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SwordlordRoy's Character Concepts and background

Started by SwordlordRoy, November 11, 2018, 08:52:35 AM

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SwordlordRoy

Making this for Character Concepts (Stats may come later) as well as plot backgrounds I may end up using. Feel free to comment, ask questions, etc. Some of this is old and refined from as far back as my 5th ed Imperial Guard, other stuff is newer as I'm learning more and therefore might fit less comfortably than I'd like as I've dropped it in as it made the most sense.

First off, let's start with a potential Reoccurring "Villain" I think I might use in campaigns I GM, as something of an "End of Season Boss"



Inquisitor Talia Darlibagi

A distant descendant of Saint Moira Darlibagi of the Kundonian Imperial Creed, Talia grew up in a comparatively sheltered environment. As was expected of planetary nobility, she learned the the arts of leadership and fencing at a young age. She'll probably be the first to tell you that she would probably still be in that cozy past life of hers if a cult that had been growing rapidly within the underhive, the Cult of the Emperor's Blood, hadn't revealed itself as a Nurgle warband. A sickness fell over the hive, the cultists launching strikes against the uninfected, including the House of Darlibagi. She barely escaped with the help of Lord Inquisitor Vandalarius Calamare of the Ordo Hereticus, who took her on as a acolyte. He taught her of Istavaanianism and the Noble goal of his "Kundonian Experiment". Under his tutelage, she became an interrogator, then an inquisitor. As is usual for Istavaanians, she owes allegiance to no Ordo, but she maintains close ties to Clamare. The Lord Inquisitor often has her travel to other locations for him, for In the Grim Darkness of the 41st Millennium...there must be only war.


==============================================================================


Kundas is the world I created back for my Imperial Guard, the Kundonian 181st. The world lies due North (Spinward) of the Eye of Terror, having been founded in the Dark Age of Technology as a trading post with the Eldar. As the Age of Stife struck, the world was cut off, the Humans having to turn to the Eldar for aid. This came to a peak with an influx of Eldar refugees as the Eye of Terror opened up, the humans being subjugated by the Xenos. Resistance to this only gained traction when a lost trade flotilla appeared, having been thought lost in the Warp at the start of the Age of Strife. They succeeded in liberating their world with the help of the (Legion TBD) in the later stages. The Kundonian "Cursed" First Regiment sided with the Warmaster during the Heresy, the "Blessed" Second remaining Loyal and serving with Distinction. In more recent times, the World has come under attack by Forces of Chaos during M40. During this confusion, Lord Inquisitor Calamare, a perpetual, took it upon himself to corrupt the Imperial Cult on the world as an experiment...while they venerate the God Emperor, the belief has spread that all the Space Marine Legions where behind the Horus Heresy, the "Loyalists" existed as a fallback plan should the Arch-traitor fail...that they now bide their time for when the Loyal Guard and The Emperor's Holy Paladins (read: Adeptus Custodes) grow complacent. (More exists depending on time frame, like fighting off Chaos, them starting a war against a Space Marine chapter, what their currently doing on the Dark Imperium side of the Cicatrix Maledictum, so forth)

Saint Moira Darlibagi was a member of the Lost Flotilla, having become a prominent resistance leader. She went on the lead the Kundonian "Blessed" Second Regiment during the Horus Heresy, giving her life reclaiming a Spaceport from the Fallen Kundonian First Regiment during the Battle of Terra. Her body was interred in stasis in a monument to the Liberation of Kundas. She's been recently resurrected in the 41st millennium as a Living Saint. Heretical rumors speculate she may have had Eldar Blood.

The "Pale Blood" Cult is a Nurgloid cult drawn, at least partially, from the remnants of the Kundonian "Cursed" First. They tend to infiltrate a World under the guise of a relic cult (The Cult of the Emperor's Blood being an example). A plague will usually strike, which is seemingly only cured by imbibing a sample of the Cult's "Relic", which usually takes the form of the Blood of some Saint, or Primarch, or even the Emperor himself. This relic, however is actually daemonic puss, which infects the drinker with a sleeper sickness, only becoming apparent when the Cult makes it's strike.

