Long story short, i finished Tyr about 3 months ago, then destroyed him with varnish. But i got the bug recently, and all i have to finish are his grenade, a random detail bit, and his sword. So i figured i'd put his background back up, with the additions from last time. I'm pretty happy with both of them, but i'm always open to improving them if something doesn't quite work.
Inquisitor Tyr Wen Wokin
Born on the planet of Miya IV, a Fuedal Planet with an emphasis on fighting to earn ones right in the hierarchy of the planet. When born, each Miyan infant is placed in front of a variety of weapons, the one they clasp their tiny hands onto is the one they spend their life time developing, alongside their own bodies, in order to operate without them.
Tyr was born into the Wokin household, the son of the established Swordsman Wen, took after his father with abandon. However, around the time of adoloscense Tyr began to develop into something more. His strength would often increase sharply, without any apparent control, and was able to react to blows and attackers with almost preternaturally fast reactions. This resulted in Tyr having to spar with men sometimes twice his age. Eventually the Black Ships arrived and found Tyr to be a psyker, however the disciplined nature of the Miyan martial arts meant that he was able to control it to some effect, though not fully. After being taken on the Black Ships, he was found to have extensive biomantic powers, to the extent that he was able to lock onto any bio signatures nearby. Fortunately, due to Miyan training, he was found to be fit to go into Inqusitorial service.
He was taken under the wing of one Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor Mihail Bennett, (who intended to use his ability to detect people as a way to track down heretical cultists and his Lord, Marcus Skaro and began his "formal" tutoring of Imperial Culture, something that the Miyan's didn't really know about, their way of life meaning they had more pressing matters to worry about. He took to the learning with the same determination he devoted the his martial training, and began trying to combine his psychic powers with his Miyan based maritial arts, though his preference for his sword meant that his ability with firearms suffered, and has on more than one official occation shown to have some Thorian tendencies.His psychic powers have grown greatly since his induction into the Inquisition, his ability to detect the biological presence of people around him has advanced to being able to sense any disturbances in the area around his own body. He trained extensively in order to be able to combine this power and his own swordsmanship, in order to use the weapon as an extension of his own body. Furthermore, his ability to sense the biology of people means that he is able to read them, using their own body language to determine whether they're lying or not.
After the murder of Inquisitor Bennett, in what appear to be a mugging, yet was in fact much more sinister, and subsequent investigation headed by Tyr, he was promoted to full Inquisitor by Skaro. Since his promotion he has begun some fruitful and ambitious work in the Ordo Hereticus, and is showing potential, whether he fulfills that potential however, is yet to be seen.
He truly flourished during the Bennett investigation, however the battle against the actual murderers meant he lost his precious Miyan sword, his birthweapon, due to a shot which he deflected back into the shooter, the same man who had killed Bennett. Since that day he has perfected the technique, relying on skill more than luck this time. He claimed the fallen revolver, the same one which had been pressed into Mihail Bennett's temple and had it's trigger pulled, and Skaro repaired his sword as a gift, with a few augmentations and improvements from the original.
The rest of Bennett's followers were rolled into Skaro's own, except for the Imperial Guard Preacher Quintus Huss, who has stayed on to carry on "teaching the young Warrior the ways of the Imperium", and Bennett's sniper Shimo Highev. He has been known to use the Services of one Ex-Inquisitor Amagdylae Dervish as an investigator, and has befriended an Adeptus Arbites Judge by the name of Artus Grimm. Furthermore, whilst only young, he is not above the use of Gun-Hounds Ridian Jago, and his partner Elle Huxley.
WS BS S T I WP SG NV LD
81 46 68 61 74 79 64 71 73
Equipment - Miyan Power Sword with scabbard*, Carapace armour on Chest Abdomen and Groin, Revolver with 6 shells. Single gas grenade with Hallucinogen toxin, bionics on head (1 point of armour on head), Advanced bionic eye with Digi-Inferno Pistol.
Skills - Furious Assault, Deflect Shot, Martial Arts (Blademaster, yet unarmed).
Psychic Power - Detection, Warp Strength, Hammerhand (note, Hammerhand becomes an improvised weapon, so he wont benefit from martial arts at the same time)
Miyan Powersword - Takes 1 action to activate, otherwise it uses the profile of a normal sword.
