Ok, so I decided to create a new Chatroom, because the old one was getting pretty....old!
Everyone may post here, as well as in the good'ol Flameroom...I mean, Chatroom
I would like to keep this Chatroom civilized. Well, as civilized as most forum threads are (doesnt mean that you all have to be polite like Oatesy, lol).
So for this reason, I may update the OP of this thread in the future, posting certain thread rules, as I see fit.
For now though, post away, and everyone is welcome!
Currently these users are banned:
- ArcticBlunder
All I know is that it is available internationally, but you'll have trouble finding prices on the internet unless you have an "airsoft filter" (if only those existed) or lots of patience. Maybe ask a gun-store on your side of the pond.
Also, keep in mind that there are many, many variants of the Accuracy International Arctic Warfare, and that's before you factor in what calibre you want. Expect them all to be expensive, as to my knowledge they are usually hand-made (and they're used by a whole load of countries).
On the bright side, did you know that an Arctic Warfare set the record for longest-range confirmed combat kill?
I can no longer resist... the call of the infinite...
The damaged wraithconstruct could barely support itself, as the Dire Avenger shared the fallen warrior's last moments of manifestation.
My wraithbone... cracks...
The Wraithguard shuddered, collapsing to one arm, raising the other.
My soulstone... please take it...
The voice was more felt than heard, as the Wraithguard reached to its forehead and surprisingly delicately removed the gleaming crimson gem, the only connection between the machine and the dead warrior now the fingertips of the once-mighty construct's hand.
Save... the others...
The Dire Avenger took the soulstone, so small, yet so infinitely valuable to his race, as he bid his farewells to the ancient warrior. He turned. The Wraithguard's soulstone was all that remained for him here. A single body lay upon the dead ground, that of a fellow Avenger, her soulstone taken by the foul forces that had attacked. The lone survivor stood, motionless, calming himself, holding the torrent of hatred and rage back. He was no Monkeigh, nor was he one of the darkened kin. He was a proud Aspect Warrior, and he would not fall to the enemy within. He would go forth, he would avenge, and he would return with the fellow survivors to rejoin the host of fair Iybraesil.
"And now we go to our deaths, you and I both."
Though the speaker was unseen to him, the Avenger knew exactly who it was that had spoken those words.
"Solitaire..." he whispered, anger replaced by cold dread, "then this world is to be my tomb."
The Harlequin nodded slowly. The Avenger breathed in, deeply, feeling the terror set in, a freezing presence in his gut. His life was forfeit. His mind turned to his home, his friends, his craftworld, that only those he sought would see again. He thought of the time he would never spend with the fair lady of Biel-Tan who he had so recently met. The Wraithguard's last words took on a darker meaning. He was scared, he was angry. It wasn't fair, why him? How dare the Solitaire doom another to share his fate!
But for the Craftworld the bravest of warriors must be prepared to die time and time again. If it was to be his fate to die for Iybraesil, then all that was left for him were his duties as an Aspect Warrior. A Farseer was to be rescued. A new confidence filled the Dire Avenger, a new purpose, a new life. His mind thought of all those who would be lost without him, the one that he loved who would never find another if he did not act as a dedicated Aspect Warrior. His mind was focused, the shuriken weapon in his hands feeling so much more real, as he turned to the Solitaire.
"Then we shall not leave fate wanting," to this the Harlequin's mask responded, changing to a cheerful, yet in these circumstances gruesome, grin, "did you see in which direction they fled?"
The Solitaire nodded once more, and beckoned for the Avenger to follow, and so together they set off across the hellish landscape of the crone world, knowing that neither would survive their quest.
I managed to find a website that's linked to Accuracy International's mainsite, and it listed the weapons. Pricey buggers, but hey, I'm thinking it's totally worth it for the quality and excellence of manufacturing these weapons have.
Too right; initially I was considering a future purchase of an Arctic Warfare in .338 Lapua Magnum; however, considering the .338LM's barrel harshness and expense, I'm thinking a 7.62 NATO chambering would be much better. Cheaper too, in both the short and long term.
