#Imperium Military

[madamshogunassassin]

Warhammer artwork Lion El’Jonson by Paul Dainton

[knightofdeer]

Also when I added tags about Russian Orthodox Church declaring a crusade against "the satanic nature of Western globalizm" I meant personal statements of the patriarch, but apparently now it's literally part of the doctrine lol.

Also it expectedly restates conservative bullshit and talks about "the need to protect the interests of indigenous population from migrants", indigenous population in question being Russian settlers.

So like, is Russia doing anti-imperialism?

[askmalal]

Further thoughts on 11th Legion Lore, for those with an interest in such things, from the Mortal Scribe(tm). More for A’s ongoing work on the project and how to think of it conceptually, but they note that some of you also seem to be interested in this sort of thing:.

Operational Organization of Legio XI (Dust Raisers):

According to the official “timeline,” the fourth Primarch to be rediscovered seems to have been either the 2nd or the 11th, while the other Lost Primarch was discovered relatively late (third or penultimate to last.)

If we assume that the more recent books and stories are accurate (no story bible) Corvus Corax took part in the Crusade for at least a century, or right around that much, and Corax was the last to be rediscovered (as opposed to the original timeline, which says Alpharius was the last) we can assume the second of the Lost Primarchs was probably active from about late Middle to early Late Crusade. Oddly, Russ seems to have been involved in discovery of both.

For my purposes, I assume the 11th was the formermost, rather than the latter, which accounts for most of the Primarchs having knowledge of him (or her, if you prefer.)

At the apex of its growth, the 11th Legion consisted of approximately 63,500 combatant, divided into eleven Companies, divided between four Great Companies. This makes them among the smallest of the Legions - larger than the Thousand Sons and smaller than the Raven Guard prior to Gate 16. The 11th took part in the Unification and the Early Great Crusade prior to the rediscovery of their Primarch.

The Legion was organized initially into three Great Companies or “Ibutho”, each comprised of four Companies, or “Iviyo.” The Primarch expanded the size of each Company (stabilized gene-seed, larger abundance of recruits) and increased the number of Great Companies from three to four.

Although Pariah System was colonized by Afrik and Hibernian families, the Terran Legion was drawn almost exclusively from cultures with strong reputation for navigation: this was predominantly then comprised of Sud-Afrik and Ost-Afrik Legionaries. As such, when elements of the Primarch’s local forces were inducted into the Eleventh, they were actually more familiar with Hibernian terminology flavored with Afrik cultural influences. This means that the recruits got on well with the veterans but were initially unfamiliar with the Terran organizational terms.

As such, the Primarch chose to reorganize with terminology that would allow for a smooth integration. The Ibuthos were redesignated “Musters” (a literal translation of the word), whilst the Iviyos were redesignated “Warbands” (the meaning of ‘Iviyo’ can be read as ‘Regiment’ or ‘Warband’.) For the Parians, who were mostly familiar with a system of “Scaitha” (Regiments,) this helped to ease transition, while minimizing issues for the veteran Terrans.

Each of the four Musters were now comprised of three Warbands. Warbands were numbered sequentially. 1st-3rd Companies were part of 1st Muster, 4th-6th part of 2nd, etc. For tactical purposes, the Musters were assigned High Gothic numerals and color codes. Color meant very little to most 11th Legionaries, as most developed rod-monochromatism upon implantation of the modified Occulobe, but they were necessary for tactical integration with the remainder of Imperial forces, while numerals were useful for those in the Legion with no color sight.

The Warbands, meanwhile, had often been given nicknames by the Terran veterans. They were encouraged to keep these names, and after about three decades of fighting together, the companies each had cognomen based upon Afro-Hibernian traditions.

Colors and numbers were displayed on right knee, with optics matching Muster number. Helmet crests were usually black.

Muster I (Red)

1st. “Horned Vipers” (Red)

2nd. “Washers of Spears” (Red/White)

3rd. “Red Caps” (White/Red)

Muster II (Yellow)

4th. “Bees” (Yellow)

5th. “Earth Shakers” (Yellow/White)

6th. “Hellfighters” (White/Yellow)

Muster III (Black)

7th. “Sluagh” (Black)

8th. “Reavers” (Black/White)

9th. “Man Eaters” (White/Black)

Muster IV (Green)

10th: “Wild Hunt” (Green)

11th. “Sons of the Shuk” (Green/White)

12th. “Warp Phantoms” (White/Green)

Unlike many of the other legions, Legio XI did not concentrate its most veteran formations in 1st Company (Warband) and a Company’s number did not indicate seniority or prominence. From the standpoint of experience, IV Muster’s three Warbands held an arguably high concentration of both long time veterans and new rankers.

