Addendum to Galasparby Jeffrey ArpWhelp, I've decided that I'd reinstate the tradition that I started (and stopped) with my first ever list story, "Whom the Gods Kill", and go a little in-depth behind the chars and such of the story. So if you're interested, read on... Warning, though, if you haven't read the full story yet, I'd suggest doing that first, as some of the later stuff is talked about here... Galaspar: Perhaps the name of the planet that this story took place on might have sounded familiar to you as you read it. Well, it should have <g>. The name was taken from a piece of fiction, a blurb really, from the 2nd edition 40k rulebook. It is on page 90, and is actually a blurb for a very interesting drawing on that page. But that didn't interest me much, it was the blurb itself, and I quote: "From every culvert and gutter erupted the scum of a thousand generations in the breeding, a great swarm of evil and destruction, and darkness consumed the city of Galaspar." As you can see, my story is based very little on this quote (mine was a planet, this Galaspar was a town, cultists or something similar were the main force in this "event", while mine it was SMs and CSMs,), but the overall feel and atmosphere of this single sentence really helped to focus and bring everything into clarity about the story I was working on. 'Galaspar' had a nice, almost Biblical sound to it (at least to me), and just had that certain "quality" to the sound that helped define how everything was to transpire. Also, this convinced me that the "New Style" of GW's fiction making could be tolerable, as it was just a simple little blurb that touched off a fuller story. I still think that there's some vital info being left out that GW needs to correct/touch on, but I think I can manage <g>... Now I'm not sure if my descriptions were good enough to make it clear, but the habitable land that the war takes place on is essentially a duplicate of Babylon, the Middle East, Cradle of Civilization, etc etc. Instead of the Tigris and Euphrates, it was Eubulides and Legion. The name Eubulides has two real sources; the original was Eubulus ("well advised" or "good counsel"), a biblical Christian from 2nd Timothy 4:21. I wanted to change the name a bit, and that's when I came across Eubulides, a sculptor who makes images of Apollo. I found the name while looking through the "The Demosthenes Page" (http://www.accd.edu/sac/english/bailey/demosthe.htm) which contains the article "Against Eubulides" from Tufts University's "Perseus Project" (http://classics.mit.edu/Demosthenes/dem.57.html). The import of the name, if you are interested, really still resides in the original "good counsel" translation of the biblical name, as I thought it would fit as a sort of poetic/ironic definition for the river which served as the background to the Sisters' demise, and also partially for the citizens of Hive Apodeixis. Speaking of which, the Hive's name comes from a word I came across on this Eastern Church webpage: http://goa.goarch.org/patriarchate/ecumenical_patriarchate/chapter_4/html/st_euphemia.html Here's the actual quote: "On 8 July 1704, the Patriarch Gabriel III of Chalcedon issued an APODEIXIS to the Christians of Constantinople enjoining that the feast-day of St. Euphemia be celebrated annually with a procession round her holy relic placed in the middle of the patriarchal church." I liked the sound of the word, but didn't know what it meant, so I did a quick internet dictionary search, and came up with "1) a making manifest, showing forth, 2) a demonstration, proof" And since that in a way fit really well with what I had sketched out beforehand (the mass deaths of the inhabitants), I saw that it was good... <g> The River Legion, much more obvious to most, is named from the demon(s) cast out of a man by Jesus in Mark 5:9. I knew beforehand that that is where the actual drowings would occur, so I picked the name based on that (legion in referrence to the amount of deaths that occured). Beheruuhk Mounts: mountain range that forms the northern border of the Fields of Athenry. Name is a quasi-phoenetic take on "Beirut". Locally, the "uuhk" has a sound close to the "ut" in Beirut, with the t a soft, almost inaudible sound. The name was chosen as like Beirut, the Beheruuhk Mounts were home to rebellion and discord/civil war. The northern cults originate from the quasi-nomadic peoples who live there, and tend to the northernmost Fields of Athenry. Their dress would be a cross between Tallarn Desert Fighters and Chaos Cultists. Mispar Temple and Issachar Temple: Both are Biblical names. Mispar="number" (Ezr 2:2, Hebrew who returned to Jerusalem after the Babylonian Captivity). Issachar="rewarded" (Gen 30:18, ninth son of Jacob, helped to sell brother Joseph into slavery; 1Ch 26:5, temple gatekeeper under David). I picked the names based on similar sound, as I wanted the male/female "duo" of Issachar and Mispar to have similar names to connect them together. I decided on Mispar, not only cause I liked the name, but also the Biblical character I thought made a good "irony" or such on Mispar as a paganistic female deity set against the "proper" Imperial worship. Issachar was chosen more on the name alone, although the second Biblical Issachar (the gatekeeper) is a fitting basis for a god represented by a Temple... generatium and purifactory: names/terms I made up. I didn't know if there were "official" names by GW for these type of buildings, but