Specifically, an Arctic Warfare Super Magnum, chambered for the .338 Lapua Magnum cartridge. Quite impressive actually, considering that that round is only certified to 1500 meters, rather than the 2400-some-odd that the shooter managed.
That's actually pretty good; I like it. Very Eldar-y, and I like how you portray the disconnect between the Solitaire and the Aspect Warrior.
That's Limeys for you. I think it's his record that still stands, not sure.
Good choice.
I've got more random 40k stuff. It's not stored anywhere, I just have isolated incidents in my head, which I'll put into text if you want. I've got one more bit of Eldar stuff with the same characters (with a plot twist of sorts. Kind of pushing the boundaries of fluff, but I think it works alright), and as you have already seen I like writing from the perspective of a Khorne-devoted CSM. Space Marine stuff I've never really put much thought too, but I could bust out some IG work at some point.
Storm, I've been incredibly rude and haven't got round to discussing your story, so I shall do that now.
It's truthfully difficult to judge thus far. You've set up the quest and so on, but I want to see more of the world. So far we've only seen the classic isolated family home in a forest, but you've hinted at lands further north, so I eagerly await an update as to where the quest leads the duo.
As for the characters themselves, again, they've only just appeared. I can't judge them until their personalities are developed a little more.
I know that kind of sounds like criticism, but it's actually more of a sign of engaging characters. On the subject of hinting at the presence of other lands, I would only suggest perhaps giving a few more teasers about the rest of the world.
But yes, good story, action-packed yet mysterious opening, and of course all gramatically sound. Well done.
EDIT: I've actually already mucked up fluffwise in my Eldar prose simply by the Dire Avenger having a real personality, though I don't know how literally it is taken when they talk about how they "become the Aspect." Some people take that to mean an Eldar has one personality in the armour, and another when they're not at war. I personally find that destroys all hope of decent in-battle storytelling, so meh.
It does. I think it's notable because all the other long-range sniper shot records are with .50 caliber rifles, whilst this guy managed it with a .338 Lapua Magnum. That's skill and an amazing cartridge for you.
We are of one mind on this.
I happen to own the only currently published (good) Eldar novel, Path of the Warrior. While it doesn't cover the Dire Avenger aspect too much, it does cover the character's path along a Warrior Aspect (Striking Scorpions, to be specific). What you've portrayed is actually quite good; the only possible issue I can see is the Biel-Tan/DA love interest bit, for two reasons to be specified below*.
Anyways, the way you've portrayed the character is quite accurate, IMO, to what that character would actually be like in-universe. For example, in PotW Korlandril, the main character, only becomes less and less himself as he becomes more and more wrapped up in war and the Path. I'd say what ends up happening, except that it's a major spoiler and plot point of the novel. Though I will note that PotW is pretty notable for the fact that the Alaitoc craftworld is invaded by the Imperium. It's actually quite awesome.
*Here's the reasons:
1) Inter-craftworld relations. This is more of a "we don't know a whole lot", than a "this isn't what would happen". As-is, I think you could pull it off as a somewhat frowned-upon, but accepted thing.
2) Because of the centrality of the Eldar path to the average Craftworlder's life, relationships between Eldar can be........weird. For example, in PotW the main character has a girl he likes, but the 'girl' that he likes walked one of the artistic paths, but later became a Seer; the 'girl' that he knew and loved was an artist, and not a Seer. OTOH, Eldar can also take many, many years (read: centuries to millenia) to explore a path to their satisfaction before moving on, so it could totally happen that two Eldar could form a (human-perspective wise) lasting relationship.
Going further, two Eldar could decide that they want to explore multiple Paths together, or even decide to become Outcasts together.
Warhammer 40k. Ah, how detailed.
Is there a path for the Eldar that results in a gender change?
They seem to have quite a few odd paths.
Hmm... As I saw it he never really thought about it much, and they're both young and naive.