SwordlordRoy

Realize after coming across one of the Numerous "20 Questions" Threads that I probably should go back and rewrite Talia's background as well as that of the character I'm going to be posting here. Suffice to say, Talia is Right-Handed.

Current plans for Talia's Miniature are using this: https://wargameexclusive.com/shop/heresy-hunters/heresy-hunter-female-inquisitor-xeno-trapper/
Potentially swapping out the pistol (Would you say that's a stub pistol or a bolt?) for an Inferno Pistol as befits a former noble: https://wargameexclusive.com/shop/battle-sisters/emperor-sisters-angels-melting-pistols-set-5p/
and I'm tossed up on whether to go with a Chainsword or a Power Sword...I'm aware that Bolters and Power Weapons are extremely powerful pieces of wargear, so while it would make sense for a noble and Heir of a House descended from a Minor Saint to have the best they could get, I want to try and keep Power Armour out and Bolters and Power Weapons to a maximum of 2 total.

((Unrelated Side note: Is it odd that it took me getting back into 40k a couple years ago to truly appreciate how American English doesn't have all those "Unnecessary" vowels. "Honor" instead of "Honour", "Armor" instead of "Armour", etc. No offense intended to my friends across the Pond))


Sister Sabenya

Born a daughter of two heroes of the Astra Militarum, Sabenya was practically raised around the ubiquitus lasgun. When her parents died in battle with the Tau, She was sent to a Schola Progenium that had been co-opted by Lord Inquisitor Calamare as part of the "Kundonian Experiment". She was on track for the Commissariat when she gained the attention of Sister Superior Ephrata on the Scrumball pitch, being transferred over to be a Noviciate of the Order of the Sacred Rose. Upon becoming a Sister proper, her squad was assigned the task of protecting then-Interrogator Talia Darlibagi in a mission towards Tau Space. In an ambush, Sabenya charged headlong into enemy fire, the sight of the blue-skinned devils shaking something loose within her. The mission was ultimately successful promoting Talia Darlibagi to the rank of Inquisitor, but Sister Sabenya was the only survivor of her squad. Impressed by the Tenacity of the Sister, Inquisitor Darlibagi took her on as her first Acolyte. The Battle Sister is a loyal bodyguard to the descendant of the Saint her order reveres, rarely leaving the Inquisitor's side.

Sabenya is Right-Handed

Current plans Miniature-wise...not wanting to go with the Power Armour route (See above note), so trying to decide how to get the vibe that she just stepped out of a Shrine after praying, strapped on a Cuirass and some Pauldrons, and picked up a bolter.
the Arms, weapons, and Cuirass is the easy part...
https://victoriaminiatures.com/collections/torsos/products/female-cuirass-armor-torsos-x-5
https://victoriaminiatures.com/collections/weapons/products/bolt-rifle-x5
https://victoriaminiatures.com/collections/female-arms/products/universal-victorian-rifle-arms-female
https://victoriaminiatures.com/collections/heads/products/bald-female-heads-x12

I'm just having trouble finding a good set of Robed legs that don't involve me cutting something like the Electro-Priests in half...looking like I'm going to have to use any of the "Death Korps of Krieg" knockoff Greatcoat Legs and trying to sand off buttons.
https://victoriaminiatures.com/collections/legs/products/greatcoat-legs-x5-female



On another tangental side note, thinking of using This
https://wargameexclusive.com/shop/battle-sisters/emperor-sisters-backpack-set-5u/
and leftovers from Burning of Prospero to make a Powered Armoured version of Talia for 40k.

MarcoSkoll

#2
Quote from: SwordlordRoy on November 25, 2018, 08:36:16 AMPotentially swapping out the pistol (Would you say that's a stub pistol or a bolt?) for an Inferno Pistol as befits a former noble
I think it's some kind of Nerf gun, actually...

It's kind of weird. If that's a revolver cylinder, it's got no barrel (hence the Nerf gun look, in the style of things like the Maverick or the Strongarm), and if it's not a cylinder, then it implies some kind of really weird mechanism. Based on appearance, I'd personally be inclined to make it some form of archaeotech or even xenotech.

