Nebyet, The Gilded One
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My Lord,
Here is the translation from Lingua Technis of the passage you sent to me. It should be noted that the translation is inaccurate for two reasons – firstly, Lingua Technis contains concepts inaccessible in Gothic, either High or Low (though High can approach them) and secondly, this passage defines it self as poetry, a system of communication not available in Lingua Technis, as rhythmic and rhyming devices are unknown or impossible. It must be assumed that the passage was originally in some third language, or that the author was aware of the possibilities of poetry in communication, and was "doing their best", as they say.
Sister Dominica Rechtstein, Order Dialogous
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It is the Gilded One
It announces/heralds [1] the coming of Gods.
Coming from the shadow
Fear it, as it brings fear [2]
It bears their sign
It carries their message
Fear, betray and surrender [3]
For we shall be their slaves
Cogs in their machine
Victims in their hunt
Listeners to their wild song [4]
Fools/dupes in their vast image/illusion
[This line I could not translate – though it seems to contain certain elements of the concept of creator, or parent.]
Fall before them
Or be struck down
[1 – Original term closer to pre-states]
[2 – Fear here is my translation of a Lingua Technis term that covers a wide range of "Biological" weaknesses, though the suffix picks out those weaknesses that cause retreat – fear, terror, etc.]
[3 – Again, these are translations of the Lingua Technis term. It may be partially inaccurate]
[4 – Here I am indebted to a comparative translation of Imperial Hymnals between Low Gothic, High Gothic, and Lingua Technis – wild seems to refer to certain mathematical properties, and song literally picks out "wave-form". The closest translation therefore would be "irrational wave-form".]
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This is a most disturbing text. It reminds one of the myths found here and there around the Galaxy of metallic or mechanical gods who bring fear or hatred to the race to educate them, or for their own advantage. If this acknowledged oddity is developing in a cult among the Cult Mechanicus, or even only among their menial class, it could be very dangerous.
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(http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa244/DapperAnarchist/Gildstats.jpg)
The Gilded One is Ambidextrous
Equipment
Ring of Ounas, The Ka Staff
Special Abilities
True Grit, Terrifying, Vampirism, Metallic Flesh(http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa244/DapperAnarchist/Ringstats.jpg)
The Ka Staff – The Gilded One's symbol of office is the Ka Staff. An ancient artefact dating from the Gilded One's own time, the Ka Staff integrates itself into the metallic body, allowing the Gilded One to drift between worlds, making him near invulnerable to ordinary weapons. Further, the Ka Staff is a symbol of the new rulers that the Gilded One heralds – a tyranny that is both unfeeling and cruel. A strike from the Ka Staff convulses the target in pain, pain that leads one to understand a mortal's insignificance before the gods. It grants the "
Daemonic– Shadow" special ability, and in close combat is
(http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa244/DapperAnarchist/Staffstats.jpg)
However, the Ka Staff also controls the Gilded One – without it he is free to carry out all the cruelties he wishes. If the Gilded One ever loses the Ka Staff, he gains the
Athlete and the
Cannibal Hunger abilities.
Metallic Flesh – The Gilded One's metallic, patterned flesh both protects him and grants him the ability to defeat his enemies in combat more easily. It provides 2 points of armour on all locations, and makes unarmed attacks count as Armoured Gauntlet attacks. (This includes the Cannibal Hunger attacks)
The Ring of Ounas uses the WE NEED GUNS! Rules, and Athlete is from the Lectures on the Wych article.
Great background. I love the scholarly footnotes and observations. If there's also a miniature, then please work it up into a complete article for DM. We'd love it.
R.
Currently I'm about half way through the sidekick, known by its Arbites perpetrator designation and popular name, that being Subject Omega 1849306 or "The St. Bamus Beast". Basically, it's a Flayed One - I decided I wanted a Big Bad and a serious threat beside it, since my Eldar and Zoat went from potential big bad (small B though, really) to Xenos Pirate Warband members. The footnotes are there for two reasons - one, it excuses my poem being bad, two, thats what I know. I write academic well, because its what I am (almost.)
But yeah, a DM article could be forth coming.
I really like the character's background. I'm guessing that he's some sort of C'tan herald, or possibly a void dragon cultist within the adeptus mechanicus.
Anyway, sweet character background, and I look forward to seeing a model for it. The name "gilded one" conjurs up some very interesting mental images, and I'm interested to see what direction you choose to go with his physical appearance.
