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Chaos Dreadnought

2017-07-09T21:06:01Z

2605:E000:7ECF:7F00:BCED:1594:6C70:925F: /* Mhara Gal Dreadnoughts */

[[Image:NLDread.jpg|right|400xpx|thumb|It's like the armor equivalent of [[Doomrider]].]]

The eviler version of the loyalist [[Dreadnought]]. Generally-speaking <s>cruder, less-advanced</s> <s>bullshit, in 40k old tech is best tech</s> functionally identical but less shiny, except for the fact that the dual-linked axles connecting the legs were "discontinued due to instability". Notably less-noble than its Space Marine counterpart, the Chaos Dreadnought is usually piloted by former Chaos Champions who were cut down in their prime. As a great many of these were not particularly mentally-stable in the first place (what with serving Chaos and all), and Dreadnought tech the Chaos Legions have is typically older, less-advanced, and shittier than that of the loyalists, most Chaos Dreadnoughts have a notorious reputation for succumbing to built-up psychosis and flying into screaming, psychotic rages in which they do a bang-up impression of an [[Angry Marine]] high on hallucinogenic [[Snowflame|drugs]], flinging themselves forward and [[Salamanders|burning]], [[World Eaters|slicing]], [[Iron Warriors|crushing]], [[Rip and tear|ripping, tearing]], and [[Emperor's Children|raping]] anything in front of it.

Often a combination of many (if not all) of the above at once.

This is made worse by the fact that what a given Legion does with its Dreadnought occupants varies dramatically on an individual basis. The [[Emperor's Children]] for example, keeps them in a drugged-up haze, whilst the [[World Eaters]] simply leave them awake and aware but unhooked from their Dreadnoughts. When they go into battle, either due to a hangover or due to pure balls-out [[Rage|rage]], the average Dread pilot has ample amounts of frustration to vent.

Suffice to say, the Chaos Marines have a divided opinion on Dreadnoughts. Many continue the ways of their pre-heresy fellows, often viewing the internment of their fallen champions in Dreadnoughts as a sign of reverence, but in many cases Chaos Marines view this as being assigned a living death; their ambition has been cut short and they are now doomed to fight on in a cold metal shell, never again to participate in the glory of direct combat. The ones that fight on despite it, such as [[Tankred]]'s rival [[Donovan]], are bad-ass, if, like all Chaos Dreadnoughts, out of their motherfucking minds.

Additionally, whilst rare, it's possible for the occupant of a loyalist Dreadnought to turn to Chaos. One that does keeps its loyalist chassis but becomes a Chaos Dreadnought in all other respects. So [[Grimdark]].

==Overview==
On paper, the Chaos Dreadnought is ''amazing'' save for one major flaw (which is described in detail below) - same cost as a loyalist Dreadnought, with one more attack. Its close-combat weapon can take a variety of forms (Many players like giving them Defiler claws, Chainfists, or giant sledgehammers), but regardless of what it is, it counts as a Dreadnought Close-Combat weapon. This Dread CCW comes equipped with a twin-linked Bolter by default, and can be replaced by a Heavy Flamer for a surprisingly low points-cost. The arm can be replaced with a Missile Launcher, just like a loyalist Dreadnought, and this reduces its melee capacity significantly (but does not remove it).

The other arm (which you need to pay for) can be any of several options. You can put on another close-combat weapon with another twin-linked bolter (which can be upgraded to a Heavy Flamer just like the other one), and it can pack twin-linked Lascannons, Twin-Linked Heavy Bolters, or a Plasma Cannon, just like the loyalist flavor. The Chaos Dreadnought cannot take Assault Cannons, but it also has an option
<s>the Loyalist version doesn't</s> HA HA NOT ANY MORE which is pretty decent (twin-linked Autocannon). The Plasma Cannon (which costs surprisingly little) is widely considered its best option and is widely-regarded as one of the best ways to get a no-risk Plasma Cannon onto the table (with default config this will run you only 105 points!), but all are pretty viable.

With all these options and a low cost, the Chaos Dreadnought, in theory, is amazing. Unfortunately, it suffered from the '''Crazed''' rule.

===Crazed===
The old Crazed rules basically means that the Chaos Dreadnought, overpowered with [[grimdark|pain and rage]], has a small chance (about 1 in 3) to act other than how its owner desires. The table below covers the effect of the dice rolls on 1d6:

* '''1: Fire Frenzy''' - the Dreadnought may not move or assault this turn. Instead it must turn towards the closest unit(friend or foe) and fire all of its weapons. ''Twice''. If the Dreadnought cannot fire any ranged weapons (due to everyone being out-of-range or its ranged weapons being offlined), this is treated as a 2-5: Sane result instead.

*'''2-5: Sane''' - the Dreadnought controls normally this turn.

*'''6: Blood Rage''' - the Chaos Dreadnought may not shoot until the end of the turn, gets the '''Fleet''' special rule. It must move towards the closest enemy unit as fast as possible and assault the enemy in the assault phase, if possible. If the Chaos Dreadnought is immobilized, this counts as a 2-5: Sane result.

For reasons obvious, the Chaos Dreadnought is one of those tabletop units that is either insanely good or insanely bad, with no real middle ground, depending on where and how it's used and whether or not the blessing of the dice god decides to cooperate. If used correctly and deployed carefully with lucky dice-rolls, it will bring a heaping pile of ownage to the table for a disturbingly low points cost - 100 or so points for a Dreadnought with a Plasma Cannon is ''amazing'' for efficiency, especially given that its crazed rules can actually work ''for'' you on occasion (Fire Frenzy + Firing line of Necrons = lots and lots of Necron casualties). If you get bad rolls it will spend most of the game pointlessly chasing a unit or worse, firing on your own troops. It wasn't a unit for the faint of heart. But anyone who can maintain the blessings of Lady Luck and Admiral Awesome would have found a place in their hearts (and armies) for the Chaos Dreadnought.

===Notable Chaos Dreadnought===
*Sor Talgron, the Warmonger: The Warmonger, of the Word Bearer's 34th Host stands out among his peers namely for the fact he's sane-ish. This may be due to his faith or the fact that since Sor was the former Dark Apostle of the host and fought at the siege of Terra he's not treated like a weapon and chained to a wall. Rather he hangs around the host's base giving out advice to his brothers and in turn they all treat him like their cool grandpa, kinda like an evil Bjorn who likes telling stories. However he's not fully there and so still thinks he's fighting the Horus Heresy and that Horus is alive and kicking.

*Berossus, Warsmith of the Iron Warriors (Deceased): At the time of the Horus Heresy, Berossus was the arrogant and dickish Captain of the Second Grand Company of the [[Iron Warriors]]. As one of the elite officers of the Legion, Berossus was granted the dubious honor of serving as the adjutant to his Primarch, [[Perturabo]]. During the Battle of Phall, it fell to Berossus to inform his Primarch that the Iron Warriors weren't doing so great against the [[Imperial Fists]] and that, as the excrement icing on the crap cake, there was no way they could capture First Captain [[Sigismund]] during the battle because he wasn't even there. Surprise surprise, this enraged Perturabo (doesn't really take much), who proceeded to bitch-slap Berossus so hard, not only did his long-dead mother on distant, gutted Olympia feel it, but it mortally wounded him as well. Either as a gesture of regret over his team kill or further punishment (let's be honest, it's probably the latter), Perturabo entombed the broken Berossus in a Chaos Dreadnought. Despite his new situation, Berossus maintained command of his Company and even took to the whole trapped-forever-in-a-tin-can-whether-you-like-it-or-not-thing pretty well, learning to love the power of his new form. He didn't even go that crazy. Berossus remained a Warsmith even after he decided to throw in his lot with Warsmith Toramino to throw down against a particularly evil half-breed Iron Warrior named [[Honsou]], thinking that he'd finally get in on the whole team killing thing in a way that finally benefited him. Unfortunately, Honsou ended up ripping out the mortal remains of Berossus from his dreadnought chassis, crushing what was left of the Warsmith's brain and thus team killing him for the second time. Some guys just never get a break.

==Ferrum Infernus Dreadnought==
Introduced with Imperial Armour 13, this particular variant of the old Boxnought is what happens when the Chaos Marines take to the old corpsefucker axiom ''"EVEN IN DEATH I STILL SERVE"''. These are the people who embrace their evilness as giant walking boxes and continue their bloody warpath as they seek daemonhood instead of wussing out at losing the ability to feel everything and turning into fleshmetal abominations like the Helbrutes.

For about 10 points more than a Loyalist Ven Dread, you get a dread of equal stats with a vast selection of weapons for both melee and ranged combat, with the ability to go full melee (and gaining a bonus attack). He can also boost his bolters to gain rending using Malefic ammo. Since these guys still have their sanity, they can also grab Dedications to Chaos (Sorta like Marks, but with different boosts), allowing for some extra help in a certain field.

And for an extra punch, you can purchase one of three rules for more fun:
*'''Lord of the [[Long War]]''': Gives the dread back a variant of Champions of Chaos. He can issue and accept challenges like a character (But he can deny them, thanks FW!). If he ever explodes (and only when he explodes), he has to roll a d6, with a 33% chance of either mutating into a [[Chaos Spawn|gribbly thing]], re-rolling the damage result and pretty much fighting (and dying) like normal), or becoming a [[Daemon Prince]] of fuckawesome metal.
*'''Destroyer of Cities''': Meant for more urban terrain (or Cities of Death), this gives the dread a Flamestorm Cannon and an Sx2 AP2 Armourbane Drill that has a Heavy Flamer that can damage units inside of buildings and transports on a Pen. Issue with this is that you can't take any other weapons. Really, take this for cracking open mech armies.
*'''Host of Daemonic Iron''': The dread gets to ignore Shaken/Stunned results instead of the Ven's re-roll to Pen. Additionally, anyone who shaves a HP off him takes an automatic S4 AP3 hit for every HP lost, making him more threatening up close. At range, he'll last a bit longer, but it won't help him survive.

==[[Emperor's Children]] [[Sonic Weaponry|Sonic]] Dreadnought==
[[Image:Sonic_dread.jpg|270px|right|thumb|Little known fact: the Sonic Dreadnought can also be used as a stereo system.]]

A variant of the Castra-Ferrum Dread, these are dreads toting sonic weaponry and dedicated to [[Slaanesh]]. The job isn't taken lightly, however: Slaaneshi marines live off all sensation, and being stuck in a METAHL BAWKS pretty much denies the user of all feeling, which would drive them [[Rage|batshit insane.]] Those [[Noise Marines]] in the Sonic Dreads therefore love their noise weapons so much that they don't give a damn about being stuck in a box.

The fact that this has remained a mainstay in the [[Forge World]] catalog despite the terrible outdating is proof on how awesome noise guns are.

They're a good deal more expensive than a regular Ven Dread for a similar statline, but that price also comes with Dedication to Slaanesh (giving the dread free grenades) and a Sonic Blaster and Doom Siren. While he can take most of the normal weapons available to dreads, doing this would be a disservice as only Sonic Weapons can be fired in Overdrive, granting the weapons Rending and Gets Hot. Instead, grab the Blastmaster if you need a new gun. If you want to replace your chainfist with a missile launcher, then that's cool too, since you're already here to shoot shit up. The last (and probably best) upgrade available is the Warp Amp, which allows you to double your firing rate if you don't move. Yeah, 6 S4 AP5 Cover-Ignoring Sonic Blasts, 4 S5 AP4 Cover-Ignoring Pinning shots, or 2 S8 AP3 Pinning Cover-Ignoring pieplates of sonic doom. TAKE.

[[Tl;dr]], think of them as the eviler and spikier counterparts to the [[Dark Angels]] [[Mortis Dreadnought]] as both are reliant on a brain-shattering amounts of [[Dakka]] and loud noises to both make their enemies to shit themselves disorientated.

==[[World Eaters]] [[Berserker]] Dreadnought==
[[File:Berserker_dreadnought1.jpg|240px|right|thumb|[[RAGE|FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU! FUCK EVERYONE! FFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUU-]]]]

Wooo boy. The [[RIP AND TEAR]] version to the Sonic Dreadnought's Rock'n Roll. The Berserker Dreadnought is another variant of the Castra-Ferrum Dread that is aligned with [[Khorne]] and its designed in tearing several new orifices in whichever unfortunate victim who just so happens to be in its way. These infernal machines first appeared among the Contemptor Dreadnoughts of the World Eaters Legion during the [[Horus Heresy]].

To give you a better perspective on how much these guys can rip apart army formations like a bloody pinata, imagine a Berserker. Now we should all know how much of a pain train a Khornate Berserker is when in CQC. Now place these insane murder fetishist inside a giant METHUL BAWKS with even BIGGER weapons and then make it so that the raging murdermachines can't feel anything, causing them to [[RAGE|rage even harder to the point of bursting a vein.]] And voila! You just have the Chaos' answer to the [[Blood Angels]] [[Death Company Dreadnought]]. Enjoy your session of metaphorically [[rape|raping]] you friend in the ass.

