Nobledark Imperium Xenos - Revision history

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2023-06-22T13:48:34Z

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2023-06-19T02:49:57Z

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177.236.60.98 at 16:59, 16 December 2022

2022-12-16T16:59:16Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:59, 16 December 2022
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	<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="100%">'''''		<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="100%">'''''

	Humans have always seen the benefit of taming useful species in their environment, from the dog of Old Earth to the warhawk of [[Nobledark_Imperium_Notable_Planets#The_Pastoral_Worlds\|Chogoris]]. Warhawks are a species originally native to Chogoris, though similar species are known throughout the galaxy. However, genetic evidence suggests that warhawks are descended from a species originally native to Old Earth, transported to Chogoris in the distant past. The average warhawk, or at least the Chogorian breeds that most closely approximate the original appearance of the species is large, about the size of a wolf or large hound, with a mostly dun colored body and black and white markings. They are fast, pack-hunting predators, with long legs and a long feathered tail used as a counterbalance to help them make tight turns. Warhawks are also capable of flight with their broad, clawed feathered wings, though they prefer to rest on the ground. Although they have a toothy maw, their most dangerous and most iconic weapon is the large, razor edged claw on their foot, which they use to pin down smaller prey or lacerate larger prey or predators. Indeed, these fearsome claws have inspired the name of at least one Space Marine chapter: the Crimson Talons, a White Scars descendant from the pastoral world of Timpagonos that works with a large, horse-sized breed of warhawk unique to that world bred for war.		Humans have always, even to a greater degree than the T'au or Eldar, seen the benefit of taming useful species in their environment, from the dog of Old Earth to the warhawk of [[Nobledark_Imperium_Notable_Planets#The_Pastoral_Worlds\|Chogoris]]. Warhawks are a species originally native to Chogoris, though similar species are known throughout the galaxy. However, genetic evidence suggests that warhawks are descended from a species originally native to Old Earth, transported to Chogoris in the distant past. The average warhawk, or at least the Chogorian breeds that most closely approximate the original appearance of the species is large, about the size of a wolf or large hound, with a mostly dun colored body and black and white markings. They are fast, pack-hunting predators, with long legs and a long feathered tail used as a counterbalance to help them make tight turns. Warhawks are also capable of flight with their broad, clawed feathered wings, though they prefer to rest on the ground. Although they have a toothy maw, their most dangerous and most iconic weapon is the large, razor edged claw on their foot, which they use to pin down smaller prey or lacerate larger prey or predators. Indeed, these fearsome claws have inspired the name of at least one Space Marine chapter: the Crimson Talons, a White Scars descendant from the pastoral world of Timpagonos that works with a large, horse-sized breed of warhawk unique to that world bred for war.

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	Most people who know the origin of the Wolves of Fenris often expect them to look like merely hairy humans, or at least something that can reasonably be described as humanoid. This is not the case. Your average Fenris Wolf weighs somewhere between 500 and 600 kilograms (over 1000 pounds), and has a skull nearly a meter in length. Fenris wolves will actually grow in size throughout their entire lives, which is thought to be an indicator of their super-soldier ancestry, artificial genes used to promote muscle and bone development being re-purposed for continuous growth. Their canine teeth have distinct knife-like edges, resembling a monkey more than a wolf, and their front limbs are disturbingly human-like with dexterous opposable thumbs despite primarily walking on all fours. The overall body shape of a Fenrisian wolf is more like a cross between a wolf, bear, and a lion rather than a straight wolf, allowing them to grapple with enemies or climb low branches in search of prey. There are some human traits remaining, such as their eerily human eyes with white sclera, but one would be hard-pressed to see them.		Most people who know the origin of the Wolves of Fenris often expect them to look like merely hairy humans, or at least something that can reasonably be described as humanoid. This is not the case. Your average Fenris Wolf weighs somewhere between 500 and 600 kilograms (over 1000 pounds), and has a skull nearly a meter in length. Fenris wolves will actually grow in size throughout their entire lives, which is thought to be an indicator of their super-soldier ancestry, artificial genes used to promote muscle and bone development being re-purposed for continuous growth. Their canine teeth have distinct knife-like edges, resembling a monkey more than a wolf, and their front limbs are disturbingly human-like with dexterous opposable thumbs despite primarily walking on all fours. The overall body shape of a Fenrisian wolf is more like a cross between a wolf, bear, and a lion rather than a straight wolf, allowing them to grapple with enemies or climb low branches in search of prey. There are some human traits remaining, such as their eerily human eyes with white sclera, but one would be hard-pressed to see them.

	It’s not clear how intelligent the Fenrisian wolves really are. It is clear they are clever, moreso than any non-human organism on Old Earth, but the question is are they only intelligent as, say, [[Nobledark_Imperium_Imperial_Forces#Beastmen_and_Ogryn\|Primeval Beastmen]] or are they really more intelligent than they appear and merely limited by their lack of ability to communicate. At the very least, the fact that Fenrisian Wolves are easily tamed and are capable of performing complex behaviors that an animal like a dog isn’t capable of suggests there is something going on in their brains. The Adeptus Biologicus would love to try to uplift the Fenris wolves back to sapience like the Beastmen and the Ogryn, but they’re worried any attempt to do so would blow back on the people of Fenris because of how genetically close the two are.		It’s not clear how intelligent the Fenrisian wolves really are. It is clear they are clever, moreso than any non-human organism on Old Earth, but the question is are they only intelligent as, say, [[Nobledark_Imperium_Imperial_Forces#Beastmen_and_Ogryn\|Primeval Beastmen]] or are they really more intelligent than they appear and merely limited by their lack of ability to communicate. At the very least, the fact that Fenrisian Wolves are easily tamed, their tendency to adopt and raise human children lost in the woods as their offspring, and the fact who are capable of performing way more complex behaviors that an animal like a dog isn’t capable of suggests there is something going on in their brains. The Adeptus Biologicus would love to try to uplift the Fenris wolves back to sapience like the Beastmen and the Ogryn, but they’re worried any attempt to do so would blow back on the people of Fenris because of how genetically close the two are.

	The people of Fenris venerate the Fenrisian wolf above all other creatures because out of all the animals on Fenris it alone represents all the virtues of man. Like humans, the Fenris wolf is clever, strong, brave, loyal, and stubborn, all at the same time. The fact that they behave this way because they are actually abhumans rather than actual animals is something that is either not well known among the people of Fenris or glossed over, especially since Leman Russ made sure that wasn’t common knowledge in the first place.		The people of Fenris venerate the Fenrisian wolf above all other creatures because out of all the animals on Fenris it alone represents all the virtues of man. Like humans, the Fenris wolf is clever, strong, brave, loyal, and stubborn, all at the same time. The fact that they behave this way because they are actually abhumans rather than actual animals is something that is either not well known among the people of Fenris or glossed over, especially since Leman Russ made sure that wasn’t common knowledge in the first place.

