I tried to restart an Emperor's Nightmares thread the other day with no success. glad to see someone else is still excited.

I'd really like to continue working on fluff and get some discussion going again.

Here's a few new questions to start things off:

-What kind of a fleet does the chapter have? What are the ships named?
I was thinking something with a Rip Van Winkle reference.

-The Doom Warriors also have a malfunctioning node that prevents them from sleeping, though they seem to react to it in a different way. Is there any relationship between the two? Do they even know of each other?

-What of other major events that have occurred to the chapter?
I had come up with an idea of a particularly ignorant Cardinal slandering the Nightmares with the sin of Sloth, which considering how important nonstop work and labor is in the imperial creed, this is a rather heinous crime.

>>14477512
>Doom Warriors

Those are the fuck-ups that used a Virus Bomb on a planet that ended up converting the entire place to Nurgle right? I don't think the Nightmares would be too fond of them...

http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Emperor%27s_Nightmare
Here's the 1d4chan article for those who don't know of the Glorious chapter

(my personal favourite now)

Me and a few others are still trying to get the fandex going, but we've all been busy. We'll keep you posted, and all ideas are welcome.

Mikhail was a Vostroyan, and it showed. He was cool even in the heat of battle- so when he joined the Astartes aboard their section of the ship, no one was surprised. They didn't say anything, nor did he. He would clamber atop a massive pauldron and sit and look out the window with them. The hours passed. The Marines were silent for the entirety of the voyage thus far, but the Guardsmen were happy to be alive under any circumstance. Another chance to live, to go home, to further the cause of the Imperium that much more. When Brother Tychus picked up Mikhail, all the others held their breath.

"Why are you here?"
"You are peaceful, comrade. I wish to be peaceful as well."
"We are not at peace, young one."
"Then why are you quiet?"
"We count the stars."
"Then I shall count them with you."

There was a long silence, and then Tychus placed the young man back upon his shoulder. The hours sunk slowly into the night, and the Vostroyan was soon curled up asleep. The Marine left him there and felt some pang of gladness that the boy could sleep. Tonight, the Sleepless would descend and defend those could do the one thing that he could not. There was honor in that.

And honor is all that dead men have.

>>14477630
I'll just post some writefaggotry to inspire people

>>14477512
I'm not sure about the names but let's not make them too sue-ish. Give them two Battle Barge and a couple of Strike Cruisers and Frigates. It's not like we want to shove in 'GREATEST EVAR' in people's faces.

Same with the Flesh Helms. After they were completely rolled and organized, they were never spoken of again. I don't think they even got a 1d4 entry.

"Sergeant Cooper, is that boulder closer to our fortifications than it was when I went into my tent?"

"No captain, it remains just in front of the treeline"

The two men turn away from the bleak landscape to discuss logistics for a moment, "No, no I'm sure it's closer. Look now! Were not those bushes in front of it not a moment ago?"

"Which bushes captain?"

"The... oh forget it. The war's getting to my head that's all. I'm getting paranoid in my old age."

They turn towards the meagre camp again.

"Oi! Harker! Get up off your lazy ass and fetch us some caffeine!" The traitor captain turns back to face his sergeant. "You want caffeine serg--KHORNE'S BRASS BALLS LOOK OU...!"

But it was already too late. The modified dreadnought had vaulted the makeshift fortifications in a single disturbingly agile leap and the officer's last words were cut off mid sentence by the muffling void of the stummer field.

>>14477661
Flesh Helms lasted 3 threads, all of which were done to actually make the damn Chapter. The Nightmares had it's crunch down in a single thread and had five more devoted solely to tabletop conversion and fluff. Nightmares made some impression.

>>14477661
perhaps because they're called the "Flesh Helms"

>>14477674
That's what he said.

>>14477679
Eh, that was the point though. To make the worst Marines in the history of the Imperium. They were Marines hunting Squats while being reduced to a single Battle Barge that was breaking down because of a Warp accident with the Mechanicus hating their idiot guts with something like 7 different defects and mutations.

>>14477679
That was part of the joke. It was an attempt to select the worst possible rolls someone could get and manufacture the worst chapter in the history of the Imperium.

>>14477604
This one is by you, and it's a long one.

They were rioting again.

The underhive scum had always been aggressive, such you would expect in any Hive World within the Imperium's staggering reach. Orphans and gangers, not content with the place the Emperor had given them, rose up like a howling wave of malcontents and nihilists against the society which kept them pinned at the bottom physically and socially. Usually the local Adeptus Arbites was content to let them ruin themselves in the Underhive, or let a PDF-led crackdown disperse the crowds. But when these riots threatened to spill over into the Middle Hive, where they threatened to slow down productivity and threaten the planet's Tithe, that is when the Arbitrators stepped in.

"YOU DID THIS TO U-" The ganger's jaw gave way as Arbitrator Kendell's shock maul cracked into it, sending the rioter to the ground with a wail. Stepping over his squirming form, Kendell stepped back towards his fellows. The Arbites crackdown had been merciless, a carpet of comatose and worse scum flowed from their checkpoint. Still more came, growling obscenities and brandishing various weapons. The ruby beam of a las bolt spat out from the crowd, burning a small hole in the supression shield of the man to Kendall's left before the offending underhiver's head burst. Evidently the snipers were doing the job well.

>>14477732
With screams the rioters hit the shield line, trying desperately to overwhelm the Arbitrators through sheer force of numbers. Kendall grunted as he strained to hold back a hairless brute brandishing an iron bar, trying not to inhale their stench too deeply. The line buckled...and buckled...And stopped. There was a silence for a few seconds, and then the Arbitrators pushed forward, Shock mauls lashing out. So the screams began anew.

Even amidst the violence, Kendall heard gasps from behind the checkpoint, and during a lull in the fight, when the bloodied rioters withdrew to gather their wits, he glanced back. What he saw took his breath away. A veritable giant, clad in the distinctive purple and gold of the Hive's royalty. His skull-faced mask swept over the battle, his massive armored arms folded across his chest.

"-aplain Vard of the Emperor's Nightmare. I hope you understand our trials are due to begin within hours, and if the Arbites cannot quell this unrest soon, we shall be forced to take action...personally." That sent a chill down Kendall's spine as he returned his full attention to the battle. The vaunted Angels who watched over this world would be an impressive sight to be sure...One he wasn't sure he ever wanted to see.

"Change of plan, men." The Proctor's voice hissed through his helmet's micro bead. "We're going into the Underhive, anyone who resists gets put down. Let's get to it."

So far we have the HQ more or less done, with the exception of the Librarian psychic powers. Special Characters include a Primus and Secundus captain, a Chief Apothecary who had an obsession with the Sleepless, and a vote for an August Dreamwalker in Iron Special Character.

Troops and such will be similar to C:SM, we're still debating whether to put the Death Company analogue Sleepless into Troops or Elites.

Fast attack will be more or less the same. The Icelus Dreadnought will take pride of place here. NO STORMRAVENS.

Heavy Support will feature no devestators, so we'll probably try to arrange something else.

>>14477743
"Stay in contact, we don't want them sneaking past us."

Even before arriving on Icelus Kendall was acutely aware of the dank, decaying features of the Imperium's underhives, but these barren cesspits of anarchy and violence never ceased to depress him. The Arbitrators had been forced to split up, the twisting passages of the labyrinthine structure mocking any attempt at order. Fighting the rioting underhivers in a defensible checkpoint was all very well, but this was their home. Kendall and the four Arbitrators accompanying him had been ambushed six times already, gangers and mutants striking out of murderholes and setting up crude killing fields with rusty las weaponry held together with tape and hope. Each attempt had been foiled, each attacker brained by shock mauls until they stopped breathing. This was a hellish way to fight, but the order had been given...And Kendall prided himself on following orders.

"Here we go again." One of his accomplices stated, edging forward along the corridor. The passage opened up into a truly cavernous room, lit only by a single stuttering floodlight centred upon an impromptu stage upon which a tall, lanky man was pacing, clutching a rusty flamer. In the darkness it took Kendall a few moments to realize the other occupants of the room should scare him a lot more. A vast crowd of degenerates, mutants and other assorted scum, crammed into the room like the angry mob of daemons. Kendall had never been very good at judging, but it looked as though there were hundreds of them.

>>14477756
"-ping you down, making your lives a living hell, simply because you do not subscribe to their vision of the perfect man!" The man on the stage was well-spoken, with a genuine fire in his voice. The mob was hanging onto his every word, a rapt silence accompanying his impassioned oratory. The man himself didn't look much like an Underhiver, his clothing far too fine for a life in the hellish depths of Icelus' cities. Upon his long jacket he wore a strange insignia, that of a three-headed serpent, most likely the badge of his personal gang. At that moment he stopped dead, gripping his weapon and backing away a little. It took Kendall a few seconds to realise the preacher was looking straight at him.

"THERE! THE LACKEYS OF YOUR OPRESSORS HAVE COME TO PUT YOU DOWN! KILL THEM ALL!" He screamed, and Kendall felt dread trickling through him as, as one, the crowd turned to face them.

"...RUN!"

"What!? How many!?!" Kendall's lungs were on fire as him and his fellows ran for their lives, leaping and dodging through the passageways which only hours prior they had been carefully picking through. Behind him, the horde of Underhivers were keeping pace with terrifying ease. Their screams, bellows of rage and mocking jeers echoed through the corridors, making it hard even to think.

"I-it looked like hundreds, sir!" The Arbitrator wheezed, urging his strained body forward once more. Already two of his group had fallen, their bodies unable to carry them further. Kendall didn't even want to think about their fate.

>>14477777
"The task force is already dispersed throughout the hive, you'll just have t-" There was a rush of breath and the sound of movement in his micro-bead, then an entirely new voice filled his helmet.

"Arbitrator Kendall, this is Sergeant Kharus of the Emperor's Nightmares. You have one way of surviving this, and that is to do exactly what I say. Do you understand?" Even in these dire straights, the thought of being adressed by a Space Marine sent a thrill down Kendall's spine.

"Y-yes, My Lord." He breathed, bolting up a flight of stairs with a sharp pant. He had dropped his supression shield a while back, the thing was far too cumbersome for a chase like this.

"You will soon reach a fork in the path, the way you came in. To the right lies your checkpoint. You have to take the left passage." This made Kendall gasp, and he could tell the other Arbitrators were similarly shocked.

"B-back into the hive!? But we can't get out th-"

"I just told you that your only way to survive this was to follow my instructions. If what you're saying is correct and you take the right path and unleash many enemies into the Middle Hive, I'll kill you myself. Now take the left!" Just as Kharus had said, the fork was just ahead. To the left, the light of the Middle Hive blossomed out, promising hope and comfort.

"...Very well, My Lord." Taking a resigned breath, Kendall and his arbitrators took the left corridor, once again plunging into the darkness of the Underhive.

"The Emperor Protects, Arbitrator. Have some faith."

>>14477792

I move away from the mic to cut across my own story.

In addition, scouts can be upgraded to Battlegroup Secundus operatives for a fair amount of points.

>>14477792
The tunnels leading down to what used to be the main blocks of the Underhive were even more poorly maintained than what Kendall had already witnessed, what used to be finely wrought pillars and statues depicting Imperial saints strewn amongst the sordid rubble littering this forsaken place. Kendall's vision was going grey, his body screaming against this hellish race towards certain doom. Behind him the horde of degenerates and outcasts had fallen behind ever so slightly, doubtless some of the more lucid individuals choosing to ascend into the Middle Hvie to their deaths. The great majority, spurred onwards by dark passion and blood thirst, had pursued the Arbitrators back into the Underhive. When they had taken the left turn a hungry cheer had gone up amongst the Underhive Scum, who no-doubt thought they had taken the wrong turn in their panic.