These dreadnoughts are optimized for close combat assaults and as line breakers, modified from standard patterns to be larger and swifter than their more common counterparts. They were frequently used in near suicidal charges into the heart of an enemy line. Their use by the World Eaters may have even pre-dated the Heresy, further contributing to their savage reputation.

Berserker Dreadnoughts are all armed with gigantic Chain weapons for extra efficiency in tearing through flesh and assholes. Range weapons you say? Pfffttt...Range weapons are for pussies anyway.

==Helbrute==

[[File:HelbruteImage.jpg|left|thumb|350px|Turns out, flesh ''and'' metal is quite strong. And absolutely insane.]]

Much like Eldar and Ork Dreadnoughts before them (now Wraithlords and Deff Dreads, respectively), Games Workshop "replaced" Chaos Dreadnoughts. The new model called a Helbrute is just the classic CSM dread with a different name.

Fluff-wise, Hellbrutes are essentially Chaos Dreadnoughts with the grimdark dial turned to 21. Rather than just being entombed inside a sarcophagus and forced to never again feel the glory of combat, the pilot of a Hellbrute are entombed like regular Chaos Dreads, but rather than going just insane from captivity, [[grimdark|the pilot of the walker will eventually meld into the machine's metal, ensuring he not only loses his shit from being hooked-up to an insane death-machine, but also from the fact that he's forcefully becoming one with said death machine]]. And that's not getting into how the implantation process usually involves tentacles whose origin is best left unknown burrowing into the victim's flesh and forcibly merging with his nervous system, which inevitably drives him mad within days, if not hours. The few Helbrutes which still retain some shred of sanity inevitably welcome their destruction.

In one of the solo missions included in Dark Vengeance, the Helbrute is given a name and background as Sevarion Kranon (later renamed ''Mortis Metallikus''. Yeah, GW's really gone far with their names). His brother Sevastus Kranon (later Kranon the Relentless, Chaos Lord of the [[Crimson Slaughter]]), tricked/forced him inside a Helbrute chassis after he protested against the increasing corruption within his chapter. The resulting transformation slowly crippled his body and soul, melding him into his prison. The process turned him so insane that whatever was left of the loyalist Brother's mind was completely lost, replaced by the id that is the Helbrute. Then a Dark Angels Librarian flooded his mind with empathy for several seconds, stunning the Helbrute long enough for a Tactical Marine to shove a plasma cannon up its mechanical ass and put it out of its misery.

Unlike regular Dreadnoughts, Helbrutes are mass-produced by [[Warpsmith]]s, who view them as a tool of punishment rather than an honor to be earned (as opposed to their loyalist counterparts). This would be a good thing for Chaos if they didn't keep going batshit insane in the process.

===Crunch===
The Helbrute is largely identical to the Chaos Dreadnought it replaced with a few tweaks, namely its price and equipment options. Following the FAQ, this cheap little bastard armed with a basic power fist and multi-melta clocks in at a paltry 100 pts. - fuckin' A! The brute can exchange its multi-melta for a reaper autocannon, plasma cannon, twin-linked lascannon or another power fist; the premier power fist can be exchanged for a power scourge (S8, AP2, -D3 to enemy model WS in base contact), thunder hammer or missile launcher. Do note that there's a quirk in the rules RAW: you can exchange one power fist for any of the items following the semi-colon in that last sentence! This means you can load your brute with a missile launcher and a power scourge if you feel so inclined.

====Crazed 2.0====
In the new 6th edition codex, the old dreadnought's biggest liability gets reborn into much of a positive feature for the brute. For starters, the roll is now a D3 whenever it loses a hull point and no more will you face a 33% chance of the Hellbrute shooting at your own guys if you roll a one. However, the target priority harkens back to 3.5 where you have to shoot an enemy within range (preferably the unit responsible for removing an HP from the brute) twice. Otherwise, a 2 will scrub stunned and shaken results and grant rage while a 3 will do all that plus bestow fleet and force the brute to run if not within 12" of an enemy (preferably closer to whatever was responsible for making it lose a hull point).

====How-To====
There has been much debate as to how to use the Helbrute effectively. Detractors point out that the merits of the Loyalist Dreadnought do not carry over to the Helbrute - specifically the options of drop pod transport or a rifleman dreadnought setup. And yes, trying to play a Helbrute like that will disappoint you because it can't do any of that! Most of the detractors are just [[Defiler]] fetishists, but not all of them; Helbrutes require support, especially from Warp Smiths but also from other war machines.

Additionally, GW released a dataslate for the brutes with 3 new formations for basic 40K. These are the Mayhem Pack, Helcult and Helfist Murderpack; all of them tweak both the brutes' survivability and usefulness in one way or another. The Mayhem Pack makes a group of 3 brutes deepstrike and gives them all a free roll per turn on the crazed table (suffice to say, you should tool these guys up for both [[Dakka]] and [[Choppa]]) - this one is said to be the more useful of the two. The Helcult gives the brute two units of chaos cultist meatshields, providing a 3+ cover save at the expense of a dead cultist; meanwhile the cultists get to be fearless while the brute is still alive and zealots should it die, but will be hit in close combat should the brute roll a 1 to hit. Lastly, the Murderpack is a vehicle unit of 5 Helbrutes with one of them designated as a champion (conferring both an Aura of Dark Glory and Character special rules, he also confers rage onto his unit if he goes down); they also get to '''choose''' which Crazed result they have.

==Chaos Contemptors==
[[File:Khorne Chaos Contemptor Dred.jpg|350px|thumbnail|right|"And that [[Trygon]] was this long when I was done with it."]]
You thought that only the Loyalists had access to Contemptors? NOPE. Chaos also have their own.

Chaos Contemptors are a rarity and symbol of the Chaos Marines' past. Contemptors were standard equipment back when the Traitor Legions were still loyal to the Emperor. After the [[Horus Heresy]] bombed and the Legions fled to the Eye of Terror, it became difficult, if not almost impossible, to maintain the current equipment of the Chaos Marines. The parts that were vital to the equipment's functionality were either corrupted by warp energies, or they had to be replaced with something else due to lack of materials and/or lack of appropriate skills. That treatment was what made Chaos Contemptors different from their Imperial counterparts.

New armaments included weapons such as Butcher Cannons, Soulburners, or replacing the typical power source with a Hellfire Reactor. [[grimdark|That last one powered the Dreadnought by consuming the souls of those the walker slew, and]] [[psykers]] [[grimdark|were even more vulnerable to its predations]]. The drawback of the Hellfire Reactor is that the Chaos Contemptor [[Derp|lost]] its Atomantic shielding.

Due to its unique construction and capabilities, the Contemptors caught the eyes of the Dark Gods, and thus blessed them with various gifts and abilities. [[Khorne|Khornate]] Contemptors are unmatched in the arts of [[RIP AND TEAR]]. [[Slaanesh|Slaaneshi]] are equipped with even more powerful sonic weaponry. [[Nurgle]] Contemptors are insanely durable and resilient. [[Tzeentch]] on the other hand turns Chaos Contemptors into [[Dakka|DAKKA]] incarnate thanks to his arcane knowledge. Thus most of the walkers serve a single patron, yet there are some that serve Chaos Undivided.

What's the most interesting thing about the Chaos Contemptors is that every single Chaos Worshipper (mostly particularly powerful [[Chaos Lord|Chaos Lords]] and [[Dark Mechanicus]] Magos members) want it badly to be entombed inside one of them after a "unfortunate incident". Why? Because the occupant suffers neither the madness/pain combo that regular Chaos Dreadnoughts have, nor the madness that comes with being fused as a Hellbrute. This is what truly makes these killer-engines so dangerous apart of their daemonically powered arsenal. [[AWESOME|This is probably one of the few times when being a Chaos Marine]] [[METAL BOXES|inside a METAL BAWKS]] [[Awesome|doesn't suck]].

Only significant minus is that just like the Imperial Contemptors, the Chaos ones come in very limited numbers, and the technology and techniques to produce new ones disappeared in the fires of the Horus Heresy. So you can imagine how desperate Chaos Marines are in trying to find those things.

===Mhara Gal Dreadnoughts===
[[File:Mhara Gal Tainted Dreadnought.jpg|250px|thumbnail|right|[[RIP AND TEAR|"GIVE ME A HUG!"]]]]
The unholy bastard child of Contemptor Dread and a [[Possessed Marine|Gal Vorbak]] troop, this thing was an oddity that was exclusive to the [[Word Bearers]] during the [[Horus Heresy]]. Because of its nature the Gal Vorbak is half Contemptor-turning-Helbrute, half [[Daemon Engine]], but is wholly a big mass of "Fuck You" to any enemy short of a tank that gets within range of its guns. Also because of its nature, the Mhara Gal's already arcane physical technology twisted in ways that made its components powered halfway on sorcery, and the result was something even weirder than most daemon engines. While Lorgar was generally nice to all of his kids, the Mhara Gal was the start of the tradition of using a dreadnought as a form of punishment for falling down on the battlefield, particularly for those "blessed" by having a daemon forced inside them.

As for their presence for after the Heresy: it's presumable they had all been killed off, or are serving on Sicarus as honor guards for high ranked Dark Apostles and in the [[Eliphas The Inheritor|Basilica of Torment]] for Dreadnought power fisting.

Mechanically, these things are like regular Contemptors and can only be taken in singles, but the main attraction is a mess of special rules, mostly revolving around fucking with morale in a pre-ATSKNF environment.

==Hellforged Leviathan Dreadnought==
The Chaos version of the Leviathan Dreadnought. Not much is known about them in lore, but seeing how Leviathan Dreadnoughts are even rarer and more expensive to make than Contemptors and the general logistical nightmare of the Traitor Legions you can assume they are among the most valuable things in the Eye of Terror.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:AweomeDread.jpg|Even in death I'm still killing shit.
Image:Hellbrute.jpg|The Hellbrute, now with fleshy bits.
Image:Chaos_Contemptor_vs_Chaos_Regular_Dread.JPG|"Imma go 31st millennium on your ass!" --Contemptor Dreadnought before showing this regular one the meaning of [[Dakka]]
</gallery>
{{Chaos Space Marines}}
{{Chaos-Official}}

[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]][[Category:Chaos]]

Star Trek

2017-07-09T20:54:24Z

2605:E000:7ECF:7F00:BCED:1594:6C70:925F: /* The Borg */

{{cleanup}}

[[File:Enterprise.jpg|thumb|500px|right|If you aren't already hearing the theme song you might not belong here.]]
'''''Star Trek''''' is a multimedia science-fiction series and one of the cornerstones of nerdy media properties, and one of the few to crossover into mainstream popularity (alongside ''[[Star Wars]]'', ''[[Doctor Who]]'' and a few others). It's also one of the longest-running science fiction franchises, with over 50 years of geek history spanning several generations. Needless to say, it's had a huge influence on all things sci-fi, and, by extension, [[/tg/]].

Originally, ''Star Trek'' was [[noblebright]] beyond noblebright and, in many ways, was the polar opposite of ''[[Warhammer 40,000|Warhammer 40K's]]'' [[grimdark]]. The more recent reboot films, however, have taken a much, ''much'' more grimdark tone, which is delightfully [[skub]]tastic.

== Games ==
There's been plenty of tabletop games and [[/v/|vidya gaems]] featuring ''Star Trek'' without being merchandising bullshit (see: themed ''[[Monopoly]]'' sets), including one of the earliest action multiplayer wargame: ''Netrek''.