10th Warband was fleet based. It was comprised of a heavy concentration of Legion cavalry and reconnaissance units, along with at least one third of the Legion’s air assets. Most of the attached Questoris and Titan assets could also be found here, for operational purposes. As such, 10th Warband was often sectioned in detachments to support the other Companies.

11th Warband was one of two “Reserve” Warbands, and was the theoretical home formation for the Primarch, his retinue, and most of the Legion’s super-heavy assets. The inner circle of the Legion’s interred (Dreadnoughts) could also be found here. The Legion Forge was headquartered here

12th Warband was the second “Reserve” Warband. It was oversized, consisting of the garrisons of the Pariah System, the training cohorts, and the Apothecarion Primus. For unknown reasons, the senior most Legionary Psykers (the Caith-Sidhe) were attached to the 12th.

Finally, the typical pattern in each Muster was to feature two ‘Light’ Warbands and one ‘Heavy’ Warband, though this was reversed in the 4th Muster.

A “Light” Warband featured two units of foot or cavalry for every one unit of armor, with a supporting unit of artillery. A “Heavy” Warband featured two units of armor for every unit of infantry or cavalry, with two units of supporting artillery.

Terminators were available to all formations. With the exception of Nullificators (pioneered by the 11th,) who were equipped with Cataphractii or Saturnine Pattern armor, the vast majority were equipped with Tartaros armor. The 11th did not officially use Indomitus pattern, which had not been developed by the time of Rangdan.

[kathaynesart]

REPLICA PLAYLIST

MUSIC UNDER CUT

I have been receiving requests for any songs that inspired Replica, so here, have my personal playlist. Sorry it’s not Spotify/Soundcloud but they don’t have some of these songs available so uh… guess you’re stuck with YouTube vids. For fun I'll include my personal titles for them (which might give a few hints of what to expect in the future/end).

Replica Main Theme - “Die for You” by Grabbitz Like Father Like Son Like Brother (Omega and Shelldon) - "As Above So Below" by Alistair Lindsay Mikey's Theme / The 1st Vision - "Suzume no Tojimari" by Nanoka Hara Military (Mad) Dogs / Central Park Colony - "Imperium" by Madeon Shanghai - "Icarus" by Madeon Boom Goes the Donnie-mite (Mikey/Donnie vs the Sweeper) - "The Red Zone" by Mitsuoto Suzuki The Day the Sky Bled Red - "7 Seconds Till the End" by Nobuo Uematsu Going Out Like a Boss (Raph and Leo) - "Agape" by Nicholas Britell Remembering the Right Way (Mikey and Leo) - "The Souls of Many" - by Alistair Lindsay Mystic Hands / The 2nd Vision - "Am I Dreaming" by Metro Boomin x A$AP Book 2 Trailer - "Sea Dragon" by Covet 7 Years Later - "Iron" by Woodkid Leo's Theme / Attack on the Labor Camp - "Ego Death" by Polyphia Omega's Theme - "Touch" by Daft Punk Flat Lines (Omega Alone) - "Die Toteninsel Emptiness" by 1000 Eyes Spear - "Monsters" by Tommee Profitt Final Protocol - "The Kraken" by Katie Dey Rise / Epilogue - "Close in the Distance" by Masayoshi Soken & Tom Mills

I will admit, it's a little embarrassing since you can easily see the patterns of what I've been listening to for the past year or two. I swear I listen to more than just videogame OSTs, these songs just jive well with the story and I often find lyrics distracting when brainstorming scenes. Regardless, the music I listen to is such an important part of my creative process and some of these songs really defined the scenes I now have locked in my head. So I figured it was only fair to give them the credit they're due.

I will continue to add to this playlist, and will note in comic updates when one of these songs is applicable!

[mother-chorizo]

One aspect of the story of Dune that the movies don't make super clear is that, before Paul, the Fremen already had a central leader figure in Liet Kynes. In the book, Kynes has a generations-long plan to gather enough water to transform the environment of Dune (this is why the Fremen have those big pools, they never get super clear about that), then retake the planet for the Fremen and create paradise. Paul showing up and then leaning into the whole Lisan al-Gaib bit pretty much directly gets Kynes killed, creating a power vacuum into which he assumes himself with the aid of his previously-unheard-of levels of white privilege. While Kynes was an ecologist, however, Paul comes from a family of colonial military aristocrats. All Paul can offer the Fremen is all he understands: revenge. Bloody revenge for everything they've endured in centuries of oppression by the Imperium, temporarily in line with the revenge he craves for the Imperium's attempts to control him and his family, and spiritually in line with the resentment built up all across this socially stagnant feudal space empire.