I decided that even if there was, I'd just make up my own. Generatium is of course a building for generating power, and purifactory is a "purifying factory" for filtering water. Not the most intricate heights of creativity, I'll admit <g>, but I was satisfied with them (I esp. liked purifactory, it had a nice connotation about it...) "The Fields of Athenry" is a song from a "No Use For a Name" album. I profess ignorance here, but I believe it is an Irish folk song, however I'm only familiar with the NUFAN "cover" of it (sorry). I liked the name, and although it's not "biblical" linguistically like Apodeixis or Eubulides, I decided to use it anyways. I suppose the entire land, which is basically the same roughly in size and shape as the Fertile Crescent, could be called the "Field of Athenry", but I chose "Fields" to emphasize that it was a collection of seperate towns and farms, and not one big farm run by the Hive... Cleopas: "renowned father", a disciple who met the resurrected Jesus on the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus, and confirmed to the disciples in Jerusalem that Jesus had truly been resurrected. Brief outline: (http://www.cse.nd.edu/~theo/glossary/cleopas.html) I mainly chose this for the close-sounding name to Cleopatra, which I felt gave it a close but not outright "paganistic" name, suitable for its closeness to the pagan Temples Mispar and Issachar. Note that Cleopas itself was a fine, upstanding Imperial town, despite the fact that they had enshrined and venerated a Fallen Angel... <g> Now, as for the character names: Sejanus: originally, I just came up with the name in my head. However, after a bit I started thinking that the name sounded familiar, but couldn't place it, so I did some internet searches, and found out that he is a main character in "I, Claudius", a book by Robert Graves which I started early this semester (for fun), but never got around to getting any further into (due to time constraints). I can't remember if that is where I got the name from, or from a Ben Jonson play of the same name. Sejanus is also a historical person, a chief aid and confidant to Tiberius (Julius Caesar Augustus), so it could have been from a history class, but for some reason I'm leaning towards either "I, Cladius" or Ben Jonson's play as the unwitting source for the name. But to Sejanus himself, he's a veteran of the Ultramarines. I didn't want a character, as I felt that that was too commonplace (I do it myself) to have a hero in trouble, so I put in a "little guy" as it were <g>. I didn't flesh out his character too much, but the notes say an "agri-town" family on a small but wealthy agri-world within the Realm of Ultramar is his origin. He has a strong faith in the Emperor and the Ultras own beliefs, but it is not a really deep or challenging belief, more of a "simple" belief that someone who was raised for the early part of his life as a farmhand, and then afterwards as a noble Ultramarine, would possess. In other words, he would follow a Chaplain without question, but could never be one himself (well, he could, but he would have a hard time arguing theology; he simply believes, no more, no less, he doesn't "think" about things...). He was captured after being isolated during an attack by an advanced wave from Hive Fleet Kraken somewhere in the eastern fringe. He would have easily made vet sarge, and quite possibly Captain, but that would have been the pinnacle of his career. Tarsus: name is from the hometown of Saul (Paul) of
Tarsus, the first Evangelist. I'll save space and just give the link to a good
summary/outline/etc of him: Tarsus is the lord of the Genesis Chapter, which I took from the 2nd edition Ultradex. I liked the name, as it had biblical connotations, and while it is a GW creation, I took the liberty of giving it the character of a highly "elitist", unsympathetic chapter in relation to normal humans, which it views as weak and to a degree barely tolerable. Tarsus is the personification of this attitude. Personal history is pretty much non-existent, and is probably a "standar" Master's life of battle after battle, with important victories along the way. Tarsus does not fight for humanity, but for the Emperor alone. Tarsus does contain a "goof" in my story. In his first appearance, Tarsus mentions that he and his men are on their way to joining Marneus Calgar's Balur Crusade, which (I believe it's from the 3rd ed. C: SM) according to James Moffitt's timeline (http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Dimension/7359/timeline.html), takes place in 944.m41. However, the beginning of this story says that the Consumption of Galaspar (the war's "official" name) took place in 989.m41, which is 45 years after the Balur Crusade... My excuse...