Fluff Thread

[Traskus]

This thread is for fluff ideas you may have that you think aren't expansive enough for a full thread. Short narratives, character profiles, organization profiles, legends, etc.

Tempestus scions led Ruby and Sapphire to a dark, steam-filled chamber. Upon entering, they saw none other than Kardan Stronos, Master of the Iron Council. Ruby leaned toward Steven, “What’s going on, buddy?” Steven turned back toward him, replying, “You’ll be put into cryo freeze.” Steven sold Ruby out to the Imperium in exchange for saving her planet from an asteroid, despite the fact he has saved the world before.

Samus Aran asked Stronos what would happen should Ruby not survive the process, and Stronos assured her that she would be compensated. Upon this statement, Ruby’s bound monster Mumu entered a rage, throwing a tempestor into a chasm and mauling others. The giant axlotl lifted them with one arm apiece, cracking their carapace armor with a single swing that could shatter a boulder.

Other scions swarmed Mumu while H.E.L.P.eR. flailed ineffectually and Samus readied her arm cannon. Everyone in the room knew a single blast could turn anyone she hit into ash. Even Stronos was afraid. Ruby interrupted the fight by confronting Mumu.

“Mumu! Hey! Listen to me. This won’t help me. Save your strength. There’ll be another time. Sapphire. You have to take care of her. You hear me?” Ruby removed his bracelet that doubled as Mumu’s kennel, handing it and a hearthstone amulet with a ruby embedded to Sapphire. Sapphire hesitated for a moment before steeling her resolve. She may never see Ruby again. She kissed Ruby, and he kissed her back. 

Sapphire declared, “I love you. I've always liked you.”

Ruby responded, “I know.”

Stronos and Samus watched as squats lowered Ruby into the cryo freeze. The cryo machine activated, freezing Ruby with a chill enough to cool down fusion reactors. The squats raised Ruby again, showing him encased in an ice crystal near absolute zero. Sapphire and Mumu looked upon him in silent horror as the icicle fell to the ground.
Stronos inquired to Steven, “Well, Stone? Did he survive?” Stronos cared not for Ruby’s survival, but the knowledge of a successful test gave him confidence in his true initiative. Steven checked Ruby’s vitals and responded, “Yes, he’s alive. And in perfect hibernation. But that doesn't mean it'll work for a human.”

“I intend to differ.” Stronos turned to Samus, “He’s all yours, bounty hunter.” Samus Aran had stake in Ruby’s survival. He read from a scroll in the forbidden section of the tower of high sorcery. He intended to learn something that could summon his world’s guardian or any way to save his world from the asteroid, but found a secret technique that governments banned to the point of near-extinction. This put a bounty on his head that few could rival. That was a paycheck the pleiadean couldn’t pass up.

Stronos smiled to himself beneath his grille before ordering the squats,

“Reset the chamber for Starkiller.”

[Traskus]

“Distance is closing on a vector track with a tau Custodian supercarrier. 76 seconds to impact.” The virtual intelligence reiterated a countdown it started vocalizing minutes ago. It did not know it wasn’t helping.

Jorge attempted to set the timer to the vortex bomb, making no progress. He then checked the storm eagle’s systems. In his frustration, he smacked the thing. “Dammit. So, it’s gonna be like that?” Jorge turned to Six. “Well I’ve got good news and bad news. This bird took some fire and our thruster gimbal is toast so the only way off this slag-heap is gravity.”
Six looked up at Jorge, who stood a full head taller than him. “And the good news?” Jorge admitted, “That was the good news.”

“At current velocity, 53 seconds to impact.” The VI was smart, but not intelligent. It didn’t know to stop vocalizing unless ordered to do so. “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Jorge removed his helmet and let it drop to the floor. “The bad news is, timer’s fried. I’m gonna have to fire it manually.” Six countered, “That’s a one-way trip.” Jorge understood Six's hidden offer of sacrificing himself instead.

“We all make it sooner or later. Better get going, Six. They’re gonna need you down there.” Jorge took off his totems and trophies. He had a tooth of each tau race that engaged in war, and the totem of the Ring Walkers.  “Listen, Agrellan has been good to me. The time has come to return the favor. Don’t deny me this.” Jorge took Six’s hand and lifted him into the air, handing over his necklace in the process. He walked over to the energy wall that kept the air in and space out. He didn’t need power armor or Gaia’s gifts to do that. It was effortless, and Six weighed over half a ton in his power armor.

“Tell ‘em to make it count.” At this, Jorge threw Six into the void. Six’s re-entry pack would protect him from the worst of freefall into Agrellan’s atmosphere, but even a Noble 7 destroyer will get banged up by that.

Six watched as the vortex bomb went off inside the tau Warden escort, eating it and half of the Custodian supercarrier he was ordered to destroy while daemons laughed and jeered from the other side of the ensuing warp rift. The shockwaves of the rift expanded through space, frying communications satellites and shaking Six to his very core.

“Warp breach detected,” the virtual intelligence announced. Imperium navy operatives in orbit around the planet noticed this on their scanners.

“Gamma station control, we’re picking up multiple warp breaches.”

“Warp breach detected,” the VI repeated.

A dozen warp rifts opened in orbit above Agrellan, each dispensing a tau Custodian supercarrier.

“Yeah, we’ve got anomalies too.”

“Are you reading this? Multiple tau signatures.”

“Warp breach detected.”

“Does anyone have a visual?”

“They’re everywhere!”

“Warp breach detected.”

“This can’t be happening, must be the whole damn tau fleet.”

[Traskus]

Courtesy of Weredrago2

Sidus and his motley crew were on the run. They had already lost the elven witch and the kobold dog they had brought along with them on their journey to Huzuz. With the sun properly set, the would be crusaders had nowhere to hide. He touched down at the top of a large building, both the arid metropolis and the retreating truck in view below him. They were easy prey for he, DIO, the dark lord of all he surveyed.

DIO touched the scar on his neck. In a previous life, he was known as Dio Carstein. Thankfully, that meager, pathetic life is no more. With his Embrace came a new thirst; an ambition. He did not just thirst for blood, but of power and prominence. He, DIO, cut ties with his vampire brothers, his pride overpowering any desire for assistance from lesser creatures that he could not turn to his side.

He jumped down to the streets of the City of Delights, the pale vampire’s red cape flowing in the Zakharan wind as he walked. There was an overabundance of light and sound, little of which could be found on his feudal homeworld of Bretonnia. Though he was curious, DIO kept a stern, dispassionate expression as he examined the vehicles moving past him in the streets.

“Land-speeders…” mused DIO, walking next to a parked hovercraft. “Their power and speed is impressive…” He could not help but get a closer look of the machine. He put a hand on the hood, so that his undead flesh could get a feel for the metal contraption. “There were only horse drawn carriages where I, DIO, was born…”

A crude, brutish hand gripping at DIO’s shoulder interrupted his monologue. “Hey!” shouted the suited ogryn. “This speeder belongs to Planetary Governor Phillips!” DIO made no effort to face his aggressor, but he could assume that the goliath was making a threatening gesture towards him. “Do you know who you're dealing with-!”

DIO grabbed the hand of the ogryn, twisting the arm around and breaking it with a satisfying crack. The guard fell to his knees screaming in agony. Without saying a word, he moved into the back seat with the presumed owner of the car.

"My, my…” said the genial middle aged man. “You young folk are so hot blooded these days!" He chuckled heartily.

DIO had no time for such mortal pleasantries. He gripped the visiting Planetary Governor’s two front teeth. With minimum effort, he tore them free from the man’s mouth. Wilsonius Phillips howled in pain. DIO did not care. He, DIO, had an ambition to fulfil, and nothing would stop him.

“Shut up and get in the front seat,” said DIO. “You’re going to drive.”

[Traskus]

Courtesy of Weredrago2

Doomsayers







The Doomsayers are a hideous collective of degenerate mutants who worship the Ruinous Powers and the mutagenic powers of Warpstone. They see mutation as 'the next step' every creature must take to reach enlightenment, and that their heretical ways are only a sneak peak of the glorious future the Great Wheel has in store for mutantkind.



Clearly, there are some people who disagree. Specifically, giant superpeople with power armor and bolters, among many, many, many other groups who'd want nothing more than to have the Doomsayers wiped off the star-maps. It's for this reason that the Doomsayers are constantly moving, performing hit-and-run attacks against anti-mutant planets and orchestrating the occasional mutant rescue mission. From an outside perspective, they're a united threat against all things holy and sacred.



In reality, the Doomsayers have been divided into two factions for years. The original Doomsayers, the Cult of Doom, want their 'glorious future' to come faster by killing everyone that isn't already a mutant. They're opposed by the Schismatic Heretics, who use their freakish powers to do good deeds for the 'norms' that haven't caught up to them yet, even if it means protecting them from other mutants that seek them harm. The two groups don't get along with each other, so they wear different colored robes to differentiate themselves. The Cult of Doom wears green robes, while their double-heretical counterparts wear purple.