*'''''Star Trek: Adventure Gaming in the Final Frontier''''' (1978) The very first Trek tabletop [[RPG]]. Written by, I shit you not, Michael Scott. Groggy (grokky?) as all hell, and due for an OSR.
* '''''[[Star Fleet Battles]] (SFB)''''' (1979-) The crunchiest starship combat game you're ever going to find outside of a computer. Based on the original series and not any of the later series, for licensing reasons. Takes some liberties with the setting, which (combined with the aforementioned licensing) is why "''Star Trek''" isn't actually in the title.
* '''''Star Trek: The Role Playing Game''''' (1982-1989) Made by [[FASA]], essentially ''[[Traveller]]''-lite, or a happier, shinier ''[[Rogue Trader]]''. Hasn't aged terribly well, what with having been made when the only canonical ''Star Trek'' materials to work with were the original and animated series, the first four films, and a couple of now non-canon novels. If you try to dust it off, expect tons of conflict with the rest of the show. Died as they were trying to update it for ''TNG'', because Paramount's corporate suits (surprise, surprise) had no idea what an RPG actually entailed and were worried about violence, and getting their cut, and... oh you know the drill by now. Welcome to the 80's.
* '''''Prime Directive''''' (1993-2008) The most successful tabletop RPG line (but that's not saying much), it's actually still in print. Produced by Amarillo Design Bureau, so again no direct name-dropping of "''Star Trek''." Lasted as long as it did by constantly evolving, in Borg-like fashion, to adapt to the current zeitgeist. Has had 4 editions, with the second using [[GURPS]], the third using [[Wizards of the Coast|d20]], and the fourth [[d20 Modern]].
* '''''Star Trek: The Next Generation Role Playing Game''''' (1998-1999) The next attempt, made by Last Unicorn Games. Won an award for best new game, which makes it a complete shame that no one has ever played it.
* '''''Call To Arms: Star Trek''''' (2011) [[Mongoose_Publishing|Mongoose]]'s license for ''Babylon 5'' expired, so they collaborated with Amarillo Design Bureau (the ''Star Fleet Battles'' guys), re-themed the game to Star Trek along with improving the system to make it more nifty. Less micro-management than SFB, and ships get some cinematic feats.
* '''''Star Trek: Expeditions''''' (2011) Ignore the tie-ins to the movie, Reiner Knizia designed this. Explore the gameboard, flip over missions, try to have the proper crew to get victory points.
* '''''Star Trek: Fleet Captains''''' (2011) Tile flipping, exploring, and spaceships fighting over resources
* '''''Star Trek: Starship Tactical Combat Simulator''''' (1983) FASA designed this, so it feels like ''[[Battletech]]'' but not as good.
* '''''Star Trek Red Alert''''' (2000) A Diskwars game themed to ''Star Trek''.
* '''''Star Trek CCG''''' (many) There's been a few of these, but never popular enough to catch on. They also suffered from the game balance problems of fans wanting their fave character, but needed extra rules for their quirks. There's also the problem of putting numbers to character stats, such as one game that asserted that Picard had about twice the integrity of a Klingon pig. Latest versions are "deck-building" games to try to cash in on the popularity of ''[[Dominion]]'' and ''[[Thunderstone]]''.
* '''''Star Trek Roleplaying Game''''' (2002-2005) When [[Decipher]] had the CCG license, they decided, "What the hell, let's make an RPG, too." It, like so many of its predecessors, died unnoticed and unmourned.
* '''''Star Trek: Attack Wing''''' (2013-) [[WizKids]] license the flightpath system from [[Fantasy Flight Games]] and adds ''Star Trek'' to the mix, [[Skub]] ensues. The game has been consistently plagued with balance issues, to the point that the rules errata is more than ten times longer than the actual rules. The actual current rules for things like the Borg special movement and fighter squadrons are completely different than the rules as written.
* '''''Star Trek Online''''' (2010-) An [[MMORPG|MMO]]. Decent gameplay mechanics, especially starship combat. Storyline leaves something to be desired, especially when the ostensibly [[Noblebright|peaceful]] Federation trades shots at least once with every other faction in the galaxy.

== So why should I care? ==
Because between them, these five TV series and their assorted spinoff movies, books, etc. can provide inspiration for any sci-fi game you could care to run. If you want light-hearted action, look at the sort of things that happened in ''TOS'' or ''DS9'' to get the crew into some dangerous situation. If you want a charismatic villain, look at Gul Dukat or the Borg Queen. If you want moral issues and debates, look at the shit that happened to Voyager and remove all the transparent deck-stacking and cheesy moralizing (or you could read any decent SF book/watch a ''Twilight Zone'' episode written in the previous 50 years, if you don't need your source material to be served at a 2nd grade level). Like [[Tolkien]] is to fantasy it's a prime gateway drug to science fiction and especially science fiction which is more than "action movie IN SPACE!"

Not to mention in any sci-fi RPG with remotely free-form rules you're likely to encounter ''Star Trek'' fanboys, so you might as well know what they're talking about. The unholy spawn of a Trekkie and a [[Furry]] is known as a [[Chakat]], and you should fear it.

At its best ''Star Trek'' is thoughtful, optimistic futurism with a positive human element and brings you to strange new worlds in the grand tradition of speculative fiction which is accessible to even the layman. At its worst ''Star Trek'' is pretentious, smug, preachy, dull, sloppy and makes face-palmingly stupid blunders while acting superior about how smart it is.

== Setting ==
Here's the Cliff's Notes on ''Star Trek''. A couple of general warnings; firstly, ''Star Trek'' likes to ''really'' take its "racial themes" bits just a little too far. Secondly, aside from very occasional appearances by [[H.P. Lovecraft|aliens who are so bizarre that humankind can barely comprehend them]] (mostly in ''TNG''), all of the aliens look like dudes with rubber masks on (because they are). In real life, this was because there was no budget for anything else, but in-universe it's been explained by some kind of [[Old Ones|Precursor]] race who seeded all of the planets with their broadly humanoid DNA, and every race evolved slightly differently from there. There isn't much [[fluff]] on what these precursors were like, and some of it was contradictory, and Gene Roddenberry didn't like the idea (although he still had to work with the rubber forehead stuff). The good news for fa/tg/uys who like [[homebrew]] is that this makes it fairly easy to write [[d20 system]] rules for all of the races -after all, most ''D&D'' races are just humans with rubber masks on...

=== The Federation ===
Might as well talk about that main faction. The United Federation of Planets is what the [[Tau]] think they are. Its backstory is that in the distant future of the 1990s, [[God-Emperor of Mankind|übermensch]] [[Space Marines|created by genetic engineering]] began conquering the Earth. The [[Imperial Guard|normies]] fought back and won through sheer numbers, cryogenically freezing the Augments and kicking them out of Earth, but the damage and mass political unrest of World War III got half the planet nuked. This was why genetic engineering was banned. Fortunately, in 2063, <s>a drunkard asshole</s> a heroic visionary named Zefram Cochrane created humanity's first warp drive (based on the Alcubierre drive of wonky gravity manipulation to contract spacetime in front of you, instead of going through a Hyperspace full of Lovecraftian horrors i.e. the [[Warp]]) and made first contact with the Vulcans. The Vulcans eventually helped humanity rebuild and overcome poverty, disease, war and hunger. With its Earthly problems solved, man turned to the stars and found out its three closest neighbors were [[Imperium of Man|racist xenophobic dicks trying to murder each other]]. Since any war between them would've swept up puny little Earth and gotten it glassed, humans decided to force their neighbors to sit down and talk things out. Incredibly, it worked, and the United Federation of Planets was born.

The Federation is a commie [[noblebright]] hippieland society with a strong democratic government. As a result, Federation citizens work not because they have to, but because they want to. However, despite their advanced technology, transhumanism, that is intentionally making [[Space Marines|SPESS MEHREENS]] and mutants like the infamous antagonist Khan Noonien Singh, is illegal.

The Federation's Navy is almost always called Starfleet. It's a mix between a military, a coast guard and a space agency, and usually rates scientific research as a higher priority than defense. One of its quirks is that it doesn't subscribe to the "bigger is better" policy used in most [[Warhammer 40K|sci-fi]], and even by most of the other ''Star Trek factions''. If the Federation ''does'' make a large ship, it's because they want it to have a daycare, swimming pool and ice cream bar. If they want a warship, they'll take a little gunship half the size of a modern day destroyer and pack it with enough antimatter nukes and guns to exterminate a solar system. In some cases, especially when dealing with ships from several centuries into the future, the ship is bigger on the inside than on the outside [[Creed|allowing it to hide a vast array of powerful armaments, ''space-bending'' equipment, and even whole planetary landscapes]]. They can get away with this because they out-tech almost everyone else by a country mile. The reason for the series' infamous "technobabble" is that <s>even ''they'' don't know everything their tech can do!</s> their technology is always evolving, and they know it so well that they can often use it in ways that even the original in-show design schematics did not intend.

In theory, Starfleet follows a rule called the "Prime Directive", which says that you're not allowed to interfere with low-tech races ("low-tech" being defined as "not having invented the warp drive", since warp technology apparently follows naturally from the laws of physics) or else things like turning the locals into Nazis might happen. The Original Series talked about this rule all the time, and Captain Kirk threw it aside whenever there was a sexy alien babe in sight. From ''TNG'' onward, it tended to instead be brought up whenever a hack writer needed a reason for the heroes to ''not'' instantly resolve a given problem with their superior technology or a way of making our heroes look like assholes for following it rigidly (yes, we could save this species from extinction but that would be interfearing with the cosmic plan!), though there were a few good episodes that took it seriously.

Some of the more important member races are:
* [[Humans]]: You know 'em, you love 'em. Comprise 90% of Starfleet for reasons in no way related to the cost of makeup/CGI.
* Vulcan: The Original [[Eldar|Space Elves]], logical and stoic, pretty bro-tier overall (like the [[Vulkan|namesake]]). They are what the average race of fantasy elves think they are, except on ''Enterprise'' because the writers wanted to artificially inject tension into the show (and much of that was revealed to be a Romulan plot). Occasionally enter a state called "pon'farr," where they need to either [[Dark Eldar| fuck something half to death]], kill it with the nearest sharp object, or die of a brain aneurism to let out all that pent-up emotional tension. Fa/tg/uys may recognize this as the sensation they feel every time [[Games Workshop]] puts out a new army book.
* Andorians: Blue dudes with antennae and constant fits of passion, the polar opposite of Vulcans and there one time foes. Pretty much fa/tg/uys, right down to the romantic streak, in the technical sense. Also, they live underground on a diet of meatbread and rage.
* Tellarites: Space [[Dwarf|Dorfs]]; like insulting everyone and arguing a lot (no, really, petty insults are considered a polite gesture in Tellarite culture).
* Betazoids: Humanoid aliens with empathic powers. Well-regarded by Starfleet captains for their ability to point out the obvious. Their homeworld is like dropping a really hippie college and Space Vegas into a blender.

=== The Klingons ===
[[Image:Batleth.jpg|thumb|right|A Bat'Leth (sword of honor), one of several types of Klingon bladed weapons. Frequently mocked IRL for being a poorly weapon.]]
[[Commissar|''"It is a good day to die!"'']]

The Federation's main rival and (movie era and afterwards) the quintessential ''Star Trek'' race of lumpy foreheaded aliens. Originally they were a rough analogue to the [[Communism|communist Chinese]] in a rough cold war allegory with the Federation (even though the Federation are as commie as they come). Their defining feature was that they were militaristic while the Federation was scholarly. This gradually moved more and more into them becoming Imperial Japan/[[Vikings]] In SPESSS obsessed with honor, fighting and dying honorably in battle while worshiping at the altar of [[Sigmar|warrior Jesus]], even as they turned from the Federation's bitter enemies into that friend who's fun to be around when he's not getting into drunken bar fights. You see shades of it in during the movie era and it became more and more prominent through ''TNG'', culminating in ''DS9''. Do not make the mistake of thinking that Klingons are nothing more than barbaric savages however; with Worf being part of the crew, and with ''DS9'' dealing with Klingon politics an awful lot we can see Klingon society as it truly is. Even so they do often wander into self parody territory.

The Klingons, in their current iteration, are a feudal society ruled by a council made up of the most powerful families. Klingon society holds very little value on things such as currency and material gain (which results in the Klingon empire [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q65l7RHUx2A having a very simplistic understanding of economics]), believing that anything you acquire without some form of blood, sweat and/or tears on your part is a pathetic way of going about things. Another thing to keep in mind is that a Klingon's reputation is literally everything. This can be easily seen in the episode "The House Of Quark" where dying honorably can literally change the outcome of an entire noble house, later when the Grand Council is visibly disgusted at D'Ghor. No respectable Klingon uses ''money'' to defeat his opponents. And no respectable Klingon would be so eager to perform an execution of an unarmed Ferengi in what was supposed to be an honorable duel. Klingons are still capable of being cunning and crafty however, and having a high diplomacy score is viewed as honorable as they still have examples of cunning and clever heroes tricking boorish and stupid monsters.

[[Warhammer 40000|Klingons often carry swords into battle in an age of energy beam guns]]. In-universe, this is less suicidal than it sounds in the context of boarding actions and tight starship corridors. The Bat'leth is actually a rather shitty weapon. The Mek'leth is noted to be better in most situations in universe. They use the same Disruptor weapons as the Romulans. While is explained as a temporary alliance. It was just excuse to not make news props due to the show's limited budget in the sixties or to save time so the animators don't have to rebuild their SFX each time characters get caught in a firefight during the post TNG era.

The Klingons are tied with the Vulcans as being the most prominent and recognizable non-human species in Star Trek. Beloved of the Internet and the general public, to the point that there are published books like "A Klingon Christmas" in the world. The Klingons have their own constructed language. If you are ever worrying that you might not be a nerd, learning Klingon will solve that problem for you. They also wrote Shakespeare.

=== The Romulans ===
''"It's always chess with the Romulans"''

You know those [[Eldar|Vulcans]]? Well a few thousand years ago, their planet was ravaged by war. Most of them turned themselves to intense emotional control and logic to tame their murderous passions, while a few others left the planet altogether, founding a colony on the planet Romulus and dubbing themselves [[Dark Eldar|Romulans]]. Since said planet shares a name with a mythical figure known for founding [[Roman Empire|a city which built a vast empire]], and they had warp drive while those around them did not, you probably know that they turned to building an empire of their own. They hold the second place of prominence as immediate rivals to the Federation. Comically, they actually have better emotional control than the average Vulcan, since they gene-engineered most of their problems away years ago, and don't have to deal with the emotional blowback from pon'farr. The downside is that they lost some of their cousins' niftier powers, like mind reading and being able to transfer their soul into a jar for safekeeping. Although Star Trek Online also revealed that their trip to Romulus was a terrible ordeal, and their gene-engineering was taking during that time resulting in them losing most emotions save for bitterness of being "forced out".

