

Currently, 40K balance is in a really nice spot. We have two contenders for the top army in the game with Craftworlds and CSM, both hovering just over the 55% win rate. At the same time, AdMech, Knights, Sisters, and Drukhari are struggling at or below the 45% mark. For Space Marines, Blood Angels and Deathwatch seem to be struggling the most, while Templars and Ultramarines are seeing success. Space Wolves are also doing really good, but they're not usually seen as Champions of Russ.

For mechanics, we're at a point where Indirect Fire weapons are either game changing or useless with no ground in between. Aircraft are near universally staying on shelves. Opinions on Battle-shock vary from player to player and army to army. I personally feel it's hard to argue that it's a very meaningful mechanic when it's basically Tyranids' whole schtick now, and they're one of the weaker armies.

There's also plenty of issues cropping up around internal balance. Now that we have more detachments available for some armies, some of them are clearly more powerful than others. This is particularly felt hard by Space Marine players, who almost universally are sticking with vanilla detachments. Only Templars seem to be regularly seen inside their unique detachment, and the temperature check for the new Dark Angels Codex suggests Deathwing might end up on tables . . . and that's about it.

Speaking of Codexes, we're genuinely not seeing any Codex Creep! GW seems to have legitimately focused on using Codexes to patch some of the problems the Indexes have had and provide players with more options. As I hinted above, this has had mixed results. But I definitely prefer this to the insane levels of creep that ruined 9th Edition.

So! With all that said, should I make any predictions? Well, I can't say anything about Drukhari, as the links call them out by name. But big surprise the current weakest army will be getting some love. I guess I'll predict that they will receive both points and rules changes. I'm predicting we'll see some rollbacks on nerfs to Knights and Custodes. I think we'll see one more focused rules change to Aeldari and probably some points bumps, especially for Night Spinners. I'm also expecting some form of rules nerf to CSM. The most obvious one will be something regarding how marks work and some of the crazy shenanigans that have been used. I'm also expecting a points buff to many of their most used pieces. For everyone else, I'm expecting GW will mostly focus on internal balance. I'm not expecting any rules changes for Detachments this time around, though it would be nice. I think all the other factions will mostly be focused around points.

I also think we need some mission changes. In particular, I think we're going to get changes to scoring Secondary Objectives. But I'm not sure if that will be addressed here, or if we're going to get something like a General's Handbook.

Alright! Enough preamble! Let's start with the article and video!

Video

Hello, Josh from the Design Studio! Apologies, Josh, but I can't help but feel the answer to "who better to do that with . . ." would be Stu. Still, it's nice to see more members of the team. It's also quite likely that Stu is now hard at work on 11th Edition, given GWs tight and frustrating schedule (three years between editions is too short, dammit!) So Josh might very well be the one in charge of 10th Edition balance right now.

We don't really know how GW gets their numbers, but 60+ percent for Aeldari's original win rate is . . . technically true. 70+ would have been more honest though . . . They're calling them at 57% now, which I think most stat keepers agree with.

We're getting a whole new Detachment for Drukhari! Well, now! I knew we were getting rules changes but I was expecting a patch to Realspace Raid. This doesn't mean that isn't happening, but that's still pretty big news!

And there's the rules change for Aeldari. Looks like we're getting another nerf to Phantasm. It very much needs it. Looks like they're making it random now. Wonder if it's going to be flat D6 or something like D6+1.

It sounds like Drukhari are still getting rules changes. So the new Detachment will be on top of this. Yep! They're buffing Realspace Raid! Congratulations Drukhari! And they're mentioning they might do this in the future too!

So they're using Daemons for the internal balance example. I'm still not sure how Daemons mostly stay off my radar, but I do know that Daemons are almost always focused around monster mash with a few units like Flamers and Nurglings thrown in. So it sounds like they're going to try and address this using points. As I suggested, I don't think they're going to use rules changes if they can avoid it. It's one thing to log into the app and see that your army has lost or gained points. It's another to be playing and get an, "Um, actually . . . that rule doesn't work like that anymore."

Yes! We're getting more rules clarifications and commentary! Please give us more FAQs too, I beg you! But it really sounds like they want to use the Commentary for this. It looks like they're finally addressing some of the Transport and Deepstrike questions, with these no longer count as moving for rules interactions.

They also say they're using standard color coding for points changes too. That'll make looking at these points changes so much easier! Balance Dataslate changes will be marked as new too. This sound very similar to how 9th Edition Dataslates worked, just with plus signs instead of colors.

They're covering a bit about LVO too, and in particular how they looked at it. It sounds like we're not going to see anything for Necrons this time around. This is another reason why I'm glad they waited for LVO. They can see a much larger pool of players and lists all interacting at once. I don't know if it caused them to change anything, but it gives them the opportunity at least. They do know to keep an eye on Necrons too.

I also like how they acknowledge that the tournament Aeldari list has really not change for at least three months.

Article

So the first thing in the article is that we're getting a change to the starting number of Fate Dice for Aeldari, in addition to Phantasm. Drukhari are getting changes to Power from Pain, and an all new downloadable Index! Their new detachment is the Skyplinter Assault.

It looks like many Battleline units are getting love, while the aforementioned Indirect Fire units are getting another nerf. They once again go over how they're showing changes in this dataslate.

Finally we're not seeing anything for Dark Angels this time around. Their new points will not be in this Munitorum Field Manual.

Oh, for the love of . . .

Please tell me this isn't what they're deciding balance with. I know they suggested they use other metrics, but this is not good at all.

They've got CSM at 54%! They're closer to 56-57%! They've got Deathwatch at 46%? Where are they possibly getting that number from?

Huh! Actually checking Stat Check, CSM has slipped a bit while Deathwatch is rising . . . Interesting! Looks like I'm the one who needs to pay better attention. Still, I hope they're making sure CSM isn't going to be the reigning champion with the new Aeldari nerfs.

Oh well. I guess I should have realized I would have slipped with how sick I've been lately. Let's dig into these and see what we've got. We'll start with Drukhari.

Index Drukhari

Power from Pain

So the first big change is to what happens to a unit you Empower in the Shooting or Fight phase. Now, melee weapons will get an additional pip of AP. This should help Drukhari melee finally hit the way it's supposed to!

The rule for Realspace Raiders remains unchanged. Maybe they're hoping the melee buff will mean Drukhari players will actually take their characters? Guess we'll have to wait and see. There don't seem to be any changes to the detachment that I can find. Let's look at the new one.

Skysplinter Assault

Oh. Oh nice!

The new detachment ability is Rain of Cruelty. This gives two meaningful buffs to any unit disembarking from a transport. The first is Ignores Cover, which in this edition might as well read "gain an AP." The second is Lance. Combined with the new Power from Pain, this will allow a melee unit Disembarking from a transport to hit really hard.

The catch here is that the unit needs to be able to Charge in order to get the full benefit from this rule. Normally, you can't charge if the Transport moved. So this means that most Transports have to move into position, then the unit has to wait to disembark. Let's take a look at the rest of the rules first, then we'll see if Drukhari have any transports with an Assault Ramp style rule.

Enhancements

Our first enhancement is Phantasmal Smoke. This grants the bearer's unit Cover and Stealth while wholly within 6" of a Transport. Cover is no big deal, but Stealth is a relevant buff. The problem is the "wholly within" part. That's gonna limit how you can use this enhancement. I'm not sure this even gets an, "if you have points left."

Next, we have Sadistic Fulcrum. This seems a lot more fun. If the whole goal is to run a bunch of units in Transports, then you can probably make pretty good use of this. I'm pretty sure at least one Transport has Dark Lances, so this might be auto-include if priced right.

Spiteful Raider provides some additional Pain token generation. It only triggers when you kill an enemy on an objective and only in the fight phase. But since Drukhari wants to do that, this could also be auto-include.

Finally, Nightmare Shroud provides one of the most relevant rules you can have in 10th Edition: preventing Overwatch! It's hard to oversell how clutch this can be. Especially if you're going to try and Disembark from a stationary transport to move and charge, this gives you two places where an opponent might try to gun you down. This might also be auto-include.

While Phantasmal smoke is a pretty big miss, the other three enhancements will probably all see use. This is all around a good start to this Detachment.

Stratagems

Vicious Blades is interesting. This is one of those rules that when you use it you're going to feel really good about it, but you probably won't use it very often. It's an interesting way to represent the Drukhari in a Transport striking and shooting out of it. If you've got 2CP, this combined with Tank Shock could just run over some units.

Wraithlike Retreat is awesome! Free moves are always good, especially during your opponents turn. There's a reason we're seeing a Phantasm nerf. Even if the target isn't a Wych unit, the whole theme of this Detachment is transports. This army wants to ride into combat, wipe out a target, then get back in and do it again. The fact you can make a Fall Back move is what really puts this over the edge. This means you don't even have to finish a unit off. You can cripple it and then move on, or just get your Unit out of potential danger for next turn.

But it's Pounce on the Prey that this Detachment will practically revolve around. If Drukhari doesn't have a transport that has an Assault Ramp rule, this gets around it. This allows you to use your favorite Transports to rush your units up the board and in your opponents face. Turn 1 charges are almost certainly a thing with this.

If charging isn't a good idea, Skyborne Annihilation can significantly up the damage from a shooting unit, especially if you empower them. I don't remember Kabalite Warriors being anything special. But if they see some love in the MFM, this could allow them to punch above their weight. It's also a Battle Tactic.

Again, we have some out of phase movement. Swooping Mockery allows Drukhari players to take some risks with their transports without needing to worry about easy reprisal. Like many of these rules, though, this only works if your opponent wants to come in close.

Finally Night Shield helps keep your Transports safe. Since you may want to have some units move up and not disembark, this will be essential.

Honestly the only problem with these Stratagems is CP generation. I can easily see Drukhari players basically always spending their CP on one of these each turn. They'll be wanting to use Pounce on the Prey or Skyborne Annihilation on their turn, then use Wraithlike Retreat or Swooping Mockery in their opponent's turn. Considering the potential mobility of this army, I'm guessing most players will want to take Tactical Missions.