The differences between the two Doomsayer factions don't matter much to anyone else, though. Many planets in the Great Wheel have a zero-tolerance policy towards mutants, and have developed all sorts of violent countermeasures to prevent any mutant problems from ever getting out of hand. After all, the only good mutant you're guaranteed to meet is a dead one

Originally by Neveron

Ordo Xenos Combat Unit
The Ordo Xenos Combat Unit, or OX-COM, are a pro-Human paramilitary group whose focus lies in appropriating alien technology and researching it to further the cause of Humanity. Led by their Commander, a mysterious figure only known as The Illusive Man, they have lead multiple Power Armored raids into scientific bases of non-Human groups to steal samples. While this alone would be enough for the Council to label them terrorists, rumors circulate about even worse things: that they have abducted non-Humans for dissection, that they engage in illegal experiments on sentient test subjects, and that they secretly plot to overthrow the current Council and replace it with a more "humane" one. While their activities are outlawed in most of Council space, they still somehow manage to get funding from somewhere. One can only hope that rumors of their involvement with black markets are untrue, as some of the technology they are known to have researched would be extremely dangerous in the wrong hands.

[Traskus]

Originally by Cruxador

The Umbra

The realm between the Warp and Materium is often a useful one to mages, and yadda yadda those two paragraphs in book 1. It shows more material traits and is a more direct reflection of reality the closer one is to the Materium within it. It is in this region that most spirits dwell, it is here that mortal mages most commonly tread, and it is here that you see the most recognizable reflections of the material world. But delving deeper into the Umbra, taking strange and twisted paths, leads to realms that are less recognizable, in which the natives of the Umbra live lives scarcely related to those of the spheres that mortal mages suppose they reflect. Few ever journey here that aren't native, and many who do never return, afoul of some bizarre hazard. Fewer still go further, but those who do find a bizarre and chaotic realm where it is not the Materium that is most accurately reflected, but the Warp. Some mages who study the Umbra term these to be the inner, middle, and outer layers, but most think only of the inner, the Umbral's material periphery.

Warning, wall of text.

SPOILER: Click to show

Warp-Trods
Deep within the Umbra, space may be as warped as the Warp itself. In the middle region, if one knows the right paths it's possible to walk on foot from one planet to another. In the deepest portion, with a good knowledge of the paths and even better luck, it is possible to talk all the way from one crystal sphere to another, though for denizens of Materium it's usually faster and always safer to stick to the conventional methods.


Umbral Arcadia
The Umbral Arcadia, or just Arcadia to the folks of the Umbra, is a reflection of the crystal sphere of Arcadia. Even at the shallowest parts, it differs more than usual, however. One barely needs to go deep at all, step backwards through the wrong doorway, perhaps, and one is in the Hedge, an enormous and carefully cultivated maze of hedges. These mazes are the front garden and huntinglands of the Sidhe courts, which dwell beyond them, in the middle layer of the Umbra. The Sidhe are a great Youma Kingdom (or perhaps two, or four) who are bound even more tightly by contracts and laws than is typical for the Youma. They are also among the most active and famous of the Youma, because of an incursion hundreds of years ago, when dozens of Sidhe stagships streamed through the Great Mirror. The official stance in Material Arcadia is that these forces were repelled easily, which is why the Great Mirror is still intact, but straight answers come out from Buxenus even less frequently than people do.


Scarytown
By journeying through a long and convoluted warp-trod from Shadowfell through Shadowdark, then Darkbad, then Shadow Shadow bo Badow and finally Double Hell, an umbral voyager may arrive in Scarytown, the Umbral reflection of the no less remote sphere of Nostramo. Scarytown, especially in the inner layer, is home to the largest known civilization of Dusklings, who build quaint slums and great fell temples, but the area is more notable for another reason. Each temple is built to one of the Ghoul Stars, orifices that connect the Umbral and Material worlds. Dusklings pass through regularly, and they are as plentiful in Nostramo as they are in Scarytown, though few make their homes there. Spirits and ghosts sometimes also pass through, after making the long trek in the Umbra, to enter the material realm.


Nostramo
Nostramo has but one planet and no true sun, so it is filled with darkness. Space stations are built around most ghoul stars, filled with dusklings in transit, umbral researchers, and even the occasional trader, though few find it worth their time to come so far out of their way. The planet is largely barren.


Daylight 13
The ironically named research outpost is the largest and most popular station for mages in Nostramo circles the thirteenth largest ghoul star, which leads to the deepest point in the Umbral of any known gate. The station itself passes through the star on occasion and the research mages are always delighted to see what happens, though the station passes close enough to the Warp that casualties are far from unheard of.

Elder Dragons of Sigil
There are dragons throughout the great wheel, but only a few dragons have lasted since the Draconic Empire thousands of years ago. Of these, many are retired and solitary, living alone by themselves with, at most, a crystal sphere full of retainers. But some play in far greater politics, and those are household names and have their households in the City of Doors.

Hestaby
Though the Draconic Empire is no more, the title of Draconic Empress still exists, and carries great prestige among dragonkind. It is now more akin to a religious position than one of true power, but Hestaby takes her role seriously, and sponsors draconic convocations in times of dire circumstance. She also is the official steward of the Great Wheel under only Bahamut himself, in the eyes of those dragons who still care about the old Empire. In this role, she is conservation-minded and acts and counsels against squandering natural resources like indigenous flora and fauna, and mortal beings. She manages relations with mortal beings fairly astutely, and is often in media. She also holds an honorary position on the Council of Sigil, in which she is entitled to appear and to speak, though as she isn't a Factol she has no vote.

Lofwyr
The rival and rumored lover of Hestaby, Lofwyr controls the number one megacorporation in the Great Wheel. Saeder-Krupp has arms and subsidiaries in almost every known crystal sphere, and Lofwyr is known for micromanaging them all. He has no official authority, but his incredible wealth doesn't need to be official to lend his words importance, and he is also prestigious among even dragonkind as the oldest known dragon remaining.

Nicol Bolas
Though he completely lacks any apparent temporal power, Nicol Bolas maintains a stately lair in Sigil. The lair itself, however, is merely a glorified lobby for the gate to his true home: A crystal sphere he keeps entirely for his personal use known in recent centuries only as Nicol Bolas' Meditation Sphere. Though he holds few assets directly, he is known to hire, employ, and manipulate exalts and other runners of the shadow as both a means to an end and as a hobby.

[Traskus]

Courtesy of Weredrago2

The CyberRealm

The CyberRealm is a place with many names. Also known as the Wired, the Digital World, the Porn Dimension, and the Eater of Time, the CyberRealm is a place known and feared by many. To the uninitiated, the CyberRealm is the Umbral reflection of the internet. Any significantly advanced city will develop a link to the CyberRealm over time, the rate of growth accelerating with technological advancement. To access this virtual space, a person can use a datajack to project their mind into the CyberRealm or 'hack' a machine in the Umbra to generate a temporary portal. Supernatural creatures that can open portals to the Umbra can take a shortcut to the CyberRealm by entering the reflective surface of a device's screen.

The CyberRealm's creator is the Omnissiah. Or at least, he is according to the AdMech's official website. GW.Net has an opposing claim, citing the internet's ever changing nature as a product of Luna's influence. Or it could have formed on its own. Anybody that tells you they know the answer is probably distracting you so that his friends can hack your bank account. Forums break out into flame wars (sometimes literally) over this hot topic of debate. Be careful about what you say on the internet, because somebody really might come through the screen to kick your ass.

Warning, wall of text.

SPOILER: Click to show

Physical Conditions

Believe it or not, the internet is a rather chaotic place. Information is constantly moving throughout this dimension; some of it going in, and some going out. Internet Users that visit this realm can attempt to track data as it moves to and fro, but distractions are everywhere. Careless CyberRealm visitors can get injured or infect themselves with computer viruses, both of which will become reflected on their flesh and blood bodies. Many an unlucky hacker has lost themselves to the madness of the internet, forced to repeat obnoxious memes ad nauseam for the rest of their (thankfully short) lives.

Effectively, the CyberRealm exists on two levels - Macro and Micro. The Macro level covers complete sites, servers, and security systems, while the Micro level has a little world for every file and program. These pockets of reality are incredibly diverse in purpose and nature, with some being more welcoming than others. As in the Umbra, influencing an object in the CyberRealm will effect its virtual counterpart. The effects will be more obvious, such as a file 'disappearing' because a band of thieves carried it away.