The difference between the Klingons and the Romulans is basically the difference between Gork and Mork, or Khorne and Tzeentch. Klingons will fight you up front with simple brute force. Romulans are sneakier guys, preferring to fight you when you're not looking with spies, cloaked ships and complex plots behind the scenes and playing the long game. There is a lot of political infighting among them, though where the Klingons would duel to the death Romulans would seek to discredit their rivals, have them die in unfortunate 'accidents' or disappear. This difference has left both Romulans and Klingons with a big hate-boner for each other, to the Romulans the Klingons are crude brutish barbarians and to the Klingons the Romulans are a pack of scheming cowardly weaklings.

Like the Klingons, they filled a rough cold war allegory. In this case, they were rough analogs to Communist China (as seen by 1960s Americans). A force which was threatening and vast, but also a secretive unknown. The first major Interstellar War that Star Trek Earth fought was with the Romulans, which was fought entirely in space with neither side ever seeing the other face to face. Afterwards they set up a 'No Fly Zone' between the Federation and the Romulan Empire that no one even tried to cross for a century. From the Original Series onward, they frequently squabble and bicker with the Federation, before joining forces with them to fight the Dominion in ''Deep Space Nine'' and having their government devastated in ''Nemesis''.

=== The Ferengi ===
[[Image:GW_Ferengi.jpg|thumb|left|A typical ferengi engaged in typical ferengi activities]]
''"A Ferengi without profit is no Ferengi at all."''-Eighteenth Rule of Acquisition

Introduced in ''TNG's'' early days as the villains for the series. What [[/pol/]] thinks Jews are. The idea was to make a caricature of capitalism as a contrast with the techno-socialist Federation. This might have worked if this were not [[FAIL|''TNG's'' early days]]. Instead they overshot the mark by a light year or so, on top of other bad decisions, and you got a race of short (Gene wanted to make an evil short race as big evil races were overplayed), big-eared, [[goblin]]-like losers about as threatening as a grumpy pug. Over the first and second seasons they tried to make these guys threatening, but they fell flat on their face every time. Eventually the writers just said "fuck it" and the Ferengi got demoted to comic relief species, and their status as terrible enemies was demoted to propaganda designed to scare the Federation while the Ferengi government tried to figure out what to make of a species that rejected the acquisition of wealth as a goal. The Ferengi had some good moments in the later seasons of ''TNG'', but most of the best stuff that fleshed them out came from ''DS9'', which had an [[awesome]] Ferengi bartender named Quark as a major character. For an idea of what the Ferengi might have been like if the writers had their shit together, look up the Druuge of [[/v/|Star Control II.]]

Ferengi religion is only hinted upon in ''DS9'', but what is seen implies a simplistic system based on financial success. Ferengi all follow a rulebook/canon known as the Rules of Acquisition, which can be described as Ayn Rand IN SPACE and condensed into the form of Confucius' Analects. There are 285 of these, each a short piece of advice on how to stay in the black. Examples include "Peace is good for business," "War is good for business," "Never have sex with the boss's daughter," and "Dignity and an empty sack is worth the sack." The first, and most important, of these is "Once you have their money, you never give it back." Sometimes, the Ferengi Randian spirituality extends into outright interpretations of the afterlife: according to some, the afterlife consists of the Divine Treasury and the Vault of Eternal Destitution, which are respectively analogous to Heaven and Hell. Entrance into one or the other depends on one's business ventures at the time of death; those that were turning a profit are allowed to enter the Divine Treasury, and the rest are damned to the Vault.

Ferengi government is ruled over by a Grand Nagus, a mix between a pope and a CEO, and he basically treats his civilization like some sort of company, with citizens regarded as workers. Directly below him is the Ferengi Commerce Authority, a [[what|quasi-religious]] organization dedicated to ensuring that correct business practices were followed and correct moral behavior was shown (including keeping the proles in line), although to the Ferengi, these are one and the same. The agents of the FCA are the Liquidators, who are essentially Inquisitors crossed with IRS auditors on steroids. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

=== The Borg ===
[[Image:Borg cube.jpg|thumb|right|The Borg have assimilated and improved your [[d6|die]]. It always rolls six. Crap your pants, 'cause resistance is futile. <s>(ha they'll always lose leadership checks)</s> in such cases, they adapt and roll 1s. Resistance is still futile.]]
''"We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture shall adapt to service us. Resistance is futile."''
-The Borg telling you how things are going to go down.

''One other thing. You may encounter Enterprise crew members who've already been assimilated. Don't hesitate to fire. Believe me, you'll be doing them a favour.'' -Picard going full [[grimdark]].

The Ferengi were utter failures as serious villains, so they needed something to fill that gap. Thus they made the Borg, an aggressive [[Tyranid|hive minded]] collective of hyper-adaptive, [[Necron|regenerating]] cyborgs that assimilate entire species into itself in its attempt to improve itself. Shit, that's like coming up with [[Warforged]] while trying to replace [[Kender]].

In many ways, the Borg are the truest dark reflection of the Federation, and despite their name, they're not Swedish. While the Feds want you to join their little club on your own, to "add your culture to the galactic community," the Prime Directive means they will ultimately accept you turning them down, even if you have shit they really want. The Borg say fuck that and just absorb you. While the Federation believes everyone should work together [[Tau|for the greater good]], they still have a very strong sense of individualism and a culture of personal accomplishment (unless your individual belief happens to run counter to the Federations principles anyway, in which case you're just WRONG because the Federation is the best). The Borg pool all their minds together into a massive collective consciousness in the pursuit of group perfection. The Federation is all about beauty and tranquility and all that hippie stuff, and their tech is eco-friendly and dolphin-safe. Borg [[Tyranids|strip mine entire planets and drain entire oceans]] in the name of growth and efficiency.

Your standard Borg [[cubes|cube]] is a huge <s>multi-kilometer craft</s> [[Firaeveus Carron|MEHTUL BAWKS]] (yes, bigger than most [[Imperial Navy]] cruisers) able to go up against an entire Federation warfleet and win. That's right, one of their ships could threaten the entire Federation and [[Exterminatus]] Earth. When done right, [[Necron|they are a cold, calculating, nigh-unstoppable force, a threat to all life]] that wants to retain free and distinct personalities (although they will ignore a single person if not on an assimilation mission, as what they really want is to absorb whole civilizations). Apparently, in Picard's nightmare in ''First Contact'', the Borg assimilation process includes a surgical [[Grimdark|drill through the eye. While awake.]]

They got a bad downgrade during ''Voyager'' (blowing up cubes full of tens of thousands of drones because a few of them have been severed from the Hive Mind), but even there they were frequently not to be messed with. One amusing thing to note for people that haven't watched ''TNG'': the Borg were actually only in six episodes (and three were breakaway drones) and one movie, yet they're arguably the franchise's most famous pure villains aside from Khan. Goes to show how good they were when written properly. Then in ''Voyager'' they get their shit completely pushed in when they discover a new race of extradimensional aliens which they label Species 8472, which were immune to being assimilated, and had to ask the Federation for help in dealing with them. [https://1d4chan.org/images/4/47/Bloodcrons.jpg| Wait, this sounds familiar...]

=== The Cardassians ===
Introduced in ''TNG'', they are third fiddle to the Klingons and the Romulans. If the Klingons are hypothetically-honorable techno-barbarian warriors and the Romulans are an empire of civilized and refined but sly and ruthless expansionists, the Cardassians are essentially scaly fascists re-enacting ''[[1984]]'' IN SPACE. Their trials announce the outcome at the beginning, and the defense attorney is executed if he wins. Also, THERE ARE FOUR LIGHTS!

Despite being a whole lot weaker than the Federation, the Cardassians manage to hold their own, partly because what they lack in resources and raw power is made up for by a combination of intense cunning and high charisma stats. Compared to the equally deceptive Romulans, the Cardies are more likely to flash you a smile while tickling your ribs with a knife. They'll use any tool they can to gain the upper hand and while that often means unpleasant and terminal sessions in dark rooms, strip mined planets and the enslavement of entire species, they'll gladly become your bestest buddy if it would achieve their goals. Their intelligence service, the Obsidian Order, is also one of the most ruthlessly efficient organizations in the entire sector, managing to outscale the Romulan Tal Shiar when it comes to producing magnificent bastards and manipulating the politics of entire worlds to their advantage. Unlike the Romulans or the Klingons, they don't tolerate the sort of literal infighting that is rampant in both those states, that shit only serves to weaken '''GLORIOUS CARDASSIA''' and needs to be stamped out with ruthless efficiency. Exposing that someone who just happens to be your enemy as being a dangerous subversive is just a benefit, although this can result in both sides of a conflict shouting "for Cardassia" as they charge each other. Sort of how Democrats and Republicans are both for America, yet oppose each other.

Cardassia has a very fluid hierarchical government, similar to the political realities of post-Stalin but pre-Collaspe Soviet Russia. Broadly speaking, there are three different facets of the government: the Militant arms (which holds all the power) the Obsidian Order (who holds the least amount of power, but controls the most puppets) and the Detapa Council (similar to the [[High Lords of Terra]] and just as worthless). Cardassian society holds a very strict view of family, placing family just below the needs of the State.

The State holds a semi-divine mythical status in the eyes of it's citizens, with it being viewed as impossible for the State to ever make mistakes. The ideal Cardassian life was one of complete loyalty and servitude to the State and family. The Cardassian government was assumed to be omniscient, omnipotent, and benevolent by pretty much everyone, with all Cadassians gladly giving of themselves to the State. Such was this level of belief that when Picard was tortured by the Obsidian order, the torturer saw nothing wrong with bringing his daughter to work because he was working for the State, and therefore the torture of Picard could never be disturbing or wrong.

As far as plot significant activities went, they had a war with the Federation a few years before ''TNG'' which ended in the creation of a Demilitarized Zone between the two powers and (significant to ''Deep Space Nine'') abandoning the previously occupied planet of Bajor they had exploited for resources. They joined the Dominion towards the end of ''DS9'', which was some serious bad news for the ''DS9'' crew.

=== The Bajorans ===
The Bajorans are a species native to the Planet Bajor. They were, until shortly before the events of ''Deep Space Nine'', under a brutal occupation by the Cardassians who strip mined their planet. After that, they got their independence, although they're thinking about joining the Federation. The Bajorans have one system and are technologically backwards; the Federation is technically breaking the Prime Directive by interacting with them, but as they've spent years under the oppression of a warp-capable species, they can probably handle it. Also ''DS9'' proves that ancient Bajorans managed to travel at warp speeds to Cardassia using solar sails and an enormous amount of luck, which technically makes them a warp-capable species. The only reason why they are significant in terms of the politics of ''Star Trek'' is that they have a wormhole near their planet, which has some timey-wimey aliens living it that they worship as gods. Also, their species has the oldest civilization (roughly a half-million years) of any major ''Star Trek'' race.

The big thing that makes the Bajorans unique is that they actually have a serious religion going on -the human race is depicted as mostly non-religious (because Roddenberry was non-religious and wanted the Federation to be a world without any kind of prejudice). They're also probably one of the most accurate depictions of any highly religious alien race in a sci-fi franchise, because they are divided between the majority who interpret their religion as [[Noblebright|peace and love]], and a small but loud minority of bastards who interpret it as [[Grimdark|condoning acts of terrorism]]. A blatant attempt to simulate Israelis for criticism, although really it can apply to basically any religion these days.

=== The Dominion ===
A vast empire which exists on the other side of the galaxy. The Dominion is ruled over by a species of liquid shapeshifters called The Founders. They have at their disposal a military composed of two genetically engineered species that worship the Founders as gods: the short and articulate Vorta who serve as ambassadors, bureaucrats and military officers and the big brutal Jem'hadar, who are vat grown drug addicted cannon fodder. These oversee a large number of vassal races, including (as of later seasons of ''DS9'') the Cardassians.

The Founders were once (according to them anyway) a peaceful, kind civilization of explorers who wished to see the galaxy, explore strange new worlds, and seek out new forms of life. Unfortunately, they did this in the wrong neighborhood, and quickly ran into species who did not tolerate others. The fact that the Founders were shapeshifters capable of mimicking almost anyone did not help either. Paranoia, mutual mistrust, and some very bad things eventually led to the Founders deciding "fuck this" and moving their planet into a nebula so nobody would bother them.

The Founders are extremely racist and xenophobic, and believe that all alien life is inherently untrustworthy and evil, and the best thing to do is conquer/enslave them before they do the same to them. They don't care about the rights of "Solids", and will happily ignore any sense of decency when convenient. This can be seen when The Dominion runs a simulation of the Dominion dominating the Alpha Quadrant. When O'Brien is assaulted by a Jem'Hadar and severely beaten to the point of needing emergency teleportation to medical (the crime being "disrespectful"), the Founders (disguised as Federation Officers) do not press charges, and when Sisko comes barging in demanding answers, dismiss him with little concern about their own soldiers brutalizing citizens. Their overall ideology could be thought of as Ancient Chinese Legalism IN SPACE: people are inherently evil and the only way to make a better world is to impose order upon them.

