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W'soran/Melkhior

2021-02-06T15:25:22Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:345C:6EB2:876:EF22: /* W'soran */

[[Image:Master-of-Death.jpg|right|thumb|400px|W'soran on the cover of his own [[Black Library]] book.]]

The founder and usurper of the Necrarch Bloodline of the [[Vampire Counts]]. Both were huge fucking nerds with a penchant for [[/tg/|playing army men as adults]]. Note that there are two different versions of the end of the story of W'soran/Melkhior. It's more up to personal interpretation which is canon, although the former story is supported by the legend of Ushoran leading to it being taken as slightly more canon.

==The Legend==
===W'soran===
Originally the High Priest of [[Nehekhara|Lahmia]] during the days when the [[Tomb Kings]] had skin, W'soran was born to an ancient yet respectable bloodline from Mahrak (a place known for the founding of Nehekharan religion). Despite his heritage, he secretly adorn Nagash's brilliance, even go as far as regretted that he was born too late to serve Nagash during the war.

He was invited by Lamashizzar to join his little cabal where they tried to attain immortality by studying Nagash's books and interrogating his servant [[Arkhan the Black]] for further knowledge. Like the other members, he grew tired of Lamashizzar's incompetence and switched sides when Neferata showed her superior mastery of the dark arts over her brother. In fact, W'soran was the first to kneel before Neferata.

After Neferata became a vampire, W'soran was the first to be invited by Neffy to drink her new vampire elixir. After becoming a vampire he looked much older, even zombie-like, but was satisfied with the result.

The founding of the cult of blood as well as the construction of its temple were W'soran's idea to harvest more blood and minions without drawing attention. However, like the other cabal members he did not approve of Neferata's sudden decision to raise the future king of Khemri herself. At that moment, W'soran considered Neffy a lost cause, driven batty by killing Khalida. He believed they (the vampries) should master the dark arts and use it to conquer and build a new empire over Nehekhara, rather than ruling a trading ground behind the mortals.

Still, he was able to persuade Neferata to give him the permission to study the book. He seized the opportunity to do what he had always wanted to do...seal himself up in the Great Library of Lahmia to read...and summon Nagash! Years passed, he used up a lot of slaves in his rituals but failed to summon the great necromancer's spirit. Then one day Ushoran barged into his place and offered assistance. Under W'soran's instruction, Ushoran obtained Thutep's skull (because his remains were still able to spiritual link to Nagash despite death) after he secretly hired a bunch of tomb raiders to dug up Thutep's remain at Khetep's pyramid.

With the proper material acquired, all that's left is proper timing. Just so happens the book he has contained crucial information about Morrslieb's sighting, and they were all predicted by Nagash in life. With the green moon's power and Thutep's rotten skull, W'soran found Nagash! But to his surprise, Nagash was in fact alive/unlive, building an army capable of destroying Nehekhara and was living just north of Lahmia across the sour sea.

Unfortunately for W'soran, Neferata caught him right at this time, staked him in the heart and stuffed him in a barrel. Before being immobilized however, W'soran told Neferata that Nagash would come and destroy all and when that time comes, every vampire will bow to him like a maggot, even threaten Neffy that he would curse Lahmia to be destroyed and never rebuilt till the end of times.

W'soran was stuck in the barrel for 22 years until Alcadizaar laid siege to the city. He was freed by Neferata in order to provide battle support for the Lahmian army. The entire times, W'soran stayed inside a tower with clear view of the battlefield. He use the books knowledge to summon a fuckload of zombies to fight their enemies. The zombies came from the catatomb, mostly belonging to poor or homeless people Neferata had torture and killed for food or info to find Alcadizzar. Although the Nehekharans do not fear the dead as they used to when fighting Nagash, the zombies served as a good distraction that [[Tarpit|blocked the enemy troops from moving forward]]. His part in the battle ended after all of the zombies died when a good catapult shot destroyed his tower and thus disrupted his ritual.

After Lahmia's fall, W'soran and his followers escaped and travel straight to Nagashizzar where they pledge themselves to Nagash after offered him his books. Nagash took in him and his followers and trained them until he was pretty much a level 4 wizard. During this time, he formed a bitter rivalry with [[Arkhan the Black]], whom was raised back to serve his master. [[Arkhan the Black|Arkhan]] proved to be quite an obstacle to W'soran becoming Nagash's number 1 (all just so he could obtain his knowledge, of course) due to being W'soran's equal in sorcery and having superior battlefield experience, still proving to be Nagash's most useful servant by far. W'soran had thought to kill Arkhan many times but was unable to so while being under Nagash's baleful gaze.

In order to control the massive undead army he had created, Nagash etched the sigil of binding into W'soran's face as well as his other 7 followers, making sure he could inflicting suffering on them while tasting their agony (because lore of darkness is all about feeding on negative emotions and feelings, further evidence on the dark elves and necromancers being edgelord wizard). Because of the additional vampires W'soran had bought, he was able to control a much larger army, a fact that irritated Arkhan since he also hated W'soran and he still needs his coopration if he want the invasion to succeed. Nagash also granting W'soran his permission to use his book on the battlefield.

When the undead legion invaded, it first landed on Lahmia and took over its ruin, killing all the bandits and thugs hanging out there and making its first encampment at the former Lahmian palace in order to plan for further strategies. W'soran had to stay there for days, only to furiously found out Arkhan had abandoned him and head straight west to where Khemri located, thought the bastard lich was trying to steal his glory for taking Alcadizzar's head. After W'soran's army crossed the golden plain and raze its crops with blackness, Arkhan's army was already in a battle position against a coalition army of Lybaras and Rasetra. Arkhan blame W'soran for misinformed everyone and Nagash that the great cities are divided and were unable to muster a proper defence against them. W'soran rebuttled by saying it is but a fraction of the forces they had defeated back in the seige of Lahmia. As a result, Arkhan ended up making W'soran to clean up his messes since he already had prior knowledge on defeating them. W'soran was apparently surprised by the Nehekharan army's soldiers wielding new rune weaponry that were effective in killing the undeads and its new addition of wizard that can dispel magic. It was by sheer size and the udnead's tireless natural that W'soran won the battle. Still, the casualty inflicted on them would wiped out an average army and W'soran began to notice how long and painful this campaign is going to be with Arkhan being his bane while dealing with Nehekharan's new military technology.

Because of the nuisance Lybaras and Rasetra had posed, W'soran had to divide his army and sent his 4 vampires to seige their city (leaving only 3 by W'soran's side), prevents them from marching behind their army. Arkhan was also aware of W'soran's treachery that he make sure to stay away from him as far as possible.

A week after Arkhan razed Mahrak, the undead legion began trespassing the Valley of Kings, a gigantic linear valley path that leads straight towards Quatar then Khemri. Unfortunatly for them, Alcadizzar has prepared a strong defense along the valley path: Archers with fire arrows, catapult that sling flaming boulders, a tall wall made of granite and heavily armored soldiers from Ka-sabar that throws sandblocks and fire pots.

W'soran wasn't even called to help until they began the assault on the second wall, which it was even taller than the first one that their ladder cannot be reached and its walls are too thick to be blast open by spells and catapult. W'soran was persuade by Arkhan into sending his vampires to kill everyone within the walls (Note: the death of just one vampire could killed off several thousand undead soldiers that was bind to them). It was a great risk but they succeed nonetheless with W'soran casting a fog spell to conceal his vampires to sneak into the wall. The second wall finally falls after 5 days.

The final wall was even thicker, taller, leaving only a gate made of basalt. There, Arkhan leaving the rest to W'soran and his goon. W'soran and his 3 followers then began channeling their energy together and bought forth a dark cloud of tomb scarabs. The scarabs were then sent to the defenders ontop of the wall while 6 bone giants battered down the gate.

Unfortunately for W'soran, his rituals were disrupted when a newly reinforced archers arrived on the wall and starts to shoot flaming arrows rain upon them and shot one of his followers. Worst comes when Alcadizzar arrived just in time on his chariot with many horseman charging with him.

W'soran managed to blast Alcadizzar and his queen off the chariot, but due to the sheer plot armor of the king, he not only survived but also slained all three of W'soran's followers (one of them was shot in the eye by his queen). Abandoned by Arkhan, W'soran raged quit from the battlefield by using his tomb scarabs magic. He was never seen again at this point, not even in Nagashizzar for sure since Nagash was busy raging his ass off on their failure for 7 days and 7 night and he '''definitely NOT''' going anywhere near there.

Here, the story of W'soran and Melkhior splits. The W'soran version follows.

After Nagash was killed W'soran turned more nerds into Vampires and crossed the impassible mountains to join [[Ushoran]], who had been kind of a bro to him. He aided Ushorsn in building up the power of Strigos, and helped Ushoran claim the Crown of Nagash.
An afterthought came that Nagash wouldn't have been to pleased about that and that maybe the Crown of Sorcery was better left in the hands of an actual sorcerer (himself). This inspired W'soran to began to experiment with imbuing one's own essence into physical objects, skirting along the magical theory of elf [[Soulstones]] but instead creating the process of [[Lich]] phylacteries. He eventually created a helmet of his own and placed part of his soul within it, then gave it to a tribe of humans called the Dresca and watched them tear themselves apart through his subtle mental influence.
He made a pact with the leader of a human tribe named Vorag Bloodytooth, who in exchange for helping make him powerful built W'soran a fantastic and secret laboratory fortress. Here W'soran conducted many EEEEEEEVIL experiments and perfected the Lore of Vampires.
During the fall of Strygos, W'soran and his followers ambushed the Strigoi while they were fighting greenskins. Eventually, W'soran faced Ushoran alone and lost due to the influence of Nagash through the Crown. His forces were crushed by the Strigoi, and he himself fled through the burning city causing as much damage as he could to slow down the pissed off Strigoi, Strygos, his own traitorous followers, and Orc pursuers. During his retreat he found a large vein of Warpstone and consumed it, using the boost in magic to collapse a mountain which killed many of those chasing him and cut off the rest.

He used his magic to hastily construct a mountain keep that could only be reached by a long mountain pass filled with traps and monsters, then awaited his enemies. The Lahmians and Strigoi made it to the pass, but most were slain between battling each other and falling into traps laid by the mad scientist Vampire. Melkhior, clever and knowledgeable about his master's preference for traps, reached the keep and pretended to warn his former master about the coming threat, and convinced him they would make a final stand inside W'soran's own vault. W'soran found himself fighting the enemy Vampires alone, and after slaying them to the last Melkhior attacked his master from behind. Melkhior taunted him as W'soran lay dying, and W'soran seemingly fought his own dying breath to make out a few last words to his traitorous pupil. As Melkhior leaned in closer with a grin to hear what the old Vampire had to say, W'soran seized him and growled with a wicked smile that he had discovered the secret of true immortality. W'soran bit his student in the neck, and his soul entered the body of Melkhior and consumed the younger Vampire's soul and knowledge.
When the Lahmian reinforcements finally arrived at the keep, they found the corpse of W'soran and the (un)living student claiming to have done the deed. He told them he wanted to join them, and would give them all the secrets of W'soran provided he had time to translate the many tomes and decipher the experiments and tablets within the vault. He fed them a steady stream of lesser magics and artifacts before returning to his wayward students, gathering them into enclaves dedicated to advancing different areas of necromantic and alchemical study. Each knows little of the other enclaves, and none know all but himself. He himself is the master of the large and isolated Necrarch Bloodline, and over time and wearing different guises has ingratiated himself one way or the other with all of the Vampire Bloodlines.

While each different Bloodline may claim to control an army, claim to control a nation, or claim to be invincible it is W'soran and the Necrarchs who's combined strength is represented by the application of Undead monsters, unbelievably powerful and previously unknown magic, and subtle manipulation to the combined might of the others.

===Melkhior===
The above story represents the basic interpretation of the story. The following is the original version of the fluff and is less detailed.

In this one, after the fall of Nagash the Necrarchs built their power and spread throughout the world without the parts involving Ushoran and the Strigoi. W'soran, being more trusting in this interpretation, took loyal students with him as they traveled in secret administrating to the Necrarch enclaves. At one point, Melkhior began to read the books of Nagash while W'soran meditated or conducted intensive research. During one of these meditations, Melkhior slew the body of his master, trapping the soul of W'soran in the spirit world where he gathers armies of Ethereal undead to prey upon the living and eventually his former student.

Melkhior built a magically hidden tower in the Great Forest which is found within the Empire, and studied magic alone.

===Zacharias The Everliving===
The following story goes along with the latter story where Melkhior defeats W'soran, but for the sake of unified canon (as in the current canon both W'soran aiding Ushoran built his empire and this story appear to both be true) one can assume that a different version of is happens in the former story as well.

At one point a thief named Zacharias attempted to breach the tower where Melkhior was dwelling and steal a book of Nagash and, impressed that the young man had foiled his magical defenses, Melkhior made Zacharias his pupil. As the years went on, Melkhior became more and more insane and would go on Strigoi-like rampages to drain whole cities of blood. Zacharias took advantage of these times to read the book. Of course, one of these times Melkhior returned and caught him at the act so a fight broke out with Melkhoir winning and Zacharias fled.