"Keep going, you have nearly reached your salvation." The calm voice of Sergeant Kharus intoned over the Micro-bead. Admittedly Kendall was finding it hard to believe this, as he and his men, who were growing more beaten by the second, plunged back into their enemy's home.

"M-my Lord, we can't go on much longer! Our bodies-"

"If your bodies are failing then shield them with your faith. What you are doing now is of the utmost importance, failure now will mean far more than simply the loss of your lifes.Now press on!" Chastened, Kendell focussed his entire being into the torturous sprint forther into the hive. He couldn't feel a thing, he couldn't think straight, and as he burst into a large enclosure similar to the one he had found these accursed traitors in, he could have sworn his exhaustion had claimed his hearing too.

>>14477805
"..." Staggering down a large, delapidated flight of stairs, Kendall made to run further but a raised step he didn't see collided against his boot. Knocked sprawling into the middle of the room, Kendall despaired. Forcing himself up, he unclipped his shock maul from his belt and turned. The mob had yet to break into the enclosure yet, but one thing he knew was that he could go no further.

"On me, men. We'll die here like true servants of the Emperor." He commanded...Or, that is what he meant to say, but no words came out whatsoever. In fact, an eerie silence saturated the entire room, causing even Kendall's exhausted mind to pick up a little.

"..." The rabble had entered the enclosure, and Kendall prepared to sell his life as dearly as possible. By his side the two remaining Arbitrators formed up beside him, shock mauls crackling mutely to life. The mob vomited forth silently, each one glaring at the three Arbitrators with a terrifying bloodgreed which almost caused Kendall to take a step back. Almost. Descending the stairs, they paused for a moment at the sight of the moving statues....Moving statues?

>>14477825
"-MORSE, NO RETREAT!" In an instant the room was alive with movemnt. Kendall's jaw dropped as, seemingly from nowhere, dark-armoured giants rose and strode forth, their rifles roaring as they spat explosive death into the rebels.

"Excellently done, Arbitrators. Now, are you ready to visit your revenge upon these degenerates?" This time Kharus' voice came not from the micro-bead, but to Kendall's right. The space marine wore power armour of the darkest purple, just like the others, and in his hands a gleaming Power Sword and a large pistol were grasped. Recovering his wits, Kendall nodded sternly to the giant who stood beside him.

"I am ready when you are, My Lord." This caused Kharus to grin and nod, turning his attention to the horde of maniacs before them. Breaking into a run, the Arbitrators by his side, the Sergeant roared a great wordless cry of defiance. Taking up this cry, his shock maul clasped in two hands, Kendall went to meet his tormentors.

"FOR THE EMPEROR AND FOR ICELUS!"

>>14477836
that was a longer story than I thought it would be.

>>14477853

Cool story bro.

I also have a request, for artists willing to give their time and talents for Emperor's Nightmare fandex art. Anything is welcome.

>>14477853
Nightmare stories tended to be pretty long.

Anyway, I don't really know what to add to the fluff. I mean, we've got the Chapter mostly done and did some decent work with Icelus.

>>14477748
Don't they use a form of Heavy Support dreadnought with Devastator markings?

what else is there for fast attack and heavy support?

and lastly, how will you represent Marines that fall asleep on the battlefield?

>>14477894

We can do history, and people, and descriptions of Icelus. That story of mine which was so kindly displayed had some potential hints towards an Alpha Legion plan, perhaps someone with a Chaos bent can bring things up for us to savour.

The Dreamlands: The layer between the Materium and the Warp. The landscape changes and shifts constantly. One moment it's a sandy, sunny beach with clear skies and gentle waves crashing against the shore, then in the next it becomes a dark, hazy swamp filled with man-eating flora, then a city, then a countryside, and countless more locations. Various daemons lurk here, taking thousands of different shapes to confound a dreamer and lure them closer to the Warp, where their souls will be devoured.

The Emperor's Nightmare Chapter have waged war here for nearly two thousand years, fighting the daemon in all it's forms to protect the spirits of humanity in their most vulnerable place. The Chapter's Dreamers, those few marines with psychic potential, battle in this bizarre land while their brethren who remain awake, the Watchers, guard their sleeping forms from the enemies in the Materium. Though the daemons in the Dreamlands are strong, the Dreamers of the Emperor's Nightmare have honed their skills in the waking world, and fight them with deadly skill developed over periods of sleeplessness, during which their training becomes an outlet to fight the madness of insomnia.

>>14477919
What plan?
There's no plan.
and no Alpha Legion either, don't you recognize me? Brother Notalpharius

>>14477915

Indeed, that's a definite possibility.

In Fast attack we have Assault Squads, Night Owl Vanguard, Land Speeders, Land Speeder Storms, Bike Squads, Attack Bike Squads, and Scout Bike Squads, just like the normal Fast Attack.

And as for the falling asleep thing...We're not sure yet, it's a difficult issue to address. We have Power of the Machine Spirit as an expensive vehicle upgrade for most vehicles to represent the redundancies built in in case they DO fall asleep.

alas, the sleep overtakes me

http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Category:Emperor%27s_Nightmare

here's the rest of the stories comrades

>>14477919
The names people were choosing for the stories were a mix of Greek and Native American stuff because of the significance of dreams and oracles in those cultures, I guess we can expand on that.

I remember some of the more basic fluff like how Caffeine is considered a social gaffe because of how the Marines can't sleep, so stimulants would be considered a sort of unspoken taboo, but at the same time, a thriving black market for stims would be around because people want to try reaching the inhuman levels of perception the Marines possess, much like a child trying out candy cigarettes when they see a father smoke or such.

I also remember people being under the impression the Nightmares would be very 'bro.' I think I came up with a satisfactory reason besides 'Just Because.' When people see others with things they want, they will feel envy. It's completely natural. And the Nightmares, these... demigods of endless might, on some primal level, they are jealous of humans. These men have given up everything for humanity and sleep, such a simple thing for many, is something they long for.

Even the simple emotion of Envy would be enough to ground the Nightmares. They would be more empathic to the needs of the common human because they can relate to them.

>>14477990

sounds good.

Can you tell us more of the special characters you mentioned earlier?

>>14478068

First up, we have...

Captain Nyseos - 200pts
Battlegroup Secundus Commander

WS6 BS5 S4 T4 W3 I5 A3 Ld10 Sv3+


Wargear: Power Armour, Iron Halo, Relic Blade, Bolt Pistol, Astartes Sniper Rifle, Frag and Krak Grenades

Special Rules: And They Shall Know No Fear, Combat Tactics, Independant Character.

Lord of the Dusk: Nyseos, like all Captains of Battlegroup Secundus, is adept in crafting stunning works of Ambush in a surprisingly little time. If Captain Nyseos is in your army, all units exchange the Combat Tactics rule with the Infiltrate Universal Special Rule.

From the Shadows: Any squad joined by Captain Nyseus, count their weapons as Pinning if they are more than 12'' from the target.

No Place for Maniacs: Captain Nyseos would not have his plans ruined by the berserker Sleepless. Any army which includes Nyseos cannot also include Sleepless or Living Dead Dreadnoughts.

>>14478116

Chief Apothecary Eidelan - 120pts
Shephard of the Dreamless

WS BS S T W I A Ld Sv
5 4 4 4 2 4 2 9 3+

Wargear: Power Armour, Power Weapon, Bolt Pistol, Narthecium, Frag & Krak Grenades

Special Rules: And They Shall Know No Fear, Combat Tactics, Independant Character.

Shephard of the Dreamless: Eidelan has spent more time tending to the Sleepless than perhaps he should, for he finds them a fascinating and terrifying picture of what they all might become. Thus he has worked out ways of curtailing their wrath. At the beginning of the Movement phase, if Eidelan is part of a Sleepless unit he may try to use a powerful mix of depressants in his Narthecium to reduce their psychosis by taking a leadership test. If failed, this is no effect. If passed, the Sleepless lose their Rage for the rest of that turn, but must immediately take a Dangerous Terrain test to represent the mind-clogging effects of that powerful a concoction

Terror Tactics: Eidelan knows well how best to form the Sleepless under his command into a howling wall of terror which renders the enemy insensible with fear. When charging into combat with a unit of Sleepless, the charged unit suffers a -2Ld penalty, as though charged by a scout unit out of a Land Speeder Storm.

>>14478149

That's all I've got handy. Any concepts for more, or suggestions for how to improve them, or fluff for them (Seem to have lost my stuff for Nyseos) is MORE than welcome.

Unfortunately, I'm much more a fluff guy than crunch. Wouldn't know the first thing about doing a codex.

...A thought just came to me. Grey Knight Dreadknights, the codex after we came up with the concept for the Icelus, a monstrous creature dreadnought-esque thing...

...Ward...Speak up...We know you're out there...

>>14478281

Good, fluff is more important than crunch, it's the fluff which gives the crunch something to play off of.

>>14478116
>>14478149
these are awesome!

>>14478149

What are the rules for Sleepless?

>>14478191
any ideas for a Primus special Character?

Perhaps rules that give a small bonus to WS or BS for units he's with/near

>>14478447

Sleepless - 60 Points

WS BS S T W I A Ld Sv
5 4 4 4 1 5 2 7 3+

Unit Composition: 3 Sleepless

Wargear: Power Armour, Bolt Pistol, Chainsword, Frag and Krak grenades

Options: Add up to twenty-seven Sleepless: +20 Points/model
Any Sleepless can replace their bolt pistol and/or chainsword for:
A Power Weapon: 15 Points/model
A Power Fist: 25 Points/model
A Thunder Hammer: +30 Points/model

For every five models in the squad, one Sleepless can replace his bolt pistol with a Plasma Pistol for +15 Points/model
The entire squad can have Jump Packs: +15pts/model

Dedicated Transport: If the squad does not have Jump Packs, it can select any dedicated transport we decide to let the damn chapter have in the future.

Special Rules: Rage, Fearless, Feel No Pain, Furious Charge

Faltering Reality: The Sleepless are so crazed that they can barely distinguish friend from foe. If there is no Independant Character within the unit it must take an Ld test each movement phase. If this is failed the squad must move as fast as they can towards the nearest unit (Friend or Foe), fire at it (Even if after the movement phase there is a closer unit) and, if possible, assault this unit. If the unit is friendly it attacks back as usual, but do not fight in the enemy's turn and if the Sleepless pass their test the next turn, combat immediately ceases. If a double 6 is ever rolled for this leadership test, the Sleepless go absolutely beserk. Every unit (Friend or Foe, excluding other Sleepless) within 2D6'' takes 2D6 S5 hits. Vehicles are hit on their side armour. After this, remove the unit from play.

>>14478453

We were thinking of a Shrike-esque character, not sure yet.

>>14478504

I want Death Company to be like this. Hell, anyone who succumbs to the red thirst. Because I love the idea of a Devestator Marine trying to get Dante in a headlock.

>>14478504
>Transports
>undecided
how about a Stormrav-*BLAM*

>>14477748

Nemesis Sleepknight.

>>14478791
MODELINGFAGS WE NEED YOU

>>14478046
>>14477630

This is the best fluff I've heard in a long time.

where's that fucking Fin when you need him?