The Founders, when not wandering around in various forms, tend to spend their time in a massive ocean literally made up of countless billions of Founders, something which is referred to as The Great Link. According to the Founders, this allows them to share information with each other and come to peaceful decisions. This is rapidly proved to be bullshit; when Odo merged with them to share his memories of the Federation as peaceful and tolerant space hippies, not only did the Founders ignore his memories, but actively fucked with his mind in an attempt to turn him into a sleeper agent.

The Founders are massive dicks, even to their own people. Failure among Jem'Hadar is rewarded with slow and painful death, and to be even bigger dicks, the Vorta have no sense of taste and can't appreciate beauty. Not to make them better diplomats, but because they were raised from a primitive stone-age ape tribe, and the Founders think they shouldn't be ever allowed to forget that. (On the plus side, they did give the Vorta an immunity to poison that would make [[Mortarion]] himself jealous. [https://youtu.be/rACCZaBcq1g?t=1m29s| Observe.])

=== Species 8472 ===
The one and only race in the galaxy even the Borg don't want to fuck with. Species 8472 are three-legged creatures that live in a space called Fluid Space. It's similar to the [[Eye of Terror]] for the fact that it connects to an alternate dimension and [[Khorne|everyone will be ripped apart upon entering.]]

When the Borg first came around to try and assimilate them they were completely obliterated in a war in which 4 million Borg were killed in the first few days at the cost of almost no members of Species 8472. This war was such a roflstomp that the Borg were forced to call on the Federation for help. [[Tau|The Federation being the better people swallowed their pride and decided to help their sworn enemies,]] [[Eldrad|but were dicks and sent only one ship.]]

Species 8472 fought with fast moving, small ships and devastating beam weapons so the small ship of the Federation could keep up with them and helped the Borg force the species back into Fluid Space. The Federation were the villains on this one.

That and that in ''Star Trek Online'', [[Awesome|they look like the fucking Predator.]]

On a side note all [[Chakats]] need to be launched into Fluid Space <u>right now</u>.

== The Star Trek crew ==
Weather the focus of the show is exploration, manning a space station in an important locale or trying to get home, all Star Trek series have a basic set up of casting and focus: namely on a collection of people who are usually the senior most officers on the ship. If you decide to make a Star Trek inspired game take this into consideration.

* '''The Captain''': Big cheese. Makes the hard decisions. Needs to be able to talk, think or fight out of situations as needed.
* '''The First Officer''': Second in command and trusted advisor.
* '''The Science Officer''': Got high Int stats. Can analyze the situation and work out solutions. The voice of reason.
* '''The Engineer''': Hard working technically minded guy who gets shit done.
* '''The Doctor''': Ship's healer. The voice of empathy.
* '''The Security Officer''': Rough and tumble no nonsense sort who's job it is to keep these guys alive when diplomacy fails.
* '''The Helmsman''': Got spacecraft piloting skills, either full sized starships, shuttles or fighters.
* '''The Other Guy''': Said individual might be a junior officer/butt-monkey, the ship's therapist, a bartender, communications officer, Linguist, Talaxian hobo or senior navigator whale who does not fit the generally established roles.

Some of these hats may be worn by more than one character.

== The Shows ==

===''The Original Series''===
Created in 1966 by legendary sci-fi [[spiritual liege]] Gene Roddenberry (who ironically became controversial as time went on, [[Matt Ward|like a certain Spiritual Liege in Games Workshop did]] but worse; Ward didn't stiff his employees or put anti-women in his work) and pitched as a "Wagon Train to the stars", it's a pulpy adventure sci-fi, full of fistfights and sword fights (the guns never work).

The USS ''Enterprise'' is tasked by the Federation to go on a five year mission to explore space: the final frontier, to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations and boldly go where no man has gone before, though due to budget constraints, her crew often finds that man has in fact gone there before. Or at least something that looks exactly like a man but is actually an [[Xenos|Alien]]. James T. Kirk sleeps with [[Hot Chicks|hot alien babes]] who either die tragically or leave tearfully at the end of the episode, but it's 'k because he's too in love with the Enterprise to ever love a mere ''woman'' more. Mr. Spock and Dr. McCoy are cold and logical and rash and emotional respectively, and Scotty [[gets shit done]]. Uniforms, while iconic, tend to look a bit civilian though. Which was apparently an intentional design decision by Roddenberry who didn't want uniforms to look military. He also didn't want phasers to look like guns, which makes them look a bit weird and he didn't want ships to look like rockets, giving ships their distinctive saucer-engineering-nacelles look.

The Original Series frequently ran out of budget and entire episodes were filmed using spare costumes belonging to the production company, resulting in a series of extremely goofy excuses to go to planets full of gangsters or Nazis. This is often copied by shows who don't realize it was done out of pure expediency, and nowadays it's practically a box to check off when doing sci-fi adventure. The lack of budget also resulted in one of the more memorable inventions; unable to budget for a sequence showing the ''Enterprise'' or a shuttle landing on a new planet every week, the writers instead decided to invent the transporter to "beam" the crew wherever they need be. Also worth noting: despite its mediocre critical reception, ratings and eventual cancellation, not to forget the pretty poor quality of most third season episodes, ''TOS'' had a hell of a cultural impact thanks to syndication and it has been said that since it entered syndication in 1969, there hasn't been a 24-hour period without some TV station, in some country, playing Star Trek. Cancellation of The Original Series is now considered one of the worst decisions in TV history.

Fun fact: the ''Enterprise'' and each of her 11 sister ships have enough firepower to [[Exterminatus]] a planet by themselves, after getting issued an order called General Order 24. This may be related to their secondary ship-to-ship weapons traveling at FTL speeds, though we have never seen it being performed. The ship most likely just targets big population centers instead of making the planet completely uninhabitable. Kirk has the distinction of being the only known captain to order an [[Exterminatus]], because a planet was ''too'' much into wargames (he changed his mind after they dropped wargaming).

===''The Animated Series''===
The often forgotten middle child. More or less "seasons 4-5" of ''TOS'' with the same writing staff and actors, sans poor Walter Koenig. He was replaced by a weird camel person. Clearly, his feelings weren't ''too'' harsh, as he went on to write some of the episodes. Being animated allowed the staff to get a lot more creative with the alien designs and plots, and the writing and acting remain... well, top notch is a stretch, but certainly at the same levels as ''The Original Series''. Not ''nearly'' as bad as you're probably picturing from the name, although still limited by the low budget and primitive animation techniques of the television era it was aired in. Notably some sci-fi novelists were brought in to write some episodes, such as Larry Niven and, yes, Walter Koenig.

Also, since the series now has no excuse for throwing in lots of Space Puritans and Space Wizards, it of course continued to do so to derptastic results, because by this point it had become traditional.

===''The Next Generation''===
Here's where it starts getting a little deeper and a little darker. The USS ''Enterprise-D'' (the original and C were destroyed in action while A and B were retired) is, like its predecessor, tasked with going where no-one has gone before, but this time around the problems are less likely to be solved in a single episode. Jean-Luc Picard is the captain and he plots and negotiates his way to victory; Mr. Data is cold and unemotional, though not by choice - as an android, he'd very much like to change that; Riker takes over the captain's "sleep with alien babes" duties since Picard is married to the job; Worf the Klingon gets beaten up by monsters to show how tough the monsters are, meaning that Worf winds up looking incredibly weak by the end of the show's run and doesn't regain his badassery until his run on ''DS9''; and Geordi LaForge [[gets shit done]]. Only two things need to be said about helmsman Wesley Crusher: he was [[Mary Sue|Gene Wesley Roddenberry's self-insert,]] and his sueness got to the point that even his actor started to hate him.

Due to the massive success of The Original Series in syndication (and Paramount being [[Rage|pissed off]] by broadcast networks treating their most valuable IP like any other show), TNG was aired through syndication from the beginning. Although the first couple seasons were laughably bad, the quality began to improve dramatically after [[Meme|Riker grew a beard.]] The later seasons are widely considered to represent the apex of the franchise on the small screen (although ''DS9'' also had its moments); sadly, this series only got one good movie.

===''Deep Space Nine''===
Unlike all the other series so far, ''Deep Space Nine'' primarily takes place in a fixed location - the titular space station Deep Space Nine, out near the borders of Federation Space. Said space station is near Bajor, which was recently freed from Cardassian occupation, and a wormhole to the other side of the galaxy which allows [[Warp|all sorts of of crazy shit to go down]]. If the other shows are a wagon train, this one's a border fort.

Benjamin Sisko is the captain, and he alternates between blowing shit up like Kirk and talking people down like Picard in his ultimately-successful quest to become the baddest motherfucker in space. Kira the Bajoran ex-<s>terrorist</s> <S>''noble freedom fighter''</s> (who are we kidding she calls herself a terrorist) struggles to free and rebuild her people, Dr. Bashir struggles to find his character, Dax struggles to hold things down and has to switch bodies doing it, Odo IS ''Liquid Space Cop'', Quark runs his bar and heckles the Federation, Garak pretends to be a tailor while dropping killer lines, and Miles O'Brien [[gets shit done]]. Also, Worf wanders in halfway through, and actually gets to punch things instead of just getting punched by them. It's also a lot more political than other series (though ''TNG'' and ''Voyager'' have their moments) and the last series to have Gene Roddenberry's involvement.

It's the closest the canon series ever get to [[Grimdark]], especially when the Dominion show up. The show has aged remarkably well and the terrorist/freedom fighter debate was repeatedly explored in a very mature and honest way. Except that Bajorans and Maquis are a bunch of [[Tumblr|whiny and irrational dicks.]] "I feel oppressed, so I'm going to violate Starfleet regulation!" ''DS9'' is the most serialized of all Trek shows and could be considered a forerunner to the golden age of television with its long story arcs and deep character development. Overall, ''DS9'' has to be considered the most consistently good Trek show thanks to the excellent writing and fantastic performances from a truly wonderful ensemble cast. At least until the final season, when the writers who made it good were pulled to try and fail to make good movies, heralding the failure that was Voyager.

It wasn't without its controversies however. The show was airing around the same time as another thematically similar sci-fi show, Babylon 5. Not only that but characters also shared similarities, as did the episodes. Interestingly, beginning of both series, introduction of characters and airing of similar episodes were often too close to each other for one show to copy the other but this did not stop massive [[Rage]] and [[/v/|fanboy wars]] from starting between fans of the two series.

How good is ''Deep Space Nine''? Every Star Trek series and even the reboot movies have pretty much ripped off ideas and concepts established during the series.

===''Voyager''===
''Voyager'' is... well, it's [[skub|<s>controversial</s>]] shit. There is a heated debate about weather it or Enteprise are the worst of the lot. The plot centers around the USS ''Voyager'', a smallish ship which gets teleported over to the other side of the galaxy, and the plot of the series as a whole centers on its efforts to get back home, with the primary obstacle being the consistently terrible decisions of its own captain. Think ''Gilligan's Island'' on a starship.

Like ''TNG'' and ''DS9'' it's a character-driven drama just as often as it is a sci-fi adventure romp, although it only has one half-decent character, called "The Doctor" ([[Doctor Who|No relation.]]); he's the solid-light hologram representative of the ship's emergency medical computer, who has to take on actual medical duties when their chief medical officer was conveniently killed in the pilot episode. Other than this, Tom Paris is an annoying jerk and is counterbalanced by Harry Kim who is the ideal boy-scout, making him only half as annoying and twice as boring. B'elanna Torres tries to perpetuate a lineage of dudes getting shit done but ends up blankly reciting her technobabble, having second degree plasma burns and – worst of all – systematically fails to get shit done whenever the warp core goes nuts. Tuvok tries hard to be as cool as Spock but ends up being a lame version of the n°1 Vulcan who uses logic to justify everything and makes it short for "you are wrong, I am right because I said so." Kes is passed as a fragile and nice character but it takes a couple of episodes to realize that having a short lifespan does not change the facts: [[powergamer|when you can boil someone to death from the inside of their body, drain life from everything around you to become stronger and do anything you want without knowing how, just by thinking of it]], you are a goddamn Mary Sue. From the fourth season onwards the only character the writers seemed to care about are Seven of Nine, [[Mary Sue|a human woman who recently escaped from Borg control and kept all of her cyborg enhancements but regained her free will]]; another Mary Sue, to be sure, but she's [[Hot Chicks|hot]], and the other characters are much worse, so that's not really a bad thing. (Fortunately, the one good character on the show, namely The Doctor AKA the EMH, still received a lot of attention from the writers and almost single-handedly made the show watchable). There was also Neelix, who was the apparent inspiration for Jar-Jar Binks, and any sane crew would have pushed him out of an airlock on the first episode. Fans who stuck with the show despite its glaring failings were given one final slap in the face with the <s>controversial</s> shit final season, in which the producers decided "screw steadily crafting a satisfying conclusion to a story which we have wasted for most of the last seven years anyway; lets just ignore it until the final episode and then throw in some shit about trans-warp conduits and time travel, bitches love time travel!" If you did not care about any of the characters or the subplots or time travel making sense (the writers sure didn't), then the final episode was explosions (and the Borg got a major setback, just don't think about the setup too hard).

