Post by CELS on Apr 5, 2005 12:43:41 GMT -5
I've recently rejuvenated my love for Star Wars, by playing the wonderful computer game 'Knights of the Old Republic'. Everyone who likes roleplaying and lightsabers should check it out. Anyway, the story takes place 4000 years before Luke Skywalker is beaten unconscious by sand people - right after the Mandalorian wars. As usual, I've been inspired to create something similar in the Warhammer 40,000 universe.
The Shrine Wars - basic concept
Basically, I wanted a female general leading a strange alliance of humans and aliens that finds itself in the middle of an Imperial civil war. That's the premise, if you will. The concept is this...
In the early years of the Imperium, the Anargo sector is still young and has not quite taken shape. We're talking sometime between M31 and M34 here. The Cult Imperialis is even younger, and its organisation and philosophy has not yet petrified into the galaxy-spanning religion we know from the Dark Millennium. It is, as ever, an age of internal strife.
In the Anargo sector, there are at this time two shrine worlds, dedicated to the worship of the now God-Emperor. These are Sistina and Dorvastor. The Adeptus Ministorum is gaining power and influence in the Anargo sector however, and there is talk on Terra that a new Cardinal world will be established in the Anargo sector. The question is- will it be Sistina or Dorvastor?
Not wasting a second, the priesthood on Dorvastor begin conspiring against Sistina, to undermine their rival's authority and credibility. They want Dorvastor to become the Cardinal world, obviously. The best and quickest way to do this, they realise, is to start a war based on claims of heresy and other crimes. If all the high priests on Sistina are burned as heretics, Dorvastor will certainly be chosen by the High Lords.
Pulling as many strings as they can, the priests of Dorvastor are able to start a war against Sistina. Other subsectors such as Sargassos, Anargo and Meksum are a bit divided and uncertain in the matter, and opt to sit on the fence. There are greater enemies in the Anargo sector at this time, they decide, so Dorvastor is left to deal with this 'threat' alone. It is now a war between the Dorvastor subsector, and Archaios, for the most part.
Remember- this is a time when the Adeptus Ministorum commands great armies of Ecclessiarchical Templars and Frateris Militia, long before Vandire.
Though the other subsectors are sitting on the fence, most of them send small armies and fleets as gestures of support. Dorvastor does after all present a strong case, and they also want to be on the good side of a future Cardinal world.
One of these armies is an Imperial Guard regiment from the Sargassos subsector, led by our hero, a female Colonel. Age 40 or so, beautiful, intelligent and deadly. Along with many other regiments, our hero is transported to the Archaios subsector, where she wages war on the supposed heretics. It is an absolutely grotesque war, and countless people are slaughtered because they believe the Sistinians are heretics, and because the people on Dorvastor are doing everything in their power to keep it that way.
Eventually, our hero is sent to a planet in Wildspace, not far from the Archaios subsector- an abandoned human colony from the Dark Ages. The request comes straight from Dorvastor itself, with the highest mark of authority. Our hero finds it strange to suddenly be headed away from the war, but follows orders like everyone else.
It turns out, the priests from Dorvastor are directing them to that deserted planet to secure or retrieve something of great importance. I haven't decided what yet, but I'm sure it comes as little surprise that it is related to chaos!
Though our hero has no idea what's going on, she does get suspicious when she suddenly finds herself fighting eldar. Eventually, the eldar contact our hero, revealing themself to be exiles who left their home to warn the humans or stop them from doing whatever they were doing. The Eldar break the news to our hero, revealing the people on Dorvastor to be the real enemy, and eventually, our hero sets course for Dorvastor, followed by an entourage of deserters, mercenaries and eldar.
The Shrine Wars - basic concept
Basically, I wanted a female general leading a strange alliance of humans and aliens that finds itself in the middle of an Imperial civil war. That's the premise, if you will. The concept is this...
In the early years of the Imperium, the Anargo sector is still young and has not quite taken shape. We're talking sometime between M31 and M34 here. The Cult Imperialis is even younger, and its organisation and philosophy has not yet petrified into the galaxy-spanning religion we know from the Dark Millennium. It is, as ever, an age of internal strife.
In the Anargo sector, there are at this time two shrine worlds, dedicated to the worship of the now God-Emperor. These are Sistina and Dorvastor. The Adeptus Ministorum is gaining power and influence in the Anargo sector however, and there is talk on Terra that a new Cardinal world will be established in the Anargo sector. The question is- will it be Sistina or Dorvastor?
Not wasting a second, the priesthood on Dorvastor begin conspiring against Sistina, to undermine their rival's authority and credibility. They want Dorvastor to become the Cardinal world, obviously. The best and quickest way to do this, they realise, is to start a war based on claims of heresy and other crimes. If all the high priests on Sistina are burned as heretics, Dorvastor will certainly be chosen by the High Lords.
Pulling as many strings as they can, the priests of Dorvastor are able to start a war against Sistina. Other subsectors such as Sargassos, Anargo and Meksum are a bit divided and uncertain in the matter, and opt to sit on the fence. There are greater enemies in the Anargo sector at this time, they decide, so Dorvastor is left to deal with this 'threat' alone. It is now a war between the Dorvastor subsector, and Archaios, for the most part.
Remember- this is a time when the Adeptus Ministorum commands great armies of Ecclessiarchical Templars and Frateris Militia, long before Vandire.
Though the other subsectors are sitting on the fence, most of them send small armies and fleets as gestures of support. Dorvastor does after all present a strong case, and they also want to be on the good side of a future Cardinal world.
One of these armies is an Imperial Guard regiment from the Sargassos subsector, led by our hero, a female Colonel. Age 40 or so, beautiful, intelligent and deadly. Along with many other regiments, our hero is transported to the Archaios subsector, where she wages war on the supposed heretics. It is an absolutely grotesque war, and countless people are slaughtered because they believe the Sistinians are heretics, and because the people on Dorvastor are doing everything in their power to keep it that way.
Eventually, our hero is sent to a planet in Wildspace, not far from the Archaios subsector- an abandoned human colony from the Dark Ages. The request comes straight from Dorvastor itself, with the highest mark of authority. Our hero finds it strange to suddenly be headed away from the war, but follows orders like everyone else.
It turns out, the priests from Dorvastor are directing them to that deserted planet to secure or retrieve something of great importance. I haven't decided what yet, but I'm sure it comes as little surprise that it is related to chaos!
Though our hero has no idea what's going on, she does get suspicious when she suddenly finds herself fighting eldar. Eventually, the eldar contact our hero, revealing themself to be exiles who left their home to warn the humans or stop them from doing whatever they were doing. The Eldar break the news to our hero, revealing the people on Dorvastor to be the real enemy, and eventually, our hero sets course for Dorvastor, followed by an entourage of deserters, mercenaries and eldar.