>>14478852
just goes to show that fa/tg/guys are better at 40k fluff than GW

>>14478870

Of course.

Some of the Nightmare stories are things of beauty.

A random Apocalypse Datasheet I created, back when we were working out Iceluses. Just...to add to the thread.

>>14479083

*Cough* That was me...

So, I'm thinking we should expand on history. Notable conflicts, great victories, even disasters.

Their disasterous alliance with the Blood Ravens against "WAAAGH!!! Gitchop" stands as one part of History which could be fun to explore.

>>14479275
>And so on that day of 459.M39 the Blood Ravens and the Emperor's Nightmares strove out to bring the warring sector back into Imperial Hands, braving the dangerous Ork Waaagh. But too soon did the two Chapters realize their differences. The Shock and Awe tactics of the Primus Company drew scorn from the Ravens, calling it a waste of munitions and is still debated hotly to this day. The Blood Ravens claim that the Orbital Bombardment favored by the Nightmares destroyed countless artifacts of value despite there being no such record in Imperial Texts while the stealthy Marines of Secundus found the Psychic Might of the Blood Raven Librarians too distracting and flashy for their tastes. It all came to a head when the Sleepless, driven mad by the combat assaulted a Blood Raven squad and killed them all. Only the timely intervention of Guard reinforcements stopped the inevitable war between Astartes, each side seeking to save face before the men of the Imperium.

>Also of note is the loss of no less than seven Rhinos and Land Raiders, along with several treasured artifacts dating back to the Chapter Founding. No destruction of these mighty weapons and relics have been confirmed as of yet.

>>14479275

"That's no ork, it's a space station! ...Where did my engine get off to? Amd ,my chapter relics? ...Zzz..."

>>14479451

>Guard arriving in the nick of time to save Astartes
>Not the other way around
>Pic related

>>14479451
Blood Raven's Chapter Demeanor:
Sticky Fingers

Bump

Huh, a little disappointed the thread isn't active at all. Anyway, the Nightmares are a relatively new Chapter, with only two thousand years of history compared to the relatively far longer ones of others.

Something I've always wondered though, is how a new Chapter is made. I know the Administratum provides the new Chapter with all their Fortress-Monastaries, ships, homeworlds, etc... but what about the Marines who make up the founding? The Chapter Master here was a Raven Guard Captain, but what do they do for the other 999? Just random marines they got when the Raven Guard was overstrength? Something that would never happen?

>>14482538
They would probably spare only very few brothers for the founding of a new chapter. Perhaps not even 20 or so.

>>14482583
Additionally, they may then fill the ranks with iniates or applicants from the parent chapter. Just speculating of course.

>>14482583
>>14482590
It seems like unless the Marines spend the next few centuries focusing only on recruiting, it wouldn't be all the effective.

>>14479451
I giggled like a schoolgirl, and I am not afraid to admit it.

>>14479497
what was yfw the Guard only saved them because the Astartes didn't want their private squabbles being aired in front of inferiors?

>>14482656

Perhaps the same.

I've been trying to find a DW game for ages to play one. No luck yet.

Also, good time to mention this, actually--we never finished statting things for Deathwatch. We only have starting chapter patterns. No chapter curse. I was going to suggest the Curse be chosen at character creation--either the Curse of the Waking or the Curse of the Dreaming. You either start spending all your time asleep, or you can't sleep at all and start going insane until you become Sleepless.

Anyway, re: Nightmare, pic related. Drew this recently.

Also, quick reminder--chapter is Nightmare, individual marines are Nightmares.

>>14485257

Good man. More artwork is needed, methinks.

>>14485257
>Curse of the Waking or the Curse of the Dreaming. You either start spending all your time asleep, or you can't sleep at all and start going insane until you become Sleepless.

Why would you ever want to take Curse of the Dreaming?

>>14485257
The only Nightmare in eternal sleep is the Chapter Master, and that had the whole "Daemons did it" thing going on for him.

>>14486805
>>14486966
It doesn't put your character down instantly, it represents your character's tendency to begin walking the Dream more than reality. As the curse grows more severe your physical duties seem less pressing and important, and sometimes you struggle to stay awake at all.
It wouldn't hit "You never wake up," even after the character hit 100 corruption/insanity. It would reflect your marine just no longer being able to serve in active duty meaningfully.

Brother Tibalt

The Everseer
August Dreamwalker in Iron

Brother Tibalt has been amongst the Nightmare's sacred clutch of Psychic Dreadnoughts for as long as anyone can remember. One of the original initiates of the Chapter during its founding, he served as a Librarian faithfully for many years. Although not perhaps the strongest psychically, or the most in control of his powers, or the most suicidally brave, Tibalt nonetheless possessed a razor clarity and a quiet, firm authority and guided his peers with a level head.

Since his near-death at the hands of a monstrous servitor of the Dark Mechanicus, he was entombed within the dreadnought's sarcophogus to become one of the first of the August Dreamwalkers in Iron. However, since his confinement a change has crept upon him. The ancient psyker's senses have began to fail, even the enhanced autosenses of his walking tomb becoming dull, being replaced by the nebulous visions of dreams. In the present day he is all bit blind, seeing the world through the shifting realm of dreams. However, his clarity remains, and he continues to quietly guide his comrades by seeing what they can not.

>>14487564
WS5 BS4 S6 F12 S12 R10 I3 A4

Composition: 1 August Dreamwalker in Iron (Unique)
Unit Type: Vehicle (Walker)

Wargear: Dreadnaught close combat weapon, Force Weapon, Smoke Launchers, Extra Armour, Psychic Hood

Options: Replace Dreadnaught close combat weapon with:

Assault Cannon - Free
Plasma Cannon - 10pts
Twin-linked Lascannon - +30pts

Special Rules: Everseeing, Ancient Authority, Venerable,

Everseeing - Tibalt does not see the world like his fellows, instead bathing his senses in the nebulous world of dreams, where he sees things not by their formidable appearance but by th strength of their souls. Tibalt never has to roll for sight for night fighting, and anything which would obscure his vision (Dark Eldar Night Shields, the Stealth USR) is ignored. In addition, he has Preferred Enemy when striking Independant Characters or Monstrous Creatures. However, because of the unreliability of this vision the controlling player must roll a D6 at the beginning of each of their turns. On the roll of a 1 he cannot move or shoot, does not attack and will be hit automatically in Close Combat.

Ancient Authority: Though he no longer commands troops in person, Tibalt has always had a knack for leadership and his very presence bolsters his fellows. In the shooting phase, choose a friendly unit within 12''. That unit has the Counter Attack special rule and count as being equipped with Defensive Grenades.

>>14487576

Uh, it should be the MOVEMENT phase for Ancient Authority.

>>14487576
Why doesn't he have psychic powers?

>>14487781

He does, but we've not got round to doing the Nightmare psychic powers yet.

>>14487564
>>14487576
I like him.

Do you have any examples of Nightmare psyker powers that have been brought up?

>>14487950
I don't imagine they'd be much different from other Librarians. I mean, psyker magik is psyker magik. It's pretty standardized. The only special thing is the Dreaming.

Fuck yeah, an Emperor's Nightmares thread.

I don't play 40k myself, but I always loved the concepts behind these guys. You all write some kickass fluff.

>>14488075
Same, 40K is way too expensive a hobby to start up but the Fluff is fun to read, and the Nightmares are probably one of the best things /tg/ has made.

>>14487950

Amongst the usual fare like Smite and that, we've been thinking of one which puts the enemy to sleep for a turn if they fail an opposed dice roll, pinning them.

>>14477434
It also makes me sad, as the Emps Nightmares are probably one of the best things to ever come from /tg/

>>14488212
I understand the use in TT, but it doesn't make much sense in fluff.

Sleep is something sacred to the Nightmares, they certainly wouldn't wish to provide it to their enemies.

>>14488249
Same, I really want them to be bigger. Big enough to inspire art like this!

Important question for a story I'm working on.

Was it ever mentioned what Segmentum the Nightmare's homeworld is in?

>>14488350
Nope.

>>14488350
I don't think so, there's nothing on it in the 1d4chan article.

>>14488423
Well then, any arguments for one over another?

Also I'd really like to work out the fleet sizes as well, probably on the small side.

>>14488350
Heh, good luck. Just remember these guys were made as a Standing Force. And man, I don't think I could write a fic about these guys. I'm not good with short stuff. All I get in my head is a 5000-something word novella focusing on Aspirants making it to the Monastery.

>>14488479
Perhaps we could roll for it?

>>14488480
Actually I'd like to expand on my initial of a Cardinal from some backwater system hearing about the mutation of the Nightmares and declaring them sinners to Sloth. I wanted it to be a relatively close system to the nightmare's homeworld and take place probably within the first 200-300 years of the Nightmares founding, before anyone's really heard of them or seen them fight.

>>14488558
That does sound interesting. The Ecclesiarchy is actually pretty underused in most settings.

Oh, and I think I've found the motivation to type that fanfic about the Aspirants. It seems like it'd be bad manners to post it on /tg/ due to it's length though, and I hesitate putting it on 1d4chan directly... should I just post on FFnet and post a link or something when I finish?

>>14488551
So 1d4?
Sol Segmentum would be a little too much

>>14488595
Agreed

>>14488589
if you do 1d4chan, remember the Story gets it's own page linked to the main one.

>>14488589
Post in many small parts. It will get archived with the rest of the thread if good. Such is the way of our people.

Tempestus would be a good fit if you're trying to milk the Ecclesiarchy. Tallarn and Ophelia are super religious, and the Raven Guard come from that Sector.

> Raven Guard come from that Sector.

Really? I didn't know that.

>>14488666
Well, according to Lexicanum anyway. Deliverance is posted there on Tempestus.

Also, I see the Emperor smiles on us by continuing the tradition of 666GET in every Nightmare thread. Don't know if you all remember that.

rolled 3 = 3

>>14488595
>>14488614
Right then.

>>14488551
1 = Segmentum Ultima
2 = Segmentum Tempestus
3 = Segmentum Pacificus
4 = Segmentum Obscurus

also
>mfw there are Ork worlds in Segmentum Sol

>>14488700
>>14488691

Okay then... which one?

>>14488691

Indeed I do, I'm honored to have been selected for our second 666.

>>14488700
I think Tempestus has some justification given the presence of the Raven guard and relatively few other chapters. Perhaps in the Veiled Region...

>>14488747
this does make sense

all in favour of fudging the roll to Tempestus?

Though to be honest, both are better choices than Ultima or Obscurus

>>14488700
The Segmentum Pacificus is good, it's touched the least in official fluff so it leaves us plenty of leeway to do as we wish.

And Ork worlds are pretty much everywhere, they're hard to get rid of and once a planet has been overrun by the Greenskins it would only take them a few years to cement their rule to the level that it'd take near crusade force to cleanse it completely.

>>14488307

Good point...Well if not outright sleep, then perhaps fogginess...Clouding their minds, making them less able to fight? Another thought was creating hallucinations.

Don't forget the Nightmare has a history with Chaos. Someplace with some Chaos activity might be best.
Then again, I suppose that can be anywhere.

>>14488850
Yeah, Chaos is sort of omnipresent. It wouldn't really matter where they are. I hope the Nightmares don't get fucked too badly by Tyranids though...

>>14488832
How about flooding their mind with waking dreams/nightmares?