The Doctor never once stopped being totally fucking awesome though, and the great acting from the cast carries the series from being horrific to watchable. Just goes to show that no matter how good your actors are, they can't make diamonds out of shit.

Hopes that the franchise had sunk to a new low from which it could surely only get better were about to be proved wrong in spectacular fashion...

===''Enterprise''===
A [[Indrick Boreale|bald, foolish]] and (according to some) successful attempt to create a series even worse than ''Voyager'' was, from the minute the Nickelback-tier theme tune started the fans knew in their hearts it was fucking doomed. So bad that even the most devoted Trekkies gave up on it, in just four seasons this series almost single-handedly killed off the ''Trek'' franchise (which is actually quite impressive, in a perverse sort of way).

It's a prequel to the rest, taking place on the first ''Enterprise'', before the Federation was founded, and Earth was an independent power- so there's a lot of primitive versions of things from other series. At least the uniforms were pretty cool in an Air Force sort of way, although when that's the best thing you can say about a series, that tells you all you need to know about its quality (or lack thereof). Captained by <s>that guy from ''Quantum Leap''</s> Jonathon Archer, in hindsight the fact that they had to rename him from their original choice of Jeffrey Archer to avoid confusion with the disgraced British MP and author of the same name probably cursed the series with bad karma before it had even begun shooting. In an unusual twist for a ''Trek'' series, his first officer isn't a <s>terrorist</s> ''noble freedom fighter,'' however she does share a trait with her ''Voyager'' predecessor in that the actress who portrayed her frequently criticized the show's writers in interviews.

Was retooled twice, the third season tries to be ''24'' IN SPACE (stop some guys the Xindi from blowing up Earth) while the 4th season is a massive apology about the last three seasons that tries to fix all the problems they had, and as a result, the only season that's close to being good.

Amusingly the final episode is set on the holodeck of the Enterprise-D and leaves us with the firm impression that the producers would have much rather have just continued making ''The Next Generation''; considering the mediocre quality of the ''TNG'' movies we got instead, this probably would have worked out better for all involved (Or not since ''Voyager'' was that; its first episode was even numbered 901, as in Season 9 Episode 1).

Yet despite all this horrible acting, subpar plots, and frankly boring episodes, ''Enterprise'' still manages to be moderately enjoyable with occasional moments of awesomeness if you can suffer through it. The focus on founding Federation races like the Andorans was refreshing and the technology level, being somewhere between the original series and the real world present-day, was quite interesting. We also got to see the Vulcans portrayed as arrogant, superior dicks. Which makes a lot more sense than the way they're usually portrayed as fairly submissive towards humans because they are, obviously and objectively, the superior race. The Klingons certainly still considered themselves to be honorable but the show made it clear that the Klingon notion of honor is rarely analogous to the human concept which was interesting as all hell to watch.

And let's be fucking honest, [[/tg/]] loves 40k and the Xindi arc was about as grimdark as shit gets. And that was awesome.

Also makes a neat pairing with ''Voyager'' in that they really mess with the Prime Directive and question the Federation.

===''Renegades''===
Kickstarter ''Trek''. It's basically comprised of a good ''Star Trek'' movie, a mediocre ''Star Trek'' season, and a shitty ''Star Trek'' fanfic, with all sharing equal screentime. The makers submitted their pilot made-for-TV movie to CBS trying to get it made into a legit on-the-air series (and by god it shows). They said they can still make a season, just not one on TV. Pretty much has good and bad in equal measure. Some characters are actually interesting (about time we saw more of the Breen!) while others are pure [[Mary Sue]]s (including a male Seven of Nine with a built-in Borg-gun/personal shield/fully-functional hand). Some of the ideas are interesting while others are boring or already-been-done. The CGI is all Hollywood-quality, but the practical effects are okay at best.

Most of all, the biggest thing this needs/needed is time. It's obvious that they made this without knowing that they were going to be able to make a TV show or not, and tried to cram the sort of build-up and intrigue we saw in ''DS9'' into a span of 90 minutes. For now though, it's decidedly meh.

===''Discovery''===
A new "prequel" series set 10 years before ''The Original Series.'' Going to be run exclusively on CBS' paid streaming service to try and drum up sign-ups and revenue, it features a mix of ''Enterprise'' and Abramstrek aesthetic despite supposedly taking place in the original timeline, concurrent with ''The Cage'' pilot episode in fact. The trailer has attracted a lot of concern over the fact that Klingons have been completely redesigned to look like <s>'''KANGZ N SHIET'''</s> slit-nosed ogres who wear ancient Egyptian cosplay, though rumors say that is because they're just primitive Klingons from 9000 years in the past who woke up from stasis.

== Films ==

As a general rule, the even-numbered ones aren't complete shit.

* '''''Star Trek: The Motion Picture''''': AKA: The Slow Motion Picture, or the Motionless Picture. Old school sci-fi geeks like the ideas, but terrible pace and interminable special effects that were clearly meant to capitalize on this newfangled ''3011'' doohickey all the kids are yammering about kill them dead for everyone else. Besides the uniform worn by Kirk, the uniforms also look like pajamas. So no wonder they were changed only a movie later.
* '''''Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan''''': [[Meme|KKKHHHAAAAAAAAAAAANNNN!!!!]] Widely considered the best of all the films, and the only one considered a straight up great film, no qualifiers. If you haven't seen it, see it. Interesting fact: Due to time constraints, actors of Kirk and Khan weren't available at the same time. So the entire script was written so that Kirk and Khan never need to meet face-to-face.
* '''''Star Trek III: The Search for Spock''''': Where is Spock? ''He's on Genesis.'' ALL AHEAD FULL! Not really bad, just run of the mill compared to the superior films that surround it. It was also saddled with the misfortune of undoing some of the previous film's more-daring decisions, and having its only daring decision reversed a film later. If you had to say that any film broke the "odd numbers suck" rule, it would be this one.
* '''''Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home''''': The crew of the ''Enterpise'' travels back in time to save the whales. No, really. Somehow it works; ''The Voyage Home'' is a zany comedy romp beloved by the general public and fandom alike, leaving only the most intractable fanbois to bitch and moan.
* <del>'''''Star Trek V: The Final Frontier''''':</del> {{BLAM|Lies! There is no}} '''''Star Trek V'''''{{BLAM|! It was not called}} '''''The Final Frontier'''''{{BLAM|! It was not directed by Kirk's egotistical actor and did not have a plot that could literally be summarized as "Kirk fights God and wins!" The films mysteriously moved from four to six and ''we are all improved because of this!''}}
* '''''Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country''''': The Space Cold War ends amidst Tom Clancy-esque drama. The sendoff for the original cast. Gene Roddenberry watched it, hated it and was going to seek legal advice but died a week later. And good riddance to that, because it's a pretty sweet political thriller if your hippie-panties don't get into a twist at the thought that the Federation isn't a perfect place full of perfect people.
* '''''Star Trek Generations''''': Malcolm McDowell blows up planets to get into a magic space ribbon to live forever, no it does not make any more sense in context. An already-weak story hamstrung by its obsession with being daring and unconventional rather than good. Also, Kirk dies on the bridge in the most face-palming manner possible.
* '''''Star Trek First Contact''''': The ''TNG'' crew face off with the Borg to ensure the future happens. Lots of action and some good performances make this the only good ''TNG'' movie.
* '''''Star Trek Insurrection''''': If you thought the [[Avatar|Na'vi]] were a bunch of badly-written [[Mary Sue]]s, you ain't seen nothing yet! B-b-b-baby you ain't seen n-n-n-nothing yet! Also, Riker shaves his beard, and that's basically a war crime.
* '''''Galaxy Quest''''': Not officially ''Star Trek'' but good enough for an honorable mention. Built around the basic premise of "What if the cast of ''Star Trek'' ended up on a real spaceship and had to actually do the shit they did in the show, including saving the world." Featuring a veritable all-star cast of talented comedians and character actors, this is one of the best parodies ever made.
* '''''Star Trek Nemesis''''': The last stand of the ''TNG'' cast, ending not with a bang but a whimper. It also required amending the even=good/odd=bad rule to "''Galaxy Quest'' counts as a ''Star Trek'' film so this one is also odd."
* '''''Star Trek''''' (2009): Alternate timeline "reboot" (sideboot?) with the original crew, albeit with new younger actors. Timey-wimey shit happens and old prime timeline Spock (reprised by old Leonard Nemoy) is hurled back in time along with a bunch of Romulan assholes. The dickbag Romulans begin fucking shit up, slightly altering history in a way that ensures gratuitous lens flare. [[skub| Skubtastic]], but at least watchable, which is more than ''most'' odd-numbered films can muster. If you still even count it as odd, without the ''Galaxy Quest''-amendment.
* '''''Star Trek Into Darkness''''': The second of the alternate timeline ''Trek'' films. Terrorism, conspiracy and flapdoodle. Even more skubtastic, but generally considered worse than its predecessor, partially because it tries to be a remake of ''The Wrath of Khan.''
* '''''Star Trek Beyond''''': Fairly good, but lacking in the high-minded themes that even the previous two reboot films explored. More fun and adventure-y, almost like something you'd see in a TV series plot, and with a pared-down scope. At least they don't feel the need to threaten to blow up Earth again under the mistaken logic that nothing less will get us to care. Not enough lens flare though, so it looked more like ''[[Star Wars]]'' than ''Star Trek''.
* '''''Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning''''': Another parody, parodying not only ''Star Trek'' but ''Babylon 5'' as well. Captain Pirk builds a starship called CPP ''Kickstart'', allies with Russia and takes over the world. He wants to take over more planets but the ships of his P-Fleet aren't fast enough to travel outside the Solar system. A maggot hole opens and it leads to an alternate reality. Pirk wants to take over the Earth of this reality, which leads to an [[awesome]] space battle between the P-Fleet and the fleet of the space station Babel 13 led by Johnny Sherrypie. The movie features some of the best special effects ever put in a sci-fi movie, which is pretty impressive, considering that this is an amateur film with a very low budget and was rendered in five years in someone's bedroom. The film is spoken in Finnish but subtitles are available for a wide variety of languages, including Klingon.

=== Novels ===

Like most long time franchises ''Star Trek'' has a massive line of books. Unlike most they're basically just fanfics as nothing but the show and the movies is canon so the writers can do whatever they want. This changed after ''Nemesis'' since they might never have another show or movie in the "Prime" universe, so the writers got their shit together and wrote a group of books as a tight community very close to the shows. The relaunch novels are a continuation of the show they're about. Also there's the ''Titan'' book series which is about Riker and Troi getting their own ship, which happens to be staffed by every race in the Federation including living rocks, [[awesome|space dinosaurs]] that smell like [[meatbread|toast]] and a [[what|space cyborg ostrich]].

During yet another novel continuity (Star Trek: Destiny), the Borg go nuts and eat Pluto... yeah... and then they finally get sick of the Federation somehow managing to not get assimilated all the time, so they finally just send every last cube they have with orders to Exterminatus the absolute SHIT out of the entire Alpha Quadrant. Pretty much every important character from TNG, DS9, and Voyager has to team up to stop them, and even then the Federation still get its shit pushed in and winds up having to rely on a vaguely ridiculous deus ex machina to win, and [[Grimdark|billions of people still die and dozens of planets are blown to shit]]. It was pretty insane.

Then all the Federation's main enemies get together to form an anti-Federation and start poking the bear, all the while telling their allies that they're somehow warmongering dicks.

== Video Games ==

''Star Trek Online'' is the free-to-play online game built by Cryptic Studios and run by Perfect World. With an official license CBS, recurring characters voiced by various Trek alumni, and recently a license to include references to the reboot chronology (officially known as the "Kelvin Timeline"), it's the closest existing thing to an "official" continuation of the "Prime" timeline, and contains history and fluff extending nearly 40 years from the end of Star Trek: Nemesis.

Taking place in the 25th century (around the year 2409-2410), the Hobus supernova (the event that kicked Nero and Spock into the past during Star Trek 2009) has devastated the Romulans, and its near-collapse and fragmentation causes tensions between a resurgent Klingon Empire and the Federation. The tensions blow up into a war, with members of a new, nicer, breakaway Romulan Republic playing both sides in exchange for development aid.

The game contains deep cuts from all over Trek lore, and answers questions about what happened to various key characters, including Data (took over the Enterprise-E, then retired), the Enterprise (now an even bigger ship run by Andorian captain Shon), and the Voyager crew (it took Harry Kim 30 years to make Captain lol). Raises barely-shown, unnamed, and otherwise obscure races to new prominence as big bad foes, including the Iconians (teleporting space gods that live in dyson spheres and only defeated by predestination paradox), Tzenkethi (4-armed halo guys whose weak points are the FRONT of their shields), and Nak'hul (the alien nazis from Enterprise as time-traveling terrorists who blame the Federation for a throwaway event that happened in TNG's beach episode).