Wounded by the pursuing minions of Melkhior, he hid in a cave and fell into a restorative hibernation for ten years. When he awoke he found that a Black Dragon had begun to use the cave as a lair. He promptly drained the dragon's blood over a very long time until it died (since nothing can wake up if a vampire feeds on it while it's sleeping) which caused him to grow in strength and cured his Vampiric weaknesses and need to feed on blood. He promptly reanimated the Dragon's corpse as a mount, then gathered an army and returned to lay siege to the tower. The two battled, and from here the story splits once again.

In one version of the story, Melkhior only narrowly survived the confrontation and fled to plot revenge. In the other, he perished and Zacharias took over as head of the Necrarch Bloodline and organized them into an effective force preparing to attempt to conquer the Empire in a manner similar to the von Carsteins. Either way, Melkhior's treasures and book of Nagash wind up in the hands of Zacharias.

===[[The End Times]]===
When Nagash came back, Nagash contacted him for his service, but found that Zacharias thought he was his equal. For this insult, Nagash promptly set his brain on fire in his head and instantly killed him. Unfortunately, this and a complete lack of any mention of W'soran or Melkhior in End Times suggests he really was killed by Zacharias, although no mention of the other Necrarchs were made either. Unfortunately, End Times left out quite a few things and the lore answers that [[Josh Reynolds]] provided were rendered non-canon by usual [[Games Workshop]] douchebaggery so either the Necrarchs were all wiped out alongside Zacharias, completely offscreen or just joined Nagash/went into hiding equally offscreen, and either way were 100% destroyed with the old setting when [[Age of Sigmar]] came to be.

==Necrarchs==
[[File:Necrarch Notes.jpg|An example of the fucked up shit that Necrarchs get up to. Seriously, you thought the Umbrella Corporation and the Chaos Cultists of 40k were bad?|thumb|right|300px|Necrarchs are the mad scientists of the Vampire Count options. All are skilled in magic and/or science. Much of their time is spent in experimentation, in delving for the knowledge of other races (like elves), and creating new forms of magical artifacts and Undead monsters.]]

Like the other spellcasters of the game (Empire Mages, [[Tzeentch|Tzeentchian]] [[Warriors of Chaos]], [[High Elves|Saphery Mages]], and the like the Necrarchs are more likely to be found in the company of other Bloodlines than in an army of their own. Should have need to however, Necrarchs are very adaptable.

Any option you want to take can be handwaved as another Bloodline recruited to their service, although particularly "Necrarch" options include Zombies and Skeletons for Core raised in bulk as needed (failed test subjects in mass graves is another good explanation), Corpse Carts (as gatherers of new specimens) and Hexwraiths/Spirit Hosts (vengeful test subjects, experiments in soul-binding, or the minions of W'soran in the story where his soul is doomed to wander) as Special, Black Coaches (as a protective form of Chariot for the studious Necrarchs to direct battle from) and Mortis Engines (an arcane object created by Necrarchs powering their creations) for Rare. For Lords and Heroes, no named character is fitting (apart from possibly Mannfred the Acolyte. After all, he has studied everywhere, probably including under a Necrarch tutor at some point) unless one wants to use the stats of one of the Mannfreds to use as a Necrarch model. Necromancers are a possible option as an assistant, but really any options should be spellcasting Vampires and Master Vampires. Use of any other Lores other than Lore of Vampires is within theme if you choose to use them.

==On the Tabletop==
W'soran/Melkhior once had models and stats, but have long since been removed from the game and discontinued. If you can obtain the models, one can use W'soran or Melkhior (depending on which version of the fluff you consider canon) as a Master Vampire spellcaster in the Lore of Vampires riding an Abyssal Terror.

Necrarchs used to be one of the more popular Bloodlines until von Carsteins became the only Bloodline of any importance in the game in 7e, and as a result have a fair number of on foot and mounted models. All are out of production, so eBay is your only source.

As for how they used to be in their old rules, Melkhoir knocks in at 660 pts , he causes terror (with -1 to enemy leadership, but the modifier doesn't affect undead or daemons naturally), he is immune to all psychology, he is a lvl 4 wizard that gets one more spell than usual, has stupidity, has an abyssal terror and most importantly he can recast a spell on a 3+ (you still have to cast it as normal after passing the recast roll), though he cannot cast the same spell twice on the same unit.
Melkhoir also has three very special items that are awesome, he's got a magical sword that gives the models he hits -1 to their to hit rolls (he doesn't need to wound and the effects are not cumulative), he has a book he wrote that allows him to automatically cast a spell (it doesn't even use up any of your magic power either), and the spell that he casts can be recast as normal, but after using it, roll a die, on a 1-2 it can't be used again for the rest of the battle, and he has a black cloak that makes it impossible to shoot him. Literally, he cannot be shot at or hurt by shooting ever, not even by warmachines (he takes no damage if he gets hit) and not even by magical missiles (again he takes no damage) which is awesome combined with the sword so he doesn't get hit in combat, and combined with the book so he can keep shooting out spells. Statwise he's a Necrarch Vampire Lord, so also good in combat.

==Gallery==

<gallery>
Image:Melkior.jpg|The body of Melkhior, either inhabited by the soul of W'soran or as the traitorous pupil himself. Mounted on the "ever popular" only version of the Abyssal Terror that looks good.
Image:Necrarch 1.jpg|An old Necrarch model.
Image:Necrarch 2.jpg|A set of older Necrarch models.
Image:Necrarch 3.jpg|Yet more Necrarch models.
</gallery>

[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]]
[[Category:Vampire Counts]]

The Orville

2021-02-06T13:30:37Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:345C:6EB2:876:EF22: /* Season One */

[[File:The Orville.jpg|300px|thumb|left|The Orville from The Orville]]
{{Delete|See Talk Page. I'm not sure this show has enough of a following to justify a page here}}
'''The Orville''' is <s>[[Star Trek]] fanfiction with the serial numbers filed off</s> a comedy drama sci-fi television series that began as a homage to Star Trek, created by and starring Seth MacFarlane of [[Fail|''Family Guy'']] infamy-- [[Skub|No wait, come back!]]

The guy's a huge Trekkie, to the point of having a few cameos in Star Trek, who went to the FOX execs and pitched his idea for a loving comedic sendup of The Next Generation because he felt too many shows sunk into a quagmire (pun intended, and ours not his) of grimdark. Many of the executive producers and developers are notable industry Trekkies such as David Goodman (who wrote the ''Futurama'' Trek parody episode), or Trek alumni such as Brannon Braga. First airing in 2017, the series is about the strung-out not-Picard protagonist Captain Edward Mercer, played by MacFarlane himself, of the eponymous not-Enterprise spaceship "The Orville" ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_brothers#Orville likely named after one of the Wright Brothers]). His ex-wife Kelly is the first officer while the crew includes the beefy gay not-Worf alien Bortus, asshole not-Lore android Isaac, and John LaMarr and Gordon Malloy - an even more ridiculous parody of Harry Kim and Tom Paris. They explore the galaxy while dealing with personal problems and fighting various bad guys. The show has a mix of drama, comedy and commentary on real world issues.

=Can you play in this universe or what?=
There is no dedicated RPG for ''The Orville''. But that hasn't stopped elegant/tg/entlemen from trying. As a ''Trek'' knockoff it's Trekkies who've mooted systems for it. For those interested in the (dysfunctional) character-relations: GURPS. TRAVELLER, for those with a hard-SF bent. And then there's always ''Far Trek''.
[https://www.therpgsite.com/pen-paper-roleplaying-games-rpgs-discussion/the-orville-which-rpg-system-would-you-use/ Here's a 2017 discussion.]

And, yes, servants of the Divine Emperor: you ''can'' buy miniatures, through WizKids.

=The Show=

==Season One==
The first season was supposed to have thirteen episodes but The Suits didn't like the episode revolving around (gay) porn addiction, so that got pulled, leaving the first season with twelve episodes.

The pilot episode (creatively named "Pilot") introduces Ed and the ship, with the story about how he and ex-wife Kelly begin their posting on the Orville while trying to build a professional relationship. A later episode reveals why Ed and Kelly divorced in the first place, and it involved a slimy (in the "disgustingly immoral" sense, not the "covered in slime" sense... until you make him happy) alien playboy. As the crew learn to work together, one of the better episodes sets the stage for this; "Majority Rule", an episode with good (albeit heisted from ''Black Mirror'') commentary on social currency systems. "About a Girl" is a Bortus-centered episode that explores his relationships during a vital part of his race's life cycle.

Since this is a Star Trek homage, the show has to have a bad guy faction the protagonists alternate between killing and studying. Between the showrunners of both shows, you can bet they represent - and strawman - something the showrunner opposes in real-life. That's where the Krill come in; Nosferatu-looking reptilian aliens with a fatal weakness to UV radiation. The Krill are villains because they follow a [[Protectorate of Menoth|violently xenophobic religion]] that claims all non-Krill are soulless abominations to be killed or subjugated. Also, [[Derp|the god of this religion and one of its religious phrases were named for throwaway jokes about the car rental company Avis and Katniss Everdeen from "The Hunger Games" franchise]].

This brings us to the subject the show is most preachy (pun intended) about by far, its anti-religion slant. The backstory shares Star Trek's "religion is outdated" overtones and a quarter of the season's episodes are just beating the "religion bad" drum - "If Stars Should Appear", "Krill" (named for the above aliens) and "Mad Idolatry" (Star Trek's "Who Watches the Watchers" with the serial numbers filed off). If that wasn't heavy-handed enough, every religion is replete with visual references to Christianity - eg; Krill places of worship looking like chapels complete with pews - and there's also a poke at Islam (the Krill's "Temeen Everdeen" is both [[What|a blink-and-you'll-miss-it wink at The Hunger Games]] and their equivalent of Islam's "Allahu Akbar"). All this results in a show pushing anti-religious atheism hard enough to make Star Trek look like [[C.S. Lewis|The Chronicles of Narnia]] (even non-religious viewers have complained about this heavy-handed slant). Hey, if Seth can bog down a season of a TV show with it, we can bog down a paragraph of a webpage talking about it.

The critics did their best to tank the show this season, but most ''viewers'' liked it, a few recurring complaints notwithstanding. In light of positive reception it received, the show was greenlit for a second season.

==Season Two==
In the second season, the network got a little more confident in the show so, to save money, they aired Bortas' porno, held over from the previous one.

The main change here was writing out Alara a couple eps in. The character's actress, Halston Sage, was rumored to have briefly dated Seth MacFarlane, although it is just as likely that other factors such as her role on ''Prodigal Son'' or a desire for a pay increase could've contributed to or caused her departure. The dating rumor may have got the oxygen it did due to a later episode where Captain Mercer dates a too-young version of his own First Officer, showing that [[Derp|dating a co-worker and subordinate 20 years younger than you rarely ends well]]. This all may come back to haunt the showrunners as Alara was one of the better received characters. Don't worry though, Alara's character was immediately replaced with another alien of the very same race, gender, and profession... despite the lore establishing that Alara's career path as a security officer is unusual by her species' standards. Alara's final episode ''is'' a good sendoff for the character.

The next big change is the Krill, who become the "lesser villains that need to team up with the good guys to fight worse villains" cliché. Given all the villainous setup the Krill have, this is jarring, the more so because this season pulls it out its own butt ''twice''.

At first Ed and crew were caught between some contrived race of Space Orks doing WAAAAGH against the Krill while Ed's dating a new woman. Then... surprise, Ed's new woman turns out to be Teleya - a female Krill he captured in Season 1 - disguised as a human to get close to Ed and kill him (resulting in plot holes because Teleya was last seen imprisoned on Earth and she's a schoolteacher not a solider or a spy), but they're forced to work together when trapped on a death world. We don't see the orks again in this season. Then the ''real'' team up with the Krill happens because the rest of Isaac's robotic race, the Kaylons, have gone [[Necrons|Full Skynet]] against organic life. While throughout the Season Isaac gradually turned good, becoming the crew's not-Data member, the rest of his race aren't so friendly. The Kaylons attempt to invade Earth and look set to become the show's Borg equivalent (minus organic parts and assimilation).

The cast seems to be gelling better - Halston's departure and rumored situation between her and Seth aside, the writers have a better idea of what the show should be and the humor is now used in service of the stories; again, Alara's loss aside, it's a step up overall.

==Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow==
The show is slated for a third season, but was cancelled by Fox and moved from TV to the streaming service Hulu. However, filming was delayed by the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Some commend The Orville as a well-made, witty breath of [[Noblebright|fresh air]] in an overly [[Grimdark|stagnant]] genre with a side of nostalgia. Others denounce The Orville as a derivative, sophomoric, uncomfortable vanity protect (some consider MacFarlane stunt-casting himself as the main character the height of vanity, especially when the show pushes his views on the audience - at least Roddenberry let others play Kirk and Wesley). Some think both sides have a point. Trekkies are equally divided on the show; many Trekkies [[butthurt]] over Discovery endorse The Orville, a significant number of Discovery fans hate The Orville, and a small and overlooked group quietly enjoys both.

As always, stay tuned for how this turns out.

= Would you like to know more? =
*[https://orville.fandom.com/wiki/The_Orville Not Main Memory Alpha]. The wiki.