[imperiumallaboveall]

Watch "Sum of opposite sides of a quadrilateral circumscribing a circle is equal. Proof" on YouTube

Pacific rim package landing and water plus v a and whatever free fall ? ? ! ? @ #

#jarvis ai @jarvisation-blog tea leafs @imperiumwife potential.

[krynos1]

The Imperium's Social Hierarchy

At the very top of the hierarchy lies the emperor and his court. The emperor has ultimate power, controlling every aspect of the imperium. Below the emperor come the 12 major families. While these families are very powerful, they are still subservient to the emperor’s will. Members of the families can be found in the most powerful government and military positions. They control the economy, choosing which goods are available to who and how much they cost. These families have control over many sectors of imperial space, handling the day-to-day administration and upholding the emperor’s will.

Below this comes the middle-class. While small, the middle-class is essential to the imperium. They work as low-level government bureaucrats, corporate functionaries, and any other white-collar jobs. 

At the very bottom lies the lower-class. The majority of the imperium’s population fits into this category. The lower-class is viewed as an expendable resource by the upper-class and is treated as such. They work in factories and mines, often in unsafe conditions. Living conditions vary greatly throughout the imperium. In the city worlds, space is very valuable, and entire families are crammed into tiny apartments. In the outer territories and colonies, living conditions are often better and more space can be afforded to each family.

[vigilskeep]

the basics of tevinter politics and social classes, as laid out in world of thedas and a little elsewhere

the archon is the supreme ruler of the imperium. their authority and magical power is believed to be divinely granted. they choose their successors before they die, so they are usually the sons, nephews, brothers, cousins, or apprentices of previous archons. (this phrasing implies that, like the black divine, the archon is always a man, and certainly the several named ones we know all are, but i’m not sure if this is necessarily always true.) if an archon does not choose his heir before he dies, the magisterium elects the next; these candidates cannot be magisters or hold rank in the chantry. technically the archon can overrule the laws passed by the magisterium, but he rarely does this. his power mostly stems from families vying for his favour, as he has the unique power to appoint magisters at will. a man named radonis is the current archon; he’s appeared in comics and a war table mission.

the magisterium are the mage elites who regularly gather to govern the imperium and pass laws. magisters become magisters in several ways:

one is chosen from each of tevinter’s seven circles of magi. it cannot be that circle’s first enchanter

the imperial divine and every grand cleric of the imperial chantry gets a seat

magisters can inherit seats

as i mentioned, the archon has the right to appoint any new magister if he chooses

tevinter society breaks down into four major social classes.

the first mage class is the altus class. these are descended from the original “Dreamers”, through ancient and wealthy magical bloodlines. most magisters come from altus families. characters like dorian and danarius belong to this class.

other mages belong to the laetan class. these are mages who cannot trace their ancestry to the dreamers, and may belong to families with no history of magic at all. many vie for power despite their origins, and one third of the imperium’s archons have been laetans. (the first laetan to rise to archon was such an outrage it caused a seventy year civil war, but that was, like, 1500 years ago-ish. they’re more chill about it now.) it feels safe to assume that neve gallus, who says in tevinter nights that she doesn’t feel at home in a wealthy estate because she has more templars in her family than mages, probably belongs to this class.

the soporati are non-mages who are still full tevinter citizens. they are allowed to own property and serve in the military, but they cannot have a direct say in government or rise above the rank of mother/father in the chantry. they can however be civil servants and merchants. a mage born to a soporati family is instantly a laetan.

slaves are not allowed to own property, or to hold military rank even when armed and serving as a personal soldier or bodyguard. they have become a more even mix of humans and elves since andraste’s time. mages can be slaves. if a slave is set free, either by their living owner before a judge or by their owner’s will upon their death, they are considered liberati. liberati are still not citizens and cannot have political say or hold military rank, but they can join a circle of magi, get an apprenticeship in a trade, take apprentices themselves, and own property. fenris was a slave, while his sister varania was implied to have become one of the liberati.

there is also a large surface dwarf population in tevinter. they are not considered citizens, but instead regarded as foreign dignitaries however many generations their families have lived in tevinter. they have large embassies in every major tevinter city, which at least in minrathous, neromenian, and qarinus are completely subterranean, meaning residents can retain their dwarven caste and may never come above ground all their lives. minrathous’ close ties to the dwarves mean it even has a massive proving grounds, as well as enormous stone golems known as juggernauts to guard the city gates. more than anywhere else in thedas, the dwarves do get a political say, with an elected body of representatives called the ambassadoria who advise the archon and the magisterium. it’s the imperium’s reliance on lyrium which gives them this kind of sway.

[uncleclaudius]

The Lyon Tablet, a transcript of the speech Emperor Claudius had given in the Senate in 48 AD, arguing for the admission of senators from Gaul.