== Would you like to know more? ==
*[http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/ Main Memory Alpha: A ''Star Trek'' wiki]
*[http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/ Main Memory Beta: The flip-side of Memory Alpha for the less than official stuff]
*[http://sfdebris.com/ SF Derbis: opinionated episode reviews, has some non ''Trek'' stuff as well]

[[Category: Television]]

Chaos Dreadnought

2017-07-09T20:39:35Z

2605:E000:7ECF:7F00:BCED:1594:6C70:925F:

[[Image:NLDread.jpg|right|400xpx|thumb|It's like the armor equivalent of [[Doomrider]].]]

The eviler version of the loyalist [[Dreadnought]]. Generally-speaking <s>cruder, less-advanced</s> <s>bullshit, in 40k old tech is best tech</s> functionally identical but less shiny, except for the fact that the dual-linked axles connecting the legs were "discontinued due to instability". Notably less-noble than its Space Marine counterpart, the Chaos Dreadnought is usually piloted by former Chaos Champions who were cut down in their prime. As a great many of these were not particularly mentally-stable in the first place (what with serving Chaos and all), and Dreadnought tech the Chaos Legions have is typically older, less-advanced, and shittier than that of the loyalists, most Chaos Dreadnoughts have a notorious reputation for succumbing to built-up psychosis and flying into screaming, psychotic rages in which they do a bang-up impression of an [[Angry Marine]] high on hallucinogenic [[Snowflame|drugs]], flinging themselves forward and [[Salamanders|burning]], [[World Eaters|slicing]], [[Iron Warriors|crushing]], [[Rip and tear|ripping, tearing]], and [[Emperor's Children|raping]] anything in front of it.

Often a combination of many (if not all) of the above at once.

This is made worse by the fact that what a given Legion does with its Dreadnought occupants varies dramatically on an individual basis. The [[Emperor's Children]] for example, keeps them in a drugged-up haze, whilst the [[World Eaters]] simply leave them awake and aware but unhooked from their Dreadnoughts. When they go into battle, either due to a hangover or due to pure balls-out [[Rage|rage]], the average Dread pilot has ample amounts of frustration to vent.

Suffice to say, the Chaos Marines have a divided opinion on Dreadnoughts. Many continue the ways of their pre-heresy fellows, often viewing the internment of their fallen champions in Dreadnoughts as a sign of reverence, but in many cases Chaos Marines view this as being assigned a living death; their ambition has been cut short and they are now doomed to fight on in a cold metal shell, never again to participate in the glory of direct combat. The ones that fight on despite it, such as [[Tankred]]'s rival [[Donovan]], are bad-ass, if, like all Chaos Dreadnoughts, out of their motherfucking minds.

Additionally, whilst rare, it's possible for the occupant of a loyalist Dreadnought to turn to Chaos. One that does keeps its loyalist chassis but becomes a Chaos Dreadnought in all other respects. So [[Grimdark]].

==Overview==
On paper, the Chaos Dreadnought is ''amazing'' save for one major flaw (which is described in detail below) - same cost as a loyalist Dreadnought, with one more attack. Its close-combat weapon can take a variety of forms (Many players like giving them Defiler claws, Chainfists, or giant sledgehammers), but regardless of what it is, it counts as a Dreadnought Close-Combat weapon. This Dread CCW comes equipped with a twin-linked Bolter by default, and can be replaced by a Heavy Flamer for a surprisingly low points-cost. The arm can be replaced with a Missile Launcher, just like a loyalist Dreadnought, and this reduces its melee capacity significantly (but does not remove it).

The other arm (which you need to pay for) can be any of several options. You can put on another close-combat weapon with another twin-linked bolter (which can be upgraded to a Heavy Flamer just like the other one), and it can pack twin-linked Lascannons, Twin-Linked Heavy Bolters, or a Plasma Cannon, just like the loyalist flavor. The Chaos Dreadnought cannot take Assault Cannons, but it also has an option
<s>the Loyalist version doesn't</s> HA HA NOT ANY MORE which is pretty decent (twin-linked Autocannon). The Plasma Cannon (which costs surprisingly little) is widely considered its best option and is widely-regarded as one of the best ways to get a no-risk Plasma Cannon onto the table (with default config this will run you only 105 points!), but all are pretty viable.

With all these options and a low cost, the Chaos Dreadnought, in theory, is amazing. Unfortunately, it suffered from the '''Crazed''' rule.

===Crazed===
The old Crazed rules basically means that the Chaos Dreadnought, overpowered with [[grimdark|pain and rage]], has a small chance (about 1 in 3) to act other than how its owner desires. The table below covers the effect of the dice rolls on 1d6:

* '''1: Fire Frenzy''' - the Dreadnought may not move or assault this turn. Instead it must turn towards the closest unit(friend or foe) and fire all of its weapons. ''Twice''. If the Dreadnought cannot fire any ranged weapons (due to everyone being out-of-range or its ranged weapons being offlined), this is treated as a 2-5: Sane result instead.

*'''2-5: Sane''' - the Dreadnought controls normally this turn.

*'''6: Blood Rage''' - the Chaos Dreadnought may not shoot until the end of the turn, gets the '''Fleet''' special rule. It must move towards the closest enemy unit as fast as possible and assault the enemy in the assault phase, if possible. If the Chaos Dreadnought is immobilized, this counts as a 2-5: Sane result.

For reasons obvious, the Chaos Dreadnought is one of those tabletop units that is either insanely good or insanely bad, with no real middle ground, depending on where and how it's used and whether or not the blessing of the dice god decides to cooperate. If used correctly and deployed carefully with lucky dice-rolls, it will bring a heaping pile of ownage to the table for a disturbingly low points cost - 100 or so points for a Dreadnought with a Plasma Cannon is ''amazing'' for efficiency, especially given that its crazed rules can actually work ''for'' you on occasion (Fire Frenzy + Firing line of Necrons = lots and lots of Necron casualties). If you get bad rolls it will spend most of the game pointlessly chasing a unit or worse, firing on your own troops. It wasn't a unit for the faint of heart. But anyone who can maintain the blessings of Lady Luck and Admiral Awesome would have found a place in their hearts (and armies) for the Chaos Dreadnought.

===Notable Chaos Dreadnought===
*Sor Talgron, the Warmonger: The Warmonger, of the Word Bearer's 34th Host stands out among his peers namely for the fact he's sane-ish. This may be due to his faith or the fact that since Sor was the former Dark Apostle of the host and fought at the siege of Terra he's not treated like a weapon and chained to a wall. Rather he hangs around the host's base giving out advice to his brothers and in turn they all treat him like their cool grandpa, kinda like an evil Bjorn who likes telling stories. However he's not fully there and so still thinks he's fighting the Horus Heresy and that Horus is alive and kicking.

*Berossus, Warsmith of the Iron Warriors (Deceased): At the time of the Horus Heresy, Berossus was the arrogant and dickish Captain of the Second Grand Company of the [[Iron Warriors]]. As one of the elite officers of the Legion, Berossus was granted the dubious honor of serving as the adjutant to his Primarch, [[Perturabo]]. During the Battle of Phall, it fell to Berossus to inform his Primarch that the Iron Warriors weren't doing so great against the [[Imperial Fists]] and that, as the excrement icing on the crap cake, there was no way they could capture First Captain [[Sigismund]] during the battle because he wasn't even there. Surprise surprise, this enraged Perturabo (doesn't really take much), who proceeded to bitch-slap Berossus so hard, not only did his long-dead mother on distant, gutted Olympia feel it, but it mortally wounded him as well. Either as a gesture of regret over his team kill or further punishment (let's be honest, it's probably the latter), Perturabo entombed the broken Berossus in a Chaos Dreadnought. Despite his new situation, Berossus maintained command of his Company and even took to the whole trapped-forever-in-a-tin-can-whether-you-like-it-or-not-thing pretty well, learning to love the power of his new form. He didn't even go that crazy. Berossus remained a Warsmith even after he decided to throw in his lot with Warsmith Toramino to throw down against a particularly evil half-breed Iron Warrior named [[Honsou]], thinking that he'd finally get in on the whole team killing thing in a way that finally benefited him. Unfortunately, Honsou ended up ripping out the mortal remains of Berossus from his dreadnought chassis, crushing what was left of the Warsmith's brain and thus team killing him for the second time. Some guys just never get a break.

==Ferrum Infernus Dreadnought==
Introduced with Imperial Armour 13, this particular variant of the old Boxnought is what happens when the Chaos Marines take to the old corpsefucker axiom ''"EVEN IN DEATH I STILL SERVE"''. These are the people who embrace their evilness as giant walking boxes and continue their bloody warpath as they seek daemonhood instead of wussing out at losing the ability to feel everything and turning into fleshmetal abominations like the Helbrutes.

For about 10 points more than a Loyalist Ven Dread, you get a dread of equal stats with a vast selection of weapons for both melee and ranged combat, with the ability to go full melee (and gaining a bonus attack). He can also boost his bolters to gain rending using Malefic ammo. Since these guys still have their sanity, they can also grab Dedications to Chaos (Sorta like Marks, but with different boosts), allowing for some extra help in a certain field.

And for an extra punch, you can purchase one of three rules for more fun:
*'''Lord of the [[Long War]]''': Gives the dread back a variant of Champions of Chaos. He can issue and accept challenges like a character (But he can deny them, thanks FW!). If he ever explodes (and only when he explodes), he has to roll a d6, with a 33% chance of either mutating into a [[Chaos Spawn|gribbly thing]], re-rolling the damage result and pretty much fighting (and dying) like normal), or becoming a [[Daemon Prince]] of fuckawesome metal.
*'''Destroyer of Cities''': Meant for more urban terrain (or Cities of Death), this gives the dread a Flamestorm Cannon and an Sx2 AP2 Armourbane Drill that has a Heavy Flamer that can damage units inside of buildings and transports on a Pen. Issue with this is that you can't take any other weapons. Really, take this for cracking open mech armies.
*'''Host of Daemonic Iron''': The dread gets to ignore Shaken/Stunned results instead of the Ven's re-roll to Pen. Additionally, anyone who shaves a HP off him takes an automatic S4 AP3 hit for every HP lost, making him more threatening up close. At range, he'll last a bit longer, but it won't help him survive.

==[[Emperor's Children]] [[Sonic Weaponry|Sonic]] Dreadnought==
[[Image:Sonic_dread.jpg|270px|right|thumb|Little known fact: the Sonic Dreadnought can also be used as a stereo system.]]

A variant of the Castra-Ferrum Dread, these are dreads toting sonic weaponry and dedicated to [[Slaanesh]]. The job isn't taken lightly, however: Slaaneshi marines live off all sensation, and being stuck in a METAHL BAWKS pretty much denies the user of all feeling, which would drive them [[Rage|batshit insane.]] Those [[Noise Marines]] in the Sonic Dreads therefore love their noise weapons so much that they don't give a damn about being stuck in a box.

The fact that this has remained a mainstay in the [[Forge World]] catalog despite the terrible outdating is proof on how awesome noise guns are.

They're a good deal more expensive than a regular Ven Dread for a similar statline, but that price also comes with Dedication to Slaanesh (giving the dread free grenades) and a Sonic Blaster and Doom Siren. While he can take most of the normal weapons available to dreads, doing this would be a disservice as only Sonic Weapons can be fired in Overdrive, granting the weapons Rending and Gets Hot. Instead, grab the Blastmaster if you need a new gun. If you want to replace your chainfist with a missile launcher, then that's cool too, since you're already here to shoot shit up. The last (and probably best) upgrade available is the Warp Amp, which allows you to double your firing rate if you don't move. Yeah, 6 S4 AP5 Cover-Ignoring Sonic Blasts, 4 S5 AP4 Cover-Ignoring Pinning shots, or 2 S8 AP3 Pinning Cover-Ignoring pieplates of sonic doom. TAKE.

[[Tl;dr]], think of them as the eviler and spikier counterparts to the [[Dark Angels]] [[Mortis Dreadnought]] as both are reliant on a brain-shattering amounts of [[Dakka]] and loud noises to both make their enemies to shit themselves disorientated.

==[[World Eaters]] [[Berserker]] Dreadnought==
[[File:Berserker_dreadnought1.jpg|240px|right|thumb|[[RAGE|FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU! FUCK EVERYONE! FFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUU-]]]]

Wooo boy. The [[RIP AND TEAR]] version to the Sonic Dreadnought's Rock'n Roll. The Berserker Dreadnought is another variant of the Castra-Ferrum Dread that is aligned with [[Khorne]] and its designed in tearing several new orifices in whichever unfortunate victim who just so happens to be in its way. These infernal machines first appeared among the Contemptor Dreadnoughts of the World Eaters Legion during the [[Horus Heresy]].

To give you a better perspective on how much these guys can rip apart army formations like a bloody pinata, imagine a Berserker. Now we should all know how much of a pain train a Khornate Berserker is when in CQC. Now place these insane murder fetishist inside a giant METHUL BAWKS with even BIGGER weapons and then make it so that the raging murdermachines can't feel anything, causing them to [[RAGE|rage even harder to the point of bursting a vein.]] And voila! You just have the Chaos' answer to the [[Blood Angels]] [[Death Company Dreadnought]]. Enjoy your session of metaphorically [[rape|raping]] you friend in the ass.