[[Category: Television]]

Dune

2021-02-06T13:12:47Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:345C:6EB2:876:EF22: /* The Politics */

[[Image:Dune_RPG.jpg|right|200px]]
:''For the board game, see [[Rex: Final Days of an Empire]], the reissue name.''
'''Dune''' is the best selling science fiction/fantasy novel of all time. Written by Frank Herbert in 1965, it won several prestigious awards, including the very first Nebula Award for Best Novel, and went on to become an incredibly influential classic of the genre. Since then, it's been adapted to all sorts of media, including board games, video games, two mini-series, and a movie. Surprisingly, [[/tg/|we]] are not all that obsessed with it, but we do respect Dune for all it's done for sci-fi.

== Overall Setting ==
Dune is ''weird''. Really, really weird. You might think a fantasy series is weird because the elves are grown in tree pods or something, but that's nothing compared to Dune. Think about, for example, ''Alf'': a by the books formulaic 1980s sitcom in which a suburban American family has a goofy alien living in their home, cue zany hi-jinks and canned laughter. A stock mundane set up with one moderately fantastic element. That's not Dune. That's about as far from Dune as you could get and still be called sci-fi. Dune is a drug-filled trip following strange characters in a world highly removed from our own, navigating a foreign political landscape in which we get to see their strange motivations marching to its own rules and internal logic. Some people love it for its weirdness, others hate it for its weirdness. Regardless, weirdness is the name of the game going into Dune.

In the distant future, human civilization relies on "spice", a drug that expands its user's perceptions and triples the lifespan. Because electronic computers are taboo, even over ten thousand years after the Butlerian Jihad against thinking machines, interstellar travel relies on spice-using [[Navigator]]s to plot safe paths through space and Mentats use spice to increase their cognitive abilities, becoming human computers able to process vast amounts of data. You could buy a mansion on a core Imperial world for a deciliter of spice. Its most unpleasant withdrawal symptom is inevitable death. Naturally, "the spice must flow" is a common sentiment. Basically spice acts as [[skub|plot device]] to explain the politic struggle in the books and to explain all sorts of magic-like stuff in the dune universe, without quite leaving the field of sci-fi.

Spice cannot be synthesized and is found on only one planet: Arrakis, a bone-dry dustball where enormous sandworms produce it as part of their life cycle. Imperial citizens only live there to extract, process, and export spice, living in fear of their overseers, the sandworms, and the human natives called the Fremen. Whoever controls Arrakis has a stranglehold on the whole of human civilization, and so when a conspiracy to hide this fact breaks down multiple factions fight each other for control of it or to use it against their enemies.

The six books of the original series (''Dune'', ''Dune Messiah'', ''Children of Dune'', ''God-Emperor of Dune'', ''Heretics of Dune'', and ''Chapterhouse Dune'') principally follow the scions of House Atreides as their futures become inextricably tied to Arrakis, the spice, and the future of humanity.

Dune is probably one of the most in-depth science fiction books ever written, considering the utter detail that goes into sociological, ecological, political, and economic elements that are added so neatly. It's like a textbook, only far cooler. Opinion on the later books in the series is split, with some feeling it's a continuous decline in quality through to the end, an increase in crap until you're four books in when you notice you're reading a doorstop chiefly composed of Leto whining that turning into a sandworm is haaaard, while others feel the next three books are crucial to understanding the themes Herbert started to explore in the original '''Dune''' (especially the damaging effects of hero worship on society). Still, everyone agrees that the prequels and sequels written after his death by his son are irredeemably bad, so avoid those unless you're a [[Society of Sensation|sensate]] trying to experience the whole spectrum of human emotion and the next thing on your list is mind-numbing disappointment and boredom.

===The Politics===

With a new movie coming out, it's worth breaking down the politics of the first book. Here are the major factions and their motivations:

* '''House Atreides:''' Duke Leto rules the planet Caladan and the Emperor has named him the next ruler of Arrakis. The Bene Gesserit had meanwhile foisted a concubine on him, Jessica, and ordered her to give him a daughter; but the couple ended up in love with each other so Jessica gave him a son - Paul - instead of a daughter whom the Bene Gesserit could have actual use for. Leto then legitimated his ''fitz'' as his heir thus pushing useful marriage alliances to that next generation. Leto has amassed a formidable council of advisors: Gurney Halleck, an escaped Harkonnen slave who rose through the ranks to become warmaster (played by Picard himself, Patrick Stewart); Thufir Hawat, Mentat and his master of assassins; Duncan Idaho, also an escaped slave and now a swordmaster of the Ginaz school and the Atreides House champion; and Wellington Yueh, a medical doctor of the Suk school conditioned to be unable to kill. Paul is a prime candidate to marry the Emperor's daughter Irulan, but Leto's motivations are simply to keep his house safe.
* '''House Harkonnen:''' For the last century, the Harkonnen have held fief over Arrakis, and their term is ending. The Harkonnen have had a family feud with the Atreides for millennia. The Siridar Baron, Vladimir Harkonnen, has no children (as far as we know at the beginning), but rather two nephews, Rabban (the Beast) and Feyd-Rautha (the pretty one, played by Sting). He and his advisor, a Twisted Mentat named Piter de Vries, want to settle all accounts: wipe out the Atreides, reclaim Arrakis, marry Feyd to Princess Irulan, and take control of the Empire.
* '''House Corrino:''' The house of the Padishah Emperor. Claims to rule all of space. The incumbent Emperor, Shaddam Corrino IV, has several daughters but no sons through his Bene Gesserit wife. He sees the potential end of his line and what could happen to his house. He knows that Leto is immensely popular and has amassed a formidable army, trained almost to the level of his own elite Sardaukar, and that represents a threat to his power that he cannot ignore. Shaddam conspires with the Harkonnens to lure Leto and his house into a trap on Arrakis and wipe them out.
* '''The Bene Gesserit:''' A religious order of battle nuns and courtesans with psychometabolic powers. The sisterhood is nearing the culmination of thousands of years of selective breeding to produce a superman, but their plans were thrown into disorder when Jessica gave birth to a son instead of a daughter. To salvage their project they need either Paul or Feyd to survive and have a child, preferably through Irulan (although losing either one will be a setback).
* '''The Bene Tleilax:''' Also known as "Tleilaxu" (the first L is silent), this patriarchal, isolationist group contains the universe's premier genetic engineers. Their clients view them as both useful and borderline [[Heresy|heretics]] for how closely they skirt the letter of the Butlerian taboos. We don't actually meet any Tleilaxu agents until the events of ''Dune Messiah''.
* '''The Spacing Guild:''' An order of mutants who control all interstellar travel, as their Navigators are the only safe way to travel between stars without forbidden computers. The Guild is the real power behind the Emperor: they want stability on Arrakis and will work with whoever can promise that... and against anyone who threatens their supply of spice. The spice must flow.
* '''The Fremen:''' The "natives" of Arrakis, the Fremen are the descendants of the Zensunni Wanderers who ended their pilgrimage on Arrakis. The Bene Gesserit then sent the Missionaria Protectiva to mess with their heads and subvert their religion (Zensunni, a hybrid of Sunni Islam and Zen-Buddhism) for a millennia-long gamble. The Fremen know the desert and how to survive it better than any off-worlder, so a Great House that rules the planet must deal with them in one fashion or another. The Harkonnen tried to kill them to no avail, but Duke Leto believes he can win their allegiance through cunning and diplomacy.

Into all this, add partial precognition (among other psychic talents) on the part of the Bene Gesserit and the Spacing Guild, both with self-acknowledged serious blind spots, and that Leto's son Paul is far more important than ''anybody'' realizes at the start of the first book, and you have yourself a recipe for a grade-A nuclear clusterfuck of politics.

===Influence on Warhammer 40k===
Being a highly successful series with an unique and interesting universe it is obvious that [[Games Workshop]] <s>stole</s> took inspiration from Dune more than an Blood Raven in an unlocked reliquary. While this topic is up for [[Skub|debate]] the following were most likely borrowed from the Dune universe:
* '''Close combat / Melee''': The Dune universe is close-combat-heavy because the Holtzman effect changed the face of warfare. The effect can be utilized to generate a man-sized field that can deflect matter that travels beyond a certain speed. This means that bullets are useless against people equipped with shields; this also means that air molecules can't pass through the shield, so you'd better get your fighting over with before you collapse from heatstroke and/or suffocate on your own CO2. "But there's [[lasgun]]s in Dune!" Yes, Timmy, there are, but when a laser beam hits a shield, [[Exterminatus|the shooter, the target, and the surrounding landscape are deleted in a massive explosion]], so nobody tries it (although "accidents" do happen). Swordsmanship has come back into style due to the high risk of using laser weapons leading to a reliance on melee combat. This story element was due to author appeal, as Herbert wanted close combat in the story.
:*As a side note, one of the reasons why House Atrides is so dangerous is that they discovered a workaround; based on the “Weirding Way” of the Bene Gesserit, soldiers can use “Killing words” to shoot sonic blasts into enemies, strong enough to crush stone with a single word. In the films it’s aided with the help of a handheld device, but in the novels it’s more of a kung-fu technique. Now as for the former; a sound-based weapon that ignores armor and delivers bone-crushing injuries, [[Sonic Weaponry|where have we heard that one]]?
* '''[[Navigator|Navigators]]''': The Dune universe has [[Navigator|Navigators]] which are ''slightly'' similar to their 40k counterparts. Only source of ship travel? Check. Highly mutated? Check. Mutation worsens over time? Check. Some sort of magical powers, but somehow different from everyone else's? Check. Living outside of all political powers? Check. Having their own political agendas? Check. Secretive? Double fucking check. Basically they are the exact same thing with the small exceptions that they need spice to live. Also, Herbert may have cribbed them from the 1950 Cordwainer Smith story [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scanners_Live_in_Vain "Scanners Live in Vain"].
* '''No AI allowed''': Basically the same story, AI goes bad, tries to conquer humanity, gets its virtual arse kicked, and is subsequently forbidden. While the backstory is a little different, the outcome is still the same. However, Dune is a little bit more restrictive when it comes to [[Cogitator|Cogitators]] or [[Servitor|Servitors]] and uses humans hyper-trained from birth (and fucked up on drugs) known as "Mentats" as supercomputers instead.
* '''Progress = Bad''': As an extension of the previous point, technology is a constant subject of paranoid suspicion, while science is slowed to a crawl. Humanity mined spice on Arrakis for THOUSANDS of years without ever bothering to research what was creating it (not helped by the facts that Arrakis is so dangerous and the Fremen know the source but are actively keeping it secret).
* '''[[Death World|Death Worlds]]:''' Dune has two of them, Arrakis and the Emperor's nuked-out hellhole Salusa Secundus. Like in 40K, death worlds are places where virtually everything, from the life to the landscape, is out to kill you, and anyone who manages to grow up there is operating on an entire different level from the rest of humanity and are ''also'' generally out to kill you. The Emperor uses Salusa to train his elite army and his advisor Count Fenring fears that someone will make an army out of the Fremen.
* '''[[God-Emperor of Mankind| The mother-fucking God-Emprah]]''': While the idea of a galactic Emperor is nothing new, Dune was [[Skub|debatably]] the first setting which implemented a ''de facto'' immortal god-emperor. Decades of worshiping the 40k [[God-Emperor of Mankind|Empra]] is likely to make those fans think Dune's Leto II is some pathetic false-Emperor (just look how they treat [[Star Wars|Palpatine]]) but make no mistake: while he might not crush tanks with his brain, God-Emperor Leto II earned his worship after turning himself into an immortal giant worm with precognitive powers. And unlike Palpatine's narcissist attitude, Leto is secretly altruistic to his subjects like his 40k counterpart despite some... questionable ethical choices regarding tyranny, free will, and bloodshed.
* '''Feudalism IN SPACE!:''' Under the "faufreluche" system, the Houses were de facto autonomous states, with the [[High Lords of Terra|Landsraad]] functioning as a space UN for the Houses to conduct business and address grievances with each other. The rules of the Great Convention prevented the Padishah Emperor from taking sides in any case of House-to-House warfare and defined the rules of "kanly," how two Houses may go to war with each other without endangering innocent bystanders. The Imperium of Man's organization is similar to this system, where a central authority figure is distant and difficult to contact, which means that the various jurisdictions that ostensibly answer to it are generally left to fend for themselves unless a major threat appears.
*'''Super-soldiers:''' Before the [[Space Marines]], there were the Sardaukar. Taken to a death world at a tender age and subjected to absurdly-harsh training that kills roughly half of the initiates, the Sardaukar are superior to the forces that the Great Houses could raise against them. The only other warriors in the Imperium said to be on the same level are the top-level Ginaz Swordmasters, but the Ginaz are duelists and bodyguards, not grunt soldiers.
*'''[[Daemonculaba|Tleilaxu Axolotl Tanks]]''': ''SPOILERS FOR DUNE AHEAD'' one of the factions in Dune's universe, [[Dark Mechanicus|the Tleilaxu (who are masters of biotechnology)]], are very, very secretive when it comes to their women. In fact, throughout almost three books we have only met their men, and heard vague stories about all their women being kept on their home planet. At the same time it is widely known that the Tleilaxu can breed [[Undead|gholas]] (living men made out of dead flesh) in their axolotl tanks... Three books in some Bene Gesserit witch adds two and two together, asks the right person all the wrong (from his POV) questions and confirms that [[Rape|the tanks are actually what's left of the Tleilaxu females]]. Basically, once a Tleilaxu female reaches the age of puberty they [[grimdark|destroy her brain]], cyber her up and use her to pump out gholas and [[Profit|whatever else they need.]]

