Commander's Corner

Privyet Tovarich,

Well, truly there isn't much to report this month, since we are waiting for the new Codex. This is the only new article this month. However, GW's troubles of late have gotten me thinking. It seems just as soon as I get settled into one version of the game and/or codex they feel the need to revise it rendering all the army design work I have done invalid. I will probably rework the codex section of this site to comply with the new codex but I will be spending more time on the fluff section of the site and probably will, at some point, find a way to divorce my work from the GW universe. In a way this is not so much a break with what I have been doing but rather a development of it.

When I began this project, my goal was to create a 'Force Genericus' that could be used with any gaming system (subject to a few vehicle swap outs) in any universe. Recently, my children have developed an interest in gaming (much to my wife's lament) and I have been kicking around for a way to introduce them to this hobby. Lately my kids have been playing on a website called "Wizards 101" which is a Harry Potter-ish MMORPG. They have also expressed an interest in my old Traveller and AD&D (that's old school D&D not this d20 tripe) stuff.

Many moons ago, when I was in college and large lizards roamed the Earth, I ran a Traveller game based on a homebrewed setting inspired by Frank Herbert's Dune. Dune as you may be aware was one of the inspirations for WH40K itself (especially the later novels in the series) with its ancient noble houses, political intrigue, weird religions and even a god-emperor in part of the series. If you haven't read Dune go read it... NOW! Go, shoo... read and enjoy!

The game setting I envision has an Emperor (but not immortal, divine or even anything other than a mortal man) whose forces are genetically engineered superwarriors (yes, Space Marines) which are limited to the Imperial household alone. The various noble houses of the Imperium are divided into two groups, the Great Houses (nobles with interstellar holdings) and the Minor Houses (planet-bound nobility) who field more conventional forces (Imperial Guard). The Ecclesiarchy exists in Herbert's universe as the Orange Catholic Church which isn't so much a Church as it is a religious debating society that tries to keep religious differences from disrupting the peace of the Imperium. The Adeptus Soritas also exist as an arm of the OCC called the Bene Gesserit - a female dominated quasi-religious order dedicated to trying to breed the Kwisach Haderach or messiah by manipulating the bloodlines of the great houses. Many of their leaders are powerful psychics (characters similar to Inquisitors in 40k). Like the 40k universe, Herbert's universe is relatively low tech (but higher tech than modern day Earth) because of a cultural bias against AI and "thinking machines" as a result of the Bulterian Jihad which was an interstellar revolt against a precursor state which allowed an AI machine to order a series of abortions based on its own ideas of eugenics.

Space travel in Herbert's universe also bears more than a passing resemblance to that of 40k. Interstellar travel is dominated by the Guild - a collection of once-human mutants who use their ESP powers to plot courses through the incredibly unpredictable warp. In 40k it is dominated by the Navis Noblite who fill the same role - even the Imperial Navy is dependent on those Navigators assigned to it by the Guild/Navis Noblite. Other noble houses are limited to sub-light system only craft. Adding a few Chartist vessels to the mix would do little violence to the setting.

Although Herbert's universe has no aliens, it wouldn't do much violence to the setting to include them. Orks fill the role held by any raider/pirate culture in classical Sci Fi. The Eldar fill the same role as any enigmatic mystic race (Romulans, Zhodani, etc.). The Tau are space commies - a trope that will be familiar to many American sci fi fans - there are way too many examples to name. The Dark Eldar, everyone's favorite sci fi bondage freaks, are good old-fashioned space pirates. The Tyranids are classic bug-eyed aliens in the tradition of Heinlein and Bradbury.

Chaos is the major innovation of 40k and that is taken from the works of Michael Moorcock. In Herbert's universe Chaos would be best presented by the concept of Abomination typified by Alia and her minions (its not an exact match but close enough).

Unlike 40k, in Herbert's Far Future there isn't 'only war'. Depending on the local ruling house an individual Imperial subject's lot may resemble anything from a Star Trek near-utopia, the modern E.U. or U.S. to something resembling present-day North Korea, Somalia or Sudan. Technology might range from something akin to a Trek-style tech utopia to worlds where fire and the wheel are recent innovations.

Religion varies from highly evolved systems resembling the best of Judaism or Christianity to pathetic mystic ignorance that makes the most primitive heathen systems of Earth's history look good in comparison.

My setting isn't a direct lift of Herbert's (but you can see his influence) but it allows for all the elements of 40k. I am doing this not for the sake of it but rather to protect my work from the vicissitudes of GW's constant reworking of their rules and setting. In the coming months you will see more emphasis on the goings on of House Lyubov rather than the Imperium-wide fluff - I'll leave that to GW and take or leave what parts of it I want. As I nail things down there is going to be setting drift, it's unavoidable and perhaps desirable.

On a more mundane note, the next update will be delayed until May 15 owing to the Passover Holiday.

Dosvedanya,
Comrade Colonel Andrei Bertavich

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