<g> Well, the best I can give is that the exact date given at the beginning of the story is 8427989.m41. The 'check number', 8, is listed as "non-referenced more than 10yrs" in the rulebook. So my defense is that the official time of the battle is 989.m41, but that is incorrect due to the timelapse and indirectness of the filing of the battle, and that the real date is just before 944.m41 (I use 942.m41). A plausible excuse, I believe, but the truth is that it is simply a mistake of not paying attention on my part. So I do feel sympathy for GW trying to juggle *all* the dates it has to.... Btw, for those who may be interested, the current dating I use for the four stories I've posted to the list are 583.m34 for "Sola Scriptura", 999.m40-002.m41 for "Whom the Gods Kill", 942.m41/"989.m41" for "The Consumption of Galaspar", and 983.m41 for "The Man That You Fear"... Telemach: Captain of the 2nd Company of Genesis Chapter, and successor to Tarsus as Chapter Master. Name is taken from Telemachus, the son of Odysseus in Homer's "The Odyssey". He is for the most part the same as Tarsus in his views on humanity, but he comes across as more "human" due to his devotion to authority, as expressed in his scenes with the dying Tarsus. Relus: head Apothecarion of Gensis Chapter. I decided that he would be the really only humane marine of the Chapter in this story, as his role as protector of his chapter's gene-seed I figured would create some semblance of "connection" or "emotion" within him, for he directly knows how "precious" the life of his Chapter is. It is he who knows the old songs and dirges by heart, and so it is he who guides Telemach into following the traditional ways of the chapter. While Tarsus was "middle-aged" and Telemach "young" by Marine standards (473yrs and 290yrs respectively), it is the "grizzled" Relus, at 602yrs, who knows the most about the rituals and such of the Chapter. While I am reluctant to attach stuff to GW's own creation (which is why I don't have birthplaces or expanded info on the Genesis personalities), I saw their Apothecaries as similar to the Wolf Priests of the Space Wolves, but instead of Chaplains who know medicine (Wolf Priests), Relus and his kind are Apothecarions who know Chapter and Imperial doctrines/theology, and in that regard perform the same kind of dual role as the Wolf Priests. Hippolytae: name based on Hippolytus of Rome, a Christian of the Constantine era who saw the Roman Empire as a Satanic imitation of the Church (in reference to the Church becoming an Imperial Institution of the Roman Empire following Constantine's conversion). He is a Techmarine, and was responsible for repairing/monitoring Tarsus' Thunderhawk in this story. No real reason behind the name, other than I was interested in the whole "Emperor and the Machine God" thread that has repeatedly appeared on the List. On page 104 of the rulebook, there's a short fiction piece talking about how rediscovered tech from the Adeptus Mechanicus will not enslave humans as tech once did, during the Dark Age of Technology. It also talks about how there is only one God, and he is the Emperor. Personally, what interested me most was the vague notion of an undercurrent of hostility towards the Adeptus Mechanicus on part of the Ecclesiarchy that I found in the piece. So I decided that naming the Techmarine after Hippolytae, who denounced the Empire (tech?) as the Satanic imitation of the Church (Emperor), would be interesting. It's a weak correlation, and perhaps even more interesting ones could be drawn than the one I did, but that's the source... Captain Adonis: another Captain of the Genesis Chapter, Company 6. Extremely impatient, but still has the dedication to rule of authority as his fellow Genesis Marines. Name based on Adonai, which is Greek (I believe) term for lord (also used for God, but I was relating it to lord only). I think there's a pagan god named Adonis as well, but right now my brain is failing in that department... <g> Selessius: his rank was never given in the story, but he was the pilot of Tarsus' Thunderhawk. No background sketch was made of him. Lauvus: head navigator of Tarsus' personal Thunderhawk. No doubt a veteran marine of some distinction, about the only background for him is that he was a skilled Landspeeder pilot (Tornados) before being selected as a "Thunderhawk Driver"... As with Selessius and Relus, Lauvus' name is as far as I know a creation of my own head. More than likely I have subconsciously based it on something I've seen or read before, but I do not know for sure, and haven't checked to see. Saleb: his name is a slight alteration of Salem, as in the witch trials. He is a Dark Angel Captain, of the 6th Company, and as such I thought it to be a suitable name for him <g>. I figure him to be typical of DA commanders, in that he is steadfast and loyal to chapter and emperor, and will do what he must to capture/eradicate the Fallen. As for his feelings on them, I think he is more concerned about the shame of his Chapter, than of the Fallen or exactly what they did. While he isn't as unquestioning as Sejanus was about his faith, Saleb nevertheless finds importance in fulfilling his mission (both as DA, and as the actual mission given him) of hunting them down as extremely important. Background is that he is raised in an Imperial orphanage near the Imperial forge world of Triplex Phall, which is in the eastern fringe. His father was a Lieutenant in a Cadian-type army, planet unknown/unremembered (he himself cannot recall, neither does any of his pre-DA records). He believes Orks were responsible in wiping out his father, and possibly his mother on an Ork raid into their homeplanet, but that is unknown for sure, and he is not driven by any hatred of them. Rather quiet, has surpassed expectations at every command level he's held, while never actually "pushing" for promotions or extra command (he has simply earned them, based on record and reputation as known by his superiors). Somewhat like Sejanus in having a rather "working-class" faith in the Emperor, but with a slightly higher "education" or knowledge in approved Imperial theology. This