Scabbard - Can be used as an improvised weapon with reach 1, and can't be destroyed by Power Weapons (it holds one, so it should be built to resist one)
Gun-Hound Ridian Jago
Born in the slums of Jural Primus, Ridian Jago was the son of a a low level thug, and the prostitute he had fallen in love with. Growing up in the whorehouses of Jural Primus was unpleasant to say the least, however, Jago's father was nothing if not devoted. He was introduced to the gangs at a young age, who often frequented the brothels, whilst not being put off by the children who called them home. The gangers would often amuse themselves by watching the children fight, betting on which would win.
Jago was always eager to charm the gangers, none more so than his father, and would often try to accompany them as they left. As he grew older, the gangers began to see him as one of their own, however, he never made any one affiliation, being seen as a dangerous youth in his own right. When he reached the age of 16, he turned down his hereditary place in his father's (now a Lieutenant in one of the larger organisations) gang and hired himself out to whomever could pay. This led to his father disowning his son, stating he had "taken after his whore of a mother".
Despite his father's anger at the snub, Jago managed to prove his worth, using the contacts he'd made from his youth to get jobs as a Gun-Hound, a hired gun for gangs who needed extra firepower, and could afford it. Over time, he became one of the highest sought after Gun-Hounds, his experience and tendency to target the known hang outs of those he was sent against meant that people would often pay him to simply leave them alone.
His overt tactics did, however, draw the attention of the Arbites, who could never actually pin anything on him, despite suspecting him of the majority of Destruction of Imperial Property they had encountered in recent years. The Arbite put on the case was one Elle Huxley, who was disgraced after it was found they were in fact romantically involved. Huxley disappeared with the help of Jago and his contacts, and was a wanted criminal. She kept in contact with her close friend Artus Grimm, who believed that she was disgraced due to her unwillingess to turn a blind eye to some of the other crimes, such as the illegal sale of Imperial Armaments which was rife on Jural. Grimm was responsible for introducing both to Inquisitor Tyr Wen Wokin during his investigation of the Bennett Murder, and have been in his employ since, Huxley believing since is once again benefiting the Imperium, Jago simply wishing to keep her happy, and making a tidy profit.
WS BS S T I WP SG NV LD
54 71 53 58 72 67 49 71 64
Jago is Left Handed
Equipment: Flak Armour on all locations except head, double barrelled sawn off shotgun with 10 shells, 2 revolvers with 1 reload each, stubber with reload, meltabomb.
Skills: Gunfighter, Deadeye Shot.
I'll be adding Artus Grimm as soon as i can, i've got to wait for a lilttle while before i can get started on him.
Leaving personal taste aside, there are two canon-breaking problems.
First, there's no such thing as an "ex-Inquisitor" as such. Once you're an Inquisitor, there are two ways out: death, or being declared Extremis Diabolus or similar (and the latter's a little fuzzy). I suppose an Inquisitor could try to retire, but I rather doubt it would be as easy as all that.
Second, the Adeptus Arbites aren't the police. Day to day law enforcement is down to local enforcers. The Arbites, apart from being a highly visible reminder of the ever-watchful eye of the Imperium, are there to crush full-scale planetary uprisings, deal with heresy and recidivism at the highest levels of power (unless and until the Inquisition gets involved), and otherwise make sure that the tithes come in on time.
Both of these are largely issues of terminology, though, and thus easily fixed. Once that's done we can move on to the astoundingly high proportion of Inquisitors that hail from "feral worlds" (which are actually feudal worlds per standard Imperial classifications) and are masters of the sword...
Quote from: JoelMcKickass on August 04, 2010, 01:20:37 AM
Scabbard - Can be used as an improvised weapon with reach 1, and can't be destroyed by Power Weapons (it holds one, so it should be built to resist one)
I'm not sure I see the logic here - surely a scabbard doesn't need to be built to resist a power weapon just because it's made to hold one? Wouldn't the power field be deactivated when the sword is in its scabbard?