>>14488868
I could see them both being extremely effective against each other.
Every Nightmare is on some level, some very little, some very much, affected by that twilight area between reality and warp. The tyranid hive mind would be like a blanket on that level, allowing them mental access to it, albeit not without trouble. The Nightmare once dealt with a splinter fleet in such a manner, walking the dreamscape until they 'saw' the sickly green glow of the synapse creatures, and one by one snuffed their minds in etheral combat.

Or the whole of that is bullshit but I like it. /tg/, make it better, it's what you do.

>>14488876
I like it.

>>14488868
We could have them in the South West of the segmentum, somewhere the tyranids didn't smash through head-on. I'm certain they'd fight the tyranids, but I doubt they'd have chapter monastery defense on their hands like the Ultramarines did.

>>14488920
Eh, feels a bit too sue-ish. The Nightmares already are all Sherlock Holmes types with loads of Dreadnought frames and access to a special stealth type no other Chapter uses and possess a Death Company equivalent and overstrength numbers by around 200, quite something considering they're Raven Guard. They also have a Dream Monastery and special Warp Powers to help combat Chaos. Adding more seems bad.

>>14488956
Agreed. If anything I can see the hive mind having a strong detrimental effect on the sleepers, perhaps even forcing them to wake prematurely, an act I'd imagine being quite taboo if not physically taxing among both the marines and their Scholastia Psykana allies.

>>14488956

Yeah, we don't wanna get too mental with the fluff.

>>14488876

Now THIS, I like. Perhaps it could be random dreams/nightmares, like the way the Grey Knights Psychotroke Grenade works?

>>14488956
I think it says somewhere that they only have like, 28 Dreadnoughts, not including the Walking Dead

also Icelus-pattern Dreanoughts aren't really dreadnoughts, but a step between them and Terminator armour

>>14488956
Well, I was going to suggest that there was a trade off to this, and that being the tyranids are extra effective against them, as well. But you're probably right.
Maybe just make it a bit of fluff about how strange the dreamscape gets when the tyranids influence it.

>>14489023

They have 58 suits of dreadnought armor.

>>14489023
Try something like 58. They have Apothecary Dreads, Librarian Dreads, Icelus Dreads, The Waking Dead Dreads, and God knows what else.

>>14489023
58, I believe. More than most chapters, offset by much less terminator armor.

Incidentally, I tried to sketch a (really) rough Icelus pattern. It ended up freakishly human because 1: It wasn't hunkered down 2: I thinned the armor down.
It's not a good drawing, but I think I like the idea of the Icelus being unsettlingly humanlike in form. Judge for yourself.

And this is the 'finished' version. I don't like how adding dread-feet ruined the dynamics of the pose, but it was a sketch with very little example to work from.

>>14489065

I'm intrigued. To me it's like a cross between a Tau stealth suit and a pre-heresy dread...

Speaking of dreadnoughts, considering how many they have and how they're at least partially replaceable, the requirements to be entombed are probably alot less strict than in other chapters

Apothecary: Brother Aramel has returned from battle! He is severely injured!
Aramel: Actually, I think I'm okay...arm feels a little sore and I might have a bruised rib but otherwise...
Apothecary: He must be entombed immediately!

Sorry, back to writing my Cardinal story

>>14489124
Venerate the Ancestors remember? These guys probably have a lot more Venerables, so that while they have a ton of frames available, they're mostly being used by those dudes from a couple centuries back. Though that would be a hilarious image. Putting a Marine in a Dread because it's easier than getting a bionic arm? Hell yes.

>>14489124
Nah, the chapter works around the clock to make Icelus pattern dreads, and they still don't have enough to provide them for other chapters due to the work involved in making them.
Also, I'm trying to upload the finished >>14489065 but I can't get 4chan to cooperate.

>>14489043
>>14489051
>>14489065
>mfw I check again
fucking stupid eyes, failing me.

>mfw duplicate file entry and hebrew captcha

>>14489065
They are a lot more human-like than normal dreads, but the head should still be integrated in the torso. Remember, we based the Icelus on trimmed down pre-Heresy dreads.
I think longer and more agile limbs, normal Marine helmet sized head and flat, angled pauldrons would do wonders to show the reference. The pauldrons on pre-Heresy dreads look like seperate parts, perhaps it would be a nice touch to use this in the shoulder mounted weapons part of the Icelus pattern design.

Just my two cents, feel free to do with this as you please.

Let's try this again, not that I'm happy with the final product. It'd really help if I could have found a nice portrait style picture for a pre-heresy mark like the later things.

>>14489297
>dreadnoughts with capes
>allofmymoney.jpeg

>>14489297
does the cape function as a camo cloak? Some sort of holo-field maybe?

[doesn't know equipment]

>>14489348
Technically a cameoline cloak/tarp. I outfitted him with a (stalker-pattern) boltgun, the MIU sniper rifle, and a lightning claw. The sensor quills aren't detailed, but they're there.

>>14489383
http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Icelus_Pattern_Dreadnought
Basically, cooling capillaries to foil IR and preysense systems, the cameoline for mundane detection, a field of redundant stummers to quiet the machine (and project unsettling silence before they strike, adding an awesome fear effect), and an array of sensor quills for environmental awareness and detection.

It was, Corporal Joeri thought, inevitable that he would attract such crowds. So many Guardsmen on one ship? Gambling was bound to happen. He ignored the many cock-fights in the corner and the clinking dice over to the side to focus on his own craft.

“Now then my fine gentlemen,” he started, “and ladies of course,” he gestured gallantly to the small crew of Guardsmen, or was it Guardswomen? Well, regardless, the small crew of all female 476th Gerukant glared at him at the sign of perceived sexism.

“We will begin our fine game. A simple one really. All you have to do is tell me which ball is marked after I shuffle them around. You see, one of them has a very special prize inside, a lovely batch of raw beans lifted from the cafeteria! Everyone gets a chance, and we have plenty of balls.”

”I’m well aware of this game… Corporal,” a Sergeant from the… 17th Hanja said sarcastically. “But we all know how this ends. We win a few hands, and then you take it all from us. Why should we even play?”

“Because,” Joeri whispered theatrically, “we’ll start with these.”

At the snap of his fingers, a few men from his squad lifted a heavy bag of Thrones, spilling the contents out for all to see. Intrigued, everyone leaned in closer, trying to confirm if the coins were real while a few more men from his Company stood ready, though seemingly relaxed, to crack heads if things got messy.

>>14489578
“Now, shall we play?” Joeri asked with a smile.

The game started eagerly, Joeri making sure not to win too much and letting off big pots. Until of course, the right time had come.

“That one!”

“No, that!”

Joeri worked hard to keep a grin off his face. When he felt he could stand it no longer, he looked down. The answer was, of course, the one he was going to choose. It had been hard work, trying to mark out and etch each ball so he could recognize them all by hand, but it would be worth it. Joeri suddenly frowned as the noise died. What had happened?

“Number thirty-three, fourth from the right,” came a booming voice.

Joeri gulped as the sight of a massive Space Marine loomed over him. How had? He’d heard rumors of a squad or two who were traveling with the Guard, but to actually see on up close… The quartered Yellow and Purple cut a dashing figure, with impossibly complex figures etched in the Armor. The lone swatches of white on the shoulders felt out of place, but despite it all, Joeri was in the presence of a god.

>>14489584
And the Marine was right.

“That’s… that’s correct sir. Y-your winnings,” Joeri offered.

The Marine lifted a massive hand to stave it off.

“Continue.”

Joeri gulped again before starting a new game, noting how the entire hall had gone silent, and everyone had backed away from the sight, obviously hoping they would not be the next thing the Marine took interest in.

“Brother Lysander!” Another impossibly loud voice shouted.

Joeri turned to the new Marine, somehow feeling something was wrong. Was the other Marine…frightened? Impossible of course, but maybe nervous?

“Brother Melancton,” the first one greeted.

“Brother, it is inappropriate for you to be here. Let us retire and leave these men to their games,” Melancton hissed.

“They offer interesting diversions,” Lysander explained. “I wish to partake in them.”

“Very…very well. I listen.”

“Now,” Lysander turned to Joeri again, “continue.”

The games continued for many minutes, Joeri switching out games and feeling irritated each time the Marine took notice of all sleights of hand after feeling slighted by honest ones. Knowing his reputation was sunk, judging by all the angry looks from other Guardsmen, he continued to cheat, trying to keep the Marine happy. It all went on for a little while, Joeri feeling as though he’d reach his limits when suddenly…

>>14489590
“The center cup.”

Silence.

“Ah, I’m…afraid not my Lord. It is the…left,” Joeri offered cautiously, his mouth drying as the helmed head of the Marine faced him with its eternal scowl.

Joeri wouldn’t have thought it possible, but the room went even quieter then, Guardsmen suddenly looking like they should leave the room. It was finally broken when a sound like thunder came from Lysander, before Joeri recognized it as laughter.

“An interesting game,” the Marine said flatly. “Your hand. Palm up.”

Joeri cautiously lifted it just as the Marine demanded, expecting to lose it and be rendered useless as a massive gauntlet reach up and dwarfed his own. The Marine dropped something before turning and leaving with his companion, only stopping to offer a few words.

“Your winnings. My congratulations to you on besting me. This will keep my mind occupied for the next few days, I thank you for your time.”

Joeri opened his palm and gasped at the sight of a gleaming coin, elegantly cast in pure gold and silver. Platinum bumps raised the figure of an owl and hourglass on one side, and on the other, a phrase in High Gothic that he could not recognize.

Dormire, forsitan somnia.

He clasped the coin to his chest, staring at the disappearing figure of the Astartes before smiling at his luck. A fine victory for him, to have beaten a Marine. A small tale of the triumph of man.

He admired the coin again, marveling at its gleam and shine.

A fine day.

>>14489599
>>14489590
>>14489584
>>14489578
Fuck, so many damn errors I made typing that thing up. Should have tried and made things clearer.

>>14489578
>>14489584
>>14489590
>>14489599
Holy shit awesome.

>>14489636
Meh, in need of polishing or not, I think it was quite a fun read and I thank you for it.

I now imagine a Space Marine hosting a game of "where's the ball" for a crowd of dreadnoughts. The image brings a smile to my face.

>>14489636

Don't be hard on yourself, it was a great story. though I'm a little confused...

Is the marine glad his senses have not grown so acute to be infallible? A sign that he has not fallen too far into the Sleepless?

>>14489660
It's probably refreshing to be able to be wrong. With their hyper-acuity they easily see the little details or flaws in things, which usually gets them into trouble.

>>14489660
You can think of it that way. It was decided a while back that the Sleepless try to distract themselves with any diversion to keep themselves calm. Lysander came in looking for anything to grab his attention while Melancton was afraid his Sleepless Brother would kill everyone.

End result, Lysander leaves happy he's not so far gone and has a new memory to keep him occupied, trying to figure out the trick and such, and Joeri gets mad props from fellow Guardsmen. Win-win.

>>14489708
Ah, I see. Good stuff.

This Chapter sounds amazing.

I'm now considering trying to figure out how to set up an IRC room and dicebot so that I might figure out how to GM a Deathwatch game over IRC, as I've been interested in playing it for a while now. I would absolutely adore seeing at least one player playing an Emperor's Nightmare.

Any biters for players? I've got plenty of experience with Dark Heresy, some in Rogue Trader, and I'm warming myself up to DW.

Holy shit. Yes. Do it.
Me and three friends (or two friends and one of their friends) have been trying for months.
I'd be a Nightmare Tactical, he wants to do a Salamander techmarine, other friend wants to be a Blood Raven, I think the friend's friend wants to do a Space Wolf.