CyberRealm Inhabitants

Like the natural Umbra, the CyberRealm has Spirits of its own. These digital Spirits (or Sprites, if you will) represent various facets and elements of the internet, and it wouldn't be a stretch to say that there is a Sprite to reflect every program. The CyberRealm is also victim to Chaos taint, which manifests in the form of aggressive viruses that corrupt whatever the touch and spread like wildfire. These internet Daemons are nasty buggers, but combating them in the CyberRealm is much quicker (and funner) than letting your antivirus take half a day to remove them. There is also the occasional hacker that sees the CyberRealm as a home away from home, and they don't take kindly to other Users trespassing on what they feel is their territory.



CyberRealm Locations


AdMech.Org

The official website of the Adeptus Mechanicus, who you probably wouldn't have expected to have much of an internet presence. Regardless, some Explorators see the internet as another space to be explored, and use the Imperium's private servers to pool their knowledge. The rules of conduct for this website are a little bizarre to those uninitiated in the Machine Cult - posting original content on their forums is a bannable offense, among other things. Hackers that want to mess around with the Tech-Priests that moderate the site will find them incredibly easy to aggravate, but should be wary of the Machine Spirits that guard the terminals leading to the AdMech's STC database.



GW.Net

In opposition of AdMech.Org is GW.Net, a network run by a rebellious tribe of technologically savvy Werewolves known as the Glass Walkers. They are responsible for releasing leaks and causing scandals with many corrupt governments and corporations across the Wheel. In response, these organizations have labeled the Glass Walkers as 'hackers on steroids' and put bounties on the heads of their members. Their forums are open to all sorts of discussion, most of which focuses on fighting the man. The only way to reach their site is from the CyberRealm, which makes it a safe haven for hackers and outlaws that want to join their cause. In return, the Glass Walkers ask for helping hands on their raids, which are much more hands on than your average keyboard jockey is used to.



ChaosChan

A wicked hive of trash and heresy, ChaosChan is part of the reason the Inquisition has doubts about this whole 'free speech' thing. Hate, lust, and various foul things grow and thrive in this toxic environment, and that's not even including its CyberRealm half. Artificial daemons are hand coded in this foul pit, and released onto the internet to cause general havoc. Despite this site's reputation, ChaosChan's CyberRealm is a great place to find dirt on heretics and where they may be hiding. Be warned that nothing in this extreme place is what it seems, and that letting your guard down will result in a fate worse than death - anonymous people insulting your intelligence over the internet.



Adventure Seeds

A powerful Sprite has broken free of the restraints of his programming and has formed a small empire in the CyberRealm for free Sprites that refuse to be slaves to the Users. This rebellion has led to important virtual infrastructure - plumbing, electricity, emergency services - becoming offline and unable to function. Is it wrong for the Sprites to want to be free, or are the lives of real people more important? The Master Control Program and his soldiers aren't interested in becoming servants again, and will start mobilizing for war if it seems like their newly found freedom is threatened. Worse still, a natural disaster could happen at any moment, and not having those vital systems online could cost the lives of thousands, if not more.

Where does data go when its deleted? You better find out, because the files for a long lost STC were accidentally deleted and sent to the deepest depths of the CyberRealm for recycling. This dumping ground is welcome to all sorts of unsavory Sprites and Daemons, some of which may want to recycle you instead. Along the way down to the dark recesses of the internet, you may run into other lost goodies, such as incomplete weapon schematics or unsent emails meant for very important people. Will your group be able to save the STC, or will they be too busy fighting viruses to locate it in time?

The Random Interrupts pack of Glass Walkers went missing in the CyberRealm after attempting a raid on an unknown group. A few weeks later, they show up on GW.Net as if nothing happened. Right when things seem to go back to normal, a large number of members have their identities leaked onto the net. The Random Interrupts are under heavy suspicion of being responsible for this act, which is made much worse by them not remembering the time they spent missing. Can their innocence (or guilt) be proven before any more Glass Walkers are doxxed, or are everybody's favorite hacktivist Werewolves history?

No one is sure what started it, but the combined debauchery of every ChaosChan User has resulted in an army of Daemons leaking onto the rest of the CyberRealm, and it threatens to turn the entire internet into a conduit for Chaos taint to spread across the Wheel. Will the AdMech and Glass Walkers put aside their differences and unite their forces, or will they continue to shitpost each other as the digital world burns around them? How will the traditional forces of the Blessed Pantheon be able to face their ancient enemy without a stable internet connection? Will this influx of Chaos mark the end of an era, or the beginning of a new one?

END OF LINE.

[Traskus]

Originally by Kwak

The Knights of Tiamat



Where most see Tiamat as a thing of the past, true believers understand her to be the future of the Great Wheel. Those who continue to worship the dead dragon god know that her death is nothing but a long slumber, and that when she awakes her multicolored heads will turn on gods and planets alike, devouring the universe. Only the strongest, most devoted, and most worthy will be united with Tiamat after that- the first subjects of an endless Empire. Traditionally, her followers either wait faithfully or try to put together the pieces of her corpse. The Knights of Tiamat, however, have come to much more radical conclusions: They believe that something else in the order of things prevents Tiamat's awakening, and that only through fierce struggle can her slumber end.

Warning, wall of text.

SPOILER: Click to show

Structure and Leadership

In reality, there are only five "Knights" of Tiamat - the rest of the organization are merely followers and disciples, for such a title is an honor that only the greatest deserve. Each Knight is a Chosen of Tiamat, blessed with the essence of one of her five heads, and leads one of the five cults which serve the Knights. When a Knight of Tiamat is killed, betrays their deity, or otherwise fails to meet the standard, their Knighthood passes to a new individual - often to the one who defeated them in the first place. The cult accepts their new master, and continues to work towards its goal - just as they have done for millenia since the fall of Tiamat.

Even though the cults have wildly different beliefs, practices, and members, they stay out of conflict, and even cooperate directly on occasion. Their alliance is sustained only by the pursuit of power, and fanatical reverence for Tiamat. As far as any of them are concerned, all else is secondary. The Knights do not sit back idly in secret lairs, but lead their followers from the front, endlessly questing for more power, resources and alliances. Their servants (at least, those who aren't being secretly manipulated) are ruthless, discrete, and obey their Knight without question (at least, to his face). Most of these servants are Dragons, Dragonborn, Tieflings, and Kobolds, although other races can also be found within their ranks.

Although the Knights have territory within the Abyss (and some hideouts outside), the cults are fluid and nebulous, with much of their power consisting of connections and influence within other organizations. In their endless struggle to subvert and convert, the Knights of Tiamat have grown to become a greater threat than any Church or Faction realizes yet, and they only continue to grow...


Internal Cliques

The Red Hand of Tiamat believes that the secret to Tiamat's resurrection lies not with her body, but her blood, and has devoted itself to the creation and propagation of Dragonblooded. They have manipulated generation after generation to produce superior specimens, gathering traces of Tiamat's holy bloodline. To accomplish this, the Red Hand has built up a powerful army of Tieflings and Dragonblooded who roam from Sphere to Sphere, kidnapping more potential recruits and gathering blood samples from their victims. Deep within the Abyss, Red Hand scholars pore over data from samples and soldiers alike, hoping to one day produce a Dragonblooded of Tiamat pure enough to act as a vessel to channel their god.

The Red Knight Aversa is the result of one such attempt. A Dragonborn princess whose divine bloodline did not manifest as it did with her older brother Validar, Aversa was sent off to the Abyss as a child and made into a Tiefling enforcer for the Red Hand. After rising through the ranks with her unparalleled hoverbike skill, Aversa butchered the previous Red Knight and claimed his title. She now sets her eyes on the planet Baal, where her royal ancestors once ruled, and seeks to drive out the Blood Angels and search the palace ruins for secrets of Tiamat's legacy and revival.


Prominent Allies:
The Sabbat need blood, and mass quantities of unneeded blood is something the Red Hand are happy to provide. In exchange, Sabbat forces carry out covert ops on their behalf.
The Tau Empire has a radically different perspective on genetic research and manipulation. Desperate for the other's knowledge, both groups have begun uneasy collaboration.
Dragonblooded, even those of lesser bloodlines, often owe their existence to Red Hand meddling. Many are convinced that their destiny is to serve Tiamat under the Red Knight.

The Jade Fang of Tiamat believes that Tiamat will only wake up when Draconic races once again dominate the Wheel, and that there are currently too many mammals running things. Therefore, they seek to wipe out all the lesser races, so that reptiles reign supreme. The Jade Fang carries out this grand genocide on a large scale with sporehead launches, virus bombs, and carefully-placed biotoxins keyed to poison all non-reptilians to death. They also operate on a smaller scale, placing unrefined warpstone within mammals' palaces in the hopes of turning their rulers into lizards, or simply assassinating them outright and putting disguised Dragonborn actors in their place. While their goals may be horrifying to most sane people, the truth is that just about every berk wants at least one mammal dead, and that makes the Jade Fang rather easy to get along with as long as nobody learns too much about their actions.