The ex-Inquisitor is the only way i could think to put it. Basically, he was a separate character that i had planned that would be more noir styled. I get the idea that for every character we develop, there are a thousand more who're distinctly average. On top of that, i didn't want him to like being an Inquisitor, in my head he's a bitter tired jaded nasty man who's done what he can to avoid putting his head above the parapet, who suddenly had this young kid who's completely out of his depth but thinks he's tough, and is maybe a little too brave to be fearless, thrown into his way, and in whichever segment or sector they operate in, Dervish thinks that this kid needs a break, he needs someone who knows how to do things, that dressing up as an Imperial Citizen and knowing the right people opens a lot more doors than brute force. Originally, i had 2 versions of Tyr, the younger one that i've posted, and then another of me trying to do an Inquisitor version of Philip Marlowe's self-description (which is in every Raymond Chandler book), where he was a Noir version of himself, but there was no logical way to get from A to C, it just wasn't natural to for the character to turn that way. So I figured rather than make a Marlowe version of Tyr, i'd try and make a 40K version of Marlowe, and that's where the newer version of Dervish came into play (and Ex-Inquisitor replaced Private Detective).
As for retiring, I was thinking more along the lines of "yeah, i've not got enough evidence to punish anyone just yet, another decade an it'll be cool, they're bound to slip up sooner or later!"Effectively squirrelling himself away on a little planet where he wouldn't be noticed, and it's just bad luck that Tyr runs into him.
Feudal worlds, there we go. I know now 5 different types, Hive, Agri, Feudal, Feral and Death. Didn't they used to have all the different types of worlds in the 40K rule book a few editions back?
With the arbites, I can change it so that she's a (I've got Warden and Sheriff in my head, but the former sounds better), and then explain her relationship to Grimm as him investigating the Wardens for corruption (would an Arbite do that?) and see's she's one of the none corrupt ones. Then again, blowing lots of different places up would perhaps draw the attention of the Arbites would it not? If it was unsure whether it was a gang related incident or if it was something else (i'm sensing a "Anyway, it's out of our hands, he destroyed a church, that's Arbite jurisdiction!" moment...), though i do like the idea that Huxley is just a local enforcer, it fits the fluff piece better.
As for the scabbard (it should be reach 2), my logic was that scabbards are used to hold blades without the blade cutting through them, but if the blade can cut through power armour, surely the scabbard would be built to resist that. In my head it's a precaution, in some situations it wouldn't do an Inquisitor any good to run around waving a sword about, but he may need to have it activated ("I know there's a Genestealer about, but i'm surrounded by innocent people, i've got to play this one cool"), and running around with a powersword slapping against your hips seems like a pretty quick way to lose a leg.
Quote from: JoelMcKickass on August 04, 2010, 09:59:59 AMrunning around with a powersword slapping against your hips seems like a pretty quick way to lose a leg.
You don't see Luke Skywalker accidentally cutting both his legs off when he tucks his lightsabre away, do you? I think the point Kaled was trying to make was that your turn a power sword
off when you put it away - it doesn't keep fizzling away inside the scabbard. Whatever the scabbard is made from is irrelevant - it's only housing an unpowered piece of metal
Quote from: JoelMcKickass on August 04, 2010, 09:59:59 AMAs for retiring, I was thinking more along the lines of "yeah, i've not got enough evidence to punish anyone just yet, another decade an it'll be cool, they're bound to slip up sooner or later!"
That really isn't the mindset of an Inquisitor. Inquisitors are driven, stubborn people... not people who'll give up on that basis. There are always new threats to pursue, even if this one can't go any further just yet.
Quote...and running around with a powersword slapping against your hips seems like a pretty quick way to lose a leg.
Here's a question. Why have you written a weapon that takes time to turn on, then given it an out from that?
If you're going to add a disadvantage somewhere, don't do something that then makes that pointless. You might as well just use a regular power sword profile.
He may have been a driven and stubborn Inquisitor once, but after the constant strain of facing Daemons and stopping world ending threats were the risk of them dieing in some backwater were no one really knows whats gone on, would get to some of them. Effectively, i want him to be a beaten Inquisitor who isn't happy with what his younger self got himself into, and regret's becoming one, looking back on his earlier youth and ambition with distaste. Though i do have to figure out how the Inquisition works, so far i've got Abnett to go on, and not alot else, which is why i said Ex-Inquisitor, the organisation of Abnett's Inquisition would be something that's too hard to just avoid, so would end up with him leaving it.
