theclockwitch

[theclockwitch]

The most perfect encapsulation of Whirl to ever Whirl.

Antenna fencing

I wasn’t going to finish this comic because it’s ridiculous but I wanted to draw the faces in the last panel so there we go Also the thought of Rung’s antenna twitching in his sleep makes me happy

[theclockwitch]

Not ME nominating characters for the summer fest that I don't write but I know my friends do in secret HOPES of baiting them. *dangle dangle*

[theclockwitch]

Hey y'all prompting is for this bad boy! Join in, nominate some characters and let's make this a success!

WH40K Summer Fest Exchange 2025

The Warhammer 40,000 Summer Fest Exchange is back for 2025!

This fandom event is a Warhammer 40,000/Horus Heresy-focused gift exchange for fanart and fanfiction, hosted on AO3.

Sign up to write a fanfic or create a piece of fanart, and receive a story or artwork in return!

Schedule:

May 17–May 31: Nominate your favourite characters and pairings June 1–June 14: Sign up for the exchange June 15–June 16: Matching and assignments go out July 20: Early default deadline August 3: Assignments due – deadline countdown August 9: Works go live (unless delayed for pinch hits) August 16: Creators are revealed; the collection will remain open for treats

All deadlines are 5:59pm CEST | 11:59am EDT | 8:59am PDT | 11:59pm CST.

👉 You must be 18+ and have an AO3 account to participate.

For information on how to sign up and participate, see the AO3 exchange profile.

Please follow this blog for updates.

[theclockwitch]

Mine's not exciting, it was a random joke because I have a weird ability to always know what time it is within 15 minutes or so. When I was in the Army and we were in blackout zones or after dark, people would literally ask me the time. They thought it was spooky. Hence, the clock witch.

My original AO3 name was because I once got called a 'hellcat' when I turned on a guy who was catcalling some teenaged girls and berated him till he apologized. To which the answer is, 'you're damn right'. But honestly, I'm a marshmallow. I just seem abrasive. M-most of the time.

My pseud is Tabby because tabby cats are so overlooked: they're universal so you see them everywhere, but if you look, no tabby is exactly the same as any other. IDK consider yourself tagged

Tag Game

Tag your moots and friends to ask where their nickname came from

Thx @hypnostallev for the tag. Was nice to get a chance to know more about u🖤

Gerloga — thats a combo of my native language word for "cave" and my name - Gert

Gert + "cave" = ✨️gerloga✨️

I am only recently been around tumblr/e.t.c. ,so I don't have legendary backstories yet.

Next tags are: @squiddyshroomies @amasec @fenlirias @mayoonrices @raeb33s

[theclockwitch]

*brain eating noises* I feel like a zombie because I had to take benadryl last night (my absolute LAST resort drug for allergies short of epi and I wasn't going to drive to my ambulance company to grab a kit especially not after taking the benadryl) because in their infinite incompetence, our plant operations decided to operate on plants, by which I mean, they pulled a whole bunch of poison ivy, and left it *on the HVAC condensers* and a bunch of it fell in and so basically everyone in my office yesterday was inhaling aerosolized urushiol.

I'm sure it's a metaphor for that job, somehow.

ANYHOO.

Celadon Sky - Chapter 7 - Tabby (hellkitty) - Warhammer 40.000 [Archive of Our Own] here's another chapter. NEXT WEEK we finally find out what Cyprian's been trying to tell her for the last two chapters. (Hint: he's big and quiet, but not stupid)

Also yakked this up: Intermortem - Tabby (hellkitty) - Warhammer 40.000 [Archive of Our Own] thinking about the Belisarian Furnace and Aspirants and generalized MOOD.

I really need to stop making up OCs because then I want to keep using them, I say, as my stupid Angels Resplendent oneshot dude is now getting a whole ass story written about him when all he did was be a brick wall and then throw a temper tantrum. That's the real addiction in this fandom. Not the plastic crack, but the OCs. *huffs them all*

....okay maybe the benadryl hasn't entirely worn off yet.