Transports

The Raider makes for some serious reach and threat with its automatic 6" advance. With a 14" move, plus disembarking within 3", that's a guaranteed charge from 19" away. And its got Deep Strike to boot! It also has a Darklance and Firing Deck 11 to benefit from Sadistic Fulcrum.

Venoms come with that fun ability to split your units and Stealth. They can also swoop by and pick up units without needing to use Wraithlike Retreat.

And, um, that's it. Why did I think Drukhari had more Transports than this? Still, both are Dedicated Transports, which means you can take as many as you want providing you can start them with a Unit embarked. That's still not a lot of units to build an army around.

This is the first real sticking point for this. While it's mostly other units that will benefit from these rules, you'll need to make sure you have enough Raiders and Venoms for this to work. And you'll only be able to use your best tricks on one or two each turn (usually just one.) Making sure you've got the Transports you need while still having the units to punch and score objectives will be a real balancing act.

The Balance Dataslate

Adepta Sororitas

Wow! Sisters players are not going to be happy. They've recently seen an uptick as veteran players have learned to work with their unique rules to get increased performance out of their normally mediocre units. Acts of Faith are key to this. I'm sure the goal is to stop the Triumph from feeling so necessary to all of this, but the faction really didn't need nerfs.

Adeptus Custodes

This was extremely necessary. I'm still not sure what they're going to do to allow Custodes players to play other detachments, which was a huge issue in 9th, but for now they need Aegis to function against Dev Wounds to work. I predicted they might see one of the nerfs undone, but it looks like GW thinks this is all they need.

Aeldari

Six! They're only getting six Fate Dice now, and no re-rolls! Looks like GW has decided it's time for the nuclear option, because this is just the start.

Fates messenger now only affects the bearer, not the unit. Phantasm is D6, so it's not only less reliable but has lost an inch of movement. Night Spinners no longer stop a unit from Advancing. THANK YOU! The Yncarne can now only teleport once in each of the Aeldari player's turns. GET WRECKED! And Wraithguard can now only shoot back at what shot at them.

By the Goddess!

That's a lot of fixes. I'm actually hoping they didn't get much in the way of points increases, because damn! Surprised they didn't address Warp Spider in all of that, though.

Astra Militarum

Interesting! Officers can now issue Orders when they setup on the Battlefield. This will provide Guard players with a lot more flexibility as to when and how they deploy their Officers.

Blood Angels

Red Thirst now adds +2 to Strength, bringing the rule more in line with 10th Edition Toughness characteristics. Not sure this will bring Sons of Sanguinius to the the table, but it's a start.

Chaos Daemons

Honestly not much here. You now must include Battleline Daemons as allies if you take them. Since Nurglings were by far the most allied Daemons, I don't think this actually affects much.

Chaos Space Marines

GW did not ignore CSM. We've got a nerf to Transports, so you're no longer putting your Undivided Chosen in a Nurgle Transport just for Dark Obscuration. And that Stratagem has been nerfed to 18". Profane Zeal now only affects Chaos Undivided and only grants re-roll wounds. That's the better half, but still! Accursed Cultists are OC 1 now and only regenerate on your turn.

Again, it's a grab bag of problem units and stratagems fixed. It's nowhere near what Aeldari suffered, so unless there are more nerfs coming CSM are still in a good spot. But GW is not shying away from changing these rules!

Deathguard

You can now only use Grenade on one Biologus Putrifier per turn. Reasonable nerf.

Drukhari

We already know about Power from Pain, but we missed that Archons can now lead Incubi. They'll definitely welcome the re-roll wounds.

Grey Knights

Wow! We're really getting into it here! GW appears to be more than willing to actually change profiles and Datasheets! Did you think Dreadknights didn't hit hard enough? Well GW agrees with you! Enjoy your new psycannons and Nemesis weapons!

Imperial Knights

Just give them Bondsman back! Oh well. Code Chivalric is getting a buff and is now re-roll one hit roll and one wound roll.

Space Wolves

You can now claim a Saga at the end of any turn. This will make it much more easy to collect them, as you now have twice as many opportunities to do so. It's still the character model that has to perform the Saga, though, so this is still going to be a challenge.

World Eaters

Wow! Round of nerfs to World Eaters! Berzerker Glaive, Favored of Khorne, and Daemon princes were all nerfed! Somebody must be thinking World Eaters are in position to take the top spot with the nerfs to Aeldari and CSM.

That was a lot! GW really is willing to change rules when they need to, and they're willing to dig into the minutia. This was incredibly comprehensive, so with points the game stands to change a lot.

I don't know if the changes to Sons of Sanguinius and Champions of Russ are enough to get them on the board. But they're a start. For the factions themselves, we need to look at the point changes. Really worried for Aeldari here. They got sweeping changes! If the point changes are too severe, they might be where Tyranids were at the start of last year.

Biggest winner is Custodes though. That change is going to help them a lot!

Munitorum Field Manual

Adepta Sororitas

We've got a few nerfs here with increases to Arco-flagellants, Exorcists, and Morvenn Vahl. However, Paragon Warsuits have dropped 30 pts while Vahl went up 20 pts. So overall, that package actually went down 10 pts. But now Warsuits might be worth taking on their own. Other than that, a bunch of Sisters infantry got buffed.

Adeptus Custodes

It's all green! Some pretty substantial buffs to Allarus, Guard, and Wardens. Dawn Eagle Jetbikes have also gotten cheaper, though I don't know if it's enough. The Shield-Captain went down 40 pts though and now costs the same as the Allarus Shield-Captain. Custodes are in a good spot!

Adeptus Mechanicus

AdMech just go their Codex and GW doesn't seem ready to weigh in. While some dedicated players have had success, the general impression is they need some love. Hopefully they don't have to wait 6 months for it.

Aeldari

Almost no changes! GW decided they needed new rules and that's it! Night Spinners went up 30 pts while Wraithguard went up 4 pts a model. Warp Spiders remain untouched. This honestly leaves Aeldari with plenty of play. I don't think they're going to be in trouble, but they definitely won't be the top army anymore.

Of course I have said that before . . .

Astra Militarum

The Manticore has gone up 30 pts. While this won't kill Guard Indirect, it's still a nerf. GW does remember that Guard was at the bottom of it's stats, right?

Black Templars

Crusader Squads are now 15 pts per model and Grimaldus and Helbrecht have both gone up to 120. That's going to impact the Templars quite a bit! Those are substantial character nerfs, which always makes me wonder where GW gets these numbers from.

Chaos Daemons

That is a lot of green! Why do Daemons have that much green while Guard got nothing? And even though they talked about troops, there's a lot of characters grabbing buffs here. Great Unclean One, Kairos, Keeper of Secrets, Rotigus, Skarbrand . . . Nurglings and Blue Scribes got nerfed though.

Chaos Knights

Looks like GW is comfortable enough with Towering to start dishing out the buffs to Knights. Again, we've got a lot of green! Only the Brigand got nerfed, and only by 10 pts.

Chaos Space Marines

All the points nerfs Aeldari dodged hit CSM. If it was a tournament staple, it's been nerfed. Granted, I know there were some things here that people wanted pushed more, but I think this will do a good job of bringing CSM down just enough.

Dark Angels

Wait . . . I thought they weren't doing this here? Oh well, here are some buffs anyway! If these buffs carry through to the next MFM after Codex: Dark Angels is officially released, Deathwing could be in a good spot.

Death Guard

Got a few buffs, got a few nerfs. Deathshroud are now 40 pts per model, Bloat-drones are down 10, and the Lord of Virulence and Typhus are both down 20. But Plague Marines went from 16 pts bargains to more in line with other Space Marine profiles at 18 pts. The Plagueburst Crawler also went up 15 pts.

Deathwatch

Weird things are happening here recently, but I'm still surprised this is unchanged.

Drukhari

Was anyone actually taking a Voidraven Bomber? Other than this little bit of silliness, these buffs are some nice ones to go along with the new detachment. Also the cost for those Skyplinter Enhancements are very reasonable.

Genestealer Cults

GW says you are not bringing enough Genestealers in your Genestealer Cults armies! 16 pts a model is much more reasonable.

Grey Knights

Apparently, GW thinks they've fixed the baby carrier. So they're nerfing Librarians by 10 pts. And that's it!

Imperial Knights

Are you not a Warglaive, Gallant, or Atrapos? You got cheaper! It's all buffs for the chivalrous side of Knights!

Leagues of Votann

Apparently GW is worried the Kin are doing a little too good with their last set of buffs. To be fair, Sagitaurs needed a nerf. But they'd really like it if you ran fewer Thunderkyn and Hearthguard.

Necrons

Our soon to be overlords also escape any nerfs in lieu of their Codex having just dropped. If recent performances are predictive, get ready to serve your living metal masters. I know I said this last time, but that was before Canoptek Court and Hypercrypt Legion were a thing. Hopefully we won't have to deal with full power Necrons for 6 months.

Orks

Since the Boyz are still doing pretty well, it's time for more internal balance. Battlewagons are down 15 pts, but Trukks are up 5. Nobz have gone up to 22 pts a model and Squighog Boyz are up to just under 42 pts a model. But lots of vehicles have gone down, including the Morkanaut. Time to grab the red paint and wake up the Speed Freeks!

Space Marines

Oh boy! This is a lot of internal balance changes! Most stuff wasn't touched. But Aggressors, Devastator Centurions, Inceptors, Redemptors, Scouts, and Whirlwinds all went up. Infernus Marines, Outriders, Guilliman, Sternguard, and every variety of Intercessor went down. GW wants to see more Battle-line, dammit!

T'au Empire

With the new Tau box and book on the horizon, these won't matter for very long. Still it's mostly buffs. The lesser played Commanders, Crisis and Enforcers, went down 10 pts each. Riptides went down 15 pts. And Vespid went down to 13 pts a model. However your Crisis bricks just went up to 400 pts. I think Tau will be fine though.