As far as Inferno pistols, I'll address that below.

Quoteand I'm tossed up on whether to go with a Chainsword or a Power Sword...I'm aware that Bolters and Power Weapons are extremely powerful pieces of wargear, so while it would make sense for a noble and Heir of a House descended from a Minor Saint to have the best they could get
... don't mistake "best" for meaning "most powerful".

Something like an Inferno pistol is short ranged, inaccurate, only gives you three shots between time consuming reloads, is hugely heavy, you'd really struggle to use it to merely wound a fleeing suspect, and so hugely conspicuous that it would be really difficult to be pass under the radar while carrying one.

Sure, useful if you're being charged down by a World Eater, but most of the rest of the time, something like a powerful master crafted laspistol would frequently serve an Inquisitor better.
And let me assure you, if you've got the money, there are some extraordinary laspistols out there. One of my Dark Heresy characters ended up with a master crafted laspistol that cost about the same as a heavy bolter (~2000 Thrones), and believe you me, she was NEVER giving that up. Lightweight, hugely accurate, had stopping power to rival a bolt pistol in good hands (and sometimes way beyond that), could rapid fire when needed, got a fair number of shots per reload, could be reloaded in the blink of an eye - but to casual inspection, it just looked like a reasonably long laspistol. You needed to look far closer to notice just how well it was made.

My Revised Inquisitor Armoury supplement has an extensive "design your own pattern of lasweapon" section. (To the point that I think you can design over 12,000 variants of laspistol before you even start messing with it to represent particularly well/poorly made examples).

Similarly, things like chainswords and power swords are effective weapons, but also heavy and often conspicuous.
Rather than the bulky power weapons issued to Imperial Guard officers, you might be more likely to find a noble with a more svelte power weapon - perhaps with a less powerful disruption generator, but better balanced for it and thus more agile in combat... as well as considerably more tolerable to carry around all the time.

Bear in mind that many Inquisitor scenarios will be situations where the characters are not expecting heavy combat; they might be ambushed while investigating some rumour in the underhive, or maybe a meeting with a trusted contact turned out to be a double-cross.
As such, if an Inquisitor character isn't going to have multiple miniatures/character sheets, their equipment should generally be somewhere between "general paranoia" and "expecting a bit of a scrap". For a character to always turn up on the table in power armour and carrying a plasma gun, it implies that they take that stuff with them almost constantly... which could be disadvantageous if the GM decides to plan a stealth mission.

That's not to say that you should never use these types of weapons, but the general point is that "powerful" and "best" can be very different things.

Quote
((Unrelated Side note: Is it odd that it took me getting back into 40k a couple years ago to truly appreciate how American English doesn't have all those "Unnecessary" vowels. "Honor" instead of "Honour", "Armor" instead of "Armour", etc. No offense intended to my friends across the Pond))
Steddy on, it's no hainous crime that we on our little iland have our own tung bilt in our own stile. As a rule of thum, it's neer enough, giv or take, that I beleev you should be able to determin our korus without nightmar ear ake. Or maybe there's some masheen that can translate it for you.

...sorry, I forget which parts of Noah Webster's spelling reform you lot actually decided to use in the end. :P
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

SwordlordRoy

Quote from: MarcoSkoll on November 26, 2018, 03:50:11 AM
Something like an Inferno pistol is short ranged, inaccurate, only gives you three shots between time consuming reloads, is hugely heavy, you'd really struggle to use it to merely wound a fleeing suspect, and so hugely conspicuous that it would be really difficult to be pass under the radar wile carrying one.