[theclockwitch]

This is probably good advice.

Me? I asked for certain things on Reddit (a good story involving a dreadnought (Battle of the Fang, highly recommend) , a good intro book to Black Templars (Broken Crusade--don't read this for Black Templars, read it for the eightcaged, etc)

I highly recommend Peter Fehervari's stuff bc I am OBSESSED with his work but yeah he renames things (Angels Resplendent Space Marine companies are called Rhapsodies, Librarians are Architects, etc) which kinda gives you whiplash first starting out, but SO worth it.

I actually found Eisenhorn dull, tbh even though that's generally a good 40K universe overview rec, because it was like a bad attempt at science fiction James Bond and as a former interrogator....

Let's just say at some point in my stay in this fandom, I will write an accurate interrogation scene instead of one driven by Eisenhorn's Plot Charisma.

I HIGHLY also recommend short story collections. The Successors collection is a great intro to a bunch of successor chapters (hence the name lolderp) so you feel like you get a taste of the factions and want to maybe focus on those for a bit. That's all loyalist based. Renegades of the Long War is a good one if you the big Chaos factions.

Warhammer 40,000 novels – where to start?

@bookandyarndragonwritesdark mentioned looking for a good starting point into the WH40K novels. Which is a great question, because it sometimes feels like there are 40,000 novels to choose from. 😅

Here is my personal (and very biased) advice for where to start eating the elephant that is Warhammer 40,000 lore:

1. Pick a faction you like

This is probably the easiest and most fun way to begin: choose a faction that interests you (based on their looks/vibe/what you already know about them/what your fandom friends are into), then ask fans of that faction which books best introduce it.

E.g., if you like Night Lords, start with Aaron Dembski-Bowden's Night Lords trilogy. It's very engagingly written, fairly self-contained (no deep lore knowledge required), and features some of the best character work I've read in the setting. It's also a fan favourite and pretty popular in fandom exchanges if you'd like to create fanworks inspired by it.

If you like loyalist Space Marines, Dante by Guy Haley is both a great introduction to the Blood Angels Chapter and to Astartes in general, following one boy's journey to becoming a Chapter Master.

Another suggestion for loyalist Space Marines is less well-known but a personal favourite: Aaron Dembski-Bowden's Spear of the Emperor. Not only is this the first 40K novel written entirely from a female character's point of view (it was published in 2018… it only took Black Library what, 30 years? to let a female protagonist tell her own story in her own voice without interruptions), but it's also narrated by a Chapter serf and describes the life of Space Marines outside of combat, which is much more interesting to me than the (frequently repetitive) bolter porn.

If you like the Imperial Guard, the Gaunt's Ghosts series by Dan Abnett is the gold standard. Many fans recommend starting with book #3 in the series, Necropolis, since the first two are more like anthology collections of Abnett's earliest 40K works and not quite up to the impeccable quality of his later contributions.

If you like the Inquisition, mystery and intrigue, Dan Abnett's Eisenhorn trilogy was actually intended as an on-ramp for new readers. It does a great job of introducing the reader to the grimdark future and the inner workings of the Imperium.

If you like Necrons, The Infinite and the Divine by Robert Rath is quite possibly the funniest 40K novel ever written. It's dark comedy at its finest.

I'm less familiar with Eldar, tyranids, T'au, and orks, so I hope others will chime in with suggestions!

2. Choose a time period and start chronologically

If you prefer to read "in order," you can start with a particular era. This approach has a somewhat steeper learning curve, though.

The Horus Heresy (also called Warhammer 30K) is very popular with the tumblr fandom; you'll find lots of exchange requests and pre-existing fanworks for this era.

Horus Rising by Dan Abnett is the first novel that kicks off the whole thing; from there, choose which primarchs or factions you like and focus on their novels before making your way towards the Siege and the End.

Regardless of your choice, don't miss out on the Unremembered Empire mini-series (Know No Fear and The Unremembered Empire by Dan Abnett, Pharos by Guy Haley).