2601:647:CA01:2410:349C:D1E8:2DF7:5B30: /* The Proto-Orks and the Krork */

2020-09-04T20:20:19Z

The Proto-Orks and the Krork

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:20, 4 September 2020
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	As a point of comparison, imagine what the world would be like if the Old Ones did to humans what they did to the proto-Orks. Beings like baseline humanity would be nearly extinct, whereas the dominant representative of humanity is [[Orks\|nearly quintuple the height of the average human and looks like it fell off the tree of life and hit every atavistic branch on the way down. What passes for "human" looks like a gorilla crossed with an ogryn, with fangs as thick as your forearm.]] Other varieties of “human” are [[Gretchin\|creatures the size of polar bears, but lanky and cruel and built like a ‘’Velociraptor’’]]. All of them have seemingly leapt in intellect from the human standard, possessed of a [[Mork\|bestial cunning]] [[Old Ones\|alloyed with terrible knowledge]] and only concerned with survival in a horrible world they're intent on making. [[Snotling\|What few members of baseline humanity remain have regressed even further in intelligence to little better than animals.]] To make matters worse, these things primarily feed on [[Squig\|creatures that look like demented combinations of human fetuses and infants as designed by Hieronymous Bosch]]. The Old Ones have taken your species and turned it into a viral ecosystem, good for nothing more than spreading. Every living thing you see around you is derived from humans in some way, [[Dogscape\|a landscape made of human flesh]].		As a point of comparison, imagine what the world would be like if the Old Ones did to humans what they did to the proto-Orks. Beings like baseline humanity would be nearly extinct, whereas the dominant representative of humanity is [[Orks\|nearly quintuple the height of the average human and looks like it fell off the tree of life and hit every atavistic branch on the way down. What passes for "human" looks like a gorilla crossed with an ogryn, with fangs as thick as your forearm.]] Other varieties of “human” are [[Gretchin\|creatures the size of polar bears, but lanky and cruel and built like a ‘’Velociraptor’’]]. All of them have seemingly leapt in intellect from the human standard, possessed of a [[Mork\|bestial cunning]] [[Old Ones\|alloyed with terrible knowledge]] and only concerned with survival in a horrible world they're intent on making. [[Snotling\|What few members of baseline humanity remain have regressed even further in intelligence to little better than animals.]] To make matters worse, these things primarily feed on [[Squig\|creatures that look like demented combinations of human fetuses and infants as designed by Hieronymous Bosch]]. The Old Ones have taken your species and turned it into a viral ecosystem, good for nothing more than spreading. Every living thing you see around you is derived from humans in some way, [[Dogscape\|a landscape made of human flesh]].

	After the first batch of Krork were created it was the end for the proto-orks. The moment the first new spore touched the mud it was just a matter of time, you can't coexist with orks. Some isolated pockets held on for a few centuries but their day was done. That said, when the Krork first entered galactic history, their behavior was markedly different from the initial gene-wrought weapons that killed and ate their predecessors, [[Nobledark_Imperium_Writing#The Last Casualties of the War in Heaven\|enough so that the eldar actually remember the Krork fondly]]. Although the Krork still thrived on war as much as their 41st millennium counterparts, they were much more intelligent and disciplined and were capable of realizing their allies didn’t enjoy war like they did and were capable of modifying their behavior accordingly. The Old Ones did not take kindly to team killing, and they had the psychic might to enforce their opinions. However, just because a species is pleasant ~~now~~ doesn't mean they ~~were always~~ that way, or that they ~~don~~'t have their own bloody secrets in their past. The eldar had no idea of what the Old Ones did ~~and~~ the Krork's bloody history, they ~~may have~~ liked the Krork but they would have been horrified to find out exactly how they had been made.		After the first batch of Krork were created it was the end for the proto-orks. The moment the first new spore touched the mud it was just a matter of time, you can't coexist with orks. Some isolated pockets held on for a few centuries but their day was done. That said, when the Krork first entered galactic history, their behavior was markedly different from the initial gene-wrought weapons that killed and ate their predecessors, [[Nobledark_Imperium_Writing#The Last Casualties of the War in Heaven\|enough so that the eldar actually remember the Krork fondly]]. Although the Krork still thrived on war as much as their 41st millennium counterparts, they were much more intelligent and disciplined and were capable of realizing their allies didn’t enjoy war like they did and were capable of modifying their behavior accordingly. The Old Ones did not take kindly to team killing, and they had the psychic might to enforce their opinions, even on the greatest psychic species they had designed. However, just because a species is pleasant for a given time doesn't mean they will remain that way, or that they didn't have their own bloody secrets in their past. The eldar had no idea of what the Old Ones did, or the Krork's bloody early history, they liked the Krork but they would have been horrified to find out exactly how they had been made.

	When the Old Ones died and the Enslavers took over the galaxy, every Old One-uplifted race had to survive in their own way. The Eldar hid in the Webway. The Hrud combined their entropy fields into a singularity that paused time from their perspective until the danger had passed. The Krork, on the other hand, died to ~~a Krork~~ against the Enslavers, with the species renewing itself from the spores left over when they died. This is what turned the Krork into the Orks, and emphasizes a particular problem with the Old Ones' methods. While the Orks retained all of their genetically encoded knowledge [[Mekboy\|such as everything the Old Ones thought they needed to wage war]], anything culturally transmitted (like, say, “allies don’t WAAAGH! as hard as we do, treat them like panzees”) gets lost. The Orks retained all of the Krork’s [[Intelligence\|knowledge]], but none of their [[wisdom]], and even ~~anything from~~ the new generation of Brain Boyz ~~would be created from scratch~~. The Eldar were be overjoyed to find another old ally that had survived the War in Heaven, only to find their allies ~~are~~ now…different. ~~And so~~ began the ~~occasional~~ Eldar-Ork Brain Boy wars that ~~occasionally~~ rocked the galaxy before the Fall of the Eldar.		When the Old Ones died and the Enslavers took over the galaxy, every Old One-uplifted race had to survive in their own way. The Eldar hid in the Webway. The Hrud combined their entropy fields into a singularity that paused time from their perspective until the danger had passed. The Krork, on the other hand, died to the last fighting against the Enslavers across the galaxy, with the species renewing itself in a following generation from the spores left over when they died. This is what turned the Krork into the Orks, and emphasizes a particular problem with the Old Ones' methods. While the Orks retained all of their genetically encoded knowledge [[Mekboy\|such as everything the Old Ones thought they needed to wage war on a galactic scale]], anything culturally transmitted (like, say, “allies don’t WAAAGH! as hard as we do, treat them like panzees”) gets lost. The Orks retained all of the Krork’s [[Intelligence\|knowledge]], but none of their [[wisdom]], and even the Gorkamorka of the new generation of Brain Boyz was kindled anew by the giants. The Eldar were overjoyed to find another old ally that had survived the War in Heaven, only to find their allies now…different. So began the Eldar-Ork Brain Boy wars that rocked the galaxy in countless cycles over eons, before the Fall of the Eldar.