== The books ==
* '''''Dune''''' - The original novel. <del>The [[Lord of the Rings]] of sci-fi.</del> Very influential? Yes! Defining the Genre the way Tolkien did? No. Don't forget that sci-fi helped shape modern Fantasy where pre-modern Fantasy helped shape sci-fi (eg; fairies and elves = aliens, alchemy = chemistry). The first book serves as a stand-alone story in the style of a traditional epic and a follows typical dramatic structure (the sequels... eh). It reads well, and each chapter centers around a particular character or topic without feeling disjointed. You know the plot. Paul controls the spice and controls the universe.
* '''''Dune Messiah''''' - Detailing Paul's jihad and rule of the Imperium. While Dune is a story on its own, this sequel was hacked off of the first book when it became too long and turned into a sequel. If you at least agree that the first book was good, then problems start to show here but not by much.
* '''''Children of Dune''''' - Detailing the rise of Paul's children. The third book and the end of the first trilogy, except it and ''Messiah'' are half the length of ''Dune'' and ''God Emperor'' making it feel like the second book of a trilogy. Paul is gone and the story switches to his son Leto II as he struggles with the prescience powers he inherited from his father on the inside and everyone and their sister trying to get his place and/or influence him on the outside. This book reads like the main character is high and does not know where he is for most of the story (which is actually fine, considering he's an 8 year old kid struggling with becoming almost omniscient, people trying to kill him, and he is both high and kidnapped), and it is disjointed enough that the reader feels the same (which is not, because a constant [[meme|"WTF am I reading?"]] feeling as one wrestles through the book makes for a poor reading experience).
* '''''God Emperor of Dune''''' - Leto II of the House of Atreides has fused with the last sandworm and become immortal in what is probably the most iconic thing outside of the first book. Disappointed in the mildness of his father's jihad, he creates the most oppressive regime that he can to tap into humanity's basest and darkest instincts so that a eugenics program can strengthen humanity to the point where it can never go extinct, followed by them scattering away from his empire and becoming completely decentralized throughout the universe. That is the 'Golden Path' thing. The entire book started off as a continuous monologue by the main character with the rest written in later and it shows. What were the characters actually doing again? Killing one another?
* '''''Heretics of Dune''''' - Humanity has scattered away from known space after being oppressed for so long, and no one thing can kill them now... maybe. ''God Emperor'' was actually the start of a trilogy centered around a girl named Sheeana and the clones (or gholas, because the cells started off dead) of Duncan Idaho. The Bene Gesserit take center stage and they and the reader must deal with their inability to be anything but clandestine antagonists.
* '''''Chapterhouse: Dune''''' - The Bene Gesserit make one of their primary planets into a new Dune because they need the spice to use their abilities. The Honored Matres, worse Bene Gesserit returned from the Scattering, have conquered pretty much everything with mind-control sex and regular violence. Can our heroes thwart them? No one knows, as Duncan calculates/foresees something that neither he or the readers know about and flies a ship off to who-knows-where, followed by Frank Herbert's death.

=== The others ===
* '''''Hunters of Dune''''' and '''''Sandworms of Dune''''' - Based on the rough draft for the unfinished ''Dune 7'', these two works function as a direct sequel to ''Chapterhouse: Dune''. If you really want the series to have an ending... this is what you get. Requires reading ''Legends of Dune''.
* Prelude to Dune series: A prequel series set right before the events of the first novel when all the adults from that book were the age that buys young adult novels. Not that bad, but all the villains are evil sadists and all the heroes are good people.
* Legends of Dune series: A prequel series that shows the Butlerian Jihad not as a conflict where religious Luddites win, but as a war where wargame-loving hacker teens take over mankind's servant robots and cause a robot war that overthrows the Old Empire on Earth and enslaves humanity. The League of Nobles (note that unlike the pages of justification for original Imperium, feudalism just seems to naturally happen at this point in human history) rallies around manufactured religious zealotry to eventually win at great cost (like ''losing 1% of our fleet every jump'' cost).
* Heroes of Dune series: A series of interquels about this and that.

== The Movies ==
Alejandro Jodorowsky,a French-Chilean director that made balls-to-the-walls experimental movies, was slated to direct a film adaptation with set design from H.R. Giger, effects by Dan O'Bannon, conceptual art by comic book artist Moebius, music from Pink Floyd and Magma, and starring Salvador Dali, Orson Welles, David Carradine, and Mick Jagger, though sadly it ran out of money in pre-production. Even if it has never been realized, it has a cult following for just the possibilities of "what could've been", even though it would take the already psychadelic book and rump the weirdness up to eleven and it would have been at least 14 to 20 hours long. The failed production would also very influential in later science fiction, Giger and O'Bannon, for example would go on to contribute to the production of ''Alien'', and many of sets were recycled by George Lucas in ''[[Star Wars]]''.

The David Lynch movie absolutely sucked in that it managed to make an already very weird book into an even weirder movie(<s>saying this out loud is a good way to troll hipsters</s> Not really. Even Lynch knew it sucked, as evidenced by the fact he had his name removed from the television cut). If you want a good laugh I'd suggest you watch it -- it's not often that you'll see a fetal manatee shit/barf lasers. It's a classic case of Hollywood taking an amazing work of art and deciding "the audience" won't like it, so they got rid of the parts they didn't understand. If you've read the book, the butchery is even more <s>hilarious</s> <s>cringe-worthy</s> full of [[lulz]], though I suggest you don't watch the movie first. Who, after all, would want to read ''The Odyssey'' after seeing the movie? I'd suggest you see the movie as well, as it is also <s>''that bad''</s> awesome. Good soundtrack though. The film is still a worthwhile experience just for the setting, but absolutely fails at making the narrative compelling.

The Sci-Fi Channel produced two six-hour mini-series based on the first three books. Though low-budget (it has the ''[[Babylon 5]]'' problem of painfully crude CGI), they do manage to touch on each of the important plot points from those books and there's no skimping on the action to make "weirding module" toys to be sold as merchandise. Worth watching for what it is, and not ironically like the abortion above. If you watch both you can imagine how much better it would have been with the budget and actors Lynch had at his disposal. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShlhYT4FxGI Also the soundtrack for the second installment is dope; same guy who did Thor:Dark World.]

Denis Villeneuve, of ''Arrival'' and ''Sicario'' fame, is now slated to helm a new adaptation. As of fall 2020, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9xhJrPXop4 the trailer is up] and it's... ehhhhhhhhhhh. At first glance it looks like the mini-series done with a respectable effects budget and better actors, but we won't know if this is the one until it hits the screens. Using a grimdark mix of ''Dark Side of the Moon'' was a nice nod to the Jodorowsky project, but it means we don't know much about the actual score, and Dune movies kinda rely on the music to be up to the epicness of the footage.

== As an RPG Setting ==
Frank Herbert went into SO MUCH DETAIL in his novels, you've got plenty of material to use as a campaign setting. You've got politics, fightan, more politics, space travel, enough politics to give Machiavelli a headache, and room for quasi-magic shit. Go nuts.

There was an official Dune RPG, "Chronicles of the Imperium," but it got mired in legal bullshit, [[WOTC|Wizards]] bought it out, did a 'Limited Edition' run of 3000 books, and then the high masters at Hasbro said "no more licensed property" and eighty-sixed the game so nobody would see it ever again. Assholes.

* [http://www.squaremans.com/?p=242 The only adventure module], unpublished even for an unpublished game.

Someone made a homebrew [[GURPS]] Dune splatbook which can be found [https://mega.nz/#!eBFhBTRJ!FMVGywUtRaO845ZxboOcplc3R0wwpxFx01LZtGMyTTk right here].

There is also a [https://www.modiphius.net/pages/discover-dune-roleplaying-game Modiphius RPG] coming in 2021, from the looks of it.

== The Games ==
The first video game adaptation of Dune was what can best be described as a Visual Novel mixed with a little Risk Boardgame. You play as Paul Atreides and it roughly follows the events of the original book. The goal is to recruit Fremen and eventually kick the Harkonnen from the planet.

The videogame many oldfags remember fondly, however, is [http://www.mobygames.com/game/dune-ii-the-building-of-a-dynasty Dune 2], hailed as the first "true" RTS game that got it right and paved the way for all the others. It's widely-accredited as putting Westwood on the map. While it was set in the universe, it did not actually take place during the time of the books, instead much earlier. It was remade in 1998 as part of a renovation attempt, and the resulting game, [http://www.mobygames.com/game/dune-2000 Dune 2000], was a fun if somewhat off-centered RTS boasting fairly decent balance and was great fun to play in multiplayer LAN games, but it was hindered by the fact that the bulk of its gameplay had been lifted from ''Command and Conquer - Tiberian Dawn'' and ''Red Alert'', creating a sort of hybrid that (justifiably in some cases) pissed off fans of both franchises. Then again, it had fucking [[The Lord of the Rings|Gimli]] as an Atreides Mentat, a kickass robo-Mentat that gets progressively more drugged out for the Ordos, and a good atmosphere and set design readily conscious of the curious, or least unique aspects of the Lynch film's asthetics, so even then it has some good qualities. It was quite clearly produced with love of the universe, and emphasized the game was taking place in an earlier time, so as not to fuck with the books' canon.

Westwood later did one of the first 3D RTS's not soon after, ''Emperor - Battle for Dune''. Though the game ditched a standard campaign progression with the now familiar Risk-style campaign, it still had unique missions and a unique campaign for all three sides. The story took off right after the events of the last game (namely, Padishah-Emperor Corrino is dead with no one to succeed him) and thus the Spacing Guild and the Sisters avert a civil war by holding that whichever House can win a limited War of Assassins on Arrakis will be crowned Padishah-Emperor of the Known Universe. Contains all sorts of surprising twists and turns (like everyone gloriously violating galactic law, and '''IT'S A T-gmphmmhmhhhhhhh!!!!'''), and the cinematics and cast were quite nicely done as well. Especially since it's live action. This, sadly, would not be the last Dune video game.

You see, there's also ''Frank Herbert's Dune'', action-adventure game based on the mini-series. How good was it? Well, just think for a brief moment about ''why'' didn't you hear about it before you read this article.

There are three boardgames worth mentioning that were based on Dune. The first and best remembered is the 1979 Avalon Hill game made by the same guys that made [[Cosmic Encounter]]; it's one of the crown jewels of the Avalon Hill body of work. The game property was bought by Final Flight Games, but the owners of the Dune trademarks said "no," so FFG published the game using their [[Twilight Imperium]] setting as a prequel to that wargame. See more about both games at [[Rex: Final Days of an Empire]]. A reprint of the Avalon Hill game is now available from Gale Force Nine, as is 2 faction expansion pack with the Ixians & Tleilaxu. Get your crysknifes ready, because it's gonna be a slaughterfest.
* [http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/121 BoardgameGeek link to the Avalon Hill game]
* [http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/104363 BoardgameGeek link to the FFG remake]
* [https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/283355/dune BoardgameGeek Link to the reprint]

There was a trashy tie-in merchandise boardgame based on the David Lynch movie. Paper pasted on cardboard, roll-and-move race game, typical [[Ameritrash]]. The less said about that, the better.
* [http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/680 you don't want to know]

There is a free print-and-play game "Dune Express." You can use simple coloured dice, Skittles for your armies, and draw the map on the back of a pizza box, and yet it will still feel like great houses fighting over Arrakis. A decent beer-and-preztels game without being hurr durr dumb.
* [http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/42617 BoardgameGeek link to Dune Express]

Dire Wolf has now managed to get their claws onto a license to do Dune game as well, Dune: Imperium. From the initial reviews it looks like a German style resource race meeple game.

* [https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/316554/dune-imperium BoardgameGeek]

[[category: Literature]]

Mengil Manhide's Manflayers

2021-02-06T06:14:05Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:345C:6EB2:876:EF22:

{{whfb-stub}}{{NeedsImages}}
[[File:Darkelven MengilManhide.jpg|thumb|"Nothing personal, kid."]]
{{Topquote|You misunderstand. I don't do it for the money. I do it because I enjoy it.|Mengil himself}}

'''Mengil Manhide's Manflayers''' are one of the [[Regiments of Renown]] from [[Warhammer Fantasy]]. They are a Dark Elf mercenary band, consisting of guerilla style warriors led by the noble turned mercenary captain, who in later editions would be retconned into a cruel fiend even by Druchii standards.

==Fluff==
===First Edition lore===
The first edition lore was a bit scant. During the spring of his last year, a forest-dwelling Dark Elf leader named Kraal the Hearteater, an elf version of Charles Manson, gathered all the young men of his immediate family. Spells were cast, sacrifices were made, and these elves were initiated into their family cult. At the completion of the ceremony, Kraal expelled them from the forest and forbade them from returning until each had slain a human warrior or died in the attempt, a family tradition.

Mengil, Kraal's son, quickly acclimatized to his new social role despite never having left his forested home before. He found a huge Norse champion, killed him, skinned him and fashioned the skin into a cloak. Mengil found that he liked the marauding life so much that he decided against returning to his father's people and set out on a life of banditry and mayhem.