Betrayer and Echoes of Eternity by Aaron Dembski-Bowden are also great novels that have inspired many fanworks.

Caveat: I personally don't think the Heresy is the best starting point. Much of its power comes from knowing what 40K becomes later. But if you're here for primarchs and fandom buzz, this is the party.

3. Choose a style/mood/vibe.

Warhammer 40K novels are incredibly varying in terms of genre (military sci-fi, horror, comedy, heroic epics), mood, and writing quality. You may find that a certain author simply doesn't vibe with you (cough James Sparrow cough), or that you'll read absolutely everything someone has written, even a grocery list (Aaron Dembski-Bowden and Dan Abnett for me personally).

If you like comedy, you'll probably enjoy:

The Infinite and the Divine by Robert Rath, as mentioned previously. One of the best 40K novels ever written, and so darkly funny it was an instant favourite of mine.

The Ciaphas Cain series by Sandy Mitchell. It does get a bit formulaic after the first handful of novels/short stories, but it's a fantastic introduction to the grimdark future and an easy, funny, sarcastic read.

The Space Wolf/Ragnar Blackmane series by William King. These are very early 40K novels and do have a hint of early installment weirdness, but they are also lighthearted, action-filled romps through the canon setting.

Likewise, Lukas the Trickster by Josh Reynolds is about another Space Wolf who doesn't take himself (or much else) too seriously.

If you like hard sci-fi:

Dan Abnett is probably the hardest sci-fi writer in the Black Library stable. Again, his Eisenhorn and Gaunt's Ghosts series are great places to start.

If you like horror:

Most WH40K books have horror elements, but they often rely on existing knowledge of the setting. The fear comes from what you already know that the characters don't. I would recommend working your way up to the horror novels and anthologies – and then going for Peter Fehervari's short stories first.

This is my advice! I hope others will add any must-read 'first Warhammer novels' I've forgotten to mention. 😁

[theclockwitch]

Second to last week of the semester and I have been buried under work, retail therapy'd myself a travel size of YSL Libre L'eau Nue perfume (bergamot and lavender? Yes please, it smells like Rich Person Summer Vacation.) My walkaway split hive has no queen but I got to watch a drone hatch, which was pretty cool. I love drone bees. They're big dumb useless himbos that can't sting.

Celadon Sky - Chapter 6 - Tabby (hellkitty) - Warhammer 40.000 [Archive of Our Own] Anyway slapped this up yesterday. tw: seizure of unknown (cough cough daemonic) etiology.

Next week, Athven gets to eat gross things.

[theclockwitch]

“Notice the people who make an effort to stay in your life.”

— Unknown

[theclockwitch]

[theclockwitch]

tw: animal death

I'm so fucking pissed right now.

Okay my parents many years ago got two Maine Coon cats, because my mother always wanted one. It's a long story but the breeder lied and the genetics weren't great.

Mom died in 2019.

Last year, when dad went on a trip, Siegfried (the big orange one) got calicivirus from the boarding facility. My dad, (a DOCTOR) was like, 'oh he's droopy he'll perk up eventually' and he kept saying it...until Siegfried died while dad went out to dinner.

Okay, so dad's not paying attention to signs of feline distress.

That left Gunther. For MONTHS now, my dad's like 'Gunther's declining' and I've been like asking, so, what's wrong? Like listen I've done pet rescue. I've taken that last ride with many, many cats. It fucking sucks.

He never took him to the vet. He just said 'I can tell he's dying' which is like...okay, but maybe you could do something to mitigate his discomfort? IF not improve the quantity of his life, then at least the quality? At least KNOW what's going on? (Cancer, heart disease, thyroid, whatever).

Nope.

And shut up it's not about the money. My dad isn't rolling in it, but he took a trip to Antarctica earlier this year--the man has enough money for a vet visit.

So today we talked and he's like 'yeah its' gonna be soon' so I say okay so I guess you're calling the vet Monday and he said, no I'll just overdose him with insulin and put him to sleep here and I am like

what.

the.

FUCK.

Like. Dude. I can't even.