Tyranids

Could we have waited until we weren't so close to the bottom before seeing the internal balance changes, please? Oh well. Big surprise, Deathleaper, Neurolictors, Pyrovores, and Gargoyles all went up in price. Those units were making nearly ever list, so we knew something had to change. In exchange we got buffs to the Broodlord and Genestealers to mirror GSC, Norns got significant buffs, the Screamer-Killer now has a reasonable cost, the Trygon got a little buff, and the Tyrannofex got a massive one to finally fit the rules nerf it took. Oh and the Toxicrene went down, but nobody cares.

World Eaters

GW must really be worried Khornes chosen were ready to claim Aeldari skulls! The Lord of Skulls and Forgefiends both got a buff, but Eightbound, Kharne, and the Master of Executions all got hit. Eighbound aren't back to the silly costs they had, but they're still at over 48 pts and 53 pts per model respectively.

The Rules Commentary

Wait, woah! Really? That's how they're ruling things? Wow! I just opened this and already we're off to a mind blowing start! You can stack the same buff/nerf on units multiple times! The only exception are for auras or for named effects like suppressed. This is potentially huge! Now I want to go through my book and see if there are any abilities I can do this with!

We get a quick clarification that if you add models to a unit on the battlefield, they must be in coherency. Don't think anyone ever played this differently. How models off the battlefield can ever be or not be in coherency, I don't know, but there's a clarification for that too.

We also get a clarification that says that if you can put a unit from Reserves on the table in Battle Round 1 as if it was Battle Round 2, the same unit doesn't act like it's Battle Round 3 if you do it the following round. Again, makes sense and I'm not sure anyone played it any other way.

We get some Battle-shock clarifications. Being destroyed doesn't end Battle-shock. So you can't bring a Battle-shocked unit back with a Stratagem, for example. I could have sworn they spelled this out before, but if a rule makes you take a Battle-shock test for being below Starting Strength in the Battle-shock step, you don't have to take another one for being Below Half-strength. Finally, destroyed units don't take Battel-shock tests.

They've clearly separated the Charge Bonus from other rules that trigger from charging. So if something kills your Charge Bonus, you still get any other rules. Doesn't looked like they've clarified charges when you can't get into Base-to-Base contact. Though again, I don't think anyone plays it so that you don't charge towards the enemy when you make a successful charge.

We get a slight change to the way Contested works to make sure that it applies at the end of a turn as well as the end of a phase. Again, makes sense.

They also clarify order of operations for scoring. Again, I don't think anyone was trying to score Victory points before checking objectives, but there it is.

Here's the first part of the clarification we were told about for Reserves and Transports. Basically unless you are physically moving your models, you don't get to count as having made any kind of move for any other rules. It just means you haven't Remained Stationary and don't get to move again.

Another one that I thought got clarified, if you have a rule that grants you CP in the Command phase, that is not part of CP gained at the start of the phase. So you can't gain anymore CP that battle round.

I could have sworn I saw this somewhere too, wonder if it was part of an event FAQ or something, but Dmg characteristics that have +1 or something in them are not being modified. That's just part of the characteristic.

Oh! Here's an interesting one and a new limit on rules stacking. You can't use two abilities that give you a flat Advance bonus to movement on the same Unit at the same time. Can't think of any faction that can do this off the top of my head, but again this makes sense.

And there it is! Finally! You can disembark from a Transport that arrives from reserves. Finally we get the clarification on this! This doesn't even affect me, and I'm still glad to finally see this!

Again, we have another common sense clarification. When you buy an Enhancement for a Character unit that has more than one model in it, only one model gets the Enhancement.

Oh! Here's an interesting one! Fight-on-death rules all trigger for the unit at once, you do not fight one at a time with each model by themselves. Additionally, all the models are still destroyed at once, so any abilities that are effected by unit strength apply.

Woah! Looks like we're getting some changes to Hazardous! Let's go through these point by point.

If you declare you're firing a Hazardous weapon, you take the test even if you destroy the target and don't fire the weapon.

You get to chose what models with Hazardous weapons suffer from failed tests. If a character fails a test, you can either destroy another model or have the Character take mortal wounds. It just has to be an eligible model with a hazardous weapon.

Mortals from Hazardous tests spill over to the unit normally.

If you allocate a Hazardous test to a Character, Monster, or Vehicle, you have to keep allocating Hazardous tests to that model until all the failed tests have been allocated or the model is destroyed.

When allocating Mortal wounds that have spilled over from a Character, Monster, or Vehicle in a unit, you have to allocate them first to another model with a Hazardous weapon. Once all models with Hazardous weapons are destroyed, you allocate any remaining failed tests or wounds to unit as normal.

Good good good! We now have some pretty clear steps for how to deal with this. Most of the time it's pretty easy, but again, it's nice to have it spelled out. Also, I don't really care much since Tyranids don't have any Hazardous weapons! Kekekek!

We get a little clarification for Objective Secured style abilities. Basically at the end of any phase, if your opponent has more OC on the objective than you do, they gain control as normal. Again, pretty sure everyone played it this way.

Wow! There's a clarification. Instead of trying to figure out or keep track of One Shot weapons and Firing Deck, you just can't use them! I did hear of people trying to cheese this, especially my GSC kin, and apparently GW decided they needed to stamp this down hard!

Redeploy has a quick clarification that yes, you can redeploy a unit with Infiltrators as Infiltrators. This was already there in the commentary, but apparently there was enough debate they needed to spell it out.

Really important with the new Drukhari detachment, we get some specific rules for splitting units. You can only split a unit once, and that split unit changes its Starting Strength to match.

We get some new exceptions to how Vehicles with bases work. You don't have to with 3" of a vehicles base to embark on it, you just have to be within range of the model itself. The same is also true for disembarking.

Finally, we get the much needed clarifications on Ignoring Modifiers. We get a list of characteristics that can ignore modifiers, which is very nice. Being able to ignore modifiers to rolls means all rolls for that unit. And again, they clarify this is not binary and you get to choose what modifiers you ignore.

New to this version is our first full Errata on the Core Rules. We only have three things here, but they're important. The first is the change to Command Re-Roll which rewords it so that it targets a unit and not a roll. This brings it in line with all other Stratagems.

Next we have a clarification on Rapid Ingress specifying the you can use Deep Strike, despite the fact it's not your Movement phase.

Finally, we have the updated wording for controlling objective markers that specify it occurs at the end of any phase or turn.

And that's it! Whew! That's a lot more than I was expecting all around!

Final Thoughts

This really was a lot! GW is not messing around here. However that doesn't mean there weren't any oversights. For some reason, Astra Militarum really didn't get much of anything. They're arguably worse off then they were before. Considering their competitive win rate is around 43%, this is really not good. But other than that, and what we were told not to expect, this is pretty comprehensive!

I guess with that mention of Guard, I should talk about winners and losers. Guard are one of the losers. They got a meaningful rules change, but nothing good enough to change their fortunes. In the mean time, they got a nerf to the Manticore and no buffs to any of their other units. I actually double checked that I didn't miss anything. This is so baffling!

Obviously Aeldari and CSM are also losers. Aeldari saw sweeping rules changes and CSM got a double tap in rules and points. I don't think it's enough to break either faction, but they're definitely not gonna hold their top spots anymore.

World Eaters also lost pretty big. Again, they got rules and points changes, though nothing like what the top dogs got. Still, they had only started to climb up the ranks last I checked. Again, I don't think this is going to drop them too much, but it's not gonna help them.

Templars also took a bit of gut punch. They only got hit in the points though. Many players will argue they were coasting on cheap Crusader Squads. I think Space Marine players will think twice about running them, but dedicated Templar players will probably be fine.

Finally, we have to acknowledge that the AdMech Codex just didn't give the faction the tools they needed. They've had no event wins since their codex dropped. While some of the higher tier players are having success, the faction as a whole needs love.

By contrast, Necrons are winning big for the same reason. With nothing addressing them in this Dataslate and two powerful new detachments, the Dynasties are ready to rise and claim their spot.

I think Drukhari will like their changes too. Their army can genuinely punch hard now, and their new detachment looks like a lot of fun. With the points changes they got, the faction probably got a bit more expensive to run, but a lot more tools to play with.

Orks are also looking good. They've so far managed to stick pretty close to the low 50s for most of this edition. While they saw some nerfs, I don't think they'll hurt most Ork lists. Now they may be able to take vehicles besides trukks with them. They can definitely benefit from the top dogs taking a krumpin.

I think Custodes will also like their changes. A Feel No Pain against Dev Wounds is going to help a lot. And they might be able to get a few more bodies on the board now too.

Knights are in tough spot. They got a lot of points buffs, but they really needed them. They also got a nice rules buff, though only to one of their Oaths. I think they should have just given them Bondsman back. We'll have to see if these change help reverse their fortunes.

Grey Knights are also probably grinding their teeth. The buff to Dreadknights is nice. This will help what should be their primary punching unit actually hit hard enough to matter. But I'm still not sure it's enough. Still, Grey Knights have a lot of room for skilled players to shine. Maybe that little nudge will help them.

All and all, it's going to be brand new meta starting today. It's a new season with new rules. My guess is we'll see something like a General's Handbook soon, and that might further shake things up. I'm excited to see how things pan out!

#live blogging #liveblogging #warhammer 40000 #warhammer 40k #wh40k #warhammer #warhammer community #balance dataslate #competitive 40k #40k balance dataslate #40k #wh 40k #warhammer40k

[nyvirea]

Oh fuck yea, I get to pop Emperor's Auspice until my CP run out again!

#wh40k #q1 2023 dataslate #adeptus custodes

[ave-dominus-nostramos]

I've seen this brooch on Konrad's breastplate a bunch of times but I've never been able to find an explanation for what it's for. My best hc is that it's filled with Konrad's blood. Ditto as to why he'd need to walk around w/ a vial of his own blood when he can just lick a gene-reader.