These dreadnoughts are optimized for close combat assaults and as line breakers, modified from standard patterns to be larger and swifter than their more common counterparts. They were frequently used in near suicidal charges into the heart of an enemy line. Their use by the World Eaters may have even pre-dated the Heresy, further contributing to their savage reputation.

Berserker Dreadnoughts are all armed with gigantic Chain weapons for extra efficiency in tearing through flesh and assholes. Range weapons you say? Pfffttt...Range weapons are for pussies anyway.

==Helbrute==

[[File:HelbruteImage.jpg|left|thumb|350px|Turns out, flesh ''and'' metal is quite strong. And absolutely insane.]]

Much like Eldar and Ork Dreadnoughts before them (now Wraithlords and Deff Dreads, respectively), Games Workshop "replaced" Chaos Dreadnoughts. The new model called a Helbrute is just the classic CSM dread with a different name.

Fluff-wise, Hellbrutes are essentially Chaos Dreadnoughts with the grimdark dial turned to 21. Rather than just being entombed inside a sarcophagus and forced to never again feel the glory of combat, the pilot of a Hellbrute are entombed like regular Chaos Dreads, but rather than going just insane from captivity, [[grimdark|the pilot of the walker will eventually meld into the machine's metal, ensuring he not only loses his shit from being hooked-up to an insane death-machine, but also from the fact that he's forcefully becoming one with said death machine]]. And that's not getting into how the implantation process usually involves tentacles whose origin is best left unknown burrowing into the victim's flesh and forcibly merging with his nervous system, which inevitably drives him mad within days, if not hours. The few Helbrutes which still retain some shred of sanity inevitably welcome their destruction.

In one of the solo missions included in Dark Vengeance, the Helbrute is given a name and background as Sevarion Kranon (later renamed ''Mortis Metallikus''. Yeah, GW's really gone far with their names). His brother Sevastus Kranon (later Kranon the Relentless, Chaos Lord of the [[Crimson Slaughter]]), tricked/forced him inside a Helbrute chassis after he protested against the increasing corruption within his chapter. The resulting transformation slowly crippled his body and soul, melding him into his prison. The process turned him so insane that whatever was left of the loyalist Brother's mind was completely lost, replaced by the id that is the Helbrute. Then a Dark Angels Librarian flooded his mind with empathy for several seconds, stunning the Helbrute long enough for a Tactical Marine to shove a plasma cannon up its mechanical ass and put it out of its misery.

Unlike regular Dreadnoughts, Helbrutes are mass-produced by [[Warpsmith]]s, who view them as a tool of punishment rather than an honor to be earned (as opposed to their loyalist counterparts). This would be a good thing for Chaos if they didn't keep going batshit insane in the process.

===Crunch===
The Helbrute is largely identical to the Chaos Dreadnought it replaced with a few tweaks, namely its price and equipment options. Following the FAQ, this cheap little bastard armed with a basic power fist and multi-melta clocks in at a paltry 100 pts. - fuckin' A! The brute can exchange its multi-melta for a reaper autocannon, plasma cannon, twin-linked lascannon or another power fist; the premier power fist can be exchanged for a power scourge (S8, AP2, -D3 to enemy model WS in base contact), thunder hammer or missile launcher. Do note that there's a quirk in the rules RAW: you can exchange one power fist for any of the items following the semi-colon in that last sentence! This means you can load your brute with a missile launcher and a power scourge if you feel so inclined.

====Crazed 2.0====
In the new 6th edition codex, the old dreadnought's biggest liability gets reborn into much of a positive feature for the brute. For starters, the roll is now a D3 whenever it loses a hull point and no more will you face a 33% chance of the Hellbrute shooting at your own guys if you roll a one. However, the target priority harkens back to 3.5 where you have to shoot an enemy within range (preferably the unit responsible for removing an HP from the brute) twice. Otherwise, a 2 will scrub stunned and shaken results and grant rage while a 3 will do all that plus bestow fleet and force the brute to run if not within 12" of an enemy (preferably closer to whatever was responsible for making it lose a hull point).

====How-To====
There has been much debate as to how to use the Helbrute effectively. Detractors point out that the merits of the Loyalist Dreadnought do not carry over to the Helbrute - specifically the options of drop pod transport or a rifleman dreadnought setup. And yes, trying to play a Helbrute like that will disappoint you because it can't do any of that! Most of the detractors are just [[Defiler]] fetishists, but not all of them; Helbrutes require support, especially from Warp Smiths but also from other war machines.

Additionally, GW released a dataslate for the brutes with 3 new formations for basic 40K. These are the Mayhem Pack, Helcult and Helfist Murderpack; all of them tweak both the brutes' survivability and usefulness in one way or another. The Mayhem Pack makes a group of 3 brutes deepstrike and gives them all a free roll per turn on the crazed table (suffice to say, you should tool these guys up for both [[Dakka]] and [[Choppa]]) - this one is said to be the more useful of the two. The Helcult gives the brute two units of chaos cultist meatshields, providing a 3+ cover save at the expense of a dead cultist; meanwhile the cultists get to be fearless while the brute is still alive and zealots should it die, but will be hit in close combat should the brute roll a 1 to hit. Lastly, the Murderpack is a vehicle unit of 5 Helbrutes with one of them designated as a champion (conferring both an Aura of Dark Glory and Character special rules, he also confers rage onto his unit if he goes down); they also get to '''choose''' which Crazed result they have.

==Chaos Contemptors==
[[File:Khorne Chaos Contemptor Dred.jpg|350px|thumbnail|right|"And that [[Trygon]] was this long when I was done with it."]]
You thought that only the Loyalists had access to Contemptors? NOPE. Chaos also have their own.

Chaos Contemptors are a rarity and symbol of the Chaos Marines' past. Contemptors were standard equipment back when the Traitor Legions were still loyal to the Emperor. After the [[Horus Heresy]] bombed and the Legions fled to the Eye of Terror, it became difficult, if not almost impossible, to maintain the current equipment of the Chaos Marines. The parts that were vital to the equipment's functionality were either corrupted by warp energies, or they had to be replaced with something else due to lack of materials and/or lack of appropriate skills. That treatment was what made Chaos Contemptors different from their Imperial counterparts.

New armaments included weapons such as Butcher Cannons, Soulburners, or replacing the typical power source with a Hellfire Reactor. [[grimdark|That last one powered the Dreadnought by consuming the souls of those the walker slew, and]] [[psykers]] [[grimdark|were even more vulnerable to its predations]]. The drawback of the Hellfire Reactor is that the Chaos Contemptor [[Derp|lost]] its Atomantic shielding.

Due to its unique construction and capabilities, the Contemptors caught the eyes of the Dark Gods, and thus blessed them with various gifts and abilities. [[Khorne|Khornate]] Contemptors are unmatched in the arts of [[RIP AND TEAR]]. [[Slaanesh|Slaaneshi]] are equipped with even more powerful sonic weaponry. [[Nurgle]] Contemptors are insanely durable and resilient. [[Tzeentch]] on the other hand turns Chaos Contemptors into [[Dakka|DAKKA]] incarnate thanks to his arcane knowledge. Thus most of the walkers serve a single patron, yet there are some that serve Chaos Undivided.

What's the most interesting thing about the Chaos Contemptors is that every single Chaos Worshipper (mostly particularly powerful [[Chaos Lord|Chaos Lords]] and [[Dark Mechanicus]] Magos members) want it badly to be entombed inside one of them after a "unfortunate incident". Why? Because the occupant suffers neither the madness/pain combo that regular Chaos Dreadnoughts have, nor the madness that comes with being fused as a Hellbrute. This is what truly makes these killer-engines so dangerous apart of their daemonically powered arsenal. [[AWESOME|This is probably one of the few times when being a Chaos Marine]] [[METAL BOXES|inside a METAL BAWKS]] [[Awesome|doesn't suck]].

Only significant minus is that just like the Imperial Contemptors, the Chaos ones come in very limited numbers, and the technology and techniques to produce new ones disappeared in the fires of the Horus Heresy. So you can imagine how desperate Chaos Marines are in trying to find those things.

===Mhara Gal Dreadnoughts===
[[File:Mhara Gal Tainted Dreadnought.jpg|250px|thumbnail|right|"GIVE ME A HUG!"]]
The unholy bastard child of Contemptor Dread and a [[Possessed Marine|Gal Vorbak]] troop, this thing was an oddity that was exclusive to the [[Word Bearers]] during the [[Horus Heresy]]. Because of its nature the Gal Vorbak is half Contemptor-turning-Helbrute, half [[Daemon Engine]], but is wholly a big mass of "Fuck You" to any enemy short of a tank that gets within range of its guns. Also because of its nature, the Mhara Gal's already arcane physical technology twisted in ways that made its components powered halfway on sorcery, and the result was something even weirder than most daemon engines. While Lorgar was generally nice to all of his kids, the Mhara Gal was the start of the tradition of using a dreadnought as a form of punishment for falling down on the battlefield, particularly for those "blessed" by having a daemon forced inside them.

As for their presence for after the Heresy: it's presumable they had all been killed off, or are serving on Sicarus as honor guards for high ranked Dark Apostles and in the [[Eliphas The Inheritor|Basilica of Torment]] for Dreadnought power fisting.

Mechanically, these things are like regular Contemptors and can only be taken in singles, but the main attraction is a mess of special rules, mostly revolving around fucking with morale in a pre-ATSKNF environment.

==Hellforged Leviathan Dreadnought==
The Chaos version of the Leviathan Dreadnought. Not much is known about them in lore, but seeing how Leviathan Dreadnoughts are even rarer and more expensive to make than Contemptors and the general logistical nightmare of the Traitor Legions you can assume they are among the most valuable things in the Eye of Terror.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:AweomeDread.jpg|Even in death I'm still killing shit.
Image:Hellbrute.jpg|The Hellbrute, now with fleshy bits.
Image:Chaos_Contemptor_vs_Chaos_Regular_Dread.JPG|"Imma go 31st millennium on your ass!" --Contemptor Dreadnought before showing this regular one the meaning of [[Dakka]]
</gallery>
{{Chaos Space Marines}}
{{Chaos-Official}}

[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]][[Category:Chaos]]

Sphere of Annihilation

2017-07-09T20:08:15Z

2605:E000:7ECF:7F00:BCED:1594:6C70:925F:

[[Category:Roleplaying]]
[[Image:Divided by Zero manhole.jpg|thumb|right|Do not take your Sphere of Annihilation for a swim.]]

An error in the fabric of space, it's not actually a sphere so much as a missing piece of reality that just so happens to ''look'' like a sphere. Anything that touches it is destroyed -- no ashes, no dust, no soul, no afterlife, just GONE. How this destroys whole people and not just the parts that touch, while simultaneously destroying only pieces of ground but not the entire continent at once, we do not know.

Up until 4th Ed, this item was the ultimate "[[Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies|no, fuck YOU!]]" weapon or trap that DMs would use against player characters that were getting too cocky about having more hit-points than God and being able to survive 20d6 fireballs. Appropriately, it is one of the traps in the [[Tomb of Horrors]].

In [[Advanced Dungeons and Dragons]], it was a miscellaneous magic item which means you could find it by chance in some dragon's hoard -- if it didn't kill you when you accidentally brushed your hand over it. Magic-Users could move it with the power of their big throbbing brains, and threaten monsters with a black hole the size of your fist that moved about 1 foot per round. In D&D v3, it was 2 feet in diameter, anyone could move it at 10 feet per round with a DC30 check adding your level & Int modifier (doubled if you had the sphere's accompanying talisman). In 4e, it's a standard level 29 trap that does 6d6+10 with 15 ongoing damage.

And this is but a small part of why 4e should Die In a Fire.

In [[Dungeons_%26_Dragons#Immortals_Set|BECMI Dungeons & Dragons]], they were quasi-creatures named 'blackballs.' Blackballs are about 5ft in diameter and were one of the few things that Immortals would stay the hell away from. They destroy anything they touch, and act like creatures but never communicate. No Immortal who was vacuumed up by one was never seen again. In theory they're tools or probes from beyond the barrier that keeps the multiverse at only five dimensions, and are sent out to collect items for examination by the barrier-makers.

The 3.0 Ed. Epic Level Handbook altered the above 'blackballs' into the far more awesome sounding Umbral Blots, theorized to be the creation of some long lost pantheon of gods. Presumably lost, because they looked at the Sphere and decided "You know what this needs? The ability to CHASE you." and promptly [[FAIL|ate shit]].

In [[Pathfinder]] the Spheres of Annihilation are the waste generated by the technomagic generators found in the only hive city in the full of undead planet Eox, the Halls of the Living.

The Sphere of Annihilation also exists as a spell in the old, miniature [[roguelike]] ''Larn'', where it flies away from the caster, annihilating what it passes over, and ''bounces off the edges of the dungeon''. If you cast two and they collide, they annihilate each other and everthing in a fair-sized circle around them. Even casting just one can easily erase some critical item and make the game unwinnable.
==See also==
* [[Cubes]]