New Chaos Warband Idea

[Lucidum]

Hello all, I decided to begin the laborious process of developing a new warband, this time a chaos one. So my basic idea is a squad of 4-5 chaos warriors. Unlike most warbands, united under a single ideology or purpose and under the leadership of one powerful individual; this warband is a group of disparate survivors, stranded Mutants, Traitor Guardsmen, and a Loxatl united only by their loyalty to Chaos and the necessity of staying together after their transport was shot down by Imperial forces. I plan on having a Loxatl as my biggest heavy-hitter of the warband, supported by a traitor guardsman (the de facto leader of the group, possibly even a blood pact trooper) and two or three heretical mutants. The Loxatl will be armed with the traditional flechette blaster, the guardsman with an autogun, and the mutants with an array of rusted and scrounged up weapons.

Sound good? Any particular ideas?

[Brother_Brimstone]

If their transport was destroyed, how do they get around? The events of Inquisitor tend to occurr at the least across a few planets and frequently across entire systems or even sectors. If you planned to use the warband fot a campaign set on a single planet it would work, but once you start moving things off-planet, they would need a new  transport, and once they have that, wouldn't they start moving towards whereever they were going in the first place?

As for that, where were they going when their transport was destroyed? If it was somewhere very far away, how did they get a warp travel capable vessel in the first place? Those things are pretty rare - or at least they are for those without major pull within rhe Imperial Navy (such as Inquisitors). If they were, then you could have them find a non warp travelling spacecraft, but that still leaves the issue of how they ever got a warp travel craft.

If they weren't going that far, then by even giving them a non warp travel capable craft you allow them to reach their destination. And why are they going where they are going? What is their overall 'game plan'?

As I say, the issue of interplanetary travel isnt a problem if you only intend to use the band in a campaign on a single planet, but once you want to play games off that planet it becomes problematic.

Not that this is an issue without reasolution; there are many ways to address the problem, i just think it bears some thought as to how you intend to resolve them.

[Lucidum]

I would say that (if I were to run with the blood pact idea) they were in the midst of a troop convoy within the Sabbat Worlds cluster, en route to one of the many planets there for combat, but where intercepted and shot down during landing procedures (though not mentioned much in the Gaunts Ghosts books, I'm positive the Chaos forces during the Sabbat Worlds Crusade must've had a fleet of some strength), and thusly where the only survivors of their crash. On an imperial held world, they would have found themselves behind enemy lines and would attempt to either link up with their fellows elsewhere on the planet, or else escape it entirely, by hijacking a guard valkyrie or other transportation, and perhaps eventually infliltrating a space port or hive city with the intention of going AWOL and getting passage on a rogue trader ship or some such.

[Shannow]

From the sound of it, I think they need some extra padding and info around them in order for us to see what their motivations are to fit into the world of inquisitor. That is to say what makes them a threat worthy of an inquisitors time and effort beyond the normal reach and capability of the arbites? Do they in their time on this planet began a secret cult of great power or some such thing?

Perhaps they crash landed on the world they were destined for and the crash allows them greater secrecy if they are believed dead? Then perhaps on this world there is a special kind of archeotech or some such that they can use to the advantage of chaos?

I just think outlining their motivation beyond simple "kill kill kill kill kill kill" would make it easier to craft their origins around them.

Rob

[Brother_Brimstone]

Okay, but what's their place within Inquisitor? It is the battle for the Emperor's soul, and it's all about the secret wars raging within the Imperium, surely if they are just trying to re-contact a chaos fleet they wouldn't be involving themselves in the sort of thing Inquisitor deals with? Say you're an enemy soldier behind enemy lines and your goal is to contact your alliies and make it out alive, why on earth would you then involve yourself with the in-fighting between the highest ranking members of the enemy?

Chaos warbands can be great in Inquisitor, my warband is a chaos warband, but they need some reason to be involving themselves within the affairs of the Inquisition. For instance, Sarthuul is an infiltrator, he wants to try and collapse the Carthaxian Conclave so that he can then go on to collapse the Carthaxian sector and become the ruler of an entire sector of chaos worshippers (which would then give him enough power to hopefully boost his position as a daemon and bring him closer to his all-time goal, to be crowned as the chaos god Sarthuul The Deceiver, King of Lies). Now this is a massive, massive ambition, and one which he will obviously never acheive (for one the Carthax Sector can't collapse, it's where all our characters live! for a second I have no authority or desire to add a new Chaos god and for a third it would be no fun, the fun of the character is in the struggle!). Still, he has an ambition, a goal and most importantly, a reason to be a recurring character in the events of Inquisitor.

Being trapped behind enemy lines may bring them into contact with an Inquisitor by accident, but they have no motivation to continually involve themselves, so unless you intend this to be a one-off warband, you'll have to find a reason for why they are involving themself in The Battle For The Emperor's Soul.

As usual, I have no ill intention, i'm not trying to put you off, but these are issues which need to be addressed.

EDIT: Shannow sort of beat me to the punch there, but my point is subtly but importantly different; not only why the band would warrant the attention of an Inquisitor, but also why they themselves would want to get involved in such a high-steaks game.

[MarcoSkoll]

I think I have something to add.

If you were considering making it a Tzeentch - or at least undivided - warband, then it could be that the warband leader has become utterly convinced after suffering major brain damage in the crash* that it's the will of Tzeentch that this has happened, and that he has been tasked with a higher objective. Although, he won't tell anyone quite what the objective is, and given how off his rocker he is, it's questionable that even he knows.**

That said, if he's mad enough, perhaps he could believe that of less subtle gods...

*Or perhaps he's just delusional.
** My brother and I are working on a similar concept for a Tech-Priest, who is searching for "The Object".

[enigma]

why not have them as former memders of a radical inquistors warband or a conclave of radicals so as to explain the diffrent odjectives. This will also give them a reson to be hunted by other inquisitors or for one to rise as a leader to carry out there masters plans ( he could be possesed or just nuts ( like my last experiment ))