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Monodominant sub-factions

Started by Draco Ferox, February 22, 2012, 09:57:08 PM

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Draco Ferox

So I was wondering about the proposed monodominant sourcebook, and thought that this board would be the best place to get this particular bit of it off the ground. I am specifically talking about the factions into which the monodominant faction as a whole is divided. I have been thinking about this, and have come up with a few, which I will put below. Comments, critiques and opinions are welcome, as are other people's faction ideas. I don't have names for any of the factions, and am trying to establish what the aims of the faction as a whole are to start off with.

So, the factions:

The first is what most percieve monodominism to be. It is simply that no deviance from the norm is to be allowed, and the psyker, the mutant and the abhuman must be purged so that their taint cannot be spread. Concerned with keeping humanity on their version of the straight and narrow, they will brook no leniency, and if a hundred innocents must die that a heretic be destroyed, then so be it. This is basically one of the most radical puritan viewpoints that monodominants possess. It does, however, conviniently ignore navigators and astropaths....
This faction would probably be mostly Ordo Hereticus, and as it is the default viewpoint of the imperium, I imagine a few of the more public figures might be hailed as heroes.

The second faction has similar aims to the first, in that they wish to keep humanity from falling into depraved deviancy, but they do not believe that ordinary citizens should suffer for the sins of the tainted (most of which comprise of simply existing). To this end, they are very discerning about their targets, and aim to do as little colatteral damage to the surroundings as possible. Making use of surgical strikes, they are much less likely to use assets such as arco-flaggelants, or eversor assassins. Other assassins, however, would be of great use to them, as assassins tend, by their very nature, to make clean kills with little collateral damage, meaning that a significant portion of this faction could belong to the Ordo Sicarius.

The third faction I have thought of so far verges (or has jumped heartily over the line) on heresy. They believe that whilst it is humanity's right to rule the stars, humanity's inevitable shift toward a more psychic race should not be denied, and that this is in fact part of His plan. They believe that they can usher humanity into a new golden age through the study and understanding of psykers. Also, they take the view that the mass killing of psykers is a ridiculous way of acting, and given that humanity is becoming more psychic, this course of action will only eventually succeed in wiping humaity off the face of the galaxy. The increasing incidence of psykers reinforces their conviction in their views, and they are more inclined to study psykers than kill them.
Again, a large portion of this faction is likely to be Ordo Hereticus due to the access to psykers, though some may be Xenos, studying the eldar in an effort to understand the implications of a more psychically active humanity.
Be polite. Be efficient. Have a plan to kill everyone you meet.

Kaled

Quote from: Draco Ferox on February 22, 2012, 09:57:08 PM
This is basically one of the most radical puritan viewpoints that monodominants possess. ... it is the default viewpoint of the imperium
Do you really mean 'radical'? It seems to me it's a mainstream belief and not radical at all really - pretty extreme maybe...
I like to remember things my own way... Not necessarily the way they happened.

Inquisitor - Blood Bowl - Malifaux - Fairy Meat

Draco Ferox

Sorry for any confusion caused. I meant radical in the sense that just as the word radical can represent an extremist and/or not widely accepted view, it can also mean going to almost any lengths to achieve one's aims, without steppign outside the bounds laid down by the organisation one serves. I think I might have misused the word radical here, however, as not only had I forgotten that in this game, a radical is one who uses forbidden means, I have just realised that if something is the default, it is unlikely to be classified as radical or extreme.

I was trying to get across the sense that on the scale of grey shades that is the inquisition, those who use daemonweapons are placed firmly at one end of the spectrum and called heretics and worse, and that these individuals to which I am referring are at the complete opposite end of said spectrum.
Be polite. Be efficient. Have a plan to kill everyone you meet.

JoelMcKickass

Yeah i could get behind Draco's usage of that term. I actually quite like the sound of these groups. All three sound like fun and interesting war bands.

Draco Ferox

I got the term radical puritan from the excellent DarkReign40k random inquisitor generator by Shardifier and KrakowSam. It's the most hard-line (that's the word I was searching for!) of puritan inquisitors.
Be polite. Be efficient. Have a plan to kill everyone you meet.

Dolnikan

These factions are all very interesting. Recently I tried doing something along the same lines but inspiration mostly failed to hit me. I only made up a single faction.

The Purists
This faction basically is an even more extreme form of monodominism. Its adherends belief that any deviancy from what they consider to be the norm should be purged. Not merely those who openly defy the Emperor but also the most minor criminals, all abhumans, who they consider to be just normal mutants who are wrongly tolerated, and in the most extreme cases even people who are in any way different from the norm in their behaviour, such as addicts and those who worship the Emperor in a way which is not broadly sanctioned.
Circles of the wise My attempt at writing something, please comment on it if you have any advise.

Herald

One thing that could be interesting is a 'radical' (in the Inquisition daemon-weapon/xenos creatures etc. meaning) branch of monodominants. Basically they have the belief that mankind should rule the galaxy but don't believe that this means exterminating everything else but in slaving it. In essence the demonstrate the power of man by subjugating those they come across- I can see daemonhosts being particularly popular here as they show that man is so powerful that he can even bind the creatures of the warp to their will (or so they think).
"A man who joins the Inquisition a radical has no faith, a man who leaves it a puritan has no sense".