He founded a company of Dark Elves and modelled their style after his, establishing both the dress code of flayed skin over armor for of his followers and his full new name - Mengil Manhide. The company was further strengthened when Mengil joined forces with the Dark Elf renegade Champion, Ean Hawkbane, who had a large trained owl which served both in combat and as a scout.

===Fifth Edition lore===
Numerous changes were made, greatly expanding on their lore and this is where Mengil got really [[Edgy|edgy]].

====Origins====
Kraal the Hearteater was now a powerful and cruel lord from Clar Karond who set his sons gruelling tests to weed out the weak through death if the failed. Mengil's test was to hunt down an armed slave, a powerful Norseman, that Kraal had released into the forest around Clar Karond; Mengil wouldn't be allowed back into the city until he killed the Norseman and returned with proof of the deed.

Mengil tracked down and killed his quarry, and when he overcame his foe he rejoiced in the thrill of the kill. Now here's where he starts to get edgy. Mengil smeared blood across his face and drank deeply from the Norseman's heart before skinning the Norseman and eating his flesh. Mengil wore the bloodied skin as a cloak. Unlike First Edition lore, Mengil returned to his old man, wearing the cloak of flayed skin as he walked back into Clar Karond, earning him the respect of his father and the honorific title 'Manhide'.

Mengil became Kraal's favorite son, which made his brothers try to go all "Cain and Abel" on him. Mengil killed two of his murderous siblings in one night, skinned them and had their bloodied, skinless corpses delivered to his one remaining brother as a warning.

====Rise to Power====
When he was old enough, Mengil joined the ranks of the Corsairs of Clar Karond, his rapid rise was tarnished by his increasing viciousness (coming from Dark Elves, that's saying something) and unpredictability. His superiors had him conduct lightning raids, slaughtering any defenders and retreating with what captives he could before a counter-attack could be formed. But Mengil would more often stubbornly refuse to retreat and strike at the larger defensive force.

While his skill, ferocity and leadership often ensured he was victorious, he generally returned with few slaves, for Mengil took perverse pleasure in killing. Not only did he slay even those who surrendered, he'd continuing to hack and cut up their bodies long after life was gone. He continued his practice of skinning, and at times eating, his defeated foes, and his father's halls in Clar Karond were bedecked with savage trophies reaped from all over the world. He also had a cannibalistic taste for Dark Elves who got on his bad side, which made his comrades and subordinates even more afraid of him.

Within half a century, Mengil led the majority of raids launched from the Black Ark known as the Citadel of Spite. Over the next two decades, the Citadel of Spite became hated by the High Elves, synonymous with despair and grief as it raided Ulthuan's coast and shipping lanes, along with those of Norsca, Bretonnia, Araby and Estalia. Though the Black Ark did not often return with living slaves once Mengil was done with them, his superiors were satisfied with the terror sown by his brutal raids.

====Career Change====
For a time, the Citadel of Spite controlled the entrance to the Tilean Sea, preying on merchants, smugglers and pirates, as well as routinely slaughtering villages around Remas and Sartosa. However, during one such raid, the Black Ark was attacked by High Elf warships and forced to retreat back to deeper water, leaving many of its warriors, including Mengil, trapped ashore. The Black Ark's captain, who'd seen three predecessors of his murdered in a mad rage by Mengil, chose not to return for the vicious warrior, claiming instead that he was dead.

Stranded in Tilea, Mengil and his men made their way inland under the cover of darkness, moving through the forests and then into the southern Apuccini Mountains. After a season of preying indiscriminately on passing merchants and their hired guards, Mengil was approached by a wealthy warrior-merchant from Verezzo. The pair struck a deal, and thus began the Dark Elf's new career as a paid killer.

Throughout the lands of the Old World, Mengil plied his trade, and he and the band of Dark Elf warriors who follow him, known as the Manflayers, are rightly feared. They are employed as assassins and murderers, and are often used to eliminate rivals. He is often used by those who wish to make an example of the target, for Mengil takes savage pleasure in skinning his foes, often leaving the skinless bodies of his victims hanging from the trees or impaled on spikes in the ground. Mengil even returned to Naggaroth several times, where Dark Elf lords readily employed him to eliminate their rivals. On one such occasion, Mengil repaid the Citadel of Spite's captain for abandoning him, the tale a warning to all who heard it against double-crossing the Manflayer. On occasion, Mengil's Manflayers will take to the battlefield, employed to infiltrate deep into enemy territory to spread terror and confusion.

The Manflayers go into battle armed with greatswords, repeater crossbows and festooned with an array of knives and various other blades. They prefer to maim and cripple rather than outright kill, for they will often stop in the heat of battle to acquire new trophies, flaying the dead and the dying they leave in their wake. They march to war under the Banner of Kalad, named for the Dark Elf whose skin the banner is made from; Kalad was one of Mengil's brothers who Mengil killed for practicing sorcery in defiance of the Witch King's decree forbidding any but his appointed Sorceresses from doing so. The banner is enchanted, creating a nimbus of shadow around Mengil and his warriors, making them even more difficult to spot and able to approach their prey even more closely before they strike.

Like the previous version, Mengil met a Dark Elf champion named Ean Hawkbane who became his right-hand man. Unlike the previous version, this arrangement ended after several years when Mengil [[Grimdark|gutted, skinned and ate him after a disagreement]].

[[Category:Regiments of Renown]]
[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]]

Exterminatus

2021-02-06T01:38:11Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:345C:6EB2:876:EF22: /* Artificial Plague */

{{Topquote|[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacre_at_Béziers#%22Kill_them_all,_God_will_know_His_own%22 Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius.]|[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnaud_Amalric Arnoldus Amalricus], [[Inquisitor]] and [[Chaplain|Cistercian Abbot]], 209M.2}}
{{Topquote|The world is what it is, which is to say, nothing much.|Albert Camus, reacting to the bombing of Hiroshima}}
{{Topquote|I say we take off and [[Exterminatus#Just_Shoot_the_Shit_Out_of_It_.28Orbital_Bombardment.29|nuke the entire site from orbit]]. It's the only way to be sure.|[[Sisters of Battle|Ellen Ripley]] in ''Aliens'' (986.M2)}}
[[TTS|{{Topquote|Y'know what, they're just running around shooting each other down there, better just lay the Exterminatus upon these heretics, alright, FIRE!]]|[[Inquisitor]] [[TTS#The Inquisition|Headsmash]], ca. 990M.41}}
[[Image:Exterminatus Retribution.jpg|right|450px|"[[TTS|...FUCKING HERETICS!"]]|thumb]]
'''Exterminatus''' is the biggest middle finger the [[Imperium of Man|Imperium]] can give to [[xenos]] and [[Chaos]] infestations on their own planets. It basically involves UTTERLY DESTROYING THE PLANET SURFACE via heavy orbital bombardment if they decide that it would be impossible to retake the planet by drowning their enemies in corpses, like they usually do.

And, of course, there is no kill like overkill.

Before you go into some sort of sanctimonious tirade about the morality of blowing the fuck out of an entire planet, understand the context. A world deemed worthy of Exterminatus is one considered past the point where anything can be salvaged from it - whether because it's about to be lost to [[Tyranids|countless ravening giant insects that will zerg-rush and eat fucking everything]] or [[Ork|reality-warping fungi that reproduce into millions of spores every time one <s>dies</s> '''Breathes''' and will all kill you because they think it's fun]]...[[Looted|and then steal all of your shit because it looks shinny, hurty or fast.]] or because it will be turned into a fucking [[Chaos|daemon-and-tentacle-rape-infested shit-pit where neither sanity nor time has any meaning]], or simply due to an ineradicable belief that is deemed [[Heresy]]. The alternative is fucking glassing a planet and trying to deny it to the enemy or ensure SOMETHING can be saved. It's the last-ditch measure and it's there because the alternative sucks even worse. It is the [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekcXHVXPIQc&app=desktop Scorched Earth] strategy on a planetary scale: if you can't have it, burn it.

...[[grimdark|Then again, there's nothing stopping an Inquisitor from ordering it just because he wants one for his birthday]]. Oversight on Exterminatus orders is fairly nonexistent and it's easy to see why. The problem is the same one real life atomic weapons have, who do you want to have to be able to launch them? You want the most powerful, highly ranked people to have that authority, but if they're so highly ranked and with so much power, who watches them? Who second guesses an Inquisitor's judgement about if a world is to be blown up or not? Nobody. [[Kryptman|The Imperium's only solution is to just declare the trigger happy sod Excommunicate Traitoris afterwards if they don't agree]]. The [[Just as Planned|over the top villainy of Warhammer 40k]] means that some fuckholes within the Imperium do get trigger happy with this, ordering an Exterminatus on worlds over things like a few of its people coming into contact with alien technology, or a small hint of [[heresy]] that would probably not require killing everything, or a loose pubic hair being in the Imperial's cereal this morning.

On the bright side these instances are few and far between, destroying an uncorrupted planet is seen as a gross waste of Imperial Resources, and anybody caught doing so will quickly be forced to explain the [[Heresy|legitimate reasoning]] behind it by the full might of the [[Administratum]]... who will then proceed to hand out a light slap on the wrist, letting the offender get off scot-free [[Salamanders|unless they meet a giant, angry black dude in green]] (or the woefully understaffed Ordo Excorium). What, you're surprised that an Empire of "Space Nazis 2.0" can have actual legitimate excuses, common sense, reasoning and sensibility? You're in for a whole new series of surprises...

[[Deal with it]]. Bitching any further will rile the [[Commissar|Commissariat]]. You have been warned.

Exterminatus has existed since the [[Great Crusade]]. Originally, the authority to authorize Exterminatus was reserved solely for the [[God-Emperor of Mankind|Emperor]] and the [[Primarch]]s. However, once the [[Horus Heresy]] erupted, the Inquisition was given the authority to speak for the Emperor. Ten thousand years later, the Inquisition, Chapter Masters and High Lords are the only ones left who can authorize it (along with Guilliman).

Joking aside, it's somewhat fluff dependent; in Seventh Retribution by Ben Counter, for instance, Exterminatus is never even mentioned as a 'solution' despite the fact that the planet got halfway to being a Daemon World (although part of this was because the [[Officio Assassinorum]] couldn't be 100% sure that even Exterminatus would do the trick and they needed to be fucking certain the antagonist of the book was a confirmed kill). Also in both the ''Space Wolves Omnibus'' and in the Ultramarines ''Nightbringer'' books, we get Inquisitors saying they have been at it for well over a century without calling down the Exterminatus even once. Even in Retribution, Lord General Castor admits that the world was lost anyway. As of current fluff, the Inquisition turns out to actually have an entire Ordo made exclusively to manage this sort of affair (dubbed the Ordo Exterminatus) and ensure that people aren't just committing mass genocides for shits and giggles.

==Methods of Exterminatus==
The Imperium has several means for dealing with hopeless infestations:

===Just Shoot the Shit Out of It (Orbital Bombardment)===
Saturating planets with over-sized cannons larger than apartment buildings is the stereotypical way of nuking the fuck out of something you don't like. Nuclear warheads, Space Marine Battle Barge bombardment batteries, Nova cannons, and/or banks of Lances are often used. Examples of this include the [[Dark Angels]] destroying their homeworld, Caliban, <s>after it was lost to heretics within their chapter</s> {{BLAM|AFTER SOMEONE THOUGHT IT WAS A GOOD IDEA TO HUNT FOR DINNER FOR OUR TOTALLY NON-HERETICAL AND OBVIOUSLY LOYAL BROTHERS USING THE ORBITAL BOMBARDMENT CANNONS}} and the [[Night Lords]]' purge of Nostramo. If we take the purging of Typhon from Dawn of War II as canon, this method can also be used during the opening stages of the Exterminatus before you unleash one of the Inquisition's more thorough toys upon it.

===Virus Bombs===
Virus Bombs are warheads loaded with the Life Eater virus, a biological payload that causes living tissue (plant or animal) to rot and decompose (which probably gives Nurgle a massive boner). The gist is that they release a virus that spreads by contact and causes necrosis of tissues and rapid decay of plant and animal tissues. This immediate rot causes a buildup of flammable gases, which in turn can be ignited by one of the lazors above (or any still smoldering Lho sticks, or any other source of flame), sweeping the area in firestorms. A relentless bombing of these fucking things is what reduced [[Tallarn]] from a verdant forest world to the desert hellhole it is now. They were also used by [[Horus|Warmaster Horus]] to kill off loyalists in the Traitor Legions during the Istvaan Campaign of the [[Horus Heresy]] [Life Eater virus eats through any filters and corrodes power armour ([[What| because apparently "virus" means the same thing as "acid" to GW]]) till it gets to the gooey marine inside, though a Dreadnought can endure it easily]. Though popular during the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy, according to [[Amberley Vail]], virus bombings are rarely used in the 41st millennium, because the Inquisition has figured out that they feed the fucking [[Nurgle|Plaguefather]] every time they're used. Whoops. (They were falling out of favor even before that, since as demonstrated on [[Armageddon]] one virus bomb usually isn't enough to kill the whole planet and you might need to hit the planet several times all around)

===Atmospheric Incinerator Torpedo===
Atmospheric Incinerator Torpedoes are [[plasma]] torpedoes that burst in low planetary orbit and super-heat the atmosphere of a planet until all combustible material ignites. Basically a napalm airburst bomb on steroids and an additional dose of plasma. This method of Exterminatus was used on Medusa IV. Pretty much like the Virus Bomb, except it skips right to the firestorm part and directly turns the planet's surface into an endless expanse of raging hellfire. It is said that the aftermath of the planet's surface (Medusa IV's case) was melted to glass and that the entire world burned like a piece of amber in space even a month after the attack had been launched. They are only effective on planets with relatively stable atmospheres made of flammable gas, however, and plasma torpedos are both somewhat rare and expensive.