The Viridian Knight, Aeon Calcos, served Tiamat tirelessly even when he was just another Lizardman archivist. He was rewarded for his faith when the Jade Fang purged all the Gnomes from his homeworld, and appointing Aeon to be its sorceror-king. When the previous Knight fell in love with a Catfolk and abandoned the Jade Fang, Calcos became the Viridian Knight and hunted him down. Using his powers of Necromancy, Aeon has been bolstering his ranks with a series of zombie plagues, seeking to turn the lesser races against each other.

Prominent Allies:
The Society of Sensation may not seem to want anything to do with a bunch of genocidal fanatics...on the surface. In reality, most of the leading media producers in the Great Wheel are actually lizard people in disguise.

Lizardmen, Ophidians, and other Reptilians can be swayed by the Jade Fang's message, believing in their total superiority. While few swear total fealty to the Viridian Knight, donations and other indirect support is not uncommon.

The Simic Combine has taken interest in the Jade Fang's plans for mass mutation. While most of the support comes from Ophidian Evilutionists, even the more moderate members justify sharing their knowledge in that it will allow the Jade Fang to turn away from their standard, ultraviolent methods.

The Pale Eye of Tiamat works towards bringing back Tiamat in an unusual, yet straightforward fashion: Get a bunch of money. They believe that, like all good dragons, Tiamat just needs a nice big hoard of treasure before she can feel fully rested, and that once enough wealth has been accumulated she will finally awaken. Thus, the Pale Knight's quest is an eternal fundraiser, leading the Pale Eye in piracy, embezzlement, and a surprising amount of legitimate business. Relics from the Draconic Empire, particularly those associated with Tiamat, are the most highly prized, but they take anything of value they can, and place it within their gargantuan vault fit for a god.

The Pale Knight, Bullion Highwind, was a notorious outlaw who took her Kobold biker gang from mere drive-bys to legendary bank heists. After a long and successful career, she wanted to turn her life around and find religion. The Pale Hand let her do that without giving up her life of crime, so Bullion eagerly began tithing half her profits to Tiamat. Her investments paid off, and now she runs the Pale Eye. In between thrilling gunfights and Spelljammer hijackings, Highwind gives motivational speeches to the newer members, inspiring them to do whatever it takes for profit and power.


Prominent Allies:
The Verdant Guild would rather have wealth go to the Pale Eye than any of the other greedy bastards, since they just hoard it instead of building more factories and ruining nature. When the Sorting House finds evidence of destructive (but technically legal) industry, they tip off the Pale Knight, who makes sure they go bankrupt as soon as possible.
Lofwyr's Atlas megacorp is so big that only an angry god could bankrupt it. With this in mind, Lofwyr tithes a fraction of his income to fund the Pale Eye...just in case.
The Danann Commonwealth's people live in total luxury, needing nothing but imported food. Since perishable delicacies are useless to the Pale Eye, they sell much of the food they acquire to the Commonwealth.
The Cobalt Claw of Tiamat interprets the "blood" needed to awaken Tiamat as the Blood War between Order and Chaos, believing that once the conflict between the two is great enough Tiamat will come forth to bring it to an permanent end. This means that the Cobalt Claw can be found both aiding and attacking servants of the Blessed Pantheon - anything that fans the flames of battle is a victory for them. Most of their operations are more subtle, directing armies to hotspots and spreading inflammatory propaganda throughout civilizations. The Cobalt Claw also pursues internal conflict between Order and Chaos, and tries to convince prominent individuals to doubt their faith or even switch sides.

The Cobalt Knight, Gallan Gabbiani, abandoned the Blessed Pantheon and turned against his fellow Ultramarines when he was ordered to massacre a Kobold colony simply for worshipping Tiamat. Simultaneously, Gabbiani was blessed with the powers of the Cobalt Knight, but struck with a terrible curse from his former gods - he could never again hold a weapon. Filled with remorse and self-hatred, Gallan wields cards and dice against the Cobalt Claw's enemies, preferring a direct approach over his cult's traditional tatics. Still, he faithfully continues manipulating the forces of Order and Chaos, knowing that Tiamat is the only one he can count on anymore.

Prominent Allies:
The Doomguard's Factors are on to the Cobalt Claw, but they're happy to help - escalating conflicts is more or less exactly what they need to achieve entropy.
Space Marines all over the Wheel have come to accept the Cobalt Claw as a reluctant ally. They're the best informants on Chaos troop positions, after all.
The Gruuhl Waaagh is nearly as good at starting wars as they are at winning them. The Cobalt Knight's fleet ships them into key locations, turning peaceful utopias into hellish warzones.
The Black Wing of Tiamat believes that their god needs only one thing: Fear. Whether it's the fear in her loyal followers, or the fear in the victims of those followers, the Black Wing seeks to fill the Wheel with enough fear of Tiamat that she can awaken and manifest once more from the Warp. This task leads them to direct and defend many of the more "conventional" institutions dedicated to Tiamat, like the Cult of the Dragon Reborn, since the difference between faith and fear is slim to none. The Black Wing is perhaps the most notorious among the Knights of Tiamat, as their goal demands visibility. Jet-black ships attack planets senselessly with bombardment and invasion, while black-clad clerics lead mass sacrifices and hostile takeovers of lawful churches. Those who survive find their hearts stained black with the fear of Tiamat, unwilling servants of the dark god's resurrection.

The Black Knight was, for over a century, a vacant position. When the last one died, the Black Wing could find who the successor was, and began to decline as many doubted their existence. Then, not long after the Black Sorcerer disappeared from Tiji, the Black Knight arrived, clad head to toe in Darksteel power armor, and defeated each of the other Knights of Tiamat. Not even they know this newcomer's true identity or motivations, and the Black Knight's sporadic apperances across the Wheel and seemingly random acts of violence lead some within the Black Wing to doubt their new leader. Ultimately, though, the Black Knight has proven more than capable of revitalizing the Black Wing, making a name for themselves as a warrior, and cutting down anyone who asks too many questions.


Prominent Allies:
The Sign of One agrees that enough faith (their own faith) can bring back Tiamat. Some of their leadership has decided to carry out the Black Wing's goals to prove the Signers were right all along.

The Black Legion is tired of fighting 6 Order Gods with only 4 Chaos Gods and 1 Asshole God. They're eager to help expand a fellow Black cult and add another deity to their pantheon.

House Dimir has made steps in recent years toward assisting the Black Hand, providing them with key intel in exchange for some wetwork. It's clearly an attempt at getting close to the Black Knight and stealing the secret of his identity, but an ally's an ally.



Alignments

Tiamat. No other Alignment is acceptable. Despite this, many of the Knights' cults have established close ties with the followers of another Chaos god, for the sake of advancing their goals.

The Red Hand is allied with Khorne, whose followers respect their martial prowess and reverence of blood. They often buy blood samples from Khornate raiding parties, and arrange marriages between particularly powerful Berserkers.

The Jade Fang is allied with Nurgle, as both are dedicated to spreading horrific diseases. Much of their armament has been provided by cults of Nurgle, and they in turn have funded some impressive Dragonborn clinics.

The Pale Eye is allied with Slaanesh, with similar interests in opulence in decadence. They supply overpriced drugs for many cults of Slaanesh, and a significant percentage of Slaaneshi music groups belong to Pale Eye record labels.

The Cobalt Claw is allied with Tzeentch, because who else can truly appreciate their crazy schemes? They have arranged several councils with Tzeentch cults to assist with each others' conspiracies, each trying to out-manipulate the other.

The Black Wing is not associated with Malal. Nobody is associated with Malal.

Adventure Seeds
The Knights of Tiamat are supposedly hand-picked by Tiamat herself, indisputably worthy of leading her followers. But some of their enemies, namely the Platinum Knights, are beginning to wonder if this is true, or just propaganda to bolster the infuence of the Knights of Tiamat. Perhaps their powers simply come from ancient enchantments placed by cult elders, or from the actual severed heads of Tiamat. But if the origins of the Knights' power can be discovered, they could take their Knighthood, or at least their followers' unquestioned loyalty.

One of the Black Knight's first actions as a Knight of Tiamat was to kill every single Dark Eldarin in the Black Wing. Do they hate Dark Eldarin because of a tragic experience with raiders? Or could the Black Knight be a Dark Eldarin themselves, eliminating anyone who might know their secrets? Or was this just a stunt to evoke fear and throw off speculation? Regardless, the Black Knight's true identity is a closely-guarded secret. One which, if revealed, would result in their undoing.