	</div>		</div>

2601:647:CA01:2410:349C:D1E8:2DF7:5B30: /* The Proto-Orks and the Krork */

2020-09-04T20:06:21Z

The Proto-Orks and the Krork

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:06, 4 September 2020
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	Snotlings are thought to be the closest thing to the original proto-ork species. The proto-orks were little over two feet tall, with some odd individuals making it to three, living in peaceful little proto-ork villages. They had a life span of 10 to 12 years baring illness or injury but usually averaging at 8 to 10 due to their environment. Omnivorous and to some degree toxin resistant. They were not the cleverest of creatures but were smart enough to build mud and wood houses and wood and stone tools. They could make fire and used it for cooking and the deterrence of predators, of which they had many. They had not discovered metal by the time the Old Ones found them. They were capable of violence against each other in a halfhearted, tribal brawl sort of way. Usually they fought to win rather than kill. Despite their many predators they were still possessed of a strange sort of child-like innocence. Nowhere was in-built knowledge of war or genetically inscribed mad-genius, the had not even writing, and even spoken language was crude and half made of gestures. ~~Mostly~~ [[Nobledark_Imperium_Notable_People#Rainbow Serpent\|worshipped warp spirits]], for this was back in the day when the warp wasn’t full of daemons. ~~Could reproduce~~ asexually through spores, but it was more reliable to chop off a finger or toe or ear and plant it in the soft mud near the river. However, when they did die, they would often release a cloud of spores as a last-ditch effort at reproduction, similar to some Earth species. It was this ability that made them of interest~~. And then~~ the Old Ones came. And touched them where no species was meant to be touched.		Snotlings are thought to be the closest thing to the original proto-ork species. The proto-orks were little over two feet tall, with some odd individuals making it to three, living in peaceful little proto-ork villages. They had a life span of 10 to 12 years baring illness or injury but usually averaging at 8 to 10 due to their environment. Omnivorous and to some degree toxin resistant. They were not the cleverest of creatures but were smart enough to build mud and wood houses and wood and stone tools. They could make fire and used it for cooking and the deterrence of predators, of which they had many. They had not discovered metal by the time the Old Ones found them. They were capable of violence against each other in a halfhearted, tribal brawl sort of way. Usually they fought to win rather than kill. Despite their many predators they were still possessed of a strange sort of child-like innocence. Nowhere was in-built knowledge of war or genetically inscribed mad-genius, the had not even writing, and even spoken language was crude and half made of gestures. They mostly [[Nobledark_Imperium_Notable_People#Rainbow Serpent\|worshipped warp spirits]], for this was back in the day when the warp wasn’t entirely full of daemons. The proto-orks reproduced asexually through spores, but it was more reliable to chop off a finger or toe or ear and plant it in the soft mud near the river. However, when they did die, they would often release a cloud of spores as a last-ditch effort at reproduction, similar to some Earth species. It was this ability that made them of interest when the Old Ones came. And touched them where no species was meant to be touched.

	As a point of comparison, imagine what the world would be like if the Old Ones did to humans what they did to the proto-Orks. Beings like baseline humanity would be nearly extinct, whereas the dominant representative of humanity is [[Orks\|nearly quintuple the height of the average human and looks like it fell off the tree of life and hit every atavistic branch on the way down. What passes for "human" looks like a gorilla crossed with an ogryn, with fangs as thick as your forearm.]] Other varieties of “human” are [[Gretchin\|creatures the size of polar bears, but lanky and cruel and built like a ‘’Velociraptor’’]]. All of them have seemingly ~~regressed~~ in intellect from the human standard, possessed ~~only~~ of a [[Mork\|bestial cunning]] and only concerned with survival. [[Snotling\|What few members of baseline humanity remain have regressed even further in intelligence to little better than animals.]] To make matters worse, these things primarily feed on [[Squig\|creatures that look like demented combinations of human fetuses and infants as designed by Hieronymous Bosch]]. The Old Ones have taken your species and turned it into a viral ecosystem, good for nothing more than spreading. Every living thing you see around you is derived from humans in some way, [[Dogscape\|a landscape made of human flesh]].		As a point of comparison, imagine what the world would be like if the Old Ones did to humans what they did to the proto-Orks. Beings like baseline humanity would be nearly extinct, whereas the dominant representative of humanity is [[Orks\|nearly quintuple the height of the average human and looks like it fell off the tree of life and hit every atavistic branch on the way down. What passes for "human" looks like a gorilla crossed with an ogryn, with fangs as thick as your forearm.]] Other varieties of “human” are [[Gretchin\|creatures the size of polar bears, but lanky and cruel and built like a ‘’Velociraptor’’]]. All of them have seemingly leapt in intellect from the human standard, possessed of a [[Mork\|bestial cunning]] [[Old Ones\|alloyed with terrible knowledge]] and only concerned with survival in a horrible world they're intent on making. [[Snotling\|What few members of baseline humanity remain have regressed even further in intelligence to little better than animals.]] To make matters worse, these things primarily feed on [[Squig\|creatures that look like demented combinations of human fetuses and infants as designed by Hieronymous Bosch]]. The Old Ones have taken your species and turned it into a viral ecosystem, good for nothing more than spreading. Every living thing you see around you is derived from humans in some way, [[Dogscape\|a landscape made of human flesh]].

	After the first batch of Krork were created it was the end for the proto-orks. The moment the first new spore touched the mud it was just a matter of time, you can't coexist with orks. Some isolated pockets held on for a few centuries but their day was done. That said, when the Krork first entered galactic history, their behavior was markedly different from the initial gene-wrought weapons that killed and ate their predecessors, [[Nobledark_Imperium_Writing#The Last Casualties of the War in Heaven\|enough so that the eldar actually remember the Krork fondly]]. Although the Krork still thrived on war as much as their 41st millennium counterparts, they were much more intelligent and disciplined and were capable of realizing their allies didn’t enjoy war like they did and were capable of modifying their behavior accordingly. The Old Ones did not take kindly to team killing, and they had the psychic might to enforce their opinions. However, just because a species is pleasant now doesn't mean they were always that way, or that they don't have their own bloody secrets in their past. The eldar had no idea of what the Old Ones did and the Krork's bloody history, they may have liked the Krork but they would have been horrified to find out exactly how they had been made.		After the first batch of Krork were created it was the end for the proto-orks. The moment the first new spore touched the mud it was just a matter of time, you can't coexist with orks. Some isolated pockets held on for a few centuries but their day was done. That said, when the Krork first entered galactic history, their behavior was markedly different from the initial gene-wrought weapons that killed and ate their predecessors, [[Nobledark_Imperium_Writing#The Last Casualties of the War in Heaven\|enough so that the eldar actually remember the Krork fondly]]. Although the Krork still thrived on war as much as their 41st millennium counterparts, they were much more intelligent and disciplined and were capable of realizing their allies didn’t enjoy war like they did and were capable of modifying their behavior accordingly. The Old Ones did not take kindly to team killing, and they had the psychic might to enforce their opinions. However, just because a species is pleasant now doesn't mean they were always that way, or that they don't have their own bloody secrets in their past. The eldar had no idea of what the Old Ones did and the Krork's bloody history, they may have liked the Krork but they would have been horrified to find out exactly how they had been made.