And as the Solitaire has made clear, none of that matters for him anymore.
My backstory to what is actually going on is a small Biel-Tan expedition to a crone world being assisted by an Iybraesil force. Stuff goes wrong involving the Emperor's Children (picked for obvious reasons), and now escape is the priority.
I might reword the part about his love interest so that it's more of an interest, seeing as logically he can't have met her too long ago. (EDIT: it is done)
Some would argue that when a man wears Banshee armour they effectively "become" a woman in spirit, but I'm sure GW hasn't put too much thought into it.
Ugh.
That's odd.
No.
TBH, it would be faulty reasoning; in Path of the Warrior, there are mentions of several male Banshees, and there's no reference to anything that would be like they're "woman in spirit". However, it's also noted that the majority of Howling Banshees tend to be female, with very few males in their ranks. Other Aspects are less gender biased, AFAIK.
Ah. Very interesting.
Lolz, leave it to Oatesy to find he's been rude where he hasn't. Nobody's obligated to comment, only encouraged.
Anyway, y'all are the first one's I've even shown this to and since there was no negative feedback, i'll finish off the prologue(To be posted here) then begin the actual story and make an account on the site Whiskey mentioned.
(Don't expect anything too soon, I'll have to find what notes I made when I started this...)
-Twilight Storm
I blame it on vagueness of the codices!
But anyway, I'd still write this way even if the whole of GW hopped online and told me I was raping the canon.
I assume that the Howling Banshee aspect is tailored towards women over men due to the inherent gender of Banshees in Eldar mythology. Some people argue that you can't have Aspect Warriors outside the Aspects of their specific gender, due to... physical constraints, but I counter here and point to the fact that Eldar armour is psychosensitive and is therefore specific to the user in shape. A suit of armour simply adapts to you whenever you wear it.
Though I could well imagine that, for instance, a male Exarch wearing Exarch armour originally worn by a woman would no doubt keep it in the form of the original wearer, as the current Exarch and past Exarches of a suit of armour are one and the same, a continuation of the original.
BTW on the subject of Exarches, are they literally bound to their armour, as in it is a non-organic continuation of their body, or are they simply spiritually incomplete without it? Does the process of becoming an Exarch include voluntarily donning a previous Exarch's suit? If so, what if one becomes locked in the Path of War while wearing their own Aspect armour? Is that how a "new" Exarch is born?
Some people have strange fantasies my friend.
It's a bit complicated, so I'll start from the beginning for Aspect Warrior 'recruitment'.
1) Eldar 'feels'/'hears' the call of Khaine (or war, if you prefer). They go to a warrior shrine to become an Aspect Warrior
2) Each Craftworld has multiple shrines for each Aspect. Each shrine is headed by a different Exarch, and can only have so many students at a time, both minimal and maximal. For example, a full 'squad' that can be deployed is five warriors, requiring an Exarch and a minimal four students; presumably the maximal is 9 students.
3) If/When an Eldar warrior is lost to the path, they become an Exarch. They can no longer remain at the warrior shrine they once trained and lived at, and must find their own shrine that is no longer occupied.
4) Once an appropriate shrine is located, the new Exarch enters, and examines it. They then locate the Exarch armor, and don it. It is not bonded to their bodies; the armor can be removed*. An Exarch that dons their armor then becomes part of the identity of the original armor's wearer/user; using Path of the Warrior as an example, Korlandril becomes Korlandil-Morianath, and there are other "Morianaths" in the armor, from the soulstones.
5) Exarch soulstones may not be placed in a Craftworld's Infinity Circuit; they are too violent and given over to war for this to be done; rather, Exarch soulstones are congregated into the Exarch armors, thus allowing for the pseudo-multiple-personality of an Exarch.
So the process does include voluntarily donning a previous Exarch's armor; however, an Eldar Aspect Warrior in their "own"** Aspect armor that becomes an Exarch will leave that armor behind; their soulstone will be taken with them***, and the armor is left with the warrior shrine that it was taken from.