#headcanons tbt. #yes he licks a dataslate at some point #'Curze stuck out his dark tongue and slowly almost lasciviously licked the cold screen of the dataslate' #yes that's canon #straight from one of the novels verbatim

[harrison-armory-incorporated]

one of my fucking coworkers just sent me this anonymously on my dataslate what does this mean and why did they draw me like that - intern

#lancer #lancer rpg #lancerrpg #mecha #harrison armory #lancer pilot

[kitto-paint]

"I shall bless this skitarii with knowledge throwing a dataslate at her like it's a piece of cheese on a cat"

#skitarii #admech #kitto paint #dark heresy #liber imperium

[cursed-40k-thoughts]

Dataslate rule for Harlequins states that you can reroll any dice as long as it is strictly funnier than playing them as they lie (i.e., getting all 1s on an entire squad's shooting attacks)

In one ask you’ve created better rules for 10th edition than literally everything GW has managed so far. Your mind is powerful and I am in awe

[the-cato-sicarius]

If given the chance, would you kiss Guilliman?

Would I kiss Guilliman? I haven't really considered it. Perhaps I should.

Guilliman himself is very much into kissing. I've seen him kiss all sorts of things, babies handed to him, statues, his favourite method of biometric ident is to kiss the dataslate, and of course all the forehead kisses he has given me and my brothers.

I have heard him say “I wish I could give every Ultramarine a kiss on the forehead, but that is so many kisses and I have so little time.”

Just imagine if he chose to honour his successor chapters as well…

Perhaps I should give him a forehead kiss in return. If someone deserves it, it would be him.

For the Primarch. For Guilliman.

#40k #cato sicarius #warhammer 40k #ultramarines #roleplay #asks #roboute guilliman

[theprettynosferatu]

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...

I - The Heroes

Luna MacKleere didn’t like the word “Rebel”. She was one, to be sure, but in her mind the term evoked anarchy, disorder, chaos. Maybe it was her past life as an Imperial officer, or maybe it was just the way she was wired, but Luna felt sometimes clear order was a necessity. The Rebellion had a chain of command, but it was a tad… diffuse. For all its virtues, the Rebellion often fell short in the “getting things done” category: strategy meetings could become endless debates in the name of equality and freedom of expression. To Luna, a little hierarchy didn’t necessarily become tyranny. 

She was well aware of her reputation within the base. Humorless, strict, cold. She didn’t much care. She got things done, as the events of the day had proved. A screen lit up letting her know the newly-minted Heroes of Korriban would arrive shortly. The base was buzzing. She wasn’t upset because she had been the one to discover the Imperial outpost in that barren planet, planned the surprise strike, organized the entire operation: it was natural for the pilots and boots on the ground to get the glory. What irritated her was that for a good three hours or so nothing of real use would be accomplished as the new Heroes celebrated their triumph. Oh, well. She supposed it would be a morale boost, at least.

She did the best she could to tune out the cheers, the laughter, the singing. Luna wondered how the old Jedi had been able, if the stories were true, to keep their emotions always under control. Given how her chest pounded with irritation, she figured she wouldn’t have made a good Jedi even if she had been born hundreds of years before. 

Eventually a knock on her door broke her out of such dark contemplations. She looked around to make sure everything was presentable: the room was both her command center and her bedroom. The base had been built with haste and stealth in mind, and living comfort had been sacrificed to keep it compact. Deciding the place looked respectable, she let the visitor in.

Kara Nalls was barely out of her teens; like so many in the rebellion, she was an orphan of the war the Empire waged against independence. Luna took pride in knowing the names and stories of everyone under her command. She wished Kara would get a bit more confidence, though. Even then, the petite blonde was almost shaking, dataslate in hand.

“What is it, Kara?”

“Ma’m, I have the manifest of liberated weapons, supplies and equipment right here. A full report should be made… uhm… later. Oh, and there’s… this”

Kara produced a small, black cube.

“We don’t know what it is, Ma’m. If it’s a container, there seems to be no way of opening it. But the boys say it was heavily guarded, so perhaps it might be of importance”

Luna took the dataslate and gestured for Kara to leave the box on her desk. She could look at it later.

“Thank you, Kara. Please make sure our esteemed warriors write proper reports when they’re done being tonguebathed by the entire base”

The rude words almost made the younger rebel recoil, but she caught herself.

“Yes, Ma’m”

“Is there anything else?”

“No, Ma’m”

“Then go out there and enjoy the party. I appreciate you taking the time to bring me the data”

“Thank you, Ma’m” 

 

Kara almost skipped away to rejoin the celebration. She wasn’t the worst, but still needed discipline. They all did. Luna tried to put her mind out of the racket outside her door. She decided to enable communications and send the manifest to her rebel contacts. It was always a risky thing, for signals could be intercepted, traced: that was the reason only two people on base knew the codes to engage the transmitters. Sure, Luna could have waited until the full report was ready and sent everything together, minimizing risk; but she needed to focus on something, anything to dull the annoyance inside her. As the transmission happened, she idly looked at the black cube on her desk.

No, it wasn’t just black. It seemed to absorb all light, to pull it within itself and capture it to never be released again. Luna felt discomforted by the small accursed thing. What in the galaxy could it be? Well, whatever it was, she didn’t want to see it on her desk. She picked it up to put it away…

She couldn’t be sure, but for a second something like a sigil appeared on it, bright red. It was a flash, and then it was gone. Before Luna could process what she had seen or if she had indeed seen it, the box opened without a sound, its top moving on unseen hinges. Inside was something beautiful.

It shimmered copper and ruby, calling to her from within its nest of fathomless darkness. It was obviously valuable, and should be reported to the rest of the rebellion. That was the obvious, ethical, logical thing to do. However, Luna found herself hesitating, bound by a shapeless feeling at first, one that soon wormed its way into her head and solidified into words. Did the rebellion really need whatever the necklace could be sold for? Would it truly be so harmful for Luna to keep it for herself? After all, wasn’t the rebellion all about freedom? And more importantly, didn’t Luna deserve it? She was the reason the base got anything done, after all. Hell, even the celebration taking place was thanks to an operation she had planned, based on information she had gathered! But were people thanking her? Did they dance for her? Did they kiss in secluded hallways for her? No. She deserved a reward. Results had to be rewarded, that was the very basics of management. And no one would know. She alone had seen what the box hid. She had spent two years away from any luxury, working ragged, cramped inside a base that gave her little to no privacy or room, eating rations and wearing sensible, resistant clothing. She had almost forgotten how she looked, how she could look when she paid attention to her appearance. She had sacrificed so much… of course she deserved a little treat, a little beauty in her life. It was so obvious.

When she put on the necklace, she felt as if life was returning to her body. It felt so good to finally do something not for the rebellion, not for the fighting men and women, but for herself. And it looked good. It looked so perfect on her… too bad her clothing didn’t really do the necklace justice.

Well, she did have a few outfits saved for special occasions…

II - Confidence

It felt good to be out of the sensible white and brown clothes. Sure, it was cold. Sure, her formal dinner dress was hardly practical in case of a sudden attack. No, Luna didn’t care. She loved the way she looked, with flowing red silk, high-heeled boots and a generous cleavage that showed the pendant in all its glory. It was as if she was rediscovering a part of herself she had long left behind. She had been desired, once. Before the Empire. Before she broke away from it. Before uniforms became her default attire. Yes, she had been desired in her home planet. The scion of a wealthy House, fabled for her beauty and wit. She had wanted to escape that. That’s why she had enlisted in the Officer Corps. To spite her father. To get away. Now, she couldn’t remember why she had ever felt being the center of attention was a bad thing.

And oh, all eyes were on her, alright. Most looked at her as if they were seeing her for the first time. In a way, they were. Even she had forgotten how… impactful she could be when she chose to use her looks as a weapon. She felt like a conquering queen… or a predator on the prowl. Everyone around her looked so small, so weak, so pliable. Was this the rebellion? Was this the force that would topple an Empire? She felt as if she could just… take whoever she desired. Take them to do what? She couldn’t say. Hurt them? Use them? Motivate them?

Yes, perhaps motivation was needed. Confidence. They seemed so… run down. Luna knew the best leaders led by example. Well, she could be that example. She could show them all the passion the sorely lacked, the drive to victory that seemed so alien to them. Suddenly, there wasn’t a single doubt in her mind. If the rebellion was to have any chance of success, she would have to teach them to take what they wanted, to fight and manipulate and feel the drive to grasp victory by any means necessary. Ambition. Yes, that’s what they lacked. Well, she’d teach them ambition.

Someone caught her eye. Tadriec was staring at her. Tadriec. Thin as a reed, obedient and respectful to a fault, generally looking like a little desert mouse caught in a trap. Was he a virgin, Luna wondered. She couldn’t imagine him doing anything but staring at any object of desire from far away. In a way, that was the rebellion right there. Too shy, too meek, too willing to settle for small victories. Well, if Luna was going to show them a new way… what better place to start than small, frail Tadriec?

“Tadriec, come with me”

“Why, me, ma’m? I… uh…”

The man was about to start shaking. He looked like the very picture of pathetic meekness. For a moment, Luna felt like striking him across the face, or digging her nails into his skin, just because she could, just because he would do nothing about it. Weakness invited abuse: was it any wonder the Empire regularly abused the people under its control? It was a two-way path: yes, the tyrant is terrible, but those too weak to stand up for themselves invited and enabled that tyranny. Perhaps a more hands on example was in order.

“Just be silent and follow me”

“Yes ma’m”

As the door to her quarters slid shut, Tadriec started mumbling in fear.

“I… uh… if you need anything, I… if I may, the door…”

“Tadriec, be quiet”

“Yes, ma’m”

Luna leaned on her desk, letting sensuality flow out of her. She could almost see it, a black and red tendril enveloping the poor, weak rebel.

“Look at me, Tadriec”

“I… I can see quite clearly. Uh, I don’t believe I’ve seen that… attire before, ma’m. It is quite beautiful; is there a ceremony or…”

“Look. At. Me. Tell me, Tadriec, what do you desire?”