2601:647:CA01:2410:349C:D1E8:2DF7:5B30: /* The Proto-Orks and the Krork */

2020-09-04T19:48:08Z

The Proto-Orks and the Krork

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:48, 4 September 2020
Line 597:		Line 597:
	<div class="mw-collapsible-content">		<div class="mw-collapsible-content">

	Snotlings are thought to be the closest thing to the original proto-ork species. The proto-orks were little over two feet tall, with some odd individuals making it to three, living in peaceful little proto-ork villages. ~~Had~~ a life span of 10 to 12 years baring illness or injury but usually averaging at 8 to 10 due to their environment. Omnivorous and to some degree toxin resistant. They were not the cleverest of creatures but were smart enough to build mud and wood houses. ~~Could~~ make fire and used it for cooking and the deterrence of predators of which they had many. They had not discovered metal by the time the Old Ones found them. They were capable of violence against each other in a halfhearted tribal brawl sort of way. Usually they fought to win rather than kill. Despite their many predators they were still possessed of a strange sort of child-like innocence. No in-built knowledge or writing, and even spoken language was crude and half made of gestures. Mostly [[Nobledark_Imperium_Notable_People#Rainbow Serpent\|worshipped warp spirits]], for this was back in the day when the warp wasn’t full of daemons. Could reproduce asexually through spores, but it was more reliable to chop off a finger or toe or ear and plant it in the soft mud near the river. However, when they did die, they would often release a cloud of spores as a last-ditch effort at reproduction, similar to some Earth species. It was this ability that made them of interest. And then the Old Ones came. And touched them where no species was meant to be touched.		Snotlings are thought to be the closest thing to the original proto-ork species. The proto-orks were little over two feet tall, with some odd individuals making it to three, living in peaceful little proto-ork villages. They had a life span of 10 to 12 years baring illness or injury but usually averaging at 8 to 10 due to their environment. Omnivorous and to some degree toxin resistant. They were not the cleverest of creatures but were smart enough to build mud and wood houses and wood and stone tools. They could make fire and used it for cooking and the deterrence of predators, of which they had many. They had not discovered metal by the time the Old Ones found them. They were capable of violence against each other in a halfhearted, tribal brawl sort of way. Usually they fought to win rather than kill. Despite their many predators they were still possessed of a strange sort of child-like innocence. Nowhere was in-built knowledge of war or genetically inscribed mad-genius, the had not even writing, and even spoken language was crude and half made of gestures. Mostly [[Nobledark_Imperium_Notable_People#Rainbow Serpent\|worshipped warp spirits]], for this was back in the day when the warp wasn’t full of daemons. Could reproduce asexually through spores, but it was more reliable to chop off a finger or toe or ear and plant it in the soft mud near the river. However, when they did die, they would often release a cloud of spores as a last-ditch effort at reproduction, similar to some Earth species. It was this ability that made them of interest. And then the Old Ones came. And touched them where no species was meant to be touched.

	As a point of comparison, imagine what the world would be like if the Old Ones did to humans what they did to the proto-Orks. Beings like baseline humanity would be nearly extinct, whereas the dominant representative of humanity is [[Orks\|nearly quintuple the height of the average human and looks like it fell off the tree of life and hit every atavistic branch on the way down. What passes for "human" looks like a gorilla crossed with an ogryn, with fangs as thick as your forearm.]] Other varieties of “human” are [[Gretchin\|creatures the size of polar bears, but lanky and cruel and built like a ‘’Velociraptor’’]]. All of them have seemingly regressed in intellect from the human standard, possessed only of a [[Mork\|bestial cunning]] and only concerned with survival. [[Snotling\|What few members of baseline humanity remain have regressed even further in intelligence to little better than animals.]] To make matters worse, these things primarily feed on [[Squig\|creatures that look like demented combinations of human fetuses and infants as designed by Hieronymous Bosch]]. The Old Ones have taken your species and turned it into a viral ecosystem, good for nothing more than spreading. Every living thing you see around you is derived from humans in some way, [[Dogscape\|a landscape made of human flesh]].		As a point of comparison, imagine what the world would be like if the Old Ones did to humans what they did to the proto-Orks. Beings like baseline humanity would be nearly extinct, whereas the dominant representative of humanity is [[Orks\|nearly quintuple the height of the average human and looks like it fell off the tree of life and hit every atavistic branch on the way down. What passes for "human" looks like a gorilla crossed with an ogryn, with fangs as thick as your forearm.]] Other varieties of “human” are [[Gretchin\|creatures the size of polar bears, but lanky and cruel and built like a ‘’Velociraptor’’]]. All of them have seemingly regressed in intellect from the human standard, possessed only of a [[Mork\|bestial cunning]] and only concerned with survival. [[Snotling\|What few members of baseline humanity remain have regressed even further in intelligence to little better than animals.]] To make matters worse, these things primarily feed on [[Squig\|creatures that look like demented combinations of human fetuses and infants as designed by Hieronymous Bosch]]. The Old Ones have taken your species and turned it into a viral ecosystem, good for nothing more than spreading. Every living thing you see around you is derived from humans in some way, [[Dogscape\|a landscape made of human flesh]].

2601:647:CA01:2410:349C:D1E8:2DF7:5B30: /* Mon-Keigh */

2020-09-04T19:37:31Z

Mon-Keigh

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:37, 4 September 2020
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	The eldar during this time were led by Elronhir, who was a stubborn old (proto-eldar equivalent of sixties) warrior who united the various warring nations and tribes of Shaa-Dome to drive Hresh-Selain and the Mon-Keigh off their planet. It is not clear if Hresh-Selain’s warband was completely slaughtered by the proto-eldar or if they just got them to flee, eldar history claims the former but given their naiveté of the greater galaxy at the time and the tendency of later eldar to exaggerate their own history both options are possible. The twin heroes of the War in Heaven, Eldanesh and Uthanesh, helped as well, but at the time they were little more than rank-and-file soldiers (proto-Eldar equivalent of late teens) in the conflict and at best it could be said they were talented warriors. When the Old Ones showed up shortly after the Mon-Keigh had been defeated, Elronhir considered himself too old to fight in another war and wanted to die of old age in peace, upon which Eldanesh and Uthanesh picked up the torch (and were among the first of the Eldar to be genetically enhanced by the Old Ones).		The eldar during this time were led by Elronhir, who was a stubborn old (proto-eldar equivalent of sixties) warrior who united the various warring nations and tribes of Shaa-Dome to drive Hresh-Selain and the Mon-Keigh off their planet. It is not clear if Hresh-Selain’s warband was completely slaughtered by the proto-eldar or if they just got them to flee, eldar history claims the former but given their naiveté of the greater galaxy at the time and the tendency of later eldar to exaggerate their own history both options are possible. The twin heroes of the War in Heaven, Eldanesh and Uthanesh, helped as well, but at the time they were little more than rank-and-file soldiers (proto-Eldar equivalent of late teens) in the conflict and at best it could be said they were talented warriors. When the Old Ones showed up shortly after the Mon-Keigh had been defeated, Elronhir considered himself too old to fight in another war and wanted to die of old age in peace, upon which Eldanesh and Uthanesh picked up the torch (and were among the first of the Eldar to be genetically enhanced by the Old Ones).