ANYWAY, just got a text from him that Gunther passed. In his sleep, thank god, without my dad getting all goddam kevorkian on him.

So like I'm upset because take him to the vet, that's medical neglect, and also, WHAT. THE FUCK. and also Gunther's gone now and it's like...I got this man's genetics? Seriously? I share biological material with this person?

Mind you I've been in the room every time one of my cats has gotten put to sleep, and I cry my fucking face off, but I want them to know that even at the last minute, they were so very loved and I never, ever abandoned them, but holy shit. You were gonna OD him with insulin. Rather than take him to the vet and spend...what? I think when I took Gooch in it cost $60. Sixty fucking bucks.

I don't even know what I"m trying to say I"m just feeling...a lot of Not Good things. I am supposed to be writing a handout for class tomorrow but I'm just sitting here internally screaming.

[theclockwitch]

It's Friday and we all agree that AI is absolutely awful. We're all talking about the AI scraping of AO3 and it's a downer and even people whose stories have always been locked down got scraped. It's some kind of metaphor, like feeding a thousand psykers to the Emperor a day, that AI needs to be fed the works of actual creative people, but I'm tired so...do the metaphor yourself.

Anyway.

Here's some fic

Five Times Varellus Boosted Morale and the One Time He Needed It and Didn't Get It Because This is Warhammer - Tabby (hellkitty) - Warhammer 40.000: space marine 2 [Archive of Our Own] I have never written a five times/five things trope before because it's normally kind of schmoopy and I'm not great with that. Rare moment of Agerius behaving himself. (IYKYK)

Embers - Chapter 2 - Tabby (hellkitty) - Warhammer 40.000 [Archive of Our Own] Wrote a second chapter because I needed some mildly OOC fluff because RL is kinda trash.

Celadon Sky - Chapter 5 - Tabby (hellkitty) - Warhammer 40.000 [Archive of Our Own] AND chapter 5 where we begin to see that there's something actually kind of wrong with Kessalt (hint it's in the story tags).

Anyway everyone around here (myself included) is getting murdered by allergies (all these trees just spooging in everyone's faces HOW RUDE because city planners god forbid include FEMALE TREES stop trying to fertilize my goddam EYES, you bradford pear monstrosity) so...I'mma go put more eyedrops in.

[theclockwitch]

TOTALLY not recommending this but

you know how easy it would be

in some occult circles

to utilize a character as an egregore?

I like when people like a character so way too much that it transcends even self shipping or kinning and becomes more of a patron saint that you pray to type of deal

[theclockwitch]

People arguing about stuff not being canon enough with space marines.

Canon- they fucking stink

Ignace Karkasy can tell Loken is waiting for him in his room because he can smell him.

He can smell him through walls and a door.

Our boys stank

[theclockwitch]

[theclockwitch]

GREAT STUFF above

however, I would argue that tradwife mary sue still IS a power fantasy, because tradwife is a power fantasy and the tradwife power fantasy is one who gets her power THROUGH and only BY her affiliation with powerful men.

To draw the eye and win the heart of Guilliman or Sanguinius or Hot Sexy Spess Maroon #74 is still a power fantasy, to win out against a) all the other women vying for his affections and b) to break the societal conditionng IN CANON that says 'space marines don't have girlfriends'.

Y'all are way too young to remember and I am too but my mom's generation went MENTAL for a book, the Thorn Birds, and it was...aiiight (I read it years later when I found a copy in a used bookstore trying to figure out why my mom's entire generation lost their collective MINDS over this book) and it was this: the man is a priest and he breaks his vows to be with her. (I can't say more without spoiling the plot...of a novel older than all of us).

THAT IS A POWER FANTASY.

What it is, is a power fantasy more similar to the power fantasies of the 1970s (when the Thorn Birds came out) and not the boss babes of later fandoms.

The cyclical nature of sexism is perhaps worth looking at here, but I repeat again

TRAD WIFE IN WARHAMMER IS ABSOLUTELY A POWER FANTASY. Just one that involves hyperfemininity rather than impersonating masculine tropes of heroism.