“Desire?”

“Yes. What do you want? What would bring you joy, satisfaction? You are aware with the concept of desire, I presume”

“I… of course. I’m nor sure what… well, if I could… uh… I suppose victory over the Empire would make me happy. Peace would make me happy”

“Oh, how very noble of you. Allow me to be more specific. Do you desire me?”

“Uh, I… desire… uh… I’m not sure I understand the…”

“Do you desire to take me? To take this body and use it however it may please you? To make me go on my knees and take you in my mouth, to bend over like an animal in heat and let you mount me, pull my hair, make your every fantasy real? Do you desire to fuck me? To fuck me hard, take out all your frustrations and emotions and passions on me?”

The man’s next words would be inconsequential, Luna knew. His body already spoke volumes about how he felt, even if he wouldn’t dare say it out loud. She amused herself, watching him shifting uncomfortably, trying in vain to hide a bulge in his oh so sensible rebel uniform. This has to be how a Krayt Dragon feels before devouring their prey, she thought.

“I… I’m not sure it’s appropriate to… uh… I mean, you do look… quite attractive, but…”

“You desire me. Every movement you make screams it. You need to make me yours. My question is: why don’t you? Why are you so afraid to simply… take what you want? Why not turn me around, pin my hands on this desk? Why not push me up against the wall? Why not make me an object for your pleasure?”

“I… uh, that’d be… that’d be wrong! Wrong and… and inappropriate, and…”

Wrong. How would it be wrong to follow one’s heart? Luna couldn’t fathom the reasoning, and found herself with little patience for it. Fuck it. Time for a practical demonstration. She leapt out of the desk and took a few steps, until she could feel his nervous breathing on her face, their lips almost touching.

“I am your superior in command”

“Y-yes”

“Then you will do as instructed, is that clear?”

“I… yes ma’m”

“Then I’m instructing you to bend me over, lift my dress and plunge your cock inside me as hard as you can. Make it passionate. Make it hurt, if you want. But do it!”

He was too gentle. Far too gentle. He turned her around, carefully, almost shaking. He used minimum pressure to push her head down. Even now, even as he should be overcome with pure lust, he takes care of her, makes sure she is comfortable. Such a disgrace. Sheer weakness.

“Fuck you, Tadriec! Stop. Holding. Back! Are you such a coward? Such a useless pussy? Take it all out on me… you resentment… your fear, your anger, everything! Use me just as an object for your pleasure! Stop denying yourself what you deserve!”

Luna gasped as she felt him go inside her. Part of it was the rather unexpected size: she never would have imagined the skinny rebel packed such a… remarkable member. But what truly got to her was the feeling of it all. She couldn’t quite explain it, but there was a point, a very detectable moment when she felt the man’s emotions… burst forth.  

It was unexpected and it was intense and it was intoxicating. Rage and lust and hatred so vivid she could almost taste them. The feelings washed over her, sending shivers all through her body, robbing her of the ability to speak, to do anything but moan and drool and cum, over and over again, all control long gone. 

By the time she managed to regain some notion of herself, she was feeling his cum sliding down her thigh, panting on her desk. Shit. A woman could get addicted to such feelings.

III - Just a Dream

She’s standing in a dark place, an old place. A place of evil. She knows this, and it scares her. Statues seem to rise up to the stormy sky, and she’s aware of ruins, of ancient temples so deep and twisted a man could walk in and never walk out. There’s a way out of this place, this much she knows; but it’s cloudy, hidden in mists and creeping shadows. It’s terrifying how this place whispers to her. How it wants to feel like home.

But Luna has home, doesn’t she? She can’t remember. It’s hard to focus. Everything seems so distant now, like her life is hidden behind veil after veil after veil… She does have a notion, a barely formed sensation that she has made a mistake recently, a horrible and…

She feels it creeping up her leg, igniting her skin with a million sensations, a million passions. No, no, no… this is the mistake, she knows it. It’s coming for her. It will devour her, shift her, twist her if she allows it. She tries to run away, but it’s there and not there; a physical being and a manifestation of something monstrous growing inside her… she can no more escape it than she can escape herself.

She has to resist. She has to find the light inside her, lest the darkness consume her, turn her into someone she wouldn’t even recognize. But it’s so hard to find the willpower… so hard when the dark tendrils make her body feel so alive, so intense, so… eager. No. She has to…

It reaches between her legs, and she’s vaguely aware she could perhaps stop it, if she was strong enough. Is she that weak? Or is it that she doesn’t want to be strong anymore? A moan escapes her lips as her pussy twitches in pure, undiluted pleasure. It’s wrong. She has to hold back. She has to resist, to fight, to…

Why? Why not give in? 

Did she think that? Did the darkness think it for her? She can’t tell. She feels herself accepting it more and more, letting it explore her deeply… her pussy, her ass, her tits… her body is just a vehicle for pleasure, for power, for…

No, she’s so much more than that! She’s a kind person, a rebel, a fighter for freedom…

Does she want to be all that? Or does she want to be something else entirely? She can’t say anymore. It just feels too good… too good to think… too good to resist…

Fuck it.

And with that thought, the darkness enters her fully.

IV - Improvement

Luna McKleere woke up with a purr. She stretched in her bed, letting the air caress her skin. She felt sensitive and strong and… hungry. Not for food, of course. The rations on the base were anything but appetizing. But the base itself… well, she was the most important person in it, was she not? After all, if she wasn’t around, nothing would ever get done. In that sense, wasn’t it her base? Her dominion? Her responsibility and her property? She got up, determined to improve her base, even if she had to drag every single sorry mediocrity kicking and screaming towards something resembling strength.

She stopped in front of the mirror.

Perhaps she should have felt upset, or scared. Shocked, at the very least. Confused, certainly. Instead she didn’t feel anything but a simple, calm satisfaction. Before her stood an image she had never seen before, and yet felt oddly familiar. Her already dark hair had turned jet-black, with a strange blue-ish reflection, like the feathers of a fearsome bird of prey. Her eyes were still green, but when the light hit them just right they appeared to have an unnatural yellow hue to them. She wasn’t sure if her lips had become fuller or if they only seemed that way because of the confident, seductive expression she now wore. What wasn’t in doubt was the size of her chest: that had definitely changed. She shifted around, looked at herself from a few angles. She had to say, her new breasts were a definite improvement. Sex appeal was power, a power most people, weak-willed as they were, often found unable to resist. Besides, there was a certain beauty in knowing she could inflame passions and emotions by her mere appearance. The rebellion needed a bit more fire, a bit more blood in it… even if that blood was concentrated on rather specific body parts. Her legs were stronger too, more toned, ready to step on whoever got in her way.

All in all, her body felt like a tool, one perfectly designed for its purpose. And oh, did it have a purpose. The entire staff needed to change if the base was to have even a chance of achieving anything significant, anything beyond small raids on mostly abandoned imperial outposts. It needed to embrace greater ambition and be willing to take bigger risks. It needed to heed impulse, accept strength, forget mercy.

Every group had its leaders, official or otherwise. People who set the tone, the pace, the spirit of the endeavor. For the rebellion to change, the leaders would have to change. Luna decided to turn her base into a showcase, a template for the rest of the rebellion to follow. That meant summoning the leaders of her small base into her room. She would show them the way, and they in turn would push the new philosophy to the followers, the meek and spineless men and women that made up most of the fighting force.

They all stared at the floor, trying oh so hard not to glance at her new, improved tits, at the way she left her jumper’s zipper half-open to make them impossible to avoid. She felt nothing but a sickly contempt towards the men and the one woman before her. They were there, but were they actually there? They felt more like shadows, insubstantial, nonexistent. Luna felt something growing inside her. Hatred? No, not that. They were beneath that, they didn’t even deserve that much from her. Their weakness, their meekness, their lack of focus, of ambition… disgusting. They could be so much more, if only they’d let go of their stupid fetters of morality, of propriety, of the rules of engagement. They had passions inside them, buried so deep… if only…

The pendant felt warm on her skin, nestled between her breasts. She couldn’t explain it, but it was whispering. It was beckoning. It made her feel powerful. It made her feel like an uncaged beast… and she could tell the others were starting to feel it too. Their bodies told the story in a million small ways. A small shiver there. A discreet glance there. A conversation without words, the air around them almost vibrating. No, not a conversation. This was conversion. Luna could feel it between her legs, sense the blindfolds falling from their eyes, the repressed passions bubbling just under the surface, ready to guide them, to take control. An inescapable truth of the Galaxy was starting to take hold: the strong took what they desired, and deserved everything they took, because they were powerful enough to take it. That was it. A simple, elegant truth. Luna slowly pulled the zipper down. All eyes were on her now, shame long gone, replaced by a primal hunger. Yes, she could feel them… and it felt so good, their passion was like a million electrical pulses starting right in her pussy and coursing through her body. She moaned and let one of her hands wander inside her pants. They were at a tipping point. Her smile was the final push.

It was glorious, a symphony of grunts and they all lost control at once and tore off their clothes. The men were so big, towering over her, hungry expressions in their eyes. Finally. Strength. Something she could respect. Something she could… kneel for. Beside her, the other female rebel had gone on all fours, her head pressed on the cold, metal ground. Ready to be taken by those with the will to do so. And now the men had the will. Luna focused on worshiping their cocks, licking them and kissing them and using her new gigantic tits to jerk them off, letting the men use her as nothing more than a living sex doll. She moaned as a rebel thrust inside her fellow woman without mercy, without pity. She could feel it all, beyond physical sensations. She felt their lust and their frustrations and the anger they blew off using Luna’s mouth, her tits; using the other girl’s tight, eager holes. She was all of them. Fucking and getting fucked. Slave and master. She was attuned to the energies saturating the room, sending her deeper and deeper into a state of complete, savage pleasure. 