Oh god please almighty do it.

I remember in one thread that we decided that the Nightmares are also known for their love of guile and Sleight of Hand, because it keeps them busy in between Sleep cycles, War, and Training. It got to the point where the love leaked down into the culture of Icelus. In both cases, being able to beat the Sleight of Hand of a superior is a great honour, and losing a learning opprotunity.


also is Lysander from another story? I swear it sounds very familiar.

>>14489877
It's the name of the Imperial Fists special character

Whoops, forgot a contact address.
Send me a message and identify yourself by whatever you want to be called if you'll be interested in playing. Again, I'm not particularly familiar with hosting IRC, so this may end disastrously.

I'll get to work on it in about fifteen minutes. I've got a little bit of writing I want to finish first...

Actually, now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure I fought the Emperor's Nightmares in a multiplayer session of Retribution. I recognize that very distinctive color scheme. May/may not be a coincidence that I have the replay saved as "the most insane game ever."

>>14489808
Might I be so bold as to suggest Maptool as the solution to your IRC and dicebot problem?
It's a nifty little bit of software that has a chat function, dicebot, tactical map, initiative order and any other java based application you can create yourself. I've played DH and RT through it for the past three years or so and though I'll grant that it takes a little effort to master, I think it's great.

As for your request for players, I'd love to join but I live in Continental Europe (GMT +1) and I'm also in a weekly DH game so it really depends on when you're planning on running it...

Emperor's Nightmare custom wargear redux.

Signs of the Sleepless: 15pts - +1I, +1A, -1Ld. Must take an Ld test at the beginning of each turn to suppress their psychosis. If failed, all to hit rolls of 1 for shooting or CC hit the squad he's in, or the nearest enemy model in range.

Prophetic Dreams: 15pts - At the beginning of the game roll a D6 for each enemy unit and character in the army. On the roll of a 1 the character has Preferred Enemy against the unit

Redundant Systems: 30pts - Extra Armour and Power of the Machine Spirit.

Secundus Darkfire Rounds: 5pts - Ammo upgrade for sniper rifles. Any unit hit by a rifle with Darkfire Rounds are counted as fully visible for the purposes of Night Fight.

>>14489902
Email's sent. As for IRC, I might be able to help. For that matter, you could probably join suptg's IRC and then add another channel to work within.

>>14489918

That should be the nearest FRIENDLY model within range. Deary me.

>>14489909
I've experimented a bit with Maptool in the past, though I've always been more one for play-by-description.

>>14489982
Your help would be dearly appreciated. And I am now in the brainstorming process for a plot.

>>14490067
For starters, I suggest pIRCh98.
http://www.pirch.com/software.html

What was left to figure out crunch-wise in Deathwatch?

>>14490184
Looking at the rules on 1d4chan, I'm seeing there's a lack of a Primarch's Curse.

Damn me but I can't remember if there are presets in Rites of Battle.
Given a bit of time to read over everything with the Nightmares, I could write one up myself tonight.

>>14490184
Later attack/defense patterns. Primarch's Curse.
I still think the Primarch's Curse should be either going Sleepless or full-time Dreamer, over time. >>14490184
Later attack/defense patterns. Primarch's Curse.
I still think the Primarch's Curse should be choosing between going Sleepless or full-time Dreamer, over time. Instability and aggression versus lethargy in combat and difficulty completing long tasks.

>>14490184
>>14490218
Also psychic powers

>>14490234

I'm pretty sure it's been asked and stated that there are no full-time dreamers beyond the chapter master. Only sleepless.

>>14490234
How did I do that twice.
>>14490267
It doesn't have to be literal full time. A marine with a severe enough case is not going to be combat capable by any stretch--that's what the apex is, where your marine would be retired from play. He just can't do his duty any more.

>>14490246
Ah yes, psychic powers.

My nemesis. I know how they work, but I'm just not comfy with them. I guess it stems from my phobia of exploding psykers in the few instances where I got to be a player in Dark Heresy.

Not that I have any right to be saying such things, but someone else should probably work with those.

>>14490067
Perhaps I should have refreshed this page before sending the message, but such is the benefit of hindsight...
Anyway, I've sent you an email with the info you requested.

Playing by description will be new for me, I've become used to using maps in both online and real life P&P rpgs, but expanding ones horizons is never a bad thing.

>Leave for a few hours
>Come back and check /tg/
>Thread is still on front page and has new OC fluff

I love you guys.

>>14490234
This.

The Primarch's Curse should be becoming Sleepless

and on the topic of Psychic Powers: Librarians are VERY important to the Nightmares, I doubt they would second any to the Deathwatch.

Welp, someone screwed up the request interface in suptg.

>>14490348
While I can see your point and would certainly agree with it from an in-setting view, it's more just for completeness and options for the player.

I doubt we want to restrict a Nightmare from being both a devastator and a Librarian in Deathwatch.

>>14490348
Remember that story of the Sleepless Librarian Dread? The one where the Inquisition decided they wanted to play with fire and got burned?

Yeah, the Nightmare won't send Librarians anymore.

>Sleepless Librarian Dread

Funny, the librarian part was not the part I was expecting to be the deciding factor for being sent to the Deathwatch.

>>14490348
I don't know, the implication there is that all Nightmares will eventually go sleepless. It's grimdark, and scary, particularly to the individual marine who knows it'll be him some day, but it runs against what we had and I think it takes away from how... arbitrary the Sleeplessness should be. I don't know.
>>14490382
One might be able to 'time' the fluff so that this is an early seconding. Or even an agreement to see how things go.

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/14477434/

Properly archived from my end. I figured after the codex postings and the new writefaggotry, the thread finally deserved to be posted.

>>14490348
There is always an importance for, say, an NPC.

>>14490382
you raise a good point.

>>14490383
I don't remember this story, do you have it?

>>14490472
It wasn't a full on story, just speculation. You know how the Marines fall asleep every month or so right? People thought the Inquisition would underestimate the dangers of the Sleepless, and just ignore it even if the Marine hadn't slept for three months, instead continually pushing them to new battlegrounds.

Then the concept evolved to a dread being sent and becoming sleepless like so.

>Yeah. I mean, lets be honest, the Inquisition would LOVE to get their hands on a Waking Dead librarian in like an Icelus pattern assault dreadnought. They'd be convinced they could contain it. In their hubris they would mistake it for other similar madnesses like the black rage and they would attempt to contain it as you would contain a dumb beast.

But this is a dumb beast that psychically reactivated all the systems you thought you turned off, mapped the entire storage compound with its autosenses as it was being transported in, subtly dispatched a servoskull to upload a virus into the base grid, bides its time for seventeen hours and nine minutes and then telekinetically reassembles itself before vanishing into the background. The Inquisition does not even notice the absence until four hours later when the machine spirits of the remote compound's communications grid. Icelus Opera starts playing over the vox network and in the seventeen seconds of complete disorder the librarian quietly leaps two fences and a brick wall, slits the throat of four guards and hijacks a valkyrie transport, clinging to the bottom as it pilots the craft forty eight miles south-southwest using its mechadendrites before landing in a small clearing it spotted the day before when the shuttle was ariving planetside.

The librarian then cannibalizes the valkyrie for parts, digs in and goes to war against the vile dark eldar pirates whose clutches he has finally escaped. He will activate the warp beacon. His chapter shall find this world in time.

From Thread 4 if you're wondering.

You know, this Icelus Pattern Dreadnought kind of makes my canon senses twitch a little.

But whatever, man.

>>14490611

Eh, it's no more canon-breaking than the Furioso variants or the Dreadknight.

Also, Primus Captain draft 1 coming up.

>>14490546
I fucking hate the inquisition sometimes. That actually sounds like something that would happen

>Take an entombed Librarian who's verging on insanity
>put it in the most dangerous dreadnought ever
>what could go wrong?

>>14490611
Eh, I'll readily admit that's probably the shakiest bit of fluff people came up with, though people tried to justify them as really Master-Crafted Pre-Heresy Marks of Dreadnought instead of an all new one designed for stealth and with the schematics given to the Ad Mech.

http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Icelus_Pattern_Dreadnought

>>14490626
Aye, which is why I pretend Codex: Grey Knights never happened.

Also, could someone describe the Furioso Dreadnought to me? I've never got a good enough idea of it, as I haven't really examined the Blood Angels codex either.

>>14490611
>>14490651
I dunno. I think they're awesome, personally.
Maybe we could revise the design and fluff to be less drastically different from current dreadnoughts?

>>14490693
No, they're pretty awesome alright, and the fluff would work. It's just that those guys are the most radical departure from 40k canon we've seen.

Warp dickery can justify the dream stuff, but new tech is a radical thing in the context of the 40k universe.

>>14490710

40k needs radical new stuff in it anyway

>>14490710 but new tech is a radical thing in the context of the 40k universe.

does it teleport and shoot mind bullets with a force field?

>>14490735
Agh, ya got me. Okay fine, with the Grey Knights Codex, I guess nothing is off the table.

I've not read all of this thread yet but fuck you I'm gonna bump this shit.

Also, seeing the logo on these fanarts, I can't help but feel all fuzzy inside.

>>14490767
It's the little details that make things all worth it. Especially pictures.

>>14490710
it's less "new tech" and more "cluster-fuck of existing tech that turned into something awesome"

>>14490803
Isn't that what all 'new' 40k tech is?

>>14490828
True, but it's not like there isn't at least SOME sensible justification for the Icelus-pattern

>>14490828
Some of it are actual new inventions.

The Mechanicum calls that Tech-Heresy and turns the Hereteks responsible into servitors, if they're lucky.

Captain Taheton Hector

Primus Commander
The Red Dawn

WS6 BS5 S4 T4 W3 W3 I5 A3 Ld10 Sv2+

Unit Composition: 1 (Unique)
Unit Type: Jump Infantry

Wargear: Hypnos and Thanatos, Artificer Armour, Chainsword, Bolt Pistol, Frag and Krak Grenades, Iron Halo, Jump Pack.

Special Rules: Strike Hard Strike Fast, And They Shall Know No Fear, Combat Tactics, Independant Character

Hypnos and Thanatos: These lovingly constructed lightning claws were part of a slew of gifts from the Adeptus Mechanicus as thanks for the Nightmare's handing over of the Icelus Pattern blueprints. On the back of each of the weapons is a symbol of the Mechanicus, each a compact teleport homer which relays details of the battle, as well as Hector's own vital signs, to his chapter.

Master-crafted Lightning claws. Hector counts as being equipped with a Teleport Homer, and if a unit deep strikes via drop pod and lands within 6'' of him they may fire their weapons twice in the ensuing shooting phase. In addition, should Hector be removed as a casualty in combat, a retaliatory S10 AP1 Large Blast orbital bombardment will be centred on his last position. The blast scatters D6, if a hit is rolled the result will be determined by the arrow on the hit sign.

Strike Hard Strike Fast: Hector specialises in launching a single overwhelmng killing strike to the enemy's vitals, and the forces under his command are well-briefed and in full knowledge of their exact role. Once per game, the controlling player may choose to reroll any reserve roll he makes for that turn.

How do the Dreamlands correlate to the Webway? The Eldar would have some serious opinions about this chapter.

>>14490945
Probably not a lot of contact.
Also, quick question, the Segmentum we settled on wouldn't have any Tau access, would it? I think that's just the edge of Ultra.