Can someone smarter than me write an essay on the neorevivalism of the Mary Sue.

I only entered fandom at the tail end of “Mary Sue bad” like two decades ago, and never really understood the problem. Internalised misogyny. Ship and let ship and all that.

But I'm starting to understand it now that the concept of fandom etiquette is unravelling at the seams, and what was once a faux pas no longer seems to be.

[theclockwitch]

On Fandom and Gatekeeping

For the purposes of this discussion I will be using my old fandom for examples.

Let me start by saying I've seen many fandoms implode and...I hate it. I've seen a lot of bullying, anon hate, and just general 'jesus christ get a goddam life' unhinged behavior in my old fandom. I'm talking threatened doxxing bc I said I didn't write a certain ship (CycGate if you are curious and it's 100 % because this is Tailgate's hardlight hologram and....yeah. Now, no hate to shippers, but I can't. I just can't.

And that got someone trying to call my boss.

Not everything in fandom is to everyone else's tastes, and sometimes, the reason is the reader. For example, (again, my old fandom) I do not read humanformers. There are a great many humanized Transformers stories out there and I am sure they are well written and engaging, (or not) and I don't fucking care. To me, Transformers are not Transformers without the factions, the war, the space opera, the, uh, ROBOT-ness? It removes everything that *I* want from fanfic. But that *I* is not 'everyone'

Similarly, I do not read second person stories. Again, not because there's anything wrong with second person stories, but because I, personally, can't read them. If you grew up in an extremely toxic household where you got gaslit seven ways to Sunday every damn day, you'd ALSO likely have a knee-jerk reaction to someone using 'you' and pulling you along a story like you're a marionnette. It gives me the ick.

So, just because I don't care for something does not mean it should not exist.

Now, Transformers has been around about as long as Warhammer? I think Transformers might technically be a few years older, but what's a few years when we're both talking about the 1980s. Suffice to say, I'm an original Geewunner and even back then I hated the gatekeeping stuff. I've gone to comic shops where they showed me the Arcee figure (really ironic when you consider that Furman's Arcee is the most antifeminist transphobic piece of characterization ever, but you see she's PANK so obviously all the girlies want her). I've had dudes grill me at cons about the comics continuities I've read, and one guy tried to call me a fake fan bc I didn't really follow Beast Wars (uh, I was deployed in a hot zone at the time, bestie). It's SHITTY being female in fandom sometimes.

And I don't want to use gendered terms bc it's 20fucking25 and let's not, but I think it's helpful to go back and borrow Camille Paglia's terms Apollonian and Dionysian. Apollonian is logic, the rules followers, the 'well akshully' types who aren't WRONG but they kinda suck because they often come across as the fun police. They're the rules lawyers, whose idea of fandom is arguing over canon, who would win in a fight, etc.

And that's a fun way to engage in fandom. I can do that with Transformers, especially the IDW run, because I know it so well. I can nerd out about the best Wreckers lineup, or who was a better scientist, or which iteration of Megatron makes the most sense. Love that shit.

But there's also what Paglia calls the Dionysian way of thinking, which is (just like Dionysus) all about fun, silliness, shipping, kink, silly AUs, prompt challenges, memes, etc. It's having FUN with the characters or the setting. It's deliberately going places canon would not. It's finding those blindspots and filling them with...whatever.

Now this is already too long so I'll just say this: Fandom, to survive, needs BOTH. And it needs the tension between the two. It actually does. So what I'm NOT saying is 'hey man, live and let live, use your block and mute, whatever'. I'm actually kind of saying, hey it's not only okay, it's HEALTHY for a fandom to have some clashes in the middle (provided they stay civil and jesus christ don't dox each other).

Transformers shows an example of when you don't have that, because the IDW Lost Light run just...what it did was basically let the Dionysian become canon. We had canon writers who wrote stuff that directly contradicted known canon, without any real attempt at retconning, we had death-fakeouts and emotional manipulation, we had some of my personal squicks (Mechpreg *vomit sounds*) become canon. It's hard to do that type of fandom when canon is already doing it. So fandom...kinda collapsed (even after more or less surviving the DDOS LJ issues).