Kaled

I understand what you meant by the term, the reason I brought it up is that 'radical' already has a meaning in the context of Inquisitorial beliefs and using it in another sense can be unnecessarily confusing when there are other words that will work just as well. But it's a good illustration that the radical / puritan divide is not at all clear cut.
I like to remember things my own way... Not necessarily the way they happened.

Inquisitor - Blood Bowl - Malifaux - Fairy Meat

Draco Ferox

Alright, so I've been doing some more thinking, and I have come up with names for some of the factions.

The first one I suggested I thinks should be called "true" monodominants, as just as there are "true" Amalathians, which are what people think of when the word Amalathian is mentioned, true monodominants are the first archetype which springs to mind when monodominism is mentioned.

The faction suggested by Herald I would term subjugationists, though it's not a very imaginative name and if anyone else has any ideas, please come forward.

For the third faction I suggested, I am looking for a word which conveys the idea of moving forwards (progressionists?) whilst not sounding like a radical faction, yet also not sounding like a Recongregator faction.

Dolkinian already has a name for the "extreme" faction, the purists. I would definitely keep this name, as it is reminiscent of what they think of themselves.

The second faction I suggested is where I have really hit a mental wall. I cannot for the life of me come up with a word to describe the idea of the superiority of humanity, but also of being precise and surgical in their methods and operations.

As a final note, I would imagine that Herald's faction would be spread across all of the ordos fairly evenly, and Dolkinian's would have a not insignificant part of their membership in the Ordo Sicarius to remove those inquisitors whom they deem to be impure (would their be some sort of screening before entry to the faction is permitted?)
Be polite. Be efficient. Have a plan to kill everyone you meet.

Kaled

Quote from: Draco Ferox on February 24, 2012, 12:52:09 PM
The second faction I suggested is where I have really hit a mental wall. I cannot for the life of me come up with a word to describe the idea of the superiority of humanity, but also of being precise and surgical in their methods and operations.
Maybe the faction could be named after the person who proposed it (as with the Xanthites), or after a significant place in its history (as with the Amalathians)?
I like to remember things my own way... Not necessarily the way they happened.

Inquisitor - Blood Bowl - Malifaux - Fairy Meat

Dolnikan

I don't think that there are any requirements for factions, it is after all about a set of beliefs nothing more.
Circles of the wise My attempt at writing something, please comment on it if you have any advise.

DapperAnarchist

At least one sub-faction must be named the Annihilists, as that's what the Monodominants seem to have been named early in the development - it's what's on John Blanche's notes. 
Questions are a burden to others, answers a burden to oneself.

The Keltani Subsector  My P&M Thread - Most recent, INQ28!

Dolnikan

There could also be a faction that beliefs that fear is the way to prevent heresy. It is not relevant if all who are caught are innocent. As long as the population beliefs that they were guilty and that the guilty are dealt with in a horrible manner they will never dare to go against the Emperor's commands.
Circles of the wise My attempt at writing something, please comment on it if you have any advise.

Draco Ferox

Quote from: Dolnikan on February 24, 2012, 05:09:00 PM
I don't think that there are any requirements for factions, it is after all about a set of beliefs nothing more.

If these beliefs are about how a small group of individuals are more worthy of life than the rest of humanity, then I assume that they will not just let anyone join their little club. And the requirements for a faction are set by those in it. An inquisitor can hold the same beliefs, but not be a part of that faction. I believe that it is explicitly stated in one of the other sourcebooks- I think it's the Recongregator one- that groups of inquisitors can exist who are entirely ignorant that their beliefs are held more widely than their little group.

I just think that when people with unlimited power start to judge others as being unworthy of life, they will have certain standards as to who can or cannot be saved, and they will check everyone carefully to ensure that they aren't just joining them to ensure their safety while actually practicing another belief.

Dapper, Anihilists sounds like the standard monodominant view. It could also be used to describe inquisitors who are not content with merely destroying the xenos and daemon, but utterly erasing any trace of them from the cosmos, such as usig exterminator on maiden worlds and having tomb worlds blown apart by large amounts of explosives which would be placed by penal legionnaires. Who would of course still be on the planet when it blew up, but c'est la vie for a sinner in the 41st millenium...

PS- do I use ellipses at the end of my posts too much? If so please PM me and I will try to stop. (...)
Be polite. Be efficient. Have a plan to kill everyone you meet.

Dolnikan

I think I missed that then, I was under the impression that factions are just something inquisitors can be divided into. Many would hold a set of beliefs, without ever even having met anyone with the same set of beliefs. For instance, xanthites are a name given to inquisitors who belief that the weapons of the enemy can be turned against them. It would not be necessary for any individual to have joined any kind of club to hold those beliefs and be called one.
Circles of the wise My attempt at writing something, please comment on it if you have any advise.