Here is Submission-One for a Primarch's Curse, complete with dog-latin title:

ANIMUS SOMNIUS

Level 1 (Entrapments of Conscience): The Battle Brother’s shift between coma and insomnia becomes increasingly erratic. If the Nightmare Marine should take a number of Fatigue levels in excess of his Toughness Bonus, he falls unconscious for 24-TB hours rather than 10-TB minutes.
Level 2 (Through My Eyes, Darkly): When sleep does come, the Battle Brother’s dreams become increasingly unpleasant and increasingly surreal. When conscious, the Battle Brother takes a -10 to Perception Tests, as though half of him were in some other reality…
Level 3 (Sleepless): The Battle Brother suddenly finds himself awake for extensive periods of time. Once per month, he must make a Challenging (+0) Willpower Test. In the event of failure, the Nightmare Marine’s grip on reality begins to deteriorate at an alarming rate: after a month has passed he will impose a -1 to his Kill-team’s Cohesion; two months after that, he will, at the GM’s discretion, begin to perceive and act upon things which his fellows do not, and will then impose a -2 on his Kill-team’s Cohesion. If another three months is allowed to pass, then the Battle Brother completely loses all grip on reality as he has fallen into his waking dreams – he is removed from play, and the GM may have the Battle Brother attack his former fellows, who he no-doubt now perceives to be the vile Black Legion.

Commentary dearly needed. I'm not quite sure how I feel about the final Level ultimately resulting in becoming Sleepless, though I thought quite a bit on how hard the test should be.

>>14490907

Also, Assault Squads are troops in an army with this guy in it. And yes, he DOES need a chainsword and twin lightning claws, because he's just that badass. Totally not a mistake.

>>14490945
As I understand it, The Dreamlands are a sort of latent Psychic manifestation of the consciousnesses of beings that Dream. This exists in it's own dimension between The Warp and Reality, at the same time as the webway but in a different sort of dimension.

if that makes any sense.

>>14490995
The biggest problem with the level 1 is that if it ever goes off, the marine is not only effectively done for the mission, he's probably going to cause mission failure if they don't just leave him where he fell. Something penalizing fatigue might work, like doubling the negatives, or causing him to lose combat actions unless he rolls toughness to overcome it.

>>14491021

How about he starts every mission with a level or two of fatigue he can't get rid of?

>>14490995
You should also address the fact that as they go longer without sleeping, their perception and agility increase drastically

Everyone playing these guys, try to remember Nightmares are Scary as Fuck. Straight 100xp to Interrogate and Intimidate. You should have some fun times if you keep that in mind.

>>14491045
Something like that works. How about each time he takes fatigue, he takes one more additional level?

For the level three, don't make him go sleepless until he's out of play--probably at 100 Insanity.
Maybe have him start accruing Insanity points every deployment? It's just a matter of time once the marine can no longer sleep. At the same time, if he's not fully sleepless--wait, how about this.
From level 3 curse onwards, every month he needs to roll to get adequate rest. Failure means no sleep, and 1 insanity point.

>>14491021
There are space marine smelling salts.

>"Brother Ervate has fallen asleep again, battle brothers."
>"zzzzzzz"
>Smeling salts
>"WHY."

>>14491072

If it's just 1 insanity point, I'd call to take the test weekly, or maybe fortnightly.

>>14491019
Also, Daemons can use the Dreamlands as a gate into reality by preying on the minds of those sleeping, or as a staging ground for being summoned

>>14491063
Increases in Perception and Agility due to their hyper sensitiveness and twitchy nerves but penalties on Willpower and Intelligence as their minds stray a lot and sleep deprivation causes distracting audio and visual hallucinations.

Sure you can react really quick but half of the time you're jumping at shadows because things that aren't there keep moving in the corner of your eye...

>>14491088
Once for each deployment, once for each down time between deployments?

>>14489297
>Kilroy was here face
Oh lawdie. A motif the stuff of dreams in a dreamnought~

Give me a moment to make some revisions...

>>14491118

That could work.

On a high note, we now have all the requested special characters knocked out.

August Dreamwalker in Iron - Brother Tibalt
Captain Primus - Captain Taheton Hector
Captain Secundus - Captain Leander Nyseos
Sleepless-esque - Chief Apothecary Eidelan

Does anyone have any other ideas for Special Characters?

Just caught up. OG res/tg/uardian contributor from the first six threads here. It's weird reading back some of my old posts quoted in this thread... Anyway all this new fluff and crunch is amazing. I'm so proud of you /tg/, never change. (Looking forward to the fandex!)

By the by you guys talking about the canon problems of the Icelus should double check the wiki. The Icelus pattern IS the pre-heresy mark. It's just that every single part was master crafted. Everything checks out with STCs already approved by the mechanicus. If that's not enough for you than fair enough: Feel free to write a story about a cell of forge worlds lobbying to declare it heretical technology. Some kind of "greater than the sum of its parts" argument. Also a couple of the chassis incorporate sanctioned xenotech (like that tau cloak field used by the Deathwatch).

The Icelus is grounded in canon, sanctioned or heretical or not it's grounded in canon. It's also awesome. The Awesome is what matters.

>>14491115
Starting at Stage 3 a +10 to each every <increment> insanity points?

>>14490791
The pride mainly comes from the fact that I designed the chapter's emblem.(though I was trying not to gloat)

>>14491165
Before, we had Venerable Gavroche, who was the first Icelus stealth dreadnought.

>>14491186

Yeah, picked that up. Good show, good show indeed.

>>14491182
>+10/-10
though now that I think about it, in the available fluff the Sleepless never seem to lose intelligence as they get worse, so perhaps just Willpower?

>>14491201
-10 WP/Fellowship. Definitely not Intelligence. They're terrifyingly intelligent. "Human intellect without human reason."
Only problem is that curbstomps Sleepless Librarians. Maybe specify the penalty does not apply for psyker purposes?

>>14491194

Good point. Though I don't know if I speak for other people when I say I'm somewhat loathe to put 2 dreadnought special characters in...And people have been clamouring for an ADI char for ages. What do you say, guys? Do we rock on with the dreads?

>>14491209
You've got a Mehreen who is increasingly losing his grip on reality. Do you REALLY want them trying to manifest the power of the Warp in such a state?

>>14491209
No, that fits Sleepless Librarians perfectly.

they're supposed to the the scariest of the bunch

I don't quite like the idea of giving characteristic bonuses to Primarch's Curse, as the idea is to detriment the player.
Trust me, I've had "negative" effects which gave bonuses to other areas in my games before - my IRL group's more dubious players flew to that like flies to a carcass.

>>14491194
I'd like to see Gavroche as well. Able to select his chassis.

As I recall the reason a couple of the 58 chassis are empty is so that Gavroche can switch his sarcophagus between them from battle to battle, staying silent even if he's in an ironclad because he's Just. That. Good.

There was also mention of the original icelus chassis having an underslung grenade launcher on its MIU sniper rifle for suppression.

By the by, I'm surprised we don't have more drawings of badass icelus dreadnoughts in camo cloaks pouncing around killing shit and sniping tanks and whatnot. That seems like something that /tg/ would want to draw...

>>14491234
Well, this IS a chapter known for its unusually high Dreadnought count.

How's our representation of Battlegroup Primus to Secundus? About even?

>>14491241
What I was getting at in >>14491243

Holy shit, I was just thinking about the Nightmares earlier this week. Glad to see they're still alive in the hearts of elegan/tg/entlemen.

>>14491079
I can see it now, Apothecaries in Kill-teams with Nightmares in them get a supply of Astartes-strength speed to keep them awake should their sleep-cycle start at an inopportune time...

>"Apothecary, Brother Carolus is dozing off again."
>"Emperors blood, not now..."
>The Apothecary shoves spoonsful of speed up the Nightmares nose.
>"This is becoming something of a nuisance but that should do the trick. "
>Brother Carolus wakes up, pupils the size of a Land Raider.
>"Wow, what was that? Never mind, I feel psyched, let's get going, lot's of stuff to do!"
>Post battle medical check up notes that Carolus' teeth no longer have relief due to him gnashing them for sixteen hours straight.

>>14491253
I was trying to draw an Icelus with >>14489297 and >>14489065. Find me a good codex-style pic of a pre-heresy dread and I'll try to do another in the next few days.

>>14491252
but the crunch fits the fluff SO well, and gaining a fuckload of insanity while losing WP and FEL can be disastrous for a player, especially WP and Insanity mixed, along with the potential to face psykers

>>14491281
Yes, part of the job of the Apothecaries is to hand out industrial-grade psychostimulants. Total no-no out of combat, but when in the field, necessity rules over all.

Also, Sleepless get Unnatural Perception and Agility. In exchange, they need to take a...Difficult? Hard? Willpower test each day or gain one Insanity. Stack with growing Willpower and Fellowship penalties as the Insanity count rises, and you've got a one-way ticket to character death.

BUT YOUR DEATH SHALL BE *MAGNIFICENT*.

Wow...It seems like just yesterday I was making some random post...

Look how far we've come...

I have some writefaggotry that I've been writing, but I've been away for a while.

>>14491283
here you go my good sir

>>14491258

So far, we've taken steps to make sure things are as even as possible between the battlegroups. Where we have Primaris, we try to have Secundus, Captains can be either, Tactical marines are usually Primus while Scouts can be upgraded to Secundus, and such.

>>14491253

...Hm...That WOULD be fun to crunch around...

>>14491317
That's the one I worked off, actually, though it's a higher resolution. I'll see what I can do to Icelus it up.
Any requests for it? I'm not very good, so the art will be stiff like in >>14485257, but I'll try to account for pose, wargear, and symbolism.

Which reminds me, Symbolism! I had an idea for the fifth company banner back in an older thread, would anyone care to draw it?

>>14491317
and a second. I always pictured them sorta like a stripped down version of this, but with the porcupine sensor quills on the back. Kinda like another anon said earlier "a cross between a tau stealth suit and a pre heresy dread"

>>14491301
Which is actually more to the point, really.
It's a baaaaad thing to be getting enough Insanity to cause the third level of the Primarch's Curse. By that point you're guaranteed to never get it to come down, and much of anything severe will cause you to go bonkers.

I'm considering a Routine (+20) Test either every day or every week to resist gaining an additional Insanity Point, with the end result of 100 points being the Nightmare Marine turns on the rest of the Kill-team - it depends on just how fast you think the deterioration should be, though.

We should probably update the 1d4chan page. We can leave off the crunch and save it for the Codex, but the fluff can probably be added.

>>14491314
Unnatural is a little extreme for something that's supposed to be detrimental

My name is Brother Captain Theo Maximilian of the Emperor's Nightmares

That is my first thought as I fully realize that I am about to die.

Dieing isn't so bad though, I will miss my comrads, leading them into battle, but at least they are with me now, in my final moments. Here I am, my squad all around me, my friends...my family.

There is Brother Marcus, his paldron still marked by bolt damage, his head is bent....it's alright, I lived well, I die for the Emperor

The chaplain enters my view from the side, he turns to me, his words, my last rites, are but a murmur to my restless mind, he takes my hand in his. Humans don't realize how gentle an Astartes, even in battle plate can be.

I look into his eyes...when did he remove his helmet, I see regret there, that after all my centuries it has come to this.

I look past him at my comrades one final time as his words fade into almost nothing, I slowly draw in one final breath, and I close my eyes.

>>14491341
Thank you. That could help.
Anyway, pose/equipment/activity suggestions welcome, I'll be monitoring this thread as long as it lasts.