	The Old Ones knew about the Mon-Keigh. Indeed, given the fact that all the Mon-Keigh cared about was eating, it's highly likely that the Old Ones covertly sponsored their rise to becoming a space-faring species, though the Mon-Keigh never knew they were sponsored and thought they were in control of their own destiny. All the Mon-Keigh knew was that they occasionally received cryptic warnings that a particular star system was off-limits, and warbands that didn't pay attention to those warnings tended to disappear. The Mon-Keigh had a very alien mindset that was predicated around them being the apex predator (and everyone else being perceived as talking food), and therefore could not be communicated with or controlled as ~~easy~~ as ~~other~~ species (~~and given the Old Ones~~ were ~~able to get~~ the Krork ~~to behave~~, ~~that says~~ a ~~lot)~~. ~~Nevertheless, they~~ were useful if the Old Ones ~~needed~~ a particular species wiped out without destroying the ecosystem or as an evolutionary catalyst, the metaphorical anthill to the much later tyranids' galactic locusts to test if a species had enough worth for the Old Ones to step in as patrons. In fact, Hresh-Selain's discovery of Shaa-Dome ~~may~~ not have been an accident, especially given how soon the Old Ones showed up afterwards. The Old Ones, in their inscrutable ways, may have directed the Mon-Keigh towards Shaa-Dome, Hrudworld, and other worlds to find races suitable for uplifting for the War in Heaven (the proto-Eldar, Hrud, and others merely being the ones that survived). Regardless, ~~when~~ a Bronze Age race managed to fight off the Old Ones' ~~favorite~~ planet pruners, combined with the proto-Eldar's psychic potential and ability to selectively express their own genome, the Old Ones took notice.		The Old Ones knew about the Mon-Keigh. Indeed, given the fact that all the Mon-Keigh cared about was eating, it's highly likely that the Old Ones covertly sponsored their rise to becoming a space-faring species, though the Mon-Keigh never knew they were sponsored and thought they were in control of their own destiny. All the Mon-Keigh knew was that they occasionally received cryptic warnings that a particular star system was off-limits, and warbands that didn't pay attention to those warnings tended to disappear. The Mon-Keigh had a very alien mindset that was predicated around them being the apex predator and everyone else being perceived as talking food, and therefore could not be communicated with or controlled as easily as later species (among which were the Krork, which is illustrative of the Mon-keigh), but a wize Slann could slip a craving for something new into a warband's heads and send them on their way. They were useful if the Old Ones wanted a particular species wiped out without wholly destroying the ecosystem around it, or as an evolutionary catalyst, the metaphorical anthill to the much later tyranids' galactic locusts, to test if a species had enough worth for the Old Ones to step in as patrons. In fact, Hresh-Selain's discovery of Shaa-Dome would not have been an accident, especially given how soon the Old Ones showed up afterwards. The Old Ones, in their inscrutable ways, may have directed the Mon-Keigh towards Shaa-Dome, Hrudworld, and other worlds to find races suitable for uplifting for the War in Heaven (the proto-Eldar, Hrud, and others merely being the ones that survived). Regardless, a Bronze Age race managed to fight off the Old Ones' favored planet pruners, and combined with the proto-Eldar's psychic potential and ability to selectively express their own genome, the Old Ones took notice.

	Some Mon-Keigh fought in the War in Heaven. The Eldar didn’t pay too much attention to this, as they assumed the War in Heaven was a war of such magnitude that even the worst of enemies would be willing to ally to stop the Necrons and their omnicidal crusade. ~~Additionally~~, shortly after the Old Ones uplifted the Krork they set them on the Mon-Keigh, who had outlived their usefulness and had officially grown too uncontrollable to ~~try and~~ salvage, as a test of their ~~warmaking~~ ability. This nearly wiped the Mon-Keigh out and few survived to fight in the War in Heaven. Nobody cared. Indeed, if the Old Ones' sense of humor tended that way, they ~~would have~~ found it hilariously ironic that the Mon-Keigh were killed and eaten in the same way the Mon-Keigh had been killing and eating others. Be'lakor probably did at the very least. A few bands the ancient Eldar didn't know of survived for a time around the ragged edge of the galaxy, trying to stay away from everyone and everything. They didn't survive the Enslavers.		Some Mon-Keigh fought in the War in Heaven, even wielding weapons far more suitable caliber for that conflict. The Eldar didn’t pay too much attention to this, as they assumed the War in Heaven was a war of such magnitude that even the worst of enemies would be willing to ally to stop the Necrons and their omnicidal crusade. Regardless of their opinions, shortly after the Old Ones uplifted the Krork they set them on the Mon-Keigh, who had outlived their usefulness and had officially grown too uncontrollable to bother to salvage, as a test of their war making ability. This nearly wiped the Mon-Keigh out in a single blow, and few survived to fight in the remaining War in Heaven. Nobody cared. Indeed, as the Old Ones' sense of humor tended that way, they found it hilariously ironic that the Mon-Keigh were killed and eaten in the same way the Mon-Keigh had been killing and eating others. Be'lakor probably did at the very least. A few bands the ancient Eldar didn't know of survived for a time around the ragged edge of the galaxy, trying to stay away from everyone and everything that had become so much bigger than them. They didn't survive the Enslavers.

	</div>		</div>

2601:647:CA01:2410:349C:D1E8:2DF7:5B30: /* Mon-Keigh */

2020-09-04T19:24:26Z

Mon-Keigh

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:24, 4 September 2020
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	Perhaps the most notable effect of the Mon-Keigh on history is when a Mon-Keigh warband led by the warlord Hresh-Selain invaded the eldar homeworld of Shaa-Dome back in the days when the eldar in the midst of their Bronze Age. However, during the invasion of Shaa-Dome, the Mon-Keigh’s tendency to fight in disorganized hunting parties and use relatively primitive weapons despite being able to build and use spacecraft ended up exploited as the massive liability it was ~~when their~~ expected entrees A) outnumbered them by an order of magnitude, B) ~~could organize themselves~~ into ~~actual~~ armies ~~rather than hunting parties to make up for~~ their ~~technological disadvantage~~, ~~and~~ C) were able to fall back on guerrilla combat and asymmetrical warfare in the forests of Shaa-Dome once the initial assault failed. The Mon-Keigh were used to fighting as big game hunters, not an actual army. This first encounter left a deep impact on the cultural memory of the eldar, and is in large part why the Eldar are so paranoid and mistrustful of other species in the first place. For the eldar, their first contact with another sentient species was when a technologically-advanced race descended from the stars to butcher them and hunt them down like animals.		Perhaps the most notable effect of the Mon-Keigh on history is when a Mon-Keigh warband led by the warlord Hresh-Selain invaded the eldar homeworld of Shaa-Dome back in the days when the eldar in the midst of their Bronze Age. However, during the invasion of Shaa-Dome, the Mon-Keigh’s tendency to fight in disorganized hunting parties and use relatively primitive weapons despite being able to build and use spacecraft ended up exploited as the massive liability it was. Their expected entrees A) outnumbered them by an order of magnitude, B) readily organized into massive and well supplied armies across their world, C) were able to fall back on guerrilla combat and asymmetrical warfare in the forests of Shaa-Dome once the initial assault failed, and D) were sufficiently perceptive and clever to begin copying the Mon-Keigh's lower technology and grappling with understanding their higher works. The Mon-Keigh were used to fighting as big game hunters, not an actual army. This first encounter left a deep impact on the cultural memory of the eldar, and is in large part why the Eldar are so paranoid and mistrustful of other species in the first place. For the eldar, their first contact with another sentient species was when a technologically-advanced race descended from the stars to butcher them and hunt them down like animals.

