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Ordo Sepulturum and Daemons

Started by Brother_Brimstone, December 18, 2011, 08:24:55 PM

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Brother_Brimstone

While working on the backstory and loadout of my Sepulturum Inquisitor, it got me thinking about the nature of the Plague of Disbelief and the Imperium's knowledge and theories with regards to it.

As far as i'm aware, zombies in 40k can come from any of a multitude of sources, mostly of Chaotic origin (although not necessarily exclusively - it's not beyond all belief to imagine an alien race having necromantic technology or abilities). Some are caused by a plain old virus , wherein the infected 'die' and become zombies. Some are caused by a daemonic virus; as the previous, but a semi-sentient tool of Nurgle, engineered to willfully kill and raise up armies of the dead. Finally, there is also the ability of some Chaotic Sorcerers to raise corpses with the explanation quite literally being 'a wizard did it!'.

So, considering the fact that when faced with a zombie uprising, the Sepulturum will not know it's origins, would it be unlikely that they would pack anti-daemon equipment just in case? It's my opinion that they probably would bring at least some rudimentary daemonic deterrents, as it would be a hell of a bad thing to find yourself in the field in need of them, yet lacking them! However, would the Sepulturum generally be aware of the virus' potential daemonic connexions and origins?

For context, I ask because I want to know whether my Sepulturum Inquisitor would consider it a good idea to carry around an Annointed Sword and Psych-Out grenades, or whether he would be likely to consider such things to be a pointless expense.

Obviously, as with all things, there will be different levels of knowlegde based on who you are and what your job is (Sepulturum agent > Zombie infestation survivior > Standard citizen), but what i'm interested in is what people think the general level of knowledge is amongst those considered 'in the know' (i.e. Sepulturum agents etc...). While some may know certain things more, and some certain things less, what do people think the general level of information is like amongst those with clearance to know it? And how daemonic do you think they consider the whole thing to be?

All opinions and input are welcomed and appreciated.

Dolnikan

I think that the Ordo Sepulturum would know quite a bit, and daemonic explanations are very likely seeing what happens during a zombie incursion. An anointed blade could be kept by the inquisitor but psyk-out  grenades are a bit too hard to get for someone who doesn't always expect to come into situation that would warrant their use.
Circles of the wise My attempt at writing something, please comment on it if you have any advise.

Zakkeg

Daemon-hunting gear sounds plausible to me. (In point of fact, I'd think Incinerators would be something of a staple.) I'd give the grenades a miss - even assuming that the Ordo Sepulturum is well aware of the daemonic connections, they'd still only work on a subset of zombies, and possibly not even then depending on exactly how the virus operates. Anointed swords are never a bad plan though. They're sort of a "Swiss army knife" weapon for an Inquisitor; even absent a daemonic foe to smite, you can't go wrong with a few feet of sharp metal.
Only the insane have strength enough to prosper; only those who prosper may truly judge what is sane.

Brother_Brimstone

Right-o, i'll go forward with the annointed blade plan, but switch out the psyk-out for some frag grenades. I imagine they'd be useful when you're likely dealing with hordes of unarmoured fleshy opponents who you need to ensure are in as many small pieces as possible.

Thanks for the input.

Ynek

Quote from: Brother_Brimstone on December 19, 2011, 03:13:43 PM
Frag grenades. I imagine they'd be useful when you're likely dealing with hordes of unarmoured fleshy opponents who you need to ensure are in as many small pieces as possible.

The way I've always interpreted it - A frag grenade isn't a plain explosive charge. It's actually a comparatively small charge which shatters a hard casing when it detonates, causing a hail of shrapnel to be carried on the explosion. So really, it's not so much a "zombies => goo" explosive, but more of a "Zombies => zombies with bits of metal stuck in them (which are really not much less of a problem than normal zombies)."

For the complete destruction of the body of a creature like a zombie, perhaps plasma grenades, or gas grenades filled with sacred inscence-fumes and holy oils... Or flesh-eating enzymes, or hyper-aggressive carrion feeders, to make the zombies fall apart.

Just some random ideas for you to steal / be inspired by.
"Somehow, Inquisitor, when you say 'with all due respect,' I don't think that you mean any respect at all."

"I disagree, governor. I think I am giving you all of the respect that you are due..."

Brother_Brimstone

I was thinking more about the fact that they have a wide area of effect, and the shards of metal being propelled in all directions might have a decent chance of tearing necrotic limbs off and otherwise immobilising the zombies, as opposed to fully destroying them (will ripping a zombie's leg off kill it? No. Will if slow it down and incapacitate it, at least in the short term? yes).

Because the Inquisitor in question is himself 'zombified', having large area of effect grenades which destroy zombified flesh but are safe for regular humans wouldn't be hugely beneficial for him.

I was thinking frags are a good balance of being destructive and having a wide area of effect, should he face a horde. While, say Krak grenades would destroy individual zombies better, its small area of effect means he may as well just shoot them individually as bother with the grenade at all.

Still, the input is appreciated, and i do like the ideas of some of those grenades. may have to try fitting them into another character at some point...

MarcoSkoll

#6
Sorry, I meant to reply to this earlier but got sidetracked and forgot...

There is a rather nasty piece of work I'm writing for the Revised Armoury (the next version is coming eventually), specifically with the Sepulturum in mind - the monomolecular grenade, which is designed for reducing plague zombies into a pile of unconnected pieces.