Fair point about the scabbard, it was something that i never thought about until the other day when i realised no one actually has one (though i think Eisenhorn has a sword stick...), then thought about how no one activates power weapons, they're always on, so my step was to assume that Power Swords would have something to hold them. And activating a power sword, to me, is the same as cocking a gun, except that guns have safety catches, so you could feasibly have a gun in a holster that's been cocked but the safety is on. But i see what you mean, i'll just have to make sure i switch it off before i put it away, though it could end up in some heroic posing that's interupted by a loud clang and sizzle.
Quote from: JoelMcKickass on August 04, 2010, 01:38:42 PMAnd activating a power sword, to me, is the same as cocking a gun, except that guns have safety catches, so you could feasibly have a gun in a holster that's been cocked but the safety is on.
I'll take it that you're not very experienced with firearms.
Most pistols are double action. That is, the pull of the trigger can both cock and release the hammer. This is at a cost of a harder trigger pull than using it in single action - i.e. releasing the hammer only (with the hammer already cocked either manually or in the case of automatic firearms as part of the action cycling) - but there's no need to carry most firearms cocked.
There are some single action only firearms (such as the Colt 1911, or early revolvers), where the trigger will not cock the hammer - and these are generally carried "condition one", where they're cocked but safetied (although obviously not in the case of most revolvers, as most revolvers do not have safeties) - but they're also a minority.
In fact, many firearms cannot be cocked and have the safety on at the same time. Engaging the safety on, for example, the Beretta 92 F models will also function as a decocker.
There are also double action-only firearms which cannot be kept cocked, and the hammer has to be cocked by the trigger pull each time.
Of course, in the case of things such as rifles and shotguns, where the hammer is concealed well within the body, these are single action only and can only be cocked by cycling the action.
Quote from: JoelMcKickass on August 04, 2010, 01:38:42 PM
then thought about how no one activates power weapons, they're always on
Are they always on? I always assumed that powering the blade on/off was something so quick and easy that it simply doesn't require an action so we can assume it's on when it's drawn and deactivated when it's in the scabbard.
Perhaps, in the same vein as the ever expanding ipod range, there are various generations of power sword and so the less modern ones, could be a more simplistic button design that requires activation?
Or perhaps the power sword has a genetic identifier built into the hilt, and this requires an action to recognise Tyr's DNA and thus activate?
Just some ideas :)
Rob
Quote from: Kaled on August 04, 2010, 06:55:12 PMAre they always on?
I'm going to use chainswords as an example. We can safely say they are not always on, else no one would use them - the whirring noise might be a hindrance to stealth. However, when needed, they are on instantly in game (it may be that they're not even on while in the hand).
There are enough references to activation runes/studs as well as turning power weapons on that we can assume they are not always going. For one thing, I imagine they would have quite high power requirements, so having them on when it's not needed is probably a bad thing.
I think that sums up weapon activation.
QuoteI know now 5 different types, Hive, Agri, Feudal, Feral and Death. Didn't they used to have all the different types of worlds in the 40K rule book a few editions back?
Additional worlds include Forge, Paradise, Cemetery, Shrine, Fortress, Prison/Penal, Frontier, plus all the environmental variables that aren't straight up deadly; desert, jungle, ocean, ice, steppe, forest and so on, plus orbiting facilities of all types and anything else you can think of.
Definately not cannonical, but a useful source is the 40k Lexicanum:
http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Warhammer_40,000 (http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Warhammer_40,000)
QuoteEffectively, i want him to be a beaten Inquisitor who isn't happy with what his younger self got himself into, and regret's becoming one, looking back on his earlier youth and ambition with distaste.
I see no problem with this. As Marco says, to become an Inquisitor is to be obsessively driven, but not everyone is going to be able to keep that up for 100 years or more. An Inquisitor's job seems to involve near constant exposure to lethal activities,
massive psychological stresses, with long periods of acute concentration/boredom/repetative training...Fun.