Yeah, it's a necron lord type thing - not a battle field lord, but a manipulator of mortals, weakening them and educating them of there proper place in the Galaxy - under the feet of the C'Tan and Necrons.
His look will be very necron lordish - tall, skeletal, carrying a staff, some sort of robe or cape, and I'm gonna give him that sighting face from the Destroyer Lord, maybe. Lots of gold edging - I have Wraith Shoulder pads to work with. However, as PO has asked for it, this may all go to DM. :)
If it's a Necron then I recon the Regenerate exotic ability may be approapriate than true grit.
I'm not sure if a super duper Sg fits though. What was the reasoning behind it?
QuoteHowever, as PO has asked for it, this may all go to DM.
Personally, I'm dying for a look at this model. Hope it gets put together and in DM soon.
QuoteI'm not sure if a super duper Sg fits though. What was the reasoning behind it?
As for his high Sg, the thing has to have been around since before humans existed. Thus it has been infiltrating and manipulating humanity probably since they became worthy of manipulation. The thing would be more knowledgeable about humanity than any single historian or even Imperial Organization, not to mention it's ageless knowledge of the galaxy itself.
Anyway, not to field the question for DA, but I figured I'd toss my two cents in.
QuoteAs for his high Sg, the thing has to have been around since before humans existed. Thus it has been infiltrating and manipulating humanity probably since they became worthy of manipulation. The thing would be more knowledgeable about humanity than any single historian or even Imperial Organization, not to mention it's ageless knowledge of the galaxy itself.
But even immortal daemon princes have more conservative Sg's than this guy, who is only very very very old and experianced. He should have nothing on a daemon. Also my understanding is that Sg is raw reasoning power. Knowledge should give bonuses to relevant Sg tests, but not be represented by Sg.
This isn't a combative Lord - this is supposed to be like the Blofeld of Necrons. Smart, vicious, callous. I wanted something that was in a position to look upon any mortal (or even semi mortal, like the Eldar) creature in the way we would look upon a disobedient animal, but with less empathy. As for True Grit over Regeneration - I thought the more delicate and ornate body used for the Lord would result in him only being tough, not self healing - the Flayed One has Regeneration. I'll post him here next - probably in this thread. Just need to dig it up.
Right, here we are...
Subject Omega 1849306
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Arbites Report
"The St. Bamus Beast" Killings
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System – Zhos
Planet – Lostdar
Location – St. Bamus' Blessing [Capital City/Primary Spaceport]
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{...} The subject was discovered during a routine search in the catacombs of St. Bamus' Blessing. An Arbites Patrol encountered the subject in an abandoned transit tunnel. Though the patrol unit was eliminated, what little could be recovered from helmet cameras showed a creature covered in bleeding skins. Investigation of the tunnel discovered evidence of around 70 bodies. Those that were successfully identified included the missing daughter of a leading trader, and missing members of nearly 40 families from the Administratum Sector. Certain investigators have pointed out a marked increase in murders, suicides, and use of proscribed chemicals in the period since the discovery. Judge Harpocrates recommends Inquisitorial involvement.
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FOR INQUISITORIAL EYES ONLY
UNAUTHORISED VIEWING IS PUNISHABLE BY DEATH
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This appears to be a new tactic, and a troublingly efficient one. Lostdar must be observed for possible continuing corruption and for any sign of a possible appearance by this creature's master.
Inquisitor Lord Kliment
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WS BS S T I Wp Sg Nv Ld
87 42 74 103 89 21 46 100 17
Ambidextrous
Equipment
Razor Sharp Claws, Advanced Bionic Eyes with integrated Bio-scanner Auspex
Special Abilities
Acrobatic, Feint, Furious Assault, True Grit, Fearsome, Regenerate, Metallic Skin
Metallic Flesh – Subject Omega's metallic flesh both protects it and grants it the ability to defeat its enemies in combat more easily. It provides 2 points of armour on all locations, and makes unarmed attacks count as Armoured Gauntlet attacks.
At the minute you're using a combination of two rules to represent his claws - Razor Sharp Claws and them counting as armoured gauntlets (presumably to get the additional damage bonus). It'd probably be simpler to just write out rules for the claws...
Metal claws
Reach=0 Damage=As unarmed +4* Parry Penalty=-30%
*Any hits ignore the first 5 points of armour on a location and always count as critical hits – inflicting double damage.