It's still in beta, but this is the current draft:

QuoteDesigned by the Ordo Sepultrum, this grenade is filled with tightly wound coils of monomolecular wire accelerated by a gravitic pulse. Capable of slicing plague zombies (or indeed, any other unarmoured target) to pieces, with the non-explosive impulse reducing the likelihood of contagion spread.
It has seen some other uses, although it is largely ineffective against armoured foes, the lightweight wire unable to carry the momentum to cut through thick armour.

Range E, Blast 6, Area 4, Dam 3D3-2, Weight 10, Tearing (2), Rending(2), Targets may test against pinning, does not inflict knockback. Exotic.
Tearing(X) and Rending(X) are standard effects in the next version of the armoury, and are about as scary as they sound...

Tearing(X) means rolling X extra dice for damage, then dropping the X lowest - so, in this case, roll five D3 and pick the highest three.
Rending(X) means it treats the Base Injury Value of its targets as X lower, to a minimum of 2. (So in this case, a Toughness 70 character would be treated as BIV 5.)

In short, this thing is very capable of doing serious damage to hordes of pain-insensitive and unarmoured individuals such as zombies. Fairly rubbish against armour though.

Do bear in mind, it's not entirely tested at this point and may get adjusted later on. Amongst other things, I've gone with the assumption that zombies have a fairly low base injury (I'd personally assume low BIV, a la the "Rotting Flesh" mutation), but it may get upped to Rending(3) if enough people object and think zombies should be high toughness.

EDIT: Whoops, forgot the pinning/knockback rules.
S.Sgt Silva Birgen: "Good evening, we're here from the Adeptus Defenestratus."
Captain L. Rollin: "Nonsense. Never heard of it."
Birgen: "Pick a window. I'll demonstrate".

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Dolnikan

That looks like a very nasty kind of grenade, of a kind that fits very well with its intended purpose.
Circles of the wise My attempt at writing something, please comment on it if you have any advise.

Brother_Brimstone

A great weapon idea, the rules of which are a good balance between being distinctive and streamlined, as I have come to expect, Marco :p

Definitely looking forward to the new edition of the Armoury! Hopefully you're not leaving it to be published with Inq2.0? As that may be some time yet! (No disrespect intended to Robey, I would naturally expect such an ambitious project to take a long time to prepare, although that does nothing to diminish my impatient nature!)

MarcoSkoll

Quote from: Brother_Brimstone on January 01, 2012, 06:16:55 PMDefinitely looking forward to the new edition of the Armoury! Hopefully you're not leaving it to be published with Inq2.0?
No, not at all. I don't know most of the INQ2 rules, so writing for them would be rather tricky! In fact, what I do know tells me that INQ2 and the RIA won't be entirely compatible with one another.
For example, INQ2 will simplify down automatic fire into one hit roll (like in the 40k RPGs), which won't mesh well with the RIA's Jamming or Hazard rules (that said, I know INQ2 has its own versions of such).

The current delay is largely down to trying to fit blurb/fluff into the Armoury that's informative without being tedious or going over people's heads.
Most of the added/updated rules for the next version are more or less there in some form or another.
S.Sgt Silva Birgen: "Good evening, we're here from the Adeptus Defenestratus."
Captain L. Rollin: "Nonsense. Never heard of it."
Birgen: "Pick a window. I'll demonstrate".

GW's =I= articles

Alyster Wick

So I know this is totally reaching back into the beginning of this thread, but I think a single psyk-out grenade is appropriate. The Inquisitor may not have use of it often but if he encounters any undead being reanimated by psychic means it could come in extremely handy.

Also, Marco, your grenade concept and rules are top notch. Excited to for the new armory when it comes out.

dr.dalek

first post!

In the recent zombie games I have been working on, I have been using the zombie survival guide as a basis. in the book zombies can only be killed by headshots, so most of my players carry needle rifles with them in order to try to get headshots.

Dolnikan

Welcome to the Conclave!

Needle rifles seem to me to be a somewhat unlikely weapon against zombies. It is not just hitting the head you want, it is causing enough damage to seriously damage it, and needle rifles are not that much or a gory huge wound causer.
Circles of the wise My attempt at writing something, please comment on it if you have any advise.

Brother_Brimstone

I've always thought that, for those that can acquire them, a shotgun filled with executioner rounds is the best weapon for someone dealing with zombies. They are high damage head-seeking weapons - perfect for zombie hunting. The biggest downside is, of course, the cost. They're expensive bullets to be spitting out at mindless hordes, but if you're a super-rich Inquisitor commanding the kind of resource power most inquisitors do, such issues can be circumvented.

I agree that a needler would be unsuitable. You's need to be a VERY precise shot to kill zombies with one of those, even moreso once they begin closing in, and it becomes harder to 'snipe'.

Draco Ferox

Caution: the following post contains a shameless plug!

It's a little bit more detailed than what most people here want, but you could do worse than check out this page on the ZSDW. What you're looking for is at the bottom of the page, where it shows the basic main ways of terminating a zombie, which boil down to destroying the head or massive tissue damage, leading to several distinct types of zombies, which is good for if you want to throw something else into a campaign sugh as different strains of zombie, as well as how the virus is spread (for the purposes of infection).
Be polite. Be efficient. Have a plan to kill everyone you meet.