1. I should say at the outset that I reject the first thought that will, I am sure, be the very first thing to stand in my way: namely that you will recoil from my suggestion as though I were introducing some revolutionary innovation.  Think, instead, of how many changes have taken place over the years in this state and how many forms and constitutions our state has had, from the time of its very foundation.

2. At one time this city was held by kings, though they did not pass it along to successors from their own families. People from other families came to the throne and even some foreigners.  Numa, for example, succeded Romulus, and was a Sabine; that made him a neighbor, certainly, but at the time he was also a foreigner. Another example is Tarquinius Priscus, who succeded Ancus Marcius: because of his impure blood--his father was the Corinthian Demaratus and his mother was from Tarquinii, to Tarquinius Priscus supposedly had a Greek father and an Etruscan mother. And though well-born she was very poor, which is why she was forced to marry such a husband.--Tarquinius was kept from positions of honor in his own land and thus emigrated to Rome, where he became king.  Between Tarquinius and either his son or his grandson (for our authorities disagree on this point) there came Servius Tullius.  And according to the Roman sources Servius Tullius had as a mother a prisoner of war, Ocresia; according to the Etruscans he had been the faithful companion of Caelius Vivenna and took part in his adventures, and later, when he was driven out by a change of fortune, he left Etruria with all the suriving troops of Caelius and seized the Caeliian hill, which thus takes its name from his leader Caelius, and after changing his name (for his Etruscan name was Mastarna) he was given the name I have already mentioned, and became king, to the very great advantage of the state. Then, after the behavior of Tarquinius Superbus came to be hated by our city--and not only his behavior but that of his sons--the people obviously became tired of monarchy, and the administration of state was transferred to the consuls, who were annual magistates.

3. Why need I mention the dictatorship--more powerful even than the consulship--which was what our ancestors came up with when wars were particularly hard or there was serious civil disturbance?  Or why need I mention the the creation of tribunes of the plebs, to provide assistance for the plebs?  Why mention transfer of imperium from consuls to the decemviri, and at the end of the reign of the decemviri the return of imperium back to the consuls?  Why mention the distribution of the consular power to multiple recipients, called tribunes of the soldiers with consular power, who were first six and then eight in number?  Why should I mention the fact that offices that were once patrician ones were shared eventually with the plebeians, religious ones as well as military?

4. If I were to tell of the wars, which our ancestors started with and which have continued down to the present day, I fear that I would appear too boastful, and look as though I wanted to boast about my glory in extending the empire beyond the Ocean.  But let me instead return to my original point.  Citizenship can ... [some text is lost here]

[column II]

5. Certainly it was a new thing when my great-uncle Augustus and my uncle Tiberius decided to admit into this Senate house the flower of the coloniae and the cities from all over the empire--all of them good and wealthy men of course.  But, you may say, is not an Italian senator more useful than a provincial one?  When I start explaining this aspect of my censorship I will reveal what I think about that.   But certainly I  think that provincials should not be rejected, as long as they will be a credit to the Senate.

6. Behold that most glorious and flourishing colony of Vienne: how long has it provided senators for this chamber?  From Vienne comes an ornament of the equestrian order with few equals, Lucius Vestinus, whom I esteem greatly and retain even now in my service.   May his children, I beseech you, enjoy priesthoods of the first rank, and after that, in the years to come, may they proceed to further honors.  (I will not utter the dire name of that brigand—I detest him, that monster of the wrestling-ring—or the fact that he acquired the consulship for his family before his colony had ever obtained the solid benefit of the Roman citizenship.  And I could say the same thing about his brother, who suffered a pathetic and fate, and was thus no use to you as a senator.)

7. It is time now, Tiberius Caesar Germanicus, to reveal to the senators where your speech is headed; for you have already come to the extreme limits of Gallia Narbonensis.

8. Consider all the distinguished young men I see before me: the fact that they are senators should cause no more regret than that felt by Persicus--a most distinguished man and a friend of mine--when he reads the name Allobrogicus among the images of his ancestors.  And if you agree that this is true, what should I not also point out to you that the land beyond Gallia Narbonensis already sends you senators?  We do not, after all, regret that we have men in the senate from Lugdunum.

9. I was somewhat hesitant, senators, about leaving the boundaries of provinces that were well known to you, but now I must make the case for Gallia Comata with some seriousness.  If anyone concentrates on the fact that the Gauls resisted the divine Julius in war for ten years, he should consider that they have also been loyal and trustworthy for a hundred years, and had this loyalty tried to the utmost when we were in danger.  They it was who provided my father Drusus with secure internal peace when he was conquering Germany, even though he was summoned to the war while in the middle of a census, which was then a new and strange business for the Gauls.  And we know from our own experience how difficult the census can be, even though for us it involves nothing more than the public recording of our resources. (tr. E. M. Smallwood)

[cursed-40k-thoughts]

Yo what the hell is necromunda's whole deal?

