Wrath And Glory-Looking To Play As An Ad Mech Person

[JNAProductions]

See title!

I like 40k.
I like TTRPGS.
I like the Ad Mech.

Not particularly fussed about exactly details, so long as I can be Mechanicum.

[LairdMaon]

I also like 40k, TTRPGs, and Ad Mech! Count me interested!

[Dusk Raven]

I have a love-hate relationship with 40k lore, but I have been meaning to try Wrath and Glory.

I'm not the best to GM this right now, and besides, I'd want to run it in my own, far less grimdark iteration of the setting.

EDIT: Wait... I got an idea for how I'd run it in standard 40k, what the premise would be, and who the people the PCs are working for. Still slightly less grim. Excuse me while I bonk both ideas on the head for being too assertive.

[JNAProductions]

Well, if you do feel you can GM, let us know :)

[Caellath]

I have a love-hate relationship with 40k lore, but I have been meaning to try Wrath and Glory.

I'm not the best to GM this right now, and besides, I'd want to run it in my own, far less grimdark iteration of the setting.

EDIT: Wait... I got an idea for how I'd run it in standard 40k, what the premise would be, and who the people the PCs are working for. Still slightly less grim. Excuse me while I bonk both ideas on the head for being too assertive.

Interesting. How less grim? Chaos not being all baby-eaters all the time, or the Imperium being less of a dystopia?

[JNAProductions]

Dusk Raven, do you live?

[Dusk Raven]

Interesting. How less grim? Chaos not being all baby-eaters all the time, or the Imperium being less of a dystopia?

Both, by far. At least if you're referring to the first idea.

The second idea is within actual 40k canon, and it's the simpler idea, so I'll describe that first. Quite simply, the PCs have fallen under the employ of one of the Sensei - mysterious figures who have inherited a fragment of the Emperor's power. Though hunted by the Inquisition, there are foes of Chaos without peer, being both powerful and seemingly incorruptible. This particular one has formed a coalition of a wide variety of forces, even including xenos - anyone who's dedicated to fighting Chaos, or who can easily be directed towards that goal. Some alliances are more transactional than others. Nontheless, the PCs are part of this alliance, and they have a task to do. It might be more subtle and less glamorous than fighting Chaos on the battlefield - but the subtle schemes of Chaos can be the most dangerous, and most essential to stop.

The other idea is, of course, very much an AU. A full writeup will have to come later. For now, I'll try to summarize it.

It was originally inspired by an AU I found called Brighthammer - a mirror universe of sorts where things are far brighter and more hopeful. The tagline goes, "In the noble brightness of the far future, there is only HIGH ADVENTURE!" ...It's kinda tongue-in-cheek and a parody of 40, and also can be a bit saccharine - though later versions of the setting take it a little more seriously. I don't want to go to that extreme, but I do like the idea of my players working for an Imperium worth fighting for, so I'll take a lot of ideas from it.

Unlike Brighthammer, however, I seek to accomplish the goal of a brighter far future with as few tweaks to the setting as possible. There is a common theme of "Faction X is less evil for the hell of it," of course. The changes to the Imperium itself are simple, but far-reaching:

1: The Emperor is just a little more human, and more willing to see the Primarchs as people on some level, along with the knowledge that they're not necessarily going to obey him just because he's their "father."
2: Owing to the above, the Emperor doesn't completely flub his interactions with some of the Primarchs, namely Lorgar, Mortarian, and Angron. The would-be traitor Primarchs themselves are also better able to get their **** together, mostly Curze, Peturabo, and Angron again.
3: **** EREBUS

But it's the changes to Chaos that are the most significant - and these changes actually occur in-universe. Here's where the story gets a bit long, and it has to be in order to explain things, although I will truncate it the best I can.