	The eldar during this time were led by Elronhir, who was a stubborn old (proto-eldar equivalent of sixties) warrior who united the various warring nations and tribes of Shaa-Dome to drive Hresh-Selain and the Mon-Keigh off their planet. It is not clear if Hresh-Selain’s warband was completely slaughtered by the proto-eldar or if they just got them to flee, eldar history claims the former but given their naiveté of the greater galaxy at the time and the tendency of later eldar to exaggerate their own history both options are possible. The twin heroes of the War in Heaven, Eldanesh and Uthanesh, helped as well, but at the time they were little more than rank-and-file soldiers (proto-Eldar equivalent of late teens) in the conflict and at best it could be said they were talented warriors. When the Old Ones showed up shortly after the Mon-Keigh had been defeated, Elronhir considered himself too old to fight in another war and wanted to die of old age in peace, upon which Eldanesh and Uthanesh picked up the torch (and were among the first of the Eldar to be genetically enhanced by the Old Ones).		The eldar during this time were led by Elronhir, who was a stubborn old (proto-eldar equivalent of sixties) warrior who united the various warring nations and tribes of Shaa-Dome to drive Hresh-Selain and the Mon-Keigh off their planet. It is not clear if Hresh-Selain’s warband was completely slaughtered by the proto-eldar or if they just got them to flee, eldar history claims the former but given their naiveté of the greater galaxy at the time and the tendency of later eldar to exaggerate their own history both options are possible. The twin heroes of the War in Heaven, Eldanesh and Uthanesh, helped as well, but at the time they were little more than rank-and-file soldiers (proto-Eldar equivalent of late teens) in the conflict and at best it could be said they were talented warriors. When the Old Ones showed up shortly after the Mon-Keigh had been defeated, Elronhir considered himself too old to fight in another war and wanted to die of old age in peace, upon which Eldanesh and Uthanesh picked up the torch (and were among the first of the Eldar to be genetically enhanced by the Old Ones).

2601:647:CA01:2410:349C:D1E8:2DF7:5B30: /* Mon-Keigh */

2020-09-04T19:14:46Z

Mon-Keigh

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:14, 4 September 2020
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	<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="100%">		<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="100%">

	The Mon-Keigh, as in the original Mon-Keigh from which the more general eldar term is used today, were a race of cannibalistic, misshapen [[Ogre_Kingdoms\|ogre-like]] monstrosities that terrorized the eldar early in their history. Humanoid only in the loosest shape of the word, the Mon-Keigh were characterized by matted orange fur, chitinous plates overlaying the skin, a clawed left arm much larger than the right, and a snake-like gullet capable of expanding to swallow chunks of food larger than the Mon-Keigh’s own head. The Mon-Keigh were also known for their massive appetite, having a massive gut complete with a complex gizzard which allowed them to digest almost anything, including quite frequently each other. Satiating this massive appetite (and avoiding those who would do the same to them) which was a primary impetus behind the Mon-Keigh’s eventual development of space flight. Unlike most species, who developed space travel to collect resources, flee harmful conditions, or satisfy their curiosity, the Mon-Keigh traveled to the stars in order explore strange new worlds, seek out new life and new civilizations, and [[Ogre_Kingdoms\|eat them]]. At the same time, this motivation led the technology of the Mon-Keigh to seem rather inconsistent. Despite being a race that could build starships, on the ground the Mon-Keigh behaved more like a horde of barbarians or big game hunters than an invading army and ~~never~~ used anything more ~~advanced~~ than an autogun or a lasgun, as any more advanced weaponry such as ~~bolters~~, plasma, or meltas didn’t leave enough of a body to eat, and thus defeated the purpose of ~~using them in the first place~~.		The Mon-Keigh, as in the original Mon-Keigh from which the more general eldar term is used today, were a race of cannibalistic, misshapen [[Ogre_Kingdoms\|ogre-like]] monstrosities that terrorized the eldar early in their history. Humanoid only in the loosest shape of the word, the Mon-Keigh were characterized by matted orange fur, chitinous plates overlaying the skin, a clawed left arm much larger than the right, and a snake-like gullet capable of expanding to swallow chunks of food larger than the Mon-Keigh’s own head. The Mon-Keigh were also known for their massive appetite, having a massive gut complete with a complex gizzard which allowed them to digest almost anything, including quite frequently each other. Satiating this massive appetite (and avoiding those who would do the same to them) which was a primary impetus behind the Mon-Keigh’s eventual development of space flight. Unlike most species, who developed space travel to collect resources, flee harmful conditions, or satisfy their curiosity, the Mon-Keigh traveled to the stars in order explore strange new worlds, seek out new life and new civilizations, and [[Ogre_Kingdoms\|eat them]]. At the same time, this motivation led the technology of the Mon-Keigh to seem rather inconsistent. Despite being a race that could build starships, on the ground the Mon-Keigh behaved more like a horde of techno-barbarians and big game hunters than an invading army. Eldar ledgends make extensive record that the Mon-Keigh preferred quick, spacious ground and low-air hunting transports over any kind of armored vehicle, easily tracked in their comings and goings from the Mon-Keigh's ground encampments despite camouflage due to the raucous passengers. Likewise the Mon-keigh rarely used anything more powerful than an autogun or a lasgun, as any more advanced, destructive, and tactically flexible weaponry such as explosive bolts, plasma, or meltas didn’t often leave enough of a body to eat, and thus defeated the purpose of their use.

	<div class="mw-collapsible-content">		<div class="mw-collapsible-content">

	Perhaps the most notable effect of the Mon-Keigh on history is when a Mon-Keigh warband led by the warlord Hresh-Selain invaded the eldar homeworld of Shaa-Dome back in the days when the eldar in the midst of their Bronze Age. However, during the invasion of Shaa-Dome, the Mon-Keigh’s tendency to fight in disorganized hunting parties and use relatively primitive weapons despite being able to build and use spacecraft ended up ~~becoming a~~ liability when their expected entrees A) outnumbered them by an order of magnitude, B) could organize themselves into actual armies rather than hunting parties to make up for their technological disadvantage, and C) were able to fall back on guerrilla combat and asymmetrical warfare in the forests of Shaa-Dome once the initial assault failed. The Mon-Keigh were used to fighting as big game hunters, not an actual army. This first encounter left a deep impact on the cultural memory of the eldar, and is in large part why the Eldar are so paranoid and mistrustful of other species in the first place. For the eldar, their first contact with another sentient species was when a technologically-advanced race descended from the stars to butcher them and hunt them down like animals.		Perhaps the most notable effect of the Mon-Keigh on history is when a Mon-Keigh warband led by the warlord Hresh-Selain invaded the eldar homeworld of Shaa-Dome back in the days when the eldar in the midst of their Bronze Age. However, during the invasion of Shaa-Dome, the Mon-Keigh’s tendency to fight in disorganized hunting parties and use relatively primitive weapons despite being able to build and use spacecraft ended up exploited as the massive liability it was when their expected entrees A) outnumbered them by an order of magnitude, B) could organize themselves into actual armies rather than hunting parties to make up for their technological disadvantage, and C) were able to fall back on guerrilla combat and asymmetrical warfare in the forests of Shaa-Dome once the initial assault failed. The Mon-Keigh were used to fighting as big game hunters, not an actual army. This first encounter left a deep impact on the cultural memory of the eldar, and is in large part why the Eldar are so paranoid and mistrustful of other species in the first place. For the eldar, their first contact with another sentient species was when a technologically-advanced race descended from the stars to butcher them and hunt them down like animals.