===Modalis Atmospheric Missile===
Another weapon that has similar results from the Atmospheric Incinerator Torpedo but its function is completely different. Regarded as the most powerful incendiary device accessible in the Imperium. The Modalis Atmospheric Missile is one ECKS BAWKS HUEG Phosphex weapons used to burn a planet into a crisp. Think White Phosphorous on steroids. A salvo of several Modalis Atmospheric Missiles from orbiting warships will blanket an entire world in deadly Phosphex. The resultant firestorm of green mist will eat away at every carbon-based element on the planet, rendering it uninhabitable. All that would be left would be dust and echoes.

===Cyclonic Torpedoes===
The primary method of Exterminatus used in the 41st millennium, these are basically the analog equivalent of the Death Star's main gun. These capital ship-fired warheads each generate a series of massive, self-sustaining nuclear reactions, which, when fired in bulk, fuels a much larger reaction that causes the devastation to spread and multiply, eventually glassing the entire world with a thermonuclear holocaust given a sufficient barrage. If you fire enough in the same spot it will break through the crust of a planet, causing part of the mantle to erupt out and royally buttfucking the entire planet in the process ([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYXj9xOUFIM see the ''Fire Warrior'' end cinematic]). [[Krieg]] is an example of a radioactive perpetual-winter world that survived multiple cyclonic torpedo strikes, though in this case it was on a much smaller scale and in some sources are described as standard nukes. This was the method that probably killed Typhon, in combination with the above shoot-the-shit-out-of-it method. (Another theory holds that the bombardment is used to remove anything that might prevent the torpedo from reaching the surface or to weaken planets crust.) Only the [[Inquisition]] and the [[Space Marines]] are authorized to carry cyclonic torpedoes in their warships, the former because the Inquisition has the authority to do anything, and the latter because the Imperium figures that if the Space Marines can't beat it, nothing else will.

Cyclonic Torpedoes are pretty variable in their strength, either due to there being different classes of torpedoes or the fact that the strength of a single cyclonic torpedo has never been nailed down in official materials. In one case, ol' Abby dropped a dozen to fry a single hive, in another a single torpedo is a qualified planet cracker. Similarly, this method is the easiest to thwart with shields, as they disrupt the stacked efficiency needed for ongoing detonation. Presumably this variability in strength is due to "Cyclonic Torpedo" being as broad a description as "atomic bomb", which can refer to both a Davy Crockett and a Tsar Bomba.

===Two-Stage Cyclonic Torpedoes===
In the two-stage torpedo, a [[melta]] charge activates first to allow the weapon to burrow into the planet's crust and down to the core. The second stage thermonuclear charge then goes off, causing the planet to break apart Death Star style. This is really the only way to deal with Necron Tomb Worlds since, due to their tendency to make everything subterranean, they aren't overly bothered by the other methods which devastate the surface but leave the planet as a whole mostly intact. Talos of the Night Lords used a smaller version of these when a Genesis Chapter strike cruiser tried to hide behind a moon. So he [[Awesome|blew a continent-sized hole through the moon]], and watched the loyalist ship get torn apart as a new asteroid field got shotgunned into space.

===Smashing It with a Fucking Moon===
This method involves radically altering the orbit of a nearby moon or large asteroid and placing it on a collision course with the planet, and therefore requires the use of several Mechanicus voidships. This method was used to destroy Phaenon Prime when the Virus Bomb failed to wipe out the planet's corruptive influence. It was also used during the [[Horus Heresy]] by renegade Iron Hands commander Autek Mor to destroy the World Eaters recruitment world of Bodt and during the Badab War to finally smash through [[Huron Blackheart]]'s defensive Ring of Steel around Badab. Needless to say, this pretty much fucking annihilates the planet in question (or whatever else it's thrown at like Huron's defensive systems). Despite its flair and effectiveness, [http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Rocks_Are_Not_Free! the Administratum vehemently requests that Imperial commanders avoid this method whenever possible] because it's stupidly expensive -- it can take weeks or even months for the moon or asteroid in question to actually strike the planet, which costs rations and sublight fuel while the ships sit around doing fuck-all, while orbital bombardments only cost one day's worth of rations and fuel, plus ammunition.

===Release the Krourk===
Krourk [[Ogryn]] are known as the most brutal, powerful, and primitive tribe of Ogryn in the Imperium (and that's saying something). They are so well-known for their frightening savagery in close combat that they're considered a solid match for Orks, and are also known for being so primitively stupid that the Imperial Guard can't even teach them to use traditional Ogryn weapons like ripper guns. Their reputation is so fearsome that it has gotten to the point where deploying thousands of these things is considered a crude method of Exterminatus amongst Imperial commanders since they can't be taught to discriminate between friend and foe.

===Send it to <s>Hell</s> The Warp===
Sending your problems somewhere else is a rather simple solution to most problems. Doing so with an entire planet is possible, though difficult. As a result, various factions have simply thought if we send a planet into the Warp, it’s no longer in the materium, therefore it’s not our problem. There are many problems with this, but that has not stopped some particularly idiotic individuals from doing it anyway. The reason it is listed here (and not in the non-Imperium section) is because the Imperium believes that this is actually a valid method to dispose of Tyranids...and '''only''' Tyranids. (anything else would be ether [[ork|redundant]], or basically what they wanted in the first place, so stupid). The Warp is mostly foreign to the Tyranids as a result it is one of the few things that they cannot truly combat, not to mention the fact that [[Khorne]] hates them. Kill two birds with one stone. The shadow in the Warp however makes it difficult, so it has not been tested yet.

==Non-Imperium Exterminatus==
Several factions outside the Imperium do things similar to the Imperial Exterminatus (adding any examples from the lore would be greatly appreciated). However, most of them don't use these methods often. Some examples:

===Craftworld Eldar===
The [[Eldar|Craftworld Eldar]] have some respect for life (and not nearly as many weapons of mass destruction as they had before the [[Fall of the Eldar|Fall]]) so they don't do it often. Didn't stop them from purging all life in the Octarius system to clean up [[Kryptman|Kryptman's]] mess, though (in that case the Dark Eldar provided the WMD). The most well-known Eldar engines of planetary destruction are called [[Blackstone Fortress|Blackstone Fortresses]], which are ancient weapons they designed to fight the [[C'tan]]. To put it simply, think of a floating citadel with a distort weapon (like the ones the [[Wraithguard]] have) the size of an Emperor-class battleship. During the Gothic Wars, three Blackstone Fortresses combined their power to cause a star to go supernova, destroying an entire solar system.

In Apocalypse War Zone: Valedor, the Craftworld Eldar from [[Iyanden]] procured another type of ancient WMD, the Fireheart: a complex nodal resonator capable of causing a planet's molten core to enter violent death throes and send lakes of lava to the surface (or just explode two-stage torpedo style, the tie-in novel plays the fireworks up to a big degree). The [[Dark Eldar]] originally had this, but they gave it away because they didn't have the psychic power to activate the weapon. The Fireheart was used successfully on Valedor and prevented Hive Fleets [[Hive Fleet Kraken|Kraken]] and [[Hive Fleet Behemoth|Behemoth]] from joining forces. If they had, the [[Tyranids]] would have had all of the genetic data of the Orks and the Eldar, enabling them to fashion unthinkable monstrosities.

Before the fall (and possibly still kicking around somewhere) they had devices that fired entire suns or black holes at their enemies.

===Dark Eldar===
The [[Dark Eldar]] as a whole lack a good stockpile of planet-killing weaponry and prefer to keep planets intact for slaves, although they are still capable of exterminating the populace of entire planets if they wanted to. One method is pillaging the shit out of it. It has been proven time and time again that an entire major kabal or dozens of separate, smaller kabals, is more than capable of kidnapping an entire planet of its populace, faster than that local PDF trooper can finish his scream of agony. Granted, being taken captive isn't part of an exterminatus' MO, but if you know the fate of a hapless mortal in Commoragh; [[Fist of the North Star|they are already dead]] (at best).

There has also been one instance of an entire Hive World being poisoned by the Dark Eldar, smashing a Space Hulk at a realm and havings its warp drives detonate to release hordes of daemons, but that's not exactly a 'repeatable' means of planet killing, and there's also counting the DE's ability to steal entire suns; allowing them to turn entire habitable planets into ice worlds if need be. Like the Craftworld Eldar, they also possess a psychic doomsday device called The Fireheart to implode a planet's core. However, the Kabal of the Dying Sun actually does have a stockpile of WMDs - some of which are powerful enough to destroy stars - and Vect keeps black holes in his back pocket to control people. The former is kept in check by several things; they don't know how all of them work, many are psychically activated - psychic powers being forbidden in Commorragh on direct orders from Vect, if other Kabals found out about this stockpile they'd gang up on them and it's usually more lucrative for them to conduct raids. For the latter, portable black holes are a special occasion weapon. Like party favors only with event horizons.

The Dark Eldar can also just have other races kill planets for them. [[Just as Planned|Through manipulation from the sides; they could convince (and managed to do so at one point) the Imperium to declare Exterminatus on a planet.]] And of course as part of an ancient race artificially engineered designed for war from before the rise of man they can just assemble a nuclear weapon if they need a really big, if crude, bomb, but again they like their victims alive.

===Necrons===
The [[Necrons]] have lost many WMDs, but may have several more just waiting to be awakened. ([[Not as Planned|Maybe the Necrons are more trigger-happy with Exterminatus than the Imperium, but they're better at ensuring there're no witnesses]]). One of their most notorious Exterminatus-tier machines was the [[The World Engine|World Engine]], which was a planet-sized vessel equipped with the largest [[Gauss|gauss weapon]] known to man. It looked like the combination of a Death Star, Unicron and a Forerunner Shield-World all rolled into one. A [[Rape|flying rape-machine of ungodly proportions]], it took a coalition of several Space Marine chapters and the entire Imperial fleet of the Vidar Subsector to destroy it. For some reason, it had shields that could withstand the [[Awesome|bombardment of an ''entire navy'',]] yet it was [[What|vulnerable]] to a ship [[Meme|impacting at sufficient velocity.]] (Then again, most space shields are designed to stop large projectiles weighing several dozen tonnes fired at high velocity, not kilometers-long Battle Barges weighing hundreds of thousands of tonnes or more [[Angry Marines|being forced up their ass]] at comparatively slow velocity).

The Maynarkh dynasty deploys a peculiar device that causes supercharged solar flares that incinerate the daylight-facing sides of ALL planets in a system. Unfortunately for the population on the side of the planet facing away from the sun, incinerating half a planet's surface would also incinerate its atmosphere, stripping the whole planet bare of its life giving biosphere, or whatever gases it had trapped. Even more unfortunately, Maynarkh Necrons are even more interested in making a planetfall and skinning them alive.

Maybe under certain circumstances, if the Necrons wanted to destroy a world, they could just unleash a particularly powerful Transcendent C'tan shard on it without a Tesseract Vault. Though it would most likely escape and be nearly impossible to return to Necron control, it would achieve the same effects. Also, the Tomb World of Thanatos has a giant hologram map of the galaxy known as the Celestial Orrery, and if [[Derp|you were to destroy a star on it, the real life counterpart would go supernova]]. While this makes the Necrons seem like [[Matt Ward|the most powerful faction in the entire galaxy by far]] who could [[Bullshit|instantly kill everyone else in the galaxy without any risk]], the lore also states that a star detonated this way could set off a catastrophic and unpredictable chain-reaction of dying stars which in turn could destroy the whole galaxy. It could also destroy the Necrons of Thanatos, which would destroy the Celestial Orrery and guarantee the death of the entire galaxy, something even the Necrons are not willing to risk.

The Necrons can also employ an [[Abattoir]] when directly terraforming a planet. They are large, [[monolith]]-like devices except that they physically carry what they're transporting, are the size of a small city, and are covered in tentacles that disintegrate organic material while harvesting its anguish. Also, given that their standard guns can disintegrate adamantium, and they don't mind waiting a few million years to achieve their goals, an enterprising (or bored) Lord could just order his legions to start shooting rocks, making for a thorough but hilariously slow exterminatus.

===Tyranids===
No, [[Tyranids]], you are the exterminatus.

A Tyranid fleet's primary objective is to devour entire planets and systems for biomass. After they're done, the world they invaded is left a lifeless rock, utterly devoid of life.

The Tyranids also travel through sublight via gravity manipulations, and these can rip apart asteroids, voidships, space stations and small moons entirely and cause a massive series of earthquakes on anything bigger before the 'nids make planetfall.

In one special case however. It is proven that even Tyranids can accidentally cause an Exterminatus that doesn't involved being devoured. In the Doom of Hesp where an escalating Chemical/Biological war between the Death Guard and the Tyranids using Venomthropes and Toxicrenes led to the planet being so toxic that the biomass on the planet was inedible and the bioship got destroyed out of fear by fellow hiveships when it tried to devour the biomass to replenish itself.

