Rennaissance of Flesh: The Gallean Moons

                        

GALLEAN MOONS

The Gallean Moons were a fundamental terraforming tool used prolifically throughout the 2nd Age of Solar Expansion. The ‘Moons’ are in fact large scale stations, built out from autonomous seed ships which form the core of the station, by docking together in orbit of a world. The seed ships of a Gallean Moon then get to work deploying simple drones and other machines to build out vital components of the station, starting with fabricating processing and refinery bays to allow for the station's autonomous hive to steadily grow the moon into a cavernous megastructure which can serve to efficiently terraform the Solar systems moons and planets as well as hold a fledgling population of colonists, who can steadily adapt to the slightly modified environmental conditions of their new home as the Gallean Moon steadily processes the atmospheric gases, magnetic field, crust density and all the other essentials to support Terran (Earth) life on a new world. For some worlds in the solar system this process went faster than others. Mars for instance was terraformed by several Gallean Moons in only two generations, while Venus never proved fully hospitable to Humans.

As Humanity began to spread across the Solar System at an exponential pace under the demanding and hungry expectations of incredibly powerful NatComs. Other more elegant options for Terraforming began to present themselves, leaving the eerie megastructures of the Gallean Moons to gradually fall into disrepair, a testament to early Human Interplanetary Colonization.

In the modern day, the Gallean Moons sit off the shoulders of several worlds and ‘true’ moons, their surfaces scarred by centuries of stellar radiation and the impact of small particles bouncing off the miles of hull plating. Many still have thousands of miles long atmospheric exchange umbilicals linking their drifting bulks to the eddies of their world’s atmosphere, causing them to list slowly about like vast buoys.

 

While in the past the Gallean Moons’ supported cities full of colonists eager to one day tread on the surface of a newly terraformed world. Many of the Gallean Moons now play host to outlaws, communities of the poor, diseased or otherwise rejected by society, along with much worse. Biomancers, Talosii Deathclades and all manner of others use the deepest recesses of these decaying stations as bases of operation for their own goals. Authorities occasionally sweep through such stations when they are able depending on resources to hand or to the potential threat offered by such stations, but the prospect of committing enough military or navy assets to clearing an entire moon sized structure of pirates, political dissidents or hostile gangs can be daunting for most organizations.

For the populations of many worlds which host a Gallean Moon there are a great deal of cultural myths about the structures, the Stormriders and Terrestrial cultures of Venus for instance have many religious practices and stories based on the Gallean Moon in orbit above their world which they name ‘The Forked Moon’, for its many surface scars. One particularly interesting myth held is that of the Red Man or ‘Crimson Warrior’ which is said to be the harbinger of the Kironikanmen, or ‘Period of Redress’ when Venus will finally be fully terraformed, its people unified and elevated from their long centuries of hardship. Those who have ventured far into the Forked Moon’s inner depths will know that this myth’s origin is likely based on a now non-functional Eidolon Class Warmech, its towering chassis now forms the heart of a heavily protected shrine in the bowls of the crumbling station, built by Stormrider Clans who bartered enough to salvage a ship off of Venus’ surface.

                                              

-Thanks for Reading!-

Your Favorite Madman

Life: Carver's Gap, North Carolina.

 

In a bit of a departure for this blog, I wanted to start showing some of the other things outside of tabletop gaming that I get up to. I think all of my interests play into one another, reading, hiking, cooking and gaming can all influence each other in interesting ways and I think that part of being a mature person is experiencing as much as you can. 

I'm blessed to have many friends and a close family, as well as be able to play with "toy soldiers" as much as I do, and get to share my little stories with people. I think I try to incorporate the themes from stories I read, and the places that I go into tabletop narratives like Jornath. It makes things 'feel' right to me from a story telling perspective. 

Anyway, Sophie and I went up to Carver's Gap as a part of a wider bit of galavanting through western North Carolina. I had never been to this trail, which was relatively short to the top of the ridge, only about 20 minutes.  But we arrived right at golden hour and it was a truely lovely experience. 

The top of the ridgeline, which is apart of the Appalachian Trial, allows for views from Tennessee, to Virginia and other spans of the mountains through North Carolina. 

I always get inspired to write stories or scenarios when I go on hikes, especially to new and interesting places like this. 

At the top of the ridge we had a Charcuterie board that we purchased from Little Switzerland, a small community in the North Carolina Mountains with a little resort, that we carried up in our pack. It was a special sort of dinner, and was really very good. 

As we continued along the ridge, we made the decision to start heading back to the trailhead around 20 minutes or so before nightfall. Right around that time a stormfront starting rolling in along with wind. Which made for a really exciting walk, back across the exposed highland and down into the switchbacks through the pine forests at the ridge's base. A really spooky and fantastical sort of feeling, which certainly got me in the mindset to paint some undead. 