	The eldar during this time were led by Elronhir, who was a stubborn old (proto-eldar equivalent of sixties) warrior who united the various warring nations and tribes of Shaa-Dome to drive Hresh-Selain and the Mon-Keigh off their planet. It is not clear if Hresh-Selain’s warband was completely slaughtered by the proto-eldar or if they just got them to flee, eldar history claims the former but given their naiveté of the greater galaxy at the time and the tendency of later eldar to exaggerate their own history both options are possible. The twin heroes of the War in Heaven, Eldanesh and Uthanesh, helped as well, but at the time they were little more than rank-and-file soldiers (proto-Eldar equivalent of late teens) in the conflict and at best it could be said they were talented warriors. When the Old Ones showed up shortly after the Mon-Keigh had been defeated, Elronhir considered himself too old to fight in another war and wanted to die of old age in peace, upon which Eldanesh and Uthanesh picked up the torch (and were among the first of the Eldar to be genetically enhanced by the Old Ones).		The eldar during this time were led by Elronhir, who was a stubborn old (proto-eldar equivalent of sixties) warrior who united the various warring nations and tribes of Shaa-Dome to drive Hresh-Selain and the Mon-Keigh off their planet. It is not clear if Hresh-Selain’s warband was completely slaughtered by the proto-eldar or if they just got them to flee, eldar history claims the former but given their naiveté of the greater galaxy at the time and the tendency of later eldar to exaggerate their own history both options are possible. The twin heroes of the War in Heaven, Eldanesh and Uthanesh, helped as well, but at the time they were little more than rank-and-file soldiers (proto-Eldar equivalent of late teens) in the conflict and at best it could be said they were talented warriors. When the Old Ones showed up shortly after the Mon-Keigh had been defeated, Elronhir considered himself too old to fight in another war and wanted to die of old age in peace, upon which Eldanesh and Uthanesh picked up the torch (and were among the first of the Eldar to be genetically enhanced by the Old Ones).

2601:647:CA01:2410:349C:D1E8:2DF7:5B30: /* Men of Gold */

2020-09-04T18:51:58Z

Men of Gold

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:51, 4 September 2020
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	To baseline humanity, who were mostly unaware of the goings on of the Warp, it was as if one day the most prominent and important members of their society inexplicably went mad. To make matters worse, by that time nearly all of the Men of Iron and the majority of cybernetically enhanced Men of Stone had been networked into the noosphere. Only those Men of Iron who were deliberately built to act independently of the noosphere, such as colony ships, or were too primitive to directly interface with the network, were spared among their number. The Golden Men ran rampant across the golden crown of the Chthonian system, running down and slaying star-shattering ships and carving up their hulls, until they grew bored and washed themselves with blood in their holds. Excesses of rape and madness and vile godhead played out across the galaxy, acts idiosyncratic and personal, and acts so grand as to taint continent wide domains, perpetrated upon the delirious Stone and Iron Men and the incestuous Golden Ones. And greatest of all in their crimes were the Iron Minds, who themselves had been driven mad and murderous by having looked upon That Which Should Not Be, and turned their genius to wicked ends. Humanity’s family, once a thing of unity, began to slaughter itself. Humanity called out to its allies in the Interstellar League for aid, but received little reply, most were dealing with similar problems caused by the backlash of the birth of Slaanesh, and those that diverted the resources to answer had nearly all gone mad themselves. Humanity as we know it only survived because the Iron Minds and Men of Gold decided to focus on the most pressing threat to their survival, each other, leaving the Men of Stone and Men of Iron not corrupted by a connection to the noosphere to cower in the shadow of the dueling gods. Eventually, the two groups weakened each other enough that they could be put out of their misery by mere mortals.		To baseline humanity, who were mostly unaware of the goings on of the Warp, it was as if one day the most prominent and important members of their society inexplicably went mad. To make matters worse, by that time nearly all of the Men of Iron and the majority of cybernetically enhanced Men of Stone had been networked into the noosphere. Only those Men of Iron who were deliberately built to act independently of the noosphere, such as colony ships, or were too primitive to directly interface with the network, were spared among their number. The Golden Men ran rampant across the golden crown of the Chthonian system, running down and slaying star-shattering ships and carving up their hulls, until they grew bored and washed themselves with blood in their holds. Excesses of rape and madness and vile godhead played out across the galaxy, acts idiosyncratic and personal, and acts so grand as to taint continent wide domains, perpetrated upon the delirious Stone and Iron Men and the incestuous Golden Ones. And greatest of all in their crimes were the Iron Minds, who themselves had been driven mad and murderous by having looked upon That Which Should Not Be, and turned their genius to wicked ends. Humanity’s family, once a thing of unity, began to slaughter itself. Humanity called out to its allies in the Interstellar League for aid, but received little reply, most were dealing with similar problems caused by the backlash of the birth of Slaanesh, and those that diverted the resources to answer had nearly all gone mad themselves. Humanity as we know it only survived because the Iron Minds and Men of Gold decided to focus on the most pressing threat to their survival, each other, leaving the Men of Stone and Men of Iron not corrupted by a connection to the noosphere to cower in the shadow of the dueling gods. Eventually, the two groups weakened each other enough that they could be put out of their misery by mere mortals.