There must be a few who despair in the face of constant, overwhelming adversity, nevermind a few who just dont like the job. It makes sense using Marlowe as a base - but Mike Hammer might be better, just as cynical, just as jaded, but twice as violent.
He may not be able to retire as such, but surely could work on his own projects/leads; secrecy is paramount after all.
His only work may involve him chasing down a ''dangerous covern'' of tea-leaf reading old ladies or doing nothing more than forcing/blackmailing a planetary govenor into providing a nice quiet home and a small pension, or else...
I'm not too experienced with handguns (the browning is the limit), but the SA80 i'd say i'm pretty experienced with, and when we're in the field it's always cocked (i get a bollocking because i make it safe before i go to sleep, i just don't want to burn my face off...), and in some competitions (with live rounds rather than blanks) we keep them ready to fire. I know there's a pistol the SAS use which requires a certain amount of pressure to fire, but i can't remember if they have a safety once cocked, or if it not being cocked IS the safety.
Saying that, it makes sense that power weapons would be activated by some form of pressurised grip, so that the sheer act of holding them is enough to activate them. However, Shannow made me think of something, would a Power Sword that was built as a powerweapon be better than a normal sword which was converted? Maybe taking a turn to activate the weapon is because Tyr's weapon was a sword first, then made into a power sword.
I went looking for the Mike Hammer books today Flinty, i only had time to hit one of my local waterstones which didn't have it, but we've just had a new one built, so i will be hitting that gentleman up.
While I have no canonical source for this, my suspicion is that a power field would wreck any ordinary weapon it was applied to. (Which may have something to do with the extra 5% parry penalty - denser materials.) I'd say that a power weapon has to be built as such more or less from the ground up.
Of course, I could be completely off-base. As I said, it's just a suspicion.
Hmm I think Zakkeg may have a point, but again I would say that I don't think it is too much of a leap to say an 'antique' power sword (sort of after the loss of the STC's and as they begin to re-find lost tech), may have been built in a 'normal-sword with an activated field' type way. Allows for all sorts of different oddities as you imagine them playing around with different field systems.
Rob
Quote from: JoelMcKickass on August 05, 2010, 11:33:19 PMI'm not too experienced with handguns (the browning is the limit)
Yes, the Browning Hi-Power is indeed a single action only pistol. But that's fairly unusual by modern standards.
The hell? Any idea why it double posted? AFTER the other replies? Methinks i made a booboo...i'll fix that.
In a theoretic manner, powerswords are in fact different from normal swords? What i mean to say is that, Powerswords and Swords are effectively two different weapon types?
Which would you prefer, a sword which is surrounded by an Energy Field, or a sword where the energy field is part of the blade? I.E. the blade edge is actually made from a different material which channels the energy itself when activated?
As for Tyr's fluff, would it be better for his weapon to be repaired and turned into a power weapon when activated, or replaced entirely?
Personally I like the idea of a sword surrounded by an energy sheathe, though I suspect that the intended definition of powersword is the one where the blade inherently emanates energy.
But then you could just use the energy sheathe model and tone down the damage stat if you wanted. I think it would make for a characterful weapon anyway :)
Rob
I'll add the edits when i can (sneaking on the laptop whilst at my girlfriends, ninja eh?), but i was thiking about his Deflect Shot power, and was looking at mind scan, and thought that seeing as how the Detection aids his ability to deflect the shots, should he benefit in combat from using detection the way Mind Scan does? Furthermore, one thing that i was going to change is that he only has deflect shot if he's detected that person, or if that person has entered the range he is using for detection?
That's not the right words i'd use, but i'm curretly rulebookless, so i can't check it up properly, would anyone be able to word it in a way that makes sese ruleswise?
As for the Powersword, i think i'll make it have an action to activate, as to me, there is a difference betwee purpose built power swords, and swords that've been converted, the way there is a difference between display piece weapons, and real ones, but to another level.
There is no excuse for being without the rulebook!
http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m1320029_Inq_Rulebook_part_1.pdf
http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m1320030_Inq_Rulebook_part_2.pdf
GW hosted the files and made them free, they also have in them any updated rules marked in red, such as the new Lightning Reflexes skill and amendments to Full Auto and some other special abilities.