Despite the Knights' considerable success towards their respective goals, Tiamat continues to slumber. The Knights have begun considering a joint operation with the Council of Wyrms to compromise, and carry out everyone's resurrection plan at the same time. In a combined assault, they would amass all of the wealth, Dragonblooded, and pieces of Tiamat's body in a single location and spill the blood of countless mammals and lawful soldiers, dragging the entire Wheel into a final battle. The site for such a grand sacrifice would be truly ambitious indeed, such as Sigil, or where Tiamat was killed on Mount Celestia. But are the Knights of Tiamat truly prepared to risk everything they have for this? And if they are, is there any hope of stopping them?

[Traskus]

Originally by Politeviking

The hull of the eons old space station still gleamed in the dim light of the dying star. The wreckage of a thousand thousand ships orbited it. They had each had failed to unlock the secret of the Omega-4 Relay, only to be torn apart in the Warp, and spit out into this fresh hell. Lord Ionus Prime of the Decepticons had succeeded where untold millions failed. The black shard embedded into his platform's chest had known the secret IFF codes to get through the relay unscathed.

His ultimate prize was close at hand. With the aid of the Tau Metal Caste, he boarded the megalithic structure and began the long journey to it's core. The Tau were led by Saren, a fanatic to the core. The station had gathered many horrors over the millennia, but Ionus and the Tau were more than a match for even the most twisted abomination the place threw at them. Through the entire ordeal, the C'tan shard inside Ionus led them deeper and deeper into the structure, promising that they would begin the chain of events that would wipe imperfect, organic life from the wheel once and for all.

Finally they came to the central chamber of the station, their destinies revealed. thousands of pods, filled with the sleeping forms of.... dragons. Each connected to a series of clear tubes, leading to a sphere, 3 km in diameter. When Ionus activated the station, worlds worth of machines whirred to life at once, and the dragons each awoke. Instantly the chamber filled with the roars of the beasts, as they struggled to escape their fate. One after the other their bodies were converted to a silvery goo and sent into the tubes, into the sphere at the heart of all of this. What happened inside that machine is a mystery, but what came out of it would mark the beginning of a new era.

The sphere cracked open like an egg, a putrescent black run off spilled out onto the floor of the chamber. What spilled forth, like a miscarriage was a 2 kilometer long dragon, made of Necrodermis. As it opened its maw and blasted a hole through the entire station, opposite the group, the C'tan Shard spoke.
"Behold the end of life. Behold the first Dragon Reaper, the Harbinger for our glorious Crusade!"

Originally by Kwak

Lore


Unlike Orks, Dragons, Daemons, and other great forces that have spread across the entire Wheel, is something that brings people joy and hope instead of endless war. Ballers who master playing it can gain fame and renown on par with great warriors and sorcerer-kings. Such levels of play require dabbling in the forbidden power of the Warp, and in the wrong hands techniques can cause widespread death and terror.

Little to no relics of 's origins remain, but legend has it that a people known as the Al Bhed invented it and spread it from Sphere to Sphere. Whether this name refers to the Syrne, the Eldarin, the Squats, or some other forgotten race is a complete mystery. What little records remain indicate that its popularity peaked during the "Golden Age of " between 32,000 and 33,000.

The Ballnacht
But when the Aboleths were released and nearly conquered the Wheel, was corrupted and nearly destroyed. The sport became dominated by Psions, victims of Pandaemonium's influence, who could carry the ball with their minds and perform impossible slams and unstoppable jams. Too often, these "Chaos Dunks" turned entire stadiums to rubble and obliterated fans and players alike, and became as terrifying to the people as the Mind Flayers themselves.

Their leaders, in turn, saw no other option but to put a stop to all of it. In the name of peace, in the name of freedom, a Great Purge was declared. Not only did the game become univerally illegal, but all of its equipment, merchandise, information, and players were slated for destruction. Dragonborn, Eldarin, and later Aasimar and Tieflings, joined together to slaughter the Ballers, leaving nothing behind. For millenia afterward, the bans persisted. Even as many governments have legalized the sport, remains heavily regulated and scrutinized.

What does stand for?
Because of this great tragedy, known only as the "Ballnacht", much of the original traditions and techniques were lost even as it began to resurface from place to place. Even now, no one is certain who invented Basketball - a name known only to the premier historians, as even uttering the full name was illegal in hundreds of spheres.

As a result, "" actually refers to several different variants of the original game. Each has its die-hard fans who insist theirs is the true , but any Baller worth his salt can play them all. They all share the same vernacular, but different organizations will play by different rules. The most common of them are:

Basketball is the most popular, and probably the closest to whatever the sport was like before the bans. With very little tackling or other shenanigans, Basketball is all about slams, jams, rebounds, and height. Ironically, it is most popular among Squats lately, despite their natural disadvantages.

Blitzball, the preferred variant among more lawful and authoritarian societies, is played on an underwater court and emphasizes tackles and three-dimensional maneuvering. Playing it well requires not only jams, but a strong stamina to withstand the aquatic environment.

Baseball is trickier for ballers because it incorporates melee weaponry to parry the (much smaller) and send it flying. These specialists, known as Batters, may use wooden clubs or even elemental swords for this purpose. But a Grand Slam is still a Slam, and even a Blitzballer is comfortable in a pitching or catching role.

Blood Ball, or "Bowl", has notoriously lax rules on contact and violence, and thus is most common among larger races. This game is where the Spiked originates, turning every match into a bloody spectacle of violence.

[Amanojyaku]

On the one hand, Jinto had every right to gloat. After all the boasting Lafiel had given him about Gosroth's point-defense systems and the skill of her crew, it was almost guaranteed that something like this would happen. She'd jinxed them all, and the other elves on board hadn't said anything to stop her from it. It seemed humans were the only sensible ones on the Wheel, after all.

On the other, just because he was right didn't really stop the strange, leaden warforged with sickly green eye lamps that had forcibly boarded the ship from killing most of them. Or from being a threat to his own well-being as well. They seemed to respect his noncombatant status, at least, but that also didn't stop one of them from nearly breaking the hatch into his quarters to drag him to the bridge, keeping what looked like a flare prism trained on him the whole time.

Another half-dozen of the strange warforged were there, and Jinto's escort knelt him down next to the five elves left of the crew. He caught himself almost gloating at the sight of Lafiel nursing a dark bruise on her cheek, glaring at one of the synthetics standing watch over them. Almost, because as he opened his mouth to do so he heard footsteps approaching the bridge... the distinct gait of one who had a leg replaced with cybernetics.

It occurred to him that Captain Lexshu wasn't among the survivors. They probably would not parlay out of this.

What stumped onto the bridge was not, as Jinto had feared, another warforged, but one of the dragonborn... one with sallow, cracked scales and sickly green eyes, his snout and chin studded with leaden utility mechadendrites in some grotesque parody of a beard. The dragonborn's right leg was, as Jinto had thought, a replacement... of the same leaden metal as the mechadendrites, and the clawed apparatus replacing his left arm. One of the warforged turned to address this dragonborn as he entered, and Jinto heard the crackle of a vox for the first time.

++five crew still alive,++ it said. ++the rest preferred death to capture.++

The dragonborn nodded, limped forward to inspect the remaining crew himself. He knelt gamely in front of the prisoners, lighting a lho-stick, and leaned in to address one of the engineers, who looked the most shaken.

"Do you fear death?" The dragonborn's voice was deeper than the Abyss, a contrabass growl that set Jinto's bones rattling. "Do you fear that dark abyss? All your deeds laid bare, all your sins punished? I can offer you an escape... " The man nodded meekly, trying gamely to keep from coughing in the dragonborn's smoke.

"Don't listen to him!" Every head turned, and Jinto groaned. There was Lafiel again; her bravado got them into this mess, and now she seemed intent on making it worse. The dragonborn moved much faster than he looked, staring down his snout in front of the younger elf now.

"Do you not fear death?" His voice seemed... almost kind. As if Lafiel had asked a surprising question over dinner, rather than openly defying an invader whose men held guns to her head.

Though it wasn't unexpected, Jinto groaned again when she growled another challenge in return: "I'll take my chances, I think."

The dragonborn shrugged, straightening up to his full and very imposing height. "To the void, then." He nodded to one of the warforged, who wrapped its hands around Lafiel's throat and half-strangled, half-dragged her off the bridge in search of an airlock. The dragonborn watched them go, absently tapping ash off his lho-stick to the remaining elves' accusations of needless cruelty.

"Life is cruel!" he roared. "Why should death be any different?" He turned back to the crew. "I offer you a choice: Join my crew, and postpone the judgment. One hundred years on board the Suzerain." His leer came to rest on Jinto, the lone human among Gosroth's crew. "Will you serve?"