Sure, useful if you're being charged down by a World Eater, but most of the rest of the time, something like a powerful master crafted laspistol would frequently serve an Inquisitor better.
And let me assure you, if you've got the money, there are some extraordinary laspistols out there. One of my Dark Heresy characters ended up with a master crafted laspistol that cost about the same as a heavy bolter (~2000 Thrones), and believe you me, she was NEVER giving that up. Lightweight, hugely accurate, had stopping power to rival a bolt pistol in good hands (and sometimes way beyond that), could rapid fire when needed, got a fair number of shots per reload, could be reloaded in the blink of an eye - but to casual inspection, it just looked like a reasonably long laspistol. You needed to look far closer to notice just how well it was made.
I'll take this under advisement...And I think I have a couple Baroque-looking pistols from old empire kits (and that one Mordheim sprue I got at my FLGS auction) that could be borrowed as an archaeotech Laspistol

Quote from: MarcoSkoll on November 26, 2018, 03:50:11 AM
Steddy on, it's no hainous crime that we on our little iland have our own tung bilt in our own stile. As a rule of thum, it's neer enough, giv or take, that I beleev you should be able to determin our korus without nightmar ear ake. Or maybe there's some masheen that can translate it for you.

...sorry, I forget which parts of Noah Webster's spelling reform you lot actually decided to use in the end. :P
This did make me laugh my good sir. I feel like I should clarify my intent in my previous statement should someone take it out of that intent. While I was aware there were differences between American English and the Queen's English, I didn't really notice it until a couple years ago. As mentioned Armor vs Armour, Honor vs Honour, Color vs Colour, Labor vs Labour, and Defense vs Defence for some odd reason, not even the change of a vowel on that one...So, I now know to look for the differences and appreciate that they are there. This is not the Bloody American here saying one is superior, if anything it's him saying he's glad the two are still so closely related that I didn't notice it until recently. After all, compare those two to some of the other Germanic Languages, while German and the Nordic languages (Except Finnish I think, I'm to understand they have an entirely separate Linguistic root than Swedish and Norwegian) are comparatively easier for us to learn when compared to French or Spanish (With Latin Roots), it can be difficult to understand them without studying the language in question.

MarcoSkoll

Quote from: SwordlordRoy on November 26, 2018, 10:42:02 AMI'll take this under advisement...And I think I have a couple Baroque-looking pistols from old empire kits (and that one Mordheim sprue I got at my FLGS auction) that could be borrowed as an archaeotech Laspistol
You can of course go other directions. The laspistol is just one example. You can spruce up many categories of more mundane weapon by upgrading the stats a little and adding the name of prestigious sounding gunsmith to it - Royce & Vayle, Blanchard Manufacturing, Presston & Sons.

You can also go in the direction of being a bit more conspicuous, but also somewhat versatile - a needle pistol is fairly prestigious, but also light and sleek, and can have the flexibility to load different varieties of toxin.

The point is that raw power tends to come with disadvantages, so a character picking this kind of thing is almost more of an indicator of their sheer bloodymindedness than just their connections and wealth.

QuoteDefense vs Defence for some odd reason, not even the change of a vowel on that one...
Well for many things, you have a noun form spelt with C, and the adjective or verb form spelt with S.

For example - advice, advise and advisable:
"Can you give me some advice?" (Noun)
"Can you advise me on this?" (Verb)
"Is this advisable?" (Adjective)

US English however tries to simplify this down in several cases where the pronunciations are the same, potentially making it more complicated because it doesn't even do it in the same way each time.

For example, practice and practise...

"I have a medical practice" (Noun)
"I practise medicine" (Verb)

... became just "practice" in US English, adopting the C in all forms.

"Defence" instead drifted in the direction of its adjective and verb forms, like "Defensible", by putting an S in all forms. Yay consistency!

QuoteSo, I now know to look for the differences and appreciate that they are there.
It's more of a pain from this side of the pond, as a lot of things don't appreciate the difference - for example, "color" is a common parameter in many programming languages, but "colour" generally won't be accepted. If your brain goes onto autopilot for even half a second, you have to go back to your code, muttering under your breath as you do a "replace all".

Badly designed search engines too. On one site where I had to upload a post-processing effect for fixing colour banding (an effect in digital image formats where overcompression or simplistic rounding can cause a smooth gradient of brightness to become hard steps), the search engine wouldn't recognise "colour" and "color" as variants, so I had to make sure that "color" ended up in the description so that people could actually find it.