Spoiler: The context

Show

In this version, the Emperor's condemnation of Lorgar (done privately) was more understanding, but even so, he condemned the violence and destruction that the Word Bearers had committed in the name of worship. The Emperor stated that this suffering and bloodshed was the very reason why he had forbidden worship of him in the first place, because this was what faith led to. Even so, the Emperor could not completely rebuke his son's devotion, motivated by love as it was. If anything, he was more saddened and disappointed than angry. Even so, this could not continue, and Lorgar had to change his ways in some fashion. The Emperor would no longer attempt to dispel Lorgar's faith - such a task was obviously futile - nor would the Emperor try to reconvert the worlds the Word Bearers had proselytized, for that would undo the good Lorgar had done there. But the forced conversions, the notion of heresy that the Word Bearers had conceived of and dedicated themselves to purifying, that had to go, or humanity would be no better off than it had been before. Until Lorgar could prove that this faith could exist in harmony with the rest of humanity, that faith could be used for purely productive ends... then the new, glorious city of Monarchia would be vacant, inhabited only by servitors to stave off disrepair and vandals. And if the Emperor's worshipers declared holy war on the rest of humanity... they would have to be destroyed, for if left unchecked they would convert or kill the rest of humanity, they turn on each other in an attempt to "purify" themselves further.

Lorgar was despondent, but he had been given an out. What he needed to prove was not the extent of his devotion, but prove that devotion was a worthy goal in itself. The challenge was how to do so. In the course of his searching, however, he discovered a dark truth - the existence of Chaos, and the terrible gods at its head. For a brief moment, Lorgar was tempted - if the Emperor was not a god, as he declared, were these beings gods instead? But he did not wonder for long, for he was not alone in this discovery. Alpharius, primarch of the Alpha Legion, had also learned of Chaos, and of the terrible things it was capable of - and soon learned of Lorgar's interest as well. Alpharius too, after all, had been doubted by his brother primarchs, and sought to demonstrate that his method of warfare had a place in the Imperium. It did not take much to convince Lorgar that his original faith was not unjustified, and that these "Chaos gods" were not worthy of worship, though they had it in abundance. In their combined research, however, the primarchs learned an interesting fact - the entities of Chaos could be influenced to some extent by their worshippers and their expectations. Though the four gods were of bloodlust, pestillence, scheming, and excess respectively, more fundamentally than that they were also of anger, despair, hope, and desire. And the Warp, as it turns out, was a reflection of the emotions of living souls. Though the four gods could not simply be destroyed... perhaps, just perhaps, they could be changed, if they nature of Chaos worship itself were to be redirected towards something less... evil.

And so, a plan was hatched, combining both Lorgar's and Alpharius' skills. Though it displeased him to do so, Lorgar penned new books, new creeds, codes by which Khorne, Nurgle, Tzeench, and Slaanesh were to be worshipped, and agents of the two legions delivered this creeds to worlds throughout the Imperium, to start new Chaos cults. In doing so, they often came into conflict with existing Chaos cults - and through these conflicts, Lorgar and Alpharius learned just how insidious Chaos was, and how important their work was. If they could not change the very soul of Chaos, then Chaos would forever be a threat to the Imperium, and forever on the cusp of undoing all that the Emperor and his sons had achieved.

The creeds Lorgar created were simple, but each took the positive aspects of each god and actively worked against their negative traits. Khorne's new followers sought battle, yes, but as a means to test their strength by fighting the strong, not by killing the weak for the sake of destruction. Though they harnessed rage, theirs was rage towards injustice, towards those who would terrorize those with less power than they. Nurgle's new following extolled the comfort of stability, and the belief that one can weather life's hardships. It also believed in harmony between all living things, exemplified through diseases which could inhabit hosts yet leave them vigorous and strong. Tzeench's new cults believed in the hope for a better tomorrow, and the desire to improve oneself and one's situation. They cherished knowledge, as well as wisdom and understanding. And finally, Slaanesh's new worshippers saw her as a being representing desire, but also satisfaction and enjoyment, especially when shared.