[Amanojyaku]

The Azorius Senate

The Azorius Senate is the ruling council of Arcadia, an august body that appears to be the template for every bureaucracy that exists across the Wheel, made up of representatives from every race that claims a home in the "perfect" crystal sphere. The Azorius hold sway in every sphere that values law and order above personal liberties, almost as if mortal minds subconsciously look to Arcadia as an example of How It Should Be.

Bases of Operations

The crystal spires of Prahv make up the most notable city on Buxenus, a massive citadel where the Senate convenes like clockwork, ostensibly to make the decisions that keep Arcadia running smoothly. In practice, a lot of work is done to make sure that nothing is actually accomplished, which is just how the Senate likes it.

The first vestiges of the Azorius to show up in Sigil meet in the much more subdued New Prahv in the Upper Ward. Here, those who wish to take some of the stress of decision-making off the Council's shoulders meet with the parun, to learn of the proper and intricate workings of the law in Sigil.

Alignments

Law, civilization, and politics form the backbone of Azorius beliefs, with scheming ambition receiving honorable mention. The chief deity revered by the Senate is their parun, and through her, Cuthbert's Law. After that is observed the dissolution of chaos and wilderness by the hand of Sigmar, and the supremacy of nonviolent solutions beneath Bahamut's benevolent radiance. Even among so-called "equals," however, there is desire for personal advancement, and so Tzeentch finds his place among their idols.

Internal Cliques

High Arbiters: Convoluted as their bylaws may be, the Azorius still centralize their leadership. The twelve High Arbiters are the highest power in the Senate, short of Hesperia herself, and are led by the Grand Arbiter in her absence. When the lawmages making up the Senate cannot come to a reasonable decision, the High Arbiters decide the course of action. Cases brought before the courts are presided over by one of the High Arbiters, and thus may only be appealed to the parun... if she deigns to hear it.

Lawmage Council: The Azorius respect no magic greater than Law itself, and while the High Arbiters have the final word, most cases don't make it past these greybeards, who learn the laws inside and out and literally bind those who would defy it in red tape. Lawmages displaying the Azorius symbol openly are given power to make arrests no matter their current location, due to their instinctive knowledge of the local law.

Soulsworn Hussars: The Azorius do not recognize the autonomy of space marines, and so their armed militia is not designated as such despite their similar organization and training. Azorius hussars wear very distinctive gold and silver armor, with winged helms and jump packs. They are trained to capture just as easily as kill, and even death will not prevent their souls from serving the Senate.

Prominent Members

The current Grand Arbiter of the Azorius has taken the name Augustin VI, a blind, legless man who almost never leaves his courtroom in Prahv. An accomplished lawmage, he is known to be truly impartial in all cases brought before him, and has been requested to rule on debates from many crystal spheres across the Wheel. Naturally, "impartial" does not necessarily mean "fair;" as he is wont to say, a plea of innocence in his court is guilty of wasting his time.

Aun'La Areh came to Buxenos to learn the workings of Azorius law, and how it could be put to use for the Greater Good. She's rather distressed to find that after twelve years of studying Hesperia's laws in Prahv, she's still considered only an "apprentice" lawmage. With the stress Areh's under as an apprentice, the composure expected of her as an Ethereal is only a thin veil at this point, easily torn aside to send her into a drinking binge.

Parun: Supreme Arbiter Hesperia

Hesperia is an ancient Sphinx, one who has spent many a century learning and meditating on the laws of the Wheel passed on by Cuthbert. By passing on her knowledge to those who came seeking it, the Azorius Senate was formed, springing up around her paws like rot around Nurgle's feet. She shows little interest in those who come before her not seeking the enlightenment of Order, but as she knows every law and bylaw in the Wheel, she is still sought out by those seeking to resolve questions of legality as the highest authority of Law in the Materium.

Hesperia personally believes that it is both the right and the responsibility of the enlightened to govern those who don't know better. The Azorius Senate that she has so uplifted thus has the purpose of spreading across the Wheel, to be the ultimate form of civilized justice that will unite all of existence in peace, and then maybe these addlecoves will stop asking her such goddamn stupid questions.

[Amanojyaku]

The Boros Legion

Assumed by some to be an estranged cousin of the Hardheads and the Sodkillers, the Boros Legion is actually a militant arm of the Blessed Pantheon's worship, with the stated goal of spreading law and order across the Great Wheel. One of few major organizations in the Wheel to be openly led by a daemon (as opposed to the ascended Daemonhosts known as daemon princes), the Legion seeks peace by making war, led in battle by incarnate seraphs and leaving their reincarnated servants behind to keep the peace as they move on.

Bases of Operations

The Boros operate in Sigil from a fortress known as Sunhome, built rather deliberately close by the Armory for ease of recruiting Doomguard "volunteers" when necessary. Being rather less harsh than the Lady's own enforcers or, say, the Mercykillers, the Wojek presence in Sigil is tacitly encouraged by her citizens, even if some berks can't quite grasp the idea that "less harsh" doesn't necessarily mean a 'jek won't beat the living tar out of you if you give him a hard time.

Outside of Sigil, the Legion's center of operations is Razia's flagship, a moon-sized spelljammer called Parhelion. The great spelljammer is mostly empty space, capable of carrying entire battle fleets within its hangars with plenty of room left aside for living space and training areas.

Alignments

The Legion tends to answer to the Blessed Pantheon as a whole more often than not. The more common powers seen individually among Legionnaires are Cuthbert, Bahamut, Pelor, and Sigmar.

Internal Cliques

Angelic Hosts: The main body of the Boros Legion is composed of a massive standing army, in turn primarily made up of daemons and daemon princes who claim the title of angel, and who lead the legions of paladins and priestly warmages in the crusades of justice that that Blessed Pantheon request. Much like Celestia itself, the Legion is ultimately led by a hebdomad, made up of Archangel Razia and the six daemon princes who act as her generals.

League of Wojek: The Wojek League is primarily made up of humanoids (and the occasional penitent daemon) who act as impartial law enforcers in Razia's name. Most civilized crystal spheres have a Wojek section to their name, and those that don't are typically provided one if and when they become the target of a Legion crusade. Unlike the rest of the Legion, Wojek officers prefer to pursue nonviolent solutions when possible.

Haazda Auxiliaries: "Haazda" is an unintentional butchering of an ancient Celestial word with meaning similar to "deputy" or - more likely - "penitent." In the event that a Wojek section or the hosts themselves lack manpower, volunteers are drafted from the civilian population (or in the hosts' case, prisoners) to help make up the deficit. Regardless of origin, Haazda are given certain benefits in return for their service, which includes an expectation that they will assist whichever arm of the Legion they have been signed to... generally an easy job for a deputized Wojek, but prisoners signed to the hosts can expect to be used as cannon fodder, dependent on their own attitude and their commanders' whims.

Prominent Members

Warmaster Aurelia is an Aasimar Daemonhost infamous for a temper as fiery as her hair, exalted personally by Razia herself to represent the Archangel's interests in Sigil. It's not exactly hard to guess why she prefers to use her old title despite ostensibly being a peacekeeper now, and it certainly not dark that she's not exactly on the best terms with her neighbors in the Armory. Under her watch, however, the Wojeks in Sigil are quite possibly the best-equipped soldiers in the city, even more so than the actual defense forces; she and Factol Pentar have a sort of mutually beneficial agreement, in that the 'jeks can call on outfits and conscripts from the Armory, and the near-constant strife between them keeps both groups razor-sharp and ready for just about anything.

Galdar signed on to Razia's host as a Haazda for a very simple reason: The Minotaur had a debt of honor to repay. When one of the Archangel's generals ordered a bionic replacement for Galdar's missing arm - all that stopped them from immediately pressing the prisoner into service - Galdar's choice had been made. He gladly offered his recovered sword arm to Razia's cause, bringing with him a wealth of information on Tiamat's cult.

Parun: Archangel Razia

Archangel Razia is a veteran of the Blood War, an incarnate greater daemon of the Blessed Pantheon who takes the form of a beautiful human woman with six great, fiery wings. She founded the Legion eons ago, abandoning the Blood War with Bahamut's blessing in pursuit of the lofty goal of bringing total peace to the Wheel. The original Legionnaires were the soldiers and daemons under her direct command, her Boros Hebdomad assembled from her lieutenants.

Razia wages what may well be an eternal crusade to spread law-abiding pacifism across the Wheel. She rarely concerns herself with the affairs of mortals, save for the necessary respect of parlaying personally with the leaders she intends to bring under her banner.

[Amanojyaku]

The Cult of Rakdos

There are people in the Wheel who desire nothing more than to do as they please, and who don't care about hurting others in the process. The Cult of Rakdos is made up almost entirely of this sort of people. From otherwise-sensitive folk who just want to beat the living tar out of anyone they don't like, to murderous hedonistic sociopaths and daemon-spawned hellion brutes, the Rakdos cult is manifold and varied.