At some point someone pushed her on her back. She was too far gone to fully register who. All she knew was she was being conquered, and it felt so fucking good… Her ass burned as a man rammed inside her with not care as to how she might feel, with hatred for all the bitchy things she had done, with rage and a red retribution. A hand shifted her head. The other girl was positioning Luna’s mouth, so that it may be used by a worthy cock. The girl’s eyes looked… delighted. Evil. 

Luna shaked as cumshot after cumshot painted her skin, aiming for her face, her tits. It was suddenly so obvious. So simple. She knew it, and she sensed they all knew it now. She didn’t have to tell them. She managed to get on her feet, feeling their eyes on her. Strength was Right. Those who conquered deserved power. Power deserved more power. The Empire was powerful. The Rebellion was weak. Nature had to take its course. 

She put in the code enabling communications and typed the coordinates to her own base in. She set the message to be unencrypted, ready to be picked up. She set it to repeat, over and over.

She fell on the floor, an orgasm racking her body and whatever was left of the rebel she had been. The Empire would come. They would take. They would conquer. Because they were stronger. Because they deserved to rule over the silly rebels who deluded themselves by thinking they had a chance. Now the truth would come. 

They would all be fucked, as they should be. Maybe literally. Luna didn’t care. All she knew, and all everyone in the room knew was that the base would fall to its superiors. As nature intended. As for them… they would wait for their conquerors. They would wait on their knees. They would wait sucking and fucking and letting their passions run wild. 

The pendant hummed. It knew better than anyone the power of power, the allure of conquest. And now, after centuries underground, it had found a vehicle to spread the truth. It would make sure Luna was spared. It had great plans for the young woman, after all.

Did you enjoy this story? You can support my work at patreon.com/prettynosferatu

[lets-try-some-writing]

Guilty Pleasures

Every sentient being has a secret hobby or interest. Autonomous robotic organisms not excluded.

Megatron

The only one who knows about his little hobby is Soundwave, it's a good thing too, because Megatron would kill anyone else who uncovered his secret.

Despite his general distaste for humans, Megatron admires their creativity, more specifically their literature.

He may be a warrior first and foremost but he also has a love for any all all historical and poetic works.

He enjoys reading and having to decipher the hidden meanings behind the stories he collects.

It fascinates him to read about just how different and how similar Cybertronian societies are.

However he would never be caught dead reading a book written by a human. So he sends Soundwave to fetch him good books whenever there is nothing more important on the agenda.

He is greatly inspired by Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, J.R.R Tolkien, C.S Lewis, and Homer.

He has a whole secret closet in his berthroom filled with dataslates that contain the works of his favorite authors.

He will often read them before falling into recharge, and occasionally he will attempt a little writing of his own if he is feeling particularly inspired.

This has led him to create another secret stash in his berthroom filled with his own stories, ones that mostly illustrate his own life and views on how society should be structured.

(If Megatron's works make their way into the newly rebuilt Iacon hall of records in the future due to a certain Prime, then no bot comments on it)

Optimus

He has a rather unique little hobby, one that like Megatron, he would never be caught dead engaging in.

His particular hobby stems from his base coding as an Archivist.

Since the war did not really grant him much opportunity to work with and organize the data he desired, he ended up developing a tendency to note and catalogue the relationships of bots around him.

In short, Optimus is a shipper.

It was not a purposeful thing, but as time passed and tensions heightened Optimus just started listening in on conversations more frequently and paying extra attention to body language and how other bots interacted with one another.

He found it fascinating and so began to write it all down on a dataslate, and from there it just escalated as he began noting how certain bots reacted around others.

It really began after he started listing known relationships and all the information he had on them (In surprising and almost creepy detail)

Then he started theorizing and creating a whole separate catalogue dedicated to organizing gossip and discerning what was correct and incorrect so that he could get his relationship files properly updated.

In the end he created the most intricate and well informed database filled with information regarding every known relationship, platonic, familial, and romantic that he caught wind of.

But of course that still wasn't enough for his Archivist coding, he needed and still needs a constant flow of fresh data, and so he started playing a role in the relationships around him.

A well placed rumor here, a slight change of orders there, and Optimus's notes gain new additions from either the success or fallout of the event, satisfying his urges and helping his troops sort out their feelings much quicker than they would have otherwise.

To the complete and utter shock of everyone when they eventually find out; it is not Smokescreen, Bumblebee, Jazz, or any other source that has all the tea. No, it's all Optimus, and he knows everything and will gladly play matchmaker for his favorite OTP.

Soundwave

Cats. Soundwave. Loves. CATS.

He thinks they are the best to thing to happen since Primus himself came into being and nothing will change his mind.

His berthroom is covered in posters, pictures, and art of cats.

He has a whole pile of cat plushies that he stole and he adores it, especially when he is having a mental breakdown.

Soundwave also has a whole drive reserved solely for any all and all cat related content on the internet.

He is obsessed, he wants a cat badly, and he is not shy about his desire to adopt one.

However as he knows it would not be safe for a feline to stay on board the nemesis, Soundwave has turned to alternative methods to satisfy his desire to be around the fluffy organics.

Soundwave's solution is to not keep cats on board the nemesis permanently, but to bring them on for a limited time before ground bridging them away.

When he has the chance he collects a few street cats that he has taken a liking to and will keep them with him in his office, taking every measure to ensure their health and happiness.

The cats love him and he loves them, everybody goes home happy in the end.

However on the off chance that someone wanders into Soundwave's office while he is with his court of cats they are met with hisses and a terrifying blank stare from the spymaster.

Everyone on board the nemesis chalks it up to Soundwave being strange as usual and refuses to speak of what they see, lest the spymaster make them disappear.

Ratchet

Despite his gruff personality Ratchet has a rather wholesome secret hobby, that being baking.

He picked up baking from his mentor before the war, the older mech had been fond of the activity due to its simplicity.

Ratchet was skeptical, but out of respect for his mentor agreed to participate.

He ended up developing a fondness not for the energon goodies themselves, but for the process by which they were made and the smiles of those who consumed them.

During the war he made energon goodies and secretly put them in among the rations to increase moral among the troops

For a while a rumor spread about how there was a ghost meandering about leaving goodies for bots who did well or were going through some things.

No one suspected the 'I NEEDED THAT!' Ratchet to be the one leaving the treats. (except Optimus or course, such data would never escape his notice, not with his files constantly needing updating)

Ratchet also got into the habit of making small batches of goodies for Bumblebee every now and then when he was small, mainly to keep him quiet but also because he genuinely has a soft spot for him.

The habit continued even when Bee got older, surprising the scout on occasion when a little baggie of goodies appeared in his rations.

Once on earth Ratchet also ends up becoming interested in the human version of baking and since then has found no end of frustrations with the whole process.

Despite how much it aggravates him, when he has time he tries hard to figure out the intricacies of human baking so that the children won't feel left out out when the energon goodies are passed around (not that he will admit that is his true purpose)

Currently his baking capabilities with human food are abysmal largely due to inappropriately sized equipment and lack of organically attuned taste buds.

But the children appreciate the burned cupcakes he produces anyway, after all, its the thought that counts.

Knockout

In his own words, he is not only an Automobile but an Automobile enthusiast.

He goes street racing when he can but for a mech as interested in cars as he is, only being able to street race is not nearly enough.

And so Knockout collects things, more specifically model cars.

If he likes them as they are, he will liberate (steal) them from human stores and display them on a little shelf he has in his berthroom.

He even has some mood lighting around the shelf to really draw attention to his collection.

His favorite models also have their own little pedestals which spin and light up.

He is particularly proud of himself for setting it all up correctly.

But, oh boy, if any bot on the nemesis so much as looks at his collection funny he will end them.

Those are his models. No touching.

Usually the models he collects are well painted and well within acceptable standards but sometimes he just doesn't like the colorations of his models.

On such occasions he will spend hours, painstakingly using tiny tools to change the coloration of his collectable. Carefully using small brushes and glasses in order to make everything just right.

He always takes great care to not damage the fragile human product. Sometimes going so far as to watch online video's on model painting just so that he doesn't mess up.

Occasionally though, the mass produced models simply don't cut it for Knockout, and so he goes hunting for rare and custom made collectables.

He even set up an account online and liberated (stole) some cash to use to buy particular models from around the globe.

If a human were to see his collection they would be flabbergasted as he has one of the most pristine and extensive model collections known to man.

Bumblebee

Bumblebee never really had a hobby on Cybertron, he was far too busy training for and fighting in a war to really get involved in anything else.

However upon coming to earth and getting roped into earth culture his status as a mech without an interest changed quickly.

Bumblebee swiftly got swept up in the melting pot that is the internet, and there he learned a great many things he wishes he could forget.

But it was also on the internet that he was introduced to video gaming.

He spent countless hours watching gameplays, livestreams, and walkthrough video's, yearning more and more with every video to be able to play as well.

Thankfully his wish was granted when Raf rolled round and helped him get his own gaming system set up, with controllers of the appropriate size of course.

What no one expected however was for Bumblebee to become and absolute boss in nearly every game he played.

Online matches are filled with anger towards Bumblebee's character, but being a veteran of the internet by the time he starts playing, he is unconcerned by the human profanity thrown at him as he leaves his competitors in the dust.

Bumblebee has even made it into the world of E-sports, operating under an alias when online and using a holoform when he is required to turn up for tournaments.

Agent Fowler had a fit when he found out, but since no one suspects Bumblebee's alias of anything other than hacking he left it be.

Little does anyone know that Bumblebee has no fragging clue as to what he is doing.

More often than not it is dumb luck, a lot of ignorance, a healthy dose of stupidity, and his spectacular servo to optic coordination that pull him through.

Everyone around base praises him for his skill when they watch him play, and Bumblebee thoroughly enjoying the praise, refuses to say anything regarding the truth of his gaming career.

#transformers prime #transformers #optimus prime #tfp #bumblebee #ratchet #fluff #megatron #soundwave #knockout #Transformers shenanigans #secret hobbies #i believe optimus is a shipper and no one can stop me

[definitelynotalpharius]

AYO, Gee-Dubs.