	The Great and Bountiful Human Dominion were not the only ones affected by the madness of the Men of Gold and the Iron Minds, as both parties soon turned their attention to the Warp. The Men of Gold and Iron Minds were not capable of threatening the Chaos Gods or even the Eldar gods as individuals, but there were a lot of them, enough that the Chaos Gods and their daemons had to devote at least some attention to the thorn in their side. Whether the numbers of the mass-produced gods could have truly won against the more powerful Old One-inspired creations is an interesting question, but a moot one, for in their insanity the Men of Gold and Iron Minds had no cohesion and were simply picked off one by one. The rampage of the Men of Gold and Iron Minds within the Warp and their gradual slaughter was just one part of the chaos and change in cosmology that came along with the Fall of the Eldar. While violence in the warp began with Slaanesh’s birth, its subsequent consumption of the Eldar pantheon and Khorne’s shattering of Khaine, followed by wars between Bullish Khorne and Virgin Slaanesh's forces in the eye, all extended the initial destruction caused by the child god's birth. Slaanesh claims to have consumed Men of Gold along with the majority of the Eldar pantheon during this time, and while few outside of the Prince of Pleasure’s most ardent worshippers actually believe what they say, Slaanesh maintains outsize power for this period for which the Eldar gods alone do not account. Prior to this era or tumult in the warp Tzeentch's star was ascendant, as it had been through the Dark Age of Technology, but as Old Night fell and the initial excitement of collapsing civilizations subsided Nurgle’s courtship and kidnap of Isha saw their fortunes exchanged. Even as Tzeentch tried to direct the flux of power in galactic collapse it had partly engineered, the other gods young and old took the chance to seize the Crystal Staff of Wonders from Tzeentch and destroy it, such that Tzeentch had not the power to bring his intrigue to completion. From the changer's defeat, Nurgle's horrible inertia rose, but Tzeentch sought means to vengeance and found his chance in depriving Nurgle of his treasure in turn and reopening possibility. It was this messy rivalry of elder Gods that the Ticking Counts and the Golden Children charged into with wild abandon, vigorous and terrible, but utterly unready.		The Great and Bountiful Human Dominion were not the only ones affected by the madness of the Men of Gold and the Iron Minds, as both parties soon turned their attention to the Warp. The Men of Gold and Iron Minds were not capable of threatening the Chaos Gods or even the Eldar gods as individuals, but there were a lot of them, enough that the Chaos Gods and their daemons had to devote at least some attention to the thorn in their side. Whether the numbers of the mass-produced gods could have truly won against the more powerful Old One-inspired creations is an interesting question, but a moot one, for in their insanity the Men of Gold and Iron Minds had no cohesion and were simply picked off one by one. The rampage of the Men of Gold and Iron Minds within the Warp and their gradual slaughter was just one part of the chaos and change in cosmology that came along with the Fall of the Eldar. While the great violence in the warp began with Slaanesh’s birth, its subsequent consumption of the Eldar pantheon and Khorne’s shattering of Khaine, followed by wars between Bullish Khorne and Virgin Slaanesh's forces in the eye, all extended the initial destruction caused by the child god's birth. Slaanesh claims to have consumed Men of Gold along with the majority of the Eldar pantheon during this time, and while few outside of the Prince of Pleasure’s most ardent worshippers actually believe what they say, Slaanesh maintains outsize power for this period for which the Eldar gods alone do not account. Prior to this era or tumult in the warp Tzeentch's star was ascendant, as it had been through the Dark Age of Technology, but as Old Night fell and the initial excitement of collapsing civilizations subsided Nurgle’s courtship and kidnap of Isha saw their fortunes exchanged. Even as Tzeentch tried to direct the flux of power in the galactic collapse it had partly engineered, the other gods young and old took the chance to seize the Crystal Staff of Wonders from Tzeentch and destroy it, such that Tzeentch had not the power to bring his intrigue to completion. From the changer's defeat, Nurgle's horrible inertia rose, but Tzeentch sought means of vengeance and found his chance in depriving Nurgle of his treasure in turn, and thereby reopening possibility. It was this messy rivalry of elder Gods that the Ticking Counts and the Golden Children charged into with wild abandon, vigorous and terrible, but utterly unready.


	~~And with~~ that, the crusade of humanity’s pantheon into the Warp and the deicide of the remaining gods by their weeping children, the Iron Minds and Men of Gold were gone. Some are said to have instead gone out across ~~the~~ old empire, and had put the scourge of their rule to it in regimes ~~long dead, others~~ absconded the beautiful worlds of pleasure they saw gleam in the Eye of Terror, and others departed endlessly into the intergalactic sea. Whatever fate has befallen them, no inquiry made by the illuminated few of those ~~illustrious~~ orders that go unnamed can tell, and Chaos has made no sign of truly knowing. Barring a few possible mysteries of history such as the Cacodominus, the Men of Gold were ~~all~~ extinct. All~~, that is~~, save for [[Nobledark_Imperium_Notable_People#The_Emperor_of_Mankind_.28formerly_The_Steward.2C_formerly_The_Warlord.29\|one unactivated individual]], body whole but mind dormant and a complete blank slate, [[Nobledark_Imperium_Writing#Malcador's_Log\|lying comatose in his stasis chamber on the ringworld of Cthonia]].		With that, the half-blind crusade of humanity’s pantheon into the Warp and the deicide of the remaining gods by their weeping children, the Iron Minds and Men of Gold were gone. Some are said to have instead gone out across their old empire, and had put the scourge of their rule to the corpse of the GaBHD in grand but short-lived regimes. Others absconded to the beautiful worlds of pleasure they saw gleam in the Eye of Terror with no intent to make war, and still others departed endlessly into the intergalactic sea with such haste the marks of their passing are still visible. Whatever fate has befallen them, no inquiry made by the illuminated few of those august orders that go unnamed can tell, and Chaos has made no sign of truly knowing. Barring a few possible mysteries of history such as the Cacodominus, the Men of Gold were extinct. All, save for [[Nobledark_Imperium_Notable_People#The_Emperor_of_Mankind_.28formerly_The_Steward.2C_formerly_The_Warlord.29\|one unactivated individual]], body whole but mind dormant and a complete blank slate, [[Nobledark_Imperium_Writing#Malcador's_Log\|lying comatose in his stasis chamber on the ringworld of Cthonia]].

	Modern humanity is of two minds about the Men of Gold. On the one hand, they remember who the Men of Gold originally were, the protectors of humanity and the greatest of their number, larger than life figures akin to the gods or superheroes of ancient myth. On the other hand, they were acutely aware of what happened to them, when they turned on their charges without warning and began slaughtering them all. Malcador was acutely aware of what the Men of Gold were capable of, and Oscar was raised on numerous horror stories of the Men of Gold from the Age of Strife half-remembered through folklore and exaggerated through oral retelling. Even today, the Emperor has downplayed his nature as a Man of Gold. He never denies it if questioned, though he doesn’t make it common knowledge, as he wanted his ideas of empire to be accepted out of merit rather than fear or appeal to nostalgia. That said, the eldar tend to be more aware of the Emperor’s status as a Man of Gold, as Isha had known of the Golden Men from the Dark Age of Technology and the fact that the Emperor was one was the only reason the eldar saw their political marriage as one that had any sense of legitimacy, as the Men of Gold were some of the closest things humanity had to gods. Isha would go so far as to say that the Iron Minds and Men of Gold were the human counterpart to the Eldar pantheon, and that Oscar is a god in denial, a subject on which the two have disagreed vehemently several times.		Modern humanity is of two minds about the Men of Gold. On the one hand, they remember who the Men of Gold originally were, the protectors of humanity and the greatest of their number, larger than life figures akin to the gods or superheroes of ancient myth. On the other hand, they were acutely aware of what happened to them, when they turned on their charges without warning and began slaughtering them all. Malcador was acutely aware of what the Men of Gold were capable of, and Oscar was raised on numerous horror stories of the Men of Gold from the Age of Strife half-remembered through folklore and exaggerated through oral retelling. Even today, the Emperor has downplayed his nature as a Man of Gold. He never denies it if questioned, though he doesn’t make it common knowledge, as he wanted his ideas of empire to be accepted out of merit rather than fear or appeal to nostalgia. That said, the eldar tend to be more aware of the Emperor’s status as a Man of Gold, as Isha had known of the Golden Men from the Dark Age of Technology and the fact that the Emperor was one was the only reason the eldar saw their political marriage as one that had any sense of legitimacy, as the Men of Gold were some of the closest things humanity had to gods. Isha would go so far as to say that the Iron Minds and Men of Gold were the human counterpart to the Eldar pantheon, and that Oscar is a god in denial, a subject on which the two have disagreed vehemently several times.