===Orks===
In theory, the [[Ork]]s could develop an Exterminatus-size weapon (as much by accident and luck as by design); they grab an asteroid, put engines and weapons and armor on it, fill it with Orks, and then ram it full speed into a planet. It wouldn't matter if it turned out to function as a giant transport or just a suicide missile; it generates tremendous amounts of [[lulz]] and serves its purpose of making a big boom, which is all the Orks are concerned with. This haphazard design and construction process would limit the amount of these contraptions the Orks could build (if any). In general, however, Orks want to avoid wiping out everything on the planet from orbit, as it would leave them with nothing to fight on the ground. Although a Big Mek in need of roks once smashed a moon into a planet and took his pick from the best bits.

The [[War of the Beast]] proves that this wasn't the furthest extent either. The Orks under the Beast's control were weaponizing entire moons and used their gravitational fields to rip apart planets.

===Tau Empire===
While the [[Tau]] almost certainly have the technological capability to destroy entire planets (if the fucking Orks can figure it out without having to build back up to Krork, then the Tau probably at least gave it some thought), there are a number of philosophical, political, and strategic reasons that they would avoid doing this in all but the most extreme circumstances. For one, the Tau Empire is in the process of expanding, and it isn't exactly conducive to your expansion efforts to blow up perfectly colonizable worlds; thus the Tau would likely see Imperial Exterminatus orders as an egregious waste of resources. Also, the Tau are arguably [[Grimdark|the only race in the 40k universe]] who operate by something parodying a moral compass that is beyond survive at any cost, so the idea of obliterating a planet and its inhabitants is likely appalling to their [[Noblebright|naive wittle sensibilities]].

On the other hand, the Tau have officially declared some races (Orks, Tyranids, Dark Eldar, and Necrons) "lost causes" to be destroyed wherever encountered, so one could plausibly imagine a situation hopeless enough that they would sacrifice a planet to be rid of them. Still, they would probably try to at least leave the world itself salvageable and only exterminate the infesting species. This might not be a concern on a lifeless rock that happened to be a Necron tomb world, however. There are stories of populations being sterilized or generally dispatched, which is about as mean as the Tau get; one such case was the Poctroon, who were the first sapient species they ever encountered. Their planet was ripe for colonization, and when the Tau arrived, the Poctroon all died of a 'mysterious' contagion, though the Tau obviously have admitted no diabolical fuckery.

As their expansion accelerated deeper into Imperial space, the Tau started to deploy more and more experimental technologies to both battlefields and production lines, some of which weren't properly tested. As a result, quite a few moons, planets and even stars have been accidentally destroyed by various mishaps. While such destruction sometimes happened to be advantageous to Tau forces (for example, by shattering Imperial defenses with massive tidal waves and earthquakes after the destruction of a planet's moon), they have shown no attempts to weaponize it.

The Tau also have orbital high-yield nuclear warhead options, but they generally use them to generate EMP pulses to blackout a wide area. They can also use these warheads to scatter toxic radiation over an area instead, though, burning through flesh and killing those below.

The Tau are also one of the few factions in 40k who still possess functioning terraforming technology (the Eldar lost theirs during the [[Fall of the Eldar|Fall]], Tyranid "terraforming" is more just them going about eating everything, and Necron terraforming is an Exterminatus on its own), so they can restore exterminated planets to habitability again, provided they haven't been utterly destroyed Deathstar-style. So yes, [[Meme| in the Tau Empire, Exterminatus get purged by YOU!]]

One of the notable examples would be [[Commander Or'es'Ka]] from [[Dawn of War|Dawn of War Soulstorm]], where he had this huge ass gun called "Ar'Ka Cannon" installed on the moon of Kaurava II. The cannon can fire anywhere in the Kaurava system (including the moon where the cannon is), obliterating any enemies before the main force moves in. The said [[ork|BIGGIZT GUNZ]] is also the most Eco-friendly WMD ever built in the grimdark future, as it is capable of damaging only advanced life forms while incapable of harming plants and buildings.

===Forces of Chaos===
Being former servants of the Imperium, fleets of [[Chaos Space Marines]] often still possess the good old Imperial Exterminatus weapons, like virus bombs for the old legions, cyclonic torpedoes for more recently turned traitors, or Just Shoot The Shit Out Of It for any warband with ships in their fleet big enough to carry the guns. Occasionally they will [[Looted|pillage]] Imperial Exteminatus weapons, or else invent some of their own with technology, sorcery, daemonic shit or some combination of the three. [[Honsou|Some]] Chaos guys tend to be quite inventive in finding ways to kill planets.

During one of his Black Crusades, [[Abaddon]] managed to steal or destroy all of the Blackstone Fortresses that the Imperium had in their possession. Naturally, they work just as well for Chaos as they did for the Eldar (and far better than they ever did for the Imperium). He also commissioned [[Planet Killer|an incredibly huge destroyer of a spaceship]], the front half of which is basically a battery of miles-long energy cannons. This "Armageddon Gun" can split a planet in half with one shot.

Then there is World Eaters, who live up to their name when they are united. 50,000 of these motherfuckers slaughtered 70 Sectors in Angron's Dominion of Fire campaign. [[Derp| Then all the planets they conquered were retaken. It seems like they forgot to salt the earth.]] To be fair though, Imperium needed four Chapters, two Titan Legions and more than thirty Guard Regiments (''However, WAAAGH Skargor took on fifty Guard regiments and SIX space murheen chapters. Perhaps World Eaters lack the power of [[dakka]].''). Back in Great Crusade, these butchers manually killed everything on the planets they went to conquer. Most of the time, it took them one day. This gave birth to another problem: There were no subjects on these planets to rule over. So the Emprah had to sent fleets to colonize planets left over by World Eaters, which was a pain in the arse for him.

Uniquely amongst 40k factions, the armies of Chaos can make planets Exterminatus-proof by turning them into [[Daemon World|Daemon Worlds]], where the laws of physics are fucked up so hard by the power of the [[Warp]] that all weapons just cease to function on and around it, or even achieve the opposite effect by nourishing the daemon patron of the world and making him even stronger (don't even think about virus bombing a [[Nurgle]] Daemon World). Though admittedly, from literally any point of view besides that of Chaos, Exterminatus is a preferable option to Daemon World transformation, as it would just kill you, rather than damning you to the eternity of torment.

Of course, there's also the act of summoning [[Aetaos'Rau'Keres]]. Keres will turn any planet he's summoned on into a lifeless husk. He doesn't care what side you are on or even if you're the cult that summoned him; he will murder ''everyone'' unlucky enough to be on the planet he's currently on. Such is his methods that he's the closest thing the Chaos Daemons have to a true planetary exterminatus.

==Exterminatus in other settings==
===Star Trek===
In [[Star Trek]] the Federation's General Order 24 calls for the extermination of all life on a planet. It is threatened multiple times, but never seen on screen. One novel and (very weird) comic do show it, however. Just the original Enterprise on its own is supposed to be able to accomplish this task. While this would take time, the fact that it's theoretically possible without preparing the ship at a shipyard indicates Federation ships are quite a bit more powerful than the Federation's peaceful goals suggests.

More famously, ''Star Trek II: the Wrath of Khan'' introduces the Genesis Device. When used properly it's a planet-seeding device that can instigate the formation of life on dead worlds. In practice the massive amount of energy released means it also functions as a planet-glassing bomb, killing everything that already lived there.

===Star Wars===
While it is known to the Clone Wars era (possibly earlier) Republic and the Galactic Empire as Base Delta Zero, the Galaxy Far Far Away has known of orbital attack causing the destruction of all life on a planet for much longer. [[Bioware|Knights of the Old Republic]] implies Tatooine is the giant ball of sand that it is because it pissed off the Rakatan Infinite Empire precursors long before the formation of the Republic, and shows the city-planet of Taris destroyed with such an attack on orders of Darth Malak.

The Empire regularly made use of Exterminatus as part of its campaign to rule through terror. The peaceful planet of Caamas was destroyed early into the Empire merely for the suspicion they would one day oppose the Empire and (due to the widespread respect they had for maintaining a stance of actual pacifism) encourage others to do so. BDZ is implied to have been relatively common under the Empire. This was taken to the extreme with the Death Star, a weapon designed to make exterminatus so easy nobody would oppose it out of fear. This backfired horribly when the station was destroyed after its second use at Alderaan, causing the galaxy to lash out in revolt (the first use was the slave labor planet it was being built at, it took three mid-power shots to kill everything, crack the mantle and blow it up in that order. Oh also it fired one other time minimal power at a Rebel task force who tried to blow it up under construction at the aforementioned slave planet, one-shotting the sole capital ship in the attack).

While the New Republic initially rejected Exterminatus, the war with extra-galactic invaders the Yuuzhan Vong (who had their own Tyranid-esque Exterminatus methods) eventually pushed them into using it. BDZ was frequently used in later years as well, most notably at Ossus in 137 ABY.

===Halo===
In the [[Halo]] universe wiping out all life on a planet happens surprisingly often and has many interesting ways of doing so. It is the only way to be 100% certain you have dealt with a Flood outbreak

The UNSC has the options of nuking the planet in the box standard Nuclear Holocaust situation that's very much what you'd expect. However, their most powerful weapon is the NOVA Bomb. The NOVA Bomb is created by strapping together nine Standard Nuclear Fusion warheads and encasing them in a casing of Lithium triteride which amplifies the warheads destructive output that is unfortunately never mentioned but has the power to crack open a planet, earning the nickname "Planet Crackers". The first real use of this weapon was when it detonated between a planet and its moon destroying the moon and scorching half the surface of the planet, as well as destroying three-fifths of a 300 strong ship fleet.

The Covenant is well known for their orbital bombardment technique known as Glassing, where through high-energy plasma bombardment, a planet's surface is reduced to a glass-like material resembling Obsidian. This was the fate of many human planets during the Human-Covenant war including but not limited to Harvest, Madrigal, Eridanus II, Miridien, Paris IV, and Reach.

The Forerunners, of course, have arguably the most powerful method of wiping out all life on a planet in HALO Cannon. The titular Halo rings, which can cleanse either a single planet of life on lower more directed settings, to Massive regions of space at 25,000 light-years. When all seven are fired in concert, they can wipe out all life in the galaxy, which they have done before. The Forerunners have also created a device known as the composer, which takes an organic being, destroys their body, and uploads their consciousness into a digital format. The process is extremely painful and those composed aren't always sane by the end of it. Of course, there could be who knows what kind of life killing weapons in the Forerunner arsenal that haven't been revealed yet

==IRL Exterminatus==
''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_catastrophic_risk see Global Catastrophic Risk]''

===Thermo-Nuclear Holocaust===
Apparently, even when we aren't in the 41st millennium we still mastered the art of royally buttfucking a planet. In this case, it's ours, and a full-scale thermonuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union (who each have thousands and thousands of nukes) would be enough to kill off humanity multiple times over. This is how Mutually Assured Destruction works, threatening each other and our own planet with Exterminatus with zero chance of survival, just so we won't begin another World War. Because [[Imperium of Man|we're bastards like that]]. The Cobalt Bombs described by Dr. Strangelove above are actually possible, though currently theoretical. Nuclear weapons designed to be deployed as bombs or missiles aren't strong enough to destroy the world with only 50 warheads, but if you don't mind moving the weapon once it's built, the only limit on how big your nuke can get is how much material you're willing to use on it. In theory, the doomsday device of Dr. Strangelove could be achieved with a single massive bomb.

This is further worth mentioning because automated retaliation systems that could activate nuclear weapons in response to a detected threat ''actually existed''. The Soviet Union had the "Dead Hand" system, based off of seismic, air pressure, and EM sensors. The system was normally kept inactive and was only supposed to be turned on during a crisis to guarantee that the Soviets would still be able to use their weapons even if their leadership was taken out by a first strike.

Some believe that elements of the Dead Hand system may have been lost or buried, and are active to this day. [[grimdark|A ticking automated Exterminatus waiting for a signal from aging cold-war era sensors.]]

An old quote from the film ''WarGames'' summarizes the game of Global Thermonuclear War/Exterminatus: ''The only winning move is not to play..."

Side note: simply saturating the surface of a planet with nukes is actually exponentially more energy-efficient than any method of destroying the actual planet itself, so if all you want gone is the people or creatures inhabiting it, then realistically this is what you'd go with.

===An Asteroid===
Really, all it takes to kill everything on a planet is a big enough rock traveling fast enough. Normally it's the cloud of dust that is kicked up into the atmosphere and blocks out the sun that does most of the work. Dinosaurs learned this the hard way. Of course, this doesn't really work too well on a forge or hive world which is already like that. For raw destructive force, however, the damage is a function of the speed and size of the asteroid. The former has some practical limits (though a civilization looking to weaponize this sort of exterminatus could possibly bring the rock up to relativistic speeds), but the latter can be nearly unlimited. A collision with a near planet-sized object would be more devastating than most ''fictional'' exterminatus weapons, obliterating the target world entirely. There could be any number of so-called 'rogue' planets floating in the empty spaces between stars, ready to slide into the solar system and crash into Earth, assuming humanity fails its collective ''Save or Die'' roll for the week. They'd have to [[fail]] incredibly hard because the overwhelming chance is that the rogue body will end up into the Sun (or Jupiter as a distant second choice), but yeah. [[Just as planned|Shit happens, yo!]]