What the actual fuck is this?

We've been the lowest performing space marines this entire edition, which has been out for almost an entire year...

I would be mad if we got nerfed wholesale or something, but getting a faux buff somehow feels more disappointing. Why is it so difficult to just cut the sanguinary guard by like 10-20 points and give Mephiston the option to lead Bladeguard? Thank the Golden Throne they at least didn't fuck up the Sororitas...

#warhammer 40k #warhammer #warhammer 40000 #40k #imperium #wh 40k #space marines #40kart #adeptus astartes #blood angels sucessor #blood angels #balance dataslate

[weretoad-writer]

Salt In The Wound

In which Heinrix attempts to address a problem and makes everything worse.

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

The officers’ wing of the med bay was quiet. Mago sat in a small, private berth, head nodding over a dataslate. In the bed beside him, hooked up to an array of monitors and tubes, was the kid they’d found on the prison planet. The rise and fall of his chest was shallow and slow, but steady.

Mago scrubbed a hand across his face and tried for the dozenth time to decipher the paragraph of text in front of him. Reading was less of a struggle now that he’d managed to pair his aural implant with the dataslate, but the bland, even tones of the artificial voice did nothing to discourage sleep. 

The dull echo of approaching footsteps tugged briefly at his awareness, but he dismissed it. Orderlies came and went in the officers’ wing with a frequency and attention that was utterly alien to him. Had he been less exhausted, he might have recognized the clipped, military cadence of the step – no orderly moved like that – but it blurred together with the other unfamiliar sounds of the infirmary, and he did not register the threat until it stood looming over the threshold.  

A flash of imperial scarlet, the glint of a rosette, and for a moment Mago’s mind turned to static. He lurched to his feet, knocking over the chair and nearly dropping the dataslate before the rational part of his brain caught up. 

Interrogator Van Calox stood in the doorway, his expression impassive as the Rogue Trader straightened up with all the stilted grace of a cat trying to pretend that it hadn’t just fallen off the table. 

Prying his hand off the grip of his revolver, Mago flashed a grin, more snarl than smile, all sharp edges and bravado.

“Something I can help you with, Van Calox?” he asked, keeping his voice low. “If you're here to see the doc about that stick up your ass, the surgery is that way.”

The interrogator ignored the barb. With a pointed glance towards the bed where, by  some miracle, the boy was still asleep, he stepped back from the door, beckoning with a tilt of his head. May I have a word?

He didn’t wait for an answer, but Mago was in no position to argue: the moment the doorway was clear, he felt as though a vice had unclamped from around his chest. He did not allow himself any outward signs of relief while he was in the interrogator’s line of sight. A single controlled breath, in and out. Then he followed him outside. 

They moved a short distance down the hallway where they could speak without fear of being overheard. Mago noticed that the interrogator didn’t bother to check the other nearby berths. Which meant he’d checked before he arrived. 

Which meant he’d made sure they were alone. 

Alarm prickled across Mago’s skin. He couldn’t quite suppress the flinch as the interrogator stopped and turned to him. 

“How is he?” Beneath the careful decorum there was a glint of the same genuine concern he’d shown earlier that day on Rykad Philia. It caught Mago off guard –  the sudden uncertainty of who was speaking from one moment to the next, the person or the rank. It was so much fucking simpler when people were shooting at them. 

“Docs gave him something to knock him out, but they say he’ll mend.” He hesitated, then added grudgingly. “He has you to thank for that.” 

“You give me too much credit,” the interrogator demured. “I merely stabilized him.”

Mago snorted. “A whole bay of chirurgeons aren’t worth shit if the patient shows up dead.”

There was an awkward pause. Maybe it was alright. Maybe he really did just want to check in on the kid. Maybe – 

“You have taken quite a…. personal interest in the young Winterscale,” the interrogator ventured.

Mago released an exasperated sigh. “Spare me the veiled accusations, Van Calox. If you have a question, spit it out.”

“It was merely an observation, nothing more. Though I must confess to having wondered at the reason behind it.”

“Is that personal or professional curiosity?”

The question seemed to surprise the interrogator, and he paused, head tilted at a slight angle, considering. “I’m not sure there’s a difference.”

Mago hesitated a moment longer, than shrugged. “He’s alone,” he said with practiced carelessness. “Figured someone should be there when he wakes up, that’s all.”

Something like interest sparked in the interrogator’s gaze and Mago felt his hackles raise. 

“Do you speak from experience?” 

That was too damn close to the truth and Mago favored him with a long, hard stare. When he spoke his voice was tight and clipped. “Something like that. But you didn’t come all the way down here to make small talk.”

The interrogator blinked, then inclined his head. “Very well. Since you ask, I will be direct. It has not escaped my notice that my presence is a source of…. discomfort for you.”

‘Discomfort’. The understatement might have been funny if his heart wasn’t beating so damn fast. Mago forced a laugh. 

“That rosette isn’t exactly known for putting people at ease.”

“True. Agents of the Inquisition are rarely welcome guests.” The interrogator hesitated, choosing his words with care. “But your reaction is…. heightened.”

“Heightened?” He repeated, still stubbornly trying to play it off.

Again the interrogator hesitated, brows raised ever so slightly as though questioning whether Mago was really going to make him spell it out. Then, with an almost imperceptible shrug, he continued.

“You are…. confrontational, to include reaching for your weapon any time I approach you alone. If I am between you and an exit, you immediately reposition yourself. Other behaviors consistent with hyperarousal: accelerated heart rate; excessive startle response; hyperventilation –  your breath control is quite remarkable, but still noticeable when one knows what to look for…..Should I continue?”

The verbal vivisection was brief but methodical, pinning his vulnerabilities one by one as though he were an insect under glass. Echoes of pain shot through his fingers and flared behind his implant. The tremors started in his hands and he balled them into fists, his face burning. 

“And how should I behave, Interrogator?” Mago fired back. He took a step towards him, a taunting edge creeping into his voice. “Should I get on my knees?”

“I – What?” The interrogator broke off, staring at him in consternation. 

Without breaking eye-contact, Mago stepped into his space, leaning uncomfortably close. “Would you like that?”

For the briefest instant, the interrogator seemed to freeze. Then he tore his gaze away.  “Throne damn you, be serious!” He glared at Mago, a faint flush creeping up from his collar. 

“My point,” he pressed on, trying furiously to regain his composure. “Is that you exhibit a highly unusual degree of hostility and alarm for someone of your status.”

“And?” Anger felt like a stim injection. “Are your accusations going somewhere? Or did you really come all the way down here just to call me a prick and a coward?” 

“That’s not –” Again the mask seemed to falter, frustration creeping in. “I am not accusing you, I am simply making–.”

“An observation. I’m not your fucking data slate, Van Calox. What do you want?”

The interrogator stared at him, and for a moment it seemed as though his temper would get the better of him again. But the moment passed and with a short, deliberate breath his features settled back into the familiar officious mask. 

“On Rykad Philia,” he continued, coldly deliberate now, “When the young Winterscale asked if you had ever ever suffered a similar injury – having one’s eye burned out, to be specific, you replied that – I believe the exact words were, ‘the Inquisition isn’t that creative’.”

“Heard that, did you?” Mago bit the words out, struggling to keep his breathing even. 

“It’s my job.”

That place had been a death trap. His thoughts had been racing in a dozen different directions, retracing the map in his head as they moved, anticipating ambush sites, choke points, fallback points, which sections were mined and which were clear; he’d been trying to keep the boy conscious, keep him talking, he’d said the first thing that came into his head. Stupid. Stupid mistake.

“I suppose there’s no point in lying.” The words came out slow and over-controlled. It barely sounded like his own voice. “You wouldn’t be asking if you didn’t already know the answer.”

The interrogator eyes narrowed for a moment, as though trying to parse this sudden concession. Then he nodded. “The record of your arrest in the official operation report was sparse, but…. illuminating. With one particularly striking error. According to the report, Mago Vanth is dead.”

The words dropped like a stone into the silence between them. 

Mago went very still. His vision narrowed and for a moment everything was drowned out by the sounds of his own ragged breathing and the blood rushing in his ears. Slowly, deliberately, he unclenched his fists. He’d never been the fastest draw, though speed scarcely mattered when his opponent could stop his heart with a thought. 

His mouth twisted bitterly.  “And you plan on ‘correcting’ that error, is that it?”

“No. That’s not –” The interrogator’s brow furrowed suddenly and for the second time that night he was rendered briefly speechless as the full implications of Mago’s words struck him. “No. Saints’ blood – That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you!”

He paused to collect himself.  “I’m not interested in your past, Mago. I am here to help you in the fight against foes you may not even be aware of. Whatever you may think of me, I am not your enemy. The Inquisition has more pressing concerns than the fate of an informant from – ”

Mago flinched at the word ‘informant’ and the interrogator stopped. For a moment he seemed about to say something more, but Mago cut him off. “Are we done?” He felt brittle and sharp. A broken window. Reach inside me again and I’ll cut you to pieces. 

There was a flicker of something that might almost have been disappointment on the interrogator’s face; then he nodded. “I have taken up enough of your time. I’ll leave you to your duties.”

Mago stared at his retreating back. But the fear didn’t stop. There was no relief. Just miserable, helpless rage boiling over into bad impulses and worse decisions. 

He knew he should let it go. A moment ago he’d wanted nothing more than for this to be over. He’d wanted him gone and now he was going.  All he had to do was keep his mouth shut. 

“Hang on,” he heard his own voice call out, “Fair’s fair. If you’re going to dredge up my past, at least let me return the favor.”

The interrogator slowed, but didn’t stop. “I’m afraid I will have to decline the offer.” The coldly courteous tone left no room for argument. 

“How’d you lose your eye?” It had been a guess, but the sharpness with which the interrogator turned to face him was all the confirmation he needed. 

“You will tell me precisely where you heard such a thing.” He did not raise his voice; he did not need to, the implied threat was there like a blade resting against bare skin, and for the first time in their conversation, Mago saw not annoyance or frustration, but anger in his face. 