It's a hive world that specialises in the production of munitions for the Imperial Guard. It also supplies the Imperium with a lot of troops and acts as a large trade hub.

There's honestly nothing overly weird about it, which is the funny part. Sure, it has an insane crime rate and huge gangs. It has genestealers. It has corrupt nobles and an absolutely brutal military police force. It's been utterly destroyed for the sake of harvesting resources. Space Marines like to recruit from it because of the gang violence. Many hive worlds have a combination of some or all of these things. Necromunda just ends up with access to more money/resources/leeway due to the scale with which it supplies the Imperium.

The reason it's a blasted wasteland outside of the cities is twofold. Yeah, it was attacked by xenos at some point and badly damaged, but it also pumps out such an insane amount of particulates and pollution that the whole planet is beyond fucked, environmentally speaking. The planet has two types of season, which boil down to "ash season" and "fire season".

So yeah. Its "whole deal" is really just that it's one of the more successful hive worlds and we're given a more comprehensive look at it due to it being the focal point of a game.

[triluvial]

Reader married Feyd during wartime. The first thing to dry up on Geidi Prime is the imported food. People are panicking about their planets being turned to dust or glass and are hoarding all the food they make. The Harkonnens are in deep trouble, no one in interested in money that may be worthless in a year if the Emperor is deposed.

Reader's planet is one of the only ones with the trifecta of: a comfortable surplus of food, a deep paranoia about their current lack of military and a spare daughter.

The Atreides are great warriors, not just the royal family but their guards and trainers too. The physical security Feyd is bringing to the table is important but not rare. There are 157 Great Houses of the Imperium, and almost all of them have a military of their own.

Reader is the one with the political power.

[yuri-alexseygaybitch]

Mass Effect can't even be accurately described as "liberal" tbh since the intergalactic society it depicts isn't even remotely democratic even in liberal-bourgeoisie terms. It's literally a triumvirate (latter quadrumvirate) dictatorship that relies on a secret police with total supralegal autonomy and an explicitly fascist empire's (the turians) military for enforcement, which arbitrarily decides which species are "important" enough to be given diplomatic representation and has conducted at least two near-complete genocides in its history. The writing pretty much always lands on the side of "what the galaxy really needs is some tough, martial military/police types to cut through what little bureaucracy and political representation there is to Get Things Done." It's straight up Imperium of Man-levels of dystopian and the game doesn't even seem to comprehend it really. The most "liberal" thing about the games are their upholding of the insanely fucked up status quo as the "best" option for you go take.

[apas-95]

the fun thing about lancer is it does read so well as diagetic union propaganda, but depsite it all, that's not the reality - the reason why the authors keep writing in slavery, and people born into servitude on corporate-owned mining planets, and corporations being allowed to declare war on entire worlds while the state's military sits on the sidelines as a referee to make sure they're not violating laws of war while glassing planets, somehow isn't that it's a masterful satire, it's just the level of cognitive dissonance that manifests when social democrats try to articulate their utopia - it's the Imperium of Man but with hillary stickers on it, simultaneously declaring post-scarcity in the core, before going on to describe the harsh resource extraction that facilitates it. the supposed revolution against the tyrannical core government wasn't one carried out by the people they oppress, it was from the core itself - more than just socdem fantasy, the best they could imagine was a coup, one which replaced direct state oppression of the periphery with privatised, corporate oppression, one that lets them pretend that the inherent violence in the system is actually the result of the barbaric outlanders not all simply being enlightened enough to decide to become post-scarcity Democracies like them, even while their resources prop up the core worlds' "utopia in the making". it reads as propaganda for a repressive, neocolonial empire because it's written by people who do support a repressive, neocolonial empire, in their own world. they can't stop from contradicting themselves, because their ideas about the world are contradictory.

[remembrancer-of-heresy]

The thirst to subjugate (Part 1)

Summary: You have a remarkable ability to notice details. This is what fascinated Corvus. And what intrigued Alpharius and Omegon.

Corvus Corax/fem!Reader, Alpharius and Omegon/fem!Reader

Warnings: yandere, possessive behavior, manipulation, power imbalance

Word count: 1238

Song: Hatari, CYBER - Hlauptu

The translation of the song is just... One yandere is scary as hell. But two yeanderes is death

You smiled at him. Soft and gentle, as if he were not a primarch. He did not fight with xenos and other creatures, subordinating systems to the Imperium. No, you saw an ordinary person in Corvus when you asked if he needed anything else besides dinner. The serfs on board were quiet and could not take such liberties around the primarch.