I'll admit that these probably weren't considerations Webster had in mind though...
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

SwordlordRoy

Quote from: MarcoSkoll on November 27, 2018, 12:12:31 AM
You can of course go other directions. The laspistol is just one example. You can spruce up many categories of more mundane weapon by upgrading the stats a little and adding the name of prestigious sounding gunsmith to it - Royce & Vayle, Blanchard Manufacturing, Presston & Sons.

You can also go in the direction of being a bit more conspicuous, but also somewhat versatile - a needle pistol is fairly prestigious, but also light and sleek, and can have the flexibility to load different varieties of toxin.

The point is that raw power tends to come with disadvantages, so a character picking this kind of thing is almost more of an indicator of their sheer bloodymindedness than just their connections and wealth.

I don't intend to have ranged combat be much of a focus. If anything, I'm seeing her as more of a manipulator and Machiavellian Schemer. The idea with the inferno pistol as I recall that such artifacts were generally held by nobility if it wasn't in the hands of the Sororitas (and even there it's rare). Laspistols and some manner of Rapier should fit with this background though.

As for the Sororitas Bodyguard, it would make sense for her to have armor, seeing as she has a role as muscle. Flak or Carapace should work though, but now I'm stuck trying to decide if it's too out of place for a Sister to be wielding Las weapons or if I should stick with the standard Bolter or bolt pistol...could also go the flamer route I suppose.

Cortez

Go with the bolt weapon. It's good to have some heavier firepower and a bodyguard needs to look somewhat intimidating. I also can't really see a Soritas giving up her sanctified bolter and carapace armour would make sense too as it's easier to maintain etc. and so more practical for a non battlefield assignment, while still clearly showing here heraldry etc.

SwordlordRoy

What is it about transferring a page or more of notes to a computer that shrinks it down to almost nothing? Anyway, here's a new stab at filling out Inquisitor Darlibagi's retinue.

Subject Jericho 97-62 Delta "Delta"

Little is known of Subject Delta's origins, just that the Black Ships discovered him living in a nest of Ratlings in the underhive of the city of Tsukuyomi on the world of Bearrigun's Folly. The ship traveled not to Holy Terra, but to a hidden Inquisitorial asteroid base in the Demachen Reach. There, Horusian Inquisitor Forbin Claud Experimented to increase his potential as a psyker "For the good of the Imperium".
Delta grew to despise the Imperium during this time, killing the other subjects in Inquisitor Claud's testing arenas. He saw this as a mercy to the others, slaying the last as Inquisitor Talia was raiding the facility. He was captured and interrogated. Inquisitor Darlibagi saw use in the Heretic and took him as a useful "tool" in her arsenal. He does so unwillingly, with a penal legionnaire explosive collar around his neck. The collar is keyed to the Inquisitor's vitals as well as a trigger she carries. as can be imagined, he hates her guts. Still, he does enjoy bringing fire and ruin to the hated Imperium.

Subject Delta is Right Handed.

If I don't have some bald male heads I can use then shame on me, GW puts them in just about every kit...but I know it should be easy to find some from a 3rd party easily.

Thinking about using these for the torso, it saves me some hassle of trying to use my poor sculpting skills (Best I managed was a long ponytail on an Infinity model) to make a bomb collar.
https://victoriaminiatures.com/collections/torsos/products/penal-guard-torsos

Kinda the same problem with robed legs here, but I do kind of have this idea of Ratlings being somewhat similar to Gully Dwarves from Dragonlance...so I tend to paint them in garish, clashing colors. So in this case, something that doesn't seem to fit works here. Still, looking at Greatcoat legs for the most part.
https://victoriaminiatures.com/collections/legs/products/greatcoat-legs-mk2-x5-male

I may have a set of wizard arms from Warhammer fantasy somewhere, but if not, I'm sure I could find something. Worst case scenario, I use some Mordheim or Empire State troops arms and give him a force sword or halberd.


Unrelated tangent: Finally got a hold of the printed rulebook, went through and Highlighted the sections that were changed in the InqFAQ article. Hopefully should be reading and understanding it faster. I tend to be better reading from an actual book instead of off a screen.

scabbs