“Or what?” The words came out in a wounded animal snarl, terrified, but too angry to stop. 

He felt he blood drain from his face as the interrogator took a deliberate step towards him, and for all his bravado his nerve failed him. His whole body flinched instinctively, shrinking back.

The interrogator seemed to hesitate then, but it was too late. 

A hysterical laugh burst from Mago. “There you are,” he choked the words out, his voice raw and unsteady, “I knew you were full of shit. All those pretty words, but you’re really only good for one thing, aren’t you? When you’re a hammer, every problem looks like a nail, right? So either take a swing or get the fuck away from me!”

The interrogator regarded him icily for a long moment, then without another word, he turned and left. 

Gradually the sounds of his footsteps faded, and the officer’s wing was quiet once more. A sharp, sudden chill made Mago shiver and he realized that his shirt was soaked through with sweat. A laugh bubbled up in his throat and he choked it back. 

Moving half in a daze, he returned to the small room where the kid was still asleep. He carefully righted the fallen chair and sank down onto it. He lowered his head into his hands and began to shake uncontrollably. He didn’t try to fight it this time; he curled forward over his knees and let the panic wash over him in waves.

The interrogator had been wrong about one thing. It hadn’t been an error. Mago Vanth was dead. He’d bled out in a corpse pit after betraying everything that had ever mattered to him. The thing that had picked itself up and crawled away might have worn his face and used his name, but there was no coming back from that. Some things were too broken to mend.

#*crawls out of hole after 87 years with a fic for yet another fandom that no one asked for* #is this anything? XD #exorcising some Rogue Trader brainworms

[kit-williams]

Missing them

Male Lead(s): Sor Delyn, Kazi Delax, & Moremo Klaek Female Lead: Dove Universe/Au: Warhammer 40k/Yandere Space Marines Canon Status: Yup it's canon

Dove wakes up in the Roost or Nest alone. No Kazi pressing soft kisses to the underside of her chin to wake her up. Not even Moremo comes to kiss her temple and pull her into his arms to carry her to the breakfast table to discuss the day. Or the rare days that Sor wakes her up... the smell of a fresh pot of recaf lingering on him as he kisses her temple and whispers to her such sweet things away from his brothers... how he tells her such bits and pieces of his love for her that Kazi and Moremo are more eager to give to her.

What Sor tells her lives in that moment between wakefulness and unconsciousness... only living as half memories but she can't help but smile and let her eyelids flutter open looking up at the black eyed man. But they were gone on a long trip to another hive with a large portion of the... I guess rebellion?

She sighs hugging her knees as she had to come to terms with the little peaceful protest turn into... a rebellion. She figures it was always going to turn out this way... she wanted to ignore the attempts on her life. But she couldn't and she was now a rally point for those who didn't want to become a casualty for what was coming.

Dove gets dressed missing the flattering comments and wandering hands just hindering her getting dressed as much as he claimed he was helping her dress. Moremo's polite comments about how she looked helping her pick outfits that were modest and inspiring. Sor hardly helped in this as him usually waking Dove up meant a lazy day for the two of them as Kazi and Moremo were busy and he took his time to enjoy it. She would be in his shirt sitting with him eating breakfast watching something numbing.

She looks over her dataslate as the recaf isn't as good as Sor makes it... even if it's the same stuff they make every morning but it's just special when he makes it. How Kazi will add something sweet to his and to hers... Moremo will always make something that goes well with it. She would joke that Sor makes his with love... Dove just sighs having to put on a brave and happy face as she goes to talk with the underground Voxcasters. How they found someone connect to the largest pirate voxcaster on the planet was beyond her.

Oh how it started out professional but once they were off the air she was asked. "So what's Astarte dick like?"

Dove felt mortified when she blurted out "Which one?" and seeing their eyes widen before grinning. These were the kind of statements she was suppose to avoid but the rest of the day blurs... and blurs. Its a sea of people and faces but none of them being the three she wanted to see. Pale skin... black eyes... and varying lengths of black hair; perhaps one with a bit of grey in it. How no face was theirs... and once again she delayed going to bed because there was no Kazi just dragging her to bed saying they were going to watch a pictshow or whatever weird phrase he would say to disarm her. There was no Moremo coming over to her with his hands on his hips and looking down at her like a disappointed parent; no amount of bargaining would let her stay up later. There was no Sor to pick her up as she started to doze off... no chuckle from him as he did so.

She lays there in the overly large bed alone... no Kazi on her left... no Moremo on her right... no one last glance from Sor as he watched over them from afar... always promising her to sleep in bed with her later as she would ask him too. She was always too tired to call him a liar... because she hoped he would.

The three of them return to the roost after several months away. Moremo would talk to the others about their new swell of strength later... Kazi would greet the lads and lasses that he had personally asked to keep Dove safe... tomorrow. Sor felt the itching need to return to his pattern but first he had to check. The tight shoulders they had relax as they hear their Dove's soft snores. Kazi took the bottom of the bed for now... Sor took her left and Moremo took her right. They were finally home and dove felt like she could smell them in her dreams... they were good dreams that night and would be true dreams in the morning.

taglist @bispecsual @the-californicationist @egrets-not-regrets @libraryshadow @bleedingichorhearts @liar-anubiass-blog

#warhammer 40k #fluffuary #fluffuary2024 #Yandere #Yandere Space Marines #Space Marines #Yandere Raven Guards #Raven Guard

[averyhh]

Between Claws

CW nsfw, consensual torture, asphyxiation, drug use, non-negotiated everything

Written on a whim, it’s a mess. The idea came from a discord discussion and I’ve come up with many thoughts afterwards.

Using his primarch admin access, Konrad locks Sevatar inside his own armor.

Sevatar’s power armor has stopped responding to any of his commands. He’s grounded and isolated in his own armor, surrounded by the darkness of his sleeping quarters and the echoing beat of his own hearts.

He could have failed the primarch in some way to earn the sanction, but he has no idea what exactly did he do. Sometimes father just feels like it. The Night Haunter rarely explains himself, especially for such a trivial matter as Sevatar’s chastisement.

Unable to remove any armor, his red gauntlets are within view whenever he moves and looks around. They are a striking reminder of what happened that gave his primarch enough reason to disregard him altogether, if not ending him then and there. After all, he deserves all there is to know about punishment.

He never truly took in the power primarchs had over their Astartes until these nights, locked out of everything except his own mind. He can’t even unseal his helm in the relative safety and absolute privacy of his sleeping quarters on the Nightfall. His door remains unlocked, but he’s forbidden from touching it. No one would be there to fetch him either. His brothers have been told that First Captain Sevatar is reflecting on his wrongs. He hasn’t had any skin-to-skin contact for weeks, including with himself. He’s cut off from the legion’s vox network, blind to the fleet status, unreachable except when his master opens their private link.

Physically he’s had much worse, but this is new. He can’t tell if the Night Haunter is playful or simply angry.

He will wake up to a needle in the back of his neck when Konrad deems he’s slept long enough. He lacks energy intake. His interface ports are sore. His bones hurt from the withdrawal of ceramite powder and other chemicals in standard rations of solid food. Can’t even talk to the walls because his speakers are turned off. The armor keeps track of everything his body does with and without his permission.

There’s an itch inside his guts once he thought about how his vitals and the hormone levels in his blood are on display for the primarch.

The awareness of it makes him tense and his secondary heart slowly comes to life, but it’s not an unwanted feeling at all. The primarch watches over everything, his brilliantly dark mind counting Sevatar’s heartbeats as he works on the tedious business of everyone else with little interest. He reads Sevatar’s body like it were a book, or his worn-out cartomancy deck, flipping through it with a practiced, majestic hand. The thought made the tiny graphs in the corner of Sevatar’s retina display pulse and dance in little spiky waves.

He’s denied an explanation but asks for none. The knowledge of how much longer the punishment lasts never mattered. He supposes his father is having fun tweaking the armor system at the other end of the ship.

The Night Haunter has tried everything Sevatar can imagine, and invented so much more he’s able to do to him through the control terminals and dataslates in his habitual seclusion.

Sevatar usually considers asphyxiation a dull experience, but when his primarch inflicts it upon him it’s the closest thing to an orgasm that he’s allowed to feel during his chastisement. With the air circulation system shut down and protective protocols against intrusive xeno atmosphere activated, his air flow is cut off completely.

The first few minutes passes easily. He holds his breath and sits them through. But minutes in is where it feels the worst, with all his senses desperately trying to locate the threat of what’s suffocating him, finding nothing except the merciless coverage of his power armor and the familiar surroundings of his room. Later, he’s clawing and thrashing at himself and the floor, realizing how much he craves the Night Haunter’s marble claws around his throat instead of this sealed little chamber of void. The primarch only lets him go when it begins to risk triggering his Sus-an membrane. Before that, he monitors Sevatar’s vitals, listening to those desperate gasps and heaves into the thinning air, lifting his robes to touch himself under his obsidian desk. Sometimes he groans loud enough for the vox to pick up the sound and transmit to Sevatar’s end.

The combat drugs injections were fun as well. The aftermath leaves Sevatar shivering in a mess of his own sweat while he’s pinned to the floor, immobile in the grip of powered ceramite screwed into his own bones, bodyglove drenched and clung to his rash hot skin. His cock swells and hardens against armor, aching for the slightest touch. He lets out a noise and bites into his lip. His hearts are pounding and he can feel the stimulant-induced urge to move and fight getting tapped in his own veins. After long tormenting hours, he collapses onto himself. The vox in his helm buzzes and brings a low laugh directly into his ears.

A spontaneous release of dopamine sweeps through him. It’s natural to feel proud, he assures himself, since the primarch is accordingly entertained.

That’s all. Good for Konrad. Cats love meat in a can.

#konrad curze #sevatar #jago sevatarion #warhammer 40000 #horus heresy #warhammer fanfic #tw asphyxiation #dad and sevatar #my fic