>>14491340
The shape would be similar, probably still stocky but not quite as bulky. It is still that same mark of dreadnought after all, just master crafted (in some cases by sleepless techmarines and hot damn that's a cool mental image).

But it would be nimble. I always pictured this coming from the master crafted joints and dextrous hands (not to mention the fucktons of assorted mechadendrite tentacles). It would be able to prop itself up, roll and spin with all these flailing robotic apendages that could cushion falls, adjust its camo cloak and radically change its silhouette in seconds.

That's my thoughts in the icelus mark anyway

>>14491347
the Deterioration tends to happen over decades, but I suppose that the shit Deathwatch gets up to could cause it to increase in it's speed.

the Test should get more difficult as time goes on without them sleeping, along with the Bonuses and Penalties

>>14491371
Well, by the point you're getting those - step three of the Primarch's Curse? - your character is irrevocably fucked, and is only going to get MORE fucked due to the extra daily/weekly insanity ticks. So sure, you may be mechanistically a monster...but you're not going to get to enjoy it for very long.

Here's a scary thought for you, though:

One of two things happens - either the Kill-team is sent out to find what became of a Nightmare Marine during a mission, or one of their own Battle Brothers becomes Sleepless; after months of isolation he has grown maddeningly feral.
Only then could I see any justification for Unnatural Characteristics - when they're used as an Enemy after a long period of degradation.

>>14491409
The initial attack will probably be some minor thing that makes them realize he's just unfit for duty. Nothing like a full on ancient sleepless escape and serial killing. Something tragic as they can tell their longtime brother is no longer in his right mind. Asking them why they've pulled him of the eldar witch, as the shaken librarian stands.

>>14491429
And the thing is, that's completely plausible. Have you read some of the stories people came up with?

http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Sleepless

Sleepless are some scary motherfuckers.

>>14491371
Yeah, Unnatural is a huge boost and becoming Sleepless is supposed to be a bad thing...

+5 Per and Agi for the first five Insanity points in the third level and +10 for the final five but -10 Will and Fel for the first five Insanity points and -20 for the last five points before going utterly insane at 100 Insanity points.

That way you divide the third level into two sub-levels with increasingly severe penalties the closer the Marine comes to flipping out and going on an insomnia fuelled rampage.

>>14491417
I guess you're right. Mechanically Sleepless SHOULD be monsters, monsters who are out only to die gloriously.

so perhaps Unnatural Agility/Perception could work along with constantly increasing insanity points, willpower penalties, and fellowship penalties

>>14491450

It seems like quite a lot of the writefaggotry on the chapter has been about the Sleepless.

They do make for a very interesting point of view.

>>14491363
If we're going to do that we should really touch up the opening two paragraphs of the first section "Fluffy bits"

It was some of the first text written on the wiki, and was just to get everything up there, but as a lead-in to the entire project for someone who knows nothing about it... it's kinda weak. I mean it says important information, but "dreadnoughted"? I mean that's a funny thing to say in a post or a conversation but I think we can phrase things like that better for the wiki.

Those first two paragraphs are important for setting the tone of the chapter to the uninitiated. We should put some work into them.

>>14491378

I am on Raimana IV, I have served in the third company, for 48 years.

We've been here for two weeks, fighting against these traitor marines, curse them to the pits. I raise my bolter to kill a cultist in partial battle plate, clearly a pretender.._-The cultist explodes I, what?, clearly I shot him but..when did....oh

"BROTHER JAROM!!"

"What? Can't you see I'm busy here?"

I rise from my kneeled shooting position, I turn to face Jarom, or Jarr as I call him. He's aiming at a chaos marine with a Marine Portable Lascannon in his hands and a crude metal plate over his torso which, moments later is engulfed in a bolt explosion.

"It's happening!" I shout

Jarom turns, oh no


The world is bluring now, darkness taking the corners of my vision, as Jarom rises to stand over me and guard me, just like we practiced, I see the traitor rise behind him, his Lascannon as leverage...

His MKIII plate held

>>14491468
that just seems like too little of a bonus considering what a drastic change it is supposed to be

>>14491472
That's how I'd do it, yes. By the time you're actually hitting the "what the fuck why does a Space Marine have an AB of 12" point, your character probably only has a few weeks - maybe a few months, tops - left of in-game life left. At that point, your Nightmare can barely differentiate reality and fantasy, talks to himself, claims to be receiving divine revelation directly from the Emperor and the Chapter Master, can barely be trusted with a weapon outside of combat for fear that they may suddenly think one of the Chapter Serfs is actually a Chaos Cultist because the Emperor told them so and why can't you see the eight-pointed star over his eye IT'S RIGHT THERE WHY CAN'T ANY OF YOU SEE IT, and only wants to WHY WON'T YOU LET ME SLEEP LET ME SLEEP LET ME SLEEP THRONE TAKE YOU, APOTHECARY, LET ME *SLEEP*.

When it's gone that far, your choices for that character are narrowed down to "magnificent death atop a mountain of corpses" or "psychotic ravening beast that needs to be put down by fellow Marines for the safety of everybody"

Submission-One revision 1.

ANIMUS SOMNIUS

Level 1 (Entrapments of Conscience): The Battle Brother’s shift between coma and insomnia becomes increasingly erratic. For every point of Fatigue the Nightmare Marine would gain, he gains an additional point.
Level 2 (Through My Eyes, Darkly): When sleep does come, the Battle Brother’s dreams become increasingly unpleasant and surreal. When conscious, the Battle Brother takes a -10 to Perception and Agility Tests, as though half of him were in some other reality while the other half is exhausted.
Level 3 (Sleepless): The Battle Brother suddenly finds himself awake for extensive periods of time. Once per month, he must make a Challenging (+0) Willpower Test; in the event of failure, the Nightmare Marine can now be diagnosed as Sleepless. The Nightmare Marine is no longer able to reduce his Insanity Points below 91, and without prompt attention from his Chapter and its funerary rites, the Battle Brother’s disposition begins to deteriorate at an increasing pace. Each week after failing the initial Willpower Test, the Battle Brother must make a Routine (+20) Willpower Test or gain an Insanity Point; after three months, this Test becomes Challenging (+0); five months after this, it becomes Very Hard (+30). If the Battle Brother should hit 100 Insanity Points, he is removed from play and attacks his Kill-team as a hostile NPC.

Once again, comments wished. I removed the negative to Cohesion as I decided that it was just too much, and I didn't add any interim Characteristic modifiers during the stages of deterioration for Sleeplessness as there is simply not enough space for it to make any difference. You're likely going to gain enough Insanity to be removed from play anyway, even if it's not from this.

>>14491533
Suffice to say that this also makes the Unnatural Perception a bit pointless, because while the Sleepless may have downright frightening powers of awareness, the problem is that the mind that processes said information can only be called "functional" with the utmost charity.

>>14491533
Word to your mother.

>>14491501

I raise my boltgun, too tired, too dark, can't make out the targeter on my visor, need to resort to the iron sights...

I take aim, pointing at the center of his torso, years of training, practice with these iron sights that the others called me paranoid for coming back to me. An expert shot I could make a kill from twice my weapons range. As darkness closes in so that I can only see the sight and the torso plate I aim center of mass.

I blow his left arm off

The traitor falls backwards and darkness claims my sight, sounds muffle, my knees start to buckle as what seems like centuries of exhaustion take hold of me, darkness may claim me, but I have done my duty.

>>14491547
Only problem with the Insanity Point accrual is if the campaign is a long-term one and you don't want to write him out because there happened to be a timeskip.
Then again, I guess if you have a Nightmare Apothecary on hand to tend to him, you can reason that his decay was stabilized.

>>14491549
Yeah, but though he may keep telling you there's a Grot drawing rude pictures over your Chapter iconography, he's also the one that spotted the Eldar Ranger sixty feet up in a tree from four miles away... Being paranoid couples really well with tweaked out senses.

>>14491547
Now, for level 2, the -10 Perception, I'm not sure about. Their hyperacuity is sharper than ever going Sleepless.

Maybe have him roll for things that aren't there once per mission. He can hallucinate events, enemies, traps, allies, cover that doesn't exist. Anything.
And along with that, anything that harms with eye contact or extended viewing is more effective because he just gets every little detail of it with a glance and it hurts to look at. He sees every impossible fractal in a mind-bending chaos portal, and his brain rebels.

>>14491583
The Level 3 Primarch's Curse still sticks out to me as a sort of terminal cancer, and so-far what I've done to it for the Emperor's Nightmares is an express-ticket to vast quantities of heresy and death.
I would be a bad GM to not give my players a chance to avoid being taken to the extreme which is required for that final level.

And all this talk about levels is reminding me of Zardoz.

>>14491585
which is funny, because it prompts the chapter to investigate any of the claims of the sleepless, no matter how ridiculous they might sound, because they might just actually be true.

I like that weird juxtaposition of "something not to take seriously" and "something to take really, really seriously" that the sleepless have going on.

>>14491501

LIGHT, SOUND, TOUCH,

My senses are overwhelmed, my knees are still in the course of buckling, my grip on my bolter still loosening. This moment of clear consciousness before true sleep, it happens to many marines, humans too or so I've heard, just one moment before you pass out completely. I see the world, Brother Jarom running towards me, the sunset behind him lighting up a burning vehicle, a fighting dreadnought a...a traitor with a lascannon!

Back lit by the red setting sun I watch as the one armed traitor marine regains his ballance and not so much lifts as throws his lascannon up one handed. He sweeps it wildly towards Jarom, throwing his whole body into the motion...

I need to shoot him again, I try to aim down my sights, to pull the trigger, to....to.......to...........

My hands tighten on the gun and I collapse to the ground.

Well now I want to play a Deathwatch game as one of these guys. Love you /tg/.

>>14491598
not at that point though, at the level two point he's still at the stage of insomnia where he's actually tired, hence the penalty. the Tiredness stops when he gets to Tier 3

>>14491638
Not to advertise or anything, but...

>>14489808

>>14491660
Oh hey, it's one of those Grey Knight scrubs who are super jelly of the Nightmares because the boys in purple get to fight Daemons more often

>>14491653
Ah, that is one caveat I suppose I should make, as the rules for Primarch's Curse levels are cumulative.

Submission-One revision 2:

ANIMUS SOMNIUS

Level 1 (Entrapments of Conscience): The Battle Brother’s shift between coma and insomnia becomes increasingly erratic. For every point of Fatigue the Nightmare Marine would gain, he gains an additional point.
Level 2 (Through My Eyes, Darkly): When sleep does come, the Battle Brother’s dreams become increasingly unpleasant and surreal. When conscious, the Battle Brother takes a -10 to Perception and Agility Tests, as though half of him were in some other reality while the other half is exhausted.
Level 3 (Sleepless): The Battle Brother suddenly finds himself awake for extensive periods of time. Once per month, he must make a Challenging (+0) Willpower Test; in the event of failure, the Nightmare Marine can now be diagnosed as Sleepless. The Nightmare Marine no longer takes penalties to Perception and Agility from the effects of the Primarch’s Curse, he is no longer able to reduce his Insanity Points below 91, and without prompt attention from his Chapter and its funerary rites, the Battle Brother’s disposition begins to deteriorate at an increasing pace. Each week after failing the initial Willpower Test, the Battle Brother must make a Routine (+20) Willpower Test or gain an Insanity Point; after three months, this Test becomes Challenging (+0); five months after this, it becomes Very Hard (+30). If the Battle Brother should hit 100 Insanity Points, he is removed from play and attacks his Kill-team as a hostile NPC.