"No. Why do you ask?"

Your eyes widen in surprise and your lips purse into a thin line. There is a distinct blush on the cheeks. You were so easy to embarrass. Gathering your strength, you answer quietly and shyly.

“You just looked so sad. I thought you might have had a rough day.”

He really had a rough day. Working together with the Alpha Legion was productive and yet exhausting. But Corvus always looked melancholy and many could not grasp his true state. But you did it.

It was refreshing. Corvus couldn't remember the last time he wasn't looked at with adoration, fear or respect. When they looked at him not as an all-powerful primarch, but as a man who also needed rest.

He had friends on Lycaeus , but they all saw him as a savior. His sons, the family he dreamed of, still saw him as a commander. Only dear Nasturi and Gerit were different. And now you too. Corvus longed to find a family, to feel love even despite the knowledge that he was a product of the Warp. He just couldn't let you go.

At first it all started innocently. You brought food to his chambers and you talked a lot about a variety of things. Surprisingly, you didn’t touch much on the topic of the Crusade. You avoid it. One time he asked you why and you said that you don't like war. Such a kind soul.

You told him stories about your friends and family. At first you were a little embarrassed by such attention to yourself, but you soon relaxed. To such an extent that one day the story about how your brother was scared of a rat made you choke on your tea. And it started flowing out of your nostrils.

Corvus was captivated by this sight. Absolutely normal and natural. This is how you should behave around your family, isn’t it? Does this mean that he is now part of your family? He would really like this.

Your work schedule and responsibilities have changed significantly. Now you spent almost all your time alone with Corvus. He taught you to read and now you started talking about books. The Primarch was a monster, he knew it. But he strove for the light.

That's why he didn't take you. Didn’t subjugate you all to himself. You still saw your family and friends quite often. And yet, how Corax missed you in these moments. In the end, he realized that maybe you were something more to him. Is it possible that this...

Love.

The subjugation of the System was successful, but some military tactics were worth discussing. Therefore, a couple of times the primarch invited his brother on board. Surprisingly, the Raven Guard were famous for their stealth, but it seems that the Alpha Legion have surpassed them in this. There was something strange about them.

You were at all these meetings. Served documents and drinks. You fulfilled your duties without question. Despite the acute tension and feeling of fear that was gnawing at you. The first meeting went well, but he noticed a change in you during the second.

You looked at Alpharius strangely. Eyebrows were raised, lips frowned. You watched his every move. The worst part is that Alpharius noticed this and smiled. Not as if he was enjoying your fear or trying to calm you down, no. The primarch smiled intriguingly and interestedly.

“Who is this young lady?” - Alpharius traced his lips with his finger until he left it on his chin. Corvus wanted to break it.

“My personal serf” - your name softly and sonorously flies from his lips. - “She won’t bother you, let’s get down to business.”

“As you say, brother” - their family ties sound like a mockery. Although the primarch of the Alpha Legion had always been like this. - "As you say."

As soon as the meeting ended, Corvus immediately came over and hugged you. Buried his nose in your shoulder and sighed your wonderful smell. Gently stroking your hair. He will protect you, he will take care of you. You are his family, his ray of hope, you are the best thing he ever had.

He asks what happened. Why were you so afraid of the primarch. You, surprised by his pressure and thoughtfully look at the floor. In doubt, you look at your feet and fidget with your toes. As if you yourself didn’t know why you were so nervous. Finally you look up at him.

“It seemed that he behaved differently.”

"Differently? What do you mean?"

“I-I don’t know.” - you sigh and Corvus can imagine the gears working in your head. - “It seemed like your brother spoke and behaved as usual. But for some reason, it seemed to me that he, t-that he... was a different person. It’s as if his twin brother had taken his place.”

Corvus feels a smile form on his face. What a funny girl you are. True, sometimes you behaved so normally and ordinarily. And yet you could surprise him. His hand gently strokes your cheek. You lean on his arm and Corax holds back a sigh.

His fingers trace your jawline and he lifts your face. Maybe this was the perfect moment to kiss you. Feel the taste of your lips. Link your souls together. Absorb. But he didn't.

“You have nothing to fear, I only have one brother, Alpharius. And he alone is more than enough for me; fortunately, he doesn’t have a clone.” - You giggle and yet Corvus knows that you don’t fully believe him. - "Everything will be fine. You will be safe with me.”

But his confidence gradually faded every day. The Primarch of the Alpha Legion liked you. He constantly mentioned you and tried to talk to you. And one day it actually happened. Right behind Corvus. He thought Alpharius had left the ship. But somehow he managed to catch you on your way back to the parents.