was his first battle against an organized Chaos army; has previously fought small CSM raids, Orks, and Dark Eldar. This was also his first "Hunt for the Fallen", ie while he's been on the lookout before, he was most often used to fight the more "mundane" or "normal" battles the DA found themselves in, due to his exceptional (though not genius-level) grasp of tactics, and relative lack of "zeal" or hatred in hunting the Fallen (he has it; just other Captains are more known for their zeal than he is/was). Antius: name based on Antioch. Typical DA vet sarge. No real background. His killer is the Dreadnaught Arpachshad, seen previously in my Word Bearer stories. Arpachshad's name is from an Old Testament genealogical chart (Gen 10:22), and means "one that releases". Rachelle: Canonness of the Order of the Verdant Shroud. Order name is based on the Order of the Argent Shroud, and has the same icon, only they were green armour. The name is simply a take on Rachel; I wanted to use that name, but thought it somewhat "un-Imperial" sounding, so I simply added the "le" to the end. Kinda French in effect, I suppose... I haven't really made a background sketch, as I plan to work with her a little more in the future...btw she survived the battle Then of course there is Tubal-Kahn <g>. As usual, he continues his mysterious quest for Fallen Angels and gets himself another Cannonness (he also has Cassandra, a canonness of the Bloody Rose for those who haven't read "The Man That You Fear"). With every story, I try to paint Tubal-Kahn as pretty much evil and that's it. I try not to make him simply a form of bloody/gory entertainment, like most Hollywood films, and I also don't try to make him too much of the stock "bad guy w/ good intentions" type character, the anti-hero if you will, that is also popular in a lot of modern/recent fiction. I try to make him evil. As I discussed with Chris Hutchings (who has yet to respond, I must've buggered the poor bugger off <g>), Tubal-Kahn is somewhat of a pre-destinationalist, in that he sees himself fated for the role of "Source of Evil" in relation to the Imperium. Not to say he hates it, or it excuses his behavior. He is evil, and should be punished, but he does it out of a sort of twisted/warped view of himself as a grandiose part of some fated plan that only he sees... The best way would be to say that he is delusional, yet sane enough to use his own delusions to further his own agenda, and to advance his own purposes. Which is still confusing, but the best I can do... Namech is one of Tubal-Kahn's main champions. He was a problem putting into v3, because under v2, the Chaos Lord was one entry, and Exalted and Mighty Champions were a separate entry. Now Exalted and Mighty are just the different levels for Lord (I know that technically this was the case in v2 as well, but...). So I'm faced with the problem that with Namech, as with Grahamakiah (who's not in this story), I cannot call them "Tubal-Kahn's Exalted", or "the Exalted Champion of Tubal-Kahn", because it is slightly more confusing then it used to be (at least to me, from a writing perspective). And I really don't like calling them "the Mighty Champion of Tubal-Kahn", sooo... But basically he is a Word Bearer mighty champion, albeit Namech has a slight Slaaneshi spin to him nowadays, while Grahamakiah remains a very khornate-type of Word Bearer champion...
Basically, the idea of the story was to tell a simple Imperium vs Chaos story. One thing, which I don't think was emphasized much, was the failing of the Imperial forces to fight as one, which the Chaos side did. Granted, there was only one "type" of Chaos warrior, the Word Bearers, while there was two separate kinds of Imperials (Genesis marines and SoBs), and a second SM chapter (DA) who didn't want to be involved with either of the other two. But I thought it would be a nice twist to have a splintered Imperial defense against a unified Chaos attack, instead of what many would usually describe or imagine to be the reverse: Unified Imperial defenses against splintered Chaos invaders representing several different legions and gods. Also, I tried to keep the ending as open as possible, while simultaneously trying to give it some sort of "completeness" and ending to it. I wanted you, the reader, to come away with your own guesses or theories as to who "won" the battle, while still maintaining some semblance of mystery and uncertainty. Hopefully I did a good, or at least decent, job of that. I imagine some people didn't like having so many different characters in the story, but I don't care for writing more "direct" (my word) one on one stories for the most part. I like the swirl and madness of several different egos/personas crashing into each other amidst intrigue and war and such. This is a rather long post, so hopefully you'll find enough in here to be satisfied with it taking up so much time and space to read <g>. I guess what I really wanted to do with this post was to show some of the "left out" stuff, plus explain a little about what went in to some of the characters that you may or may not have been aware of or picked up on. If you have read this, anyone go through similar "reams" of sources and information when writing stories? Not to say that it is necessarily better to do so, or that I'm a better writer because of it, but I'm just curious if I'm the only mad one here. <g>... -Midwest
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