The Chaos War, when it happened, was not conducted by generals and armies, but by agents and citizens. Left to its own devices, Chaos would have attempted to slowly corrupt the whole Imperium, but instead it found its efforts countered by itself. The Emperor's prediction had come true - but the holy war, instead of being between Lorgar's converts and the rest of humanity, it was between Lorgar's secret cults and Chaos - and soon, between the evil side of Chaos and the rest of humanity. In its own attempt to stem the internal conflict, Chaos actions became known to more and more of those in power, until the Emperor had to act, to halt the Great Crusade and turn his attention inward. But this had to be handled with care, for one could not march armies against those who wore the faces of ordinary citizens, who refused to fight on any battlefield except those of the heart and mind, except when carrying out acts of sabotage and terror. And, among his sons, who better to deal with the secret and the hidden than Alpharius? Who better to help fight a battle for the soul of the Imperium than Lorgar? Now with the full sanction of the Emperor, the Word Bearers and Alpha Legion worked to fight Chaos in their own way - but only those sects of Chaos that represented its evil aspects. Those cults which Lorgar and Alpharius themselves had seeded were supported - and as their successes grow, they began to prosper as well. They did not threaten to outstrip the belief in the Emperor - Lorgar saw to that - or otherwise overtake the Imperium, but their presence, and their contributions, could not be denied. And, when the war was over, and the Emperor turned his eyes on the new forms of Chaos worship, Lorgar and Alpharius spoke in their defense, explaining their motives and all that they had learned - and all had they had achieved. For, quite simply, their plan had worked. Chaos, though always deserving of a wary eye, was no longer a force for evil, but a reflection of human nature that could be channeled towards better ends. And this, Lorgar declared, was the true nature of faith - potentially evil, but potentially good. And of course, the Emperor, as the object of worship in his own right, had the power to direct that faith, a power the Chaos gods did not have.

And, because the Emperor was as intelligent and wise as Lorgar believed him to be, he understood. Though the Emperor was troubled by the secret actions of Lorgar and Alpharius, as well as the creation of yet more religions within the Imperium, the pair had done more than proven the Emperor wrong about faith - they had proven him wrong about Chaos, for the Emperor had thought Chaos an eternal, perhaps undefeatable evil, and now they were, if not harmless, not the blight on humanity that the Emperor might have spent eternity fighting otherwise. Though the Emperor was still wary, he was pleased with his sons - and, lest there was any doubt, always would be.

The summary is that Chaos in this setting is, amusingly enough, closer to what older editions of Warhammer were, where the Chaos gods were (too my knowledge) not solely evil but had positive aspects as well. In this setting, those positive aspects have won out over the negative. They are no more good or evil than the emotions that empower them, and the Imperium is quite strict (none more so than the Word Bearers) about making sure the forces of Chaos - whether mortal, immortal, or immaterial - are not turned to evil.

As a result, with its would-be nemesis gone, the Imperium has stood for ten thousand years with the Emperor at its head. But, though the Emperor is a living god in all but name, he cannot be everywhere at once, nor can he personally govern every world in the Imperium. He has many servants dedicated to protecting the Imperium, for there are still threats in the galaxy - and they seem to be increasing, what with the rise of the expansionist Tau Empire and the arrival of the Tyranid vanguard. But the biggest threats might just come from within, for once again, marching armies against internal enemies is far more difficult. There is always the threat of corrupt leaders, be they political, religious, economic, or military. There is also the possibility of groups forming - whether out of resentment or greed - who seek to enrich themselves or simply harm those they despise. And of course, there is always the possibility that a Chaos cult might turn to the old ways of evil, forsaking the enlightenment of the Imperium. That is where the PCs come in, for they are members of the Imperial Secret Service, as well as those trusted allies the ISS has recruited. They are the zeroth line of defense against corruption and evil - responsible for preventing it from becoming a threat in the first place. The difference between this and canon 40k, of course, is that the Imperium is not teetering on the edge of destruction, and there is little doubt that good will prevail. The Imperium isn't quite counting on you... but people are. No tyrant can arise to power without death and suffering, and their defeat will not restore what was lost. Every evil that arises in the galaxy ruins or ends the lives of innocent people, and if left unchecked can devastate entire worlds - such as the world of Freiden, idyllic before its nuclear apocalypse. Rest assured, there is no role in the Imperium more important than yours.

...Speaking of preventing problems before they become threats, I need to bonk these ideas harder. They've already tricked me into spending much more time than I'd intended on writing this!

Dusk Raven, do you live?

...Which is why this got posted between the time I clicked "reply" and the time I actually finished my post. In fairness, I spent some time today gaming with friends and working on other important posts.

[JNAProductions]

I'll express a preference to sticking to 40k canon. But I'll play in either. :)

[LairdMaon]

I am loving this so much! How does the Machine Cult for into this? Asking for a Crimson Guard friend.

[gawwy]

Watching with intrest, would love to play a kelermorph or biophagus or somthing that survived the day of ascension.