*The sole exception is the case of the Phoenix Lords, whose insides are effectively magical sparkle-dust.
**Each suit of Aspect armor is taken from a warrior shrine; while an Aspect warrior does select what suit they will wear, the suits are not theirs to keep in any way, though a rune from the particular Aspect is usually kept by the warrior when they leave the Path of War.
***Eldar wear their soulstones on a necklace, usually; when wearing armor, the soulstone is usually placed in a small niche on the armor's breastplate. In the case of Exarch armor, there are multiple soulstones that are in place on the armor.
Does that answer your questions?
I knew a large portion of that, but yes, that which I didn't know was intriguing.
So there are a finite number of Exarchs on a craftworld at any one time? Can they found their own if they are all taken or will they leave te craftworld to find an undermanned one, seeing as their main allegiance is now to a path of war?
The only part of that which I was not sure of was "Step 4", ie the creation (which you've explained) and the actual spiritual existense of the Exarch, mainly the entire multiple personality thing.
Elaborate on the depiction of being an Exarch from the novel you mentioned. Is Korlandril lost in the process? Does, each time a new soul is added, an Exarch's personality change? Or does the wearer retain their spiritual identity and inherit the knowledge and memories of the previous wearers?
In effect, does Korlandril remain Korlandril but with the knowledge of his predecessors, or does he become Morianath with a dash of Korlandril thrown in? Basically, does he get their memories, or do they take his mind and body and add it to theirs?
It's a combination of "Korlandril=Korlandril" and "Korlandril=Korlandril-Morianath". Korlandril is still Korlandril in that he retains all memories and many feelings and thoughts of his existence, but he's more of an amalgamation of the other Exarch identities and himself. Or at least that's what I got; though I haven't read the book recently, so I may have to reread the relevant passages to better inform you.
This one I'm not sure. I'd assume, however, that a Craftworld usually has a small number of unmanned shrines, waiting for someone to pop in and go "hey, this looks like a nice pad, I think I'll set up here".
That makes them hobos then.
You're daft.
What I'm trying to convey in that statement is that each Exarch requires a separate shrine.
I don't know...nothin wrong with being a hobo...besides, I'd think someone in that position of power would want their shrine built just for them...kinda sounds like a hobo thing to me...
The thing is though, Exarchs aren't particularly noted or prominent leaders; they train the Eldar who walk the Path of the Warrior, and lead them on the field of battle in a role more akin to an NCO or an officer. Autarchs are much closer to a prominent individual of war, as the Autarch is the individual responsible for coordinating an entire military operation and/or campaign.
I don't understand a word you just said...
Don't mind my comments, I just miss having a Troll in the chatroom...all the good ones left or are currently napping.
*cough* Whiskeytroll *cough*
JK
In a nutshell: Exarchs, the guys who run the warrior shrines, aren't prominent enough to commission a shrine specifically for each of them.
...........
Huh. There are so many ways you could depict this. Korlandril could inherit all of their memories, or he could become a new "incarnation" of Morianath sort of Pheonix Lord style. If it's the latter, then it seems kind of dark for Morianath to be gobbling up other warrior's experiences (FEED ME SOULS FOR CONTINUED LIFE!!! Dark Eldar much?) for himself, though being Eldar it's probably a psychology we can't hope to understand some parts of.
It's more-or-less the latter; Korlandril becomes Morianath, but still retains his Korlandril-ness, which is semi-overridden (though still extant) by his Morianath-ness.
However, I'll note that it's more of a permament Vulcan mind-meld than a soul-eating thing; the next incarnation of Morianath will have Korlandrils memories and experiences, along with all the other previous incarnations'. The important thing WRT the "soul-eating" is to remember that the Exarch armors carry all the soulstones of previous and current wearers. In contrast, Dark Eldar just eat your soul.
So do they retain their individuality when, say, they remove the armour, or do the souls transfer from the stones to the body?
I'm being trollish, not daft, there is a difference.
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