So I think what's actually healthy for a fandom is that kind of tension, because the well akshully crowd could lighten the fuck up a bit, and some of the people who just seem to copypaste fandom names on their favorite cute boys fucking fic...maybe need to be encouraged to actually engage with the actual canon a bit.

It's not the end of the world. It really isn't. It's not the end of the world if people read what they want and it isn't your stuff. I don't write second person fics, and I don't write a lot of hardcore smut, two very big things in Warhammer fandom. I write angst and hurt comfort and occasionally crack fic. I'm not immensely popular, I never will be, and here's the thing: I don't give a damn. I write for the people who want to read the stuff I write and if that's one other person, then, hey, bestie, I'm here for you.

My first month in this fandom I saw a post circulating about how aro ace people were ruining Warhammer fandom by writing Space Marines as aro ace, and I was like....uh but they kind of are? And also I'm aro ace? it kind of threw me for a loop, because it felt so needless. Instead of saying, man, I wish there was more SPACE MARINE DICK fics, or maybe writing them themselves, they decided to attack the people who were writing things that weren't to their taste.

Dick move (pun intended). That's how you kill a fandom.

Never make it personal. Like what you like, hate what you hate and even articulate WHY you dislike it but never, ever, blame another actual fan. That's neckbeard shit and let's not be neckbeards.

So I'm not saying 'live and let live' 'YKINMK' though both are great advice, I'm actually saying, some healthy 'I don't get this' or 'Why is there so much X and not more Y' is good, healthy and helpful. And you're gonna have to accept that the thing you hate? Is a thing. You're going to see actual grown ass people argue that they are actually Mrs Optimus Prime (anyone else remember her? She wrote all those fics about Optimus taking Mikaela to a prom or something?) or that their overpowered and underpersonalitied OC is secretly Starscream's one true love and you will want to bang your head against a wall locker. I get it. But. Attacking people ('you tourist!' 'you aro ace people trying to ruin my smut' 'your OC is Mary Sue' (fun fact, Rung is the biggest goddam Gary Stu ever and again, he is CANON)) that ain't it. We can have a civil, healthy discourse where the two styles of fandom can coexist and each make the other stronger.

Let's remember, if nothing else, we have a common enemy and that's <strike> Games Workshop</strike>,I mean, censorship. From the government, from websites, and from other 'fans'.

[theclockwitch]

Seeing as apparently even Skitarii get to celebrate their birthdays* **, I find it reasonable to assume, that the chapters on the more humane side of the spectrum***, would pherhaps encourage, or at a minimum not discourage their men from celebrating.

However, I imagine that, instead of the day of your birth, they might celebrate the anniversary of the day they join their scout squad****, similar pherhaps to a hundred day celebration for a newborn.

There'd probably be no celebrations for individual astartes*****, pherhaps not even a big celebration in the traditional sense, but an individual might receive ahandful of small but useful trinkets, maby they receive preferential treatment when it comes to coveted traing spots and the like. Still fairly understated all things considered, but with a generally kind attitude about it ******.

All of that to say that Star, beeing the old drake of the kitchens with a soft spot for the youngest of her Lords, has a mind to feed a each of them at least one of his favourite dishes during their special day.

She also does this for most every astartes under her care (she likes her Lords and most of them could stand to gain some weight) but seeing a new scout's whole face light up is it's own special reward.

*(iirc, the exerpt itself was from one of the heresy books, set during the siege on terra, on terra and sanguinius was giving a speech afterwards)

**(or an equivalent thereof)

***(Salamanders, Lamenters, Blood Angels, Crimson Fists etc., the guys who might still have some ties to their baseline families even)

****(because too much can still go wrong)

*****(i imagine this similar to how twins might share a celebration or those folks born close to one of the big holidays)

******(this would be mostly during periods when they aren't stationed in an active war zone, but even then there might still be some kind words.)