I hope you enjoyed this break from the normal tabletop games and walls of lore, I think posts like this are easier to get out and keep me in the habit of making updates to the blog without getting bogged down in writing fiction for the battle reports. 

Thank you for reading!

-Your Favorite Madman- 

Ingredior: Where Silence Stops

This is the second battle in the ongoing Ingredior campaign. Click [HERE] to read the previous part, 'The Sally At Ferroc Castle'

After the resolution of the first battle, I presented Chris and his command of Sons of Medusa with the choice found below... 

After careful consideration, the Sons of Medusa opted for a cautious approach toward Ingredior Magnifica's Astropathic Relay.  The area near Ferroc Castle had been cleared of the immediate threat of the Necron Assault.  But the areas stretching out from it, former Mechanicus Serf habitats and a lattice of now battle-worn city districts, were haunted by all manner of Canoptek horrors or Necron kill teams.  It would take careful planning and hard fighting to slowly retake the area and begin to build a sufficiently capable force of mortal men and women to bolster a large scale counter assault against the Xenos. In the outlands, beyond the city stretching out from Ferroc Castle, stand towering Necron constructions of engraved black stone, restricting and dampening the Astropathic Choir. 

The constructions are heavily guarded; legions of Necrons stalk the outlands, probing constantly into the city by the hour to determine the nature of their recent defeat. Speed and Stealth are the watchwords of the day. The psychic dampening pylons must be deactivated quickly and without alerting the wider Necron armies to a significant breakout attempt.  Once deactivated, an elite force of Astartes and Kingsguard must blitz through the gap in the psychic field to re-capture the Astropathic Choir, and orient it through the newly created breach.  

Lt. Laird, would lead a small strike team into the Outlands ahead of the Assault Force led by Captain Corporis and Galkraan, Eternal King of Iron. 

We would be using my 'Force Reconnaissance' Rules for Warhammer 40,000 9th Edition, the following will be a recounting recorded live as the battle was played on the club's discord channel. 

There are 3 pylons representing the network of dampeners outside the relay. There are Patrols of scarabs maintaining the pylons and a guardian canoptek wraith in the center. The Marines start out undetected. Canoptek units have a 10" detection range, and their likely movement direction is indicated by the models' facing. If they are obscured from sight by terrain, the model is removed, and a die is placed indicating their last known location.

There are three alert levels indicating the growing awareness of the necrons to the intrusion. With increasing damage to the pylons and detections, also increasing the alert level.

The Marine Infiltration force is led by Lt. Laird, a Primaris Lt. In Phobos armor, he leads 4 infiltrators and 3 reivers who have been heavily upgraded. The infiltrators and Laird advance past a few Scarab patrols up toward the northeastern pylon

Once there, the reivers arrive via deep strike with grab chutes. The force eliminates two scarab bases, and the wraith begins reacting, moving up to investigate the loss of the scarabs

After a fairly intensive battle, the wraith is defeated, and the first pylon is destroyed, raising the alert to level 1, warriors and directed scarabs enter play.

The marines continue a merciless advance, gunning down three warriors and forcing their way into the vicinity of the second pylon. The Alert level is raised to 2. A tomb blade enters play along the line of pylons from the southwest. As more warriors arrive in larger squads

With a single shot, Lt. Laird slays the Tomb Blade, the metal xenos toppling dead from its mount, which pinwheels into the dry surface of Ingredior Magnifica, shearing off metal in a great plume of dust and sparking energies.

The Infiltration force advances, as the charges on the second pylon erupt. The marines have completed their primary objective; 2 of 3 pylons have been eliminated, though who knows what benefit the aliens might derive from these structures in a pitched battle. Laird pushes his men onward to the third and final pylon. The alert is now at level 3, and sizeable Necron assets are beginning to arrive.

The Sons of Medusa are undaunted; they break through several Necron skirmish lines to secure the objective. Planning charges on the final pylon as dozens of warriors begin to arrive. As the final pylon topples, the Infiltration team goes to ground in a nearby ruin, snapping off shots at their pursuers. Laird fires a green flare into the air above their position to mark their success. A signal seen by Captain Corporis and the Mortal Hosts of Galkraan, the Eternal King of Iron, who begin to move to their aid

Notable Deeds:

Lt. Laird personally killed 2 tomb blades, a death mark, and nearly a dozen scarab swarms.

The Reivers, though losing two of their number, slew triple their number in Necron warriors and a canoptek wraith

The Infiltrators destroyed all three pylons and killed several Necrons

We will join Lieutenant Laird and his men, as well as the rolling spearhead of the Sons of Medusa in Part 3.

I hope you enjoyed! 

-Your Favorite Madman-