>>14491674
Agh. No, fuck. The Nightmare THINK that they're fighting daemons while they sleep. Are they actually? Fuck if I know. Maybe the Librarians know. Maybe they don't and they're just going along with it. Nobody's going to believe your ravings of "GUYS I TOTALLY DEFEATED A LORD OF CHANGE DURING THAT LAST NAP", anyway.

>>14491681
They sorta kinda fight off Daemons in their sleep if they're psychically sensitive enough, but they're in a weakened form. They're still not strong enough to go mano a mano with Greater Daemons. Probably.

Also, their Chapter Cult involves the Emperor as a Dreamer who they hope they'll see when they fight. So other chapters think they're kinda crazy. Not exactly a difficult conclusion to make.

>>14491681
We can only assume that the Dreamers are actually fighting Daemons

>>14491674
Interesting. How would the Grey Knights react to he Emperor's Nightmares?

>>14491696
"Right. You fight Daemons in your dreams. Yeah, I got you."

"No, we totally do! Our Librarians can do that because we get help from the Scholastica Psykana! Really!"

"Yeah, I'm gonna, go...over there somwhere."

>>14491692
except that story where the Dreamer actually DOES fight daemons

and that other story where they have a psychic-manifestation Monastery in the Dreamlands that occasionally comes under siege

>>14491628

I've served the Emperor as a Marine for exactly 748 years, and for the last 700 I have missed brother Jerom, he was cut in two by a lascannon strike and I could do nothing to save him.

Now I'm on Martain II, I'm a Captain now, and we're here to support some Blood Angels, we're a relative stones throw away from their home world and we've been helping clean up after their incredible stand in their chapter's darkest hour.

I'm standing with a squad of my brothers, I moved away from my command squad when I heard reports of chaos marines popping up, just when I thought we'd cleaned this world of one kind of filth another shows up.

I'm overdue rest by more than four months and my apothecaries are getting worried, to be honest so am I. I haven't felt tired in the slightest, in fact I'm jumpy and energetic.

I see a number of humans charging me, civilians mostly, they look scared, wait their not charging they're fleeing. As I watch a beast of some kind, easily waist high on me leaps a good three meters into the air to come down on a human woman as she runs past my legs...I spin in a way that my teachers would have called stupid and kick the thing out of the air.

I stumble.. maybe the teacher would be right afterall, righting myself I finish the beast, some kind of giant cat, and turn at the sound of plasma bursts.

To my left are massive figures, clearly chaos marines, two with plasma cannons and one.....with a lascannon.

One marine stands between me and them, he's aiming at the plasma on the right, I take the left, but I almost miss as my vision darkens.....oh emperor, not now

Also, this struck me as a bit odd: consider changing the rules for the Blindfold of the Ebon Sight from what they are on 1d4chan to...

Blindfold of the Ebon Sight
The marine may don his blindfold (helmet must be removed) and place himself in a meditative state, doing so will allow him to reduce his battle fatigue by 1 point every 30 mins. While in this state marine cannot make Perception Tests which require the use of his eyes.

>>14491692
>>14491681
There's definitely some evidence of dreamers fighting actual daemons though. Plenty of it is weird legends that alienate them from other Imperial Agents because of their presumption to have direct interaction with the Emperor.

Pretty much just the librarians and the dreamers,who have psychic potential, are the only ones who are going to be doing something while they're asleep. Like that poltergeist dreadnought at the chapter keep or the librarian dream spies.

I do think that while we should fluff this out further, we should keep it mysterious. We definitely shouldn't be confirming that they fight daemons alongside the Emperor but hey, plenty of the Nightmares insist they're telling the truth and are YOU going to argue with an eight foot tall living tank?

>>14491721
Oh wait. That doesn't quite make sense either.

Lazerus stalked through the darkened forest, keeping low, black laquered bolter clutched close to his armoured chest. Behind him, though he could not hear it, he knew his men were formed upon either side of him, each careful, each straining their enhanced senses to the limit. A status report was unnecessary, as radio silence had to be maintained...Their prey could probably hear something like vox static, even within the dark purple helmets of the Nightmares.

Every tree seemed to shake, like an attacker concealing themselves. Every rustle and sigh of wind around them felt like the jaws of some perfectly slulpted ambush. It was maddening, the very reason why only the best Secundus operatives were selected for the elite search and destroy squads designated only as "The Tribunal". Lazerus' armour stood out amongst the darkness of Secundus' colours, a stoney grey livelry adorning the suit with the bronze decorations upon his helmet, the signature of the Night Owls.

They had been creeping through the deserted forest for several hours now, feeling their way through the moonless night with a resigned determination, and a weight in their gut. One of their dreamless brethren, Sergeant Elistav of the third company, had broken free from his bonds and taken refuge upon this planet some three months ago. He had slaughtered whole towns, believing them to be enemy outposts in his lunacy, and now the planetary capital had started suffering losses from the madman. It had to stop, and for that The Tribunal was necessary.

It then dawned on Lazerus that it had been more than just a few hours since they began. Though the darkness and the strain of the task swallowed the time, it must have been at least six hours. frowning and standing up straight, he turned to signal to his men.

>>14491716

I shoot at the Plasma cannon on the left, I hit his weapon which explodes in a blinding flash, my filters brighten and for a moment I am so relieved I almost forget to move on the the lascannon traitor in the center.

I turn my weapon on him and try to blink away the darkness...what, oh no, it wasn't just my filters. I aim and shoot as the lascannon fires, tearing off the arm of the marine in front of me, he falls to his knees.

I fire once and the shot goes wide as I stumble forwards, and darkness takes me

I jerk awake, everything too loud and too bright, I aim again as I tilt over backwards....I....I........I
...
.....I......

>>14491755
Darkness greeted him. His squadmates were nowhere to be seen. How was that possible, if there had been battle he would have heard it, and they were Secundus operatives, getting lost was hardly a problem. His close cropped hair stood on end as he glanced around the area. It was all the same, tall, branchless trees and cloying blackness surrounded the Night Owl. Cursing inwardly, he shouldered his boltgun while he made to retrieve his signal flare.

The next thing he felt was pain. Something battered into Lazerus' side with the force of a hurricane, lifting the Astartes clean off his feet and slamming into a tree hard. Before he could even cry out in pain his assailant was upon him, a ragged giant of a man, throwing a maddened flurry of strikes which Lazerus felt even behind the protection of his power armour. Growling, he tried to punch at his attacker, but to his dismay the attacker melted before him, stepping out of the way of the strike with a grace unheard of for something of his stature. This was what he had come to hunt. This was the most dangerous prey, from all the many hundreds of battles Lazerus had participated in, the rogue sleepless were the one he found it hard to kill...Emotionally and physically.

He felt his helmet clasps being tugged off, and his autosenses vanished as it was tugged off and thrown contemptuously aside. Blow after blow landed, numbing Lazerus with their intensity and speed, he dropped, even his engineered constitution failing against this madman. Ceasing his assault, Elistav stepped back and folded his arms. His gaze was contemptuous as it was insane, merely the shell of the noble Sergeant he had been, fouled by mania and his Chapter's own curse.

Well, that's all for me tonight. If discussion continues, we should probably move to a new thread soon. We should hit auto-sage in a few more posts anyway.

>>14491761

"You should have brought an army, traitorous filth. I will see this world cleansed of your taint or die trying!" Lurching forward Lazerus tried to sink his combat knife into his enemy's thigh, but the Sleepless had seen his arm tense before he had even moved and once more Lazerus was on his back reeling from a quicksilver kick to the face. Elistav sneered, placing his boot on his would-be hunter's neck.

"For the Emperor and for Icelus I sign your death warrant, mongrel. May you never reach your blasphemous gods." Raising his foot, he tosses his head back and laughed. It was a deranged giggle more than anything, a mirror to a mind ravaged by the darkness of waking life for too long.

"May the Emperor have Mercy on your soul, Dreamless One." With a roar the muzzle of his bolt pistol spoke, the rocket propelled shell embedding itself in Elistav's chest. He froze, looking momentarily dazed and confused. Then he fell.

Lurching to his feet, Lazerus pointed the pistol at his prey's face. The Sleepless squirmed on the ground, hands upon the ruin of his chest, his eyes wide and...Peaceful

"...Thank you, Brother...Do it. Grant me my rest and let me be done with this mockery of a life." With a grim nod Lazerus took a deep breath. steeling his trigger finger.

"Dream, Brother Elistav..." Then he pulled the trigger. Not once, not twice, the barrel spoke until the pistol's clip clicked empty. You could never be too sure with Sleepless.

"Dream..."

>>14491705
"Nobody believes me! Why doesn't anybody believe me?"

"When was the last time you slept again?"

"Five months, two weeks, three days, seventeen hours, thirty-two minutes and eleven seconds, why?"

"Oh, nothing, just asking..."

"Are you making fun of me? I know the others talk about me behind my back, I can hear them sometimes, they say unkind things about my hair..."

"No, no, what would make you think that?"

*The Emperors Nightmare marine mutters darkly to himself* "... but I'll show them, I'll show them all..."

"What was that, brother?"

"Nothing, nothing at all... I've gotta run, I can hear Watch-Captain Ulfrik asking for me." *Eyes darting left and right, the Emperors Nightmare marine takes off in a spring*

"But... Watch-Captain Ulfrik has been dead for over twenty years now..."

>>14491760

I REFUSE!!!!

The world snaps back into focus as I fall to a knee to regain my balance wrenching my helmet off as I do so. I aim down the sights, I fire once, catching the traitor in the gut, he stumbles, but he's in MK III armor just like the one.....

I fire again, I catch him in the chest and he staggers, I rise to my feet and I march towards him

I fire again as I pass my one armed comrad

I fire again as I pass his lascannon, dropped as he retreats

I fire again....
Click

My gun is empty......

The traitor rises, his armor covered in crators as I draw my chainsword, he manages to bat my sword away before I can use it...then i punch him.

I punch him again

and again
and again and again and again and again and again

I beat his fixed, grilled helmet to scrap
I beat his skull into red goo, and then I beat his armor till my gauntlet is a wreck and nothing remains of his head but liquid leaking through my gauntlet and onto my hand.

This thread (and its awesome ongoing writefaggotry) is archived right?

someone wanna start a new thread now?

>>14491859

>>14491925

>>14491833

Since that day on Martain II I havn't had a moment of sleep, it's been a year and a half.

I open my eyes, I am dead

Sleepless from this day onward I am an instrument of the Emperor in a whole new way, a walking corpse waiting to finally taste the rest of death....
I saw the Emperor once, though nobody believes me, in a dream as I fought against the beasts of chaos.

I turned to see a bright light and I moved towards it, I threw myself into battle against his enemies and when they were all smote I looked to him, I asked him where he was going, if he would ever return.

He said nothing and as I watched that light shrank, a grand golden storm roiling towards me as the now tiny light fled, it touched my soul for a single instant and then I knew.

The Emperor is the most restless of all, his power battles for us always, but his mind, his soul, his heart of hearts carries in it a great pain, hurt by some regret, something he could have stopped, he would give anything to correct....I knew this in that moment of contact.

And then I awoke.

And I never slept again.

>>14491968

Only my second attempt at writefaggotry, what do you think?

>>14491990

Works. New thread this way, though.
>>14491925