Also, to clarify something: once the asteroid rises above a certain size threshold --many times larger than the one that killed the dinosaurs, in fact-- then a collision with Earth would actually result in completely ''sterilizing'' the planet, as in everything down to the last microbe would die. So... sweet dreams.

===Super Volcano===
Works on the same principal as the asteroid, that if you get enough shit into the atmosphere you've royally fucked all life bigger than a mouse. This may not be very likely though on Earth as one of the biggest volcanoes (see yellowstone park) wouldn't wipe out humanity, probably. Maybe.

Unless, of course, seismic activity from that eruption managed to trigger the [http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-25598050/ OTHER NINETEEN] super volcanoes.

===Artificial Plague===
The Black Plague killed up to 60% of Europe's population and the Spanish Flu over doubled the death toll of what was then most devastating war in history. With '''''SCIENCE!''''' you could do even better! You could even render your own people immune to the effects before hand and only kill the enemy. Sane people dismiss this as possible but a fantastically stupid idea because viruses are impossible to contain and like to mutate, rendering any vaccine you used worthless. Still, people interested in causing the end of the world have minimal overlap with sane people, so terrorists causing one is a popular plot. Another possibility is a virus in a research lab breaking containment rather than being released intentionally.

However before you start panicky a plague basically has no chance at killing humanity off. It can do a lot of damage yes, but once it kills enough people it will, like a fire, run out of fuel and burn it self out. This is why the common cold is so, well, common, It doesn't kill you so you can keep spreading it. Any sickness lethal enough to even have a shot at killing humanity off, will kill people so fast that it can't spread, even assuming humans can't treat it ([[Grimdark|then again, the COVID-19 pandemic showed that developing a vaccine isn't necessarily quick or easy]]).

===Other Methods===
Some dude actually collected a list of ways that the Earth itself could be physically destroyed here: https://qntm.org/destroy But note that unlike with Exterminatus, the working goal there was to physically destroy ''the planet itself,'' not just the population.

It's a really clever and thorough list. One listed method, for example, is basically to just yeet rocks into space until you run out of rocks.

==The Fall of Typhon==
Good to know there's a ceremony for blowing up a planet.

''"We have arrived, and it is now that we perform our charge. ''
''In fealty to the God-Emperor (our undying Lord) and by the grace of the Golden Throne, I declare Exterminatus upon the Imperial world of Typhon Primaris. ''
''I hereby sign the death warrant of an entire world and consign a million souls to oblivion. ''
''May Imperial Justice account in all balance. ''
''The Emperor Protects."''

==The Words of Gabriel Angelos==
{{Topquote|It is human nature to seek culpability in a time of tragedy. It is a sign of strength to cry out against fate, rather than to bow one's head and succumb. Inevitably many shall fault the hands upon the sword which felled Typhon, the Ordo Malleus. But the Inquisition merely performs the duty of its office. To further fear them is redundant; to hate them, heretical. Those more sensible will place responsibility with those who forced the hands of the Inquisition. With some fortune, they may foster this hatred into purpose, and further rule their own fate by coming to the Emperor's service. Yet ultimately, it was I who set these events into motion, with a single blow from my hammer, God Splitter.|Gabriel Angelos of the Blood Ravens}}

Fuck, that's deep. The use of a properly modified version of this quote from Dawn of War Retribution has proved highly effective in sageing furfag troll threads and thus has been sanctioned by the holy /tg/ Inquisition for public use (keep it on /tg/).

==Battlefleet Gothic: Armada==
{{Topquote|Admiral Spire, it is said that heresy is like a tree. Its roots lie in darkness while its leaves wave in the sun. You can prune away its branches, even cut the tree to the ground. But it will grow again, ever stronger. Such is the nature of heresy and why it is so difficult to destroy. Some may question my right to destroy a world of ten billion souls. But those who truly understand, realize I have no right to let them live. No sacrifice is too great. No treachery too small.|Inquisitor Horst}}''

==Exterminatus on the Tabletop==
Though not the most effective of lists, it is particularly hilarious and surprisingly fluffy to declare Exterminatus on large table games of 40k. In general Exterminatus is used when one player with a large force of 3500+ points of space marines and is in danger of losing the field of battle. In which case the player grabs the closest heavy object and begins to smash the opponents models screaming “EXTERMINATUS IN THE NAME OF THE EMPEROR EXTERMINATUS” until the opponent’s army is destroyed and (or) he is forcibly removed from the table . Another relatively simple way is to simply take a [[Grey Knights]] army, field a single Bro-Capt. or Grand Master with an orbital Strike Relay, [[Witch Hunters|Karamazov]] (who also has one) and two troop choices (if you're playing a regular game -- if you're playing [[Apocalypse]], you can skip the troops) Then cram in as many Techmarines as you can, give them all Orbital Strike Relays and watch the bombs drop. For the average 3000 point game, you can get Krazypants off and 20 bare-bones techies with the relays. that's 21 Strength 10 AP1 pie-plates smashing down on your opponents Baneblades, Warhounds and other special hard-as-balls to kill shit your opponents have! Also great for swarm-busting (the relays can fire D3 pieplates each per guy but at Strength 6). Picture Krazypantsoff standing on a hilltop, pointing at buildings and going "Bang.", then watching them all blow up. Of course, if the Inquisitor dies, you're fucked. So maybe just camp him in cover. But that's only if you're lame.

For those of you with enough money to field the Horus Heresy army list from Forge World, Horus can call down an orbital strike with infinite range and S10 AP1 from anywhere on the map. Now you can reenact the Istvaan III atrocities yourself!

For an Apocalypse game you can also field an exterminatus guard force.
All you need is:
n * 6 guardsmen (one with a vox).
The list is fairly simple - Just field as many Company Command Squads with nothing but Master of Ordinance and fire away (for a 3k game its almost 38 s9 ap3 blasts a turn)
Don't forget to field some epic(troll) music to laugh at your opponents face, and after the battle proceed with knocking the table down to finish with a speech gritty nuff to make Sturnn himself proud.

Another option is to us the Exterminatus rules for your Apocalypse game (In the unnatural disasters table (by rolling a 6))

As of 7th edition, it's now possible to forego the FoC chart and take whatever models you want. This means you can take 15 Chapter Masters in a 2k list.

In 40k terms, you can get some SERIOUS Exterminatus going with the [[Necrons|'Crons]] and their Doomsday Arks. In one Primary Detachment, for example, you can take a fully viable 1500-point Necron army as so: Overlord with Warscythe, 5 Immortals, 10 Warriors and 3 Doomsday Arks. If the Doomsday Arks don't move, they can provide one 72" Strength 10 AP 1 Primary Weapon Large Blast each, allowing for some serious [[butthurt]] from your opponents (and this may make you [[That Guy]] if done well because this is a level of cheese on the table that France would be proud of). If you're trying to break into a bunker-sized fortification, use these three things on the doors. Then you can re-enact the dying moments of [[The Conquest of Uttu Prime]] sans the [[Megalith]]!

==TL;DR==
You fuckers just backed Chaos and now you have a daemon infestation? Your planet 'gon git [[FATAL|raaaaaaaaaaaaaaped]].

<gallery>
image:exterminatus.jpg
image:exterminatus2.jpg
File:Red nuke button turned into EXTERMINATUS.png|Suffer not the Tau Player to live
File:Exterminatusthread.jpg|The E-quisition vigilantly purges the Emperor's internets of chaos taint.
File:Foxy Lady.jpg|If the inhabitants of a planet remotely resembles this creature, it's guaranteed to be exterminatused upon discovery. If pictures like this are found on a thread in /tg/, it's guaranteed to be saged and trolled upon discovery
File:Fall_of_Reach_1.jpg|If said inhabitants started space-faring like a certain [[Chakat|Chakat]], then you could call your local Inquisition or any Xeno manly enough to [[Get shit done|get shit done, just like the Covenant shown in the image.]]
File:Hello exterminatus Warhammer 40k sister of battle rule 34.jpg|See? The Internet can even make the end of the world look sexy!
File:Rocks are not free citizen.jpg|Don't suggest bolides as a method of exterminatus.
File:Sherman.gif|War is Hell, and Hell is beautiful.
File:Ohara Incident.png|Although this is not a planet, it's just too B-E-A-[[weeaboo]]-TIFUL.
File:ExterminatusButton.gif|Not ''actually'' how the Inquisition works...mostly.
File:Larrynevindisk.jpg|The original Magic: the Gathering Exterminatus
</gallery>

Vidya:
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h67JpMyrOVE
* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYXj9xOUFIM
* The unofficial theme-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_tIw9Il934
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEGo41443iI The heresy scene mentioned in the quotes at the top.]
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubNqUyf0op0
[[Category:Imperial]][[Category:Warhammer 40,000]][[Category:Meme]]

Canoptek Wraith

2021-02-06T01:12:40Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:345C:6EB2:876:EF22: /* Canoptek Crunch */

[[File:CanoWraith.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Climbing in yo windows and snatching yo people up.]]
Canoptek Wraiths are automated [[Necron]] constructs that, like the [[Canoptek Spyder]], oversee maintenance and repairs over all things Necrons so when the time comes to set off the alarm clock, the Crons would be all up and ready to break some spines. However, they also act like a first line security protocol robot, serving as the eyes and ears of the central operating system of any [[Tomb World]], patrolling for intruders and swiftly dealing with them.
==Overview==

Its primary tool is its Phase Shifter, a Dimensional Destabilization Matrix that allows a Wraith to phase in and out of sync with the normal space-time continuum much like a [[C'tan Phase Weapons|C'tan Phase Blade.]] Though the primary purpose of this device is to allow a Canoptek Wraith to reach into and repair solid machinery, it is equally effective when used to deal with intruders who have breached the protections of a subterranean Necron stasis facility. In such a case, a Canoptek Wraith can phase its claws and tendrils inside an opponent, and resolidify them to sever arteries, nerve clusters and other vital pathways without leaving an external mark of what caused the victim's death.

Despite their similarities in function, Canoptek Wraiths are lower in class to that of the Canoptek Spyder, their relationship is thus, similiar to that of a [[Techpriest]] and [[Servitor]] of the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]]. As they are primary probe mechanoids, the Wraiths are programmed to report back to their Canoptek Spyder controllers via an interstitial interface rather than act under their own direction.

They used to look like a modified Necron Warrior like the [[Necron Destroyer]] and [[Flayed Ones]] but with the lower torso replaced with a snake-like tail and their hands turning into razor-sharp talons. The original fluff dictated that they were the Necron's chief close combat specialists ([[Flayed Ones]] notwithstanding) and it has been suggested by certain Imperial savants that in ancient days before the [[War in Heaven]], that Wraiths were once Necrontyr murderers and psychopaths before their eternal entombment within their cold, metallic husks. Nowadays they have been given a face lift and now count as a Necron Construct, not a troop. And as you may already know they are much spookier now, despite being less skeletal.

The older design, as of 9th Edition, seems to be repurposed into [[Ophydian Destroyer]]s.

== Canoptek Crunch ==

[[File:OG_Necron_Wraiths.jpg|250px|right|thumb|The original Wraiths. Looking more like a Halloween decoration than anything else. [[Ophydian Destroyer|Their design might look familiar to new players]].]]

These are some scary [[snek|snake]] mother fuckers. They used to be the Grilled Cheese Sandwich of the Necron Codex, possessing a very swift 12" movement and an infuriating [[Troll|3+ invulnerable save]]. This made them absolutely enraging to fight, way harder to kill than they had the right to while they could just Wraith Form through everything the moment they started feeling the heat. And if you downed one, there's a chance it could just self repair and get right back up.

9th Edition didn't significantly buff or nerf them, but did knock down that aspect of them by bumping the invulnerable save to a 4+. Thank god. In addition to this, their strength lost 2 pips (which was compensated for in the main weapon profile) while they gained an extra attack and a pip of save. With T5 3W Sv3+ and the aformentioned InvSv4+, they are still a monster to shift.

When it comes to dealing damage, the Wraith are still pretty customizable. By default, they come with a melee-only set of weapons, featuring S6 AP-2 2d Vicious Claws or the double-attacks S4 AP-1 1d Whip Coils. A classic elite vs. chaff clearing set of profiles, but still a welcome one.

As with its similarly built heavy version, the [[Canoptek Spyder]], all ranged weapons are optional. The two on offer are the [[Particle Caster]], a S6 AP-0 1d two-shot pistol (which can be fired in close combat, thanks 9th Edition) for an extra 5pt and the [[Transdimensional Beamer]] firing at AP-3 3d but a measly S4, for 10pt. The value of these is debatable but Wraiths do get the Slinking Strike rule to allow them to fall back and shoot.

The most direct comparison that can be made is with new [[Ophydian Destroyer]]s, considering they have the same base price, occupy the same slot and [[Blood Ravens|borrowed their original design]]. And they do come with much increased melee damage and a very handy inbuilt Deep Strike. In general Wraiths are not the biggest damage dealers, but that's not their selling point. Thanks to their high and free movement, ability to fall back and shoot and [[troll]] save, Wraiths are more about their ability to stick on the table and effectively weave through the battlefield.

[[Category: Warhammer 40,000]]

[[Category: Xenos]]

[[Category: Necrons]]

[[Category: Necrodermis]]

{{Template:Necrons-Forces}}