You trembled in Corvus's arms but didn't cry. Alpharius frightened you with his appearance and offered to join his Legion. Corax holds back from pure rage. But while you are in his arms, he should be gentle. Must be a support. Protection. Savior.

The primarch should organize a guard for you. No, that's not enough. You will be noticeable. An easy target. Then he will hide you. As crows hide jewels in their nests, so he will do to you. He will make you the most comfortable nest next to him. You won't need anything. And he will coo over you for an eternity.

You snuggle into the warmth and try to calm down. Gradually lulled by Corvus, you feel your eyes begin to close. A little more and you will fall into pleasant blackness. Away from this world with its cruelty and secrets. And yet, even on the verge of sleep, the mocking voice of “Alpharius” is heard in your head. You should have told Corvus everything, but you knew, you knew they would find out.

“You see us, and we see you.”

[utilitycaster]

The thing with Imogen saying that she's normal there is that, heartbreakingly, it's not true.

She's less abnormal...because instead of being one low-level young woman with psionic powers in a rural town, she's a relatively high-level young woman in a rural town that has been under the thumb of an Imperium that wields those same powers as a means of control. She's "normal" to the Bormodos because she has a similar powerset to the military police and to the Ruby Vanguard, with whom they're all too familiar. And, to be clear, she is not using those powers to oppress them—she's in fact using them quite brilliantly to blend in and betray them—but that still sets her apart.

I've wondered a lot about what will happen with Imogen's powers, and what she wants, because that's been the leverage that Ludinus and the Imperium have had on the Ruidusborn. Imogen started this campaign searching for a way to be normal. That was how Liliana started on her path as well. That was the selling point she made to Imogen when she was contacted in her dreams: "In a brief instant, you remember what it was like to not be like this, to just be you."

And yet: that same episode, Laudna tells Imogen she always could, gods or no gods, just be herself, and still, Imogen continues on. She embraces her powers, even willingly taking off a circlet she initially called life-changing because those powers could allow her to foresee potentially risky actions from the rest of the party (though, to her credit, she has not used this, and from a metagaming perspective it is unlikely she really ever could). Her first two times connecting with Predathos, in dreams and then on the surface, are entirely willing. She boasts to Groon that she is the storm; she is excited by her connection with Fearne.

And yet: she's exclaims how she's normal, here in a town where she is quite literally an alien, and where the overwhelming majority do not share her powers. Her speed to claim a connection to her powerful mother is understandable for the party's survival, but she does not seem to show reluctance to do so, despite the possibility of this getting back to Liliana. She's normal on Ruidus: a place that wishes to pull her in and she fears she will never escape it.

Like her mother, Imogen can't decide: does she want to be normal or special? Should she join or run?

It's hard to define what "normal" would even be for Imogen. I think at this point giving up her powers would feel like giving up a part of her; at the same time, the only place for her to be truly "normal" is within the Vanguard. The place she feels the most like she belongs is when she's being sucked in by Predathos, and she doesn't want that either.

And that's valid! Even with control over her powers, they will always give her insights others simply can't gain. And even on Ruidus, the place that made her, she will be a foreigner and something they wish to use. She is, in fact, caught between places; neither is entirely home. But I think to accept that, instead of eternally bouncing between the two (as Liliana does) she needs to realize it, and to realize it she will need to look at it from the perspective not just of the people on Ruidus who have powers like hers; but from those on Ruidus who don't.

[sallymander40k]

Why The Tau Were Never 'Too Good' For 40k

The Tau were added midway through Warhammer 40,000's 3rd edition, though according to some records the idea had been floating around since Laserburn. In the twenty years since their introduction to the 41st millennium, the Tau have remained one of the most consistently reviled and hated aspect of 40k lore, with all complaints around them boiling down to one core issue: they're too good for 40k. By that, people mean that they are too morally good to fit within the grimdark narrative of the 41st millennium. This has always been the primary complaint levied at them, since they were first introduced in 2001. And GW has seemingly agreed with them, and spent the last 20 years trying to inject grimdarkness into the Tau Empire.

The first attempt to grimdarkify the Tau came very early on, with the Tau campaign in Dawn of War: Dark Crusade

It's explained how in the decade following Tau victory on Kronus the remaining human population was subjugated, oppressed, forced to give up their culture, and eventually simply sterilized and allowed to die off naturally to create a Tau and Kroot ethnostate on Kronus. It explains this over images of prisoners of war being fed to Krootox in prison camps and humans huddling together in slums.

This is obviously a departure from the image of the Tau as it was established in Codex: Tau (3rd Edition), as that codex makes explicit mention of the Tau trading and making alliances with frontier human colonies. This is also a departure from... common sense. Why exactly would the Tau accept Kroot, Vespid, Nicassar, Demiurg, Tarellians and many others into their ranks but then arbitrarily draw the line at humans?