The gauntlet thing is an accidental overlap from the Metallic Skin rules for the Gilded One. However, consider your metal claws rules adopted, perhaps renamed Flensing Claws? (isn't that what the Codex calls them?)
I don't know much about flayed ones, but are they really acrobatic?
I still think that the guilded one would be made of the same stuff as all other necrons and thus have regenerate too. Are there any necron units in the codex that don't have we'll be back?
I'd query Acrobatic too. Dawn of War (hardly a reliable source, but still...) portrays them as being quite slow and jerky movers. Of course, they're lethal in combat, but I'm wondering whether you've overdone it a bit. WS89 is weapon master level, and Flayed Ones seem much more "Furious Assault" than "Feint". Combined with that Toughness, Regeneration and True Grit, this thing is a party killer at the moment. Sure, you want it to be able to beat the average soldier, but this is going to take down most Inquisitors handily. Simeon Blackstar might just be able to beat it, but then he's got a comparable WS, power sword (deal the damage faster than it can regenerate) and suppression shield (parry its many attacks more easily) and was specifically created to be the best CC fighter in my area while lacking a ranged attack.
In summary, the Flayed One is meant to be a serious enemy, but as you say it's not THE enemy. It could probably do with losing Feint, dropping to about WS 70 (still expert level, just not master) and maybe losing a bit of toughness too. Remember, you WANT the players to be able to kill it ;)
I'm not a necron player so haven't commented on the Ws / Bs as I don't know what is approapriate, but I think it unlikely that the Ws (and also I) would be quite so very high, so I agree with Simeon Blackstar. Unless of course you can point to fluff that justifies outstanding Ws in which case I was against him all along. :)
Quote from: Inquisitor Cade on August 11, 2009, 11:15:35 AM
But even immortal daemon princes have more conservative Sg's than this guy, who is only very very very old and experianced.
I think it's worth bearing in mind that a deamon comes from the parallell universe of the warp. Its ideas of problem solving etc. rely primarily upon rules and laws which are much different to our own universal laws, if the warp has any physical laws at all. So as a denizen of the warp, it is understandable that warp entities such as daemons wouldn't have stellar sagacity stats in the real world.
Also, bear in mind that the necrons predate daemons. It wasn't until the war in heaven that aggressive warp entities would first be spawned, and they were the first enslavers. Daemons wouldn't come until later, and chaos gods wouldn't come until later still. Therefore, as the necrons come from the necron'tyr, and we're assuming that the 'gilded one' is a necron, then he probably used to be a necron'tyr, and probably therefore predates daemonkind. Therefore, if we're comparing sheer experience, the necron would win out.
Quote from: Simeon Blackstar on August 12, 2009, 12:18:21 PM
I'd query Acrobatic too.
As would I. I never would have thought of a flayed one as being something that was dainty and deft, leaping over their enemy's heads during combat and doing awesome cartwheels and backflips all over the place. It's just not in their style.
Quote from: Inquisitor Cade on August 12, 2009, 10:45:49 AM
Are there any necron units in the codex that don't have we'll be back?
There are a few....Pariahs, C'tan, tomb spyders, scarabs and monoliths. All the rest can WBB.
Quote from: DapperAnarchist on August 11, 2009, 06:06:17 PM
perhaps renamed Flensing Claws? (isn't that what the Codex calls them?)
You might be right - I didn't check so just lazily called them metal claws to go with your metal skin.
Acrobatic - I can't remember why that was added... its one of those things "why did I do that? Where did that come from?"... So its cut now... and yes, it probably is overblown, and will be trimmed.
Now, on the Gilded One - the Gilded One isn't really from the Codex, in the same way that an ][ Inquisitor is not the same as the super psyker power armoured bolter everything power everything else war machine in the WH and DH Codices. Its delicate (by Necron standards), something special, something unique - hence it has named equipment, a name, a title. And it is the big bad - like Quixos was, while the Daemonhosts weren't - they were weapons, tools. However - rules wise, it gets things that do not represent the rules of the Codex Lord - like true grit instead of regeneration, and the special rules for the Ka Staff, and the Ring of Ounas instead of some sort of staff shooting thing.
The Gilded One is a Lord - so was already among the intellectual elite of the Necrons to start with (I think they were the Necrontyr Priests), and may even have been among the elite of them - a spymaster, perhaps. Now, it's a multi-million year old malicious manipulator.