Base of Operations

The religious and commercial center of the cult's activities is the grand dungeon in Sigil's Lower Ward known as Rix Maadi, a hellish place decorated lavishly with torn red and black tapestries, the festering leftovers from snuff films created by the cult, and fire. Oh, and rats. Carnivorous rats, skittering everywhere.

Alignments

The best-known personalities of the Cult resonate best with precepts recognized as Slaaneshi, with a high focus on capricious whim and entertainment. Other common tenets seen among cultists include those of Malal, Luna, Vectron, and - very surprisingly - Sigmar.

Internal Cliques

Le Cirque des Horreurs: Claiming to be the oldest of the internal divisions within the Cult, the Circus is said to have been the original form of the Cult, the mortals who flocked to and entertained their daemonic master's whims. As its name implies, the Circus is a true horror show, making extensive use of zombified performers and summoned daemons in their program, and paradoxically thriving despite their tagline of "Die of fright or your money back!"

Heaven's Devils: Heaven's Devils are, for want of a better description, a biker gang, related to the Cult primarily in their shared tendency to flout local laws in the name of fun or - in the Devils' case - moral outrage. The Devils tend to inspire fear and awe when they're about due to these violent tendencies, but at the same time clients and visitors alike are much more comfortable when it's mentioned that Heaven's Devils are handling private security for an event.

The Daemon-Spawn: The truly insane Cultists believe themselves to be children of Rakdos himself, or else inheritors of some form of power from their patron. There is probably nothing substantial to these claims, but they seem to hold the most internal power nowadays, with their own leaders forming the inner circles at Rix Maadi.

Prominent Members

Izolda is a sorceress specializing in blood magic, who handles those who come to call at Rix Maadi in place of her daemonic patron. She also assumes the mantle of leadership whenever Rakdos sleeps... which is often. She is known to be a functioning psychopath, or at least more so than the rest of the rabble that makes up the Cult.

Zarra Vel'Zaumtor is a Dark Eldarin, renowned for her red eyes and fiery hair, and - among the Cult - for her completely unscarred face, which she supplements by painting herself with new patterns for every show. She is most often seen in her position as a barker for Sigil's branch of the Cirque des Horreurs, and has an almost preternatural ability to play off the suspicious goings-on at her shows.

Parun: Rakdos the Defiler

Rakdos the Defiler, the Lord of Rats, and patron saint of raves and riots, is an almost Malalite daemon prince of Slaanesh, and the personality behind the Cult in his own name. He appears as an enormous, flaming daemon similar to a Bloodthirster with a caprine face, and has a similar fetish for blood and fire. Thankfully for Sigil, he very rarely leaves his palace in Rix Maadi, as when he does wake his Cult is there to serve as their master's entertainment.

Rakdos cares for nothing more than his own entertainment, and is capricious beyond belief. One moment he can be sufficiently entertained by their capering, and the next his boredom can be assuaged only by killing them himself. His goals can be assumed to be similar, the creation of an orgy of blood and fire on a grand scale.

[Amanojyaku]

The Golgari Swarm

The Golgari offer the services of reclamation and recycling, as well as one vitally important to hive worlds across the Wheel: Rot farming. The Swarm recycles everything; garbage can become useful items once again, ruined buildings can be restored for habitation, even waste can become compost for raising edible fungus and insects. Even so, their penchant for necromancy earns them few friends among other associations, and while their contributions to food service are very much appreciated, it's rare to see Golgari envoys in polite company.

Bases of Operations

The labyrinthine ruins known as Korozda can be found in the crystal sphere of Catachan, a sweltering, humid death world overgrown with jungle flora and festering swamps beneath. The Golgari Swarm calls this place "home," where their undead lords were born into their first lives, and deep underneath is Svogthos, the so-called Tomb of Horrors in which their parun was interred as he neared the end of his sanity.

Across the Wheel, recycling plants and reclamation services alike often bear the Swarm's mark, as do the crates of cheap, nutritious food delivered to soup kitchens and affordable groceries everywhere. It's... best not to think about where that food might have come from.

Alignments

Death is not an end, but a new beginning. Nurgle most embodies this central tenet of the Swarm's beliefs, that death is not something to be mourned. Other powers are entreated only sparingly, primarily Acerath among Golgari shamans or Luna among their hunters. The Raven Queen, however, is deeply resented among the Swarm, as drawing her attention is certain to cost dear friends and relatives.

Internal Cliques

Matka Sisterhood: "Matka" is a word in several Human dialects as well as Elven, that means "mother." Among the Golgari, it also refers to the sisterhood of shamans who bear the most political clout in the Swarm. When the current Lord of the Swarm is no longer a living one, it is often the matka who meet with others, especially those who might not care for those who reek of undeath. The matka are also responsible for processing any corpses that come into the Swarm's possession, determining whether they are suitable to be raised and put to work, or good only for rendering and recycling.

Devkarin Hunters: While the Elves who make up the majority of living Golgari all refer to themselves as Devkarin, the hunter caste generously includes anyone capable of picking up a weapon and moving with stealth. Hunters in the Swarm exist for the sole reason that not all of the walking dead are under the Swarm's control, and those that aren't are often a great danger to others, especially in cramped hive conditions. Hunters thus track down and destroy such undead creatures, returning with the flesh for their own. They are also, of course, tasked with hunting living creatures, either to fortify the rendering vats with fresh meat or simply because the high-ups are tired of grilled bugs.

Shambling Laborers: Fully half of the Golgari Swarm at any time is made up of creatures that were once part of the other half. Matka priestesses raise corpses in good condition, using plant or fungal matter to reinforce or patch rotten parts, giving Golgari zombies a signature, half-plant appearance in their unlife. The risen undead are then put to work once more, tireless labor for the rot farms, the processing plants, and delivery services. Most do refuse to be raised with their minds intact, and those that don't are pressed into service as managers. Mindless undead workers are not repaired; they are simply used until their flesh rots off completely and the bones beneath are ground away.

Prominent Members

Following his sister's bungled attempt at usurping the Swarm from its previous master - a rather daring venture involving an attempt to weaponize the insane parun - the Elf huntsman known as Jarad vod Savo now sits upon the fungal throne of Korozda... and he hates it. He's already died of boredom once, and now his undead body is simply too clumsy for even hunting deadwalkers to be an option anymore. He is, at least, the fairest Lord that the Golgari have had in ages; after his sister's few days of crazed warmongering ended in her death at the hands of some spider Vampire, and before that a thousand years under a group of hedonistic Ophidian sisters, and before that millennia under the god-lich's rule... void that, Jarad's the first good Lord the Golgari have had, ever.

Rictus is the putrefied, zombified remains of a Tiefling ever so slowly rotting into a perfectly good suit of powered armor, who leads a small task force of the Death Guard that Jarad chartered decades ago, requesting their presence as added security against Catachan's wildlife in exchange for the right to cull his hunters for Marine candidates. Despite dying long ago in some cold dark place, Rictus is a rather jovial fellow, happily chatting away with the little kids who sneak out to his barracks to visit "Uncle Rictus" while their parents tend to Important Golgari Swarm Things. Which, admittedly, is only possible because he's already taught the local fauna to fear his vicious Manreaper.

Vraska is a rare Ophidian matka, her scales mottled with the colors of rotting plant matter. In a surprising move, she's moved from Catachan to Sigil with the intent to establish a guildhall. So far, all she's managed to do is get a permanent bunk at the Gatehouse, where she accepts deliveries of several crates of Soylen Viridians and Captain Golgari's Bug Patties every week, to be handed out alongside the soup that the Bleakers normally serve.

Parun: Svogthir, the God-Lich

Long ago, before the Eldarin had split ranks, a mighty Dullahan necromancer happened upon the crystal sphere of Catachan. Finding it to be a powerful locus of necromantic energy, he set up shop, growing yet more powerful, and soon attracting students, fellow wizards who became enamored of this powerful discovery. A cult of sorts sprung up around him. Eventually, though, even the Dullahan's long life must come to an end... but Svogthir would not die, and his body, so saturated with necromantic power, could not help but obey his will.

Of the so-called "god-lich," only the head is still the original, a tiny, disproportionate skull comically perched atop a chimeric body cobbled together from Svogthir's past conquests, including most notably the torso of a Goliath, the arm of a dragon and legs that look as though they were taken from an ancient Dryad. Interred as he is in his tomb deep beneath Korozda, the ancient wizard is so thoroughly insane that he no longer gives any direction to his guild, only madly attacking any that dare trespass in his domain.

[Amanojyaku]

The Gruul Waaaagh

It has long been surmised that the greatest weapon of war is the Ork Waaaagh. The warbands of the Gruul are, together, the largest Waaaagh to grace the Wheel in living memory. They follow their hateful parun in a swath of destruction across the Wheel, fleeing their parun's voracious appetite all the while. Not since the War in Heaven has there been a Waaaagh such as this. There will not be again.