This would become a pattern that I like to call "The Grimderp Tau Cycle." It's not exactly a stretch to say that the Tau are easily the most morally good society in the 41st millennium. Their tolerance toward other species alone makes them head and shoulders above almost any other species in the galaxy. So to remind people that there are no good guys in the 41st millennium and that this is a very serious and grimdark setting that you need to take seriously because there are no good guys or whatever, GW will occasionally have the Tau commit a completely out of character, random, and nonsensical atrocity. This was also seen at the end of In Harmony Restored, the short story that came out alongside 8th edition's Psychic Awakening: The Greater Good.

For context, In Harmony Restored is a short story about a group of Gue'vesa soldiers (human auxiliary troops fighting in the Tau military) performing a desperate defensive rearguard action to halt an Imperial advance long enough for Tau reinforcements to come and smash the delayed invasion force. The Gue'vesa are able to do this, though at great sacrifice to themselves, and then when the reinforcing army does arrive and makes quick work of the Imperial army they then continue on to butcher the Gue'vesa soldiers who performed this valiant holding action for... Seemingly no reason? Assuming the Tau forces thought they were more Astra Militarum soldiers, the Gue'vesa step out of cover pleading for mercy, only to be gunned down. With one of the Gue'vesa at the end noting that the language one of the Battlesuit pilots is using is very reminiscent of the way the Imperium talks about those they've labeled undesirables.

The message here is clear: these humans betrayed the Imperium in order to escape from the Imperium's genocidal regime... Only to end up in the equally merciless clutches of an equally ruthless oppressor. But, from a lore standpoint, that defeats the entire purpose of the Tau. It makes them wholly indistinct and, frankly, boring. But that doesn't even scratch the surface of how stupid this is, because it has clearly been stated in the past that the Tau do not hold bigotries toward client species on the basis of their faiths. And that makes sense.

Not only does this contradict previous lore, not only does it render the Tau a boring palette swapped version of the Imperium, it also just defies practical sense. If you're a race like the Tau, who expand primarily through ingratiating yourself with other races and convincing them to join your collective, you'd naturally want as few barriers between potential client races and joining as possible. No human colony is going to voluntarily join the Greater Good if the Tau's version of the Greater Good happens to require that the human population of that planet lose all sense of their heritage and culture through forced reeducation and the abandonment of their faith, and in the long term for that human population to slowly go extinct through gradual forced sterilization and confinement to ghettos and slums.

It's deeply stupid, lazy writing on the part of GW to repair the image of the Tau in the eyes of a fandom who accused the faction of being "too good." Except, uhm, here's the thing: the Tau were never too good to begin with. Lets rewind back to 3rd Edition's Tau Codex, our first introduction to the Tau in the 40k universe. From the very beginning it was very clear that the Utopian idealism of the Tau Empire held beneath the surface a significantly more sinister and malevolent nature, and it all roots from the mysterious and enigmatic fifth caste of Tau Society: the Ethereals.

In 3rd Edition, the Ethereals are spoken of more like mythological beings than the slightly mundane way they exist in modern 40k. All we know about them out of this book is that they are the autocratic leaders of the Tau Empire who inspire radical devotion among the Tau, though are rarely seen or heard from. They reorganized Tau society with pursuit of the Greater Good in mind first. But the specifics of what that means matters a lot. Tau are born into a caste that roughly determines, from birth, what role in society that person will fulfill. Those born into a caste are not allowed to have children with members of other castes, are not allowed to take up any job or position that contradicts the societal purpose of their caste, and generally lack self-determination in regards to things like career choice.

so, bam, the setup for Tau as a flawed and morally ambiguous faction are already present. They're a faction who fight for a better future, for a galaxy where all can exist in harmony with one another, so long as that harmony is kosher by the standards of the Ethereal caste. In that sense they're somewhat similar to the Dominion from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. A multispecies interstellar collective who seek to create a galaxy harmoniously unified... in service to the Founders. Just taken from this vision of the Tau Empire, they're already an autocratic dictatorship who fight in the name of an ideology that declares itself to be for the greater good of all who ascribe to it while also relying on the assumption that the tyrannical power of the Ethereals must inherently be for the Greater Good. I reject the idea that the Tau were ever "too good" for 40k. Rather that they were written with a realistic level of nuance, with an understanding that dictatorships are built upon cognitive dissonance, not on perfectly consistent virtues.

TL;DR THEY'RE NOT FUCKING COMMUNISTS, THEY LITERALLY HAVE A CASTE SYSTEM, WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!