Bases of Operations

Decentralized as they are, the Gruul have no real permanent bases so much as they have staging areas. The largest of the warbands, the Burning Tree, currently compete with an instance of their parun in a vicious blood sport on the death world of Skarrg, where they have remained for decades... certainly long enough to confuse the soldiers waiting for them to stake out a new target.

Alignments

If the effect that their parun's presence has on a crystal sphere is any indication, the Gruul heavily favor worship of Khorne. The more lucid among them profess a desire to return the world to its natural state, indicating that Luna may also have some influence among them, and the common respect of strength above all else indicates the same of Tiamat.

Internal Cliques

Burning Tree Warband: The largest and most influential of the many warbands within the Waaaagh, the Burning Tree is made up of a vast number of Orks, Goliaths, Viashino, Elves, and Humans all tattooed with the distinctive crest that has come to be associated with the Gruul as a whole. The Burning Tree follows the hydra Ulasht across the Wheel, hunting down and destroying those who have earned its ire. Survivors of defense forces have reported that they are almost excessively thorough in their destruction, leaving not a single stone stacked upon another in their wake.

Ghor Warband: Rather less violent than the other well-known warbands, the Ghor warband is made up mostly of Goblins. They simply appeared in Sigil one day and started to wreak havoc. While mostly illiterate savages who delight in causing chaos for its own sake, many of the brutish humanoids making up the Ghor warband are cunning enough to realize when they can benefit from forestalling it. These "lucky" berks are pressed into service - unfairly or otherwise - as bouncers and occasionally leg-breakers for richer and more "civilized" cutters.

Scab Warbands: The Gruul have a distressing tendency to play with their food, so to speak... manhandle the toy until it breaks, and then leave it behind without killing it. Since Gruul attacks are very likely to include a visit from their parun in the bargain, these poor sods aren't likely to be in any fit state to be recovered afterward. Forever marked as pariahs, driven mad by the trauma and the Ulasht spores, the broken survivors of Gruul attacks become Gruul themselves, lying in wait to do their level best to prevent the cancer of civilization from taking hold.

Prominent Members

Borborygmos is the gigantic Cyclops who leads the Burning Tree warband, and with it, the rest of the Waaaagh. It's easy to see why the Gruul would follow him. The Waaaagh respects strength; Borborygmos is easily twice as broad as most Goliaths, and his Darksteel eviscerator, Skullhammer, makes for a frightfully efficient krumping tool. Moreover, he doesn't often give commands that they wouldn't follow anyway; his only orders are "Crush them!" and "We eat!"

Arcana is a child of Fenris and a savage Burning Tree warrior, but her ability to follow directions leaves a lot to be desired. She's managed to lead a splinter group of the major warband into some backwater called Virmire, that seems to be populated exclusively by disgusting metal mockeries and their organic lovers, and her impromptu warband has been waging war on them ever since. She's gotten quite good at beating Warforged to death with their own limbs.

Aun Yom is a Kython who happened to be in the wrong place when the Gruul swung by, to wit right underneath the first of the meteorites they rode in on. As a result, he was lucky enough to be too injured to keep their interest... but now that they're gone, he's left to wander the rubble with only Ulasht and a dwindling group of Scab warband psychos for company. He adapted to the new atmosphere quickly enough, but couldn't make himself completely immune to the spores; now he can only hope to salvage enough intact parts to make a working spelljammer, before either the psychotics or the madness claims him.

Parun: Ulasht, the Hate-Seed

The hellish hydra that the Gruul refer to as Ulasht is thought by some greybeards to be a mutation of the same genome that resulted in Orks, twisted by the Warp storms of Aurelia where it was first discovered. What makes this creature particularly interesting, is that only one of them ever grows upon worlds where the Burning Tree warband has made groundfall, and every instance seems to be a part of the same organism... a theory supported by the utter destruction of Aurelia during the Fall of the Eldarin, and with it the only crystal sphere that has supported upwards of several dozen Ulasht hydras.

Ulasht has no apparent goals, save for the living directives of growth and procreation. Where it appears, however, the natives go mad with hatred, the Ulasht spores stirring up bloodlust and inciting even the sanest to frothing rage. While an Ulasht instance can be slain, much like Orks another will rise again so long as the crystal sphere is capable of supporting life. Nothing short of a complete and total annihilation of organic life will guarantee the destruction of an Ulasht's spores.

[Amanojyaku]

House Dimir

"Eat your vegetables, or the Dimir will take you!" "Yeah, if that's a real likeness of the Lady, I'm a Factor at Duskmantle." House Dimir is, at its core, an utter fabrication, a fiction meant to communicate scorn and to scare rebellious children into line. They are said to have been founded by one of the first Vampires ever to stride across the Wheel, to deal in secrets and cross-trading among other not-quite-legal activities. If this is true, why have their leaders not been uncovered, and given the rope? How can an organization that supposedly sprawls across the Wheel be kept secret since the days of Khaine?

The simple answer is that House Dimir does not exist. If someone approaches you claiming to be one of the Dimir, you are being lied to. There is no geas enforcing these words. We are not magically and contractually obligated to obscure this information. But, hypothetically, if House Dimir does exist, the following information is not accurate.

Base of Operations

The guildmaster of House Dimir can supposedly be found in Duskmantle, which is supposedly built in the center of Sigil. Naturally, asking for directions is a sure way to be laughed right out, as the guild that doesn't exist meets only in a manse that was never built in a location that can never be found. The signets allegedly carried by true servants of House Dimir are said to be gate keys keyed to its location, but as no such signet has ever been found, this is impossible to verify.

Outside of Sigil, House Dimir does not operate in small, decentralized cells, which in turn do not rely on dead drops and synchronicity to pass on information.

Alignments

House Dimir is not a clandestine organization, and it is not built primarily on secrets and cross-trading. Thus, its members - assuming there are any - would not be nigh uniformly aligned to Acerath, and they certainly wouldn't pretend to fly the banners of other deities including Tiamat, Chaos Undivided, Sigmar, and the Raven Queen.

Internal Cliques

Insurrectionists: Ranging from disillusioned teenagers to real antisocial berks, these dumbasses tend to get crudely-made spider signets in the post and assume they're Dimir. House Dimir does not use these idiots as distractions for their own tasks.

Informants: If the vast majority of alleged Dimir activity comes from the last group of barmies, most of the rest comes from people approached by someone in a dark alley bearing what is described as a sapphire set into a spider. These people are given a specific task, usually something as simple as delivering a package, or placing a letter in a drop box, and are paid for their aid without anyone being the wiser. There is no need to be concerned if you are approached this way!

The Inner Circle: House Dimir does not exist. If it did exist, its high-ups would most certainly not be primarily inclined toward scheming creative ways to accomplish their goals by using catspaws and dupes. Not a single actual member of the Dimir would know the identity of more than one of the Inner Circle, and that individual would most assuredly not be the one that he directly reports to. For that matter, none of the Inner Circle would know which of them is the guildmaster, either.

Prominent Members

"Handsome" Jack Harper is known to be a functional sociopath, however funny and charming he might be to speak to, and that's how he went from lowly code monkey to CEO of one of the most successful megacorporations on the Wheel. He has a compulsive need to be in control at all times, and isn't above plying the cross-trade to keep it that way. He does, however, keep very strange hours, and an equally strange insistence on privacy... and exact words. To be fair, nobody believed him when he claimed he learned about that mother lode of Orichalcum in the borderworlds from Szadek himself...

There are some who say that you should never trust the words of a serpent. They may be thinking of Sesha, the black-scaled Ophidian who staffs a black market in Sigil's Hive Ward. He's got anything and everything you can think of for sale, and if you can't find it in his shop, he can acquire it for you within a week. Just don't ask where it came from, or why it smells like blood... and don't question him when he says he'll cut the jink you owe him if you do him a favor.

Nyx is a fairy who can be trusted to know anything. She can get into any place, find out any information, all for the fantastically low price of two stingers and what you're going to do when she tells you.

Parun: Szadek, the Lord That Isn't

Szadek is not among the oldest Vampires on the Wheel, and does not have his fingers in every criminal enterprise in Sigil. He is allegedly an albino arachne male, though those claiming to have met "Szadek" in the flesh are notoriously dishonest or drunkards and thus not to be trusted. There is, however, a notable coincidence in that a "Baron Sengir" matching this description makes appearances in Sigil's politics, especially in Council meetings or other affairs that might have an impact upon criminal activities. This is, however, only a coincidence, as no albino arachne are registered as inhabitants of Sigil.

This Szadek, if he exists, must therefore have goals as inscrutable as the movements of the stars themselves. Exactly what he might gain by not running a non-existent guild remains to be seen.